Do We See a Likeness in Our Day

    The Latter-day Saints have a book of scripture that speaks of secret combinations. Those combinations existed in the days of the Book of Mormon, and the book indicates they were to be a concern in our day.

   The book contains a story of how a person wanted to overthrow the kingdom, and his daughter falls in league with him in conspiring how to go about it. "Is there not an account concerning them of old, that they by their secret plans, did obtain kingdoms and great glory?" she asks.

   Many among the LDS have long wondered what the secret combinations in that book are all about. They refer to them -- as does much of the book  -- as Gadianton's Robbers. It is a mystery. They also wonder at our day, wondering where and how the secret combinations -- the "Gadianton Robbers" -- might exist among us today in the United States.

   So, if the daughter of Jacob speaks of a formula that tells how to go about overthrowing the kingdom by using these secrets of old, what follows would surely be the playbook.

   And what follows is that she dances before the person who they want to get to murder the king. The person watches her dance and desires her for his wife. They tell him to bring the head of the king, and then he can have her to wife. When power is gained, those involved are sworn to secrecy, and sworn to be loyal to the new rulers. If someone opposes the new regime, they are to be killed. 

   There, then, perhaps is the formula for these secret combinations. Perhaps if we break it down, we might see relations to what could be happening in our day. Jared and his daughter got Akish by appealing to his passions, appetites and desires. He lusted to have the daughter as his wife when he saw her dance. Perhaps it was even an appeal to pride, for to have a beautiful woman can be a matter of pride. Then, they swore people to loyalty, to be faithful to the new regime. And, they covered up the truth. Even so, you establish and maintain your power through falsehood and by preventing the truth. Those who opposed them were to be killed.

Four steps: 1.) Appeal to vanity; 2.) Require loyalty; 3.) Suppress the truth; 4.) Punish those who oppose you.

Do we see a likeness in our day? 

So, Jared and his daughter got Akish by appealing to his passions, appetites, and desires. I consider on whether it equates to appealing to his pride, for to have a beautiful woman is somewhat a thing of pride. Then, you maintain your power through falsehood, even as Akish kept the truth from being known. And, you punish those who oppose you, even as Akish had them killed. Whether that is what the Gadianton robber formula is all about, we can wonder. We do see those three elements in what took place here in Ether. And, it tells us right at the beginning of that little story that they are going to use the formula of old. There is good reason to