THE GREAT AND ABOMINABLE CHURCH

I agree with this commentary.  While I agree there is more than JUST the Catholic Church out there that fits the bill, the Catholic Church fits the bill quite nicely.  One of my best friends (co-worker) is/was a Catholic.  He is also (hopefully) reading the Book of Mormon that I gave him.

Alright... I gotta set some things straight about the Sunday School Lesson yesterday... These days, with this stupid Politically Correct society we live in where we have to hold our mouth just right so not to offend anybody, we feel we have to dumb down the scriptures and not teach truth... ya know... we don't want to offend people or else they may not join the church! Bull crap... Sorry, but this has to be said.
Everybody turn to 1 Nephi 13. In this Chapter, Nephi is having a vision of the world as it began and what's to come... This was obviously preserved for us in the last days that we might learn from history and try not to repeat it... Let's go through this:
1 And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld many nations and kingdoms.
2 And the angel said unto me: What beholdest thou? And I said: I behold many nations and kingdoms.
3 And he said unto me: These are the nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles.
The gentile nations that Nephi is seeing in these 3 verses is specifically the european nations. Where many kingdoms and nations were built up.
4 And it came to pass that I saw among the nations of the Gentiles the formation of a great church.
Hmm... does everybody have a history book? What great church began in europe and became the religion of all the nations? Anybody? Bueller? Let's read on.
5 And the angel said unto me: Behold the formation of a church which is most abominable above all other churches, which slayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity.
6 And it came to pass that I beheld this great and abominable church; and I saw the devil that he was the founder of it.
The lesson manual tells us this is NOT specifically the catholic church, but it's also full of crap, how do I know? Well I've read a history book before for one... but also, I continued reading the scriptures:
7 And I also saw gold, and silver, and silks, and scarlets, and fine-twined linen, and all manner of precious clothing; and I saw many harlots.
8 And the angel spake unto me, saying: Behold the gold, and the silver, and the silks, and the scarlets, and the fine-twined linen, and the precious clothing, and the harlots, are the desires of this great and abominable church.
9 And also for the praise of the world do they destroy the saints of God, and bring them down into captivity.
Now wait a second... do we know of any religions who don Scarlet Robes, of fine-twined linen, Gold, Silver, silks, and all manner of precious clothing? See pictures... Just look at all that scarlet and Gold and silver and silk and fine-twined linen And take note of how it mentioned that the church held the people in captivity? Did the catholics do this in Europe? Well you better believe it. This is why the pilgrims came to america in the first place! It was to get away from the oppressive religion that was destroying the christians. History tells us this, but so does the scriptures if we keep reading:
10 And it came to pass that I looked and beheld many waters; and they divided the Gentiles from the seed of my brethren.
More confirmation that this was european nations.
11 And it came to pass that the angel said unto me: Behold the wrath of God is upon the seed of thy brethren.
Huh... so wait, the wrath of God was on the seed of Nephi's brothers... That would be the Lamanites that God was so upset with.
12 And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.
This is obviously Columbus who came from the same nations as the abominable church.
13 And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters.
Again people, we know the history!! The catholics completely owned the pilgrims who were trying to get away from the oppressive religion that owned the kings. The pilgrims, in attempt to get away from it all, left the european nations and came to america where they obviously flourished:
14 And it came to pass that I beheld many multitudes of the Gentiles upon the land of promise; and I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren; and they were scattered before the Gentiles and were smitten.
15 And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles, and they did prosper and obtain the land for their inheritance; and I beheld that they were white, and exceedingly fair and beautiful, like unto my people before they were slain.
16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.
Now... Again, this chapter is just describing history as it happened. In this specific instance, the great and abominable church is addressing and is very specifically describing and speaking of the Catholic Church. There are other parts in the scriptures where it makes mention of the abominable church that is speaking much more broad, but this chapter is specific.
And before you jump on the bandwagon of "genocide" against the native americans... as the scriptures stated above, God's wrath was upon these people! They broke the covenant of their fathers, and they lost the Land. This is not unlike the covenant that the founding fathers of the United States entered into... We as a nation have also broken the covenant, and like the Lamanites WE. WILL. LOSE. THIS. LAND. We see it happening even as we speak.
Okay... carry on.