The Role of Prophets

Seeking answers to our questions can draw us closer to Jesus Christ if we apply sound principles. Understanding how to receive revelation when seeking answers is important. See the topic “Recognize That Revelation Is a Process” to explore more tips on answering questions.

Overview

Since ancient times, God has called prophets to testify of Jesus Christ and declare His word. God prepares, calls, and leads prophets to accomplish His eternal purposes. The scriptures contain the teachings of many prophets, such as Moses, Isaiah, Elijah, and Nephi. Each spoke to the people in their language, time, and place, giving inspired direction and timely warnings.

God continues to call prophets in our time. The Prophet Joseph Smith received authority from God to administer gospel covenants and priesthood ordinances and restore the Church of Jesus Christ. He also received revelation clarifying important truths about God and His plan for His children. His successors as President of the Church have had the same authority to receive revelation to add to gospel knowledge and to guide the Church. This principle of continuing revelation is a central feature of the restored gospel.

Latter-day Saints sustain the President of the Church, his counselors in the First Presidency, and members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators. Church teachings are declared by the united voice of these living prophets. Doctrine is declared and interpreted by the President of the Church and sustained by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve acting in unanimity, following the pattern given in Doctrine and Covenants 107:27–31.

The Lord has called mortal men to be His prophets. Like all of God’s children, they experience the trials of mortality, but the Lord works through them to perform His work. He has commanded the Church to heed their counsel “in all patience and faith.” If we do, He promises to “disperse the powers of darkness from before [us], and cause the heavens to shake for [our] good.”

Related gospel study guides:

“Prophets”
“Priesthood Keys”

Exploring Your Questions

Why is it important for me to listen to prophets?

Jesus Christ restored His Church in the last days to help Him accomplish His marvelous work: He desires to teach covenant blessings, facilitate forgiveness for sin, and offer help through trials to all God’s children; unite a divided world around His teachings and example; and connect all generations of the human family through the ordinances of salvation and exaltation.

The Lord calls prophets and gives them authority to direct this work. He gives them revelation to help them know what to emphasize and how to move God’s work forward. Even though prophets come from different backgrounds and have different talents and perspectives, they humbly seek and receive the Lord’s will for His Church.

Seeking understanding and confirmation of prophets’ divine callings by faithfully applying their teachings is an element of discipleship. Following prophets can require “patience and faith” because we may not always understand the divine purpose of revelations and teachings revealed to a prophet. Though we may have questions, the Lord asks us to follow the direction of His servants with faith in His perfect knowledge and the power of His Atonement.

When we heed the words of prophets, we invite the Holy Spirit into our lives. We join a worldwide community of disciples of Jesus Christ committed to building the kingdom of God on earth. As we follow prophetic counsel, we gain access to the blessings of divine power and eternal peace promised to those who enter into and keep gospel covenants.

How can I gain a witness that the Lord guides His Church through prophets?

God wants His children to listen to and trust His prophets. As we seek with real intent, we can gain a personal testimony that He guides His Church today.

We can put into practice the counsel of the prophet Alma. “Experiment upon my words,” he urged the Zoramites, “and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.”

Alma further explained: “We will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed,” and “ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, … it will begin to swell within your breasts” and you will say, “It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.”

As Alma taught, we can experiment upon the words of the prophets. For example, where possible, we can act on the prophet’s counsel to make a regular appointment to worship in the house of the Lord. As we do, we can watch for the blessings the prophet promised. Recognizing these blessings strengthens our faith in the words of living prophets.

The cultivation of the seed by our faith is a lifelong process, but we can begin today to gain spiritual assurance of living prophets and heed their counsel with patience and faith.

Are Church leaders infallible?

Only Jesus Christ lived a perfect life. Church leaders strive to live righteous lives and bring people to Jesus Christ through their words and actions, but they are subject to human weakness. Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not infallible.

But we should not lose sight of their vital role. The Lord calls members of the Church’s First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to be “special witnesses of the name of Christ” and to act as prophets, seers, and revelators in our day. Like ancient prophets, they commune with God and reveal His will. They have divine authority to guide the Church by revelation, administer the ordinances of the gospel, and direct the Lord’s work on the earth. This doesn’t mean they know all things. They work according to the light the Lord has given them, seek further knowledge through continuing revelation, and rely on the strengthening power they receive through Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

The Lord has always worked through mortal prophets despite their weakness. Like Jonah fleeing his call to Nineveh, Peter cutting off the soldier’s ear, or Joseph Smith giving pages from the Book of Mormon translation to Martin Harris, prophets may sometimes make mistakes. In such cases, the Lord corrects His servants, and after they repent, He blesses them to fulfill the work He called them to do.

It is important to remember how the doctrine of the Church is established. Doctrine is declared and interpreted by the President of the Church and sustained by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve acting in unanimity, following the pattern given in Doctrine and Covenants 107:27–31. “This requirement of unanimity provides a check on bias and personal idiosyncrasies. It ensures that God rules through the Spirit, not man through majority or compromise.” A teaching by an individual Church leader might represent “a personal, though well-considered, opinion, not meant to be official or binding for the whole Church.”

Through the Holy Spirit, each of us may receive a personal assurance that prophets are called by God and that He directs His work through them.

What does it mean that the prophet will never lead the Church astray?

President Wilford Woodruff said, “The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray.” Prophets and apostles have reaffirmed this teaching across generations. Doctrine is declared and interpreted by the President of the Church and sustained by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve acting in unanimity, following the pattern given in Doctrine and Covenants 107:27–31.

Latter-day Saints believe the fulness of the restored gospel and the authority of the priesthood will never again be taken from the earth. This means that God will always guide prophets to ensure that the Church fulfills its mission to prepare His children for the blessings of eternal life. He will continue to reveal His will to prophets line upon line, increasing our understanding and eliminating error as part of the unfolding Restoration of the gospel.

Why do some things in the Church change over time?

In Doctrine and Covenants 1:30, the Lord declares that the Church is “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth.” Yet all living things develop and change. The Church’s practices are different today than even just a few years ago. This is an essential feature of the Church, which was founded on the principle of ongoing revelation. Latter-day Saints believe that God “will yet reveal many great and important things.”

Continuing revelation can expand or refine our understanding, lead us to change some of our traditions, and help us draw ever nearer to the ideal of Zion. The worldwide Church adjusts so its policies can meet the needs of specific times and places. After all, the needs of the Saints in the 19th-century American frontier were in many ways vastly different from those of the millions of Church members scattered around the globe today.

Most of the changes we experience in the Church involve the practical implementation of gospel principles, such as how we conduct Sabbath worship or minister to one another in our wards and branches. Sometimes revelation has led to more significant changes in Church teachings and practices. Examples include the official declarations found in the Doctrine and Covenants, which led to the end of the practice of plural marriage and extended priesthood and temple blessings to all regardless of race.

Are the teachings of living prophets more important than those of the scriptures or of past Church leaders?

Living prophets, the scriptures, and past Church leaders are all important. The primary purpose of these three sources of truth is to bear witness of the saving mission of Jesus Christ. We should seek to understand the important role each source plays and how they relate to one another.

The scriptures are a source of important truths revealed over thousands of years and in many cultural settings. They keep essential gospel truths always before our eyes. They testify of Christ and give occasion for the Spirit to speak to us. The teachings of past prophets of the Restoration provide a similar spiritual resource. We should seek to understand the scriptures and the teachings of past prophets in the context in which they were given and gratefully embrace the revealed truths they share.

Living prophets hold the priesthood keys necessary to lead the Church and administer the ordinances of the gospel today. They add their testimony of Christ to those expressed by past prophets. They help us see how the truths of the gospel apply to our current circumstances. They receive new revelation for the Church, adjusting past directions to present circumstances as directed by the Lord. Sometimes their teachings supersede those of past prophets. Most often, their words reinforce the teachings of the scriptures and the words of past prophets.

Learn more

Russell M. Nelson, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2018, 93–96
Neil L. Andersen, “The Prophet of God,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2018, 24–27