Cast Away the Dead Prophets Part 4

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Should deceased LDS leaders like Spencer W. Kimball be ignored by today's members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Welcome to this edition of Viewpoint on Mormonism. I'm your host, Bill McKeever, founder and director of Mormonism Research Ministry, and with me today is Eric Johnson, my colleague at MRM. This week we've been talking about a very short video clip that is on YouTube that has a Utah Area 70 by the name of Richard Neitzel Holdzefel talking to a congregation and he's interviewing a couple of young people about their confusion when it comes to the topic of repentance. Holdzefel says some interesting comments that we've been discussing. The one comment that really catches our attention is how he thinks that members of the LDS Church need to get away from the book The Miracle of Forgiveness. In fact, Holdzefel actually says we don't want to go back to The Miracle of Forgiveness by President Kimball. He says, let's drop the dead prophets and embrace the living.

Now, there's all sorts of problems with a statement like that. How do you drop the dead prophets, but then at the same time have a number of church manuals that do nothing but cite the dead prophets? So it seems to me that it's up to the individual to subjectively choose which prophets they should listen to that have since passed away, or do we just get rid of them entirely?

Well, I don't even think Mr. Holdzefel does that in his daily lifetime. I wouldn't be surprised with all the books that he has written that he has probably cited dead prophets on a number of occasions. I think you bring out a good point as far as the church manuals. All through the church manuals we have quote-unquote dead prophets being referenced. But I think about the series they did a few years ago with the first 15 presidents of the church called Teachings of Presidents of the Church, in the name of whichever prophet being talked about.

And it wasn't done chronologically, but it was a very important series because most of the books had 24 chapters. So twice a month on the second and third Sundays, LDS followers had to go to church, and after the service they had an hour where they would discuss that particular chapter of a dead president. Now, they're not doing that anymore, but the question is why would they have done that if these men didn't have teachings that were considered to be worthwhile and authoritative? Well, let's talk about what Richard Neitzel Holdzefel has to say about the miracle of forgiveness, because if he is saying that we need to get rid of that, we don't want to go back to the miracle of forgiveness, that raises, I think, an obvious question when you consider that the miracle of forgiveness written by 12th president Spencer W. Kimball.

And by the way, I should ask, does an Area 70 really have the authority to criticize the 12th president of the church for what he has written in a book, which for years was very, very popular among Latter-day Saints? Bill, one of my favorite strategies when I'm out evangelizing is to take copies of the miracle of forgiveness and hand them out. I highlight the parts that I want people to be able to read. I've handed out over a thousand copies over the last seven years. 2019, I was at a BYU football game, two young men came up to me and asked what I was doing, and I said, well, I'm giving away this book called The Miracle of Forgiveness, and they just had the biggest smiles. They were probably 17 or 18 years old, and they said, well, that's our great-grandfather.

And so I had a chance to talk to them for just a couple of minutes. I have the picture of me with these two boys on one of the web pages dealing with this topic, but what they said was that they're very proud about the book, the family loves the book, and they thought what I was doing was wonderful to hand out their great-grandfather's book for free, because they said it has full truth in it. And I said, a lot of people complain with me handing this book out, and they said, there's no complaint to it at all. You should be very excited that you're handing out Mormon doctrine when you hand those out. Can you imagine if those two young people were in this talk at that time when this Area 70 said that we should get away from that book? I wonder how they would have felt. They told me very clearly the Kimball family is still very proud of The Miracle of Forgiveness.

Now, let's be very honest. I hate the book, and I can understand why most Latter-day Saints don't like the book. It's a great witnessing tool, that's for sure, and I'm sure that's why you use it, Erica, so many times. But I think a lot of the things that Kimball says in there are things that no Mormon is ever going to live up to, and I think that's why these two young people in the video that we've been discussing this week are so perplexed. They tend to know what's required of them, but the difficulty is living up to it. So it's not so much that they don't know the definition of repentance.

I think it's more the inability of being able to live up to that definition, as it is defined by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sixteenth President Thomas S. Monson, he said some glowing things about the book, The Miracle of Forgiveness, and he said this the year that Spencer Kimball died in 1985. This quotation is found in Monson's book, On the Lord's Erin, the Memoirs of Thomas S. Monson, and this citation is found on page 342.

And by the way, it can be found at TheMiracleOfForgiveness.com. This is what Monson said, President Spencer W. Kimball has always been a prolific worker. He spent several summers working on a book which he later entitled The Miracle of Forgiveness. As one reads the book, particularly the first portion, one wonders if anyone will make it to the celestial kingdom.

However, in reading the final portion, it is apparent that, with effort, all can qualify. That statement has always intrigued me, because I've read the back of the book, and I don't find myself being comforted in any way at all. What does Spencer W. Kimball say on the last page of his book, The Miracle of Forgiveness? The third to last paragraph of the final page, page 368, says this, What relief, what comfort, what joy, those laden with transgressions and sorrows and sin may be forgiven and cleansed and purified.

That sounds pretty good, Bill, but there's this if. If they will return to their Lord, learn of Him, and keep His commandments. And how many commandments do you think they should be keeping, according to Spencer W. Kimball? Well, if the indication out on the street when we talk to Latter-day Saints is true, then it's all of them.

And not only all of them, but when we ask how often, they will say, all of the time. We also have a Mormon apostle by the name of Richard L. Evans, and this statement was made by him the year after The Miracle of Forgiveness came out in 1969. He said this, by the way, in a conference message in April 1970, and you can find it on page 16. Many of you would be familiar with President Spencer Kimball's wonderful work on The Miracle of Forgiveness. I witness to you that God is a loving Father who will forgive and help us find peace and self-respect as we repent and show our sincerity by the lives we live. And there is nothing He asks of us that we cannot do. There is no requirement we cannot keep if we are willing, if we want to.

Repentance is a miracle if it is sincere. Bill, on chapter 2, Kimball exactly said what Evans is saying here. Chapter 2 is entitled, No One Clean Thing Can Enter, and he quotes from Moses 657. You have to do this in order to be able to receive it, and it's possible for a person to keep all the commandments, because God does not give any commandments that cannot be kept.

I find interesting where he says, and there is nothing He asks of us that we cannot do, that seems to go along with what the Book of Mormon teaches in 1 Nephi 3-7, that God's not going to give you a commandment that you cannot keep. So folks, what you take away from that is the fact that every Latter-day Saint who's not doing what they are supposed to be doing, they are at fault. They cannot blame anyone else. They have the ability, they should be doing it.

If they're not doing it, it's their fault. We also have 70, Bruce C. Hafen. Now, why is Bruce Hafen interesting? Well, he's still alive. He's not a dead prophet, but he is a member of the Seventy. There was an article titled, Beauty for Ashes, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which is in the Liahona, April 1997. Now, this was back while the Ensign magazine was still being published. They had another magazine that was also called the Liahona. As we've explained many times, the Ensign has been put to rest, and now the magazine for adult members is the Liahona.

April 1997, page 41, what did Hafen say? Some of us make repentance too easy, and others make it too hard. Those who make it too easy don't see any big sins in their lives, or they believe that breezy apologies alone are enough. These people should read President Spencer W. Kimball's The Miracle of Forgiveness, which reviews many sins of both commission and omission. And while forgiveness is a miracle, it is not one without penitent and strenuous effort.

And we also have Richard G. Scott, Mormon apostle Richard G. Scott. Now, he has passed away, but in a conference message, and this is found in the Ensign for May 1995, page 76, this is what he said about The Miracle of Forgiveness. In The Miracle of Forgiveness, Spencer W. Kimball gives a superb guide to forgiveness. Through repentance, it has helped many find their way back. Now, why would he say it's a superb guide if it's something that we need to get away from? You would think this would be something the members of the Church should be running to, and not shunning, as Mr. Holtzepel thinks that we should.

But Scott also said this in the October 2000 General Conference, and this is in a talk he gave, The Path to Peace and Joy, found in the Ensign, November 2000, on page 26. I suggest that you read President Spencer W. Kimball's inspired book, The Miracle of Forgiveness. It continues to help the faithful avoid the pitfalls of serious transgression. It likewise is an excellent handbook for those who have committed serious errors and want to find their way back. Read the last two chapters first to appreciate The Full Miracle of Forgiveness before reading anything else.

I don't know where they come up with this formula, because when you read the back, it doesn't really help you. It still is emphasizing the same thing, all about commandment keeping and truly repenting. But then we have Mormon apostle Boyd K. Packer, and this statement is found in a church manual titled, Presidents of the Church Student Manual, Religion 345, page 209.

This manual came out in 2003. President Kimball himself is an experienced surgeon of sorts. Not a doctor of medicine, but a doctor of spiritual well-being. Many a moral cancer has been excised, many a blemish of character has been removed, many a spiritual illness of one kind or another has been cured through his efforts. Some on the verge of spiritual oblivion have been rescued by him. He has written a book, literally years in preparation, The Miracle of Forgiveness.

Many have been protected by the counsel he has written. Countless others have been inspired to set their lives in order and have experienced that miracle. So here we have a number of leaders, one of whom we cited is still living, encouraging people that they should read The Miracle of Forgiveness. Now clearly this Area 70, Richard Neitzel, holds a full, he doesn't agree with that. In closing, I think you would agree completely that when we look at the teachings of those living prophets, we find that they're still saying basically the same thing. Maybe not as blunt as Spencer Kimball was in his book, but they're basically still encouraging the same thing if a Mormon hopes to receive celestial exaltation. And Bill, I'm just waiting for the day when a General Authority gets up at General Conference and tells us, just like this Area 70, that The Miracle of Forgiveness should no longer be read.