Church of Jesus Christ Study Session seeks to generate reflection about areas in the Restored Gospel. Whether it's Come Follow Me, a General Conference talk or a recent Gospel Topic, hopefully you'll find something to keep the Spirit of Christ in your life. Twitter - @mattsroberts90

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Join us as we begin our study of the Come Follow Me materials for this week, starting with Alma's teaching in the heart of the land of the Nephites, Zarahemla. We consider what he meant when he talked about having a change in heart and why this Mesoamerican prophet may have spoken a lot about countenances. 

Book of Mormon Central: According to Brant Gardner, “Having the image of God engraven on the countenances of the righteous appears to be unique to Alma.”2 By using the terms engraven and image together as he did, Alma might have been making a deliberate allusion to rituals and practices found in pre-Columbian America. As explained by Brant Gardner and Mark Wright, many Mesoamerican cultures participated in rituals of deity impersonation, where “a ritual specialist, typically the ruler, puts on an engraved mask or elaborate headdress and transforms himself into the god whose mask or headdress is being worn.”