Mormon 7-9: Come Follow Me Book of Mormon with Sam

 Welcome to Come Follow Me with Sam! We are about to read the first of three endings of the Book of Mormon. It seems to me that Moroni meant this to be his last word on the matter. The other two endings come as a surprise to him as much as anyone else. Mormon and Moroni, I feel, are precise in their speech and careful in their words for these last chapters. There is a lot of soul-searching in these chapters, but I am going to try to keep a light hand on the commentary. I hope this helps you understand the words themselves without too much detraction.

The larger game

Chapter 7 is Momon's last words and his end to his work. Mormon goes a little meta. He talks to the entire house of Israel where ever they may be. The Jews, the 10 tribes, the remnants of the Lamanites and Nephites... If the salt shall lose its savor, wherewith shall the earth be salted?

Mormon speaks to those who would still savor.

Mormon's last message is only 10 verses long, but I cannot think of a message more sincere than his.

I even remain alone

Moroni says that he remains alone after his own father, Mormon, was killed by the Lamanites. Sometimes it is okay to be alone. Sometimes it is necessary.

A gentle not-so-gentle warning

Chapter 8:15-22 is an intriguing set of verses and somewhat apropos (which is unsurprising considering they were written for our time). Vs 16 is a reminder that this work is of God and it could only come forth by the power of God and not by any other power. If you know the Book of Mormon to be true, then you also know that Joseph Smith had the power of God to do it, which opens the bag on a completely different way of viewing the world than the rest of the world views itself. The Moroni says that anyone who thinks to condemn this work, the Book of Mormon or other work of God, needs to be very careful and not do that because they are playing with hell fire when they do so.

Then Moroni goes a step further and says that anyone who is seeking for something that either hasn't been revealed yet by the power of God, or that demands something that has been forbidden to be revealed yet by God is playing with the same hell fire. This is really worth thinking about before you decide that you deserve to know certain answers about God.

This can sound really frustrating to people who are looking to piece together the evidence of God's work on the earth. Here are a few thoughts in no particular order about the subject of revealing certain things versus not revealing certain things.

• It is probably a lot more frustrating to people who are looking for a sign than people who are looking for the Savior, so double check your intentions before you cross your bounds
• In my opinion, the church still does need to learn and relearn how to seek further light and knowledge and treasures of wisdom.
• Alma is a very healthy example to learn from. You can read about it in my post on Alma 40-42
• Remember that the Savior said that nothing but repentance and baptism unto Him for the Gift of the Holy Ghost should be preached. If your questions are not leading you to search your soul and repent, it may be worth it to work on that and then rework your questions.
• Not everything will be revealed for a long time yet. But there are many things you may not know about that are coming forth or can be known by revelation. No matter what your concern is, there are answers out there that are waiting for you. You can get answers to your questions. It may simply be that you need to focus on these first four bullet points before getting answers to them.

Update: Check out my post for Ether 1-5 and read chapters 3 and 4 especially. Moroni explains in depth how this works, I think it will be very helpful to you to understand.

Another call to read Isaiah!?

Yep. 8:23. That counts Nephi, Abinadai (sort of), Jesus (twice), and now Moroni.

Moroni lays the lowdown on Christians

I would seriously recommend you read the rest of chapter 8 carefully. I can't walk away from chapter 8 anymore without feeling like something is very very wrong with the way the world is today. For all the miracles modern society has created, there are still widows and orphans, and I'm a little haunted that I am not doing my part. And I am not talking about the soul-sucking philosophy of socialism here. I am talking about building consecration where ever we go.

Moroni lays the lowdown on non-Christians

As if that was not enough, Moroni then turns around and says that just because someone can see all this hypocrisy in christian churches doesn't mean a D#$n thing if you don't repent and be baptized for Christ. Or, to correct myself, it does mean one damned thing: your own self. He also brings back a reference to the unquenchable fire of kindled flame, which I don't believe we have seen since King Benjamin.

Then he talks about miracles. Again. I get the feeling that he is so frustrated by our day's vain imaginations. To us, in society today, it seems very reasonable that someone would not believe in God or miracles. It seems like the burden of proof should be on those that do believe in God, if they want to convince anybody. Moroni does not share this attitude at all. It seems that he goes to talking to both christian and non-christian alike at this point and says that if you don't believe in a God of miracles, you must be doing mental acrobatics to avoid knowing that.

You also need to realize that Moroni was a man that must have communed with God as we commune with each other. He was the last of a civilization that partook of the heavenly gift for hundreds of years. He knows this blessing is given to all who seek Jesus diligently. I know, its crazy but its true, at least in whatever sense Moroni meant. Look at 9:21. To him, (and remember, this is the guy that lived in a society even farther gone than ourselves, so he probably isn't interested in our excuses), there is nothing more straightforward than coming to God in this manner and giving up all guile and insincerity to do it.

In all Moroni's strivings with us, I see a man who has seen us by the power of God and has been through the course of a civilization that rejected God, and is pleading with us not to do it again because he knows how that way ends. I see a man who genuinely cares about us. Maybe he actually saw us individually by revelation and is hoping to help us. But most of all, as the Nephite record is capped, I see a man of God and a prophet who is writing according to the commandment and the works of God, according to His plan, for the benefit of His children.