In my previous blog entitled, “Gadianton Robbers Among Us” (6 November 2019), I quoted Helaman 7.4-6 in which Mormon lamented the destructive corruption that ran rampant in Nephite government in the lifetime of Nephi II. He lamented the existence of “Gadianton robbers” who were “filling the judgment–seats.” These robbers had “usurped the power and authority of the land; laying aside the commandments of God, and not in the least aright before him; doing no justice unto the children of men; condemning the righteous because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money.” Their objectives were crystal clear to Mormon and, indeed to anyone with the slightest degree of discernment: “that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills.”
 
Obviously, my referencing Mormon’s critique of Nephites society is not happenstance. I believe with the utmost conviction—a conviction that borders on or crosses over to that of testimony—that this Nephite experience is utterly applicable to what we are today witnessing in the administration of America’s Caligula.
 
This conviction has been strengthened as I have heard and read testimony presented during the recent impeachment hearings. All that this administration has done in and to Ukraine has been for the purpose of “get[ting] gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more… do according to their own wills,” constitution and morality be damned. Even if there were no moral or physical harm done to the Ukrainian people (who really cares, anyway, that Ukrainian soldiers and civilians almost certainly died in combat against their Russian opponents because Caligula had a personal, not national, interest in withholding needed funding in hopes of seeing a political opponent smeared. Certainly not Americans of the immoral “America First” persuasion) the immoral conduct of this would-be-emperor right here on the American shores should be enough to convince any decent person that he must be removed from the office that he has so thoroughly besmirched. 
 
The moral harm done to an ally, along with the vile and unconstitutional behavior of Caligula and his little band of robbers, would in themselves be enough to fill a book-length blog. In considering Caligula’s infamy, I have been reminded of one of the Book of Mormon’s most notorious and villainous characters: Wicked King Noah. He, too, was guilty of a book-length list of moral harms and “unconstitutional” behavior. Today, I will explore just one evil that these two perverted men—wicked King Noah and America’s Caligula—have in common.
 
The enlightened social critic, Mormon, records that Noah
 
“...changed the affairs of the kingdom. For he put down all the priests that had been consecrated by his father, and consecrated new ones in their stead, such as were lifted up in the pride of their hearts” (Mosiah 11.4-5).
 
Now, we must first understand that in the context of ancient societies and cultures “priest” was not simply a religious title with purely religious functions. Rather, “priest” is indicative of an administrative position that is part of the government. There is no such thing as a “secular” government in the ancient world. This was true right on through the Middle Ages. In fact, it can legitimately be argued that the United States of America is the first secular government ever formed. It was the invention of the “founding fathers.”
 
Anyway, King Noah’s new-fangled public officials primarily served a propagandistic purpose. Their principle function was to act as King Noah’s “yes-men” that “they should speak lying and vain words to his people” (Mosiah 11.11).
 
No doubt, Noah’s criminal innovation was initially met with skepticism in many quarters and was viewed as strange, outside accepted norms—its long-term implications not fully appreciated. However, with time, its dire consequences became ever more apparent. In the end, the destructive nature of the crime became absolute.
 
Since his election, we have witnessed Caligula “put down” experienced, competent, respected, constitution loving, and patriotic public servants and diplomates who dare challenge his flouting of constitutional principles and his claim to “absolute” rights and powers—“do according to [his] own will.” Often—in fact, normally—he has intimidated, slandered, demeaned, and bullied them. He has rudely and crudely fired them. He has replaced them, surrounded himself with criminals—I have lost count of the number of Caligula’s associates who have been convicted of felonies and are serving prison sentences.
 
“Thy princes are rebellious,
   and companions of thieves:
every one loveth gifts,
   and followeth after rewards…” (Isaiah 1.23)
 
 Caligula demands all around him to be sycophants. Cult followers. Yes men and yes women. Individuals fully willing, anxious, even, to defile themselves by “speak[ing] lying and vain words to his people.”


However, with the beginning of impeachment hearings, Caligula’s “changing the affairs of the kingdom” and “putting down” of those who have faithfully served their country has escalated. His slander of loyal, life-long diplomates such as George Kent and Bill Taylor (“a pitiful, ignorant insubordinate gossip” according to Caligula’s gaddianton-style attorney) have reached new lows, below contemptible. They are positively unholy and ungodly. They are, to put it bluntly, satanic.
 
His vile hordes have stooped so low as to suggest that with a name like “Yovanovitch,” the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, perhaps, had Ukrainian interests more in mind than American—i.e., her resistance to Caligula’s immoral and unpatriotic dealings with Ukraine was, somehow, treasonous. This they do to a faithful public servant who earned the “Senior Foreign Service Performance Award” six times and the State Department's “Superior Honor Award” five times. Caligula, himself, has offered veiled and intimidating threats against her. She is “the woman”—the millionth evidence of his ungodly misogyny—of whom Caligula threateningly said, “She’s going to go through some things” as colleagues were warning her that she should leave Ukraine, as she was no longer safe there.
 
Unfortunately, politicians on the right—co-conspirators who have sworn to uphold the 
constitution--have decided that Caligula is not to be held accountable for his 
unconstitutional and/or immoral, unethical misdeeds—surely, if Caligula’s behavior does not warrant impeachment, then impeachment is no longer constitutionally meaningful and our republic can go down any and every darkest path imaginable. Hail Caesar.
 
Politicians on the right, of course, are only looking after their own interests. Indeed, the gaddianton-style senate leader, McConnell, “told Republican Senators their best bet was to calibrate their own message about the impeachment inquiry to fit their political situation” (Every Republican for himself: McConnell told senators in closed door meeting to come up with their own Trump defense,” Tom Boggioni, rawstory.com, emphasis added).
 
Wicked King Noah would be proud to have such loyal sycophants.
 
Having said all this, we have only skimmed the surface of the right’s toxic and 
blasphemous support of the man-who-would-be-emperor. We have still not come to the worst, the vilest, the most ungodly part of the despicable state in which our country has entered. Oh, no. Not by a long shot.
 
American politicians on the right are only puppets. Marionettes without a soul. Others pull the strings. And, lo and behold, it is “Christians” who are their puppet masters. It is “Christians” who, shamefully, put in the White House the vile man who lives up in every moment to his moniker, Caligula. It is “Christians” who have concluded that their anti-messiah—their “vessel” to use their perverted theological term—cannot be held accountable, no matter of what evil he is guilty.
 
My own people—the people formerly known as Mormon—long ago concluded that “when the prophet speaks, the debate is over.” Christians have adopted the same nonsense about their precious anti-messiah. He is not to be questioned. Though they would not have maintained—no, not in a million millenniums—such a position when Barack Obama was president, they have now concluded that the apostle Paul had it right after all.
 
“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation” (Romans 13.1-2).
 
How very convenient!. It was by means of the exact same type of scriptural wresting that American “Christians” justified slavery and would, no doubt, reinstitute the practice if ever they gained control of our government. May we never be a “Christian” nation!
 
But, we can thank God that the “founding fathers” who American “Christians” claim so vociferously to honor, felt free to act contrary to American “Christianity’s stupid scripture wresting of Pauline writings and so resist the King of Britain—whose power, by American “Christians’” lights, must have been ordained of God, as the king, himself, most certainly maintained. And we can thank God for such loyal, devoted, and patriotic followers of Jesus as Abinadi, who, free of the same American “Christians’” stupid scripture proof-texting, stood boldly against the wiles of wicked King Noah even though “the eyes of the people were blinded” and “they hardened their hearts against the words of Abinadi” (Mosiah 11.29). Even though it ultimately cost him his life.
 
We desperately need principled Christians like Abinadi. Yes, we need them to stand against immoral and unconstitutional leadership such as that represented by Caligula. But something else; something at least equal in importance to the survival of America’s constitution, perhaps, is at stake: the very soul and survival of Christianity in America.
 
“…the wickedness of the church was a great stumbling–block to those who did not belong to the church; and thus the church began to fail in its progress” (Alma 4.10).

​In my last blog post, I quoted from Jim Wallis’ essay, “Jesus has Survived all us Christians,” and expressed my pleasure that he would look inside the Church rather than outside as he pondered why so many Americans are turning away from Christianity. Today’s Just Quote is taken from the same essay.


“It's always amazing to me how — somehow, apparently, mysteriously, and even miraculously — Jesus has survived all of us Christians.
 
“And yet, it’s undeniable that the election of Donald Trump and the presidency that has followed — and the Christian response to all of it — have revealed how disconnected many American Christians have become from Jesus. In particular, the uncritical support Trump enjoys from many white evangelicals in the religious right, and the Faustian bargain they have made for power, are turning many Americans (and others) away from Christianity altogether” (sojo.net).
 
​
As I contemplated these quotes, and the essay in totality, it occurred to me that Brother Wallis could be channeling the Book of Mormon editor, Mormon: “Alma saw the wickedness of the church, and he saw also that the example of the church began to lead those who were unbelievers on from one piece of iniquity to another, thus bringing on the destruction of the people” (Alma 4.11).

​We hear much about the decline of Christianity and the growth of agnosticism and atheism in America.  Both trends can be found among the people formerly known as Mormons. I read the following today about these trends.
 
“Recent data shows us that while we’ve long known that institutional Christianity is in decline in the United States — especially among younger generations — the bottom is starting to fall out of evangelicalism, with people identifying with “no religion” surpassing evangelicals and Catholics for the first time earlier this year as the most common answer on a religious self-identification survey of Americans. Just this week, an article on FiveThirtyEight explained that more and more research is explicitly concluding that increasing numbers of Americans are “falling away from religion because they see it as so wrapped up with Republican politics” (Jim Wallis, “Jesus has Survived all of us Christians,”sojo.net).
 
I don’t know what role the obscene alliance “Christians” have formed with the Republican political party plays in American Christianity’s decline. No doubt, the reasons behind the decline are more complex than this. But I do find refreshing the willingness to look for possible reasons for the decline inside rather than outside the Church. 
 
Too often the explanation for the decline is simplistic and self-righteous, intent, one suspects, on absolving the Church of any responsibility for the decline or obligation to change, to reform/restore itself. But true disciples of Christ and institutions that claim to represent him should follow the example of Christ’s very first disciples.
 
On the final night of Jesus’ mortal ministry, he lamented,
 
“Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me” (Mark 14.18).
 
This lament was followed by multiple additional laments: this time those of Jesus’ most trusted disciples.
 
“And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, ‘Is it I?’ and another said, ‘Is it I?’” 
 
It is just such honest self-interrogation, I suggest, rather than dishonest self-righteous censorship, that the American Church must conduct if it is to remain relevant and worthy of trust when it claims to speak of and for God.
 
“Lord, is it I.”

I do not believe in THE Anti-Christ.
 
But I do believe in Anti-Christs…. Plural
 
From the looks and sounds of things, we have one sitting right now in the U.S. White House.
 
“An avenging angel stands and beckons, claymore gleaming in his hand. His wings are spread triumphant, framing the radiant halo that encircles his face. Heraldic armor shines in gold, impeccably defined muscles rippling beneath its surface. Except, where the angel’s face should be, President Trump’s face scowls resolutely at the viewer instead. Images like this one have become a disturbingly ubiquitous fixture of the Trump era.”[1]​

​How utterly disturbing and blasphemous is that!?
 
“As people have fallen away from traditional Christianity — and core gospel values of humility, equality, justice, and love — that spiritual void has been filled by faith in a new, Earthly savior — one distinctly unfit for worship. Understanding Trump’s most ardent believers through a lens of faith also helps explain why support remains steadfast despite tumultuous political change. Communities that produce and revel in apocalyptic visions of Trump as a political messiah are unlikely to be moved by technocratic explanations of the damage he is doing to our country. Idolatry must be challenged at the level of belief, by exposing the values that undergird worship. And the iconography of Trump idolatry makes one thing abundantly clear: If we are to defeat Trumpism, as an ideology, we must begin by addressing the dire eschatology, affinity for violence, and toxic masculinity that have become articles of faith.”[2]


[1] Benjamin Perry, “The Trump Iconography Permeating the Social Media Underground,” sojo.net
[2] ibid

Give Caligula the kind of defense attorney, the kind of jury, and the kind of “rule of law” that two African American men charged with murder had, and we will convict him of Russian Collusion, obstruction of justice, and dozens of unethical and illegal business crimes in about 15 minutes.
 
But, no, as we have complained before, evidentiary rules for white collar crime of any sort, written principle by WASPs, are so impossibly high that white collar crime conviction is nearly impossible. But not so for non-white collar crimes.
 
Case in point.*
 
Two women are shot while in bed. One dies, the other lives to testify. The survivor testifies that these two black men stood at the foot of her bed and repeatedly shot their guns into the women’s prone bodies.
 
The evidence at the time shows that there was only one weapon used in the shooting and that the shots came from outside the house. No witnesses other than the survivor are called for the prosecution. “Circumstantial” evidence suggests the women’s testimony is suspect. The “defense” attorney is inept, calls no witnesses, offers no defense, and does not present the evidence that would call survivor’s testimony into question. The prosecution offers no testimony but that of the survivor, and minimizes the weakness of the circumstantial evidence. The jury convicts after less than 8 hours of trial and half an hour of jury deliberations.
 
After 40 years in prison, the two men are finally released from jail for false conviction.
 
This is the American judicial system in a nutshell. Two different systems: one for criminals like Trump, another for innocent poor people. The latter we reward by sending them to “The Big House” for 40 years. The former, the American Electorate—represented principally by “Christians” who are to obey, not the rule of men, but the rule of God—sends to pollute and blacken the White House.
 
As I have said so many times, how in the world is it that America’s poor are not in a constant state of rioting in the unjust streets of America?
 
*Keith Allen and Jay Croft, “Florida clears two men after 42 years in prison for a murder they didn't commit,” cnn.com

Caligula, his family, friends, associates, business partners, attorneys, administration officials, etc., etc., etc., are so utterly accostomed to lying that I truly believe that they are incapable of telling the truth. It is their very first instinct to lie. Lying is as natural to them as breathing.
 
As we have witnessed Manafort’s trials play out, and watched as he has gotten preferential treatment because of his rich whiteness, it has all felt a good bit like theater. This feeling led me to think and consider one of Shakespeare’s many insights into human nature and human society.
 
Lady Macduff is speaking with her son. The son speaks a truth about society as he knows it to be.
 
Macduff’s Son:       And must all who swear and lie be hanged?
 
Lady Macduff:        Every one.
 
Macduff’s Son:       Who must hang them?
 
Lady Macduff:        Why, the honest men.
 
Macduff’s Son:      Then the liars and swearers are fools. There are enough liars and
                                 swearers to beat the honest men and hang them!
                                 (William Shakespeare, Shakespeare Made Easy, “Macbeth,”
​                                 Act 4, Scene 2)
 
This seems to be precisely the sort of cynicism by which Caligula and his cabal of thieves seem to live, and now govern. The rest of us are simply fools in their theater of abomination, blasphemy, and rebellion against God…. Or would be if we hadn’t willfully elected the cabal’s leader as president. Now, we are simply complicit in their ungodly criminality.

On March 7, 2019, I posted the following quote on the ‘just quotes’ page of this site.
 
“To understand his [Caligula’s] actions, it is essential to keep in mind that sociopaths have only one goal: to enhance themselves, and that in pursuing their self-interest, they lack both normal human empathy for others and a normal human conscience. Cheating, conning, lying, stealing, threatening are all done with no remorse.

“When stressed with facts that would require them to admit failure, or even that others know more or are more capable than them, sociopaths lose track of reality, becoming delusional with insistence on the truth of what they psychologically need to maintain their superior view of themselves. Indeed, nobody matters except to the degree they can serve the sociopath’s personal needs.
 
“Mr. Trump has a long history that proves his diagnosis. If you consider the 7 traits that define Antisocial Personality Disorder in the DSM-5, he meets every one of them:
 
1.   Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors

2.   Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying … or conning others for personal profit or pleasure

3.   Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead

4.   Irritability and aggressiveness

5.   Reckless disregard for safety of self or others

6.   Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations
​
7.   Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another” (Tana Ganeva, “Harvard psychiatrist: Donald Trump's actions are signs of a “severe, continuous, mental disturbance’” salon.com).
 
Now, anyone who has followed posts made to this site knows that I suggested this diagnosis as early as 2016. However, I highlight this quote, not because it is in agreement with my own feelings, but for a different reason.
 
As I considered the seven traits of the sociopath, it occurred to me that America, especially as evidenced by its foreign policy, is, in very fact, a sociopathic nation. Every sentence of the first two paragraphs could be applied to the nation.
 
American has “one goal: to enhance [itself]”—as evidenced by its MAGA fetish. The rest of God’s children only exist to “serve the [nation’s] needs.”
 
“In pursuing [its] self-interest,” America “lack[s] both normal human empathy for others and a normal human conscience—no empathy for our own poor, the world’s refugees, immigrants on our borders, innocent men, women, and children blown to bits and into tiny human fragments of flesh and bone and gray matter by our devilish drones, etc., etc., etc. I will have more to say on this below.
 
How we wield of our military might and “threaten” the rest of the planet “with no remorse,” but with arrogant, boastful, and false justifications!
 
American has, certainly, lost “track of reality, becoming delusional with insistence on the truth of what [it] psychologically need[s] to maintain [its] superior view of [itself].
 
In our foreign affairs we have, since the Second World War, failed to conform to international law, repeatedly lied about our violent and secret behavior taken to ingratiate ourselves, acted with aggression on every corner of the globe, disregarded the harm we have perpetrated against innocent men, women, and children, and shown a profound lack of remorse, always finding false justifications and rationalization for our vile deeds.
 
In the past week, the right’s sociopathic Caligula--utilizing the power of the “executive order,” so hypocritically criticized by the right when Obama utilized it—decreed that U.S. military and intelligence leaders no longer need report the number of people killed by U.S. drone strikes. This, done without fanfare, in the shadows, and thus without any resistance by the compliant and complicit American citizenry is simply the latest nail in the coffin of the diagnosis: American is a sociopathic nation.
 
It will no longer acknowledge or accept accountability for its rampage and pillage the globe over.
 
It is a danger to God’s children everywhere.
 
It is a nation in open and violent rebellion against the high and holy God of Heaven.

In buying music, one can go on line and, often,  a choose between a "clean" version or an "explicit" version. Following are my own "explicit" thoughts concerning what we learned from the February 27, 2019 House oversight committee hearing with Michael Cohen.

A few things are certain from today’s  hearing.
 
1.    Michael Cohen is a dirt bag.
 
2.    Caligula hired Cohen precisely because he was a dirt bag.
 
3.    One dirt bag hired another dirt bag.
 
4.   In pointing out, over, and over and over and over and over again what a dirt bag Cohen is, the republicans on the committee simply confirmed what a dirt bag Caligula is.
 
5.   In supporting the dirt bag Caligula, republicans on the committee confirmed that they themselves are dirt bags.


William Rivers Pitt, writing for truthout.org, provided a cleaner, more siphistcated version of the same tune.

Self-proclaimed democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez put an office policy in place this week that changed the wage structure of staffers working in her office. In hopes of providing a living wage to junior staffers, she raised their wages. This was accomplished by means of several financial adjustments, including a slight reduction in the wage of senior staffers.
 
She has been immediately criticized by such characters as those on ‘Fox and Friends.’[i] Such criticism, of course, identifies these foxy personalities as being, in fact, “wolves in sheep clothing.” It identifies them as Atheists, Anti-Biblical, or heretical Christians--and certainly Anti-Mormons. On second thought, it is unfair to Atheists to lump them together with such blasphemers. The ignorant or willful rejection of scripture, Biblical Ethic, Christian Morals, and Mormon economic principles that is demonstrated by Fox’s wolves is based, of course, on the profoundly blasphemous capitalistic doctrines that stand in direct opposition to all that his Biblical and holy. It is absolutely certain that Ocasio-Cortez’s decision is based on solid Biblical teaching and Christian morality. If it isn’t compatible with “capitalism,” then capitalism is to be rejected not only as un-Biblical, and un-Christian, but as anti-Christ.
 
We will take Moses as an example. He instructs those who would be disciples of Yahweh
 
“If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth” (Deuteronomy 15.7-8).
 
One might argue, I suppose, that the congresswoman’s staff members are not strictly speaking “poor.” Such reasoning would be wrong and miss the point, it seems to me, on two counts.
 
First, given the cost of living in the DC area, the normal wage for junior staff members is insufficient to live in a secure fashion. Their insufficient wages make them poor—especially given the fact that they earn 1500 times less than the worthless CEOs that drive so many companies into the ground.
 
But secondly, and more importantly, there is a principle to be drawn from the example. Those who would be thought of as followers of the true God are generous. They do as Paul admonishes: they “esteem other[s] better than themselves”….  not looking “every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” They think and feel and act in this way because “this mind… was also in Christ Jesus” whom they seek to emulate (See Philippians 2.3-5).
 
In the same 15th chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses also instructs the Israelite slave holder. After a slave has faithfully served his or her master for seven years they are to be freed. In freeing them, the slave holder “shalt not let him go away empty: thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress” (verses 12-14). Again, it would be wrong to conclude that the context of slavery makes the passage null and void in regard to any present application.
 
The principle is clear. Every human being is to be treated with dignity. Those down and out are to be assisted, set up, even, to succeed. To send the slave away empty handed would do neither—dignify or assist. If not assisted, the slave would soon be right back in his or her enslaved state. This would be unjust.
 
No, congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez’s junior staffers are not slaves. But “slave wages” enslave the child of God in a confining lack of choices. To help them succeed by giving them a portion of the wealthier employees’ wages is consistent with the principles found in this Deuteronomic passage.
 
Perhaps Ocasio-Cortez knows or cares nothing about Moses’ brand of the just society. Maybe she knows about early Christianity’s just society based upon “the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship?
 
“And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need” (Acts 2.44-45).
 
Yip, whether she knows it or not, the congresswoman from New York is acting the part of a Christian, one who follows the example of Lord Jesus.
 
Perhaps she is aware of Joseph Smith’s sentiments,
 
“we consecrate our property to the Lord it is to administer to the wants of the poor and needy, for this is the law of God; it is not for the benefit of the rich, those who have no need… Now for a man to consecrate his property, wife and children, to the Lord, is nothing more nor less than to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the widow and fatherless, the sick and afflicted, and do all he can to administer to their relief in their afflictions, and for him and his house to serve the Lord” (HC, Vol. 3, p. 231).
 
Or, perhaps she is aware of another “apostle’s doctrine.”
 
“When we look abroad among the nations of the earth we see a great many evils in existence − evils that have existed for many centuries; in fact, they have existed from the earliest ages of which we have any account until the present time, in every nation and among all people. Our own nation is a case in point. When the foundations of the Government were laid, and liberty proclaimed throughout the length and breadth of the land, it was anticipated that this nation would grow to a pitch of glory and attain to a greatness and power that no other nation on the face of the earth had ever attained. Everything was favorable to this: a free Government had been established; a continent of almost illimitable extent spread itself before the people, and all that was necessary to develop its boundless resources was population, and industry on the part of that population. But little over ninety years have elapsed since the foundations of our Government were laid, and in that time we have grown to be a great people; but that which has been enacted in other nations has been re−enacted here. The evils that have flourished so long in what is called the Old World have been transplanted to this land. If Western men travel through the Eastern States they are struck with the great distinction of classes that exist there. There is an aristocracy of wealth fast growing up there; and at the same time there is another class in degradation and poverty, utterly unable to obtain the blessings and comforts of life. This is owing to various causes, the chief of which is the incorrect organization of society. (George Q Cannon, JD. Vol. 13, 97-98; emphasis added).
 
Of course, neither Joseph nor George were coming up themselves with such principles upon which a just society must be built. These were principles, as we have seen, that were given to men by a caring Father and God.
 
“Nevertheless, in your temporal things you shall be equal, and this not grudgingly, otherwise the abundance of the manifestations of the Spirit shall be withheld” (DC 70.14).
 
“But it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin” (DC 49.20).
 
“Oh, but this is the ‘higher law.’ It only applies to the most righteous!”
 
“People like you, you mean? How are you doing with that?”
 
“Oh, well…. I haven’t been asked to live the higher law.”
 
“Gee, that’s sure convenient.”
 
“Whatever. It sure has nothing to do with our secular society! It is not expected to live by any such principles.”
 
“Wrong, wrong, wrong.
 
“It isn’t the ‘higher law.’ Crap, we’ve seen it reflected in the “Law of Moses”—what you call the ‘lesser law.’ Truth is, it is the most basic of laws. It’s the law of God regarding the just society—any society that wishes to call itself just. Its how societies work if they wish to endure. The only societies exempt from such godliness are those who choose to exempt themselves through rebellion and sin—you know, societies like our capitalist one.
 
“Why, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “socialistic” society looks positively divine in comparison to our wolfish capitalistic system.”


[i] Justin Wise, “Fox & Friends' host says Ocasio-Cortez's staff salary plans 'socialism and communism on display,’” thehill.com

​Venezuela.
 
I’m not sure who gave the U.S. permission to be involved in and threaten every other nation on the planet…
 
Oh, wait, I do know. The culprit is the false god that goes by the name of ‘America.’
 
I wonder if that same idolatrous, bullying god who inspires Caligula to busy himself in Venezuela’s sovereign affairs would please, please call upon every other government on the planet to involve themselves in American political life. It could start by encouraging other nations to call for the removal of Caligula as president of America: foe to world peace.
 
Russia, if you’re out there… help us get rid of our Stalin wanna be.

 
“Governments,” the Doctrine and Covenants maintains, “were instituted of God” (134.1). The only problem with the idea of government arises when it is stolen by authoritarianism or “the voice of the people doth choose iniquity,” for “then is the time that the judgments of God… come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction…” (Mosiah 29.27).
 
I do not quote these well-known maxims because in electing Caligula “the voice of the people [has chosen] iniquity”—though, of course, it has. I do not quote these passages because “the time [of] the judgments of God” draws near—though it does.
 
I mention them, first, to remind those who feel that the current U.S. government shutdown isn’t such a bad thing because, well, we don’t need the government anyway—“Give me liberty or give me death”— government is one of God’s blessings to humankind. What is cursed is the autocrat and mad citizenry.
 
This leads me to my second reason for mentioning these passages: In the midst of an unwarranted government shutdown instigated by an insane megalomaniac, we see signs everywhere of the citizenry’s madness, and the necessity of government to control an unruly humanity (I am not ignorant of the fact that even with government we often find our way to the animalistic side of our nature—as two world wars and the continuous smaller wars since demonstrate. Nevertheless…).
 
But, enough of the false enlightenment principle that “men are basically good.” Hogwash! We could quote about a hundred scriptures to demonstrate that such doctrine is about as unscriptural as it gets. I’ll not distract us from the observation that I wish to make in this post by quoting them here, but have a look, if you’d like, at the teeny-tiny few that I have quoted in the header and footer of this post.
 
I want to come back to government and the U.S. government shutdown (By the way, have you ever heard of any other healthily functioning government on good old planet earth shutting itself down? Of course you haven’t! It is a parade example of our disfunction.).
 
Anyway, since the mad and unjust shutdown of the U.S. government, some departments have attempted to remain functional with skeletal staffs and/or volunteers. One such department is the U.S. Parks Department. They have attempted to keep most National Parks open.
 
With each passing day, this has turned, increasingly, into a disaster. Now, we will cut the tens of thousands of park patrons slack when it comes to the build up of trash and the filth found in restrooms. I mean, we’re dirty animals. But with the passage of time, park patrons have increasingly shown themselves to be something worse than animals. It now appears that Joshua Tree National Park will need to be closed because patrons have been vandalizing the environment itself. Trees that have survived mother nature for centuries are being killed by stupid human activities in a matter of weeks. Park patrons are not simply cutting into trees, they are cutting pieces from the trees. How, oh how has the planet survived mankind this long?!?
 
“Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: ‘Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children.  When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me?’” (Moses 7.48)
 
Now, my point is not so much environmental—though there is that. Rather, the stupidity taking place in the Joshua Tree National Park is a simple demonstration of the need for government; the reason it is such a blessing. Mankind usually acts like a pack of wild and unruly monkeys. As the simple events that have taken place in Joshua Tree National Park during the government shutdown so clearly demonstrate, we Americans, like all mankind, are in desperate, desperate need of government. We are in dire need of the checks it provides against our selfish, wild, and animalistic nature—the human beast inside each individual and every beastly society. Without this… well, see for yourself.
 
It’s a small thing, I know, this destruction of beautiful and aged Joshua trees. But, you know what they say… “By small and simple things….”

​With the death of two migrant children in a matter of ten days—how many others have died, the head of DHS is unwilling to say—policies adopted by Caligula’s administration are seen once more to be more akin to the oppressive policies of the Egyptian administration of Old Testament lore (“if it be a son, then ye shall kill him”) than those of any administration that could even remotely be thought of as “Christian.”
 
And make no mistake about it, the death of those children was a policy decision.
 
In an article entitled, “The US government deliberately made the desert deadly for migrants,” Natasha Elena Uhlmann writes
 
“Prevention Through Deterrence meant tremendous investments in surveillance and border militarization, with the aim of pushing migrants ever deeper into the unforgiving Sonoran desert. Though the border patrol denies accountability for deaths along the US-Mexico border, their very metrics for success under the policy include ‘fee increases by smugglers’, ‘possible increase in complaints’, and ‘more violence at attempted entries’. These children’s deaths were by no means unpredictable. Violence is built into the plan…..”
 
How, I ask, is this any different than what the un-named Pharaoh of Exodus did to the Israelites?
 
And how, I ask, can Americans imagine that their end will be any better than that of the ancient oppressors?

​There’s something I often wonder about.

A decade ago false prophets pranced about America, spending time especially on the perverted FOX-dressed-in-sheeps’-clothing network, peddling false prophetic narratives.

“Barack Obama,” for example, “is going to take white Americans’ guns, arm African Americans, and allow a rampage of lawlessness on American streets.”

The prophecy sold a lot of guns.
 
But, how’d that prophecy turn out?

“Barack Obama is neither an American or Christian,” many ranted. Rather he is Muslim. All this will come out after he is elected.”

How’d that work out?

Any one notice that our former “Muslim” president knows and honors the Apostles Creed far, far more than the infidel with whom American Christians have rebelliously yoked themselves? Why is the Muslim still pretending to be Christian? Why not come out of the closet?

Maybe because he really is a Christian. And American. While the current president is an infidel and Russian agent.

But here’s my question. Those false prophets, who spoke so presumptuously and lyingly? Are they still being listened to? Have those duped by the likes of Sean, Rush, Brett, Laura, etc. stopped listening to these false prophets? Surely, the dupes do not continue to foolishly listen to such dependable sources of misinformation. Surely, they’ve tuned them out and turned them off, right? They have to be at least this discerning… No?
 
No.

​Though the rule is so simple that any child could understand it, they continue to willfully feed in the trough of their own lusts.

​Today, we simply highlight yet another shameful example of a fine modern-day pharisaical hypocrite posing as a Christian, in this case the variety of Christian formerly known as Mormon.
 
“On Monday evening, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (R), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also told CNN’s Manu Raju that he was not concerned about Trump being implicated in a felony. ‘The Democrats will do anything to hurt this president,’ he claimed.
 
“When Raju explained the implication had come from a document filed by the Southern District of New York, Hatch doubled down.
 
“‘Okay but I don’t care,’ he said. ‘All I can say is he’s doing a good job as president.’
 
“He added ‘you can make anything a crime under the current laws.’
 
“Hatch’s words contradicted his own past comments. In 1999, just before casting a vote to impeach President Bill Clinton, Hatch criticized the president for lying to the public about his affair with a White House intern.
 
“‘Committing crimes of moral turpitude such as perjury and obstruction of justice go to the heart of qualification for public office,’ Hatch said at the time. ‘…This great nation can tolerate a President who makes mistakes. But it cannot tolerate one who makes a mistake and then breaks the law to cover it up. Any other citizen would be prosecuted for these crimes’” (Ryan Koronowski, “Crimes aren’t Crimes. Trump and his allies are moving the goalpost to legally protect him,” thinkprogress.com).
 
We’ll just pass by the ridiculous notion that Caligula is “doing a good job as President.” It doesn’t matter.
 
Any Christian, Mormon or otherwise, worth their salt, or worthy of the name “salt of the earth,” can discern Caligula for what he is.
 
The man is a criminal.
 
A gangster.
 
An organized crime boss.
 
A Gadianton Robber.
 
An America disgrace.