Prophets: Our Guide to Christ

What are prophets? What are they supposed to do? Why does the world need them?

The Lord has always called prophets. "As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began" (Luke 1:70). Throughout the Old Testament we read of the lives of many prophets. They are Gods messengers to his children here on earth. Prophets are leaders of the people who desire to follow god. They reveal to us the will of God. We recieve commandments from them, encouragement, and guidance. They perform miracles, see visions, and make prophecies about the future. But the main purposes of a prophet are to build the Lord's Church on the earth and to testify of Christ. To tell the world of his coming, that through him is the only way that man may be saved. Without prophets, we never would have known about Christ, and we would not know the things that we need to to in order to return to live with him and our Heavenly Father.

What makes a prophet? Do men just decide one day that they are going to be one? Christ told his apostles, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you" (John 15: 16). God chooses who his prophets are and calls and ordains them. He gives them authority, or the power to act in his name (the priesthood). This is important because if a prophet is not "called of God," he is not a true prophet. Moses was called to be a prophet when he saw God in the burning bush. He became the leader of the Children of Isreal, and he directed them in the ways the Lord wanted them to go. Whenever the Lord calls a prophet to build His church on the earth it is called a Dispensation.

The reason the God calls prophets is that he loves us, his children. He wants us to know of him, and to learn what we need to do so we can return to live with him. Whenever prophets have been called, we see that people begin to listen to them. They are humble and are willing to be directed by the Lord. When people listen to the Lord, he blesses them, "And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you;" (Mosiah 2: 24). When this happens people tend to get prideful, and instead of saying, "Look what the Lord has done for me..." they say, "Look what I have done." There is no better exampe of this than when Moses comes down from the mountain with the commandments from God, and the Children of Isreal were worshipping a golden calf! We see this with every prophet. The people the prophet serves become wicked, and they reject his teachings.

If you were to give a baby a stack of 100 dollar bills what would the baby do with it? Probably slobber on it, eat it, and tear it up. The reason for this is even though we know that money is worth a lot, especially that much money, the baby doesn't. Our response to this dilemma would probably be to take the money away and let the child play with something more appropriate. The Lord does the same thing when people don't treat His prophet, and His gospel how he knows it should be treated, he takes them away. When this happens, His church is no longer on the earth and there comes a condition of Apostasy.

We see this happen many times throught the Old testament. The Lord calls a prophet and a new dispensation begins. The people listen for a period of time, but inevitably they become prideful and rebel. The Lord takes away the Authority to have his church on the earth, or the Priesthood, and Apostasy prevails. But because the Lord does love us, he always calls another prophet when the people are humble and ready once again to listen to him.

I am so grateful for the love the Lord has for us, the love so great the he calls prophets to lead and guide us. I know that he does call prophets, and they do have His Priesthood power. I know this is true, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

For more information about prophets, visit http://mormon.org/