Carries message
Opens doors- Keeps doctrines pure
It is a great comfort to know that the Lord continues to keep a channel of communication open to His children through the prophet, said Elder L. Tom Perry in the Saturday morning session.
"What a blessing it is to know we have a voice we can trust to declare the will of the Lord," he said.
Elder Perry of the Council of the Twelve discussed the sustaining of the president of the Church as prophet and seer.
A seer, said Elder Perry, is a title given those ancient leaders such as Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, and Ezekial who were blessed with a "clearer vision of divine glory and power than other mortals."
In the Book of Mormon, the missionary Ammon described a seer:
"But a seer can know of things which are past, and also of things which are to come and by them shall all things be revealed, or, rather, shall secret things be made manifest, and hidden things shall come to light, and things which are not known shall be made known by them, and also things shall be made known by them which otherwise could not be known." (Mosiah 8: 17.)
A prophet, continued Elder Perry, is a Hebrew word for "one who announces or brings a message from God."
Regarding prophets, Elder Perry recounted an experience of his father, who, when attending LDS High School, lived in the home of President Joseph F. Smith.
One night, said Elder Perry, it was dark when his father walked through the Beehive House where the Church president then lived. In the darkness, the young man came to a door he couldn't open by pushing. Then he bumped against a partly opened door and the noise awakened President Smith. President Smith arose from bed and patiently helped the young man open the door by pulling it rather than pushing. In the process, President Smith took time to explain to him how to hold his arms outstretched, with hands clasped in front, to avoid hitting partly opened doors.
Then Elder Perry asked: "Isn't a prophet someone who teaches us to open doors we thought we could not open by ourselves - doors to greater light and truth? Isn't a prophet like a pair of hands clasped together in front of the body of the Church helping the members navigate through the dark corridors of the world?"
Elder Perry said prophets also have responsibility to keep the Lord's doctrine pure.
"Of course we are all admonished to study and gain as much knowledge as we can possibly obtain in this life . . . ," he said. "However, the Lord has only one source for the declaration of His basic fundamental doctrines."
"Today, by sustaining a new prophet we have placed ourselves under solemn covenant to heed his voice. The Lord has designated Howard W. Hunter as our prophet, seer and revelator.
"We sit at his feet ready to feast on the wisdom of this true and faithful servant leader. We stand ready to heed his voice because we know he speaks for the Lord."
