Nephi the Disciple
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:''This article refers to Nephi, the author of
Third Nephi The Book of Nephi: The Son of Nephi, Who Was the Son of Helaman is religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement. The book is usually referred to as Third Nephi or 3 Nephi, and is one of fifteen books that make up the Book of Mormon. This book wa ...
, and one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. See also Nephi (disambiguation).'' According to the
Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude date ...
, Nephi ( ) the Disciple was a
Nephite According to the Book of Mormon, the Nephites () are one of four groups (along with the Lamanites, Jaredites, and Mulekites) to have settled in the ancient Americas. The term is used throughout the Book of Mormon to describe the religious, po ...
prophet during the 1st century, and a chosen disciple of
Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
. Nephi's ministry was centered on Christ, and included prophesying of His birth, working miracles in His name, witnessing His visitation to the Americas after the
Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...
, and administering His church after He had ascended. Nephi was also the appointed recordkeeper for the Nephites during this period, and much of the text of Third Nephi is abridged from his account.


Known genealogy


Early life

Nephi is first mentioned in the Book of Mormon when he inherits the Nephite records and sacred artifacts from his father,
Nephi, son of Helaman According to the Book of Mormon Nephi ( ), along with his brother Lehi, was a Nephite missionary. His father was Helaman, and his sons include two of the twelve Nephite disciples at the time that Christ visited the Americas. Known genealogy ...
, in the year 1 B.C. He lived (and was likely raised) in the Nephite capital city,
Zarahemla According to the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Zarahemla () refers to a large city in the ancient Americas which is described in the Book of Mormon. Archaeologists and historians have not been able to archaeological ...
, where his father lived and subsequently departed from, leaving Nephi with the full responsibilities of scribe. Neither Nephi's childhood nor age are referenced in the abridgement, although he had at least one younger sibling, Timothy. It is believed that he was born in 30 BC.


Pre-Christ Ministry

In the ninety-second year of the Reign of the Judges (1 BC), a "great uproar" broke out amongst the population over the yet-unfulfilled (and according to the "unbelievers", past-due) prophecy of
Samuel the Lamanite According to the Book of Mormon, Samuel the Lamanite is a prophet who lived in the ancient Americas, sent by Jesus Christ around 5 BC to teach and warn the Nephites just before his birth in the Old World. The account is recorded in Helaman 13-16 ...
, that Christ's birth would be signified by a new star and a night without darkness. Those who continued to look forward to the sign of Christ were scheduled for a mass execution. Nephi, deeply disturbed by the wickedness of the people, "prayed mightily" to God for the condemned believers, even all day. Finally, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying: "Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets." As promised, when the sun set that evening, the sky remained as bright as midday, fulfilling the anticipated prophecies and effectively preventing the impending genocide. A majority of the population was converted by this event, and Nephi went about "
baptizing Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
unto repentance, in the which there was a great remission of sins", which temporarily restored peace to the land. Despite the mass change of heart, and the continued preaching of Nephi and "many others" however, by 96 ROJ (AD 3), the people had already returned to wickedness and discrediting the miracles they had seen. For the next twenty-seven years, they would continue to fluctuate between extremes of piousness and rebellion, until finally abandoning their faith altogether. The government of over 120 years was intentionally corrupted and assassinated into extinction, and the society unraveled into tribes. Nephi, having witnessed this downfall, renewed his efforts and began to preach with such boldness and power that the people "were angry with him, even because he had greater power than they, for it were not possible that they could disbelieve his words". Additionally, Nephi performed miracles in the name of Christ, including casting out devils, healing the sick, and raising his brother from the dead. He continued to preach and baptize throughout AD 33, converting "many".3 Nephi 7:26
/ref> In the advent of the next year, the signs of Christ's death, three hours of unparalleled destruction followed by three days of darkness (also prophesied by Samuel the Lamanite) were given.


See also


References


Further reading


Nephi
in the index of the
Latter-day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
''Book of Mormon''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nephi The Disciple Book of Mormon prophets