Three Very Important Questions – Part III – Changes to the Land of Promise

Continuing from the last two posts with the three questions we need to answer, question #3 is:

3. After the destruction outlined in 3 Nephi took place, what changes in the Land of Promise occurred?

We can determine that there were some significant changes in the Land of Promise, such as the elimination of the East Sea—it is never mentioned after this destruction, and also in the narrow neck, since it was never mentioned after the events in 3 Nephi. What other significant events occurred can also be inferred.

Nephi, son of Lehi, Samuel the Lamanite, and the Disciple Nephi, son of Nephi, all saw that there were great tempests, whirlwinds, and lightnings

As an example, in about 6 B.C., Samuel the Lamanite prophesied that “There shall be great tempests, and 
there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called valleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great” (Helaman 14:21-23). In addition, he proclaimed that the solid mass of subterranean rock would be broken up, and forever found in seams and cracks and broken fragments, both above and below the Earth. All of these predictions were told Samuel by an Angel (Helaman 13:3-5, 7; 14:28).

Left: Solid rock broken up into fragments; Center: Mountains crumbling into valleys; Right: Mountains rising from level ground to a great height

While Samuel only said that mountains would be laid low, Nephi saw in his vision the “mountains tumbling into pieces,” and where Samuel said the rock beneath the Earth would be broken up, Nephi also saw “the plains of the earth broken up” (2 Nephi 12:4). While Samuel prophesied that many cities would be sunk into the ground, Nephi actually saw cities disappearing beneath the earth in his vision.

It is interesting that while both prophets foresaw these events happening in the future, the Disciple Nephi actually observed their happening and reported it in very similar language (3 Nephi 8:5-22), often in much the same language—such as “the rocks were rent in twain; they were broken up upon the face of the whole earth, insomuch that they were found in broken fragments, and in seams and in cracks, upon all the face of the land” (3 Nephi 8:18).

The events were staggering. Mountains crumbled and fell, disappearing into level ground. The earth rose up out of valleys to become mountains whose height was great. The shaking of the earth was so great, that solid rock above and below the earth was broken up into seams and cracks and visible fragments scattered about. Cities sunk into the ground, others were buried by moving earth, still others sunk into the sea, and others were shaken to pieces and fell to the ground. Highways were broken up, level ground was broken up, and even greater destruction occurred in the Land Northward where the “whole face of the land was changed.”

All of this took place in a three-hour period (3 Nephi 8:19). Mountains crumbled as they toppled, while level ground rose majestically into tall mountains, all within a three hour period. Obviously, when geologists say a mountain took millions of years to form, and millions more to erode, they have no understanding that the Lord can do this in a matter of a couple of hours. How little modern science understands about the very Earth they have spent lifetimes studying and developing all sorts of hypotheses and theories—much of which, especially the time it takes for things to happen, is completely wrong.

Geologic Time Scale begins about 4570 million years ago in the Precambrian, which is divided into several eons of chronological development. According to scientists, not much is known about the Precambrian, despite its making up roughly seven-eighths of their so-called Time Scale history

It was Paul who warned Timothy about men in the latter days who were “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

It should be obvious from the above descriptions of the changes in the Land of Promise that wherever it is one might want to claim it to be, there has to be a range of mountains “whose height is great.” This one fact is inescapable. Also, consider an event where a mountain would rise to a great height. To make such an impression, it would have to be rather sheer—that is, straight up, rather than the gradual rising of ground, like in the Rocky Mountains.

The Andes Mountains of South America, and specifically those in Peru, obviously meet the criteria of mountains “whose height is great,” and those that shoot basically straight up with very obvious prominances

Thus, we need to find a location where mountains are of great height. As an example, in Peru alone (not including Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia and Chile), there are 37 mountains between 19,767 and 22,132 feet high—this compared to the highest nine mountain in Mesoamerica with 3 at 13,000 feet, 4 at 12,000 feet and 2 at 11,000 feet. Mexico has 1 at 18,000 feet, 2 at 17,000 feet, 2 at 15,000 feet—the highest mountain east of the Mississippi in the U.S. is in North Carolina at 6,683 feet, the next is in Virginia at 5,728 feet, then Maine at 5,269 feet, Vermont at 4,081 feet, and New Hampshire at 4,068 feet. In the Great Lakes, Eastern U.S., Heartland, and alolng the Mississippi, where some theorists claim the Land of Promise was located, the tallest mountain in their area is in Catskills in New York at 3,179 feet and in the Hudson Highlands of New York at 1,339 feet. This, of course, is excluding the tallest mountains in the U.S. which are all west of the Mississippi: Alaska, California, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada, Washington, Arizona and Oregon.

In addition, the sheer size of the mountains should be such that they would be impressively high—like those of the Andes in South America. Stated differently, there are no such tall or sheer mountains in the eastern U.S., and those in Mesoamerica are minimal in height. There are no such mountains in Baja California, the Malay Peninsula, or in any of the other locations some people want to claim the Land of Promise was located.

(See the next post, “Three Very Important Questions – Part III – Summation,” to see how these three questions answer the location, in part, of the Land of Promise)