Today at Church the naïve view that the leadership of the Church receives 24/7 revelation was mentioned by a Latter-day Saint. Notwithstanding, such is simply false. While I do not deny that the Holy Spirit guides and protects the Church, at the same time, history disproves such a view about the inspiration of Church leadership. One such topic would be the Adam-God doctrine. While randomly pursuing some journals today, I encountered the following from the diaries of Abraham H. Cannon and Anthon H. Lund which shows that Adam-God continued to be debated well after the death of Brigham Young in 1877:
[May 26, 1892; Thursday] At two o'clock I was at my Quorum meeting where were present all the Presidency and myself, as also Bro. (Francis M.) Lyman; Geo. Gibbs, clerk. Bro. Jos. Smith was mouth in prayer. Thereafter some conversation followed as to whether Adam is our God or not. There are some in the Church who do not accept of the statement of Pres. [Brigham] Young that such is the case, but to me it seems reasonable to think that Adam has at least much to do with our present condition, and will control greatly our future destiny. (Candid Insights of a Mormon Apostle: The Diaries of Abraham H. Cannon, 1889-1895 [ed. Edward Leo Lyman; Salt Lake City: Signature Books and the Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2010], 338)
[April 8, 1912; Monday.] Had a large special Priesthood meeting in which the declaration was made that the God we worship is not Adam but the God that Adam worshiped in the Garden. (Danish Apostle: the diaries of Anthon H. Lund, 1890-1921 [ed. John P. Hatch; Salt Lake City: Signature Books and the Smith-Pettit Foundation, 2006], 477)
For the best treatment on Adam-God, see:
Matthew B. Brown, Brigham Young's Teachings on Adam
Be sure to also check out my essay:
Latter-day Saints really need to jettison the popular but simplistic and false notion that Church leaders have a "bat phone" to God.
