As Americans and as Latter-day Saints we should be asked the same question that Moroni asked Pahoran. Have we forgotten the captivity of our fathers (v. 20). The Revolutionary War brought freedom to the American colonies. The fathers led the Latter-day Saints from New York to Kirtland; from Kirtland to Missouri; from Missouri to Nauvoo; and from Nauvoo to the Rocky Mountains.
In the war against terrorism—or the war against evil—we must “make use of the means the Lord has provided for us” (v. 21). We must take precautions against terrorism and not sit idly by. We must avoid the temptations of pornography, cheating, lying, greed, and the quest for power that persists among us by the thousands and ten thousands who surround us and do nothing (v. 22).
The source of Moroni’s quote “the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also” (v. 23) is obviously from the plates of brass and was among the “many plain and precious things taken out of the [Bible]” (1 Nephi 13:28). It is, however, another principle of war as well as of life. President Ezra Taft Benson has commented on this verse: “The proud do not change or improve, but defend their position by rationalization. Repentance means change, and it takes a humble person to change.” In the final battle against evil, which will end with the destruction of the wicked by the coming of Christ, it will commence with the members of the Church. The Lord has revealed:
23 Verily, verily, I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face.
24 Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord.
25 And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord;
26 First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord. [D&C 112:23–26]
Moroni’s suggestion of the Nephites first cleansing their inner vessel of government is followed by a threat (Alma 60:24–27). He was going to “make use of the means which the Lord [had] provided for [him]” (v. 21). We may not have the forces or sources available to use that Moroni had, but we do have the gospel to hold up by our example and through the teaching of those who will listen. We also have freedoms within our country that we must support through election of honest, wise, and good men to local and national political offices. Furthermore, we must give them our support after they are elected (see D&C 98:9–10).