A Study of the Book of Mormon

Alma 26:1-7 This chapter represents the end of 14 years of missionary labors for Ammon and his brethren, though it doesn't expressly say so at the beginning of the chapter. Rather, this chapter starts immediately with the remarks of Ammon as he is reflecting back upon their labors. His remarks begin with a series of questions: "...Could we have supposed when we started from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings?" (vs. 1) "...What great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?" (vs. 2)  Ammon proceeds to answer for himself with this statement first: ...Our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God!  (vs. 3) And then he points to the blessing: And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work. (also ...

Alma 8:14-18 An angelic communication is received by Alma in these verses. What was the purpose of an angel being sent to Alma? First, it was to bring him comfort. Alma took quite seriously the wickedness of the people of Ammonihah. It weighed him down to the point that he felt "an anguish of soul." (see vs. 14 ) The angel commands Alma to be of good cheer, stating that Alma had been "faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time which thou receivedst thy first message from him." Then the angel adds an extra bit of encouragement by saying "Behold, I am he that delivered it unto you." ( vs. 15 ) The second reason the angel was sent to Alma was to command him to return to Ammonihah to declare repentance to the people. There was a very specific reason though that was outside of the scope of just the people of Ammonihah that Alma was being sent to Ammonihah. In verse 17 , the angel explains, "For behold, they do study at this time that they ma...

Mosiah 27:8-17 These verses contain the account of an angel that came to stop Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah on their course of destruction against the Church. The main question that I have as I read these verses is: what about this scenario merited the intervention of an angel? Angels are not the usual form of communication from heaven. There are several reasons that I feel angelic intervention was merited in this instance. Verses 8 through 10 explain how they were rebelling against the church in secret. Given the family dynamics, that both parents of Alma and the son of Mosiah were the heads of the church and the state, it gave them all the more power to destroy what their fathers were trying to build and protect.  Verse 14 offers another reason when the angel explains that Alma, the elder, had been praying for his son that he might "be brought to the knowledge of the truth." It wasn't just Alma that had been praying for this though, and just because Alma was ...