ANG AKLATAN - SURAN 11 - THE GREAT ABOMINATION

Let's take a break to talk about this "great abomination" for a moment. Here's what we know about it from Suran 11:
- It rises up sometime between the US Civil War and World War I.
- From context, it seems to begin in the US.
- The plural "they" is used when a pronoun replaces "abomination", meaning its comprised of several individuals or entities. (Nephi does this too in 1 Nephi 13 when describing the "great and abominable church".)
- Its purpose is to take power from the American people. (I think it's interesting the focus is on wresting power from the people. In a democratic republic like the US, that is ultimately where power resides.)
- It doesn't want to lose power over nations, so it causes the US to fight foreign wars and hate and kill foreigners.
- At the same time, it turns on and brings evil and destruction to the US in order to increase its power over the people through favorable legislation and manipulating public perception.
- After taking power, it ultimately brings about the destruction of the US.
- Through all this, the people remain oblivious (well, except for the conspiracy theorists ; )

In a Q&A session last year (discussed HERE), Elisha stated:

As I understand, the abomination is the secret corruption of powerful families that gained power in the United States. They gained power over the political, financial, and business landscape of America. Today, their influence is felt in all aspects of the United States and even around the world in other nations. This corruption will devour itself, taking with it any who remain associated. This corruption reaches into the Philippines, which is one reason the Kingdom of Maharlika must be established as quickly as possible.

So, tinfoil hat time. Suran and Elisha are saying there are kernels of truth to all the New World Order-type conspiracy theories surrounding secret societies of international elites (e.g., Bilderberg Group, Bohemian Club, Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, Skull and Bones, etc.) (even the Pentaverate ; ) But this shouldn't come as much of a surprise to readers of 1 Nephi and Revelation. The "great abomination" is simply a different perspective on the same "great and spacious building", "great and abominable church", and "great whore" motifs. Also, the Book of Mormon often equates abominations with secret combinations (see 3 Ne 3:11; 5:6; Ether 8:18).

In 1 Nephi 13-14, Nephi is shown the formation of a "great and abominable church" by the devil among the Gentile nations, which tortures, kills, and enslaves the Lord's people for the praise of the world and the gain of worldly things (the 4 Ps: power, profit, popularity, passion). They take away the plain and precious parts and covenants of the Gospel in order to pervert the right ways of God and blind the eyes and harden the hearts of mankind. Eventually, they gain dominion over all the earth, make all nations participate in their abominations, choke out the dominion of the few saints of God left, and gather multitudes upon all the earth among all the Gentile nations to fight against the Lamb. However, the great and abominable church falls as the wrath of God is poured out. They begin to war among themselves (see 1 Ne 22:13-14), are consumed by devouring fire (D&C 29:21) as tares (D&C 88:94), and fill the pit they dug for the saints.

John the Revelator also sees a vision of this corrupt confederacy in Revelation 17. Similar to Nephi, he sees this same "great whore" seated on many waters, representing her dominion over all nations and their leaders, whom she has made drunk with her abominations. The end of the chapter says she is the personification of the great city that rules over the leaders of the world. (If it was Rome in John's day, there's really only one, maybe two, candidates today.) John sees her dressed in the richest clothes and jewelry, drunk with the blood of the saints and witnesses of Christ, and seated on a 7-headed, 10-horned, scarlet beast.

The beast, heads, and horns are separate entities but tied to and outgrowths of one another. The scarlet beast is full of blasphemy, both by speaking against God and demanding worship. John says it once existed, then didn't, and it would soon come up from the underworld but ultimately go into destruction/perdition, meaning this is a revival of an ancient fallen empire or system (e.g., secret combination). Rev 13 describes this beast in further detail and says it has received power from the devil (dragon) and that a second beast makes the world worship this first beast.

The seven heads represent leaders and locations/dominions--five past, one present, and one future--the reign of the final one being brief. The beast itself is an 8th leader and dominion connected to and associated with the other seven. The 10 horns represent 10 leaders without any dominion, who receive power to reign with the beast. This coalition of beast, heads, and horns makes war against the Lamb, but the Lamb overpowers them. Instead, they turn on and destroy the great whore whom they hate (maybe because she's using them and taking their glory), stripping her naked, consuming her flesh, and burning her with fire. The wicked destroy the wicked.