Come, Listen to a Prophet's Voice

The prophet and president of the church when I was born was President David O. MacKay.  He passed away when I was 17 and was followed by President Joseph Fielding Smith.  I stood in a line that snaked around the block the church office building (the old one that faces South Temple in Salt Lake City) sat on, to participate in mourning with thousands of others as President MacKay lay in state.  After a short term as Prophet, President Smith was followed by President Harold B. Lee, who signed my mission call.  He was followed by President Spencer W. Kimball, who was followed by President Ezra Taft Benson, who was followed by Howard W. Hunter, who was followed by President Gordon B. Hinckley, who visited my mission while yet a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, with his wife, Marjorie Pay Hinckley. President Hinckley was followed by our present Prophet, Thomas S. Monson.  I had the opportunity to photograph President Monson, while he was still in the Quorum of the Twelve, when he came to the College I was attending to speak at a devotional, at the LDS Institute of Religion there.  I was the institute photographer at the time.  Somewhere I probably still have the negative of that photo. Today and yesterday, during General Conference, it has seemed that President Monson has not been in as good health as he was last October at conference. He did not give his usual “bumper-talks” to open and close conference and the two addresses he did deliver were shorter and delivered with less strength than his addresses have been in the past.  He seems to have lost a little ground in his health in the last six months.

Over the years, as I have had the opportunity to listen to the various prophets, and read of others from times past, I have occasionally been brought to the realization that being a prophet of God has to be a difficult thing, a calling that requires a great deal of sacrifice, one that requires significant confidence that it truly is a call from the Lord.  In our dispensation, only the first, President Joseph Smith, Jr, has been called upon to die in the service of the Lord, while serving as prophet.  But it occurred to me some time ago that it is, in my opinion, often just as hard to live for the gospel as it is to die for it. I think that is particularly true of prophets. So why would anyone wear themselves out, tolerate the abuse, criticism and ridicule, and take the risks that so often have accompanied the call to act as the prophet of the Lord to the world?  Even in times like at present, when the church is relatively well known, respected and even honored for many of its works, there are still voices of ridicule and sources of persecution to the church and the prophets. So why do they do it?  Why do they tolerate such treatment from those that would mock and hinder them in their assignment from the Lord?  It is out of love.

During his earthly ministry, Jesus was asked which was the greatest of all the commandments.  “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets”  (Matthew 22:37-40).  The two commandments he identified are, to me, no surprise as to being identified as the two greatest commandments.  But the sentence he added at the end had always mystified me a little bit as to what he meant by it.  But then the other day I was studying Zenos’ Allegory of the Olive Vineyard in Jacob 5.and it occurred to me that it was out of love that prophets serve.  In the Allegory of the Olive Vineyard twice the master of the vineyard said he was going to destroy either the branches or the whole trees because of their corruptness and each time it was the servant helping him that persuaded him to spare the vineyard a little longer, to give it another try (Jacob 5:26, 27 and 50, 51).

I began to think of other indicators scattered through the scriptures that show the love of prophets for the people they serve.  I thought of Abraham, boldly negotiating, if you will, with the Lord over the fate of the City of Sodom.  When the Lord mentioned He as going to visit Sodom to see if its wickedness was enough to merit destruction Abraham asked if He intended to destroy the righteous along with the wicked and asked if He would spare the city if there were just fifty righteous people found.  Or if forty-five could be found, then for forty, then for thirty, then twenty, and finally of just ten righteous people can be found in the city (Genesis 18:20-33).

Nephi, speaks of writing and leaving a record so that perhaps he could persuade his people to come unto Christ (1 Nephi 19:18), and of laboring to write to persuade his children to be reconciled to Christ (2 Nephi 25:23), even though it was with great difficulty that they wrote on plates (Jacob 4:1) so the record would be preserved not just for a little while but for generations to come.  He wanted to reach the furthest generation of his descendants possible.  Nephi wrote of praying for his people by day, crying for their welfare by night, of asking in great faith that the Lord would hear his prayers for the welfare of his people (2 Nephi 33:3).

Jarom, the grandson of Nephi’s brother, Jacob, told of the efforts of the prophets, priests and teachers to labor diligently to teach the Law of Moses so the people would look forward to the Messiah with faith (Jarom 1:11).  The Book of Mormon is full of example after example of prophets laboring, teaching, imploring, working and risking their lives to bring the people to Christ.

The prophet Ezekiel tells of the calling of prophets to be watchmen unto the House of Israel who pass on the warnings from the Lord to the people (Ezekiel 33:1-9), who strive to be serve the people they are called to labor with.  Prophets are the watchmen the Lord has set in the tower (Ezekiel 3:17-21).  Isaiah speaks of watchmen able to report, “My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights” (Isaiah 21:8).

Moroni tells us of the ministry of angels, and thereby the ministry of Prophets: For behold, God knowing all things, being from everlasting to everlasting, behold, he sent angels to minister unto the children of men, to make manifest concerning the coming of Christ; and in Christ there should come every good thing. … neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men.  For behold, they are subject unto him, to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness. And the office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance, and to fulfill and to do the work of the covenants of the Father, which he hath made unto the children of men, to prepare the way among the children of men, by declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him. And by so doing, the Lord God prepareth the way that the residue of men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Ghost may have place in their hearts, according to the power thereof; and after this manner bringeth to pass the Father, the covenants which he hath made unto the children of men” (Moroni 7:22, 30-32 ).

President Monson, at a BYU Devotional speech delivered Sept 15, 2009, shortly after  becoming the 16th president of the church, related an experience from several years earlier, involving President Spencer W. Kimball.  He said, "For President Kimball, obstacles became his opportunities. He was totally dedicated, a worker such as one seldom sees. He cared not at all about personal aggrandizement.

"One day I was sitting in the temple near President Kimball. As I looked down, I noticed that he had a large hole in his shoe. And I mean large! His stocking showed through. After the meeting I said to Arthur Haycock, President Kimball’s secretary, “Arthur, you can’t let the President wear those shoes.”

"Arthur responded, “Has he got that pair out again? He has many pairs of shoes, and I frequently hide that pair, but he searches and finds that particular pair most of the time.”

President Hinckley said, on the occasion of the funeral of President Spencer W. Kimball on the 9th of Nov 1985, “I should just like to leave one thought. It has been my great privilege and opportunity to work at President Kimball’s side in the harness of the work of the Lord. On one occasion I tried to slow him down a little, and he said, “Gordon, my life is like my shoes—to be worn out in service.” He so lived. He so died. He has gone to the company of Him whose servant he was, even the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom he bore witness and testimony” (Ensign, Dec 1985).

Any time we are fortunate enough to hear, in a local conference or gathering, from one of the general authorities who associate regularly with the Prophet and Apostles, they express the love of the brethren to us.  L Aldin Porter, a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, speaking at a BYU Devotional Speech delivered 4 Feb 2001, said it well, “I thought if somehow I could help you understand the deep love and affection that our Brethren of the General Authorities have for you, my time tonight, and yours as well, would be well spent. Will you please know how deeply you are loved and respected and how very much concern and prayer goes up to our Father in Heaven in your behalf?” 

These brethren who are called to the Apostleship are never the same after accepting that call.  They sacrifice the rest of their lives to serve the Lord and the people they represent the Lord to.  They wear out their lives in well doing.  They give up their anonymity, their privacy, their normalcy, all because they love the Lord and his people.  Surely it is the motivation the Lord spoke of when he said the prophets hang on the love of the Lord, the pure love of Christ.

At that address delivered at BYU in 2009, President Monson spoke of each of the prophets that had served during his life time, relating experiences and describing character traits of each.  As he concluded his address, President Monson said, "As the sixteenth President of the Church, my story is yet to be summarized by those who will follow. In the meantime, I pledge my life, my strength—all that I have to offer—in serving the Lord and in directing the affairs of His Church in accordance with His will and by His inspiration."  And so he has.