D&C 138 recounts a vision that Joseph F. Smith had the day prior to the October 1918 general conference. JFS said he saw Jesus and the work that is done among the dead in the spirit world. Within a month, the vision was recorded and accepted by the Quorum of 12 as scripture.

Why doesn't this happen today?

Largely because the current crop of leaders have grown up with enough science and scepticism to recognize these experiences for what they are, self-induced hallucinations and wishful thinking.

It's the same reason that demonic possession and witches have virtually disappeared, but people now explain those hallucinations and behaviors with alien abduction, Government radio waves and that sort of thing.

Science fantasy explanations don't fly with the LDS populace as leadership from God, but the leaders are savvy enough to know they're not really having these experiences and so they don't have the revelations anymore.

Now they have polls and surveys to lead the church with.

What would a Seminary teacher say?

* The Gordon Hinckley: we have all the scripture/revelation we need.
* The Boyd Slam Breakfast: Those experiences are just too sacred to recount in public.
* The Wayne & Garth: We're not worthy. When the world starts to live up to the scripture we have, then we may be eligible for the further light and knowledge fun pack.
* The Chastiser: If you were not masturbating, watching rated R movies, and thinking lustful thoughts you would not ask such a question. Only a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after more revelation than our guys want to give! Got it!

Yes, those points make perfect sense.

Funny thing. I remember being taught as a missionary to ridicule other denominations that said that the bible was complete and that we didn't need any more revelation.

No revelations since the invention of the video camera and the interweb..

Move along ..just a coincidence

These are not the revelations you are looking for.

Just to put this in perspective; during 'the great war' - world war 1 - spiritualism saw a massive increase as people lost loved ones in foreign lands.
Even sir Arthur Conan Doyle became an adherent after losing his son during the Somme offensive.
it took off all over the world in a way that mormonism could never hope to emulate.

coincidence?

EssexExMo Wrote:
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> Just to put this in perspective; during 'the great
> war' - world war 1 - spiritualism saw a massive
> increase as people lost loved ones in foreign
> lands.

> coincidence?

Actualy, EssexExMo, Spiritism (properly termed) was very big in the closing decades of the 19th Century. It started in the mid-19th entury with the Fox sisters ("Rochester Rappings") of the Lake Erie region. It was also a part of Theosophy, a kind of blending of Spiritism and Eastern Metaphysics, and worked its way into literture and popular culture. (e.g. James' "Turn of the Screw"). Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Science) attended man seances while writing her "revelation," "Science & Health."

Houdini was obsessed with it, concluding that it could not be proven.

I wonder if this dream came about as a response to the destruction of their singulatr doctrine? I mean, up to the second manifesto, Polygamy was the only way to God. Now, they could begin using the temples as a cashcow by making every living soul responsible or their dead relatives.

One thing I find curious is that 138 and 137 were added at the same time. But if the Vision held by Joseph Smith jr is true, then the Dream had by Joeph F.Smith is in error.

Section 137
A vision given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, in the temple at Kirtland, Ohio, January 21, 1836. The occasion was the administration of ordinances in preparation for the dedication of the temple.

137 states that Joseph saw that after seeing God and Jesus on their throne in the Celestial Kingdom that:

5 I saw Father Adam and Abraham; and my father and my mother; my brother Alvin, that has long since slept;

6 And marveled how it was that he had obtained an inheritance in that kingdom, seeing that he had departed this life before the Lord had set his hand to gather Israel the second time, and had not been baptized for the remission of sins.

7 Thus came the voice of the Lord unto me, saying: All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God;

8 Also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom;

9 For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.

10 And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven.

Yes. I agree that there are reasons for these things. The second manifesto came after the Reed Smoot hearings in 1904, in which JFS testified, as a way to placate congress when it became obvious that the first manifesto was just lip service.

Another thing that came from the congressional hearing was that JFS testified under congressional oath that he did not receive revelation--that there was nothing special about him and he worked out problems the same as average men do.

This section might have been used for proof that JFS and the prophet actually do get revelation from god. wink. wink.

Hinckster was the master of the jello theology. Just dodge and shift and don't let them pin you down to any concrete doctrine.

Section 137 and 138 were added to the D&C in the 1970s. It came as an insert that you could add to your scriptures, as the D&C only went up to section 136 at that time.

Since I can remember when it was made scripture, I kinda doubt it was in 1918.