And again, verily, I say unto you, my servant George Miller is without guile; he may be trusted because of the integrity of his heart; and for the love which he has to my testimony I, the Lord, love him. I therefore say unto you, I seal upon his head the office of a bishopric, like unto my servant Edward Partridge, that he may receive the consecrations of mine house, that he may administer blessings upon the heads of the poor of my people, saith the Lord. Let no man despise my servant George, for he shall honor me. . . . Behold, verily I say unto you, let my servant George Miller, my servant Lyman Wight, and my servant John Snider, and my servant Peter Haws, organize themselves, and appoint one of them to be a president over their quorum for the purpose of building that house . . . And again, verily I say unto you, if my servant George Miller, and my servant Lyman Wight, and my servant John Snider, and my servant Peter Haws, receive any stock into their hands, in moneys, or in properties wherein they receive the real value of moneys, they shall not appropriate any portion of that stock to any other purpose, only in that house. (D&C 124:20-21, 62, 70, emphasis added)
The above passages, in revelation from January 1841, is further evidence of God possessing contingent foreknowledge, consistent with Open Theism (my “take” on the issue of the foreknowledge vs. freedom debate). At the time of the revelation, George Miller was indeed “without guile” and worthy in the eyes of God, but, as a result of free-will actions, he fell away from the Church and those (genuine) promises from the Lord were not realised (N.B.: Note the use of may in D& 124:21, showing that this was a promise contingent upon continued faithfulness).
Speaking of Miller’s apostasy, Russell R. Rich wrote:
Bishop Miller’s Defection
Bishop George Miller, who, along with Bishop Newel K. Whitney, was trustee-in-trust for the Church, had been somewhat prone to disregard instructions from the Twelve and had merited the displeasure of Brigham Young on more than one occasion while traveling across Iowa. Although he would cooperate with other Church leaders in an organized plan, he continued to go off on his own, usually ahead of everyone except those for whom he was group leader. It was mostly his influence that caused the three leading companies to go up to the Ponca country for the winter. This extra traveling was a needless burden, as they could have wintered better on Grand Island—directly in the line of march to the West—or, more easily, they could have returned to Winter Quarters where supplies were much nearer.
Miller had made a trip or two from Ponca to Winter Quarters during the winter of 1846-47; and in February 1847, Elders Ezra T. Benson and Erastus Snow were sent to Miller’s camp on the Running Water River to request Bishop Miller to move immediately to Winter Quarters with his family. Bishop Miller felt this was an intrusion by the Twelve Apostles upon his authority, claiming he had the right to lead the camp himself “by virtue of a special appointment from the Prophet Joseph Smith” (CHC, 3:158). The members of the camp, however, accepted the authority of the Twelve and therefore reorganized their camp along the lines suggested by them; Bishop Miller reluctantly returned to Winter Quarters with Ezra T. Benson and Erastus Snow. He remained rather disgruntled, however; and finally, on April 2, a few days before the pioneer company left for the Great Basin, he came out in open opposition to the Twelve Apostles, declaring that he was convinced they should move to the southern area of Texas between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande (CHC, 3:159). Hosea Stout spoke of this area as “in dispute now between the United States and Mexico and [as] the great thoroughfare for both armies” (Juanita Brooks, On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, 1:245). When Miller’s views were not accepted, he withdrew from the camp, taking his family and a few followers to Texas where he joined with Lyman Wight who had gone there in 1845. He soon left Wight and joined James J. Strang on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. (Russell R. Rich, Ensign to the Nations: A History of the LDS Church from 1846 to 1972 [Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Publications, 1972], 98-99)
Another example of contingent foreknowledge also comes from D&C 124, this time the figure of William Law. For a discussion, see:
For a fuller discussion on the nature of human free-will, foreknowledge, and other topics, see:
