America's Fate and Ultimate Destiny | Marion G. Romney

this Brigham Young University devotional by president Marion G Romney was given may 2nd 1976 I certainly appreciate captain to meet with your young folks I hope the Lord will bless me that's what I say will be said under his direction of his spirit this year being our nation's Bicentennial anniversary and the fourth of July being but two months away I've thought it might be appropriate to give some consideration to our country's fate and her ultimate destiny although I was born and lived for 15 years in the foreign land my parents who were United States citizens and our fellow colonists always remembered and observed the fourth of July the celebration regularly included a flag and bunting parade and an oration commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence my concept of and my feeling about what was going on in and around Independence Hall at the time the Declaration was being signed we're in my youth and still are influenced by the words and the spirit of the poem independence Belle I memorized it in my youth and I hope its lines will transmit to you something of my feelings as I read them to you now there was tumult in the city in the quaint old Quaker town and the streets were rife with people pacing Restless up and down people gathering at the corners where they whispered each to weeks and the sweat stood on their temples with the earnestness of speech has the Bleak Atlantic currents last the wild Newfoundland Shore so they be against the Statehouse so they surged against the door and the mingling of their voices made a harmony profound till the quiet street of chestnut was all turbulent with sound will they do it dare they do it who is speaking what's the news part of Adams for adjournment well God grant they won't refuse makes some way there let me nearer I'm stifling stifle whim when the nation's life that hazard we'd no time to think of men so they beat against the portal man and woman maiden child and did you lie son in heaven on the scene looked down and smiled the same Sun that saw the Spartan said his Patriot blood in vain now behold the soul of freedom Arlen conquered rise again see see the dense crowd rivers through all its lengthy line as the boy beside the portal looks for us to give the sign with his little hands uplifted breezes dallying with his hair heart with deep clear information wretches young voice on the air past the people swelling mother lists the boys exalted crying wearing his shouts ring grandpa ring will ring for liberty quickly at the given signal the bellman lifts his hand for us he sends the good news making iron music through the land how they shouted what rejoicing how the oily belt shook the air till the clang of freedom ruffles economy riding Delaware have the bonfires and the torches lighted up the night's repose and from the flames like fable Phoenix our glorious Liberty arose battle Statehouse barely silent hushed is now it's climbers tongue but the spirited awakened still is living ever younger and when we greet the smiling Sun light among the force of each July we will never forget the bail man who be twixt the earth and sky rang out loud independence which please God shall never die I hope each of you and I have like feelings about this great land of America about the Declaration of Independence and about the Constitution of the United States in God's economy America is now and has always been a choice and favoured land God has decreed for her a final great and glorious destiny here design is to be established and the New Jerusalem is to be built from here the law of God shall go forth to all nations America received her first consecration as a favored land when the Lord planted here the Garden of Eden as a habitation for Adam and Eve a thousand years later Henoch Zion flourished here and then some six hundred years thereafter this land was then used by the flood and left uninhabited so far as human beings were concerned until the Lord led to this land from the Tower of Babel a colony of people the Jaradat declaring as he led them that he was bringing them to a land of promise sorry to above all other lands a land which he had preserved for a righteous people and that who chose food so should possess the land from that time henceforth forever should serve him the true and only God or they should be swept off when the fullness of his wrath should come upon them here in this land these people the Jared Ikes build a nation of which the Lord said there shall be none greater upon the face of the earth they dwelt here for some 2,000 years finally however they write 'end in iniquity and were pursuant to God's decree swept off the land in the fratricidal war 600 years BC as time was running out for the Jared Ikes the Lord brought to this land Lehi and his callin me he said before they arrived here the Lord said to them as he had said to the Jared i'ts in as much as ye shall keep my Commandments ye shall prosper and shall be led to a land of promise yay even the land which I have prepared for you yay a land which is choice above all other lands simultaneously he warned them that if they did not serve Him they would not prosper in the land but would be cut off from his presence The Book of Mormon record testifies to the fact that when they obeyed the laws of God they prospered and that when they did not obey them they were cut off from the presence of God finally the Nephites branch those people having ripened Inuvik in iniquity was destroyed by the lane lights who under the curse of their unbelief and idolatry were scattered and became the people discovered by Columbus when he was led here here in 1492 you of course know that the facts I've just decided are not to be found in profane history books nor fair in our secular history is meant is mentioned made of America before Columbus and why was that because this lamp has been from the beginning reserved by the Lord for those who he himself would lead here this we learned from the ancient prophet Lehi i prophesy he said according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me that there shall none come unto this lamp save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord wherefore this land is consecrated unto Him whom he shall bring and if it so be that they will serve him according to the commandments which he has given it shall be a land of Liberty unto them wherefore they shall never be brought down into captivity yes so it shall be because of iniquity for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes but under the righteous it shall be blessed forever and behold it is wisdom said continued Lehi that this land should be kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations for many nations with over em the land wherefore I Lehi have obtained a promise that in as much as those whom the Lord shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his Commandments they shall prosper upon the face of the land and they shall be kept from all of the nations that they may possess this land unto themselves and if it so be that they shall keep his Commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land and there shall be none to molest them nor to take away the land of their inheritance and they shall dwell safely forever this promise live high received for his own descendants and for the Malachi's who also came from Jerusalem he followed it however with this solemn warning in prophecy behold I say if the day shall come that they that is the people who came out from Jerusalem who were the Nephites and ones who who came at the time of the Nuba kites will reject the Holy One of Israel the true Messiah the Redeemer and their God behold the judgments of him that his debt just shall rest upon them yay he will bring other nations unto them and he will give unto them power and he will take away from them that's the descendants of the people who came from Jerusalem he will in the land of their possessions that is the new nations will take away from them and he will cause them to be scattered and this remarkable prophecy not only explains why America was to be discovered only by those whom God showed late lead here yet also foreshadows the forfeiting of Lehigh's descendants of larry inheritance and the coming of other nations history records that these other nations were introduced to this land by Columbus of who's coming ancient American Cedars prophesied as early as 590 BC before Lehi made the foregoing prophecy his son Nephi was given to see envision Columbus being led by the Spirit of God to this promised land defy me five us describes his vision and I beheld the Spirit of God said Nephi and this was before he'd ever reached the promised land I beheld the Spirit of God that it came down and rocked upon the man and he went forth upon the many waters even unto the seed of my brethren who were in the promised land and he came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God that it robbed upon other Gentiles and they went forth out of captivity upon the many waters and it came to pass that I beheld many multitudes of the Gentiles upon the land among these other general these other Gentiles were as we know the Puritans in New England the Quakers in Pennsylvania the Catholics in Maryland the Huguenots in Virginia and the Carolinas and the Lutheran's in Georgia and Nephi continued I beheld the wrath of God that it was upon the seed of my brother and they were scattered before the Gentiles and were smitten everyone acquainted with colonial and US history knows how the American Indians were scattered and smitten by the Gentiles who came here following Columbus but Nephi then saw and thus described our colonial history and I beheld the Spirit of the Lord he said that it was upon the Gentiles and they did prosper and obtained the land for their inheritance that is the inheritance of the seed of his brethren who had been scattered and he came to pacify me if I be held after Gentile who had come forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord and the power of the Lord was with them he's talking about the thirteen colonies and I beheld that their mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters and upon the land also to battle against them and I beheld the power of God was with them and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to battle and I defy beheld that the Gentiles that had gone our captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations we know by the colonies were able to win freedom in the Revolutionary War Columbus of course knew nothing about this record of Nephi's vision nevertheless he corroborates it he put on record his convictions that he was divinely led to America supporting this conclusion if I Omar says in the latter part of his life Columbus when impressed with the sublime events brought about by his agency looked back upon his career with a solemn and superstitious feeling he attributed his early and a resistible inclination for the scene and his passion for geographical studies to an impulse from the dearly preparing him for the high the trees he was chosen to accomplish when he had formed his theory that's Columbus it became fixed in his mind with singular firmness and influenced his entire character and conduct he never spoken in bout hesitation but with such certainty as if his eyes have beheld the promised land no trial or disappointment to divert him from the steady pursuit of his object a deep religious sentiment mingled with his meditations and gave him at times a tinge of superstition but it was of a sublime and the lofty makind he looked upon himself as standing in the hand heaven chosen from among men for the accomplishment of this high purpose in the Royal presence of Isabella no Irving his biographer says he unfolded his plans with eloquence and zeal for he felt himself as he after was declared kindled as with a fire from on high and considered himself the agent Charles new pact heaven to accomplish the grand design his son Fernando in the biography of his father corpsing at court same as saying on one occasion I quote God gave me the faith and afterwards the courage so that I was quite to was willing to undertake the journey and the will of torment read this in the name of the Holy Trinity who inspired me with the idea and after wise made it perfectly clear to me that I could navigate and go to the Indies from Spain by traversing the ocean westward we who live in America today are here because the Lord led collaborative Columbus to this land we dwell here under the same divine decree however as did the ancient civilizations who likewise were led here prospered when they obeyed the laws of the god of the land but who finally ripened in iniquity and pursuant to the lord's decree were swept off the land and be it known that we are as well informed of the decree as were those farmer in half the manner in which a knowledge of this decree came to us is as follows Moroni an American prophet historian who about 421 ad closed the sacred book of Mormon record now available to us spent his youth and middle life in the final struggle between his people the Nephites and dilemma Knights has the sole surviving Nephi he spent the rest of his life bridging the 2000 year record of the Jared ice he was therefore familiar with all the lurid details of their demise with these heart-rending scenes and his own experiences upon his mind he was given envision a view of us who now dwell here knowing that his record would come to us he wrote I quote but Moroni wrote as he looked down in vision and saw us behold I speak unto you as if you were present and yet you're not but the holy Jesus Christ has shown you unto me and I know you're doing and this that is this record which he wrote cometh unto you that ye may know the decrees of God that ye may repent and not continue in your iniquities until the film has come that she may not bring down the firmness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done behold this is a choice lane and whatsoever nation shall berserk possession shall be free from bondage and from captivity and from all other nations under heaven if they will both serve the God of the land who is Jesus Christ although the foregoing references to America's past and a brief and sketchy they clearly show that she is now and has been from the beginning a favor and choice land in which the Lord has taken the personal and acute interest they make it crystal clear that if destruction or subjugation shall come to us it will not be by a foreign foe but because we the inhabitants of the land shall have reached a fullness of iniquity but not only has the almighty reserved America for a righteous people and decreed that her inhabitants I'll serve Him or be swept off the land he has also was indicated at the outset of these remarks decreed for her a great and marvelous final destiny namely that out of her is to go forth to all the world his law Isaiah declared centuries ago when he taught Society shall come to pass he said in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it and many people shall go and come and say let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law and he finishes and out of the word of the Lord from Jerusalem Zion as used in this scripture means America in fact America is Zion at times the term is used to include both the North and South American continents in some references the word Zion is used to designate the area inland about Jackson County Missouri where the New Jerusalem will be built which city is itself sometimes called Zion from Zion the law of God shall eventually go forth into all the world it is this fact and this purpose the building of Zion on this hemisphere hemisphere which seems to be the dominant elements in all of God's dealings with them who possess this land thus America's ultimate god-given destiny planned by the creator himself and by him through Isaiah declared is that of her shall go forth the law this destiny no power of man or devils can thwart let us now consider for a moment what the Lord has done since he led to Lambeth Columbus to America to move her towards her divine destiny reference has already been made to the early settlers to the growth of the Ridgid colonies to the Declaration of Independence and to the success of the colonists in the Revolutionary War through which they're declared independence was one later on between 1820 and 1844 the Lord revealed a new and complete dispensation of his gospel which contains the laws of the god of this land who is Jesus Christ this was of course made the imperative by the divine decree that those who dwell here must obey such laws be swept off the land his laws have always been given to the inhabitants of America he gave them to the end of the Libyans through his prophets from Adam to Noah he gave them to the Jared eyes through the prophets from the brother of Jared to ether to the Nephites in a personal visitation and through his prophets from Lehi tomorrow night he revealed his laws to this generation he has given them a new to His Prophet Joseph Smith Jr the giving of these laws however would have been aborted without a civil government which would guarantee men that untrammeled exercise of their god-given free agency without such a civil government men could not be bound by the laws of God even though they were revealed as a matter of fact free agency underlies all of God's laws it is God's law of Liberty it is the basis of existence God wants men to be good but he never forces them and does not want them to be forced he placed in and left with them the power of election when they do good he honors them because they could have done evil when they are coerced they are entitled to no such honor God allows men to make their own choices and he has reserved to himself the judgment as to the correctness of their choices free agency has always have enough going however o-over if the war in heaven was fought in the earth it has been abridged by almost all governments civil and ecclesiastical apostate church men kings and other rulers have from the beginning irrigated judgment unto themselves they have contrary to God's law of Liberty preempted man's right with or without his consent to determine what he would be best what would be best for them to do and by every means within their power have undertaken to force men to do their bidding we have learned by side experience as the revelation but it is the nature and disposition of almost all men as soon as they get a little Authority as they suppose they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous Dominion on July the 3rd 1776 no government on earth guaranteed God's love Liberty and on July the 4th 1776 in the Declaration of Independence that law was declared the new in the earth everywhere in America says John Adams the people who received the Declaration of Independence as though it was degree decree promulgated from uh located from heaven and all and well they might for it was a strange and wonderful thing freedom has been hunted around the globe wrote Tom Paine Asia and Africa have long expelled her Europe regards her like a stranger and England has given her warning to depart Paul received a fugitive and prepare in time and asylum for mankind wrote dr. Hugh Nibley the colonial Patriots did receive the fugitive they thought I've run the war of the revolution to obtain freedom they under the inspiration of heaven and the interposition of the Almighty established the Constitution of the real of the United States to secure freedom God's law of Liberty to all Americans not only but for all men in this manner did God move America into position to fulfill her destiny that it was he who did it he himself affirms in 1833 he told his people who had been scattered by their enemies to continue to importune for redress and redemption according he says to the laws and constitution of the people which I have suffered to be established and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh those principles in the Constitution are not just for America they're for all flesh according to just and holy principles that every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futility and according to the moral agency which I have give him that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment therefore it is not right that when a man should be in bondage one to another and for this purpose says the Lord have I established the constitution of this land by the hands and wise men whom I raised up for this very purpose in this declaration the Lord revealed three things that the Constitution of the United States was established by him second that the purpose of it was to protect men in the exercise of their god-given moral agency and third that every man should eventually under it's just and holy principles enjoy such protection the time permit we could with prophet consider the constitutional provisions which guaranteed this freedom which pursuant to her declared destiny is to go forth from America to maintain the rights and protection of all flesh I refer you who are interested in this divinely established guarantee to the late President Jerry Rubin Clark juniors great speech America a chosen land of the Lord which you find in the book stand fast by our Constitution well now I think I've said enough to sustain my thesis now the America has from the beginning beamed and now he is in God's economy a choice and favoured land and that had he has decreed for her a great destiny I shall therefore conclude with a statement of these basic facts the blessings of our constitutional freedoms were secured for us by the bounty of the Almighty through the patriotism and sacrifices of the founding fathers they were preserved for us through the suffering and trials of the Civil War for them we owe a deep breath debt of gratitude to God and our forebears by the grace of God we opted by this land the blessings of which are unequaled in any other land it is difficult for us of this generation to fully appreciate these blessings because they were not won by the shedding of our blood sweat and tears but by the shedding of others there are some things however which we must not longer fail to appreciate if we do so we shall do it at our peril chief among these things is man's free agency which was provided for in the Constitution as it was originally adopted and interpreted America's destiny requires that the constitutional safeguards of this freedom be appreciated and maintained it is imperative that they be maintained and observed here in America in order that they may go out from here undiluted through the protection of all flesh whether this generation of Americans will live up to its opportunity to obey and preserve them particularly God's law of Liberty including the gospel of Jesus Christ who is the god of this land remains to be seen if it does not the wicked among us will be destroyed as were the wicked preceding the appearance of the risen Lord to the Nephites God will spare the righteous and raise up another generation in this way for hours I am the law of God will go forth there are those among us who feel and perhaps with good cause that these constitutional freedoms were being both willingly and unwittingly eroded if this be so that it be known that with the loss of each constitutional freedom we are surrendering our inheritance in this favorite land what can we do about it let me give you a suggestion in the words of the immortal Lincoln as I read the words laws as I call him think of the laws of the gospel and those constitutional laws calculated to preserve our free agency God's law of Liberty here's the quotation from Lincoln let every American every level of Liberty everywhere wish you to his posterity swear by the blood of the revolution never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country and that latter they think including that the laws of the gospel of Jesus Christ and never to tolerate their violation by others as the Patriots of 1976 did to the support of the Declaration of Independence so to the support of the Constitution and the laws what every American pledges live his property and his sacred honor let every man remember that to violate the law is to trample upon the blood of the fathers and to tear the charter of his own and his children's Liberty not reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the listing babe that prattles on her must be taught in schools in seminaries and in colleges let it be written in rumors spelling books and almanacs let it be preached from the pulpits proclaimed in legislative halls and enforced in the courts of justice in short let it become the political religion of the nation now my beloved brothers and sisters young and old let us who know and believe so much more than others about the faith and the ultimate destiny of America lead the way by precept and example to the realization of that great destiny I humbly pray and leave with you my blessing in the name of Jesus Christ amen for more information on this program please visit our website at BYU broadcasting org this Brigham Young University devotional by president Marion G Romney was given May 2nd 1976 you

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Keywords: freedom, Book of Mormon, America, BYU Devotional, Brigham Young University, Marion G. Romney

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Length: 40min 4sec (2404 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 31 2013