Follow the Prophet

As I sat in church I looked around the room a familiar picture captured my attention. It was a picture of Noah and the final boarding of the animals. This time Noah’s worn face stood out to me.  I tried to fathom what it must of have been like to have all your people, save your own family, ignore the warnings you were inspired by God to give. I thought about how sad he must have been. I am positive he loved them and it was difficult to watch the consequences of their decisions end their mortal lives. 

Many people on the Earth today do not know that there are living prophets again.  It began with Joseph Smith in the 1800’s and there has been an unbroken chain of living prophet’s since. Today President Russell M. Nelson is the Lord’s prophet. He has taken opportunities to share the word of the Lord on numerous occasions. Those who have listened to and followed the inspired word of the Lord through him have been greatly rewarded with increased faith.

Along with my gospel studies I like to study people. I have watched and studied people and their responses to prophetic invitations for many years. I have noticed that as the prophet has been extending challenges that are socially difficult yet faith promoting, there has been a group of people that have risen to every challenge. I like to call this phenomenon the rising of the wise.  In saying the “rising of the wise” I reference the wise virgins that were in the familiar New Testament parable, “The Ten Virgins.” 

This parable is widely known among Christian’s but the Latter-day Saint perspective has modern insights from Prophets that helps us better understand the context of that parable for our day.  President Dallin H. Oaks taught in his talk “Preparation for the Second Coming”  in April 2004 that the virgins represented the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He explained that 50% of the membership of the Church will not be ready for the Savior’s 2nd coming. In stating this he called this a “chilling statistic”. That is alarming to say the least. What I am amazed by are those dedicated saints that are willing to put politics, social status, and worldly positions behind to serve the Lord and follow the prophet. 

Of course with the “rising of the wise” we start to see division as well. To be perfectly honest I have felt divided in my own heart when I have had challenges extended that were really difficult to follow. This of course is a common feeling due the conditions of the Fall. We all have natural tendencies of the flesh that we must overcome through God’s grace. 

I once noticed the fight in me with a fairly simple challenge given by the Prophet to read The Book of Mormon by the end of the year. The challenge was simple enough but my life was extremely complicated. Even though my world seemed to be crashing down on me because I was struggling with my health, work and family responsibilities, I found the faith to trust in the prophet’s words and read The Book of Mormon. I wanted the blessings he promised. In following I chose to I ignored the justification, while still acknowledging the real fight within me, that I didn’t need to do it because I had already read The Book of Mormon several times before. I chose to obey with exactness. As was asked, I highlighted every time that the Lord’s name was mentioned. It was a good experience and as an unanticipated result I felt the desire to help gather scattered Israel grow within me. I became more courageous in sharing the gospel with others. My faith increased.

When the prophet encouraged us to get the vaccination I again had a wrestle within my heart. I am sad to say this challenge stayed a conflict in my heart much longer than any other challenge given by a prophet. I already had COVID-19 why did I need the shot? I erroneously thought it wouldn’t spare me anything. To be even more honest I was upset! All the counsel seemed to be “a day late and a dollar short” to help me. To make matters worse I was also getting conflicting recommendations from my Doctors. One Doctor sent out a form letter recommending that I get my shot and that it was a approved for my age group. I decided to take the recommendation seriously but my Specialist didn’t recommend that I get the vaccination due to my present health challenges and past medical history. 

At that moment, confusion and anger were reigning in my heart. I wanted to follow the prophet but my health would make this very difficult. Did I really have a legitimate excuse or was I falling into a trap and rejecting God’s blessing because of pride? Fortunately I knew anger and confusion was not from God. Clearly I was going to need inspiration to settle this problem. If I went against the specialist it wouldn’t the first time. In my single years I would choose to follow the spirit instead of well intentioned medical counsel. When I was in my early 30’s I was recommended to have a hysterectomy because of disease and I had a zero percent chance of having children. I chose to trust my patriarchal blessing which said otherwise and seek other methods of healing. Just as the Doctor predicted I did suffer for years, but the suffering motivated me to find alternatives that I didn’t know existed. I now have an awesome little boy who I love dearly and I still shock Doctors with my medical history and my miracle son. 

The letter from the First Presidency presented another faith building experience. I would again need to choose to put worldly wisdom aside and trust God. Thankfully my husband chose to follow the prompting he received from the spirit to get the shot first and his example helped to ease my concerns. My Specialist understood my dilemma completely and wisely allowed me the opportunity to choose for myself. I trusted in scriptural promises that I could take my questions to God and get my answer.

During that time I also had my faith nurtured as I saw faith-filled examples of my neighbors. I had spiritual impressions that softened my mind and heart. One such impression the spirit brought to mind was the children of Israel when they were asked to look at Moses’ staff. The story was graciously repeated over and over in my little world by faith-filled friends and leaders. It was a great illustration of what we were going through. Just imagine how strange it must’ve seemed to stare at an idol, which was not Christian worship. It was also an idol of what bit them. How ironic it must have seemed that they would need to look at an image of the very thing that bit them in order to get better. That story is definitely worth pondering about in context of what we are going through. Yet even with all of these tender workings of the spirit I was still uneasy. I knew I needed a confirmation from the spirit of the Lord. I do not take sound medical advice lightly.

In order to get the inspiration I also knew I needed I had to weed out the false assumptions I had made or accepted about the shot.  I would also need to work on my health challenges and not use them as an excuse, if I had a way to improve them. Through the grace of the Lord I did actually had a way to improve all of them. Unfortunately none of those solutions were quick easy fixes though. 

Most of the health challenges I had struggled with were part of Post-Covid syndrome. Since I had contracted the disease early on in the pandemic I was left to seek solutions that were on the cutting edge of science and most of the population in America didn’t know about them. Only through continued prayerful daily effort for more than a year did my health start to return…now I was faced with getting a shot before I was completely better. Would it put all my hard work into a tailspin? We actually didn’t know. 

I was also privileged to work in the healthcare system during this entire pandemic. I witness numerous cases of Post-Covid syndrome. All unique, but all devastatingly difficult. I also was aware that some groups of people would be medically unable to get the vaccine due to allergic reactions. I had seen allergic reactions to flu shots cause a recipient to have to learn to walk again. I had a sweet mother share her story of a child who almost died getting a normal vaccination. Their case was carefully recorded with the cdc and her daughter was actually medically exempt from getting the shot. Yet with all this information I was reminded of three boys who carried the Saints a crossed a frozen river and who all died later in their lives from the effects of this heroic act. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pXRRtjKRkvM Why did they do it? They did it to follow the prophet. They did it for the love of the people. They did it for the Savior. What mattered? Are we here to have a life filled with ease and luxury? Are we here to prove ourselves? For some the answer is to have the faith not to get the shot when it has been proven medically dangerous for them. For others it is to move forward and get the shot even if you don’t want to. For others it will be to make improvements to their health and make the requirements to get the shot. Whatever the spirit of the Lord says is right.

My healing experience had already given me plenty of knowledge about being on the cutting edge of science so the position wasn’t at all unfamiliar. Yet the moment came that all of my concerns and worries melted away when finally I weeded out the last lie about the vaccination I had accepted as truth.  In my heart all that was left was the desire to follow the prophet. I felt an increased appreciation for his faith and calling as a prophet as well as his wisdom as a medical Doctor. I more deeply understood the importance of his willingness to be vaccinated himself. That was enough for me to move forward with faith. As I was sharing my experience of having my thinking changed I felt a rush of that peace that comes only through the Holy Ghost. I didn’t have to move forward without a clear confirmation as was required of some of my close associates. I had received my promised confirmation.  

Within a few days I had my shot scheduled. I marveled that I had gone from never intending on getting the vaccination, since I had already contracted the disease and successfully fought it, to being submissive and getting it even with not understanding all the reasons why.

Like most people who get the vaccination I had uncomfortable side effects. I had my routine interrupted and faced the fury of the "anti-vaxers". Luckily for me I had great medical help through that process and I was able to overcome every side effect. As anticipated my experience with the shot was much more complicated than my healthier friends and family, but I had a confirmation that I was doing what was right and had proper help. Now I feel a great peace. Just as Nephi taught in the opening pages of The Book of Mormon if God gives a commandment he also gives a way to accomplish it. We also need to understand that just because God commands it doesn’t mean it will not be soul stretching. God loves soul-stretching experiences. Through the process we change and grow into the true version of our selves.

Now back to Noah. Just like in Noah’s day we have a choice to make. We can choose to ignore or misunderstand that there is a prophet on the earth today that speaks for God or we can find safety and peace in coming to know that truth and then follow him. I get that it is not always easy, but I am also secure in the knowledge that the Lord’s prophet is not allowed to lead God’s people astray. I feel that doctrinal truth in my heart and I have had it confirmed by the Spirit of God time and time again. I know that we can have personal confirmation that there is a Prophet on Earth again. We can also know by the spirit that a prophet is again speaking to men and that through following his prophetic counsel we can avoid many sorrows and tragedies in the last days. 

The vaccination is not the only issue that is causing people to leave the safety of prophetic counsel. Yet no matter which issue is a personal struggle for you the method to increase faith is the same. Our Heavenly Father understands our heartaches, our misunderstandings and the climate that we live in perfectly. He wants to hear from us in prayer about everything we’re worried about. Then he expects us to start listening to Him if we want things to improve in both ourselves and society. That’s why he’s given us a prophet, and scripture. The prophets and scripture declare His doctrine. Like the angels in heaven the Prophets only have the power of the spirit to do what God wants them to. Angels and Prophets must do God’s will. To think that they need to align their words to be politically correct, comfortable, or just not offensive to us would deny the purpose for their speaking. Jesus himself went to be baptized by John the Baptist because John had authority from God and Jesus said it was to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus didn’t have any sin therefore didn’t technically need to be baptized for the remission of sin. Yet Jesus was responsible to be baptized to fulfill a commandment and show the way to heaven. Should we really question “why?” when we’re asked to do something to show our faith and obedience? If Heavenly Father required the Savior to do it should we be surprised that He required a similar test of us? The nice thing is that we don’t have to do it alone and we have had others come before us to show us the way.

Some call this an Abrahamic test, as I was reminded this morning. Can you imagine being asked to give the only son you have left (since you already had to give your beloved Ishmael to the Lord’s keeping) and then have the faith to stop when the Angel came to tell you that you had to done what was required? You had to show your willingness. Abraham, Moses, Noah and the Savior were all dispensation fathers who had great things required of them. They also show that the Savior’s sacrifice in our behalf allows us to have a constant companion in Him, the spirit, and angels. With those heavenly beings He sends His enabling power to do whatever God needs us to do, and suffer whatever he needs us to suffer. 

It is my sincere desire to add my witness that Russell M. Nelson is the Prophet on the Earth today. I know there are solutions to all the world’s challenges because of Christ. Jesus is the way the truth and the life and is the solution to every problem. We need not be confused in life because we can know through prayer what to do. May God bless your hearts and minds through these difficult days with peace and God’s perfect love.