by Danielle Ellis

“Follow the prophet
Follow the prophet
Follow the prophet
He knows the way”(Children’s Songbook, 110)

What way?

While every primary child in the church can sing this song, how often do we as adults reflect on exactly what way the prophet is leading the church as a whole, and us personally? We say we follow the prophet. We commit to follow him, as well as the local church leaders who have been called by the prophet’s authority. But if we follow the prophet, where will we end up? The same place he does.

Spiritual and Temporal

I have always regarded the prophets as spiritual leaders, which they certainly are. They have been appointed by the Lord to speak to the people for Him. They hold the keys to the priesthood, and teach the rest of us how to return to our Father in Heaven, in precept and deed. Prophets of all ages have testified of Jesus Christ, and tried to lead their people to Him.

I have only recently come to notice, though, that throughout the vast history of this earth, the teachings of the prophets, when followed, have led the people not just to spiritual safety, but to physical, temporal safety—and away from the destruction that was coming to the rest of the people. I’m not sure how I have missed that fact for all these years; but having discovered it, I feel the need the share it with you.

A Repeating Pattern

There are so many examples in the scriptures of prophets leading their people to physical safety that a short article such as this wouldn’t provide enough space to cover them all. But here are a few of the more memorable ones:

Noah warned people about the flood (Genesis 6).

An angel warned Lot of destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire (Genesis 18-19).

Joseph went to Egypt in advance of the famine.

Moses led the children of Israel from captivity and Pharoah’s army.

Lehi led his family from Jerusalem before its destruction by an invading army.

In the latter days, the saints were often counseled to move for physical safety. They were lead from Palmyra to Fayette to Kirtland and so forth until they reached the Salt Lake Valley. Elder Henry B. Eyring reminded us of Joseph Smith’s call for the saints to gather in from Haun’s Mill. That advice was ignored, with tragic consequences. Joseph later wrote, ‘Up to this day God had given me wisdom to save the people who took counsel. None had ever been killed who [had abided] by my counsel’ (History of the Church, 5:137). (See Henry B. Eyring, “Finding Safety in Counsel,” Ensign, May 1997, 24.)

Personal Cost to Follow

When it’s time to follow the prophet, there is always a personal cost involved. Perhaps that is part of the test. Following the prophet requires that we give up our desires and take counsel that may be inconvenient, difficult, scary, expensive, or involve learning new skills. Those who accept the counsel to live “providently” set their lives, their finances and their homes in order, laying up a store of faith, water, food, clothing and other supplies.
This is not easy to do.

The scriptures make it clear that this has always been the case. Although the record does not elaborate, Noah was 600 years old when the flood came. Presumably he had more than three sons in all those years. What was it like for his wife to leave her other children and grandchildren and get on the ark? Yet she went with a willing heart.

Perhaps that is the reason Lot’s wife looked back towards Sodom, disobeying counsel. Her other children were still there! Although she followed her husband, her heart wasn’t in the right place, and she would have preferred to stay. The consequence for her was the same as if she would have stayed.

The new movie about Joseph Smith which is now showing at the St. George Temple Visitor’s Center brings this point out poignantly. The same people who came to Zion to rejoice with the saints were required to abandon homes they had built with their own hands, even abandoning the temples they labored so hard to build. Emma Smith followed her husband, the prophet, leaving behind the graves of their children. The personal drama that goes with following the prophet is no trivial matter.

Why Don’t More Follow?

While the Bible doesn’t record what Noah said to the people, as a prophet, he surely invited them to get on the ark. Yet when the Lord closed the door to the ark there were only eight souls on board. I have lately begun to wonder about Lot. Forgive me taking license with the story, but when Abraham asked the Lord if he would spare the city of Sodom for fifty righteous people, who did he mean? Was it the Sodom Ward? I have imagined him mentally counting off people, “Well surely the Johnsons would come, and Bob and his family…” What about Lehi? Again, forgive me taking liberties here, but who was his bishop? His stake president? His home teacher? Anybody?

Consequences of Not Following

In every case, the consequences of not following the prophet are undesirable. To quote again from Elder Eyring, “Every time in my life when I have chosen to delay following inspired counsel or decided that I was an exception, I came to know that I had put myself in harm’s way. (“Finding Safety In Counsel”) This can be a consequence as small as inserting a wedge into our spiritual armor, diminishing our ability to answer in faith when the next call comes. Or it can be as disastrous as what the people of Noah, Sodom, Jerusalem or Haun’s Mill faced.

Our Day

During President Hinckley’s tenure as prophet, the topics that have generated a letter from the First Presidency in addition to treatments in general conference have been strengthening our homes, protecting our children, holding regular family home evenings, watching over and strengthening members, reading the Book of Mormon and building, completing and maintaining our food storage.

Food storage has been the topic of two First Presidency letters, as well as two general conference addresses by our living prophet, President Hinckley. It was also the subject of a detachable handout in the Ensign this year. Would an unimportant topic, or one designed to “test obedience” garner that much attention? Or will it be that someday, maybe sooner than later, we will either give prayers of thanks for the counsel we heeded, or realize to our horror, that we have procrastinated until the time for preparation is past, and we have chosen our own fate.

Elder Eyring closed his talk, quoted above, with this testimony:

“We are blessed to live in a time when the priesthood keys are on the earth. We are blessed to know where to look and how to listen for the voice that will fulfill the promise of the Lord that He will gather us to safety. I pray for you and for me that we will have humble hearts, that we will listen, that we will pray, that we will wait for the deliverance of the Lord which is sure to come as we are faithful. I testify that God, our Heavenly Father, lives and loves us. This is the Church of Jesus Christ. He lives and loves us. He is the head of the Church, and He is our Savior. I testify that Gordon B. Hinckley holds all the keys of the priesthood of God” (emphasis mine).

I hasten to add that President Hinckley is very optimistic about the future, and encourages us to act accordingly. Surely he knows what is in store for us, yet he counsels us to go forward in faith, not fear. In another uncertain time in church history, the Lord told His saints to “be still, and know that I am God” (D&C 101: 6).

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland adds: “Is there a happy future for you and your posterity in these latter days? Absolutely! Will there be difficult times when those ominous latter-day warnings and prophecies are fulfilled? Of course there will. Will those who have built upon the rock of Christ withstand winds, hail, and the mighty shafts in the whirlwind? You know they will. You have it on good word. You have it on His word! That ‘rock upon which ye are built … is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men [and women] build they cannot fall’ (Helaman 5:12)” (Jeffrey R. Holland, “This, the Greatest of All Dispensations,” Ensign, Jul 2007, 52–58.)

I add my hope that we may follow the prophet. It may not be easy, but it will lead us through tribulation to the Savior’s promised peace. The Lord’s prophets have always led their people there, and they always will.