Post by Helam,
Now, about Amulon and his partners. As I related earlier, among the priests of King Noah were a few notable ones, specifically Alma and Amulon.
Once Alma had fled from the king, he was a marked man. All the priests under the influence of King Noah wanted him dead. In secret Alma reached out to those who he trusted and would listen, and taught them the words of Abinadi. Fortunately I was one of those. We accepted and rejoiced and repented and over time our number grew to several hundred.
After a while it wasn’t safe for Alma in the city. Alma remained in the wilderness and we retreated out to the forest in the place we call Mormon. Mormon was located near the boarder of the land of Lehi-Nephi. As we gathered together, there were 204 of us that were baptized in the Waters of Mormon, a fountain of pure water. It was there that Alma established a “Church of Christ”. Our numbers grew to 450 souls. It would have continued to grow but Alma was warned of the approach of the king’s men who were sent to destroy us for our “rebellion.” Heeding that warning we fled into the wilderness with whatever we could take with us. God was generous enough with His warning that we were able to gather our flocks and took our grain before we fled into the wilderness. At this point we lost all contact with our other friends and family. It wasn’t until we were re-united in Zarahemla that we were made aware of the tragedy our people faced, the fate of King Noah and how Amulon had escaped that same fate.
We traveled in the wilderness for 8 days before we settled in a beautiful land. It was pleasant and had plenty of pure water. It was here we pitched our tents and began to plant our crops and build homes. It was clearly evident the Lord had given us strength not only to flee but to be industrious.
We were so appreciative for all Alma did for us, we wanted Alma to be our king. But is was not to be. Alma not only said no, he vehemently said no. Alma reminded us of the dangers of having a king. That we would begin to esteem one person above another and the danger we faced when we would get an unrighteous king. It’s one thing to have a righteous king, it is quite another to get an unrighteous one. Alma reminded us of king Noah. Of course, how could we forget him. In his meekness Alma talked about how easy it is to get caught in a snare and to do those things which were abominable in the sight of the Lord.
What made his plea convincing for us to NOT have a king and be led into temptation, was Alma’s description of his repentance process and how much tribulation he had to wade through before he received a remission of his sins. With that, and although we had all been baptized in the Waters of Mormon, we each got more serious about our own personal repentance. Remember, we too had been among the people that had rejected Abinadi.
Alma concluded his extensive case for his refusal of kingness by saying, “And now as you have been delivered by the power of God out of these bonds; yea, even out of the hands of king Noah and his people, and also from the bonds of iniquity, even so I desire that you should stand fast in this liberty wherewith you have been made free, and that you trust no man to be a king over you.”
Alma didn’t actually conclude there. We went on telling us not to trust teachers that were not of God, not walking in His ways and not keeping His commandments. Then he exhorted us to love our neighbors as ourselves and that we should have no contention between us.
So we were without a king, but God had given us Alma as a High Priest, he being the founder of the church. But we didn’t choose Alma. God had chosen Alma.
I will continue with Amulon next.
Book of Mormon – Mosiah 23