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The 1886 Revelation and Lies of Cultural Sectarian Mormons

by Art Bulla

Tue, May 10, 2011

The 1886 Revelation

REVELATION TO JOHN TAYLOR, SEPT. 26, 1886:

My son John, you have asked me concerning the New and Everlasting Covenant, how far it is binding upon my people. Thus saith the Lord, All commandments that I give must be obeyed by those calling themselves by my name unless they are revoked by me or by my authority, And how can I revoke an everlasting covenant; for I the Lord am everlasting and my everlasting covenants cannot be abrogated nor done away with; but they stand forever. Have I not given my word in great plainness on this subject? Yet have not great numbers of my people been negligent in the observance of my law and the keeping of my commandments? and yet have I borne with them these many years... Nevertheless, I the Lord do not change, and my word and my law do not. And as I have heretofore said by my servant Joseph, All those who would enter into my glory must and shall obey my law, and have I not commanded men that if they were Abraham’s seed and would enter into my glory, they must do the works of Abraham? I have not revoked this law, nor will I, for it is everlasting, and those who will enter into my glory must obey the conditions thereof, even so, Amen.

I might give here, an explanation of my coming in contact with the book mentioned above. One day in Spring of 1974, while attending Brigham Young University I took a required class on the Book of Mormon taught by George W. Pace, held in the Joseph Smith auditorium. George, whom I admired greatly at the time, used this classroom as an opportunity to instill in young attendees, what is known as a "testimony" of the precepts and principles of the Gospel. He at this class meeting had a "question and answer period" in which students were encouraged to ask questions on theology which puzzled them or otherwise mystified them. After several questions had been asked and answered by Bro. Pace, a returned missionary stood up in the back of the auditorium, which had an echo, and asked in the loud voice, "While I was on my mission in ___________ (I can't remember the place) some anti-Mormons gave us literature which quoted Brigham Young teaching that Adam was God. Would you please tell me if this is true, and if Brigham Young taught this, was he wrong?" Bro. Pace paused a moment before replying and answered: "The documents are in Special Collections on the fifth floor of the Harold B. Lee Library (which was right next door to the Joseph Smith auditorium). I urge you to go up and read the documents for yourself and make your own judgment." This created a hue and cry of astonishment from the class, and this was only my second time that I had heard the Adam-God theory mentioned. I waited for everyone to file out of the auditorium and left to myself, alone, I raised my voice to God asking Him on the subject. Whereupon I was seized upon by the almighty Power and Spirit of God which descended upon me, and I was almost physically picked up and carried by the Spirit to the Harold B. Lee library, to the fifth floor, I think it was, but right over to the bookshelf where this book Keys to the Priesthood Illustrated by Lyn L and Stephen L. Bishop of Draper, Utah was located. I immediately checked it out, carried it home and began to read. A spirit of fear then came upon me, that I was being deceived, so I took the book back and to the librarian on that floor I protested that such "apostate literature" could be had in this of all libraries! Later I have been revealed in too numerous instances to mention the veracity of almost every detail of the book. So when I borrow from it you can have my recommendation that these things are verily true and no twisting of the facts have occurred by these authors, whom I thank gratefully for their labor and sacrifice in bringing these things to light. There is one severe caveat, as per revelation to me that the conclusion of this book, that there is an "Indian Prophet" who will set in order the house of God is completely inaccurate and is false doctrine, saith the Lord. So, even out of the "best books" one must have revelation to guide him or he will fall into grievous errors and perish. "The hand, the eye, the senses may all be deceived, but the spirit of God cannot be deceived, and when a man is filled with that spirit, he knows that which is beyond the power of any man to controvert." Brigham Young.
Apostle Matthias Cowley:
‘‘Brother Penrose told me once in the city of Mexico, that he had written the manifesto, and it was gotten up so that it did not mean anything and President Smith told me the same. I mention these things only to show the training I have had from those over me.’’ Minutes of Council of Twelve Meeting concerning fellowship of the same.
‘‘A sister in Bristol, England, who was procrastinating baptism because of her lack of testimony of the truth of plural marriage, of a sudden accepted baptism, explaining that she had received an answer from God on the subject. She explained that an audible voice from the Lord said, ‘that Plural Marriage is true and was instituted from before the foundation of the world.’’’ Diary of Elder Thomas Rosser.

‘‘Upon hearing this, Brother Smith and I left, rejoicing because of the testimony she had borne to us. ...On Monday morning, the 25th of May our Conference Priesthood Meeting was held...After the preliminary exercises, President Charles W. Penrose asked if any of the brethren had any questions...I said, ‘I have heard much discussion on the Principle of Plural Marriage, some saying that it is withdrawn from the earth and that the Manifesto was a revelation from God. Dear President, what about this case?’ Then I related to him the testimony of the Sister, which is written above, and then I asked him, ‘Why should she receive this testimony if God has withdrawn that principle from the earth, and the Manifesto is a true revelation from God? ‘‘President Penrose then rose to his feet, scratched the side of his head with his right hand for a moment or so, then stretched out his right hand toward us and said: ‘Brethren, I will answer that question, if you will keep it under your hats. I, Charles W. Penrose wrote the manifesto with the assistance of Frank J.
Cannon and John White. It’s no revelation from God, for I wrote it. Wilford Woodruff signed it to beat the devil at his own game. Brethren how can God withdraw an everlasting principle from the earth? He has not, and cannot, and I testify to you as a servant of God that this is true. Is the Manifesto A Revelation?, R.C. Newson, 7-8. (taken from Keys of the Priesthood Illustrated; Lynn. L. and Stephen L. Bishop, p.204.)

I, Art Bulla, testify that the Holy Ghost has borne unto me that the foregoing testimonies are true.



The Manifesto

(This is what the Mormons are told by their corrupt leadership is the "revelation from God" suspending polygamy.)

Reading the manifesto shows that it is manifestly from man, not from God, as proven by the language contained therein:

To Whom It May Concern: (Would an Omnipotent Deity speak thus?)

"Press dispatches having been sent for political purposes, from Salt Lake City, which have been widely published, to the effect that the Utah Commission in their recent report to the Secretary of the Interior, allege that plural marriages are still being solemnized and that 40 or more such marriages have been contracted in Utah since last June or during the past year, also that in public discourses the leaders of the Church have taught, encouraged and urged the continuance of the practice of polygamy- I, therefor, as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints, do hereby, in the most solemn manner declare that these charges are false. We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into this practice...’’

‘‘But this much I know from the lips of my Aunt Nellie. She was going to her work at the temple one morning, right after this new declaration on plural marriage that they issued, I think in 1933; and I believe it was when J. Reuben Clark first came into the Presidency-about that time--denouncing this thing anew. And she met Joseph Fielding Smith, and they stopped and chatted a few minutes, and she said, ‘Brother Smith, I’m very much surprised at that statement in the paper this morning.’ And he said, ‘How so, Sister Taylor?’
‘Well’, she said, ‘You surely know about that revelation.’ He said, ‘do you know about that revelation, Sister Taylor?’ She said, ‘Why, certainly.’ ‘Do you know where such a revelation might be?’ She said, ‘Yes.’ And he said, ‘Well, Sister Taylor, you would confer a great favor upon the Church if you would bring that to me as Church Historian.’ and she said, ‘Well, I’ll see what can be done about it.’ ‘‘So she went over to the Templeton Building soon after to see Uncle Frank Y. Taylor (President of the Granite Stake for 25 or 30 years), and she told him of this experience. She said, ‘Uncle Frank, perhaps we’d better get that revelation and give it to Brother Smith.’ And he said, ‘Well, I’ll think about it and see about it, Nellie, and let you know.’ ‘‘Well time went on--I don’t know just how much, maybe a few weeks, maybe a month or two--and she met Brother Smith again. And he said, ‘Sister Taylor, you haven’t fulfilled that assignment I gave you.’ And she said, ‘Haven’t I? I thought I had. I did what I could at the time.’ He said, ‘No, that has never come into my hands.’ So she said, ‘Well, I’ll see about it again.’ So she went back to Frank Y. Taylor, who was a full brother of John W. and she said, ‘Uncle Frank, Joseph Fielding Smith spoke to me again about that revelation.’ And he said, ‘Well I’ll take care of it.’ So she left it that way.
In a few days he came to her and said,‘I’m going to tell you the final chapter on that situation. I went to Rodney Badger, who was at one time in the Church Bank and had been given this revelation (as I understand) by John W. Taylor for safe keeping. I think they were brother-inlaw, or something. So he had put that in a safety deposit box and kept it there. He got it out and gave it to Frank Y. Taylor.
After Brother Taylor had it in his hands, he got to thinking; and he thought, ‘Well, I don’t believe that it’s proper to give this to the Church Historian. I think I should take it to the Prophet himself.’ So he took it in to President Heber J. Grant.
They had been boys together and close friends on up through the years, and he said: ‘Heber, was my Father a Prophet of the Lord?’ ‘Why Frank, why do you ask that? Of course he was. We all know that.’ And he said, ‘Would you recognize the handwriting of my Father?’ He said, ‘Yes I would know your Father’s handwriting well.’ So he passed this out and said, ‘I want you to read that (1886 Revelation), and tell me if that’s in the handwriting of my Father.’ Well he did and President Grant said, ‘Well, it certainly is the handwriting of your Father-I know that as well as I know anything.’ And Frank Taylor asked, ‘How do you expect to get around that?’ he said, ‘I don’t expect to get around it.’ ‘Well then, Heber, if I were you, I would be very careful with what I said.’ Private Interview with a Niece of Nellie Taylor; Transcript in Possession of Lynn and Stephen Bishop of Draper, Utah.

Heber J. Grant’s carefully worded denial that Frank and Nellie Taylor were referring: ‘‘It is alleged that on Sept. 26, 1886, President John Taylor received a revelation from the Lord, the purported text of which is given in a publication circulated apparently by or at the instance of this same organization. As to this pretended revelation it should be said that the archives contain no record of any such revelation, nor any evidence justifying a belief that any such revelation, nor any evidence justifying a belief that any such revelation was ever given.
From the personal knowledge of some of us, from the uniform and common recollection of the presiding quorums of the Church, from the absence in the Church Archives (it is in a vault in the First Presidency Office, not the Archives) of any evidence whatsoever justifying any belief that any such revelation was given, we are justified in affirming that no such revelation exists. Deseret News; June 17, 1933; p.4.

What BYU Scholars Have Said Concerning 1886 Revelation:
‘‘The family of John Taylor claims that the revelation referred to above was found in the prophet-leader’s papers and the original was given to the Church Historian. Since that time it has not been available to the public and the ChurchHistorian allegedly has declared that it is not in the Church Historian’s Library.
However Dean Jesse concluded in his study that it is highly probable that such a revelation does exist.’’
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought; Autumn, 1970, pg. 15, footnote 10.
Minutes of the Church Trial of John W. Taylor: ‘‘The date of this Revelation is Sept. 1886, four years before the Manifesto of President Woodruff and I remember at that time that President Taylor and all his brethren were very strongly entrenched in the principle of plural marriage. From 1880-1890 men were almost commanded to enter it, especially the officials of the Church...’’ Published Minutes of John W. Taylor’s Church Trial.

Quote from John Taylor:

John Taylor's watch was struck with a ball
which saved his life,
fired in Carthage Jail when he and others were
attacked by the mob that killed Joseph Smith.

‘‘God has given me a revelation in regard to celestial marriage, I did not make it...Yet they would like us to tone that principle down, and change it, and make it applicable to the views of the day. Yet they would like us to tone that principle down, and change it, and make it applicable to the views of the day.’’ This we cannot do, nor can we interfere with any of the commandments of god to meet the persuasions and behest of men. I cannot do it and will not do it. I find some men trying to twist round the principle in any way and every way they can. They want to sneak out of it in some way. Now, God doesn’t want any sycophancy like that. He expects us to be true to Him and the principles he has delivered, and to feel as Job did, ‘Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.’ ...These are our feelings in relation to this matter. We have been told that, ‘It is not meet that men who will not abide my law shall preside over my priesthood’, and yet some people would like very much to do it. Well they cannot do it. If God has introduced something for our glory and exaltation, we are not going to have that kicked over by improper influences), neither inside or outside of the Church of the living God.’’ John Taylor, JD 25:309.

‘‘They’’ now hold the balance of power in the Church, saith the Lord, for ‘‘they’’ are still changing the principles to apply them to the ‘‘views of the day’’, which ‘‘they’’ have the temerity to call ‘‘progressive revelation’’! What is ‘‘progressive’’ about being damned and cut off, I ask?

The Revelations of Jesus Christ: http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-28287-3

"But we ask, does it remain for a people who never had faith enough to call down one scrap of revelation from heaven, and for all they have now are indebted to the faith of another people...does it remain for them to say how much God has spoken and how much He has not spoken?" Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Section Two 1834-37 Pg.60

Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Section Six 1843-44 Pg.365
   When a man goes about prophesying, and commands men to obey his teachings, he must either be a true or false prophet.

Our website: http://www.artbulla.com

"All men are liars who say they are of the true Church without the revelations of Jesus Christ and the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which is after the order of the Son of God." Joseph Smith; TPJS p. 376

"He that can mark the power of Omnipotence, inscribed upon the heavens, can also see God's own handwriting in the sacred volume: and he who reads it oftenest will like it best, and he who is acquainted with it, will know the hand wherever he can see it...." (T.P.J.S., p. 56)

·         10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. (New Testament | Galatians 1:10 - 12)

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