I don’t remember when this happened. It was more than a year ago. Maybe two? I was telling a friend about an event that some of my teenage children were planning to attend. The event was a satellite broadcast in which a prominent leader of the LDS church either delivers a message to or fields questions from teenagers of the church. The leader doesn’t stand behind a pulpit. He (and his wife, actually) normally sits in a more conversational atmosphere. This setting attempts to achieve a level of closeness and intimacy that more formal addresses from church leaders do not. Meetings are held periodically and the leader changes each time. These meetings have been given the name of “Face to Face”.
When I told my friend about the “Face to Face” meeting my kids were going to, I recognized the connection that the words “face to face” had in the scriptures.
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. (Genesis 32:30)
And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. (Exodus 33:11)
And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. (Ezekiel 20:35)
And then shall ye know that I have seen Jesus, and that he hath talked with me face to face... (Ether 12:39)
And I [Enoch] saw the Lord; and he stood before my face, and he talked with me, even as a man talketh one with another, face to face;... (Moses 7:4)
Then the Lord said, “They are supposed to talk to ME face to face.”
“They” didn’t just mean my children. “They” meant everyone looking for guidance and counsel by attending that meeting. And while I understood that he felt sorrow and disappointment at the fact that the members of the LDS church look to its leaders more than to Him, that sorrow was nothing compared to His contempt and indignation towards the leaders of the church who have hijacked the term "face to face" and used it to title a meeting in which church members are directed to look to mortal leadership instead of directly to Him.