Follow the Prophet

Jan 30, 2005

Covington, Virginia

I am grateful to live in an age when my children, through the singing of otherwise very simple Primary songs, can learn profound truths that had eluded the wisest of sages for many generations. “I am a Child of God.” “Families Can Be Together Forever.” “Dare to do Right.” Imagine the peace that would come to this world if all little children, and all bigger adults, realized these lessons of who we are, what we are to do, and what we may become.

My four-year-old son, Silas, has tended to be the one in our family who is in charge of selecting what hymn we were going to sing for Family Home Evening. For a long time, without fail, regardless of the subject matter of the evening’s lesson, he has chosen a hymn he learned in Primary, “Follow the Prophet.” That song includes an important lesson for each of us. “Follow the Prophet, Follow the Prophet, Follow the Prophet, don’t go astray, Follow the Prophet, Follow the Prophet, Follow the Prophet, he knows the way.”

When I was the age of my children, I did not know about this church and all that it had to offer. But as a young person, I had often wondered what it would have been like to live in the day of the Apostles, or the Prophets of old, and to listen directly to their testimonies and to their teachings. In the church that I belonged to at the time, we would recite the Lord’s Prayer, or as we sometimes called it, the “Our Father.” Every week we would say that prayer, which includes the line, “Thy Kingdom Come.” None of us in that church realized that the Kingdom was already being established, complete with Apostles and Prophets and all the keys necessary to receive all the blessings that the Kingdom has to offer.

Shortly after I was baptized, I heard of and saw General Conference for the first time. The spirit at these meetings was undeniable. The doctrine that was taught was pure and sound. The men and women who spoke that day were humble, yet forthright and direct in their messages.

It was like nothing I had ever seen before. I had seen people preach on television before, and I was never very fond of that style of what I considered to be egomania. And I had heard of people who had claimed to be some sort of prophet before, but they did not lead people to the Savior. But here, indeed, were people who had been called and anointed of God to proclaim his mind and will for all of us. How grateful I felt to find that we really did have Apostles and a Prophet living among us. And how I wished all those who were in that little church of my youth could find the same glorious message. A friend of Sandy’s once said, “There’s a Prophet? How come I’m 45 years old and I never knew?”

Just as a person who has died is resurrected in his or her perfect frame and will live forever, the Savior’s church, which had died, has now been resurrected in all of its brightness and glory, never to be taken from the earth again. The Savior has again chosen to bless us all, as we prepare for the tumultuous times that are preceding his Second Coming. He knows that now, possibly more than ever, we need his clear voice to guide us through all the deception that can be thrown at us, and to give us peace in what could otherwise be quite a rough ride. We need a prophet to clearly spell things out, as Satan unleashes an assault on even the most basic and fundamental truths.

He has chosen a series of men whom he has known for a very long time and whom he knew would be the exact person for the time. It can be interesting to reflect on who these men were, the times they lived in, and what they taught us by word and deed. The Savior first gave us Joseph Smith, young enough to not have been cankered by the teachings of men, strong enough to withstand the physical beatings he would take, and faithful enough to lead a church from its very humble beginnings. Through him the Book of Mormon was translated, the priesthood was restored, the church was established, and a treasure trove of doctrine was revealed. It was Joseph who was humble enough to take a simple question in prayer to the source of all truth, and then be fully obedient for the rest of his life to that answer. It was he that spoke of the Savior and said that “after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, that we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God, and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the only begotten of the Father—that by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters of God.”

Joseph paid the ultimate price for this testimony, as the enemies of the church thought they could destroy this work by taking their beloved prophet away. While there was some uncertainty and confusion within the church regarding who, if anyone, should lead them, the Lord had already placed his choice. The keys of the kingdom rested with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and to make sure the church membership knew of this fact, the Lord provided a small miracle as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke to them. As Brigham Young spoke, many in the audience were astonished to hear the voice and even see the mannerisms of their beloved slain prophet. Many in the audience recorded this transfiguration in their journals. Brigham himself wrote in his journal that, “My heart swelled with love for the people.” This was enough of a testimony for most of the church membership to realize the essential doctrine of the authority of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the succession of the Presidency. With that testimony, the Saints faithfully followed Brigham Young and his leadership across unknown lands to their New Israel, away from harm and into a land they could make prosperous.

Upon Brigham’s death, the Lord provided John Taylor, a man who was with the Prophet Joseph in the Carthage Jail, yet survived the attack and was able to tell us what happened. John Taylor was the first prophet to publish a book of his own writings, which he entitled Mediation and Atonement, which gave mankind a much deeper understanding of the Savior’s Atonement.

Wilford Woodruff gave us one of the richest journals of any of the early Saints, providing us with much of the early Saints’ history, which would have otherwise been lost. It was he who received the revelation, also known as the Manifesto, that the time had come to end the practice of plural marriage. This helped end the era of incessant persecution. A decision like this had to be made by the Lord, and it was done in his own due time. All faithful members followed their prophet down this new path, and as a result the church was richly blessed.

Lorenzo Snow asked church members to become tithing worthy. It was a sacrifice for them, but they followed what he said, and as a result, they gained a testimony of the blessings that are inherent in tithing. It’s one of those things that one has to experience. When church members heard his message and became tithing worthy, the church was brought out of debt for the first time in its history, and it has been self-sustaining ever since.

Upon the death of Lorenzo Snow, the nephew of Joseph Smith, the son of his beloved brother Hyrum, and the namesake of the Prophet, became the President of the Church and its Prophet. Joseph F. Smith revealed many important and clarifying doctrinal teachings, including documents entitled, “The Origin of Man,” “The Father and the Son,” and an important book called Gospel Doctrine. Through Joseph F. Smith, the Lord gave us the 138^th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, which revealed much about the Savior’s ministry to the dead before his resurrection.

Heber J. Grant served as prophet to the world through one of its most tumultuous times. The era of his presidency spanned longer than any other President of the Church, save Brigham Young. President Grant gave us the word of the Lord through World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. The world has had some hard times economically, but no era is as infamous as the 1930’s, which depressed the economies of countries on both sides of the Atlantic. However, the Church stood as a beacon during these troubled times, as President Grant developed an inspired Welfare Program that was admired around the world. This welfare program continues to bless the lives of many Saints today. President Grant is also famous for his perseverance, developing talents where there were none, particularly in singing and throwing a baseball, and his example lives on for all those who strive to reach higher.

David O. McKay was a major figure in the lives of the Saints of the Baby Boomer Generation. With all these babies being born, the world’s prophet reminded us that, “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.” President McKay developed what had been a local program of a stake in California, led by a young stake president named Howard W. Hunter, to begin Family Home Evening as an established practice for the whole church. Now on Mondays throughout the world, despite our ever-increasingly busy lives, we would all put aside those worldly cares and draw closer together as a family, with parents teaching children the most important messages of their lives. This important message coincided with an era of unprecedented destruction of the family unit to silly TV shows and divorce.

Joseph F. Smith’s son was anointed as the next Prophet. Joseph Fielding Smith served as an Apostle for 62 years, and was known as a prolific writer for explaining gospel doctrine. He introduced our current church magazines: the Ensign, the New Era, and the Friend. These magazines help the church and its message reach into the homes of its members.

President Harold B. Lee was also instrumental in establishing the Church Welfare System during the Great Depression when he was a younger man, and as church President, he became the first of the modern prophets to visit the Holy Land. He once told the church members, “The most important of the Lord’s work will be within the walls of your own home.”

President Spencer W. Kimball asked the church members to lengthen our stride. And the Church responded. During President Kimball’s administration, the First Quorum of the Seventy was reorganized, Sunday church meetings were consolidated, the genealogical name extraction program was inaugurated, and in one of the most momentous revelations in history, the priesthood was extended to all worthy males. All these required changes of habits and thinking and emphasis. President Kimball also taught us about the Miracle of Forgiveness in a book that is still one of the more significant selections of literature for church members. He encouraged us not only to think about or talk about the gospel, but also to act on it, to “Do It!”

President Ezra Taft Benson was President of the Church when I was baptized, and is consequentially the first time I ever heard the voice of the Prophet. His voice reinvigorated the church’s love and reverence for the Book of Mormon. He counseled us against pride, even saying that there is no such thing as righteous pride. He was a strong advocate for the strength of the U.S. Constitution, and even served a cabinet position in the White House while he was an Apostle. As President of the Church, he had a remarkable series of eight talks during his administration to specific groups of people: first to the Young Men, then the Young Women, then to Mothers, then Fathers, to single adult brethren, then single adult sisters, to the children, and then finally to the elderly. After that talk to the elderly, his voice was silenced, but his presence was still very strong. I remember when he entered the Tabernacle for his 90^th birthday, the amount of love that was in that hall.

President Howard W. Hunter holds a special place in my heart. His life was an example of kindness, courteousness, and thoughtfulness. And his talks were beautiful. If I could, I’d like to just remind you of some of his counsel.

“The world in which we live, whether close to home, or far away, needs the gospel of Jesus Christ. It provides the only way the world will ever know peace. We need to be kinder with one another, more gentle and more forgiving. We need to be slower to anger and more prompt to help. We need to extend the hand of friendship and resist the hand of retribution. In short, we need to love one another with the pure love of Christ, with genuine charity and compassion and, if necessary, shared suffering, for that is the way God loved us.”

“Those who are filled with the love of Christ do not seek to force others to do better; they inspire others to do better—indeed inspire them to the pursuit of God.”

“Sooner or later, and we pray sooner than later, everyone will acknowledge that Christ’s way is not only the right way, but ultimately the only way to hope and joy. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that gentleness is better than brutality, that kindness is greater than coercion, that the soft voice turneth away wrath.”

“We should at every opportunity ask ourselves, ‘What would Jesus do?’ and then be more courageous to act upon the answer.”

“We must know Christ better than we know him; we must remember him more often than we remember him; we must serve him more valiantly than we serve him. What manner of men and women ought we to be? Even as He is.”

President Hunter seemed to sense that his failing health would shorten his season as the President of the Church, and he was very clear about what the message of his administration would be. He asked members to attend the temple as often as circumstances would allow, calling the temple the supreme mortal experience, and he asked members of the church to live more Christlike lives. They seemed to respond to this man who led not only by word, but also by deed.

President Gordon B. Hinckley has led the church through an almost dizzying pace. Symbolic of this growth and change is the increase in the number of temples in operation. President Hinckley had a revelation to build many smaller temples to bring these temples to the people. Patrons would have to own their own temple clothes, and sometimes they would have to call ahead and make an appointment, but these changes were gladly welcomed, as temples began to dot the earth. President Hinckley also issued the Proclamation on the Family, which clarified the Church’s position on the very basic family unit. Within several years, this document became vital, as many of the precepts taught, which had before seemed like obvious truths, were under attack by complex legislation. Another change was the end of the era of holding General Conference at the famous Tabernacle. The Church had simply outgrown this facility, and President Hinckley desired that more members who wished to attend conference could do so. A beautiful 25,000-seat Conference Center was built, and the Tabernacle still stands to hold smaller events. Another revelation established the Perpetual Education Fund, which directly helped potential students fill the measure of their creation. Several new Quorums of the Seventy were called, and the Church began to call Area Authorities. It seems that in every Conference, we have needed to hold on to our seatbelts for something new. Each change has been inspired by God, as the development of the kingdom unfolds for the 21^st Century.

Sometimes these prophets have asked us to make sacrifices, or to change old ways of thinking, or to expand our vision. When we choose to follow what they ask us to do, we are blessed and others can be blessed through us.