an apocalyptic warning from the book of mormon - nibley

8/9/2019 An Apocalyptic Warning From the Book of Mormon - Nibley

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An A pocalypt ic W arning from the Book of M ormon

L A S T CA L LBy Hu h Nibley

THE MESSAGE OF THE BOOK OF MORMO N IS THAT

Jesus is the Christ. On the truth of that proposition depends ouronly hope for eternal life, and without that we are going nowhere,as many a wise man now assures; life becomes absurd, much ado

about nothing , "a tale told by an idiot," etc. First and foremo st,the Book of M orm on preaches the G ospel but it supports itspresentation w ith strong evidence. It tells us frankly on the titlepage that its intent is to ,sl~ow andto convin~:t.To c onvince is toovercom e resistance-that is the object: and the m ethod is toshow, to dem onstrate by evidence. The w om an at the wallharkened to the Lords message and urged the other villagers todo so bec ause he told her all about herself, things that only sheknew (John q:6 30). So it is with the Book of Mormon: itsm essage is the Gospel, but as an inducem ent to consider thedoctrine seriously an impressive historical superstructure hasbeen erected.

Let us forego the discussion of the doctrinal and spiritual part

and in the lim ited space given confine ourselves to the historical,though both parts deliver the same message.But is it history? U ntil specific sources arc available one w ay

or the othen can you tel l me w hy i t should not be t reated ashistory? Here, a very you ng m an (or somebody in the 1820s.perhaps the mo st barren and desolate decade in scholarship)hasoft~red to p,esent us w ith a com plex history of a civilizationcovering a thousand )ears, and neglecting no major aspect of thehum an com edy kern beginning to end. The author assures usthat this is all history, and he has written it all out for us. This,by the rules o[ textual criticism, puts the ball in our court: Thewriter has done an awful lot of wo rk, and it is now up to us toshow that his w ork is not what he says it is.

Today. E gyptologists admit how very close to nothing at all isknown about the ancient Egyptians. even thoughw e ha\c thou-sands of pages of their writings to read. But Egy pt is our town.a crowded pageant of t:amiliar ti,~ces, compared to the vast amt

HU GH NIBLEY is a [orossor emerituso/ mkicnt stuclics ~t~B r i g h a m} b u n gUnivo~iO. Th is article is t?a scc] on a transc,,ipt ofa talk given at the 1086 Suns:one T heological &m posium in 5~ItLake C ity.

total blank of the canvas which still awaits the portrait Am ericas of a mere thousand years ago. Do you think anyqualified at this time to tell the wo rld just what w ent on not go on in that most lost of lost worlds?

For example it is only since 1960, as Klaus Koch has shthat we have seen "the rediscovery of apocalyptic.~ The mossignificant form of that ancient literature is theHim) noisyrise cStole,/TheA s c c ~ s i o ~ o _ l t h c S o z ~ l to H e a v e n ]or as it is now somewhpompously called thep . E y c h a ~ > d i a .The existence of the genre wfirst dem onstrated by M artin H aug in 1872. The last 25have seen the em ergence of two "psychanodid heroes whovershadow all the others, namely Eno ch and A braham. JSm ith was only 23 ) ,ears old when he produced the BEnoch and the Book of M ormon; the latter opens with thperfect model o[ an ascension(Himmelsrciso) .~ We find therighteous man in a doomed and wicked w orld supplicatincarried aloft in an ascension in w hich "he thought he saw

sitting upo n his throne" (1 N ephi 1:8): he returns to earbegins to teach the people, who m ock him and threaten hh e retires to the desert with a faithful following in the expeof founding a pious co lony in the wilderness.

\Ve have space to consider only certain specialized butsupremdy im portant aspects of Book of M ormon history. treated several others in som e detail in the light of m ore tinctiugs: the crisis in Jerusalem (illustrated by the Lachishletters); ~ nom adic life in the deserts of Arabia (as reporm id-nineteenth century and twentieth cen tury travelers~ thecom m unities of sectaries in desert retreats (as described Dead Sea Scrolls];~ ancient religious rites, ordinances andemonies tctepictcd in docum ents found since the mid-nin

century~:0

ancient \varfi~re (in the light of personal experieproper names (from lists supplied by archaeology in PalestE!gypt~~ etc., etc. But if such a performance w as beyondcapacity" of anyone living in the 1820s. what is even morefantastic is the picture painted by the Book of Mormon of aworld entirely, even m ore removed from the imaginaanyone living in 1830, namely our own world ofthe 19805.this is the world w ith which the Book o[ M ormon is prCOnCCIne0.

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F~- over a century Mormons promoted the Book of Mormonas the story of the Indians. "Wouldnt you like to know where theAmerican Indians came from?" my missionary companions usedto ask the factory workers and peasants of Europe, w ho couldnthave cared less. Why hav e we ignored the books ow n insistentand repeated statements on why it was written and to w hom itis addressed? The first chapter is a prologue set in the Old Worldwhich bluntly states the argument: "There came many prophets,prophesying unto the people that they must repent, or the greatci ty Jerusalem m ust be destroyed" (1 Nephi l :4) . In the lastchapter of the Book of M ormon we find the identical propositionrepeated for another and a distant people-a proud civilizationwhich m ust repent or be destroyed (Mo roni 10). In between thebeginning and the end, the proposition is repeated more than ahundred times. "Destruction" is repeated some 513 times in thebook, and "repentance," 385 tim es. "~Destroy" is used in theproper sense asfl~:-st,t~e~e,to break dow n and scatter the ele-ments, to sm ash the structure. 9

A society on the brink of destruction is not a safe place tolinger, and so we are im med iately introduced into theRct~habitcmotif: "Come out of her, oh my people! Partake not of her sinslest ye partake of her plagues~ (cf..Jeremiah 35). A fter theAsce nsion of Lehi, he does what other p~-ophets did after such an

experience and takes off into the w ilderness. The R ekhabwere contem poraries of Lehi w ho did just that, and the discoof the Dead Sea Scrolls shows us that such things actuallhappen repeatedly. ~0 The t]ight from l~gs~pt, of course, had sexample, and to it the Book of Mormon preachers, like thoancient Israel, often refer and comp are themselves. The Psahn dramatizes the situation by comparing the righteoufruitful tree of life and the evil m an to a barren plant; thtbllows paths know n to G od, the other gets lost in the sa

The R ekhabite move is repeated again and again in the Bof M ormon. N ot long after the arrival of the family of LehiNew World, when the tension became unbearable betwN ephi and his elder brothers, ~the Lord did w arn m e, tNephi, should depart from them and flee into the wildernesall those who would go with me" (2 Nephi 5:5). Even so~

"Mosiah...being warned of the Lord that he should flee out oland of Nephi, and as m any as w ould hearken unto the voithe Lord shou ld also depart out of the land with him , inwilderness.. .did according as the Lord had commanded (Om ni 1:12-13). From his comm unity in turn, others broand disappeared into the w ilderness (Om ni 1:27-30). LikeAlm a tbunded his pious colony at the Waters of Mormon, place (Mosiah 18:4), and when later his church had beenabsorbed by a local kingdom~ his people ~gathered their ftogether~ and w hile the guards slept ~Alm a and his p

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departed into the w ilderness" (Mosiah 24 :18, 20). After the titleof liberty was raised, many Lam anites gave up everything andwent over to join the devout and peaceful society of the Am mon-ites (Alma 6 2:27). Even so, the Latter-day Saints given the choicebetween M issouri and Illinois or the desert chose the w ilderness.

So here we h ave two sharply divided societ ies to who seirreconcilable views there is only one solution-separation. But

the trouble with idealistic com mu nities fleeing from the ~vickedwo rld is that they take their tensions with them . In the desert,t rouble within the family, which b egan in the ci ty, only getsworse. Laman and Lemuel side with the people at Jerusalem: "Weperish if we leave Jerusalem," they said. "You perish if you stay,"said Nephi, because there isnt going to be any Jerusalem. H owdoes he know ? "I have seen a vision" (2 Nephi 1:4). That is justwhat is wrong, say Laman and Lemuel. Here they are being ledby the "foolish imag inations" of "a visionary m an"-apiqqcakh,one who sees things that others do not-to give up "the land oftheir inheritance, and their gold, and their silver, and theirprecious things," and for what? "T o perish in the wilderness" (1Nephi 2:11). Jerusalem offered Laman and L emuel w ealth, socialposition, the security of a great city with strong alliances (1 Nephi2:13). V)hat is more, righteousness was on their side: "We knowthat the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were arighteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of theLord, and all his comm andments, according to the Law of M oses"(1 Nephi 17:22). It was their father who w as off base; what didhe and Nephi have to offer but "great desires to know them ysteries of G od" (1 Nephi 2:16)? Feelings ran so high that thebrothers went so far as to conspire to remove N ephi and his fatherfrom the scene.

The hopeless impasse w as an anguish of soul to the lather andson who received comfort and encouragement in inspireddreams, in which the high life and hunger in the sands becom ean allegory of the perennial choices before us. That is how N ephiexplains it. Fashionably dressed beautiful people, partying in thetop-priced upper apartm ents and penthouses of a splendid high-rise, have fun looking dow n and com m enting on a bedraggledlittle band of transients eagerly eating fruit from a tree in a field(1 Nephi 810-27). "The g reat and spacious building," Nep hiexplains, "was the pride of the w orld" (1 Nephi 11:36), or ratherit is the "vain im aginations.. .of the ch ildren of m en" (1 N ephi12:18). Which is the real world? There is no possibility ofenjoying the am bience of bo th, for "a great and terr ible gulfdivideth them " (1 Nephi 12:18); the choice w as narrowed w henthat "great and spacious building...fell, and the fall thereof was

exceeding g reat .... Thus sh all be the destruction of all nations,kindreds, tongues and p eople, that shall fight against the twelveapostles of the Lamb" (1 Nephi 11:36).

Th is great dichotom y is the perennial order of the world,"opposition in all things," a symm etry as natural as that whichpervades all matter; but it is a brokensymmetry. Without theRekhabite principle, the Book of Mormon would be nothing buta v a t e sm a l o r u m ,a w ail of despair without hope. W hat breaks the

sym m etry is the indeterminate principle as stated by H eiseand also by Moroni in his final reflection on the fate of theNep hites: "The devil...inviteth and en ticeth to sin, and to dwhich is evil continually. But behold, that which is of Godinviteth and enticeth to do good continually" (Moroni 7:1Pow erful forces exerting equal pull in opposite directionsbreaks the symm etry? The free will of the individual. The

m ay go to hell, but the individual does not have to. Alm osleading character in the Book of M ormon is one w ho breaksthe establishment and goes his way. So Moroni explains~ "Wfore, take heed...that ye do not judge that w hich is evil to Go d, or that which is good an d of G od to be o f the devil. is given unto you to judge, that ye m ay know good from ethe daylight is from the dark n ight" (Moroni 7:14-15). In tthis broken symm etry is the hope of salvation.

But G od has m ore to offer those who break with the wthan "wearying in a land of sands and thorns." The wildernonly a transition, a difficult exercise of disengaging frofashion of the world: "He did straiten them in the wilderneshis rod~ (1 Nephi 17:41). Beside the "mysteries of God" them ore awaiting the faithful, "ye shall prosper, and be led tol a n dof promise..,which I have prepared for you; yea, even a land wis choice above all other lands" (1 Nephi 2:20, italics addedleadeth away the righteous into precious lands, and the whe destroyeth, and curseth the land unto them for their sakeNephi 17:38). The idea is biblical-the promise to Abrahaalso classical, as we see in Ty rtaeus and the Aeneid.~ It is thenormal product of times of hardship and migration, whendering tribes seek happy hom elands, which finds its culmin the hope of Am erica.

This is the "choice land above all other lands" since the reserved for the New Jerusalem and the "remn ant of the hof Joseph...like unto Jerusalem of Old" (Ether 13:2,6-8). Buplaced the promise upon it "in hiswrath"(Jacob 1:7; Alm a 12Ether 1:33; 2:8; 15:28; italics added). W hy that of all tBecause his patience was at an end when m en had defiled aother lands in the glorious and beautiful w orld he hadthem. He w ould set apart a place where he w ould stand fnonsense; there men w ould be given such freedom as nowelse, and could enjoy such prosperity as nowh ere else. return for this liberty certain ground rules have to b e obsPerfect liberty m eans that you can g o as far as you w ant, fm any of the age-old hampering restraints im posed by m anthis is a place of testing, that is the purpose of leaving evepretty much on his ow n. But when the inhabitants abusfreedom until they "are ripened in iniquity" their presenbe no longer tolerated; "w hen the fullness of his wrath come" they will be "swept off," suddenly and completely2:8). As it was in the day s of N oah, it shall be business asright up until the last m om ent, for it is "not until the fuliniquity" is m atched by "the fullness of his wrath," which upon them when they are ripened in iniquity" that they abruptly terminated (Ether 2:8-10). God was ang ry when down these conditions: "These are my thoughts upon thwhich I shall give you for your inheritance; for it shall be

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choice abov e all other lands." An d these are the thoughts: "thatm y Spir i t wil lnot always strive w ith man; w herefore, if ye willsin until ye are fully ripe ye shall be cut off from the presence ofthe Lord" (Ether 2:15). This promise is conveyed tous for ourspecialbenefit: And this cometh to you, O ye Gentiles, that yemay kn ow the decrees of God-that ye may re pent, and notcontinue in your iniquities until the fullness come, that ye m ay

not bring down the fullness of the wrath of God upon you as theinhabitants of the land have hitherto don e" (Ether 2:11). It isM oronis prophetic warning to stop doing w hat we are doing.Fullness and ripeness: when the cu p is full i t can no longer bediluted; when the fruit is ripe it can only rot-there is no pointto continuing the game. But up tothat point all ispermitted.

"Promised Land" has a nice upbeat sound that we like verymuch, but the great promise is worded as a curse: "Thus saith theLord G od-Cursed shall be the land, yea, this land, unto everynation, kindred, tongue, and people, unto destruction, which dowickedly , when they are fully ripe...for this is the cursing and theblessing of God upon this land" (Alma 4 5:16). W hen Lehis partyhad barely left Jerusalem, Nephi had a vision in which he "looked

and beheld the land of prom ise." An d what did he see? A m istof darkness on the face of the land of prom ise," and horribledestruction and desolation (1 Nephi 12:4). Obviously one is nothom e free when he has set foot upon the land of promise. Quitethe opposite; from then on he m ust watch his step and con trolthe impulse to do whatever he pleases and "have it all." For "Godhas sworn in his w rath" that what w ent on in other lands shouldnot go on here. There are nations that were old w hen N ephi leftJerusalem and whose c ultures and languages, customs, manners,and traditions still survive. They have all paid a high p rice inhum an suffering as they go along from folly to folly and d isasterto disaster, but they are still there. It is not so in the New World,w here great civilizations vanish w ithout even leaving us their

nam es and w here no high civilization has survived. It is signifi-cant that with all the warning and prom ising only one penalty isever mentioned, and only o ne m eans of avoiding it. "Prophets,and the priests, and the teachers, did labor diligently...and...by sodoing they kept them from being destroyed upon the face of theland; for they did prick their hearts with the word, continuallystirring them up to repentance" (Jarom 1:11-12). The penalty isdestruction; the deliverance, repentance,

To avoid the destruction of the righteous with the wicked,God effects "a division of the people," the Rekhabite phe-nomenon~ the awful gulf, etc. It is the division between tw o w aysof life, but it does divide the good guys from the bad guys intodiscrete societies. It is convenient to imagine all the righteous inone cam p and the w icked in another, and this has been the usualand comfortable interpretation of the Book of Mormon-it is thegood guys versus the bad guys. But this is exactly what the Bookof Mormon tells us to avoid God plays no favorites. Nephirebukes his brothers for believing that because they are Jews theyare righteous; God does notjudge by p arty, he tells them; a g oodm an is good and a bad one bad, according to his own b ehavior,

"Behold, the Lord esteemeth all flesh in one; he that is righis favored of G od" (1 Nephi 17:35). Family and race and nality account for nothing, "God is mindful of every people,whatsoever land they m ay be in; yea, he numbereth his pe(Alma 26:37). He num bers them as his own, not as being side or the other of a bounda ry, "the Lord doth g rant unnations...to teach his word...all that he seeth fit that they sh

have" (Alm a 29:8). Nephi finds the answer to the questionare the bad guys? W here is the real enemy? In him self. It own weakness that makes him frustrated and angry, he sW hy should he take it out on others? (2 Nephi 4-:26-35). Thothers may be seeking his life, his escape is to follow the patGod has shown him, "a way for mine escape before mineenem ies!" It is not for him to settle the score with them : not put m y trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursedthat putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Y ea, cursed is hputteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm" (2 Nephi4:33-34-). He is to tell the people wh o their real enemy iLam anites are not the problem: "And the Lord G od said unThey shall be a scourge u nto thy seed, to stir them u p

remem brance of me; and inasm uch as they will not rememe, and hearken unto my words, they shall scourge themunto destruction" (2 Nephi 5:25). D id the wickedness oNephites make the Lam anites any less w icked or less dangerOn the contrary, it made them m ore dangerous because Goplanned it that way. As long as the Nephites behaved themsthe Lamanites ~curse[d]...with a sore curse...shall have no pover thy seed except they shall rebel against me also." God mto keep them in place righ t to the end as "a scourge unto thy to stir them up in the ways of remem brance" (1 Nephi 2:23The Lam anites "have not kept the com m andments of Godhave "been cut off (Alm a 9:14). N evertheless, "the Lord wmerciful unto them and prolong their existence in the land"

9:16), "but...if ye [Nephites] persist in your wickedness.days shallno tbe prolonged in the land, for the Lamanites be sent upon you...and ye shall be visited with utter destru(Alma 9:18-19).

The B ook of M ormon goes to great lengths to describewhat a wicked society looks like and how it operates, withenough examp les to type it beyon d question, and with cprecision it describes the hysteria that leads to its end.~ It alsotells us how to recog nize a righteous society, usually presthe two types to us in close proximity. With these two imfirm ly in m ind we are told w hy this presentation is being

for whose b enefit, and w hy it is so singularly importantauthors do not ask us to m ake com parisons and see ourselvthe picture, because that would b e futile: the w ickeder the pare the more they balk at facing their real image and the mskillful they become in evading, altering, faking and justifythe book do es not tell us to make the com parison-it doesus, frankly and brutally. The B ook of Morm on does not netell us what the w ickedness of Jerusalem co nsisted of, sinchave that in the Bible. The first display of evil is in the amb

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back to one thing, the line of ambitious men w ho bethe public and aim at absolute power, and always starby "seeking for gain, yea, for that lucre which d oth cothe soul" (M osiah 29:40). Am ong such m en w ere relprom oters like Nehor, who en gaged in "the spreadipriestcraft through the land...for the sake of riches honor" (Alm a 1 : 16), or the wicked King Noah, w ho "phis heart upon riches" (Mosiah 11:14). There is one poccurring som e fifteen times in the Book of M ormonstarts the alarm bell ringing and the red lights flashinfatal words are "They set their hearts on riches." If youhave anything in this world for money, well, money iyou w ant; how y ou get it, as the Ro m an satirist says, too imp ortant as long as you keep thing s respectabkeeping your m urders secret-another main them e oBook of Mormon.

Nephi ended his days in deep discouragement: "I ato mou rn because of the unbelief, and the wickednessthe ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of m en; for the

not search knowledge" (2 Nephi 32:7). His brother Jtakes up on an even mo re alarming note. In their frocondition his people had taken to the barbarian custcollecting wives, concubines and the spectacular loobarbarians love. We should note here that the savageLam anites who lived by raiding and plunder sought ethe same things as the supposedly more civilized Nedid-the whole lot of them "set their hearts on riches."Three hundred years after Christ, both the "people of Nand the Lamanites had becom e exceedingly wicked onunto another" (4 N ephi 1:45). W ho w ere the barbawhen "the people of Nephi began to be proud in theirhearts, because of their exceeding riches, and becom e

like unto their brethren, the Lam anites" (4 N ephi 1Love an d display of we alth, as Plutarch tells us in hiMoral Essay, is the characteristic mark of the barbarian1 3It is not surprising that "the robbers of Gadianton did over all the face of the land" with business boom ing wh ere-"gold and si lver did they lay up in s tore in dance , and did traffic in all man ner of traffic" (4 N1:46). The work ethic paid off only too well when the~laborer in Zion" labored for money (2 Nephi 26:31~the hand of providence...smiled upon [them ]" (Jacob

The prosperi ty in the t ime of good king M osiahduced a spoiled generation of sm art-alecks, "many orising generation...did not believe"; actually, "they wseparate peo ple as to their faith...even in their carnasinful state" (M osiah 26:1-4). The sons of Alm a and Mwere among that alienated generation; it took an angconvert them, but the tradition never ceased out of the(Mosiah 26:4) . King M osiah, to undertake reformmake the country "a land of liberty," insisted that "thisinequality should b e no m ore in this land" and sugga system of judges to equalize things (Mosiah 29:32). Ahna the church was an ideal com mun ity (Alm a 1:2but the rest of the society indulged in the usual ca ta

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of w rong-doing: "envyings and strife; ~vearing costly apparel;being lifted up in the p ride of their own eyes;. . .lying, thieving,robbing, comm itting whoredoms~ and m urdering, and all mannerof wickedn ess" (Alm a 1:32). All the excitem ent of a highly,com petitive society, a night of prime time T V. There are fourthings that can lead to certain destruction according to bothNephis: the desire for gain, for power, for popularity~ and

~lusts of the flesh"-the lifestyles of the rich and famous (1 Nephi22:23~ 3 N ephi 6:15).

After the war w ith Am lici, the people repented and prosperityreturned, whereupon "the people of the church began to waxproud, because of their exceeding riches...which the} hadobtained by their industry" (Alma 4:6). "Many...were sorelygrieved for the wickedness w hich they saw ....las] the people ofthe church b egan to be lifted up in the pride of their eyes, andto set their hearts upon riches" (Alma 4 :7-8). The usual com peti-tive escalation of unpleasantness followed, "yea. there were envy-ings, and strife, and malice~ and persecutions, and pride, even toexceed the pride of those w ho did not belong to the church"(Alma 4:9). When ~Alma saw the wickedness of the church...thusbringing on the destruction of the people, iand w hen] he saw thegreat inequality amo ng the pe ople .... seeing all their inequality,Ihe] began to be v ery sorrowful" (Alm a 4:11-12, 15). He laiddown all his great offices of state, realizing that all the power andauthority of the highest political and military (Mosiah 29:42:Alm a 2:16) offices which he had held w ould not correct the evil,and spent the rest of his days preaching repentance (Alm a4:19-20): "Yea, will ye persist in supposing that ye are better onethan another;...And will ye persist in turning your backs upon thepoor, and the needy, and in w ithholding },our substance fromthem?" (Alm a 5:54-55). Things got wo rse and there was a nastywar. Am mon w as told by the Lord to save the people of Am monwh o w anted no part of the business. "Get this people out of thisland that they perish not .... And they gathered together all theirpeople...and...flocks and herds, and departed into the wilderness"(Alm a 27:12-14). The R ekhabite solution w as still the only, wayout. The A m mon ites m issed the tremendous b attle that ensuedand the great lamentation that followed: ~And thus we see5 saysAlm a, ~how great the inequality of man is because of sin andtransgression, and the power of the devil, which com es by thecunning plans...to ensnare the hearts of men" (Alma 28:13). Needwe go on?

W ar does a righteous society, look like? Far less spectacu-

lar than the wicked, it keeps a low p rofile; a health} body is notaware of the ailing organs that provide the interest, conversationand titillation of a hyp ochondriac w orld. "Happy is the peoplewhose annals is a blank!" says V oltaire. "What a drag!" says theoverstimulated T V libertine. From the ou tside, the righteoussociety looks empty and boring to those who have not theremotest conception of what may go on inside. Alan W atts pointsthis out in an essay in w hich he finds that the obsc uring w allbetween the two worlds is simply m oney.~ For those on eitherside of the veil it is the other side, naturally, that is not real. only

our side is real. How ever, there are certain guidelines to w ha good society, though m ostly given in negative term swho keep the ten com mandm ents are praiseworthy for what tdo ~ot do. Jacob g ives us some rules: "Think of your brethreunto yourselves~ and be familiar with all and free withsubstance, that they may be rich like unto you" (Jacob 2:is not the w ealth but the inequality that does the dam ag

unequal distribution he says, "do ye not suppose that suchare abominable unto him w ho created al l f lesh? An d thbeing is as precious in his sight as the other" (Jacob 2:21).Benjam in recognizes the same dan ger of acquisitiveness: "l.not sought go ld nor s i lver nor an} manner of r iches ofNe ither have 1 suffered... that ye should m ake slaves of another ..... And even I myself, have labored with mine ow n hthat I might serve you" (M osiah 2:12-14). "For behold, are wall beggars? Do w e not all depend upon the sam e Being...riches which w e have of ever}, kind?" (Mosiah 4:19). And Ahna organized his church~ "they were all equal, and they labor . .. . And they did imp art of their substance, everyaccording to that which he had" (Alm a 1:26 27). The main

is obvious: "For thus saith the Lord: Y e shall not esteem oneabove anothen or one m an think himself above another" (M23:7). "i desire that the inequality should b e no m ore iland .... but I desire that this land be a land of liberty, and em an enjoy his rights and privileges alike" (M osiah 29:3this reason, Mosiah laid down the kingship in favor of a sof,judges, as a more equalitarian order (Mosiah 23:7). Bgreat obstacle to freedom was not governm ent, but monmaintain their liberty, Almas people "were all equal~ and thall labor, every man according to his strength" (Alma 1:26).could they be equal in w ealth, we ask today, if no two ofwere equal in strength?) Under the law of Mosiah and the ,ju"there was no law against a m ans belief; for it was stcontrary to the com m ands of G od that there should be which w ould bring men on to unequal grounds" (Alm a"Now if a man desired to serve God~ it was his privilege.he did not believe in him there was no law to punish him" 30:9), or to put him at a disadvantage~ for the idea w as thman w ere on equal grounds5$oeven A lma, the high priest anchief judge of the land allowed people to g o around preatheism. T he righteous can only preserve their liberty by rebering the wo rds of the patriarch Jacob, in al l hum il itsidering themselves despised and rejected in the manner youthful Joseph (Alma 4 6:24-27). Moroni calls upon histo recogni7e their position as the meek and hum ble of the "we, w ho are despised" (Alm a 46:18) by those wh ose "pri

nobility" he denounces (Alm a 51:17~ 18-21).Alma begins his book with a happy picture. After a lo

and great suffering, the people had learned their lesson, andwe have a picture of a righteous society: "And thus they wequal, and the}, did all labor every m an according to his stAn d the} did imp art of their substance, every man acco rthat which he had~ to the poor, and the needy~ and the sicthe afflicted; and they did no t wear co stly apparel" (Alm aThrough the preaching of Am mon5 m any Lamanites "be

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righteous people"-and here we h ave another imp ortant criterionof righteousness-"they did lay down the weapons of theirrebellion" (Alm a 23: 7). And "there was not one soul amo ng all thepeople who had b een converted unto the Lord who w ould takeup arm s against their brethren; nay, they would not even m akeany preparations for war" (Alm a 24:6). They repeatedly refer toall their former battles as murders (Alma 24:9-11; 27:8). When

such groups got into trouble, Ammon recommended the Rek-habite solution- they "departed out of the land, and cam e into thewilderness" and carried on as "perfectly honest and upright in allthings . . .. And they did look upon sh edding the blood of theirbrethren with the greatest abhorrence" (Alma 27:14, 27-28).

W hen the Lord appeared among the people he established hisorder of things, thereby dem onstrating that it is not impossiblefor human beings on this earth to live after such an order withoutbeing bored b y inactivity or lack of excitem ent. Fourth Nephigives us the description of the model society:

The peop le were all converted to the Lord, upon all theface of the land, both N ephites and Lam anites, and therewere no contentions and disputations among them, andevery man did deal justly one w ith another. And they hadall things com m on amo ng them; therefore there were notr ich and p oor, bond and free, but they were al l madefree...continuing in fasting an d prayer, and in m eetingtogether oft both to pray and to hear the wo rd of theLord .... And...there was no contention in the land, becauseof the love of God which did dw ell in the hearts of thepeople. And there were no envy ings, nor s tri fes , nortumults , nor whoredom s, nor lyings, nor murders, norany m anner of lasciviousness; and surely there could notbe a happier people .... There were no robbers, norm urderers, neither...Lam anites nor any man ner of -ires;but they were in one, the Children of Christ....And howblessed they were!" (4 Nephi 1:2-3, 12, 15-18).

Does this sound tame? The wicked flaunt their riches and theirlearning in the highly visible m anner; "they are they w hom he[God] despises." To be righteous they m ust "consider themselvesfools before God, and com e dow n in the depths of humility" (2Neph i 9:42), with no pho to opportunities whatever. What countsis long suffering and patience-very low profile and non-spectacular; to call attention to ones patience is to be impatient,"the Lo rd...trieth their patience an d their faith" (M osiah 23:21).In fact, the whole program culminates in "a sense of yournothingness" (Mosiah 4:5).Todiscover that one is nothing is thef i rs t s tep in breaking loose; wh en you have don e that , saysBenjamin, "ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love ofGod." Yes, but what do youdoto fill the time? "Y e shall grow inthe knowledge of the glory of him that created you" (M osiah4:12). And what is that glory? Intelligence, the greatest fun of all,with no room for invidious com parison, rivalry and jealousy, thatcharacterize the com petitive business and professionalism, sincetruth alone is the object (Mosiah 4:13-16). In the end, we haveno choice; Moroni prescribes the cure: "I give unto men weak-ness .... i will show unto the Gentiles their weakness...that faith,hope and charity bringeth unto me .... If the Gentiles have not

charity...[I will] take a way their talent" (Ether 12:27-2There is no other way than to be "m eek and lowly in heart .charity; for if he have not charity he is n othing ..... cleavcharity, which is the greatest of all .... the pure love of Christ .unto the Father...that ye may be filled with this love...that becom e the sons of God " (Moroni 7:44-48). This is Msumm ary of the situation.

W e have am ple m aterial for an operational definition oeousness and wickedness. One does not need to c ompose gated lists of sins in the m anner of the Jesu its. "I canno t tall the things whereby ye m ay com mit sin," says King B"for there are diverse ways and m eans, even so many that I num ber them" (Mo siah 4:29). The same applies to derighteousness, whether an act is a sin or a good deed deon the state of m ind of the person w ho does i t . The BM orm on gives us the touchstone of r ighteousness, wrepentance.The test of righteousness or wickedness is not olocation, a matter of being in one camp or the other, but ofdirection,as Ezekiel tells us (E zekiel 18:26), one w ho has score in doing g ood, if he repents and does an abo ut fcounted as righteous, while one who h as a long record odeeds, if he turns around, has joined the wicked (Ezekiel The person on the top step facing dow n, is in worse cothan one on a b ottom step facing up.

But isnt there a difference of degre e? No t at all: is it notmo re reprehensible for the righteous person to backslide,the more com mendable for the rascal to turn righteous? Thof M ormo n is full of examples on b oth sides: "Theretbreare they who will repent .... for these are they that shall be (Helam an 12:23). And Neph i assures us that "all nationdreds, tongues, and people shall dwell safely in the HolyIsrael if it so be that they w ill repent" (1 Nephi 22:28). "the days of the children of m en w ere prolonged" for the epurpose "that they m ight repent while in the flesh; whetheir state became a state of probation, and their time waslengthened" (2 Neph i 2:21). This was done to give everyfullest opportunity, "for he gave comm andm ent that all mrepent; for he showed u nto all men that they were lost, bof the transgression of their parents" (2 Nephi 2:21). Chrispronouncem ent to the Neph ites w as, "I bear record thFather comm andeth all men, everywhere, to repent and bin me" (3 Ne phi 11:32). To carry on at all "we m ust cathee .... because w e are unw orthy before thee; because of thour natures have bec om e evil continually" (Ether 3:2),. Onchildren are exempt from the comm and of constant repen

(Mosiah 3:21). Even the poor and despised must w atch selves and constantly correct their ways (Mosiah 4:24).Does o ne person need repentance m ore than another?

we have reached the shore, no one is home safe; a swimm edrown 50 feet from the shore as easily as a mile from it, this life, none hav e reached the sh ore, for it is a probatioup until the last. Only one w ho is like the Son of Man "full oand truth" (2 Nephi 2:6) may be exem pt from repentance.the great storm and earthquake were raging, the people wergiven a chanc e to repent, "Wo unto the inhabitants of the

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earth, except they shall repent" (3 Neph i 9:2). "O ye house ofIsrael whom I have spared, how oft will I gather you as a hengathereth her chickens und er her wing s, if ye will repent .... But ifnot, O house o f Israel, the places of your dwellings shall becomedesolate" (3 Nep hi 10:6-7).

This ongoing exercise that lasts all our lives is strictly a privateaffair. Repentance is an intransitive or rather a reflexive verb; youcannot repent another or for another or make another repent. Inevery single prophecy and prom ise of destruction in the Boo k ofM ormon, there is a repent clause added. Repentance and repen-tance alone can save a land c ursed with "wo rkers of darkness andsecret comb inations." But if they accept repentance, that mean s"never [to] be w eary of good works, but to be meek and lowly inheart; for such shall find rest to their souls" (A hna 37:31-34). Thelong and puzzling story, of the olive orchard in the fifth chapter

of Jacob seems to present an endless combination of tactics topreserve the orchard. The point is that any combination ispossible; God w ill try any schem e general or local to redeem thepeople. It is the plasticity of the thing that is im pressive; sixteentimes the trees are given a last chance to get grow ing again, thereis no end to the L ords patience. This is Nep his message also tothe Gentiles: "Therefbre, cheer up your hearts and remember thatye are free to ac t for yourselves " (2 Neph i 10:23); this is still thetime of probation~ n othing is final. Christ ~hath power given untohim from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of

repentance" (Helaman 5:11). There were times w hen m astance turned history around, w hen the N ephites were co

conv erted (3 N ephi 5:1), and the robbers all rehabilNephi 6:3), but such times ibllow only upon great upsets,overthrows and defeats, tbr without strong pressure w hagoing to repent who thinks things are going his way? amounts to being ~awakened..out of a deep sleep" (Aand what is more annoying than being awakened out osleep?

In the need to rationalize their ways~ it is not enou gguilty to justify, their position; it must be sanctified. wond erful account in the Book of M ormon that showsis done. It is Alm as report on the Zoramites, which telthe vilest people he had ever known managed to project of extreme righteousness loudly proclaiming them selv

holy people" (A lma 31:18), while their thoughts "w erriches" (Alm a 31:24-28). Independen t, proud, enterprisworking, very prosperous, zealous in religious obseincluding strict dress standards, brave and aggressive, theZoramites in their time were the m eddling catalyst thaviolence and war everyw here~ even persuading the youtland to,join up with the Gadianton robbers in order to ethe Nephites (3 Nephi 1:29).

W hy does the Book of Mormon have so much to sawar, incidently? Because its the story of our own time

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often heard generals deplore the awfulness of w ar, but thecom m ander who really hates it is Captain Moroni. He is worthyof closer attention because hes the one who is held up as themo del of m ilitary macho to LDS y outh. Repeatedly, in the longaccount of M oroni, Alma rem inds us that he did not "glory in...theshedding of blood" (Alm a 48:16) as others do. H is Nephitesfought only when ob liged to ~contend with their brethren" (Alm a43:14) and only if they w ere "not guil ty of the f i rs t offence,neither the second" offence (A lma ~ r3:46), to say nothing ofpreemptive strikes. They celebrated their victories not by gettingdrunk but w ith fasting and prayer (Alm a 45:1). ~If all men h adbeen like...Moroni .... " says Alma (Alm a 48:17). Well, who w as helike? and just what was he like? "He was a m an like unto Am mon"(Alma 4 8:18). It was A mm ons people who refused to make warunder any circumstances (Ahna 26:32-34).

How did Moroni go about m aking war? First of all the peoplehumbled themselves, ~they w ere free from w ars and contentionsamon g them selves." W ar was not a solution to internal unrest.They were reluctant "to contend w ith their brethren .... sorry totake up arms against the Lamanites, because they did not delightin the shedding of blood .... and...they were sorry to be the meansof sending so m any of their brethren out of this world" (Alm a48:20-23). When M oroni had imm obilized a guard house witha gift of wine, he refused to follow up the ruse because he saidit would be an "injustice" to perform a sha m eful act of takingadvantage of a drunken enemy (Alm a 55:19). M oroni was espe-cially keen to watch for any slightest tendency of the enem y togive up; he w as hypersensitive to that mom ent in the battle whenthe enemy falters, and the instant that came, when he sensed theywere w eakening, he wo uld propose a stop to the fighting to talkthings over (Alm a 52:37-38). "W e do not desire to be m en ofblood" (Alma 44:1), he tells them on the battlefield; ~ye are in ourhands, yet we do not desire to slay you .... We have not com e...thatwe m ight shed your blood for power" (Alma q-4:1-3). "We w ouldnot shed the blood of the Lamanites, if they would stay in theirown land. We would not shed the blood of our [Nephite]brethren if they would no t rise up in rebellion and take the swordagainst us. We would subject ourselves to the yoke of bondageif it were requisite with the justice of God" (Alma 61:10-12). Hedetested the power g ame that some men play; ~i seek not forpow er," he says often, "but to pull it dow n. I seek not for thehonor of the w orld" (Alm a 60:36). He thinks m ore kindly of theLam anite invaders than of the am bitious m en on his ow n side.He says it is ~the tradition of their fathers that has caused theirhatred...while your iniquity is for the cause of your love of gloryand the vain things of the world" (Alma 60:32). He fought againstpeople being "know n by the appellation of kingm en...and thepride of those people wh o professed the blood o f nobility...theywe~-e brought dow n to hum ble themselves like unto their breth-ren" (Alma 51:21). Inequality, that was the enem y in M oroniseyes. W hen he raised the Title of Liberty it was to teach hispeople to think of themselves and the poo r and outcast of Israel(Alma 4 6:18, 23-24), not as a proud army w ith banners. Rem ind-ing them that the rent garm ent could very w ell be their owncondition (Ah na 4 6:21), if they tried to m atch the enemys own

machismo.M oronis behavior gives point to the question, "W h

enemy ?" The m ost clear cut case of good guys fighting bis Almas duel with Amlici-right out ofStar Wars."Alma bea man of G od...was strengthened, insomuch that he slewwith the sword" (Alm a 2:30-31). It came d own to a singbetween the two leaders. Yet A lma taught the people rightspot and they believed it. He said it ~was the judgm entssent upon them because oftheir wickedness andt h e i rabomin-ations" that brought the w hole thing on (Alm a 4:3, italicsIt wasnt the good guy s fighting the bad guys at all. W hof victory for the w inners was it when "ev ery soul had cmourn" (Alm a 4:3)? Alma decided to preach to the enemyAm m on w ho rejected the stock argument for m ilitary intionism: "L et us take up arms against them...lest they oveand destroy us" (Alma 26:26). W e have to sweep them frlands or theyll destroy us if w e dont. In enem y territoryknow, Am m on was "cast out and mocked and spi t uposmote upon [his] cheeks" (Alma 26:29). He overruled the ful reflexes to hit back which you certainly would expecmightiest warrior of his time, which Ammon was. He wodo that; he said we just kept hoping that "perhaps we mthe means of saving som e" (Alm a 26:30). In that he wliantly successful.

M ormon also knew the futility of m ilitary operationhad lots of experience. W hen the army of M ormon, flunew victory, started settling the Lam anite question onc e all under the nob le call to "avenge...the blood o f their brhe left his command and "utterly refused to go up againenemies." Revenge, he said, was the one thing God wouldabsolutely not tolerate (M ormo n 3:9-16). For once thatthere is no ending. Mormon shows us military and powercompletely out of control, practicing the usual atrocities,

t ioning everything for themselves while "many old wofaint by the way and die" (Moroni 9:16). Who w ere they ding? "M y people," he says, "they are without order and mercy .... past feeling .... [worse than] the L aman ites .... I pray.their utter destruction" (M oroni 9:18-22). Hes the one w"loved" and "led them" (M ormon 3:12) for all those yeahe prays for their destruction unless they repent (MoronBut always repentance is open right unto the end. The fhorror of battle pursue us right up to the end--the nationcom pletely in arms at Cum orah with trained, experienceriors, all a splendid sight m arching forward. A las, theresheroic about it. How c ould they have been such fools? PiMormons only reflection on the splendid sight (Mormon

6:17-22). His last word to the surv ivors in the land is thm ust lay down their arms and nev er take them up again fwill never prevail by force. The only w ay they can prevail, (M orm on 7:3), is by repenting. Cum orah was no solutiwar w ent right on among the victors. Moronis only com fothe earth is that "the hand of the Lord h ath done it" (M8:8). And his word to us is, "Therefore, he that smiteth ssm itten again, of the Lord. Behold w hat the scripture sayshall not smite~ neither shall he judge" (M orm on 8:19-20

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is the lesson of Cumo rah: The calamities of the Nephites are dueto their own wickedness. It was their quarrellings,and...contentions .... murderings .... plunderings .... idolatry,w horedom s. ..abominations.. .wh ich brought upon them theirwars and their destructions" (Alma 50:21).

W hy does M oroni , vigorously pruning the record to m akeroom for only what there is space for, insert his own long

abridgment of the record of the Jaredites? H e tells us why: W hatis going on in the w orld today, thats wh at the picture is. TheJaredites were plagued by that Asiatic tradition of kingship thatrequired that a ruler should rule everything.~ W here a kingshipor office itself is sacred, what is in the kings interest is moral andwha t is against the kings interest in imm oral. As Cicero says,speaking of the ruling class in R ome, "everything becom es a purepow er play." Any m an who is strong enough can grab the powerany way he can. The proof of his deserving it is that he has it.5o w e reach the final showdow n in the story of theJaredites. W efind "war upon all the face of the land, every m an with his bandfighting for that which he desired" (Ether 13:25), every soldier offortune out for himself. And "there were robb ers, and in fine, all

m anner of w ickedness upon al l the face of the land" (Ether13:26). As "every man d id cleave unto that which was his oxvn,with his hands, and would not borrow, neither would he lend"(Ether 14:2). Everyone for himself; this is free enterprise come toi ts conclusion. And "every man kept the hilt of his sword in hisright hand, in the defense of his property and his ow n life andof his w ives and children" (Ether 14:2) . I t a l l ends up in thefamily shelter. And the result: "All the people upon the face of theland were shedding blood, and there was none to restrain them"(Ether 13:31). It can actually come to that. War settles everythingby a neat polarization: everything evil on one side and everythinggood on the other. No problem remains for anybody on eitherside but to kill people on the other side. So w hen 5hiz set outwith that noblest of intentions to "avenge him self of the bloodof his brother (Ether 14:24), his host forcibly recruited everyonewho was no t grabbed up by the other side. Shiz and Coriantumrare both obsessed with the paranoid conviction of an everthreatening enem y w hose rule of evi l can only end w ith hisexterm ination. The m ost significant thing about thispolarization,of course, is that it puts an end once an d for all to any thoug htof repentance, in which lies the only hope for survival and peaceand leads in the end to the Book of Morm on phenom enon whichuntil recently I thought wa s quite fantastically impo ssible-notjust improb able-over-im aginative, and which som e authoritiesin Washington still insist is unrealistic, namely: the "utterdestruction" ofbothcontestants in the war (Ether 11:20; M oroni9:22). It nearly happened w ith the N ephites and Lam anites, andit did happen w ith the Jaredites.

To w hom is all this addressed? To w hom i t may concern.And w hom does it concern? To whom it may apply. In the midstof describing the plots and com binations of the Jaredites, M oronipauses to explain, % M oroni , am com m anded to wri te thesethings that evil may be done aw ay, and that...Satan m ay have no

power upon the hearts of the children of men .... that they mapersuaded to do good continually" (Ether 8:26). Notice thprogram is entirely positive; it has to do w ith persuasiongood, and appeals to their hearts, not the mangling of theirbodies. The book is addressed to a people very m uch in nerepentance: "And then, O ye gentiles, how can ye stand befopow er of God, except ye shall repent and turn from y ou

ways?" (M ormon 5:22). "He hath m ade manifest unto yoimperfections, that ye may learn to be m ore ~vise than webeen" (Morm on 9:31). The Lord in person spoke to the Nep"I command you that ye shall write these things after I amgone .... that these sayings w hich ye shall w rite shall be kepshall be m anifested unto the G entiles" (3 Nephi 16:4). Nsays, "I have spoken plainly to you, that ye cannot misunderAnd the words w hich I have spoken shall stand as a testimagainst you; for they are sufficient to teach any m an the right(2 Nephi 25:28). % M ormon, do not desire to harrow theof men [by] casting before them such an awful scene of b(Morm on 5:8). Why, then, does he dwell on these pictureshe says he h as no desire to do this? He says "but I...[know

a knowledge of these things must come to the remnant of people, and also unto the G entiles, who the Lord hath said sscatter this people" (Morm on 5:8-9). "Wherefore, O ye G eit is wisdom in God that these things should be show n unthat thereby ye m ay repent...and suffer not that these m urdecom binations shall get above you, which are built up to getand gain [m oney, not ideology, is the motive] and the w orkeven the wo rk of destruction come upon you ...even the sof...justice...shall fall upon you, to yo ur overthrow and destrif ye suffer these things to be" (Ether 8:23). Specifically, wtold to look out for one fatal symptom , the thing that has "the destruction of [the Jaredites]...and also the destruction opeople of Neph i," and w ill surely do the same for what

nation in the future shall come under the control of the "combinations to get power and gain" (Ether 8:21-22).

The time cam e when the prophets did the only thing lthem to do: They "mourned and withdrew" (Ether 11:13M ormon w as forbidden to write anym ore for them , but fodirects his writings to another peo ple living far in the (Moroni 1:4): "I speak unto you as if ye w ere present, and are not. But...I know your doing...[for] Jesus Christ has showunto me" (Mormon 8:35). Make no mistake about it, as thepoliticians say, it is our generation b eing described, w hmanipulations of the combinations, far and wide, shed thof husbands and cause widow s and "orphans to mou rassured that] the sword of vengeance hangeth over you" (M

8:40-41). "W herefore, O ye G entiles, it is wisdom in Gthese things should be shown unto you .... that thereby yrepent of your sins, and suffer not.. .these mu rderous comtions.. .which are built up to get pow er and g ain-and the...even the wo rk of destruction com e upon yo u .... the swjustice of the Eternal God shall fall" (Ether 8:23). Notice, says the sword of vengeance hang s over you because of the you hav e done, and then the sword of justice (you dese"shall fall upon y ou, to your overthrow and destruction if

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suffer these things to b e" (Ether 8:23). So the great takeove r is tobe followed by the "great overburn." Now that phenomenon ismentioned more than thirty times in the Book of Mormon, whenthe wicked are burned as stubble and a vapo r of smoke coversthe earth (1 N ephi 22:15, 17-18, 23; 3 Nephi 10:13-14; 25:1;Mormon 8:29). And thus commandeth the Father that I shouldsay unto you: A t that day when the G entiles shall sin against mygospel .... and shall be lifted up in the pride o f their hearts aboveall nations, and above all people of the whole earth, and shall befilled w ith all m anner,.. .of hypo crisy, and m urders, and p riest-crafts, and whoredoms, and of secret abominations; and...shallreject the fullness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I willbring the ful lness of my gospel from amo ng them" (3 Nephi16:10). Fortunately, that has not happened. "There shall be greatpollutions upon the face of the earth; there shall be murders, androbbing, and lying, and deceivings, and whoredom s" and as tothe m orality of it all, "there shall be m any w ho...say, Do this, ordo that, and it m attereth not .....But wo be unto such" (Mormon8:31). "Wo be unto the G entiles .....For notwithstanding...theywilldeny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them ....if they willrepent" (2 Nephi 28:32, em phasis added).

An d so the t imely rem inder to the Church is this: Do not"suppose that ye are more righteous than the Gentiles .... For...yeshall...likewise perish;...ye need not suppose that the Gentiles areutterly destroyed" (2 N ephi 30:l). The Chu rch is in the sam edanger as the G entiles: "Wo b e unto him that is at ease in Zion!W o be unto him that crieth: All is well!" (2 Nephi 28:24 25). Herewe see how the label of Zion has been processed in a smoothsoft-sell by broad casting: :A ll is well in Zion; yea, Zion pro-spereth, all is well...the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeththem aw ay carefully down to hell" (2 N ephi 28:21). Thats thebusiness of advertising, to cheat and to lead carefully.6

"W hen ye...receive this [word], repent all ye ends of the earth"

(Ether 4:17-!8). Whatever cou rse they take, "all this shall standas a testimony against the world at the last day" (Ether 5:4). TheGe ntiles will have their innings; they w ill be "lifted up by thepow er of God a bove all other nations, and prevail against theother inhabitants of the land" and so forth. But "the Lord G od w illnot suffer... the Gentiles [to] utterly destroy" them (1 Neph i13:30). But when that time is finished, "Wo be unto the Gentiles."Then it w ill be their turn, "if it so be in that day they harden theirhearts" (1 Nephi 14:6). After the G entiles take over com pletelyand remove all rivals, then they becom e the endagered ones: "Andthen, O ye G entiles, how can y e stand before the power of G od,except ye...repent and turn from your evil w ays?" (Morm on 5:22).For then, "the Lord Go d shall cause a great division among the

people~ and the w icked he will destroy...by fire" (2 Nephi 30:10).

About200years after Christ visited the people, theybecam e tired of intellectual integrity and self-control and optedto give up the law of consecration. From then on everything wentin a fatal declension, each step of which has been duly m arkedand described in the Book of M ormon.

First they becameprivatized.They no long er had "their goods

and their substance...[in] com m on" (4 N ephi i:25). Thb e c a m eethnicizedas they "taugh t {their children] to hateNephites and Lam anites they had been playing with (41:39). Then they becam enationalizedby serving the careers oambitious men. Then they becamemil i ta r ized ,from the need folarge scale security when m utual trust gave way to self-iAnd they wereterrorizedas shrewd m en saw the advantag

organized crime. Thenregionalizedas people began to fovarious combinations for protection and profit, enteringbusiness relations with the criminal society and even shtheir profits. Th entribalizedas they finally succeeded aurging o f various pow erful interests in abolishing thegovernment com pletely. Thenfragmentizedinto paramilitargroups, w andering ban ds, family shelters, and so fortpolarized;to check the gene ral disorder and insecurity,armies were form ed around competent leaders by forced rment or conquest. Andpt~lverizedas the great arm ies smaseach oth er and left the land utterly deso late. It is left for ageneration to take the final step and becomevaporized.Viewithe state of the land at the Am erican bicentennial, Pr

Spencer W. Kimball declared himself "appalled and frigby what he saw and in this and in his last published addquoted m any of the passages we hav e just cited from thof M ormon7 N ow, President Ezra Taft Benson issues an iappeal to m ake Book of M ormon an object of our mostconcern.~ Suddenly, we find ourselves there: scenes and cistances that not long ago seem ed as distant as Nineveh ansuddenly come to life about us. Could Joseph Smith havall this up?

N O T E S

1, R all()s ~or do A potval_yptik( G i i t e r s ! o h : M o h r, 1 9 7 0 ) , 11 - 1 2 .2 -I he Ascension Motif is discussed, tbr example, m Hugh N ibley,S i n c e C u m o r a l ~( S a l t L a k e

City: Deseret 1907), 212-13; Blake T. O stler, "The Throne-Theophany and PropheticCommission m l Nephi: A Form-Critical Analysis,"B ~ g h a m Y m m g U n i ~ , c rs i ty S t u d ie s26 (Fall1986): 67-95; and .John W Welc h, "The Calling of a Prophet," in1 Nep hi: Tt~e Dotn~alF o u ~ d a t i o ~(Salt Lake City: Bookcraft and BY U Religious Studies Center, 1988).

3. The Lachish Letters are discussed, for example, in Hugh Nib ley, "Dark Day.lcrusalem," inB ~ o k O ] M o ~ n o ~ A t~ & o ~ s h i p ,N o e l B . R e y n o l d s , e d . ( S a l t L a k e C i t y : B o oBY U Religious Studies Center, 1982), 103-121; and "The [_ach ish Letters: Documents Lchis Day, E~sig~ (December [981): 48-54.

4 S e eL c h i i ~ t t ~ c D c s o t c m d t h e W ~ ) r ld ~ ? ! t b e . la r e d i t e s( S a l t L a k e C i t y : B o o k c r a f t , 1 9 5sim; reprinted in the Collected Works of Hugh N ibley, volume 5

5 . S e e H u g h N i b l ey, " C h u r c h e s i n t h e W i ld e r n e s s . " inN i b l e3 ,o n t h e Ti m c l . y a n d t h e Ti m t~Salt Lake C~ty: Bookcraft and BY U Religious Studies Center, 1978): 155-186;A ~ A p p r o a c hto the t~>h ql,~lor~o~(Salt Lake City: Deseret. 1957), 113-63.

~ See. [0r example.A n A p p r ~ a ~ h t o l t~ cN ~ o k ~ I M ~ r ~ m , 1 7 8 -8 9 :5 m c cC t m ~ o ~ z ~ t ~ , 1 9 8 -7 5ime Cu~o~al~,3 2 8 - 7 0 .8 . L c h i m l l ~ e D e s e r t ,2 0 - 3 ( ~ .O L e t ~ i m t b cDesext, 2ffl.10 Jeremiah 35:1-10, 16, 18. The Re khabites are discussed, for example, inA ~ A p p r o a c h

to &e l~>(~kq! Mo~> < 123; Churches in the Wilderness," 165.

11 Ty r t a c u s .I d y l l s ~ ! T b e o c ~ * i t ~ s ~ v i t h B i o ~ a n dM o s { 7 ] l t ~ sa ~ c l t h e Wa r 5 o n g s q ] Ts , r t a c,J

Banks, tr. (Bell. 1905): Vergil.A e n e i d ,W. 259-78.1 2 H u g h N i b l cy.A ~ A p p ~ ( ) a c t ~ t o th e~ ) o ] ~ 0 t M o ~ m o t ~ , 3 1 5 5 0 ;5i~eeC z ~ o ~ z ~ l ~ , 3 7 3 - 4

Freemen and Kingmen" (Provo: FARM S. N-ERE, 1981).13. Plutarch.M o ~ a l ia1 and 7. On the Education of Children and O n Love ot Wealth.14 Alan Watts, Doesit Matter?(New York: Pantheon. 1970), 6-2415. I_eh i i~ tl~e D esert,1 9 0 - 2 0 016. Discussed in Hugh Nibley, "Victoriosa Loquacitas: The Rise of Rhetoric and the D

o~ Everything Else.Western 5pcccl~20(1956): 57-82.17 "The I:alse Gods We W orship."E~sig~~une. 1976): 3.18 The Book ot Mormon, K eystone ot Our Religion. E~sig~ iNovember 1986): 7;

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