Jacob — Chapter 7
1 Some years went by, and then a man named Sherem came among the Nephites.
2 He taught them there would be no Christ. He told them many things which were nice to hear to try to get them not to believe in Christ.
3 He worked very hard to get the people to believe him, and since he knew that I, Jacob, believed that Christ would come, he tried very hard to meet me many times.
4 He was educated and knew how to use the language very well. He spoke with the power of the devil.
5 He hoped he could make me lose my faith in Christ, even though I had had revelations and had seen many things about Christ. Angels really had visited me, and I had even heard the Lord’s own voice speaking to me, so of course I would not stop believing.
6 But he came to me and said: “Brother Jacob, I have tried very hard to meet you, because I hear that you teach what you call the gospel, and you teach about Christ.
7 “You have taught many people to change the right way to serve God, which is to keep the Law of Moses. You have changed the Law of Moses so that you worship a person you say will live on the earth hundreds of years from now. And I, Sherem, tell you that this is a great sin, because no person can know these things, and no person can know what will happen in the future.” This was what Sherem said to me.
8 But God sent his Holy Spirit to help me, so I was able to talk to Sherem and show that he was wrong.
9 I said to him: “Are you saying there is no Christ who will come?”And he said: “If there were ever going to be a Christ, I would not say there was no Christ. But I know there is no Christ, and there never will be a Christ.”
10 I said to him: “Do you believe in the scriptures?” And he said: “Yes.”
11 And I said to him: “Then you do not understand them, because they talk all about Christ. All the prophets have written and prophesied about Christ.
12 “Not only that, but I myself have heard and seen the same things by the power of the Holy Ghost. That is how I know that if Christ does not come and die for our sins, people will not be saved.”
13 Then he said to me: “Show me a sign by the power of the Holy Ghost, by which you say you know so much.”
14 And I said to him: “Why should I ask God for a sign to show you what you already know is true? Even if I do, you will say it is not true, because you obey the devil. This is not what I want to do, but if God wants to punish you, that will be a sign to you that he has power in heaven and on earth, and it will also be a sign that Christ will come. As you want it to be, O Lord, let it be done.”
15 When I, Jacob, said these words, God’s power came on Sherem, and he fell to the ground. He had to be fed for many days.
16 Then he said to the people: “Come together here tomorrow, because I am going to die. I want to talk to the people before I die.”
17 The next day all the people came together, and he talked plainly to them, and told them that the things he had taught them before were wrong. He told them that he believed in Christ, and in the power of the Holy Ghost, and in angels.
18 He told them plainly that the devil had lied to him and tricked him. And he talked about hell and living forever, and about punishment.
19 He said: “I am afraid I have sinned so much that I cannot be forgiven, because I lied to God, and said there was no Christ. I said I believed the scriptures, and they do talk about him. I am very afraid that since I lied to God, I will have a terrible punishment, but I have told you this in front of God.”
20 After he said this, he could not talk anymore, and died.
21 When the people saw that he said these things just before he died, they were surprised and afraid. The power of God overcame them, and they fell down on the ground.
22 Now, this made me very happy because I, Jacob, had asked my Heavenly Father to do this, and he answered my prayer.
23 So peace came back to the land, and the people loved God again. They studied the scriptures and did not listen to or believe in the wrong things this wicked man had taught them.
24 We tried many ways to teach the Lamanites the truth, but we could not, because they loved to have wars and kill people, and they hated us, their brothers and sisters, very much. They tried all the time to destroy us with their weapons.
25 But the Nephites made weapons and kept them ready, and fought against them as hard as they could, trusting in the help of the God of their salvation, so they were still able to defeat their enemies.
26 And I, Jacob, got old. The other plates of Nephi have our history on them, so I will end this record by saying that I have written what I know to be true. Time went by and our lives went by as if all this were a dream. We were a lonely and sad people — strangers, far from Jerusalem, born into trouble in the wilderness, and hated by our brothers and sisters, which caused quarrels and wars with them. So we were sad all our days.
27 I, Jacob, knew I would soon die, so I said to my son Enos: “Take these plates.” I told him the things Nephi had told me to do, and he has promised to do them, too. I now finish the little bit of writing I have done on these plates, and I say goodbye to the reader. I hope many of my brothers and sisters will read what I have written. Brothers and sisters, goodbye.
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