The Book of Mormon is a cache of information concerning the devastating effects of secret combinations on the freedoms and security of nations in which such sinister compacts are allowed to fester and metastasize. If we are apathetic towards seditious movements and conspiracies designed to destroy agency and liberty, then the outcome can be tragic for the individual, the family, the community, and the nation. We are to stand up for truth and righteousness.
Apathy is the absence of feeling, interest, passion, or emotion in regard to important principles. With apathy we become less caring and more slothful in the performance of our duties. If we become apathetic, we lose the desire and inspiration to do good and serve our fellowmen. This is the state in which the Jaredite nation finds itself when evil forces usurp authority and undermine freedom. Hence the Lord warns us to be vigilant in guarding against the rise of secret combinations of the type that destroys the Jaredite and Nephite nations.
President David O. McKay has warned us: “The peril of this century is spiritual apathy” (Gospel Ideals: Selections from the Discourses of David O. McKay [Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953], 360–61). This is no small matter when it comes to the pernicious invasion of the devil and his temptations through such things as drugs, alcohol, gambling, illicit sex, pornography, and the media with their so-called right to promote filth and lasciviousness. What we allow to develop as a pattern of behavior somehow becomes the moral standard of society. What was once adultery or fornication is now called the expression of love among consenting adults. Apathy becomes universal when individuals become indifferent to things that truly matter or cultivate a feeling that they cannot make a difference.
How can apathy be supplanted by a commitment to embrace eternal principles with enthusiasm and rise to one’s potential with a keen conviction of being a son or daughter of God? We can be anxiously engaged in doing good of our own free will (see D&C 58:27–28), strengthen others (see D&C 81:5; 108:7), and remember that as we bless and serve others we are serving the Lord (see Matthew 25:40; Mosiah 2:17). Let us review the questions of conscience that Alma gave to the people in Zarahemla (Alma 5), set some goals, and organize every needful thing (see D&C 88:119). Let us get involved, as time allows, in community service. This should not become a guilt trip, for we are to be wise and not run faster than we have strength (see Mosiah 4:27). We are to be diligent, but in an orderly and productive way. Let us avoid judging how much others should or should not do. Let us be positive and let our ultimate concern and motivation be love—the kind of love that brings about righteous service. Love and desire overpower apathy. Let us work to increase our desire and love in all things, doing what brings lasting happiness. Apathy is the antithesis of love. Love brings positive feelings to the forefront, thus overcoming apathy. In our own lives, when we are having a difficult day or feel like giving up, it helps when we think of others and then do something for them. We feel better. The goodness and beauty of life are illuminated and apathy fades into the shadows.
Every disciple of Christ is responsible for doing all they can to fight evil and persuade others to do good. We are admonished never to allow secret combinations to be among us lest through apathy we become subject to all the iniquity associated with such evil alliances. We cannot allow apathy to cause us to fail to act in the war against evil and crime. Let it not be said of us that through tolerance for permissive behavior we supported secret and destructive combinations.
We can add the warning of President Ezra Taft Benson concerning the primacy of secret combinations as a dominant cause of the destruction of nations:
Now undoubtedly Moroni could have pointed out many factors that led to the destruction of the people, but notice how he singled out the secret combinations, just as the Church today could point out many threats to peace, prosperity, and the spread of God’s work, but it has singled out as the greatest threat the Godless conspiracy. There is no conspiracy theory in the Book of Mormon—it is a conspiracy fact.
Then Moroni speaks to us in this day and says, “Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you… .” (Ether 8:24.)
The Book of Mormon further warns that “whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold they shall be destroyed… .” (Ether 8:22.)
This scripture should alert us to what is ahead unless we repent, because there is no question but that as people of the free world, we are increasingly upholding many of the evils of the adversary today. By court edict godless conspirators can run for government office, teach in our schools, hold office in labor unions, work in our defense plants, serve in our merchant marines, etc. As a nation, we are helping to underwrite many evil revolutionaries in our country.
Now we are assured that the Church will remain on the earth until the Lord comes again—but at what price? The Saints in the early days were assured that Zion would be established in Jackson County, but look at what their unfaithfulness cost them in bloodshed and delay. (God, Family, Country: Our Three Great Loyalties [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1974], 322)