With all the vandalism being done to LDS meeting houses in Utah and in other states, along with all the protests against the LDS church's involvement in the anti-gay marriage effort outside of sacred temples, I couldn't help but think that this has all been done before. Even yesterday's blog alluded to such things. So I went to the Book of Mormon and did some research into the story of Captain Moroni and Zerahemna in Alma 43 and 44.
If you recall the story, the Lamanites had a strong force that was coming to attack and enslave the Nephites. As they came and fought the Nephites they were soon overcome because the Lord supported the righteous cause of the Nephites which was... liberty and freedom of religion.
Starting in Chapter 44:1-6 (copied from the church's website) it says, "Moroni said unto aZerahemnah: Behold, Zerahemnah, that we do bnot desire to be men of blood. Ye know that ye are in our hands, yet we do not desire to slay you.
3 But now, ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold that he has delivered you into our hands. And now I would that ye should understand that this is done unto us abecause of our religion and our faith in Christ. And now ye see that ye cannot destroy this our faith.
4 Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are afaithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.
5 And now, Zerahemnah, I command you, in the name of that all-powerful God, who has strengthened our arms that we have gained power over you, aby our faith, by our religion, and by our brites of worship, and by our church, and by the sacred support which we owe to our cwives and our children, by that dliberty which binds us to our lands and our country; yea, and also by the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness; and by all that is most dear unto us—
6 Yea, and this is not all; I command you by all the desires which ye have for life, that ye adeliver up your weapons of war unto us, and we will seek not your blood, but we will bspare your lives, if ye will go your way and come not again to war against us."
Now I am not sure what you read into this passage, but I was able to make a clear parallel to the situation with the recent "war" over marriage. The saints were called upon to defend the truths and practices that we know to be true from God, not man or government. Such legislation would cause us to loose our freedom of religion as we now currently enjoy it.
I am not seeking to prophecy or anything, but it seems like history is repeating itself and if that is so, there are principles that can be used to show us what is to come; to keep us prepared. As Moroni's story continues there arose Amalickiah who through deception and lies made his way to power. In Chapter 46:8-9, "Thus we see how aquick the children of men do bforget the Lord their God, yea, how quick to do ciniquity, and to be led away by the evil one.
Now I am not sure what you read into this passage, but I was able to make a clear parallel to the situation with the recent "war" over marriage. The saints were called upon to defend the truths and practices that we know to be true from God, not man or government. Such legislation would cause us to loose our freedom of religion as we now currently enjoy it.
I am not seeking to prophecy or anything, but it seems like history is repeating itself and if that is so, there are principles that can be used to show us what is to come; to keep us prepared. As Moroni's story continues there arose Amalickiah who through deception and lies made his way to power. In Chapter 46:8-9, "Thus we see how aquick the children of men do bforget the Lord their God, yea, how quick to do ciniquity, and to be led away by the evil one.
9 Yea, and we also see the great awickedness one very wicked man can cause to take place among the children of men."
Obama is no anti-christ, but there are some similarities to Amalickiah. He is already seeking to legalize abortion, grant the right to homosexual marriage, and tax us into "charity". We have seen a great many members of the church flattered by his words. His cause is the cause of socialism and the destruction of agency; Satan's plan. So is there a parallel? I think so. What does the future hold? If the Book of Mormon can be used as a sign of things to come, there will be a constant and unending set of attacks that we, as a people and as families, must be prepared stand in battle on the side of liberty and freedom. Moroni fought to preserve the cause of freedom and free government to such a degree that some of the followers of Amalickiah were put to death if they did not abandon the ways of oppression and agency ending evil (Alma 46:35). Draw your own conclusions. As for me and my house, I think we need to kick up our "defenses" so as the time comes upon us we are prepared to fight for the cause of truth.
p.s.- (hypothesis) 72 years after these events took place Christ was born.... does that mean in 72 years we can see the second coming?
Obama is no anti-christ, but there are some similarities to Amalickiah. He is already seeking to legalize abortion, grant the right to homosexual marriage, and tax us into "charity". We have seen a great many members of the church flattered by his words. His cause is the cause of socialism and the destruction of agency; Satan's plan. So is there a parallel? I think so. What does the future hold? If the Book of Mormon can be used as a sign of things to come, there will be a constant and unending set of attacks that we, as a people and as families, must be prepared stand in battle on the side of liberty and freedom. Moroni fought to preserve the cause of freedom and free government to such a degree that some of the followers of Amalickiah were put to death if they did not abandon the ways of oppression and agency ending evil (Alma 46:35). Draw your own conclusions. As for me and my house, I think we need to kick up our "defenses" so as the time comes upon us we are prepared to fight for the cause of truth.
p.s.- (hypothesis) 72 years after these events took place Christ was born.... does that mean in 72 years we can see the second coming?
I had a discussion with M. Galt over the battle in the Pre-existence. How can spirits battle and what is the outcome of prevailing in a spiritual battle? I think we need to be careful about discussions of defense to the physical death of our opposition. -GreatWhiteHope-
ReplyDeleteI never defended or endorsed the physical death of anyone. I simply reported what was recorded in the scripture and said, "Draw your own conclusions."
ReplyDeleteThis post was to illustrate the principle of defending our liberties with great vigor and steadfastness. If the opponents of Prop 8. are to be in constant protest we should be willing to stand continually as well.
In like parallel, the adversary never rests, neither should the cause of the righteous.