Chapter 9

Since I served an LDS mission many years ago, I have read the Book of Mormon cover to cover so many times that I can’t accurately nail down how many times I’ve read it. I don’t say this to brag as it’s probably no more than any other average LDS church member my age, but to emphasize how much a part of my life it has been. Through all phases of life, all my ups and downs, joys and heartache, failures and successes, it has been the one constant. I know the stories. I know the history. I know the characters. They almost feel interwoven into my psyche. And yet, I think I’m only beginning to really understand what it is. Knowing how the book is speaking to you personally is so important to fully receive its message.

In the LDS church, the Book of Mormon is often taught as if there are two audience groups. The good, active, faithful adherents to the gospel is one group, and the bad, wicked unbelievers is the other. We delimit the messages throughout the book; when there is praise and approval from God given to a specific person or people, then He is speaking to the believers (active members of the church). When there is admonition or condemnation, He is speaking to the unbelievers (inactive members or non-members). An example of this would be Nephi’s discourse and prophecy near the end of 2 Nephi regarding those who are at ease in Zion. In 2 Nephi chapter 28, Nephi warns of those who say “Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God – he will justify in a committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take advantage of one another…and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the Kingdom of God.” He then continues warning against vain and foolish doctrines, works in darkness, pride, false teachers, false doctrines, robbing the poor, building of fine sanctuaries, stiffneckedness, whoredoms, and so on. When I’ve read this before and as I’m taught in Sunday School, this passage is referring to all of those in group number two…the unbelievers. Those are philosophies of Catholics, Protestants, and other groups…certainly not us good LDS folks. Since I’m part of the believer group, I can safely skim through these warnings and look down on the wicked since these things can’t be happening in the one, true church. We’re the good people and this isn’t speaking to us. This is meant for others.

And this was my problem…who I thought the audience is. Nephi is writing to the Gentiles (that’s us LDS folks) in our time. We are the Gentiles who were blessed to bring about the restoration, beginning with Joseph Smith. We are Nephi’s audience for all his writings. Well, us and the Lamanite remnant. We are not Israel. We can certainly be adopted in the covenant, but we are Gentile through and through (yes, I know there are a small minority of non-Gentiles in the church, but the vast majority of members and the church leadership is Gentile). If he wasn’t speaking to us directly for all of it, why did he write it? Did he write this stuff for people who would never read the Book of Mormon? That makes no sense. When he sees all of these evils happening, he is talking about those of us in the first group…the “good” people…because it’s all one group. The entire set of plates were written to us. When we read it, we should assume each warning, admonition, and chastising is directed to us. Why? Because we’re doing all these bad things inside the church. He literally says in the midst of all this, “…that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell… Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!” Zion is not code for other people. It’s not code for Catholics. It’s not code for atheists. It’s not code for the other churches the Lord warned about to Joseph in the first vision. It’s not code for wicked people. Zion is His people. If we claim to be His people, then this message is for us. He is speaking to those in churches who draw near to the Lord with their lips, but their hearts are far from him.

As I pondered these specific dangers Nephi warned of, many things of this dispensation came to mind. Within the LDS community, we have false doctrines (blood atonement, racism, follow men instead of Christ), whoredoms (adultery, polygamy, child abuse), fine sanctuaries (crazy expensive temples, high end properties), and robbing the poor (incorrect teaching of the principle of tithing, stingy with fast offering disbursements, tiny pct of church wealth to humanitarian causes) just to name a few. Are all church members and leaders bad? Absolutely not. Most are good and doing their best, but to pretend there aren’t abominations happening within the purview of “the church” is naïve.

Is this why we were condemned as a church in Nauvoo? When the Lord condemned the church, he said it was because of unbelief and vanity. I know of no revelation or any public statements by church authorities that state we are no longer under that condemnation. President Benson even alluded to us still being under condemnation in the 1980’s. Why don’t we talk about this? Again, if you don’t acknowledge your situation and sins, you can in no way repent. That goes for the church as well as the individual. The only way out of that condemnation according to the Lord is to repent and remember the covenants in the Book of Mormon. How can we repent if we don’t think we’re doing anything wrong? In recent years, what has made the Book of Mormon so much more powerful in my life is knowing who I am in relation to its message. Making myself the target audience, I can more clearly see my own sins and what I must repent of because prophets like Nephi and Moroni have seen me and my day. They know my faults. They know what I’m up against and what I’m fighting. Knowing that each message contains keys to overcoming the world, I imagine each prophet is speaking to me directly and calling me to change and forsake all those aforementioned evils of today...happening right within my LDS bubble. I more easily identify false traditions that have supplanted true doctrine over time. I can more effectively reset my spiritual compass after drifting in the wrong direction.

This is what has been on my mind lately. I really feel like we as an LDS people have fully embraced the “All is well in Zion” mentality. There are wicked things happening right under our noses and we’re either oblivious or looking the other way to keep our comfortable status quo. Members in the U.S. are generally well off, the church has an enormous treasury, and we seem to be well-respected in the community. The church’s PR work has paid off. We don’t want to disrupt our comfortable lives. Remember, the lives of the true prophets, apostles, disciples, and followers of Jesus Christ in every dispensation were easy, quiet, and comfortable. Fortunately, in our times, the Lord has decided to flip that around because we’re special. We’re better than those who came before. The living prophet overrides pretty much every one that came before. Yes, I’m being sarcastic. How can I not when it’s so obvious that something is not right in our time?

I want to scream from rooftops for people to wake up, repent, and change our ways because we are in a really bad place right now. Like days of Noah bad. The wicked have reached new levels of evil these days. Secret combinations are becoming more open and brazen in their operations (which we ignore as a church even though our core book of scripture focuses on them), children are targeted and groomed by perverse groups of people, mental illnesses (which I believe are partly due to demonic possession) are raging, violence everywhere from unjust wars to mass shootings, pollution of our earthly environment, unholy usury, oppressive prison systems, exploitation of undeveloped nations by wealthy countries/corporations, synthesizing our food, and so on. The church has so much wealth now that it could change some of these things on a global scale, but we do nothing. Imagine if a prophet used his platform and resources to rail against our prison systems? To call out global leaders for their immoral wars? To free the victims of human trafficking? To use investment funds to provide every member a good home and land to cultivate in poorer countries?

Recognizing who I am as an audience to the Book of Mormon writers has proved tremendously helpful in uncovering my own personal wickedness. I take each admonition and warning seriously as I ponder what changes I need to make in my life. Picking and choosing what I think applies to me isn’t the right approach because it takes the Lord’s direction and guidance out of the equation. Instead, I assume all the messages are for me and let Him spotlight the darkness that needs light. It’s fascinating how powerful the Book of Mormon can be and how much there is to unpack from it.