As I was reading the account of the verbal exchange between Zeezrom and Amulek in Alma chapters 11 and 12, I became amazed as I realized that Zeezrom knew nothing about the resurrection.  I thought that everyone knew that there would be a resurrection.

Zeezrom was an educated man, and a leader among the people.  He was a wise man as to things of the world.  He was a clever man, and he was articulate and good with words.  He knew a lot, but he didn't know that he was going to be resurrected.  He assumed that there was a God, but he also thought that whatever he did was right.  Maybe there was a God, and maybe Zeezrom was going to be conscious after his death; but it really didn't matter what he did in life because God would be merciful, and things would be all right in the eternities.

It struck me that Zeezrom's attitude is the prevailing thought among people today.

Right now there are protests and riots taking place around the country.  There are big gatherings of people just like the one Alma and Amulek was speaking to when Zeezrom came forward to confront them.  I imagined myself in Alma's and Amulek's place standing before a Black Lives Matter protest crowd.  They know no more than Zeezrom did.  They think that when they're dead it's all over.  All that is important to such people is here and now, and getting as much of this world's goods as possible.

Would they be as astonished as Zeezrom was if they were told that they were going to live forever, be resurrected and would have to stand before God to be judged?

This was a new and novel thought to Zeezrom.  "He said unto Alma:  What does this mean which Amulek hath spoken concerning the resurrection of the dead, that all shall rise from the dead, both the just and the unjust, and are brought to stand before God to be judged according to their works?"  (Alma 12:8).  Am I really going to be resurrected?  Is there really a God, and am I actually going to be held accountable for what I do?

Zeezrom was struck.  Amulek's words hit home.  Zeezrom began to be astonished.  (Alma 12:18).  But others' hearts were so hard that they couldn't be penetrated.  In fact, "the more part of them were desirous that they might destroy Alma and Amulek ... because of the plainness of (their) words unto Zeezrom ... and because they had testified so plainly against their wickedness ..."  (Alma 14:2-3).

I'm quite sure that a prophet or a missionary speaking to a Black Lives Matter crowd would be even less well received than were Alma and Amulek by the crowd in Ammonihah.  He would probably receive a bullet from unknown quarters.  I also suspect that if a city in our day should expel its Saints as Ammonihah did, it would likely be destroyed as quickly.  The presence of the righteous in a city or a nation is a protection to it.

I try to imagine the astonishment of the hardhearted when they awaken to the fact on the other side of the veil that they are still alive and that they are going to have to stand before God.  Could anything be more horrible?

Amulek told the people of Ammonihah that Christ would "come into the world to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else.

"Therefore the wicked remain as though there had been no redemption made, except it be the loosing of the bands of death ...

"The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form:  both limb and joint shall be restored to its perfect frame, even as we now are at this time ..."  (Alma 11:40-43).

Amulek gave them the most basic, most important information in the universe, and they rejected it!  He told them:

1. That Christ would pay for the sins of anyone who would believe on Him, repent,

and follow Him,

2. That such would have salvation and eternal life,
3. That the Atonement does not apply to the wicked except that
4. They will be resurrected.

What a terrible waste when such precious knowledge is rejected!  How sad it is that there are people in the world who don't know these things.  How frustrating when people refuse to hear and to believe.  How astonishing it will be to the unbelieving to realize that what they were told is true, and how utterly tooth-gnashing it will be to realize that it's too late to do anything about it.

I shake my head in disbelief when I think of modern-day Christians who subscribe to strange creeds that describe a God without body, parts, and passions.  How could they have missed the point of Christ's resurrection?  They believe in an unembodied God.  They imagine Him as a spirit or a power or an essence without a body.  Do they think that He died again?  Do they have any concept of their own eventual resurrection?  They celebrate Easter, but are only celebrating His death, since His resurrection is apparently meaningless to them.

Zeezrom was the smart one.  He allowed his heart to be penetrated.  He listened.  He believed.  He repented.  He became a worthy servant.  He is now awaiting, or may probably have already experienced, a glorious resurrection.