Moroni's Description of Our Day

We often speak about how the Book of Mormon was written for our day, and surely one of the most relevant and direct chapters for us is Mormon 8. This was written by Moroni as he wandered alone after the destruction of his people, and he spoke to us in this day when we would have his words. He declared, “Behold, the Lord hath shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must shortly come, at that day when these things shall come forth among you. Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing” (Mormon 8:34-35). He saw in vision the things that would come upon us in the last days, and he saw all our doings. Here are three of the descriptions which are particularly accurate of our world today:

   “Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be heard of fires, and tempests, and vapors of smoke in foreign lands; And there shall also be heard of wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes in divers places” (v29-30). We need look only at 2020 alone for these, with the horrendous fires of the western United States this summer, the Taal Volcano eruption in January in the Philippines, numerous significant hurricanes this fall, and even a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey and Greece just this last week. As for wars or rumors of wars, there are always plenty of those including the Afghanistan conflict and the Yemini Civil War to name just two, both of which have taken the lives of about 16,000 people just this year.

·        “Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth; there shall be murders, and robbing, and lying, and deceivings, and whoredoms, and all manner of abominations” (v31). Certainly this year we have seen an increase in violence and rioting in the United States with the homicide rate increasing this summer by over 50% from last summer. There have been plenty of robbing as well (for example over 1000 people looted a store in Pennsylvania recently), and of course the immorality of the people continues to rise. There are indeed all manner of abominations in our day as Moroni saw.

·        “For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted…. Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?” (v37,39) That we do love our money here and elsewhere is certainly an accurate description of so many who are focused on obtaining possessions and wealth. This certainly includes us as members of the Church, many of whom have indeed prospered greatly and are adorned with that which hath no life.    

           So what is Moroni’s call to action for us? He implored us, “Behold, look ye unto the revelations of God” (v33). He invited us to understand and look to the scriptures and revelations which have prophesied of our day and realize that indeed “the sword of vengeance hangeth over [us]” because of our wickedness (v41). We cannot continue in our wickedness with impunity forever. This question contains the key to how we should act amidst the worldliness and abominations around us: “Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ?” (v38) That is his call to us—we must take upon us the name of Christ and do the things that He would do. We must reject wickedness and turn to righteousness. We must seek to humble ourselves before the Lord instead of being “polluted because of the pride of [our] hearts” (v36). We must learn to give up the things of the world we seek after for ourselves and take care of the widows and orphans and care for the hungry and needy (v39-40). In short, no matter what happens around us in this wicked day, we must focus on living and loving as the Savior would.