OK. Be honest. If not with me on this thread, then with yourself:
If you "have been lax in" your attention to Oliver Granger, and yet you call him "a great man"...then please convey to us all -- without looking him up -- WHY would Mormons deem him a great man?...(other than what Freedomlover said in post #5: That's he's somebody significant just 'cause Joe Smith said so in the D&C).
Here's my point, Sandy: Smith PROPHESIED that Granger's "name shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever, saith the Lord."
This should then mean that Granger has become a household byword among Mormons on some kind of ongoing basis.
Imagine then, Sandy...let's say you are reading D&C 117 to an 8, 9 or 10 yo grandchild. That grandchild asks you, "Who is Oliver Granger? Why should we remember him in a sacred way every generation?"
What would your response be?
What would the typical Mormon response be?
I would wager that the typical Mormon wouldn't be able to answer that question...which would mean then that Mormons DON'T -- and HAVEN'T -- been remembering Oliver Granger "in sacred remembrance."
Result? The "shall" of Joseph Smith's prophesy here has proved to be a false prophesy.
So...class...how many burglaries does it take to be a burglar? (One)
How many robberies does it take to be a robber? (One)
How many murders does it take to be a murderer? (One)
How many false prophecies does it take to be a false prophet? (One)
21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously... (Deut. 18:21-22)
One can lay a thousand brick, yet that does NOT make him a mason.
However...