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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