Alma 18: Ammon's Missionary Adventure: Saving King Lamoni's Sheep from Robbers

Ammon




Servants of King Lamoni testified about what Ammon had done.




King Lamoni





1 And it came to pass that king Lamoni caused that his ^aservants should stand forth and testify to all the things which they had seen concerning the matter.

 2 And when they had all testified to the things which they had seen, and he had learned of the faithfulness of Ammon in preserving his flocks,  and also of his ^agreat power in contending against those who sought to slay him, he was astonished exceedingly, and said: Surely, this is more than a man. Behold, is not this the Great Spirit who doth send such great punishments upon this people, because of their murders?  

 3 And they answered the king, and said: Whether he be the Great Spirit or a man, we know not; but this much we do know, that he ^acannot be slain by the enemies of the king; neither can they ^bscatter the king’s flocks when he is with us, because of his expertness and ^cgreat strength;   therefore, we know that he is a friend to the king. And now, O king, we do not believe that a man has such great power, for we know he cannot be slain.

 4 And now, when the king heard these words, he said unto them: Now I know that it is the Great Spirit; and he has come down at this time to preserve your lives, that I might not ^aslay you as I did your brethren.    Now this is the Great Spirit of whom our fathers have spoken.

 5 Now this was the ^atradition of Lamoni, which he had received from his father, that there was a ^bGreat Spirit. Notwithstanding they believed in a Great Spirit, they supposed that ^cwhatsoever they did was right; nevertheless, Lamoni began to fear exceedingly, with fear lest he had done wrong in slaying his servants;

 6 For he had slain many of them because their brethren had scattered their flocks at the place of water; and thus, because they had had their flocks scattered they were slain.

 7 Now it was the practice of these Lamanites to stand by the ^awaters of Sebus to scatter the flocks of the people, that thereby they might drive away many that were scattered unto their own land, it being a practice of plunder among them.

 8 And it came to pass that king Lamoni inquired of his servants, saying: Where is this man that has such great power?

 9 And they said unto him: Behold, he is feeding thy ^ahorses.

Now the king had commanded his servants, previous to the time of the watering of their flocks, that they should prepare his horses     and chariots, and conduct him forth to the land of Nephi; for there had been a ^bgreat ^cfeast appointed at the land of Nephi, by the father of Lamoni, who was king over all the land.

 10 Now when king Lamoni heard that Ammon was preparing his horses and his ^achariots  he was more astonished, because of the faithfulness of Ammon, saying: Surely there has not been any servant among all my servants that has been so faithful as this man; for even he doth remember all my commandments to execute them.

 11 Now I surely know that this is the Great Spirit, and I would desire him that he come in unto me, but I durst not.

 12 And it came to pass that when Ammon had made ready the horses and the chariots for the king   and his servants, he went in unto the king, and he saw that the ^acountenance of the king was changed; therefore he was about to return out of his presence.

 13 And one of the king’s servants said unto him, ^aRabbanah, which is, being interpreted, powerful or great king... the king desireth thee to stay...

Ammon

16 And it came to pass that Ammon, being filled with the ^aSpirit of God, therefore he perceived the ^bthoughts of the king.   And he said unto him... what is it, that thy marvelings are so great? Behold, I am a ^aman, and am thy servant; therefore, whatsoever thou desirest which is right, that will I do.

 18 Now ... king Lamoni did open his mouth, and said unto him: Who art thou? Art thou that Great Spirit, who ^bknows all things?

   19 Ammon answered and said unto him: I am not.

 20 And the king said: How knowest thou the thoughts of my heart? ... ^aif thou wilt tell me concerning these things, whatsoever thou desirest I will give unto thee; and if it were needed, I would guard thee with my armies; but I know that thou art more powerful than all they; nevertheless, whatsoever thou desirest of me I will grant it unto thee.

 22 Now Ammon being ^awise, yet harmless, he said unto Lamoni: Wilt thou hearken unto my words, if I tell thee by what power I do these things? And this is the thing that I desire of thee.

 23 And the king answered him, and said: Yea, I ^awill believe all thy words. And thus he was caught with ^bguile.

 24 And Ammon began to speak unto him with ^aboldness, and said unto him: Believest thou that there is a God?

 25 And he answered, and said unto him: I do not know what that meaneth.

 26 And then Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a ^aGreat Spirit?

 27 And he said, Yea.

 28 And Ammon said: This is God. And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in heaven and in the earth?

   29 And he said: Yea, I believe that he created all things which are in the earth; but I do not know the heavens.

 30 And Ammon said unto him: The heavens is a place where God dwells and all his holy angels.

 31 And king Lamoni said: Is it above the earth?

 32 And Ammon said: Yea, and he looketh down upon all the children of men; and he ^aknows all the thoughts and ^bintents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning.

 

King Lamoni

Ammon

33 And king Lamoni said: I believe all these things which thou hast spoken. Art thou ^asent from God?

 34 Ammon said unto him: I am a ^aman; and man in the beginning was created after the image of God, and I am called by his Holy ^bSpirit to teach these things unto this people, that they may be brought to a knowledge of that which is just and true;

 35 And a portion of that ^aSpirit dwelleth in me, which giveth me ^bknowledge, and also power according to my faith and desires which are in God.

 36 Now when Ammon had said these words, he began at the creation of the world, and also the creation of Adam, and told him all the things concerning the fall of man, and ^arehearsed and laid before him the ^brecords and the holy scriptures of the people, ... he ^aexpounded unto them the ^bplan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of the world; and he also made known unto them concerning the coming of Christ, and all the works of the Lord did he make known unto them.

 40 And it came to pass that after he had said all these things, and expounded them to the king, that the king ^abelieved all his words.

 41 And he began to cry unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, have mercy; according to thy abundant ^amercy which thou hast had upon the people of Nephi, have upon me, and my people.

 42 And now, when he had said this, he ^afell unto the earth, ^bas if he were dead.



Queen Lamoni



 43 And it came to pass that his ^aservants took him and carried him in unto his wife, and laid him upon a bed; and he lay as if he were dead for the space of two days and two nights; and his wife, and his sons, and his daughters mourned over him, after the manner of the Lamanites, greatly lamenting his loss.

Abish the Servant Does Her Missionarywork

First, an introduction:  Abish.  She was a worker at King Lamoni's palace who had a small but very important role in this story of missionarywork.  



Abish, the servant-missionary of King Lamoni

  

Remember that King Lamoni had fallen down, appearing to be dead, but actually just passed out, filled with the power of God, after his intense missionary discussion with Ammon. 

The scriptures say:

(Alma 19)

1 And it came to pass that after two days and two nights they were about to take his ^abody and lay it in a sepulchre, which they had made for the purpose of burying their dead.



King Lamoni



 2 Now the queen having heard of the fame of Ammon, therefore she sent and desired that he should come in unto her.

 4 ...And she said unto him: The ^aservants of my husband have made it known unto me that thou art a ^bprophet of a holy God, and that thou hast ^cpower to do many mighty works in his name;

 5 Therefore, if this is the case, I would that ye should go in and see my husband, for he has been laid



upon his bed


        

 for the space of two days and two nights; and some say that he is not dead, but others say that he is dead and that he ^astinketh, and that he ought to be placed in the sepulchre; but as for myself, to me he doth not stink.




Queen Lamoni did not believe that her husband was dead, even when the servants said that he was dead.

 

 6 Now, this was what Ammon desired, for he knew that king Lamoni was under the power of God; he knew that the dark ^aveil of ^bunbelief was being cast away from his mind, and the ^clight which did light up his mind, which was the light of the glory of God, which was a marvelous light of his goodness—yea, this light had infused such joy into his soul, the cloud of darkness having been dispelled, and that the light of everlasting life was lit up in his soul, yea, he knew that this had ^dovercome his natural frame, and he was carried away in God—

 7 Therefore, what the queen desired of him was his only desire. Therefore, he went in to see the king according as the queen had desired him; and he saw the king, and he knew that he was not dead.

Ammon found great faith in Queen Lamoni

 8 And he said unto the queen: He is not dead, but he sleepeth in God, and on the morrow he shall rise again; therefore bury him not.

 9 And Ammon said unto her: ^aBelievest thou this? And she said unto him: I have had no witness save thy word, and the word of our servants; nevertheless I ^bbelieve that it shall be according as thou hast said.

 10 And Ammon said unto her: Blessed art thou because of thy exceeding faith; I say unto thee, woman, there has not been such great faith among all the people of the ^aNephites.

 11 And it came to pass that she watched

        over the bed of her husband, from that time even until that time on the morrow which Ammon had appointed that he should rise.

 12 And it came to pass that he arose, according to the words of Ammon; and as he arose, he stretched forth his hand unto the woman, and said: Blessed be the name of God, and blessed art thou.

 13 For as sure as thou livest, behold, I have ^aseen my Redeemer; and he shall come forth, and be ^bborn of a ^cwoman, and he shall redeem all mankind who believe on his name. Now, when he had said these words, his heart was swollen within him, and he sunk again with joy; and the queen also sunk down, being overpowered by the Spirit.

 14 Now Ammon seeing the Spirit of the Lord poured out according to his ^aprayers upon the Lamanites, his brethren, who had been the cause of so much mourning among the Nephites, or among all the people of God because of their iniquities and their ^btraditions, he fell upon his knees, and began to pour out his soul in prayer and thanksgiving to God for what he had done for his brethren; and he was also overpowered with ^cjoy; and thus they all three had ^dsunk to the earth.

Ammon, Queen Lamoni, and King Lamoni all fell to the earth, overcome

 15 Now, when the servants of the king had seen that they had fallen, they also began to cry unto God, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them also, for it was ^athey who had stood before the king and testified unto him concerning the great power of Ammon.

 16And it came to pass that they did call on the name of the Lord, in their might, even until they had all fallen to the earth, save it were one of the Lamanitish ^awomen, whose name was Abish, 

Abish, the servant-missionary of King Lamoni

she having been converted unto the Lord for many years, on account of a remarkable vision of her father—

 17 Thus, having been converted to the Lord, and never having made it ^aknown, therefore, when she saw that all the servants of Lamoni had ^bfallen to the earth, and also her mistress, the queen, and the king, and Ammon lay ^cprostrate upon the earth, she knew that it was the power of God; and supposing that this opportunity, by making known unto the people what had happened among them, that by beholding this scene it would ^dcause them to believe in the power of God,  therefore she ran forth from house to house, making it known unto the people.

All the people gathered in to the King's house when Abish bid them to come

 18 And they began to assemble themselves together unto the house of the king. And there came a multitude, and to their astonishment, they beheld the king, and the queen, and their servants prostrate upon the earth, and they all lay there as though they were dead; and they also saw Ammon, and behold, he was a Nephite.

 19 And now the people began to murmur among themselves; some saying that it was a great evil that had come upon them, or upon the king and his house, because he had suffered that the Nephite should ^aremain in the land.

 20 But others rebuked them, saying: The king hath brought this evil upon his house, because he slew his servants who had had their flocks scattered at the ^awaters of Sebus.

 21 And they were also rebuked by those men who had stood at the waters of Sebus and ^ascattered the flocks which belonged to the king, for they were angry with Ammon because of the number which he had slain of their brethren at the waters of Sebus, while defending the flocks of the king.

 22 Now, one of them, whose brother had been ^aslain with the sword of Ammon, being exceedingly angry

 with Ammon, drew his sword       and went forth that he might let it fall upon Ammon, to slay him; and as he lifted the sword to smite him, behold, he fell dead.

Ammon could not be killed, both because of his faithfulness and
because of the promise of the Lord to his father, that his son would survive his mission

 23 Now we see that Ammon could not be slain, for the ^aLord had said unto Mosiah, his father: I will spare him, and it shall be unto him according to thy faith—therefore, Mosiah ^btrusted him unto the Lord.

 24 And it came to pass that when the multitude beheld that the man had fallen dead, who lifted the sword to slay Ammon, ^afear came upon them all, and they durst not put forth their hands to touch him or any of those who had fallen; and they began to marvel again among themselves what could be the cause of this great power, or what all these things could mean.

 25 And it came to pass that there were many among them who said that Ammon was the ^aGreat Spirit, and others said he was sent by the Great Spirit;

 26 But others rebuked them all, saying that he was a ^amonster, who had been sent from the Nephites to torment them.

 27 And there were some who said that Ammon was sent by the Great Spirit to afflict them because of their iniquities; and that it was the Great Spirit that had always attended the Nephites, who had ever delivered them out of their hands; and they said that it was this Great Spirit who had destroyed so many of their brethren, the Lamanites.

 28 And thus the contention began to be exceedingly sharp among them. And while they were thus contending, the ^awoman servant 

Abish, the servant-missionary of King Lamoni, took the queen by the hand

who had caused the multitude to be gathered together came, and when she saw the contention which was among the multitude she was exceedingly sorrowful, even unto tears.

 29 And it came to pass that she went and took the queen by the ^ahand, that perhaps she might raise her from the ground; and as soon as she touched her hand she arose and stood upon her feet, and cried with a loud voice, saying: O blessed Jesus, who has saved me from an ^bawful hell! O blessed God, have ^cmercy on this people!

 30 And when she had said this, she clasped her hands, being filled with joy, speaking many words which were not understood; and when she had done this, she took the king, Lamoni, by the hand, and behold he arose and stood upon his feet.

 31 And he, immediately, seeing the contention among his people, went forth and began to rebuke them, and to teach them the ^awords which he had heard from the mouth of Ammon; and as many as heard his words believed, and were converted unto the Lord.

 32 But there were ^amany among them who would not hear his words; therefore they went their way.

 33 And it came to pass that when Ammon arose he also administered unto them, and also did all the servants of Lamoni; and they did all declare unto the people the selfsame thing—that their hearts had been ^achanged; that they had no more desire to do ^bevil.

 34 And behold, many did declare unto the people that they had seen ^aangels and had conversed with them; and thus they had told them things of God, and of his righteousness.

 35 And it came to pass that there were many that did ^abelieve in their words; and as many as did believe were baptized; and they became a righteous people, and they did establish a church among them.

 36 And thus the work of the Lord did commence among the Lamanites; thus the Lord did begin to pour out his ^aSpirit upon them; and we see that his arm is extended to ^ball people who will repent and believe on his name.



Abish, the servant-missionary of King Lamoni