It’s rather ironic Korihor met his end at the hands of the Zoramites. He died literally under the feet of people who believed exactly as he taught. I can’t help but think he would’ve fared much better at the hands of the people who best lived the religion he eschewed, the Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s.
The Zoramites are caricatures of the person who is pious and religious just for show. They are also a warning to us who are striving to be true Christians. They were all about appearance and vanity: pious on Sunday, and anything but the rest of the week. They thought they were “God’s elect” saved and set aside to be redeemed while the rest of the world is destroyed. They loudly claimed from their towers to know things, which in reality were far from the truth.
My great fear is that I am an unwitting Zoramite more often than I care to admit. And that for me is the best lesson to learn from them. They thought they had a corner on the truth, which they didn’t. And they thought they were God’s special people, which they weren’t. If anyone was what the Zoramites thought they were, it would have been the Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s.
Beyond that, the mission to reclaim the Zoramites contains a pithy observation by Alma: the preaching of the word had more effect on the behavior of people than any other thing, even the sword. You want to change someone’s behavior, teach them the Gospel. Once internalized, it will cause changes no amount of force could ever do. It’s why all of us here in mortality chose the Father’s plan of agency over Satan’s plan of force. Change and growth has to come from within, it can’t be forced.
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