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These Things Matter Not

I know it is a trite and overworn phrase, but what are the things that truly matter most to you? Please consider this story. 

It was 63 B.C. somewhere on the eastern reaches of the land of the Nephites. The Nephites were in a protracted war with the Lamanites. Moroni, the chief captain of the armies of the Nephites received an epistle from Ammoron, the King of the Lamanites. Ammoron requested of Moroni a prisoner exchange. Moroni rejoiced at the request and sent an epistle to Ammoron. 

However, in that epistle, Moroni strongly condemned Ammoron for waging such a brutal and unjust war—a war that he called murderous. He went on to speak of the justice of God and promised Ammoron “The sword of His almighty wrath which doth hang over you except ye repent and withdraw your armies into their own lands” (Alma 54:6).

He called Ammoron “A child of hell” and threatened him if he did not stop this war immediately. “I will follow you even into your own land, which is the land of our first inheritance; yea, it shall be blood for blood, yea, life for life; and I will give you battle even until you are destroyed from off the face of the earth” (Alma 54:12).

Ammoron read the epistle and was angry. He immediately wrote back spouting off 500-year-old Lamanite political dogma; rhetoric that had begun with the murderous hate of Laman and Lemuel. Somehow that justified his actions. He then lobbed his own threats at Moroni, promising him “a war which [would] be eternal” (Alma 54:20).

And then Ammoron responded to Moroni’s promise of God’s wrath and eternal judgments. He said, 

“And as concerning that God whom ye say we have rejected, behold, we know not such a being; neither do ye; but if it so be that there is such a being, we know not but that he hath made us as well as you. And if it so be that there is a devil and hell, behold will he not send you there to dwell with my brother whom ye have murdered, whom ye have hinted that he hath gone to such a place? But behold these things matter not.”

There it is! With that last statement, Ammoron summarily dismissed God and the warnings of Moroni completely and went back to the business of murder and conquest until he met his end at the tip of Teancum’s lance. Within three years, on the benighted beaches of the land of Moroni, Ammoron was propelled into eternity unprepared to meet his God. There he would learn by his own sad experience that the matters of God matter most—that repentance, obedience, humility and covenants matter more than any other earthly concern. 

Moroni’s promise and Ammoron’s fall are a warning to us all. God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ are the most important matters in all of mortality. Let us be warned!

Source:

Alma 54