“Special Witness: Our Living Prophet,” Friend, May 2003, 7
Special Witness:
Our Living Prophet
From an April 2001 general conference address.
Elder M. Russell Ballard sustains the prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, and teaches us about the importance of having a living prophet. Did you know that Elder Ballard’s grandfathers were both Apostles?
It is no small thing, my brothers and sisters, to have a prophet of God in our midst. Great and wonderful are the blessings that come into our lives as we listen to the word of the Lord given to us through him. …
Today I make you a promise. It’s a simple one, but it is true. If you will listen to the living prophet and the apostles and heed our counsel, you will not go astray. …
Now, I speak directly to the young people of the Church on this important subject of following the prophet. As I have traveled throughout the Church … I have noticed that many of you are eagerly following his counsel. … Many of you are striving more diligently. … To those of you who have not listened yet, I caution you to not disregard the counsel of the President of the Church. He has spoken to you plainly. Study his words and strive to obey them. They are true and come from God. We encourage you who need to repent to go forward with faith and become clean before the Lord. Each one of you is preparing now to be a leader in the Church in the future, and we need you to be clean and faithful and true to the Lord. …
I promise you in the name of the Lord that if you will listen not just with your ears but also with your heart, the Holy Ghost will manifest the truth unto you of the messages delivered by President Hinckley, his counselors, the Apostles, and other leaders of the Church. The Spirit will prompt you to know what you should do as individuals and as families in order to follow our counsel, that your testimonies might be strengthened and that you might have peace and joy.
Photo by Jed Clark