🕊️ When “Continuing Revelation” Stops Sounding Like Revelation
🕊️ When “Continuing Revelation” Stops Sounding Like Revelation
I want to speak carefully here, because this comes from love — even though it hurts.
I recently watched an AI-generated video explaining how my LDS Church has changed teachings over time and framed those changes as continuing revelation. On the surface, it sounded thoughtful. Reasonable. Almost comforting.
But the more I listened, the more I realized what it really was.
Not scripture.
Not repentance.
Institutional rationalization.
And that matters — especially now.
🧠 A Word About AI (Because This Matters)
AI is a powerful tool. I use it. I appreciate it.
But AI only reflects what it’s fed.
If it’s trained on official explanations, correlated narratives, and carefully worded PR language, it will repeat those stories smoothly and confidently — even when they contradict scripture.
That doesn’t make AI evil.
It just means discernment matters more than ever.
📜 Joseph Smith — and the Line Scripture Draws
Here’s the part that finally settled in my heart.
When you strip everything back, Joseph Smith aligns far more closely with the Book of Mormon and the Bible than with what the institution became after his death.
And those records are not vague about what would happen next.
They warn that the Church would fall under condemnation, that authority would replace revelation, that ordinances would be altered, and that the traditions of men would creep in.
That warning isn’t anti-Mormon.
It’s in the scriptures themselves.
📖 The Book of Mormon Is Plainspoken
The Book of Mormon does not hedge.
It explicitly condemns plural marriage:
“David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord…
There shall not any man among you have save it be one wife.”
(Jacob 2:23–28)
Yet later leadership defended David and Solomon, institutionalized plural marriage, tied it to exaltation, and then blamed Joseph Smith.
That is not clarification.
That is contradiction.
The Book of Mormon also warns:
“Wo be unto him that shall say: We have received, and we need no more!”
(2 Nephi 28:27)
And it gives a simple test:
“That which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually.”
(Moroni 7:13)
Anything that degrades women, fractures families, enforces inequality, or must later be disavowed fails that test.
🪶 Other Records Say the Same Thing
What shook me was realizing that other true records now coming forth — including the Nemenhah — warn of the same pattern, without borrowing LDS theology.
They speak of:
Men seeking authority instead of covenant
Sacred ordinances being copied, altered, and bound by signs while the Spirit withdraws
Leaders claiming revelation while quietly changing the law
Zion departing long before the buildings do
Different record.
Same warning.
💔 The Pattern I Can’t Unsee
Once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it:
Polygamy condemned → institutionalized → blamed on Joseph
Wisdom given → weaponized into worthiness
Doctrine taught as revelation → later disowned
Scripture canonized → quietly removed
Ordinances revealed → altered
Zion commanded → redefined
Different subjects.
Same mechanism every time.
Teach it as God’s will.
Enforce it as truth.
Reverse it when necessary.
Then relabel the reversal as “continuing revelation.”
That’s not how revelation works in scripture.
🕊️ This Is Still My Church — And That’s Why It Hurts
I need to say this plainly.
I am not attacking the people.
I am not denying the good that’s been done.
I am not walking away in anger.
I am one of them.
I love them.
But someone took my Church away — the Church anchored in the Book of Mormon — and replaced it with an institution that explains contradictions instead of repenting of them.
That grief is real.
🌿 The Zoramite Pattern — Revisited
There’s one more thing I can’t ignore.
In the Book of Mormon, the Zoramites believed closeness to God depended on where you worshipped, how often, and who was allowed. They stood on a holy place, prayed once a week, and declared themselves chosen — while others were unworthy.
Alma wept over them.
What troubles me is how familiar that pattern feels.
We’ve been taught — often quietly — that the real closeness to Christ lives in a building.
That access to God flows through interviews, recommends, appointments, and worthiness gates.
That the highest communion with the Savior requires permission.
And to qualify, you must pay.
That should stop us.
What about the widow?
The poor?
The sincere believer who loves Christ but struggles?
Are they farther from God?
The Zoramites thought holiness was about standing in the right place once a week and saying the right words. We’ve been trained to think something similar — that the temple is where God really is, and everything else is secondary.
But that is not what Jesus taught.
He didn’t say, “Come unto a building.”
He said, “Come unto me.”
He didn’t charge admission.
He didn’t require status.
He went directly to the broken.
The true temple of God is not guarded by a desk or an interview.
The true temple is the contrite heart.
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🪨 The Keystone We Say We Believe
We say the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion — the book that brings us closest to Christ.
But a keystone isn’t something you admire.
It’s something you build on.
And when the Book of Mormon speaks plainly, we often don’t follow it.
It condemns polygamy as an abomination.
It warns the Gentiles against saying “all is well in Zion” while building up churches and riches.
It calls pride, inequality, and priestcraft signs of spiritual decay.
When those warnings conflict with tradition, we explain them away.
So I have to ask myself:
Is the Book of Mormon the keystone of our faith in Christ —
or just the keystone of our story about ourselves?
The record itself points us somewhere very simple — not to an institution, but to the Savior, who said:
“Whosoever will come, him will I receive.” (3 Nephi 9:14)
If the Book of Mormon really is the keystone, then it should be allowed to correct us — not just prove us right.
🔥 Where I Stand Now
The answer isn’t rage.
The answer isn’t silence.
The answer is returning to the Savior Himself.
To the Christ of the Book of Mormon.
To repentance that actually means change.
To revelation that comes from God — not committees.
To love that tells the truth without cruelty.
Truth doesn’t need spin.
The Savior doesn’t need PR.
And love doesn’t require silence.
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📖 Scripture Footing — Scriptural Witness Against Institutional Drift
Marriage & Polygamy
Book of Mormon — Jacob 2:23–28, 30
David and Solomon’s plural wives declared abominable; God’s law stated plainly as one man, one wife, with chastity delighting the Lord.Doctrine and Covenants — Section 101 (1835 edition)
Published during Joseph Smith’s lifetime, affirming monogamy as the law of the Church:
“We believe that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband.”
This section was later removed and replaced after Joseph Smith’s death, when plural marriage was openly introduced in Utah.
Condemnation for Rejecting Given Light
2 Nephi 28:27–30 — “We have received, and we need no more”; warning against pride and complacency.
Ether 4:8–10 — Gentiles warned they would be under condemnation for rejecting greater light.
Traditions of Men Replacing Revelation
2 Nephi 28:5–14 — False security, priestcrafts, and trusting institutions instead of God.
Alma 31 — The Zoramites: restricted worship, ritualized access, exclusion of the poor.
Direct Access to Christ (No Paywall, No Gatekeepers)
2 Nephi 26:24–27 — The Lord invites all, none are forbidden; He works by persuasion and love.
Alma 32:8–11 — The poor are blessed in their humility; God hears them directly.
The Test of True Doctrine
Moroni 7:13–16 — That which is of God invites and entices to do good continually.
Zion Defined
3 Nephi 12:8 — “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”
4 Nephi 1:2–3 — Zion exists where hearts are converted to the Lord, not because of structures.
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