Why Not To Join In The Brewing Violent Revolution

Some today feel that we are headed to another Revolution of America. What is interesting to note is that many sides want a revolution for many different reasons. In most cases they have completely opposite goals. How does overthrowing a government work if all those that are participating have no cohesive goal in mind but actually have opposite goals? It cannot work.

I hear people crying for the overthrow of our corrupt government so that we can restore the Constitution. Others cry for the overthrow of our corrupt government so we can be rid of the Constitution. These two sides will both fight to overthrow the government but to what end? They are incompatible goals.
LDS have been told to be protectors of the Constitution so they feel they need to stand up for it when it is hanging by a thread. This is a righteous desire, but one that can be used against us if we are not careful and wise in our thought processes and actions.

We are warned that in the Last-days hate will be everywhere. People shall betray each other. Brother shall turn against brother. The father shall be against his son. The children shall be against their parents. No one will be able to be trusted. Relatives shall be against each other. Friends shall turn against friends. It is starting to be easy to see how this can come about. If we allow ourselves to be stirred up against one another to the point of bloodshed, we have fallen for the trap of the Adversary, which we have been warned would befall mankind.

If we shed blood in a violent revolution thinking we are protecting the Constitution prior to the complete loss of all of our liberties, there will be no Constitution left at the end of this revolution to save. We will only be falling for the trap that is being set to destroy the Constitution. Many people in America today that say they want a revolution are not wanting to restore the Constitution but rather to destroy it and the powers that be will take advantage of lawlessness to do just that. If we fight in the battle to overthrow the powers that be it is only playing into their hands, for they are the ones orchestrating this desire for revolution against them. They want us to rebel so they can crush us and take away what few liberties we have left and remove the Constitution completely.

Since we are told that Zion will be a place of refuge from the world I do not see us as Latter-day Saints shedding blood to save the Constitution when it is hanging by a thread. That makes us just as evil as the Gadiantions.

D&C 45:68
And it shall come to pass among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety

How can we be a place of safety if we are among those that are shedding blood in the midst of a revolution?

“I say to you with all the soberness I can, that we stand in danger of losing our liberties, and that once lost, only blood will bring them back; and once lost, we of this church will, in order to keep the church going forward, have more sacrifices to make and more persecutions to endure than we have yet known, heavy as our sacrifices and grievous as our persecutions have been.” (J. Reuben Clark, Conference Report, April 1944, pp. 115-116; quoted in Newquist, op. cit., p. 89.)

What he is saying here is that it will take blood to restore liberty once liberty is completely lost, not when it still exists. It still exists! We still have most of our liberties, maybe not exactly as we desire, but we still have them. He is saying that the only thing that could “resurrect” the Constitution once it has perished is the sacrifice of OUR blood. It is not a call to war, it is a statement of how the Constitution would be gained again once it was lost, in a way similar to how it was gained in the first place. It is not an explanation about how to save the Constitution while it still stands, but a statement of what it will cost if it is lost. So we must look at this: that Saving the Constitution when it is hanging by a thread is done by lawful means and not by violence and bloodshed. It is only once it is completely taken away that there is any talk of it’s restoration by bloodshed.

If we are participating in a violent revolution without the Prophet’s directive, we are not fighting for the Lord. We are told to stand up for the Constitution at this time but never once have we been told to shed blood to do so. At this time we are told to be spreading the Gospel and calling people to repentance and standing up for the Constitution. It is only the corrective measure of turning men back to God that can restore the Constitution.

The powers that be want us to war against them alongside all of the others that want to get rid of the Constitution. If we fall for this mindset of revolution we have fallen for the lie of the PTB. Those that will remain in Zion will not be those out shedding blood in a revolution that is not for the saving of the Constitution but rather for trying to overthrow the PTB. Those are two different battles. Right now the Adversary is stirring up the hearts of men to war against one another for his greater plan. This is not the way of God. The revolution that appears to be coming is a revolution against the powers that be, not one in defense of the Constitution. There is a BIG difference. The battle that is being set up is one that is designed to destroy not the powers that be, but the Constitution itself. Though it is being painted in such a way that makes it “appear” to be a revolution against the powers that be, but in truth it is not. It is merely a strawman revolution. It is not a revolution for the Constitution and therein lies the difference.

Those who take up the sword and take exception to the commandment Thou Shalt Not Kill would only be supported in doing so by the Lord if such was His will made know to us through His Prophet. If the Prophet is telling us to be peaceful citizens, which he is, then those who take up the sword by their own will and not the will of God will fall by the sword and God will not support them in their endeavor. If God wants us to fight with weapons and bloodshed He will command His people, otherwise we are to stick strictly to the words of the commandment Thou Shalt Not Kill.

During the time of great persecution of the Church where members were being killed and tarred and feathered the Prophet never received direction to lead a military reprisal. Those members of the Church who tried to resist the enemy counter to the Prophet’s direction were allowed to be slaughtered. (Remember Haun’s Mill) The Prophets counsel was not to fight but to flee. We have seen many examples where the Lord has told us to bear the burdens of oppression. The Nephites were not allowed pray out loud but rather were told to just pray in their hearts. Sometimes the Lord asks His people to be patient in their sufferings. The Lord led the Israelites into slavery for a reason. Possibly our freedoms being taken away may serve a similar divine purpose. It is not our place to determine what is the Lord’s will for us and what is not. We can only choose to obey Him and with patience endure to the end.

President George Albert Smith observed, “There is nothing in the world more deleterious or harmful to the human family than hatred, prejudice, suspicion, and the attitude that some people have toward their fellows, of unkindness.” 16 In matters of politics, he warned, “Whenever your politics cause you to speak unkindly of your brethren, know this, that you are upon dangerous ground.” 17 Speaking of the great mission of the latter-day kingdom, he counseled: “This is not a militant church to which we belong. This is a church that holds out peace to the world. It is not our duty to go into the world and find fault with others, neither to criticize men because they do not understand. But it is our privilege, in kindness and love, to go among them and divide with them the truth that the Lord has revealed in this latter day.” 18

We will be counseled on this matter by our Prophet. Until then we are to follow what we have already been told and that is to be peaceful law abiding citizens.

Articles of Faith 12 We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

The Lord will reveal what we are to do through our Prophet as things change. I do not see this battle that is brewing to be one the Lord will want us to fight in, for it is not to save the Constitution. Rather it is to destroy America and give greater powers to the powers that be. Violence will only give the powers that be the excuse for military action and the taking away of more and more of our liberties. They are stirring up all sides to war: liberals, anarchists, conservatives, socialists, communists, truthers, conspiracy theorists, etc. Do not fall for this trick.

It may very well be that if this revolution does occur without participation by the faithful LDS, it may work into the Lord’s plans to purge the earth of portions of its telestial population. We are told the wicked will fight the wicked. They will destroy each other just as they did in the Jaredite civilization. Let us not be found among them.