18 The Self Destruction of Babylon

1 Nephi 14

1 Nephi 22

Revelation

Isaiah 14

1 Nephi 14:Verse 3

3 And that great pit, which hath been digged for them by that great and abominable church, which was founded by the devil and his children, that he might lead away the souls of men down to hell--yea, that great pit which hath been digged for the destruction of men shall be filled by those who digged it, unto their utter destruction, saith the Lamb of God; not the destruction of the soul, save it be the casting of it into that hell which hath no end.

1 Nephi 14:Verse 4

4 For behold, this is according to the captivity of the devil, and also according to the justice of God, upon all those who will work wickedness and abomination before him.

1 Nephi 22:Verse 13

13 And the blood of that great and abominable church, which is the whore of all the earth, shall turn upon their own heads; for they shall war among themselves, and the sword of their own hands shall fall upon their own heads, and they shall be drunken with their own blood.

1 Nephi 22:Verse 14

14 And every nation which shall war against thee, O house of Israel, shall be turned one against another, and they shall fall into the pit which they digged to ensnare the people of the Lord. And all that fight against Zion shall be destroyed, and that great whore, who hath perverted the right ways of the Lord, yea, that great and abominable church, shall tumble to the dust and great shall be the fall of it.

Revelation 18:Verse 6

6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

Revelation 17:Verse 16

16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

Revelation 17:Verse 17

17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

Isaiah 14:Verse 15

15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Once loosed, the degenerate stupor of wickedness cannot be controlled, directed or channeled, like the order inherent in righteousness. The Book of Mormon teaches, page after page, that the animation of evil is augmented in the presence of prosperity and pride, receiving strength from itself spiraling outward like a malignant cancer in its' decadence and dispersion. The satisfaction of the lusts of the flesh, or any sin for that matter, requires the escalated expansion of wickedness and degenerate perversion, becoming so evil that the wicked even "hate their own blood" (Moses 7:33) for the sake of sin. The disease of Sodom and Gomorrah was so thorough that, outside of Lot and his family, not one righteous person could be found in the cities (Gen. 19). At that point of depravation the wicked turn upon themselves unable to find happiness in sin. Yet, so blinded in their hearts and minds they fail to see that all sin is wickedness, that "wickedness never was happiness," (Alma 41:10) and without "righteousness, there be no happiness" (2 Nephi 2:13). This is described by the prophet Mormon as the "sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin" as they revile against the righteous and "curse God, and wish to die," yet the wicked "struggle with the sword for their lives" (Mormon 2:13-14).

The "appetite of the wicked" is discussed in scripture by the prophets as an unfulfilled lust, or quest for satisfaction that cannot be appeased. Isaiah likens the wicked desire for sinful gratification, as a fire.

18 For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up [like] the lifting up of smoke.

19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother.

20 And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: (Isaiah 9:Verse 18-20).

The appetite of the wicked cannot be satisfied and is characteristic of a person " that earneth wages [to put it] into a bag with holes" or to those that "drink, but are not filled with drink" (Haggai 1:6). The satisfying six-pack of sin is never full until the wicked are forced to "drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation" (D&C 43:26; Revelation 14:10). The only force that can stop the energy of enmity, without conversion, are the upheavals of nature, where mankind has no control and must turn toward the God of creation, for a pitiful temporal salvation.

The ever increasing wickedness of Babylon will cause the church of the devil to eventually turn upon itself for satisfaction, falling into "the pit which they digged to ensnare the people of the Lord" (1 Nephi 22:14). The nations of Babylon have began to turn upon themselves as prophesied (D&C 87) and the "blood of that great and abominable church, which is the whore of all the earth, shall turn upon their own heads; for they shall war among themselves, and the sword of their own hands shall fall upon their own heads, and they shall be drunken with their own blood" (1 Nephi 22:13). This natural consequence of wickedness is inevitable as the Lord instructs in the Doctrine and Covenants, that He has decreed "wars upon the face of the earth, and the wicked shall slay the wicked, and fear shall come upon every man; And the saints also shall hardly escape" (D&C 63:33, 34).

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