What It Means to Bind Up the Testimony and Seal Up the Law

The outer vessel

It is the word of God that saves:

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.  (John 5:39)

When it is planted in our hearts as a seed, and nourished with great care, it takes root and springs up as a tree of everlasting life, bringing forth lots of good fruit. This requires, then, that we be “doers of the word” (James 1:22), and not just hearers of it, giving place in our hearts by our belief, that the seed can be planted, and then living the word, allowing it to transform our lives accordingly.  The Christians understand this part of the gospel, as well as many Mormons who have become “Christianified,” meaning they have taken the fulness of the restored gospel and reduced it down to a single requirement: the word of God must be found in us.

The truth of the matter is that the word of God must be found in us as well as upon us.  There is an inner component of the gospel—which applies to the inner man, the inward man, the inward vessel, the inward parts, the hidden part, the heart—that deals with inward performances, such as justice, mercy, faith and love, and also inward ordinances, such as the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost:

And thus he [Adam] was baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man.  And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying:

Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost.  (Moses 6:65-66)

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.  (Psalms 51:6)

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel;

After those days,

saith the Lord,

I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.  (Jer. 31:33)

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.  (Matt. 23:23)

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.  (Matt.23:25-28)

And the Lord said unto him,

Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.  Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?  (Luke 11:39-40)

But if ye would rather give alms of such things as ye have; and observe to do all things which I have commanded you, then would your inward parts be clean also.  (JST Luke 11:42)

But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.  (Luke 11:42)

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:  (Romans 7:22)

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.  (2 Cor. 4:16)

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;  (Eph. 3:16)

And now I read unto you the remainder of the commandments of God, for I perceive that they are not written in your hearts; I perceive that ye have studied and taught iniquity the most part of your lives.  (Mosiah 13:11)

Do ye suppose that God will look upon you as guiltless while ye sit still and behold these things? Behold I say unto you, Nay. Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also.  (Alma 60:23)

But there is also an outer component—which applies to the outward man, the outer vessel, “the outside of the cup,” “that which is without”—that deals with outward performances, such as tithing, and also outward ordinances, such as water baptism:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.  (Matt. 23:23)

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.  (Matt.23:25-28)

And the Lord said unto him,

Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.  Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?  (Luke 11:39-40)

But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.  (Luke 11:42)

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.  (2 Cor. 4:16)

Yea, and they did keep the law of Moses; for it was expedient that they should keep the law of Moses as yet, for it was not all fulfilled. But notwithstanding the law of Moses, they did look forward to the coming of Christ, considering that the law of Moses was a type of his coming, and believing that they must keep those outward performances until the time that he should be revealed unto them.  (Alma 25:15)

Do ye suppose that God will look upon you as guiltless while ye sit still and behold these things? Behold I say unto you, Nay. Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also.  (Alma 60:23)

The power and authority of the lesser, or Aaronic Priesthood, is to hold the keys of the ministering of angels, and to administer in outward ordinances, the letter of the gospel, the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, agreeable to the covenants and commandments.  (D&C 107:20)

Man, then, is like a potted plant.

Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. (D&C 38:42)

The pot (or vessel) has an inside surface and an outside surface.  Within the pot is our heart-sol, into which the good seed of the word of God is supposed to be planted.  But no one hides a seed into a pot of soil without making sure to identify what kind of a seed is growing in the pot.  Therefore, our outer* vessel is used by God as a label, to write the identity of the plant growing in the soil, its purpose, and any other instructions pertaining to it.  These words of God, attached to the outer vessel of man via priesthood power, authority and ordinances, constitute the outer component of the gospel.  Both inner and outer components of the gospel must be present for salvation to go forth:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.  (Matt. 23:23)

But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.  (Luke 11:42)

*Note: We are dual beings, composed of spirit and element, which two bodies are connected.  Although there are two bodies, or two vessels, the connection makes them act as one body, or as one vessel with an inner and outer surface, yet it is still spoken of as two vessels.  Thus, the inner surface is the “inward vessel” and the outer surface is the “outer vessel” or “outward man.”  Hence, the inward vessel holds things on the inside, whereas the outer vessel holds things on the outside.

The sealing and binding power

Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. (Isa. 8:16)

The church of Christ, with its authorized, valid priesthood, is the instrument by which God attaches his word to the outer vessel of man.  The sealing and binding power of the priesthood refers to the ability of the priesthood to bind or seal the word of God to the outward man, or to the outer vessel of man, so that when God looks upon us, He sees His word.  If God looks upon us and sees His word, which is sealed to our outer vessel, and if He then looks within us and sees His word, in our inward vessel, and the two match, then we will appear to Him to be like His Only Begotten Son, who is the Word of God:

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.  (Moro. 7:48)

Jesus is fully the Word, both in His inward and outer vessels.  We must also be likewise.  This is how salvation and exaltation is obtained.

Joseph Smith wrote:

It may seem to some to be a very bold doctrine that we talk of—a power which records or binds on earth and binds in heaven. Nevertheless, in all ages of the world, whenever the Lord has given a dispensation of the priesthood to any man by actual revelation, or any set of men, this power has always been given. Hence, whatsoever those men did in authority, in the name of the Lord, and did it truly and faithfully, and kept a proper and faithful record of the same, it became a law on earth and in heaven, and could not be annulled, according to the decrees of the great Jehovah. This is a faithful saying. Who can hear it?

…

And as are the records on the earth in relation to your dead, which are truly made out, so also are the records in heaven. This, therefore, is the sealing and binding power, and, in one sense of the word, the keys of the kingdom, which consist in the key of knowledge.  (D&C 128:9,14)

When a person is baptized with valid priesthood authority, the word of God is bound to the person’s outer vessel.  Specifically, the gospel law is bound or sealed to the outer vessel.  The law, which is a written form of God’s word, has promised blessings associated with obedience to it.

There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.  (D&C 130:20-21)

There are also promised curses associated with non-compliance.  Both the law, its blessings and its curses are bound up to the outer vessel, making a covenant between God and the man.  If God looks in the inward vessel and sees conformity to the word of God that is sealed to the outer vessel, He is bound to bestow the promised blessing.  Contrariwise, if He sees non-conformity, He is likewise bound to bestow the curse.  This is how we bind God.

I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.  (D&C 82:10)

The promise referred to in the above scripture does not come from the inward vessel word alone, but consists of the outer vessel law sealed by priesthood power and then complicity with that law by application of the word found in the inward vessel.

And again, verily I say unto you, that which is governed by law is also preserved by law and perfected and sanctified by the same. That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by law, but seeketh to become a law unto itself, and willeth to abide in sin, and altogether abideth in sin, cannot be sanctified by law, neither by mercy, justice, nor judgment. Therefore, they must remain filthy still. (D&C 88:34-35)

Only the word of God is eternal, therefore, to inherit eternal life, we’ve got to be bound to it.

And everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not by me or by my word,

saith the Lord,

shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection,

saith the Lord your God.

For whatsoever things remain are by me; and whatsoever things are not by me shall be shaken and destroyed. Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me nor by my word, and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world. (D&C 132:13-15)

Binding the promises of God’s word to our outer vessel, then, is essential to our salvation.  Without the word of God on the outside, as well as on the inside, we are doomed.

There’s also testimony

In addition to binding or sealing up law upon the Lord’s disciples, which is the written form of His word, there is also testimony, which is a spoken form given by the power of the Holy Ghost:

And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me,

See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.  (Rev. 19:10)

The man, then, speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost, testifies that such-and-such a thing is going to happen, or that such-and-such a blessing is going to be received, and these prophecies, which are also promises, are bound or sealed to the outer vessel, as attachments or addendums to the initial sealing of the law there.  Thus, after baptism, we have hands laid on our hands to get the Holy Ghost and additional promises can be attached to the individual’s outer vessel, according to the inspiration received by the one speaking.  A patriarchal blessing is also a sealing of testimony, as are other priesthood blessings.

Frontlets and phylacteries

These priesthood sealings of promises upon our outer vessel is what Peter was referring to when he wrote, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises” (2 Pet. 1:4.)  No promises are extended to anybody via the inward vessel alone, therefore the Christians, and any Mormons who think likewise, who think that confessing Jesus and living a Christian life of service is sufficient for salvation, i.e. that the word on the inside alone is sufficient, is going to be sorely disappointed, for no one can be saved by works alone, and the grace of God is only activated by obeying His commandments, which includes getting His word attached to our outer vessel, so that He essentially “sees Himself.”  Even the language of the marriage sealing attests that the promises are attached only to the outer vessel: “it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them” (D&C 132:19.)

We also have a type of this principle with the practice of frontlets and phylacteries:

(Bible Dictionary entries follow)

Phylacteries

(See Frontlets.) Amulets fastened on the forehead or on the left arm. They were small strips of parchment inscribed with texts (see Ex. 13:1–10, 11–16; Deut. 6:4–9; 11:13–21) and enclosed in leather cases (see Matt. 23:5).

Frontlets or phylacteries

Strips of parchment on which were written four passages of scriptures (Ex. 13:1–10, 11–16; Deut. 6:5–9; 11:13–21) and that were rolled up and attached to bands of leather worn (as an act of obedience to Ex. 13:9, 16; Deut. 6:8; 11:18) around the forehead or around the arm. The Jews called them tephillin. The Pharisees wore them broader than other people in order to make them as conspicuous as possible (Matt. 23:5).

These are the four passages of scriptures that were written in the strips of rolled up parchment:

#1: (Ex. 13:1–10)

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.

¶And Moses said unto the people,

Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.  This day came ye out in the month Abib.

¶And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month.  Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord.  Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.

¶And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying,

This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.

And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt.  Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year.

#2: (Ex. 13:11–16)

¶And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, that thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the Lord’s.  And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.

¶And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying,

What is this?

that thou shalt say unto him,

By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: and it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.

And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt.

#3: (Deut. 6:4–9)

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

#4: (Deut. 11:13–21)

¶And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.  And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.

Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.

¶Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.  And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

God’s word was literally bound to the outside of their bodies, and it contained promised blessings and curses, according to their obedience.  The sealing and binding power of the priesthood, then, is a sort of spiritual frontlet or phylactery.

Conditional promises

And unto every kingdom is given a law; and unto every law there are certain bounds also and conditions.  All beings who abide not in those conditions are not justified.  (D&C 88:38-39)

Sealing up the law and binding up the testimony among the disciples can be of two types of promises: conditional and unconditional.  Conditional promises require that a condition be fulfilled before the promised blessing is bestowed.  For example, we must keep our baptismal covenant in order to obtain the promised blessing of eternal life, yet baptism also contains the unconditional promise of the Holy Ghost, just for being baptized, which we receive at confirmation.  Another example is the endowment and marriage sealing, which are all conditional promises.

Unconditional promises

Some promises are given unconditionally, because the conditions for the fulfillment of the promise have already been met.  The more sure word of prophecy falls into this category:

The more sure word of prophecy means a man’s knowing that he is sealed up unto eternal life, by revelation and the spirit of prophecy, through the power of the Holy Priesthood. (D&C 131:5)

Non-priesthood sealings

God has power to seal additional promises to the outer vessel without using a priesthood administrator, merely by using the power of the Holy Ghost, through revelation and prophecy.  These additional promises are obtained by faith and are attached to the law or testimony already found sealed to the outer vessel, or to that which will be found sealed there in the future.  (There is no getting around the necessity of a priesthood administrator and this sealing and binding power.)  Thus, Joseph obtained promises of a righteous branch of his posterity, of Moses, and of the Josephite, and the Nephites obtained promises of the restoration of the Nephites, etc.  Also, Joseph Smith had his exaltation unconditionally sealed upon him:

For I am the Lord thy God, and will be with thee even unto the end of the world, and through all eternity; for verily I seal upon you your exaltation, and prepare a throne for you in the kingdom of my Father, with Abraham your father. (D&C 132:49)

None of this was done via a priesthood administrator.

Past, present and future

“The” more sure word of prophecy is nothing more than an unconditional promise given through a priesthood administrator by the power of the Holy Ghost in which a present condition or state is manifest.  In other words, it means that you have successfully endured to the end, passed the test of mortality, overcome the world by your faith in Christ and made your calling and election sure.  You can now die, confident that all will be well in the last day for you.  But there is also “a” more sure word of prophecy, or “other” more sure words of prophecy, which are likewise unconditional promises, but concerning the future or the past.  To illustrate the future type, I will use my wife as an example.

About two years after my wife was baptized, and more than a year after I met her, and in the very instant that I began pursuing her, the Holy Ghost manifested a prophetic revelation to her, in which she was told that I would be her “eternal companion.”  This was the second time she had received a manifestation of the Holy Ghost—the first being a knowledge that her sins had been remitted, received after her baptism—and she was unfamiliar and inexperienced with the gift to prophesy, and so she kept it to herself, thinking that if it were a true prophecy, nothing could stop its fulfillment.  It was many years later that she finally told it to me.

Her revelation is exemplary of an unconditional promise—for no conditions were attached, the Holy Ghost merely declaring the future—yet it was remarkable in that it essentially guaranteed that not one, but two people would be sealed up to their exaltation.  In order for the prophecy to come to pass, three things would have to happen: 1) the two people in question would have to be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity, 2) the two people in question would have to be saved, and 3) the two people in question would have to enter into their exaltation.  Her prophecy, then, was unconditionally guaranteeing that all three things would occur.

Notice the similarity of her prophecy to Joseph Smith’s definition of the more sure word of prophecy.  Her revelation certainly wasn’t “the” more sure word of prophecy, for although it was given by revelation and prophecy, it was not done by the power of the priesthood, nor was it a declaration that nothing else needed to be done.  It wasn’t a declaration of a present state, but of a future state.  It wasn’t “the” more sure word, but it was certainly “a” more sure word.

Unconditional prophecies are given after conditions have been met.  The man receiving “a” more sure word of prophecy has already set in motion the sequence of events, through the exercise of his faith in Christ, that will inevitably lead to the fulfillment of the prophecy.  No conditions are attached to the promise because the necessary condition—a sufficiently mighty exercise of faith—has already occurred, and so God Himself guarantees the prophecy’s fulfillment, for when there is faith, it binds Him to act in the man’s behalf.  Thus, regardless of the agency of the two individuals in question in my wife’s prophecy, God would use His almighty power (His own agency) to get those two together, sealed, saved and exalted, by pushing the appropriate “buttons” that would cause them to act in the manner required for them to “get together, be sealed, saved and exalted.”

Was this a true revelation?

In order to be true, faith must have been exercised prior to the Holy Ghost uttering the guarantee, and in point of fact, that is exactly what had happened.  Unbeknownst to my wife, I had been earnestly pleading with God, for over a year, for Him to give her to me as my wife forever, fully believing I was going to get what I was asking for (and never realizing that God would have to guarantee us exaltation in order to grant my petition.)  So, on my own part, there appeared to be present the required condition of faith.  Also, a few months later I received my own prophetic revelation concerning her, which confirmed that I had, indeed, prayed in faith.  And my prophecy turned out to be yet another more sure word, without conditions.  As for her, I only know what I perceived in her by the gift of the discerning of spirits when I first met her, which caused me to immediately begin asking God for her—for I perceived a degree of faith I had never seen in any other woman—and I also know that she has always claimed to have done “everything that was required” of her by God during the first two years of her membership in the church.

This shows that God is not limited in declaring more sure words of prophecy.  He can unconditionally declare a present state, as well as a future state, and, in fact, all of the many promises that I have obtained from God directly, via revelation and the spirit of prophecy, without priesthood administration, have been more sure words, declaring a future state.  But God can also declare a possible past state:

I saw Father Adam and Abraham; and my father and my mother; my brother Alvin, that has long since slept; and marveled how it was that he had obtained an inheritance in that kingdom, seeing that he had departed this life before the Lord had set his hand to gather Israel the second time, and had not been baptized for the remission of sins.  Thus came the voice of the Lord unto me, saying:

All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God; also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom; for I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts. (D&C 137:5-9)

Here we see that Joseph received a more sure word of prophecy concerning his brother Alvin, not due to a condition of faith that Alvin presently fulfilled, or one which he would fulfill in the future, but one which he would have fulfilled in the past, had he lived.  Alvin’s disposition to receive the gospel with all his heart caused the Lord to view him as if he had a “seal of righteousness” upon him.  Alvin still needed the ordinances of salvation and exaltation—in other words, a priesthood administrator still needed to seal up the law and bind up the testimony, upon Alvin’s outer vessel, vicariously—but this more sure word concerning him was attached to those future sealings regardless of their futurity in point of time.

The Holy Spirit of promise

Being sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise is required for exaltation:

And again we bear record—for we saw and heard, and this is the testimony of the gospel of Christ concerning them who shall come forth in the resurrection of the just—they are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given—that by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power; and who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true. (D&C 76:50-53)

Paul also wrote of this sealing:

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.  (Eph. 1:13-14)

The NKJV render it, “the guarantee of our inheritance.”  Concerning the Holy Spirit of promise, the Lord said,

Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you who have assembled yourselves together to receive his will concerning you:

Behold, this is pleasing unto your Lord, and the angels rejoice over you; the alms of your prayers have come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded in the book of the names of the sanctified, even them of the celestial world.  Wherefore, I now send upon you another Comforter, even upon you my friends, that it may abide in your hearts, even the Holy Spirit of promise; which other Comforter is the same that I promised unto my disciples, as is recorded in the testimony of John.  This Comforter is the promise which I give unto you of eternal life, even the glory of the celestial kingdom; which glory is that of the church of the Firstborn, even of God, the holiest of all, through Jesus Christ his Son—he that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth; which truth shineth.  (D&C 88:1-7)

John, who was mentioned by the Lord in the revelation, did, in fact, write that the promise they received was of eternal life:

And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.  (1 John 2:25)

So the Holy Spirit of promise is the promise or guarantee of eternal life, or, to put it another way, it is the Holy Ghost promising or guaranteeing eternal life.  This promise or guarantee can be conditional or unconditional, and it can be bestowed via priesthood administration or without such, being given merely by revelation and prophecy.

The Holy Spirit of promise, administered (or sealed upon us) via priesthood is done through the temple marriage ceremony, and such sealings are all conditional:

And verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this law are these:

All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power (and I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred), are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead.

And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife, and make a covenant with her for time and for all eternity, if that covenant is not by me or by my word, which is my law, and is not sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, through him whom I have anointed and appointed unto this power, then it is not valid neither of force when they are out of the world, because they are not joined by me, saith the Lord, neither by my word; when they are out of the world it cannot be received there, because the angels and the gods are appointed there, by whom they cannot pass; they cannot, therefore, inherit my glory; for my house is a house of order, saith the Lord God.

And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them—Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection; and if it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection; and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths—then shall it be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, that he shall commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, and if ye abide in my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man marry a wife according to my word, and they are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, according to mine appointment, and he or she shall commit any sin or transgression of the new and everlasting covenant whatever, and all manner of blasphemies, and if they commit no murder wherein they shed innocent blood, yet they shall come forth in the first resurrection, and enter into their exaltation; but they shall be destroyed in the flesh, and shall be delivered unto the buffetings of Satan unto the day of redemption, saith the Lord God.  (D&C 132:7,18,19,26)

Such priesthood administrations, however, actually cause the people being sealed to be written in the Book of Life (which is found in heaven), and their names remain there unless they violate the conditions:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man marry a wife according to my word, and they are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, according to mine appointment, and he or she shall commit any sin or transgression of the new and everlasting covenant whatever, and all manner of blasphemies, and if they commit no murder wherein they shed innocent blood, yet they shall come forth in the first resurrection, and enter into their exaltation; but they shall be destroyed in the flesh, and shall be delivered unto the buffetings of Satan unto the day of redemption, saith the Lord God.

And verily, verily, I say unto you, that whatsoever you seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever you bind on earth, in my name and by my word, saith the Lord, it shall be eternally bound in the heavens; and whosesoever sins you remit on earth shall be remitted eternally in the heavens; and whosesoever sins you retain on earth shall be retained in heaven.  (D&C 132:19,46)

This conditional promise of eternal life allows them to weather the storms of temptation and adversity, giving them comfort during the trial of mortality, hence it being called another Comforter:

First, I give unto you Hyrum Smith to be a patriarch unto you, to hold the sealing blessings of my church, even the Holy Spirit of promise, whereby ye are sealed up unto the day of redemption, that ye may not fall notwithstanding the hour of temptation that may come upon you.  (D&C 124:124)

It is entirely appropriate, then, for endowed members fo the church who have received the marriage sealing to say that they have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise.

Unconditional manifestations of the Holy Spirit of promise can come via priesthood administration, such as “the” more sure word of prophecy, or merely by revelation and the spirit of prophecy, without any priesthood administration.  Doctrine and Covenants section 88 is an example of the latter form.  D&C 88:1-7 (quoted above) unconditionally guarantees eternal life to the people who were present with Joseph Smith when he received that revelation.  It is stated that their prayers “are recorded in the book of the names of the sanctified, even them of the celestial world.”  During the rest of the revelation, they are always associated with the celestial glory, but when speaking of other glories, the Lord associates other people:

And they who are not sanctified through the law which I have given unto you, even the law of Christ, must inherit another kingdom, even that of a terrestrial kingdom, or that of a telestial kingdom.

They who are of a celestial spirit shall receive the same body which was a natural body; even ye shall receive your bodies, and your glory shall be that glory by which your bodies are quickened.  Ye who are quickened by a portion of the celestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.  And they who are quickened by a portion of the terrestrial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.  And also they who are quickened by a portion of the telestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.  And they who remain shall also be quickened; nevertheless, they shall return again to their own place, to enjoy that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received.   (D&C 88:21,28-32)

Yet despite this unconditional guarantee of eternal life, they were not perfect.  They were deficient in their thoughts, even though their actions were more or less right before the Lord.  Therefore, the Lord gave them further commandments and instructions, so that they could become perfect, both inside and out, and He continued to remind them of the promise of eternal life which they had just received:

And again, verily I say unto you, my friends, I leave these sayings with you to ponder in your hearts, with this commandment which I give unto you, that ye shall call upon me while I am near—draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you, that is expedient for you; and if ye ask anything that is not expedient for you, it shall turn unto your condemnation.
Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will.  Remember the great and last promise which I have made unto you; cast away your idle thoughts and your excess of laughter far from you.
And I give unto you, who are the first laborers in this last kingdom, a commandment that you assemble yourselves together, and organize yourselves, and prepare yourselves, and sanctify yourselves; yea, purify your hearts, and cleanse your hands and your feet before me, that I may make you clean; that I may testify unto your Father, and your God, and my God, that you are clean from the blood of this wicked generation; that I may fulfil this promise, this great and last promise, which I have made unto you, when I will.  Also, I give unto you a commandment that ye shall continue in prayer and fasting from this time forth.  And I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom.   (D&C 88:62-65,68-69,74-77)

So this was “a” more sure word of prophecy, in which they were promised that they would eventually obtain eternal life.  There still were more things they needed to do, yet the faith they had already exercised was sufficient to get the Lord to manifest the Holy Spirit of promise unconditionally.

The Josephite’s role in this

Some people think that sealing up the law and binding up the testimony is something that does not happen today, but will happen when the Josephite, and others who are prophesied to appear, show up.  But they are wrong.  These things are done routinely in the church, via the priesthood, but much of it is conditional in nature.  The advent of the two-handed condition may cause unconditional sealings to be the norm during the ministry of the Josephite, simply because faith will increase among the righteous.  Also, the sealing of the 144,000 may be more than just a spiritual sealing; in fact, it may be the re-introduction, or restoration, of actual frontlets and phylacteries.  We shall see.

In conclusion

Sealing up the law and binding up the testimony is something that happens to those in the gospel, via priesthood administration, and allows other promises to be attached to the outer vessel according to one’s faith.  This is how Christ is able to seal us as His.

Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and power, and justice, and mercy of him who created all things, in heaven and in earth, who is God above all. Amen. (Mosiah 5:15)

These sealings do not occur among the wicked.  Instead, it is the devil who seals them as his own, using his own seal.

For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked. (Alma 34:35)

This shows that the church’s emphasis on getting these ordinances is the correct stance and that all those who downplay the importance of these things have no idea of the requirements of salvation.

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Shutting the mouths of false teachers

And..the church…had peace…save it were a few contentions concerning the points of doctrine which had been laid down by the prophets…  (Hel. 11:21-22)

And it came to pass that after there had been false Christs, and…after there had been false prophets, and false preachers and teachers among the people…  (Words of Mormon 1:15-16)

…and their mouths had been shut, and…all these having been punished according to their crimes…  (Words of Mormon 1:15-16)

…there began to be much strife. But it came to pass that…many of [the] brethren who knew concerning the true points of doctrine, having many revelations daily, therefore they did preach unto the people, insomuch that they did put an end to their strife…  (Hel. 11:23)

In other words, for this post, in addition to the scriptures, I’m going to use my own revelations to correct the errors promoted by false teachers currently found among the saints.

There have only been three known churches of Christ

The first church of Christ was founded by Alma Nephi, when he baptized Helam (and also himself) in the waters of Mormon, followed by the subsequent baptism of the rest of the group.  This church was formed about 147–145 B.C. and began with about 204 people.  The account of its establishment is found in Mosiah 18.

The second church of Christ was founded by Jesus Christ during his ministry among the Jews.

The third church of Christ was founded by Joseph Smith, Jun., which was organized and established in Manchester, Ontario County, New York, USA, with six people, on 6 April, 1830.

Three verses of scripture mention an ancient church

Here is the first part of the entry of “Church” from the Bible Dictionary:

From the Greek, Ecclesia, meaning “an assembly called together.” The church is the organized body of believers who have taken upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ by baptism and confirmation.  To be the true church it must be the Lord’s church and must have His laws, His name, and be governed by Him through representatives whom He has appointed (3 Ne. 27:1–12; D&C 115:4).

This is true.  God Himself must recognize it as His church, it must bear His name, have His revealed word as its foundational text, be built upon His gospel and rock, and possess His priesthood.  Every latter-day saint understands this definition of the church.  So far so good.  Now let’s look at the next part of this Bible Dictionary entry:

In this sense, the church began with the days of Adam and has been on the earth among mankind whenever there were a group of believers who had the priesthood and revelations of heaven.

This is false.  If you take up the Standard Works, and look at the Old Testament (whether you look in the King James Version, or in the Joseph Smith Translation, it doesn’t matter), you will find no mention of any church during that period of time.  This is because there was no church of Jesus Christ during those times.  Prior to the establishment of Jesus Christ’s church in the Old World, and to the establishment of Alma Nephi’s church in the New World, the laws and ordinances of God were administered to the people tribally.  Continuing on with this BD entry:

The word church is used only twice in the four Gospels (Matt. 16:18; 18:17) but is frequently mentioned in Acts, the epistles, and Revelation.

This is true.  This is because Jesus organized and established a church among the Jews and it continued after His resurrection under the direction of His apostles.

The Old Testament uses the term congregation for church.

This is false.  The Old Testament uses the term congregation to mean “an assembly of persons” and more specifically, “an assembly of persons met for the worship of God, and for religious instruction.”  An assembly of persons, belonging to a tribe or tribes, meeting together to offer sacrifice to their God (to worship God) or meeting in a synagogue for religious instruction is not a church.  Nor does it constitute a church of Christ.  Such assemblies need not have entered into any covenant with God, witnessed by baptism, nor received any laying on of hands, etc., to congregate and worship or to receive and give religious instruction.  Thus, the Old Testament uses the term congregation, not church, for these gatherings.  More of the BD entry:

The word kingdom is often used in the scriptures to mean the church, since the church is literally the kingdom of God on the earth.

This is false.  The word kingdom means kingdom.  (Duh!)  A kingdom is “the inhabitants or population subject to a king.”  The kingdom of God, then, are the people that submit to the law of God as administered by His priests, whether it is administered tribally, or via the church of Christ.  Thus, in the Book of Mormon, we find that the Nephites, when they were established under kings—from the reign of first Nephi, who consecrated his brothers Joseph and Jacob as priests and teachers, all the way to the last Nephite king, Mosiah, who also had his consecrated priests—all Nephite kings had priests, for these patriarchal orders were patterned after the kingdom of God, and God Himself, who is the King of the Universe, has priests.  And these priests, in pre-Alma days, or in pre-Jesus days, operated tribally, administering the ordinances and laws of God to the people under a tribal protocol.  These tribal orders, then, were as much the kingdom of God as were the churches of Christ, which also had ordained priests to administer the gospel ordinances and laws.  Kingdom, then, can apply to both the tribal and church protocols, and does not automatically mean or indicate that a functioning church of Christ is present.

Here’s more of the BD entry:

The Book of Mormon, as it speaks of Old Testament events, uses the word church (1 Ne. 4:26), and the Doctrine and Covenants speaks of the church in Old Testament times (D&C 107:4).

The first part is true and the second part is a supposition.  It is true that Joseph Smith translated the Egyptian word found in 1 Ne. 4:26 into church, but this did not mean a church of Christ, but merely “an assembly of believers.”  In other words, a “congregation of believers.”  The Jews in the land of Jerusalem at that time cast out, killed by stoning and other means, or tried to kill all those who believed in this prophesied Messiah that would suffer and die for the sins of the world.  They in no way, shape or form belonged to any church of Christ.  But they certainly professed a belief in Moses and his law, and also the prophets (the ones that didn’t prophesy of Christ or of the Jews’ destruction, that is), therefore, this was a congregation of believers in Moses and the law and the prophets, but not in Christ, who attended the Jewish synagogue.  Joseph translated it as church, for a church is an Ecclesia, meaning “an assembly called together,” and that’s what this congregation was.  But this wasn’t a church of Christ, but merely a gathering under tribal authority and protocols.  Here is the scripture in question:

And he spake unto me concerning the elders of the Jews, he knowing that his master, Laban, had been out by night among them.  And I spake unto him as if it had been Laban.  And I also spake unto him that I should carry the engravings, which were upon the plates of brass, to my elder brethren, who were without the walls.  And I also bade him that he should follow me.  And he, supposing that I spake of the brethren of the church, and that I was truly that Laban whom I had slain, wherefore he did follow me.  And he spake unto me many times concerning the elders of the Jews, as I went forth unto my brethren, who were without the walls.  (1 Ne. 4:22-27)

Now look at the Bible Dictionary entry for Synagogue:

A Jewish meetinghouse for religious purposes. The furniture was generally simple, consisting of an ark containing the rolls of the law and other sacred writings, a reading desk, and seats for the worshippers. Its affairs were managed by the local council of elders, who decided who should be admitted and who should be excluded (Luke 6:22; John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2). The most important official was the Ruler of the Synagogue (Mark 5:22; Luke 13:14), who was generally a scribe, had care of the building, and superintended the various services. There was also an attendant who performed clerical duties (Luke 4:20). The Sabbath morning service was the most important in the week and included a fixed lesson (Num. 15:37–41; Deut. 6:4–9; 11:13–21) and two lessons for the day, one from the law and the other from the prophets. A sermon was generally preached in explanation of one of the lessons (Luke 4:17; Acts 13:15). The existence of synagogues in every town in which Jews were living, both in Palestine and elsewhere, was a great help to the spread of the gospel, early Christian missionaries being generally able to get a hearing there (see Acts 13:5, 14; 14:1; 17:1, 10; 18:4), and the synagogue worship provided in many respects a model for early Christian worship.

Okay, so hopefully that explains the use of the word church in 1 Ne. 4:26.  So now to address D&C 107:4.  Here are the first four verses of that section:

There are, in the church, two priesthoods, namely, the Melchizedek and Aaronic, including the Levitical Priesthood.  Why the first is called the Melchizedek Priesthood is because Melchizedek was such a great high priest.  Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God.  But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood.

The Bible Dictionary author supposes that this mention of a church in ancient days in “the Doctrine and Covenants speaks of the church in Old Testament times,” but that is just an assumption, a supposition, a mere guess.  There is no evidence, whatsoever, that any church of Christ was found in Old Testament times, whether before Melchizedek, during his times (and he was a contemporary of Abraham, who likewise mentions no church), or after him.  As the most ancient church of Christ established on this earth was the one formed by Alma Nephi on this American continent, this D&C verse may be speaking of Alma’s church.  It need not apply to anything more ancient than that.

Stephen’s testimony in Acts 7 also mentioned a church in the times of Moses, but again, this wasn’t a church of Christ, but a congregation of the tribes.  Non-KJV bible translations use assembly or congregation, instead of church.  Here are his words in the KJV:

This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel,

A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.

This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: to whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, saying unto Aaron,

Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. (Acts 7:37-40)

So there you have it.  There are only three verses in all of the scriptures that speak of a church in pre-Jesus or pre-Alma times, and two of the verses (1 Ne. 4:26 and Acts 7:38) are really talking of a tribal congregation or assembly, while the other passage (D&C 107:4) is speaking, in all likelihood, of either Alma’s church or Jesus’ church.  That is the extent of all the “evidence” for the existence of a church of Christ before Christ and Alma.

Nonetheless, as latter-day saints know absolutely nothing about the gospel administered tribally, to deal with the apparent operation of God’s priesthoods in antiquity, they have taken the church model and protocols and applied them to the past.  Even though there is no church mentioned or found in the ancient text, they, nevertheless, using their “church filters,” cause their eyes to see an ancient church everywhere, in every time period.  “It’s there, in the word congregation!  Or it’s over there, in the word kingdom!  Lo!  The church of Christ is everywhere!  It has been here since the very beginning!  This isn’t a restoration of the church of Christ that was established in Jesus’ day, but a restoration of the church of Christ from Adam’s time!  Our religion is that ancient!”  And so the sayings go.

How the false teachers use Abinadi and Alma

False teachers, working from the same false church-from-the-beginning reference point, have crafted a false narrative by superimposing the gospel as administered tribally upon the gospel as administered by the church.  Specifically, the application of Abinadi’s prophecy to Noah and his priests and people, by false teachers and false prophets—who attempt to use it as an example that God can, and does, use outsiders to correct and call the ministers of His church to repentance—is a misapplication.  Where these false teachers err is in their assumption that Abinadi and Noah and his priests and people were actually in any church of Christ.  They weren’t.  They weren’t living under church protocols, but under tribal protocols, which are different.

The only model that can be applied to the current church of Christ, founded by Joseph Smith, is a church model.  In other words, you must use a church example, not a tribal one, to show how the church of Christ is supposed to function.  So, we’ve got three churches: one founded by Alma the Nephite (the most ancient one), one founded by Jesus the Jew, and one founded by Joseph the Gentile of Ephraimite lineage.  You can look at the Nephite church, which begins with the baptism of Helam, or at the Jewish church, which begins with Jesus’ church, and apply those to the Gentile church, but you cannot turn to Abinadi and Noah and his priests and say, “See?  Abinadi wasn’t in the priesthood hierarchy and yet God used him to call them to repentance!”   So what?  There was a tribal protocol in place during that time that provided for that and Abinadi followed it precisely.

Tribal rights are passed on through literal lineage

Not all tribal functions have been revealed, as yet, but we do know a few things.  For example, lineage played a part in tribal priesthood.  Therefore, Aaron and his firstborn sons had (and still have) a right to the bishopric, by birth.  That’s a tribal protocol which is currently found in the church of Christ.  There is literal lineage (father to son) and priesthood lineage (priesthood father to priesthood son.)  In other words, priesthood rights can be passed on tribally, through literal seed (father to son, or for Aaron and all his firstborn sons), and that is a tribal operation, but also they can be passed on via the laying on of hands, from one unrelated man to another unrelated man.  The first man becomes the “priesthood father” of the second man, who becomes the “priesthood son.”  Thus, this conferral of priesthood by the laying on of hands is spoken of as having a lineage and seed.  So, I can trace my Aaronic “priesthood lineage” from the man who ordained me (who is my priesthood father), to the man who ordained him (my priesthood grandfather), and so on, back to Oliver Cowdery, and thus back to John the Baptist.  And so forth with the Melchizedek priesthood.

An example of the two kinds of seed (literal and priesthood) can be seen from the following scripture:

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations; and I will bless them through thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee (that is, in thy Priesthood) and in thy seed (that is, thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal. (Abr. 2:9-11)

Another example is of evangelical ministers, which is a tribal office that is currently found in the church (since we need it here until the tribal functions are fully restored) :

It is the duty of the Twelve, in all large branches of the church, to ordain evangelical ministers, as they shall be designated unto them by revelation—the order of this priesthood was confirmed to be handed down from father to son, and rightly belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the promises were made.  (D&C 107:39-40)

And again, verily I say unto you, let my servant William be appointed, ordained, and anointed, as counselor unto my servant Joseph, in the room of my servant Hyrum, that my servant Hyrum may take the office of Priesthood and Patriarch, which was appointed unto him by his father, by blessing and also by right; that from henceforth he shall hold the keys of the patriarchal blessings upon the heads of all my people, that whoever he blesses shall be blessed, and whoever he curses shall be cursed; that whatsoever he shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever he shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (D&C 124:91-93)

Not only were priesthood rights transmitted by birth under the tribal model, but so were gifts.  In the Nephite society, it was the seed of Jacob, all the Jacobite sons, who had a right to the gift to prophesy.  As such, any male Jacobite, filled with the Spirit, was duly authorized to preach repentance to anyone, including priests, teachers and kings.  As they were Jacobites—their surname being Jacob-Nephi—they were within the Nephite tribal congregations, therefore they weren’t from the outside.  Also, as they were Jacobites, they had a right to prophesy.

Abinadi was likely a Jacobite, descended from Abinadom.  Thus, he was fully within his rights to call these people to repentance.  The whole thing followed tribal protocols, but not church protocols, for under church protocols, we are not to command him who is at our head.

But thou shalt not write by way of commandment, but by wisdom; and thou shalt not command him who is at thy head, and at the head of the church; for I have given him the keys of the mysteries, and the revelations which are sealed, until I shall appoint unto them another in his stead. (D&C 28:5-7)

Also, the elders of the church are not to be taught by others, but are to be the ones who do the teaching.

Again I say, hearken ye elders of my church, whom I have appointed:

Ye are not sent forth to be taught, but to teach the children of men the things which I have put into your hands by the power of my Spirit; and ye are to be taught from on high.  (D&C 43:15-16)

So, God will not use outsiders to call any of the church elders to repentance.  God will only use church ministers to call them to repentance.  (This means that if you’ve been excommunicated, repent and come back in.  If you start calling any part of the church to repentance, that is evidence that you do not have the Spirit of God.)

Additionally, the record states that “there was a man among them whose name was Abinadi” (Mosiah 11:20), so Abinadi was actually a part of Noah’s people and kingdom.  So, he was in no way an outsider.

An affront to the king’s right to judge

After Abinadi gave his prophecy to the people, they were livid, and when king Noah learned of his words, he also was fuming mad, and he said,

Who is Abinadi, that I and my people should be judged of him, or who is the Lord, that shall bring upon my people such great affliction?  I command you to bring Abinadi hither, that I may slay him, for he has said these things that he might stir up my people to anger one with another, and to raise contentions among my people; therefore I will slay him.  (Mosiah 11:27-28)

The reason for all this anger was two-fold.  The first reason was because, under tribal prototol, it was up to the kings to judge the people.  King Mosiah later would say,

Therefore, if it were possible that you could have just men to be your kings, who would establish the laws of God, and judge this people according to his commandments… (Mosiah 29:13)

Also, when there was iniquity in the church, Alma went to the king to have him judge them, according to tribal protocol:

And he said unto the king:

Behold, here are many whom we have brought before thee, who are accused of their brethren; yea, and they have been taken in divers iniquities. And they do not repent of their iniquities; therefore we have brought them before thee, that thou mayest judge them according to their crimes. (Mosiah 26:11)

Secondly, it was the prerogative of the kings to call upon the prophets, priests, teachers and other leaders, as helps, in their mission of judging the people and establishing peace:

…behold, it came to pass that king Benjamin, with the assistance of the holy prophets who were among his people—for behold, king Benjamin was a holy man, and he did reign over his people in righteousness; and there were many holy men in the land, and they did speak the word of God with power and with authority; and they did use much sharpness because of the stiffneckedness of the people—wherefore, with the help of these, king Benjamin, by laboring with all the might of his body and the faculty of his whole soul, and also the prophets, did once more establish peace in the land. (Words of Mormon 1:16-18)

This was the tribal protocol for just kings. And in the whole history of the Nephite people, there had only been just kings. Jarom said, “our kings and our leaders were mighty men in the faith of the Lord; and they taught the people the ways of the Lord” (Jarom 1:7.) But Noah was an anomaly. He was an iniquitous king.  In the case of an iniquitous king, judgment reverted to the LORD under tribal protocol, but this had never happened before, for Noah was the first wicked Nephite king.

This is why Noah’s question is two-fold: “Who is Abinadi, that I and my people should be judged of him, or who is the Lord, that shall bring upon my people such great affliction?”  When Noah asks, “Who is Abinadi?” it isn’t because Abinadi is an unknown person, some passerby that happened to enter into the land, and it isn’t because Abinadi isn’t a part of the priests of Noah, like many of the false teachers like to assert.  No, what Noah is saying is, “Is Abinadi king, or am I king?  Who has the right to judge this people, him or me?”

Assuming that Abinadi was, indeed, a Jacobite (and if so, his name would have been Abinadi Jacob-Nephi), Abinadi had the right to prophesy, but this always happened with the king’s advance notice and approval, and under the king’s guidance, not out-of-the-blue, without any notification whatsoever to the reigning king.  So, king Noah felt affronted.

Additionally, the prophecy of Abinadi went contrary to what the king and his priests were saying.  They proclaimed celebration and prosperity, while Abinadi’s prophecy was of affliction and bondage.  Noah assumed, therefore, that as the people appeared to be prosperous and content, and they gave their common consent to all he did(!), that he must be a just king, and therefore Abinadi must be the one out of sorts.  Therefore Abinadi must be a false prophet.  And also the name of “the Lord” that Abinadi invoked must not be the real Lord, but a false god.  (This is why king Noah asks, “Who is the Lord?”)  Abinadi, then, was the obvious guilty party, under tribal protocol (assuming a just king, that is.)  And so he and his people did not believe the prophecy.  They thought it was all made up:

And it came to pass that they were angry with him; and they took him and carried him bound before the king, and said unto the king:

Behold, we have brought a man before thee who has prophesied evil concerning thy people, and saith that God will destroy them.  And he also prophesieth evil concerning thy life, and saith that thy life shall be as a garment in a furnace of fire.  And again, he saith that thou shalt be as a stalk, even as a dry stalk of the field, which is run over by the beasts and trodden under foot.  And again, he saith thou shalt be as the blossoms of a thistle, which, when it is fully ripe, if the wind bloweth, it is driven forth upon the face of the land. And he pretendeth the Lord hath spoken it. And he saith all this shall come upon thee except thou repent, and this because of thine iniquities.  And now, O king, what great evil hast thou done, or what great sins have thy people committed, that we should be condemned of God or judged of this man?  And now, O king, behold, we are guiltless, and thou, O king, hast not sinned; therefore, this man has lied concerning you, and he has prophesied in vain.  And behold, we are strong, we shall not come into bondage, or be taken captive by our enemies; yea, and thou hast prospered in the land, and thou shalt also prosper.  Behold, here is the man, we deliver him into thy hands; thou mayest do with him as seemeth thee good.

So none of this has anything, whatsoever, to do with Abinadi not being a part of the body of Noah’s priests, but this is how the false teachers would like to spin it.

Okay, so my point is that Abinadi acted under proper tribal protocols.

A brief aside

It is not my intention to fully expound this Abinadi episode, but I will point out a couple of things, before moving on to Alma’s actions.

First, Noah, priests and people were focused on the law of Moses, thinking that salvation came by it, and they discarded the Ten Commandments, whereas Abinadi pointed to the Ten Commandments, saying that those who obeyed those commandments would be saved.

The people essentially broke every single one of the Ten Commandments.  They all “became idolatrous” (Mosiah 11:6-7.)  That broke the Second Commandment.  The king and priests spoke “vain words” (Mosiah 11:7,11) to the people.  That might indicate that they broke the Third Commandment.  The king and priests did not work, but were “supported in their laziness” (Mosiah 11:6.)  That broke the Fourth Commandment.  King Noah “did not walk in the ways of his father” (Mosiah 11:1.)  That indicates that he broke the Fifth Commandment.  The people “did delight in blood, and the shedding of the blood of their brethren” (Mosiah 11:19) and also they consented to the death of Abinadi.  This broke the Sixth Commandment.  They had “many wives and concubines” (Mosiah 11:2,4,6,14) and spent time with harlots and committed whoredoms.  That broke the Seventh Commandment.  They returned from war with the Lamanites, “rejoicing in their spoil” (Mosiah 11:18.)  That might indicate that they didn’t just get their own stuff back from the Lamanites, but took (stole) additional things that the Lamanites possessed.  That would break the Eighth Commandment.  The high priests would “speak lying” (Mosiah 11:11) words to the people.  That would violate the Ninth Commandment.  Finally, king Noah levied a tax upon the people (see Mosiah 11:4,6,13.)  This would violate the Tenth Commandment (per the post, Thou shalt not “covet”.)

Second, despite breaking pretty much every single commandment of God, notice that Abinadi does not say to them that their priesthood was now null and void, that they had no more keys, that because of their apostasy and sinful ways, the “church was no longer true,” etc., as the false teachers like to spin it, but instead, Abinadi continues to recognize the authority of these corrupt priests to the very end, ending his sermon in this fashion:

Therefore, if ye teach the law of Moses, also teach that it is a shadow of those things which are to come—teach them that redemption cometh through Christ the Lord, who is the very Eternal Father. Amen. (Mosiah 16:14-15)

So, this was not a case of “Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man!” that the false teachers would like it to be.  Now, let’s look at Alma.

Alma, the priest of Noah

Alma repented of his sins, ran away when Noah tried to kill him, wrote the words of Abinadi, and then began preaching in private.

Keep in mind that the tribal protocols were still intact under Noah and his priests.  But Alma couldn’t return, because they would just try to kill him again.  He was now an outsider, but he still had priesthood authority.  He was also under the obligation to teach the people the truth of Abinadi’s words.  He couldn’t teach them tribally and then tell them to go back and submit to the tribal authority of Noah as believers in Christ, because once it came out that they believed as Abinadi did, they would likely be killed, as well. So, what was Alma to do?

The answer is that he used his priesthood to form a church of Christ.  Noah and his priests operated under the tribal model, so Alma used his faith to have his converts operate under the church model.  This would protect them from the oppressions of king Noah, for they could meet in secret, be baptized in secret and so forth.  On the one hand, they would still participate in tribal functions, under Noah and priests, as well as in church functions, under Alma.

The church rises, the tribe goes away

But notice that once the church comes into existence, Satan inspires the king to destroy it, so they run away.  Then they are found by the Lamanites and finally escape to king Mosiah.  King Mosiah, a seer with his own tribal priests, seeing that Alma’s immense faith has caused a church of Christ to be formed before Christ had come to establish it(!), starts to set in motion the cessation of the priesthood within the tribal protocols.  He turns the monarchy into a system of judges without priests, gives Alma full authority over the church and the ordination of priesthood, and hands all sacred items to Alma’s son Alma.  Alma the younger then becomes first chief judge, high priest of the church, and all priesthood is now centered in the church.  From this point on, the priesthood no longer operates tribally, but within the church of Christ, exclusively.  The church of Christ has full sway over which ordinances are salvific, and which are not.

This pattern follows with the other two churches, too.  The church established by Jesus had exclusive authority.  The church established by Joseph Smith has exclusive authority.  No ordinances are salvific without church authorization, for either of these three churches.  All those who claim that they can baptize without church authorization, using Mormon priesthood, and that those baptisms are legitimately salvific in the Lord’s view, are wrong.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints possesses the keys over all the ordinances of salvation, exclusively.

Three published revelations given to me

Okay, hopefully that covers the Abinadi-Alma point that is always brought up by false teachers.

As the cry of false teachers and false prophets is always the same—the church is apostate, the keys are no longer valid, the practices of the church no longer conform to the revelations, etc.—I am going to use Abinadi logic to deal with these assertions:

And it came to pass that after Abinadi had made an end of these sayings that he said unto them:

Have ye taught this people that they should observe to do all these things for to keep these commandments? I say unto you,

Nay;

for if ye had, the Lord would not have caused me to come forth and to prophesy evil concerning this people. (Mosiah 13:25-26)

Joseph Smith organized and established the church of Christ on 6 April, 1830.  I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 19__, at the age of nine.  About a month before my baptism, I received a revelation from the Holy Ghost, in which the Spirit said to me:

“This [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] is the ONLY true church!”

This revelation was received while I was attending a Mormon church service for the very first time, and it was accompanied by a baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost.  The meaning of the revelation was that the members of this particular church had valid ordinances of salvation.  In other words, that their priesthood authority was the only priesthood which was valid and authorized by God.

Now, all those who say that this church is apostate, or that the priesthood is no longer here, or some of it is missing, or the ordinances have changed, or that the keys are not valid, etc., and point to any point of time between 1830 and 19__, the year I received this revelation, are in error.  I say to them like Abinadi said to those priests:

Did the church become false at any time during this period from 1830 to 19__?  I say to you,

No, it didn’t;

for if it did, the Lord would not have caused me to receive a revelation that the church was true in 19__.

Now, either the church was true in 1830, and then became false, and then was restored back to true by 19__, or it has remained true the entire time, from 1830 to 19__.  As we have no record of any restoration that has occurred after Joseph Smith’s death, and, in fact, no such restoration will occur, except by the hand of the Josephite, then the church must have been true during this entire time.

So, that covers the period from 1830 to 19__, but what about the period since 19__?  Could there have been an apostasy since then?  Could the keys have been lost since the year I received that revelation?

No, because there is also this revelation, which I received in 2014:

Behold! Thus saith the Lord:

Thou shalt shut thy mouth, for none of my saints shall be authorized to speak against the leaders of my church, to criticize and correct them publicly, unless I send them. And thou shalt be sent, but the time is not yet, neither for thee, nor for any others, therefore, thou shalt heed these words and hold thy tongue.

Notice in particular that the Lord says, “the leaders of my church.”  Again,

Did the church become false at any time during this period from 19__ to 2014?  I say to you,

No, it didn’t;

for if it did, the Lord would not have caused me to receive a revelation that this was still His church in 2014.

So, this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is still the Lord’s church, as of 2014.  And since 2014, there has been no indication from the Spirit, whatsoever, that the church has ceased being the Lord’s church, therefore, it’s still true, the keys are still here, the priesthood is still valid, and the Lord still recognizes it as His.

Anybody, then, who goes around saying this church no longer holds the keys, or is apostate, or does not have the priesthood (or not all the priesthood), or the ordinances have been changed or corrupted, or the Lord has rejected the church, and so forth—anyone who teaches such doctrine is a false teacher, because they go against these revelations of mine.

There is only one response that a false teacher can say to this, and that is, “These revelations are not true.”  But they are true, and this can be demonstrated by anyone praying to God about them.  God will tell any earnest seeker of truth that the above two revelations are true, and as they are true, these other phonies are false teachers.

Now, before I address the final point that false teachers always bring up, which is the fact that the practices of the church do not match the revelations of Joseph Smith in a great many instances, I will put up the third revelation, which is the tribal revelation, to show that this tribal doctrine and protocol, in which the kingdom of God was administered to the people tribally, is not something I made up on my own, but which was revealed to me by the Holy Ghost in 2010:

Be of good comfort, for verily, thus saith the Lord:

The priesthood existed before the organization of the church and is to serve both church and tribe. Although the tribes of Israel are not gathered, yet they are known to me, along with all the tribes of the earth.

For the Lord beholds no man alone, but sees the lineage of all families, of all the children of men, and of these lines form tribes.

I have yet to restore tribal functions,

saith the Lord,

nevertheless, the church ordinances of baptism, confirmation, administration of the sacrament, and priesthood ordinations, may be performed within a tribe, as tribal ordinances, under tribal authority or keys. Thus the priesthood may operate within a tribe, independently from the church, and within the church, independently from a tribe.

Nevertheless, thou shalt not substitute the church for the tribe, nor the tribe for the church.

Yet thou mayest establish thy tribe using these priesthood ordinances, and conform your tribal practices to the revelations of my servant Joseph Smith, Jun.,

saith the Lord.

¶ Because thou fearest to sin, thou shalt not administer of the sacrament at home to thy family, as a church ordinance, unless the bishop permitteth it.

For it is not meet nor right to establish a home church, apart from the body of the saints; nevertheless, thou art permitted to administer of the sacrament, as a tribal ordinance, to those that pertain to thy tribe.

For I require the saints of my church to meet together often, to worship me as a group, and thou shalt also worship me at all times, and the church is ordained and established unto this end,

saith the Lord.

Likewise the tribe is to worship me, as a group and individually. Wherefore, establish thy tribe, if thou wilt, using the priesthood, that ye may worship me as a group, in conformity to my revelations, given to my servant Joseph, that I may pour out my Spirit and gifts upon thee and thine, that thou shalt have no more cause to mourn and murmur concerning the meetings of my church. But take care not to go beyond the bounds I have set, until I have seen fit to reveal the tribal functions. Amen.

This shows that the priesthood “is to serve both church and tribe,” which means that before the churches established by Alma and Jesus, the kingdom of God was administered tribally, for that is what existed back then: tribes of Israel and tribes of the earth.

Two published revelations given to Joseph Smith

There are also two revelations which were given to Joseph Smith that show that the church still has all of its keys.  The first is:

Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness. (D&C 13:1)

Those are the words of John the Baptist to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery when he gave them the Aaronic Priesthood. Notice that he says that that priesthood will remain on earth until the sons of Levi offer a sacrifice to the Lord in righteousness. Have the sons of Levi done this, yet? No, they haven’t. Therefore, this priesthood and all its keys are still here in the Lord’s church.

Here is another revelation of Joseph Smith:

Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers—for ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God—therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began. (D&C 86:8-10)

This does not refer to the literal seed, but to the priesthood seed and priesthood lineage and priesthood fathers. So, the fathers of Joseph and Oliver were John the Baptist and also Peter, James and John, and Joseph and Oliver were lawful heirs, according to the flesh, for these priesthoods were conferred by the laying on of hands, of flesh and bone people, therefore it was done “according to the flesh.” Some people go way out in left field and think this scripture is speaking of the literal seed, or that Joseph and Oliver had priesthood rights by birth, from their mortal fathers, etc., but no such imaginary scenario exists, for they were Gentiles and had no right by birth to the priesthood, but via ordination by the hand of these resurrected personages. And so the lineage spoken of here is not the literal seed of Joseph and Oliver, but their priesthood seed. For example, owing to my priesthood lineage, Oliver Cowdery is one of my priesthood fathers. And I am one of his priesthood sons. And so forth. I am a part of his priesthood posterity.

Now, this priesthood (which includes both priesthoods) was to remain “until the restoration of all things.”  Again,

Has the restoration of all things occurred, yet?  I say to you,

No, it hasn’t;

therefore, this priesthood and all its keys are still with the church.

There is no getting around these revelations, neither mine nor Joseph’s.  If the false teachers are teaching correct doctrines, then both my revelations and also Joseph Smith’s are false.  If Joseph’s and my revelations are true, then the false teachers are in error.  It can’t be both ways.  As all these revelations are true, everyone can expect these two priesthoods, and their keys, to remain in this church until the restoration of all things.

These are the keys

As for what keys they have, this is what the Lord says about that:

For unto you, the Twelve, and those, the First Presidency, who are appointed with you to be your counselors and your leaders, is the power of this priesthood given, for the last days and for the last time, in the which is the dispensation of the fulness of times, which power you hold, in connection with all those who have received a dispensation at any time from the beginning of the creation; for verily I say unto you, the keys of the dispensation, which ye have received, have come down from the fathers, and last of all, being sent down from heaven unto you. (D&C 112:30-32)

So, it is to the Twelve and First Presidency that we should look as key holders.  Now, notice what they have done with their keys since the death of Joseph Smith:

The church is out of order

According to the law of expediency, the church leadership must operate according to what is expedient.  In the absence of the revelations of a seer (Joseph Smith or Joseph-Nephi) they are to use this law and their keys, to keep the work moving forward, building up the church upon the foundation Joseph Smith laid, until the next seer (Joseph-Nephi) arrives to add to the body of revelation and restore the rest of all the things.

Because of hinderment, and especially if the hinderment is continual, things can quickly get out of order.  So, let’s say you start with 10 numbered blocks, from 1 to 10, which Joseph Smith restored, and let’s say that there are, in total, 1000 blocks to be restored.  Those 10 blocks represent the foundation of the restoration of all things, as well as the foundation of the church, which was accomplished by Joseph.  The order is from 1 to 10, but even in Joseph’s time, there was hinderment, so, for example, the law of consecration and stewardship had to be put on hold, and we got a new revealed block, which was the law of tithing.  After Joseph’s death, the leadership, holding the keys, had to move the work forward as best they could, under whatever inspiration they could get.

But again, hinderment comes, for Satan opposes this work, and maybe the order must be changed a little, so that there is no halt in the work.  Maybe blocks number 4 and 5 get swapped.  Later, there is more opposition, and the law of expediency requires that to keep the work moving forward, blocks 2 and 7 must be swapped.  Maybe with so much opposition, block 10 must have its practice ceased, but the block must remain, so it is hid under block 9.  And so on, as time goes on the blocks get more and more out of order.  Yet they are all still there.

The uninspired man, and in particular the false teachers and false prophets, will say that this is not the true church, for look at all the blocks.  They are out of order!  They no longer conform to the revelations of Joseph Smith!  But remember, these are uninspired, false teachers.  They cannot see the hand of God if it was placed right in front of their blind faces.

And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth, to set in order the house of God, and to arrange by lot the inheritances of the saints whose names are found, and the names of their fathers, and of their children, enrolled in the book of the law of God; while that man, who was called of God and appointed, that putteth forth his hand to steady the ark of God, shall fall by the shaft of death, like as a tree that is smitten by the vivid shaft of lightning. (D&C 85:7-8)

This prophecy cannot be fulfilled unless the house of God first gets out of order.  This is really, then, two prophecies: one of the house of God getting out of order, and one of the house of God being set in order.  Those who say: “That the house of God being out of order, or it not conforming to the revelations of Joseph Smith, is evidence that it is no longer the house of God” are false teachers, for this prophecy of Joseph Smith prophesies that the house of God will first get out of order, yet it still will be the house of God, for later on it (the house of God) will be set in order.  It never ceases to be the house of God during this process.  Therefore, all those who seek to “steady the ark of God” to restore order to it, are the ones who are uninspired.  The house of God getting out of order is a state which conforms to the revelations of Joseph Smith.  And the leadership, acting under the law of expediency, and getting this house more and more out of order, are acting under inspiration of God.

It was always the intention of God to have the house get all jumbled up, and then one day He had always planned that this guy, called a mighty and strong one, would come and set the whole mess right.  So, if you want to follow a false teacher out of this church, do it with the understanding that these people haven’t got a clue as to the workings of the Spirit.

A key to discerning the time of apostasy

When did the most ancient church of Christ (the one established by Alma Nephi) go into apostasy and cease to exist?  The answer is when God took away His twelve disciples.  (Later, under Mormon, it was when He took away all of His disciples.)  And when did the church established by Jesus among the Jews go into apostasy?

Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servants, concerning the parable of the wheat and of the tares:

Behold, verily I say, the field was the world, and the apostles were the sowers of the seed; and after they have fallen asleep the great persecutor of the church, the apostate, the whore, even Babylon, that maketh all nations to drink of her cup, in whose hearts the enemy, even Satan, sitteth to reign—behold he soweth the tares; wherefore, the tares choke the wheat and drive the church into the wilderness. (D&C 86:1-3)

Once again, the answer is when the apostles were taken away. (The tares had been sown in the church while the apostles were still ministering, but only when they were taken away did the tares become capable of choking the wheat and driving the church into the wilderness.) And in our day, when will the church go into apostasy?

Now, I say unto you, and what I say unto you, I say unto all the Twelve:

And again, I say unto you, that whosoever ye shall send in my name, by the voice of your brethren, the Twelve, duly recommended and authorized by you, shall have power to open the door of my kingdom unto any nation whithersoever ye shall send them—inasmuch as they shall humble themselves before me, and abide in my word, and hearken to the voice of my Spirit.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face.

Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth,

saith the Lord.

And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth,

saith the Lord;

first among those among you,

saith the Lord,

who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house,

saith the Lord. (D&C 112:14,21-26)

Again, the answer is the same: the day of vengeance, wrath, burning, desolation, weeping, mourning and lamentation will begin first among the Twelve apostles.  (And this day has not come, yet.)  So, when the Lord removes the twelve Gentile apostles, that is the day when the tares, which are already sown among the wheat of this church, will begin to choke the wheat. But as long as we have the twelve apostles among us, the church is not apostate, it still has the priesthood, the keys are still here, the ordinances are still valid, and so forth. Even my prophecies concerning the breakup of the church and of the descent into wickedness (by the tares of this church) bear out this principle, for the church breakup and wickedness of the tares only occurs when the quorum of the Twelve are taken out of the picture. So, all of this shows that a key to know whether this church is still valid in God’s eyes, is the existence of the quorum of the twelve apostles. If that quorum exists, the church is still true.  And since we do have the Twelve among us still, this (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is still the Lord’s church and believe it or not, all the expedient disordering that is being done with their keys is under inspiration of God.  So, hopefully this post will do something to help shut the mouths of the false teachers who are spreading lies among the saints.

Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist

A Comparison Between the AOC, NAC & USC

AOC stands for the Articles of Confederation.  NAC stands for the New Articles of Confederation.  USC stands for the  United States Constitution.  As we no longer are under the AOC, nor are yet under the NAC, some of these are necessarily projected assessments. USC assessments are for the current environment.

AOC’s Loose Confederation	NAC’s Tight Confederation	USC’s Tight Consolidation
Government Powers: Few	Government Powers: Few	Government Powers: Lots
Centralized or Decentralized: Decentralized	Centralized or Decentralized: Decentralized	Centralized or Decentralized: Centralized
Militarily: Weak	Militarily: Strong	Militarily: Strong
Military Conscription: No Provisions	Military Conscription: Prohibited	Military Conscription: Yes
Foreign Relations: Friendly	Foreign Relations: Friendly	Foreign Relations: Friendly to Antagonistic
Capitalism or Socialism: Capitalism	Capitalism or Socialism: Capitalism	Capitalism or Socialism: Mix Between Capitalism and Socialism with Socialism Gaining Ground
Economically: Strong	Economically: Super Strong	Economically: Medium to Weak
Taxation: No Power of Taxation	Taxation: No Power of Taxation	Taxation: Unlimited Power of Taxation
Currency: Whatever the States make; Private money can be anything.	Currency: Only Gold, Silver and Copper; Private money can be anything.	Currency: Fiat only; Private money can be anything.
Debt: Allowable	Debt: Prohibited	Debt: Allowable, Practiced and Huge
Classes: Large Middle Class; Small Upper & Lower Class	Classes: Large Upper Class; Small Middle Class; Even Smaller Lower Class	Classes: Large Middle Class; Small Lower Class; Even Smaller Upper Class
Diversity: High	Diversity: Super High	Diversity: Homogenized and Monopolized
Immigration: High	Immigration: Super High	Immigration: Normal
Citizenship: Of a State only	Citizenship: Of a State only	Citizenship: Of the National Government
Population Health: Normal to High	Population Health: Normal to Super High	Population Health: Normal to Poor
Rights & Privileges: Strong	Rights & Privileges: Super Strong	Rights & Privileges: Medium to Weak
Spying on Americans: No Provisions	Spying on Americans: Prohibited	Spying on Americans: Allowed and Practiced
Police State: Small Police Force	Police State: Exceedingly Small Police Force	Police State: Full On Police State; Militarily Weaponized
General Warrants: No Provisions	General Warrants: Prohibited	General Warrants: Yes
State Sovereignty: Sovereign	State Sovereignty: Sovereign	State Sovereignty: Not Sovereign; Subservient to National Government
Secession: Yes	Secession: Yes	Secession: No
Voluntary or Forced Union: Voluntary	Voluntary or Forced Union: Voluntary	Voluntary or Forced Union: Forced
Family: No Provisions Against Attack	Family: Fully Protected From All Attacks	Family: No Provisions Against Attack; Currently Under Attack and Often Destroyed
Same Sex Marriage: A State’s Issue; Can be Yes or No.	Same Sex Marriage: A State’s Issue; Can be Yes or No.	Same Sex Marriage: Yes; Forced on All States.
Abortion: A State’s Issue; Can be Yes or No.	Abortion: A State’s Issue; Can be Yes or No.	Abortion: Yes; Forced on All States.
Marriage & Divorce: Normal Levels of Both	Marriage & Divorce: High Levels of Marriage; Low Levels of Divorce	Marriage & Divorce: Low Levels of Marriage; High Levels of Divorce
Marriage by Right: No Provisions	Marriage by Right: Yes, with State Recognition	Marriage by Right: Not recognized
Manus Marriage: No Provisions	Manus Marriage: Provided for by Marriage by Right	Manus Marriage: Prohibited; Only “Womanus” & “Equal Partner” (SSM) Recognized
Plural Marriage: No Provisions	Plural Marriage: Provided for by Marriage by Right	Plural Marriage: Prohibited
Education: Decentralized & Uncontrolled	Education: Decentralized & Uncontrolled	Education: Centralized & Controlled

Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist

Confederalist Paper #2 – One United Confederacy

Confederalist Paper #2

Making a Case for a New American Confederacy under the New Articles of Confederation (NAC)

One United Confederacy

To the People of all the States of Union:

WHEN the people of America reflect that they are now called upon to decide a question, which, in its consequences, must prove one of the most important that ever engaged their attention, the propriety of their taking a very comprehensive, as well as a very serious, view of it, will be evident.

Nothing is more sorrowful than the necessity of government, and it is equally sad, that whenever and however it is instituted, the people must, unfortunately, cede to it some of their natural rights in order to vest it with requisite powers. It is well worthy of consideration therefore, whether it would conduce more to the interest of the people of America that they should, to all general purposes, be one consolidated nation, under one centralized government, as presently constituted under the United States Constitution, or that they should be one consolidated confederacy under the proposed New Articles of Confederation, and give back to each State the same kind of powers which they have placed in the current national government.

It has until lately been a received and uncontradicted opinion that the prosperity of the people of America depended on their continuing firmly united, and the wishes, prayers, and efforts of our best and wisest citizens have been constantly directed to that object. But politicians now appear, who insist that this opinion is erroneous, and that instead of looking for safety and happiness in union, we ought to seek it in a division of the States into multiple and distinct confederacies or sovereignties, through secession. However extraordinary this new doctrine may appear, it nevertheless has its advocates; and certain characters who were much opposed to it formerly, are at present of the number. Whatever may be the arguments or inducements which have wrought this change in the sentiments and declarations of these gentlemen, it certainly would not be wise in the people at large to adopt these new political tenets without being fully convinced that they are founded in truth and sound policy.

It has often given me pleasure to observe that independent America was not composed of detached and distant territories, but that one connected, fertile, widespreading country was the portion of our western sons of liberty. Providence has in a particular manner blessed it with a variety of soils and productions, and watered it with innumerable streams, for the delight and accommodation of its inhabitants. A succession of navigable waters forms a kind of chain round its borders, as if to bind it together; while the most noble rivers in the world, running at convenient distances, present them with highways for the easy communication of friendly aids, and the mutual transportation and exchange of their various commodities.

With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice that Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people — a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody Revolutionary war, have nobly established general liberty and independence.

This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence, that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties.

Similar sentiments have hitherto prevailed among all orders and denominations of men among us. To all general purposes we have uniformly been one people each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same rights, privileges, and protection. As a nation we have made peace and war; as a nation we have vanquished our common enemies; as a nation we have formed alliances, and made treaties, and entered into various compacts and conventions with foreign states.

A strong sense of the value and blessings of union induced the people, at a very early period, to institute a Confederacy under the Articles of Confederation to preserve and perpetuate it. They formed it almost as soon as they had a political existence; nay, at a time when their habitations were in flames, when many of their citizens were bleeding, and when the progress of hostility and desolation left little room for those calm and mature inquiries and reflections which must ever precede the formation of a wise and well-balanced government for a free people. It is not to be wondered at, that a government instituted in times so inauspicious, should on experiment be found greatly deficient and inadequate to the purpose it was intended to answer.

This intelligent people perceived and regretted these defects. Still continuing no less attached to union than enamored of liberty, they observed the danger which immediately threatened the former and more remotely the latter; and being pursuaded that ample security for both could only be found in a better formed Confederacy more wisely framed, they as with one voice, convened the convention at Philadelphia, to take that important subject under consideration.

This convention, composed of men who possessed the confidence of the people, and many of whom had become highly distinguished by their patriotism, virtue and wisdom, in times which tried the minds and hearts of men, undertook the arduous task, but failed to accomplish it. Instead, in the mild season of peace, with minds unoccupied by other subjects, they passed many months in cool, uninterrupted, and daily consultation and worked on the creation of a national government; and finally, without having been awed by power, or influenced by any passions except love for their country, they presented and recommended to the people the well-intentioned, but misguided United States Constitution produced by their joint and very unanimous councils.

Admit, for so is the fact, that the United States Constitution, which was at first only recommended, but then adopted by ratification, was later imposed by force during our Civil War, and also let it be admitted that the New Articles of Confederation, which would establish a completely voluntary and free Confederacy and correct the deficiency of the former Confederacy under the first set of Articles, are neither recommended to blind approbation, nor to blind reprobation; but to that sedate and candid consideration which the magnitude and importance of the subject demand, and which it certainly ought to receive. But this (as was remarked in the foregoing number of this paper) is more to be wished than expected, that it may be so considered and examined. Experience on a former occasion teaches us not to be too sanguine in such hopes. It is not yet forgotten that well-grounded apprehensions of imminent danger induced the people of America to form the memorable Congress of 1774. That body recommended certain measures to their constituents, and the event proved their wisdom; yet it is fresh in our memories how soon the press began to teem with pamphlets and weekly papers against those very measures. Not only many of the officers of government, who obeyed the dictates of personal interest, but others, from a mistaken estimate of consequences, or the undue influence of former attachments, or whose ambition aimed at objects which did not correspond with the public good, were indefatigable in their efforts to pursuade the people to reject the advice of that patriotic Congress. Many, indeed, were deceived and deluded, but the great majority of the people reasoned and decided judiciously; and happy they are in reflecting that they did so.

They considered that the Congress was composed of many wise and experienced men. That, being convened from different parts of the country, they brought with them and communicated to each other a variety of useful information. That, in the course of the time they passed together in inquiring into and discussing the true interests of their country, they must have acquired very accurate knowledge on that head. That they were individually interested in the public liberty and prosperity, and therefore that it was not less their inclination than their duty to recommend only such measures as, after the most mature deliberation, they really thought prudent and advisable.

These and similar considerations then induced the people to rely greatly on the judgment and integrity of that Congress; and they took their advice, notwithstanding the various arts and endeavors used to deter them from it. But if the people at large had reason to confide in the men of that Congress, few of whom had been fully tried or generally known, one might think that they have now greater reason to respect the judgment and advice of the present Congress of 2015, but alas!, such is not the case, for it is well known that some of the most distinguished members of this current Congress, are as corrupt a group of power-seeking men as can be found anywhere in the world, claiming to have patriotism and our best interests in mind, while growing old and fat on the stolen rights of our people, all the while using the acquired political information and accumulated knowledge and experience they gain in the national government to fatten their wallets and increase their own special interests.

It is worthy of remark that not only the first, but every succeeding Congress, have invariably joined with the people in thinking that the prosperity of America depended on its Union. To preserve and perpetuate it was the great object of the people in forming both the convention that produced the decentralized and free Articles of Confederation and the convention that produced that grotesquely centralized national government document known as the United States Constitution, and it is also the great object of the new plan, the New Articles of Confederation, which all men of wisdom are advising the people of the several States to adopt. With what propriety, therefore, or for what good purposes, are attempts at this particular period made by some men to depreciate the importance of the Union? Or why is it suggested that three or four confederacies would be better than one? I am persuaded in my own mind that the people have always thought right on this subject, and that their universal and uniform attachment to the cause of the Union rests on great and weighty reasons, which I shall endeavor to develop and explain in some ensuing papers. On the one hand, they who promote the Union through the continuance of the national government are striving to force the people to give up what is left of their remaining freedoms, liberties and rights, and do so to keep themselves glutting on the labors of the people.  They make the claim that we should be a Union under the Constitution simply for the sake of Union, as if Union alone was the object.  But do we want to be a Union of slaves or a Union of freemen?  So, Union for the sake of Union is not the end goal.  It must be a free, unforced, voluntary Union, such as is had under the NAC plan.  On the other hand, they who promote the idea of substituting a number of distinct confederacies in the room of the NAC plan of one free Confederacy, seem to know that there efforts are not as popular as the NAC plan and will only end up diluting the promotion of both the NAC plan and any other Confederacy plan, and thus they seem clearly to foresee that the rejection of the NAC would secure forever the continuance of the slave Union under the Constitution.  In other words, both parties are apparently working from opposite ends and ideologies, yet secretly have the same end goal in mind: the elimination of any chance at a free Union under the NAC and the perpetual establishment of an American Union under a totalitarian state.  That certainly would be the case if the NAC plan does not pass, and I sincerely wish that it may be as clearly foreseen by every good citizen, that if ever the time arrives that the voice of the people buries the efforts to promote and install the NAC, America will have reason to exclaim, in the words of the poet: “FAREWELL! A LONG FAREWELL TO ALL MY POTENTIAL GREATNESS.”

A CONFEDERALIST

P.S.  My illustrious compatriot desires to dictate an appendage, to which I have consented:

The continuance of this United States government under the Constitution will not meliorate our own particular system. I beg leave to consider the circumstances of the Union antecedent to the meeting of the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia. We were told of phantoms and ideal dangers to lead us into Constitutional measures which have been, in my opinion, the ruin of our country. If the existence of those dangers has not been historically proved, if there has been no apprehension of wars, if there has been no rumors of wars, it will place the subject in a different light, and plainly evince to the world that there really was no reason for adopting the Constitutional measures which we apprehended to be ruinous and destructive. When this state [Virginia] proposed that the general (confederal) government should be improved, Massachusetts was just recovered from a rebellion which had brought the republic to the brink of destruction, from a rebellion which was crushed by that federal government which was then so much contemned and abhorred.

A vote of that August body for fifteen hundred men, aided by the exertions of the state, silenced all opposition, and shortly restored the public tranquility. Massachusetts was satisfied that these internal commotions were so happily settled, and was unwilling to risk any similar distresses by theoretic experiments. Were the Eastern States willing to enter into the Constitutional measure? Were they willing to accede to the proposal of Virginia? In what manner was it received? Connecticut revolted at the idea. The Eastern States, sir, were unwilling to recommend a meeting of a Constitutional convention. They were well aware of the dangers of revolutions and changes. Why was every effort used, and such uncommon pains taken, to bring it about? This would have been unnecessary, had it been approved of by the people. Was Pennsylvania disposed for the reception of that Constitutional project of reformation?

No, sir. She was even unwilling to amend her revenue laws, so as to make the five per centum operative. She was satisfied with things as they were, in their Confederacy state under the Articles of Confederation. There was no complaint, that ever I heard of, from any other part of the Union, except Virginia. This being the case among ourselves, what dangers were there to be apprehended from foreign nations? It will be easily shown that dangers from that quarter were absolutely imaginary. Was not France friendly? Unequivocally so. She was devising new regulations of commerce for our advantage. Did she harass us with applications for her money? Was it likely that France would quarrel with us? Was it not reasonable to suppose that she would be more desirous than ever to cling, after losing the Dutch republic, to her best ally? How were the Dutch? We owed them money, it is true; and were they not willing that we should owe them more? Mr. [John] Adams applied to them for a new loan to the poor, despised Confederation. They readily granted it. The Dutch have a fellow-feeling for us. They were in the same situation with ourselves.

I believe that the money which the Dutch borrowed of Henry IV was not ever paid. How did they pass Queen Elizabeth’s loan? At a very considerable discount. They took advantage of the weakness and necessities of James I, and made their own terms with that contemptible monarch. Loans from nations are not like loans from private men. Nations lend money, and grant assistance, to one another, from views of national interest — France was willing to pluck the fairest feather out of the British crown. This was her object in aiding us. She would not quarrel with us on pecuniary considerations. Congress considered it in this point of view; for when a proposition was made to make it a debt of private persons, it was rejected without hesitation. That respectable body wisely considered, that, while we remained their debtors in so considerable a degree, they would not be inattentive to our interest.

With respect to Spain, she was friendly in a high degree. I wish to know by whose interposition was the treaty with Morocco made. Was it not by that of the king of Spain? Several predatory nations disturbed us, on going into the Mediterranean. The influence of Charles III at the Barbary court, and four thousand pounds, procured as good a treaty with Morocco as could be expected. But I acknowledge it was not of any consequence, since the Algerines and people of Tunis did not enter into similar measures. We had nothing to fear from Spain; and, were she ever hostile, she could never be formidable to this country. Her strength was so scattered, that she never could be dangerous to us either in peace or war. As to Portugal, we had a treaty with her, which might have been very advantageous, though it had not yet been ratified.

The domestic debt was diminished by considerable sales of western lands to Cutler, Sergeant, and Company; to Simms; and to Royal, Flint, and Company. The board of treasury was authorized to sell in Europe, or any where else, the residue of those lands.

An act of Congress was passed, to adjust the public debts between the individual states and the United States.

Was our trade in a despicable situation? I shall say nothing of what did not come under my own historical observation. In that Congress, sixteen vessels had had sea letters in the East India trade, and two hundred vessels entered and cleared out, in the French West India Islands, in one year.

I must confess that public credit had suffered, and that our public creditors had been ill used. This was owing to a fault at the head-quarters — to Congress themselves — in not selling the western lands at an earlier period. If requisitions had not been complied with, it must have been owing to Congress, who might have put the unpopular debts on the back lands. Commutation was abhorrent to New England ideas. Speculation was abhorrent to the Eastern States. Those inconveniences had resulted from the bad policy of Congress.

I list all of this historical data which we had under the original Articles of Confederation to show that we were not as bad off under that document as was made to be seen and it surely was much better than under the United States Constitution.  But the New Articles of Confederation (NAC) is orders of magnitude better than both and should be enacted right away.

There are certain modes of governing the people which will succeed. There are others which will not. The idea of consolidation was, and still should be, abhorrent to the people of this country. How were the sentiments of the people before the meeting of the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia? They had only one object in view. Their ideas reached no farther than to give the general (confederal) government the five per centum impost, and the regulation of trade. When it was agitated in Congress, in a committee of the whole, this was all that was asked, or was deemed necessary. Since that period, their views have extended much farther. Horrors have been greatly magnified since the rising of the Constitutional Convention.

We were told by the honorable gentleman (Governor Randolph) that we should have wars and rumors of wars, that every calamity was to attend us, and that we should be ruined and disunited forever, unless we adopted the United States Constitution. Pennsylvania and Maryland were to fall upon us from the north, like the Goths and Vandals of old; the Algerines, whose flat-sided vessels never came farther than Madeira, were to fill the Chesapeake with mighty fleets, and to attack us on our front; the Indians were to invade us with numerous armies on our rear, in order to convert our cleared lands into hunting- grounds; and the Carolinians, from the south, (mounted on alligators, I presume,) were to come and destroy our cornfields, and eat up our little children! These, sir, were the mighty dangers which awaited us if we rejected dangers which were merely imaginary, and ludicrous in the extreme! Were we to be destroyed by Maryland and Pennsylvania? What would democratic states make war for, and how long since have they imbibed a hostile spirit?

But the generality were to attack us. Would they attack us after violating their faith in the first Union? Would they not violate their faith if they did not take us into their confederacy? Had they not agreed, by the old Confederation, that the Union should be perpetual, and that no alteration should take place without the consent of Congress, and the confirmation of the legislatures of every state? I cannot think that there is such depravity in mankind as that, after violating public faith so flagrantly, they should make war upon us, also, for not following their example.

The large states had divided the back lands among themselves, and had given as much as they thought proper to the generality. For the fear of disunion, we were told that we ought to take measures which we otherwise should not. Disunion was impossible. The Eastern States held the fisheries, which were their cornfields, by a hair. They had a dispute with the British government about their limits that lasted a long time. Was not a general and strong government necessary for their interest? If ever nations had inducements to peace, the Eastern States certainly had. New York and Pennsylvania anxiously looked forward for the fur trade. How could they obtain it but by union? Could the western posts be got or retained without union? How were the little states inclined? They were not likely to disunite. Their weakness would prevent them from quarreling. Little men were seldom fond of quarreling among giants. was there not a strong inducement to union, while the British were on one side and the Spaniards on the other? Thank Heaven, we had a Carthage of our own I . . .

But what would I do on the present occasion to remedy the existing defects of the former Confederation and the current Constitution? There are two opinions prevailing in the world — the one, that mankind can only be governed by force; the other, that they are capable of freedom and a good government. Under a supposition that mankind can govern themselves, I would recommend that the proposed New Articles of Confederation be adopted.  Remove from Congress the regulation of commerce. Infuse new strength and spirit into the state governments; for, when the component parts are strong, it will give energy to the government, although it be otherwise weak….

Get rid of all the public debts and start clean slated.  Aid the foreign interest by loans.  Keep on so till the American character be marked with some certain, NAC-peculiar features. The settlement of new countries on our western frontiers has already occurred and we have become able to deal with the continual migration of people from Europe and from everywhere else.  Now that these obstacles have been removed, we can with greater prospect of success, devise changes, in the form of the NAC plan. We are not too young to know what we are fit for.  Now is the exact and proper time to make new experiments in government, by returning to a Confederacy under the NAC.  We ought to consider, as Montesquieu says, whether the construction of the government be suitable to the genius and disposition of the people, as well as a variety of other circumstances.

ANOTHER CONFEDERALIST

Brought to you by CINAC [pronounced Ki-NACK] – The Coalition for the Installation of the New Articles of Confederation

Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist

The USC Sucks, etcetera: Part 13 of an Open Debate—The NAC’s Article XIII (The Rules of the League)

Altering the pact

Article XIII. Section 1.  Every State shall abide by the determination of the united States in congress assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted to them. And the Articles of this confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them, unless such alteration be agreed to by the voice of the citizens of the several States, for as it was the voice of the citizens of the several States that ordained these articles as the league pact for the States of this Confederacy, neither the several State legislatures and governors, nor the united States in Congress assembled, shall have power to alter these articles in any way, for such power and authority is reserved solely to the citizens of the several States, who shall wield it by their voice at whatsoever time they see fit.

Once the New Articles of Confederation (NAC) have been installed as the Supreme Law of the land, those who have been deposed of their positions of power in the former national government, and those who were seeking such positions, will unite in an effort to amend or alter the NAC to either bring the Confederacy back to a national government or otherwise to consolidate power into a singular head which can act as a king or as a president exercising kingly authority over men.  These men will prefer to alter or amend the NAC by a Congressional vote or by a vote of the State legislatures, because both Congress and the State legislatures are smaller groups of people than the general populace, and it is easier to bribe with money or promises of power, benefit and gain the 540 or so members of Congress, or the State legislatures, than the entire population.  The NAC anticipates an immediate push for amendment or alteration by these people, but puts this right squarely in the hands of the people of the States, making it impossible for it to be corrupted through closed-door deals.  Thus, conspiring men will have to convince more than half of the American people that altering the NAC is in their best interest.  The chances of that happening are slim to none.

It is possible to transfer an already captured bird from a smaller bird cage to a larger one or from a larger bird cage to a smaller one, for the captured bird is already accustomed to being in a cage and, being confined, can be fairly easily corralled into the new more confining, or less confining, cage.  In like manner, it is possible to cause a people living under an oppressive government to accept the alteration of the government into a more oppressive, or less oppressive, form, for the people are already accustomed to living under an oppressive government, and more oppression or less oppression are just degrees of what they are already used to.  In other words, the situation hasn’t drastically changed, thus the behavior of the people won’t drastically change, either.  But when you free the bird entirely from the cage, allowing it to fly off into the wild blue yonder, you’ve drastically altered conditions and no amount of coaxing will get the bird back in a cage.  Once out, it’s gone.  Similarly, if a people go from an oppressive government to a free government, it is next to impossible to get them to choose of their own free will to go back into oppression.  Once they’ve been acclimated to freedom, the only way to get them back under your thumb is through force of arms.

The NAC establishes a free government, not merely a less oppressive one than the former national government.  For this reason the push to alter the NAC must come almost immediately after its passage, before the population has time to acclimate to the new free environment.  I suppose the threat of war, through an exterior invasion, will be used as a fearmongering tool to try to cause the people to alter the NAC so that a president and standing army can be allowed, perhaps under the false guise of a “temporary measure.”  Whatever the strategy, these efforts to alter must come soon after the installment of the NAC.  If they wait too long, the people will never be able to be tricked into giving up their freedom and liberties again.

This section, then, is a safeguard against the re-establishment of tyranny and oppression in America.

The rules of the club

Article XIII.

Section 2.  All of the fifty States of the previous union, which was formed under the United States Constitution, are invited to enter this league by sending authorized delegates to the gathering at Liberty Bell at the day and time which has been appointed to sign them, and such signing will enter them; but if any of these fifty States neglect to send delegates at that time, yet desire to be admitted into the league afterward, they shall be admitted by the voice of the citizens of their States, first, by the voice of Congress, second, and upon them sending authorized delegates to sign the pact, third, all within a year’s time.

Section 3.  Apart from the fifty States which were united under the United States Constitution, no foreign State or nation shall be admitted into this league, except by the voice of the citizens of the several States, and the voice of Congress, and the voice of the citizens of said foreign State or nation, all within a year’s time; and if the voice of all these is for admittance, the foreign State or nation shall send authorized delegates to sign the pact before the year’s time has expired, and thus shall be admitted; but no foreign State or nation shall be admitted that has a king over men, or that exerts kingly authority over them, or that in any way violates these articles.

Section 4.  No State shall be removed from this Confederacy, except by the voice of Congress and the voice of the citizens of the several States, all within a year’s time. Any State which has been removed from this league shall be considered a foreign State and treated as such; and if the removed State requests re-admittance, the third section of this article shall apply.

The Confederacy established by the NAC is a free league, of free States.  Any State can voluntarily enter the league, and voluntarily exit it, whenever they want.  Peaceful provisions are provided to that end, making a repeat of the Civil War, or War Between the States, highly unlikely.  However, owing that the league is to be of free States, oppressive ones that exercise kingly authority over their people, and also monarchies, are banned from it.  This Confederacy is not to be patterned after the United Nations, allowing all sorts of oppressive regimes in, but an exclusive club of free governments.  If any nation does not make the grade, they are barred from entering.  If any member State turns oppressive, they can be kicked out.  The NAC does not play favorites and no State is indispensable.

Installing the NAC

Once America has decided to install the NAC, the only text that needs to be altered are the dates listed in the Preamble and Conclusion,

Preamble

Whereas the Delegates of Fifty of the United States of America in Congress assembled at Liberty Bell, Independence National Historical Park, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, did on the fifteenth day of November in the Year of our Lord Two Thousand Fifteen, and in the Two Hundred Thirty-Ninth Year of the Independence of America, agree to certain new articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the sovereign, free and independent States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio, Nebraska, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii, and West Virginia, in the words following, viz:

New articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio, Nebraska, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii, and West Virginia.

Conclusion

In Witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in Congress. Done at Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania the ninth day of July in the Year of our Lord two thousand Sixteen, and in the two hundred Fortieth Year of the independence of America.

and also the listing of the States, according to which States choose to enter the pact.  Everything else can and should remain untouched, just as it is written now.  This allows for very easy installation, as whatever date chosen only needs to be one that occurs after the election and on a day and time that the Liberty Bell park is open to the public.

Peaceful government transitions codified

Article XIII. Section 5.  Recognizing that the Confederacy derives its powers from its constituent States, and that each State derives its Powers from its people, should the citizens of any of the member States of this Confederacy decide, by their voice, with or without the approval of their State government officials, to abolish the government of their State, or to remove their State from the Confederacy, or to revert their State to the previous form of government as a British Colony, or to alter their republican form of State government into some other form, this Confederacy shall acknowledge their decision as legitimate, valid, effective, final and binding, and shall consider them and their lands as no longer residing within the jurisdictional bounds of, and no longer part of, the Confederacy; and should they choose removal from the Confederacy, they shall be viewed as a free and independent State; and should they choose anarchism, they shall be viewed as a free and independent people and Territory; and should they choose to revert to British rule, they shall be viewed as part of Great Britain; and should they choose some other form of government, they shall be viewed as a foreign entity and nation.

The NAC includes the right to peacefully abolish, revert and replace, which is essentially the same text of the proposed amendment attached to the NAC, which amendment will allow the NAC to be installed.  As good a law as the NAC is, being far superior to the United States Constitution, or any other man-made law found throughout the world, this does not preclude the future existence of something even better, of ever greater wisdom, therefore the NAC provides for this contingency, too.

Final Conclusion of the 13 Parts

These thirteen essays adequately show the superiority of the New Articles of Confederation to the United States Constitution, demonstrating to America that the Constitution is not the be-all and end-all of laws.  It certainly served its purposes for more than 200 years, and as far as man-made laws go, it was one of the most innovative, and far ahead of its time.  But it is an old man and it is time to put it to rest.  Nevertheless, the principles in the Constitution, which were not man-made, namely, the Bill of Rights, are carried over into the new plan (the NAC), for these were inspired of God, and must not be set aside.  And they have been expanded in the NAC, as if in an unabridged form.  Also, a few of the Constitutional innovations have been retained in the NAC.  But, other than that, the NAC is a new tool for a new millennium, to combat and eradicate a new group of tyrants and tyrannies, the march of which the Constitution has been unable to stop or even slow down.  But that is okay, because now there is the NAC, and it is fully armed and ready to deal with the current and future environments of tyranny.  So, let’s let go of the Constitution and replace it with the NAC.  Let’s let the NAC do its tyranny-destroying thing.  As it is unwise to enter a gunfight armed with only a knife, why should we fight the tyranny and oppression of today with a 200+ year law that the enemy has already figured out how to by-pass and corrupt?  That route only leads to defeat, slavery and totalitarianism.  The NAC offers an alternative future, one of victory, freedom and the destruction of tyranny.  It does so by offering a proper tool, one meet for the task at hand, even a modern tool for a modern problem, which, strangely enough, is really a set of exceedingly ancient principles, far older than the Constitution.  So the NAC is new only in the sense that we have never seen its like before, but in reality it is an older, extremely strong, street-wise man, who has been around the block more times than we can count, and the Constitution is the relatively new kid who is getting beat up by the neighborhood bullies.  The NAC man has returned from his lengthy walkabout and now sees and targets the bullies.  He’s ready and poised to kick some major bully butt.  Do we put forth our hand to hold the NAC back and say, “No.  Let the bullies continue to destroy the little kid.”  Of course not.  We pull up a chair, grab a bag of popcorn, and watch the action fly, cheering as the bullies get their comeuppance.

Feel free to disagree on any point mentioned in this post. Bring your strongest reasons against the NAC and let’s have an open debate. And for those who like the NAC and want to install it as the Supreme Law of the land, here is my advice and prediction (and also see this comment, and this comment and this comment) :

A continual strategy of debate will install the NAC in this country and I challenge anyone to prove me wrong. I say that Americans will jump at the chance to debate the NAC and to show that the Constitution is better, but, according to the rules of the debate, they will have to read the NAC first, and once read, they will be hard pressed to defend the Constitution. Thus, everyone who hears, or watches, or reads, or participates in, a NAC debate, will become convinced that the NAC is what this country needs.

To read the other parts of this series, click any of these links:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,

Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10,

Part 11, Part 12, Part 13.

Also see: The New Articles of Confederation (NAC) and The Right to Abolish, Revert and Replace Amendment.

Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist

The USC Sucks, etcetera: Part 12 of an Open Debate—The NAC’s Article XII (Citizenship & Immigration)

State citizenship restored

Before the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (USC), there was only one form of citizen: a State citizen, meaning a citizen of one of the States.  Citizenship, back then, was a States matter and did not pertain to the national government, each individual State setting its own standards for citizenship.  The 14th Amendment changed that, creating a new form of national citizen, beholden to and empowered by the national government, known as a United States citizen.  Over time, all State citizenship has been swallowed up by national citizenship, so that Americans no longer claim to be, or think of themselves, as citizens of any particular State, but as citizens of the whole nation.  When an American tries to assert the former form of citizenship, which was a superior form, they are often labeled as crackpots.

Under the New Articles of Confederation (NAC), there is no national government, therefore there can be no national citizenship.  The NAC reverts to the former form, putting all citizenship matters back into the hands of the States.  Thus, there is no such thing as a Confederate citizen, or a citizen of the Confederacy, under the NAC, only citizens of a particular State of the Confederacy.  The inferior form of United States citizen is abolished and only the superior form of State citizen remains.  The NAC does this because the inferior “United States citizenship” confers only revocable privileges, whereas the superior State citizenship confers rights, privileges and also, perhaps, even duties and responsibilities.  As the NAC is like an unabridged Bill of Rights, the restoration of citizen rights is part of its objective, therefore the concept of a national citizen must be done away, replaced by the former form of State citizen.

Four types and two categories of citizens

The NAC provides for four types of State citizenship and two State citizenship categories: jus soli, jus sanguinis via manus, jus matrimonii via manus, and jus polis.  The first two fall into the natural-born category, while the last two fall into the naturalized category.  The NAC details only part of the rights of citizens, even that part that deals in federal matters, and it distinguishes between the two categories, one being a superior form of citizenship (natural-born), possessing greater rights, privileges, duties and responsibilities, and the other being inferior (naturalized), possessing lesser rights, etc.  Exactly what all these rights, privileges, duties and responsibilities are, for each of the four types of citizens, is not given by the NAC, for these are State matters, each State making such determinations for its particular citizens.  This restores yet another right, even a State right, for it is the right of each State to “set in order” its own citizens.  It is not right for one State to dictate to another State what its citizens can or cannot do, yet under the USC, this is exactly what happens by having the national government destroy all State citizenship rights and then dictate citizenship terms to all the people of the several States, making them, in essence, serfs, and not citizens.

Jus soli

Article XII. Section 1.  A person born within the jurisdictional boundaries of any State of this Confederacy shall be a natural-born citizen of the State in which he or she was born.

It does not matter whether one or both of your parents are citizens or residents of any State or not, if you are born within the confines of the Confederacy, we claim you as ours.  Thus, the NAC welcomes and provides for so-called “anchor babies.”  What it does not provide for, though, is free education, free medical services, free food or free anything else.  Having a child born here does not make it easier to support the child, nor easier for the parents to become residents or citizens.  All it does is confer American, natural-born citizenship upon the child.  In other words, this is a jurisdictional issue which confers a right, or a claim to a right.  If you have a child born on our land, that child becomes our citizen.  This is jus soli, the right of the soil.

Jus sanguinis via manus

The right of blood (jus sanguinis) is conferred via the jurisdiction of manus:

Article XII. Section 1.  Men who are natural-born citizens of any State shall have power to confer natural-born citizenship upon any of their children who are born abroad while living with their father, by issuing a writ of citizenship, which writ shall be certified by the State of which the father is a citizen, which certified writ shall be binding and valid in the eyes of the law.

The jurisdiction of manus has concrete bounds, thus, the NAC specifies, “while living with their father.”  In effect, this is merely jus soli applied to the jurisdictional boundaries of a natural-born, American man’s household.  It does not matter that the man’s household is located in another part of the world, outside of the boundaries of the States of the American Confederacy.  He, as a natural-born citizen of one of the American States, becomes an agent of the State, through the application of his manus in the conferral of citizenship, as if his house and lands were upon American lands, even though located abroad.  As he himself possesses natural-born citizenship, he has what it takes to confer the same.  The application of his manus, then, empowers him to make the conferral.

Manus is not mentioned in this section, because it does not need to be.  The NAC previously declared:

Article III. Section 2.  …every man alone shall bear rule in his own house; …every man shall have power to set his house in order, having his children and house in subjection to him alone with all gravity, even as unto a king, according to the bounds and conditions of his law, …that every man shall set in order his family…

Having children in subjection to their father alone is another way of saying they are “in his power.”  In other words, this section declares that a man’s manus extends to his children.  Manus being a kingly power, every father has power to confer citizenship, but not necessarily authority to do so.  The NAC, then, authorizes American fathers, not American mothers, for only the fathers have power (manus) to confer, the children being in his power alone.

Seed and soil

The NAC takes the ancient view of man as seed sower and of woman as soil; and when a man sows his seed in soil, the seed is still his. Ownership of the seed does not transfer to the soil, neither when it is sown, nor when some of that seed germinates in the soil and grows into a plant (a child); the plant life came from the seed, not the soil, therefore all children belong to men. This revives the ancient concept of “children of men” and does away with the modern misconception that soil can own the plants that grow in it (“children of women.”) The seed and soil are again separated and distinguished by the NAC, and the plants growing in the land are said to come from and belong to the parent seed, not the parent soil.  The NAC, then, restores male reproductive rights, putting all children back into the father’s power (his manus,) as it was anciently.

Additionally, the restoration of manus revives the concept of a valid claim upon any foreign seed that is sown in soil possessed (owned) by him. Manus puts the soil in the sower’s power, so that he not only has claim on his seed, but also on the soil. Both, then, become his, making him, essentially, a landowner.  Just as a man who owns a piece of land has a valid claim upon all of the plants growing in it, being able to claim them as his own possession, so the husband of a wife, married with manus, has claim on all germinated seed that she bares. She is in his power, thus he “owns” the land and has exclusive right to sow his seed in her. But should foreign seed be sown in her, he, as the landowner, has first claim on that seed, also, and it becomes his child should it germinate and grow into a plant. The foreign seed sower loses all claim to his seed because he sowed in someone else’s land.

Jus soli is based upon this very concept, that if you produce a plant (have a child) on our land, then that child is our citizen. We claim the seed which is sown here, by citizens and foreigners alike.  As American land is owned by Americans, the children born upon that land are likewise Americans, or have claim to being Americans.  In like manner, as a manus-married woman is in her husband’s power (the feminine soil is his,) the children she bares have a claim to his citizenship status.  The NAC authorizes a man to use his power (manus) to confer natural-born citizenship upon his children, born by his manus-married wife (who is the soil in his power,) while living with their father abroad, because these children have a valid claim upon his natural-born citizenship status.  Likewise, the manus-married wife also has a valid claim upon his citizenship status, but as she is not born into this citizenship claim, she cannot receive natural-born citizenship, but must be naturalized by her husband’s decree.

These are all very ancient understandings codified and restored by the NAC, through the restoration of manus.

Jus matrimonii via manus

Article XII. Section 2.  Men who are natural-born citizens of any State, that marry wives by right, with manus, shall have power to confer naturalized citizenship upon their wives, provided a wife first passes an English proficiency test and enters into a covenant to obey, honor and sustain the laws of the State of which her husband is a resident, both of which shall be administered by the State of which her husband is a resident; and such men shall naturalize their wives by issuing a writ of citizenship, which writ shall be certified by the State of which her husband is a resident, which certified writ shall be binding and valid in the eyes of the law.

Again the power of manus is used by the NAC to confer citizenship, this time upon a wife.  None of these things, though, are automatic.  The man has power to confer citizenship upon his children born abroad while living with him, and also upon his wife, but it is his prerogative whether to do so or not.  As a father-king with manus, he has judicial power and authority, therefore, he alone must judge whether it is in the best interest of all parties (including the interests of his State) to confer State citizenship upon those of his house.  He is not constrained by the NAC in any way to do so.

Jus polis

Article XII. Section 3.  Three natural-born upstanding citizens of no small reputation, who are residents of the same city, town, village or municipality as a resident foreigner, who are well acquainted with the foreigner and can attest to the good character of the same, shall have power to petition for citizenship in his or her behalf, and put his or her name down on an election ballot of that city, town, village or municipality, so that the citizens thereof may give their voice for or against granting citizenship to said foreigner; and should the voice come in favor, the resident foreigner shall be empowered to take an English proficiency test, administered by his or her State of residence, and when the test has been passed, the foreigner shall have power to enter into a covenant, administered by the same State, to obey, honor and sustain the laws of said State, to be numbered as a naturalized citizen of said State, to renounce allegiance to the foreigner’s country of origin, to keep the peace and support the cause of liberty in the land, and to call him or herself an American; and after these ceremonies, said State shall issue a certificate of naturalized citizenship to the foreigner, which shall be valid and binding in the eyes of the law.

Jus polis is not a real term.  I made it up.  I combined the Latin jus with the Greek polis, to come up with a concept of “right of the city (or citizens.”)  Essentially, this is the right of the citizens of a city to confer naturalized citizenship upon a city resident.  Our word for citizen actually comes from the word city:

Middle English citizein, from Anglo-French citezein, alteration of citeien, from cité city

First Known Use: 14th century

Once again the NAC takes us back to an ancient time, even to the Greek city-states, using ancient forms to confer citizenship.

The effect of these three citizenship sections

It is my understanding and belief that the NAC will cause a mass exodus from all countries to America.  These sections will allow all those who come here to quite easily become American citizens and thus to fully participate in our American way of life, either by birth, by manus, or by election.  Many people in the world will alter their affairs accordingly, so that they can take full advantage of these new American citizenship laws.  The end result is that America’s numbers are going to swell, not with illegal immigration, but with legal immigration and legal residency.  American men will have their options increased considerably, taking wives and residency here in America, or abroad.  It won’t matter much, as their wives and children can all be given citizenship and thus obtain the full benefits offered by American society.

In particular, foreign-bride manus marriage will sky-rocket, for foreign women will opt enter into it, that they can become fully Americanized by their husbands, which will nullify the current decline.  In other words, the historic practice of American men to take foreign brides because of their more submissive cultural conditioning, compared to feminist American women who refuse to submit to a man’s authority, has all but evaporated, due to these same foreign women coming to America, learning of these “womanus” laws, becoming feminist-ized, and then divorcing and destroying their families and marriages to their American men, through the corrupt “womanus” laws and courts.  All the cultural conditioning in the world cannot control the nature of women in a “womanus” environment.  But manus will change that condition, due to the ever present danger of manus divorce, which potentially leaves a woman who wants out with absolutely nothing—no resources, no children (for they are “children of men”) and no masculine protection—which potential condition the female of our species simply cannot deal with, causing her to submit in order to retain these benefits.  In other words, the “damsel in distress” foreigner will remain a “damsel in distress” in manus marriage, and submit to her husband, cutting down divorce statistics almost entirely and almost overnight.

The effect of these foreign bride marriages with manus will likewise cause a change among American women, who, feeling left out, will alter their ways and turn from their fighting feminist ways, choosing to enter into manus marriage, too, for being married in manus will be seen as better than not being married, at all.  This will cause American men to see the world as their oyster, for all the world’s females will want to be married to an American man and will revert to their submissive state, completely undoing all these years of feminist conditioning.  In other words, the War Between The Sexes, initiated by the feminists and conspirators, will suddenly come to an end, caused by the women of our nation, and all other nations, surrendering.

Genetic biodiversity, then, will explode in this country.  When you take the women of all nations and bring them together into one nation, and marry them to the men of that nation, something magical happens.  No other nation on the earth will be like America.  We call ourselves the melting pot, but we haven’t seen nothing, yet.  The NAC will cause a genetic upgrade in Americans that they simply will not be expecting, thinking that the NAC is merely a political law and will not affect them genetically.

This genetic explosion, on the marriage front, will be matched on the foreign resident front, as men come here from other countries, become citizens by election, and take American wives.  The current practice of illegal immigrants coming here to have babies, the so-called anchor babies, to obtain benefits or to make an easier transition to citizenship, will end.  People will come here legally for the freedoms and liberties and opportunities America offers, to become citizens and residents, to work and prosper in the land, to improve their lives and the lives of their children, and contribute to the great American society, not to suckle the government teats, for their will be no more governments teats from which to suckle.  The NAC gets rid of the national teats and gives Americans the nullification power to get rid of all those State teats, effectively taking away the carrots.

Not only will American society, on American soil, change dynamically before everyone’s very eyes, as if the hand of God were suddenly starting to bless them in ways they had never imagined, but also Americans will alter world societies, as American men and women take their children to other countries, acting as a sort of leavening for the entire world, spreading around the spirit of freedom that is found here, abroad.  This will be infectious and all will take immediate notice.

In short, these and other sections of the NAC will vastly alter American and world conditions.

Passports, yes, but not required

Article XII. Section 4.  Congress shall issue a certificate to any natural-born or naturalized citizen of any State, who requests it, which shall certify that the same is a United States citizen, and which shall state the name and resident address of the citizen, and bear the signature of the citizen, and the seal of the united States in Congress assembled, which shall be a shackled and chained hand whose bonds are being broken apart by a pair of hands wielding a hammer and a chisel, or some other seal image, which Congress shall have power to determine, by law, but such certificates shall not bear the bearer’s image, nor any other information about the bearer, save the name and address and signature of the same; and such certificates shall request to all to whom it may concern to permit the bearer to pass through international borders without delay or hindrance and, in case of need, to give all lawful aid and protection.  No natural-born or naturalized citizen of any State shall be required to bear such certificates, or any other identifying documents or effects, to leave the jurisdictional boundaries of these United States, nor to enter them.

Notice, in particular, the seal description: “and the seal of the united States in Congress assembled, which shall be a shackled and chained hand whose bonds are being broken apart by a pair of hands wielding a hammer and a chisel,” which seal image is in keeping with the general theme of liberty that permeates the NAC.  This section, obviously, is aimed at the conspirators, who wish to have everyone biometrically scanned and implanted and chipped and documented, like a bunch of cattle.

Congress to control passage of people; States, passage of goods

Article XII. Section 5.  The united States in Congress assembled shall have power to prohibit all non-citizens, who are not also the people of any of the States, from entering through the international land and sea borders of the Confederacy, and through all the air travel points of entry, for any reason whatsoever, excepting only race, culture, skin color, sex, age, disability, religion, creed, and physical characteristics. Any and all such prohibitions shall be enforceable by the watchmen established by Congress at the international borders, according to law.

Article XII. Section 6.  Any State that has one or more international points of entry, or an international land or sea border, shall have power to restrict, according to law, imported goods brought through such entry points and borders, by any person, excepting personal weapons.

Notice, again, that although the States can restrict goods, they can’t restrict personal weapons.  These passages are going to weaponize America and cause nightmares in the conspirators.  Notice, also, that Congress is restricted from controlling commerce.  The “commerce clause” of the USC has opened up the floodgates of big, intrusive government, drowning the American people in a sea of regulations and restrictions.  That won’t happen again under the NAC.  Commerce control goes back to the States, thank you very much; and Congress, you just get to control the passage of people at our borders.  The effect of these sections will be enormous, as the American economy will lurch forward like a charging bull finally released from its bonds.

Conclusion

Citizenship and immigration are, understandably, important to all Americans, many of whom are from foreign countries, or whose ancestors are from foreign countries.  It is to be expected that Article XII of the NAC will be a major talking point.  It is also expected that virtually all Americans will recognize the superiority and wisdom of the NAC’s immigration and citizenship policy in comparison to the national government policy under the USC, which has created a breeding ground for illegal immigration activity.  Also, the stifling of the economy, had under the USC, will cease under the NAC.  All of this continues to show that on every front, the NAC keeps coming out the winner.

Feel free to disagree on any point mentioned in this post. Bring your strongest reasons against the NAC and let’s have an open debate. And for those who like the NAC and want to install it as the Supreme Law of the land, here is my advice and prediction (and also see this comment, and this comment and this comment) :

A continual strategy of debate will install the NAC in this country and I challenge anyone to prove me wrong. I say that Americans will jump at the chance to debate the NAC and to show that the Constitution is better, but, according to the rules of the debate, they will have to read the NAC first, and once read, they will be hard pressed to defend the Constitution. Thus, everyone who hears, or watches, or reads, or participates in, a NAC debate, will become convinced that the NAC is what this country needs.

To read the other parts of this series, click any of these links:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,

Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10,

Part 11, Part 12, Part 13.

Also see: The New Articles of Confederation (NAC) and The Right to Abolish, Revert and Replace Amendment.

Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist

Confederalist Paper #1 – Introduction

Confederalist Paper #1

Making a Case for a New American Confederacy under the New Articles of Confederation (NAC)

Introduction

To the People of all the States of Union:

AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting national government, you are called upon to deliberate on New Articles of Confederation (NAC) for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind.

This idea will add the inducements of philanthropy to those of patriotism, to heighten the solicitude which all considerate and good men must feel for the event. Happy will it be if our choice should be directed by a judicious estimate of our true interests, unperplexed and unbiased by considerations not connected with the public good. But this is a thing more ardently to be wished than seriously to be expected. The plan offered to our deliberations affects too many particular interests, innovates upon too many local institutions, not to involve in its discussion a variety of objects foreign to its merits, and of views, passions and prejudices little favorable to the discovery of truth.

Among the most formidable of the obstacles which the New Articles of Confederation will have to encounter may readily be distinguished the obvious interest of a certain class of men in every State to resist all changes which may hazard a diminution of the power, emolument, and consequence of the offices they hold under the State and National establishments; and the perverted ambition of another class of men, who will either hope to aggrandize themselves by the confusions of their country, or will flatter themselves with fairer prospects of elevation from the continuation of the forced union of the empire under one national government than from its voluntary union into one confederacy.

It is not, however, my design to dwell upon observations of this nature. I am well aware that it would be disingenuous to resolve indiscriminately the opposition of any set of men (merely because their situations might subject them to suspicion) into interested or ambitious views. Candor will oblige us to admit that even such men may be actuated by upright intentions; and it cannot be doubted that much of the opposition which has made its appearance, or may hereafter make its appearance, will spring from sources, blameless at least, if not respectable–the honest errors of minds led astray by preconceived jealousies and fears. So numerous indeed and so powerful are the causes which serve to give a false bias to the judgment, that we, upon many occasions, see wise and good men on the wrong as well as on the right side of questions of the first magnitude to society. This circumstance, if duly attended to, would furnish a lesson of moderation to those who are ever so much persuaded of their being in the right in any controversy. And a further reason for caution, in this respect, might be drawn from the reflection that we are not always sure that those who advocate the truth are influenced by purer principles than their antagonists. Ambition, avarice, personal animosity, party opposition, and many other motives not more laudable than these, are apt to operate as well upon those who support as those who oppose the right side of a question. Were there not even these inducements to moderation, nothing could be more ill-judged than that intolerant spirit which has, at all times, characterized political parties. For in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.

And yet, however just these sentiments will be allowed to be, we have already sufficient indications that it will happen in this as in all former cases of great national discussion. A torrent of angry and malignant passions will be let loose. To judge from the conduct of the opposite parties, we shall be led to conclude that they will mutually hope to evince the justness of their opinions, and to increase the number of their converts by the loudness of their declamations and the bitterness of their invectives.  A fanatical zeal for the energy and efficiency of centralized government is often the offspring of a temper fond of despotic power and hostile to the principles of liberty.  A scrupulous jealousy of danger to the rights of the people, which is more commonly the enlightenment of the head than of the heart, will be represented as mere pretense and artifice, the stale bait for popularity at the expense of the public good.  It will be forgotten, on the one hand, that jealousy is the usual concomitant of love, and that the noble enthusiasm of liberty is apt to be accompanied by a healthy dose of practical distrust.  On the other hand, it will be equally forgotten that the vigor of decentralized government is essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and well-informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of centralized government than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the rights of the people.  History will teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, for stronger government; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.

In the course of the preceding observations, I have had an eye, my fellow-citizens, to putting you upon your guard against all attempts, from whatever quarter, to influence your decision in a matter of the utmost moment to your welfare, by any impressions other than those which may result from the evidence of truth. You will, no doubt, at the same time, have collected from the general scope of them, that they proceed from a source not unfriendly to the New Articles of Confederation. Yes, my countrymen, I own to you that, after having given it an attentive consideration, I am clearly of opinion it is your interest to adopt it. I am convinced that this is the safest course for your liberty, your dignity, and your happiness. I affect not reserves which I do not feel. I will not amuse you with an appearance of deliberation when I have decided. I frankly acknowledge to you my convictions, and I will freely lay before you the reasons on which they are founded. The consciousness of good intentions disdains ambiguity. I shall not, however, multiply professions on this head. My motives must remain in the depository of my own breast. My arguments will be open to all, and may be judged of by all. They shall at least be offered in a spirit which will not disgrace the cause of truth.

I propose, in a series of papers, to discuss the following interesting particulars: — The utility of the UNION to your political prosperity — The insufficiency of the present Constitution to preserve the liberties of that Union — The necessity of a government at least equally energetic with the one proposed, to the attainment of this object — The conformity of the proposed New Articles of Confederation to the true principles of confederal government — Its analogy to your own state constitution — and lastly, The additional security which its adoption will afford to the preservation of that species of government, to liberty, and to property.

In the progress of this discussion I shall endeavor to give a satisfactory answer to all the objections which shall have made their appearance, that may seem to have any claim to your attention.

It may perhaps be thought superfluous to offer arguments to prove the utility of the UNION, a point, no doubt, deeply engraved on the hearts of the great body of the people in every State, and one, which it may be imagined, has no adversaries. But the fact is, that we already hear it whispered in the private circles of those who oppose the New Articles of Confederation, that the fifty States are of too great extent for any general system, and that we must of necessity resort to secession and to separate confederacies or national governments of distinct portions of the whole. This doctrine will, in all probability, be gradually propagated, till it has votaries enough to countenance an open avowal of it. For nothing can be more evident, to those who are able to take an enlarged view of the subject, than the alternative of an adoption of the New Articles of Confederation or a dismemberment of the Union. It will therefore be of use to begin by examining the advantages of that Union, the certain evils, and the probable dangers, to which every State will be exposed from its dissolution. This shall accordingly constitute the subject of my next address.

A CONFEDERALIST

P.S.  I am including the words of a distinguished colleague of mine from Massachusetts who is as equally opposed to the continuation of the U.S. Constitution and in favor of adopting the New Articles of Confederation as I am:

I am pleased to see a spirit of inquiry burst the band of constraint upon the subject of the New Articles of Confederation (NAC) and the United States Constitution (USC), which was a PLAN ENACTED for consolidating the governments of the United States. If either is suitable to the GENIUS and HABITS of the citizens of these states, it will bear the strictest scrutiny. The PEOPLE are the grand inquest who have a RIGHT to judge of their merits.

The hideous daemon of Aristocracy has hitherto had so much influence as to bar the channels of investigation, preclude the people from inquiry and extinguish every spark of liberal information of the qualities of the U.S. Constitution. At length the luminary of intelligence begins to beam its effulgent rays upon this important production; the deceptive mists cast before the eyes of the people by the delusive machinations of its INTERESTED advocates begins to dissipate, as darkness flies before the burning taper; and I dare venture to predict, that in spite of those mercenary declaimers, the U.S. Constitution will have a candid and complete examination.

Those furious zealots who are for continuing to cram it down the throats of the people, without allowing them either time or opportunity to scan or weigh it in the balance of their understandings, in comparison to the New Articles of Confederation, bear the same marks in their features as those who have been long wishing to erect an aristocracy in this State of Massachusetts. Their menacing cry is for a RIGID government, it matters little to them of what kind, provided it answers THAT description. As the New Articles of Confederation now offered diametrically opposes their wishes, and is the most dissonant to their views of any they can hope for, they come boldly forward and DEMAND its denunciation.

They brand with infamy every man who is not as determined and zealous in favor of the U.S. Constitution as themselves. They cry aloud the USC must be swallowed or none at all, thinking thereby to preclude any replacement; they are afraid of having it abated of its present RIGID aspect. They have also strived to overawe or seduce printers to stifle and obstruct a free discussion of the NAC, and have endeavored to further reduce the memory of the people by its concealment from their view, hastening their forgetfulness, before the people can duty reflect upon its properties. In order to deceive them, they incessantly declare that none can discover any defect in the present national system except bankrupts who wish no government.  But many of these voices are from officers of the present government who fear to lose a part of their power. These zealous partisans may injure their own cause, and endanger the public tranquility by impeding a proper inquiry; the people may suspect the WHOLE CONSTITUTION to be a dangerous system, from such COVERED and DESIGNING schemes to continue to enforce it upon them.

Compulsive or treacherous measures to perpetuate any government whatever, will always excite jealousy among a free people: better remain single and alone, than blindly adopt whatever a few individuals shall demand, be they ever so wise. I had rather be a free citizen of the small republic of Massachusetts, than an oppressed subject of the great American empire. Let all act understandingly or not at all. If we can confederate upon terms that wilt secure to us our liberties, it is an object highly desirable, because of its additional security to the whole. If the U.S. Constitution has proved such an one, I hope it will remain established, but if it has endangered our liberties as it stands, let it be replaced by the NAC; in order to which it must and ought to be open to inspection and free inquiry.

The inundation of abuse that has been thrown out upon the heads of those who have had any doubts of the Constitution’s universal good qualities, have been so redundant, that it may not be improper to scan the characters of its most strenuous advocates. It will first be allowed that many undesigning citizens may wish its permanence from the best motives, but these are modest and silent, when compared to the greater number, who endeavor to suppress all attempts for investigation. These violent partisans are for having the people gulp down the gilded pill blindfolded, whole, and without any qualification whatever.

These consist generally, of the NOBLE order of Cincinnatus, holders of public securities, men of great wealth and expectations of public office, Bankers and Lawyers: these with their train of dependents form the Aristocratick combination. The Lawyers in particular, keep up an incessant declamation for its permanence; like greedy gudgeons they long to satiate their voracious stomachs with the golden bait. The numerous tribunals that have been erected by the U.S. Constitutional PLAN of consolidated empire, have found employment for ten thousand times their former numbers under the previous system; these are the LOAVES AND FISHES for which they hunger. They have found it suited to THEIR HABITS, if not to the HABITS OF THE PEOPLE. There may be reasons for having but few of them in any Convention of the States, lest THEIR OWN INTEREST should be too strongly considered. The time draws near for the choice of governmental systems. I hope my fellow-citizens will look well to the Supreme Law of their preference, and remember the Old Patriots of 1775; they never led them astray, nor need they fear to follow their example on this momentous occasion.

ANOTHER CONFEDERALIST

Brought to you by CINAC [pronounced Ki-NACK] – The Coalition for the Installation of the New Articles of Confederation

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The USC Sucks, etcetera: Part 11 of an Open Debate—The NAC’s Article XI (The American Jubilee)

Article XI of the NAC answers the questions, “What do we do with all those assets that the former behemoth of a national government held?” and also, “How do we deal with all its debts?”  The former question is answered by simply transferring the assets and possessions and properties from the former national Congress to the federal Congress under the NAC, but the federal Congress cannot just do whatever they want with them, but must dispose of them as the NAC dictates.  Some properties will be retained and used by Congress, some will be returned to former owners and others will be sold or donated to the States.  The effect will be like letting the air out of a gigantic, over expanded balloon that fills up the available space of a location and blocks the view of everything behind it, causing it to deflate and lay flat on the ground, allowing people to finally observe the panorama.  All that stuffy, inflated tension will vanish, seemingly overnight, and Americans will finally be able to breath in a new environment of small and limited government, which will cause a great many people to realize that there is more to life than government.

In like manner, the NAC disposes of the debt, but in jubilee style:

Jubilee, Year of

A name given to every 50th year. It got its name from the fact that the beginning of the year was announced by the blowing of a trumpet on the Day of Atonement. In it land that had changed hands, except in non-Levitical walled cities, reverted to the family to which it had belonged at the original settlement, and all bondmen of Israelite birth were set free (Lev. 25:8–16, 23–55; 27:16–25). We have no record in the Old Testament of the observance of any year of jubilee, but the prophets allude to it in various passages. See Sabbatical Year.  (Taken from the Bible Dictionary entry of the same name.)

In a sense, all American “bondmen” are set free from the debts of their former government.  The debts contracted by the national government do not pass to the American people, nor to the States, but the year of the passage of the NAC becomes a sort of jubilee year.  As the “original settlement” of the American people were the Articles of Confederation, this act of reverting back to the Articles, (perfected in the NAC,) resets the debt to zero.

The Federal Reserve is specifically targeted by the NAC

Article XI. Section 3.  That government fiat shall never again exist in the land, all notes in circulation within the confines of the Confederacy, which are held by the people of the several States, which were authorized by the previous national government, through its agents, and given legal tender status, being debt instruments, shall be redeemed by said agents, in coin which is in the standard fixed by Congress, or in certificates backed by and redeemable for the same, by turning out property held by the said agents, or otherwise, as the case may require, that all such debts are cancelled out in due time, and Congress shall have power to regulate and enforce said redemptions, that all such business is transacted in a prompt and proper manner, according to law.

This means that the American people are not going to be left holding worthless paper when the NAC passes.  These pieces of paper will have to be redeemed into real money, by the Federal Reserve.  Now, when the heads of the Federal Reserve banks get wind of the NAC, and specifically when they read this section, they are going to poop their pants, for this is going to level them to the ground.  This brings to mind a few scriptures:

And it came to pass that Moroni commanded that his army should go against those king-men, to pull down their pride and their nobility and level them with the earth, or they should take up arms and support the cause of liberty.

And it came to pass that the armies did march forth against them; and they did pull down their pride and their nobility, insomuch that as they did lift their weapons of war to fight against the men of Moroni they were hewn down and leveled to the earth.  (Alma 51:17-18)

Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.  (James 1:9-10)

I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine.  And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine.  But it must needs be done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low.  (D&C 104:14-16)

The pride and nobility of these Federal Reserve bankers is going to be pulled down and they will be made low by the NAC.  It will be interesting to see what kind of reaction we will get from them.  Will they commit suicide like what happened during the Great Depression?  (Many rich men cannot fathom being without their wealth.  They would rather die than live without their wealth.)  Will they attempt to ensconce their wealth offshore and flee the land?  If so, I suppose those Letters of Marque and Reprisal authorized by the NAC will be issued almost immediately upon passage of the NAC to retrieve the crooks and their stolen loot.

Certain records to be destroyed

Article XI. Section 5.  Congress shall destroy all records and information which was obtained by the former national government through general warrants, and any property which was confiscated through such warrants, shall be returned, by Congress, to the rightful owners, if possible, and if not possible, Congress shall use or dispose of them according to their lawfulness; and all the rest of the records shall be placed into the congressional archives.

The NAC considers general warrants to be an abomination, so an exception is made to records and information that were obtained unlawfully (through general warrants.)  These must be destroyed so that the privacy of the individuals who had their rights infringed upon is restored to them.

Only five, but sweeping, sections

Article XI only has five sections to it, but they are powerful and clearly show the superiority of the NAC to the USC.  To compare:

Under the USC, we have an all-encompassing monster, gobbling up every asset, possession, property, right and privilege that it can, growing larger seemingly day-by-day and hour-by-hour.  It lives to eat and saddles the American people with its debts, which are never given a release (a jubilee.)  It creates money by fiat, out of thin air, like a magic act, which eats away at the people’s wealth from moment to moment, creating an ever-widening plantation of slaves and serfs.  The group that brought the con known as the Federal Reserve live in exorbitant wealth, like kings, all stolen from the people through intrigue and conspiracy with the monster at the helm, fully protected from any prosecution.  They are criminals and they know it, and the government knows it, but under the USC these crooks are allowed full sway.   Add to that the abomination of general warrants and you get, essentially, a government operating with kingly authority, not as a just king, but as an iniquitous king.  All that (and more abomination) is what we have under the USC.

The NAC, though, considers our break with King George to be a permanent thing.  There is to be an end to both kings and governments exerting kingly authority.  Under the NAC, we get a huge reduction in government size and a relief from both consumer and government debt.  The government debt is relieved by the jubilee, while the consumer debt is relieved by taking away the debased currency of the people and restoring to them the sound currency they were supposed to have, which was, essentially, their birthright.  The very crooks that took away their birthright are made to pay for the transition back to it.  General warrants are both abolished and the effects of them upon the people are redressed.  And so on.  In effect, the NAC operates as a just king, righting whatever wrongs it perceives.

In conclusion, let’s rejoice

Americans are under an enormous amount of stress these days.  Eroding freedoms, coupled with eroding wealth and a debased currency, coupled with government debt and criminal corruption, etc., are taking their toil on the American people.  This is, of course, by design of certain conspiring men, to break us.  When taking all these and other oppressive things into consideration, which pressures just keep building, and given the uncertainty of the future, and the fear mongers’ and doomsayers’ dire predictions, it is understandable that many Americans do not have much hope for the future.

Yet there is hope for the future, and it is grand.  The dictionary summarizes “jubilee” as:

a special anniversary; also : a celebration at the time of such an anniversary

It also defines it as:

often capitalized :  a year of emancipation and restoration provided by ancient Hebrew law to be kept every 50 years by the emancipation of Hebrew slaves, restoration of alienated lands to their former owners, and omission of all cultivation of the land

The NAC, then, is intended to be America’s first jubilee.  We are to be fully emancipated and restored by it.  So, Americans need not hang their heads down in hopelessness.  They can now lift their heads in anticipation of the grand, nationwide celebrations that will surely occur upon passage of the NAC.  In other words, this is in reality a time to rejoice.

Feel free to disagree on any point mentioned in this post. Bring your strongest reasons against the NAC and let’s have an open debate. And for those who like the NAC and want to install it as the Supreme Law of the land, here is my advice and prediction (and also see this comment, and this comment and this comment) :

A continual strategy of debate will install the NAC in this country and I challenge anyone to prove me wrong. I say that Americans will jump at the chance to debate the NAC and to show that the Constitution is better, but, according to the rules of the debate, they will have to read the NAC first, and once read, they will be hard pressed to defend the Constitution. Thus, everyone who hears, or watches, or reads, or participates in, a NAC debate, will become convinced that the NAC is what this country needs.

To read the other parts of this series, click any of these links:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,

Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10,

Part 11, Part 12, Part 13.

Also see: The New Articles of Confederation (NAC) and The Right to Abolish, Revert and Replace Amendment.

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The USC Sucks, etcetera: Part 9 of an Open Debate—The NAC’s Articles VII-IX (Judiciary, Powers & War)

Judiciary

Article VII of the NAC includes, almost in its entirety, the text of the judicial process and powers given in the original Articles of Confederation (AOC), except that a new procedure is put forth for determining who will be the judges when the parties cannot agree as to who will form the court.  Apart from that, everything else is pretty much the same.  The effect is a super-scaled down version of a judiciary from the all-powerful SCOTUS we have today, which the authors of the Federalist Papers (which really should have been named the Nationalist Papers) called the weakest branch of the constitutional government, but which currently wields vast powers over the people and the States in its decisions.

In Federalist No. 78, Hamilton says that the Judiciary branch of the proposed government would be the weakest of the three because it had “no influence over either the sword or the purse, …It may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment.” There was little concern that the judiciary would be able to overpower the political branches; congress controls the money flow and the President controls the military. Courts, on the other hand, do not have the same clout from a constitutional design standpoint. The judiciary depends on the political branches to uphold its judgments. Legal academics often argue over Hamilton’s description of the judiciary as the “least dangerous” branch. Hamilton also explains how federal judges should retain life terms as long as those judges exhibit good behavior.  (Wikipedia entry on Federalist No. 78)

In conjunction with Article VII, there is also this section:

Article X. Section 5.  As the decisions of the supreme court of the former national government were made according to that law which was the United States Constitution and its treaties, which law is no longer binding upon the States, nor upon the people thereof, neither shall such decisions be binding upon any of the States, nor upon their people.

These two parts of the NAC then, which deal with Congressional judicial matters, grant Congress extremely limited judicial jurisdiction, just as the AOC did, and negate all the prior SCOTUS decisions.  (See, for example, this list of Twenty-Five Landmark Cases in Supreme Court History to get a feel of what will be wiped out by the NAC.)  Nevertheless, some things that SCOTUS ruled on will be retained by the NAC.  For example, the following two rulings, regarding the right to remain silent, are addressed by the NAC:

Miranda v. Arizona, 1966
“You have the right to remain silent …”

After police questioning, Ernesto Miranda confessed to kidnapping and raping a woman. The Court struck down his conviction, on grounds that he was not informed of his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination. Hereafter, the Miranda warnings have been a standard feature of arrest procedures.

SCOTUS ruling: Silence can be evidence as guilt

A 5-4 ruling upheld the murder conviction of a Texas man who bit his lip when an officer asked him about shotgun shells

Here is how the NAC addresses them:

Article II. Section 2. (13) the right to remain silent shall not be violated, and shall be self-executing, being claimed merely by refusing to speak or communicate, and no person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself nor to communicate in any way;

But all the other judgments will be null and void, including this recent doozy by SCOTUS:

Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015), is a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held in a 5–4 decision that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  (Wikipedia entry on Obergefell v. Hodges)

For the most part, the States will judge all matters, though they will also be constrained by the NAC, per this section:

Article X. Section 10.  These articles of Confederation, and all the treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the united States in Congress assembled, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Laws or Constitution of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

Powers

Article VIII contains a list of Congressional powers and also deals with the powers granted to the United States Committee when Congress is not in session.

Now, the main difference between the USC and the NAC when it comes to their respective powers is that under the USC, government power has become, in effect, unlimited.  This is because of a perversion in reading the “general welfare” clause of the USC, as well as other clauses that have been interpreted as granting enormous powers.  The NAC, though, keeps everything very limited, quite enumerated, and makes no allowance for generalities.  It literally shackles the government and says, in effect, “You can do this and nothing more.”  So, on the one hand we have the behemoth of the national government (the USC’s incorrectly named “federal” government,) which ostensibly claims that the USC grants all this power legitimately, and on the other hand we have a very small, but extremely effective (truly) federal government (the NAC’s Confederacy), which wields very limited power, but in a way that is quite useful, yet not oppressive to the people.  Limited government, then, is represented by the NAC and not by the USC.

As there is not much else in this article that, in my opinion, is revolutionary, except maybe for the fact that Congress must turn a profit on their business operations, I will proceed to the next article.

War with the Super-Armed Society

Article IX is the war article and it surely IS revolutionary.  The NAC completely alters the war activities of the nation from how they exist under the U.S. Constitution.  To begin with, the USC allows a standing army during peacetime and also military conscription, while the NAC does not:

Article II. Section 2. (3) because of the extreme danger posed to liberty, there shall be no standing army in times of peace, and military conscription shall be abolished forever;

On the surface that would seem to make the American people insecure, but in reality, it makes them more secure. Remember, the NAC creates a super-armed society:

Article II. Section 2. (1) as a well-armed populace, skilled in the use of all weapons, is essential for the security of the United States—in order to wage warfare against any enemy, foreign or domestic, that should threaten any of their rights—the right of the people to make, keep, bear and carry all manner of weapons of every kind, openly or concealed, shall not be infringed nor regulated;

Article IX Section 9. When men enlist in the armed forces, they shall have power to bring with them all their weapons of war, if they have them, and to retain and use them during battle, and Congress shall also supply the armed forces with other weapons and ammunition, and with other needed supplies, that the armed forces shall have all it needs, in abundance, to defend the Confederacy lands; and if the supplies of the armed forces are greatly reduced during wartime, each State shall open its militia supplies to the armed forces, by writ of Congress, to defend the land, and after a war is over and peace has been declared by Congress, all weapons and supplies, which are left, shall be returned to the rightful owners.

Article XII. Section 6. Any State that has one or more international points of entry, or an international land or sea border, shall have power to restrict, according to law, imported goods brought through such entry points and borders, by any person, excepting personal weapons.

America under the NAC will be the most weaponized society of the entire world.  Not only will all Americans possess a great deal of weapons, and of all types, but they will also be free to walk around fully armed pretty much anywhere they like.  This alone, will be a huge deterrent to foreign invaders and domestic conspirators alike.  A disarmed populace is easy pickings, while one that is armed is a great deal harder to overthrow and conquer.  But the super-armed society that the NAC creates the conditions for is a would-be conqueror’s worst nightmare.

The NAC doesn’t just address firearms, but all manner of weapons of every kind.  Why is this important?  Because firearms require bullets.  When your bullets run out, what do you do?  Just surrender?  No.  You reach for your javelin, and bow and arrows, and boomerangs, and throwing stars, and darts, and slings and stones, and swords, and axes, and everything else you’ve amassed.  You don’t surrender, YOU KEEP FIGHTING, with your other weapons.  The NAC fully arms the people with everything they need to defend the land by allowing them to exercise their right to fully arm themselves and defend the land.  It does not mandate that the people arm themselves, because it does not need to.  It only needs to allow them to exercise their rights and they will arm themselves.  Remember what Joseph Smith said when asked how he was able to govern such a vast people?  “I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.”  Well, if you allow a people to arm themselves with all manner of weapons of every kind, they arm themselves.  Why?  Because that is just the nature of things.

The entire populace as the standing army

This, then, causes the whole freaking populace to be the “standing army” in times of peace.  Who in their right mind wants to face 380 million, fully armed people?!  No one.  It is easier to conquer a nation when there is a standing army of half a million professional soldiers.  When you defeat the professional soldiers, you win the war, and the people’s leaders issue the official surrender in behalf of them.  Easy as pie.  But facing 380 million people?  That’s a hard pill to swallow.

Besides being wrong, conscription is ineffective

Everyone knows that military conscription is bad for soldiering.  (Or everyone should know.)  Those forced to fight do so reluctantly and make poor soldiers; they will desert at first opportunity, are bad for troop morale, etc.  Military conscription is not a good policy, despite the fact that it violates the people’s rights.  If you want to properly defend the land, you must have a policy that causes people to volunteer for service.

The NAC does just that.  How?  By creating the conditions for justified war.    When men feel like they are justified in taking up arms against an enemy, they volunteer in droves.  Justified war is defensive war and that is what the NAC is all about.

A restricted eligibility

Got a hankering for blood?  Wanna be able to crack open some heads and shoot you some people and not hafta go to jail?  Well, then, boy, the U.S. Armed Forces is the place for you!  We’ll send you to plenty of places overseas in conflicts and undeclared wars where you can have plenty of opportunity to kill to your heart’s content, even women and children, too!  All under the guise of protecting American interests, so you won’t be brought up on any charges.  Heck, if you get transferred to some of the prime prison locations we offer, you can even torture people, too!

Such is the sadistic state of military affairs under the USC.

The NAC corrects this trend toward barbarity by issuing the following decree:

Article IX. Section 9. Paragraph 2.  Men who are reluctant to contend with their enemies, and who are sorry to take up arms against them, and who are sorry to be the means of sending them out of this world, who do not delight in the shedding of blood, but who are willing to shed blood to defend their country, who are of sound mind and body, and who are of the strength of the Confederacy, even the young men and the middle-aged men, who are people of the States, shall be eligible to enlist in the armed forces. Men of blood shall at all times be barred from enlistment and if any blood-thirsty men are found within an army, or any that delight in bloodshed, their commanders shall promptly remove them from the ranks, or their commanders shall face charges and be held responsible for their murderous actions. Congress shall have power to extend, by law, enlistment to old men, and to women, and so forth, who are also people of the States, only if necessity requires it due to facing an enemy of overwhelming numbers, to marshal the entire population to defend the land, provided none such are blood-thirsty.

In other words, the honorable act of warfare, in which one defends against an attacker, is going to be restored back to its noble and civilized origins, under the NAC.  Warfare under the NAC is to defend, not to murder in order to further certain political or secretive agendas.  The NAC will take warfare out of the hands of the conspirators and put it back into the hands of the people.  The cause of war must be just (defending the land from an invading force) and also the defenders must be just (no would-be murderers allowed.)  The NAC then sets up the conditions for a righteous army.

Voluntary and freedom of choice

The voluntary nature of the enlistment allows the people themselves to decide the justness of any war.  If, for any reason, a war is deemed unjust by the populace, Congress will be unable to raise up an army, because all recruits must be voluntary and Congress will be unable to hire mercenaries or foreign forces.  Additionally, a recruit gets to pick the army he wants to join, “according to the commander they desire to follow into battle.”  This creates cohesion among the troops as friends and family will join the same units.

The restoration of Minutemen

The NAC also brings back the Minutemen, which are first responders in any given emergency.

The land is to be fortified

As the armed forces under the NAC cannot go beyond the land and sea borders

Article IX. Section 13. Paragraph 1.  at no time shall the armed forces go beyond the boundaries of the land and sea borders, for warfare shall never be fought upon enemy lands, nor upon neutral lands or seas, but only upon Confederacy lands and seas, for the armed forces shall only drive an invading force from the Confederacy land and sea borders, and there shall be no retaliation.

all fighting must be done upon our own lands and seas, therefore the NAC provides for fortifications to be built around the lands, cities, borders, with walls and lookout towers, etc., so that when it comes to war, we are prepared to defend.  These operations are all defensive in nature, as they are on our own lands, thus negating all offensive warfare that currently goes on under the USC.  This will be a total change in conditions which will create a sense of justified warfare that will resound in the hearts of the people.

No more spying upon the American people

Good-bye drones and all other things used to spy upon the American people under the USC.  The NAC does away with these things:

Article IX. Section 12. Paragraph 1.  no watchmen, nor anyone in the employ of this Confederacy, shall spy upon the people of the several States, nor shall any device of the Confederacy be operated to the same effect

Good-bye mercs, Blackwater and other security firms

Article IX. Section 12. Paragraph 1.  Congress shall not have power to employ private security firms, nor those who are not the people of the States.

Good-bye military-industrial complex

Article IX. Section 12. Paragraph 1.  Congress shall not have power to employ private manufacturing firms

Good-bye undeclared conflicts

Article IX. Section 13. Paragraph 3.  Congress shall have no power to assemble the armed forces except upon a declaration of war.

Letters of Marque and Reprisal are to be used

Article IX. Section 13. Paragraph 2.  when there are enemies of small numbers of less than a state or nation, consisting of one or more persons, or small groups or gangs, or when American prisoners have been taken captive abroad, Letters of Marque and Reprisal shall be issued to retrieve the prisoners or to deal with these small numbers of enemies, and not the armed forces, for the United States shall never use its armed forces to invade foreign lands.

While the USC has power to issue letters of marque and reprisal, in practice they are never used, for we’ve got a standing army that we can send overseas to build up the American empire.  So, these letters are pesky annoyances to would-be tyrants.  But the NAC makes them mandatory in certain situations.  Yet another shackle upon government.

No more sabre rattling

Article IX. Section 13. Paragraph 1.  If any nation, tongue or people should proclaim war against the Confederacy, or any one or more of its constituent States, Congress shall first lift a standard of peace, through its ambassadors, to that people, nation or tongue; and if that people does not accept the offering of peace, neither the second nor the third time, Congress shall be justified in waging war against them and shall declare war on them and prepare for war

We are not to be a belligerent nation, but a peaceful nation, trying to sue for and propose peace to those who wish to do us harm.  Three times Congress must do this and only then can they declare war.  This wording, enshrined in law, will make all nations view America as a land of peace, and not a land of war, despite the Americans being armed to the teeth.  This can only reduce the number of conflicts we will have with other nations.

Go in peace with a covenant of peace

Many of these enemy nations are using men who are conscripted or otherwise reluctant to fight us.  This NAC policy will cause many of them to put down their weapons against us:

Article IX. Section 14.  All prisoners of war that surrender their weapons with a covenant of peace—that they shall never again come against the Confederacy, or any of the States, or the American people, to war—shall be deported as free men, but no enemy soldiers shall be allowed to surrender their weapons, nor be afterwards released, unless they first take such an oath or covenant, except in the case in which an enemy force has also captured American soldiers, in which case enemy soldiers shall be allowed to surrender without an oath of peace, to be used as a ransom for the exchange of prisoners.

In fact, this may cause many of such men to not only leave in peace, but to come back as Americans, wanting to join the land and people who lift up such standards of peace.  In other words, enemy nations will be hard-pressed to convince their people to take up arms against the Americans, because of our peaceful natures manifested even during wartime.  The NAC sets up these curious conditions which can only have the effect of making Americans safe, both at home and abroad.  In other words, the NAC will make “being an American” in vogue in foreign lands and many will want to think of themselves, and also call themselves, “Americans.”  Foreigners will again come to love America and Americans.  No more will we be regarded as “the great Satan” by certain factions, or be spoken of in terms of empire building and pride, but many who now say we are in sin and error will have a change of heart and think, “It appears the Americans have repented.”  Friendly relations with all nations and people will go forth throughout the world and the eyes of all people will be on America.

The effect of all these war policies

On the one hand, the NAC will reduce or altogether eliminate war and conflict between Americans and other peoples.  Peace, freedom, liberty, these will be the things people think of when they think of America under the NAC.  The enslaved masses, enslaved by rights infringement and also economically through taxation will come to love what America represents.  So, the motivation for war will be almost entirely eliminated.

On the other hand, the NAC will create unheard of prosperity in America.  Which means that manufacturing will come home.  Which means that the American economy will finally be fully unleashed upon the world.  Which means that America will once again, and permanently, dominate the economic landscape, world-wide.  In every area.  This will cause disruptions in the manufacturing industries in China, and in the petroleum production of the Middle East, and in the textile-making industries around the world, and in the currencies markets, etc.  The NAC’s passage will send economic shockwaves throughout the world, causing all the world’s societies to enter a new, previously unknown condition, in which the entire world suddenly finds that their economic hats have been handed to them by the Americans.  That kind of total economic disruption can only destroy the economic power bases of some very powerful entities currently existing in the world.  These powerful entities are NOT going to like this.

Also, the rest of the world is taxed to the hilt and the plans are to increase them even more.  The NAC will eliminate all federal taxes and open up the opportunity to eliminate even the State taxes.  This, along with the enticement of living a life with full rights and privileges, will cause a mass exodus of all the world’s people toward America.  Some very powerful entities currently existing in the world need these masses of people, as taxpayers and also to enslave, through the infringement of their rights.  These very powerful entities are NOT going to like this.

A world war like no other

Now, the fortification of America, militarily, under the NAC, and the policy of “come and get us if you want a fight,” gives a home court advantage to America.  An invader has to cross one of the two oceans of water that surround us on either side.  This is costly and dangerous.  Invading America is a logistical nightmare.  But these very powerful entities are not going to sit idly by while America robs them of all their economic and population wealth (money and people.)  The passage of the NAC will be seen as if the prize (America) was snatched from their clutching fingers in the very moment they were closing their grasp tight to hold it forever.  While the world’s people will be cheering the NAC’s passage in the streets, these powerful people will, behind closed doors, be throwing a temper tantrum.  Like Amalickiah before them, they will be

exceedingly angry with [their] people, because [they] had not obtained [their] desire over the [Americans]; [they] had not subjected them to the yoke of bondage.  Yea, [they will be] exceedingly wroth, and [they will] curse God, and also [the Americans], swearing with an oath that [they will] drink [their] blood  (Alma 49:26-27)

As the NAC completely undoes the secret combinations and other conspiracies in government, found here in our land, destroying their ability to control America from the inside, this means they will have only ONE option, upon passage of the NAC: invade from the outside.

This other hand that I am describing, then, paints a picture of inevitable war, in which extremely powerful entities will use their people as fodder to regain control of America, by crossing the oceans to conquer us, by force of arms.

To the north, we have socialist Canada, which, ostensibly, is our friend.  Sure the people are friendly to us, but the government, and the powerful entities that control it, are friendly to us only at present.  Under the USC, we are under, essentially, a proto-socialist government, marching forward towards Marxism at an ever increasing rate.  Thus, Canada, and America under the USC, have much in common.  But when the NAC is installed, socialist Canada and the free American Confederacy will have NOTHING in common.  The friendship between the two nations will soon thereafter end.

To the south, we have corrupt Mexico, whose people love America, but whose government is corrupt from top to bottom, and whose drug cartels defy everyone.  This government, to our south, is also ostensibly friendly to us.  But corrupt Mexico and the corrupt national government of the USA have much in common currently, namely, corruption.  Enter the NAC and that commonality goes by-by.  The NAC will be able to eliminate corruption on the federal level, and also on the State levels (through grand jury presentments), making the new Confederacy squeaky clean from the start.  Also, the newly super-armed American populace will have all they need to deal with the drug cartels, as well as the street and criminal gangs found among them.  Do you think the Americans will not move immediately to eliminate these sources of corruption?  Do you think that criminal gangs are not going to have their options severely reduced by the American people upon passage of the NAC?  Surely they will.  The Americans, upon finding themselves free from the tyrannies of the national government will certainly turn their eyes to every observable corruption found among themselves, and they will organize themselves and deal with the gangs and cartels in a hot minute, sending all the criminals left alive running to the borders.

Thus, Canada and Mexico, upon passage of the NAC, will no longer be as friendly as they formerly were.  And the socialists of Canada will then conspire with other powerful foreign entities, to take out America.  (For Canada is too weak to take us on alone.)  And the cartels and corrupt interests in Mexico will use their government influence to conspire with other powerful foreign entities, to take out America.  (For Mexico is too weak to take us on alone.)

Now, neither Canada, nor Mexico, working together, can deal with America under the NAC.  No, sir; they will most certainly need help.  And help they will get, because those two oceans of water create too much of an obstacle for the conspiring powerful people.  A proper invasion needs to come from the land.  And from the land, as well as from the sea, it will inevitably come, for these powerful foreign entities will conspire with Canada to enter into America from the north, and with Mexico to enter into America from the south, as well as sending their troops over the waters.

Everyone thinks that the next world war (World War Three) is going to happen in the Middle East and that it will be the final conflict, even Armageddon.  But there is a world war that is mentioned in the scriptures that is going to take place right here, in good ol’ America, after the NAC passes.  For China and Russia and everyone else that wants a piece of the American pie, (which is everyone,) are going to conspire to take on the world’s first super-armed society, thinking that with their huge numbers it surely can be done.  But, the NAC has already anticipated and prepared for that.

When those troops get here, there will be fortifications everywhere, even at the borders of Canada and Mexico, and in all the cities and lands.  And many of these troops will know of our war policies, and how if they surrender their weapons with a covenant of peace, they can go.  There will be very many defections of the invading army.  There will be many who will switch sides in the midst of the conflict.  The enemy, of course, will understand that this is a very likely possibility, so they will not extend the war, but will come with their limitless numbers to win a decisive and quick victory, if possible.

What will the outcome be?  Why, victory for the Americans, of course:

And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles, and they did prosper and obtain the land for their inheritance; and I beheld that they were white, and exceedingly fair and beautiful, like unto my people before they were slain.

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.

And I beheld that their mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.

And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to battle.

And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.  (1 Nephi 13:15-19)

But behold, this land,

said God,

shall be a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land.  And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles.  And I will fortify this land against all other nations.  (2 Nephi 10:10-12)

Notice that the prophecy says ALL other nations.  So, this is going to be a war in which the nations of the entire world participate, a truly world war, fulfilling the prophecy in which “war shall be poured out upon all nations” (D&C 87:3.)  And it is going to happen here in America.  Not under the USC, but under the NAC (or something like it.)

The plan under the USC

The conspirators do not want to invade externally.  They want to use the USC to entirely emasculate the male population of America, to the point that they just either voluntarily give up all their rights, or are too weak to stop the police state from taking whatever rights are still left.  The coup d’état is planned to be done internally, with external support on an as needed basis, or, even better yet, just the threat of external support.  This is why the land is almost entirely devoid of fortifications at present.  The plan is to emasculate the men, take from them their rights and privileges, disarm them, and leave their cities, lands and borders completely defenseless, so that all who resist will be mowed down with minimal casualties on the part of the conspirators.

And, behold, the enemy is combined.  And now I show unto you a mystery, a thing which is had in secret chambers, to bring to pass even your destruction in process of time, and ye knew it not  (D&C 38:12-13)

But let the enemy combine all they want.  Their plan will not work, for the NAC completely demolishes this scheme, leaving them no other option except externally applied warfare, (for the conspirators will not allow America to slip through their fingers.)

This picture is not meant to alarm anyone

On the one hand I am painting a picture of reduced or eliminated warfare, while on the other hand the picture is one of a conspiracy-inspired, all-out, world war, initiated by extremely desperate and evil men.  These are the two possible scenarios that may occur under the NAC.

Some may be tempted to think that the USC seems better if those are our two possible NAC futures.  But the USC future is one of enslavement, in which we lose everything without even having the chance to fight.  The NAC future is one of freedom, in which we gain everything without fighting, but then we will have to maintain our rights and privileges against those who will try to take them from us, by force of arms.  Only those with a slave mentality, who don’t mind being a captive to tyrants, would choose the USC over the NAC.  The NAC is superior to the USC because it gives us freedom and liberty that the USC does not give us, plus it gives us the very means we need to maintain these same freedoms and liberties, which, again, the USC does not give us.  The USC only gives us a false hope and lip-service of freedom and liberty, without delivering the actual goods.  The NAC delivers, but it will be up to us to use those goods to remain free.  So, an effectual struggle is still ahead of us, and the NAC foresees this, and so it does not leave us disarmed and without fortifications, like sitting ducks, as the USC does.

Feel free to disagree on any point mentioned in this post. Bring your strongest reasons against the NAC and let’s have an open debate. And for those who like the NAC and want to install it as the Supreme Law of the land, here is my advice and prediction (and also see this comment, and this comment and this comment) :

A continual strategy of debate will install the NAC in this country and I challenge anyone to prove me wrong. I say that Americans will jump at the chance to debate the NAC and to show that the Constitution is better, but, according to the rules of the debate, they will have to read the NAC first, and once read, they will be hard pressed to defend the Constitution. Thus, everyone who hears, or watches, or reads, or participates in, a NAC debate, will become convinced that the NAC is what this country needs.

To read the other parts of this series, click any of these links:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,

Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10,

Part 11, Part 12, Part 13.

Also see: The New Articles of Confederation (NAC) and The Right to Abolish, Revert and Replace Amendment.

Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist

The USC Sucks, etcetera: Part 7 of an Open Debate—The NAC’s Article VI & Conspiracies

A change in course

I said in the previous post that in my next installment I would discuss Article V, which covers monetary issues, but I’ve changed my mind.  I will, instead, jump to Article VI.

Full disclosure

The first 7 sections of Article VI give Congress the responsibility to keep accurate records for all its operations and puts forth the principle that “there shall be full disclosure and transparency in all the affairs of the Confederacy” (Section 6.)  So, secrecy is out. Full disclosure also allows the people to exercise their right to nullify the laws that they don’t like by their voice.  These are all the parts of the NAC that deal with this right to nullify:

Article II. Section 2. (24) the right of the people to nullify a law by their voice shall not be abridged;

Article VI. Section 5. Paragraph 2. At the conclusion of each session of Congress, the General Recorder shall publish the full congressional record for that entire session and deliver a copy of it to each member of Congress, and a copy shall also be delivered to each of the State legislatures, and a copy shall also be delivered to each of the main post offices throughout the Confederacy, for free inspection by the general public, that the citizens thereof, should they choose to exercise their right, may nullify by their voice any law they so choose; and all such laws nullified, by the voice of all the citizens of the several States, shall be null and void, and of none effect throughout the land.

Article X. Section 9. All bills passed into law by the voice of Congress and signed into law by the chief judge shall be considered acknowledged by the States and the people thereof; and the States and the people thereof, shall be obliged to abide by them, unless nullified by the citizens by their voice.

There is also Section 8 which is quite specific about the danger of secret combinations and Congress’ duty toward them:

Article VI. Section 8.There shall be no one sworn to secrecy in Congress, nor among any of their Officers, nor in the armed forces, nor in the employ of the Confederacy; and whoso is found combining in secret against Congress, or against the Confederacy, or against any State, or against the American people, or administering or taking secrecy oaths to hide facts from Congress, or to help such as seek power to gain power, or to help to get gain, or to murder, or to rob, or to steal, or to plunder, or to lie, or to commit any manner of crime, contrary to the law, that they might circumvent the law or that they might overthrow the rights and privileges and freedom of these lands, or of other lands and nations and countries, shall be charged and tried for treason; and whatsoever secret society is found to be a secret combination—entering into secret oaths and covenants, that the members of such would protect and preserve one another in whatsoever difficult circumstances they should be placed, that they should not suffer for their crimes, having secret signs and secret words, that they might distinguish a brother who had entered into the covenant, that whatsoever crimes his brother should do, he should not be injured by his brother, nor by those who belong to his band, who have taken the same covenant, swearing by their heads that whoso should vary from the assistance which the band desires should lose his head, and whoso should divulge whatsoever thing the band makes known to them, the same should lose his life, trying those who belong to their band, who reveal to the world their secret plans and plots and agreements and crimes, not according to the laws of their country, but according to the laws of their band—shall not be suffered to exist, but the united States in Congress assembled, upon discovery of such secret works and workers of darkness, shall use every means in their power to destroy all such bands from off the face of the earth, and also to bring to justice all those that build up the same; and whoso is found destroying the records of the Confederacy, to hide facts from Congress, shall also be charged and tried, according to the law.

This leads into the topic of dealing with conspiracies.

Mechanisms against conspiring men

Since joining the Mormon church I, like many other Mormons, have learned to take the conspiratorial view of history.  My (very Mormon) understanding is that conspiring men (and women) have put a whole lot of conspiratorial laws on the books, both at the national government and State levels, and even on the local levels.  By conspiratorial laws, I mean those laws that conspiring men (and women) have crafted under some false guise or ruse, but which only seek to undermine American society by emasculating the American men, taking away their rights and privileges, and consolidating their stolen masculine power into the hands of pretty much only the government.

When I wrote the NAC, I had a specific plan in mind, and I followed through in it, but as time went on, I kept getting more thoughts which added significantly to the NAC, making it altogether something different than my original plan.  Of note is that the original plan did not have any mechanisms to deal with conspirators in it.  It was just a Confederacy.  But as I wrote, a certain conspiratorial element began weaving its way into the text, giving mechanisms for dealing with conspiring men and women.  One of those mechanisms is the right of the majority to nullify any law they want by their voice.

A couple of examples of conspiratorial laws

Gun control laws, for example, are an example of conspiratorial laws.  A disarmed people is quite useful if your goal is to conquer that people, so doing away with the right to keep and bear arms under the guise of safety and security is merely a ruse, and is conspiratorial.

Another example is, for example, the VAWA (Violence Against Women Act.)  A man can get his right to keep and bear arms and his right to see his children taken away, not because he did something wrong, but because someone claimed they felt threatened by him.  The un-American notion of “guilty until proven innocent” is being thrust upon society by VAWA and other laws.  Such laws are all conspiratorial.

It’s all about the men

Men are the target of the conspirators, not the women or the children.  The men must be taken out, but they cannot in their empowered state, so they must be emasculated.  Think of the temple ceremony.  Did Satan approach Adam or Eve first?  Who was his primary target?  It was Adam.  Did Adam buckle?  Nope.  Adam was adamant in keeping God’s commandments.  So then Satan approached Eve.  Why?  Was it to destroy Eve?  Nope, it was to destroy Adam.  Adam was still the target.  Eve was weak even in her non-fallen state.  She was an easy kill.  Eve, in her non-fallen state, was tempted and ate of the fruit.  She was weak before the fall, despite being in a translated body, and she remained weak after, in her now mortal body.  Adam was strong before and also after.  Adam fell on purpose, not because he was tempted.

In like manner, all conspirators target the men, for they are guided by Satan, who gives them their plans.  The plan is ever the same, destroy the men (not the women.)  How?  By empowering the women with masculine power.  This will emasculate the men, and then the weakened men can be killed, along with their women.

Manus for protection

God put women under manus for a reason.  Men are powerful.  Even against Satan they are powerful.  Manus is a protection to women and children, not only from other men, but also from Satan.  Manus, then, must be destroyed.  (And manus has, in fact, been destroyed.  But the NAC would restore it.)

The destruction or disMANtling of manus frees women from the protection of men and emasculates the men.  But that is not enough, for even a man free of manus (and thus women and children) is still powerful.  A single man with no one under his manus is still a huge threat, as long as his rights and privileges are intact.  So, the elimination of manus is not the whole goal, but the emergence of a perversion, which I could call womanus.

Womanus for perversion

Womanus is having men and children under the power of a woman, so that she rules over them.  Also, the conspirators seek to put children over the men, again as their rulers.  The conspirators do not mind women and children ruling over the men because they are relatively weak compared to the men.  Therefore, once the men are sufficiently emasculated and the women and children rule over them, both men, women and children can easily be wiped out or enslaved.

Womanus, of course, is a pure fiction.  It does not exist, nor ever can, for women and children are too weak to rule over men unless they are empowered by some external masculine entity, such as the State’s male police force.  Thus evil men are conspiring against all other men under the guise of equality.  The whole thing is a ruse to put evil men in power, ruling over other men (and over everyone else).  To be plainer, this isn’t about the rights or empowerment of women or children, at all, but simply about a few men wanting to be kings over other men.  In other words, these conspiring men want all other men to be put under their manus.

Dealing with conspiratorial laws

There are three branches of power through which all conspiracies function in government.  The first, (and this is not in any particular order,) is through the force of arms, called the police state or even a standing army.  The second is though conspiratorial laws, which are laws that abridge the rights of man and pervert the established orders.  The third is through wicked judges and rulers.

The NAC provides provisions to deal with a standing army (by banning it in times of peace) :

Article II. Section 2. (3) because of the extreme danger posed to liberty, there shall be no standing army in times of peace, and military conscription shall be abolished forever;

and to deal with a police state (by creating a super-armed society) :

Article II. Section 2. (1) as a well-armed populace, skilled in the use of all weapons, is essential for the security of the United States—in order to wage warfare against any enemy, foreign or domestic, that should threaten any of their rights—the right of the people to make, keep, bear and carry all manner of weapons of every kind, openly or concealed, shall not be infringed nor regulated;

Article IX. Section 9. Paragraph 5. When men enlist in the armed forces, they shall have power to bring with them all their weapons of war, if they have them, and to retain and use them during battle, and Congress shall also supply the armed forces with other weapons and ammunition, and with other needed supplies, that the armed forces shall have all it needs, in abundance, to defend the Confederacy lands; and if the supplies of the armed forces are greatly reduced during wartime, each State shall open its militia supplies to the armed forces, by writ of Congress, to defend the land, and after a war is over and peace has been declared by Congress, all weapons and supplies, which are left, shall be returned to the rightful owners.

Article XII. Section 6. Any State that has one or more international points of entry, or an international land or sea border, shall have power to restrict, according to law, imported goods brought through such entry points and borders, by any person, excepting personal weapons.

and also to deal with conspiratorial laws (through the right to nullify by the people’s voice.)  It also provides a mechanism to route out government corruption (through the right of grand juries to file presentments) :

Article II. Section 2. (10) the right of grand juries to file presentments shall not be abridged or regulated;

But it remains silent on wicked judges, providing no mechanisms for that, for that is a State’s issue, and it would trample on the rights of the States if the NAC were to provide those mechanisms.  So, wicked, unjust judges must be dealt with by the people of each State, through mechanisms they, themselves, come up with, or by creating and applying the mechanism given by king Mosiah in Mosiah 29:28-29:

And now if ye have judges, and they do not judge you according to the law which has been given, ye can cause that they may be judged of a higher judge.

If your higher judges do not judge righteous judgments, ye shall cause that a small number of your lower judges should be gathered together, and they shall judge your higher judges, according to the voice of the people.

Although king Mosiah’s mechanism is not in the NAC, the foundation of liberty IS found in the NAC, which is the principle of doing business by the voice of the people, which is the right of the majority to choose their rulers.  (We Americans are said to be ruled by law, and not by men or kings, and as we choose our laws, we thus choose our rulers.)  Therefore, if the people of any State wishes to implement king Mosiah’s mechanism to weed out the wicked judges in their State, the NAC provides a legal precedent for that.

Now, concerning conspiratorial laws, evil king-men have already written many such laws (and more are coming to a State near you.)  And it is very easy to determine which laws are conspiratorial and which are not: everything and anything that emasculates American men, or which removes their rights and privileges, or which empowers women and children with stolen masculine power, is part of the conspiracy.  It is a “confound and confuse, and then conquer” strategy.  All role reversals are conspiratorial.  Example tactics: switch “children of men” to “children of women;” do away with manus and say it’s an “equal partnership,” but treat it literally as womanus.  Put everything in the power of women.  Foster manly qualities in women and womanly qualities in men.  Blur gender as much as possible.  Make all these things laws and enforce them with the police state.  Etc.

The right to nullify must be applied

States have been overrun with conspirators, just like the national government.  After passage of the NAC, grass root organizations need to be established to review the laws of each State, and all laws which subvert the rights and privileges of the people, or which reverse the proper order, need to be nullified.  In other words, the NAC fully cleans house on the Confederacy level but only gives “cleaning supplies” to the people so that they can clean their State and local houses, as well as keep the Confederacy spotless.  Unless the people use these supplies, the State and local governments will remain full of oppressive conspiratorial laws.

For those who aren’t aware of these conspiracies, an example

During my junior year in high school, the nuns asked about our plans for after we graduated. When I said I was going to attend State University, I noticed their disappointment. I asked my favorite nun, “Why?” She answered, “That means you’ll leave four years later a communist and an atheist!”

What a giggle we girls had over that. “How ridiculously unsophisticated these nuns are,” we thought. Then I went to the university and four years later walked out a communist and an atheist, just as my sister Katie had six years before me.  (Taken from Feminism is Communism)

When I was a missionary I began to notice a pattern in the people that I talked to.  Those who went to a four year university were all professed atheists.  So I began, early on, when I saw this pattern, to asked each person who said they were an atheist the following question: “Did you attend a university?”  Inevitably they said, “Yes.”  So, I would then ask them, “Did you have faith in God before you went to the university?”  Inevitably they all said, “Yes, but during school I changed my views.”  Now, that is just anecdotal, but I asked these same questions throughout my mission and not a single person answered me any differently.  For all appearances, the four year universities were churning out atheists of all the believers in God that entered them.

It was 1969. Kate invited me to join her for a gathering at the home of her friend, Lila Karp. They called the assemblage a “consciousness-raising-group,” a typical communist exercise, something practiced in Maoist China. We gathered at a large table as the chairperson opened the meeting with a back-and-forth recitation, like a Litany, a type of prayer done in Catholic Church. But now it was Marxism, the Church of the Left, mimicking religious practice:

“Why are we here today?” she asked.

“To make revolution,” they answered.

“What kind of revolution?” she replied.

“The Cultural Revolution,” they chanted.

“And how do we make Cultural Revolution?” she demanded.

“By destroying the American family!” they answered.

“How do we destroy the family?” she came back.

“By destroying the American Patriarch,” they cried exuberantly.

“And how do we destroy the American Patriarch?” she replied.

“By taking away his power!”

“How do we do that?”

“By destroying monogamy!” they shouted.

“How can we destroy monogamy?”

Their answer left me dumbstruck, breathless, disbelieving my ears. Was I on planet earth? Who were these people?

“By promoting promiscuity, eroticism, prostitution and homosexuality!” they resounded.

They proceeded with a long discussion on how to advance these goals by establishing The National Organization of Women. It was clear they desired nothing less than the utter deconstruction of Western society. The upshot was that the only way to do this was “to invade every American institution. Every one must be permeated with ‘The Revolution’”: The media, the educational system, universities, high schools, K-12, school boards, etc.; then, the judiciary, the legislatures, the executive branches and even the library system.  (Taken from Feminism is Communism)

All of the main conspiracies focus their attention mainly on destroying the patriarchy.  Can you guess why?  Remember Satan’s target?  It wasn’t Eve, it was Adam.  Adam was the patriarch in a patriarchal reign.  Now, it needs to be understood that Mormonism IS a patriarchy.  Period.  Patriarchy is not a man-made concept, but is divine.  Our Father is God.  He is our Patriarch.  He is our King.  His Firstborn Son has the right to rule.  His name is Jesus Christ.  This is how patriarchal reigns work, with the father as king and the firstborn son as his heir to the throne.

Lucifer, in the pre-mortal existence, attempted to destroy the Patriarchy that existed there.  He tried to overthrow the Patriarch (God) by becoming himself the heir to the throne, even though he wasn’t the Firstborn Spirit Son.  His coup, though, didn’t work and he was thrown out of heaven and cast down to earth.

Without going into a full exposition of this topic, Satan is doing the very same thing here on earth that he tried to do in the heavens above.  DOWN WITH THE PATRIARCHY! is the rhetoric.  Satan is a rebellious son that opposes all patriarchies, because patriarchies are ordained of God.

“And how do we destroy the American Patriarch?” she replied.

“By taking away his power!”

“Taking away his power” means emasculation.  The NAC, then, is a corrective to this extremely old satanic plan to destroy the world by destroying the power of men.  The NAC corrects the situation by re-empowering the men with stolen masculine power, and by emasculating the women.  Note that this is a reversal of what has been going on, for men have been emasculated and women have been empowered.  The NAC, then, turns things upside down from where they currently are.  In other words, the NAC is a restoration.

And now behold, is the meaning of the word restoration to take a thing of a natural state and place it in an unnatural state, or to place it in a state opposite to its nature?  O, my son, this is not the case; but the meaning of the word restoration is to bring back again [this for this and that for that]…  (Alma 41:12-13)

The natural state of men is fully empowered with masculine power, strength, authority and control.  The natural state of women is weakness.  Just as it is wrong or improper to take That Which Acts and That Which Is Acted Upon and switch the roles, so that the element now pushes the spirit around, so it is a perversion to empower women with masculine power and weaken men as if they were women.  The element chose to be pushed around, even to be acted upon.  In like manner, the spirit chose to act and to push the element around.  This is the joy of their creation, to do (or not to do) these things, according to their choice.  If you force the one to do the other’s job, there is no joy, only misery, for they are not fulfilling their creation.

The deception of the devil is to get us to believe what we used to not believe, and to get us to not believe what we used to believe, and to do what we never would have done, and not do what we definitely would have done.  In the heavens every one of us made covenants and rejoiced over Father’s patriarchal reign.  We were all for and loved the Patriarchy and it was us that kicked the devil out for challenging Father’s kingdom.  But here on earth we can be deceived by the devil.

I know a woman who can’t wait until the day of judgment, so that she can “give God a piece of her mind.”  She hates the patriarchal system.  What she doesn’t realize is that these thoughts proceed from Satan, not from her.  She is possessed of his evil spirit and so, like the devil, fights and hates God and His patriarchy.  The devil wants to give God a piece of his mind, doesn’t he?  The devil doesn’t repent and is capable of standing before God and defying Him, but she isn’t the devil.  She is merely acting under a demonic deception.  Upon her death and resurrection she will be brought back into the presence of God and she will remember her pre-mortal covenant that she made, in which she swore allegiance to God’s patriarchy and said she would not fall for the devil’s trickery and deception.  She would not be deceived but would support the kingdom of God no matter what.  Then all her defiance and defiant attitude will vanish away in an instant upon her resurrection (for the devil must retreat) and she will realize that those weren’t her thoughts, but thoughts implanted by the devil.  She loved God and His kingdom, but she will have to put her head down in shame at that day, knowing that she has failed the test.

Propaganda and law

Many of these conspiratorial laws are based upon false propaganda.  In other words, lies.  (And Satan is called the father of lies.)  Now the universities and schools of all grades are used by the conspirators to indoctrinate the masses in false propaganda, so that they accept and believe the false premises of the conspiratorial laws.  The NAC deals with this both directly and indirectly.  Directly, via the right to nullify, and indirectly by putting forth the unrestricted and unregulated right to homeschool.  It may not appear so important a right, but re-empowering parents with the right to teach their own children can create the foundation for the destruction of the entire propaganda mechanism in place among both the public and private school systems and also in the mainstream media.  Simply put, homeschooled kids typically learn how to critically think and detect falsehoods.  Homeschooled kids are less likely, then, to believe the BS in the schools and media, nullifying their effect.  Thus, the homeschooling right can be considered yet another tool to combat these conspiracies.

No jury nullification

In case someone brings this up, the NAC does not provide a jury nullification mechanism because jury nullification violates the rights of the majority, which is the voice of the people.  The voice of the people installed the law.  They alone have the right to alter it or abolish it or nullify it, not a minority on a jury.  So, the NAC gives, instead, the moral and correct right of nullification by voice, which is the foundation of liberty I mentioned above.

Once again, I will not use these NAC posts to fully expound the various principles given in them.  Maybe some other day I will take the time to unfold all this stuff completely.  Now, in my next post I really will (I think) cover the money sections of the NAC. Feel free to disagree on any point mentioned in this post. Bring your strongest reasons against the NAC and let’s have an open debate. And for those who like the NAC and want to install it as the Supreme Law of the land, here is my advice and prediction (and also see this comment, and this comment and this comment) :

A continual strategy of debate will install the NAC in this country and I challenge anyone to prove me wrong. I say that Americans will jump at the chance to debate the NAC and to show that the Constitution is better, but, according to the rules of the debate, they will have to read the NAC first, and once read, they will be hard pressed to defend the Constitution. Thus, everyone who hears, or watches, or reads, or participates in, a NAC debate, will become convinced that the NAC is what this country needs.

To read the other parts of this series, click any of these links:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,

Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10,

Part 11, Part 12, Part 13.

Also see: The New Articles of Confederation (NAC) and The Right to Abolish, Revert and Replace Amendment.

Complete List of Articles authored by LDS Anarchist