Government

Discipleship, Education, Government, Politics, Self Reliance, Welfare February 25, 2017

“To Build Up Zion, and not Babylon”

“…it has become a principle with me, that it is never any benefit to give, out and out, to man or woman, money, food, clothing, or anything else, if they are able-bodied, and can work and earn what they need, when there is anything on the earth for them to do. This is my principle, and I try to act upon it. To pursue a contrary course would ruin any community in the world and make them idlers… No, my plan and counsel would be, let every person, able to work, work and earn what he needs; and if the poor come around me—able-bodied men and women—take them and put them into the house. “Do you need them?” No; but …teach them to labor and earn what they need”

Government, Last Days, Secret Combinations, Self Reliance, Signs of the Times, War, Welfare February 21, 2017

The Times in Which We Live

“The Book of Mormon speaks of the Gadianton robbers, a vicious, oath-bound, and secret organization bent on evil and destruction. In their day they did all in their power, by whatever means available, to bring down the Church, to woo the people with sophistry, and to take control of the society. We see the same thing in the present situation.”

Family, Government, Liberty, Politics, Prophecy, Socialism January 23, 2017

The Book of Mormon Is the Word of God

“Now, we have not been using the Book of Mormon as we should. Our homes are not as strong unless we are using it to bring our children to Christ. Our families may be corrupted by worldly trends and teachings unless we know how to use the book to expose and combat the falsehoods in socialism, organic evolution, rationalism, humanism…”

Democracy, Government, Politics January 20, 2017

“…the democracy on which our freedoms depend…”

“I’m not making an argument for the outcome of the election, but I make an argument for the democracy on which our freedoms depend, and we cannot have democracy if we cannot accept outcomes with which we disagree as well as outcomes with which we agree…”

Government, Last Days, Law, Prophecy, Secret Combinations January 20, 2017

“Great Are The Words of Isaiah”

‘“Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! . . . which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!”… This recalls how the Gadianton robbers, when they finally got control of the government and the law courts, when “they did obtain the sole management of the government,”…’

Agency, Democracy, Government, Law, Liberty, Religious Freedom, War January 1, 2017

Law and Labor

“So intimately are the two intertwined that democracy and the Christian religion must survive or perish together. Neither has worked perfectly in human hands. But the failure of the perfect working of the principles of free government probably is fairly in proportion to the failure of men to live the Christian religion.”

Communism, Constitution, Democracy, Government, Law, Liberty, Religious Freedom, Secret Combinations, Socialism, War December 29, 2016

“Whom Say Ye That I Am?”

“We of this Church have a particular regard for freedom under the protection of law. With us it is a religious tenet. …Only a free soul is fit to enter His kingdom. Men must learn here to live as free men and to apply the restraints which true freedom imposes to be fit for the heavenly realm. Hence we are unalterably opposed to the attempt of any nation or man or group of men, foreign or domestic, to take away or destroy or abrogate the freedoms guaranteed under the law of our land.”

Agency, Consent of Governed, Courage, Discipleship, Family, Government, Liberty, Politics, Welfare October 29, 2016

The Prohibitive Costs of a Value-free Society

“It remains to be seen whether or not our nation can tame big government. There is, frankly, no precedent for dismantling, even partially, a welfare state, especially in a peaceful and constitutional way. Such a Goliath will not go quietly to surgery.”

Agency, Communism, Discipleship, Government, Politics, Socialism October 16, 2016

The Purpose of Church to Perfect the Individual

“Jesus sought for a perfect society by perfecting the individual. He recognized the fallacy in the dream of those who hoped to make a perfect society out of imperfect individuals. In all his labors and associations, he sought the perfection of the individual.”

Discipleship, Government, Liberty, Politics, Self Reliance, Socialism, Voluntarism, Welfare September 23, 2016

“In Mine Own Way”

“We cannot afford to become wards of the government, even though we have a legal right to do so. It requires too great a sacrifice in self-respect and in political, temporal, and spiritual independence. Let us work for what we need. Let us be self-reliant and independent. Salvation can be obtained on no other principle. Salvation is an individual matter, and we must work out our own salvation, in temporal as well as in spiritual things.”