Come Follow Me LDS- Mosiah 18-24, Book of Mormon (May 11 - 17)

Bearing Burdens & 'Nasar'
-  Alma's people bear light on the baptismal covenant
-  The Place of Mormon
-  We are all to tried like Abraham and Sarah
-  How 'Nasar' may play a role in the Spiritual Economy
-  The shame of bad decisions and prophets with imperfect pasts
-  Tyranny dislikes religious allegiance

 

 


Website- https://www.cwicmedia.com

Come Follow Me
LDS Mormon Book of Mormon Mosiah Alma

 

in this Cwic come follow me episode

we're going to cover burying each

other's burdens and gnash are there we

go alright so we are going to dip into

Mosiah 18 through 24 in this episode

we're basically picking up where a

minute I left off is kind of a tag-team

here where Abinadi tags out and Alma

tags in right so Alma was present at the

trial of Abinadi he believes the

words of a Bennett I apparently the only

one there or at least the only priest

that believed in what a Bennett I was

saying and he flees out into the

wilderness and there's going to be a

number of people that end up following

him right and are converted and become

baptized and so we can see here that

even though Obinna die is put to death

look at what he changes look at the

lives that he changes just from one

person one person deciding that they're

going to you know believing in his words

and deciding that they're going to stand

up for the truth in reality the entirety

of the people of King Noah for the most

part outside of him and most of his

priests end up converting and moving

with King limb High eventually right

Noah's son back - is there a hem Allah

and with the yet with the other knee

fights and then of course Alma and their

people eventually are going to make it

back to Zarahemla as well even though

they separate for a number of years out

into the wilderness but here Alma now is

going to take the torch and he's going

to preach the gospel of Christ and he's

going to baptize with the authority that

he has remember he always pointed out

that he is a direct descendant of Nephi

and I think that has to do with the

priesthood somehow that has to do with

the priesthood and Obinna die was

right descendent of Nephi as well and so

Alma leaves he begins to preach and

people start to flock to him out in the

wilderness at a place called Mormon a

couple things on the word Mormon that's

kind of an important one to us right

the word Mormon there's been a couple

interpretations out there of what this

place is and what Mormon means one that

is popular that I to me is more of a

full tale than anything is that it means

more good I don't believe that

interpretation

it's a secondhand source that says that

Joseph Smith said that it's meant more

good of course think of how that really

you know the word Mormon more is gonna

happen to be the same thing in English

and Hmong somehow is good it's

it's on shaky ground to me I think quite

a bit and so I don't think that's what

it means the other thing that sometimes

gets interpreted with the word Mormon

and it's from this chapter right here in

chapter 18 is that it means waters of

some sort and I don't think that has

anything to do with it let's as we go

through this chapter you'll see what I

mean I don't think it's necessarily

named for the waters we read here in

verse 4 it says and it came to pass that

as many as did believe him that's Alma

did go forth to a place which was called

Mormon having received its name from the

king being in the borders of the land so

this would be out on the outside

outskirts of the land possibly in some

Hills or mountains having been infested

by times or at seasons by wild beasts

why does that get inserted there to me

this is the thing that seems to be

brought up more than the waters or

anything else it kind of sits out on its

own about these wild beasts and it says

here in verse 7 and it came to pass

after many days there was a goodly

number gathered together at the place of

Mormons of the waters there to hear the

words of Alma they all were gathered

together that believed on his word

to hear him and he did teach them and

did preach unto them repentance and

redemption and faith on the Lord of

course that's what he's teaching what is

he teaching what is the torch that

abated I passed on to Alma based on our

last two episodes right what is it it's

the doctrine of Christ that's what is

brought in here and of course with that

doctrine of Christ now if that had been

lost then even if these individuals had

had some kind of a baptism previously it

may very well have been a baptism that

had nothing to do with Jesus Christ that

would not have been in the proper name

and it wouldn't have been a baptism that

was based on repentance through your

faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus

Christ and so it's very possible that

these other individual that all these

individuals here were already baptized

in some way or another but it would not

be in common anciently when there is a

new start to something to rewash

yourself to go through than the

ordinance anew that may very well be

what is happening here at Mormon and

then we start going into something that

we've spoken a lot about here and that

is the idea the principle of covenant

amongst each other and that's what Alma

through Mormon here is going to explain

to us he says in verse 8 and it came to

pass that he said unto them behold here

are the waters of Mormon for thus they

were called and now as ye are desirous

to come into the fold of God and to be

called his people right remember King

Benjamin they took on the name of Christ

and are willing to bear one another's

burdens that they may be light so that's

a big part of being a member of the

church and you know of course how do we

execute that how do we carry that out

well we have callings right we have

programs we have projects and service

that we go out and help others within

God's fold to help bear their burdens

another way that that happens think

about your own family your own spouse

your own children your own parents is

amongst us how do we bear burdens we

bear the greatest burden typically of

those we love the most and those that we

are the closest to you know as I've said

before one of the words for bearing you

know as if you were to bear a burden

we're carrying in Hebrew is Nassau and

another meaning of Nassau is actually to

forgive and so when we think about the

spiritual economy right amongst us and

and with our Savior that makes a lot of

sense when you think about it right in

that in a way we can make somebody

else's burden lighter and certainly our

own as well if we can forgive people our

burden becomes lighter their burden

becomes lighter and so part of bearing

each other's burdens I think is to give

people the benefit of the doubt and to

have charity for them and to forgive

them

that would be bearing their burden as

well certainly spiritually but this is

the idea of covenant of everybody

reaching down and pulling each other up

that's part of being in the church

that's part of being in a covenant

relationship with the Lord that we're

going to treat others right as we would

want to be treated ourselves the golden

rule and as we talk about the Platinum

rule we want to treat others as we want

God to treat us or judge others as God

will judge us that is all in the char

and it's a central point of the plan of

salvation we don't do this alone

no exalted

man or woman is on an island he

continues in verse nine yay and are

willing to mourn with those that mourn

yea and comfort those that stand in need

of comfort by the waist and can be

another interpretation of the word in

the charr there might be some wordplay

in there and to stand as witnesses of

God at all times and in all things and

in all places so that's something

important too that we should understand

when we become members of the church

right is that's our job is to also bear

witness of the truth to bear witness of

the church to bear witness of the gospel

and especially in our times to defend it

now there's different ways to approach

that you know from Bible bashing to put

your arm around somebody right but we

should defend the doctrine and we should

defend the Brethren and we should defend

the restoration of the church if you are

defining yourself as a covenant person

on a covenant path then that cutting of

the covenant right that cut out that eat

naturally means that you are pulling

away from something else there is a

distinction there is a border there is a

line that you must draw otherwise there

is no definition defining something is

defining what it is and what it's not

and if you're in the game if you are a

player if you are committed in a

covenant relationship then part of that

covenant of being a member of the church

and that baptismal covenant is to defend

the church there are a lot of groups now

that you'll see even within the church

that are that are not that right if we

talk again about the glass half-empty in

the glass half-full the church is not

perfect there are problems there always

will be but it is the greatest

organization in the world and if you if

someone wants to attack the church and

say it's not a good organization what do

you

pairing that to because to me it is the

most righteous organization that has

ever existed that doesn't mean that

there aren't going to be problems that

there aren't mistakes that there aren't

things that you we all need to travail

through that's natural it's supposed to

be that way but if you get to a point

where eventually you are criticizing the

church over and over again that that is

the attitude that is developed that it

is a an organization of a glass

half-empty and that you need to change

it and that is more your relationship

with a church van defending it then I

think that's a problem I don't see

anything here in the baptismal covenant

that says make sure you try to change

the church make sure that you're

criticizing it wherever you can find an

Achilles tendon we can take doubts we

can take things that we don't understand

I have these things all the time come up

and yes we can put them on the shelf and

we can focus our minds and our support

and our love and our spirits behind the

purpose of the church so after Alma has

said these words he and Elam who's

wondering that was there with him we're

buried in the water and they arose and

came forth out of the water rejoicing

being filled with the spirit so the

first baptism was both of them right in

a sense they were both being washed and

new and then the next came in and Alma

baptized that next person than the next

person and in a total here there's a

total of 205 souls that are baptized at

the waters of Mormon at this time and

Alma in verse 18 came to pass that

having authority from God obviously very

important he ordained priests even one

priest to every 50 of their number he

did ordained to preach so at this time

there would have been I guess four

priests and that's a common number right

for the Israelites remember that when

Moses was struggling right he was trying

to tend to everybody and be the judge in

Israel so to speak of all of the people

right

hundreds of thousands of people Jethro

his father-in-law who by the way is the

one that gave Moses the Melchizedek

Priesthood comes to him and says what

are you doing this is crazy and so

that's where they come Mackay MUP with

the idea of building into hundreds and

fifties and tens so fifty is a very

common number for the Israelites a

grouping right under a specific

authority or teacher priest and he gets

very specific with these priests as to

what they're supposed to teach because

this is again very different again we

can we can look at this kind of like our

moment with Lehi and Nephi leaving

Jerusalem right when Alma leaves

the land of Nephi he is leaving the same

thing that the Levites left in Jerusalem

a land of corrupted belief where they

still thought they held a high moral

ground a high moral standing but had

gotten rid of the doctrine of Christ

it's the exact same thing here with the

land of Nephi and so what are they going

to write about what are they going to

make sure that it's taught here it's the

same thing that Lehi Nephi do when we

start off with a book of Mormon they

know that the doctrine of Christ has

been removed

in Jerusalem so they are going to be

very much on their game in making sure

that what they write about is focused on

Jesus Christ and they do so that's what

Alma's doing here it says here in 19 he

commanded them that they should teach

nothing save it where the things which

had been taught and which had been

spoken by the mouth of the Holy Prophets

and all of the holy prophets had

prophesied and preached about Jesus

Christ

yay even he commanded them and he

clarifies it here that they should

preach nothing save it were repentance

on what it says while they get baptized

repentance and faith on the Lord that's

Jehovah who had redeemed his people

right Jesus Christ

then he goes on and shows what a

vineyard I was trying to show the

priests of Noah he says and he commanded

them that they should observe this out

of the Sabbath day and keep it holy and

also every day they should give thanks

to the Lord their God in other words

he's still making sure and putting in I

I believe that's what this is saying

he's putting in the law of Moses right

that's a representation of saying maybe

abridged but they're going to teach the

law of Moses as they're supposed to but

they're going to make sure that they

understand as a Bennett I said that it

is a type of things to come and you

can't get buried in the types of things

and you can't get buried in the law you

know just like today we can't get buried

in the law we can't get buried in the

commandments and think that there's no

destination for those commandments of

where they go what they mean why we have

them and then he also says here again

writing something to make sure that it

is distinct and different from what King

knowing the priests practiced in 26 and

the priests were not to depend upon the

people for their support but for their

labor they were to receive the grace of

God that they might lack strong in the

spirit having the knowledge of God that

they might teach with power and

authority from God so in other words it

seems to me that what he's teaching here

is that when you have a paid priesthood

right when you have bishops when you

have your elders quorum president when

you have all of your leaders even add in

all of the auxiliaries right the Relief

Society president and the primary

president if we're paying all those

people it makes it so that there there's

a loss of the spirit right we fall too

far into the temporal spirit this

temporal economy and that is going to

draw away from put us into debt if you

will on the balance sheet of the

spiritual economy it seems to me like

that is the principle that they are

teaching you cannot have a

paid priesthood certainly not at the

local levels and have a full ability to

make sure that spirituality is what is

taught and that the doctrine stays solid

it's hard enough to do that anyway and

then in verse 30 we get this repeat and

it makes sense from Mormon to do this

his name is Mormon right and so the

first source we get of the word Mormon

is here with Alma at the land of Mormon

in the land of Mormon in 30 it says and

now it came to pass that all this was

done in Mormon yeah by the waters of

Mormon so Mormon is not the waters in

the forest that was near the waters of

Mormon yeah the place of Mormon the

waters of Mormon the forests of Mormon

so you know get all this repeat hear

about the word Mormon and then he says

something interesting looks to me like

he's parroting Isaiah 52 7 to 10 oh how

beautiful are the feet of those on the

mountains right says how beautiful are

they to the eyes of them who there came

to the knowledge of their Redeemer

what is he focusing on it never leaves

this if we pay attention we get the

string that the continual chain

of the doctrine of Christ throughout the

Book of Mormon we see where it gets lost

and then we see where it gets grabbed

onto again so here it passes from a Ben

and I over to Alma and he's making sure

making sure that the doctrine of Christ

is central to what they believe and what

they teach

how beautiful are they to the eyes of

them who their came to the knowledge of

their Redeemer yay and how blessed are

they for they shall sing to his praise

forever sounds to me like they're

parroting Isaiah 52 7 so then Alma is

told that King Noah's army is going to

is coming out

them in the wilderness and so they pack

up everything their tents everything

they've got there and they take off out

further out into the wilderness and then

what happens this is part of the people

leaving out to the place called Mormon

this is part of a bin and I and the

turmoil that he has kind of caused here

right it's kind of like Jesus saying you

know I did not come completely in peace

here right I have come to turn brother

against brother and father against son

and mother against daughter and what

does that mean

it means that there is a big change

that's going to happen there's going to

be contention there's going to be

problems and really everything starts to

unravel at this point because of a bin

and I believe and there are

contentions within there are factions of

different beliefs and people that start

to attack and to criticize and to

protest against King Noah and one of

those people was probably maybe it may

be one of the strongmen one of maybe one

of Noah's own 50 who knows but he was a

warrior and a large strong man and he

chased down King Noah and King Noah

games up going up the tower which was by

the temple this would have probably been

the temple of Nephi and while

they're up there and Gideon's about to

slay him they see that the armies of the

NEFA of the Lamanites are coming up on

the borders of the land and so Noah bags

Gideon to save his life so then King

Noah goes back to his people and says

let's get out of here right and they

flee they run away but they're not

they're not able to outrun the Lamanites

so what does the great king Noah do he

commands that all the men should leave

their wives their women their children

behind and run so that they can get away

a little more light on the character of

King Noah so a number of the men run off

with King Noah and the men that stable

mind who are completely outmatched by

the Lamanites they send their daughters

out it's kind of an interesting tactic

right it's very effective they send the

daughters out to beg for mercy for their

families and the Lamanites buy it right

they have compassion for as we're told

here the fair daughters of the Nephites

and so instead of slaying them they

bring them back to the land of Nephi but

put him under a tax of fifty percent of

everything that they produce and one of

them among those people is Limhi and

he is one of the sons of King Noah and

he ends up becoming the leader the new

king of the people of the land of Nephi

and Limhi sends out Gideon to look for

the man that ran away that left their

women and children behind and they find

him but the men are repentant and they

swear that if they if necessary they

will fight and give up their lives to

redeem themselves for a bad decision

and this is one of those things where

you think about your own life's path

right and you make a bad mistake you

make a bad decision and you're ashamed I

mean this is really bad obviously but

you do sometimes make a big mistake and

you want to redeem yourself and that's

the right thing right you want to redeem

yourself

now how much better would it have been

for them how much better would it have

been for their families if they never

would have left well much much better so

you are starting the game back up so to

speak

further behind it's like you're going

further and further into debt but there

is redemption there for them there can

be redemption as hideous as that is a

mistake to make there can be redemption

for them and of course with us as we

make mistakes there can be redemption

for

there can be hope and there can be

change being ashamed of something you've

done is usually a good thing right it's

you it should be used in a way that it

is a motivator to make yourself better

and I think if you felt that before that

that's a good way to recognize what that

is in some ways it's a gift to help

motivate you to make up for what you've

done and to improve yourself now the men

while they were out there were angry

that they were persuaded to leave their

families and so they take the king they

were gonna take the priests also and do

the same thing but the priests fled away

and so they take the king and they burn

him at the stake it looks like so he

gets a similar death - what a Bennett I

had as was foretold but they can't catch

the priest so the priests run off so

here now is Limhi the son of King Noah

the grandson of King Zenith who is a

vassal king under tribute to the

Lamanite King and they're taxed 50% and

the burdens end up becoming too much for

them a lot of what we're talking about

here is about burden there is a there's

a theme that Mormon is going through I

believe here which is why I titled this

what I did this episode of Nassar there

is a theme that goes through these

chapters that I think Mormon in

intentionally is giving us that has to

do with Michonne it has to do with this

spiritual economy it has to do with

these burdens there is a message built

around all of these little stories about

this covenant of bearing each other's

burdens and the burden for the people of

King limb high is this 50% tax

and other atrocities that come from the

Lamanites now the priests of Noah who

have fled away they are out in the

wilderness and they notice these young

women that are out by themselves dancing

this was a very common thing to do the

ancient Greek women did this in fact a

lot of it is tradition and even ceremony

or ritual but they're out dancing on

their own there's a place where they

would go to and the priests end up

abducting 24 of the young laymen night

women and again this goes back to that

idea of the Sanhedrin that would make

all the sense in the world I don't know

exactly how they would get to exactly 24

so I'm not going to go into a lot of

depth here on and ever there's so much

that happens here in these chapters a

lot of story that goes on but

essentially because the priests took the

daughters the Lamanites get mad they

think it's the people of them high they

come to attack them the people of limb

high the land of Nephi they fight and so

finally they end up capturing the king

of the Lamanites who's wounded they take

him back with him and they tell him

what's going on and Gideon says hey look

I mean this is not us understand that

this is probably the priests who are

still out there because getting is the

one had be who had gone out to try and

capture them so they pacify the king who

pacifies his army they leave him alone

now but they keep the 50% tax on and

what we've been doing here is we've been

filling in the backstory right of

limp I remember going all the way back

now when a man leaves Zarahemla with his

small party and they find the land of

Nephi and they're captured by King limb

high and limb high learns that the

people of Zarahemla are still alive

we've been filling in the backstory on

that all the way from the time of Zenith

to King Noah and Obinna died and now

down to Elma and King limb high we'll

continue with that in a minute with Alma

here but this is now bringing us to if

you'll notice the chapter summary up on

chapter 21 we're

now down to about the time when Ammon

and his small party came to the land of

Nephi so they live in peace for a little

while but the tormenting and the taxes

and the atrocities from the Lamanites

still upon the people of King Lim highs

is too much so they decide to go to war

a couple times they go out to battle

they get slaughtered right they just

they go out to battle but they can't win

they don't have enough people and they

come back and they do it again right

from these atrocities and from these

taxes they just can't live this way it's

too much of a burden on them and so they

settle for now trying to figure out what

what they're going to do how they're

gonna get through this now they

mentioned something here in verse 17

that we get actually a lot because it's

a very common thing in the ancient world

it's a common thing today and that's

about widows right it says here in verse

17 now there was a great number of women

more than there was of men therefore

King Lim High commanded that every man

should impart to the support of the

widows and their children that they

might not perish with hunger and this

they did because of the greatness of

their number that had been slain now

going back again anciently right this

isn't a matter of a patriarchy in or

anything like that right it's

you're working the land and how does a

woman do that as effectively with

especially when she might have little

children right it's very difficult for

her to be able to do that not to mention

the fact that you're down to one parent

so this is something that is included in

the duties of the Melchizedek Priesthood

actually today right when you are a high

priest especially your duty is to take

care of the widows so we get these

little traces throughout the scriptures

about these things that are mentioned

and as far as Covenants goes as far as

charity and lifting up those that

are in need that's something that is

mentioned often and it's a priest of the

responsibility so now we get down to a

min here

now we're back full circle to a man

coming in and meeting with King Lehi and

as they go over these things the

hearts of the people of limb high they

have a broken heart and a contrite

spirit they are desperate and they are

converted and they ask a man actually

you know hey can you baptize us we want

to be baptized we want to be part of

what Alma was teaching but Ammon says

he's not the right guy and this is an

interesting point here because he says

in verse 33 and they came to pass the

King Lim high and many of his people

were desirous to be baptized but there

was none in the land that had authority

from God that's kind of interesting did

they just think there wasn't was there

was there no one of the previous priests

that would have had the authority were

they all dead did they die in battle

right this is obviously not a widespread

thing like we have today there are very

few that hold this Authority but there

was none of the land that had authority

from God and then it's a period and

Ammon declined doing this thing

considering himself an unworthy servant

it sounds like Ammon has the priesthood

to me but he's declining to do awhile

swear they bring this up

they don't say that he's one of those

that doesn't have the authority says

that he didn't consider himself a worthy

servant which is an interesting point

here because he's a Mulekite so if

that's true that Ammon here has the

authority but is unworthy and won't do

it for that reason then we would assume

that mule kites would have received the

priesthood some of them would have

received the priesthood from the

Nephites and it might be even like it is

today if there are some that could claim

Levitical lines of priesthood in other

words coming from directly from Aaron

actually right if you're a son of Aaron

even today in the Doctrine come

you are automatically born with that

authority you don't even need to have

hands laid on your head to receive the

Aaronic priesthood nothing has changed

from the old days right you are born

with that and you have the right of it

in fact you have the right of the

position of bishop of the office of

Bishop not to do Melchizedek priesthood

things but to do the Aaronic priesthood

functions of calling a bishop which is

an ironic priesthood office so maybe

there is some Aaronite Levitical blood

that is running through the Mulekites

from the original party of Mulek right

there the son of Zedekiah he wouldn't

have it although he may have some right

to a monistic priesthood that's possible

but they would not have the right of the

ironic creased hood by birth but maybe

part of his circle part of the party

that went with him would have had that

that wouldn't be surprising and that

might be why a man has this that would

we be really interesting to find out as

if they went through the bloodlines of

the mule kites to find that Aaronite

blood so they can't get baptized at

this point well they want to be but they

do devise a plan to get out of bondage

right to get out from under this burden

and so we get these stories here the

covenant that they make at baptism here

is to bear each other's burdens right

that's one side of it we want the burden

of others right and then there's the

tyrannical burden that is placed on us

in this mortality there are burdens that

are placed on us that we don't go out

and seek in terms of charity or support

but we're given weaknesses and we're

given trials like Abraham and Sarah

probably not that bad typically but

eventually probably right we're all

going to be tried like Abraham and Sarah

so we get both

here of this this idea of burden of

mashach so they devised a plan they get

the guards the limonite guards drunk and

they all flee at night taking everything

with them and they go all the way back

through that with the guidance probably

a new map that am and now is created

because they that's they know the way

because they just came from there and so

now that group has joined back to Zarahemla

right the group were missing still

is Alma’s group so we catch up to them

and get their record which is separate

from Lim highs and the record of Zenith

in chapters 23 and 24 and starting off

in 23 we get this concept that is that

is very particular to the Book of

Mormon and in many ways different from

the Old Testament and that's the idea of

kingship here you have Mormon who has

just been comparing and contrasting King

Benjamin with King Noah right and then

kind of looking at the different roles

that are played there with the King of

Kings with Jehovah the one who sits on

the throne in the Holy of Holies but

this idea of kingship we get a little

bit of doctrine here about having a king

over a people and it says here in verse

6 and the people were desirous that alma

should be their King for he was beloved

by his people now think of a scenario

they just came out of right they were

not in a good situation with a king they

had and this is what he tells them in

response he says behold it is not

expedient that we should have a king for

thus saith the Lord he shall not esteem

one flesh above another now taking that

in mind here for a moment think about

the way things are in the church right

if the truth is that we believe in

some ways in a more of a democratic

royalty and when I say that what I mean

is that the peep

are actually kings and queens in a sense

and so there's a different

there's a different doctrine in the

church right that we might find

somewhere else and to me it has to do

with that doctrine of Christ it has to

do with the ascension part it has to do

with us being in the image of God you

know where everybody is to be a king and

a queen and a priest and a priestess but

to have one king over you to esteem one

flesh above the other is very dangerous

and he says you don't want one man to

think of himself above another right so

the example of King Benjamin where that

works out really well is one where he

did not do that right we get the example

through the ritual the tradition of him

being a servant to his people that's

important to even Christ

even Christ who is our King our King of

Kings descended below all people to

serve them right part a major part of

the doctrine of Christ but we need to

accept we don't want to fall into the

trap that King Noah and his priests -

well God wouldn't be like us right if we

want that to me in my experience my

relationship with a savior is

strengthened when I understand that more

and more that he wants to come down to

my level and he did to help me out so he

reminds everybody about the iniquity of

king Noah and that he himself says I

myself was caught in a snare and did

many things which were abominable in the

sight of the Lord which caused me sore

repentance so again here's an idea here

where we have those men who had left

their women and children and and you

know the shame well he's going through

the same thing so don't think to

yourself that all those men that left

their you know how do you forgive them

well pretty tough that's for sure

right but here you have a prophet of the

Lord one of the main central figures of

the entire Book of Mormon who himself is

saying

that he did abominable things do we give

him Craig credence do we give him

honor do we give him reverence for who

he is of course because we believe in

the atonement he says here nevertheless

after much tribulation the Lord did hear

my cries and did answer my prayers and

has made me an instrument in his hands

in bringing so many of you to a

knowledge of its truth it's very

possible that sometimes the Lord needs

these types of individuals because they

understand from where they've been how

to help people stay away from it right

they've gone through the mental

gymnastics they've gone through the

spiritual gymnastics they've gone

through the consequences and the shame

right the tribulation and they can warn

others about it or they think they can

understand like the Savior does when

someone has been is in that situation

now and we who are imperfect can take

someone like Alma and use him as an

example for us in that way we can't even

have a savior give us an example of that

right he's an example in the sense that

he took it on but he didn't do things

that caused himself shame right the

shame was laid on him the burdens were

laid on him but he didn't cost that and

so we think oftentimes of Alma the

younger right Alma's son later on here

where we really get the emphasis on this

in in Mosiah 27 here coming up shortly

of someone who has lost their way and

then had a huge change that's the father

also

I almost father how will the youngers

father is the same way he did the same

thing so you can imagine when Alma the

younger goes through this Alma knows

them dad he already knows he's not some

perfect human being that has never made

big mistakes he knows what his son is

going through he went through it pretty

interesting to think about so they go

off into the wilderness

Alma does not accept being king they

start building a new land right a new

village so to speak called Gilam and this

is kind of interesting there's some

possibilities for what Gilam means and my

little bit of research on this it seems

to me that this has a lot to do with

being for example mighty or a fortress

and area fortress or something that

means steadfast or to stand fast and

look at the word that we get here in

verse 13 of 23 and now as he have been

delivered by the power of God out of

these bonds right that's leaving out

from King Noah even out of the hands of

King Noah and his people and also from

the bonds of iniquity even so I desire

that ye should stand fast in this

Liberty wherewith he have been made free

and that you trust no man to be a king

over you so if he's gonna be playing

with words which they oftentimes do this

is part of the way they write it would

make sense that they would call this

land heal him because he brings that up

here in a few more verses he also says

by warning trust no one to be your

teacher nor your minister except he be a

man of God I get this with my kids right

who leave and you probably have to some

of you you've got kids that leave

the nest and now they're subject to less

of an anchor in place every day and

there's all these new concepts and

ideologies that get thrown their way and

you've got to be able to identify are

these people of God right are these

people who walk in his ways and keep his

Commandments

that's a key because otherwise the

likelihood that you're going to be

swayed to something different to a

different to something that we can

easily today compared to a virus right

some virus that infects you a spiritual

virus is fairly high so it's very good

advice make sure that your teachers

those that have will even put this into

a broader spectrum and say those that

have an influence over you your friends

right who do you surround yourself with

are they men and women of God and do

they walk in the way and keep his

Commandments and we're told here that

Alma was their high priest so that's

interesting to think about because later

on in Alma we get a whole sermon on the

Melchizedek priesthood and on Melchizedek

it's always this the high priest and the

ironic priesthood or is this a high

priest of a priest of El Elyon so to

speak which would be other multi-city

priesthood they must have the motivic

priesthood because that's where the more

their priesthood would come from not

from the ironic priesthood they're not

Aaronites that's though some of the

mullah kites might be but the Nephites

are not Aaronites

and in nineteen and it came to pass that

they began to prosper exceedingly in the

land and they called the land Gilam so

maybe steadfast right or stand fast

mighty a fortress and then real quick in

twenty-two nevertheless whosoever

putteth his trust in him his faith

that's what faith is his trust in him

the same shall be lifted up at the last

day and thus it was with his people I

always tried to emphasize that phrase

when you see it lift it up

because it's so central to our concepts

or principles of the Nehor principle

and an understanding of the doctrine of

Christ because that brazen serpent who

represents Christ was raised up right

and you'll see that phrase often and I

believe that the authors in the Old

Testament in the New Testament and here

in the Book of Mormon know exactly what

they are referring to and it is this

whole concept that all this context and

richness that is brought together into

the doctrine of Christ look for that

phrase lift it up and know that that is

a there's a lot behind that so then the

lost laminate army happens to fall upon

the people that heal him here Alma and

his people and they find him there and

they trick them they tell them that

they're gonna let him go and they'll be

free as long as they tell them how to

get back to the land of Nephi again we

think about the terrain here and I don't

do a lot of geography stuff but you know

think about the terrain these are people

that have lived here their whole lives

and yet you know we're talking about a

decent distance here but they can't find

their way back and oftentimes these

parties leave the land of Nephi they're

coming from Zarahemla they're the

Lamanites here now they don't know how

to get back to these places so we can

imagine that the Train the terrain is

very tricky it's very difficult may be

very thick jungles may be cliffs and

mountains and but a difficult terrain to

find your way around and in the meantime

this army had fallen upon the priests

and the priests of King Noah and

the priest has sent there now new wives

out to claim and to beg for

compassion right so they do the same

thing that the men that had remained

behind with her men and their

their wives and their children did from

the people of limb hi very effective

it's a very effective thing to do you

know when you when you try and meet

strength with strength sometimes that's

not the best way to do it there are

different types of strength and that

is a female strength and a mule on who

is the leader

the priest who would have been there

with Alma in the tribunal of Abinadi has

made friendly with the Lamanites and he

ends up as the overlord so to speak of

Helium and a few other villages and they

do something really interesting they

began to tell the people of Alma that

they can't even pray and Ammulon has been

put into this priestly type of position

with the Lamanites where he's teaching

them but of course again he doesn't

teach the doctrine of Christ and he's

not even teaching them the law of Moses

right because again I mean if you don't

have a doctrine of Christ what so what's

the point anyway so they you know there

might be some principles that he's

bringing here but the Lamanites actually

start to grow into prosper under a mule

on so they persecute the people of Alma

and they lay very Grievous burdens on

them they don't allow them here these

people have just been converted and had

these incredible spiritual experiences

if they catch them praying and they're

gonna put him to death right the a

mule on and his Lamanites are going to

put them to death which is again a very

common thing when you when you have a

civilization a society that is taken

over by a tyrannical power they can't

afford for people to gather under a

different ideology that looks up to

somebody else right outside of the state

that's what we see with Marxism right a

little bit even with Nazism and if

there's enough strong Allegiance there

in the church then they're gonna feel

like hate you don't have allegiance to

me and we see that today we see that in

in China we see that in North Korea we

see that in Cuba we see the conflicts

that happen in Venezuela even and of

course the same thing that would happen

in the Middle East looks like that's

opening up a little bit in some places

even within the church right and we've

got a temple going in into the Middle

East here but for the most part those

are theocracies where if you don't

follow their religion on the state then

you're very Lim

what you can do there they don't want

allegiance to something else so they the

people of Alma they secretly pour their

souls out in prayer that they can be

relieved of these burdens right it's

more burdens it's tyrannical burdens

just like the people of Limhi went

through and that's an interesting point

the people of Alma became converted and

did the right thing they did the right

thing and they started building they're

all there they started building up

healing this new society whether there

was no contention and there was peace

they were doing the right thing and look

what happened to him right there put

into a horrible circumstance horrible

circumstance may be worse than it was

even with King Noah bad things happen to

good people we all have to go through

different trials and we all get put in

different situations so that we can grow

closer to the Lord we can refine

ourselves through struggle regardless of

whether we are doing the right thing or

not

and everybody has to do this everybody

gets this thrown at them maybe some more

in this life maybe some more in another

but they also get all these burdens

placed onto them it’s Nasar right

they're bearing these burdens and then

the Lord says finally of them answers

their prayers I'll answer your prayers

you're going to be able to leave

tomorrow he puts a deep sleep over the

Lamanites who knows maybe they got drunk

too and the people escape while they're

in this deep sleep and they eventually

find ourselves find their ways back to

Zarahemla and so now we have the people

of all the people of Limhi that were

there and this band of alma-ites right

that also find their way back to Zaire

ahem Allah so now we've got them all

back together

everybody's back together so this whole

excursion that Zenith had 80 years ago

brought about all these other records

and these other stories of King Noah and

Obinna died and Alma and Lin

hi and Gideon and the wicked priests and

now they're all coming full circle again

right again that concept of covenant

there's a splitting apart and then

there's a bringing back together again

so burdens we all carry burdens that are

given to us in mortality we all have

this this necessity to grow and we

probably wouldn't do it on our own but

we agreed in the pre-existence we agree

agreed in our premortal life to do this

and we should remember that we agreed

that we would be tried like Abraham and

Sarah so that we could grow that we

would take on the battle scars of

mortality the anxieties and the

depressions and the turmoil the pain

this struggle right in life that is

sometimes worse than others so that we

could grow and become more like the

Savior that's part of the plan and this

whole theme here I believe is Mormon

purposefully talking about these things

and giving us this theme of bearing each

other's burdens or as of burdens as a

whole burdens are given to us in

mortality regardless of whether we want

them or not regardless of whether or not

we're doing the right thing now there

might be fewer because we're doing the

right thing but regardless we're going

to be given burden so that we can grow

and the idea of being in the church

knowing that everybody has burdens is

that we help each other out to bear

these other people's burdens for them

and forgive others as part of that mesh

our

that's part of the plan of salvation all

of these burdens are to be given to us

while we're here on earth we help each

other out and we reach out stronger to

the Savior and to our heavenly father

and we become more like them through the

char through bearing each other's

burdens and the burdens that are put

upon our backs I'll talk to you next

time

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