1 Nephi 13:14-21

14  And it came to pass that I beheld many ^amultitudes of the Gentiles upon the ^bland of promise; and I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren; and they were ^cscattered 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 ^aobtain the ^bland for their inheritance; and I beheld that they were white, and exceedingly fair and ^cbeautiful, like unto my people before they were ^dslain.

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 ^awith them.

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

18  And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together ^aagainst them to battle.

19  And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were ^adelivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.

20  And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that they did prosper in the land; and I beheld a ^abook, and it was carried forth among them.

21  And the angel said unto me: Knowest thou the meaning of the book?

            -The angel specifically points out a few elements or circumstances in this vision.  We can assume that these are vital or key things for Nephi (and for us) to notice.  Drawing specific attention to “the book” is one of them.  The importance of the preservation of the Bible cannot be overstated.  The trajectory of the world literally turns on the events surrounding this book:

               -the scientific and technological explosion following the development of the printing press.

               -the religious prologue and postlogue to the boy Joseph Smith reading and acting on James 1:5.

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.

    “out of captivity”

            -the association of the European immigrants to America as being “in captivity” is a truism that is largely forgotten or ignored.  History has lost the sense that these were largely a group of people who were escaping bondage or oppression (particularly religious oppression) in the old world.  There were, as they always are, adventurers and those seeking commercial opportunity, to be sure but the motivation for many, however, was to escape the cultural captivity that forbid them freedom to worship and believe as they felt inspired.  These were people who needed to find a place affording them the freedom to believe and live according to the dictates of the conscience.

1 Nephi 13:11-12

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 ^awrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.
   "a man"
       -Christopher Columbus
   
    "seed of my brethren"
       -remnants of Lehi's posterity on the Americas

1 Nephi 13:9-10

9  And also for the ^apraise of the world do they ^bdestroy the saints of God, and bring them down into captivity.

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

            -the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans served as a buffer from the tribulations of the old world.  Even though God set a land apart as an insulated or quarantined zone where he could direct those seeking His ways, these eventually feel victim to the viccisitudes of  the natural man.  If there were a hundred isolated lands, the history of mortal man would repeat itself one hundred times over.  Man is fallen in this existence regardless of the specific cultural mixture.

    “divided”

            -insulated, quarantined, separated, protected, etc.  The division of these two peoples was meant to protect.

1 Nephi 13:7-8

7  And I also saw ^agold, and silver, and silks, and scarlets, and fine-twined ^blinen, 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 ^adesires of this great and abominable church.

            -all these things are treasures, physical items of the temporal world.  They are transitory and have no lasting eternal value.  The most wealthy and powerful men of every century previous to this one, including kings, industrialists, actors, socialites, emperors, financiers… all of them now have a net worth of nothing.  Each is dead, buried and cannot buy a single trifle of the earth’s possessions.  Their wealth is useless.  Their fame is a relick and commands no personal advantage unless some commission is provided to their posterity for the number who visit their graves.  Gold, silver, fine clothing, silks, furs, jewels and cars are substances of mortality only.  They are envied by individuals and organizations who have laid their eternal claim on their standing in mortality.  These are the desires of those who want power, prestigue and glory now!  We can belong to the kingdom that exists on the earth or the kingdom that exists in eternity. Which do you choose?  What material items or worldly things do we desire?

1 Nephi 13:6

6  And it came to pass that I beheld this ^agreat and ^babominable church; and I saw the ^cdevil that he was the founder of it.
-if we read the scriptures carefully we will see that Lucifer is never credited with creating anything.  He can't.  He can imitate, transform, organize, "founder", adulterate, manipulate....  He has no creative power.  He takes what already exists and twists it.  And he is a master of such.  But it is critical to our understanding of our future status  -whether we will belong to and be as God or Lucifer- it is critical that we understand where the creative power lies.  Only God can create.  Lucifer does not have this privilege and gift.  He takes what God creates or possesses and twists it to his devilish objectives.  He does this with the priesthood, with the church, with the family, with wealth, with revelation, even with virtues such as sacrifice and love.  There is a Satanic counterfeit for every true principle.  In each case, the focus becomes self instead of others.  This has been his modus operandi from the beginning when he sought his own aggrandizement in the guise of saving all of God's children. His motivation was not God or God's children but it was himself.  This orientation is fundamentally contrary to the laws of heaven and we learn that even doing good things can be wrong if not done the right way.  "To obey is better than sacrifice..."

1 Nephi 13:5

5  And the angel said unto me: Behold the formation of a ^achurch which is most abominable above all other churches, which ^bslayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a ^cyoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity.

            -wow, that is quite an indictment.  What historic evidence do we have for these  horrible actions of this abominable church?