Make A Plan, Be Prepared

With the dishonesty of Presidential hopefuls, and the general acceptance of lack of integrity I’ve thought about this quote:
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
– John Adams
I honestly feel this country is in trouble. Some people would call me paranoid and maybe they are right. But President Benson said the Book of Mormon parallels our day. So when do we see the parallel of Amalickiah? I’m sure you know the story.
Amalickiah wanted power. He actually sought to be King of the Lamanites. He also wanted to fight his former people, the Nephites. He had an Army but needed more. Lohonti commanded the Army he wanted to join his and fight the Nephites. Amalickiah convinced a part of the Army to go against the Nephites and this was his Army. Lohonti was a smart tactician and had his Army barricaded in the mountains. He was asked to come down and talk. The first two times he said no. Then he was asked to bring his guards and come just a little ways down. That was his first mistake. He came down and was convinced he could lead the whole Army if he made Amalickiah 2nd in command. He then was poisoned “by degrees” until Amalickiah became in charge. Amalickiah killed the King so he could be king.
“And behold, now I say unto you, ye cannot dethrone an iniquitous king save it be through much contention, and the shedding of much blood. For behold, he has his friends in iniquity, and he keepeth his guards about him; and he teareth up the laws of those who have reigned in righteousness before him; and he trampleth under his feet the commandments of God;
And he enacteth laws, and sendeth them forth among his people, yea, laws after the manner of his own wickedness; and whosoever doth not obey his laws he causeth to be destroyed; and whosoever doth rebel against him he will send his armies against them to war, and if he can he will destroy them; and thus an unrighteous king doth pervert the ways of all righteousness.” (Mosiah 29:21- 23)
S. Michael Wilcox commented on Amalickiah's (and Satan's) tactic of bringing his prey to lower ground while deceiving him into thinking that he was still in charge:
"You're in control! I only want to talk! You have your guards! You only have to come down a little bit!" Amalickiah assures his victim. Lehonti, feeling secure although undoubtedly mistrustful, made his first mistake: He descended from the heights of the mountain. In his own mind, however, he was still safe, because he was in control (Don't Leap with the Sheep [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2001], 35-36).
There is a feeling in this country of “I got this!” when in reality we do not.
Amalickiah was a disgruntled Nephite. Basically he left the Church but could not leave the Church alone, sound familiar? There are many out there.
We also have politicians who hold up evil and make evil laws. There are also secret combinations, ie. corruption and conspiracy.
Ezra Taft Benson, 13th President of the Church was an Apostle when he was hand-picked by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower to be the Secretary of Agriculture in 1953. He worked in government first hand in a cabinet position for 8 years. It’s interesting that all cabinet positions were held by more than one person during Eisenhower’s administration except for Postmaster General and Ezra T Benson’s Secretary of Agriculture position.
In 1975 in Conference he said this:
“Now undoubtedly Moroni could have pointed out many factors that led to the destruction of the people, but notice how he singled out the secret combinations, just as the Church today could point out many threats to peace, prosperity, and the spread of God’s work, but it has singled out the greatest threat as the godless conspiracy. There is no conspiracy theory in the Book of Mormon —it is a conspiracy fact.”
In Conference 1986 as prophet he said this:
“The second great reason why we must make the Book of Mormon a center focus of study is that it was written for our day. The Nephites never had the book; neither did the Lamanites of ancient times. It was meant for us.”
So if the Book of Mormon parallels our day, and there were definitely conspiracies then, would there be now?
I do not want to be “gloom and doom” but I fear for what is on the horizon. Without getting too political, when I see the events of the day, corruption, terrorism, conspiracy, crime, racial tension, law enforcement abuse, law enforcement being targeted, the general down turn of the economy, I wonder what is next? We live in the last days. These should be tumultuous times. I also wonder about the general population and for the LDS members. If something really serious went down would people be prepared? Would they rely on a government that clearly can’t really handle a major disaster such as hurricanes Sandy and Katrina? Please get prepared. Please take your families and your own security seriously. Please have a plan. You don’t have to go crazy and spend a lot of money (don’t go into debt!) to slowly, steadily prepare.
Fathers sit down with your good wives. Talk about this. Come up with a plan. Counsel with your children. Talk about being safe but not fearful. Have a family security and preparedness plan. Do these things. Do them now.

Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn