It is not an uncommon belief among Americans that God had a hand in the founding of our country. Many Christians point to signs of God’s intervention in our first struggles. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I too can say that I believe there was divine assistance in those events. Many people do not know that it is part of our belief as Latter-day Saints that America is a chosen land; and more specifically, that a prophet in The Book of Mormon foretold these events. This prophet’s name was Nephi (pronounced nee-fie) and I would like to share with you some of his prophecies and how they have been fulfilled.
1 Nephi chapter 13 tells of a vision Nephi has when an angel visits him. He first sees Christopher Columbus going across the Atlantic and Nephi says that he sees the Spirit of God “wrought upon the man” (Book of Mormon, 1 Ne 13:12). Christopher Columbus firmly believed he was divinely inspired and said “Our Lord unlocked my mind, sent me upon the sea, and gave me fire for the deed…. Who can doubt but that the Holy Ghost inspired me? (Wasserman 19-20)”
Nephi next sees many multitudes “and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters” (1 Ne 13:13) to the “land of promise.” We know that these are the colonists coming to America, many escaping the captivity of poverty or a state-enforced religion.
Then, we get to my favorite part. In verses 16-19, Nephi sees the Revolutionary War. He writes that the people did “humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.” He then beheld that they “were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.” Not only were they delivered out of the hands of Great Britain, but they were divinely protected from any of the other world powers that might have staked a claim on the Americas. Why is this? Why did God protect them? In the Book of Mormon, we learn that the American Continent is a promised land. People could only come here if they were brought by the hand of the Lord; and if they were righteous, then they would continue to be protected by the Lord. It was the same with the Colonists. 2 Ne 10:11-14 says:
“And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles. And I will fortify this land against all other nations…. For he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them forever, that hear my words.”
America was the first nation with religious liberty, because God had a hand in its founding, and saved this place to be a promised land. God wants this to be a land of liberty, that we can worship HIM as our king. In this way, we are truly free to serve not mammon, but only our God; and serve him with all our heart, and all our might (Holy Bible, Deut 4:5-6). May God continue to bless America.
Works Cited
The Book of Mormon (Another Testament of Jesus Christ). Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ, 1981. Print.
The Holy Bible (KJV). Salt Lake City: The Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1979. Print.
Wasserman, Jacob. Columbus, Don Quixote of the Seas. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1930. Print.
