Liberty, Preparedness, and Faith During War

Adjusting your thick home-made leather armor, you glance nervously through the concealing foliage at the approaching horde of Lamanites. Your anxiety fades as you remember that the prophet's inspired instruction sent you here, and your resolve hardens as you remember what you are fighting for - freedom of religion, your families, and your very lives. You ready your cimeter and prepare for battle. Not only does the description of such war events in the Book of Mormon teach us the importance of liberty, preparedness, and faith, but it also provides a powerful analogy to our spiritual war on Earth against Satan.

Liberty was one of the main motives for the Nephites to shed the blood of their brethren during the many wars in Alma 43-62. The importance of this liberty is demonstrated by the death sentence proclaimed for king-men who would not fight for freedom (Alma 51:15). Mormon proclaims Amalickiah wicked mainly because he sought "to destroy the church of God, and to destroy the foundation of liberty which God had granted them" (Alma 46:10)/. Thus liberty is esteemed almost as highly as religion, the most important thing to righteous Nephites and hopefully to us. Without liberty, one cannot have free agency, and making our own choices is one of our main purposes here on this earth. According to Ezra Taft Benson, "liberty is the mainspring of human progress" (in Conference report, Oct. 1962, pp. 14-15), and this progression towards godhood is another main objective of the Plan of Salvation. Satan in his attempt to foil the Plan, seeks to take away our liberty to stunt our eternal progress by shackling us in sin. Just as the Nephites fought ferociously to preserve their freedom, so ought we to resist Satan's attempts to place us in spiritual bondage.

Preparedness and strategy were two of the main reasons the Nephites won the war with the Lamanites. They built many fortifications, which allowed them to ward off the Lamanites with little or no loss of life, and they sent spies so they could have accurate tactical information on which to base their strategies. Teancum was not afraid to act to eliminate the root of the problem when he killed Amalickiah, Morianton, and Ammoron, and Moroni did not sit idle when he saw his compatriots becoming complacent; he wrote the title of liberty to get them to fight for their freedom. instead of simply relying on the Lord to deliver them no matter what, the Nephites did what they could to win the ward, luring the Lamanites out of the cities to take them without loss of life and inebriating the Lamanite guards to get prisoners back. This is similar to the story of the brother of Jared; he did his part by coming up with the idea for light in the boats and gathering the stones, and the Lord completed his efforts by making the stones glow. Similarly, we do our part to get to the celestial kingdom by keeping the commandments and repenting when we do wrong, and Christ's miracle of forgiveness will make up the difference. As these people prepared and used their faculties to overcome difficulties, so must we be prepared to withstand the attacks of Satan. By setting boundaries for ourselves of what we will and will not do, and by staying close to the Lord through prayer, scripture study, and obedience, we are learning and employing effective strategies against Satan.

Not only did the Nephites use their own faculties; they also had faith in God and were obedient to Him. The 2000 Ammonite warriors are a perfect example of this spiritual strength. They knew that "if they did not doubt, God would deliver them" (Alma 56:47), and by this faith they were able to fight "as if with the strength of God" (Alma 56:56). If we have such faith, the Lord will surely strengthen us in our battle against the devil. Moroni trusted not just in his spies, but also in the words of the prophet, for he asked Alma where he should go with his armies and then followed the prophet's counsel (Alma 43:23). By his prayer that "the freedom of the land might be favored,"we again see evidence of Moroni's great faith. Although there had been many contentions among the Nephites at this time, they were allowed to win the war "because of the prayers of the righteous" (Alma 62:40). They could not have won had they not trusted in the Lord, as we see later when they were attacked and slaughtered because of "their boastings in their own strength" (Helaman 4:13). This represents how we cannot enter the Celestial kingdom on our own; we require the Great Mediator to make us perfect by atoning for our sins. Similarly, we cannot hope to overcome evil on our own; we must put away our pride and ask Him to help us, then have faith that He will. We must also obey his commandments and have faith, just as Moroni obeyed the counsel of God given through Alma and had faith that he would overcome.

Although we may not use slings or cimeters to fight against evil like the Nephites and Ammonites, the battle descriptions in the book of Alma remind us of our spiritual fight for freedom from sin. To win this battle we must use the same methods as the Nephites; only through our own efforts, obedience to God's commandments, and faith in His Plan, can we return to live with our Heavenly Father.