“Chapter 21: Prophets,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Russell M. Nelson (2023)
“Chapter 21,” Teachings: Russell M. Nelson
Chapter 21
Prophets
The living Lord leads His living Church! The Lord reveals His will for the Church to His prophet.
From the Life of Russell M. Nelson
Before serving as the 17th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Russell M. Nelson had great respect for prophets of God. He is an example of humbly and quickly following a prophet’s teachings.
In 1979, while serving as General President of the Sunday School, Russell M. Nelson was invited to a meeting where President Spencer W. Kimball “charged us to pray that the doors of nations would be opened so that the gospel of Jesus Christ could be brought to all people on earth. He specifically mentioned China and asked that we pray for the people of China. … ‘Be of service to the Chinese people. … Learn their language. … Pray for them and help them.’”
Brother Nelson returned home to his wife, Dantzel, and said: “President Kimball asked us in that meeting to learn Chinese! And I did not hear him say, ‘Everyone except Brother Nelson!’ So, would you be willing to study Mandarin Chinese with me?” She agreed, and they were tutored in Mandarin.
Six weeks later, Dr. Nelson was attending the annual meeting of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. He explained, “I found myself sitting by a Chinese doctor. He introduced himself as Professor Wu Ying-Kai from Beijing, China!” This led to a meaningful friendship and an invitation for Dr. Nelson to work as a visiting professor of surgery at Shandong Medical University in Jinan, China.
Dr. Nelson visited China several times in the 1980s, meeting people who became trusted colleagues and dear friends. One of these friends, Dr. Zhang Zhenxiang, said:
“Dr. Nelson worked very hard and did an excellent job. Everybody was very happy about the result of the operations, and the postoperative course of every patient ran smoothly. The Chinese surgeons and nurses were very pleased because they had learned so much from this caring, patient American surgeon.”
Dr. Nelson performed his last open-heart surgery in 1985, on Chinese opera star Mr. Fang Rongxiang. His successful work endeared him to the Chinese people and opened the way for future visits with academic and government leaders in his role as Apostle.
One of the blessings of Elder Nelson’s willingness to quickly follow President Kimball’s invitation happened in Toronto, Canada, on April 15, 1990, when Elder Nelson baptized his friend Dr. Zhang Zhenxiang. A year later, Elder Nelson performed Dr. Zhang’s sealing to his wife in the recently dedicated Toronto Ontario Temple.
President Nelson said, “It is my testimony that when we follow through with whatever the prophet of God asks us to do, the way will be opened and lives will be changed.”
Teachings of Russell M. Nelson
1
A prophet is one called of God to speak for Him
A prophet is one called of God to speak for Him. Throughout history, prophets have testified of Jesus Christ and have taught His gospel. Through prophets, revelation is communicated from God to His children.
All leaders in the Lord’s Church are called by proper authority. No prophet or any other leader in this Church, for that matter, has ever called himself or herself. No prophet has ever been elected. The Lord made that clear when He said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you” [John 15:16]. You and I do not “vote” on Church leaders at any level. We do, though, have the privilege of sustaining them.
The ways of the Lord are different from the ways of man. … Our sustaining of prophets is a personal commitment that we will do our utmost to uphold their prophetic priorities. …
The living Lord leads His living Church! The Lord reveals His will for the Church to His prophet.
I testify that those you sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators receive their instructions from the Lord, Jesus Christ. We are His servants.
Study Question
How has God spoken to you through the words of His living prophets?
2
God has always taught His children on the earth through prophets
If the Restoration did anything, it shattered the age-old myth that God had stopped talking to His children. Nothing could be further from the truth. A prophet has stood at the head of God’s Church in all dispensations, from Adam to the present day. Prophets testify of Jesus Christ—of His divinity and of His earthly mission and ministry. We honor the Prophet Joseph Smith as the prophet of this last dispensation. And we honor each man who has succeeded him as President of the Church.
Joseph Smith is the prophet of this dispensation. Now, there have been many previous dispensations of time, but ours is unique because all those previous dispensations … ended in apostasy, and they were limited in location to a small segment of planet Earth. But this dispensation will be different. It will not end in apostasy, and it will fill the entire earth.
Study Question
What truths about God have you learned from ancient and latter-day prophets?
3
Prophets are ordinary men who have been given an extraordinary calling
I am an ordinary man. I put on my shoes one at a time, I get hungry, and I get sleepy, but every prophet has been that way. They are ordinary men who have been given an extraordinary calling.
I have always been a praying person, but the answers to my prayers are now coming in the middle of the night—usually when I’m fast asleep. When I was a medical doctor, I used to get a lot of phone calls at night. Now my phone doesn’t ring at night, but I still get calls, instructions from the Lord for me and for His children.
Prophets see ahead. They see the harrowing dangers the adversary has placed or will yet place in our path. Prophets also foresee the grand possibilities and privileges awaiting those who listen with the intent to obey. I know this is true! I have experienced it for myself over and over again.
The Lord has promised us that He will never allow the prophet to lead us astray. … You may not always understand every declaration of a living prophet. But when you know a prophet is a prophet, you can approach the Lord in humility and faith and ask for your own witness about whatever His prophet has proclaimed.
Study Questions
What do you find extraordinary about the calling of a prophet? How have you come to know that a living prophet, though an imperfect man, is called of God?
4
We honor Joseph Smith as the great Prophet of the Restoration
We honor Joseph Smith as the great Prophet of the Restoration. … What was it that made him so great? He was foreordained from the foundation of the earth to reveal Jesus Christ to this generation!
In the high and holy calling to which I have been summoned, just as it is my conviction as a special witness to proclaim the divinity of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, so it is my solemn privilege to proclaim the role of Joseph Smith as a prophet, seer, and revelator to this modern era, the dispensation of the fulness of times. …
I fervently and sincerely declare to you that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, foreordained from before the foundations of the earth to the mission assigned to him, for which he paid with his life. I commit myself to continue the work, building on the foundation that he laid.
Because of the ministry of Joseph Smith, we know the true nature of our Heavenly Father and of His beloved Son. We know the interrelationships between the Creation, the Fall of Adam, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We understand the eternal nature of our existence—before birth and after death, the state of the soul between death and resurrection, and more about Paul’s description of the three degrees of glory.
Through the ministry of the Prophet Joseph Smith, we know that Jesus is Lord and Creator of this world and many others, that the purpose of life is to attain joy—as individuals and as families, that the glory of God is intelligence, and that the priesthood is an everlasting principle. …
Incredible! To me it seems almost inconceivable that any sincere and inquiring mind could doubt the prophetic mantle of Joseph Smith. But he himself prepared us for future attacks that would be levied against him. These are his words: “I never told you I was perfect; but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught” [Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2007), 522]. …
The life and deeds of Joseph Smith stand as eloquent evidence of his divine calling as the Prophet of the Restoration.
Study Questions
What are some truths the Lord restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith? How have these truths blessed your life?
5
Think about the majestic manner by which the Lord governs His Church
When we convene as a Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, our meeting rooms become rooms of revelation. The Spirit is palpably present. As we wrestle with complex matters, a thrilling process unfolds as each Apostle freely expresses his thoughts and point of view. Though we may differ in our initial perspectives, the love we feel for each other is constant. Our unity helps us to discern the Lord’s will for His Church.
In our meetings, the majority never rules! We listen prayerfully to one another and talk with each other until we are united. Then when we have reached complete accord, the unifying influence of the Holy Ghost is spine-tingling! We experience what the Prophet Joseph Smith knew when he taught, “By union of feeling we obtain power with God” [Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2007), 393–94]. No member of the First Presidency or Quorum of the Twelve would ever leave decisions for the Lord’s Church to his own best judgment!
Think about the majestic manner by which the Lord governs His Church. When a President of the Church passes away, there is no mystery about who is next called to serve in that capacity. There’s no electioneering, no campaigning, but only the quiet workings of a divine plan of succession put in place by the Lord Himself.
Each day of an Apostle’s service is a day of learning and preparing for more responsibility in the future. It takes decades of service for an Apostle to move from the junior chair to the senior chair in the circle. During that time, he gains firsthand experience in each facet of the work of the Church. He also becomes well acquainted with the peoples of the earth, including their histories, cultures, and languages, as assignments take him repeatedly across the globe. This process of succession in the leadership of the Church is unique. I know of nothing else like it. That should not surprise us, because this is the Lord’s Church. He does not work after the manner of men.
I’ve served in the Quorum of the Twelve under five previous Presidents of the Church. I have watched each President receive revelation and respond to that revelation. The Lord always has and always will instruct and inspire His prophets. The Lord is at the helm. We who have been ordained to bear witness of His holy name throughout the world will continue to seek to know His will and follow it.
Study Questions
How is the Lord’s way of governing His Church different from the world’s way of governing? What do you learn about the Lord from the way He governs His Church?
6
Because prophets care deeply about all of God’s children, they proclaim His truth
The Lord revealed why “he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets.” It is “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God” [Ephesians 4:11–13].
Thus the ministry of the Apostles—the First Presidency and the Twelve—is to bring about that unity of the faith and to proclaim our knowledge of the Master. Our ministry is to bless the lives of all who will learn and follow the “more excellent way” of the Lord [1 Corinthians 12:31]. And we are to help people prepare for their potential salvation and exaltation.
The Lord Jesus Christ, whose Church this is, appoints prophets and apostles to communicate His love and teach His laws.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” [Ephesians 2:20].
Each of the Lord’s apostles is in a position to observe and feel the love that Heavenly Father has for His children. …
Sometimes we as leaders of the Church are criticized for holding firm to the laws of God, defending the Savior’s doctrine, and resisting the social pressures of our day. But our commission as ordained apostles is “to go into all the world to preach [His] gospel unto every creature” [Doctrine and Covenants 18:28]. That means we are commanded to teach truth.
In doing so, sometimes we are accused of being uncaring as we teach the Father’s requirements for exaltation in the celestial kingdom. But wouldn’t it be far more uncaring for us not to tell the truth—not to teach what God has revealed?
It is precisely because we do care deeply about all of God’s children that we proclaim His truth. We may not always tell people what they want to hear. Prophets are rarely popular. But we will always teach the truth!
… Exaltation is not easy. Requirements include a focused and persistent effort to keep God’s laws, rigorously repenting when we don’t. But the reward for doing so is far greater than anything we can imagine, because it brings us joy here and “never-ending happiness” hereafter [Mosiah 2:41].
Thus our commission as apostles is to teach nothing but truth. That commission does not give us the authority to modify divine law.
Study Question
What have prophets taught you about the Savior’s love and laws?
7
It takes faith to follow prophets
It takes faith to follow prophets rather than pundits and popular opinion.
God’s long-established pattern of teaching His children through prophets assures us that He will bless each prophet and that He will bless those who heed prophetic counsel.
A desire to follow the prophet requires much effort because the natural man knows very little of God and even less of His prophet. … The change from being a natural man to a devoted disciple is a mighty one [see Mosiah 5:2; Alma 5:12–14].
Gratefully we thank God for a prophet to guide us in these latter days. But many turn a deaf ear to his teachings, oblivious to his prophetic position. They do so at great risk, for scriptures contain this warning:
“A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you … ; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. …
“Every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people” (Acts 3:22–23).
… Words of the Lord are taught by His disciples. Wise members listen to learn from Church leaders.
Loyalty to the Lord carries an obligation of loyalty to those called by the Lord to lead His Church. He has empowered that men be ordained to speak in His holy name. As they guide His unsinkable boat safely toward the shore of salvation, we would do well to stay on board with them.
What will happen as you more intentionally hear, hearken, and heed what the Savior has said and what He is saying now through His prophets? I promise that you will be blessed with additional power to deal with temptation, struggles, and weakness. I promise miracles in your marriage, family relationships, and daily work. And I promise that your capacity to feel joy will increase even if turbulence increases in your life.
I have implicit faith in the Lord and in His prophets. I have learned not to put question marks but to use exclamation points when calls are issued through inspired channels of priesthood government.
Study Question
How have you been blessed by following the Lord’s prophets even if their counsel differed from your own reasoning?
Invitations and Promises
Ask for your own witness about what the prophet has proclaimed
The Lord has promised us that He will never allow the prophet to lead us astray. … You may not always understand every declaration of a living prophet. But when you know a prophet is a prophet, you can approach the Lord in humility and faith and ask for your own witness about whatever His prophet has proclaimed.
Heed the words of prophets
What will happen as you more intentionally hear, hearken, and heed what the Savior has said and what He is saying now through His prophets? I promise that you will be blessed with additional power to deal with temptation, struggles, and weakness. I promise miracles in your marriage, family relationships, and daily work. And I promise that your capacity to feel joy will increase even if turbulence increases in your life.
Gratefully we thank God for a prophet to guide us in these latter days. But many turn a deaf ear to his teachings, oblivious to his prophetic position. They do so at great risk, for scriptures contain this warning:
“A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you … ; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. …
“Every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people” (Acts 3:22–23).
… Words of the Lord are taught by His disciples. Wise members listen to learn from Church leaders.
Loyalty to the Lord carries an obligation of loyalty to those called by the Lord to lead His Church. He has empowered that men be ordained to speak in His holy name. As they guide His unsinkable boat safely toward the shore of salvation, we would do well to stay on board with them.
God will bless each prophet and those who heed prophetic counsel
God’s long-established pattern of teaching His children through prophets assures us that He will bless each prophet and that He will bless those who heed prophetic counsel.
A desire to follow the prophet requires much effort because the natural man knows very little of God and even less of His prophet. … The change from being a natural man to a devoted disciple is a mighty one [see Mosiah 5:2; Alma 5:12–14].
Videos
Related Talks
“Sustaining the Prophets” (October 2014 general conference)
“Becoming True Millennials” (worldwide devotional for young adults, January 10, 2016)
“Prophets, Leadership, and Divine Law” (worldwide devotional for young adults, January 8, 2017)
“The Love and Laws of God” (Brigham Young University devotional, September 17, 2019)