Mormons. Do you automatically "assume" priesthood holders are speaking on behalf of God?

Jesus sent his apostles out to preach and bless people. They returned frustrated that they did not seem to have the power to heal some illness. Jesus taught them that some afflications require much prayer and fasting.

Matthew 17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?

20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Still James gives a simple direction if we desire to be healed.

14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

You have been given some wonderful answers so far... I just wanted to point out that when speaking "for" the Lord, and it is usually only the prophet since he is the one who receives all revelation for the church as a whole, he may say "And the Lord said" or "Thus saith the Lord:" that usually becomes doctrine.

I have also heard a prophet say he has prayed about "_____" and received an answer and this is it... like where to build a temple or something like that.

Those who hold the Priesthood have the authority to 'act' in God's name, really the only one who has the authority to 'speak' for God is the Prophet. God said in the scriptures that He would reveal nothing except through His prophet.

Make sense?

This is a function of the Holy Spirit, to bear witness of the truth of all things. We become familiar with that witness and know when what is spoken is from God and when it isn't. Over time and through living the commandments, we become familiar with the Spirit of the Lord. When something is not right, it doesn't "feel" right, it feels uncomfortable, out of place, wrong! We are counseled to pray and fast if necessary to learn for ourselves through the Spirit if what we are being taught is true and not to just assume that what is spoken is right.

There is a line of authority, and if we have a situation for which we desire counsel, we do it through that line. First, the father or husband, second, the home teachers, third the bishop, 4th the stake president. They can give counsel through the Holy Spirit, and it ought to be taken as such if you know them to be righteous men. Sometimes they say things that they couldn't have possibly known in and of themselves, perhaps something only you know for instance, and you know they couldn't have possibly said what they did unless God had inspired them.

We are supposed to nuture our relationship with God so as to be able to receive our own personal revelations from Him. To that end, we study the scriptures, prepare for our Sunday School lessons and meditate on the talks given in General Conference by the General Authorities. In this manner we become knowledgable and can discern whether what is spoken is in agreement with those things that have already been revealed. We would be lazy stewards if we were popping in to these other people all of the time for counsel.

What is really special is to listen to the prophets speak and discover that they are speaking the very things that you have been meditating on and thinking about during the weeks prior to Conference and know that God is touching the hearts of all of his children in the same way at the same time.

Because priesthood authority has been restored and conferred upon men does not automatically make or keep any one man a righteous person. If it is misused, no authority may be inferred.

That's a good question.

I never assume priesthood holders are speaking on behalf of God because it's well understood among mature LDS that Jesus Christ was the only perfect individual to ever live on the earth.

However, it's important to consider the possibility that the communication is from God. My studies and experience indicate that sometimes God's voice is evident through priesthood leaders even when their communication is a bit garbled or otherwise difficult to understand.

In fact, imperfect communication from God seems to be the norm, and I believe this is part of the design of earth life. It's designed that way so we have to do a little work (e.g., study, prayer) and develop for ourselves the ability to discern truth from error instead of just depending on what someone says.

We don't automatically assume. Those who claim we are forced to believe something just because we should are preaching falsehoods. We are taught to pray to God to receive confirmations of the spirit. If we don't do that as members, then we are not exercising our free agency.

I wasn't taught from childhood to not question. How do you think you receive a testimony? Obviously you have to question something to find the truth.

I believe that our church is lead by a true prophet of God. If he had different motives than what was in God's plan, he would be removed.

A lot of desenters of the church claim that they are forced into the mormon way. My parents did not lead or teach me like that. I believe that probably some LDS parents are like that. Most of them are not. It is just that the complainers are heard more loudly than the non-complainors. We are all human and unfortunately do not act as God would have us. We have free agency to choose. I am grateful for my agency. I had to find out on my own if the church was true. I did. I was 16 years old. I have never regretted that choice.

I have four beautiful children that I do not force into the church. They each have their agency to choose. When you have a testimony of something true, you do not doubt.

We have a scripture that says something like....many are called but few are chosen. Sometimes it is like that with some leaders. They are in it for the wrong reasons. They do their church callings for power and other things, but I am not their judge. They will receive their justice from God, not me. All people should judge others the way they want to be judged.

You want to find out for yourself, ask God.

Here's my criteria:

Revelation has an order to it. A RIGHTEOUS man can receive revelation for his family. Similarly, an elders quorum president can receive revelation in behalf of the quorum members. The Bishop can receive revelation for his ward members, etc. If it falls outside of this, it's not from God.

If something is said from the pulpit by your priesthood leader, it should be taken as council from that leader to you. That doesn't necessarily mean that every word that he says comes directly from God, but rather he's the one who's council we should highly regard.

When it comes to General Conference, I think that the words spoken by priesthood leaders are to be considered scripture.

Lastly, you can always seek revelation to reaffirm what your leaders have said in the event that you're unsure.

No Mormon (or child of God anywhere) has to assume anything. The whole point of prayer and the answers to them is that confirmation is available. Admitted Mormons are as lazy as any set of humans and once trust in and the credibility of a particular priesthood leader has been established the urge to double check every jot and tittle tapers off. But access to that verification is always available.

Your bishop would be the first person you would listen to as representing the Lord. Home teachers and visiting teachers are merely inspired helpers but don't have the keys to speak to you about the matters of your salvation - although they may be inspired to give you some insights - they don't have the "keys" a bishop does. Beyond that would be your stake president, then the area authority, then the 70, then the quorum of the 12, then the first presidency, then the prophet, and then you're talking with Jesus Himself face to face beyond that.

Interestingly very often your bishop will counsel you to handle many things in prayer with the Lord and work many things out yourself with Him.

CONGRATS ON INVESTIGATING THE CHURCH!!! I"M SO EXCITED FOR YOU! I emailed you and gave you my email address. I would LOVE to chat with you sometime as time goes on.

God Bless!

(going on 15 years in the church!!!)

Mormon scripture (D&C 68:4) says: "And whatsoever they [the Lord’s servants] shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation."

You will notice that the scripture does NOT say, "And whatsoever they speak shall be scripture...." It says whatsoever they speak WHEN MOVED UPON BY THE HOLY GHOST shall be scripture. A priesthood holder has the authority to speak on behalf of God, but not everything he says will be said when moved upon by the Holy Ghost.

How do you determine if someone is moved upon by the Holy Ghost? Well, the Holy Ghost doesn't contradict Himself, so whatever is said must be consistent with the scriptures. That is one of the reasons we have the scriptures. But be careful, sometimes what appears to be a contradiction is merely an artifact of your misconception about what was meant before, or what is meant now. You have to keep your mind open about this.

That is not all, however. The Holy Ghost will be consistent, but you can still be fooled. You should examine what will be the consequences or fruits of what has just been said. Will it bring someone closer to the Lord? Will it make people more Christ-like? Again, be careful not to judge too quickly on this, but keep it in mind. By their fruits ye shall know them.

The surest way to know if the person has spoken as moved upon by the Holy Ghost is to have the Holy Ghost bear witness to you personally that it is true. This takes some experience with the Holy Ghost to know when it is the Holy Ghost, and when it is some other influence. You need to be living a pure life, and obeying the commandments. You need to have a righteous desire to follow God if it does come from God. You need to be a worthy receptacle of the Holy Ghost to expect the Holy Ghost to come into you and bear His witness.

Normally we know immediately in our heart whether the priesthood holder has spoken the truth. But if there is any doubt we are urged to take it to the Lord, ponder upon it, and ask God. "If any of ye lack wisdom, let him ask of God..." Children are taught at an early age to gain a testimony of their own, and not rely on the words of any other mortal. They are taught to think for themselves and know independently what truth is. We do not believe in blind faith.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

I don’t think there is a problem with the way you asked the question. I think we understand it. I also think that you have been given several excellent answers. So, it must be that the way we are answering your question isn’t making sense to you.

So, I’ll try again. Suppose my bishop says to me, “Doc, I’d like to borrow your rototiller to use in my garden next Saturday.” Is he speaking as a mouthpiece of God? I’d rather doubt it. First of all, I don’t own a rototiller. Second, this is not the kind of thing someone speaking as a mouthpiece of God would say. Granted, he might have received a revelation that I was going to obtain a rototiller by Saturday, or that I should buy one. And there might be some divine purpose in lending my soon-to-own rototiller to the bishop. What should I do?

Well, what does the prompting of the Holy Ghost tell me? It would probably tell me that I should correct him and say something like this, “Bishop, I don’t own a rototiller.” That would allow the bishop to make some corrections in his statements. Depending on what he says I might ask, “Are you speaking for the Lord?” If he says yes, and the feeling I had in my heart was that the Holy Ghost was telling me that he was not speaking for the Lord, I’d go home and pray about it. If I still felt no confirmation I’d go to my stake president and say, “My bishop says that the Lord told him that I should lend him my rototiller, and I don’t even own a rototiller.”

Now, if the stake president confirmed that this was inspired on the Lord, I’d probably do it. I could use the excuse to give my wife that the bishop and stake president told me that the Lord wants me to buy a rototiller. Without the confirmation of the Holy Ghost, though, it would make me really wonder about my bishop and stake president.

But no, we don’t automatically assume that everything the bishop says is inspired of the Lord. And I feel no guilt in questioning what a priesthood leader says. I don’t feel any guilt questioning what God reportedly said. When you don’t know for a fact if it came from God you are under no obligation other than to find out for yourself whether it came from God or not. If it is from God, you are then obligated to do it. And by the way, lots of prophets (like Moses) questioned even God when they knew it was God. Not a good idea, but we have to learn to trust even God.

Priesthood leaders make it clear when they are giving what they feel is the word of the Lord. Not everyone follows their priesthood leaders. I’ve seen many instances of members disregarding what their bishop has had to say. In my forty years of Church leadership experience, however, I’ve never seen a member do the right thing when he disregarded what the bishop said when the bishop claimed inspiration. The member would always have been better to have followed the bishop.

Children say the darndest things, don’t they? Of course the bishop isn’t going “to get you” if you go shopping on Sunday, but it does sound like something a child would say. It does make you wonder what the child was told. My guess is that the child once asked why they couldn’t go shopping on Sunday, and the parents gave the quick and easy answer, “The bishop wouldn’t like it if we shopped on Sunday.” Which is true, but doesn’t fully answer the question.

Nope. I don't assume anything. I always ask in prayer for confirmation of the Holy Spirit. It's not hard to know the difference at all, even little children recognize right and wrong/ good and evil. As we become more sensitive to the feelings that guide us morally, we tune ourselves better to receiving that confirmation. THis kind of prayer is the action and testimony that attends faith. There is no blind faith, there is always guidance. We simply must listen and have a heart that is open to the answers.

Always, always, always pray. God will not let you wander off the path if you are talking to Him about your thoughts and feelings and about all of the things you are learning.