True to the Records

Some recent events have led me to ponder again this important statement from the Prophet Joseph Smith: “I will give you a key that will never rust,—if you will stay with the majority of the Twelve Apostles, and the records of the Church, you will never be led astray.”  A similar recollection from Ezra T. Clark is as follows: “I heard the Prophet Joseph say that he would give the Saints a key whereby they would never be led away or deceived, and that was: The Lord would never suffer a majority of this people to be led away or deceived by imposters, nor would He allow the records of this Church to fall into the hands of the enemy.”  I have heard of two different members of the Church, both of whom I know or have known to some degree, claiming to be some kind of apostle/prophet/Messiah figure despite their clear understanding of the duly ordained and rightly sustained prophets, seers, and revelators.  Though one of these wasn’t in his right mind and the other was in prison, it reminded me how easily such claims of spiritual manifestations and prophetic mantle can be made in our day.  How diligent we must be to follow this key of the prophet—stay true to the Twelve Apostles and the records of the Church. 

             I think it is fairly obvious how we stick to the majority of the Twelve, but what does it mean to stay with the records of the Church?  One interpretation of the records of the Church is the scriptures, and surely it is crucial for us to stay true to those.  Interestingly, both in the beginning of the Book of Mormon and in the beginning of the Restoration there was a focus on obtaining a record of scripture.  Nephi of course was able to “obtain the record of the Jews” which had recorded the Lord’s word (1 Nephi 5:6).  It was a harrowing experience for him to get the place of brass, and they were exactly what the civilization relied on for a millennia.  It was those who stuck with the records who remained the people of the Lord, for when Nephi separated from his brothers he “brought the records which were engraven upon the plates of brass” (2 Nephi 5:12).  The Lamanites dwindled in unbelief without those records.  Like Nephi, Joseph Smith similarly obtained a crucial record at the beginning of his ministry that also took several tries to obtain.  For five years he went to the Hill Cumorah believing that he was going to be able to get the plates but only that last year in 1827 did he finally obtain them from the angel Moroni.  Those plates were translated into the Book of Mormon which, like the brass plates for the Nephites, is essential to the people of the Lord today.  When Joseph invited us to stay true to the records of the Church, surely that included the Book of Mormon and other revelations that make up the canon of scripture today. 

             Another interpretation of the “records” that Joseph Smith invited us to stay true to is the temple records that show the sacred ordinances done for us and others.  The prophet invited us to participate in the work of the temple, particularly for our ancestors, in these words: “Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:24). Those are the records, recording all those who have received the ordinances in the house of the Lord, we want to be a part of and stay true to.  A focus on the scriptural record and living up to the temple record surely are crucial ways for us to be true to the Lord’s Church in these last days.