Continuing from a previous: ‘Enduring’:
Our ninth Article of Faith states: “We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.” In a talk given at an academic conference at the Library of Congress celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of Joseph Smith’s birth, Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, Joseph taught that he was directed by a continuing flow of revelation throughout his life and that everyone could enjoy personal revelation or inspiration to guide them in their lives. . . .Joseph Smith’s teaching about the significance of modern revelation is clearly the most distinctive characteristic of the Latter-day Saint religion” (BYU Studies, vol. 44:4, 2005, 153-154; emphasis added). Elder Oaks distinguished between revelation that comes through the prophets or scripture and revelation that comes directly to the individual.. He taught that as a source of knowledge, the scriptures are not the ultimate, but the *penultimate. The ultimate knowledge comes by personal revelation through the Holy Ghost (see ibid., 167-168).
Emphasizing the principle that we can verify spiritual teachings by personal revelation, Elder Oaks used the analogy of a certified copy of official documents. They are accepted as if they were original, based on the fact that anyone who doubts the authenticity of the content can verify its accuracy by going to the original. “So it is with the prophetic revelation of a prophet of God. Anyone who doubts [the scriptures or the living prophets]—and none are discouraged from personal doubt—can verify the authenticity and content of the message by checking it with the official source, by personal revelation.” (ibid., 170).
. . . Elder Oaks made those two lines of personal revelation—ecclesiastical and personal revelation—the subject of a general conference talk (“Two Lines of Communication, Ensign, November 2010) and reaffirmed the fact that both lines are essential. The personal line cannot function in contradiction to the priesthood line, but the ultimate form of revelation is personal because without that channel, one cannot know of the truthfulness of the scriptures and prophets. This is a critical point to understand.
A serious and ongoing challenge is how to get the direction of the prophets to every member. In other words, using an irrigation metaphor, how can we get the water (revelation) to the end of the row (to every member)? Elder Richard G. Scott utilized this analogy in a Worldwide Training Meeting in January 2004 in these words:
There is an irrigation analogy normally use in the Church of “getting the water to the end of the row”. However at Stake and Ward levels, it would be far better for you priesthood leaders and auxiliary officers to simply “let it rain” from heaven. Your sacred callings give you the divine right to inspiration, Confidently seek it. Wherever you live in the world, from the smallest branch to the largest ward, a struggling district of a fully organizer stake, you have the right to be guided in fulfilling your inspired assignment to best meet the needs of those you serve. (Ensign, August 2005, 67 )
The only way to make sure water gets to the end of the row is for it to rain! Members need to be in tune with the same spirit that inspires the prophets.
We live in a glorious time when God is pouring out His spirit on all those who are ready to hear. . . . . ~~ Larry W. Tippetts, Receiving Personal Revelation (American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications, 2017) p.27-29
