The historically astute among my readers may recognize that the title of this article comes from an address made by the great abolitionist leader and former slave Frederick Douglass. In his 1852 address, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, Douglass rips into Americans for the hypocrisy of celebrating a day of liberty and independence, of proclaiming their love of human freedom, while engaged in the most brutal, horrific, and tyrannical form of oppression known to human history – chattel slavery. In one of the most powerful moments of his speech Douglass declares:
What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelly to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.
I think of the modern day application of these words a great deal. America may have left off slavery (at least for those not in the prison system), but the violence the American government perpetuates across the world is as bloody, cruel, and evil as anything ever done in our past. The so-called War on Terror has American soldiers assassinating American citizens, annihilating entire nations, and slaughtering millions people throughout the Middle East and Africa. Hospitals, weddings, soccer games, school buses, ambulance, homes – all of these and more have been the repeated target of American military brutality. While Americans march in their parades and wave their flags and declare they pride their government is murdering women and children, lying to the public about it, and covering up the truth. And it didn’t do these things all alone either.
At the time of his remarks, Douglass was condemning a nation that enslaved some 3,953,760 men, women, and children, a number slaves that two hundred years (from 1619 to 1860) to achieve. It took the present day American government less than 20 years (2001 to 2018) to slaughter more than 6 million Middle Eastern and African men, women, and children. As in 1852, the bombast of the Fourth of July today – the music, the parades, the fireworks, etc. – is a thin veneer for crimes so barbaric and atrocious that they would disgrace a nation of savages. And yet Americans, and all those whose governments have taken part in these American led wars, despite drowning in the blood and horror they have spread across the Earth, still proclaim their pride in their nation and pledge their loyalty and obedience to the warmongering mass murderers that run it.
At this point you may be asking yourself a question.
However did we get to this point?
The answer to this question is simple and profound.
It is because we have refused to follow the Prophets of God.
The Counsels of the Prophets
At the very opening of this last dispensation God renewed His ancient commands against violence among the modern church and we were commanded by God to, “renounce war and proclaim peace” and given this stark warning by God:
And now, behold, I speak unto the church. Thou shalt not kill; and he that kills shall not have forgiveness in this world, nor in the world to come.
D&C 42:18
Think about how differently the world would be if the Saints alone lived this commandment of God and heeded this warning about the danger of eternal damnation that killing brings to their immortal souls.
God’s warnings about the evils of war didn’t stop in the early days of the Restoration either. At the dawn of World War I, President Joseph F. Smith taught that war was the antithesis of Christianity:
The Lord has little if anything to do with this war. He will overrule things so that good will come out of it, but he will not heed the war lords who have transgressed his laws, changed his ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenant and arrogated to themselves authority which has never been conferred upon them. The true religion of Christ, which teaches peace on earth and good will to man, and which would prevent them from engaging in war and slaughter, they have never adopted. While they seemingly acknowledge allegiance to the Christian religion, they are not touched nor influenced by its teachings, for these are fundamentally opposed to war and discord, and look to a final gathering of all mankind into one great brotherhood ruled by love. These leading, so-called Christian rulers of the nations pretend to pray to the God of peace and love, and yet with all their might make preparation to fly at each other’s’ throats, even as the uncivilized heathens do who have never heard of Christ.
And during the October 1942 General Conference, in the midst of World War II, the First Presidency (Prophet Heber J. Grant and Counselors J. Reuben Clark and David O. McKay) taught about the true origins of war and explained the path of peace:
We renew the statement made in our message of the last April conference, that obedient to the direct command of the Lord given to us more than a hundred years ago (directing us to “renounce war and proclaim peace” — D&C 98:16) the Church is and must be against war, for war is of Satan and this Church is the Church of Christ, who taught peace and righteousness and brotherhood of man.
As those chosen and ordained to stand at the head of the Savior’s Church, as followers of the lowly Jesus trying to live His gospel and to obey His commandments, we must call upon the leaders of nations to abandon the fiendishly inspired slaughter of the manhood of the world now carrying on and further planned.
…We renew our declaration that international disputes can and should be settled by peaceful means. This is the way of the Lord.
We call upon the statesmen of the world to assume their rightful control of the affairs of nations and to bring this war to an end, honorable and just to all. Animated and led by the spirit of Christ, they can do it. The weeping mothers, the distraught and impoverished wives, the fatherless children of the world, demand that this be done. In this way only will enduring peace come; it will never be imposed by armed force. Hate-driven militarists and leaders, with murder in their hearts, will, if they go through to the end, bring merely another peace that will be but the beginning of another war.
War is of Satan. The nations of the world serve the Devil and war is one of the ways they carry out his work of reigning with blood and horror upon the Earth. No man can participate in the works of Satan and call himself a Saint. You can serve Christ or you can serve Satan. You cannot do both.
Perhaps the greatest Latter-day Prophet to recognize and denounce why so many people, Saints and not, defend and honor the gross wickedness of war was President Spencer W. Kimball.
Modern Idolatry
In June 1976, on the even the American bicentennial, in an issue of the Ensign (then the official church magazine) otherwise overflowing with jingoistic drivel and statist apologetics, the Prophet of God delivered a sermon that named nationalism and patriotism for what they really are – idolatry. Standing the test of time as one of President Kimball’s most inspired and prophetic works, The False Gods We Worship is a powerful and awesome rebuke of the modern world’s love of wealth, love of ease, love of things, and its reliance on the power of man instead of the protection of God. Though I can only quote the portions relevant to our purposes here, the entire article is worth the time of anyone who wants to be spiritual empowered by the word of God as delivered by a modern prophet.
President Kimball defines what he means by idolatry thusly:
I use the word idolatry intentionally. As I study ancient scripture, I am more and more convinced that there is significance in the fact that the commandment “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” is the first of the Ten Commandments.
Few men have ever knowingly and deliberately chosen to reject God and his blessings. Rather, we learn from the scriptures that because the exercise of faith has always appeared to be more difficult than relying on things more immediately at hand, carnal man has tended to transfer his trust in God to material things. Therefore, in all ages when men have fallen under the power of Satan and lost the faith, they have put in its place a hope in the “arm of flesh” and in “gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know” (Dan. 5:23)—that is, in idols. This I find to be a dominant theme in the Old Testament. Whatever thing a man sets his heart and his trust in most is his god; and if his god doesn’t also happen to be the true and living God of Israel, that man is laboring in idolatry.
Defining idolatry as those things which man sets his heart and trust upon – whatever her loves and devotes himself to, whatever he follows and obeys, whatever he is loyal to other than the true and living God – those things are his false gods, his idols. And this idolatry was not merely among the non-members of the world, it was (and is) rampant among the Church itself:
In spite of our delight in defining ourselves as modern, and our tendency to think we possess a sophistication that no people in the past ever had—in spite of these things, we are, on the whole, an idolatrous people—a condition most repugnant to the Lord.
Emphasis mine
The members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, despite their illusions otherwise, are generally an idolatrous and repugnant people. Though we delight in imagining that we are better than the ancient Israelites and their wicked worship of idols we just as often go whoring after the false gods of the world as they ever did, with the same results. In what way are members of the church idolaters?
We are a warlike people, easily distracted from our assignment of preparing for the coming of the Lord. When enemies rise up, we commit vast resources to the fabrication of gods of stone and steel—ships, planes, missiles, fortifications—and depend on them for protection and deliverance. When threatened, we become antienemy instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a man in the art of war and call him a patriot, thus, in the manner of Satan’s counterfeit of true patriotism, perverting the Savior’s teaching:
“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:44–45.)
Just as the ancient Israelites sacrificed their children to false gods, so do we today. Modern governments are founded on death and destruction, on killing to enforce their laws and maintain their power. Modern governments are founded on human sacrifice. William Lloyd Garrison, then denouncing Northerners in the United States for loving national unity over God’s commandments but making a point that applies to us today, said, “With the North, the preservation of the Union is placed above all other things—above honour, justice, freedom, integrity of soul, the Decalogue and the Golden Rule—the Infinite God himself. All these she is ready to discard for the Union. Her devotion to it is the latest and the most terrible form of idolatry.” (No Compromise)
As with Americans then, our idolatry now can be found in our warmongering and our willingness to put obedience to government above our obedience to God. Instead of serving God and keeping His commandments, including those which forbid us to ever shed human blood, we are a wicked people who put our trust in the powers of men and the weapons of war. Instead of trusting in the powers of God to protect us we build up the idols of war – guns, drones, bullets, bombs, and all the other weapons of modern warfare – and trust in these false gods, and our power to use them, to keep us safe. We pervert the minds of our sons and daughters and turn them into soldiers and/or by lionizing being a soldier as being heroic and noble when it is the exact opposite.
As a needed corrective to the pro-war propaganda we are fed, the inspired words of President John Taylor’s on the true nature of being a soldier have always stood out to me: “Who would be afraid of a poor, miserable soldier—a man that gets eight dollars a month for killing people, and a miserable butcher at that—one of the poorest curses in creation?” Instead of perverting the minds of men by teaching them the false doctrines of the world we should be teaching them to follow Jesus Christ’s command to love and serve those who hate us, to do good in response to the efforts of others to try and harm and even kill us.
President Kimball continues to explain that we do not need the idols of war because the only thing that can keep us safe is the protection of God, which He has promised to those who serve Him:
We forget that if we are righteous the Lord will either not suffer our enemies to come upon us—and this is the special promise to the inhabitants of the land of the Americas (see 2 Ne. 1:7)—or he will fight our battles for us (Ex. 14:14; D&C 98:37, to name only two references of many). This he is able to do, for as he said at the time of his betrayal, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 26:53.) We can imagine what fearsome soldiers they would be. King Jehoshaphat and his people were delivered by such a troop (see 2 Chr. 20), and when Elisha’s life was threatened, he comforted his servant by saying, “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them” (2 Kgs. 6:16). The Lord then opened the eyes of the servant, “And he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” (2 Kgs. 6:17.)
Enoch, too, was a man of great faith who would not be distracted from his duties by the enemy: “And so great was the faith of Enoch, that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch.” (Moses 7:13.)
President Kimball starts by referring to the promises that God made to Lehi and Nephi that they would be protected in this land by Him if they would serve Him. President Kimball rightfully notes that the land being referred to is not the United States, a mistake commonly made by nationalist church members, but all of North and South America. Those here that serve Him will be protected by Him. They have no need of the idols of war because they have Him to keep them safe. Indeed the worship of the idols of war put them in danger because those who worship false gods will not be protected by the true and living God and their idols of war cannot keep them safe.
Notice though that after talking about this promise of protection given to Lehi and Nephi, President Kimball immediately follows it up by giving two examples where God has promised to protect and has protected those who keep his commandments no matter where they live. As with Elisha, the armies of the world hold no terror for us because the Saints are protected by the Armies of God and those forces will ever be greater and more powerful than any or all of the armies of men. As with Enoch, the Priesthood is the power to command Creation itself and God will allow the righteous to use it to defend and protect Zion by His power. In fact, when you read Moses 7: 13-15 altogether you discover that not only did Creation answer to the command of the Priesthood to protect the Saints, but that it did so without having to kill anyone and that it was so great that none who saw it exercised would dare again to threaten Enoch or the Lord’s people.
President Kimball concludes this section of his talk with a warning:
What are we to fear when the Lord is with us? Can we not take the Lord at his word and exercise a particle of faith in him? Our assignment is affirmative: to forsake the things of the world as ends in themselves; to leave off idolatry and press forward in faith; to carry the gospel to our enemies, that they might no longer be our enemies.
We must leave off the worship of modern-day idols and a reliance on the “arm of flesh,” for the Lord has said to all the world in our day, “I will not spare any that remain in Babylon.” (D&C 64:24.)
God’s power is the only power that can protect us and its protection is only given to those who serve God and keep His commandments, including abandoning the idols of war and trusting in the arm of the flesh, the power of men. Those who do not only put themselves and their loved ones in danger of destruction, both physical and spiritual. Those who do have nothing to fear, not even death, as President John Taylor taught:
“Are you not afraid of being killed?” you may ask me. No. Great conscience! who cares about being killed? They cannot kill you. They may shoot a ball into you, and your body may fall; but you will live. Who cares about dying? We are associated with eternal principles: they are within us as a well springing up to eternal life. We have begun to live for ever.
Or as Christ Himself so succinctly put it:
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:28, ESV
Nationalist Worship
What does all this have to do with the Fourth of July? Because they’re just that – nationalist holy days (a.k.a. holidays.) Whatever the origin of Independence Day as a day commemorating rebellion against state power and government authority today it is celebrated like all the other nationalist holy days, such as Canada Day, Bastille Day, German Unity Day, etc. The Fourth of July has come to represent the United States as a nation, a day meant to reaffirm American support for their government, a day to remember all those who have died to protect America and our freedoms, and a day to celebrate everything that makes the country great.
In other words, its propaganda.
The Fourth of July is an orgiastic display of nationalist sentiment meant to reaffirm the faith of the people in the political dogmas that they’ve been indoctrinated to since birth. It is the high holy day of the American cult of the state that honors their ruling elites as God-given, the soldiers killed in its work as sacrificed saints, and its secular dogmas as definitive truths. It is a day designed to reconfirm in them the righteousness of their devotion to government no matter the crimes and evils it has committed or how many times it has violated the rights/basic humanities of the people over which it rules. It encourages treating those who would be free as traitors to be mocked, dismissed, or worse. It promotes giving our submission and obedience, loyalty and faith, to men and worldly institutions instead of God and His kingdom.
The Fourth of July celebrates war, bloodshed, violence, and killing. It lionizes, idolizes, and heroizes war and the slaughter that war causes. It affirms the faith of men in their idols of war and teaches them to trust in the arm of the flesh. It calls upon the public to dedicate their lives, their, time, their talents, and everything which they do or will have to the service of and in building up the United States of America. It is one of the most effective tools for perverting the minds of our children and indoctrinating them into what President Kimball’s labeled as Satan’s counterfeit of true patriotism. It encourages murder and treating those dedicated to peace as dangerous, crazy, or stupid. It encourages and celebrates being anti-enemy and pro-American instead of being anti-wickedness and pro-Kingdom of God.
The Fourth of July is a day that encourages us to do the very opposite of what the Prophets of God have counseled as discussed above. The Fourth of July is about placing our trust in the arm of the flesh instead of the protection of God. The Fourth of July is about rejecting prophetic warnings and embracing the idolatry of war. The Fourth of July is about rejecting the doctrines and practices of the Kingdom of God to follow after the secular dogmas and practices of the fallen world. The Fourth of July is a rejection of Zion for the whorish embrace of Babylon.
The Fourth of July, and every nationalist holiday like it, is directly antithetical to the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. And like all other holy days of the false religions of the world, you can worship their false gods or you can worship the true and living God. But you cannot do both.
That Fourth of July choose something different. Don’t take part in the public reaffirmation of the secular faith in the god-state. Reject worship in the Cult of America It is not for you. This is not your day. And it never will be. Instead proclaim by your words and your actions that you are a Latter-day Saint, a member of the universal Kingdom of God. Reject the petty nationalist politics and artificial divisions of man that are countries upon which days like the Fourth of July reside and reaffirm. Declare your devotion by answering the question, “What To The Latter-day Saint is the Fourth of July?” with the truest answer of all – Nothing. For with us it must always be the Kingdom of God or nothing! Zion is our home and we will neither settle for nor be deceived by anything less.