LDS Freedom Forum

A prophet is a person who knows by personal revelation from the Holy Ghost that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God, "for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev. 19:10; Teachings, pp. 119, 312.)
Accordingly, every prophet bears record of Christ. "To him give all the prophets witness" (Acts 10:43;
Jac. 4:4), and if a professing minister of salvation is not a witness for Christ, he is not a prophet.

Nothing more than the testimony of Jesus (meaning the receipt of personal revelation from the Holy
Ghost certifying that Jesus is the Christ) is needed to make a person a prophet; and if this revealed
knowledge has not been received, a person is not a prophet, no matter how many other talents or gifts he
may have. But when a person has received revelation from the Spirit certifying to the divinity of Christ, he
is then in a position to press forward in righteousness and gain other revelations including those which
foretell future events. On this basis, should the necessity arise, those who are prophets are in a position
where they "could prophesy of all things." (Mosiah 5:3.)

Prophets in all ages, accordingly, have taken frequent occasion to foretell the future. "Search the
revelations of God," Joseph Smith said. "Study the prophecies, and rejoice that God grants unto the world
seers and prophets. They are they who saw the mysteries of godliness; they saw the flood before it came;
they saw angels ascending and descending upon a ladder that reached from earth to heaven; they saw the
stone cut out of the mountain, which filled the whole earth; they saw the Son of God come from the
regions of bliss and dwell with men on earth; they saw the Deliverer come out of Zion, and turn away
ungodliness from Jacob; they saw the glory of the Lord when he showed the transfiguration of the earth on
the mount; they saw every mountain laid low and every valley exalted when the Lord was taking
vengeance upon the wicked; they saw truth spring out of the earth, and righteousness look down from
heaven in the last days, before the Lord came the second time to gather his elect; they saw the end of
wickedness on earth, and the Sabbath of creation crowned with peace; they saw the end of the glorious
thousand years, when Satan was loosed for a little season; they saw the day of judgment when all men
received according to their works, and they saw the heaven and the earth flee away to make room for the
city of God, when the righteous receive an inheritance in eternity, And, fellow sojourners upon earth, it is
your privilege to purify yourselves and come up to the same glory and see for yourselves, and know for
yourselves. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
(Teachings, pp. 12-13.)

The mission of prophets is not alone to foretell the future. Even more important is the witness they
bear to living persons of the divinity of Christ, the teachings they give of the plan of salvation, and the
ordinances which they perform for their fellow men. Most of the great prophets are possessors of the
Melchizedek Priesthood; as legal administrators some have possessed keys enabling them to administer
the fulness of gospel ordinances.

There are, of course, ranks and grades of prophetic responsibility and authority. Every member of the
Church should be a prophet as pertaining to his own affairs. "Would God that all the Lord's people were
prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!" was the prayer of Moses. (Num. 11:29.)
Prophecy is one of the gifts of the Spirit to which all the saints are entitled (1 Cor. 12:10), and faithful
members of the Church are exhorted to "covet to prophesy." (1 Cor. 14:39.)

Those who hold offices in the Church, however, should be prophets both as pertaining to their own
affairs and the affairs of the organization over which they preside. A quorum president should be a
prophet to his quorum, a bishop to his ward, a stake president to his stake. Members of the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve, and the Patriarch to the Church are all sustained as prophets, seers,
and revelators to the Church. Any new revelation for the Church would, of course, be presented to the
people by the President of the Church, he being the mouthpiece of God on earth. (D. & C. 21:1-7.) "Surely
the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7.)
Apostles and prophets are the foundation upon which the organization of the true Church rests. (1 Cor.
12:28; Eph. 2:20.) Where there are no apostles and prophets there is no divine Church, but where these
officers are found, there is the Church of Christ in all its glory, beauty, and perfection. The inspired
promise is that these officers will remain in the Church "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of
the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ." (Eph. 4:13.)

The sectarian practice of calling some of the Old Testament authors major prophets and others minor
prophets is one of the many false notions engulfing erring Christendom. In large part this division is based
on the amount and literary excellence of such of the writings of the prophets concerned as have been
preserved in the Bible. Elijah and John the Baptist were two of the greatest prophets, and we do not have
any of their writings. We know that Adam (Moses 6:5), Enoch, Joseph the son of Jacob (2 Ne. 3), Zenos
(Jac. 5), Zenock (Alma 33:15), Neum (1 Ne. 19:10), and many other prophets wrote many things which
have not come down to us in our days. We can only speculate as to what Methusaleh, Lamech, Noah,
Shem, Melchizedek, Esaias, Gad, Jeremy, Elihu, Caleb, and a great host of known prophets may have
written. Further, there are prophets by the thousands who have lived and died of whom we have no
knowledge whatever.

The mere statement that there are and have been true prophets is also an assertion that there are and
have been false prophets. Our Lord's counsel, "Beware of false prophets" (Matt. 7:15), is pointed
instruction to weigh the claims of the prophets, accepting the true, rejecting the false.
"When a man goes about prophesying, and commands men to obey his teachings," the Prophet taught,
"he must either be a true or false prophet. False prophets always arise to oppose the true prophets, and
they will prophesy so very near the truth that they will deceive almost the very chosen ones." (Teachings,
p. 365.)

Joseph Smith also said: "If any person should ask me if I were a prophet, I should not deny it, as that
would give me the lie; for, according to John, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy; therefore, if
I profess to be a witness or teacher, and have not the spirit of prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus, I
must be a false witness; but if I be a true teacher and witness, I must possess the spirit of prophecy, and
that constitutes a prophet; and any man who says he is a teacher or preacher of righteousness, and denies
the spirit of prophecy, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; and by this key false teachers and impostors
may be detected." (Teachings, p. 269.)

The mere claim on the part of professing religionists that they have the testimony of Jesus does not of
itself guarantee or prove that they do in fact have the spirit of prophecy so as to be true prophets. Rather,
truth seekers are commanded: "Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God:
because many false prophets are gone out into the world." (1 John 4:1.) "There are many spirits which are
false spirits, which have gone forth in the earth, deceiving the world. ... But wo unto them that are
deceivers and hypocrites, for, thus saith the Lord, I will bring them to judgment." (D. & C. 50:2-6.)
A person claiming to be a true spiritual leader might present such a good imitation of a true prophet as
to deceive those who do not themselves have the guidance and inspiration of the Spirit. But in addition to
giving lip service to the assertion that Jesus is the Christ, a true prophet must conform his life to the divine
pattern; he must conform to the laws and ordinances which the Lord has revealed. "He that speaketh," the
Lord says, "whose spirit is contrite, whose language is meek and edifieth, the same is of God if he obey
mine ordinances." (D. & C. 52:16.)

In this day and age true prophets will be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints;
they will be persons who have received the right to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost when
they were confirmed members of the Church; they will be persons who have so lived as to merit receiving
the promptings and whisperings of the Holy Spirit; they will be people who are in harmony with the
prophets and revelators whom God hath chosen to govern and control the affairs of his earthly kingdom.
They will not be found in cults or sects which are running counter to the established church order; they
will not be in rebellion against the First Presidency and the Twelve, "for the spirits of the prophets are
subject to the prophets." (1 Cor. 14:32.)

With all their inspiration and greatness, prophets are yet mortal men with imperfections common to
mankind in general. They have their opinions and prejudices and are left to work out their own problems
without inspiration in many instances. Joseph Smith recorded that he "visited with a brother and sister
from Michigan, who thought that 'a prophet is always a prophet'; but I told them that a prophet was a
prophet only when he was acting as such." (Teachings, p. 278.) Thus the opinions and views even of
prophets may contain error unless those opinions and views are inspired by the Spirit. Inspired statements
are scripture and should be accepted as such. (D. & C. 68:4.)

Since "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" (1 Cor. 14:32), whatever is announced by
the presiding brethren as counsel for the Church will be the voice of inspiration. But the truth or error of
any uninspired utterance of an individual will have to be judged by the standard works and the spirit of
discernment and inspiration that is in those who actually enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost.
President Joseph Fielding Smith has said: "It makes no difference what is written or what anyone has
said, if what has been said is in conflict with what the Lord has revealed, we can set it aside. My words,
and the teachings of any other member of the Church, high or low, if they do not square with the
revelations, we need not accept them. Let us have this matter clear. We have accepted the four standard
works as the measuring yardsticks, or balances, by which we measure every man's doctrine.
"You cannot accept the books written by the authorities of the Church as standards of doctrine, only in
so far as they accord with the revealed word in the standard works.

"Every man who writes is responsible, not the Church, for what he writes. If Joseph Fielding Smith
writes something which is out of harmony with the revelations, then every member of the Church is duty
bound to reject it. If he writes that which is in perfect harmony with the revealed word of the Lord, then it
should be accepted." (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, pp. 203-204.)