Looking at the list here, how far along are we? I despise corruption every since I experienced it in a very big way back in Brazil. I swore I would fight it with my dying breath, if I had to......
And here we are.....
What Do The Scriptures Teach Us About Secret Combinations?
Secret
combinations existed both in the Old and New World in ancient times.
Below is a list of some of the things we learn from the scriptures
concerning the nature, purpose and methods of these secret combinations:
1.
Cain founded the first secret combination and became known as Master
Mahan.[2] This title and the oaths and covenants were passed down to
subsequent leaders of the secret combination (Moses 5: 31, 49; Helaman
6:30).
2. Secret combinations are “most abominable and wicked above all” in the sight of God (see Ether 8:18).
3.
Secret combinations are Satanic in nature, receiving revelation from,
and being founded and held up by, the devil (Moses 5:29-30; 2 Nephi
26:22; Helaman 6:26; 3 Nephi 6:28; Ether 8:16, 25) who transforms
himself into an angel of light and stirs up men to contention whereby
wickedness and thus secret combinations increase (2 Nephi 9:9; Helaman
6:21; 3 Nephi 7:7).
4. Secret combinations administer secret
ancient oaths handed down from Cain (Ether 8:15-16), taken by swearing
by the God of heaven, the heavens, the earth, the throat and the head
(Moses 5:29-30; Ether 8:13-14).
5. The manner of their oaths and combinations are had among all people (Ether 8:20).
6.
Secret combinations have secret signs and words (Helaman 6:22), protect
one another (Helaman 6:21, 23), and mingle into society in a manner
whereby they cannot be found (Helaman 1:12).
7. Members of secret
combinations are punished by the combination if they reveal the
wickedness of their co-conspirators (Helaman 6:24; Ether 8:14).
8.
One of the purposes of secret combinations is to murder (Moses 5:31;
Helaman 2:8); they also seek to murder the prophets of God (Alma 37:30).
These combinations cause slaughter (3 Nephi 1:27, 2:11), war and
millions of deaths; the Jaredites and Nephites being destroyed because
of them (Helaman 2:13-14; Ether 8:21).
9. Secret combinations are
established to rob and get gain (Moses 5:31; Helaman 2:8). They store
up gold and silver in abundance and traffic in all manner of traffic (4
Nephi 1:46). The Book of Mormon refers to them as “robbers” over fifty
times, which suggest that theft was their chief activity or the activity
for which they were most notorious.
10. Gadianton Robbers prefer to plunder rather than working for themselves (3 Nephi 4:1-5).
11.
Members of secret combinations regard each other as brethren and appear
to have a communal attitude toward property (3 Nephi 3:6-7).
12.
The teachings and practices of the robbers are tempting and corrupt the
hearts of the people as they spread, eventually even seducing most of
the righteous into believing in their works, partaking of their spoils,
and even becoming involved in their secret murders and combinations
(Helaman 6:38; Ether 9:6).
13. Pride, the desire for money, and
seeking the praise of man make people susceptible to uniting with secret
combinations; such go on to murder, plunder, and bear false witness
against their neighbor (Helaman 7:21, 25-26).
14. Secret
combinations help those who seek for power to gain power as well as to
murder, plunder, lie and commit wickedness and whoredoms (Ether 8:16).
15. Secret combinations keep the people in darkness (Ether 8:16) and use fair promises to lead people away (Ether 8:17).
16.
Secret combinations flourished first in the more settled parts of the
land (Helaman 3:23) and among the wicked (Helaman 6:38; 4 Nephi 1:42).
17.
One of the purposes of secret combinations is to gain power (Helaman
2:8; Ether 8:23, 11:15) by usurping power and authority over the people
(Helaman 7:4). They seek to gain sole power over the government and, in
the Book of Mormon, were successful in doing so (Helaman 6:39).
18.
Secret combinations retain power so that they and their supporters may
get gain and glory, and so that they may more easily steal, commit
adultery, kill and do according to their own will (Helaman 7:5).
19. Secret combinations break the laws of God and the laws of their country (Helaman 6:23).
20.
Secret combinations stir up rebellion (Ether 11:15) and dissent, and
use lies and flattery to lead people to join with them (3 Nephi
1:28-29), targeting the rising generation (3 Nephi 1:29-30).
21. The members of secret combinations believe their secret works and society to be good (3 Nephi 3:9).
22.
Secret combinations pretend to act on behalf of their people in
reclaiming their rights (3 Nephi 3:10), believing they have been wronged
and hating the righteous (3 Nephi 3:4).
23. Secret combinations
seek to overthrow government (3 Nephi 7:6), establish kings - or
oligarchies (see Mosiah 29:21-22) - and destroy the liberty of a
republic (3 Nephi 6:30, 7:10); the king-men believe they have the blood
of nobility (Alma 51:21).
24. Secret combinations, once in
government, lay aside the commandments of God, corrupt righteous laws,
and administer no justice to the people (Mosiah 29:22; Helaman 7:4),
condemning the righteous for their righteousness, allowing the guilty to
go free because of their money (Helaman 7:5).
25. Secret
combinations shed the blood of the saints and oppress them (Helaman
6:39; 3 Nephi 6:29; Ether 8:22), threatening not only the rights and
liberty of the people but also the Church (3 Nephi 2:12).
26. When any society has suffered such combinations to spread over them they will be destroyed (Ether 8:22).
27.
One of the purposes of the Book of Mormon is to show us the work of
ancient secret combination so that we may repent and suffer not that
these same murderous combinations should get above us (Ether 8:23), and
that we should awake to a sense of our awful situation when we see these
things among us (Ether 8:24).
28. Speaking of a secret
combination built up by the devil, the master of lies, in our day, the
Book of Mormon tells us that those who build it up do so to overthrow
the freedom of all lands, nations and countries (Ether 8:25).
29.
In the last days the gentiles shall build up secret combinations which
shall spill the blood of the saints and seek to destroy the people (2
Nephi 26:22; Ether 8:25; Mormon 8:27).
30. Preaching the word of God destroys secret combinations (Helaman 6:37).
See: http://www.ldsfreedomportal.net/WakingU ... ations.pdf
I have some thoughts to add regarding secret combinations. One is based on Ether 8:13 which talks about Akish gathering his family together to administer the oath. He used the natural affection of family, and likely friends, to his advantage. I’ve seen this work in church members who reject the gospel for their son’s or daughter’s homosexual lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteOf course we have great love for those who have fallen into sin. This is called charity. Satan knows of our love for one another having felt this in the premortal world. He desires to use this affection to his advantage in order to entice us to accept the sin and the sinner. Many people who should reject the sin but love the sinner fall into this trap.
We, of course, cannot bear the thought that a loved one will be going to Hell. We would often prefer to justify bad behavior thinking that God couldn’t be so heartless as to send such a “nice person” to Hell. In April 2013 conference Elder Russell M. Nelson said, “Your gracious tolerance for an individual does not grant him or her license to do wrong, nor does your tolerance obligate you to tolerate his or her misdeed.” Not only should we not tolerate misdeeds, we should abhor them even if they are committed by those near and dear to us.
The other technique was explained to me by a coworker. A local company, which is owned by a very large company that we all recognize, closed its doors and laid off the workers. This company has a pattern of laying off workers in April and hiring them again in July. I wondered aloud why they would do this and she told me that it’s due to stocks. When they lay off workers the stock price drops. When they hire them back stock prices rise. Those who purchase the stock when it’s low enrich themselves by selling when stock prices rise.
A similar pattern was established while I was growing up. My dad worked for Kennecott which often went on strike. A few weeks later the strike was resolved and dad would go back to work. My conclusion is that the secret societies enrich themselves at the expense of workers whose only desire is to care for themselves and their families.