Like the Jaredites

Do you think there is calamity abroad now among the people?…All we have yet heard and all we have experienced is scarcely a preface to the sermon that is going to be preached. When the testimony of the Elders ceases to be given, and the Lord says to them, ‘come home; I will now preach My own sermons to the nations of the earth,’ all you now know can scarcely be called a preface to the sermon that will be preached with fire and sword, tempests, earthquakes, hail, rain, thunders, and lightnings and fearful destruction. What matters the destruction of a few railway cars? You will hear of magnificent cities, now idolized by the people, sinking in the earth, entombing the inhabitants. The sea will heave itself beyond its bounds, engulfing mighty cities. Famine will spread over the nations, and nation will rise up against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and states against states, in our own country and in foreign lands; and they will destroy each other, caring not for the blood and lives of their neighbors, of their families, or for their own lives. They will be like the Jaredites who preceded the Nephites upon this continent, and will destroy each other to the last man, through the anger that the devil will place in their hearts, because they have rejected the words of life and are given over to Satan to do whatever he listeth to do with them. You may think that the little you hear of now is grievous; yet the faithful of God’s people will see days that will cause them to close their eyes because of the sorrow that will come upon the wicked nations. The hearts of the faithful will be filled with pain and anguish for them.

I am probably preaching to the choir, on this blog and perhaps this is all old news anyway. But while I do personally feel a need to completely avoid social media, I have looked at X/Twitter a bit, and people are losing their minds. Even a few of the saints, which is a bit embarrassing. (Brad Torgerson, we love you. Take a deep breath, friend) There is plenty of current events to inflame our passions, even justly. Still, I think the Lord expects more of us. Remember, in the Book of Mormon, war never starts without people being stirred up to war first. We should not be so easily manipulated.

People have argued that team A or team B would be the real winner of a domestic conflict. That is pure foolishness. It will be a war of mutual genocide, which we must do all we can do stop. Truthfully, the real winner of the Final Jaredite Civil War wasn’t Shiz, or Coriantumr. It was the Nephites and Lamanites, who never participated at all.

People see ominous events in the news and conclude that fatalities are inevitable at this point. Their concerns are not without merit. Some people genuinely want us dead.

For the sake of argument, let us assume these threats are entirely correct. How can we minimize this, if only for ourselves? Certainly not by fighting. There will be no winner of a physical conflict, no matter how just. No, we must be strident civil pacifists, so we can be the ones to help rebuild. Do not be overly concerned with meting out justice or winning any one battle or argument. The Lord has said He would fight our battles.

For behold, I do not require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion; for, as I said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfil—I will fight your battles. D&C 105:14

And I, the Lord, would fight their battles, and their children’s battles, and their children’s children’s, until they had avenged themselves on all their enemies, to the third and fourth generation. D&C 98:37

Do we trust Him enough to let Him do it? Who will win this conflict? The only winning move is not to play. (Wargames, 86)

What about my own nation—the American nation? … What then will be the condition of that people, when this great and terrible war shall come? It will be very different from the war between the North and the South, Do you wish me to describe it? I will do so. It will be a war of neighborhood against neighborhood, city against city, town against town, county against county, state against state, and they will go forth destroying and being destroyed and manufacturing will, in a great measure, cease, for a time, among the American nation. Why? Because in these terrible wars, they will not be privileged to manufacture, there will be too much bloodshed—too much mobocracy—too much going forth in bands and destroying and pillaging the land to suffer people to pursue any local vocation with any degree of safety. What will become of millions of the farmers upon that land? They will leave their farms and they will remain uncultivated, and they will flee before the ravaging armies from place to place; and thus will they go forth burning and pillaging the whole country; and that great and powerful nation, now consisting of some forty millions of people, will be wasted away, unless they repent. Orson Pratt, JD 20:151-153 

Perhaps none of this needs to be said this exalted and intelligent audience. Still, I want to do what I can to make sure Saints, as many of them as possible, are wise. I don’t mean to suggest we should be idle or indifferent. But war or physical retaliation is beyond foolish, even if theoretically it is justified. There will be more atrocities like this, pushing us. Perhaps we can not stop what is coming, But we would be wise to postpone it as long as possible.