Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Passing the Heavenly Gift

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Response to Passing the Heavenly Gift

A FAIR Analysis of: Passing the Heavenly Gift, a work by author: Denver C. Snuffer

Introduction

Passing the Heavenly Gift by Denver C. Snuffer

Summary: This account of Church history contains numerous inaccuracies, distortions, and misrepresentations of the data.

Navigation

Introduction to the volume's claims

Jump to Subtopic:

• Prophecy and historical claims
• Summary of Snuffer’s historical reconstruction
• Snuffer's visionary claims

Claims about priesthood ordination

Jump to Subtopic:

• Priesthood conferred by ordination is just a potential and not actual bestowal of power
• Power versus authority of the priesthood
• Authority not vital for ordinances
• Legal Administrators
• To truly receive priesthood power, a type of divine theophany is necessary
• Could Brigham Young Qualify to Claim Sealing Power?

Brigham Young and subsequent apostles were not personal witnesses of Christ

Jump to Subtopic:

• Modern examples—New Scripture
• Modern examples—the Necessity and Reality of Ongoing Revelation
• Modern examples—Theophany or Divine Visitation
• Modern visitations of Deity: Wilford Woodruff
• Modern visitations of Deity: George Q. Cannon
• Modern visitations of Deity: Lorenzo Snow
• Modern visitations of Deity: Joseph F. Smith
• Modern visitations of Deity: George Albert Smith
• Modern visitations of Deity: David O. McKay
• Modern visitations of Deity: Harold B. Lee
• Modern visitations of Deity: Spencer W. Kimball
• Modern visitations of Deity: Ezra Taft Benson
• Modern visitations of Deity: Heber J. Grant

The source of the authority of Brigham Young and the apostles after Joseph’s death

Jump to Subtopic:

• An incomplete and misleading citation
• Earlier claims made by Brigham Young and the Twelve

Is it true that Joseph received sealing authority in 1829?

Jump to Subtopic:

• Date of plural marriage revelation(s) and implementation
• Elijah and the sealing keys
• Joseph’s Nauvoo era teachings about Elijah

Is it true that the Nauvoo temple was not built with enough speed?

Jump to Subtopic:

• Joseph’s discourses in the relevant period
• How much time were the Saints given to build the temple?

Were the Saints at Nauvoo were punished for slothfulness in building the temple?

Jump to Subtopic:

• The spot was not consecrated by the Lord, or made holy by His or the angels’ presence
• The church was moved out of the spot
• The temple was utterly destroyed
• Suffering during the exodus from Nauvoo
• No Pentecost-type experiences in the Nauvoo temple?

Conclusion

Jump to Subtopic:

• High road to apostasy
• "Proud descendants of Nauvoo"
• Snuffer announces his excommunication for apostasy
• Disdain for rank-and-file members
• Disdain for modern apostles
• Snuffer and D. Michael Quinn on David O. McKay
• A closed mental system

Comparing the size of the Kirtland and Nauvoo temples

Jump to Subtopic:

• Square footage
• Costs by population

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, "Passing Up The Heavenly Gift (Part One of Two)"

Gregory L. Smith,  Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, (2013)

Denver C. Snuffer, Jr. claims to have had a vision of the resurrected Jesus Christ.2 A convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he is the author of eight books (509). The thesis of the most recent—Passing the Heavenly Gift—is summarized by his book’s cover photo: a snuffed out candle, smoke curling upward, with a dim ember persisting at the tip of the wick.

Snuffer claims that Joseph Smith was an inspired prophet, but Joseph’s commands and revelations were not heeded adequately. As a result, Joseph was betrayed by Church members and murdered prior to the completion of the Nauvoo Temple (104). This made it impossible, in Snuffer’s view, for Joseph to pass on all the necessary ordinances and doctrines, notwithstanding the endowment and other ordinances given to the Twelve prior to Joseph’s death (105–110). Brigham Young, the Twelve, and their ecclesiastical heirs did not, therefore, perpetuate the fullness of Joseph’s mission (87–89, 268, 272–276, 283). Some of their acts, and the changes that Snuffer believes they have made to Church doctrine, practice, or administration, were not sanctioned by God, and constitute the “passing of the heavenly gift” (287, 400). This loss was, in Snuffer’s telling, predicted by Joseph Smith, and the time is now ripe for members of the Church to reclaim these blessings (315–317, 400–402, 447–499).

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, "Passing Up The Heavenly Gift (Part Two of Two)"

Gregory L. Smith,  Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, (2013)

Snuffer writes of the apostolic succession:

In 1847, Brigham Young publicly explained his understanding of the keys he obtained in these words: “an apostle is the Highest office and authority that there is in the Church and Kingdom [of] God on the earth. From whom did Joseph receive his authority? From just such men as sit around me here (pointing to the Twelve Apostles that sat with him.) Peter, James and John were Apostles, and there was no noise about their being seers and revelators though those gifts were among them. Joseph Smith gave unto me and my brethren (the Twelve) all the Priesthood keys, power and authority which he had and those are the powers which belong to the Apostleship” (87).

Snuffer then delivers his killing stroke: “This explanation is misleading because Brigham Young was not ordained an Apostle by Joseph Smith” (87). A few pages later, he writes that “Brigham Young’s claim to have received the sealing power when he was ordained an Apostle is completely dependent on the Three Witnesses’ ordination in 1835. That ordination came a year prior to the 1836 visit of Elijah” (91).

Reviews of this work

• Gregory L. Smith, "Passing Up The Heavenly Gift (Part One of Two)," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship7(2013): 181–243.
• Gregory L. Smith, "Passing Up The Heavenly Gift (Part Two of Two)," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship7(2013): 245–341.

Notes