Chauncey C. Riddle
c. 1984
Dear Friend:
I was saddened to hear of your excommunication from the Church. It is plain that my understanding of authority in the church is not the same as yours. May I share my views with you?
I see the essence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be a program for perfecting our relationships with other beings. The program is simple, having only two steps. We must learn to love God with all of our heart, might, mind and strength. When we are fall of that love for Him then He can and will teach us how to love our neighbor as He loves us.
Crucial Point: We cannot know how to love others as our Father loves us in any natural way. When we feel love for others and try to help them as we see fit, that is probably a good thing but is clearly not the pattern of God’s love for us. His love for us proceeds out of a perfection of character and an omniscience that no human desire can begin to match. Thus, when we suppose that we can love our neighbor in a godly way by doing what we think is best, we are appointing ourselves to be gods, a bit of pride which is hardly justified.
The Gospel gives as a formula for loving God. It is
(1) to put our whole faith and trust in Jesus Christ,
(2) to repent of all of our sins,
(3) to make the covenant of baptism under one what has authority from Christ,
(4) to receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands of one who has authority from the Savior
(5) to endure to the end of becoming as Christ and knowing Him by following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. To love God is to become as He is and to come to know Him, to be one with Him.
It is my understanding that there are three basic levels of progress through which the Holy Spirit will lead us into oneness with our Godhead.
The first level is to turn as away from being like the world. To this end are we given the Ten Commandments which are a preparation for joining the Church. If we keep the Ten Commandments and follow the Holy Spirit by joining the Church then certain other outward opportunities are given to us, such as keeping the word of wisdom, paying tithes and offerings, doing good for others, being active in and filling callings in the Church, and receiving priesthood and the temple ordinances. In all of this, we show our love for the Lord, our acceptance of Him. Through all of this, the Holy Spirit guides us as we humbly seek help in prayer.
The second level is the opportunity to unite with the Priesthood authority which the Savior has placed in His Church to help to bring as to the Father. He has appointed officers in the Church for the perfecting of the Saints. We cannot grow past the first level until we carefully support, work with, pray for and love all those whom He, the Savior, has appointed to preside over us in our families and in the Church. To love God is to love His work and the instruments by which He does His work on the earth: His priesthood authorities. We need to love and support them with all of our heart, might, mind and strength is to reject the Savior who appointed them to preside over us. If we do support them, the Holy Spirit will guide us as we humbly seek help in prayer. (Cf. 1 Samuel 26:7–12.)
Crucial point: Either this is the True Church of Jesus Christ or it is not. If it is not, then all of us should withdraw from it. If it is the true Church then every presiding authority is appointed of Jesus Christ and must be so honored loved, sustained and obeyed as such. It will not do to say that the President of the Church has the true authority but oar bishop or stake president does not; that is inconsistent because every stake president and bishop is appointed and removed under the authority of the President of the Church.
When we have found ourselves fully united, in divine love, with the priesthood authority which is over us, then and only then can we go on to the third level, perfection. It is only then that we shall be given the power to perfect every word, every thought, every feeling, every hope, every desire under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit as we seek that help through humble prayer. Then we really do love the Lord with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. Then we achieve that oneness with the Lord.
If we are able to but do not unite with the priesthood authority which the Savior has established on the earth, that is a rejection of the Savior, a declared rejection of love for Him. In that condition we cannot keep the first great commandment; which also means that in that condition we cannot keep the second commandment. To pretend to love mankind and to try to make the world a better place while rejecting the Savior and His priesthood authority is a self-contradiction. Only through the priesthood structure of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is there any real hope for a righteous means of bringing the misery and woe of mankind to an end and to bring to all men the opportunity of true happiness, love and accomplishment.
Do you see that in my opinion when a person’s stake president or bishop asks him to repent and he will not, that is prima facie evidence he has jumped the track and is listening to the wrong spirit? The only cure that I know of is to start back at the beginning, as a little child, and to work up through level one until level two can be approached gain, to become one with the priesthood authorities over us. To me, a person who claims to have been wronged by his stake president, or that his stake president has exceeded authority in excommunicating him, has rejected this church as The Church of Jesus Christ, and in the process has rejected real love for the Savior and real love for mankind.
I plead with you to reconsider, to go back to the first works and seek the waters of baptism. I know that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ and that His power, authority, and love are in the priesthood structure of this Church.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
C. C. Riddle