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The Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 & 2 • Part 2 • Bro. Thom Reed • December 8-14 • Come Follow Me
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- [00:01]
A
Welcome back to part two with brother Tom Reed as we discuss declaration number two.
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B
We are back and Tom has changed again. Once again, there's some people listening who don't know what's happened.
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C
I started off in a suit and tie. Then I switched to a polo that had my familysearch logo on it. And I put on my familysearch hat, literally as we talked about official declaration 1 and really what it meant to save the temples and how my job now is really involved in heavily in helping nourish temples with names and the gathering of Israel. So now I'm wearing a T shirt, but this T shirt is from the Genesis Group summer cookout. We talked earlier about what the Genesis group is and one of the ways that we help strengthen black Latter Day Saint individuals and the Genesis group is by having a summer cookout. So in June we got together. Our president, Renell Hugh, good friend of yours, Hank, decided that we all, as a leadership council should wear T shirts. One of the phrases that is said and spoken in black church, it's a call and response. So my T shirt says God is good all the time. And so the call and response is I'll say God is good and then you'll say all the time. Then I'll say all the time and then you'll say God is good. So can we practice this right now with just the three of us? So God good all the time and all the time God is good. So if you come to a Genesis group meeting, you are going to hear that from the pulpit at some point. We are Latter Day Saints. Yes. At our devotionals in the first Sunday of the month, there will be things like that that will come out. I wanted to represent black heritage in the church as we talk about official declaration too. My experience is kind of unique. I was introduced to the church through a white best friend, Andy Goodwin. I got another name I'm calling out. He's got to be listening to this. I'll let make sure he, he tunes in and his family. And I felt a real kinship with the saints that I met and got to know the youth back in the day when I was like 14, 15 years old. And unfortunately, our senior year of high school, Andy was in a car accident and one of the other young men from the ward was in that car accident was killed Peter Andrew. It was catastrophic to a ward. And this is a ward in Normal, Illinois. Of course, these kids, you know, are the only ones in their high school. So we're super close knit, connected. And I remember going instead of Having like the Wednesday night activity that was planned after this whole tragedy happened. Andy's in the hospital. The bishopric and young men's presidency, young women's presidency just got the youth together to mourn together and to just talk about things. And I remember the young men's president, Lee Poor, talking about eternal families and talking about how Peter had been sealed to his parents and because of that, life continued beyond the grave. And that answered so many questions for me in that moment about my own family, about my grandmother. Would I see my grandmother again? I went to the hospital. I was like, andy, why did you tell me your church believe this? He's like, I did. You were too busy in priest quorum jumping out the window to go to Julesco to bring us doughnuts and not listening to what we were teaching so you could play in the stake basketball tournament. Than you were listening to our actual teachings. So if you want to listen to our teachings, Tom, you got to talk to the missionaries. So Andy gets out of the hospital, talks to the missionaries, and I feel an instant joy when I'm listening to the gospel. My dad finds out and my dad ain't happy. My dad had some past experiences with the church in California. In 1975, a guy went to the temple and. And he didn't know what the temple was about. My dad tried to go in the Oakland temple and they wouldn't let him in and wouldn't tell him why. And he's like, I got to find the guy, I got to get back to base. Like, they're like, no, you can't come in here. And no one would tell him why he couldn't come in there. He didn't know what was happening in the temple and he knew that they restricted the blacks from the priesthood. Then my dad was like, you ain't joining this Mormon church. Like that ain't happening, brother. Like, I'm like, okay. So I kind of chill for the year. I have this heightened spiritual awareness now and a need to connect with God and get answers. So my senior year of high school, I'm going to church with friends that are Presbyterian, Catholic, Baptist, I'm going to my parents church, all that kind of stuff, like more and really trying to. And I had a barber who was Muslim, he was a member of the Nation of Islam. When I told him I was having this spiritual awakening and studying all these things and I mentioned the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, he's like, boy, you better stay away from them. I was like, why? He's like, they don't want you in there. And I was like, what do you mean? Everybody loves Tom Reed. I ain't never felt like nothing. He's like, don't you know about them? What's to know? He's like, they didn't let us in there before 78. They didn't want us again. He's telling this. That wasn't true. It's 1990, by the way, so it's not 70. It's not around the time of the revelation. But this is my experience in 1990. So I'm like, no. My lived experience as a friend of the church was totally different. So that hostility and anger towards the church. I actually went to another church to a friend, and she invited me to her Sunday school. She told the people I was coming to their Sunday school. So what was the lesson about in her church? How the Book of Mormon is a false witness of Christ. I was getting hit with all this anti stuff before I joined the church. So I put everything on pause. I went to college. I met up with a young man by the name of Jaime Villa Gomez, who's going to be listening to this podcast too now, because I called his name. Jaime chose to go to the University of Illinois. I chose to go to the University of Illinois. Andy, my best friend, went to Rick's. We weren't going to the same college at the same time, but Jaime met me, found out that I had been taking missionary discussions in normal when I was there and got me connected with institute and going to church. And so I joined the church. And In December of 1991, my only exposure to that, you know, was my dad's pushback, which my dad really didn't tell me all that stuff back then. He told me that later after I joined the church, exactly why he had issues with the church. And that whole thing with my barber back then, that never set with me. It wasn't really until I had gone back from my mission and I met Darius Gray that I started learning more about the priesthood restriction. Right. And what had happened prior to 1978. It was interesting because even though I heard that, it didn't really stop me. This is a hot topic. People are going to listen to this episode and be like, you got a black man on here talking about this. No, my experience was totally different for me. Not that I forgave it, but I was like, the church moved past this. Why is this a problem in 1990, 1991, or 2000 and 2001? Why is this a problem? Everybody was racist back in the Day, my daddy could have literally been Emmett Tilled because my dad used to go back to Mississippi to pick cotton in the summer on his family farm when he was 15 and Emmett Till was in Mississippi when he was like. I knew racism existed throughout the United States and people treated people differently. And that happened in church in the 1950s, 60s, even in the 70s. I had a lot more respect for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And because I knew that they made an established intentional policy and statement to change the direction to course correct. For me, it was never a problem because that course correction blessed my life, went on a mission I wasn't denied the opportunity to have. And that's different from other people. I talked about Darius Gray. His experience was different. People ask me, did you have a problem with that? No, I didn't have a problem with it because it never really impacted me. It made me want to study more and think more about the official declaration. When I look at official declaration too, it's different than the others. The pattern we've been seeing through the Doctrine and Covenants is the whole question, answer the thing that's unknown, the question that's posed by the prophet, and then an answer comes in the form of a revelation. It's a pretty consistent pattern. This one doesn't follow that. Then the answer becomes canonized. For example, Joseph asked about resurrection, the united order, moving the saints. You had an official declaration. One, it was in response to Section 132 where it had been revealed about plural marriage. Official declaration. Two changes that whole thing because there's no recorded previous revelation to respond to the policy that existed from 1852 to 1978 wasn't a revelation. It wasn't a canonized question. It just stood as an independent correction. To me, it was a divine course change that required revelation on something that was never grounded in Scripture. We know it was never grounded in Scripture because we've heard in the essay Race in the Priesthood, which came out in December of 2013, and race in the Church of Jesus Christ that current leaders of the church disavowed all theories that said that blacks were inferior. Mark with the curse of Cain less valiant. Spencer Kimball was courageous again. I love Wilford Rudruff. I love the prophet Joseph, and I love Spencer Kimball because he was wrestling with this for years. He prayed in a temple. He studied. He positioned heaven over and over and over again on this topic. That hadn't been an established revelation. It had been a practice in how things happen. But it wasn't directly stated from God before then. In June of 1978, the heavens open. God's will was unmistakably clear to all those men. The priesthood and temple blessings would be available to all God's children everywhere. Even in response to Brigham Young, who had stated before that blacks weren't worthy to have the priesthood at that time. But he said it would happen even in 1852. Brigham said that. Here's what makes this even more powerful to me. It's not just a church revelation. To me, it goes beyond that. It is a world revelation, just like the articles of faith. It is for the world. And we know this because the day that it was received, who heard about it? We know that those black Latter Day Saint congregations in Africa heard about it. Kathy Stokes, our sister from Chicago, black sister from Chicago, who I love, first black woman I ever saw, really in the church that was doing something. Was Kathy Stokes a lover to death. She heard it on a flight to Hawaii. There was a Scotsman. I'll tell you this story. There's a Scotsman who was flying from Pacific Northwest coming to Salt Lake. And he heard the pilot say it before he got here. It was. Newspapers across the globe were carrying this story. This was a revelation because God was signaling something much bigger than what the revelation said. The priesthood had never been about. Truly exclusion. We know that the Lord wanted the entire world to know in June of 1978. He wanted them to know that the blessings of the temple are for every nation. Kindred tongue and people. I want to share with you a unique perspective. In preparation for this, I talked to Darius. Gray had been called in 1971 as the first counselor in the Genesis Group. The position I hold today. I asked Darius about his experience on June 8, 1978. The revelation came on June 1. It became public on June 8, then was supported, sustained, ratified by the church in General Conference on September 30, 1978. I want to read you this story. This came after I talked to him last night. I spent some time writing this down. On the morning of June 8, 1978, Darius Gray was at his desk at the Salt Lake office of the Zellerbach Paper Company. He had lived for years with the reality of priesthood restriction. He joined the church in 1968, and then 71 is in the Genesis group. It's now 78. So he'd lived for years with the reality of priesthood restrictions, searching for answers but never receiving a definitive explanation. His conviction had always rested on the personal revelation that he received prior to baptism. This is the restored gospel. And you are to join. That's the only reason he joined after he heard that this is the restored gospel and you are to join. That was the voice from heaven to him. That assurance anchored him through the years of uncertainty. That day, the ordinary rhythm of work was broken when Dixie, his credit assistant, stuck her head in the office. Direct and often blunt, she announced, hey, Dry, I hear they're going to give Negroes the priesthood. Dreiss dismissed her sharply. It was too sensitive a subject to be joked about. Twice he told her to leave, even swearing at her the second time, but Dixie persisted. She explained that she had just been on the phone with Zellerbeck's biggest customer, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and rumors were circulating at headquarters that the priesthood was to be extended to blacks. That changed things. Dariah switched on his office television and radio, expecting to hear something so monumental broadcast immediately, but nothing came through. At that moment, driven by the need to know the truth directly, he picked up the phone and he called the office of President Spencer W. Kimball himself. You could do that back in the day, right? He had had a relationship with Spencer W. Kimball prior to this. He explained to me that Spencer W. Kimball was an elder when the Genesis Group was founded, but as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, he brought him a Christmas gift. That first Christmas after the Genesis Group was founded in 1971, and at their summer parties, Spencer Kimball was bouncing black children off his knee like they were his own grandkids. He had this deep relationship with Spencer W. Kimball, he calls him. Spencer Kimball wasn't available. He was in the temple. But his secretary knew Darius personally. She confirmed what Dixie had said. Yes, a revelation had been received, and priesthood would now be available to all worthy male members. The words hit him with awe. Holy heck, he thought. That wasn't what he said, but holy heck, he thought. That wasn't a rumor. It was real. Later that day, Darius and his supervisor, Jim Kirschbaum, went to pick up a colleague, Jack Taylor, arriving from the Pacific Northwest. Jack, a Scotsman and not a Latter Day Saint, stepped off the plane, already aware of the news. The pilot had announced it mid flight, and the LDS Church president had received an apparent revelation. Prior restrictions were no more. It struck Darius how momentous this was, a religious revelation being broadcast in the skies as casually as weather reports. Catherine Stokes, another Latter Day Saint, would later recount hearing the same announcement on her way to Hawaii. To Darius, this underscored the global scope of what had happened. This was not just a revelation for the church. It was a revelation for the world. Returning to the airport, Jim suggested they stop at Temple Square. It was a joyful idea, but complicated for Darius, who, as a black man, immediately drew attention from the reporters eager to capture his reaction. He hadn't come to be interviewed. He'd come for something more personal, to see his friend Heber Woolsey, head of church public affairs at the church office building. Darius asked to see Heber. The secretary phoned him at home, not mentioning that it was Darius who had come. Believing president Kimball needed him, Heber rushed back. When the two men saw each other, they embraced and wept with joy. From Heber's office window, they looked across at the Salt Lake Temple. Having once been sent together to explain and defend the church's difficult position to protesting black athletes and minister, they now stood on the other side of history. Heber's words captured the magnitude. The world will never be the same. The future will be changed. For Darius, the thought deepened further. This was not only a revelation that stretched forward into the future, but backward into history. Generations of black saints whose names had been excluded from temple ordinances could now receive these blessings. It was a sweeping redemption, binding past, present, and future in one divine moment. That day, June 8, 1978, Darius Gray knew by witness from a prophet secretary, by announcements echoing in the skies, by tears with a trusted friend, that the heavens had opened. He felt awe, joy, and vindication after years of searching. And he acted not by proclaiming it to the press, but by seeking out someone who would understand the weight of it. Together, looking at the temple, they knew nothing in the church of the world would ever be the same again.
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So good that was the uniqueness of this revelation. I think you said it earlier. All these were real people who were affected by Official Declaration 1 and now Official Declaration 2. Earlier, I said, when we're going to get started on this, we're going to talk about revolutionary revelations. Can I get an amen to that?
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Wow.
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It changes everything.
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It changed everything. It wasn't just about a policy. It wasn't even about one generation. It was heaven correcting the record, reaching both backward and forward, and declaring the world that God truly is no respecter of persons. The Lord told Samuel, man looketh on the outward appearance in 1 Samuel 16, 7, but the Lord looketh on the heart. And as Nephi testified, the Lord denieth none that come unto him. Black and white, bond and free, male and female. For me, the revolutionary revelation calls us to move forward, not backwards. That's why I love the race and the priesthood essay that was released in December of 2013. It's just amazing the definitive statements that come from that Race in the Priesthood essay. I'm going to commit your listeners to make sure they read the Race in the Priesthood essay and read race in the Church of Jesus Christ and the gospel topics you need to know and understand the impact and the things that have been perpetuated in the past have all been disavowed. We're in a new day. It's time to move forward and we're seeing what's happening with the growth in church in Africa. In FamilySearch, I had an assignment for a short time supporting Africa. I went to Ghana. I had a life changing experience in Elmina Slave Castle in Ghana. But I got to see the Ghanaian saints and you want to talk about tears of joy as I walk into a chapel. I'm the only black one in my party coming from the United States and I go into a chapel and a another white face in that chapel. And I felt at home again with my black brothers and sisters who were children of the covenant as I was. And we're seeing the growth of the church. We have now in the Utah area a general authority. His name is Elder Clement Matskawathada. He is from Botswana. First general authority 70 from Botswana in Africa, now serving as an area assistant in the Utah area. We're going to have a Genesis Group Sisters conference. Sister Bussy Moscow, his wife is going to be there with us. Get the chance to meet her. I haven't met Elder Matsko Othara yet and I'm looking forward to it. As we meet with the Utah area presidency as we do as a Genesis group, think about all the change, how that's impacted the world. Black Africa. You hear the stories of Helvetio Martins and Marcus Martins, the first African American missionary after the revelation of the priesthood.
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So much to look forward to because God speaks to his prophets, that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ.
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Tom, this has been fantastic and inspiring. I think our listeners would love your perspective on what do I do when I think why did this even happen in the first place? What do I do with that uncomfortable feeling of I can see how inspiring this is? What do I do with everything before then?
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C
Elder Holland said that God has only had imperfect people to deal with. They've always been members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints since the restoration. Right. They've always been imperfect, every single one of them. Some things that have happened that have come at the agency and at the decision of imperfect people Period, full stop. But I think there's a higher principle that the Lord wants us to live by, and that's the principle of forgiveness. I wasn't there in 1852. I wasn't there in 1948. I was not there to know why this thing perpetuated and why God would allow that to happen. There's not a definitive, clear answer, and I don't know if there ever will be. All I know is that God calls upon all his children to forgive others and he wants us to move forward. We are at a position where we can move forward. That is the pattern of Jesus Christ. When the woman was taken in adultery brought before him, did Christ go back and try and just say, well, why were you doing this? What's wrong with you? You should have never been there in the first place. He didn't go back to her mistakes. He is without sin. Let him cast the first stone. Everybody walked away and he said, go and sin no more. Period. Spencer Kimball said, God said priesthood. Now, there were imperfect people who were leaders in the church of Jesus Christ who still struggled with that. That's not to say that there weren't racial problems within the church, but again, that was a context of the time that we lived in as well. It took people time to repent and change who had racist attitudes. The prophet is still calling on people who have racist attitudes and bear prejudice to repent. We are hearing that from a living prophet today. That is why those things still existed is because they are imperfect people who need to repent. But it calls upon us to forgive and to look to Christ and to move forward. That's how the kingdom is going to grow. The kingdom's not going to grow. Looking back and telling everybody everything they have done wrong. How many of us in our marriage, when our wife brings up some old mistake we made, that just kind of like, no, come on, baby. I didn't. I. I tried not to do that. Like.
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So you know, it's true. It's happened. And we do it.
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We do it to each other.
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When we go back and dwell on those things, that's not the Christlike way. He didn't look back at all. Mercy. He cleared our sins. Every time we make a mistake, every time we repent, those sins get put behind us. And we can look forward to heaven. We can look forward to the strength and power of our covenants to keep us on the covenant path, to make it back to him because he always forgives us. That's the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. For me, that's how I need to look at this issue is through the lens of Jesus Christ, not through the lens of a failed and imperfect human.
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You sound like Joseph Smith. This is Doctrine and Covenants 1, 28, 22. Brethren, shall we not go on in such great a cause? Go forward, not backward. Courage on. On to the victory. Let your hearts rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into anthems of eternal praise. To the King Emmanuel, who hath ordained before the world was that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison. For the prisoners shall go free. Forward.
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Hallelujah. Amen. It's beautiful, Hank.
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I was thinking of the same thing. Forward and on to the victory. Tom, that little insight helped me so much to say, look, official declaration 1. Was the Lord saying, yeah, I gave this revelation. Now I'm telling you to do this. This was not a revelation. Oh, so good. This was the Lord reaching down and saying, we got to correct this and doing it and inspiring a prophet to wrestle with it. Now, people might have a problem with the timing. It was God that did it. So I'm not going to have a problem with God's timing. He can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants.
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Right? Right.
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But he did. He corrected it. What a gift, Tom, to hear you talk about and for all of our listeners to say, wow. And what happened to temple work after that with all of those families?
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All of a sudden, guess what I'm doing. Yeah. Putting on my family search hat with my Genesis group T shirt. Now. Now we got two. Think about Darius experience and what he saw. He saw it not just reaching forward. He saw it reaching back. Because it was going to liberate the captives, the black captives that were in spirit prison now across the world, across.
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The street, across the veil. Yeah.
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C
This is funny. I didn't tell you all this earlier. We had this song earlier that I did about articles of faith. I did a song this summer at the Genesis group cookout where we had these T shirts. I put together the two concepts of Juneteenth, which was the final emancipation of African Americans. We celebrate that as a holiday here in the United States and June 8th, so I'm not going to wrap it for you, but I wrote this song called Freedom was Always Coming, and here are some of the lyrics from it. I said, hot sun rising. It's June 19th. Galveston streets where hope was seen. So Galveston, Texas, where Juneteenth really originated. Two years late. But the word was true. Y' all are free. God came through because actually they were supposed to be freed in 1863, but it wasn't until 1865 that they heard in Galveston that they were free. So two years late, but the word came through. Fast forward to 78 when Spencer Kimball prayed the heavens awake. No more walls, no more dividend Priesthood power is now worldwide. And then I say from cotton fields to temple halls the Savior breaks down every wall Isaiah said he'd set us free Luke 4:18's legacy Christ is the sinner Light in the storm in him all families are reborn no delay can stop his grace We've all got a seat and we all got a place because freedom was always coming can't hold back the light Chains fell slow but the Lord made it right From Galveston heat to priesthood fire Jesus broke the silence and lifted us higher Freedom was always coming Freedom was always coming it was always coming. It was just in the Lord's time. And all these things are in the Lord's time. It's these revolutionary revelations that prove to me that God is still working. We are still in the process of restoration. President Nelson said even when he read that bicentennial proclamation, we are still in the process of restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have the fullness as it is now. It is like Joseph told us in the Articles of Faith. We believe all that he has revealed, all that he will reveal, and he will yet reveal many great and important things. There is a God in heaven who speaks to his prophet on the earth and speaks to his children and makes course corrections when he needs to make course corrections because he wants his kingdom to flourish. He wants to prepare all his children for His Son's second return. And I testify that Christ lives and that Christ has the power to forgive and heal all wounds. If any of your listeners have been wounded by past policies of the church and the way things have been, either polygamy or the priesthood, turn to Christ. Seek his healing atonement in your life and look forward. Look to God and live. I'm going to take my hat off here, right? Because I want you to see me. Anybody who's watching. Jesus Christ lives. And he's the master healer. And I know some of these things that we've been talking about today have actually been hard. And maybe things that you've struggled with and you maybe have pain, maybe that lingering trauma from those things exists in your life. But I can tell you that you can overcome those things because of Jesus Christ, the master healer. He corrected things in the church to allow his kingdom to continue to flourish. God is a God of second chances, and he's given us our Savior, Jesus Christ, perfect example of how to forgive and how to live and be healed. And I testify to you that these things are true, that what we've learned today about these revolutionary revelations are things that will help us if we apply them in our lives, if we take on the perspective of when the Lord needs to correct us, when the Lord needs to change, are we living in revelation to hear it? Are we willing to stay on the covenant path and keep the commandments even when we're challenged by the law, even when things look miserable and difficult, or even when we don't know the reason why we're going through the trial we're going through, we can turn to Jesus Christ and he will deliver us. He is our master deliverer. He is our redeemer. He is our Savior. And I bear you that witness in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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B
Amen. Thank you, Brother Reed. Tom, this has been a great day.
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A great day.
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B
As we were wrapping up there, I thought of article of faith 13. Today has been virtuous, lovely, good report. And praiseworthy.
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C
Yes, it has been praiseworthy.
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Praiseworthy. We seek after this type of experience, don't we?
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This is so great.
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Today we learned that God is good all the time. And all the time, God is good. Amen. Amen.
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B
Thank you for taking the time to be with us, Tom. It's been a joy.
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C
It really has. It's been so fun.
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So fun and inspiring.
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B
With that, we want to thank Brother Tom Reed for joining us today. We want to thank our executive producer, Shannon Sorensen, our sponsors, David and Verla Sorensen. And every episode, we remember our founder. We recited the standard of truth Today. His face came into my mind. Steve Sorensen. The standard of truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may come by, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished. And the great Jehovah shall say, the work is done, baby. We hope you'll join us next week on Follow Him. Today's show notes and transcript are on our website, followhim. Co. That's followhim co. Of course, none of this could happen without our incredible production crew. David Perry, Lisa Spice, Will Stoughton, Crystal Roberts, Ariel Cuadra, Heather Barlow, Amelia Kabwica, Sydney Smith and Annabelle Sorensen.
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Whatever questions or problems you have, the answer is always found in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
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B
Turn to him.
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Follow him.