1 Nephi 22:13-16

After explaining the gospel will go forth to the Jews and that they would accept Christ, Nephi returns to the subject of the great and abominable church and its fate.  Stephen Robinson lists six key characteristics identified by Nephi.

The major characteristics of the great and abominable church described in 1 Nephi may be listed as follows:

1.     It persecutes, tortures, and slays the Saints of God (see 1 Nephi 13:5).

2.    It seeks wealth and luxury (see 1 Nephi 13:7–8).

3.    It is characterized by sexual immorality (see 1 Nephi 13:7).

4.    It has excised plain and precious things from the scriptures (see 1 Nephi 13:26–29).

5.    It has dominion over all the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people (see 1 Nephi 14:11).

6.    Its fate is to be consumed by a world war, when the nations it incites against the Saints war among themselves until the great and abominable church itself is destroyed (see 1 Nephi 22:13–14).[1]

Eventually, there will be civil war in the great and abominable church.  They will turn on each other and “the sword of their own hands shall fall upon their own heads and they shall be drunken with their own blood” (1 Nephi 22:13).  Nephi is reiterating what he had seen in vision in the Arabian wilderness.

And that great pit, which hath been digged for them by that great and abominable church, which was founded by the devil and his children, that he might lead away the souls of men down to hell—yea, that great pit which hath been digged for the destruction of men shall be filled by those who digged it, unto their utter destruction, saith the Lamb of God; not the destruction of the soul, save it be the casting of it into that hell which hath no end.

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.

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—

And when the day cometh that the wrath of God is poured out upon the mother of harlots, which is the great and abominable church of all the earth, whose founder is the devil, then, at that day, the work of the Father shall commence, in preparing the way for the fulfilling of his covenants, which he hath made to his people who are of the house of Israel.

1 Nephi 14:3, 15-17

Jacob would teach the Nephites, “And they that believe not in him shall be destroyed, both by fire, and by tempest, and by earthquakes, and by bloodsheds, and by pestilence, and by famine.  And they shall know that the Lord is God, the Holy One of Israel” (2 Nephi 6:15). 

The day will come that all nations will fight against Israel.  Instead of victory, they will eventually “fall into the pit which the digged to ensare the people of the Lord” (1 Nephi 22:14).  Proverbs tells us, “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him” (Proverbs 26:27); “Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession” (Proverbs 28:10).  Fighting Zion will lead to destruction.

Miraculously, the House of Israel will be the survivor, as "every nation which shall war against thee ... shall be turned one against another... And all that fight against Zion shall be destroyed" (1 Nephi 22:14), and pass away "as a dream of a night vision" (2 Nephi 27:3). Formidable plans to destroy the upbuilding of Zion need not concern the Saints—like the Nephites, they have only their own sins to worry about. As for their enemies, "they shall fall into the pit which they digged to ensnare the people of the Lord" (1 Nephi 22:14). Likewise "that great and abominable church," whatever it is, should be no concern of ours, for we are assured that with all its clever scheming and accumulated might it "shall tumble to the dust and great shall be the fall of it" (1 Nephi 22:14).[2]

Ultimately, the day will come when Satan will no longer have power over us.  The proud and wicked will be burned as stubble.  Malachi wrote, “FOR, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch” (Malachi 4:1).  David looked forward to the day when…

Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.

Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.

Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men.

Psalms 21:8 - 10

The Lord revealed, “For the hour is nigh and the day soon at hand when the earth is ripe; and all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I will burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that wickedness shall not be upon the earth” (D&C 29:9). 

Richard Draper writes:

From a Book of Mormon perspective, we can define atē as the point at which a person or a people has become fully ripe in iniquity. At that moment they come under the judgment of a just God from whom there is no escape, for "the fulness of the wrath of God shall be poured out upon all the children of men; for he will not suffer that the wicked shall destroy the righteous" (1 Nephi 22:16). The Book of Mormon prophets feared that such a condition would come upon their people. Lehi warned: "For the hardness of your hearts the Lord your God [will] come out in the fulness of his wrath upon you, that ye be cut off and destroyed forever" (2 Nephi 1:17).[3]

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[1] Nephi's "Great and Abominable Church," Stephen E. Robinson, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed May 8, 2013.

[2] Prophecy in the Book of Mormon: The Three Periods, Hugh Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed May 8, 2013.

[3] Hubris and Atē: A Latter-day Warning from the Book of Mormon, Richard D. Draper, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed May 8, 2013.