Goliath, Laban and the New World Order

What do Goliath, Laban and global, latter-day secret combinations often referred to as the “New World Order” all have in common?

Their stories all end the same way and the scriptures show us exactly how.

Goliath

The Philistine champion, Goliath of Gath, fell to a shepherd boy named David who stood in front of him and prophesied:

“This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee;” 1 Samuel 17:46

Moments later the prophecy was fulfilled when David dropped Goliath with a single blow to the head with a stone and then:

“…David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith.” 1 Samuel 17:51

Goliath, a nine foot “giant” whose presence caused every Israelite soldier to tremble lay there in the dirt, beheaded by his own sword.

Laban

The sons of Lehi who were charged with securing plates of brass that contained the holy scriptures which were intended to instruct countless millions over 1000 years in a new land.  Laban, also a military man of sorts was a Goliath-like threat that stood between them and this sacred record. After threatening to murder Lehi’s sons twice and violently robbing them of their wealth,

Laban is found drunk and unconscious in an alley later that evening by one of Lehi’s sons, Nephi.

“Nevertheless I went forth, and as I came near unto the house of Laban I beheld a man, and he had fallen to the earth before me, for he was drunken with wine.” 1 Nephi 4:7

Just like David, it falls upon Nephi to slay his Goliath; and he is told by the Spirit:

“Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands; Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.” 1 Nephi 4:12-13

Laban meets a fate almost identical to Goliath:

“Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit, and took Laban by the hair of the head, and I smote off his head with his own sword.” 1 Nephi 4:18

Both Goliath and Laban were beheaded with their own swords by a servant of God. On the surface, these scriptures might seem coincidental, one might also come to the conclusion that the Laban account might be plagiarizing the Goliath account. I believe that both experiences are a type and shadow of things to come.

David and Nephi represent God’s people, while Goliath and Laban represent what Latter-day Saint author and scholar, Avraham Gileadi, identifies in the works of Isaiah as the “archtyrant“. This “archtyrant” is the tyrannical global superpower that resurfaces time and time again throughout history, of it, Gileadi wrote:

“Believing he has all power, the archtyrant boasts of his exploits—the pronoun “I” appears seven times, portraying him as an ultra-egotist. His claims show that in the course of committing global genocide he indeed conquers the world, establishing a one-world government or new world order. For him, God’s Day of Judgment is the great day of his power, when the earth’s inhabitants quail before him (cf. Isaiah 37:26–27). He is the “thief in the night” who gathers up the world’s wealth before Jehovah comes to reign on the earth (cf. Matthew 24:42–44; 1 Thessalonians 5:1–6; 2 Peter 3:10).” Source

The archtyrant is present in the world today, and the stories of David and Goliath and Nephi and Laban foreshadow future events already at work.

Latter-day Secret Combinations or the “New World Order”

“Secret combinations” are groups of murderous plunderers and conspirators driven by greed and the desire for power and gain who leave destruction and chaos in their wake.

These people kill governments, nations and liberty and in every generation are the greatest threat to the peace of mankind.

Near the end of the Book of Mormon, Moroni, the last survivor of a people destroyed by secret combinations, has some sobering words for the people living in the last days concerning these things.

“And whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed; for the Lord will not suffer that the blood of his saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for vengeance upon them and yet he avenge them not.

“Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.

“Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up.

“For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning.” Ether 8:22-25

Note that Moroni says that this combination seeks to overthrow the freedom of ALL lands, nations and countries! This is indeed a “world order” if there ever was one! Latter-day Saint apostle Bruce R. McConkie even mentioned this in a General Conference of the Church:

“Gadianton robbers fill the judgement seats in many nations. An evil power seeks to overthrow the freedom of all nations and countries.” (The Coming Tests and Trials and Glory, May 1980)

Latter-day Saint President and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Ezra Taft Benson warned about it:

“A secret combination that seeks to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries is increasing its evil influence and control over America and the entire world.” (I Testify, October 1988).

In the September 2012 edition of the Latter-day Saint publication The Ensign, David Brent Marsh wrote concerning the Book of Mormon:

“God foresaw our day and called the Prophet Joseph Smith to bring forth the Book of Mormon to help us. Of the 239 chapters in the Book of Mormon, 174 (73 percent) deal with war, terrorism, murder, political conspiracies, secret combinations, threats, family collusions, and other hostilities. [source]

This is only a very small sampling of quotes on the subject. You can find more information here, here, here, here and here.

The End of this “New World Order”

Returning to Nephi who smote of the head of the drunken Laban with his own sword, we read of a prophecy he receives concerning the so-called “great and abominable church, which is the mother of abominations, whose founder is the devil” 1 Nephi 14:9. Remember that Moroni said that the great latter-day secret combination was also “built up by the devil” Ether 8:22-25.

Nephi beheld that this church “…sat upon many waters; and she had dominion over all the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people” 1 Nephi 14:11.

What Nephi sees next is the clash between God and these secret combinations, referred to by various titles:

“And there began to be wars and rumors of wars among all the nations which belonged to the mother of abominations, the angel spake unto me, saying: Behold, the wrath of God is upon the mother of harlots; and behold, thou seest all these things—And when the day cometh that the wrath of God is poured out upon the mother of harlots, which is the great and abominable church of all the earth, whose founder is the devil, then, at that day, the work of the Father shall commence, in preparing the way for the fulfilling of his covenants, which he hath made to his people who are of the house of Israel” 1 Nephi 14:16-17.

A few chapters later, the demise of the New World Order is foretold and the similarity to the fall of Goliath and Laban is significant:

“And the blood of that great and abominable church, which is the whore of all the earth, shall turn upon their own heads; for they shall war among themselves, and the sword of their own hands shall fall upon their own heads, and they shall be drunken with their own blood.” 1 Nephi 22:13

Goliath was drunk on pride, Laban was drunk with wine and the New World Order will be drunk on their own blood. Each one will perish the same: the sword of their own hands, their weapon of offense, will fall upon their own heads and they will perish. Both Goliath and Laban fell by the blade of an actual sword, but what is the “sword” of the New World Order? Could it be their own military force or perhaps their own weapon of mass destruction of some kind?

Personally, I have no idea.

Just like David and Nephi, we may be intimidated at first by the size and power of the “rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12) arrayed against us, but they will fall just like Goliath and Laban.

What do you think?

• What other “Goliaths” are there in our lives?
• How can the principles in these accounts help us better prepare for future challenges?