Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Not led down the wrong path

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat and a temple-worthy Mormon, made this comment to the media after speaking to BYU students on Tuesday Oct 10, 2007:

In the past years we've had some very prominent members of the church, like Ezra Taft Benson, who are really right-wing people. Members of the church are obedient and followers in the true sense of the word, but these people [Benson] have taken members of the church down the path that is the wrong path.

Ezra T Benson was the 13th President and Prophet of the Mormon Church, serving from 1985-1994. That is a lot of years for the highest leader of the LDS religion to take his followers down the wrong path. It also underscores the danger to members of the Mormon religion who have believed Elder Benson we he stated:

"The prophet will never lead the Church astray. ... President Marion G. Romney tells of this incident, which happened to him: I remember years ago when I was a Bishop I had President [Heber J.] Grant talk to our ward. After the meeting I drove him home....Standing by me, he put his arm over my shoulder and said: "My boy, you always keep your eye on the President of the Church, and if he ever tells you to do anything, and it is wrong, and you do it, the Lord will bless you for it." Then with a twinkle in his eye, he said, "But you don't need to worry. The Lord will never let his mouthpiece lead the people astray." [In Conference Report, October 1), p. 78] http://www.lds-mormon.com/fourteen.shtml

The danger in accepting such teaching from religious leaders is that it leads to dulled discernment for the follower and no accountability for the leader. If religious leaders, like the rest of us, are fallen, imperfect, finite persons, then they can indeed lead people astray and have an even greater potential for doing so.

So, either Senator Reid is on to something and Benson not only led people astray with his political views, but also with his teaching that God would not let the prophet lead people astray, or Reid himself is leading others astray with his open indictment of Mormon Prophet Benson, in which case the church leaders who allowed Reid to address BYU students were not being very sensitive to the Spirit themselves.

Bottom line, if we call ourselves Christians, or Christ-ones, then it is Jesus the Christ we are to follow. Period. We can put no ultimate confidence in any religious leader or religious institution. And any leader or institution that says otherwise is leading us away from Christ - to our own spiritual peril.