Book of Mormon (Plain English Version)/4 Nephi
Amidst blessings, pride returns... (compare 4 Nephi)
By the end of 35 AD the disciples of Jesus had formed a church of Christ in all the surrounding lands. All who came to them and truly repented of their sins were baptized in the name of Jesus and given the Holy Ghost.
By 36 AD all the people in the land, both Nephite and Lamanite, were converted to the Lord. There was no contention among them and they all dealt fairly with one another. They had all things in common so there were no rich, poor or those in debt. They all freely enjoyed their heavenly gifts.
Throughout 37 AD peace continued in the land. There were great and marvelous works performed by the disciples of Jesus. They healed the sick, raised the dead and caused the lame to walk. They gave the blind their sight and the deaf their hearing. They did all these things in the name of Jesus.
The Lord continued to prosper them greatly for the next 22 years. They began to build cities where cities had been burned. They rebuilt the great city of Zarahemla, but the many cities covered with water could not be rebuilt.
The Nephites and converted Lamanites quickly became strong, numerous and were very fair and delightful. They married, were given in marriage and were blessed according to the multitude of promises the Lord had made to them.
They no longer performed the ordinances of the law of Moses. They obeyed the commandments they had received from the Lord their God. They fasted, prayed and met together often to pray and hear the word of the Lord.
There was no contention among all the people in the land, and mighty miracles were performed by the disciples of Jesus.
By 100 AD all the disciples of Jesus had gone to the paradise of God except for the three who would never die. Other disciples had been ordained to replace those who had died, and many of that generation had also passed away.
There was no contention in the land because the love of God was in the people's hearts. There was no envy, strife, immorality, lying, murder or any kind of sinfulness. There were no robbers, murderers, Lamanites, or any kind of -ites.
And surely there could not be a happier people among all of God's creations. They were one--the children of Christ, and they were heirs to God's kingdom.
How blessed they were, for the Lord blessed them in all they did through the year 110 AD. By then, the first generation from Christ had all passed away, and still there was no contention anywhere in the land.
After Nephi died (having kept this record upon Nephi's plates), his son Amos kept the record for 84 years. There was still peace in the land, except for a small group of people who revolted from the church, taking on the name "Lamanite." This is how there began to be Lamanites again in the land.
Amos died in 194 AD, and his son Amos kept the record in his place, also engraving upon Nephi's plates.
By 200 AD the second generation had all passed away, except for a few.
And now I, Mormon, want you to know that the people had multiplied and spread out over the entire face of the land. They had become very rich because of their prosperity in Christ. By 201 AD some of them started to lift themselves above others in their pride. They wore expensive clothes, fine pearls, and all kinds of fine things of the world.
From that time on they stopped having their goods and substance in common. They started to divide themselves into classes, and they built churches to get gain, denying the true church of Christ.
By 210 AD they had established many churches in the land. Each church claimed to know Christ, yet they denied most of His gospel.
Each church received all kinds of wicked people and administered the bread and wine to them unworthy. These churches multiplied quickly as Satan took hold of their hearts.
Another church was established that denied the Christ. This church persecuted Christ's true church because of their humility and belief in Him. This false church despised the humble believers because many miracles were performed among them. It exercised power and authority over the disciples of Jesus, who were still among the people.
Members of this false church threw the three disciples in prison, but by the power of God's word in them the prisons walls fell, and they went out and continued to perform mighty miracles.
Even after seeing all these miracles, the people hardened their hearts and tried to kill the disciples, just as the Jews in Jerusalem had sought to kill Jesus because of His words. They threw the three disciples into hot fires and into dens full of wild beasts, but the disciples were not harmed.
No matter what the disciples did or said, the people were hardened, being led by many priests and false prophets to build up their churches and do all kinds of sinful things. These wicked apostates even beat the true believers of Jesus, but the believers did not fight back.
This is how the Nephites became increasingly wicked from year to year, until 230 years had passed since the birth of Christ.
By 231 AD there was a great division among the people. One group called themselves Nephites. They were the true believers of Christ, and among them were Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites and the three disciples of Jesus.
Those who sinned against the gospel were called Lamanites, Lemuelites and Ishmaelites. They did not sin ignorantly, but they willfully rebelled against the gospel of Christ. They taught their children not to believe and to hate the children of God, even as their forefathers had done from the beginning.
By 244 AD the wicked people had become much more numerous than God's people. The wicked continued to build up churches for themselves, adorning them with all kinds of precious things. This continued throughout 260 AD.
And once again, the wicked began to build up the secret oaths and combinations of Gadianton. Because of their many riches, even those who had called themselves Nephites began to be proud in their hearts. They soon became vain like their brethren, the Lamanites. From this time forward, the disciples began to sorrow for the sins of the world.
By 300 AD both the Nephites and Lamanites had become very wicked. The robbers of Gadianton spread over the entire land. They collected much gold and silver and did much business with one another. Only the three disciples of Jesus remained righteous.
Amos died in 305 AD and his brother, Ammaron, kept the record in his place.
In 320 AD Ammaron was told by the Holy Ghost to hide all the sacred records that had been handed down from generation to generation. He hid them up unto the Lord so they would come to Israel's descendants according to the prophecies and the Lord's promises. This is the end of Ammaron's record.