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04 - Book of Mormon - Joseph Smith Jr · Sacred Texts Archive

• First Nephi, Chapter fourteen. And it shall come to pass that if the gentiles shall hearken unto the Lamb of God in that day, that He shall manifest himself unto them in word and also in power in very deed, unto the taking away of their stumbling blocks, and harden not their hearts against the Lamb of God. They shall be numbered among the seed of thy Father. Yea, they shall be numbered among the House of Israel, and they shall be a blessed people upon the promised land forever. They shall be no more brought down into captivity, and the House of Israel shall no more be confounded. 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 distry auction. 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 for Behold, this is according to the captivity of the Devil, and also according to the justice of God, upon all those who will work wickedness and abomination before him. And it came to pass that the Angel spake unto Me Nephi, saying, thou hast beheld that if the gentiles repent, it shall be well with them. Thou also knowest concerning the covenants of the Lord unto the House of Israel. And thou also hast heard that whoso repenteth must not perish. Therefore, woe be unto the gentiles, if it so be that they harden their hearts against the Lamb of God. For the time cometh, sayeth the Lamb of God, that I will work a great and a marvelous work among the children of men, a work which shall be everlasting, either on the one hand or on the other, either to the convince saying of them unto peace and life eternal, or unto the deliverance of them, to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds, unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, both temporarily and spiritually, according to the captivity of the devil of which I have spoken. And it came to pass that when the Angel had spoken these words, he said, unto me, rememberest thou the covenants of the Father. Unto the House of Israel. I said unto him, yea. 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 abominationations. And she is the horror of all the earth. And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the horror of all the earth. And she sat upon many waters, and she had dominion over all the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people. And it came to pass that I beheld the Church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters. Nevertheless, I beheld that the Church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth, and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small because of the wickedness of the great Hoar whom I saw. And it came to pass that I beheld that the Great Mother of Abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God. And it came to pass that I Nephi beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the Church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth, and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory. 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 angels 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. And it came to pass that the Angel spake unto me, saying, look. And I looked and beheld a man, and he was dressed in a white robe. And the Angel said unto me, behold one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Behold, he shall see and write the remainder of these things, yea, and also many things which have been And he shall also write concerning the end of the world. Wherefore the things which he shall write are just and true. And behold they are written in the book which thou beheld proceeding out of the mouth of the jew And at the time they proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew, or at the time the book proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew. The things which were written were plain and pure, and most precious and easy to the understanding of all men. And behold, the thing which this Apostle of the Lamb shall write are many things which thou hast seen, And behold the remainder shalt thou see. But the things which thou shalt see hereafter thou shalt not write. For the Lord God hath ordained the Apostle of the Lamb of God that he should write them, and also others who have been to them. He hath shown all things, and they have written them, and they are sealed up to come forth in their purity, according to the truth which is in the Lamb, in the own due time of the Lord unto the house of Israel. And I Nephi heard and bear record that the name of the Apostle of the Lamb was John, according to the word of the Angel. And behold, I Nephi am forbidden that I should write the remainder of the things which I saw and heard. Wherefore the things which I have written sufficeth me. And I have written but a small part of the things which I saw. And I bear record that I saw the things which my father saw, and the Angel of the Lord did make them known unto me. And now I make an end of speaking concerning the things which I saw while I was carried away in the spirit. And if all the things which I saw are not written, the things which I have written are true. And thus it is amen First Nephi chapter fifteen. And it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had been carried away in the spirit and seen all these things, I returned to the tent of my father, and it came to pass that I beheld my brethren, and they were disputing one with another concerning the things my father had spoken unto them. For he truly spoke many great things unto them, which were hard to be understood, save a man should inquire of the Lord. And they being hard in their hearts, therefore they did not look unto the Lord as they ought. And now I, Nephi, was because of the hardness of their hearts, and also because of the things which I had seen and knew they must unavoidably come to pass, because of the great wickedness of the children of men, and it came to pass that I was overcome because of my afflictions, for I considered that mine afflictions were great above all because of the destruction of my people, for I had beheld their fall. And it came to pass that after I had received strength, I spake unto my brethren, desiring to know of them the cause of their disputations. And they said, behold, we cannot understand the words which our father hath spoken concerning the natural branches of the olive tree, and also concerning the gentiles. And I said, unto them, have ye inquired of the Lord? And they said, unto me, we have not, for the Lord maketh no such thing known to us. Behold, I said unto them, how is it that ye do not keep the commandments of the Lord? How is it that ye will perish because of the hardness of your hearts? Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said? If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you. Behold, I say unto you that the House of Israel was compared unto an olive tree, by the spirit of the Lord, which was in our father. And behold, are we not broken off from the House of Israel, And are we not a branch of the House of Israel. And now the thing which our Father meaneth concerning the grafting inn of the natural branches through the fullness of the Gentiles, is that in the latter days, when our seed shall have dwindled in unbelief, yea, for the space of many years and many generations, after the Messiah shall be manifested in body unto the children of men, then shall the fullness of the Gospel of the Messiah come unto the Gentiles, and from the gentiles unto the remnant of our seed. And at that day shall the remnant of our seed know that they are the House of Israel, and that they are the covenant people of the Lord. And then shall they know and come to the knowledge of their forefathers, and also to the knowledge of the Gospel of their Redeemer, which was ministered unto their fathers by him. Wherefore they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto Him and be saved. And then at that day will they not rejoice and give praise unto their everlasting God, their Rock and their salvation. Yea, at that day will they not receive the strength and nourishment from the true vine. Yea, will they not come unto the true fold of God. Behold, I say unto you, Yea, they shall be remembered again among the House of Israel. They shall be grafted in, being a natural branch of the olive tree, into the true olive tree. And this is what our father meaneth. And he meaneth that it will not come to pass until after they are scattered by the Gentiles. And he meaneth that it shall come by way of the Gentiles, that the Lord may show his power unto the Gentiles, for the very cause that he shall be rejected of the Jews or of the House of Israel. Wherefore our Father hath not spoken of our seed alone, but also of all the House of Israel, pointing to the covenant which should be fulfilled in the latter days, which covenant the Lord made to our father Abraham, saying, in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed and it came to pass that I, Nephi, spake much unto them concerning these things. Yea, I spake unto them concerned the restoration of the Jews in the latter days. And I did rehearse unto them the words of Isaiah, who spake concerning the restoration of the Jews or of the House of Israel. And after they were restored, they should no more be confounded, neither should they be scattered again. And it came to pass that I did speak many words unto my brethren, that they were pacified and did humble themselves before the Lord. And it came to pass that they did speak unto me again, saying, what meaneth this thing which our father saw in a dream? What meaneth the tree which he saw? And I said unto them it was a representation of the Tree of life. And they said unto me, what meaneth the rod of iron which our father saw that led to the tree? And I said unto them that it was the word of God. And whose would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it? They would never perish, neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction. Wherefore I, Nephi, did exhort them to give heed unto the word of the Lord. Yea, I did exhort them with all the energies of my soul and with all the faculty which I possessed, that they would give heed to the Word of God and remember to keep his commandments always in all things. And they said unto me, what meaneth the river of water which our father saw? And I said unto them that the water which my father saw was filthiness, And so much was his mind swallowed up in other things, that he beheld not the filthiness of the water. And I said unto them that it was an awful gulf which separated the wicked from the tree of life, and also from the saints of God. And I said unto them that it was a representation of that awful hell which the Angel said unto me, was prepared for the wicked. And I said unto them that our father also saw that the justice of God did also divide the wicked from the righteous. And the brightness thereof was like unto the brightness of a flaming fire, which ascendeth up unto God, forever and ever, and hath no end. And they said unto me, doth this thing mean the torment of the body in the days of probation? Or doth it mean the final state of the soul after the death of the temporal body? Or doth it speak of the things which are temporal? And it came to pass that I said unto them that it was a representation of things both temporal and spiritual. For the day should come that they must be judged of their works. Yea, even the works which were done by the temporal body in their days of probation. Wherefore, if they should die in their wickedness, they must be cast off. Also as to the things which are spiritual, which are pertaining to righteousness, wherefore they must be brought to stand before God to be judged of their works. And if their works have been filthiness, they must needs be filthy. And if they be filthy, it must needs be that they cannot dwell in the Kingdom of God. If so, the Kingdom of God must be filthy also. But behold, I say unto you, the Kingdom of God is not filthy. And therefore cannot any unclean thing enter into the Kingdom of God. Wherefore there must needs be a place of filthiness prepared for that which is filthy. And there is a place prepared, yea, even that awful hell of which I have spoken, and the devil is the preparator of it. Wherefore the final state of the souls of men is to dwell in the Kingdom of God, or to be cast out because of that justice of which I have spoken. Wherefore the wicked are rejected from the righteous, and also from that tree of life, whose fruit is most precious and most desirable above all all other fruits. Yea, and it is the greatest of all the gifts of God. And thus I spake unto my brethren, Amen. First Nephi chapter sixteen. And now it came to pass that after I Nephi, had made an end of speaking to my brethren, Behold, they said, unto me, thou hast declared unto us hard things, more than we are able to bear. And it came to pass that I said unto them, that I knew that I had spoken hard things against the wicked, according to the truth and the righteous. Have I justified and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day. Wherefore the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center. And now, my brethren, if ye were righteous and were willing to hearken to the truth and give heed unto it, that ye might walk uprightly before God, then ye would not murmur because of the truth, and say, thou speakest hard thing against us. And it came to pass that I Nephi did exhort my brethren with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord. And it came to pass that they did humble themselves before the Lord, insomuch that I had joy and great hopes of them, that they would walk in the paths of righteousness. Now all these things were said and done as my father dwelt in a tent in the valley which he called Limuel. And it came to pass that I Nephi took one of the daughters of Ishmael to wife, and also my brethren took of the daughters of Ishmael to wife. And also Zoram took the eldest daughter of Ishmael to wife. And thus my father had fulfilled all the commandments of the Lord which had been given unto him. And also I Nephi had been blessed of the Lord exceedingly. And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord spake unto my father by night and commanded him that on the morrow he should take his journey into the wilderness. And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment, he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship, and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles, and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness. And it came to pass that we did gather together whatsoever things we should carry into the wilderness, and all the remainder of our provisions which the Lord had given unto us. And we did take seed of every kind that we might carry into the wilderness. And it came to pass that we did take our tints and depart into the wilderness across the River Laman. And it came to pass that we traveled for the space of four days nearly a south southeast direction, and we did pitch our tints again, and we did call the name of the place Shazer. And it came to pass that we did take our bows and our arrows and go forth into the wilderness to slay food for our families. And after we had slain food for our families, we did return again to our families in the wilderness, to the place of Shazar. And we did go forth again in the wilderness, following the same direction, keeping in the most fertile parts of the wilderness, which were in the borders near the Red Sea. And it came to pass that we did travel for the space of many days, slaying food by the way, with our bows and our arrows, and our stones and our slings. And we did follow the directions of the ball, which led us in the more fertile parts of the wilderness. And after we had traveled for the space of many days, we did pitch our tints for the space of a time, that we might again rest ourselves and obtain food for our families. And it came to pass that as I Nephi went forth to slay food, behold I did break my bow, which was made of fine steel. And after I did break my beau, behold my brethren were angry with me because of the loss of my beau, for we did obtain no food, and it came to pass that we did return without food to our families, and being much fatigued because of their journeying, they did suffer much for the want of food. And it came to pass that Laman and Limuel, and the sons of Ishmael did begin to murmur exceedingly because of their sufferings and afflictions in the wilderness. And also my father began to murmur against the Lord his god Yea. And they were all exceedingly sorrowful, even that they did murmur against the Lord. Now it came to pass that I Nephi, having been afflicted with my brethren because of the loss of my beaux and their beaus having lost their springs, it began to be exceedingly difficult Yea, insomuch that we could obtain no food. And it came to pass that I Nephi did speak much unto my brethren, because they had hardened their hearts again even unto complain against the Lord their god. And it came to pass that I Nephi did make out of wood a beau and out of a straight stick an arrow. Wherefore I did arm myself with a bow and an arrow, with a sling, and with stones. And I said unto my father, whither shall I go to obtain food? And it came to pass that he did inquire of the Lord, for they had humbled themselves because of my words. For I did say many things unto them in the energy of my soul. And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came unto my father, and he was truly chastened because of his murmuring against the Lord, insomuch that he was brought down into the depths of sorrow. And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord said unto him, look upon the ball, and behold the things which are written. And it came to pass that when my father beheld the things which were written upon the ball, he did fear and tremble exceedingly, and also my brethren and the sons of Ishmael, and our wives. And it came to pass that I Nephi beheld the pointers which were in the ball, that they did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them. And there was also written upon them, a new writing which was plain to be read, which did give us understanding concerning the ways of the Lord. And it was written and changed from time to time according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did go forth up into the top of the mountain, according to the directions which were given upon the ball. And it came to pass that I did slay wild beasts insomuch that I did obtain food for our families. And it came to pass that I did return to our tints bearing the beasts which I had slain. And now when they had beheld that I had obtained food, how great was their joy. And it came to pass that they did humble themselves elves before the Lord, and did give thanks unto him. And it came to pass that we did again take our journey, traveling nearly the same course as in the beginning. And after we had traveled for the space of many days, we did pitch our tents again, that we might tarry for the space of a time. And it came to pass that Ishmael died and was buried in the place which was called Naham. And it came to pass that the daughters of Ishmael did mourn exceedingly because of the loss of their father and because of their afflictions in the wilderness. And they did murmur against my father because he had brought them out of the land of Jerusalem, saying, our father is dead, yea, And we have wandered much in the wilderness, and we have suffered much affliction, hunger, thirst, and fatigue. And after all these sufferings, we must perish in the wilderness with hunger. And thus did they murmur against my father and also against me, And they were desirous to return again to Jerusalem. When Lahman said, unto Lemuel, and also unto the sons of Ishmael, behold, let us slay our father and also our brother Nephi, who has taken it upon him to be our ruler, and our teacher, who are his elder brethren. Now he says that the Lord has talked with him, and also that angels have ministered unto him. But behold, we know that he lies unto us, and he tells us these things, and he worketh many things by his cunning arts, that he may deceive our eyes, thinking perhaps that he may lead us away into some strange wilderness. And after he has led us away, he has thought to make himself a king and a ruler over us, that he may do with us according to his will and pleasure. And after this manner did my brother Laman stir up their hearts to anger. And it came to pass that the Lord was with us. Yea, even the voice of the Lord came and did speak many words unto them, and did chasten them exceedingly. And after they were chastened by the voice of the Lord, they they did turn away their anger and did repent of their sins, insomuch that the Lord did bless us again with food that we did not perish. End of First Nephi, Chapters fourteen through sixteen.