A Review of “Starting at the Finish Line” by John B Wallace – Part 1

At the invite from an Evangelical acquaintance, I have started reading a book titled “Starting At The Finish Line” by John B. Wallace, a former Mormon.

My acquaintance also requested my response to the book. He was undoubtedly hoping that I will join other LDS members who have been hoodwinked into apostatizing, not convinced that my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel as presented by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints long ago surpassed faith into the realm of pure knowledge. Of course, there are many areas of the Church which I accept based on faith, but my root testimony the Church is THE true Church of the Living Christ is one of knowledge and not one of mere belief.

It did not take long before I ran into, what I consider,  some gross falsehoods, and which in my opinion should not be left unchallenged. This article is to be the first of what I expect will be a larger number of challenges to the misrepresentations made in his book.

I skipped over Chapter 1 wherein he explains his history, and part of Chapter 2 “She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not.” But further into Chapter 2, p.14 he states: “As for the identity of this devious church, which according to verse 26 [in 1 Nephi ch13] is ‘most abominable above all other churches,’ the LDS Church definitely identified it as the Roman Catholic Church – that is until 1966, when Elder McConkie was asked to remove this designation from his encyclopedic work, Mormon Doctrine.”

Stephen E. Robinson, an associate professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, voiced his opinion on the subject of this abominable church, in a thorough article “Warring against the Saints of God” (Jan. 1988):

“Some Latter-day Saints have erred in believing that some specific denomination, to the exclusion of all others, has since the beginning of time been the great and abominable church. This is dangerous, for many will then want to know which it is, and an antagonistic relationship with that denomination will inevitably follow.”

An analogous concept in the Book of Mormon is the “great and abominable church” (1 Ne. 22:13) which must fall and the “great and spacious building” which must likewise fall and the fall was “exceeding great.” They are the same thing. Is it a real church, or something that is worshipped and in that respect is a “church?” The Book of Mormon (1 Ne. 11:36) answers: “the great and spacious building was the pride of the world; and it fell, and the fall thereof was exceeding great. … Thus shall be the destruction of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, that shall fight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” (bold added)

So it is clear from the Book of Mormon that the Roman Catholic Church cannot be correctly isolated as the abominable church, but rather the abominable church is pride! Pride that exists in the form of those who contend against the true Church – against the true teachings of the original twelve apostles, whose teachings we find in part in the Bible.

To my knowledge, the Church has never officially declared the Roman Catholic Church as the “abominable church.”

With regard to Bruce R McConkie’s statement in his book Mormon Doctrine, in the first 1958 edition of it, the Church correctly had him revise it. We should note that Elder McConkie was an apostle of the Church and not the President of it. In his book Mormon Doctrine, he clearly states in the Preface: “For the work itself, I assume sole and full responsibility.” In other words, the opinions he expressed in his book are his and not the Church’s.

Further, in Mormon Doctrine, we read “President Joseph Fielding Smith [of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles] has said: ‘It makes no difference what is written or what anyone has said, if what has been said is in conflict with what the Lord has revealed, we can set it aside. My words, and the teachings of any other member of the Church, high or low, if they do not square with the revelations, we need not accept them. Let us have this matter clear. We have accepted the four standard works as the measuring yardsticks, or balances, by which we measure every man’s doctrine. You cannot accept the books written by the authorities of the Church as standards of doctrine, only in so far as they accord with the revealed word in the standard works.” (p.609, second edition).

Therefore, Mr. Wallace’s claim, by referring to Elder McConkie’s statement as the “LDS Church definitely identified it as the Roman Catholic Church” is false!

The truth: an apostle in this dispensation wrote in a book he published something that might be regarded as unnecessarily inflammatory against a great institution, the Roman Catholic Church, which was incorrect. The leaders of the Church asked him to correct it. He complied and the incorrect doctrine was removed. Unlike Paul, McConkie did not behave as Paul did when he confronted Peter, boasting in a letter to the Galatians: “But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.” (Gal. 2:11), but rather he submitted to authority and corrected his oversight.

WILL MOTHER TERESA BE EXALTED?

Mother Teresa spent most of her adult life in Calcutta (Kolkata), India serving the poorest among the poor with the basics of life including medical help, orphanages, leprosy outreach clinics, and hospice care. Millions of the poor and impoverished, and the sick, feeble and dying have benefited from her charitable services.

The pain she saw and even suffered every day in her life had an understandable effect on her personal testimony of God and the Savior. She said:

“Where is my faith? Even deep down ... there is nothing but emptiness and darkness ... If there be God—please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul ... How painful is this unknown pain—I have no Faith. Repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, no zeal, ... What do I labor for? If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true.” (bold added)
Teresa, Mother; Kolodiejchuk, Brian (2007). Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. New York: Doubleday. Cited in “Mother Teresa” from Wikipaedia.com

Nevertheless, despite her inner turmoil, she carried on with her mission. And she did also confess that though she felt alienated from their favor, she did believe in God and Jesus. Wikipedia quotes:

In one publicly released letter to a spiritual confidant, the Rev. Michael van der Peet, she wrote, "Jesus has a very special love for you. [But] as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see,—Listen and do not hear—the tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak ... I want you to pray for me—that I let Him have [a] free hand."  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa

But to learn if she will be exalted, we need to look into some enlightening LDS doctrines.

First, we know that from the pre-mortal existence* of all mortal beings on this earth from the days of Adam, there are certain souls who are of the Elect of God. These have special missions to perform in this life to effect God’s Plan of Salvation. Some are born as (1) prophets, (2) others are pre-destinated to become members of Christ’s Church. And still others (3) are fore-ordained to missions to “do good” on the earth among God’s children, outside of direct membership in Christ’s Church, which is in today’s dispensation – the dispensation of the fullness of times – the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the membership of which is commonly known as the Mormons.

If Mother Teresa had been a Mormon, she might have gone on a two year Church mission, gotten married upon her return, had some kids, gotten a calling in her Stake, Ward or Branch, been a stabilizing and exemplary source in her locality, given donations to tithes and offerings and that might have been her life. While that is fine and meaning no disrespect to we whose lives are not further involved in the betterment of the world’s societies, Mother Teresa obviously had a much bigger calling, one that would not only try her faith to the core, but one which would ultimately result in the betterment of millions of souls; and the setting of an example for all of us to be more charitable, as well as setting up institutions which today are still carrying out her mission after her return to the Spirit World. She obviously completed that mission with honor.

But could not Mother Teresa as a Mormon have carried out her calling in life as well? Perhaps, but as a Catholic, she ultimately had a much larger organization come to her assist. There are after all, about 1.2 billion Catholics in the world with an estimated 170 billion dollars in annual spending, but only a little over 15 million Mormons (1.2% the size of the Catholic Church) collecting some 7 billion dollars in tithes annually plus additional profits from business holdings.

Consider:

(1)          Some pre-mortals were ordained in the pre-existence to be prophets. Consider Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 1:4, 5 “Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

(2)          Some were fore-ordained to be members of the Church.

Acts 23:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. (bold added)
Eph. 1:11, 12 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

(3)          All were fore-ordained or commissioned to be doers of good in the world, some with special assignments.

Moroni 7:10-16 Wherefore, a man being evil cannot do that which is good; neither will he give a good gift. For behold, a bitter fountain cannot bring forth good water; neither can a good fountain bring forth bitter water; wherefore, a man being a servant of the devil cannot follow Christ; and if he follow Christ he cannot be a servant of the devil. Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually. But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God. … For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

This Scripture informs us that

·       ALL things which are good come from God.
·       All things which invite and entices to do good are inspired of God, and
·       All things which invite to do good and believe in Christ are also of God.

Mother Teresa certainly qualifies as one who has done good all her days and endured to the end. The work she performed was therefore “of God.” Further, she was a beacon of charitable giving: she invited and enticed all persons to do good – therefore, per the Book of Mormon, she was “inspired of God.”

I believe we can therefore safely assume that in her pre-mortal spirit life, she was fore-ordained to do just what she did do in this life.

Because of her despair and self-analysis of her faith, we can also realize that she was not a blind follower of Catholicism, with a mind closed to further enlightenment. That being the case, we can comfortably assume the missionaries from the Church in the Spirit World have taught or will teach her the lessons; that she will or has readily rejoiced at the prospect of being baptized and becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Do we know this for a fact? No, of course not.

Ether 15: 34 Now the last words which are written by Ether are these: Whether the Lord will that I be translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom of God. Amen. (bold added)

Note that even the prophet Ether humbly allowed his final judgment to determined by the Savior, though I am sure that he had faith he would be.

God through the Savior is final judge of all mankind. He will also, with justice and mercy, leave no stone unturned to maximize the reward of every soul who comes to earth.

D&C 137: 7-9 Thus came the voice of the Lord unto me, saying: All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God; Also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom; For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.

I believe that Mother Teresa’s heart was in the right place and that she fulfilled her pre-mortal ordination. And as she is taught the Gospel in the Spirit World, she will come to understand why she lived the way she did, and why God responded to her the way He did. Thus, I take the positive position and believe she will be an heir of the Celestial kingdom of God.

___________________

* Pre-mortal existence (pre-earthly existence, or pre-existence). Scriptures show that we mortals existed as spirits before coming to earth. There, in the pre-mortal realm, we matured, and before coming to earth in the times appointed for each of us (see Acts 17:26), we received an ordination or a blessing to accomplish good deeds in this life. For many, that includes finding a way into the Church authorized by God to function in His behalf. When we return to God after the earth life is finished, we will be judged in part by how well we accomplished the “pre-destinated” (see Eph. 1:9-12) ordination. Note: “pre-destination” is derived from the Latin praedestinatio (fore-ordination), and does not imply a forced or coerced life absent of agency.

 

Please note: the opinions expressed herein are mine alone and not that of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.