43. Our Message for America

A cover article in the March 1976 issue of the Cleverly Newsletter that was adapted from a talk I gave on Sunday, February 29, 1976, in the sacrament meeting of the Rose Park Fourth Ward, Salt Lake Rose Park Stake. We had moved from Provo to our home in Rose Park just a month earlier. On July 4, 1976, the United States celebrated the bicentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Elder L. Tom Perry of the Council of the Twelve in a recent address he gave, indicated that we as members of the Church have a positive three-fold message for America as we celebrate the bicentennial:

First, America’s earliest history is contained in the Book of Mormon and other scriptures.

Second, the discovery of America and the founding of this nation were parts of God’s plan.

And third, the future of America’s destiny depends upon the righteousness of America’s families.

Let’s talk a little now of the founding of this nation. If you think about it, the American Revolution must be ranked as one of the significant miracles of all recorded history. Here were thirteen little, weak, struggling colonies that couldn’t even agree among themselves but were standing up against and defeating what was then the world’s mightiest, most powerful empire. In my mind, there is no way to account for it except to say that God had a hand in it.

Nephi, nearly 2,400 years before it happened, prophesied America’s struggle for independence:

“And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.

“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 that 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, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.

“And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that they did prosper in the land” (1 Nephi 13:16–20).

The next great miracle was the framing of the Constitution. With independence finally won, thirteen impoverished little countries (who still couldn’t agree on anything) sat down and united themselves into a union unparalleled in human history. And the God of heaven endorsed the Constitution they drafted:

“According 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, according to just and holy principles;

“That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.

“Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.

“And for this purpose have 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” (D&C 101:77–80).

Of course, we today understand in context why all of this had to take place. God Almighty needed an America in order to restore the everlasting gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith. America has been, is, and will continue to be the Lord’s home base of operations in the latter days.

From this place is the sound to go forth unto the entire world, “for out of Zion shall go forth the law” (Isaiah 2:3; 2 Nephi 12:3).

And that’s a part of why I love America with all my heart.