Mormon’s mourning the loss of his people the Nephites—that once they “had Christ for their shepherd” and “were led even by God the Father,” but were now “without Christ and God in the world” and were “led about by Satan” (Mormon 5:16–18)—simultaneously depicts their utmost righteousness and utmost wickedness. It shows that a people’s attaining such righteousness is no guarantee that they would not slip into wickedness and in the end lose both body and soul.
From what Isaiah and Nephi saw of our day, we might do well to take warning, lest we be the very ones “utterly destroyed” before Christ comes (Isaiah 10:22–23; 2 Nephi 30:1; Ether 2:11). With even the humble followers of Christ being “led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men,” putting our “trust in man” and assuming “all is well in Zion” (2 Nephi 28:14, 21–31) won’t save us from the same fate as this land’s former inhabitants.
Because the scriptures say it is on account of the wickedness of God’s end-time people who are of the covenant that his judgments come upon whole the world—they being the last bastion of righteousness—what promise have we of being among the remnant that survives this worldwide destruction? Nowhere do the scriptures say the church will not apostatize, as many assume, only that the priesthood will not be taken from the earth (Doctrine & Covenants 2:1; 13:1; 86:10).
Correctly assuming with Nephi, therefore, that Isaiah’s prophecies of destruction and deliverance will be fulfilled at the end of the world (2 Nephi 25:7–8), we have a promise that some among us will not only not be destroyed, but that the reason will be because they will ascend to a state of utmost righteousness. To rise above the utmost wickedness that will then prevail, it will surely be indispensable that at least a representation of souls must again be “led even by God the Father.”
How else shall men walk through the same fire that destroys the wicked—as Isaiah and Nephi saw—in the act of bringing remnants of the house of Israel to Zion (Isaiah 43:2–8; 49:22–23;1 Nephi 22:17)? How else shall men be translated and gain power over enemies and the elements and establish Zion as Enoch did so the Lord may come and dwell with them (Moses 7:18–20)? Didn’t Nephite prophets show us how that kind of divine empowerment could actually happen?
We may thus assume that Jesus’ three Nephite disciples who inherited the Father’s kingdom (3 Nephi 28:8–10), as well as those who receive “all that the Father has” (Doctrine & Covenants 76:55; 84:38), would be led by him in ways mostly unknown to others than themselves. And also that the Father’s direction on that lofty spiritual level would personally impel a soul to embrace higher laws of God commensurate with opening heavenly portals and angelic points of contact.
Certainly, we can’t assume that “being led even by God the Father” is something common in the gospel of Jesus Christ and thus explain away needing to live to a higher standard as a birthright tribe in Israel. As we enter this life-and-death phase in the world’s end-time scenario, each of us is responsible for letting ourselves be led—be it by a man or men, the Holy Ghost, Jesus himself, or even by God the Father. And that implies a commitment to bear the burdens specific to each.
