15 Faith Builders or 15 More Deceived and Deceivers

15 Faith Builders or 15 More Deceived and Deceivers

Every 6 months for almost 200 years (189 as of 2019), without any breaks that I know of, the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have publicly proclaimed their beliefs and authority to do so from the main pulpit of Salt Lake City, Utah. Okay, it started originally in the United States Midwest, but it has been ensconced in the Salt Lake Valley since 1847. They, normally older men of much church experience, give their talks, share their views, preach sermons with many invitations to act and move on. They claim the most high authority on earth, more than the Vatican or the United Nations, or any sovereign nation. They claim the backing and voice the Lord God.

Many people have different reactions to this. I have heard and witnessed many. I could cite a few, and I understand the range of them.

An Army Guard Lieutenant Colonel or Major, leading up to a Change-of-Command Ceremony at a rural fort field, overheard me explaining what I was missing on a Saturday when General Conference was happening, to which he interjected something like, "They are apostles of God, or claim to be, like the apostles of old in the Bible?" He sounded incredulous if not contemptuous in his voiced reaction to me and those I was talking with.

To him, a man raised most likely White Anglo-Saxon Protestant in the South, for all I could gather, the idea seemed far fetched. Foreign, weird, mislead. I get it.

Others have their opinions and feelings, near and far. I know no small number of second, third, fourth, and more generations of my own faith who decry, denigrate, and, ultimately reject these self-proclaimed authorities. They, those who do not believe, have their reasons to not buy in; I have heard them and have discussed many points with them, mostly, hopefully, in good manners and respectfully. Our dialogs have been taken up publicly and privately.

People who are members of our faith usually completely accept the words and leadership of these 15 top leaders, or completely reject them. There are plenty of us in between, as well. We pick and choose, very often, which points that we believe and practice the most; no one is all black or all white when it comes to entertaining these leaders' words and directives.

So, yes, I am a believer in their words, full honesty disclosed. Some days, for me, I might be at 90 percent as far as belief, or more importantly at the level of practice and living their guidance and counsel. Other days perhaps I drop down to 60 percent? Or less? Sometimes it can be hard. Who knows at what level we are believing and practicing day to day?

But for the purposes of declaration and definition, yes, I am a believer of these 15 leaders. At the age of 19 while on my full time mission in the city streets of Concepcion, Chile, in the river sector of Pedro de Valdivia, I had an inner dialog where I boiled down my core beliefs and inner compass to the fact that I had my own personal knowledge and beliefs, but so much of my assertions were based on the trust that I had in those 1990 top prophets and apostles, most of whom have now passed on (except for three, by my math) as of October 2019.

My basis, or a large part of the basis of my belief in Jesus Christ and what I believe to be His appointed Church, faith organization, and His people, lies in the status and claims of the top 15 leaders of whom I speak.

I realize that they may be purposely or accidentally deluded. I am living a lot of my hopes and life trajectory in hopes and faith that they are who they say they are, and that what they proclaim about God and Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God on Earth is true. If they are false, if they are deluded and mislead, then I will be wrapped up with their identity and will go on in a similar fate as them.

I do not trust in man, in the sense that all human governments are simply that: less than perfect. All humans have foibles and less than selfless aims that I cannot fully trust. Even these high church leaders that I have mentioned are clearly not perfect. I believe that the unseen God that we believe in overlaps with the general Christian Heavenly Father, the Jewish Yahwei or Elohim, the Muslim Allah, and some say with the Hindu Vishnu; we all believe in a largely same all powerful and all-just source, a being in whom there is much mystery but so much posited hope and faith.

I funnel that faith through these leaders and this organization, for good or ill. It may signify my ultimate triumph or ultimate tragic conclusion.

Perhaps my efforts in preaching, exhorting, serving, and paying donation monies for this causes and related missions are all in vain. I am willing to take that risk.

I believe in the overall soundness and decency of my government, my nation. It has been noble, it has its tragic flaws and peccadillos; it is powerful and often can suffer from hubris. Our democracy is far from perfect. I love it and I am loyal, but it is not where I posit my final confidence and hope.

That is found in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I believe that He has chosen elected servants and leaders. I believe that they are who they say they are.

If they are wrong, I am wrong. Are we going in wrong directions? Some say the morality is old fashioned, antiquated, discriminatory, even more wrong in the past due to inclusion issues about gender and race. I take that, those issues, with the current and the future paths.

I am almost 49 years in; I am committed to them and to the powers above, of which they are outspoken advocates.

Thus is my lot, thus is my bond an will.

If I am deceived, then let it be my blessing and curse.

I challenge you to figure out how you wish to be designated. Do you stay aloof, or commit to something outside of yourself and probably your family, at minimum.

Test it, try it, wear it, prove it.

Best of luck and I pray that God will bless. It is important to know, perhaps impossible to know for certain, but at least have a good idea where to posit the trust.

Building or deceiving, growing or diminishing, trusting or distrusting.

You decide.