The Inquisitive Christian

I had every intention of being productive today. I had lofty goals. I was going to cook up a storm in my kitchen for my monthly meal prep. But a different storm (a geomagnetic one, to be exact) disrupted the one I was planning and the power was in and out during the afternoon. With my plans for the day out the window, my mind wandered to other things. I considered going to the range. I almost talked myself into going for a run. Finally, my mind settled on my purpose for this blog, and I decided to stop procrastinating on my next entry and just sit down and do it. While I’ll be pointing out my observations throughout this chapter, my main focus will be on Smith’s deeply flawed theology concerning hell and Satan.

1 Nephi Chapter 15

Lehi’s seed are to receive the gospel from the Gentiles in the latter days. The gathering of Israel is likened unto an olive tree whose natural branches will be grafted in again. Nephi interprets the vision of the tree of life and speaks of the justice of God in dividing the wicked from the righteous. About 600-592 B.C.

1: “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, had been carried away in the Spirit, and seen all these things, I returned to the tent of my father.”

The phrase “I, Nephi” is repetitive and completely unnecessary. It has occurred repeatedly throughout this book so far, and quite frankly, it’s getting on my nerves. It is yet one more oddity that differs from the Bible. You will not see this type of phrase in any of its books. When a book of the Bible is written in the first person, simply “I” is used because it is logically presumed that “I” means the person after whom the book is named (Jeremiah, Isaiah, Nehemiah, etc.) I’ve only just now gotten around to addressing it because there have been so many other pressing issues that it seemed minor in comparison.

The next few verses report that Nephi’s brothers are arguing amongst themselves about their father’s visions. Nephi describes feeling distressed by this and points out that their hearts are hardened towards God and that’s why they lack understanding. I also can’t help but notice the total absence of any mention of any of the other people who were supposed to have joined them in this area. It’s like someone excitedly announcing a new relationship on Facebook then soon after removing all traces of the other person as if they didn’t exist. Anyway, on to other things.

12: “Behold, I say unto you, that the house of Israel was compared unto an olive tree, by the Spirit of the Lord which was in our father; and behold are we not broken off from the house of Israel, and are we not a branch of the house of Israel?”

13: “And now, the thing which our father meaneth concerning the grafting in of the natural branches through the fulness of the Gentiles, is, that in the latter days, when our seed shall have dwindled in unbelief, yea, for the space of many years, and many generations after the Messiah shall be manifested in body unto the children of men, then shall the fulness of the gospel of the Messiah come unto the Gentiles, and from the Gentiles unto the remnant of our seed–“

This illustration is plagiarized (incorrectly) from Romans 11. I’ll get more into that after the next several verses.

14: “And at that day shall the remnant of our seed know that they are of the house of Israel, and that they are the covenant people of the Lord; and then shall they know and come to the knowledge of their forefathers, and also to the knowledge of the gospel of their Redeemer, which was ministered unto their fathers by him; wherefore, they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be saved.”

My brain wants to explode from all the unnecessary verbiage. The more concise and sensible way of saying this would include the information on how to be saved the first time “their Redeemer” is mentioned. It has also become apparent that “Nephi” believed in an overabundance of commas, semicolons, and severe underusage of periods.

15: “And then at that day will they not rejoice and give praise unto their everlasting God, their rock and their salvation? Yea, at that day, will they not receive strength and nourishment from the true vine? Yea, will they not come unto the true fold of God?”

It is interesting that Smith used the word “everlasting” to describe God, as this contradicts his own later teachings regarding who God is. In the King Follett Discourse, Smith plainly stated, “First, God himself, who sits enthroned in yonder heavens, is a man like unto one of yourselves, that is the great secret.” He said shortly after, “…that God himself; the Father of us all dwelt on an earth the same as Jesus Christ himself did, and I will show it from the Bible.” Except he never did get around to showing it from the Bible. The King Follett Discourse is another meandering, nonsensical diatribe for another time. I believe it would be helpful to address it in another blog post because it lays out the primary foundation for LDS cosmology and theology. The main point I’m making here is that God cannot be “everlasting” if he had a beginning.

16: “Behold, I say unto you, Yea; they shall be remembered again among the house of Israel; they shall be grafted in, being a natural branch of the olive tree, into the true olive tree.”

I discussed this in my previous post on 1 Nephi 10 (New Testament Language in an Old Testament Era), but it is worth reviewing. This analogy appears in Romans 11, but not as it’s presented here in the Book of Mormon. In Romans 11, the “natural branches” are cut off due to unbelief, and the “wild olive” branches (Gentiles) were grafted in. It does say in verse 23 that if they (the Jews) do not continue in their unbelief they can be grafted back in. But that has everything to do with faith and really nothing to do with being Jews. This simply demonstrates Smith’s attempts to make his scriptures appear legitimate. Unfortunately for him, his attempts are very sloppy and easily debunked.

17: “And this is what our father meaneth; and he meaneth that it will not come to pass until after they are scattered by the Gentiles; and he meaneth that it shall come by way of the Gentiles, that the Lord may show his power unto the Gentiles, for the very cause that he shall be rejected of the Jews, or of the house of Israel.”

18: “Wherefore, our father hath not spoken of our seed alone, but also of the house of Israel, pointing to the covenant which should be fulfilled in the latter days; which covenant the Lord made to our father Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.”

19: “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, spake much unto them concerning these things; yea, I spake unto them concerning the restoration of the Jews in the latter days.”

Here we see Smith’s belief that his church, the “Latter Day” Saints, is this restored house of Israel. It was believed that he was descended from the tribe of Ephraim, as stated by Brigham Young: “The Book of Mormon came to Ephraim, for Joseph Smith was a pure Ephraimite, and the Book of Mormon was revealed to him.” See Brigham Young Journal of Discourses 2:268-69. He wasn’t, though. Genetic testing has demonstrated he was primarily Irish (Joseph Smith DNA Revealed: New Clues from the Prophet’s Genes | FAIR). This would follow the common thread of believing ancient Hebrews settled in the Americas and were the ancestors of Indigenous people. See my previous post “Those Mean Ol’ Catholics” for a more detailed discussion on that topic.

The next verses (20-33) continue to describe his explanation of the restoration of the Jews and his brothers’ satisfaction with his explanation. They then ask him about the vision of the Tree of Life. He informs them the iron rod in it represents the Word of God and that whoever held fast to it would be saved. He also explains to them the water in the vision is filthiness that separates the wicked from God. He expounds upon that and goes on to describe hell as a place for the wicked.

34: “But behold, I say unto you, the kingdom of God is not filthy, and there cannot any unclean thing enter into the kingdom of God; wherefore there must needs be a place of filthiness prepared for that which is filthy.”

35: “And there is a place prepared, yea, even that awful hell of which I have spoken, and the devil is the preparator of it; wherefore the final state of the souls of men is to dwell in the kingdom of God, or to be cast out because of that justice which I have spoken.”

Every now and again on social media, I will see someone with little more than a functioning brain stem post some variation of “So, since Satan punishes the bad people in hell, wouldn’t that make him the good guy?” as if it’s some sort of legendary “gotcha” moment. It’s a pretty deep thought… if you’re 12, edgy, and can’t read. As obvious as it may seem to Christians, however, this thought permeates pop culture. Look at the image at the top of this very post, for example. All I typed into an AI art website was “Satan in hell” and that’s what it spit out: and image of Satan on a throne. It’s such a prominent misconception that it even influences AI. But here’s what they all miss: hell was CREATED FOR Satan and his demons. He did not create it. He does not run it. And he’s certainly not “the preparator” of it.

Matthew 25:41 states, “Then He will also say to those on his left, depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” This tells us two important things: 1) God prepared hell specifically for Satan and his demons, and 2) it wasn’t originally created for humans. We can know this because the phrase “and the wicked” is absent after the phrase “the devil and his angels.” If something is prepared FOR someone else, it goes to follow the person for whom it is prepared is not in charge of it. For example, I work over an hour from where I live and I’ve been staying at the same AirB&B for almost 3 years now. My host prepared the room for me. But if I decide to go completely off the deep end and disrespect her or her property, she reserves every right to kick me out and never let me back in. I love preparing food for a dear friend of mine at work. But if he decided to step out of line and suddenly start being nasty to me, I can take said food away and refuse to give him any more. And these examples are beneficial for both parties: I like having a place to sleep, and my host likes making money off the room. I love cooking, and my friend loves eating. How much more would this rule hold true to a place of punishment! A being going to a place of eternal torment prepared specifically for them definitely has no say in what takes place there.

This point is driven home in Revelation 20:10: “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Scripture is abundantly clear. Satan is going to be punished at final judgment. He will be tormented for all eternity. He will not be overseeing the administration of punishments and reprimanding demons for not reaching their projected torture quotas for the week. He will be as tormented and miserable as the souls he’s tricked into following him.

My grandfather, a pastor, used to say, “There will be a lot of people chasing preachers around in hell.” They’ll also be chasing around all the false prophets like Joseph Smith. Do I come across as harsh sometimes in this blog? I’m sure I do to people whose beliefs I’m dismantling, but it’s because I want to see them in heaven. I have life-saving information. I’d be an absolute monster not to pass it on.