“The Living Oracle”

President Ezra Taft Benson taught: “If you will honour (the prophet), he (The Lord) will crown you with God’s glory and bring you out victorious in spite of Satan’s fury.” The Lord speaking to the church taught: “Thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he recieveth them, walking in all holiness before me…whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same. For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good…” Elder Russel M. Nelson in this last conference taught: “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.” And to Amos “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

The messages from the October 2014 Sunday Morning conference was clear; there is a living oracle here on earth and God continues to talk to mankind through him. It mind boggles me that Christians believe in God, but cannot grasp the fact that for God to speak to us today, it cannot be done simply by written words, there must be a mouth piece to clarify and speak God’s will. Yes, “beware of false prophets, which come in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” as Christ warned, but he continued to show us how to recognise a true prophet: “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them”. They stand alone in the midst of wickedness; they don’t buckle under the pressure of the world, Elder Nelson continued: “Imagine the privilege the Lord has given us of sustaining his prophet, whose counsel will be untainted, unmotivated by any personal aspiration, and utterly true!” Wow, imagine that…someone whose heart is totally committed to the Lord’s will?

President George Albert Smith, before he became prophet taught: “The obligation that we make when we raise our hands…is a most sacred one. It does not mean that we will go quietly on our way and be willing that the prophet of the Lord shall direct this work, but it means…that we stand behind him; we pray for him; we will defend his good name, and we will strive to carry out his instruction as the Lord shall direct.” Could that be the reason why the Lord later called him as his living oracle and prophet? Is it because the Lord saw his heart; that it was without guile or personal aspirations, but pure and holy or wholly unto God and his work? Elder Jeffrey R. Holland also spoke of another man with such a heart: “I pay a personal tribute to President Thomas Spencer Monson. I have been blessed by an association with this man for 47 years now, and the image of him I will cherish until I die is of him flying home from then–economically devastated East Germany in his house slippers because he had given away not only his second suit and his extra shirts but the very shoes from off his feet.”

Then Elder Holland quotes: “How beautiful upon the mountains, and shuffling through an airline terminal, are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace.” More than any man I know, President Monson has “done all he could” for the widow and the fatherless, the poor and the oppressed.” President Henry B. Eyring taught: “Don’t take lightly the feeling you get of love for the prophet of God. Wherever I go…members will, “When you get back…will you please tell the prophet how much we love him?” That is far more than hero worship or the feeling we sometimes have of admiring heroic figures. It is a gift from God. With it you will receive more easily the gift of confirming revelation when he speaks in his office as the Lord’s prophet. The love you feel is the love the Lord has for whoever is His spokesman.” The Lord will not leave us comfortless or clueless. President Thomas S. Monson; he speaks on the Lord’s behalf, without guile, committed to God’s will and his words are untainted, not motivated by personal aspiration and are utterly true! He is the Lord’s living Oracle, so “Come, Listen to a Prophet’s Voice”, honour his words, sustain him, pray for him, stand behind him and “He (The Lord) will crown you with his glory, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; he will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, cause the heavens to shake for your good and bring you out victorious in spite of Satan’s fury.”

Love, love, love

Spiritual References: Exodus 18:15, 2 Samuel 24:11, Isaiah 42:9, 50:10, Amos 3:7, Daniel 2:19, 1 Thessalonian 4:2, 1 John 4:1-6, 5:6, Mosiah 8:16-18, Alma 13:26, D&C 1:38-39, 20:27, 21:4-6, 25:16,42:17, Hymn page 21, President Ezra Taft. Benson “14 Fundamentals in Following the Prophet, October 2014 GC Talks; Elder Russell M. Nelson’s “Sustaining the Prophets”, President Henry B. Eyring “Continuing Revelations”, Jeffrey R. Holland “Are We Not All Beggars?”