We have to know for ourselves. As the world becomes more chaotic, and it becomes harder to find periods of quiet in our busy world, we must know the Lord’s voice. It’s so much easier to let a leader make decisions for us. It’s so much easier to just follow a leader. And while I love the song, “Follow the Prophet” — it makes it sound too easy to level up to the level of higher beings. As Joseph Smith said,
“Search the scriptures…and ask your Heavenly Father, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to manifest the truth unto you, and if you do it with an eye single to His glory nothing doubting, He will answer you by the power of His Holy Spirit. You will then know for yourselves and not for another. You will not then be dependent on man for the knowledge of God; nor will there be any room for speculation. No; for when men receive their instruction from Him that made them, they know how He will save them” (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 11–12).
In the opening pages of The Book of Mormon, Nephi recounts the experiences of his father, Lehi, with the Lord. This is our example — Nephi went to the Lord to receive this same vision and revelation of his father’s. Nephi didn’t just follow the prophet, and in this case, his father. He went to the Lord for himself, because he wanted to know the mysteries of God — he knew that he had to know for himself:
Wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers. (1 Nephi 2:16)
This is the message for us — given within the first few pages of The Book of Mormon. As Hugh Nibley emphasizes:
We do not escape our responsibility either for our acts or our opinions and beliefs, simply by raising a hand to sustain somebody else to solve the problem for us. To identify the Holy Ghost with the holding of an office is the easy, mechanical, automatic way, saving great wear and tear on the average Saint, but alas, however much we would like to, we cannot delegate our free agency, no matter how strongly we sustain anyone. (Hugh Nibley)
We really can’t blindly follow along because a man has a high office. We have to know for ourselves because this is the only way to become like God. But it takes work. And thus, we often go the easy way and follow without knowing. And maybe we want our kids to follow us, but at a certain age, they have to know these things for themselves. And so do we.
The temple teaches us how to approach the Lord. We learn that an angel will be our guide, at the veil, to present us, true and faithful, wanting to converse with the Lord. It’s instruction for us now in this lone and dreary world — as it was for Adam and Eve, who we pretend to be. It’s not for only when we’re dead.
Nephi also sets the example for us — the Lord will converse with us — whether in a dream or otherwise.
I have often been amused that so many Mormons believe they will become Gods by simply getting married in the temple and enduring to the end. How can anyone become a God without being able to command the mountains to be made flat? These gifts of the Spirit do not arrive at our doorstep, wrapped in a package for us merely to unwrap. They come one level at a time, through much seeking and suffering. I realize this. Though I have not had Nephi’s vision. But I recognize the need to do more than endure my trials.
Perilous times will push us — closer to the veil, or further away. I just feel time hastening. And I think we need to seek, and knock and not grow weary. I don’t want to take the easy way and let my leaders tell me what to do. I can’t become like God that way.
The last days will become like those of Nephi’s, which required personal revelation about the impending destruction of Jerusalem. And I am not a doomsday person. But I realize there is more for us to do and receive.
