Prophets See Visions

I have made a decision to now, instead of separating the "So What" discussion sections and the summary sections, to have them together, and the "So What" will immediately follow the summary in the same post rather than having a separate post.

The First Book of Nephi

Chapter 14

An angel tells Nephi of the blessings and cursings to fall upon the
Gentiles--There are only two churches: the Church of the Lamb of God
and the church of the devil--The Saints of God in all nations are
persecuted by the great and abominable church--The Apostle John will
write concerning the end of the world. About 600–592 B.C.

• If the Gentiles hearken to Jesus Christ, then He will bless them.
• If the Gentiles do not repent, they will perish. 
• A great work will commence where either men will be convinced of peace and eternal life or they will be delivered to their hard hearts.
• There are two churches, the Church of the Lamb of God and the Great and Abominable Church or the Church of the Devil.
• There will be a small number of those belonging to the Church of the Lamb of God.
• There will be a great number of those belonging to the Great and Abominable Church.
• The churches will battle against each other.
• God will pour out power on the Church of the Lamb of God.
• Nephi then saw one of Christ's 12 disciples.
• The disciple will see and write about the end of the world.
• Nephi is told that he will see what the disciple will see, but Nephi is told that he will not write about it.
• Nephi is told that the disciples name is John.

To read the actual chapter, go to 1 Nephi 14.

So What?

So why was Nephi given these really cool glimpses into the future?  Why was he shown the end of the world and these things that clearly John the Beloved who wrote the Book of Revelations saw?

Simply because God has decreed that in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established, and Nephi, among others, is another witness of this revelation.

What is the Great and Abominable Church?

Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles defined it as "all … organizations of whatever name or nature … which are designed to take men on a course that leads away from God and his laws and thus from salvation in the kingdom of God" (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 137–38).

There is no one set abominable church.  It is not the Catholics.  It is not the Protestants.  It is not the Buddhists.  It is not the Mormons.  It is not the Jewish.  It is not the Pagans.  It is not one specific church.  If a church or organization is leading people away from the truth, then they are considered as the great and abominable church. 

There is only one church though that is the Church of the Lamb of God, and it is the church that He has set up Himself, that He has visited its prophets personally, that existed in the very beginning of the world with Adam and Eve, that existed with later prophets, that Christ Himself organized when He was on the Earth, and that church is The Church of Jesus Christ, and today, it is known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the Latter-Day Saints part is only added to designate that it is His church in these last days and that it was lost, and then it was restored.  I know that this is true, that Christ's church is on the Earth today, and that is why there is the Book of Mormon, to show to the World that God has His Church on the Earth once more, because if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith, the man who translated it by the power of God, was a prophet, and if Joseph Smith was a prophet, then The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's Church on the Earth today.