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Do The Scriptures Permit The Conclusion That Prostituted Government Is Satan’s Church?
A Variety Of Names Are Used To Describe The Devil’s Organization
The discussion of Satan’s plan in the foregoing chapter appears to compel the conclusion that only prostituted government can fill the role of “The Great and Abominable Church.” With control over the armies, the navies, and the police, Satan is able to accomplish his purpose of destroying free agency with force, while without such control he cannot. But is such a conclusion permitted by the scriptures?
Many people make the assumption that when Nephi used the word “church” to describe Satan’s organization, he meant the same thing as we do when we use that term today. Even though John the Revelator never used this term, and even though both prophets used a variety of other names to identify this world-wide evil, the tendency has been to fix attention upon the name church to the exclusion of all other names used, and to confine identification efforts to “religious” movements only.
There is no more justification for doing this than there is for looking exclusively at the name “Babylon,” or “Mother of Abominations,” or “Whore of all the Earth,” for an understanding of what was meant. All three of these names appear in modern revelation as well as in John’s writings. If we look to the name Babylon for enlightenment, we are fully justified in concluding that the prophets were describing prostituted government. Babylon was the name of the greatest city in western Asia for many years. It represented a terrible evil to the people of the Bible. It was the controlling center of a huge political empire whose armies devastated the holy land killing or enslaving everyone there. The survivors of one invasion were held in bondage in Babylon for upwards of seventy years, which event has come to be known as the “Babylonian captivity.” It is not at all unlikely that John was describing a fearful political power when he used the term “Babylon the Great.” (Rev. 17:5)
Some attach meaning to the fact that the prophets have ofttimes referred to the devil’s church in terms used to describe a prostitute, i.e., “whore of all the earth,” “mother of harlots,” and “the great whore that sitteth upon many waters.” They conclude from this that since the Lord established His Church and it was corrupted through apostasy, only a prostituted religious denomination could fill this description. But inasmuch as governments are also “instituted of God,” and since the Lord’s purpose in establishing them is to give men freedom, this same reasoning could apply to this organization. Satan has taken that agency with which God protects free agency and prostituted it to his purpose of destroying free agency.
Which Organization Can We Expect Satan To Use— Church Or State?
Suppose Satan were to pick the organization which best suits his needs; which would it be, a church or a government? Would the leaders of his organization build church buildings wherein congregations would gather each Sabbath to worship God, listen to sermons and have their sins forgiven? Or would it be more likely that they would build instruments to wage war, commit murder, inflict torture, and engage in plunder? Would Satan’s forces use Bibles, statuaries, monasteries, and missionaries, or would they use guns, prisons, execution cellars, armies, and police forces? Would Satan merely invite people to attend his worship services once a week, or would he use the police power to compel them to attend his institutions every day to permit full indoctrination? Would he depend upon voluntary contributions to finance his operations, or would he compel everyone to subsidize him through the imposition of taxes?
Some may believe that in times past certain churches have engaged in murder, torture, and plunder to achieve evil purposes. They may assume that because one sect has been favored and subsidized, while all competing denominations have been suppressed with physical violence, that the protected religion should be charged with the crimes committed on its behalf.
We fall into serious error when we attribute such crimes to churches because, as such, they are powerless to commit them. Even though religious leaders may be in full accord with the violence used, they cannot use it themselves as church officials. Only when they either occupy positions in government, or are able to influence that power, can they destroy free agency by force. Only when a church is one and the same organization as prostituted government can it properly be called the church of the devil. In a nation where government is performing its proper function of protecting freedom, church leaders cannot carry out Satan’s plan. They would be apprehended and punished as criminals if they attempted to do so.
Satan’s Church And The Murder Of The Saints And Prophets
We should be able to identify Satan’s church by its activities as they are set forth in the scriptures. It has been charged with enslaving, torturing, and murdering the saints of God:
Behold the foundation of a church which is most abominable above all other churches, which slayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity. (1 Nephi 13:5)
Since only the police power can do these things with impunity; whereas, without the state’s complicity they cannot occur, government comes immediately under suspicion. Let us recall some of the better known murders and persecutions of the prophets with this thought in mind.
It is commonly accepted that the Jews crucified Christ. While theirs may be the primary responsibility for this awful deed, it was actually carried out by the Roman government. Until the Rabbis, Scribes, and Pharisees were able to bend the civil arm to their will, they were afraid to kill the Savior. The martyrdom of Christ’s apostles is also chargeable either directly or indirectly to the state. History records that Roman rulers tortured, imprisoned, and murdered Christians by the thousands. Later, the government used some of the beautiful principles of Christianity to solidify its political authority. After having done so, the police power was used to suppress and destroy all opposing creeds. Not only did it put down with force all other faiths, but the taxing power was used to enable the civil and religious leaders to live in idleness and luxury. Nephi saw:
the gold, and the silver, and the silks, and the scarlets, and the fine-twined linen, and the precious clothing, and the harlots… (1 Nephi 13:8)
This sensual living was made possible because government was used to collect “contributions” from the taxpayers, suppress the printing of books, and otherwise keep the people in ignorance and bondage. Prostituted government is truly the “mother of abominations” because of the numerous evils it commits and causes, and the wickedness it subsidizes and encourages.
Book of Mormon history verifies the conclusion that government is the organization ordinarily used to murder the prophets and saints. When Abinadi was sent to warn a group of Nephites of impending destruction, Noah, using his authority as king, first jailed this prophet and then put him to death.
Alma and Amulek who went on a similar mission to the city of Ammonihah were thrown in jail by the chief judge and brutally treated. Many of their converts were forcibly ejected from the city and those who remained were burned to death by the officers of government.
Immediately preceding Christ’s visit to the Nephites,
there began to be men inspired from heaven and sent forth, standing among the people in all the land, preaching and testifying boldly of the sins and iniquities of the people... (3 Nephi 6:20)
Once again the arm of government was used against the prophets. The record says:
Now there were many of those who testified of the things pertaining to Christ…who were taken and put to death secretly by the judges... (3 Nephi 6:23)
If we turn to the Jaredite record, we find all the recorded murders of the prophets among that people attributable to a corrupted government. (Ether 9:29; 11:5; Alma 37:30)
The use of the power of government to kill the Lord’s servants in this last dispensation is found in the murder of the prophet Joseph, his brother Hyrum, and others. Speaking specifically of the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum the scriptures state:
They were innocent of any crime, as they had often been proved before, and were only confined in jail by the conspiracy of traitors and wicked men; and their innocent blood on the floor of Carthage jail is a broad seal affixed to °Mormonism” that cannot be rejected by any court on earth, and their innocent blood on the escutcheon of the State of Illinois, with the broken faith of the State as pledged by the governor, is a witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel… (D&C 135:7)
Additional evidence that the police power was responsible for these murders is the fact that no one was ever punished for them.
Other Scriptural Evidence Of The Identity Of Satan’s Church
Let us consider other scriptures which should help to identify Satan’s church. The angel, in showing Nephi what would happen concerning that organization during these latter days said:
Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth. (1 Nephi 14:10)
According to this prophecy, everyone will eventually take sides and belong either to the Lord’s or the devil’s church. While a member of Christ’s Church will have no difficulty identifying that organization, there is only one organization which will fit the description of the other, and that is prostituted government. This is the only “church” to which everyone belongs, and no other organization—religious or otherwise—can possible meet the test of world-wide membership. The verse immediately following the one above quoted also leads to this conclusion. It says:
And it came to pass that i looked and beheld the whore of all the earth, and she sat upon many waters; and she had dominion over all the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people. (Ibid., v. 11)
The only “church” which can exert a dominion of that extent is worldwide government, or a group of governments carrying out the same satanic purpose. No apostate religious denomination can ever be expected to wield power of those dimensions. But Nephi also saw that:
the great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God. (Ibid., v. 13)
Only government has the power to assemble armies to fight a war. It was at this point that Nephi saw “wars and rumors of wars among all the nations which belonged to the mother of abominations…” (v. 15-16) This passage assures us that “nations” belong to the mother of abominations, and if such be true, we can assume that this membership is governmental or political in nature. The continuing adoption of the philosophy of communism (socialism) in every nation on earth is the fulfillment of Nephi’s prophecies.
The Prophecies Of John Also Point To Prostituted Government As The Devil’s Church
While the prophecies of John in the Book of Revelation are not nearly as plain as those of Nephi, they serve to confirm the conclusion drawn. He foresaw, as did Nephi, that the devil’s church would,
shed the blood of saints and prophets… (Rev. 16:6; 17:6; 18:24)
His assertion that “the kings of the earth have committed fornication with” the devil’s church suggests the prostitution of government to Satan’s purposes and a surrender of national power to a world-wide conspiracy. John also sees an interesting relationship between Satan’s church and the merchants of the earth. He notes that they are:
waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. (Rev. 18:3)
He sees the time come when,
no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Rev. 13:17)
Then when Babylon the Great is destroyed,
The merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk...and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep…
The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing. (Rev. 18:11-15)
This appears to be a description of the tendency of governments today to license every trade, every business, every farm, every profession, and indeed, every job. Only those who have first received permission from the police power, or the mark of the beast can produce and sell goods and services to the public. Freedom of the people to patronize whom they choose, to work where they please, or to hire whom they will has been greatly restricted in every nation. When the “whore of all the earth” is destroyed, we can fully expect these licensees, and government-protected monopolists to mourn because “no man buyeth their merchandise any more.”
Modern scripture calls the devil’s church “the great persecutor of the church” [of Christ] (D&C 86:3) and Nephi commented that the numbers of the church of the Lamb “were few because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters.” (1 Nephi 14:12) Only government has the power to deny religious freedom, prohibit missionary work, and ban publications. Over much of the world today, these and many other restrictions prevent the growth of the work of the Lord.
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