Letter to the editor: Protect our independence

By Sun Advocate

Editor:
Once a year we set aside a day which we call “Independence Day.” It is celebrated by many people. Some fly their national emblem, but most do not. Many in fact do not so much as own a flag to fly. But the flag is significant. In the days of the Nephite armies, Captain Moroni raised a flag to his people. They were at war. Their enemies were upon them from the outside, while from the inside traitors sought to destroy the freedom of the people, not only to erase liberty in government and set up a dictatorship but also to make the nation more than ever vulnerable to enemy attacks from without.
Moroni rallied his people to the flag for a two-fold purpose: One was to preserve their liberties at home and avoid enslavement.
The other was to stir up the people to fight against outside armies seeking their destruction.
He succeeded in both. He saved their liberty, putting down the traitors within, and fought to victory against invading armies from the outside.
In our own country, our leaders have done similar things. Washington was like Moroni in that he rallied loyalties at home and defeated enemies from abroad.
Lincoln, too, was like Moroni, for he also united people under one flag, while resisting an enemy. From without which would have taken advantage of a divided nation, weak from its battle wounds.
We need a Moroni today. But we need not only one, we need millions; brave men and women who will stand up for the principles represented in their flag, and be willing if necessary to give their lives in its defense.
Today, as in the days of Momoi, we are under attack from two sides. From the inside we are subverted by traitors who would destroy our freedom in subtle ways. From without are the forces which would destroy that same freedom in their own vicious manner.
Only a united citizenry can defeat these enemies. Only harmonious action can provide the strength that is necessary under existing circumstances.
We must protect our rights as citizens. They are divine. We are granted free agency by the Almighty, who also gave us our freedom . Constitutional government to protect those rights. These too we must defend.
And we must be willing to unite under one banner – Old Glory – in unbroken resistance to oligarchical powers.
But as Lincoln said, fire power will not save our nation. Our salvation must arise from the hearts of the citizenry.
And the hearts of the citizenry, to be successful, must have in them something other than hatred of the enemy, or than selfishness to preserve our easy way of life. They must be blessed with the divine faith of Washington, the mercy of Lincoln, and the full acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as the God of this land.
When we realize that the forces opposing us, both within and without, are anti-Christ in their purposes, we must recognize that this is no time for us to default to the enemy or give him aid or abet his efforts by allowing our faith in Christ to falter. This is no time to deny the Savior or doubt his divinity as marry now does. This is no time to join the modern trend in saying that God is dead.
This should be a day of faith, of rededication to the Lord Jesus Christ and all his righteous principles. This should be a day to remember that his gospel is the perfect law of liberty, and if we hope to preserve our liberty, there is only one way, and that perfect law upon which freedom is based.
Ours is a Christian nation. It is dedicated to the principles of justice and liberty for all. Its founders were devout, God fearing men through the inspiration which came to them they provided for us a government based upon divine principles.
And those men adopted a flag to represent their ideals and the sacred principles of their hard-won liberty.
That flag was the Stars and Stripes.
To them it stood for all that they had put into the founding of this new republic. To them it represented freedom, justice, and equal rights for all. To them it meant a government of, by and for the people. It meant an answer to their prayers, earnest, heart-felt prayers which had accompanied every effort in the founding of this republic.
And it meant that divine providence watches over America.
The flag should mean nothing less to us of today. If we do not so accept it we should readjust our thinking, and learn what genuine Americanism really is.