In a world so lost and confused, there are few places and even fewer individuals that we can look to for guidance and know for sure that they do not have their own agenda or are deceiving us – whether they know it or not, but in this, a world of tumultuousness and obscurity, there is greatness and guidance; there are people and places that inspire each person they reach and who uplift those who listen to them to higher purposes and ways of thinking. Moroni is exactly one such person, one who ought to be known, understood and emulated, and so here is to understanding what made him who he was.

It is said of Moroni, in Alma 48:17, “If all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.” This high manner of praise was likely given because he raised that title of liberty and covenanted to protect liberty. Moroni “was a man of a perfect understanding… whose soul did joy in the liberty and freedom of his people… and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood.” (Ibid: 11 – 13) Plenty of people in history have had a great understanding of the gospel, but I am brought to attention the detail of words in choosing “perfect understanding.” He understood the purpose of life and the way of salvation enough to understand that it all revolves around freedom and that without it there is nothing. Ezra Taft Benson said, “Now, part of the reason we may not have sufficient priesthood bearers to save the Constitution let alone to shake the powers of hell, is because unlike Moroni, I fear, our souls do not joy in keeping our country free, and we are not firm in the faith of Christ nor have we sworn with an oath to defend our rights and the liberty of our country.” (Our Immediate Responsibility, General Conference, Oct, 1966) It was this fact that lead to his political involvement, and it was the fact that his “soul did joy in the liberty and freedom of his people,” and that “he had sworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood” that would shake the powers of hell if everyone were to be like him; it was all about freedom for him; as far as we know, he didn’t have any high position in the church. We gather at least once a week to, in essence, become more like Moroni. We try to think about and discuss and dwell upon true principles so we can gain a “perfect understanding.” We have all pledged our allegiance to the flag and the republic of this nation to stand next to her and protect her, but do we take that pledge seriously and reflect upon what we say when we recite the pledge of allegiance? Do we “joy in the liberty and the freedom of [our] country” like Moroni did? Do we “labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of [our] people” like he did? It seems the time has come again for another Moroni to stand up and call to organization and unity those who love the Christian heritage of this land and our free way of life. Of all the wonderful gospel principles, standing up for our rights, fighting for our liberty and being “anxiously engaged… [to] bring to pass much righteousness” (D&C 58:27) for the welfare of our nation, being involved in the affairs of our liberty is one of the only ways we will be able to be free to practice all of the other doctrines and keep moving forward as a church.

The Book of Mormon, in Alma 46:13, states how Moroni “Prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land.” It goes on to read in verse 20, “Behold, whosoever will maintain [the title of liberty] upon the land, let them come forth in strength of the Lord, and enter into a covenant that they will maintain their rights, and their religion, that the Lord God may bless them.” “That the Lord God may bless [us]” we need to come together and to maintain our rights and liberty by taking “possession” of the land; In order to have the Lords land in the “possession” of the Lords people, we need to elect them into offices of trust and put them into positions of leadership where they can be heard and make differences concerning the laws that govern the land. Indeed, we need to band together, meet together, organize and work together; we cannot do near enough on our own to get people to wake up, to get the right people in the right places and will lose the liberty and land we have if we don’t work towards such a unified goal. Edmund Burk once said, “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” (Parliament, April 23, 1770) When, because they will, evils fuse together, those working for goodness must correlate to defuse those evils; if the righteous do not jointly endeavor to resist the machinery of wickedness, they will fall short separately in the multitude till every element of them has gone away and is out of reach and remembrance. There is a very large band of latter day saints, who have read this and who know this, if not the more numerous Christians alive, who could “possess the land.”

Norman Vincent Peale once said, “Americans used to roar like lions for liberty. Now we bleat like sheep for security,” and from what I have seen, I think I will agree. It is vital that we stir in this nation a flame that has too long been smoldering. In this deciding generation it is more than crucial that we, righteous band of Christians, become vigorously engaged in the welfare and activities of America the beautiful. We need not worsen our condition by thinking all is well and thereby abstaining from working to achieve a greater level of life and liberty; if anything, we need only to catch Americans attention to the already aggravated state of affairs in which they live, wake them up, and remember the reasons and passion for them that formed their country and carried it through so much adversity; we need to roar like lions for freedom again in order to persist as a great and free nation. In this age of apathy towards politics, we ought to look to Moroni as a standard of how we ought to act in relation to our freedoms.