Result of Christ's visit to the Americas

One of the first things Jesus talked about to the people in Ancient America when he visited them was contention.

3 Nephi 11:29

29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.

And it is interesting to see how happy and contention-free the people were for so long.


4 Nephi: 13, 15

13 And it came to pass that there was no contention among all the people, in all the land; but there were mighty miracles wrought among the disciples of Jesus.

15 And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.

no contention= love of God in your heart and mighty miracles

It is also interesting to note that the first break comes when there started to be contention about a point of doctrine. This is the very first thing Jesus talked to the people about. Not just contention, but contention about His doctrine, specifically.

4 Nephi:20 And he kept it eighty and four years, and there was still peace in the land, save it were a small part of the people who had revolted from the church and taken upon them the name of Lamanites; therefore there began to be Lamanites again in the land.

The next problem that crops up that wrecked their peace was pride and wearing costly apparel. Next, they divide up into classes, and then they make different churches.

So contention= pride, divisions, making yourself up to be better than your neighbor

It gets worse:

29 And again, there was another church which denied the Christ; and they did persecute the true church of Christ, because of their humility and their belief in Christ; and they did despise them because of the many miracles which were wrought among them.

This reminds me of some other people....

Mark 4

1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.

2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.

3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.

4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.

5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

By their fruits ye shall know them. Jesus went about doing good and working miracles. Some people hated and despised him for it. The Pharisees and Herodians went about trying to find a way to destroy goodness. Did they ever stop to take a look at themselves? How do you get to a point when you hate goodness?

I am not the only one who saw the similarities between some of the people in the New Testament times and these Ancient Americans 200 years after Christ's visit:

4 Nephi:

31 Nevertheless, and notwithstanding all these miracles, the people did harden their hearts, and did seek to kill them, even as the Jews at Jerusalem sought to kill Jesus, according to his word.

Now, a sad summary to end with. I likened myself unto the Pharisees last night. I went to a stake meeting. I was really proud of myself for even going because it has been a long week with long days. I was feeling pretty tired and just wanted to get in, get the information and get home. After the main meeting, we split into the different auxiliaries and as I walked into the room, one of the ladies hugged me and was so cheerful and animated. My reaction: I was irritated. How could she be so happy and cheerful when it has been such a long week? Then it hit me. She was "going about doing good" just like Jesus would do if He were here, and I was irritated and bugged. That was a lesson to me. That helped me to see how the Pharisees could have reacted the way they did. I didn't want to kill or destroy anyone, but I was definitely not in the right frame of mind. I repented and tried to be a little more cheerful the rest of the evening.