Post by Nephi –
I will finish telling you the rest of what I was shown by the angel, but first permit me to reflect on something both my father and I saw, of which I have had some time to ponder. I have reflected on the four different multitudes.
These four groups of people represent human kind’s varying responses to the gospel of Jesus Christ. These various people represent all walks of life, persons with varying spiritual aptitudes and varying degrees of sensitivity toward things of righteousness
If my father hadn’t directly told me which multitude I belonged to, I would seriously consider each and determine which multitude best represented me. The easy way to start is to think of which place you want to be and then consider what you have to do to get there.
Let me talk about each group.
The first group commenced on the path to the tree but strayed because they were blinded by the mists of darkness and were consequently thrown off course.
It is just so in every age. Multitudes of the earth’s inhabitants respond regularly to the Light of Christ and seek to know more of the will of Him whose they are. They seek to get on that path which leads directly to peace here on earth and eternal life hereafter. But navigating the strait and narrow path takes care and caution. Your eyes must ever be fixed upon the Lord and his glory, and thus you must be willing to forsake the extraneous and the unnecessary things which the world offers so readily.
By the time you read this blog, there will still be many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, and who are only kept from the truth because they don’t know where to find it.
The second group made it through the mists of darkness to the tree by clinging to the rod of iron. Yet, as they were partaking of the fruit of the tree, they became ashamed because of the mockery from finely dressed people across the river in the great and spacious building. They fell away into the forbidden paths and were lost.
The mockery, mimicry and finger-pointing that passed for sport among the smartly dressed people in the spacious house were directed at those hungrily eating the fruit of the tree. After they had partaken of the fruit of the tree they looked around as if they were concerned about what others were thinking. They noticed those mocking and pointing their fingers at them. That’s when they became ashamed.
In some cases, even those who find the truth are not able to forsake the world and its trappings. It is not difficult to live the principles of the gospel and to hold to the iron rod, except where you also attempt to maintain a grasp on the world at the same time.
Not being grounded enough in the truth or rooted strongly enough in your resolve to press forward to the ultimate rewards of discipleship, you will wonder off, and get lost. The enticements of wealth or fame or immorality will prove to be greater than the enticements of peace and happiness among the obedient.
There are those who enter the way through baptism, receive the Holy Ghost, and enjoy for a time that joy and peace associated with being clean through partaking of the blessings of the Atonement. They also enjoy the satisfaction attached to the sociality among the Saints. Then, for one reason or another, they allow themselves to be shaken from the faith by those who give in to their own conceit and who begin to give heed to the wisdom and judgments of fallen men.
Those whose eyes are single to the glory of God take little notice of this vocal onslaught; those, however, who seek to maintain their positions in the secular assemblies soon leave the fellowship of the Saints.
If it hasn’t been said I am sure it will be that the Lord needs to always have His truth protected by His servants because so many of His children seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall.
The third group also achieved their goal of arriving at the tree but this group remained, not giving head to those mocking them.
The third group of people or multitude as my father called them, obtained the path, pressed forward in righteousness, caught hold of the rod of iron, and held fast to that rod until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree. My father said nothing more of this group. It would appear that this was the one group of persons who remained steadfast to the gospel cause, proved faithful to their covenants with the Lord, and qualified for those transcendent privileges associated with exaltation in the highest heaven. The angel didn’t expand upon this group in the vision but to me it would be like a seed planted in “good ground,” and it would grow up and thereafter bear fruit and bring forth, “some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
The fourth group of people never sought the tree. They simply desired the great and spacious building as their destination right from the beginning. But even many of them never made their destination. These had no intention of even getting on the path which led to the tree of life. These multitudes of people were “feeling their way” toward the great and spacious building, grasping like blind men or seizing upon anything that would lead them through whatever obstacles were there, so that they could enjoy the approbation of the affluent and a welcome from the worldly wise.
Many were drowned or lost in their quest and those who did reach the building joined in mocking those partaking of the fruit of the tree. I have been privileged to see this in my own short life among my people but now in vision I have seen this pattern repeated for over a thousand years. As I mentioned, I will in my next post, return to the rest of the vision I received.
