The Spy King Zeniff

Zeniff, a Nephite soldier, disobeyed orders from his commander to destroy their enemy the Lamanites to begin a spiritual history and heritage lasting for centuries. Zeniff's actions facilitated the rise of Mosaic Christianity among the ancient Americans decades before the birth of Jesus Christ.

A small army of spies/operatives/colonists deployed from Zarahemla, the capital city of the Nephite government employed to gain intelligence on the Lamanite confederacy--how to destroy it. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ chronicles the lives of key historical figures who helped to bring the culture, religion, and historical records of their society into existence. Zeniff's decisions provided the cultural context from which great men rose to power and shaped Nephite society.  

Zeniff received orders from his unnamed commanding officer to find weaknesses in Lamanite society to destroy them; however, after living among them, he and like-minded operatives decided there remained hope to reclaim the Lamanites who had rejected the Gospel due to incorrect information given to them from the foundations of their societies hundreds of years before. These spies/colonists did not want to act in a way to destroy their brethren, but to reclaim them.  Zeniff, by way of conscience, refused to hurt the Lamanites; and with a large number of supporters fought a battle with his leader and the rest of the colonists seeking to rid the Nephites of the Lamanite problem. Zeniff's revolted against his commander!

In his brief entry in the gold record of Nephi that is now The Book of Mormon, Amaleki accused Zeniff's leader of being obstinate. "There was a large number [of Nephites, who were the spies] who were desirous to possess the land of their [first] inheritance. Wherefore, they went up into the wilderness. And their leader being a strong and mighty man, and a stiffnecked man, wherefore he caused a contention among them; and they were all slain, save fifty, in the wilderness, and they returned again to the land of Zarahemla." (Omni 1:27-28)

He did not actively solicit followers, but Zeniff did not relent and submit to the command of his leader when told to act to harm their political rivals, an extermination order, in order to possess the lands. Zeniff and his followers prevailed in the battle and returned to Zarahemla to relate the tale to the citizens--especially the families of the dead colonists. Zeniff wanted "that our ruler should make a treaty with them," the Lamanites (Mosiah 9:2). The unnamed leader declined, "he being an austere and a blood-thirsty man commanded that I should be slain," (Mosiah 9:2) and the aforementioned battle commenced.

Zeniff's Faith 

After his report, Zeniff and his group of 49 recruited others to return to the Land of Nephi, as they called it, to inherit that land and possess it, as it once belonged to the Nephites who lost it through internal strife, apostasy, intrigue, and war to the Lamanites. He established an oasis kingdom of Nephites among their centuries-old enemies the Lamanites. 

Zeniff refers to himself as a zealous person in attempting to regain his claim to the lands of his inheritance. His desire to obtain title to lands the Nephites abandoned in flight from the Lamanites led Zeniff to make a rash action, petitioning King Laman to obtain the land of Nephi as an inheritance. Zeniff willingly admits his fault, a level of humility beyond the stubborn epitaph suggested in the record about this stiffnecked ruler attempting to murder him on his first journey. Zeniff admitted he contended with team members about the possibility of entering into a treaty with the Lamanites because he had a change of heart about destroying them by noticing their humanity. 

God favored Zeniff because of a blessing placed upon the Lamanites by their ancestor, Lehi. In his last act as Patriarch of his united family, Lehi pronounced blessings on all of his posterity and warnings, declaring that "inasmuch as ye shall keep [God's] commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep [God's] commandments ye shall be cut off from [God's] presence" (2 Nephi 4:4). God's presence, as described in the reference, includes His protection, among other things, from ANY type of extermination and still holds valid upon the Americas.

Lehi informed them, "I know that if ye are brought up in the way ye should go ye will not depart from it. Wherefore, if ye are cursed, behold, I leave my blessing upon you, that the cursing may be taken from you and be answered upon the heads of your parents. ...because of my blessing the Lord God will not suffer that ye shall perish; ...he will be merciful unto you and unto your seed forever," 2 Nephi 4: 5-7. 

The Lamanites would not be utterly destroyed if they did not keep the commandments but continue on and receive blessings and sorrow at the hand of Gentiles who would appear after the Nephites' destruction. God would not have allowed the Nephites' preemptive strike against the Lamanites to prevail on the merit of Lehi's blessing to the children of his sons Laman and Lemuel which extended to their posterity.

Zeniff was a man of God, and it was the Spirit of God that drove him to speak up in defiance of his commanding officer to avoid destroying the Lamanites. It was probably the only time in Nephite history that the Nephites could have had the advantage to bring the Lamanite nation to an end. 

All Hail King Zeniff

Because the founding father, Nephi, laid the foundation of a city and a temple in the city of Nephi, Zeniff boldly requested the lands from King Laman. Laman provided graciously the lands of Lehi-Nephi and Shilom to the eager settlers, which included cities both with respective names as the lands. The Lamanites who inhabited those areas vacated peaceably to allow the return of the descendants of the original owners. Lehi-Nephi may have been the place of the temple Nephi constructed similarly to Solomon's temple 400 years earlier, but there is no indication from the records that this is the case. The City of Nephi (presumably Lehi- Nephi) became the seat of the new monarch of Zeniff.

Zeniff recorded that he possessed a superior Nephite education, which included language education and a religious history. Knowledge of the Land of Nephi gave him power to negotiate properly for inheritance with King Laman, at least for those two parts of the land, Shilom and Lehi-Nephi. Being the foremost of the group of people who accompanied him to the Land of Nephi, he became the obvious choice for leader, for a king. 

The goodwill of King Laman came with subterfuge, Zeniff related. Laman placed this group of settlers in a long con. After 12 years of living in peace and prosperity with the Nephites, Laman acted on his deception to take the possession of the Nephites. Apparently, Zeniff was under the impression that Laman wanted to enslave them. Laman sent his people to attack the outlying areas of Shilom killing citizens and stealing property. Those who could flee ahead of the carnage sought refuge in the City of Nephi where King Zeniff resided.

Zeniff rallied his people in prayer to the Lord for deliverance, which they received by repulsing the Lamanite attacks. Following this loss, King Laman abandoned his efforts to enslave the Nephites and left them in relative peace until he died 20 years later. Laman's son had designs on conquering the Nephites as he encouraged his people to oppose them. 

Espionage Saves the Day

Zeniff did not allow his experiences with Laman to go to waste. When first he went to the king he did so with trust. After 12 years when the truth of Laman's intentions fully matured, King Zeniff took measures to prepare against another surprise attack. Using the methods for which he was known, espionage, Zeniff kept tabs on the Lamanites following the first war. 

When the son of Laman began his propaganda machine against the Nephites when he ascended to the throne, Zeniff was prepared to counter. Zeniff searched the cultural heritage of the Lamanites so that he could understand their mentality as a group. After over twenty years of searching, he provided an assessment of their central philosophies to deliver to his people to motivate them to fight valiantly against their encroachment. 

The Lamanites felt wronged by the Nephites; so, King Laman planned to use his treaty with the Nephites, though a small group only, to exact revenge on them for 400 years of what he considered injustices! Mosiah 10:11-17 details the understanding of the Lamanites Zeniff provided, which has set the standard of belief about Lamanite aggression from that point forward.

Mosiah 10:11-17 Politicks of the Lamanites

Zeniff related that "the Lamanites knew nothing concerning the Lord, nor the strength of the Lord, therefore they depended upon their own strength. Yet they were a strong people, as to the strength of men. They were a wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people, believing in the tradition of their fathers, which is this—Believing that they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem because of the iniquities of their fathers, and that they were wronged in the wilderness by their brethren, and they were also wronged while crossing the sea ... that they were wronged while in the land of their first inheritance, after they had crossed the sea, and all this because that Nephi was more faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord—therefore he was favored of the Lord, for the Lord heard his prayers and answered them, and he took the lead of their journey in the wilderness."

He provided this explanation to his people when they prepared to go to battle against the Lamanites to help them understand their enemy's motivations based on a misunderstanding, as opposed to the Nephites' motivations based on their faith in God. He continued, referring to Nephi and his brothers Laman and Lemuel. Laman and his followers felt "wroth with him [Nephi] because they understood not the dealings of the Lord; they were also wroth with him upon the waters because they hardened their hearts against the Lord. And again, they were wroth with him when they had arrived in the promised land, because they said that he had taken the ruling of the people out of their hands; and they sought to kill him." 

"And again, they were wroth with him because he departed into the wilderness as the Lord had commanded him, and took the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, for they said that he robbed them. And thus they have taught their children that they should hate them, and that they should murder them, and that they should rob and plunder them, and do all they could to destroy them; therefore they have an eternal hatred towards the children of Nephi. For this very cause has king Laman, by his cunning, and lying craftiness, and his fair promises, deceived me [Zeniff], that I have brought this my people up into this land, that they may destroy them; yea, and we have suffered these many years in the land."

Safety Before the End

Motivating his people to go against an army of people who surrounded them on all sides is what Zeniff had to do. Immersed in a deadly waiting game, the Nephites in the City of Nephi looked to God for their support instead of 400-year-old grievances to justify abuse toward their foes as the Lamanites did. The fact that the information was presented incorrectly to generations of Lamanites, who thought their interpretations were correct, meant utter destruction to this group of Saints unless they yielded to the wisdom of God, which they did.

Using his skills as a spy and his faith as a follower of Christ, Zeniff saved his people from the attacks of the Lamanites before the cold hand of death claimed him in his old age. Noah, his son, inherited the protected mini-kingdom of Nephites. The death of Zeniff ended the Messianic-Judac kingdom as Noah undid all that his father accomplished. Noah strived as zealously as his father except that King Noah reigned for the glory of his passions and desires and not the glory of God and his people.

Introducing the Moroni Saw Me Website

Moroni Saw Me

Moroni is a ancient prophet who  lived on the American continents. There is no indication of his people's origin or evidence where they existed on the Americas generally accepted by believers in his words or according to archeologist. What is important regarding Moroni is that he existed and witnessed a powerful view of the Savior Jesus Christ--adding his testimony to the world as proof that Jesus is a real person with the powers of God at His disposal because He is God.

God showed Moroni the future of the world in connection to the Americas, and all the world. Because of this connect God gave him, included certain writings in his book to give humanity. Those writings are to help change the hearts of people. Moroni helped to change the heart of Rodric Johnson. Read about how.

Moroni Saw Me

The Gall of Bitterness

Another Testament of Jesus Christ

Studying The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, I read the last sentence in verse Mormon 8:31:. 

"But wo unto such, for they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity." 

It speaks about the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity. I understood it to mean that a person in the gall of bitterness is surrounded by it on every side and held back by iniquity. I felt the desire to go forward and explore this option.

Reflection

My wife once told me that she was upset that she could not do what she wanted to do and still be a good person in the gospel, or she was angry that God would not allow us to have some sins. I didn't understand when she told me her feelings of frustration at the time, but now it makes sense.

I've felt as she did about the things in life I wanted to do, but felt trapped by my religious beliefs. Some of those things I wanted to do having the thought that it will all be okay in the end as Mormon 8:31 hints that such people do.

Moroni, the Author of this passage that was translated by Joseph Smith, speaks of the coming forth of the record known as The Book of Mormon and the type of environment that will prevail--today's society.

Yea, it [The Book of Momron] shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth; there shall be murders, and robbing, and lying, and deceivings, and whoredoms, and all manner of abominations; when 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.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary usage and meaning of gall states it means the bitter yellowish fluid from animals called bile used in medicine. The point is that it, gall, is bitter.

It then listed bitterness of spirit or rancor. The last and most biting listing to me was "brazen boldness coupled with impudent assurance and insolence." I was touched by the final definition.

Conviction

How could I have the audacity to take a commandment of God and say, "Allow me to disobey because I enjoy this sin and it comes naturally to me? Allow it if you love me and want me to be happy because I think the universe should make an exception for me and cater to my wants and desires whether they be good or bad."

I could see the bitterness of spirit in my desire to sin without regard and receive no forgiveness because I thought I was too good to repent. How cocky or impudent is my assurance that I could dare excuse myself of sin just because I like it?

Understanding

Now I know what being in the gall of bitterness means.

If bitterness had gall or its own secretion of bitterness, I would be swimming in those secretions, full of self-righteous contemptuous pride, and thinking to circumvent the commands of God. Jacob, another prophet from The Book of Mormon and centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ, informs, "the keeper of the gate [Entry to Heaven through ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ] is the Holy One of Israel [Jesus]; and He employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate [baptism]; for He cannot be deceived." (2 Nephi 9:41)

I had become one of "many who will say, Do this, or do that, and it mattereth not, for the Lord will uphold such at the last day." Moroni warns "wo unto such, for they are in the gall of bitterness," (Mormon 8:31) or the arrogant contemptuous self-serving posture of pride and malice for the principles meant to help us become like Father in Heaven, "and in the bonds of iniquity," (Mormon 8:32) or a slave to the desires to do wrong without punishment or repentance just because it feels good.

Resolution

I do not desire to be a slave to fleshy pleasure impulses because I think my sins deserve special dispensation and pardon because I'm too weak to trust in Jesus Christ's atonement. I want to step out of the gall of bitterness, be removed from the bonds of the iniquity that holds me fast, and repent of my sins so that I can master them through living the Gospel as taught and lived by Jesus Christ and His authorized servants the prophets. Jesus told Ether, another prophet recorded in The Book of Mormon, "if men come unto Me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and My grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before Me; for if they humble themselves before Me, and have faith in Me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." (Ether 12:27) I aim to recall all my words written here so that I may recognize when I feel "justified" in sin to pray for forgiveness and strength to master the sin and not allow the sin to master me.

The moral of the story is to do what is right even if what is wrong feels good. With this behavior comes the natural spiritual consequence of inner peace and satisfaction. Inner peace is for all people who truly follow the path of light and goodness, which are universal laws, and universal laws are set by God the Father, executed through God the Son, Jesus Christ, and revealed to humankind by God the Holy Ghost.

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Men Called Nephi

Prophets Are People

The Lord is very careful of whom he chooses as his prophets, but he gives each one the chance to prove that he can live up to the potential that is expected of all of Heavenly Father’s children. Prophets are not different from other people.

They have faults and challenges to face, sins of which to repent and sorrows to overcome. Often times we think of prophets as some extra special beings, and they are—but aren’t we all?

How, you might ask. Well it is simple. God gives us each responsibilities that He knows that we are capable to do. It is like the servants and the talents. In Matthew 25:14-29, the Lord Jesus speaks of talents given to three servants. Each one was given a different amount of talents to increase.

Now, I don’t want to focus on the story so much as the amount of talents that the servants were given. The Lord knows each of us, and he accordingly gives us the trials that will help us grow. I may be a one-talent trial person and the Lord expects me to take that one talent trial and increase it by overcoming it and showing that I am now at two talents in strength for overcoming it.

You may be a three-talent trial person who can increase it to six talents in strength,spiritual strength for overcoming it. A prophet might be five a five-talent trial person expected to increase in strength to ten for overcoming. The savior rewards those he increases with the same blessings no matter our talents.

He gives us what he knows we can deal with, and then blesses us for dealing with it. Also, it is not as if he leaves us to ourselves to deal with the trials, he comforts us throughout the experience to make sure we know that he loves us even though we may have to suffer a little to go through the trial.

Prophets are expected to suffer and overcome as all of us are expected to do. And no matter how big or small our trial of a talent is to others, they are significant to God because the power it takes to increase in faith to overcome those things are equally difficult for each individual.

We are not expected to lose everything as Job did, but we may be expected to lose a job, or a house, or a family member, but still come out righteous in the end. God will reward us no less than a prophet.

Nephis of Faith

That brings me to some prophets that had a great deal of trials by talent who increased in faith to honor God and receive a just reward. Nephi, Nephi and Nephi were great prophets. One Nephi lived above five centuries before the other. The other Nephi was the son of the second Nephi!

Number One Nephi of Faith

First Nephi of Faith

The first Nephi is one of my heroes because of the struggle he had to overcome within his immediate family in obeying the gospel and hearkening to the counsels and edicts of God. God commanded Lehi to take his family into the wilderness. Nephi was a member in this family.

Lehi explained that God commanded that he send his sons back to Jerusalem to get the genealogy of their fathers and the sacred scripture in the house of his cousin Laban. Two of his eldest sons of Lehi murmured about the commandment.

In 1 Nephi 3:7, Nephi responded to Lehi when asked to return to Jerusalem and retrieve the plates of brass “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”

Nephi is a symbol of righteousness who leads our thoughts back to Christ. We learn from him that God gives us no commands that He will not provide a way for us to complete. For example, God commanded my family to move to Arizona from Georgia.

We had no place of which to move, I had no job to support my family and a feeling in my breast to confirm the command. My wife and I prayed about it and made the journey. True to the promise of Nephi, God made a way for us to accomplish the move he commanded and he has sustained us every day since—because the trials do not stop.

Nephi number Two with Lehi his brother

Second Nephi of Trust

The second Nephi I want to mention was busy with missionary work—baptizing those who would follow Christ. IN Helaman chapter 7, Nephi is said to have went on a mission to the land northward to preach to his people there and was rejected utterly.

He then returned to his own house and lamented in prayer upon his tower over the wickedness of the people. From that tower he preached to the people and sought their repentance.

To drive home how wicked the people had become he was inspired to announce something tragic, something that put his own life in peril. Nephi, sorrowing at the evil of his day informed his listeners in Helaman 8:26-28,

Yea, even at this time ye are ripening, because of your murders and you fornication and wickedness, for everlasting destruction; yea, and except ye repent it will come unto you soon. Yea, behold it is now even at your doors; yea, go ye in unto the judgment-seat, and search; and behold, your judge is murdered, and he lieth in his blood; and he hath been murdered by his brother, who seeketh to sit in the judgment-seat. And behold, they both belong to your secret band, whose author is Gadianton and the evil one who seeketh to destroy the souls of men.

What a revelation, a real-time, play-by-play announcement of a tragic event. The great thing that happened in this case was not what Nephi said to the people but what occurred when the entire incident ended.

In Helaman 10:2, Nephi ponder what the Lord had shown him, as if he did not know those things beforehand, which he did not. Nephi teaches us that we should have faith to speak when we recognize the spirit has revealed something to us put forth to others—a wayward teen son or daughter, or families that we visit or home teach.

Because he was faithful, not only in that tower incident, but in his missionary work, in Helaman 10:6-8, the Lord declared in blessing “Behold, thou art Nephi, and I am God. Behold, I declare it unto thee in the presence of mine angels, that ye shall have power over this people, and shall smite the earth with famine, and with pestilence, and destruction, according to the wickedness of this people.

Behold, I give unto you power, that whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and thus shall ye have power among this people. And thus, if ye shall say unto this temple it shall be rent in twain, it shall be done.”

If we have faith to act when moved by the spirit, the Lord will trust us as well as he did Nephi.

Nephi number three being ordained by Jesus

Third Nephi of Humility

The third Nephi was ordained as a prophet under the hand of his father Nephi and lived to witness the fulfillment of a prophecy revealed by the first Nephi that Jesus Christ should show himself to the Nephites after great destruction occurred.

Nephi in his own right was as great a missionary as was his father testifying to the wicked children of Lehi and exhorting them to turn to Christ and live prepared for Christ's coming.

The most important message from him is his humility. At the coming of Christ to the Temple at the city of Bountiful, though Nephi was the ordained prophet of God at his coming, he did not elevate himself above his brethren.

In 3 Nephi 11:18-21 it is written "And it came to pass that he spake unto Nephi (for Nephi was among the multitude) and he commanded him that he should come forth. And Nephi arose and went forth, and bowed himself before the Lord and did kiss his feet. And the Lord commanded him that he should arise. And he arose and stood before him. And the Lord said unto him: I give unto you power that ye shall baptize this people when I am again ascended into heaven."

What is significant about Nephi is that though he had the power given him already to act in the name of God, Jesus had to call him from among his fellow worshipers to renew his authority under the new covenant that Jesus established after resurrection.

Nephi did not presume to have privilege above any other person. The Lord made him the chief apostle among the children of Lehi, which was followed by almost 200 years of perfect harmony among the Christians on the Ancient American continent. To be powerful is good, as long as we do not exalt ourselves above our brethren.

Faith To Act

If we have the faith to open our mouths to those around us, the Lord will fill us with things to say. The men called Nephi shared a common trait—faith. All had faith to seek the Lord in prayer, faith to trust the Lord’s commands, faith to have studied God’s word and faith to act.

The blessings that each received are trust to perform the work of the Lord. Nephi went and retrieved the record from Laban at a high price. He had to take the life of a man because God commanded him to kill Laban. I have always cringed at that in the scriptures. Nephi showed us that sometimes, God requires use to do things that are hard—things that might shake us to our very moral core!

We will most likely not received a commandment to take another person’s life, but may feel prompted to change careers, serve senior’s mission, give up school for missionary work, serve in the military or sell property—something that we could only accomplish by living closely to the Lord so that we may have faith to act.

Nephi of Faith taught us is we do all we can to accomplish the designs of the Lord He will provide a way to accomplish it—even though the way might be different from what we expected. I am certain Nephi did not expect to kill Laban. I am sure of it in fact because of his reaction when the spirit promoted him in 1 Nephi 4:10.

He writes, “…I was constrained by the Spirit that I should kill Laban; but I said in my heart: Never at any time have I shed the blood of man. And I shrunk and would that I might not slay him.” Though Nephi did eventually obey the prompting he did not want to do it. He reluctantly did something because he had faith that God revealed it to him through the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Nephi of Trust was given power over the elements for his obedience. God may not give us power or commandments to move mountains or stop the rain, but he will give us power to bring success to our stewardship. God may grant us wealth and riches because He knows that we will use them to bless our fellow beings. He may give us talent to lead nations or neighborhoods because we are willing to act when prompted.

Nephi of Humility demonstrated the humility of a true follower of Christ as he bowed at the feet of Jesus alongside other Christians without a place of honor. If we are obedient to the commands of God and show ourselves approved by walking in the path of Christ, He will reward us with responsibilities to further His work and prosper our creations and endeavors along the way.

Memory Piece: Life

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• African Roots of Book of Mormon The obvious connection to Africa is the language.
• Steps to Know Truth About Book of Mormon It is important for all Christians and others to know of the truth of this book because it testifies that the Bible record is authentic, being a second witness of the divinity of Christ and verifies ancient stories and prophets mentioned in the Holy
• Missionary Stories: We Felt Impressed
  Cape Town. It is an exiting city. Just about anything you find in a large city you can find in and around Cape Town. As a missionary serving in that area, I was about finding souls.

Brothers of Nephi Historical Fiction

• The Brothers of Nephi

Mormon: Legacy of a Dead Nation

Mormon is revealed as a Christian because he is simply a man who believed in Jesus Christ. He wrote a record that became a book with his name, i.e. The Book of Mormon.

Cumorah, The Last Stand

"I, Mormon, wrote an epistle unto the king of the Lamanites, and desired of him that he would grant unto us that we might gather together our people unto the land of Cumorah, by a hill which was called Cumorah, and there we could give them battle. And it came to pass that the king of the Lamanites did grant unto me the thing which I desired."Mormon 6:2-3

Cumorah has great significance to the members of the modern church as well as to Mormon and Moroni his son. Mormon took all of the records that he used for the Book of Mormon and hid them in a hill in the land of Cumorah.

General Mormon calculated the battle plans and the disparity that existed between his armies and the armies of his foes. The Nephite military suffered at the hands of the Lamanites with such intensity as the wars raged on until the last battles. The lands of Desolation was taken and the Lamanites spread through the Northern Lands like a debilitating cancer, yet Mormon returned to his post and would fight.

The king of the Lamanites at this time felt confident that his armies could defeat Mormon and saw no need to use stratagem. He boldly called them to arms as he spent almost a year preparing his armies in the south for the many campaigns that followed.

War of Offense

Nephite Final Battle

Why did the Nephite nation start to decline when it appeared it tactically had the advantage in the land of Desolation?

The answer is in the words Joseph Smith Translated of Mormon's record now Mormon 4:4 in The Book of Mormon, which state that "it was because the armies of the Nephites went up unto the Lamanites that they began to be smitten; for were it not for that, the Lamanites could have had no power over them."

The downfall of this nation came because it committed an act of aggression for the first time in almost a thousand years of existence!

When the Nephites took it upon themselves to attack the Lamanites out of vengeance, it nullified their contract of deliverance with God. Not only did this nation forswear itself and commit unholy acts, but also it dared to enforce its sins by attacking an enemy that was no more wicked than was it!

Until that point, the Nephites were still innocent of aggression. The Nephites, by doing this thing without sanction from the Lord, cast the last tie to God off saying, "We don't need you. We will avenge our dead and revile your prophets!"

In Alma 43, Mormon gives the formula for a winning military. During that time in 74 B.C., Captain Moroni headed the armies of Nephi against a different group of Lamanites who fought for Monarchy and power.

The Nephites fought for their families, liberty, and religions. They were also not the aggressors. In Alma 43:46 it reads:

And they were doing that which they felt was the duty which they owed to their God; for the Lord had said unto them, and also unto their fathers, that: Inasmuch as ye are not guilty of the first offense, neither the second, ye shall not suffer yourselves to be slain by the hands of your enemies.

God himself decreed that the Nephites should not suffer themselves to be slain if they are not guilty of the first and second offenses committed against them. Mormon recorded it as a witness.

God did not instruct the Nephites to attack the Lamanites after two offenses. He instructed them to defend their lands always. Unlike the Canaanites in the old country whom God told the Israelites to destroy, the Lamanites were not to be destroyed because of the blessing that was placed upon them by God that they should remain.

When the Nephites decided to attack the Lamanites it weakened their position physically by decimating their armies. The decision put them at odds with the decree of God He gave through Father Lehi in 2^nd Nephi 4 that his seed shall not utterly be destroyed.

Nephite Brushes with Preemptive Strikes

The only other times that the Nephite government sanctioned a preemptive strike that is recorded occurred between 200 and 187 B.C. when Zeniff stood insubordinate to his leader and Captain Moroni at the prisoner exchange.

• Zeniff and his group of dissenters did not feel it necessary to carry out the order to make war and destroy through espionage the Lamanites issued by the government. For this treason, he was sentenced to death by his commanding officer. Zeniff and his men won the battle in revolt, therefore, thwarting the attempt to destroy the Lamanites.Mosiah 9

• Captain Moroni threatened the Lamanites as an official representative of the government that his nation would seek "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." Alma 54:12 .Though it was in a letter about the prisoner exchange, the threat was made but never executed.

The Children of Lehi

Lehi's seed is a mixture of the sons and daughters of Lehi and Ismael. The Natives of the Americas and the island are descendants of Lehi whether by Lamanite or Nephite blood. It is worthy to note that during Mormon's era, the Nephite and Lamanite division was not a matter of family history so much as it was politically created ethnicities.

When the Lamanites rebelled in 320 A. D., they did not do a genetic test to determine if they were descendants of Laman or Lemuel. This group of people, a mixture of all the seeds, made a conscious decision to separate from the government and form a new nation with separate customs and beliefs.

This group opposed the Gospel of Jesus Christ so much that they rebelled against it and withheld it from their children. In the final battles, the Lamanites fighting the wars were not former Christians, but the children of former Christians and no ties to Christ.

The Nephites were a mixture of the seeds of Lehi also, but did not reject the cultural ties to the church, but did reject the church and its teachings in full.

Patriotism was the call for most Nephites. The new grievance of the new Lamanites was not the same as from the beginning--that the Nephites robbed their fathers from the rightful governance of the people. Now, their excuse was pure hatred. Two groups of the mixture of the seeds of Lehi warred with each other--cousins fighting.

It is practical to believe that genealogical records were kept and families could trace their ancestry back to Lehi. Mormon records:

I am Mormon, and a pure descendant of Lehi. I have reason to bless my God and my Savior Jesus Christ, that he brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem, and that he hath given me and my people so much knowledge unto the salvation of our souls. 3 Nephi 5:20

This would mean that Mormon could trace his paternal heritage back to Lehi, not that his maternal heritage also consisted of Lehi, especially since all the sons of Lehi Married the daughters of Ishmael. Mormon was most logically a mixture of the seeds of all the peoples of the Nephites with a direct paternal line to Lehi. Since other ancestral groups existed due to the Lord leading other groups to that portion of the Americas, Mormon felt it prudent to point out his genealogy. Laman, a villain in the book akin to Satan himself, could have been his ancestor as far his lineage is concerned. Because he is righteous and because how closely associated the righteous are with Nephite heritage generally people would assume that Mormon was of Nephite heritage physically. Mormon does not indicate that his lineage to Lehi is through Nephi, Sam, Lemuel, Laman (the original four brothers), Jacob or Joseph in the records available currently.

A Dead Nation

Three hundred and eighty-four years following the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, the nation of Nephites marshaling an army approximately 230,000 strong went to battle against Lamanite aggressors.

The armies of the Lamanites were not numbered. The dead of the Nephites at least numbered above a quarter-million to a half-million souls when thinking of women and children.

Mormon explains that people deserted and fled to the south to get away from the slaughter. Many of these escaped. Some even blended into the new order of things. For Mormon, his life was spent.

By this time, Mormon was in this early to mid-seventies. He fell wounded in the last great battle surviving with 24 other people--his son Moroni among them. Mormon buried the historical records in Cumorah's Hill to hide from the invading Lamanites and left out his abridgment for Moroni. He recorded his last words in that abridgment before relinquishing it to Moroni and being killed by Lamanites himself.

Mormon's last writing was to bear testimony of Jesus Christ to the seed of Lehi (and the world) in a distant time. His last etching was to testify of the peaceable things of the kingdom of God to the inhabitants of the world.

Mormon testified that Jesus was slain and resurrected to bring redemption to mankind. He testified that Jesus would usher his disciples into the heavens for eternal glory and happiness.

Mormon invited all to repent and come unto Christ through baptism and the Holy Ghost. He also testified that the book that should come from the Jews, the Bible, should be followed as well as his abridgment.

Specifically speaking to the literal descendants of the children of Lehi, he promised that his abridgment would help them know that they are of the House of Israel.

He closes,

...and if it so be that ye believe in Christ, and are baptized, first with water, then with fire and with the Holy Ghost, following the example of our Savior, according to that which he hath commanded us, it shall be well with you in the day of judgment. Amen. Mormon 7:10

From that point in the record, the prophetic and poetic words of Mormon show no more. His voice is silent as Moroni is entrusted with the survival of the life's work of so many people entrusted with the records.

Though Mormon completed the majority of the abridgment, multiples of dozens of prophets, kings and men kept the records safe for Mormon to do his work. Mormon's words have helped change the lives of millions of people in the latter-days before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

All who know of Jesus Christ because of Mormon's witness through the Book of Mormon owe him a debt of gratitude. Mormon fought the fight that could not be won and stayed true to Christ to the very end. He was killed because he believed in Jesus Christ and would not deny him. The great general laid down his life at the hands of his enemies and left a legacy of faith in The Book of Mormon, which is another testimony of Jesus Christ.

Next

Moroni, the Son of Mormon: Death of a Nation
We learn from Moroni's writings the precarious nature of his existence as he records