Only Through Small and Simple Things

It is the natural desire of man to be free - for freedom is a gift that God has given to all of us.  To effectively advance the cause of liberty, we must first clean the inward vessel through repentance and then we can lead others through teaching proper principles.

And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod; for they ^ahardened their hearts, even as ye have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery flying ^bserpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be ^chealed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the ^dsimpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished. (1 Nephi 17:41)

No matter what it is that we will face today and in the future, the Lord has prepared a way for us to accomplish all that He would have us do. As we face the challenges of our day, we may, at times, think that things look bleak, that we are failing, or that we cannot go any further. It is in these moments that we can draw strength from the Lord by leaning upon Him and reflecting upon his teachings.

The gospel is simple. The way is simple. If we take what we learn in the gospel and apply it to all other areas in our lives, we will find solutions to today's problems. It is my experience that it is always through small and simple things that great things are brought to pass. (Alma 37:6) There are many examples that race through my mind as I have pondered on this and I would like to mention one personal experience.

While living in Missouri, I became educated on the process by which the state Republican Party chooses delegates and how things work, in general, on the inside. While going through this process, being treated poorly during the district and state conventions, I maintained my integrity and held to my principles. During a convention, I, along with about 400 others who had been labeled as not being strong and faithful Republicans, was fenced off from the other. Through it all, I proudly wore my green card and the wrist band that they gave all outsiders to wear. We eventually were seated, but only after the Republican leadership was certain that at least third of us had been scared off. Little did I know that the manner I dealt with this adversity was positively influencing a close observer. The individual I speak of is now a friend of mine.  She had her eyes opened to what was going on within our nation through our humiliation. She decided to read “The Revolution: A Manifesto” by Dr. Ron Paul and immediately made changes in her life. She is now running for State Representative in my place. All of this came about through the simple step of education. I educated myself through others with experience on how to work within the party. Those who witnessed the ordeal educated themselves through good books. I became involved because of great books by individuals like W. Cleon Skousen, Dr. Monnett, and Christopher S. Bentley and articles by Dr. Glenn J. Kimber, Joel Skousen, and many others. Above all else, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants lit that fire for liberty and I often used strategies from the Book of Mormon to accomplish the things that I did in Missouri.

A quote that I found recently by Epicetus states:  “We must not believe the many, who say that only free people ought to be educated, but we should rather believe the philosophers who say that only the educated are free.”

I quote this only because it goes hand in hand with one of my favorite quotes by James Madison – “A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people“  (American, 4th US President (1809-17), and one of the founding fathers of his country. 1751-1836) 

I agree with Madison that it is only through educating the people that we can restore liberty. I believe that most people will do what they think is right. Today there are many philosophies of men that are taught as the truth and, as we are witnessing, many of them are being moved forward because the people as a whole believe in them. If the people embraced correct principles, then they could once again be effective guardians of liberty.

On November 15th, 1851 the Millennial Star printed this quote by President John Taylor: “Some years ago, in Nauvoo, a gentleman in my hearing, a member of the Legislature, asked Joseph Smith how it was that he was enabled to govern so many people, and to preserve such perfect order.  Mr. Smith remarked that it was very easy to do… ‘How?’ responded the gentleman; ‘to us it is very difficult’. Mr. Smith replied, ‘I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves.’” (The Organization of the Church, Millennial Star, Nov. 15, 1851,339)

In a BYU-I devotional given by Byron Webster, principles are defined as a rule of conduct based on law.   This leads me to a quote by Mahatma Gandhi: “All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is surrender. For it is all give and no take.“  

Being the researcher that I am at heart, I decided that I would look up a few words, and take you on that journey with me. Please ponder the following:  

Fundamental law : the organic or basic law of a political unit as distinguished from legislative acts ; specifically : constitution 

Constitution: : an established law or custom : ordinance  

Ordinance: : an authoritative decree or direction 

As members of the Lords restored gospel, we know that the U.S. Constitution was created by Jesus Christ through wise men that he chose for that very purpose. We also know, through the Doctrine and Covenants, that he suffered it to be established and that it is meant for all mankind. It is then easy to see how the Constitution is actually an ordinance between us, the people, and the God of this land, Jesus Christ. As it is with any other ordinances that we make, it is essential that we search, ponder and pray about the fundamentals and then teach each other these correct principles.

D&C 88:  78 Teach ye diligently and my ^agrace shall attend you, that you may be ^binstructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;

80 That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to ^amagnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the ^bmission with which I have commissioned you.

81 Behold, I sent you out to ^atestify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to ^bwarn his neighbor.

We have been asked to share the knowledge that we have. For me, liberty is directly related to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We cannot have one without the other. We will not be able to enjoy the fullness of the gospel without our liberty to worship how we may or to speak out when the moral decay is overtaking our very fundamental footings in virtue. There are many battle fronts today; the adversary is working at full speed. Even though it is important to know what he is doing and what front he is attacking, it is even more essential to teach correct principles, so that the people can better govern themselves. When Alma was faced with what we are today, his solution was to preach the word of God.

Alma 31:5 And now, as the ^apreaching of the ^bword had a great tendency to ^clead the people to do that which was just–yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them–therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.

Am I saying that we should not stand for liberty? No. It is in my experience, that when standing for liberty, we must turn to God. We must call on Him for His aid and guidance as we take action to restore the U.S. Constitution. It is only through personal righteousness that this can happen. We must purify ourselves and be a moral and virtuous people. We can increase the stakes of Zion through teaching correct principles.

It is the natural desire of man to be free; for freedom is a gift that God has given to all of us. We can be delivered yet, but we must first look inward and repent, and then reach out to lift and lead. There are many who right now are investigating the gospel and many yet who wait to hear the message of hope that it brings. Let us try the virtue of the word of God, which persuades men to do good.

Alma 37:46 O my son, do not let us be ^aslothful because of the ^beasiness of the ^cway; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would ^dlook they might ^elive; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.

47 And now, my son, see that ye take ^acare of these sacred things, yea, see that ye ^blook to God and live. Go unto this people and declare the word, and be sober. My son, farewell.

Charity Angel is a single mother of 4 wonderful children.  She is a strong advocate for parental involvement in education and is a political activist.  She was the 7th District Coordinator for the Campaign for Liberty in Missouri and the 7th District Director for Missouri‘s RLC.  Charity enjoys singing and has a fan club on Myspace.  She has held a wide range of callings within the church.  Charity also maintains a personal blog (http://angelauthor.blogspot.com) and has recently relocated to American Fork, Utah.