The Mormon Message of Prophets

The problem was simple yet profound. How do I make sense of life? I remember thinking “Is this it?” In the words of one of my favourite films, “Is this ‘as good as it gets’?” The Mormon answer seemed profound yet simple - “God speaks today!” Of course, with benefit of hindsight I can identify myriad problems with the Mormon message. But I remember the thrill of hearing that message for the first time, “God speaks today”, and the thrill of anticipation – what is God going to say to me?

The message of Mormonism centres on “living prophets”. John Taylor, third Mormon president, wrote, “the principle of present revelation…is the very foundation of our religion” (Journal of Discourses, p.371). Elder Joseph W. McMurrin was one of the First Seven Presidents of the First Council of the Seventy from Oct.5 1897. In a General Conference address in April 1902 he said:

“…the same divine authority, the same inspiration that came from God, our Father, which enabled the Prophet Joseph Smith to speak of the future history of this work, is with the Israel of God today. A Prophet of God stands in the midst of the people now, clothed upon with every gift, key, power, and authority, that was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that same inspiration, that same power to penetrate the future, to comprehend the purposes of the Almighty, is with the Priesthood that is in our midst today.”

In 1977 Spencer Kimball, 12^th Mormon president declared in a General Conference address, “I bear witness to the world today that more than a century and a half ago…the heavens were once again opened, and since that time revelations have been continuous.”

The missionary discussions present it in this way:

“One important way God shows His love for us is by calling prophets, who are given the priesthood – the power and authority given to man to act in God’s name for the salvation of His children. Prophets learn the gospel of Jesus Christ by revelation. They in turn teach the gospel to others…The teachings of the prophets are found in sacred books called scriptures.

Whenever people choose to disregard, disobey, or distort any gospel principle or ordinance, whenever they reject the Lord’s prophets…they distance themselves from God and begin to live in spiritual darkness. Eventually this leads to a condition called apostasy. When widespread apostasy occurs, God withdraws His priesthood authority to teach and administer the ordinances of the gospel.

To end each period of general apostasy, God has shown His love for His children by calling another prophet and giving him priesthood authority to restore and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ anew…Such periods of time headed by prophetic responsibility are called dispensations.

After the death of Jesus Christ, wicked people persecuted the Apostles and Church members and killed many of them. Without Apostles, over time the doctrines were corrupted…Without revelation and priesthood authority, people relied on human wisdom to interpret the scriptures…False ideas were taught as truth…The doctrines…became distorted or forgotten. This apostasy eventually led to the emergence of many churches.

When the circumstances were right, Heavenly father once again reached out to His children in love. He called a young man named Joseph Smith as a prophet. Through Him the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth….A living prophet directs the Church today” (Preach My Gospel, A Guide to Missionary Service, p.p.32-37, Pub. LDS Church, 2004, emphasis added).

That message still excites many today and fills them with the same anticipation I felt all those years ago. “What will the living prophet say?” The words of a Mormon hymn sum up well the typical Mormon’s attitude to it:

The morning breaks, the shadows flee; Lo, Zion’s standard is unfurled!

The dawning of a brighter day, Majestic rises on the world.

Has morning broken? Have shadows fled? Does God speak today through living prophets?

Coming up:

Testing Mormon Prophets

Testing a Mormon Prophet

21 Questions about Mormonism - a Cult?

In the midst of the publicity storm surrounding Mormonism FOX News at the end of 2007 compiled a list of 21 questions to put to The Mormon Church. The Church objected to answering some of the questions on the grounds that they misrepresent the basic tenets of the Mormon religion.

Qu. "Many of these questions are typically found on anti-Mormon blogs or Web sites which aim to misrepresent or distort Mormon doctrines," the church said in a statement. "Several of these questions do not represent ... any serious attempt to depict the core values and beliefs of its members."

You may judge for yourself whether the questions are fair and whether they have answered or evaded them. However, Mormons have traditionally revelled in the title “peculiar people” so it does seem churlish to complain when others ask about those things that mark them out as peculiar. We begin today to look at the questions (Q) and answers (A) with comments (C) and quotes (Qu.):

Q: Why do some call the Church a cult?

A: For the most part, this seems to stem from a lack of understanding about the Church and its core doctrines and beliefs. Under those circumstances it is too easy to label a religion or other organization that is not well-known with an inflammatory term like 'cult.' Famed scholar of religion Martin Marty has said a cult means a church you don't personally happen to like. We don't believe any organization should be subjected to a label that has come to be as pejorative as that one.

C: I have commented before on how peculiar it is that a church claiming to be Christian should be so consistently “misunderstood”, even by “other Christians”. The Mormons seem to be constantly fighting a rearguard action against misunderstandings and misconceptions. This is all the more puzzling for a church with an ongoing professional programme of self-promotion. Is Mormonism hard to understand? Why does the church continually have to “explain” itself? It is a truism that someone who does a lot of explaining usually has a lot of explaining to do. Blaming your detractors is not good enough; the Mormon Church does have a lot of explaining to do and it would be wise to ask why.

As to the assertion that no organisation should suffer the pejorative label of cult, it should be remembered that Mormonism is founded on the teaching that all the creeds of “Christendom” (that’s your church and mine) are “an abomination” and that all who profess those creeds (that’s you and me if you are a Christian) are “corrupt”. Perhaps Mormons should remember that people who live in transparent dwellings should seriously consider the consequences before hurling things at others; that what goes around comes around; that people don’t so easily forget that Mormonism is established on terms that remain antagonistic to and pejorative of others.

The Mormon Church trades on the modern creed that every religion is of equal value, everyone’s right “in their own way”; there is no blame and therefore no shame; and the “everyone’s a victim” culture of today. However, Christians know that there is right and wrong, truth and falsehood, righteousness and sin and a way that seems right to a man but that leads to destruction (Prov.14:12). Mormonism is founded on the claim that the ways of Christendom lead to destruction. Christians, in turn, warn others that there is no salvation in Mormonism. They teach that we are apostate, and we teach that they are a cult and in serious error. It’s a messy old place sometimes but welcome to the real world.

And for those who want to jump in and declare “a curse on both your houses” – your going to fall out of bed in a minute. It’s your world too and you can be just as jealous and defensive of your own creeds. You know you can, don’t deny it, so stop claiming the moral high ground; it makes you sound too much like you have an axe to grind. And if you really think the world would be a better place if everyone left everyone else alone why not set the trend and keep it to yourself.

Coming up:

Jesus: the Son of God?

Kolob: Where God Lives?

Scripture, Prophets and Apostasy

A Mormon correspondent recently put the following argument:

A lot of people are keen to express their own opinion on scripture, offer interpretations etc. The problem is, how do we know which one of us correct.

For those who argue what they say is in keeping with the Bible, well welcome to a orld with hundreds of denominations all arguing the same thing yet still disagreeing on interpretation.

Further, for those open minded individuals that accept that looking for truth requires stepping back and examining the facts, how do we know for sure that any particular version of the Bible is sufficiently correct in it' translation to facilitate a definitive answer to the many questions we face (I'm speaking collectively here as we will all be accused of trusting a book that cannot be verified independently).

Finally, even if we overlooked the inherent risk in translation, edition, interpretation, punctuation etc, can anyone honestly claim that they can offer the definitive interpretation of a single passage let alone the entire complex book?

So it is hardly surprising that after 2000 years we find ourselves in a world were 80% of the western population think religion is poppy cock, and 20% believe it in some form but cannot agree between themselves what that form is.

Who can offer a solution to these questions? This is why modern day prophets make absolute sense. The sheer lack of a authoritative figure to guide our interpretation, correcting errors etc is invaluable.

I found that argument quite compelling for years until I realised its fatal flaw. It basically presents two possible positions for the truth seeker. Either you investigate and discover for yourself what is the truth, or you abrogate that responsibility and trust to another man to do it for you. Either you take full responsibility for looking into these things for yourself, determined to go wherever the truth leads, or you complain that it is just too hard and ask someone else to do your thinking for you.

God says in His word, “I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me” (Prov.8:17 c.f. Matt.7:8)

The argument about wheat and tares is well made (Matt.13:24-30). The fact that there is error doesn’t mean that there is no truth and it seems to me that God intends each one of us to take responsibility and look and seek and find for ourselves. It is our responsibility, it seems to me, to seek that truth “with all our hearts” and not leave it to another to tell us what the truth is. Anyway, we are still making a judgement in choosing to follow a prophet and must, therefore, give an account for our choices.

It seems to me that we would be better finding for ourselves what the Bible has to say rather than looking to someone else to tell us what it says, or ought to say, or once said (I am not here discounting the good help of others. I am simply insisting that no other man can take responsibility for my choices).

Which brings me to my second point, which concerns the Mormon attitude to the word of God, the Bible. I find it curious that Mormons will passionately declare their trust in the Bible but refuse to trust what they see in its pages. They claim that it is open to interpretation and readily give up any attempts at understanding it as a hopeless task. Yet the psalmist declared, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path” (Ps.119:105) and, “The words of the LORD are pure words; As silver tried in a furnace on the earth seven times; You, O LORD, will keep them” (Ps.12:6-7) Was he lying?

In the New Testament we find an astonishing and yet encouraging statement:

“This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs and wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” (Heb.2:3-4)

Take each clause and study it. You will find each confirmed in history and in the lives of those who seek him.

1. This salvation was announced by the Lord - (Luke 4:16-21)
2. Confirmed by those who heard him – (1 John 1:1-5)
3. God testified to it by signs and wonders and miracles – (Where do we start? Acts!)
4. And gifts of the Holy Spirit – I can only testify that some 2,000 years later I saw sure and certain evidence of such gifts in church last Sunday morning!

It would seem that God intends us to take his word very seriously, understand it for ourselves, take the testimony of his Son, his Apostles, and his Spirit and act on what we see with our own eyes. I don't think that is asking too much.