13 1 And the angel said, "Look!" 6 So I looked and saw the most abominable church, and the devil who is the founder of it.
12 I saw the man who went forth upon the many waters to the seed of my brothers in the promised land.
13 I saw the Spirit of God bring other Gentiles across the many waters. 14 Then the wrath of God descended upon the seed of my brethren, who were defeated and scattered by multitudes of Gentiles. 15 The power of the Lord was with the Gentiles, who were white, exceedingly fair and beautiful, like my people before they were killed.
17 I saw that the mother Gentiles were gathering to fight against them. 18-19 But the power of God delivered the Gentiles out of the hands of the mother Gentiles and of all other nations.
20 The Gentiles carried a book with them. The angel asked me, "Do you know the meaning of the book?" I answered, "No, I don't." The angel said, 23 “It came out of the mouth of a Jew. 24 It contains the gospel of the Lord. But the great and abominable church took away its plain and precious things.”
34 This is what the Lamb of God says: "I'll give the Gentiles a gospel that will be plain and precious. 35 I'll show myself to your seed so they'll write many plain and precious things. So that after your seed dwindles in unbelief, these things will be shown to the Gentiles. 36 In them will be my gospel."
39 And I saw other books, which come from the power of the Lamb, which will convince the Gentiles, the remnant of the seed of my brothers, and the Jews. 40 The angel said to me, “These last records will establish the truth of the first and establish the plain and precious things that were taken away.”
14 3 A great pit has been dug by that great and abominable church, which was founded by the devil to lead souls to hell. 7 But someday I will do a great and marvelous work. Then everyone will have a choice: believe in it or be damned to hell. 10 There are only two churches: the church of the Lamb of God and the church of the devil, the whore of all the earth. 15-17 I saw that the wrath of God is poured out on that great and abominable church, the mother of harlots, whose founder is the devil.
19 The angel showed me a man in a white robe who would write about the end of the world. His writings will be plain, true, and easy to understand. 20-27 The angel said to me, “His name is John and he’ll write about the end of the world.” 28 But I, Nephi, am forbidden to write about the other things that I saw and heard. So I’ll stop writing now. 30 But it’s all true. And thus it is. Amen.
15 1-2 After I got carried away by the Spirit, I returned to my father’s tent. My brothers were arguing about how to interpret my father’s dream. 6 So I tried to straighten them out by saying, “You don’t understand because you didn’t ask God to help you understand. That, and you don’t obey the commandments, and you’ve hardened your hearts. But here are some things you need to understand: 27 The water that my father saw was filthiness. Whoever looks at it will have his mind swallowed up. 33-34 If your works are filthy, then you are filthy. And if you're filthy, you can't go to heaven because you'd make God's kingdom filthy. Since the kingdom of God isn't filthy, the devil made a filthy place to put filthy people after they die. 36 And that’s what I said to my brothers. Amen.
It is also to the Book of Mormon to which we turn for the plainest description of the Catholic Church as the great and abominable church.
(23:20) What book was Nephi referring to? (The Bible. You may want to invite students to consider writing the Bible next to 1 Nephi 13:20.)
(You may want to invite students to consider writing next to 1 Nephi 13:35 that "these things" refers to the Book of Mormon.)
What "other books" has the Lord brought forth as part of the Restoration? (The Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible.)
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