Or, wait, was it “Federal Agents Raid LDS Cannery!“? Actually, I’m not going to perpetuate the recent viral story that’s been making the rounds online and via email. The alleged “raid” on a Tennessee LDS (Mormon) Food Cannery, in which Federal agents demanded their customer list, might not actually have happened, but maybe it did. The story hasn’t been officially verified and the original informant cited by the Oath Keepers website, where the story was originally published, has now recanted his story.

Perhaps the federal agents went back with the neutralizer pen and flashed the people at the cannery.

There are confirmed reports of door-to-door assessments of disaster preparedness in Tennessee, which has some people concerned.

Meanwhile, those of us who do have food storage (as we’ve been counseled to do for decades by latter-day prophets), especially if you are a liberty-minded constitutionalists, are now even more likely to be labeled domestic terrorists thanks to actual federal laws. Some of us have a year or more of food storage, yet having just 7-days worth of food is enough to find yourself on the list of suspects. Don’t believe me? Get the facts from Senator Rand Paul and Judge Napolitano: youtube.com/watch?v=iD1T61oTrR8

Considering the corruption of the federal government and the reality of secret combinations, I wouldn’t be surprised if the story of federal agents demanding the LDS Cannery customer list is true. Far worse has been done on behalf of the United States government, on several occassions, including the murdering of millions of innocents.

Many of the freedoms once available in America have been destroyed. If the Constitution exists at all today for sure it is hanging by a thread. Prophets have warned us for centuries, unfortunately not enough have listened, and less have acted upon those warnings.

Things like this make me even more grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the liberty and joy that comes as a result of learning and living the truth. When considered in the eternal perspective many of these political issues seem silly, but one thing I know for sure is that it does matter what side we stand on. I’m not talking about what political party we side with, but what political principles we support. It does matter that we stand up for freedom and truth in whatever way that we can. It might be too late for the elders of Israel to save the Constitution but it’s not too late to save your soul, and hopefully others.

Additional reading:

• Federal agents raid Mormon food storage facility, demand list of customers storing emergency food
• Did Federal Agents Really Raid a Mormon Food Storage Facility?
• EVERYTHING You Wanted to Know On the “Federal Agent’s Raid on the LDS Cannery” Story
• STORY PULLED: Oath Keepers Alert: Federal Agents Demand Customer Lists From Mormon Food Storage Facility

“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!

YouTube Link…

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!