Will the Gentiles Also Look Beyond the Mark?

  The Political Realm and the Constitution of the United States

When a nation and its leaders are righteous, the form of government under which they live is inconsequential. But since the world has not yet risen to this level of perfection, governments must be bridled, or designing men within them can become fearful masters. For our time the Constitution as the Founders intended it epitomizes the proper role of government. Those who framed that document were great men inspired of God.⁽¹⁴⁾ The purpose of that document was to define and limit the sphere in which government may act, any more or less than that standard being evil.⁽¹⁵⁾ Realizing the divine intervention in its inception and comprehending its universal application, the Founders recognized and promoted the Constitution's manifest destiny. They saw this document as fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy that "out of Zion shall go forth the law."⁽¹⁶⁾

When destruction comes upon the hypocrites in the latter days, it will be due to their disregard of the religious and the political realms of God's kingdom. The Lord's anger will be kindled against them "because they [will] have cast away the law of the Lord of Hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel."⁽¹⁷⁾ Apparently, looking beyond the mark and neglecting one realm of God's kingdom results in a general corruption that carries over to one's vigilance in the other as well. How long and to what extent can a Christian put off the Spirit of the Lord in one area and expect to maintain the Spirit in another?⁽¹⁸⁾. Hence, neglect in the political exacerbates wickedness in the religious. When occurring on a general level, this in turn exacerbates political corruption. Thus a viscous cycle is created that can only end in destruction, if God were not to intercede--which would depend on whether or not a remnant repents.

Had the Christians in this country sufficiently rallied not only to the banner of the gospel but also to this standard of freedom, how might the world be different today? Christians pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."⁽¹⁹⁾ To most professing Christians, this pertains solely to propagating the gospel of Jesus Christ. They forget about or harden their hearts to the political realm of God's kingdom--often even going so far as actively opposing it. How can the Gentiles think to receive an inheritance in God's kingdom if they do not understand God's government and seek to establish it here upon the earth? The cause of freedom should be considered a most basic part of the Christian religion.⁽²⁰⁾ "...The founding fathers welded together the safeguards as best they could, but freedom must be continually won to be enjoyed."⁽²¹⁾

The Christian's gross negligence of their role in supporting and defending the Constitution -- God's temporal banner of the latter-days -- will not be excused because of their professed devotion to the gospel. The Jew's rejection of Jesus Christ was not excused because of their zeal toward the temporal aspects of the covenant.

A fundamental reason why breaching the limits on government as set forth in the Constitution is evil has to do with social programs. The Christian's most basic responsibility is to love his neighbor, and through so doing manifest his love toward God: feeding the hungry, taking in the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, coming unto those who are in prison.⁽²²⁾ If these acts do not come from a charitable heart, they are done in vain.⁽²³⁾ Hence mankind must be free to do these things, not forced through government legislation, whatever name that government be called. This is why the Founders' Constitution is viewed as the epitome of the proper response: it leaves this responsibility solely up to volunteerism. Socialism, on the other hand, epitomizes the improper response, usurping this most fundamental responsibility and imposing it upon people regardless of their individual motives. A crucial tenet of freedom is that man should be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.⁽²⁴⁾ The most oppressive tyrannies come in the name of administering the needs of all. The peace for which mankind seeks cannot be imposed from without; it must come from within.⁽²⁵⁾ Christ changes the hearts of men, based on their agency, and changed men change the world. Satan changes the world and forces men to change. Will we be free under Christ's head, or will we be slaves under Satan? Christ's first coming redeemed his followers from individual sin. Christ second coming will redeem his followers from national bondage.

In the latter days, the Messiah is coming in glory to vanquish every foe, to subdue the "kingdoms of the world...under [His] feet," and to give the earth "unto the saints to possess it forever and ever."⁽²⁶⁾ The blood of the prophets and the saints will be avenged of their enemies.⁽²⁷⁾ Secret combinations that seek "to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries," will be utterly destroyed, and the yokes of captivity burst.⁽²⁸⁾ All this will be so that the covenant made to Abraham might be fulfilled, "for the Mighty God shall deliver his covenant people."⁽²⁹⁾

Who can deny that these things fall into the category of the political realm of God's kingdom: the temporal deliverance of his people in the latter days?

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Endnotes:

14. Doctrine and Covenants 101:77,80.

15. Doctrine and Covenants 98:5-7,11.

16. Isa. 2:3; 2 Nephi 12:3. For example, anticipating this time, in his visit to the American colonies in 1759-60, Andrew Burnaby proclaimed: "An idea strange as it is visionary, has entered into the minds of the generality of mankind, that empire is travelling westward; and every one is looking forward with eager and impatient expectation to the destined moment, when America is to give the law to the rest of the world." (Andrew Burnaby, Travels in the Middle Settlements in North America in the Years 1759 and 1760, published in A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels, London, 1812, and quoted by Ernest Lee Tuveson in Redeemer Nation, University of Chicago Press, 1974, p. 101.)

17. Isa. 5:24,25; 2 Nephi 15:24,25.

18. JST-Matt. 13:12; John 1:9; Moroni 7:16.

19. 3 Nephi 13:9; Matt. 6:10.

20. Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, Deseret Book, SLC, Utah, 1988, p. 656.

21. Ezra Taft Benson, General Conference Report of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Oct., 1958, p. 101.

22. Matt. 22:36-40; 23:11; 25:32-46.

23. Matt. 6:1,2; 1 Cor. 13:3; Moroni 7:44.

24. Mosiah 29:30; Doctrine and Covenants 101:78; Deut. 24:16; Rev. 20:12.

25. Luke 17:21; John A. Widstoe, General Conference Report of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Oct., 1943, p. 113.

26. Doctrine and Covenants 103:7; Dan. 7:18,27.

27. Isa. 1:24; Doctrine and Covenants 87:7; Ether 8:22.

28. Ether 8:25; 1 Nephi 14:2; 2 Nephi 6:14-17; 10:15,16; Isa. 10:27; 49:25.

29. 2 Nephi 6:14; 10:15; Isa. 49:25.

"Would God that ALL the Lord's People Were PROPHETS"

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