1 Nephi 14 – 15
Those who have not aligned themselves actively with the church of the Lamb of God are, by default, members of the church of the devil (even if some of them are very inactive members). Just because their membership lies with the church of the devil does not man that they cannot come to the church of the Lamb. We need not condemn them, but we must recognize the dangerous nature of their position and take seriously the danger they are in. Remember that the church of the Lamb does not align perfectly with the LDS church – the church of the Lamb neither claims all who are in the LDS church, nor excludes all who lack LDS church membership. I would say that few if any who have abandoned the LDS church and none who knowingly and aggressively fight against it are counted among the church of the Lamb.
I really believe that our “War on Terror” is a major contributing factor to the fulfillment of the “wars and rumors of wars among all the nations and kindreds of the earth” prophecy.
After having a vision that included the end result of division between his brethren it must have been the more disturbing to return to find his brothers disputing among themselves.
I can hear notes of immaturity in Nephi here – where he is exasperated with his brothers. Not that I would blame him for their future actions in any way, but he seems to lack the patience and perspective of a more seasoned prophet. He is just starting toward such a position.
I am absolutely confident from what Nephi is teaching his brothers here that Lehi had told them Zenos’ parable of the olive tree. Jacob grew up learning about that parable form his father and his brother.
His brothers must have been surprised when he offered a correction from Lehi’s telling of the Tree of Life vision.
Leave a Reply