Agency is the gift of God to all animal beings giving them the ability and right to choose what they will think and do. It is the ability and right to self-determination. It is choice. It is freedom. It is liberty. It is the dignity to represent oneself on the cosmic stage of action, reaction, and deliberative intelligence.

Deliberative intelligence is the ability to reason, question, analyze, respond, and proactively determine a course of action. Deliberative intelligence denotes rational, problem-solving, objective, knowledgeable action. It also, too often, involves irrational, dysfunctional, subjective, misinformed decision-making. Agency is the key component of deliberative intelligence. Without agency, there is no deliberative intelligence because, without choice, there is nothing to deliberate about.

Moral Agency is the sacred ability of human beings to discern ethical and moral truth, and to distinguish and choose between good and evil. It is moral awareness. It is value awareness. It is deductive awareness. It is sacred because it comes from God through the Light and Spirit of Truth. It is increased as we heed the Light. It is diminished as we reject the Light.

The freedom and liberty that Moral Agency provides are legally protected and upheld as inviolate by the Law of Agency, which is sometimes referred to by Christians as God’s Perfect Law of Liberty, or Law of Liberty.[1]

The Law of Agency states that the freedom, liberty, agency, and moral agency of all mankind shall not be violated or infringed; except in the execution of the Laws of Justice in dealing out restrictions and punishments for violations of God’s laws. Those who violate the Law of Agency are judged and condemned by the law; otherwise, there is no law.[2] Law cannot exist without justice, to include just consequences.

Because the freedom and agency of all mankind is legally protected from being violated or infringed, the right to exercise agency does not justify actions that violate or infringe upon the rights of others. In other words, we are generally free to violate the agency of others and even the laws of God, but such actions must necessitate the application of just punishments, restrictions, and consequences as required by the laws of justice. 

The crux of the Law of Agency is that we are, most definitely, allowed to sin, to violate and harm ourselves and others, and to violate God’s laws; but such infringements and violations must eventually be judged, condemned, and the full weight of the laws of justice and equitable punishments be applied. Remember, moral agency gives you the right to choose between good and evil; or in other words, to do good and evil. That right cannot be infringed until such times as certain lines are crossed, at which point God must intervene in the execution of those laws that warrant intervention.

In this mortal sphere, God is very hands-off. He gives us grace. He gives us time and opportunity to learn for ourselves the consequences of various choices and actions. In this sphere, justice is deferred and delayed, but natural and immediate consequences are not. Eventually, however, justice must prevail. There is no escaping that.

We are all entitled to the just consequences of our actions. There is no escaping that either.

There is no righteous way to deprive someone of their just reward against their will. God cannot deny justice.

Agency and justice go hand-in-hand. There cannot be one without the other.

If you want to know why God operates the way He does relative to man, I guarantee that in every single case, the pinnacle reason is that He absolutely must respect the liberty and moral agency of every single human being. If He were to choose to disregard the Law of Agency, or if He decided to be anything besides exactly what He is, this would destroy the corresponding principles and laws of accountability, justice, judgement, and so forth—and we would not like that, even if we think we would.

Many years ago, when I was a missionary in Sweden, I was often asked how a kind and loving all-powerful God could allow so much corruption and suffering in the world. These people did not understand that God must allow everyone to choose between good and evil and act accordingly, otherwise, there would be no freedom, no accountability, no test, no growth, and nothing in the universe would function the way it should.

There cannot be accountability, justice, or righteous judgement without moral agency. One cannot be held accountable for one’s actions without the ability to discern between good and evil and the liberty to choose between them. Furthermore, justice and judgement could not be equitable and just if the subjects were not given the liberty to carry out their moral or immoral decisions. Hence, the wicked must be allowed to do their wickedness that they might receive a righteous judgement.[3]

So often, ignorant and uncomprehending Christians try to explain what God does, what God is doing, or what God is about to do with the completely erroneous belief that God is so good, so loving and kind, and so all-powerful, that He simply is not going to permit certain bad things to happen. For example, some claim that He will not allow their institutional leaders or prophets to lead them astray. Or they claim He will not allow election fraud to take place. Or that He will not allow the United States of America to be enslaved or destroyed. In all this, they manifest the most pitiful and abject ignorance of God’s laws and ways. In most cases, God does not stop bad things from happening, just because He can. He does not stop people from doing hurtful things. God has rules He must follow relative to how He operates in connection with this mortal sphere, otherwise the authenticity and efficacy of this entire mortal project would be rendered null and void.

If we are ever to develop efficacious faith in God, we must correct these mistaken beliefs and come to fully understand what God is and how He operates.

“I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness. For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace.”[4]

The laws of the universe and God’s laws governing how things must operate in relation to mortality are a kind of game. It is a real-life game. You need to understand the rules of the game if you want to win. Those who do not know the rules or who do not respect the rules inevitably lose and get penalized and disqualified. Likewise, most people disqualify themselves from the blessings of God because they violate His laws and do not respect the laws of God, and in many cases, they willfully remain ignorant of God’s laws. In the coming pages, individual instances of this will be addressed again and again.

One fundamental difference between God and Satan is that God is 100% committed to upholding the Law of Agency, while Satan is fundamentally against it.

It is easily recognized that Satan has no qualms about using force, intimidation, or dominion to have his way. Satan is a loud proponent of raw power and force, especially in the escalation of sin, without the tempering equity of the rule of law or a respect for moral agency. He is the ultimate tyrant.

Without the supreme Law of Agency, nothing in the universe would function correctly or predictably.

The Law of Agency requires accountability. It requires judgement. It requires justice. It requires mercy as required by justice.

Likewise, the Laws of Justice require requisite punishments and restrictions for the violation of the law. They require requisite blessings for the fulfillment of the law. But without the freedom and moral agency of mankind being honored and upheld as inviolate, none of this would or could function properly. After all, why would God bless anyone for doing what is right if, really, they had no choice in the matter?

All other principles upon which just laws rest depend upon the law of agency being upheld. Without agency, there would be no foundation for faith, accountability, righteous judgement, justice, mercy, punishment, blessings, and so much more. Without agency, none of these principles can exist or function.

God’s most empowering gift is the gift of agency. As we use our agency to advance, to grow in light and truth, and to increase in blessings and abilities, our agency is expanded. On the other hand, when we use our agency to turn away from the Light of Truth, to rebel against God, to fight against God, and by so doing to invariably violate and infringe upon the agency of others, our agency is diminished because our abilities and privileges are diminished.

God does not diminish your agency; you do that yourself; it is self-inflicted.

It is interesting to note that the devils and demons that follow Satan are so far fallen in rejecting the light that their moral agency is almost entirely gone. Or perhaps it is entirely gone. Not that they don’t have access to the light; they do, but it is so painful to them that they will always desperately flee from and hide from the light as best they can. They cannot tolerate the light of Christ in any way. It is anathema to their very existence at this point. The goodness of the light exacerbates their guilt, misery, and madness because they are hell-bent on rejecting it.

The most powerful demons and devils are those with more resistance to the light because these are spirits that once embraced the greater light and were more fully enlarged and illuminated by it, but whose pride and lust for sin have rationalized their turning away. Thus, they have the rationale to withstand the light; but that rationale is rapidly waning. By the end of the world, they will be completely overcome and will be cast out to a place of utter and complete dissolution and darkness because that will be all they can tolerate.

As to the fate of those mortals who choose to disregard the Law of Agency, who are complicit in violating and infringing upon the agency of others, it will be resolved that they cannot be trusted in the hereafter with positions of power and authority.

If you expect the honors of Heaven, if you expect to ascend to positions of power and authority in the hereafter, then you had better not be found violating or infringing upon the agency of others; nor should you be advocating or in any way excusing such actions. The most common disqualification for salvation in the higher realms of glory (besides the lack of repentance) is the violation of agency or condoning the violation of agency through statecraft or priestcraft. This will be discussed in detail later in this book. But if you think that you are going to be in any way exalted or elevated to positions of power and authority in the eternal worlds, and yet you advocate governments or churches lording it over their people in any degree unrighteousness, then I can promise you that you will be greatly disappointed. Nobody is exalted in the eternal worlds who in any way advocate the violation of agency, no matter what the altruistic excuses may be.  This is massively important. It is a pivotal and integral part of any moral issue.

Mankind is meant to be free. God intends for us to be free. But freedom is never free.

The cost for freedom is obedience to God’s laws. It is sacrifice. It is righteousness. It is goodness.

God always advocates and allows maximum freedom according to the stipulations and restrictions of the law.

Freedom is a function of law. We are only free to operate within the bounds of the law. When we abide by the law, our freedom is increased. When we violate the law, our freedom is decreased. Therefore, freedom requires responsibility and justice in relation to the law. We are all held responsible for our thoughts and actions and the choices we make. We will all eventually be brought to justice.

Freedom grants us equal access to the consequences of available choices. What a glorious thing this is!

Freedom does not grant us equal outcomes. Otherwise, everybody would be exalted with God-like power and authority, and what a trainwreck that would be!

Freedom is a function of the knowledge and understanding we have of the available choices before us. It is a function of awareness. Increased awareness is a function of obedience, inspiration, and revelation from God. It is incumbent upon us to seek out greater awareness of reality and truth by our faithfulness.

As we become more aware of what Jesus is and what we are not, that awareness allows us insight into how to close that gap. Awareness of the nature and character of God allows us the freedom to become more like Him.

Freedom increases proportionate with our goodness and intelligence.

Freedom decreases proportionately with our lack of goodness and intelligence.

Freedom increases requisite with our willing submission to God’s laws and commandments.

Freedom decreases as we reject God’s laws and commandments.

These realities are all consequential to natural law.

What we think of the law and how we feel about the law are irrelevant to the execution of the law. Like it or not, we are all subjects to Law. Even and especially God.

We are all subject to law, but we get to choose whether to willingly live by a higher law or be subject to a lower law against our will because we chose not to qualify for the freedoms and privileges the higher law provides.

Understanding the blessings of the law and the requirements of the law, to include the Law of Agency, is foundational. Our freedom is the product of law. This will be made more and more apparent in the coming pages as we expand upon other principles and laws that must be contextually understood in order to understand who and what God is, how He operates, and how we must operate if we wish to become more like Him.

In the next few chapters, we will discuss fundamental rights and liberties, as well as the proper and improper roles of government. It should be readily apparent how the Law of Agency constitutes the foundation for these constituent rights, liberties, and laws. And it should become more apparent why these principles and laws are vital in understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ, to include the functions and processes within the Kingdom of God.

All things are spiritual. That is no matter, no principle, and no law that is not spiritual. All elements and processes are spiritual. And the rules by which they operate are all spiritual and eternal. As we learn to see and understand these things for what they are, we accordingly receive great power.

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[1] James 1:25

[2] James 2:12

[3] Alma 14:8-11

[4] Doctrine and Covenants 93:19 – 20

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