16 May 2012

2 Nephi 26: All those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not be forgotten.

Nephi tells us, once again, all about Jesus, 600 or so years before Jesus existed.

After Jesus dies he will rise from the dead and come visit the Nephites in North America. The Nephites will learn about his birth, death, and resurrection; then all hell will break loose. Proud and wicked Nephites will stone to death the Nephite saints and prophets, then God will cause the proud and the wicked to be swallowed by the earth, covered with mountains, carried away by whirlwinds, crushed by falling buildings, destroyed by thunder, lightening, earthquakes, and fire.
After Christ shall have risen from the dead he shall show himself unto you, my children.

Many generations shall pass away, and there shall be great wars and contentions among my people.

And after the Messiah shall come there shall be signs given unto my people of his birth, and also of his death and resurrection; and great and terrible shall that day be unto the wicked, for they shall perish; and they perish because they cast out the prophets, and the saints, and stone them, and slay them.

All those who are proud, and that do wickedly, the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts.

They that kill the prophets, and the saints, the depths of the earth shall swallow them up, saith the Lord of Hosts; and mountains shall cover them, and whirlwinds shall carry them away, and buildings shall fall upon them and crush them to pieces and grind them to powder.

And they shall be visited with thunderings, and lightnings, and earthquakes, and all manner of destructions, for the fire of the anger of the Lord shall be kindled against them, and they shall be as stubble, and the day that cometh shall consume them, saith the Lord of Hosts. 2 Nephi 26:1-6
After the wicked kill the righteous and God kills the wicked, Jesus will heal whatever survivors there may be and there will be peace for three or four generations. Then the Nephites will "yield to the devil," be destroyed again, and "go down to hell."
But the Son of righteousness shall appear unto them; and he shall heal them, and they shall have peace with him, until three generations shall have passed away, and many of the fourth generation shall have passed away in righteousness.
And when these things have passed away a speedy destruction cometh unto my people ... they shall reap destruction; for because they yield unto the devil ... therefore they must go down to hell. 2 Nephi 26:9-10 
Sometime after the Nephites are destroyed, the Gentiles (Non-Mormon Protestants) will start believing that Jesus is the Christ.
It must needs be that the Gentiles be convinced also that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God. 2 Nephi 26:12
In the last days, after the Gentiles are converted, Nephi's seed will dwindle in unbelief and be smitten by the Gentiles. God will camp out against the dwindlers and "all those that dwindle in unbelief shall not be forgotten."
I prophesy unto you concerning the last days.
After my seed ... shall have dwindled in unbelief, and shall have been smitten by the Gentiles; yea, after the Lord God shall have camped against them round about ... all those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not be forgotten. 2 Nephi 26:14-15
Then, in the latter days of the last days, the truths in the Book of Mormon will be written, but those who dwindle in unbelief won't believe them because "they seek to destroy the things of God."
For thus saith the Lord God: They shall write the things which shall be done among them, and they shall be written and sealed up in a book, and those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not have them, for they seek to destroy the things of God. 2 Nephi 26:17
And it will come to pass that those who dwindle in unbelief will be smitten (again) by the Gentiles.
And it shall come to pass, that those who have dwindled in unbelief shall be smitten by the hand of the Gentiles. 2 Nephi 26:19
Then the Gentiles will stumble "because of the greatness of their stumbling block" by building evil churches according to the secret combinations of the devil (who founded all the non-LDS churches).
The Gentiles ... stumbled, because of the greatness of their stumbling block, that they have built up many churches ... which cause envyings, and strifes, and malice.
And there are also secret combinations ... according to the combinations of the devil, for he is the founder of all these things. 2 Nephi 26:20-22
Which leaves us with the only true church: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You know, the one that teaches love and tolerance toward all. (Its code name is "Zion" in the Book of Mormon.)
The Lord God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love, and except they should have charity they were nothing. 
But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish.
For ... the Lord ... denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile. 2 Nephi 26:30-33

3 comments:

nazani said...

OK, a long overdue question: What exactly did the biblical author or Joseph Smith mean by "dwindling in unbelief?" I assume they did not mean actual physical shrinkage or atrophy. Reduction in numbers, since the phrase always seems to refer to a group of people? Some sort of mystical 'brownie points' denoting a healthy or unhealthy eternal soul? If the latter, don't bother to explain the metaphysics- I don't care about the taxonomy of woo.

Or, is this just archaic language? I would say that my belief has dwindled to extinction, while my unbelief is as robust as any abstract idea can be.

Steve Wells said...

Yeah, I've wondered about that too, nazani. What did Joseph Smith mean by the phrase "dwindling in unbelief?" He loved to (over)use words and phrases from the King James Version of the Bible, such as "And it came to pass", "behold", and "exceedingly". But "dwindling in unbelief" is not found in the Bible.

My guess is that he just thought it sounded really cool. Like something God would say if he could talk.

But if I had to guess what was in Joseph Smith's mind, I'd say he meant that those who "dwindle in unbelief" no longer have God's love and protection, so they're up shit creek, so to speak. God either kills them off or has the non-dwindlers do it for him. Or something like that.

I don't know why I chose that phrase as the title for my blog. I guess I just liked the way it sounded -- which is probably the same reason Joseph Smith liked it so much.

It is true that unbelief is hardly dwindling. Our numbers are rapidly increasing, and science, liberty, and human progress have always depended upon unbelief and unbelievers.

So unbelief is flourishing as belief dwindles. And Joseph Smith is full of shit.

Stephen said...

"Dwindling" is best done privately, in the dark. And why should those dwindlers be forgotten? Look what happened to Onan!
;-)
Steve Weeks