The Mormon Faith & Black Folks
Question #53
Q. How do black Mormons feel about the Curse of Cain
doctrine and the Priesthood ban?
A. Each individual is different. Alan Cherry, during
his Oral History Project, asked several hundred black Latter-day Saints what
they thought of these things; specifically if they thought the Priesthood ban
was of God or not. These are his findings:
Was the Will of God
63.5%
Was not the Will of God 7.1%
Unsure either way
29.4%
(Black Saints, p.70)
*Black Mormons respond to the Priesthood ban
Cherry recorded many of the responses he received from
black Latter-day Saints in regards to the Priesthood ban. Most of them said
they were shocked by it when they first heard it. Many of them became
angry. Yet, they eventually joined the Church. Here are some of their
responses:
Peter Tabani Gill (Ugandan):
“My personal understanding in that regard is in the
first place the gospel was true for the Jews first. After the Jews the
Gentiles. That’s what Jesus Christ himself said. Many people did not question
that. But people question about the Mormon church.” ( p.72)
Burgess Owen (ex-NFL player):
“I realize that it is the Lord’s Wisdom, not mine,
that counts.” (p.72)
Kenneth Bolton Sr.:
“The Priesthood had not always been available to
everyone. During much of the Old Testament, only the tribe of Levi was
eligible.” ( p.72)
James Henry Sinquefield:
“I never [had] a feeling that the priesthood was
something that was withheld from my race of people because of discrimination or
some of the negativeness that man has tried to make of it. I really believe it
was of God, that it was His will to be that way.” ( p.72)
Not all black Mormons accepted the Priesthood
ban as the Will of God so easily. Many would call it ‘racist’ when first hearing
of it, and have nothing to do with the Church for years to come; only
reading The Book of Mormon or listening to The Plan of
Salvation (presenting by LDS missionaries)
years later, receiving a testimony of their truthfulness, and then
becoming Latter-day Saints.
As we said before, not all black Mormons accept
the Priesthood ban as the Will of God. About 1 in 4 are unsure either way, and
about 7%, or 1 in 14, believe that the Priesthood ban is absolutely not
of God, but rather just the misinterpretations of past LDS prophets; based upon
their own natural prejudices of the day.
One black Mormon convert named Hale wanted to serve a
mission, but was told she could not because missionaries had to be endowed in
the Temple and while Hamites could enter Temples to be baptized on behalf of
the dead, they could not receive the higher ordinances of Endowments and
Sealings. She became upset, and told her bishop that “the Church was
prejudiced, and I didn’t want anything more to do with it.” (Black Saints,
p.66).He then suggested that she pray about it. Hale relates what then
happened:
“I went home that Sunday resolving not to pray. I
didn’t for two or three days. It seemed like it was on a Wednesday when all of
a sudden I found myself on my knees praying and saying, ‘Why can’t blacks hold
the priesthood?’ A comforting feeling came over me saying, ‘I have not given a
reason why, but eventually blacks will hold the priesthood with all the
blessings.’...That calmed me down.” (Black Saints, p.66)
A few years later Sister Hale went to the Temple for
her endowments, after the 1978 Revelation. She also later served a mission for
the Church.
Many black Mormons will testify to feelings of comfort
and peace after getting on their knees and asking the LORD about the
Priesthood~ban. But those who refuse to sincerely pray about it do not receive
such feelings of comfort and peace, but often leave the Church, or continue it
it still angry and embittered; waiting for the day when--they hope-- The
Brethren will ‘apologize’ for the Priesthood~ban.
*Jews and Canaanites/Mormons and Blacks
Before 1978, the relationship between Mormons and
black folks was somewhat similar to those of Jews and Samaritans in the
days of Jesus. Most of the Samaritans rejected Jesus as the Messiah because
believed that the Jews were racists, and had discriminated against them by the
Jewish teaching that Canaanites were under the Curse of Canaan, and by not
allowing them to worship in the Temple at Jerusalem. Surely, they believed, God
would never send the Messiah among the Jews. Only a few of them
became Christians.
Most of the Samaritans were forced to convert to Islam
in the 7th century; when Muslims took control of the Holy Land. A
small group did not convert to Islam, and still exist to this day; patiently
awaiting the coming of the ‘Messiah’ who will appear on Mt. Gezerim , in
Samaria, and destroy the Jews and make them, the Samaritans, his princes and
rulers.
Like the Samaritan and Canaanite women who recognized
Jesus as the Messiah, and did not reject Him when He referred to their
people as dogs (“servants”), but submitted their wills to the Will of
God, black Mormons who accept the Priesthood ban as the Will of God do so not
out of weakness, but out of a profound spiritual strength. It
is easy to reject it because the World calls it “racist”. It is easy to agree
with the World. It is hard to swallow one’s pride, and to submit to the
LORD; once a person has gained a personal
witness from the Holy Spirit that the Church is true. Ego and pride
come from weakness. Humility and submissiveness to the Will of the LORD
comes from inner-strength and exceeding faith.
Many black Mormons first thought of the idea of
joining the Church as foolishness. Then they either read The Book of
Mormon or listened to The Plan of Salvation (Missionary
Discussions).
*Pride prevents guidance from the Holy Spirit
Of course, not all black folks who run into LDS
missionaries join the Church. Many do not. Many refuse to open their doors or
their hearts. They refuse because of pride. The Priesthood ban, or often
false rumors they’ve been told about the Church, causes their prides to be
hurt. When this happens, they get angry or upset and refuse to read The Book
of Mormon, or even to listen to The Plan of Salvation. In
some cases they’ve already done one or the other, and received a spiritual
witness of the truth. Yet, because their pride is wounded, they reject the
Church.
The self, or ego, is the natural man in
us all. The Book of Mormon calls the natural man is “an enemy to
God” (Mosiah 3:19). The natural
man does not listen to the Spirit of God. Rather, the natural man listens to man;
to the popular Philosophies of Man of his day. The Apostle Paul wrote:
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can they know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14)
The spirit in us, our soul, is the spiritual
man in us all. Our spirits, or souls, are divine! They are the
literal sons and daughters of God. They are literally parts or sparks
of God in us. Our souls do not listen to prideful egos, but to
the Spirit of God.
Black folks who reject our Missionaries or who reject
the Church do so because of pride. They feel they deserve to feel
that way; being the victims of discrimination and racial prejudice for
centuries. And perhaps they do.
But,
nevertheless, if they let their pride prevent them from joining the
Church and becoming sealed in the Temple and becoming the Manifest Sons of God
by adoption, and becoming heirs of God and joint-heirs of Jesus Christ, and
inheriting Exaltation or Eternal Life, the greatest of all of God’s gifts, they
will in fact make the same mistake as Lucifer and his hosts, as Pharaoh of the time of Moses, as the
Jaredites in The Book of Ether, as the Samaritans in the days of Jesus,
and as the white Nephites in The Book of Mormon.
But those who swallow their prides, who listen to the
Spirit with their spirit, and who become the least in the Kingdom
of God, shall become the greatest.
*A Spiritual-Witness must come first
Nobody expects such humility and submission until
one has a spiritual witness, and this comes only in two ways: either by
reading The Book of Mormon, and asking God if it is true or not, or by listening to The Plan of Salvation
as presented by the Mormon missionaries; who refer to as these 6 or 7
presentations as “The Discussions”.
Jesus said that “He who is least in the Kingdom of God
shall become the greatest”. He or she who swallow their pride,
and submit to the LORD and His Wisdom, whether they are black, white,
yellow, brown, or red, will reap Eternal Life; life in Gardens of Eden for all
eternity. Those who cannot, because of the tests they will face, or because of
the condemnation of the World, or what their friends or family will ‘think’ of
them, will not be receive the same reward. Servants of the LORD shall be gods
in the eternities; while rebels in this life, refusing to submit to His Will,
refusing to shallow their own prides and humble themselves before His Throne,
shall become servants for all eternity: worlds without end.
The mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is not to convert every soul on earth (even though some
Mormon apostles and missionaries would like to). Rather, it is to gather the Elect from the four corners of
the Earth. Not all people are the Elect of God. Who are the Elect? Those who
are the Pure in Heart. Those who are pure in heart are not boastful, arrogant,
or prideful. They are not angry and spiteful over past wrongs done to their
race. Rather, they endeavor to show love and forgiveness to all men. They are
not wounded in their prides by the fact
that the LDS Church denied their lineage the Priesthood. Rather, they accept it
as the Will of the LORD, and endeavor to glorify His name and His Kingdom.
*The Sin of Pride Prevents us from receiving Eternal
Life
The Elect of God are not pridefulpride is the sin that caused Lucifer and
his angels to fall from Heaven. Pride is the sin which caused Cain to
slay Abel; when all he had to do was repent and he and his lineage would
have been the first instead of the last to receive the
Priesthood. Pride is the sin which caused God to curse His own people
Israel, and make them the slaves of the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Pride
is the sin which caused the white-skinned
Nephites to be utterly destroyed by the dark-skinned Lamanites. Pride
is the sin which caused the Fundamentalist Mormons to leave or be
expelled from the Church, and lose all their eternal inheritances, in 1978; because they could not accept
Negroes in the Priesthood. Pride is the sin which prevents many black
folks from reading The Book of Mormon, or hearing The Plan of
Salvation, or joining the Church or remaining active in the Church.
The Prophet Alma, in The Book of Mormon, wrote:
“Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before
God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within
yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been
cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem
his people from their sins?
28 Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I
say unto you, if you are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold, ye must
prepare quickly, for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath
not eternal life.” (Alma 5:27-8)
Please feel free to e-mail Darrick Evenson
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