# Alma 6

*Paraphrase*

### Organizing the Church in Zarahemla

After Alma finished speaking to the church in Zarahemla, he ordained priests and elders by laying his hands on them, following God’s order. They would lead and watch over the church. Anyone who wasn’t part of the church could be baptized and received in if they repented of their sins. But church members who refused to repent and humble themselves before God—those who stayed proud in their hearts—were rejected. Their names were removed from the list of the righteous. This is how they began establishing the church’s order in Zarahemla.

I want you to understand: God’s word was freely available to everyone. No one was denied the chance to gather and hear it. Even so, God’s people were told to meet together regularly—to fast and pray earnestly for those who didn’t know God yet.

### Alma Travels to Gideon

Once Alma had set up these guidelines, he left the church in Zarahemla and traveled east across the Sidon River to the valley of Gideon. There was a city there also called Gideon, named after the man Nehor had killed with a sword. Alma began preaching God’s word to the church established in Gideon’s valley. He taught the truth that had been revealed through his ancestors, guided by the spirit of prophecy within him and the testimony of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who would come to redeem his people from their sins. This was the sacred calling he’d been given. And so it is written. Amen.

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*Source: [The Book of Mormon](https://bookofmormon.com/paraphrase/alma/6)*
