Have you ever read a passage of scripture – maybe even for the ‘umpteenth’ time – and had it hit you so profoundly that it’s caused you to re-evaluate something? Or maybe even re-evaluate everything? It’s caused a total shift in your paradigm of some principle, or even your foundation?

In my last post, I talked about the things we believe, but which are false, that prevent us from coming to know the truth (often called unbelief or traditions of the fathers in the scriptures). The truth must be our goal, because it’s the truth that sets us free. When we can truly let go of one or more of the false beliefs that we hold, the scriptures can open up to us in new ways, allowing us to have these profound experiences of life-altering understanding enlighten us. It is breathtakingly beautiful.

Now with that background, when I talk about the ‘Holy Church of God’, what do you think I’m referring to? Is it an organisation or institution? If so, which one?

The church I belong to (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) claims to be the only ‘true’ church on the earth. I suspect most of my readers are members of the same church. But perhaps your church also claims the same. Maybe you’re a Seventh Day Adventist, or Catholic and believe that the moniker of ‘Holy Church of God’ applies best to your church. Or perhaps you’re protestant or non-denominational and don’t believe the phrase applies to a single church.

Whichever way you go on this, I was reading the scriptures some time ago, in which an ancient prophet was talking about the events of our day – the last days. He said he had seen our day, that Christ had shown us to him. And this is what he said:

‘…why have ye polluted the holy church of God?’ (Mormon 8:38)

I had read this passage of scripture at least dozens of times before, and had somehow never noticed it. But this time, it leapt from the page and straight into my heart.

I re-read the verse, this time noticing the words at the very beginning of the verse:

‘O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God?’ (emphasis added)

Here, the prophet Moroni, having seen our day, talks directly to us, and tells us that we – yes that’s you if you believe you belong to the ‘Holy Church of God’ – have polluted it, going as far as calling you (and me) pollutions, as well as hypocrites.

That stung. And caused me some serious reflection, pondering and further study.

Within the church, we often talk about the many questions asked of us individually in Alma 5. There, the prophet Alma asks about our being born again? He asks us whether we can now sing the song of redeeming love, and whether we are sufficiently humble, amongst many other things. It’s a wonderful sermon that gives us a lot to ponder on an individual basis.

But this passage in Mormon 8 (along with some others we’ll get to) asks us questions institutionally. It tells us what we’re really focused on institutionally – remember, Moroni has seen us and he knows what we’re like.

With that in mind, he asks a series of ‘Why?’ questions, although it’s done in such a way that we know that they’re not questions – he’s really making accusations against us. He’s listing precisely the ways in which we, institutionally, have polluted the Holy Church of God (and continue to do so). Take a deep breath sit down for these (Mormon 8:38-40):

1. Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ?
2. Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?
3. Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life
4. and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?
5. Yea, why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain,
6. and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans to mourn before the Lord,
7. and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads?

Well, I built things up a bit heading into that, and maybe now you’re breathing a sigh of relief. ‘Phew, that’s not me,’ you might be thinking, or ‘that’s not my church’. But stop. Remember, Christ had shown us to a prophet and this is what he sees – specifically of ‘the holy church of God’. This is the last days church that considers itself ‘true’. If we ignore it, and think it applies to someone else, we are completely missing the point and risk God’s vengeance:

‘Behold, the sword of vengeance hangeth over you; and the time soon cometh that he avengeth the blood of the saints upon you, for he will not suffer their cries any longer.’ (Mormon 8:41)

So, whatever reasons you have for discounting the accusations of Moroni, however you rationalise that it applies to ‘someone else’, please stop and believe that this prophet knows what he’s talking about. Please believe that he speaks the truth. That might require letting go of your unbelief or traditions of your fathers. But if we want to have that joy in our lives that God desperately wants to give us, it is essential.

These aren’t the only accusations Moroni makes against us. A few verses before these, he speaks to us about other things we’re doing, including (Mormon 8:27-37):

1. Secret combinations and works of darkness
2. The power of God is denied
3. Churches become defiled and lifted up in the pride of their hearts – especially the leaders, who will envy members of their churches
4. Many will say, ‘Do this, or do that, and it mattereth not, for the Lord will uphold such at the last day.’
5. Churches will offer salvation for money
6. We have transfigured the holy word of God
7. We have built up churches to get gain
8. We walk in the pride of our hearts, as evidenced by: wearing fine apparel, envying, strife, malice and persecution
9. We love money, substance, fine apparel and the adorning of our churches more than we love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.

There’s some repetition in this list, but overall I’d say it is pretty damning. Remember, this applies to ‘the holy church of God’.

Are you experiencing cognitive dissonance yet? Are you facing statements that directly contradict some of your profoundly held beliefs? If so, what are you going to do about that? Are you going to brush it off, rationalise it away? Are you going to say to yourself, ‘I’ll wait until the leaders of my church tell me what to do about that?’, or are you going to wrestle with it directly with God using the scriptures and prayer? Because only God, through His Holy Spirit, can teach you the truth of the matter (see John 14:26; Moroni 10:5).

Lest you think that Moroni is an outlier in his view of the last days, earlier in the Book or Mormon, Nephi says very similar things (see 2 Nephi 28). He tells us that in the last days, churches will be built up, but not unto the Lord. They will teach with their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost.

Once upon a time, I wouldn’t have believed this could apply to the church I belong to. But I’ve recently heard some of the most senior leaders of the church say that it doesn’t matter whether we know a thought or idea is from the Holy Ghost or not. They argue that if it tells us to do good, we should do it and not worry about whether we feel the Holy Spirit. The enormous problem with that is that we live in a day when good is called evil and evil is called good (Isaiah 5:20; quoted by Nephi in 2 Nephi 15:20). We must have the Holy Ghost in order to know what is good to start with. We will otherwise be deceived.

Nephi also tells us that the churches of our day will deny the power of God and will say to the people, ‘Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept’. (2 Nephi 28:5, emphasis added). This sounds suspiciously like the ecclesiastical leaders of Jeremiah’s day (who called themselves prophets). There, the Lord said to them, through Jeremiah, ‘Therefore, says the Lord, I am against these prophets who steal messages from each other and claim they are from me.’ (Jeremiah 23:30, New Living Translation).

What else does Nephi say of the churches in the last days?

1. We will say there’s no real harm in committing ‘little’ sins. God will beat us with a few stripes and then we’ll be saved.
2. We will seek deep to hide our counsels from the Lord – our works will be in the dark
3. The blood of the saints will cry from the ground against us
4. We have ‘all’ become corrupted – because of pride, false teachers and false doctrine
5. We rob the poor to build and decorate our expensive sanctuaries
6. We have ‘all’ gone astray with stiff necks and high heads, wickedness, abominations and whoredoms
7. Even the ‘few’ humble followers of Christ are led astray because we are taught by the precepts of men
8. We will say, ‘All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth …’

There is more, but this list probably does the job.

I recommend that in addition to studying the words of Moroni and Nephi, you read the words of Samuel the Lamanite in Helaman 13, and Isaiah 1¹. If that is still not enough, recall the words of Christ to the surviving Nephites, saying that the day would come when we latter-day Gentiles, ‘sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and above all the people of the whole earth, and shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and murders, and priestcraft, and whoredoms, and of secret combinations …’ (3 Nephi 16:10). In those days (i.e. today) if we don’t repent (3 Nephi 21:14-21):

‘… it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots; And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds (our military defences); And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy land, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers (those who predict or forecast the future trends plans); Thy graven images I will also cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee, and thou shalt no more worship the works of thy hands (our holy/sacred places); And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee; so will I destroy thy cities. And it shall come to pass that all lyings, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away. For it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that day whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel; And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.’

Elsewhere the Lord has said (D&C 112:23-26):

‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face. Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord. And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord; First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord.’

Okay, so why have I focused so much effort on showing from the scriptures the trouble we’re in as a covenant people of the Lord? Why am I hammering home the point that as a people we are failing miserably in honouring the Lord? Isn’t this all simply disheartening and discouraging?

Well, sure, it could be seen as discouraging. But this is essentially a huge part of Isaiah’s message (and many of the other ‘prophetic’ books of the Old Testament) – that’s why Christ has given us a commandment to search Isaiah diligently. It’s one of they key messages of the Book of Mormon, and similar warnings are scattered throughout the Doctrine and Covenants. In other words, God considers it critical for us to have this message, that we take it to heart and, more importantly, take it to Him.

I beg you not to take my word for it. Take it to God and plead with Him in all the sincerity of heart for Him to reveal to you the truth; for Him to remove your unbelief and false traditions of the fathers. Go to Him with the sacrifice of a broken heart and contrite spirit, with your eye focused singly upon His glory and seeking His will. If you do this, He will teach you the truth of these things, and the result will be that much suffering and pain will be avoided in your life – both in the future, as well as in the present. You will find joy as the scriptures open up to you in ways they never have before. Indeed, the truth from God, will set you – and me – free.

© Copyright 2025, Jeffrey Collyer

1. Indeed, a huge chunk of Isaiah is devoted to telling the Lord’s covenant people of the last days just how bad we are and what punishment awaits us. But the first chapter of Isaiah is a pretty good summary/introduction.