A Land of Promise: Terrorism

A coworker and I were recently discussing the upcoming presidential election and other political matters when he gave his opinion about the War on Terror. Here is my reply, based mostly on teachings found within the Latter-Day Saint cannon of scripture:

The Book of Mormon teaches us that North and South America are regarded as a “Land of Promise”. Time and time again we are told that this land is “a land which is choice above all other lands.” In fact, God has, several times throughout history, led various prophets and peoples to this land as a land of inheritance for their righteous living. Examples of past ‘heirs’ of this inheritance would be the Jaredite nation who inherited this land after the fall of the Tower of Babel; Lehi and his sons who left Jerusalem after threat of death for preaching the gospel in about 600 B.C.; the people of Mulek (who was the last living son of King Zedekiah), as well as the current inhabitants referred to as the “Gentiles” (us).

When the Lord has offered this land as an inheritance, it has always come with a few stipulations. All who have inhabited these “American” continents have been warned to not disobey the commandments of God. I quote Nephi, son of Lehi, directly with this quote:

2 Nephi, Chapter 1, verses 9-10
“Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever.

"But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise—behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is just shall rest upon them.”

As we look back to these ancient nations, we see that all of them were eventually destroyed by the hand of God because they failed to live up to their end of the bargain. That is, they failed to live righteously. Each society denigrated into heartless, evil people who were destroyed. The demise of 2 of these nations can be traced back to a single group of people which were a divisive group which held posts in and affected every piece of the government. They were a secret society once called the Gadianton Robbers. They infiltrated many high posts in the government and even used murder to obtain their positions.

The Lord makes strong warnings for those who dabble in and support these secret works of darkness. The Lord made similar revelations to Alma, Nephi, and Lehi as well as others. However, God did not simply condemn those who support terrorism and secret combinations, He actually commanded us to seek them out and destroy them from among us. He told the following to a Jaredite prophet:

Ether, Chapter 8, verse 22-26
"And whatsoever nation shall uphold secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed; for the Lord will not suffer that the blood of his saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for vengeance upon them and yet he avenge them not.

"Wherefore, O ye Gentiles [that's us], it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain - and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.

"Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up.

"For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning.

"Wherefore, I, Moroni, am commanded to write these things that evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men, but that they may be persuaded to do good continually, that they may come unto the fountain of all righteousness and be saved."

I uphold the War on Terror fully. I support President Bush in his efforts to remove these secret combinations from the earth. I believe that doing so will make the WORLD a better place and that this is not being done JUST to benefit our Great Nation. It is for the benefit of mankind.