Alma 47 tells the story of a wicked and cunning man named Amalickiah who plots (successfully) to eventually become king of the Lamanites. The first part of his plot is to gain control of the Lamanite army. Having a smaller army already under his control, Amalickiah agrees to turn over his army to Lehonti, the Lamanite general, as long as Lehonti agrees to make Amalickiah the second in command of the entire army. The next step of this wicked man is obvious:

"Amalickiah caused that one of his servants should administer poison by degrees to Lehonti, that he died. Now, when Lehonti was dead, the Lamanites appointed Amalickiah to be their leader and their chief commander." (Alma 47:18-19)

It is not mentioned what type of poison was used for this murder, but clearly the people involved knew what they were doing as they administered the poison very carefully, little by little, until it had its desired effect.

Today I'm bringing you my last scripture reading plan of 2018. Remember waaaay back at the beginning of 2018 when I promised that each of my subsequent articles for the year would contain a reading plan? The purpose was to keep myself personally accountable to reading scripture because I'd been very inconsistent with it.

The topic of today's reading plan is service. I found scriptures that spotlight many different angles of service, but for this article, I'm going to focus on just one of them: joy in service.

STANDARD
1: a conspicuous object (such as a banner) carried at the top of a pole and used to mark a rallying point, especially in battle
2: something established by authority, custom, or general consent as a model or example
3: substantially uniform
4: having recognized and permanent value

In Alma 46, Moroni, the leader of the Nephite army, sets up a standard to rally the Nephite people around some common causes. He creates the flag or banner by ripping up his coat and writing the message on a piece of it. Here is the message:

"In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives and our children" (Alma 46:12)

In Alma 45, there is a change in church leadership, as Alma passes this responsibility to his son Helaman. Helaman also is given responsibility for maintaining the Nephite record at this point — this chapter is the first written by Helaman. After Alma turns over the sacred records to his son, he somewhat mysteriously departs from the land of Zarahemla and is never heard from again. The people surmise that he may have been "buried by the hand of the Lord, even as Moses" (verse 19), as recorded in Deuteronomy 34:5-6, or even taken up by the Lord. Regardless, Alma's time on earth has ended and a new era has begun. Helaman makes one statement that describes the life of Alma: "He was a righteous man."

When the time comes for us to depart from this life, wouldn't it be wonderful if the one phrase that someone chose to represent our life would be, "This was a righteous person"?

Today, I'm coming to you with another scripture reading plan, yay! This time, it's about the human heart. We've all got one. And God wants to help us understand it.

After reading these scriptures, one thing stood out more than anything: God is way more concerned with my heart than my behavior.

Why is that? Because, as a general rule, my heart will steer my behavior. When my behavior is, shall we say, unruly, chances are there's something deeper going on, and that's the issue He cares about most of all.

God does want me to change my bad behavior and line it up with His commandments — but He doesn't want me to do it like a robot or a slave. He needs me to align my heart first and foremost, and then my behavior will follow.

After having defeated the Lamanite army in the previous chapter, Moroni, the leader of the Nephite army, lays out some terms to Zerahemnah, the leader of the Lamanite army, in Alma 44. Moroni offers to spare the lives of the remaining Lamanite soldiers if they surrender their weapons of war, leave the Nephite land, and promise to never return to war against the Nephites again.

Zerahemnah readily agrees to the first two points. He tells Moroni, "take our weapons of war, and suffer that we may depart into the wilderness" (verse 8). However, he is not willing to make the promise to never return for another war, telling Moroni, "we will not…take an oath unto you, which we know that we shall break" (verse 8).

Let's give Zerahemnah a little credit for honesty here. The easy thing to do would be to say whatever he is asked to say at the time and then do whatever he wants to do later. Instead, he takes the position that he will only make a promise if he intends to keep it.

In Alma 43, war breaks out again between the Nephites and the Lamanites. In this chapter, we are introduced to a young man named Moroni — only 25 years of age — who is selected to lead the Nephite army.

In the description of this particular battle, it is mentioned several times that the motivation of the two armies is completely different. The Lamanites have been taught for generations to hate the Nephites. They are in this battle purely to act on that hatred and destroy the Nephite nation. On the other hand:

"The Nephites were inspired by a better cause … they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church" (Alma 43:45)

Revenge against someone who has wronged you. Prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment for committing a crime. Condemnation by God for sins committed. All of these can be described by the word "justice."

When we recite the Pledge of Allegiance and end with words describing our country as a place where there is "justice for all," which of the above are we wishing on everybody?

Clearly, there has to be more to justice than penalties, punishments, and paybacks. There is — the actual definition of the word includes an aspect of fairness and impartiality. Looking at it that way, when we say "justice for all," we are claiming fair treatment for all.

Depending on how familiar you are with social media, you may or may not know the term "hashtags" or how hashtags are used. Briefly, hashtags — designated by the # symbol — are used to group together social media postings and photos under a single heading for easy retrieval.

For example, if you open a web browser and type #alma41, you will see a varied collection of photos and commentaries that people (from various faiths) have posted relating to Alma 41. This article will show up in that list as well. If you type #TCOJC, you will see a wide variety of photographs, posted (mostly) by members of our Church.

Alma 40 reveals information that is of great interest to many people and is not spelled out as plainly anywhere else in the Word of God. It tells us what happens right after we pass from this life. It's not too surprising that this information is not more readily available since anybody who has experienced this is not exactly in a position to write about it for us. In the case of Alma, he has an inside source — an angel has shared the information with him — so we can benefit from knowing what he was told. We all know we're going to die someday. Here's what happens next:

Step 1: The Soul Leaves the Body and Returns to God

"The spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body…whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life." (Alma 40:11)

There is an old proverb that states, "oil and water don't mix." This is based on the observation that the two stay separate when attempts are made to mix them together. The saying is typically used to describe people or characteristics that don't seem to go together — they don't mix well.

In Alma 39, Alma reprimands his son Corianton for trying to mix ministry and sin. Called to be a young minister, Corianton goes on a missionary trip among the Zoramites during which he travels to a different city and spends time with a prostitute named Isabel. Clearly, this is not what was expected when Corianton was brought on the trip, and he, in fact, jeopardizes the entire mission by his actions.

In Alma 38, Alma shares some words with his middle son, Shiblon. He commends Shiblon who appears to be not flashy but quietly steady, faithful, and diligent in the work of the Lord. You probably know people like this today or perhaps you would even consider this a description of yourself. People like this are rarely recognized for their efforts, so it's good that Alma takes time to recognize his son's efforts here.

Shiblon has begun teaching the word of God to the people, and Alma encourages him to continue in the same way with this work:

"And now, as ye have begun to teach the word even so I would that ye should continue to teach; and I would that ye would be diligent and temperate in all things." (Alma 38:10)

In Alma 37, Alma turns over the sacred records to his son Helaman and instructs him on the importance of maintaining them and keeping them up to date going forward such that they can continue to be passed on, eventually coming forth to benefit future generations.

He then adds a piece of advice in verse 37 that we often quote today (it's easy to remember — chapter 37, verse 37):

"Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God." (Alma 37:37)

For the next several chapters, Alma takes some time to share advice, counsel, and teaching with each of his three sons — Helaman (chapters 36-37), Shiblon (chapter 38) and Corianton (chapters 39-42).

In Alma 36, Alma remembers what type of man he was before he gave his life to the Lord. He recalls that he had rebelled against God, not keeping His commandments, and that he "went about with the sons of Mosiah, seeking to destroy the church of God" (verse 6). He would have continued along this destructive path, but his eyes were finally opened by the appearance of an angel who spoke to him with a voice of thunder. Alma describes what happened after the angel spoke to him:

Divisive: Tending to cause disagreement between people and causing them to separate into different groups

In Alma 35, the Zoramites react to the message of Christ preached to them by Alma and Amulek in the previous chapters in which they were exhorted to repent of their sins and change their lives to be more Christlike. Although the exact discussion is not recorded, you can easily imagine it going something like this:

• Why do we need to repent? We're not doing anything wrong.
• Why can't we just love and accept everyone the way they are instead of trying to change people?
• This is a divisive message — we need to be more inclusive of everyone.