Destroying Priestcraft in the Last Days
Book of Mormon Notes - Friday, September 29, 2023, Alma 35
What’s going on with this little section of Mormon’s abridgment of the large plates of Nephi, of the record of Alma, and of the missionary efforts and results among the apostate Zoramites? Why did Mormon include this portion of Alma’s record in his abridgment? Wasn’t it enough to recount the amazing exploits of Ammon and his brothers among the Lamanites? What do you think that Mormon foresaw in terms of missionary work in the last days? Or what message might Mormon wish to convey to his future audience, namely us?
One answer that comes immediately to mind is that Mormon knew that not all missionary work or preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the last days would be to one monolithic group of people. Certainly he foresaw that there would be apostasy in the last days, and many members of the Church who would be led astray by false doctrines and false teachings like those of the Zoramites (or the anti-Christs like Corihor, Nehor, and Sherem). Mormon must have seen the rise of secularism, relativism, and other atheistic dogmas. Mormon must have seen the rise of innumerable false ideologies, particularly in the promised land.
But if we recall, even if Mormon had a vision of these future events and problems, he already knew about such events and problems from the small plates of Nephi because of Lehi’s vision. Lehi’s vision frames the entire Book of Mormon and is a parable not only for the seed of Lehi in Book of Mormon times, but also for the Lamanites, Gentiles, and Jews in the last days. The mists of darkness that troubled and confused the various peoples in Book of Mormon times foreshadow the mists of darkness that trouble and confuse people today.
Thus missionary work among the Zoramites reminds us that missionary work among former members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is just as essential as missionary work among those who have never heard the restored Gospel before. Alma’s mission, along with his missionary companions (including Ammon, Aaron, Omner, aAmulek, Zeezrom, and two of his sons, aShiblon and bCorianton) to reclaim the apostate Zoramites reminds us that the word of God is the greatest instrument for leading every variety of souls unto Christ:
And now, as the apreaching of the bword had a great tendency to clead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God. (Alma 31:5)
Not only did the preaching of the word have a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just, and not only was the effect of the word of God more powerful than the sword or anything else - the virtue of the word of God also destroyed the craft of the Zoramites. What was the craft of the Zoramites? The word “craft” may remind us of the very thing that eventually caused the downfall of the entire Lehite civilization, that is pride and priestcraft. The wealthy and popular Zoramites practiced a kind of priestcraft, or the preaching and setting themselves up for a light to the world in order to obtain the gain and praise of the world without seeking the welfare of Zion. Their synagogues were constructed on the backs of the poor and then the poor were excluded from the very synagogues that they had built. Moreover, the Rameumptom is an iconic example of what it means to preach and set oneself up for a light to the world for the gain and the praise of the world without seeking the welfare of Zion. We must remember that Nephi prophesied that “Because of priestcrafts and iniquities” Jesus would be crucified. (2 Ne. 10:5). When Alma confronted Nehor, Alma foresaw that priestcraft could potentially lead to the utter destruction of his people:
But Alma said unto him: Behold, this is the first time that apriestcraft has been introduced among this people. And behold, thou art not only guilty of priestcraft, but hast endeavored to enforce it by the sword; and were bpriestcraft to be enforced among this people it would prove their entire destruction. (Alma 1:12)
What, we might ask, does any of this have to do with us today?
We have it on no better authority than the Almighty Himself that our own modern society makes the apostate Zoramites, and other practitioners of priestcraft such as Nehor, look more innocent than the Cleavers of Leave it to Beaver fame, or The Brady Bunch:
And thus commandeth the Father that I should say unto you: At that day when the Gentiles shall asin against my gospel, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, and shall be blifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and above all the people of the whole earth, and shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and cmurders, and dpriestcrafts, and whoredoms, and of secret abominations; and if they shall do all those things, and shall ereject the fulness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them. (3 Nephi 16:10)
At that day… or in other words right now. This Divine declaration doesn’t suggest that the Gentiles might sin or reject the fulness of the Gospel. The Lord declares that such things shall be characteristic of the last days. Mormon knew this. He foresaw that modern platforms for speech and the dissemination of information would make the Rameumptom, the apostate Zoramites holy stand, look like the most insignificant little soap-box by comparison. From CNN, MSNBC, and FOX to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (now X?), and the innumerable proliferation of platforms, stations, channels, including Substack and YouTube, Mormon foresaw all of these Rameumptoms on steroids and what most of them would promote and produce, namely lyings, deceits, mischiefs, hypocrisy, murders, priestcrafts, whoredoms, and secret abominations.
Therefore, if we moderns make the apostate Zoramites look like a troop of Girl Scouts on a cookie delivery, then how much more relevant are the teachings of Alma and his missionary companions to us today?
My point is that Mormon didn’t include this entire section on the missionary efforts among the apostate Zoramites merely for the benefit of the only person on earth during his lifetime who may have listened to him: his son Moroni. Although Moroni certainly learned a lot from his father Mormon, these spiritual lessons drawn from the more “secular” large plates of Nephi were meant for specific audiences and specific people in the last days, passing from the hands Joseph Smith and the early saints to you and to me.
The virtue of the word of God destroyed the craft of the Zoramites, and the same virtue of the same word of God will destroy the aforementioned crafts in which our modern society is now saturated.
It should come as no surprise then that, like the more popular part of the Zoramites, not everyone will be thrilled about the preaching of the word of God. The more popular and probably the wealthier part of the Zoramites were insenced because of the word of God that Alma and his missionary companions had preached. They were angry because the word of God destroyed their acraft.
I don’t imagine that many of the modern, popular, and wealthy media personalities, pundits, and professors will be happy when we preach that the Lord Himself rebuked their pride, lyings, deceits, mischiefs, hypocrisy, murders, priestcrafts, whoredoms, and secret abominations. But the gift of repentance is always available to us:
But if the Gentiles will repent and return unto me, saith the Father, behold they shall be anumbered among my people, O house of Israel. (3 Nephi 16:13)
The elites among the Zoramites were so angry that they expelled and exiled the many people who were in favor of the words which had been spoken by Alma and his brethren. But our modern elites would never be so angry or do any such thing, right?
For a time Jershon became the gathering place for these refugees, and no one knew how to take better care of refugees than the former Lamanite refugees, the people of Ammon. But the wicked Zoram and the wicked Zoramites did not stop their persecutions there. The chief ruler of the Zoramites, probably Zoram, continued to threaten those whom he had exiled from the Zoramite community. He didn’t just threaten them, he “breathed out many threatenings against them”. I’ll leave it to the linguists among us to determine if Joseph Smith could have invented the formulation of such sentence. “Breathed out many threatenings” - it sounds very semitic to me.
The people of Ammon ministered to the poor refugees, and then just as the Nephites had feared, the Zoramites began to stir up the Lamanites to anger against the people of Ammon and the rest of the Nephites. Angry apostates never seem content to mind their own business. Eventually, the Nephite armies moved into Jershon to protect the border between the Nephites and the Lamanites, and the people of Ammon moved to Melek. The newly converted formerly apostate Zoramites had not made the same covenant as the people of Ammon, thus they were willing to take up arms to defend themselves, and their wives, and children, and their lands.
What else might Mormon wish to teach us through his abridgment of the record of the successful mission of Alma, Ammon, Aaron, Omner, aAmulek, Zeezrom, and two of Alma’s sons, aShiblon and bCorianton, and other missionaries among the apostate Zoramites? One thing that I find interesting is that their missionary efforts began with the remotest and fiercest enemies and then gradually moved inward into their closest circles. In other words, Ammon and the sons of Mosiah did not stop preaching the Gospel after their missions to the Lamanites, and Alma and Amulek did not stop preaching the Gospel of their missions to the people of Ammonihah and of other cities. They gathered and drew converts closer to Zarahemla. The Nephites had to be converted to Christ just as much as the Lamanites had been, and eventually Alma may have begun to realize even more that his most important missionary efforts would be among those of his own family, especially with his own sons.
After all of his efforts and hard work, Alma must have felt very sad and discouraged to see another war developing and more apostasy brewing. But Alma’s problem wasn’t self-pity or depression. He was genuinely sorrowful, agrieved for the iniquity of his people. We recall that when Alma witnessed in person the apostasy of the Zoramites, his heart sickened. (Alma 31:1) After his mission among the Zoramites, when Alma saw the wars, and the bloodsheds, and the contentions which were among his people, and he saw that the hearts of the people began to wax hard, and that they began to be boffended because of the strictness of the word, his heart was exceedingly sorrowful. (Alma 36:15)
Think of Mormon now. Who better than Mormon could appreciate the exceedingly sorrowful and sickened heart of Alma the Younger? Mormon understood exactly what it was like to preach the word of God and to labor among a hard-hearted people. And Mormon must have known that a few among his modern audience would experience the same sorrow and sickness in their own hearts because of the aforementioned problems in the last days (3 Nephi 16:10). What would Mormon do to fortify and encourage the Alma-like among us in the last days? I don’t think that it is an accident that much of the Book of Mormon points to the strengthening of family relationships and individual testimony of, commitment to, and conversion to Jesus Christ. It is no accident that Mormon includes a verbatim account of Alma’s acharge to each of his sons concerning the things pertaining unto righteousness:
And we have an account of his commandments, which he gave unto them according to his own record. (Alma 35:16)