Episode 58: From heaven to hell in a single chapter

1 Nephi

By is the son of Nephi – One of the disciples of Jesus Christ

¹ For the first few years (34-37 CE) everything was perfect with the new church (the Church of Christ). ² Everyone repented, was baptized, and was filled with the Holy Ghost. No one argued or treated anyone unfairly. Every Nephite and Lamanite was a perfect, upstanding member of the new church. ³ Everyone shared everything with everyone else, so no one was rich or poor.

⁵ Jesus's Nephite disciples performed marvelous works -- healing the sick, raising the dead, etc.

⁶ Nothing much happened for twenty years or so (38-59 CE).

⁷ The people prospered exceedingly and built new cities, replacing the ones that Jesus destroyed when he died. ⁸ They even rebuilt Zarahemla. ⁹ But they couldn't rebuild all of the cities that Jesus had sunk.

^10-11 The Nephites waxed strong, multiplied exceedingly, and became exceedingly fair and delightsome.

^12-13 They ignored the Old Testament's laws but did whatever Jesus told them to do during his visit. They met, fasted, prayed, and read the Bible together. Every single person got along great with everyone else. And, of course, the disciples continued to perform lots of mighty miracles.

¹⁴ Nothing much happened in the next 30 years or so (71-100 CE), except that the nine mortal disciples died and went to heaven (as Jesus said they would in 3 Nephi 28, although I'm not sure if they all died when they were 72 as promised.

¹⁵ For ten years (101 - 110 CE), everyone was perfectly happy. No lies were told, no murders committed, not a single envious thought or discouraging word could be heard among the people. ¹⁶ There was no envy, strife, tumult, whoredom, lying, murder, or masturbation. There has never existed a happier bunch of people. ¹⁷ There weren't any robbers, murderers, Lamanites, or any other kind of -ites. It was all just one big happy church.

¹⁹ When Nephi died, he gave his plates to his son, Amos, who kept the plates for another 84 years.

²⁰ All was well until few of the people revolted against the church and began to call themselves Lamanites. So there were Lamanites in the land again.

²¹ Then, in 94 CE, Amos died, giving his plates to his son, who was also named Amos. (When you've got a good name like Amos, stick with it.)

²³ By the year 200 CE, the Nephites had multiplied exceedingly and became exceedingly rich, because of their prosperity in Christ.

^24-26 In 201 CE, the people began to be proud and wear expensive clothing. They didn't share anymore and had divided themselves up into classes. But worst of all, they denied the church of Christ and built for-profit churches.

²⁷ By 210 CE, there were many churches in the land. They all claimed to know Christ, but they denied his gospel and did all kinds of wicked things. They even administered the Blessed Sacrament to people in a state of mortal sin. ²⁸ One of these evil churches multiplied exceedingly because they were evil and controlled by Satan. ²⁹ Another church persecuted the members of the true church (The church of Christ) because they hated miracles and humble Christians.

^30-31 This especially bad church arrested the disciples of Jesus and cast them into prison, but the prison split into two pieces and the disciples escaped. When the disciples got out of prison, they went about doing mighty miracles -- which made the people hate them even more. So they tried to kill them, just like the Jews in Jerusalem tried to kill Jesus.

^32-33 The members of the evil church threw the disciples into furnaces and dens of wild beasts, but the fire didn't burn them, and they just played with the beasts.

³⁴ In 230 CE, the people hardened their hearts and dwindled in unbelief, while smiting the people of Jesus. But the Jesus people didn't smite them back.

^35-37 In 231 CE, the people split into a dozen or so -ites. Along with the usual Nephites and Lamanites, there were Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Ishmaeilites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites. The Nephites were true believers, along with the Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites.

^38-39 Although the Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites didn't dwindle in unbelief, they rebelled against the gospel of Christ and taught their children to disbelieve and to hate the children of God.

^40-41 Things were getting really bad by 260 CE. People began to build up the secret oaths and combinations of Gadianton. And the more wicked part of the people waxed strong and became exceedingly more numerous than the people of God.

^43-44 Even the Nephites were becoming proud because of their exceeding riches. They were becoming as vain as the Lamanites.

⁴⁶ By the year 300 CE, both the Nephites and the Lamanites had become exceedingly wicked. The robbers of Gadianton spread over the face of the land, and no one was righteous except for the disciples of Jesus.

^47-49 Amos II died in 305 CE, and his brother Ammaron inherited the plates. Fifteen years later, the Holy Ghost forced him to hide the plates. And so ends the record of Ammaron.