Paul Gouty, Jr. was baptized into the RLDS Church at eight years old and raised in a family dedicated to the Church and the teachings of Joseph Smith. Regular church attendance was a must with most RLDS faithful, and as was the expectation, Paul attended Graceland College. However, during the years of turmoil in the church in the late 70’s and 80’s Paul began to realize that the “one and only true church” was not so true to Christ’s teachings. His curiosity led him to research church history and the teachings of Joseph Smith and that in turn led to many questions. Due to a career change, Paul and his wife Jelene lived in several different cities and visited many non-RLDS churches where he was exposed to Biblical teachings and the real message of salvation as stated in Ephesians 2:8-9. As a result, he accepted the Lord as his Savior and was re-baptized. Grateful for the Bible, the infallible Word of God, he now shares the message of salvation with RLDS family and other RLDS faithful. This is his testimony.

Grain Valley, Mo.    July 22, 2013

As with most RLDS, I was baptized at eight years old and raised in a fairly strict environment of RLDS doctrine. My parents were active members of “the church” in the Chicago area for most of my childhood. My father, Paul Gouty Sr., became a missionary in the early 1950’s and later pastored several congregations. My mother was involved in music ministry and taught Sunday school classes. Much of our family time was dedicated to church work, with prayer meetings every Wednesday evening, and services every Sunday morning and night. Most summers I went to Junior High and Senior High camps, was a member of Zion’s League, and attended Graceland College for two years.

We were taught at an early age of the “vision in the grove” where Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus in a pillar of light, and was told that none of the churches were right, that “all their creeds were abominations” and that he was given the commandment to restore God’s church in the latter days. It was stressed that only our church had the three sacred books of scripture: the Inspired Version of the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants, and that we were the one and only true church. We were taught that the angel Moroni gave Joseph the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated by the use of the Urim and Thummim, and that it was the inspired Word of God.  According to Joseph this was “the most correct book on earth and the keystone of our religion”, given only to our church as an account of the people on this continent (the other sheep I have not of this fold) that were visited by Jesus after His resurrection. The Doctrine and Covenants gave us God’s revelations to live by as given to the prophet Joseph, and due to the many errors in translation, he “corrected” the King James Bible to produce our own “Inspired Version.”

As a young boy I felt our church was unique because no other church had what we had. However, as I recall, most of our Sunday School classes were not about the Bible, but about Joseph, his teachings, and the struggles of the early church. Sunday morning sermons were generally personal testimonies by the priesthood, or about current issues in the church. I remember one of these issues included weeks of debate about the changing of the name of the hymnal from the “The Saint’s Hymnal” to simply, “The Hymnal.” I can remember very few sermons about Jesus, or the salvation message. The most important things taught were: to be baptized into “the church”; to be confirmed by laying on of hands to receive the Holy Spirit; and to be a “faithful servant” by obeying all of the commandments. If you did these things you would surely go to heaven.

As pastor, it seemed Dad was always dealing with church problems such as priesthood issues, conflicts among church members, promoting the RLDS doctrine, and always budget issues, to name a few. It seemed legalism took over and the gospel message took a back seat to the problems not only in the local branches, but also in the general church, especially in the 70’s and 80’s.

It was during this period that W. Wallace Smith, Prophet and President, 1958 – 1978, announced that “The demands of a growing church require that these principles [former revelations] shall be evaluated and subjected to further interpretation.” This gave him great latitude in changing previous doctrine. What we didn’t know at the time, in the late 1960’s and early 70’s, the “upper management” of the church was meeting secretly to outline the “Position Papers” that redefined some of Joseph’s teachings. As a result, this gave rise to great concern as Wallace, in conjunction with another revelation, led the church in the direction “…to acknowledge those organizations and movements which are recognizing the worth of persons.” As I remember this was a time of much debate in the church as the news spread that Wallace was moving the church away from some of the fundamental RLDS doctrine so our church would be more acceptable to mainstream churches, and concern that we were opening the door to accepting the homosexual lifestyle.

Then Wallace B. Smith, Prophet and President, 1978 – 1996, took over and exercised “theocratic democracy” in which the church membership would vote whether or not to accept the prophet’s (God’s) revelations. To my wife and I, voting on God’s Word made no sense. It led to a divisive time for the church where in 1984 it was voted on and approved at General Conference that women should be allowed into the priesthood. This prompted a mass exodus from the church. My dad, a High Priest, was silenced along with many other priesthood members. Churches that objected were padlocked, and hundreds of the faithful left to form splinter groups. The RLDS church as we knew it was gone, and replaced by the Community of Christ church, which has recently approved gay marriage and gays in the priesthood.

It was during this tumultuous period in the RLDS church when my wife and I were trying to revive our church life, that our two sons were born. We didn’t consider the RLDS church as an option with so many doctrinal concerns as noted above. We chose to look elsewhere for a Christ based church rather than what we felt was a Joseph Smith based church. Due to my career changes we lived in several cities and visited many churches where I was finally exposed to Christian teachings and the real message of salvation as stated in Ephesians 2:8-9. I don’t recall the Bible ever being a focal point in my many years with the RLDS church, including my time at Graceland College. Much of the focus was on “the plain and precious truths” that were left out of the Bible but could be found in the three sacred books of the church.

As my family found out that I wasn’t returning to the church it resulted in a lot of resentment and heated discussions. Fortunately, while working at Family Bookstores several years ago, my wife met Carol Hansen who had written a book, “Reorganized Latter Day Saint Church: Is it Christian?” and we began reading up on RLDS doctrine included in her book. We also read books by other authors including Fawn Brodie, Jerald and Sandra Tanner and Paul Trask. The more I read, the more convinced I became that Joseph’s many changes, deletions, and additions to the Bible, his introduction of many new revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants, and the new gospel of the Book of Mormon, led to much confusion. To me, the contradictions were staggering. My family told me I was wrong, and to “get my facts straight!” and to “find the truth.” This challenge generated more study which led me to many questions. So in my quest for “the truth”, as they demanded, I proceeded to ask my family and some other RLDS faithful what they believed was the truth in response to some of the questions I had regarding RLDS teachings – below are just a few:

• The Doctrine and Covenants says there are three levels of heaven. Which one do you believe you will go to, and why?
• After death, do you believe we will have a second chance to accept the Lord?
• When do you receive the Holy Spirit? When you accept Jesus? When you are baptized? When you receive the “laying on of hands”? At some other time?
• In the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi, the people were told to “to feast upon the words of Christ.”
• Do you believe this was possible to do 600 years before Jesus was born?
• Do you believe that remission of sins is tied to keeping the commandments?
• The Book of Mormon says I am a fool for believing that the Bible is the only book that contains all of God’s Words? Do you think that I am a fool?
• In my experience growing up, we were to be baptized on a Sunday, and a week later receive the Holy Spirit through “laying on of hands” by the Elders. What would happen if I died during that week – would I not go to heaven?
• Moroni was a general in the army in the B of M, but later appeared to Joseph as an angel. Do you believe people can become angels?
• Do you believe the Aaronic Priesthood was not abolished when Christ died on the cross?
• Is Jesus not the only High Priest?
• Was it okay to remove some of God’s revelations from the Doctrine and Covenants?
• Do you believe Jesus was born in Jerusalem?
• According to B O M, Alma 14:20, if the Lamanites repented, “the curse of God did no more follow them” (their skin had been turned dark due to their sinful nature), and 3 Nephi 1:48-53 “ their skin became white within one year.” Do you believe that through repentance the Lamanite’s (Native Americans) skin will lighten?
• In church history, Joseph said the angel that visited him in his bedroom regarding the golden plates was Nephi, but the Doctrine and Covenants said it was Moroni. Which do you believe is correct?
• The Inspired Version says that all languages were confounded at the Tower of Babel, but the Book of Mormon says the language of the Jaredites was not confounded. Which do you believe is correct?

You would be surprised at the different responses I got from them. Many of the questions were answered with, “I’m not sure” or “Where does it say that?” I was prepared to show them in the “three sacred books” the verses from which these questions were raised, and what verse(s) they contradicted not only within their own three books, but more importantly with the Bible. Needless to say, more discussion, more questions, and more confusion as these apparent contradictions caused more concerns for them. I got the feeling there was a “pick and choose” mentality at work when they tried to validate their answers since the contradictions just kept coming. My concluding statement to them was, “The more I read the three sacred books, the more questions I had, and the more I read the Bible, the more questions I had answered. I’d hoped this would encourage them to study God’s Word to find His truth.

A significant problem for my family has been that notion that you are saved by doing good works. One of them told me, “if you lined up 80 people, with Billy Graham at one end, and ranked them downward according to works to Jeffrey Dahmer at the other end, you would have to draw a line somewhere between to decide who would go to heaven and who would go to hell.” This person doesn’t understand the message of being saved by grace through faith. The RLDS doctrine, supported by comments of church leaders as well as RLDS publications, implies salvation is achieved by doing good works. F. Henry Edwards, renowned RLDS missionary in the 1960’s once said, “Men are saved by working at worthy tasks.”

Another major problem is from the 76^th section of the Doctrine and Covenants that defines the three levels of heaven. This concept has always baffled me. We were taught that the highest glory, the Celestial level, is where God and Jesus dwelt, and only baptized and confirmed members of the RLDS church could go there. On the back wall of the sanctuary of an RLDS church, I once read the statement, “Seek Celestial Glory.” In the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 76:5h it says, “…they are gods” in the Celestial level. Does this mean we will be gods in heaven? It goes on to say that in the next lower glory, the Terrestrial heaven, you are described as what I’d call lukewarm believers, “not valiant in the testimony of Jesus” therefore not qualified for the Celestial level, but will be “kept in prison” and “afterwards receive the gospel” D & C, 76:6c. Does this mean you have a second chance after death to accept Jesus? One RLDS tract says, “The RLDS faith is that those who die without receiving the gospel will have the opportunity to hear the gospel and respond after death.” This is not Biblical. Even their Inspired Version of the Bible, in 2 Cor. 6:2 says, “Now is the day of your Salvation.” The lowest glory, the Telestial (by the way, this word is not found in the dictionary) is for those “not gathered with the saints.” They are “liars, sorcerers, adulterers, whoremongers, whoever loves and makes a lie”, and are “cast down to hell”, and “shall be judged according to their works.” They “shall be servants of the Most High, but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come” — a heaven without Jesus? I thought, how un-Christian. The sad part is that many RLDS faithful seem unsure of what the Lord’s New Covenant meant regarding our salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus. I remember asking a family member how they knew which level of heaven they would go to. Their answer was that they didn’t know for sure, but Jesus would be the judge.

I spent considerable time studying the life and times of Joseph and the early church. The good news is that virtually everything was recorded in church history or documented somewhere so it was easy to research topics. There are a multitude of references to Joseph’s activities which are clearly documented, that provided me with a close look at his character and legitimacy as a true prophet.

As I reviewed the documentation and dozens of testimonies covering Joseph’s early life, the writing of the Book of Mormon, the founding of the church, chaos in Missouri, fraud in Kirtland, more turmoil in Missouri that led to an Extermination Order by the Governor, and what many call “the evil in Nauvoo”, I became convinced that Joseph was a man of questionable moral character and certainly not trustworthy as a true prophet of God. I therefore have serious doubts about what he claimed was revealed to him by God, especially regarding the three sacred books of the church, and more notably his Book of Abraham which was proved to be total fabrication. I would encourage anyone that has been in the position to witness to an RLDS faithful to first become knowledgeable, not only of RLDS posits, but what the Bible has to say about each. A great source of help is Carol Hansen’s book as noted above.

Fortunately in my study of the Bible, I have found the exact scriptures that answer not only the above questions, but countless more. During this process of study, debate, prayer, and the work of the Holy Spirit, I have been able to witness to one of my family (formerly a Mormon) which has led them, as I was, to be baptized at Eastside Baptist Church. However, another faithful member who has given their life to “the church” is still a firm believer. But recently, when we discussed many of the above questions, and identified contradictions within their three books and with what the Bible said, this person began to have doubts, even to the point of asking me, “Do you believe I have been wrong all of these years?” The seeds are planted. Eventually, the Bible, God’s infallible Word, will always prevail.