Our Watchman on the Tower

I do not need to tell you that we are facing challenging times. So much discussion today is about how hard things are, how confusing, how desperate, even how hopeless. Those reactions should not surprise us.

Prophets saw our day and spoke of men being “lovers of their own selves … lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:2, 4), of “commotion” (see Doctrine and Covenants 45:26), “mist[s] of darkness” (1 Nephi 12:4), and “temptations of the devil” (1 Nephi 12:17).

Of all the things I could address, I have just one piece of advice that covers almost any circumstance you may face and will help you stay true to the Lord your God:

Choose to follow God’s living prophet. He is our watchman on the tower.

Choose to follow God’s living prophet, and you will never be distanced from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Listening intently and following the counsel of the prophet is not something just for conference weekend or in Sunday services. To follow the prophet is a pattern you establish in your life to help you stand firmly with the Lord. When you hear the living prophet speak, you hear words of revelation. Align your desires, efforts, activities, and personal prayers with the direction given by President Nelson, the prophet of God on the earth today. The living prophet leads and guides this Church right now according to the Lord’s commands.

I promise you that as you heed the counsel of the prophet, you will have patience with your situations and with your challenges. You will find the inner strength to square your shoulders and press on. The Lord will bless you when you follow the living prophet.

Understand the Role of the Prophet

Like the prophet Samuel the Lamanite in the Book of Mormon, President Nelson is essentially standing on the wall, preaching the gospel, prophesying and “speak[ing] the words of the Lord which he doth put into [his] heart” (Helaman 13:5). Like in Samuel’s time, some are annoyed by our prophet’s calls for repentance, and they sling arrows to discredit the prophet and the Church. That approach is not new, nor will it be successful. When a mob martyred Joseph Smith at Carthage Jail, they expected that silencing him would do away with the Church he led as well. It did not. The Church today is 17 million strong and growing across the globe because the truth of God, as Joseph Smith taught, will go forth “boldly, nobly, and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”¹

Keep your faith in Jesus Christ strong so you can defend against attacks upon righteous living and the restored gospel. Wherever you go, there will be those who wish to do the Church harm, who hope to dissuade you from truth, who mock faith and challenge doctrine. Determine right now you will not join them, that you will be “steadfast and immovable” (see Mosiah 5:15; Alma 1:25; 1 Nephi 2:10; 3 Nephi 6:14). Recognize that as President Nelson has taught, “their skeptical teachings try to diminish the divinity of the mission of the Savior and even try to nullify the doctrine of the Atonement.”²

Seek a Testimony of the Living Prophet

I have always believed that presidents of the Church are called of God. Each one of them in my lifetime has left an imprint that has brought me closer to the Savior. These men have spent a lifetime in service to the Lord, being prepared for their singular calling as the “watchman on the tower” (Ezekiel 33:2) for all the Church.

I have a special memory of the calling and ordination of President Russell M. Nelson as President of the Church. When I first heard that President Monson had passed away, I was sad to lose this wise, thoughtful, and energetic prophet. I knew that the Lord had prepared his successor, Elder Nelson, to shoulder the mantle of the prophet, and as the song says, “to guide us in these latter-days.”³

Elder Nelson had been my quorum president in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and a dear and loving friend. He was then the senior Apostle and by precedent would be the next prophet. I sought a personal witness that this was the Lord’s desire.

From the day President Monson died until the day President Nelson, senior Apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve, was ordained as President of the Church, we operated in what is known formally as an apostolic interregnum. I had never been a part of the transition of prophetic leadership from one prophet called of God to another. We gathered as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Salt Lake Temple to reorganize the Presidency of the Church and ordain President Nelson as prophet, seer, and revelator, holding all the keys of the priesthood for the Lord’s work on the earth. That was one of those special experiences that enhanced my testimony, drew me closer to the Lord, and enhanced my faith in divine revelation.

When we formed a circle around President Nelson, laying our hands upon his head, I immediately received the spiritual confirmation I had desired. The feeling I received from the Spirit was both beautiful and memorable. I need only look at President Nelson and it comes back to me. I knew then, and I testify now, that President Nelson is God’s prophet on the earth today. He serves Jesus Christ, whose Church this is, as did the 16 Presidents before him.

Choose to Follow Him

How about you? Have you diligently listened for promptings from the Holy Ghost that President Nelson is called by God to lead His Church? If you are casual about knowing President Nelson’s prophetic mantle, I encourage you to seek that witness. You need to know in your very soul that President Nelson speaks for God. Having the Holy Spirit confirm that truth makes it natural and easy to follow his counsel, to sincerely sustain him, and to place priority on those things he asks you to do.

Prophets have a singular role to teach of the Savior Jesus Christ and to lead us along the covenant path to Him. No one seeks the office. There is no campaigning, no debate or politics. Lorenzo Snow is a great example. He was president of the Salt Lake Temple and President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when Wilford Woodruff died. President Snow went to the temple and poured out his heart, saying, “I have not sought this responsibility but if it be Thy will, I now present myself before Thee for Thy guidance and instruction.”4 And he waited, kneeling at the altar. No voice, no visitation or manifestation came. Nothing. He left the room and then, in the corridor, the Lord appeared and spoke with him “face-to-face.”

This is the Lord’s Church and He calls his prophets, His watchmen on the tower.

I leave with you my apostolic blessing that when you seek your witness that President Russell M. Nelson is the Lord’s prophet, your life will fall in line with sacred teachings and you will feel the Spirit with you and the love of your Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. I promise that as you act on the prophet’s counsel to repent, you will recognize the power of the Atonement in your life. “May Christ lift thee up” (Moroni 9:25), as it says at the close of the Book of Mormon. Be prepared to join with the hosts of heaven when the Savior returns, that you will know him as “Lord of lords, and King of kings” (Revelations 17:14).

Notes

1. “Church History,” Times and Seasons, Mar. l, 1842, 709.
2. Russell M. Nelson, “Reflection and Resolution” (Brigham Young University devotional, Jan. 7, 1990), 4, speeches.byu.edu.
3. “We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet,” Hymns, no. 19.
4. Lorenzo Snow, in LeRoi C. Snow, “An Experience of My Father’s,” Improvement Era, Sept. 1933, 677.