One highlighted theme from this past General Conference was importance of the living prophet of God. The idea that really stuck out to me from these messages was when President Benson was quoted as saying that “the living prophet is more vital to us than the standard works” (“Obedience”). That’s a pretty profound statement. We are to understand that the Stick of Joseph and the stick of Judah, the Bible and the Book of Mormon are not as important to us as the prophetic word of the living prophet of the our day. Obviously, this importance of following the living prophet does not mean to disregard the Bible and Book of Mormon, but if not for a living prophet of God today, then our church might as well not even have the other books of scripture. We need God's word for us today and God's living prophet is God's mouthpiece to all mankind.
Today, our living prophet is President Thomas S. Monson. He is God’s mouthpiece on earth. Another memorable thought from President Benson’s talk was that the living prophet gives us “Today’s News Today”. The living prophet today is able to look out at our world and show was what path we might take today that would be of most benefit not only to members of Christ’s Church, but for all mankind.
Our last prophet was President Gordon B. Hinckley. When I went out on my mission I used to think that his talks were the most boredom-inducing sermons out there. His topics seemed to be sooo simple and basic. I always loved the other apostles’ talks a lot more because I felt they were of more substance. But, over time I began to realize how doctrinally enriched his talks were. The talk that did it for me was his talk from April 2004 General Conference. He framed the plight of mankind in such an inspired way. After that Conference, as a missionary, I began collecting as many Conference ensigns as I could and pretty much had all the Conferences from 1995 to 2004. I then read through all of President Hinckley’s talks further confirming that not only were his talks not just basic, but that they were really inspiring and so bold too. Of all the aspects of my testimony that grew on my mission, the knowledge that President Hinckley was a prophet of God grew most. This knowledge helped me to further grow in love and appreciation for how much God loves us as well.
And now President Monson is our living prophet. He has been our prophet for just over 3 years now. Each prophet seems to have something that has marked their ministry. President Benson was known for “flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon”, President Kimball was known for “lengthening our stride”, Elder Bateman of the seventy said that we couldn’t really pin down President Hinckley to one topic because the breadth of his ministry was so great. Yet, Elder Quentin L. Cook said that he continually made reference to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. What will President Monson be most remembered for? Though his ministry is hardly concluded, we hope, I think it’d be safe to say that the title of President Monson’s biography succinctly summarizes what he would hope the Saints be anxiously engaged in - To the Rescue.
