Perhaps no portion of the Book of Mormon will better prepare a people for the Second Coming than Helaman through 3 Nephi 8, the record of the years prior to the destructions accompanying Christ’s crucifixion and his visit to the Nephites. Commenting upon this portion of the Book of Mormon, President Benson wrote, “In the Book of Mormon we find a pattern for preparing for the Second Coming. . . . By careful study of that time period, we can determine why some were destroyed in the terrible judgments that preceded His coming and what brought others to stand at the temple in the land of Bountiful and thrust their hands into the wounds of His hands and feet” (A Witness and a Warning [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1988], 20-21).
Seventh in the Religious Studies Center’s series on the Book of Mormon, this is a collection of seventeen essays delivered at its annual symposium in 1992. Topics include the nature of the covenant between God and the inhabitants of the promised land, patterns of apostasy, the doctrine of calling and election in relation to Nephi, doctrines and truths restored in the book of Helaman, ways in which modern people are repeating some of the same mistakes made by the Nephites, the process of sanctification, Nephite trade networks and the dangers of a class society, wickedness and vengeance, and secret covenant teachings of men and Satan.
