The Ordain Women Movement: "Walking in Darkness at Noon-Day"

I had an experience as a missionary in Brasil that might not seem related at all to the Ordain Women Movement, but if you humor me for a moment, I think it will help explain my current understanding of the situation.

One night, the four of us sisters in our area returned after dark to our apartment building. We noticed that every single light was out in the building. The one Brazilian among us noted quickly that it must have meant the power was out.

Sure enough, when we got in and tried a couple lights, we confirmed the power outage. Now brasilian electricity does not affect the water or oven. So we decided to try and do our best to accomplish our evening tasks without light. One took a shower. Another began making food. I began washing the dishes to a small flashlight I had taken from one of my bags. We adjusted to this new life of darkness for some time. 

Finally, my companion entered the kitchen intent on looking in the fridge, probably to see what food might go bad. When she opened the door, we were all astonished to see the room flood with the light coming from the fridge. Astonished, my companion looked to me and asked how in the world just the fridge was light on? I was likewise confused, until the truth hit me. And with a smile, I walked over to the wall and flicked on the light switch. Sure enough, the room filled with light. The power had retuned. With a laugh I said, “Sometimes all you have to do to get out of the darkness, is just turn on the light.”

We all laughed about it, wondering just how long we had let ourselves live in darkness when the power had already returned. Almost immediately two scriptures came to mind that I have since reflected on many times. “Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Behold all ye that kindle fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks [or small flashlights], walk in the light of your own fire and the sparks which ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand—ye shall lie down in sorrow.” (2 Nephi 7:10-11)

And then the next one “They who are not chosen have sinned a very grievous sin, in that they are walking in darkness at noon-day.” (Doc. And Cov. 95:6)

In effect, I began to think about all the ways in which as members of the church, we get so obsessed with the apparent darkness our situation or lack of all the answers, that we fail to realize just how light it really is—if we just know where to turn on the source of that light. We find ourselves guilty of walking in darkness when the noon day light is all around us.

One of things that we got to do every day as missionaries was testify of the Restoration of the Gospel through a prophet called of God and ordained to that specific purpose—Joseph Smith. We often get interesting investigators who challenge us in this claim, stating that everyone is a prophet, or that there are many prophets who have existed (often during the same period) and why are we claiming anything special about this man Joseph? And what of prophetesses?

The simplest way to understand the answer would be to go back to the basics of what we teach. And I promise that this will relate to the Ordain Women movement.

God always speaks through prophets. This has been the inspired pattern from the beginning of time, since even Adam. It is a part of that light in the darkness. The testimony of Christ through the prophets. But God also speaks to man individually through the Spirit. This has likewise been an established pattern of mortality. We generally call this the difference between personal revelation, and revelation for the entire church—or as I often explained to my investigators—the difference between a living prophet and an inspired man.

That is, anyone can receive personal revelation. I can. You can. We all can! This revelation is personal to us and our lives and choices. We can also begin to extend this to our callings. We can receive personal revelation to help those under our stewardship, like a YW president thinking about how to help her YW. She may not get revelation about the lives and choices of the young women, but God can tell her how to help them.

But there is only one person who can receive revelation for the entire church. That is the living Prophet and President of the Church, which today is President Thomas S. Monson.

Let me be clear. There are other prophets. Even all 12 apostles are prophets. There have been prophetesses in the scriptures. They all receive revelation from the Lord to teach and testify of Jesus Christ and his Gospel. But again, only ONE person receives revelation for the entire church by way of commandment—and that is the man who has the keys, power, and authority from God to do so. The current president of the church.

So why am I reiterating this?

The fascinating thing about the Ordain Woman Movement is that it is a movement. A movement to raise awareness in the church about gender inequality in hopes of eventually garnering for women in the church the right to receive ordination of the Priesthood that includes the administration of certain ordinances and blessings beyond the scope of the Temple.

But according to the inspired pattern of truth, there is no need to make a movement in an ill-attempt to speed up the revelation process from God to his chosen servant. In other words, if the members of the movement believe in the church pattern of revelation, then they cannot claim that the time has come for woman to receive the priesthood, because until the Prophet receives that revelation from God himself, it will not come. The time cannot be right, because God has not revealed it according to his established pattern—meaning through his living prophets.

That is also not to say that it ever will come. Personally, I do not believe that it will. There is much I could say to demonstrate that such an inequality does not exist and that the whole issue of women and the priesthood is misunderstood at large, but the point of this blog is demonstrate that the so-called claims for change from the adherents of the movement are based on false doctrine.

They are claiming to receive personal revelation that can also be applied to the church in general. That is inconsistant with established patterns of revelation. 

In the history of the church, there was a member named Hyrum Page who at one time thought that he was receiving revelation through a stone, by which he was giving commands to members of the church. In response the Lord revealed a fascinating doctrine, “No one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelation in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith….and if thou art led at any time by the Comforter to speak or teach, or at all times by the way of commandment unto the church, though mayest do it. But though shalt not write by way of commandment, but by wisdom; And thou shalt not command him who is at the head, and at the head of the Church; For I have given him the keys of the mysteries, and the revelations which are sealed, until I shall appoint another in his stead.”

So it’s simple. If you think you are getting revelation that women should be ordained, the idea is to check your personal revelation against the other established patterns—the Living Prophet and the scriptures—to determine whether or not you should act in accordance with the perceived revelation.  If the Prophet has not yet spoken on the matter, then wisdom would be to keep it to yourself and revaluate your understanding and recognition of the promptings of the Spirit. I’m not meaning to be harsh, but I mean to say it is easier than we might think to falsify personal revelation. That is, I believe, one reason why we have Living Prophets in addition to scripture. We still need Prophets.

I will give one more personal experience to demonstrate this principle, particulary as it regards to both the potential “fallibility” of church leaders as well as our own suppossed personal revelation.

On my mission, I believed at one point to have received a particular revelation while praying in the Temple. It was a complicated and personal issue to me. But I took my concern to my mission president accompanied by my thoughts about what I should do. He didn’t quite let me finish my explanation, or I did a poor job of it, because he instead immediately began to reprove me, telling me that I the prompting was not from God and that I was listening to the natural man.

I felt that he had not given me full opportunity to explain myself, and that he was merely acting under passionate misunderstanding. I was frustrated that he wasn’t letting me explain and instead gave me quite the lecture. I was offended that after a year of missionary service and everything I had learned, he would make such a bold statement about my ability to receive revelation.

I left that interview feeling frustrated and at a loss. But I remembered that my dad taught me many times that while certain leaders may be misled, we have a responsibility as members to sustain them while they are in the calling to which God has called them. As far as I know, and though I disagreed with his counsel, he was worthy of that office. So, I decided to follow his advice, telling Heavenly Father that in so doing I hoped to respect the keys and calling of my President, even if I did not agree with everything he said and had lost some respect for him personally.

Now, in hindsight, this was possibly one of the best decisions of my mission. The change that came as a result of following my President’s counsel changed everything for me and my mission. The answers that I sought in the Temple began to come. I have often wondered to myself if maybe my previous impression was wrong. I am more convinced, that I was the one that didn’t fully understand the prompting. And while I still think that not everything my President said was accurate, the final advice did work to my benefit, possibly because the Lord was consecrating my best efforts to sustain his chosen servant. I cannot forget that in my previous temple experience, the very last prompting I had received was to talk to my mission president, which is why I had brought him my concerns in the first place. So the Lord was working all along to bless me and help me reach my potential and learn from Him. I learned also that even if a church leader can make mistakes, so can I with my own understanding of personal revelation.

In short, yes, there may be some leaders that make mistakes. But God will not allow us to fall from grace or exaltation when we are sustaining them in their holy callings. I think of it like David and Saul in the Bible. David wouldn’t kill Saul, despite how sinful the king had become, because he was trying to respect his anointing as king over the people. “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.”  (1 Samuel 24:6) In time, the Lord blessed David in obtaining the kingdom; he was blessed as he supported the called and anointed of the Lord.

Now, that said, we also have a special promise when it comes to the President of the Church. President Wilford W. Woodruff said “The Lord will never allow me or any other man who stands as President of this church to lead you astray. It is not in the progamme. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so he will any other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty.” “It matters not who lives or who dies, or who is called to lead this Church, they have got to lead it by inspiration of Almighty God. If they do not do it that way, they cannot do it at all…” (Official Declaration 1 and comments on the Manifesto).

We know that God will not let us be led astray through his chosen servant and Prophet of God. Going back to the scripture on light and darkness. The key to walking in the light of the Lord, is not the sparks of our own fire, passion, desires, or interests. But rather, it is obeying the voice of his servant—which is the living Prophet of God, President Thomas S. Monson.  We must defend and follow the Prophet. I encourage all involved in the Ordain Woman movement and anyone with questions to ponder again the doctrine of the Priesthood and the Temple, as well as the doctrine of personal and church-wide revelation. It seems clear to me that if we trust in the established patterns of the Lord--all of them--he has promised that we will not be led astray or be found wanting. But rather will be heirs of eternal life and exaltation. 

That, for me, is enough.  

[Editor's Note: I should mention that my relationship with my Mission President also improved. I think we gained a mutal respect for one another, During my exit interview, he gave me some personal and inspiring advice. We ended on pretty good terms.]