SHOULD THE LDS CHURCH POKE THE WORLD IN THE EYE - AGAIN?
In the year 1820 in upstate New York, in response to an invitation he had found in scripture (James 1:5), a nearly illiterate 14-year-old country bumkin, Joseph Smith, went into a secluded forest to seek divine guidance regarding the confusing and tumultuous religious situation then existing in the area where his family lived. He wanted to know which of the many contending churches he should join.
Famously - and notoriously - the young Smith came out of that forest claiming to have had a miraculous vision of God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus answered the young man’s request by telling him he should join none of the churches because none was teaching the truth. Jesus characterized these churches thusly:
“…they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”
A decade or so later, in 1831, after he had published what he claimed to be the miraculously translated Book of Mormon - the history of an ancient people who inhabited the American continent and a “second witness for Christ” after the Bible - and had received, via further visitations by heavenly messengers (John the Baptist, Peter, James and John and others), divine instruction and priesthood authority to organize the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1830), Smith published a revelation that characterized the newly organized LDS Church thusly:
“And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, THE ONLY TRUE AND LIVING CHURCH UPON THE FACE OF THE WHOLE EARTH [emphasis RTJ], with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually.” - Doctrine & Covenants Section 1:30
Thus, by the time Joseph Smith was only about 26 years old, and the restored Christian church he had founded under divine revelation and instruction had been in existence less than two years, he had, by means of publishing to the world what claimed to be a direct divine rejection of a corrupt and apostate Christian tradition, already delivered to the traditional Christian world a spectacular double-whammy poke in the eye, thus stirring up an undying hornets’ nest of animosity and opposition that endures to this day. The world has never forgiven Joseph Smith for his impudence, his refusal to bend the knee to what God himself declared to be an obviously corrupt universal distortion of the Christian faith.
Time for another poke?
In another forum, a contributor, like me a member of the LDS Church, commented on the church’s apparent inclination to make accommodations with rather than confront head-on in its wickedness a world that is increasingly, frighteningly alien and hostile to Christian values:
"... in an attempt to remain in culturally acceptable terrain, it [the LDS Church] goes into contortions to establish policies and practices to make 'outliers' feel welcome."
My response:
I've thought a good deal about the Church's obvious attempts to be accommodating regarding dicey divisive issues like gay pride, homosexuality, and illegal immigration - all controversies that fly in the face of both ancient and moder-day revealed Christian doctrine. To some degree, to the extent they do not require compromise of essential core doctrines, it seems to me these efforts make sense in terms of the church’s essential mission. In a turbulent, degrading world, why not live and let live to the fullest extent possible as long as possible? Indeed, this is ancient Christian wisdom and advice:
“If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” - St. Paul - Romans 12:18
At the same time, with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ looming on the horizon - an event I think most all Christians agree is not far distant - I suspect the leadership of the LDS Church - rather than taking a fresh and well-deserved whack at the hornets’ next - are, while the day lasts, focused on maximizing the core mission of the Church of Jesus Christ - spreading across the world, as broadly as possible, the news about the miraculous modern-day restoration of the fulness of the uncorrupted Gospel of Jesus Christ, the reestablishing of the authorized, empowered Church of Jesus Christ - again, acknowledged in revelation by Christ himself as "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth" - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Doctrine & Covenants 1:30 - and, before all hell breaks loose, to bring about the attendant gathering out of the world - a gathering first spiritual and later physical - of all who have eyes to see and ears to hear the true Word of God - a time scripture describes as follows:
… at that hour cometh an entire separation of the righteous and the wicked; and in that day will I send mine angels to pluck out the wicked and cast them into unquenchable fire.” - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, D&C 63:54
It will not always be possible for the Church of Jesus Church of Latter-day Saints aggressively to pursue its evangelical mission declaring the modern-day restoration of the one true Church and Gospel of Jesus Christ. Scripture refers to a day when "the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled" - a time, as I understand it, when the world will no longer tolerate the free dissemination of God's Word, a time when the missionary efforts of the church will cease, a time when all who have eyes to see and ears to hear will have seen and heard, a time for hunkering down before the promised dark time of divine retribution and widespread tribulation descends upon a Godless world.
I do believe, have long believed, there will come a time when the Church of Jesus Christ will be driven into a corner, a place where the church, with no more wiggle room, will have to fully own its Christian doctrines and values in hostile world, a time when any sort of live-and-let-live accommodation with Satan’s worldly kingdom will no longer be possible, a time when spineless, summertime believers will be blown away, a time when true believers will be put to the test and will have to stand up and pay the price for their Christian faith, a time when Satan, as scripture says, will wage war against the saints and, for a time, prevail against them (see Revelation 13:7).
But why rush into it? Why unnecessarily and prematurely poke in the eye and provoke a Godless world? Why not accommodate while accommodation is possible and take full advantage of every day, every minute to share the Good News of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ? Were I in the shoes of the inheritors and custodians of the great work of the latter-day "restitution of all things" (See Acts 3:20-21) set in place by the Prophet Joseph Smith - whose prophetic mantle is so powerfully evidenced by the coming forth of the Book of Mormon - the keystone of the Restoration - the other revelations he received and published to the world which are self-evidently the Word of God, the explosive growth of the church he founded under divine direction and, above all, the affirmation of the Holy Spirit - that is exactly what I would be doing.
Right vs. wrong, truth vs. lies, reality vs. fantasy, knowledge vs. ignorance, order vs. chaos, law vs. lawlessness, liberty vs. tyranny, patriots vs. traitors, good vs. evil, happiness vs. misery, God vs. the Godless…
Sheep from the goats…
Torquemada