A vote of thanks for a powerful individual

By Orson Scott Card
Deseret Morning News
Published: Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008 12:20 a.m. MST
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Because our prophets, seers and revelators are released from office only by death, we don't get to raise our hands to thank them.

So as President Gordon B. Hinckley finally has been released from his lifelong calling as the consummate servant in the kingdom of God, here is my vote of thanks for a job well done.

There are two ways we commonly view our living prophets, and only one of them is right.

In Mormon folklore — and in the eyes of the outside world — we Mormons consider the prophets as speaking nothing but the word of God. Every decision, every act, every gesture is to be remembered, pored over, studied and obeyed, because the prophet does nothing but what the Lord requires of him.

This attitude, if it were true, would make the prophet into something of a puppet, wouldn't it? It wouldn't matter who was president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, because each would act exactly like any other apostle called to serve in that position.

But human beings are not interchangeable, no matter how lofty or humble their calling.

The Lord does not dictate every action of the prophets. They must think things through, try things out, find out what is possible and wrestle with problems.

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Remember when Moses' father-in-law came to him and upbraided him for wearying himself and the people by trying to do all the work of judgment himself? (Exodus 18:13-26). The prophet took Jethro's advice and, in effect, created a church organization.

Moses was just as much a prophet before he made the change as after. His character was such that he could learn. God spoke to Moses frequently, led him visibly — and yet he did not make Moses his puppet.

There was room for Moses to choose, to invent, to think. To learn and change and grow in his calling.

Joseph Smith made this explicit when he gave us the word of the Lord to Oliver Cowdery: "You have not understood; you supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. ... You must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right" (Doctrine and Covenants 9:7-8).

It matters who leads us and serves us as prophet. It matters that it was President Hinckley who led the church, during his years as president and previously, when his service was in quiet support of the calling of other prophets whose bodies were so enfeebled that they could not do all that was required of them.

Meeting the people

During the first years of his presidency, sometimes he traveled so much that it seemed he was determined to speak personally to every member of the church before he died. After so many years of seeing presidents of the church only on television, suddenly the prophet was everywhere!

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King Follett | Feb. 4, 2008 at 12:10 p.m.

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