Sword of Laban

Hello Dear Readers,
I am going to throw a question out to y'all and let you discuss:

What was the ultimate fate of the Sword of Laban? Did Moroni bury it with the Gold Plates in Cumorah? Were they in the stone box when Joseph Smith recovered the plates? We read in the BofM that it was passed down from king to king, along with the Liahona and other relics:

 16 And moreover, he also gave him charge concerning the records which were engraven on the ^aplates of brass; and also the plates of Nephi; and also, the ^bsword of Laban, and the ^cball or director, which led our fathers through the wilderness, which was prepared by the hand of the Lord that thereby they might be led, every one according to the heed and diligence which they gave unto him. (Mosiah chapter 1)

 Let me note that Moroni never records what he buried in the Hill Cumorah with the plates because he never actually relates burying them because he was busy writing on them. In the PoGP, Joseph Smith relates:

52 Having removed the earth, I obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up. I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the ^aplates, the ^bUrimand Thummim, and the breastplate, as stated by the messenger. The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones together in some kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were laid two stones crossways of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other things with them.

 He never specifically mentions it was there, but at the same time, he never mentions that it wasn't. My wife and I read that this evening (well, from the abridged version in the intro to the BofM) so I asked her if the sword was in the box. When she realized that JS never mentions it, she began to wonder where that idea came from. With a little investigation I discovered D&C 17:

1 BEHOLD, I say unto you, that you must rely upon my word, which if you do with full purpose of heart, you shall have a ^aview of the ^bplates, and also of the ^cbreastplate, the ^dsword of Laban, the^eUrim and Thummim, which were given to the ^fbrother of Jared upon the mount, when he talked with the Lord ^gface to face, and the ^hmiraculous directors which were given to Lehi while in the wilderness, on the borders of the ⁱRed Sea.

 So, we know that the three witnesses were promised to see the Sword of Laban along with the plates, Urim and Thummin, etc. We also know that JS gave the plates back to the angel Moroni so that the Angel could reveal it to them (see The Testimony of Three Witnesses).
So, was the Sword in the box with the plates or was it not? discuss.

Nephite Pride Cycle

The following was the result of a conversation my wife and I had while making the 2hr drive home after visiting family in Sacramento. It was originally posted on my personal blog, but since I've chosen to dedicate this blog for writings of a religious matter, I have decided to re-post it here:

In innumerable places within the Book of Mormon, the Lord promises the prophet at the time "inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land, but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence." (cf. 2Ne. 1:20) That promise isn't exclusive of the Nephites or even of antiquity. The Book of Mormon, remember, was written for OURday.

Additionally, the term "Nephite Pride Cycle" is a misnomer. There is nothing uniquely Nephite about it. What it should be called is "The Curse of the Promised Land". Just as it says in the Book of Mormon:

11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things(emphasis added). If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.
15 And to bring about his eternal purpose in the end of man, after he had created our first parents, and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and in fine, all things which are created, it must needs be that there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter.

Any time a people is given the blessing of receiving a promised land, the curse that follows inevitably with is is the pride cycle. You are given a land just for you, you get prideful about it, you get slothful, you get destroyed, you repent, it starts all over. The Nephites weren't the only ones that this happened to. It happened to the Jaredites thousands of years before Lehi. It may have even happened to the Mulekites, although they kept no records so we're not really sure. It happened to the Israelites when they were given their Promised Land. The author of the Proverbs said it succinctly:

18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

And we would all be very naive if we thought that we, as citizens of the United States, are immune from this curse. Nephi saw our day and received a revelation of the colonizing and founding of this country. Could we not then say that we were given this as a promised land?

12 And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.

13 And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters.

14 And it came to pass that I beheld many multitudes of the Gentiles upon the land of promise; and I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren; and they were scattered before the Gentiles and were smitten.

15 And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles, and they did prosper and obtain the land for their inheritance; and I beheld that they were white, and exceedingly fair and beautiful, like unto my people before they were slain.

16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.

We have become prideful and slothful and are letting the central government take more and more power away from the citizenry. And what has the government been doing with this power? sowing the seeds of destruction: spending money it doesn't have, bowing down to dictators, refusing to admit that we have enemies, shirking its responsibility to be a force to be reckoned with on the global stage. The list goes on and on. Let me know what you think. Am I right? Am I off base? Let me know