Mormon 8

Moroni has been commanded by his father to finish the record. It's interesting how the language changes. I don't think Joseph Smith would have known how to do that or even thought about it. But there is no doubt that the style of the language changes with the change now of writers.

Verses 1-13 are tragic and poignant. Moroni has seen his father slain. I would imagine his first instinct would have been to protect him or die trying. But he would have been commanded to flee by his father because Moroni has responsibility for the plates. He says that he is alone, that he has witness the death of all the Nephites, all of his family, and all of his friends and he is now alone. He doesn't know how long he will live, but he will wander for at least 21 more years. For now, all he sees is the Lamanites warring among themselves.

Moroni is a prophet. And like Moses and other prophets, the Lord grants him a vision of all things from the beginning to the end. He tells us that the Lord has shown him when and how the Book of Mormon will come forth; he has shown him our day and what our civilization is like. The plates themselves are worthless he says. But what is on them is priceless. I think if we really comprehended the worth of this book and the sacrifice given to bring it forward, we would revere it and keep it in sacred trust.

Moroni prophecies that it will come forward out of the ground and even though there will be those who will try denigrate it and stop it's coming, it is the Lord who has brought it forth and no one can hinder the Lord in his work. In describing our day, Moroni says people no longer believe in miracles, that both our religious and political leaders are only interested in power and money. He says we are a people who focus on substance, appearance, fine clothes, that we love our possessions more than people and because of this we are a prideful people. He says we live in a day when religions will deny Christ rather than testify of him. I remember a survey that came out a number of years ago where it was found that a large percentage of protestant ministers did not believe that Christ was actually the Son of God, that the miracles he performed are not true, that he was a great teacher, and was not likely resurrected. Moroni says that churches in our day will be set up to get gain and we can see this in television evangelists and other ministers who are extremely wealthy, live in great mansions, and run their churches as a business. When the people leave the large stadiums where these ministers preach, the people must pass by gift shops and coffee and refreshment stands that also feed into the church's coffers.

In all this, I think you can sense Moroni's disappontment for how people, at best, will ignore the Book of Mormon and at worst, cast it aside as something of no worth. His disappointment is understandable because he has studied the thousand year history of his people and has seen first hand the sacrifices made to bring the book to us. It would be insulting to him to see how it is treated with such little regard. And I think it's important to realize that Moroni is not expressing condemnation, because condemnation will come from the Lord, but he is sorrowing for the state of unbelief in his people which has brought about their destruction, and the unbelief of those in our day.