On April 3,1976 the Church Section of the Deseret News announced that "Two revelations received by former Presidents of the Church, were accepted as scripture Saturday afternoon, April 3, by vote of Church membership."
This was certainly a surprising move for the Mormon leaders to make. Since one of the revelations which was canonized was given by Joseph F. Smith, we feel that it is possible this move was made to counter some statements which we printed in Mormonism-Shadow or Reality? We cite the following from that book:

"Although the Mormon Church claims to be led by revelation, Joseph F. Smith, the sixth President of the Mormon Church, testified as follows in the Reed Smoot Investigation:

"'Senator Dubios. - Have you received any revelations from God, which has been submitted by you and the apostles to the body of the church in their semiannual conference, which revelation has been sustained by that conference, through the upholding of their hands?
"'Mr. Smith. - Since when?
"'Senator Dubios. - Since you became President of the Church.
"'Mr. Smith. - NO, SIR; NONE WHATEVER.
"'Senator Dubios. - Have you received any individual revelations yourself, since you became President of the church under your own definition, even, of a revelation?
"'Mr. Smith. - I CANNOT SAY THAT I HAVE.
"'Senator Dubois. - Can you say that you have not?
"'Mr. Smith. - No; I cannot say that I have not.
"'Senator Dubois. - Then you do not know whether you have received any such revelation as you have described or whether you have not?
"'Mr. Smith. - Well, I can say this: That if I live as I should in the line of my duties, I AM SUSCEPTIBLE, I THINK, of the impressions of the Spirit of the Lord upon my mind at any time, JUST AS ANY GOOD METHODIST or any other good church member might be. And so far as that is concerned, I say yes; I have had impressions of the Spirit upon my mind very frequently, but they ARE NOT IN THE SENSE OF REVELATIONS.'" (Reed Smoot Case, Vol. 1, pages 483-484)

"On page 99 of the same volume Joseph F. Smith stated: 'I have NEVER PRETENDED TO NOR DO I PROFESS TO HAVE RECEIVED REVELATIONS.' From this it is plain to see that just because a man is ordained a 'Prophet. Seer, and Revelator,' it does not necessarily mean that he is. If Joseph F. Smith was only as susceptible to the impressions of the Spirit of the Lord as 'any good Methodist,' then why should his word be trusted above that of a good Methodist?
"Although the Mormon Church is supposed to be led by revelation, the evidence of this revelation is very hard to find. The Manifesto of 1890 is the last revelation, if it can be termed a revelation, that has been added to the Doctrine and Covenants. So we can see that the last revelation that was added.. is eighty years old....
"The Reorganized LDS Church has continued to add new revelations to their Doctrine and Covenants, but the Utah Mormon Church has not added a new revelation since... 1890. It is interesting to note that during the last century, when new revelations were being added to the Doctrine and Covenants, the Mormon leaders were condemning the Catholics for not adding new revelations to their 'sacred canon.' The Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt stated:

"'That the Romanists have continued in their apostacy until the present day is demonstrated from the fact that they have not added one single book to their canon since they first formed it. Now, if there had been any prophet or apostle among them, during the last seventeen centuries, they certainly would have canonized his epistles, revelations, and prophecies, as being equally sacred with those of the first century. As they have not done this, it shows most clearly, that even they, themselves, do not consider that they have had apostles, prophets, and revelators among them, during that long period of time.... since the first century, the Catholics must have had many tens of thousands of revelators, and yet, strange to say, none of their revelations are permitted to enter the sacred canon...Here, indeed, is a strange inconsistency! Even the Catholic church herself, evidently places no confidence in the popes and bishops, the pretended successors of St. Peter and the rest of the apostles; if she did, she would have canonized their revelations along with the rest of the revelations of the New Testament. What must we conclude then, as to her bishops holding 'the rank and functions of apostles?' We can but conclude that it is all an imposition--a wicked soul-destroying imposition, practiced upon the nations by a corrupt apostate church...Well might the revelator John,...call her 'THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH!'" (Orson Pratt's Works, 'The Bible Alone An Insufficient Guide,' pp 38-39)

"The very words used by Orson Pratt concerning the Catholics could now be applied to the Mormon Church, for "if there had been any prophet or apostle among them,' during the past eighty years,'they certainly would have canonized his epistles, revelations, and prophecies,..' The Church 'evidently places no confidence' in the last six Presidents; 'if she did, she would have canonized their revelations along with the rest of the revelations' in the Doctrine and Covenants." (Mormonism-Shadow or Reality? 1972, page 184)

It is difficult to resist the idea that the Mormon leaders decided to canonize the "new" revelations to offset the criticism found in Mormonism- Shadow or Reality? That they would choose a revelation given to Joseph F. Smith is especially interesting. This purported revelation was given less than two months before Joseph F. Smith's death in 1918 at a time when he "was very ill." He had served as "Prophet, Seer and Revelator" for some seventeen years before receiving this revelation. The reader will remember that Joseph F. Smith had previously admitted he had served as "Prophet, Seer, and Revelator" for some time without receiving any revelation: "I have never pretended to nor do I profess to have received revelations."
The other revelation which the Mormons canonized was given to Joseph Smith on January 21, 1836. As we will show later, this revelation was falsified when printed by the Church to avoid a major contradiction.
In the manuscript for our new book, The Changing World of Mormonism, we wrote the following: "Joseph F. Smith once stated that any new revelations would be added to the Doctrine and Covenants, but Mormon leaders have decided that these two revelations should be added to the Pearl of Great Price instead (Deseret News, Church Section, April 3, 1976)." President Smith's statement appears as follows in The Reed Smoot Case, Vol. 1, p. 489: "...if the Lord should reveal His mind to His people and it should be accepted by His people in the way that He has appointed, it would then become a matter to be added to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants."
The Mormon leaders now seem to realize that they made a mistake when they added the revelations into the Pearl of Great Price. The Church Section of the Deseret News for June 2,1979 reported that these revelations will be transferred to the Doctrine and Covenants:

"Joseph Smith's Vision of the Celestial Kingdom and Joseph F. Smith's Vision of the Redemption of the Dead have been transferred from the Pearl of Great Price to become Sections 137 and 138, respectively, in the Doctrine and Covenants....
"The decision to place these revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants has been made by the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve."

The fumbling around with these "new" revelations only tends to emphasize that the Mormon Church is led by fallible men rather than by direct revelation from God.

IMPORTANT CHANGE IN CANONIZED REVELATION

After the two revelations mentioned above were canonized by the Mormon Church, Michael Marquardt, a student of Mormon history, discovered that the one concerning Joseph Smith's vision of the Celestial Kingdom had been altered. Mr. Marquardt found that this revelation was recorded in Joseph Smith's own diary under the date of January 21, 1836. In Joseph Smith's diary the revelation read as follows:

"The heavens were opened upon us and I beheld the celestial Kingdom of God, ...I saw father Adam and Abraham and Michael and my father and mother, my brother Alvin,..." (Joseph Smith's 1835-36 Diary, Jan.21, 1836; printed by Modern Microfilm Co.)

When the Mormon leaders printed this revelation they deleted the words "and Michael" without any indication. It reads as follows in the new edition of the Pearl of Great Price:

"The heavens were opened upon us, and I beheld the celestial kingdom of God,...I saw Father Adam and Abraham; and my father and my mother; my brother Alvin,..." (Pearl of Great Price, 1976, page 63, verses 1, 5)

At first glance the deletion of the words "and Michael" does not appear too important. In Mormon theology, however, a serious problem is created by the statement, "I saw father Adam and Abraham and Michael." According to Joseph Smith's other revelations, ADAM IS MICHAEL. In the Doctrine and Covenants 107:54 we read: "And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel." In 27:11 we read: "And also with Michael or Adam, the father of all, the prince of all, the ancient of days." Thus it is clear that if Adam is Michael, Joseph Smith could not have seen "Adam, and Abraham and Michael" Mormon leaders must have been aware that this would create a problem in Mormon theology, and therefore they deleted the words "and Michael" from the revelation.
This change was apparently made sometime while the Church was under Brigham Young's leadership. The fact that the change was made after Joseph Smith's death is evident from Mr. Marquardt's research. He found that the revelation was copied into the handwritten manuscript of the History of the Church (Book B-2, p. 695), with the words "and Michael" still included. Mr. Marquardt also found that the words were in the duplicate copy of the "Manuscript History," (Book B-2, p. 618). This is significant because the Mormon leaders did not even start the duplicate copy until almost a year after Joseph Smith's death (see Brigham Young University Studies, Summer 1971, p. 469). This would mean that the change had to have been made after Smith's death. By the time the revelation was published in the Deseret News, September 4, 1852, the words "and Michael" had been deleted. Thus it appears that the change took place sometime between 1845 and 1852 and that current Mormon leaders have canonized a falsified revelation.

With regard to the vision of the Celestial Kingdom, it is also interesting to note that the Mormon leaders have only canonized the first part of the vision. Over 200 words which appear in Joseph Smith's diary are not included. (The History of the Church 2:380-81 also bears witness to this fact.) Among the words missing from the canonized revelation, we find the following:

"...I also beheld Elder McLellin in the South, standing upon a hill surrounded with a vast multitude preaching to them and a lame man standing before him supported by his crutches, he threw them down at his word and leaped as a heart, by the mighty power of God..."

It would probably prove to be embarrassing if the Mormon leaders canonized this prophecy about McLellin, because the History of the Church informs us that he was "excommunicated from the Church at Far West. Thence forward he took an active part in the persecution of the Saints in Missouri, and at one time expressed the desire to do violence to the person of Joseph Smith,...Subsequently he attempted what he called a reorganization of the Church,..." (Vol. 3, pp. 31-32)
In the same revelation Joseph Smith claimed that he "saw the 12 apostles of the Lamb who are now upon the earth who hold the keys of this last ministry in foreign lands standing together in a circle.. and I finally saw the 12 in the celestial Kingdom of God..."
In the Bible, Jesus predicted that the Apostle Judas would fall; Joseph Smith, however, seemed to be oblivious to what was about to happen to his Apostles. At least half of the Apostles were eventually excommunicated, and four of them apparently died out of the church (see Essentials in Church History, 1942, pp. 663-665) Since Apostles William E. McLellin and William Smith (Joseph Smith's own brother) tried very hard to destroy the Mormon Church, we wonder how Joseph Smith could have seen "the 12 in the celestial Kingdom of God." In any case, the present-day leaders of the Mormon Church did not seem to feel that it would be wise to canonize this part of the revelation.

CRITICISM STILL VALID

Even though the leaders of the Mormon Church have decided to make three additions to the Doctrine and Covenants, our criticism that the Church does not fulfill its claim to present-day revelation still stands. To begin with, the revelations which are to appear as Sections 137 and 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants can hardly be considered as "new" revelations. The one given to Joseph F. Smith is sixty-one years old, and the revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith is 143 years old.
The fact that the statement on blacks is to be added to the Doctrine and Covenants also fails to show the Church is led by revelation. The June 1978 declaration on blacks is not a revelation, but only a statement that a revelation has been received. Furthermore, President Kimball himself made a statement that gives the impression that it was only a feeling or assurance that he received. The reader will remember that President Joseph F. Smith admitted that "any good Methodist or any other church member" is susceptible to "impressions of the Spirit of the Lord." IF THE MORMON LEADERS REALLY BELIEVE THEY ARE LED BY REVELATION, WHY DON'T THEY CANONIZE A REVELATION BY SPENCER W. KIMBALL WHICH BEGINS WITH THE WORDS, "THUS SAITH THE LORD YOUR GOD..."
That Mormon leaders do not give the declaration on blacks the same status as the "visions" of Joseph Smith and Joseph F. Smith is obvious from the fact that they are not going to give it a section number in the new Doctrine and Covenants. The Church's magazine, The Ensign, for August 1979, p. 75, explained:

"...yet-to-be printed copies of the Doctrine and Covenants will contain three new additions...
"The two visions to be transferred from the Pearl of Great Price to the Doctrine and Covenants are Joseph Smith's Vision of the Celestial Kingdom and Joseph F. Smith's Vision of the Redemption of the Dead. These two additions will become sections 137 and 138 in the Doctrine and Covenants....
"The third addition...will be the proclamation of 9 June 1978...The proclamation will be known as Official Declaration-2. Official Declaration-1 will be the title of the announcements discontinuing plural marriage that are already part of the Doctrine and Covenants."

SUPPRESSED REVELATIONS

While present Mormon leaders are canonizing two revelations given by former Presidents of the Church, they are suppressing others. For instance, on September 27, 1886 President John Taylor gave a revelation in which the Lord was supposed to have told him that plural marriage would always be a part of the Church:

"My son John...how can I revoke an everlasting covenant; for I the Lord am everlasting & my everlasting covenants cannot be abrogated nor done away with; but they stand for ever....I have not revoked this law nor will I for it is everlasting & those who will enter into my glory must obey the conditions thereof, even so Amen."

The reader will find a discussion of this matter in Mormonism-Shadow or Reality? pages 242-43.
Another revelation which Mormon leaders have suppressed is one given by Joseph Smith in 1831 on the practice of polygamy. We first published this revelation in 1974 in the book Mormonism Like Watergate? pages 7-8. The reason it was suppressed was that it commanded the Mormons to "take unto you wives of the Lamanites and Nephites, that their posterity may become white, delightsome and just, for even now their females are most [sic] virtuous than the gentiles."
In Mormon theology the Lamanites and Nephites are the Indians. The Book of Mormon teaches that the Indians were cursed with a dark skin:

"And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which is a curse upon them because of their transgression..." (Book of Mormon, Alma 3:6)

The Book of Mormon states, however, that in the last days the Indians will repent and "many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a white and delightsome people." (Ibid., 2 Nephi 30: 5-6)
Even after we published this important revelation on marriage to the Indians, Mormon writers failed to come to grips with its existence. Donna Hill did mention it in her book, Joseph Smith: The First Mormon, published in 1977, but it was 1979 before Church Historian Leonard J. Arrington and his assistant Davis Bitton publicly acknowledged its existence. In their new book, The Mormon Experience, page 195, we find the following:

"A recently discovered document is a copy of a purported revelation of 1831 that instructed seven missionaries in Missouri as follows: 'For it is my will, that in time, ye should take unto you wives of the Lamanites and Nephites that their posterity may become white, delightsome and just, for even now their females are more virtuous than the gentiles'"

Although we are glad to see the Church Historian acknowledge the reality of this revelation, the statement that it was "recently discovered" does not square with the facts. Joseph Fielding Smith, who was LDS Church Historian and later became the tenth President of the Church, told of the revelation's existence in a letter written in 1935: "...I do know that there was a revelation given in July 1831, in the presence of Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps and others in Missouri, in which the Lord made this principle known through the Prophet Joseph Smith." Letter from Joseph Fielding Smith to J. W. A. Bailey, dated September 5, 1935, typed copy)
Fawn Brodie wrote that "Joseph F. Smith, Jr., the present historian of the Utah Church, asserted to me in 1943 that a revelation foreshadowing polygamy had been written in 1831. But that it had never been published. In conformity with the church policy, however, he would not permit the manuscript, which he acknowledged to be in possession of the church library, to be examined." (No Man Knows My History, 1971, page 184, footnote)
In the light of this evidence, it would have been better for Arrington and Bitton to have stated that the revelation had been suppressed for a long time rather than to have stated that it was "recently discovered."
At any rate, a speech given by Mormon President Spencer W. Kimball at the LDS General Conference, October of 1960, might mislead one into believing that he would rejoice over Joseph Smith's 1831 revelation about marrying Indians to turn them white:

"I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today as against that of only fifteen years ago. Truly the scales of darkness are falling from their eyes, and they are fast becoming a white and delightsome people....
"The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as light as Anglos;...The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.
"At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter were present, the little member girl...was several shades lighter than her parents...There was the doctor in a Utah city who for two years had had an Indian boy in his home who stated that he was some shades lighter than the younger brother just coming into the program from the reservation. These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated.
"The day of the Lamanites has come....today the dark clouds are dissipating." (Improvement Era, December 1960. pages 922-23)

Now while it is true that President Kimball is very concerned about the fulfillment of the Book of Mormon prophesy that the Indians will become a "white and delightsome people," he is apparently unable to accept Joseph Smith's 1831 revelation because he believes that Indians are to be turned white by the power of God and is opposed to intermarriage with them. In 1958 he gave an address which touched on this subject. President Kimball's statement was reprinted in the Church Section of the Deseret News on June 17, 1978:

"'...there is one thing that I must mention, and that is interracial marriages. When I said you must teach your young people to overcome their prejudices and accept the Indians. I did not mean that you would encourage intermarriage.'"