When the End of the Nephites Looks Like Our Day.

I’m nearing the end of a “speed reading” effort through The Book of Mormon. This morning I read chapters 3 and 4 in The Book of Mormon, where Mormon records the final scenes of the Nephites. His words are sobering.

Mormon was an extraordinary leader. He was first and foremost a spiritual leader, though he was also very capable in leading the armies. If his people had listened to his spiritual counsel, they might have experienced victories that truly mattered. Instead, they boasted in their successes and cursed God when they failed. It was a tragic time in their history.

I can’t help but see parallels with our own day. Our prophets and apostles are doing much the same—preparing us spiritually for the final battle with evil and for the return of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Mormon worked tirelessly to prepare his people for battle while calling them to repentance and strengthening the Church. Likewise, our modern prophet, Russell M. Nelson, pleaded with us to repent and return to the covenant path. In the April 2019 conference he urged: “Please do it now. Time is running out.” Those words gave me chills. While none of us knows the day or hour of the Lord’s return, the message is clear: prepare.

Mormon also worked to gather his people. President Nelson taught that gathering Israel is the most important work taking place on earth today. We participate in that gathering on both sides of the veil. Missionaries are increasing in number and success, and even those of us not formally serving missions are trying to help in our own ways. We also gather our families through temple and family history work using FamilySearch.

Another sobering lesson is that the wicked eventually destroy the wicked. Mormon counseled his people to stay within the boundaries the Lord had set. In our day that battle looks different. We are not fighting with weapons but with truth and knowledge. As Joseph Smith Jr. taught, “Teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.”

Perhaps the most disturbing detail is Mormon’s statement that there had never been a more wicked people. Women and children were being sacrificed to false idols. My first instinct is to think, “Well, that doesn’t happen today.” But that is naïve. It does happen. We see it in the horrors of kidnapping and human trafficking—an evil that continues to plague our world as women and children disappear without a trace.

These final chapters of the Nephite record give serious cause for reflection. We have been warned that the last days will resemble the final days of the Nephites. It seems as though we are watching that pattern unfold in real time.

My prayer is that my own family will be gathered and choose to be true disciples of Jesus Christ while there is still time to make that choice. I hold on to the promise shared by Jeffrey R. Holland:

“Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come.”

I believe that promise, and it gives me hope as I watch the Lord continue His work of gathering and preparing His people.