Sidom: A Haven for Healing - Book of Alma, Chapter Fifteen (Alma 15)

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/15?lang=eng.

Life in the world involves some measure of pain and suffering. There’s just no getting around it. We always hope that we can avoid or delay it, but it comes in some form. We have health problems because our bodies break down and will not last forever. Same for our loved ones. Death creates separation between family and dear friends. Unwelcome surprises come in the form of accidents or others’ unfeeling deeds.

The Lord wants us to be part of the solution, which is to never give up amid the trials of life, and to inspire others to keep going as well. Somehow He gives us the strength not only to survive and endure, but to feel joy and peace as we do so. It’s our choice, plain and simple.

So when this huge trauma gets dealt to Alma, Amulek, and the people in Ammonihah who believe their words, they need a place where they can come together and regroup. That place turns out to be the land of Sidom. 

Not only have the people been run out of Ammonihah by the unbelieving majority, but Alma and Amulek—whom the Lord commands to go to Sidom after miraculously delivering them from prison—have the hard task of informing them that their wives and children have been burned alive (verses 1-2). They have truly sacrificed for the truth they have embraced. It seems difficult to consider what Alma and Amulek could possibly do to comfort these people aside from telling them the truth, showing they care, and letting time do the rest. 

Zeezrom, the lawyer who had first done all he could to entrap Alma and Amulek, before having a complete change of heart and honestly embracing the truth they teach, seems to be literally burning to death from a guilty conscience (verse 3). Nowhere else in scripture do we see such a direct link that someone’s sin may have with their physical health. Jesus makes reference to some kind of link when he asks his detractors (in Luke 5) whether it is easier to forgive sins or tell someone to rise up and walk. But here we see it uniquely on display, and it is a perfect opportunity to show how the Lord’s mercy can heal all the effects of sin—be they spiritual, emotional, or physical. 

Apparently Zeezrom thinks Alma and Amulek had perished because of his initial efforts to rouse the rabble against them. This is at the core of his anxiety and the fever that is scorching him. When he hears that Alma and Amulek have survived and made it to Sidom, his “heart begins to take courage,” and he urgently sends for them to come to his side, which they do (verses 4-5). 

He asks them to heal him. Alma explains that it can be done if Zeezrom has faith in the power of Christ unto salvation (verses 5-9). So just as the affliction melded the physical and spiritual, we witness the same is true for the cure. In order to be relieved of the fever, Zeezrom needs to understand that Christ’s merciful power, as mighty as it is in banishing disease and affliction from our bodies, extends well beyond that to provide the momentum we need to overcome sin and other weaknesses and find our way to eternal salvation. 

Zeezrom is healed instantly and dramatically, literally leaping to his feet (verses 10-11). The account spreads quickly among the people in Sidom. Once Zeezrom is baptized, he becomes a teacher of the gospel. Presumably he draws upon his own story to help him convince others that God’s power is real and sufficient in their lives. Alma finds many others willing to engage in the work of gathering disciples of Christ and establishes a church among the refugees from Ammonihah in Sidom (verses 12-13). 

Our narrator Mormon then describes the developing spiritual situation among the people in this area. It is basically divided among two groups. The people in Sidom, as well as others who “flock in from all the region round about,” accept that they need the gospel of Jesus Christ (verse 14). If they humbly repent, and watch and pray continually, they can be “delivered from Satan, and from death, and from destruction.” Mormon says that Alma can see that these people are “checked as to the pride of the hearts” (verse 17). What an important thing, to check ourselves in this way! 

The second group, though, the people in Ammonihah are not willing to check the pride of their hearts in the same way. In their stubbornness, they continue to reject the need for repentance that Alma and Amulek had preached to them (verse 15). For inspiration, they look to the false prophet Nehor (whom Alma had executed for murder in Alma 1), even though Nehor himself admitted that what he taught was against the word of God. Pride both blinds and paralyzes. 

The chapter ends on an emotionally wrenching and touching note. Amulek has now been cast out of his hometown (Ammonihah). Mormon tells us that his relatives and friends, including his own father, have rejected him for his embrace of God’s truth. We know he has left his worldly possessions behind (verse 16). It is possible (though we don’t know for sure) that his wife and children were victims of a fiery death. He, very much like Job, has been left bereft of everything he once had other than his integrity and his faith. 

Alma then gets the chance to return the favor that Amulek once offered him by taking him in when he had no one else to turn to in Ammonihah. It had been Amulek and his family whose kindness and care nursed Alma back to full strength so that they could boldly proclaim God’s message together (Alma 8). Now Amulek is the one in need. Alma takes him back to his home in Zarahemla, “and did administer unto him in his tribulations, and strengthened him in the Lord” (verse 18) This episode reminds us that sometimes we need helping, and sometimes we are in a position to give help. Hopefully we can be ready to both give and receive at the right time. 

Also see this clip for an account of Zeezrom’s healing and baptism.

Following God Amid Base Brutality - Book of Alma, Chapter Fourteen (Alma 14)

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/14?lang=eng.

Also see these two clips (here and here).

The effort by Alma and Amulek to remind people of the truth comes at a cost. When wickedness takes root in a community, those in privileged positions can be absolutely ruthless in resisting any slippage of their power, wealth or prestige. And we see the lengths to which they’re willing to go in this chapter. Innocent sufferers do not sway them from their single-minded focus on hanging on.

When Alma finishes his discourse, one can imagine that as the people try to make sense of the weighty things they have heard from him and Amulek, and how they so unexpectedly stood up to the expert lawyer Zeezrom’s questions, a momentary hush settles upon the crowd as they consider some penetrating questions for self-examination:

What manner of men are these who can not only withstand the trained lawyer’s effort to trip them up, but completely change his line of questioning to something much more sincere and vulnerable?

Is it possible they are sent from the Lord to save us from ourselves and that we might have fallen off the right path?

Are we too self-absorbed? If so, how can we change that?

Would Amulek, who is one of us and a distinguished citizen, follow this Alma without good reason?

The chapter does not speak of a long silence, but says that the people go one of two ways. Many believe Alma, begin to repent, and start their own search for truth in the scriptural record kept among them (probably whatever has been translated from the plates of brass brought across the ocean hundreds of years before—including the books of Moses and important prophecies like those from Isaiah) (verse 1).

But most, perhaps seeking to deaden any pangs of conscience Alma stirred up in their hearts, desire to destroy Alma and Amulek (verses 2-3). They are angry that Alma was so plain with Zeezrom. Sometimes when we hear the truth directly and forcefully, it takes us aback, especially when we have danced around the truth to rationalize choosing comfort and convenience over what we know deep down God has in store for us (and is, by definition, the best course we could follow). The people are also angry that Amulek has attacked the way they enforce the law. While Amulek told them (in chapter 10) that he supports the law, but needed to rebuke the unrighteous lawyers and judges who twist its true meaning and application, we see that it remains much easier for people to justify themselves and their close associates than accept criticism, even if the criticism is accurate. 

Once we learn of the initial reaction of the people in Ammonihah, the rest of the chapter unfolds in a way that seems inevitable as a consequence of the hardening most have to the truth. As they lash out to destroy what reminds them of their error and wickedness, they ironically fall ever deeper into the tragic pit they dig. 

The one who has been fully awakened from his destructive course, Zeezrom, is now beside himself with anguish both at how his own past prideful deception has misled his people, and at the people’s absolute unwillingness to reconsider their present situation. He tries to rouse them from their foolishness, to say that he was wrong and Alma and Amulek were right, but to no avail (verses 6-7). 

Instead, he and all others who heeded the preaching of Alma and Amulek are roughly cast aside and made to live out a particularly dreadful nightmare. They can’t get the majority to change their ways or prevent them from the terrible act of burning alive the most innocent of the city—the wives and children of those who accept Alma’s and Amulek’s message (verse 8). The only comfort amid this gruesome scene for those stricken by conscience, such as Zeezrom, is that at least they now know the truth and are in a position to act on it. 

For comparison, our minds may turn to prominent historical episodes where people or ideas were subjected to the flames of intolerance: the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, Nazism. Part of the sadistic pleasure of the tormentors is to force Alma and Amulek to witness the deaths of the innocents (verse 9). So moved by the suffering he sees, Amulek pleads with Alma that they may call upon God to miraculously save these unjustly condemned people from their pain and suffering (verse 10). Amulek is having his first experience of standing for truth in a way that risks unpopularity and persecution. We don’t know specifically whether any of his family are killed (later we find that many from his family have rejected his teachings), but his status as a resident of the city means he has much more history with the victims than Alma. Thus, it’s understandable that his reaction is more emotional. 

Alma, who has more overall experience and seems to have developed greater discipline throughout his years of service and ministry, responds that he has already considered the matter, but the Lord has a different plan. He will permit this very bad thing to happen to these people because in the eternal scheme of things, their suffering will end quickly and they will be received unto Him. Ultimately, those who sank to such depths to murder their neighbors in such a destestable way will face the full weight of having rejected what is good and redeeming (verse 11). It is one of those situations where we must trust that the Lord understands what needs to be done to give as many people as possible a chance to find redemption and positive transformation through Christ’s power. 

There’s so much going on this chapter. Now we pivot to an equally important episode. Poor Alma and Amulek are just getting started. After being forced to witness these horrifying deaths, they now become the focus of their captors’ effort to intimidate and break them. The chief judge and his cronies ridicule their inability to save the innocent, isolate them, starve and withhold water from them, tie them up, strike them, and subject them to other forms of physical and psychological torture (verses 14-22). 

The chief judge seems the epitome of ruthlessness and glorying in power, like a child delighting in squashing an ant simply because he can. Instead of immediately killing Alma and Amulek though, he wants them to recant and promise not to teach the truth. Perhaps the chief judge feels that breaking their will would be a more permanent way to avoid having others hold him and his people accountable, because killing them could lead to having another prophet sent to criticize them. 

To the eternal credit of Alma and Amulek, and cause for our gratitude, they do not fold. Instead, they stay true to their callings as witnesses of God and His power. Their very actions and silent dignity in the face of punishment is a foreshadowing of how our Savior will comport Himself in a similar situation. The chief judge gets to a point where he dares them to break their bands, clearly without believing it is possible, echoed by all of his accomplices (verses 23-24). 

Ironically, the Lord is ready to honor his servants in just this way. The wicked have called upon themselves their own doom. Our narrator (Mormon) writes that the power of God comes upon Alma and Amulek. Alma cries to the Lord for deliverance, and as happened with Nephi when detained by his brothers (in 1 Nephi 7), he and Amulek burst the bands that hold them. This spectacle fills their captors with fear, and as they realize they are not as powerful as they had imagined, they try to flee in terror. The earth shakes so tremendously that the walls of the prison fall, killing everyone within except for Alma and Amulek (verses 25-28). 

The final verse is very cinematic, allowing us to picture the townspeople drawn to the horrible spectacle, straining their eyes to see if anyone could have survived, and then their eyes widening in disbelief as the only two people who had condemned the town—no not John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, but Alma and Amulek—turn out to be the ones emerging as the dust clears (verse 29).