The Great Test

by

Art Bulla

"Yes, we think we are secure here in the chambers of these everlasting hills . . . but I want to say to you, my brethren, the time is coming when we will be mixed up in these now peaceful valleys to that extent that it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy against the people of God. Then is the time to look out for the great sieve, for there will be a great sifting time, and many will fall. For I say unto you there is a test, a Test, a TEST coming." (Heber C. Kimball, 1856. Quoted by J. Golden Kimball, Conference Report, October 1930, pp. 59-60. This is interpreted to mean the acceptance or rejection of the Lord's anointed, who would be that One Mighty and Strong, prophet to Ephraim, chosen solely by God from the foundation of the world, and as Jesus, messiah of the Jews, and as in all ages of the world in times past, to test the Latter-day Saints, so as to see if they would received the testimony of Jesus, and do all things commanded of them and to prove them in all things, saith the Lord, for mortality is a great test, is it not? A test for individuals. And it devolves upon each and every individual to seek God for themselves and depend on no men or set of men in that state of corruption in the Jewish Church in Jesus' day and the state of corruption of the Mormon Church in our day, and not settle down into a blind state of carnal security in which they are led to exclaim, "All is well in Zion! Yea, all is well!" which is the uniform chorus--except for the humble followers of Christ who have not bowed the knee to Baal--of the Latter-day Saints today. This is in the form of an email to an associate.)

 I am sure you will be interested in knowing that I called Van Hale over the air (KTKK) again last night and reiterated the subject to the Kingdom of God and the Priesthood being separate from the Church.  Last week he quoted D&C 107 as justification for the Priesthood being limited to the Church, which I pointed this week as being exactly the opposite, since the delimiter "the church" is used when describing the powers, boundaries and authorities of the offices mentioned in D&C 107.

D&C  107:8-9,22,32

 8 The Melchizedek Priesthood holds the right of presidency, and has power and authority over all the offices in the church in all ages of the world, to administer in spiritual things.

 9 The Presidency of the High Priesthood, after the order of Melchizedek, have a right to officiate in all the offices in the church.

 22 Of the Melchizedek Priesthood, three Presiding High Priests, chosen by the body, appointed and ordained to that office, and upheld by the confidence, faith, and prayer of the church, form a quorum of the Presidency of the Church.

 32 And in case that any decision of these quorums is made in unrighteousness, it may be brought before a general assembly of the several quorums, which constitute the spiritual authorities of the church; otherwise there can be no appeal from their decision.

Of course we understand that the early brethren also comprehended this when they use the language "Church and Kingdom of God": this language making a distinction between the two branches of the government of God, the secular and the ecclesiastical.  Van even said that the Council of 50 is not a priesthood organization because there are persons sitting on it which will not be members of the church!  That is the whole point! It is not a Church body.  But it is a Priesthood body, organized and presided over by the Priesthood of the Son of God, independent of the Church.

      “I will say to you with regard to the kingdom of God on the earth, Here is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints., organized with its rules, regulations and degrees, with the quorums of the holy Priesthood, from the First Presidency to the teachers and deacons; here we are, an organization. God called upon Joseph, he called upon Oliver Cowdery, then others were called through Joseph, the Church was organized, he with his two counselors comprised the First Presidency. In a few years the Quorum of the Twelve was organized, the High Council was organized, the High Priests' quorum was organized, the Seventies' quorums were organized, and the Priests' quorum, the Teachers' quorum and the Deacons'. This is what we are in the habit of calling the kingdom of God. But there are further organizations. The Prophet gave a full and complete organization to this kingdom the Spring before he was killed. This kingdom is the kingdom that Daniel spoke of, which was to be set up in the last days; it is the kingdom that is not to be given to another people; it is the kingdom that is to be held by the servants of God, to rule the nations of the earth, to send forth those laws and ordinances that shall be suitable and that shall apply themselves to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; that will apply themselves to the mother Church. * * *

      Now I want to give you these few words-the kingdom of God will protect every person, every sect and all people upon the face of the whole earth, in their legal rights. I shall not tell you the names of the members of this kingdom, neither shall I read to you its constitution, but the constitution was given by revelation. The day will come when it will be organized in strength and power.” (JD 27:157-158)

Brigham Young; Journal of Discourses, 26 vols., 1:, p.133

Perhaps it may make some of you stumble, were I to ask you a question-Does a man's being a Prophet in this Church prove that he shall be the President of it? I answer, no! A man may be a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and it may have nothing to do with his being the President of the Church. Suffice it to say, that Joseph was the President of the Church, as long as he lived: the people chose to have it so. He always filled that responsible station, by the voice of the people. Can you find any revelation appointing him the President of the Church? The keys of the Priesthood were committed to Joseph, to build up the Kingdom of God on the earth, and were not to be taken from him in time or in eternity; but when he was called to preside over the Church, it was by the voice of the people; though he held the keys of the Priesthood, independent of their voice.   (In other words the church had no say and nothing to do the further offices and organizations that Brigham Young spoke of, specifically the office of "Lord's anointed", King, and Council of 50, these further organizations all presided over by the Priesthood of the Son of God, which is not limited to any church, saith the Lord. 

  Van Hale said there was no instance of Priesthood being separate from the Church, and of course this is false, and is easily refuted when I mentioned that Oliver Cowdrey, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris were all ordained apostles before there was any church organized on the earth, and that they actually ordained the 12 of the church and continued to function as apostles after the church was organized, though not as apostles of the church. God had respect to David Whitmer's Priesthood by making him co-President of the Church with Joseph Smith.  He then stated that this was only preparatory to the establishment of the Church, a special condition.  I plan on calling next week to introduce several more "special conditions" in which the Priesthood operates independent of the Church.  One of these of course is the "special condition" in which the Negro was "given" the Priesthood.  Brigham Young being a true prophet and legal administrator of the kingdom of God stated the following regarding this:

"Let this Church which is called the Kingdom of God on the earth. We will summons the First Presidency, the Twelve, the High Council, the Bishopric, and all the Elders of Israel, suppose we summons them to appear here, and here declare that it is right to mingle our seed, with the black race of Cain, that they shall come in with us and be partakers with us of all the blessings that God has given to us. on that very day and hour we should do so, the Priesthood is taken from THIS CHURCH AND KINGDOM and god leaves us to our fate. The moment we consent to mingle with the seed of Cain, the Church must go to destruction.  We should receive the curse which has been placed upon the seed of Cain, and never more be numbered with the children of Adam who are heirs to the Priesthood until that curse be removed." Brigham Young Addresses, Ms D, 1234, Box 48, Folder 3, dated Feb. 5, 1852, located in the LDS Historical Dept. SLC, UT.

Another instance in Church History is when Brigham Young said that he didn't care who led the Church whether it be "old Ann Lee" because he had the keys of the priesthood independent of their voice and he said that if they did not choose to follow and obey the keys of the priesthood in their counsels to them, that they would abandon the Church to their fate and go out into the world and build up a mightier people than them!

 "`I do not care who leads the church, even though it were Ann Lee; but one thing I must know, and that is what God says about it. I have the keys and the means of obtaining the mind of God on the subject.'" (Brigham Young, D.H.C. 7:230)

Brigham Young stated on another occasion that "God chooses prophets, you (the Church) do not do this.  This teaching is finally elucidated by elder Orson F. Whitney in the following comment:

  The Prophet Joseph Smith, who was sustained in the beginning as the President of this Church, did not make himself the President. God chose him to be His Prophet, and the people sustained him as their President. Yes, this man who had looked upon the face of the Father and the Son, who had communed with angels, who had had revealed to him the "sacred record" long "concealed," concerning which we have been singing, who had received the imposition of hands by holy angels, conferring upon him the priesthood-the Aaronic priesthood, which empowered him to preach faith and repentance and to baptize for the remission of sins, and the Melchisedek priesthood, which empowered him to bestow the Holy Ghost upon those who had been baptized,-after all these wonderful exhibitions of the power of God, this man and his associate, Oliver Cowdery, were required to submit their names to a little congregation on the 6th day of April, 1830, when this Church was organized, that it might be seen whether or not those assembled-a little over thirty in number-would sustain them as their leaders. They were sustained, and thus became the first and second elders of the Church. But the query arises, Suppose they had not been sustained? Suppose that little flock had voted against, instead of for, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, what would have been the consequence? Would it have taken from those two elders the priesthood which God had conferred upon them? Would it have taken away the gifts which He had given them? Would it have blotted out the fact that the dispensation of the fulness of times had been opened by the personal appearing of the Father and the Son to Joseph Smith? Would it have reconsigned that sacred record to the Hill Cumorah? Would the work have gone backward from that hour? Not at all. It would have had this effect, and this only: that little congregation would have been without the gifts and powers that God had conferred upon those men. It could not have been the Church of God. It would have been a body without a head. The priesthood would have been separated from the people. The Prophet, just before going to his death, speaking to the Nauvoo Legion and denouncing mob violence, said to them, "Will you stand by me in the vindication of these great principles which God has committed to my care?" And they threw up their hands and shouted "Yes!" The Prophet replied, "It is well. You are a good people, and I am willing to lay down my life for you. Had you done otherwise, I should have gone out there (pointing to the west) and should have raised up a mightier people." This shows what would have resulted had that little flock, the Church of God, on the 6th of April, 1830, rejected Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery as their leaders. They could have gone anywhere on earth, where men and women would have been willing to receive them, and could have built up the Church and Kingdom. But God recognizes the rights of His people, along with the rights of His priesthood, which are His own rights. God and His people constitute this Church, and these men who have been chosen to be the teachers, the counselors, the leaders are the Lord's servants, His representatives, the instruments and agents through whom He acts, to guide and bless His people.

                               (Elder Orson F. Whitney., Conference Report, April 1907, Afternoon Session., p.112)

So Joseph was prophet seer revelator before there was any Church organized on the earth!  This is because God chose him, NOT THE CHURCH.  Paul was chosen as a prophet seer revelator before he was baptized into the Church.  God chose him to be a prophet seer revelator and the Church had nothing to do with it.  I had my first vision in 1969, December 29th, God chose me to be prophet seer revelator before I was baptized into the church.  The Church had no say in the matter and it was unknown to them for I kept these things locked up tight as all eternity within my own bosom and told them to no man, except my wife.  So the pattern is the same God chooses prophets, the church does not, and they can sustain whoever they please as their president but the priesthood in that case is withdrawn from them and they must go to their fate, which according to the words of Brigham Young, is "destruction".

Journal of Discourses, 26 vols., 22:, p.264

Have you not been frequently struck, my brethren and sisters, with the peculiar manner in which God called his people and his servants. It is not many wise, it is not many learned, it is not many noble who have been called as his servants. He called his Prophets wherever he could find them, and they were suited to his purpose. He called his apostles and his disciples in the same manner. It seemed to be a necessity that the faith of the generations of men should be tried, that their confidence in God should be tested, to see whether they would be willing to receive his truth from any source however humble. It would not be any trial of a man's faith if some man possessing supreme power, who wielded wonderful influence, were to declare that what he said was the word of God unto the people-a man of popular honors, a man who could control all the people, who could make the system which he advocated popular and desirable among mankind, what trial would there be of a people's faith to embrace truth under such circumstances? But that has not been the course which God has taken with his people. He could have sent his Son Jesus Christ among men at a time and under circumstances that would have made his influence irresistible on the earth and among the people. He could have given him such power that men would have been compelled to have received him, but that was not the way in which the Lord did his work. He never did it in that manner. He never consulted men's views and their ideas respecting his work. He chose his instruments and he sent them as he desired under the circumstances which he deemed best adapted to accomplish his purposes. Therefore His Son Jesus was born-though as I have said deriving his descent from the kingly house of David-under circumstances that did not carry with them great influence. There was nothing about his birth or his surroundings to convince the inhabitants of the earth that he was the Son of God. They were left entirely to know this by the Spirit of God; they were left to derive this knowledge by seeking for it unto him who could bestow it upon them, and were not to be actuated by that which is called the popular voice; and in this way man's agency is tested to the very utmost. To illustrate the idea that I have on my mind, suppose that Jesus had been born under circumstances that mankind would have had to accept him as the Son of God; suppose his disciples had been under such circumstances and surrounded by such influences that mankind would have naturally followed them and accepted their doctrines without hesitation, because it would have been to their worldly interest to do so, would man's agency have been tested as it was in the days of the Savior? No, his agency would not have been tested. He had presented before him truth and error. Truth was not popular. The espousal of truth was not of worldly advantage to men at that time. If he therefore espoused it, it would be because of his love for it, and for the blessings which would flow from it, and not because there would be any profit of a worldly character attending its espousal. There is a reason therefore for God sending many of his messengers as he has done. It was rarely that they were men who by their position could control the people and cause them to follow them naturally aside from the truth. We know how it was with many of the Prophets. They were unpopular. The truths that they declared did not add to their popularity, and it was a test of men and women's love for the truth when these men came among them, for when they espoused the truth they did it because of the love of the truth. God has evidently determined that when men and women embrace the truth, they shall embrace it for the love of it; that they shall not be converted by man's influence; that they shall not follow in the train of men because of some advantage that will accrue to them. Evidently, then, it is the will of God concerning us, that if we embrace the truth we must embrace it because we love it, not because of the instrument who brings it to us. We must be willing to receive it through whatever channel he may choose. If it be John the Baptist, if it be any of the disciples of the Savior, if it be Joseph Smith, if it be Brigham Young, if it be John Taylor, or any other man, no matter who the man may be, God chooses his own instruments, and he sends his truth to the earth in a way that he sees fit.