A Prophet

LISTEN & OBEY (Part of a talk given by W. Grant Bangerter of the 70, Oct 1979 Gen. Conf., originally entitled, The Voice of the Lord is Unto All People)

The interesting thing about prophets is that most people don’t listen to them. That is why prophets often seem to be impatient or even angry. That is how the Lord feels about us when we don’t listen. That is how you feel when your children won’t listen.

We know some of you say that you do not believe in God. Some of you have even been so unwise as to say there is no God. That kind of statement raises some interesting questions. Do you think your unbelief makes any difference? He won’t go away just because you don’t believe in him. Perhaps you are correct in saying that God is not like you have been told, but how can you know that there is no God? Did he reveal it to you? Have you been there to make sure? All you can really know is that you don’t know there is a God, and that is an admission of ignorance.

Two Russians went around the world in a spacecraft a time or two and declared that they had gone to heaven and God was not there. This is a pretty weak argument for atheism. It isn’t even scientific. It reminds me of the blasphemous remark of a scoffing acquaintance of my brother who said, “I dreamed I saw God and he was a horse.” My brother’s comment was, “Certainly. That is perfectly logical to a jackass.”

All the evidence is on our side. You cannot prove God away from us. To know that there is no God you would have to go everywhere and know everything.

The prophet declares that God lives and that he is speaking to us in these last days. As witnesses we know this. God has been seen, heard, and felt. With the declaration that the gospel has been restored is the promise that the Holy Ghost will also witness the fact to you, and then you will know. If that doesn’t happen after you have earnestly and prayerfully listened, you are free from all obligations to believe.

What about you who believe in God but don’t believe in prophets or revelation? Why not? How can you know about God without revelation? Is it bad to have a prophet? Is there some rule against it? Don’t we need a prophet? Wouldn’t it be comforting, for example, if the president of the United States were a prophet? Wouldn’t it be wonderful for this country if God would just tell us what we ought to be doing? As a matter of fact, he is telling us. The only trouble is that by and large we won’t listen. It is just the same as in ancient times when other prophets spoke. You would rather commit adultery, play on Sunday, drink your whiskey, and let someone else tend to the problems of society and the world. God is trying to straighten all these things out by the words of his prophet. And only when you have enough faith will you be able to hear the message.

 

Now, to the most foolish of all, those of you who belong to the Church and who say you are not interested. You say that you are not religious and you don’t enjoy going to church. Some people who are sick physically don’t like their medicine either, but they take it so they may be well.

Do you remember when your parents urged you to eat your vegetables? Now you are doing the same with your children. Let me tell you about your spiritual vegetables. You have been brought up in light. You know about God. You know about the Savior. You know they appeared to Joseph Smith. You know the angel Moroni gave the Book of Mormon to Joseph Smith. You have it in your home. You believe in the Bible. That is a great deal to throw away just so you can go fishing.

I have a friend who one time went on a family outing to Yellowstone Park. While he was faithful to his commitments as a member and leader in the Church, some of his relatives tended to scoff at his “straitlaced” religious nature. They persuaded him, one Sunday morning, to go out in the boat fishing with them. Suddenly a strong wind arose, and they found themselves in such danger that they feared for their lives. The taunting and skepticism were suddenly gone.

In plaintive unison they looked to my friend, saying, “Please, can’t you pray for us?” They evidently had little confidence in their own petitions or perhaps sensed their unworthiness to call for divine aid. The irony of the situation is that my friend, having been tempted against his better judgment to do something of which he felt the Lord would not approve, says of his predicament: “I had no prayer to offer. All I could think of was the headline in the newspaper saying, ‘Stake President Drowns While Fishing on Sunday.’”