Earth Day. What are we really focusing on? I'm convinced it's not really about saving the Earth but instead favoring mankind's ego. That is, that in his nothingness he believes he somehow has the power to destroy an entire planet - a world created by the hand of God?! How vain and foolish. The only way the Earth could be destroyed is if God willed it to be. It's that simple.
I love the following scripture in the Pearl of Great Price when Enoch stated:
"And it came to pass that [he] looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof. saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?" (Moses 7:48)
This short verse totally destroys and defeats the entire Green movement. For instance, the earth is pained and weary because of the wickedness of men. I don't ever recall CO2 emissions, greenhouse gases or bovine farts referenced as sins or listed on the Ten Commandments or ever being added to the seven recorded things the Lord hates:
"A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren." (Proverbs 6:32)
Better reread that last verse again just to be sure...nope. No mention of "Global warming," "global climate change," "global climate disruption" or "climate challenges." Recall again that the earth itself asks when it "shall rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me?" In other words, the earth is describing the filthiness upon its face as man himself rather than the ozone layer, sea levels, a lonely polar bear drifting upon a small ice sheet or melting glaciers. To be sure, there is no reference of man's industry ever going forth into the earth only that his wickedness [the things the Lord hates] has gone forth out of it. Again, wickedness never was greenhouse gas. It does not correlate with barometric pressure or temperature value - only to the degree of glory one will inherit after the Day of Judgment. That's it.
Indeed are the "great pollutions" mentioned in scripture really just the by-product of sin - homosexuality, infidelity, domestic abuse in all its forms, etc. It has less to do with car exhaust and more to do with the waste coming from human mouths.
Truly the earth is weary and disgusted with the manner in which its inhabitants are openly forsaking [natural] love and brotherly kindness in favor of warring against each other - neighbor against neighbor, husband against wife, friend against friend or child against parent as if sinning were a contact sport where the end goal is a medal - gold, silver or bronze. There can be no victory in sin, only defeat and submission.
To suggest that we, in our fallen and corruptible states, can disrupt the total physical state of our created planet is to make the claim that we are as capable of dethroning God, for the earth is His footstool and handiwork. But no matter the effort, the created can never destroy the Creator. He may attempt to undermine, reject or ignore Him and His counsel but, like the infamous Tower of Babel, he will invariably fall.
So in honor of Earth day, we ought to instead offer prayers of thanksgiving to God for this beautiful world we call home and not take it or Him for granted. We are truly nothing without Him and by comparison as insignificant when standing before the great sea or on a lofty mountain top.
In closing, I have always loved the Prologue to Michael Crichton's classic novel, Jurassic Park, where he describes the vanity of man and his foolishness to suggest that only he can destroy the planet. This fantastic excerpt was once read by the late Charlton Heston, a real patriot and conservationist of liberty and truth. And while there are some evolutionary components and significant dates mentioned which I do not support, the underlying message is still there and spot on. Here it is:
"You think man can destroy the planet? What intoxicating vanity. Let me tell you about our planet. Earth is four-and-a-half-billion-years-old. There's been life on it for nearly that long, 3.8 billion years. Bacteria first; later the first multicellular life, then the first complex creatures in the sea, on the land. Then finally the great sweeping ages of animals, the amphibians, the dinosaurs, at last the mammals, each one enduring millions on millions of years, great dynasties of creatures rising, flourishing, dying away -- all this against a background of continuous and violent upheaval. Mountain ranges thrust up, eroded away, cometary impacts, volcano eruptions, oceans rising and falling, whole continents moving, an endless, constant, violent change, colliding, buckling to make mountains over millions of years.
Earth has survived everything in its time. It will certainly survive us. If all the nuclear weapons in the world went off at once and all the plants, all the animals died and the earth was sizzling hot for a hundred thousand years, life would survive, somewhere: under the soil, frozen in Arctic ice. Sooner or later, when the planet was no longer inhospitable, life would spread again. The evolutionary process would begin again. It might take a few billion years for life to regain its present variety. Of course, it would be very different from what it is now, but the earth would survive our folly, only we would not. If the ozone layer gets thinner, ultraviolet radiation sears the earth, so what? Ultraviolet radiation is good for life. It's powerful energy. It promotes mutation, change. Many forms of life will thrive with more UV radiation. Many others will die out.
Do you think this is the first time that's happened? Think about oxygen. Necessary for life now, but oxygen is actually a metabolic poison, a corrosive gas, like fluorine. When oxygen was first produced as a waste product by certain plant cells some three billion years ago, it created a crisis for all other life on earth. Those plants were polluting the environment, exhaling a lethal gas. Earth eventually had an atmosphere incompatible with life. Nevertheless, life on earth took care of itself. In the thinking of the human being a hundred years is a long time. A hundred years ago we didn't have cars, airplanes, computers or vaccines. It was a whole different world, but to the earth, a hundred years is nothing. A million years is nothing. This planet lives and breathes on a much vaster scale.
We can't imagine its slow and powerful rhythms, and we haven't got the humility to try. We've been residents here for the blink of an eye. If we're gone tomorrow, the earth will not miss us."
Only by humbling ourselves in prayer can we begin to heal. For the Lord has spoken it.
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Long live the fighters
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
It is written...
The scriptures warn us that in the last days men's hearts shall in one way or another "wax cold," "fail them," or become "gross." And given the current state of things, one might as well say that the earth [or man] has already been falling from orbit away from the sun [God] and its [His] life-giving properties; going spiritless and unfeeling the farther it moves from its appointed center.
Evidence for such growing apathy comes from all those who cry foul and offense at every mention of God and His holy commandments. As a result of this, there are more hate crimes, political corruption, family dissolution, and global unrest. Even more, a person may with greater readiness reference ten celebrities and their current relationship status than the Ten Commandments and his or her standing with the Lord.
To describe this dramatic downturn from God even further, the gospel of Matthew states, with reference to the unbeliever or denier, that "their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." (Matthew 13:15)
What a joy it is to have the scriptures laid before us for our profit and learning! Truly did the prophets see our day and know of our doings. To deny their words of warning is to deny gravity while falling. At the same time, ignoring prophetic caution is like going to search for seashells during a tsunami - futile, irresponsible, reckless. And the only souvenir to be uncovered after such an event will be the cold and listless corpse of a life that could have been.
"Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown." (Rev 3:11) In other words, don't ever let go of your convictions and renounce your core beliefs because the only thing left to feel when all else has been forsaken or compromised is the hard ground itself. Surely, the words of Christ can help us discern truth from error and delineate the appropriate counter-offensive to those who find fault with Him and His eternal laws.
It is interesting to note that in scripture God and truth are always associated with light while falsehood and evil depicted by darkness.
"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." (1 John 1:5-6)
"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (John 3:19)
The world is increasingly changing and moving down a path as steep and foreboding as Dante's descent through the nine circles of hell, appearing to linger at the 6th circle - heresy - in an act of calculated division and dissidence from God. Like the prophets of old, namely Ether and Mormon, I am left to observe and to mourn the flagrant and open rejection of God and His commandments in a world once again gone flat. One cannot turn on the news today without hearing some mention of God and his being legislated out of existence, as if eternity could have an end! Such vanity is as foolish as it is appalling. Only a people devoid of light and discernment could attempt such an indiscretion and then have the audacity to call the honest believer a "Bible thumper."
In a recent interview, Fox News host, Bill O'Reilly, commented that those who "thump" their Bibles only do so to back up their position on a matter. He went on to say that an attempt to reference or cite the Bible on a policy matter is a "sure lose." Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
The only sure defeat here is in how dry our nation's spiritual well has become - not by ignorance, but from silence. Without sufficient faith, the Liahona for our nation is ceasing to work, leaving us hapless victims of a current whose final end is the vertical drop of Niagara Falls - the boundary line between life and death.
Again, it is precisely because we choose not to call upon scripture in defense of truth and 'policy' that we have as many problems as we do. There ought to be no dividing line between the spiritual and the temporal. None. Particularly in places of government. A brief review of the Nephite nation would show that their demise came about as a result of a refusal to recognize that correct principles of law are given to man by God through prophets; and that such a commitment is to be founded upon a spiritual foundation with the Gospel of Christ as the chief cornerstone. This is why, even in war, they chose as generals men who had the gift of prophecy and revelation knowing by experience that God would deliver them from their enemies insofar as they put their trust and faith in Him.
Ironically, the airy argument of today's 'whited sepulchres' who cry separation of Church and State in the name of freedom is not mentioned once in the Constitution; and there are far too many quotes from our Founders about God, morality, and the holy scriptures to suggest otherwise.
And of greatest solidity today are the scriptures themselves for they are a sure support on which "hang all the laws and the prophets." Without them, we are like a nation without borders or a home without walls, more easily influenced by the world and its false influences by which our first principles pass to opinion, our inalienable rights made provisional, and morality itself becoming relative. So exposed there can be little hope for rescue or protection when the last thing on a person's mind is meekness.
For reference, here's just a small sample of some of the radical views from our radical Founding Fathers on the role of Christianity in public and private life. (Be forewarned - discretion is advised as the following remarks may be too extreme and revolutionary as the new Army Training Manual on Religious Extremism so stupidly illustrated - including Catholicism and Evangelical Christianity on the same list as Al-Qaeda and Hamas):
"Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited....What a Eutopia - what a Paradise would this region be! (John Adams)
"The great, vital, and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." (Congress, 1854)
"[Governments] could not give the rights essential to happiness... We claim them from a higher source: from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth." (John Dickinson)
"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and His morals and His religion as He left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see." (Benjamin Franklin)
"Being a Christian...is a character which I prize far above all this world has or can boast." "The Bible...is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed." (Patrick Henry)
"[I]...am endeavoring...to attend to my own duty only as a Christian....let us take care that our Christianity, though put to the test...be not shaken, and that our love for things good wax not cold." (William Samuel Johnson)
"A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest, while we are building ideal monuments of renown and bliss here, we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven." (James Madison)
"The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend all to the happiness of man." (Thomas Jefferson)
"Bibles are strong protections. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses and at the same time enjoy quiet conscience." (James McHenry)
"The Gospel of Jesus Christ prescribes the wisest rules for just conduct in every situation of life. Happy they who are enabled to obey them in all situations!" (Benjamin Rush)
"All the...evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible." (Noah Webster)
"You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are." (George Washington)
If you are still reading this then you have not been offended by the truth and possess enough sense still to call good good and evil evil. So many have it backwards, as Isaiah once pointed out when he said:
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter." (Isaiah 5:20)
Hard as they may try, the judges and political leaders of today could never reach the iconic stature of the above quoted founding fathers - ever. These men were giants in ways both intellectual and spiritual with the latter carrying more weight and influence in its effect on the mind of the former.
There is no amount of alteration, modification, or variation of God's commandments that could ever be permitted or surpassed by man as His laws are eternal and set. To suggest we can do better is to argue that a toothpick can do a better job of pounding a nail than a hammer.
As previously stated, the real problem in the world today is that people are not "thumping" their Bibles, or voicing their righteous passions, enough. Instead do they pound in rhythm to the cold and unfeeling sound of the arm of flesh whereby all things soon canker and rust rather than shine and gleam like Moses' face while atop Sinai. Such is the countenance of he who puts his trust in Virtue's arm - marching in step to the stirring sound of a trumpet that waxes louder and louder until we, like Moses, can speak and have God answer us "with a voice." (Exodus 19:19)
In a prosperous nation, both materially and spiritually, secular reform begins with spiritual reform - in that order. Far removed from this formula for success, the now disordered USofA, increasingly bereft of its spiritual moorings is paying over 16 trillion dollars for it and dooming the rising generation to a future of government control and poverty.
Furthermore, many self-proclaimed Christians and conservatives have not mastered their own beliefs which is why we continue to elect amoral people to positions of power. Many have a cerebral knowledge of God, freedom, and self-evident truth but fail to live up to Him [them] in word and deed. In short, they draw near to Him with their lips but their hearts are far from him. Hence, the issue of today is not so much an intellectual or political debate as it is a spiritual one; for without the latter we can never hope to judge righteously and discern between the good and bad much as Solomon did as king.
The prophet Alma himself concentrated on spiritual reform as the basis for social reform because "the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just - yeah, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them." (Alma 31:5)
In truth, man cannot prosper against God. Ever. Either he will be compelled to be brought low through sorrow and regret or else he will be a hedonist, acting on his passions and lusts rather than logic and truth.
The apostles of old did not fear men, only God. Said they to the pompous Jews who reprimanded them for not ceasing to speak in Jesus' name, "we ought to obey God rather than man."(Acts 5:29) Then, after being let go and commanded once more to not speak in the name of Jesus, they departed, only to teach and preach Jesus Christ - daily - in the temple and every house. (v. 40-42)
These were true disciples of Jesus who were not ashamed or frightened by the demands of men but by God Himself, in whom, through baptism, were placed under covenant to "stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death." (Mosiah 18:9)
Elder Bruce R. McConkie expounded upon this when he said:
"To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to take the Lord's side on every issue. It is to vote as he would vote. It is to think what he thinks, to believe what he believes, to say what he would say and do what he would do in the same situation. It is to have the mind of Christ and be one with him as he is one with his Father."
To not be one with Christ is to be one with the devil. There is no room to stand on the line between good and evil - you either pledge yourself to one or the other. Like the stand at Concord Bridge in 1775, we can all imagine if the defenders of liberty preferred to jump rather than fight - replacing gunfire with the sound of water - "the splash heard round the world." Fortunately, the Minutemen were bound for something greater as they believed in something [and some One] greater than themselves and were willing to die for that divinely appointed purpose. Their objective was in reaching the other side, not in holding down the middle.
"Many men in this life, men of position, power, wealth and opportunity, are - merely drifting. They are not victors of their course but - victims of the current. They live but have no definite purpose in living. There is hardly any peril of the sea more dreaded by mariners than a - derelict. It carries no lights on bow or stern, no passengers, no rudder, no pilot, no crew. It is bound nowhere, carrying no cargo, to no port. Helpless in itself it is a menace to all others. Human derelicts are those ignored as hopeless by others, but they were first deserted by themselves. Lack of definite real purpose is the royal road to drifting, desertion, and derelict." (William George Jordan)
Truly, you can't beat something with nothing - especially if you are nothing. The only thing that can defeat a bad idea is a good idea and Christianity has the best ones. We have the scriptures laid before us. We have to fight something evil with something good and the only good counter-offensive is scripture. If we truly believe but then, like Peter did toward Jesus, deny such self-evident truths out of fear of reprisal, shame, or ridicule, then, like Ananias and Sapphira, who "kept back part of their price," or honor, we will "fall straightway" into the ninth circle - treachery and shame.
As true disciples of Jesus, we must put Him on as a profession and always "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you [we] have been called" in thought, word, and deed. (Ephesians 4:1)
As a counter-offensive, we need to bring the unbelieving, as the scriptures say, "hail for rain" when defending the truth since the rainbow can only appear after the storm and that peace from God Himself (Psalm 105:32) Thus, as the Prophet Joseph Smith solemnly declared:
"...it is an imperative duty that we owe to all the rising generation...that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven - these should then be attended to with great earnestness." (Doctrine and Covenants 123: 11,13-14)
Wickedness never was happiness and the prophets of old, like Alma, would not have renounced their positions of power and influence unless they felt it necessary to "waste and wear out their own lives" and reputations to call people unto repentance.
"Unity is power; and when I reflect on the importance of it to the stability of all governments, I am astounded at the silly moves of persons and parties to foment discord in order to ride into power on the current of popular excitement; nor am I less surprised at the stretches of power or restrictions of right which too often appear as acts of legislators to pave the way to some favorite political scheme as destitute of intrinsic merit as a wolf's heart is of the milk of human kindness. A Frenchman would say, 'Presque tout aimer richesses et pouvoir.' "(Almost all men like wealth and power.) -Joseph Smith
Once more, secular reform first begins with spiritual reform and the latter can only bring about the former when a majority of good people hold fast to their convictions instead of letting them go.
May we not, as the old adage declares, "die with our music still in us." But rather, to cheerfully "waste and wear out our lives" as Joseph Smith said in "making popular that which is sound and good and unpopular that which is unsound" - reclaiming the fallen not by force but by "bearing down in pure testimony against them." (Alma 4:19)
On this same note, C. S. Lewis once held a theory that there is no such thing today as a fair argument. He claimed that "there is no right or wrong anymore. Rather, in any disagreement, there is one side that is popular [Progressivism], and another side that is unpopular [Christianity]. The side that is unpopular has the burden of proof, and must argue with perfect clarity [citing scripture]. The side that is popular - whether it is right or wrong - is best served by arguing with platitudes and rhetorical tricks [the craftiness of man]. The only way they could possibly lose is actually have a fair argument, therefore a fair argument should be avoided at all costs." Surely, when handed God's word, all one can really do is tremble.
Note how the high priests could only pierce Jesus with nails while His words of truth [or knowledge of scripture] pierced their very core.
"And they were astonished at his doctrine: for His word was with power." (Luke 4:32)
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)
President Wilford Woodruff recalled the following words of the Prophet Joseph Smith: "The world is full of darkness. Sin and wickedness is overwhelming the world as the waters cover the great deep. The devil rules over the world in great measure. The world will war against you; the devil will, earth will, and hell will. But...you must preach the Gospel, do your duty, and the Lord will stand by you. Earth and hell shall not prevail against you."
Like the hymn, Hope of Israel, we have a war-cry, to "Watch and Pray" [and then to 'Speak' up and out] in the same way Jesus triumphantly overcame the temptations of Satan - each one with scripture and with the leading phrase, "It is written."
The Psalmist once wrote:
"Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?" (Psalms 94:3-4)
Fitting in response are the words of a faithful general, who, while serving Christianity and his own dear country facing final destruction, with forces reduced and his fortress burning - faithfully, immovably, and with a serene face turns to his knightly sons to exclaim:
"We, moreover, must fight not for any trivial reason
But for our beloved Christian homeland,
For our Lord, for our wives, for our children,
For our honor and our lives...
Since, because of the fire, we cannot stay here,
As soon as God allows us to see the dawning,
So, in all of our conversations, confrontations, and debates may we with great pride "thump our Bibles" in support of the many prophets and martyrs who gave their all for the sake of truth and honor and who, like Jesus, successfully resisted public opinion and temptation with the razing retort:
"It is written..."
Long live the fighters
Evidence for such growing apathy comes from all those who cry foul and offense at every mention of God and His holy commandments. As a result of this, there are more hate crimes, political corruption, family dissolution, and global unrest. Even more, a person may with greater readiness reference ten celebrities and their current relationship status than the Ten Commandments and his or her standing with the Lord.
To describe this dramatic downturn from God even further, the gospel of Matthew states, with reference to the unbeliever or denier, that "their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." (Matthew 13:15)
What a joy it is to have the scriptures laid before us for our profit and learning! Truly did the prophets see our day and know of our doings. To deny their words of warning is to deny gravity while falling. At the same time, ignoring prophetic caution is like going to search for seashells during a tsunami - futile, irresponsible, reckless. And the only souvenir to be uncovered after such an event will be the cold and listless corpse of a life that could have been.
"Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown." (Rev 3:11) In other words, don't ever let go of your convictions and renounce your core beliefs because the only thing left to feel when all else has been forsaken or compromised is the hard ground itself. Surely, the words of Christ can help us discern truth from error and delineate the appropriate counter-offensive to those who find fault with Him and His eternal laws.
It is interesting to note that in scripture God and truth are always associated with light while falsehood and evil depicted by darkness.
"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." (1 John 1:5-6)
"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (John 3:19)
The world is increasingly changing and moving down a path as steep and foreboding as Dante's descent through the nine circles of hell, appearing to linger at the 6th circle - heresy - in an act of calculated division and dissidence from God. Like the prophets of old, namely Ether and Mormon, I am left to observe and to mourn the flagrant and open rejection of God and His commandments in a world once again gone flat. One cannot turn on the news today without hearing some mention of God and his being legislated out of existence, as if eternity could have an end! Such vanity is as foolish as it is appalling. Only a people devoid of light and discernment could attempt such an indiscretion and then have the audacity to call the honest believer a "Bible thumper."
In a recent interview, Fox News host, Bill O'Reilly, commented that those who "thump" their Bibles only do so to back up their position on a matter. He went on to say that an attempt to reference or cite the Bible on a policy matter is a "sure lose." Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
The only sure defeat here is in how dry our nation's spiritual well has become - not by ignorance, but from silence. Without sufficient faith, the Liahona for our nation is ceasing to work, leaving us hapless victims of a current whose final end is the vertical drop of Niagara Falls - the boundary line between life and death.
Again, it is precisely because we choose not to call upon scripture in defense of truth and 'policy' that we have as many problems as we do. There ought to be no dividing line between the spiritual and the temporal. None. Particularly in places of government. A brief review of the Nephite nation would show that their demise came about as a result of a refusal to recognize that correct principles of law are given to man by God through prophets; and that such a commitment is to be founded upon a spiritual foundation with the Gospel of Christ as the chief cornerstone. This is why, even in war, they chose as generals men who had the gift of prophecy and revelation knowing by experience that God would deliver them from their enemies insofar as they put their trust and faith in Him.
Ironically, the airy argument of today's 'whited sepulchres' who cry separation of Church and State in the name of freedom is not mentioned once in the Constitution; and there are far too many quotes from our Founders about God, morality, and the holy scriptures to suggest otherwise.
And of greatest solidity today are the scriptures themselves for they are a sure support on which "hang all the laws and the prophets." Without them, we are like a nation without borders or a home without walls, more easily influenced by the world and its false influences by which our first principles pass to opinion, our inalienable rights made provisional, and morality itself becoming relative. So exposed there can be little hope for rescue or protection when the last thing on a person's mind is meekness.
For reference, here's just a small sample of some of the radical views from our radical Founding Fathers on the role of Christianity in public and private life. (Be forewarned - discretion is advised as the following remarks may be too extreme and revolutionary as the new Army Training Manual on Religious Extremism so stupidly illustrated - including Catholicism and Evangelical Christianity on the same list as Al-Qaeda and Hamas):
"Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited....What a Eutopia - what a Paradise would this region be! (John Adams)
"The great, vital, and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." (Congress, 1854)
"[Governments] could not give the rights essential to happiness... We claim them from a higher source: from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth." (John Dickinson)
"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and His morals and His religion as He left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see." (Benjamin Franklin)
"Being a Christian...is a character which I prize far above all this world has or can boast." "The Bible...is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed." (Patrick Henry)
"[I]...am endeavoring...to attend to my own duty only as a Christian....let us take care that our Christianity, though put to the test...be not shaken, and that our love for things good wax not cold." (William Samuel Johnson)
"A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest, while we are building ideal monuments of renown and bliss here, we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven." (James Madison)
"The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend all to the happiness of man." (Thomas Jefferson)
"Bibles are strong protections. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses and at the same time enjoy quiet conscience." (James McHenry)
"The Gospel of Jesus Christ prescribes the wisest rules for just conduct in every situation of life. Happy they who are enabled to obey them in all situations!" (Benjamin Rush)
"All the...evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible." (Noah Webster)
"You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are." (George Washington)
If you are still reading this then you have not been offended by the truth and possess enough sense still to call good good and evil evil. So many have it backwards, as Isaiah once pointed out when he said:
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter." (Isaiah 5:20)
Hard as they may try, the judges and political leaders of today could never reach the iconic stature of the above quoted founding fathers - ever. These men were giants in ways both intellectual and spiritual with the latter carrying more weight and influence in its effect on the mind of the former.
There is no amount of alteration, modification, or variation of God's commandments that could ever be permitted or surpassed by man as His laws are eternal and set. To suggest we can do better is to argue that a toothpick can do a better job of pounding a nail than a hammer.
As previously stated, the real problem in the world today is that people are not "thumping" their Bibles, or voicing their righteous passions, enough. Instead do they pound in rhythm to the cold and unfeeling sound of the arm of flesh whereby all things soon canker and rust rather than shine and gleam like Moses' face while atop Sinai. Such is the countenance of he who puts his trust in Virtue's arm - marching in step to the stirring sound of a trumpet that waxes louder and louder until we, like Moses, can speak and have God answer us "with a voice." (Exodus 19:19)
In a prosperous nation, both materially and spiritually, secular reform begins with spiritual reform - in that order. Far removed from this formula for success, the now disordered USofA, increasingly bereft of its spiritual moorings is paying over 16 trillion dollars for it and dooming the rising generation to a future of government control and poverty.
Furthermore, many self-proclaimed Christians and conservatives have not mastered their own beliefs which is why we continue to elect amoral people to positions of power. Many have a cerebral knowledge of God, freedom, and self-evident truth but fail to live up to Him [them] in word and deed. In short, they draw near to Him with their lips but their hearts are far from him. Hence, the issue of today is not so much an intellectual or political debate as it is a spiritual one; for without the latter we can never hope to judge righteously and discern between the good and bad much as Solomon did as king.
The prophet Alma himself concentrated on spiritual reform as the basis for social reform because "the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just - yeah, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them." (Alma 31:5)
"When personal righteousness and example were not sufficient to stem the tide of moral deterioration, two judges, both also prophets, resigned the judgment seat and spent the remainder of their lives preaching the gospel. Both did so under conditions of great spiritual apostasy and economic and political breakdown, when personal pride and spiritual corruption had combined to lead the people to choose iniquity." (James R. Moss, Six Nephite Judges: A Study in Integrity, Ensign, Sept. 1977)
It begs the thought then that in times of spiritual and moral famine just how many of today's politicians would gladly give up their "uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues" in favor of preaching God's word - and for the rest of their lives! (Matthew 23:6)
As a people, when wickedness, greed, and control become the goals, all is lost. We then become a nation of 'saws' and 'rods' shaking before the very One who wields us and gives us purpose. (2 Nephi 20:15)In truth, man cannot prosper against God. Ever. Either he will be compelled to be brought low through sorrow and regret or else he will be a hedonist, acting on his passions and lusts rather than logic and truth.
The apostles of old did not fear men, only God. Said they to the pompous Jews who reprimanded them for not ceasing to speak in Jesus' name, "we ought to obey God rather than man."(Acts 5:29) Then, after being let go and commanded once more to not speak in the name of Jesus, they departed, only to teach and preach Jesus Christ - daily - in the temple and every house. (v. 40-42)
These were true disciples of Jesus who were not ashamed or frightened by the demands of men but by God Himself, in whom, through baptism, were placed under covenant to "stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death." (Mosiah 18:9)
Elder Bruce R. McConkie expounded upon this when he said:
"To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to take the Lord's side on every issue. It is to vote as he would vote. It is to think what he thinks, to believe what he believes, to say what he would say and do what he would do in the same situation. It is to have the mind of Christ and be one with him as he is one with his Father."
To not be one with Christ is to be one with the devil. There is no room to stand on the line between good and evil - you either pledge yourself to one or the other. Like the stand at Concord Bridge in 1775, we can all imagine if the defenders of liberty preferred to jump rather than fight - replacing gunfire with the sound of water - "the splash heard round the world." Fortunately, the Minutemen were bound for something greater as they believed in something [and some One] greater than themselves and were willing to die for that divinely appointed purpose. Their objective was in reaching the other side, not in holding down the middle.
"Many men in this life, men of position, power, wealth and opportunity, are - merely drifting. They are not victors of their course but - victims of the current. They live but have no definite purpose in living. There is hardly any peril of the sea more dreaded by mariners than a - derelict. It carries no lights on bow or stern, no passengers, no rudder, no pilot, no crew. It is bound nowhere, carrying no cargo, to no port. Helpless in itself it is a menace to all others. Human derelicts are those ignored as hopeless by others, but they were first deserted by themselves. Lack of definite real purpose is the royal road to drifting, desertion, and derelict." (William George Jordan)
Truly, you can't beat something with nothing - especially if you are nothing. The only thing that can defeat a bad idea is a good idea and Christianity has the best ones. We have the scriptures laid before us. We have to fight something evil with something good and the only good counter-offensive is scripture. If we truly believe but then, like Peter did toward Jesus, deny such self-evident truths out of fear of reprisal, shame, or ridicule, then, like Ananias and Sapphira, who "kept back part of their price," or honor, we will "fall straightway" into the ninth circle - treachery and shame.
Someone has said, "If a soldier or marine runs away, send him his wages, with this instruction, that his country will never trust him again; he has forfeited his honor."
As a counter-offensive, we need to bring the unbelieving, as the scriptures say, "hail for rain" when defending the truth since the rainbow can only appear after the storm and that peace from God Himself (Psalm 105:32) Thus, as the Prophet Joseph Smith solemnly declared:
"...it is an imperative duty that we owe to all the rising generation...that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven - these should then be attended to with great earnestness." (Doctrine and Covenants 123: 11,13-14)
Wickedness never was happiness and the prophets of old, like Alma, would not have renounced their positions of power and influence unless they felt it necessary to "waste and wear out their own lives" and reputations to call people unto repentance.
"Unity is power; and when I reflect on the importance of it to the stability of all governments, I am astounded at the silly moves of persons and parties to foment discord in order to ride into power on the current of popular excitement; nor am I less surprised at the stretches of power or restrictions of right which too often appear as acts of legislators to pave the way to some favorite political scheme as destitute of intrinsic merit as a wolf's heart is of the milk of human kindness. A Frenchman would say, 'Presque tout aimer richesses et pouvoir.' "(Almost all men like wealth and power.) -Joseph Smith
Once more, secular reform first begins with spiritual reform and the latter can only bring about the former when a majority of good people hold fast to their convictions instead of letting them go.
May we not, as the old adage declares, "die with our music still in us." But rather, to cheerfully "waste and wear out our lives" as Joseph Smith said in "making popular that which is sound and good and unpopular that which is unsound" - reclaiming the fallen not by force but by "bearing down in pure testimony against them." (Alma 4:19)
On this same note, C. S. Lewis once held a theory that there is no such thing today as a fair argument. He claimed that "there is no right or wrong anymore. Rather, in any disagreement, there is one side that is popular [Progressivism], and another side that is unpopular [Christianity]. The side that is unpopular has the burden of proof, and must argue with perfect clarity [citing scripture]. The side that is popular - whether it is right or wrong - is best served by arguing with platitudes and rhetorical tricks [the craftiness of man]. The only way they could possibly lose is actually have a fair argument, therefore a fair argument should be avoided at all costs." Surely, when handed God's word, all one can really do is tremble.
Note how the high priests could only pierce Jesus with nails while His words of truth [or knowledge of scripture] pierced their very core.
"And they were astonished at his doctrine: for His word was with power." (Luke 4:32)
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)
President Wilford Woodruff recalled the following words of the Prophet Joseph Smith: "The world is full of darkness. Sin and wickedness is overwhelming the world as the waters cover the great deep. The devil rules over the world in great measure. The world will war against you; the devil will, earth will, and hell will. But...you must preach the Gospel, do your duty, and the Lord will stand by you. Earth and hell shall not prevail against you."
Like the hymn, Hope of Israel, we have a war-cry, to "Watch and Pray" [and then to 'Speak' up and out] in the same way Jesus triumphantly overcame the temptations of Satan - each one with scripture and with the leading phrase, "It is written."
We must bid Babylon farewell but not keep our backs turned against it for the devil is a dirty and desperate fighter and loves hearing nothing more than the exclamation: "All is well." Eternal vigilance is our mandate and to lie down and sleep while on duty only advances his wicked purposes.
We are the Militia Christi, suppressors of the insurgents of God, and ought to look, sound, and act like it, "at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death." (Mosiah 18:9)
The Psalmist once wrote:
"Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?" (Psalms 94:3-4)
Fitting in response are the words of a faithful general, who, while serving Christianity and his own dear country facing final destruction, with forces reduced and his fortress burning - faithfully, immovably, and with a serene face turns to his knightly sons to exclaim:
"We, moreover, must fight not for any trivial reason
But for our beloved Christian homeland,
For our Lord, for our wives, for our children,
For our honor and our lives...
Since, because of the fire, we cannot stay here,
As soon as God allows us to see the dawning,
We will go out of the castle, and will there show
That those whom we were in life, we are the same now."
(Miklos Zrinyi, Battle of Szigetvar)
So, in all of our conversations, confrontations, and debates may we with great pride "thump our Bibles" in support of the many prophets and martyrs who gave their all for the sake of truth and honor and who, like Jesus, successfully resisted public opinion and temptation with the razing retort:
"It is written..."
Long live the fighters
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