The Watchmen at Carcassonne

In his recent general conference talk, Elder Anderson referred to the citadel of Carcassonne in southern France: “Tall towers surge upward from its protected walls, built for watchmen who stood on those towers day and night, keeping their attention riveted in the distance for the enemy.  When the watchman saw an enemy approaching, his warning voice protected the people of Carcassonne from the impending danger they could not see.”  His point was that prophets in our day similarly act as watchmen to warn us of the spiritual dangers we may not be able to see.    

The idea of prophets as watchmen is found the Old Testament, Doctrine and Covenants, and in the Book of Mormon’s quotations from the Old Testament.  The Lord told Ezekiel about his job as a watchman to the wicked Israelites of his day: “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me….  I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 3:17, 33:7).  His contemporary Jeremiah was also a watchman, and the Lord lamented that the people would not listen to his prophetic warning: “Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken” (Jeremiah 6:17).  Isaiah declared the responsibility of watchmen like Jeremiah and Ezekiel to raise their voices in pursuit of Zion: “Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion” (Isaiah 52:8).  A variant of this same language is repeated four times in the Book of Mormon (see Mosiah 12:22, 15:29; 3 Nephi 16:18, 20:32).  The first two were in the context of Abinadi’s preaching to the people of Noah, and indeed his words to them were as a watchman on the tower, warning them of the impending captivity and destruction that was coming if they didn’t repent.  The latter two Book of Mormon references were from the Savior Himself as He taught the Nephites, clearly emphasizing the fact that He saw His prophets as watchmen to the house of Israel.  Another reference in Isaiah tells us of the Savior’s determination to continue giving us watchmen to teach us His ways: “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence” (Isaiah 62:6).  The world will try to silence the prophetic watchmen who are sent—many have even become martyrs—but the Lord will not let them be silent and will continue to send them.  In our dispensation, the Lord gave a parable about a group of people who were commanded to “set watchmen round about them” but who decided they didn’t need the tower with the watchmen on it since it was a time of peace.  Because of this “the enemy came by night, and broke down the hedge; and the servants of the nobleman arose and were affrighted, and fled; and the enemy destroyed their works.”  The nobleman lamented, “Ought ye not to have done even as I commanded you, and—after ye had planted the vineyard, and built the hedge round about, and set watchmen upon the walls thereof….  And behold, the watchman upon the tower would have seen the enemy while he was yet afar off; and then ye could have made ready” (D&C 101:45-54).  Not adequately valuing the watchmen on the tower has been a problem with the Lord’s people in all ages.

               The citadel at Carcassonne has an interesting history in that it was in the 13^th century a place of gathering for the Cathars, a Christian religious group who were in opposition to the Catholics.  During the Albigensian Crusade when Pope Innocent III sought to eliminate Catharism, many Cathars gathered together at Carcassonne for protection.  The citadel is considered one of the Cathar Castles even today.  But eventually the city was sieged and the Cathars at Carcassonne surrendered on August 15, 1209.  Despite the watchmen they presumably had on their towers around their fortified city, they ultimately were not protected and were expelled.  To me this story symbolizes the need for a true prophet—they had watchmen, but they had no prophet to guide them in their search for spiritual truths or physical protection.  As the Psalms state, “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psalm 127:1).  Fortified cities with literal watchmen won’t protect us from the spiritual dangers of our day, the Lord’s anointed watchmen will if we will heed their voices.