Jeremiah prophesied of the day that the churches and their leaders would reject truth and spread lies.

Jeremiah 14:14 “Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.”

Those who claim to possess truth reject it. Why? Because they seek honor, glory and riches.

They have done as the Sanhedrin in Christs day and buried the truth for fear of some disturbance in the institutional order. It is written in the acts of Pontius Pilate that after the crucifixion and resurrection, Pilate entered the temple and demanded to see the great book and in speaking with the four ministers of the temple, they had assembled a large gathering of high priests and confirmed that this was indeed Jesus. “After we had crucified Jesus, not knowing that he was the Son of God, but supposing he wrought his miracles by some magical arts, we summoned a large assembly in this temple. And when we were deliberating among one another about the miracles which Jesus had wrought, we found many witnesses of our own country, who declared that they had seen him alive after his death, and that they heard him discoursing with his disciples, and saw him ascending unto the height of the heavens, and entering into them; And we saw two witnesses, whose bodies Jesus raised from the dead, who told us of many strange things which Jesus did among the dead, of which we have a written account in our hands.” ” And so, it appears, that Jesus whom we crucified, is Jesus Christ the Son of God, and true and Almighty God. Amen.” (Acts of Pilate 22:7-9, 20)

What came of it? Nothing for they concealed it from the people. They knew and never confessed it to the public or taught it plainly to the people. They never proclaimed it abroad. “Hitherto we have told no man lest their be a schism in our synagogues” Acts of Pilate 28.

They wanted power, money and position more than they wanted the truth of God.  They had known they killed their prophesied Messiah and still hid it from the public and loved the institution and their role in it more than God.

“Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson— That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.” D&C 121:35-36

See the problem with the current church is that history repeats itself over and over. It becomes subject to the same failings as all prior dispensations. Worldly and spiritually deadly to the masses.

It is as a shadow of Egypt. They strengthen themselves in the strength of a leader. One who appoints and declares themselves that great substitute for God and exalts himself. (He who exalts himself shall be abased and he who humbled himself shall be exalted) this thing Isaiah states will be their shame.

Isaiah 30:1-3 “Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.”

We have been taught to go to the Lord in all things and not to seek after or put our trust in the arm of the flesh. Throughout time, the children of the covenant have become rebellious and sought after and trusted in counterfeit intuitions that have a similitude to the truth but who are far from it. These institutions are churches that co-opt and usurp power in the name of the Lord but only to their detriment.

Churches come and go. The Lord never promised that the church would continue on the earth till the lord came but that the priesthood would endure. D&C 13 “Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.” The very word associating church with an institution is a modern religious lexicon. That is a discussion for another day.

The so-called institution the Lord started with Adam died in the flood. The temples Seth built were never repurposed for righteous means after the flood. They became used for Egyptian rights and counterfeit earthly glory.

The rites, law, ordinances and practice the Lord approved through Moses had already turned on its head at the birth of John and Christ. That very same “institution” is the one who condemned the Savior of the world to death. As mentioned before, they knew who he was but hid it from the people because of their own pride and vain ambition. 

What Jeremiah is talking about is more important than most realize because it is contemporary to us. He is talking about churches that presume to have the Priesthood and a lineage back to someone who has actually been sent of the Lord with a message.

There is no question among believers and those who recognize the voice of Christ that Joseph Smith too was a restorer of truth. There is a question as to whether his and Hyrum’s death led to the cessation of the patriarchal priesthood being exercised on the earth. I am of the belief that a truthful modern history confirms that as such. (Hyrum dying first) Men have perverted what they taught and usurped the organization and practice approved of by the Lord under Joseph’s Dispensation and have persecuted the meek in heart and have; in both doctrine and practice, gone astray. Since the 1840’s we have an organization that has slipped into apostasy whose precipitous decline has only rapidly increased as they seek the Babylonian way.

Out of these ashes truth will prevail as along as we are looking to the Lord for revelation and await true messengers that he sends from time to time.