MORONI -ONE BAD TO THE BONE DUDE?!?

 Pretty correct assessment:

I have always been fascinated by Mormon and Moroni and, when I was recently reading about them, something dawned on me about them.  Both of them were a couple of seriously dangerous dudes.  Mormon led the final battle of the Nephite nation in 385 AD.  He was born in 310 AD making him 75 years old at the time.  He was given command of the Nephite armies in 326 AD when he was 16-years-old. .  At the final battle, he was one of only 24 survivors out of several hundred thousand warriors.  This number does not include their women and children.  Quite conceivably, there were several million of his people who were killed.  There would have been enemies all around him during that battle royale.  He had to have had eyes in the back of his head even if he was surrounded by his guards.  He would have been a whirling, twirling demon in a fight.  We know he fought because he was badly wounded and fainted from the loss of blood.  He survived a raging, fierce battle at the age of 75 that we simply could never comprehend.  Can you imagine what class of warrior he had been as a younger man?

If Mormon got married at 20-years-old in 330 AD, he probably would have begun bringing children into the world within a year or two.  Most likely, Moroni was born between 331-340 AD.  Can you imagine the training that curly old wolf gave Moroni?  In a vision, Joseph Smith saw the death of Moroni.

“At a meeting at Spanish Fork, Utah Co., in the winter of 1896, Brother Higginson stated in my presence that Thomas B. Marsh told him that the Prophet Joseph Smith told him (Thomas B. Marsh, he being then President of the Twelve), that he became very anxious to know something of the fate of Moroni, and in answer to prayer the Lord gave Joseph a vision, in which appeared a wild country and on the scene was Moroni after whom were six Indians in pursuit; he stopped and one of the Indians stepped forward and measured swords with him.  Moroni smote him and he fell dead; another Indian advanced and contended with him; this Indian also fell by his sword; a third Indian then stepped forth and met the same fate; a fourth afterwards contended with him, but in the struggle with the fourth, Moroni, being exhausted, was killed.  Thus ended the life of Moroni” (Fourth Nephi through Moroni: From Zion to Destruction, p 248).

Think about that. Moroni was set upon by four Lamanites and killed three of them before he was killed.  The last we know that Moroni was alive was in 421 AD.  If he was born in 340 AD, that means that he was 81-years-old when he killed three of his attackers with a sword!  Most likely, his two attackers were in their 20s or 30s, only ¼ his age.  Moroni also was a wily old wolf and a tough, seriously dangerous dude!

So, what became of Moroni upon his resurrection as an angel? We have the answer to that, too.

“In those early and perilous times, our men were few, and our resources limited. Poverty was among the most potent enemies we had to encounter; yet our arms were successful; and it may not be amiss to ask here, by whose power victory so often perched on our banner? It was by the agency of that same angel of God that appeared unto Joseph Smith, and revealed to him the history of the early inhabitants of this country, whose mounds, bones, and remains of towns, cities, and fortifications speak from the dust in the ears of the living with the voice of undeniable truth. This same angel presides over the destinies of America, and feels a lively interest in all our doings. He was in the camp of Washington; and, by an invisible hand, led on our fathers to conquest and victory; and all this to open and prepare the way for the Church and kingdom of God to be established on the western hemisphere, for the redemption of Israel and the salvation of the world.”

“This same angel was with Columbus, and gave him deep impressions, by dreams and by visions, respecting this New World. Trammeled by poverty and by an unpopular cause, yet his persevering and unyielding heart would not allow an obstacle in his way too great for him to overcome; and the angel of God helped him—was with him on the stormy deep, calmed the troubled elements, and guided his frail vessel to the desired haven. Under the guardianship of this same angel, or Prince of America, have the United States grown, increased, and flourished, like the sturdy oak by the rivers of water” (Orson Hyde, JD 6:368).

Moroni is the guardian angel of the United States of America.

Scott and Kylie Gillespie