1 Nephi 14

This chapter is a good example of how the Book of Mormon divides things into two extremes. In this case, there are the very righteous and the very wicked. Prior to the second coming, there will be only two churches that are true, one of Christ and one of the devil, and it is the great and abominable church that will be destroyed. The question is, will there be righteous people in other churches at that time? There will be and the prophets have confirmed that. It is the very wicked that will be destroyed.

There is and will be, however, only one true church of Christ. Some people take offense to that and it is understandable why they would. But there cannot be more than one true church. Christ established one true church when he was on the earth and as Paul states in the New Testament, there is "one faith, one hope and one baptism." If you follow the "all roads lead to Rome" idea, it doesn't make sense since people with very different intentions would travel the same road. And if that were the case, there is no real truth, and there is no real evil, and there is no real righteousness.

If Christ is "the way and the truth and the life," he is not going to be saying one thing is true and that another thing that is diametrically opposite is true also. There would be no need for apostles and prophets even Christ's church is "built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets... till we all come in the unity of the faith... and are [no longer] carried about with every wind of doctrine." Either the gospel principles are true or they are not. Either there is a resurrection of the body, or there isn't. The Father and Son have bodies of flesh and bones or they don't. Man is either in the image of God or God is an indefinable spirit that fills the universe but will forever be unseen and unknown. Or to take it to the very basics, either there is a God or there isn't. It can't be both in any of these things. If all of creation is based on one way of being, then God is no different. What I mean is, laws and principles that govern life do not alter. What keeps are heart beating, what keeps plants growing, what keeps atoms moving, what keeps all things in order, does not change. The foundational laws on which life operates do not change according to what man does or does not know.

Whenever a truth is revealed, there will be some who know and some who don't. There will be some who believe and some who don't. That does not alter the truth and changes its existence. What is important to me is that we need to remember that God's love for all is perfect. His mercy extends to all. Eventually, all will have the opportunity to know. He will not condemn those who do not know, and I believe that most will all believe when they have the opportunity to understand and learn. Like Joseph Smith said, there are many righteous on the earth who do not know the truth because they do not know where to find it. I don't believe God will leave them hanging out on the limb only to fall. He loves all, he will make all things right.