Moroni 10

What message would I write to the world as my last words? 

Moroni does just that in this last chapter of the Book of Mormon. This man has seen the destruction of hid nation - the Nephite people. He has been the keeper of the records and knows of the beautiful transformation that came to his nation at the visit of the Savior. And now they are gone - killed off by violent wars of revenge between two nations who were once the same family.

No wonder he is thinking of what could have been and about the teachings of Jesus. His people chose evil and he writes tell us that the destruction of an entire nation really can happen. Terrible things result when people reject the principles of happiness and let anger take over their lives.

He reminds us of the beautiful gifts that God wants to bestow: 

• Wisdom 
• Knowledge 
• Faith 
• Healing

All these come to those who trust in the Lord.  Oh, why did his people not choose these?

He pleads to all who read his words, "Come unto Christ".

That is my plea to our fallen world, "Come unto Christ". Believe His words. Follow Him. Seek the God made man who walked among us because of His great love for us. He lives and loves us. He will heal all wounds if we let Him. We are safe with Him. He will give us rest.

This I know. 

Moroni 9

It sounds like Moroni is describing our world today as you read through this chapter.

• Satan stirreth them up continually to anger one with another
• They have lost their love toward one another
• They thirst after blood and revenge continually
• They left them to wander wither so ever they can for food
• They are without order and without Mercy
• The suffering of our women and children upon all the face of this land doth exceed everything

The Primary song "Follow The Prophet" ends with this verse: 

Now we have a world where people are confused

If you don't believe it, go and watch the news

I did just that this morning when I got up. The news is abysmal:

• Another US city mayor resigned because of harassment over mask mandates because of rising Covid numbers
• Two black churches in Washington DC had Black Lives Matter flags on their doors. Those flags were pulled off of those buildings and burned there on their lawns. reminiscent of KKK burnings of our unsettling past.
• Senate majority leader Mike McConnell officially welcomed Biden as the new President-elect and has been called a traitor by many in the Republican party.
• 14 million households face evictions if Congress doesn't take action immediately and give our nation more relief.
• President Trump continues to fire people just because they disagree with him on some policy.
• Jobless claims are rising to unbelievable numbers as Covid takes its toll on our economy.

And all of this is what is happening here in the United states. If we look outside there is even more trouble as wars and refugees and genocides take center front on the news all over the globe.  Earthquakes and hurricanes are terrible but it is the fact as Mormon puts it "that they have lost their love toward one another" that causes the greatest suffering.

The Lord himself said so in Moses 7:33 and 37:

And unto your brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood.

But behold, their sin shall be upon the heads of their fathers; Satan shall be their father, and mystery shall be there doom and the whole heaven shall weep over them even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?

Until mankind discovers the truth that God is love and we are His offspring, capable of loving as He loves - we will continue to suffer. Our religions have let us down. They have portrayed God as narrow, judgmental, and vindictive. We have become exclusive little groups  who believe we are favored of God while all others are not and will be punished. We have become embattled with one another and have allowed our politics to be so enmeshed with our religious beliefs that we cannot even compromise in our legislatures for the good of the American people. We have allowed policies to become more important than people and we close our hearts to the cries of the poor. We have learned to deal in mathematical algorithms and refuse to see the faces behind the numbers.

We are a sorry lot who suffer because we don't know who we are. We are Family.  We are the sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents, kind and loving beings who work tirelessly and lovingly to help us towards our eternal destinies.

Oh, how the world needs the pure message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Oh, how we need to cleanse that message so that it is clear who God is so that we may know for a fact His character and have a more beautiful and true model before us. 

How else can Zion come?  Those who think the Lord will come and cleanse the world and then all will be well are mistaken.  The Lord will come when we have created an acceptable home for Him.  We have to create Zion first.  We have to change our hearts.  We have to care about others. 

Lord, I Would Follow Thee (Hymn # 220 in the LDS hymnbook) is a beautiful hymn that shows the way:

1. Savior, may I learn to love thee,

Walk the path that thou hast shown,

Pause to help and lift another,

Finding strength beyond my own.

Savior, may I learn to love thee—

Lord, I would follow thee.

2. Who am I to judge another

When I walk imperfectly?

In the quiet heart is hidden

Sorrow that the eye can’t see.

Who am I to judge another?

Lord, I would follow thee.

3. I would be my brother’s keeper;

I would learn the healer’s art.

To the wounded and the weary

I would show a gentle heart.

I would be my brother’s keeper—

Lord, I would follow thee.

4. Savior, may I love my brother

As I know thou lovest me,

Find in thee my strength, my beacon,

For thy servant I would be.

Savior, may I love my brother—

Lord, I would follow thee.

Moroni 7:45-48

And charity suffereth long and is kind and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh not evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, endureth all things.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if you have not charity, you are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail -

But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

That Mormon could even be thinking such beautiful thoughts while he is watching the Lamanites destroy his nation is remarkable in and of itself. But this section is critical in our understanding of the nature of deity and our destiny - to be like them.

Charity suffereth long and is kind

Those who follow Christ are not just kind to those who are kind to them. No! They are kind even when they suffer.  Can you just hear the Savior's words? Love your enemy. Do good to them that hate you. When we are filled with God's love - that pure love of Christ - we don't DO kind things. We ARE kind.

Envieth not

Envy is the response of the empty soul trying to fill itself with anything because emptiness is painful. When we are filled with the love of Christ there is no more hollowness. Envy fades away.

Is not puffed up

Only the self-centered are puffed up. This also is a cry from an empty soul;  an attempt to be someone when we don't know we are beloved, divine beings, children of God Almighty our Heavenly Parents.

Is not easily provoked

Why? because we are too busy loving that person whose actions are less than perfect. We don't need them to be perfect. We love all because we are filled with God's love. We see as he sees.

Thinketh no evil

God does not look at our mistakes and assume the worst. He sees us on our path toward godhood and assumes we are doing our best and that we are learning from each experience. He assumes we are doing the best we can given our circumstances. Just as we picked up that baby learning to walk and urged him on - so God does to us. We fail.  He encourages.

Rejoiceth not in iniquity

Since life is not a competition we don't have to win at the expense of another. God's world is plentiful and bountiful.  There is enough for all. So we can be generous to those who fail. We can bestow heavenly gifts.

Rejoiceth in truth

There is a truth that frees us and allows us to rejoice and to be filled with joy. That truth is the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ filled with chapter after chapter of truth about who we are, who God is, the purpose of life on Earth and our eternal destiny.

If that gospel does not give you cause to rejoice it is because you are misunderstanding something. The truth is beautiful. It is that Gospel of Super Abundance

• Filled with love
• Inclusive
• Expansive
• Redemptive

I love how Mormon says pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart that you may be filled with this love - the love that will allow us to be like Jesus and our Heavenly Parents.  If we do indeed pray with all the energy of heart it means we are ready to accept that gift. He will change our hearts when we are ready. This is a prayer he will and can answer.

We spend all of our lives praying for this and that - for a new job, for a healing, for a spouse, for a child, for success, to have our problems removed. My prayers have often been self-centered desires for all problems to be erased.

What I really needed were spiritual gifts; these beautiful things Mormon talks about and which he promises the Father will bestow. They often come as the learned results of the very problems I asked God to remove.

We need not fear life and it's adversity. Mortality itself is a gift given by loving Heavenly Parents who wants us to become like them and who are shepherding us toward that end.

Moroni 7 :15

For behold, brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that you may know good from evil. And the way to judge is as plain, that you may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.

I wish wish it were so. Oh, how I wish life was so simple, that everything was either black or white, that there were no grey areas. This last year has taught me that what is so obviously good to me (and what verged on just plain evil as well) was not seen the same at all to my fellow church members.

It was the elections and in particular the Trump presidency and his policies and especially the derogatory language that was a constant from President Trump himself. And yet the majority of my LDS friends support him.

We who have the light of Christ, the gift of the Holy Ghost, discerned good versus evil in opposing ways.

This was a great example of how difficult it is to actually identify good and evil in our world today.

I pray daily for the courage to stand for the principles I believe and to be gracious to those who see differently.

Moroni 7:6-8

For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; or if he offereth a gift or prayeth unto God except he shall do it with real intent, it profiteth him nothing.

For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.

For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift he doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God.

Mormon continues to explain more in the following verses but by now we see the point. He is directing us to the higher law where what is in our heart is more important than our actions. God is always looking to change our hearts, to bring us closer to being like Him.

Every parent has had the experience of having two children caught fighting. As a mom, I have asked my children to apologize and say they are sorry. But all I got was an resentful "I'm sorry!" spoken angrily.

Am I like that child? Have I been caught saying words with my mouth when my heart was filled with anger?

The gifts Mormon talks about are not packages wrapped in colored paper and ribbons. They are the spiritual gifts we can bestow upon each other: forgiveness, unconditional love, an apology, mercy.

These gifts bless the giver as much as the recipient and are at the heart of all human relationships. We cannot live together in peace without changing our hearts and thus our ability to sincerely offer such gifts.

Grace - the freely given, unmerited love of God, must become our mode of operation also. Can we become so filled with God's love that it could begin to pour forth from us?

That would be my wish for myself.

I believe we can only become that person if we truly believe that God is a God of love. If we are stuck in the old Protestant model of God as the great judge, we will find ourselves judging others, wanting and waiting for them to change before they deserve our love and attention.

At the Christmas devotional last evening , Elder Brent H. Neilson was sharing part of his father's history from World war II. In one of his father's last letters home he told about attending church for the first time in 3 years. He said he "didn't care too much for the talk."

"Mother, a lot of things seem very trivial to me now that once we're so very important, that is probably as strong as ever, but I look on God as a person who is loving and understanding rather than one [who] is always standing over you to punish you for every mistake you make. 

I say AMEN to his words!!

Quoting from page 93 The Christ Who Heals:

"We do not know the endmost depths of the human heart; it is revealed only to love. But those who condemn have generally little love, and therefore the mystery of the which they judge is closed to them."

"It is impossible to know another completely and not love that person deeply."

Oh, there is so much to learn about human beings. I am just a novice.