Prophets
What has been taught in the past about prophets? What is the criteria for a Mormon prophet? Will they ever lead the church astray? Are they infallible? Are the members allowed to criticize or question the prophets?
Ronald A. Rasband
October 2021
We are distinguished as a Church to be led by prophets, seers, and revelators called of God for this time. I promise that as you listen and follow their counsel, you will never be led astray. Never!
[Ronald A. Rasband, "The Things of My Soul" Oct 2021 General Conference]
Russell M. Nelson
June 2020
Joy D. Jones: President Nelson, would you ever lead anyone astray?
Russell M. Nelson: Oh, no.
Joy D. Jones: That's not what prophets do, is it?
Russell M. Nelson: Some of them have said, if the President of the Church should ever lead people astray, God would take him away. So I'd like to stay here. And I won't lead you astray. Do you know what the word prophet means? He speaks for God. And so, God won't lead you astray. And the prophet will not lead you astray because God loves you.
["Follow the Prophets -They Speak for God" video put out by the church]
Russell M. Nelson
2014
Counterbalances and safeguards abound so that no one can ever lead the Church astray. Senior leaders are constantly being tutored such that one day they are ready to sit in the highest councils. They learn how to hear the voice of the Lord through the whisperings of the Spirit.
While serving as First Counselor to President Ezra Taft Benson, who was then nearing the end of his mortal life, President Gordon B. Hinckley explained: "The principles and procedures which the Lord has put in place for the governance of His church make provision for any circumstance. It is important that there be no doubts or concerns about the governance of the Church and the exercise of the prophetic gifts, including the right to inspiration and revelation in administering the affairs and programs of the Church, when the President may be ill or is not able to function fully."
[Russell M. Nelson "Sustaining the Prophets" October 2014 General Conference]
M. Russell Ballard
October 2014
Keep the eyes of the mission on the leaders of the Church. We will not and can not lead you astray.
[M. Russell Ballard, "Stay in the Boat and Hold On!" October 2014 General Conference]
James E. Faust
October 2005
The President of the Church will not lead the people of the Church astray. It will never happen. President Hinckley's counselors sustain him fully, as do the Quorum of the Twelve, the Quorums of the Seventy, and the Presiding Bishopric. As a result, as I have said before, a special love and harmony exist in the presiding councils of the Church for our President and for each other.
[James E. Faust, "Called and Chosen," October 2005 General Conference]
M. Russell Ballard
April 2001
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.
[M. Russell Ballard, "Follow the Prophet," April 2001 General Conference]
Gordon B. Hinckley
April 1996
I give you my solemn testimony that this Church will never be led astray. It is in the hands of God, and should any of its leaders ever attempt to lead it astray, His is the power to remove them. He has said that He has restored His work for the last time, "never again to be destroyed nor given to other people "
[Gordon B. Hinckley, "Stand True and Faithful," April 1996 General Conference]
James E. Faust
October 1994
Today I speak of keys other than those of metal. The keys I speak of never rust. These are the keys of life and salvation in the kingdom of God. The Prophet Joseph Smith said, “I will give you a key that will never rust, if you will stay with the majority of the Twelve Apostles, and the records of the Church, you will never be led astray.”
Gene R. Cook
April 1982
Brothers and sisters, no Latter-day Saint will go astray if he will follow the inspired counsel of the Lord and his servants.
Carlos E. Asay
October 1981
Follow the living prophets, as we have just been admonished. One Church leader taught: “Always keep your eye on the President of the Church, and if he ever tells you to do anything, and it is wrong, and you do it, the Lord will bless you for it. … But you don’t need to worry. The Lord will never let his mouthpiece lead the people astray.” (Heber J. Grant, quoted by Marion G. Romney in Conference Report, Oct. 1960, p. 78.) We walk in uncharted mine fields and place our souls in jeopardy when we receive the teachings of anyone except he that is ordained of God.
[Carlos E. Asay, "Opposition to the Work of God," October 1981 General Conference]
Ezra Taft Benson
February 1980
The prophet will never lead the Church astray.
President Wilford Woodruff stated: “I say to Israel, The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as president of the Church to lead you astray. It is not in the program. It is not in the mind of God.” (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, selected by G. Homer Durham [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1946], pp. 212-213.)
President Marion G. Romney tells of this incident which happened to him:
I remember years ago when I was a Bishop I had President [Heber J.] Grant talk to our ward. After the meeting I drove him home. . . .Standing by me, he put his arm over my shoulder and said: “My boy, you always keep your eye on the President of the Church, and if he ever tells you to do anything, and it is wrong, and you do it, the Lord will bless you for it.” Then with a twinkle in his eye, he said, “But you don’t need to worry. The Lord will never let his mouthpiece lead the people astray.” [In Conference Report, October 1960, p. 78]
[Ezra Taft Benson, "Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet," February 1980]
Official Declaration 1
October 1890
Excerpts from Three Addresses by
President Wilford Woodruff
Regarding the Manifesto
The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so He will any other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty. (Sixty-first Semiannual General Conference of the Church, Monday, October 6, 1890, Salt Lake City, Utah. Reported in Deseret Evening News, October 11, 1890, p. 2.)
It matters not who lives or who dies, or who is called to lead this Church, they have got to lead it by the inspiration of Almighty God. If they do not do it that way, they cannot do it at all. …
Wilford Woodruff
President Wilford Woodruff said that a prophet will never be allowed to lead the Church astray:
“The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff [2004], 199).
Improvement Era
June 1945
In the June 1945 Improvement Era, a Ward Teaching message was released. (Ward Teachers were basically the same as Home Teachers –learn more from William Hartley’s Dialogue article) This message was published in an official church magazine and was meant to be taught in every member’s home. Part of the message reads:
“When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done. When they propose a plan –it is God’s plan. When they point the way, there is no other which is safe. When they give direction, it should mark the end of controversy. God works in no other way. To think otherwise, without immediate repentance, may cost one his faith, may destroy his testimony, and leave him a stranger to the kingdom of God.” [Improvement Era, June 1945, page 354]
George Albert Smith
December 7, 1945
Five months later, however, a Dr. J. Raymond Cope of The Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkley, wrote a concerned letter to President George Albert Smith concerning that specific passage. “I do not know who is responsible for this statement, but I am sure it is doing inestimable harm to many who have no other reason to question the integrity of the Church leaders. Many people are suffering because of this.”
In his response to Dr. Cope, President George Albert Smith said, “I am pleased to assure you that you are right in your attitude that the passage quoted does not express the true position of the Church. Even to imply that members of the Church are not to do their own thinking is grossly to misrepresent the true ideal of the Church…” [italics in original]. [Both letters can be read in full in Dialogue’s “A 1945 Perspective”]
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