Post by Aaron –
Whereas 500 years ago, our father, the Prophet Lehi taught there must be opposition in all things, I wish to illustrate the truth in his prophetic declaration. Wherein we suffered much in Middoni, we gloried in the blessing of God in the land of Nephi. After we departed Middoni, the Spirit led us up to the land of Nephi even into the house of the king, the father of Lamoni who is now with Ammon in the land of Ishmael.
We bowed ourselves before the king and told him we were the men he delivered out of the Middoni prison. As Ammon did with King Lamoni, we knelt and offered ourselves as servants. The experience he had with Ammon greatly troubled him. He wasted no time. He commanded us to rise and said the generosity and the greatness of the words of Ammon caused him great distress. Though disappointed we were not Ammon, he understood when we told him Ammon was called by the Spirit to return to teach the people of Lamoni.
He explained to us that when Ammon warned him that if he repented, he would be saved but if he did not repent he would be cast off at the last day. This is what I referred to earlier. In Middoni, we were hated, abused, and cast into prison. Now, we stood in the presence of the king of all the land, and he asked us to teach him about repentance. Oh, the mercies of the Lord. How we appreciate and recognize God’s hand more even in our trials when we experience both good and bad.
My heart nearly sank however when, after I asked the king if he believed there is a God, he said he knew the Amalekites said that there is a God and that he let them build sanctuaries to worship him. So, think of that example. The Amalekites? So the king’s understanding of God is based on the belief of the Amalekites and how they worship God? Think of that. The Amalekites are an evil ferocious apostate people who are more hardened against the true God and against the traditions of the Nephites than any other. They teach against a Christ who should come, professing that no one can know of such things. They teach that God will redeem all people. They teach after the order of the Nehors. I know the Amalekites, we taught among them with little success. And this is the baseline where we started with the king. I felt it would be better to start anywhere else.
I had to distance ourselves from the Amalekites and their false perception of God. I started from scratch. My hope began to bud when he said that if we say there is a God, he would believe. My heart began to rejoice. With all my heart I said that as sure as he, the king lived, there is a God. He then asked if that Great Spirit that brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem is God. I said that indeed God is that Great Spirit and that he created all things both in heaven and in earth.
Then he said that he did believe that the Great Spirit created all things and that he wanted us to teach him concerning all these things and that he would believe all our words.
What more could we, as disciples of Christ, ask for? The king over the whole land asked us to teach him of all these things and he would believe. There was only one place to begin, at the beginning.
The next post contains a summary of the entire message we shared. Oh, how we rejoice in the Lord and His mercy and goodness.
Book of Mormon – Alma 22
