The Devil's Advocate

I started to make a comment to Rich in the last post, and as usual it turned into another post, since the allocation of words for a comment was exceeded (a common failing of mine). Verbosity can be such a burden.

Your comment about the electronic versions of scriptures is worth expanding. I've settled on the convenience of taking my iPad when I don't have a teaching or speaking assignment. However, what I've observed in others attempting to use them from the pulpit while giving a talk, teaching a class, or giving a presentation in the stake center with the big screen is that there is invariably a technology hiccup of some kind. The downtime while we wait for the interruption to be corrected is always awkward and tends to drive the Spirit right out of the meeting. For that reason I always use my "low-tech" version of the scriptures when I talk or teach.

But even then it's important to be easily familiar with your tools as you transition from scripture to scripture when you are being guided by the Spirit in what you say in your teaching. We've all witnessed speakers fumbling with notes or losing their place when reading their talks word for word, and that too can be distracting. "Read yourself full, think yourself empty, speak yourself clear," is still good advice in preparation for a speaking, teaching or presenting assignment.

Since we're all amateurs in the Church where there is no paid clergy, as I see it the only answer is to become familiar with the tools we use, whatever our personal preference may be, in fact, so familiar that for all of us we can aspire to the day when we're all finishing each others' sentences because we all know what we know from the same sources. That blessed day will come when we all have come to know Him.

Joseph Smith

"This principle" — that of having one's calling and election made sure and of being sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise — "ought (in its proper place) to be taught," the Prophet Joseph said, "for God hath not revealed anything to Joseph, but what he will make known unto the Twelve, and even the least saint may know all things as fast as he is able to bear them, for the day must come when no man need say to his neighbor, know ye the Lord; for all shall know him (who remain) from the least to the greatest. How is this to be done? It is to be done by this sealing power, and the other Comforter spoken of, which will be manifest by revelation." (TPJS, 149).

The scriptural passage alluded to by the Prophet in this statement is from Jeremiah, who stated: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jeremiah 31:31-34). When that day finally arrives, we will have ceased doing home teaching and visiting teaching ;-)

We live in a time when it seems the membership of the Church is being sifted and separated and families are divided in the debate. In case you're living under a rock and unaware, the critics are among you in your own congregations everywhere and even among your aunts, uncles and cousins in your families. There have always been critics of the leaders of the Church - ALWAYS! The great divide that is setting up over LGBT issues and women and the priesthood, while often interesting to observe and debate among ourselves, is really nothing new at all. "Equal rights" is such an appealing notion, isn't it? And because I doubt there's a family left on earth that hasn't identified at least one family member with same-gender attraction tendencies, we're all enlisted in this latest skirmish. The topics may change, new advocates may arise, but the critics never seem to subside. However, I'm going to stand with Joseph Smith and his successors.

The Brethren are not on trial here. God our Eternal Father is not on trial, nor is our Savior and Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was already dispatched to a cruel Roman cross and those who opposed Him thought that would be the end of it. But He arose from the dead. He restored His gospel in these last days. He continues to feel after us and invite us to come unto Him through obedience to His laws, His gospel and His humble servants.

It is we as members who are on trial. It is so much easier to be a critic than a contributor when it comes to building faith among ourselves in the Church. When we take the role of the "Devil's Advocate" to spice the debate and do others a service by "testing their faith," we sometimes fail to recognize the Devil already has millions of willing minions who followed him in the pre-existence and they continue to afflict and torment us here in mortality. The earliest reference I've been able to find for the term "Devil's Advocate" is a canon lawyer in the Roman Catholic Church appointed to argue against the canonization or beatification of a person. Then as now, the reasoning seems to go, let's doubt the motives and goodness of a person first, question everything they represent and let's stand against goodness as the loyal opposition to everything that suggests righteousness. That is so progressive, so smart, so forward-thinking, or so they say! Those who are already doing that as unembodied spirits easily outnumber those of us here on earth in physical bodies today. Why would we ever volunteer to do their work for them?

Satan and his followers are always willing to welcome new Advocates within their ranks. Hey, if you've got a body, you're going to offer them much more than they have. Those who defect here in the second estate and fail to remain valiant in their testimonies of Jesus, and especially when they're offering commentary about their long-standing tendency as individuals to question everything first are valuable assets to Satan's cause! They are easy targets for deception. (See D&C 76:75, 79). Let us not be blinded by "craftiness".

In the sanctuary of our dedicated chapels and classrooms, may I suggest that we seek higher ground and stand with the living oracles first? We all have doubts, but let's doubt our doubts before we doubt our faith, as President Uchtdorf suggested recently:

"To those who have separated themselves from the Church, I say, my dear friends, there is yet a place for you here.
"Come and add your talents, gifts, and energies to ours. We will all become better as a result.
"Some might ask, 'But what about my doubts?'
"It’s natural to have questions — the acorn of honest inquiry has often sprouted and matured into a great oak of understanding. There are few members of the Church who, at one time or another, have not wrestled with serious or sensitive questions. One of the purposes of the Church is to nurture and cultivate the seed of faith — even in the sometimes sandy soil of doubt and uncertainty. Faith is to hope for things which are not seen but which are true. (See Hebrews 11:1; Alma 32:21).
"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters — my dear friends — please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. (See F. F. Bosworth, Christ the Healer [1924], 23). We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." (emphasis mine).

Since that invitation from President Uchtdorf, some are now positing with the most recent federal court judge in Utah striking down Amendment 3 to the Utah State Constitution that the judge has somehow nullified the living prophets among us. "If the prophets were truly inspired," the latest reasoning goes, "why didn't they know the Amendment they advocated would be declared unconstitutional?" Similar arguments were made when Proposition 8 and DOMA were also overturned, but with an important distinction. California's governor made the decision not to challenge the rulings there, but in Utah the Attorney General under the direction of Governor Herbert will make a vigorous defense of Amendment 3, since 2/3 of Utahns voted in favor of Amendment 3 and the will of the electorate in defining marriage cannot be so easily ignored. I know good members of the Church who are now taking public stands on their social media platforms in exultation over the courts' rebukes of the Church. Really? Why?

When one makes a moral argument, as the Church did over gay marriage rights, we must be cautious to make the leap that the legal authority may have the last word. Remember, there is a higher unseen tribunal. It is as though some in the Church never seem to have been introduced to the LAWGIVER, you know, the One the Founders accepted in the founding documents for America who has given us our rights as free men and women.

The Devil's Advocates today would like you to believe they have made a clear and logical argument, except what is NOT clear at this writing is how the appellate courts will decide. Will they uphold the first federal judge's ruling or set it aside? The Tenth Circuit Court and eventually the SCOTUS will ultimately adjudicate the law of the land, but the law of the Lord is the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. THAT law is eternal, unchangeable, unamendable and immutable.

Upon THAT law of holy matrimony - that marriage is a sacred covenant between a man and a woman - rests the eternal plan of salvation. Does one presume to assert eternal law can somehow be altered by popular opinion or a court decision? There is no earthly tribunal in America, even the SCOTUS, that can compel the churches to solemnize a wedding ritual in violation of its religious beliefs under Constitutional safeguards. And certainly, the highest courts in the land will never be able to rule effectively in matters of conscience and righteousness. That's why the Founders were so explicit that America could never be governed except if the people remained righteous. But Satan will not rest. Since the Garden, he has sought to separate the man from the woman, and he has sworn in his wrath he will never retreat.

We are admonished to gather together in our meetings "to AGREE upon my word." (D&C 41:2). When our high priest groups descend into nothing more than a debating society where we mingle the philosophies of men with scripture, and never once during a lesson cite a single sentence from the prophets' teachings that are laid before us, we are opening ourselves up to being deceived. I suspect this is all in fulfillment of sorting out the wise virgins from among the foolish ones. (See Matthew 25). They were all good girls - virgins! - waiting for the Bridegroom. As members the Church in the last days, we are good girls too for the most part. But about half of us tend to be wise, and about half tend toward foolishness.

President Thomas S. Monson

The demarcation line will likely be those who have embraced the word, honored and defended the humble prophets God has raised up from among our congregations to lead us in the latter-days, and who put their covenants ahead of all other considerations. Whenever I am asked who I think the greatest prophet in this dispensation is, most are surprised when my knee-jerk reaction isn't "Joseph Smith," or "Harold B. Lee." They are both dead prophets, and great as they were, the greatest prophet for me will always be the one who is living on the earth and leading the Church TODAY, Thomas S. Monson. And when he is gone, it will be his successor. I find obedience to the covenants we have made with God leaves me no other option in answering that question.

Those who will yet lose their way in the mists of darkness will be those who treat casually the glorious gifts we have received in the Restoration. It's a marvelous flood of light for those who choose to live in the light.

So no matter which version of scripture you favor, electronic or paper, feast upon the word, familiarize yourselves with their contents, and avoid the winds of deception that are blowing at gale force all around you. In this course there is safety, light and LIFE.

Remember - eternal life comes only from the Lawgiver, and it is given on His terms.

Steve Smoot, Champion of Mankind

Steve Smoot

This week, we were reminded at the funeral of a much-beloved uncle, Stephen Parkinson Smoot, a life-long activist Mormon Democrat, that in the spirit world where he now resides there are no political parties. A life of contradictions and dilemmas was now resolved. Think about it - how many Utah Mormon Democrat activists do you know? There's an oxymoron for you to ponder and remember on this Memorial Day weekend of 2012!

The fact of the dissolution of political parties in the spirit world and beyond will not come as such a dramatic revelation to anyone who believes in an afterlife, I suppose, but coming from one of Steve's dear old friends, Elder M. Russell Ballard, it's a reality worth noting in this political season.

From the moment I first joined the Hewlett clan way back in the late sixties, Steve Smoot was my hero. There never was a man of more compassionate, caring and likable disposition than Uncle Steve. I don't think I ever heard a word of unkind criticism about an individual ever escape his lips. That's a tall order for some who are not similarly inclined to such restraint, but it was true of Steve.

Fort Smoot

Patsy and I were his closest neighbors who were in his extended family in Pine Valley. Our home resides in what later became the "Smoot neighborhood" at the Ranch. I watched him laboriously build "Fort Smoot," stone by stone carefully laid into mortar mixed by hand on site. It took years to complete that little one-room structure, but it was always a labor of love for him and it didn't seem to matter how long it was taking. Bigger and finer structures would eventually rise from that humble start, but I cherished every opportunity to visit with the neighbors when they were in residence. I loved Aunt Marilyn and all her quiet confidences she reposed in me, especially toward the end of her life. Steve undertook the task of carving out their home in the mountains cheerfully without complaint to prove up on his free water right before it expired.

On Left, Pine Valley's 1st Solar Panel

He was "progressive" in all the best attributes of that word. How else could you classify the first man to install a solar electrical panel on his home in Pine Valley? Before that he lobbied for years among the resistant family members until there were five "progressive" cattle guards along the Pine Valley Road to replace the antiquated old "Mormon gates." Every time I drive over one I praise his name (and will forever). If you want to leave a lasting legacy on people's lives, do something like Uncle Steve did for me and all the rest of us.

The man became a paragon of quiet dignity fighting for the downtrodden, the underprivileged and the outcasts in the Utah Mormon society. He was always years ahead of his time, it seemed, because his only driving motivation was the betterment of his fellow human travelers in this life. I have consistently disapproved of government being the end-all, be-all solution to curing those societal ills, but when it came to his individual motivations and the execution of his beliefs on a personal level there could be no disputing the example, sincerity, sensitivity and passion of the man.

At the funeral, his son Steve spoke of an early childhood incident few of us knew about. Having been working on a snow/ice igloo structure of some kind with one of his boyhood friends, he was called into dinner. As a parting gesture, in good-natured fun, he threw a "projectile" at his friend, striking him in the temple. The boy died later that night in the hospital. When I heard that story it gave immediate insight into Steve's nature, his character and his personality. He must have surely carried the pain and guilt of that experience his entire life. His gentle spirit, his solicitude of others, and his watch care for all those souls among whom he labored for eleven years in the inner-city mission in Salt Lake City, was much easier to understand. Who wouldn't be indelibly stamped for life after such a boyhood tragedy in such an innocent playtime moment?

I never saw Steve without a smile on his face. He was always so gracious, so gentle and so sincere. I said to Patsy when I first joined the family I thought he was the "coolest" extended family member in that expansive Hewlett clan, and I think I can say it even today without much fear of contradiction from any of the Hewlett cousins. His radiance came shining through in every situation where I observed him. His wisdom was much sought-after and valued by so many. I have known few people in life who seemed to me to have no guile, no bitterness, and no judgments to hand out. He was the personification of goodwill and patience.

I don't know what he was like as a father, but I know and love all his children. In them I see the reflection of his fathering, his forbearance, and his unconditional love. Aunt Marilyn always told me she didn't think her children could handle all the freedom (agency) Steve seemed so willing to grant them, preferring that he should have taken a firmer hand in disciplining them. However, I knowingly and consciously adopted Steve's fathering model in raising my own children. In that sense we were kindred spirits. I taught them as well I as could, and championed their agency, believing they would get it right in time without the heavy hand of discipline. I think it's the way Heavenly Father "raises" all of us.

I say it without reservation: Steve's children are the extraordinary product of his parenting philosophy (and I wouldn't exclude Marilyn's influence one whit). Each was showered with love from their parents who exuded constant encouragement and support, and their parents' influence will live forever within each of them in boundless proportions. Steve's and Marilyn's has been a rich harvest, and we love Shauna, Steve, Sherm and Allison and all their families. Patsy and I feel closer to them in so many ways than our own brothers and sisters.

No offense is intended in that statement, but when you live in such close proximity and you spend as many years together as we have, the bonds are deep and abiding. There's something about "pioneering" year-round living in Pine Valley that will do that to you! Steve's son Steve and I were the first to try it together in the winter of 1988-89, then eventually other families joined ours. How can we forget all the snow-blowing, the snow days off from school and work, and the stranded vehicles? But those are stories for another day.

When the much-anticipated and long-awaited priesthood revelation finally came in 1978, the first person I thought of was Steve Smoot. I knew how much he had yearned for the day when all male members of the Church could have all the blessings of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob without restriction.

His treatment and his unstinting love for all Heavenly Father's children was embodied in that announcement. Until the moment of his death he was still hoping to improve the lot of the LGBT community within the Church and lamented he didn't have more time to champion their needs. Sherm said it best, "My Dad was color-blind and gender-blind." He saw their plight as analogous to the blacks and the priesthood, but there are obvious glaring distinctions from a doctrinal perspective, and I have addressed those in the past.

Whatever our differences on those doctrinal issues may have been, I honor him for his steadfast and unwavering dedication to the leadership of the Church. He chose the path of discipleship, he chose to obey without hesitation and without public criticism, though his private views often contradicted the stated position of his leaders. He served quietly in the trenches, went about doing all the good he could for as many as he might touch.

I'm grateful he touched me within the circle of his love. His parting leaves a big hole.

Gay Marriage and Immigration -- Some Thoughts

Let me make a bold statement -- I do not speak for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on anything. What I do here is totally on me. This blog represents no one but me. I am an agent unto myself, and I take full responsibility for what I think and what I write. If you disagree, I would love to discuss it with you. If you support my conclusions, then come join with me in expressing those opinions more courageously than you have heretofore done, and help spread the love.

In a bipartisan vote in favor of extending marriage rights to gay couples, the New York State Senate passed the bill after provisions protecting churches who opposed the measure were written into the language of the final version. It is significant to some proponents of the LGBT community that the legislature in New York is under Republican Party control. It signals progress to them that other "red" states may soon take up their cause.

New York becomes the sixth state where gay couples can wed, doubling the number of Americans living in a state with legal gay marriage.

It appears the legal ramifications of what is being done to promote the LGBT agenda will continue to be defined by votes in various jurisdictions throughout the country, with many predicting this New York vote will spur momentum in other states to follow suit.

There are many who say, "What's the big deal? If they want to get married, who are we to get in their way?" It is not likely lightning bolts will strike dead gay couples on the courthouse steps when they step out of the shadows to legalize their domestic relationships. The world will not suddenly come to screeching halt because of it, nor will the stock market collapse, the moon be turned to blood, and earthquakes and plagues suddenly break out in response.

Instead, the reality is that life will continue. Oh, except that life is created between a man and woman and it's called procreation and gays and lesbians have no ability to create the life. But I digress. I've written about all of that before. If you are confused about the associated underlying gospel doctrine, please click the link. Study it as passionately as you tend to give heed to the prevailing winds of false doctrine that swirl around your head. Do not let the political winds that blow at gale force turn you away from the foundation of truth that has already been laid for you. God would not have you believe a false doctrine in this benighted world when He has given you light and truth in unfailing doses of brilliant illumination.

I have been thinking this morning in the wake of this news what it really means for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose leaders stand shoulder to shoulder with other religions in opposition. The Church's opposition in California to the Prop 8 ballot initiative seeking to legalize gay marriage there in recent years is an example of what can be forecast into the future on this issue. New York may the be latest fatality in the onward spread of LGBT thinking, but the Church's opposition will not abate.

On the immigration front here in Utah, we have seen as recently as last week a referendum of sorts on the Church's benign and humanitarian stance. Critics of the position of the Church have openly stated they prefer to uphold the platform of the national GOP and the state GOP that opposes any and all attempts short of 100% enforcement of border security. They criticize the Church for not screaming at the federal government to do its job. The delegates I saw in action at last week's state GOP convention who were determined to send a message were predominantly members of the Church. It seems they are more interested in upholding and sustaining the platform of the Republican Party than they are of the stated position of the leaders of their Church.

They adamantly cite the 12th Article of Faith:  “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.” They contend the Church can't have it both ways, picking and choosing which laws they obey, honor and sustain. It's as if they want to hold the Church accountable for the federal government's inability or unwillingness to carry out its constitutional duties. If the Church makes a determination on the grounds of the federal government's failure to act to enforce immigration laws, that is something completely different than asserting the Church is not adhering to the tenets of the 12th Article of Faith.

It seems the members of the Church will have to be tested yet again in these times over this question: Will they come out in support of popular issues like gay marriage and immigration enforcement in opposition to the public positions the Church's leaders have taken, or will they align their thinking, writing and speaking with their leaders?

I have answered that question for myself. I will stand with the Brethren. Scroll down the comment page until you see the post by "goatesnotes" -- that would be me.

I have cited my reasons in past posts, but some of it bears repeating this morning in the wake of this latest challenge to the stated positions the Church has taken. Some ask, "Why does the Church get involved in these controversies? Why don't they just mind their own business and let people do what they want? Don't they believe in free agency?"

In matters involving morality, the Church has an obligation and duty to its members to lead out and give direction. The Church will never violate the exercise of moral agency, but it will offer guidance and direction while leaving the final decision in the hands of the individual. In both controversies, the LGBT agenda and immigration, the Church is doing nothing more than restating the time-honored Christian traditions of what constitutes the true definition of marriage between a man and a woman, and advocating the need for humanitarian considerations in our treatment of immigrants without regard to their legal status.

Because I have already addressed the LGBT issues in the past, this morning I'll flesh out the immigration debate in more detail.

Winston Churchill

In a radio broadcast in 1939, Winston Churchill, speaking about Russia said: "I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest."

If we were to attempt to unravel the riddle of the current state of immigration in this country, perhaps that is where we must start -- the national interest of the politicians we have elected to represent our individual interests. This much is certain: the federal government has failed to secure our borders in the aftermath of 9/11 and continues to dither without any forward progress toward addressing the practical realities of the presence of some 12 million undocumented residents who are here illegally. Why is that true?

The cynic would say, and who would contradict, it's because they represent a block of voters that must be wooed. Why has there been little but token effort to secure our borders? Why has comprehensive immigration reform legislation at the federal level been blocked again and again? It seems as if a false choice has been erected -- amnesty or deportation -- so why can't we take a vote, pass laws and come to some agreement? Why do we permit identity theft, document fraud, employers who hire illegals knowingly, and give access to our schools, our health care and other services knowingly without any political will to enforce the laws we already have on the books both in the states and at the federal level?

The simple answer is we seem to lack the political willpower in the halls of Congress in Washington D.C. to do anything about it. The federal government has abdicated one of its few expressed powers granted to it in the Constitution -- to secure the national interest -- and many of its elected representatives have breached their oath of office to defend us from all enemies foreign and domestic.

So, if that case can be made that the federal government has been derelict in its duty and it has a perceived political benefit in doing so (wooing potential voters with a wink and a nod with a free pass over their true identities), what comes next? At that point is civil disobedience justified and to what extent? Can a state pass a law requesting a waiver from the federal government to collect taxes so the revenues generated under the bill can be utilized to take enforcement steps against crime within the borders of its state? Shall federalism -- the argument over which powers are the states' and which the federal government's -- finally be defined by such a course of action? Stay tuned, that's what this is all about.

Arizona responded with a harsh enforcement law designed to put teeth into the growing problem it faced along its borders. Not wanting to repeat the same mistake in Utah, a coalition came together around a document entitled the "Utah Compact." It laid out five basic principles, beliefs really, about how legislators should go about putting together legislation attempting to address the immigration issue:

THE UTAH COMPACT
A DECLARATION OF FIVE PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE UTAH’S IMMIGRATION DISCUSSION

FEDERAL SOLUTIONS Immigration is a federal policy issue between the U.S. government and other countries — not Utah and other countries. We urge Utah’s congressional delegation, and others, to lead efforts to strengthen federal laws and protect our national borders. We urge state leaders to adopt reasonable policies addressing immigrants in Utah.

LAW ENFORCEMENT  We respect the rule of law and support law enforcement’s professional judgment and discretion. Local law enforcement resources should focus on criminal activities, not civil violations of federal code.

FAMILIES  Strong families are the foundation of successful communities. We oppose policies that unnecessarily separate families. We champion policies that support families and improve the health, education and well-being of all Utah children.

ECONOMY  Utah is best served by a free-market philosophy that maximizes individual freedom and opportunity. We acknowledge the economic role immigrants play as workers and taxpayers. Utah’s immigration policies must reaffirm our global reputation as a welcoming and business-friendly state.

A FREE SOCIETY  Immigrants are integrated into communities across Utah. We must adopt a humane approach to this reality, reflecting our unique culture, history and spirit of inclusion. The way we treat immigrants will say more about us as a free society and less about our immigrant neighbors. Utah should always be a place that welcomes people of goodwill.

Out of that modest beginning came Utah's HB116, an attempt to pass legislation at the state level designed to go as far as a state could in taking on the practical realities of dealing with an immigrant population, taking into account their illegal status, and providing a path forward for them that respected the humanitarian needs of those affected.

Yes, the legislators were warned in advance that on its face it was unconstitutional because it was asking for a waiver from the federal government to allow it to collect taxes normally passed along to the feds, but pass it did and it was done knowingly. It was based in large measure on the need to preserve families that were being broken up because of the absence of federal guidance and hit-and-miss enforcement that left everyone grappling with what to do -- arrest and deport, ignore and co-exist, embrace or reject. But at a deeper level, it sought to define where we draw the line on enforcement -- go after the criminals, not the hard-working law-abiding aliens who are honestly seeking a better life in America.

The Church buttressed the legislation that was signed into law by the governor with a restatement of its long-held position on the matter. In part, the Church reaffirmed: "What to do with the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants now residing in various states within the United States is the biggest challenge in the immigration debate. The bedrock moral issue for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is how we treat each other as children of God."

And therein, a simple statement of belief based upon a moral principle -- how we treat each other as children of the same Father in Heaven -- has the Church set its statement before us to accept or reject. It troubles me that perhaps some of us have gotten our priorities out of sync. It seems about half of us Republican Mormons in Utah are more interested in what the Party thinks than what the Brethren do.

If it came to a showdown, and you were standing before your precinct to be elected as a state delegate, how would you respond? Would you swear an oath of allegiance to the state Republican Party platform to get elected, or would you stand on the moral principles as outlined by the Church in seeking a humanitarian approach to a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma?

I have enough confidence in the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to believe they are aided by revelation in their attempts to unravel even the peskiest Gordian knots of gay marriage and immigration.

How about you?

Six Principles: Mothers and The Patriarchal Order

Recently, I was in a conversation with someone (don't even recall who it was), who expressed surprise when I stated in answer to his question that the ordinances associated with exaltation were to be received only by a husband and wife simultaneously, not separately. His assumption had always been that our ultimate salvation was strictly an individual matter.

On this Mothers' Day weekend, it seems appropriate to underscore the role of women in our lives as men. We simply have no hope of eternal life without being sealed to a woman of our choosing. Period. No exceptions. No other way. The happiness and fulfillment of the mother of your children must always be your highest and most urgent need. You may not always succeed. My experience has been how patient my wife has always been with my blundered attempts, but because she is rarely content with even my best effort I am always reaching higher than I would otherwise. I have written extensively about these core doctrines in the past. It's there for all who want to see it.

Joseph Smith

The clearest statement made to understand the shared divine nature of the patriarchal order was first uttered by Joseph Smith. Said he, "[The patriarch order] is the kingdom of an endless life." He added: "The sacrifice required of Abraham in the offering up of Isaac shows that if a man would attain to the keys of the kingdom of an endless life, he must sacrifice all things." (HC, 5:555). This eternal kingdom in which each worthy man could receive the keys referred to by the Prophet begins in mortality, and extends to "a fulness of the priesthood" based upon several key principles. I will cite only six as follows:

First, the highest expression of sexuality is God's work and we are partners with Him as husbands and wives. We are the mortal means by which He continually increases in glory "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39).

Second, the only way in which our Father in Heaven can attain His full potential as an exalted being in this eternal family, is to provide a way for men and women to be organized first as personages of spirit, then secondly, tabernacled in a body of flesh and bones and endowed with the full glory and power of the Man of Holiness. Inherent in that ultimate bestowal of glory and power is the power to procreate children in the resurrection and to develop glory in them through the same divine plan. Creation of life requires a male and a female component.

Third, before the individual members of the Church could become like the exalted Man of Holiness in every way, they had to be organized into an eternal family order. The Father and His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, effected that organization. This eternal family was a continuous, on-going priesthood organization called the divine patriarchal order. Before this earth upon which we now live was formed, the order came down by generation from God through Adam and his sons and their successive generations. Each ordinance given as part of the order was established as a dynamic, life-giving function. Through these ordinances, men and women could acquire divine attributes and powers of life through the Holy Spirit. The symbolic elements of gospel ordinances mirrored actual experiences of birth, death, the atonement, and the resurrection.

Fourth, the saints of the last days living in the dispensation of the fulness of times were required to master Zion's economic and social programs and, in time before the Second Coming, establish the government of God in their midst in observance of the laws associated with the divine patriarchal order.

Fifth, by applying the principles and laws of the gospel in their lives, the saints could have their "callings and elections made sure" in family relationships begun here on earth at the altars of the temple in the patriarchal order in eternity. We were all taught in the pre-existence and in our family units here on earth that only in this way could we eventually become priests and kings (and priestesses and queens) in the celestial order in eternity. The power to seal here on earth is held only by the living prophet and president of the Church. (See Millenial Star, 5:151, [March, 1845]; also see D&C 132:7).

Sixth, when the saints apply celestial law and are united as heirs with the greater eternal family in the presence of God, they will receive a fulness of the priesthood and be made recipients of the glory exalted beings possess, to the degree the saints were able to receive and apply it to their good.

Brigham Young, expanding on what he had learned from Joseph Smith, would later state:

"When the Holy Priesthood, which is after the order of the Son of God, is upon the earth, and its organizations, ordinances, gospel, powers, authorities and blessings, are enjoyed by the children of men; then by means of sealing powers and keys, and an everlasting covenant, the sons of men become the sons of God by regeneration, and are entitled, every man in his order, to the privileges, exaltations, principalities and powers, kingdoms and thrones, which are held and enjoyed, by the Great Father of our race: and all these are obtained through the law of natural increase, and the saving of that which the Father puts in our power." (JD, 10:355).

Adam and Eve were the prototypes on this earth:

"The Lord administered comfort unto Adam, and said unto him: 'I have set thee to be at the head -- a multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them forever.'" So, in like manner, every faithful couple joined by priesthood authority in a provisional sealing ordinance becomes the Adam and Eve to the race that springs from their loins, when they are embraced in the covenants and blessings of the Holy Priesthood; and in the lapse of eternity, and in the progress of eternal lives, every true son and daughter of God becomes a king of kings, a queen of queens; a priest and a priestess. (Ibid.)

Heber C. Kimball

Reality being what it is, the final patriarchal order was not to be fully realized in mortality. Heber C. Kimball reported a vision given to Joseph Smith in which "he saw Adam open the gate of the celestial city and admit the people one by one. He then saw Father Adam conduct them to the throne one by one, when they were crowned Kings and Priests of God." (JD, 9:41).

President Brigham Young

Brigham Young agreed:

"We have not yet received our kingdoms, neither will we, until we have finished our work on the earth, passed through the ordeals, are brought up by the power of the resurrection, and are crowned with glory and eternal lives. Then he that has overcome and is found worthy, will be made a king of kings, and lord of lords over his own posterity, or in other words: A father of fathers. This latter rendering, is more strictly in accordance with the original text." (Ibid., 10:355).

All of this is consistent with what should be obvious -- without mothers there would be no fathers, and with neither there would be no procreation or hope for exaltation.

People question why the leaders of the Church today are so persistent in their adamant stance against the false doctrines associated with the LGBT community and their political agenda to legalize gay marriage. Some even maintain when all those old men finally get it right and so-called "scientific proofs" are studied more in depth, there will be a change in Church policy. Don't bet the farm on that. In light of the eternal verities associated with revelation from the very beginning, a change in doctrine is not likely to ever be equated with a change in policy.

One cannot accept the premise we are led by living prophets, and simultaneously embrace the notion that someday a change in doctrine to accommodate modern politically correct dogma will be allowed to destroy the very foundation upon which the kingdom of God has been established in eternities that predate and will succeed ours.

The need for sympathy and acceptance is acknowledged. Diversity, compassion and understanding is never out of date in the Church. That said, do not be persuaded by those who suggest the leaders of the Church are simply politically incorrect or out of step with the times in which we live. They understand perfectly the ramifications for evil that such false postulations invite, and teach what they do so we may not be deceived by the sophistries of the day.

Mothers -- in particular the one to whom I am linked -- have done what they came here to do under divine command from the beginning: "to fill the measure of their creation" by creating life with their husbands. Once each faithful couple has ascended step by step through parenthood, the remaining steps crown their efforts with godhood:

"They then would want that more sure word of prophecy, that they were sealed in the heavens and had the promise of eternal life in the kingdom of God. Then, having this promise sealed unto them, it was an anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast. Though the thunders might roll and lightnings flash, and earthquakes bellow, and war gather thick around, yet this hope and knowledge would support the soul in every hour of trial, trouble and tribulation. Then knowledge through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the grand key that unlocks the glories and mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

"Compare this principle once with Christendom at the present day, and where are they, with all their boasted religion, piety and sacredness while at the same time they are crying out against prophets, apostles, angels, revelations, prophesying and visions, etc. Why, they are just ripening for the damnation of hell. They will be damned, for they reject the most glorious principle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and treat with disdain and trample under foot the key that unlocks the heavens and puts in our possession the glories of the celestial world. Yes, I say, such will be damned, with all their professed godliness. Then I would exhort you to go on and continue to call upon God until you make your calling and sure for yourselves, by obtaining this more sure word of prophecy, and wait patiently for the promise until you obtain it, etc." (TPJS, 298).

Ah, Joseph Smith -- just not much ambiguity there. I'm guessing President Boyd K. Packer is simply being true to the true prophet in this dispensation.

Part and parcel of our mortal probation is learning to distinguish good from evil. In our eagerness to embrace the downtrodden, the falsely judged and even the most ardent sinners, let us never be deceived into believing that tolerance can cross the line into open opposition against the humble prophets of God and the doctrine they lovingly declare, as if from the Lord's own mouth. (See D&C 21:5).

On this Mothers' Day, give thanks for the righteous women in your life as men. There is no greater gift than being surrounded by the righteousness of good women. God intended us to rub off all the "pointy and prickly parts" of our character against each other in the marriage relationship. I guess it's the only way He could devise to prepare us for eternal life. Be happy in all the twists and turns that don't work out quite the way you drew them up on the chalkboard of all your planning.

Always remember and don't forget -- there is a priceless legacy a righteous woman offers you as a man you can obtain nowhere else and in no other way. It is eternal life.

Context and Controversy

47 East South Temple Street

What follows is yet another example of what is becoming commonplace in our loss as a nation of "fair and balanced" reporting in the mainstream media.

You can validate this yourselves.  When you hear a new story about which you have particular and specific knowlege on any topic, you can benchmark what you know against what is reported.  Invariably you discover the only thing that makes it into the news story is the controversial piece designed to create a headline with little or no substance to back up the conclusions reached.

Here's another glaring example of this spreading phenomenon of irresponsible journalism:
Context and Controversy

The Unchangeable God, Church and Prophets

I couldn't help noticing the results of yet another poll the other day.  The polling, one would think, would end with the end of campaigning for this election cycle, but not so. . . the sampling of human opinion seems perpetual and neverending.


President Boyd K. Packer

In the ongoing "great debate of 2010," this poll asked Utahns how many believed gay and lesbian people could change their sexual orientation.  President Boyd K. Packer, consistent with "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" issued in 1995 by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, asserts:

"Fifteen years ago, with the world in turmoil, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles issued 'The Family: A Proclamation to the World,' the fifth proclamation in the history of the Church. It is a guide that members of the Church would do well to read and to follow.

"It states in part: 'We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.'  (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102).

“'The Gods went down to organize man in their own image, in the image of the Gods to form they him, male and female to form they them.

"'And the Gods said: We will bless them. And … we will cause them to be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.'  (Abraham 4:27–28).

"This commandment has never been rescinded.

“'And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.'  (Abraham 3:25).

"It is intended that we be happy, for 'men are, that they might have joy.'  (2 Nephi 2:25).

"Lehi taught that men are free and must be 'free … to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day.'"  (2 Nephi 2:26).

So, the pollsters say among themselves, "Let's test those assumptions and take a poll; let's find out what people think, because that will surely settle it."

The Salt Lake Tribune reports:  "More people in Utah agree with Packer than don’t, according to a recent poll by The Salt Lake Tribune. In a random survey of 625 registered voters conducted Oct. 25-27, 44 percent said it is possible for those with same-sex attraction to change it, while 25 percent said they were unsure. Nearly a third said change isn’t possible, an opinion consistent with most scientific research."

A third part said exercising agency just isn't possible.  That's an interesting number.  More on that later, but remember that percentage. 

The report on the polling data is useful in this sense:  It correctly draws the lines in the "great debate."  The living prophets among us declare fallen man can and must change to be forgiven and sanctified.  President Packer's talk is about repentance.  It's titled, "Cleansing the Inner Vessel."  However, the scientific community (whoever "they" are) claims the question is settled in the science -- they have proven sexual orientation is not something anyone can change.  They maintain those who are born that way cannot exercise agency.

This laboratory we call mortal life is staged in an imperfect fallen world.  In this state we walk by faith not seeing, not knowing and certainly not capable of having enough cumulative life experiences to have a perfect knowledge of much of anything.  However, there is something we all came here to do -- to trust God.

Our Father in Heaven is the personification of perfection in the three categories I just mentioned:  He is omnipotent (always all powerful), omniscient (always all knowing), and omnipresent (always in the present and present in the present, the unchangeable God who is the same today, yesterday, and forever).

True Prophets

He has called and sent prophets among us to teach the truth, His truth.  What is truth?  We have the perfect definition in scripture:

"And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come; and whatsoever is more or less than this is the spirit of that wicked one who was a liar from the beginning.  The Spirit of truth is of God.  I am the Spirit of turth, and John bore record of me, saying: He received a fulness of truth, yea, even of all truth; and no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth the coommandents.  He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and knoweth all things.  Man was also in the beginning with God.  Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.  All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence.  Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light.  And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation.  For man is spirit.  The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy; and when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy.  The elements are the tabernacle of God; yea, man is the tabernacle of God, even temples; and whatsoever temple is defiled, God shall destroy that temple.  The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.  Light and truth forsake that evil one.  Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God.  And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers.  But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth."  (D&C 93:24-40, emphasis mine).

President Packer wisely observed:  ". . . if we are not alert, there are those today who not only tolerate but advocate voting to change laws that would legalize immorality, as if a vote would somehow alter the designs of God’s laws and nature. A law against nature would be impossible to enforce. For instance, what good would a vote against the law of gravity do?

"There are both moral and physical laws 'irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world' that cannot be changed.  (D&C 130:20). History demonstrates over and over again that moral standards cannot be changed by battle and cannot be changed by ballot. To legalize that which is basically wrong or evil will not prevent the pain and penalties that will follow as surely as night follows day.

"Regardless of the opposition, we are determined to stay on course. We will hold to the principles and laws and ordinances of the gospel. If they are misunderstood either innocently or willfully, so be it. We cannot change; we will not change the moral standard. We quickly lose our way when we disobey the laws of God. If we do not protect and foster the family, civilization and our liberties must needs perish."

It's so delicious, isn't it?  The Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual,Transgender (LGBT) community maintains they cannot change from the way they were created, and would have the leaders of the Church change EVERYTHING undergirding and upholding eternal truth, while the Church and its leaders cannot change revealed principles of unchanging truth that cannot be changed to satisfy their demands.  Satan is having a field day -- it truly is the great day of his power on earth!

God cannot and will not change.  He is unchangeable.  (Moroni 8:18; Mormon 9:19).  He is the same today, yesterday and forever. (See 1 Nephi 10:18; 2 Nephi 27:23; 29:9; Alma 31:17; Moroni 10:7, 19; 2 Nephi 2:4; D&C 20:12; 35:1; 76:4).  His Church cannot and will not change if it is His Church founded on the eternal revealed doctrines of truth and light.  As fallen mortals, however, each of us must change, repent and become sanctified, and we are given our agency to do so, the scientific community's "findings" notwithstanding.

Exercising faith in God is imperative in this process.  Long before the "great debate of 2010" was upon us, but sensing it might arise in a future day, with my good friend Scott Strong many, many years ago we wrote about these eternal principles:

The Plan of Salvation

If we do not come to earth and experience evil with its terrible consequences of sorrow and death, we will never become like God because we will not know and understand what he does. When we do partake of evil we cannot be with God nor be like him, because we are guilty under the law. We are sentenced to physical and spiritual death, because those are the wages we must pay for sin. (See Romans 6:23). How do we experience evil so we can know what God knows, but not fall eternal victim to the consequences of evil?

The answer is the divine solution of the Gods: Take the memory of the children from them, then put them in a carefully prepared probationary state of accountability. Let them experience sin, evil and the consequences of sorrow and death for themselves, but only to a necessary point -- only temporarily -- only long enough for the children to gain this important knowledge for themselves. Then provide an atonement through the infinite Creator, who can justly meet all the conditions and requirements of the law because he is responsible, sinless and infinite.

The Creator, the Redeemer, the Messiah

Imagine this dialogue between the Savior and Satan to further illustrate the point. Jesus Christ the Messiah stands between man and justice (see Mosiah 15:9) and says, “I will pay, I will satisfy the demands of justice for all these children who have sinned.” Satan the destroyer says, “You can’t. No one can pay for sins they are not responsible for. It would not be just and I demand justice. Who are you to pay for their sins?”

“Their Creator,” responds Christ. “I am responsible for giving them life. I gave them power to live, to move and to do. I gave them their agency. All they have and are is because of me. I am responsible for them because I created them.”

“That may be true,” counters Satan, “but how can you possibly pay for their sins when you must pay for your own transgressions? You already owe the demands of justice for your own sins.”

“I have no sins as you well know, despite your temptations,” reminds Christ. “I owe justice nothing because I am sinless.”

“That may also be true,” Satan responds, “but how could you possibly pay the price of all the doings of all God’s children? Why, that is an infinite impossibility!”

“I am infinite,” answers Christ, “and my infinite creations are all known to me and the Father.”

Adam was infinite (not mortal) at the time he transgressed the law. (See 2 Nephi 2:22). That means Adam’s transgression (his fall) was infinite. Christ had to be an infinite being to cure an infinite transgression. Christ was and is infinite. He was specially designed for his mission as the Messiah. He had a mortal mother so he could spill his own blood and lay down his body and die. He was sired by an infinite and divine Father so he had infinite capacity and power to take up his body in the resurrection following his crucifixion. He was sinless. Neither death nor hell had any claim on him.

Every contingency was anticipated, every preparation was made from the very foundations of this world to make this plan just and effective in bringing about the eternal life of God’s children. Nothing has been left to chance. Nothing is arbitrary or out of order. All is according to law. The love of faithful parents who create, teach and nurture their children in the gospel covenant can appeal to this infinite sacrifice on behalf of their children who have wavered.

The Law and Justice of the Universe

When we consider the atonement of Christ, we often focus on the principle of mercy. Nothing more beautifully typifies the love of God than the sacrifice of his Only Begotten Son. However, there is actually nothing that better typifies God’s respect for the eternal principle of justice either. A proper understanding of these truths is most essential, as a misunderstanding could lead to some poor judgment decisions in our personal lives because we falsely perceive the actual workings of justice and mercy in the gospel plan.

There are those who believe the law (meaning all the commandments) is not really very important in the gospel. From the standpoint of the individual sinner, of course, this is true. The writings of Paul are full of his realization he could not be saved even by living the law “perfectly,” as he had attempted to do in his Pharisaic traditions. These believe grace is the real key to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some believe, for instance, that Christ would somehow be offered the same grace by the Father he offers mortal sinners. They maintain Christ did not answer the ends of the law by fulfilling the law, but rather by suffering so much the Eternal Judge might say, “You suffered so much I will mercifully suspend the law this time. I really shouldn’t, but I will because my bowels are so full of love and mercy because of your suffering.”

Once again, this assumption does not comport with revealed truth regarding justice. He has answered all the ends of the law. (See Moroni 7:28). Justice exerciseth all his demands. (See Alma 42:24). The law must be fulfilled. (See 2 Nephi 9:17). The works of justice cannot be destroyed. (See Alma 12:32; 42:13, 22). Justice cannot be denied. (See Mosiah 15:27; Jacob 6:10). Mercy cannot rob justice. (See Alma 42:25).

The system of justice and law spoken of in the scriptures is divine and eternal, because the eternal Gods, even the Eloheim who presided in the eternal worlds in which our God gained his exaltation, are its author. 1 Nephi 15:30 speaks of “the justice of God.” Mosiah 2:38 mentions “the demands of divine justice.” 1 Nephi 12:18 refers to “the word of the justice of the Eternal God.” Christ would never destroy the Father’s creations, so he did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law (see Matthew 5:17), to pay the full debt under the law, to honor the law and to keep the law without exception.

He did not come to overpower the law by breaking it, robbing it, denying it and destroying it. He came to ensure that the ends of the law were answered, that justice exercised all its demands. He knew the law must be fulfilled. He understood the works of the law could not be destroyed, or God would cease to be God. He knew the law cannot be appeased by denying the law its right to exercise all its demands. The law is not satisfied with the currency of grace and mercy. The law demands the cold hard cash payment of absolute compliance.

Satan is a Liar

It is little wonder Satan’s offer to save all the Father’s children by suspending agency and mandating obedience and compliance seemed so attractive to "a third part" of his audience in the pre-existence. On the day of judgment he will still be demanding the law’s fulfillment -- every jot and tittle. The poll results from the earlier citation today seems to indicate a third part still believes suspending agency is desirable.  He is our hateful enemy, and he will demand what he thinks is rightfully his -- our eternal souls. He will have no compassion because of Christ’s suffering. He knows no mercy. He will demand of a God who cannot lie that the ends of the law be answered. He will require that justice exercises all its demands. He knows anything short of this would make God a liar and break eternal law.

There was only one way for God to righteously overpower the adverse effects of eternal justice upon his beloved children. (See Alma 34:15). He must satisfy justice (see Mosiah 15:9; Alma 34:16), appease justice (see Alma 42:15), and fulfill the law (see 2 Nephi 9:17). The only way the Father could do that and still mercifully forgive and save us, was to offer his perfect Son as the willing sacrifice who would pay the penalty, fulfill the law, and satisfy the demands of justice. (See Alma 34:14-15).

The Scriptures Teach Truth

These truths are fully described in the scriptures. The scriptures teach Christ suffered the pains of “. . .every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.” (2 Nephi 9:21). They do not say Christ’s suffering was to fill up the bowels of the Father with mercy so the Father would be justified in suspending justice. Rather, Jacob declares, “O the greatness and the justice of our God! For he executeth all his words, and they have gone forth out of his mouth, and his law must be fulfilled.” (2 Nephi 9:17).

One of the atonement metaphors in the scriptures is prison. Christ pays the bail so we can be released from prison. He does not merely “cut a deal” with justice -- he pays the “uttermost farthing” (Matthew 5:26), to “the very last mite” (Luke 12:59). We are “bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20), and Christ did not get wholesale prices. He was obliged to pay our debt in full when he redeemed our souls.

The “merciful bowels” hypothesis some have proposed would make God very merciful but not very just. The scriptures declare he is not only perfectly merciful, but perfectly just as well. (See Alma 42:15). Any thoughtful analysis of law and order in the universe makes both the supreme power and unyielding rigidity of the law imperative.

As we consider the merciful atonement of Christ wrought with love, compassion and amazing grace, we must never forget justice was never robbed. On the contrary, at every turn the atonement met every single demand of justice completely. Such is the love and wisdom of God.

Only Christ Qualifies as our Redeemer

These are the characteristics of Christ that qualify him as our Redeemer:

1. Creator. Being our Creator makes him a responsible party to our sins. The only two beings who qualify as responsible parties are the “giver” of life (Christ), and the “liver” of life (each of us).

2. Sinless. Having no sin of his own, justice has no claim upon him. He has escaped the necessity to pay the wages of sin (death), since he is without sin.

3. Infinite. Not only was Adam’s transgression infinite because he was infinite when he transgressed, but the scope of the atonement is also infinite. To take upon himself the sins of an entire eternity required Christ to have infinite capacity. Christ inherited his infinite quality from his infinite and divine Father.

4. Mortal. The atonement required that Christ also be mortal, capable of separating his body and spirit in death. He had to have blood coursing through his veins so he could effectuate the blood atonement and die. The wages of sin had to be paid in the vicarious death of the Savior. He inherited this quality from his mother, Mary, who was mortal.

5. Foreordained. No man can take any priesthood honor upon himself. He must be called of God. The Messiah is an office in the priesthood (see TPJS, 341), requiring that proper authority be given of God as with other priesthood offices.

6. Sustained. Officers in the Church are never arbitrarily imposed upon God’s children. All officers must be sustained by the common consent of the Church. Christ was accepted and sustained as the Messiah by the general voice of two-thirds of all the host of spirits in the grand council of heaven before the world was.

7. Willing. Moral agency is ever present in the gospel plan. Christ was willing to make the requisite sacrifice for the Father and all the heavenly family. Through the entire process of trial, crucifixion and atonement he had the option to choose otherwise at any moment. The love, courage and devotion here manifest is beyond the comprehension of mere mortals.

8. Lineage. Christ was of the royal lineage of the house of Israel, and therefore possessed the actual birthright to ascend through the Davidic line to the throne as king of Israel. Christ was the spiritual king of Israel, and the physical king of Israel, when he took upon himself the iniquity of his people and suffered in spirit and body (see D&C 19:16-19) to redeem his people.

While the great mercies of the atonement can never be overemphasized, all the above illustrates the atonement as perfectly just not merely merciful. All the qualities outlined above were necessary for Christ to enable him to meet all of the demands of justice as he effectuated the atonement. Lacking even one of these essential elements of the atonement he could not have satisfied all the demands of justice. A cursory glance of these eight credentials alone compels one to see how completely God respects, honors and obeys exactly his own eternal law.

Keep the Covenants You Have Made

Little wonder, then, we are required to keep our temple covenants with “exactness and honor” if we are ever to become holy as he is holy. The Savior’s words, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as I and your Father in Heaven are perfect,” are not idle words. While we need to keep in mind the Prophet’s wisdom that “no man ever arrives in a minute,” (see TPJS, 51), we must not become complacent in the false opium of a misunderstood grace doctrine. We must come unto Christ with more than our lips. Our minds and hearts must be illuminated by his light, our souls empowered by his glory and our hearts sanctified by his spirit until we do become perfect even as he is.

The true gospel plan is a perfect balance existing between God and man. God cannot save man by himself, any more than man can become a god by himself. Only the two in a harmonious duet can accomplish the miracle of exaltation -- the creation of a new god! The true gospel plan is also a perfect balance between men and women. We are unique halves who can only become whole and complete in full partnership with each other.

Further, the true gospel plan reveals parenthood to be the paramount principle of godhood. These partnerships must possess the power to procreate and the love to righteously preside as dedicated parent-servants, faithfully keeping as priest and priestess the laws, rites and ordinances of the patriarchal priesthood. They entered into this priesthood order by covenant, shouldering their responsibilities as creators, giving themselves wholly as kings and queens to their family kingdoms.

The highest expression of the true gospel plan is the greatest power in the priesthood that God can bestow upon us and upon our posterity -- the power of the seeds. By this power comes the continuation of the lives, the creation of man worlds without end.

The true gospel plan is the blessing and empowerment of intelligences with bodily temples, thereby enabling them to house ever ascending degrees of light. By the power of their bodies they gain ascendancy or power over those intelligences who are not so tabernacled.

And finally, the true gospel plan reveals the universe as a system of order wherein all bodies physical, spiritual and social are governed by eternal law.

President Boyd K. Packer

As the foregoing has amply illustrated, President Boyd K. Packer did not one day a few weeks ago wake up and say to himself, "I wonder what I can do to purposefully discomfit the LGBT community.  What could I say that would stir them up and make them miserable?"  Nor did he take a poll to sample public opinion in advance of what he would say.  He simply speaks truth, and hit pigeons flutter.  It has always been thus with living prophets, and so shall it always be until He reigns whose right it is to reign upon this earth.  (See D&C 58:21-22).

President Packer is one of God's noblemen.  He is a "sent servant."  "The great debate of 2010" is nothing more than a modern restatement of the very question posed in the pre-existence, "I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it, wherefore give me thine honor."  The other said, "Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever."  (Moses 4:1-2).

Satan rebelled, and from that moment has sought to destroy the agency of man.  He has succeeded beyond his wildest imaginations when he can get the "scientific community" to conclude there is an element of our society incapable of exercising their God-given agency unto repentance.  How exquisite, how delightful, how deceitful, how damning!

Next time you take the name of President Packer and any other true servant of God in your lips, let it be with full awareness of what you say before you criticize them without knowledge.  To trust them is to trust God, who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.  To do less is to side with that evil one who has been a liar from the beginning.  (See D&C 93:25).

"And it came to pass that from this time forth there began to be lyings sent forth among the people by Satan, to harden their hearts, to the intent that they might not believe in those signs and wonders which they had seen; but notwithstanding these lyings and deceivings the more part of the people did believe, and were converted unto the Lord."  (3 Nephi 1:22).

May it ever be thus with this generation of Latter-day Saints is my prayer.

Harold B. Lee: Follow the Brethren

President Boyd K. Packer

After the last General Conference, a whisper campaign against President Boyd K. Packer has been circulating through the Church.  It's reached our little hamlet.  Have you heard the buzz yet?  "Why doesn't he just keep his mouth shut about criticizing the gays and lesbians and let them get married if they want to.  It's none of his business.  They have their free agency.  This is just embarrassing."  And of course, there are many permutations and combinations spinning out from there. 

If you haven't yet heard some version of it, you my friend, are living under a rock.

Not a month later yet, and this is some of the media coverage: 

• A crowd estimated at between 2,000-3,000 demonstrated outside the Church Office Building following Conference and demanded gay rights. 
• A father writes a letter to the editor:  "Most knowledgeable [subtle -- you're not if you don't agree] Mormons and ecclesiastical leaders know that homosexuality is experienced honestly and involuntarily and is not amenable to significant change.  [To be fair, wouldn't he have to say the same thing about heterosexuals too?]  I'm confident they were uncomfortable with President Boyd K. Packer's most recent conference talk.  It is disappointing, however, to see them remain silent.  I look forward to the day when LDS Church leaders will reach out to our gay children, friends and neighbors, and figure out a way to enfranchise, rather than disenfranchise them."  (Emphasis mine).  President Packer teaches sin is sin and can be overcome, regardless of sexual orientation.  And he continues to call sinners to repentance.  Question:  Do we excommunicate adulterers?  Maybe we should rethink it, and "enfranchise them" instead.
• A story that someone had started a Facebook page in support of President Packer.  I'm certain that person was well-meaning and wanting to show support for President Packer, but I'm guessing President Packer might think it a little absurd.  Does anyone really believe he cares much about what people think at this stage in his life as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles?  He's teaching pure doctrine and he always has.  He's as pure a vessel as we have among the leaders of the Church.  He cares about what God would have him say, but I'm guessing he wouldn't give a dry fig for the opinions of others.  A popularity vote wouldn't be of much interest to him.  I've already highlighted the assessment of one observer many years ago in a previous post, who commented about the purity of President Packer's life for one so young.




President Harold B. Lee


• The Church calls a press conference to reiterate its stand on marriage and family.

Unrelated to this current controversy, someone asked me recently if I knew what theme or topic Harold B. Lee spoke about most frequently during his years as an Apostle and later as the President of the Church.  Because I have made a lifelong study of his teachings and sermons I replied without giving a second thought, "Follow the Brethren."

I will confess I have never added it all up, nor have I done a comparative study to validate my claim, but from what I observed and from what I know of the man and what made him tick I can assert my belief without much fear of contradiction.  The words of dead prophets are as valid today as they were when they were first uttered. 

Today, a sampling to make the point (the emphasis throughout is mine):

"When you see one who is tearing down and finding only the bad in men, seeing nothing of their good qualities, there you may see one whose heart is not pure, who finds it easy to criticize.  Shall I give you a test to try your own souls?  How did you react to the last conference?  Did you accept the declarations of the Brethren who spoke as the declarations of the prophets of the living God? Or did you make it a pastime in your private circles or around your family table to find flaws and express your displeasure at the fact that there was something said about politics or about labor and [you] wished the Brethren would keep their mouths shut about this and that?  Which was your reaction after the last conference?  You Latter-day Saints, the men who preside in this church are only prophets to those who accept them and their teachings as the prophecies from the living God.  It's great to live in a day when the prophets are leading us.  Moses, Paul, Peter — it was great in those days, but there were just as many critics and just as many who didn't receive them.  The Master said a prophet is not without honor save in his own country, and He might have added, in his own day and time (see Mark 6:4).  So today, these are prophets who lead us only if we accept them as such and apply their teachings in our lives. (THBL, 516; 50-09).

"Therein lies one of the greatest problems among those who are criticizing and finding fault and wanting exceptions, because they don't trust the Lord.  To say it another way, they are not willing to listen to the admonition of the Lord as He gave it as a preface to His revelations in this dispensation.  And these are His words:  'And the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people' (D&C 1:14). (THBL, 516; 70-18).

"Oh, you Latter-day Saints, there was never a time when you needed to look so much to the leadership of this church to know the truth.  When one comes into your midst claiming revelation, and this one on this side a new interpretation, you have the good sense to remember what Paul said to the Ephesians.  The purpose of putting prophets, teachers, pastors, and evangelists in the Church was to keep us from running to and fro as children, tossed about by every wind of doctrine (see Ephesians 4:11-14).  If you want to be guided in truth, you follow the light the Lord has given us in the leaders He has set to preside.  And the first one to go to is your bishop and your stake president; and if, through them, you need an answer from the Brethren who preside in the Church, it will be forthcoming.  That is one of the safeties to keep you in the path by which faith might come." (THBL, 516; 53-01, 354-55)

"The safety there is in this church is in listening to the counsel that comes from the authorities of this church. The Master said something else that we have not listened to very well. He said:
"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
"And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7:24-27).
"What was the Master trying to say?  He was trying to present a great truth: that the storms of adversity, trying in difficulty, are going to descend upon every soul.  All of us — the good, the bad, the rich, the poor, the humble, the haughty — all are going to have the rains of difficulty, the floods of disaster, the overhanging clouds testing faith, the winds and blasts of slander, of misrepresentation.  Everybody is going to have those things.  That is a part of life.  The only ones whose houses will not fall will be those who have built their houses upon the rock.  What is the rock?  Listening to the words of God as they come from His own mouth or from the mouths of His prophets."  (THBL, 517; 53-06).

"I can imagine the ridicule and scorn that Noah suffered during the months he was building a great ship out in the middle of a comparative desert to house himself and his family and the selected of earth's bounties in preparation for the flood that through his faith in God's prophetic revelation he knew was coming to destroy the earth.  Don't you be as the foolish virgins with no oil in your lamps because of your unbelief in God's warning of things to come (see Matthew 25:1-12).  Dare to listen to the leaders of the Church, the prophets of God, without a revelation to whom God said He would do nothing (see Amos 3:7), despite the jeers of the worldly and unrighteous who have no faith and who dare not, because of their own sinning, believe that these threatened judgments might be so. Through your faith in the inspired revelations, you will always be given time to build an ark of safety that will eventually land you on a Mount Ararat. (THBL, 517; 45-09, 80).

"The great historian Will Durant once said, "In my youth I wanted freedom. In my mature years I want order."  There is nothing so important in the kingdom of God as order; yet the tendency today is to resist law and order, which must be maintained in the kingdom of God if we are to be pleasing in the sight of the Lord.  "Be one," the Lord said; "and if ye are not one ye are not mine" (D&C 38:27).  The only way we can be one is by following the leadership of the Church as the Lord has directed. (THBL, 518; 71-02, 215).

"A man came in to see me and said that he had heard that some man appeared mysteriously to a group of temple workers and told them, 'You had better hurry up and store for a year, or two, or three, because there will come a season when there won't be any production.'  He asked me what I thought about it, and I said, 'Well, were you in the April conference of 1936?'  He replied, 'No, I couldn't be there.'  And I said, 'Well, you surely read the report of what was said by the Brethren in that conference?'  No, he hadn't.  'Well,' I said, 'at that conference the Lord did give a revelation about the storage of food.  How in the world is the Lord going to get over to you what He wants you to do if you are not there when He says it, and you do not take the time to read it after it has been said?'
"The Lord is going to keep His people informed, if they will listen.  As President J. Reuben Clark Jr. said in a classic talk, 'What we need today is not more prophets.  We have the prophets.  But what we need is more people with listening ears.  That is the great need of our generation.' (In Conference Report, October 1948, 82)."  (THBL, 518; 64-04, 159-60).

"When the welfare program was being structured and some of us were trying to assist, President Heber J. Grant made one of the saddest comments a President of the Church could make.  I was invited to the office of the First Presidency, and as we presented the outline of the plan that was proposed, President Grant, who had listened in silence for quite some time, said, 'Well, there is just one thing wrong with it. It won't work.'  President David O. McKay, his counselor, asked, 'Why won't it work, President Grant?'  And he said, 'I am afraid it won't work because we can't trust the membership of this church to follow our leadership.  See what they did when I pleaded with them to vote against the repeal of the liquor amendment?  Until the Saints learn to follow our counsel, there is not much we can do about it.'" (THBL, 519; 66-01, 16).

"The Master, in His Sermon on the Mount, made another very expressive declaration when He said, 'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God' (Matthew 5:8).
"You will remember that in His lifetime there were some who saw Him only as the son of the carpenter. There were some who said that because of His words He was drunken with strong wine — that He was a winebibber.  There were some who even thought Him to be possessed of devils.  Only those who were pure in heart saw Him as the Son of God.
"There are some who look upon the leaders of this church and God's anointed as men who are possessed of selfish motives.  The words of our leaders are always twisted by them to try to bring a snare to the work of the Lord.  Mark well those who speak evil of the Lord's anointed, for they speak from impure hearts.  Only the pure in heart see the divine in man and accept our leaders as prophets of the living God."  (THBL, 519; 47-05, 223-24).

"I listened to an excerpt of a testimony of a man who was a member of the Twelve and of whom President Grant had said that he never knew a man who had a greater gift of prophecy than did this man.  There was put in my hands a quotation from a sermon that he had delivered some fifty years before, which proved to be the last sermon he had ever delivered as a member of the Twelve.  Before another conference, he was dropped from the Council of the Twelve and subsequently left the Church.  This is what he said, in that last sermon:  'That person is not truly converted unless he sees the power of God resting upon the leaders of this church and it goes down into his heart like fire.'  And I repeat that to you here today.  The measure of your true conversion and whether or not you hold fast to those ideals is whether or not you are so living that you see the power of God resting upon the leaders of this church and that testimony goes down into your heart like fire."  (THBL, 520; 73-29, 90).

"I am reminded of an interview I had with one of you [teachers].  Maybe he is here tonight, and I am not sure but that I may have touched his soul as we talked that day.  We came around to the question as to whether or not he felt to follow the leadership of those who presided in the Church today.  He said with some hesitancy, 'Well, I didn't agree with President Clark when he gave his talk about 'Our Dwindling Sovereignty' up at the University of Utah.'  I repeated, 'I was there and I listened to President Clark.  You know, when I go to hear a great thinker on some subject, I don't go to criticize, I go to listen; but I suppose it would be difficult for a pygmy to get the viewpoint of a giant.'  And it was then that I seemed to bring him down to my level so that we could talk a little."  (THBL, 522; 68-07).

"The trouble with us today [is that] there are too many of us who put question marks instead of periods after what the Lord says.  I want you to think about that.  We shouldn't try to spend time explaining what the Lord didn't see fit to explain.  We spend useless time.
"If you would teach our people to put periods and not question marks after what the Lord has declared, we would say, 'It is enough for me to know that is what the Lord said.'"  (THBL, 522; 72-42, 108).

"We have some tight places to go before the Lord is through with this church and the world in this dispensation, which is the last dispensation, which shall usher in the coming of the Lord.  The gospel was restored to prepare a people ready to receive Him.  The power of Satan will increase; we see it in evidence on every hand.  There will be inroads within the Church.  There will be, as President [N. Eldon] Tanner has said, 'Hypocrites, those professing, but secretly are full of dead men's bones' (see Matthew 23:27).  We will see those who profess membership but secretly are plotting and trying to lead people not to follow the leadership that the Lord has set up to preside in this church.
"Now the only safety we have as members of this church is to do exactly what the Lord said to the Church in that day when the Church was organized.  We must learn to give heed to the words and commandments that the Lord shall give through His prophet, 'as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith' (D&C 21:4-5).  There will be some things that take patience and faith.  You may not like what comes from the authority of the Church.  It may contradict your political views.  It may contradict your social views.  It may interfere with some of your social life.  But if you listen to these things, as if from the mouth of the Lord Himself, with patience and faith, the promise is that 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name's glory' (D&C 21:6)."  (THBL, 526; 70-28, 126).

"As I have labored among the Brethren and have studied the history of past dispensations, I have become aware that the Lord has given tests all down through time as to this matter of loyalty to the leadership of the Church.
"I have been in a position since I was called to the Council of the Twelve to observe some things among my brethren, and I want to say to you:  Every man who is my junior in the Council of the Twelve I have seen submitted, as though by Providence, to these same tests of loyalty, and I have wondered sometimes whether they were going to pass the tests.  The reason they are here today is because they did, and our Father has honored them.
"It is my conviction that every man who will be called to a high place in the Church will have to pass tests not devised by human hands, by which our Father numbers them as a united group of leaders willing to follow the prophets of the living God and be loyal and true as witnesses and exemplars of the truths they teach."  (THBL, 522; 50-02, 51-52).

* * *

I am NOT a "Mormon apologist."  I once heard President Lee say, "Defending the truth is as useless as defending an Abrams tank with a peashooter."  

Rather, I believe as one of those junior members of the Council of the Twelve to whom President Lee made reference, President Boyd K. Packer is a giant among men who has been tried and tested in the furnace of affliction and not found wanting.  He is speaking the word of God.  It is unvarnished, unfiltered and unapologetic.  The gospel of repentance is easily discerned and embraced by the pure in heart with a testimony of Jesus the Redeemer.  It is an oasis in a dry and parched desert wilderness to those who thirst.  It is a banquet table of righteousness heaped high with truth for those who are hungry and faint from lack of nourishment.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson

I conclude with an inspired paragraph from Elder Todd D. Christofferson, whose remarks at the 2010 April General Conference about the importance of the scriptures in our lives bear precisely on the topic:

"In a complete reversal from a century ago, many today would dispute with Alma about the seriousness of immorality.  Others would argue that it’s all relative or that God’s love is permissive.  If there is a God, they say, He excuses all sins and misdeeds because of His love for us — there is no need for repentance.  Or at most, a simple confession will do.  They have imagined a Jesus who wants people to work for social justice but who makes no demands upon their personal life and behavior.  (See interview of Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, in Michael De Groote, "Questioning the Alternative Jesus," Deseret News, November 26, 2009, M5).  But a God of love does not leave us to learn by sad experience that 'wickedness never was happiness' (Alma 41:10; see also Helaman 13:38).  His commandments are the voice of reality and our protection against self-inflicted pain.  The scriptures are the touchstone for measuring correctness and truth, and they are clear that real happiness lies not in denying the justice of God or trying to circumvent the consequences of sin but in repentance and forgiveness through the atoning grace of the Son of God (see Alma 42)."  (Elder D. Todd Christofferson, "The Blessing of Scripture," Ensign, May 2010, 32-35).