GREAT AND ABOMINABLE CHURCH

~~ 17 Points ~~
of the Great and Abominable Church

By A. True Ott

As an LDS missionary during 1978-80, I extensively used a tract entitled ‘17 Points of the True Church’. I now feel it is important to provide those honest in heart with these
17 points of the "Great and Abominable Church".

Point #1: It is one of only two ‘churches’ in the world. One is the Church of the Lamb of God, the other is the Great and Abominable Church, i.e. the Church of the Devil. (See 1 Nephi 14:10). There are no denomination-fence sitters here, there is nothing lukewarm – it is either hot or cold, black or white. The Great and Abominable Church is also referred to as "the Whore of Babylon", "the Mother of Abominations", Babylon the Great, etc.

Point #2: The Church of the Lamb of God is very small and humble; with very limited ‘dominions’ on the earth because of the "wickedness of the great whore" (the Church of the Devil). See 1 Nephi 14:12. In other words, the Great and Abominable Church will be very wealthy in worldly things with many properties and ‘investments’ worldwide – "among all nations, kindreds, tongues and people". The Church of the Lamb of God will be just the opposite – no wealth to speak of because it gives everything it has to those less fortunate.

Point #3: The Great and Abominable Church is eternally afraid of free speech and writings of Truth. It censors and ‘changes’ truths that are "plain, and most precious" in order to perpetuate falsehoods and enslave the people spiritually. (See 1 Nephi 13:26-28) It does this "in the name of Jesus Christ" which is even more damning.

Point #4: Only those who do not unite themselves to the Great and Abominable Church will be saved according to Jacob’s teachings. (2 Nephi 6:12) Jacob then cites the prophecies of Isaiah concerning the Great and Abominable Church in the Last Days – which is NOW – it is called TODAY. Nephi then ‘follows up’ on Jacob’s teachings and exhorts us that the prophecies of Isaiah are for us in our day. (See 2 Nephi 26:7-8).

Point #5: The Great and Abominable Church will have very ‘wise men’ at the helm who are also very rich and wealthy. (2 Nephi 9:28-30). Because they believe that they are ‘extremely learned’ in spiritual matters, they become extremely vain and prideful, wherefore their ‘wisdom’ is foolishness and it profiteth them not. In other words, the leaders of the Great and Abominable Church will claim total infallibility of authority and doctrine –that when they speak, the discussion is over, and the ‘thinking has been done’. Anyone who dares to claim that they have received any ‘revelation’ must be cast out of their synagogues. (Significantly, Larry King referred to three such men as ‘Wise Men’ during a recent interview on his TV Show during the Christmas Season.)

Point #6: The land upon which the Great and Abominable Church was founded is extremely wealthy with a very high standard of living. It is full of gold and silver and has "no end to its treasures". There is no end to their vehicles of transportation (chariots), especially at rush hour in the big cities. The people of this great and extremely wealthy land are also extremely idolatrous, in that they "worship the work of their own hands, that which their fingers have made". In other words, the people are caught up in excessive pride of accomplishment in the workplace and in carnal careers. (See 2 Nephi 12:7-8)

Point #7: The Great and Abominable Church will masquerade as the "only true and living church on the earth". The people within the Great and Abominable Church will have the complete truth at their fingertips, but will "hear indeed, but understand not; and see indeed – but perceive not". The members of this Great and Abominable Church will have "fat hearts" (filled with self aggrandizement and pride in themselves), "heavy ears" and "closed eyes" because they are totally content to put their trust in the mortal arms of flesh. (2 Nephi 16:9-10)

Point #8: The members of the Great and Abominable Church do not personally seek after the Lord of Hosts even though they teach of Him every Sunday. The Great and Abominable Church will have a ‘prophet, seer, and revelator’ at its head, but this individual will teach LIES – and all of the leadership, by virtue of claiming infallibility, will cause the people to ERR, and eventually to be DESTROYED. (See 2 Nephi 19:13-17). Because of this sad state, all are guilty of HYPOCRISY and of DOING EVIL.

Point #9: The Great and Abominable Church will once again restore the "Burden of Babylon" in the shadows of the mountains (the everlasting hills) in the last days. (2 Nephi 23: 1-2, 19). What exactly was and is the "Burden of Babylon"? Under the watchful eye of King Nebuchadnezzar, the Sons of Levi – the true Hebrew priests - were scattered and Jerusalem destroyed in 600 B.C. (Lehi and his family, warned by the Lord, escaped to the Americas). Nebuchadnezzar then used the Hebrew’s wealth and their slave labor to build something called "the hanging gardens of Babylon" to honor his "favorite" wife and concubine – Amytis. (Amytis was from the mountains of Mede, and was often homesick for the rich mountain foliage.) The ‘hanging gardens’ was a vast rooftop tiered garden complete with a miraculous stream of running water in the shadow of a terraced tower (Steeple?). The Hebrew slaves were forced to work in extreme heat, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to operate a vast mechanical irrigation pump system to move water from the Euphrates River to the rooftop gardens – hence this was a ‘burden grievous to be borne’. A detailed description of the Hanging Gardens comes from the writings of the Greeks Strabo and Philo of Byzantium who wrote: "The Garden is quadrangular, and each side is four plethra long. (Approximately one complete Salt Lake City Block). It consists of arched vaults which are located on checkered cube-like foundations ------ The ascent of the uppermost terrace-roofs is made by a stairway ----- The Hanging Garden has plants cultivated above ground level, and the roots of the trees are embedded in an upper terrace rather than in the earth. The whole mass is supported on stone columns ------ Streams of water emerging from elevated sources flow down sloping channels ---- These waters irrigate the whole garden saturating the roots of plants and keeping the whole area moist. Hence the grass is permanently green and the leaves of trees grows firmly attached to supple branches ----- This is a work of art of ROYAL LUXURY, and its most striking feature is that the labor of cultivation is SUSPENDED ABOVE THE HEADS OF THE SPECTATORS. ---- All of the stairs and walkways are faced with a fine, glazed tile of stone." The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. (The new Hanging Gardens of the Great and Abominable Church will also be a wonder – I wonder how many people will awaken from their stupor as described in point #7 and see it for what it really is.)

Point #10: The Great and Abominable Church will have many extremely fine temples, meeting houses, and sanctuaries. One such sanctuary is currently the largest building dedicated exclusively to RELIGION in the entire world. It is even larger and more spacious than Madison Square Garden in New York City, and was designed by a Jewish architect under the direction of rabbis in New York (who in turn follow a book called the Babylonian Talmud.) Because of the vast amount of money spent on these lavish buildings, the poor have and will continue to be robbed. (These meetinghouses and sanctuaries will definitely not be used as ‘soup kitchens’ to feed and succor the homeless, downtrodden, and poor – for they must be kept spotless and clean to keep up their prideful and worldly image). (See 2 Nephi 28:13)

Point #11: The Great and Abominable Church leadership will lull its members into carnal security by saying "All is Well in Zion; yea Zion PROSPERETH, all is well". In other words, the modern Great and Abominable Church will reach the zenith of its power and influence in a time of great wealth and seemingly endless prosperity. But it will fall, and the new Hanging Gardens will tumble to the earth, and great will be the fall of it. (It may well fall and collapse under an earthquake when it is filled to capacity with fat hearted, heavy eared, blind yet prideful ‘priesthood’ holders.) (2 Nephi 28:18-21)

Point #12: The Great and Abominable Church will be led by one such as the wicked king Noah – who took the people’s money (tithes?) and "built many elegant and SPACIOUS BUILDINGS" – i.e. he was a temple-building son of a gun!! This leader like Noah would cause a great ‘palace’ to be built honoring himself and his false priests – with a pulpit (a throne) in the midst of it; ALL OF WHICH IS MADE OF FINE WOOD (Black Walnut is definitely a fine wood, even if its from one’s own backyard). This leader like unto King Noah would also have fine, velvet, overstuffed seats SET APART FOR HIS HIGH PRIESTS, WHICH WOULD BE SET ABOVE ALL THE OTHER SEATS IN THE BUILDING. And he would make sure a breastwork of some sort would be built before them, "that they might rest their bodies and their arms upon while they should speak lying and VAIN WORDS to the people." (See Mosiah 11: 8-11)

Point #13: The Great and Abominable Church will fully embrace the secret order of Gadianton with its accompanying oaths and execution of penalties, and will make this the central pillar of its faith. It will do this just as Giddianhi exclaimed in 3 Nephi 3:9 – saying: "which society and the works thereof I KNOW TO BE GOOD; and they are of AN ANCIENT DATE and THEY HAVE BEEN HANDED DOWN TO US!" These abominable oaths and covenants will be administered under the direction of Lucifer and will be identified by demanding oaths of secrecy by means of swearing by the throat, heart and bowels just as Cain and Gadianton did. (Moses 5:29-31)

Point #14: The Great and Abominable Church will subtly change the most sacred BAPTISMAL PRAYER given to us by the Savior (3 Nephi 11:25) and will sin against the Savior’s PURE GOSPEL by building the Church upon the works of MEN, and upon the works of the DEVIL. The members of this Church will receive JOY in their Church work for a SEASON, but it will not last because it is not true. Just as a sweet, naïve, child receives great joy in opening presents from Santa (Satan?) on Christdeath (mas) morning – it soon fades and eventually the child awakens to the cold truth – that Santa is a LIE! (See 3 Nephi 27:10-11) The simple and pure Gospel of Jesus Christ is simply the exercising of faith unto pure repentance, followed by baptism UNTO CHRIST, (not unto a great and abominable Church), then a personal witness of the Savior via an event called the BAPTISM OF FIRE AND THE HOLY GHOST! (See D&C 39:5-6)

Point #15: The Great and Abominable Church will change the sacrament and no longer use wine. Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Vineyard, understands His teachings and parables have important and deep meanings. Pure, non-fermented juice of the grape (the fruit of the vineyard) is nearly the same color as blood and also contains similar pH levels as blood. As specific words (prayer) are spoken, the pure ‘wine’ molecules vibrate at a much higher rate than mere water – and as a result, the human energy known as ‘spirit’ is similarly invigorated and expanded. This is exactly what the Savior was telling us when He promised us that we "would always have His Spirit to be with us", and is also why he warned us soberly that if we did "more or less" than His teachings on this we would be "building upon a sandy foundation instead of upon a rock." (Read 3 Nephi 18:11-14)

Point #16: The Great and Abominable Church will evolve from the true Church of Christ as shown in parable as recorded in D&C 101:43-65 and in 3 Nephi 16:10. The parable of the wheat and the tares was also given in Section 86. In verse 3 we read: "And after they have fallen asleep the great persecutor of the Church, the apostate, the whore, even Babylon, that maketh all nations to drink of her cup, in whose hearts the enemy, even Satan, sitteth to reign – behold he soweth the tares; wherefore, the tares choke the wheat and DRIVE THE CHURCH INTO THE WILDERNESS."

And last but not least.......

Point #17: The Great and Abominable Church will so fully embrace the secret combinations of Lucifer and Satan that they will demand obedience to them by insisting and encouraging the wearing of a necktie – a ‘flaxen cord’ – in order to be ‘properly attired’ when coming to Church (or secret Temples) to worship. The ‘flaxen cord’ – or necktie – has its origins in the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry where it is better known as the cable tow – i.e. a form of noose wherein the hoodwinked (blindfolded) initiate is led around by the neck to progressively higher levels of the secret combination. The flaxen cord was originally given to initiates to remind them of their oaths and covenants – that they would either have their throats cut, or they would be strangled, if they ever disclosed the secrets of their combination. Of course, the leaders will not teach the truth and discourage using flaxen cords – just the opposite – they will NEVER be seen without one in public UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. (2 Nephi 26:22)

AS THE MOURNFUL COMIC STRIP CHARACTER POGO DECLARED: "WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY, AND HE IS US!!