Question
Dear Gramps,
We know that stake presidencies and high councilors are everyday men subject to making occasional mistakes just like anybody else. My question for you, is if in the capacity of a church disciplinary council, they excommunicate someone in error, for something the person really did not do, would the Lord still honor the council’s decision and withdraw the Holy Ghost from the individual in question? Or would He allow the person to keep the companionship of the Holy Ghost? Also, how would such a person ever get re-baptized someday, because in order to be re-baptized you have to have “confessed” your sin and worked towards repentance. If the sin was never committed in the first place, the person could never in total honesty confess to it, and thus would remain in limbo. Gramps, since you have served in the capacity of a stake presidency as well as on a high council, what are your thoughts in this regard?
Curious
Answer
Dear Curious,
My thoughts are that one could conjure up all sorts of hypothetical situations that have no real answers because they are not real situations. In all your suppositions, you have left out one essential element. You are undoubtedly talking about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this particular church God is in control because it is HIS church. He will reveal to the proper authorities His will, and will rectify every mistake that men make, and bring order to all of His works. Nothing escapes His purview, and as you refer to my experience on high councils and in stake presidencies, I can testify to you from personal experience that what I have said is indeed the truth–the way things are.
Gramps
