The Present Dilemma and the True Way Out

As time went on, not only did the Adam doctrine cease to be preached, but it began to be denied. Most LDS General Authorities even denied that Brigham had ever taught it. Being far removed from the time in which the second Mormon President expounded the teaching, these apologists were safe in dismissing his remarks as being misquoted or misinterpreted. Those who continued to believe the Adam-God teaching were soon to be excommunicated from the Church for believing it. Books and articles were written to denounce the Adam-God theory. These books quoted against the false doctrine the precise verses that Orson Pratt and the Reorganized Church had employed against Brigham a hundred years before. There were no admissions that Brigham had taught it. Instead, there were denials.

An examination of the evidence, however, will admit to no other conclusion than that Brigham Young did teach that Adam was Heavenly Father, the Father of men's spirits as well as the Father of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Brigham Young, one of recent history's most prominent religious leaders, did indeed advance a doctrine that was to focus worship on a strange god. The doctrine that he taught for over 25 years was false doctrine and the LDS Church admits this today. It has, in effect, sided with Orson Pratt and has adopted his arguments and views as being right. However, in doing this it has unknowingly admitted that Brigham was not an inspired prophet of God. It is caught in the words of one of its own Apostles, George A. Smith:

If Brigham Young is the President of the Church he is an inspired man. If we have not an inspired man, then Orson Pratt is right.

The implications certainly are obvious. The claims of the Utah LDS Church utterly collapse when they claim to be the only true church and sole possessor of God's authority.

The Mormon, furthermore, faces the dilemma of being unable to be certain that his present prophet is advancing true doctrine. Perhaps the present teachings of the living prophet will be tomorrow's false teachings of a dead prophet. Perhaps the present revelations which the modern President claims to have received will be swept under the carpet as was the revelation concerning Adam that Brigham Young claimed to have received from God.

Today's Mormon cannot hide behind a testimony that the living prophet is advancing correct doctrine. His testimony holds no more weight than the strong testimonies which past members had concerning the truth of Brigham's Adam-God teaching. In reality, no Mormon can rest assured and have confidence that his prophet is not uttering the imaginations of his own heart. Even when he speaks as a prophet and is sustained and defended by his fellow Apostles, he still cannot be fully trusted.

This frightening dilemma in which the Mormon finds himself is not peculiar to him or to his people, but is the snare in which all men find themselves when they put their trust in men. To trust in the arm of flesh is really to have no hope at all. One's faith can be only as firm as the object upon which he places his trust. To place one's confidence upon erring flesh is to lack firm footing and roots:

Thus says the Lord. Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the LORD. For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant (Jer. 17:5, 6).

God invites all men today to place their trust in Him directly through His Son, Jesus Christ. Unlike a false prophet who teaches the people to follow a strange god, Jesus can be fully trusted to lead us to His Father. By His death, Christ has secured a place in the presence of God for all who place their trust in him. Those who trust Him can be absolutely sure that He will never fail.