United We Stand, Divided We Fall

Noah Webster defined "sedition" in his 1820 publication to mean "A factious commotion of the people, a tumultuous assembly of men rising in opposition to law or the administration of justice, and in disturbance of the public peace" ("Sedition," Noah Webster 1820 American Dictionary of the English Language, accessed 26 Aug 2021). Seditious behavior is a key component to the axiom spoken by Christ, that "every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth" (Luke 11:17).

Sedition was expressly rebuked by the apostle Paul who taught that earthly authorities can only exist under God's authority and therefore we ought to be subject to them:

"Obey the rulers who have authority over you. Only God can give authority to anyone, and he puts these rulers in their places of power. People who oppose the authorities are opposing what God has done, and they will be punished. Rulers are a threat to evil people, not to good people. There is no need to be afraid of the authorities. Just do right, and they will praise you for it. After all, they are God's servants, and it is their duty to help you.

"If you do something wrong, you ought to be afraid, because these rulers have the right to punish you. They are God's servants who punish criminals to show how angry God is. But you should obey the rulers because you know it is the right thing to do, and not just because of God's anger.

"You must also pay your taxes. The authorities are God's servants, and it is their duty to take care of these matters. Pay all that you owe, whether it is taxes and fees or respect and honor" (Rom. 13:1 – 7, CEV).

That this line of reasoning is not limited to the ancients is demonstrated through Joseph Smith's inclusion in modern scripture of nearly the exact same admonitions:

"We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected, and should be punished accordingly; and that all governments have a right to enact such laws as in their own judgments are best calculated to secure the public interest; at the same time, however, holding sacred the freedom of conscience.

"We believe that every man should be honored in his station, rulers and magistrates as such, being placed for the protection of the innocent and the punishment of the guilty; and that to the laws all men owe respect and deference, as without them peace and harmony would be supplanted by anarchy and terror; human laws being instituted for the express purpose of regulating our interests as individuals and nations, between man and man; and divine laws given of heaven, prescribing rules on spiritual concerns, for faith and worship, both to be answered by man to his Maker" (D&C 134:5 – 6).

The apostle Erastus Snow too endorsed the governmental interpretation of the Pauline admonitions in a sermon he delivered to the saints in 1879:

"Civil organizations and powers of civil government are also appointed and ordained of heaven for the welfare of mankind, for the protection of all flesh. And those children of men who may not accept the doctrines of Christ and the priesthood, its administrations, counsels and decisions in the secular affairs of life...if they are disposed to obey good, wholesome rules of society in their civil capacity,...are entitled to protection. And it is more especially for the benefit of this class of mankind that civil governments are established among men and recognized in heaven.

"It was with this view that Paul, in his epistle to the ancient Saints, told them that they should respect and honor the civil law, and governors in their places, and judges and officers in their condition of life, whose duty it is to preserve order and maintain peace and protect the rights and privileges of all alike, religious or irreligious, believer or unbeliever, saint or sinner....

"Religion with all its accompaniments and everything pertaining to it is a matter of conscience between man and his Maker.... But the civil power extends its protection to all alike.

"One of the great evils that has afflicted mankind has been the bigotry of religious priests, and the blind superstition of religious zealots, who seem to have lost sight of this principle, the government of our Heavenly Father over his children, that in his efforts to exalt his children he has never resorted to force or attempted in any wise to coerce the human mind" (JOD 20:184).

At the same time, the Lord in modern scripture praised the seemingly seditious acts of the founding fathers who, in their own words, mutually pledged "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor" to declare independence from England:

"The laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established,...should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles; that every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.

"Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood" (D&C 101:77 – 80).

Here the Lord calls the sedition against England a redemption of the land. Why? If sedition, or the refusal to abide the laws and authorities under which one is placed, is at one time counted for wickedness and at another time counted for righteousness, what accounts for the difference? Joseph Smith gives us the answer: the difference is God's will.

"God said, 'Thou shalt not kill;' at another time He said, 'Thou shalt utterly destroy.' This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted—by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire. If we seek first the kingdom of God, all good things will be added" (TPJS, p. 256).

God, incidentally, has already revealed the path for Zion's ultimate redemption in these last days, and it does not deal in blood unlike the redemption of the land of America:

"Behold, the land of Zion—I, the Lord, hold it in mine own hands; nevertheless, I, the Lord, render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s....

"Wherefore, the land of Zion shall not be obtained but by purchase or by blood.... If by blood, as you are forbidden to shed blood, lo, your enemies are upon you, and ye shall be scourged from city to city, and from synagogue to synagogue, and but few shall stand to receive an inheritance.

"I, the Lord, am angry with the wicked; I am holding my Spirit from the inhabitants of the earth. I have sworn in my wrath, and decreed wars upon the face of the earth, and the wicked shall slay the wicked, and fear shall come upon every man; And the saints also shall hardly escape; nevertheless, I, the Lord, am with them, and will come down in heaven from the presence of my Father and consume the wicked with unquenchable fire.

"And behold, this is not yet, but by and by.

"Wherefore, seeing that I, the Lord, have decreed all these things upon the face of the earth, I will that my saints should be assembled upon the land of Zion; and that every man should take righteousness in his hands and faithfulness upon his loins, and lift a warning voice unto the inhabitants of the earth; and declare both by word and by flight that desolation shall come upon the wicked" (D&C 65:25 – 26, 29 – 37, emphasis added).

The Lord has said that "anyone who lives by fighting will die by fighting" (Matt. 26:52, CEV). God desires that his people should first peacefully utilize every channel established in the earthly authorities before abandoning the things he 'suffered to be established.' Only then could he bring a just destruction to those things.

Knowing that a time would come when the saints would be oppressed with no other free land in the world to flee for safety, he spoke a parable with a terrible promise for the government should it ever fail to secure the protection and rights of the religious:

"Unto what shall I liken the children of Zion? I will liken them unto the parable of the woman and the unjust judge, for men ought always to pray and not to faint, which saith—there was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying: avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself: though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. Thus will I liken the children of Zion.

"Let them importune at the feet of the judge; and if he heed them not, let them importune at the feet of the governor; and if the governor heed them not, let them importune at the feet of the president; and if the president heed them not, then will the Lord arise and come forth out of his hiding place, and in his fury vex the nation; and in his hot displeasure, and in his fierce anger, in his time, will cut off those wicked, unfaithful, and unjust stewards, and appoint them their portion among hypocrites, and unbelievers; even in outer darkness, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

"Pray ye, therefore, that their ears may be opened unto your cries, that I may be merciful unto them, that these things may not come upon them.

"What I have said unto you must needs be, that all men may be left without excuse; that wise men and rulers may hear and know that which they have never considered; that I may proceed to bring to pass my act, my strange act, and perform my work, my strange work, that men may discern between the righteous and the wicked, saith your God" (D&C 101:81 – 95, emphasis added).

This chain of events has already once ran all the way through and the Lord delivered on his promise to vex the nation: it was fulfilled in the Civil War. When the day comes that the true saints are persecuted again—that the government would be guilty of their blood and cries—the promise to the modern version of the nation already leaning if not completely 'divided against itself' is that it will be 'brought to desolation.'

As for the righteous, Paul continues his discourse on government with the conduct that will be required of them both for blessedness and survival:

"Let love be your only debt! If you love others, you have done all that the Law demands. In the Law there are many commands, such as, 'Be faithful in marriage. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not want what belongs to others.' But all of these are summed up in the command that says, 'Love others as much as you love yourself.' No one who loves others will harm them. So love is all that the Law demands" (Rom. 13:8 – 10, CEV).