Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Do What Is Right!!

Even our inspired hymns proclaim freedom. Not just the patriotic hymns, but others too. Consider the words to the hymn "Do What Is Right"

Do what is right; the day-dawn is breaking,
Hailing a future of freedom and light.
Angels above us are silent notes taking
Of ev’ry action; then do what is right!

Do what is right; let the consequence follow.
Battle for freedom in spirit and might;
And with stout hearts look ye forth till tomorrow.
God will protect you; then do what is right!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Social & Government Chaos

"We are not given the step by step backsliding of this Jaredite civilization till it reached the social and governmental chaos the record sets out, but those steps seem wholly clear from the results. Put into modern terms, we can understand them. First there was a forsaking of the righteous life, and the working of wickedness; then must have come the extortion and oppression of the poor by the rich; then retaliation and reprisal by the poor against the rich; then would come a cry to share the wealth which should belong to all; then the easy belief that society owed every man a living whether he worked or not; then the keeping of a great body of idlers; then when community revenues failed to do this, as they always have failed and always will fail, a self-helping by one to the goods of his neighbor; and finally when the neighbor resisted, as resist he must, or starve with his family, then death to the neighbor and all that belonged to him. This was decreed "fullness of iniquity."
Then came the end; the Jaredites were wiped out in accordance with the everlasting decree of God. A nation had been born; it had grown to maturity; then to a powerful manhood; had then gone on to sin, decay, and destruction, and all because its people had refused to heed the promises and commandments of Him who is their Creator and Father, all because the people who possessed the land had failed to serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ." -J. Reuben Clark, 1940.

"...then he lists with great emphasis the rising costs of government because of armies, doles, public works, expanding bureaucracy, a parasitic court, depreciation of currency, absorption of investment capital by confiscatory taxation. Is there anything suggestive in this summary?" -Ezra Taft Benson, 4/52 Conference Report, on the fall of Rome.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

More on the Constitution

“The Constitution should contain a provision that every officer of the Government who should neglect or refuse to extend the protection guaranteed in the Constitution should be subject to capital punishment; and then the president of the United States would not say, ‘Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you.’” - Joseph Smith, 1844

“There are those who would destroy the Constitution of this land, and there are those who would rejoice if they could overthrow this nation. No loyal member of this great Church will raise his voice against the constitutional law of the land, but he will be found upholding it; he will be found praying for those who make the laws under the Constitution. He will petition his Father in heaven for all those who are chosen from time to time to administer the laws that are calculated to continue unto us our liberty, that they may be wise and just exemplars to the people. Upon you men of Israel—to whom the priesthood of the Holy One has been given—there rests an obligation. You must serve the Lord and keep his commandments. It matters not what others may do, but for you there is only one course, and that is to sustain the Constitution of this great land, and to sustain those influences and powers, whatever they may be, that are calculated to uplift the human family. There should go forth from this great Church an influence intended to leaven the whole lump. George Albert Smith, 1950.

“Next to worshiping God, there is nothing in this world upon which this Church should be more united than in upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States.” - David O. McKay, 1956

Sunday, August 9, 2009

More Church Leaders on the Constitution

I am saying to you that to me the Constitution of the United States of America is just as much from my Heavenly Father as the Ten Commandments. When that is my feeling, I am not going to go very far away from the Constitution, and I am going to try to keep it where the Lord started it, and not let anti-Christs come into this country that began because people wanted to serve God.

-George Albert Smith, General Conference 4/48


To me, that statement of the Lord, "I have established the Constitution of this land," puts the Constitution of the United States in the position in which it would be if it were written in this book of Doctrine and Covenants itself. This makes the Constitution the word of the Lord to us. That it was given, not by oral utterance, but by the operation of his mind and spirit upon the minds of men, inspiring them to the working out of this great document of human government, does not alter its authority.

-J. Reuben Clark, Conference Report 4/35

Monday, August 3, 2009

LDS and Liberal: An Oxymoron

Are you a good LDS person? Are you also a liberal? Consider the following:

"Let us not ally ourselves with bodies of men who would tear down and break in pieces this government, that was founded under the inspiration of God the Eternal Father. We cannot belong to any political party that is opposed to this free government and be consistent Latter-day Saints."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report 4/1914


"We engage in the election the same as in any other principle; you are to vote for good men, and if you do not do this it is a sin; to vote for wicked men, it would be sin. Choose the good and refuse the evil. Men of false principles have preyed upon us like wolves upon helpless lambs. Damn the rod of tyranny; curse it. Let every man use his liberties according to the constitution. Don't fear man or devil; electioneer with all people, male and female, and exhort them to do the thing that is right. We want a President of the U.S., not a party President, but a President of the whole people; for a party President disfranchises the opposite party. Have a President who will maintain every man in his rights."

-Hyrum Smith, 1844