Samuel Warns the Nephites

The Nephites were still wicked in 6 BC, while the Lamanites kept God’s commandments according to the law of Moses. During that year, a Lamanite named Samuel came into the land of Zarahemla and began to preach to the people. For many days he preached repentance, but the people threw him out. Because he had been rejected, Samuel was about to return to his own land, but the Lord’s voice told him to go back and prophesy the things that would come into his heart.

The people would not let Samuel come back into the city, so he climbed on top of the city wall, held out his arm, and shouted, “I, Samuel, a Lamanite, speak the Lord’s words that He puts into my heart. His words are: ‘The sword of justice hangs over the Nephite people. In less than 400 years this sword will fall upon them. Heavy destruction will surely come upon them, and nothing can stop it unless they repent and show faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who will surely come into the world and suffer many things, and will be slain for His people.’

“An angel of the Lord told me this. He brought glad news to my soul and I was sent to bring it to you, but you would not receive me. This is why the Lord has told me to tell you: ‘Because you Nephites are so hard in your hearts, if you do not repent, I will take my word and my Spirit away from you. I will not protect you any longer, and I will turn the hearts of your brethren against you. In less than 400 years you will be extinct, for I will visit you with the sword, drought, and pestilence. I will visit you in my fierce anger, and four generations from now your enemies will witness the entire destruction of your people. This will surely happen unless you repent.’

“I, Samuel, tell you that if you will repent and return to the Lord your God, He will turn away His anger. For He said, ‘Whoever repents and turns to me is blessed, but whoever does not repent will be cursed. This great city of Zarahemla has already been cursed. It has only been spared because of the righteous who live here. I, the Lord, see that most of the people in Zarahemla will harden their hearts against me.’

“I, the Lord, will save those who repent. If it were not for the righteous people in this great city, I would have already rained down fire from heaven and destroyed it. But for the sake of the righteous this city has been spared. When the times comes that you drive the righteous out, then your city will be ready for destruction. The city of Gideon is also cursed because of its wickedness and great sins. All the Nephite cities in this region are cursed for their great wickedness. Because of their wickedness, a curse will come upon the land, and when you bury treasure in the earth, you will not find it again. Only the righteous, who hide their treasure unto me, will be able to find it again. It is my will that people consecrate their treasure for my purposes. Anyone who does not do this is not righteous, but is cursed along with his treasure. The Nephites will hide their treasures before running from their invading enemies. They will do this because their hearts are set upon riches. But because they do not hide their treasures unto me, they and their treasure will be cursed, and they will be killed by their enemies.’ ”

Samuel continued, “The Lord says you are cursed along with your riches because you have set your hearts upon them, and because you have ignored the words of Him who gave them to you. You only remember your riches. Your hearts are not grateful to the Lord. They swell with great pride as you boast, envy, argue, plot, persecute, murder, and commit all types of sins. This is why the Lord God curses the land and your riches. You are cursed even now because you have thrown out the prophets. You have mocked them, thrown rocks at them, and killed them, just as wicked people did anciently.

“You tell one another that if you had lived long ago, you would not have killed the prophets like the ancients did. But you are worse than those who lived long ago! For as the Lord lives, if a prophet comes among you and tells you the Lord’s words which testify of your sins, then you are angry with him. You throw him out and plot his death. You say he is a false prophet, a sinner, and of the devil. You do this because he testifies of your evil acts.

“But you listen to those who say, ‘What you are doing is not wrong. You will not suffer. Be proud of yourselves. Do whatever you like.’ You make these men famous and give them your money. They begin to wear expensive clothes and tell you how wonderful you are, and how great your future will be, so you find no fault in them.

“Oh you wicked, perverse generation. You hard, stubborn people. How long do you think the Lord will tolerate what you do? How long will you be led by foolish and blind guides, choosing darkness rather than light? The Lord is already angry with you, and has cursed the land because of your sinfulness. Soon your riches will be cursed. When you are poor, you will not be able to find them. In your poverty, you will cry to the Lord in vain, ‘but your cries will be in vain, for it will be too late, and nothing can stop your destruction,’ says the Lord of Hosts.

“You will cry and moan, saying, ‘If only we had repented and had not killed the prophets. If only we had remembered the Lord our God when He gave us our riches, then we would not have lost them. Now when we put down a tool, the next day it is gone. When we need our swords for battle, they are taken from us. Our buried treasures have eluded us because of the curse on the land. If only we had repented when the Lord warned us, for now the land is cursed and we cannot keep anything.’

“In the days ahead, you will also say, ‘We are surrounded by demons—by the angels of him who has sought to destroy our souls, and our sins are great. Oh Lord, can Thou not turn Thine anger away from us?’

“But in those days ahead, your days of probation will be over. You will have put off the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction will be certain.

“All your lives you have been trying to get what you can never have—happiness in doing wrong. You can never be happy while being wicked because this goes against the nature of righteousness. If only you people would listen to my words! I pray that the Lord’s anger will be turned away from you—that you will repent and be saved.”