Getting What you Want

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Wayne N. Reeves
24 Sep 1997

The Other Day, I was considering the situation of many Church Members who confront the Doctrines of the Foundation of this Restoration, what is commonly referred to as "Mormon Fundamentalism". So many Church Members, when first discovering these Truths, find themselves asking this question: "How can I be wrong?" They say, "I have given my whole life to this Church. It just has to be True."

The Church is True. It is the Lord's Church. And it was restored to us by the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith. But the Lord gives to the people what they want. When Israel wanted a King, instead of the Judges, God gave them a King. And He gave them this King through His then Living Prophet. It WAS NOT the Will of the Lord that the People have a King. It was the Lord giving the People what they wanted through a Living Prophet and in conformity to the Laws of Agency.

Now, all of your life, you have had allegiance to this King. You have believed that it was the Will of the Lord that we have a King. And history attests that the Prophet received a revelation to choose and anoint a King, which he did.

But the Prophets also told the People what would happen to Israel, if they were to be given a King. Everything the Prophets prophesized came true, right to the letter.

However, there were a small group of Israelites who mourned and decried the loss of the Judges. They went to the Prophet and asked him to appoint to them Judges, that could govern them as in the old days. The Prophet, seeing their desire to safeguard freedom, and their desire to live in the Theocracy of God under the system of Judges, gave to them what they wanted, again under the Laws of Agency. So, each group of Israelites had what they wanted, in conformity to the Laws of Agency.

Were those who persisted in wanting to continue to live under the system of Judges in rebellion against those who wanted a King? Were they in rebellion against the Lord and His Prophet? Were they "apostates" from Israel? You can answer these questions for yourself.

In our day, the Lord restored the Fullness of His Gospel. Joseph and Hyrum were NOT martyred for the sake of Baptism and the Sacrament. Everyone of the Saints had no problem with these ordinances. What stirred the devil's kingdom to "inspire" his apostates--those who rebelled against the further light and knowledge the Lord had revealed to His Saints though the Prophet--were the Principles or Laws of Celestial Plural Marriage and United Order/Consecration.

Wilson Law, William Law--apostles in the Church--William Marks, the Nauvoo Stake President--pled with Joseph Smith to "back off" and leave these things alone, and just live "the simple Gospel."

But Joseph persisted, because if he had not continued, he would have been a fallen prophet. And for his persistence, the apostates inspired the mobs who killed Joseph and Hyrum--shades of the Amlicites of The Book of Mormon.

Brigham Young, realizing the problem lead the Saints to a separate and isolated place. They came to Utah, and established a separate Nation,where they could live ALL of God's Laws, that would cause them to repent and qualify to build Zion and live in Zion.

The Mormons were a peculiar people, unique in all the world. They were the only People and the only Religion, where all of the pieces fit together snugly, perfectly, and all directed to One Goal--Zion! We were striving to establish a Theocracy, with a System of Judges in Israel, using the Gospel as the System of Laws by how we would live, with Jesus Christ as our King. The Temple was to be the place to teach us and strengthen us to build our refuge--Zion.

But what happened? The People did not want this system of Judges. They did want to really live these Laws. Brigham Young attempted to establish the United Order CHURCH WIDE in both 1874 and 1877. The Church, as a whole, failed. In the 1880's, John Taylor plead and cajoled and admonished the Saints to live the Law of Plural Marriage. In 1882, he made it a requirement for men to maintain their positions of authority in the Priesthood. Still, the Saints, as a whole, persisted ignoring these Laws. They neither wanted to consecrate nor did they want the heavy and weighty responsibility of taking care of and supporting more than one family. Grover Cleveland, United States President, plead with the Saints--"Give up your economic separateness. Give up your Polygamy. Join with the Mainstream of American Life. Join in the Economic Growth and Economic Prosperity of our Nation."

And then the Saints, of course, were constantly petitioning the Prophet: "Give us what we want. We want to be full Americans; we want to be in the Mainstream of American Life. We are tired of being poor, and persecuted." The letters, which are many, are on file in the Church Historian Archives.

And John Taylor prophesied, as only a True Prophet can, of what would happen to our people if we gave up these Principles as a People. He prophesied that:

(1) The Saints would be rife with adulteries and whoredoms, family break- ups and sorrows in their families by virtue of giving up Plural Marriage.

(2) He said many who thought they had Priesthood, would not have the Priesthood, because it was not properly conferred on them.

(3) Other Prophets prophesied that with the rejection of Consecration and United Order, we would go into bondage, that the bankers and other merchants and businessmen would subjugate us and we would be slaves to Babylon.

How many times did Brigham Young warn the Saints? How many times did Wilford Woodruff and John Taylor raise the warning voice? And everything they prophesied has come true.

Like the Israelites of old who rejected the System of Judges, Modern Israel rejected the Economic System of the Judges, as well as the Marriage System of the Judges. And just as Samuel prophesied of what what would happen to Ancient Israel, for their Kings, so the Modern Prophets warned Modern Israel. And all of the things or warnings they prophesied, came true.

So, the Latter-day Israelites petitioned the Prophet--"Release us! Free us! Do something!" And the Lord sent to His Prophet a revelation--"They are released. They are free. Under the Eternal Laws of Agency, I cannot nor will I force them to live in a manner which they don't want. Give to them what they want." But in getting what they want, i.e. to have that "happy little neighborhood church", they cannot have the Blessings of the Fullness. It is an Eternal Law that you cannot be blessed for the Laws you do not keep.

And just as the Prophets prophesied, our people suffer so much from adultery, divorce, whoredoms, fornication, and family break-ups. Bankers hold us in bondage. The power of evidence of True Priesthood is absent. The Gifts of the Spirit that Moroni speaks of, are either absent or barely in evidence. Zion? A vague and misunderstood concept that has little meaning, as can be easily ascertained with a few simple questions to any typical ward Priesthood Class in the Church.

Modern Israel now has her "Kings" with all that comes with such a System or Manner of Living. Just look around--talk--listen. It is very evident. Israel is still here, but having "Kings" was our idea, not the Lord's, and the Lord went along with it, because the Lord always give the People what they want. That is the Chief and Central Principle of the Priesthood--AGENCY....giving the people what they want, even if damns them.

I recall as a 19-year old sophomore at BYU. I prayed and plead with the Lord, that I could have a "girl friend". The spirit warned me and counseled me to be bound to no one, especially before my mission. But would I listen? NO. So, the Lord gave me what I wanted, and it almost destroyed me, in both my academics and my goal to serve a full-time mission.l I have to admit that I learned a great deal through that experience, but I would have been better served to just have listened to the Spirit in the first place. But some of us have to learn "the hard way". And so, the Lord offered Israel the Fullness, and Israel rejected it. So, now Israel must learn "the hard way" by having many varied experiences in Babylon, until she has had her fill of the oppression of Babylon.

As for me, it was only when I let go, and let the Lord have His Way with me, that I escaped a near disaster. She was a good girl--it was me that was immature and ignorant. Yet, the Lord gave me my way, and I learned a lot from these experiences.

It is the same with us. We are having our Way--not the Lord's Way--but our Way and we are having so many, many experiences that are teaching us--but until we repent and let the Lord have His Way with us, we will NEVER have our Zion, nor qualify for the Celestial Kingdom. The time to repent is NOW. The time to let the Lord have His Way with us is NOW.

If we petition the Lord, if we petition the Prophet, we will be given what we want. If we petition the Lord to have the Fullness of the Gospel, to live all of the Laws that would qualify us for Zion, for the Celestial Kingdom, to have the Fullness of the Priesthood, will He not give to us what we desire? It is my testimony that He does hear and answer prayers and he does give to the People what they want.

And so, there continued to be a small group of Saints, few in number, who only wanted to live all of God's Laws, and thus, qualify for a Fullness of His Blessings. Thus, to keep the Dispensation fully intact, and to give to these people what they wanted, for the sake of Free Agency, the Lord prepared a Way that these people could also have what they wanted.

What did they want? All of the Light, Knowledge, Blessings, Principles, Laws, and Ordinances that had been revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, which the Church decided to suspend---those "things" for which we have been reviled and persecuted for,which have made us unpopular with the world. Who were these People? Who are they now? Common people--no great men as the world defines the term. People with no great riches. People just like you and me--weak, sinful, and very human. Latter-day Saints.

Everything that the Church believes, these people believe, too. As for the Church, these people believe everything the Church teaches, and just a little bit more. This little bit more are those Laws and Principles, Doctrines,and Truths that the Church has abandoned or rejected. I believe in Agency--that the Lord to honor Agency--would make a provision that they could believe and live the Fullness as He revealed it, with His Permission and His Priesthood. These People are part of the Lord's Church, too. They are not in competition with the Church, for they are part of the Church. They are that part of the Church that has retained that Light and Knowledge of the Whole Restored Gospel. The Church didn't want it, but they do. So, the Lord has asked them to preserve it, and keep it intact. That is what they intend to do, because if they don't, then Mormonism, as it was revealed, will simply be relegated to the History Books, as an interesting curiosity of the 19th Century, which the Modern-day Church has eliminated by "modern revelation", and has finally "seen the light" and become a "major player" in mainstream Christianity.

But let us assume that the Priesthood Work, as these people call themselves, are nothing but a bunch of "rebellious apostates". If this is so, then there are many of the Early Brethren who are going to have a lot of explaining to do--because they made prophecies and warnings that never came to pass, or will come to pass. And if the Lord does not approve of what they are doing, then His is a changeable God, and the Celestial Kingdom is going to be a real polyglot of people, all living different "ways"--a place of confusion where different laws prevail, depending on what time period you lived in, on this Earth.

At present, Israel is living under a System of "Kings". She is in bondage. Revelation has ceased. But there are a few of the Saints who desire with all of their hearts to live under the "Judges". God made it possible for them to do that. It does not mean that they are in Rebellion against the "King". They recognize the authority of the"King". They recognize that the "King" is there because the Lord placed him there through His Prophet. But it is what the People wanted.

They, the Priesthood Work, got what they wanted, too. Only if you want it, can you have it. It is True--the Fullness of the Gospel is True. Too many have given too much for it to be lost. So, it is still here. Now, go and find it for yourself, and I promise you, that if you desire it with ALL of your heart, you will find it. And it will fill up your cup with overflowing with Joy.

Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 14:52:55 -0600
From: "Wayne N. Reeves" <taxplan@manti.com>
Subject: Re: [mahonri-l] Getting What you Want

Yes, I wrote it. And by all means, if it will help anyone to better see what is happening in the Kingdom, then use it.
Wayne

>I really loved this piece of writing and would like to post it to my web site at http://www.absalom.com/mormon/ Are you the author? And would you mind if I posted it?

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