There are a ton of LDS people posting the same thing on Facebook, and it’s making me a little nuts. They keep saying that it’s a miracle that we have home-led church-supported Come Follow Me, just in time for us to be engaging in social distancing to try and alleviate the results of this epidemic. They’re also claiming it’s inspired that we have *gasp* a DOCTOR leading the church at this moment with connections to *whispers* CHINA.
I’m irritated, because this isn’t the first epidemic that has happened during the modern church era. In 1918, the Spanish flu killed millions of individuals just as WWI was wrapping up. During that time, Church President Joseph F Smith died (he was a clerk and politician). Heber J. Grant was next in line. He was a businessman with a background in banking and insurance.
In 1918, church meetings were cancelled just like today, yet even without CFM, somehow the 20th century saints managed to muddle through and hold sacrament services in their homes.
Did God love these 1918 Saints less? He certainly could have given them CFM or a Doctor leader. But He didn’t.
Look, God is in the work. priesthood authority is a thing. But let’s not ascribe miracles to events that aren’t actually miraculous. The real miracle is that priesthood authority is real and that all men who choose to live so they can control it can hold and use it to bless their families. It wouldn’t matter who was in charge of the church, that priesthood authority exists and it can be used.
