Elder Orson F. Whitney’s Special Witness of Jesus Christ

 [Readers desiring to obtain their own hardback copies of volume one of I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ can find copies on sale here  Softbound copies can be purchased here, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available on Amazon here, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]

(by Dennis B. Horne)

“I thought I was in the garden of Gethsemane.

I saw the Savior and his Apostles, Peter, James and John.”

            One of the most talented and able men to become an Apostle in the early decades of the 20^th Century was Orson F. Whitney, a remarkable man seldom remembered today.[i] The life-path he walked before becoming a member of the Council of the Twelve may also be one of the most unique of this dispensation: filled with private unorthodox loyalties, ideas, and actions to the point of obstinate heresy, while also simultaneously serving commendably as the most prominent and visible bishop in the Church, and then reforming and developing into a mighty apostle and special witness of Jesus Christ.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #58 - Concluding Thoughts

(by Dennis B. Horne)

            We now conclude the posting of 58 blogs meant to refute and correct the false teachings of some misguided and mistaken BYU faculty, among others, regarding macro-evolution. These posts have been seen by many thousands of readers over some 5 months. The first introductory blog ran April 6, and we conclude with this one as August comes to a close.

            What has been found?—that the formal, official and settled doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is clear that God created mankind/Adam and Eve in His image; that He is the original progenitor, of both body and spirit, of all “who belong to the family of Adam” (2 Nephi 9:21) and that Adam’s family includes “all men [and women]” (2 Nephi 9:22). Adam and Eve are therefore mankind’s ultimate mortal ancestor (after the fall) and that God is Adam’s father and Heavenly Mother is his mother and Eve’s mother (Moses 6:22; Luke 3:38). Not only do the scriptures teach this, that we sustain as doctrinally binding upon us, but prophet after prophet and apostle after apostle have also taught this truth.  (None of this doctrine is taking a position on the scientific theory or theories of macro-evolution, which the Church does not do and would be imprudent to attempt—since it changes with the next study or journal article.)

            It has not yet been openly revealed by scriptural text (and I do not know) where dinosaurs and so-called Neanderthals fit into the scheme of things relating to our earth. I do not know how past or current or future scientific interpretations of fossilized findings fit with the fact that all things were created first as spirits and then in an un- or imm- or amortal state where they could have existed forever, before the fall. But I know God knows and I know that some of the greatest prophets from past (and the present) dispensations have known. I believe the Prophet Joseph Smith knew but was not permitted to give this knowledge to the Church and hence the world (see D&C 76:114-117 and 3 Nephi 26:6-11).

President Heber J. Grant’s Special Witness of Jesus Christ

[Readers desiring to obtain their own hardback copies of volume one of I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ can find copies on sale here  Softbound copies can be purchased here, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available on Amazon here, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]

(by Dennis B. Horne)

God lives, Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith was a prophet

of the true and the living God. . . .

God has given me a witness of these things.

I know them and I bear that witness to you.

            President Marion G. Romney loved to hear President Heber J. Grant express his special witness: “I remember the times I have thrilled as I have listened to President Grant bear his testimony. When he used to close conference, he would say: ‘I know as I know that I live that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Redeemer of the world, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the true and the living God, and that Mormonism, so-called, is in very deed the plan of life and salvation’ (Conference Report, Oct. 1934, 132). I never heard him say these words without getting a tingling feeling up and down my spine.”[1] Another apostolic associate of Brother Romney’s felt the same way: “When I was a young man,” remembered President Gordon B. Hinckley, “I sat in a general conference in this Tabernacle and heard President Heber J. Grant declare that he was grateful above all else for the testimony which he had of this, the work of God. I am now older than President Grant was when I heard him say those words. I now know how he felt.”[2]

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #57 - Elder McConkie and President Romney Expound on Priesthood Power and Creation

 (by Dennis B. Horne)

Elder McConkie, “The Doctrine of the Priesthood”:

            Priesthood is power like none other on earth or in heaven. It is the very power of God himself, the power by which the worlds were made, the power by which all things are regulated, upheld, and preserved.

            It is the power of faith, the faith by which the Father creates and governs. God is God because he is the embodiment of all faith and all power and all priesthood. The life he lives is named eternal life. . . .

            Faith and priesthood go hand in hand. Faith is power and power is priesthood. After we gain faith, we receive the priesthood. Then, through the priesthood, we grow in faith until, having all power, we become like our Lord. . . .

            We received the priesthood first in the premortal existence and then again as mortals. Adam held the keys and used the priesthood when he participated in the creation of the earth. After his baptism he received the priesthood again, and he now stands as the presiding High Priest over all the earth. . . .

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #56 - Elder George Q. Morris’s Teachings in General Conference on “The Origin of Man”

 (by Dennis B. Horne)

 

            The below October 1956 general conference address was given by Elder George Q. Morris, a now-little-known or remembered member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He first served as an Assistant to the Twelve, and then at age 80 was ordained an apostle, the oldest man to be so called and sustained in the history of the Church. That talk is followed by a BYU devotional address audio file in which Elder Morris teaches similar doctrine about the creation and destiny of righteous latter-day saints. Elder Morris was not a dynamic speaker, but still taught the truth from the scriptures, sounding much like his Quorum associates in his doctrinal views:

 

            My dear brethren and sisters, I am entirely dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord to direct me, and pray that the same sweet spirit that has prevailed will continue with us to lead me to say that which I should say. I am very thankful to the Lord that this his Church is built on the rock of revelation, so that we are not turned about in all directions by all kinds of opinions and doctrines. But as this is our blessing, we have also an obligation to know the truth, and live the truth, and speak the truth. What a supreme blessing is truth in this distraught world.

            At a meeting I recently attended where reference was made to a revelation concerning the origin and nature of man and the creation of the world, a young man came to me-a fine young faithful Latter-day Saint-and said he was so discouraged and depressed by the teachings be was receiving in college that he worried about it, and about how he could pass his examinations because he could not accept these teachings. Of course I could only tell him that he would have to hold to the truth no matter what the situation was. That is an obligation that we do have as a people. Who else has the revelations of God? What other church in the world is based upon these revelations? Having them, we must be true to them.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #55 - The Creation of the Earth

(by Dennis B. Horne)

President Spencer W. Kimball

            The scientists taught for decades that the world was once a nebulous, molten mass cast off from the sun, and later many scientists said it once was a whirl of dust which solidified. There are many ideas advanced to the world that have been changed to meet the needs of the truth as it has been discovered. There are relative truths, and there are also absolute truths which are the same yesterday, today, and forever—never changing. These absolute truths are not altered by the opinions of men. As science has expanded our understanding of the physical world, certain accepted ideas of science have had to be abandoned in the interest of truth. Some of these seeming truths were stoutly maintained for centuries. The sincere searching of science often rests only on the threshold of truth, whereas revealed facts give us certain absolute truths as a beginning point so we may come to understand the nature of man and the purpose of his life. . . .

            The Gods organized the earth of materials at hand, over which they had control and power. This truth is absolute. A million educated folk might speculate and determine in their minds that the earth came into being by chance. The truth remains. The earth was made by the Gods as was the watch by the watchmaker. Opinions do not change that.

President Joseph F. Smith’s Special Witness of Jesus Christ

[Readers desiring to obtain their own hardback copies of volume one of I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ can find copies on sale here  Softbound copies can be purchased here, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available on Amazon here, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]

(by Dennis B. Horne)

While this vast multitude waited and conversed, . . .

the Son of God appeared,

declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful.

(D&C 138:18)

Joseph F. Smith’s Succession to the Presidency is Prophesied[1]

            In 1864, Joseph F. Smith was sent to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands along with Elders Ezra T. Benson, Lorenzo Snow, and a few others, in order to remove from office an apostate who had usurped authority in the mission for purposes of self-aggrandizement.

            Their sailing vessel dropped anchor outside the Lahaina Harbor at Maui, and the elders prepared to navigate a smaller boat ashore. With a storm causing high seas, Joseph F. emphatically refused to join the others and sought to dissuade them from leaving until the waves calmed. The other brethren, feeling he acted insubordinately, left him behind and started for shore. Soon, however, Joseph F.’s fears were realized, and a large wave capsized their craft. All passengers were thrown into the ocean, and Elder Snow soon drowned beneath sixty feet of water. Some native islanders managed to find his body, and the brethren present initiated life-saving measures. Miraculously, about an hour later, he returned to life and fully recovered.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #54 - We are Literally the Children/Descendants of God (not animals or adobes)

 (by Dennis B. Horne)

Of all the universities in the world,

BYU should be where Jesus’s teachings and commandments

are proclaimed, discussed, and lived.

—President M. Russell Ballard

            In late 2019, a liberal blogger at a liberal/progressive/semi-dissident website tried to use historical researches and interpretations and guesses to argue that “the idea that human spirits were never created or made—that they exist eternally—is a foundational idea to Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo era cosmology. The 1844 General Conference sermon known as the King Follett Discourse . . . is JS’s best documented sermon. In it, JS taught that ‘God never did have power to create the spirit of man at all’ and that spirits can never be created or destroyed.” And: “the idea that human spirits are eternal and uncreated is perhaps the single best documented Nauvoo teaching of JS.”

            This (not new) speculative reasoning is largely outside the scope of this series, but does help focus attention on an issue touching on evolution—birth, whether spirit or mortal/physical. Further, our concern should not be about whether or not the Prophet Joseph Smith may be thought by some to have taught something, but whether a doctrine is true or not. The below items should settle this question for those who believe church doctrine as the church teaches it today:

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #53 - Professor Joseph Fielding McConkie on the Origin of Man and Evolution

 (by Dennis B. Horne)

            Note: see the introduction to post #52 on Robert J. Matthews for further explanation. The below excerpts of writings on evolution and the origin of man by (now deceased) BYU Religious Education Professor Joseph Fielding McConkie (eldest son of Elder Bruce R. McConkie):

            Science, as it is generally understood, is decidedly neutral on all matters of interest to religion. Science knows neither justice nor mercy, good nor evil, right nor wrong. It claims neither the power to remit sins nor the authority to identify them. It knows nothing of faith, repentance, redemption, or life beyond the grave. It demands neither ritual nor righteousness. Religion, on the other hand, knows no neutrality. Individuals accept or reject true religion at the peril of their eternal life. Religion, which is a bond between God and man, professes to embrace both mercy and justice and to define both good and evil. The laws of science reject the notion of a resurrection, the inseparable union of body and spirit; religion claims God to be the source of both immortality and eternal life. The dogmas of science are in constant flux; the verities of religion remain everlastingly the same. Science favors no one cause over another; religion professes to bless the faithful and condemn the faithless.

            Science is inherently neither antagonistic to religion nor supportive of it. It is simply a tool, a way to search for understanding and knowledge in a temporal world. Some use science to build faith, others to oppose it, and still others as a substitute for it. The decision of how it is to be used rests with those using it. Some scientists are men of faith; others are not. Those seeking confirmation of religious truths generally find it; those seeking to disprove spiritual truths enjoy equal success.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #52 - Former BYU Professor Robert J. Matthews Teaches the True Doctrine of the Origin of Man

(by Dennis B. Horne) 

            Not all BYU professors have allowed themselves to be deluded by evolution as explanation for the origin of man. In fact, many haven’t, especially among those in the Religious Education Department. Foremost among them were superb gospel teachers and scriptorians like Hugh Nibley, Robert J. Matthews, and Joseph Fielding McConkie (many others could be named). Below are some of Professor Matthews’s teachings and personal beliefs about evolution and the origin of man. They beautifully harmonize with and sustain the teachings of Church leaders, past and present:

            I believe that Adam’s physical body was the offspring of God, literally (Moses 6:22); that he was begotten as a baby with a physical body not subject to death, in a world without sin or blood; and that he grew to manhood in that condition and then became mortal through his own actions. I believe that Adam’s physical body was begotten by our immortal celestial Father and an immortal celestial Mother, and thus not into a condition of mortality, a condition which would have precluded Jesus from being the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh (D&C 93:11)—flesh meaning mortality. Jesus’ physical body was also begotten of the same celestial Father but through a mortal woman and hence into mortality. Commenting on Luke 3:38 (“Adam, which was the son of God”), Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote: “This statement, found also in Moses 6:22, has a deep and profound significance and also means what it says. Father Adam came, as indicated, to this sphere, gaining a immortal body, because death had not yet entered the world. (2 Ne 2:22.) Jesus, on the other hand, was the Only Begotten in the flesh, meaning into a world of mortality where death already reigned.” [Doctrinal New Testament Commentary 1:95.]

President Lorenzo Snow’s Special Witness of Jesus Christ

 [Readers desiring to obtain their own hardback copies of volume one of I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ can find copies on sale here  Softbound copies can be purchased here, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available on Amazon here, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]

(by Dennis B. Horne)

“I want you to remember that this is the testimony of your grandfather,

 that he told you with his own lips that he actually saw the Savior,

here in the Temple, and talked with Him face to face.”

 

“There is no man that knows the truth of this work more than I do,” stated President Lorenzo Snow. “I know it fully; I know it distinctly. I know there is a God just as well as any man knows it, because God has revealed himself to me. I know it positively. I shall never forget the manifestations of the Lord; I never will forget them as long as memory endures. It is in me.”[1] Such was the testimony of one of the great prophets of the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #51 - Hugh Nibley on Evolution

(by Dennis B. Horne)

            The below text quotes a letter written by Nibley to an editor of the Improvement Era that rejected an article he wrote for publication therein:

 

            Actually there is an enormous accumulation of factual information refuting the claims of the evolutionists, or at lease casting serious doubts upon them. Maybe the stuff is no good, but we will never find out by forbidding all mention of it. We may put the age-old controversy (by no means the child of our Modern Scientific Age, as most people are led to believe) in the form of a dialogue:

Elder Richard G. Scott’s Special Witness of Jesus Christ

[Readers desiring to obtain their own hardback copies of volume one of I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ can find copies on sale here  Softbound copies can be purchased here, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available on Amazon here, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]

(by Dennis B. Horne)

 

As apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ,

we have experiences that are very sacred that allow us to bear our testimony

of His name and of His power.

  

            At the conclusion of a recorded interview in which he talked about certain earlier portions of his life in some detail, Elder Richard G. Scott explained what it meant to be a special witness of Jesus Christ and the fact that he was one of them. He said:

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #50 - “The Earth and Man,” by Elder James E. Talmage

(by Dennis B. Horne)

December 4, 1935; Joseph Fielding Smith, Letter to Sterling B. Talmage:

My attention has been called to your letter of November 24, 1935, to President Heber J. Grant and Counselors in which you offer criticism of an article written by Floyd Day and appearing in the Deseret News. I do not know who Mr. Day is, neither do I care to enter into any controversy in regard to what he has written or what you may write. I write to you now for one purpose only.

In your communication you refer to a talk delivered by your father entitled “Earth and Man” and say it was an “Apostolic utterance delivered by appointment,” and again, “to be considered as an Apostolic utterance, and not merely an airing of his own views, ’for which the Church should not be held responsible’ as was presumptuously suggested by Dr. Sidney B. Sperry.” Since you have referred in similar terms to this discourse before, I am writing to say that I happen to know it was not issued by authority of the Church, but arbitrarily, in the absence of the President of the Church, and over the protest of the majority of the Council of the Apostles.