The Great and Abominable Church of The Devil
Andersen, H. Verlan. 1988. The Great and Abominable Church of The Devil. H Verlan Andersen.
Rating:
1
Summary:
I actually read this book while a missionary in Costa Rica. It was influential on my thinking then, but I later realized just how misguided it was. I’m writing this review close to 10 years after I initially read the book, but, like I said, it was influential on my thinking and I remember the arguments it made quite clearly. The review doesn’t follow my usual format because I initially wrote it upon searching for the publication date on Amazon and finding that two people had written reviews, rating the book quite highly. I felt obliged to offer a dissenting opinion.
Review:
This book equates communism with Satanism; anything but pure market capitalism is considered evil by the author. The serious problem with this claim (other than the fact that it is just stupid) is that it doesn’t mesh with the scriptures upon which it is based (these are in The Book of Mormon, not the Bible):
-1 Nephi 13:6 – And it came to pass that I beheld this great and abominable church; and I saw the devil that he was the founder of it.
-1 Nephi 14:10 – And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth.
Most Mormons, initially upon reading these scriptures, believe they are referring to Catholicism. While some famous LDS leaders have actually claimed as much (McConkie did at one point), they now deny any specific claims. Instead, when pressed, Mormons are forced to admit that the “great and abominable church of the devil” refers to all religions that are not Mormonism. The LDS Church is an exclusive religion. It has nothing to do with capitalism and communism.
This book draws on popular debates in the U.S. of the time it was written to push an anti-socialism/anti-communism agenda on the members of the LDS Church. Thanks to efforts like this book and the wholly political influence of one of the most well-known political and religious leaders of the religion (Ezra Taft Benson), Utah is now the most Republican, pro-capitalist, and conservative states in the nation. If they only realized that the beef outlined in their scriptures was against all other religions rather than against socialism they might stop being the bankruptcy capital of the U.S.
The real irony in this argument is that the ideal socio-economic system under Mormonism is actually a fuedalistic-commune referred to variously as: The United Order, The Law of Consecration, or Communalism. Under this system, Christ is King (yep, that’s right, King) and all property is held in common (which is the exact opposite of capitalism):
-D&C 51:3 – Wherefore, let my servant Edward Partridge, and those whom he has chosen, in whom I am well pleased, appoint unto this people their portions, every man equal according to his family, according to his circumstances and his wants and needs.
Sound familiar? “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs!” – Karl Marx. While Mormons hoorah the current neo-con President, amazingly they all secretly harbor a desire to usher in a purely socialistic society. What irony!
In his tirades against all things socialistic, the author attacks everything non-capitalist, including: public schools, medicare, medicaid, social security, etc. Unless I’m mistaken, the author would love to see a completely unregulated market where monopolies crush their competition and workers are like slaves. What a dick!
