1 Nephi 14:12 - 14:16
1 Nephi 14:12 And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw.
Nephi sees that in the future after the restoration, that the Church well never be large in membership. This because of the great many other churches, organizations, etc that have lesser standards or no standards of conduct to which people either espouse or live by. This again is for all organizations, regardless of their belief systems.
This designation of “whore” seems rather harsh to me at times and maybe fits evil governments or churches which espouse doctrines of the devil, but there are groups with great philanthropic goals. But again the Church of the Lamb can and will do these things and have the priesthood to administer the programs which will mean they are done in a manner pleasing to our Father in Heaven.
These other organizations keep men from having the priesthood and for families to have the Temple ordinances given to them. So any thing which deflects men from the saving ordinances of the Gospel regardless who good they seem are call whores.
Because a whore sells their services for money and most organizations are into being helpful if they can get paid might the reason why the word whore is used.
The ideal situation for our conduct in this life in relation to others and their needs is outlined in Mosiah 18:21 - 29. The main idea to me is in verses 27 - 29 as far as generosity to others and taxation as well. That those with much give willingly to those who have little. There is no forcing of a person to pay taxes so the poor will have something. Unless ones over abundance is given freely without compulsion civil society will not exists. If force has to be used to care for the poor then the society is on shaky ground and will not last for long without revolution. This is the way the church collects moneys to preform its functions, that is by offerings freely given. And as it mentions in verse 24, those who administer the funds of the church are to labor with there owns hands for there support. If they were paid to do so, corruption would sneak in in time.
1 Nephi 14:13 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 fight against the Lamb of God.
As the Church gets established, Nephi sees that all these groups start opposing the growth of the Church. This could be both active campaigning against the Church or just working hard to keep their own membership. Either way, on purpose or otherwise they are fighting against the Church.
1 Nephi 14:14 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.
Nephi sees that in spite of their small numbers, the power of God is with them wherever they live on the earth. And because of this power, the Church is able to do mighty acts of charity. The Church is able to build Temples and provide genealogical resources to the world.
The Church and its power are great but its numbers few as compared to the rest of the world. At present we are 0.2% of the worlds population. Not much in comparison, but look at how much we have done to help in times of natural disasters. I think the great power lies with all the priesthood holders getting involved where needed. Whereas an group might just give money or hire people to help such as a government agency, we send all our members out to help. So where as few hired employees will get out to help, we might send brethren from many Stakes out help and who are not being paid. This is great power from a small group of people.
1 Nephi 14:15 And it came to pass that I beheld that the wrath of God was poured out upon that great and abominable church, insomuch that there were wars and rumors of wars among all the nations and kindreds of the earth.
Anyway, the wrath of God descends upon these other groups and political enmities to the point they begin fighting among each other or they are threatening confrontations if someone infringing on their territory. Nephi sees that this is universal over all the earth.
1 Nephi 14:16 And as there began to be wars 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—
All nations which have these non-church groups among them begin to war with each other. This is an indication that if these groups were sanctioned of God there would be peace. Since the nations will not allow God to rule over them, He will let the consequences fall upon them and they will begin to fight among themselves or hurl threat at each other.
The angel wants Nephi to know that God is the originator of these woes. It is because they will not let Him rule over them. So by withholding His grace, they will fall into these mire of suffering and death. Nephi is shown all this. I wonder what could be the effect on Nephi of these visions?
