Alma 30

When I read this chapter several things struck me as odd. I don't have any great insights but I noticed somethings that were interesting. First of all it's interesting that they never tell why Korihor was brought before the chief judge in the land of Gideon. Well maybe the do, it could be just because he was preaching against Christ, but the chapter goes into detail about how the law could have no power over a man because of his belief which leads me to suspect that there must be some other sort of infraction.

Another thing that I found interesting is when Korihor is cursed and confesses that he always knew there was a God, then he asks Alma to lift the curse pray to God that the curse might be lifted. Alma refuses. But I have to think that if Korihor truly repented he could have had the curse removed, which makes me wonder if maybe his whole confession was a ploy to try to get Alma to undo what he did, after all he was "possessed by a lying spirit" (Alma 30:42) Alma seems to think that this is the case because he says that if he were to remove the curse Korihor would continue to lead away the hearts of the people.

It struck me as as weird that we would have this example of a man being treated much the same way as many of the prophets have been treated. He was arrested seemingly just for teaching something that the people didn't agree with and then he was asked to deny the words that he was teaching. But it makes sense that Korihor should resemble the prophets because he was a prophet, although he was a false prophet. Superficially his story looks similar to other prophets though the main difference was that he taught against Christ. And I think the whole point of this chapter is summed up in the final verse:

Alma 30:60

...and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell.

This story of Korihor contrasts the preceding stories in the Book of Alma. Previously we have seen the sons of Mosiah and Alma the younger preaching the gospel and being bound and brought before the leaders of the people they were preaching to, but they overcame their obstacles and wrought miracles through their faith in Christ. Korihor on the other hand was cursed by the power of God because he denied Christ and God. The devil has no power to uphold his false prophets.