4 Nephi 1 - There Were None That Were Righteous Save It Were the Disciples of Jesus

And How Blessed Were They!

After Christ's visit to the America's, a period of peace settled on the people. I love reading the extensive list of blessings that the Nephites and Lamanites enjoyed after Christ's visit to the Americas. Its almost overwhelming to imagine an entire society defined by such happiness and goodness: 

• "the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites" (4 Nephi 1:2)
• "there were no contentions and disputations among them" (4 Nephi 1:2)
• "every man did deal justly one with another" (4 Nephi 1:2)
• "they had all things common among them" (4 Nephi 1:3)
• "there were not rich and poor, bond and free" (4 Nephi 1:3)
• "all manner of miracles did they work among the children of men" (4 Nephi 1:5)
• "the Lord did prosper them exceedingly in the land" (4 Nephi 1:7)
• "the people of Nephi did wax strong, and did multiply exceedingly fast, and became an exceedingly fair and delightsome people" (4 Nephi 1:10)
• "they were married, and given in marriage" (4 Nephi 1:11)
• "there were no robbers, nor murderers" (4 Nephi 1:16)
• "neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites" (4 Nephi 1:16)
• "they were in one ... and heirs to the kingdom of God" (4 Nephi 1:16)
• "there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness" (4 Nephi 1:17)

Mormon summarized, "surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God" (4 Nephi 1:16). All of this happiness and all of these blessings stemmed from the righteous influence of Jesus Christ, and the obedience of the people to His teachings. I often think about how to help make the world a better place and heal society's ills. Political advocacy, charitable giving, and community service advance the cause of good, and nudge our world closer to the ideal that the Nephites and Lamanites enjoyed. But none of those efforts can succeed without the power of Jesus Christ and the decision by the majority of the people to live by His teachings. 

Over time the people forgot Christ and slowly stopped living by His teachings. As a result, this magical period faded and disappeared.  

The People ... Had Become Exceedingly Wicked

While the peace enjoyed by the people was breathtaking, so was their plunge into abject wickedness. While this tragic transformation must have felt imperceptible and inevitable at the time, in retrospect the speed of their descent is shocking, and littered with troubling warning signs that resonate all too clearly with our world today. It's impossible to identify a single event that can be held responsible for the implosion of their peace, but seeing the play-by-play mapped out over decades serves as a warning: 

• 84 Years after Christ, "a small part of the people who had revolted from the church and taken upon them the name of Lamanites" (4 Nephi 1:20). The first sign of trouble was the reemergence of tribalism and the separation of the people into different groups. While this didn't lead to immediate destruction of the people (~120 pass before the next major shift Mormon mentions) it was the seed that started it all.

• 201 Years after Christ, pride led the people to become materialistic and worldly. "those who were lifted up in pride, such as the wearing of costly apparel, and all manner of fine pearls, and of the fine things of the world" (4 Nephi 1:24). Instead of sharing their resources freely and caring for the poor, "they did have their goods and their substance no more common among them" (4 Nephi 1:25). While tribal groups had reformed ~120 years previously, now those groups were dividing internally based on socioeconomic status. In other words, "they began to be divided into classes" (4 Nephi 1:26). Lastly, priestcraft reemerged and "they began to build up churches unto themselves to get gain" (4 Nephi 1:26). 

• 210 Years after Christ, religious freedom disintegrated. Instead religious divisions led to violence: "there was another church which denied the Christ; and they did persecute the true church of Christ" (4 Nephi 1:29). The persecution became so bad that "they did exercise power and authority over the disciples of Jesus who did tarry with them, and they did cast them into prison," (30) "furnaces of fire" (32), and "dens of wild beasts" (4 Nephi 1:30, 32, 33).  "They did smite upon the people of Jesus" (4 Nephi 1:34). 

• 231 Years after Christ, ethnic divisions crystallized and hatred of the righteous became institutional. There were "Lamanites—Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites" (4 Nephi 1:36) and "Nephites, and Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites" (4 Nephi 1:37). The unrighteous "did wilfully rebel against the gospel of Christ" (4 Nephi 1:38) and "they were taught to hate the children of God" (4 Nephi 1:39)

• 244 Years after Christ, wickedness overtook righteousness and "the more wicked part of the people did wax strong, and became exceedingly more numerous than were the people of God" (4 Nephi 1:40)

• 260 Years after Christ, the secret organization of evil became mainstream. "The people began again to build up the secret oaths and combinations of Gadianton" (4 Nephi 1:42). 

• 300 Years after Christ "both the people of Nephi and the Lamanites had become exceedingly wicked one like unto another" (4 Nephi 1:45). 

• 320 Years after Christ, God actually took away the people's access to the scriptures. To protect the wicked people from further accountability, and the prevent the destruction of sacred records, he commanded His prophet to hide them and "Ammaron, being constrained by the Holy Ghost, did hide up the records which were sacred" (4 Nephi 1: 48)

Application Questions 

How can I increase the amount of peace and happiness in my life?

What personal and societal trends do I need to vigilantly defend against?

What would the warning signs experienced in ancient American society look like on a personal scale?

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