Answer

Why Should I Trust Prophets More Than Anyone Else?

You may sustain the prophets and still notice that plenty of other voices sound more informed, more current, or simply more agreeable. Asking why these fifteen men get a different kind of weight is a reasonable question.

Because of what they are called to be, not because they are cleverer than anyone else. A prophet, seer and revelator is not a better analyst with better sources. He is someone authorised to receive revelation for the whole Church, which is a different job from having a good opinion.

Eternal Truths

“Seer” describes access, not intelligence. In Mosiah 8:15–17, Ammon explains that a seer can know of things past and things to come, and that by this means God brings hidden things to light. That is not an analytical advantage. It is a gift.

They speak together, and the pattern is the test. A teaching taught consistently over time by the First Presidency and the Twelve speaking as one is a different kind of thing from a single remark by one leader decades ago. The Family: A Proclamation to the World is the first kind. Fifteen names are on it, which is the point of it.

Following them includes your own revelation rather than replacing it. The Holy Ghost was given to you. You are meant to study, pray and receive confirmation, not to outsource the work.

What Can Make This Confusing?

Other voices feel easier to trust because they agree with you more often. That is worth saying plainly, because it is usually the actual mechanism rather than any assessment of credibility. The second thing worth noticing is what prophets get in return for the trust: almost nothing. No money, no ease, no retirement, and a great deal of criticism. It is a strange arrangement for anyone seeking influence.

Questions to Think About

• Where does the prophet actually rank among the voices I listen to each week? Have I ever audited it?
• When I disagree, do I sit with it or reach for a voice that agrees?
• Am I studying what was said, or mainly the reactions to it?

What You Can Do

List the five voices you hear most in a week and see where prophetic teaching actually sits. Then take one current message you have questions about, study it directly rather than through commentary, and write down what becomes clearer. Disagreeing at first is normal and is not a crisis. The essay behind this answer goes further.

Jesus Christ leads His Church through people He calls, and He gave you the Holy Ghost so you could know it for yourself.