pgs. 228 and 229...Alma went forth, and also Amulek...to declare the words of God unto them; and they were filled with the Holy Ghost.

20 And the man said unto him: I am a Nephite, and I know that thou art a holy prophet of God, for thou art the man whom an ^aangel said in a vision: Thou shalt receive. Therefore, go with me into my house and I will impart unto thee of my ^bfood; and I know that thou wilt be a blessing unto me and my house.

21 And it came to pass that the man received him into his house; and the man was called Amulek; and he brought forth bread and meat and set before Alma.

22 And it came to pass that Alma ate bread and was filled; and he ^ablessed Amulek and his house, and he gave thanks unto God.

23 And after he had eaten and was filled he said unto Amulek: I am Alma, and am the ^ahigh priest over the church of God throughout the land.

24 And behold, I have been called to preach the word of God among all this people, according to the spirit of revelation and prophecy; and I was in this land and they would not receive me, but they ^acast me out and I was about to set my back towards this land forever.

25 But behold, I have been commanded that I should turn again and prophesy unto this people, yea, and to testify against them concerning their iniquities.

26 And now, Amulek, because thou hast fed me and taken me in, thou art blessed; for I was an hungered, for I had fasted many days.

27 And Alma ^atarried many days with Amulek before he began to preach unto the people.

28 And it came to pass that the people did wax more gross in their iniquities.

29 And the word came to Alma, saying: Go; and also say unto my servant ^aAmulek, go forth and prophesy unto this people, saying—Repent ye, for thus saith the Lord, except ye repent I will visit this people in mine anger; yea, and I will not turn my ^bfierce anger away.

30 And Alma went forth, and also Amulek, among the people, to declare the words of God unto them; and they were filled with the Holy Ghost.

31 And they had ^apower given unto them, insomuch that they could not be confined in dungeons; neither was it possible that any man could slay them; nevertheless they did not exercise their ^bpower until they were bound in bands and cast into prison. Now, this was done that the Lord might show forth his power in them.

32 And it came to pass that they went forth and began to preach and to prophesy unto the people, according to the spirit and power which the Lord had given them.

THE BOOK OF ALMA

THE SON OF ALMA

The words of Alma, and also the words of Amulek, which were declared unto the people who were in the land of Ammonihah. And also they are cast into prison, and delivered by the miraculous power of God which was in them, according to the record of Alma. Comprising chapters 9 to 14 inclusive.

CHAPTER 9

Alma commands the people of Ammonihah to repent—The Lord will be merciful to the Lamanites in the last days—If the Nephites forsake the light, they shall be destroyed by the Lamanites—The Son of God soon cometh—He shall redeem those who repent and are baptized and have faith in his name. About 82 B.C.

1 And again, I, Alma, having been commanded of God that I should take Amulek and go forth and preach again unto this people, or the people who were in the city of ^aAmmonihah, it came to pass as I began to preach unto them, they began to contend with me, saying:

2 Who art thou? Suppose ye that we shall believe the testimony of ^aone man, although he should preach unto us that the earth should pass away?

3 Now they understood not the words which they spake; for they knew not that the earth should pass away.

4 And they said also: We will not believe thy words if thou shouldst prophesy that this great city should be destroyed in ^aone day.

5 Now they knew not that God could do such marvelous ^aworks, for they were a hard-hearted and a stiffnecked people.

6 And they said: ^aWho is God, that sendeth ^bno more authority than one man among this people, to declare unto them the truth of such great and marvelous things?

7 And they stood forth to lay their hands on me; but behold, they did not. And I stood with boldness to declare unto them, yea, I did boldly testify unto them, saying:

8 Behold, O ye wicked and perverse ^ageneration, how have ye forgotten the ^btradition of your fathers; yea, how soon ye have forgotten the commandments of God.

9 Do ye not remember that our father, Lehi, was brought out of Jerusalem by the ^ahand of God? Do ye not remember that they were all led by him through the wilderness?

10 And have ye forgotten so soon how many times he ^adelivered our fathers out of the hands of their enemies, and preserved them from being destroyed, even by the hands of their own brethren?

11 Yea, and if it had not been for his matchless power, and his mercy, and his ^along-suffering towards us, we should unavoidably have been cut off from the face of the earth long before this period of time, and perhaps been consigned to a state of ^bendless misery and woe.

12 Behold, now I say unto you that he commandeth you to repent; and except ye repent, ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. But behold, this is not all—he has commanded you to repent, or he will utterly ^adestroy you from off the face of the earth; yea, he will visit you in his ^banger, and in his ^cfierce anger he will not turn away.

13 Behold, do ye not remember the words which he spake unto Lehi, saying that: ^aInasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land? And again it is said that: Inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.

14 Now I would that ye should remember, that inasmuch as the Lamanites have not kept the commandments of God, they have been ^acut off from the presence of the Lord. Now we see that the word of the Lord has been verified in this thing, and the Lamanites have been cut off from his presence, from the beginning of their transgressions in the land.

15 Nevertheless I say unto you, that it shall be more ^atolerable for them in the day of judgment than for you, if ye remain in your sins, yea, and even more tolerable for them in this life than for you, except ye repent.

Can you imagine what it might have been like to be Amulek? He was not at all living according to his testimony and then one day the prophet comes to him and says, "I'm hungry and I need food. I am supposed to be preaching to your city even though I want to turn my back on it and go home." Would you take Alma in? Amulek's pure heart is evident as he stays with Alma and becomes his "missionary companion." I am fascinated by the special power that was given to them for protection in verse 31. I'm equally intrigued by the fact that they didn't use it until they absolutely had to. They used the power the Lord blessed them with cautiously and with great care. And they sacrificed so much of their time, energy and talents to serve the Lord. That is a valuable lesson for all of us.