This week in the Book of Mormon we’ll review chapters 46 to 50 of Alma. What we see in these five chapters are multiple attempts to take control of the Nephite government by Amalickiah, who sought to overthrow the Nephite government and set himself up as a king. The Nephites were successful in preserving their government under the leadership of Moroni who rallied the people to affirm their covenant with God 46:21, which is a covenant of life. This week well examine this covenant of life and look at it in the past, present and future.
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This week in our review of the Book of Mormon we’ll review chapters 41 to 45, but focus on chapter 42 where Alma teaches about the Fall of Adam and Eve, and man’s mortal sojourn. The primary idea that we see in here in chapter 42 is that man, through the Fall of Adam and Eve, received a carnal nature – he became carnal, sensual and devilish – v10, and the time during mortality is a time to repent of this carnal nature. In fact, the Book of Mormon seems to have as its central focus the theme of Yeshua’s redemption of man from Adam and Eve’s fall throughout the Book of Mormon. However, this week we’ll ramp-up our view mortality and consider that it is a time of transformation to reach the full measure of the stature of Messiah. This week in our review of the Book of Mormon we’ll review chapters 36 to 40 of Alma, but look at chapter 40 where Alma teaches on a spirit realm between death and the resurrection. Here we again see the concept of a spirit paradise where the righteous dead go to await the resurrection, which we saw at 2 Nephi 9. When we look at the scriptures, we see two additional instances of where a paradise exists. First, we see that the Garden of Eden is a paradise and second, during the millennial age that is also known as a paradise. The three paradises that we see here are all linked to the presence of Yehovah-Yeshua, God the Son. Further, we’ll link the concept of paradise with our theme of threes and to the Heaven and the Realm of the Son to see who can be expected to receive this paradisiacal existence in eternity. This week in our review of the Book of Mormon we’ll look at chapters 31 to 35. Our focus will be on chapter 32 where Alma lays out a process to come to a knowledge of the truth. The primary theme that we see in chapter 32 is the concept of experimenting on the God’s Word to come to a knowledge of the truth. One of the ideas we see here in Alma 32 is that when we receive a blessing or a fruit for living the Commandments it is a confirmation that we have received truth from God. But as we will see, positive things that happen in our lives do not always come from God. This week we’ll pause our review of the Book of Mormon and observe Shavuot or the Feast of Weeks, which is observed this year on June 5 and 6. Shavuot commemorates Israel entering into a full covenant relationship with Yehovah as a nation under God. That relationship is observed here at Shavuot as Israel remembers and renews the Sinai Covenant, and Israel’s marriage as bride to Yehovah as the bridegroom. As a collective covenant, the Sinai Covenant forms the basis for which Yehovah could create His covenant people or Zion. We see this same sort of collective covenanting with America through the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, which is a prelude to a full restoration of God’s covenants and the Endtime restoration of Israel. This week in the Book of Mormon we’ll look at chapters 25 to 30 in Alma, but focus on chapter 30. The only place the word “Anti-Christ” appears in the Book of Mormon is here in chapter 30 of Alma. A man named Korihor comes amongst the people of Zarahemla and preaches that there is no Christ/Messiah. So this week we’ll explore the concept of what and who are Anti-Christs. This week in the Book of Mormon we’ll look at chapters 20 to 24 of the Book of Alma. In this parsha (portion) of the Book of Alma, we see a theme with the Lamanites, Amalekites and the Amulonites that they all have a hardened heart. In fact, we see this theme presented in other parts of the Book of Mormon. So, here is another warning from God that we might be susceptible of having a hardened heart. This week we’ll consider the process that influences a hardened heart, what are the results of having a hard heart, and how we can change our hearts. This week in the Book of Mormon we’ll look at chapters 14 to 19 in the Book of Alma. In chapter 17, Alma meets with the sons of Mosiah who Alma describes as “having waxed strong in a knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding”. This week we’ll consider what it takes to have a sound understanding of the Gospel. This week in the Book of Mormon we’ll look at chapters 10 to 13 in Alma, but focus on chapter 13 where Alma teaches about God’s Holy Order. Alma presents a number of concepts about this Holy Order that we will discuss and then we’ll expand the concept of holiness by defining what holiness means and detailing the process of Exaltation that we see in the Bible. This week in the Book of Mormon we’ll review Alma 5 to 9. Our focus will be on chapter five. When we look at chapter 5, Alma appears to be linking a deep sleep he mentions in v7 to both physical and spiritual bondage. Further, the key reason for this physical and spiritual bondage is a lack of God’s word that has power – v5. In the Bible, the remedy for physical and spiritual bondage is temporal and spiritual salvation, which is obtained through God’s word. So we’ll consider how this deep sleep is associated with physical and spiritual bondage and how God’s Word is the remedy through temporal and spiritual salvation. |
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January 2023
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