small<\/em> are relative. \u00a0Some remain unimpressed, pointing out that many nominal members of the Church are inactive and that we haven\u2019t yet managed to grow to hundreds of millions if not billions. \u00a0(Of course, at a comparable stage of its history \u2014 around AD 215 \u2014 the early Christian church was still relatively insignificant. \u00a0It hadn\u2019t yet become \u201cChristendom.\u201d)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
So the parable of the leaven is also worth a quick look. \u00a0It seems to allow that the Church will remain relatively small, but to predict that it will \u201cleaven\u201d the entire world \u201cloaf,\u201d meaning that it will spread throughout the world.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is consistent with what we actually see today, and with what is predicted in 1 Nephi 14:9-12:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd he said unto me: Behold there are save\u00a0two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the\u00a0other\u00a0is the church of the\u00a0devil; wherefore,\u00a0whoso\u00a0belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the\u00a0whore\u00a0of all the earth.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd it came to pass that I looked and beheld the whore of all the earth, and she sat upon many\u00a0waters; and she had dominion over\u00a0all\u00a0the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were\u00a0few, 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\u00a0all\u00a0the 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.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Matthew 13:31-33 Mark 4:30-32 Compare Luke 13:18-21 \u00a0 The parable of the mustard seed seems to suggest that the Church, though initially dismissed as tiny, insignificant, and irrelevant, will grow to a surprisingly large size. \u00a0And this, of course, seems already to have happened \u2014 not just anciently but in the current dispensation. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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