Rhetoric: This verse confirms the concept that heaven is represented by sitting with the prophets, as implied in the previous verse. Alma denies that sinners can be with the prophets; rather, they “shall be cast out for they are the children of the kingdom of the devil.” Apparently the Nephites had a dualist concept of heaven. That is, there was heaven or hell—one or the other. They seem unaware of the three degrees of glory (D&C 76:50–106). There is some indication that they might have understood more than one layer of “heaven.” Nehor confessed to his sins “between the heavens and the earth.” Mesoamerican religion believed in a layered underworld as well as a layered “heaven.” (See commentary accompanying Alma 18:28–29.)