Nephi Walks Home Alone
The people started fighting with each other. They split into groups and went different ways. They left Nephi standing alone. Nephi walked toward his house. He was thinking about the things the Lord had shown him.
God Speaks to Nephi
As he was thinking, he felt very sad. The Nephite people were doing so many evil things. They had secret evil plans. They were murdering and stealing. They were doing all kinds of wrong things. As he was thinking about this in his heart, a voice came to him. It said: “God blesses you, Nephi, for the things you have done. I have watched you. You have never gotten tired of sharing the message I gave you with these people. You have not been afraid of them. You have not worried about your own life. You have looked for my will. You have kept my rules. Because you have done this and never given up, I will bless you forever. I will make you powerful in what you say and what you do. I will make you strong in faith and works. All things will happen just like you say. You will not ask for anything that goes against my will.”
God Gives Nephi Great Power
“You are Nephi. I am God. I am telling you this in front of my angels. You will have power over these people. You can hit the earth with hunger, sickness, and destruction. This will match how evil these people are. I give you power. Whatever you seal on earth will be sealed in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. This is the power you will have among these people. So if you tell this temple to split in two, it will happen. If you tell this mountain to fall down and become flat, it will happen. And if you say that God will punish these people, it will happen.”
“I tell you to go and tell these people this message. This is what the Lord God, the All-Powerful, says: Unless you change, you will be destroyed.”
Nephi Warns the People Again
After the Lord said these words to Nephi, he stopped walking home. Instead, he went back to the crowds of people scattered across the land. He started telling them the message the Lord had spoken to him. He told them they would be destroyed if they did not change.
Nephi had done an amazing thing. He had told them about the Chief Judge’s death. But they still made their hearts hard. They did not listen to the Lord’s words. So Nephi told them the Lord’s message. He said: “Unless you change, this is what the Lord says: You will be destroyed.”
When Nephi told them this message, they still made their hearts hard. They would not listen to his words. So they spoke badly about him. They tried to grab him so they could throw him in jail.
The Spirit Protects Nephi
But God’s power was with him. They could not take him to prison. The Spirit took him and carried him away from them. So he went by the Spirit from one crowd to another crowd. He told them God’s message. He kept going until he had told all the people.
They would not listen to his words. They started fighting so much that they split into groups. They began killing each other with swords.
This is how the seventy-first year ended. That was the seventy-first year the judges ruled over the Nephites.