Throughout 1 Nephi
13, Nephi makes many important distinctions, such as the distinction between
the gospel of the Lamb versus the book of the Lamb. Satan’s false
church first took away “from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are
plain and most precious.” Afterwards, they took away “many plain and precious
things [from] . . . the book of the Lamb.” The corrupted gospel of the
false church causes blindness and stumbling, not the altered book, for
it is still the word of God. 1 Nephi 13 is very precise on many of these points
(1 Nephi 13:27-32). (Michael D. Cook, Nephi’s Journey: The Lord Prepares a
Way [2020], 210 n. 1)
In Nephi’s vision,
the only types of alterations to the Jewish record that are ever mentioned are
removals. This implies that all other types of alterations were introduced in
subsequent compilations and translations, years after the first removals
occurred. Simply removing certain truths was sufficient to cause great
confusion and apostasy. There are many lessons in this. In today’s world,
simply removing certain foundational truths, such as the truths regarding America’s
role in God’s plan, is enough to cause the entire world to stumble in
confusion. (Ibid., 210 n. 2)