One of the biggest misunderstood doctrines taught in the LDS church I grew up believing was to “follow the prophet, he will never lead you astray”. After a bit of research, I was surprised to find out the following facts:
- “Follow the prophets” and the follow-on, “they will never lead you astray” is not scriptural. There is even a thread, folklore really, in the LDS church related to this myth that goes something like this: If a prophet tells you to do something wrong, you will not be held accountable. On the contrary, it will be accounted to you as righteousness because you followed the prophet. Tell that to the Mormon men of Southern Utah who murdered everyone over the age of 6 in the Fencher Party at Mountain Meadows, Utah in 1857. They followed their prophet and priesthood leaders. Almost to a man, they all deeply regretted their actions and feared eternal damnation. (Juanita Brooks; Levi S. Peterson, p.114) This kind of logic is dangerous because a person thinks being obedient to a righteous leader, as they assume, absolves them of any responsibility in sinful actions, and abrogates a person’s requirement of the Lord to “prove all things”.
2. President Wilford Woodruff was the first to coin the phrase,” The prophet will never lead you astray.” He made that statement because he was having so much trouble getting the saints to accept the abolishment of the practice of polygamy as a new doctrine of the LDS church in the late 19thcentury. He even went so far as to say that the Lord would remove him from his place before letting him lead the people astray. Both of the church presidents before him would have scoffed at such a statement.
3. The statement attributed to Joseph Smith that “if you follow the majority of the saints and the records of the church, you will not be deceived” is apocryphal—Joseph probably never said that. I believe it was quoted by Lorenzo Snow 40 years after Joseph was supposed to have said it. It was not written down or recorded in any journals or records until it was stated in a talk in general conference. Even so, most of the records of the church did not go with the saints to Utah. Nor did most of the saints in Nauvoo go to Utah after the LDS church was split during the succession crises in 1844.
4. Brigham Young, Joseph Smith, David O McKay, Spencer Kimball, to name a few past presidents of the LDS church, preached against the doctrine of following the president of the church “no matter what”. Spencer Kimball chastised Ezra Benson after he gave a talk at BYU in which he stated that the prophet can never teach incorrect doctrine. President Kimball required Elder Benson to issue an apology for teaching false doctrine. Incidentally, this same doctrine of the infallibility of the presidents of the church has been preached in general conference in recent years.
5. There are dozens of examples in the scriptures warning of the false doctrine to follow the prophet- “no matter what”. (A few: Acts 5:29; 2 Nephi 4:34; 2Nephi 9:41; 2Nephi 28:14; numerous statements from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel)
6. There is an interesting account in 1 Kings 13 about a prophet from Judah who was sent by the Lord to deliver a message to King Jeroboam of Israel. The Lord specifically instructed this prophet not to tarry or stay in Israel but to immediately return to Judah. After delivering his message to the King he immediately begins his journey back to Judah. On the way, he encounters another prophet who resides in Israel. This Prophet of Israel tells the prophet of Judah that the Lord instructed him to deliver a message to the prophet of Judah to remain for a time with the other prophet. This was not what the Lord had instructed the prophet of Judah to do. Trusting the word of a prophet, who was after all, an anointed messenger of God, the prophet of Judah decided to listen and follow the words of the other prophet. The prophet of Judah was later killed by a Lion for disobeying the commands personally delivered to him by the Lord. Moral of the story: Prophets can be and are deceived.
7. LDS church has published a retraction of the doctrine taught by Brigham Young that Blacks were cursed as to the priesthood. The paper states that Brigham was only voicing his opinion. If that is so, when do we know if the president of the church is just voicing his opinion? Was Brigham voicing his opinion, too, when he said a man and a woman cannot be saved in the celestial kingdom without having practiced polygamy in mortality? If this was considered salvation doctrine then, but not today, what are we to assume about the nature of the prophecies declared by the presidents and authorities of the church?
8. 2 Nephi 32 describes that after we have repented and are baptized we are to follow the words of Christ. In fact, Nephi says that Christ himself will tell you what to do at some point; not a prophet, not a church authority, but Christ himself.
9. It is idolatry to place a man in the position as a dispenser of salvation in the place of the Savior. (Isaiah 30:1; D&C 1:19)
Salvation is personal, and it is to be found only after much study and labor. It is not found by following a man. If a prophet teaches such a thing he is placing himself between you and the Savior and your salvation. Joseph Smith taught this. All of the prophets since Adam have taught this. I remember an interview I had with my stake president years ago in conjunction with my Stake calling at the time. We were chatting about something unrelated to the work we were doing, and he said something peculiar. “Isn’t it a good thing that we are saved, and that we don’t need to worry about that.” I was a bit shocked that he would say such a thing, because I felt to the contrary that salvation is meant to be a laborious process and is not guaranteed just because you have performed some outward ordinances. You cannot be saved in your sins, and the process of changing the inner man is a lifelong struggle.
I am not saying that inspired and righteous men and women should not be listened to and their righteous works emulated. What I am saying is that if they come between you and the Lord, you are being distracted from the real work of saving your soul. If a prophet tells you to do something that may not be scriptural, you had better take it to the Lord and get His opinion.