Lawrence corbridge said in a talk given at BYU Jan 22, 2019

“There are many who deceive, and the spectrum of deception is broad. At one end we meet those who attack the Restoration, the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. Next we see those who believe in the Restoration but claim the Church is deficient and has gone astray. There are others who also claim to believe in the Restoration but are disillusioned with doctrine that conflicts with the shifting attitudes of our day. There are some who, without authority, lay claim to visions, dreams, and visitations to right the ship, guide us to a higher path, or prepare the Church for the end of the world. Others are deceived by false spirits.”

I’d like to break this down.

“At one end we meet those who attack the Restoration, the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon.”

True!

This is the truest statement of the talk. He leads with this even as satan does in the garden of Eden

“We see those who believe in the Restoration but claim the Church is deficient and has gone astray”

To classify this person as one deceived is incorrect. There is a host of accurate and true information that can’t be glossed over or justified away to show how the LDS is incongruent with Josephs teachings and that there was a very real split between the current LDS doctrine, its alignment with the world and the teachings of JS. There have been revisions, redactions, removals and changes to history to support LDS authority over what was originally taught and an effort to supplant Christ and intermediate with man.

“There are others who also claim to believe in the Restoration but are disillusioned with doctrine that conflicts with the shifting attitudes of our day”

The doctrine has shifted over time so that the young and unaware haven’t noticed or they have been appeased and made to comfort in their itching ears.

“There are some who, without authority, lay claim to visions, dreams, and visitations to right the ship, guide us to a higher path, or prepare the Church for the end of the world.”

I’d like to dig a little deeper into this one.

When the angel Moroni (Nephi) Visited with Joseph he quoted the following scripture.

“28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.

32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount  Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.” (Joel 2:28-32)

He is saying that in the last days these things will occur and that we are to prepare for the coming of the Lord, bringing forth and establishing of Zion.

Further we know that God is no respecter of persons and ofr these gifts to be given it is his choice and decision and that He offers these and other gifts freely to all those who come unto him. 

33 For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile. (2 Nephi 26:33)

22 For behold, God knowing all things, being from everlasting to everlasting, behold, he sent angels to minister unto the children of men, to make manifest concerning the coming of Christ; and in Christ there should come every good thing.

23 And God also declared unto prophets, by his own mouth, that Christ should come.

24 And behold, there were divers ways that he did manifest things unto the children of men, which were good; and all things which are good cometh of Christ; otherwise men were fallen, and there could no good thing come unto them.

27 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased because Christ hath ascended into heaven, and hath sat down on the right hand of God, to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men?

28 For he hath answered the ends of the law, and he claimeth all those who have faith in him; and they who have faith in him will cleave unto every good thing; wherefore he advocateth the cause of the children of men; and he dwelleth eternally in the heavens.

29 And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men. (Moroni 7:22-24, 27-29)

While Lawrnece is referencing groups or people seeking to right the Church it seems like they feel like they are being attacked or at least feigning the same. It is rather peculiar that most of the people and groups have left the Church they love or been kicked out because the organization has a very real fear that what they teach from the scriptures has weight to it. 

In Christ comes every good thing. What can be better than to see your Salvation as Joseph puts it?  Additionally, knowing that God is no respecter of Persons and Moses wish that all men were prophets we see that He invites all to lay claim on dreams, visions and prophecy. Young, old and old. The only authorization needed is that it happened and that we can discern the spirit by which it happened. It is the very same reaction that Joseph received from his clergy when He had the first vision. The blessings of God are not limited to an elite class of clergy that would lord over you and insert themselves in the relationship between you and God. The scriptures warn against this practice repeatedly.

Nephi warned us of Mr. Corbridges talk when he wrote the following. 

5 And they deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel; and they say unto the people: Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept; for behold there is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he hath given his power unto men;

6 Behold, hearken ye unto my precept; if they shall say there is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work.

In the preceding  verse we hear an echo to the future that is contained in this talk. “He hath given his power unto men” or authorized certain individuals “to lay claim to visions, dreams and visitations”. Joseph taught that all men MUST have these things to qualify for salvation and that all men MUST necessarily seek for them to have their calling and election made sure.

Joseph said “ It is alike out of the reach of the wisdom of the learned, the tongue of the eloquent, the power of the mighty. And we shall at last have to come to this conclusion, whatever we may think of revelation, that without it we can neither know nor understand anything of God, or the Devil; and however unwilling the world may be to acknowledge this principle, it is evident from the multifarious creeds and notions concerning this matter that they understand nothing of this principle, and it is equally as plain that without a divine communication they must remain in ignorance.”

I’d like to finish with this last piece. “Others are deceived by false spirits”

It seems to me that a spirit of the reformationist churches and civil society has invaded the modern Church as a whole like in the time of Joseph Smith. In his treatise try the spirits he says “At a subsequent period a Shaker spirit was on the point of being introduced, and at another time the Methodist and Presbyterian falling down power, but the spirit was rebuked and put down”

We need to be concerned with what and who we are listening to. What is born in us and how deception presents itself. What might present itself as something Holy and Praiseworthy could be entirely false and deceptive. We must have an association with God (Priesthood) to determine these things.

“Every one of these professes to be competent to try his neighbor’s spirit, but no one can try his own, and what is the reason? Because they have not a key to unlock, no rule wherewith to measure, and no criterion whereby they can test it. Could anyone tell the length, breadth, or height of a building without a rule? Test the quality of metals without a criterion, or point out the movements of the planetary system without a knowledge of astronomy? Certainly not; and if such ignorance as this is manifested about a spirit of this kind, who can describe an angel of light? If Satan should appear as one in glory, who can tell his color, his signs, his appearance, his glory, or what is the manner of his manifestation? Who can detect the spirit of the French Prophets with their revelations, and visions, and power, and manifestations? Or who can point out the spirit of the Irvingites with their apostles, and prophets, and visions, and tongues, and interpretations, etc., etc. Or who can drag into daylight and develop the hidden mysteries of the false spirits that so frequently are made manifest among the Latter Day Saints? We answer that no man can do this without the Priesthood and having a knowledge of the laws by which spirits are governed; for as no man knows the things of God, but by the spirit of God, so no man knows the spirit of the Devil, and his power and influence, but by possessing intelligence which is more than human, and having unfolded through the medium of the Priesthood the mysterious operations of his devices — without knowing the angelic form, the sanctified look and gesture, and the zeal that is frequently manifested by him for the glory of God, together with the prophetic spirit, the gracious influence, the godly appearance, and the holy garb, which is so characteristic of his proceedings and his mysterious windings. A man must have the discerning of spirits before he can drag into daylight this hellish influence and unfold it unto the world in all its soul-destroying, diabolical, and horrid colors; for nothing is a greater injury to the children of men than to be under the influence of a false spirit when they think they have the spirit of God. 

“The world always mistook false prophets for true ones, and those that were sent of God they considered to be false prophets, and hence they killed, stoned, punished, and imprisoned the true prophets, and they had to hide themselves in deserts, and dens, and caves of the earth, and though the most honorable men of the earth, they banished them from their society as vagabonds, while they cherished, honored, and supported knaves, vagabonds, hypocrites, impostors, and the basest of men.”

I would ask you to Judge for yourself if this is a true messenger.