By Jerald and Sandra Tanner

The day Mormon historians and other liberal members of the Mormon church have feared for many years has finally arrived. With the death of Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson has become the thirteenth President of the Mormon church. Through the years Mr. Benson has been so dogmatic in his views about politics and religion that he has acquired many enemies. One Mormon, in fact, told us that if Benson ever became President of the church, he would know that there is no truth in Mormonism.

Even some of the top leaders of the church have had problems with him. On January 4, 1964, Drew Pearson made the following comment concerning Benson: “Benson has become so extreme in his views that the Mormon Church, of which he is one of the Twelve Apostles, has quietly transferred him abroad to head the church’s European mission” (San Francisco Chronicle, January 4, 1964). President David O. McKay denied the accusation, but the newspapers let the “cat out of the bag” when they published two letters written to Rep. Ralph R. Harding. One of them was written by Joseph Fielding Smith, who became the tenth president of the Mormon church:

I am glad to report to you that. it will be some time before we hear anything from Brother Benson, who is now on his way to Great Britain where I suppose he will be at least for the next two years. When he returns, I hope his blood will be purified. (Salt Lake Tribune, February 21, 1964)

After the death of Joseph Fielding Smith, Mr. Benson rapidly rose to great power within Mormonism. On February 25, 1974, the Brigham Young University’s Daily Universe reported the following:

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — . . . Ezra Taft Benson, . . . said, in an interview this week, it is “entirely possible” the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) will one day declare support for a political candidate. . . . Benson, . . . said he has never had to separate his religion from his politics.

In 1980, with the failing health of President Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson must have realized that he was very close to becoming “Prophet, Seer and Revelator,” or as the Apostle McConkie phrased it, “king of the kingdom on earth” (Mormon Doctrine, 1979, pages 415-416). At that time Benson made very clear the powers he would have when he became President of the Mormon church:

FIRST: The Prophet is the Only Man Who Speaks For The Lord in Everything. . . . We are to “give heed unto all his words”—as if from the Lord’s “own mouth.”

SECOND: The Living Prophet Is More Vital to Us Than The Standard Works. . . .

THIRD: The Living Prophet is More Important to Us Than a Dead Prophet. . . . the most important prophet so far as you and I are concerned is the one living in our day . . . Therefore the most important reading we can do is any of the words of the Prophet contained each week in the Church Section of the Deseret News, and any words of the Prophet contained each month in our Church magazines. Our marching orders for each six months are found in the General Conference addresses which are printed in the Ensign magazine. . . .

Beware of those who would pit the dead prophets against the living prophets, for the living prophets always take precedence.

FOURTH: The Prophet Will Never Lead The Church Astray. . . .

FIFTH: The Prophet is Not Required to Have Any Particular Earthly Training or Credentials to Speak on Any Subject or Act on Any Matter at Any Time. . . .

SIXTH: The Prophet Does Not Have to Say “Thus Saith the Lord” to Give Us Scripture. . . .

SEVENTH: The Prophet Tells Us What We Need to Know, Not Always What We Want to Know . . . some so-called experts of political science want the prophet to keep still on politics. . . .

NINTH: The Prophet Can Receive Revelation on Any Matter-Temporal or Spiritual. . . .

TENTH: The Prophet May be involved in Civic Matters.

When a people are righteous they want the best to lead them in government. Alma was the head of the Church and of the government in the Book of Mormon: . . . Those who would remove prophets from politics would take God out of government. (“Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophets,” February 26, 1980; full text available in Following the Brethren)

Since Ezra Taft Benson is 86 years of age, he will not be able to run for the presidency of the United States. (At one time he told a reporter that “he could have had the American Independent Party vice presidential nomination, but turned it down after consultation with President McKay.”) It seems unlikely, also, that he will be able to make the major revisions in the church that he might have made if he were younger.

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