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* [[Criticism_of_Mormonism/Online_documents/Denver_Snuffer/Excommunication/Sustaining_Church_leaders#Snuffer's wife claims revelation on how disciplinary council should be conducted|Snuffer's wife claims revelation on how disciplinary council should be conducted]] | * [[Criticism_of_Mormonism/Online_documents/Denver_Snuffer/Excommunication/Sustaining_Church_leaders#Snuffer's wife claims revelation on how disciplinary council should be conducted|Snuffer's wife claims revelation on how disciplinary council should be conducted]] | ||
− | * | + | * [[Criticism_of_Mormonism/Online_documents/Denver_Snuffer/Excommunication/Sustaining_Church_leaders#Snuffer claims stake president was forced to act by high Church leaders|Snuffer claims stake president was forced to act by high Church leaders]] |
==Snuffer's wife claims revelation on how disciplinary council should be conducted== | ==Snuffer's wife claims revelation on how disciplinary council should be conducted== | ||
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Snuffer and his wife claim to receive revelation about what their leaders should do—but Joseph Smith says that this is impossible. | Snuffer and his wife claim to receive revelation about what their leaders should do—but Joseph Smith says that this is impossible. | ||
+ | ==Snuffer claims stake president was forced to act by high Church leaders== | ||
+ | Snuffer claims that senior Church leadership engineered his excommunication.<ref name="1st pres b">Snuffer to First Presidency, Letter (13 September 2013), 1–2; reproduced in {{CriticalWork:Snuffer:Mesa|pages=41-42}}</ref> However, his stake president made it clear that he was acting based upon a spiritual manifestation to him: | ||
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+ | :The issue for consideration to [your] disciplinary council is whether the continued publication of ''Passing the Heavenly Gift'' constitutes an act of apostasy and, if so, what the appropriate remedy should be.... | ||
+ | :I cannot deny, however, the spirit’s influence on me and the responsibilities I have to protect the interests of the Church. I have tried to persuade you that [your book ''Passing the Heavenly Gift''] is not constructive to the work of salvation or the promotion of faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.<ref name="disc council notice">M. Truman Hunt to Denver Snuffer, “Notice of Disciplinary Council,” letter (21 August 2013), 1–2. Online at Denver Snuffer, “Don’t call me. (Yes, that means you too!),” from the desk of Denver Snuffer (blog), 23 August 2013, {{antilink|http://denversnuffer.blogspot.ca/2013/08/dont-call-me-yes-that-means-you-too_23.html}}</ref> | ||
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+ | When confronted with this claim, the stake president corrected it, but Snuffer sticks to his claims regardless: | ||
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+ | :He said the decision to discipline me was "his alone" to make. In response to that I reminded him that we were interrupted by a phone call from one of the Presidents of the Seventy and he was instructed "to stand down. That he then did 'stand down.' And that if he really believed I was worthy of discipline he would never have stood down, but would have acted then." Therefore, this was '''''not''''' his doing, but the doing of those in the hierarchy. He agreed he had been called, and that he had stood down when told to do so, but that he would be the one responsible for making the decision. I told him the decision had already been made, and not by him.<ref name="the facts">Denver Snuffer, "The Facts," from the desk of Denver Snuffer (blog), 20 June 2014, emphasis in original, {{antilink|http://denversnuffer.blogspot.ca/2014/06/the-facts.html}}</ref><ref>Compare also a similar account cited above from Denver Snuffer, "Don't Know," from the desk of Denver Snuffer (blog), 9 September 2013, {{antilink|http://denversnuffer.blogspot.ca/2013/09/dont-know.html}}</ref> | ||
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+ | Snuffer claims that the stake president was (wrongly) forced by Church leaders, and that he only ratified a decision they had made. | ||
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+ | This is a criticism. Snuffer's claim to not criticize is false. | ||
== == | == == |
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Snuffer insisted that he and his wife were better placed to get revelation on how a disciplinary council should proceed than his local leaders:
When he arrived at his disciplinary hearing, Snuffer tells us that:
Snuffer and his wife do not understand or follow the teachings of Joseph Smith. In April 1833, Joseph wrote a member of the Church:
According to Joseph Smith, Snuffer and his wife cannot receive revelation for what their stake president—higher in authority in the Church than they--ought to do about a matter of Church government. If they did not get their revelation from God, where did it come from?
Despite his claim to sustain, Snuffer would not even respect disciplinary council procedures and the stake president's decision to exclude the children from the proceeding.
Snuffer claims that his concern was that his children would assume that he was in reality guilty of some moral transgression. The stake president assured them that this was not the case—his apostasy was the only issue. Even though Snuffer's purported concern had been addressed, he refused to attend if the children were not allowed in, and left.[1]
Snuffer's attitude is reflected by at least one of his family members, which perhaps explains why the stake president did not wish to permit their attendance at the council:
This is clear evidence that Snuffer's children do not understand the implications of his apostasy any more than their parents do.
Snuffer later makes it sound as if he was refused admission to the council:
In fact, however, he was simply not permitted to use the council to serve his own agenda. He was able, and could have spoken with the High Council, but instead, chose to leave without participating or learning of the council's decision:
Despite this self-reported behavior, Snuffer continued to insist that he sustained his local leaders, even while in the act of refusing to follow their instructions or attend the council because his demands were not met:
Later, Snuffer would claim that the high council
This is nonsense. Snuffer's behavior was simply further proof that the charges were true—he was in active apostasy, would not respect the reasonable requests of his priesthood leaders. It had nothing to do with them using "dominion"—they had so little dominion that they couldn't even compel Snuffer to come into the room if he chose not to. All they could do was ratify what Snuffer had already done—cut himself off from the Church.
Snuffer and his wife claim to receive revelation about what their leaders should do—but Joseph Smith says that this is impossible.
Snuffer claims that senior Church leadership engineered his excommunication.[7] However, his stake president made it clear that he was acting based upon a spiritual manifestation to him:
When confronted with this claim, the stake president corrected it, but Snuffer sticks to his claims regardless:
Snuffer claims that the stake president was (wrongly) forced by Church leaders, and that he only ratified a decision they had made.
This is a criticism. Snuffer's claim to not criticize is false.
Notes
<ref>
tag; name "the_facts" defined multiple times with different content
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