And Then There was One

My most favorite picture of all Book of Mormon paintings I have seen is this one showing Moroni mourning the death of his father, Mormon.

“The Lamanites have hunted my people, the Nephites, down from city to city and from place to place, even until they are no more” (Mormon 8:7) and “the Nephites who had escaped into the country southward were hunted by the Lamanites, until they were all destroyed” (Mormon 8:2) and “I even remain alone to write the sad tale of the destruction of my people. But behold, they are gone” (Mormon 8:3)

Despite the need for Mesoamerican theorists to claim the Nephites were not wiped out and that many survived the battle described by Mormon and Moroni, in order to justify their Central American model, the Nephites as a people and individually were destroyed in the Land of Many Waters in the Land Northward. Those who escaped that battle that saw 23 Generals, each over 10,000 Nephite warriors, plus their wives and children, perhaps a total of one million people all killed, were tracked down and killed.

Moroni understood this, and this picture by Walter Rane, clearly depicts Moroni’s statement that “I even remain alone.” For nearly one thousand years the Nephites had been promised that if they fell from righteousness, they would be wiped out, just as the Jaredites before them. As Coriantumr was the last Jaredite standing, Moroni became the last Nephite standing as he clearly recorded.

It is a shame that Mesoamerican theorists must cloud the issue of the “clear and simple truths” of the Book of Mormon in order to justify their erroneous location for the Land of Promise.