By Ali Williams
Don?t mess with prophets.
Don?t seek to destroy the Church.
Don?t let anyone drag a farm implement over you; it would cause severe physical discomfort.
These three important safety tips, along with prophetic examples from the Book of Mormon, were shared by John Bytheway Thursday, Aug. 24, 2006, in his Education Week address, ?Lessons from Heroes in the Book of Mormon.?
Bytheway used Ammon?s experience serving King Lamoni as a pattern for future missionaries.
First, Ammon searched the scriptures.
?Ammon, the other sons of Mosiah and Alma the Younger weren?t converted when the angel appeared,? Bytheway said. ?They were converted when they searched the scriptures after that experience.?
Ammon was patient in his trials, fasted and prayed often and understood that he was called to serve, Bytheway said.
?I don?t want to be too hard on because I hope to meet him in the next life, so I want to be careful,? Bytheway said. ?But let?s look at this more closely. When Ammon comes in to be a missionary he has the attitude, I?m here to be a servant. When Aaron comes in he immediately begins preaching.?
Ammon converted King Lamoni, his servants, and his father, while Aaron was thrown in jail. The scriptures say it was Aaron?s lot to fall into a harder lot, but the message is applicable to us, Bytheway said.
Bytheway also pointed out Ammon?s commitment to first win the hearts of the people, and then lead them to believe. Ammon ?warmed? them before he ?warned? them, Bytheway quoted.
Ammon loved people, was a friend to others, focused on teaching and remained faithful and obedient to the commands of God and the King.
Lastly, Ammon taught about the Creation, the Fall and the Atonement.
?We go on missions and say ?You need this cure.? The people say, ?Oh really, I didn?t know I was sick,?? Bytheway said.
He quoted President Ezra Taft Benson: ?Just as a man does not really desire food until he is hungry, so does he not desire the Salvation of Christ until he knows why he needs Christ.?
?People need to know that man came, man fell and that man need a Savior to bring us back to God again,? Bytheway said.
Bytheway moved from his discussion of Ammon to speaking of Alma the Younger?s encounter with the angel.
?This is a good story because the angel said he became because of the prayers of Alma ,? he said. ?Anybody got problems with your family? Things can work. You can?t tell God how to intervene, you can?t tell Him when to intervene, but he will intervene.?
To Bytheway, Alma the Younger and Ammon represented an attitude of valiance. However, Bytheway sees two other attitudes among the youth of the Church: how bad can I be? And how good do I have to be?
?Alma is somebody whose heart has been changed. The Lord does that when we yield our hearts to him,? Bytheway said. ?For him, and those like him, obedience has become a quest instead of an irritation.?