A number of years ago my wife and I went shopping at the local thrift store for clothes for our little baby boy. After my wife found some sleepers, I mentioned that I wanted to check out the book section. Being the good person that she is, she patiently indulged her book-addicted husband to look for a few minutes.

While walking down the aisle, on one of the shelves, I noticed a series of hardbound books that caught my attention. Basically, they were an illustrated, condensed version of the Book of Mormon for children.

I picked one off the shelf and began to peruse its pages. At 25 cents a piece, they looked like a bargain. I thought about getting a couple to give my boy something to look at during church. Surely the neat drawings would keep him occupied and quiet.

Imagine my surprise as I turned the pages and saw an illustration of Jesus Christ in His Second Coming, descending down from heaven in all of His brightness and glory. To His right was the United Nations, with many member nations’ flags lined up along the front of the building.

Curiously, there was no destruction of any kind, and no evidence of any calamities having occurred. Peace was on the earth. In New York — of all places — was where the great millennial reign was starting.

Understandably, some interesting thoughts and questions came to my mind. Was the LDS publisher (through its illustrator) saying that the United Nations is God’s kingdom on earth? Would Christ, who to Christians is the King of kings, return to the earth as the head of the United Nations? Over the years, I have reflected on that picture from time to time.

Not too long ago, I had the opportunity, along with two other brethren, of helping a sister in our ward load her belongings into a moving truck, in preparation for her relocating to another state. While making trips back and forth down the elevator, she stacked items for us to take. There was one I noticed with some interest as it leaned uncovered against the hallway wall. It was a painting of Christ — standing in front of the United Nations.

After some searching on the Internet, I found an image of the painting I saw during that move. Entitled “Prince of Peace,” it was created by Harry Anderson. The website selling Anderson’s artwork depicts the message of the painting as only Christ “is able to bring true peace to all nations.”

Of course, the meaning of artwork (unless the artist states otherwise) is somewhat in the eye of the beholder. In the case of the Anderson painting, the artist at least deserves the benefit of the doubt.

It is logical that the starry-eyed Christian peacenik would view the UN as the best way to depict God’s concern for all people in all nations. God does love all of His children, and He certainly wants everyone to repent and accept Him into their lives. Indeed, until we all do, peace will not come to the world.

As for the first artist’s message, that is entirely a different matter. That a Latter-day Saint would attempt to depict Jesus Christ coming back to earth, and take His place as the head of a world-wide kingdom seated at the UN, is a clear demonstration of a gross lack of understanding of basic LDS teachings. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be that worldwide kingdom, not the United Nations (see Daniel 2:44; D&C 65:2, 5-6).

But since the artist implied that the UN is a spiritual kingdom over which Christ wiil stand as its head, it’s worthwhile to explore what kind of spiritual foundations the UN itself was built on, and what its most ardent supporters claim those spiritual beliefs to be.

Donald Keys, president of Planetary Citizens, once stated,

We have meditations at the United Nations a couple of times a week. The meditation leader is Sri Chin, and this is what he said about this situation: “... The United Nations is the chosen instrument of God; to be a chosen instrument means to be a divine messenger carrying the banner of God’s inner vision and outer manifestation. One day, the world will ... treasure and cherish the soul of the United Nations as its very own with pride, for this soul is all-loving, all-nourishing, and all-fulfilling.”

If the UN’s spirit is, according to Keys, “the chosen instrument of God,” and is “all-loving, all-nourishing, and all-fulfilling,” then how can one square that with the commandment to love the Lord God with all our might, mind, heart, and strength?

Another devotee of the UN, British theosophist Benjamin Creme, who is a spokesman for one called Lord Maitreya, wrote in his 1980 book The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom,

When the physical structures of human living are reconstructed ... the Christ will reveal to man an entirely new aspect of Reality.... The Ancient Mysteries will be restored, the Mystery Schools reopened, and a great expansion of man’s awareness of himself and his purpose and destiny will become possible....

Gradually, Christianity, Buddhism and other religions will wither away-slowly, as the people die out of them, as the new religion gains its adherents and exponents, and is gradually built by humanity….

At the head of several of the governments of the world and in the great world agencies, like the United Nations’ agencies, there will be either a Master or at least a third degree Initiate.... The Christ Himself will have a great deal to do — with the release of energies; the work of Initiation, as the Initiator, the Hierophant, at the first two Initiations; and stimulating and inspiring the formation of the New World Religion.

Robert Muller, who was once an assistant secretary-general at the United Nations, wrote in his book New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality, “If Christ came back to earth, his first visit would be to the United Nations to see if his dream of human oneness and brotherhood had come true. He would be happy to see representatives from all nations.”

Muller’s vision sounds a lot like Anderson’s painting, but it’s not clear who “Christ Himself” is, that Creme talks about. We are only told that he will not represent Christianity, as that religion, along with all others, will die. The only religion that will be left, according to Creme, will be “built on humanity,” not by God.

Interestingly, Creme’s bio, as given on the website Share International, states the following about his spiritual “training”:

Throughout his early years Creme also studied various aspects of esoteric philosophy, in particular the teachings released in the late 1800s through Helena Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society, and more recently through Alice A. Bailey. Although these teachings led him to believe in the existence of the Masters of Wisdom ― a group of perfected individuals who are the custodians of the Divine Plan for this planet ― it nevertheless came as a complete surprise to him when, in 1959, he was contacted by one of the Masters. He was told, among other things, that Maitreya, the World Teacher ― the Master of all the Masters ― would return in about 20 years and that he (Creme) would have a role to play in the event if he chose to accept it.

More than a decade later, in 1972, Creme began a period of arduous training under his Master's direction to prepare him for his coming task: announcing to a skeptical world the emergence of the World Teacher, awaited by people of every religion under his various names ― the Christ, Messiah, Imam Mahdi, Krishna, Maitreya Buddha. Creme's constant contact with a Master of Wisdom gives him access to up-to-date information on Maitreya's emergence, plus the total conviction needed to present this story.

Creme, according to his own bio, states that “in particular” his studies centered on the teachings of Helena Blavatsky and Alice A. Bailey.

Who were these women?

Helena Blavatsky, who founded the Theosophical Society in New York in 1875, wrote bluntly :

The appellation Sa’tan, in Hebrew Satan, and Adversary ... belongs by right to the first and cruelest “Adversary” of all other Gods — ; not to the serpent which spoke only words of sympathy and wisdom…. Once the key to Genesis is in our hands, the scientific and symbolical Kabbala unveils the secret. The Great Serpent of the Garden of Eden and the “Lord God” are identical…. Satan, the Serpent of Genesis, is the real creator and benefactor, the Father of Spiritual mankind. For it is he ... who opened the eyes of the automaton (Adam) created by Jehovah, as alleged.... An adversary to Jehovah ... he still remains in Esoteric Truth the ever loving messenger ... who conferred on us spiritual instead of physical immortality.

After Madame Blavatsky’s death, Annie Besant took her place and assumed charge of the Theosophical movement. Besant, who was a Marxist and a theosophist,

was invited into the Fabian Socialist Society of England by George Bernard Shaw, her close friend.

Besant’s theosophical heir was none other than Alice Bailey.

In case you wonder what spirituality she adhered to, Alice Bailey, and her husband Foster, launched a firm called Lucifer Publishing Company. Their organization published the periodical “Lucifer.” The public at large at that time wasn’t very fond of their company’s name, so the Baileys changed it to Lucis Publishing Company, part of Lucis Trust.

Lucis Trust still exists today, and even with only 6,000 members, it enjoys the privilege of having “consultant status with the UN Economic and Social Council.”

If there is a question whether Bailey’s organization still influences the UN to any degree, other than its “consultant status,” consider that some years ago, the UN issued a report entitled “The New International Economic Order: A Spiritual Imperative.”

In that report, its authors declared,

[T]oday a new understanding of spirituality is emerging which recognizes that all efforts to uplift humanity are spiritual in nature. Alice Bailey said, "That is spiritual which lies beyond the point of present achievement…." ... Given this new understanding of spirituality, the work of the United Nations can be ... seen within the entire evolutionary unfoldment of humanity. The work of the U.N. is indeed spiritual and holds profound import for the future of civilization.

Thus by the UN’s own admission, the work of Alice Bailey is the work of “evolutionary unfoldment of humanity” that encompasses the work of the UN.

There is one last tidbit of information relevant to this analysis of the spiritual roots of the UN.

In 1947, John D. Rockefeller III gave the UN’s secretary general a check for $8.5 million (a lot of money back then!) to purchase land for the future UN headquarters.

The Rockefellers also saw fit to sponsor the Temple of Understanding, which is located at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan.

The Temple of Understanding was founded in the 1960s as the “spiritual counterpart of the United Nations.” One of its sponsors was none other than John D. Rockefeller IV.

The Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine is also home to another organization of significance. Called the Lindisfarne Center, its work is, according to one of its own pamphlets, “made possible by grants from the…Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Rockefeller Foundation.”

What are the Lindisfarne Center’s spiritual values based on? One of its faculty members named David Spangler, wrote in his book Reflections on the Christ:

Lucifer comes to give to us the final gift of wholeness. If we accept it then he is free and we are free. This is the Luciferic initiation. It is one that many people now, and in the days ahead, will be facing, for it is an initiation in the New Age.

And, he added,

Lucifer, like Christ, stands at the door of man’s consciousness and knocks…. If a man says, “Come in, and I will give to you the treat of my love and understanding and I will uplift you in the light and presence of the Christ, my outflow,” then Lucifer becomes something else again. He becomes the being who carries that great treat, the ultimate treat, the light of wisdom.

Traditional practitioners of Christianity should understand that Spangler, as blasphemous as it sounds, is not advocating a future reconciliation between Christ and Satan and, if we allow him to do so, that Satan will take us back to Christ. He is, in fact, speaking of a different Christ.

William Irwin Thompson, who was the founder of the Lindisfarne Association, explained what the devotees of this Luciferian religion have planned for the true followers of Christ: “the independent sovereign state, with the sovereign individual in his private property [is] over, just as the Christian fundamentalist days are about to be over.”

What do we extract from all of this?

• The world’s super rich and influential (Rockefellers, et al) have nurtured and funded organizations and individuals which promote Lucifer as our spiritual guide.
• They see the UN as the world’s future government over humanity.
• Christians, in the traditional sense of that word, will no longer be welcome once this kingdom is fully established.

It would be an understatement to say that it is pure blasphemy to promote the idea that the future kingdom that Christ will head will be the one set up by the world’s ruling elite, as embodied in the United Nations.

However, the scriptures do tell us about a counterfeit kingdom — described by prophets of both the Old World and the New — which we are told would be a “beast,” and that a “false prophet” would head. This same kingdom will seek to destroy God’s people.

John the Beloved tells us that the future worshippers of this “beast” would boast, “Who [is] like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (Revelation 13:4)

The beast, we are told, will have a “mouth speaking great things and blasphemies” (Revelation 13:5), and will open his “mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven” (Revelation 13:6).

John also saw that “he spake as a dragon” (Revelation 13:11), and that he…causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast” (Revelation 13:12).

Daniel saw “a king of fierce countenance” who “understanding dark sentences,” (Daniel 8:23) would “through his policy…cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify [himself] in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many” (Daniel 8:25). His power “shall be mighty, but not by his own power” (Daniel 8:24).

According to Daniel, he shall neither “regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all” (Daniel 11:37). And “he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished” (Daniel 11:36).

As for this “king” and his kingdom, which is the beast, “he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice” (Daniel 8:24). John saw that “power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations” (Revelation 13:7).

Targeting God’s people for destruction, the “false prophet” (Revelation 19:20), as John called him, “shall speak [great] words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws” (Daniel 7:25).

Nephi saw that “the great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God” (1 Nephi 14:13).

Dispensing divine justice for the crimes this beast would commit, God will pour out His wrath “upon [the] great and abominable church insomuch that there were wars and rumors of wars among all the nations and kindreds of the earth” (1 Nephi 14:15). These nations, Nephi saw, “belonged to the mother of abominations” (1 Nephi 14:16).

Early on, in this final struggle, this kingdom, with the false prophet at its head, will “make war with the saints, and…overcome them” (Revelation 13:7). Daniel saw the same thing, that “the same [power] made war with the saints, and prevailed against them” (Daniel 7:21).

But the victory would only be “[u]ntil the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” (Daniel 7:22).

The tide will turn once this evil ruler attempts to “stand up against the Prince of princes,” and then “he shall be broken without hand” (Daniel 8:25).

As Nephi foresaw, “I…beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory” (1 Nephi 14:14).

John also foresaw these events: “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army” (Revelation 19:19). The false prophet and his minions will “make war with the Lamb,” but “the Lamb shall overcome them” (Revelation 17:14). “[T]he beast was taken,” John tells us, “and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image” and will be “cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (Revelation 19:20).

As these final winding up scenes take place, as Daniel saw in his “night visions” “one like the Son of man” will come down “with the clouds of heaven” (Daniel 7:13). “And there” will be “given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom…shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14).

The Lord God, Daniel saw, will be the head of a government that would rule “all people [and] nations” (Daniel 7:14). And Lucifer, John the Beloved tells us, will be “bound…a thousand years, and cast [into] the bottomless pit,” that he “should deceive the nations no more” (Revelation 20:2-3).

Latter-day Saints who embrace internationalism as served up by the UN and its advocates should consider carefully the nature of the organization they have become apologists for.

In time, God’s kingdom will “break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever” (Daniel 2:44). When that day arrives, I’d be glad to be the first one in line to step up and say: “Sign me up for world government.”

But until the day comes for God’s true kingdom to fill the earth — the “stone…cut out of the mountain without hands” (Daniel 2:45) — and He whose right it is to rule and reign over the earth returns to claim that position, I want absolutely nothing to do with the counterfeit kingdom Lucifer has established for his earthly followers to impose on the rest of the world.

In the meantime, I plan on standing by the system of government which God Himself established and approved (D&C 101:80): the Constitution of the United States.

- - -

Christopher S. Bentley is the author of The Hidden Things of Darkness an and A Glorious Standard. He is the Operations Manager for the John Birch Society.

Comments (2)

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Bliss Tew said:

	Chris Bentley's article will no doubt open some eyes of those whose eyes can be opened, those who are willing to see, those who are teachable. I wold also refer you to a short book written by Christopher Bentley THE HIDDEN THINGS OF DARKNESS, which can reveal a great deal more of understanding concerning the hidden things of darkness surrounding the United Nations.
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March 25, 2008
Votes: +1

Wendy Leatham said:

	Although I believe the UN building will be a pile of ruble or less when Jesus returns, the picture seems to be showing Jesus knocking on the building - indicating that he is absent from there and from the hearts of those within and wants to be let in. But, that is just my idea. It does seem a rather odd picture because it could be very misinterpreted. Wendy
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March 27, 2008
Votes: -1

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