The Nephite Disease (41 BC – 7 BC)

Around 41 BC we read: “And so great was the prosperity of the church, and so many the blessings which were poured out upon the people, that even the high priests and the teachers were themselves astonished beyond measure[1].”

Seven years later (34 BC) Nephite dissenters join forces with the Lamanites and take the land of Zarahemla. In other words, they overthrow the capital in a military coup[2]. In 30 BC we read the following: “For as their laws and their governments were established by the voice of the people, and they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good, therefore they were ripening for destruction, for the laws had become corrupted.”[3]

So in eleven years the Nephites go from righteousness beyond measure to a government so corrupt the Lord is preparing it for destruction.

Twenty-three years before the birth of Christ, the Nephites are more wicked than the Lamanites and Nephi prays upon his tower outside the city limits along a well travelled road. He draws a crowd as he calls upon the people to repent. He has given up his judgment seat and has spent years preaching the gospel as a missionary.

His words sting the wicked leaders of Zarahemla, who are shadows of wicked leaders in every dispensation, including ours. He accuses them of losing their agency to the devil. He tells them that their hearts are hardened and explains they have hurled their souls down to everlasting misery and endless wo.[4]

The wicked leaders accuse Nephi of preaching to get gain and to be popular. Here we take a verbal footnote in our story and expose part of the adversary’s playbook. Historically when evil accuses righteousness of malfeasance, it is wickedness that is guilty of the very crime found in the accusation.

It is true today, when an accusation is hurled in a fit of anger, there is a high probability the person throwing the dirt is guilty of the action found within the dirt. This is true in politics, religion, family feuds, and spitting matches between friends.

After accusing Nephi of priestcraft, their stock and trade trick, they revile against all the prophets who spoke of Christ: Abraham, Moses, Zenos, Zenock, Ezias, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lehi, and Nephi.

Three years later, or 20 BC, Nephi convinces the Lord to send a famine in the land to replace the constant war that rages. Thousands perish in the more wicked parts of the land, a type of our day and what is to occur prior to the 2^nd Coming.[5] The famine lasts four years before the people convince their leaders to summon Nephi and plead with him to have the Lord turn away his anger.

The famine is abated and one year later in 15 BC we read that the…

“…the church did spread throughout the face of all the land; and the more part of the people, both the Nephites and the Lamanites, did belong to the church; and they did have exceedingly great peace in the land…”[6]

The roller coaster of obedience and wickedness prior to the birth of Jesus requires a small dose of Dramamine to follow. By twelve BC there are dissenters who go over to the Lamanites again. And they did murder and plunder and then flee to the mountains, hiding themselves and within a few short years, the Gadiantons are established and they become very numerous and create havoc with the Nephites.

And it came to pass that 7 years before the birth of Christ, pride had again entered the hearts of the people and they were ripening for destruction[7].

“And thus we can behold how false, and …[unsteady are] the hearts of men; yea, we can see that the Lord…doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him.[8]”