The Maintenance of the Sacred Word of God

To my son,

                 Mormon gave us this description of Captain Moroni who led the Nephites in their battles against the Lamanites: “Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men” (Alma 48:17). That is quite a statement! The natural follow-up question is this: how can we be like Moroni then? Most of us will not have the chance to lead armies to victory or develop brilliant war strategies. But that’s okay because I don’t think that’s what made Moroni so great. I believe that Moroni was so successful as a military commander because he was totally committed to the Savior and His gospel. In particular, he based his life and choices on the word of God, and we can do that too in our lives. In the first battle that he fought in the Book of Mormon, he boldly declared these words to the leader of the Lamanites: “And now, Zerahemnah, I command you, in the name of that all-powerful God, who has strengthened our arms that we have gained power over you, by our faith, by our religion, and by our rites of worship, and by our church, and by the sacred support which we owe to our wives and our children, by that liberty which binds us to our lands and our country; yea, and also by the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness” (Alma 44:5). He was committed to the “maintenance of the sacred word of God” and he knew that their happiness depended upon it. I believe that the word “maintenance” here implies both that they read and studied the scriptures and that they maintained them in their lives, keeping the commandments. Moroni knew that their whole well-being depended upon the word of the Lord given through ancient and current prophets. And so it is with us! To be like Moroni we can likewise focus on studying and living by the word of God.

                We see how Moroni applied the scriptures to himself and his people in another story. When some Nephites dissented and followed the wicked Amalickiah, Moroni used the scriptures to inspire his people to faithfulness. He wrote the Title of Liberty and prayed that their freedom could be preserved, declaring it to the people. Many ran to him and covenanted that they would preserve the Title of Liberty, and he then taught them in these words, “Behold, we are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; yea, we are a remnant of the seed of Joseph, whose coat was rent by his brethren into many pieces; yea, and now behold, let us remember to keep the commandments of God, or our garments shall be rent by our brethren, and we be cast into prison, or be sold, or be slain…. Yea, let us preserve our liberty as a remnant of Joseph; yea, let us remember the words of Jacob, before his death, for behold, he saw that a part of the remnant of the coat of Joseph was preserved and had not decayed. And he said—Even as this remnant of garment of my son hath been preserved, so shall a remnant of the seed of my son be preserved by the hand of God, and be taken unto himself, while the remainder of the seed of Joseph shall perish, even as the remnant of his garment.” Moroni then made this application to his people: “And now who knoweth but what the remnant of the seed of Joseph, which shall perish as his garment, are those who have dissented from us? Yea, and even it shall be ourselves if we do not stand fast in the faith of Christ” (Alma 46:23-26). He found great motivation from this story of Joseph who was sold into Egypt, and from these scriptures he helped his people to be firm in their commitment to the Savior and the cause of liberty. Ultimately they were able to triumph over their enemies through their maintenance of the word of God. I hope that you and I can strive to be more like Moroni in our commitment to the word of God and keeping the commandments we find therein. 

Love,

Dad