Friday, October 9, 2009

38p - A Revision of My Previous Post 9 Published June 9, 2008 -The Four Sons of King Mosiah

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TODAY'S THEME
Painting: Arnold Friberg
At the top, you are viewing a painting which depicts Ammon, one of the four sons of King Mosiah, as he keeps the Lamanite King's sheep from being stolen by Lamanite robbers.
In a previous blog post I mentioned that after their conversions, these four sons of the king worked long and hard to gain their father's permission to serve as missionaries to the Lamanites.





(To the right is a small copy of the first painting found in my recent post, 38n that depicts these four sons of King Mosiah along with Alma the Younger as the Angel of the Lord rebukes all five of them for their wickedness thus bringing about their conversion to Jesus Christ and his work)
The second painting above, by LDS painter, Del Parson, depicts Lamanites, converted to the Lord Jesus Christ through the efforts of the four sons of Mosiah and their companions, preparing to bury their weapons of war in the earth as an army of hostile Lamanites advances to kill them. You will learn why this was happening later in this blog post.
It is recorded in the Book of Mormon that Ammon, his three brothers and some of the others they had chosen as missionary companions, worked hard to prepare themselves spiritually for this exceedingly difficult mission. It is in Alma 17, that we are told of the incident, depicted in the first painting at the top of this post, when Ammon protected the Lamanite King's sheep with his sword, being strengthened by his special spiritual preparations. Ammon was doing that which would achieve acceptance from the potentially hostile Lamanite king. This is told in Alma 17. Click here to read of this:
It might help you focus better on these chapter long scriptures, like this one and others to come, to listen to them while reading them. After clicking on the scriptural link, scroll up the scripture until you see the word, Listen, on the left side. Click on that. Then click on the (-) sign on the window that comes up so that it will close and not be a distraction to you as you read and listen. When you have finished that scripture please double click on the white arrow in the blue background you will see in the upper left hand corner. That will return you to the post.
Alma 17:1-39.
By reading this scripture, you will have gained the insight that because of the great results he Ammon had, the Lord was with him in all he did among the Lamanites .
Now if you were to read chapters 18-23 of Alma you would read of the great success that all of the other sons of Mosiah, along with their missionary companions, had in turning the hearts and souls of a great number of Lamanites to God. You will also read of the great tribulations they each went through in accomplishing this. I will link each of these chapters here for you. Remember to click on "Listen" on each, as instructed above.
Alma 18:1-43 Ammon teaches the Lamanite king, Lamoni.
Alma 19:1-36 King Lamoni and his queen are both converted to Jesus Christ.
Alma 20:1-30 Ammon and King Lamoni win over Lamoni's father.
Alma 21:1-23 Aaron teaches the Amalekites about Jesus Christ.
Alma 22:1-35 Lamoni's father and all his household are converted.
Alma 23:1-18 The Lamanites in seven lands and cities are converted.
I have also provided a link to Alma, Chapter 24 which will explain the meaning of the picture painted by LDS artist Del Parsons, inserted just after the painting of Ammon wielding a sword to secure the King's sheep.
Alma 24:1-30 The Anti-Nephi-Lehites rejoice in in Christ. They choose to suffer death rather than to defend themselves. More Lamanites are converted.
From that great account we learn more about the power that comes to people after true conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Refer to the second painting at the beginning of this post!
Now, please read these words regarding Alma the Younger: [From about 91 to 77 B.C.] You have read and listened to this scripture earlier in this post, but I have excerpted this part of it here to emphasize the importance of the fourteen (14) year mission of the four sons of King Mosiah and their missionary companions which, along with the accomplishments of Alma, were the results of the conversions of these five Nephite men to the Gospel of Jesus Christ at the time of the appearance of the Angel of the Lord!
Alma 17:
1 AND now it came to pass that as Alma was journeying from the land of Gideon southward, away to the land of Manti, behold, to his astonishment, he met with the sons of Mosiah journeying towards the land of Zarahemla.
2 Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.
3 But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God.
4 And they had been teaching the word of God for the space of fourteen years among the Lamanites, having had much success in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth; yea, by the power of their words many were brought before the altar of God, to call on his name and confess their sins before him.
5 Now these are the circumstances which attended them in their journeyings, for they had many afflictions; they did suffer much, both in body and in mind, such as hunger, thirst and fatigue, and also much labor in the spirit.

Come Unto Me (Ye Blessed)
Among the blessed will surely be: Alma, the Younger, the Four Sons of Mosiah, and those who they as instruments in the hands of the Lord, helped bring to salvation: King Lamoni and his Queen; and Lamoni's father; and the brave People of Anti-Nephi-Lehi and millions of unamed others:
You could be listed among them! E-mail me at jneilmelva@gmail.com and I could suggest steps you could take to make that possible!
The following link, when clicked upon, will allow you to view the latest Mormon Messages Video. You will find it interesting and very well done. Hopefully it will meet needs that perhaps you didn't realize you had.
Mormon Messages
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Neil Birch