The Book of Mormon

Alma 34:35

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~74 BC

1830 Edition

For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance, even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the Devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore the spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the Devil hath all power over you: and this is the final state of the wicked.

Influences

John 8:37 (KJV)
I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

Changes

For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance, even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the Ddevil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the sSpirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the Ddevil hath all power over you:; and this is the final state of the wicked.

Simple English

If you have waited until death to turn back to God, you have been taken over by the spirit of the Devil. He makes you his. The Spirit of the Lord has left you. There is no place for the Spirit in you. The Devil has all power over you. This is what happens to the wicked in the end.

Paraphrase

If you put off repentance until death, you’ve given yourself to the devil’s spirit, and he seals you as his. The Spirit of the Lord withdraws. There’s no room for him in you. The devil has complete power over you. This is the final state of the wicked.

Notes

34:32-35

The Book of Mormon seems to teach that death seals man's fate (see also Mosiah 2:36-39). Contrast with Doctrines and Covenants 88:99 which seems to hold out the hope that one's place in heaven can be changed after being in spirit prison.

34:35

A theological issue of the 1800s, reflected in the Book of Mormon, was the growing popularity of Universalism. In about 91 B.C., Alma recorded the appearance of Nehor, a man who was spreading false doctrine (Alma 1:3-4). Alma revisits this topic in Alma 34:35.

Dan Vogel observed, "That the Book of Mormon confronts Universalism was noticed by friend and foe. Ohio newspaperman E. D. Howe expressed this assumption in 1834 when he wrote that "the name of our ancient Universalist is called Nehor." -Vogel, Making of a Prophet, p. 201.

In Understanding The Book of Mormon, LDS Grant Hardy states, "In 1831, Alexander Campbell, one of the book's first critics (and certainly the first one to read it carefully), famously observed that it seemed to weigh in on all the popular religious questions of the day, including 'infant baptism, ordination, the trinity, regeneration, repentance, justification, the fall of man, the atonement, transubstantiation, fasting, penance, church government, religious experience, the call to the ministry , the general resurrection, eternal punishment, who may baptize, and even the question of freemasonry, republican government, and the right of the man.' This is a fair list, and references to these topics-or their analogous counterparts-can be found throughout the Book of Mormon." -Hardy, Understanding the Book of Mormon, p. 184