All opposition did not cease with Orson Pratt's removal. This time, though, the attack came from a group outside the LDS fold - the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (49). Believing the original teachings of Joseph Smith to be true, the Reorganized Church immediately spotted the contradiction in Brigham's doctrine of Adam becoming God. In the November and December issues of their _True_Latter-Day_Saint_Herald_, the RLDS Church printed a lengthy refutation of Brigham's Adam-God doctrine. This article uses the same arguments and quotes the same scriptures as Orson Pratt did earlier that year when he contended with the Utah prophet. The _Herald_ sought to overthrow the words of the living prophet by appealing to the written word.
The _True_Latter-Day_Saint_Herald_ saw clearly that Brigham Young was teaching false doctrine though he claimed to be acting as a prophet. They also clearly realized the implications. The man whom many looked to as being the successor of their martyred prophet was in reality a false prophet who taught as the word of God the imaginations of his own heart. Seeing by this that the Utah faction was not of God, they urged Utah Mormons to return to the true God.
The article in the _Herald_ caused no small stir when it reached Utah. In his diary under the date of February 3, 1861, John D. Lee, adopted son of Brigham Young, recorded the following:
Eving attendd Prayer meeting & instructed the Saints on the points of Doctrine refereed to by the true Latterday Saints Herald & their Bombarding Pres. B. Young for Saying that Adam is all the god that we have to do with & to those that know no better, it is quite a stumbling Block... (50).
The Utah authorities held to the revelations revealed by their prophet. Some even claimed to have received for themselves a revelation that confirmed what the Living oracle had spoken. In a notebook that contained several personal revelations which he believed God had personally revealed to Him, Heber C. Kimbell, counselor to Brigham Young, recorded the following:
April 30, 1862, the Lord told me that Adam was my father and that he was the God and father of all the inhabitants of this earth (51).
Though assailed from outside and from within the ranks of his own people, Brigham Young continued to set forth his belief in the doctrine. Speaking in the Tabernacle on the morning of October 8, 1861, Young remarked:
I will give you a few words of doctrine, upon which there has been much inquiry, and with regard to which considerable ignorance exists. Br. Watt will write it, but it is not my intention to have it published therefore pay good attention, and store it up in your memories. Some years ago, I advanced a doctrine with regard to Adam being our father and God, that will be a curse to many of the Elders of Israel because of their folly. With regard to it they yet grovel in darkness and will. Is is one of the most glorious revealments of the economy of heaven, yet the world holds it [in] derision. Had I revealed the doctrine of baptism from the dead instead [of] Joseph Smith there are men around me who would have ridiculed the idea until doomsday. But they are ignorant and stupid like the dumb ass (52).
A year prior to this statement Brigham stated that the only thing of which he was guilty was that he had revealed too much truth to the people.
...if guilt before my God and brethren rests upon me in the least, it is in this one thing - that I have revealed too much concerning God and his Kingdom, and the designs of our Father in heaven. If my skirts are stained in the least with wrong, it is because I have been too free in telling what God is, how he lives, the nature of his providences and the earth, his designs concerning them, etc. If I had, like Paul, said - "But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant", perhaps it would have been better for the people (53).
Nevertheless, as the years passed Young was still emphatically claiming that Adam was God the Father. In fact, he asserted this revelation in terms stronger than he ever had before. On June 8, 1973, Brigham again addressed his audience concerning Adam, and the week following he had his discourse published in the _Deseret_News_:
How much unbelief exists in the minds of the Latter-day Saints in regard to one particular doctrine which I revealed to them, and which God revealed to me - namely that Adam is our Father and God... The Christian world read of, and think about, St. Paul, also St. Peter, the chief of Apostles. These men were faithful to and magnified the priesthood while on the earth. Now, where will be the mystery, after they have passed through all the ordeals, and have been crowned and exalted, and received their inheritances in the eternal worlds of glory, for them to be sent forth, as the Gods have been forever and ever, with the command - "Make yourselves an earth, and people it with your own children?"... Oh fools, and slow of heart to believe the great things that God has purposed in his own mind... Adam came here and got it up in a shape that would suit him to commence business. What is the great mystery about it? None, that I have seen. The mystery in this, as with miracles, or anything else, is only to those who are ignorant. Father Adam came here, and then they brought his wife. "Well". says one. "Why was Adam called Adam?" He was the first man on the earth, and its framer and maker. He with the help of his brethren, brought it into existence Then he said, "I want my children who are in the spirit world to come and live here. I once dwelt upon an earth something like this, in a mortal state. I was faithful. I received my crown and exaltation. I have the privilege of extending my work, and to its increase there will be no end. I want my children who were born to me in the spirit world to come here and take tabernacles of flesh..."
The opposition was still present, and there were still those who disbelieved in the sayings of their leader. It is interesting to note in this sermon that Brigham does not grieve over any misquotations or misunderstandings of his previous statements concerning Adam, but rather he laments over the disbelief which existed among his brethren. During all the years Young never claimed to be misquoted or misinterpreted. Instead, he appealed to his divine calling as proof of the truth of this statements.
Young also did not shy away from claiming that his teachings were the Word of God. He did not believe his doctrine to be just his personal opinion, which could be wrong. On the contrary, believing himself to be a prophet of God, he declared all of his sermons to be revelation, directly from the Lord:
I know just as well what to teach this people and just what to say to them and what to do in order to bring them into the celestial kingdom, as I know the road to my office. It is just as plain and easy. The Lord is in our midst. He teaches the people continually. I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men that they may not call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good Scripture as they deserve. The people have the oracles of God continually (54).
Brother Orson Hyde referred to a few who complained about not getting revelations. I will make a statement here that has been brought against me as a crime, perhaps as a fault in my life. Not here, I do not allude to anything of the kind in this place, but in the councils of the nations - that Brigham Young has said "when he sends forth his discourses to the world they may call them Scripture." I say now when they are copied and approved by me they are as good Scripture as is couched in this Bible, and if you want to read revelation read the sayings of him who knows this mind of God... (55).
There is no room for thinking that Brigham was expressing what he believed to be merely his own opinions. No. He rightly believed that when a prophet of God acts as a prophet, he speaks the truth.
« Previous Section Next Section »