Something Is Amiss

Something is Amiss:

Have you noticed that lately, something is amiss with Denver Snuffer?  He seems to be missing the mark more and more each month. Each month, he sounds more and more like an apostate kicking against the pricks.

Denver is putting forth and attempting to defend a theory that the LDS prophets and the apostles after Joseph Smith have fallen or failed, and thus lost their acceptance, their heavenly gift, and their right to lead. Denver is hinting repeatedly that we are going to need another restoration of the Gospel in order to correct the situation.

On January 18, 2014, Denver Snuffer wrote:

Which introduces the topic about my own retelling of history. Like those who have written about God's dealings with past generations, I do not believe it is either necessary or advisable to include all information in order to tell the truth. Taking second-hand accounts from highly partisan "defenders of the faith" is a dubious practice. As a lawyer I've encountered such witnesses. They are usually not qualified to give evidence. Their statements are mere hearsay, and if an objection is made, the Court will not permit such evidence to be considered.

Apart from my own education and profession, however, the church itself has a standard which precludes a lot of the information used to attempt to support a "more faithful history." Lorenzo Snow's son and granddaughter, for example, are not qualified under the church's standards to proclaim a revelation for the church. Yet they are the only sources for a purported meeting between Lorenzo Snow and Christ on the staircase of the Salt Lake Temple. Apart from this failing, however, there is the other most obvious problem: Why did not President Snow discuss or mention or testify about this to the church? One of the most obvious reasons would be because it isn't true. Or, alternatively, it is greatly embellished, but was actually uneventful. Or, alternatively, he did not think it mattered.

I've been criticized because I fail to mention this second-hand account from a granddaughter of a church president who claimed to have heard a story from her grandfather a few decades before she retold it which supports a different narrative than the one I tell in my account of the Lord's dealings with the Latter-day Saints. Well I admit I ignore it. I consider it insubstantial.

End of Quote from Denver Snuffer.

Denver, by his own admission, is now to the point that he purposefully ignores any evidence that contradicts his own personal theories. Denver asks us to take the leap of faith to believe his sketchy evidence where he claims that he has seen the Christ; yet, he purposefully refuses to believe that any other LDS Prophet or Apostle after Joseph Smith has seen the Christ and been accepted by Christ. Denver no longer seems to have faith enough to believe that Christ could have appeared to and accepted the offering of anyone other than Joseph Smith or Denver Snuffer, during this dispensation.

A few years back, I used the search engine in the LDS Library 2009 to search for as many instances as possible of LDS Prophets and LDS Apostles and ordinary Latter-day Saints (after Joseph Smith) having seen Christ face-to-face, hearing His voice, being accepted of Christ, or having marvelous visions, temple manifestations, or revelations from God.

I came up with dozens of separate accounts, and over a hundred pages of written material; and, I even added Denver Snuffer's meager account to the list at the time. The evidence is staggering. Christ is still interacting with members of the LDS Church even to this very day. Christ obviously finds some of us acceptable.

However, my collection is all stuff that apparently Denver would now label as hearsay and categorically reject as insubstantial. I don't think he can see it yet; but, if Denver asks us to reject all of the eye-witness accounts of Christ that the LDS Prophets and Apostles since Joseph Smith claim to have had, then we are also obligated to reject Denver Snuffer's account as “insubstantial” and simply “ignore it” as well. After all, Denver's account was a lot less impressive and a lot less substantial than Lorenzo Snow's, Spencer Kimball's, Melvin J. Ballard's, Joseph F. Smith's, Wilford Woodruff's, and many others.

If Christ did indeed appear to Denver Snuffer, it wasn't because Denver was an ordained Apostle or being called to be a new dispensation head. If Christ appeared to Denver Snuffer, it was because Christ was honoring the baptism, temple ordinances, and priesthood that Denver Snuffer had received through the lineage of all those “fallen and failed LDS leaders” that came before him. Denver Snuffer would have gotten his priesthood gift from the very same LDS men whom he claims failed at Nauvoo to retain the heavenly gift. Denver could have only received his priesthood blessings through a line of descent from the very same LDS leaders that he is now labeling as the fallen and the failed LDS Church leaders of our generation.

In other words, if any of Denver's theories are true and Christ has rejected our generation of LDS prophets and priesthood leaders, then Christ would never have appeared to Denver, because Denver wouldn't have had the priesthood blessings, ordinances, calling, and covenants necessary to sustain him through such an encounter. If they failed to pass on the heavenly gift, then that heavenly gift would never have been there for Denver to have received in the first place.

Part of the account from Lorenzo Snow states: “Wait a moment, Allie, I want to tell you something. It was right here that the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to me at the time of the death of President Woodruff. He instructed me to go right ahead and reorganize the First Presidency of the Church at once and not wait as had been done after the death of the previous presidents. I was to succeed President Woodruff.”

This account implies that Lorenzo Snow was accepted by Christ and personally called by Christ to be the Prophet of the LDS Church. Denver can't accept such an account as true, because that would contradict Denver's theory that the LDS Church Leadership were rejected by Christ at Nauvoo after the death of Joseph Smith.

Denver doesn't seem to understand the concept of Priesthood Lineage. Many LDS men have received the priesthood from Stake Presidents or Bishops who have subsequently fallen away from the church, sinned grievously, and lost their priesthood. If I got my priesthood from a Stake President who later apostatized, what happened to my priesthood? Do I lose my priesthood because one of the people in my priesthood lineage apostatized? No. Christ honors and sustains my priesthood ordination, even if the person giving me the priesthood is sinful or less than acceptable at the time that it was given to me. I'm still open to revelation, heavenly manifestations, acceptance by Christ, and priesthood blessings, even if those before me in my priesthood lineage are no longer worthy of those blessings.

Yes, there are LDS Prophets of the Church after Joseph Smith who openly admit that they have never seen Christ face-to-face; but, there are others who have made such a claim, including Spencer W. Kimball. Does that mean that the priesthood of those who never saw Christ was somehow rejected? No. It just means that Christ skips over those who are not ready for that kind of experience, or never seek that kind of experience, or are not called to that kind of experience; and, Christ simply waits for those who are. In the Old Testament, Jehovah skipped over Eli and went with Samuel. It happened all the time. Yet, Eli retained his priesthood, even though Jehovah went with Samuel.

There will be others yet to come in the ranks of LDS Church leadership, who will see Christ face-to-face and live to tell about it. Their priesthood will be honored and they will be accepted by Christ; and, they will receive a fulness of the heavenly gift.

We were told during our youth (by Spencer Kimball) and others to write down our personal spiritual experiences and revelations in journals, because someday our very words might be scripture. Many LDS Prophets and Apostles (after Joseph Smith) did so.

Denver Snuffer is now telling us to “ignore” these things and consider them “insubstantial”. In all fairness, if we are to follow Denver's recent advice, then we should discount, ignore, and consider as insubstantial any claim to heavenly manifestation from any LDS Priesthood holder subsequent to Joseph Smith; and, I suggest that we start with Denver Snuffer's claims of having seen Christ and label them as “insubstantial”, discount them, and completely ignore them. If Denver saw anyone, it wasn't the Christ; it was Satan appearing as an angel of light.

By denying the modern-day witnesses, Denver Snuffer discounts, destroys, and in-substantiates his own witness. If there is a fallen prophet among us, it is Denver Snuffer. I wonder what Christ (or Joseph Smith) would have to say about Denver's most recent books, theories, and writings – apparently, Denver Snuffer has failed to ask. But, I don't think Christ would find them acceptable.