Book of Mormon Lesson 44: “I Speak unto You As If Ye Were Present”

Mormon 7-9

Mormon Chapter 7
Mormon begins by writing an address to the remaining Lamanites, in the hope they may receive these scriptures, and specifically calling latter-day Lamanites to repent, believe in Christ and be baptized. (verse 1) Here again we see the true love and charity he had for his brothers, the Lamanites. After having seen the Lamanites destroy the Nephite Nation, he still desired to bring them to the Lord. He was driven to preach the gospel to those who would listen.
He testifies they are of the House of Israel. (verse 2) How important is it for them to know their true identity? How has your identity helped in your life to remember who you are? When we have forefront in our perspective the understanding we are children of God and capable of being like Him, we are more successful in keeping our covenants. Here Mormon wishes to bring to the Lamanites this same strength. If they could only learn who they are, Mormon knew they would be more righteous. He knew they had to “repent”, “lay down their weapons of war”, “and come to the knowledge of (their) fathers”. (verses 2-5) It is interesting he points out their fathers had the requisite knowledge.
Mormon testifies of the role of the Savior and the need to come unto Him. He then expounds upon the purpose of the Book of Mormon. (verses 8-10) It is to testify of Jesus Christ, to bring us to believe in Him, to stand side by side with the Bible as a record of scripture and teach the remnant of the House of Israel (including the Lamanites) they are able to partake of the covenants promised their fathers.
As the Book of Mormon stands side by side with the Bible, Mormon teaches us we must “lay hold upon the gospel of Christ”, which is set forth in both. He explains the Book of Mormon is written “for the intent that ye believe that” (the Bible), he then correctly concludes “if ye believe that (the Bible) ye will believe this also (the Book of Mormon). (verses 8-9)
Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote: "In this connection, it is worthy of note that anyone who believes the Bible will also believe the Book of Mormon. The great problem in the sectarian world is that people have the Bible but neither understand nor believe it, except in a casual and superficial way; and they know about Christ but neither accept nor believe in him in the full sense required to attain salvation with him and his Father." (The Promised Messiah, page 297)
President Brigham Young: "No man can say that this book (laying his hands on the Bible) is true...and at the same time say that the Book of Mormon is untrue.... There is not that person on the face of the earth who has had the privilege of learning the Gospel of Jesus Christ from these two books, that can say that one is true, and the other is false. No Latter-day Saint, no man or woman, can say the Book of Mormon is true, and at the same time say that the Bible is untrue. If one be true, both are." (Journal of Discourses 1:38)

Mormon Chapter 8
Moroni takes the record of his father, Mormon, and writes “a few things” to the plates as he has been commanded by Mormon. (verse 1) Moroni updates us on the conditions surrounding him. The Nephites which escaped to the south country were hunted by the Lamanites until they were all killed (verse 2), his father, Mormon, has been hunted and killed while Moroni is left to guess if the Lamanites will find and kill him. (verse 2-3) There is a sense of loneliness in the words of Moroni. As he records this remaining portion of the plates, there is a feeling and desperation in his tone. He is left alone. The last of a once great nation, a nation who at times was devoted to the Lord and at others turned away from Him. Moroni is the last to see “how great has been their fall”, and how “great and marvelous the destruction of his people” has been. (verse 7) Now the Lamanites are warring with each other. Moroni must be left to wonder if the Lamanites will now destroy themselves as he writes "...the whole face of this land is one continual round of murder and bloodshed" (verse 8)
Moroni faced a unique set of trials. He was completely alone and in reading these last words. you get a sense he had no idea how long he would be allowed to tarry here on the earth. There seems to several ending "farewells" in his recod. Consider how he must have spent his day. Were there worldly things which were no longer important to him? How would his day to day priorities have changed? What are the lessons for us to learn? Is it so important what our address is, what “so and so” thinks about us, what clothes we wear? I am sure Moroni spent his day doing those necessities for survival, but recognized the importance of spiritual things more than the day to day drudgery and weight of the world. Lessons from Moroni can help us in keeping our faith strong in the face of adversity.
Moroni sees the day when the record will come forth. He described the time in the following verses:
It will come forth “In a day when it shall be said that miracles are done away with” (verse 26), the blood of the saints shall cry unto the Lord because of secret combinations and the works of darkness (verse 27), a day when the power of God shall be denied and churches defiled and lifted up in their pride (verse 28), a day when there shall be fires, and tempests, and vapors of smoke in foreign lands (verse 29), a day with wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes in divers places (verse 30), a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth, murders, robbing, lying, deceivings, whoredoms, and all manner of abominations (verse 31), and a day when churches will say that you can be forgiven your sins by giving money to the church (verse 32).
Interesting to me in my line of work, Moroni saw our day as a day when there is a lack of responsibility for one's actions: "...there shall be many who will say, Do this, or do that, and it mattereth not, for the Lord will uphold such at the last day. But wo unto such for they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity" (verse 31). If there is any doubt about the other descriptions, here is one for certain!
Do you think he included these descriptions to "show" or "prove" to us he actually did see OUR day?
Moroni said that he would speak to those of us in the last days “as if [we] were present” (verse 35). Then he said, “I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts” (verse 36) and discussed pride in the last days (verses 36-41). What a blessing to know Moroni has individual prophecy for you and me today!How does pride affect us? See President Ezra Taft Benson’s talk “Beware of Pride”.

Mormon Chapter 9
Moroni begins this chapter by speaking to those who do not believe in Christ. He uses logic to lay out an argument trying to persuade the non-believer to believe. He then writes: “Behold, I say unto you that ye would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and just God, under a consciousness of your filthiness before him, than ye would to dwell with the damned souls in hell” (verse 4).
President Joseph Fielding Smith: "There can be no salvation without repentance. A man cannot enter into the kingdom of God in his sins. It would be a very inconsistent thing for a man to come into the presence of the Father and to dwell in God's presence in his sins....I think there are a great many people upon the earth, many of them perhaps in the Church--at least some in the Church--who have an idea they can go through this life doing as they please, violating the commandments of the Lord and yet eventually they are going to come into his presence. They think they are going to repent, perhaps in the spirit world…. They ought to read these words of Moroni: 'Do ye suppose that ye shall dwell with him under a consciousness of your guilt? Do ye suppose that ye could be happy to dwell with that holy Being, when your souls are racked with a consciousness of guilt that ye have ever abused his laws?'" (Doctrines of Salvation 2: 196)
Moroni testified that "God is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (verse 9) Why is this such an essential part of a testimony? Elder Bruce R. McConkie: "A Holy Being who was God yesterday remains as God today and will continue in the same exalted state tomorrow. The course of the Gods is one eternal round; it does not vary. They are now as they were then, and they shall yet be as they have ever been. If it were not so they would not be exalted, for exaltation consists in being the same unchangeable being from everlasting to everlasting." (The Mortal Messiah 1:27-28) This quote bears out why it is so important to our testimony. Eternal salvation is dependent upon God being unchangeable.
This understanding took Moroni (and now us) into the next question… If God is unchanging, why do miracles cease? "And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust" (verse 20) and continued into "Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth" (verse 21)
Elder Bruce R. McConkie: "It is by faith that miracles are wrought—not faith as an abstract, unembodied, vaporous nothingness, floating like a fog in the universe, but faith in the living Lord, faith centered in Christ our Head. The eternal law is: 'Whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.' (Mormon 9:21) Accordingly, any person who has ever performed a miracle, in any age, has done it by faith in Christ. For the past, at the present, and in the future, all miracles are wrought by faith in that Lord who is Christ." (The Promised Messiah page 315)
From verse 21 to the end of the chapter, it is as though Moroni changes his audience to the believers and provides to us important teachings for our day, the day which he saw by the power and the gift of God. He then better understood our day than we do.
“Doubt not, but be believing” and “come unto the Lord with all your heart” (verse 27), “Strip yourselves of all uncleanness” and ask with a firmness unshaken to not yield to temptation (verse 28)
Then he expresses a caution to us: “…learn to be more wise than we have been”. (verse 31) We should learn from the record provided to us. It is written for our day. The Book of Mormon is vital to the sustainment of our testimonies. I have a testimony it is the word of God, the Lord is a God of miracles whose Atonement brings to pass the redemption of man.