I am tackling the Book of Mormon in 60 days. My plan is to have the Book of Mormon studied by the end of 2011. During my challenge, I will post a daily blog of my reading, in this blog I will share with you... my thoughts, feelings, opinions and knowledge about the Book of Mormon. Do you have questions? Comments? Please... lets start a discussion. I would be more than happy to answer your questions, comments or concerns!
Request a FREE copy of the Book of Mormon: http://mormon.org/free-book-of
How the Book of Mormon came about: http://youtu.be/FMQEb9A9L2g
Scripture Thought (What I Learned):
Chapter 15: Alma and Amulek go to the land of Sidom to teach and establish the church there. Zeezrom being sick on his bed, is worried that Alma and Amulek might have been killed, hears about them in the land of Sidom and sends for them to come unto him. Alma and Amulek travel to visit Zeezrom, and he asks them to heal him. This shows that someone can go from persecuting to believing through the power of the Holy Ghost, he knew know of the power that God had and what power God had bestowed on his servants. He asks them to heal him from his sickness, they do so with his faith in Jesus Christ. The church in the land of Sidom prospers.
Chapter 16: The lamanites come upon the land of Ammonihah and destroy basically every living thing in the land, so much in fact that they later name the land, "the land of desolation". The Lord however told Alam that the lamanites would be crossing over the river of Sidon, and with this intel, Zoram leads an army to ambush the lamanites and cause them to scatter and take back their captive brothers.
We learn something important about missionary work... "...the Lord did pour out his Spirit on all the face of them land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word..." (Alma 16:16) We see that God is constantly preparing people to hear his message... it is up to us (as members of the church) to share with others the messages of the church. To share with the world what we know to be true. We should remember to never be pushy, we just need to share. If the Lord has prepared someone to listen to us, we will know, because they will respond to our message.
Alma and Amulek aslso preach that Jesus Christ will appear to the Nephites after his resurrection. Keep in mind that they are preaching this only about 70-80 years before Christ will be born.
Chapter 17: We learn that the sons of Mosiah have/ and are led by the Spirit of prophecy and of revelation. They depart their own ways to teach different people in different lands. Ammon goes to the land of Ishmael and finds the king of the land, King Lamoni. He wins over the king by saving his flock that were lost at the waters of Sebus. When Ammon finds the kings flock, he discovers that there are men who are scattering the flocks. Essentially he tells them to stop scattering the flocks and they try to hurt him, but he kills several of them with stones. Then they are angered and raise up their arms to "smite" him. But every arm that is raised to "smite" him, he cuts off. They run off and the flock is safe from the people that scattered them. Ammon returns to the king with the mission complete and the arms of the men who tried to attack him. The king is astonished by his power and Ammon becomes his servant.
Chapter 18: King Lamoni hears about what happened at the waters of Sebus and starts to believe that Ammon might be "the great spirit". He has Ammon come to him, that he might ask him if he is the Great Spirit. Here is the conversation between the two (can be found in Alma 18:24-40):
And Ammon began to speak unto him with a boldness, and said unto him: Believest thou that there is a God?
And he answered, and said unto him: I do not know what that meaneth.
And then Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a a Great Spirit?
And he said, Yea.
And Ammon said: This is God. And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in heaven and in the earth?
And he said: Yea, I believe that he created all things which are in the earth; but I do not know the heavens.
And Ammon said unto him: The heavens is a place where God dwells and all his holy angels.
And king Lamoni said: Is it above the earth?
And Ammon said: Yea, and he looketh down upon all the children of men; and he a knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning.\
And king Lamoni said: I believe all these things which thou hast spoken. Art thou sent from God?
Ammon said unto him: I am a man; and man in the beginning was created after the image of God, and I am called by his Holy Spirit to teach these things unto this people, that they may be brought to a knowledge of that which is just and true; And a portion of that a Spirit dwelleth in me, which giveth me knowledge, and also power according to my faith and desires which are in God.
Now when Ammon had said these words, he began at the creation of the world, and also the creation of Adam, and told him all the things concerning the fall of man, and rehearsed and laid before him the records and the holy scriptures of the people, which had been spoken by the prophets, even down to the time that their father, Lehi, left Jerusalem. And he also rehearsed unto them (for it was unto the king and to his servants) all the journeyings of their fathers in the wilderness, and all their sufferings with hunger and thirst, and their travail, and so forth. And he also rehearsed unto them concerning the rebellions of Laman and Lemuel, and the sons of Ishmael, yea, all their rebellions did he relate unto them; and he expounded unto them all the records and scriptures from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem down to the present time. But this is not all; for he expounded unto them the plan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of the world; and he also made known unto them concerning the coming of Christ, and all the works of the Lord did he make known unto them.
And it came to pass that after he had said all these things, and expounded them to the king, that the king believed all his words.
We learn that Ammon had to take what the king Lamoni had already know and start teaching him from there. Often times, full time missionaries or members of the church try to start teaching something that the person being taught has no knowledge of. Because of this when we teach, we need to always adapt our teaching methods to the situation and the person.
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