Moroni, one of the last of the prophets in America, writing at about 400 years after Christ engraved the following warnings in plates of gold. Since Moroni was alone and without kindred, this message was for those future people who would receive the Book of Mormon (see Mormon 8:35-40):
35 Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.
This statement should remove any doubt as to who the following verses should be applied to. Do you have a Book of Mormon? Are you a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or any other restoration branch? Are you reading this post right now? Yes it is YOU, sorry you can’t escape it. Yes it is ME, I can’t escape the warning nor can I ignore it. Moroni received the ministration of the Lord, and angels, and translated beings so he knows a thing or two about our day. It is not addressed to the early saints in the meridian of time whose church fell into apostasy. It is addressed to the latter day gentiles and those who would be part of the restoration of the holy church of God. This should be a very sobering thought.
36 And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts.
O yes those “few” who aren’t lifted up in pride must be taking about me and my congregation, for surely we could not be blinded and lifted up in this day and age. Those “few” include all the leadership from the top down. Surely this scripture is addressed to all those who haven’t accepted the covenant of the gospel. It is THEM. Did he really mean “your churches, yea even every one?” Maybe this applied to those other churches that existed when the gospel was restored, yes that must be it. I’m sure glad he didn’t see us in our day or that would have caused a lot of discomfort. Moroni couldn’t have been seeing our day for if he did he would have seen that all is well in Zion, yea Zion prospereth. I mean we have a 4 billion dollar mall investment and luxury condo projects and vast land holdings, even with private hunting grounds for the wealthy among us; we have billions invested in the markets of the world. We even advertise our church to the tune of millions of dollars in Times Square, New York. The poor, destitute and needy among us dont mind becuse we are the true church and this is as the Lord would have it. We send 60,000 + missionaries into the world and what about all the temples we build? I’m sure glad he wasn’t talking about our pride and loftiness today. (I’m also glad Zenos wasn’t alluding to us in the allegory of the olive tree either.)
37 For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.
OK here is a test to see if this applies to us. Take the cost of all the things Moroni talks about i.e. our substance, fine apparel, and other material possessions (I will omit costs of temple and the accompanying adornments, the COB and the waste that goes on in there since I am applying this to us individually not to the church) and individually calculate how much that costs and how much time and energy we devote to acquiring and maintaining these things. Then take the money that we give to the poor, to the needy, sick and afflicted and the time we donate to these causes. Is there an imbalance? Where is our heart; in Babylon or Zion? For where our treasure is there will be our hearts also.
38 O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies–because of the praise of the world?
Ouch! Hey Moroni be careful where you are throwing those stones at, that one just hit me!
39 Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?
40 Yea, why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain, and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans to mourn before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads?
Here is an interesting thought about adorning ourselves. I would be willing to go out on a limb and say that some our male fellow church members in the “promised land” of the United States of America wear about $1500.00 in clothing to church services. I know that many others don’t spend so much and show up in your Sunday best for much, much less. According to the Liahona Childrens foundation $6000.00 can prevent malnourishment in a whole stake community for a year. So 4 sets of our clothing would accomplish this. (The Liahona Children’s Foundation ministers to our fellow church members whose children today are growing up malnourished and in extreme poverty even within one of the wealthiest church organizations on the planet. Please visit at http://liahonachildren.org) Let us contemplate this for a moment. Do we too often let the the hungry, the naked, the sick, the afflicted remain unnoticed by us? Don’t get angry with me or with Moroni for bringing this up. This is the awful situation we find ourselves in. Surely Zion does not prosper, “because [she] sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:17-20)
Now those who know me would never accuse me of living humbly or not having material possessions in abundance, that’s why I wrote these things down after reading Mormon chapter 8. I just happen to post it in case anyone else found themselves in my same situation.