Sacrament

“Many years ago there came to Salt Lake City a learned prelate of the Greek Catholic Church. He visited one of our Sacrament meetings, and was greatly shocked to see the Saints sipping water instead of wine at the table of the Lord. He afterwards said to me: ‘Why do you do this? Jesus Christ authorized the use of wine when he instituted the Sacrament at Jerusalem.’ ‘Yes,’ I assented, ‘and He also authorized wine when He instituted the same ordinance among the Nephites here in America, as told in the Book of Mormon. But what has that to do with us? We are living in another dispensation. We are not governed by what Jesus told the Jews to do, nor by what he told the Nephites to do. We are governed by what He tells the Latter-day Saints to do; and the latest word that comes from Him through his living oracle at the head of the Church, must always take precedence over any former commandment given by Him to us or to any other people. We also will use wine in the Sacrament whenever the Lord requires it; but since He has said that it matters not what we eat or drink at such times, so long as we do it with an eye single to His glory, we use water instead’” (Orson F. Whitney, Conference Report, October 1925, p.104).