In the Come, Follow Me studies
for this week, I studied about an Anti-Christ who was named Korihor. He entered
Jershon and began to teach the people of Ammon that “there should be no Christ”
(Alma 30:12). He asked them why they continued to look for a Christ and told
them that “no man can know of anything which is to come” (Alma 30:13). He
called the prophecies “foolish traditions of your fathers (Alma 30: 14), and he
told them that they “cannot know that there shall be a Christ” because “ye
cannot know of things which ye do not see” (Alma 30:15).
Korihor told the people that their
desire to have their sins remitted was “the effect of a frenzied mind” that
came from “the traditions of your fathers” (Alma 30:16). He continued by
teaching that whatever people obtained in this life came because of their
abilities, intelligence, and strength (Alma 30:17), and that they need not
worry about the next life because “when a man was dead, that was the end
thereof” (Alma 30:18).
The people of Ammon cast him out of
their land, and he went to the land of Gideon. He told the people there that “they
are in bondage” because they believed the ancient prophecies (Alma 30:24) and
that “a child is not guilty because of its parents” (Alma 30:25). He told the
high priest Giddonah that “ye do not know that there shall be a Christ” who
would “be slain for the sins of the world” (Alma 30:26) and that he kept the
people in bondage “to glut yourselves with the labors of their hands” (Alma
30:27). Korihor said that Giddonah and the other priests did this so that they
would not “offend some unknown being … a being who never has been seen or
known, who never was nor ever will be” (Alma 30:28).
Giddonah and the other priests
understood that Korihor would not listen to them, so they stopped trying to
reason with him and took him to Zarahemla to be tried by Alma and the high
priest. Alma began to question Korihor, and he answered with “great swelling
words” and began to “revile against the priests and teachers” (Alma 30:31).
Then Alma gave an example of how we can deal with anti-Christs in our day.
37 And then Alma said unto him:
Believest thou that there is a God?
38 And he answered, Nay.
39 Now Alma said unto him: Will ye deny
again that there is a God, and also deny the Christ? For behold, I say unto
you, I know there is a God, and also that Christ shall come. [Alma testified
or bore witness that he knew there is a God and that Christ would come.]
40 And now what evidence have ye that
there is no God, or that Christ cometh not? I say unto you that ye have none,
save it be your world only. [Alma shifted the burden of proof to the
non-believer where it belongs: show me your evidence that there is no God or
that Christ will not come.]
41 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?
Korihor demanded that Alma show him
a sign to prove that there is a God, and then he would be convinced. Alma
refused to show him a sign.
44 But Alma said unto him: Thou hast
had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign,
when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy
prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there
is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it,
yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular
form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.
Korihor continued to deny that there
is a God and to demand a sign. Alma finally realized that Korihor would not
listen: “if thou shalt deny again, behold God shall smite thee, that thou
shalt become dumb” (Alma 30:47). Korihor said, “I do not deny the
existence of a God, but I do not believe that there is a God … except ye show
me a sign, I will not believe” (Alma 30:48).
Alma said, “This will I give unto
thee for a sign, that thou shalt be struck dumb, according to my words; and I
say, that in the name of God, ye shall be struck dumb, that ye shall no more
have utterance” (Alma 30:49). Korihor became dumb and could not speak. He
wrote a note, “I always knew that there was a God.) He continued with
his explanation.
53 But behold, the devil hath deceive
me; for he appeared unto me in the form of an angel, and said unto me: God and
reclaim this people, for they have all gone astray after an unknown God. And he
said unto me: There is no God; yea, and he taught me that which I should say.
And I have taught his words; and I taught them because they were pleasing unto
the carnal mind; and I taught them, even until I had much success, insomuch that
I verily believed that they were true; and for this cause I withstood the
truth, even until I have brought this great curse upon me.
Korihor begged Alma to remove the
curse, but Alma refused, telling him that he would once again lead the people
astray. However, “it shall be unto thee even as the Lord will” (Alma
30:55). The curse was not removed, and Korihor was cast out and went about
begging for his food. He died after being “run upon and trodden down, even
until he was dead” (Alma 30:59).
The knowledge of what happened to
Korihor spread throughout the area, and the people who had followed him
repented of their sins and were converted to the Lord. The story of Korihor
reminds us that Satan will not support those that he uses to pervert the ways
of the Lord.
There are anti-Christs teaching
false doctrines in our day, and the Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus
Christ can help us to resist their influence. President Ezra Taft Benson taught
how the Book of Mormon reveals and can fortify us against Satan.
[The Book of Mormon reveals] the evil
designs, strategies, and doctrines of the devil in our day. The type of
apostates in the Book of Mormon are similar to the type we have today. God,
with his infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon that we might see
the error and know how to combat false educational, political, religious, and
philosophical concepts of our time (Teachings of Presidents of the Church:
Ezra Taft Benson [2014], 132).
President Benson is not the only
latter-day prophet to use the story of Korihor as a warning and a lesson of how
to respond to an anti-Christ. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the
Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wrote the
following information.
Korihor ridiculed the “foolish … [and]
silly traditions” of believing in a Christ who should come.
Korihor’s arguments sound very
contemporary to the modern reader, but Alma used a timeless and ultimately
undeniable weapon in response – the power of personal testimony. Angry that Korihor
and his like were essentially against happiness, [Giddonah, the high priest]
asked, “Why do you teach this people that there shall be no Christ, to
interrupt their rejoicings?” [Alma 30:22]. “I know there is a God” (Christ
and the New Covenant [1997], 121).
Alma and Giddonah could testify of
their knowledge that there is a God because the Holy Ghost had borne witness to
them – after much fasting and prayer -- of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. They
understood that the universe and everything in it testifies of a Supreme Being –
the planets revolve around the sun in the same unvarying pattern, spring
follows winter every year, the sun rises and sets every day, and the patterns
continue. Korihor could do no more than to demand a sign because he had no
proof that God does not exist. How can one prove a negative? In the end,
Korihor was forced to admit that he had knowledge of God but had been deceived
by Satan.
I join with Alma, Giddonah, President
Benson, Elder Holland, and millions of other people in testifying that there is
a God and that Jesus Christ will come. I know this because the Holy Ghost bore
witness of its truthfulness. I do not know all the details, but I know that I
can put my trust in God.
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