Mosiah 23:16-24

16 And now, Alma was their high priest, he being the founder of their church.

17 And it came to pass that none received authority to preach or to teach except it were by him from God.  Therefore he consecrated all their priests and all their teachers; and none were consecrated except they were just men.

18 Therefore they did watch over their people, and did nourish them with things pertaining to righteousness.

19 And it came to pass that they began to prosper exceedingly in the land; and they called the land Helam.

20 And it came to pass that they did multiply and prosper exceedingly in the land of Helam; and they built a city, which they called the city of Helam.

21 Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith.

22 Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day.  Yea, and thus it was with this people.

23 For behold, I will show unto you that they were brought into bondage, and none could deliver them but the Lord their God, yea, even the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob.

24 And it came to pass that he did deliver them, and he did show forth his mighty power unto them, and great were their rejoicings.

Mosiah 23:16-25

Alma was in charge of the church he established.  He had the priesthood authority and served as the high priest. 

It is Alma who founded the church among the Nephites (Mosiah 23:16), in the sense of a separately existing organization within the larger society. It is easy to see why this was so. The king, Noah, had abdicated his traditional responsibilities in the hierarchical social system of the Nephites, and Alma had taken his place as the spiritual leader and fount of priesthood authority for those who dissented from Noah's leadership. Alma's colony thus became a secessionist group … Birth as a Nephite was no longer enough to make a man or woman one of God's people … Instead, a conscious and personal decision, a covenant, was required of anyone who wished to be numbered among the people of God.[1]

Only those who received authority from Alma had the authority to preach and teach the people.  Alma consecrated the people that serve the people.  “[Alma] ordained priests; even one priest to every fifty of their number did he ordain to preach unto them, and to teach them concerning the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Mosiah 18:18).

Those consecrated to serve the people “did nourish them with things pertaining to righteousness.”  “If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained” (1 Timothy 4:6).

They became a prosperous people.  They settled in the land of Helam and built the city of Helam where they lived.

In his book Understanding the Book of Mormon, Grant Hardy explains one of the purposes of his abridgement is to show us the wicked Nephites are brought into bondage of some sort.  They return to God and repent and cry for deliverance.  Eventually, the people are freed because of their righteousness.

The story of Alma and his people does not follow this pattern.  The people of Alma were righteous and obeying God’s commandments, yet they were brought into bondage.  How does he handle this?

Mormon tells us what will happen in the end.  Before we read the story, he has revealed the ending.  He doesn’t do this in other places in his abridgment.

We learn from Mormon: 

• “the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and the faith.”
• “whosoever putteth his trust in him … shall be lifted up at the last day.
• “they were brought into bondage, and none could deliver them but the Lord their God.”
• “[the Lord] did deliver them.”

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[1] Authority in the Book of Mosiah, Daniel C. Peterson, Maxwell Institute, accessed November 24, 2014.