Jacob 7

After some years, a man named Sherem came to the Nephites. He began to preach that there would be no Christ. He said many flattering words to the people. He worked hard and led away many people.

He wanted to speak to me, because I, Jacob, believed in Christ. He was educated and spoke clever, tricky words. He tried to shake me away from my faith. But I have seen angels and they have blessed me. I have heard the voice of the Lord speaking to me. So I could not be shaken.

Sherem said to me: Brother Jacob, I have heard that you go preaching the gospel of Christ. You have led away many of these people to worship a person that you say will come many hundreds of years from now. I, Sherem, say to you that no man can know such things, for no one can tell of things to come.

In this way, Sherem argued against me. But the Lord God put his Spirit in my soul. I said to Sherem: Do you deny that Christ will come? He answered: If there would be a Christ, I would not deny him. But I know that there is no Christ, neither has been, nor ever will be.

Sherem said: Show me a sign, if you know so much. I said to him: I would not tempt God to show you a sign about something that you already know to be true. You would still reject it, because you are of the devil. But God will strike you down. Let that be a sign to you that Christ will come and that God has all power.

When I, Jacob, said these words, the power of the Lord came on Sherem, so he fell to the earth. The people watched over him for several days. One day Sherem awoke and said to the people: Gather together tomorrow, for I will die. When the people were gathered, he spoke to them.

He told of the truth of Christ and the power of the Holy Ghost. He told the people that he had been tricked by the devil. After he said these words, he could say no more and he died. The people were amazed. The power of God came down on them. This was pleasing to me, for I had asked Heavenly Father to do this. Now peace and the love of God came again to the people.

We tried many ways to bring the Lamanites to know of the truth. It was useless. They enjoyed wars and bloodshed. They hated us and they tried to kill us all the time. So we Nephites made our cities strong. We trusted in God.

Our lives passed like a dream. We were a lonesome people. We were wanderers born in a wilderness and hated by our brothers. With many wars and fighting, we suffered out our lives.

I, Jacob, saw that I would soon go down to my grave. I said to my son Enos: Take these plates. I say to you: Farewell.