For many years now, Mormonism has been led by leaders who almost exclusively come from a management or professional background. This is of course not inherently a problem, however it certainly is not the way that God has worked since the beginning of time. God used to call prophets from the lowest parts of society, today however God seems to call them from the greatest among us.
Prophets
Historically, the role of prophets has always been to call the people to repentance and to help them return to God. At various times, throughout history, this has required different approaches, however it has been remarkably consistent. In the Bible we have numerous examples of prophets doing this. In some cases, we also have a large amount of information pertaining to their personal lives and can see who they were when they were called by God to deliver his messages.
I first want to say that there is no one size fits all mold with prophets. However, as we will see there is a clear and distinct pattern that will emerge. God consistently chooses people that are on the fringes of society because these are the people he can work with. Those that are highly immersed in their society are fundamentally going to be harder to work with. There certainly are exceptions, as mentioned, however this is a fundamental and consistent pattern that has held since the beginning of time.
Bible
The first prophet we can look at is Moses, who is very interesting. Essentially, he lived two completely different lives at the point when God revealed himself to Moses. The first part of his life, Moses was raised by the daughter of Pharaoh and certainly would have had a privileged life. However, he also would have been painfully aware that he was an outsider.
This would have been even more apparent, because according to Exodus 4, Moses had a speech defect and was “slow of speech”. Moses ended up killing an Egyptian and then attempted to cover up the crime. However, word got out and he then fled Egypt to avoid certain death. After this, he ended up living in the desert with Jethro and supported himself as a shepherd. He was certainly not part of the in group in Egyptian or Midian society. Moses even named his first child something that would be similar to the word “stranger” today. In Exodus 2, he refers to himself as a stranger in a strange land. He was aware he didn’t fit into either group.
The next prophet to look at is Jeremiah. Jeremiah was the son of a priest and was asked at a young age to call the people to repent and return to God. This was largely unsuccessful, and Jeremiah spent most of his life being persecuted for his teachings. He was imprisoned, hated, and heavily reviled all for doing what God asked him to do.
The next prophet to look at is Isaiah. Isaiah was similar to Jeremiah, however it seems Isaiah was not hated quite as much. Isaiah called the people to repent, however they largely didn’t. We don’t have much information concerning direct persecution, like we have with Jeremiah. However, we do have a 2nd century work titled the “Ascension of Isaiah” that details how Isaiah confronted a false prophet and was consequently sawn in half by the king of his time.
The next of the Major prophets to consider is Daniel who is a bit of an exception. Daniel was a child who was taken captive into Babylon and forced to assimilate into their culture as part of a merger between both groups. Daniel ended up becoming quite influential in the culture and eventually other leaders attempted to subtly remove him. He miraculously survived and continued with his prophetic ministry.
The last of the Major prophets is Ezekiel. Ezekiel was born to a father of priestly lineage and began his ministry when he was 30. It was during this time that much of the Jewish people had been forcibly exiled after Babylon had conquered Judah. Ezekial was similar to Jeremiah, and Isaiah, in that he was preaching to a broken people who had turned their back on God. His message is ultimately a message of hope, however he was clear that the people needed to return to God in order to get the blessings offered.
In the Bible there are of course many other prophets to look at. Amos was an inconsequential shepherd and fig farmer. Hosea was commanded to marry a prostitute and struggled with that his entire life. Jonah fled from God, called people to repent and then got upset that God doesn’t destroy them since they actually repented. There is really nothing neat and tidy about the prophets in the Bible.
Book of Mormon
In the Book of Mormon things are very similar. The first prophet is a man named Lehi. Lehi was asked to call the people of Jerusalem to repent which they didn’t want to hear. The persecution become so bad, that Lehi was asked by God to leave Jerusalem and travel to a new country. Lehi gladly left everything of his behind and wandered in the desert for several years until they eventually made it to what they referred to as the promised land. Most of the beginning of the Book of Mormon details the struggles that Lehi and his family experienced as they obeyed God.
The next prophet in the Book of Mormon was Nephi, the son of Lehi. Nephi was the last prophet with direct knowledge of the people of Jerusalem and understood exactly why they needed to leave the people. The writings of Nephi are filled with numerous examples of the struggles Nephi experienced as he obeyed God and tried to teach his wayward brothers. Eventually he separated from his brothers however he spent the rest of his life fighting for their freedom against the endless assaults they were facing.
King Benjamin would have to be one of the simplest, yet most influential of the Book of Mormon prophets. King Benjamin was unique in that he was a prophet king. However, according to his words in Mosiah 2, he was an incredibly humble king that truly sought for the welfare of his people. In fact, his speech in Mosiah is an excellent example of how a king should relate to his people. All he wanted them to do was to take personal responsibility and seek after Christ with their whole hearts. He wasn’t king because he wanted power and control. He was king because he wanted to serve the people.
Another major prophet is Alma the Elder who has a very interesting origin. The first time we see Alma he is mentioned as being among the wicked priests of King Noah. This means Alma very likely participated in this gross wickedness and probably enjoyed it for a time. A great prophet named Abinadi came before the king and told him, and the people, to repent. Alma attempted to defend Abinadi however was forced to flee from his job, and society in order to preserve his life. Alma lived in the wilderness for a time with others who didn’t want to follow after the ways of King Noah.
Moroni is the last prophet, chronologically, in the Book of Mormon. He witnessed the decline and fall of his entire civilization and personally fought for their freedom. After the entire Nephite people are destroyed, Moroni went into hiding and spent the remainder of his life fleeing from Lamanites who were pursuing him.
Of the Book of Mormon prophets, we also have many others which don’t seem to fit the mold of what we think a prophet should look like. For instance, we have Abinadi, who was a person of no consequence, but had a firm conviction to tell people they must repent. Samuel, the only known Lamanite prophet, who entered enemy territory to call them to repentance. Ether who hid in a cave and witnessed the entire destruction of his civilization. Again, the prophets in the Book of Mormon seem to be like the Bible. They act in unexpected ways and rarely have a pleasant story to tell.
Modern times
As we have seen, scripturally God chooses a lot of different people who have different backgrounds and different skills to offer. Very rarely are these individuals, managers and pencil pusher types of people. At least in the scriptures they rarely have been. They are typically boots on the ground types who repeatedly call the people to repentance and almost always are persecuted for it. Today however things are completely different. The prophets in Mormonism are almost the exact opposite of what the scriptures suggest they should be. They are managers who are excellent at delegating and going from meeting to meeting.
The prophets in Mormonism also almost never actually speak to any groups of people that don’t support their beliefs or don’t see them as God’s divine messengers. This also is completely contradictory to the way prophets have been in the scriptures. Prophets historically would almost always teach outside of the organized church and call the organized church to repentance directly. Their messages were often direct, pointed, and very damning. Today we receive almost nothing in this regard from the leaders. Instead, we are told that all is well in Zion and that we need to stay in the church for our safety.
In order to demonstrate the extreme contrast, I want to very briefly discuss the First Presidency along with some of the apostles. However, due to the amount I don’t want to focus too much on the details. It is also important to note that once someone is in the top leadership of the church then they are guaranteed a cushy job for life so long as they maintain the standards of church. They want for nothing and have a very adoring fan base wherever they go. Some may see this as a reward from God, however why did all the previous prophets have to struggle so much and today they don’t?
The first is of course President Nelson. President Nelson is quite accomplished as a heart surgeon and was highly sought after during his time as a surgeon. He has many professional accomplishments including becoming the head of medical departments, and the president of societies of surgery. In 1984 he was called to be an Apostle and since that time, he has been employed by the church in numerous capacities including the infamous Strengthening Church Members Committee. President Nelson has likely changed the church more than any other leader except for Joseph Smith.
President Oaks is the First Counselor in the First Presidency and is very likely to be the next president of the LDS church. In his personal life he was a law professor until becoming the president of BYU. After that he was appointed to the Utah Supreme Court until his call as an apostle in 1984 also. He was also closely considered as a potential candidate for the United States Supreme Court. In the legal world it would be safe to say that he was a rising star and had very high ambitions.
President Eyring is the Second Counselor in the First Presidency currently. He has a very accomplished background in academics and was employed as a professor of business. He was also president of Ricks College which was later renamed BYU-Idaho. He has also served twice as the commissioner of church education for the LDS church.
Of the apostles, the next interesting person to look at would have to be Elder Holland. Elder Holland obtained high academic achievements in religious education and was appointed the dean of religious education at BYU, and the director of the SLC institute of religion. Shortly after that he was appointed to be the president of BYU replacing President Oaks.
The last apostle to consider is Elder Bednar. Elder Bednar is another highly accomplished academic in the Quorum of the Twelve. He was employed as an assistant professor, the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, and the president of BYU-Idaho. Professionally he has accomplished an enormous amount.
In order to just sum up this concept to more easily get a picture of how things are then, of the 15 apostles:
- 60% hold a doctorate degree
- 47% were president of an institution
- 47% were college professors
- 80% held executive level leadership positions
- 93% held two or more of the above
- 100% held at least one of the above
This means then, in order to be called as an apostle of the LDS church, then you need to either hold a doctorate degree, be a president of an institution, be a college professor, or a high-level executive of a company. This of course is in sharp contrast to the scriptural prophets as well as the New Testament apostles.
Conclusion
As we can see the leaders of the church today are drastically different from the prophets and leaders of the church in the scriptures. This of course may be because we live in a different time with different needs. This is most certainly what many members would say today. However, why is the church so intertwined in the ways of the world? Why are the leaders rarely challenged in whatever they say or do? Why do they essentially exist in an echo chamber surrounded by ‘yes’ men types? The only examples of this in the scriptures are the false prophets who constantly spout what others want to hear.
Today the leaders of the church are almost exclusively picked from the professional or managerial class of members. However, why is this? Why does God need managers to run things? Why is this pattern also consistent with local leaders such as Bishop’s and Stake President’s? Of course, we may say this is needed because these types of people get things done. However, I believe this is approaching the question from the completely wrong perspective.
Does God need us to “get things done” or does he need to change us from the inside out? Does God need handbooks, programs, and procedures, or does he need a people who are all prophets themselves? Scripturally has God needed to copy the ways of the world in order to advance his work, or has he taught us to follow his ways even if they don’t make sense at first? We are going to be lost as a people until we adopt the ways of God and shun the ways of men. This most certainly includes who we have as our leaders.
