Moroni's Truth vs. Ammoron's Lies
Book of Mormon Notes - Saturday, November 4, 2023, Alma 54
In this portion of Mormon’s abridgment of the large plates of Nephi and the record of Alma (and Helaman), the coming of Christ among the Nephites is only 63 years away.
After much of Mormon’s own commentary, he includes what appears to be the direct quotations of an exchange of letters between the hero Moroni and the tyrant Ammoron. The exchange started out very well because Ammoron desired to exchange prisoners with Moroni. War is so ugly, in part because human beings become objects of negotiation when they are not objects for destruction.
Unlike Ammoron and the Lamanites who took women and children captive, Moroni and the Nephites did not take any female prisoners or child prisoners. Moroni's strategy was to trade one Lamanite prisoner for each Nephite prisoner and his wife and children. Moroni did not mince words in his letter to Ammoron, and Moroni understood correctly what kind of an enemy he was dealing with.
Moroni’s letter to Ammoron reads as follows:
Behold, Ammoron, I have written unto you somewhat concerning this war which ye have waged against my people, or rather which thy abrother hath waged against them, and which ye are still determined to carry on after his death.
Behold, I would tell you somewhat concerning the ajustice of God, and the sword of his almighty wrath, which doth hang over you except ye repent and withdraw your armies into your own lands, or the land of your possessions, which is the land of Nephi.
Yea, I would tell you these things if ye were capable of hearkening unto them; yea, I would tell you concerning that awful ahell that awaits to receive such bmurderers as thou and thy brother have been, except ye repent and withdraw your murderous purposes, and return with your armies to your own lands.
But as ye have once rejected these things, and have fought against the people of the Lord, even so I may expect you will do it again.
And now behold, we are prepared to receive you; yea, and except you withdraw your purposes, behold, ye will pull down the awrath of that God whom you have rejected upon you, even to your utter destruction.
But, as the Lord liveth, our armies shall come upon you except ye withdraw, and ye shall soon be visited with adeath, for we will retain our cities and our lands; yea, and we will maintain our religion and the cause of our God.
But behold, it supposeth me that I talk to you concerning these things in vain; or it supposeth me that thou art a achild of hell; therefore I will close my epistle by telling you that I will not exchange prisoners, save it be on conditions that ye will deliver up a man and his wife and his children, for one prisoner; if this be the case that ye will do it, I will exchange.
And behold, if ye do not this, I will come against you with my armies; yea, even I will arm my women and my children, and I will come against you, and I will follow you even into your own land, which is the land of aour first inheritance; yea, and it shall be blood for blood, yea, life for life; and I will give you battle even until you are destroyed from off the face of the earth.
Behold, I am in my anger, and also my people; ye have sought to amurder us, and we have only sought to defend ourselves. But behold, if ye seek to destroy us more we will seek to destroy you; yea, and we will seek our land, the land of our first inheritance.
Now I close my epistle. I am Moroni; I am a leader of the people of the Nephites. (Alma 54:5-14)
Moroni knew exactly what kind of a person he was dealing with. He did not sugar-coat his epistle at all. He was as bold, or even more bold with Ammoron than he had been with Amalickiah or with Zerahemnah. Moroni’s epistle is also replete with references to Deity, doctrine, faith, and religion:
The sword of His almighty wrath
Except ye repent
Except ye repent and withdraw your murderous purposes
The people of the Lord
As the Lord liveth
We will maintain our religion and the cause of our God
This is how you negotiate with an evil tyrant.
Notice Moroni’s oath: “as the Lord liveth”. This is not the first time that we have read such an oath:
“But behold I said unto them that: aAs the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have baccomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us.” (1 Nephi 3:15)
“And it came to pass that I spake with him, that if he would hearken unto my words, as the Lord liveth, and as I live, even so that if he would hearken unto our words, we would spare his life.” (1 Nephi 4:32)
“And assuredly, as the Lord liveth, for the Lord God hath spoken it, and it is his eternal aword, which cannot bpass away, that they who are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are cfilthy shall be dfilthy still; wherefore, they who are filthy are the edevil and his angels; and they shall go away into feverlasting fire, prepared for them; and their gtorment is as a hlake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever and has no end.” (2 Nephi 9:16)
“And now, my brethren, I have spoken plainly that ye cannot err. And as the Lord God liveth that abrought Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and gave unto Moses power that he should bheal the nations after they had been bitten by the poisonous serpents, if they would cast their eyes unto the cserpent which he did raise up before them, and also gave him power that he should smite the drock and the water should come forth; yea, behold I say unto you, that as these things are etrue, and as the Lord God liveth, there is none other fname given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ, of which I have spoken, whereby man can be saved.” (2 Nephi 25:20)
“And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should acome unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and boffer your whole souls as an coffering unto him, and continue in dfasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.” (Omni 1:26)
“And again, I know that the things whereof he hath testified are true; for behold I say unto you, that as the Lord liveth, even so has he sent his aangel to make these things manifest unto me; and this he has done while this Alma hath bdwelt at my house.” (Alma 10:10)
“And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working amiracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were bconverted unto the Lord, cnever did fall away.” (Alma 23:6)
Nor will it be the last time that we read this same oath:
“Behold ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth, if a aprophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord, which testifieth of your bsins and iniquities, ye are cangry with him, and cast him out and seek all manner of ways to destroy him; yea, you will say that he is a dfalse eprophet, and that he is a sinner, and of the devil, because he ftestifieth that your deeds are evil.” (Helaman 13:26)
“And now behold, saith the Lord, concerning the people of the Nephites: If they will not repent, and observe to do my will, I will utterly adestroy them, saith the Lord, because of their unbelief notwithstanding the many mighty works which I have done among them; and as surely as the Lord liveth shall these things be, saith the Lord.” (Helaman 15:17)
“And as surely as the Lord liveth, will he agather in from the four quarters of the earth all the remnant of the bseed of Jacob, who are scattered abroad upon all the face of the earth.” (3 Nephi 5:24)
“Search the prophecies of aIsaiah. Behold, I cannot write them. Yea, behold I say unto you, that those saints who have gone before me, who have possessed this land, shall bcry, yea, even from the dust will they cry unto the Lord; and as the Lord liveth he will remember the covenant which he hath made with them.” (Momon 8:23)
“And after that he came men also were asaved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the bsons of God. And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying: cWhatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you.” (Moroni 7:26)
In An Approach to the Book of Mormon, Hugh Nibley observed that “the oath is the one thing that is most sacred and inviolable among the desert people and their descendants.” John A. Tvedtnes has also written extensively about the importance of oaths in the Book of Mormon.
Another thing that stands out to me about Moroni’s epistle to Ammoron is that Moroni writes frankly that he was mad: “I am in my anger”. His people were also angry. When enemies seek to destroy you, such anger is the appropriate response and disposition toward gross injustice. If Moroni were alive today, I believe that he would be in his anger because of the enemies of liberty and justice that prowl around and within the United States of America.
This exchange of letters also helps us to understand the stark contrast between the Nephite traditions and way of life and that of the Lamanites. Whereas the Nephites only sought to defend themselves, and their liberty, their faith, and their families, so that they could worship the Lord their God according to their desires, the Lamanites had been indoctrinated with the victim ideologies of their progenitors Laman and Lemuel. Listen to how the tyrant Ammoron rationalizes and attempts to justify himself and the unjust war in which he and his people were engaged:
Now it came to pass that Ammoron, when he had received this epistle, was angry; and he wrote another epistle unto Moroni, and these are the words which he wrote, saying:
I am Ammoron, the king of the Lamanites; I am the brother of Amalickiah whom ye have amurdered. Behold, I will avenge his blood upon you, yea, and I will come upon you with my armies for I fear not your threatenings.
For behold, your fathers did wrong their brethren, insomuch that they did rob them of their aright to the bgovernment when it rightly belonged unto them.
And now behold, if ye will lay down your arms, and subject yourselves to be governed by those to whom the government doth rightly belong, then will I cause that my people shall lay down their weapons and shall be at war no more.
Behold, ye have breathed out many threatenings against me and my people; but behold, we fear not your threatenings.
Nevertheless, I will grant to exchange prisoners according to your request, gladly, that I may preserve my food for my men of war; and we will wage a war which shall be eternal, either to the subjecting the Nephites to our authority or to their eternal extinction.
And as concerning that God whom ye say we have rejected, behold, we aknow not such a being; neither do ye; but if it so be that there is such a being, we know not but that he hath made us as well as you.
And if it so be that there is a devil and a hell, behold will he not send you there to dwell with my brother whom ye have murdered, whom ye have hinted that he hath gone to such a place? But behold these things matter not.
I am Ammoron, and a descendant of aZoram, whom your fathers pressed and brought out of Jerusalem.
And behold now, I am a bold Lamanite; behold, this war hath been waged to avenge their wrongs, and ato maintain and to obtain their rights to the government; and I close my epistle to Moroni. (Alma 54:15-24)
Let’s list Ammoron’s lies. It was a lie that…
Amalickiah was murdered
Nephi and the friends of Nephi wronged their brethren
Nephi and the friends of Nephi robbed Laman and Lemuel of their aright to the bgovernment when it rightly belonged unto them
the government rightly belonged to the Lamanites
the Lamanites would stop warfare if the Nephites surrendered
the Nephites knew not such a Being as God
Moroni would be sent to hell to dwell with Amalickiah whom he murdered
the things about God and the devil don’t matter
Nephi forced Zoram to leave Jerusalem
the purpose of the Lamanites’ war against the Nephites was to avenge their wrongs and ato maintain and to obtain their rights to the government
That’s at least 10 lies that Ammoron wrote, and 10 lies by which most of the Lamanites governed their lives. When an entire people lives by lies, warfare and destruction are inevitable. These were the false traditions of the Lamanites that were handed down from Laman and Lemuel for centuries, false traditions and lies that caused the downfall of an entire civilization.
I noticed the title of a book by Michael Medved called The 10 Big Lies About America. This is a list of the 10 lies that Medved exposes in his book:
America was founded on genocide against Native Americans
The United States is uniquely guilty for the crime of slavery, and based its wealth on stolen African labor
The Founders intended a secular, not a Christian nation
America has always been multicultural society, strengthened by diversity
The power of big business hurts the country and oppresses the people
Government programs offer the only remedy for economic downturns and poverty
America is an imperialist nation and a constant threat to world peace
The two-party system is broken and we urgently need a viable third party
A war on the middle-class means less comfort and opportunity for the average American
America is in the midst of an irreversible moral decline
There are a few things in Medved’s list that I would question and push back against, but the list of lies about America today might also include the following:
The 1619 Project
Critical Race Theory
The “love is love” nonsense of the LGBTQ movement
Social Emotional Learning
Orange Man Bad arguments
Vaccines are “safe and effective”
If we consider the lies that are prevalent in the rest of the world, such as the lies that cause people to promote Hamas and cheer on the destruction of Israel, then we can see that Ammoron’s mindset and paradigm is not all that uncommon today. It is also not uncommon for people who have been indoctrinated in such lies to react the same way that Ammoron reacted when Moroni wrote to him the plain and simple truth and commanded him to repent and to retract his murderous designs.
These are just a few of my tangential speculations about ways that we can liken the scriptures to ourselves today. But what did Mormon want us to learn from this exchange between Moroni and Ammoron? Why did Mormon include these epistles with verbatim messages from the Nephite hero and the Lamanite tyrant?