Chapter 22

What caught my eye with the escape story this time was how the tracks of hundreds if not thousands of people plus their animals could be covered up so that the Lamanite army could lose them.  My thought was, even though we think we are leaving a big trail behind us in our sinful wake, the Lord through his loving kindness erases the tracks. 

Chapter 21

The effects of wicked King Noah’s reign continued to plague his son Limhi as he tried to make due under Lamanite bondage.  King Limhi’s people are a classic case of the sins of the fathers being passed on with severe consequences to the next generation.  Innocent suffering is perplexing to believers and non-believers alike.  Yet, believing in the wisdom of a loving Father in Heaven allows the righteous who believe and exercise faith to make it through life’s most bitter ironies.  When Ammon came with his little band of rescuers we see a type and a shadow of Christ’s loving and delivering hand.  King Limhi’s explicit faith in Ammon’s ability to save them through God’s delivering power allowed the miracle to happen.  Likewise, if we exercise faith in Christ’s saving and redeeming power we can weather our most difficult tests, including suffering for the sins of the fathers. 

Chapter 20

The character traits of Noah’s wicked priests are despicable.  It seems they are rewarded for cowardly and lasciviousness behavior.  Their abduction of the Lamanite girls (after they have deserted their own wives and children) leads to an intense battle and loss of many lives on both sides. Yet their leader, Amulon becomes a Lamanite chief through his marriage to one of his abductees.  In a twist of bitter irony, Amulon enslaves Alma who repented along with his 450 followers. Yet, Alma and his people endure the hardship of their slavery by remaining faithful to God.  Eventually, they are freed by the Lord and they escape to Zarahemla, thus uniting all of the Nephites (except the wicked priests). 

Sometimes it seems that the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer.  This perspective must be challenged through the lens of the Plan of Happiness.  The Lord is the perfect administrator of agency.  He will guide us through our hardships and eventually we will see that all these things give us experience.

Chapter 19

Just before I left on my mission to the Navajos, my dad took the new Triple Combination he and mom had purchased for me and he found a blank page in the back and wrote: “The Lost Expedition.”  Then he proceeded to explain and draw a diagram for me of the adventures of a group of Nephites that left Zarahemla to go back to their homeland in Nephi-Lehi.  It was a fascinating and complex tale.  The story begins with the overzealous Zeniff who caught the adventuring spirit from his days as a spy among the Lamanites in Nephi-Lehi.  He wanted to move there and live among the Lamanites thinking they weren’t so bad after all.  The adventure includes two major escapes, an assassination attempt, and the discovery of an extinct race of people called the Jaredites who left their bones and a record on metal plates behind.  It involves a wicked king, two righteous kings, an amazing prophet named Abinadi, a zealot high priest group leader named Gideon and a rescue party led by the other-not-the-arm-chopper-offer-guy named Ammon.  Alma immerges as the hero prophet and the whole adventure ends with all of the Nephites back home in Zarahemla!

Hearing my dad complete the tale helped me see that he believed the Book of Mormon was true and that Joseph Smith could not have possibly made up such an intricate story.  I wonder how excited he was to send another son off to preach among the Lamanites.  My oldest brother Dave had done so ten years earlier. Maybe he was telling me that my older brother escaped and if I had faith I’d make it back alive too.  

Chapter 18

The beautiful scene of Alma teaching and baptizing at the Waters of Mormon in the Forest of Mormon has been etched into our minds by the artist Arnold Friberg.  In the background of his oil painting are majestic mountains with cascading waterfalls.  In the water, Alma baptizes a worthy saint.  Coming forth out of the water is a newly baptized sister.   In the foreground, a brother who has been assigned to watch for their enemies stands ready to warn and defend. This is a sacred place.  The covenant of baptism is the gateway to heaven.  Jesus Christ covers us by his atoning sacrifice.  When we are baptized we take upon us his name and his protection.  We become his sons and daughters.

Sacred places become sacred to us because of the righteous acts of God that take place there.  As we look at our own sacred experiences there is often a sense of place accompanying those experiences.    

Chapter 17

King Noah sentences Abinadi to death for saying that God himself would come down to earth, live and die for the people.  Abinadi’s response was that he would not recant his words and for them to carry out the sentence but know that if they did they would be guilty of murder and that they would be punished by God and suffer death in a similar way.  Later, King Noah would die the same way, that is, being put to death by fire, fulfilling Abinadi’s prophesies.

As we begin a new year, we must consider that wickedness never was happiness.  There is never any joy in sin.  Brief pleasure only blurs the reality of the misery that comes from disobedience to God’s laws.  God’s plan of happiness requires us to stop rationalizing our sins and humbly submitting ourselves to God, for his yoke is easy and his burden is light compared to the awful pain and suffering that comes from sin.  We can make sacred resolves and ask God to give us the strength to keep our promises.  He won’t fail us.  Trust Jesus.