Our Sustaining of Prophets

Nine years ago in general conference President Nelson related this story: “As a medical doctor and cardiac surgeon, I had the responsibility of performing open-heart surgery on President Spencer W. Kimball in 1972, when he was Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He needed a very complex operation. But I had no experience doing such a procedure on a 77-year-old patient in heart failure. I did not recommend the operation and so informed President Kimball and the First Presidency. But, in faith, President Kimball chose to have the operation, only because it was advised by the First Presidency. That shows how he sustained his leaders! And his decision made me tremble! Thanks to the Lord, the operation was a success. When President Kimball’s heart resumed beating, it did so with great power! At that very moment, I had a clear witness of the Spirit that this man would one day become President of the Church!” President Nelson gave more details about what led up to this surgery that he performed in his remarks at President Kimball’s funeral. President Nelson, President Kimball, Dr. Ernest Wilkinson, and President Harold B. Lee were counseling about what to do concerning President Kimball’s heart problems which threatened to take his life. As President Nelson told the risks of the operation and why he couldn’t recommend it on someone so old, President Kimball responded, “I am an old man and ready to die.” President Nelson related, “President Lee interrupted. He rose to his feet, pounded his fist to the desk, and said, with his prophetic power, ‘Spencer, you have been called! You are not to die! You are to do everything you need to do to care for yourself and continue to live.’” President Kimball then humbly agreed to have the operation. President Lee was younger than President Kimball by four years exactly (both born on March 28^th), but President Lee was higher in seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve. It was only about two months after the operation that President Lee became the president of the Church at the age of 73, and it was expected that he would hold that position for a very long time. He was at any rate in much better health than President Kimball, but the Lord had different plans. Only a year and a half later President Lee passed away suddenly and unexpectedly from a fatal pulmonary hemorrhage, and President Kimball—who would have passed away if President Lee had not insisted upon the heart surgery—became the president of the church for nearly twelve years. Surely the Lord’s ways are not man’s ways, and He will ensure that His Church is guided as He desires.

                The message of President Nelson to us was that we must work to sustain and follow the prophets the Lord calls. Both President Nelson and President Kimball did that in undertaking this surgery, and we too are called to do challenging things that the prophet asks of us. He said, “Our sustaining of prophets is a personal commitment that we will do our utmost to uphold their prophetic priorities. Our sustaining is an oath-like indication that we recognize their calling as a prophet to be legitimate and binding upon us.” He also quoted George Albert Smith who said, long before he became the prophet, “The obligation that we make when we raise our hands … is a most sacred one. It does not mean that we will go quietly on our way and be willing that the prophet of the Lord shall direct this work, but it means … that we will stand behind him; we will pray for him; we will defend his good name, and we will strive to carry out his instructions as the Lord shall direct.” One example of this in the Book of Mormon comes from Shule, a king over the Jaredites: “And also in the reign of Shule there came prophets among the people, who were sent from the Lord, prophesying that the wickedness and idolatry of the people was bringing a curse upon the land, and they should be destroyed if they did not repent. And it came to pass that the people did revile against the prophets, and did mock them.” Shule did not stand idly by when those prophets were reviled: “And it came to pass that king Shule did execute judgment against all those who did revile against the prophets. And he did execute a law throughout all the land, which gave power unto the prophets that they should go whithersoever they would; and by this cause the people were brought unto repentance” (Ether 7:24-25). Shule stood by the prophets, protected them, and helped the people come to repentance through their words. And so, our work is to sustain, defend, and hearken to the living prophet in our day. The Lord put it this way in our dispensation: “Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith.” If we do this, the promise is indeed great: “For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name’s glory” (Doctrine and Covenants 21:4-6).