According to the Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...

, Alma, the son of Alma (icon) was a Nephite

Nephite

According to the Book of Mormon, a Nephite is a member of one of the four main groups of settlers of the ancient Americas. The other three groups are the Lamanites, Jaredites and Mulekites. In the Book of Mormon, the Nephites were a group of people descended from or associated with Nephi, the...

 prophet often referred to as "Alma the Younger" to distinguish him from his father, who is often referred to as "Alma the Elder

Alma the Elder

According to the Book of Mormon, Alma was a Nephite prophet who established the Church of Jesus Christ in the Americas during the reign of the wicked King Noah...

". These appellations, "the Younger" and "the Elder", are not used in the Book of Mormon; they are distinctions made by scholars, useful because both individuals were prominent during the same time period and filled a similar cultural and religious role. Alma is the namesake of the Book of Alma

Book of Alma

The Book of Alma is one of the books that make up the Book of Mormon. The full title is The Book of Alma: The Son of Alma. The title refers to Alma the Younger, a prophet and "chief judge" of the Nephites.-Historical Outline:...

.

Summary of his life

Alma the Younger lived in Zarahemla

Zarahemla

Zarahemla is the name of a prominent land, a capital city, and a leader in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is revered by members of various Latter Day Saint churches as sacred scripture....

 during the end of the reign of the Nephite King Mosiah

King Mosiah II

According to the Book of Mormon, Mosiah II, King Benjamin's son and Mosiah I's grandson, was king of the Nephite nation from about 124 BC to 91 BC. The Book of Mosiah is named after Mosiah II.-Accounts:...

. As a young man, he, the four sons of Mosiah, and others wanted to destroy the church and actively persecuted its members. After they were visited personally by an angel and were rebuked for their actions, Alma fell into an unconscious state where for two days he lay unable to move until he felt within himself that he had been forgiven of his sins. He and those who persecuted church members with him abdicated their role as persecutors and became followers of Christ.

Alma the Younger subsequently became the first elected chief judge of the Nephites as well as their religious leader. He observed that the Nephites of the church were becoming increasingly wicked, proud, disdainful of outsiders and neglectful toward the poor and needy. (Alma 4:11-12) When the "unbelievers" began to follow their example, Alma feared the entire people was on the path to self-destruction. (Alma 4:11) He resigned his post as chief judge and began traveling from city to city to preach to the Nephites. He began in Zarahemla, where his efforts were successful. A thorough purge of the church leadership and membership took place, with those former insiders and leaders who refused to relinquish their pride being "rejected, and their names blotted out" (Alma 6:3).

Alma moved on to the cities of Gideon and Melek, where his call to humility was also well received. From Melek he travelled three days journey north to Ammonihah

Ammonihah

Ammonihah is a city mentioned in the Book of Mormon. According to the book, the city was founded by an otherwise unknown man named Ammonihah. The inhabitants of Ammonihah were followers of the religion of Nehor.Ammonihah was a city with a diverse population...

, whose inhabitants proved much more hardened than those of the previous three cities.

In Ammonihah the people were very wicked. They considered themselves superior to outsiders, especially the Lamanites, and gloried in the strength of their city, which they considered indestructible. According to Alma chapter 9, Satan held such control over them that they would not listen to Alma. While trying to speak to them he was manhandled, abused and thrown out of the city. Commanded by an angel to return, Alma slipped back into the city through a different route from the south

Aaron (Book of Mormon)

According to The Book of Mormon, the city of Aaron was located near Nephihah, though constructed earlier. Prior to the construction of Nephihah, its nearest known neighbor was Moroni....

. There he met Amulek

Amulek

Amulek is a key figure from the Book of Alma, a section of the Book of Mormon.-Mission to Ammonihah:According to Alma, chapters 8-14, Amulek, in 82 B.C., accompanied the prophet Alma the Younger on a mission to the wicked city of Ammonihah, where he preached the Gospel and contended with the...

, a lapsed believer (Alma 10:5-6) of some social prominence who fed Alma and housed him for a time. In the city streets, the two of them joined up and preached to the people, where they were challenged by a lawyer named Zeezrom

Zeezrom

According to the Book of Mormon, Zeezrom was an ancient American lawyer who sought to destroy the liberty of the Nephites via his legal practice. He was converted to the gospel by Alma the Younger and his missionary companion Amulek...

. After Amulek had silenced Zeezrom through his teaching and aroused his conscience, Alma took his turn, preaching to the people with similar results. When finished, Alma and Amulek were cast into prison and delivered by a miracle. A repentant Zeezrom eventually joined Alma in his missionary work.

Several years later, Alma met up with a man named Korihor

Korihor

Korihor is a skeptic mentioned in The Book of Mormon, in Alma . Korihor preached ...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...

, whom the Book of Mormon describes as an anti-Christ. This Korihor tried to lead the Nephites astray. Alma confronted him, confounding his arguments and miraculously removing Korihor's power of speech. The stricken Korihor signaled acknowledgement that he had acted maliciously, knowing all along that he was wrong and bringing destruction upon others. He was reduced to begging and was eventually run down and killed in a city of Nephite dissenters called Zoramites.

These same Zoramites

Zoramites

In the Book of Mormon, the Zoramites were one of three major Nephite sects, existing during the administration of Alma the Younger as the High Priest over the Church of God...

 were found to practice things that perverted the ways of the Lord. This led Alma to extend his missionary work to these people. While amongst them he was most successful among the poor.

Alma's final instruction was to his sons, Helaman

Helaman

According to the Book of Mormon, Helaman was a Nephite prophet and soldier who lived around the 1st century BC. He is perhaps best known in LDS theology for leading into battle an army of two thousand young warriors, which he referred to as his two thousand sons...

, Shiblon

Shiblon

According to the Book of Mormon, Shiblon was a Nephite missionary and record-keeper. He was the second son of Alma the Younger, who was the first chief judge...

, and Corianton. He gave each separate lessons, and finally gave the records of the church to Helaman. He then departed, in the 19th year of the reign of the judges (or 73 B.C.) as if to go to Melek, but was never heard from again. Both Mormon

Mormon (prophet)

Mormon is believed by followers of Mormonism to have been the narrator of much of the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which describes him as a prophet-historian and a member of a tribe of indigenous Americans known as the Nephites...

 and Helaman believed that he was taken up like Moses of old, and buried by the Lord.

Descendants

Alma had several notable descendants in the Book of Mormon narrative as shown in the family tree below:

See also

External links

• Alma the Younger by Robert L. Millet