Where Are the Keys?
Further Reflections on D&C 12-17 and Joseph Smith-History 1:66-75
The LDS video "A Day for the Eternities” portrays the events that led up to the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The scenes about the miracle of the plowing of the field and the choosing of the three witnesses were particularly effective and inspiring.
In the lesson this week in the LDS Come Follow Me manual, we find the following explanation of priesthood keys:
What are priesthood keys?
Elder Dale G. Renlund and his wife, Ruth, offered this explanation about priesthood keys:
“The term priesthood keys is used in two different ways. The first refers to a specific right or privilege conferred upon all who receive the Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood. … For instance, Aaronic Priesthood holders receive the keys of the ministering of angels and the keys of the preparatory gospel of repentance and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins (see Doctrine and Covenants 13:1; 84:26–27). Melchizedek Priesthood holders receive the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, the key of the knowledge of God, and the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the Church (see Doctrine and Covenants 84:19; 107:18). …
“The second way the term priesthood keys is used refers to leadership. Priesthood leaders receive additional priesthood keys, the right to preside over an organizational division of the Church or a quorum. In this regard, priesthood keys are the authority and power to direct, lead, and govern in the Church” (The Melchizedek Priesthood: Understanding the Doctrine, Living the Principles [2018], 26).
We will learn more about keys and priesthood keys as we continue or study of the Doctrine and Covenants. I would like to better understand how Joseph Smith and his colleagues in the early Restoration understood and taught about keys and priesthood keys.
Elder Henry B. Eyring spoke about the keys in 2004, Elder Russell M. Nelson spoke about the keys in 2005, Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke about the keys in 2014, and Elder Gary E. Stevenson spoke about the keys in 2016. In his 2005 talk, Elder Nelson asserted:
Joseph Smith conferred those restored priesthood keys upon all of the Apostles called in his day.31 In turn, these keys have been transferred through the generations to the present leaders of the Church. Today, the President of the Church actively holds every key held by “all those who have received a dispensation at any time from the beginning of the creation.”32
In his 2016 talk, Elder Stevenson asserted:
The restored priesthood authority and these keys had been lost for centuries. In the same way that our family was locked out of the car, resulting from lost car keys, so too had all of Heavenly Father’s children been locked out from the saving ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ—until a divine restoration was effected by these heavenly messengers. Never, ever again do we have to question, “Where are the keys?”
For most of my life I have taken assertions like these for granted. My faith in Christ, in the Book of Mormon, and in the Prophet Joseph Smith flowed naturally from these roots into a belief in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its leaders. Recent events and experiences, however, have caused me to truly wonder and to question claims of prophetic succession and claims of holding keys.
While I have received and nourished a certain knowledge and strong testimony through the Holy Ghost regarding the foundations of the Church (Jesus Christ, the Atonement, the Gospel, the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and so forth), I admit that I am much less certain that the keys that were bestowed upon the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery “have been transferred through the generations to the present leaders of the Church,” and that we never again need to question “Where are the keys?” In fact, these assertions that I took for granted for most of my life are now open questions:
Have priesthood keys been transferred through the generations to the present leaders of the Church?
Where are the keys?
My study of the Book of Mormon suggests to me that priesthood keys may be handed down even when priesthood power and authority have been lost, such as in the case of King Noah and his priests. There are also numerous branches of the original Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (as many as 400 of them) that claim to possess the same priesthood keys that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received from John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John.
Thus, although my faith in Christ and testimony of His Gospel and the foundations of His Church are firm, I feel much like the Prophet Joseph Smith must have felt when he wrote:
In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it? (Joseph Smith - History 1:10)
In his conference talk in April 2018, President Russell M. Nelson famously remarked: “You don’t have to wonder about what is true. You do not have to wonder whom you can safely trust.”
I respectfully disagree. There are all kinds of reasons to wonder about what is true, and there are probably even more reasons to wonder whom we can safely trust. Thankfully, I know that we can trust the Lord, seek Him in prayer, and find answers to our questions:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. (James 1:5-6)