4 Nephi: 1-23

4 Nephi:1-23

Just two years after the Savior came were all the people converted to the Lord.  How cool is that? I had to chuckle as I read that in verse two as I wondered what the story of the very last guy to be converted was. I mean, everyone else in the entire land was a member of the Church, but this guy. (I named him Phil.) I wonder what was Phil's hold up? I wonder if his wife ever said, "Told you it was true, Phil?"  Who knows. It was just a humorous random thought I had. (That's what I get for reading my scriptures early in the morning.)

On to better and brighter things:

I split this chapter into to parts because 1: it was a long chapter, and 2: I wanted to focus on happy things.

First, I love how each person that was converted was baptized and received the Holy Ghost, just as we do today. It shows that Jesus's Church is truly the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Verse 15:...and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.

What made these people so happy for two hundred years?

Here is a list of the things they did:

1. They were each and every one fully converted to the Lord.
2. They dealt justly with each other
3. They did not fight with each other 
4. They gave freely and shared
5. They worked hard and were industrious
6. They understood the importance of marriage
7. They fasted and prayed
8. They met together often to hear the word of the Lord

And because they did these things, they were blessed with:

1. Great and marvelous works by the disciples in the name of Jesus Christ (the Priesthood)
1. Their sick healed
2. Their dead were raised
3. Their lame walked
4. The blind saw
5. The deaf heard
2. The Lord prospered them, helping them rebuild cities, and build new ones.
3. The love of God
4. No robbers, murderers
5. A united people- no -ites, just believers.
6. A fair and delightsome people
7. They were happy

Great lists, but it really comes to to the simplest formula:

    True conversion
+ The love of God in our hearts
=  Pure Happiness

It was what their forefather, Lehi, tried to teach his family over 600 years before.

And it's what they are trying to tell us.

It's a simple equation, a profound lesson.

And one that applies to us today, just as much as it did two thousand years ago.