Elder Stapley Letter To Gov. George Romney

[_Lucretia MacEvil]

Muslims. Too much danger to them if they convert.

He's more likely to reflect my prejudices though he is hard at work knocking those down one by one. He probably won't finish till long after I'm dead. My view of God is almost entirely NOT shaped by my leaders. They can teach theology, they can't convey God to me. Only he can do that. God's understanding of what he is and what he is doing is not shaped by either me or my leaders.

Did God tell you that he wouldn't be able to protect Muslims if they converted? Did he tell you that their mortal lives are more important than their eternal salvation? Your view of God doesn't seem all that different than most Mormons as far as I can see. I can see that you are bright and original, but it's still the same old party line.

[_Sethbag]

I wonder if McMurrin actually would have personally gone further than that statement if he could have expressed entirely his own feelings on the matter, but compromised on that (still pretty good, especially for that time) statement as the most he could "get away with" with the GAs.

[_Blixa]

I wonder if McMurrin actually would have personally gone further than that statement if he could have expressed entirely his own feelings on the matter, but compromised on that (still pretty good, especially for that time) statement as the most he could "get away with" with the GAs.

From my memories of him, yes he would have.

[_Gazelam]

I think any time this topic is discussed this should be posted:



The revelation extending the full blessings of the priesthood to all races ranks among the great events of this dispensation. It is one of the singular events necessary for the fulfillment of prophecies that the fullness of the gospel would be taken to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people before the return of Christ.

The events that attended the receipt of this revelation constitute a classic illustration of how revelation is received. The time was right, and accordingly the Spirit of the Lord began to work on President Kimball. For months he labored with the issue, spending many hours in the most holy of places in the temple, importuning the heavens for direction. Preparatory to the receipt of this revelation, he was required - according to the pattern established in Doctrine and Covenants 9 - to study, search, and councel with those charged to direct the affairs of the Church. By his own ackknowledgment, it was also necessary for him to rid his own heart and soul of any possible sence of racial superiority, particularly as such feelings were common to the community in which he had been raised.

President Kimball did not act alone on the matter. He sought the feelings of his counselors and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. In March 1978 he invited any of the Twelve who desired to do so to make expressions to him in writing so that he could carefully consider them. Three members of that Quprum responded to this invitation: Elders Monson, Packer, and McConkie. Elder McConkie's memo centered on the doctrinal basis for confering the Melchizedek Priesthood on the blacks. After the revelation was received, he freely shared with his family the scriptural chain of thought he had suggested to President Kimball. The power of it was in its simplicity. He simply saw things in scripture that the rest of us had conditioned ourselves not to see. He saw them in a new light and had no hesitation in moving forward.

He reasoned that inherent in any passage of scripture that promised that the gospel would go to all mankind was the promise that it - with all its blessings - must go to the blacks. The Third Article of Faith states, "We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel." The word saved as used in the text, he said, meant to be exalted or obtain all the blessings of the celestial kingdom. To illustrate the point, he quoted Doctrine and Covenants 6:13: "If thou wilt do good, yea, and hold out faithful to the end, thou shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God; for their is no gift greater than the gift of salvation," and Joseph Smith's statement that "salvation consists in the glory, authority, majesty, power and dominion which Jehovah possesses and in nothing else."

He pointed out that all those who accept the gospel become the seed of the family of Abraham and are entitled to all of the blessings of the gospel. Jehovah told Abraham that his seed would take the gospel and the "Priesthood unto all nations" and that "as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father" (Abraham 2:9-10). Jehovah also promised Abraham that when his literal seed took the message of salvation to "all nations", then shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal" (Abraham 2:9, 11; emphasis added). This, of coarce, is the doctrine of adoption into the house of Israel.



In his address at Elder McConkie's funeral, Elder Boyd K. Packer observed that "President Kimball has spoken in public of his gratitude to Elder McConkie for some special support he received in the days leading up to the revelation on the Priesthood." It would be hard to suppose that this special help did not include the assurance of Elder McConkie's gospel understanding.

It is well withen the mark to say that no member of the Church was more excited or pleased than Bruce McConkie about the revelation given to President Kimball on this matter. One evidence of his excitement about this momentous event is the freedom with which he spoke and wrote about the events that led up to the receipt of the revelation.

As the First Presidency and the Twelve discussed the matter the week before the revelation, Elder LeGrand Richards identified the presence of President Wilford Woodruff in their temple meeting. Perhaps it was given to Elder Richards to know this because he was the only one of their number old enough to have actually seen Wilford Woodruff, which he had done as a young boy. As to why President Woodruff was there, Elder McConkie reasoned that since he had presided over the Church when the revelation to reverse its cource on the matter of plural marriage was given, it was natural that he would be called on to help direct the Brethren when the revelation was neded that represented a reversal of direction.

Elder Richards asked that the Twelve and the First Presidency keep his having seen President Woodruff a confidential matter because he did not want people thinking him some kind of great man to have had that experience. Elder Packer felt it proper to make this knowledge public at Elder Richard's funeral.

The revelation was received on Thursday, June 1, 1978, about twelve noon in the upper room of the Salt Lake Temple. The normal order of the day was for the Twelve to meet and attend to their business and then be joined by the First Presidency. When the two quorums meet, they unite in prayer, according to the pattern of the temple. They then conduct their bussiness, which normally ends about the middle of the afternoon. The Brethren then retire to a dining room for lunch, after which they leave the temple.

On Thursday, June 1, 1978, the Twelve met as usual. They were joined by the First Presidency, the Seventy, and the Presiding Bishopric at 9 a.m., and the normal meeting was held. It included partaking of the sacrament and the bearing of testimony. The Spirit of the Lord was present in great abundance. After the prayer closing that meeting, President Kimball took the usual step of inviting the members of the First Presidency and the Twelve to remain in the room and excused the other Brethren. All had come to the meeting fasting. President Kimball told the Twelve that he would like them to continue during the rest of the day to fast with the First Presidency and that the normal luncheon at the end of the bussiness meeting had been cancelled. He reminded the members of the Presidency and the Twelve that in recent months he had been giving extended serious prayerful consideration to the matter of conferring the priesthood upon the blacks and that he felt the need for divine guidance. He had spent many hours alone in the upper room in the temple pleading with the Lord for councel and direction. He said he hoped the Lord would give a revelation one way or another and resolve the matter. He indicated that if it was the mind and will of the Lord that the church continue in the present cource, denying the priesthood to the descendants of Cain, that he was willing to sustain and support that decision and defend it with all its implications to the death. He said, however, that if the Lord was willing to have the priesthood go to them, he hoped for a clear affirmation of this so there would be no question in anyone's mind.



A long discussion followed in which each member of the Quorum of the Twelve expressed himself. Elder McConkie recorded: "A strong, compelling spirit of unity was in the meeting. It seemed as though all of the Brethren were in effect joining in the prayers which President Kimball had recently been making on this tremendously important matter."

President Kimball suggested that they go forward with the prayer. He said that if it was agreeable with the Brethren, he would be voice. He importuned the Lord with great fervor and faith. He asked that a revelation be given manifesting the Lord's mind and will on this matter so that the issue could be resolved. "it was one of those occasions," Elder McConkie wrote in his journal, "when the one who was mouth in the prayer prayed by the power of the Spirit and was given expression and guided in the words that were used and the sentances said. The prayer he gave was dictated by the Holy Ghost."

While President kimball prayed, the revelation came. When he ended the prayer, there was a great Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit such as none of those present had ever before experienced. There are no words to describe what happened. It was something that could only be felt in the hearts of the recipients and which can only be understood by the power of the Spirit. Afterward, President Kimball, his couselors, and President Benson, representing the feeling of all who were present, expressed themselves to the effect that never in their experience in the Church had they felt or experienced anything in any way comparable to what occured on this occasion.

The manner in which the revelation was given could not have been more perfect. it came through the prophet of the Lord, President Spencer W. Kimball, and at the same time was received by way of confirmation by twelve others. Thus, the prophet received the revelation with twelve men (two members of the First presidency and ten members of the Quorum of the Twelve) all of whom had been set apart as apostles of the Lord and all of them receiving the same revelation at the same time to attest to the verity of the event.

Those absent were Elders Mark E. Petersen and Delbert L Stapley. Elder Petersen was on assignment in South America, and Elder Stapley was ill in LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City. It was felt that they should be given opportunity to learn what had transpired and to be asked if they were in accord. A call was placed to South America for Elder Petersen, who was in complete accord with the feelings of his Quorum. Later that day, the First Presidency called upon Elder Delbert L Stapley in the hospital. He, too, wholeheartedly sustained the revelation.

It was decided to present the matter to the rest of the general authorities the next Thursday, June 8, 1978. They were invited to attend the meeting fasting. The meeting enjoyed a marvelous outpouring of the Spirit that served both as a witness to all present that the time had come to give the priesthood to all races and also as a confirmation of the events the previous week.

Reflecting on the timing of these events, Elder McConkie observed, "I think the Lord waited to give this new direction to his earthly kingdom until his Church was big enough and strong enough to absorb those of all races and cultures, without being overwhelmed by the world, as the primitive saints were when the Church in their day gained acceptance in the Roman Empire."

Excerpt from "The Bruce R. McConkie Story, Reflections of a Son" - Joseph Fielding McConkie p.373-379

[_moksha]

McMurrin wrote a document that McKay approved with only one minor change.

Thanks for giving us that. It sounds like McMurrin had his heart in the right place but he didn't realize that he should go a little further and add that all men should be granted the privilege of riding in the front of the bus.

Are we certain that part about riding in the front of the bus was not the one minor change?

[_Rollo Tomasi]

As the First Presidency and the Twelve discussed the matter the week before the revelation, Elder LeGrand Richards identified the presence of President Wilford Woodruff in their temple meeting. Perhaps it was given to Elder Richards to know this because he was the only one of their number old enough to have actually seen Wilford Woodruff, which he had done as a young boy. As to why President Woodruff was there, Elder McConkie reasoned that since he had presided over the Church when the revelation to reverse its cource on the matter of plural marriage was given, it was natural that he would be called on to help direct the Brethren when the revelation was neded that represented a reversal of direction.

Elder Richards asked that the Twelve and the First Presidency keep his having seen President Woodruff a confidential matter because he did not want people thinking him some kind of great man to have had that experience. Elder Packer felt it proper to make this knowledge public at Elder Richard's funeral.

Here is some additional information: below is a transcript of an interview of LeGrand Richards about the revelation:

Interview with Apostle LeGrand Richards

By Wesley P. Walters and Chris Vlachos

16th August 1978

Church Office Building

(Recorded on Cassette)

WALTERS: On this revelation, of the priesthood to the Negro, I've heard all kinds of stories: I've heard that Joseph Smith appeared; and then I heard another story that Spencer Kimball had, had a concern about this for some time, and simply shared it with the apostles, and they decided that this was the right time to move in that direction. Are any of those stories true, or are they all?

RICHARDS: Well, the last one is pretty true, and I might tell you what provoked it in a way. Down in Brazil, there is so much Negro blood in the population there that it's hard to get leaders that don't have Negro blood in them. We just built a temple down there. It's going to be dedicated in October. All those people with Negro blood in them have been raising the money to build that temple. If we don't change, then they can't even use it. Well, Brother Kimball worried about it, and he prayed a lot about it.

He asked each one of us of the Twelve if we would pray - and we did - that the Lord would give him the inspiration to know what the will of the Lord was. Then he invited each one of us in his office - individually, because you know when you are in a group, you can't always express everything that's in your heart. You're part of the group, you see - so he interviewed each one of us, personally, to see how we felt about it, and he asked us to pray about it. Then he asked each one of us to hand in all the references we had, for, or against that proposal. See, he was thinking favorably toward giving the colored people the priesthood.

Then we had a meeting where we meet every week in the temple, and we discussed it as a group together, and then we prayed about it in our prayer circle, and then we held another prayer circle after the close of that meeting, and he (President Kimball) led in the prayer; praying that the Lord would give us the inspiration that we needed to do the thing that would be pleasing to Him and for the blessing of His children. And then the next Thursday - we meet every Thursday - the Presidency came with this little document written out to make the announcement - to see how we'd feel about it - and present it in written form. Well, some of the members of the Twelve suggested a few changes in the announcement, and then in our meeting there we all voted in favor of it - the Twelve and the Presidency. One member of the Twelve, Mark Petersen, was down in South America, but Brother Benson, our President, had arranged to know where he could be reached by phone, and right while we were in that meeting in the temple, Brother Kimball talked with Brother Petersen, and read him this article, and he (Petersen) approved of it.

WALTERS: What was the date? Would that have been the first of June, or something?

RICHARDS: That was the first Thursday, I think, in May. [June?] At least that's about when it was. And then after we all voted in favor of it, we called another meeting for the next morning, Friday morning, at seven o'clock, of all the other General Authorities - that includes the Seventies' Quorum and the Patriarch and the Presiding Bishopric, and it was presented to them, and there were a few of the brethren that were out presiding then in the missions, and so the Twelve were appointed to interview each one of them.

***

WALTERS: Now when President Kimball read this little announcement or paper, was that the same thing that was released to the press?

RICHARDS: Yes.

WALTERS: There wasn't a special document as a "revelation", that he had and wrote down?

RICHARDS: We discussed it in our meeting. What else should we say besides that announcement? And we decided that was sufficient; that no more needed to be said.

WALTERS: Was that the letter you sent out to the various wards?

RICHARDS: And to the Church; and to the newspapers, yes.

VLACHOS: Will that become a part of "scripture"?

RICHARDS: Yes, I've already thought in my own mind of suggesting we add it to the Pearl of Great Price, just like those last two revelations that we've just added.

WALTERS: Will this affect your theological thinking about the Negro as being less valiant in the previous existence? How does this relate? Have you thought that through?

RICHARDS: Some time ago, the Brethren decided that we should never say that. We don't know just what the reason was. Paul said, "The Lord hath before appointed the bounds of the habitations of all men for to dwell upon the face of the earth," and so He determined that before we were born. He who knows why they were born with black skin or white and so on and so forth. We'll just have to wait and find out.

WALTERS: Is there still a tendency to feel that people are born with black skin because of some previous situation, or do we consider that black skin is no sign anymore of anything inferior in any sense of the word?

RICHARDS: Well, we don't want to get that as a doctrine. Think of it as you will. You know, Paul said "Now we see in part and we know in part; we see through a glass darkly. When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away, then we will see as we are seen, and know as we are known." Now the Church's attitude today is to prefer to leave it until we know. The Lord has never indicated that black skin came because of being less faithful. Now, the Indian; we know why he was changed, don't we? The Book of Mormon tells us that; and he has a dark skin, but he has a promise there that through faithfulness, that they all again become a white and delightsome people. So we haven't anything like that on the colored thing.

WALTERS: Now, with this new revelation - has it brought any new insights or new ways of looking at the Book of Abraham? Because I think traditionally it is thought of the curse of Cain, coming through Canaanites and on the black-skinned people, and therefore denying the priesthood?

RICHARDS: We considered that with all the "for's" and the "against's" and decided that with all of that, if they lived their lives, and did the work, that they were entitled to their blessings.

WALTERS: But you haven't come up with any new understanding of the Book of Abraham? I just wondered whether there would be a shift in that direction. Is the recent revelation in harmony with what the past prophets have taught, of when the Negro would receive the priesthood?

RICHARDS: Well, they have held out the thought that they would ultimately get the priesthood, but they never determined the time for it. And so when this situation that we face down there in Brazil - Brother Kimball worried a lot about it - how the people are so faithful and devoted. The president of the Relief Society of the stake is a colored woman down there in one of the stakes. If they do the work, why it seems like that the justice of the Lord would approve of giving them the blessing. Now it's all conditional upon the life that they live, isn't it?

WALTERS: Well, I thank you for clarifying that for me, because you know, out in the streets out there, there must be at least five, ten different stories about the way this happened.

RICHARDS: Well, I've told you exactly what happened.

WALTERS: Right. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

RICHARDS: If you quote me you will be telling the truth.

WALTERS: Ok, well fine. You don't mind if we quote you then?

RICHARDS: No.

WALTERS: Ok, that's great!

Here's the link to the above: http://www.lds-mormon.com/legrand_richards.shtml

The original cassette of the interview is at the Marriott Library at the U. of U.

[_Blixa]

Thanks for that Rollo. This is especially interesting to me:

The Lord has never indicated that black skin came because of being less faithful. Now, the Indian; we know why he was changed, don't we? The Book of Mormon tells us that; and he has a dark skin, but he has a promise there that through faithfulness, that they all again become a white and delightsome people. So we haven't anything like that on the colored thing.

[_Gazelam]

Thanks for adding that Rollo.I like the inside stuff like that.
I posted this in another thread, and it seems it might be fitting to add it here:

The burden of the priesthood can be viewed by looking at Noahs sons. Shem was the ancestor of Abraham, who asked God to bless his posterity to carry the priesthood, ensuring that Christ would be taught to his children in order to better ensure their salvation.

Japheths decendents strayed and became the Gentiles. The Gentiles had the priesthood witheld from them until after the time of Christ, who himself would not teach them during his mortal ministry.

Ham gave rise to the Cannanites. This is the Negro race, who had the priesthood witheld from them until President Kimball approached the Lord and asked that they be granted the right to bear it.

It may be that the darkening of skin and the witholding of the priesthood may be two seperate issues.

There is a common belief among members of the Church that denial of the right of the priesthood to the Cannanites is the result of the curse God placed on Cain. This assumption, however, is not supported by the scriptures. Abraham 1:26-27 is the only passage that explicitly mentions denial of the right to the priesthood and associates that with Ham because of his marriage to Egyptus, a "partaker of the blood of the Cannanites" (Abraham 1:21). No mention is made of Cain or any Genealogical connection with him. JST Genesis 9:25 states that Cannan was cursed and that "a veil of darkness shall cover him (Cannan), that he shall be known among all men." This darkness is assumed to refer to skin color. However the Cannanites of ancient Palestine were Caucasian, not black, and had no connection with Africa, where the black race seems to have originated. Moses 7:8 says that "a blackness came upon all the children of Cannan." That these people of Cannan were decendants of Cain is not explicitly stated, though it is often assumed. It is also not clear whether these antedeluvian Cannanites are the same people as the Cannanites found much later in Palestine. The Lord pronounced two curses on Cain because he murdered his brother, Abel. The curses were (1) that when he tilled the earth, it would not yield its strength, and (2) that he would be a fugitive and a vagabond (see Moses 5:37). No mention is made of a loss of priesthood or that the curse will be placed on to his posterity. In Moses 5:40 the Lord places a mark on Cain to identify him so others will not attempt to slay him. It does not say what this mark is, although it is generally assumed to be a dark skin, and again, there is no implication that this mark is to be passed on to his descendents.

In this dispensation, blacks were not allowed to hold the priesthood until the revelation received by President Spencer W. Kimball in 1978 (see D&C Official Declaration 2). The Church has never given any official doctrinal statement as to why the priesthood was temporarily denied to blacks. The speculation that it is because they are the descendants of Cain is unsupported from the scriptures. In reality we do not know why God denied blacks the priesthood for a time. All we know is that He did, later making it available to them through a living prophet.

The Pearl of Great price: A verse-by-verse Commentary, Draper/ Brown/ Rhodes, pg. 256-257

It has always been my understanding that Hams wife was black, and that is how it continued through the flood. Egyptus settled Egypt, and in Abraham 1:27 Abraham emphasizes that , because of his descent through Ham, the first Pharaoh of Egypt did not have the right to the priesthood. This cause friction between pharaoh and Abraham, since Pharaoh was meant to be God incarnate, and Abraham was the Prophet of God who carried his authority and spoke for the one true God.

Gaz

[_SatanWasSetUp]

Ham gave rise to the Cannanites. This is the Negro race, who had the priesthood witheld from them until President Kimball approached the Lord and asked that they be granted the right to bear it.

I find this funny. Thousands of years with no priesthood until Spencer Kimball from Utah asked the Lord to let them have it. I'm surprised Kimball wasn't struck dead for trying to steady the ark, or something else didn't happen to him. Typically bad things happen when we approach the lord with new suggestions on how to run things.

[_Gazelam]

Ham gave rise to the Cannanites. This is the Negro race, who had the priesthood witheld from them until President Kimball approached the Lord and asked that they be granted the right to bear it.

I find this funny. Thousands of years with no priesthood until Spencer Kimball from Utah asked the Lord to let them have it. I'm surprised Kimball wasn't struck dead for trying to steady the ark, or something else didn't happen to him. Typically bad things happen when we approach the lord with new suggestions on how to run things.

Like when Paul asked to teach, and give the priesthood to, the Gentiles?