After Alma had spoken these words to them, he sat down on the ground. Amulek stood up and began to teach them. He said:
Amulek Teaches About Christ
My brothers, I think you know about the coming of Christ. We teach that he is the Son of God. I know these things were taught to you before you left us. You asked my dear brother to tell you what you should do because of your hard times. He spoke to prepare your minds. He told you to have faith and be patient. He told you to have enough faith to plant the word in your hearts. Then you can try it to see if it is good. We know the big question in your minds is whether the word is in the Son of God, or whether there will be no Christ. You saw that my brother proved to you many times that the word is in Christ. It will save you. My brother used the words of Zenos to show that we are saved through the Son of God. He also used the words of Zenock. He talked about Moses to prove these things are true.
The Great and Last Sacrifice
I will tell you myself that these things are true. I know that Christ will come to the people. He will take the wrongs of his people on himself. He will pay for the sins of the world. The Lord God has said this. This payment must be made. God’s great plan says there must be a payment made. If not, all people must die. All people have hard hearts. All people have fallen and are lost. They must die unless this payment is made. There must be a great and last sacrifice. It will not be a sacrifice of a person, an animal, or a bird. It will not be a human sacrifice. It must be an endless sacrifice that lasts forever.
No person can give their own blood to pay for someone else’s sins. If a man kills someone, will our fair law take the life of his brother? I tell you no. But the law says the killer must give his life. So only an endless payment will be enough for the sins of the world. There must be a great and last sacrifice. Then the killing will stop. The law of Moses will be finished. It will all be finished. Every bit of it will be complete.
This is the whole meaning of the law. Every bit points to that great and last sacrifice. That great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God. It will be endless and forever. He will bring saving to all those who believe in his name. This last sacrifice will bring about mercy. Mercy is stronger than fairness. It gives people a way to have faith and turn back to God. Mercy can meet the needs of fairness. It keeps safe those who have faith and turn back to God. But people who do not have faith and do not turn back to God face fairness. Only those who have faith and turn back to God get God’s great plan of saving.
Pray Always
May God help you, my brothers, to start having faith and turning back to God. May you begin to call on his holy name. May he have mercy on you. Cry out to him for mercy. He is powerful enough to save. Be humble and keep praying to him. Cry out to him when you are in your fields. Pray for all your animals. Cry out to him in your houses. Pray for all your family in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. Cry out to him against the power of your enemies. Cry out to him against the Devil. The Devil is an enemy to all that is right. Cry out to him about the crops of your fields so you may do well with them. Cry out about the animals in your fields so they may grow. But this is not all. You must pour out your hearts in your rooms, in your private places, and in the wild. When you do not cry out to the Lord, let your hearts be full. Keep praying to him for yourself and for those around you.
Help Those in Need
My dear brothers, do not think that this is all. After you have done all these things, you must help the poor and those without clothes. You must visit the sick and hurting. You must share what you have with those who need it. If you do not do these things, your prayer does nothing. You are like people who say one thing but do another. You turn away from faith. If you do not remember to be kind, you are like trash that workers throw out. It is worth nothing and people walk on it.
Now Is the Time
My brothers, you have received many proofs. The Holy Scriptures tell about these things. Come and show the fruit of turning back to God. I want you to come and not harden your hearts any longer. This is the time and the day for you to be saved. If you turn back to God and do not harden your hearts, God’s great plan of saving will happen for you right now.
This life is the time for people to get ready to meet God. The day of this life is the day for people to do their work. As I said before, you have had many proofs. I beg you not to wait until the end to turn back to God. This life is given to us to get ready for forever. If we do not use our time well in this life, then comes the night of darkness. No work can be done then.
You cannot say at that terrible moment that you will turn back to God. No, you cannot say this. The same spirit that controls your body when you die will have power over your body in that world that lasts forever. 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.
I know this because the Lord has said he does not live in unholy places. He lives in the hearts of good people. He has also said that good people will sit down in his kingdom. They will never leave. Their clothes will be made white through the blood of the Lamb.
Be Patient in Hard Times
My dear brothers, I want you to remember these things. I want you to work for your saving with respect before God. Do not say that Christ is not coming. Do not fight against the Holy Spirit. Receive it. Take on the name of Christ. Be humble. Worship God wherever you are, in spirit and in truth. Live in thanks every day for the many kind things he gives you. I tell you, my brothers, always be watchful in prayer. Do not let the Devil’s temptations lead you away. Do not let him take power over you. Do not become his at the last day. He does not reward you with any good thing.
My dear brothers, I tell you to have patience. Put up with all kinds of hard times. Do not speak badly about those who throw you out because you are very poor. If you do, you will become sinners like them. Have patience. Put up with those hard times. Have a strong hope that one day you will rest from all your hard times.
Influences
- 34:2 — Mark 10:27 (KJV)And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.
- 34:2 — Romans 11:25 (KJV)For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
- 34:2 — Matthew 4:3 (KJV)And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
- 34:7 — Philippians 4:8 (KJV)Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
- 34:8 — Revelation 22:16 (KJV)I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
- 34:8 — John 1:29 (KJV)The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
- 34:10 — John 11:50 (KJV)Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
- 34:11 — Acts 20:28 (KJV)Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
- 34:12 — Romans 8:20 (KJV)For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
- 34:13 — Matthew 5:18 (KJV)For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
- 34:23 — Matthew 3:15 (KJV)And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
- 34:29 — Matthew 5:13 (KJV)Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
- 34:29 — Matthew 5:13 (KJV)Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
- 34:33 — 1 Corinthians 15:24 (KJV)Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
- 34:35 — 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.
- 34:36 — Colossians 1:20 (KJV)And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
- 34:38 — Mark 3:29 (KJV)But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.
- 34:38 — 1 Peter 4:14 (KJV)If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
- 34:38 — John 4:24 (KJV)God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Notes
- 34:9
The phrase, "expedient that" can be found in 2 Nephi 9:15; Alma 34:9; Mosiah 13:27; D&C 9:3
Other common phrases include "dwindled in unbelief" (2 Nephi 26:15; Helaman 15:11, Ether 4:3, D&C 3:18), "it must needs be" (1 Nephi 15:33; Alma 32:28; 3 Nephi 5:1; D&C 48:3), "save it were" (Helaman 3:23; 4 Nephi 1:5; D&C 18:35), "sufficeth me" (2 Nephi 11:1; Jarom 1:2; Ether 3:17), "would that ye should" (Alma 38:5; Mosiah 1:3; Omni 1:2; D7C 46:7).
"After noticing that the same phrases of two or more words appear time after time throughout Joseph Smith's scriptures, we did a computer search to identify these groups of words and feel that they provide evidence that the Book of Mormon, the Inspired Version of the Bible, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price were all the product of one mind.... When we find a number of different Book of Mormon writers-e.g., Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Moroni and Mormon-all using many of the same unusual word combinations, we begin to suspect that all these books were actually written by one person."-Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 39.
- 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
- 34:36
The Book of Mormon teaches that God is a Spirit (see also 18:26-28; 22:8-11). Contrast with Doctrine and Covenants 130:22; 130:3.
See also Lectures on Faith as delivered at the School of the Prophets at Kirtland, Ohio: "In our former lectures we treated of the being, character, perfections, and attributes, of God. What we mean by perfections is, the perfections which belong to all the attributes of his nature. We shall, in this lecture, speak of the Godhead-we mean the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There are two personages who constitute the great, matchless, governing, and supreme power over all things, by whom all things were created and made, that are created and made, whether visible or invisible, whether in heaven, on earth, or in the earth, under the earth, or throughout the immensity of space. They are the Father and the Son-the Father being personage of spirit, glory, and power, possessing all perfection and fullness, the Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, a personage of tabernacle, made or fashioned like unto man...." -Lectures On Faith, Lecture 5.
The Lectures on Faith were removed from the Doctrine and Covenants in 1921.