America IS Changing

The country we live in is changing. We were each born into a world in which America was synonymous with hope, freedom, and opportunity. America has been a beacon of freedom for over two centuries, and has been a greater force for good than any other nation that has ever existed. There is no claim that America has been perfect. It is a union of imperfect people. The plight of the early saints is just one example of imperfections in the history of our land. Nevertheless, America has been a light in a dark world since it first changed the course of human history by declaring independence, based upon the idea of human rights being a gift from God to man. This changed the paradigm of history. No longer did the so called “divine rights of kings” shape the political destiny of men. Rule by the elite was vanquished and government was established by the people, for the people and of the people. This was according to God’s divine plan.

It was no accident that a nation of political and religious freedom was established at the precise moment in history in which it was needed to prepare an apostate world for the light of the Gospel, soon to be restored. The founding of our nation was the great prologue to the establishment of God’s kingdom on Earth. There is abundant witness from ancient and modern prophets alike that the establishment of this nation was done under divine inspiration. The men who were chosen to serve as founding fathers of our republic were choice spirits raised up by God to do a particular work, and they were led in their efforts to produce a miracle never before experienced in the history of our planet. The Constitution these men created, under the guidance of divine providence, represents the greatest form of government ever devised for man. It is so because it is based on principles delivered to them by God.

It is precisely because the founding of our nation was based upon inspired principles that America has overcome many of her imperfections and been an unparalleled force for good in our world.

But the country we live in is changing. The fundamental principles that have characterized the strength of our nation are being eroded at every turn. This erosion has been epidemic in our society for the past several decades. The America that emerged from World War II is only vaguely reminiscent of the America our children are being born into today. Despite the efforts of many so-called “progressives” in the early 20th century, America survived the Great Depression. The American people rejected a concerted move toward collectivized government that was thrust upon them by Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and others. All these challenges have been overcome because the core of the American way of life remained rooted on fundamental principles that were revealed by God to see us through troubled times. America has always been a country founded upon God. Christian values have served as our moral compass. Decency and civility have been considered virtuous, and the idea of selflessness and sacrifice were ingrained in our citizenry. Hard work, honesty, and personal accountability were the price of achieving the American dream. Were it not so, the land of liberty would have ceased to exist long-ago, for God has said concerning this land that "it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity." (Ether 2:9)

But the country we live in is changing. The 1960’s represented an epic shift in the fabric of our society. We have seen large portions of our society in a moral tailspin for the past 50 years. Whereas God had represented the basis of our society ever since it was founded under His divine inspiration, there has been an organized move to remove him from the public discourse. The words “In God We Trust” have been eschewed by those claiming to stand in defense of the Constitution, that He, Himself inspired. Highly funded and well-organized groups have systematically endeavored to remove any reference to divinity from the public square, using a variety of nefarious tactics. The courts have too often been complicit in this effort through activist legislation and liberal interpretation of the words of our Founding Fathers.

Decency in our society has dissolved into a never-ending parade of filthy images in magazines, on television, and in the movies. Video games celebrate crime, death and destruction, striving for more and more realism in the debauchery experienced vicariously on the screen. Pornography has become so available and abundant that it has become difficult to avoid even unintentional, casual exposure, which far too often leads to piqued interest and dangerous addiction.

The value of a hard day’s work has been replaced, to an alarming degree, with a sense of entitlement. Rather than working to enjoy the fruits of honest labor, far too many look for the government to provide them what they did not earn, yet still feel entitled to receive. The law of the harvest is replaced with a compulsion for people to reap where they did not sow. Selflessness is consequently subdued by the selfish impulse to take from others what they have rightly earned, under the guise of fairness and equal distribution.

The very sanctity of life is being undermined, cloaked in a thin disguise of expressing freedom of choice. How ironic that many of those so willing to impugn individual agency at almost every turn, insist that agency be preserved when it comes to ending the lives of the unborn. Contraception and abortion are inculcated as alternatives to chastity and family units are being subordinated to a myriad of public programs. Truly it does not take a village to raise our children, it takes a stable family.

The law delivered to Moses on Sinai began as the Ten Commandments, but then became the ten suggestions, then the ten inconveniences, and finally the ten relics of an outdated moral ideology.

Perhaps none have expressed the spiral of American society over the past decades as succinctly as eloquently, nor as alarmingly as President Gordon B. Hinkley.

"We, as a people and a nation have increasingly neglected and abandoned time-honored virtues that have been proven through the centuries to keep human beings individually, and therefore collectively, strong. . . The single most substantial factor in the degeneration of the values and morals of our society is that we as a nation are forsaking the Almighty, and I fear that He will begin to forsake us."

What I believe to be the most fundamental principle revealed by God to the founders of our republic is the agency of man. This was the first of all divine rights bestowed by God upon his children in the pre-mortal realm. It was the central issue of the great war in heaven and led directly to the expulsion of the adversary and his followers. Elder Ezra Taft Benson stated, “The right of choice—free agency— runs like a golden thread throughout the gospel plan of the Lord for the blessing of his children. . . the war in heaven over free agency is now being waged here on earth.”

As with the other fundamental principles upon which our country was founded, individual agency is under attack. There are those in society who feel that man is not smart enough, or not wise enough to choose for himself. If left to their own devices, they believe individuals will not choose properly and the collective will suffer. Therefore, the rights of individuals are subjected to what an elite group deems to be for the “greater good”. In this way individual liberty is lost while the government assumes the right of agency on behalf of her citizens. The new ruling class in government then exercises the rights stolen from individuals to further their own agendas and consolidate their power, moving society away from liberty and into the tyranny of ages past.

The country we live in is changing. It has been changing for some time, but the change has been gradual, and fundamental freedoms of our country have remained intact because the value-based principles of our nation have endured. But these principles are now on the verge of utter extinction in our society, replaced with popular, thinly rooted virtues such as fairness, tolerance, diversity, and progressivism. In the name of fairness natural consequences are being sidestepped. In the name of diversity destructive lifestyles are being celebrated. In the name of tolerance depravity is being embraced. In the name of progressivism freedoms are being surrendered. With the ever-increasing loss of our national values, how long before change overcomes us? How much longer do we have before the fears of President Hinckley are realized and God begins to abandon us?

The country we live in is changing. But we shouldn’t be surprised. We have elected a man to the highest office in the free world on a platform of change. He has not been secretive about the change he intends for our nation. He has stated that he wants to “re-make” America. His change is not a return to the principles of our Constitution. His change is not a reaffirmation of the values that led to the greatness of America. His change is simply a punctuation mark on the change that has been creeping over us for many years now.

The most pressing and urgent question of our lifetime is whether we will support this effort to re-cast America in a new mold, rooted in the counterfeit values of a morally corrupt society and power hungry leaders, or whether we will champion a return to the divine principles which God dictated for our land. When Barack Obama and his legions of fans chant “Yes We Can!” and tout “Change We Can Believe In”, will we join the crowd or stand up for the traditions of our forefathers? There are a great many who believe that the “new America” envisioned by some in our government represents the future. It is up to each of us to decide if we will join them. We face a choice of basing the future of our nation on our Constitution and the vision of our Founding Fathers, or upon the vision of those wishing to be the founding fathers of a new kind of America.

The country we live in is changing. As for me, I believe I’ve seen all of the change I can stand.

While it is given to us to choose for ourselves, we must never forget that the work of the Lord will not be frustrated. Just as in the war in heaven, we are free to choose which vision we will support, but the consequences of our choice will not be altered. The great hope which underlies the fear, frustration, and foreboding of our current circumstance is the promise that God is in control. There is a divine destiny for our republic, and no force can alter the decrees of our Father in Heaven. The destiny of our land was not fulfilled when General Washington achieved victory in the revolution. It was not fulfilled when the heavens opened to Joseph Smith. It was not fulfilled when the Gospel was restored, priesthood power conferred, and missionary efforts launched. The great destiny of America includes all of these marvelous events, but will not be fulfilled until the New Jerusalem is established and Christ returns to rule in righteousness in our midst. God holds America in His hands, and her destiny is fixed. Our choice is simply whether we will be part of fulfilling this destiny, or if we will fall, frustrated, with those who seek to change her character.

Yes, the country we live in is changing. We cannot be idle. Now is our moment of truth. Let us give heed to the words of a Prophet of God.

“No greater immediate responsibility rests upon members of the church, upon all citizens of this Republic and of neighboring republics than to protect the freedom vouchsafed by the Constitution of the United States.” (President David O. McKay, General Conference April 1950)