"We testify to the world that
revelation continues and that the vaults and files of the Church contain these
revelations which come month to month and day to day. We testify also that
there is, since 1830 when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was
organized, and will continue to be, so long as time shall last, a prophet,
recognized of God and his people, who will continue to interpret the mind and
will of the Lord. …
"Expecting
the spectacular, one may not be fully alerted to the constant flow of revealed
communication. I say, in the deepest of humility, but also by the power and
force of a burning testimony in my soul, that from the prophet of the
Restoration to the prophet of our own year, the communication line is unbroken,
the authority is continuous, a light, brilliant and penetrating, continues to
shine. The sound of the voice of the Lord is a continuous melody and a
thunderous appeal. For nearly a century and a half there has been no
interruption." (Spencer W. Kimball, “Revelation: The Word of the Lord to
His Prophets,” Ensign, May 1977, 76)
Reading 1 – Elder Bruce R. McConkie has written: Whenever
the Lord has had a people on earth, they have received revelation from
appointed prophets, apostles, and seers. If at any time they ceased to receive
revelation, they ceased to be the Lord's people. This has been the unvarying
course from Adam to the present moment. The receipt of revelation is one of the
chief identifying characteristics of the true saints; where there are saints
there is revelation, and where there is no revelation the saints of the Most
High cease to exist among men. (McConkie, Bruce R. A New Witness for the
Articles of Faith. Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 1985, pp. 475-77)
As early as 1852, however, Brigham Young said that the
"time will come when they will have the privilege of all we have the
privilege of and more" (Brigham Young Papers, Church Archives, Feb. 5,
1852), quoted in the topic, "Blacks", in "The Encyclopedia of
Mormonism" at page 125.
"At a press conference held shortly after Spencer W.
Kimball was ordained president of the Church [in 1973], he was asked about
extending the priesthood to black members. He responded: "I am not sure
that there will be a change, although there could be. We are under the dictates
of our Heavenly Father, and this is not my policy or the Church's policy. It is
the policy of the Lord . . . and I know of no change, although we are subject
to revelations of the Lord in case he should ever wish to make a change."
(quoted in LDS Church News, 06/04/88)
Reading 2 - In an area conference in South Africa, President
Kimball declared: “I prayed with much fervency. I knew that something was
before us that was extremely important to many of the children of God. I knew
that we could receive the revelations of the Lord only by being worthy and
ready for them and ready to accept them and put them into place. Day after day
I went alone and with great solemnity and seriousness in the upper rooms of the
temple, and there I offered my soul and offered my efforts to go forward with
the program. I wanted to do what he wanted. I talked about it to him and said,
‘Lord, I want only what is right.’ ” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed.
Edward L. Kimball (1982), 451.)
Reading 3 - Elder Bruce R. McConkie recalled,
"President Kimball asked the brethren if any of them desired to express
their feelings and views as to the matter in hand. We all did so, freely and
fluently and at considerable length, each person stating his views and
manifesting the feelings of his heart. There was a marvelous outpouring of
unity, oneness, and agreement in the council." (The Church in the
Twentieth Century, pp390-391)
Reading 4 - Elder McConkie described the prayer: "It
was during this prayer that the revelation came. The Spirit of the Lord rested
mightily upon us all; we felt something akin to what happened on the day of
Pentecost and at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. From the midst of eternity,
the voice of God, conveyed by the power of the Spirit, spoke to his prophet
.... And we all heard the same voice, received the same message, and became
personal witnesses that the word received was the mind and will and voice of
the Lord." (The Church in the Twentieth Century, p 391)
OFFICIAL DECLARATION—2
To Whom It May Concern:
On September 30, 1978, at the 148th Semiannual General
Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the following
was presented by President N. Eldon Tanner, First Counselor in the First
Presidency of the Church:
In early June of this year, the First Presidency announced
that a revelation had been received by President Spencer W. Kimball extending
priesthood and temple blessings to all worthy male members of the Church.
President Kimball has asked that I advise the conference that after he had
received this revelation, which came to him after extended meditation and
prayer in the sacred rooms of the holy temple, he presented it to his
counselors, who accepted it and approved it. It was then presented to the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who unanimously approved it, and was
subsequently presented to all other General Authorities, who likewise approved
it unanimously.
President Kimball has asked that I now read this letter:
June 8, 1978
To all general and local priesthood officers of The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the world:
Dear Brethren:
As we have witnessed the expansion of the work of the Lord
over the earth, we have been grateful that people of many nations have
responded to the message of the restored gospel, and have joined the Church in
ever-increasing numbers. This, in turn, has inspired us with a desire to extend
to every worthy member of the Church all of the privileges and blessings which
the gospel affords.
Aware of the promises made by the prophets and presidents of
the Church who have preceded us that at some time, in God’s eternal plan, all
of our brethren who are worthy may receive the priesthood, and witnessing the
faithfulness of those from whom the priesthood has been withheld, we have
pleaded long and earnestly in behalf of these, our faithful brethren, spending
many hours in the Upper Room of the Temple supplicating the Lord for divine
guidance.
He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed
that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the
Church may receive the holy priesthood, with power to exercise its divine
authority, and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that flows therefrom,
including the blessings of the temple. Accordingly, all worthy male members of
the Church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color.
Priesthood leaders are instructed to follow the policy of carefully
interviewing all candidates for ordination to either the Aaronic or the
Melchizedek Priesthood to insure that they meet the established standards for
worthiness.
We declare with soberness that the Lord has now made known
his will for the blessing of all his children throughout the earth who will
hearken to the voice of his authorized servants, and prepare themselves to
receive every blessing of the gospel.
Sincerely yours,
Spencer W. Kimball
N. Eldon Tanner
Marion G. Romney
The First Presidency
Recognizing Spencer W. Kimball as the prophet, seer, and
revelator, and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it
is proposed that we as a constituent assembly accept this revelation as the
word and will of the Lord. All in favor please signify by raising your right
hand. Any opposed by the same sign.
The vote to sustain the foregoing motion was unanimous in
the affirmative.
Salt Lake City, Utah, September 30, 1978."
Reading 5 – Elder McConkie said, "The voice of
God—speaking audibly after the manner of our language, and also speaking by the
power of the Spirit in the minds of men—has been heard over and over again in
our day.
Times without number faithful
members of the Lord’s church have labored and struggled with near unsolvable
problems, have reached what seemed to them to be proper solutions and have then
received a spiritual confirmation certifying to the truth and verity of their
decisions.
We cannot speak of revelation
without bearing testimony of the great and wondrous outpouring of divine
knowledge that came to President Spencer W. Kimball setting forth that the
priesthood and all of the blessings and obligations of the gospel should now be
offered to those of all nations, races, and colors.
Truly, the Holy Ghost is a
revelator. He speaks and his voice is the voice of the Lord. He is Christ’s
minister, his agent, his representative. He says what the Lord Jesus would say
if he were personally present. . . .
This is the promised day when “God
shall give unto” us “knowledge by his Holy Spirit,” when, “by the unspeakable
gift of the Holy Ghost,” we shall gain knowledge “that has not been revealed
since the world was until now” (D&C 121:26). . . .
To the prophets, seers, and
revelators he will manifest his mind and his will concerning the Church and the
world. To the presiding officers in the stakes and wards and quorums he will
reveal what should be for those organizations. To fathers and mothers and
children he will reveal “great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures”
(D&C 89:19) to guide them along the way to perfection." (Bruce R.
McConkie, “‘Thou Shalt Receive Revelation’,” Ensign, Nov 1978, 60)
Reading 6 – President Boyd K. Packer described the process
of creating the LDS Scriptures: "I
cannot possibly describe in detail or even list all that has been put in place
by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in recent years.
In them you will see continuing revelation, open to the Church and to each
individual member. I will describe a few of them.
More than
40 years ago, it was determined to make the doctrine quickly and easily
available to every member of the Church by preparing a Latter-day Saint edition
of the scriptures. We set out to cross-reference the King James Bible with the
Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. The
text of the King James Bible was left completely unaltered.
To cross-reference more than 70,000
verses of scripture and provide footnotes and helps was known to be enormously
difficult, perhaps even impossible. But it was begun. It took 12 years and the
help of over 600 people to complete. Some were experts in Greek, Latin, and
Hebrew or had a knowledge of ancient scriptures. But most were ordinary,
faithful members of the Church.
The spirit of inspiration brooded
over the work.
The project would have been
impossible without the computer.
A remarkable system was designed to
organize tens of thousands of footnotes to open the scriptures to every
ploughboy and every ploughgirl.
With a subject-matter index, a
member can, in just a few minutes, look up such words as atonement, repentance,
Holy Ghost and find revealing references from all four scriptures.
Several years into the project, we
asked how they were progressing with the tedious, laborious listing of topics
in alphabetical order. They wrote, “We have been through Heaven and Hell, past
Love and Lust, and now we’re working toward Repentance. . . .
Most notable in the Topical Guide
are the 18 pages, single-spaced, small print, under the heading “Jesus Christ,”
the most comprehensive compilation of scriptural information on the name Jesus
Christ that has ever been assembled in the history of the world. Follow these
references, and you will open the door to whose Church this is, what it teaches
and by what authority, all anchored to the sacred name of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, the Messiah, the Redeemer, our Lord.” (Boyd K. Packer, “On Zion’s
Hill,” Ensign, Nov 2005, 70)
Reading 7 – Ezekial 37:15-19
Reading 8 – Speaking of the LDS editions of the scriptures,
President Boyd K. Packer said: " The stick or record of Judah—the Old
Testament and the New Testament—and the stick or record of Ephraim—the Book of
Mormon, which is another testament of Jesus Christ—are now woven together in
such a way that as you pore over one you are drawn to the other; as you learn
from one you are enlightened by the other. They are indeed one in our hands.
Ezekiel’s prophecy now stands fulfilled.
With the passing of years, these
scriptures will produce successive generations of faithful Christians who know
the Lord Jesus Christ and are disposed to obey His will.
The older generation has been raised without them, but there
is another generation growing up. The revelations will be opened to them as to
no other in the history of the world. Into their hands now are placed the
sticks of Joseph and of Judah. They will develop a gospel scholarship beyond
that which their forebears could achieve. They will have the testimony that
Jesus is the Christ and be competent to proclaim Him and to defend Him."
(Boyd K. Packer, “Scriptures,” Ensign, Nov 1982, 51)
Reading 9 - In the April 1995 general conference, President
Gordon B. Hinckley made an observation that shows that Elder Packer’s words are
being fulfilled: “I look back to my own youth. Neither young men nor young women
were doing much scripture reading at that time. What a marvelous change has
been wrought. A new generation is arising who are familiar with the word of the
Lord” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1995, 117; or Ensign, May 1995, 87).
Doctrine and Covenants 107:25,34
President Kimball continued: "With this move, the three
governing quorums of the Church defined by the revelations—the First
Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the First Quorum of the
Seventy—have been set in their places as revealed by the Lord. This will make
it possible to handle efficiently the present heavy workload and to prepare for
the increasing expansion and acceleration of the work . . . ." (CR, Oct
1976)
When he created the Third, Fourth and Fifth Quorums of the
Seventy, President Hinckly said: President Hinckley said: “With these
respective quorums in place, we have established a pattern under which the
Church may grow to any size with an organization of Area Presidencies and Area
Authority Seventies, chosen and working across the world according to need.
Now, the Lord is watching over His kingdom. He is inspiring its leadership to
care for its ever growing membership” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1997, 5; or
Ensign, May 1997, 6).
Doctrine and Covenants 107:93-97
Reading 10 – Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote: Revelation is as
eternal as God himself; he is the Eternal Revelator. When he speaks, his words
are revelation; they set forth what is in his heart and mind, and he cannot
exist without speaking. Should revelation cease, God would cease to be God, the
purposes of creation would come to naught, and all things would vanish away-all
of which is beyond the realm of possibility...Revelations came in days past;
revelations come now; and revelations will continue as long as the earth shall
stand. Those saints whose souls are attuned to the Infinite believe all that
God has revealed; they need only be taught than any particular truth came by
revelation, and they automatically believe it ... those who are enlightened by
the power of the Spirit know by spiritual instinct, without argument, without
persuasion, without debate, that any authoritatively announced revelation came
from the Divine Source. (McConkie, Bruce R. A New Witness for the Articles of
Faith. Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 1985, pp. 475-77; 481.)
