1 Nephi 13:17

17 And I beheld that their mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.

In the idea I have suggested in verse 16, Satan sees too late that this land has been preserved, not just ignored by the Lord. So now that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has a place to be restored, Satan does all he can to prevent it. So he stirs up the people in the homeland to battle against the settlers, and we have the real reason for fighting the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, etc.

1 Nephi 13:16

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.

I think it is interesting how historians, even while acknowledging religious freedom as the reason certain things happen in history, such as coming and establishing America, give no credit to God for any progress made in that history. They will readily agree that Pilgrims came here so they could worship freely, according to their beliefs. But at that point religion drops out of the picture. They give no credit to God in the establishment of this country, which is something Nephi sees so clearly here.

Why would Heavenly Father allow history to play out as it has in this country? There was no place in the world where the gospel and true church of Jesus Christ could be restored. Politically and socially it just couldn’t happen. So, just as He needed to start a whole new church in order to restore one that had long been in apostasy so that his true ordinances and covenants could once more be had among men, He had to establish a new nation where that could happen.

It kind of makes me wonder whether Satan saw this one coming. He had worked so hard to rid this land of Christ’s true church by wiping out the Nephites. The Lamanites at that time were so corrupt and wicked, and yet Columbus describes a pure and wholesome people when he landed here. That’s a much different description of them than was given by Mormon and Moroni. So is it possible that Satan figured his job here was done? Did he think he could just let things run their course? It’s possible that people who do not have the fullness of the gospel also don’t have the fullness of Satan’s attention, wrath, and temptations. I’m not talking about individuals necessarily, but societies as a whole. So when Satan feels like he has won, he turns his attention elsewhere. And man, left to himself, is basically good (on the whole), or at least wants to get along with others, and gradually things get better. When the true gospel of Jesus Christ is there, so is Satan. This could explain why the whole world is in sin more and more. The gospel spreads around the world, and so does Satan’s influence. There has to be an opposition equal to the good so that people can exercise their free agency.

• D&C 101:80

1 Nephi 13:15

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.

Here is an example of how the Lord can and does change the recipient of His blessings. Originally this Promised Land was given to the Jeradites. When they turned away altogether from the Lord, the promise was given to Lehi and his posterity. After them it was given to the Gentiles. The Lord is perfectly justified in this shift of blessings. He reserves that right, as stated in D&C 58:31–32. However, he doesn’t make such changes arbitrarily. D&C 82:10 tells us that when we keep His commandment, he is bound to give us the promised blessing. But when we break our end of the covenant, He is no longer bound by that covenant either. So here Nephi sees the result of not keeping covenants with God.

• 2 Nephi 10:18–19
• Mormon 5:19
• Mormon 6:17–22
• D&C 58:31–32
• D&C 82:10

1 Nephi 13:14

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.

Of course this prophecy was literally fulfilled as the founding fathers of the United States fought with and drove the American Indians before them in their westward expansion. This was war, the Indians trying to hold on to their traditional lands; the white settlers wanting to expand into them. Neither side was particularly nice about it, but in the end, the prophecies were fulfilled. The remnant of the Lamanites were driven and scattered, but not destroyed by the Gentiles. According to the history books, those who were destroyed had the merciful way out of the conflict. So harsh and terrible were the conditions placed upon the Lamanites at the arrival of the Europeans that their population dropped dramatically in a short time due to disease, depression, murder, suicide, slavery, and the like.

• Mormon 5:19

1 Nephi 13:13

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.

Especially in light of what we have seen of the Lord’s perspective on history, surely these gentiles were indeed fleeing captivity. Considering the Pilgrims and Puritans (not to mention other groups that have escaped to the Americas), these people were held captive. They were oppressed physically, often because of their religion.

1 Nephi 13:10–12

10 And it came to pass that I looked and beheld many waters; and they divided the Gentiles from the seed of my brethren.

11 And it came to pass that the angel said unto me: Behold the wrath of God is upon the seed of thy brethren.

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.

I suppose it is possible that if the Lamanites (and apostate Nephites) had not angered the Lord, if they had kept the commandments, history might have been much different in this hemisphere. They had been promised numerous times that if they kept the commandments they would prosper in the land, that this was a land of promise for them. It may have been a long time before the gentiles discovered it. But the Lord was angry with the seed of Nephi’s brethren, and the Lord wrought upon a man, Christopher Columbus, to sail out and discover this land and the remnant of Lehi’s seed. In The Great Prologue, Mark E. Peterson positively identifies Columbus in these verses (p. 3, 26). Columbus definitely felt like an inspired man, like his life was being divinely guided. He has come under attack in the past several years, but the attacks come from those described in the last few verses. Don’t believe them.

• 2 Nephi 1:5

1 Nephi 13:8–9

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.

The two main motivations of the church of the devil, this great and abominable church, are rooted in the same thing: pride. The list of luxuries listed by Nephi in verse seven are not wicked in and of themselves, except, again, the harlots. The reason they are associated with this great and abominable church is because they are the desires of that church. This is a big difference between the great and abominable church and the humble seekers of God who may not have found Him yet. So, motivation number one is wealth, or more specifically, the trappings of wealth.

Motivation number two is the praise of the world. People will do some pretty bad things to be praised by the world, even destroy the saints of God. We have a phrase in our own modern society that is thrown around pretty lightly: rich and famous. That is exactly what Nephi sees here. People will do some amazingly bad things for the promise of becoming rich and famous. Again, there is nothing wrong with being rich or famous, or both, but what will you sacrifice, what are you willing to do to get those things? They motivate the members of the great and abominable church. Do they motivate me? They have been deceived. Have I been deceived? I am sure most of these people do not have the goal to spend eternity where they are headed. But many of them have been deceived to trade their eternal rewards for these temporary earthly rewards.

• Revelation 13:7 (4–7)

1 Nephi 13:7

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.

It is interesting to note, just in passing, that this list of things that Nephi saw, gold, silver, silks, scarlets, fine twined linen, precious clothing, and harlots, is a list of inanimate things, except for the harlots. Other than the harlots, having these things is not a sin. Some of these can be found in the temples. Again, a notable exception is the harlots. The problem comes with verse 8, which I will discuss in my next entry.

• Mormon 8:37 (36–38)