In the days following Israel’s provocation of God in the “days of temptation” (Jacob 1:7) when God “swore that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness” (D&C 84:24), namely after the Israelites had danced naked around a golden calf idol while Moses was in the mountain, there eventually came a spiritual revival among the people as they strove back toward righteousness. This reformation culminated in a famous episode wherein the gift of prophecy was poured out on a group of 70 faithful elders who had gathered at the tabernacle. That is, all but two had gathered, but those two were also enabled to prophesy where they stood:
“Eldad and Medad were two leaders who had not gone to the [tabernacle]. But when the Spirit took control of them, they began shouting like prophets right there in camp. A boy ran to Moses and told him about Eldad and Medad.
“Joshua was there helping Moses, as he had done since he was young. And he said to Moses, ‘Sir, you must stop them!’
“But Moses replied, ‘Are you concerned what this might do to me? I wish the Lord would give his Spirit to all his people so everyone could be a prophet.’ Then Moses and the 70 leaders went back to camp” (Numbers 11:26 – 30, CEV).
I specifically used the Contemporary English Version of the Bible to draw attention to Moses’ exclamation against Joshua (the KJV has the unwieldy “Enviest thou for my sake?”), which in essence is saying, “Joshua, you don’t get it; the more prophets the better!” Do we believe Moses when he says this? Or do we, like Joshua, believe only a sacred few men close to the top are capable or worthy of the spirit of prophecy?
To drive home the point that we should definitely be believing Moses here, let’s consider on what the scriptures tell us the spirit of prophecy really is:
“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10).
Lest we be guilty of claiming that only ‘a sacred few men close to the top’ are capable of obtaining a ‘testimony of Jesus,’ a plain reading of the words spoken to John the Revelator here constrain us to support Moses in celebrating the advent of additional prophets in the congregation. This conclusion seems straight forward, but perhaps it should be asked, what then is the ‘testimony of Jesus’? Is it something more esoteric than meets the eye? If the plain reading be true, then do those who do not prophesy also not have a true testimony of Jesus (or Jesus as he really is)?
That the plain reading is correct, we can confirm through the teaching of Joseph Smith, who said:
“John the Revelator says that ‘the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.’ Now, if any man has the testimony of Jesus, has he not the spirit of prophecy? And if he has the spirit of prophecy, I ask, is he not a prophet? And if a prophet, well, he can receive revelation. And any man that does not receive revelation for himself must be damned—for ‘the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy’!—for Christ says, ‘ask and you shall receive’! And if he happens to receive anything, I ask, will it not be a revelation? And if any man has not the testimony of Jesus, or the spirit of God, he is none of his Christ’s, namely. And if not his, he must be damned.
“What are we to understand by a prophet? It is his character to predict things that are in the future. I ask, what right has any man or set of men—or priest or set of priests—to say, ‘If a man will not do so and so, he shall be damned’? Is he not taking upon himself, or assuming, the character of a prophet? Consequently, he must either be a true or false prophet” (Joseph Smith as recorded in the James Burgess Notebook, “9 July 1843 Sunday Morning, Temple Stand”, Words of the Prophet Joseph Smith, spelling and grammar modernized).
Joseph Smith has here elevated the seriousness of the issue. Where Moses said he wished that all his people were prophets, Joseph says that those who do not become so will be damned! It is a solemn sentiment to the sideline saint! To be like Joshua, then, and only believe in the gift of prophecy for church leaders—and not to exercise it by obtaining that spirit for oneself—is no less than to be damned. Damned to what? The scriptures reveal: damned to a degree of glory less than the celestial.
Celestial (D&C 76:51 – 54):
“They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given—that by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power; and who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true. They are they who are the church of the Firstborn.”
Terrestrial (D&C 76:71 – 79):
“These are they who are of the terrestrial, whose glory differs from that of the church of the Firstborn who have received the fulness of the Father, even as that of the moon differs from the sun in the firmament. Behold, these are they who died without law; and also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the Son visited, and preached the gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh; who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it. These are they who are honorable men of the earth, who were blinded by the craftiness of men. These are they who receive of his glory, but not of his fulness. These are they who receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fulness of the Father. Wherefore, they are bodies terrestrial, and not bodies celestial, and differ in glory as the moon differs from the sun. These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore, they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God.”
Telestial (D&C 76:82 – 88):
“These are they who received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus. These are they who deny not the Holy Spirit. These are they who are thrust down to hell. These are they who shall not be redeemed from the devil until the last resurrection, until the Lord, even Christ the Lamb, shall have finished his work. These are they who receive not of his fulness in the eternal world, but of the Holy Spirit through the ministration of the terrestrial; and the terrestrial through the ministration of the celestial. And also the telestial receive it of the administering of angels who are appointed to minister for them, or who are appointed to be ministering spirits for them; for they shall be heirs of salvation.”
Could these verses plainly mean that failure to obtain the spirit of prophecy for oneself, as Joseph prophesied, will result in damnation to—at worst—the telestial kingdom? We are often taught that these verses are about having faith in Christ, conceptually, and not about the spirit of prophecy, so how can we prove them to mean otherwise (besides citing Revelation 19:10)?
The answer: simply by conferring with Joseph Smith’s poetic version of D&C 76, which he published in the Times and Seasons in February of 1843:
As the stars are all different in lustre and size,
So the telestial region is mingled in bliss;
From the least unto greatest, and greatest to least,
The reward is exactly as promised in this.
These are they that came out for Apollos and Paul;
For Cephas and Jesus, in all kinds of hope;
For Enoch and Moses, and Peter and John;
For Luther and Calvin, and even the Pope.
For they never received the gospel of Christ
Nor the prophetic spirit that came from the Lord;
Nor the covenant neither, which Jacob once had;
They went their own way, and they have their reward.
By the order of God, last of all, these are they,
That will not be gather’d with saints here below,
To be caught up to Jesus, and meet in the cloud:
In darkness they worshipp’d; to darkness they go.
(See also: Of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas: Dependency and Damnation)
It could not possibly be more plain: where D&C 76:82 says that the telestial ‘received not the testimony of Jesus,’ the poetic version spells out that such ‘never received…the prophetic spirit that came from the Lord.’ Applying this to the qualifications of the celestial inheritors, it is clear that they must obtain the spirit of prophecy (the telestial obtain it too, only too late!).
In conclusion, the words of Joseph Smith and the scriptures bear out the stunning fact that in order to be counted among the inheritors of celestial glory, one must first obtain the spirit of prophecy. This is because the testimony of Jesus is, as the scriptures plainly state, the spirit of prophecy; the man or woman who coming in contact with the truth of the character and nature of Jesus and his invitation to ask, seek, and knock will of a necessity also receive guiding revelation through his spirit. Guiding through what? Things lying in futurity.
Of course there should be prophets among those ‘at the top’ of the church, but to wait upon or depend upon such characters is the trait of a mere angel and will result in a darkened mind. After all, if there were not men who were their own prophets in history, would there be much if any scriptures left to us to read today?
Post note:
Says one, “But what is more important? To prophesy in Christ’s name or to administer to the poor? For do not the scriptures say that many will say to Christ at the last that they prophesied in his name but due to their neglecting the poor they are told they never knew him?”
To this I would say, both are important: tending the poor does not diminish the need to obtain the spirit of prophecy (there will be many philanthropists in the telestial kingdom); and obtaining the spirit of prophecy does not diminish the need to tend to the poor. Yet in order of priority, it may stand to reason that one should obtain the word before one is concerned about declaring it (be it to the poor or otherwise), for, as Jesus declared, “Ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always” (Matt. 26:11).
Post post note:
Here is a fun song I created using the poetic version of D&C 76:
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