Alma 23:1 - 23:5

Alma 23:1 Behold, now it came to pass that the king of the Lamanites sent a proclamation among all his people, that they should not lay their hands on Ammon, or Aaron, or Omner, or Himni, nor either of their brethren who should go forth preaching the word of God, in whatsoever place they should be, in any part of their land.

The king now sends a message to all the land under his control. The sons of Mosiah and their companions are not be touched as they go about preaching the word of God.

Alma 23:2 Yea, he sent a decree among them, that they should not lay their hands on them to bind them, or to cast them into prison; neither should they spit upon them, nor smite them, nor cast them out of their synagogues, nor scourge them; neither should they cast stones at them, but that they should have free access to their houses, and also their temples, and their sanctuaries.

They are to be granted complete access to all public buildings such as chapels, temples and other sanctuaries and people’s homes if allowed.

The temples mentioned here were probably brought here by the apostates from the Nephites such as the Nehors. The Lamanites, themselves, sure would not have had them seeing that they were not brought up with any religious principles until apostates started to come among them. The proclamation by the king to allow the preaching of the gospel in their lands is a policy followed by the church today. The leadership will seek for permission from the government before any missionaries are sent into a country to proselyte.

Alma 23:3 And thus they might go forth and preach the word according to their desires, for the king had been converted unto the Lord, and all his household; therefore he sent his proclamation throughout the land unto his people, that the word of God might have no obstruction, but that it might go forth throughout all the land, that his people might be convinced concerning the wicked traditions of their fathers, and that they might be convinced that they were all brethren, and that they ought not to murder, nor to plunder, nor to steal, nor to commit adultery, nor to commit any manner of wickedness.

The converted king’s desire now is to bring the gospel of peace to all of his people. He want to make sure that the boys have no one barring their way to barring them from preaching the gospel wherever they might be lead to by the Spirit. The king is very anxious to rid the people of their false and destructive traditions with have kept them from the gospel and being at peace with the Nephites. They need to be convinced that killing, robbing, committing adultery and various sins were not condone by God. That they were keeping the Lamanites from becoming a good and productive people.

It is interesting to see what they procedure that was going to be used to fix the social fabric. We have these very same problems today. It is the gospel, preached by authorized servants of the Lord, that will fix societies problems. No other method will work in convincing people to change their attitudes or behavior. All methods I see being tried today are not working. I shake my head, knowing that protesting, rioting, etc are not going to work. Only when the false ideas as to what people need to get themselves on the road to becoming a good and productive people are replaced with the gospel, will they raise above their present conditions. Nothing else will work. That is why we do not use the tactics of the progressives to promote social change. They do not work and you would think after all these years someone would have figured that out.

Alma 23:4 And now it came to pass that when the king had sent forth this proclamation, that Aaron and his brethren went forth from city to city, and from one house of worship to another, establishing churches, and consecrating priests and teachers throughout the land among the Lamanites, to preach and to teach the word of God among them; and thus they began to have great success.

With the king’s proclamation and permission, Aaron and his companions started to go throughout the country side to preaching the gospel and establish congregations. As the congregations were established, local members were installed in leadership possessions over these newly established church units. The church was starting to grow very fast and great influence in the communities.

Alma 23:5 And thousands were brought to the knowledge of the Lord, yea, thousands were brought to believe in the traditions of the Nephites; and they were taught the records and prophecies which were handed down even to the present time.

Thousands were being converted to the gospel and now were being to follow the gospel principles as live by the Nephites. They now had the scriptures and the prophecies as had been written down by previous Nephites prophets and the scriptures of the brass plates.