Wow – this fellow on FB really went after our dear friend, DS.  I could not help but think of my wife’s favorite scripture of D&C93:1 – which actually says that if we are patient, humble and faithful, it MAY be our privilege to have a ministering manifestation by the Lord.  BUT – to expect one?  Nope.  It would be the height of arrogance, methinks.  Here is D&C 93:1 (hyper-linked if you would like to read it in context):

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am;

I find GREAT comfort in knowing that someone as insignificant as me can potentially one day have audience with the Lord – that He cares enough for me to ensure that I can meet Him if I can meet the bar that He has set (remembering that His yoke is easy and His burden is light – or in other words, this is not too hard of a thing to accomplish, if we simply apply ourselves and desire it with all our hearts).  I might only struggle with feelings of my own inadequacy and also with what questions I might ask during that time.

Here is my friend’s FB rant (which I also happen to agree with, to some degree):

The following powerful passage has been completely wrested by a popular former LDS (excommunicated) author, Denver Snuffer, Jr., and his followers:
“The other Comforter spoken of is a subject of great interest, and perhaps understood by few of this generation. After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the laying on of hands), which is the first Comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the Saints, as is recorded in the testimony of St. John, in the 14th chapter, from the 12th to the 27th verses…
“Now what is this other Comforter? It is no more nor less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and this is the sum and substance of the whole matter; that when any man obtains this last Comforter, he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him, or appear unto him from time to time, and even He will manifest the Father unto him, and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions of the heavens will be opened unto him, and the Lord will teach him face to face, and he may have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God; and this is the state and place the ancient Saints arrived at when they had such glorious visions—Isaiah, Ezekiel, John upon the Isle of Patmos, St. Paul in the three heavens, and all the Saints who held communion with the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn.”
– Joseph Smith
(‘History of the Church’, Vol. III, pp 380-381)
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I love that (doctrinal) quote from the Prophet Joseph Smith…
What I do NOT love is the teachings of a certain excommunicated lawyer (Denver Snuffer), who perpetuates the idea, for $24.95 + tax, that there is some ‘formula’ for CONJURING the Savior of the world.
The very idea that ANYONE should feel entitled to a visitation from Deity is an obvious immediate disqualification. But that lack of humility, that prideful expectant self-will, will definitely open the door to the side of the veil that CAN be CONJURED by men on earth (Moses 5:22-31)
From the Prophet Joseph Smith to the Apostles and Prophets of the past (such as John the Revelator, Paul, Ezekiel, Jacob, Nephi, Isaiah, Moses and the brother of Jared) those to whom the Lord unveiled His face had one consistent common theme:
NONE of them were EXPECTING a divine manifestation when it occurred!
The Lord does NOT hearken to the conjuring commands of men.
That would make the Savior of this world subject to men. When our only hope to have such a manifestation is to become fully subject to Him.
And, again, that is the key word – HOPE.
When something becomes an expectation, it becomes an entitlement. It is NO longer a gift. It is a demanded wage.
That has NEVER been the case with ANY Divine Manifestation in the scriptural accounts. It has ALWAYS been a gift to the faithful – who, in every instance, had no anticipation or expectation that the Savior would part the veil and grant them a witness of His glorious majesty.
I deeply worry about those who have fallen prey to this dangerous new trend towards expectantly CONJURING Deity – as though the Godhead were a set of genies in a bottle. No matter who their ‘visitors’ claim to be, who exactly are they opening up the door towards – in these entitled anticipatory petitions?
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(D&C 112:10)
10 Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.

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