A Witness and a Warning
This General Conference Talk was given to the Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in October of 1979. As a prequel to President Bush’s State of the Union Address tonight, I thought it would be a timely thing to share this wonderful witness and warning, a message still completly relevant to our day as Communist College and High School professors and teachers seek to indoctrinate America’s youth with Socialism, and Communist forces are reviving in Venezuela and other parts of the world.
I have highlighted those paragraphs that I felt were most important to our day, almost thirty years after it was offered to the Saints.
Jenny Hatch

The Lord has declared this “a day of warning, and not a day of many words” (D&C 63:58). My message is a witness and warning about some of the evils which threaten America—a land I love with all my heart. There are other countries with this same problem. You who have seen these dangers in the land you love will have a deep feeling for what I will say.
America is a place of many great events. Here is where Adam dwelt, where the Garden of Eden was located. America was the place of former civilizations, including Adam’s, the Jaredites’, and Nephites’. America is also the place where God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph Smith, inaugurating the last gospel dispensation on earth before the Savior’s second coming.
This consecrated land has been placed under the everlasting decree of God. That decree is recorded in the sacred Book of Mormon, a new witness for Christ, in these words:
“For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God. …
“Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:10, 12).
The eventful destiny of America has also been revealed to God’s prophets. To Joseph Smith the Lord revealed that “the whole of America is Zion itself from north to south” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1938, p. 362). Further, the Lord decreed this land to be “the place of the New Jerusalem, which should come down out of heaven, … the holy sanctuary of the Lord” (Ether 13:3). To serve God’s eternal purposes and to prepare this land for Zion, God “established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom [He] raised up … and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood” (D&C 101:80).
The Constitution of the United States was ratified in 1789. The priesthood of God was restored in 1829. Between those two dates is an interval of forty years. It is my conviction that God, who knows the end from the beginning, provided that period of time so the new nation could grow in strength to protect the land of Zion.
In the decade prior to the restoration of the gospel, many countries of South America fought wars of independence to free themselves from European rule. Russia, Austria, and Prussia, however, urged France to aid Spain and Portugal to restore their monarchies in South America. This effort was repulsed by a proclamation from the United States government known as the Monroe Doctrine. The heart of the Monroe Doctrine consists of these words: “The American continents … are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.”
The Lord had promised, “I will fortify this land against all other nations” (2 Ne. 10:12). President Joseph Fielding Smith said that “the greatest and most powerful fortification in America is the ‘Monroe Doctrine.’ … It was the inspiration of the Almighty which rested upon John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson and other statesmen, and which finally found authoritative expression in the message of James Monroe to Congress in the year 1823” (The Progress Of Man, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., pp. 466–67).
Thus, in that four-decade period the United States had grown to sufficient strength that she was able to provide a cradle of liberty for the restored Church of Jesus Christ.
But whenever the God of heaven reveals His gospel to mankind, Satan, the archenemy to Christ, introduces a counterfeit.
Isaiah foresaw the time when a marvelous work and a wonder would come forth among men. Isaiah also predicted there would be those who would “seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us?” He saw the time when the work shall say of him that made it, “He made me not” (Isa. 29:15–16).
It is well to ask, what system established secret works of darkness to overthrow nations by violent revolution? Who blasphemously proclaimed the atheistic doctrine that God made us not? Satan works through human agents. We need only look to some of the ignoble characters in human history who were contemporary to the restoration of the gospel to discover fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. I refer to the infamous founders of Communism and others who follow in their tradition.
Communism introduced into the world a substitute for true religion. It is a counterfeit of the gospel plan. The false prophets of Communism predict a utopian society. This, they proclaim, will only be brought about as capitalism and free enterprise are overthrown, private property abolished, the family as a social unit eliminated, all classes abolished, all governments overthrown, and a communal ownership of property in a classless, stateless society established.
Since 1917 this godless counterfeit to the gospel has made tremendous progress toward its objective of world domination.
Today, we are in a battle for the bodies and souls of man. It is a battle between two opposing systems: freedom and slavery, Christ and anti-Christ. The struggle is more momentous than a decade ago, yet today the conventional wisdom says, “You must learn to live with Communism and to give up your ideas about national sovereignty.” Tell that to the millions—yes, the scores of millions—who have met death or imprisonment under the tyranny of Communism! Such would be the death knell of freedom and all we hold dear. God must ever have a free people to prosper His work and bring about Zion.
I am a witness to nations and people deprived of their freedom. I was there. I watched that great Iron Curtain drop around nations which formerly had prized their freedom—good people. I was aghast as these were written off by the stroke of a pen. I saw Poland abandoned by nations with a heritage of freedom—the United States and Great Britain.
I was in Warsaw in June of 1946. I shared a room with seven other men in the Polonia Hotel, the only hotel even partially intact in the great city of Warsaw. Our ambassador, Bliss Lane, had his office in part of the building. He was so saddened that he resigned and wrote the book I Saw Poland Betrayed, which detailed the failure of the United States and England to keep their promise that the Poles would have a free election after the war.
I saw firsthand our great nation stand by at the time of the Hungarian revolution—when “freedom fighters” with bare hands and stones resisted bullets, tanks, and artillery. I confess I was ashamed at the response of my country—a nation which I believe the Lord intended to be an ensign of freedom to all others. Freedom did not die that day (23 October 1956) for Hungary alone. Hope died for many in other captive nations and has only recently been somewhat revived by courageous men willing to speak against oppression.
Since that day, I have seen the Soviet Union, under its godless leaders, spread its ideology throughout the world. Every stratagem is used—trade, war, revolution, violence, hate, detente, and immorality—to accomplish its purposes. Many nations are now under its oppressive control. Over one billion people—one-fourth of the population of the world—have now lost their freedom and are under Communist domination. We seem to forget that the great objective of Communism is still world domination and control, which means the surrender of our freedom—your freedom—our sovereignty.
On 3 July 1936, the First Presidency published this warning to Church members:

“Communism is not a political party nor a political plan under the Constitution; it is a system of government that is the opposite of our Constitutional government. …
“Since Communism, established, would destroy our American Constitutional government, to support Communism is treasonable to our free institutions, and no patriotic American citizen may become either a Communist or supporter of Communism. …
“We call upon all Church members completely to eschew [shun] Communism. The safety of our divinely inspired Constitutional government and the welfare of our Church imperatively demand that Communism shall have no place in America” (signed: Heber J. Grant, J. Reuben Clark, Jr., David O. McKay, The First Presidency, in Deseret News, 3 July 1936; italics added).
More recently, President Marion G. Romney, in the First Presidency Message in the September 1979 Ensign, wrote: “Communism is Satan’s counterfeit for the gospel plan, and … it is an avowed enemy of the God of the land. Communism is the greatest anti-Christ power in the world today and therefore the greatest menace not only to our peace but to our preservation as a free people. By the extent to which we tolerate it, accommodate ourselves to it, permit ourselves to be encircled by its tentacles and drawn to it, to that extent we forfeit the protection of the God of this land” (p. 5).
The truth is, we have to a great extent accommodated ourselves to Communism—and we have permitted ourselves to become encircled by its tentacles. Though we give lip service to the Monroe Doctrine, this has not prevented Cuba from becoming a Soviet military base, ninety miles off our coastline, nor has it prevented the takeover of Nicaragua in Central America, the surrender of the Panama Canal, or the infiltration by enemy agents within our American borders.
Never before has the land of Zion appeared so vulnerable to so powerful an enemy as the Americas do at present. And our vulnerability is directly attributable to our loss of active faith in the God of this land, who has decreed that we must worship Him or be swept off. Too many Americans have lost sight of the truth that God is our source of freedom—the Lawgiver—and that personal righteousness is the most important essential to preserving our freedom. So, I say with all the energy of my soul that unless we as citizens of this nation forsake our sins, political and otherwise, and return to the fundamental principles of Christianity and of constitutional government, we will lose our political liberties, our free institutions, and will stand in jeopardy before God.
No nation which has kept the commandments of God has ever perished, but I say to you that once freedom is lost, only blood—human blood—will win it back.
There are some things we can and must do at once if we are to stave off a holocaust of destruction.
First: We must return to worship the God of this land, who is Jesus Christ. He has promised that the righteous will be preserved by His power (see 1 Ne. 22:17). But we must keep the commandments of God. We must pay our tithes and offerings, keep the Sabbath day a holy day, stay morally clean, be honest in all our dealings, and have our family and personal prayers. We must live the gospel.
Second: We must awaken to “a sense of [our] awful situation, because of this secret combination which [is] among [us]” (Ether 8:24). We must not tolerate accommodation with or appeasement toward the false system of Communism. We must demand of our elected officials that we not only resist Communism, but that we will take every measure to prevent its intrusion into this hemisphere. It is vital that we invoke the Monroe Doctrine.
Then we must put our trust in Him who has promised us His protection—and pray that He will intervene to preserve our freedom just as He intervened in our obtaining it in the first place.
Third: We must do as the Lord commanded us by revelation in 1833: “Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil” (D&C 98:10).
Men who are wise, good, and honest, who will uphold the Constitution of the United States in the tradition of the Founding Fathers, must be sought for diligently. This is our hope to restore government to its rightful role.
Last: We must study the inspired Constitution and become involved in the political process ourselves. I quote the First Presidency statement that was read in sacrament meetings on Sunday, 1 July 1979: “We encourage all members, as citizens of the nation, to be actively involved in the political process, and to support those measures which will strengthen the community, state, and nation—morally, economically, and culturally” (Letter from the First Presidency, 29 June 1979).
I fully believe that we can turn things around in America if we have the determination, the morality, the patriotism, and the spirituality to do so.
My single-minded concern is for the freedom and welfare of my countrymen and my posterity, the freedom of all men.
I testify to you that God’s hand has been in our destiny. I testify that freedom as we know it today is being threatened as never before in our history. I further witness that this land—the Americas—must be protected, its Constitution upheld, for this is a land foreordained to be the Zion of our God. He expects us as members of the Church and bearers of His priesthood to do all we can to preserve our liberty.
May God bless us that, with His help, we will not fail to bring to pass His purposes on earth. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Recently I took some morning pictures of the Fall Colors. We generally have a short and sweet blast of color here in Colorado. I just went up to my favorite park to take these pictures. It was so serene and beautiful to walk among the trees with the fall morning sunshine shining on my face.
Right now I am listening to General Conference. I thought it would be a good idea to live blog President Hinckleys talk, which is always the highlight of conference on sunday morning.

I can’t believe what I am hearing! The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is singing movement four from Brahms Requiem right now! My blog readers will understand what an impact this music is having on me right now. I have just immersed my life in this music for the past few months, and received my CD of the performance on thursday. I have been listening to it on and off for the past few hours, and I am just so happy to have had the chance to participate in that glorious music.
How Lovely are thy dwellings! What a perfect introduction to the prophets talk:

Brothers and Sisters – A Personal Matter – 96th birthday last june.
Speculation concerning the Prophets health. If he lives a few months older, he will live to be the oldest prophet in the modern church.
Miserable surgery – never been a patient in the hospital. Miraculous 2nd surgery. Does not know for how long he will live. Not an easy thing to preside over the church. Stress and responsibility are great.
Trasition to new Prophet will be smooth. Go forward in Faith.
Faith is theme he wishes to discuss this morning.

Faith of Joseph Smith – to translate, to pray, to restore the priesthood, organized the church. Thanks Joseph for the gift of his life.
Faith was the moving power behind Brigham Young. He knew nothing about the soil, water, or climate, and yet he set out without hesitation. And so it has been with each of the presidents of the church. They moved forward with faith. Despite crickets, persecution from the federal government, etc…etc..it has all been the same. Move forward with Faith.
150th Anniversay of the coming of the Hand Cart companies to the Salt Lake Valley. Willie and Martin companies struggled through the tedious journey. Up the valley of the sweetwater, food rationed, oxen died, carts broke down, inadequate clothing and bedding. Starved to death. Scores died. Franklin D Richards passed them by and came to the valley in the fall of the year, general conference was in session. Brigham Young was given a note during conference telling of the company. 5th of October 1856, our brethren must be brought here. Text is the people on the plains. Bring them in before the weather sets in. 60 good mule teams, 12 good wagons, good horses and mules. 12 tons of flour, 40 good teamsters.
I will tell you, said he, your faith, your profession, nothing will save you in the kingdom of god will save you as what I am teaching you right now. Clothing, bedding, food, supplies were gathered and within a day or so, the wagons were rolling. The handcart people were transferred to the wagons. 200 people died, but 1000 were saved.
Among those who were saved were his wives great grandmother.

His wifes gravesite looks down on Mary’s grave, who was saved in the company. Her three children died on the trail. Freezing winter, howling blizzards, slow climb up rocky ridge.
Faith of the pioneers is a reminder to us of the faith of our fathers.
Small and significant events also prove faith.
Manti Temple – George Paxman was a carpenter. He and his wife had one child and were expecting another. George suffered a strangulated hernia from hanging the door of the temple. He died. Martha was a widow for 62 years. Martha lost her ring when she was house cleaning. She prayed to find the ring. Found the ring after praying, gave it to her grandaughter.

Faith – Jesus Christ is the strength of our faith.

I’m really grateful to have had the chance to hear the Prophet speak on faith. I want to testify in the name of Jesus Christ that this Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Heavenly Fathers Kingdom on the earth. Gordon B. Hinckley is his living prophet, and Joseph Smith was the prophet who restored the church on the earth in Modern Times. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ…AMEN.

Jenny Hatch

Today we enjoyed the first three sessions of General Conference. Paul and Jeff are still at the Ice Cream social for all of the priesthood up at the stake center. The guys prepare this fun social after the Priesthood Session twice a year and it is a big hit with the teens. Sometimes the boys and their Dads play basketball afterwards. I’m expecting them home any minute.
I thought I would share some things that we do to make Conference more effective with several different ages of children. We have satellite in our home, and so we stayed home to watch.
Ben is almost four, and any activity with him is always somewhat chaotic. But I did some things to smoothe the way.
I made up Conference Packets for each of the children that included words puzzles, coloring pages, stickers, and a new box of crayons for each. For the older children I purchased church binders years ago that they use to keep all of their stuff in.
Here is a picture of some of the materials:

This little booklet contains pictures of all of the first presidency and the apostles. I bought some Celestial stickers and every time one of these men spoke, a sticker was placed by their name. When the children fill out the whole booklet, they will get a present. I bought all four of the older children New Journals, and Ben gets a coloring book with a new Primary Songbook.
Here is a picture of Jeff writing in his journal while President Monson talks on Television:

I began making these packets out of desperation. When all four of my oldest children were young, we tried to watch conference, but I was continually frustrated by the noise, distractions, and fighting that was going on while Paul and I tried to watch. It was better at the church, but inevitably one of us was in the nursery talking to other parents while the other was in the chapel. When the children were babies, we didn’t even try to attend together as a family. Paul and I just switched off sessions and the other one stayed home with the children.
But after this one conference weekend, when the boys were little and they spent most of the session fighting (Jeff whacked Andy in the head with his Book of Mormon during the closing prayer and I started to cry), I prayed and asked Heavenly Father if there was some way to teach the children to love conference.
I felt guided to seriously prepare for Conference. In fact, I felt that few things in my life were as important as teaching my children to love Conference weekend, and help them learn to love our Prophet and the other General Authorities and Speakers at Conference. So I started with simple packets that contained activities. If the children were good during the first hour, they received a treat during the rest song. If they completed all of the activites in the packets and were “pretty well behaved” they received a wrapped present. I wanted them to feel as excited about Conference as they did about their birthdays.
During the early years they received toys for the present. But lately the presents have simplified down to meaningful gifts of a spiritual nature.
Paul an I also try to keep the weekend free from extra activities, and we spend time at the park, and picnic together on both saturday and sunday.
Here is a link to a little piece I wrote that appeared in the Ensign, the main magazine of our church: (scroll down to read)
“A few years ago I began making conference packets for our school-age children. I would prepare a folder with a variety of conference-related games (see past issues of the April Friend magazine for ideas), and I also made snack bags the children could eat from during the hymn in the middle of the meeting.
Between the sessions on Saturday we go to the park to play and have a picnic, and between the Sunday sessions we go for a family walk. It has been a joy to watch our children learn to love conference.—Jenny Marie Hatch, Louisville Ward, Boulder Colorado Stake”

Ben was “treat focused” during the first session. He must have asked me a hundred times when he could eat his treat. I finally had to threaten him with loss of his present if he didn’t stop bugging me. He stopped for about two seconds, then asked again, and I said, “Ben, do you want me to give your present to Preston (the little boy next door)?”
The look of indignation on his little face was priceless. He settled down to only askimg me every five mintues or so, and I was able to listen to some of the talks. My favorite by far was President Ballard talking about callings and cultural traditions in the church. So timely, and so perfect for our day and age.
As Sherrie Dew said when she was in the leadership of the church….”We no longer have the luxury of spending our energy on anything that does not lead us and our families to Christ. That is the litmus test for Relief Society, as well as for our lives. In the days ahead, a casual commitment to Christ will not carry us through.”
I was so thrilled to hear Brother Ballard so confidently and boldy smash the idols of modern mormonism. It was absolutely refreshing. I’ll blog his talk when it shows up on the churchs web site.
I need to get to bed, we have another great conference to look forward to tomorow.
Jenny Hatch