New False Revelation Justifies Furthering Community of Christ Leadership's Radical Agenda

I have already mentioned that the Community of Christ's leadership were planning to pursue further changes to lead their organization even further away from the gospel of the Kingdom. As of yesterday, if any doubt remains in anyone's mind on that point, it should now be dispelled. Their prophet, Steve Veazey, has come out with a new and obviously false revelation that eliminates essential doctrines of the early church in favor of "anything goes" liberal theology where god can change his mind to whatever society happens to think at the moment. The time at which it has come forward is obviously the result of a political calculation to take care of as much of the flack / fallout / response to this as possible before their world conference so it will be accepted with a minimum of resistance. All those who were kicked out of the church in the 1980s for standing firm on the original tenets can now say, "See I told you so" about the slippery slope argument. Abandoning one essential doctrine easily leads to abandoning another and another until you have no principles left at all.

Revelation is not meant to be the result of polling to find out which doctrines were likely to go down well.

From the supposed revelation:

Instruction given previously about baptism was proper to ensure the rise and cohesiveness of the church during its early development and in following years. However, .... Individuals previously baptized of water in an attitude of humility and repentance and as an expression of faith in Jesus Christ may become church members through the sacrament of confirmation of the Holy Spirit.

Even putting aside the specific question of rebaptism for the moment, can God behave in the way this revelation describes? Not according to the Bible, which the CoC describes as, "the central book of scripture for the church." (source) So I guess we're supposed to ignore the multiple references in the Book of Mormon and earlier revelations in the Doctrine & Covenants that contradict this. Even in that case, this claim that God can change His mind is still is directly contrary to scripture! See the references below:

KJV Isaiah 55:11 "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

KJV James 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

THIS NEW DOCUMENT IS NOT A REVELATION FROM GOD for it has God turning around 180 degrees from anything previously said on the subject. Attempting to show that this is in any way consistent with any previous revelation is like trying to show that black is white - it can't be done.

Baptism is the third of the six fundamental principles of the gospel found in Hebrews 6. The position of the RLDS church has always been that RLDS priesthood had the only legitimate authority from God to perform the ordinances of the church (including baptism) and that ministers of the vast majority of other churches in the world did not have this authority, as they were either never ordained or their ordination was not by individuals who themselves had the authority. The authority to preform legitimate ordinances depends on having an unbroken chain of priesthood ordinations which goes back to Christ Himself. So what this amounts to is a fundamental denial of what Joseph Smith Jr. was told by the Lord in the grove, that all the other churches were, "all wrong." (source)

Now either that statement by the Lord is true, or else it is false. If you believe that it is true, you cannot be consistent in believing in this new revelation of Steve Veazey's, for it is a direct denial of that earlier doctrine. From the new document:

"Serve the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to all committed followers of Christ as a visible witness of loving Christian fellowship and shared remembrance of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection."

The trouble with this is what "all committed followers of Christ" means. The RLDS position has always been "closed-communionist." We believe that the communion is a remembrance of the covenant made between the individual and the Lord in baptism. Veazey's position here is a logical extension of the premise that any church's authority is just as good as another's. So as long as even one Universalist or easy-believism Protestant church exists, "commited followers of Christ" means, simply, anyone. Anyone at all. Communion thus will no longer be a remembrance of an earlier covenant made on an individual level, but simply a community pageant that re-enacts the Last Supper. I can understand how people outside the church might not realize what a huge change this is, but the bottom line is that RLDS closed-communionism has been the position in the past, based on the Book of Mormon, and now the Book of Mormon's commandment on this issue is being ignored.

RLDS 1908 Book of Mormon 3rd Nephi 8:60 "And now behold, this is the commandment which I give unto you, that ye shall not suffer any one knowingly, to partake of my flesh and blood unworthily, when ye shall minister it, for whoso eateth and drinketh my flesh and blood unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to his soul;
61 Therefore if ye know that a man is unworthy to eat and drink of my flesh and blood, ye shall forbid him; nevertheless ye shall not cast him out from among you, but ye shall minister unto him, and shall pray for him unto the Father, in my name,
62 And if it so be that he repenteth, and is baptized in my name, then shall ye receive him, and shall minister unto him of my flesh and blood;
63 But if he repent not, he shall not be numbered among my people, that he may not destroy my people, for behold I know my sheep, and they are numbered;
64 Nevertheless ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister;
65 For ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them, and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them."

This reference clearly shows that to partake of the communion, a person had to be baptized. Not anymore, thanks to Steve Veazey who we all know is sooooo much more in touch with the Lord than Nephi or Joseph Smith Jr.

More on this later.

(later edit) This post is continued in, "Search the scriptures? OK!"