Korihor has demanded a sign,
making it clear only a sign will make him change his mind about what he
taught. Alma was disappointed by this,
but told him it is better he be destroyed.
Like Nephi’s situation with
Laban,[1] Alma
realized it was better Korihor’s soul be lost than he continue to lead many to
follow his false beliefs. Alma gave him
his sign. He told him he would lose the
power of speech and be unable to preach false doctrine to the people.
Korihor had a chance to
backpedal before the curse was placed on him.
He choose poorly. He told Alma he
did not deny the existence of God, he just did not believe there was a
God. Alma couldn’t know there was a
God. He continued to demand a sign.
He received his sign. Like
Zacharias, he was struck dumb[2]
according to Alma’s words. “I say, that
in the name of God, that ye shall no more have utterance” (Alma 30:50). And so he was.[3]
“In my opinion, Mormon
includes this episode for us to see that the naturalism of Korihor lacks any
ability to reach beyond the senses and find what is truly good. Because it
lacks any ability to see beyond the human, one finds that there is a desolation
and hopelessness that underlies the naturalism advocated by Korihor.”[4]
Seeing this, the chief judge
asked Korihor if he was convinced of God’s power. He received his sign and can he continue to
dispute the existence of God.
Korihor responded in
writing. He knows nothing but the power
of God could have done this. Then he
confesses, “I always knew that there was a God” (Alma 30:52), confirming Alma’s
charge he was lying.[5]
Prophets
through the ages have always come under attack by the finger of scorn. Why?
According to the scriptures, it is because “the guilty taketh the truth to be
hard, for it cutteth them to the very center” (1 Nephi 16:2), or as President
Harold B. Lee observed, “The hit bird flutters!”2 Their scornful reaction is,
in reality, guilt trying to reassure itself, just as with Korihor, who finally
admitted, “I always knew that there was a God” (Alma 30:52). Korihor was so
convincing in his deception that he came to believe his own lie (see Alma
30:53).[6]
He continued, he was deceived
by the devil. The Anti-Christ, Sherem,
used the same excuse, “And he spake plainly unto them, that he had been
deceived by the power of the devil. And
he spake of hell, and of eternity, and of eternal punishment” (Jacob 7:18).[7]
He appeared to him in the
form of an angel of light.[8] Paul had warned the people he can do this. “And
no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2
Corinthians 11:14).
“[A]s the preeminent
counterfeiter and deceiver, Satan could and does usurp other signs and symbols
properly applied to God in order to try to legitimize his false identity as a
god. This is why Satan chose to appropriate and utilize the sign of the serpent
as the best means of deceiving Eve as well as her posterity. The scriptures
help us to see that Satan imitates and perverts every divine truth; every godly
concept, principle, or practice; and every good and positive symbol, image,
sign, and token in order to deceive and manipulate the souls of men. This even
includes appearing as an angel of light (see Alma 30:53; D&C 128:20).”[9]
He was told the people have
gone astray following an unknown God; there is no God. The devil then taught him what he should say.
I have never understood
this. An angel appears and pronounces
there is no God. If this is true, from
where did the angel come? Korihor (and
Sherem) believed the words of this so-called angel. How can an angel exist and there be no
God? I would have expected the person
seeing this “angel” to ask something like, “If there is no God, who are you and
how can you be here if, by your own claim, you can’t exist?”[10]
Having “confessed,” Korihor pleaded
with Alma that he would remove the curse which had been placed upon him. Once again we see Alma knew his heart.
“If this curse should be
taken from thee, thou wouldst again lead away the hearts of this people…” (Alma
30:55). The curse remained. Korihor was
forced to beg for his food and survival.
The events we published throughout
the land. The chief judge sent a
proclamation addressed to all the people who accepted the words of Korihor had
better repent or the same judgements that came upon Korihor would come upon
them.[11]
This
passage [Alma 30:56-58] suggests to me that Mormon first followed his outline,
which required the point that Korihor was begging for food. This is the textual
idea that will move the narrative from the story of Korihor to the story of the
Zoramites. Mormon then decided to cover the repentance following the
cursing—apparently an aside he inserted during his writing on the plates. In
order to return to his planned narrative, Mormon repeated the information about
Korihor begging for his food, even though the original phrase wasn’t that far
away in the text. This passage suggests
to me that Mormon first followed his outline, which required the point that
Korihor was begging for food. This is the textual idea that will move the
narrative from the story of Korihor to the story of the Zoramites. Mormon then
decided to cover the repentance following the cursing—apparently an aside he
inserted during his writing on the plates. In order to return to his planned
narrative, Mormon repeated the information about Korihor begging for his food,
even though the original phrase wasn’t that far away in the text.[12]
The followers of Korihor
repented of their sins and returned to the faith. Korihor begged from house-to-house. And this ended the matter of Korihor.
Korihor eventually went among
the Zoramites.[13] He might have felt they would be more
sympathetic to him as they had similar beliefs.
Unfortunately, he met an dishonorable end, being run over and trampled
by Zoramites.[14]
Mormon closes the story of
Korihor with a warning.
“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”
(Alma 30:60).
Korihor was
arguing, as men and women have falsely argued from the beginning of time, that
to take counsel from the servants of God is to surrender God-given rights of
independence. But the argument is false because it misrepresents reality. When
we reject the counsel which comes from God, we do not choose to be independent
of outside influence. We choose another influence. We reject the protection of
a perfectly loving, all-powerful, all-knowing Father in Heaven, whose whole
purpose, as that of His Beloved Son, is to give us eternal life, to give us all
that He has, and to bring us home again in families to the arms of His love. In
rejecting His counsel, we choose the influence of another power, whose purpose
is to make us miserable and whose motive is hatred. We have moral agency as a
gift of God. Rather than the right to choose to be free of influence, it is the
inalienable right to submit ourselves to whichever of those powers we choose.[15]
[1] “Behold
the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than
that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief” (1 Nephi 4:13).
[2] “And,
behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these
things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be
fulfilled in their season” (Luke 1:20).
[3] “But
Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them,
seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy
Ghost, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt
thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand
of the Lord is upon thee, and thou
shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and
a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the
deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine
of the Lord” (Acts 13:8-12).
[5] “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? 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” (Alma 30:41-42).
[7]
This is “The devil made me do it1” defense.
[8][8]
“And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels
to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the
father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled
our first parents, who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and
stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all
manner of secret works of darkness” (2 Nephi 9:9).
[9] Serpent
Symbols and Salvation in the Ancient Near East and the Book of Mormon,
Andrew C. Skinner, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 10/2 (2001): 54.
[10] I
would think Ebenezer Scrooge’s respond to the ghost of Jacob Marley would have
been in order. “You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a
crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of
grave about you, whatever you are!”
[11] And
a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had
been now a long time in that case, he
saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I
have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I
am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up
thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed,
and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. The Jews therefore said unto
him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He answered them, He that made
me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. Then asked they
him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? And he
that was healed wist [GR knew] not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself
away, a multitude being in that
place. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold,
thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee” (John
5:5-14).
[13] “Now
the Zoramites were dissenters from the Nephites; therefore they had had the
word of God preached unto them” (Alma 31:8).
[14] “Then
said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The
LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore
thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth:
this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD. So
Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month” (Jeremiah 28:15-17).
“And [Sherem] said: I fear lest I have committed the unpardonable
sin, for I have lied unto God; for I denied the Christ, and said that I
believed the scriptures; and they truly testify of him. And because I have thus lied unto God I
greatly fear lest my case shall be awful; but I confess unto God. And it came
to pass that when he had said these words he could say no more, and he gave up
the ghost” (Jacob 7:19-20).
