When President Kimball announced god now wanted blacks to receive the priesthood, it was hailed as a revelation from god. Many Mormons believe it was the latest revelation from god even though it happened 35 years ago.

The evidence seems to prove Kimball did not actually speak or hear from his mormon god but that he used Reverse Revelation.

Reverse Revelation is when you want God to give you an answer, that you decide upon your answer, give god X number of days to answer. If god does not answer you within the X number of days then what you asked about is wanted your god wanted.

Do you believe reverse revelation is how god communicates with his prophet about important changes?

In Evangelical Christianity, what you are calling reverse revelation is called "putting out a fleece" after the Bible story in Judges:

The concept of “putting out a fleece” comes from the story of Gideon, a leader in Israel, in Judges 6. When God directed him to gather the Israelite troops to defeat the Midianite invaders, Gideon wanted to be sure it was really God’s voice he was hearing and that he understood His directions. He asked God for a sign to prove that this was truly His will. So he put out a piece of wool overnight and asked God to make it wet while keeping the surrounding dirt dry. God graciously did as Gideon asked, and in the morning the fleece was wet enough to produce a bowl of water when it was wrung out.

But Gideon’s faith was so weak that he asked God for another sign—this time to keep another fleece dry while making the surrounding dirt wet. Again, God complied, and Gideon was finally convinced that God meant what He said and that the nation of Israel would have the victory the angel of the Lord had promised in Judges 6:14-16. Putting out the fleeces was the second time Gideon had asked for a sign that God was really talking to him and would do what He said He would.

Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/prayer-fleece.html#ixzz38m6EfKEG

Pastor's don't encourage fleece-laying because current belief is that "a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign." (Matthew 12:39; 16:1-4)

Commenting on the change the church made regarding the blacks, that was going on as I was in my Mormon-but-doubting stage. I often asked questions about The Announcement as it was called at the time. Kimball specifically requested it NOT be called a Revelation and The Announcement, titled as such, appeared on a page between books in my triple combination.

Interviewed at the time, Kimball said it was an administrative change. It was only after his death that the whole story of beams of sunlight and angels singing was invented.

It is illuminating to students of religion that we are able to see, in our lifetime, how a myth begins. Once my generation passes, and perhaps my children's generation as well, we may very well have an urban folk legend going around that an angel appeared to Kimball, gave him the revelation, and told him to "go swiftly and tell no one what you have seen."


Kathleen Waters

PS. I don't believe any spiritual anything is used to make decisions in the church. They are run like any big corporation with information gathered from focus groups, statistics and surveys, then a committee is formed to propose changes, they select the change they feel will best solve the problem, and then at the very end, they "pray" about it. If none of them drops dead during the night, they vote and it's a done deal.

So yes, they are so old that they themselves are the fleece put out overnight. If they are still alive in the morning, it's a 'yes' from God!

"Kimball specifically requested it NOT be called a Revelation and The Announcement, titled as such, appeared on a page between books in my triple combination."


Is there a good reference that I can use to back this up? This absolutely sounds correct, and I have always questioned the idea that the official declaration was based on a revelation with no words.

The following two sections from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_Revelation_on_Priesthood seems to be at odds with the idea that the change occurred after Kimball's death:

* Statement announcing the revelation
* Revelation accepted at general conference



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2014 03:26PM by Facsimile 3.