Hello again, everyone Sad (but not unexpected) news to report today: President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, passed away late last night at the age of 95. Funeral arrangements are pending. The Newsroom and Church News articles to which I linked above speak very well of his life and accomplishments. That is a better tribute than I could give him. With President Ballard's passing, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland becomes the de facto Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and will likely be set apart in that capacity in the coming days.
President Ballard was the only current apostle who was a direct-line descendent of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. The Church will likely be looking to fill this vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve with another direct-line descendent of Joseph or Hyrum Smith. Right now, to my knowledge, the only direct-line descendent of Joseph or Hyrum Smith in the general leadership of the Church is Brother Jan E. Newman, Second Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency. There may be others of whom I'm not aware.
Either way, this means we will be getting a new apostle at some point either before or during the April 2024 General Conference. I will have some major work to do to update several documents in the coming days, including yet another revision of my General Conference predictions. This will also impact the report I prepared of the latest apostolic milestones that will be published on Sunday.
I anticipate there will be much more coverage on this throughout this week. I will continue to monitor that coverage and will pass it along here. In the meantime, if any of you have any thoughts you'd like to share with me on this announcement, I hope you will feel free to "sound off" yourselves in the comments below. I continue to monitor any and all Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as they cross my radar.
In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per the established guidelines. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly added posts and comments. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
Why does a descendant of Jospeh Smith or Hyrum Smith have be in the Quorum of 12 Apostles? I don’t think it’s a requirement. Was there a descendant from the time President Joseph Fielding Smith died in 1972 to 1985 when President Ballard was called?
ReplyDeleteThe Lord will call the next Apostle through his Prophet. Regardless who they’re related to.
There has traditionally always been a descendant of Joseph or Hyrum Smith in the apostleship. The first was Joseph F. Smith. At least two of Joseph F.'s sons (Hyrum M. and Joseph Fielding Smith) were also apostles. In the early 1970s, Joseph Fielding promised his son-in-law Bruce R. McConkie that he would be called to fill the next apostolic vacancy. As it happened, Joseph Fielding Smith himself passed away. Harold B. Lee heard about that promise, verified the particulars with Bruce R. McConkie, then called him to the apostleship on the spot. When Elder McConkie died, then-Elder Ballard was called. He's a direct double apostolic descendent, as his grandfather's were Hyrum M. Smith and Melvin J. Ballard The Church this has a time-honored tradition of calling direct descendants of Hyrum Smith to the apostleship. That's why I'm convinced the new apostle will be a direct descendant of that line. To whom may I offer thanks for this inquiry?
DeleteI think Dieter F. Uchtdorf may become the Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve with President Oaks in the First presidency and Elder Holland with his Health issues this year (unless he is improving). I have not heard any updates on Elder Holland's health.
DeleteElder Holland will be the next Acting President of the Q12 until he passes or called into the 1stPres or becomes the President of the Q12 (not acting). He is the Senior most Q12 member not in the 1st Pres.
DeleteL. Chris Jones, you may or may not have watched Sister Kathleen J. Eyring's funeral services. The apostles in attendance, as I mentioned, were Elders Holland, Uchtdorf, and Renlund. The first two would sit on either side of President Eyring if all three were in the Quorum of the Twelve. Elder Renlund may have taken over being the apostolic physician from President Nelson when he became the prophet. Elder Holland looked better than I have seen him in several years. While there is a precedent for an Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve if the President is in the First Presidency or unable to fill that role, there is no such provision for an Acting President title to be applied the second in seniority in the Twelve. KSL News at Noon confirmed that Elder Holland will become the new acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. That will occur at some point following President Ballard's funeral services. So we will have a President Holland again for the first time since his service at BYU. coachodeeps, you are exactly correct. My thanks to you both for commenting.
DeleteWhen Marion G. Romney was President of the 12 and not in the First Presidency, Howard W. Hunter was set apart as Acting President due to President Romney's health. That might be what L. Chris Jones is referencing. The situation now is a little different though.
DeleteA side note, President Ballard is the first Apostle to pass away while being Acting President of the 12.
DeleteNoah, thanks for stopping by to comment. If that is what L. Chris Jones was referring to, that related to calling an Acting President when the President wasn't able to actively function as such. There is no similar provision for what to do if the Acting President is unable to function as such. Could we see an Assistant to the Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at some point? Maybe. But as I observed in my last comment, I don't see that happening here. During Sister Eyring's funeral, Elder Holland was present and looking better than I've seen him looking for years, and he may even now be back to regular duties, though I haven't seen anything either way. KSL news categorically noted that Elder Holland is now the de facto Acting President and that he will be set apart in that new assignment at some point following the funeral services for President Ballard. Thanks for the fun side note and for stopping by to comment, Noah! I always appreciate hearing from you.
DeleteA new stunning update on the Manti Utah Temple indicates that major renovation work has been completed, and that an announcement of opening arrangements is being awaited for that temple. So aside from anything else reported in just about an hour (2:00 PM), the Manti rededication might be something we hear about soon. My thanks once again to you all.
ReplyDeleteA special edition of the Church News podcast honors President Ballard. And since it is almost 2:30 PM here in Utah, I am assuming that the Church is holding off on a major temple construction announcement in order to honor President Ballard as well. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteI don’t think any descendent of Joseph Smith has been called to serve as a General Authority yet. Only a small fraction are in the church. I don’t think very many are active anymore in the Community of Christ formerly RLDS church either. Though a descendent of Joseph Smith is an Apostle in the church. Lineal descendent no longer serve as Presidents of that church. Another break off church had a descendent of Joseph as it’s President but he passed away. Marlin K. Jensen as church historian had dinner with members of both churches some time ago.
ReplyDeleteMore of Joseph’s posterity are entering the church now. Many missionaries and I think a few Bishops have came from that rank. Michael Kennedy 1st descendent of Joseph Smith to receive Melchizedek priesthood started group to get them together. Maybe one of his descendants will serve in leading counsels again.
You are correct. There are only a handful of descendants of Joseph Smith in the Church today. All Smith-line descendants who were apostles have come through Hyrum's line. Based on the last 8 apostles who have been called, it also seems likely that President Ballard's Smith-line apostolic replacement is most likely to come from the current general leadership of the Church. Unless there is another Hyrum Smith descendant in the rank-and-file that we don't know about, insofar as I am aware, the only one is Jan E. Newman.
DeleteOf course, President Nelson has been known to break convention and do the unexpected, so there's always a chance that the new apostle (whomever he may be) has no connection to the Hyrum Smith line. The prophet will call whomever he is inspired to call. I am not aware of any doctrinal stipulation that requires one or more apostles to be Smith family descendents. It very well could be tradition, and that tradition could be broken by President Nelson if he's impressed to do that.
But just to be clear on my end, I have always had divine confirmation that the calls of each apostle are inspired, and I will gladly sustain anyone called. We have been promised "more flavors in the mix". It will be interesting to see. I definitiely won't be shocked if any of my theories are wrong. The Lord's revelation trumps my theories every time. He's proven me wrong before, so I'm sure it will happen again. I'm not sure to whom I'm addressing my thanks for your comment here, but I appreciate you weighing in. And I hope my comments and insights are helpful to you. If you'd like to subscribe for updates here, feel free to do so in the sidebar. Thanks again, whomever you may be.
Here is one more report from the Church News in tribute to President Ballard.
ReplyDeleteMy thanks once again to you all.
DeleteA new Church News video pays tribute to President Ballard. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteWhere did you hear that President Smith promised Elder McConkie that he would be named as an apostle. I've looked through the biographies of Presidents Smith and Lee as well as Elder McConkie and that never happened. Elder McConkie did have a spiritual experience that confirmed he would be called, but it was after the death of President Smith. And he didn't tell President Lee until after he received the call.
ReplyDeleteScitt Shipley, great question. I don't remember where exactly I heard that story. It's very possible I got the details wrong, or that I heard a version that is incorrect. If you've done the research, then I guess I stand corrected. In any case, however it happened, after Joseph Fielding Smith died, Bruce R. McConkie was the apostolic link to the line of Hyrum Smith. It has been customary to always have a direct descendent of Hyrum Smith in the apostleship, but that very well could change under President Nelson. Thanks.
DeleteThe Newsroom and the Church News have noted that President Ballard's funeral will be held on Friday at 11:00 AM MST. There will be plenty of live viewing options for the services, which will be held in the Tabernacle. I assume we will hear from one or more of his children, and a couple of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. If I had to guess, I'd say that might be Elders Uchtdorf and Holland. We will also likely hear from President Oaks as well, unless President Nelson is sufficiently recovered enough to attend and speak in person. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteThe Church News has updated the artice announcing President Ballard's death yesterday. That article now includes the funeral arrangements. The Church News has also provided the text of the prayer offered by Elder Gary E. Stevenson to dedicate the Okinawa Japan Temple on Sunday. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteA couple other notes: First, no major temple construction updates were announced during the 2:00 PM hour here in Utah today, so my assumption is that the next such announcement will come until Monday. Next, the Church News has shared a report highlighting the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as it was organized on the day of President Ballard's death were the sixth-longest tenured in Church history. My data shows them as the 5th longest-tenured group in Church history, with just the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as it was organized on the day President Ballard passed away being the 7th longest-tenured, though the Church News article says they are the 6th.
DeleteMaybe they're using different data than I am. I will be posting my next apostolic milestone update this Sunday as scheduled, and have updated it to reflect President Ballard's passing. One final thing I will mention is that, with the funeral of President Ballard being held on Friday, I assume that the earliest Elder Holland will be set apart as the new Acting President will be early next week. There is also a possibility that President Nelson could do what President Howard W. Hunter opted to do in not waiting until the next General Conference to call and ordain a new member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Either way, I see President Nelson acting promptly on getting an Acting President set apart following the funeral. My thanks once again to you all.