Socialism

Thursday, 14.—“I attended a second lecture on Socialism... I said I did not believe the doctrine.”

Source: Joseph Smith
History of the Church, Vol.6, Ch.2, p.33

Topics: Socialism

Evils of Debt

Let us never forget that today we are in the biggest battle ever staged. Our opponent is socialism—the Welfare State—and the penalty of failure is enslavement. We must keep keep strong spiritually, morally and economically as individuals, families, communities and as a nation. Only in this course is safety.

Stewardship, not conspicuous consumption, Is the proper relationship of man to material wealth.

There may never be a more favorable time than now for most people to get their financial house in order so far as debt is concerned.

Yes, let us live within our income. Let us pay as we go. Let us “pay thy debt, and live!” Let us heed the counsel of the leadership of the Church. Get out of debt!

Source: Ezra Taft Benson
BYU - 1962

Topics: Debt; Socialism

True Statesmen

We have had Democratic Presidents, Whig Presidents, a pseudo-Democratic-Whig President, and now it is time to have a President of the United States; and let the people of the whole Union, like the inflexible Romans, whenever they find a promise made by a candidate that is not practiced as an officer, hurl the miserable sycophant from his exaltation, as God did Nebuchadnezzar, to crop the grass of the field with a beast’s heart among the cattle.

Source: Joseph Smith
1844, Documentary History of Church, Vol 6:207

Topics: Politics; Statesmanship

Government Welfare

We are placed on this earth to work and the earth will give us a living... It is not the government’s duty to support you.

I shall raise my voice as long as God gives me sound or ability, against the communistic idea that the government will take care of us all, and that everything belongs to the government. . .

It is wrong! No wonder, in trying to perpetuate that idea, that men become anti-Christ, because those teachings strike directly at the doctrines of the Savior.

No government owes you a living. You get it yourself by your own acts—never by trespassing upon the rights of your neighbor, never by cheating him.

Source: President David O. McKay
Church News 3/14/53

Topics: Communism; Welfare

Mission of the Elders

Besides the preaching of the Gospel, we have another mission, namely, the perpetuation of the free agency of man and the maintenance of liberty, freedom, and the rights of man.

Source: John Taylor
Journal of Discourses, Vol.23, p.63 - p.64, April 9th, 1882

Topics: Responsibility

Sacredness of the Constitution

I am saying to you that, to me, the Constitution of the United States of America is just as much from my Heavenly Father as the Ten Commandments.

When that is my feeling I am not going to go very far away from the Constitution, and I am going to try to keep it where the Lord started it, and not let anti-Christs come into this country, [a country which] began because people wanted to serve God.

Source: George Albert Smith
Priesthood Meeting, April Conference, 1948

Topics: US Constitution

God hath made them free

And now, in your epistle you have censured me, but it mattereth not; I am not angry, but do rejoice in the greatness of your heart. I, Pahoran, do not seek for power, save only to retain my judgment-seat that I may preserve the rights and the liberty of my people. My soul standeth fast in that liberty in the which God hath made us free. . . . according to the Spirit of God, which is also the Spirit of freedom which is in them.

God will deliver them, yea, and also all those who stand fast in that liberty wherewith God hath made them free.

Source: Alma 61:9, 15, 21

Topics: Freedom

Constitutional Amendments

If we are to have a [constitutional] amendment by the will of one man, or of a small group of men, if they can amend the Constitution, then we shall lose the Constitution; because each succeeding person or group who comes into a position of place and power where they can ‘amend’ the charter, will want to amend it again, and so on until no vestige of our liberties shall remain. Thus it comes that an amendment of our Constitution by one person or by one group is a violation of the revealed will of the Lord to the Church, as that will is embodied in that inspired Constitution.—

Brethren, let us think about that, because I say unto you with all the soberness I can, that we stand in danger of losing our liberties, and that once lost, only blood will bring them back; and once lost, we of this Church will, in order to keep the Church going forward, have more sacrifices to make and more persecutions to endure than we have yet known, heavy as our sacrifices and grievous as our persecutions of the past have been.

Source: President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
General Conference, April 1944

Topics: US Constitution, Amendments

Power of the Book

The Book of Mormon brings men to Christ through two basic means. First, it tells in a plain manner of Christ and His gospel. It testifies of His divinity and of the necessity for a Redeemer and the need of our putting trust in Him. It bears witness of the Fall and the Atonement and the first principles of the gospel, including our need of a broken heart and a contrite spirit and a spiritual rebirth. It proclaims we must endure to the end in righteousness and live the moral life of a Saint. Second, the Book of Mormon exposes the enemies of Christ. It confounds false doctrines and lays down contention (see I Nephi 3:12). It fortifies the humble followers of Christ against the evil designs, strategies, and doctrines of the devil in our day. The type of apostates in the Book of Mormon are similar to the type we have today. God, with His infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon that we might see the error and know how to combat false educational, political, religious, and philosophical concepts of our time.

Source: Ezra Taft Benson
“The Book of Mormon Is the Word of God”
Regional Representatives Seminar, Salt Lake City, Utah, 4 April 1986.

Topics: Book of Mormon; False Concepts

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