How God Talks to Mormons

Suppose we want to start a church. Besides deciding weighty matters like the nature of deity and funding, we will eventually have to grapple with what to do with prophecy and revelation.

The cleanest way would be to allow one person to be God’s mouthpiece. This has several advantages in that there is little confusion, and alternate voices are easily and quickly squelched. Most of the world that knows a little about Mormons (and many Mormons themselves) falsely believe that this is the way The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day was founded or runs today.

There are some clear disadvantages to this choice as we would be setting ourselves up for a Jim Jones scenario.

Another alternative would be to do away with all revelation. Most creedal Christian churches have done this. It is clean and convenient as reported by Fred Zaspel’s Bible Studies, on biblestudies.com.

“Prophecy was an important gift to the early Christian church and met a unique need in the early church, but according to modern Christianity it is no longer needed or given. Its “partial” messages (I Corinthians 13:9) have been replaced by the complete Revelation. The church today stands, then, at a great advantage without it.”

Zaspel’s is certainly not the first to say as much. Cessationism was discussed very early as evidenced by this from Saint Augustine,

“For those that are baptized do not now receive the Spirit on the imposition of hands, so as to speak in the tongues of all the peoples; neither are the sick healed by the shadow of the preachers of Christ falling on them as they pass; and other such things as were then done, are now manifestly ceased. (City of God chap. 22).”

One of the complications with this choice is that it locates church doctrine and direction in the academy which will have a tendency to fudge the word in order to make it square with the latest popular proof or political position. This thinking is at least partially responsible for the rise of Wycliff and Tyndale. [pull_quote_right]A third, and surely, a most chaotic choice would be to allow all people equal access to the spirit of prophecy, but why would we do that to ourselves?[/pull_quote_right]

A third, and surely, a most chaotic choice would be to allow all people equal access to the spirit of prophecy, but why would we do that to ourselves? We would lose control of both doctrine and direction.

Yet that is how Joseph Smith set it up for The Church of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are controls built in that make a distinction between two types of revelation: revelation intended for personal or family information and direction, and revelation for general church direction. However there is no revelation received by the prophet or an apostle that cannot be received by any member of the Church who wants it. Joseph Smith said,

“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” (Smith, Teachings, 149).

In fact, church members are encouraged to seek revelation and be guided by it continuously.

Early, modern apostle Parley P Pratt wrote a tract called, “Joseph Smith and the Devil.”   In it, the devil and Joseph enter into a conversation, and after an exchange of pleasantries and introductions, Joseph tells the devil that he is dismayed that the devil would tolerate and even celebrate some religious practice, as he believed that the devil was opposed to all such. The devil responds,

“It is false; there is not a more religious and pious being in the world than myself, nor a being more liberal minded. I am decidedly in favor of all creeds, systems and forms of Christianity, of whatever name and nature; so long as they leave out that abominable doctrine which caused me so much trouble in former times, and which, after slumbering for ages, you have again revived; I mean the doctrine of direct communication with God, by new revelation. This is hateful, it is impious, it is directly opposed to all the divisions and branches of the Christian church; I never could bear it. And for this very cause, I helped to bring to condign punishment all the prophets and apostles of old, for while they were suffered to live with this gift of revelation, they were always exposing and slandering me, and all other good pious men in exposing our deeds and purposes, which they called wicked, but we considered as the height of zeal and piety; and when we killed them for these crimes of dreaming, prophesying, and vision-seeing they raised the cry of persecution, and so with you miserable, deluded Mormons.”

For Mormons, two doctrinal pillars stand out as emphatically declaring the existence and efficacy of revelation, one is the interpretation of “This rock” as found in Matthew 16:18  (See Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1938, p. 274.) the other is the importance placed on the Gift of the Holy Ghost as the vehicle for revelation. In a visit with Martin Van Buren, President of the United States, Van Buren asked how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was different from other churches. Joseph Smith stated, as reported by Elias Higbee, “we differed in mode of baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. We considered that all other considerations were contained in the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Frequent Dysfunctional Results

For several reasons, and as would be expected, there is often dysfunction in the revelatory process. There are those that claim revelatory authority when none was given. Specific results range from sadly funny to horribly exploitative. Sometimes people confuse emotion with revelation. Sometimes people conclude things that are demonstrably false. Others, out of overwhelming personal desire for some outcome, will self-generate some experience and move forward in the direction they self-fabricated. Some mistakenly associate priesthood with revelation. Revelation is not the purview of priesthood. It is the domain of all of God’s children who properly seek it.

From time to time, there will be evil, delusional people who will use supposed revelatory authority to commit heinous acts. These include oppression, abuse, force, harassment and manipulation. Every instance receives the harshest condemnation from scripture and from modern church general leadership, yet problems persist.

All that said, dysfunctional experiences are a small minority of all revelatory experiences and roughly correlate with dysfunction in scientific empiricism.

Revelation and the Book of Mormon

The predominant theme of the first Book of the Book of Mormon is the process of revelation. In it the questions of how to receive it, who gets to receive it, what it will contain and why it is needed are definitively answered.

Terrell Givens points out that, “In the first 50 pages [of the Book of Mormon] alone, we read of eight visions, various angelic visitations, several occasions on which Nephi is “visited” by the Lord, “constrained by the Spirit,” “led by the Spirit,” “commanded” by the Lord, and so forth.” (Journal of Book of Mormon Studies:Volume – 10,Issue – 2, Pages: 16-27 Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, 2001)

There are several conclusions that can be draw from the what, how, why and who of revelation contained in First Nephi,

• There is positive correlation between righteousness and revelation
• The average member can receive as many or more revelations as the prophet
• Revelations can come as teaching, warnings, mandates, rebukes, comfort, visions of the future,    visions of concurrent world events, direction and instruction on technical matters
• Delivery and receipt are always sanctioned and facilitated by the Holy Spirit
• Angels may be involved
• Mechanical devices may be used
• Revelations may range from instruction on where to find food to how to build a boat to what will happen in 600 and 2400 years.

Old Testament Revelation

For those familiar with the Old Testament, none of this is particularly new. Samuel was called by an audible voice that told him he would be a prophet. Nathan knew of God’s displeasure with David’s treachery, Isaiah saw in vision the ministry of Jesus,…

How God Speaks to Mormons (and anyone else who wants to hear)

I am reluctant to make the following list public due to the sacred nature of the events as they occurred, but I thought it important to include several modern instances of the way revelation works for some Mormons. The great advantage to allowing and encouraging revelation among all members of the faith is that once God speaks to them, their conviction level takes a quantum leap upward.

Kimberly

Kimberly was a missionary in Russia and had been reading her patriarchal blessing when one line in the blessing stood out to her. She thought nothing of it in the moment other than to take note that the line seemed important. A week later it seemed that everything in her life was falling apart. One way Mormons seek comfort and direction is to ask for a priesthood blessing. Kimberly asked for one from a 19-year-old boy who was also serving a mission. There was nothing particularly special about the boy. His only relevant attributes were that he was authorized to give a blessing by virtue of his priesthood, and he was worthy to speak the words that God gave him. He placed his hands upon her head and in less than sophisticated language, he invoked the Holy Spirit and pronounced a blessing that included the exact line that had stood out to Kimberly as she was reading her Patriarchal Blessing the previous week. The boy knew nothing of the contents of the blessing or the line that had stood out to Kimberly. The line in the blessing was not common phraseology. The spoken line gave Kimberly clear direction on what she needed to do going forward.

Kimberly may experience future faith struggles, but her experience with the blessing is and will be an anchor to her faith God, blessings and priesthood.

Anna

After family scripture study one morning, Dan Johnson was surprised to hear his wife announce to his sons that neither he nor she would be at home when the boys got returned from school. One of the boys asked where they would be. Dan wanted to know the answer to that question as much as his son. “I am taking your father to the hospital, and we may be there for a while,” she announced. “And why would you be taking me to the hospital,” Dan asked. She responded that he was not doing well and needed medical attention. “I feel fine. There is nothing wrong with me,” he insisted. Anna took Dan to the emergency room and demanded several medical tests. The result of each test was normal which left Dan frustrated, the ER staff annoyed and Anna arguing argumentative. While Anna was arguing with several members of the staff in the hallway outside of Dan’s room, Dan had a massive heart attack. The doctors rushed in, revived Dan and told him that had he not been in the hospital he would have died.

Dan’s youngest son is a good friend. That day he was taught that there was a God who loved him, his father and his mother and that his mother had prophetic capability.

Antonio

I met Antonio while I was working in Costa Rica in construction. He was serving as a Mormon Bishop at the time and had been a member of the Church for four years. We met on a youth activity and became fast friends. I asked him what had inspired him to join the Church. This is his story.

“Just over four years ago, my family was falling apart. I did not have a good relationship with my wife, I was unkind to my children and I spent a lot of time in local bars after work, One day as I sat at a small table in a local tavern, I distinctly heard a voice that told me I needed to leave immediately. I looked around to see who had said it, and seeing no one, I turned back to my drink. I had not had much to drink and thought it odd that I would be hearing voices. About a minute later, I heard the same voice again, but more forcefully. I looked around and saw no one. I decided to go home and go to bed.

That night I had a dream that two young men in suits came to my door. They were both obviously north american and wore name tags. I read their name tags as Richardson and McCummins. I had never heard those names before and did not know even how to pronounce them. They told me that they had a message for me and my family. The dream ended and as with most dreams, I began to forget the particulars. It was Sunday and as I was preparing to go to the park with my family, we met at the door my two north americans in suits with name tags. I still did not think much of it. They said that they would like to talk to us, and I told them to come back at four o’clock. They came back at four, sat down, and began to teach up about Jesus. It was then that I looked at their name tags and my dream come back to me in detail. One’s name tag said Richardson and the other McCummins. I was astounded. I asked them who had sent them and they said that I already knew. I was taught the rest of the lessons in about a week, went to church twice and was baptized within three weeks of having met them.”

Revelation on Truth Claims

Revelation on matters of propositional truth claims, like, The Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son, Joseph Smith was a prophet, Jesus died for my sins and lives today, there is a God who is our father and loves us, can come in various ways. The difficulties of discussing the particulars of how this works is that it has only marginal correspondence to occurrences in the secular world, and it seems to occur differently for each person although with significant overlap. The following descriptions, no matter how exhaustive, will not adequately convey the meaning of the occurrence.

Those who have experienced it describe the occurrence as personal, emotionally and intellectually intense. Feelings of peace, clarity, love and conviction are usually present. Many have described the experience as pure intelligence flowing through their mind and body and mental enlightenment. Many describe profound feelings of warmth and comfort.

[pull_quote_right]Many have described the experience as pure intelligence flowing through their mind and body[/pull_quote_right]

Of course any one of these experiences as described can be directionally emulated in other ways. I once had a drug addicted friend tell me that he had been able to replicate some of the experience with cocain. From my own experience, the buzz I get from a ten-mile run due to endorphin and high serotonin levels has some similarity to parts of the revelatory experience.

Because there is similarity to occurrences in common experience, mistakes are made, and messages are misread. Mormons often confuse the experience then teach the confused idea. Some gospel teachers have tried to summon spiritual experiences through the use of purely emotional content  as a sort of shortcut. Some have received spirit-like feelings for propositions that are false.

Friends have occasionally approached me with descriptions of experiences that usually end with something like, “so why, if revelation is reliable, did this or that not come true like I was told it would?” I can never answer these questions adequately partly because I was not there when it happened, did not experience how it happened, and do not know the moral condition of my friend at the time of the event.

In the same way that it is a foolish mistake to discard scientific method and empiricism for its false conclusions, it is also foolish to discard revelation for miscues and misdirections. In both cases, there was probably a flaw in the application of the method or the interpretation of the data by the subject. Interestingly, both revelatory and scientific conclusions ultimately rely on faith. In the case of science, it is faith in the scientists and in one’s own observations and in the case of revelation, it is faith in God.

As experiments and attempts at receiving revelation multiply, and as receiving revealed information becomes more commonplace, and as serious attempts at moral sanctification increase, fewer mistakes are made, and clarity and certainty are heightened.

Revelation, Reason and Council

When properly received, revelation is usually accompanied by reason, before, during and after the event. In fact, properly understood, revelation and reason act more like a quadrant graph than a continuum. Some would place reason and revelation on opposite ends of a continuum. A more correct way to understand the relationship would be to place reason and irrationality on either end of the X axis in a quadrant graph and revelation and faithlessness or distrust on either end of the Y axis.

To receive a revelation is not to discard reason, but to use it as a tool to enhance the meaning, delivery and post event action to be taken. For me, it works something like this: I will begin with a question. I will devote many hours to study. I will prepare myself spiritually. I will use reason and logic to ponder the issue and possible answers. I will have a revelatory event that will sometimes confirm what reason and logic have helped uncover and will sometimes add new information that I had not previously considered. I then use reason once again to make connections and chart a course to move forward.

Revelations that involve others or that are received by leadership to make pronouncements or policies for specific members or groups of members are also enhanced by councils. Mormons believe that each member (with few exceptions) in the church that receives a responsibility (calling) does so by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Mormons believe, that for the most part, God has given approval for the assignment made. Most of these pronouncements and assignments, prior to any revelation occurring, are discussed in a council of between two (as within a marriage) to 15 or more. Once all of the input is given and discussed, revelation is sought by the council and propositions are discussed and ratified and should be done so unanimously where possible.

Revelation and Science

Revelation is real and powerful. To suggest that it does not exist or is purely self generated emotion is ludicrous. If we were to cut the same amount of slack to the occasional deficiencies of of revelation that we allow for science, Revelation would be much more widely respected.

Take butter for instance. Is it better or worse for you than margarine? We have had scientists on the case for decades weighing in. I believe the current thinking is that butter is better. Years ago the empirical, scientific conclusion was the opposite. Then there is echinacea, flu shots, saturated fat, and on and on, yet we continue to trust it generally.

Quantum Physics

Interestingly, the higher levels of science have shown that there really is no true objective observation. Experimentation and knowing something are dependent upon an observer who necessarily brings with her, intellectual baggage. The meaning of an event must necessarily include a recognition of the baggage brought to bear. Then, to properly perform that analysis, we have to ask about the intellectual baggage of the person questioning the intellectual baggage of the observer. In order for there to be any movement at all, we are forced to make an act of faith.

The table below contrasts Revelation from Scientific Empiricism (SE) in knowing.