The People Forget the Signs
The 95th year passed. The people began to forget the signs and miracles they had heard about. They became less amazed at signs and miracles from Heaven. Their hearts became hard. Their minds became blind. They began to stop believing all they had heard and seen. They made up empty ideas in their hearts. They thought these things were done by men and by the power of the Devil. They thought it was done to trick people and lead them away. That’s how Satan got control of people’s hearts again. He blinded their eyes. He led them to believe that the teachings of Christ were foolish and empty. The people began to grow strong in evil and terrible sins. They didn’t believe there would be any more signs or miracles. Satan went around leading people’s hearts away. He tempted them. He made them do great evil in the land.
Time Passes
The 96th year passed. The 97th year passed. The 98th year passed. The 99th year passed. 100 years had passed since the days of Mosiah. He was king over the Nephite people. 609 years had passed since Lehi left Jerusalem. Nine years had passed since the sign was given. The prophets had spoken about this sign. It showed that Christ would come into the world.
The Nephites began to count their time from when the sign was given. They counted from the coming of Christ. So nine years had passed. Nephi was the father of Nephi who took care of the records. He did not return to the land of Zarahemla. He could not be found anywhere in all the land. The people stayed in their evil ways. This happened even though much preaching and teaching was sent to them. The 10th year passed. The 11th year also passed in sin.
War with the Gadianton Robbers
In the 13th year, wars and fights began throughout all the land. The Gadianton robbers had become so many. They killed so many people. They destroyed so many cities. They spread so much death throughout the land. So all the people had to fight against them. Both the Nephites and the Lamanites took up weapons against them. All the Lamanites who had become believers in the Lord joined with their Nephite brothers. They were forced to take up weapons against those Gadianton robbers. They had to protect their lives and their women and children. They also had to protect their rights. They had to protect the freedom of their church and their worship and their liberty. Before this 13th year had passed, the Nephites were in danger of being completely destroyed. This war had become very bad.
The Lamanites Join the Nephites
The Lamanites who had joined with the Nephites were counted among the Nephites. Their curse was taken from them. Their skin became white like the Nephites. Their young men and daughters became very beautiful. They were counted among the Nephites. They were called Nephites. That’s how the 13th year ended.
The War Continues
At the start of the 14th year, the war between the robbers and Nephi’s people went on. It became very bad. But Nephi’s people gained some ground against the robbers. They drove them back out of their lands. They drove them into the mountains and into their secret places. The 14th year ended. In the 15th year the robbers came against Nephi’s people again. Because of the evil of Nephi’s people and their many fights and splits, the Gadianton robbers gained many advantages over them. The 15th year ended. The people were in a state of many troubles. The sword of destruction hung over them. They were about to be struck down by it. This was because of their sin.
Influences
- 2:1 — Luke 2:20 (KJV)And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
- 2:2 — Romans 16:18 (KJV)For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
- 2:2 — Hebrews 6:1 (KJV)Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
- 2:7 — John 6:14 (KJV)Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
- 2:19 — Mark 2:12 (KJV)And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.
Notes
- 2:15-16
The 1830 edition of 2 Nephi 30:6 read, “shall be a white and delightsome people.” In 1840, this wording was changed to “shall be a pure and a delightsome people.” However, in 1841 the text was reverted back to “white and delightsome.” It was not changed again to “pure and delightsome” until 1981—three years after the 1978 lifting of the priesthood ban.
Although many Latter-day Saints argue that “white” should be understood metaphorically as referring to righteousness or purity rather than race or ethnicity, statements from LDS leaders leave little ambiguity about how these passages were historically interpreted. Here are just a few statements from LDS authorities:
“You may inquire of the intelligent of the world whether they can tell why the aborigines of this country are dark, loathsome, ignorant, and sunken into the depths of degradation …When the Lord has a people, he makes covenants with them and gives unto them promises: then, if they transgress his law, change his ordinances, and break his covenants he has made with them, he will put a mark upon them, as in the case of the Lamanites and other portions of the house of Israel; but by-and-by they will become a white and delightsome people” (Journal of Discourses 7:336).
At the October 1960 LDS Church Conference, Spencer Kimball utilized 2 Nephi 30:6 when he stated how the Indians “are fast becoming a white and delightsome people.” He said,
“The [Indian] children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation” (Improvement Era, December 1960, pp. 922-3).
During the same message Kimball referred to a 16-year-old Indian girl who was both LDS and “several shades lighter than her parents…” He went on to say,
“These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated.”
Elder Eugene J. Neff, in a 1927 conference message claimed, “The first missionaries went from this section around to another little town on the east side of the island, and there they gathered in a grass hut one hundred people to hear the message of these strange white men, As they all sat around the mat and heard the voice of this missionary from Utah, they were transfigured before George Q. Cannon, and he saw ninety-seven of them become white, and three of them remained dark. He did not understand. He did not know why it was that three of them would remain dark and all the rest should become light. He received a partial answer to this manifestation when it was learned that ninety-seven of those people in meeting at this time joined the Church, became devout members, lived and died Latter-day Saints, while three of them never did. It is said that they will become a white and delightsome people. They are delightsome at present, and I believe they are going to become white. They are growing whiter from year to year. I have said to myself and to some of my intimate friends that I thought the Hawaiian people would become white and delightsome, through intermarriage. I do not know whether that is according to the doctrines of the Church or not, but they have married the oriental races and married white people on the islands to such an extent that today there are more half casts than there are pure Hawaiians” (Conference Report, April 1927, p.49).
The Juvenile Instructor (26:635) reads, “From this it is very clear that the mark which was set upon the descendants of Cain was a skin of blackness, and there can be no doubt that this was the mark that Cain himself received; in fact, it has been noticed in our day that men who have lost the spirit of the Lord, and from whom his blessings have been withdrawn, have turned dark to such an extend as to excite the comments of all who have known them.”
See also 2 Nephi 5:21; 2 Nephi 30:6; 3 Nephi 2:15-16; Jacob 3:8-9; Alma 3:6.