Helaman 11 and 12

Helaman 11
In chapter 10, the Lord tells Nephi that whatever he asks, the Lord knows it will be for the right thing and gives him the sealing power so that whatever he seals on earth, it will be sealed in heaven. In the Old Testament, these keys were not always given to prophets and this is the first time it is mentioned in the Book of Mormon. With this power to seal, Nephi can also control the elements and so he uses it to cause a famine to come in the land because he knows that unless the people are humbled in some major way, they will only continue to grow in their wickedness. A famine comes for about two years and with the famine always comes pestilence which is plague and disease. Many people begin to die, although the Mormon implies that the righteous were preserved, and in the third year they begin to realize that their only hope is in the Lord. When they begin to repent, a change comes in the people and Nephi asks the Lord to end the famine. With the end of the famine, they have peace for three years, but then over the next six years, they grow more and more wicked than ever before, ripening Mormon says, for destruction.

Helaman 12
Verses 1-6 in this chapter contain are one of two lessons that Mormon wants us to remember. He points out that when the Lord prospers a people because of their righteousness (it's important to note the true source of all prosperity), that always is the time when they forget him because life becomes easy and they feel no need to depend on the Lord. In verse six, he says these key words: "they do not desire the Lord." Their desire turns to things that do not have lasting importance and then the desire turns to sin. In spite of all the Lord has done for them, when a people have much, it is the time when they no longer ask the Lord for anything and they stop letting him be their guide. Mormon then tells us how as mortals, we really are powerless as mortals. What we think is strength is nothing compared to the power of the Lord. And when the Lord sees great wickedness in the people, just by the power of his word, terrible things can happen. He then lists many instances where the Lord has commanded the physical elements of the earth to change and nearly all of them are similar to the destruction that will come upon the Nephites at the time of the Lord's death. This is also a type for the destruction that will come upon our generation prior to the Lord's second coming.