War: A Book of Mormon Perspective - Obedient Anarchy

286 Pages·2014·2.66 MB·English

by  Karen Hoover

War: A Book of Mormon Perspective
How the War Chapters of the Book of Mormon Warn Against Wars of Aggression and
the Warfare State

by Kendal Anderson

Book design and layout copyright © Karen E. Hoover
Cover design copyright © 2014 by Tatiana Villa

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Copyright © 2014 by Kendal Anderson

Dedicated to Jesus Christ—The Prince of Peace—who taught us to love our enemies
and petitioned His Father to forgive those who were at that very moment attempting to take
His life.
Table of Contents
Foreword
About the Author & Preface
Chapter 1 – Introduction
Chapter 2 – Principles of Defensive Warfare; America’s Two Just Wars
Chapter 3 – Wars of Aggression are Revolts Against Christ
Chapter 4 – Just War Theory and the Nephite Experience
Chapter 5 – Conscription versus Covenant
Chapter 6 – The Nationalistic Disease
Chapter 7 – War Collectivism
Chapter 8 – Economic Sanctions
Chapter 9 – Waging War on Civilians
Chapter 10 – Amalickiah and False Flag Operations
Chapter 11 – Betrayal at Yalta: Fruits of the Last “Good War”
Chapter 12 – Waging War on Ideologies: A Dangerous Delusion
Chapter 13 – A Misunderstood Hero

Appendix A: Selected Speeches and Writings Against the Warfare State
Section 1a – The Draft is Unconstitutional, by Daniel Webster
Section 2a – No Treason, by Lysander Spooner
Section 3a – The Conquest of the United States by Spain, by William Graham Sumner
Section 4a – War, Peace, and the State, by Murray N. Rothbard
Section 5a – The Glory of War, by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
Section 6a – Peace is the Father of all Things. by Ludwig Von Mises
Section 7a – Should a Christian Join the Military? by Laurence M. Vance

Appendix B: Selected Writings From Fellow Saints
Section 1b – Open Letter to Mormons Regarding Ron Paul: An LDS View of War, by Jeremy Ashton
Section 2b - What Is The Age Of Accountability For A Latter-day Saint Serviceman? by Rock
Waterman
Section 3b – Speaking Truth to Power: 9/11—My Reflections Ten Years Later, by Ron Madson
Section 4b – The True Meaning of Peace, by Benjamin A. Thompson
Section 5b – War! by Tim Urling
Section 6b – Military Keynesianism, by Irven Hill
Section 7b – Truly Constitutional and Superior Homeland Security, by Collin Theis
Foreword
I am Anon Mous. We are Legion. We do not forget.

The best part about Anonymous and the reason that it's so successful is because it's
decentralized. Anonymous has all kinds—white knights, black hats, mad-hatters, crackers, trolling
net-scatters, and more. We are the conscious, the subconscious, and the unconscious. We are the
obscurity from the obscurity, yet there are those who rise out of such obscurity when needed in
order to reflect the light of Truth. That is needed now more than ever before.
We are less concerned with personal identities or institutions (especially centralized ones) and
more about ideas and works. Consider the ideas, the works, and the results. Many of us from around
the world have studied the contents of this book and have decided that they are so important that
we will support them forever, regardless of persecution. We invite everyone alive to also study the
information within this book as we have and make the same decision for yourselves because the
results of doing so would be the end of aggressive warfare and many other terrible things and would
lead to improved lives for everyone. This book is even a great benefit to those who are not religious.
Wouldn't you like to be able to educate Christians about what their God tells them to do concerning
these things and hold them to the Peaceful standard of the Golden Rule and the rest of their own
teachings rather than allowing them to engage in mockeries of Christianity through aggressive
warfare such as the 'crusades'? These 'crusades' continue today in various ways, yet you could help to
end them and avoid much further suffering and death if the contents of this book are adhered to.
Are you not from the United States and/or maybe don't think that the contents of this book
apply to you and/or your loved-ones? If so, then you are dangerously wrong and are missing a
prime opportunity to improve your own life and that of all others. The United States effects all the
world and the things within this book are timeless and apply everywhere, not just within the United
States. Are you a member of a foreign nation, have resources, and would like the aggression,
deceiving, and other harm of the United States to end Peacefully? If so, then all you need to do is to
promote this book in its unaltered form among the People of the United States, who are still largely
ignorant of the information within. It is a fact that it only takes 3% of a population to accomplish
beneficial and enduring change on a very large scale, and the contents of this book are worthy of
100% of the support that can be offered because the results so greatly benefit everyone.
Do you perhaps believe that it's pointless or even harmful to get involved in the political
process at this point? It's understandable that you might feel that way, as many do, but not being
politically active yourself only gives more power to corruption and makes ever-worsening murderous
government-sponsored carnage inevitable. Instead, study and live by the contents of this book and
you will know exactly which politicians to elect based on their works, their public record, and their
platform rather than their party, power, attractiveness, and/or lies.
Share this information in any way that you know how as virally as possible. Be ready and able to
accurately discuss these things with your family, friends, co-workers, internet acquaintances, and
more. Ask politicians running for office what they think of this philosophy and use that to inform
your vote—though the ideal is for those who support these things to vote each-other into office and
implement them according to the People and Constitutional Rule of Law.
Expect us.
About the Author & Preface

My name is Kendal Anderson. I live in Ammon, Idaho, and run a small business in sprinklers,
lawn care, and pest control. I have a beautiful family consisting of my wife Christy, my son Caleb,
and my step-son Kadeon. Although I don’t have a college degree, I have a strange affinity for
reading books that most would consider boring. For the last 12 years or so, I have embarked on a
journey of independent study that has culminated in the writing of this book, which is the first of
what I hope will be more. My journey began with a spiritual study, evolved into a more secular
approach, and ended up being a synthesis of the two. I have been trying for the last five years to
reconcile my Mormon theology with secular libertarianism. This endeavor became much easier
when I put aside the cultural traditions that have crept into Mormonism over the past 200 years and
decided to look to the scriptures instead. What I gleaned from this process is that the Book of
Mormon is full of teachings that coincide with the libertarian philosophy of non-aggression. This
non-aggression axiom is not unlike the Savior’s own teachings in the New Testament that we have
aptly named 'the Golden Rule'.
The first book I read that really inaugurated my intellectual journey was W. Cleon Skousen’s The
Naked Communist. As a young man of 23, I shirked my collegiate studies—which were riddled with
establishment pap—in favor of used books by obscure men that I felt taught me real truth.
Frederick Bastiat’s The Law is another that comes to mind. At about the same time, I discovered H.
Verlan Andersen’s work—an LDS author and former BYU professor. His magnum opus, Many Are
Called, But Few Are Chosen, is a must-read for Latter-day Saints who are seeking to understand the
relationship between the Gospel and liberty. These and other books helped to prepare me for what
would come next and much later. About five years ago, I discovered the Mises Institute, which is one
of the largest libertarian think-tanks in the world, or at least commensurate with the other great like-
minded think-tanks such as the Cato and Independent Institutes. Working as a laborer in my father’s
cabinet shop, I purchased my first IPod and downloaded endless hours of libertarian lectures on
economics, politics, war, and history. Needless to say, the hours of mindless labor passed by a much
greater velocity than they had before when I was forced to listen to Spanish and Country music
blaring through a loud speaker.
I was introduced to men like Ludwig Von Mises, Murray Rothbard, Henry Hazlitt, Lew
Rockwell, Walter Block, Robert Higgs, John Denson, Tom Woods, Tom DiLorenzo, and Bob
Murphy. These men were and are echoing ideas that were laid down in the Book of Mormon and
taught here on the American continent millennia ago. Many of these men are not religious at all but
are in tune with principles that the Lord Himself wanted recorded by a fallen people who speak to
us from the dust. These principles can be summarized into the following categories; free markets,
voluntary charity, pacifism, just war, natural rights, and the evils of bloated government. I chose to
write about just war because I have seen so many of my fellow Saints buy into the jingoistic lies
propagated by the government. So many who have the Book of Mormon in hand capitulate to the
worship of the State, it’s military and police, it’s foreign adventures, it’s sanctions, and it’s insatiable
appetite to be the world’s police.
With this in mind, I decided to search deep within the war chapters of the Book of Mormon to
see just what kind of message Mormon was attempting to portray by including twenty-plus chapters
about a war between the Nephites and the Lamanites. I didn’t casually study these chapters; instead,
they consumed me for several months. I would listen to them over and over again in attempts to
dissect every morsel of information. Why—I would ask myself—did the Lord want us to know
these things? Why did Mormon say that if all men were like unto Captain Moroni then the devil
would lose his power? What does Captain Moroni’s Title of Liberty, or Amalickiah’s coup, or
Pahoran’s stand against the kingmen, have to do with Christianity? Why did the righteous Nephites
never go into the lands of the enemy to attack? And why did Mormon resign from his position of
military commander when his people desired to go into Lamanite lands and exact vengeance on
them by the sword? I attempt to answer these and other questions within this book.
There are also other important reasons that I wrote this book. First and foremost, I love liberty.
I think that war is ugly, reprehensible, and that it brings out the worst in people and nations. War is
the worst crime committed by governments because murder is far worse than stealing or enslaving.
And war-like nationalism is perhaps the easiest way for governments to deceive their constituents.
On a more personal level, I decided to engage in this work because of a strong spiritual prompting
that moved me to action. I remember skipping the last hour of church one day (Priesthood
meeting)—a common practice of mine—and retiring home to my couch to engage in my Sunday
study of something a little more interesting than regurgitated conference talks. As I sat pondering
the Book of Mormon, an overwhelming feeling came over me that I should write a book using the
ancient record as the general theme. At first, I began writing on the general subject of liberty, but I
found this to be exhausting, overwhelming, and entirely too vague. After several months and 100
pages of manuscript, I changed the theme to just warfare. This more specific topic allowed me to
write with greater ease and more purpose. I discovered Doctrine and Covenants Section 98—a
revelation given to Joseph Smith about when the Lord justifies war, which was given in response to
the persecution of the early Saints by the Missourians.
D&C 98 correlated with the message of Captain Moroni’s war of defense against the
Lamanites, as well as many preceding and contemporary libertarian theorists on just war. I
discovered the writings of J. Reuben Clark—a constitutional scholar who was called to the First
Presidency after years of inactivity and working on Sunday. He condemned the dropping of the
atomic bombs on Japan in a general conference of 1946 and referred to the incident as “fiendish
butchery.” Subsequently, I discovered the First Presidency message of 1945 that condemned
conscription. I was finding that secular and spiritual sources were coming together to witness to the
truthfulness of the message of Peace contained within the ancient records of the Nephites.
Finally, the real value that has come from my journey throughout this work is a deeper
appreciation for the Savior’s supernal pacifism. If there is anything that I hope that this book
portrays to my fellow Saints, it’s that Jesus would never condone us in our “kill ‘em all in the name
of ‘Merica” mentality, or wars of aggression, so-called 'nation building' that is actually imperial
mercantilism, our torture, and/or any attacks on human rights. The Lord teaches that the true
Christian way is to love our enemies, even while they are in the very act of crucifying us, as the
Prince of Peace so perfectly demonstrated.