The Cleansing of America

I recently finished reading The Cleansing of America, a sequel to The Majesty of God's Law, written by W. Cleon Skousen and published by Valor Publishing Group.


An interesting fact about this book is that Skousen died in 2006, but he wrote The Cleansing of America 16 years ago, and left it for his sons to publish when they felt the time was right.

The Cleansing of America is a collection of 7 different lectures concerning the last days. Skousen talks about the future of America as prophesied by modern-day prophets and scripture and setting up a Zion society in America in preparation for Christ's second coming.

I agreed to review The Cleansing of America because I'm interested in learning more about the last days. I've always wished I understood the revelations better, and I've been thinking about researching it and finding books on the subject.

As I was reading this book, however, I had mixed feelings. I found the revelations themselves very interesting, as some of them were things I've never heard of before. On the other hand, I wasn't sure about Skousen's interpretations of those revelations. Maybe it was because I don't know and trust Skousen as a gospel scholar. If the book had been written by an apostle, I think I would have read it differently. But there were parts of the book where I felt Skousen had a political agenda and was using the revelations to support his opinions. The book I was hoping to read was a purely gospel one.

As I said before, however, there were some interesting things in the book. I especially found chapter seven informative and enlightening. I never knew why the saints weren't able to make their Zion society work, and I enjoyed reading about that.

I have to admit, too, that I don't remember ever hearing about Cleon Skousen before talk of this new book began circulating. So I can't speak to whether people who liked or disliked The Majesty of God's Law or any of Skousen's other books will feel likewise about this book. However, I'm guessing that fans of Skousen will probably enjoy reading this book.