Secret Combinations
Throughout the Book of Mormon, the phrase “secret combinations” is used to describe the evil activities of secret, oath-bound societies like the Gadianton robbers. As Ray Hillam described, “secret combinations have existed since the days of Cain (Moses 5:51). Satan is their author (2 Nephi 26:22), power and gain are their motives (Ether 8:15, 25), and conspiracy is their method of operation (Helaman 6:22–24).” In Helaman 2:13, Mormon indicated that the rise of secret combinations “did prove the overthrow, yea, almost the entire destruction of the people of Nephi.”
Some have argued, though, that the secret societies in the Book of Mormon are merely fictional and were inspired by a well-known fraternity called Freemasons (or Masons). As Daniel Peterson explained, “It has long been contended by critics of the Book of Mormon that its ‘Gadianton robbers’ are merely nineteenth-century Freemasons, transparently disguised.” As evidence of this claim, its supporters have pointed to a number of similarities between both groups, one of which being that “secret combinations” was used almost exclusively as a negative term for Freemasons around 1829.
At least, this seemed like a potentially valid assumption, until online databases made it possible to search through a much larger number of 19th century documents. In 2014, Gregory Smith found conclusive evidence from a variety of sources that “before, during, and after Joseph Smith’s translation of the Book of Mormon, secret combinations was a general term in the United States for any clandestine group or plot, especially one in the political realm.” It wasn’t at all the exclusive code name for Freemasons that some critics of the Book of Mormon had long maintained.
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/why-does-the-book-of-mormon-use-the-phrase-secret-combinations
For more information about the Freemasons, Mormon Temples and Freemasonry by Scott Gordon
Jacob makes it clear that the author of these covert organizations is none other than the devil:
“[The] devil . . . stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness” (2 Nephi 9:9). Nephi, in nearly identical terms, writes, “There are also secret combinations, even as in times of old, according to the combinations of the devil, for he is the founder of all these things; yea, the founder of murder, and works of darkness” (2 Nephi 26:22). Not to be left out, Isaiah describes those who “seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? And who knoweth us?” (2 Nephi 27:27; cf. Isaiah 29:15). Kimberly Matheson Berkey - Reading Nephi Reading Isaiah: 2 Nephi 26-27
God’s Covenant with Lehi or the Lehitic Covenant
1. A promised land is given to the children of Lehi (2 Nephi 1:5).
2. Prosperity in the land is predicated on obedience to the commandments (Jarom 1:9).
3. Lehi’s seed will never perish (2 Nephi 25:21).
4. A record will bring Lehi’s seed to a knowledge of their covenant (Enos 1:13, 16; Ether 4:17).
Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni, having seen the destruction caused by secret combinations and having their hopes dashed by these covert organizations, wrote their records to warn the future generation about the danger secret combinations pose to the fulfillment of the covenant. Standing on the edge of the temporal chasm that separated them from those future Gentiles who housed the hope of the Lehitic covenant, these ancient authors could do
nothing more nor less than speak from the dust, alerting future readers to the marvelous gifts they offered: a record, a warning, and a covenant.
A Sealed Book - Seals - Seals of Authority
Anciently, why would a scribe have a seal? When a scribe wrote an official document
(such as a legal contract, a divorce decree, or a promissory note), the scribe would bind
the written record, tie it up, put a lump of clay or wax on the knot, and imprint his seal
in the clay or wax to indicate that the record was an official, formal, correct document.
This is how official transactions were conducted in ancient times. Notice that in 2 Nephi
27, Nephi knows that there will be a record. It will be witnessed by three witnesses, and
it will be sealed, meaning that the record will not just be closed up, but that it will be
preserved with seals of authority. Sealing important documents that directly affected the
life of an individual was part of Nephi’s world. We can learn something from the fact
that the record of the Nephites was witnessed and sealed. It is important to ascertain the
attestation and testimony of those who influence us in making decisions that affect our
eternal life.
Welch, John W.. "2 Nephi 26-30." In John W. Welch Notes, 207-225. Springville, UT: Book of Mormon Central, 2020.
Witnesses
2 Nephi 27:13 “save it be a few according to the will of God” - “The word few traditionally means 8—it’s in 1 Peter 3:19-20 - Christ preaching to those spirits - a few meaning 8—takes on this connotation of 8 witnesses. Jack Welch. Book of Mormon Central.
2 Nephi 27:22, 23 This is exactly the situation with Christ's resurrection. Early Christians are going around saying, this guy rose from the dead. They're like, really? Where's the evidence? Well, some people saw the body. It's exactly our situation with the plates. We have 12 men who saw the plates, Joseph plus three witnesses, plus eight witnesses, 12, and a woman named Mary, exactly the situation from the New Testament. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's the exact same situation. So, God seems to be rebooting Christianity through the plates. Just as there's an empty tomb, there's an empty box at Cumorah, and you have to take these witnesses' words, and then go read the book and see what happens. Then the first thing that he said at the beginning of 23 is he wanted to show that he's a God of miracles.
Ways of the Devil - 2 Nephi 28:3-30
Nephi’s interactions with Isaiah model an important aspect of what it means to read scripture. For Nephi, to read scripture is to take up the text as a text and then rework it so that it reflects current understanding and vision as revealed through the spirit of prophecy. Reading scripture then becomes active rather than passive as each reader takes up the burden of his or her own prophetic responsibility.
Joseph Spencer
Lynne Wilson - Satan/Serpent/Lucifer mentioned 25 times in the KJV Old Testament and Satan/Devil/Serpent/Adversary/Lucifer named 121 times in the Book of Mormon which gives us a clearer picture of Satan, our enemy - Nephi teaches the ways of the devil
2 Nephi 28:3-30 Jack Welch calls Nephi’s Explanation of the Ways of the Devil (40 ways in how the Devil will try to get at the people in the latter days -
Welch got the idea to make a list from C. S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters -
2 Nephi 28:3–30
Embedded in Nephi’s prophecy in 2 Nephi 28 are many phrases
that describe the conduct of those who follow the devil. These
sins, Nephi states, will pervade much of society in the latter days.
Today they can be found well disguised as the philosophies and
tendencies listed in this chart. Such conditions are symptomatic of
society’s passive acceptance of “false and vain and foolish doc-
trines” (2 Nephi 28:9) that can lead people away from God.
Knowing how the devil works and being able to see his tactics in
operation in the ideologies of the world around us help prevent
us from being taken captive by Satan, who leads people “carefully
For Jack Welch's list of "The Ways of the Devil," click on this link and go to page 12 of the pdf (page 218 on the actual document).
Links to items mentioned in class discussion:
Elder Gong's message on Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Mormon Temples and Freemasonry by Scott Gordon
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