Alma 14:6 - 14:10

Alma 14:6 And it came to pass that Zeezrom was astonished at the words which had been spoken; and he also knew concerning the blindness of the minds, which he had caused among the people by his lying words; and his soul began to be harrowed up under a consciousness of his own guilt; yea, he began to be encircled about by the pains of hell.

All this time the feeling of extreme guilt were encircling Zeezrom. He knew of the evilness of the people he had worked with over the years and that he was largely to blame for this. His conscience was searing his soul and he was now feeling the feelings that those who find themselves in hell experience.

Alma 14:7 And it came to pass that he began to cry unto the people, saying: Behold, I am guilty, and these men are spotless before God. And he began to plead for them from that time forth; but they reviled him, saying: Art thou also possessed with the devil? And they spit upon him, and cast him out from among them, and also all those who believed in the words which had been spoken by Alma and Amulek; and they cast them out, and sent men to cast stones at them.

To try to repair the damage Zeezrom felt extremely responsible for, he began to confess to the people that what he had been doing in the past was a huge mistake and that Alma and Amulek were correct in their condemnation of the people’s evil ways. But his pleadings for the men were rejected and he was accused of now being under the influence of the devil. He was spit on and thrown out of Ammonihah along with others who had also believed Alma and Amulek.

It seems that the best a person can do to contend against a righteous person is to say they are under the influence of the devil. This was what Jesus was accused of many times. A humble person would say that the person accusing them of some infraction might be correct and that they would look into it. However, an evil person has no humility and always lashes back with vile and personal attacks. The thought that they might be doing something wrong is a violation of their ego and they will not stand for it. The difference between a righteous humble person and a selfish egotistical person is easy to see.

Alma 14:8 And they brought their wives and children together, and whosoever believed or had been taught to believe in the word of God they caused that they should be cast into the fire; and they also brought forth their records which contained the holy scriptures, and cast them into the fire also, that they might be burned and destroyed by fire.

In an act of the absolute evil and cruelty, those who were accusing Alma and Amulek of being under the influence of the devil, brought not only those who now believed in what Alma and Amulek were preaching to the people but their wives and children and threw them into a fiery pit. They also grabbed their scriptures and threw them in the fire too.

This is an indication of the measure of the evilness of the population of Ammonihah. What kind of a mind can do such a dastardly thing? Judgment day will not a good day for these individuals.

Alma 14:9 And it came to pass that they took Alma and Amulek, and carried them forth to the place of martyrdom, that they might witness the destruction of those who were consumed by fire.

Alma and Amulek were brought forth to witness the terrible scene.

I guess the leaders wanted to show that they were not afraid of them or what they were preaching.

Alma 14:10 And when Amulek saw the pains of the women and children who were consuming in the fire, he also was pained; and he said unto Alma: How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore let us stretch forth our hands, and exercise the power of God which is in us, and save them from the flames.

Amulek is shaken to his core by the scene of the women and children being thrown into the fire. Their screams must have been almost too terrible to listen too. He asks Alma why should they not now show their power to deliver these innocent victims from the fate of being burned alive?

A perfectly reasonable reaction by Amulek. I sure we would all react the same way. What I wonder about this event, was Amulek’s wife and children victims? He later accompanies Alma back to Zarahemla and comforts him. I think that he was widower now. I also wonder how many of his relatives were victims as well?