21 And now I, Nephi, declare unto you, that this prophet
of whom Moses spake was the Holy One of Israel; wherefore, he shall execute
judgment in righteousness.
22 And the righteous need not fear, for they are those
who shall not be confounded. But it is the kingdom of the devil, which shall be
built up among the children of men, which kingdom is established among them
which are in the flesh—
23 For the time speedily shall come that all churches
which are built up to get gain, and all those who are built up to get power
over the flesh, and those who are built up to become popular in the eyes of the
world, and those who seek the lusts of the flesh and the things of the world,
and to do all manner of iniquity; yea, in fine, all those who belong to the
kingdom of the devil are they who need fear, and tremble, and quake; they are
those who must be brought low in the dust; they are those who must be consumed
as stubble; and this is according to the words of the prophet.
24 And the time cometh speedily that the righteous must
be led up as calves of the stall, and the Holy One of Israel must reign in
dominion, and might, and power, and great glory.
Nephi emphasizes that, when Moses prophesied the day would
come when there would be a prophet like him, he was speaking of Christ.
“The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the
midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
“According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in
Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of
the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
“And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which
they have spoken.
“I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren,
like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto
them all that I shall command him.
“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken
unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him” (Deuteronomy
18:15-19).
After healing the lame man, Peter would testify to the
crowd:
”And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached
unto you, whom ye have crucified.
“Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution
of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets
since the world began.
“For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the
Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye
hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.
“And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not
hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people” (JST Acts 3:20-23).
The final word comes from Christ when He was teaching the
Nephites: “Behold, I am he of whom Moses
spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your
brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say
unto you. And it shall come to pass that
every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the
people” (3 Nephi 20:23).
The righteous will not be confounded. It will be the kingdom of the devil that will
be confounded along with those that follow him. In his vision, Nephi was shown
the great and abominable church
“And it came to pass that he said unto me: Look, and behold
that great and abominable church, which is the mother of abominations, whose
founder is the devil.
“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” (1 Nephi 14:9-10).
Churches will be built for the purpose to get gain as well
as to get power in the world and become popular among men. Christ warned, “Woe unto you, when all men
shall speak well of you! for so did their
fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26).
Five hundred years later, Nehor would establish this this philosophy as
a church that would appear throughout the remainder of Nephite history. “And he had gone about among the people,
preaching to them that which he termed to be the word of God, bearing down
against the church; declaring unto the people that every priest and teacher
ought to become popular; and they ought not to labor with their hands, but that
they ought to be supported by the people” (Alma 1:3).
Hugh Nibley explains:
“So everyone must pass the wealth test, and it's the hardest
of all. Remember, Satan trys men and tempts them. How does he do it? You can
have anything in this world for money. That's the way he is going to tempt you,
of course. We are to be tested to see if we will be faithful and true in all
things whatsoever the Lord commands. He is very experienced in this, and he
knows what the number one temptation is. In 1 Nephi 22:23 he tells us the four
things, and repeats them again in 3 Nephi 6:15. The things we can't resist are, in this order: power, gain, popularity,
and lusts of the flesh. And they are all interrelated; they are all
built around ego, pride, etc.”[1]
Those who are a part of the church of the devil will
eventually “be brought low in the dust” (1 Nephi 22:23). Richard Rust writes about the image of dust.
“The extreme opposite of water and fruitfulness is dust.
This image is associated in the Book of Mormon with mortality, humiliation,
captivity, obscurity, destruction, and death. The wicked, Nephi prophesied,
would be ‘brought low in the dust,’ and the Jaredites, unless they repented,
would be destroyed and their bones should become ‘as heaps of earth upon the
face of the land (1 Nephi 22:23; Ether 11:6).”[2]
Hugh Nibley wrote about thee four tests we face in this
life.
“As Brigham Young often repeats, ‘God has given us the
things of this world to see what we will do with them.’ The test will be
whether we will set our hearts on the four things that lead to destruction.
Whoever seeks for (1) wealth, (2) power, (3) popularity, and (4) the pleasures
of the flesh—anyone who seeks those will be destroyed, says the Book of Mormon
(1 Nephi 22:23; 3 Nephi 6:15). Need we point out that those four things compose
the whole substance of success in the present-day world. They are the things
that money will get you.”[3]
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