For behold, Moronihah had supposed that the Lamanites durst not come into the center of the land, but that they would attack the cities round about in the borders as they had hitherto done; therefore Moronihah had caused that their strong armies should maintain those parts round about by the borders. But behold, the Lamanites were not frightened according to his desire, but they had come into the center of the land, and had taken the capital city which was the city of Zarahemla, and were marching through the most capital parts of the land, slaying the people with a great slaughter, both men, women, and children, taking possession of many cities and of many strongholds.
I found myself in Moronihah’s position when one of my children posed a question to me as we were milking our cows: “Mom--what’s really wrong with homosexual marriage--I mean, why doesn’t the church just let people do what they want?” Because a cow sat between us, my child couldn’t see the look of incredulity on my face. Like Moronihah, I thought I had secured my children’s borders--taught my children the way my parents/grandparents taught me. This child had memorized the Proclamation on the family after all. Where was there this lack of understanding coming from? After we discussed God’s law regarding marriage, my child said, “I know what you’ve taught us; it's just that at school I hear the opposite so much--it just kinda thwarts my perspective, you know--it kinda sinks in?”
As I have listened to youth and adults try to address these ongoing attacks on marriage, I see that many of us are feeling just like my child--unsure of the doctrine and feeling totally inadequate to defend it. My purpose is to address my child’s questions and in so doing to strengthen the “capital-city” doctrine of our potential eternal families: eternal marriage. My child’s questions taught me that if I and we as a people do not consistently and purposely reinforce the central doctrine of marriage, we will see, as Moronihah did, a great, spiritual slaughter among us.
We are waging spiritual warfare. What is our battle strategy? The Book of Mormon is key in understanding how to strategize, fortify, and protect our families from the pernicious attacks of the adversary in our day. Studying the battles, wars, and actions of the both prophets/ kings and the enemy throughout the Book of Mormon enables us to learn from the Holy Ghost what we need to do to defend our own family units. In this article, we’ll discuss the following strategies: 1) Secure the Borders 2) Understand the Enemy, and 3) Persevere in Battle. Since these are only a few of the insights the Book of Mormon can teach us, I encourage a thorough study of the Book of Mormon to more fully guard your eternal family potential.
In teaching on this topic, I wish to reaffirm what the prophets have taught: “No blessing will be withheld from any of God’s sons or daughters if they love Him, have faith in Him, keep His commandments, and endure faithfully to the end.” And, from Elder Scott: “All who qualify for temple sealing and eternal family blessings will, in the Lord’s due time, have them here or in the next life.”
Secure the Borders
When Captain Moroni rent his coat to make the Title of Liberty, he used it to remind his people of true doctrine regarding their liberties, rights, and covenants. At that precarious time, many members of the church were seduced by flattering philosophies that threatened not only their culture but also their religion. Are we not also facing the same threats against “our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children”? Are we not also in need of true doctrine to remind us why we need to preserve our liberties, rights, and covenants? True doctrine secures the borders of our spiritual resilience, fortifying us in “heed[ing] not” the secular attacks against our culture and religion.
Learn and Teach True Doctrine
Marriage for Time
What is God’s law regarding marriage and where is it found?
In D&C 49:15-17, God teaches his basic law of marriage, which applies to all of his children, regardless of culture or religion. While this marriage commitment ends at death, it still fulfills the Lord’s work and glory in bringing his spirit children to earth and clothing them with physical bodies:
And again, verily I say unto you, that whoso forbiddeth to marry is not ordained of God, for marriage is ordained of God unto man. Wherefore, it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation; And that it might be filled with the measure of man, according to his creation before the world was made.“marriage is ordained of God unto man. Wherefore, it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh.
Additional teachings regarding marriage and its purpose is found in The Family: A Proclamation to the World. It states:
God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife. . . .. Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. . .. The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.
Marriage for Eternity
What is God’s law regarding eternal marriage?
In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; And if he does not, he cannot obtain it. He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase.
What does God’s law of eternal marriage entail?
If a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him . . . unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood . . . [their marriage] . . . shall be of full force when they are out of the world . . . to their exaltation and glory which shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever. Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue. . . .
Can you become like your Father in Heaven--a god--without obeying the law of eternal marriage?
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory. For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world.
What happens to those marriages that do not follow the law of Eternal marriage?
And everything that is in the world . . . that is not by me or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God.
What happens to those individuals in those marriages?
They are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory. For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever.
Ignoring Marriage Doctrine: Prophetic Warnings & Consequences
The prophet Jacob offered a strong warning to his people when they tried to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms against God’s basic marriage law:
Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren . . .. Behold, the Lamanites . . . are more righteous than you; for they have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our father—that they should have save it were one wife . . . and there should not be whoredoms committed among them. And now, this commandment they observe to keep; wherefore, because of this observance, in keeping this commandment, the Lord God will not destroy them, but will be merciful unto them; and one day they shall become a blessed people. Behold, their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children.
Jacob’s warning parallels that of modern prophets who firmly “warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.” Once again, we turn to the scriptures to demonstrate visibly the fulfillment of these warnings in ancient cultures.
When the culture of marriage and family among the ancient Book of Mormon cultures remained strong, distinct and protective patterns regarding the family manifested. For example, righteous King Zeniff “ caused that the women and children of [his] people should be hid in the wilderness” prior to arming all his men, both young and old, to go up “in the strength of the Lord” against the oncoming Lamanite army. Righteous Nephites won their battles against Lamanite hosts when inspired to preserve their homes, wives, and their children. Captain Moroni hoisted the Title of Liberty upon every tower and at the front of every battalion of men, reminding his soldiers to defend their wives and children. The Sons of Helaman “did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives”.
Quite an opposite pattern emerges when the culture of marriage and family weakened due to wickedness and whoredoms. King Noah, who released all the priests consecrated by his father King Zeniff, led his people to commit whoredoms and abominations in the sight of the Lord. In only one generation from King Zeniff’s pattern of hiding their wives/children from the Lamanites, his son Noah commanded his men to abandon their wives and children to the Lamanites. Those men who refused to leave their families still felt justified in sending their daughters to the front line to plead with the Lamanites not to slay the people. The Jaredite nation went even further. They armed their wives and children and sent them into battle to the utter destruction of the entire populace. The Nephite nation “with their wives and their children, did now behold the armies of the Lamanites marching towards them; and with that awful fear of death which fills the breasts of all the wicked, did they await to receive them.” The great prophet commander Mormon laments over these fallen families: “O ye fair sons and daughters, ye fathers and mothers, ye husbands and wives, . . . how is it that ye could have fallen!”
The Book of Mormon, written specifically for our day, vividly verifies ancient and modern prophetic warnings regarding those nations who reject the Lord’s law of marriage and family. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is our obligation to teach people of this dire pattern and to awaken them to the marriage laws set forth by God. More especially, it becomes critical to work within all the power and grace that God bestows upon us to persevere in battling for our sacred marriage relationships and in diligently teaching our children regarding the Lord’s law of marriage and family.
Compromising on Marriage Doctrine
The Church of Jesus Christ holds a marriage doctrine that is unique in all the world because it is about becoming like our Heavenly parents--living joyously in eternal marriage relationships, creating children, and perpetuating the sacred family relationship past death.
Do you realize that ancient civilizations sought for this power? They built magnificent temples, but those edifices were not dedicated to nor accepted by the Lord. They employed priests, but these usurpers did not hold the Priesthood (legal authority). They performed rites and ordinances, but their ceremonies were without faith in Jesus Christ. All their efforts to perpetuate their marriages and families stand in ruin today, to the speculation and wonderment of archeologists.
On the other hand, today the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds all the Priesthood keys, powers, and legal authority to perpetuate family relationships beyond the grave. Under the leadership of prophets and apostles, the Church of Jesus Christ operates and builds holy temples dedicated to and accepted by the Lord Jesus Christ. Legal holders of authorized Priesthood power perform rites and ordinances and extend covenants centered in Jesus Christ to worthy seekers. You can go to almost any organization on earth to teach you to become good, but there is only one organization in all the earth to teach you to become god. That organization is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and those teachings center in the sacred eternal marriage covenant.
To answer my child’s question, “Why can’t the church just let people do what they want?”, we need to clarify that “the Church” doesn’t take away anyone’s agency to choose how to live by teaching true doctrine. Just as Captain Moroni waved the standard of liberty “in the air, that all might see,” the Church of Jesus Christ likewise waves the standard of marriage that all the world might see the Lord’s true doctrine. With Captain Moroni’s banner flying, the Nephites divided themselves according to their liberty into either the camp of Captain Moroni or power hungry Amalickiah. The “Title of Liberty” gave the Nephites a choice, but it did not take away their liberty to “do what they want”. The Church of Jesus Christ hoists the standard of marriage, but it does not take away anyone’s liberty to choose whether to abide by it.
Understand the Enemy
Our family raises many animals, but hands down, we rear more flies than any other creature on our farm. Because female flies produce up to 500 eggs in their limited lifespan, we see 500 flies in every one fly on the farm. We do not care whether the flies are male or female--each plays its role in perpetrating more pests. Thus, we do not stop our efforts to trap, destroy, ensnare, and kill each and every pest. We vacuum them with the shop vacuum. We sprinkle them with diatomaceous earth. We try homemade sprays, hairspray, borax spray, sticky, gooey fly strips and paper, and of course fly traps. Our sole purpose is to destroy this potential perpetual population. We delight in catching even one fly as one fly equals 500!
To Satan, you are nothing but a fly. He sees that you have the potential to become what he gave up: a husband (or wife); a father (or mother); a god--with power and authority to have 500 or rather innumerable sons and daughters. Like we do with flies on the farm, Satan knows he cannot stop his efforts to derail you from reaching your potential for joy. He wants you to be swallowed up in misery like himself.
In blessed contrast, your Heavenly Father, who sees you--past, present, and future-- does not see you as a “pesky fly” but instead as a pivotal, important person from which can come 10,000+ more pivotal, important persons. He wants to share with you the joyous state in which he dwells--the felicity found in eternal families.
An intriguing Book of Mormon letter records the words of a father (Mormon) to his son (Moroni): ”And Lamah had fallen with his ten thousand; and Gilgal had fallen with his ten thousand; and Limhah had fallen with his ten thousand; and Jeneum had fallen with his ten thousand; and Cumenihah, and Moronihah, and Antionum, and Shiblom, and Shem, and Josh, had fallen with their ten thousand each.
Now imagine what this conversation would sound like between another father (Heavenly Father) and his Son (Jesus Christ) if Satan’s many “fly traps” work to derail you from your eternal marriage and family potential: “And Carl had fallen with his ten thousand; and Sarah had fallen with her ten thousand; and Steven had fallen with his ten thousand; and Parker had fallen with his ten thousand; and Hannah, and Jarod, and Marissa and Kate, and Josh, and Emily, had fallen with their ten thousand each.”
Can you begin to see how critical YOU are and how critical YOUR marriage and family is to your Heavenly Father? Can you begin to see why the enemy pulls out all sorts of methods to ensnare you? Your Heavenly Father wants you to become as He is: happy. Satan wants you to become as he is: miserable. What do you want?
Persevere in the Battle
Next to your relationship with Heavenly Father, your marriage (whether present or future) is the most sacred and important relationship you will ever enter into. Recognizing that, you should expect the adversary to attack your marriage or your marriage potential. When those attacks are upon you, follow the example set forth by Captain Moroni:
“And it came to pass that when the men of Moroni saw the fierceness and the anger of the Lamanites, they were about to shrink and flee from them. And Moroni, perceiving their intent, sent forth and inspired their hearts with these thoughts—yea, the thoughts of their lands, their liberty, yea, their freedom from bondage.”
As you remember what you are fighting for, may you follow the example of the family-inspired Nephite soldiers who persevered in the battle by “[turning] upon the [enemy] and. . . [crying] with one voice unto the Lord their God for their liberty and . . .freedom from bondage.” In the sacred name of our hope and our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Amen.
(from my talk given at Stake Conference, June 18, 2017)