The Declaration of Independence and the Kingdom of God

TRANSCRIPT

Generated using A.I.; please forgive any mistakes.

Hearest Heavenly Father, we of you of thy children come to thee because we are interested and concerned and wish to do thy will concerning our hearts in this God-given country of ours. Father, thou hast blessed us with them and his cohorts and ask them to bless them all, guide them, inspire them. open their minds to those things that will be most effective in this life of freedom that we are engaged in. And then, Father, when we hear their words come from thee, that we will step forward and take charge of our lives, that we may open up the way that other people will see our good works and we can have a positive effect that will encourage people to do those things that thou would have us do. Father, we pray now that thy spirit be with us. We invite them to the Holy Ghost and bless our leaders in this tree of liberty society and help us to just plain old do something in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

We're going to be talking about the Declaration of Independence. and the kingdom of God. So, of course, everything that we do is in the light of building our understanding and adherence to the principles that have built free nations to expose the satanic conspiracy and to build an effective resistance to that conspiracy. And with this, what we're going to be covering is this principle right here by Orson Pratt. He says, But with all of its glory and greatness and perfection, it was only a stepping stone to a form of government infinitely greater and more perfect. A government founded upon divine laws with all its institutions, ordinances and officers appointed by the God of heaven. So the declaration of so what he's talking about there with all of its glory. So with all of the Constitution's glory and greatness, it is a stepping stone. And so with a stepping stone, I kind of compare it to what Paul talked about in Galatians, where he says, wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. So, yes, the Constitution is divine. It is the embodiment, the encapsulation of eternal principles.

But it is not the... is not the end. It is the means to the end. And so it is a preparation just like the lower law, the law of Moses, was the preparation for the higher law of Christ. That doesn't mean that we negate it, right? Especially, I mean, I believe that the prophets of the Old Testament knew about Christ. We have Isaiah specifically prophesying of the coming of Christ. But that did not mean that because they knew of the higher law, that they just ignored the lower law because it was their schoolmaster. They were not prepared for it, for the higher law. They were not living in a way that they could accept the higher law at that point. And I believe that is the same way with the principles of the kingdom of God. If we are not even living according to the principles of the schoolmaster, how can we be ready for? the higher law and so for the next several weeks we will be going through that stepping stone because we cannot just because we know about the next steps that doesn't mean we have to we can we doesn't mean we can ignore we absolutely cannot ignore those stepping stones because if we do not understand the stepping stones we will not be prepared for we will not understand we will not be able to apply those higher principles and so we And so what I want to do is to go back, right, and now go through those principles. And so today I'm going to be talking about the Declaration of Independence, especially as we are preparing for the celebration of the Declaration of Independence. We will have a better understanding of those principles as we celebrate them coming up in just a couple of weeks.

And so that's really where I want to go. But to build our understanding of those higher principles, there is so much to go into. It's not something we could ever really cover in depth in training. And it is something that all of us as individuals have to do on our own. And so these are my personal recommendations to understand those principles. These are books that I believe will help us to better understand those principles. And so that once we have mastered the lower law, And the Lord prepares a way for us to live the higher laws we will be able to. And so let's get into the Declaration of Independence and those principles and how it leads us to those higher principles. And so this year, you know, it didn't actually go. So, you know, we're talking about the 250th anniversary. It's referring to the 250th birthday of our country is what everybody's promoting it as. But that's just not the case. This is the independence of 13 independent nations. That's what we're celebrating.

Even if you wanted to consider the union, the birth of the union, this didn't even birth the union. The birth of the union didn't happen until 1789. 1787. And so the first thing is to understand what it is that we're celebrating. And if we think that it's a birth of a new nation, we are missing the entire point. And if we miss the entire beginning point, the foundations, there's no way, you know, we started off wrong. There is no way we're going to be able to end up right. And so we have to get back to that point of the Declaration of Independence was the creation of 13 independent sovereign nations. So there are I want to go over these little known concepts which led to independence because government schools, they focus so much on the the catchphrase, right? The bumper sticker statement of no taxation without representation. But that's just not even accurate. I mean, that's a true principle, but it is that was the all of those things with like the Stamp Act that was already taken care of, actually, by the time the Declaration of Independence was was signed by the 13 colonies. And so what what are those principles that actually led to independence?

This is a letter from. john adams to thomas jefferson he said what do we mean by the revolution the war that was no part of the revolution it was only in effect a consequence of it the revolution was in the minds of the people and this was affected from 1760 to 1775 so 15 years in the course of 15 years before a drop of blood was shed at lexington So the actual, the real revolution wasn't the fighting, wasn't the war. It was in the changing of the minds of the people because during that time of 1760 to 1775 and before, they all considered themselves loyal British subjects. And so they needed to have a revolution of the mind. to think of themselves as Virginians, as South Carolinians, as the people of their sovereign nation that was going to declare independence, as well as the principles of liberty. Mark, go ahead. Go ahead, Mark. Yes, here we go. I think first in their minds was the desire to be free, to have liberty. And then one of the means to it is independence. and the uh separate independence and and creation of the sovereign of the 13 sovereign uh nations but uh this is where a lot of people are confused they talk about the goal was independence no the goal was the means was the consequence uh that was required when the british would not uh stop their tyranny does that make sense absolutely and that that's kind of getting to the point of that is the con when when the The ordinance of God, meaning government, does not fulfill its end. It is our duty to separate if we can't fix it. And that's what they were doing. But it took that revolution of the mind to be free and to recognize that they were not. Because even if you wanted to be free, if they didn't get into the minds of the people, that the only way to be free was to be separate, then they would have continued the process of appealing. to parliament, the process of appealing to the king. And so they would have just continued on spinning their wheels like a hamster, you know, in a cage on the wheel. They would have continued to do that. And so it was essential that they worked on the revolution of the mind of the colonists to understand that that was the process. So yeah, yes, I'm guessing that's here. Mark, go ahead again. Got to unmute. Unmute, Mark.

Part of that knowledge in the minds, that information, is the ideology at the beginning of the Declaration of Liberty. So it wasn't, you just want to be free, we have to understand our rights and what we're fighting for and why we have a right to fight. So that political ideology is so important, I think, that Jefferson outlined there in the second paragraph of the Declaration. So how did they do that revolution? How did they accomplish the revolution? It says the records of the 13 legislatures, the pamphlets, the newspapers, and all the colonies ought to be consulted during that period to ascertain the steps by which the public opinion was enlightened and informed concerning the authority of parliament over the colonies. So, right, it was the steps by which the public opinion was enlightened and informed. So that's what they were working on. This is something that people don't want to even consider because this takes effort. This is difficult. We have to put ourselves out there.

We have to risk our lives, our reputations, our sacred honor, and our fortunes to be able to do so. And so we want to make it. And so we think that we're just going to either fight, right, to start the fight, or we're just going to go vote, or we're just going to write a letter. No, you know, to get an elected official to do the right thing. No, we have to do the hard work of changing people's minds through public speaking, through written word, through, you know, in our day, through videos. We have to be able to do that. And so they weren't trying to build a union. When they were doing this, when they had a unified effort to declare independence, there was no end goal of creating. a constitution to to so-called govern the 13 independent colonies and become 13 independent nation states they that was not their process they but they were working together um with like virginians were working with new yorkers and and people from south you know carolina and they were all these different all these uh states were working together for for each of their own individual independence. And so that's something that we have to consider today.

Even if we have no desire to, in the end, connect with individuals or to unite with certain groups of people in the end, the unity to be able to have that independence is necessary. We're going to need the strength of other similarly minded people, even if we're not unified in core things where We would want to unify politically, but we need to have them in the fight for the minds of men so that they can work towards the end goal that we all have. And so this is some of the things that they wrote to help change the mindsets of the people. This is a sermon by an individual, Francis Bernard. And he said that where men are grossly of a contrary character. Okay, so... He's helping them understand this principle that they wouldn't have if these people didn't do what they did. We have another one, an article that was written about the rights of the colonists, which said, if men through fear, fraud, or mistake should in terms renounce and give up any essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The conspirators against our liberties, so they dared to call it a conspiracy, are employing all their influence to divide the people. partly by intimidating them, for which purpose a fleet of ships lies within gunshot of the town, and the capital fort within three miles of it is garrisoned by the king's troops, and partly by arts and intrigue, by flattering those who are pleased with flattery, forming connections with them, introducing levity, luxury, and indolence, and assuring them that if they are quiet, the ministry will alter their measures.

I wish that people could understand how this is like, this could be written today. They're flattering, right? Those would be pleased with flattery, forming connections with them. So you have these people that are a part of the conspiracy that are setting up networks and connections with them. And then levity, luxury, and indolence, meaning giving them money, giving them connections where they can. where they get invited to all the great parties that they want to be a part of. And that if they were just shut up, if they don't talk about what's going on, if they don't resist the tyranny that's going on, then the government will do what the people want them to do, which is the exact opposite. Otherwise, why would they be doing that? They want to shut you up. So that way now, oh, there's nobody complaining about this. That means that everybody's happy with this. And so they're... basically bribing them either with direct money or with connections or with parties, whatever it is, you know, with being able to be slothful, all of these different things that will allow them to be able to get rid of the opposition to the tyranny that is going on. And they, about the conspiracy is part of the system. This is again, John Dickinson, Dickinson. One of the farm, what's called the farmer's letters.

He wrote acts that might by themselves have been many considerations excused or extenuated, derived the contagious malignancy and odium from other acts with which they were connected. They were not regarded according to the simple force of each, but as parts of a system of oppression. So what he's saying is, and we can say the same thing today. is that these are coordinated, that if we saw each of these things by themselves happening, we could excuse them as just, you know, as incompetency, basically. But he's saying, no, that these things are all connected as part of a system, right? Part of an effort that is on purpose to destroy the people of their liberty. And so we need to understand that same thing today. Today, I would say it is even more clear that we are facing a system of oppression, a coordinated conspiracy working to destroy our liberty. Much more obvious. And so we have to recognize that and be a part of opposing it. Okay.

Again, we have here George Root in the Wilkes and Libert says the influence of the crown was being used to staff the administration with new favorites and King's friends. who formed a secret closet party beyond the control of Parliament and guided behind the scenes by the sinister combination of the Earl of Butte and the Princess Dowager of Wales. So again, a secret closet party. So a conspiracy of individuals like you see with the Council on Foreign Relations or the Alta Club or the Bohemian Grove Club, you know, societies, all of these, you know, skull and bones. These are all secret closet parties. that are beyond the control of those that are in elected positions and or selected positions, however the case may be, and that they are part of a combination to destroy the liberty of the people. So because of that, that led to the Declaration of Independence. And in there, they explained the process that they went through to get to this point. it states um jefferson states in the declaration states in every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury a prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people so we've done every time we were oppressed every time the government did something bad against us We petitioned to get that fixed, to oppose it.

And because of what you have done, King, you are not fit to be ruler over us anymore. So we're not going to accept that. Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our immigration and settlement here. Again, whenever you guys did something bad, we reminded you of the bad thing that you did. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity. So we hope that they understood British law and the British Constitution. And we appealed to their love of it. We have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. So we gave you all the chances we could to get you to repent of your sins. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must therefore acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind. Enemies in war and peace in peace, friends.

OK, so again, they were deaf to everything that we tried to get them to do. So because of that, we have to separate ourselves from them. And another people went through this process as well. They tried to get the government to do the right thing. They petitioned them. They wrote them letters. They urged them. They showed them the crimes that were being done against them. And it fell on deaf ears. The President of the United States said, your cause is just, but we can do nothing for you. And so when they moved out to Utah, the Latter-day Saints moved to Utah. Actually, this is 45, so it's still in Nauvoo. And so they declared that, I move that we declare ourselves an independent nation. So they saw the principles of the Declaration of Independence. you and your rights, they have to separate themselves. And in their Declaration of Independence, as written in 1844, they talked about this. We the people of the kingdom of God, having sought in vain among all the nations of the earth, to find a government instituted by heaven, an asylum for the oppressed, a protector of the innocent, and a shield for the defenseless, an impenetrable aegis for the honorable of all nations, uncorrupted by the usurpations of designing men, the contaminating influence of the love of gold and the lawless intrigues of aspiring demagogues. Okay. So this is what they were looking for and could not find. And because they could not find it, they had to separate.

Brigham Young, explaining this when they came to Utah, 1857, said, Again, he said, well, this is a reminiscence of what he said. Utah was a separate and independent territory and owed no obedience or allegiance to any form or laws, but those of their own enactment and called upon the people to stand together and support him in maintaining the cause of God. And then he says, this people came out and declared their independency of the United States from this very time. So this was in the 1850s. They had to declare independence. And then in the 1860s, the Southern... states in the union had similar acts of oppression against them where they said that they had to follow the same spirit of their forefathers in 1776 to declare independence from a union that had become oppressive and had become tyrannical. We have here in the state of Georgia declaring the people of Georgia having dissolved their political connection with the government of the United States of America. present to their Confederates and the world the causes which have led to the separation. They have endeavored to weaken our security, to disturb our domestic peace and tranquility, and persistently refuse to comply with their express constitutional obligations to us in reference to that property, and by the use of their power in the federal government, have striven to deprive us of an equal enjoyment of the common territories of the Republic. This hostile policy of our Confederates has been pursued with every circumstance of aggravation which could arouse the passions and excite the hatred of our people. The material prosperity of the North was greatly dependent on the federal government. That of the South, not at all. Okay. Now we have, yes, Mark. Go ahead, Mark.

I keep forgetting this. Yeah, did the church actually use the word secession as the Southerners did? And was the separation identical in that respect? It was a secession? Yep. Okay, so a separate nation. It was considered a war of independence. And Buchanan said, we have to stop this rebellion. So he was basically like the first Lincoln where he said, that we had to stop this rebellion in Utah so that no other people would ever dream or think of separating themselves from the Union. So absolutely, yes. Not only did the people of Utah see it the same way as the Southerners did a decade later, the President of the United States saw it in the same way in the 1850s as the next president did in the 1860s. Does that answer your question? Yes. Great. So another state, when they declared independence, says in the first years of the Republic, the navigating commercial and manufacturing interests of the North began to seek profit and aggrandizement at the expense of the agricultural interests. Even the owners of fishing smacks sought and obtained bounties for pursuing their own business, which yet continue. And $500,000 is now paid them annually out of the treasury. The navigating interests beg for protection against the foreign. and against competition in the coasting trade.

Congress granted both requests and by prohibitory acts gave an absolute monopoly of this business to each of their interests, which they enjoy without demunation to this day. Not content with these great and unjust advantages, they have sought to throw the legitimate burden of their business as much as possible upon the public. And then we have here the people of South Carolina in convention assembled declared that the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States by the federal government and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the states fully justified this state in then withdrawing from the federal union. In pursuance of this Declaration of Independence, each of the 13 states proceeded to exercise its separate sovereignty, adopted for itself a constitution. and appointed officers for the administration of government in all its departments, legislative, executive, and judicial, for purposes of defense that united their arms and their consuls.

And in 1778, they entered into a league known as the Articles of Confederation, whereby they agreed to entrust the administration of their external relations to a common agent known as the Congress of the United States, expressly declaring in the first article, that each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence in every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled. Under this confederation, the War of the Revolution was carried on, and on the 3rd of September 1783, the contest ended, and a definite treaty was signed by Great Britain in which she acknowledged the independence of the colonies in the following terms. Now therefore we the people of Virginia in the following terms and just goes on there. So now Virginia declared that and ordained the ordinance adopted by the people of this state and convention whereby the constitution United States of America was ratified and all acts of the general assembly of this state ratifying or adopting amendments to said constitution are hereby repealed and abrogated.

That the union between the state of Virginia and the other states under the Constitution aforesaid is hereby dissolved and that the state of Virginia is in the full possession and exercise of all the rights of sovereignty which belong in apparition to a free and independent state. And they do further declare that the said Constitution of the United States of America is no longer binding on any of the citizens of the state. So let me go back before that. So I mentioned in the 1850s you have the Latter-day Saints. saying that you, in the 1840s actually, the 1840s, that the United States had become the oppressor. It was no longer a defender of liberty. It was no longer operating within the purposes and confines of the Constitution in protecting life, liberty, and property. And therefore, it was their duty to separate. So, you know, if it was just one group of people that made this claim, you could say, oh, they're just a bunch of extremists. Nobody else has a problem. Right. But no, you have actual governments. You have all of the the southern states as they're not just like one person from each of the states say, OK, we are all separating.

But no, you had the you had the majority votes of their state legislators. Both saying, yes, this is true. The federal government has violated the compact. And so therefore, because they no longer care about this contract, they will not abide by. the contract. We must separate ourselves and so that we can be free. And so you have actual governmental bodies agreeing with the principles that were laid out in the 1840s by the Latter-day Saints saying, yep, that's exactly what's going on. And so we have really a precedent. You have multiple witnesses, I should say, making the claim that the Constitution is no longer in existence because The people that have been entrusted with obeying it refuse to obey it. Therefore, it doesn't exist. If the contract is not obeyed, the contract does not exist. And so we have to form a new government to be able to protect our life, liberty, and property. So this is not an extreme opinion at all. This is really an opinion that is shared by those that were not the oppressors, but the oppressed. But then, of course, after the loss of the War for Southern Independence, all states that entered the new union were compelled to permanently declare that the principles of the Declaration of Independence were illegal.

So just like we saw with the Mormons in Utah, when they declared independence, the United States sent an army out there to crush this so-called rebellion. And then when the southern states did the same exact thing, The general government sent an army to crush the rebellion. And they said, no, the principles of the Declaration of Independence no longer apply. Mark, yes. Yes. So the Confederacy, and by the way, I wish our founders used that term instead of union. But the Confederacy wrote their own constitution when they separated. Did the LDS? write their own constitution or any other contractual document? Yeah, there was the Constitution of the Nation of Deseret. Oh, thank you. Yep. Okay, so we look here.

The Declaration of Independence says that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it. And we have in the state constitutions after the War of Southern Independence all stay basically the same thing. that no power exists in the people of this or any other state of the federal union to dissolve their connection therewith. See that in Utah, Nevada, every state of the union post what's now called the Civil War, they were forced to enter the union to say that we can never leave. Right. You have New Mexico, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, North and South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii, in addition to Nevada, Utah and Oklahoma all have these provisions within their constitution, which is the exact opposite. So they're saying we are not going to follow natural law. We are saying no matter how oppressive this government gets, no matter what actions this government takes, we are forced to be. subject to it, okay? This would be the same as saying an abusive spouse saying to his wife, we're married, you can never leave. You entered into this union with me, and if you are caught in rebellion, you will be beat into submission. The beatings will continue until morale improves, basically, that we will attack you, kill you, bomb you, until you say, you know, yes sir may i have another and that you can never separate yourself from that government ever again mark yes a great deal of the rationale is that based on the principle of might makes right uh because as these different areas of the separate colonies at separate states rather uh leave the uh affiliation that the union then that weakens what remains in terms of fighting off wars or any other thing that the government wants to do. And I think the point, everybody realizes we're largely under that principle today.

Might makes right in international affairs, we're almost exclusively under it. where Trump and his allies just go murder anybody they want, any nation, attack them for no godly reason. So if that was one of the excuses that was least implied, why countries or colonies, states can't break away from this affiliation, is that we need that power. And the last point, what is that ideology of governments? based on might makes right that is the most primitive savage uh political ideology in the history of mankind it's the savage uh ideology of the tribes whoever has the most warriors has the longest spears the sharpest tips on their spears uh wins might and and that's the most vicious cruel anti-human uh political ideology yet is what uh the primitive man lived by and we have we have to not reject it every time we see it in any form does that does that make sense to you oh yeah absolutely because then what do they do when they gaslight you and they say afterwards what what do they call right what do they say that the southern states were engaged in what do they say that the people of utah were engaged in rebellion And so as if as if they were the criminals, as if they were the ones in the wrong, it'd be like the abused spouse wanting to get a divorce is the is the rebel, is the one violating the marriage contract, is the person that is the criminal. And so they shouldn't wreck a statue with that husband sitting in the chair like Abraham Lincoln. Yep, exactly. And so we've got to understand these principles because this principle of independence, of separation, is what the Constitution, which is the stepping stone, is based upon. We would not have a Constitution if we did not believe in the concept of separation from tyrannical powers. And if we don't understand that, we're going to believe that those that attempted to leave the Union... were in rebellion.

And that's, they also, they use the word, the civil war. That in itself is a title of a victor, because a civil war is two opposing factions fighting for control of the same government. But so to call the war for independence a civil war would be the equivalent of calling the war for the colonies independence from England a civil war. because they were fighting their government to be able to be separate from it. But they were not fighting to take over the monarchy, right? So that is not a civil war. And the southern states and the Mormons, they were not fighting a civil war because they were not trying to take over. of the government. They were saying, you guys do you. You guys stay over there. We don't want to be a part of you anymore. Let's get a divorce and let's go our separate ways. But the tyrant said, no, you are not allowed to do that.

The King George said no. So if King George, and in fact, that is how they originally, right, during the war, it was being couched by the pro-English side as a civil war. But because we won, we couldn't. We obviously, as the victors, did not call it that because that's not what it was. But unfortunately, in the war for Mormon independence, as well as for Southern independence, the tyrants won. And so they got to call it what they wanted to call it, to make the victims seem like the bad guys. So what did they do to be able, and then what should we do? Those that were successful at separating themselves from that. I think that that was a big problem with... Mormons and with the South, was they did not do what the founding fathers did. They were not united together in the same ways that the colonists were. I think they would have been more successful if they were united in that way. But they built their own understanding. That is how the American colonists that were separating 250 separate years from England is they built their own understanding. That's what we talk about in the beginning of every training. And then they made popular with others that which is right. They were willing to put their own reputations on the line.

They were willing to be called traitors. They were willing to be called rebels. They were willing to stick their neck out to those that might do them harm by making that which is right popular. They spoke publicly. They did that publicly. They wrote public letters. They produced and distributed pamphlets and posters. They organized opposition to specific government officials. They rallied support for specific causes and actions. And they acted without fear of the consequences of man. They knew that their neighbors could turn them in. They knew that their neighbors could try to do harm to them. But they did not care because they knew that they had an obligation to God to say and do the right thing. even though they might not be united with them after the war was over. And so these are the same things that we have to do today if we are going to be successful in building a government that will protect our life, liberty, and property, to build an ordinance of God called government that will actually be in ordinance according to the scriptures. So, right, we don't fix evil. We leave it and we bring others with us. The Founding Fathers got to a point where they recognized that Parliament and the King would not be fixed. And so they had to separate themselves from it.

But they didn't do it by themselves. They didn't just say, okay, I'm Thomas Jefferson. I'm separate from England. No, they got together with others, even others that were not going to be a part of their political union. afterwards, to be able to join together, to become separate from their oppressors, to unify on that principle until they came a point where they could defend themselves independent of each other. And so that is what we must do ourselves. If we are going to be successful in separating ourselves from those that will not be fixed, we have to join with others that we might not agree on everything with. that we might not be on the same page with, that we can be united on in teaching correct principles, united on separating from evil, and united in destroying this conspiracy against liberty that we do face.

Dear Heavenly Father, we're grateful for this day and for this wonderful foundational lesson from Ben for the principles of liberty. about the true nature of what the founding fathers were doing as they set up the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. And maybe remember what Ben said about when we can't correct evil, we need to remove ourselves from it and help us to be a guiding principle as we learn these foundational principles. We're grateful for what we do have and we're grateful. for all of our blessings and knowing that our liberty does come from our Savior, Jesus Christ, through his atonement and help us to keep that in mind as we celebrate this coming week. And we're thankful for those in our meeting and help us to continue to share and learn from each other. And we say in his name, in my son, Jesus Christ. Amen.