THE REMNANT
Remnant:
1. Residue; that which is left after the separation, removal or destruction of a part.
2. A small remaining quantity of something.
The recent post, 1 Nephi 13&14 and its commentary generated much inspiration about the ‘Remnant’. Who is this group known as the ‘Remnant’? What are they a remnant of and where are they to be found? 3 Nephi 5:24 answers some of these questions.
“And as surely as the Lord liveth, will he gather in from the four quarters of the earth all the remnant of the seed of Jacob, who are scattered abroad upon all the face of the earth.”
So we are talking about a remaining part of the seed of Jacob and we find them here, there and everywhere – spread across the globe in a diverse diaspora. When I was young my father explained that America was a ‘melting pot’. The idea fascinated me. I have, since those days, lived in the East, West, Midwest as well as a couple countries in Latin America. I have become acquainted with a variety of people. I’ve been blessed to know people from practically every nation of the earth. There are certain groups who seem to be more widely distributed, like Filipinos and Mexicans. This is due mostly to economic conditions. Poor people feel obligated to leave their homelands and endure the spurn of others, all for the purpose of making a little money – very little money. These days it is the “Dirty Spics” in the past it was the “Dirty Micks”. Others were plucked from the land of their ancestors and brought forcefully to this land in chains. Any way you choose to look at it, all of these groups along with the groups they are removed from are remainders. This paternal splitting reveals a pattern-in-all.
THE CURSE OF ‘CHRISTIANITY’
But in 1 Nephi 13 the Lord specifies one particular portion of the remnant inhabiting the Americas when He interjects “—and this remnant of whom I speak is the seed of thy father— ” in verse 34. Earlier in the chapter Nephi records:
“And it came to pass that the angel said unto me: Behold the wrath of God is upon the seed of thy brethren.”
God’s wrath is mentioned and nowhere at this point is there any mention of the advent of Christianity in the Americas as any kind of blessing – not even in disguise. It should be clear to us that what follows then, is not to be misinterpreted or misrepresented as a blessing but a curse. Nephi looks and beholds a man among the gentiles who was separated from the seed of his [Nephi’s] brethren by the many waters. Even though we are told that the spirit of God comes down and works upon the man before he crosses the many waters to the Promised Land, we need to understand that the man was never moved upon to perform a mission of mercy. Therefore, the spirit is still one of wrath.
In The Devil In The Dust, I asked, “Does the blood of Christ cleanse, condemn or both?” I also spoke about the roles that trace metals and blood play in the devil’s trance-humanist scheme to thoroughly possess the bodies created for Adam and Eve. Eve specifically bears witness to the curse of bloodshed. Under the Iron Fist of tyranny, we see a wrathful element to the element of iron as it combines with oxygen in hemo-goblins to torment Eve and her children with a perpetual cycle of bloodlust and red rust. To many this may not sound like sound science or spirituality but to those with ears to hear they will detect both. Eyes to see will not perceive postulation on my part but will see beneath the pustulation from smallpox on the skin of millions of native inhabitants of this land. Deeper reasons than guns, steel or even germs reveal themselves when the facts are viewed through the microscopic lens of the Holy Spirit. POx (premature oxidation) poisoned the wine of a once pure sacrament. Spanish Conquistadors and Anglo-Catholics drank to their damnation. Drunk with the blood of European Saints, they proceeded to pour the bitter cup of affliction out upon the American Indians.
Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Itallian mariner-for-hire commissioned by the king of France in 1523 to discover whether one could reach Asia by rounding the Americas to the north, wrote the earliest description of the east coast of North America. Sailing north from the Carolinas, he observed that the coastline everywhere was “densely populated,” smoky with Indian bonfires; he could sometimes smell the burning hundreds of miles offshore.
But in the decades between Columbus’ “discovery” of America and the Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock, the most devastating plague in human history raced up the East Coast of America. Just two years before the pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, smallpox wiped out about 96 percent of the Indians in Massachusetts. Within just a few generations, the continents of the Americas were virtually emptied of their native inhabitants. Some academics estimate that approximately 20 million people may have died in the years following the European invasion – up to 95% of the population of the Americas.
Far from the pious pilgrim we are taught to commemorate every thanksgiving, my direct ancestor, William Bradford, who led the celebrated Mayflower group to Plymouth, wrote in his journal: “The good hand of God favored our beginnings by sweeping away great multitudes of the natives … that he might make room for us.” Bradford’s use of the word ‘sweeping’ reminds us of the divine decree, repeated several times in Ether 2, that inhabitants of this land should serve God or be ‘swept off’ the face of it.Especially in the case of the areas known today as Canada and the U.S.A., there was no need for military occupation. Unfortunate souls who found themselves British colonists in the Americas were actually British or at least European, whereas colonies in India, China and Africa remained populated with the original inhabitants. But frequent and failed attempts at colonization by various expeditions of bewildered European explorers along the Eastern Seaboard ended with far more than mere frustration for the once bustling indigenous population.
Things played out very differently here than in Mexico and South America. The work was literally done for them by the time that Europeans started to arrive en masse to the East Coast of most of North America. Taking a more truthful look at the mysteriously poor timing and utter lack of preparation for the landing of the Mayflower group; evidence points to a scenario where, as the plague spread among the Indians, word must have spread among these first opportunistic pillaging pilgrims. In later written records from early colonial times, you constantly come across “settlers” being shocked at how convenient the American wilderness made things for them. The pilgrims couldn’t believe their luck when they found that American forests just naturally contained “an ecological kaleidoscope of garden plots, blackberry rambles, pine barrens and spacious groves of chestnut, hickory and oak.” The puzzlingly obedient wilderness didn’t stop in New England. Frontiersmen who “settled” what is today Ohio were psyched to find that the forest there naturally grew in a way that “resembled English parks.” You could drive carriages through the untamed frontier without burning a single calorie clearing rocks, trees and shrubbery.
Returning to the text of 1 Nephi 13, we find it testifies to the true American history that was left out of school books. Verse 33 plainly states:
“Wherefore saith the Lamb of God: I will be merciful unto the Gentiles, unto the visiting of the remnant of the house of Israel in great judgment.”
This is why the “stumbling” that the Gentiles are excused for does not include any atrocities committed against the “savage” survivors of God’s wrath. The “plain and precious parts” of the gospel which were left out of the Bible by that “abominable church” never justified murder. The Bible carried forth by those pre-restoration Christ-Shuns was sufficiently clear, with its Ten Commandments. And the conscience of any honest Gentile falling into the category of those fleeing captivity and seeking religious freedom, would not allow for aggression against anyone who was not violent towards them. In fact, we would do well to remember that, the although the word ‘gospel’ can and has been hijacked to mean whatever greedy men want it to, the gospel of Jesus Christ is Truth itself. Indeed we stumble today due to the great and abominable public school system of Babylon holding back many “plain and precious parts” of our history. Many so-called Pilgrims and Puritans are the worst offenders. Remember, that whether colonizers or CEOs, they are not agents of the Lord but false shepherds. As agents of the Church of the Devil they have blinded many to the truth since the inception of European Gentile society in this choice land.
The truth is, defection to join native society was so common that it became a major issue for colonial leaders. Ben Franklin, who never lost the empathy for the Iroquois, with whom he developed his reputation as a diplomat, noted that,
“No European who has tasted Savage Life can afterwards bear to live in our societies.”
Franklin wasn’t pointing this out as a critique of those who defected — he believed that Indian societies provided greater opportunities for happiness than European cultures – and he wasn’t the only Founding Father who thought Europeans could learn a thing or two from their Red Brothers. They didn’t dress up like Indians at the Boston Tea Party ironically. That was common protesting gear during the American revolutions. According to Loewen, “Europeans were always trying to stop the outflow. Hernando De Soto had to post guards to keep his men and women from defecting to Native societies.” Pilgrims were so scared of Indian influence that they outlawed the wearing of long hair. Long hair didn’t fully come back into style until a couple hundred years later when Hippy and Native youth started to catch a bit of Zion Fever once again. (Ironically, even the U.S. Military, during the Viet Nam War, allowed certain Native Americans, who they had recruited specifically for their extraordinary tracking skills, to keep their hair long when it was discovered that their spiritual sensitivity/extra sensory perception suffered greatly if required to get a customary military haircut) These chapters in the Book of 1 Nehpi that we are looking at pronounce great blessings on those who “seek to bring forth Zion” and “publish peace upon the mountains”. But sadly peace treaties as early as colonial times were consistently broken by shameless Gentiles. And the not so beautiful feet of greedy men trampling the Appalachian Mountains left them stained from massacres. Benjamin Franklin wrote of the massacres:
“The Wickedness cannot be Covered, the Guilt will lie on the Whole Land, till Justice is done on the Murderers. THE BLOOD OF THE INNOCENT WILL CRY TO HEAVEN FOR VENGEANCE!”
Not only were several of the Founding Fathers but also many colonial soldiers were directly inspired by the freedom of the Remnant peoples. Of course neither side was perfect but the ideas to form a “More Perfect Union” were very much based on the tribal ways of the more righteous remaining segments of a languishing Lamanite civilization. Historians think the Iroquois Confederacy had a direct influence on the U.S. Constitution, and the Senate even passed a resolution acknowledging that “the confederation of the original thirteen colonies into one republic was influenced … by the Iroquois Confederacy, as were many of the democratic principles which were incorporated into the constitution itself.” So compliance to the revealed principles of The Doctrine & Covenants, Sections 98: 5-7 and 101: 77-80, in which the Lord justifies us, in “befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land” – “the laws and constitution of the people, which [God] suffered to be established….for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles” has always and always will be contingent upon peaceful and cooperative relationship with the Remnant and the Land itself.
The land itself bears witness to the fact that a huge sprawling civilization once flourished here. Environmental scientists speculate that they must have cleared mass amounts of trees. Geologists and anthropologist can tell you what evidence they have uncovered from Cahokia, a massive Native American city that was located in modern day East St. Louis. In 1250, it was bigger than London, and featured a sophisticated society with an urban center, satellite villages and thatched-roof houses lining the central plazas. It also featured a gigantic man-made mound larger than the Great Pyramid at Giza. It was constructed with more than 2.16 billion pounds of dirt and brightly decorated with soil of various colors brought from hundreds of miles away. Wile the city was abandoned by the time Europeans reached the area, the evidence they left behind suggests a complex economy with trade routes from the Great Lakes all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. The picture that emerges from the lost civilization of the ancient American mound builder societies meshes with descriptions of Nephite culture in the Book of Mormon and from Joseph Smith’s personal insights from visions.
The truth is that the United States was not really founded on Christian principles at all. Though it could be and is argued by many that this is or at least was at some point, a Christian nation; that is simply not the case. If you want to, you may call it Christian. To me, it is Christ-Shun. What has passed for Christianity here was already so perverted by the time it reached America’s shores that it was a curse to everyone it touched. The Nephite nation was one that was more justly founded on Christian principles but it too fell into devastating cycles of corruption. Approximately 400 miles due west of the ancient site of the aforementioned Cahokia is the place where, presumably, The New Jerusalem will be built in these latter days. And so, it is possibly in that vicinity, where the Resurrected Jesus appeared to the survivors of a much earlier wave of destruction that swept over that same land. The Living Christ has, over all, been rejected more than accepted on this continent. Here we worship the Dead Christ. It brings to mind the words of English trader Thomas Morton upon surveying the scene in the New England woods.
“And the bones and skulls upon the several places of their habitations made such a spectacle that it seemed a new found Golgotha”
E א–D I G-E א Ø Ç – G E א–א Ø-Ç I D E
Genocide is a term invented by Raphael Lemkin in order to put a name to the horrible specter of mass murder that is perpetrated on a scale so huge that it tends to be overlooked, dismissed or disbelieved by the vast majority of humanity. It seems to monstrous to even deal with psychologically. But by putting a name on the demon, we gain power over it, like in the story of ‘Rumplestiltskin’. In sincerely seeking the Lord’s inspiration to come up with a word that would capture the essence of the sin and impress the seriousness of it on the minds of men, Lemkin succeeded, if only subconsciously, in literally capturing the spirit of the evil one himself. The new name, which Lemkin divined through ponderous prayer, revealed the underlying designs of the menace and contains a code that is only decipherable to the wise. If we are wise as serpents and harmless as doves we will discern and apply this knowledge to the service of the Lord. But if after having been shown, we to deny or downplay this truth – be warned – arrogance is not ignorance and neither arrogance nor ignorance is innocence. The separate syllables and the same sounds, which compose the word ‘genocide’ can be rearranged to closely match the phonetics of the word ‘indigenous’
Indigenous is a word we inherit from Latin ‘indigena’ meaning “sprung from the land,”
Aboriginal – from ab origine, literally, “from the beginning.”
Tribal societies in all four quarters of the earth are targeted by genocidal maniacs, possessed of Satan, simply because as residues of the original way, members of the tribes of the earth embody and maintain much of the potency rejected by the larger group. And this power has the potential to be manifested in more miraculous ways due to the compact purity that has come about due to millennia of pressure. They represent the remnant because no matter how small the residue of literal blood of Abraham, according to our definition, that may or may not flow through their veins, they hold true to the Original Spirit of humanity. Even when it comes to detectable DNA, the coveted Cohen Marker which they claim as a sure sign of priestly heritage is typically more prevalent in East Afrikans than in any Khazar or Ashkenaz group of Eastern Europe. If blood is thicker than water, then spirit is vastly more pure and therefore more powerful than both. God is less concerned with Semitism and more involved with sentiment. God is not checking you against some scale of ‘Coheness’ or ‘Choseness’. He has chosen to call everyone to the great work and it is up to us to accept that calling and choose Him in every moment. God does not allow Himself to be tied down by cult-sure and those who obsess over such things usually end up torturing most viciously, themselves in thought and the saints of God in both mind and body.
The etymological pairing of the Greek prefix –Geno– and Latin suffix –Cide– for a literal meaning of “killing a tribe” invokes a chilling perversion of the LDS Article of Faith #10, which states:
“We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.”
Do we believe in the annihilation of the Tribes of Israel? We would deny such a notion. But if we do not wish to support the killing of the tribes then why do we stand aside, look the other way and in some cases act as a willing party to such crimes? Perhaps we do not know how to recognize genocide. The devil has used man’s fear of confronting demons to narrowly define the word genocide in our minds and thereby distract them. Parading Hitler’s Holocaust is advantageous to Satan since one unfamiliar word will establish unfamiliarity with the other. Genocide and Holocaust are practically synonymous terms in our heads. How many give any thought to the fact that the word Holocaust means “Burnt Offering”? How can we say “Never again” if we don’t know what happened? Oh that’s right the battle cry is no longer “Never again” but “Never forget!” so the feeling, thought and strange fruit of genocide may continue indefinitely.
Genocide is – “the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group”
This seems quite straight forward. However, as mentioned earlier, the human tendency to do whatever possible to avoid the issue made it necessary to spell it out in greater detail. Legally defined, it is:
“Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
As LDS and as Americans, as members of modern society wherever we live, we have been guilty of every single one of these items listed in the official definition of genocide. The methods by which we have soiled our garments are sundry and were I to just rattle off a few or dive into the task of detailing the diverse ways we take part in these atrocities, neither approach would do much good. He who searches his soul will recognize that sincerity begins with sin and will reconcile with God.
Although God suffers genocide, God does not condone it. Does God’s intervention, somewhere before the point of total destruction is reached, save the victims and perpetrators of genocide alike? Yes, for He is perfect in both mercy and justice. But what does He save each party from respectively? The victimized group is obviously saved from their oppressors. What then are the aggressors are saved from? Is this process a simple dichotomy with justice served on one side and mercy on the other? The Book of Mormon tells us that mercy can not rob justice. (Alma 42:25) If this is true then the converse is also. So both parties will receive equal parts mercy and justice. Now, what does mercy for the disinherited look like? What form will it take when delivered to the wicked? And as far as justice goes – “What man among you, having twelve sons…. saith unto the one: Be thou clothed in robes and sit thou here; and to the other: Be thou clothed in rags and sit thou there—and looketh upon his sons and saith I am just?” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:26) Why does the Lord commence this parable in the context of 12 Sons (Tribes of Israel), then proceed to mention only 2 (Ephraim & Manasseh), before finally following it up with an admonition to be 1? “If ye are not one ye are not mine.” (D&C 38:27)
To be one is to be complete and whole. Whether in whole or in part – genocide is genocide. Just as reward for righteousness is not withheld when we fall short in our performance, retribution for evil will not be stayed simply because we stop short of some imaginary line in the sand. Thank God, we are not judged for our actions any more than we are for our appearance. Actions are only appearances after all – the appearance or emergence of that which lay beneath the surface. Jesus said “by their fruits shall ye know them” and we often take this to mean that we are safe judging another by their actions or inaction. But Jesus wants us to look deeper than protocol so as to not be fooled by false fruit. He was speaking of the fruits of the spirit. The spirit in which a thing is done, not the action itself must be our indicator. This may seem a foreign concept to many. But herein hides the reason for all of our sin in the first place. Action is not the first place. Jesus tells us that thought precedes all action and this makes us guilty of the sin inwardly before and regardless of whether we ever commit it outwardly. Thought is no more the first place than is action. Feeling precedes thought. Feeling is a vague term to our minds and is still far from the throne of God. But the word feeling is close enough to the source for our purposes, because if we honestly seek to follow the word of the Lord and bridle our passions (Alma38:12) then we will eventually, through experimentation; (Alma34:4) position our selves properly so as to watch (Mosiah4:30) not only our words and thoughts but our feelings. No one who feels good and desires that good reign in his life will ever participate in genocide from any angle, plain and simple.
Adolph Hitler did not feel good inside. He was not a man who bridled his passions. He did venture inside himself but he did not think himself able to change his feeling from bad to good. So he remained an open portal for evil. As a whole, those who were forced into concentration camps did not feel and find good in their selves. Or if they did, they did not hold those good feelings sacred enough to honor above all else. They thought that holiness came as a result of monitoring action alone. They were observing ritual and not thought; much less feeling. Too ‘modest’ to approach the shining Throne of God situated high up on the mountain, they could feel zeal but not much else. Their moderation was not in all things, rather it was a mutation of modesty that left all revealing to a dead Moses while it reveled in the self righteousness of a limited view from within the shadow of the valley of death. The English word ‘martyr’, comes to us from Late Latin – martyros. Martyr literally means “witness,” probably related to mermera “care, trouble,” from mermairein “be anxious or thoughtful,” Modesty makes martyrs. Martyrs make mortar mixed with blood for the building up of the Kingdom of the Devil and the establishment of Traditional Thought. Adolph aligned himself with the swollen thought and deep feelings of millions and Nazis and Jews together hummed the same hymn of human sacrifice:
I prefer peace
Wouldn’t have to have one worldly possession
But essentially I’m an animal
So just what do I do with all the aggression?Well I’ve tried
Everything but suicide
But it’s crossed my mindLife is a one-way street, aint it? and if you could paint it
I’d draw myself going in the right direction
So I go all the way – like I really really know
But the truth is I’m only guessin’And I’ve tried
Everything but suicide
Ooh but it’s crossed my mind
Just a thoughtIt’s even dark in the daytime
It’s not just good – it’s Great Depression
When I was lost I even found myself
Looking in the gun’s directionAnd so I’ve tried
Everything but suicide
But yes – it’s crossed my mindJust A Thought – Gnarls Barkley
1 Nephi 13 & 14 commentary, using CTC’s view
On June 17th, 2008, Anthony E. Larson uploaded a post to this blog called, The Great and Abominable Church. A couple of weeks later a visitor called CTC claimed that 1 Nephi 13 & 14 spoke of a literal great and abominable church that had yet to make its appearance and that much of both of these chapters was yet to be fulfilled. He said he got this information from someone who he believed was a bona fide prophet of God. CTC did not use a chronological approach to Nephi’s prophecy. This made it easy for him to get around certain parts which posed problems to him as a future fulfillment. But I’m not going to take that approach. I’m going to read it chronologically and literally, and see where it takes me.
I’m doing this because it interests me, not because I subscribe to this view, so please don’t take this as my interpretation of this chapter. As I’ve said before, my understanding of prophecy is that it is plain and speaks of real things, and also that it often has shadows or types. When CTC first posted his comments, I did not respond, because I hadn’t taken the time to really look at 1 Nephi 13, to see if the fulfillment that we normally assign to it could be a mere shadow. So, I remained silent and let others respond to him. However, recently I have found myself mentioning time and time again about a coming future captivity of the saints, which brought to my mind what Nephi had stated in 1 Nephi 13, which then brought to my mind what CTC had written in his comments.
All of which leads me to this post, in which I look at these chapters and attempt to interpret them as if their literal fulfillment was still future. So, let’s begin.
Chapter Thirteen of First Nephi
I will quote a part of the chapter, then give what is commonly assumed as its fulfillment, but as a shadow, and then I will give its literal future fulfillment. I will try to convincingly show why the shadow fulfillment does not satisfy the prophecy, meaning why the prophecy is not fulfilled every whit by the shadow, necessitating a future, literal fulfillment. I am using this as my Book of Mormon text.
The times of the Gentiles
This is obviously talking about the times of the Gentiles. But which times? The times of the primitive church with the twelve apostles, the times right after the death of the apostles, the times of Joseph Smith, the current times, or a future time of the Gentiles? Nephi isn’t clear on this point, but I will interpret this as a future time.
The formation of a church
Shadow past fulfillment: Some have stated that this is the Roman Catholic Church, a literal church, which would put its formation after the death of the apostles. Others have stated that this is the “church” of science, a metaphorical church, which would put its formation after the Roman Catholic Church. Others believe this is speaking metaphorically about all churches that are not the true saints of God, per the later verse of 1 Ne. 14:10, giving it a metaphorical “formation” and a metaphorical “captivity.” These must all be shadows because they do not fulfill the prophecy every whit.
Literal future fulfillment: This a real church, not a figurative or metaphorical church. And it exists among other, real churches. It literally kills and tortures real saints—or sanctified people who have entered into a covenant with God, witnessed by baptism—and literally binds them, puts real iron yokes upon them and brings them down into literal (not metaphorical) captivity.
To literally fulfill this prophecy every whit, living saints of God must be present during, or after, the formation of this church, and they must be killed, tortured, bound, yoked with iron, and brought into captivity. Also, there must be other, real churches present, which do not pertain to the abominable church.
This has not occurred, yet, for although there were people tortured, killed, put into iron yokes and brought into captivity, by various religious organizations in the past, these tortured souls were not saints of God, for the church of God was already non-existent by then and the saints and apostles were already dead. Therefore, this prophecy must pertain to the future.
Devil, materialism, worldy praise
The previous commentary applies to this section, as well, for if the church of God is not present, in order for this abominable church to bring God’s saints down into captivity and destroy them, it cannot be fulfilled literally.
Many waters
Shadow past fulfillment: The Gentiles of Europe are divided (separated) from the American Indians (Lamanites) by the Atlantic Ocean.
Literal future fulfillment: The Gentiles of Asia are divided (separated) from the American Indians (Lamanites) by “many waters.” The term “many waters” refers to that body of water called by the Nephites, Irreantum, which is the Pacific Ocean.
The Spirit of God upon a man
Shadow past fulfillment: The European Gentile, Christopher Columbus, “believed himself chosen by God to find [a new] land and deliver the light of Christianity to the natives there.” He sailed upon the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, all the way to the Lamanite remnant.
Literal future fulfillment: A man among the Asian Gentiles (not necessarily a Gentile man, nor Asian) will have the Spirit of God come down and work upon him. This man will be a holy prophet of God and will travel from Asia to North America, upon the Irreantum or Pacific Ocean, until he reaches the Lamanite remnant.
The Spirit of God upon captive Gentiles
Shadow past fulfillment: European Gentiles (Puritans) leave Europe and their religious “captivity” for America to partake of religious freedom. (Never mind that Europe was one of the freest places on the planet at the time.) They travel over the Atlantic Ocean.
Literal future fulfillment: Asian Gentiles are wrought upon by the Spirit of God, becoming saints of God, and leave Asian captivity, meaning that they leave the captivity of the tyrannical Chinese, North Korean and other communist regimes and dictatorships, which bind the people down in literal captivity. They travel over the Irreantum (Pacific Ocean.)
The scattering of the Lamanites
Shadow past fulfillment: Lots of European Gentiles are in America. The European Gentiles partially scatter the American Indians and gather them into reservations. The European Gentiles take possession of Indian and American land. Some prosper, some do not. The European Gentiles are white, fair and beautiful.
Literal future fulfillment: Lots of different Gentiles are in America. An unnamed group of (European?) Gentiles fully scatter the American Indians, off of the reservations, and smite them, so that the Lamanites are completely landless. The Spirit of the Lord comes upon a righteous group of (Asian?) Gentiles (saints) and they prosper and inherit the land. This righteous group of Gentiles is white, fair and beautiful.
Former captors wage war against former captives; God saves former captives
Shadow past fulfillment: Many European Gentiles (in the American British colonies) are either deists or believe in God, Christianity and the Bible. The American Revolutionary War ensues. Despite hardships, lack of supplies, training, etc., the American Continental Army defeats the British.
Literal future fulfillment: The Asian Gentiles (who are converted saints of God)—who left their Asian communist countries, who traveled over the Irreantum (Pacific Ocean), who are now living upon the land of America—humble themselves before the Lord and obtain the gifts and powers of the Holy Ghost. Their mother countries (China, Russia and the rest) send warships upon the waters to battle them and gather together upon the water and also gather together upon the land. Divine intervention (miracles of God) takes place and the armies of the mother Gentile nations, as well as the armies of all those nations who were gathered with them to battle the former Asian Gentile captives, are defeated by the power of God, and not by any power of man.
A book, the record of the Jews
Shadow past fulfillment: The European Gentiles (now called American citizens) have a Bible—written by multiple authors, not a single Jew—which has been corrupted by that great and abominable church, you know, the Roman Catholic Church, or the science non-church, or the vast assembly of non-saint churches “church.” That church. Anyway, that church/non-church takes some plain and precious parts away from the Bible and then sends it out to all the European Gentiles, which then makes its way to America, since the European Gentiles have traveled there over the Atlantic Ocean. And because of this faulty Bible, many of the European Gentiles stumble and sin. But hope is not lost, for the Lord has a plan.
Literal future fulfillment: The Asian Gentiles saints living in America have a book, written by a singular Jew, which contains a record of the Jews, the covenants of the Lord and many of the prophecies of the prophets. This book is like the plates of brass, except it doesn’t contain as much information as the plates of brass. It contains the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the testimony of all twelve apostles of the Lord.
When the book first appears, written by the singular Jew, it will go to the Gentiles, presumably to the Asian Gentiles who were in captivity, since they will be carrying the book. After it goes to the Gentiles, the great and abominable church will be formed. That church apparently will get a copy of the book and make drastic changes to it, taking out plain and precious parts. Then they will publish the book far and wide, so that it ends up in every Gentile nation, including in America.
There will be, then, two editions of the book. One which is pure, carried by the Asian Gentile saints living in America, and the other which is corrupted, carried by the other Gentiles (living in America and elsewhere). Because of the corrupted version, many Gentiles stumble and sin. But hope is not lost, for the Lord has a plan.
Another book, the record of the Nephites
Shadow past fulfillment: The Book of Mormon, an abridged record of the Nephites, was written, and came forth to the Gentiles that were stumbling, by the gift and power of God, and in it is God’s rock, salvation and gospel, and it contains the many plain and precious parts that have been taken out of the Bible, as well as an abridgment of the ministry of the Savior to the Nephites. Those during the time of Joseph Smith were blessed with the gift and power of the Holy Ghost as they sought to establish Zion.
Future literal fulfillment: An unabridged Nephite record (not the Book of Mormon) will be written, to come forth to the Gentiles that stumble, by the gift and power of God, and in it will be God’s rock, salvation and gospel, and it will contain the many plain and precious parts that have been taken out of the book that is carried by the Asian Gentile saints. In the Nephite record will be “many things” that the Savior personally ministered to the Nephites. In other words, it will be an unabridged account of that ministry. Those during the time of the appearance of this unabridged Nephite record will be blessed with the gift and power of the Holy Ghost as they seek to establish Zion.
Two records established in one
Shadow past fulfillment: The Bible written by multiple Jews went to the Lamanites. Later, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price went to the Lamanites, and these last records established the truth of the Bible (as far as it is translated correctly), which is a record of the four apostles of the Lord, and made known the plain and precious parts missing in it. Both volumes of scripture were established in one, by being bound up as a quadruple combination.
Literal future fulfillment: The unchanged book carried by the Asian Gentile saints, written by a singular Jew, will go to the Lamanites. Later, the unabridged Nephite record (as well as other records) will go to the Lamanites and will establish the truth of the unadulterated book that is carried about by the Asian Gentile saints, which is a record of all twelve apostles of the Lord, and will make known the plain and precious parts that are missing in the perverted edition of that record. Both volumes of scripture will be established in one.
Chapter Fourteen of First Nephi
The whole of 1 Nephi 14 is still future, according to my understanding, but since I’m using CTC’s view to interpret the prophecy, I will try to bring up anything that may coincide with what I wrote about chapter thirteen.
Numbering
Shadow past/present fulfillment: I suppose latter-day saints could interpret numbering among the house of Israel as fulfilled by getting their patriarchal blessings, which tell them what tribe they have been assigned to.
Literal future fulfillment: Numbering is a tribal function. I’ve already gone over this on this blog before, so I’m not going to elaborate on this topic again. Let it suffice that my understanding is that this pertains to the future and has not yet been fulfilled in any part, whatsoever.
The great and marvelous work
Shadow past fulfillment: The times of Joseph Smith in which he restored many lost truths and layed the foundation of the kingdom is often thought as the great and marvelous work.
Literal future fulfillment: The great and marvel work takes places after the numbering of the Gentiles among the house of Israel, therefore, it is still a future event.
The covenants of the Father to the house of Israel
I don’t really need to comment on this.
Two churches only
Shadow past fulfillment: Some use this scripture retroactively, to apply to the thirteenth chapter of First Nephi. So, they define the great and abominable church as everything that isn’t the LDS church.
Literal future fulfillment: The great and marvelous work, which is still future, will cause a division among the people, so that there are no longer a multiplicity of churches on earth. Everything will either align itself with the great and abominable church, being absorbed by her, or join the saints of God in the now-called church of the Lamb of God. The church of the Lamb of God will be using, if you remember, the Book of the Lamb of God. In other words, that unchanged book written by a singular Jew, carried by the Asian Gentile saints, which contains the writings of the twelve (not four) apostles of the Lamb. Just as Mormons are called Mormons because of the book they carry and use and believe, so the Lamb of God church will be called by the name of their main book.
Headquarters in the midst of Irreantum
Shadow past fulfillment: Bad (non-LDS) churches are all over the planet.
Literal future fulfillment: The great and abominable church will be headquartered somewhere in the Pacific Ocean and will have global reach.
The church of the Lamb of God
Shadow past fulfillment: Good (LDS) churches are all over the planet.
Literal future fulfillment: The church of the Lamb of God will have global reach, but small membership, due to the other church’s wickedness.
Gathering of the whore to fight the Lamb
I ain’t gonna interpret this.
Power of God upon the saints and covenant people
Nor will I interpret this. But do notice that at this point in the prophetic timeline, the covenant people of the Lord are still in their scattered state.
Worldwide wars
Nor will I interpret this. But do notice that only now, after there are wars and rumors of war everywhere, after the numbering, after the unabridged Nephite record and the record of the twelve apostles of the Lamb come forth, etc., only after all these things happen does the work of the Father commence in preparing the way for the fulfilling of His covenants with Israel!
The apostle John
Shadow past fulfillment: John the apostle wrote the Book of Revelation, which contains some of the things that Nephi saw and the Book of Revelation is found in the Bible, which was written by multiple Jews.
Literal future fulfillment: John the apostle will appear in the future, with a mission to gather the tribes of Israel, as a Jewish Elias, meaning an Elias of the tribe of Judah, and he will come and restore all things pertaining to the Jews.
It was for this reason that John was translated, that he might perform this latter-day work.
John, then, is the Jew, out of whose mouth the book, which Nephi saw in vision, would proceed. He is the “hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” which will write this book. Through John will proceed the record and testimony of all twelve apostles of the Lamb, and all the things which Nephi saw will be written by John, “and also many things which have been,” meaning that John will write things which preceded Nephi. The writings of John in the Bible do not cover all the things that the angel told Nephi John would write, which would be written in the book that proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew, which is called “the Book of the Lamb of God.”
And this is the very reason why the angel prohibited Nephi from writing the rest of his vision. The Book of Revelation does not contain the vision that Nephi saw. If anything, it only contains a part of the vision, or an abridgement. Nephi could not write what he saw because it was not the proper time for that information to come forth. When John re-appears on the scene, he will dictate the book that Nephi saw the Asian Gentile saints carrying, which will contain the full vision of Nephi, as well as the covenants of the Lord, many of the prophecies of the prophets, the testimony of all twelve apostles, a record of the Jews and “many things which have been.” Yet, despite all that, it will still be less material than what the plates of brass contain.
John may, in fact, be the man who is wrought upon by the Spirit of God, who goes forth upon the many waters (Irreantum) to the promised land, who is followed by the Asian Gentile saints. John may be that man among the Asian Gentiles, who preaches to them and gives them the book that he will write, which they will carry with them to the promised land. John may be the very one who frees them from captivity, allowing them to leave their countries and come over the Irreantum to America.
Wrapping this up
Is any of this true? Could our standard interpretation of these two chapters be mere shadows? I will leave it up to the reader to figure that out for him or herself. One thing is for sure, if 1 Nephi 13 has yet to be literally fulfilled, we know what the very first thing mentioned is: the formation of a great and abominable church and the death, torture and captivity of the saints. Let us hope that none of the things I wrote above have any basis in prophetic reality.
Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist
December 29, 2012
Categories: Babylon, Gift of the Holy Ghost, Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ, LDS, Patriarchal Blessings, Power of the Holy Ghost, Preaching the Gospel, Prophecy, Prophets, Repentance, Sanctification, Scriptural Expositions, Secret Combinations, Symbolism, Tribalism, Zion . Tags: America, American Indians, Asia, Atlantic Ocean, Baptism, Book of Mormon, Book of the Lamb of God, captivity, Christopher Columbus, Church, Church of the Devil, Church of the Lamb of God, covenants, Death, destruction, devil, Elias, Europe, Gathering, Gentiles, Great and Abominable Church, Great and Marvelous Work, history, House of Israel, Irreantum, Jesus Christ, Jew, Jews, John, John the Apostle, John the Beloved, Lamanites, Land of Promise, Last Days, Latter-days, Nephi, Nephites, Pacific Ocean, Prophecy, Prophecy Interpretation, Remnant of Jacob, saints, Saints of God, Scattering, Scriptural Commentary, Scriptures, Spirit of God, Torture, Tribes of Israel, War, Warfare . Author: LDS Anarchist . Comments: 58 Comments