Question
Dear Gramps,
A classmate of mine in Institute was considering applying to work for the CIA as a field operative. He was concerned, though, that he might be asked to steal information or other things (like technology) from foreign governments as part of his job. Since stealing is one of the prohibitions in the Ten Commandments, he wondered if he would be doing something contrary to the will of the Lord (Since the Lord loves all nations equally). Someone else mentioned that the Lord sometimes allows stealing for righteous purposes, such as when Nephi was allowed to kill Laban and steal his Brass Plates. Then another student mentioned that you could probably justify yourself completely out of the Celestial kingdom if you wanted to. Gramps, perhaps you could give us your opinion whether it would be all right to steal if the government says it’s part of your job. Regards,
Rob
Answer
Dear Rob,
Who says that the Lord loves all nations equally? How many times in the Bible have wicked nations been condemned by the Lord, or why would the Lord consider the Americas a land choice above all other lands?
Now, since we are generalizing here, let’s extend the generalization a bit. Let’s look at the 4th commandment.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:8-11)
According to your friends no faithful member of the Mormon Church should do any work on Sunday. Therefore, they must equally object to working for the police force, the fire department, hospital emergency rooms, all the public services that are required to remain in operation twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Because of the foreign language capabilities and the high moral standards of returned missionaries, during the days of J. Edgar Hoover, returned LDS missionaries were exempted from the requirement of a college degree in order to join the FBI. Their intimate association with foreign cultures has attracted many missionaries into empoyment into such organizations as the CIA and foreign embassies.
This high level of LDS employees in these critical government agencies was commented on in a book entitled, The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992. The author, Harold Bloom, in criticizing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its motives, records the following on page 288,
“There is the broad change in Mormon strategy, now ongoing for about sixty years, in which the Saints rival Fundamentalist Baptists and other American Evangelicals in having become socially, politically, and economically reactionary bastions of the American establishment. Mormons have extended their missionary work from the American public and foreign nations to our federal government, so that the FBI, CIA, and allied organizations have become very Mormon indeed.”
We must be careful not to fall into the trap of becoming a “Pharisee Mormon,” where the letter of the law becomes paramount without consideration of the spiritual content or intent. We must also remember that
The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
It would seem to me that if our motives are noble and that our hearts are honest, we would fulfil with honor and integrity such assignments that are directed to secure the protection of the United States government and its valid interests. Let me share with you one line of my patriachal blessing that I received on the morning that I enlisted in the Army Air Corp for service in World War II.
“Seek not to shed blood wantonly, but do your part to preserve this nation as a land of liberty and a land of Zion.”
Gramps
