**These are my words and though influenced by the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ throughout my life, I am to be held accountable for every word.
Our history is made of constant conflict, of constant war
and never ending deceit to bring down the children of God.
In a first presidency address given by President Gordon B.
Hinckley, he says, “There is another war that has gone on since before the
world was created and that is likely to continue for a long time. It is a war
that reaches beyond questions of territory or national sovereignty.” That is
the war in heaven.
President Hinckley continues to talk of the war as “so
bitter, so intense, [and] never ceasing. It is the war between truth and error,
between agency and compulsion, between followers of Christ and those who have
denied him.”
We are on this earth because we chose to follow Christ and
the plan of salvation in the pre-mortal existence. We stayed true to this and
received a body where we could come down and spiritually grow. We were given
agency to choose for ourselves and continue our path towards eternal life or to
follow the desires according to the world and our second estate.
There is no question about it that we are on this earth for
a divine purpose and have been saved for a certain time to help the work move
along. I do not mean for my words today to be a history lesson or to tell you
things you already know but to highlight blessings in our lives that give us
our agency this day.
From the start, every man was given his agency from God but
on this earth our agency can be impaired by the agency of others and those who
mean to rule over us. I would like to interchange the word agency with the word
“liberty.”
According to the New Oxford dictionary, “While independence
is usually associated with countries or nations, freedom and liberty more often
apply to people. But unlike freedom, which implies an absence of restraint or
compulsion, liberty implies the power to choose among alternatives. Freedom can
also apply to the many different types of oppressive influences [like to come
or go as you please], while liberty often connotes deliverance or release.”
Especially as a US citizen, you are given many freedoms and
are granted liberties daily. As long as you do not break the laws of the land
you are free from possible imprisonment and to live life without question. This
soil, we call home, has been blessed by God since the beginning.
Ether 2:12 states, “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, who hath been manifested by the things
which we have written.”
The history of the New America in more modern times has
proven this scripture in many ways. Is not this choice land free from all other
nations? Are we not sought after when help is needed and aren’t we free from
bondage and have freedoms unheard of throughout the rest of the world?
The price of liberty was given by so many before us, all
directed by God. It would be unfair to give all credit to the work of the
founding fathers and the work shown in America alone. Plenty of times before
the actual freedoms were decided, people gave their lives to breaking away from
corrupt religion being blessed with certain understanding of the divinity of
God even in a time of apostasy. There was so much oppression that there was a
need to reform. People were burned at the stakes for teaching that salvation
was not obtained through money or the church leader. For example, Martin Luther
dedicated his life to teaching that salvation is a free gift from god through
faith in Jesus Christ as a redeemer for our sins. He was not blessed with full
understanding but was given just enough to put movements in place. He surely
was not the only one and true movement to look for religious freedom could not
have been implemented by one man alone.
Another man dear to this country is Christopher Columbus.
Though not the first to come upon this blessed land, he could not have come
across it without the lord.
2 Nephi 1:6 says, “Wherefore, I, Lehi, Prophesy according to
the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall none come upon this
land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord.”
Even in an account given by Columbus himself, it says, “In
the name of the holy trinity, who inspired me with the idea and afterwards made
if perfectly clear to me that I could navigate and go… westward.” He was yet
another helpmate in the plan to bring liberty to us all.
Great people were put upon this earth in their own due time.
It is important to remember that without anyone of the first stepping-stones,
we may not have had the Gospel like we have it today. It was expedient that
everything happen in its own due time. If timing was off, or if Joseph was given
his vision just 10 or 20 years sooner, he could’ve been stoned or burned before
the work could even have mention. The Lord truly knows what he’s doing and has
the patience to wait until the perfect moment.
This nation was built upon a constitution and just like
everything else was divinely brought to pass by certain miracles and knowledge
that would withstand many tests and trials to come. Have you ever actually
pondered on how the constitution has blessed your own life? Do you know how
divine the constitution truly is and the role it plays in bringing the world
the truth of the Gospel?
Section 101 of the Doctrine and Covenants is a great
resource to hear what the Lord himself has to say about the Constitution. In
verse 77 it says, “According to the laws and constitution of the people, which
I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and
protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles.”
In the preamble, you will find that the purpose of the
constitution is to “form a more perfect union.” As a later-day saint, I know
that this constitution had all means to be held in the hands of the Lord to bring
about Zion in this dispensation. As professed in D&C 101:80, it is “by the
hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the
land by the shedding of blood.”
It was not only the sanctifying blood of the atonement but
also the blood shed from the Nephites and the Jaredites that were “swept off”
due to iniquity so that there was none left in the land. It’s the bloodshed for
the liberty of slaves after the foundation of this country and those that
fought for all civil rights. This is the lords nation and (as found in 2 Nephi
1:7), “if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments
which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they
shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of
iniquity…but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.”
I came across a poem that read like this,
"We are ‘One nation, under God’.
Guided by his loving light,
But we’ll be a nation ‘without’ God
If we don’t stand and fight.
God gave us freedom in this land
To worship and to pray.
How can we idly just sit by
watching it be taken away?
There is a God in Heaven.
Let’s not let His light go dim.
How can He bless us from above
If we don’t acknowledge him?”
We are one nation under God made to serve and help bring to
pass the salvation of man by spreading liberty. Our Constitution does not just
affect us but it has been the template for almost all other nations in the
world. All but save 3 countries in the world have a constitution today and it
started with the United States of America.
Lastly, I would like to touch on a subject that’s on everyone’s
mind in this time as Memorial Day comes and goes. That is the purpose and the
sacrifice given in time of war. Especially in more recent war comes the
question of whether or not we should be in the Middle East. Many will argue
it’s not our place because it’s not our fight but there is a reason for war.
And there is a reason we are led by certain presidents to help the work along
whether or not they know it.
This topic is close to home for me; being what some would
call a “military brat” I have seen truthfulness in the necessity of war. War is
devastating and not all lives are spared. With war comes separation and
hardship. Even the lucky ones that are spared to come home are dramatically
effected. Sometimes by post traumatic stress disorder some by severe dementia
but there is need for them and they are in the Lord’s hands in all cases.
Both of my brothers have joined the Army as if it were a
family business following my father’s path. In talking to one of them recently
he had great knowledge in true purpose of sacrifice for countries we don’t
really have a part of and that’s missionary work. First we fought for our
country and it’s rights and then we help others. We fight because others are not
blessed as we are and need freedoms of some kind to progress physically and
spiritually.
As if it were a soldiers’ creed I heard my brother spout off
words of Joseph Smith better than any other scripture I’ve thus heard. It went
like this,
“The standard of truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand
can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine,
armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth
boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited
every clime, wept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of
God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”
I’ve seen first hand that the freedoms that are being
challenged in the Middle East will help with the work of the Lord. We cannot
proselyte in these countries but the movement has been made and will soon come
to pass. While in Egypt many years ago I saw a peaceful attempt to help the
work with missionaries. No, they could not proselyte but they could serve those
in need. Humanitarian missionaries are doing work just as soldiers; the gospel
will be brought to all different countries in all different ways.
In the end, this is still the continued war in heaven to
bring the whole world the liberation that comes through Christ. Our purpose is
to save our brothers and sisters and to fight off and withstand the powers of
hell. It’s to liberate ourselves from the natural man and return once again.
I know the Lord has brought the work forth in ways he saw
fit that would last until the second coming. He has his hand in all things so
the earth will not be totally wasted. He is with our leaders of the church and
of this country that good things might come forth. Even our presidents that
have been elected by our own votes have been saved and appointed to do great
works no matter how hard situations or imperfect they are.
We are a nation saved and blessed by God. We are to serve
Him and we will not be swept away like unto those in Book of Mormon times. I
hope we all know or come to know the divinity of Christ and our purpose in this
time. Whether we be American citizens or not, the gospel is still in our hands
to find out for ourselves, to testify of Christ and to bring the world His truth
that all of his children might experience liberty from their enemies and the
powers of hell. We can become a Zion people.
-Ani
