I know many who believe that Mormon 8 is talking about the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, specifically the latter verses Mormon 8:35-41. Although I do believe the LDS is doing the same horrible things mentioned in those verses, I don’t believe it is a fulfillment of prophecy.

For starters let’s start by looking at what is being said in the chapter.

There are many points in verses 1 – 11. Moroni is finishing the record of his father Mormon. The Lamanites killed the Nephites. Hiding the record in the earth. Moroni and Mormon have seen the three Nephites.

The next verses I am going to group together to talk about are verses 12 – 26. The reason I am going to group together so many verses is because the majority of them the Book of Mormon in various ways, some more obvious than others.

Mormon 8:12 And whoso receiveth this record …
Mormon 8:14 And I am the same who hideth up this record unto the Lord; the plates thereof are of no worth … but the record thereof is of great worth; and whoso shall bring it to light, him will the Lord bless.
Mormon 8:15 For none can have power to bring it to light save it be given him of God …
Mormon 8:16 And blessed be he that shall bring this thing to light … yea, it shall be brought out of the earth … and it shall be done by the power of God.
Mormon 8:17 And if there be faults they be the faults of a man. But behold, we know no fault; nevertheless God knoweth all things …
Mormon 8:18 And he that saith: Show unto me, or ye shall be smitten—let him beware lest he commandeth that which is forbidden of the Lord.
Mormon 8:21 And he that shall breathe out wrath and strifes against the work of the Lord, and against the covenant people of the Lord who are the house of Israel, and shall say: We will destroy the work of the Lord, and the Lord will not remember his covenant which he hath made unto the house of Israel—the same is in danger to be hewn down and cast into the fire;
Mormon 8:23 … those saints who have gone before me, who have possessed this land, shall cry, yea, even from the dust will they cry unto the Lord …
Mormon 8:24 And he knoweth their prayers, that they were in behalf of their brethren …
Mormon 8:25 And behold, their prayers were also in behalf of him that the Lord should suffer to bring these things forth.
Mormon 8:26 And no one need say they shall not come, for they surely shall, for the Lord hath spoken it; for out of the earth shall they come, by the hand of the Lord, and none can stay it; and it shall come in a day when it shall be said that miracles are done away; and it shall come even as if one should speak from the dead.

Most of the verses in the next group of verses 27 – 34 say something to the effect of when the Book of Mormon comes this will be happening.

Mormon 8:27 And it shall come in a day when the blood of saints shall cry unto the Lord, because of secret combinations and the works of darkness.
Mormon 8:28 Yea, it shall come in a day when the power of God shall be denied, and churches become defiled and be lifted up in the pride of their hearts; yea, even in a day when leaders of churches and teachers shall rise in the pride of their hearts, even to the envying of them who belong to their churches.
Mormon 8:29 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be heard of fires, and tempests, and vapors of smoke in foreign lands;
Mormon 8:30 And there shall also be heard of wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes in divers places.
Mormon 8:31 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth; there shall be murders, and robbing, and lying, and deceivings, and whoredoms, and all manner of abominations; when there shall be many who will say, Do this, or do that, and it mattereth not, for the Lord will uphold such at the last day. But wo unto such, for they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity.
Mormon 8:32 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins.
Mormon 8:34 Behold, the Lord hath shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must shortly come, at that day when these things shall come forth among you.

If you ask me it sounds much like Joseph Smith day when the Book of Mormon came forth. I get that from JSH and other various quotes from Joseph Smith like this one.

At the age, then, of sixty years, our blooming republic began to decline under the withering touch of Martin Van Buren! Disappointed ambition; thirst for power, pride, corruption, party spirit, faction, patronage; perquisites, fame, tangling alliances, priest-craft, and spiritual wickedness in high places, struck hands and revelled in midnight splendor. Trouble, vexation, perplexity, and contention, mingled with hope, fear, and murmuring, rumbled through the union and agitated the whole nation as would an earthquake at the centre of the earth the world, heaving the sea beyond the bounds, and shaking the everlasting hills; so, in hopes of better times, while jealousy, hypocritical pretensions, and pompous ambition, were luxuriating on the ill-gotten spoils of the people, they rose in their majesty like a tornado, and swept through the land, till General Harrison appeared as a star among the storm clouds for better weather. – Joseph Smith, 1844, General Smith’s Views of the Power and Policy of the Government.

To add to the strength of these verses talking about when the Book of Mormon comes forth 2 Nephi 27 (Isaiah 29) and 2 Nephi 28 show forth the same things happening when the Book of Mormon comes forth. 2 Nephi 27 (Isaiah 29) talks about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. 2 Nephi 27:9 is well known verse that shows this chapter is talking about the coming for the of the Book of Mormon, but there are so many others that are obvious once you know the history around the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.

2 Nephi 27:9 But the book shall be delivered unto a man, and he shall deliver the words of the book, which are the words of those who have slumbered in the dust, and he shall deliver these words unto another;

In verse 2 of 2 Nephi 28 it stating that what is in the book mentioned in 2 Nephi 27 will be of great worth to Lehites and unto all men.

2 Nephi 28:2 And the things which shall be written out of the book shall be of great worth unto the children of men, and especially unto our seed, which is a remnant of the house of Israel.

Verse 3 then says:

2 Nephi 28:3 For it shall come to pass in that day that …

Then a whole list of things that will be happening when the Book of Mormon comes forth. Both these chapters list many of the same things happening when this sacred record the Book of Mormon comes forth from the dust of the earth.

Just as I said with Mormon 8, the sins mentioned in 2 Nephi 28 is still happening today, and we should guard ourselves against them. But the period of time these chapters are specifically talking about is when the Book of Mormon comes forth.

Now back to Mormon chapter 8. Verse 35 Moroni starts off by saying he has seen our day, which I completely believe is the truth. A question should be asked, who is he talking to when he says he has seen our day. Does that mean specifically for today, or when the Book of Mormon comes forth as the previous chapters were talking about, or is that everyone who has, is, or will in the future lived on earth? I believe there is a chance that Moroni has seen all of the family of Adam. But I believe the focus of this is during the period of when the Book of Mormon comes forth. For one the focus for quite a while has been when the Book of Mormon comes forth in the previous verses and there has been no indication of the time period changing. On top of the rest of the verses in Mormon 8, 36 – 41 follow the same warnings that are in 2 Nephi 28 which are also talking about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.

I do understand that many scriptures have dual and more fulfillments, but I don’t believe this applies to when the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon comes forth because of prophecies of it’s coming in the Book of Mormon. Here is one example, you can find others in this other post I did earlier, Scriptures about the sealed portion in Ether.

Ether 4:6 For the Lord saith unto me: They shall not go forth unto the Gentiles until the day that they shall repent of their iniquity and become clean before the Lord.

In summary, although I believe the abominations in Mormon 8:36-41 are happening today, the specific time this chapter is talking about in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.