The Keys of the Kingdom Are Always Held by the First Presidency
Doctrine and Covenants 81:1–3
1 . . . [U]nto my servant Joseph Smith, Jun. . . .
2 . . . I have given the keys of the kingdom, which belong always unto the Presidency of the High Priesthood:
3 Therefore, verily I acknowledge him and will bless him . . .
President Wilford Woodruff said:
“When the Lord gave the keys of the kingdom of God, the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood, of the apostleship, and sealed them upon the head of Joseph Smith, He sealed them upon his head to stay here upon the earth until the coming of the Son of Man. Well might Brigham Young say, ‘The keys of the kingdom of God are here.’ They were with him to the day of his death. They then rested upon the head of another man—President John Taylor. He held those keys to the hour of his death. They then fell by turn, or in the providence of God, upon Wilford Woodruff.
“I say to the Latter-day Saints, the keys of the kingdom of God are here, and they are going to stay here, too, until the coming of the Son of Man. Let all Israel understand that. They may not rest upon my head but a short time, but they will then rest on the head of another apostle, and another after him, and so continue until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven to ‘reward every man according to the deeds done in the body.’ . . .
“. . . I say to all Israel at this day, I say to the whole world, that the God of Israel, who organized this Church and kingdom, never ordained any President or Presidency to lead it astray. Hear it, ye Israel, no man who has ever breathed the breath of life can hold these keys of the kingdom of God and lead the people astray.”
(Excerpt from “The Keys of the Kingdom,” Millennial Star, Sept. 2, 1889, 547.)
