Power and greed have ever been the lusts of the wicked. Beginning with Lucifer, Cain and all those who seek to take away the freedoms of mankind have caused secret combinations to flourish. We as Saints must never allow apathy to replace our devotion in the cause of righteousness. We are to be active against evil—not just recognize or acknowledge it. Elder Bruce R. McConkie explains this in some detail:
Our Book of Mormon authors speak a great deal about the secret combinations that arose among the Jaredites and among the Nephites and that were destined to arise among the Gentile nations in the last days. They tell us that these secret combinations brought to pass the destruction of the Jaredites and the Nephites and will bring similar destruction on any latter-day nations that permit them to gain an ascendancy. Writing of nations in the last days, Moroni says: “Whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed; for the Lord will not suffer that the blood of his saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for vengeance upon them and yet he avenge them not.” (Ether 8:22.)
What are these secret combinations which have such powers that whole civilizations are destroyed by them? They wear many guises and appear in many forms. They were the Gadianton robbers among the Nephites, and the perpetrators of the Spanish inquisition in the dark ages. Among us they include some secret and oath-bound societies and such Mafia-like groups as engage in organized crime. They include some political parties, some revolutionists who rise up against their governments, and those evil and anarchist groups which steal and kidnap and murder in the name of this or that political objective. They are always groups that seek money and power and freedom from the penalties that should attend their crimes.
Secret combinations are tools of Lucifer to accomplish his purpose and to destroy the works of God. The devil “stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness.” (2 Nephi 9:9.) They keep men from accepting the gospel; they destroy the freedoms and true worship of the saints; and they spread wickedness and abominations everywhere. With reference to the Jaredites, the scripture says: “They did reject all the words of the prophets, because of their secret society and wicked abominations.” (Ether 11:22.) Among the Nephites, the Gadianton robbers sought to destroy the rights and privileges of the true church, the way of worship of the saints, “and their freedom and their liberty.” (3 Nephi 2:12.) … . Any nation that permits a secret combination to gain control of its government shall be destroyed; such is the everlasting decree of a just God. (The Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982], 64–65)