Hi
there I thought you might find this story quite helpful in determining you
course of action.
there came a man into the land of Zarahemla, and he
was Anti-Christ, for he began to
preach unto the
people against the prophecies which had been spoken by the prophets, concerning
the coming of Christ.
7 Now there
was no law against a man's belief; for it was strictly contrary to the commands
of God that there should be a law which should bring
men on to unequal grounds.
8 For thus saith the scripture:
Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve.
9 Now if a man desired to serve God,
it was his privilege; or rather, if he believed in God it was his privilege to
serve him; but if he did not believe in
him
there was no law to punish him.
10 But if he murdered he was punished unto death; and if he robbed he
was also punished; and if he stole he was also punished; and if he committed
adultery he was also punished; yea, for all this
wickedness they were punished.
11 For
there was a law that men should be judged according to their crimes.
Nevertheless, there was no law against a man's belief; therefore, a man
was punished only for the crimes which he had done;
therefore all men were on equal grounds.
12 And this Anti-Christ, whose name was
Korihor, (and the law could have no hold upon him) began to preach unto the
people that there should be
no Christ. And after
this manner did he preach, saying:
13 O
ye that are bound down under a foolish and a vain hope, why do ye yoke
yourselves with such foolish things? Why do ye look for a Christ?
For no man can know of anything which is to come.
14 Behold, these things which ye call
prophecies, which ye say are handed down by holy prophets, behold, they are
foolish traditions of your
fathers.
15 How do ye know of their surety?
Behold, ye cannot know of things which ye do not see; therefore ye cannot know
that there shall be a Christ.
16 Ye
look forward and say that ye see a remission of your sins. But behold, it is the
effect of a frenzied mind; and this derangement of your minds
comes because of the traditions of your fathers,
which lead you away into a belief of things which are not so.
17 And many more such things did he say
unto them, telling them that there could be no atonement made for the sins of
men, but every man fared in
this life according to
the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his
genius, and that every man conquered
according to
his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime.
18 And thus he did preach unto them,
leading away the hearts of many, causing them to lift up their heads in their
wickedness, yea, leading away
many women, and also
men, to commit whoredoms÷telling them that when a man was dead, that was the end
thereof.
19 Now this man went over to
the land of Jershon also, to preach these things among the people of Ammon, who
were once the people of the
Lamanites.
20 But behold they were more wise than
many of the Nephites; for they took him, and bound him, and carried him before
Ammon, who was a high
priest over that people.
21 And it came to pass that he caused
that he should be carried out of the land. And he came over into the land of
Gideon, and began to preach
unto them also; and
here he did not have much success, for he was taken and bound and carried before
the high priest, and also the chief judge over
the
land.
22 And it came to pass that the
high priest said unto him: Why do ye go about perverting the ways of the Lord?
Why do ye teach this people that
there shall be no
Christ, to interrupt their rejoicings? Why do ye speak against all the
prophecies of the holy prophets?
23 Now
the high priest's name was Giddonah. And Korihor said unto him: Because I do not
teach the foolish traditions of your fathers, and because
I do not teach this people to bind themselves down
under the foolish ordinances and performances which are laid down by ancient
priests, to usurp
power and authority over them, to
keep them in ignorance, that they may not lift up their heads, but be brought
down according to thy words.
24 Ye say
that this people is a free people. Behold, I say they are in bondage. Ye say
that those ancient prophecies are true. Behold, I say that ye
do not know that they are true.
25 Ye say that this people is a guilty
and a fallen people, because of the transgression of a parent. Behold, I say
that a child is not guilty because of
its parents.
26 And ye also say that Christ shall
come. But behold, I say that ye do not know that there shall be a Christ. And ye
say also that he shall be slain
for the sins of the
world÷
27 And thus ye lead away this
people after the foolish traditions of your fathers, and according to your own
desires; and ye keep them down, even
as it were in
bondage, that ye may glut yourselves with the labors of their hands, that they
durst not look up with boldness, and that they durst not
enjoy their rights and privileges.
28 Yea, they durst not make use of that
which is their own lest they should offend their priests, who do yoke them
according to their desires, and
have brought them
to believe, by their traditions and their dreams and their whims and their
visions and their pretended mysteries, that they should, if
they did not do according to their words, offend
some unknown being, who they say is God÷a being who never has been seen or
known, who never
was nor ever will be.
29 Now when the high priest and the
chief judge saw the hardness of his heart, yea, when they saw that he would
revile even against God, they
would not make any
reply to his words; but they caused that he should be bound; and they delivered
him up into the hands of the officers, and sent
him
to the land of Zarahemla, that he might be brought before Alma, and the chief
judge who was governor over all the land.
30 And it came to pass that when he was
brought before Alma and the chief judge, he did go on in the same manner as he
did in the land of Gideon;
yea, he went on to
blaspheme.
31 And he did rise up in
great swelling words before Alma, and did revile against the priests and
teachers, accusing them of leading away the people
after the silly traditions of their fathers, for the sake of glutting on the
labors of the people.
32 Now Alma said
unto him: Thou knowest that we do not glut ourselves upon the labors of this
people; for behold I have labored even from the
commencement of the reign of the judges until now, with mine own hands for my
support, notwithstanding my many travels round about the land to
declare the word of God unto my people.
33 And notwithstanding the many labors
which I have performed in the church, I have never received so much as even one
senine for my labor;
neither has any of my
brethren, save it were in the judgment-seat; and then we have received only
according to law for our time.
34 And
now, if we do not receive anything for our labors in the church, what doth it
profit us to labor in the church save it were to declare the truth,
that we may have rejoicings in the joy of our
brethren?
35 Then why sayest thou that
we preach unto this people to get gain, when thou, of thyself, knowest that we
receive no gain? And now, believest
thou that we
deceive this people, that causes such joy in their hearts?
36 And Korihor answered him, Yea.
37 And then Alma said unto him:
Believest thou that there is a God?
38
And he answered, Nay.
39 Now Alma said
unto him: Will ye deny again that there is a God, and also deny the Christ? For
behold, I say unto you, I know there is a God,
and
also that Christ shall come.
40 And now
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.
41 But, behold, I have all things as a
testimony that these things are true; and ye also have all things as a testimony
unto you that they are true; and
will ye deny them?
Believest thou that these things are true?
42 Behold, I know that thou believest,
but thou art possessed with a lying spirit, and ye have put off the Spirit of
God that it may have no place in
you; but the devil
has power over you, and he doth carry you about, working devices that he may
destroy the children of God.
43 And now
Korihor said unto Alma: If thou wilt show me a sign, that I may be convinced
that there is a God, yea, show unto me that he hath
power, and then will I be convinced of the truth of thy words.
44 But Alma said unto him: Thou hast
had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when
ye have the testimony of
all these thy brethren,
and also all the holy prophets? 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.
45 And yet do ye go about, leading away
the hearts of this people, testifying unto them there is no God? And yet will ye
deny against all these
witnesses? And he said: Yea,
I will deny, except ye shall show me a sign.
46 And now it came to pass that Alma
said unto him: Behold, I am grieved because of the hardness of your heart, yea,
that ye will still resist the
spirit of the truth,
that thy soul may be destroyed.
47 But
behold, it is better that thy soul should be lost than that thou shouldst be the
means of bringing many souls down to destruction, by thy lying
and by thy flattering words; therefore if thou
shalt deny again, behold God shall smite thee, that thou shalt become dumb, that
thou shalt never open
thy mouth any more, that thou
shalt not deceive this people any more.
48 Now Korihor said unto him: I do not deny the existence of a God, but I do not
believe that there is a God; and I say also, that ye do not know
that there is a God; and except ye show me a sign,
I will not believe.
49 Now Alma said
unto him: This will I give unto thee for a sign, that thou shalt be struck dumb,
according to my words; and I say, that in the name
of God, ye shall be struck dumb, that ye shall no more have utterance.
50 Now when Alma had said these words,
Korihor was struck dumb, that he could not have utterance, according to the
words of Alma.
51 And now when the
chief judge saw this, he put forth his hand and wrote unto Korihor, saying: Art
thou convinced of the power of God? In
whom did ye
desire that Alma should show forth his sign? Would ye that he should afflict
others, to show unto thee a sign? Behold, he has showed
unto you a sign; and now will ye dispute more?
52 And Korihor put forth his hand and
wrote, saying: I know that I am dumb, for I cannot speak; and I know that
nothing save it were the power of
God could bring
this upon me; yea, and I always knew that there was a God.
53 But behold, the devil hath deceived
me; for he appeared unto me in the form of an angel, and said unto me: Go and
reclaim this people, for they
have all gone astray
after an unknown God. And he said unto me: There is no God; yea, and he taught
me that which I should say. And I have taught
his
words; and I taught them because they were pleasing unto the carnal mind; and I
taught them, 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.
54 Now when he had said this, he
besought that Alma should pray unto God, that the curse might be taken from him.
55 But Alma said unto him: If this
curse should be taken from thee thou wouldst again lead away the hearts of this
people; therefore, it shall be unto
thee even as
the Lord will.
56 And it came to pass
that the curse was not taken off of Korihor; but he was cast out, and went about
from house to house begging for his food.
57 Now the knowledge of what had
happened unto Korihor was immediately published throughout all the land; yea,
the proclamation was sent forth
by the chief judge
to all the people in the land, declaring unto those who had believed in the
words of Korihor that they must speedily repent, lest the
same judgments would come unto them.
58 And it came to pass that they were
all convinced of the wickedness of Korihor; therefore they were all converted
again unto the Lord; and this
put an end to the
iniquity after the manner of Korihor. And Korihor did go about from house to
house, begging food for his support.
59
And it came to pass that as he went forth among the people, yea, among a people
who had separated themselves from the Nephites and called
themselves Zoramites, being led by a man whose name
was Zoram÷and as he went forth amongst them, behold, he was run upon and trodden
down,
even until he was dead.
60 And thus we see 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.