11Now this great loss of the Nephites, and the great slaughter which was among them, would not have happened had it not been for their wickedness and their abomination which was among them; yea, and it was among those also who professed to belong to the church of God.
12And it was because of the pride of their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing, committing adultery, rising up in great contentions, and deserting away into the land of Nephi, among the Lamanites—
13And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands.
The part that got my attention as I read were some of the things the Nephites were doing that was wicked and were calling down the wrath of God on them. Many of the things are not surprising. They are what you would expect from people making wicked choices, but there were two listed that I thought were interesting: making a mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation. Hmmm.... Denying the spirit of prophecy and revelation- why would you want to do that? These things tell me that the people weren't praying or reading their scriptures. These are things that help us to remember God in our lives. The sad part is that because they denied the spirit of prophecy and revelation, they were not given help and they were left to their own strength. When that happens, things don't go so well.
It is also interesting to think about our actions toward God. Do we give Him the reverence He deserves? Are there things that we do in our lives that could look like mocking things that are sacred?
Here are more scriptures in the same chapter:
23And because of their iniquity the church had begun to dwindle; and they began to disbelieve in the spirit of prophecy and in the spirit of revelation; and the judgments of God did stare them in the face.
24And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples—
Changing the subject a little, it is important to remember that at this time, though many in the church are acting very wickedly, there is a small core that are staying close to the Lord and trying very hard to keep the commandments and get the others to repent. That would be a hard job. It is hard to be good when nobody around you is being good and persecuting you for being good.
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