If the gospel were restored prior to the Revolutionary War, would
the Founding Fathers be counted as faithful members?
If we look at the timeline of events that led up to the
Revolutionary War and compare it to current day events, we will see a
disturbing similarity. Must our present-day inaction, indifference, and
silence in the face of tyranny cause us to march down the same dreaded
path? Our wake-up call is so clear; why do we ignore it? (Jesse Winchester, via Quoty)
If the gospel were restored prior to the Revolutionary War, would
the Founding Fathers be counted as faithful members? Would the
revelations given to Joseph Smith about submitting to governments and
law have negated the support for and determination in committing
treason against England and waging a war against the present head of
state?
There are many scriptures that discuss our role in relation to government. For example, the 12th Article of Faith states:
We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
What happens if the enforced law is tyrannical in implementation and
satanic in nature? What happens if the legislation of the land is
contrary to revealed gospel principles? We are further counseled:
Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land.
Wherefore, be subject to the powers that be, until he reigns whose
right it is to reign, and subdues all enemies under his feet. (D&C 58:21-22)
One might argue that this revelation was given after the American
revolution, and the same counsel might not have applied to those who
preceded it. Were that not true, the Founding Fathers would have been
required to “be subject to the powers that be” until Christ's coming.
Methinks there was a reason this counsel was given after America broke free of its English shackles.
We learn something interesting, however, in a revelation that mentions the Constitution and its divine origins:
Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land;
And as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil. (D&C 98:6-7)
Any law that contradicts the Constitution-even if it was instituted
by popular vote-is evil. It is more or less than the Constitution, and
therefore God describes it as satanic.
In an intriguing section on government and law, we find another interesting instruction regarding our subservience to the state:
We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected,
and should be punished accordingly; and that all governments have a
right to enact such laws as in their own judgments are best calculated
to secure the public interest; at the same time, however, holding
sacred the freedom of conscience. (D&C 134:5)
Sedition and rebellion are therefore permitted and justified when
the government is not protecting the citizen's inherent and inalienable
rights.
So the question stands, is there room for rebellion against our
government today? With the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act, the Military
Commissions Act, and other similarly abominable pieces of legislation
that have destroyed our “inherent and inalienable rights”Â, we are
doctrinally justified in resistance and rebellion. These
laws-un-Constitutional in nature and satanic in substance-deserve to be
hurled into eternal burnings where they belong.
To repeat Winchester's question, “Our wake-up call is so clear; why do we ignore it?”Â
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Connor Boyack is a blogger , husband, web designer, Latter-day Saint, constitutionalist, paleocon, classical liberal, preparedness practitioner, budding philanthropist, and master’s student of political economy. He’s from Poway, CA but lives in Happy Valley.
