To Be Like Moroni

Mormon made this famous statement about Captain Moroni as he described the great war between the Nephites and 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). This was a bold declaration and it begs an obvious question for each of us: how do we be “like unto Moroni” so that we too diminish the powers of hell and so that the devil does not have power over our hearts? Captain Moroni was a brilliant military commander and strategist, but certainly Mormon was not talking about that here. To be like Moroni has nothing to do with military tactics or fighting wars, but rather, I believe, his unwavering devotion to Jesus Christ and his commandments.

                The Book of Mormon makes it clear that what motivated Captain Moroni and gave him great power as a military commander was his faith in Christ. In his first recorded battle, the Nephites overpowered the army of Zarahemnah and Moroni stopped the fighting to negotiate peace. He declared to his enemies, “But now, ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold that he has delivered you into our hands. And now I would that ye should understand that this is done unto us because of our religion and our faith in Christ. And now ye see that ye cannot destroy this our faith.” He attributed their success to their faith in Christ and continued, “Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion” (Alma 44:3-4). Moroni knew that they only had power over the Lamanites because God was supporting them as they put their faith in Him. He continued to show his devotion to Jesus Christ as he rallied the people under the title of liberty. Mormon described, “He bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land—For thus were all the true believers of Christ, who belonged to the church of God, called by those who did not belong to the church. And those who did belong to the church were faithful; yea, all those who were true believers in Christ took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or Christians as they were called, because of their belief in Christ who should come.” He was indeed a true believer in Christ, and he rallied all those Nephites who were also Christians to take upon them the name of Christ and to “stand fast in the faith of Christ” (Alma 46:13-15, 27). In short, Moroni “was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ,” and that is surely the most important way that we should strive to be like him (Alma 48:13).

                A corollary attribute of Moroni that we should likewise emulate was his unwavering devotion to keeping the commandments of God. He warned the people that “if they should transgress the commandments of God, or fall into transgression, and be ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, the Lord should rend them even as they had rent their garments.” He encouraged them using the story of Joseph in Egypt: “Let us remember to keep the commandments of God, or our garments shall be rent by our brethren” (Alma 46:21,23). Mormon wrote how his “heart did glory in… doing good, in preserving his people, yea, in keeping the commandments of God, yea, and resisting iniquity” (Alma 48:16).  Amalickiah railed against him and cursed God because “Moroni had kept the commandments of God in preparing for the safety of his people” (Alma 49:27). When Moroni wrote to the leaders of the government, he questioned them, “Have ye forgotten the commandments of the Lord your God?” He described his motivation as their military commander saying, “It is my God whom I fear; and it is according to his commandments that I do take my sword to defend the cause of my country…. I, Moroni, am constrained, according to the covenant which I have made to keep the commandments of my God” (Alma 60:28,34). He sought not for power but for righteousness and to keep the commandments of the Lord. Moroni was great because he was obedient to the commandments of God and firmly put his faith in Jesus Christ. For us to be able to likewise diminish the powers of hell we too must be unwavering in our devotion to the Savior and immovable in keeping His commandments.