“Behold, the Enemy Is Combined” (D&C 38:12)
Neal A. Maxwell
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
(April 1993)
Years ago, I wondered over the scriptural imagery of angels
waiting “day and night” for “the great command” to come down and reap the tares
in a wicked and suffering world; it seemed rather eager to me. (See D&C 38:12; D&C 86:5.) Given such massive, needless
human suffering, I don’t wonder anymore!
Even so, the final reaping will occur only when the Father
determines that the world is “fully ripe.” (D&C 86:7.) Meanwhile, brothers and
sisters, the challenge is surviving spiritually in a deteriorating “wheat and
tares” world. (See D&C 86:7.)
Granted, occasionally a few defectors or dissidents may try to
vex us as they hyperventilate over their particular concerns, but it is the engulfing
effects of that deteriorating world on Church members which is the “clear and
present danger.” “Evils and designs” really do operate through “conspiring
[individuals] in the last days.” (D&C 89:4.) The Lord has even announced,
“Behold, the enemy is combined.” (D&C 38:12.)
Yet we must not be intimidated or lose our composure even though
the once morally unacceptable is becoming acceptable, as if frequency somehow
conferred respectability!
One of the most subtle forms of intimidation is the gradual
normalization of aberration. Alexander Pope so cautioned:
Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
Today, lust openly parades as love, license cleverly poses as liberty,
and raucous sounds mockingly masquerade as music. Evil even calls itself good
and often gets away with it!
While I would not shrink the circumference of freedom, the size
of that circle is not the sole measure of social well-being.
Hence, to exult, as some do, over how much decadence is
permissible at the edges ignores the erosive effects of such grossness upon all
within that circle. Yeats’s descriptive imagery fits:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
Attributed to historian Will Durant are these relevant words:
“If the hunger for liberty destroys order, the hunger for order will destroy
liberty.” In this connection, how can there possibly be a disturbing loss of
individual impulse control without a corresponding loss of collective freedom?
Violence abounds, often to purchase drugs in order to “tune out”
of the world instead of overcoming it. Just as foretold, our days actually are
fast resembling the days of Noah, especially notable for their pattern of
corruption and violence. (See Matt. 24:37; Gen. 6:11.) No wonder the adversary steadily
promotes all the ancient sins, not because he is uninventive but because his
harvest is so constant.
Abortion, which has increased enormously, causes one to ask,
“Have we strayed so far from God’s second great commandment—love thy
neighbor—that a baby in a womb no longer qualifies to be loved—at least as a
mother’s neighbor?” Even so, violence to an unborn child does not justify other
violence!
What of neighboring? Long ago, Tocqueville anticipated how
individualism, unenriched by family and community, could produce the “lonely
crowd,” saying:
“Thus not only does democracy make every man forget his
ancestors, but it hides his descendants and separates his contemporaries from
him; it throws him back forever upon himself alone and threatens in the end to
confine him entirely within the solitude of his own heart.” (Alexis de
Tocqueville, “Democracy in America,” as quoted in Andrew M. Scott, Political Thought in America, New York:
Rinehart & Co., Inc., 1959, p. 225.)
In their search for identity and belonging, too many supposedly
savvy teens are now confined to the solitude of a lonely gang. What is the
lasting advantage of becoming streetwise if one is on a street to nowhere?
Gangs mark the failure of both families and communities as well as symbolizing
the pervasive revolt against authority.
Instead of being communicating neighbors, we are flooded with
talk shows, some of which feature not real conversation but exhibitionism and
verbal voyeurism among virtual strangers.
We are lathered with soap operas in need of nothing so much as
soap—for the scrubbing of themselves! Some seriously maintain that media
violence and sleaze leave consumers untouched. But revenue is received from
commercials precisely because of their influence. Either we deserve reforms, or
sponsors deserve refunds!
Those who mock the traditional moral values should heed this
lesson of history from the Durants:
“A youth boiling with hormones will wonder why he should not
give full freedom to his sexual desires; and if he is unchecked by custom,
morals, or laws, he may ruin his life before he matures sufficiently to
understand that sex is a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a
hundred restraints if it is not to consume both the individual and the group.”
(Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of
History, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968, pp. 35–36.)
Lasciviousness wrongly celebrates the capacity to feel, so that
people lose their capacity to feel! Three different prophets in three different
dispensations bemoaned those who became “past feeling.” (See 1 Ne. 17:45; Eph. 4:19; Moro. 9:20.) Do we really expect those
presently “past feeling” to fashion an acceptable future? Gross sin not only
dulls the feelings, it also impairs the intellect. After murdering Abel, Cain
ironically boasted, “I am free”! (Moses 5:33.) Did the herd of Gadarene swine
similarly console themselves, thinking that they were actually rugged
individualists as they raced down the hill to their destruction?
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn lamented recently how those who hold
“there is no God, there is no truth, the universe is chaotic, all is relative”
constitute a “relentless cult of novelty … [which] conceals an unyielding and
long-sustained attempt to undermine, ridicule and uproot all moral precepts.”
(“The Relentless Cult of Novelty and How It Wrecked the Century,” The New York Times Book Review, 7 Feb. 1993, p. 17.)
Today’s anguishing mortal scene gives rise to still other
questions.
Pornography especially victimizes women and children. Why then
the inordinate preoccupation with its protection? Pornography is better
protected than citizens on the streets!
Even with its flaws, the family is basic, and since no other
institution can compensate fully for failure in the family, why then, instead
of enhancing the family, the desperate search for substitutes? Why not require
family impact studies before proceeding with this program or that remedy, since
of all environmental concerns the family should be first? Hundreds of
governmental departments and programs protect various interests, but which one
protects the family?
Since democracy depends upon citizens’ “obedience to the
unenforceable,” why then the stiff resistance to moral education which could
emphasize widely shared and time-tested principles?
Only reform and self-restraint, institutional and individual,
can finally rescue society! Only a sufficient number of sin-resistant souls can
change the marketplace. As Church members, we should be part of that
sin-resistant counterculture. Instead, too many members are sliding down the
slope, though perhaps at a slower pace.
In a “wheat and tares” world, how unusually blessed faithful
members are to have the precious and constant gift of the Holy Ghost with
reminders of what is right and of the covenants we have made. “For behold, …
the Holy Ghost … will show unto you all things what ye should do.” (2 Ne. 32:5.) Whatever the decibels of
decadence, these need not overwhelm the still, small voice! Some of the best
sermons we will ever hear will be thus prompted from the pulpit of memory—to an
audience of one!
While living amid the foreseen “distress of nations, with perplexity,”
members also have prophetic leadership which provides direction. (Luke 21:25; see also D&C 88:79.) Several times a year, we
sustain fifteen Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators. So we know to whom
to look, even though there are a few members who “seek not the welfare of Zion”
and “set themselves up for a light.” (2 Ne. 26:29.) Furthermore, the Prophet Joseph
clearly taught that recipients of that apostleship possess “all the keys that
ever were, or that can be conferred upon mortal man.” (Cited by Brigham Young,
in Journal of Discourses, 1:137.)
Repetitive experience teaches Church members that we need not be
prey to pretenders. Besides, “The day cometh that they who will not hear the
voice of the Lord, … neither give heed to the words of the prophets and
apostles, shall be cut off from among the people.” (D&C 1:14.)
Additionally, the very process of Church government also ensures
that we do not have secret leaders:
“It shall not be given to any one to go forth to preach my
gospel, or to build up my church, except he be ordained by some one who has
authority, and it is known to the church that he has authority and has been
regularly ordained by the heads of the church.” (D&C 42:11.)
President Wilford Woodruff urged the Church flock to follow the
Brethren because, he said, “the very moment that men in this kingdom attempt to
run ahead or cross the path of their leaders, … they are in danger of being
injured by the wolves. … I have never in my life known it to fail.” (In Journal of Discourses, 5:83.)
Further help comes to us through sermons, the sacrament, the
holy temple, prayers, the scriptures, tithing settlements, and admonitions from
loved ones. However, when members cut themselves off from all of these, then
there is trouble. For instance, it is from estranged and self-justifying lips
that some devastated spouses hear those terrible words, “I never loved you!”
With the enemy combined, it is so vital to keep “in the right
way.” (Moro. 6:4.) Orthodoxy in thought and behavior
brings safety and felicity as the storms come, including “every wind of
doctrine.” (See Eph. 4:14.) Happily, amid such winds the Holy
Ghost not only helps us to recognize plain truth but also plain nonsense!
Orthodoxy ensures balance between the gospel’s powerful and
correct principles. In the body of gospel doctrine, not only are justice and
mercy “fitly joined together [for] effectual working,” but so is everything
else! (Eph. 4:16.) But the gospel’s principles do
require synchronization. When pulled apart from each other or isolated, men’s
interpretations and implementations of these doctrines may be wild.
Love, if not checked by the seventh commandment, could become
carnal. The fifth commandment’s laudable emphasis upon honoring parents, unless
checked by the first commandment, could result in unconditional loyalty to
errant parents rather than to God.
Care is even needed in our renderings between God and Caesar.
(See Matt. 22:21.) Even patience is balanced by
“reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost,” betimes meaning early or soon. (D&C 121:43.) Spiritual poise also includes
both taking time to smell the flowers and noticing the leaves on the fig tree
to see if “summer is nigh.” (Matt. 24:32.)
Thus, the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ is greater than
any of its parts and larger than any of its programs or principles!
Even during these difficult times, members “armed with righteousness”
can do so many things. (1 Ne. 14:14.) We can have love at home, even
though the love of many waxes cold in the world. (See Matt. 24:12.) We can have inner peace even
though peace has been taken from the earth. (See D&C 1:35.)
We can keep the seventh commandment even though others break it
and mock it. We can render individualized, humanitarian service even though the
mass of human suffering seems so overwhelming.
We can use our tongues to speak the truth in love, while
refusing to use them to bear false witness. (See Eph. 4:15; Ex. 20:16.) We can stand fast “in holy places”
even though in the world “all things shall be in commotion.” (D&C 45:32; D&C 88:91.)
We can reach for “hands which hang down,” even if some refuse
our proffered hands of friendship. (D&C 81:5.) We can hold to the iron rod
even if others slip away and a few end up mocking us from “the great and
spacious building.” (1 Ne. 8:26–28.)
Like Nephi, we may not always know the meaning of things happening
to us or around us. Nevertheless, like Nephi, we can still know that God loves
us! (See 1 Ne. 11:17.)
Yes, “the enemy is combined,” but when we are combined with the
Lord’s “chariots of fire,” then “they that be with us are more than they that
be with them”! (2 Kgs. 6:16–17.) Furthermore, the divine
promise is that no weapon formed against the Lord’s work shall finally prosper;
this “is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.” (Isa. 54:17; D&C 71:9.) I so assure; I so testify in
the name of Jesus Christ, amen!
“April 1830”
cji
1/27/19
In a small village
upstate New York
six men joined as one
setting the stage of
war
some 1.1 Billion to 6
were the current odds
as the enemy combined
led by the adversary
these odd have changed
not by much to notice
but knowing Father
and His Only Begotten
will prevail in the end
then siding with the
six
now almost 15 million
is the way to follow!
Copyright © 2019 – cji
