Questions I Would Like to Ask – Part XX-C

Continuing with the question I would like to ask Hugh B. Nibley and John L. Sorenson, strictly using the scriptures, in concluding this three-part question: 
    20. “Where did the other people come from and why is there absolutely no mention, suggestion or even hint of them in the scriptural record you claim co-existed in the Land of Promise along with the Jaredites, Nephites, Mulekites and Lamanites?”

Sariah was overjoyed when her sons returned from their lengthy encounter with Laban
    Sixteenth, in a moment of fear and concern over her missing sons, Sariah blames her husband for being a visionary man, to which Lehi replied, “I know that I am a visionary man; for if I had not seen the things of God in a vision I should not have known the goodness of God, but had tarried at Jerusalem, and had perished with my brethren. But behold, I have obtained a land of promise, in the which things I do rejoice” (1 Nephi 5:4-5).
    Seventeenth, Lehi was granted this vision of his promised land, to which they journeyed toward in the wilderness (1 Nephi 5:22); later obtaining Ishmael’s daughters that they and his sons “might raise up seed unto the Lord in the land of promise” (1 Nephi 7:1); telling his children that if they were faithful to the Lord, they should obtain the land of promise (1 Nephi 7:13); Nephi was given a vision of his descendants and the descendants of his wayward brothers in the land of promise (1 Nephi 12:1) and they were gathered together to battle, one against the other, with wars and rumors of wars and great slaughters with the sword among his people (1 Nephi 12:2); and even later Nephi saw the great destruction to the land spoken of by Nephi the disciple in 3 Nephi (1 Nephi 12:4-5); Nephi even saw the time when the Gentiles would discover the land of promise and later occupy the land and that the seed of his wayward brothers would be driven and smitten by the Gentiles (1 Nephi 13:12-14); and finally the Lehi colony reached the land of promise (18:22-25), fulfilling the promise the Lord made to Lehi in the beginning (1 Nephi 2:20).

Eighteenth, after reaching his land of promise and near his death, Lehi prophesies to his family, “speaking unto them concerning the land of promise” and that they “have obtained a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands, a land which the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed” (1 Nephi 1:3,5).
     Nineteenth, Lehi makes it very clear that this land of promise was his and his descendants when he said, “The Lord hath covenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever, and also all those who should be led out of other countries by the hand of the Lord” (2 Nephi 1:5). Note that Lehi uses the future tense “and also all those who should be led out of other countries,” suggesting that at the time he is speaking, no others were in the land, no others had already been led there, no others already occupied the land.
    Twentieth, Lehi also makes it clear that “there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord” (2 Nephi 1:6), again using the future tense to describe an action that had not yet taken place.
    Twenty-first, Lehi adds, “Wherefore this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring” (2 Nephi 1:7), again using the future tense.
    Twenty-second, and finally, Lehi makes it very clear that no one else but he and his family know of this land when he said, “it is wisdom that this land should be kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations; for behold, many nations would overrun the land, that there would be no place for an inheritance” (2 Nephi 1:8).

The Lord gave many key and exact promises regarding the land to which he led Lehi, and which Lehi then told his sons and family
    Twenty-third, returning to his future tense view, Lehi adds, “I, Lehi, have obtained a promise, that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves” (2 Nephi 1:9). Note three things: 1) those who shall come from the land of Jerusalem, 2) knowledge of them shall be kept from all other nations, and 3) they will possess the land unto themselves. In light of these promises the Lord granted Lehi, it is very difficult to insert other people into the Land of Promise, before during and after the Nephites nation, of which we have no knowledge or understanding. Yet, that is exactly what Hugh Nibley and John L. Sorenson and other Mesoamericnaists do, without a thought for all this scriptural reference to the contrary.
    Twenthy-fourth, And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever (2 Nephi 1:9).
    Twenty-fifth, and since the Nephites did not maintain their righteousness, the end came for them, and for the promise of isolation. As Lehi said, “But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord -- having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise -- behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is just shall rest upon them” (2 Nephi 1:10)

Twenty-sixth, and most importantly, Lehi added that at that time, “he will bring other nations unto them, and he will give unto them [other nations] power, and he will take away from them [Lamanites] the lands of their possessions, and he will cause them [Lamanites] to be scattered and smitten” (2 Nephi 1:11, inserts mine).
    Twenty-seventh, obviously, during Nephite times, at least until around 350 A.D., when the spirit ceased to be with the Nephites (Mormon 5:16), the Lord’s promises were in effect. For Nibley and Sorenson, and all the other Mesoamericanists to claim otherwise, is to make a liar out of the Lord and negate his very clear and concise promises to Lehi and his seed.
    So we ask again, “Where did the other people come from and why is there absolutely no mention, suggestion or even hint of them in the scriptural record you claim co-existed in the Land of Promise along with the Jaredites, Nephites, Mulekites and Lamanites?” 
(This concludes the three-part question about other people in the Land of Promise)