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?

1 Nephi 13:4

4  And it came to pass that I saw among the nations of the ^aGentiles the formation of a ^bgreat church.
            -the “church” referenced here can as easily be described as both a formal entity/organization and as a philosophy, value system or socio-cultural epistemology.  It is much larger and much more ubiquitous than a single religious denomination although it may have used these as hosts to spread its infectious influence.  It is much like a parasite that uses whatever body it can to promote its objective.  There is no doubt that the Roman Catholic church of the middle ages – tied at the hip to the unrivaled power of the prevailing political machinery of the era was an instrument for the formation of this “great church”.  While the Cathlic church did much to spread the truth that Jesus was the Christ, it also perverted fundamental truths (sometimes purposefully and sometimes innocently), oppressed individual religious freedom and all the gross iniquities outlined in verse five.  Speaking of the many formal and informal "churches", doctrines and belief structures established throughout the  ages, God is able to use the wicked actions of men and trends of culture to further his ends (reference Fosdik’s, “God talks to a dictator”, Riverside Sermons).

1Nephi 13:1-3

Nephi sees in vision: the church of the devil set up among the Gentiles; the discovery and colonizing of America; the loss of many plain and precious parts of the Bible; the resultant state of gentile apostasy; the restoration of the gospel, the coming forth of Latter-day scripture, and the building up of Zion. About 600–592 B.C.

1  AND it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld many nations and kingdoms.

2  And the angel said unto me: What beholdest thou? And I said: I behold many ^anations and kingdoms.

3  And he said unto me: These are the nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles.
            -the Roman empire spread Christianity to Europe where it flowered during the Rennaissance and cascaded into the Reformation.  Nearly every Eropean country was deeply influenced by one or more protestant denominations as Christianity finally shook off the heavy hand of Catholicism.  The gentile nations spread across the earth with the colonization of the 14^th, 15^th and 16^th centuries.  Nations rose and fall within decades and centuries.  Even the United States, whose people inherited the promises of the promised land  is comparably an infant when compared with the great nations of the old world.  America’s rise and denoument span but a few hundred years.

1 Nephi 12:19-23

19  And while the angel spake these words, I beheld and saw that the seed of my brethren did contend against my seed, according to the word of the angel; and because of the pride of my seed, and the ^atemptations of the devil, I beheld that the seed of my brethren did ^boverpower the people of my seed.

20  And it came to pass that I beheld, and saw the people of the seed of my brethren that they had overcome my seed; and they went forth in multitudes upon the face of the land.

21  And I saw them gathered together in multitudes; and I saw ^awars and rumors of wars among them; and in wars and rumors of wars I saw ^bmany generations pass away.

22  And the angel said unto me: Behold these shall ^adwindle in unbelief.

23  And it came to pass that I beheld, after they had dwindled in unbelief they became a ^adark, and loathsome, and a ^bfilthy people, full of ^cidleness and all manner of abominations.

            -when people lose or reject the truths of the gospel they become depraved, degenerate, carnal, uninspired and retrograde.  They literally take a step back in terms of civility, intelligence, refinement and progress.  Natural regression of the species is a very real phenomenon when humans embrace the idea that we are nothing more than advanced animals  -we begin to live according to an advanced form of animalistic morality.  God given or god centric morality is abandoned.