It is exceedingly important for members of the Church to get experience following the prophets in little things, so that they can follow in large matters. By following the prophets in fair weather we become familiar with their cadence, so that we can follow them in stormy times too, for then both our reflexes and our experience will need to combine to help us; the stresses will be so very real.
Any Church member not obedient to the leaders of this Church will not have the opportunity to be obedient to the promptings of the Lord." (Munich Area Conference Report, August 1973, p. 24.) A lack of obedience to the leaders will, therefore, mean that we will not have the precious promptings of the Spirit, which we need personally—so much and so often. This potential loss would be reason enough for us to be obedient to the prophets, for apparently we cannot have one without the other. Vital as the words of the prophets are, these come to us only periodically. We need the directions of the Spirit daily, even hourly.
To use the supposed errors of others, including those of the Brethren, as an excuse for our lessened devotion is a most grave error! All of us are in the process of becoming—including prophets and General Authorities.
There are even those who refuse to follow the Brethren because these individuals have overidentified with a single doctrine, principle, or practice; sadly, they exclude all other counsel, which leads to a dangerous spiritual imbalance. The difficulty with such individuals is that they have a strange sense of justification about that which they are doing. In their intensity they lack, of course, the spiritual symmetry that comes from pursuing, in a balanced way, all the commandments of God. These individuals are so hardened in their devotion to one thing that they are unable to follow the Brethren in all things. It is as if the adversary, upon seeing someone get religious, skillfully deflects their devotion so that it becomes a damaging and not a developing thing. We are responsible for our reactions when we see imperfections in others.
We may, therefore, see the imperfections in leaders in the Church. How we react to these manifestations of mortality is the key to our salvation—not theirs!
It is strange that when one is remodeling a portion of his house, he expects visitors to be tolerant of improvements that are so obviously underway. Yet while one is remodeling his character, we often feel obligated to call attention to the messy signs of remodeling, or feel called upon to remember aloud things as they were. Forgetting is such a necessary part of forgiving.
Prophets have a way of seeing more deeply and more distantly than the rest of us. They can, under the direction of the Spirit (to refer to an episode in the Old Testament), see a thundercloud when it is no larger than a man's hand. (1 Kings 18:44.) Their mortal sense of anticipation is sharpened by the divine, fully developed and perfected anticipation of God Himself—of which much is written in an earlier chapter.
It even helps us to be pressed thusly by prophets to choose. John the Beloved, in writing to the Church at Laodicea, said, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot." (Revelation 3:15.) Many naively assume that it is always better to be lukewarm than to be cold. But lukewarmness can reflect a stubborn spirit of self-sufficiency that keeps some people from following God's leaders. Worse, lukewarmness keeps some from feeling cold chills, which chills can induce a few to a search for warmth and truth!
Another steady follower of the earliest Church leaders was President Wilford Woodruff. In an address given October 6, 1856, he observed, "Whatever counsel the Presidency of this Church have been led to give unto this people, it has been dictated by the Spirit and power of God, and our safety and salvation lies in obeying that counsel and putting it into practice.
And it will be most helpful to us all if we renew and reassure ourselves by noting how it has always been the case—that the Lord has raised up men as His prophets who have just the cluster of talents needed for a particular time.
As you continue to follow the counsel of those whom the Lord has authorized to guide you, you will feel greater safety.
He is an effective leader because he has this ability to develop and cultivate the best in others.
Leadership is more than a word when we remember that the power to lead is also the power to mislead, and the power to mislead is the power to destroy.