Cumorah

 

As the Nephite's wars raged, they were driven ever northward until they were north of the narrow neck of land ~ what LDS scholars believe is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

 
It was here, in what is now the State of Veracruz, MX, that the final battle was fought on the plain near a small mountain which Mormon called Cumorah.*  The site most likely to be Mormon's Hill Cumorah is a 3,000 foot peak on the northwestern extreme of the Tuxtla Mountains.  It is known today as Cerro El Vigia.

Some of the requirements for Cumorah from the Book of Mormon text is that it had to be near a plain where armies of thousands could have fought.  It had to be high enough so that survivors could be safe and unobserved by their enemies, yet climbable enough that wounded men could make the climb.  (Mormon, himself, was an old man by the time of the final battle and the text states that he was wounded himself.)  It had to have caves and caverns such that the Nephite records could be hidden in a way as to make discovery by their enemies unlikely.  It had to be near a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains.

Rivers, waters, and fountains in Veracruz

In describing the battle, Sorenson writes: Four years of preparation had given the Nephites as good a military position as they could home for.  The finally came the awesome climax.  Since they had left God behind, there remained only their own muscles and heads to fight against the Lamanite horde that came upon them at the hill Cumorah (see Mormon 6:7) . . . the families of the soldiers were present.  So the outcome was to be genocide, not merely military defeat. Twenty-three 10,000 men armies mad up the Nephite force.  All were wiped out on that one grim day. [1]

The Nephites were impossibly outnumbered.  Hordes of Lamanite armies drove at them from the south and the west and the armies of Teotihuacan hit them from the north.  It was wholesale slaughter of men, women, and children.  Only twenty-four Nephites survived.  These made their way by night to the top of Cumorah.  At the dawn they looked down on a field strew with hundreds of thousands of casualties.

Why did the Lamanites prevail when they were at least as wicked as the Nephites?  Perhaps it is because the Lord has said where much is given, much is required (see Luke 12:48; D & C 8:23)  Think of Assyria fighting and conquering the Northern Kingdom of Israel and Babylon prevailing against Judah.  This was not the first time that God had used the wicked to destroy the wicked. 

[1] An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, John L. Sorenson, pp. 349-350

* Many Latter-day Saints believe that the final battle was fought in New York State near the hill where Joseph Smith found the golden plates.  LDS archaeologists have since pretty well debunked that idea for many reasons, primarily because that Hill Cumorah in NY doesn't fit any of the necessary criteria demanded by the Book of Mormon text itself.  In truth, Joseph Smith himself never referred to the hill in NY as Cumorah.  It was Oliver Cowdery and other followers of Smith who began calling it that.  Joseph was given a copy a book by archaeologist John Lloyd Stevens which was published in1841.  The book documented the very first archaeological "dig" in Central America.  Joseph was fascinated by the discovery of great civilizations in that part of the world.  He'd had no idea such things even existed until then. (Remember that the Book of Mormon was published in 1830.)  The Church newspaper of the day, The Times and the Seasons, did a review of the book, suggesting that the Saints would not go far wrong to look at Central America as the location of Zarahemla and other Book of Mormon lands. 

How the plates got from ancient Veracruz to ancient New York will be discussed next week when I talk about Mormon's son, Moroni.

 

Text copyright February 2014, Gebara Education

 

Pictures:

Map 1 from www.nephicode.com

Map 2 from www.heatherandscottadventures.com

Cerro El Vigia from www.mormondialogue.org

Waters of Veracruz from www.es.wikipedia.com

Depravity and Sorrow

One final sad chapter is recorded by Mormon prior to the fall of his people.

The Lamanites and other enemies of the Nephites were known to have practiced human sacrifice.  This practice reached its apex later among the Aztecs.  Mormon wrote of this horror:

And it is impossible for the tongue to describe, or for man to write a perfect description of the horrible scene of the blood and carnage which was among the people, both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites; and every heart was hardened, so that they delighted in the shedding of blood continually.

And there never had been so great wickedness among all the children of Lehi, nor even among all the house of Israel, according to the words of the Lord, as was among this people.

 

And they did also march forward against the city Teancum, and did drive the inhabitants forth out of her, and did take many prisoners both women and children, and did offer them up as sacrifices unto their idol gods. (Mormon 4: 11, 12, 14)

 

Things got even worse.  The Lamanites began to practice ritual cannibalism, feeding the flesh of the men who were sacrificed to the wives and children of those men.  Mormon records this carnage in a letter to his son, Moroni:

 

And the husbands and fathers of those women and children they have slain; and they feed the women upon the flesh of their husbands, and the children upon the flesh of their fathers; and no water, save a little, do they give unto them. (Moroni 9: 8)

 

The Nephites hardened their own hearts further.  Driven by lust for vengeance, they topped even the horrible practice of the Lamanites. In that same letter, Mormon wrote:

 

And notwithstanding this great abomination of the Lamanites, it doth not exceed that of our people in Moriantum [who were Nephites]. For behold, many of the daughters of the Lamanites have they taken prisoners; and after depriving them of that which was most dear and precious above all things, which is chastity and virtue— And after they had done this thing, they did murder them in a most cruel manner, torturing their bodies even unto death; and after they have done this, they devour their flesh like unto wild beasts, because of the hardness of their hearts; and they do it for a token of bravery.

 

O my beloved son, how can a people like this, that are without civilization(Moroni 9: 9 - 11)

 

Ritual cannibalism was practiced elsewhere in Ancient America.  Within the past forty years, an archaeologist from Arizona State University claimed evidence of cannibalism at Chaco Canyon, the great Anasazi center of learning and religion.  His claims were greeted with anger among other archaeologists and Native American groups, particularly the Pueblo peoples, who are by faith and nature pacifists. 

 

I have wondered if it isn't more likely that the peaceful peoples of Chaco were overcome by a group from the south who practiced ritual cannibalism.  As Mormon noted* in the above scripture, ritualistic cannibalism is not done so much for food (as was the case of the Donner party, for instance) but in order to take upon oneself the power of the dead enemy and to show power and bravery over one's enemy.  The human femur above shows evidence of blade cuts such as would be used in dressing wild game for eating and it was upon such abundant evidence that the ASU professor made his claims for the practice of cannibalism in Chaco.

 

The debate rages on, but it is known that one of Chaco's chief claims to fame was that it existed at the apex of trade routes from Central America and Mexico as far north as the Plains Indians of what is now the United States.  Shells, jade, semi-precious stones, McCaw feathers, jewelry (such as the McCaw mask shown at left which was found in Chaco), and even McCaw birds (whose bones have been found in cages in Chaco.)  It doesn't seem unreasonable to me that such an event could have happened.  Perhaps it was cannibalism that drove the Anasazi from Chaco.

 

People who practice human sacrifice, rape and torture, and ritual cannibalism truly are without civilization.

 

*And how in the world would Joseph Smith known that if he wrote the Book of Mormon as some people who are against the LDS Church claim?

 

Text copyright January 2014, Gebara Education

 

Pictures:

Mayan Sacrifice from www.ikirs.com

Human femur from Chaco Canyon from www.woodcasketbyjohn.com

Jade McCaw mask from Chaco Canyon from www.tiwafarms.blogspot.com

They Shall Be Cut Off

 

 Mormon used the ten years of relative peace (i.e., no open warfare) to urge his people to prepare their fortifications, weapons, and such, against the time when the Lamanites would again attack (see yesterday's post about city fortifications.)  He also attempted one last time to call them back to Jesus Christ.  He wrote:

And . . . the Lord did say unto me: Cry unto this people—Repent ye, and come unto me, and be ye baptized, and build up again my church, and ye shall be spared.

And I did cry unto this people, but it was in vain; and they did not realize that it was the Lord that had spared them, and granted unto them a chance for repentance. And behold they did harden their hearts against the Lord their God. (Mormon 3: 2,3)

In 360 A.D., Mormon received a notice from the king of the Lamanites that they would be coming up against the Nephites.  It is recorded in the text that many Nephites who did not wish to fight the Nephites' battles during this 35 years simple changed allegiance to the Lamanites.  Perhaps the king of the Lamanites was hoping that the rest would just lay down their arms in like manner.

 

Mormon rallied his troops and increased his fortifications and, when the Lamanites did come, the Nephites were able to hold their lines so that none of their lands were taken.  They killed so many of the enemy that they threw their bodies into the sea rather than burying them.

 

But then things took a turn for the worse. The Nephites began to boast that it was their own strength and cunning that preserved them victorious.  Mormon wrote:

 

And now, because of this great thing which my people, the Nephites, had done, they began to boast in their own strength, and began to swear before the heavens that they would avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren who had been slain by their enemies. And they did swear by the heavens, and also by the throne of God, that they would go up to battle against their enemies, and would cut them off from the face of the land. (Mormon 3: 9, 10)

 

This was a huge error in the eyes of the Lord.  Up to this point in time, all of the Nephite wars were defensive and not aggressive.  The Lord upheld them insomuch as they were defending their families and freedoms.  But now the Nephites sought aggression and vengeance.  The Lord can support war in defense of His values, but he does not support aggressive violence and revenge.  Because of this change of Nephite motive, Mormon refused to lead them anymore.  He wrote:

 

And when they had sworn by all that had been forbidden them by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that they would go up unto their enemies to battle, and avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren, behold the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying:

Vengeance is mine, and I will repay; and because this people repented not after I had delivered them, behold, they shall be cut off from the face of the earth.

And it came to pass that I utterly refused to go up against mine enemies; and I did even as the Lord had commanded me; and I did stand as an idle witness to manifest unto the world the things which I saw and heard, according to the manifestations of the Spirit which had testified of things to come. (Mormon 3: 14 - 16)

Why did Mormon include so many details of Nephite warfare?  The Book of Mormon is, among other things, a cautionary tale.  It was not written for the Nephites themselves (whose hearts were so hardened) but for us - the Gentiles and the house of Israel - so that we might learn from their mistakes.
 

He sealed up his writing with his testimony of Jesus Christ so as to persuade all ye ends of the earth to repent and prepare to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. (Mormon 3: 22)

 

Are we heeding his warning?  Some are.  Too many are not.

 

Text copyright January 2014, Gebara Education

 

Pictures from www.lds.org

except

Christ in Conquering Red from multiple sources on the web

Warfare in Ancient Mesoamerica

I had often wondered why Mormon, who edited a thousand years of Nephite records, chose to include so much information about their wars.  He gives us the answer in Chapter 3 when he said that he wrote to the gentiles, the remnants of his people (including the Lamanites) and to all the house of Israel, so that all might know the fate of those who openly rebel against God. 
 

Throughout Nephite history up to that point in time, their wars had been wars of defense.  An earlier Nephite captain named Moroni created a Title of Liberty banner upon which he wrote: In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole. (Alma 43: 12 - about 76 B.C.) 

Mormon refusal to lead the armies anymore was because the Nephites no longer valued the things that Moroni's people had cherished and defended, but had set their hearts upon vengeance and aggression.  One message of the Book of Mormon is that defensive warfare may be justified in the eyes of the Lord, but aggressive warfare is inexcusable. 

The Book of Mormon contains a lot of details of weapons, armor, and fortifications.  This is not an area that I find interesting, so I have never searched through the text looking for those detail.  Others have, and experts on Mesoamerican warfare have concluded that the account in the Book of Mormon are right on target of what the archaeological record shows.  In the interest of time, I will share just one such piece of evidence: fortifications.

 

The Book of Mormon describes Nephite fortification as being deep ditches dug around the protected area; the excavated earth was piled inward to form a bank.  Atop it a fence of timers was planed and bound together with vines.  That very arrangement is now well document archaeologically.  The National Geographic Society - Tulane University project at Becan in the center of the Yucatan peninsula has shown the pattern to be very old. [Archaeologist David] Webster's interpretation of the excavations sees a massive earthen rampart around the center somewhere between A.D. 250 and 450, during the period when the final Nephite wars with the Lamanites occurred. [1]

 

From the bottom of the ditch to the top of the mound (not taking into account the timbers which had long since disappeared to age and decay) was over 35 feet.  The ditches were filled with water like a deep moat, so that enemy archers were shooting uphill and far away while defending archers could shoot straight down on their enemies at will.  The walls were also very thick so that  arrows and spears couldn't penetrate. [2]

 

[1] John L. Sorenson,  An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon pp 260-261

[2] Ibid.

 

Text copyright January 2014, Gebara Education

Pictures:

Mormon and Capt. Moroni from www.lds.org

Mayan Warfare from www.wikispaces.com

Fortifications around Becan from www.mayannature.it

Moat at Becan from www.fairmormon.org

Archaeological Evidence of the Nephite Retreat

Are there evidences in the archaeological records of the Nephites of Zarahemla (Santa Rosa; Chiapas) fleeing to the north?  In fact, there are. 

In the Pre-Classic Period, there had been some cultural links between Chiapas Valley and areas to the south and west.  By about 50 B.C., those ties were gone.  According to Sorenson, the cultural links from then on were with the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and beyond to what is now south-central Veracruz, MX.  As they moved into the early Classic Period, settlements in Chiapas were abandoned, one after another.  Sorenson writes: When the Early Classic Chiapas people did disappear from their settlements, it was a wholesale abandonment.  Many archaeological sites of that once-crowded are were simply left empty and not reoccupied form many generations. [1]

While this was happening, Mayan scholars note, the area known today as Kaminaljuyu in Guatemala was regaining much of its former glory.  You may recall that LDS scholars believe Kaminaljuyu to be the City of Nephi, a Lamanite stronghold since the days of the first King Mosiah.  A strong trade connection also developed around this time between the land of Teotihuacan* and Kaminaljuyu.  This connection may have been facilitated by the connections built by the Gadianton robbers, the primary secret combination/cartel of the day.  It was known that much of their power came from secret trade agreements.  The people of Teotihuacan were known to be a fierce people who kept firm control of their trade routes.  This, too, could describe the cartel of Gadianton.

Sorenson writes of this cultural connection by stating that the Lamanites in Nephi/Kaminaljuyu would have been organized and equipped better than former Lamanites had been in their attacks on their hereditary enemy, the Nephites.  This picture gets support from the archaeological data at Mirador [Ammonihah].  It turns out that the invaders who looted and burned there, arriving on the heels of the populace abandoning the site, displayed a mixture of Guatemalan [Kaminaljuyu/Nephi] and Teotihuacan traditions . . . about A. D. 350, as I analyze the chronology.[2]

[1] John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, pg. 341
[2] Ibid. pg. 342

* Some LDS Scholars believe that Teotihuacan was originally settled by those converted Lamanites who had moved northward many years to avoid putting the Nephites (who were righteous at that time) from having to defend them from the Lamanites.  They, in turn, were driven further northward by the onslaught of the Gadiantons.  Teotihuacan means the place where men become gods.  LDS author Chris Heimerdinger once wrote that perhaps these were first men who sought to be God-like (Christ-like) in their demeanor and later populated by men who sought to turn themselves into gods.

A few scholars believe these peaceful Lamanites settled eventually in Las Casas Grande in Northern Mexico and, later still, in the pueblos of the American Southwest.  I don't know that their is any archaeological evidence of such a thing, but it is an interesting hypothesis since the pueblo peoples are traditionally pacifist.

Copyright January 2014, Gebara Education

Pictures:

Armies of Mormon from www.lds.org

Kaminaljuyu from www.es.touristlink.com

Teotihuacan from www.blog.world-mysteries.com

Their Day of Grace Had Passed

As the Nephites battled for their very lives, the entire infrastructure of their civilization and economy began to collapse.  Add to that the constant pressure of the secret combinations with their thieves and assassins, and they Nephites were in serious jeopardy.  Mormon records that no man could keep that which was his own, for the thieves, and the robbers, and the murders, and the magic art and the witchcraft which was in the land. (Mormon 2: 10)

Finally, the Nephites began to mourn.  When Mormon saw them, he began to rejoice in his heart because he thought that their sorrow was the broken heart of repentance and that a loving and patient God could now bless them again.  But his hopes were soon dashed.  Mormon wrote:

But behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin. And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die. Nevertheless they would struggle with the sword for their lives.

 

And it came to pass that my sorrow did return unto me again, and I saw that the day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually; for I saw thousands of them hewn down in open rebellion against their God, and heaped up as dung upon the face of the land. And thus three hundred and forty and four years had passed away. (Mormon 2: 13 - 15)

 

The tide had turned in their struggles and they began to be driven from city to city, ever moving northward to avoid the Lamanite armies. It was 35 years of warfare that Patton might honestly call hell, and still they did not repent for their day of grace was passed. Not that God would not forgive true repentance, but that their hearts were beyond feeling.  Mormon knew it and he mourned.

 

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved (Jeremiah 8:20)

 

Text copyright January 2014, Gebara Education

 

Pictures:

Mayan warfare from www.authenticmaya.com

Stela Mayan warfare from www.en.wickipedia.org

A single tear from www.somerandommother.blogspot.com

Have a blessed Sabbath!  I teach the woman's group this morning and ask for your prayers that I will get myself out of the way and allow the Spirit to teach.

They Did Not Repent of Their Evil Doings

I wish at this point of time that I could skip over the last years of Nephite history and say, "And they all lived happily ever after."  But they didn't live happily ever after and that makes me sad.  The Book of Mormon is, among other things, a cautionary tale for us.  As I read Mormon's account, I see my own country treading the same path.  And that makes me sad, too.

 

When Mormon was not quite 16, the Nephites recruited him to lead their armies.  In his own words he explained this as :. . . notwithstanding I being young, was large in stature; therefore the people of Nephi appointed me that I should be their leader, or the leader of their armies. Therefore it came to pass that in my sixteenth year I did go forth at the head of an army of the Nephites, against the Lamanites; therefore three hundred and twenty and six years had passed away. (Mormon 2: 1-2)

 

In addition to the threat from the Lamanite armies, the Gadianton cartel was actively engaged in their own brand of evil and violence against everyone.  Mormon wrote:

 

But behold, the land was filled with robbers and with Lamanites; and notwithstanding the great destruction which hung over my people, they did not repent of their evil doings; therefore there was blood and carnage spread throughout all the face of the land, both on the part of the Nephites and also on the part of the Lamanites; and it was one complete revolution throughout all the face of the land. (Mormon 2:8)

 

Sorenson describes on such campaign of blood and carnage.  He references and quotes the work of archaeologist Agrinier on the Mirador site in Chiapas during the Jiquipilas or Early Classic Mayan stage which lasted from about 250 to 350 A.D., which coincides with the 326 A. D. mentioned by Mormon.  Sorensen wrote:

 

 The Jiquipilas phase "was ended by an intense fire that totally destroyed" the structure of the largest sacred building at Mirador [the temple].  "It seems that the temple had been thoroughly cleaned of its contents prior to its burning." This suggests either a scorched earth policy on the part of the retreating inhabitants or looting by the invader, or both.  Tombs at the site were sacked at the same time.

 

The city lay abandoned for about a year and when it was settled again it was by a new people.  The buildings suggest "shoddier construction" by "a transitory elite . . . more  concerned with quickly-secured grandeur than with long-range durability." [1]

 

Ruins at Mirador from a Great Mayan Battle in the Early Classic Period

 

Despite my sorrow, I will shoulder on to the end in the hopes that we can learn from their mistakes.  What mistakes?  In Mormon's words: notwithstanding the great destruction which hung over my people, they did not repent of their evil doings.  That is what makes me sad.  9-11 brought America to her knees for a short while, but it didn't last long.  From a president who stated his first day in office just a little over a year later that "America is no longer a Christian nation;" to ordinary people whose motto is "do it to you brother before he gets a chance to do it to you;" to the liberties of our Constitution and Bill of Rights being raped and stolen more and more every year; this nation is in serious trouble.  Are we repenting?  Some are.  But will it be enough to keep God's protective hand over this country?  This is why the final years of the Nephites make for sad reading.

 

[1] Agrinier quoted in Sorenson An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon p. 340.

 

Text copyright January 2014, Gebara Education

 

Pictures:

Warriors from www.lds.org

Scorched Earth Policy from www.ww.2incolor.com

Ruins at Mirador from www.ancient-tides.blogspot.com

The Work of Miracles Did Cease

 

When I first began this Book of Mormon blog, I discussed the fact that Lehi was told he would be led to a land “choice above all other lands” (1 Nephi 2: 20). Like many of God’s promises, this one has an implicit covenant.  In fact, it is part of the Abrahamic Covenant*: land, posterity, and being God’s people.  Lehi, as a descendant of Abraham through Jacob and Joseph, was promised a specific land. Lehi and his family were to be God’s people – to have His commandments and His priesthood.  If they kept God’s commandments and honored and worshipped Him as their God, they would prosper in the land, both they and their posterity.  If they did not, then God would withdraw His protection and leave them to experience the consequences of their own choices. 

 

It isn’t that God delighted in punishing them; He loved them and wanted to bless them.  But through disobedience, they tied His hands. He cannot bless His children in their sins anymore than any parent could reward a child for deliberate disobedience lest the child think that wickedness brings happiness and it doesn’t. The Law of the Harvest says we reap what we sow.  As they become more disobedient and wicked, God withdraws His blessings and protection.  They are left to experience the natural consequences of their own arrogant and wicked choices – consequences that are often very painful!  This is exactly what happened to the Nephites. 

In the war, the Nephites prevailed against the Lamanites and there was an uneasy peace in the land.  But it was not that "peace which passeth all understanding" (see Philippians 4:7) for the people continued to move farther away from God.  So distant had they become that God saw fit to take the Three Nephites out of their midst as He took John the Beloved from the apostate church in the Old World.  Of these conditions, Mormon later wrote:

 

But wickedness did prevail upon the face of the whole land, insomuch that the Lord did take away his beloved disciples, and the work of miracles and of healing did cease because of the iniquity of the people.  And there were no gifts from the Lord, and the Holy Ghost did not come upon any, because of their wickedness and unbelief.

 

And I, being fifteen years of age and being somewhat of a sober mind, therefore I was visited of the Lord, and tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus. And I did endeavor to preach unto this people, but my mouth was shut, and I was forbidden that I should preach unto them; for behold they had willfully rebelled against their God; and the beloved disciples were taken away out of the land, because of their iniquity.

 

But I did remain among them, but I was forbidden to preach unto them, because of the hardness of their hearts; and because of the hardness of their hearts the land was cursed for their sake. (Mormon 1: 13-17)

 

God withdrew His hand from the Nephites and the Lamanites.  He withdrew His disciples from among them.  He called a boy to be His prophet (as He has done in other dispensations) because Mormon had not yet been corrupted by the wickedness around him.  God visited and protected His young prophet, but forbade him to preach in order to preserve his life for an even greater mission among an apostate people.

 

* I will discuss the Abrahamic Covenant at a later date when I blog my Old Testament studies this year.

 

Text copyright January 2014, Gebara Education

 

Pictures:

Abraham from www.lds.org

Young Mormon from www.hunterscastle.com

Culture Shock ~ Zarahemla!

Shortly after Ammaron's disclosure of the hiding place of the Nephite records, Mormon's father took him to Zarahemla.  What a culture shock this must have been for eleven-year-old Mormon!  He later wrote:  The whole face of the land had become covered with buildings, and the people were as numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea. (Mormon 1: 7)

The shock of the spiritual state of affairs in Zarahemla must have been equally disturbing to the young boy.

A probable candidate for the City of Zarahemla were the ruins of Santa Rosa in Chiapas, MX.  You may recall that Santa Rosa was buried under the waters of the lake created by the Angostura Dam in the 1970s. But we must also remember that the greater Land of Zarahemla covered many miles along the Sidon/Grijalva River or most of the Valley of central Chiapas State. (See July 16, 2013 post for more on Zarahemla.)

In that same year, war broke out along the borders of the Land of Zarahemla and the Lamanite-possessed Land of Nephi.  I know nothing about tracing a people via their language, so I will quote from John Sorenson's book An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon:*

Southeast Chiapas formed a boundary between speakers of the Maya languages and other groups . . . Our glimpses of ethnic history before . . . Columbus indicate that the Maya speakers occupied nearly all the lands we have identified as included in the greater land of Nephi . . . [Lamanites] probably spoke one or another Mayan tongue.  The tendency of the speakers of those languages, as shown by linguistic reconstruction, has been to expand in a northern and western direction into Chiapas.

This is exactly what happened between 350 and 400 A.D.  The Mayan-speaking Lamanites moved northward to crowd the Nephites in Zarahemla/Chiapas.  The Nephites, who by now had lost the protection of God, were forced northward in retreat after retreat.

* Sorenson has written a new book that was just released last October.  It is titled Mormon's Codex: An Ancient America Book and appears to cover much of this same material in a more reader-friendly format.

Text copyright January 2014, Gebara Education

 

Pictures:

Zarahemla from www.bigboardgames.com

Angostura Lake from www.flickr.com

Map from www.bookofmormonresources.blogspot.com

Mormon and the Sacred Trust

The Nephites were now as wicked as the Lamanites. Only the Gadiantons were more wicked.  The Gadiantons sought power and wealth - the cartels of Mesoamerica who "trafficked in much traffick." (4 Nephi 1)  The Lamanites sought vengeance and violence and taught their children to hate the Nephites.  The Nephites were caught up in pride, the need to be better than the next man, to the demeaning of the poor among them.  All were worldly; all were lascivious; all were arrogant.  And all forgot the true gospel and the true Messiah/Christ.  There were many different sects that purported to worship the Precious Serpent, but only a very few people clung to the pure gospel of Jesus Christ.  One of the few was a young boy named Mormon.

Mormon was born in the north near Bountiful, which had become the religious center of the Nephite nation.  Mormon's family must have had some resources because he was well educated in the learning of his people.  He was apparently tall for his age and very strong and athletic.  He was also very wise and very well-read in the writings of the prophets and his family kept to the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

You will remember that Ammaron, the last keeper of the Nephite records, had hidden the records up in the earth to protect them from the vast and pervasive wickedness of his days.  As he grew old, he knew he would soon die.  He knew he had to tell someone he could trust the location of the precious records before that happened.  As he prayed for inspiration, he looked about him for the one the Lord would entrust with the task of preserving the records.  He found the one the Lord had called to that work: a boy named Mormon, who was only ten years old.

Ammaron said:  I perceive that thou art a sober child, and art quick to observe; Therefore, when ye are about twenty and four years old I would that ye should remember the things that ye have observed concerning this people; and when ye are of that age go to the land Antum, unto a hill which shall be called Shim; and there have I deposited unto the Lord all the sacred engravings concerning this people. And behold, ye shall take the plates of Nephi unto yourself, and the remainder shall ye leave in the place where they are; and ye shall engrave on the plates of Nephi all the things that ye have observed concerning this people. (Mormon 1: 2-4)

Mormon, although young, remembered the words of Ammaron and the task he had been given.  Like Samuel of old, Mormon drew close to the Lord and prepared himself in all ways to be worthy of his sacred trust.

Text copyright January 2014, Gebara Education

Pictures:

Nephites and Lamanites from www.thenephicode.blogspot.com

Bountiful from www.tripadvisor.com

Ammaron from www.lds.org

Return to the Couch as the Nephites Continue Their Slide Toward Their Utlimate Demise

. . . In the two hundred and thirty and first year, there was a great division among the people . . . in this year there arose a people who were called the Nephites they were true believers in Christ; and among them there were those who were called by the Lamanites—Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites.  Therefore the true believers in Christ, and the true worshipers of Christ, (among whom were the three disciples of Jesus who should tarry) were called Nephites, and Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites.

. . . They who rejected the gospel were called Lamanites, and Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites; and they did not dwindle in unbelief, but they did wilfully rebel against the gospel of Christ; and they did teach their children that they should not believe  . . . And they were taught to hate the children of God, even as the Lamanites were taught to hate the children of Nephi from the beginning.
 

And it came to pass that two hundred and forty and four years had passed away, and thus were the affairs of the people. And the more wicked part of the people did wax strong, and became exceedingly more numerous than were the people of God.  And they did still continue to build up churches unto themselves, and adorn them with all manner of precious things. And thus did two hundred and fifty years pass away, and also two hundred and sixty years.

. . .  The wicked part of the people began again to build up the secret oaths and combinations of Gadianton.
 

And also the people who were called the people of Nephi began to be proud in their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, and become vain like unto their brethren, the Lamanites.

 
And from this time the disciples began to sorrow for the sins of the world.

And it came to pass that when three hundred years had passed away, both the people of Nephi and the Lamanites had become exceedingly wicked one like unto another.  And . . . the robbers of Gadianton did spread over all the face of the land; and there were none that were righteous save it were the disciples of Jesus. And gold and silver did they lay up in store in abundance, and did traffic in all manner of traffic.

And it came to pass that after three hundred and five years had passed away, (and the people did still remain in wickedness) Amos died; and his brother, Ammaron, did keep the record in his stead.  And . . . when three hundred and twenty years had passed away, Ammaron, being constrained by the Holy Ghost, did hide up the records which were sacred—yea, even all the sacred records which had been handed down from generation to generation, which were sacred—even until the three hundred and twentieth year from the coming of Christ.  And he did hide them up unto the Lord, that they might come again unto the remnant of the house of Jacob, according to the prophecies and the promises of the Lord. And thus is the end of the record of Ammaron. (4 Nephi 1: 35-49)

 

Three hundred and twenty years of the Nephite fall from grace to godlessness. 

Tomorrow we look at the final fruits growing out of such roots.

 

Italicized text from the Book of Mormon

Additional text copyright January 2014, Gebara Education

Pictures from www.bookofmormonbattles.com

except

Ammaron hiding the records from www.lds.org