Today I was reading in a history of the rise, fall and destruction of two nations (The Book of Mormon). It illustrates how both societies were destroyed by secret combinations. Their story has huge parallels to our day. These secret combinations had their Satanic oaths and covenants where they agreed to protect each other and commit murder and plunder for gain and power. The intent of secret combinations is to destroy the freedom of all lands, nations and people.
In 3 Nephi 1-7 which spans 33 years, the two factions of people who had once been bitter enemies (the Lamanites and Nephites) unite to remove the secret combinations. The secret combinations have gotten so bad they are burning, looting, destroying cities and murdering people.
Through their sophistry, the secret combinations (aka Gadianton Robbers) flatter, deceive and lure the rising generation to their cause. Because of the contention and divisiveness among the people, the Gadianton Robbers get the upper hand. The people are almost about to be destroyed by these robbers.
Eventually it gets so bad, the people gather in one city with all their flocks, herds, food, horses and chariots. They fortify this city with walls and armed guards, and they have enough of everything they need to hold up there for 7 years.
Because the Gadianton Robbers produce nothing and subsist on looting and murdering people to get what they need, they are forced to live on wild beasts. Eventually, they kill all the beasts and must come up against the city to battle.
“As the Lord liveth, except ye repent of all your iniquities, and cry unto the Lord, ye will in nowise be delivered out of the hands of those Gadianton Robbers.”
(Lachoneous leader of the Nephites — 3 Nephi 3:15)
They try to defeat the people of the city, but the people have repented, and they have called upon God. God helps them slaughter tens of thousand of the Gadianton Robbers. Eventually, through stratagem, the robbers are wiped out.
After a couple years, the people return to their lands. But they get proud and break into classes based on wealth and education. Within a matter of only a few short years, another cabal forms and destroys their government. The people break into tribes. The tribes are enemies with each other, but their common enemy is the cabal, and they make a covenant not to fight among the tribes.
Across these 33 years (Jesus Christ’s lifetime) the people become so wicked that they stone and execute those who call them on their iniquity. Their wicked judges execute the righteous and the people are fighting and contending with each other. Their entire republic has collapsed.
A great destruction occurs simultaneously with Christ’s death on the cross. Mountains become valleys, mountains spring up in the center of cities, some cities are sunk, the wicked die. The more righteous part of the people remains. Christ appears to them, teaches them, and heals their sick and afflicted.
There are so many parallels to our day in this story. The common thread is the contention and divisiveness among the people. This contention opens the door for the secret combinations to get a greater hold. It allows the rising generation to be flattered away, deceived, and led into the secret combination.
What ultimately leads to their destruction is…
- Turning away from God and persecuting the believers and those who hold up a standard of truth.
- Pride, contention and in-fighting
- Allowing the secret combinations to infiltrate their land, infest their government and their cities
As I’ve reviewed this story again, it strikes me how important it is not only to turn to God and obey His commandments, but also to avoid contention and divisiveness. This doesn’t mean we can’t stand up for truth.
There will always be those who fight and hate those who share God’s truth. We can’t help how other people feel about that. What we can control is how we feel about them. We don’t have to hate them. We don’t have to be rude, angry or divisive. We can stand solidly for truth and freedom principles without hating those who have been deceived by the cunning sophistry, flattery and deception of our modern-day secret combinations.
What made the people in this book “wicked” was how they let what was happening affect their hearts. They let it make them hateful toward others. They let it make them bitter and angry. They were so contentious they let their republican form of government be destroyed.
I hope we can do better.
Whether the destruction of our republic happens or not, reviewing this story made me ask myself…
Am I letting all of this make me hate other people? or groups of people? Mainly, the people who I believe are seeking to destroy our freedoms? What’s in my heart? Sometimes I’m downright angry and mad. Where can that lead me?
Not to a good place, according to this story.
Get a free copy of the Book of Mormon here. Whether you want to read it like a novel or history, there’s a lot to learn from it.
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