Nephi, Mormon, and the Last Days

President Nelson said in the last general conference: “These are the latter days, so none of us should be surprised when we see prophecy fulfilled.  A host of prophets, including Isaiah, Paul, Nephi, and Mormon, foresaw that perilous times would come, that in our day the whole world would be in commotion, that men would ‘be lovers of their own selves, … without natural affection, … lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.’”  This quotes the words of Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:2-4, and I think it is fairly common to think about Paul as one who prophesied about the last days.  But Nephi and Mormon are typically not thought of as prophets who prophesied of the difficulties of the last days. 

                Nephi had his great vision of what his father saw when he was young, and he saw much of what would happen in the last days.  He wrote, “And it came to pass that I beheld that the wrath of God was poured out upon that great and abominable church, insomuch that there were wars and rumors of wars among all the nations and kindreds of the earth” (1 Nephi 14:15).  In addition to the wars and rumors of wars that we would have in the last days Nephi also prophesied of natural disasters that would come: “But, behold, in the last days, or in the days of the Gentiles… they will be drunken with iniquity and all manner of abominations—And when that day shall come they shall be visited of the Lord of Hosts, with thunder and with earthquake, and with a great noise, and with storm, and with tempest, and with the flame of devouring fire” (2 Nephi 27:1-2).  He also predicted of the great power that Satan would have in the last days: “For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good” (2 Nephi 28:20).  We certainly see that today.  Ultimately in the last days “the Lord God will speedily visit the inhabitants of the earth; and in that day that they are fully ripe in iniquity they shall perish….  And the wicked will he destroy; and he will spare his people, yea, even if it so be that he must destroy the wicked by fire” (2 Nephi 28:16, 30:10).  Certainly Nephi did foresee “perilous times” in our day as President Nelson said.

                Mormon didn’t leave us as many prophecies about the last days as Nephi, bur surely he likewise foresaw the perilous times.  He quoted these words of the Savior addressed at the Gentiles of our day: “Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways; and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations” (3 Nephi 30:2).  That’s a pretty good description of our perilous times today.  He also challenged the wicked of our day, saying, “And then, O ye Gentiles, how can ye stand before the power of God, except ye shall repent and turn from your evil ways? Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God?  Know ye not that he hath all power, and at his great command the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll?” (Mormon 5:22-23)  Mormon, like Nephi, knew the wickedness that would come upon us in the last day, and what he wrote in the book of Mormon stands as a testimony and warning for us who seek to navigate the evil of these “perilous times.”