Clarifications regarding Anarchy, D&C 98 & 101, 1 Nephi 13, & 1 Samuel 8
Upon "Israel" unrighteously & unwisely insisting upon choosing fellow men to be rulers and & Judges over them instead of God being their sole judge and guide.
A.) Doctrine and Covenants (D&C) 98 says the following regarding the saints and God’s words to them regarding the “law of the land, which is constitutional:”
4 And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them.
5 And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me.
6 Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land;
7 And as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil.
8 I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free.
9 Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn.
10 Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.
11 And I give unto you a commandment, that ye shall forsake all evil and cleave unto all good, that ye shall live by every word which proceedeth forth out of the mouth of God.
B.) D&C 101 says the following regarding the “laws of the land which are constitutional:”
76 And again I say unto you, those who have been scattered by their enemies, it is my will that they should continue to importune for redress, and redemption, by the hands of those who are placed as rulers and are in authority over you—
77 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;
78 That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.
79 Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.
80 And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.
C.) 1 Nephi 13 says the following regarding the founding of America & the creation of the Constitution:
13 And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters.
14 And it came to pass that I beheld many multitudes of the Gentiles upon the land of promise; and I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren; and they were scattered before the Gentiles and were smitten.
15 And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles, and they did prosper and obtain the land for their inheritance; and I beheld that they were white, and exceedingly fair and beautiful, like unto my people before they were slain.
16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.
17 And I beheld that their mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.
18 And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to battle.
19 And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.
20 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that they did prosper in the land; and I beheld a book, and it was carried forth among them.
D.) 1 Samuel 8 says the following regarding God’s warning against human government:
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
6 ¶ But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord.
7 And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.
9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
10 ¶ And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king.
11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
19 ¶ Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;
20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.
21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord.
22 And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.
E.) Mosiah 23: says the following regarding the warnings against human government:
6 And the people were desirous that Alma should be their king, for he was beloved by his people.
7 But he said unto them: Behold, it is not expedient that we should have a king; for thus saith the Lord: Ye shall not esteem one flesh above another, or one man shall not think himself above another; therefore I say unto you it is not expedient that ye should have a king.
8 Nevertheless, if it were possible that ye could always have just men to be your kings it would be well for you to have a king.
9 But remember the iniquity of king Noah and his priests; and I myself was caught in a snare, and did many things which were abominable in the sight of the Lord, which caused me sore repentance;
10 Nevertheless, after much tribulation, the Lord did hear my cries, and did answer my prayers, and has made me an instrument in his hands in bringing so many of you to a knowledge of his truth.
11 Nevertheless, in this I do not glory, for I am unworthy to glory of myself.
12 And now I say unto you, ye have been oppressed by king Noah, and have been in bondage to him and his priests, and have been brought into iniquity by them; therefore ye were bound with the bands of iniquity.
13 And now as ye have been delivered by the power of God out of these bonds; yea, even out of the hands of king Noah and his people, and also from the bonds of iniquity, even so I desire that ye should stand fast in this liberty wherewith ye have been made free, and that ye trust no man to be a king over you.
14 And also trust no one to be your teacher nor your minister, except he be a man of God, walking in his ways and keeping his commandments.
15 Thus did Alma teach his people, that every man should love his neighbor as himself, that there should be no contention among them.
Now, in my former article on anarchy & D&C 98 and 101, I argued that what God was saying was not that the Constitution was created by Him for humanity to hold up as God condoning human government and that it therefore ought to be preserved in perpetuity by the Saints as the literal government of God. Rather, I argued that since mankind, like Israel in 1 Samuel 8, has been rebelliously insistent upon placing fallible, easily corruptible fellow human beings to be literal rulers and slave master over them, that the Constitution was the best form of government God guided men in their rebelliosness against having Him as their sole judge and guide in all matters regarding human interpersonal relations and that as such, what was worthy of supporting and upholding in the Constitution was not the Constitution and it’s aggressively coercive creature government itself, but rather, the principles enshrined therein of the maintaining & protecting the rights of every individual. As the aformentioned cited scriptures in 1 Samuel 8 as well as Mosiah 23 have declared, and as logical and reason reaffirms, it is not right that human beings should ruler over each other aggressively and coercively and put each other into bondage to one another by way of erecting thrones of power called human government, wherein one person or a group of people literally enslave and rule over the others by aggressive coercion or threats upon the rights, lives, and property of others thereof. Simply put, God has never and never will condone human government, no matter its form, contrarty to the wording of D&C 134:1 wherein it says “We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man.” Such cannot be, as argued in my article on Anarchy and D&C 134, for God, a being of persuasion, love, charity, patient, mercy, and justice (D&C 121:41-46) does not condone aggressive coercion against humanity, having granted humanity their free agency (He has made them free and therefore they are free indeed). And having made man an gent to act for himself and be held accountable for his own actions, his actions to be judged by God Himself or whomever of his heavenly, perfected, exalted servants he delegates that duty to, God cannot therefore condone entities like human governments that place one person or group of people to rule over the rest as slave masters and slaves via aggressive coercion. BUT, humanity’s idiotic, stubborn, & unrighteous desire to be ruled over in such manner by their fellow fallible human beings as slave masters and slaves, God has granted to humanity as they wish, as per 1 Samuel 8, according to their agency, and allows them to be held accountable for their choices, being slow to here their cries in their days of suffering under tyrants that God told them WOULD inevitablpy rise under such systems of human government. But mercifully heard their cries He has, though slow He may have been to do so,. For, over the millennia, He has guided mankind in learning from their mistakes of relying upon human government while granting them their insistence upon maintaining human government instead of relying upon God & His righteous servants as their guides, teachers, and judges, guiding them to perfect their silly human governments to become better with each age after every revolution humanity held in reforming such human governments. And this culminated in the American Revolution and it’s resulting Constitution, wherein God raised up choice men to erect such a document that would place the most checks and balances that could be possibly devised by humanity to keep said government in check in protection of the rights of humanity and the individual, according to the righteousness or wickedness of the majority population.
As such, knowing the Gentiles would still be stubbornly and unrighteously insistent upon being governed by their fellow human beings, if not seeking to be said governors, God raised a righteous generation of men, the most orighteous of the time despite their continued iniquity, to devise a government that would achieve the ends of preserving the rights of the individual in accordance with the desire of the majority population to live righteously and chose righteous people to fill those seats of power. God didn’t agree with it, but being merciful and just, and ever preserving their agency, He gave humanity what they wanted, a human government, and helped them devise one that would, according to the desire of the majority population to live righteously enough, preserve the rights of the individual. Thus it has always been counseled, no matter what form of human government humaity foolishly decides to put heir faith in over God, that if the majority of humanity is to unrighteously and unjustly insist upon a human government, that in the very least righteous and morally good people should be south for said positions of power. God does not condone human government, for as He has repeatedly told and demonstrated to humanity through the historical record of scripture, no matter what form of government humanity chooses and however many checks and balances they devise to try to keep it in check from becoming tyrannical and destroying the rights, agency, and accountability of the individual, that such attempts will always result in tyrannical failures over time given the propensity of humanity to become fallen, corrupt, aggressive, power hungry, and evil.. And the US Constitution has been no different. It has resulted in one of, if not THE worst tyrannical empires seen by humanity. Yet despite these warnings of continuing torely on fallible human beings as our rulers and judges via inherently aggressivily coercive human government, God, in His infinite mercy, found men righteousness enough in their days in age to form governments humanity insisted on relying upon that have tended to improve over time, including the Founders of America, for the protection of the rights of the individual enough that so in the prophesied day in age when the Gospel would be brought back to earth in preparation for the end days and fulfilment of scriptural prophecy, there might be a place and government humanity still insisted upon and which God could not and did not condone, yet would protect the rights and agency of the individual enough and be stable enough for a length of time, with no government established religion, so as to allow the Book of Mormon to be brought forth, published, spread, and the Gospel of Christ preached “legally” unmolested. And this is what these above cited scriptures mean. They do not condone human government, let alone that one created by the Constitution, for God cannot remain God and condone such things. But, he does give humanity their agency and allows them to choose for themselves to unwisely live under an aggressively coercive human government instead of him being their teacher and judge while simultaneously allowing them to suffer the consequences of choosing such, warning them to pick good, righteous people to be their rulers, AND making sure there are wise enough people to establish types of government throughout the history of humanity that would allow for the rights of the individual to be protected enough and stable long enough for the Gospel and Church of Christ to be restored & taught once again upon the earth and spread amongst humanity “legally” unmolested till the prophesied times of Gentiles, the end times, be fulfilled and it is Christ’s time to return to earth once more and cleanse it of its iniquity in justice to the iniquitous and mercy to the righteous. God does not condone aggressively coercive human government. Not even the Constitution. But that does not mean he doesn’t work with humanity and their agency and work within the systems they create in their foolishness, pride, and arrogance to protect the righteous and provide ways of fulfilling His righteous ends of scriptural prophesy relating to the salvation and eventual exaltation of those in humanity who would choose such. Thus, despite living under tyrannical, imperial Rome, one of the most brutal regimes in human history, Christ still descended and took upon himself the flesh of humanity, preached His and His Father’s Gospel (way living so as to obtain exaltation), taught others to continue teaching such after His departure, performed His covenanted Atonement for salvation and eventual exaltation humanity as prophesied in the scriptures, all despite the aggressively coercive governments wicked humanity created and tried to use to thwart God’s Plan of Salvation at the behest of the their master, Satan. And thus, despite an equally tyrannical growing empire of the United States, which God had manipulated in its existence by finding wise enough men (the Founder Fathers) he raised up to form a such a good enough government that would allow for such conditions that would protect the rights of the individual, including the right to freedom of conscience so that his prophesied prophet Jospeh Smith, Jr; could bring about the Book of Mormon and it’s lost truths it restored to the corrupted Bible - despite, like Christ himself, living under such a growing tyrannical imperial government, and despite wicked, evil human beings, his own neighbors even, trying to use that government to stop the work of him bringing forthe Book of Mormon and it’s precious and plain truths lost from the Bible and the fulness of the Gospel of Christ and the restoration of His church and His authority exercized through his chosen righteous human servamts on earth, The Book of Mormon and Christ’s Gospel and church did go forth has continued to spread, even as the governments it exists under throughout the world become even more wicked and tyrannical, tyranny not even the greatest aggressively coercive human government good and wise enough human beings (relative to their contemporaries) could stop with all it’s “checks and balances.” The Constitution was never meant to last. It was never meant to be God’s government. It was only a means or a tool to a greater end, the spreading of Christ’s restored Gospel and church. Yet, despite the growing tyranny and resulting oppressions and growing wickedness and abominations of the world’s earthly governments under the sway and control of Satan, Christ’s and the Father’s plans for the Slavation & eventual exaltation of humanity cannot and will not be frustrated. And the growth of the LDS Church to become a 17 million member strong church with a presence in nearly every nation throughout the world, as well as becoming the wealthiest church in the existence of human history on this earth, all through voluntary means, is proof enough to the rational thinking mind that regardless of the wickedness of humanity and its governments, God’s merciful and joyous plans for the salvation and eventual exaltation of humanity, or those who wish it and demonstrate they are worthy of it by living the teachings of Christ, cannot and will not be thwarted. Satan may win many battles, but he WILL NOT win the war, a war HE started and has continued to wage for the souls of mankind.
God does not condone aggressively coercive government and such is not instituted by God for the good of humanity, contrary to what D&C 134:1 says. BUT, God DOES allow mankind their agency to stubbornly insist on living under such abominations while simultaneously finding wise and righteous enough people to shape those governments so as to allow His plans for the protection, salvation and exaltation of humanity to continue to roll forth. THAT is all the afore cited scripture are saying. They are not saying God justifies or condones such aggressively coercive human governments.