One thing that should be noted about the new “revelation” is that the church has failed to produce a copy of it. All we have is a statement by the First Presidency which says a revelation was received. Joseph Smith, the first Mormon prophet, printed many of his revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants and other church publications, and the early Mormon Church even mocked the Catholics because they did not allow the revelations given by their popes to enter the "sacred canon." In refusing to canonize or even make public the new "revelation" on blacks, the Mormon leaders are now practicing the very thing the Catholics were accused of doing. The Salt Lake Tribune for June 13, 1978, reported:

Kimball refused to discuss the revelation that changed the church's 148-year-old policy against ordination of blacks, saying it was a "personal thing." . . . Kimball said the revelation came at this time because conditions adn people have changed. "It's a different world than it was 20 or 25 years ago. The world is ready for it," he said.

We seriously doubt that President Kimball will ever put forth a written revelation on the bestowal of priesthood on blacks. We doubt, in fact, that any such document exists. What probably happened was that the leaders of the Church finally realized that they could no longer retain the anti-black doctrine without doing irreparable damage to the church. Under these circumstances they were impressed with the fact that the doctrine had to be changed and this impression was referred to as a revelation from God.