Last night's presidential election was seen as a great victory for many people across the United States and a sound of warning to others. Last night was hard to swallow for me. I had a hunch that Obama would win the presidency and that the Democrats would win more power in the Senate and the house but I guess I just was not as emotionally prepared for it as I had thought. My husband did not have any desire to watch the election coverage after Obama had secured his victory. I have to admit that I would have liked to watch more just so that the reality of the awful situation we are in would have sunk deeper into my brain.
Wednesday morning I woke up and spoke with my Mom about the election and she mentioned something about how she just hoped that Obama was not the anti-christ. Then about an hour later I had a text from one of my young women, Stephanie. It was a message that said something about the anti-christ prophesy in Revelations and how Obama met the description in the prophecy. I decided then to do some research into what and who the anti-christ is and found a few interesting pieces of information in my research.
First, I found a great talk by President Marion G Romney titled, 'America's Promise'. In this talk he states:
“Just as Jesus Christ has piloted to this land of America the vanguard of each succeeding civilization which has dwelt upon it, so has he made known to them his everlasting decree “that whoso should possess [it] should serve him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off … when they are ripened in iniquity” (Ether 2:8–9).
Our present civilization is no exception. We who live in America are under this everlasting decree. And the Lord has said, “My word shall be verified at this time as it hath hitherto been verified” (D&C 5:20). Jesus Christ, the God of this land, led Columbus to it. He led the Pilgrims to Plymouth. He sustained and gave victory to the colonists. He established the Constitution of the United States (see D&C 101:80). Over a period of some twenty-six centuries he directed the writing of the Book of Mormon, which contains the record of the former inhabitants of this land. At his command, Moroni finished the record and hid it up in the Hill Cumorah, where, under his surveillance, it was safely preserved for some fourteen hundred years.
By the power of Jesus Christ, the God of this land, the record was brought forth, translated, and in 1830 published. For nearly 150 years now it has been bearing its message to all who will receive it.
After setting forth the everlasting decree concerning this land and reviewing the destruction of two civilizations, Moroni, seeing the present inhabitants of America, and knowing by the power of God that we would have the record, penned this message directly to those who inhabit this land:
“And this cometh unto you … that ye may know the decrees of God—that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities until the fulness come, that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done” (Ether 2:11).
Now why do I emphasize this theme? I do so as a warning against the ongoing anti-Christ trend in America today.
In distinguishing communism from the United Order, President David O. McKay said that communism is Satan’s counterfeit for the gospel plan, and that it is an avowed enemy of the God of the land. Communism is the greatest anti-Christ power in the world today and therefore the greatest menace not only to our peace but to our preservation as a free people. By the extent to which we tolerate it, accommodate ourselves to it, permit ourselves to be encircled by its tentacles and drawn to it, to that extent we forfeit the protection of the God of this land.”
I fear for I believe we now have elected a President that ascribes to communistic philosophies and who I would call a communist. (Here is an article I found interesting to prove this statement to be truth: http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/28/obama-affinity-marxists-dates-college-days/)
Now even if Obama is not the anti-christ, I know that socialistic philosophies have become popular in our country and can be found everywhere in our government. Socialism leads to communism and my opinion is that we are not far from getting there. There are many warnings from prophets about this. I found a talk on this subject by President Benson that was of particular interest to me because it contains things that we can and must do now to be able to stand against these philosophies and views. I believe his words are most relevant to us all now and must be taken seriously.
Here is what President Benson has said; “Said President George Albert Smith, “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-Christ come into this country.” (Conference Report, April 1948, p. 182.)
And speaking of anti-Christ, if you want to get some idea of how we are flaunting the Constitution, see how the Constitution defines treason. Then observe what we are doing to build up the enemy, this totally anti-Christ conspiracy. If we continue on this tragic course of aid and trade to the enemy, the Lord has warned us of the consequences that will follow in chapter 8 of Ether in the Book of Mormon. [Ether 8]
Thank God for the Constitution that made it possible for the Lord to establish his church and base of operations here in the United States for these last days. And may God bless the elders of Israel that when, as President John Taylor said, “the people shall have torn to shreds the Constitution of the United States, the Elders of Israel will be found holding it up to the nations of earth and proclaiming liberty.” (Journal of Discourses, 21:8.)
The elders of this church have a prophetic mission yet to perform so far as the Constitution is concerned. In a discourse by Joseph Smith on July 19, 1840, he said:
“Even this nation will be on the very 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.” (M8d 155, Bx4, Joseph Smith, Church Historian’s Library.)
Now, how are the elders going to prepare for that mission? How are they going to know what the Constitution is so they will know when it is on the brink of ruin? In many of the law schools of today you will hear that the Constitution is whatever the Supreme Court says it is. Could it be that the Supreme Court, which President McKay said is leading this nation down the road to atheism, is the agency to tell us what this divine document is? Can we learn best how to preserve it by studying what it is at the hands of some of those who are seeking to destroy it?
But President McKay had a better approach when he encouraged us to support good and conscientious candidates who are truly dedicated to the Constitution in the tradition of our founding fathers. Ah … there it is … the Constitution in the tradition of our founding fathers. They are the ones the Lord referred to as wise men. It is to them, the Lord, and his prophets that we should go to determine what the Constitution is. There must have been a tradition of our founding fathers or President McKay would not have referred to it.
One of the best books on this subject was written by Clarence Carson and is entitled The American Tradition; it is distributed by the Foundation for Economic Education at Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., served on their board of trustees for some time. I now have the honor of so serving.
To the Lord, his prophets, and the founding fathers we must go to learn of this divine document so our efforts will be to preserve and not destroy the Constitution.
The Prophet Joseph Smith said in a great discourse in Nauvoo on February 7, 1844, “Were I the President of the United States … I would honor the old paths of the venerated fathers of freedom; I would walk in the tracks of the illustrious patriots who carried the ark of the government upon their shoulders with an eye single to the glory of the people. …” (HC, 6:208.)
As I see it we have a great work before us in not only educating ourselves but also the next generation and teaching them true principles espoused in the constitution so they will be prepared to also stand against the adversary and all of those that have been and will be deceived by him. There will be many that have been and will be deceived. Evidence of this is everywhere. The adversary has done a great job of making socialistic programs look benevolent, compassionate and just plain good and right. It is hard to answer questions like this, 'don't you believe that a gas station attendant's son has the same right to health care than a ceo's son does? The misconceptions and deceit that are behind these ways of thinking will continue to lead many to believe and follow these teachings. I believe we must prepare now for a great battle to come in which each of us will be faced with a choice. A line is being drawn. There is going to come a time when you must stand on one side or the other. I believe the time is fast approaching. What side will you choose?
