1 Nephi 14:7 - 14:11

1 Nephi 14:7 For the time cometh, saith the Lamb of God, that I will work a great and a marvelous work among the children of men; a work which shall be everlasting, either on the one hand or on the other—either to the convincing of them unto peace and life 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 captivity of the devil, of which I have spoken.

Nephi sees that in time, the Lord will start up the kingdom of God. He will establish it again among men and it will be the events that bring this to past will be marvelous to behold. The effect will be forever and it will give men what they truly seek, that is, real happiness.

The Lord through this work will convince men that satan does not have the way to happiness. His way brings only misery and captivity has as will happen to those who are hook on money, sex and drugs. Jesus will show these folks the way out and this kingdom will have all the tools to do so.

1 Nephi 14:8 And it came to pass that when the angel had spoken these words, he said unto me: Rememberest thou the covenants of the Father unto the house of Israel? I said unto him, Yea.

Now the angel talks about how the Lord will bring to gospel to the people once again. He does so by asking another question. Did Nephi remember the promises that God had made to the house of Israel? These were obviously were either known to Nephi through his reading of the brass plates or from his father Lehi. Anyway the angel now sets up the next part of this vision by showing what it will refer to as it unfolds.

Back in 1 Ne 12:16, the angel asked if Nephi knew what the condescension of God meant? This was to put into Nephi’s mind what the material to be shown to him next referred too. Here the angel tries to get him to put this new material into the context of God keeping his promises to the house of Israel.

Here is a great teaching technique. A simple sentence of what the material to be discussed next will be centered now. And the asking if the students what they think of when they hear this concept?

1 Nephi 14:9 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 devil.

Nephi is told to look and sees the church that is founded by satan. He has to be told to look. Does the technique liken to reading a scripture in absence of a vision or picture? It seems that Nephi has to be told to quit looking at the angel to look at a vision.

The vision is of an organization. It appears to be a general picture covering a long period of time. How is that done? Must be part of the powers we have as spirits that is suppressed as mortals. That is to be able to see all things in the present that are past, present and future in mortality. It reminds me of the Hebrew verbs that can a event that is completed but can be either in the past or in the present or in the future.

In any case, Nephi sees this organization that is referred to as a church that is not founded by the Lord. This can be any organization. Not just religiously based ones. Can be political, or even philanthropic. The distinction is clear. If it is not the Lord’s way it can only remaining founder of organization is satan no matter how good are its doctrines or goals or even works. The devil will try to one good work to throw people off the trail to the tree. Or he will try to blind them from seeing the tree because they see what appears to be good works by these groups not organized by the Lord with all the ordinances and the laws of the Gospel.

It has always been interesting that people are so willing to try other philosophies or political ideologies rather than the gospel. They many times are even willing to give up their lives for these false doctrines espoused by charismatic leaders. The gospel is so much easier to espouse and does not require much effort to live it. Keep a few simple commandments and be nice to ones' neighbor. Simple.

1 Nephi 14:10 And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso 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 whore of all the earth.

So there are in fact just two churches. The Lord’s church or the devils church. The Lord’s church is only one organization, while satan has a mired of various groups disguised as political, religious or philanthropic which he says are for the betterment of mankind.

These organizations are referred to as a whore. Whores try to tempt you to partake of by services by fulfilling your lustful desires for power, influence or money. You don’t have that in the Lord’s church. You are in it to help out your brothers and sisters. In other organizations, the motivation is more self centered.

However those who find themselves with altruistic desires in these organizations will soon leave them if they come across the true church. And that maybe in the spirit world because perhaps the church of the Lamb was not on the earth when they were mortals.

1 Nephi 14:11 And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the whore of all the earth, and she sat upon many waters; and she had dominion over all the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.

It is clear to Nephi in this vision, that satan has his claws into all people, in all nations in among all races over all the earth. This appears to be an almost impossible situation to overcome with the restoration. But we will sees it start small and grow like wheat among the tares.