Them Vs. Us

It has always been that way. Them vs. us. It will always be that way. As Paul asked, “What communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14) This goes for electoral politics.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints avoids taking sides in politics as much as possible. It doesn’t endorse candidates. It doesn’t allow candidates to use our facilities for rallies or meetings. It doesn’t allow meetinghouses to be used as polling places. It discourages “political” discussions in Sunday School classes. Because of that reason, members tiptoe around various moral subjects in lessons when they might trigger partisan bickering. The Church stays silent except to speak out on clearly moral issues like abortion, euthanasia, lotteries, etc.

In the beginning, Latter-day Saints tended to vote as a bloc. They followed the Prophet Joseph Smith’s counsel. Generally, both political parties of the day, Whigs and Democrats, were anti-Mormon, but they wanted to win. That meant that they had to come a-courting ever few years to curry favor. Mormons switched parties frequently, depending on who was running, based on their opinions of us. If a Democrat, who had been part of the anti-Mormon mobs, ran for governor, we’d vote against him. If a Whig blasted us the loudest over some issue, we’d switch party and vote against him. Joseph Smith characterized voting as deciding who we would give the noose with which to hang us.

When we arrived in Utah, we escaped such nonsense for awhile. For a time, Latter-day Saints celebrated their freedom from America. On the first anniversary of arriving in the Valley, the saints raised an ensign to the nations in the form of a giant white flag on Ensign Peak. It was not a flag of surrender—it was a flag of repudiation. It was a statement that the United States was going to hell and we were no longer a part of it. Over the next thirty years, conflicts arose frequently between the federal government and the State of Deseret. The army occupied it. We resisted overtly and covertly. When the Civil War came, we kind of celebrated it. It was a judgment of God upon the wicked Gentiles who oppressed us and murdered a prophet. When America was not destroyed completely by that war, we were a little disappointed. The time had not yet come.

America is an Elias. The Church teaches the doctrine that “Elias” is a priesthood office as well as a person. John the Baptist was one such Elias—a forerunner of something greater. John told his disciples, who saw that Jesus was drawing ever larger crowds, that it was his place to fade away as the greater light came. John did not challenge Jesus as a rival. He knew that he had prepared the way as he had been ordained to do.

America is a forerunner. It broke the chains of state religion and provided a brief window in which the true Church could be restored. If the restoration had come a generation earlier, it would have still found the Church of England as the official state church and it might have been crushed by royal decree. If the restoration had occurred a generation later, it would have found an America that had adopted modern Evangelicalism as a de facto state religion. That state religion still holds sway over the GOP today. In the past, it controlled the Democrat Party. Evangelical Christians are the anti-Mormon party of our time. It was white Evangelicals that promoted slavery as a “positive good,” Indian removal, Jim Crow, the KKK, segregation, etc.

Evangelicals in control of the political machinery used their power to oppose anything that claimed to be new revelation. In particular, this included Latter-day Saints and the Native American Ghost Dance Movement in the late nineteenth century. Both of these movements defied the belief that God can only speak through the Bible and claimed revelation telling them that the hegemony of white Evangelicals was at its end. The Book of Mormon taught that the Lamanites would “blossom” and take part in building the New Jerusalem. The Ghost Dance movement taught that God would bring about an apocalyptic end to the white Gentiles and restore the First Peoples to their lands, resurrecting their dead loved ones. Several important scholars see connections between the Mormons and the Ghost Dance Movement.

In the mid-nineteenth century, Darwinism and Secular Humanism, also called Religious Humanism, began to become more widespread. This also represented a challenge to white Evangelicals. Naturally, people in power seek to maintain their power and the white Evangelicals sought to block any challenge to their control.

In Utah, Brigham Young charted a new course after the Civil War, seeing the inevitability of railroads, mining, mass communications, and outside businesses coming into the territory. The tidal wave of corrupt Gentiles could not be contained. The Latter-day Saints abandoned the United Order as a means of resistance and joined the happy throng of money-grubbing Gentiles. Our own people chose Mammon over God and, as a result, Gentile politics replaced inspired prophets of God as the makers of civic policy.

The Church still speaks out on issues and encourages members to do the right thing, but the members, like the ancient people of Israel, tell the seers, “. . .See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits. . . ” (Isaiah 30:10). We want to be accepted by the worldly and wealthy. We want to be feted at Sunstone. We want to be taken seriously by the intellectuals at Interpreter. If you want to embraced by the world, declare yourself to be a LGBTQ Mormon. Demand the ordination of women. Become a Mormon "Transhumanist." Call yourself a “Liahona Mormon” and look down your nose at the “Iron Rod Mormons” who live their lives under a regime of "patriarchy."

As a new political season approaches, be mindful that it has been, and ever will"be “Them vs. Us.” Satan and his worldly followers will always seek to marginalize the true followers of Christ. The followers of Christ are not comfortable or adept at navigating the politics of Babylon. When we try to take a stand, we don’t like to take the heat. Our opponents use Saul Alinksky’s Rules for Radicals tactics when we don’t live up to our own standards. It’s how they get us to back down.

The Tribune today included one such article about how Putin uses the Russian Orthodox Church to hinder missionary work in Russia. The author sought to draw parallels to Utah and the Church in politics. He argued that, if you don't like it your Church being limited in Russia, then your Church shouldn't exercise any degree of influence here. That's specious. First of all, Putin is right to be wary of outside influences, particularly those globalist interests that seek to undermine Russia's culture. Latter-day Saints should identify with Russians in that regard. Gentiles have been eroding Mormon culture for over a century. We understand that God is testing the faithfulness of Russian Latter-day Saints. In our case. We need to reassert our culture in Utah and any other place where we are a majority.

Stand up for what you believe. Stand up for your ideals and don’t be badgered because of your failure to achieve all of them. If you don’t want a bar or an adult-oriented business in your community, run it out of there. If you don’t want indecent movies in your community, shut down the theater. If you have corrupt politicians, vote them out or expose them. Once upon a time, when corrupt Gentiles came among us, we sent them packing. They feared us. Vigilantism is seen as an evil, but back in the day, it was a necessary one when corrupt political appointees defied the will of the people. Even the very founders of America understood that democracy always contains an inherent threat of violent, popular uprisings. They designed a system that would mitigate the need for such action, after having seen Shay’s Rebellion.

Don’t mistake these words as encouraging violence. What I am suggesting is making your voice heard aggressively. Don’t settle for Gentile politicians who don’t represent your view. Don’t tolerate policies that defy God’s laws in the name of multiculturalism. If the politicians don’t represent the community, then make them fear you, the PEOPLE. Non-Mormon elements of society seek to portray the Church as an oppressive “800-pound gorilla” that seeks to dominate others. I have lived my entire adult life in the “mission field” as we call it. I have always been a part of a small minority and Latter-day Saints have no sway in things at all. It pains me to see us yield the power to a minority in the very land for which our great-great-grandparents sacrificed to seek a place of refuge. If the wicked Gentiles don’t like living among the godly, then let them go somewhere else.

Earlier, I mentioned that America is an "Elias," a forerunner. As John the Baptist faded when Jesus rose to prominence, so America will fade away and die, leaving only the New Jerusalem. The United States is not eternal. Like all worldly governments and empires, it eventually perishes. New Jerusalem is what will remain. We need not back down. We need not avoid asserting strength. We should not be surprised when that assertion of strength is opposed by devils.