A Scenario Analysis of Prophecy
Today I want to depart from a commentary of the Come Follow Me curriculum. I have been ahead by a week anyway. The point of these messages is to get people thinking beyond a typical Sunday School level, which is what our leaders have been emphasizing. Now on to the matter at hand.
I am sure we have all read ancient prophecy and either wondered if, or understood that, the inspired directives applied to both ancient and latter days. Take this prophecy, for example, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14). People of the time believed that the end was near and thought that the world consisted of the Roman Empire. In consequence, they acted appropriately by going out into the known world to spread the gospel message. We read the same words and do the same thing but in a different context.
I am sure that some people in ancient times saw the broader context because they took that prophecy and others made by Paul that said that there would be a time of apostasy and restoration before the Day of the Lord would come. However, Paul believed that time was imminent.
So how are we to understand prophecies made in our time? Furthermore, do our modern prophecies apply to a single scenario? Do we make assumptions or come to conclusions about prophetic utterances prematurely? I think that many of us fail to realize that messages from God are given from his perspective, not ours. Additionally, the wording used is meant to evoke action from us that serves his purposes. For example, when the Lord says, “the time is at hand” he means that the time for action is now.
I want to focus on this statement from President Russell M. Nelson, “In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.” He further emphasized: “If we are to have any hope of sifting through the myriad of voices and the philosophies of men that attack truth, we must learn to receive revelation.” These statements were made in October 2018. Keep that in mind.
My initial reaction to this prophecy was that because of the rising pressure of cancel culture and the pressure building to stifle religious expression and limit the free exercise of religion, church leaders would not be able to say certain things publicly for fear of retribution. I do not believe I was wrong. I still believe that we may well have to rely on personal revelation when it comes to some sensitive social matters. There is still enormous pressure on religious institutions to toe the line of secularism. In this scenario, we must be savvy to current events and read between the lines.
So how do we go about receiving personal revelation? “A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon. Those things that were presented unto your mind by the Spirit of God will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.” (History of the Church, 3:381; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 151)
This brings me to the reason I am departing from the pattern of the messages I publish each week. While watching a video about the advancement of Artificial Intelligence and how easy it will be to fool people with fake images, video, and audio, a burst of realization or intelligence came to me. The message was that unless we are immersed in the practice of personal revelation, we may not be able to tell what is real anymore.
The verse, “Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.” (Matthew 24:26, KJV) came to mind. How easy is it to create a video showing Jesus descending to some place like the Mount of Olives or to the Vatican? How many people would believe it?
Would it be very difficult to create some audio of a private conversation between church leaders discussing ways to deceive their followers? Mark Hoffman was able to fool several church historians and experts with his White Salamander letter. If he could do that without the aid of today’s technology, we need God’s help to us avoid serious deception.
I want to reiterate the statement made by President Nelson, “In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.” The Holy Ghost is a discerning spirit.
In closing, prophecy is many-faceted and can have multiple applications and scenarios. We need to be flexible in our interpretation of these inspired declarations.