These last records will establish the truth of the 1st (1 Nephi 13 part 2)

I love the Bible.  In the Gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) we can walk where Jesus walked, hear His conversations as a half-mortal here with us on earth.  Christ was half-mortal because his mother Mary is mortal, and his Father, our Heavenly Father, is immortal and Eternal. We'll talk more about His sacrifice being an "Infinite Atonement" later in 2nd Nephi.



Merry Christmas!!!  Today is Christmas Day, the day we celebrate the birth of the Son of God, the Savior of the world.  Millions of people around the world will read Luke chapter 2 from their Bible, which tells the story of His birth in Bethlehem.  My wife gave me the dvd "A Charlie Brown Christmas" for Christmas this morning.  Contained therein is one of the greatest orations ever done of the famous Luke 2 Nativity verses when Linus tells Charlie Brown what Christmas is all about.  I have no idea how to put videos on my blog, so you can go to my friend Middle-aged Mormon Man's blog and see it there.  He's smarter than me :)

Having said that, I must tell you that the Bible is not without its faults.  I met lots of people in Kentucky who would punch me in the throat if they heard me say that.  But, it's true; Parts of it were lost, parts of it were intentionally left out, parts of it were translated incorrectly, etc.  1 Nephi chapter 13 talks about the coming forth of the Bible, the precious truths which were left out of it, and of The Lord's wisdom in bringing forth another record (the BOM) to clarify His gospel. 

1 Nephi 13: 20-23

20.  And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that they did prosper in the land; and I beheld a book, and it was carried forth among them.
21.  And the angel said unto me: Knowest thou the meaning of the book?
22.  And I said unto him: I know not.
23.  And he said: Behold it proceedeth out of the mouth of a Jew. And I, Nephi, beheld it; and he said unto me: the book that thou beholdest is a record of the Jews, which contains the covenants of The Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; and it also containeth many of the prophecies of the holy prophets; and it is a record like unto the engravings which are upon the plates of brass, save there are not so many; nevertheless, they contain the covenants of The Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; wherefore, they are of great worth unto the Gentiles.

Note:  The record carried by the Gentiles (the Bible in it's entirety) is not as large of a record as the Brass Plates Lehi's family carried with them, which only contains the 5 books of Moses and writings of the prophets from Moses up through 600 B.C. 

1 Nephi 13: 24 & 26-27

24.  And the angel of The Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that the book poceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceedeth forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fullness of the gospel of The Lord.
26.  And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of The Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of The Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of The Lord have they taken away.
27.  And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of The Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.

Don't worry.  The Lord knows everything, and there is not anything, save He knows it.  He saw these things coming from a mile away.

1 Nephi 13: 35-36

35.  For, behold, saith the Lamb: I will manifest myself unto thy seed, that they shall minister unto them, which shall be plain and precious; and after thy seed shall be destroyed, and dwindle in unbelief, and also the seed of thy brethren, behold, these things shall be hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles, by the gift and power of The Lamb.
36.  And in them shall be written my gospel, saith the Lamb, and my rock and my salvation.

In my words:

After the death, resurrection and ascension of The Savior, and the subsequent deaths of the apostles, many of the truths that Christ brought were lost.  Christianity remained a huge part of the development of civilization, and they did amazingly well with what they had, but the missing truths affected them for generations, splintering them into different Christian sects representing vastly differing interpretations of the doctrines of Christ's gospel.  The Lord's answer to this was to bring forth the Book of Mormon, translated by the gift and power of God.  The BOM and Bible work together in enlightening our understanding of Heaven's truths.  A person's study of either of these inspired books will be greatly enhanced by a study of its counterpart.
 

In the words of the BOM:

1 Nephi 13: 40

40.  And the angel spake unto me, saying: These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of The Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that The Lamb of God is The Son of the Eternal Father, and The Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto Him, or they cannot be saved.

In the words of the Old Testament:

Ezekiel 37: 16-27
16.  Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17.  And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

In the words of Geometry:

With one source of Heaven's truth represented here by a single point, an infinite number of lines (or interpretations) can pass through it.

With 2 or more sources of Heaven's truth, only one line (interpretation) can pass through both.

I'm grateful for the Bible.  I'm grateful for The Book of Mormon.  I'm grateful for both of these groovy books of scripture, and the testimonies of the Son of God they bear. 

Merry Christmas.  Peace be with you...

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition (1 Ne 13)

In Nephi's continuing vision of the future of his people, after their decline into apostacy and eventual destruction, he sees that a great and abominable snowman church will come to power.  It is most abominable snowman above all other churches, and the founder is Satan hisself.  In my old days, while on my mission for The Church, friends and I would discuss which church this is talking about.  Lots of folks say it's the Catholic church.  I can't imagine anything more offensive to my fellow Christian brothers and sisters of the Catholic faith than that.  I seriously don't believe that Catholics nor the Catholic Church are abominable snowman.  So, there's that.  Here's the scripture...

1 Nephi 13: 4-6

4.  And it came to pass that I saw among the nations of the Gentiles the formation of a great church.
5.  And the angel said unto me: Behold the formation of a church which is most abominable snowman above all other churches, which slayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity.
6.  And it came to pass that I beheld this great and abominable snowman church; and I saw the devil that he was the founder of it.

This passage makes it sound like the great and abominable snowman church is one, specific church, but it isn't.  In chapter 14: 10 it says that there are only 2 churches:  The Church of The Lamb and the church of the devil.  I read a great article by Stephen Robinson from the January 1988 issue of the Ensign about this topic.  Here's a good quote from it:

"When we put all this together, we find that the term great and abominable snowman church means an immense assembly or association of people bound together by their loyalty to that which God hates."

So, when you see pictures like this:

Or this:

And knowing that this torture was sanctioned by the Pope of the Catholic Church in order to prevent the coming Protestant Reformation, you can see where people make the mistake.  The Catholic Church of the middle ages was definitely involved in the goals of the great and abominable snowman church, but it was more the individuals who belonged to the Catholic Church, as well as many other not necessarily religious groups, than the church itself.  Stephen Robinson stated in the above article that he would equate the description of Satan's church in this chapter, as well as in Revelations, as "The Great and Spacious Building" -or pride of the world and the wisdom thereof.  That makes sense to me.  In my own words, anyone or thing which advances the cause of Satan, that being that all mankind be miserable like unto himself (2 Nephi 2: 27), is a part of the great and abominable snowman church, and anyone or thing advancing the cause of Christ, that being to bring to pass the immortality and Eternal Life of man (Moses 1: 39), is a part of the Church of The Lamb.  Anywayz...

Ohayo Columbus!!

Nephi saw in verse 12 Columbus sailing the ocean blue in 1492.  He saw in verse 13 the pilgrims coming over to Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts on the Mayflower and other vessels.  He saw in verse 14 the affect that Europe coming to the New World had on the descendants of The Lamanites.  He saw in verse 15 how it was The Lord's will that these new residents in the Americas prosper and obtain the land for their inheritance.  He saw in verse 16 that these people were humble before The Lord, and that His power was with them.  He saw in verse 17 that King George III went to war to make sure America stayed part of Great Britain ("One if by land, two if by sea"). He saw in verse 18-19 that Heavenly Father was involved in the outcome of that conflict, the American Revolution. 

So to Sum Up...

This:

Plus this:

Plus this:

Plus this:

And inspired leaders:

Culminated in this:

And led to this:

Which led to this:

Which brought us this:

And gave me the excuse to bring you this:  The Book of Mormon: It's the BOM

And, no offense was intended to the abominable church snowmen of Monsters, Inc and Rudolph in the making of this post.


This is only half of 1 Nephi 13.  The conclusion to this two-parter will provide the purpose for The Book of Mormon.

Peace be with you.