They Shall Be Cut Off

 

 Mormon used the ten years of relative peace (i.e., no open warfare) to urge his people to prepare their fortifications, weapons, and such, against the time when the Lamanites would again attack (see yesterday's post about city fortifications.)  He also attempted one last time to call them back to Jesus Christ.  He wrote:

And . . . the Lord did say unto me: Cry unto this people—Repent ye, and come unto me, and be ye baptized, and build up again my church, and ye shall be spared.

And I did cry unto this people, but it was in vain; and they did not realize that it was the Lord that had spared them, and granted unto them a chance for repentance. And behold they did harden their hearts against the Lord their God. (Mormon 3: 2,3)

In 360 A.D., Mormon received a notice from the king of the Lamanites that they would be coming up against the Nephites.  It is recorded in the text that many Nephites who did not wish to fight the Nephites' battles during this 35 years simple changed allegiance to the Lamanites.  Perhaps the king of the Lamanites was hoping that the rest would just lay down their arms in like manner.

 

Mormon rallied his troops and increased his fortifications and, when the Lamanites did come, the Nephites were able to hold their lines so that none of their lands were taken.  They killed so many of the enemy that they threw their bodies into the sea rather than burying them.

 

But then things took a turn for the worse. The Nephites began to boast that it was their own strength and cunning that preserved them victorious.  Mormon wrote:

 

And now, because of this great thing which my people, the Nephites, had done, they began to boast in their own strength, and began to swear before the heavens that they would avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren who had been slain by their enemies. And they did swear by the heavens, and also by the throne of God, that they would go up to battle against their enemies, and would cut them off from the face of the land. (Mormon 3: 9, 10)

 

This was a huge error in the eyes of the Lord.  Up to this point in time, all of the Nephite wars were defensive and not aggressive.  The Lord upheld them insomuch as they were defending their families and freedoms.  But now the Nephites sought aggression and vengeance.  The Lord can support war in defense of His values, but he does not support aggressive violence and revenge.  Because of this change of Nephite motive, Mormon refused to lead them anymore.  He wrote:

 

And when they had sworn by all that had been forbidden them by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that they would go up unto their enemies to battle, and avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren, behold the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying:

Vengeance is mine, and I will repay; and because this people repented not after I had delivered them, behold, they shall be cut off from the face of the earth.

And it came to pass that I utterly refused to go up against mine enemies; and I did even as the Lord had commanded me; and I did stand as an idle witness to manifest unto the world the things which I saw and heard, according to the manifestations of the Spirit which had testified of things to come. (Mormon 3: 14 - 16)

Why did Mormon include so many details of Nephite warfare?  The Book of Mormon is, among other things, a cautionary tale.  It was not written for the Nephites themselves (whose hearts were so hardened) but for us - the Gentiles and the house of Israel - so that we might learn from their mistakes.
 

He sealed up his writing with his testimony of Jesus Christ so as to persuade all ye ends of the earth to repent and prepare to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. (Mormon 3: 22)

 

Are we heeding his warning?  Some are.  Too many are not.

 

Text copyright January 2014, Gebara Education

 

Pictures from www.lds.org

except

Christ in Conquering Red from multiple sources on the web