© 2024 by Kip M. Twitchell. All rights reserved. 

As a committed member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,^[i] I have been taught that the Book of Mormon foreshadows the Second Coming, a concept recently restated by Elder Bednar: “This volume of scripture looks to the future and contains important principles, warnings, and lessons intended for the circumstances and challenges of our day. Hence, the Book of Mormon is a book about our future and the times in which we do now and will yet live.”^[ii]

Taking this to be true, the wars which end the book might foreshadow future events. Considering that, I have asked why, as the Nephites descended into wickedness, didn’t the Nephites simply come to look like the Lamanites? How was the Nephite wickedness different from the Lamanites’? How might circumstances in our world today be likened to this period in the Book of Mormon?

Political Extremism

My mother was an active Republican for years, holding caucus meetings in her home regularly and once volunteering as a delegate to the state convention. She was also proud of her one vote for a Democratic president in Truman, her first presidential election. 

In my early life, I felt well-represented by the Republican party, but having lived more of my life outside of Utah, I now better understand other perspectives. I recently told a friend, “When we moved from Illinois to Texas, we moved from one state where our vote didn’t count to another state where our vote didn’t count—for opposite reasons.” Living now in Arizona, we’ve found a place where our vote appears to really count!

I have deeply pondered upon what beliefs have landed me between the two major parties, particularly relative to much more conservative friends who seem to question how I can be so committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ but be ambivalent about conservatism.

Standing Apart

Church leaders have been clear that as members, we must be committed to the truth. Thomas S. Monson said, “It is essential that we reject anything that does not conform to our standards.”^[iii] Many of my conservative friends would point to such statements as a reason for their firm stand in conservatism. Yet recently, Church leaders have strongly emphasized—using statements as close to commands as I have ever heard—the need to love and not contend with others.^[iv]

Looking at the social and political division among some Church members, could this polarization be driven by differing perceptions of conditions preceding the Second Coming of the Savior, including the great destruction among the wicked? While millennialism is important to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I question my conservative friends’ beliefs that the political left comprises the wicked that will be destroyed by the moral and political right in the last final battle. 

Blameless Second Coming

Although the Second Coming of Christ will conclude the terrible destruction, I don’t believe Christ, the lowly lamb of Bethlehem, will relinquish His innocence. He was blameless of all the afflictions he suffered in life. Even at the Second Coming, He will not be vindictive, angry, or unloving. As I noted on my blog years ago:

“None of those who suffer at the Second Coming will be able to point at Him and say He is the cause of their sufferings. God, in His infinite wisdom and power, will have known how the laws of the universe will create the conditions where the wicked will punish the wicked (see Mormon 4:5); with such perfect resolution that none of the wicked will be left to claim victory.”^[v]

The true followers of Christ will be similarly blameless, in that they will not be vindictive, angry, or unloving towards the wicked.

If the final battle is not defined by the righteous versus the wicked, then where are the righteous in that battle? I think the Savior explained that in that most counterintuitive beatitude: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). How can the meek inherit the earth? Simply by not participating in the final battle. The meek are not on the battlefield when it starts.

The Meek Are Not Weak

The wicked will think the meek are driven from the battlefield before the battles begin, but the meek will have a different view of this event. I recently realized that in His sermon to the Nephites in 3 Nephi 20, the Savior described the meek at the time of the Second Coming. First, He described the growth of Christianity through no other means than the influence of the Holy Ghost. But then:

“If the Gentiles do not repent after the blessing which they shall receive, after they have scattered my people—

“Then shall ye, who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, go forth among them; and ye shall be in the midst of them who shall be many; and ye shall be among them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goeth through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

“Thy hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.

“And I will gather my people together as a man gathereth his sheaves into the floor.^[vi]

“For I will make my people with whom the Father hath covenanted, yea, I will make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass. And thou shalt beat in pieces many people; and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. And behold, I am he who doeth it.”^[vii]

Wait. What? This sounds as if those following the Savior will destroy the wicked by violence. How could one reconcile the idea of being blameless with this prophecy? I think the answer is that the righteous will be so powerful that the wicked will not come against them. The righteous’ horns and hooves will be so formidable, their foes will fear them. Note the Savior said, “If he goeth through,” not that when they do.^[viii]

President Jeffery R. Holland described the might and power of the meek using the experience of the Savior at His arrest. When those heavily armed and trained were sent to arrest Him, His simple words, “I am he,” sent them backwards, and they fell to the ground. As members of the Church emulate the Savior, they will be given this same power.^[ix]

Book of Mormon Final Battle

After describing the power of the covenant people of God, the Savior explains where justice springs from: “And it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that the sword of my justice shall hang over them at that day; and except they repent it shall fall upon them, saith the Father, yea, even upon all the nations of the Gentiles.”^[x] The sword is not the sword of the meek; it is the sword of God the Father. I do not believe that at the last day, the righteous will destroy the wicked. 

Returning to the question of modern-day parallels to the Book of Mormon, is it possible that current extremism on both sides might be reflected in the attitudes and behavior of the Lamanites and the Nephites? Could possibly the Nephites, with their long religious tradition, might have become extremely conservative? Might they have quoted prophecies about the destruction of the wicked, fomenting war with the Lamanites?^[xi]

Loving, Not Contentious

Politically, the meek are in the middle. They will not escape violence as the wicked, in anger, persecute them for not joining their respective causes. The wicked will see it as initial victory, driving the meek from the battlefield, perhaps even economically, before engaging their final foes.^[xii] The meek, on the other hand, might view it as the wicked moving to a different battleground, avoiding the power of God vested in the meek—a power available only through deep, deep Christ-like love. 

Although this transition from anger and political extremes to deep love and a more moderate stance will likely not be easy, true Saints will sense the guiding, loving hand of God in it, ultimately to be protected from destruction, and inherit the earth.^[xiii]

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^[i] I was relieved six years ago when President Russell M. Nelson made clear that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not some other originally derogatory title (which, while trying to be nice, we attempted to accept but which, in the end, remains derogatory). He said, “Responsible media will be sympathetic in responding to our request.” Those organizations would never use titles the Anti-Defamation League or the NCAACP say are offensive to its members. See “The Correct Name of the Church” in General Conference Report, October 2019.

^[ii] David A. Bednar, “In the Space of Not Many Years,” General Conference Report, October 2024.

^[iii] As quoted in Dallin H. Oaks, “The Plan and the Proclamation,” General Conference Report, October 2017.

^[iv] For example, see Dallin H. Oaks, “Love Your Enemies” General Conference Report, October 2020, Russell M. Nelson, “The Power of Spiritual Momentum,” General Conference Report, April 2022, and “Peacemakers Needed,” General Conference Report, April 2023.

^[v] Kip M. Twitchell, “Blameless,” VirtueWheel.com, December 16, 2019.

^[vi] In our mechanized world, we don’t do this anymore.  But anciently, when one gathered gain, one was very, very careful to keep the grain from falling from the stock when picked or transported. Likewise, the Savior will gather His grain very, very carefully, with attention to each individual grain.

^[vii] The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, 3 Nephi 20:15–19.

^[viii] I admit I don’t know exactly what the Savior meant by “beat in pieces many people,” but I’m sure that the meek are not violent. God’s delegated power is only for the “people with whom the Father hath covenanted,” meaning members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has the priesthood authority to enable making covenants with the Father. The Savior is not referring to unbaptized genetic descendants of Abraham. Any military power by such may be no different than that held by Shiz and Coriantumr in the final Jaredite war (Ether 15).

^[ix] Jeffery R. Holland, “I Am He” General Conference Report, October 2024. See John 18:4–6.

^[x] 3 Nephi 20:20. The Savior repeats this pattern in 3 Nephi 21:12–25, where if the righteous go through, not when, followed by a description of the Father’s judgement upon the wicked.

^[xi]  Mormon 3:9–16 can very much be read this way.

^[xii] This is based upon a talk given in 2006 by the Chicago Temple president, Glenn Hansen, who explained that the Church’s temple endowment highlights progression of the modern Church. Early days were about obedience, and then sacrifice, perhaps ending with the Manifesto in 1890. Next was the basic laws of the gospel, perhaps ending with the revelation on the priesthood in 1978. We clearly are currently learning about the law of chastity. Next, we will learn more about the law of consecration. Interestingly, the Savior’s sermon ends by quoting Malachi about tithes and offerings (3 Nephi 24) and the temple (3 Nephi 25), and then the Nephites having all things in common (3 Nephi 26:19). (From personal journal, Friday, July 21, 2006; president name per churchofjesuschristtemples.org. See also General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Section 27.2, “The Endowment.”)

^[xiii] The responsibility of the meek in all of this might well be summarized by this passage from Isaiah 50:4-7: “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”