Alma 38

When Alma speaks to his son Shiblon, he says, "And now my son, Shiblon, I would that ye should remember that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of of your trials and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day."

I trust that God can help me. I know that He can change that He can carry me through my trials, and make me whole. I will put my trust in Him. I will not quit. I will look forward to the day when I can look at these trials with a new perspective, because I will have known that God has been with me. All throughout the scriptures, it repeatedly says that we need to "endure". Satan is aware of each of us. It is his goal to pull us from God's pathway. When we make mistakes, he tries to convince us that we should quit and give up. I know that by putting my trust in God, I can endure. I can keep on the pathway to eternal life. There are times when I wish I could say I was perfect, but I know through these struggles, I am being refined into a more compassionate person. And someday I will have become the person the Lord would have me be.

At the end of this chapter it reminds us that it is only through Jesus Christ that we may be saved. As we turn to Him, He will carry us, refine us, and lift us along the path of righteousness.

Alma 30

All Things Denote There is A God

In Alma 30, an Antichrist is preaching against the teachings of Christ. I like what Alma says when he says, "What evidence have ye that there is no God, or that Christ cometh not? I say unto you that ye have none, save it be your word only. But, behold, I have all things as a testimony that these things are true; an ye also have all things as a testimony unto you that they are true...The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator" (Alma 30:40-41, & 44).

All around us there is evidence of God's existence. All we need to do is open our eyes, and see the majesty. Each and every thing is made to operate within its realm. Our human bodies, the planets in motion--function under an intricate network and design. Both the study of the human body and the study of planets have persisted throughout time, and we, as humans, are still learning about that design. These things were not merely thrown together--there is a Creator. In addition to our bodies, and the planets, all other things on the face of the earth also function under a supreme pattern. And because we can look around and realize the existence of a Supreme Being, we can gather a testimony of Him.

What we choose to believe will be the determining factor of who we become. We have the agency to determine our pathway, and a large part of our pathway, in this life, will be our beliefs. In this chapter, Korihor (the Antichrist) insists on a sign from God that there is a God. Alma tells him that if it be God's will, then Korihor will be struck dumb--unable to speak. After Korihor is unable to speak, he wrote, "the devil has deceived me; for he appeared unto me in the form of an angel, and said unto me: Go and reclaim this people...and he I taught them because they were pleasing unto the carnal mind; and I taught them (the people of Nephi), even until I had much success, insomuch that I verily believed that they were true; and for this cause I withstood the truth, even until I have brought this great curse upon me" (Alma 30:53). Because Korihor chose to accept what Satan tempted him to believe, he left the path of safety, and became what he taught--he lost his testimony of God, and he led many others away. We are a products of our environments. We lose our testimonies as we choose to surround ourselves with things that separate us from God. If we allow Satan into our lives, we can be assured that he will lead us away from our loving Father in Heaven.

In the end Korihor is trampled and dies. It is written, "THUS WE SEE (capitalized for emphasis), the end of him who perverteth the ways of the Lord, and THUS WE SEE that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell.