The Three Proclamations as Prophecies?

What To Make of The Proclamations Today

Each of the last three proclamations has been delivered at a time when that proclamation seemed incredibly obvious. But then . . . things changed.

Why was each of these proclamations given in these days? Why were they inspired? How do they give us clarity in a changing world? What can we assume will happen with The Living Christ and the Restoration Proclamation?

 Raw Transcript

thank you
[Music]
all right welcome to Quick show my name
is Greg Matson and I am your host make
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so that you are notified whenever we
have new episodes that come out what I'd
like to do is frame a few things
together here those few things those
three things are the last three
proclamations now there have been many
proclamations throughout the history of
the church but these last three I think
are very important and telling they are
counter-cultural they are timely they
are they all share the the
they all share the fact that they are
they seem very obvious at the time that
they are delivered and yet
uh as is evidenced mostly right now in
the family a proclamation to the world
uh we can see how important that
groundwork was that inspiration was to
put that Proclamation out so I want to
start there with the family proclamation
I want to apply what is happening to the
family proclamation
and the forces against it
all also to the living Christ right
another Proclamation that went out by
the Brethren and to the 2020
Proclamation on the restoration of the
gospel and of the church okay so first
of all when we go to the family
proclamation
uh I want to read to you
just a short bit from president Oaks
something that he delivered uh this is
actually in uh before he became this was
Elder Oaks I believe at the time so this
is what he says about the family
proclamation and he was there when the
family proclamation was put together and
he signed that Proclamation right he
says prayerfully we continually pleaded
with the Lord for his inspiration on
what we would should say and how we
should say it so you think about
you know why are they doing this it's so
obvious at the time in 95. well what's
happening already in 95 that most of us
aren't aware of in Academia you have
this bragoning uh uh ideology of
identitarianism and critical theory that
are brought together critical race
theory has just been brought out by
Kimberly Crenshaw and coined in 89.
and there's which is you know why is
that important about the family the
reason it's important about the family
is because those tenets of critical race
Theory
strengthen all the other tenants and
really they're the ones that you can say
are the most widely used so you move
that you go beyond critical race there
you go to intersectionality which is
also coined by Kimberly Crenshaw which
is basically going out to all of the
different
intersectional boxes of sexual
orientation class ethnicity uh
um gender
um uh race Etc right you handicap you
know anything that
um can be put in here as a in a pressure
versus victim
identity is going to go into
intersectionality and this is a lot of
where identitarianism really starts to
take off is through intersectionality
and intersectionality has brought brings
in critical race Theory
which is critical theory it's founded in
critical theory
which is why it's called critical race
Theory right it brings in post-modernism
which which basically dissolves truth
and is applied to an individual
as live your own life
live your own truth there is no
objective truth you can be whoever you
want
uh it brings that in there together and
then also critical race Theory brings in
radical feminism and when I say radical
feminism I'm not talking about oh equal
rights right I'm it's it's radical
feminism this is from the authors of
critical race Theory right they
mentioned those three things critical
theory and Marxism and then they bring
in uh
post-modernism
primarily Michelle Foucault and derida
and then they bring in radical feminism
that's what they source as as really
what is brought together here to create
critical race Theory and then
intersectionality
so that's all kind of just really
launching in in in Academia at that time
we don't know about this right very few
handful of people know about this at the
time but that's what's starting to uh to
build and then foment in the halls of
the universities across the United
States
so the Brethren come out with the family
a proclamation to the world and
this is what elder or Elder Elks at the
time says also the inspiration
identifying the need for a proclamation
on the family came to the leadership of
the church this was over 23 years ago
okay so 23 years I think this was
delivered in 2017 so it's 94 right the
inspiration he says came to them in 94.
it was a surprise he says and this is
key to understanding all three of these
proclamations
it was a surprise to some who thought
the doctrinal truths about marriage
and the family were well understood
without restatement
okay why why are you coming out with
this I mean it's nice we can kind of all
put it up as a banner many families have
put that up inside their their home
right to clarify things it is more more
like a banner
so to speak that would be put up there
but it seemed very obvious at the time
and now all of the attacks are coming
the the family is disintegrating
the traditional family is disintegrating
there are attacks on all sides from all
of the roles Within
a a family including all communication
within a family so husbands wives
parents Sons daughters siblings right
all of it is under attack
through these ideologies
now I'll go over the family proclamation
more in detail in another episode I'm
just going to touch a little on each of
these three to see if you can see kind
of a trend here
and what we might expect in the future
because of these proclamations and why
they would come to us at this time but
of course one of the major things here
in in the family proclamation is gender
again so obvious to everybody in the 90s
of course yeah okay male and female okay
we get it okay but of course now we see
exactly what's happening with the uh
queer Theory and gender fluidity
and then we have roles in here like I
went over between a husband and a wife
and parents and what is righteous and
what is not righteous and then at the
end here we get really a prophetic
statement
at the end of this
and and I think we we forget about this
part we we focus so much on the gender
issues and the roles and and other parts
but
especially people that attack this and
and and don't like the family
proclamation
they don't bring this part up they kind
of ignore this part this is the second
the last two paragraphs right this is
what it says we warn that individuals
who violate covenants of Chastity
who abuse spouse or offspring or who
fail to fulfill family responsibilities
watch everyone
will one day sit down stand accountable
before God
further we warn
that the disintegration of the family
will bring upon individuals communities
and Nations the calamities foretold by
ancient and modern prophets and again
I'm not going to go a whole lot into
this we will do this in another episode
but
the family is under attack from all
ankles everywhere
and it it it's
the family is the unit
upon which civilization societies are
built it's the unit which the church is
built upon
and it's the ideal situation not
everybody has that but it is the ideal
structural unit
social unit within within the church
last paragraph says we call upon
responsible citizens and officers of
government everywhere
to promote those measures designed
to maintain and strengthen
the family
as the fundamental unit of society
there should really be a focus for all
of us
you know when we're thinking about
voting when we're thinking about policy
whatever it might be
are we are we
promoting the measures designed to
maintain and strengthen
the family
or not
now this warning I think can be applied
to the other two proclamations let's go
to the next one this is the living
Christ this is another one that just
seems incredibly obvious
why do they need to say this well you
know again it's like another Banner that
can be put up
but here's my suggestion on this
you've heard me if you follow the
podcast you've heard me talk a lot about
Liberation theology
and and and how it's going to come to
the church it's already coming to the
church
but if you follow history
the gospel history in the Old Testament
in the Book of Mormon
you see that over and over again there
is a loss of Christ
that there is the loss of the atoning
sacrifice of Jesus Christ and what many
call savior theology which is what we
tie ourselves to it is the core of Our
Gospel
and instead that gets replaced over and
over again with a political Messiah who
is there to liberate us all from the
oppressors and any other change that
would hold us back from expressing
ourselves completely and being the new
man or the new woman right
I think that the more we read this and
compare it from year to year into the
future
we're going to see why this came out
because we're going to see more and more
of a push in society as a whole that is
Christianity as a whole in the West
for savior theology we're already seeing
this pretty strongly in in many
Christian sects
and we're going to see it in the church
where people are going to begin to
justify the idea of Jesus being the
Liberator over the oppressor
and and at first maybe equalizing that
with the fact that he is the a toner of
our sins
and liberating us from the Captivity of
sins
right and so we can start equalizing
that a little bit and then eventually we
move some people will move up the uh The
Liberation theology above
the Savior Theology and then Jesus
Christ is not who we think he is
Jesus Christ becomes a political Messiah
which is exactly what happened during
the days of Lehi which happened over and
over again in the Book of Mormon
and and that's the that's the trend
we're moving toward now
and and I get these responses from
individuals in their Wards and in their
stakes and their classes and and and
there is
there are academics that are studying
Liberation theology that you will see
them bringing that to Mormon studies in
the near future
and uh this focus on Liberation over the
oppressors
and as we move forward through this
I I believe that this becomes another
anchor just like the family a
proclamation to the world something that
seems so obvious
is all of a sudden going to have to act
as an additional
anchor
for us a restatement
of our belief in Jesus Christ and his
atoning sacrifice that seems ridiculous
to many
I would have thought that was ridiculous
10 years ago
before looking into all of this
but it is not ridiculous and and that
Liberation theology is coming
and and all of a sudden we're going to
start seeing this as something similar
to what we see with the proclamation on
the Family
that's what I believe is going to happen
we move over to the third Proclamation
and we get to the uh
restoration of the fullness of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ let me back up to
the living Christ for a minute here
just a couple of quick things that are
that are written in here that seem so
obvious
he gave his life to a tone for the sins
of all mankind
his was a great vicarious gift in behalf
of all who would ever live upon the
Earth
that is going to be attacked
and Christianity broadly and within the
walls of the Latter-day Saints
a little further
we bear testimony as his duly ordained
apostles
that Jesus is the living Christ
The Immortal Son of God
how can anything be more obvious to a
Latter-Day Saint
well why are they putting this out there
it is not just a banner
it's an anchor point
with the restoration Proclamation just a
couple points that we get here 200 years
ago on a beautiful spring morning in
1820 young Joseph Smith seeking to know
which church to join went into the woods
to pray near his home in Upstate New
York he had questions regarding the
salvation of his soul and trusted that
God would direct him
in humility we declare that in answer to
his prayer God the father and his son
Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph and
inaugurated the restitution of all
things as foretold in the Bible so it
goes into obviously the first vision and
the uh the the
the restoration of the priesthood the
aaronic priesthood than the Melchizedek
priesthood now this Proclamation acts a
little bit differently because these
things have been attacked from the very
get-go from
from Christianity more broadly right it
they it's
Joseph Smith was a false prophet he was
a charlatan
etc etc The Book of Mormon is false you
can't add scripture to the Bible
all the things we've all heard so many
times before
so why would this need to be written
what is the reasoning behind this why is
there a sense of urgency a need to get
the Brethren together to put out another
Proclamation on this
where will the additional attacks come
from on this
Where will
history
uh
lion Lance it's stones at Joseph Smith
and Brigham Young
I think that if we look at the other two
proclamations and understand kind of
what's going on there that we can look
at this Proclamation and assume
that something similar is going to
happen here
and that the Restoration in a new way is
going to be called into account for
whatever right Church historical uh
archeology findings
uh historians
quotes from prophets whatever it might
be
but if it's like the other two
proclamations and again especially going
back to
the family proclamation
then we can assume that there is going
to be a shift
in how
both outside and inside of the church
that the the the the that the shift in
view
from both outside and inside of the
church because we get the same thing
with the family proclamation how many
times have you heard people say about
the family proclamation within the
church
well don't bring that up it's just
divisive
or you know
that happens all the time
and it's it's a difficult thing to work
with because
it's revelation
this is signed by
the 15 Brethren at the time in 1995.
so how do you treat that
and when you're talking about the
doctrine of the family how would you not
use the family of proclamation
and so one of the reactions to that now
is well it's used kind of as a bully
pulpit it's used as a a rod to beat
people down or something
um well of course that depends on how
you're using it if you're using it to
try and push something to get at
somebody to show your right and someone
else is wrong then of course that's a
problem
but if you're simply testifying of the
truth of the doctrine of the family
and using the family a proclamation to
the world as a reference to that
what else are people going to shut down
besides the family proclamation portions
of the Bible portions of the Book of
Mormon
are they also going to be identified as
passages
chapters
books that are are used to
um
oppress
this is critical theory
so just food for thought here on on
these proclamations maybe look at them
again
and and study them and and think about
this time now
with especially with probably the living
Christ is what I think is coming next
and and think to yourself well why is
this being stated why was there so much
urgency in getting this out why did they
feel inspired to restate the testimony
of Jesus Christ as the savior of the
world there there can be nothing more
obvious than this
well again what we'll see what happens
in the future
we'll see how thought and culture and
moods and philosophies change
I believe we're led by inspired brethren
inspired leaders
that doesn't mean they're infallible but
they are inspired and they hold the
office of
of seer Revelator prophet
apostle
and one thing you can always count on I
think is
is watching something trend
that like the first Proclamation the the
family proclamation and what has
happened with that and just assume that
you're likely going to get the same
thing with these other proclamations
thanks for listening