# Alma 15

*Paraphrase*

### Refugees in Sidom

Alma and Amulek were ordered to leave the city. They traveled to the land of Sidom, where they found all the believers who had fled from Ammonihah—people who had been driven out and stoned because they believed what Alma taught. These refugees told them what had happened to their families and how they themselves had barely escaped alive.

### Zeezrom’s Burning Guilt

In Sidom, they learned that Zeezrom was seriously ill with a burning fever. His guilt was eating him alive. He thought Alma and Amulek were dead—killed because of what he had done to them. That terrible sin, along with all his other wrongs, tortured his conscience day and night. He had no peace. The fever burned hotter. When he heard that Alma and Amulek were in Sidom, hope stirred in his heart. He immediately sent them a message, begging them to come see him. They went right away. When they arrived at his house, they found him lying in bed, barely clinging to life. The fever was raging. His guilt was crushing him. When he saw them, he reached out his hand and begged them to heal him.

### A Question of Faith

Alma took his hand and asked, “Do you believe Christ has the power to save you? Yes,” Zeezrom answered. “I believe everything you’ve taught.” Alma said, “If you believe Christ can redeem you, you can be healed. I believe,” Zeezrom said. “I believe what you’re telling me.” Then Alma prayed out loud: “O Lord our God, have mercy on this man. Heal him because of his faith in Christ.”

### Healed and Transformed

The moment Alma finished praying, Zeezrom jumped to his feet and started walking. Everyone who saw it was stunned. Word of the healing spread throughout the whole region of Sidom. Alma baptized Zeezrom, and from that day forward, Zeezrom began preaching to the people. Alma established a church in Sidom and ordained priests and teachers to baptize anyone who wanted to follow the Lord. And there were many. People came from all over the region around Sidom to be baptized.

But the people back in Ammonihah remained stubborn and hardhearted. They refused to repent. They claimed Alma and Amulek’s power came from the devil. They followed the teachings of Nehor and didn’t believe their sins needed repenting.

### Amulek’s Sacrifice

Amulek had given up everything—his gold, his silver, all his wealth in Ammonihah—for the sake of God’s word. His old friends rejected him. His father and relatives turned their backs on him. But after Alma established the church in Sidom, he saw something encouraging: the people were letting go of their pride. They were humbling themselves before God, gathering in their places of worship to pray at the altar, constantly seeking deliverance from Satan, from death, from destruction.

Seeing all this, Alma took Amulek with him to the land of Zarahemla. He brought him into his own home, helped him through his grief and loss, and strengthened him in the Lord.

This ended the tenth year of the judges’ rule over the Nephite people.

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*Source: [The Book of Mormon](https://bookofmormon.com/paraphrase/alma/15)*
