This afternoon I finished reading and revising 1 Nephi 7 (in my Sloppy Coppy [edit] Simple Copy) for my kids. Something interesting stuck out to me, probably with current events going on. This part here:
To bullet this out for clarity, these are identifiers of the enemy's kingdom:
"But it is the kingdom of the devil which will be built up among the children of men which kingdom is established among them which are in the flesh for the time speedily will come that all churches which are built up to get gain and all those who are built up to get power over the flesh and those who are built up to become popular in the eyes of the world and those who seek the lusts of the flesh and the things of the world and to do all manner of iniquity yes in fine all those who belong to the kingdom of the devil are they who need fear and tremble and quake they are those who must be brought low in the dust they are those who must be consumed as stubble and this is according to the words of the prophet"(Forgive the lack of punctuation, but that is one purpose of my sloppy copy revision. It allows me to see the words freshly.)
To bullet this out for clarity, these are identifiers of the enemy's kingdom:
- established among those in the flesh
- any/all church built up to get gain
- all those (churches? individuals?) who are built up to get power over flesh
- all those (churches? individuals?) who are built up to become popular in the eyes of the world
- those who seek the lusts of the flesh
- those who seek the things of the world
- those who do all manner of iniquity
Bullets 2 and 3 are assumed to speak of churches, but it is possible they refer to individuals as well. So the question remains, for me, do I participate or encourage any of these things. Do I worry myself with being in a church built up to get gain, or make money in any way off of people? Do I seek to get power over flesh? Do I seek to become popular in the eyes of others, especially the "world"? Do I seek the lust of my flesh? Do I seek the things of the world, like fine cars, fine homes, superior schooling, lavish entertainment or self indulgences? Do I participate in any manner of iniquity?
It's difficult to say I don't participate in any of those things. Best not to point the finger, but rather use the words of Nephi, quoting the prophet Moses, for introspection.