Have listening ears
Learn, act upon God's will- Keep covenants
Testifying that there are living prophets revealing the will of the Lord today, Elder L. Aldin Porter of the Presidency of the Seventy declared: "There is a question that each of us must deal with in a most solemn and serious way if our lives are to be what the Father of us all would have them be. `What is our response when the living prophets declare the mind and the will of the Lord?' This is the test of mankind in every dispen-sation."
Speaking Sunday morning, Elder Porter cited a statement by President J. Reuben Clark and explained that those sustained as prophets, seers and revelators have specific power and authority to declare the mind and will of God to His people.
"The rest of us do not have that specific power and authority," Elder Porter explained. "The Seventy have an endowment that is uniquely theirs; temple presidents and matrons, stake presidents and bishops, as well as fathers and mothers, have an endowment that is uniquely theirs; but none of us has the power, authority, or responsibility that is given to the First Presidency and the Twelve.
"You may wonder why I stress this point so strongly. It is because a misunderstanding here can cause us deep pain and can be the means of misleading many others."
Then he noted, "While we are members of the Church, we are not authorized to publicly declare our speculations nor to extend doctrinal positions to other conclusions based upon the reasoning of men and women even by the brightest and most well read among us.
"The prophets are not only called to receive the doctrine and direct the ordinances through the keys they hold. They are also responsible to keep the saving doctrine pure so that the people can hear and feel that doctrine in its sure and certain form."
Elder Porter asked, "How do we prepare ourselves to be in harmony with the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve?"
He answered: "We must learn the will of our Father in Heaven by earnest study. Next, we must act upon it. Study alone is not sufficient, we must act upon the words of revelation we are given before we know of a surety of the truthfulness of the doctrines."
Elder Porter bore testimony that the Lord has called living prophets.
"The Lord God of Israel will direct them, and they will not lead us astray," he said. "When you see any document, any address, any letter, any instruction that is issued by the Council of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, it should be recognized for what it surely is - the mind and the will of the Lord to His people in this day.
"We do not need greater prophets. We need listening ears. We need hearts that are sufficiently pure that we can feel their words. We need souls that will commit to the keeping of our covenants."