In the book ‘Under the banner of Heaven’ it was pointed out that Joseph Smith opened a can of worms when he taught that each of us can receive revelation. Since that time there have been many who claim to have been in touch with God. ( I sometimes feel unfortunate to be in that group.) This doctrine has sometimes led to tragic results; Like Warren Jessop sexual and financial abuse or the case of Ron and Dan Lafferty murder of Brenda. Before that the LDS doctrine of blood atonement doctrine may have contributed to the Mountain Meadows Massacre. But some individuals who claimed to have received revelation; Anna Lee Skarin (Ye are Gods) seemed to me to be really close to God. Like prophets of old , she really antagonized some LDS leaders till they excommunicated her. Biblically this has always been a sure sign that one is speaking for God. (Think of Jesus.) One of the most prominent today (Excommunicated in 2013) is Denver Snuffer. I enjoy his ‘revelations’.
But the response of most to the confusion caused by various individuals claiming to be in touch with God is to dismiss anyone who makes that claim. Most of those who have left the LDS faith; include the LDS leaders; the ‘Prophet, Seers, and Revelators’ in the group of falsely claiming to talk with God. I don’t want to toss out everyone who makes that claim. How can we distinguish between those who talk to God and those who don’t? I don’t buy the claims to that position by the leaders of religions including the LDS. How can the LDS declare that Joseph Smith talked to God, but that Anna, Denver or Lafferty did not? Answering this question became very important to me because there was a time in my 20s when I was having conversations with an unseen guiding friend, and later had encounters with the Holy Spirit. The question changed to include me personally. A review of some instructions on that subject will help.
At one point to the new convert Edward Partridge In D & C 36, 2. “…you shall receive my Spirit, the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which shall teach you the peaceable things of the kingdom.”
Joseph Smith taught: “They can tell the Spirit of the Lord from all other spirits. It will whisper peace and joy to their souls, and it will take malice, hatred, envying, strife, and all evil from their hearts; and their whole desire will be to do good, bring forth righteousness, and build up the kingdom of God. Tell the brethren if they will follow the Spirit of the Lord they will go right” (Teachings: Joseph Smith, 98).
Later in a vision/dream to Brigham, “Tell the people to be humble and faithful, and be sure to keep the spirit of the Lord and it will lead them right. Be careful and not turn away the small still voice; it will teach them what to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the kingdom” (see Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young)
I know for myself that this is true. I would go even further than this. There have been a couple of occasions when I have followed the clear promptings of the Spirit and found myself surrounded with friends and family nearly all of whom were angry with me. Yet in the midst of all the criticism and accusations, I experienced absolute peace. I only felt great love and patience in response to the turmoil they were in. When one is led by the Holy Spirit; all doubts fade away, all selfish desires and physical passions are banished. A great feeling of hope for blessings and salvation for others imbues all one says and does. A strange new desire to bring about the will of God in every thing will guide one’s actions and decisions. Honestly it can be a wonderful and terrible experience at the same time. Wonderful for the love and peace that fills your heart, Terrible for how anxious one becomes to share it and help others experience it. To be ignored or refused is so painful.
Let’s examine some cases where things went wrong and contrast it with the above teachings. I know one who was divorced and missed the physical side of marriage. She prayed about it and was told it was okay to take sexual partners. But that led to a very poor situation which caused her pain. Another example: Ron Lafferty oppressed his wife till with the help of a sister-in-law Brenda, she left him. He then prayed and received a ‘revelation’ that he should remove (murder)
her and her baby from this life. Warren Jessop had ‘revelations’ which instructed followers to sacrifice and give him money and young girls to marry. In all of these examples the revelations are catering to the egos and physical passions of the one praying. These men did not receive anything that brought peace and joy. There was no enlightenment from the Holy Spirit. There was permission for revenge, control, and to indulge sexual desires. These are clearly not the peaceable things of the Kingdom of God.
I don’t know all there is about the other side of the veil. But evidence is that the desires of your own heart determine who will answer you. There are angels, demons and it seems, many not-so-great spirits. Perhaps it is best to consider the other side of the veil as being populated with individuals just like here on earth: A spectrom of spirits from divine to evil. Any request that comes from the ego or physical desire will invite answers from similarly inclined spirits.
There are unfortunately some examples of where Joseph Smith himself fell to the ego answers. When he wanted to publish the Book of Mormon, he had a revelation that two men should go to Canada and there they would find a wealthy man who would help publish the book. But no one was found and the men came back empty handed. David Whitmer then wrote: “Well, we were all in great trouble; and we asked Joseph how it was that he had received a revelation from the Lord for some brethren to go to Toronto and sell the copyright, and the brethren had utterly failed in their undertaking. Joseph did not know how it was, so he enquired of the Lord about it, and behold the following revelation came through the stone: “Some revelations are of God: some revelations are of men: and some revelations are of the devil.” So we see that the revelation to go to Toronto and sell the copyright was not of God, but was of the devil or of the heart of man.”
Later on in Nauvoo, Joseph became a very powerful man. He not only was considered a prophet but was also Mayor and head of his own militia. In 1843 he was at the greatest height of power. Then he receives D & C 132 ; the revelation on polygamy. A careful reading makes it clear that women (especially Emma) are far more liable to fall under condemnation and God’s wrath than men. There are several threats of destruction mentioned. But D & C 121 talks about the way of God or Priesthood is through persuasion and long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness and love unfeigned. The list goes on. The Spirit that inspired Joseph while he was suffering imprisonment at Liberty, Missouri in 1839 is not the same as the one who spoke to him at Nauvoo when he was top of the world in 1843. Something changed and not for the better. The first spirit came in response to a selfless prayer for the Lord to bless and save the Saints. The second spirit came from wanting to assuage his ego and physical passion.
The original Temple ceremony may also have been a response to the events in Joseph’s life. He had had many members turn against him and even some try to harm him. I see the ceremony, the endowment inside the temple as a response to so much disloyalty among the early saints. There’s a lot of swearing oaths of loyalty and promises to kill oneself rather than ever turn against the church leaders (especially Joseph himself. Originally there were oaths taken to seek revenge against anyone who turned against the Church or took the life of Joseph.
Again, these things are not in accordance with the description of how one serving God should be. All these things, these oaths, covenants, ordinances and temple ceremonies need to be allowed to pass away. The dead can rely on the grace of God. The living should learn to do the same. Let the LDS Temples begin to serve the same purpose as Hindu temples. Let them truly become houses of prayer. (I was once kicked out of a temple for praying too long.). Wouldn’t it be sweet if any troubled soul could go to a temple to spend time fasting and praying. Like the mother of Samuel did long ago. May the House of the Lord be a place where all are welcome. Marriage in the temple should never divide families. Everyone is always welcome to come to the temple, just as everyone is always welcome to come to Christ.