26 And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.
Given the history of Christianity, this formation of “that great and abominable church” is most likely after the Great Apostasy is complete. It is described as being “most abominable above all other churches,” not because the members were necessarily more wicked than any other church, but because they pretended to be the church of God. Some outside government may have imposed the actual formation of this church, but the members themselves laid the foundations. Clearly the early Christians had apostatized. Most of the New Testament is written to stop or prevent this Great Apostasy. So the real formation of the great and abominable church took place before the formation of the organization of what would become the Catholic Church. That’s why it’s not right to simply label a single church as the great and abominable one spoken of in this chapter. That was just an official organization attached to what had already been formed.
It is interesting, however, that this church was “most abominable above all other churches” (emphasis added). That includes churches that blatantly and openly worship Satan? Yes. I think this is true because this one is so deceptive. It may talk of Christ and the Atonement (or at least part of it), but they have changed or removed the ordinances and covenants that make the full benefit of that Atonement available. Some promise great and eternal blessings, but they have not authority or ability to deliver on those promises. They have enough truth to give hope, but not enough to deliver the object of that hope. The most plain and precious parts have been removed, thus causing confusion and even deception. In short, they are counterfeits of the true church of God. The deception is what makes them more abominable than other churches. They took this beautifully simple gospel and made it complex and political. So now people have a hard time comprehending that the gospel is simple. There has to be more to it than believing and acting faithfully on that belief, they reason. So, much like the ancient Jews, they “look beyond the mark” (Jacob 4:14), and they suffer the consequences. In this case, though, maybe they fall short of the mark and try to make more of it than there is.
- Isaiah 24:5
- Matthew 7:21–23
- Matthew 21:43
- John 6:66
- Jacob 4:14
- Mormon 8:33
- Moses 1:41
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