In April, 1987 President Ezra Taft Benson said the following:
Recently I have been reading again the marvelous account in the Book of Mormon of the visit of the resurrected Savior to the American continent. As Easter approaches, I have been deeply impressed with the beauty and power of this scriptural account in 3 Nephi, and with its great value for our time and our generation. The record of the Nephite history just prior to the Savior’s visit reveals many parallels to our own day as we anticipate the Savior’s second coming - https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1987/04/the-saviors-visit-to-america?lang=eng
He re-emphasized his earlier statement in April 1992 when he gave his seminal talk “The Keystone of our Religion:”
If they saw our day, and chose those things which would be of greatest worth to us, is not that how we should study the Book of Mormon? We should constantly ask ourselves, “Why did the Lord inspire Mormon (or Moroni or Alma) to include that in his record? What lesson can I learn from that to help me live in this day and age?”
And there is example after example of how that question will be answered. For example, in the Book of Mormon we find a pattern for preparing for the Second Coming. A major portion of the book centers on the few decades just prior to Christ’s coming to America. By careful study of that time period, we can determine why some were destroyed in the terrible judgments that preceded His coming and what brought others to stand at the temple in the land of Bountiful and thrust their hands into the wounds of His hands and feet - https://www.lds.org/ensign/1992/01/the-keystone-of-our-religion?lang=eng.
With these references in mind I have compiled a brief summary of the major events of the 50 years prior to Christ’s birth until the time of destruction at the time of his death prior, to his visit to the Americas. This time frame is covered in Helaman 1 through 3 Nephi 7. As this period begins peace has been restored to the Nephites after many years of war as described in the book of Alma.
52 BC Political strife over the successor to Pahoran
The first successor is assassinated by Kishkuman in a secret pact
51 BC The Lamanites invade Zarahemla by surprise and kill the chief judge
The Lamanites are defeated and driven out of the land
50 BC Heleman becomes the new chief judge
Gadianton leads a murderous band into the wilderness
49 BC Great migration, industry, and prosperity
Nephi, son of Heleman is the new chief judge
38 BC Apostasy from the Church and Nephite political dissensions
35 BC Dissenters with Lamanites take much of the Nephite lands
30 BC Nephites lose 1/2 their land
Nephi steps down from his judgment seat to preach the word
Nephi and Lehi preach with so much power they convert many, including some Nephite dissenters
Converted Lamanites give the land they had taken back to the Nephites
29 BC The Lamanites begin to preach to the Nephites
25 BC Great prosperity without war leads to hearts being set on riches
People turn to secret combinations to have an advantage over others
Lamanites drive the robbers out of their land
23 BC Great corruption in the Nephite government robbers hold most of the government offices
Nephi prophesies of destruction and reveals the death and killer of the chief judge
Some believe in Nephi's teachings
20 BC Nephi calls for a famine, many die
16 BC The people repent, Nephi asks for the famine to cease
12 BC Gadianton robbers entrench themselves
More dissent from the Nephites
7 BC People are very wicked again
6 BC Samuel the Lamanite preaches to the Nephites
Some believe and are baptized by Nephi
2 BC Very few believers
1 BC Nephi leaves the ministry to his son Nephi and leaves the land
People set a date for Christ's birth if the sign does not appear by the date, all believers will be killed
The sign of Christ's birth is given on the day set by the nonbelievers
The majority of the people are converted
The rising generation proves very wicked and begins to decrease the faith and righteousness of the people
15 AD People begin to not respond to the preaching of the word
16 AD Under threat of destruction from the Gadianton robbers, the righteous Nephites and Lamanites gather in one place with all their food to defend themselves
22 AD After the Gadianton robbers attempt to lay siege multiple times the people are delivered
30 AD The people prosper and succumb to pride
Prophets are secretly killed by those of the secret combinations
The chief judge is murdered and the government dissolves into various family tribes
32 AD Nephi preaches with great power and gathers only a few while others are angry because of his priesthood power
33 AD A great storm of destruction appears at the beginning of the year
33 AD Christ appears at the end of the year to people who had gathered at the temple.
Among the themes that emerge with this summary are the following:
- Tremendous wealth and comfort for the majority
- Political strife and increasing instability resulting in the dissolution of democratic government and people dividing themselves into political “tribes”
- Several cycles of increasing righteousness, prosperity, wickedness, and destruction/suffering
- Lamanite righteousness and Nephite wickedness
- A backdrop of mounting terrorist strength due to Nephite dissension
- Remarkable priesthood leaders who demonstrate great priesthood power
It seems there are striking parallels between the Book of Mormon and these latter-days, just as President Benson explained. For me, the precept to be derived is that the Book of Mormon is for our day. The precepts derived therefrom are timeless in their application to aid in any person’s effort to draw closer to God. They help us hold fast continually to God’s word and press forward so we can feast on the fruit of God’s love and give no heed to those who would invite us to do otherwise.
No comments:
Post a Comment