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Being a prophet without priesthood authority

SRWQ21A@prodigy.com (Jason Postma) wrote:
>If Joseph Smith was a prophet then priesthood 
>authority is necessary in order for God to 
>recognize ordinances and to receive
>revelation for any one outside one's immediate family.

Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon before being ordained to any priesthood. Therefore, if Joseph Smith is a prophet because he translated the Book of Mormon, then prophethood is independent of the Priesthood.

You say; if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph was a prophet. What that statement means, is that since Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon before being ordained to the priesthood, then priesthood ordination is not necessary for someone to be a prophet, or a seer.

There is a heck of a lot of revelation contained in the Book of Mormon, that is for people outside of Joseph's immediate family which was received before Joseph had been ordained to the priesthood. This again points to the principle that priesthood ordination is not a prerequisite of prophethood. (Or to be a revelator.)

>No one can therefore form a church without 
>God's express command 

God is perfectly capable of granting specific authority for specific acts to anyone he pleases, and in any circumstances. He is also perfectly capable and willing to grant authority for more global types of activities to anyone he so chooses.

>he needs the authority to do so, and that 
>authority is held ONLY by Joseph 
>Smith's rightful successors, the current "SLC" LDS
>church leaders.

The Spirit of the Holy Ghost does not support your assertion that God grants authority ONLY to the SLC LDS church. This assertion is the sure sign of the apostasy of the SLC LDS church from the principles and doctrines that Joseph Smith's rightful successors would teach.

You can know of a surety that the one principle above all others which marks a church as belonging to the nasty one, is the belief by a church that they ONLY are right. The son of the morning in the pre-existence stated, give me thy glory, for I will save all. The SLC LDS church says the same thing today when they say, "the power of God rests on the church, we will save all people because of the temple ordinances that only we can administer."

The spirit of the Holy Ghost also does not support the assertion that the current SLC LDS leaders are heirs to Joseph's priesthood power. They might hold the title to some church property, (not the Kirtland Temple), and they might have a line of authority, but that does not mean they have the POWER of the priesthood. After all, the Catholic church has a strong claim to an unbroken chain of authority.

>Any one who believes Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon must, to
>remain consistent, believe that the current church leaders are inspired
>and following the correct path.

In Christ's day, the temple workers said:

"Anyone who believes Moses and the Old Testament, to be consistent, must believe the Pharisees and the Saducees, the current church leaders, are inspired, and following the correct path."

They then crucified Christ. (To be consistent)

The constant message of the scriptures, is that God sends prophets to teach the people. The prophet sometimes sets up a church. After a time, the church falls into apostasy. God calls people from outside the leadership of the church to set things right. It happens over and over and over. Why do you think it isn't happening the same way today?

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