How Did Mormon Take Possession of the City?

Ever the Anthropologist, John L. Sorenson makes a ludicrously far-fetched conclusion in his book “An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon,” when he writes, on pages 337 and 338: “At Angola, a stopping place in the Nephite flight out of central Zarahemla, Mormon’s alliance of lineage militias found the locals unenthusiastic about getting involved. The Angola residents probably felt they would sooner avoid choosing sides in a quarrel that they thought they could ride out quietly. But of course, like it or not, they would have to provide great quantities of supplies. It is no wonder Mormon’s armies had to “take possession” of the city.”

It is hard to imagine that anyone having read the Book of Mormon could make such a ridiculously preposterous statement. First of all, Mormon and his army took possession of the city to make preparations to defend themselves against the Lamanites, and they “did fortify the city with our might” (Mormon 2:4). Taking possession in a military sense merely means the government, or control, or assemblage of manpower and material would be under the direction of the military leader(s) who were in charge of securing the safety and protection of the people. It does not imply that this was done against the wishes of the people in the city of Angola. With a sizable army approaching, which has threatened to annihilate the entire Nephite nation, it is far more likely the Angolans welcomed Mormon and his army, since “There was blood and carnage spread throughout all the face of the land, both on the part of the Nephites and also on the part of the Lamanites; it was one complete revolution throughout all the face of the land” (Mormon 2:8).

Second, this was not a time when there were any “avoiding choosing sides” since the Lamanites were burning every city they passed and putting to death every Nephite they could capture. “The day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually, for I saw thousands of them hewn down in open rebellion against their God, and heaped up as dung upon the face of the land” (Mormon 2:15), and they were hunted and driven (Mormon 2:20).

Never the one to be bothered with scriptural information, however, Sorenson goes on to write: “As the Nephite forces retreated still farther, they repeated this process over and over, forcing local people to cast their lot with the retreating lineages and their armies. All the political and military means available to Mormon and his people they used to “gather in our people as fast as it were possible, that we might get them together on one body” (Mormon 2:7)

Mormon gives a perfectly clear explanation why he was gathering the Nephites into one body, “that perhaps we might save them from destruction” (Mormon 2:21) and that they would “stand boldly before the Lamanites and fight for their wives, and their children, and their houses, and their homes” (Mormon 2:23). This war and following two Lamanite defeats, led to their withdrawal from the Land Northward, and making a treaty with the Nephites in which they agreed to give up all the Land Northward to the Nephites while retaining all the Land Southward for the Lamanites (Mormon 2:28-29). Ten years later, the Lamanites were at it again, attacking the city of Desolation (Mormon 3:7).

While Sorenson would like to make this out to be some small fight between some lineages so he can justifyh his Mesoamerican model, the fact of the matter is it was a fight between all the Nehpites and the Lamanites, who eventually came in such numbers as to wipe out every Nephite man, woman and child (Mormon 8:7).