D&C 134
D&C 134
Because Joseph Smith felt so strongly about the government’s duty to
protect the individual’s rights and because the American government
had failed to protect the Saints in Missouri from the mobs, Joseph Smith
decided to run for the office of president of the United States in 1844.
He felt none of the candidates running for president would represent
the cause of the Saints fairly and guarantee them their constitutional
rights.
On April 9th 1844, during the General Conference of the Church, Joseph
Smith’s campaign for the presidency was launched. “A series of thirtyseven conferences was scheduled to be conducted throughout the
nation by the Twelve with the final conference held at Washington D.C.
from September 7th through the 15th (Ivan J. Barrett, Joseph and the Restoration: A
History of the Church to 1846, 577)
AMERICA: THE QUIZ
• Who said, “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal’?
• Who said, “Give me liberty or give me death’?
• Who is known as “Lady of Liberty”?
• Which article of Faith speaks about government?
• Which document, drafted in 1215, lead to the colonization of the US?
• Who wrote the National Anthem
• In which war was the Star Spangled Banner written?
• What sight inspired the author to pen the (then) poem?
• What other animal did the Founding Fathers almost select as our
National Mascot?
• How many Presidents have we had in the US?
• Who sewed the first American flag?
FIND TWO RIGHTS FROM
YOUR PASSAGE
DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 134:1–4
• The responsibilities of governments are set forth
DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 134:5-6, 8
• The responsibilities of citizens are set forth
DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 134:7, 9-10, 12
• The relationship between religion and government is described
THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1844
The following are some of the men who ran for President of the United
States in 1844:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Martin Van Buren
Henry Clay
John C. Calhoun
Lewis Cass
Richard Johnson
Joseph Smith
James K. Polk
(Had been defeated twice)
(Won the election)
ARTICLE OF FAITH
TWELVE
ARTICLES OF FAITH #12
WE BELIEVE IN BEING
SUBJECT TO KINGS,
PRESIDENTS, RULERS, AND
MAGISTRATES, IN OBEYING,
HONORING, AND SUSTAINING
THE LAW.
“The Prophet Joseph Smith … said,
‘Patriotism should be sought for and
will be found in right living.’ Isn’t that
interesting? You can’t be really patriotic
unless you’re righteous. No man can
be a good Latter-day Saint and not be
true to the best interests and welfare of
his country.”
Hartman Rector, Jr.
“The Land Choice Above All,” in Speeches of the Year, 1974 [Provo:
Brigham Young University Press, 1975]
“We urge all Latterday Saints to be
good neighbors and
to be good citizens,
loyal to their flag
and country.”
Spencer W. Kimball
CR, April 1981
War
“There is [a] war that has gone on since before the world was created and
which is likely to continue for a long time yet to come. …
“That war … is the war between truth and error, between agency and
compulsion, between the followers of Christ and those who have denied Him. His
enemies have used every stratagem in that conflict. …
“… It is as it was in the beginning. … The victims who fall are as precious as
those who have fallen in the past. It is an ongoing battle. …
“The war goes on. … It is waged in our own lives, day in and day out, in our
homes, in our work, in our school associations; it is waged over questions of love
and respect, of loyalty and fidelity, of obedience and integrity. We are all involved in
it. … We are winning, and the future never looked brighter” (President Hinckley, “The War We
Are Winning,”Ensign, Nov. 1986, 42, 44–45).
D&C 134
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAJGkQGz4yI Religious Freedom
“The only thing
necessary for
the triumph of
evil is for good
men to do
nothing.”
M. Russell Ballard
CR, October 2003
(Quote attributed to Edmund Burke)
“When, therefore, constitutional
law, obedient to these principles, calls
the manhood of the Church into the
armed service of any country to which
they owe allegiance, their highest civic
duty requires that they meet that call. If,
harkening to that call and obeying
those in command over them, they shall
take the lives of those who fight against
them, that will not make of them
murderers, nor subject them to the
penalty that God has prescribed for
those who kill, beyond the principle to
be mentioned shortly.
The First Presidency
CR, April 1942
When to obey…
Romans 13:7
Matthew 22:17-22
D&C 98:5
1 Peter 2:13-17
Titus 3:1,2
When not to obey…
Acts 4:18-20
Daniel 3
Daniel 6
1 Nephi 4:10-18
Mosiah 24:11-15
President Boyd K. Packer,: “Youth today are being
raised in enemy territory with a declining standard
of morality. But as a servant of the Lord, I promise
that you will be protected and shielded from the
attacks of the adversary if you will heed the
promptings that come from the Holy Spirit.
“Dress modestly; talk reverently; listen to uplifting
music. Avoid all immorality and personally
degrading practices. Take hold of your life and
order yourself to be valiant. Because we depend so
much on you, you will be remarkably blessed. You
are never far from the sight of your loving Heavenly
Father” (Nov. 2011).
D&C 134
FOUNDERS OF AMERICA
President Wilford Woodruff, seventy-eight years ago, reported that a tithe of
those “wise men,” those who had also signed the Declaration of Independence,
appeared in the St. George Temple with George Washington at their head, and
“demanded” temple ordinances. (Conference Report, April 10, 1898, pp. 89–90.)
D&C 134