Destructive Forces

September 25, 2008 in Religion by Greg | 4 comments

J. Reuben Clark, Jr. once warned about destructive forces seeking to overturn the Constitution and their potential effects on government and LDS Church leadership:

Wall Street during the Panic of 1884 by Schell and LoganI suppose that all of you love your country, love the Constitution, love the free institutions under which we live, love our freedoms. But if there be any, may I ask you, prayerfully and humbly, think this thing over, because if it comes here it will probably come in its full vigor and there will be a lot of vacant places among those who guide and direct, not only this government, but also this Church of ours.1

Sources:

  1. Clark, J. Reuben, Jr. Conference Report. April 1952: 80.↩

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Tags: Constitution, Freedom, J. Reuben Clark

  1. TimNo Gravatar on December 16, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    What is meant by:

    “there will be a lot of vacant places among those who guide and direct, not only this government, but also this Church of ours?”

    Tim

  2. GregNo Gravatar on December 16, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    Tim – You can read part of the larger context of President J. Reuben Clark’s comments in Chapter 13 of Prophets, Principles, and National Survival. Just do a search for the phrase “vacant places” on that page.

  3. TimNo Gravatar on December 16, 2008 at 6:07 pm

    Greg,

    Thanks for the quick reply; I read the chapter you posted (and thanks for posting that book, it is one I have not yet read in its entirety, but now will), but am still a bit vague as to what Elder Clark was referring to. That is, what are these vacancies? Are they vacancies of the spirit, vacancy of thought, vacancy of actual people. If people, does he mean there will be vacancies in, for example, the quorum of the twelve as a direct consequence of not standing up for freedom? Really, I’m just wondering if anyone else has thought about this . . . just looking for some insight on what I find an interesting topic.

    Tim

  4. GregNo Gravatar on December 18, 2008 at 8:02 am

    Tim – I believe President Clark had reference to potential vacancies in the leadership of the Church – First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve, Seventy and perhaps even the local leadership.

    If you are aware of the ideology of those he was referring to – those “destructive forces” – towards religious organizations, it should not be too hard to see why he made that statement. We will also likely see an overthrow of our government and there will be “vacant places” in the leadership of our federal, state, and local government.