Chapter 5—Strange Laws
Freedom is never free. What sacrifices are we making to keep our country free and worthy of God’s name? Our Founding Fathers’ grievance against King George declared that he “combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation.”
Apathy and contentment allow freedoms to be usurped. “The blindness and ignorance of the Nephites caused by the seduction of wealth produced another problem in their society, a pseudo-patriotism that threatened personal liberties . . . You can get away with anything if you just wave the flag,” all while the “foundation of the destruction” of this land was being laid (Alma 10:27). Our civilization is following the same pattern that destroyed many other nations.
At least twenty great civilizations have disappeared. The pattern is shockingly similar. All before their collapse showed a decline in spiritual values, in moral stamina, and in the freedom and responsibility of their citizens. They showed such symptoms as excessive taxation, bloated bureaucracy, government paternalism, and generally a rather elaborate set of supports, controls, and regulations.
 |
| Used with permission of TheTrumpet.com (sign up for their free subscription!) |
“Destroying the foundation of liberty” is a vital part of Satan’s plan and all who “seek to destroy the church of God” (Alma 46:10). Removing liberty and God is the only way they can prevail. Destruction, invasion, upheaval, and calamity come when strange things rule. Isaiah tirelessly warns of invasion by unmerciful armies that, for a time, perform a necessary cleansing that prepares the way for God’s work.
Those of the world “differ in the strange manner of their laws and evil affected to our state, working all the mischief they can that our kingdom may not be firmly established” (Additions of Esther 4:5). For this reason, we are commanded to “waste and wear out our lives” exposing all evil, error, and darkness that keep us captive (D&C 123:13).
In 1968, US Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Benson warned that communists “have penetrated every major segment of our society . . . the news media, the schools, the churches, the union . . . but their greatest desire and most successful drive has come from their effective penetration of [the US] government.”
Government infiltration and oppression is not new. The ancient account of Amalickiah, a “large and strong man” (Alma 46:3) of great political influence, a master of deception and gifted orator, ties strange things to political events. Although his prior insurrection was defeated by Captain Moroni, the once-righteous Nephites ultimately fell for Amalickiah’s smooth words as he aspired, then conspired, to rule at the very time many Christians were “entirely forgetting” God.
Now these dissenters, having the same instruction and the same information of the Nephites, yea, having been instructed in the same knowledge of the Lord, nevertheless, it is strange to relate, not long after their dissensions they became more hardened and impenitent, and more wild, wicked, and ferocious than the Lamanites—drinking in with the traditions of the Lamanites; giving way to indolence, and all manner of lasciviousness; yea, entirely forgetting the Lord their God. (Alma 47:36)
Remembering God is required to honor our covenants. Forgetting Him breaks the covenant. After being sworn in as the United States’ first president, George Washington warned that turning away from God and His laws would cause the removal of His blessings and protection.
Wickedness, which paves the way for division and degeneration of the covenant, allowed Amalickiah to gain influence over many who had Christ’s gospel. Amalickiah (and his followers) received the same gospel instruction as those who were loyal to the true doctrines of God. Although they had access to scripture, their hearts longed for the world, making them strangers to God.
As Amalickiah gained political stature, more Nephites joined with his unholy ideas. Those deceived by flattery and smooth words “became idolatrous.” The division between truth and error, good and evil eventually became so great that many sought to take the life of Helaman and other servants of God (Alma 46:1–2). Estrangement of their spirits began long before they committed crimes of the flesh.
With smooth words, flattery, and subtle persuasion, Amalickiah encouraged many to accept principles that did not fully comply with, or even ran contrary to, God’s revealed word. The rebellious encourage their prophets to deliver peaceful messages instead of warning of danger. But it is a trap: “They have healed the brokenness of my people superficially, saying Peace, peace but there is no peace . . . [and] My people love it so” (NASB). “They give assurances of peace when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14, NLT) because “there is no peace for the wicked” (Isaiah 48:22, NLT). They promise peace, but the Spirit cannot dwell in wickedness. True peace is God’s gift to those who obey His laws.
In Greek, strange means ‘other tongued,’ perverse, or out of the way (G2084, 824)—all describe Amalickiah. By fraud and cleverness, he seduced the queen and came to rule the Lamanite kingdom (Alma 47:35). Lamanites are distinguished by their ideologies. A disparity of beliefs about how to worship God separated Cain from Abel, Pharisees from true disciples of Christ, and Laman and Lemuel from Nephi. Our political and religious philosophies are a reliable measure of our moral character, a standard the Lord will use to judge all people.
Smooth words are much easier to swallow than brutal reality or hard words of truth. True disciples relentlessly warn us to be wary of churches, political parties, philosophies, groups, reforms, or beliefs that flatter, cater to convenience, or appeal to carnal desires—temptations that exist even within the church: “They did deceive many with their flattering words who were in the church and did cause them to commit many sins” (Mosiah 26:6). Strangers use flattering words to entice us to a damning path that promises salvation and security, but it’s a trap—they cannot deliver what they promise:
[Wisdom will] deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God . . . None that go unto her . . . take hold of the paths of life. (Proverbs 2:16–17, 19)
With Amalickiah’s evil masquerading as truth and light, many were lulled into dangerous circumstances, ignorantly following those who did not defend the foundation of liberty that God had laid.
There were many in the church who believed in the flattering words of Amalickiah, therefore they dissented even from the [original] church; and thus were the affairs of the people of Nephi exceedingly precarious and dangerous . . . Yea, we see that Amalickiah, because he was a man of cunning device and a man of many flattering words, that he led away the hearts of many people to do wickedly; yea, and to seek to destroy the church of God and to destroy the foundation of liberty which God had granted unto them, or which blessing God had sent upon the face of the land for the righteous’ sake. (Alma 46:7, 10)
Anything strange, including apathy, separates us from God and seeks to destroy His church. This includes changing ordinances; offering unholy sacrifice; believing smooth words; encouraging ideologies that oppress, coerce, or limit freedom in any degree; supporting greed to pursue wealth; or neglecting our obligation to build Zion—so “watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds . . . [that ye] perish not” (Mosiah 4:30). God’s strange work and act provide the opportunity to discern truth from error. Part of “the test” involves discerning those who profess to know God but really hold divergent ideologies or wander off His path. At times, we are presented with a real servant of God next to an appealing counterfeit. There is no guarantee, for scripture warns that covenant makers can choose the wrong.
Diverging from His gospel occurs by degrees. If our beliefs challenge, hinder, or run contrary to the “foundation of liberty which God hath granted,” we are like the dissenters who joined Amalickiah, a “very wicked man” (Alma 46:9–10). God is offended if we endorse or support someone who does not defend or preserve our liberty, even if they profess to be religious and make attractive promises.
Divine laws are to be “maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles. And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood” (D&C 101:77, 80). Leaders take an oath to uphold the Constitution and its principles, not laws that contradict it. But few leaders today honor their oaths. The Supreme Court once ruled that
All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void.
God cannot honor (and we cannot submit to) the laws of men if they contradict the laws of God. We must uphold “that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, [which] belongs to all mankind and is justifiable before me” (D&C 98:5–6). Yet God’s constitutional laws have been modified, despised, and largely rejected. Continuing to embrace deviant laws provokes His wrath.
Any platform, organization, agenda, or person who encourages us to exchange our God-given rights and freedoms for convenience or security is eerily reminiscent of Satan’s pre-mortal offer. We are again engaged in the same war of ideologies. Liberty is a blessing given for the sake of the righteous (Alma 46:10), so interfering with, giving up, or hindering freedom has eternal consequences. Our freedom and eternal life is at stake. Fortunately, the Lord reveals the manner by which we are to judge: obedience and adherence to His laws must take priority over man’s laws. Many today believe that as long as we obey the laws of the land, the Lord will understand and not count it against us. God condemns this attitude that Nephi knew would be among us in the last days.
There shall also be many which shall say . . . [God] will justify in committing a little sin . . . there is no harm in this . . . and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God. (2 Nephi 28:8)
Unconditional obedience to laws of the land is only justified if those laws are congruent with what God revealed. Believing that the Lord will tolerate our allegiance to something contrary to His laws—and still grant us exaltation—opposes His doctrine and His nature. We must obey God regardless of how difficult the requirements are, sacrificing as needed to preserve what He has given and do what we are obliged to do.
Not many decades ago, N. Eldon Tanner said, “‘Bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible; still, while they continue in force, they should be religiously observed.’ This is the attitude of the Church in regard to law observance.” This position assumes those in the highest legislative, judicial, and executive seats interpret laws according to God’s will, but remember, it was lawyers and judges who destroyed the laws by cooperating with destructive influences and “letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money” (Helaman 7:5).
“The foundation of the destruction of this people is beginning to be laid by the unrighteousness of your lawyers and your judges” (Alma 10:27). Driven by gain and skillful in “all the arts and cunning of the people,” the lawyers (which includes keepers of legal and/or religious law) were
laying the foundations of the devil; for ye are laying traps and snares to catch the holy ones of God. Ye are laying plans to pervert the ways of the righteous and to bring down the wrath of God upon your heads, even to the utter destruction of this people. (Alma 10:17–18)
Many judges and lawyers wrested the law for their gain. Using clever devices to catch people in their words, using the law against the people, destroying the righteous, craftily targeting those who were doing good, making righteous acts appear to be a crime, silencing divergent voices, and discrediting those speaking truth eroded their nation’s foundation. “The judges were angry with [Nephi] because he spoke plainly unto them concerning their secret works of darkness” (Helaman 8:4).
Distancing ourselves from God results in corrupt people and laws, a clear sign that strange things are among us. Not honoring God’s laws brings disorder, invokes penalties, and forfeits wisdom, discernment, and His promise of protection. Our destruction is made sure when our laws actively work against the will and ways of God.
In response to Amalickiah’s attack on divine law, Captain Moroni “prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should be a band of Christians remain to possess the land.” These Christians were not members of a church in name only, but “were faithful . . . true believers of Christ who belonged to the church of God” and “took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or Christians as they were called, because of their belief in Christ” (Alma 46:13–15).
The courageous who stand against perverse laws of the land expect to be falsely accused for Satan has “great hold upon [many] hearts.” God strengthens the faithful who “are despised because we take upon us the name of Christ,” while transgressors who profess His name in vain will be destroyed (Alma 46:18).
“I seek not for power, but to pull it down,” Captain Moroni declared as he valiantly fought against all threats to godly principles. He boldly called out powerful leaders who sat on their high seats “in a state of thoughtless stupor” (Alma 60:36, 7) while selling people out in hopes that those in charge “would make them rulers over the people” (Alma 46:5).
It is a serious matter. Nephites “were threatened with utter destruction” because wicked men had usurped “their rights, and the privileges of their church and of their worship, and their freedom and their liberty” (3 Nephi 2:12–13). This was exactly what Captain Moroni sought to defend as he “rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole” (Alma 46:12).
He worked tirelessly “to support their liberty, their lands, their wives, and their children, and their peace, and that they might live unto the Lord their God, and that they might maintain that which was called by their enemies the cause of Christians.” Moroni, who mightily “prayed that the cause of the Christians and the freedom of the land might be favored” by God, named it “a chosen land and the land of liberty” (Alma 48:10, 46:16–17). He also “prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of [true] Christians remain to possess the land.” He asked all to valiantly defend and “support the cause of liberty” and covenant to “maintain their rights and their religion that the Lord God may bless them” because the “foundation of the destruction of this people” was striking at the liberty God designed for our eternal joy (Alma 46:13, 51:17, 10:27).
The Book of Mormon repeatedly warns of secretive organizations who seek “to gain power.” They use flattery, give loyal followers “power and authority,” “alter and trample” God’s laws, and “set at defiance the law and the rights of their country.” Their “laws and their governments were established by the voice of the people and they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good, therefore they were ripening for destruction, for the laws had become [so] corrupted” that they “had become a wicked people.” Satan “seduced the more part of the righteous” to join them in seeking power, obtaining wealth, ruling with injustice, and “condemning the righteous.” Even church members “did build them up and support” the secret combinations. So strong was the pull that the “more righteous part of the people had nearly all become wicked; yea, there were but few righteous men among them.” This eventually “did prove the overthrow, yea, almost the entire destruction of the people of Nephi.”
Like the ancients, Joseph warned of “the impropriety of the organization of bands or companies, by covenant or oaths, by penalties or secrecies” and urged the humble servants of Christ “to disapprobate everything that is not in accordance with the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ . . . It is expedient that we should be aware of such things . . . which sometimes so strangely present themselves.”
Secret combinations are here again—and they are no longer keeping it a secret because they now have great power. Our generation is faced with a choice between God’s inspired laws or man’s imitative ones. The divinely guided Declaration of Independence aims to protect the rights of every individual: “all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Government exists to protect these rights, not redefine, remove, or suppress them. Yet this shift away from God’s plan occurs as the wicked obtain positions in leadership and lawmaking. UN’s counterfeit, the Declaration of Human Rights, states that “rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.” This powerful global conglomerate insists that government is allowed to grant, restrict, or withdraw your rights as they choose. You (and your labor) belong to them. Again the familiar battle arises between good and evil, light and darkness, truth and error, freedom and compulsion. Ben Franklin said,
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
We must make and uphold righteous laws, “forsake all evil, and cleave unto all good” (D&C 98:11). God never gave any nation an unconditional guarantee of liberty or deliverance unless they are righteous, observe His gospel, and befriend His constitutional principles. Ungodly laws cannot be justified. We must work tirelessly to repeal or replace laws that hinder or contradict God’s decrees. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12). Anything that opposes, impedes, or runs contrary to divine principles “cometh of evil” (D&C 98:7). Blind obedience, complacency, and apathy allow others to prohibit our freedom. We cannot be excused if we obey or support man-made laws over God’s. Sin is not excusable under any circumstance when the Lord’s law has been revealed.
Mortality lets us prove to whom we wish to serve—the true God or the imposter who claims this world as his. If we do not serve God and follow His laws, we are under Satan’s power.
The government of the Almighty has always been very dissimilar to the governments of men, whether we refer to His religious government or to the government of nations. The government of God has always tended to promote peace, unity, harmony, strength, and happiness; while that of men has been productive of confusion, disorder, weakness, and misery.
Recipients of His gospel and its freedoms must realize that “unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required” (Luke 12:48). God’s great blessings come with a price. The Lord clearly defines the priority of our allegiance, specifically differentiating ‘the law of man’ from ‘the law of the land which is constitutional’:
Concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them. And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me. Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land; and as pertaining to the law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil. I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free.
Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn. Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil. (D&C 98:4–10)
We must obey “every word which proceedeth forth out of the mouth of God” (D&C 98:11). All else is evil. God’s laws are “irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world [and through them] all blessings are predicated—and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:20–21).
Unwavering loyalty to His word and law is necessary to claim His promises. Which law is it that we are to obey, honor, and sustain—God’s or man’s? D&C 98 explains it is only that law which preserves divine liberty and inalienable rights. God only justifies those who obey His laws.
Confusion about following the laws of the land or the laws of God may stem in part from the Article of Faith: “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law” (Articles of Faith 1:12). But “the law” is singular, and the Lord distinguishes His law from the laws of men. Several early versions of the Articles of Faith made no mention of being subject to earthly authority. The Articles of Faith was first to reference being subject to the law in 1842. Flanigan’s 1849 version added “queens” to the list, but John Taylor completely removed this subject in his 1855–57 version. Yet in 2018 the church’s website interpreted this Article as “sustaining the laws and leaders of the land.”
One way to interpret being subject to “kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law” is that we are subject to them in their sustaining the law, which is God’s law—“the law [that] maketh you free” (D&C 98:8). This supports covenant terms that we are to be obedient to others only if and when they hearken to the voice of the Lord. Even if we think laws of the land are the law referenced, laws at the time of Restoration differ extensively from laws that govern us today. Many new laws oppose our natural human rights, and if one dares question their constitutionality, he is labeled a right-wing extremist. The truth is our Constitution has been reformed, reinterpreted, and rewritten for centuries. Our liberties are far less protected and preserved today than they were 180 years ago when this revelation was received. Most would agree that our nation has fewer freedoms than ever before, a sad commentary on how poorly we have preserved the law.
David McKay explained, “We sustain law by keeping it in good repute. To sustain signifies to hold up; to keep from falling. To sustain the law, therefore, is to refrain from saying or doing anything which will weaken it or make it ineffective.” This refers to God’s revealed law. Our responsibility to “sustain and uphold the respective governments” is in force only while we are “protected in [our] inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments” (D&C 134:5). Governments have a responsibility to enact laws that support divine rights while “holding sacred the freedom of conscience.” Righteous leaders must be “sought for” and “upheld, otherwise” serious repercussions result when God’s laws no longer rule the land (D&C 134:5). US Attorney General Janet Reno described the nation’s wayward attitude in 1994:
A cultist is one who has a strong belief in the Bible and Second Coming of Christ; who frequently attends Bible studies; who has a high level of financial giving to a Christian cause; who homeschools their children; who has accumulated survival foods and has a strong belief in the Second Amendment; and who distrusts big government. Any of these may qualify [as cultist] but certainly more than one [of these] would cause us to look at this person as a threat, and his family as being in a risk situation that qualified for government interference.
Our nation has only progressed in the wrong direction since. In 2024, “the Dept of Treasury approved searches of Americans’ private financial accounts for transactions for ‘religious texts’ . . . [which they] assumed to indicate that an individual was involved in ‘domestic violent terrorism’.” And a political figure publicly saying that Christians pose “a bigger threat than al-Qaeda” terrorists to the nation.
The Constitution is given to limit government’s power, not the people’s. Joseph warned, “The government will not receive you with the laws that God designed you to live.” There is no middle ground. It is impossible to compromise with the world. We must decide where we stand because “lukewarm” people will be rejected (Revelation 3:16). “They who are not for me are against me, saith our God” (2 Nephi 10:16).
Ignoring God’s warnings, this nation refuses to turn to the Lord but instead make alliances and treaties with other nations, provoking God. God would be impartial and unjust if He granted salvation to those who forsake His law for man’s. Only that which is godly can be justified—all else is evil. The wars required to establish this country under a divine Constitution “redeemed the land by the shedding of blood” (D&C 101:80), but wickedness permeates this nation again.
Not upholding God’s law weakens then breaks the covenant. All on this “choice land” must remember and “serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ.” We have a serious responsibility to “serve him, the true and only God” or “be swept off”—this is God’s irrevocable and “everlasting decree” (Ether 2:8, 10, 12). If Christ’s laws and perfect atoning blood are refused, wars and destructions will be a catalyst to purge iniquity, redeem the land, and restore laws to establish Zion.
By hearkening to observe all the words which I, the Lord their God, shall speak unto them, they shall never cease to prevail until the kingdoms of the world are subdued under my feet, and the earth is given unto the saints, to possess it forever and ever. But inasmuch as they keep not my commandments, and hearken not to observe all my words, the kingdoms of the world shall prevail against them. (D&C 103:6–8)
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17, NIV). But this nation is rejecting His spirit and rapidly trading freedom and liberty for that which cannot save.
Footnotes and sources can be found HERE.