This morning I awoke with a chilling dream. I was a technical advisor helping in the deployment of a bomb. I was on the airplane carrying the first bomb as it flew over Hiroshima (or at least as it was being prepared--details were murky). As I contemplated what was about to happen, I revolted and wondered why we must slay civilians, tens of thousands of them. If a show of force was needed, why not drop it on small island or in the ocean somewhere? And as I awoke, I recalled that Japan had already tendered an offer to surrender several days before the bomb was unnecessarily dropped (IMHO). This was, in my view, not an act of necessity, unless the necessity that really counts is ruling with blood and horror.

Yes, of course, I'm aware of the arguments that this was a humanitarian slaying because even more would have died if we didn't massacre civilians. Great horror always requires stout defenses to get people past the moral revulsion to what the military establishment needs to have done to advance their business model. Whether it's bombing wedding parties in Afghanistan, giving guns to drug gangs in Mexico (via the "Fast and Furious" program), burning German cities to the ground, dropping napalm on children in Vietnam, or provoking war with foreign powers such as Russia or China, those who have no loathing of bloodshed always have strong reasons and media lackeys who tells us we be patriotic and ramp up the horror for the good of humanity, or at least to create more jobs by helping the oil industry (one of the ugliest and final excuses used for the Persian Gulf War).

Latter-day Saints would do well to ponder the teachings of the LDS Temple on Satan's business model and modus operandi for success on earth. He boldly declares that he will buy up and control military forces to rule with blood and horror. That should be chilling, especially when combined with the powerful teachings of the Book of Mormon about the role of secret combinations in bringing down nations into bloody disasters as power-hungry maniacs usurp ever greater power and launch ever growing cycles of war and bloodshed. Those images are intended to reveal something about our day, and it's time we start paying attention.

My testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown greatly in the past couple of years as I dig into various aspects of this genuinely ancient document. Not only is it an authentically ancient document, but it is a genuinely prophetic document, and the power of its prophetic guidance is especially strong when we review its teachings on the goals, agenda, and operations of corrupt leaders and secret combinations, where we are given a prophetic lens to international events in our days (particularly in a few gems in the Book of Ether). We Latter-day Saints tend to ignore all that, but that Book of Mormon, like the Temple, is more relevant and needed than ever. May we pay attention.

Many voters have sensed that something is wrong in this nation. Some wondered how one leader could get a Nobel Peace Prize and then be at war every day non-stop for 8 years, dropping bombs ceaselessly in undeclared wars against powers that have not invaded us. Now the people have voted for what they thought was change, putting in a bold new hero who would "drain the swamp" and cast out the forces of evil from the Establishment and make America great again. Perhaps even be fiscally responsible! Then came the announcement that a representative from Goldman Sachs would reign over the US Treasury, keeping the banksters firmly in control. Our foreign policy will be run by a former Exxon leader. They are already stirring up animosities with China and telling that nation what to do with its borders and lands. Outrageous military spending will continue or be increased. The swamp is hardly being drained, just stirred and refreshed and definitely, absolutely, fed very, very well.

The new leader will take on the problem of burgeoning debt by, uh, spending one trillion dollars right away while lowering taxes, perhaps finding a way to outpace his predecessor who doubled 200 years of accumulated national debt in just 8 years. Faster debt creation can only increase the pain of the pending disaster. But the swamp will thrive. The Gaddiantons and their military-industrial complex will do well. Their stocks are up. Their power will be firm. There will be blood and horror. And not just in 3rd-world lands. Not to mention the dangers of economic disaster as debt becomes unsustainable and a credit collapse shocks the economy, with many painful consequences in the streets and homes of once wealthy lands.

So what is a Latter-day Saint to do? I think we must begin by taking what we have been given very seriously. More thoughts next time.



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