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Official Declaration #3 (Draft Version)

A Proclamation by the Church to Correct the
Blacks and the Priesthood Doctrine Error of
1852-2025

 

Introduction: My name is Roy Eddings, an average elder living in Logan, Utah, and a
great friend to the Church. What I have presented here is only a draft of a proposed
proclamation, and not an official declaration by the Church. But it is my hope and prayer that all
members and leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and people of all
religions and beliefs, will join me in the effort to encourage the Church to proclaim a new
message to the world based on equality and basic human rights. In this presentation, I begin with
an introduction starting here in page 1, and the draft proclamation follows in page 4.

 

While I have much to offer in support of this proclamation—three landmark books and
42 well-thought-out lectures on revelation and priesthood keys, which you can see in the website
links at the end, and also on the side panel—the bottom line reason for supporting the adoption
of this proclamation is just common sense. The 1852 policy by the Church of banning blacks
from the priesthood was a clear mistake by all involved, and it's never been fully repudiated,
even up to today in 2025.

 

Lecture #32, presented in the other five top tabs on this website, is quite amazing in itself,
supporting this proclamation. Unlike a static document, it began on March 17, 2024, and
continued with significant additions daily, covering five calendar months into July and many
additional ones in the ensuing months through Nov 2025. You'll quickly realize that it is much
more than just a lecture, having roughly a 1000 instances of the Holy Ghost across a variety of
spiritual gifts; it's revelation, not opinion. The Church hasn't seen revelation at this level of
complexity and volume since the early decades of the Restoration. It should have a major impact
once it is discovered and widely publicized.

 

Here are nine summarized points from the lecture to get you started:

 

1) The temple is for everyone. The priesthood is for everyone. This has always been true.

 

Joseph Smith would agree with this. The Savior would agree with this. There is no
common sense basis to believe otherwise.

 

2) Joseph would not have wanted to increase the misery already being experienced by
blacks through slavery by then removing the priesthood and temple blessings during their life
that would bring so much hope and comfort to them, and that are essential in preparing them for
salvation.

 

3) Blacks (both men and women) were essentially found guilty of crimes they did not
commit during that 126-year period that ended in 1978; and the penalty they received was a loss
of their priesthood and temple worship privileges.

 

4) The ban was wrong on principle; it was wrong for the reputational damage it did to
the Church; it was wrong for the harm it did to member testimonies; and it was wrong because it
thwarted the work of the Lord by excluding a whole race of people from gaining direct access to
the priesthood and temple ordinances for generations.

 

5) The priesthood ban among the Latter-day Saints made the Jim Crow era worse in
America.

 

6) It was not just the leaders of the Church who were at fault, it was also us, the members
of the Church, going to meetings every Sunday since 1852, who were at fault. Our actions
against intolerance by the Church should not have been through political activism or protests,
but just calmly and consistently talking with our local bishops and stake presidents on the issue
in every congregation worldwide. We should have reasoned it through in problem solving mode
with them to create a groundswell sufficient to bring about the change required.

 

7) The Lord wants a new face... a powerful new witness of the restored gospel that comes
out of nowhere, surprises the world, and gets everyone's attention. And that's the foundation of
this lecture and where it came from.

 

Here are doctrinal points a-k to support that premise—

 

(a) The risk of unauthorized revelation vs. the risk of unrecognized revelation. Revelation
of epic proportions that goes unrecognized by the Church is the greater danger here.

 

(b) Don't inadvertently deny the gifts of the Holy Ghost in what is being testified to, for
that is the very foundation of your own faith.

 

(c) Does the Holy Ghost do all of His great works in the public eye? Sometimes
extraordinary things come from very small beginnings that only one person or a few people can
see initially.

 

(d) A truthful testimony of spiritual gifts, where the Holy Ghost is involved, does not go
against the established order of the Church.

 

(e) To say this another way. If the Holy Ghost is with a man all night long, every night,
with him writing and writing and writing by the spirit of revelation and the spirit of prophecy,
does it really matter to the Church and to the world if precedent is broken?

 

(f) There is no moral equivalence with the D&C 28 incident that occurred in the first few
months of the newly-restored Church. These are not some indiscriminate scribblings of a man
confused or deceived by the adversary. This is not Hiram Page stuff.

 

(g) What is true is true, regardless of priesthood keys.

 

(h) Throughout the 90-page lecture that follows, the truth of the restored gospel is made
even more clear.

 

(i) "We're appending new things to the doctrine of the Church. It's ok," say the Father
and the Son jointly through the Holy Ghost. "We know what we are doing, and we have the
proper authority.

 

(j) "Even with the true Church we had to improve some things.

 

(k) "Not ready for these things in 1830, but they are now."

 

--

 

8) Official Declaration 2, in 1978, only did half the work it needed to do. Official
Declaration 3, on the same subject in 2025, will finish the job and correct the doctrinal mistake
fully.

 

9) Today is the day to get this done, not tomorrow. Blacks throughout America and the
world want to hear this message proclaimed by the Church. Proclaim the message on the Church
website; in commercials on the Internet, TV, and radio; in public appearances of Church
leaders, on posts of forums and social media, and so forth. Proclaim the message through
missionaries around the world; in Sunday School, Relief Society, and priesthood lessons; in
Church youth programs; in the Primary program for children; and through members to friends,
family, and work associates

 

And here are doctrinal points to support that premise—

 

(a) A worldwide proclamation like this will be a big event, providing an opportunity to
grow and revitalize the Church in dramatic fashion.

 

(b) New traditions, new precedents, new growth opportunities for the Church.

 

(c) There's a pop. There's a shock. The unexpected has happened, raising the Church
high in great acclaim throughout the world.

 

(d) We are at 0.2% of the world population. The Lord wants us to get to 0.5% of the
world population (40-45 million members) in a short period of time, not just the 200-300K
growth per year that we are doing now.

 

--

 

With those points made, let's proceed to the proclamation.

 

Draft proclamation:

 

Be it known to the people of all nations that we, the members and leaders of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, acknowledge that a serious error did occur in 1852 by the
implementation of a policy banning blacks from the priesthood and the ordinances of the temple.
We firmly declare that the ban did not come through revelation and was not of God.

 

In the decision to implement the ban, the most important principles of the gospel of Jesus
Christ—love, compassion, equality of all men and women before God, and basic fairness—were
not adhered to. And while the 1978 proclamation did end the ban, it didn't correct the doctrinal
problem that led to the ban's creation in the first place. Today, it being the first day of the month
of April, 2025, we hereby state that the ban has been fully repudiated, not just in its practice, but
in principle, too. It caused pain for generations among both members and non-members, and
never should have seen the light of day in this Church or any other.

 

We realize that in making this declaration criticism will be leveled for our failure to act
on it for so long. And that criticism would be fully justified. But we want this mistake to be
corrected, regardless of the consequences. It's just the right thing to do.

 

Finally, it is our hope that this message today brings about a new era of accountability
and increased transparency that will be so important to the future success of all churches,
foundations, businesses, and governments throughout the world.

 

Signed, Members and Leaders of the Church

 

===

 

**Click here to see full lecture #32 on blacks and the priesthood on this site.

 

The books and the other lectures are free to the public at the following links:

 

http://www.royeddings.org/index.php/jre/lrpk (42 lectures on revelation and priesthood keys)

 

And main books at following links:

 

http://www.awonderfulnation.org (132 pages, the ideal in government for America)

http://www.awonderfulchurch.org (754 pages, the principles of the ideal of Zion in the Church)

http://www.royeddings.org (Over 2000 pages in 3 sections, journal and history of spiritual gifts)

 

Desktop/laptop mode is preferred—large screen—but also runs fine on mobile browser.

  

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