During General Conference of April 1972, Ezra Taft Benson stated the following in his talk “Civic Standards for the Faithful Saints”:
Fortunately we have materials to help us face these threatening dangers in the writings of President David O. McKay and other church leaders. Some other fine sources by LDS authors attempting to awaken and inform us of our duty are: Prophets, Principles, and National Survival (Jerreld L. Newquist), Many Are Called But Few Are Chosen (H. Verlan Andersen), and The Elders of Israel and the Constitution (Jerome Horowitz).
With this in mind, we decided to select “Many Are Called But Few Are Chosen” as the LDS Liberty book of the month in June.
The title of the book comes from Doctrine and Covenants 121:34 which states:
Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?
In this book, H. Verlan Andersen clearly demonstrates that those who do not support the proper role of government are those who were called but not chosen.
This episode of LDS Liberty is dedicated to reviewing this book and discussing the principles found within it.
Brian, if you would send me your mailing address I will send you two CDs on the subject that I put together. You may find it interesting.
Great book, Hope to hear it in its entire on audio!
More on the subject…..
Excerpt from THE THIRD THOUSAND YEARS (now available on CD)
Who are God’s Chosen People?
Across the sweeping vista of human history there are whole chapters of blood-soaked pages which tell the torturous tales of brutal and passionate men who tried to set up a master race. With satanic zeal they set out to conquer the whole earth. Down through the ages, these sword-wielding conquerors emerged singly and in clusters from the major nations — the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Medes, the Persians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Mongols and the Moslems.
Today, the fallen, broken monuments of their fleeting glory lie crumbling in the dust.But the tragic lessons they left for history seem wasted on many modern minds. The things which ancient greed and ferocious brutality failed to do, certain power-hungry men of modern times think they yet can do. They still seek to build by force and fear a master race which will become an “instrument of destiny.” The Napoleons, Kaisers, Hitlers, Mussolinis, Tojos, and Stalins of modern centuries are merely the more recent counterparts of the Caesars, Pharaohs, emperors, kings and khans of the historic past.
God’s Ways Are Not Man’s Ways
In contrast to all of this, God has proposed a completely different kind of leadership. God’s plan does not call for a master race, but a society of “master servants,” inspired men who lead with love, not lashes, and who excel in service, not suppression.
From earliest times the Lord has endeavored to promote this kind of leadership and this type of society. In the days of Enoch, God’s revealed plan for happy living became the most dominant force on earth, but at other times it often dwindled to a mere shadow and was not allowed to have any significant influence among mankind whatsoever. Nevertheless, whether accepted or rejected, God’s society has always constituted the one and only way to achieve a lasting pattern of universal peace and universal prosperity.
Those who are willing to consecrate their total energies and resources to the building up of such a society are called God’s “chosen people.” He calls them “chosen,” not because he would exclude the rest of mankind from the same blessings, but simply because these are they who chose to accept God’s call to service. With the Lord, a call to leadership means a call to service, and therefore his chosen people are really his “master servants.”
This whole concept was explained by a prophet of the Lord in these words:
“Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson — that the rights of the priesthood [God's service fraternity] are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.
“That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man…. We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. Hence many are called but few are chosen.”
A study of history will demonstrate that whenever the Lord has succeeded in developing a “chosen people,” they have turned out to be a rare but tremendously impressive society. The individual members of that society are revealed to have been a singular and superior type of human being. In a moment we will discuss the personal attributes which characterized such people so that the student can measure his own qualities against the personality profiles of those who were acceptable to God in the past. Such a study makes it easy to see why, in the eyes of Heaven, these people were called, “the salt of the earth,” “the elect,” God’s “peculiar people,” and his “Royal Priesthood.” In more modern terms we might almost be justified in calling them God’s humble “Supermen.”
I believe that Lord Acton was misquoted in the podcast. He was quoted as saying: “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Now I usually don’t mind a little paraphrasing, but in this case I think the distinction made in the actual quote is very important. I believe that the actual quote is:
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
When we make the blanket statement that “power corrupts”, that can give the impression that everyone should avoid all forms of power. However, power only “tends” to corrupt. There are many exceptions where power does not corrupt. So I do like the fact that a little later in the podcast, after the Lord Acton quote, there was another quote about man’s abuse of power, but it was prefaced with this: “it is the nature and disposition of almost all men…”. The word “almost” is very important, because not all men abuse power. Also, even if it is in someone’s nature or tendency to abuse power, we each have the ability to overcome the natural man and not act on bad tendencies. I believe that the world needs good people to seek out positions of power and strive to use those positions well without being corrupted and using unrighteous dominion. Now I’m not saying I think righteous people should seek to become a king or dictator, because that in and of itself would probably require some form of unrighteous dominion. What I want people to keep in mind is that power can take on many forms, and is not just governmental, or the use of physical force. The ability to influence people is a form of power. So I think good people should seek out positions of power and influence within all forms of organizations: businesses, political groups, clubs, etc and use their power for good. Otherwise, less trustworthy people will fill those positions of power. But no matter how good the person is who has a position of power, people should not blindly trust or follow them. We should all maintain a healthy distrust of anyone in power.
I wanted to share that because I find that the first half of that Lord Acton quote is often misquoted, and I think it is important to get that first half right. As a sidenote though, I think that I actually have slight reservations about the second half of the quote, or at least the way it is used, without a caveat. I realize I don’t know the full context in which the quote was originally given, which is extremely important, but taking the quote by itself, I think it would obviously be contradicted by considering our God and Creator. I’d say he has absolute power but is not corrupted absolutely (or at all for that matter). I also like the example of the Nephi in 3rd Nephi of the Book of Mormon. He was given an amount of power about as absolute as any man can be given, yet he wasn’t corrupted either. Then there’s also King Mosiah. He may not have been given absolute power, but whatever power he did have, he avoided being corrupted by it. Now, those are the exceptions, but the point is that I think there are some exceptions to the second half of the Lord Acton quote. Still, that is only a minor reservation with the quote. When it is quoted correctly, I believe it is a brilliantly clear and concise summary of the effect of power on humans.