Monday, December 11, 2023

Russell M. Nelson God’s Counterfactual Knowledge

In his autobiography, Russell M. Nelson had a dream that, if President Harold B. Lee survived beyond his sudden death in December 1973, Lee, not President Kimball, would have received the revelation concerning the priesthood/temple restriction:

 

In the dream there were two vivid messages: first, that if President Lee had gone on living, a very severe affliction would have developed in his body which, if allowed to progress, would have given him great pain, suffering, and incapacity. The medical details of this were dreadful and distressing. He said his sudden death in December 1973 was brought about as an act of love and mercy, for the Lord wished to spare him and the Church the misery that otherwise would have ensued. His second message was that the revelations received and the actions subsequently taken by President Kimball were the very same as would have been received and performed by President Lee had he remained as the prophet. President Lee exclaimed that the Lord gives His will to His living prophet regardless of who the prophet is at the time, for the Lord indeed is directing his Church. (Russell M. Nelson, From Heart to Heart: An Autobiography [Salt Lake City: Quality Press, Inc., 1979], 159-60)