15 O the awise, and the learned, and the rich, that are puffed up in the bpride of their chearts, and all those who preach dfalse doctrines, and all those who commit ewhoredoms, and pervert the right way of the Lord, fwo, wo, wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell!
17 But behold, if the inhabitants of the earth shall repent of their wickedness and abominations they shall not be destroyed, saith the Lord of Hosts.
18 But behold, that great and aabominable church, the bwhore of all the earth, must ctumble to the earth, and great must be the fall thereof.
22 And behold, others he aflattereth away, and telleth them there is no bhell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful cchains, from whence there is no deliverance.
23 Yea, they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell, and the devil, and all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of God, and be ajudged according to their works, from whence they must go into the place prepared for them, even a blake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.
24 Therefore, wo be unto him that is at aease in Zion!
26 Yea, wo be unto him that ahearkeneth unto the precepts of men, and denieth the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost!
27 Yea, wo be unto him that saith: We have received, and we aneed no more!
30 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon aprecept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn bwisdom; for unto him that creceiveth I will give dmore; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.
32 aWo be unto the Gentiles, saith the Lord God of Hosts! For notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and bcome unto me; for mine carm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts.
CHAPTER 29
Many gentiles shall reject the Book of Mormon—They shall say: We need no more Bible—The Lord speaks to many nations—He will judge the world out of the books thus written. Between 559 and 545 B.C.
2 And also, that I may remember the promises which I have made unto thee, Nephi, and also unto thy father, that I would remember your seed; and that the awords of your seed should proceed forth out of my mouth unto your seed; and my words shall bhiss forth unto the cends of the earth, for a dstandard unto my people, which are of the house of Israel;
3 And because my words shall hiss forth—many of the Gentiles shall say: A aBible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible.
One of the concepts that jumped out at me from this reading is in verse 22 where Nephi warns us that in the latter days Satan will tell us "I am no devil, for there is none and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance." At first I wondered why it would benefit Satan to convince people that he does not exist. Then I read this quote:
One of the concepts that jumped out at me from this reading is in verse 22 where Nephi warns us that in the latter days Satan will tell us "I am no devil, for there is none and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance." At first I wondered why it would benefit Satan to convince people that he does not exist. Then I read this quote:
“A corollary to the pernicious falsehood that God is dead is the equally pernicious doctrine that there is no devil. Satan himself is the father of both of these lies. To believe them is to surrender to him. Such surrender has always led, is leading now, and will continue to lead men to destruction.
“Latter-day Saints know that there is a God. With like certainty, they know that Satan lives, that he is a powerful personage of spirit, the archenemy of God, of man, and of righteousness.
“The reality of the existence of both God and the devil is conclusively established by the scriptures and by human experience” (Marion G. Romney in Conference Report, Apr. 1971, p. 22; or Ensign, June 1971, p. 35).
I can now understand why Satan would want us to think he doesn't exist because then we wouldn't know how to protect ourselves from him. And we wouldn't know the difference between being under his influence or the influence of the Spirit. We also wouldn't be prepared for the tricky way that he sneaks into our lives, as taught in this message:
In a general conference address, Elder George Albert Smith quoted 2 Nephi 28:21 and said: “Now, I want you to note that: ‘And thus the devil cheateth their souls and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.’ And that is the way he does it, that’s exactly the way he does it. He does not come and grab you bodily and take you into his territory, but he whispers, ‘Do this little evil,’ and when he succeeds in that, another little evil and another, and, to use the expression quoted, ‘He cheateth their souls.’ That’s what he does. He makes you believe that you are gaining something when you are losing. So it is every time we fail to observe a law of God or keep a commandment, we are being cheated, because there is no gain in this world or in the world to come but by obedience to the law of our heavenly Father. Then again, that peculiar suggestion, ‘And he leadeth them carefully away down to hell’ is significant, that is his method. Men and women in the world today are subject to that influence, and they are being drawn here and there, and that whispering is going on and they do not understand what the Lord desires them to do, but they continue in the territory of the evil one, subject to his power where the Spirit of the Lord will not go” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1918, p. 40).
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