We're starting with Alma chapter 13 this week. Alma's talking to the people at Ammonihah. He was contending with Zeezrom, but that guy's out of the picture for now, having been unable to get the best of Alma. Some awful things are going to happen, but let's slow down a bit and take a look at this fascinating instruction Alma gives us on foreordination and the Priesthood.

In the first verse we learn that "the Lord God ordained priests after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people." This is the Melchizedek Priesthood. We'll get to that a little more later, but it's important to know that's what we're talking about here. Clarification is found in Doctrine and Covenants 107:3-4, which reads: "Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God. But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood."

Again in the first verse, it was "to teach these things unto the people." The job of the Priesthood was to teach the commandments to the people, and show them how to look to Christ for redemption. This must be important, because Alma repeats it in verse 6.

Verse 3 indicates that a foreordination took place with regards to this Priesthood. Particularly, it was "on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil" and their having chosen good. Notice there was free agency in our premortal life, and there were varying degrees of faithfulness. In fact, President Joseph Fielding Smith mentioned that: "God gave his children their free agency even in the spirit world, by which the individual spirits had the privilege, just as men have here, of choosing the good and rejecting the evil, or partaking of the evil to suffer the consequences of their sins. Because of this, some even there were more faithful than others in keeping the commandments of the Lord." I have a quote from Spencer W. Kimball related to foreordination. It's from the Sunday School manual, so you can be sure I use the manual in the preparation of my lessons. President Kimball said: "Before we came here, faithful women were given certain assignments while faithful men were foreordained to certain priesthood tasks. While we do not remember the particulars, this does not alter the glorious reality of what we once agreed to. You are accountable for those things which long ago were expected of you just as are those we sustain as prophets and apostles!"

So we made choices in the premortal world, and we were assigned certain tasks to accomplish here. At this point, our job is faith and repentance. We must be "sanctified", or "made holy" so that we can be worthy of the callings the Lord has for us. Verse 12: "Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence; and there were many, exceedingly great many, who were made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God." I'm happy to have a quote from "The Miracle of Forgiveness" on this scripture, since our Bishop recently has been encouraging us to read that book. This is from chapter 22, near the end of the book: "This passage indicates an attitude which is basic to the sanctification we should all be seeking, and thus to the repentance which merits forgiveness. It is that the former transgressor must have reached a 'point of no return' to sin wherein there is not merely a renunciation but also a deep abhorrence of the sin where the sin becomes most distasteful to him and where the desire or urge to sin is cleansed out of his life. Surely this is what is meant, in part at least, by being pure in heart! And when we read in the Sermon on the Mount that the 'pure in heart' shall see God, it gives meaning to the Lord's statement, made through the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1832, that presently impure people can perfect themselves and become pure: Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will. (D&C 88:86.)"

Melchizedek's people are given as a great example of this type of repentance. We get as much information about Melchizedek here as we can find just about anywhere. I suppose we'll let the Book of Mormon speak for itself here, in verses 17 and 18: "Now this Melchizedek was a king over the land of Salem [Salem was an early name for Jerusalem]; and his people had waxed strong in iniquity and abomination; yea, they had all gone astray; they were full of all manner of wickedness; But Melchizedek having exercised mighty faith, and received the office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of God, did preach repentance unto his people. And behold, they did repent; and Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days; therefore he was called the prince of peace, for he was the king of Salem; and he did reign under his father."

Having said all this, Alma again calls the people of Ammonihah to repentance: "Now is the time to repent, for the day of salvation draweth nigh" (verse 21). In verse 22: "Yea, and the voice of the Lord, by the mouth of angels, doth declare it unto all nations; yea, doth declare it, that they may have glad tidings of great joy; yea, and he doth sound these glad tidings among all his people, yea, even to them that are scattered abroad upon the face of the earth; wherefore they have come unto us." This is the order of things: the mission of angels is to declare the gospel to the inhabitants of the earth. "Glad tidings" are the gospel, the announcement of the coming of Christ. It is synonymous with "good news," which is what the word gospel means. That's the purpose of angels, you see, since the gospel can't be figured out be reasoning or observation alone. We're incapable of figuring out the gospel for ourselves. So God sends angels to declare the "glad tidings" to mankind, and those to whom the angels are sent bear witness, or testimony, to mankind. It's a marvelous pattern.

So Alma concludes his speech to the people of Ammonihah by encouraging them to repent of their sins and to turn to God. Chapter 14, verse 1: "And it came to pass after he had made an end of speaking unto the people many of them did believe on his words, and began to repent, and to search the scriptures." But most of them don't. Alma and Amulek are arrested and put on trial. This is where Zeezrom comes back into the picture. Verses 6 and 7: "And it came to pass that Zeezrom was astonished at the words which had been spoken; and he also knew concerning the blindness of the minds, which he had caused among the people by his lying words; and his soul began to be harrowed up under a consciousness of his own guilt; yea, he began to be encircled about by the pains of hell. [There's your encircling again. You're either embraced by the one side or the other -- we see the middle eastern influence on the Book of Mormon in these phrases.] And it came to pass that he began to cry unto the people, saying: Behold, I am guilty, and these men are spotless before God. And he began to plead for them from that time forth; but they reviled him saying: Art thou also possessed with the devil? And they spit on him, and cast him out from among them, and also all those who believed in the words which had been spoken by Alma and Amulek; and they cast them out, and sent men to cast stones at them." That's an ominous time for any people, when they cast out the few righteous that remain among them. Well, they're going to do even worse.

Verse 8: "And they brought their wives and children together, and whosoever had been taught to believe in the word of God they caused that they should be cast into the fire; and they also brought forth their records which contained the holy scriptures, and cast them into the fire also, that they might be burned and destroyed by fire." So they burned to death all the women and children who believed the gospel, and they forced Alma and Amulek to watch. Afterwards, the chief judge comes and slaps them in the face, and asks them sarcastic questions. They refuse to even respond, and are thrown into prison. There, the lawyers, judges, priests, and teachers come in regularly, asking them pointed questions, and they continue their silence. All the people begin slapping them in the face; they're getting really frustrated that they can't even get a word out of those two. They start making fun of them, as seen in verses 21 and 22: "And many such things did they say unto them, gnashing their teeth upon them, and spitting upon them, and saying: How shall we look when we are damned? And many such things, yea, all manner of such things did they say unto them; and thus did they mock them for many days. And they did withold food from them that they might hunger, and water that they might thirst; and they also did take from them their clothes that they were naked; and thus they were bound with strong cords, and confined in prison."

Eventually, Alma has had enough. Verse 26: "And Alma cried, saying: How long shall we suffer these great afflictions, O Lord? O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ, even unto deliverance. And they broke the cords with which they were bound; and when the people saw this, they began to flee, for the fear of destruction had come upon them." But the people arent going to get far: "And it came to pass that so great was their fear that they fell to the earth, and did not obtain the outer door of the prison; and the earth shook mightily, and the walls of the prison were rent in twain, so that they fell to the earth; and the chief judge, and the lawyers, and priests, and teachers, who smote upon Alma and Amulek, were slain by the fall thereof." So the chapter ends with Alma and Amulek walking butt-naked out of the crumbled prison, and the remaining townsfolk freaking out and running away.

Alma and Amulek head up to Sidom at this point, which is where the people who had been kicked out of Ammonihah for believing the gospel had gathered. This is another difficult task for those two, I'm sure: they have to report the bad news. Chapter 15, verse 2: "And they related unto them all that had happened unto their wives and children, and also concerning themselves, and of their power of deliverance." What a great trial for the believing folks, having to lose their families.

Zeezrom is in Sidom as well, and he isn't doing so well. It's a psychological thing; he's sick nearly to death because of his guilt. He assumes Alma and Amulek are dead, and it's his fault. Well, word gets out that they're in town, and he sends a request that they come visit him. Verse 5: "And it came to pass that they went immediately, obeying the message which he had sent unto them; and they went in unto the house unto Zeezrom; and they found him upon his bed, sick, being very low with a burning fever; and his mind also was exceedingly sore because of his iniquities; and when he saw them he stretched foth his hand and besought them that they would heal him." Alma asks him some questions, and he says that he believes in Christ, and Christ's power to save, and thus he is able to be healed. This is a happy ending indeed: "And Alma baptized Zeezrom unto the Lord; and he began from that time forth to preach unto the people" (Verse 12). Upon conversion, the most vociferous opponents of the gospel tend to become the greatest, most zealous missionaries. The people of Sidom repented, and the church was established there, but the city of Ammonihah remained in iniquity.

Amulek had originally taken Alma into his home, and made him a part of his family. Now we see this working the other way in verses 16 and 18: "And it came to pass that Alma and Amulek, Amulek having forsaken all his gold, and silver, and his precious things, which were in the land of Ammonihah, for the word of God, he being rejected by those who were once his friends and also by his father and his kindred... therefore [Alma] took Amulek and came over to the land of Zarahemla, and took him to his own house, and did administer unto him in his tribulations, and strengthened him in the Lord."

War breaks out in chapter 16. The Lamanites make a raid on Nephite territory, coming in on the west side of the river Sidon. We read in verses 2 and 3: "For behold, the armies of the Lamanites had come in upon the wilderness side, into the borders of the land, even into the city of Ammonihah, and began to slay the people and destroy the city. And now it came to pass, before the Nephites could raise a sufficient army to drive them out of the land, they had destroyed the people who were in the city of Ammonihah, and also some around the borders of Noah, and taken others captive into the wilderness." Here is prophecy being fulfilled. The people of Ammonihah had laughed at the idea of their great city being destroyed, and particularly at the thought that it could happen in a single day. Well, "the people of Ammonihah were destroyed; yea, every living soul of the Ammonihahites was destroyed, and also their great city, which they said God could not destroy because of its greatness. But behold, in one day it was left desolate; and the carcases were mangled by dogs and wild beasts of the wilderness" (verses 9-10).

Well, the Nephites gather up an army as quickly as they can, and they want to save the hostages that the Lamanites had taken. Here's the key, in verse 5: "Therefore, he that had been appointed chief captain over the armies of the Nephites, (and his name was Zoram, and he had two sons, Lehi and Aha) -- now Zoram and his two sons, knowing that Alma was high priest over the church, and having heard that he had the spirit of prophecy, therefore they went unto him and desired of him to know whither the Lord would that they should go into the wilderness in search of their brethren, who had been taken captive by the Lamanites." By following the instructions given by the Lord through his prophet, they were able to rescue the hostages without losing a single one of them.

After this, Alma and Amulek, as well as others so appointed, spent a lot of time preaching to the Nephites. Notice that the lived a sort of Zion lifestyle: "And there was no inequality among them; the Lord did pour out his Spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming" (verse 16). It's interesting how equality marks the times of the Lord's greatest blessings upon the people of the promised land, while the appearance of rich and poor people always portends disaster.

Let's finish off the lesson with the last two verses, 20 and 21, of Alma chapter 16: "And many of the people did inquire concerning the place where the Son of God should come; and they were taught that he would appear unto them after his resurrection; and this the people did hear with great joy and gladness. And now after the church had been established throughout all the land -- having got the victory over the devil, and the word of God being preached in its purity in all the land, and the Lord pouring out his blessings upon the people -- thus ended the fourteenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi."

Church Educational System, Book of Mormon Student Manual (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981).

Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Part 2 (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2004).

Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness (Bookcraft, 1969).

Joseph Fielding McConkie and Robert L. Millet, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Volume 3 (Bookcraft, 1991).