Previous articles in this set: The Plainness of God, Language of Condemnation, Hacking at Branches, Denying the Holy Ghost.

Most of what was revealed in D&C 19 was previously revealed by Nephi and others in the Book of Mormon.1

"O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment." (2 Nephi 9:19)

In verse 16, Nephi says it is his "eternal word, which cannot pass away".

Alma became a saint who, in the spiritual realm was "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked"2 yet he knew it not in this illusory world until he saw his true state before God. For a short time "I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins." (Alma 36:12) and again: "Nevertheless, after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God." (Mosiah 27:28)

Read this verse again in the context of Alma's experience:

"O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment." (2 Nephi 9:19)

We read that verse and say "Ah, yes. Nephi is not talking about us currently being in eternal torment. I am not currently posessed by that same spirit which I had before. I am delivered from such a future punishment and will never taste endless torment because I am a member of the Lord's church, I follow His leaders, and I have felt forgiveness from time to time. I have never received the Second Comforter, but I call myself a saint!"3

We are currently in a state of endless torment. Only God can deliver us. We are only "saints" after we are delivered from death and hell. God makes in us something new, streams out of what we were, a wasteland.4

Alma became a saint and was delivered from that awful monster the devil, death and hell that we are all in and know it not. We go about seeking to destroy his church (which we poorly define)5 and "know it not."

 

Notes

1. What else was revealed in D&C 19 was at least one of the reasons "why" the Lord let this deception go on.

2. "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." (Revelation 3:17)

3. "For a man to lay down his all, his character and reputation, his honor and applause, his good name among men, his houses, his lands, his brothers and sisters, his wife and children, and even his own life also, counting all things but filth and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, requires more than mere belief, or supposition that he is doing the will of God, but actual knowledge: realizing, that when these sufferings are ended he will enter into eternal rest; and be a partaker of the glory of God. For unless a person does know that he is walking according to the will of God, it would be offering an insult to the dignity of the Creator, were he to say that he would be a partaker of his glory when he should be done with the things of this life." (Lectures on Faith, Lecture 6)

4. Article: Streams in the Wasteland.

5. "Behold, this is my doctrine—whosoever repenteth and cometh unto me, the same is my church. Whosoever declareth more or less than this, the same is not of me, but is against me; therefore he is not of my church." (D&C 10:67-68)

 

See Also

"A lake because it engulfs them so tightly they are flooded with the guilt. Fire because it is designed to purge and refine. Brimstone because of the bitterness of the experience. The torment there is 'endless' meaning from God." (Denver Snuffer, Removing the Condemnation)