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2 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. | Lineage-DNA 21 This verse indicates that gentiles who harken unto the Messiah and are humble will be numbered among the seed of Lehi. This gives an alternative interpretation to “seed” in that persons can become seed by adoption. However, I don’t think this is ever mentioned as happening during the “history” accounted in the Book of Mormon. 2 Ne 30:4 states: “The remnant of our seed . . . Are descendants of the Jews.” As I noted for 2 Ne 30:4: If a person of Native American descent with no ancestors outside of their Native American tribe is adopted by a German family, would it even begin to make sense to say they are now descendants of Germans? |
3 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 destruction, 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. | 3 1 According to D&C 19:6, “it is not written that there shall be no end to this torment, but it is written endless torment.” But here it states that hell (torment, right?) hath no end. How can this be reconciled with D&C 19:6? It could be interpreted to mean the souls of those who are led captive by the devil go to a hell that has no end, but not that the stay of the soul in that hell will have no end, but I don’t believe that reconciles with Mormon doctrine. |
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7 For the time cometh, saith 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 convincing 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 temporally and spiritually, according to the captivity of the devil, of which I have spoken. | 7 |
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10 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. | 10 |
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12 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 whore whom I saw. | 12 |
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14 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. | 14 |
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17 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. | 17 |
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22 1 Numerous verses within 1 Nephi chapters 13 and 14 contain phrases that borrow from Revelation chapters 17 and 21. Note similarities between verse 9 and Revelation 17:5; verse 12 and Revelation 17:1; and lastly, verse 13 and Revelation 17:14. And this verse identifies the author of the Book of Revelation as being the apostle John (also see D&C 77:1).
This becomes problematic because while the author of the Book of Revelation calls himself God's "servant John" (Revelation 1:1) who was living on "the isle that is called Patmos" (Revelation 1:9), it is disputed which John the author is claiming to be. Most modern biblical scholars note that the Greek grammar used in the Book of Revelation is quite atrocious compared to the Greek grammar used in the Gospel attributed to John. It is highly unlikely that they were written by the same author.
It is likely, however, that the intended message of the original author was to comfort the early Christians in their persecutions and predict the imminent destruction of Rome. Note that Rome was commonly known as the city with seven hills (see Revelation 17:9). Also the number of the beast (Revelation 13:18) seems to be a gematria encoding of "Nero Caesar", with 666 being the sum of a Hebrew transliteration of the name in Greek and 616 (which is found in some early manuscripts) being the sum of a Hebrew transliteration of the name in Latin.
This becomes problematic because a Rome as the enemy interpretation points to an apocalyptic writing being meant as applying specifically to the persecutions of first century A.D. Christians. Note that verse 22 in this chapter states that John "shall write concerning the end of the world" while Revelation 1:1 states "things which must shortly come to pass".
See also:
- [What’s the Book of Revelation All About?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvgnjq9hhNM) and [No, Microchips Are Not the Mark of the Beast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH_yITaobYk) videos by Dan McClellan.
- A historical introduction entitled [The Book of Revelation: Following the Lamb](https://rsc.byu.edu/new-testament-history-culture-society/book-revelation) by D. Jill Kirby which was published by BYU's Religious Studies Center. | |
23 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. | 23 |
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25 2 It is interesting to note that though the LDS Church teaches that every word shall be established “in the mouth of two or three witnesses” (2 Corinthians 13:1), we have no such collaboration from Nephi of some of John’s writings according to this verse. Also notice throughout the Book of Mormon that prophecy for events after 1829 is at best vague and non-committal. | |
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27 1 Numerous verses within 1 Nephi chapters 13 and 14 contain phrases that borrow from Revelation chapters 17 and 21. Note similarities between verse 9 and Revelation 17:5; verse 12 and Revelation 17:1; and lastly, verse 13 and Revelation 17:14. And this verse identifies the author of the Book of Revelation as being the apostle John (also see D&C 77:1). This becomes problematic because while the author of the Book of Revelation calls himself God's "servant John" (Revelation 1:1) who was living on "the isle that is called Patmos" (Revelation 1:9), it is disputed which John the author is claiming to be. Most modern biblical scholars note that the Greek grammar used in the Book of Revelation is quite atrocious compared to the Greek grammar used in the Gospel attributed to John. It is highly unlikely that they were written by the same author. It is likely, however, that the intended message of the original author was to comfort the early Christians in their persecutions and predict the imminent destruction of Rome. Note that Rome was commonly known as the city with seven hills (see Revelation 17:9). Also the number of the beast (Revelation 13:18) seems to be a gematria encoding of "Nero Caesar", with 666 being the sum of a Hebrew transliteration of the name in Greek and 616 (which is found in some early manuscripts) being the sum of a Hebrew transliteration of the name in Latin. This becomes problematic because a Rome as the enemy interpretation points to an apocalyptic writing being meant as applying specifically to the persecutions of first century A.D. Christians. Note that verse 22 in this chapter states that John "shall write concerning the end of the world" while Revelation 1:1 states "things which must shortly come to pass". See also:
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