Speaking about learning…
With this weekends 4th of July awareness came a lesson in church on Sunday [Rejection-day]. I learned that our forefathers appeared to the St. George Temple president requesting their temple work be done right here in the St. George Temple a little over a hundred years after they signed the Declaration of independence. How cool is that!
I also heard a quote from Thomas Jefferson in 1820 in which he declared that someday soon God’s church would be restored to the earth the way Christ established it when He lived here. For those of you who are unaware or have forgotten, that was the same year God and Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith for the first time. I’ll research the quote and it posted.
One of the biggest hypocrisies I have witnessed in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been the members unwillingness to sustain and uphold their respective constitutions, or their nonacceptance of the fact that we have actual written commandment from God to do so. You cannot be a member of God’ true church and not support and defend your supreme law of the land, which is constitutional.
In a Constitutional Republic, it is vital for Church members to require our representatives and agents and their delegates to adhere to the strict limits that have been placed upon them. We are even justified in the eyes God in any and all means necessary to do so.
During the church lesson, we were asked what are some of the things we can do to sustain and uphold our constitution. I answered that for starters we should read it. Although everyone thought that was a good answer, I, myself, doubt that they had a full understanding of what I meant.
Most people claim to have read the Constitution, but few ever have. Instead, they form opinions about what it means. Many times I have been in discussion with just such a person. None of them ever understood the importance of the constitution. They are either too centered on the bill of rights and the assumption that those rights are granted by the Constitution and that government is sovereign, or they believe the Constitution, as the supreme law of the land, is the law citizens are required to follow.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. The first thing people think when they read the Constitution, is “oh”. They are surprised to discover that Article 1 Section 8 is a list of the only powers the government has. Often, out of confusion, they assume those simple, straightforward, English words mean something other than what they say or that they are just too uneducated to understand it. After all, the current government is doing a whole lot more than what they are supposed to be doing.
By commandment, LDS are required to do any and everything to enforce these laws. If you can’t accept the words of recent prophets like Ezra Taft Benson who maintained eternal vigilance and wrote several pamphlets concerning government, there is written commandments from God Himself in the Doctrine and Covenants. The entire Book of Mormon itself is a testimony of the importance of liberty and our decision to stand up against controlling governments.
The Book of Mormon is the single strongest anti-control book on Earth. Over and Over again the Lamanites sought to control the Nephites. Over and Over again the Nephites fought to protect their liberty from control seeking governments. Time and time again, their vigilance fell slack and oppression reared up in there civilization. Just as it has today in America and other Republics around the world.
Joseph Smith considered himself the greatest constitutionalist in the world. He taught us that one day the constitution would hang by thread and that Elders of Israel would save it from utter destruction. Well, that time is now.
Whether it’s local government, or state, or federal, our representatives and agents and their delegates are overstepping their authorities and assuming more power than the constitutions allow. It is our responsibility to rein in on what has become an uncontrolled government. Recalls should be issued. Charges should be brought against them. The truth should be taught. The law should be upheld. We are justified in doing so. We are required by commandment to do so.
