Official Declaration 2

Official Declaration 2

Historical Context

Very few events have held greater significance in the history of the Church than the 1978 revelation extending the priesthood and blessings of the temple to all worthy men and women. For Latter-day Saints, the announcement became a moment of lifelong significance. Elder Dallin H. Oaks recalled, “I remember where I was when I heard the news. I sat down on a pile of dirt and beckoned to my boys. . . . This is the scene etched in my memory of this unforgettable event—sitting on a pile of dirt as I told my boys that all worthy male members of the Church could now be ordained to the priesthood, and weeping as I spoke.”1 The declaration created a minor media frenzy on June 9, 1978: “Time and Newsweek magazines stopped the presses on their weekend editions to get stories in, and the news made the front page of the New York Times.”2

Many people, including Latter-day Saints, heard the announcement with surprise in 1978. Church leaders had prayed and hoped for years for the priesthood and temples to be extended to all worthy Church members. In 1852, soon after the policy was first announced, Brigham Young declared that the “time will come when they [Black members] will have the privilege of all we have the privilege of and more.”3 Later, President Wilford Woodruff wrote in his journal, “The day will come when all that race [the Blacks] will be redeemed and possess all the blessings.”4 In 1928, President Heber J. Grant, in a letter referring to men of African descent, wrote that they could not hold the priesthood “until such time as he [the Lord] shall see fit to withdraw the decree.”5 Two decades later, President David O. McKay recorded, “Sometime in God’s eternal plan, the [Black members] will be given the right to hold the priesthood.”6 In 1972, President Harold B. Lee said, “The [Black members] will achieve full status. We’re just waiting for that time.”7

All of these prophetic desires weighed heavily upon Spencer W. Kimball when he was called as President of the Church in 1973. During President Kimball’s service in the Church, “his heart had gone out to faithful priesthood-denied people wherever they resided in the world.”8 In 1977, President Kimball “began an exhaustive personal study of the scriptures as well as statements of Church leaders since Joseph Smith, and asked other General Authorities to share their personal feelings relative to the longstanding Church policy.”9 He led discussions with other Church leaders “at length on numerous occasions in the preceding weeks and months.”10 President Kimball sought diligently to know the Lord’s will on the question. “I prayed with much fervency,” he said. “I knew that something was before us that was extremely important to many of the children of God.” He went to the “temple alone, and especially on Sundays and Saturdays when . . . [he] could have it alone.” He explained, “It went on for some time as I was searching for this, because I wanted to be sure.”11

Francis M. Gibbons, secretary of the First Presidency wrote, “On Tuesday, May 30, 1978, President Kimball read to his counselors a tentative statement he had written in longhand removing all priesthood restrictions from Blacks members except those restrictions as to worthiness that rest upon all. He said that he had ‘a good feeling about it.’”12 Two days later, President Kimball asked the other members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve to come to the Salt Lake Temple to further discuss the subject. On Thursday, June 1, 1978, the First Presidency and the Twelve counseled for two hours on the subject, each expressing himself freely. At 2:45 p.m., they formed a prayer circle around the temple altar and “the Lord confirmed the wishes of the Brethren to rescind the policy that prohibited African Blacks from receiving the priesthood.”13

The feelings shared by the thirteen men present (Elder Delbert L. Stapley was in the hospital and Elder Mark E. Petersen was in South America) were of a “greater unanimity in the council” than they had ever experienced before.14 Elder Gordon B. Hinckley said, “Not one of us who was present on that occasion was ever quite the same after that.”15 The revelation was later shared with the two absent apostles, Mark E. Peterson and Delbert L. Stapley. President Kimball informed Elder Peterson, who was on assignment in Quito, Ecuador, through a personal telephone call. Elder Peterson later recalled, “I was delighted to know that a new revelation had come from the Lord. I felt the fact of the revelation’s coming was more striking than the decision itself. On the telephone I told President Kimball that I fully sustained both the revelation and him one hundred percent.”16 All three members of the First Presidency visited Elder Stapley, who was in the hospital, and he gave his approval of the revelation. Thus, support for the revelation from the First Presidency and the Twelve was unanimous.17

Official Declaration 2 was canonized by a sustaining vote of the Church on September 30, 1978.18 It was first added to the Doctrine and Covenants in 1981.19 Official Declaration 2 is not upheld as a revelation itself, but as the recognition of a revelation. In the 2013 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, a historical introduction was added to Official Declaration 2 to familiarize readers with the issues surrounding the 1978 revelation.

Commentary

To Whom It May Concern:

On September 30, 1978, at the 148th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the following was presented by President N. Eldon Tanner, First Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church:

In early June of this year, the First Presidency announced that a revelation had been received by President Spencer W. Kimball extending priesthood and temple blessings to all worthy male members of the Church. President Kimball has asked that I advise the conference that after he had received this revelation, which came to him after extended meditation and prayer in the sacred rooms of the holy temple, he presented it to his counselors, who accepted it and approved it. It was then presented to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who unanimously approved it, and was subsequently presented to all other General Authorities, who likewise approved it unanimously.

President Kimball has asked that I now read this letter:

June 8, 1978

To all general and local priesthood officers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the world:

Dear Brethren:

As we have witnessed the expansion of the work of the Lord over the earth, we have been grateful that people of many nations have responded to the message of the restored gospel, and have joined the Church in ever-increasing numbers. This, in turn, has inspired us with a desire to extend to every worthy member of the Church all of the privileges and blessings which the gospel affords.

Aware of the promises made by the prophets and presidents of the Church who have preceded us that at some time, in God’s eternal plan, all of our brethren who are worthy may receive the priesthood, and witnessing the faithfulness of those from whom the priesthood has been withheld, we have pleaded long and earnestly in behalf of these, our faithful brethren, spending many hours in the Upper Room of the Temple supplicating the Lord for divine guidance.

He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the Church may receive the holy priesthood, with power to exercise its divine authority, and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that flows therefrom, including the blessings of the temple. Accordingly, all worthy male members of the Church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color. Priesthood leaders are instructed to follow the policy of carefully interviewing all candidates for ordination to either the Aaronic or the Melchizedek Priesthood to insure that they meet the established standards for worthiness.

We declare with soberness that the Lord has now made known his will for the blessing of all his children throughout the earth who will hearken to the voice of his authorized servants, and prepare themselves to receive every blessing of the gospel.

Sincerely yours,

Spencer W. Kimball

N. Eldon Tanner

Marion G. Romney

The First Presidency

Recognizing Spencer W. Kimball as the prophet, seer, and revelator, and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is proposed that we as a constituent assembly accept this revelation as the word and will of the Lord. All in favor please signify by raising your right hand. Any opposed by the same sign.

The vote to sustain the foregoing motion was unanimous in the affirmative.

Salt Lake City, Utah, September 30, 1978.

The environment in which the early events of the Restoration took place was filled with racial division and strife. When the Church was organized in 1830, many people of African descent were still enslaved in different parts of the United States. Even in the parts of the United States where slavery was not allowed, most churches were segregated by race. From the beginning of the Church, membership was never determined based on race or ethnicity; all were invited to receive baptism and make covenants with God. During Joseph Smith’s ministry, several men of Black African ancestry received the priesthood, including Elijah Abel and Q. Walker Lewis.20 Near the end of his lifetime, in 1844, Joseph Smith ran for president of the United States. As a presidential candidate, he proposed “to abolish slavery by the year 1850.”21

When Brigham Young became the President of the Church, he expressed complex views on race. At a public meeting held in 1845, President Young taught that “the Spirits of the Chil[dren] of men are pure & holy without transgress[io]n or any curse upon them—& the differences you see around you [are] on acc[oun]t of the circumstances that surround them.”22 In a meeting held in March 1847 with William McCrary, a Black member of the Church, President Young taught, “Of one blood God made all flesh.” He told McCrary, “We don’t care about the color.”23 In the same meeting, President Young referred to Q. Walker Lewis, a Black man who was ordained to the priesthood, as “one of the best Elders, an African.”24

In 1852, President Young announced the new priesthood policy. During the same address, he taught that “the time will come when they will have the privilege of all we have the privilege of and more.”25 In the years following the announcement of the policy, many Church members in various positions have offered explanations for why the policy was put in place. It is wise for those who study the history of this policy to use caution when using any of these explanations. An official essay published by the Church teaches, “Over time, Church leaders and members advanced many theories to explain the priesthood and temple restrictions. None of these explanations is accepted today as the official doctrine of the Church.”26

When the revelation to end the priesthood restriction came to President Kimball in 1978, Latter-day Saints of African descent throughout the world rejoiced at the opportunity to receive priesthood ordinations and temple blessings. On June 11, 1978, Joseph Freeman became the first man of African descent to be ordained as an elder. He and his wife were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple days later. In November 1978, the first missionaries were sent to Nigeria to establish the Church in Africa. At the time, there were fewer than one thousand African Americans among the world’s four million Latter-day Saints. By 1998—twenty years after the revelation—there were an estimated five hundred thousand members with African roots, with an estimated one hundred thousand in Africa and the Caribbean, and another three hundred thousand in Brazil.

Members of the Church around the world rejoiced over the revelation. Helvécio and Rudá Martins, both Black members of the Church in Brazil, were stunned at the news. Helvécio later recalled, “I could not contain my emotions. Rudá and I went into our bedroom, knelt down, and prayed. We wept as we thanked our Father in Heaven for an event we had only dreamed about. The day had actually arrived and in our mortal lives.”27 Two weeks later, Helvécio and his son Marcus both received the Aaronic Priesthood. A week later, Helvécio received the Melchizedek Priesthood and then was given the privilege of ordaining his son. Helvécio later said, “I felt I would explode with joy, happiness, and contentment. What an incredible experience for me and for Marcus.”28

In 1990, Helvécio was ordained as a General Authority Seventy, becoming the first person of Black African descent to receive a calling as a General Authority of the Church. After his call, Elder Martins commented, “I was not called by the Lord to represent any specific race, nationality, or ethnic group of His children. I was called by prophecy, revelation, and the laying on of hands to represent God’s children—be they white, black . . . or any other color—wherever they live on earth. . . . Less than thirteen years earlier [I] had been given the priesthood. Now I stood at a pulpit that some of the greatest men of all time had occupied, with the living prophets and apostles seated directly behind me.”29

The story of Helvécio and Rudá Martins was just one among hundreds of thousands of the lives affected by the 1978 revelation given to President Kimball. President Dallin H. Oaks later explained, “Whether we look on the revelation as the end of the beginning of the Restoration or as the beginning of the end of what it portends . . . it is difficult to overstate its importance in the fulfillment of divine command that the gospel must go to every nation, kindred and people.”30

Footnotes

• 1. Dallin H. Oaks, “LDS Afro-American Symposium Video,” Brigham Young University, June 8, 1988; Kevin Stoker, “LDS Blacks Hoping to Become ‘Generic’ in Growing Church,” LDS Church News, June 18, 1988, 4.
• 2. J.B. Haws, The Mormon Image in the American Mind, 2013, 71.
• 3. Brigham Young Papers, February 5, 1852, as cited in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1992, “Blacks,” 1:126.
• 4. History of Wilford Woodruff, 351, as cited in “Prophets Tell of Promise to All Races,” LDS Church News, June 17, 1978, 4.
• 5. Heber J. Grant letter, January 28, 1928, as cited in LDS Church News, June 17, 1978, 4.
• 6. David O. McKay letter, November 3, 1947, as cited in LDS Church News, June 17, 1978, 4.
• 7. Harold B. Lee, LDS Church News, June 17, 1978, 6.d.
• 8. Lucille C. Tate, Boyd K. Packer, 1995, 227.
• 9. Lyndon W. Cook, Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 1985, 353.
• 10. Bruce R. McConkie, “The New Revelation on Priesthood,” in Priesthood, 1981, 127.
• 11. Lee Warnick, “I Knew That the Time Had Come,” LDS Church News, June 4, 1988, 7.
• 12. Francis M. Gibbons, Spencer W. Kimball: Resolute Disciple, 1995, 294.
• 13. Edward L. Kimball, “I Sustain Him as a Prophet, I Love Him as an Affectionate Father,” Dialogue, Winter 1978, 61; Cook, Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 354.
• 14. Eleanor Knowles, Howard W. Hunter, 1994, 235–36.
• 15. Gordon B. Hinckley, “Priesthood Restoration,” Ensign, October 1988, 70.
• 16. Mark E. Peterson, quoted in Edward L. Kimball, “Spencer W. Kimball and the Revelation on Priesthood,” BYU Studies, vol. 47, no. 2 (2008), 62.
• 17. Kimball, “Spencer W. Kimball and the Revelation on Priesthood,” 62.
• 18. N. Eldon Tanner, “Revelation on the Priesthood Accepted, Church Officers Sustained,” October 1978 General Conference.
• 19. Robert J. Woodford, “The Story of the Doctrine and Covenants,” Ensign, December 1984.
• 20. “Race and the Priesthood,” Gospel Topics Essays, ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
• 21. General Smith’s Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States, circa 26 January–7 February 1844, p. 9, JSP.
• 22. “Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846; Volume 2, 1 March–6 May 1845,” 2016, Administrative Records, p. 360, fn. 547, JSP.
• 23. Russell W. Stevenson, For the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 2014, 241–42.
• 24. Stevenson, For the Cause of Righteousness, 241; “Race and the Priesthood,” Gospel Topics Essays, ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
• 25. Stevenson, For the Cause of Righteousness, 263.
• 26. “Race and the Priesthood,” Gospel Topics Essays, ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
• 27. Helvécio Martins and Mark Grover, Elder Helvécio Martins, 1994, 69–70, emphasis in original.
• 28. Martins and Grover, 70–71.
• 29. Martins and Grover, 117, 121–22.
• 30. Dallin H. Oaks, quoted in Kevin Stoker, LDS Church News, June 18, 1988, 4.