Mormon was constrained, by the spirit of prophecy which was in him, to warn them that a miserable and sorrowful state awaits all those who, at that last day, shall preach the Gospel only for money.
He saw that at that time wicked and crafty men would turn preaching the message of Life and Salvation from a duty of love towards Christ to a money-making proposition. To do so is to turn religion into an industrial craft, and that is "priestcraft."
Priestcraft means, not only crafty and wicked ruses to lead the unwary astray, but also the making of religion a profession in which the aim is to obtain worldly honor, gold and silver, and the plaudits of men.
The rejection of the Messiah by the Jews, and their consequent dispersion, are traced to the existence of priestcrafts and the attendant iniquities thereof. By the words, priestcrafts and iniquities we do not merely mean such subtlety as is ascribed to the serpent in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1), or such wickedness as originates in the realm of Lucifer. It has a special meaning which should be carefully noted. To us, it means, the practice of religion for worldly gain and the praise of men.
Not only that, but in doing so, the great and glorious saving truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are bought and sold as common merchandise, and God's sanctuary, a place where we bring our prayers and our praise, and our offerings of homage, is turned into a market-place where all manner of hucksters with raucous voices peddle their wares in the Name of Him Who to us is most holy.
The Lord, knowing the mercenary desires of many men, commanded them that there should be no priestcrafts among them. "For," He said to the early fathers of the Nephites, "behold priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion. Behold, the Lord hath forbidden this thing; wherefore, the Lord God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love. And except they should have charity they were nothing. Wherefore, if they should have charity they would not suffer the laborer in Zion to perish. But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish." (II Nephi 26:29-31)
To those who want to see the contrast complete between the work of the Lord, and the work of priestcrafts, which are the works of the devil, we offer the following Nephite Scriptures. Their substance is this: Our Lord God never does a thing but that which will benefit His children. (III Nephi 16:10-20)
Isaiah, speaking of this same thing, says: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." (Isaiah 55:1-2)
There can be no miracle wrought by Jesus Christ. There are only two churches-the Church of God and the church of the devil. This may seem a hard statement to make, but Jesus Christ is the Founder and Creator of but one. All the opposing ones, with their contending and dissenting factions, form the other. It has become infiltrated with different modes of "priestcraft." Any excuse and every pretext is offered by its founders to apologize for its shortcomings. Even fraud and deception are called in by them to reinforce the claims they make to divine authority. The Church of Christ, otherwise the Church of God, must be founded upon His authority, or under His jurisdiction. All others are vain.
Christ's promise to His followers among the Jews in Jerusalem, and to the Nephites in the new Land of Promise, that these signs shall follow them that believe, "In My Name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover; and whosoever shall believe in My Name, doubting nothing, unto him will I confirm all My words, even unto the ends of the Earth," (Mormon 9:24-25) is now declared to be foolishness, and the followers of the meek and lowly Lamb, victims of their own folly.
In their ignorance and infatuation, priests ordained by men, and preachers of religion, "to get gain" "Deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel; and they say unto the people: Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept; for behold there is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done His work, and He hath left His power unto men; Behold, hearken unto my precept; if they shall say there is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day He is not a God of miracles; He hath done His work." (II Nephi 28:5-6)
There can be no miracle wrought by Jesus Christ, means this: Do not believe in miracles, for now there are no more miracles; God has done His work. In the 19th century, during what is called "the age of enlightenment," certain men who, according to their own notions, were known as rationalists, advocated exactly the same thing. They made human, scientific, knowledge the highest standard of truth. Being unable to explain scientifically what we know as miraculous, they treated the signs Christ promised with disdain, or as myths; either that, or denied them. Rationalism became the wet-nurse of infidelity.
"Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false and vain and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts and shall seek to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark....
O the wise, and the learned, and the rich, that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts, and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms, and pervert the right way of the Lord, wo, wo, wo, be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell." (Ibid., 28:9, 15)
That is exactly what Mormon tells us in the 7th verse of our text. Those who deny that through the power of the Lord God Who is Jesus Christ these gifts, sometimes called signs, shall follow them that believe "shall become like unto the Son of Perdition, for whom there is no mercy." "For they shall be thrust down to hell," as Nephi expresses the thought, has the same meaning as when Mormon says: "shall become like the Son of Perdition."