I came across the above video—an interesting conversation between Pastor Jeff and BYU professor Kerry Muhlestein, in which Kerry for the most part gives good answers to Pastor Jeff. At around 3:35 into the video Pastor Jeff poses the following question:
One thing that will help me understand the Pearl of Great Price, and sort of the context here is, how much of the current prophetic voice that is active—you know, going from Joseph Smith to Brigham Young, to Russell Nelson right now—how much weight does that hold, relative to Joseph—sort of the first restored guy, and all that he brought?
To which Kerry gives the following answer:
Great question! And I think even you could maybe find in the Old Testament a parallel—so if we were to say, you have got all sorts of prophets who teach wonderful things that we believe; and yet even they would say, Okay, there is a difference between Moses, and the prophets to follow after, right? You get these from a Latter-day Saint perspective. We call it dispensations. And you get these dispensation leaders: Abraham is one, right? Moses is one—where God is, in our point of view, each time restoring something, where things have been kind of lost—and we are getting off track … but so for us, we would agree it has to be a closed cannon until God calls another Prophet like unto Moses—and that is a phrase in the Doctrine of Covenants—a prophet “like unto Moses”. … and so that is the weight that Joseph Smith carries; he does hold a different place than all of his prophetic successors—partially because he is also called as a translator; and translates ancient scripture like the Book of Mormon, or the different books in the Pearl of Great Price … because he was called to restore that truth, and start things out again, in a way that would be similar to Moses …
Except that Kerry hasn’t got that bit quite right. While it is true that Joseph Smith began the process of the Restoration, and laid the groundwork and foundation of it, and stands at the head of the new dispensation, and occupies a special place in it; all of his successors have held the same identical priesthood keys, authority, and powers of receiving revelation that he did; and subsequent Presidents of the Church since Joseph Smith have received many great revelations—two of which have been published and canonized (D&C 136, 138); and there remain many more which are yet to be published and canonized, when the time for it is right. The canon is not “closed”, and all of them are prophets “like unto Moses”. They all have had, and still have the keys to receive revelation as Joseph Smith did, and add scripture to the canon. And it has been prophesied that there yet remain much more scripture and sacred texts to be restored, translated, and published than was revealed through Joseph Smith; and it will all be done through his successors—by means of the priesthood keys and authority that he restored. And the Restoration itself is an ongoing and continuing process; it did not end with Joseph Smith. There remains far more yet to be revealed and restored, than was done through him—and it will all be done through his successors, by means of the priesthood keys and authority that he restored. There will not be another “dispensation”.
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