Amalickiah, The Book of Mormon

The desire of some people (historically more men than women) to want to dominate the lives of others is evident in all scripture, and has not gone away in the centuries which have followed. We could cal it the practice of politics, the ambition described in Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar and Macbeth, or the power struggles documented by the records of the old Soviet Union or of the families of organized crime. The story of Amalickiah is one of these.
The Book of Mormon is shorter than the Bible, and so people come and go in it without our knowing anything about their background, The first we know of Amalickiah is his campaign to be elected ruler of the Nephites. He is described as an articulate person, adept at flattery and manipulation, but his campaign does not succeed.
He then does something which has little or no precedent. Having been rejected as a candidate for Nephite "king", he flees to the Lamanites with a small group of followers and, using strictly the power of the spoken word, persuades the Lamanite king to prepare to attack the Nephites, something they have undertaken before, but without success. Amalickiah gains for himself a position of leadership in the Lamanite army.
Through stratagem, including assassination of the Lamanite king and the marrying of his widow, Amalickiah eventually becomes king of the Lamanites and leads an army against the very people he once sought to govern. A long conflict follows, described in some detail for fifteen chapters. Amalickiah's military skills do not match his political skills, and he does not survive to the end of the war, which nevertheless continues with others taking his place.
 One notable characteristic of his leadership is his lack of regard for the people depending on him. In this respect he seems quite similar to Adolf Hitler, leader of W.W. II NAZI Germany, who would leave whole armies exposed to capture or destruction rather than grant their requests to withdraw from a battle in which they faced superior numbers..             

The Rich Young Man, New Testament

The fact that God chooses his personal representatives from all different kinds of men is evidence that having great wealth in itself is no sin, provided, of course, that the wealth was gained without exploiting others or taken by force.
The Gospel of Matthew records a short incident between Jesus and a nameless young man who is described as having great wealth. There is nothing to indicate that the young man wishes for anything more than what he mentions - to know the requirements for him to have eternal life with God. His background seems to have included religious instruction because he assures Jesus that he has been diligent in keeping the commandments (as delivered from Moses) since childhood.
At this point, it's easy to ask questions, the answers to which are not entirely clear. Why did the young man choose to approach Jesus? Did he make an active effort to find him, or did he just happen to be in the area? Was Jesus teaching a lesson to all, or simply taking questions from some possible new disciples? Was there anything of a mocking tone in the young man's question? Was he inspired enough to guess that he had missed something that went beyond the simple framing of the Ten Commandments? 
Regardless, Jesus answers the questions put to him respectfully, though not with any pretend humility that people often used in the presence of prominent persons. A conclusion is reached very quickly. In so many words, Jesus says, "Take your possessions, sell them and donate the proceeds to the poor. Then follow me, and you will have all you need in this life and the next."
This is not the answer the young man expected, nor was it the one he was prepared to back up with action. The scripture says he "went away sorrowing" no doubt thinking "This man doesn't know anything about my responsibilities and all that's expected of me. Follow him? My gosh, if I gave it all away it wouldn't put a dent in the number of poor, and then I would be one of them.What would THAT solve?"
Jesus saw all this, and used it as a teaching moment. Riches don't completely keep us from advancing in spirit, but they can certainly cloud our vision and distort reality. Most of us would see a clearer path to eternal life by living the simple life, knowing that mortality is short and soon to end no matter what our balance sheet may show at this moment.

Isaiah, Old Testament

Looking into the backgrounds of individuals called to serve as prophets, what seems surprising is that they don't seem to follow a pattern. They include farmers, herdsmen and others with more high profile assignments. At least one, Moses, started life as a foundling, then became a part of Pharaoh's Court, then served under his father-in-law as a herdsman.
Isaiah had the important job advising King Hezekiah on how to avoid conquest and capture by the Assyrians and other ambitious neighbors. In that capacity, one would assume his advice had to be quick, easy to follow and understand and given with confidence and conviction. Anything less would make for a short career as a royal adviser.
But the world of prophets can be far removed from advising kings. A prophet's view, we are told, may take in the past, present and future - all at the same time. This, in turn, may make it more difficult for the listener/reader to see things as the prophet might, especially if the message dates back centuries. Hence the proliferation of churches, all with different convictions.
Isaiah's prophetic writings would have had to be very different from anything he wrote for the King, and his references do take in all of time, not just his own. His use of figures of speech is extensive. Christians and Jews cannot even agree when or even if he prophesied regarding the future Messiah. His prophecies are concerned with big events, some so far in the future as to make one wonder how his contemporaries would have made use of them.    
But we retain his words today. Some have even been set to music. It's sometimes laborious to know with clarity the subject of short passages, even different parts of the same sentence. Nevertheless, we see him as the most important of all the Old Testament prophets.

Alma the Younger, The Book of Mormon

As with the Bible, some people in the Book of Mormon are primarily remembered as doers (think Joshua), while others are better remembered for the counsel they gave which survives for our own use (Paul). Alma the Younger was a doer in life, but is better remembered for his explanations of Christian doctrines to both large congregations and to his own sons. In terms of expounding doctrine, his is one of the best known voices of the Book of Mormon, along with Nephi, Lehi, Jacob and, of course, the resurrected Jesus himself.
His life compares most closely to that of Paul. He was not on God's side of things early in life, but lived more of a sectarian lifestyle along with the sons of King Mosiah. He was a strong critic of the Church, opposing his father, but unknowingly benefiting from his father's prayers made on his behalf. Like Paul, it took direct intervention by a heavenly messenger to convince Alma and the brothers  that their lives needed large and immediate change. The brothers dramatically altered their own lives, as they renounced all claims to royal status or privilege in order to take the missionary message to the Lamanites. Alma was at first named as the head of the new government proposed by Mosiah, with the title of Chief Judge, but he later gave up the office in order to concentrate on leading the church among  the Nephites, succeeding his father, whose life is described in an earlier entry.    
This choice took led him to proclaim the coming of Jesus approximately 150 years and thousands of miles removed from Jesus' actual birth. The message, therefore, was not always gladly received. As with Paul, Alma sometimes suffered from persecution from the people he was attempting to serve. His wish, on at least one occasion, was simply to be able to leave a greater impression of his message ("Oh, that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart.").
Alma's teachings regarding eternal judgement, the resurrection, and the need to serve others are well known to Book of Mormon students. The clarity of his message is a comfort to those who have struggled to understand the teachings of other ancient prophets. HIs teachings given, in particular, to one rebellious son reveal Alma as one who was not afraid to remind someone of lack of an excuse for sin, but that even great evils could be atoned for with sincere repentance. His teachings to poor Zoramite laborers banned from the very temple they had built because of their poverty reminds us of God's scant regard for such things as worldly wealth, and that our devotion should not be confined to a single place.  

Nicodemus, New Testament

The Gospel of John records Jesus' connections to Nicodemus, who, though his name might suggest otherwise, served as a pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin. Nicodemus seeks a better understanding of this man he has heard so much about, but he is not willing to jeopardize his own status by being seen with Jesus in public. Instead, he comes to him at night. All he knows at this point is that no one in his own group is capable of the things Jesus has done, and that therefore Jesus must possess divine authority.
 It would have been natural for Jesus to be suspicious of this man who appears in the night, but he must have seen something in Nicodemus which denoted sincerity, if not bravery. He proceeds to explain the necessity of receiving baptism, a concept that does not seem familiar to Nicodemus.
The scriptures do not show a definitive conclusion to this conversation, but subsequent verses have Jesus introducing Nicodemus to the fact that his life would have many changes if he chose to become a disciple. 
Nicodemus' name is mentioned twice more in the scriptures. When the problem of Jesus, as seen by the pharisees, is discussed, Nicodemus reminds the group that no action could be legally taken against him without his having the opportunity to speak on his own behalf. Even this modest suggestion is rejected by the pharisees, who point out that the Messiah, according to previous prophecies, would not come from Galilee, and so it wouldn't matter what this Nazarene might say. He simply could not be who he claimed to be.
Following the crucifixion, Nicodemus, perhaps out of personal feelings of guilt that he had not intervened on Jesus' behalf, donates spices intended for use in preparing Jesus' body for burial.
Final judgement of those, like Nicodemus, whose lives touch Jesus at one or two points in life, must be left to Someone with all the facts to make an accurate judgement. Was there a waste of leadership ability here, or a loss of public testimony that the Jews might have heard? Perhaps. But there were no doubt many who were frightened away from becoming believers - men and  women who concluded that it would have been "too hard" to fully adopt the teachings of this Galilean whom many would have seen as "doomed".

Joshua, Old Testament

The Children of Israel were destined, under Moses, to wander in the Wilderness for a full forty years. This was the consequence of their lack of faith in God's ability to deliver them safely into Canaan, where they would reestablish themselves in Abraham's old home as the new national power.
But getting to the Promised Land and actually taking possession of it were two different things. It was true that the Israelites had only to look out on the ground day after day to see that God was on their side. How else could the daily provision of manna ("What is it?") be explained? But the spies sent to check out the Canaanites and their defenses were not helpful. All but two felt that conquering these people might be too great a task. And the people were inclined to agree, because almost no one really wants war.
God's response was to slam the door to the Promised Land on all the remaining Israelites who had begun their lives in Egypt as slaves. They were condemned to live out their days putting one foot in front of another crisscrossing the desert until, one by one, they had all died. Only then could they take up the issue of the conquest of Canaan again.
And one of the two optimistic spies, Joshua, was to succeed Moses, who was also kept from crossing over. Entering the land was more celebratory than military, but it wasn't all good news. One thing that made it clear that things were now to be different was that the daily manna ended.
Another, and much more daunting, was the command to Joshua to clear the land of all the native peoples. It might not be necessary to slaughter them all, but, one way or another, they were to be removed.
It is said that we can receive no command from God that cannot be obeyed, but this one would prove to be a test simply beyond the will of the Israelites to fulfill. The members of the twelve tribes had each staked out territory to occupy, and quickly did so. But each tribe found a way to peacefully deal with the locals in ways that fell well short of God's command.
He had known that, just as living among the Egyptians had a negative effect on His people, appeasing the Canaanites would produce similar results. Sure enough, intermarriage and the partial adoption of the beliefs of idol worshipers did have a negative effect.
Joshua did all he could over a long period of time, but was finally reduced to simply leaving it up to the people to choose for themselves the objects of their worship, making it clear that he intended to serve the Lord, as he always had.    

Laman and Lemuel, The Book of Mormon

Laman and Lemuel were two of Nephi's three older brothers. The scriptures almost always link the two, and so lacking other material, we have no way of seeing them separately. We meet them along with the rest of Lehi's family in the earliest chapters of the Book of Mormon. They appear to be around twenty years old, without families of their own at the start.
It should be noted here that the record we have was written by Nephi, whose accounts don't include the good qualities of these brothers, whatever they may have been, but concentrate on their relationship with Nephi, which is often hostile and near violent owing to (according to Nephi) their jealousy of his status as future family leader and a person of spiritual authority.
When it becomes evident that Lehi and family will never return to Jerusalem to live, and that their future is quite uncertain, Lehi's sons are obliged to consider whether all this is necessary and good for them all. Nephi makes the question a matter of prayer, and receives an answer that puts him solidly with his father, wherever the family might go.
Laman and Lemuel are slightly older, and much more worldly. They had counted, no doubt, on joining their father's trading business at  some point, and enjoying everything that would go with what passed for the ancient "good life". They not only couldn't see the merit in leaving, they couldn't generate enough faith in their father to believe he had a plan, either.
It was not as though they never had the chance to change their minds. The scripture records that on several occasions the two older brothers saw visions, heard voices, witnessed miracles and were instructed properly in being faithful sons. But some of this instruction came from Nephi, which would have tainted it in the minds of his brothers.
The rift in the family never is healed. The two older brothers and their families are estranged from the others, and, following Lehi's passing, they devolve into a separate people, coming from the same gene pool, but passing on their personal enmity to succeeding generations who treat it as a way of life. It is from the oldest brother, Laman, that the Lamanites get their name. Through much of the Book of Mormon, the conflict overlaying the conflict we all experience between good and evil is that of the Nephites and their lethal sworn enemies, the Lamanites.
LIke Miss Haversham of Dickens "Great Expectations", jilted on what was supposed to be her wedding day many years before and feeling the pain of that day so completely that the wedding banquet is left to rot at the great table where it was to be served, these two brothers just couldn't get past the loss of wht they thought their lives would be like. Unwilling to blame themselves for this all too human tendency, they were ultimately willing to see their entire progeny kept in spiritual darkness, wasting their lives on an incorrect premise.