The Book of Mormon affirms that the Savior's ministry was not limited to the Jews of the Old World, but also extended to the peoples of the New World.
In an October 1979 general conference address, President Gordon B. Hinckley of the First Presidency said: "For centuries the Bible stood alone as a written testimony of the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth. Now, at its side stands a second and powerful witness which has come forth `to the convincing of the Jew and the Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world.' " (Book of Mormon, title page.)This Jesus, said President Hinckley, is the "promised Messiah, He who walked the dusty roads of Palestine healing the sick and teaching the doctrines of salvation; who died upon the cross of Calvary; who on the third day came forth from the tomb, appearing to many. . . . "
This was the Savior who, before His final ascension, visited the people of the Western Hemisphere, concerning whom He earlier had said: "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." (John 10:16.)
Samuel the Lamanite prophet told of the signs that would accompany the Savior's birth (Hel. 14:3), and also of those attending His death:
"Behold . . . in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his light unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of three days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead." (Hel. 14:20.)
Those signs were fulfilled. In Jesus the Christ, Elder James E. Talmage wrote: " . . . there arose a great and terrible tempest, with thunderings, lightnings, and both elevations and depressions of the earth's surface, so that the highways were broken up, mountains were sundered, and many cities were utterly destroyed by earthquake, fire, and the inrush of the sea. . . ."
The calamity was followed by thick darkness. Elder Talmage wrote: "The awful gloom was like unto the darkness of Egypt in that its clammy vapors could be felt. This condition lasted into the third day . . . and the impenetrable blackness was rendered the more terrible by the wailing of the people, whose heart-rending refrain was everywhere the same, `O that we had repented before this great and terrible day.' " (3 Ne. 8:25.)
Then, through the piercing darkness, came a voice that silenced the chorus of lamentation:
"Wo, wo, wo unto this people; wo unto the inhabitants of the whole earth except they shall repent. . . . " (3 Ne. 9:2.)
After further exhortations, the identity of the One whose voice was heard was made known: "Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God." (3 Ne. 9:15.)