My Position on the 2016 Presidential Election Part 3: We Need Divine Intervention

God is Really in Control

In Alma 19:22, we read of a miracle that teaches me a profound lesson about life. Ammon has defended King Lamoni’s flocks, the king has had a vision, and Ammon and the king and queen and all the servants have now all become so overcome with joy they literally pass out, carried away into visions and dreams. While they lay on the ground, an angry Laminate approached Ammon to slay him. God removed the man’s spirit and he dropped dead instantly. That, to me, is a perfect example of how God has and can and will protect the righteous. We must remember that while the secret combinations are “in control,” that control is merely granted to them by God because he sustains their lives. He can remove their spirits from their bodies at any time. That would obviously be an incredible blessing to America and the world, but blessings are predicated upon obedience to law and commandments.

Remember, the Lord makes us free. He sustains the life of all people, including the wicked. God can, and has before, miraculously save(d) His people from oppressive governments. The Revolutionary War was filled with miracles. An occasion very similar to Ammon’s experience was when God freed the Israelites, particularly when he removed the spirits of every firstborn in all the families of Egypt. He demonstrated that he can selectively withdraw the lives of individuals on a massive scale without harming a single righteous person. We know from the scriptures that plagues and pestilences and other scourges can exclusively be directed towards and affect just those God intends the scourge for.

In the near future, I will share a post on the topic: God wants to fight our battles. He absolutely loves performing miracles. Until that post comes out, find some confidence in statements like John Taylor’s who said:

[D]o all in your power to maintain religious liberty and free, republican government in these mountains, and to preserve every constitutional right intact, and not to allow, either through supineness or indifference, or any feeling of resentment or indignation because of wrongs inflicted upon you, any right or privilege to be wrested from you…. Then having done this, and everything else in your power to preserve constitutional government and full religious freedom in the land, you can safely trust the Lord for the rest. He has promised to fight your battles….

(An Address to the Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 5-6; also in MFP 2:346)

God has proven this countless times in American history, not to mention world history. I believe that the miracles that He will perform to help us heal America will be nothing short of the grandeur the Israelites experienced as God delivered them from Pharaoh’s oppression.

Get ready for an incredible story told by Bill Federer of The American Minute (It’s worth the read):

In 1731, a Spanish commander cut off the ear of British Captain Robert Jenkins and told him to take it to his King. This began the War of Jenkins’ Ear.

British Admiral Edward Vernon recruited 400 American colonists, including Lawrence Washington, George Washington’s half-brother. They sailed to Panama and captured the port city of Porto Bello. Porto Bello was the most prosperous Spanish city in the New World as all the gold of Central and South America flowed through it to Spain.

British Admiral Edward Vernon also attacked Cartagena, Columbia, but was unable to capture it. Lawrence Washington returned to Virginia as a 25-year-old war hero. Lawrence served in Virginia’s assembly and militia, and named his farm Mount Vernon in honor of Admiral Edward Vernon. After Lawrence died, George, at age 20, inherited Mount Vernon.

In 1742, the War of Austrian Succession began when Marie Theresa became the first woman to take Austria’s throne. This pulled Prussia and France into the war, which combined with the War of Jenkin’s Ear to become King George’s War in America. The threat of war shook colonists out of complacency and contributed to the spread of the Great Awakening Revival. The British took the French city of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, in 1745, which was the third busiest seaport in America, behind Boston and Philadelphia, and was New France’s second most important commercial city after Quebec. France wanted Louisbourg back.

In 1746, French Admiral d’Anville set sail with the most powerful fleet of its day: 73 ships with 800 cannons and 13,000 troops. Admiral d’Anville intended to: “expel the British from Nova Scotia, consign Boston to flames, ravage New England, and waste the British West Indies.” Massachusetts Governor William Shirley declared a Day of Prayer and Fasting, October 16, 1746, to pray for deliverance.Boston citizens gathered in the Old South Meeting House, where Rev. Thomas Prince prayed:

“Send Thy tempest, Lord, upon the water…scatter the ships of our tormentors!”

Historian Catherine Drinker Bowen related that as he finished praying, the sky darkened, winds shrieked and church bells rang “a wild, uneven sound…though no man was in the steeple.” A hurricane scattered the entire French fleet as far as the Caribbean. Lightning struck several ships, igniting gunpowder magazines, causing explosions and fire. With 2,000 dead, including Admiral d’Anville, and 4,000 sick with typhoid, French Vice-Admiral d’Estournelle threw himself on his sword….

Ben Franklin also proposed a General Fast which was approved by Pennsylvania’s Council and published in the Pennsylvania Gazette, December 12, 1747:

“The calamities of a bloody war… seem every year more nearly to approach us… and there is just reason to fear that unless we humble ourselves before the Lord and amend our ways, we may be chastized with yet heavier judgments. We have…thought fit…to appoint…a Day of Fasting & Prayer, exhorting all, both Ministers & People…to join with one accord in the most humble & fervent supplications that Almighty God would mercifully interpose and still the rage of war among the nations & put a stop to the effusion of Christian blood.”

The threat of war was averted, and Philadelphia was spared.

AmericanMinute.com

If God is really in control, then why do we have horrible political leaders in the United States and around the world?

God’s “Will” in the Election

Some religious people, a select few, believe that because God has so much power, His “will” will always become reality. They believe that if someone makes it into office, God put them there. This perspective is ignorant and unfounded in scripture or history. A single example should suffice.

In 1 Samuel 8, Samuel, the prophet, made his sons judges over Israel. Eventually, his sons become corrupt and the local leaders of the people, the elders, ask Samuel to “make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (vs 1-5). Samuel became concerned and went to the Lord. God said, “Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” Samuel went to the people and explained all of the bad things that would happen if they have a king. “Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we may be like all the nations…. And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king” (vs 6-22). Samuel recommended Saul and the people democratically accepted him to be their king. This was not God’s will, but he respected the agency of the people. Samuel later said, “…ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the Lord your God was your king. Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye desired! and behold, the Lord hath set a king over you” (1 Samuel 12:12-13).

As Latter-Day Saints, we know that God has placed people into office before, and that will always happen when the people holding popular sovereignty follow His will. The Founding Fathers are perfect examples of this. In August 1877, President Wilford Woodruff had two “night visions” where the Founding Fathers came to him and earnestly petitioned that he do their temple work. In General Conference, he explained:

[T]hose men who laid the foundation of this American government and signed the Declaration of Independence were the best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth. They were choice spirits, not wicked men. General Washington and all the men that labored for the purpose were inspired of the Lord…. Everyone of those men that signed the Declaration of Independence, with General Washington, called upon me, as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Temple at St. George, two consecutive nights, and demanded at my hands that I should go forth and attend to the ordinances of the House of God for them…. Would those spirits have called up on me, as an Elder in Israel to perform that work if they had not been noble spirits before God? They would not.

(Wilford Woodruff, Conference Report, April 1989, pp. 89-90)

Doctrine and Covenants 101:80 says that God “established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom [He] raised up unto this very purpose.”

How does He “place” people into office if He doesn’t override people’s agency? He inspires people to do what is right–to vote for the very best people. Heck, with how few people vote, He really doesn’t have to inspire very many people, especially locally.

So does God force His will on us? No, and literally countless examples of horrible leaders could be used to obliterate this damning perspective. I feel that such a strong word is perfectly accurate because when people think that God’s way always wins out, all sense of accountability is destroyed. Why vote if it “His ways can’t be frustrated” anyways and “His guy/girl” will make it in? I testify that God’s work and His glory, His mission and His plan, will not fail. That being said, I think we really slow down His work by deviating from His will. His ultimate plans will work despite some of our terrible decisions, or lack of decision. However, in the meantime, poor choices have consequences and our ride becomes as painful as we allow it to be.

But we also know that it DOES matter to God who gets elected. It matters a lot because it affects our unalienable rights to keep His commandments. The entire Plan of Salvation hinges on our agency which can be restricted by both oppressive government and oppressive anarchy.

America: A Promised Land

I believe this land is a covenant land which has received great blessings according to the righteousness of God’s people. I also believe that in the past, when nations have become wicked, especially in America, God has released significant scourges on the wicked. In fact, I’ve noticed that it’s usually by other wicked people that His fallen people are afflicted. I believe that is exactly what is going on right now. God is totally allowing us to be afflicted by wicked people in the government because we haven’t turned back to him. To me, this is hardly about the election at all. It’s about a covenant.

The most oft-repeated message of the Book of Mormon is that when the covenant people on this covenant land obey His commandments, they will prosper in the land. But when they become wicked, they will be cut off. That is by far the most repeated message of the Book of Mormon. It’s almost like Nephi and Mormon and Moroni wanted us to remember something.

“Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12).

We don’t survive when we tolerate wickedness. Those who hold the Melchizedek priesthood have a covenant responsibility to preserve freedom and stand against immorality. David O. McKay said:

If members of the Melchizedek Priesthood allow the U.S. Constitution to be destroyed they not only forfeit their rights to the Priesthood, but to a place in this highest degree of glory as well.

(David O. McKay, The Instructor, Feb. 1956, p.34)

When the ancient Israelites were led out of Egypt, Moses went up to Mt. Sinai where the Lord wrote with His own finger the higher law. Moses brought the law down and about 1/10th to 1% of the people were committing heinous sexual sins, aka “worshipping the golden calf”. That small minority was executed and the rest of the people lost their rights to the Melchizedek Priesthood because they did nothing to prevent that immoral behavior. I believe priesthood holders have a sacred obligation to resist the tendency to submit to what is popular.

The way to be free from bondage in America has always been to serve God. Some agree that while God has this power, they argue that we will never get enough people to save America. Keep reading.

The Constitution Will be Saved

The purported “White Horse Prophecy,” which contains the phrase “hanging by a thread,” is “trash,” according to President Joseph F. Smith, but the Joseph Smith Papers have recently documented that Joseph did in fact prophesy of the condition of the Constitution and nation in our day, and the role “this people” will play in saving it:

Even this nation will be on the verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground; and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin, this people will be the staff upon which the Nation shall lean, and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction.

(The Words of Joseph Smith 416. Joseph Smith Collection, LDS Church Historical Department. Joseph Smith on July 19, 1840)

President Ezra Taft Benson wrote a book called This Nation Shall Endure to help us understand that America will be saved and the role she plays in preparing for the Millennium; she won’t fall. This is the base of the Lord’s operations in the last days. The American dollar tithing donations build and sustain churches and temples around the world. What happens to them if we collapse? The church would disintegrate into pieces and we would not have the means to operate His church. Read his book.

President J. Reuben Clark, the namesake of the BYU Law School, said that we may let America fall to the point where only bloodshed can redeem it (the way it was redeemed during the Revolutionary War), but either way, it will be saved. We are not at that point, so let’s not be so quick to give up. There is still time the cause of freedom is picking up some serious momentum.

Here is a MAJOR principle that I believe in that affects how I approach political involvement: I do not believe America will be in a chaotic political climate, such as the one we are in, when Christ returns. My study of latter-day prophecy in the scriptures and General Conference addresses/words of the prophets and church-endorsed visions of the last days has convinced me that part of preparing for the return of the Bridegroom entails taking some responsibility and cleaning up our own mess, with his help. This is a critical step among many in building Zion. In order to receive his help, we must justify His intervention.

Justifying Heaven’s Intervention

What we really need right now is a miracle. We don’t want to merely slow down the destruction of our nation. We want to reverse it. Latter-day Saints understand that blessings are predicated upon obedience to law. D&C 130:20-21 says, “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” Voting for the lesser of two evils is very much a “slow down the destruction” approach. God’s way is to turn to him, to do exactly as He says, and watch the impossible come to pass.

When neither candidate in the 1844 election showed any signs of being willing to support the saints and protect them against the mobs and state governments, Joseph Smith decided to run for President. Some historians believe that the prophets death was associated with the rapid support he was getting from every state in the country.

In the meantime, William Law and others in Illinois were plotting to take the life of Joseph Smith. Dr. Wall Southwick recounted a meeting he had attended in Carthage, Illinois, wherein the enemies of the Prophet had gathered together from every state in the Union but three. They were concerned that Joseph’s “views on government were widely circulated and took like wildfire.” According to Southwick, they believed that if the Prophet “did not get into the Presidential chair this election, he would be sure to the next time; and if Illinois and Missouri would join together and kill him, they would not be brought to justice for it.” 28 Dr. Southwick’s statement suggests that the Prophet’s presidential campaign was at least a contributing cause for his assassination.

(Arnold K. Garr, “Joseph Smith: Campaign for President of the United States”, lds.org)

I believe that God knew he would not survive to actually serve in office. I even think he knew that. So what was his campaign all about? Perhaps his campaign was to demonstrate how a political MIRACLE can take place when God’s people trust and obey Him.

How many people need to be righteous to save America? How many people could have saved Sodom and Gomorrah? 10. Unfortunately, they could only find four, including Lot. President Gordon B. Hinckley said that it is no small thing that in every major city in the country, and in many small ones, we have a righteous congregation of saints striving to keep the commandments and that this will have a great impact on the prophecies of the land. It is very significant that we have so many temples in the United States, for temple dedicatory prayers change the prophecy of the respective region. Read the dedicatory prayers to learn about God’s plans for that area.

Very few people were actually engaged in the Revolutionary War, whether in the military or social influence. Some estimates I’ve been told were in the range of 3-5% of Americans fought in the revolutionary war and God still intervened on their behalf. We could not have won this war against the most powerful army and navy in the world without God’s help. To me, that says that it’s ok that we are small in numbers. In fact, that’s how God prefers it. I’ll write more in the future on this topic.

As the President of the Lds church, Ezra Taft Benson (who also took a leave of absence as an apostle to serve as a cabinet member, the Secretary of Agriculture, under President Dwight D. Eisenhower) said that in order for us to justify heaven’s intervention on our behalf, we must be doing these 4 things (in this order):

1. Teach others that freedom is a gift from God, not of government. (Our rights come from God and the government exists to protect those rights, which means we don’t have any rights that allow us to sin.)
2. Make quality family life a high priority. (Prepare to raise a family in righteousness and with a quality education. Personally live worthily and righteously.)
3. Study the Constitution from the viewpoint of the Founding Fathers. (I’ll add in “from the viewpoint of God’s prophets.” God also said He raised up the founders for that very purpose and that they created a document so good that, at that time, anything that was more or less than this “cometh of evil”.)
4. Become active and influential in your communities and local politics. (Learn how city, county, and state governments work to figure out where you can make a difference. Also, learn about how to influence school boards. Be a good citizen!)

To continue, Click here to read Part 4 – “Throwing My Vote Away”