I Seek Not for Power
Book of Mormon Notes - Tuesday, November 14, 2023, Alma 60
Mormon moves again from abridgment to direct quotation to include Moroni’s complete letter to Paharon. This is too great a letter to abridge. But knowing how precious the space on the plates was, Mormon could have chosen to abridge or to summarize this letter. Why did he insert Moroni’s letter, word for word?
The large plates of Nephi, we recall, contained more political, military, and what we now call secular matters. But Mormon also constantly drew spiritual lessons from episodes in Nephite history in order to support the overall purpose of his book. What might Mormon’s purpose have been for including Moroni’s letter in its entirety?
Moroni had already sent one letter to Pahoran in order to request support and probably provisions for Helaman’s army. (Alma 59:3) But when Helaman informed Moroni that they had not received help, and when Moroni saw that the city of Nephihah had been conquered by the Lamanites, he was angry because of the neglect of the Nephite central government. Helaman correctly surmised that there was a faction in the government, and Moroni did not know the cause of the government’s neglect.
Moroni aimed his withering rebuke at Pahoran and all those who had been chosen by the Nephites to govern and manage the affairs of the war. With language that might remind us of Frederick Douglass’ speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”, Moroni condemns and rebukes the Nephite central government for their exceedingly great neglect of the Nephite armies. Moroni rebukes Pahoran and the members of the Nephite government for their failure to provide soldiers and provisions, which failures caused extreme suffering for Moroni, Helaman, and their men. Moreover, the failures of the Nephite government lead to the misery and death of many innocent Nephite soldiers and other Nephites, including women and children.
Moroni demands an explanation for the “thoughtless state”, the “thoughtless stupor”, and “great neglect” of those who appeared to be sitting on their thrones doing nothing to assist the suffering soldiers and the Nephites who were under constant attack by Ammoron and his fierce Lamanite warriors. Moroni makes it clear that the blood of the innocent is upon the heads of those in the Nephite central government because of their neglect. Moroni answers his own rhetorical questions because he suspects that there are traitors in the government. These are Moroni’s rhetorical questions:
Can you think to sit upon your thrones in a state of thoughtless astupor, while your enemies are spreading the work of death around you?
Behold, could ye suppose that ye could sit upon your thrones, and because of the exceeding goodness of God ye could do nothing and he would deliver you?
Do ye asuppose that, because so many of your brethren have been killed it is because of their wickedness?
But why should I say much concerning this matter?
Or is it that ye have neglected us because ye are in the heart of our country and ye are asurrounded by security, that ye do not cause food to be sent unto us, and also men to strengthen our armies?
Have ye forgotten the commandments of the Lord your God?
Yea, have ye forgotten the captivity of our fathers? Have ye forgotten the many times we have been delivered out of the hands of our enemies?
Or do ye suppose that the Lord awill still deliver us, while we sit upon our thrones and do not make use of the means which the Lord has provided for us?
Yea, will ye sit in idleness while ye are surrounded with thousands of those, yea, and tens of thousands, who do also sit in idleness, while there are thousands round about in the borders of the land who are falling by the sword, yea, wounded and bleeding?
Do ye suppose that God will look upon you as guiltless while ye sit still and behold these things?
Behold, can you suppose that the Lord will spare you and come out in judgment against the Lamanites, when it is the atradition of their fathers that has caused their hatred, yea, and it has been redoubled by those who have dissented from us, while your iniquity is for the cause of your love of glory and the vain things of the world?
Moroni rebukes the “slothfulness” and “neglect” of the government again, and he condemns the wickedness that is at the head of the government. Moroni also rebukes the government for the damage that had been done by the king-men, and he recounts the great destruction of many Nephites at the hands of the Lamanites in the peripheral combat zones.
Moroni’s letter to Pahoran may also remind us of Moroni’s previous letter to Ammoron. Midway through his letter, Moroni mentions his doubt concerning the utility of such a letter because he wonders if Pahoran and others in the government are traitors to their country who are seeking for power and authority. He wonders if perhaps those in Zarahemla had become complacent because of their relative safety and security in the center of the land. After his rebukes and his justified complaints, Moroni then issues a warning to Pahoran and the Nephite government in Zarahemla, a warning based on revelation and the word of God:
Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the ainward vessel shall be bcleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also.
And now, except ye do repent of that which ye have done, and begin to be up and doing, and send forth food and men unto us, and also unto Helaman, that he may support those parts of our country which he has regained, and that we may also recover the remainder of our possessions in these parts, behold it will be expedient that we contend no more with the Lamanites until we have first cleansed our inward vessel, yea, even the great head of our government.
And except ye grant mine epistle, and come out and show unto me a true aspirit of freedom, and strive to strengthen and fortify our armies, and grant unto them food for their support, behold I will leave a part of my freemen to maintain this part of our land, and I will leave the strength and the blessings of God upon them, that none other power can operate against them—
And this because of their exceeding faith, and their patience in their atribulations—
And I will come unto you, and if there be any among you that has a desire for freedom, yea, if there be even a spark of freedom remaining, behold I will stir up insurrections among you, even until those who have desires to usurp power and authority shall become extinct. (Alma 60:23-27)
As terrible as the factions in the Nephite government and the tyranny of the king-men was, if Moroni were alive today, what kind of a letter would he send to the head of the U.S. Federal government and what kind of a warning would he give to our nation’s self-appointed “elites”? If the head of the Nephite government needed cleansing, and if the inward vessel of the Nephites needed cleansing, how much more so does our own government in the United States, with its awful head, need this cleansing today?
I think that it is clear to anyone who is paying attention that the controlled demolition of the United States is taking place under the guise of the incompetence and senility of the head of the Federal government. Washington D.C. has often and properly been referred to as a “swamp” that needs “draining”. And yet too many Americans, and too many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints somehow consider that it is not the corrupt head of the government or the modern day king-men that are the problem. Instead they worry about “polarization”, populism, and January 6th. This is the kind of “thoughtless state”, “thoughtless stupor”, “slothfulness”, and “great neglect” that has allowed radical ideologies to take root in our nation and shredded the Constitution until it hangs, as it were, by a thread.
We need more Moronis, men with a true spirit of freedom who will stand up against those who have desires to usurp power and authority. While I don’t advocate for violence or insurrections, at least at this point, I believe that we need more men like Moroni who, instead of constantly conforming to what is convenient for them and their comfortable careers, are willing to help cleanse the inner vessel and stand up to the latter-day king-men, the corrupt “elites” who threaten our country with destruction. Consider Moroni’s conclusion to his epistle in light of how we might better respond to the complacency and corruption in our own government and in our own society:
Yea, behold I do not fear your power nor your authority, but it is my aGod whom I fear; and it is according to his commandments that I do take my sword to defend the cause of my country, and it is because of your iniquity that we have suffered so much loss.
Behold it is time, yea, the time is now at hand, that except ye do bestir yourselves in the defence of your country and your little ones, the asword of justice doth hang over you; yea, and it shall fall upon you and visit you even to your utter destruction.
Behold, I wait for assistance from you; and, except ye do administer unto our relief, behold, I come unto you, even in the land of Zarahemla, and smite you with the sword, insomuch that ye can have no more power to impede the progress of this people in the cause of our freedom.
For behold, the Lord will not suffer that ye shall live and wax strong in your iniquities to destroy his righteous people.
Behold, can you suppose that the Lord will spare you and come out in judgment against the Lamanites, when it is the atradition of their fathers that has caused their hatred, yea, and it has been redoubled by those who have dissented from us, while your iniquity is for the cause of your love of glory and the vain things of the world?
Ye know that ye do transgress the laws of God, and ye do know that ye do trample them under your feet. Behold, the Lord saith unto me: If those whom ye have appointed your governors do not repent of their sins and ainiquities, ye shall bgo up to battle against them.
And now behold, I, Moroni, am constrained, according to the covenant which I have made to keep the commandments of my God; therefore I would that ye should adhere to the word of God, and send speedily unto me of your provisions and of your men, and also to Helaman.
And behold, if ye will not do this I come unto you speedily; for behold, God will not suffer that we should perish with hunger; therefore he will give unto us of your food, even if it must be by the sword. Now see that ye fulfil the word of God.
Behold, I am Moroni, your chief captain. I aseek not for power, but to pull it down. I bseek not for honor of the world, but for the glory of my God, and the freedom and welfare of my country. And thus I close mine epistle. (Alma 60:28-36)
I love that!
I seek not for power, but to pull it down.
I seek not for honor of the world, but for the glory of my God, and the freedom and welfare of my country.
Amen, and amen.
No wonder that Mormon wished that all men had been, were, and ever would be like unto Moroni.