1 Nephi 14

(All of my own thoughts are in blue type. red 4/20 Green 2/21orange 4/22  Brown 2023 )

CHAPTER 14

An angel do we know who this angel is? tells Nephi of the blessings and cursings remember to not just focus on one and not the other to fall upon the Gentiles that's us —There are only two churches: the Church of the Lamb of God and the church of the devil sorry 'bout that...I didn't say it...an angel did...Is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or...all those who believe in and worship Jesus?—The saints of God in all nations no escaping this... are persecuted brace yourself by the great and abominable church is this a 'real' church? or just the "beastly" system/kingdom of the devil consisting of all those who worship satan?—The apostle John Revelations shall write concerning the end of the world. our day...Between 600 and 592 B.C.

  1 And it shall  will; count on it come to pass, that if conditional the ^aGentiles us shall hearken listen AND follow unto the Lamb of God  how do we "hear" the Lamb of God? Scriptures; prophets; personal revelation in that day could this mean "each day" that he shall manifest himself  The angel may be talking of a "one time" event, but could it not also reference this scripture in John 14: 21 "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will ^cmanifest myself to him." unto them in word, and also in ^bpower, in very deed, unto the ^ctaking away of their ^dstumbling blocks— what are examples of these four ways: word; power; deed; taking away stumbling blocks? Earlier he said that the loss of the “plain and precious” truths were a stumbling block…so restoring them would be the way to remove them. So, it seems that it is specifically referencing the coming forth of The Book of Mormon; but I still believe that every time we keep the commandments we receive His Spirit, which IS a manifestation of His love for us. Maybe we haven’t seen this “day” when He manifests Himself. I mean, He did manifest Himself to Joseph Smith, and through the Book of Mormon, the rest of the Gentiles, but...is that the manifestation He’s referring to here? 

  2 And harden not their hearts against the Lamb of God, how do we “harden” our hearts against Jesus? At the most fundamental level, we reject the Light of Christ (the promptings from our conscience) which when consistently followed always leads us to the Savior and His ordinances they shall be numbered among the seed of thy father; yea, they shall be ^anumbered The footnotes takes us back to the promises made to Abraham and his seed. When you receive the ordinances of the Gospel, you are "numbered" now as one of Abraham's seed and the promises made to him belong now to you among the house of Israel; and they shall be a ^bblessed people upon the ^cpromised land forever; they shall be no more brought down into captivity; and the house of Israel shall no more be confounded. Great promises…but conditional...to be honest...I am a little disappointed that when Mitt Romney ran for president of the United States that this wasn't part of his platform. In fact, here is a talk that link doesn't work anymore. I'm trying to find the talk again, but this one is similar, but I don't think it is the one... this one? by President Kimball (I encourage you to take the time to read it) that could have been his speech at the RNC. There are no other "talking points"...all we seek as a country is promised as long as we worship God. Period. 

  3 And that great ^apit, which hath been digged for them The image that came to my mind here was that it takes "time" to dig a great pit. The devil has been working with his followers for a long time to "prepare" the means to destroy the children of God. You must match your own preparations to his my Patriarchal Blessing says I build a "wall of righteousness" which also must be built over time by that great and abominable church, which was founded by the devil and his children, it bothers me that, even in a negative context, the devil is referred to as having "children". But I know that is not literal and just like every other sacred thing...he has his counterfeit. We are also not literal children of Christ, but must become such by covenanting to follow Him  that he might lead away to lead is not to force...one must follow. How is Satan trying to lead you away from your real Father? the souls of men down to hell—yea, that great pit which hath been digged he has said this twice now. The pit HAS been digged for the destruction of men shall be filled by those who digged it, unto their utter destruction, what a surprise for them! unfortunately it sounds like a lot of people go into this "great" pit saith the Lamb of God;so trust this...the wicked fill it...not the righteous... not the destruction of the soul, so the destruction of the body? Is it not "utter" destruction because they may still repent after they die? save it be the casting of it into that ^bhell which hath no end. If they do not repent and are cast into hell, at that day it will be their utter destruction. Is this after the final judgement day?

  4 For behold, this is according to the ^acaptivity of the devil, "captivity" is a period of enslavement and also according to the justice of God, upon all those who will work wickedness and abomination before him. See Alma 42 for more instruction on the justice of God. Without repentance, justice has her claim on the wicked. What exactly does this "justice" look like? I usually think of it in terms of the natural consequences of sin to the body in this life: addiction, going to jail for crimes committed, loss of friends and family, poor health; but there is one more side to it, I think. What about "justice" after we die, in the spirit world? Here, on earth, we have agency to yield to God or Satan. When we choose Satan, we choose to become "subject" to him. If we do it long enough, we become "captive" by him and are "forced" to do his bidding. Do we "want" to do it as well, at this point? I don't know...Is agency lost? I don't know. But someone who is a slave does what the master says, by force, even if they don't want to do it until they are freed. However, or whenever it happens, I think release only comes through repentance. 

There is a whole realm of spirits in the spirit world that are subject to Satan; those who do not have bodies and those who once lived on the earth but chose wickedness while here. These spirits are subject to him and are forced to do his bidding. All those evil and unclean spirits are now loosed on the earth, doing as much damage to the souls of men as they can. Are these among the spirits that are preached to in "spirit prison"? I don't know....
 
Here is an excerpt from a writing I came across,(author unnamed), that gives a little insight to the subject:

"Moving on, the great King Benjamin, in declaring to us the words given him by an angel, taught that these unclean beings were individuals who had chosen to live an unrepentant life, and so in death were in a state of misery, endless torment, and personal damnation:

And thus saith the Lord: They shall stand as a bright testimony against this people... whereof they shall be judged, every man according to his works, whether they be good, or whether they be evil. And if they be evil they are consigned to an awful view of their own guilt and abominations, which doth cause them to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of misery and endless torment, from whence they can no more return; therefore they have drunk damnation to their own souls (Mosiah 3:24-25, emphasis mine).

Continuing this theme regarding those who become unclean spirits and what happens to them because they have chosen to die in their sins, the prophet Abinadi declared to a group of wicked priests:

But behold, and fear, and tremble before God, for ye ought to tremble; for the Lord redeemeth none such that rebel against him and die in their sins; yea, even all those that have perished in their sins ever since the world began, that have willfully rebelled against God, that have known the commandments of God, and would not keep them; these are they that have no part in the first resurrection. Therefore ought ye not to tremble? For salvation cometh to none such; for the Lord hath redeemed none such; yea, neither can the Lord redeem such; for he cannot deny himself; for he cannot deny justice when it has its claim (Mosiah 15:26-27, emphasis mine).

And of the great prophet Enoch it is written:

And it came to pass that Enoch continued his speech, saying: Behold, our father Adam taught these things, and many have believed and become the sons of God, even though we are all children of God, we must become the sons of God (Jesus) as well and many have believed not, and have perished in their sins, and are looking forth with fear, in torment, for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God to be poured out upon them (Moses 7:1).

What, then, does this mean for men and women who have “perished” or “died” in their sins; i.e., in an unclean state? Where do such unclean beings go when they enter the world of spirits? And what, exactly, do they do? According to a revelation the Lord gave to Joseph Smith:

These are they who are thrust down to hell. These are they who shall not be redeemed from the devil until the last resurrection, until the Lord, even Christ the Lamb, shall have finished his work (D&C 76:84-85, emphasis mine).

It means, in other words, that, following their mortal deaths, wicked men and women, those who have chosen to live their lives on a Telestial level and so have died in their sins or in an unclean state, are ruled over by Satan in a Spirit World condition or situation called Hell. Furthermore, they will remain in Hell under Satan’s rule and power until they are resurrected from the dead in the “last resurrection,” which will occur sometime following the Millennium and the final winding up scenes of this earth, when “Christ the Lamb, shall have finished his work.”

The great prophet Mormon taught this doctrine to his son Moroni; i.e., that Satan held vicious and total rule over unclean post-mortal individuals as well as his own angels who followed him pre-mortally, forcing or compelling all of them to work wickedness among the children of men. In a letter to his son that now comprises Chapter 7 of Moroni’s final addition to his father’s amazing abridgement of the Nephite records, Mormon wrote:

But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him (Moroni 7:17, emphasis mine).

This tragic and compellingly miserable fate is consistent with the teachings of Nephi’s theologian brother, Jacob, who declared concerning the fate of those who become subject to Satan in the world of spirits:

For behold... our spirits must... become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to... stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness (2 Nephi 9:7)

In a published effort to explain his understanding of the above doctrine as well as some of the powers given by Satan to these unclean spirits as he rules over them in hell, requiring them to do his bidding and his work (for Lucifer never has believed in agency), Parley P. Pratt, who at the time of this writing was President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, taught:

Many spirits of the departed, who are unhappy, linger in lonely wretchedness about the earth, and in the air, and especially about their ancient homesteads, and the places rendered dear to them by the memory of former scenes. The more wicked of these are the kind spoken of in Scripture, as "foul spirits," "unclean spirits," spirits who afflict persons in the flesh, and engender various diseases in the human system. They will sometimes enter human bodies, and will distract them, throw them into fits, cast them into the water, into the fire, etc. They will trouble them with dreams, nightmare[s], hysterics, fever, etc. They will also deform them in body and in features, by convulsions, cramps, contortions, etc., and will sometimes compel them to utter blasphemies, horrible curses, and even words of other languages. If permitted, they will often cause death. Some of these spirits are [were] adulterous [during mortality], and suggest to the mind all manner of lasciviousness, all kinds of evil thoughts and temptations (Parley P. Pratt, Key To The Science Of Theology, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book Company, 1948, p. 116).

It is obvious that these unclean spirits, formerly mortal but now under Satan’s rule, have power given them by the devil to do an incredible amount of damage to currently mortal individuals – damage of either a physical or a spiritual nature;..."

  5 And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, Nephi, saying: Thou hast beheld that if the Gentiles repent it shall be ^awell with them; Never lose hope in repentance! and thou also knowest concerning the covenants of the Lord unto the house of Israel; and thou also hast heard that whoso ^brepenteth not must perish. Never forget what happens if you DON’T repent!

  6 Therefore, ^awo be unto the Gentiles if it so be that they harden their hearts against the Lamb of God. WARNING!!!

  7 For the time cometh, came...Spring of 1820 saith the Lamb of God, that I will work a great and a ^amarvelous work among the children of men; a ^bwork which shall be everlasting, I believe this "marvelous work" is the restoration of the gospel, but the marvelous work about the gospel is that it changes your life....forever! I'm not so sure of this anymore. I'm pondering if the ‘marvelous work’ isn't the redeeming of our souls and the remission of our sins that we receive by the baptism by fire. The footnotes reference scriptures about the great work of the Lord restoring the lost tribes to a knowledge of the gospel, so it could be that future work too and not the coming forth of the Book of Mormon only... either on the one hand or on the other—either to the convincing of them unto ^cpeace and ^dlife eternal, or unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, both temporally and spiritually, according to the ^ecaptivity of the devil, of which I have spoken. We have to choose...eternal life...or captivity. Doesn't seem like a hard choice, yet it is...why? Has to do with "hard hearts" and "blind minds". When we do not let truth penetrate into our hearts, the place from which our actions spring; the seat of emotion; we are left with the "feelings" from the devil. They are always wrapped in "lies", which is why, feelings, in and of themselves cannot be taken as fact. Just because you feel something doesn't make it true...but once you accept it as truth, you're going to act from that place and feel you are right. 

Either choice places us in a position of servitude...to God or the devil. But the devil, once chosen, can hold us "captive"; God, on the other hand never forces you to stay. You must choose to "bind" yourself to him. You do that through your covenants. Both realms have their means of "staying power". 

The devil is interested in destroying you both physically and spiritually. We discount the physical destruction he is causing beyond addiction and death. A host of physical ills are a direct result of his work on us as we yield to his way of thinking and feeling. 

God, on the other hand offers eternal life to both our body and our spirit; He offers peace and healing. 

Again....why is the choice so hard? Answer: natural man. The great work of the gospel-our great work as disciples of Christ in His gospel- is to help others change their natural man; to soften hard hearts. How do we do that? Kindness. Pres. George A. Smith said:

"What a joy, what a comfort, what a satisfaction can be added to the lives of our neighbors and friends through kindness. How I would like to write that word in capital letters and emblazon it in the air. Kindness is the power that God has given us to unlock hard hearts and subdue stubborn souls and bring them to an understanding of His purposes. As disciples of Christ, we have made a covenant to be kind. Let us keep our covenants."

  8 And it came to pass that when the angel had spoken these words, he said unto me: Rememberest thou the ^acovenants Remember a covenant is a two way promise or contract… of the Father unto the house of Israel? I said unto him, Yea. Do we know what that covenant is? Listen to this talk and then answer that question: The Doctrine of Christ

  9 And it came to pass that he said unto me: Look, and behold that great and abominable church, which is the mother of abominations, whose founder is the ^adevil.

  10 And he said unto me: Behold there are save ^atwo churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the ^bother is the church of the ^cdevil; wherefore, ^dwhoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the ^ewhore of all the earth. This sounds harsh, as there are many good churches who are trying to teach what they know and to bring people to Christ, BUT, without the saving ordinances found only in Christ’s one true church, they are still exempt from eternal glory, and thus the devil will have won by frustrating their eternal progression. Pres. Boyd K. Packer said of this claim to be the one true church:
"We are not free to alter this fundamental doctrine of the gospel, not even in the face of the tribulation prophesied in that revelation (D&C 78.) Popularity and the approval of the world perhaps must remain ever beyond our reach." Seems to be too much of our focus right now...
11 And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the whore of all the earth, and she sat upon many ^awaters; and she had dominion over ^ball the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people. Verse 10 just said that this is the devil.  I think the word "whore" is used here to describe those in the "church of the devil" as ones who use their talents and abilities for evil; usually centered on getting money, then using that money to gain power and control...Satan's ultimate goal. We know that we live in a world ruled by many such people. I had the thought the other day that the "whore of Babylon" was a perfect description for what we are seeing right now. The Government and Big Business and the Media have a "whoring" relationship. The sell themselves for money, they lust after what each other can give them, they betray those to whom they should be loyal to (the people) and they do it behind closed doors and in secret, and pretend to be another way outwardly. Also wondering why the word "mother" and "she" are used to describe this church. We know Satan is a "he". Is this satan's counterfeit to Mother in Heaven? Is Mother in Heaven somehow revealed and this "mother harlot" is the counterfeit to Her?

  12 And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were ^afew, Never feel like you are on the wrong side, just because your side is fewer in number than the other side If you take the numbers on the other side of the veil in to account "they that be with us are more than they that be with them." because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; The wicked truly are a stumbling block to righteousness nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon ^ball the face of the earth; good people are found everywhere. Agency allows us to resist the influence of the wicked by following the Light of Christ and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw. He repeats that the wicked have great influence.

  13 And it came to pass that I beheld that the great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to ^afight against the Lamb of God. Why would she bother to fight against so few in number? This is the persecution of the righteous. It is coming again...

  14 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints it came from God above of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people all who follow Christ may be called Saints, but you must make covenants with Him through His authorized priesthood to be His "covenant" people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; they are not gathered into one body and place and they were ^aarmed with ^brighteousness and with the ^cpower of God in great glory. Not with swords and guns, but with their own righteousness which means these covenant people KEPT their covenants. They renewed those covenants in His Holy Temple where they were promised they would lead with POWER "In the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple, the Prophet Joseph Smith petitioned the Father “that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them” (D&C 109:22). I feel like so few have experienced a baptism of fire. I wonder it if will come like it did to King Benjamin's people, all at once to large groups...
  15 And it came to pass that I beheld that the wrath of God was ^apoured out upon that great and abominable church, insomuch that there were wars and rumors of wars among all the ^bnations and kindreds of the earth.I think it is interesting to note here, that the wars are a result of the wrath of God. Is he saying God is causing the wars? I don't think so. I think God has removed His protection; for it was only promised if we would worship Him. He also told Nephi earlier that he could allow one group of people to "be a scourge" to another to "stir them up in the ways of remembrance". I believe many people WILL be "stirred" to "remember" God when the adversity really hits them. We should not curse God for His wrath, but help Him, by helping others turn their hearts back to Him. 

  16 And as there began to be ^awars and rumors of wars among all the nations which belonged to the mother of abominations, the angel spake unto me, saying: Behold, the wrath of God is upon the mother of harlots; and behold, thou seest all these things—

  17 And when the ^aday cometh that the ^bwrath of God is poured out upon the mother of harlots, which is the great and abominable church of all the earth, whose founder is the devil, then, at that day, the ^cwork of the Father shall commence, God never leaves us; if wickedness increases, so does righteousness. Whose side are you on...in preparing the way for the fulfilling of his ^dcovenants, which he hath made to his people who are of the house of Israel. The question here is: Has the day come? Has the work of the Father commenced? Is He fulfilling his covenants made to the house of Israel? The answers: Yes, yes, yes. However, if you look at the order, the wrath of God is poured out upon the mother of harlots before the work of the Father commences. I don't think we've seen his wrath poured out upon wickedness. I always associate that with the final destruction of the wicked, but how can His work only just be beginning after that? Will we see wars come upon the wicked or some kind of destruction before the end? I'm am hoping that is that case and that we get one last great spiritual revival. It seems like the most merciful thing to do...

  18 And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, saying: Look!

  19 And I looked and beheld a man, and he was dressed in a white robe. I am remembering the Lehi's dream began with a "man in a white robe" asking him to follow him, but it only lead to a dark and dreary waste...

  20 And the angel said unto me: Behold ^aone of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. John the Revelator

  21 Behold, he shall ^asee and ^bwrite the ^cremainder of these things; Nephi saw what John saw, to the end of the world, but did not write it... yea, and also many things which have been.  

  22 And he shall also write concerning the end of the world. We should be very very interested in what John wrote, for we are IN it!

  23 Wherefore, the things which he shall write are just and true; and behold they are written in the ^abook which thou beheld proceeding out of the mouth of the Jew; Bible and at the time they proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew, or, at the time the book proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew, the things which were written were plain and pure, and most ^bprecious and easy to the understanding of all men. "at the time"...this is why our eighth article of faith states: "We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly." We know many plain and precious things were lost or removed before it came into the hands of the general public. I don't know if they changed Revelations to make it so hard to understand, or if John wrote it that way...either way, we need the Spirit to interpret...but it's not easy reading... 

  24 And behold, the things which this ^aapostle of the Lamb shall write are many things which thou hast seen; and behold, the remainder shalt thou see.  I think a vision of the history of the world from beginning to end is given to all who see God.

  25 But the things which thou shalt see hereafter thou shalt not write; for the Lord God hath ordained the apostle of the Lamb of God that he should ^awrite them. I would like to have read Nephi's version...

  26 And also others who have been, to them hath he shown all things, and they have ^awritten them; and they are ^bsealed up to come forth in their purity, according to the truth which is in the Lamb, in the own due time of the Lord, unto the house of Israel. Who are these "others" and when shall we receive their writings? Are they the Lost Tribes? Seems like these writing would need to come soon to be helpful in preparing us for the Second Coming. Could their "coming forth" be part of what sets off more persecution for the saints? It is nice to know when they come, we will have them "in their purity". If they come to the house of Israel, do they come to/through the Jews or the Lamanites or the Ten Tribes? 

  27 And I, Nephi, heard and bear record, "where much is given, much is expected" that the name of the apostle of the Lamb was ^aJohn, according to the word of the angel.

  28 And behold, I, Nephi, am forbidden maybe he was really tempted to write it...that I should write the remainder of the things which I saw and heard; wherefore the things which I have written sufficeth me;"I am satisfied; it fufills my purpose" and I have written but a small part of the things which I saw. How this vision must have impacted is life forever! To have that kind of perspective about your life and God's plan for man! There must be something important in the timing for when we receive these things.

  29 And I bear record that I saw the things which my ^afather saw, Lehi had the same vision and the angel of the Lord did make them known unto me. I believe He can make them known unto anyone. If you want to know why I believe this read this book...”Following the Light of Christ Into His Presence” by John Pontus

  30 And now I make an end of speaking concerning the things which I saw while I was ^acarried away in the spirit; and if all the things which I saw are not written, the things which I have written are ^btrue. And thus it is. Amen.They ARE true! Amen! Since Nephi can’t write what John saw, he writes what Isaiah saw, which is much of the same things. Mormon put it in his abridgment, even though we’d have it in the Bible. Jesus commands we study the words of Isaiah.