“Wo unto him that spurneth at the doings of the Lord; yea,
wo unto him that shall deny the Christ and his works” (3 Nephi 29:5).
“The repetition of wo emphasizes the calamity, ruin, or
distress that would befall the recipients of the woe oracle. The accusation is
listed twice: that spurneth at the doings of the Lord/that shall deny the
Christ and his works. Several other terms parallel one another, including the
relative pronoun that/that, the deific titles Lord/Christ, the verbs
spurneth/deny, and the nouns doings/works. The well-balanced pattern of two
lines is connected with the affirmative particle yea, meaning ‘yes,’ or ‘not
only this, but also…’”[1]
“O the wise, and the learned, and the rich, that are puffed
up in the pride of their hearts, and all those who preach false doctrines, and
all those who commit whoredoms, and pervert the right way of the Lord, wo, wo,
wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to
hell” (2 Nephi 28:15).
“And now, behold, who can stand against the works of the
Lord? Who can deny his sayings? Who will rise up against the almighty power of
the Lord? Who will despise the works of the Lord? Who will despise the children
of Christ? Behold, all ye who are despisers of the works of the Lord, for ye
shall wonder and perish” (Mormon 9:26).
Moroni warned of the consequences of spurning the Lord. “And
he that will contend against the word of the Lord, let him be accursed; and he
that shall deny these things, let him be accursed; for unto them will I show no
greater things, saith Jesus Christ; for I am he who speaketh” (Ether 4:8).
There are also consequences for those who deny Christ.
“Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I
confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
“But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also
deny before my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).
We are warned against denying revelations, claiming the
heavens are now silent. Moroni also warned of the consequences of denial of
revelation.
“And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God,
and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies,
nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of
tongues;
“Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth
not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does
not understand them” (Mormon 9:7-8).
Mormon also warns there are consequences for denying
prophecy, spiritual gifts, healings, and the power of the Holy Ghost.
“In keeping with the fact that the power of the Holy Ghost
is the way by which God works (3 Nephi 29:6), ordinations took place by the
power of the Holy Ghost (Moroni 3:4), those baptized were cleansed by the power
of the Holy Ghost (Moroni 6:4), and the power of the Holy Ghost led the
worshippers ‘whether to preach, or to exhort, or to pray, or to supplicate, or
to sing’ (Moroni 6:9). The power of the Holy Ghost enables one to confess that
Jesus is the Christ (Moroni 7:44). This same power of the Holy Ghost led Mormon
to the discovery of why infant baptism is mockery before God (Moroni 8:7, 23).
Finally, the truth of the words written in the Book of Mormon will be
manifested by the power of the Holy Ghost to those who ask with a sincere heart
and real intent (Moroni 10:4–7).”[2]
Those who will claim, “to get gain” (3 Nephi 29:7), there
would be no miracles done by Christ.
“And they shall contend one with another; and their priests
shall contend one with another, and they shall teach with their learning, and
deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance.
“And they deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel; and
they say unto the people: Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept; for behold
there is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he
hath given his power unto men;
“Behold, hearken ye unto my precept; if they shall say there
is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he
is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work” (2 Nephi 28:4-6).
Those who deny Christ will no longer perform miracles will
be like the sons of perdition and receive no mercy. “And our spirits must have
become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out
from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery,
like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled our first parents, who
transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and stirreth up the children
of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness”
(2 Nephi 9:9).
The time will have come where the Jew the Jews will no
longer by a hiss[3]
and a byword. “And because they turn their hearts aside, saith the prophet, and
have despised the Holy One of Israel, they shall wander in the flesh, and
perish, and become a hiss and a byword, and be hated among all nations” (1
Nephi 19:4).
They will no longer be spurned by the world. “And because
they turn their hearts aside, saith the prophet, and have despised the Holy One
of Israel, they shall wander in the flesh, and perish, and become a hiss and a
byword, and be hated among all nations” (1 Nephi 19:14).
And at that day, the Lord will remember the covenants He
made with them. Nothing will stop the Lord from fulfilling His covenants with
the house of Israel.
[1] Power
through Repetition: The Dynamics of Book of Mormon Parallelism, Donald W.
Parry, Maxwell Institute website.
[2] Book
of Mormon Pneumatology, John Christopher Thomas, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 24 (2015): 221.
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