In 1st Nephi chapter 14, verse 3 we read:
“And that great pit, which hath been digged for them by that great and abominable church, which was founded by the devil and his children, that he might lead away the souls of men down to hell—yea, that great pit which hath been digged for the destruction of men shall be filled by those who digged it, unto their utter destruction, saith the Lamb of God; not the destruction of the soul, save it be the casting of it into that hell which hath no end.”
We’re beginning to see this scripture coming to pass before our eyes. In the nineteenth century, sectarian Christians combined with civil authorities to persecute the latter-day saints for various reasons. Some say it was because of polygamy, but anti-Mormonism was rampant before polygamy was practiced among latter-day saints. Latter-day saint elders and missionaries were harassed, beaten, jailed, and tarred-and-feathered, even before polygamy became a convenient political weapon with which to attack us.
Joseph Smith was often arrested for being a “disorderly person” or on various fabricated offenses, like “ecclesiastical perjury.” Seriously, that was one of the charges for which he was arrested. In America today, some physical persecution still occurs. When I was a young man, working one evening with some missionaries, we approached a home where an old man was raking leaves. When he saw us step onto his driveway, he started yelling incoherently and chased after us waving the rake, threatening to hit us with it. Ten minutes later, we were down the street and a police patrol car stopped us. The cop threatened to arrest us unless we left the street.
When I was doing my graduate studies in history, I considered writing a thesis based on the idea that evangelical Christianity had become the de facto state religion in America by the mid-nineteenth century, as a result of the second Great Awakening. The sects and denominations that formed the core of this movement early on were threatened by anything that could be perceived as a new, current revelation from God. We see that manifested in the violence that these groups brought upon the two Native American Ghost Dance movements as well as the latter-day saints.
This American “state religion” of evangelical Protestantism turned away from any biblical notions of revelation and worked to entrench the Bible as the inerrant word of God. In so doing, they replaced God as the center of their worship. They attributed the godly trait of perfection to an inanimate object—a book. They went from being Christians to being “Biblicans.” In so doing, if God were ever to speak again to humanity, they completely denied themselves hearing it. If God didn’t already say it in the Bible, they would refuse to listen to anything God would ever say in the future. “Biblicans” are therefore a form of idolatry that worships a book as if the book were God.
Mormonism posed a direct challenge to that. Although we can show from the pages of the Bible that there are errors and omissions within its text, “Biblicans” will not see them. We believe the Bible to be the word of God so far as it is translated correctly. That was heretical to the “Biblicans,” because it challenges the inerrancy of their book-god. You see, if the book is ever admitted to have even one error, it is neither inerrant, nor perfect. The notion destroys the book-god.
Because of this conflict, the “Biblicans” seek our destruction. Because of the humanist influence in today’s society, the Biblicans can no longer get away with physically attacking latter-day saints. They do, however, act to block temple construction in zoning boards and holding public protests. At temple open-houses, you’ll see them handing out anti-Mormon tracts. The legal tactic of seeking to block temple construction through legal means is pretty much all they have left.
The godless left has risen to power and exercises control over what the religious right can do. Latter-day saints are mostly conservative, but we do our best to separate our faith from politics. Unlike the “Biblicans,” we don’t let our churches be used as polling places and we don’t allow candidates to give speeches, hold rallies, or campaign in our meetinghouses. The Christian right has no qualms about using their religious assets for political activism or providing places for conservative candidates to solicit votes.
When these churches and their clergy used their political ties to persecute Mormons in the nineteenth century, they dug a pit for us. They sent the army out to occupy Utah. They sought to overwhelm latter-day saint culture with Gentile culture during the run-up to statehood. The railroads, the mining companies, and the anti-Mormon churches said that Mormonism could no more restrain the tide of their arrival in Utah that some grandmother’s mop could keep out the Atlantic Ocean. At times, they would not allow us to meet. They would not allow latter-day saints the freedom to worship, to marry, or to live in the patriarchal order as they wished. They banned plural marriage and sought to make criminals of those who already lived under such arrangements. They jailed our apostles and prophets. Mormonism’s beliefs and observances were marginalized and, in some cases, criminalized.
Now, in 2020, we face a global pandemic. In blue states with liberal Democrat governors, abortion clinics stay open while the churches of the “Biblicans” are being shut down. As we approach Easter tomorrow, many of these believers are crying out against oppression and the power of the state being used against them. They claim they are being singled out. Some of them plan on engaging in civil disobedience and defying their governors’ orders. They would risk spreading the disease in the name of religious freedom, putting others potentially in danger of infection.
Meanwhile, the latter-day saints—the people who believe in modern-day revelation and prophecy—began well over a year ago to publish a home curriculum and reorganized Sunday worship services to allow greater time for home worship. This was a prophetic initiative. The latter-day saints do not have a hireling clergy—no professional ministers. Instead, as was done in biblical times, men are ordained to offices like elder, deacon, priest, bishops, and other positions of authority and responsibility. These men have authority to administer gospel ordinances to their families. With approval, they can bless and administer the emblems of the Lord’s Supper to their families. They can anoint and bless the sick. This decentralized authority allows us to function as a church, even when we cannot meet. True, the temples are closed for now, but they will reopen when the pandemic has passed. Even our semi-annual general conference, which is held in a gigantic 21,000-seat auditorium was downsized to a worldwide telecast of the sessions held by a handful of church leaders in a modest conference room on the Internet and by satellites to cable channels around the planet.
A good friend of mine is a Baptist minister. He is struggling to keep his flock engaged. He worries that they will drift away. He worries about donations to the church falling. The church has a mortgage and he gets a salary. How many churches like his might actually lose their property or have the hireling clergyman quit for a better offer? What happens to the minister if the bank repossesses the parsonage? As for the latter-day saints, having had our properties seized by the federal government in the 1870s and having to purchase them all back again, we have learned the wisdom of “pay as you go.” The Church does not carry any debt. We operate hundreds of temples and thousands of meetinghouses around the world, all of which are paid for in full before they are dedicated. Critics earlier this year tried to make a scandal of the Church having an investment portfolio of some $100 billion by some estimates. Who would have suspected that, even as the enemies of the Church attacked it for its financial foresight, a global pandemic would collapse markets around the world? We latter-day saints don’t have to worry about our temples being repo’ed by the bank.
And for those ministers who decide to challenge the authorities, how many of them might get fined or put in jail for resisting the civil authorities’ social distancing guidelines? The shoe is on the other foot. In the past, they used their power to persecute latter-day saints, whose unpopular religious opinions they derided. How unsettling it must be for them to be on the other end of the stick this time, as liberal governors who don’t share their religious views, tell them they must lock their doors or face fines, jail, or seizure of assets?
On social media, I am hearing a lot of complaining from the “Biblicans” about how abortion clinics stay open while churches are being closed. True, that is distressing. The world is rapidly changing. The churches of the “Biblicans” have been actively anti-Mormon from the beginning. They have fought against Zion. They have harassed, threatened, and even killed latter-day saints. They were behind the mob who killed Joseph Smith. Now, the state power with which they were once allied has turned on them as secular/liberals hold the reins of power in many states.
They are falling into the pit they dug for us. State power is being exercised against them and they are helpless to stop it. They showed us almost no mercy when they used that power to persecute us. It is not with any degree of Shadenfreude that we observe their time of trial as it comes upon them. While they fret that they will lose their power and property, members of the true Church, led by prophetic inspiration will worship this Easter in their homes, quietly, enjoying the fruits of prophetic insight and the Spirit of God. Meanwhile, as Nephi also wrote:
"And every nation which shall war against thee, O house of Israel, shall be turned one against another, and they shall fall into the pit which they digged to ensnare the people of the Lord. And all that fight against Zion shall be destroyed, and that great whore, who hath perverted the right ways of the Lord, yea, that great and abominable church, shall tumble to the dust and great shall be the fall of it."
Here’s wishing you a happy Easter!
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