The Mormon Game of Thrones

Book of Mormon support for Anarchy & Voluntarism

One key & very logical and persuasive argument anarchists make against a seat of power, i.e. a government that holds a lot of sway in supporting their desires for a stateless society where every individual governs themselves is the notion of a “game of thrones” being the direct result of such a seat of power existing in the first place.  By “game of thrones,” I am of course referencing the popular brutal film series in which different powerful, wealthy people fight & kill/destroy each other and their respective armies for control over the throne and the riches, power, & prestige it brings.  This notion is NOT one of fantasy or fiction.  One can trace a very real game of thrones throughout each nation in existence today, on the national level, as well as as the global or territorial level, ranging in time from thousand and thousands of years ago to our very immediate time.  It doesn’t matter whether that the throne is one of constitutional monarchy, republicanism, democracy, aristocracy, theocracy, etc.  Whatever the form the throne takes, the deadly competition for it plays out and always has and always will as long as it exists.  One of the most recent examples was the game of thrones battle for world hegemony on the global imperial level between the US & its “western allies” against the Soviet Union & it’s eastern allies, i.e. Western “liberalism,” which was really just American style Fascism vs. communism & socialism.  This battle came to head during WWII when Germany & Italian Fascism threatened American Fascism and Communism (all of which were statist and authoritarian/dictatorial, only in different ways and to differing degrees).  European Fascism, via Nazi Germany & Fascist Italy and Japan challenged challenged American & Soviet interests throughout the world enough to become a threat that had to be removed from the equation.  Once this was accomplished and Germany, Italy, and Japan were neutralized, the game of thrones, the throne being the world imperial hegemon, narrowed down to just he US & the Soviets.  The US and its brand of “Liberal, Democratic Fascism” that payed lip services to rights and freedom eventually “won” the throne (for a time, at least) when the Soviet Union & its empire collapsed over time.  But within that greater global game of thrones, there were smaller and more local games of thrones occurring simultaneously both in the US, the USSR, their individual empires, and the different nations that composed them, on down to the local village and town level.  Anarchists have always maintained, if you erect a seat of power in which one person or a group of people, however numerous maintains a monopoly on “legal” violence that people believe is a legitimate authority that must be obeyed, the worst people in human society will always rise to do battle and do anything they can obtain that throne/seat of power & all the riches, power, and prestige that comes with it.  Thus it is best not to even tempt mankind with such a prize because death and destruction only follows it.  Thus, the position of anarchists that it is best and the most peace and prosperity is achieved for everyone when each individual is the sole sovereign authority over their lives.  The game of thrones and its death & destruction also features very heavily in the Book of Mormon as well, which lends support to the anarchist position that it is best for such a throne to never even exist except on the individual level.  We shall examine it shortly; however, before doing so, it’s important to note that most Mormons recognize this bloody game of thrones when it comes to monarchy, being able to see it play it in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon monarchical societies of ancient monarchical Israel the different monarchical Book of Mormon societies like the Laminates and their Nephite allies, but also the Nephites themselves under King Noah & Limhi, up to King Mosiah himself, as well as (& particularly) the Jaredites.  But while most Mormons can see this game of thrones occur in the scriptural monarchical societies, they are less able to see it play out in the post monarchical “Rule of the Judges in Nephite society, scripturally, and in their own time under their own “republican” system of government dominant in the US today.  Thus, I shall first denote this bloody game of thrones that occurs in the scriptural monarchical societies but then turn to the “democratic” system of the “Reign of Judges” and apply the similarities of that game of thrones under the Book of Mormon Judges system to today’s modern, US republican system of government.  For that is what the Book of Mormon is, it’s a history of the ancient peoples of the Americas that is full of lessons meant to instruct & guide us in these modern, current times.  It is meant to be applied to today, individually and nationally, for that is the is purpose.  And it’s echos & reverberations in today’s American government, empire, and society are numerous in number and clear as day for any who wishes to seem them.



In 1 Samuel chapter 8, we see Ancient Israel wishing to transition from a Judge system in which God’s prophet is the judge of the society, to a monarchial one so Israel can be like all other nations on the earth at the time.  Samuel, the Prophet and Judge is extremely worried and sorrowful of this turn of events, but God instructs Samuel to give the people what they want, but with a warning: that with a king will come tyranny on a level Israel hadn’t experienced for quite some time, since fleeing slavery in Egypt.  And part of that tyranny ended up be a game of thrones between various contenders and their supporters for the throne, in which each side fights and kills the other until one comes out dominant. We see this play out very early in monarchical Israel, even form the first king, King Saul, when he and his position of power was threatened by David after he killed Goliath.  But the Bible is not our focus here.  The Book of Mormon is out focus, so let us turn there.  We see early hints at this game of thrones tendency regarding seats of power, i.e. governments after Lehi and his family land in the Americas and Lehi dies.  In 2 Nephi Chapter 5, we see that, after Lehi dies, the splintering of his family occurs, with the righteous group following Nephi and the wicked group following Laman and Lemuel.  Indeed, in that chapter we read that Laman and Lemuel sought to kill Nephi for they saw the the right to rule over “this people” as theirs, being the eldest of Lehi’s sons.  For Laman and Lemuel, they saw leading the group from a perspective of government, of status, prestige, and power OVER the people, and they thought Nephi sought to take that power OVER the people from them.  In reality, Nephi wanted no such thing, as well shall see.  But Laman and Lemuel were certain he, Nephi meant to rule OVER them and their people instead of them.  Thus, they sought to kill him for what they thought was a seat of power, a throne.  Seeing their bloodthirstiness toward him and his family, Nephi and his followers, instead of staying and fighting for control over all of Lehi’s family, took the anarchist route and fled for freedom and safety instead into the wilderness, leaving Laman, Lemuel, and their seats of power and thrones and struggles for them in their wake.  Once arriving upon their destination having chosen the peaceful, anarchic route of separating and fleeing from Laman and Lemuel’s faction, after a while, Nephi’s group wished Nephi to be their king and ruler.  Nephi turned them down, saying he would do what he can to guide them, but he utterly refused to be their king.  Now it doesn’t go into specificity as to WHY Nephi refused to be their king, but suffices to say that he wished to remained their teacher only.  Having the Brass Plates, i.e. the history of the Jews and Israel with him, it is likely Nephi knew full well of the bloody game of thrones that accompanies seats of power, the thrones of kings who rule OVER people, having just fled one such tyrannical king in leaving Jerusalem & the Old World for the new for the Americas. 

We see plenty concerning the bloody game of thrones that accompanies monarchy later in the Book of Mormon in chapters like Mosiah 29, in which Mosiah, the last Npehite king proposes the democratic system of the judges where the people choose judges to be their sovereigns.  The reason he proposed this system is because all of his sons had declined to be the next king over the Nephites and Mosiah was fearful that if he appointed someone else to be king over them, that

there would rise ^acontentions among you. And who knoweth but what my son, to whom the kingdom doth belong, should turn to be angry and ^bdraw away a part of this people after him, which would cause wars and contentions among you, which would be the cause of shedding much blood and perverting the way of the Lord, yea, and destroy the souls of many people.

We see this fear of the people dividing into contentious groups over who is the rightful king, i.e. the game of thrones play out especially in the descriptions of the Jadeite society that predated the Nephite groups coming over from Jerusalem, as seen in Ether Chapters 6-15.  Ether concerns a group of people who followed a man named “The Brother of Jared,” who, like Lehi after him, lead his people out of the Old World during the Tower of Babel period of Biblical history across the ocean to the Americas.  Once they arrived, the Brother of Jared grew old and was about to die; his people & his people desired him to appoint them a king to be their ruler. He, like Nephi & the Biblical Prophet Samuel after him worried about the effects monarchy would have on the people, that it would lead to their captivity, as seen in Ether Chapter 6.  Nevertheless, he heeds their desires and appoints them a king, one of the sons of Jared himself.  Throughout the following chapters of the Book of Ether, we see one group of the Jadeite people fight, clamor, and kill the other group(s) for control over that monarchical throne.  Indeed, so much bloodshed did that throne of power cause amongst the Jadeite people that it eventually lead to a complete all out, total civil war in which all of the Jadeite people but one were slaughtered fighting for the throne. 

But, the game of thrones that follow monarchical seats of power as seen in the Bible and Book of Mormon are not alone.  We see this very deadly & destructive game of thrones follow the seat(s) of power created by the last Nephite King, Mosiah that became known as his democratic system of judges, or the “Reign of the Judges,” which system dominated Nephite and Laminates societies up until just before the coming of Christ himself to peoples of the Americas after his Biblical Crucifixion and Resurrection.  Jumping back to Mosiah 29 in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah describes his system of judges to the Nephite people after his sons refuse to be his heir to his throne.  Under that system, the people democratically elect, by way of majority vote, a series of judges who shall be their law keepers and judge the people when they have committed crimes by violating their laws.  There was the Chief Judge over all the people, and lesser more local judges as well, each with their own appellate levels going up to the Chief Judge himself.  The people elected Alma, who was High Priest to be their first Chief Judge, and elected all the lesser and local judges as well, and Josiah’s reign as king ended with and thus did the monarchical throne over the Nephites end with him.  However, it was not the end of thrones nor the game of thrones that accompany them, for in its place was erected another throne after which the wicked, greedy, power mongers in their society could clamor in order to steal, lie, kidnap, imprison, & murder & enslave the innocent.  And it wasn’t long into the Reign of the Judges that we see the new games for the new throne begin to play out.   Indeed, it was within the space of one to two years under the new Judges system when one Nephite gathered a large following that sought to undo the Judges system and establish him as king over the land.  The greater part of Nephite society rejected this group and their tyrannical, monarchical aspirations over them, and this group separated themselves from Nephite society and left, establishing a man named Amlici to be king over them.  They left and went and joined the Laminates.  The Amlicites stirred up the Laminates to join them in waging war upon the Nephites and their system of judges in order to achieve the original design of Amlici and his people in establishing Amlici as king over the entire Nephite civilization so he could rule over them as tyrants.  Amlici knew he could never obtain the throne of Chief Judge since Alma had just been elected, so he knew he had to seek that throne of power some other way by conquest and swayed the Laminates to join him in his attempt.  The coup attempt by the Amlicites and their Laminates allies over the Nephites ultimately ended in failure, with Alma the Chief Judge killing Amlici in defense of his throne.  Now Alma was not an evil, power seeking man; he didn’t defend so much his throne, per se, as he did the Nephite people from the Amlicite and Laminates aggressions again them in their attempts to seek the throne.  This is evidenced even further by Alma later stepping down from his position of Chief Judge in order to preach to the people.  But, despite Alma not being a power monger and throne seeker, the throne itself remained for later aspiring tyrants to seek it in order to enrich themselves in wealth & glory, oppressing any and all in the process.  We see many such attempts at the Chief Judge throne play out over the Reign of the Judges, either by Nephites seeking to obtain it thru the democratic process, or if they couldn’t obtain it that way, they went the way of Amlici and sought the Laminates as their allies to conquer the Nephites for force of war in order to obtain the throne over them.  In the end, the existence of the thrones of power in the system of democratically elected judges were eventually seized thru normal, democratic means by evil, greedy, lying, murderous tyrants who used those seats of power to oppress and enslave the Nephite people for their own enrichment, glory, and more power grabs, until the tyrants in the judgment seats became so numerous, so tyrannical, & so power hungry, that they ended up collapsing the entire system in their attempts to take the top throne of Chief Judge by murder; they collapsed the entire system thru their thieving and murdering and using the thrones of judgeship to do so and hide their doings and escape judgement themselves, but most especially thru their seeking the throne of Chief Judge itself having already taken over the lesser judgeship thrones.  We see this collapse of the throne in the form of thee Reign of the Judges take place just a mere 120 years into the system, a final blow to a system that proved to be just as deadly, just as insecure, and just as bloody and tyrannical as monarchy had been.  And the reason for these similar bloodsheds and tyrannical destructions between the monarchical and democratic judgeship thrones as depicted in the Book of Mormon was because they were both still thrones to be sought after that gave he /she who sat upon it a monopoly on violence over everyone else with devoted armies and mobs of thugs called “police” that could be sent out to do the ruler’s bidding.  Regardless of the form it took, it was still of a throne of power that left a trail of blood, guts, enslavement, and destruction in its wake.  That the people elected their judges by majority vote ended up doing very little in the way of acting as a check on the power that throne offered to any who sought it and did whatever it took to obtain it.  That democratic throne of Chief Judge ended up being just as bloody, contentious and destructive as the throne of the king had been.  That there were some righteous judges just as there were some righteous kings is neither her no there.  In the end, regardless of the form the throne took, it still allowed for some to wage a bloody game of thrones in order to obtain it which ultimately lead the the collapse of either the society and the throne itself.  

After the collapse of the Reign of the Judges system and the society it governed, there followed a period radical decentralization in which the people broke into tribes.  The remarkable and important thing to note here is that during this radical decentralized tribal realignment, there was peace for a while in which the tribes traded with each other and established treaties in which none would war with the other.  Yet each had their own laws according to whoever they chose as the leader of their tribes.  Yet the peace held.  However, despite the collapse of the throne of power that was the Chief Judge seat and its dissolution into the radical decentralized tribal form in which a multitude of thrones were created in its stead, there remained the problem that thrones over others still remained.  And yet again, the wicked and power hungry in society sought those thrones and obtained them and kept up the evil ways of oppression of others so that despite the implosion of the centralized Neophyte state and the radical decentralization of power on the tribal level, tyranny still remained, so much so that the prophets of God were oppressed and cast out of the tribes for their preaching.  This just goes to show that, regardless of how decentralized thrones over others are erected in place a centralized throne, the same problems of oppression and abuse of that the powers that throne entails will remain.  The solution is thus to abandon erecting thrones and seats of power in which one person or even groups of people have power over others and instead opt for anarchy, in which the only throne that exists in that of the individual.   

And this is exactly what happened in the Book of Mormon after the collapse of the Reign of the Judges and the subsequent tribal system; The wicked, those who used thrones and other positions of power to oppress others for their own advancement and enrichment, were destroyed, either by other wicked people, or by the destructions of nature that accompanied the Crucifixion of Christ; what remained was the more righteous of the people until Christ himself came, upon which time the people were taught the ways of Christ, i.e. anarchy and voluntarism in which every person dealt justly with the other and freely helped and gave of one’s substance to others in need so that they were one and had all in common with one another. And this was all achieved voluntarily, without any throne of power being erected to bring it about; each individual, for 200 years remained in complete control over themselves, slave to no one, no one ruler over anyone else, all because they voluntarily chose to deal justly one with another and make voluntarism and Christ’s Golden Rule their common law.  Indeed, it was only under anarchy and voluntarism following the ways of Christ that

16 there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.

17 There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God. (4 Nephi, 1)

It was only when the people abandoned the anarchic and voluntarist ways of Christ & started erecting classes, churches (i.e. governments) and positions of power in order to get gain and enrich themselves again after 200 years that the aforementioned evils in verses 16 and 17 of 4 Nephi 1 returned and oppression spread across the land.  And the Nephites became so evil and tyrannical in the doings to each other that they were eventually wiped out as a civilization, hunted to extinction by themselves through war and by the Lamanites, just as the Jaredites had destroyed themselves with their evil that was resultant of bloody conquests for thrones of power over others.

And herein lies the lessen for our modern day; no amount of checks and balances on the throne of power were successful in keeping the throne in check.  War and bloodshed eventually took over and destroyed the civilizations that maintained those thrones of power, for they acted as continual temptations for the prideful, greedy, and power hungry amongst their civilizations until so much oppression and evil doings to each other lead them to destroy each other.  The lesson for us today from these games of thrones seen in the Book of Mormon is clear.  Abandon thrones of power, or else end up being destroyed by them.  Chose the peaceful way of Christ, anarchy, voluntarism, and the Golden Rule.  Harm no one else in their equal rights, let others live their lives according to their own desires, and help each other in the ways we can with whatever means we happen to have.  This is the pathway to success and peace.