Annotated Book of Mormon
Evaluated According To My Current Knowledge

Chapter 21

1 And verily I say unto you, I give unto you a sign, that ye may know the time when these things shall be about to take place—that I shall gather in, from their long dispersion, my people, O house of Israel, and shall establish again among them my Zion;

2 And behold, this is the thing which I will give unto you for a sign—for verily I say unto you that when these things which I declare unto you, and which I shall declare unto you hereafter of myself, and by the power of the Holy Ghost which shall be given unto you of the Father, shall be made known unto the Gentiles that they may know concerning this people who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, and concerning this my people who shall be scattered by them;

3 Verily, verily, I say unto you, when these things shall be made known unto them of the Father, and shall come forth of the Father, from them unto you;

4 For it is wisdom in the Father that they should be established in this land, and be set up as a free people by the power of the Father, that these things might come forth from them unto a remnant of your seed, that the covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people, O house of Israel;

5 Therefore, when these works and the works which shall be wrought among you hereafter shall come forth from the Gentiles, unto your seed which shall dwindle in unbelief because of iniquity;

6 For thus it behooveth the Father that it should come forth from the Gentiles, that he may show forth his power unto the Gentiles, for this cause that the Gentiles, if they will not harden their hearts, that they may repent and come unto me and be baptized in my name and know of the true points of my doctrine, that they may be numbered among my people, O house of Israel;

7 And when these things come to pass that thy seed shall begin to know these things—it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of Israel.

8 And when that day shall come, it shall come to pass that kings shall shut their mouths; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

9 For in that day, for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them; and there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it unto them.

“There shall be among them those who will not believe it.”  

As I write this there are 324 million people in the USA and 6.5 million of those are Mormon. That’s 2 Mormons among every hundred Americans. So the percentage of the population who does not believe and is “among them” is 98 percent. Worldwide 99.8 percent do not believe.

And, in reality the numbers of those who believe in LDS claims is actually lower than the numbers the Church claims on its membership records, so the percentages are starker than what I’ve listed above. For example, according to the Pew Research Center, those claiming to be LDS in the U.S. came to about 1.6% of the population in 2014 (“America’s Changing Religious Landscape”).

10 But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.

This is obviously about Joseph Smith, so I don’t know how one would reconcile this idea about God not letting him be hurt with what happened to Joseph. Joseph was hurt on many occasions, and then he was assassinated.

11 Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant.

12 And my people who are a remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

3 Ne 21:12 -15

So this remnant is presumably the Lamanites who are either most of the Native Americans or among the Native Americans depending on whether you read the pre-2006 Book of Mormon Introduction or the Introduction after that. And, that remnant is to go forth destroying the Gentiles for non-belief. In spite of at least 98 percent non-belief at this point (see note to verse 9 above), the destruction was by in large brought to the remnant however you define that.

13 Their hand shall be lifted up upon their adversaries, and all their enemies shall be cut off.

Annotation for 3 Ne 21:12 -15 above

14 Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles except they repent; for 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;

Annotation for 3 Ne 21:12 -15 above

Also note the words “chariots” (would imply wheels for transportation which these Americans knew nothing of at the time) and “horses.” These are anachronistic to the described setting.

15 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds;

Annotation for 3 Ne 21:12 -15 above

16 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy land, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers;

The LDS Church now admits that Joseph Smith used a rock in a hat to seek buried treasure (superstitious practice sort of like witchcraft), the same rock they admit he used to “translate” the Book of Mormon
(Book of Mormon Translation).

17 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;

18 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee; so will I destroy thy cities.

19 And it shall come to pass that all lyings, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away.

MormonLeaks provided documentation that as of January 2014, the base living allowance given to LDS general authorities was $120,000 annually

(DeseretNews Article
and
MormonLeaks documents).

20 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;

21 And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.

22 But if they will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance;

23 And they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem.

24 And then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem.

25 And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I also will be in the midst.

26 And then shall the work of the Father commence at that day, even when this gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people. Verily I say unto you, at that day shall the work of the Father commence among all the dispersed of my people, yea, even the tribes which have been lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem.

27 Yea, the work shall commence among all the dispersed of my people, with the Father to prepare the way whereby they may come unto me, that they may call on the Father in my name.

28 Yea, and then shall the work commence, with the Father among all nations in preparing the way whereby his people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance.

29 And they shall go out from all nations; and they shall not go out in haste, nor go by flight, for I will go before them, saith the Father, and I will be their rearward.