Wednesday, April 15, 2020

2 Nephi 28:13-14


13 They rob the poor because of their fine sanctuaries; they rob the poor because of their fine clothing; and they persecute the meek and the poor in heart, because in their pride they are puffed up.
14 They wear stiff necks and high heads; yea, and because of pride, and wickedness, and abominations, and whoredoms, they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men.

Nephi tells us the day will come when churches are built up to bring riches and power to people.  Who usually pays for these things?  It is usually the poor who give their money because of their misplaced belief in those who run these churches.  People struggling to live on their meager incomes give to these churches and they and their faith are exploited by those who are puffed up in their pride.

As we read the Book of Mormon, we will see that the Nephites are continually afflicted with the Nephite Disease – that of pride.  Preaching to the people in Zarahemla, Alma2 chastised and challenged them.  “[C]an ye withstand these sayings; yea, can ye lay aside these things, and trample the Holy One under your feet; yea, can ye be puffed up in the pride of your hearts; yea, will ye still persist in the wearing of costly apparel and setting your hearts upon the vain things of the world, upon your riches”  (Alma 5:53).

As the Nephites were being destroyed as people, Moroni2 would finish his father’s book with these comments.

“And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts.
“For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.
“O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God?  Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ?  Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?
“Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?
“Yea, why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain, and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans to mourn before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads?
“Behold, the sword of vengeance hangeth over you; and the time soon cometh that he avengeth the blood of the saints upon you, for he will not suffer their cries any longer.” (Mormon 8:36-41).

The leaders of these churches will be a stiffnecked[1] people.  They will continue their “pride, and wickedness, and abominations, and whoredoms” (2 Nephi 28:14).  Solomon warned, “[Haughty eyes], and a proud heart, and [the cultivating of wickedness], is sin” (Proverbs 21:4).

Most will go astray rather than teach the things of God.  Alma2 told the people of Zarahemla, “O ye workers of iniquity; ye that are puffed up in the vain things of the world, ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is still calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice” (Alma 5:37).

A few, who are humble followers of Christ, will continue to live righteously in spite of their corrupt leaders.  Unfortunately, they are still being led astray because “they are taught the precepts of man” (2 Nephi 28:14). 

Peter warned the church, “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know before the things which are coming, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness” (JST 2 Peter 3:17). 

Christ chastised the Pharisees when they questioned Him.  “Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29).

Noel Reynolds further comments on this topic.

“[M]any people throughout the ages preceding the restoration and the second coming would be true, humble followers of Christ who erred only because of their leaders (2 Nephi 28:14). We know further that the Spirit continued to strive with men and that some men were inspired … Joseph Smith, when he read Foxe's Book of the Martyrs which records all those who have died for the faith from the early apostles to the Protestant movements, said that many of these people were true disciples who would receive salvation. President John Taylor said in 1873, ‘There were men in those dark ages who could commune with God, and who, by the power of faith, could draw aside the curtain of eternity and gaze upon the invisible world … have the ministering of angels, and unfold the future destinies of the world.’”[2]


[1] Dictionary.com defines stiffneckedness as haughty and obstinate; stubbornly disobedient.
[2] What Went Wrong for the Early Christians? Noel B. Reynolds, Maxwell Institute.

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