Harold Pease, Ph. D.
Many of us who have frequently published on the threats to the integrity of the Constitution as originally written, over the past several presidents and many years, are pleased to have President Donald Trump make defending it a part of his campaign by his recent public statement, “Our Constitution is Hanging by a Thread.” He did so Oct. 13 in the swing state of Arizona at Prescott Valley. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints are considered an important, even key, vote in Arizona as well as in Nevada. Trump’s comment spawned an LDS Fireside with others participating notably Glenn Beck, Senator Mike Lee with Trump in the call to protect the Constitution in our voting practices (LDS Fireside with Donald Trump, Glenn Beck, Mike Lee: Constitution Threadbare? Best Clips!). The fireside was not officially church sponsored.
Trump’s protection of the Constitution has always been genuine. He has been the most constitutionally oriented president for many decades—an avid protector of the 2nd Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms, and the 1st Amendment’s freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and “to petition the government for a redress of grievances” (as in Jan. 6). The 10th Amendment too, in its single sentence, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,” allowed this country to return the whole issue of abortion back to the states where it should have always been since it was never a delegated power to the federal government. Trump / SCOTUS did this!! The Constitution has always been a priority to him.
The Constitution would have already been damaged beyond repair had Trump not been elected president in 2016. President Obama wanted Merrick Garland as the new SCOTUS justice. Mitch McConnell waited for the approaching 2016 election so that the election could choose instead. Hillary Clinton, as president, would have doomed the Supreme Court beyond recovery with a vast majority of anti-constitutionalists appointed for life. Trump saved the Constitution by appointing three constitutionally based justices giving “as written” justices the majority.
But it was Trump’s phrase “Our Constitution is Hanging by a Thread,” that brought long-term members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to standing attention. In 1843, 181 years ago, the then prophet of their new church, Joseph Smith, prophesied, “the time would come when the Constitution and government would hang by a brittle thread and would be ready to fall into other hands but this people the latter-day saints will step forth and save it” (James Burgers Journal, 1818-1904, Church Archives, Vol. I—found among loose sermons). Many wrote it down in their journals at the time with only minor variations.
For Trump, past president and likely to be again the most important head of state in the world, to blatantly use this phraseology to describe the present condition of the Constitution is for members jaw-dropping. No one familiar with the document can dispute it is on life support.
With respect to the government of the United States and the Constitution, this prophecy has been recited by virtually every president in LDS Church history. Outside Church belief that Jesus is the Christ, our personal Savior and Redeemer and the Book of Mormon is the second witness of Him as such to people on the American continent; this prophecy and expectation that it would be fulfilled is perhaps the most known.
The most profound and modern recitation of this prophecy was by church President Ezra Taft Benson shared Sept. 16, 1987, “I have faith the Constitution will be saved as prophesied by Joseph Smith. But it will not be saved in Washington. It will be saved by citizens of this nation who love and cherish freedom. It will be saved by … men and women who will subscribe to and abide the principles of the Constitution.” He concluded with his own prophecy, “I testify that the God of heaven raised up choice spirits to lay the foundation of this government, and he has sent other choice spirits to preserve it” (“Our Divine Constitution,” Sept. 16, 1987, BYU Devotional).
Why would members, on religious principle, be one of the most patriotic people in the country to the Constitution? Because they believe Christ told them to be. Smith received three revelations regarding it, the most prominent of which, “I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.” Simply, Christ helped America win the Revolutionary War and form the Constitution which is to bless “all flesh” and “forever” (D & C’s 98:4-10; 101:77-80; & 109:54).
Why should a non-member have confidence in the prophecies of a said to be prophet 181 years ago? Because members believe he is the same who on December 25, 1832, prophesied the American Civil War beginning in South Carolina some 28 1/2 years before it happened. Christ told him of the coming “rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls;….For Behold, the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States and the Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain….” All of which happened, even the reaching out for help to Great Britain (D & C 87: 1 & 3 and 130:13).
Even the Deep State, many believe, was prophesied in the Book of Mormon in 1830, which members have called secret combinations for 194 years. Its index has over 60 references to how secret combinations destroyed two separate ancient civilizations, the Jaredites and the Nephites, for they are found in all nations and “seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people.” The prophet Moroni in the book warns today, “when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you.”
The Deep State has and is destroying this country. LibertyUnderFire.org has published 791 columns on liberty, a large majority of them defending the Constitution and revealing the Deep State. Our Constitution IS hanging by a thread. Let us join Trump’s effort to bring together all faiths and people of this nation to save the Constitution from the Deep State. It cannot save itself.
Dr. Harold Pease is an expert on the United States Constitution and a syndicated columnist. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. Read his weekly columns at www.LibertyUnderFire.org Column # 791
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