Vol. 6, No. 8, 1989

Articles on Mormonism

Will Schmidt

At the 1989 Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Bishop Glenn L. Pace, Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishoprick, made the following statement:

"There are some of our members who practice selective obedience. A prophet is not one who displays a smorgasbord of truth from which we are free to pick and choose. However, some members become critical and suggest the prophet should change the menu.

"A prophet doesn't take a poll to see which way the wind of public opinion is blowing. He reveals the will of the Lord to us. The world is full of deteriorating churches who have succumbed to public opinion...

"In 1831, some converts wanted to bring a few of their previous beliefs into the Church with them. Our problem today is with members who... want the Church to change its position to accommodate them," (Ensign, May 1989, p. 26).

Spencer W. Kimball, the late president of the LDS Church would have agreed with Bishop Pace when he said, "The Lord's program is unchangeable. His laws are immutable. They will not be modified. Your opinion or mine does not alter the laws," (The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 249).

Other General Authorities and Presidents of the LDS Church have made similar statements. Let's see what a few of them had to say with regard to these supposedly unchangeable doctrines.

Polygamy

John Taylor, the Mormon Church's third Prophet said, "God has given us a revelation in regard to celestial marriage. I did not make it. He has told us certain things pertaining to this matter, and they would like us to tone that principle down and change it and make it applicable to the views of the day.

"This we cannot do; nor can we interfere with any of the commands of God to meet the persuasions or behests of men....

"If God has introduced something for our glory and exaltation, we are not going to have that kicked over by any improper influence, inside or outside of the Church of the living God," (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 25, pp. 309-310).

Brigham Young who preceded John Taylor as the LDS Church's prophet said, "Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives... I promise that you will be damned," (Deseret News, Nov. 14, 1855).

He also stated, "Suppose this church should give up this holy order of marriage, then would the devil and all who are in league with him against the cause of God rejoice that they had prevailed upon the saints to refuse to obey one of the revelations and commandments of God to them," (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 11, p. 239).

George Q. Cannon, who was a member of the Church's First Presidency believed that "if plural marriage be divine, as the Latter-day Saints say it is, no power on earth can suppress it, unless you suppress and destroy the entire people," (Ibid, Vol. 20, p. 276).

Heber C. Kimball, First Counselor to Brigham Young, said, "It would be as easy for the United States to build a tower to remove the sun as to remove polygamy," (Millennial Star, Vol. 28, p. 190).

Prior to becoming fourth prophet of the Mormon Church, Wilford Woodruff taught that the Church could not give up polygamy (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 13, 166). As president of the church he claimed to have received a revelation that he should not give in to pressures from the government (Journal of Abraham Cannon, Dec. 19, 1889).

Despite the preceding statements, Wilford Woodruff later changed and led the Church out of polygamy with these words:

"We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, not permitting any person to enter into its practice... In as much as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriage... I hereby declare my intentions to submit to those laws... And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land," (Doctrine and Covenants, Declaration 1).

This same pattern of social and legal pressures changing the "laws of God" held true with regard to black and the priesthood.

Blacks And The Priesthood

The tenth president of the Church, Joseph Fielding Smith, taught that the blacks would never hold the priesthood as long as "time endures," (The Way to Perfection, p.101).

N. Eldon Tanner a member of the First Presidency stated, "The Church has no intention of changing its doctrine on the negro. Through the history of the original Christian Church, the negro never held the priesthood. There's really nothing we can do to change this. It's a law of God," (Seattle Magazine, Dec. 1967, p. 60).

Brigham Young taught that blacks would not receive the priesthood until after the resurrection and that it would be a sin for the Church to give the blacks the priesthood before the last of the posterity of Able had received it. (Brigham Young Address, Ms d 1234, Box 48, folder 3, dated Feb. 5, 1852, located in the LDS Church Historical Department).

The LDS Church's doctrine on blacks was changed on June 8, 1978. Spencer Kimball and N. Eldon Tanner reversed their earlier positions as they signed this declaration which allows "all worthy make members of the Church" to "be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color... We declare with soberness that the Lord has now make known his will for the blessing of all his children throughout the earth who will hearken to the voice of his authorized servants, and prepare themselves to receive every blessing of the gospel," (Doctrine and Covenants, Official Declarations).

Apparently Bishop Pace is misguided in his statements. Mormon prophets do use "the wind of public opinion" to change revelation. They are allowed to "practice selective obedience." For them previous prophets simply displayed a "smorgasbord of truth" from which they are "free to pick and choose."

The Bible says, "God is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19)

And "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings" (Hebrew 13:8). The true God does not change his teachings. He is perfect and he always gets it right the first time! If Bishop Pace really believes what he teaches, he needs to stop following the fickle, changeable Mormon god and begin serving the unchangeable true God.