This is how it happened: I was thinking about the 1978 change in practice (not really in doctrine) about the blacks and the priesthood. And I kept thinking, WHY wasn't the wording of the revelation published? Many Mormons have a nagging feeling, I think, (usually not expressed) that there is something suspicious about the modern prophets of the church, because they don't have revelations the way Joseph Smith had revelations. Smith was always pronouncing the literal words that God gave him, and they are published (the actual Words from God's Mouth!) in the Doctrine and Covenants. But the prophets since Smith are less and less willing to quote God verbatim. They describe their "revelations" as "feelings" or vague "inspiration," but not in any precise wording.
Of course, I personally think that they are not prophets at all, and - regardless of whether one believes in divine prophecy or not - these so-called prophets are fakes. At least they are not in the same league as Joseph Smith (again, regardless of whether one believes that Smith was a genuine prophet).
And I got to thinking that it really showed stupidity on the part of Kimball not to come up with a "Thus saith the Lord" revelation. Joseph Smith did it all the time. If Kimball realized (and was honest with himself about it) that he really wasn't a prophet of God at all, then why didn't he just make something up?
Perhaps Kimball was intimidated by the challenge in Section 67 of the Doctrine and Covenants, where God dared unworthy men to try to produce a revelation as wonderful as those produced by Joseph Smith. But, is it that hard? No! It's really easy.
You have just read my "revelation," and I must say, it's pretty good. It took me maybe half an hour. Quite a few people who read it, when I posted it to the "Recovery From Mormonism" e-mail list thought it was genuine. And those are people who spent many years studying Smith's "revelations."
And my "revelation" takes care of the troublesome problem that the "Official Declaration 2" does not deal with, namely, the obnoxious "curse of Cain" thing, for which the church is still being criticized.
And then it occurred to me that if God REALLY had given such a revelation to the prophet, what possible reason could there have been for not publicizing its wording? And I realized that maybe the revelation had revealed more than the Brethren wanted revealed. Such as verses 13-21, which I am inspired to believe God would have included in a genuine revelation.
Either way you look at it, the whole thing shows that the Mormon church is NOT led by God.
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© 2000 Richard Packham
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