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:
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
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