Jewish Roots vs the Great Apostasy and the Great Whore

In my last blog I wrote about the importance of Jewish Roots for Book of Mormon understanding, and that through their common Jewish roots the Bible and the Book of Mormon would grow together.  Today I want to talk about the Great Whore of Babylon, and how she was born from the rejection of Jewish Roots.

In the Book of Mormon Nephi has a vision of the future events.  In this vision an angel of the Lord explains this vision to him and says regarding the Bible:

24 And the angel of the Lord said unto me: Thou hast beheld that the book proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew it contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God.
25 Wherefore, these things go forth from the Jews in purity unto the Gentiles, according to the truth which is in God.
26 And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.
27 And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.
28 Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God.
29 And after these plain and precious things were taken away it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles; and after it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles, yea, even across the many waters which thou hast seen with the Gentiles which have gone forth out of captivity, thou seest—because of the many plain and precious things which have been taken out of the book, which were plain unto the understanding of the children of men, according to the plainness which is in the Lamb of God—because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them.
(1Nephi 13:24-29 (3:165-172 RLDS)

In his book Rosh HaShanna and the Messianic Kingdom to Come, Messianic Jewish writer Joseph Good describes these events as follows:

The same year that Rav Shaul (Paul) died (66 C.E.), the Jewish nation revolted against the Roman Empire. Four years later the Roman legions encircled Jerusalem at the feast of Pesach (Passover). Yeshua had warned the believers that the generation that was alive at the time of His death would see Jerusalem destroyed. He had instructed that when the city was circled by the enemy, they were to flee, which is what they did. Five months later the city fell. During this time, congregations in the Diasporia (dispersion) scattered throughout the Roman world, experienced radical changes. To support the Jewish people, or even Jewish customs, was interpreted as not being loyal to Rome. The greater numbers of Gentiles among the congregations began to make a difference as anti-Jewishness began to be popular….

Toward the beginning of the fourth century C.E., Constantine became the Caesar of Rome. In his rise to power, he supposedly became a believer and joined the group now called Christians. In 325 C.E. he called the Council of Nicea, where he gathered the heads of the Christian community from throughout the empire. In this council, however, he purposely left out every Jewish leader. Laws were passed forbidding Jewish believers to circumcise their children, to observe the Jewish festivals or to rear their children as Jews. The Jewish believers were forced to cease being Jewish and to become, in every sense of the word, Gentiles. Pagan festivals such as Easter, lent, Christmas, and Sunday were substituted for the Biblical festivals of G-d.... The faith now was a totally different religion. Greek names, concepts, and religion became Christianity. The faith had been “gentilized.”…

Even the Gospels and the Epistles were gentilized when they were translated into other languages and were given common Gentile names and idiomatic thoughts, causing people to miss the intended Jewishness of those scriptures. 
(Rosh HaShanna and the Messianic Kingdom to Come; By Joseph Good; Hatikvah Ministries, 1989, page iii, 4, 8)

Furthermore in his book Messianic Jewish Manifesto Messianic Jewish writer David Stern writes:

But after Christianity became the state religion of Rome in the early fourth century, many unsaved Gentiles entered the institutional Church.  It grew far larger than the entire Jewish population of the world, became fully Gentilized, regarded the Jews as a vanquished competitor, and had little understanding of Jewish believers who wanted to retain their Jewishness.
(Messianic Jewish Manifesto; By David Stern; Jewish New Testament Publications; Page 54)

As Nephi's vision continues, a bit later the Angel later tells Nephi that this great and abominable church which resulted from this Gentilization of the Church is the great whore:

9 And it came to pass that he said unto me: Look, and behold that great and abominable church, which is the mother of abominations, whose founder is the devil.
10 And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth.
11 And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the whore of all the earth, and she sat upon many waters; and she had dominion over all the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.
12 And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw.
13 And it came to pass that I beheld that the great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God.
(1Nephi 14:9-13 (3:219-229 RLDS))

This is clearly the same woman Yochanan (John) saw recorded in the Book of Revelation:

3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
(Rev. 17:3-5 KJV)

This is made clear just a few verses later where Nephi records:

18 And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, saying: Look!
19 And I looked and beheld a man, and he was dressed in a white robe.
20 And the angel said unto me: Behold one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
21 Behold, he shall see and write the remainder of these things; yea, and also many things which have been.
22 And he shall also write concerning the end of the world.
23 Wherefore, the things which he shall write are just and true; and behold they are written in the book which thou beheld proceeding out of the mouth of the Jew; and at the time they proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew, or, at the time the book proceeded out of the mouth of the Jew, the things which were written were plain and pure, and most precious and easy to the understanding of all men.
24 And behold, the things which this apostle of the Lamb shall write are many things which thou hast seen; and behold, the remainder shalt thou see.
25 But the things which thou shalt see hereafter thou shalt not write; for the Lord God hath ordained the apostle of the Lamb of God that he should write them.
26 And also others who have been, to them hath he shown all things, and they have written them; and they are sealed up to come forth in their purity, according to the truth which is in the Lamb, in the own due time of the Lord, unto the house of Israel.
27 And I, Nephi, heard and bear record, that the name of the apostle of the Lamb was John, according to the word of the angel.
(1Nephi 14:18-27 (3:238-251))

From these verses in 1Nephi 13-14 we learn that the truth went forth from the Jews in purity unto the Gentiles and contained the fulness of the gospel of the Lord, but after it went forth from the Jews to the Gentiles the Gentiles created a great and abominable church, the Great Whore of Babylon and rejected the inherent Jewish roots of the Scriptures.

The great and abominable church was formed through the rejection of Jewish Roots.

Michael Jones