Sustain Church Leaders and Follow The Prophet

“We Sustain Our Leaders”

Compared to the Bible by Connie Raddon

Color Key:

Quotes from the Ensign in blue.

Quotes from the Bible in red.

All my own words are black.

One of the monthly sections of the Ensign is called “What We Believe”.  In the March 2012 issue, this article is entitled “We Sustain Our Leaders”.  It is found on page 8-9.

The article begins, “Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus Christ Himself is the head of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He calls, through inspiration, prophets and apostles to lead His Church.”

Growing up LDS, I was taught to follow the prophet’s councel at virtually all costs if I wanted to be worthy of … well, everything I needed to be worthy of:  taking the sacrament each Sunday, holding a calling, attending the temple, having the Holy Ghost with me, and ultimately earning my eternal salvation. 

Following a prophet’s councel is not what the Bible teaches.  The Bible says that God used prophets to speak to His people only up until John.  After that, Jesus came. 

Hebrews 1:1-2 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets… in these last days has spoken to us in His Son…”

We have the direct words from Jesus in the Bible to lead us now.  And Jesus said we can trust it because it will not pass away.

Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” This was Jesus speaking.

When Jesus died, the veil in the temple was torn in half from the top to the bottom – in other words, it was torn by God.  That veil is what separated the inner temple from the Holy of Holies, where only the high priest could go to intercede between the people and God.  With that veil gone, the Holy of Holies is open for everyone.  Now believers can all have one on one direct contact with God.  So we have no more need of a prophet to speak to us for God.

The Ensign article explains five ways to follow the LDS leaders:

1.       We sustain the General Authorities of the Church

2.      We can show, by raising our hands, that we will sustain our local leaders and others who are called to serve us.  (In Church meetings, the congregation is sometimes asked to sustain the leaders by raising the right hand to show that they are in agreement.)

3.      We sustain our leaders by following their counsel.

4.      We sustain our leaders by accepting callings, for callings are extended to us “by those who are in authority” (Articles of Faith 1:5)

5.      We sustain our leaders by praying for them.

A different article in this same Ensign demonstrates a couple’s dedication to the LDS Church leaders.  The name of this article is “Follow the Prophet” written by Randall K. Bennett, Of the Seventy. 

In the weeks leading up to our engagement, Shelley and I had spent significant time talking about how we wanted to raise our family and what we wanted our marriage to be like.  One of the things at the center of that discussion was our determination to always follow the prophet.

Two months before we were engaged, we listened to lots of talks at the October 1976 general conference reinforcing the principles of self-reliance. 

…After our engagement, as Shelley and I contemplated the beginning of our marriage and family life, these messages were ringing in our ears.  Unbeknownst to each other, both of us were thinking about how to start home storage for our family.  To obey the counsel of that time, we needed to start acquiring a year’s supply of food.

They decided to sell her engagement ring to start their one year supply of food storage.  The article goes on to explain how good they feel about their decision.

In the years since, we have been blessed in many other ways by heeding the prophetic word.  We have learned not to question the validity of what the prophets and apostles teach or to wonder if it makes sense.

The Bible teaches that we SHOULD question the validity of what anyone calling themselves a prophet says.  The Bible says we SHOULD wonder if it makes sense.  Paul, an apostle called directly by Jesus Christ, was teaching the Bereans about Jesus.  He taught them that the Messiah had come, had died, and was now resurrected.  They didn’t take him at his own word, nor did they pray about it to get a burning in the bosom to know if it was true.  They studied their scriptures to see if what Paul was saying lined up with the Word of God.  Paul praised their study and called them noble-minded.

Acts 17:11 “Now these [the Bereans] were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

Bennett continues, “Some might call our actions blind obedience.  But we have the Lord’s personal promise that the prophets will never lead us astray.”

Mr. Bennett, I challenge you and all LDS people to be like the Bereans, and study the Bible to see whether these things are so. 

The teachings in the March 2012 issue of the Ensign

are NOT Biblical, and therefore,

NOT consistent with Christian beliefs.

Brigham Young issued a challenge on May 18, 1873 (as recorded in the Journal of Discourses, Vol. 16 p. 46):  “Take up the Bible, compare the religion of the Latter Day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test.”

I have accepted that challenge from Brigham Young.

In the March 2012 issue of the Ensign, the LDS religion FAILS this test.

Resources used for this article:

The Word of God (The Bible

The LDS magazine, “The Ensign”

My research partner, Art Haglund.

Thank you also to my husband, Ken, who sacrifices time with me while I study and write, and provides proofreading and editing services!

God Reveals Truth Through His Prophets

by Connie Raddon

Color Key:

Quotes from the Ensign article will be in blue.

Quotes from the Bible will be in red.

All my own words are black.

“God Reveals Truth… Through His … Prophets???”

Each month the “Ensign” has a section called “What We Believe”.  In the March 2011 issue, the article in this section is called “God Reveals Truth to His PROPHETS And To Us”.  (There is no specific author for this section – it is put together by the leadership of the church.  They cite “Gospel Principles 2009”, “True to the Faith”, and a talk given by Dallin H. Oaks as recorded in the Nov. 2010 Ensign, as references.)

The article begins, “A prophet is a special witness for Jesus Christ and testifies of His divinity.”

The Bible teaches it is not prophets who are called to witness and testify, but apostles.  In Acts 1:8, Jesus speaks to his apostles saying, “…and you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and all of Judea, and in Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Biblically, prophets are those with the gift of prophecy.  After Christ died, He sent the Holy Spirit to be with believers.  Through the Holy Spirit, each believer receives one or more spiritual gifts.  So there are many who are given the gift of prophecy today, not just one person.  The Bible demonstrates this:

Acts 13:1 “Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers:”

1 Corinthians 12:4-10  “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.  And there are also varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.  There are varieties of effect, but the same God who works in all things in all persons.  But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.  For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy…”

Jesus explains that some of these gifts are greater than others.  The LDS church has them out of order.

1 Corinthians 12:28 “And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations…”

The greatest is to be an apostle – one called to go out and testify as a special witness of the resurrected Christ.  The second is to be a prophet – which can either mean having the gift of foretelling future events, or the gift of understanding the Word of God with clarity and speaking it with power.

Notice how “administrations” of the church are much further down on the list? 

The Mormon church names their president as a prophet (who is responsible for the administrations of the church), claims there is only one prophet (who may or may not demonstrate the gift of prophecy), and calls apostles to work within the church – giving talks and assisting in administration (none of which claim to have a special witness of the resurrected Christ, nor do they go out from their homes to preach to the unbelievers), and placing the prophet above the apostles.  None of this is biblical.

The article continues, “God calls a prophet to be His representative on earth… Prophets are on the earth today just as they were anciently”

God had prophets as His representatives only under the OLD covenant.  Those who believe there are living prophets today to lead God’s people have a severe misunderstanding of what the difference is between the Old and the New Testaments.

The Bible that all the Law and all the prophets testified up until John the Baptist.  They were testifying of the person who came right after John – Jesus Christ!  Now that Christ has come, there is no more need for the Law or the prophets, because God speaks to us by His son, Jesus Christ.

Matthew 11:13 “For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John.”

Hebrews 1:1-2 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things…”

God’s Word, (The Bible) is complete, infallible, and totally sufficient for us.  If anyone claims that God is speaking to His church through them today, they might as well wear a huge sign that says, “I AM A FALSE PROPHET!”

And yet in this article, the LDS leaders claim, “When the prophet speaks for God, it is as if God is speaking.”

My entire life as a Mormon (41 years), I looked to the LDS prophet and apostles for guidance.  I almost never missed a session of conference so I could be edified and encouraged by their words.  I believed with all my heart that the prophet was speaking to me for God.  Then I turned to God in prayer to help me be worthy and obey the things that the prophet had spoken about.  I read the church magazines every month – as a teen, I read “The New Era”, and as an adult, “The Ensign”.  I thought I was keeping God’s words close to my mind.  If I believed I was living worthily, I was filled with self righteousness and pride when I listened to the prophet speak.  It was like he was giving me a huge pat on the back.  But if he spoke on a particular sin that I believed I was guilty of, I felt shame.  There was absolutely no comfort – no rest – no peace.  I had to just keep working as hard as I could to reach the light that was at the end of the tunnel (after this life).

Now I’ve learned that the LDS prophets cannot provide comfort, peace, forgiveness, mercy, or eternal life.  I have cleared all the obstacles out that stood between me and Christ – the bishop, the stake president, and all other LDS leaders, including the prophet.  I have a direct, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  There is peace and forgiveness in Christ that I never knew existed.  I want all Mormons to get it! 

Anyway, the article goes on to say,  “…the most common way God communicates with us is through the quiet spiritual promptings of the Holy Ghost.  Through personal revelation we can receive strength and answer to our prayers.”

There are two huge problems with this belief.  1)  The Bible does NOT teach it, and 2) it denies the purpose of God’s Word!  God communicates with us through – the WORD! 

First, I was always taught that I had to learn how to feel these “spiritual promptings”.  Time and time again I had warm feelings in my chest when I prayed about different things. For all I know, I created them myself.  But I believed I was being led by the Holy Ghost – that He was confirming the truth of what I was praying about. 

Here is the problem.  This is also the way that Muslims get confirmation that Allah is the one true God, and that their holy book is the most correct book on the earth, and that God’s will for them is bring his kingdom to earth by killing all those who don’t believe the way they do.   Who is right, the Mormon or the Muslim?  They both got confirmation by feeling “spiritual promptings”.   I know as a Mormon, I believed I was right just because I KNEW I was right.  I was being very self-centered and arrogant by having that belief.  It only served to keep my eyes closed and my nose turned up to hearing anything other than what my “church” taught me.

The Bible warns about trusting our feelings, hearts, or emotions.  They are evil.  They are fickle.  They can be easily manipulated by our circumstances, Satan, or even us.

Matthew 15:19  “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”

Proverbs 28:26  “He who follows his heart is a fool.  But he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.”

We ‘follow our hearts’ by trusting spiritual promptings to confirm truth.  We ‘walk in wisdom’ by studying God’s word.   

I understand that God can use our feelings – he can move us and guide us with promptings.  But he will NEVER confirm TRUTH that way. 

Jesus never suggested to his disciples, or to anyone to pray about what He was teaching.  In fact, in much of His teachings, He quoted from the Old Testament.  If it’s good enough for Jesus, shouldn’t it be good enough for us?

The LDS church teaches that everyone who is a member of the LDS church and has received “the gift of the Holy Ghost” through the LDS priesthood can receive personal revelation.  This article says, “Keep the commandments so you can be worthy to receive inspiration from the Holy Ghost.”

Well, as an LDS woman, I wanted to have personal revelation and inspiration in my life.  I was taught that any time I needed to make an important decision, I should ponder in my mind what to do – come to a decision on my own, and then pray about whether it was the right thing to do or not.  I did this many times.  And when I felt a warm feeling, I believed it was the Holy Ghost confirming that my decision was correct.  In other words, I had received “personal revelation”. 

The problem was that I knew that no one was perfect – including me.  So to some extent, my sin could be making me not worthy, or not “in tune” with the Holy Ghost, making me less able to receive or interpret any kind of personal revelation.  I never really knew to what extent my sin was blocking the Holy Ghost from me.  Many times I felt I had received confirmation about a decision, and went ahead with it.  Then if things didn’t work out, I would always be second guessing myself: “Did I misunderstand the revelation?”  “Was I unworthy to receive the personal revelation I thought I received?”  “Was I only 80% worthy, and therefore only got 80% of the revelation?”  “Was I completely off, and don’t really understand how to interpret the revelation of the Holy Ghost?” etc. etc. etc.

There was no peace.  

There was no comfort. 

The only way to have complete peace and comfort would have been to not care whether I was pleasing God or not – but I did care, so I lived in a nagging turmoil.

In August 2009, I was born again, receiving the true Jesus Christ, and finding true peace.

On May 18, 1873 (as recorded in the Journal of Discourses, Vol. 16 p. 46), Brigham Young issued a challenge:  “Take up the Bible, compare the religion of the Latter Day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test.”

I have accepted that challenge from Brigham Young.

In the March 2011 issue of the Ensign, the LDS religion fails this test.