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.”
There are and always have been two churches only. One is true. Its members belong to the Lamb of God. The Lamb, and their Father.
Either you belong to the elect family of Christ, the Church of the Firstborn, or you don’t. All other religions and philosophies are false. Read again the description of those who are saved. (See What’s in a name?) There are only “two,” and one of them is not the Catholic Church, nor the Presbyterian Church, nor the Lutheran Church, nor The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, the ordinances received through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are expected for those who belong to “the church of the Lamb of God,” but there is not a complete overlap of the “church of the Lamb of God” and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Therefore, based on what Nephi says above, unless we are part of that body of believers whose Father is Christ, and who posses a covenant from Him that they will be His, we belong to the whore of all the earth, a church of abominations. Those who are believers are they who He has declared to His Father “. . . having been true and faithful in all things.”
The other and all-inclusive great church is comprised of all philosophies, all belief systems, all unbelief systems, all rationalizations, all theories and vanities that distract people from repenting and following Christ. These vary from very good things that are uplifting, and possess even great portions of truth, to the degrading and perverse. This all-inclusive church is a “whore” because she is completely indiscriminate and open for all to have her acceptance and affection. She welcomes you. The only requirement being that you have false beliefs.
She will make you rich, or she will make you covet riches. If she gives them to you it is to corrupt you. If she withholds them from you, it is so you will lust and envy what you do not have.
Look at her list of trade goods, given in the description of her fall by John the Revelator:
“And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.” (Rev. 18: 11-13.)
The final two on the list are the reason for the other items. The earlier ones lead inevitably to slavery and loss of the souls of men. The devil, who founded her, is not interested in anything other than slavery and the loss of your soul.
The great illusion of a whore is to imagine she likes you. To imagine she cares for you. To imagine she desires what you desire and is cooperating with you because she finds you attractive, appealing, and that you fulfill her longing. It is a lie, an illusion and a fraud. Her bodily diseases are less virulent than her contamination of the soul. Empty, false, vain and foolish thoughts occupy the imagination of those who have intercourse with the great whore. She prefers the lie, relies on it. You would not be her customer if not for the lies.
What an amazing congruence of sexual images and religious failing have been given to us by Nephi and John the Revelator. How apt! How perfect! Imagining something that is degrading and debilitating to be sacred. It is a work of a god or a devil. And of course it is for us to decide between them.
The whore does have her allures, doesn’t she? How many of us are in her embrace, speaking of love and Jesus and the joy of the Saints, while remaining wretched, poor, foolish and lost? She offers you vanity as a religion. “Vanity” because it is vain, or without any effect to save, i.e., without power. Only a form of godliness, nothing real.
Such powerful deception as is implied in these verses demands our attention. It ought to force us forward to seek and obtain a more sure word of prophecy, so we know our God and covenant directly with Him. It should make us refuse all the imitations, all the deceptions, all those who pretend to speak truth, and instead demand that true messengers be sent from whom we can be taught further light and knowledge.
There’s the rub, isn’t it? How to tell the one from the other? A concealed and veiled resurrected Christ laid aside all glory and walked with two of His disciples for approximately seven miles on the day of His resurrection. After His departure, the one asked the other: “And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24: 32.) Undoubtedly the reason they already knew it was Him was because truth has power that vanity does not. Therefore, it appears that before our eyes are opened, we must determine truth first. I’ve written about this in the Appendix to Eighteen Verses.
Interesting cause and effect. Interesting the Lord would open the scriptures to touch their hearts. What a powerful pattern the Lord has given for those who follow Him.
Hosea married a prostitute/former prostitute to show how God treats Israel when they go whoring after other gods. This example is one where the husband is not deceived by the illusion of the whore. He entertains no delusions about the stark reality that she doesn’t care for him, that she doesn’t think heart and mind like he does, yet he serves her, keeps the covenant, and loves her with a pure love. If her stony heart isn’t melted by such treatment, then her condemnation belongs to her alone and she is all the more worthy of it having no excuse. To think how the husband must feel! How long she doesn’t talk to him, or truly open her heart to him! How must she hide her face from him and rarely visit! But he will not divorce her. She casts herself off for shame, and he sadly points out the fact that even after the marriage he never got to know her.
On the other hand, what a treasure she could be to him…what depth of appreciate she could grow after being treated so well. How peculiar a jewel and honored above the virgins…
Another great post.
A harlot, the symbol of lust. I find it interesting that to give into her will only take away the very desire and Passion that a person could have. Any lust will on make you either a eunuch, or totally hollow. Any deception takes away. It will only turn you into something twisted and grotesque. A Harlot (or those Lust spirits) only want to take away your happiness and joy and your identity you have already have, and leave you used up and empty.
If we don’t want to end up like the 3rd of the host of the Adversary, we will repent and be like him, Otherwise we will be consumed in whatever Addiction (s) (Telestial Kingdom addicts) we have. I see this kingdom and its Money/power is the worst addiction anyone can have.
I see that being born again is to truly be set free from your killer addiction of this kingdom.
Anyway, rambled to much, its late, but thanks for a great day of study and growth. I see new ways of being today.
Part of False religion is all of its Rites, do’s and don’ts, and hoops to jump through. I found the Natural Man in me after sinning also wants some types of rite to cleanse self, and i would look for a way to Flog myself to feel better. I baited many a Bishop and others into letting me have it. All very sick.
I am just a babe in the woods, but I have learned Christ is so ready to forgive if I will take my name upon me,and serve him. I still have so many traditions to over come.
Again, its worth every minute I grow closer to Christ.
On the Other hand…
Incredible!
Any philosophy, belief system, unbelief system, rationalizations, theory and vanity that distracts from repenting and following Christ is not of the church of the Lamb of God, but is of the devil, whether it originates from FHE, Sunday School, Priesthood or Relief Society, LDS books, magazines, or some other religion. Demand true messengers be sent from whom we can be taught further light and knowledge… The whore seeks only to enslave us and to keep us distracted from repentance and from coming fully to Christ! She will manipulate any belief system or good to shift our focus.
This gives a whole knew light to “Pray Always That Ye Be Not Deceived.”
This is pure doctrine and offers true hope; it will offend no true seeker of truth; not from the LDS or any other church. It will only offend those who have fallen for the whore and who depend upon her.
Hi Brian,
I believe God allows Satan to harass us with our past not to inspire penance in us, but because we still haven’t learn light and knowledge about the problems that were involved, and if placed in the same circumstances, we would commit the sin again. We err if we beat ourselves up at Satan’s request instead of asking the Lord for deliverance through a correct understanding of the scenario. We mistakenly blame God as “punishing” us when reminders of our sins crop up. Think of the children of Israel who put Joseph in a pit. These brothers constantly thought every reminder of the crime was God punishing them. Not until they saw Joseph themselves did they believe the word “God did this to prepare a salvation for us from the famine” and recognize what personal character flaws needed to be changed in order to avoid making such mistakes in the future. If they had been willing to reason with the Lord earlier, the revelation could’ve come earlier. God rightly judges that some sins are more grievous and make it harder to accept this from Him. That is why it takes time – it is a problem of how WE view what we did. If that needs time, He is willing to wait and help prepare us.
When we have correctly repented and learned the right knowledge, God will stop Satan from bringing the constant reminders, meaning He will remember it no more. When we know enough that we feel we could go back through the situation and make the right choices, then we are a new creature. The old memory doesn’t even feel like it is us. It is a distant friend with a different character that we pity and wish to succor.
That is far different than suppressing memories because of a mistaken interpretation of remembering no more and crucifying our old selves. Rather, we practice being a seer by seeing in our mind’s eye God’s view of our past – the truth. We begin to recognize the spirit of revelation because we have an immediate second witness that it is of God because it is our own life we are seeing in the vision and we remember being there. This aspect of repentance gives us confidence to accept and recognize the true spirit of revelation for experiences we weren’t present for, like seeing events in the scriptures.
In summary: I like the Book of Mormon’s view on faith, it fits with the phrase “faith comes by hearing the word of God from true messengers (angels)”.
So, First a true messenger describes their visionary view of doctrine, the hearer catches on, has beliefs confirmed, and prophesies themselves in some instances.
Next, the hearer naturally produces the fruit of repentance, with the new vision being applied to all past experiences that are relevant that need to be looked at differently to free the soul. The hearer gains confidence with revelatory processes because they recognize the truth of their own situation.
Then, the mystery of baptism unfolds. The universe naturally celebrates the achievement of new sight in the individual, and recognizes their matured change of perspective about themselves and their readiness to receive the testimony of Jesus. The power of Jesus’ teachings are such that they echo both forwards and backwards in time. It is one thing to read the Sermon on the Mount, for instance, it is quite another to hear the voice of the Lord declaring it with all His inflection of voice, love, and power to convey understanding of what He said. This is the rock and He employs no servant there. All other servants are revealed as merely apostles of the Lord and voices in the wilderness. The candidate is immersed in the rock of revelation with no servant involved. The ordinance as a symbol is rightly performed by servants because it is not the real thing, although necessary.
Jesus’ testimony gives rebirth to the individual who can now more powerfully recognize new truths and apply them to the still necessary steps of faith and repentance, but they can also receive the Holy Ghost and be a seer of all truth, leading them to the presence of the Master whose voice they’ve heard, or rather, leading them to renew the miracle of baptism with every new truth they encounter.
And what if their Lord should appear in person to those so qualified, appearing to teach them of higher things? They are sheep who hear His voice who have entered in by the door, and have gotten into that strait and narrow path that leadeth to the fruit of the tree of life. Enduring to the end is the doctrine of the Second Comforter. All the sheep know they can’t make it without the Master as their “in person” guide, without Him to follow and watch and pattern themselves after they can’t make it.
This is my present way of explaining it. The wording could be modified as I learn more. Let me call it my opinion for now.
Those who have heard the voice of the Master well enough and frequently enough (true and faithfully) have it confirmed to them in a very specific way which certifies they have heard His voice and not another’s. It is not magic, or guess work, but when it is understood, it is natural to accept the truth about your own situation with God, even if you may resist, you can’t escape the new fact. It is simply true based on what has happened and how it was revealed to you what that small and simple thing means. It exists outside of your own thoughts.
Denver, this is important enough doctrine, I think, can you confirm?
Rather, what I’m trying to express by asking Denver’s confirmation is after what I’ve written, I don’t know much more. I can speculate off into the horizon, but I am still on the path. You can judge yourself and confirm those things by the Spirit. The doctrines of faith and repentance I am sure about, and there are lots of different ways to describe the various facets of the diamond, but the mystery of baptism etc is still dawning on me. Take it for what it is worth.