The Book of Mormon sets the patterns and tells a story for its readers in our day to help us understand what the Lords will is and to offer us a warning as to what is to occur.

Jerusalem’s first destruction.

The Book of Mormon starts out with Lehi and his family’s flight from Jerusalem because of the Prophecies and Lehi’s knowledge of impending destruction. Laman and Lemuel wanted to return not just because they had a comfortable lifestyle and riches. They also thought themselves righteous because they did what the people in Jerusalem did. They thought they, at Jerusalem, kept covenants which thing they did not.

Jerusalem was destroyed due to the vengeance of God.

It was revealed to Nephi “And as one generation hath been destroyed among the Jews because of iniquity, even so have they been destroyed from generation to generation according to their iniquities. And never hath any of them been destroyed save it were foretold them by the prophets of the Lord. Wherefore, it hath been told them concerning the destruction which should come upon them immediately after my father left Jerusalem; nevertheless, they hardened their hearts. And according to my prophecy they have been destroyed, save it be those which are carried away captive into Babylon.” (2 Nephi 11:4 RE, 2 Ne. 25:9-12 KJV )

This happened during the reign of King Zedekiah of whom Nebuchadnezzar had placed in authority but the conditions were set up far before hand (about 130 years)under the reign of King Hosea wherein it came under the rule of Babylon. “Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.” (2 Kings 5:18 RE, 2 Kings 17:5- KJV)

 But there’s more, we have a record of why it happened and the festering sins that Lehi had exposed. Sins that Laman and Lemuel wanted to go back to. ”For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the heathen whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city. And they set themselves up images and groves in every high hill and under every green tree. And there they burned incense in all the high places as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them, and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger; for they served idols whereof the Lord had said unto them, You shall not do this thing. Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all the prophets and by all the seers, saying, Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their necks like to the neck of their fathers that did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them. And they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

Also, Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers until he had cast them out of his sight.” (2 Kings 5:19-21 RE, 2 Kings 17:7-20 KJV)

These were the very sins that Laman and Lemuel thought were “keeping the statutes”. “And we know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people, for they keep the statutes and the judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments according to the law of Moses; wherefore, we know that they are a righteous people.” (1 Nephi 5:17 RE, 1 Ne. 17:19-22 KJV).

Like the Jews in the time of Lehi and Nephites in the time of Helaman to Nephi (son of Helmana), most followers of current traditions think they keep the covenants of God yet they do not. 

For more on this see addendum 1 at the end of this post.

Destruction comes in the last days.

As it was in the days of Noah so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

“And as I said before, after the tribulation of those days, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven, with power and great glory. And whoever treasures up my word shall not be deceived, for the Son of Man shall come, and he shall send his angels before him with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branches are yet tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near at hand. So likewise my elect, when they shall see all these things, they shall know that he is near, even at the doors. But of that day and hour no one knows — no, not the angels of God in Heaven, but my Father only.” (Mark 6:8-9 RE, Mark 13:28-29,32KJV )

What are these signs? Signs in the heavens? Signs in the earth?

Luke tells us what these are.

“And then his disciples asked him, saying, Master, tell us concerning your coming. And he answered them and said, In the generation in which the times of the gentiles shall be fulfilled, there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth, distress of nations with perplexity, like the sea and the waves roaring. The earth also shall be troubled, and the waters of the great deep, men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken; and when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads, for the day of your redemption draws near. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

And he spoke to them a parable, saying, Behold the fig tree and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, you see and know of your own selves that summer is now near at hand. So likewise you, when you see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is near at hand. Truly I say unto you, this generation — the generation when the times of the gentiles are fulfilled — shall not pass away until all are fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Let my disciples therefore take heed to themselves, lest at any time their hearts should be burdened with overindulgence, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come upon them unawares; for as a snare it shall come on all them who dwell on the face of the whole earth. And what I say unto one, I say unto all. Watch, therefore, and pray always, and keep my commandments, that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things which shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man when he shall come, clothed in the glory of his Father. (Luke 8:22 RE, Luke 12:17-18 KJV)

We read twice about the fig tree. We also read about the destruction that’s to come after the sacrifice of the Savior. But here Luke takes it a step further and equates these things with the times of the gentiles being fulfilled (or over). We get two prophecies out of one. One for the current time or better put, the time in which Jesus is making these prophecies and one for the future, or last days.

“But as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man, for it shall be with them as it was in the days which were before the flood. For until the day that Noah entered into the ark, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. (Matt 11:11 RE, JS-M 1:41-43, Matt. 24:37-39 KJV )

Joseph Smith also gives us a prophecy of what’s to come in the last days and warns the house of those who would claim to have a covenant.

“Verily, verily I say unto you, darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face. Behold, vengeance comes speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth: a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation. And as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, says the Lord. And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, says the Lord — first, among those among you, says the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, says the Lord.”(T&C 124:6 D&C 112:23-29)

Just like Laman and Lemuel and those at Jerusalem thought that no harm could come to them, those that were given a covenant in the latest dispensation are claiming the same and in their pride and hubris declare that they are doing Gods work even though they are not. This is the definition of Iniquity and working lies in hypocrisy. They work contrary to Gods purposes assuming to know his will but they are blind guides.

We must not get caught unawares or sidetracked by the things of this world or even the things many of us consider wonderful gospel centered activities like getting married, eating and drinking etc.

Zarahemla is destroyed

Samuel the Laminate declared to the  Laminates before Christ’s birth that it was too late for them because they had gone so off the rails there was little they could do to turn back to God. This was 39 years before Christ was crucified and destruction in the Americas ensued that laid waste to the entirety of the population. 

“Behold, I, Samuel, a Lamanite, do speak the words of the Lord which he doth put into my heart. And behold, he hath put it into my heart to say unto this people that the sword of justice hangeth over this people” (Helaman 5:2 RE, )

“Yea, woe be unto this great city because of the wickedness and abominations which are in her; yea, and woe be unto the city of Gideon for the wickedness and abominations which are in her; yea, and woe be unto all the cities which are in the land round about, which are possessed by the Nephites, because of the wickedness and the abominations which is in them. And behold, a curse shall come upon the land, saith the Lord of Hosts, because of the people’s sake who are upon the land, yea, because of their wickedness and their abominations.

And it shall come to pass, saith the Lord of Hosts, yea, our great and true God, that whoso shall hide up treasures in the earth shall find them again no more” (Helaman 5:4-5 RE, Hel. 13:14-20 KJV)

Samuel described the conditions that allowed the iniquity to spread. Then proceeds to declare the mental state of the people and the vanity of their unbelief caused by their culture and their self proclaimed righteousness.

“Yea, woe unto this people because of this time which has arrived that ye do cast out the prophets, and do mock them, and cast stones at them, and do slay them, and do do all manner of iniquity unto them, even as they did of old time.

And now when ye talk, ye say, If our days had been in the days of our fathers of old, ye would not have slain the prophets, ye would not have stoned them and cast them out. Behold, ye are worse than they; for, as the Lord liveth, if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord, which testifieth of your sins and iniquities, ye are angry with him, and cast him out, and seek all manner of ways to destroy him. Yea, you will say that he is a false prophet, and that he is a sinner and of the Devil, because he testifieth that your deeds are evil. But behold, if a man shall come among you and shall say, Do this and there is no iniquity, do that and ye shall not suffer — yea, he will say, Walk after the pride of your own hearts, yea, walk after the pride of your eyes and do whatsoever your heart desireth — and if a man shall come among you and say this, ye will receive him and ye will say that he is a prophet. Yea, ye will lift him up and ye will give unto him of your substance, ye will give unto him of your gold and of your silver, and ye will clothe him with costly apparel. And because he speaketh flattering words unto you and he saith that all is well, and then ye will not find no fault with him.

“O ye wicked and ye perverse generation, ye hardened and ye stiffnecked people, how long will ye suppose that the Lord will suffer you? Yea, how long will ye suffer yourselves to be led by foolish and blind guides? Yea, how long will ye choose darkness rather than light? Yea, behold, the anger of the Lord is already kindled against you.” (Helaman 5:6-8 RE, Hel. 13:21-37 KJV)

All of this leading them into a state wherein it was too late for them. They could not avoid the destruction.

“But behold, your days of probation are past. Ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late and your destruction is made sure; yea, for ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain, and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and eternal Head. O ye people of the land, that ye would hear my words. And I pray that the anger of the Lord be turned away from you and that ye would repent and be saved.” (Helaman 5:9 RE, Hel. 13:38-39)

Look at the similarities between what happened BEFORE the destruction. Keep in mind the Book of Mormon was to be an example of what was also to come in a future time when its words would be in the hands of the gentiles upon this nation. It’s for us and to be considered a prophecy for our days.

“And seeing the people in a state of such awful wickedness, and those Gaddianton robbers filling the judgment seats, having usurped the power and authority of the land, laying aside the commandments of God and not in the least aright before him, doing no justice unto the children of men, condemning the righteous because of their righteousness, letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money; and moreover, to be held in office at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills, that they might get gain and glory of the world; and moreover, that they might the more easy commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills — now this great iniquity had come upon the Nephites in the space of not many years —“ (Helaman 3:1 RE, Hel. 7:1-9 KJV) people who were part of a conspiracy (meaning to breathe together in Latin) to overthrow the people of the land, overthrow the laws of God and not only cease to do righteousness but to do the opposite.

These judges condemned the righteous and subverted the law, let their criminal and wicked cronies go free for money and persecuted those who would do righteousness. They exalted themselves above the people and the law and became glorious unto the world for the proper of increasing their sin and abomination without being checked. Don’t we see the same in our day? Do we have activist judges sitting on the bench making rulings against those who would do righteousness? Do we have political persecutions? Is our system setting free those who are wicked and letting off those who are repeat criminals? All of these things are occurring in the political sphere. What’s more is we have religious institutions, whose responsibility it is to bring these acts to light and they aren’t even saying a word.

Nephi seeing these things preached unto them the following. “For if ye will not repent, behold, this great city, and also all those great cities which are round about, which are in the land of our possession, shall be taken away, that ye shall have no place in them. For behold, the Lord will not grant unto you strength, as he has hitherto done, to withstand against your enemies. For behold, thus saith the Lord: I will not shew unto the wicked of my strength, to one more than the other, save it be unto those who repent of their sins and hearken unto my words.” (Helman 3:5 RE, )

That great city was Zarahemla. He also mentions that the other great cities would be destroyed with it. The Lord would not suffer them his protection because of their wickedness. This is a chilling revelation to us in our day knowing that the lord will not protect those that do not honor him. Especially on this great land of promise. 

This should make one wonder and want to seek the Lord and his truth instead of relying on the arm of the flesh.

What do these repeating patterns tell us about what is to happen in our day?

Addendum

They keep covenants that have been changed and altered and deny the Holy Prophets. “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant” 

The following sins have repeated in our day. They commit priestcraft in that they set themselves up to get Gain, be a Light and become popular They build and adorn buildings, wear fine linens and costly apparel, serve Babylon,  Command to abstain from that which God had ordained for the use of man. 

They repeat the same mistakes the Levites made and the resulting reason Malachi called them to repentance. (Tithing meant to be on your excess not on your gross) I’ll expand on this in the next section.

“And now, O you priests, this commandment is for you.” (Malachi 1:3 RE, Mal. 2:1-9 KJV) In this time period the Levites had gathered in all of the Tithes but had decided to only give part back to the people in the form of aid and took the rest for themselves for their support and for their desires. They were guilty of Priestcraft. After being rebuked the following discussion between them and Malachi (speaking for the Lord) ensues. “Return unto me and I will return unto you, says the Lord of Hosts. 

But you said, Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? 

Yet you have robbed me. 

But you say, Wherein have we robbed you? 

In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation.” (Mal 1:7 RE, ) 

They had robbed the nation of Israel in the taking of that which was meant for the poor and supported themselves and their designs with it. He then commands “Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house,”

The law of Tithing is set forth by Melchizedek and is a law that is set for all time. We read what the law is in the JST of the Bible. “And he lifted up his voice and he blessed Abram, being the high priest and the keeper of the storehouse of God, him whom God had appointed to receive tithes for the poor. Wherefore, Abram paid unto him tithes of all that he had, of all the riches which he possessed, which God had given him, more than that which he had need.” (Gen 7:21 RE, ) In Joseph Smith’s day we see a repeat of this command “shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually.” (T&C 135:1 RE, )

They also command in Hypocrisy and compel people along a false “covenant path” that has no basis in scripture.”they do not learn this one lesson — that the rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the Powers of Heaven and that the Powers of Heaven cannot be controlled nor handled, only upon the principles of righteousness. That they may be conferred upon us, it is true, but when we undertake to cover our sins or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control, or dominion, or compulsion, upon the souls of the children of men in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the Heavens withdraw themselves, the spirit of the Lord is grieved, and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man. (T&C 139:5)  They compel tithing by falsely declaring the Temple or “covenant path” will bring salvation. This so called covenant path contains several compulsions that are unholy and grievous to be born. Namely the LDS version of tithing as mentioned above and adherence to a false version of the word of wisdom.

Amen to the priesthood of any man who sustains compulsion not to mention a methodology of compulsion based on a lie.