Episode 59: What the heck, let's just call it the Book of Mormon

Mormon

1^1-5 In the year 320 CE, the Holy Ghost forced Ammaron to hide the sacred records. Now Ammaron asks a ten-year-old boy named Mormon to wait another 14 years and then go to a hill called Shim in the land of Antum and dig up the records that he buried there. He told Mormon to take the plates of Nephi but leave the rest there. Then engrave on the plates of Nephi all the things that you've observed about the Nephites.

^6-7 When Mormon was eleven, his father carried him to the land of Zarahemla. There, Mormon saw buildings that covered the entire ground, and people as numerous (almost, as it were) the sand of the sea.

^8-9 When Mormon arrived in Zarahemla, Zarahemla was in the midst of a war between the Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, and Zoramites versus the Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites. (Mormon will call the former group "Nephites" and the latter group "Lamanites.")

^10-11 The war began by the waters of Sidon, where the Nephites assembled more than 30,000, many of which were killed by the Lamanites.

^12-14 After the battle, there was peace for three years. But there was wickedness throughout the land. It was so bad that the Lord had to take away his beloved disciples, so there were no more miracles, healings, and gifts of the Lord. The Holy Ghost didn't even come on people anymore!

¹⁵ So the fifteen-year-old Mormon, being (somewhat) of a sober mind, was visited by Jesus and tasted the goodness of Jesus. ^16-17 Mormon tried to preach to the Nephites, but the Lord shut his mouth, forbidding him to preach to them. God cursed the land and took away the beloved disciples because of the hardness of their hearts.

¹⁸ The Gadianton robbers infested the land. It got so bad, in fact, that people had to hide their treasures in the earth. They even became slippery, because the Lord had cursed the earth.

¹⁹ There were sorceries, witchcrafts, and magics; and the power of the evil one was all over the land, just like Abinadi and Samuel the Lamanite predicted.

The New World is divided up

2^1-2 In 326 CE, another war broke out between the Nephites and the Lamanites. Although Mormon was only sixteen years old at the time, the Nephites appointed him to lead their armies.

^3-9 For the next seven years the Nephites and the Lamanites fought each other. The Nephites were afraid of the Lamanites and refused to fight, retreating toward the north countries (Canada?). Then Mormon marched his armies west toward the seashore (California?). Although the west coast was filled with robbers and Lamanites, Mormon found 42,000 Nephites who were willing to fight against 44,000 Lamanites, and Mormon and the Nephites defeated them. There was blood and carnage everywhere over the face of the land.

^10-14 After the battle, the Nephites repented and cried just like Samuel the Lamanite said they would. But they didn't come to Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits; rather they had the sorrow of the damned, cursing God and hoping to die. ¹⁵ Thousands of dead Nephites were scattered about, like dung on the face of the land, because they didn't repent well enough and rebelled against God.

^16-17 In 345 CE, the Nephites were chased by the Lamanites to the land where Ammaron hid the plates. So since Mormon was in the neighborhood, he decided to go the hill of Shim and dig them up.

^18-19 Mormon made a full account of all the wickedness and abomination that he'd seen during his life on the plates of Nephi, but he left out some of the wicked bits on his own plates.

^20-25 For another year or so, the Lamanites hunted down the Nephites, who were holed up in the land of Shem. Mormon, when he wasn't digging up plates and engraving descriptions of wickedness and abomination, urged the Nephites to fight. And his words did arouse them somewhat. Mormon's army of 30,000 drove away the 50,000 Lamanites.

^26-29 The Nephites pursued and continued to drive back the Lamanites; but the strength of the Lord wasn't with them, so they became as weak as the Lamanites. Mormon sorrowed some more about the wickedness and abominations of the Nephites, while fighting against the Lamanites and those pesky Gadianton robbers. By the end of 350 CE, the land dispute was settled. The Nephites got the land northward (North America?) even to the narrow passage between the northern and southern lands (Central America?), while the Lamanites got the land southward (South America?).