“Beginning in the days of Cain and continuing through all generations, whenever there have been unrighteous and apostate peoples on earth, Satan has revealed unto them his oaths, vows, and secret combinations. … Murder, plunder, robbery, power, the destruction of freedom, and the persecution of the saints have been the objectives of these societies ever since. (Moses 5:16–59; 6:15; Hela. 6:17–41.)
“These secret societies flourished before the flood; they gained great strength among the Jaredites on this continent; the Gadianton robbers and the Lamanites reveled in them in Nephite days; and they are had in all parts of the earth today” (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 698) .