Allen C. Christensen- Great Friend and Supporter of the Lamanites

Allen C. Christensen is an agricultural scientist who served as Professor of Animal and Veterinary Sciences and Dean of the College of Agriculture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and as Director of the Ezra Taft Benson Agriculture and Food Institute at Brigham Young University. In collaboration with the Tuba City Arizona Stake, the Benson Institute inaugurated a location specific gardening effort among the Navajo and Hopi peoples to strengthen families and improve nutrition. It was during that project effort that thoughts about his book titled, “Joseph Remnant; Lamanites in Today’s America” came which was published in 2019. Those experiences among the Navajo and Hopi peoples as well other indigenous peoples were written in Bringing Dignity and Hope: The Work of the Ezra Taft Benson Agriculture and Food Institute. His discipline publications are concerned with nutrition, agricultural development in less-developed nations including working with small-holder farmers in Latin America and Africa. His expertise in agricultural development was recognized by a U.S. presidential appointment to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development. An avocational historian, he authored Before Zion: An Account of the 7^th Handcart Company. He holds BS, MS and PhD degrees and was awarded an honorary degree from a Guatemalan university. He and his wife, Kathleen, are the parents of five children and were also foster parents for four Navajo foster daughters and one Hispanic foster son. An active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints he has served as a bishop, stake president, mission president, patriarch and Area Executive Secretary in the Pacific Islands.

Brother Christensen’s newest book has some wonderful and inspirational stories about 15 Native Americans including Emeritus General Authority Larry Echo Hawk. Three of these Native Americans will be speaking at our FIRM Foundation Expo. Betty “Red Ant” LaFontaine (Navajo) , Delores Kahkonen (Iroquois), and Franklin Keel (Chickasaw). You will also hear from a new speaker named Rose Johnson-Tsosie (Navajo). Come and support our Lamanite friends. For information click the picture below.

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For TICKETS click here!

Yesterday at the Timpanogos Chapter of the Sons of the Utah Pioneers, Brother Christensen shared the following talk that I know you will enjoy.

Pioneers, Native Americans and Jews
by Allen C. Christensen

“During my three years as a mission president, I read the Joseph Smith History in the Pearl of Great Price, 36 times, or every Fast Sunday. I also read many of the cross references. Fascinatingly, among the Scriptures quoted by Moroni to Joseph Smith the night of September 21, 1823 was the entire 11^th chapter of Isaiah. In that context, I find Isaiah 11:12 especially intriguing: And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The title Israel rightly belongs to Joseph (1 Chronicles 5:1) and then, subsequently, was conferred upon Ephraim by Jacob (Genesis 48:17-20 and JST Genesis 48: 5-11).

Admittedly, in the 19^th Century there was an initial gathering to Zion, the Mountains of Ephraim. The concept of gathering had great appeal for early British and Scandinavian converts. Yet, I have come to think the expression “assembled,” means to be assembled in stakes as that typifies Israel today, while Judah is to be gathered from the four corners of the earth. Using both assemble and gathered seems more than picturesque English literature. It is an insightful difference recorded in the King James Translation.

I have been interested in people, their history, culture and legends. Those were topics frequently discussed in my parent’s family. By the time I was five, I knew I wanted to see the world. As a nine-year-old, I received The White Indian Boy as a Christmas gift. It has become a semi-sacred treasure that I have read a number of times and have used as a reference. Since boyhood, I have been fascinated with the founding accounts of the Church, especially the pioneering and Utah territorial periods including our relationships with Native Americans. Members of the Pawnee tribe helped the 7^th Handcart Company ford the Loup River. The Loup was reportedly the most dangerous of all such river crossings due to the quicksand in its bottom. My Christensen forebears were a part of that company. My great-grandfather, Niels Christensen, was a 12-year-old when they forded the Loup.

Ultimately, a mature Niels Christensen raised horses as a part of his farming operation. He had a two-year old horse that had not thrived. A Native American came looking for a horse. My great-grandfather told him about this one. They went to the bottom lands to see the horse. The Ute liked what he saw. In after years, my dad remembered the price paid for the horse was a pair of buckskin gloves, two buckskin blankets, two rawhides, a buffalo robe and two dollars in silver.

I have a 6^th great-grandmother, who was a full-blood member of the Iroquois Confederacy, probably a Mohawk. Her Native American name was Josnorum Scoenonti, her English name was Running Deer. Today she has many descendants who are Latter-day Saints including some who have been General Authorities. Notable among them is the late A. Theodore Tuttle of the Seventy.

For five years in the 1880s, my maternal grandfather, George Albert Allen, lived among the Utes of Eastern Utah. He was a cowboy for the Schofield, Reid and McCune Cattle Company of Nephi, Utah. He learned to speak their language fluently and never forgot it nor their kindnesses to him. George also learned of some person-specific prophetic promises that Brigham Young had made to individuals Utes.  George lived to see those prophecies come to pass. For example, as a boy Wanrodes had known Brigham Young, who had given him a blessing that promised that he [Wanrodes] would become head chief of the Ute Tribe. When Bridger Jim succeeded Tabby as chief, Wanrodes was getting quite old and his eyesight was failing. He said to George: Umpigi Brigham toowig sorokquent.  “I’m not certain Brigham told the truth.” George said: “I told him to wait awhile, that Brigham knew what he was talking about.” When Bridger Jim died, Wanrodes was in his 90s and totally blind, yet the Ute tribe elected him as their head chief.

Apparently the Ute name Wanrodes means “Shining Brass.” Many Indian names have special meaning. That is the case with the name “Echo Hawk.” Elder Larry Echo Hawk’s surname is an English translation of a Pawnee name given to his great-grandfather, who was born in the mid-1800s in present-day Nebraska. Among the Pawnee, the hawk is the symbol of a warrior. This Pawnee war scout was known for his bravery, but he was a quiet man who did not speak of his accomplishments.  Rather, others spoke in admiration of his good deeds which became, as it were, an echo from one side of the village to the other. Hence, the tribal elders gave him a highly symbolic name, Echo Hawk, “the hawk whose deeds are echoed.” (See page 43, Joseph’s Remnant, second paragraph.)

During the 1880s, federal marshals were in hot pursuit of Latter-day Saint men who were involved in the practice of plural marriage. Many of the Utes considered themselves to be Mormons. Federal officers continued their search for those men into the Uintah Basin. When encountering Utes, they would question them as to the whereabouts of the specific individuals they were seeking to apprehend. The Utes would ask to see the officer’s “Mormon shirt.” If there was no Mormon shirt or temple garment, the Utes had no idea as to where they could be found. Sometimes it can be very smart to play dumb.

While transcribing and adding editorial commentary to the Biography of George A. Allen, I received a letter from Jim Cooper of Cherokee, North Carolina. It provided something of an epilogue about Ute Chief Walker or Wakara. In 1947, an LDS elder traveling alone came to the border of the Eastern Cherokee Reservation at Soco Gap. The elder got out of his car, knelt upon the earth and dedicated the reservation for the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He then drove his car to the only restaurant in the little town and inquired if anyone knew of any families from Utah. A young man, Bill Larch, said the local high school band leader was a native of Roosevelt, Utah. After obtaining directions, the elder drove to the home of Philip and Kate Sneed Arkansas. Philip, Kate and their four children eventually joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Philip Arkansas was a great-grandson of Chief Walker of Walker War fame. Chief Walker had given the Latter-day Saints and Brigham Young some difficulty. Yet, it was Brigham Young who had presented Chief Walker with his baptismal certificate. Fascinatingly, on June 17, 1949 in the Oconaluftee River, Philip Arkansas was baptized a member of the Church by Truman Fox Clawson, a 2^nd-great-grandson of Brigham Young.

My years at the University of California, Davis became a time when I began developing some close friendships with Jewish people and acquiring a deep interest in them. Robert Elser was one such friend. He told me that his parents had visited the Los Angeles Temple open house. Some 670,000 people attended that open house. “What did they think of it?” I asked. He replied: “My dad thought the temple was tremendous, he even tried to buy stock in the place!”

Reformed Jews sell seats in a synagogue or temple thereby raising money for a new edifice. It assures the purchaser of seating for the High Holy Days or the Days of Awe that begin with Rosh Hashanah and end with Yom Kippur. It occurs in the fall of the year and coincides with the ancient Feast of the Tabernacles or Ingathering. Dates vary yearly because Jews still use a lunar calendar. Fascinatingly, Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith on September 21, 1823. In 2020, Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on September 18 and Yom Kippur begins at sundown on September 27. The preface to chapter 29 of 3 Nephi states: “The coming forth of the Book of Mormon is a sign that the Lord has commenced to gather Israel and to fulfill his covenants.”

While at UC Davis, I home taught Lt. Col. Louis Besbeck and his wife. She was a Latter-day Saint. He was a Jew. In those two years, not once did I hear of his experiences. As a young commissioned officer, he had been part of the Bataan Death March. He did not breathe a word about that. Until I met Lt. Benigno at Mt Samat in Bataan, Philippines and read the horrific suffering of the Martin Handcart Company written by my great-grandfather, Langley Allgood Bailey, I did not understand why. Langley wrote that when the rescuers arrived “that night someone stole and ate the leather straps from the rescuer’s saddles for hunger is a mild name.” Nineteen died that night. Graves were dug in the snow. Wolves came and tore up the dead bodies. The next morning he saw a young lady of about 16 walking in the snow leaving blood prints of her heels and toes. On leaving that morning he saw his brother, John, attempting to drive the wolves away from the bodies he had helped bury. John had to run for his life. Then Langley wrote:  “I refrain from writing about the suffering of these folks. It can never be told.” (Journal of Langley Allgood Bailey, edited by Allen C. Christensen, p.8)

Lt. Benigno described his wounds and capture, of his escape through the jungle and making his way across the open sea to Cebu in a Banka boat, a motorized canoe, where he spent the remainder of the war as a guerilla. I attempted to question Lt. Benigno. He said, “I cannot talk about that. Let me just say that because of what happened here and on Corregidor, it has made it difficult to forgive the Japanese.” (Journal of Allen C. Christensen, XIX: 121-122.)

In Southern California I became acquainted with Dr. Fred Krinsky, a well-known professor of government at Pomona College and also an ordained rabbi. Fred said of his Jewish kinsmen, “Where two Jews are talking politics there are at least three political opinions with splinter groups. And if they are talking religion, you must double those numbers.” There is an echo of that in the current effort to elect a political party that can create a parliamentary coalition of sufficient numbers to form a new Israeli government.

Consider this phrase from Jacob’s patriarchal blessing upon Judah: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Genesis 49:10). Couple that verse with D&C 77: 15 which speaks of “two prophets that are to be raised up to the Jewish nation in the last days.” The Jewish revolt against Rome following the Savior’s death marked the end of any semblance of a kingdom of Judah. Today, in electing the Israeli Knesset or parliament, one votes for a party rather than a candidate. The 120 seats are awarded on the basis of percentage of the vote received. That is how the Jewish nation is governed today. It was in March 1832 when Joseph Smith declared there was to be a Jewish nation. The modern Jewish concept of Zionism was nearly 70 years in the future.

Also of interest is the Spanish Inquisition. During the “Age of Discovery,” many Jews publicly became Converso’s. Yet, in the secret sanctity of their homes they remained practicing Jews. They played an important role in the settlement of the New World. “A mercantile people, Jews in the New World went about their business as traders and ship-owners, thus becoming first merchant class in the Spanish Empire. As long as they pretended to be Christians and delivered the goods, no one questioned their religiosity too closely.” (Edward Kritzler’s Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean, p. ix. 9)

The Spanish Inquisition, and I have seen evidence of its gruesome horrors in Peru, did not formally end until 1820, the year of the theophany at Palmyra. Parley P. Pratt’s magnificent hymn: “The morning breaks, the shadows flee, Lo Zion’s standard is unfurled. The dawning of a brighter day, majestic rises on the world,” seemingly has a reflection, an echo, of that terrible case of man’s inhumanity to man.

I have followed the wars and perplexities of the Middle East with intense interest. Initially, the Ingathering of Judah may have caught more of my attention than did the assembling of Israel. For a time, I seemed to read prophetic accounts in Isaiah and the Book of Mormon more in the Jewish context than the broader context for the entire House of Israel.

Consider, for example, 2 Nephi 10:9.  Yea, the kings of the Gentiles shall be nursing fathers unto them and their queens shall become nursing mothers . . .  For years I thought of the importance of Great Britain’s Balfour Declaration, and the measure of diplomatic legitimacy it conferred for the establishment of a Jewish Homeland in Palestine, as a reflection of Britain’s monarchy.

Other incidents emerged. Noteworthy was the statement made by Isaac Halevi Herzog, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, when he met with President Harry S. Truman at the White House. The orthodox Rabbi said to Truman: “God put you in your mother’s womb so you would be the instrument to bring the rebirth of Israel after two thousand years.” That statement seems to suggest Rabbi Herzog may have had some understanding of our premortal life. Such concepts as pre mortal existence and the resurrection are not usually doctrinally characteristic of Reformed Judaism.  Perhaps the declaration of the Lord to Jeremiah, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee: and before thou camest out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet to the nations (see Jeremiah 1:5) had special meaning for Herzog. President Truman is reported to have been a serious reader of the Bible.

David Niles, a Jew, was a presidential staff appointee for both Roosevelt and Truman. Niles thought the Rabbi comments were overdoing it. Then, when he looked at the President, he noted there were tears running down Harry Truman’s cheeks. (David McCullough’s Truman p.620)

Consider this possibility: Queens, as used in the context of temple language, could mean wives, specifically in this case, the First Lady. The United States has been the key nation of the Gentiles in the 20^th Century. When I read Isaiah 42:22-25, I wondered, “Could these verses also refer to the Holocaust?” Consider Anne Frank and her diary in this context. Thou art a people robbed and spoiled; thine enemies, all of them, have snared thee in holes, and have hid thee in prison houses; they have taken thee for a prey . . . and set him on fire round about . . . Auschwitz and Birkenau remain horribly painful, numbing images of genocide.   

We had five LDS Placement Students who lived with us a combined total of 15 school years.  The four daughters are Navajo; the son’s stepfather is a Hualapai.  Our only daughter, who was a volunteer for LDS Social Services in St. Louis, Missouri, has never been able to have children of her own.  While we were serving in New Zealand, she and her husband went to China and adopted a daughter.  In reflection, she said that the experience of having four Navajo sisters in our home taught her that she could come to love deeply an individual of another culture.

In 2009, I became involved in an agricultural development effort with the Navajo and Hopi people. It involved intensive gardening and reclaiming badly eroded soils. I visited with a number of people who had been participants in the LDS Indian Placement Program. Few of those on the reservation had remained active in the Church, yet all were pleased with the placement experience and were seemingly much better off, physically and financially, than had been their parents. Progress is somewhat generational.

During the March 2009 feasibility study, I sat one evening in my room at the Holiday Inn in Chinle, Arizona pondering this question: “How can we make tradition an ally rather than an adversary?”  Consider the long and painful history of Native Americans and Anglo Americans, of betrayal by high-level governmental officials, of setting aside of treaty promises made to the Tribes, of fraudulent and deceitful practices conducted by individuals and businesses against Native Americans. In reflection, I have come to realize that it can be a hard directive to pray for those who despitefully use and persecute you (see 3 Nephi 12:44).  That commandment is a demanding test of Christian discipleship.  Unwittingly, or deliberately in cases, that is the very test that non-Indian America has imposed on the Children of Lehi.  A compelling need exists to build an Ammon-and-Lamoni-type relationship of trust.  In this dispensation, that leadership obligation rests heavily upon the Tribe of Ephraim.

We Latter-day Saints accept 1 Nephi 13:12 as Nephi’s description of Columbus and his voyage of discovery. Yet, Native Americans do not necessarily consider him as a heroic figure. One prominent Navajo woman has called him “that lost Italian who has caused us so much grief.” As I reflected on the challenges facing Native Americans, this thought emerged:  “Every family, society, culture or nation needs its heroes.” The next morning at Canyon de Chelly I found a book on the Navajo Code Talkers. Later that morning I met one of them, Teddy Draper, Sr., a holder of the Silver Star and Purple Heart, one of 15 Marines who had raised the second much larger flag on Iwo Jima. He had been wounded in that battle. During heavy fighting, he had thrown himself between three dead Marines to save his life. His actions were heroic. His commanding officer asked him what medal, meaning decoration, would he like for that service. With shrapnel wounds above his eye, his shoulder muscle cut and wounds elsewhere in his body, he said, “I’ve already got enough metal. What I want is a promotion.” That was granted and he sent the money home to his family.

Ultimately, I learned that among those young Navajo marines, who created the code, were religious fellows who read the Bible. In their unique effort to create a code within the Navajo language, Dennie Hosteen, saw something of a fulfillment of Jeremiah 5: 15-16. The KJV reads: Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from afar, O house of Israel, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say. Their quiver is an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. Or as Hosteen stated: “I am bringing a distant nation against you. An ancient and enduring nation. A people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand.” (Sally McClain, Navajo Weapon, p.59)

I thought: “There are heroes. What is needed is to find them.” I began the search. The project we started initially had two demonstration gardens, one at the Tuba City Stake Center and the other at Polacca Branch—a Hopi unit, and 30 pilot families. Within four years it had grown to more than 2,000 families and a number of demonstration gardens across the reservations.

 I have watched with deep interest the work of the senior missionary couples, who have served among the Navajo and Hopi peoples.  Those missionaries enlarged my understanding of the verses found in 1 Nephi 21:22-23 or Isaiah 49:22-23. 

“Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will lift up my hands to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.  And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee, their face towards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shall know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed who wait upon me.”

Regarding 1 Ne 21: 22-23, I can see a partial fulfillment of events associated with the Navajo-Hopi project, as I watched endowed members of the church, who were serving as church-service missionaries kneel in the dusty reservation soils or earth and plant seeds of faith and food crops. The methods of planting those crops, especially for corn, was changed. Of special interest was an incident involving Arnold Yellowhorse. According to his wife, Arnold Yellowhorse, a Navajo, knelt and prayed over each individual corn seed as he planted them a foot apart along each emitter of the drip tape. I watched as Elder Earl Seeley, a PhD agronomist, knelt in the earth with program participants and taught them how to grow crops on soils that one Navajo said: “We thought these soils wouldn’t grow nothing.” As I recall, that Navajo man was serving as a bishop.

I have seen Tuba City Arizona Stake President, Larry J. Justice, carry little Navajo children in his arms, wipe the perspiration from their brow, and get them a drink of ice water, while their parents were working with and learning from the missionaries under a hot Arizona sun.  President and Sister Justice are Anglo.

As mentioned previously, years ago, when I first read these verses, I thought they pertained to the role that Great Britain had played in the return of the Jews, namely the issuing of the Balfour Declaration that had given a measure of diplomatic legitimacy to the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Given my experience with Native Americans, I think those prophetic verses can go beyond that.

I have come to feel that in addition to those events associated with the return of the Jews to their anciently promised homeland, this scripture may well pertain to wonderful senior missionaries, all of whom are endowed, who have knelt in the eroded reservation topsoil, their faces toward the earth, and have helped these people of the remnant plant seeds of crops and seeds of faith.  Those efforts are rekindling the flame of faith.  The Children of Lehi are seeing themselves in a new light. 

Nephi said to his brethren: (1 Nephi 22:6, 8.) Nevertheless, after they shall be nursed by the Gentiles, and the Lord has lifted up his hand upon the Gentiles and set them up for a standard, and their children have been carried in in their arms, and their daughters have been carried upon their shoulders, behold these things of which are spoken are temporal; for thus are the covenants of the Lord with our fathers; and it meaneth us in the days to come, and also our brethren who are of the house of Israel. . . And after our seed is scattered the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed; wherefore, it is likened unto their being nourished by the Gentiles and being carried in their arms and upon their shoulders. At least, to some degree, I have been an eye witness to that.

In 1 Ne 22: 6-8, consider in particular this sentence from verse 7 And it meaneth that the time cometh that after all the house of Israel have been scattered and confounded, that the Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles, yea, even on the face of this land; and by them shall our seed be scattered.

Is not the mighty nation that the Lord has raised up the United States? Section 101:80 reads: And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood. That scriptural declaration suggests such is the case. Furthermore, Spain and Portugal are not usually seen as mighty nations. They were not raised upon the face of this land, unless you stretch your imagination and state their New World colonies satisfies that provision.

According to Sam Charlie, growing a garden on land they have previously thought barren has been instrumental in helping them recover this lost part of their culture.  (Sam Charlie and his garden were featured in the “Pure Religion” column of the October 2, 2010 edition of The Church News.) I treasure my involvement with the Navajo and Hopi peoples.  I have met many of them.  I have met their leaders.  They are children of covenant promises made long ago to Lehi, Nephi, Jacob and Enos, and confirmed to others.  While serving at BYU, there were choice experiences among the Children of Lehi living in Latin America.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to have been an eye witness to the beginning of the fulfillment of such covenant promises.  I once said to those missionaries that it seemed to me that we are engaged in writing an unusual chapter in the history of the Church, when foretold events, recorded long ago in the scriptures, are beginning to happen before our very eyes.

In conclusion, I rhetorically pose these questions: What would our lives be like had not Nephi, Jacob and others recorded in detail these experiences and scriptural insights? What special thoughts and insights may our grandchildren miss if we do not write and preserve our personal record and the record of those from whom we have come?

Your officers have asked that we make the preservation of personal and pioneer histories a priority for our service. I hear some silent questioning of ability to do that. I refer you to 1 Nephi 19 and ask, “Which account of the exodus or flight from Jerusalem and the subsequent adventures of Lehi’s family do you think is probably the best written—Nephi’s first or second effort?” You will discover, as you become involved in this effort that your mortal trek has also been enriched and your abilities have increased.”                      
Allen C. Christensen. Manuscript prepared for delivery at the Timpanogos Chapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers, February 20, 2020.

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This painting below shows the Native Americans of the Promised Land watching as the Pioneers and Pilgrims or Children of Israel reestablished themselves here in the United States as the Tribes of Joseph through Ephraim and Manasseh and the Tribes of Judah. This Promised Land of the United States is called the Land of Joseph.

“This beautiful region of country is…the land of Joseph or the Indians, as they are called…The world will never value the land of Desolation, as it is called in the Book of Mormon, for any thing more than hunting ground, for want of timber and mill-seats: The Lord to the contrary notwithstanding, declares it to be the land of Zion which is the land of Joseph, blessed by him, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew…” The Evening and Morning Star Vol. 1 No. 5 October 1832 Page 71 Editor WW Phelps

“It was not by chance that the Puritans left their native land and sailed away to the shores of New England, and others later followed. They were the advance guard of the army of the Lord, predestined to establish the God-given system of government under which we live and to make America, which is the land of Joseph, the gathering place of Ephraim, an asylum for the oppressed of all nations, and prepare the way for the restoration of the gospel of Christ and the establishment of his church upon the earth” – Heber J. Grant, Conference Report, [April 1930].

Certain lands were given to Israel for an inheritance in time and in eternity. America is the land of Joseph; it was the home of Nephite Israel, who were of Joseph, for a thousand years, and it is the headquarters of the Church in this final dispensation in which the church and kingdom of God are in the lands of Ephraim.” (McConkie, Bruce R., A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [1985], 511.)

“The Lord gave a divine promise to the ancient inhabitants of this favored country (the United States): ‘Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12).

“Our Heavenly Father inspired the leaders of…the United States of America, that they might together, under His direction, having been raised up by God for the purpose, establish the Constitution of this country and…Bill of Rights, that by the year of our Lord 1805 [there would be] a climate where our Heavenly Father could send into this period of mortality a choice spirit who would be known as Joseph Smith, Jr.” 2011 President Thomas S. Monson (ordained an Apostle, 1963; ordained President of the Church, 2008)

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“The Lord gave a divine promise to the ancient inhabitants of this favored country (the United States): ‘Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12).

“Our Heavenly Father inspired the leaders of…the United States of America, that they might together, under His direction, having been raised up by God for the purpose, establish the Constitution of this country and…Bill of Rights, that by the year of our Lord 1805 [there would be] a climate where our Heavenly Father could send into this period of mortality a choice spirit who would be known as Joseph Smith, Jr.” 2011 President Thomas S. Monson (ordained an Apostle, 1963; ordained President of the Church, 2008)

Land of Joseph Quotes

“The Prophet Joseph Smith dedicated the Kirtland Temple in 1836. His prayer, which he stated later was a revelation from the Lord, covered many matters, and in it he made this statement: And cause that the remnants of Jacob, who have been cursed and smitten because of their transgression, be converted from their wild and savage condition to the fulness of the everlasting gospel (D&C 109:65). “And they [Lamanites], by and by, will receive the gospel. It will be a day of God’s power among them and a nation will be born in a day (Isa. 66:8). The chiefs will be filled with the power of God and will receive the gospel, and they will go forth and build the New Jerusalem, and we shall help them. They are branches of the House of Israel and when the fulness of the Gentiles has come in and the work ceases among them, then it will go in power to the seed of Abraham.” (Wilford Woodruff Journal of Discourses 15:282). These early men of science understood that by addressing the origin and evolution of man, that it could provide a foundational philosophical base to address a myriad of political, religious and social questions. One of those questions was the continued growth and expansion of Mormonism as they were establishing settlements across the West. Powell and Morgan were both finding in their positions in both government and business, that there were answers in the new evolutionary sciences of ethnology and anthropology, which would make cultures, evolution and origin of man their focus. The Mormon question was just one of the many issues that could be addressed by redirecting societal views as to the origin of man and the ancient Mound Builders. Besides addressing claims found in the Book of Mormon it would address other looming religious and societal questions, as it would pave the way for a more operative way to liberate society from traditional marriage and oppressive family structures, while creating a whole new morality. These foundational views into the origin of man would also, be used in the passing of race and Indian legislation, while providing a way for the emancipation of many dogmas of religious belief ’s into the creation of the world as jointly held by Protestant, Catholic and Mormons alike. In the introduction and cover pages of The Book of Mormon, it states that the book is the abridgment of an ancient record, of a people who are a remnant of the House of Israel. It further states that it was written by way of commandment, and by the spirit of revelation and prophecy, as viewed by its believers to be a record of God’s dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas. It goes on to state that this ancient record was “brought forth from the earth as the voice of a people speaking from the dust, and translated into modern speech by the gift and power of God as attested by divine affirmation.” This ancient record translation was first published in 1830 and asserts that it is another testament of Christ and of his ministries.³³⁴ Today, historians of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affirm that the Church has never taken any official position on the geographical setting of the Book of Mormon. Many of the Church’s faithful believe that the book’s geographical setting was Central and South America, while others believe that it’s setting took place in the heartland of North America. That having been said, in the late 1800s some antagonists of The Book of Mormon and many faithful believed that the heartland of America and the Mound Builders were, in fact, the setting for the geography of the Book of Mormon, and that the artifacts coming out of the mounds were evidence of its truthfulness. The Book of Mormon tells of a prophet, Lehi, who with his family left Jerusalem to journey by ship, driven by the hand of God, to a land of promise; In an early chapter of The Book of Mormon called First Nephi 2:20 it states: “And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea a land which is choice above all other lands.”³³⁵ Upon arriving at the divinely appointed destination, Lehi referred to this land as a “land of promise,” a chosen and sacred land, a land of liberty. Later, declaring in Second Nephi, chapter one, verse 5-7: We have obtained a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath covenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever, and also all those who should be led out of other countries by the hand of the Lord…Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments, which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity.³³⁶ These promises continue later when Lehi’s son Jacob said: “Behold, this land, said God, shall be a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon this land. And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon this land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles. And I will fortify this land against all other nations.” The language used in The Book of Mormon describing the location of the “Promised Land” is both specific as to distance and close as to proximity. The selection of the words, “this land” with “this” being singular as to the land around the speaker, seems to be pointing to a location in close proximity to a land which has been referred to as a land of promise, a choice land, a land of liberty, a land of prosperity and security. Concurrent with, and subsequent to the publication of The Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was also making some bold statements about the origins of the early inhabitants of this country. In a letter written to John Wentworth (a Chicago newspaper editor) in 1841, Smith wrote; “I was also informed concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of this country, and shown who they were, and from whence they came; a brief sketch of their origin, progress, civilization, laws, governments, of their righteousness and iniquity, and the blessings of God being finally withdrawn from them as a people, was made known unto me…the remnant are the Indians that now inhabit this country.”³³⁸ Joseph Smith viewed some of the Indian tribes as a remnant of the House of Israel as spoken of in The Book of Mormon and sent missionaries to teach them. Such proselytizing was a cause for great concern in the region, by government and religious leaders alike. Not only was there concern regarding the alliances that were being made, but also about espousing ideas to the Indians that were contrary to the policy of Manifest Destiny and other social, political and religious agendas of the day.

These missionaries were stating, unequivocally, that the Indians were a remnant of the House of Israel, which implied that they were more than mere savages. They were the descendants of an advanced culture, which implied that they should be viewed differently by American society and should be given rights under the law.

In the summer of 1841, a group of Native Americans from the Sac and Fox tribes had been displaced from their homelands and were living in present-day Iowa. They agreed to cross the Mississippi River to Nauvoo, a Mormon settlement; to visit the Prophet Joseph Smith as described in a recorded meeting in LDS church history. “Thursday, 12—A considerable number of the Sac and Fox Indians have been for several days encamped in the neighborhood of Montrose. The ferryman brought over a great number on the ferryboat and two flat boats for the purpose of visiting me. [Joseph Smith describes] The military band and a detachment of Invincibles [part of the Legion] were on the shore ready to receive and escort them to the grove, but they refused to come on shore until I went down. I accordingly went down, and met Keokuk, Kis-ku-kosh, Appenoose, and about one hundred chiefs and braves of those tribes, with their families. At the landing, I was introduced by Brother Hyrum [Smith] to them; and after salutations, I conducted them to the meeting ground in the grove, and instructed them in many things which the Lord had revealed unto me concerning their fathers, and the promises that were made concerning them in The Book of Mormon. I advised them to cease killing each other and warring with other tribes; also to keep peace with the whites; all of which was interpreted to them. ³³⁹ The year before publication of the Squier and Davis report of 1848, the first company of Mormon pioneers entered the valley of the Great Salt Lake as a consequence of being driven out of their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois. This was the beginning of a westward migration of tens of thousands of their faithful into the valley of the Great Salt Lake, where they would establish the headquarters of their expanding settlements.

Chief Moses Keokuk [Kis-ku-kosh] a Sac [Sauk] Indian

However, the concerns of government officials continued regarding the handling of the land claims of the American Indians, since they were being gathered and placed on reservations. At the same time, questions related to who would get title to the lands and homes, which the Mormons left behind were being raised. Both those lands being left behind, as well as those lands that the Mormon pioneers were looking to settle were in question. This and the alliances that were being made between the Mormons and Indians, as Mormons were continually sending missionaries to befriend the Indians, were the cause of much concern for government officials. At a later date in addressing some of these ongoing concerns, officials found answers in some of the writings and views of Lewis Henry Morgan and John Wesley Powell, as they advanced their ideas regarding stages of human evolution. As we have seen, these theories viewed the American Indian as a savage, at the lowest stage in this evolutionary cycle of development, and saw fundamental religionists as barbaric. These perceptions would be used in establishing political and legal norms that would become the means and justification for the implementation of discriminatory acts and policies that were passed against minority races and religious organizations in the 1800s.

Eastern Tribes of Indians

A word that originated in France in the 1800s is the word “stereotyping.” In advancing public policy and in the preparation for war, the opposition is oftentimes vilified. This tactic that has been used throughout history to increase support for a war effort or for the advancement of race legislation, is a way to stereotype a culture or race so that they would be viewed as evil, crazy or sub-human. In history we have witnessed how the use of denigrating labels have been affixed to a race, culture or a religion, becomes a stigma, that is hard to erase even after many generations. The Indian tribes of North America have been characterized and stereotyped as being a savage culture, originating from common origins. In our history books Indian tribes are continually characterized as native to America, even though there is ample evidence that shows that the various tribes are greatly different, as they were spread across North America, speaking different languages and living under very different customs. The images of Indians, in the minds of many, is that of savages running around in loincloths, living in a tent, carrying a tomahawk looking for a scalp. They have seldom been depicted as well clothed with beards, as would be the case with men who would have to survive in cold climates. Nor are they typically depicted harvesting fall crops and living in well laid out and thought-out fortified communities, where they have built giant earthworks and temple mounds for their worship.

Moundville Archaeological Park outside Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Shawnee, Sauk and Algonquin Indians of America’s Heartland

_______________________ ³³⁴ Book of Mormon, Title Page ³³⁵ Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 2:20. ³³⁶ Ibid., 2 Nephi 1:5-11 ³³⁷ Ibid., 2 Nephi 10:10-12. ³³⁸ Joseph Smith, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, [Wentworth Letter] compiled and edited by Alma P. Burton [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book., 1977], 275-276 ³³⁹ See: B. H. Porter, An Everlasting Decree, 101-102: L.D.S. History of the Church 3:34-35, 4:401: see also Teaching of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 122 Steven E. Smoot Lost American Antiquities: A Hidden History Chapter 40

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“The Work Among the Lamanites” Elder Spencer W. Kimball

Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles Conference Report, October 1950, pp. 63-69

“…And then the Prophet Joseph Smith said,

. . . and there (in the Rocky Mountains) they (the Latter-day Saints) will open the door for the establishing the gospel among the Lamanites who will receive the gospel and their endowments and the blessings of God.

And Brother John Taylor said:

. . . the work among the Lamanites must not be postponed if we desire to retain the approval of God. Oliver Cowdery, even in that early day, had found the Navajos in the far Southwest, and he reported it to the brethren, feeling that it was a very important thing. Then Wilford Woodruff said this further, as he went down into the southwest, in New Mexico, and visited among the Indians there. He said: “In my short communication of the second inst., I promised to give a fuller account of my visit to the Isletas which I will now endeavor to do. The Isletas are one of the Pueblo groups down in New Mexico.

I view my visit among the Nephites one of the most interesting missions of my life, although short. I say Nephites, because if there are any Nephites on this continent, we have found them among the Zunis, the Lagunas, and the Isletas, for they are a different race of people, altogether, from the Lamanites. I class the Navajo, Moquis (Hopis) and Apaches with the Lamanites, although they are in advance of many Indian tribes of America. I class the Zunis, Lagunas, and Isletas among the Nephites.

And then he goes on to say, that as soon as they dismissed this particular meeting among the Isletas, and were going to leave, one of the Nephites arose. . . . full of the spirit of the Lord and said, “Friends, why do you dismiss us and leave us this way? This is the first time we have heard of our forefathers and the gospel and the things we have looked for from the traditions of our fathers. If our wives and children are weary, let them go home. We want to hear more. We want you to talk all night. Do not leave us so.”

Brother Brigham Young said: “It is our duty to feed and teach these Indians.” Let me quote a few lines from him. He advised us to “educate them and teach them the gospel” so that many generations would not pass ere they should become a white and delightsome people (2 Ne. 30:6).

This is the land they and their fathers have walked over, called their own. And they have just as good right to call it theirs today as any children have to call any land their own. They have buried their fathers and mothers and children here. This is their home, and we have taken possession and occupy the land where they used to hunt. Now the game is gone, and they are left to starve… The Lord has given us the ability to cultivate the ground and reap bountiful harvests. We have an abundance of food for ourselves and for the stranger… We are living on their possessions and at their homes.

I should like to quote again from President John Taylor. He said:

The work among the Lamanites must not be postponed if we desire to retain the approval of God. Thus far we have been content simply to baptize them and let them run wild again, but this must continue no longer; the same devoted effort, the same care in instructing, the same organization and priesthood must be introduced and maintained in the House of Lehi as amongst those of Israel gathered from Gentile nations. As yet God has been doing all, and we comparatively nothing. He has led many of them to us, and they have been baptized, and now we must instruct them further and organize them into churches with proper presidencies, attach them to our stakes, organizations, etc., in one word, treat them exactly in these respects as we would and do treat our white brethren.” Spencer W. Kimball Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles Conference Report, October 1950, pp. 63-69

Before we speak about Great Britain, we will address the division of land in the Old World. We know that Ephraim and Manasseh were the two sons of Joseph who was one of the twelve sons of Jacob or Israel. Below we read about the blessing given to Ephraim and Manasseh and then the blessing given to their father Joseph by Jacob.

Blessing of Manasseh and Ephraim

17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.

18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.

19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. Genesis 48:17-20

What was Joseph’s Blessing?

“Joseph is a fruitful bough by a well—His branches (the Nephites and Lamanites) will run over the wall” Genesis 49 Content Header

22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. Genesis 49:22-26

“To the Latter-day Saints the blessing of Joseph [in Genesis 49] has a particular significance, for the reason that they, more than any other people, are familiar with his descendants, and the blessing promised them in which also they hope to participate. The Book of Mormon is a history, chiefly, of the descendants of Joseph; and in the mighty nations which have peopled the American continent, the Latter-day Saints see, in part, the fulfillment of the great blessings pronounced upon his head.

The article reviews Book of Mormon passages that refer to the seed of Jacob through Joseph coming to a promised land, including the comments made by the Savior when he visited them after his resurrection. Additional passages are reviewed that discuss the additional blessings pronounced upon Joseph by Moses. The author then says:

But what seems singular in connection with these promises made to Joseph and the account of their partial fulfillment in a portion of his posterity inhabiting America is, that after the nations, composed largely of his descendants, had been destroyed and other peoples from Europe—among whom, however, were also large numbers of the descendants of Joseph through the loins of Ephraim—had taken possession of the land, at the real establishment of that government which is destined to shape the destiny of the great continent of America—the land of Joseph—the very first executive chosen for that nation when being sworn to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of this land which God had inspired men to frame, he [George Washington] placed his hand upon the very page of the Bible containing the blessing pronounced upon the head of Joseph by the patriarch Jacob. … B. H. Roberts. Contributor, vol. 10, p. 275: (Emphasis added) Source:

“Certain lands were given to Israel for an inheritance in time and in eternity. America is the land of Joseph; it was the home of Nephite Israel, who were of Joseph, for a thousand years, and it is the headquarters of the Church in this final dispensation in which the church and kingdom of God are in the lands of Ephraim.” 1985 – Elder Bruce R. McConkie

12 Tribes of Israel 

We understand there were 12 Tribes of Israel. Two Tribes didn’t receive a Land inheritance! (Joseph and Levi)

“Only unto the tribe of Levi he gave none inheritance; the sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire are their inheritance, as he said unto them.” Joshua 13:14

“So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.” Joshua 16:4. The House of Ephraim and the House of Manasseh each received a land inheritance.

In other words because Levi and Joseph didn’t receive one of 12 portions of land, that left only 10 portions given. As Joshua 16:4 says those two portions were given to Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. And as Pres. Nelson said in his quote below, “Joseph’s inheritance was to be a land choice above all others. [USA] Pres. Russell M. Nelson

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Land of Joseph

“The Book of Mormon reveals that Joseph, the son of Jacob who was once sold into Egypt, foresaw the Prophet Joseph Smith and his day and noted that there would be many similarities in their lives. Centuries later, the Prophet Joseph stated, “I feel like Joseph in Egypt.” The Book of Mormon reveals that the inheritance of Joseph, son of Israel, was not forgotten when land was distributed to the tribes of Israel, as promised in the Abrahamic covenant. Joseph’s inheritance was to be a land choice above all others. It was choice not because of beauty or wealth of natural resources, but choice because it was chosen to be the repository of sacred writings on golden plates from which the Book of Mormon would one day come. It was choice because it would eventually host the world headquarters of the restored Church of Jesus Christ in the latter days. And it was choice because it is a land of liberty for those who worship the Lord and keep His commandments.” President Russell M. Nelson, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, addresses new Mission Presidents June 22 through June 26, 2016 (Emphasis added)

This quote to me clearly shows that the Land chosen for Joseph of Egypt was indeed CHOICE above all others including any land in Canaan and indeed it was to be the United States of America, the place of Joseph Smith, the gold plates, Salt Lake City and this choice land of liberty.

“Wherefore, the remnant of the house of Joseph shall be built upon this land; [North America] and it shall be a land of their inheritance; and they shall build up a holy city [New Jerusalem] unto the Lord, like unto the Jerusalem of old; and they shall no more be confounded, until the end come when the earth shall pass away.” Ether 13:8 Bold and Parentheses added.

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The article below makes a lot of sense. I urge you to read, ponder, and pray and see the value it may have for your understanding of the brotherhood between Great Britain and the United States of America.

Great Britain….The Blessing Given to Manasseh, Not Ephraim

By Joey Thompson

“To most Believers in The Most High and His Son, the debate as to which country matches which of Joseph’s sons (Ephraim or Manasseh) simply isn’t all that important. Fact is, Most Believers wouldn’t care…..but they should. For, wrapped up in this debate is, what I would call, the greatest mystery in all of scripture, which if a Believers comes to understand, it opens up the entirety of the Bible. Suddenly, the Bible makes sense, far more than it ever could before.

I have chosen to deal with Great Britain first because Manasseh was first born and Great Britain was a nation first, long before America.

We’ll begin by stating an often overlooked point. The meaning of the name Manasseh, which is forgetful or he who forgets. This is so important because Great Britain has so much symbolism right before their very eyes and yet, they have forgotten who they are……And when I say, they have forgotten, I mean, the last few generations have forgotten. Generations of Brits long ago certainly did know. Here is evidence of that fact.

Have you ever heard of The Declaration of Arbroath? We today, might call it The Scottish Declaration of Independence. Scotland declared its independence from Great Britain in 1320 of the common era and in the third paragraph, the authors, Robert the Bruce, Sir James Douglas, and Sir Thomas Randolph, and others, very plainly state the following:

“Thence they came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, to their home in the west where they still live today.”

The full English text of The Declaration of Arbroath can be seen here:

Staying on the Scottish theme, Joseph’s coat of many colors hold the pattern of the plaid kilt. The following article is an excellent source on this subject: http://www.britam.org/tartan.html#Term

Thus is it suffice to say, as a subheading to Great Britain, Scotland lends itself to the tribe of Joseph specifically more than any of the other nations.

Now, let’s identify another characteristic of Manasseh which I believe to be proof positive of who the Brits are in this Genesis 48 prophecy. Take a look at how the 12 tribes were to be laid out right after Israel settled in the middle eastern promised land given to Abraham (which is not the same promise made to Israel in Deuteronomy 8, by the way).

Do you see how the Jordan river divides east Manasseh from west Manasseh? As we shall see in our studies, The Jordan is a type of the Atlantic Ocean. There is an eastern Manasseh, Great Britain and there is a western Manasseh, which is one half of British Canada, and Ephraim is on the western side of that typological Atlantic Ocean, which would be America.

Next, take a look at Deuteronomy 33:17. This should clinch the matter as to which nation is Manasseh and which is Ephraim. The text is the last verse of the blessing Moses pronounced on Joseph and His two sons. It says this:

“As the firstborn of his ox, majesty is his, And his horns are the horns of the wild ox; With them he will push the peoples, All at once, to the ends of the earth. And those are the ten thousands of Ephraim, And those are the thousands of Manasseh.”

The firstborn of Joseph was of course Manasseh. He was the one who pushed the envelope for conquering the entire world. At one point, it could be said of The British Empire, The sun never sets…..Meaning, their conquered territory was so vast, there was always a country governed by Great Britain, on which the sun was shining at any given point in the day. This is what is meant by “All at once, to the ends of the earth.”

However, Moses then makes a pronouncement of numbers which can only be understood at this end time (in the last 100 years). As Great Britain systematically lost all that vast territory as the New World of America opened up and became great, and the territory of America grew and over-spread throughout the world. The territory of people governed by America to that of The UK is ten times more, just as Moses prophesied it would be.

A few other facts concerning Great Britain which point to a tie with Jacob/Israel, apart from the debate of which nation is Ephraim or Manasseh…

1 — The word British is a compound Hebrew word. BRT in Hebrew means Covenant. Ish in Hebrew means man. Thus Britishish means Covenant Man, pointing back to the Abrahamic and Israelite covenants found in scripture.

2 — The flag of Great Britain is called The Union Jack. Jack is a nickname for Jacob. Thus the Union Jack flag is representative of the Union of Jacob/Israel.

3 — The Union Jack is an overlay of two symbols. The Christian Cross and the crossed X symbol which symbolized the crossed arms of Jacob as he blessed Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh.

4 — All the Kings and Queens of Scotland and England have been coronated on the throne, which is said to be the throne of King David, which has The Stone of Scoon (Jacob’s Pillar Stone), sitting in its base, at the times each country had the throne in their possession. The two countries fought over this very throne for many, many years and it was overturned several times. Here is a picture of the throne of England:

5 — Throne of England (Picture Right)

6 — The Anglo Saxon tie to Great Britain is undeniable in history. The meanings of the words, Anglo and Saxon tell the story. Anglo means messenger and Saxon means Sons of Isaac, Sac’s sons. Thus the Anglo Saxons are messengers of the sons of Isaac. Take a look at Genesis 21:12:

“But YHWH said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.”

There is so much more evidence pointing to the fact, not only that Great Britain is an Israelite nation, but more specifically, how it is the fulfillment of the blessing Jacob/Israel gave to His Grandson, Manasseh.

Joey Thompson https://medium.com/@joeythompson_51343/great-britain-the-blessing-given-to-manasseh-not-ephraim-16369a246089

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The more we understand our lineage and our role in the Lord’s kingdom, the more we can assist the Lord in His work. A few quotes from a great article that explains our role in the House of Israel is below from Daniel Ludlow. Source Here

Who Is a Literal Descendant of Abraham by Birth?

In the scriptures, a literal descendant of Abraham is often referred to by the word Hebrew, a word derived from the same root as Eber. (See Gen. 10:21.) The first time the word is used in the Bible (in Gen. 14:13) it refers to Abraham himself. In Genesis 39:14 [Gen. 39:14] it refers to Joseph, a great-grandson of Abraham. Rather consistently throughout the remainder of the scriptures, Hebrews is used to refer to those who are direct, literal descendants of Abraham.

The descendants of Abraham (Hebrews) include anyone whose lineage goes back to any of the sons born to Abraham and his three wives. These wives and their sons, listed in the order of the wives’ marriages to Abraham, are as follows: from Sarah—Isaac; from Hagar—Ishmael; from Keturah—Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

Please note that the descendants of Abraham include many, many more peoples than those who are descended from Isaac, the son who is discussed most in the Bible. Entire nations are directly descended from Abraham, including citizens of the numerous Arab countries and those from multitudinous groups who have intermarried into other cultures and races.

“What special responsibilities are held by Ephraimites in this dispensation?”

President Joseph Fielding Smith and others have made it abundantly clear that the descendants of Ephraim hold the presiding keys to carry forth the work of the Restoration and of the gathering of Israel in the last days. His statement is as follows:

“The members of the Church, most of us of the tribe of Ephraim, are of the remnant of Jacob. We know it to be the fact that the Lord called upon the descendants of Ephraim to commence his work in the earth in these last days. We know further that he has said that he set Ephraim, according to the promises of his birthright, at the head. Ephraim receives the ‘richer blessings,’ these blessings being those of presidency or direction. The keys are with Ephraim. It is Ephraim who is to be endowed with power to bless and give to the other tribes, including the Lamanites, their blessings. All the other tribes of Jacob, including the Lamanites, are to be crowned with glory in Zion by the hands of Ephraim. …

“That the remnants of Joseph, found among the descendants of Lehi, will have part in this great work is certainly consistent, and the great work of this restoration, the building of the temple and the City of Zion, or New Jerusalem, will fall to the lot of the descendants of Joseph, but it is Ephraim who will stand at the head and direct the work.” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:250–51; italics in original removed.)

From what the prophets have said, then, most members of the Church come from Gentile nations, but they have some Israelite ancestors in their lineage. Therefore, they are not “assigned to” or “adopted into” the house of Israel. They are legal heirs of the covenant, and the lineage proclaimed in their patriarchal blessings identifies the blood line that ties them back to Abraham.

While identifying the Lamanites as some of the children of Abraham, President Spencer W. Kimball wrote:

“The Lamanite is a chosen child of God, but he is not the only chosen one. There are many other good people including the Anglos, the French, the German, and the English, who are also of Ephraim and Manasseh. They, with the Lamanites, are also chosen people, and they are a remnant of Jacob. The Lamanite is not wholly and exclusively the remnant of Jacob which the Book of Mormon talks about. We are all of Israel! We are of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph through Ephraim and Manasseh. We are all of us remnants of Jacob.” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982, pp. 600–601.)

THREE SPECIFIC MOUNDS FIGURE PROMINENTLY IN LDS HISTORY Zion’s Camp March May 5th to July 3rd, 1834
Nauvoo Mounds Now Enter Current History

“Mormonism sprang from the mounds,” wrote Roger Kennedy, former director of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Even before the Book of Mormon was published, Mormonism was linked to the Moundbuilder civilizations of North America. One man who claimed to have heard a reading of the lost 116 pages said “It was a description of the mounds about the country and similar to the Book of Mormon. In 1843, Joseph Smith apparently alluded to the 116 pages when he said the Book of Mormon spoke about sacred burial places. Several authors have placed the Book of Mormon among other 19^th century books about the origins of the Moundbuilders.  At one time, there were over a million ancient earth mounds in North America; approximately 100,000 remain today. Many of these mounds are located in the territory from western New York through western Missouri where early Mormon history took place. Three specific mounds figure prominently in LDS history: Zelph’s mound in Illinois, the Kinderhook mound, also in Illinois, from which the six brass plates were taken, and Enon mound in Ohio. Until the early Saints leveled them to build homes and farms, Indian mounds dominated Nauvoo. Joseph Smith purchased one and resorted to it from time to time. Less well known are the mounds located just north of Nauvoo that have recently been discovered and preserved. The connections between Mormonism and the mounds of North America have yet to be fully explored. …The increasing awareness of the numerous Hopewell mounds in the Nauvoo area may give renewed attention to the connection between Mormons and the mounds. When workers dug a utility trench between the Red Brick Store and the Joseph Smith Homestead, the equipment churned up Hopewell bones and artifacts. This area is adjacent to the Smith Family Cemetery, leading to the possibility that Joseph Smith, his wife Emma, his brother Hyrum and his parents are buried in a Hopewell burial site.”The Mormons and the Mounds – Jonathan Neville Mormon History Association June 2017. [Read more about Joseph’s burial mound from Jennice Curlee below]

Jennice and Wilson Curlee Caretakers of the Sacred Nauvoo Mounds

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Why Do Nauvoo’s Historic Burial Mounds Matter?

Meridian Magazine By Rosemary G. Palmer · June 9, 2013

On Memorial Day, which we recently observed, we honor those who died while serving in the U.S. military, and we often remember our own family members by visiting cemeteries and placing flowers on their graves. “The place where a man is buried is sacred to me,” the Prophet Joseph Smith said. Each cemetery forms a chapter in the history of our human past. What about burial sites from many years ago which have no visible markers and are hidden from view?

Centuries ago, the Hopewell culture flourished in central and eastern North America. Hopewell people lived and farmed along the Mississippi River, and many chose bluffs along the river to build earthen mounds to bury their dead. A group of these mounds is located along the Mississippi River north of Nauvoo. Some 40 years ago, many of the mounds were attacked by looters seeking artifacts. Later, the area became neglected, and brush, brambles, and dead trees concealed these burial spots.

Wilson Curlee in brush hiding a mound

Then, a few years ago Wilson and Jennice (Jenny) Curlee moved to Nauvoo and discovered the mounds. When they first walked into the area, “it was an overwhelming moment,” Jenny Curlee said. She felt they had stepped on sacred ground. “The first thing out of my mouth besides Wow’ was “I wish I could take care of them.” During the next few years, the Curlees purchased property that contained some of the mounds. “One is struck by the serenity and spirituality this place evokes,” Jenny Curlee said. “It is like being in another time and place.”

Jenny and Wilson felt compelled to preserve this chapter of the Hopewellian past by keeping the area pristine and making it a retreat for visitors who appreciate nature, tranquility, and those who lived and had been forgotten. Since purchasing the land, the Curlees have spent hours clearing out brush and dead trees. The prospect of restoring the mounds seemed overwhelming–until they met Joseph Petersen, a young man from Nauvoo looking for an Eagle Scout service project.

Joseph and the Curlees’ make plans

Eagle Project Proposal

Carrie Petersen, Joseph’s mother, said that Joseph’s journey began last fall when the former owner of the land mentioned to Joseph’s father the possibility of an Eagle Scout project. Joseph’s father suggested this to Joseph who contacted the Curlees and they agreed. “Throughout the years these sacred grounds have been pillaged and vandalized,” Joseph wrote in his project proposal. “To honor the deceased,” Joseph chose to restore several mounds to their original appearance by refilling them with dirt. He noted that the beneficiaries of this project would be Native Americans of the Standing Bear Council as well as the local and surrounding communities when the area becomes a public archaeological park.

 Mound to be restored Tom Simpson Photo

Preparation for the Project

Before Joseph could submit his proposal to the Boy Scouts of America, the local Native American Council representatives needed to approve the project. A meeting was organized; and on October 26, 2012, the Curlees, several Native American Grandfathers and Grandmothers, Joseph’s family, and other guests met at the mounds site to join in a healing ceremony to restore harmony and balance to the land and mounds before Joseph began the restoration project.

 Preparing for healing ceremony

During the last fall and winter, Native American men tutored Joseph and gave him instructions to complete his project. “In following these instructions, Joseph learned more about an ancient culture and was brought into a fellowship of something he had only heard about,” Jenny Curlee said.

In addition, Joseph needed to receive permission from the State of Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and Dawn Cobb, Human Skeletal Remains Protection Act Coordinator of the same agency. According to Dawn Cobb, “this Act protects from disturbance all graves, grave markers, and grave artifacts that are over 100 years old and not located in a registered cemetery.” Prehistoric burial mounds are both a cemetery and a grave marker, and the mounds on the Curlee’s property met the criteria.     

The Day of the Project

At 10:00 a.m. on Easter weekend March 30, 2013, approximately 33 people met on the bluff near the mounds to assist Joseph Petersen with his Eagle project. Carrie Petersen “was in awe to see everyone who came and gave up their holiday Saturday morning to help.”

 Tom Simpson Photography

With a cloudy sky and forecast of rain, “many prayers went up for us to accomplish the project before it rained, and that was exactly what happened,” Jenny Curlee said. “Wilson and I were the last ones off the hill when it started to rain.”

Ceremonial Protocol

Observing Native American protocol, the participants gathered in a circle for an opening ceremony and instructions before entering the project site. Susan Stanton of the Turtle Island Council and Monica Thompson of the Hummingbird Council drummed and led the group in the Cherokee morning song, a lyrical prayer which greets the new day with gratitude to the Creator.

Larry Cooper of the Standing Bear Council told of his personal history around Nauvoo and the many years he visited this mound group and hundreds more in the Mississippi River vicinity.

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He honored Joseph and offered a prayer. Others in the circle spoke, and Joseph gave instructions. Jenny Curlee told the volunteers “not be surprised at what they might feel or learn, but be aware that they will have an experience meant just for them.”

Sage smudging before entering the site Tom Simpson Photo 

Later, Carrie Petersen shared her impressions and said, “This has been no ordinary Eagle Scout project. From the beginning of the customary healing ritual after everyone was smudged with sage to cleanse came a peculiar and powerful spirit that was unexpected. We came to a revived awareness that the desire to restore and preserve Native American history and culture is similar to ours as members of the LDS Church. We feel a connection with those who once lived where we now live.”

Restoration of Two Mounds

Dawn Cobb from Springfield, Illinois, identified many mounds on the Curlee’s property “and nearly all of them were damaged decades ago when someone dug into the tops of them, most likely in search of prehistoric artifacts. Joseph Peterson’s Eagle project began the process of repairing damage to two of the mounds.”

 Joseph and Scouts fill buckets Tom Simpson Photo

On the day of the project, the previous owners of the property used their heavy equipment to haul dirt to a location where volunteers could access it with wheelbarrows and buckets and carry it to the mounds. Joseph’s Native American tutors requested that the mounds be filled in by hand as they had originally been built. Joseph honored the tradition. Although he planned to repair several mounds that day, Joseph discovered how long it took to finish the first mound. Time would only permit the restoration of two mounds following these steps:

• Rake the mounds of leaves before placing ground fabric on the mounds.
• Lay the ground fabric according to state law to separate existing dirt from new dirt on the mounds.
• Fill the mounds with dirt using shovels, buckets, and wheelbarrows.
• Clear the area of tools and materials.

After the opening ceremony and smudging with sage, the volunteers headed to the project site. “We had to carry our tools, rakes, shovels, buckets, and wheelbarrows along the sides of the road, walking in the leaves because of the muddy ground from the recent snow melt and torn-up road,” Jenny Curlee said. “No one seemed to mind the mud or the chill as they focused on the higher reason they had come together. There was an air of excitement, of oneness of purpose and fellowship.”

Walking on muddy ground to the site Tom Simpson Photo 

When the group reached the project site, volunteers first raked leaves off the mounds. Then Dawn Cobb taught them “how to install landscape fabric in the holes before backfilling them with clean fill.” She explained that “landscape fabric covers the old disturbance (the looter’s pit) as a visible separation between the mound and the new fill.”

After the fabric was in place, boys and men filled buckets with dirt and carried them up the sides of the mound to dump the dirt. “The teamwork was awe-inspiring,” Jenny Curlee said. “Dawn Cobb urged them to fill in just a little more here or a little more there.”

 Putting dirt on the mound Tom Simpson Photo

At noon the volunteers took a lunch break with homemade chili, cookies, and Indian fry bread. After lunch they finished the first mound and started on the second one. When it was time to leave, the second mound still needed dirt to round the top, and the Curlees offered to finish it during the week. “No doubt all who picked up their shovels and other tools and buckets walked more slowly down the lane than when they came in,” Jenny Curlee said. “Tonight there will be aching backs and knees and probably deep sleep, but peace of mind and a sense of accomplishment.”

In Joseph’s final report he expressed gratitude that “everyone was willing to help. They were dressed properly, brought tools, and worked until the end of the project even though it was a holiday weekend.”

The Project’s Impact

What impact did this Eagle Scout project have on its participants?

Dawn Cobb from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency said, “Joseph Peterson’s Eagle project has a greater depth of meaning because a variety of groups were interested in helping him succeed. Everyone had the same goal – to repair the damage and to right a wrong. His project began the healing process that these mounds and the community needed. I hope that other Scouts look to this project as an example of a community working together towards a positive goal.”

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Eagle project volunteers Tom Simpson Photo

Joseph’s mother observed that “Scouts from Troop 110 learned something by the service they gave and hopefully will continue to reverence that place.” She reported that even though Joseph is normally shy, he always has been service-oriented. “This experience will continue to shape the way he views himself and his ability to accomplish something extraordinary.”

Jenny Curlee noticed that “Joseph’s face almost radiated, and he looked and acted like a leader. He seemed to have grown up since we first met him last fall at the onset of the Eagle project.” She added, “As for us, we felt the Spirit radiate through the trees, on the mounds, in the faces of all who came and shared.  Many remarked to us how they felt something they had not known they would feel. It was far more than an Eagle Scout project; it was service to each other, to those who built these original mounds, and to God.”

As stewards of the land, the Curlees plan to repair other mounds. One they recently restored is “turnaround mound.” “And for the first time we can walk right up to it, and it is clean and visible,” Jenny said. “Before, it was covered with brambles, honeysuckle, and dead trees. Also the trail by the children’s mound’ is almost cleaned out and looking good.” After a wet Nauvoo spring, visitors to the site were amazed to see beautiful ferns growing prolifically on the tops of mounds and no other place in the area.

Mound with ferns growing on it 

Besides restoring mounds on their property, the Curlees hoped to preserve the burial sites in the future. Before Joseph began his Eagle Scout project, Dawn Cobb and a state archaeologist came to Nauvoo, identified mounds, and placed protected archaeological signs by some of them. The Curlees also requested cemetery designation, and a week after the Eagle project, the State of Illinois granted the property cemetery designation.

President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “Each of us has a small field to cultivate. While so doing, we must never lose sight of the greater picture . . . Weave beautifully your small thread in the grand tapestry, the pattern for which was laid out for us by the God of Heaven.”  (Ensign, Nov. 1989)

Thanks to the Curlees’ and Joseph Petersen’s small threads, Nauvoo’s diverse history is expanding for visitors to learn more about Nauvoo’s historic past. By keeping this area pristine, individuals and families can roam through the trees, appreciate nature, and contemplate the lives and history of those who built the earthen mounds and were forgotten but can be remembered again. Source:

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I just received this press release about the landing of the Phoenicia. The voyage is part of the Phoenicians Before Columbus Expedition, Se my blog about it earlier today HERE!

Replica Phoenician Ship Makes Landfall in Fort Lauderdale, Florida after Unprecedented 6,000-Mile Atlantic Voyage 

Tuesday, February 4, 2020 at 12:00pm
(Time is approximate due to sea and weather conditions)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 31, 2020 — Coral Ridge Yacht Club is set to host replica Phoenician ship, Phoenicia for its first U.S. landing after a five-month voyage of over 6,000 miles. The voyage is part of the Phoenicians Before Columbus Expedition, designed with the help of the US-based Phoenician International Research Center, to show that Phoenician ships could have crossed the Atlantic over 2,000 years before Christopher Columbus “discovered” the American continent.

The Phoenicia began its voyage from Carthage, Tunisia on September 28, 2019. After sailing from Carthage to Cadiz, Spain, Essaouira, Morocco and Tenerife in the Canary Islands, the ship left the Old World on November 23, 2019 and safely reached port in the Dominican Republic on December 31, 2019, having crossed the Atlantic Ocean using nothing but wind, current, sail and compass.

The Phoenicia will make landfall on American shores Tuesday, February 4, 2020, docking at Coral Ridge Yacht Club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (2800 Yacht Club Boulevard). Viewing of the landing is open to the public. To reserve a space, call Coral Ridge Yacht Club at 954-566-7886.

“We are honored to host the Phoenicia and its crew at Coral Ridge Yacht Club, and to be part of this exciting moment in history,” said Commodore Pru Lewis. “We are also excited to welcome the local community to our Club to view this magnificent ship.”

The Phoenicia is a traditionally-built replica of a Phoenician merchant vessel, based on a 600 BC design. British Adventurer and Expedition Leader, Philip Beale FRGS, captains the Phoenicia, sailing with a multi-national crew with representatives from the United States, Lebanon, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Norway, Holland, Brazil and Indonesia. Amongst the crew is filmmaker Yuri Sanada from Aventuras Produções, Brazil. He is documenting life on board as well as the challenges the Phoenicians were likely to have faced. 

According to Greek geographer and historian, Strabo, the Phoenicians traded and settled along the East Atlantic coast, prompting Beale’s belief in the likelihood that the Phoenicians would have attempted to sail West in the hope of discovering more lands. Beale commissioned the building of the Phoenicia ship 12 years ago. It was traditionally built in Syria and its design was based on the wreckage of the Jules Vernes 7, discovered in the Mediterranean in the early 1990’s. The Phoenicia is believed to be the only replica of its kind in the world. Having already circumnavigated Africa in the First Phoenician Ship expedition (2008-10), Beale was once again at the helm for the cross Atlantic challenge; reiterating his passion for the seafaring Phoenicians. 

The Expedition has been endorsed by the Ministries of Information and Tourism of the Republic of Lebanon and received support, expedition supplies and services from numerous organizations in the Republic of Tunisia, prior to the launch of the Expedition from Carthage, Tunisia in September 2019. The Expedition is part of the United Nations Environment ‘Clean Seas Campaign’, taking daily water samples to measure micro plastic levels and raising awareness about plastic pollution in the ocean.

A wide international following has already grown for this unusual and inspired endeavor. Some believe the Phoenicians made it to the Americas and look for genealogy and archaeological evidence there. Beale is focused on highlighting their engineering and maritime skills and hopes that one day his work will contribute to wider archaeological findings to inform a bigger Phoenician story. Phoenicians Before Columbus is approved by the UK’s Scientific Exploration Society and the expedition is the proud recipient of the 2019 Captain Scott Society’s ‘Spirit of Adventure’ Award.

The journey across the Atlantic from Tenerife to the Dominican Republic took 39 days, a distance of some 3,700 miles. From the Dominican Republic to Florida, the journey of 1,000 miles will take 12 days. Once completed, the total voyage from Carthage, Tunisia to Florida will have covered over 6,000 miles, taking five months to complete.

For more information or media inquiries, contact:

Roz Alford, Coral Ridge Yacht Club

Cell: 404-580-0387

Email: [email protected]

Related Links:
Visit the Expedition Website

Follow the Expedition on Facebook

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ABOUT CORAL RIDGE YACHT CLUB
For over 70 years, Coral Ridge Yacht Club has beckoned to those who love the water, enjoy an active social life and who desire living life to the fullest. Established in 1947, the Club is located on Florida’s famed Gold Coast along the Intracoastal Waterway and offers an escape into a tropical paradise. Mingling the traditions of old-world elegance with fun, fellowship and relaxation, this charming haven offers the magic of the true South Florida lifestyle, including award-winning cuisine, picturesque landscapes and an abundance of social activities and entertainment.

News Release Here:

It is amazing to me that after 40 years, I never remember reading this remarkable article. I am just now reading and sharing this vital message for a purpose I know not, but I feel such a wonderful feeling as I share it with you. It just goes to show that we seldom follow all of the good counsel we have received in the past. Are we listening to our current leaders, let alone have we remembered the inspired leaders of long ago?

I believe the words of Elder Packer are even more appropriate for us to hear today than way back in 1981. It is obvious as I look at what I call the great and spacious buildings (Higher Education), that we have not headed the words of Elder Packer. Wow, it has hit me like a ton of bricks. Elder Packer’s word’s are meant for the majority of intellectuals and scholars of today. I’m trying not to judge all scholars, as I know there are many that are doing what the Lord wants, but I feel the vast majority of scholars live in that great and spacious building. I fully believe as Elder Packer says, “Mantle is far, far greater than intellect.”

This is a long article but I want you to read it all if you can. Please especially read the parts I have made bold , italicized or marked in colored text or colored boxes. May we stay on the “Covenant Path” that President Nelson desires of us. I have been told by many friends today, that Elder Packer’s words were just as hated by intellectuals back in 1981 as they are today. I call it Intellectual Insanity.

Elder Boyd K. Packer Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Address to religious educators at a symposium on the Doctrine and Covenants and Church history, Brigham Young University, 22 August 1981

The fact that I speak quite directly on a most important subject will, I hope, be regarded as something of a tribute to you who are our loyal, devoted, and inspired associates.

I have come to believe that it is the tendency for many members of the Church who spend a great deal of time in academic research to begin to judge the Church, its doctrine, organization, and leadership, present and past, by the principles of their own profession. Ofttimes this is done unwittingly, and some of it, perhaps, is not harmful.

It is an easy thing for a man with extensive academic training to measure the Church using the principles he has been taught in his professional training as his standard. In my mind it ought to be the other way around. A member of the Church ought always, particularly if he is pursuing extensive academic studies, to judge the professions of man against the revealed word of the Lord.

Many disciplines are subject to this danger. Over the years I have seen many members of the Church lose their testimonies and yield their faith as the price for academic achievement. Many others have been sorely tested. Let me illustrate.

During my last year as one of the supervisors of seminaries and institutes of religion, a seminary teacher went to a large university in the East to complete a doctorate in counseling and guidance. The ranking authority in that field was there and quickly took an interest in this personable, clean-cut, very intelligent, young Latter-day Saint.

Our teacher attracted attention as he moved through the course work with comparative ease, and his future looked bright indeed—that is, until he came to the dissertation. He chose to study the ward bishop as a counselor.

At that time I was called as one of the General Authorities and helped him obtain authorization to interview and send questionnaires to a cross-section of bishops.

In the dissertation he described the calling and ordination of a bishop, described the power of discernment, the right of a bishop to receive revelation, and his right to spiritual guidance. His doctoral committee did not understand this. They felt it had no place in a scholarly paper and insisted that he take it out.

He came to see me. I read his dissertation and suggested that he satisfy their concern by introducing the discussion on spiritual matters with a statement such as “the Latter-day Saints believe the bishop has spiritual power,” or “they claim that there is inspiration from God attending the bishop in his calling.”

But the committee denied him even this. It was obvious that they would be quite embarrassed to have this ingredient included in a scholarly dissertation.

It is as Paul said: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

He was reminded of his very great potential and was told that with some little accommodation—specifically, leaving out all the spiritual references—his dissertation would be published and his reputation established. They predicted that he would become an authority in the field.

He was tempted. Perhaps, once established, he could then insert this spiritual ingredient back into his work. Then, as an established authority, he could really help the Church.

But something stood in the way: his faith, his integrity. So, he did the best he could with his dissertation. It did not contain enough of the Spirit to satisfy him, and too much to have been fully accepted by his worldly professors. But he received his degree.

His dissertation is not truly the scholarly document it might have been, because the most essential ingredient is missing. Revelation is so central a part of a bishop’s experience in counseling that any study which ignores it cannot be regarded as a scholarly work.

He returned to the modest income and to the relative obscurity of the Church Educational System.

I talked to this teacher a day or two ago. We talked about his dissertation and the fact that it was never published. He has been a great influence among the youth of the Church. He did the right thing. He summed up his experience this way: “The mantle is far, far greater than the intellect; the priesthood is the guiding power.” His statement becomes the title for this talk and embodies what I hope to convey to you.

I must not be too critical of those professors. They do not know of the things of the Spirit. One can understand their position. It is another thing, however, when we consider members of the Church, particularly those who hold the priesthood and have made covenants in the temple. Many do not do as my associate did; rather, they capitulate, cross over the line, and forsake the things of the Spirit. Thereafter, they judge the Church, the doctrine, and the leadership by the standards of their academic profession.

This problem has affected some of those who have taught and have written about the history of the Church. These professors say of themselves that religious faith has little influence on Mormon scholars. They say this because, obviously, they are not simply Latter-day Saints but are also intellectuals trained, for the most part, in secular institutions. They would that some historians who are Latter-day Saints write history as they were taught in graduate school, rather than as Mormons.

If we are not careful, very careful, and if we are not wise, very wise, we first leave out of our professional study the things of the Spirit. The next step soon follows: we leave the spiritual things out of our lives.

I want to read to you a most significant statement by President Joseph F. Smith, a statement that you would do well to keep in mind in your teaching and research, and one which will serve as somewhat of a text for my remarks to you:

“It has not been by the wisdom of man that this people have been directed in their course until the present; it has been by the wisdom of Him who is above man and whose knowledge is greater than that of man, and whose power is above the power of man. … The hand of the Lord may not be visible to all. There may be many who can not discern the workings of God’s will in the progress and development of this great latter-day work, but there are those who see in every hour and in every moment of the existence of the Church, from its beginning until now, the overruling, almighty hand of Him who sent His Only Begotten Son to the world to become a sacrifice for the sin of the world.” (In Conference Report, Apr. 1904, p. 2; emphasis added.)

If we do not keep this constantly in mind—that the Lord directs this Church—we may lose our way in the world of intellectual and scholarly research.

You seminary teachers and some of you institute and BYU men will be teaching the history of the Church this school year. This is an unparalleled opportunity in the lives of your students to increase their faith and testimony of the divinity of this work. Your objective should be that they will see the hand of the Lord in every hour and every moment of the Church from its beginning till now.

As one who has taken the journey a number of times, I offer four cautions before you begin.

First Caution

There is no such thing as an accurate, objective history of the Church without consideration of the spiritual powers that attend this work.

There is no such thing as a scholarly, objective study of the office of bishop without consideration of spiritual guidance, of discernment, and of revelation. That is not scholarship. Accordingly, I repeat, there is no such thing as an accurate or objective history of the Church which ignores the Spirit.

You might as well try to write the biography of Mendelssohn without hearing or mentioning his music, or write the life of Rembrandt without mentioning light or canvas or color.

If someone who knew very little about music should write a biography of Mendelssohn, one who had been trained to have a feeling for music would recognize that very quickly. That reader would not be many pages into the manuscript before he would know that a most essential ingredient had been left out.

Mendelssohn, no doubt, would emerge as an ordinary man, perhaps not an impressive man at all. That which makes him most worth remembering would be gone. Without it he would appear, at best, eccentric. Certainly, controversy would develop over why a biography at all. Whoever should read the biography would not know, really know, Mendelssohn at all—this, even though the biographer might have invested exhaustive research in his project and might have been accurate in every other detail.

And, if you viewed Rembrandt only in black and white, you would miss most of his inspiration.

Those of us who are extensively engaged in researching the wisdom of man, including those who write and those who teach Church history, are not immune from these dangers. I have walked that road of scholarly research and study and know something of the dangers. If anything, we are more vulnerable than those in some of the other disciplines. Church history can be so very interesting and so inspiring as to be a very powerful tool indeed for building faith. If not properly written or properly taught, it may be a faith destroyer.

President Brigham Young admonished Karl G. Maeser not to teach even the times table without the Spirit of the Lord. How much more essential is that Spirit in the research, the writing, and the teaching of Church history.

If we who research, write, and teach the history of the Church ignore the spiritual on the pretext that the world may not understand it, our work will not be objective. And if, for the same reason, we keep it quite secular, we will produce a history that is not accurate and not scholarly—this, in spite of the extent of research or the nature of the individual statements or the incidents which are included as part of it, and notwithstanding the training or scholarly reputation of the one who writes or teaches it. We would end up with a history with the one most essential ingredient left out.

Those who have the Spirit can recognize very quickly whether something is missing in a written Church history—this in spite of the fact that the author may be a highly trained historian and the reader is not. And, I might add, we have been getting a great deal of experience in this regard in the past few years.

President Wilford Woodruff warned: “I will here say that God has inspired me to keep a Journal History of this Church, and I warn the future Historians to give Credence to my History of this Church and Kingdom; for my Testimony is true, and the truth of its record will be manifest in the world to Come.” (Journal of Wilford Woodruff, 6 July 1877, Historical Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; emphasis added. Spelling and punctuation have been standardized.)

Second Caution

There is a temptation for the writer or the teacher of Church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith promoting or not.

Some things that are true are not very useful.

Historians seem to take great pride in publishing something new, particularly if it illustrates a weakness or mistake of a prominent historical figure. For some reason, historians and novelists seem to savor such things. If it related to a living person, it would come under the heading of gossip. History can be as misleading as gossip and much more difficult—often impossible—to verify.

The writer or the teacher who has an exaggerated loyalty to the theory that everything must be told is laying a foundation for his own judgment. He should not complain if one day he himself receives as he has given. Perhaps that is what is contemplated in having one’s sins preached from the housetops.

Some time ago a historian gave a lecture to an audience of college students on one of the past Presidents of the Church. It seemed to be his purpose to show that that President was a man subject to the foibles of men. He introduced many so-called facts that put that President in a very unfavorable light, particularly when they were taken out of the context of the historical period in which he lived.

Someone who was not theretofore acquainted with this historical figure (particularly someone not mature) must have come away very negatively affected. Those who were unsteady in their convictions surely must have had their faith weakened or destroyed.

I began teaching seminary under Abel S. Rich, principal. He was the second seminary teacher employed by the Church and a man of maturity, wisdom, and experience. Among the lessons I learned from him was this: when I want to know about a man, I seek out those who know him best. I do not go to his enemies but to his friends. He would not confide in his enemy. You could not know the innermost thoughts of his heart by consulting those who would injure him.

We are teachers and should know the importance of the principle of prerequisites. It is easily illustrated with the subject of chemistry. No responsible chemist would advise, and no reputable school would permit, a beginning student to register for advanced chemistry without a knowledge of the fundamental principles of chemistry. The advanced course would be a destructive mistake, even for a very brilliant beginning student. Even that brilliant student would need some knowledge of the elements, of atoms and molecules, of electrons, of valence, of compounds and properties. To let a student proceed without the knowledge of fundamentals would surely destroy his interest in, and his future with, the field of chemistry.

The same point may be made with reference to so-called sex education. There are many things that are factual, even elevating, about this subject. There are aspects of this subject that are so perverted and ugly it does little good to talk of them at all. They cannot be safely taught to little children or to those who are not eligible by virtue of age or maturity or authorizing ordinance to understand them.

Teaching some things that are true, prematurely or at the wrong time, can invite sorrow and heartbreak instead of the joy intended to accompany learning.

What is true with these two subjects is, if anything, doubly true in the field of religion. The scriptures teach emphatically that we must give milk before meat. The Lord made it very clear that some things are to be taught selectively, and some things are to be given only to those who are worthy.

It matters very much not only what we are told but when we are told it. Be careful that you build faith rather than destroy it.

President William E. Berrett has told us how grateful he is that a testimony that the past leaders of the Church were prophets of God was firmly fixed in his mind before he was exposed to some of the so-called facts that historians have put in their published writings.

This principle of prerequisites is so fundamental to all education that I have never been quite able to understand why historians are so willing to ignore it. And, if those outside the Church have little to guide them but the tenets of their profession, those inside the Church should know better.

Some historians write and speak as though the only ones to read or listen are mature, experienced historians. They write and speak to a very narrow audience. Unfortunately, many of the things they tell one another are not uplifting, go far beyond the audience they may have intended, and destroy faith.

What that historian did with the reputation of the President of the Church was not worth doing. He seemed determined to convince everyone that the prophet was a man. We knew that already. All of the prophets and all of the Apostles have been men. It would have been much more worthwhile for him to have convinced us that the man was a prophet, a fact quite as true as the fact that he was a man.

He has taken something away from the memory of a prophet. He has destroyed faith. I remind you of the truth Shakespeare taught, ironically spoken by Iago: “Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing; / ’Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands— / But he that filches from me my good name / Robs me of that which not enriches him / And makes me poor indeed” (Othello, act 3, sc. 3, lines 157–61).

The sad thing is that he may have, in years past, taken great interest in those who led the Church and desired to draw close to them. But instead of following that long, steep, discouraging, and occasionally dangerous path to spiritual achievement, instead of going up to where they were, he devised a way of collecting mistakes and weaknesses and limitations to compare with his own. In that sense he has attempted to bring a historical figure down to his level and in that way feel close to him and perhaps justify his own weaknesses.

I agree with President Stephen L Richards, who stated:

“If a man of history has secured over the years a high place in the esteem of his countrymen and fellow men and has become imbedded in their affections, it has seemingly become a pleasing pastime for researchers and scholars to delve into the past of such a man, discover, if may be, some of his weaknesses, and then write a book exposing hitherto unpublished alleged factual findings, all of which tends to rob the historic character of the idealistic esteem and veneration in which he may have been held through the years.

“This ‘debunking,’ we are told, is in the interest of realism, that the facts should be known. If an historic character has made a great contribution to country and society, and if his name and his deeds have been used over the generations to foster high ideals of character and service, what good is to be accomplished by digging out of the past and exploiting weaknesses, which perhaps a generous contemporary public forgave and subdued?” (Where Is Wisdom? [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1955], p. 155.)

That historian or scholar who delights in pointing out the weakness and frailties of present or past leaders destroys faith. A destroyer of faith—particularly one within the Church, and more particularly one who is employed specifically to build faith—places himself in great spiritual jeopardy. He is serving the wrong master, and unless he repents, he will not be among the faithful in the eternities.

One who chooses to follow the tenets of his profession, regardless of how they may injure the Church or destroy the faith of those not ready for “advanced history,” is himself in spiritual jeopardy. If that one is a member of the Church, he has broken his covenants and will be accountable. After all of the tomorrows of mortality have been finished, he will not stand where he might have stood.

I recall a conversation with President Henry D. Moyle. We were driving back from Arizona and were talking about a man who destroyed the faith of young people from the vantage point of a teaching position. Someone asked President Moyle why this man was still a member of the Church when he did things like that. “He is not a member of the Church,” President Moyle answered firmly. Another replied that he had not heard of his excommunication. “He has excommunicated himself,” President Moyle responded. “He has cut himself off from the Spirit of God. Whether or not we get around to holding a court doesn’t matter that much; he has cut himself off from the Spirit of the Lord.”

Third Caution

In an effort to be objective, impartial, and scholarly, a writer or a teacher may unwittingly be giving equal time to the adversary.

Someone told of the man who entitled his book an Unbiased History of the Civil War from the Southern Point of View. While we chuckle at that, there is something to be said about presenting Church history from the viewpoint of those who have righteously lived it. The idea that we must be neutral and argue quite as much in favor of the adversary as we do in favor of righteousness is neither reasonable nor safe.

In the Church we are not neutral. We are one-sided. There is a war going on, and we are engaged in it. It is the war between good and evil, and we are belligerents defending the good. We are therefore obliged to give preference to and protect all that is represented in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we have made covenants to do it.

Some of our scholars establish for themselves a posture of neutrality. They call it “sympathetic detachment.” Historians are particularly wont to do that. If they make a complimentary statement about the Church, they seem to have to counter it with something that is uncomplimentary.

Some of them, since they are members of the Church, are quite embarrassed with the thought that they might be accused of being partial. They care very much what the world thinks and are very careful to include in their writings criticism of the Church leaders of the past.

They particularly strive to be acclaimed as historians as measured by the world’s standard. They would do well to read Nephi’s vision of the iron rod and ponder verses 24–28.

“And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree.

“And after they had partaken of the fruit of the tree they did cast their eyes about as if they were ashamed. [Notice the word after. He is talking of those who are partakers of the goodness of God—of Church members.]

“And I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth.

“And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceeding fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit.

“And after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost.” (1 Nephi 8:24–28; emphasis added.)

And I want to say in all seriousness that there is a limit to the patience of the Lord with respect to those who are under covenant to bless and protect His Church and kingdom upon the earth but do not do it.

Particularly are we in danger if we are out to make a name for ourselves, if our “hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that [we] do not learn this one lesson—

“That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.

“That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.

“Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks, to persecute the saints, and to fight against God.” (D&C 121:35–38.)

There is much in the scriptures and in our Church literature to convince us that we are at war with the adversary. We are not obliged as a church, nor are we as members obliged, to accommodate the enemy in this battle.

President Joseph Fielding Smith pointed out that it would be a foolish general who would give access to all of his intelligence to his enemy. It is neither expected nor necessary for us to accommodate those who seek to retrieve references from our sources, distort them, and use them against us.

Suppose that a well-managed business corporation is threatened by takeover from another corporation. Suppose that the corporation bent on the takeover is determined to drain off all its assets and then dissolve this company. You can rest assured that the threatened company would hire legal counsel to protect itself.

Can you imagine that attorney, under contract to protect the company, having fixed in his mind that he must not really take sides, that he must be impartial?

Suppose that when the records of the company he has been employed to protect are opened for him to prepare his brief he collects evidence and passes some of it to the attorneys of the enemy company. His own firm may then be in great jeopardy because of his disloyal conduct.

Do you not recognize a breach of ethics, or integrity, or morality?

I think you can see the point I am making. Those of you who are employed by the Church have a special responsibility to build faith, not destroy it. If you do not do that, but in fact accommodate the enemy, who is the destroyer of faith, you become in that sense a traitor to the cause you have made covenants to protect.

Those who have carefully purged their work of any religious faith in the name of academic freedom or so-called honesty ought not expect to be accommodated in their researches or to be paid by the Church to do it.

Rest assured, also, that you will get little truth, and less benefit, from those who steal documents or those who deal in stolen goods. There have always been, and we have among us today, those who seek entrance to restricted libraries and files to secretly copy material and steal it away in hopes of finding some detail that has not as yet been published—this in order that they may sell it for money or profit in some way from its publication or inflate an ego by being first to publish it.

In some cases the motive is to destroy faith, if they can, and the Church, if they are able. The Church will move forward, and their efforts will be of little moment. But such conduct does not go unnoticed in the eternal scheme of things.

We should not be ashamed to be committed, to be converted, to be biased in favor of the Lord.

Elder Joseph Fielding Smith pointed out the fallacy of trying to work both sides of the street: “You may as well say that the Book of Mormon is not true because it does not give credence to the story the Lamanites told of the Nephites” (Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Apr. 1925, p. 55).

A number of years ago, professors from Harvard University who were members of the Church invited me to lunch over at the Harvard Business School faculty dining room. They wanted to know if I would join them in participating in a new publication; they wanted me to contribute to it.

They were generous in their compliments, saying that because I had a doctorate a number of people in the Church would listen to me, and being a General Authority (at that time I was an Assistant to the Twelve), I could have some very useful influence.

I listened to them very attentively but indicated at the close of the conversation that I would not join them. I asked to be excused from responding to their request. When they asked why, I told them this: “When your associates announced the project, they described how useful it would be to the Church—a niche that needed to be filled.” And then the spokesman said, “We are all active and faithful members of the Church; however, …”

I told my two hosts that if the announcement had read, “We are active and faithful members of the Church; therefore, …” I would have joined their organization. I had serious questions about a “however” organization. I have little worry over a “therefore” organization.

That however meant that they put a condition upon their Church membership and their faith. It meant that they put something else first. It meant that they were to judge the Church and gospel and the leaders of it against their own backgrounds and training. It meant that their commitment was partial, and that partial commitment is not enough to qualify one for full spiritual light.

I would not contribute to publications, nor would I belong to organizations, that by spirit or inclination are faith destroying. There are plenty of scholars in the world determined to find all secular truth. There are so few of us, relatively speaking, striving to convey the spiritual truths, who are protecting the Church. We cannot safely be neutral.

Many years ago Elder Widtsoe made reference to a foolish teacher in the Mutual Improvement Association who sponsored some debate with the intent of improving the abilities of the young members of the Church. He chose as a subject “Resolved: Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.” Unfortunately, the con side won.

The youngsters speaking in favor of the proposition were not as clever and their arguments were not as carefully prepared as those of the opposing side. The fact that Joseph Smith remained a prophet after the debate was over did not protect some of the participants from suffering the destruction of their faith and thereafter conducting their lives as though Joseph Smith were not a prophet and as though the church he founded and the gospel he restored were not true.

Fourth Caution

The final caution concerns the idea that so long as something is already in print, so long as it is available from another source, there is nothing out of order in using it in writing or speaking or teaching.

Surely you can see the fallacy in that.

I have on occasion been disappointed when I have read statements that tend to belittle or degrade the Church or past leaders of the Church in writings of those who are supposed to be worthy members of the Church. When I have commented on my disappointment to see that in print, the answer has been, “It was printed before, and it’s available, and therefore I saw no reason not to publish it again.”

You do not do well to see that it is disseminated. It may be read by those not mature enough for “advanced history,” and a testimony in seedling stage may be crushed.

Several years ago President Ezra Taft Benson spoke to you and said: “It has come to our attention that some of our teachers, particularly in our university programs, are purchasing writings from known apostates … in an effort to become informed about certain points of view or to glean from their research. You must realize that when you purchase their writings or subscribe to their periodicals, you help sustain their cause. We would hope that their writings not be on your seminary or institute or personal bookshelves. We are entrusting you to represent the Lord and the First Presidency to your students, not the views of the detractors of the Church” (The Gospel Teacher and His Message [address delivered to Church Educational System personnel, 17 Sept. 1976], p. 12.)

I endorse that sound counsel to you.

Remember: when you see the bitter apostate, you do not see only an absence of light, you see also the presence of darkness.

Do not spread disease germs!

I learned a great lesson years ago when I interviewed a young man then in the mission home. He was disqualified from serving a mission. He confessed to a transgression that you would think would never enter the mind of a normal human being.

“Where on earth did you ever get an idea to do something like that?” I asked.

To my great surprise he said, “From my bishop.”

He said the bishop in the interview said, “Have you ever done this? Have you ever done that? Have you ever done this other?” and described in detail things that the young man had never thought of. They preyed upon his mind until, under perverse inspiration, the opportunity presented itself, and he fell.

Don’t perpetuate the unworthy, the unsavory, or the sensational.

Some things that are in print go out of print, and the old statement “good riddance to bad rubbish” might apply.

Elder G. Homer Durham of the First Quorum of the Seventy told of counsel he had received from one of his professors who was an eminent historian: “You don’t write [and, I might add, you don’t teach] history out of the garbage pails.”

Moroni gave an excellent rule for historians to follow:

“For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

“But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.” (Moroni 7:16–17.)

It makes a great deal of difference whether we regard mortality as the conclusion and fulfillment of our existence or as a preparation for an eternal existence as well.

Those are the cautions I give to you who teach and write Church history.

There are qualifications to teach or to write the history of this church. If one is lacking in any one of these qualifications, he cannot properly teach the history of the Church. He can recite facts and give a point of view, but he cannot properly teach the history of the Church.

I will state these qualifications in the form of questions so that you can assess your own qualifications.

Do you believe that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ personally appeared to the boy prophet, Joseph Smith, Jr., in the year 1820?

Do you have personal witness that the Father and the Son appeared in all their glory and stood above that young man and instructed him according to the testimony that he gave to the world in his published history?

Do you know that the Prophet Joseph Smith’s testimony is true because you have received a spiritual witness of its truth?

Do you believe that the church that was restored through him is, in the Lord’s words, “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased” (D&C 1:30)? Do you know by the Holy Ghost that this is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints restored by heavenly messengers in this modern era; that the Church constitutes the kingdom of God on earth, not just an institution fabricated by human agency?

Do you believe that the successors to the prophet Joseph Smith were and are prophets, seers, and revelators; that revelation from heaven directs the decisions, policies, and pronouncements that come from the headquarters of the Church? Have you come to the settled conviction, by the Spirit, that these prophets truly represent the Lord?

Now, you obviously noted that I did not talk about academic qualifications. Facts, understanding, and scholarship can be attained by personal study and essential course work. The three qualifications I have named come by the Spirit, to the individual. You can’t receive them by secular training or study, by academic inquiry or scientific investigation.

I repeat: if there is a deficiency in any of these, then, regardless of what other training an individual possesses, he cannot comprehend and write or teach the true history of this Church. The things of God are understood only by one who possesses the Spirit of God.

Now, what about that historian who defamed the early President of the Church and may well have weakened or destroyed faith in the process? What about other members of the Church who have in their writings or in their teaching been guilty of something similar?

I want to say something that may surprise you. I know of a man who did something quite as destructive as that who later became the prophet of the Church. I refer to Alma the Younger. I learned about him from reading the Book of Mormon, which in reality is a very reliable history of the Church in ancient times.

You are acquainted with the record of Alma as a young man. He followed his father, the prophet Alma, about, and ridiculed what his father preached. He was, in that period of his life, a destroyer of faith. Then came a turning point. Because his father had prayed for it, he came to himself. He changed. He became one of the great men in religious history.

I want to say something to that historian and to others who may have placed higher value on intellect than upon the mantle.

The Brethren then and now are men, very ordinary men, who have come for the most part from very humble beginnings. We need your help! We desperately need it. We cannot research and organize the history of the Church. We do not have the time to do it. And we do not have the training that you possess. But we do know the Spirit and how essential a part of our history it is. Ours is the duty to organize the Church, to set it in order, to confer the keys of authority, to perform the ordinances, to watch the borders of the kingdom and carry burdens, heavy burdens, for others and for ourselves that you can know little about.

Do you know how inadequate we really are compared to the callings we have received? Can you feel in a measure the weight, the overwhelming weight, of responsibility that is ours? If you look for inadequacy and imperfections, you can find them quite easily. But you may not feel as we feel the enormous weight of responsibility associated with the callings that have come to us. We are not free to do some of the things that scholars think would be so reasonable, for the Lord will not permit us to do them, and it is his church. He presides over it.

There is another part of the on-going history of the Church that you may not be acquainted with. Perhaps I can illustrate it for you.

A few years ago it was my sad privilege to accompany President Kimball, then President of the Twelve, to a distant stake to replace a stake leader who had been excommunicated for a transgression. Our hearts went out to this good man who had done such an unworthy thing. His sorrow and anguish and suffering brought to my mind the phrase “gall of bitterness.”

Thereafter, on intermittent occasions, I would receive a call from President Kimball: “Have you heard from this brother? How is he doing? Have you been in touch with him?” After Brother Kimball became President of the Church, the calls did not cease. They increased in frequency.

One day I received a call from the President. “I have been thinking of this brother. Do you think it is too soon to have him baptized?” (Always a question, never a command.) I responded with my feelings, and he said, “Why don’t you see if he could come here to see you? If you feel good about it after an interview, we could proceed.”

A short time later, I arrived very early at the office. As I left my car I saw President Kimball enter his. He was going to the airport on his way to Europe. He rolled down the window to greet me, and I told him I had good news about our brother. “He was baptized last night,” I said.

He motioned for me to get into the car and sit beside him and asked me to tell him all about it. I told him of the interview and that I had concluded by telling our brother very plainly that his baptism must not be a signal that his priesthood blessings would be restored in the foreseeable future. I told him that it would be a long, long time before that would happen.

President Kimball patted me on the knee in a gentle gesture of correction and said, “Well, maybe not so long. …” Soon thereafter the intermittent phone calls began again.

I want to tell you of another lesson I received. Many years ago, when I was a new General Authority and not very experienced, I was called to the office of the First Counselor in the First Presidency. “We find you are going to the West Coast for conference this weekend. We wonder if you would leave a day or so early to help with a problem at a mission headquarters in another city.”

A missionary had confessed to transgression, and the mission president was reluctant to take action. I was instructed to see that a court was convened and that the missionary was excommunicated.

I went, and I interviewed the elder at great length. I then went to a park to think and pray about it. It was an unusual case, most unusual. After two hours, I telephoned the member of the First Presidency from a pay telephone and told him a little of what I had learned and of how I felt about the matter. He asked what I wanted to do. Hesitantly I told him I wanted to delay, to take no action now. Then I said, “But, President, tell me to do it, again, and I will do it.”

His voice came over the telephone and seemed like thunder to me: “Don’t you go against the voice of the Spirit!”

I had learned a great lesson. I have never forgotten it, and the inspiration greatly affected the outcome when final action was taken.

Do not yield your faith in payment for an advanced degree or for the recognition and acclaim of the world. Do not turn away from the Lord nor from his Church nor from his servants. You are needed—oh, how you are needed!

It may be that you will lay your scholarly reputation and the acclaim of your colleagues in the world as a sacrifice upon the altar of service. They may never understand the things of the Spirit as you have a right to do. They may not regard you as an authority or as a scholar. Just remember, when the test came to Abraham, he didn’t really have to sacrifice Isaac. He just had to be willing to.

Now a final lesson from Church history, one that illustrates the kind of thing from the past that builds faith and increases testimony.

William W. Phelps had been a trusted associate of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Then, in an hour of crisis when the Prophet needed him most, he turned against him and joined the apostates and oppressors who sought the Prophet’s life.

Later, Brother Phelps came to himself. He repented of what he had done and wrote to the Prophet Joseph Smith, asking for his forgiveness. I want to read you the letter the Prophet Joseph wrote to Brother Phelps in reply.

I confess also that many times I have moaned in agony when I have thought of the many incidents of this kind that researchers have discovered when they have pored over the record of our history but have left them out of their writings for fear they would be regarded as not worthy of a scholarly review of Church history.

Now the letter.

“Dear Brother Phelps: …

“You may in some measure realize what my feelings, as well as Elder Rigdon’s and Brother Hyrum’s were, when we read your letter—truly our hearts were melted into tenderness and compassion when we ascertained your resolves, &c. I can assure you I feel a disposition to act on your case in a manner that will meet the approbation of Jehovah, (whose servant I am), and agreeable to the principles of truth and righteousness which have been revealed; and inasmuch as long-suffering, patience, and mercy have ever characterized the dealings of our heavenly Father towards the humble and penitent, I feel disposed to copy the example, cherish the same principles, and by so doing be a savior of my fellow men.

“It is true, that we have suffered much in consequence of your behavior—the cup of gall, already full enough for mortals to drink, was indeed filled to overflowing when you turned against us. One with whom we had oft taken sweet counsel together, and enjoyed many refreshing seasons from the Lord—’had it been an enemy, we could have borne it.’ …

“However, the cup has been drunk, the will of our Father has been done, and we are yet alive, for which we thank the Lord. And having been delivered from the hands of wicked men by the mercy of our God, we say it is your privilege to be delivered from the powers of the adversary, be brought into the liberty of God’s dear children, and again take your stand among the Saints of the Most High, and by diligence, humility, and love unfeigned, commend yourself to our God, and your God, and to the Church of Jesus Christ.

“Believing your confession to be real, and your repentance genuine, I shall be happy once again to give you the right hand of fellowship, and rejoice over the returning prodigal …

“‘Come on, dear brother, since the war is past,

For friends at first, are friends again at last.’

“Yours as ever,

“Joseph Smith, Jun.”

(History of the Church, 4:162–64.)

Brother Phelps did return to full fellowship. He was a writer of hymns. The one we sang to open this meeting, “Praise to the Man,” was written by Brother Phelps, as were “O God, the Eternal Father,” “Now Let Us Rejoice,” “Gently Raise the Sacred Strain,” “The Spirit of God Like a Fire”—to mention but a few.

Oh, how great the loss to the Church if Brother Phelps had not returned. And how great would have been the tragedy for him.

When I read about our Brethren of the past, I am overwhelmed with humility. Consider the Prophet Joseph Smith and the little opportunity he had for formal schooling. Read the letters written in his own hand, and you will know that he could not spell correctly. Oh, how grateful he must have been for a scribe. I have wept when I have contemplated what they accomplished with what little they had. I sense how grateful they were to those who stood by them.

To you who may have lost your way, come back! We know how that can happen; we have walked that path of research and study. Come help us!—you with your scholarship and your training, you with your bright, intelligent minds, you with your experience and with your academic degrees.

How grateful we are today for the many members who have special gifts and special training that they devote to the building up of the Church and kingdom of God and to the protecting of it.

May God bless you who so faithfully compile and teach the history of the Church and build the faith of those you teach. I bear witness that the gospel is true. The Church is His church. I pray that you may be inspired as you write and as you teach. May His Spirit be with you in rich abundance.

As you take your students over the trails of Church history in this dispensation, yours is the privilege to help them to see the miracle of the Restoration, the mantle that belongs to His servants, and to “see in every hour and in every moment of the existence of the Church … the overruling, almighty hand of [God]” (Joseph F. Smith, in Conference Report, Apr. 1904, p. 2).

As you write and as you teach Church history under the influence of His Spirit, one day you will come to know that you were not only spectators but a central part of it, for you are His Saints.

This testimony I leave, with my blessings, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teaching-seminary-preservice-readings-religion-370-471-and-475/the-mantle-is-far-far-greater-than-the-intellect?lang=eng

There are many challenging issues we face in these last days. The more difficult ones such as those addressed in this article, need more discussion in my opinion. I am thankful for Elder Packer and others who address these issues. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a complete website to help address the same/sex lifestyle here. I am an active member of said Church and love the Gospel with all my heart.

I personally feel we all are children of God and He loves us equally. Elder M. Russell Ballard said: “Let us be clear: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that ‘the experience of same-sex attraction is a complex reality for many people. The attraction itself is not a sin, but acting on it is. Even though individuals do not choose to have such attractions, they do choose how to respond to them. With love and understanding, the Church reaches out to all God’s children, including [those with same-sex attraction].’” Source:

I am an imperfect person just as every one else in this world. Because of the Atonement I can be forgiven or all sins if I sincerely repent. I believe we choose to be a feminist or to have same/sex relationships, I don’t believe we are born that way. Others may disagree, but these are my feelings. We should love all people and forgive others of things they do which we think are wrong. The Lord will judge righteously.

Interview with Elder Oaks about same sex attraction here:

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Talk to the All-Church Coordinating Council By Elder Boyd K. Packer

May 18, 1993

The twelfth chapter of Alma is like a field of precious stones lying about on the surface. I have picked one very small one, very precious one, only fifteen words, to use as my text. “God gave unto them commandments, after [first] having made known unto them the plan of redemption.” (Alma 12:32)

Thirty-eight years ago I came from Brigham City to the office I now occupy in the Administration Building to see Elder Harold B. Lee, who, next to President Joseph Fielding Smith, was the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve. I had just been appointed the supervisor of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion. I knew there were serious problems in the system and I wondered why they had not appointed someone with more experience.

Elder Lee had agreed to give me counsel and some direction. He didn’t say much, nothing really in detail, but what he told me has saved me time and time again. “You must decide now which way you face,” he said. “Either you represent the teachers and students and champion their causes or you represent the Brethren who appointed you. You need to decide now which way you face.” Then he added, “Some of your predecessors faced the wrong way.” It took some hard and painful lessons before I understood his counsel. In time, I did understand, and my resolve to face the right way became irreversible.

One of the early lessons was also my first lesson in correlation. The seminaries were sponsoring speech contests. They were very successful — much better than similar contests sponsored by the Mutual Improvement Association. It was an ideal gospel-centered activity for seminaries. They were succeeding beautifully under able teachers who could assist even the shy students. We were instructed to discontinue them!

There was something of an uprising among the teachers. They accused Superintendent Curtis of the Young Men and President Reeder of the Young Women of being responsible. Perhaps they were. The teachers wanted Brother Tuttle and me to plead their cause before the Brethren. The logic was all on our side. Nevertheless we remembered the counsel of Brother Lee, and really, just out of obedience, we declined.

Later I could see that the seminaries served then only a very small part of our youth; the MIA, all of them. A B-minus program reaching most of the youth would, in the aggregate, bring better results than an A-plus program which reached relatively few. It wasn’t until many years later, when some other problems arose, that I could see that those contests, even though they were gospel centered, pulled the teachers into an activity-oriented mind-set and away from the less exciting responsibility of teaching the Old and New Testaments to teenagers. Finally I could see that the very success of the program was an enemy.

Other lessons followed, some of them hard ones. I was asked to write an article for the Improvement Era. It was returned with the request that I change some words. I smarted! The replacement words didn’t convey exactly what I was trying to say. I balked a bit, and was told that Richard L. Evans, then of the Seventy and magazine editor, had asked that the changes be made. I remembered Brother Lee’s counsel. I had to submit. Now, though that article is piled under thirty-five years of paper, I’m glad, very glad, that if someone digs it out, I was “invited” to change it.

After one of my first general conference talks, I received a call from Joseph Anderson. In a very polite way he said that President McKay and his counselors suggested that I add one word to the text of my talk. Would I mind doing that? Actually the word was in my text, I just failed to read it at the pulpit. A most embarrassing lesson — the First Presidency! It was easier when Elder Evans corrected my work; even easier when one of my associates was kind enough to do it.

Only last Friday while putting together some things for a presentation, I read part of it to some brethren from BYU. I noticed they looked at one another at one place in my reading, and I stopped and asked if there was a problem. Finally one of them suggested that I not use a certain scripture that I had included even though it said exactly what I wanted to convey. How dare they suppose that a member of the Twelve didn’t know his scriptures! I simply said, “What do you suggest?” He said, “Better find another scripture,” and he pointed out that if I put that verse back in context, it was really talking about another subject. Others had used it as I proposed to use it, but it was not really correct. I was very glad to make a change.

Now you may not need a correlating hand in what you do, but I certainly do. This brother lingered after the meeting to thank me for being patient with him. Thank me! I was thankful to him. If I ever make that presentation, it will only be after some of our Correlation staff have checked it over for me.

Now I give you all full credit for knowing more about your work than anyone else — more, certainly than the staff of the Correlation Department. That is how it should be, for you are hired or called to be a specialist. I also know from experience how easy it is to get turned around, and, as Brother Lee warned, to face the wrong way.

However much you know about your work, I doubt that you know, or have the time to learn, as much as do the Correlation staff about how your work interacts with everything else that is going on. The Council of the Twelve Apostles is the Correlation Committee, with the President of the Twelve and the two senior members acting as the executive committee. Correlation is the one department where they are hired to be generalists. They represent the Brethren in pointing out to you areas where you, in one detail or another, might, in the interest of the overall program, need to make an adjustment or two.

The principle of correlation is a sound principle. Except for its having been established, we could not now possibly administer an ever-growing multi-national and multi-lingual church. The full purpose for its having been established, I know, is yet to be realized. If we neglect it, we will pay a very, very heavy price one day. The value of having struggled through those years, and there aren’t many around who struggled through those years, will one day be apparent. The greatest use of this is yet to come.

The responsibility to effect a reduction and simplification in programs was assigned by the First Presidency to Correlation Department. We have been only modestly successful at best. Perhaps just to have slowed the growth is enough reward for all the effort that has been put in. There are isolated success stories. The Music Department, catching the vision, reduced five manuals of 190 pages into one manual of 18 pages. They did it themselves, and they count themselves better for it.

Perhaps too many of us are strong advocates of our own specialized work or are such strong protectors of our own turf that we face the wrong way — maybe just sideways. Simplification and reduction must come. Simplification and reduction will come! If we cannot do it on our own — and we seem to be in that circumstance — the future will see us doing, in anxious haste, that which we might have done with deliberate care had we followed the vision which has been given to us.

Surely you have been anxiously watching the worldwide evaporation of values and standards from politics, government, society, entertainment, schools. Could you be serving in the Church without having turned to those pages in the revelations and to those statements of the prophets that speak of the last days? Could you, in working for the Church, not be conscious of or have ignored the warnings? Could you be blind to the drift that is taking place? Are you not conscious of the drift that is taking place in the Church? Could you believe other than it is critical that all of us work together and set aside personal interests and all face the same way?

It is so easy to be turned about without realizing that it has happened to us. There are three areas where members of the Church, influenced by social and political unrest, are being caught up and led away. I chose these three because they have made major invasions into the membership of the Church. In each, the temptation is for us to turn about and face the wrong way, and it is hard to resist, for doing it seems so reasonable and right.

The dangers I speak of come from the gay-lesbian movement, the feminist movement (both of which are relatively new), and the ever-present challenge from the so-called scholars or intellectuals.

Our local leaders must deal with all three of them with ever-increasing frequency. In each case, the members who are hurting have the conviction that the Church somehow is doing something wrong to members or that the Church is not doing enough for them. To illustrate, I will quote briefly from letters on each of those subjects. They are chosen from among many letters which have arrived in the last few weeks. These have arrived in just the last few days.

The Gay/Lesbian Challenge

The first is from a young man, possibly a gay rights activist:

“May 3rd marks my 18th year in the Church. As a gay Mormon, I have witnessed and experienced first-hand during those eighteen years what it’s like to be a homosexual in a Church which is sometimes less than accepting of its gay members. My experiences have run the range from incredible, Spirit-filled and loving encounters with members, Bishops and Stake Presidents to a laughable run-in with a departing Mission President. May I share with you some of the more permanent and meaningful memories?”

After a page or two of those, he said:

“So in a spirit of friendship I offer that which I have to give — the life experience of a gay Mormon. At your convenience I would be happy to meet with you to discuss the issues facing gay Latter-day Saints and the Church. The purpose for meeting is not to debate, or to presumptively call you to repentance, or to be called to repentance myself for being gay. The point is to meet together and share what we have for the good of The Kingdom and the furthering of the Will of the Lord on Earth.”

The Feminist Movement

The next quotation is from a woman who is hurting, and perhaps wonders if anyone but the feminists care about her problems:

“I’m upset that I was always advised to go back and try harder only to get abused more. I need some comfort, I need solace, need hope, need to know Heavenly Father sees all that I have endured. What hope do I have for a chance to live with Heavenly Father? If temple marriage is the key to the celestial [kingdom], where am I? Outside gnashing my teeth for eternity? Help me.”

The Scholars

The last is from a self-described intellectual:

“My concern is that the Brethren are contending with the church’s own scholars. … In the Catholic Church, the great scholars’ efforts were used by the Church to refine and strengthen the doctrine (St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, for example). In our Church, the scholars are put down, even banished [and he names three of them, and they would be names all of whom you would know]. Once again I extend an offer to you to be a peacemaker between the Brethren and the scholars, if you wish me to attempt it, since I know so many in both groups. More than that, I understand the mind-sets of both groups.”

These letters and hundreds more are from members who are hurting or leaders who are worried. I might say here that I can see in the last few weeks a change in the letters coming in. There isn’t time to talk about it now, but out in the Church there is another growing group of the discontented. That is the rank and file who are trying to do what they are supposed to do and feel neglected as we concentrate on solving the problems of the exceptions.

Those who are hurting think they are not understood. They are looking for a champion, an advocate, someone with office and influence from whom they can receive comfort. They ask us to speak about their troubles in general conference, to put something in the curriculum, or to provide a special program to support them in their problems or with their activism.

When members are hurting, it is so easy to convince ourselves that we are justified, even duty bound, to use the influence of our appointment or our calling to somehow represent them. We then become their advocates — sympathize with their complaints against the Church, and perhaps even soften the commandments to comfort them. Unwittingly we may turn about and face the wrong way. Then the channels of revelation are reversed. Let me say that again. Then the channels of revelation are reversed. In our efforts to comfort them, we lose our bearings and leave that segment of the line to which we are assigned unprotected. The question is not whether they need help and comfort. That goes without saying. The question is “How?” The Prophet Joseph Smith, when he organized the Relief Society said, “There is the need for decisions of character aside from sympathy.”

Working Mothers

To illustrate principles which apply to all of these problems, I have taken one common one — working mothers. President Ezra Taft Benson gave a talk to wives and mothers. There was a reaction within the Church. (Ten years ago, that would not have happened.) That was very interesting, because if you read his talk carefully, it was, for the most part, simply a compilation of quotations on the subject from the prophets who have preceded him.

Some mothers must work out of the home. There is no other way. And in this they are justified and for this they should not be criticized. We cannot, however, because of their discomfort over their plight, abandon a position that has been taught by the prophets from the beginning of this dispensation. The question then is, “How can we give solace to those who are justified without giving license to those who are not?“

The comfort they need is better, for the most part, administered individually. To point out so-called success stories inferring that a career out of the home has no negative effect on a family is an invitation to many to stray from what has been taught by the prophets and thus cause members to reap disappointment by and by.

I think President Thomas S. Monson may not appreciate what I am going to say now. I know of no one who maintains such a large private ministry of counsel and comfort in the midst of heavy pressures of office than does Brother Monson. He says very little about it, but he visits the sick, hospitals, homes, comforting, counseling, both in person and in writing. However, I have never heard him over the pulpit, nor have I read anything in his writings — not one thing — that would give any license to any member to stray from the counsel of the prophets or to soften the commandments that the Lord has given. There is a way to give comfort that is needed.

If we are not very careful, we will think we are giving comfort to those few who are justified and actually we will be giving license to the many who are not. The process of correlation is designed to keep us from making mistakes in manuals, in publications, in films, in videos, in those specialized programs which are justified.

Those fifteen words from Alma state: “God gave unto them commandments, after having made known to them the plan of redemption.” There are many things that cannot be understood nor taught nor explained unless it is in terms of the plan of redemption. The three areas that I mentioned are among them. Unless they understand the basic plan — the premortal existence, the purposes of life, the fall, the atonement, the resurrection — unless they understand that, the unmarried, the abused, the handicapped, the abandoned, the addicted, the disappointed, those with gender disorientation, or the intellectuals will find no enduring comfort. They can’t think life is fair unless they know the plan of redemption.

That young man with gender disorientation needs to know that gender was not assigned at mortal birth, that we were sons and daughters of God in the premortal state.

The woman pleading for help needs to see the eternal nature of things and to know that her trials — however hard to bear — in the eternal scheme of things may be compared to a very, very bad experience in the second semester of the first grade. She will find no enduring peace in the feminist movement. There she will have no hope. If she knows the plan of redemption, she can be filled with hope.

The one who supposes that he “understands the mind-set of both groups” needs to understand that the doctrines of the gospel are revealed through the Spirit to prophets, not through the intellect to scholars.

Only when they have some knowledge of the plan of redemption will they understand the supposed inequities of life. Only then will they understand the commandments God has given us. If we do not teach the plan of redemption, whatever else we do by way of programs and activities and instructions will not be enough.

“God gave unto them commandments, after having made known unto them the plan of redemption.” We face invasions of the intensity and seriousness that we have not faced before. There is the need now to be united with everyone facing the same way. Then the sunlight of truth, coming over our shoulders, will mark the path ahead. If we perchance turn the wrong way, we will shade our eyes from that light and we will fail in our ministries.

God grant that a testimony of the redemption and knowledge of the doctrine will be so fundamentally in our minds and in our hearts that we will move forward with his approval. This Church will prevail. There is no power in existence that can thwart the work in which we are engaged. Of that I bear witness, and of him who is our redeemer I bear witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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Original copyrighted 1993 by LDS Church. Paragraphing changed. (Bold, color and italics have been added)

Additional Quotes

Intellectuals

“When I was a college student there were many discussions on the question of organic evolution. I took classes in geology and biology and heard the whole story of Darwinism as it was then taught. I wondered about it. I thought much about it. But I did not let it sway me, for I read what the scriptures said about our origins and our relationship to God.” (Gordon B. Hinckley, Faith: The Essence of True Religion, p. 18.)

“None of us . . . knows enough. The learning process is an endless process. We must read, we must observe, we must assimilate, and we must ponder that to which we expose our minds. I believe in evolution, not organic evolution, as it is called, but in the evolution of the mind, the heart, and the soul of man. I believe in improvement. I believe in growth.” (Gordon B. Hinckley, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p. 298.)

“One need not look far into science to discover it consists too generally of a maze of facts and theory so closely interwoven that even the most learned and honorable scientist (to say nothing of the intellectually dishonest one or the novice) may have difficulty in distinguishing readily between truth and theory.” — Joseph Fielding Smith Man, His Origin and Destiny

Feminists Movement

“What the modernists, even the liberationists, fail to remember is that women, in addition to being persons, also belong to a sex, and that with the differences in sex are associated important differences in function and behavior. Equality of rights does not imply identity of functions. As Paul the apostle declared: “… neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 11:11.)” The Women’s Movement: Liberation or Deception? By Elder Thomas S. Monson Of the Council of the Twelve

If you are like me, I have a recommend but haven’t even known about these new questions that I will be asked at the next interview. I thought you would enjoy knowing and reflecting on these new changes.

An Invitation from the Prophet

“The crowning jewel of the Restoration [the process of fully establishing the Church of Jesus Christ on earth] is the holy temple,” President Nelson said. “Individual worthiness to enter the Lord’s house requires much individual spiritual preparation. But with the Lord’s help, nothing is impossible… Individual worthiness requires a total conversion of mind and heart to be more like the Lord, to be an honest citizen, to be a better example and to be a holier person.”

Throughout his ministry, President Nelson has invited us to become more committed to the Lord, to become a holier people—to draw nearer to Jesus Christ.

In this conference he said:  “Many friends not of our faith will participate in tours of those temples and will learn something about temple blessings. And some of those visitors will be moved upon to know more,” he said. “Some will sincerely ask how they might qualify for the blessings of the temple. As members of the Church, we will need to be prepared to answer their questions. We can explain that the blessings of the temple are available to any and all people who will prepare themselves.”

As he concluded his remarks about preparing oneself for temple worship, President Nelson told Latter-day Saints that “preparatory work brings innumerable blessings in this life and inconceivable blessings for the life to come, including the perpetuation of your family unit throughout all eternity.” Quoted Source