On the one hand, a careful reading of these scriptures indicates that Nephi simply spoke is general terms with the intent of depicting the division between good and evil in the world as churches. “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 …” — a point well made and easily understood. (1 Nephi 14:10.) On the other hand, it appears that Nephi also intended to warn us of a specific institution in the world that would have a recognizable history and agenda. He indicated that it would evolve as a religion. Hence, it would be in a position to do considerable spiritual damage so that it would “blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.” (See Nephi 13:26.) Seemingly, any institution with such a history, sweeping influence and a despicable agenda should be easy to spot. But the confusion among Latter-day Saints regarding this “church” indicates that this is simply not the case. This begs the following questions: How are we to guard against the wicked influence of an institution we cannot readily identify? Is it possible, even likely, that this “church” is working its vile influence among the Saints today? Does Nephi’s warning to us, the Gentiles, that we should avoid the trap, “that great pit,” that this institution might present to us goes unheeded since we do not seem to know which institution and ideas to defend ourselves against?
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 03:37:36 +0000
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