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II
The Great Division
The “Tares” And “Foolish Virgins” Are Members Of Satan’s Church
As unlikely as it may seem to those who regard themselves as members of Christ’s Church, the scriptures indicate that many will be deceived into belonging to Satan’s Great and Abominable Church also. According to the parables of the “wheat and the tares” and the “ten virgins,” when the “great division” comes, at least one-half of those who regard themselves as “faithful” members of the Lord’s Church will be classified as members of Satan’s organization. Let us examine these two parables with this possibility in mind.
Both were taught during the Lord’s ministry on earth, and are also presented in modern scripture as having application in this last dispensation. Regarding the “wheat and tares” parable, Elder James E. Talmage has said:
So important is the lesson embodied in this parable, and so assured is the literal fulfillment of its contained predictions, that the Lord has given a further explication through revelation in the current dispensation, a period in which the application is direct and immediate. (Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p. 288)
In the last days, the angels will be pleading with the Lord to allow them to reap down the fields, but he will restrain them with these words:
pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender (for verily your faith is weak), lest you destroy the wheat also. Therefore, let the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest is fully ripe; then ye shall first gather out the wheat from among the fares, and after the gathering of the wheat, behold and lo, the fares are bound in bundles, and the field remaineth to be burned (D&C 86:6-7)
Another modern revelation states that these tares are indeed members of Satan’s great and abominable church:
That great church, the mother of abominations, that made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, that persecuteth the saints of God, that shed their blood—she who sitteth upon many waters, and upon the islands of the sea—behold, she is the tarès of the earth;.(D&C 88:94)
President Joseph Fielding Smith has assured us that there will be “tares” among the Church members. Said he:
There are so many influences at work to divide us asunder, right among the members of the Church, and there is going to come, one of these days in the near future, a separation of the wheat from the tares, and we are either wheat or fares. We are going to be on one side or the other. (Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Vol.111, p. 16)
The parable of the “virgins” is perhaps even more explicit in warning Church members that Satan will ensnare many of them. We may assume that the group to which Christ referred in this parable are all “good Christians.” All of them believe in, and are looking anxiously forward to, the second coming. Each considers herself equally worthy to enter into the marriage with the bridegroom, and is waiting up even until midnight watching for the Master. Outwardly, they are indistinguishable one from another, however, at the last moment, fully one half of this “faithful” assemblage will be rejected by the Savior with these words:
Verily i say unto you, i know you not. (Matt. 25:12)
Another warning that Christ will reject “many” of those who have labored in his Church and regard themselves as worthy for the kingdom is contained in the Sermon on the Mount. Christ taught:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will i profess unto them, i never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matt. 7:21-23)
The late President of the Church, John Taylor, commented on this scripture as follows:
We are told that, many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works?’ Yet to all such will he say, ‘Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.’ You say that means the outsiders? No, it does not. Do they do many wonderful works in the name of Jesus? No.
This means you Latter-day Saints, who heal the sick, cast out devils and do many wonderful things in the name of Jesus…Hear it, ye Latter-day Saints! Hear it, ye Seventies and ye High Priests!… (D&C Commentary, pp. 462, 463)
A Book Of Mormon Prophet Foresaw A “Great Division” Among The People
The Book of Mormon also testifies of a great division. Nephi, who prophesied much concerning the Gentiles said:
For the time speedily cometh that the Lord shall cause a great division among the people, and the wicked will he destroy; and he will spare his people, yea, even if it so be that he must destroy the wicked by fire. (2 Nephi 30:10)
Nephi was also shown that everyone would belong either to Christ’s Church or to Satan’s:
Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth. (1 Nephi 14:10)
Reasons Why Members Of The Lord’s Church Might Also Belong To Satan’s
In the following passage the Lord explains why fully one-half of those ten virgins who have faith in his second coming and consider themselves prepared therefore, will be rejected:
And at that day, when i shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which i spake concerning the ten virgins.
For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily i say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day. (D&C 45:56-57)
If one-half of those members of the Church who are classified by the Lord as “virgins” can be deceived into belonging to Satan’s church, no member should disregard the possibility of his own deception. Neither can one take lightly the penalty for being “foolish,” which penalty is to be burned along with the rest of the wicked:
And until that hour [the day of the coming of the Son of Man] there will be foolish virgins among the wise; and at that hour cometh an entire separation of the righteous and the wicked; and in that day will i send mine angels to pluck out the wicked and cast them out into unquenchable fire. (D&C 63:54)
Some might question the justice of classifying the foolish virgins with the wicked and destroying them merely because they had allowed themselves to be deceived. However, when it is remembered that they have accepted Satan’s doctrines and supported his organization right during the time that they were members of the Lord’s Church with a prophet to guide them, this punishment is easier to understand.
Book of Mormon prophets also warned the Gentiles against deception. Nephi stated that “the humble followers of Christ…in many instances… do err because they are taught by the precepts of men.” (2 Nephi 28:14) The following verses indicate that the fault lies in hearkening unto the “precepts of men” and relying on the “arm of flesh” rather than the gift of the Holy Ghost and the power of God:
Yea, woe be unto him that hearkeneth unto the precepts of men, and denieth the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost!…
Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost. (2 Nephi 28:26, 31)
Nephi foresees that some of the prosperous ones in Zion are lulled
away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.” (Ibid., v.21)
Still others are deceived and are “at ease in Zion” because they refuse to believe the scriptures and the prophets which teach that there is a devil:
And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance. (Ibid., v.22)
Those who believe there is no Satan are not going to believe that he has a Great and Abominable Church on earth either. Such people could easily be led to accept those philosophies of men which are the doctrines of Satan, and thus support those organizations which teach and practice them. In the following verse, Nephi says these members of the devil’s kingdom must be “stirred up unto repentance,” or they will be “stirred up to anger, and perish:”
But behold, that great and abominable church, the whore of all the earth, must tumble to the earth, and great must be the fall thereof
For the kingdom of the devil must shake, and they which belong to it must needs be stirred up unto repentance, or the devil will grasp them with his everlasting chains, and they be stirred up to anger, and perish; (Ibid., v. 18-19)
The prophet Jacob also expressed concern about the Gentiles joining the devil’s church. Our salvation, he says, depends upon our not doing so:
And blessed are the Gentiles, they of whom the prophet [Isaiah] has written; for behold, if it so be that they shall repent and fight not against Zion, and do not unite themselves to that great and abominable church, they shall be saved;… (2 Nephi 6:12)
These scriptures, as well as many others, indicate an urgent need to identify Satan’s great church and the philosophies and precepts it teaches and practices so that those who sincerely desire to avoid the fate of the tares and the foolish virgins may do so.
Our Nation will continue to degenerate unless we read and heed the words of the God of this land, Jesus Christ, and quit building up and upholding secret combinations,…(Ensign, July 1988, p. 80)
I testify that wickedness is rapidly expanding in every segment of our society (See D&C 1:14-16; 84:49-53.) It is more highly organized, more cleverly disguised, and more powerfully promoted than ever before. Secret combinations that seek to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries is increasing its evil influence and control over America and the entire world. [See Ether 8:18-25] (Ensign, November 1988, p. 87)
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