SPIRIT OF DIOTREPHES IN AMMONIHAH

It was lovely to read of Alma's beautiful experiences in Gideon and Melek. Even his work in Zarahemla ended on a positive note. Alma's mission in Zarahemla takes up two chapters.  His mission to Gideon, one chapter.  By the time he gets to Melek, Mormon recorded simply 4 verses.  Then  Alma goes to Ammonihah. Mormon chooses to spend a great deal of time and space on the plates talking about Alma's mission to Ammonihah - six full chapters!

What kind of people did Alma meet in Ammonihah?  Complete apostates? Persecutors of the Saints? Wicked proselytes of Satan?  A righteous people need very little in the way of teaching doctrine because they know and understand the doctrine of Christ and are living it.  But an evil people need to be taught with great power.  They don't fully know or understand the doctrine and they are not only not living it themselves, they ridicule and persecute those that do. 

I can just picture Mormon, reading back over Alma's records and deciding which verses and teachings to include. Engraving on the plates was not a simple process, as I discovered when I first started writing about Nephi's plates. The engravers must first make the plates and prepare them for engraving.  Then, using a hand tool called a Dremel, he carves his message into the metal, one character at a time. So for Mormon to write six full chapters on the events in Ammonihah would have been a huge commitment for him.  Knowing that he was writing for our day, he chose those things he knew we would need to hear.

Looking for patterns in the writings of prophets and apostles helps me see the consistency of God's work.   The Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos wrote to the seven Churches.  There would first be a compliment; then an admonition; finally, a promise.  It is easy to take the spiritual temperature of each area by watching where John deviates. 

For example, when John writes to the church in Philadelphia, there is only a compliment and no admonition, for these people are keeping their covenants. I know they works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut if: for thou hast . . . kept my word, and hast not denied my name. (Revelation 3: 7-8)

In his letter to the church in Laodicea, there is no compliment, only a reprimand.  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot, I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, . . . I will spue thee out of my mouth. (Revelation 3: 15-16)

I think that the people in Gideon and Mulek must have been much like the Saints in Philadelphia, whereas those in Zarahemla were lukewarm like the Laodiceans.

We are now poised at the beginning of Alma's mission in Ammonihah.  The only comparison I can make between John and Alma is with John's treatment at the hand of Diotrephes, who not only preached false doctrine, but threw the righteous out of his congregation and refused to receive John, the only living Apostle and high priest in the Church, to come to his church to preach.(See 3 John 1:9) Likewise, Alma as the high priest of the Church in the Nephite nation was reviled and spat upon and thrown out of the city of Ammonihah.

Is there not room in the Inn amongst the wicked?

© June 2020 Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson

LOGOS and the TAO

In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God; and the Word was God. (John 1: 1) These few verses of the Gospel of John have been called The Logos Hymn.  Logos translated into English is word. But the word logos is far deeper in meaning than the English word.  Cynthia Peak, Professor of Classics at BYU said that the word logos in a comprehensive Greek Lexicon fills pages of single-spaced type on ideas that are concepts represented by that one single word.

When the  Bible was translated into Chinese, the word logos was translate tao. Many people are familiar with the word tao in conjunction with Eastern religion taoism, but it signifies that same thing as logo or the Biblical word. 

It signifies the "way," "path," "route," "road," "doctrine," "principle," or "holistic belief." . . . it is the natural order of the universe.1]  Webster defines it as unconditional source and guiding principle of all reality. 2] 

The Joseph Smith translation expands the translation of John 1, lest there be any confusion that word can also mean gospel (JST John 1:1)  Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the light. (John 14:6) His gospel is the doctrine and principle of a Godly life. It is the unconditional source of love, and light, and nourishment3] in the eternities.

In Spanish, word of God is translated verb of God, signifying that His Word is a word of action.  In Genesis 1, every step of the creation begins with the phrase: And God said. . . Let there be light; Let the waters under the heavens; Let the dry land appear. And it was so . . . 

Alma makes reference to the Word or the Word of God or even to his Words, which are all about Jesus Christ. 

Alma told the people of Zarahemla that the Lord did deliver them out of bondage by the power of his word (Alma 5:5).  Alma's father believed the words which were delivered out of the mouth of Abinadi. . . Did he not speak the words of God? (Alma 5: 11)  He told the people of Gideon to pay heed to the words of my mouth, (Alma 7:11).  Later, he would invite the poor among the Zoramites to experiment upon my words (Alma 32: 27) to plant those words and nurture them with a little bit of faith, even if you only have the desire to have faith, and they will grow.

I love to study the scriptures in this way.  Thinking about Jesus as the Word or Logo or Tao, with their multiple layers of meaning, helps me to an infinitesimal glimpse at His Power and Majesty. Knowing all I know of Him, how can I doubt His power to save?

Alma told his people to repent immediately for the end was not far away.  Said he, the ax is laid at the root of the tree (Alma 5: 52).  I used to think such references meant the end of the world and wondered how prophets since Adam had spoken of the imminence of the end?  As I have grown older, I realize that the end for me is the end of my probation, my individual life.   I lost my first husband in an accident that took his life in a nanosecond.  I lost my second husband to cancer, a year of a long and lingering death.  I don't know how and when God will call me home, but I want to ready.  Alma taught: I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth? . . . I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances? (Alma 5: 16, 19)

I want to be able to say, "Yes."

© June 2020 Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson

1] https://en.wikipedia.org 
2] https://merriam-webster.com 
3] the light of the world, the bread of life, the living water

MIGHTY CHANGE OF HEART/OBJECT LESSON

Alma taught the Saints in Zarahemla, who were casual in the observance of God's law; the Saints at Gideon, who were more committed; and (next week) the apostates in Ammonihah. The most crucial parts of his sermon in all three places was the coming of Jesus Christ and repentance.   Even the Saints in Gideon who were doing fairly well were still told to search their hearts and repent.

In Zarahemla, he gave them a list of things for doing what a former colleague used to call "a check-up from the neck up" (Alma 5: 15-30) He left them with this promise: that if they would repent and come more firmly unto Christ, He would give them a new heart.

I teach the primary section of our home Church meetings.  I have two great-grandchildren who come every week, ages 4 and 6. I attempt to come up with teaching activities that keep them involved and interested.  I came across a beauty on YouTube that I'm using tomorrow.  It's and object lesson on change - more specifically, how can you change a heart? Using the natural laws of chemistry, I can change one substance into another substance in both physical appearance and molecular structure. It changes glue into a bouncy ball.

The substance I will use that needs to be changed is white glue.  Its messy (kind of like life); its sticky (ditto); and once it has you stuck, you are going nowhere.  

To make a lasting change, one needs a little knowledge of molecular chemistry or a good video on YouTube! 

The glue consists of a chain of polymers.  Borax dissolved in water produces a chemical reaction that permanently changes the substance.

The Borax causes the glue to pull together into a mass.  In the beginning this mass is like the Slime kids love to play with.  After kneading it to get all the air bubbles and water out, it is a substance that will bounce!
One it has changed into this bouncy substance, it can never go back to being glue again! 

The grandchildren won't understand the molecular science involved, but they will have fun watching the change, particularly if they get to get their hands into the mess.  The only point to make is that using natural laws of chemistry,  we changed one thing into another, different thing.  By allowing Jesus into our hearts, He can use natural spiritual law to turn one thing into another - a stony or hateful heart into a loving and humble heart. Here is a link with a youth minister performing this experiment.

Laws of nature, physical change

Recipe Part 1
1/2 c. very warm or hot water
1 T. Borax powder
Stir to dissolve

Recipe Part 2
1/2 c. white or clear glue
1/2 c. water
Food coloring (optional)

When water and glue are thoroughly mixed, pour it into the bowl with Borax water and stir.  Continue to stir until is gathers into a glob (it won't take long)

Knead the glob to remove excess water and air bubbles

When firm, roll into a ball with your hands.

Bounce.

Here is another recipe that doesn't use borax. (Borax is very hard to find these days.  Most people don't use it in their washers anymore.)

glue and salt

© June 2020 Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson

,

REPENT FOR THE LITTLE THINGS

After preaching in Zarahemla, Alma left for the land of Gideon.  The people in Zarahemla were, for the most part, members of the Church, but, while they hadn't been wicked per say, they also had not been stalwart.  Alma called them to a remembrance of the blessings of God given to their fathers.  He called upon them to take moral inventory.  

From there, he called them to repentance that they might become more faithful on the Covenant path.

The people in Gideon were far more stalwart and received to formal reprimand from the prophet.  They seemed to remember well the Lord and His blessings.  He rejoiced that they were not in the same state of much unbelief as were your brethren.  He gave specific positive feedback.  The people were not

• Lifted up in pride
• Set upon obtaining riches and vain things of the world
• Worshipping idols

They were worshipping the one true and living God and looking forward for the remissions of their sins with an everlasting faith. (Alma 7: 6)

He taught them that the Savior would be coming soon.  He had asked God what he, as prophet, should say to prepare the people.  His response, in light of all of the positives he noted about them, may seem a little surprising.  

The Lord hath said this much unto me, saying: Cry unto this people saying - Repent ye, and prepare the way of the Lord, and walk in His paths which are straight; for behold, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the Son of God cometh upon the face of the earth (Alma 7:)

It may seem counter-intuitive to compliment someone and then, in the next breath, call them to repentance.  It helps me to remember that we all need repentance every day.  Remember the spiritual cardiogram we did yesterday?  Only Jesus Christ could answer those questions always. It will take a lifetime and then into the eternities to approach always.

~ ~ ~

I find that its the little things that can sneak up on even the best of us.  I recall a conference address when President Dieter F. Uchtdorf talked about not being invited to participate in the dedication of the Madrid temple. At the time, he was serving as the area president in Europe and felt a small amount of ownership in the new temple. Days passed, and his anxiety of not receiving an invitation grew.  Having struggled with anxiety often in my life, I can relate to those feelings.  Did he do something wrong? Had he been forgotten?  Those kinds of thoughts can eat away at one's soul. Finally, President Uchtdorf confessed that, this kind of thinking was taking me to a place that I did not want to take up residence. He and Harriet realized that the temple dedication was not about them. (given at the General Priesthood Session, April 1, 2017)

This humble man, just a year or two later, stepped down from his calling as the Second counselor in the First Presidency under President Monson.  After Brother Monson's death, President Russel M. Nelson became the prophet and he called a different counselor, President Dallin H. Oakes.  President - now Elder - Uchtdorf resumed his position in the Council of the Twelve Apostles with dignity and continued to serve the Lord in whatever place in the Kingdom God chose. What an example he is to me.  He is an incredible disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet he was quietly called to repentance for feeling sorry for himself over not being invited.

~ ~ ~

I have also been called to repentance, even when I feel I have been a good disciple. Several years ago, I was called to a mission.  I approached it with great trepidation, but with faith that the Lord could give me what I needed to do what was asked.  He did.  He gave me complete unconditional love for the person to whom I was to minister.  It was not an easy assignment and I shed many tears, but the Christ-like love I felt was there from day one and never left me.

President Uchtdorf told the priesthood brethren that night that to begin such a quest requires that we be able to see other people the way God sees them.  I was given that gift of sight immediately.  I have never been given the gift of seeing the child of God in another human being in my life. This young man was so hurt and separated from God, that he could not feel God's love for him, but over time he came to feel and trust my love for him. I came to understand more fully than ever before how our Heavenly Father feels when we fall short of our promises.  I didn't ever feel anger at my friend, I wept when he made self-destructive choices and loved him anyway.  I think that is how God responds to our mistakes.

There was a happy ending for my friend, but not for me.  Somehow, in the midst of things, I lost my focus.  I forgot that it was not about me. When he was unable to respond in true friendship, I was heart-broken and devastated.  Even though I understood in my head why he couldn't and didn't blame him in anyway, I beat up on myself without mercy.  It has taken about four years for the Lord to lead me through the most humbling experience.  Am I a bad person? - God forbid.  But do I need to repent?  I certainly do, and I do so every day. I was called to minister to one of God's children.  I somehow wound up expecting that the mission was about me.

~ ~ ~

Alma left the Saints in Gideon with these words.  Become:

Humble

Submissive

Gentle

Easy to be entreated

Full of patience

Long-suffering.

This is great advice to us all.  I will not longer think that because I'm on God's errand that I am infallible. I have learned, quite painfully, that I am not.  I was gentle, but not submissive; patient but not humble.  Now after repenting in emotional sackcloth and ashes, I feel that I am growing closer to the goal.

© June 2020 Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson

GRAPHING A SPIRITUAL CARDIOGRAM

I have heard commentators comparing the questions in Alma five to temple recommend interview. Others have compared it to taking a spiritual cardiogram of your physical heart. Physical EKGs can tell a doctor a great deal about your physical heart by measuring the patterns of its electrical impulses in each beat.  

President Russell M. Nelson, an internationally renowned cardiologist and surgeon, prior to his calling as an apostle, studied the incontrovertible natural rules governing the heart.  It was through his knowledge that a natural law is an irrevocable law that he was able to make pioneering advancements in cardiac surgery by using natural law to stop a beating heart so that it could be repaired and then natural law to start it beating again. He was one of the first to make use of a heart/lung machine in surgery to take over the life-saving tasks of the heart while it was stopped to be repaired by the surgeon.

Just as there are irrevocable laws in the natural world, so, too, are there laws in the spiritual realm that are irrevocable. (See Doctrine and Covenants 130: 20-21) They are not as easy to see as the balance of calcium and sodium on the heart muscle, but they are just as binding. Alma the Younger in his sermon in Zarahemla gave a remarkably codified list of markers to measure our own spiritual heart condition.  After he reminded his people of their own personal history, he asked them if they, like their fathers, had been given a new heart.  Then he asked several probing questions of some of the everyday things we all can do to improve our spiritual/cardio health.

Some gifted Book of Mormon scholar created a way of graphing our own progress on these tasks, for lack of a better word.  Hats off and kudos to those scholars.

Verse 15 asks about faith - faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement and resurrection.

Verse 16 asks can you imagine yourself hearing Christ saying Well done?

Verse 19 asks if you can imagine approaching Christ's judgement with a pure heart and clean hands?

Verse 26 asks if you can sing the song of redeeming love?

Verse 27 asks if you have walked blameless before God? Have you been sufficiently humbled? Have your garments been made white with the blood of the Lamb?

Verse 28 asks if you have been stripped of pride?

Verse 29 asks if you have been likewise stripped of envy?

Verses 30-31 asks if you ever mock your brother? If you do, you must repent.

If you do this exercise on a 5 X 8 table, placing a dot in the appropriate square for each question, then connect the dots with straight lines, you should have a document that looks somewhat like an EKG. Then, with Alma and President Nelson, you can look at your results and see those areas that need a spiritual intervention.  

One final note: be honest with yourself, but don't be too hard on yourself either.  The only person who ever lived that could answer each of these questions always is Jesus Christ. 

© Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson June 2020

HIS IMAGE IN YOUR COUNTENANCE

The people in Zarahemla who were members of the Church remembered Alma's father and, for many of them, their own fathers.  Those who were not members were invited to partake of those memories and the lessons to be learned therein. 

Nephi taught that we should liken the scriptures to ourselves so that we might learn from them and be better people as a result.  Alma asked the people to do just that and to build upon those memories of their fathers. (Alma 5: 15 - 16)

• First he asked if they, too, had been spiritually born of God as their fathers?
• Have they received Christ's image in their countenance?
• Have they experienced this mighty change of heart?

This mighty change of heart is a real transformation in which the fallen man or  woman becomes a new creature in Christ. If you have been born again, you will be a different person on many levels.  You will still have trials and tempations and struggles, but you will find that as you grow in Christ, you will find that even the idea of doing evil becomes repugnant to you. You will still make mistakes, but when you do, you will repent quickly so that you can return to the harmony with the Holy Ghost.  It is difficult to explain, but when it happens, you will know it.

When I was younger, I used to find it easier to embroider the truth than to tell it straight out.  I think, because I was a first-born child, that I felt I had to be perfect yesterday and if what was happening did not conform to that narrative, I would rearrange the facts to fit the narrative: embellishment better known as a lie.  Now, I shudder at the very fact of telling an untruth.  I will go out of my way to make sure I am understood lest someone else not believe me.  I call myself a recovering perfectionist.  As with other "addictions," I am always recovering and never quite recovered.

In other words, once a person has this mighty change of heart, this born again experience, he or she cannot rest on the laurels of past achievement.  If I am not continually moving forward into a life in  Christ, then I am stopped - even damned - from progressing.  If I continue stopped at the crossroads, as it were, I will regress.

Alma asked his people if they had received Christ's image in their countenance. I ask myself the same thing.   Does my life reflect the life of the Savior? Can others feel His love through me? Do I love like He did? Do I forgive seventy times seven? Do I mourn with those who mourn? Do I weep for the pains and sins of this world? Do I comfort those who stand in need of comfort and lift the hearts of those whose heads and hand hang down. Do I leave judgment to Him who knows the hearts of all people? Have I been sufficiently humbled that, were I to be called home today, I would be ready to fall at His feet in reverance?  

It is easy to take my spiritual pulse or read my own heart on an EKG printout.  It is much more challenging to take my spiritual pulse or understand my spiritual heart. Alma posed these questions to invite those who heard him to do just that.  Do I have the courage to do so?

© Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson May 2020

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHOSE YOU ARE

As if it had been the face of an angel (Acts 6: 15)

After the Apostle Luke completed his gospel, he wrote the one book of the New Testament considered to be an history of the Acts of the Apostles. One of my favorite stories in the Book of Acts is the story of Stephen, a young man who was one of seven chosen and ordained to assist the Apostles.  Luke tells us that Stephen was full of faith and the Holy Ghost.  When he bore testimony of Jesus Christ, it was with great power. (see Acts 6) He also performed great wonders and miracles. This, of course, got a lot of people's attention.  As they had with Christ before him, Stephen was perceived as such a  strong witness of Jesus, that certain of the synagogue brought false witnesses who testified that they had heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. These men stirred up the people, and the elders and the scribes, and . . . brought him to the council. All the while they were testifying against him, Stephen was so filled with the Spirit that his face glowed.

When he was allowed to speak, he bore such a testimony that it was as if the council was on trial, not him.  He began by reminding them of their heritage, going all the way back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  He told them about Joseph and years of slavery to the Egyptians, ending with a powerful testimony about Moses and the deliverance of the Children of Israel out of bondage. He taught Israel's history in the promised land and of the days of David and Solomon.  He spoke of the great prophets of ancient Israel and of how the people had persecuted them, some of them unto death.  He looked his accusers in the eye and said Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do you. (See Acts 7).  He ended with his testimony of Jesus, the Messiah, and of how these stiffnecked people had even killed Him.  They were guilty of every accusation and, like the guilty, did not want to listen to any more, to the point that they literally put their fingers in their ears.  They drove him out of the city and stoned him to death.   Like his Master before him, his final words were that God might not lay this sin to their charge. 

~ ~ ~

A little more than 100 years earlier, on the other side of the world, another righteous man bore pure testimony of Jesus Christ. His name was Alma, known as the Younger to distinguish him from his father. He wasn't on trial and he wasn't speaking to his enemies.  His audience was made up of people who had once accepted Jesus as Christ, but had grown lax in their observance of His commandments. Even though there were differences, like Stephen, Alma began his testimony by reminding the people of their own history.

Moving forward in our quest for God, it is important that we first remember who we are and where we came from.  Alma's people had forgotten who they were and whose they were as they drifted away from God in the floods of turmoil in which they lived. If we don't remember out roots, we can never grow and produce righteous fruits.

When I am feeling that I can't go one step further, I remember my pioneer ancestors and the price they paid for the value of their convictions. As Rees R. Llewelyn put one foot in front of the other, pulling his handcart, he remembered that he had been called out of the world to help build Zion.  When his wife, Anne, felt that she could not go one step further, he placed her in the handcart an walked on. He brought himself and his family safely across the plains and helped build Zion by serving as the station master at the pony express station in central Utah for 18 months and, later, as postmaster for San Pete County for more than 18 years.  He returned to his native Wales on a mission, like Alma, to bring the truths of the Gospel to people who did not know who they were and whose they were. On days when I feel that I can't go another step, I remember Rees Llewellyn, gird up my loins, and walk on.

We live in a time of great turmoil.  It seems as if anarchy is pounding at our doors.  We cannot give up on ourselves or our God.  We must put one foot in front of the other with faith in every footstep that our only sure refuge is our Savior. Stephen bore testimony to the wicked of how far from the path they had strayed and reminded them who they were and whose they were.  Alma reminded his people that they, too, were of the House of Israel.  They needed to keep in memory the promises made to their fathers. 

We all need to remember who we are and whose we are. We all need to recommit to the Covenants we made with our God. Read Alma's fifty question. Examine our own souls. We are in a world of hurt. Pray, pray, pray.

© Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson May 2020

The first part of Alma's sermon to the people in Zarahemla dealt with remembrance (Alma 5: 6-13) Do you:

• Remember the captivity of your fathers?
• Remember god's mercy and long-suffering toward them?
• Remember that God delivered them from the bands of death? 
• Remember that God delivered them from the chains of hell?
• Remember the conditions of their salvation?
• Remember that Alma believed Abinadi?
• Remember that Abinadi was a prophet?
• Remember that Alma experienced a mighty change of heart?
• Remember that he preached to the people and that they had a change in heart?
• Remember how your fathers were humbled, put their trust in God, and were faithful to the end?
• Remember that, as a result, they were saved.

Alma the Younger testified to them that all that he said was true. Tomorrow we see how Alma built upon these memories.

Fifty Questions