Victory by stratagem

I thought it was funny in Alma 43:29-30 when Moroni

"knew the intention of the Lamanites, that it was their intention to destroy their brethren, or to bsubject them and bring them into bondage that they might establish a kingdom unto themselves over all the land; And he also knowing that it was the only desire of the Nephites to preserve their lands, and their liberty, and their church, therefore he thought it no sin that he should defend them by stratagem; therefore, he found by his spies which course the Lamanites were to take."

Because the Lamanites were trying to do bad things, it was okay for Moroni to, er, cheat.

That's not cheating.  It's war after all, and all's fair there.  It's what his stratagem was that I'm writing about today.  Moroni was in a war with a strong adversary--one that outnumbered him greatly.  The adversary was out to enslave and destroy him.  Moroni knew this was their intention.  We are also at war with a similar adversary, and I believe that the lesson from these two chapters (43 and 44) of Alma is to teach us how to win.

Elder Holland, in the most recent General Conference, said, "We are at war, and for these next few minutes, I want to be a one-man recruiting station. Do I need to hum a few bars of 'We Are All Enlisted'? You know, the line about 'We are waiting now for soldiers; who’ll volunteer?'”

The first thing Moroni does to fight this war: Armor.  Moroni's soldiers covered the "vital parts of the body" with "breastplates, armplates, and headplates" (v 38).  This is a brief blog post, so I won't define what all that is, just that it's important to us to win.  Here's a talk from N. Eldon Tanner on putting on Armor, and here's a fairly cheesy and very dated video from lds.org.



Second, Moroni seeks and follows the guidance of the prophet.  "And Moroni, also, knowing of the prophecies of Alma, sent certain men unto him, desiring him that he should inquire of the Lord whither the armies of the Nephites should go to defend themselves against the Lamanites" (v 23--in v 25, he follows the counsel he gets). This guidance is available to us at the links I've placed above, and at other obvious places.

And finally, Moroni strategically places his armies at the places where he knows the adversary will attack.  If we've lived for any length of time we ought to know by now how and where our adversary will attack us--what temptations he places in our way.  To win the victory, we need to guard such places strongly.

Armor, counsel, placement.  Following Moroni's example can help us win our individual war.