How much time do you think you have left before it's already your last day on earth? What if today is your last day? Are you ready to go? Have you experienced a change of heart?
Here are two more examples of people having a change of heart:
"3 And also Zeezrom lay sick at Sidom, with a burning fever, which was caused by the great tribulations of his mind on account of his awickedness, for he supposed that Alma and Amulek were no more; and he supposed that they had been slain because of his iniquity. And this great sin, and his many other sins, did harrow up his mind until it did become exceedingly sore, having no deliverance; therefore he began to be scorched with a burning heat.
4 Now, when he heard that Alma and Amulek were in the land of Sidom, his heart began to take courage; and he sent a message immediately unto them, desiring them to come unto him.
5 And it came to pass that they went immediately, obeying the message which he had sent unto them; and they went in unto the house unto Zeezrom; and they found him upon his bed, sick, being very low with a burning fever; and his mind also was aexceedingly sore because of his iniquities; and when he saw them he stretched forth his hand, and besought them that they would heal him.
6 And it came to pass that Alma said unto him, taking him by the hand: aBelievest thou in the power of Christ unto salvation?
7 And he answered and said: Yea, I believe all the words that thou hast taught.
8 And Alma said: If thou believest in the redemption of Christ thou canst be ahealed.
9 And he said: Yea, I believe according to thy words.
10 And then Alma cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord our God, have amercy on this man, and bheal him according to his faith which is in Christ.
11 And when Alma had said these words, aZeezrom leaped upon his feet, and began to walk; and this was done to the great astonishment of all the people; and the knowledge of this went forth throughout all the land of Sidom.
12 And Alma baptized Zeezrom unto the Lord; and he began from that time forth to preach unto the people." (Alma 15: 3 -12)
"7 Now, these are the words which he said unto the people concerning the matter: I thank my God, my beloved people, that our great God has in goodness sent these our brethren, the Nephites, unto us to preach unto us, and to convince us of the atraditions of our wicked fathers.
8 And behold, I thank my great God that he has given us a portion of his Spirit to soften our hearts, that we have aopened a correspondence with these brethren, the Nephites.
9 And behold, I also thank my God, that by opening this correspondence we have been convinced of our asins, and of the many murders which we have committed.
10 And I also thank my God, yea, my great God, that he hath granted unto us that we might repent of these things, and also that he hath aforgiven us of those our many sins and murders which we have committed, and taken away the bguilt from our hearts, through the merits of his Son.
11 And now behold, my brethren, since it has been all that we could do (as we were the most lost of all mankind) to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we have committed, and to get God to atake them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stains—
12 Now, my best beloved brethren, since God hath taken away our stains, and our swords have become bright, then let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our brethren.
13 Behold, I say unto you, Nay, let us retain our swords that they be not stained with the blood of our brethren; for perhaps, if we should stain our swords aagain they can no more be bwashed bright through the blood of the Son of our great God, which shall be shed for the atonement of our sins.
14 And the great God has had mercy on us, and made these things known unto us that we might not perish; yea, and he has made these things known unto us beforehand, because he loveth our asouls as well as he loveth our children; therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by his angels, that the bplan of salvation might be made known unto us as well as unto future generations.
15 Oh, how merciful is our God! And now behold, since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us ahide them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God at the last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged, that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our brethren since he imparted his word unto us and has made us bclean thereby.
16 And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth, that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them, at the last day; and if our brethren destroy us, behold, we shall ago to our God and shall be saved.
17 And now it came to pass that when the king had made an end of these sayings, and all the people were assembled together, they took their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of man’s blood, and they did abury them up deep in the earth.
18 And this they did, it being in their view a testimony to God, and also to men, that they anever would use weapons again for the shedding of man’s blood; and this they did, vouching and bcovenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would cgive up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands.
19 And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to abelieve and to know the truth, they were bfirm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace." (Alma 24: 7-19)
And here again is the commentary entitled: "Jesus Christ can cleanse me and help perfect me.":
"It could be said that the Book of Mormon is an account of people who changed because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. You can read some of these experiences in Mosiah 5:1–2; 27:8–28; Alma 15:3–12; 24:7–19. You might think of other examples to study as well. What do you notice that these experiences have in common? What differences do you notice? What do these experiences teach you about how the Savior can change you?"
A change of heart in people truly is a miracle made possible only by God's power. In both of these experiences, people's lives were put at stake. In the first one, Zeezrom's change of heart was accompanied by his physical illness which almost killed him and yet by the power of God he got healed. And the people who believed the words spoken to them by God's servants, Alma and Amulek, did not escape physical danger--they were burned to death, and yet their spirits were received by God in paradise (spirit world). In the second one, the truly repentant people decided to bury their weapons of war as a testimony to God that they never used them again after they heard and believed God's words and repented of their sins. They were willing to give up their lives rather than fight in the next war and kill their brethren using their weapons all over again.
God truly gave His children the freedom of choice so each one can decide whether to believe His words and change or not to believe and remain in a sinful state. Because of God's mercy, He gave us enough time to repent of our sins. That's why the final judgment is delayed. He is allowing His children to make wicked choices so that His judgment of them in the end will be just. You are prepared to die anytime when you are a believer and are truly repentant. You wouldn't want to die in your sins because you will be facing the consequences of your sins come judgment day. If you're not able to repent while in this life before you die, you will be punished for your own sins because what Jesus Christ did for you (His taking upon Himself the punishment for your sins) will only take effect if you did your part yourself--if you believed, repented of your own sins and had a change of heart while you still have time. Time on earth is so precious. Nobody knows how much time you have left at any given moment. Only God knows. So, what are you waiting for? You wouldn't want to wait until it's already your last day on earth before you start repenting of your sins, would you?
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