I was studying the Book of Mormon
– Another Testament of Jesus Christ this morning, and I felt like I was reading
current events. The book of Helaman begins with a simple principle: “Murder, intrigue, contention, and divisiveness
weaken a nation and make it vulnerable to destruction.” It tells of a secret
combination that sought to destroy the government.
A man by the name of Kishkumen goes
into the judgment hall and murders Pahoran, the chief judge, “as he sat upon
the judgment-seat” (Helaman 1:9). The murderer cannot be found because he and
his band “did mingle themselves among the people” (Helaman 1:12).
The
chief judge is the ruler of the society. It must have had the same effect on
that society as having a U.S. President assassinated is in ours.
Pacumeni is appointed to the
judgment seat but does not rule long. There is so much contention among the
people and so much difficulty in the government that there are insufficient
guards around the capital city of Zarahemla. The Lamanites march right into the
center of the land, take possession of the capital city, and kill Pacumeni
(Helaman 1:18-21).
Helaman is appointed to the judgment
seat, and Kishkumen goes forth to kill him. However, one of Helaman’s
associates recognizes Kishkumen and stabs him before he can kill Helaman.
Kishkumen’s associate named Gadianton becomes worried when Kishkumen does not
return from his murderous mission and leads the band of robbers and murderers
into the wilderness (Helaman 1:11).
Helaman 2 reports that there is “continual
peace” in the land except the band of robbers and murderers, now known as Gadianton
robbers, has become “established in the more settled parts of the land”
(Helaman 2:23). This means that the robbers are operating in much the same way
that organized gangs operate in our cities.
We do not hear any more about the
Gadianton robbers until Helaman 6:22 where we learn that the gang has developed
“secret signs” and “secret words” in order to “distinguish a brother who had
entered into the covenant” and to protect each other.
Later in this same chapter we read
that the Gadianton robbers have established themselves among both the Nephites
and the Lamanites. The Lamanites are wiser than the Nephites because the
Lamanites “did hunt the band of robbers of Gadianton; and they did preach the
word of God among the more wicked part of them, insomuch that this band of
robbers was utterly destroyed from among the Lamanites” (Helaman 6:37).
However, the “Nephites did build
them up and support them, beginning at the more wicked part of them, until they
had overspread all the land of the Nephites.” In time the Gadianton robbers “did
obtain the sole management of the government, insomuch that they did trample
under their feet and smite and rend and turn their backs upon the poor and the
meek, and the humble followers of God” (Helaman 6:39). Soon, the people are in
such a state of wickedness that the robbers have become the judges “having
usurped the power and authority of the land” (Helaman 7:4). A little later, we
read that the robbers are fighting among themselves with a chief judge being
killed by his brother and both belong to the Gadianton robbers (Helaman 8:28).
The Nephites and the Lamanites fight
the robbers off and on, sometimes winning and most of the time losing, for the
next 400 years until the Nephites are completely destroyed. Mormon, the ancient
American prophet who compiled the Book of Mormon, makes this statement about
the Gadianton robbers.
And behold, in the end of this book ye
shall see that this Gadianton did prove the overthrow, yea, almost the entire
destruction of the people of Nephi.
Behold I do not mean the end of the book
of Helaman, but I mean the end of the book of Nephi, from which I have taken
all the account which I have written (Helaman 2:13-14).
Mormon warns that any society that
supports secret combinations will be destroyed by them. Elder Bruce R.
McConkie, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, makes the
following statement while raising a warning voice about our day: “Bands of
Gadianton robbers will infest every nation, immorality and murder and crime
will increase, and it will seem as though every man’s hand is against his
brother” (“Stand Independent above All Other Creatures,” Ensign, May 1979).
All of the above information is a
prelude to an article written by Greg Hunter titled “Trump is Doing What Kennedy Tried to Do – Kevin Shipp” and dated April 29, 2018. The first three paragraphs of the article are as
follow.
Former CIA Officer and whistleblower
Kevin Shipp says what is going on with Donald J. Trump “is an ongoing coup to
remove a duly elected President.” Shipp contends, “This is a huge constitutional
crisis like the country has never seen before. This makes Watergate look like a
Sunday school class.”
On Friday, Shipp and other retired top
officials at the CIA, FBI, DOJ and NSA held a press conference and demanded
Attorney General Jeff Sessions prosecute top Obama era officials for obvious
crimes against the incoming Trump Administration. Shipp says, “We have a coup
within our government right now at the senior levels at the CIA, DOJ and the
FBI attempting to unseat a duly elected President who was elected by the
American people and remove him from office…. This is, at worst, treason with
senior officials in the shadow government or Deep State… to attack Donald Trump
and remove him from office…. We have not seen anything like this since the
Presidency of John F. Kennedy (JFK), when CIA Director Allen Dulles attacked
him, and we saw what happened there…. There is crystal clear evidence that the
CIA was, at least, involved with the cover-up of the JFK assassination. Now, we
have the same thing happening again…. Remember what Chuck Schumer said, and it
was chilling. He said, `If you cross the intelligence community, they can hit
back at you six ways from Sunday.’ That’s what we are seeing now. It’s
collusion or a coup with senior officials at the FBI, DOJ and CIA along with
Robert Mueller to unseat an elected president.”
Shipp goes on to explain, “There is
essentially a civil war involving parts of senior management and upper parts of
our government that is occurring in the United States. It’s between the `Dark’
side and the `Constitutional’ side. There has never been anything like this in
history. It is extremely serious, and this is an extremely serious hour for our
government and especially for our constitutional freedoms…. This essentially is
a global criminal cabal that has penetrated into our government and now has
senior level officials colluding and, I would argue, conspiring to unseat this
president.”
It appears that Gadianton robbers
have infected our federal government and intelligence agencies. Will we be able
to root them out and destroy their power before they destroy our constitutional
government? Will we heed Mormon’s warning, or will we follow in a similar path to
destruction as did the Nephites?
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