The Angel Moroni

Moroni was a prophet who wrote in the Book of Mormon, a book of scripture of the Mormon Church. He is the son of Mormon, the prophet after whom the Book of Mormon is named. Moroni’s life covers the last part of the fourth century and the first part of the fifth century. Moroni was the last of the Nephites, a people whose history is the basis of the Book of Mormon. He was a commander of the Nephite armies under his father, and led a group of 10,000 men in the final war between the Nephites and their enemies, the Lamanites. The Nephites were defeated, and Moroni was forced to hide and travel constantly to avoid being captured and killed.Moroni’s father had bequeather to him the task of completing the Nephite record. Moroni wrote chapters eight and nine of the Book of Mormon, the Book of Moroni, the title page, and also abridged the records of the Jaredites into the book of Ether.

Moroni knew that the record he was keeping would help many people of the future find the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. After completing the record, most likely about thirty-six years after the final battle between the Nephites and Lamanites, Moroni buried it in a stone box in a hill referred to as Cumorah.

Moroni also played a vital role in the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He appeared to Joseph Smith as a heavenly messenger, informed him of the Book of Mormon, and instructed him. He appeared to Joseph Smith more than twenty times in six years.

Moroni is portrayed by a statue on the spires of most Mormon temples because he is believed to be the angel referred to in the book of Revelations 14:6-7, “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.”