White Mormon

In Chapter 21, while the two peoples were not technically at war, the Lamanites’ hatred and oppression of the Nephites grew to such a degree that the Nephites decided to go to battle against them. But after they suffered three military defeats, they gave up hope for using violence to escape their circumstances. Instead, they humbled themselves and began to pray for help. It was at this point that Ammon’s expedition showed up. Since they were white, the king assumed they were some of the fugitive priests at first. But once everyone was up to speed, they dedicated all their thoughts to how the Nephites in that area – a very “bad neighborhood,” so to speak – could free themselves.

In Chapter 20 the priests of Noah, who were now all alone in the wilderness, discovered a group of Lamanite girls and abducted them, to replace the wives and concubines they had abandoned. This was, as I mentioned before, one of the remarkably few examples of sexual relationships between white Nephites and “black” Lamanites. And like every other such example, it came about only through extreme wickedness.

The missing Lamanite youths caused some new tension and bloodshed between the Nephites and Lamanites, until the latter were convinced that the fugitive priests must be responsible.

In Chapter 19, the loss of Alma’s people destabilized the kingdom, and an insurrection was brewing, but it was interrupted by a massive Lamanite attack. The king ordered his people to flee, and when the dark attackers began to catch up with them, he even ordered his men to abandon their wives and children. The church leaders (AKA the priests of Noah) obeyed him, and so did a number of other Nephite men, but many did not. In the end the Lamanites “had compassion on them, for they were charmed with the beauty” of the white Nephite women. The attack came to an end, with the Lamanites wrangling most of the Nephites back into their little ethnic enclave and subjecting them to heavy taxes.

The king’s most loyal subjects, who had obeyed and run away with him, decided life wasn’t worth living without their families, so they resolved to go back and either reunite with or avenge their loved ones. When king Noah protested this, they put him to death and his priests ran away. When the Lamanites learned that Noah had been deposed by his own people, they swore an oath to refrain from killing any more Nephites. Noah’s son became king and there was peace for a time.

Continuing from last week, in Chapter 18, one of the church leaders under king Noah’s reign, whose name was Alma as I mentioned before, repented of the evil he had participated in and began to share the teachings of Abinadi – very carefully, very secretly – with the common people. By virtue of his previous authority, Alma ordained priests and organized a new church with a few hundred followers. They lived virtuously, “imparting to one another both temporally and spiritually according to their needs and their wants,” and held their secretive gatherings in the outskirts of Nephite territory. But eventually the king discovered what they were up to. With the king’s troops in pursuit, Alma’s people fled into the wilderness.

Like Noah's subjects, surrounded by people of darkness who put us under constant threat, so many of us are deceived and pacified by the flattering words of the king (government) and priests (church leaders). We have ignored one of the lessons of the Book of Mosiah: it's wise to be suspicious when the teachings of these authorities are in close alignment, as they often are today.

As I've hinted about before, the story of Abinadi parallels Christ's earthly life (and death) in many, many ways. But for our purposes, probably the most interesting parallels involve the actions of the church leaders, especially in the years after Abinadi's death.

Finally, in Chapter 17, the king and most of the leaders of the church resolved again to execute Abinadi. But one of them, a man named Alma, touched by the teachings of Abinadi, argued that he should be released from his imprisonment. Noah cast Alma out and sent men to kill him, but he escaped harm. The king and the other leaders offered to spare Abinadi's life if he would take back his criticisms and warnings. When he refused and reiterated them yet again, the king was frightened almost to the point of releasing him. But his church leaders strengthened his resolve and Abinadi was burned to death.

In Chapter 12, Abinadi came out again, but in disguise, and reiterated his previous warning to the people in greater detail. He was captured and taken to the king, who gathered the church leaders to figure out what to do about Abinadi. They interrogated him at length but he got the better of them, to such a degree that he began to teach them and also scold them for leading the people spiritually astray.

In Chapter 13, they accused him of being crazy — also a familiar slander against those who speak the truth in a society gone mad. But he continued to teach, criticize, and warn them. In Chapter 14 and Chapter 15, he recited an excerpt from the Book of Isaiah and explained its meaning, in regard to the coming of Jesus Christ. In Chapter 16, Abinadi spoke more about Christ, who would come to earth about 150 years later.

Still in Chapter 11, at this point a man named Abinadi was inspired to come forward and warn the people that they needed to turn aside from their degeneracy, or God would punish them by allowing the Lamanites to conquer them. This made the people murderously angry with him, and drew the attention of the king. Noah asked what right Abinadi had to judge him or his people, accused him of trying to stir up divisions and hate among the public — a familiar charge often laid against those who dare to speak the truth — and declared his intention to have Abinadi put to death.

Abinadi apparently went into hiding for a couple of years.

Better late than never! Continuing from last week, in Mosiah Chapter 11, Zeniff selected one of his sons, who was named Noah, to be the next king. Like some of the other momentous decisions in his life, Zeniff did not seem to put a lot of thought into this one; Noah was a degenerate. He “did cause his people to... commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness.” He taxed them heavily (a 20% flat tax, to be specific), so that he could live a life of luxury with his wives and concubines. The leadership of the church followed suit, indulging in promiscuity and laziness, and encouraging the people to take up a similar lifestyle.

Some time during this period of white decadence, their dark-skinned neighbors came calling again, launching small attacks here and there. King Noah had defunded the police, so to speak, so his first attempts at keeping the peace failed. “Noah sent guards round about the land to keep them off; but he did not send a sufficient number, and the Lamanites came upon them and killed them.” Noah then sent a larger force and drove the Lamanites away again, but this little victory made the Nephites boastful and overconfident in their ability to fight.

“They were a wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people... 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.” — Mosiah 10