"Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, 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.
Behold, he was a man like unto
Ammon, the son of Mosiah, yea, and even the other sons of Mosiah, yea, and also
Alma and his sons, for they were all men of God.” Alma 48:17-18
When I first read these verses all I could
think was about how much I wanted to be like Moroni! I wanted to become just
like him. I wanted the very powers of hell to be shaken forever at my presence!
I wanted to be able to be just as righteous and just as faithful as Moroni.
Moroni was not perfect, but he was perfectly consecrated to the Lord. He never
complained against God and the trials he was given in life, he never forsook
the gospel and went out on his own. He was completely humble before the Lord
and relied on Him daily because he KNEW that he could not do it alone. Moroni
could be labeled as a fearless, faithful follower of God.
There are many different men and
women in the Book of Mormon with many different labels. When one talks about
Nephi, it’s always in reverence and awe because of the faith he showed in truly
following God in every aspect of his life. When one talks about Laman and
Lemuel, it’s always about how they were truly never converted to the gospel of
Jesus Christ. They were labeled as doubters and non-believers. When one talks
about King Benjamin we always speak of his endless service to God and his
fellowman. When one speaks about Korihor, it’s always about how he was
faithless, a man that would never be satisfied without proof, a man truly
without faith. Then we have Corianton, who I want to spend time on. Whenever
one brings up Corianton the first thing anyone ever says is, “oh yeah, he’s the
one that broke the law of Chastity.” Or “he’s the black sheep of the family,
the one kid that didn’t get it, etc.” or in modern terms you could say, “he’s
the one that went home early from his mission because of morality issues he
never took care of”. These are his labels. But what we fail to forget is that
Corianton CHANGED. He was able to repent and to become clean through the
atoning power of our Savior Jesus Christ. His sins were completely washed away.
Why then do we keep associating these labels with him?
In verse 18 something amazing
happens at the very end of it. It starts off by saying that Ammon, all the sons
of Mosiah, etc. were men JUST like Moroni. Then at the very end it states, “and
also Alma AND HIS SONS, for they were ALL MEN OF GOD.” Alma and his sons! “His
sons” includes Corianton! Corianton’s label of being a “law of chastity
breaker” was dropped when he fell to his knees for forgiveness from our Father.
His label of being “a sinner beyond repair” was dropped when he went through
the repentance process and felt of the Saviors love and peace. His label of
being “a child of the world” dropped when he turned over his whole entire life
to Christ and preached His gospel again to the dissenters. Corianton was
changed because of the Atonement of Christ.
We also need to drop the labels that
we not only give one another, but what we give ourselves as well. We are all worthy of the Atonement of Jesus
Christ. We are all worthy of our Father in Heaven’s forgiveness. In the words
of Brad Wilcox, “Worthiness is not flawlessness. Worthiness is honesty.” When
we honestly turn to our Father in Heaven and plead for Christ’s grace, our
labels are dropped. We become changed. We become like Him. I have such a strong
belief that when we get to heaven, Corianton will be a lot different than what
we perceived and labeled him in this life because he is changed through Christ.
