Consent Within – Sunday, August 17, 1941
In considering the accountability of men in choosing their leaders, we are reminded that there are many who follow after false leadership because they seemingly have no choice. They follow where they are told to follow—or else. In a physical sense this may be true. There have always been times and places in which men were bowed to obedience against their will by superior physical force and brutal systems.
Circumstances ofttimes force men to follow where they would not go. What a man may do when there is a loaded gun pointed at his head, literally or figuratively, is quite a different matter from what he may do under other circumstances. But the vital point in all this is the degree to which he gives consent in his own thoughts. Aside from sheer physical obedience, even the most oppressed of men may still say within himself—“This is right and this is not right”, and may do what he does with those reservations—and that which he is forced to do physically, but which his whole mind and spirit rebel against and would not do if he had his physical choice, are not of his doing in the same sense that they would otherwise be.
In such cases the responsibility lies chiefly with the leadership that forces him to act against his will. Yes, even the most oppressed of men may still say “yea” and “nay” within his own heart and abide the coming of that day when such things will be no more, until which time it is said: “Let no man break the law of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land. Wherefore, be subject to the powers that be, until He reigns whose right it is to reign, and subdues all enemies under his feet.” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:21, 22).
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August 17, 1941
Broadcast Number 0,626