Examples For Believers

At least three times in the Book of Mormon a prophet is run out of town only to come back and try again and the second time is attacked, beaten, imprisoned or killed. Abinadi, Alma and Samuel the Lamanite all follow this same pattern. Why would the Lord tell His servants to return to preach to a wicked and hard hearted people when He knew that they would be harmed or even killed? A cynical view might be that the Lord wanted to allow these people to let their cup of iniquity fill to the brim and run over, and perhaps there's some truth to that. But I think it's important to note that in each case when these faithful prophets returned, they did convince at least some people to repent. More than that, those who chose finally to repent had a hard road ahead of them. The people Abinadi spoke to would go into bondage and have grievous burdens placed on them. Those in the city of Ammonihah who listened to Alma had to watch their wives and children burned alive. The believers who listened to Samuel the Lamanite were all rounded up to be executed. I think the Lord knew that some people would listen and that they would need examples of righteous people who were faithful especially when it was hard and that is why he allowed His righteous servants to suffer imprisonment and attack to show those who would follow that the gospel path is not always the easiest but that it is definitely worth it.