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By Andrew C. Skinner
On September 11,
2007, Brigham Young University President Cecil Samuelson announced
that this was, “The Year of the Constitution.”
In keeping with the spirit of that noble goal, BYU has planned
numerous events to promote that “Title of Liberty” on
campus, including the free distribution of pocket-Constitutions
and free DVDs of “A More Perfect
Union” during this week — Patriots’
Week — to each and every student who would like one.
Also, Meridian
Magazine has elected to support their effort by publishing three
articles, by three BYU professors, over three days (November 7th,
8th, and 9th), highlighting the sacrifices made by those who have
stepped onto the battlefields in defense of the God-given freedoms
guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America.
All three articles will be accessible at www.SaintsAtWar.com,
where additional information about Saints
at War books and documentary films, and video clips are available.
This will also include a teaser video from the newest documentary
in the exciting series, by acclaimed Director Ken Cromar, titled
“Saints at War — Faithful Heroes”
(anticipated release is early 2008).
Additionally,
on Monday, November 12th, we will celebrate Veterans’ Day
with an article by Ken Cromar, based on insights gained from over
80 video-taped interviews for the
“Saints at War —Faithful Heroes”
documentary, with LDS soldiers from around the world, including
Germany, Japan, England, Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, and Israel.
We can never pay the debt we owe
our humble patriots, but we can attempt to honor them by highlighting
their selfless sacrifices in our behalf, and in the cause of freedom.
War is a complex issue — socially,
politically, economically, and religiously. However, members of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are able to rely
on clearly articulated doctrines and principles as they seek to
formulate their own stance toward armed conflict in general and
toward specific wars in particular.
These inspired and inspiring principles
issue from the Lord Himself through the standard works and the published
words of prophets and apostles in this last dispensation.
Origin and Nature of War
War has taken many lives and caused
much misery in this fallen world. As President Thomas S. Monson
lamented, “The cruelty of war seems to bring forth hatred
toward others and disregard for human life.”
But, significantly, war is not unique
to mortality. It existed in our pre-mortal life. Its author was
Lucifer or Satan, an angel in authority in the presence of God who
rebelled against Deity (D&C 76:25). As a result of his arrogant
obstinacy,
There was war in heaven: Michael
and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought
and his angels ...
And the great dragon was cast
out [of heaven], that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan,
which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him (Revelation 12:7, 9).
The war in heaven was fought over the
foundational issues of eternity: who would be the earthly Savior
of humankind, how salvation would be gained, and whether or not
agency would be preserved. Lucifer sought to destroy the agency
of humankind and to usurp the kingdom of the Father and the Son.
He and a third part of our Heavenly Father’s spirit children
rejected Jesus Christ and His atonement. They were thrust out of
the Father’s presence, cast down to earth without the possibility
of gaining mortal bodies, and so became the devil and his angels
(see D&C 76:25–28; 29:37; Moses 4:1–4).
Latter-day revelation given through
the Prophet Joseph Smith unequivocally declares that Satan transferred
to this earth the war he began in heaven, causing great misery.
“Wherefore, he maketh war with the saints of God, and encompasseth
them round about. And we saw a vision of the sufferings of those
with whom he made war and overcame, for thus came the voice of the
Lord unto us” (D&C 76: 29–30).
Closer to our day, President Gordon
B. Hinckley, speaking after the terrorist attacks of September 11,
2001, said:
Now all of us know that war, contention,
hatred, suffering of the worst kind are not new. The conflict
we see today is but another expression of the conflict that began
with the War in Heaven.
Thus, warfare in mortality is actually
the earthly manifestation of the war inaugurated in our pre-mortal
existence, with all of its ensuing misery, sorrow, and destruction
— horrendous destruction. In fact, for his rebellion and unrelenting
prosecution of war against agency, Satan himself was called “Perdition”
(D&C 76:26), meaning “utter destruction, complete ruin
or loss.” He is the personification of complete ruin. He is
the personification of war.
Therefore, how can we expect that war
will produce anything but destruction? And it should come as no
surprise that the fundamental principle of agency is almost always
at the heart of earthly armed conflict between those who support
its expansion and those who press for its contraction.
Again, President Hinckley said, “War,
of course, is not new. The weapons change. The ability to kill and
destroy is constantly refined. But there has been conflict throughout
the ages over essentially the same issues.”
Warfare, then, is endemic among mortals.
It has been with us as long as Satan. And, of course, the culminating
event preparatory to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to this earth
is Armageddon — a battle so sweeping and horrendous that “all
nations” will be gathered together to fight against Jerusalem
(Zechariah 11-14; Revelation 16:14-21).
But even the Second Coming does not
end the horror of war once and for all. After the Millennium, Satan
… shall be loosed for a little
season, that he may gather together his armies.
... And then cometh the battle of
the great God; and the devil and his armies shall be cast away
into their own place, that they shall not have power over the
saints any more at all.
For Michael shall fight their battles,
and shall overcome him who seeketh the throne of him who sitteth
upon the throne, even the Lamb” (D&C 88:111–15).
Hence we see that, ironically, warfare
and the plan of salvation (or great plan of happiness as it is called)
are inextricably tied together. This does not mean, however, that
Deity relishes or even approves of war. But, He does possess a particular
view about it.
The Lord’s View
On August 6, 1833, the Lord revealed
anew His overarching perspective on war. Known as Doctrine and Covenants
98, the revelation came to Joseph Smith in Kirtland, Ohio, as a
result of the persecution being heaped upon the Saints in Missouri.
Having suffered physically and emotionally,
and having lost property as a consequence of the adversary’s
war against the Church of Jesus Christ, it was only natural that
the Missouri members “should feel an inclination toward retaliation
and revenge.” But the Lord asked for, and outlined something
different. The Lord called these principles “an ensample unto
all people” (D&C 98:38).
First, the Lord declared that His Saints
are to “renounce war and proclaim peace” (D&C 98:16).
Instead of seeking war, they are to “seek diligently to turn
the hearts of the children to their fathers, and the hearts of the
fathers to the children” (D&C 98:16).
In other words, true Saints of the
Lord’s kingdom are asked to search first for peaceful solutions
to challenging problems. They are to counter the destructive forces
of war by living the gospel covenant and establishing eternal links
and bonds between generations through priesthood ordinances that
can seal together the entire human family — the family of
God. God asks that His children be bound together rather than torn
apart.
It is doubtful that as much effort
has ever been expended in proclaiming peace as it has been in promoting
war. President Spencer W. Kimball rebuked the world when he stated:
We are a warlike people, easily distracted
from our assignment of preparing for the coming of the Lord. When
enemies rise up, we commit vast resources to the fabrication of
gods of stone and steel — ships, planes, missiles, fortifications
— and depend on them for protection and deliverance.
When threatened, we become anti-enemy
instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a man in the art of war
and call him a patriot, thus, in the manner of Satan’s counterfeit
of true patriotism, perverting the Savior’s teaching: “Love
your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute
you. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven”
(Matthew 5:44–45).
Warfare is fundamentally incongruous
with the Lord’s nature and personality. For example, in ancient
Israel, King David was forbidden to build a permanent temple of
the Lord in Jerusalem because of his involvement in much warfare
(1 Chronicles 22:8). War and bloodshed take their toll on individuals
and on nations. Warriors who survive armed conflict are often those
who bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.
President David O. McKay stated what
others have said, namely, that “war is incompatible with Christ’s
teachings,” and that “it is vain to attempt to reconcile
war with true Christianity.”
The ancient seer, Enoch, beheld wondrous
visions of the first and second comings of the Prince of Peace.
He taught the gospel of Jesus Christ, walked with God, and “was
before his face continually” (D&C 107:49, emphasis added).
But perhaps most touching and telling
is his personal witness of God’s weeping over man’s
horrible treatment of his fellowman:
And it came to pass that the God
of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept;
and Enoch bore record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens
weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains?
And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst weep seeing
thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity? ... And
unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that
they should love one another, and that they should choose me,
their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they
hate their own blood (Moses 7:28–29, 33).
War is a manifestation of that hatred
and malice. It pains God deeply, and He has counseled against war
in very strong terms.
Defensive War
Thus, a second part of the Lord’s
doctrine of war that has broad application comprises a policy of
what might be termed “defensive war.” The Lord exhorts
His covenant peoples to bear patiently the attacks inflicted upon
them by their enemies (D&C 98:23–27), and “not go
out into battle against any nation, kindred, tongue, or people”
unless He (the Lord) commands it (D&C 98:33).
“There are times and circumstances,”
said President Hinckley, “when nations are justified, in fact
have an obligation, to fight for family, for liberty, and against
tyranny, threat, and oppression.”
Throughout the ages, God has commanded
and inspired righteous people to resist tyranny and oppression and
fight for family and liberty. Who can doubt that Captain Moroni
was so inspired. He scrupulously adhered to the Lord’s doctrine
of defensive warfare, believing,
… that God would make it known
unto them whither they should go to defend themselves against
their enemies, and by so doing, the Lord would deliver them; and
this was the faith of Moroni, and his heart did glory in it; not
in the shedding of blood but in doing good, in preserving his
people, yea, in keeping the commandments of God, yea, and resisting
iniquity (Alma 48:16).
Moroni is the model — the personification
— of President Hinckley’s teachings on the nature of
divinely approved warfare. He did not glory in the shedding of blood.
Nevertheless, there came a time when Moroni
… rent his coat; and he took
a piece thereof, and wrote upon it — In memory of our God,
our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children
— and he fastened it upon the end of a pole. And he fastened
on his head-plate, and his breastplate and his shields, and girded
on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had
on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title
of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily
unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren,
so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess
the land (Alma 46:12–13).
Conclusion
The Prince of Peace wants peace! He
wants His disciples to hold up the standard of peace even in, especially
in, the face of war. Perhaps that is the greatest legacy left to
us by the New York, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois Saints. Their sacrifices
and their responses to conflict show that it is possible to live
as the Lord bids us — renounce war and proclaim peace and
seek, instead, to turn the hearts of the children and the fathers
to one another.
They avoided conflict at great cost
to themselves and their families, leaving areas in the dead of winter,
and, at times, sacrificing all of their material possessions. Unfortunately,
these are lessons that come hard to those not so willing to follow
the Lord’s requests at all hazards — the proud, the
impatient, the self-centered, and the short-sighted — in other
words, those focused only on mortality. But obedience to the Lord’s
will in this matter brings nothing less than the approbation of
heaven and the blessings of a Godlike personality.
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The above is an edited
version of the introductory chapter from Nineteenth
Century Saints at War, published by Brigham Young University.
For the complete article, including an insightful segment titled,
“God as Divine Warrior,” please
see www.SaintsAtWar.com.
© 2007 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved
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