Being a Prophet
Dear Elder Peterson,
In the last few letters, I’ve discussed concepts around prophets very heavily. I’ve tried to show you that you are a prophet and how to recognize how and when God calls you to be a prophet. The last two weeks, I have been impressed that I need to write to you regarding the main content of this letter. As a side note, this impression has come to me in the same way that many receive callings from God. It has come in the form of an “inspired desire”. We will talk about the importance of this inspired desire in a future letter. For now, I want to focus on the topic of this letter which the Lord has been inspiring me to write over the last two weeks.
By way of my own concern and not revelation, I feel that it is important to be moral above all else, and that moral law supersedes instruction from church leaders as well as personal revelation from God. I will discuss this more in detail later, but I wanted to call it out since some people have obeyed their leaders or even their own revelation and done terrible and immoral things. This is never condoned or acceptable nor within the scope of what I am suggesting in this letter. Even God is required to obey the eternal moral law or He will cease to be God. Eternal Moral Law is greater than God in that God adheres to it and, if God stopped adhering to it, then God would cease to be God and it would remain as the standard of truth. To become a God, you must learn to recognize and adhere to the Eternal Moral Law also.
Previously, I have pointed out that many people in the church think what makes our church so great is that we have a living prophet who talks to God. While that is a wonderful thing, it misses the point of the gospel entirely.
Moses was a prophet who was able to talk to God and even entered into His presence. The children of Israel had Moses leading them, (a prophet who could talk to God for them, just like we do), but they were afraid to talk to God for themselves and refused to enter into His presence.
“18 ¶ And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.” – Exodus 20:18-21
“23 And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;
24 And ye said, Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.
25 Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die.
26 For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
27 Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it.” – Deut. 5:23-17
These people were afraid that talking to God themselves was dangerous, so they said that they would do whatever God wanted them to do, but they didn’t want to talk to God for themselves. They wanted Moses, (their prophet), to talk to God for them and they committed to do whatever Moses told them God wanted them to do.
“23 And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice, (of God), out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;
24 And ye said, Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.
25 Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die.
26 For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
27 Go thou, (Moses), near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it.” – Deut. 5:23-17
This is very similar to what many people in the church today feel and say. “We have a prophet who speaks to God and we will do whatever God tells us to do through the prophet. But we do not want to speak to God ourselves. Let the prophet speak to God for us.”
Because the Children of Israel refused to come to God themselves and instead relied on their prophet, the Lord became angry with them and cursed them by removing their prophet, (Moses), and the Melchizedek priesthood.
“23 Now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God;
24 But they hardened their hearts and could not endure his presence; therefore, the Lord in his wrath, for his anger was kindled against them, swore that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fulness of his glory.
25 Therefore, he took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also;
26 And the lesser priesthood continued, which priesthood holdeth the key of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel;
27 Which gospel is the gospel of repentance and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments, which the Lord in his wrath caused to continue with the house of Aaron among the children of Israel until John, whom God raised up, being filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb.” – D&C 84:23-27
Relying on the prophet to tell us what God wants us to do is not a good thing. It is a necessary and temporary bridge gap that should be overcome. It is a problem that shows the people are spiritually weak and broken.
When we cannot hear the voice of the Lord, we need someone who can to tell us what the Lord wants us to do so we can learn to hear the voice of the Lord for ourselves. When we can hear the Lord’s voice for ourselves, we no longer need the prophet to tell us what to do because we have become prophets ourselves. At this point, we rely on the Lord and stop following the arm of flesh, even if they are prophets of God. This is the very reason the Lord gave in D&C 1 for why He called Joseph Smith and others to be prophets in the last days.
“17 Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments;
18 And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets—
19 The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh—
20 But that EVERY MAN might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world;” – D&C 1:17-20
Moses was very keen to teach and encourage all the people to be prophets, just like him, even when others wanted him to be the only prophet for God.
“27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.
28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.
29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!” – Numbers 11:27-29
Just like Joshua in these verses didn’t want anyone except Moses to be a prophet, there are members today who do not understand the ultimate goal of the church is to make everyone prophets. They may argue or fight the idea and interfere with the Lord’s plan just as Joshua did.
I love the story of Jonah in the Bible because we see that true prophets are not required to be perfect. In fact, he was a true prophet and yet he had all sorts of issues and flaws. Sometimes prophets are called by God and they incorrectly encourage people to come to them rather than go to God for themselves. This is a really big problem since it is the prophet who is God’s messenger that is getting in the way of God’s plan and has become an idol in the hearts and minds of the people. This happened in the Old Testament and God called it out and told us how He resolves this issue by leading the prophet astray which causes all the people following the prophet to suffer as a result of their obedience to the prophet. When the people realize that they were deceived by following the prophet, they turn back to God and again become His people.
“1 Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
2 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?
- (Why did they come to the prophet, and not go to God directly? Would they even attempt to ask God themselves?)
4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
- They are clearly coming to the prophet and making the prophet an idol.
5 That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
- The people have left God to follow the prophet, who is an actual prophet of God, not a false prophet. But in doing so, they became estranged from God.
6 ¶ Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
7 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him by myself:
- The Lord is upset that the people are coming to the prophet to inquire of the Lord and not going to God directly. The Lord says, He will answer the inquiries Himself, directly and not through the prophet.
8 And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
- Speaking of those who come to the prophet and not to God directly, the Lord says he will make them a sign to others not to do that and a proverb or example of what not to do.
9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
- This seems odd that the Lord would intentionally deceive his prophet and many people who support the idea of inquiring of the prophet to know about God make excuses for this verse to justify themselves in doing exactly what the Lord is saying not to do in these verses. They assume that the deceived prophets must not be true prophets of God or that God wasn’t really deceiving them. But just as Jonah was a prophet of God who had flaws, some prophets like the power and attention that people give them for their position and begin to encourage people to come to them and follow them rather than going to God and following the spirit. They become the very problem that the gospel was intended to fix. They get in the way of God’s plan and so God makes sure His prophets are deceived and if they don’t repent, they and their reputation will be destroyed. I’ve seen this happen more times than I can count. It’s like clockwork.
10 And they, (the prophet), shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;
- In other words, the people follow their chosen prophet right off a cliff. This is happening right now in a big way but will not be recognized by the people for a little while longer. When they do recognize it, they will be very upset and feel lied to, cheated and deceived. It will be very painful for many people, but essential for them to realize that they should not follow the prophets and set them up as idols of God.
11 That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God.” – Ezekiel 14:2-11
- All this is being done so that the people will stop going astray from God by following their prophet. It is done so that the people will turn to God and become His people and He, their God. When this type of thing happens, some people will lose faith in God all together and assume that if their prophet was deceived, then there is no God. This is not the only conclusion, but it is a conclusion many people make when they face this type of faith crisis.
Can you see how hard the Lord tries to get us to speak with Him directly through the veil?
Joseph Smith used these verses to address the same issue creeping into the church only twelve to fourteen years after it was organized. In the Nauvoo Relief Society Minutes Book, (historical record of what happened and when), the following is recorded.
President Joseph Smith rose and read the 14th chapter of Ezekiel. He then said the Lord had declared by the Prophet, that the people should each one stand for himself, and depend on no man or men (like) in that state of corruption of the Jewish church. (He stated) that righteous persons could only deliver their own souls. (Then he) applied it to the present state of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (and) said if the people departed from the Lord, they must fall. (He pointed out) that they were depending on the Prophet, hence were darkened in their minds.” – Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book, 17 Mar. 1842–16 Mar. 1844
Now we come to the point that I have been inspired for the last two weeks to call out to your attention. When the Lord speaks to us, it is more important than any other source of direction including other prophets. Our personal revelation and direction from the Lord even overrules the revelation of our church leaders including the prophet over the church. This is exactly opposite of what many people in the church teach or believe.
Let’s look at a hard example from the scriptures that teaches this point very clearly. In this example, we see what happens when two true prophets contradict each other and how you should respond when your revelation contradicts another prophet’s revelation.
The first thing I want to call out here is that both people in this story were true prophets and inspired by God. They both knew the voice of the Lord and had truly prophesied in His name. In fact, the Old Prophet knew the Man of God was a prophet by his works and words which were reported to the Old Prophet by his sons. Unfortunately, the Old Prophet lied to the Man of God and fabricated a revelation from an angel that conflicted with the personal revelation the Man of God received from the Lord through the spirit directly. (Not something that you would expect a true prophet to do, but again, true prophets are flawed and you can’t trust what they say just because they are a true prophet, even when they claim to be speaking the word of the Lord.) Let’s read the story and see what happened.
“1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Beth-el: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
- Introducing the Man of God. We never know his name, but he was called by the word of the Lord as we discussed in past letters.
2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.
- He prophesies by the spirit of a future event that will happen. he is prophesying while wicked king Jeroboam is offering a sacrifice.
3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.
- Because the future event was so far away, the Lord told him to prophecy of an event that would happen shortly as a sign that the prophecy was true. This was the sign.
4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Beth-el, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.
- The king was interrupted while offering a sacrifice on the alter pulled his hand away from the alter and pointed at the man of God commanding his guards to grab the man of God. When he pointed at the Man of God, the kings hand and arm dried or shriveled up which prevented him being able to bend it or move it.
5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.
- At the same time, the alter broke and the ashes came out just as the Man of God prophesied they would.
6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Entreat now the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.
- Another miracle showing the Man of God was a true prophet. (And still at the end of the chapter we are told the wicked king didn’t repent. Face Palm!)
7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.
- While unrepentant, the king still thought this was cool and tried to befriend the Man of God and reward him.
8 And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:
9 For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.
- Here we see that the Lord told the Man of God not to eat or drink or to go home the same way he came. This is very important to note because he says it was the revelation he received from the Lord.
10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el.
- Now, it is very clear from the events that the Man of God was a prophet who spoke for the Lord and had power with God to do miracles. Up to this point, the Man of God was doing a good job following his own revelation. Now, we being in the Old Prophet.
11 ¶ Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Beth-el: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.
12 And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.
13 And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,
14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.
15 Then he (the Old Prophet) said unto him (the Man of God), Come home with me, and eat bread.
16 And he (the Man of God) said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:
17 For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.
- Again the Man of God tells us that the Lord told him by the spirit not to eat, drink or go the same way home. This was a revelation from the Lord.
18 He (the Old Prophet) said unto him (the Man of God), I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.
- Here is where the run into a conflict. The Old Prophet recognizes the Man of God is a Prophet and that he himself is also a prophet, but he lied to the Man of God claiming that an angel spoke the word of the Lord to him telling him to invite the Man of God to eat and drink with him. It was a lie. Unfortunately, sometimes prophets lie, but they are still true prophets as you will see in a minute.
19 So he (the Man of God) went back with him (the Old Prophet), and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.
- The Man of God trusted the Old Prophet more than the Lord through his own revelation, even though he had witnessed such amazing miracles just before. It shows that the Man of God also had flaws even though he was able to enjoy the word of the Lord and the miracles that come with it. So, the Man of God disobeyed the word of the Lord.
20 ¶ And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back:
- Here is where we finally see that the Old Prophet was actually a true prophet. The word of the Lord comes to him while they were sitting talking at the table after just eating and drinking, and the Old Prophet begins to prophecy by the spirit.
21 And he (the Old Prophet) cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee,
22 But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.
- The Old Prophet prophesied in the name of the Lord that the Man of God would not make it home or be buried with his family. (Can you imagine how that went down? How bad the Old Prophet felt for lying to the Man of God?)
23 ¶ And it came to pass, after he (the Man of God) had eaten bread, and after he (the Man of God) had drunk, that he (the Old Prophet) saddled for him (the Man of God) the ass, to wit, for the prophet (the Man of God) whom he (the Old Prophet) had brought back.
- A little confusing with all the he’s and him’s, but after the Man of God had eaten and drank, the Old Prophet gave the Man of God his donkey to let him ride home.
24 And when he (the Man of God) was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.
- This was strange because the Lion didn’t eat the man and didn’t attack the ass. Once the man of God was dead, they just sat there. And no one wanted to go near the lion, so he was there a while.
25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
26 And when the (Old) prophet that brought him (the Man of God) back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord: therefore the Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake unto him.
- In other words, the Old Prophet’s prophecy that the Man of God would never make it home was true.
27 And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him.
28 And he (the Old Prophet) went and found his (the Man of God) carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass.
- Still just sitting there doing nothing after the hours it would have taken for the news to get back to the Old Prophet and for him to get there. Now, the lion is still standing there next to the Man of God which is why nobody touched the ass or the carcase. But the Old Prophet walks up and takes the carcass even though the lion is standing there.
29 And the (Old) prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.
30 And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!
31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:
32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.” – 1 Kings 13:1-32
It can be very difficult to trust in your own revelation. It is even more difficult to trust it when it is contradicted by someone else, especially parents, and church leaders. But the voice of God to you should have more importance than any other outside voice or pressure in your life. If you allow anyone else or anything else to have more power and influence in your life than the voice of God, you have essentially dethroned God and set up an idol to be your God. (See Ezekiel 14 above).
As always, I encourage you to go to God and put your faith in His spirit and not the arm of flesh, be it me or anyone else. This is the message I have been asked to give to you today.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
With love and faith,
Uncle Philip