“Besides the preaching of the Gospel, we have another mission, namely, the perpetuation of the free agency of man and maintenance of liberty, freedom and the rights of man.” (John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 23:63)

Source: Ezra Taft Benson. Our Immediate Responsibility. BYU Devotional, October 25, 1966.

“As we have progressed the mist has been removed, and in relation to these matters, the Elders of Israel begin to understand that they have something to do with the world politically as well as religiously, that it is as much their duty to study correct political principles as well as religious, and to seek to know and comprehend the social and political interests of man, and to learn and be able to teach that which would be best calculated to promote the interests of the world.” (JD 9:340)

I am only one, but I am one.
I cant do everything, but I can do something.
What I can do, that I ought to do,
And what I ought to do,
By the grace of God, I shall do!

Liberty’s Perfect Law

The Gospel of Christ is the Perfect Law of Liberty. So says James the Apostle. But liberty does not mean license, nor does the Gospel stand for antiquated tradition or for present-day speculation, religious or irreligious. It embraces all truth, whether in science, philosophy, art, or any other department of knowledge. God himself is its Author, its Fountainhead, and divine revelation is the channel through which it flows.

Purpose of the Gospel

The Gospel is a great system of laws, a code of eternal principles, whereby the omnipotent and all-wise Creator, our Father in Heaven, proposes to lift fallen mankind, his sons and daughters, and not only save them, but exalt them to his glorious presence, and so far as they prove worthy and capable, share with them the empire of the universe.

No Tyranny

Freedom is the Gospel’s sign manual. Tyranny has no place therein. There is no room in all the Government of God for the exercise of unrighteous dominion.

Eternity’s Constitution

The God we worship is no respecter of persons, but He is a respecter of men’s rights, and a guardian of them – a fact clearly shown in the heaven-inspired Constitution of our country, and in the Gospel itself, which might be termed the Constitution of Eternity.

A Fundamental Principle

Man’s free agency, his right to worship as his conscience dictates, and to act in all things willingly and without compulsion – a principle handed down from the eternal past, where Lucifer was overthrown for seeking to destroy it – is an integral part of Liberty’s Perfect Law. As such it found expression, a concrete illustration, and that by direct, divine command, when this Church was organized, one hundred years ago.

The Consent of the Governed

“Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.” So says the Declaration of American Independence, and so says, in effect, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The doctrine of common consent has been practiced in this Church from the beginning, and is shown forth in all the conferences and other important gatherings of the Lord’s people. They are clearly within their rights when they vote for or against the officers nominated to preside over them, and when they approve or disapprove of any proposed measure vitally affecting their spiritual and temporal welfare.

Joseph and Oliver

The men who organized this Church, or who were most conspicuous in its organization, were Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. Joseph had looked upon the face of God; had gazed upon the Father and the Son; had received from them instructions concerning the then existing churches, from which he was commanded to hold himself aloof, and await the coming of the true Church, which was about to reappear, and in the establishment of which he was to be the chief human instrument. Oliver had been with Joseph in the work of translating the Book of Mormon, assisting him as copyist or scribe. He had shared with the Prophet the honor of receiving the restored priesthoods-the Aaronic and the Melchizedek; the former under the hands of John the Baptist, the latter by the subsequent personal ministration of the Apostles, Peter, James and John. The foremost of these heavenly messengers, John the Baptist, had told Joseph and Oliver that they were to be, respectively, the First and Second Elders of the Church; and had directed themto baptize each other as a preliminary to other important proceedings soon to follow.

In the first, second and third chapters of the History of the Church, Volume One-Joseph Smith’s autobiography-the Prophet tells his own story of these wonderful events; and they are also recorded in a more recently published Church History-the splendid product of the able pen of President B. H. Roberts.

An American Church

Speaking of the word of the Lord that came to him and his co-laborer in the farmhouse of Peter Whitmer, St., at Fayette, Seneca County, N. Y., a word directing them to ordain each other to the office of Elder, the Prophet says:

“We were, however, commanded to defer this our ordination until such time as it should be practicable to have our brethren, who had been and who should be baptized, assembled together, when we must have their sanction to our thus proceeding to ordain each other, and have them decide by vote whether they were willing to accept us as spiritual teachers, or not.”

An American Church, truly, manifesting at the very hour of its birth the sublime democratic doctrine: “Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.” And truly did Joseph Smith, God’s prophet, show himself a real and true American when, at a later period, in answer to a question put to him, as to how he managed to govern a community made up of so many different nationalities, with all their varied languages, customs and traditions, he replied: “I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves.”

God and the People

Let it not be supposed, however, that this recognition of “government of the people, by the people, for the people”-as Lincoln expressed it-shuts God out of the question. It may do so in the mind of a godless politician, or a pseudo, make-believe Christian, but not in the mind of a true Latter-day Saint or a Christian of genuine stamp. The United States is a republic, in which the people are looked upon as the one source of political power. The Church of Christ is a theo- democracy, in which God speaks and the people say amen! It is the Church of God and his people, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Obedient to the divine mandate spoken to them in Father Whitmer’s humble home, Joseph and Oliver took steps to ascertain whether or not their brethren would sanction their ordination as Elders of the Church and were willing to come under their spiritual tutelage.

Not Yet Qualified

What!-exclaims one. After these men had communed with heavenly beings and received from them commandments for their guidance; after receiving divine authority to preach the Gospel, administer its ordinances, and establish once more on earth the long absent Church of Christ! After all this must they go before the people and ask their consent to organize them and preside over them as a religious body? Yes, that was precisely the situation. Notwithstanding all those glorious manifestations, they were not yet fully qualified to hold the high positions unto which they had been divinely called. One element was lacking-the consent of the people. Until that consent was given, there could be no church with these people as its members and those men as its presiding authorities. The Great Ruler of all never did and never will foist upon any of his people, in branch, ward, stake or Church capacity, a presiding officer whom they are not willing to accept and uphold.

Happily for all concerned, the brethren associated with Joseph and Oliver on that memorable sixth of April of the year 1830, did sanction their ordination, did “decide by vote” to accept them as their “spiritual teachers.”

God the Giver

But suppose it had been otherwise. Suppose the brethren in question had not been willing to accept the men whom the Lord had chosen, but had lifted their hands against instead of for them. What would have been the result? Would such action have taken from Joseph and Oliver their Priesthood or their gifts and powers as seers, prophets and revelators of the Most High? No. Any more than it would have blotted out the fact that Joseph had seen God, and that he and Oliver had communed with angels sent from Heaven to ordain them. Their brethren had not given them the Priesthood, had not made them prophets and seers, and they would have remained such regardless of any adverse action on the part of their associates. The Gospel, the Priesthood, the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven are not within the gift of the membership of the Church. They are bestowed by the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ, in person or by proxy, and without his consent no power on earth or under the earth could take them away.

What Might Have Resulted

But if the vote had been unfavorable, this would have resulted: The brethren and sisters who were waiting to be admitted into the Church would have closed the door in their own faces, would have cut themselves off from a most precious privilege, would have deprived themselves of the inestimable benefits flowing from the exercise of the gifts and powers possessed by the men divinely commissioned to inaugurate this great Latter-day Work; and they could have gone elsewhere, and, under divine direction, have organized the Church of Christ among any people worthy to constitute its membership and willing that these men should be their leaders. But the vote was in their favor, thank the Lord! and we who are here today are among the beneficiaries of that act of faith and humility.

A Divine Necessity

Never, since this Church was organized, has it been without a divinely inspired Priesthood, with seers, prophets and revelators at its head; and it never will be without them. They are a divine necessity. Wanting such guides, such pilots, inspired from above, we would be floundering in the same troubled sea of doubt and uncertainty respecting religion, its sacred obligations and its vital problems, as are the peoples of the world around us. Without the gift of the Holy Ghost, to interpret the Scriptures and make manifest the things of God, we also would be putting our own private interpretations upon the revelations of divine truth, and be lost and wandering, as others are, in a maze of superstition and error.

Longing for Light

The churches of men are built upon books and traditions, handed down from the dubious past-what God said to other peoples in other times, under circumstances vastly different from our own. And mixed with these things are other things that God is said to have said-but never did say-and they are palmed upon the world as utterances of divine authority. In many lands God’s children, millions of them, are yearning and longing for the Light, hungering and thirsting for pure Gospel truth, which they find not in man-made religions and philosophies; and blind leaders of the blind, turning their backs upon New Revelation, are endeavoring to feed a spiritually starving world with the mutilated menu card of a banquet ages old.

Power of the Priesthood

No book, however good; no tradition, however venerable, is a sufficient guide for a progressive people on their way to the Celestial Kingdom. We have something better than books-far better than the best of them. We have divine authority, which constitutes the men holding it agents and representatives of the Almighty; and whatsoever they do by virtue of that authority, and under the inspiration of the spirit of their holy calling, is just as valid and binding and just as acceptable to God, as though he were present in person saying and doing what his servants say and do for him. That is what it means to bear the Priesthood.

The Pure Faith

We have the pure, primitive Christian Faith, and the spirit that interprets its sacred mysteries. Without that Spirit no man, whatever his intelligence, whatever his education and culture, can comprehend the Gospel or know Him whom to know is life eternal.

God’s Work and Glory

This Church is not the work of man. Had it been man’s creation it would have succumbed long ago to the assaults made upon it by the adversary of souls. It is not built upon the sand of ancient tradition or of modern theorization. It is rounded upon the rock-Divine Revelation-God’s gracious will and the glad consent of his people. Therefore is it destined to endure and to withstand every shock. The hosts of evil may hurl themselves against it, but they cannot prevail against it, nor shake the firm foundation upon which it stands as immovable and immutable as the throne of Him who sitteth in the midst of Eternity, and who has said in words that can never die: “My work and my glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man!” Amen.

Missionaries are not supposed to leave their companions for any reason. But here in this compact area, we decided to each take a side of the lane. Opportunities to teach anyone were so rare that we thought it wise to cover as much territory as possible. If a friendly reaction was received by one of us, the other would cross the street to share in the visit. Usually, we could see each other every minute and could almost touch hands across the lane. So the plan was working well, as we doubled our tracting efficiency.

At one door, a man answered and said yes, he would like to hear more about our beliefs. I looked for my companion, but he had disappeared. So I tried to stall until the Elder came back. He had obviously gone around one of the numerous meanderings and should reappear at any moment. I explained that my companion would be back in a minute or two. (Much later, I discovered that around the corner was a “milk bar”, where he had gone for a milk shake while he waited for me. The Elder assumed that since I was right behind him, I would soon show up there.)

After a few more minutes, the man became impatient and said, “I don’t talk standing in the lane. If you’re not interested, never mind.”

So I said, “Okay, I’ll come in.” My intention was to visit briefly, make an appointment, and return with my wandering companion.

As I began to explain our purpose, he interrupted, “Mr. Law, we have a better plan.” So I asked about his “better plan”.

The Melbourne man, as I call him, described how Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher, had designed a different kind of society. This man’s plan would follow similar lines. There would be three classes of people: the leaders, the workers, and the teachers. The teachers would be trained to condition a sinless society (“…as you call sin…”, he said) – there would be no hate, no greed, no jealousy, no envy, no lust, no malice – no sin. The workers would not be envious of the leaders. The leaders would not oppress the workers. The teachers would condition each class to willingly accept their assigned role in this “perfect” society.

The Melbourne man further described how breeders would be chosen, based on superior intelligence, physical perfection and longevity genes. Children would be taken from their mothers at birth and placed in communal nurseries, and through various tests, their classes would be determined. They would then receive specialized conditioning for that particular class. All defective babies had to be eliminated. The total number of births would need to be controlled to prevent overpopulation and depletion of natural resources. By this selective breeding, a master race of geniuses could be created.

Worker-scientists were assigned to research life extension techniques until future generations could “live forever”. Through space research, they would reach out into the universe to develop planets hospitable to human life. This perfect society then spreads throughout space in a never-ending cycle.

I asked, “How will you condition them?” He then explained, in detail, the basic conditioning tools. They included diet, drugs, music, movies, education, etc.

He described how diet (the basic elements of life, food and water) could be a major desensitizing and conditioning instrument. The Melbourne man said that by using additives and special formulas, by changing plants and animals, the diet of the people leaves them submissive and easily controlled.

When that man told me that the materials, systems and procedures were already in place in 1947, my farm-boy mentality refused to accept it. Especially when he explained drug addiction. He outlined how drug addiction changes personalities, making them so dependent that they will agree to anything to satisfy their needs. I protested that people will not allow themselves to be manipulated that way. He just laughed and said, “Mr. Law, you’re such a child. Wait and see.”

I did not see how music could be used. The man then described “melodic dissonance” for me, in detail. He told of the conditioning experiments of the Russian scientist Pavlov in communist Russia, using dogs and metronomes. Pavlov found that he could condition a dog to salivate when a metronome beat at 60 beats per minute. Then he learned that he could condition the same dog to never produce saliva when the metronome beat at 120 beats per minute.

In another experiment with the same dog, Pavlov had both metronomes beating at the same time, one at 60 beats, the other at 120 beats per minute. The conditioned dog was required to do two totally opposite functions at the same time. This produced nervous shock, and the dog collapsed, unconscious.

Next, with the same dog, Pavlov had the 60-beat metronome suddenly jump to 120 beats per minute. At the same instant, the 120-beat metronome dropped to 60 beats per minute. This produced a melodic dissonance. When the metronomes were switched back and forth rapidly, the dog became so distressed that it died. In communist Russia, these experiments were then extended to humans, with similar results.

Using variations of this melodic dissonance, a new music form was created. Musical scores and lyrics were developed. A team of musicians, called “the Beatles”, was trained in Europe and introduced to America on the popular Ed Sullivan Talent Show, on national television. They were an instant hit, and all other forms of music became “old-fashioned”.

I could not understand such a phenomenon in 1947. But years later, when I first heard “rock & roll”, everything flashed back to 1947; I realized that the Australian did know that it would be a powerful tool for their conditioning plan.

The Melbourne man said they had already begun “behavior modification conditioning” in government schools, using audio-visual programs. When they introduce their messages, beginning in preschool, the results are intense and permanent.

A monster was emerging, that I found sinister and all-controlling. I could not believe what I was hearing. But over and over, he said, “Wait and see. You will live to see our perfect plan in full operation. When we control all the conditioning processes, everything will fall neatly into place.”

I protested that they were forcing their will and control on people, taking away freedom of choice. His answer was, “No, they can still choose, but they will always choose exactly what they are conditioned to choose.”

“But that’s not right!” He laughed at my evident simplicity.

So I protested again, “But God won’t allow it.”

“Why not? How can a just God – there is no such being – keep these sinless souls out of heaven? That’s what you believe, isn’t it, Mr. Law?”

So he began a different tactic. “Who do you love, Mr. Law? You certainly don’t love the Australian people.”

“Oh yes, I do, that’s why I came on a mission.”

“So, how many have you saved?”

This was a hard mission. Few and far between were our welcomes. Fewer were our converts. I admitted grudgingly, “Not many.”

“And,” he said, “all the rest are consigned to hell.”

“Oh no, there are three degrees of glory, and…”

“We know all about your three degrees of glory. It means that many are called to be Mormons, but few are chosen to be gods. We know all about your church. We control every church in the world, except yours, and we will infiltrate that.”

“Mr. Law, you don’t love anybody, do you?”

“I love my mother.”

“No, you don’t. Under your plan, she can either choose to go to hell, or make a mistake and fall through the cracks into hell. If you really loved your mother, you’d be eager to guarantee that she would go to heaven. With our plan, it is guaranteed. In fact, no one will he lost; they will all go to heaven. Of course, we don’t believe in heaven or hell, anyway. But if you really love your fellow man, our plan is the only way to show it.”

I said, “I think I’ve heard this plan before.”

“Where could you have heard it?”

“It must have been in the Council in Heaven, before I was born.” He just laughed.

I was reeling under his attack, but I could not leave. There were no chains on me. But I felt as if I was bound, hand and foot, to the chair – as though I was paralyzed. So I asked, “Who are you? What do you call this plan?”

“I am one of three members of the central planning committee of the communist party for Australia.”

I said, “I’ve heard of communism.” But I knew very little about it.

The Melbourne man told me that the world understood economic, and political, and military communism. But the plan he was outlining to me, he called “spiritual communism”, that would evolve into a worldwide government. He said they were using the current governments until they controlled the world. Then those political, economic, and military leaders would need to be eliminated because they are violent men. Then the new world order would take over.

I asked how they could make the plan work, when there are so many people who are not prepared to accept it. He said, “We will have to annihilate all who cannot be conditioned to be either a worker or a teacher.”

“How many will you kill?”

“Hundreds of millions, maybe even you and me.”

“But that is murder.”

“That is a Christian term that has no meaning. It is really a part of cleansing. We need to reduce the population to a more manageable size, anyway. Only the inner corps of the elite leaders know about the plan. The present communist leaders don’t know it. Spiritual communism is not written or recorded anywhere. It is a secret plan.”

“Then why did you tell me?”

He was a bit perplexed, but he had an answer. “I don’t know. But we are looking for zealous young men who will join this work to help bring about this heaven on earth. Think about it, not one soul will be lost.”

I was not ready to give up yet. “You’ll never take over the world!”

He answered, “Mr. Law, we now control two-thirds of all world governments, politically or militarily or economically. Only the United States of America remains as the last major hurdle to world domination.”

So I boldly declared, “You’ll never take over the United States!”

But he said, “Mr. Law, let me tell you how it is!” He said they controlled all major conditioning instruments in America now: the entertainment industry, the news media, the education system, the courts, the financial system, political parties. Where they don’t have full control, they have infiltrated and have embedded their agents into all important decision-making bodies. He said they control every agency that affects daily living in America. Their agents were everywhere, doing their jobs.

But since I was a high school graduate, twelve years in an education system, I thought that made me an expert in education. Quite triumphantly, I said, “You don’t control the education system.”

Again, “Mr. Law, let me tell you how it is! When you get home, examine any textbook in any school, at any level, from preschool to university graduate school. You will find no mention of Jesus Christ or God or His plan. But you will find our plan being taught at every level. It’s written into every textbook.”

How right he was. I have spent almost 40 years of my life in education, as a teacher and an administrator, in public and private school systems. Satan’s plan is there; God’s plan is forbidden by law. God has even been declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court.

I asked when would all this take effect, and his spiritual plan be put into operation. He said, “We have a progressive agenda. We are prepared to take two steps forward, one step back, two forward, one back, until it is time. The American people won’t even know it is happening. When it is favorable, then everything will move swiftly to the purging, or cleansing stage. People will be stunned into immobility. We won’t want a time lag between take-over and full operation of our spiritual phase.”

Then he asked, “What do you think? Are you ready to join our forces?”

I fell back to the only sure ground I knew. “I believe in God, our Heavenly Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ. It’s their plan that I will follow.”

The Melbourne man became violently angry and shouted, “There are no such beings! They are myths created to enslave the minds of men. They don’t exist!”

I answered simply, “But I have felt the power of the Holy Ghost fill me with fire from the top of my head to the soles of my feet, and I have heard the voice of God testify to me that Jesus Christ is His Son. His plan is the truth, and that is what I teach.”

He lunged across the room and attacked me with his fists. Suddenly, I was free. I could move, and I ran outside into the lane. I found my companion wandering around, desperately looking for me. He didn’t dare leave, but had kept on searching for me. He had to help me on and off the tram. I was so exhausted that I was unable to get out of bed for a couple of days.

Elder Matthew Cowley, of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, was President of all the Pacific missions. He visited us often in Australia. In my interview with him, shortly after this experience, he sensed that something was disturbing me. He asked if I would like to tell him what was wrong.

So I outlined the Melbourne man’s spiritual communism to him. Elder Cowley told me why the man told me the plan. Now that I had been permitted to hear Satan’s plan, in detail, I could choose which I would follow, Satan or Christ.

Twenty-five years after this event, I was in Elder Ezra Taft Benson’s office and told him the account. He said that he had never heard Satan’s plan in this life. But he recognized the details that Satan used to persuade one-third of our brothers and sisters to follow him in the pre-existence. They were willing to trade their agency to choose, for Satan’s guaranteed salvation. Now, I could choose again which I would follow, Christ’s plan of agency, or Satan’s plan of total control. After sixty-three years, my choice is more firmly anchored than ever before.

I have watched spiritual communism eat its ghastly way into every country and into every government, including our own. It is everywhere. All 10 points of Karl Marx’s communist manifesto have been quietly incorporated into American life. They have been accepted as “social progress”.

The Book of Mormon tells how secret combinations destroyed two great civilizations, the Jaredites and the Nephites. The Prophet Moroni warns us:

“Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you.” Ether 8:24

Are we awake? Evidences of the secret combination – spiritual communism – are everywhere. What can we do about it? When the Jaredites and the Nephites followed the Prophets, they were protected. When they rejected the Prophets, they were destroyed. My only escape from the Melbourne man was my witness of Jesus Christ.

The Prophet Nephi warned his people:

“…nothing can save this people save it be repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ…Yea, how long will ye suffer yourselves to be led by foolish and blind guides?…” Helaman 13:6, 29

There is a wonderful lesson to be learned from the Jaredites and the Nephites. There is safety in following the Prophets. I encourage all of us to follow the temporal and spiritual counsel of the latter-day Prophets, Seers and Revelators!

(Note: This is a corrected and updated recount of the real-life events described by Marion Law in a previously titled transcript, The Brother Law Fireside)

Some would like to argue that standing up and being bold about Freedom equates to engaging in politics. I would like to argue against that.

D&C88 states:

And I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom… in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand… things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations…knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms- That ye may be prepared in all things… I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor. Abide ye in the liberty wherewith ye are made free…

Ezra Taft Benson quoting President David O. McKay saying:

There should be no question in the mind of any true latter day saint as to what we shall preach… the gospel plan of salvation.” … Then President McKay lists the areas our preaching should cover and admonishes us to include in our preaching what governments should or should not do in the interests of the preservation of our freedom. Do we preach what governments should or should not do as a part of the gospel plan, as President McKay has urged or do we refuse to follow the Prophet by preaching a limited gospel plan of salvation? The fight for freedom cannot be divorced from the gospel – the plan of salvation. (Our Immediate Responsibility. BYU Devotional, October 25, 1966.)

President J. Reuben Clark also warned us of the importance of standing up for Freedom:

Do not think the members of the church shall escape. The Lord has assured us that the church will still be here when he comes again. But has the Lord assured us that we can avoid fighting for freedom and still escape unscathed both temporally and spiritually? We could not escape the eternal consequences of our pre-existent position on freedom. What makes us think we can escape it here?

I say to you with all the soberness I can, that we stand in danger of losing our liberties, and that once lost, only blood will bring them back; and once lost, we of this church will, in order to keep the church going forward, have more sacrifices to make and more persecutions to endure than we have yet known, heavy as our sacrifices and grievous as our persecutions have been. (J. Reuben Clark, Conference Report, April 1944, pp. 115-116; quoted in Newquist, op. cit., p. 89.)

Again Ezra Taft Benson stated:

I also do not agree that spiritual leaders cannot comment on basic issues which involve the very foundation of American liberty.

In fact, if this were true, we would have to throw away a substantial part of the Bible. Speaking out against immoral or unjust actions of political leaders has been the burden of prophets and disciples of God from time immemorial. It was for this very reason that many of them were persecuted. Some of them were stoned, some of them were burned, many were imprisoned. Nevertheless it was their God-given task, as watchmen on the towers, to speak up.

It is certainly no different today.

To Moses God said: “….proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” (Lev. 25:10)

Why? For God knows full well that the gospel – His plan for the blessing of His children can prosper only in an atmosphere of freedom.

To modern men God has said: the Constitution “should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh.” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:77)

Is the Constitution being maintained or is it in jeopardy?

(Stand Up For Freedom. Assembly Hall at Temple Square, Feb 11, 1966. Given to The Utah Forum for the American Idea)

Fotrunately all hope is not lost:

This is still God’s world. The forces of evil, working through some mortals, have made a mess of a good part of it. But it is still God’s world. In due time, when each of us has had a chance to prove ourselves–including whether or not we are going to stand up for freedom–God will interject himself, and the final and eternal victory shall be for free agency. And then shall those complacent people on the sidelines, and those who took the wrong but temporarily popular course, lament their decisions. To the patriots I say this: Take that long eternal look. Stand up for freedom, no matter what the cost. Stand up and be counted. It can help to save your soul–and maybe your country.” (Teachings of Ezra T. Benson Chapter 5 P. 592)

What’s the moral of the story? We know that Satan has gained much dominion over the earth, and because we, those who stand up for Freedom, are still too few in numbers, we must bare it patiently. We must not give up. Each of us can take a stand for what is right. We all have our own unique talents and knowledge; the key is to ask the Lord what he would have us do, and do that.

If you get discouraged, remember the words of Edward Everett Hale, when he said:

I am only one, but I am one.
I can’t do everything, but I can do something.
What I can do, that I ought to do,
And what I ought to do,
By the grace of God, I shall do!

In keeping with the spirit of the masterful address given by our great leader, President David O. McKay at the beginning of this conference, I declare to you this morning that human liberty is the mainspring of human progress.

The one great revolution in the world is the revolution for human liberty. This was the paramount issue in the great council in heaven before this earth life. It has been the issue throughout the ages. It is the issue today.

It is difficult for Americans to understand the danger to our liberty. “It is generally outside the range of our experience.” But we live today in an age of peril. We are threatened with the loss not only of material wealth but of something far more precious–our liberty itself.

Never before in the history of our country has there been a greater need for all of our people to take time to discover what is happening in the world. Every day decisions are being made affecting the lives of millions of human beings.

We as a people have never known bondage. Liberty has always been our blessed lot. Few of us have ever seen people who have lost their freedom–their liberty. And when reminded of the danger of losing our liberty and independence our attitude has usually been: It cannot happen here.

We must never forget that nations may, and usually do, sow the seeds of their own destruction while enjoying unprecedented prosperity.

The children of Israel, willing to sacrifice liberty, wanted Moses to be their king. Generations later their descendants begged Samuel the prophet to give them a king. He pointed out the fallacy of their reasoning. Samuel, like other great spiritual leaders, ancient and modern, saw the results that would follow the surrender of liberty.

In that sacred volume of scripture, the Book of Mormon, we note the great and prolonged struggle for liberty. We also note the complacency of the people and their frequent willingness to give up their liberty for the promises of a would-be provider.

The record reveals that a man “of cunning device . . . and . . . many flattering words,” . . . sought . . . “to destroy the foundation of liberty which God had granted unto them, . . .” (Alma 46: 10.)

Then Moroni, the chief commander of the armies dramatically “. . . 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 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, . . .” (See ibid., 46:12-13.)

This great general, Moroni, like the prophets whose words are recorded in the Book of Mormon, spoke of the Americas as a chosen land–the land of liberty. He led the people in battle who were willing to fight to “maintain their liberty.”

And the record states: “. . . that he caused the title of liberty to be hoisted upon every tower which was in all the land…. and thus Moroni planted the standard of liberty among the Nephites.” (Ibid., 46:36.)

This is our need today–to plant the standard of liberty among our people throughout the Americas.

While this incident occurred some seventy years BC, the struggle went on through one thousand years covered by this sacred Book of Mormon record. In fact, the struggle for liberty is a continuing one–it is with us in a very real sense today right here on this choice land of the Americas. Yes, on an island strategically situated only ninety miles from our shores.

Just a short time ago Fidel Castro broadcast to the world his boastful confession that he had been a hard-core communist all of his adult life. He gloried in the fact that he had been able to confuse and deceive many people simply by saying he was not a communist. And because there were gullible people in this and other countries who believed his false assertions, he was able to establish a Soviet beachhead–”A communist satellite under active Russian control.”

Americans must face the cold hard fact that Fidel Castro was encouraged and supported in his seizure of Cuba. Why? Simply because many Americans were led to believe the falsehood that he would resist Soviet influence and restore the full basic liberty of the Cuban people. A few of us issued early warnings based on unimpeachable evidence. Two United States ambassadors repeatedly warned that Castro was part of the communist conspiracy and that he was working for the communist conquest of Cuba. These voices went unheeded.

This is merely a repetition of the same deceitful pattern which was used after World War II to have us tolerate revolutionary communists in China–to accept them as “agrarian reformers” and allow them to seize and enslave some 450,000,000 people on the Chinese mainland.

This is the same deceitful pattern which we have been asked to accept in the Congo, in Laos, in British Guiana, etc. In fact, everywhere the communist conspiratorial machinery is preparing for a seizure of power, we are assured there is no immediate danger from communism.

In less than half a century this evil system has gained control over one-third of mankind, and it is steadily pursuing its vicious goal of control over all the rest of the world. It is time, and past time, for us to be alarmed.

I raised a voice of warning two years ago following my return from South America. And now, today, Cuba is being used as a base to spread subversion and armed revolution throughout Latin America. Cuba is being used as a funnel through which communists are infiltrating other American Republics. There can be no stability in Latin America so long as “The shadow of the hammer and sickle is darkening the Western Hemisphere.” The communist objective is to isolate North America.

Less than fifteen years ago communism was not a powerful force in Latin America. Today it is not only strongly present there as an enemy to be reckoned with–it is openly allied with a government located on an island only about 90 miles south of Key West, Florida.

The only political party now functioning in Cuba is the popular Socialist Party–the Communist Party under another name.

It is authoritatively reported that by the end of 1958 there were 316 known communist or pro-communist publications in Latin America, the largest number being 55 in Mexico. About one half are newspapers and other periodicals. There were more than 150 communist publishing houses and bookstores. These activities have increased sharply since 1958. (South Wind Red, by Ray, p. 17.)

True to communist and dictator tradition, the Cuban government has deprived its people of the rights of a free press, free elections, and the protection of other fundamental human rights.

How did this situation come about? How is it possible for communism to be here and now moving into Africa, pressing upon all of Asia, threatening the Middle East and increasingly becoming a danger in the Western Hemisphere?

There are, of course, many reasons. Our apathy–our complacent indifference is a major cause. We have permitted ourselves to be pacified and lulled away into carnal security as Book of Mormon prophets predicted. (See 2 Nephi 28:21.)

As emphasized from this pulpit two years ago, we have a rich history to guide us. Think back with me a moment to the year 1823. In that year, James Monroe of Virginia was President. John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts was Secretary of State. These two men formed and announced a policy–the Monroe Doctrine–which has profoundly influenced the development of our entire hemisphere. (Here was the situation that called forth this policy–known as the Monroe Doctrine–in 1823.)

Several of what are now the Latin American republics had by force of arms newly won their independence from Spain and Portugal. Among them were Columbia, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil.

Meantime a number of the sovereigns of Europe were seeking to enforce the “divine right of kings” with the express purpose of putting “an end to the system of representative government….”

This our government refused to permit. It said so plainly in the celebrated Monroe Doctrine. The heart of the Monroe Doctrine consisted of these words “. . . the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers….” The Monroe Doctrine, which should be and is an enduring cornerstone and living principle of national policy, stated further: “The political system of the allied powers is essentially different . . . from that of America….”

Surely if it were true a century and a half ago that European monarchy was essentially different from our American system of representative government, it is even more true today that the communist system is totally different, totally incompatible, totally inimical to our free way of life.

This is a time of decision. Further vacillation will serve only to drive all of Latin America straight into communist hands. If action is not taken against the power-drunken bandit and his cohorts, the day will soon come when it cannot be done at all.

The Monroe Doctrine was first invoked against the Russian Czar Alexander. The Cuban menace represents the first time in one hundred years that a hostile foreign power has established a firm beachhead in the Americas.

The American people are deeply upset, frustrated, and angry at what they fear is a retreat from the time-honored Monroe Doctrine–a retreat which could now end in war.

President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., whose scholarly work on the Monroe Doctrine, as Under Secretary of State, is well known, in tracing our destiny said this:

“Then came our GREAT Monroe Doctrine which placed us of the United States squarely behind efforts of Latin America to gain freedom and against those European states who would thwart it.

“God again moved us forward towards the destiny He has planned for us. He was preserving the blessings He had given to us.” (Memorandum on the Monroe Doctrine, Dept. of State Publication #37, December 17, 1928.)

President Joseph Fielding Smith in his ever timely volume, The Progress of Man, in discussing America’s fortification against other nations makes this significant statement.

“The greatest and most powerful fortification in America is the ‘Monroe Doctrine.’ . . . It appears to the casual observer that this doctrine came by chance . . . but this is not so. It was the inspiration of the Almighty which rested upon John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson and other statesmen, and which finally found authoritative expression in the message of President James Monroe to Congress in the year 1823….

“It is generally understood . . . in the Church that the greatest and most significant principle by which this land is fortified against the encroachments and invasions of European and Asiatic powers is found in the Monroe Doctrine….” (Joseph Fielding Smith, pp. 357, 466-467.)

This Monroe Doctrine widely accepted by the republics of the south has been the continuing policy of our nation for almost a century and a half. It has been reaffirmed by many American presidents. We are on solid traditional American ground in demanding that the communists should not attempt to extend their political system to this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

If time permitted, we could show that in recent years, the principles of the Monroe Doctrine have been strengthened by various joint agreements among the American nations: These should be invoked. The longer we wait the more difficult will be the job.

It is almost unthinkable that any people would knowingly and wilfully take on themselves the yoke of communist oppression. No nation has ever done so yet. If large masses of the Cuban people have done so, it is because they have been duped or coerced.

As a people who have known only liberty, we are inclined to feel, it cannot happen here. We have become lulled away into a false security.

A most brilliant discussion of the Latin American problem, which appeared in the May 1961 issue of American Opinion, concluded with these words:

“. . . history gives us one more chance. If the American people are too blind or too cowardly to take that chance, then whether or not we as individuals deserve it, you and I and all that we hold dear . . . must suffer the doom that history mercilessly imposes on fools.”

Why are we so timid in standing up to a Godless communist police state which can’t even feed its own people, and whose economy, they know, will not support a major war. They “lead from weakness and we retreat from strength.”

I say to you it can happen here. It is happening here. We have retreated from the Monroe Doctrine. Our liberty is in danger. But we go blithely and gullibly on our way. Some of us fall for the Kremlin line as planned by the mass murderer Khrushchev and call patriots “extremists” and accuse courageous liberty-loving citizens of “dividing our people.”

As President McKay said at the close of the April general conference, quoting J. Edgar Hoover, “There is no place here in America for part-time patriots. This nation is face to face with the greatest danger ever to confront it, a sinister and deadly conspiracy which can be conquered only by an alert, informed citizenry. It is indeed appalling that some members of our society continue to deplore and criticize those who stress the communist danger. Public indifference to this threat is tantamount to national suicide. Lethargy leads only to disaster….”

We must be vigilant. Let us unite. Let us join in our fight against the forces of anti-Christ.

Forgive me for being so blunt, but I feel most deeply on these matters. Possibly it is because I’ve seen at close range so much of this godless, treacherous conspiracy in the past few years in more than forty nations.

I realize that the bearer of bad news is always unpopular. As a people we love sweetness and light–especially sweetness. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that every mind must make a choice between truth and repose. Those who will learn nothing from history are condemned to repeat it. This we are doing in the Americas today.

As a Church we have a world message of salvation to deliver to our Father’s children. The restored gospel can only thrive in an atmosphere of liberty. We are in a worldwide conflict. It is the first of its kind in history. It is between light and darkness; between liberty and slavery. It is a struggle for the souls of men. We must win this war.

In 1946 I stood in Czechoslovakia. The deadening socialist-communist philosophies were even then infiltrating that lovely country. Our church mission was thriving among these liberty-loving people. They too said it could not happen there. Only two years later it had happened. They had lost their liberty.

At the close of World War II while serving as European Mission President, I visited Stanislaw M. Mikolajczyk in Warsaw, the leader of the liberty-loving Polish people and former premier of the Polish Government-in-Exile. I had hoped we might do missionary work in Poland. Though Mikolajczyk was the leader of the indisputable majority of the electorate, he had to flee from Poland to save his life from the insidious encroaching communist police state.

I also talked to our Polish Ambassador, Arthur Bliss Lane. He told me of the tragic course of appeasement our government was pursuing in selling out the Polish people to the communists. Finally, unable to endure it any longer, Lane voluntarily resigned so he could tell the story. He titled his book I Saw Poland Betrayed.

And so the pattern has been repeated in country after country.

Rather than impede communism our policies in their total effect have apparently helped promote it. And so the honest in heart, many of whom have probably already been murdered, are deprived of the message of the restored gospel–good people who would have responded to the words of truth from our missionaries.

Who then is to blame? What then can be done?

To some extent we Latter-day Saints and Americans every where must share some blame for we have not been awake to the warnings of the prophets. We have not exerted our righteous influence as citizens to stop this disastrous course. Our skirts are not entirely clean. Many of us have been asleep in Zion–the Western Hemisphere.

“But,” say some, “why should we be so concerned. After all if the Lord wants them to get the gospel message, they’ll get it.”

Of course, if the Lord desired, he could this instant preach the gospel to every soul and do all our genealogical work. He could also right every wrong, feed the famished, plant our crops, train our children, etc. But his doctrine requires us to do our best ourselves in these areas and ask the Lord’s help in our endeavors. After we’ve done all we can, then the Lord will cover for us.

Now what can be done? We have missionaries and Saints in South America. Those countries fall within the scope of the Monroe Doctrine. These countries are now being pushed in the direction of bondage–the loss of liberty.

What can we do to help meet this grave challenge from a godless, atheistic, cruelly materialistic system–to preserve our God-given Liberty?

We can encourage our government wherever we live, to stand firm at all costs against any further expansion of despotic communism.

We can support our government in keeping the flame of liberty burning in the souls of the oppressed–wherever they may be throughout the world.

We can heed the words of men like Edward Hunter who for twenty years has been reporting communist conspiracy and brain-washing from abroad and who recently wrote this:

“In Washington these days one hears a great deal of the word escalation but never the word honor.

“Escalation was the reason Americans had to stand by and watch with folded hands as a young man bled to death a hundred feet from them at the Berlin wall of shame, although we had every right to go in and stem his bleeding under wartime agreement. “Imagine anyone telling an American, only a few years back, that he would stand by idly, witnessing a man die needlessly because he wanted to be free! . . .

“Escalation is why we stood by wringing our hands when the East Germans started building the wall, whereas is now known, their orders were to stop if we showed any serious resistance.

“Escalation, if continued, will complete our softening-up, until we ‘bury ourselves,’ as Khrushchev predicts….

“This soft escalation policy in Cuba, starting in 1958, permitted ‘a small band of hoodlums, under the leadership of Fidel Castro’ to conduct ‘open warfare against the established government of Cuba, which was friendly towards the United States….’ We have, thus passed the time for soft and easy action to protect ourselves,” says Mr. Hunter. “We have only one course of action left: to destroy Communist power in Cuba by force of arms.”

As I visited among the good people of Cuba in 1955, I had a secret hope we would soon be able to bring to them the truths of the restored gospel. What are our prospects now? People said in Cuba in 1955: It cannot happen here. We love liberty.

The insidious but rapid take-over of Latin America is drawing ever closer to the final showdown.

Unless godless communism is stamped out of Cuba, it is only a matter of time until like Czechoslovakia, other missions will likely close and more of our Father’s children will be deprived of their liberty and the fulness of the everlasting gospel.

The message of salvation must move forward. God grant that every effort to stay its growth will be frustrated.

Courage and statesmanship are imperatively needed today. We must take chances for liberty. May God bless our national leaders in this time of crisis.

Yes, the effective preaching of the gospel can only thrive in an atmosphere of liberty. Yes, we all say, we love liberty. But that is not enough. We must protect and safeguard that which we love. We must save liberty.

God grant us the wisdom and the courage so to do, before it is too late, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.