1976 Ezra Taft Benson Letter to H. Verlan Andersen

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
47 East South Temple Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84150

July 28, 1976

Dear Verlan,
I acknowledge with appreciation your letter of July 24 regarding the two pieces of legislation which you and your associates are supporting. I am very pleased to note that you feel what you are proposing is supported strongly by the Book of Mormon. I am a great believer in the Book of Mormon and feel strongly that it was written for our day and time. I have said to many people that a person will come to be better informed regarding what's happening in the world day today by reading the Book of Mormon than all the magazines and newspapers combined. My great concern is whether we have time enough through the legislative route and the great lack of support for sound principles to get the job done, because of the rate at which the subversive program is closing in on us.

I have just listened to two tapes of the Alan Stang Report. I don't know if you've heard of these, Verlan. This is a new service of the JBS and I understand some 150 stations are carrying the program now. It runs 5 minutes per day for five days of the week, all of which are on one cassette tape. The program is sponsored and purchased by business firms. KSL is running it on time purchased and the service purchased by Larson Ford and I understand it plays every day at 1:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. You may want to write to Alan Stang, Belmont, Mass., 02178 and ask them to send you a sample copy or their promotion tape. It may be you could get it on a Provo station or it may be that a group of you could join together and get it for your own personal use. I believe Reid Bankhead and some of the others might join with you, including Cleon Skousen, with whom I discussed the matter in the hope that he might find use for it. They are sending a copy to me weekly complimentary. It's really news behind the news and is a job well done and most timely.

With warm regards.

Sincerely,
Ezra Taft Benson

This letter is found in the Introduction of a book entitled, The Book of Mormon and The Constitution, compiled by Hans V. Andersen, Jr.

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"I have noted within the Church a difference in discernment, insight, conviction, and spirit between those who know and love the Book of Mormon and those who do not. That Book is a great sifter."

- Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, December, 1988

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"I fear for the future when I realize that our once-free institutions -- political, economic, educational, and social -- have been drifting into the hands of those who favor the welfare state, and who would centralize all power in the hands of the political apparatus in Washington. This enhancement of political power at the expense of individual rights, so often disguised as 'democracy' or 'freedom' or 'civil rights,' is socialism, no matter what name tag it bears.

-Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings, 1988, p. 692-693

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"One of the greatest values of the Book of Mormon is that it explains and illustrates the lies, false philosophies and methods Satan uses to deceive people into aiding him in his efforts to capture control of government."

H. Verlan Andersen, The Book of Mormon and The Constitution, 1995

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"Our discussion of the preservation of rights under the United States Constitution would be incomplete if we did not mention the provision it contains prohibiting the government from destroying property rights through the use of irredeemable paper money Today throughout the world, many governments finance themselves largely by the printing of irredeemable currency.

The Lord inspired the Founding Fathers to place in the Constitution a provision prohibiting this practice. In spite of this, laws have been adopted and upheld in the United States, permitting the federal government to print and circulate irredeemable paper money and make it a tender in payment of debts."

H. Verlan Andersen, The Book of Mormon and The Constitution, 1995