“Nephi the Prophet,” Book of Mormon Stories (2023)
Nephi the Prophet
Getting great power from the Lord
A group called the Gadianton robbers ruled the city Zarahemla. They promised to help each other do bad things. They robbed and hurt people to get money and power. Most of the people joined the robbers. They wanted to be rich.
The prophet Nephi lived in Zarahemla. Nephi prayed to God because he was sad that people were not following God’s commandments. Nephi asked the people to remember all that God did for them. But many people would not listen. They cared more about money and power than obeying God.
Nephi warned the people about the robbers. He said they needed to repent. Some of the Nephite judges had joined the robbers. They were mad at Nephi and said he was lying. They wanted the people to be mad at Nephi too.
Nephi said that God tells His prophets many things. Nephi told them that all the prophets taught about the coming of Jesus Christ. He said that the prophets warned people that Jerusalem would be destroyed if they did not repent. He helped them remember that Jerusalem was destroyed.
The next day, judges asked Nephi questions to trick him. Nephi told them about the evil among them. Some people believed Nephi and knew he was a prophet.
Others did not believe. Everyone argued and then left. Nephi thought about what the Lord had taught him. He was sad because of the people’s bad actions.
The Lord spoke to Nephi. He was happy that Nephi had taught the people. Because of how obedient Nephi was, the Lord gave him special power over things on earth and in heaven. The Lord knew Nephi would only use the power to help people repent.
The Lord told Nephi to return to the people and tell them to repent. Nephi went right away. But the people were angry with him and did not listen.
They tried to put Nephi in prison. But the Spirit of God helped Nephi escape.
Nephi kept teaching the word of God. The people still did not listen. They began to argue and fight with each other. The robbers made the fighting worse. Soon, there were wars in every city. Many people were getting hurt or killed. Nephi was sad. He did not want the people to be destroyed by wars.
Nephi asked God to cause a great famine so that people would remember the Lord and repent. There was no rain for many years. The ground was dry, and crops could not grow. The people were hungry. They stopped fighting and started to remember the Lord. The people repented and got rid of the robbers.
The people asked Nephi to pray to the Lord. Nephi saw that they had repented and the robbers were gone. He asked the Lord to send rain. The Lord answered Nephi’s prayer. The rain came, and the crops began to grow. The people thanked God. They knew Nephi was a prophet and had great power from God.