Prophets and General Conference

Today is General Conference.  I LOVE it!  I read an article this week in USAToday about General Conference and the Church...it was quite interesting and amusing.  It was trying hard to explain the doctrines and principles of revelation, prophets, and faith of the church and its' members.  Basically I came away with the impression that "they" think we're mind numb robots who blindly accept whatever the prophet says - kind of like the Jim Jones cult - but they really did want to give the impression that they weren't biased - yeah - it didn't work!  LOL 

That said, I guess I can easily understand the confusion and frustration of "outsiders" trying to understand why so many of us "hang on every word" that the prophet and the rest of our general authorities tell us.  I just wish that they knew of the peace and joy that come into our lives when we "follow the prophet."  Sometimes the blessings are immediate, but other times it is only by looking back over a lifetime that you recognize the protection and blessings that you have received.

When I was a young girl (14-18) I was influenced by the times in which I lived.  It was the height of the hippie era and that would eventually morph into the feminist movement.  However, I had been raised to believe in the role of our prophets and to follow their counsels. 

When I was a young child I adored President McKay and listened intently to the things he told us - in fact, I can still quote many of the things he would tell us - "no success can compensate for failure in the home" and the like.  He often taught about the importance of women and their roles as wives and mothers in the home, about the significance of the great work of raising a family.  I remember him talking about the dangers of the birth control pill to the family, about women who chose to leave their homes and children for careers, and about creating heaven on earth.  As I moved into my teen years that counsel, as well as the examples of my parents, was firmly in place and I knew that the things that I had been taught were true.  I may have been influenced by the societal changes but my moorings were solidly intact.

When it came time to choose a college I chose Ricks and then BYU.  In both schools I attended classes, devotionals, church meetings, and associated with people of similar values.  Again, each reinforced the teachings of my youth and from our prophets.  I remember attending a stake conference at BYU where Ezra Taft Benson came and talked to us about one of the dangers that lurked for us as college students nearing graduation - the danger of being caught up in pride and in believing in the philosophies of men rather than relying on the revealed word of God.  He talked extensively about the false educational ideas that were permeating our culture and society and that we needed to learn for ourselves the revealed truths that the Lord would have us know, and then to have the courage to act upon that knowledge.

As I married the feminist movement was beginning to roil.  Demonstrations, magazine articles, newscasters, classes and curricula were all pushing to change the roll of women.  We were being barraged with messages that we were oppressed by "male chauvinist pigs" and that sexual intimacy with our spouses was tantamount to rape.  Marriage and children meant that we were living below our potential and that we were better than that - that we had brains and it was in our careers that we would make a difference.  If those messages weren't well received then they added the idea that we were smart enough to have it all - marriage, home, children, and career...that it was quality time, not quantity, that mattered. 

After sixteen months of marriage we moved to Australia and I was spared much of the diatribe - we only had one television station  that was on for a few hours a day, very little radio, and no newspaper - for the next two years.  When we returned to the States in August of 1976 it was like I have gone through a time warp.  Phil Donahue, Sally Jesse Raphael, and their ilk filled the tv stations with sleaze and filth that I hadn't known even existed...in fact, I doubt many men even knew much of this stuff...I actually believe much of it was made up and promoted, perhaps just for ratings, but I actually believe that it was in an attempt to change the goal of the ideal to acceptance of the base and carnal. Barbara Smith, General Relief Society President of the Church, actually went on the Phil Donahue program to try and counter some of the trash that was being hurled our way because of our beliefs - but sadly she was mostly mocked and scorned and ridiculed. 

To say that there weren't truths in some of the feminist agenda would be a lie.  There were.  Equal pay for an equal days' work (if all things are equal) is a noble and virtuous goal.  But as with all of Satan's lies, the whole truth is seldom told or understood.  To say that I wasn't influenced by some of this would also be a lie...I was.  In fact, if it hadn't been for my upbringing and for our prophet I probably would have been marching in the streets, screaming, ranting, raving, and burning my bra with the rest of them.

As the 70's were coming to a close there was an all out attack on traditional values as the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution was debated across our great land.  Each state had a chance to vote on it and ratify it.  In theory it was brilliant.  Who could disagree with equal rights?  Not me.  However, the Church and our prophet, Spencer W. Kimball came out in full opposition to it, declaring it a moral issue.  As Utah prepared to vote on it there was a huge, week-long convention in the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City where women from across the state came to listen to speakers, pro and con, to caucus together, have classes, and learn about the amendment and the issues that were attendant, and to vote our conscience.  A plea went out through the stakes and wards to have our membership well represented.  I was selected as one of the representatives from our ward.  Every morning I would drive down to Salt Lake and drop the kids off at my Mom's and then go uptown for the daylong meetings.  I remember listening intently to the speakers, trying to discern why the prophet had taken such a firm line and what could be that bad with "equal rights." Every night I would go back to pick up the kids, talk with Mom (who was the Stake R.S. President in her stake at that time) about what I had learned, go back home and talk with Rich - and know that I couldn't see the problems with the proposed amendment that President Kimball was warning about.  Then next morning I would start the whole process over again and spend time discussing these weighty issues with my friends and other women that I admired...all the while knowing I didn't know any more than I had the day before. 

As the week came to a close and I prepared to vote, I knew that I didn't know what to believe.   I felt like I imagined Joseph Smith felt when he said, "...there was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion.  It commenced with the Methodists, but soon became general among all the sects in that region of country.  Indeed, the whole district of country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and division amongst the people, some crying, "Lo, here!" and others, "Lo, there!"  Some were contending for the Methodist faith, some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist....In the midst of the war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together?"....knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know...."   

For some reason Rich came to the Salt Palace just as we were preparing to vote.  As we talked about how I would vote I must have expressed my self doubt because I remember him saying, "what does the prophet say?"  It was totally a rhetorical question but he then added, "well, what more is there to say?"  I left and voted against the amendment - knowing that I didn't have the wisdom, I could not see into the future, but I could follow the prophet and be assured that was what the Lord would have me do. 

The years have come and gone, the majority of the nation has no clue that there ever was an Equal Rights Amendment to our Constitution that narrowly failed to be ratified, and I have no clue what would have happened if it had...but as I have watched our society sink into the depths of filth, degradation, sleaze, cowardice, vulgarity, crudity, and immorality, I am thoroughly convinced that descent would have been much faster, much steeper, and much deeper than it has been.  As I have watched men be debased, dehumanized, and emasculated just because they are men - I am ashamed of my gender.  As I have watched families fall apart, marriages succumb to divorce, children become nothing but trophies or possessions, I have seen first hand the loneliness and hopelessness of what might have been if selfishness, thoughtlessness, and hedonism hadn't ruled the day.  As I have watched women who listened to the false gods that told them they could have everything, I have seen the despair when they realize that was a lie and they have sold their birthright for a mess of pottage.  Today the Phil Donahue program would seem tame in comparison to what is actually going on - and we are not the better for it.  President Kimball warned us, Sister Smith repeated that warning, and the Holy Ghost echoed those precious words of my husband to my very soul, "what more is there to say?"  I do not regret that vote - not in the least.  Some might say I was stupid to not be able to see what would happen - and they may well be right - but I have felt the blessings of following the prophet as I have watched the turmoil swirl around me and felt the peace that passeth all understanding.  If that vote were to be cast today I would have no trouble discerning the right course of action.  But the value of a prophet, seer, and revelator is knowing that our Father in Heaven knows all things from the beginning, He knows what is yet to occur, and that He will warn us through His prophets of the things that we need to do to escape the calamities that will come as a result of wickedness, and how we may learn His will for us, when we do not know those things for ourselves.   Our prophet, Thomas S. Monson, is the watchman on the tower for us today.   In the midst of the complete chaos that is our world today - I sure hope we all listen and follow him today, tomorrow, and for the next 6 months!