Prophets of the LDS Church

22 January

Presidents/Prophets of the LDS Church  

     Below is a chronological list of the prophets in the LDS Church.  Along with dates served I’ve included what I’ve dubbed a notable quotable for each.  As you can imagine the list to choose the most heretical quote was extensive, alas, I hope what is presented will suffice in providing the reader good examples of the abhorrent doctrines promulgated by these leaders. 

1st President of the Church 

Joseph Smith, Jr.

Served from 1830 –1844 

The Elders Journal, Joseph Smith Jr., editor, vol.1, no.4, p.60; “. . . All the priests who adhere to the sectarian religions of the day with all their followers, without one exception, receive their portion with the devil and his angels.” 

     This statement by Smith pretty much negates what other prophets of the Church have recently said about the body of Christ.  The great consensus as of late has been to tone down the rhetoric to seem more Christian. Check out what we found on the LDS website in their newsroom. 

A respect for the diverse beliefs and unique contributions of all the world’s faiths is one of the hallmarks of Mormonism…In that same spirit, Church President Thomas S. Monson made a plea during general conference, a semiannual worldwide meeting, for more religious understanding: “I would encourage members of the Church wherever they may be to show kindness and respect for all people everywhere…Emphasizing God’s love for all people, not just those of one religion, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First Presidency, the highest governing body of the Church, declared: “We honor and respect sincere souls from all religions, no matter where or when they lived, who have loved God, even without having the fullness of the gospel.” 

2nd President of the Church 

Brigham Young

Served from 1847–1877 

Journal of Discourses 1:51; “—if the Son was begotten by the Holy Ghost, it would be very dangerous to baptize and confirm females, and give the Holy Ghost to them, lest he should beget children…” 

     This was one of the first statements I found right after leaving the Church and to say that it shocked me would be an understatement.  It literally took my breath away to think that my beloved heritage would say something so awful about Jesus Christ.  

Third President of the Church 

John Taylor

Served from 1880–1887 

Journal of Discourses 13:225; “What does the Christian world know about God? Nothing . . . Why so far as the things of God are concerned, they are the veriest fools; they know neither God nor the things of God.” 

What I do know as a Christian is how to study my Bible.  The Hebrew word for fools is “nabal” which means stupid.  See Ps. 14:1.  What I also know as a Christian is that He will never leave nor forsake me as it says in Hebrews 13:5-6; 

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.  6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

 So who’s telling the lie? 

4th President of the Church   

Wilford Woodruff

Served from 1887–1898 

Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, pg. 235; “…I want to say this to all Israel: Cease troubling yourselves about who God is; who Adam is, who Christ is, who Jehovah is. For heaven’s sake, let these things alone. Why trouble yourselves about these things? God has revealed himself, and when the 121st section of the Doctrine and Covenants is fulfilled, whether there be one God or many gods they will be revealed to the children of men… If we want to know any more, wait till we get where God is in person.” 

Can you just imagine “ceasing to worry” about who God is?  Where in the Bible does it ever tell you to do this?

How do you get to know Him and strengthen your relationship with Him if you “let these things alone”?  Every Mormon I’ve ever met has told me the same thing that Wilford Woodruff said here; “I’ll find out when I get there”.  The unfortunate thing about this is that they’re right.  They’ll definitely find out then.  

5th President of the Church

Lorenzo Snow
Served from 1898–1901 

The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, pg. 1; “As man now is, God once was; as God is now man may be.” 

Every time I see this quote I think of Genesis 3:4-5; 

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”   

6th President of the Church

Joseph F. Smith

Served from 1901–1918 

Gospel Doctrine, pg. 55; “I do not believe in the doctrine held by some that God is only a Spirit…for I can not conceive it possible that God could be a person, if he filled the immensity of space and was everywhere present at the same time. It is unreasonable, a physical, a theological inconsistency, to imagine that even God the eternal Father would be in two places, as an individual, at the same moment. It is impossible. But his power extends throughout the immensity of space…—Apr. C. R., 1916, p. 4.” 

Matthew 19:26; “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”  

The first hurdle the Mormon needs to get over is thinking that God is a man because He is not, but even God can change a person’s heart if you’re willing to seek Him and Him only.  

7th President of the Church 

Heber J. Grant

Served from 1918–1945 

Gospel Standards, pg. 36; “If we keep the commandments of God, He will love us, and the Savior will manifest Himself unto us. If we fail to keep the commandments of God, there is no promise made to us.” 

If you as a human would still love your child after they’ve misbehaved, don’t you suppose that God would still find it in Himself to love you after you’ve sinned? 

Romans 5:8; “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” 

8th President of the Church 

George Albert Smith

Served from 1945–1951 

Teachings of George Albert Smith, pg. 8; “There is no other name given under heaven whereby we can be exalted.” 

What amazed me the most when I got out of the Church was the way Church leaders would take snippets out of the Bible to pervert and twist it to fit their own agenda. 

Acts 4:12; “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.  

9th President of the Church 

David O. McKay

Served from 1951–1970

Gospel Ideals, pg. 77; “The greatest event of the nineteenth century was the appearing of two heavenly Beings to the boy Prophet Joseph Smith, revealing the personal identity respectively of God the Eternal Father and of his Son Jesus Christ.“— David O. McKay, Millennial Star Volume 85:408      

So the end of slavery, invention of the automobile and railroads, establishment of public school system, the invention of the telephone, camera, pasteurization process and the first electric warehouse are all lesser events?  What about Clara Barton (founder of the Red Cross), Abraham Lincoln, Florence Nightingale, Charles Dickens, Lewis and Clark, Louisa May Alcott, oh and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony was completed.  None of these people knew about God and their accomplishments were less than Joseph’s “vision”?  

10th President of the Church 

Joseph Fielding Smith

Served from 1970–1972 

Doctrines of Salvation 1:18; “I believe firmly that Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh. He taught this doctrine to his disciples.  He did not teach them that he was the Son of the Holy Ghost, but the Son of the Father…Jesus is greater than the Holy Spirit, which is subject unto him, but his Father is greater than he!  He has said it. Christ was begotten of God. He was not born without the aid of Man, and that Man was God!” 

Jesus did not say that He was the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh or God was man and that He was begotten by that man.  Specifically, where in the Bible does it say these things?    

11th President of the Church 

Harold B. Lee

Served from 1972–1973 

Harold B. Lee, Prophet & Seer, pg. 542; “Who are you? You are all the sons and daughters of God. Your spirits were created and lived as organized intelligences before the world was. You have been blessed to have a physical body because of your obedience to certain commandments in that premortal state.” 

Everything in the above statement is a lie.  We are not all sons and daughters of God.  Our spirits were not sexually created before the world was.  Obedience has nothing to do with having a physical body.   

12th President of the Church 

Spencer W. Kimball

Served from 1973–1985 

Miracle of Forgiveness, pg. 63; “Your virtue is worth more than your life. Please, young folk, preserve your virtue even if you lose your lives.” 

Could you imagine God saying this to you or your daughter?  

 

13th President of the Church 

Ezra Taft Benson

Served from 1985–1994 

Teachings of ETB, pg. 101; “The Prophet Joseph Smith was not only “one of the noble and great ones,” but he gave and continues to give attention to important matters here on the earth even today from the realms above.” 

Isaiah 43:10-11: “Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.”   

14th President of the Church 

Howard W. Hunter
Served from 1994–1995 

“Exceeding Great and Precious Promises,” Ensign, Nov. 1994, 8; “Look to the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of your membership.” 

Shema is the transliteration of the Hebrew word for hear.  It is applied to Deut. 6:4-9 and is the basics of the Law.  Our membership is found in Jesus alone.  If we want some outside marking of what or whom we belong to, it is found in obeying Shema.  When Jesus was asked what the greatest Law was He referred them to Shema in Mark 12:29-31, not some building that He could destroy and rebuild in three days. 

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”   

15th President of the Church 

Gordon B. Hinckley

Served from 1995–2008 

Time Magazine, Aug 4, 1997: “On whether his church still holds that God the Father was once a man, [Hinckley] sounded uncertain, `I don’t know that we teach it. I don’t know that we emphasize it… I understand the philosophical background behind it, but I don’t know a lot about it, and I don’t think others know a lot about it.'” 

Don’t you find it odd that a prophet of God wouldn’t know about the foundational beliefs of the One and Only True Church?   

16th President of the Church 

Thomas S. Monson

Served from 2008-Present 

Ensign, Nov. 2005, pg. 67; “…he gave his life; Willard Richards and John Taylor were spared. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” The Prophet Joseph Smith taught us love—by example.” 

Question: Exactly what did Joseph’s death do for the Mormon people?

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3 Responses to “Prophets of the LDS Church”

  1. fred February 1, 2012 at 6:41 am #

    (Question: Exactly what did Joseph’s death do for the Mormon people?)

    Many things, but the one I like the best is how it shows that the people who taught that this was the “Church of Joseph Smith” were wrong as to who really is the head of this Church. With Christ as the head of His Church He was able to replace His helper, the Prophet, and just keep on trucking.

    fred

  2. CamdenC February 2, 2012 at 2:23 am #

    Fred – But didn’t Joseph say that the prophet to succeed him would be of the same bloodline (much like the Levite priesthood) and that prophet would be his son?

    So what happened?

  3. fred February 2, 2012 at 3:15 am #

    show me.

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