2 Nephi 28-30
3 Nephi 9:2
The devil laughs!
Moses 4:1, 4
(Satan’s Mission Statement)
Reveals Enemies to Christ!
In Hebrew “wo” means sorrow!
“Wo” is a condition of deep suffering from misfortune and
affliction, or grief. It is used seven times in verses 24-32 of
chapter 28.
What is Satan’s
best approach?
The one that works best on you!
2 Nephi 28:3
Why are the many churches in the world only
forgeries of the truth?
“The Church, we may say, is His, only if He
(Jesus Christ) is the founder of it. No painter,
no matter how much of an artist he is, can
make a genuine Rembrandt” (George
Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl,
Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 1:403).
Why is leading people “away carefully
down to hell” such an effective
method?
2 Nephi 28:21-22
It does not matter how small sins are…
The safest road to Hell is the gradual one
--- the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without
sudden turnings, without milestones,
without signposts” (C.S. Lewis, Screwtape
Letters, 64-65).
“Satan’s Top 10”
2 Nephi 28:5-22
1.
v. 5
“There is no God”
2.
v.6
“He is not a God
of miracles”
3.
v.7
“Planned repentance”
4.
v.8
“Everybody’s doing it”
5.
v.8
“Little sins aren’t that
bad”
a.
“Take advantage of one
because of his words”
b.
“Dig a pit for thy neighbor”
6. v.8
“God will beat us with a few stripes,
or will make an exception with you”
7. v. 9
“Works shall be in the dark, or hide
sins from God”
8. v.21
“All is well, All is well”
9. v.22
“There is no hell and there is no devil”
10. v.22
“There is no deliverance from sin”
Honolulu Star Bulletin
One example of this is a November 2nd, 1983
article in the Honolulu Star Bulletin, entitled
“She Teaches Women How to Cheat”
It reports on the work of psychologist Cynthia
Silverman, who conducts workshops “for
married women who are having, or thinking of
having extramarital affairs.” The following
excerpt from the article reveals its teachings:
“This is not advice on free love…Men and women both have
affairs and the frequency of women having affairs is now almost
as great as the men. The goal is to educate women to make a
meaningful decision. Workshop participants are given practical
advice such as remembering to cover absences with excuses a
husband cannot check, and to resist the temptation to confess
because “a white lie is better than a black truth.”
The one hour and 45 minute workshop stresses enjoyment
without guilt.
“I was a basket case when I went in there,” says one wife… “I
still feel a little bit guilty, but not to the same degree.
“The workshop, she added, “helped me set my priorities
differently. I always made sure that my family came first,
especially my children, but now I realize I have a right to
happiness also.”
In 1929 George Herbut Betts published the results
of a fifty-seven doctrinal question survey he sent out
to 500 ministers and 500 theological students.
The questions were structured to gain either “yes,”
or “no” or “uncertain” answers.
Two of the questions were:
1. “Do you believe that hell exists as an actual
place or location?”
2. “Do you believe that the devil exists as an
actual being?”
Concerning the existence of hell, 53% of the ministers
said “yes,” 34% “no,” and 13% were “uncertain.”
The theological students’ responses were: 11% “yes,”
76% “no,” (they did not accept the reality of hell), and
13% were “uncertain.”
Regarding the existence of the devil, 60% of the
ministers surveyed said “yes,” 38% “no,” and 2% were
uncertain.
Only 9% of the theological students said they believed
in the reality of Satan, while 82% denied his existence,
and 9% were uncertain (Guide to Religions, 237).
2 Nephi 28:15
Joseph F. Smith saw 3 dangers to the Church
in the 20th Century:
1. Flattery of prominent men in the world.
2. False educational ideas.
3. Sexual impurity
(Gospel Doctrine, 312-313)
2 Nephi 28:24-25
What is the problem with being “at ease in
Zion?”
“Some people… are basically unrepentant because they are
not ‘doing the commandments.’
They are Church members who are steeped in lethargy. They
neither drink nor commit the sexual sins. They do not gamble
nor rob nor kill. They are good citizens and splendid neighbors,
but spiritually speaking they seem to be in a long, deep sleep.
They are doing nothing seriously wrong except in their failures
to do the right things to earn their exaltation” (Spencer W.
Kimball, Miracle of Forgiveness, 211-12).
2 Nephi 28:32
Our merciful and long-suffering Lord is ever ready
to help. His “arm is lengthened out all the day
long,” and even if His arm goes un-grasped, it
was unarguably there! In the same redemptive
reaching out, our desiring to improve our human
relationships usually requires some longsuffering. Sometimes reaching out is like trying to
pat a porcupine. Even so, the accumulated quill
marks are evidence that our hands of fellowship
have been stretched out, too (Neal A. Maxwell,
Ensign, November 1996, 22).
2 Nephi 29:2
“and my words shall “Hiss” forth unto
the ends of the earth.
We members of the Church, and
particularly missionaries, have to be the
hissers, or the tellers and testifiers of the
Book of Mormon unto the end of the world
(C.R., April 1975).
Three reasons for studying
the Book Of Mormon
2 Nephi 29:7-11
1. Know ye not that there are more nations than one?
If the word of the Lord is to be established by two
chosen witnesses, then we may well look for two
chosen nations to stand as a witness for Jesus Christ.
One such nation is Israel, the other America. Judah
speaking from the Old World and Joseph from the new
(Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:278).
2. v. 8
Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a
witness unto you that I am God.
3. v.11
For out of the books which shall be written I will judge
the world.
President Romney said, “For me there could be no
more impelling reason for reading the Book of Mormon
than this statement that we that have the Book of
Mormon shall be judged by what is written in it (April
C.R., 1980).
2 Nephi 29:13
When will we have the words of the Jews, the
Nephites, and the lost tribes?
“Now the Lord has placed us on probation as
members of the Church. He has given us the Book of
Mormon, which is the lesser part… Then the Lord is
ready to bring forth the other record and give it to us,
but we are not ready now to receive it. Why?
Because we have not lived up to the requirements in
this probationary state in the reading of the record
which had been given” (Joseph Fielding Smith, C.R.,
October 1961, 20).
One day we will have a third book of
scripture to go with the record of the Jews,
the Bible, and the record of the Nephites,
the Book of Mormon. All three will be
testaments of Jesus! This third book will be
the record of the Lost Tribes of Israel, whom
Jesus also visited. In the distant future,
three volumes of scripture bound in white
may well lie on the altars of hundreds of
temples (Neal A. Maxwell, Talk given
January 8, 1995).
2 Nephi 30:6
Why did “pure and …delightsome” replace “white and
…delightsome” in the 1981 edition?
“Except the 1840 edition of the Book of Mormon, in all
editions prior to 1981 this verse read ‘a white and
delightsome people.’ The 1981 change was made in
conformity with the 1840 edition (the only one
personally revised by Joseph Smith)… Robert J.
Matthews wrote: ‘…This correction does not negate
the concept that future generations of Lamanites will
become white, but it removes the concept that one
has to be white to be delightsome to the Lord”
(Rodney Turner, in Monte S. Nyman and Charles D.
Tate Jr., eds., 2 Nephi, 156, 8).
2 Nephi 30:16-18
How much more will “be made known” in that
day?
“For the future, there is to be new revelation
that will dwarf into comparative insignificance all
the knowledge now revealed from heaven.
When the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon
comes forth it will ‘reveal all things from the
foundation of the world unto the end thereof”
(Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 649).
2 Nephi 30:11
What are the “girdle” and “reins?”
“A ‘girdle’ is a belt or sash that wraps around
the waist. The ‘loins’ and ‘reins’ stand for a
man’s moral character. Christ will be
completely wrapped in righteousness and
faithfulness” (Thomas R. Valletta, ed., Book of
Mormon for Latter-day Saint Families, 145).