“I know your doing”

One interesting thing about prophets, if you truly believe in them, is that not only can a current prophet see into the future, but past prophets have seen our present. This is the situation in Mormon Chapter 8 when Moroni says, “Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.” (Mormon 8:35).

Moroni, more than 1600 years ago, saw us walking in the pride of our hearts, and loving money and material things more than we “love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.” (Mormon 8:36-37). He saw our “secret abominations to get gain” at the expense of others and warned that “the sword of vengeance” hangs over us (Mormon 8:40-41).

It has long been fashionable at Mormon gatherings to nod our heads and mumble in agreement whenever anyone mentions the “increasingly evil world,” but we rarely look directly at the specifics of evil in the world or consider how we might be a part of the problem.

Moroni chastises us for ignoring “the sick and the afflicted” but we Latter-day Saints, the very people Moroni is warning, have voted once again to empower the national Republicans who want to repeal the Affordable Care Act (and, of course, they still have no better plan to replace it) and the Utah Republicans who have repeatedly refused to expand Medicaid.

Moroni chastises us for ignoring the “poor and the needy” while we vote for Republicans who oppose any increase in the minimum wage, work to further weaken labor unions, and threaten to destroy Social Security.

I hope we wake up and heed the warnings of the prophets before the sword falls. We will have no one to blame for our stubborn blindness but ourselves.