Nephi’s Final Testimony
I can’t write down everything we’ve been teaching—I’m not as strong with words on the page as I am when I’m speaking. When someone speaks by the power of the Holy Spirit, that power carries the message straight into people’s hearts. But so many people harden their hearts against the Spirit—they leave no room for it. They throw away what’s been written and treat it like it’s worthless.
Still, I’ve written what I’ve written, and I believe it has great worth—especially for my people. I pray for them constantly. At night, my tears soak my pillow because of them. I cry out to God in faith, and I know he hears me. I know the Lord will use my prayers to help my people. What I’ve written may seem weak, but it will become strong for them. It urges them toward good. It reminds them of their ancestors. It speaks of Jesus and persuades people to believe in him and hold on until the end—which means eternal life. It speaks hard truth against sin, plain and clear. No one will be angry at what I’ve written unless they’re under the Devil’s influence.
Pride in Plain Truth
I take pride in speaking plainly. I take pride in the truth. I take pride in my Jesus—he’s rescued my soul from hell.
I love my people, and I have great faith in Christ that I’ll see many of them clean and blameless when they stand before him. I love the Jews—and I call them Jews because that’s where I came from. I love the Gentiles too. But I can’t have real hope for any of them unless they’re reconciled to Christ, unless they enter through the narrow gate and walk the path that leads to life—and stay on that path until their time is up.
A Final Plea
So listen closely—my dear friends, the Jews, everyone to the ends of the earth: believe in Christ. If you don’t believe these words, at least believe in him. If you believe in Christ, you’ll believe these words. They’re the words of Christ—he gave them to me. They teach everyone to do good. If you doubt that these are Christ’s words, think it over carefully. Christ himself will show you—with power and blazing glory—that they’re his words on the last day. You and I will stand face to face before him, and you’ll see that he commanded me to write these things, weak as I am. I pray to the Father in Christ’s name that many of us—maybe all of us—will be saved in his kingdom on that great and final day.
And now—my dear friends, all of you from the family of Israel, and everyone to the ends of the earth—I speak to you like a voice calling from the dust. Farewell until that great day comes. And to those of you who refuse God’s goodness, who reject the words of the Jews, my words, and the words that come from the Lamb of God—I say goodbye forever. These words will condemn you on the last day. What I seal on earth will be brought as evidence against you at the judgment. The Lord commanded me to do this, and I must obey. Amen.
Influences
- 33:2 — John 8:37 (KJV)I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
- 33:4 — Hebrews 11:34 (KJV)Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
- 33:8 — Matthew 12:44 (KJV)Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
- 33:9 — 2 Corinthians 5:20 (KJV)Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
- 33:10 — John 8:24 (KJV)I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
- 33:12 — Matthew 24:40 (KJV)And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
- 33:12 — John 6:39 (KJV)And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
- 33:13 — 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (KJV)And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 33:15 — John 1:29 (KJV)The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
- 33:15 — John 12:48 (KJV)He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
Notes
- 33:6
In Ephesians 3, Paul describes the “mystery of Christ” as something hidden from all previous generations but revealed in the apostolic era. In Ephesians 3:4–6, this mystery is that Gentiles are now equal heirs, members, and partakers in God’s promises through Christ—without the former distinctions of Jewish law. Paul reinforces in Colossians 1:26 and Romans 16:25 that this truth was not known in earlier ages, meaning it was not fully understood by Old Testament figures.
This is supported in Acts 10, where Peter struggles to accept Gentile inclusion even after revelation, and in Acts 15, where early Christians debate whether Gentiles must follow Jewish law. Likewise, Hebrews 11 and First Peter indicate that earlier prophets only saw partial foreshadowings of Christ, not the full picture.
In contrast, the Book of Mormon (e.g., 1 Nephi 10; 1 Nephi 14) portrays ancient prophets as clearly teaching about the Messiah, the gospel, and Gentile inclusion with New Testament-level clarity, including ideas similar to Romans 11.
This creates a chronological and theological conflict: if Paul is correct that this mystery was only revealed in the first century, then the Book of Mormon’s depiction of earlier prophets possessing that same knowledge suggests an anachronism—projecting later doctrine into an earlier time.
"When one begins to read the Book of Mormon, if he is well-acquainted with the Bible, he will at once be impressed with the large scale use of the biblical materials in the book. Not only is there an unskilled mimicking of the style of the King James Version, but there is an artificial clarity added to that portion of the Book of Mormon that claims to date from the Old Testament period. This contrived clarity is the result of writing back into that Old Testament period New Testament words, phrases and quotations, as well as the introduction of New Testament concepts and teachings into that time-frame... The usual Mormon defense is that such knowledge was supernaturally made known to the people in America, just as God in a vision showed Ezekiel that Jerusalem was about to fall and the temple to be destroyed, or Peter given a vision of Cornelius before he met him in person. Such an explanation might be more readily accepted if the Book of Mormon had presented its material in the format of a vision. Instead it introduces its material in much the same way that a nineteenth century frontier preacher introduced biblical quotations into his sermons. The frequency with which the Book of Mormon introduces this chronologically misplaced material into its text would require that God supernaturally provided this American colony with virtually the entire New Testament text, as well as those portions of the Old Testament which postdated their departure for America.... passages from the New Testament... are sprinkled generously into the speeches and sermons of the Book of Mormon characters in the same manner as one might find them in the sermons of a Methodist or Baptist preacher of Joseph Smith's day. This type of usage implies an acquaintance with the New Testament books themselves. Only after knowing the entire work can one select from it appropriate words and phrases to employ in this sermonic manner. It is naive to suggest that in every one of those instances God made known each of those biblical phrases and quotations so that the Old Testament Book of Mormon speakers could work them into their message. It is far more reasonable to believe that the insertions of such phrases and quotes came from one who already had the New Testament in hand before him while composing the Book of Mormon... The really fatal blow to the proposal that the New Testament material in the Old Testament portion of the Book of Mormon is due to Joseph Smith's employment of such phrases in the process of translating the book is that such material goes much deeper than the mere use of words and phrases. New Testament concepts, interpretations and theology are all worked into the text itself." -Wesley P. Walters, "The Use of the Old Testament in the Book of Mormon," (Master's thesis, Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, 1981), pp. 7, 10-13.
LDS author Grant Hardy writes, "In 1831, Alexander Campbell, one of the book's first critics (and certainly the first one to read it carefully), famously observed that it seemed to weigh in on all the popular religious questions of the day, including 'infant baptism, ordination, the trinity, regeneration, repentance, justification, the fall of man, the atonement, transubstantiation, fasting, penance, church government, religious experience, the call to the ministry , the general resurrection, eternal punishment, who may baptize, and even the question of freemasonry, republican government, and the right of the man.' This is a fair list, and references to these topics-or their analogous counterparts-can be found throughout the Book of Mormon." -Hardy, Understanding the Book of Mormon, p. 184