Not many years previously (about fifty-three years, from the sixty-eighth year of the reign of the judges, Hel. 6:33), the Nephites had so thoroughly embraced worldly ideas that they rejected not only the gospel but governance by righteous men. Tribulation has purged them. True Nephites (in the sense that they believe in the gospel) again head the government. For Mormon, these characteristics define righteousness; peace and prosperity therefore result.