The Incredible Story of a Race of Celestial Beings that once Came to the Earth...
by Clare Gregory
Chapter 10
Milk Before Meat
Paul taught to offer milk to the infant in Christ before meat. This is a
sound argument for those first investigating the LDS faith to stay away
from some of the more mysterious and deeper doctrines of Joseph Smith.
That is logical. But that is only valid if there is a path to take the
infant toward understanding the mysteries and deeper doctrine in full,
thus answering all major disputable questions that arise in the believer’s
mind.
Currently there is no path or teaching agenda in the LDS Church to answer
the controversial issues in Church history and explain meaty doctrine.
Therefore, the argument of milk before meat of the LDS Church is not valid
because there is no path to find “authorized answers” and positions, even
for the most experienced member. If the LDS Church’s position is that
“mysteries and meaty doctrine” are to be “kept under our hats”, and it’s
between the Lord and the individual, then I accept that logic. However,
that logic does not fit with the saving priesthood doctrines of what the
LDS Church teaches! The Church teaches that the Lord reveals his will and
teachings through living prophets. It teaches that following living
prophets will save the people. Therefore, LOGIC DICTATES a path should
and must be made by the living prophets to take the believer to the
spiritual meat and explain it to them. That is the essential paradigm of
Joseph Smith. He taught the meaty doctrine. It is the logic he used
frequently to build the LDS Church.
Has that changed? Why? Is God a changeable God?
You can not have it both ways. You can’t say and teach that following the
living “prophets and apostles” save a people and then turn around and say,
“Well, the meat is between the individual and the Lord.” If the Lord
saves us through prophets, then the meat must come THROUGH THE LIVING
PROPHETS and nobody else. Otherwise, the principle is meaningless and God
does not use His prophets to save us.
Where is the meat today in the LDS Church, I ask? Where is the path set
up by the prophets to feed the people the answers to the meaty
questions? If salvation truly comes through living prophets, where is
the beef?
Very important topics ought to be addressed with priesthood authority and
clearly understood such as the Adam-God theory, blood atonement, the
Danites, plural marriage, polyandry of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, the
council of fifty, the Book of Abraham controversies, changes in the Book
of Mormon and D&C, the early Church teaching that men lived on the moon
and the sun, the second anointings, the unpublished prophesies and
revelations of Lorenzo Snow, Wilford Woodruff, and John Taylor regarding
plural marriage, succession of priesthood authority from Joseph Smith, and
on and on.
The LDS Keys of Priesthood Revelation
If this Church holds the priesthood keys to Heaven, then there ought to be
clear answers from the Lord Jesus Christ regarding these very important
topics. But the Church does not provide the answers, does it? The
brethren are silent, pretending to love the apostate. Don’t they care
about all people? If they really loved the apostate and had revelatory
keys, then they would get the answer of truth from God, and explain it
clearly to apostates that none could err. Only God knows the truth. He
can answer the questions like no on else, right? But rather than having
clear answers, the sincere person who desires to simply understand the
truth is left with endless questions and contradictions in the LDS Church
that frequently changes the “meaty doctrine” and “historical documents”.
The controversies are deep, numerous, and glaring. Their existence can
not be disputed or denied by an honest person.
Again, I could quote many, many issues to point out altering revelations,
changing church history, and unresolved meaty doctrine. But that is not
the purpose of this book. Any reader can study the facts and see the
indisputable discrepancies. My purpose is to ask the LDS people why they
so afraid to study and investigate another point of view with an open
mind? I encourage the modern prophets to go to the Lord and receive
direct revelation for those sincere apostates who only desire to know the
truth and honestly confront the controversies with truthful answers. If
Joseph Smith actually taught that men lived on the moon, then a clear
statement from the First Presidency should clear up the controversy.
Do we exclude the civil war and slavery from American History because
teaching that truth would not be faith promoting to our county? Do we
argue: “It would be just horrifying to imagine that the United States ever
really believed in slavery. Oh, quick! Let’s change the history books
and just omit that ugly part of the past. Soon the people will forget,
and the whole world won’t even know about the slavery problems of the
past. We don’t believe in slavery today. It will disappear from
history.”
Imagine if this actually were true. Imagine the government suppressing
factual truth about slavery and someone discovering the truth years
later. The person publishes the truth, and then well-intentioned
politicians revoke his citizenship and privileges in the United States
because he spoke the truth against the political agenda of the leaders.
The person is dragged into court, his social security number and
citizenship is stripped from him, and he’s asked to leave the United
States. Or he’s put in jail.
This is exactly the logic of LDS Church, which excommunicates a person for
sharing negative facts about the church or its history. It presumes that
such information destroys the “positive image” that is trying to be
promoted by the Church. Unfortunately, since the LDS Church is
one-sided, it is also very closed-minded. Members who desire to be
open-minded to the truth and facts can be excommunicated for their
open-mindedness and frankness.
That is utterly illogical. It is based on an emotional feeling that the
presentation of facts destroys the faith of members and that those who are
“weak” can’t handle the facts, and therefore, it is harmful to the
Church. The Church has an “image” it is trying to present, and the book
contradicts that image. What will be the long-term impact on the Church
for excommunicating the honest and open-minded? I have a very interesting
hypothesis. The weak, dependent, and close-minded will survive in the
Church; but the strong, open-minded, and independent thinkers will leave
or be excommunicated for being honest. The end result? The LDS church
will become weaker and weaker. Eventually it will crack. It has to. The
weaker the base of believers and the more closed-minded to the facts, the
greater the shock when the false foundation of Mormonism is exposed!
Eventually, the existing facts and the ability of the people to accept and
handle the facts will be so far apart, the LDS Church will one day snap
like a stretched rubber band.
It’s an eternal law. It’s a matter of time. If people hide from the truth
and run away, time eventually brings it right in your face. God will
expose all falsehoods and lies, and the truth in the end will stand
independently over all error. If a person can stand and face the truth,
whatever it is—which means listening to apostates’ point of view with
empathy and understanding—then that person will become a strong person,
grounded in true principles. But if a person is shaken by the “lies” of
another person or can not accept and at least “understand” another
viewpoint, then that person is not standing on the rock of truth, but is
standing on the sand of false assumptions.
Anyone who believes that the truth should be purposely manipulated or
hidden to protect another human being is assuming that being one-sided is
God’s approach to teaching. The one-sided argument of Elder Packer is
flaky sand, my friend! It is not the truth. It is not supported in the
scriptures. Yes, people need to be taught in gradual steps. But the
argument of milk before meat is bogus because there is no explanation of
the meat anywhere in the LDS Church pathway to eternal life! Joseph
Smith had the meaty doctrine and no one else since him really understands
nor has seen the doctrine the same way since. Therefore, the meat remains
mysterious to all members. If I’m not telling the truth, ask yourself how
long you have been in the Church. 2 Years? 10 years? 40 years? Now,
tell me the path laid by the prophets that leads you to the meat of the
gospel? Joseph taught a man can not be saved in ignorance. We are saved
by our knowledge. If this is true, where is that path to understand all
the juicy doctrines of Joseph Smith? This is very critical. If a member
of the LDS Church has limited spiritual knowledge in this life, it will
affect his speed of progression in the next life! Are we progressing in
light and truth fast enough? Chances are most members haven’t even read
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith and are not even aware of what he
taught!
But of course the teachings of Joseph Smith are not important because we
have a “living prophet today”, right? President Hinkley is all we need,
and Joseph Smith is a dead prophet! Wake up! What kind of reasoning is
this? Look at the facts! What has the LDS philosophy of “living
prophets” done? It has moved all the people away from meat and into only
milk! The living prophets steer the Church away from any controversy, and
I’ll prove it. President Hinkley was asked by the television program,
Sixty Minutes, if the LDS Church believed God was once a man. He
answered, “Well, I’m not sure we know anything about that!”
What kind of answer is that? It’s clear what Joseph Smith taught, and
President Hinkley didn’t even have the guts to stand up and defend the
Prophet Joseph Smith’s clear teachings! Attention all Mormons! Look what
I’m writing. Think! Can you not see the politics being played? Can you
not see the thinking behind the prophet’s reasoning that he can’t say the
“meat” in front of the world? So he lies?
And if he is not lying, then he doesn’t believe in Joseph Smith anymore.
If that is true, then he is an honest man, and I’m OK with that. Amen to
President Hinkley for telling the truth! Except, if he doesn’t understand
the doctrine of Joseph Smith nor believe it, what the heck is he doing
being the Prophet of the LDS Church? He doesn’t believe in Joseph Smith’s
plain teachings in the King Follet discourse? Everyone who has done any
research into the teachings of Joseph Smith knows that he taught God was
once a man on an earth like ours!
Now, I don’t blame President Hinkley for his statement. This whole book
exposes the false angels and imitation “white light” that was burned into
Joseph Smith’s spirit. I can appreciate President Hinkley’s answer. But,
personally, I can’t live with myself knowing Joseph taught such terribly
wrong doctrine and still be a faithful member of the LDS faith. I can’t
accept President Hinkley’s answer as valid, if He truly is a prophet of
God. I can’t just say like President Hinkley, “Well, we don’t know about
those things,” shut my eyes and then add, “The Church is still true
anyway!” I just can not do that! My integrity and honesty required me to
look more deeply behind the whole LDS religion. And I discovered the
false foundation, so I had to wave goodbye!
Look for yourself what the “living prophet” teaches! There is no more
meat doctrine about God once being a man! And if the prophet speaks this
way, it can be guaranteed the LDS Church will only get more “milk”. It
will likely change to “skim milk” over time. The prophets are so far
removed from the members and meaty doctrine themselves; the people will
not be taught how to resolve these issues! And don’t give me “FARMS” or
Hugh Nibley as a source for resolving the controversies. These “scholars”
don’t hold the keys of the “priesthood of God”. They don’t have any LDS
authority to save anyone! According to LDS theology, the light and truth
of Hugh Nibley has no “binding power” on the people! Only the First
Presidency and the Twelve hold the “priesthood keys”! And now, where are
the LDS prophets and apostles teaching the difficult-to-answer doctrines
from Jesus Christ? Where is the priesthood path to the meat?
No where!
The LDS priesthood keys govern the truth, right? That’s what is taught
and believed. Since there obviously is no priesthood path to the meat,
what does this line of reasoning and logic tell an average person with
half a brain?
1) The modern prophets have sinned and do not believe in Jesus to get the
answers that sincere apostates desperately need, even though they hold the
priesthood keys.
2) The people have willfully sinned, and God is withholding the truth
deliberately, leading us based on our own faithfulness.
3) The LDS priesthood keys are bogus. The LDS Church is half-true. False
angels deceived Joseph Smith.
Of the three, the third explanation is the most rational explanation for
having no priesthood path to the meat, and it is the premise of this
book. Why? Because Elder Packer and others avoid issues to “save time”
and “control” the truth. Many feel the Brethren will waste time trying to
deal with lost apostate souls, and time would be better spent encouraging
those who already believe to find more converts who will be interested.
But this teaching is not from Christ, but from the business world. Jesus
taught that we should leave the 99 and go and search for the one lost
lamb. These lambs are the honest in heart that can not live in a Church
that refuses to confess its errors of the past or explain why they were
errors, and establish the truth clearly. Jesus loves the apostate strays,
right? But the members are not going to be successful bringing them back
to Church with baked bread and temporal love. These unique individuals
have joined the Church, studied the doctrine, and have served with all
their hearts, but are not given to understand the meat! They need
theological answers! They are not unfaithful liars or hypocrites. The
Church members did not hurt their feelings.
Mormonism claims to be the Kingdom of God, not a country club. As such,
with the revelatory priesthood keys, it promises answers to theological
questions. It offers to bring us to God. And the official priesthood
answers given by God is that these controversies are “skeletons in the
closet” and are best left in the closet? We can always find mud if we
look for it? Does that direction mean the past prophets were not telling
the truth, or were they? Joseph Smith received an answer for
everything! With Mormonism we can’t just let an issue such as polygamy or
the origin of the temple ordinances just be brushed aside. The founder,
Joseph Smith, made certain claims about the LDS religion. All other
religions are clearly wrong, he taught. If he’s right, then that specific
concept needs to be defended as the truth, and only the truth, and the
meaty LDS theology must be taught and defended. If he’s wrong, then the
whole Church 170 years later becomes highly suspect. Skirting the deep
issues by insisting we merely gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon
through prayer, is not only sign seeking and built on doubt, but it never
addresses the original questions asked in the first place. So again, where
is the first person revelations from Jesus Christ saying, “Thus saith the
Lord”, to clear all matters of controversy once and for all?
We can’t blame the lack of revelation on the members. Mormons are some of
the most obedient and faithful people on earth. They diligently implement
the Church programs outlined in Salt Lake City. President Hinkley
constantly praises the people for their prayers, faith, and hard work. Is
he lying? If he’s telling the truth, then the people are NOT the problem
of having no path to the meat.
On the other hand, if the problem is that the LDS prophets do not have the
required faith to received first person revelations from the Lord to meet
the current, desperate need for theological answers, then why are they
claiming to be prophets? Why lie? Why pretend to speak with the Lord
Jesus face-to-face if you can’t assist the honest lambs who are leaving
the flock because clear revelatory answers are lacking? That was not
Joseph Smith’s way. Joseph had an answer for everything! He even
explained where God came from, the name of the planet He lives on, Kolob.
He explained that God was once a man. But president Hinkley tells Sixty
Minutes that we don’t know about such things?
A Half-True Religion
Although the LDS Church has many pillars of truth such as strong family
values, doing good to our neighbor, having faith in God, and serving
others, etc., these true principles are not the principles that founded
the LDS religion. A believer must look to Joseph Smith and examine the
foundational theology and priesthood structure that was put in place. If
that foundation is merely sand and is exposed as a lie from false angels,
then a member ought to understand what he belongs to—a half-true, mixed-up
religion.
A testimony of the priesthood is based on an emotional response to the
Book of Mormon and prayer, in which the believer trusts in his or her
feelings, even if good sense and logic dictate otherwise. Anyone caught
in a emotional belief system such as this can not see that they are
trapped, for the mind is disconnected from logic and reason, being
strapped to one’s own emotions. A person can not see clearly with the
mind. He sees things first “with the heart.” When that emotional
response is linked to God, those feelings become invincible and
irrefutable. A spiritual experience is used as “evidence and proof” that
Mormonism is true, much the same way a miraculous healing performed by
Jesus led to belief. However, believing in our good feelings through
prayer, goes a step beyond belief . The mind is imbued with an idea and
feeling together, which is believed to be the truth because of the
evidence, not the idea itself. God doesn’t lie, and therefore, the mind
reasons the witness and interpretation of the experience creates a false
“knowledge” that the Church is true. And once the mind is trained to
think in this manner, it is exceedingly difficult to ever go back to
simple belief as a foundation of our religious faith. We believe that “we
know” something is true. And we like that secure feeling. We don’t want
to give up that security. We finally know.
Fortunately, God has given reason, logic, and facts to melt down our
loyal feelings to Mormonism, until finally, a person can withdraw from the
false beliefs system and return to the truth. Facts, precious and honest
facts, can break through any falsehood and bring one into the truth. But
I do admit, in a world of controlled information, true and reliable facts
are sometimes very difficult to come by. Who has touched this fact or that
fact? Is it pure? Who do we trust?
The leaders of this country were wise enough to see the damage of
“information manipulation” in the hands of a few leaders. The freedom and
right to speak our mind which is guaranteed in the United States was
established to prevent a few powerful leaders from controlling
information. One must realize that the background for this safeguard
came from the roots of manipulation and persecution imposed on early
settlers of America. The European powers “controlled information”.
Those in authority decided what was most important and promoted a
one-sided view of the truth. The logic used by Elder Packer is no
different than the Church of England’s view that it had the right to
control and manipulate information for the good of the people. It too was
one-sided.
The principle is unholy and comes from the mind of Satan.
The average Latter-day Saint just does not understand nor comprehend the
magnitude of “controlled thinking” that permeated Joseph Smith and the
foundation of the LDS church. For example, most members do not understand
that Oliver Cowdrey was excommunicated, not because of sin, but because he
disagreed with the viewpoints of Joseph Smith. Oliver wanted to practice
law, and Joseph wanted him to do something else. So he was “fired” from
the Church. Any reasonable member of the Church today would conclude that
God does not force one into a church assignment at the threat of loosing
his Church membership. But 160 years ago, “obey the priesthood or lose
your soul,” was the accepted spirit of the priesthood. Temple covenants
were made under the penalty of death for breaking priesthood covenants.
It was the way Joseph operated. And he learned this principle directly
from “false light”. A powerful angel with a sword threatened to destroy
him if he did not implement the practice of plural marriage in the
church! Logic will immediately dictate to any reasonable person that
such an angel would not be from God, but from a different master! But not
Joseph Smith. The foundation of Mormonism is not one of logic or truth
but is based on feelings. Joseph loved the “white light” and the power
and the intelligence that flowed into his spirit. He worshipped the
knowledge it fed to him. His life was wholeheartedly committed to it. So
what happened with polygamy? Joseph Smith scrapped logic and common
sense, assuming God really can force people to do His will if He wants to,
for the good of His Kingdom! God can do whatever He wants to. By believing
this false angel Joseph automatically justified himself in having marital
relationships with as many women as he desired. What carnal man wouldn’t
want to believe in his heart such an angel was from God? It sounds like
an exciting principle! Next he’s listening to his “feelings” and “false
impressions” with every pretty face and fanny that walks by, inspiring his
mind to marry this or that woman, and he assumed the impressions were from
God! Like us all, he probably realized his mistake here and there, and
tried to keep sorting through the questions: “What’s from God; what’s from
Satan; and what’s from me?” Just like all believers do.
At Kirtland, Ohio, Joseph Smith sadly observed Oliver Cowdrey and other
high leaders turn away from his priesthood authority, dragging a stream of
followers away. Joseph claimed all apostates were liars and evil, inspired
by the devil, ranting and railing accusations contrary to the instruction
of Jesus, who taught we should agree quickly with our adversaries. Jesus
taught us to prayer for our enemies not to curse them. Joseph did not
follow this counsel very often.
Those who saw changing revelation, bizarre behavior, and inconsistent
doctrines coming from the lips of Joseph Smith were forced to reconcile
the illogical contradictions, or leave the Church. If God reveals truth,
even if it is meaty, then that official church doctrine and position
should stand clear to all and not change, right? Only those who ignored
the obvious facts and instead trusted in “their own feelings” were able to
stay with Joseph no matter what he said and no matter what happened.
Their minds believed in a spiritual experience, converting that mere
belief to knowledge and fact. After that, absolutely nothing could
change their minds.
Mental Gymnastics
Since the mind desires to believe logical thoughts, it is interesting to
observe what people will do to avoid thinking about the obvious false
prophesies and contradictions of Joseph Smith. As quoted earlier, Joseph
Smith received a revelation about building the city of the New Jerusalem
in Joseph Smith’s generation. 166 years later, it still is hasn’t even
started to be built! Obviously, the LDS viewpoint will clearly differ
from my conclusion. It is believed that Joseph Smith was the Lord’s
prophet, and therefore, it is assumed that the words from Joseph Smith
must be true. The revelation about New Jerusalem could NOT be wrong, for
every faithful member “knows the church is true”. The D&C must be 100%
true. There is no room for human error or deception. With this logic
imbedded in the believer’s heart, the mind will automatically force-fit
the revelation to fit the facts. For example, the LDS mind may reason
something like the following:
1) I have my doubts about this revelation on the Temple being built in
this generation, but I don’t know all the answers. It appears that this
revelation isn’t true, but I’m not a prophet, and there is probably
something I haven’t understood yet. If I give it time, the pieces will
all come together, and then we will really see what the Lord meant.
2) This is a question I will have to put on the back burner. One that
I’ll have to ask the Lord when I meet him after death. I’ll accept it on
faith.
3) The word “generation” must be longer than the traditional 70 year span
of
These three assumptions can keep a member happy and content in their
belief, even if Jackson County is never built. Two hundred years from
now, the faithful Latter-day Saint will still be waiting on God’s promises
to be fulfilled. A believer with a “feeling testimony” can easily bypass
the fact that the temple and city of New Jerusalem was not established as
prophesied in the D&C. A member can also quickly dismiss the fact that
Zion’s camp, which was supposed to squelch the enemies in Jackson County
and redeem the church to its rightful properties, also failed! Zion was
not redeemed!
For a non-Mormon observing this revelation outside the Mormon belief
system, the answer to this question is crystal clear: Joseph Smith was
wrong. He was deceived. He was a false prophet. To a faithful
Latter-day Saint, however, it is plausible and reasonable that God is
waiting patiently for His people and circumstances to fulfill his
promises. He doesn’t lie. Both viewpoints are in conflict, while both
appear to be logical to those who are trained to think a certain way. Who
is right? This book bridges the gap between the two perspectives, thus
clearing the way for less miscommunication and more understanding between
Mormons and Christians.
This page was first created on 23 January 1999 Last Updated on 16 April 1999
Created and Maintained by The New Covenant Assemblies of Yahweh
Not all the views expressed in this book are necessarily those of NCAY