The Book of Mormon describes a man named Nehor who is hardly mentioned in the text at all, however the style of his teachings had a profound and lasting effect on the people. Very commonly when reading this story, we will gloss over it thinking it doesn’t have much to do with us today. However, if we stop to look then there are Nehor like people everywhere all around us. Some of these people we even gladly follow as sources of truth.
Nehor
The book of Alma begins with a description of Nehor who is introduced as suddenly coming onto the scene with a popular message. The people instantly gravitated towards Nehor’s teachings because it was exactly what they wanted to hear. This however was quite spiritually devastating to the people.
The message itself is not important for this discussion, however if we look at the major characteristics of Nehor’s style of teaching then we can see that it easily directly applies to us today. I am also not saying I am exempt. We all at times fall into some of these patterns. Honestly though, after going through these points, if you feel I am a modern day Nehor, then I would encourage you to never listen to me again. I have very little to lose by putting this out there, and you have everything to gain.
If we look though at the description of Nehor, then we can see 4 major characteristics of his style which are things we can watch out for:
- Preached what he thought was truth
- Sought popularity for teaching
- Sought financial gain for teaching
- Taught a popular message
It is my goal to go through each of these points individually and show how people, in the Mormonism sphere, are directly doing these exact things however many don’t seem to mind at all. Many think that we have to be wicked Anti-Christ personalities to lead others astray. However, this is not true at all. We just have to set ourselves up as a light.
We simply have to want others to come to us for truth instead of having them seek God on their own. I am not going to call out anyone specifically because, there is honestly quite a lot that fit the pattern and that is not helpful overall. However, if we are honest then we each should be able to spot these individuals ourselves.
Preached word of God
The first description of Nehor’s teaching was that he was “preaching to them that which he termed to be the word of God”. This should generally be assumed. People typically do teach what they believe to be true. We all actually should be doing this and there is nothing wrong with doing it.
However, we can also be like Korihor in Alma 30. In this case Korihor was teaching a popular message that he initially didn’t believe in. However, after a while he saw great success and started believing in the lies himself. He wanted it to be true because everyone else wanted it to be true as well. He was personally far too invested in it to care whether it actually was true or not though.
Many people in Mormonism today are like this. They distort the scriptures to support their ideas or don’t even attempt to support it at all through the scriptures. They claim words of men as their authority instead of the word of God. They claim their understanding is unique or special and they have an insight into things that no one else does. They attack others and degrade those that disagree.
It is however important for us to understand that we are wrong about an awfully large number of things and that is okay. We have been led astray by generations of false traditions that we claim to be the truth. God will correct us though if we allow him to. However, when we establish ourselves as uncorrectable, we are spiritually damned. Many will say that they could be wrong, and you should research it yourself. However, the moment you show them that they actually are wrong then they react like Nehor did with Gideon. You become an obstacle to them, and they treat you as such.
Sought popularity
The next thing that Nehor taught was, “that every priest and teacher ought to become popular”. People don’t typically come right out and say this. However, we can generally see this with people seeking out every current trend and commenting on it in the pursuit of popularity and relevance. In every little bump in Mormonism there are countless people who are clawing for attention. They need to get their face out there and help the algorithm to push their content a little higher than everyone else.
Some people recently have even gone so far as to purchase fake subscribers or viewers in order to make their platform seem more accepted. With sites like Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, people are always seeking more attention and more eyeballs to watch them. Recently, in one video, a popular person in Mormonism even described those that watch their content as their “followers”. This is a clear sign that motivations probably are not perfectly pure. We should be followers of only one person which is Christ.
Honestly, it is kind of hard to have a public presence and not get caught up with the attention. Most of these points are not inherently a problem individually, however when combined then they are absolutely a problem. When we seek popularity then we seek what is popular and shun what is not popular. There are countless people in Mormonism who have nothing helpful to say, but they want to say it anyways just to remain relevant.
They spin things to appeal to specific demographics and ignore everything else. They want to remain edgy and cool, so they tailor their message to an audience that is ultimately fickle and unforgiving. The second you say something they don’t like then they say you’re teaching false doctrine, and they are unsubscribing.
This actually happened just this last week. One popular person released some information that showed another popular person was wrong about their take on something. The reaction was swift and decidedly negative. Many said that they disagreed and were no longer going to subscribe. All because someone had a different opinion. They had set up a specific person as a sacred cow and couldn’t comprehend they actually might be wrong. This causes most people instead to not say anything at all that might rock the boat or be controversial to any degree. They stick to safe subjects and tell people what they want to hear. In social media, popularity is king.
Sought financial gain
The next thing that Nehor taught was that “they ought not to labor with their hands, but that they ought to be supported by the people”. This is the most dangerous point of them all. This means then that the person has a direct financial incentive to encourage more people to give more money and to listen to them more. They also have a direct reason to discourage people from leaving and consequently giving less money. This is quite a conflict of interest.
Today there is no shortage of people in Mormonism that want to be financially supported by those that listen to their message. This actually seems to be fairly common. I am not going to list names, however you can see this with donation links, Super Chats, Patreon links, Venmo links, product endorsements, custom merchandise and just plain old requests for money so they can “focus on the message more” or something similar. When you are directly supported by those that listen to you, then doesn’t this change your motivations?
All these things are done by the biggest names in Mormonism, yet very few people seem to have a problem with it. Money by itself is not the problem. However, it opens the door to so many problems that it honestly is best to avoid it entirely. This is also true for the leaders of the LDS church or anyone with a social media presence. There is so much temptation to use your position in order to benefit yourself directly.
If you are unsure about this yourself, then I would encourage you to check your favorite individual for any of these things listed. There is a very high chance they will be doing at least one of them. Why do they really need to sell a hoodie with their name on it? Why do they really need to push a health food scam in their content? Why do they really need to constantly ask for donations?
I honestly seriously would have been turned off from Christianity in Jesus’ day if all the apostles were selling branded merchandise at the meetings, or had cleverly placed product endorsements, or regularly told you about the donation link in the description. It really is so silly to me that we tolerate this kind of nonsense.
Most will respond with something like they have spent a lot out of pocket or have spent many hours researching and so on average they are making below minimum wage. I have personally been told this more than once by people who have been questioned. However, this completely misses the point and is just plain misleading. When a person is presenting a message, and they have a direct financial incentive to have that message well received then we have a problem.
Christ, who is our master, was a great example of what to do. However, today we want to be popular, teach our version of truth, and live a comfortable life as a result. This is not how God has ever worked in the scriptures however this is exactly how we want our false god to work for us. Most voices, in Mormonism today, want to be popular and supported by the people exactly as Nehor did anciently. True prophets in the scriptures are rarely popular. However today we have flipped things and instead want popular people to be our prophets.
Popular message
The last point was that Nehor taught a very pleasant doctrine. He taught people exactly what they wanted to hear and likely justified it using things that were familiar to them such as the scriptures or their church history. For instance, Nehor taught “that all mankind should be saved”, they “need not fear nor tremble”, and that “all men should have eternal life”. Honestly, this sounds incredibly nice and so I can see why people would want it to be true.
Today we have many people who are doing the exact same thing, but in more modern ways. People expound on certain concepts or ideas and tell others exactly what they want to hear. They ignore inconvenient history or label it as forged by someone else. They ignore obvious problems and instead double down on things that fit their ideas better. They don’t zoom out to see the big picture and instead focus on the most inconsequential of details so they can demonstrate their ideas are superior.
Today we also have ambulance chaser type people in Mormonism. Always on the fringes of issues ready to pounce if it helps their cause. Most people are not doing this maliciously. However, this is basic human nature that is hard to avoid. We all want appreciation and recognition, and many crave the spotlight to an unhealthy level. Most people however would never teach a message that was unpopular because it would negatively affect them directly.
For instance, if God told someone that something they previously taught was contrary to what they thought, would they now correct the record? Of course, if the concept was minor, they likely would. However, what if the concept was major or even foundational to everything they have done previously? What would they do then? The vast majority of people would ignore God or rationalize it away. If my whole social media existence is teaching something that I now know is wrong, then am I likely to change? No. Certainly not. I would instead dig a deeper ideological ditch around myself and never think of it again.
Very few people would preach a new message and consequently lose almost all their audience. This applies to whatever your views are on any issue. I have seen numerous times someone who was describing something that was different than what others wanted to hear. People generally reacted by getting defensive and saying they were going to unsubscribe now. This is personally damning as they are cutting themselves off from anything contradictory to their ideas. However, for many, who care about subscriber count or total viewers, then it can lead to approaching every issue by first gauging public opinion.
Conclusion
As previously mentioned, these points are not individually bad however taken together they can be very spiritually damaging. For instance, many people in Mormonism today follow the same pattern from Nehor. Take any random person that you go to for information and ask yourself these questions about them. If you approach things honestly and sincerely then the answer is obvious. If they are a Mormon Nehor, then they should be avoided or at the least approached with a lot of caution.
- Do they teach what they claim to be true or what they want to be true?
- Do they want to be popular and get a lot of attention for teaching their message?
- Do they want to make a living, or financially gain, from teaching their message?
- Do they only speak about things that people generally find to be interesting or popular?
This is honestly a sure-fire recipe for apostasy. We can also see this exact same pattern throughout the Book of Mormon and how it led to apostasy every single time. We must be ever vigilant as to the Nehor pattern in our search for truth. Many people are there to assist us in our search. However, ultimately, they really want to assist themselves as well. In some cases, this is done maliciously, however in other cases it is done innocently. We must however be constantly focused on God and seeking his will for us.
God’s ways are not man’s ways. No matter how foreign to us, individually or collectively, we must seek God’s will and follow it to the best of our abilities. True prophets of God will rarely be popular and teach us what we want to hear. Instead, they will teach us what we need to hear, and we must be ever so thankful to God for that.
