Answering according to the Spirit

21 And this Zeezrom began to question Amulek, saying: Will ye answer me a few questions which I shall ask you? Now Zeezrom was a man who was expert in the devices of the devil, that he might destroy that which was good; therefore, he said unto Amulek: Will ye answer the questions which I shall put unto you?

22 And Amulek said unto him: Yea, if it be according to the Spirit of the Lord, which is in me; for I shall say nothing which is contrary to the Spirit of the Lord…

I love that Amulek says he will answer questions according to the Spirit of the Lord. Shouldn’t we all go through our lives with that same determination to follow the Spirit as to whether we answer questions or not, and take our answers according to the Spirit?

Amulek’s Spirit-led answers brought out important doctrines that were under deep scrutiny, and he might have had reason to feel worried about how they would be received, but he followed the Spirit, and that made his answers powerful enough that Zeezrom was ultimately affected to the extent that he decided to change and become more honest. Amulek’s spiritual honesty inspired Zeezrom to be honest with himself about the consequences of what he was doing.

I also notice that aside from revealing Zeezrom’s little trap, Amulek spoke mostly about general principles of repentance, accountability, and judgment.

Amulek worries about suffering martyrdom at Ammonihah

While Alma and Amulek are forced to watch the wicked people of Ammonihah burn the righteous women and children and scriptures, we can tell that Amulek worries that he’ll be thrown in the flames next. His observant and Alma’s answer are very helpful to anyone worrying they will suffer martyrdom or persecution.

12 Now Amulek said unto Alma: Behold, perhaps they will burn us also.

13 And Alma said: Be it according to the will of the Lord. But, behold, our work is not finished; therefore they burn us not. (Alma 14:12-13)

In the past, I have always focused on Alma’s spiritual impression that their work was not yet finished, but this time I noticed his previous statement, “Be it according to the will of the Lord.”

Alma recognized it was possible that the wicked people of Ammonihah could subsequently turn on him and Amulek, but rather than seeing it as the possibility of suffering at the will of the mob, he looked higher and saw it as possible that it might be the Lord’s will that they suffer.  He knew the Lord was more powerful than their persecutors.

Now, this is a painfully difficult, but ultimately more liberating view. 

Alma had faith that the Lord could and would protect them as long as that would bring about His righteous purposes, and that if it brought more righteous purposes about, the Lord would also allow them to suffer.  With this faith—and it took very strong faith—Alma would stick to his convictions and not abandon them just because others with similar convictions were being subjected to a horrifically painful death.

I think this is good to remember if we ever see others who hold our same beliefs subjected to persecution, suffering, and martyrdom. Yes, we may suffer too, but if so, even though it appears to be the will of the mob, it could be prevented easily by God. If the suffering is allowed to reach us, we can know that somehow God means it to bring about some righteous, yet mysterious purpose, whether it is to qualify the wicked for future punishment, or to refine us through suffering or other purposes.

I tremble as I write these things because it is one thing to comprehend it intellectually, and quite another to experience it. I only hope that if I were so subjected that I would be as faithful as Alma or those who were martyred at Ammonihah.

Zeezrom’s questioning of Amulek and Amulek’s responses

I want to make some observations on the interchange between Amulek and Zeezrom at Ammonihah in Alma 11, but I’m going to quote a lot verses from this chapter because I want you to get clear in your mind what happened first.

21 And this Zeezrom began to question Amulek, saying: Will ye answer me a few questions which I shall ask you? Now Zeezrom was a man who was expert in the devices of the devil, that he might destroy that which was good; therefore, he said unto Amulek: Will ye answer the questions which I shall put unto you?

22 And Amulek said unto him: Yea, if it be according to the Spirit of the Lord, which is in me; for I shall say nothing which is contrary to the Spirit of the Lord. And Zeezrom said unto him: Behold, here are six onties of silver, and all these will I give thee if thou wilt deny the existence of a Supreme Being.

23 Now Amulek said: O thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations?

24 Believest thou that there is no God? I say unto you, Nay, thou knowest that there is a God, but thou lovest that lucre more than him.

25 And now thou hast lied before God unto me. Thou saidst unto me—Behold these six onties, which are of great worth, I will give unto thee—when thou hadst it in thy heart to retain them from me; and it was only thy desire that I should deny the true and living God, that thou mightest have cause to destroy me. And now behold, for this great evil thou shalt have thy reward.

26 And Zeezrom said unto him: Thou sayest there is a true and living God?

27 And Amulek said: Yea, there is a true and living God.

28 Now Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God?

29 And he answered, No.

30 Now Zeezrom said unto him again: How knowest thou these things?

31 And he said: An angel hath made them known unto me.

32 And Zeezrom said again: Who is he that shall come? Is it the Son of God?

33 And he said unto him, Yea.

34 And Zeezrom said again: Shall he save his people in their sins? And Amulek answered and said unto him: I say unto you he shall not, for it is impossible for him to deny his word.

35 Now Zeezrom said unto the people: See that ye remember these things; for he said there is but one God; yet he saith that the Son of God shall come, but he shall not save his people—as though he had authority to command God.

36 Now Amulek saith again unto him: Behold thou hast lied, for thou sayest that I spake as though I had authority to command God because I said he shall not save his people in their sins.

37 And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins.

39 And Amulek said unto him: Yea, he is the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth, and all things which in them are; he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last;

40 And he shall come into the world to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else. (Alma 11:21-40)

Zeezrom’s first attempt to trap Amulek is, “Here are six ontis of silver that I will give you if you deny the existence of a Supreme Being.”

Now, our immediate assessment of Zeezrom would be, “This guy is an atheist, and he thinks Amulek is full of hooey. He thinks Amulek will drop it all if it is to Amulek’s financial advantage.”

However, Amulek, informed by the Spirit, knows otherwise: “Believest thou that there is no God? . . . Nay, thou knowest that there is a God, but thou lovest that lucre more than him.” (v24) Amulek pegs Zeezrom as a believer with a testimony who is masquerading as an atheist in order to get more money.

It is interesting to see how Amulek is inspired by the Spirit to give a spiritual assessment of Zeezrom’s condition so near the beginning of their exchange. There is no way that Amulek could have known all that about Zeezrom with just Zeezrom’s first attempt to trap him, bad as Zeezrom’s first attempt was.  So Amulek’s assessment of Zeezrom is shown to be true throughout the rest of their conversation, and I suppose that becomes a witness to all who knew Zeezrom that Alma and Amulek were speaking the truth about Ammonihah as well.

Before this, though, Amulek calls Zeezrom a child of hell, which is totally accurate, since only a child of hell would tempt someone as Zeezrom tries to tempt Amulek. Especially when Zeezrom knows the truth. 

The rest of Zeezrom’s plot, Amulek reveals, is that Zeezrom would have withheld the six ontis even if Amulek had fallen for the temptation. Zeezrom only wanted to get Amulek to deny God so that Zeezrom would have cause to destroy him.   The cause by which Zeezrom would destroy Amulek remains unspecified, but if we remember that the Law of Moses forbade blasphemy with a punishment of stoning for offenders, then we might speculate that Zeezrom meant to drop his atheist act and put on an offended believer act, and then accuse Amulek of blasphemy in order to have him stoned.

Now, would an atheist have tried to destroy another atheist?  Not very likely. So Zeezrom was definitely a believer who was trying to get Amulek to act like an unbeliever in order to destroy him.

If Zeezrom was a believer, then it was definitely true he had become more interested in money than in keeping the commandments, feigning unbelief in order to try to entrap a prophet.  And we can see by the quality of his other questions that he asks Amulek that he has specific knowledge of Amulek’s beliefs and doctrines.  It is knowledge at an unusually deep level for an unbeliever.

But eventually Amulek’s talk about the future judgment awakens Zeezrom to a consciousness of his guilt, and he begins to tremble and look for a way out of his sins.

Ultimately, Zeezrom’s problem was the problem of Ammonihah as well. They knew the truth, but they loved other things more.

I think there are several lessons from this exchange.

1)    Never flirt with denying the truth for money.

2)    If you believe, don’t ever start pretending you don’t just to gain material advantages. 

The world is getting more secular. It is tempting to hide who we are, but it may be that Zeezrom shows us the end of that road. If he hadn’t been brought to realize his errors, he would have been destroyed with the others in Ammonihah. 

Aminadi interprets the writing on the wall

We learn of Aminadi from Amulek when Amulek begins his message to the rebellious Ammoniha-ites

2 I am Amulek; I am the son of Giddonah, who was the son of Ishmael, who was a descendant of Aminadi; and it was that same Aminadi who interpreted the writing which was upon the wall of the temple, which was written by the finger of God.

3 And Aminadi was a descendant of Nephi, who was the son of Lehi, who came out of the land of Jerusalem…(Alma 10:2-3)

That little bit about Aminadi interpreting the writing upon the walls of the temple which was written by the finger of God is so fascinating. It is one of those places where I just want to shake Mormon for not putting in more detail, but at the same time, I know that adding more detail would have disrupted Amulek’s narrative flow.

It is fascinating how briefly Amulek refers to the story of his ancestor Aminadi. It suggests that Aminadi’s interpretation was so widely known to the people that it was an important part of their historical narrative of faith and could be referred to in a much abbreviated form, much as we speak of Joseph Smith’s first vision.

The finger of God writing on the wall of the temple would have been a great story to include, and I can’t imagine that it wasn’t included in the abridgement of the large plates of Nephi. I think it may have been a casualty of the 116 pages being lost. Yet we have just enough details for it to evoke our knowledge of the story of Daniel interpreting the writing on the palace wall for the king of Babylon. We can sort of piece together the story of Aminadi based on the story of Daniel.

In the Bible, the finger of the Lord wrote the message for the Babylonian king, but because the king didn’t understand it, Daniel was the one to interpret the writing. So, I suppose that in the Americas, the Lord wrote the message for someone or some people, but because they didn’t understand it, Aminadi was called to interpret (or came forward to interpret) the writing on the temple wall.

That the writing is on the temple wall is very intriguing. In Daniel’s story, the writing was on the palace wall where the king was. In the Book of Mormon, the writing was on the temple wall, suggesting that the priests (or a priest-king) administering in the temple were being condemned for idolatry and abominations, and a view of the writing finger of God was needed to convince them of the existence, power, and authority of God.

I think it was probably the highest-ranking priest (or possibly priest-king, since at that time kings often held the top religious authority as well) that was getting the message from the finger of God. If it had just been lower ranking priests, then the higher-ranking one(s) could admonish them. But when it is the highest ranking doing the bad stuff and leading the people astray, that would definitely be grounds for direct admonishment from God.

The writing comes to the place and person(s) who need(s) it. That the writing needs interpretation indicates that the person(s) to whom it comes is so out of tune that they don’t understand it. The person needing the interpretation must find an interpreter, so both the writing (and the subsequent interpretation) will become very publicly known. It seems to me that this is the way the Lord rebukes a person in power who should have known better; He does it in order to make sure everyone else knows not to do those same sins.

Why does Amulek mention this story of his ancestor at the beginning of his talk to the Ammonihah-ites? I think he is setting some context for his message of repentance by locating himself as a fitting person to deliver the message. Just as Aminadi interpreted a message from God to the people of his day who were out of tune with the Lord, Amulek will be interpreting a warning message from God (along with Alma) to the people of his day who are very much out of tune with God. I think Amulek drew strength from the story of his ancestor as he delivered the difficult message.

How does this little story help us today? I think knowing the valiant and righteous choices of our ancestors can help us make valiant and righteous choices in our own lives. Hearing how our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents and more distant ancestors sacrificed for the truth can encourage us when we find ourselves called upon to do it too. As a small example, I know that when my mom told me about how she worked to dress modestly in the ‘60s even when she was made fun of at high school, it helped give me strength to follow her good example and dress modestly.

How have the stories of your ancestors inspired you? Have there been times when you have found yourself doing something good that was very similar to what one of your ancestors did? How did it make you feel? How are you working to transmit those stories to your family?

Observations on Alma 14 and the results of Alma and Amulek’s preaching in Ammonihah

Alma 14 shows the society of Ammonihah is ripe for destruction:
• They condemn holy people (Alma & Amulek) for their holiness.
• They consider good to be evil.
• They cast out the righteous men and stone them.
• They burn the innocent women and children to death.
• They destroy all the sacred records they can find.
• They mock, abuse, and imprison righteous church leaders (Alma & Amulek)

**

The people of Ammonihah burn the women and children and then mock Alma and Amulek saying, “After what ye have seen, will ye preach again unto this people that they shall be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone?” The people of Ammonihah think that if they subject other people to the penalties they themselves have been warned of, it means the warnings are invalid. It is a twisted sort of reasoning brought on by the pattern of injustice of the judges, who have been working to invalidate righteous authority, and they don’t realize that it seals their doom upon them.

**

The abuse Ammonihah leaders put Alma and Amulek through in prison is extreme. They try to break down their identities and destroy them spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Based upon this, it is amazing that Alma preaches so bravely and courageously afterward. It seems he overcomes it through faith in Christ.

**

While they are imprisoned, they answer the chief judge nothing when he questions them. What more can they say than has already been said? The people had rejected it all, so there was no more to say. It wasn’t fear that kept them quiet.

**

One the last day that Alma and Amulek are imprisoned, the chief judge and many teachers and lawyers mocked them and challenged them to prove Ammonihah would be destroyed by delivering themselves from the bands that tied them. Clearly the judge, the teachers, and lawyers never believed it would happen, but they had not reckoned upon the power and mercy that the Lord extends to His anointed. They sought a sign and they got it, but only to their condemnation. It didn’t cause them to want to repent; it only made them want to remove themselves from the city that they now knew would be destroyed. But it was too late for them. It is significant that it says that “they did not obtain the outer door to the prison.” They die in prison, both temporally and spiritually, while Alma and Amulek come out of this prison whose walls have been rent specifically for them.

**

Alma cried to the Lord “O Lord, give us strength according to our faith in Christ, even unto deliverance.” The Lord answered Alma and gave them complete deliverance:
• They broke the bands that bound them.
• They were freed from their tormentors when the earthquake destroyed the prison and the walls fell so exclusively on the evil men.
• They were freed from the prison, as the earthquake rent the prison walls and no one lived to prevent them from leaving.
• They were freed from the city, as all the townspeople ran away from them, so they could leave.
• Finally, because of the healing power of Christ, they eventually recovered and were freed from the debilitating effects of the abuse that they suffered.
According to their faith in Christ, they were delivered from all these afflictions. This dramatic story of deliverance is meant to remind us that God really does have power to deliver us from anything and everything. He can save in so many ways. He can save us from going through afflictions. He can save us from afflictions as we are in them. He can save us from the negative effects of afflictions. He can save us at ANY STAGE. He can save us through death or He can save us with life. He can save us from committing sin. He can save us from our sins. He uses His power to save in ways that will result in the greatest good for us and others and in ways that preserve our agency. Through it all, we have the challenge of remembering that He can save us in all things.

**

Mormon takes especial care to give us the specific date when Alma and Amulek are delivered from prison. Then in chapter 16, he gives the specific date when all the people of Ammonihah are attacked and slaughtered by the Lamanites.
Deliverance of Alma and Amulek – 10th year of judges, 10th month, 5th day
Destruction of Ammonihah – 11th year of judges, 2nd month, 5th day
We don’t know what was the last month of their Nephite year, but it could be as many as 6, or as few as 2 months later that Ammonihah was destroyed. Still, it seems Mormon wants to point out that destruction came swiftly when they were ripe, to underline that warnings from God should not be ignored.