Mormon 8

Moroni Is Alone

I, Moroni, will finish my father Mormon’s record. I only have a few things to write. My father told me to write them.

After the great battle at Cumorah, the Nephites who escaped to the south were hunted by the Lamanites until they were all killed. The Lamanites killed my father too. I am the only one left to write the sad story about how my people were destroyed. They are gone. I will do what my father told me to do. I don’t know if they will kill me too. So I will write and hide these records in the earth. It doesn’t matter where I go.

My father made this record. He wrote down its purpose. I would write it too if I had room on the plates. But I don’t. I have no friends because I am alone. My father was killed in battle. All my family members are dead. I have no friends and nowhere to go. I don’t know how long the Lord will let me live.

The Nephites Are Destroyed

Four hundred years have passed since our Lord and Savior came. The Lamanites have hunted my people, the Nephites, from city to city and from place to place. They killed them all. Their fall was great. The destruction of my people, the Nephites, is great and amazing. The Lord is the one who did it. Now the Lamanites are at war with each other. This whole land is full of murder and killing. No one knows when the war will end. I won’t say more about them. Only Lamanites and robbers are left on this land. No one knows the true God except for the followers of Jesus. They stayed in the land until the people became so wicked that the Lord would not let them stay with the people anymore. No one knows if they are still on the land. But my father and I have seen them. They have helped us.

The Record Will Come to Light

Anyone who reads this record and doesn’t judge it because it has mistakes in it will learn about greater things than these. I am Moroni. If I could, I would tell you everything.

I will stop speaking about these people. I am the son of Mormon. My father came from Nephi’s family. I am hiding this record for the Lord. The plates are not worth anything because the Lord said so. He says that no one should have them to get money. But the record on them is very important. The Lord will bless whoever brings it to light. No one can bring it to light unless God gives them that power. God wants it done to bring him glory and to help his people. His people made a promise with him long ago and they have been scattered. God will bless the person who brings this to light. It will come out of darkness into light, just like God said. It will come out of the earth. It will shine out of darkness and come to the people. This will happen by God’s power.

If there are mistakes, they are human mistakes. But we don’t know of any mistakes. God knows everything. So anyone who judges this record should be careful. They might be in danger of hell fire. If someone says, 'Show me a sign or you will be hurt,' they should be careful. They might be asking for something the Lord said not to do. Anyone who judges quickly will be judged quickly too. People will be paid back for what they do. So anyone who hurts someone will be hurt by the Lord. Here is what the Scripture says: People should not hurt others. They should not judge. God says: Judging is my job. I will punish people who do wrong.

If someone gets angry and fights against the Lord’s work and his people, they are in danger. His people are the house of Israel. If they say, 'We will destroy the Lord’s work. The Lord won’t remember his promise to the house of Israel,' they might be cut down and thrown into the fire. The Lord’s plans will keep going until all his promises come true.

The Prayers of God’s People

Look at what Isaiah said would happen. I can’t write it all down. But I tell you this: The people who lived on this land before me will cry out. They will cry to the Lord from the dust. As the Lord lives, he will remember his promise to them. He knows their prayers were for their families. He knows they had faith. Because of his name they could move mountains. Because of his name they could shake the earth. By the power of his word they made prisons fall down. The fiery furnace could not hurt them. Wild animals and poisonous snakes could not hurt them because of the power of his word. They also prayed for the person the Lord would let bring these things to light.

When the Record Will Come

No one should say, 'These things won’t come.' They will come because the Lord has said so. They will come out of the earth by the Lord’s power. Nothing can stop it. It will come when people say miracles don’t happen anymore. It will be like someone speaking from the dead. It will come when God’s people cry to the Lord because of secret groups and evil things. It will come when people say God has no power. Churches will become dirty. They will be proud. Church leaders and teachers will be proud. They will be jealous of people in their churches. It will come when people hear about fires and storms and smoke in other countries. People will hear about wars and stories of wars. They will hear about earthquakes in different places. It will come when there are many bad things on the earth. There will be murders and stealing and lying and cheating and sex sins and all kinds of bad things. Many people will say, 'Do this or do that. It doesn’t matter. The Lord will save people like us in the end.' But those people are in trouble. They are full of bitterness and sin. It will come when churches are built that say, 'Come to us and pay money. Your sins will be forgiven.'

You wicked and stubborn people! Why have you built churches to get money? Why have you changed God’s holy words? You bring punishment on yourselves. Look at what God has shown us will happen. The time is coming when all these things will happen. The Lord has shown me great and amazing things. These things will happen soon when these records come to you.

Moroni Speaks to Future Readers

I speak to you as if you were here with me. But you are not here yet. Jesus Christ has shown me who you are. I know what you are doing. I know you are proud. Only a few of you are not proud. You wear fancy clothes. You are jealous. You fight. You are mean. You hurt others. You do all kinds of bad things. Your churches have all become dirty because you are proud.

You love money and your things and your fancy clothes. You love making your churches look nice. You love these things more than you love poor and needy people. You love them more than the sick and those who are suffering. You teachers are not true to God! You sell yourselves for things that will rot away. Why have you made God’s holy church dirty? Why are you ashamed to be called by Christ’s name? Why don’t you see that happiness that lasts forever is better than suffering that never ends? Don’t you care more about what people think of you? Why do you decorate yourselves with things that have no life? Why do you let hungry and needy and naked and sick and suffering people walk by without helping them? Why do you do evil things in secret to get money? You make widows and orphans cry to the Lord. Their fathers and husbands were killed. Their blood cries to the Lord from the ground. It cries for God to punish you. God’s punishment hangs over you. The time is coming soon when he will punish you for killing his people. He will not listen to their cries any longer.