The themes of addiction and recovery are prevalent through the entire Book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. In fact, every chapter has strong imagery of addiction and recovery. After King Benjamin teaches the Twelve Steps and the people make a covenant to take upon themselves the name of Christ, Ammon makes a Twelve Step call on the people of King Limhi who are in bondage.
These people are paying tribute money to their captors. I remember when a large chunk of my income went to support my addiction. My addictions consumed me, and every waking moment was spent thinking of how and when I could satisfy my addiction. These people had "many strugglings" (Mosiah 7:18) but to no avail. When I first saw the Twelve Steps through the window of the Alano Club, as I was walking to work on a hot summer morning thirty years ago, I pondered Step One. I convinced myself I could quit drinking when I was ready, even though I had not seen a sober day in five years. But two years later, when I was ready to quit, I found that my strugglings were in vain. I was truly powerless.
King Limhi gathers his people at the temple and proclaims this powerful promise of recovery:
"Therefore, lift up your heads, and rejoice, and put your trust in God, in that God who was the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; and also, that God who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, and caused that they should walk through the Red Sea on dry ground, and fed them with manna that they might not perish in the wilderness; and many more things did he do for them" (Mosiah 7:19).
Abraham and Isaac were both rescued by Jehovah as they were strapped to altars (see Abraham 1:12-16; Genesis 22:9-12). Jacob was rescued from his brother, Esau, who sought his life, but later they were reconciled (see Genesis 27:41; 33:1-4). As we struggle with severe addiction, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is our only hope for rescue and recovery.
I remember when I was forty days sober in a hotel room all alone in Washington DC. I searched the dresser drawers for a phone book to call AA and get myself to a meeting. I was alone, far from home, and very vulnerable. Instead, I found an in-room bar with my alcoholic beverage of choice staring me in the face. I did manage to leave the room, call a taxi, get to an AA meeting, and return, only to have the compulsion hit me with the force of a tornado. I could feel the overpowering compulsion, and I knew that once again I was powerless.
I remember kneeling down by the bed and pleading to God for help as I pounded my clenched fists on the bed. Suddenly I felt all my strength flow out of my body, felt a sense of peace and calm, and then I fell harmlessly asleep on my knees. With all the strength I could muster I somehow pulled myself into bed, fell asleep, and slept soundly with my enemy and beverage of choice in the same room. When I woke up the compulsion was gone and the storm was passed. I checked out of that hotel room five days later with an absolute assurance and testimony of the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
King Limhi gives a warning from the Lord: "And again, he saith: If my people shall sow filthiness they shall reap the chaff thereof in the whirlwind; and the effect thereof is poison" (Mosiah 7:30). A whirlwind goes around and around in a vicious circle. Like the practicing addict in bondage who repeats the same senseless behavior over and over while expecting a different result, the whirlwind repeats its cycle over and over while never getting anywhere. We eventually become poisoned by our addictions.
The next verse gives a similar warning. "And again he saith: If my people shall sow filthiness they shall reap the east wind, which bringeth immediate destruction" (Mosiah 7:31). This is Middle Eastern imagery that Joseph Smith would not have been aware of. These people had descended from Jerusalem.
Map 6 shows Babylon due east of Jerusalem. In the original Greek of the New Testament, the word pneuma means wind, breath, or spirit. In some contexts it can be a representation of the manifestation of the Holy Ghost, such as on the Day of Pentecost when there was a "rushing mighty wind" (Acts 2:2). The "east wind," as a representation of the spirit of Babylon, blows across the Arabian Desert and destroys everything in its path. It withers the vegetation and causes "immediate destruction." Addiction does the same.
The end of this chapter in Mosiah has a powerful promise for the addict. There are two of these in Mosiah. The promise states,
"But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage" (Mosiah 7:33).
God, who provided a daily dose of manna, to sustain His children wandering in a wilderness, will keep the addict clean and sober--one day at a time.
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