behold how much iniquity doth one wicked president cause

​Today's blog post represents a meditation on Mosiah 29.17, 21-23 that seemed appropriate to and consistent with the purpose and messages of this blog page.

  text
17For behold, how much iniquity doth one wicked king cause to be committed, yea, and what great destruction!
21And behold, now I say unto you, ye cannot dethrone an iniquitous king save it be through much contention, and the shedding of much blood. 22For 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; 23And 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.
​
  meditation
This meditation, longer than most, might be better called a diatribe. But, my, my, my. If we ever wondered or questioned this scriptural witness, the eruption of new evils into the American body politic has once and for all convinced us of its absolute accuracy and truth. We can easily “behold how much iniquity doth one wicked president cause to be committed.” Even after he was defeated in the most secure election in American history, he continued to stir, as he did while in office, “much contention” by unleashing an incessant flood of damnable lies. We witness his “friends in iniquity,” found, among other places, in the US House of Representatives. They, for the love of power, first joined him in casting doubt on the election, then attempted to overthrow the will of the voters. To this very day, they fear to stand up to him and his lies, but, instead, parrot his madness and obstruct legitimate investigations into his seditious actions. We have stood as witnesses to the innumerable ways that he—before, during and after his governance—has “torn up the laws of those who have [governed] in righteousness before him.” We have watched him attempt to corrupt the electoral process by creating fraudulent electoral college delegates, by attempting to bully, intimidate, and corrupt election officials, and by encouraging blinded and violent insurrectionists. Having at the very least broken every single one of the Ten Commandments in his debauched personal life, “he trampleth under his feet the commandments of God.” We see how “he enacteth laws, and sendeth them forth among his people, yea, laws after the manner of his own wickedness.” We watch in near disbelief as he and his “friends in iniquity” seek to intimidate through violence and threaten to destroy through imprisonment and other ungodly authoritarian practices the righteous who, refusing “to obey his laws,” newfangled norms, and defiled morals, seek to oppose and check his corruption. Yes, in America’s 45th president we have seen the reincarnation of the sort of wicked, iniquitous, contentious, blinding, and destructive governance that the Book of Mormon author’s so much feared and despised, and against which they bore solemn testimony. Few, if any, in American political history have come close to the level of wickedness found in this sorry excuse of a human being, though there are now a handful who show real potential.  So, what are we to do in such dark times? The fight is far, far from over.