Men Are Damned for Rejecting Living Prophets

Luke 11:45-48; Matthew 23:29-33; 'Dead prophets, Yes; living prophets, No!' Such is the pious feeling of sanctimonious though worldly religionists in every age. Almost all men, Christians and Jews alike, revere dead prophets; almost none cleave unto the Lord's living representatives. Today men build houses of worship to Peter and Paul while they persecute and kill Joseph Smith and the living oracles. There seems to be a conscience soothing comfort in acclaiming a dead prophet while slaying a living one.

Luke 11:45-48; Matthew 23:29-33; Samuel the Lamanite, sent by God to a rebellious Nephite nation said: "When ye talk, ye say: If our days had been in the days of our fathers of old, we would not have slain the prophets; we would not have stoned them, and cast them out. Behold ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth, if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord, which testifieth of your sins and iniquities, ye are angry with him, and cast him out and seek all manner of ways to destroy him; yea, you will say that he is a false prophet, and that he is a sinner, and of the devil, because he testifieth that your deeds are evil." (Helaman 13:25-26.)

Luke 11:45-48; Matthew 23:29-33; There is, of course, no salvation in believing in a dead prophet and stopping there. A living prophet must be found, first, to interpret God's word in terms of today, and, then, to serve as the legal administrator who can perform God's ordinances so as to make them binding on earth and in heaven.

Luke 11:45-48; Matthew 23:29-33; Nothing ever happens on earth as important as the sending of prophets among men. Their messages involve the very purpose of life and creation. And there is nothing more important in the lives of mortals than to determine whether those claiming to represent Deity do in fact hold divine authority and have a legal commission to speak for him.

Luke 11:45-48; Matthew 23:29-33; What pure, unadulterated hypocrisy it is for those who reject the living prophets to say: 'If we had lived in former days, we would have accepted the prophets whom others rejected.' Prophets are prophets, truth is truth, and rebellion is rebellion. The spirit which leads men to fight God in one age is the same that operates in every age. Those who reject the Lord's anointed today would have done so anciently. Compare Luke 16:27-31.