Mormon's Message About Priestcraft

Nephi taught us that the Lord “commandeth that there shall be no priestcrafts; for, behold, priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion” (2 Nephi 26:29).  We don’t really see examples of priestcrafts in Nephi’s day, but later on in the Book of Mormon we do, and it seems to me that Mormon really wanted to highlight the dangers and negative effects of priestcraft.  The first major example of priestcraft was with Noah and his priests—they certainly were seeking after the “gain and praise of the world” while at the same time pretending to follow the law of Moses and be religious leaders.  Mormon both told us about their great wickedness as well as showing through his account the terrible things that happened because of their priestcraft.  He wrote that Noah “did cause his people to commit sin, and do that which was abominable in the sight of the Lord. Yea, and they did commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness” (Mosiah 11:2).  He showed through the narrative how their actions led to the death of a righteous man, Abinadi, the eventual revolt of the people against Noah, and the people’s subsequent servitude to the Lamanites and the many lives which were lost because of that.  And it all happened because of the priestcraft of King Noah and his priests. 

               Mormon clearly wanted us to see the effect of Nehor’s priestcraft as well.  Because of his teachings and actions, another righteous man was killed (Gideon) and the people began to “[love] the vain things of the world” so much that persecutions arose and many members of the church were “hardened, and their names were blotted out” (Alma 1:16, 24).  In subsequent stories Mormon continued to refer to Nehor so that we don’t miss seeing the terrible effects he and others like him caused among the Nephites.  Several different times he referred to Nehor with the description that it was he who was the cause of the death of Gideon, such as in the following:

·        “[Amlici] being after the order of the man that slew Gideon by the sword” (Alma 2:1)

·        “…in the valley that was called Gideon, being called after the man who was slain by the hand of Nehor with the sword” (Alma 6:7)

·        “This judge was after the order and faith of Nehor, who slew Gideon” (Alma 14:16)

Mormon showed how this order of Nehor inspired Amlici and caused him to lead a civil war and cause the deaths of many people.  In an interesting juxtaposition he told us in one verse how 12,532 Lamanites and 6,562 Nephites were killed because of the Amlicite war, and then in the next verse reminded us that Gidean was he “who was slain by the hand of Nehor” (Alma 2:19-20).  What started as a single murder ultimately led to the deaths of thousands.  Later when Mormon described the people of Ammonihah he pointed out that they too were guilty of priestcraft, or at least that the judge was “after the order and faith of Nehor” (Alma 14:16).  Dropping this reference to how Nehor slew Gideon came right after Mormon told of the deaths of the many righteous who were thrown into the fire by these rulers who were after the order of Nehor.  Again Mormon wanted us to see the terrible effects of following the philosophy of priestcraft: it ultimately led to the worst kind of behavior, especially murder.   

               All of these stories stand as a warning to us in our day that we must never let the ideas of priestcraft sway us away from unselfish and humble service—we must never try to link religious behavior with gaining popularity and the riches of the world.  Mormon wanted us to be like those who were not swayed by Nehor in the days of Alma: “The priest, not esteeming himself above his hearers, for the preacher was no better than the hearer, neither was the teacher any better than the learner; and thus they were all equal, and they did all labor, every man according to his strength” (Alma 1:26).