Jesus Loves the Little Children

JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN

     If you grew up in the body of Christ I’m sure you remember that song.  I first learned of it not as a child as most Christians do, but when my children came home from church to sing it to me.

I can still remember crying after hearing it the first time and asking the Lord to forgive me for taking part in anything Mormon.  The song goes on to say; “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world”.

The song served many purposes for me personally.  It confirmed to me that Jesus wasn’t a racist, I had made the right choice by placing my children in a church setting that taught truth and it also provided relief knowing there was a good chance God didn’t hate me for my own coloring.

The last time I cried about the race issue and God was in June of ’78.  Growing up a sixth generation Mormon in Utah isn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination and it only complicates matters when race plays into the scenario.  But that’s exactly what happened on that early summer day when the prophet of the LDS Church announced he had received a revelation from God.  The 148 year ban on blacks had been lifted, God had changed His mind.  For many people the occasion brought tears of joy and an end to the long-awaited acceptance of their people into the fold of Mormonism.

I didn’t cry for relief that God finally loved me; rather, my tears were caused by fear, frustration and confusion.  I had lived for fourteen years believing that He would always be unhappy with me for the choices I had made in a pre-existent life before being born to earthly parents.  I had supposedly sided with Lucifer just before he and a third of the angels were kicked out of heaven and had chosen not to side with Jesus who had been chosen as our savior on earth.

Now that the Church has expanded its missionary boundaries to include Africa, South America and Asia it would seem that people should just let things alone, right?  Wrong.  The writings of the “standard works” (Book of Mormon, D&C, Pearl of Great Price) still tout the same bigoted teachings they did some thirty years ago.  Today you can still read that blacks are descendants from the “Curse of Cain”, and the darker skinned Lamanites were “dark and loathsome”.  Wouldn’t it stand to reason that if the Church denounced these things that they would also set things right in their “scripture”?

The LDS Church will provide a token scripture for their defense such as 2 Nephi 26:33 that claims “all are alike unto God”.  Or missionaries will point out that black people could be members without holding positions of authority even during Joseph Smith’s era, but all this is for naught.  The Church has not denounced their previous teachings and sermons about black people.  For an example of how ungodly these things were we only have to read the words of just one LDS authority, that being B.H. Roberts.

In the works of “Studies of the Book of Mormon”, pg. 271;  “There were other Anti-Christs among the Nephites, but they were more military leaders than religious innovators… they are all of one breed and brand; so nearly alike that one mind is the author of them, and that a young and underdeveloped, but piously inclined mind.  The evidence I sorrowfully submit, points to Joseph Smith as their creator.  It is difficult to believe that they are a product of history, that they came upon the scene separated by long periods of time, and among a race which was the ancestral race of the red man of America.”

Our God is so much bigger than some lies printed on a piece of paper!  Now I rejoice when I read how all three of Noah’s sons were born with different coloring and take comfort in knowing that God is the only one responsible for the differences in skin color.  I pray that everyone, including those of color, will investigate the truth of Mormonism before making covenants with a false god.

With Love in Christ;

Michelle

Jude 1:24-25