Alma the younger

Who is the most anti-religious, atheistic person you know? Who do you know that is not only openly agnostic, but aggressively seeks to dissuade all religious people to his or her point of view? Who do you know that has a personal vendetta against all things spiritual? Who do you know that has made it their personal mission in life to destroy the church and all faith in God?

That was Alma the younger. His father was a prophet of God, and he was the anti-prophet. Nothing worked. No amount of persuasion, no sermon or even intellectual argument could change Alma's mind. He would not listen to it. He would fight it until his last breath.

That was before the visitation though. Alma's father, who was also named Alma, fasted and prayed for what must have been many years and suffered to see his son working with all his heart to undo all the good things he was trying to do among the people. But one day, this miraculous thing happened:

An angel of God appeared to Alma while he was on his way to wreak more havoc against the faithful followers of Christ. The angel told Alma that the Lord had heard the many prayers of his father, and let him know in no uncertain terms that the Lord would not allow him to continue to hamper His work. Alma fell to the ground and was unconscious for several days.

When he woke up, Alma was a changed man. He did a complete 360-degree turn-around. The minute he awoke he immediately began to praise and glorify God. He spent the rest of his life repairing all the damage he had done and acting as zealously for the cause of Christ as he had against it. He became a great prophet.

So what happened while he was unconscious? How did such a drastic transformation occur? Read all about it in the Book of Mormon.