Moroni Finishes His Record, Conclusion

Moroni's last recorded words include an exhortation to deny not the power or gifts of God.  God worketh by power according to the faith of the children of men (Moro. 10:7).  The gifts of God are given for the profit of man (Moro. 10:8).  Among these gifts, he once again mentions the necessity of the ministry of angels (Moro. 10:14).

These gifts will never be done away as long as the earth shall stand, for the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever (Moro. 10:19).  Unbelief will be the only cause for their ceasing (Moro. 10:19, 24).  If the gifts and power of God have ceased then there shall be none that doeth good, no not one (Moro. 10:25).

The Book of Mormon begins and ends with visions, angels, and the voice of God.  These bookends reveal a primary theme that runs throughout its story.  It is this: those who seek salvation, seek to know God and his Holy Son Jesus.  A part of that search for God is that true messengers come to instruct in the way of life and salvation.  They help prepare men for Christ.  They provide the sought after further light and knowledge.  They often declare repentance.  It has ever been thus.  The Book of Mormon is a witness that this is true.  It is an invitation for all men to come unto Christ.  It is a record of men who have walked the path.

Moroni spake by the power of the Holy Ghost, and with the tongue of angels.  If we cannot understand his words it will be because we seek not, nor ask.  If we reject his message we cannot be brought into the light, but must perish in the dark (2 Ne. 32:1-4).  He exhorts us to seek for every good gift, not excluding the ministry of angels (Moro. 10:30).  

To these angels is given power to seal men in their foreheads against the season which is to come (D&C 77:11).  They have power to prepeare men and women for the church of the Firstborn (ibid.).  They are a part of the process of sanctification.  You cannot be sanctified except it be by the grace of God, and unless you partake of His power (Moro. 10:33).  

The visitation of angels often seems unlikely and unbelievable to those who've not experienced them, and the messages shared by those taught by angels are often unpopular (Alma 21:5-6).  The religious who are proud are inescapably found fighting against God's messengers.  They would rather pride themselves in their sanctuaries, in their rites and culture (ibid).  They are angered by the truth.  This has been the pattern throughout history, anyway.  It's remarkably similar in our day. 

Eventually, God will show unto us all that the things this great prophet wrote are verily true (Moro. 10:29).

Before His Return

President Ezra Taft Benson taught that “the record of the Nephite history just prior to the Savior’s visit reveals many parallels to our own day as we anticipate the Savior’s second coming” (Conference Report, April 1987, 3; or Ensign, May 1987,4).

Though President Benson's message was primarily centered in 3 Nephi, I considered those words as I began reading through the Book of Helaman last week.

About three decades prior to the coming of Christ there were wars and rumors of wars among the Nephites and Lamanites.  Because of "their wickedness and their abomination"among those "who professed to belong to the church of God," they experienced a "great loss" and "great slaughter" (Hel. 4:11).  The great loss they experienced was that of "cities," "lands," and "possessions" (Hel. 4:5-10).

Like ancient Israel, they professed to know God, and with their lips did honor him, but their hearts were far from him.  They had become rich and proud.  They were absorbed in Babylon.  In all of their abundance, they regarded not the poor that were among them.  Having both the poor and the rich among them, they "saith unto the one: Be thou clothed in robes and sit thou here; and to the other: Be thou clothed in rags and sit thou there," and yet thought themselves just (D&C 38:26).

They mocked that which was sacred by professing God but denying the spirit of prophecy and revelation; speaking in his name, but not having obtained his voice.  They thereby took the Lord's name in vain.  

They murdered and plundered.  They were dishonest thieves, stealing that which belonged to other men and women, including their spouses.  They were full of great contentions, and not unified in the faith.  Since they were not one, they could not belong to the Lord (D&C 38:27).

And after all this kind of conduct they "boasted in their own strength."  Therefore, God left them to themselves, and their prosperity could not last.  They were "afflicted and smitten, and driven" before their enemies until they had lost all they thought no man could take.  They stored up for themselves treasures on earth, which things must come to an end.

Moronihah, and Nephi and Lehi, the sons of Helaman, came among the people preaching repentance (Hel. 4:14).  The message that needed to be preached to this people was indeed repentance.  Would we expect something else?  They were warned what would "come unto them" if they chose not to repent of their sins (ibid.).

"And it came to pass that they did repent, and inasmuch as they did repent they did begin to prosper" (Hel. 4:15).

In the year that followed, during their time of softening and repentance, they began to awake to their awful situation.  They recognized that they were in jeopardy of being "overpowered, and trodden down, and slain, and destroyed" by their enemies, which were more numerous than they (Hel. 4:20).

During this time they "began to remember the prophecies"of the holy prophets.  They knew they had been stiffnecked, and that they had "set at naught the commandments of God" (ibid.).  They then realized they had "altered and trampled under their feet" the laws they had received, which God had commanded a prophet to give unto them (Hel. 4:22).  They recognized the corruption that surrounded them, "and that they had become a wicked people," so much that they were like unto those they considered their enemies (ibid.).  They saw that they had become weak like their enemies, God having withdrawn the protection of his Spirit.  They recognized the Spirit did not dwell with them, because "the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples" (Hel. 4:24).  They had "fallen into a state of unbelief and awful wickedness," which thing they could not before see (Hel. 4:25).

Sadly, their repentance was not permanent, and the voices of those "who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good, therefore they were ripening for destruction" (Hel. 5:1-3).  Because of "transgression" they had "fallen" (Hel. 4:26).  

All these things happened in the space of not many years" (ibid.).

In that same address President Benson went on to say, "The Nephite civilization had reached great heights. They were prosperous and industrious. They had built many cities with great highways connecting them. They engaged in shipping and trade. They built temples and palaces. ...But, as so often happens, the people rejected the Lord. Pride became commonplace. Dishonesty and immorality were widespread" (April Conference, 1978).

I take President Benson's message as a prophetic warning.  He warned us frequently.  He preached Christ and the Book of Mormon often.  He invited the Church to repent and take the Book of Mormon more seriously, and reminded us we are still under condemnation.  

How quick we are to forget.  It's too easy to ignore these things.  

Who Are You?

The message of repentance in the scriptures was often to a religious crowd who considered themselves the Lord's people and who thought they were righteous (Luke 18:9-14).  

One of the reasons we may feel the Book of Mormon's message of repentance doesn't apply to us as "faithful" Latter-day Saints is because our lives, by and large, are in harmony with the principles taught from our pulpits and in our Sunday schools.  We keep the commandments and fulfill our callings.  Although we acknowledge in word that the message of repentance still applies to us as much as anyone, we are often perplexed about what it is we must repent of.

Besides serious transgressions, one of the things we must repent of are our misconceptions, and false traditions; or, what the Book of Mormon calls "unbelief." 

God's prophets mourn our state of unbelief because it causes us to not "search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be" (2 Ne. 32:7).  Because of that unbelief and stiffneckedness the Spirit stops the utterance of prophets when they might otherwise desire to share more about God's plan (ibid.).

King Benjamin taught that unbelief is a result of failing to read and understand God's word (Mosiah 1:5).  Because men fail to search the scriptures they "dwindle in unbelief" and fail to believe the truth when it is taught to them "because of the traditions of their fathers" (ibid.).  Dwindling in unbelief disables men so that they cannot understand the word of God.  This lack of understanding hardens men's hearts (Mosiah 26:3).  

In order for us to repent of and conquer unbelief we must come into contact with the "light of the glory of God" (Alma 19:6).  This encounter will cast away unbelief and dispel the clouds of darkness (ibid.).  For the majority of Latter-day Saints this encounter will begin to occur as we search the scriptures, but particularly the scriptures of the restoration.  We can choose to have this encounter with light and truth and begin to peel away the dark scales of unbelief, or we can choose not to receive the light.  Those who choose not to receive the light will be deceived, for they will not have the light required to discern between true and false messengers.  They will not be prepared for the "test" that Heber C. Kimball prophesied would overcome us in our day.         

In order for you to begin to remove the condemnation under which you labor you must take the Book of Mormon seriously.  

In order for you to begin to take the Book of Mormon seriously (or to not "treat it lightly") you must understand its message.  

In order for you to begin to understand the message of the Book of Mormon, it is vital for you to dismiss false notions about who "My people, O House of Israel" are, and who "the Gentiles" are.  

The truth of the matter is disconcerting for many people when presented with it, and so they choose not to search out the matter.  They think that those who would voice an opinion contrary to their traditions are "mad" (Mosiah 13:4).  Why is it that when a prophet declares the truth about the scriptures the religious are angry with him?  Must a man be a false prophet because his message angers you?  Must a prophet's message make you feel good about yourself?   

A proud man will usually choose to remain blind even when presented with light and truth because it salves his conscience to retain a false identity.  Doing so allows him to retain his pride, and believe in the message that "all is well" (2 Ne. 28:21).  But the Lord has made it clear that we have to shed false traditions and become humble and accept truth if we will be saved (Alma 32:15-16). 

The Latter-day Saints are the Gentiles of the Book of Mormon, and the Gentiles to whom it was written.  It was written for those Gentiles who are its readers, not those who are not its readers.  It was written in clarity that the Gentiles might understand the mission we've been called to perform.  The book defines our role.

Joseph Smith knew he was the "Gentile" who was chosen to begin the latter-day work (Title Page).  He referred to the rest of the Saints as "Gentiles" in the Kirtland Temple dedicatory prayer, which he received by revelation (D&C 109:60).  Throughout the Book of Mormon the writers are persistent and consistent in their use of the term.

Without explaining the entire issue, it's important to be presented with the idea so that it may be searched out.  Those who look into the matter will begin to see it clearly.  From beginning to end, European descendants are the "Gentiles" of the Book of Mormon, nobody else.  Unless you are a Latter-day Saint who also happens to be Native American, you are not the "remnant" or the "House of Israel" spoken of in the Book of Mormon.      

Don't let prejudices, misunderstandings, and false traditions deter your search.  Never mind what you think your Patriarchal blessing tells you about the meaning of "the House of Israel" in the Book of Mormon.  Those first or last sentences about lineage in your blessing no more help you understand the Book of Mormon than does the term "High Priest," as we use it today, help us to understand Alma 13.  They're almost wholly different.  Those things will all become clear as you discard false traditions and put off unbelief.  It doesn't matter if you descend from the House of Israel way back when, you are a "Gentile" to the Book of Mormon writers.     

Once you can understand your identity, the prophecies and messages of the Book of Mormon will begin to become very real to you.  The Book, as a whole, will begin to make much more sense.  You will be able to see more clearly, in order that a more thorough repentance may begin to take place.  It will be a precious gift, opening up to your view the fulness of the Gospel.  But not until we can put off "unbelief."  If we fail to understand our identity and the message of the Book of Mormon, we are dwindling in unbelief.

Many of our ideas about the scriptures are correct, but misapplied.  Many of our precepts are true and scriptural, but misunderstood.  It is true that the repentant Gentiles will ultimately be numbered among "the House of Israel" (2 Ne. 10:18).  We've gotten too far ahead of the game, however, in assuming that we've already made it.  We haven't.  The House of Israel will very soon receive the Book of Mormon and the fulness of the Gospel.  They haven't received it yet, but they will soon.  It will be brought unto them by the kings and queens of the Gentiles, who will act as nursing fathers and mothers to them (2 Ne. 10:9).