Latest / Scripture Central / Mosiah 25–28 | May 27–June 2 | John W. Welch And Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book Of Mormon

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Mosiah 25–28 | May 27–June 2 | John W. Welch And Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book Of Mormon · Scripture Central

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Hello, welcome back to Scripture Central.
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I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson and this is Jack Welch.
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We are really excited to talk today about Mosiah Chapter 2526
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and 27 and 28. We're back in Zarahela.
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Everybody's together. We've got Alma, the senior or
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the elder, and the people, King Mosiah.
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We've got the people of Limhi joining in.
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We've got the Mulekites listening in, fascination to all
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these stories. We're finally back together.
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And one of the first things they do is they bring everyone
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together and these people read their story, they read their
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reports, so they've prepared some kind of an official record.
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So we learn the record of Zenith and we learned the record of
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Alma. And everybody's interested in
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hearing them, even though they're coming from different
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places. Not everyone is a descendant of
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Lehigh. And in fact, this is the first
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place where we hear the name because it's always been called
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the people of Zarahemla. This is the first time they call
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him Melek, Mulik Melek. And I'm fascinated with that
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name because remember, in the ancient Hebrew, there's no
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vowels. So it's MLK, which means king,
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just like Melchizedek, king of righteousness.
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And now we have the child of, if you remember back in Omni, the
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the son of King Zedekiah who was taken in there to the new world.
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The son of King Zedekiah is called the King Melech.
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The people of the king Mulakites it.
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It's not. Joseph Smith got a bullseye from
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1000 miles away. That was a good one.
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So we we do have this population.
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They retain the name Mulik because that was the honorific.
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Head. And although Mulik was a very
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young son, he was able to be carried away.
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Probably didn't know what was going on, but someone wanted to
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get him as far away from the danger as Jerusalem was being
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destroyed and all the other sons of the king were of course
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killed. Who knew how to sail?
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They were probably led by some of the guards or kings.
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I think they were righteous people.
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They're very righteous people and they are traditional.
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They want to remember as much as they can what they brought.
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So when the Nephites come down from the the land of Nephi to
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the land of Zarahemla, the people rejoice that they are now
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able to find this common ground that they shared.
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The Mulekites recognized that the Nephite claimed the kingship
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is stronger than theirs and. At least they have their.
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Records and all the other things that go with that so.
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But now we're down to chapter 25 where we get the records that
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they're going to read together and they read from the records
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of Zenith. So clear back 80 years.
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Do you think it is 80 years back of records that they're reading
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here and the least three generations?
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And it says the people are weeping tears of sorrow in verse
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nine and then rejoicing in verse 10.
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The record of Zenith would have included the record of Zenith
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and also his son Noah and his son Lim High.
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Yeah, they kept him up. They had this tradition coming
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back from and. Then and then they also have
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Alma report. Yes.
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And Alma has a record that he has been keeping.
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And why would Alma keep a record?
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Well, he'd been a priest and he knew the importance of
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scriptural records and especially as he is starting his
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own covenant community, he wants to keep a record of what those
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covenants amounted to the commandments that were given the
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ordinances, especially of baptism and the requirements for
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it. So he had carefully laid out the
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the basic foundations for administering his his Church and
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the rules that the priests should follow so that covenant
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community comes with that set of records.
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And I'm convinced that he's not just a priest so he can write.
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He is a gifted literarian. It's in Alma's writings that we
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Alma the senior that we see so many of these beautiful parallel
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structures and poetry. Well, I like that, and
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especially when you remember that it's Alma who is moved by a
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Benedize quoting of Isaiah, especially Isaiah 53, and
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explaining the meaning of Isaiah 52.
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How beautiful upon the mountain. Those are beautiful, elegant
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passages. But it's also Alma the senior
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who then turns and is able to start baptizing.
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And this group of people that came with Lim High, we, we read
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earlier that they wanted to be baptized.
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But now in chapter 25, verse 17, King Lim High was desirous that
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he might be baptized and all his people.
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So you've got a nice huge people adding to the covenant 'cause
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you already had the covenant with King Benjamin, but now it's
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being organized so that we can keep practicing these beliefs
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rather than just being taught periodically.
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They want them to do it weekly. We learned last week in Alma.
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And what are you going to do? Now you have all these people.
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So Alma tells us that the Record reports that in verses 23 and 24
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of chapter 25. They then organized this into
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seven different churches. Now the word church ecclesia can
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just mean the. Congregation.
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Congregation. Yeah.
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And he's as he baptizes them, though they are called the
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Church of God. He wants to make that point that
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yes, there's seven churches, but they are one church.
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That's verse 22. Yeah.
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And I think that that's that's important and that the word
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church has kind of that ambiguity.
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It can mean a single congregation or it can mean like
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the the whole organization. And I love the way this chapter
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ends because the churches, it says in verse 24, they were
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called the people of God and the Lord did pour out His Spirit
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upon them. So this is not just minor.
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We're trying to get together, we're trying to take care of
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each other. No, they are having spiritual
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manifestations. They are feeling the Spirit and
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they are being directed by the Spirit.
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It's poured out upon. And, and a lot like, as we've
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said, you remember the chiastic organization of all of the book
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of Mosiah, things tend to happen twice.
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Yes. Where else was there a great
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spiritual outpouring in the book of Mosiah after King Benjamin's
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speech? Oh yeah, of course, At the
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beginning, yeah. After King Benjamin's speech,
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the the people all claim their and confess their willingness to
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enter into the covenant, and there's great rejoicing at that.
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Does this fit into the overall chiasma that you talked about
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last week of? The sort of there are a lot of
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these echoes that may not be particularly structural.
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What is being emphasized here, I think, is just as we had at the
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end of King Benjamin's speech, when all the people enter into a
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covenant, and that unites all the people, both the Nephites
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and the Mulekites. Now we have the organization of
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this group of the Church of God, the seven churches, the baptism
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and the covenant, and there's great rejoicing as that also
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will now unite the people, probably in a way that hadn't
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happened since King Benjamin's speech, which wasn't that long
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ago. No, it wasn't.
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And people are are it. I feel like it's just an
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organization of what King Benjamin had taught.
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We're now just implementing it. And it's not that they're
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teaching different things that they're this, they call Alma,
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the first head of the church because it's now organized in
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this manner. But as the church grew and the
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population grew, they needed a different structure.
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And that's what we've got here with these seven churches.
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Now, why do you think they have 7?
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Do you think there's a precedent there?
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Well, I presume it was geographic, that that's how many
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people there were and they needed it.
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But geographic they could have divided up into eight.
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What do you? Think I don't know why do you?
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Think 7/7 of course, is an important symbolic number.
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Very. Especially in the temple, it's
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everything was done by sevens. They're perfect or whole or
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complete, I mean. That's right.
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And we have seven days of the week.
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You have seven years in the sabbatical administratively,
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maybe they had the seven churches and each one was
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assigned to take care of one year or the other year a part of
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a sabbatical ceremony. We don't know.
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But I do think that it's significant that there were 7
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tribes that Lehigh established, the Nephites, Jacobites,
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Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, and
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Ishmaelites. So we have 7.
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So maybe this is somehow an echo of of Lehigh's organization or.
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But more than that, there is a passage in Proverbs.
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I don't know that this would have been known to anyone but
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Proverbs 9 verse one says Wisdom hath hewn out her seven pillars.
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Wisdom hath builded her house. So somehow the the proverbial
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wisdom connected seven with completion, with a full house or
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with a few full people. And maybe that was.
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Part of the growth of the church, Yeah.
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That to start with, yeah. It's an auspicious number.
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And in addition, it's interesting that Alma uses words
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like commanded 7 times when he gives the commandments to his
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initial group. And here coming up soon in
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chapter 26, verses 15 to 20, the word blessed will be be given
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seven times. So it's like there's seven
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blessings. And of course this word blessed,
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we find it also in the Beatitudes when Jesus will
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speak. But Jesus is using a very old
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word there. Blessed was not something that
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he 1st. Used.
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It's all over the Old Testament. It's saturates the Psalms.
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Blessed are they that give to the poor, blessed are they who
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come unto the Lord. It's over 200 times in the Old
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Testament, yeah. So they would be well aware of
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the use of that word and probably in prayers and in other
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ways that having these seven churches now issuing these
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blessed conditions. Well, you jumped right into
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chapter 26, but the problem with chapter 26 is not everyone wants
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to be a member of the church. So those blessings are actually
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an answer to prayer. The rising generation has a
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problem, we're told in verse one, which happens almost every
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generation, does it not? You know, you the conversion of
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of Christianity has to happen to every individual.
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You don't just get in and chapter 26 verses one to three
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is a beautiful little chiastic structure there.
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They do not understand the words.
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They do not believe and not only do they not believe, but they
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don't believe even about the resurrection.
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We're told in verse two, they didn't believe in the coming of
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Christ. That's the center.
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And then it ends up coming out. It says they have hard hearts.
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So Alma doesn't know what to do about this.
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He turns over to the king and says, what should we do about
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these unbelievers? And the king says, that's your
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responsibility. You're over the church, I'm over
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the political. But chapter 26, verse 13 says
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the spirit of Alma was again troubled, and he went and
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inquired of the Lord what he should do concerning this
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matter. And I don't know at this point
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if his son was part of the unbelievers, but it may have
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been very personal to both the king and the high priest that
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it's their children that are causing some of the problems.
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I think that's right. And I think that that's one of
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the reasons that Mosiah says, Alma, I'd like you to take care
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of any kind of disfellowshipping or excommunication.
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You have the covenant community and that is a select group of
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people, self selected, but then people under a special
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obligation. And if they aren't keeping the
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covenant they have made, I as the king cannot banish them from
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the Kingdom. They're still my citizens.
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And so I think that's why he says Alma.
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And he does give Alma authority to do this, which is an
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interesting separation of religious powers from royal
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powers. And that's when the voice of the
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Lord gives him these seven blessings.
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Now Alma feels the weight of that responsibility.
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And that's why he prays. And what happens there?
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The Lord speaks to him. It came to pass that as he
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poured out his whole soul to God, the voice of the Lord came
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unto Alma, saying, Blessed art thou Alma, and blessed are they
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who were baptized in the waters of Mormon, and so on.
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And here we have all the way down through verse 20, these
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seven pronouncements of blessings.
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And Jack, I wrote him up interestingly to see that not
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only do we have the seven blesseds, but he's writing them
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in triplicate. Blessed art thou because of thy
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exceeding faith in the words alone of my servant Abed and I
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and then in verse 16, blessed art thou because of thy
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exceeding faith in the words alone, which thou hast heard of
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me here. So it's, it's not just the seven
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blesseds, but he has five beautiful triplicates.
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And then the last time he changes it just slightly, as if
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it were a beautiful piece of music with a little subtle
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ending, and he talks about the his receiving exaltation.
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Yes, and that's verse 20. Thou art my servant, and I
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covenant with thee, that thou shalt have eternal life, and
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thou shalt serve me, and go forth in my name, and shalt
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gather together my sheep. And he that will hear my voice
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shall be my sheep. And him shall ye receive into
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the church, and him will I also receive.
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This is just so powerful because he's pleading to him, how do I
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fulfill my calling? How do I how am I going to
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punish these people? And the Lord says you have
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received exaltation. I promise you a place on my
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right hand. Now let's let's start again and
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cleanse what the inner vessel. You know, now you mentioned that
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those, those final promises to Alma are not in the same format
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as the earlier ones. They're a little shorter, aren't
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they? Well, he has the He starts.
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Thou art blessed and thou art my servant.
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And then he changes the last one to say, you know, and thou shalt
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have eternal life. But then he goes right on and
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says, I want you to gather my sheep.
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And then he goes into another chiasmus and it's all about this
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is your new calling. I want you to move forward.
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I wonder, since the pattern is so well established, if there
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wasn't more said to Alma at that last point.
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And a little break. However, that might have been so
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personal or so sacred that it isn't included in the record,
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and especially the record when it's dealing with the problems
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We're focusing now on the problems that Alma will have to
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deal with. He's promised eternal life, but
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he must now administer the word of the Lord.
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And that's where he turns his attention next.
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And it's hard to see some of these parallels in our beautiful
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text of scripture. And that's why I sometimes go
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back to people like Brother Perry's book on the parallel
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poetic parallelisms in the Book of Mormon, or else Brother
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Skousen's text that's written out all the way along the line.
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And it's easier to see some of these things there.
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But this sacred nature of this calling cannot be understated.
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And he has served for decades, sacrificing so much and the Lord
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knows now that he is worthy of exaltation and he receives that
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great promise. But the IT whenever the Lord
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speaks, it's back in a beautiful poetic form, just like it was
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but the in the book of Mosiah earlier with a bin Adai and.
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Let me if I could. Say what?
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Happens next in verse 22. We're still in chapter 26.
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Behold, this is my church. Now, in order to be a member of
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this church, baptism will be the ordinance, yes.
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So that's different from what it was under King Benjamin, at
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least. Well, I don't know.
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I looked it up. The baptized is mentioned many,
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many times prior to this point in the text, but Alma really
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emphasized it. So I don't know because Nephi is
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mentioning it. It's mentioned many times.
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Even in the Tree of Life vision we have it.
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So it's not new to these people. Well, I would suggest there that
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what's going on in King Benjamin's speech is everyone
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swearing their allegiance not only to the new king, but also
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to God. That's why their names are kept.
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And to the records are kept. Maybe they were all baptized,
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maybe they weren't. But it seems to me that the the
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baptism of all these people, Alma brings to this community a
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new emphasis on baptism, and I think that some of the Mulakites
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are baptized. It sounds like as well, doesn't
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it? Sounds like it in 26.
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I did want to point out, however, that there is some
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similarity between the understanding of becoming a
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member of this church that Alma will now be in charge of and the
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covenant that Benjamin had made in the first part of.
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Oh, a lot of it. Yes, yes.
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In verse 23, for example, the Lord speaking says, it is I that
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taketh upon me the sins of the world, for it is I that have
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created them. It is I that granteth unto them
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that believeth unto the end. A place at my right hand now
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being on the right hand of God and not on the left hand of God,
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of course, is right at the crux of the covenant that people
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make. Yeah, at King Benjamin's speech.
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And I assume throughout all ancient history you did clean
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functions with your right hand and you did filthy functions
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with your left hand. And so you always had the right
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as the place of choice and the left because you didn't have
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other things to wash your hands with.
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You know, you don't have a bar of soap.
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And good point all the time. And verse 24 goes on with the
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same idea. For behold, in my name they are
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called. And Benjamin of course, ends his
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sermon by saying, If they are not called by my name, they must
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be called by some other name. And therefore you find himself
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on the left hand of God. But this one continues, If they
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know me, they shall come forth, and shall have a place eternally
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at my right hand. And then the reciprocal is verse
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25. If they don't know him at the
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second trump, they would say that never knew me will come
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forth and they shall stand before me. 26 is so tragic,
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Jack. It says they would not be
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redeemed. So the second the beautiful
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parallels here unfold, how the righteous are going to do it,
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and how the wicked are going to do it, they refuse to accept the
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Saviour as their Redeemer. And then in 27 he says, And then
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I will confess unto them that I never knew them, and they shall
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depart into everlasting fire prepared for them.
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And Christ again says this later on.
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You know, this is not doctrine that's foreign to Christians,
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but they certainly were. Alma was taught here by the Lord
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that there's a place for those that are choosing not to obey.
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Alma is also being taught that if people will repent, they can
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come back. No matter what they've done.
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And verse 30, Yeah. And as often as my people
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repent, will I forgive them their trespasses against me.
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And ye shall also forgive one another.
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So as Alma is being charged with the responsibility of keeping
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the purity of the Church of the Covenant Makers solidly in
21:11
place, he knows there will some who have to be uninvited.
21:16
But they are also not to be forgotten because they can
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repent and as often as they will, they can be brought back
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into the Church. And Jack, this is all the center
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of a chiasmus. Yeah, you want to tell me about?
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That it's just beautiful. Starting in chapter 26, verse 21
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all the way down to 28, we get a beautiful chiasmus and that's
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on. If they hear my voice, they'll
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receive my church, and they'll take upon me the sins of the
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world. And then it continues on.
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And then in the very center he does a little different, like a
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little trill in music. In the center He says in verse
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23, I that granteth unto him that believeth unto me a place
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at my right hand. And then in 24 and behold, in my
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name they are called, and they know me, and they'll come forth.
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And then he goes back. I have created an eternal place
22:10
on my right hand. And then he repeats again,
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because they the opposite, they did not know me, the second
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trump, and they will not come forth, but they still have to
22:19
stand me for me. And then in verses 29 to 32,
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this beautiful chiastic structure on repentance and
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forgiveness. And isn't that what we were
22:30
talking about, that here Alma is being told you will need to not
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receive some who will not be obedient and will not take the
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covenant seriously? But the center is in verse 30.
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As often as my people repent, you know, he's got it all
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beautifully worked out so that we can see the importance of
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repentance. I love it.
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And but getting there, we get there through verse 29.
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Yes. And I want to emphasize that a
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little bit because as the church needs to judge people
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occasionally, we we have the commandment judge not that you
23:15
be not judged, but what that means is be careful how you
23:19
judge because however you judge, the measure that you meet will
23:23
be measured against you. Also, people don't have to stay
23:26
in the church if they don't want to.
23:27
They can leave if they. Want to?
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Of course that's. That's part of the judging.
23:31
That's part of it. But in verse 29 you have a
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little bit of explanation of how these church procedures should
23:40
be carried out. Go.
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And whosoever transgresses against me, Him shall ye judge
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according to the sins which he has committed.
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So I think it's important to identify.
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So what is the sin that needs to be corrected if a person is
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going to repent? As a Bishop, I would always want
23:59
to help people to understand this is what we need to work on
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and whether it was just a Bishop's counsel and advice.
24:11
You know, fortunately, most people were very responsive and
24:15
are responsive. And if you teach them what they
24:18
need to do, you don't have to go through elaborate procedures
24:22
most of the time, unless it's necessary to protect the church
24:25
itself, which we will learn about here because Alma's own
24:29
son. Becomes.
24:31
A problem and they need to be set aside, but it goes on to say
24:35
if he confesses so allow them for a confession and if he
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confesses before thee and me. So it's a two stage confession,
24:46
not just to the church priesthood holder, the Bishop or
24:53
the stake president, but also that person needs to make a
24:58
confession to the Lord. And if that's done and then
25:02
repents of the sins of the sin in sincerity of heart, Him you
25:08
shall, he shall forgive and I will forgive also.
25:12
So I think that's an important way.
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God does not here set up a system where or or procedure
25:23
where He's not going to counsel people and work with them as
25:29
long as they're willing. And my arm is stretched out all
25:34
day long, the Lord says. And then in verse 32, he
25:38
continues back where he started at 29.
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I say unto you, go, and whosoever will not repent of his
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sins, you know. So it's just this perfect little
25:47
bookends on either side of that. Yes.
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We then go to the problem with his son.
25:56
As you just hinted at, his son and the sons of Mosiah are going
26:00
about secretly to destroy the church tragically.
26:03
So he tries to regulate the affairs, but his son will not be
26:06
regulated until the Lord steps in.
26:08
And the Lord steps in because of the prayer and fasting of the
26:10
parents, it sounds like. So we now turn to Chapter 27.
26:15
Yes. And you know, we we have
26:18
actually three very important accounts of Alma's conversion.
26:25
These are different accounts because they're given on
26:27
different occasions and to different audiences.
26:31
And in addition to what I would call these three accounts where
26:34
Alma speaks and tells us his own conversion story, Alma will
26:40
allude to or refer to elements in this conversion story in many
26:45
of his speeches. Oh, in some of his sermons he
26:47
quotes the Angel directly, I've noticed.
26:49
Yeah. So he assumes that his audience
26:53
in Alma chapter 5 or in his poem in Alma 29 that.
26:58
Has already heard this story. They know the story.
27:00
What does that tell you? It's not just an account that
27:05
Alma stands up after he's been changed.
27:09
He wakes up after three days and he says, I've been born of God.
27:13
I was in the darkest abyss, but now I behold the marvelous light
27:17
of God. That's today's.
27:18
Record. That's only to a very small
27:20
audience. I think Alma must be telling
27:25
this story all the time. It's kind of like Joseph Smith,
27:29
who was always asked, tell the story of your first vision.
27:33
And we do have, fortunately, several accounts of the First
27:36
Vision and many more times. I'm sure he talked about it and
27:40
we don't have records. So Alma, he does stand as a
27:45
witness once he has been converted.
27:48
Now two of the accounts are in Alma Chapter 36 and 38, when
27:55
Alma is blessing and speaking to his sons, Helaman and Shiblon.
28:00
Those come toward the end of Alma's life.
28:04
All that the people would have known from Alma's story would
28:08
have been more like what we have here in Mosiah 27 I.
28:12
Think so. This is more spontaneous.
28:14
This is just what happened. It's sort of a line by line.
28:16
It is, and we've talked about chiasmus and we'll come back to
28:20
chiasmus because Alma 36 is the granddaddy of chiasmus.
28:26
But here what we have are antithetical parallelisms.
28:30
Yes, I was this, but now I'm that.
28:32
I was this but now I'm that. Yeah, great contrast and
28:35
comparing to see how terrific of a change it actually was.
28:40
Yeah, and there's some real spontaneity.
28:43
There's real spontaneity in it. So Speaking of these three
28:46
accounts that Alma gives us of his conversion, we have a a
28:50
couple charts in charting the Book of Mormon that I I suggest
28:55
people look at. It's a lot easier than trying to
28:57
explain. And they're all available on our
28:59
website under the archives tab, and you can just go to Charting
29:04
the Book of Mormon. It's a fabulous resource,
29:06
especially for teaching or family.
29:08
I just think I use it to understand the book myself, even
29:10
when I'm studying on my own. So here what we've done, and
29:14
this is chart one O 6 called 3 accounts of Alma's conversion.
29:20
We can look at the timing and the differences.
29:23
There are different audiences that are involved.
29:26
The audience at first is to quite a few people who come up
29:30
after the initial family encounter in Alma 36, it's just
29:35
to one of his sons, Helaman, and then Alma 38 it's to his second
29:39
son, Shiblon. The tone is very different.
29:43
At first. We have these spontaneous
29:45
expressions. That's the one we're reading
29:47
today, Mosiah. Yeah, he hasn't thought through
29:49
this. And so so Alma here just touches
29:52
the big points. People want to know.
29:53
So where did what happened? You were gone for three days.
29:56
Tell us about it. And.
29:57
He's eager to just let it come right out and then born again.
30:01
And he loves drawing the contrast between and wants them
30:04
to know. I used to be this, but now I'm
30:06
this. I was this way, but now I'm that
30:09
way. I was in the darkest abyss, but
30:11
now I behold the Marvel's. Mind go later on in chapter 36
30:16
of Alma. But what he does in Alma 36 is
30:19
more deliberate and he will take all of the I was this, I was
30:23
this, I was this, I was this. And then you have the turning
30:26
point. And but now I'm this, now I'm
30:29
this, now I'm this. So it's been structured to
30:32
emphasize this, the turning point in the Alma 36 account.
30:38
So that's one that he has worked on, I think, and probably uses
30:42
that. But for the spontaneous
30:45
explanation that we have in Mosiah 27, he doesn't mention
30:50
the joy that he felt. That word's not in Mosiah 27,
30:56
but it's the the fact that he's been snatched and redeemed, how
30:59
close he came to the brink, but the exquisite joy and peace to
31:05
the soul. That's what he will emphasize,
31:09
which of course happened. But for him, the big moment and
31:14
the excitement was how, how, how close to danger he was.
31:19
Yeah. He was.
31:20
He was forgiven, at least in this account of Mosiah 27.
31:24
We're in verse 25, who's born again.
31:26
In chapter 27, we have a lengthy quote of the angel's words, and
31:35
this is in verses 13 to 16 where the the Angel warns him and
31:41
says, you know, you better cut this out or, you know, you're
31:44
going to be destroyed. There's a short quote in Alma
31:48
36, but it's only one verse that alludes to some of those things.
31:53
But you know, on Alma's mind would have been those words that
31:56
he had just heard and they were personal to him.
31:59
In Alma 38, he doesn't quote the Angel at all.
32:03
He figures Shiblun doesn't need to hear this story again.
32:07
So. So there are differences between
32:09
the accounts that we can appreciate as we get to them.
32:12
Finally, in Mosiah 27, Alma becomes aware of the causes.
32:18
What was it that brought this about for him?
32:22
And he speaks specifically of people praying for him during
32:27
the. Of course, they say that they
32:29
watch and pray and fast for two days.
32:33
Well, the first day that Alma is in the the trance or coma, they
32:41
take him and bring him and now they say what are we going to
32:44
do? And they say, well let's have a
32:46
fast. We were fast and proud.
32:48
This is all in chapter 27 verse verse 20 and 21/22/23 And his
32:54
father says happy day. His father recognizes this
32:56
immediately as the power of God. And the opportunity.
32:59
Yeah, so he says let's all gather together and watch, and
33:02
that's when they start fast. So the mentioning of two days in
33:05
27 is talking about their awareness, but the three days he
33:10
was actually 3 days and three nights.
33:12
Yes, and he mentions that later. In later that he knows about.
33:15
So it's interesting that in Mosiah 27, Alma does not say
33:22
that he calls upon the name of Jesus Christ, and remembering
33:26
that his Father had spoken of the coming of one Jesus, he of
33:31
course will remember that and will include that in Alma 36.
33:34
And it's a very important part of Alma 36.
33:37
But here it's more about the I need to repent.
33:40
I need redemption. That's right.
33:42
And I think he is more speaking to just the immediate fact that
33:48
he is not destroyed, he didn't die and how it happened.
33:53
I'm sure he teaches that on other occasions, but it's not
33:57
here in that initial he he's already said enough.
34:01
Yeah, and it's verse 24 and 25, that beautiful section of of I
34:07
am Born of the Spirit. And he says that before the
34:12
multitude now. That have gathered with this
34:14
fasting before. The multitude.
34:18
And so maybe he wants to keep some of the sacred experience
34:22
personal, which is certainly appropriate.
34:26
Mm, hmm. Yeah, but let's read verse 25.
34:30
The Lord said unto me, marvel not that all mankind, yeah, men,
34:35
women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people must be born
34:39
again. Yeah, born of God, changed from
34:42
their carnal and fallen state to a state of righteousness, being
34:46
redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters, and thus
34:52
they became new creatures. And unless they do this, they
34:56
can in no wise inherit the Kingdom of God.
34:59
And as Alma the Younger is saying this to his dad, his dad
35:03
is probably remembering back to when he felt very similarly when
35:07
he was a wicked priest in King Noah's.
35:09
Yeah, exactly. And what you're pointing out
35:11
there is in verse 24, Alma says I have repented of my sins and I
35:17
have been redeemed of the Lord. Behold, I am born of the Spirit.
35:20
That's all he's going to say of a personal nature because now he
35:24
sees this as an opportunity and more relevant to them.
35:27
You need to know what you need to do.
35:29
And that's why we have this difference here in AS.
35:32
We look at the three. In chapter 27 of Mosiah, and of
35:38
course in Alma 36, there will be much more about trusting in God
35:44
being delivered from trials, troubles and afflictions, and
35:47
lifted up at the last day. In this text, I counted up the
35:50
redeems. It's over and over and over
35:52
again. That is definitely the message.
35:54
I should have been killed by God and I was redeemed.
35:57
I was saved. Yeah, I was snatched.
36:00
I love that word in verse 39 that you mentioned earlier.
36:04
Again, we you know, we wouldn't expect Alma to wake up from this
36:09
and give us a polished, chiastic explanation of the the whole
36:16
story and what it means and how to focus on what the real
36:20
turning point is. That will come soon enough.
36:24
But for the moment, enjoy with Alma.
36:29
The spontaneity of this message. The the great, amazing fact that
36:34
he was still alive. And not just alive, but he
36:39
continues on in 31 where the Angel when he's told every knee
36:43
shall bow and every tongue confessed before him.
36:45
He's saying all of us are going to have to do this.
36:48
And I have spent the last what? They knew it was three days.
36:53
I have no idea what it felt like to him.
36:54
I presume it felt a different amount of time.
36:56
But everyone is going to have to go through this if we do not
36:59
accept our Saviour, that if we want redemption we will need to
37:03
bow our knees and call on his name.
37:07
So we have a very enormous change in the Church of
37:11
Jerusalem, Zarahemla by this point.
37:14
Instead of having the leadership, the King's sons and
37:18
the high priest sons fighting against the Church, they now
37:20
become the great defenders and they even want to go out and
37:23
serve missions themselves. And 1st in verse 35 they travel
37:28
throughout all the land of Zarahemla.
37:30
Oh, that's where we get their names too.
37:32
Yeah, here's the four sons are now named in verse 34.
37:35
Ammon, Aaron. Omni Hymnite.
37:38
And they zealously strive to repair the injuries which they
37:42
had done to the church. Do you remember?
37:45
When zealous was used before in the book of Mosiah, wasn't it
37:48
zenith he was overly zealous? He wasn't.
37:52
But these people are zealous in their following the spirit.
37:56
They're zealous in their missionary work.
37:58
They're zealous in the things that God would have them do.
38:01
I see this is a similar word like Valiant.
38:03
You know they're trying so hard to repair what they messed up.
38:07
And they were zealous in confessing all their sins, and
38:11
they were zealous in publishing all things which they had seen,
38:15
and explaining the prophecies and the Scriptures to all who
38:17
desired to hear them. Thus they were instruments in
38:20
the hands of God. Verse 36.
38:23
And we will hear more from the four sons of Mosiah, because
38:28
they will leave shortly after Alma becomes the chief judge and
38:33
the high priest in the land of Zarahemla.
38:36
But they will take off right away and go now to the land of
38:41
Nephi where they will stay for 14 years, two sabbaticals
38:48
preaching to the Lamanites, and of course, have all those
38:51
wonderful missionary experiences that we won't hear about until
38:54
Alma. Yeah, till later. 17 and 18.
38:58
And they will be publishing Peace.
38:59
This is verse 37. And I think this is such a
39:01
beautiful part of the writing of the book of Mosiah, because as
39:04
you mentioned earlier, this is one of the texts that the wicked
39:07
priests of Noah asked Abenadai, who's this person in Isaiah 52
39:12
who's going to go around publishing peace?
39:14
And now the writer is saying it's the sons of Mosiah.
39:17
Let me read verse 37. How blessed are they?
39:20
For they did publish peace. He's quoting Isaiah and he's
39:24
answering the wicked priest Noah question there.
39:28
They did publish good tidings of good, and they did declare unto
39:32
the people that the Lord reigneth.
39:35
So I just, I cannot, I just can't say enough good about the
39:39
way that this text is so carefully, as you said, knit
39:42
together. The Lord reigneth.
39:44
That was what the priests of Noah were quoting Isaiah 52.
39:48
Yes, yes, it's just. All over here now, we have at
39:51
the end of the book of Mosiah, the correct understanding of
39:55
what that means. The Lord reigneth, and he's not
39:59
a tyrant. He reigns with love and mercy
40:03
and enabling. For all who will come and
40:07
receive him. So while the sons of Mosiah
40:14
leave in Chapter 29, we now get a little bit of time on those 24
40:19
gold plates where Mosiah is able to translate this Jaredite
40:24
record and give us just a hint of what that's going to be
40:27
about. Mosiah translates those.
40:31
Bye. By the seer stones, the yerm and
40:34
thummim that were found with the plates.
40:36
So these the brother of Jared had because they were also a
40:40
Yerm and thummim in the high priest clothing back in the
40:45
temple back with before Lehigh left.
40:49
But this is a different yerm and Thummim and this is the one that
40:52
the brother of Jared had passed down or these are they?
40:55
There's 2 stones. Yerm Anthem.
40:58
And King Mosiah had the gift of prophecy and was able to use
41:02
those. Only those who are seers can
41:05
look in them and see. What we have here then?
41:08
It's 20. Is.
41:10
Chapter 28. Verse 12 and 13.
41:12
But why don't they tell us what the 24 gold plates talk about
41:17
here? They they tell us that he has
41:21
translated them. This is the passage that we
41:26
referred to when we talked about the title page.
41:28
Yes. Where a promise was made that we
41:33
will tell you what's on the 24 plates, another name.
41:37
And you remember Moroni was aware that this promise had been
41:41
given. And it's not until after Mormon
41:44
dies and Moroni does the Book of Ether that he will fulfill this
41:48
promise. I think it's verse 19.
41:51
This account shall be written hereafter, for behold, it is
41:55
expedient that all people should know these things that are
41:57
written on this account. But he doesn't take the time
41:59
during his editing to worry about it.
42:01
Then that's Mormon speaking. He delegates that to his son.
42:05
He's already worked in enough texts here.
42:08
He's told us they came from the tower.
42:10
He's told us all sorts of things about the Jaredites.
42:12
He wants now to emphasize the other.
42:14
So we've had the records of the King Benjamin's speech, we've
42:17
had Zenith, we've had Alma that have been and I to put in
42:21
another record here what it would do more than anything
42:24
else. Confusion.
42:26
No, it would throw off the perfect balance of the book of
42:29
Mosiah. Which is already chiastically
42:31
being organized. So as we recognize that this
42:34
promise that what's on the 24 gold plates will be told later
42:37
invites us to look back on the book of Mosiah and see what
42:41
lessons had actually been learned by all of the the people
42:46
there in the city of Zarahemla and Alma.
42:48
Why are we being told these things?
42:50
And I think it's because they were lessons they had learned
42:54
that would become particularly important and practical in
42:59
Alma's administration of what will come next.
43:02
So, for example, when Zenith goes down and he tries to, you
43:07
know, build a city there and live with the Lamanites, and it
43:11
doesn't work out. But what they've learned in the
43:13
process there is that efforts to recolonize, to go back and
43:18
reclaim Nephite land isn't going to work.
43:22
And Nephites shouldn't go back down there and try to say this
43:26
is our land of inheritance. What the Nephites will do and
43:31
what the four sons of Mosiah will do, they will go back and
43:35
preach. They will take the gospel, but
43:38
they don't want to come back and say we're going to live in your
43:41
land or threaten or take your place.
43:43
So that's a lesson that becomes very relevant to motivating why
43:48
they do what they do. How about Alma?
43:52
We have this elaborate record. Alma the Elder.
43:55
Alma the Elder and the formation of his church and the
43:58
commandments and setting it up with priests and all of that.
44:02
I think that the lesson they learn there is that it's a
44:06
really good idea to start and belong to a covenant community
44:13
that is different from the covenant community that Benjamin
44:18
had set up, where all people who are citizens of the land of
44:22
Zarahemla must enter into a covenant of loyalty to God and
44:27
the king. But now there's more to that
44:31
covenant. And I think when Alma learns all
44:36
that he does about the importance of a covenant
44:39
community and protecting that and even protecting it from
44:44
insiders who need to repent, that is a lesson that Alma will
44:49
take to heart. Because as he will then go
44:51
around to the various cities, he is preaching the gospel of Jesus
44:57
Christ as administered through that church.
45:01
And there will be other churches that will say, well, if you can
45:03
do churches, so can we. And that will become a problem.
45:08
But the answer is not to to get rid of covenant churches.
45:13
The answer is to have the covenant church strong and
45:18
always be open to those who will repent and will join.
45:24
A third lesson that we learn here is that no matter how
45:31
wicked Alma and the four sons of Mosiah were, we're told that
45:35
story in some detail. And I think it's because this
45:41
tells us that there there may be problems that will arise within
45:46
the covenant community, But no matter how wicked people are,
45:49
they can come back. And this will be, I think, an
45:52
important message that Alma will remember in the city of Amaniah.
45:58
And we'll talk about that in a few weeks.
46:01
So the city of Zarahemla, the church there grows and thrives,
46:07
I think partly based on these lessons that were learned here
46:12
in the in the book of Mosiah. And in addition, I think the the
46:21
point that preaching the Gospel is more powerful than politics
46:26
is something that is hinted at here.
46:30
Alma will try politics and for nine years he will hold the
46:35
office of chief judge, high priest, and commander of the
46:40
army for a while. But he will finally say bearing
46:45
testimony and preaching the gospel will change lives and be
46:49
better for this society. One final lesson that the whole
46:54
book of Mosiah will teach us and it's also there in in Mosiah
46:59
other places with the nature of the church and that's the
47:02
important of unity of the people that one of the things that
47:07
it's. Repeated over and over.
47:09
Throughout the Book of Mormon is the importance of unity and
47:14
welcoming all who will come and keeping them united.
47:18
The unity is around Christ. You don't.
47:20
It says you can be different peoples.
47:22
You can be from Zarahemla, you can be from Eulich, you can be.
47:25
That's not the unity. The unity is coming unto our
47:28
testimony of Jesus Christ, receiving him as our Redeemer.
47:31
That's the unity. That's right.
47:33
And where does that begin with King Benjamin where he tells of
47:39
the mission of Christ who's coming and puts them under
47:42
covenant to keep the name of Christ holy.
47:45
So that is the the covenant that all people need to have.
47:52
If you are going to be one, you can't be one with each other if
47:56
you can't be one with God. And that becomes, I think, an
48:02
urgent matter that will be a theme, not just a subtext, but
48:08
something very explicit all the way through to the end of the
48:12
Book of Mormon. That's where we will end today
48:15
with chapter 28. So I think we've found some
48:23
really important things here with the conversion process,
48:27
understanding how people as sinful as Alma and the four sons
48:34
of Mosiah were, how rebellious they were.
48:37
They still could be brought back and the Lord had not forgotten
48:42
them, but they had to ask. They had to realize the
48:47
importance of what they needed. And it's not just for horrendous
48:54
sins that need to be brought back in order to feel born
48:57
again. I feel like we all need to go
49:00
through the repentance process. I'm so grateful that our prophet
49:04
has reminded us to repent daily. And sometimes I repent hourly of
49:08
my thoughts if something is wrong.
49:10
And the more I repent, the more I feel the Spirit of God in my
49:15
life. I feel like the pattern that
49:17
Alma gave us here, that it was recorded in these beautiful
49:21
plates, is a pattern that we can use to find more peace in our
49:25
life because of our Redeemer. Because Jesus has a ton for our
49:31
sins.