Adam Awake

Look Unto Us

by Lucas Jackson · · Revised · 7 min read
Painting of the old, white-bearded Lehi with a walking staff following a man in a white robe, seen from behind, who beckons him on toward a dark, misty valley at dusk, while a warm light glows on a distant hill behind them

The thought should be pondered: Will God remove the agency of one of His leaders? If someone is called of God, can they err and lead us astray?

Joseph Smith seemed to be warning the church about this when he referenced Ezekiel 14.1

Prest. J. Smith rose, read the 14th Chap. of Ezekiel— said the Lord had declar’d by the prophet that the people should each one stand for himself and depend on no man or men in that state of corruption of the Jewish church— that righteous persons could only deliver their own souls— app[l]ied it to the present state of the church of Latter-Day Saints— said if the people departed from the Lord, they must fall— that they were depending on the prophet hence were darkened in their minds from neglect of themselves— envious toward the innocent, while they afflict the virtuous with their shafts of envy.2

What was “that state of corruption in the Jewish church?” Were they looking to the arm of flesh, their leaders, as their idols?

“… Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.”3

The same chapter warns, “And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have not deceived that prophet. Therefore I will stretch out my hand upon him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.”4

Could we, without meaning to, begin to look to our own leaders that way?

As we follow President Monson and try to be more like him, we will inevitably succeed in being more faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.5

How does that sit beside Jacob’s teaching that “the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there”?6 Lehi’s dream opens with “a man, and he was dressed in a white robe,” who “bade me follow him.” Following him led Lehi into “a dark and dreary waste,” and he was delivered only when he prayed to the Lord for mercy.7

If we believe God will never allow our leaders to lead us astray, are we saying he would take away their agency? And if a leader’s agency is set aside so that everyone who follows him is saved, how is that different from the plan Satan proposed, in which agency was set aside so that no soul would be lost?

Could that old plan return in a new form, even inside a church?8 Nephi seems to have expected something like it: a people who say “All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth,” who are lulled “away into carnal security,” and who say the Lord “hath given his power unto men.”9

Consider these two passages side by side, a line from the talk Stay in the Boat and Hold On! and a verse from the Pearl of Great Price, Moses 4:1. Read them and ponder what they have in common.

Keep the eyes of the mission on the leaders of the Church. … We will not and … cannot lead [you] astray.10

Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.11

The scriptures describe conditions under which even God “would cease to be God.”12 Yet we sometimes speak of our leaders as though they could never err, as though following the Church and its leaders were the same as following the Lord, and everything they say were inspired. If that is how we think, what would Ezekiel 14 say to us?

Is there scriptural precedent for a true prophet leading someone astray? Have you read 1 Kings 13?13 I would suggest you study it over with the Inspired Version or the JST. The King James Version ends verse 18, “But he lied unto him.” Joseph’s revision reads: “Bring him back with thee into thine house that he may eat bread and drink water, that I may prove him. And he lied not unto him.”14

It isn’t only one prophet. About four hundred prophets told King Ahab, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper: for the Lord shall deliver it into the king’s hand.” One prophet, Micaiah, told him what he had seen: “I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.” The Lord asked who would persuade Ahab to go up and fall, and a spirit came forth and said, “I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.”15 In Joseph’s revision of the same account, the lying spirit comes “out of them,” the Lord gives the reason, “for all these have sinned against me,” and the Lord “hath found a lying spirit” in their mouths rather than put one there.16

Following a true prophet can be a good thing. But the Lord’s description of the telestial glory is sobering: people who say they are of Paul, of Moses, of Isaiah, and even of Christ, yet “received not… the testimony of Jesus.” Which prophet we claim cannot take the place of receiving Christ ourselves.

And the glory of the telestial is one, even as the glory of the stars is one; for as one star differs from another star in glory, even so differs one from another in glory in the telestial world;

For these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas.

These are they who say they are some of one and some of another—some of Christ and some of John, and some of Moses, and some of Elias, and some of Esaias, and some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch;

But received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant.17

The prophets themselves point past themselves. Nephi said, “I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh.”18 Perhaps the invitation is simply to seek the Lord.

Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.19

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:20

O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name.21

Notes

  1. Ezekiel 5 RE (Ezekiel 14 in the King James Version). Joseph returned to Ezekiel 14 across his ministry. He read it to open the Church’s first conference, at Fayette, New York, on June 9, 1830: “Ezekiel 14th. read by br. Joseph Smith jr. and prayer by the same” (Minutes, 9 June 1830, Minute Book 2, p. 1). In his revision of the Bible (about 1833) it held his only change in Ezekiel’s first fourteen chapters, at verse 9: “I, the Lord, have not deceived that prophet” (Old Testament Revision 2, p. 115). And he read it again to the Relief Society in Nauvoo on May 26, 1842, applying it to the Church (Relief Society Minute Book, p. [51]). These are the readings the Joseph Smith Papers record. ↩
  2. Relief Society Minute Book, May 26, 1842, pp. [50]–[54], in the handwriting of Eliza R. Snow (Joseph Smith Papers). An edited version is in History of the Church 5:19 and Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 237. ↩
  3. Ezekiel 14:4. ↩
  4. JST Ezekiel 14:9 (Ezekiel 5:9 RE); the King James Version (Ezekiel 14:9) reads, “I the Lord have deceived that prophet.” See Kent P. Jackson, Joseph Smith’s Translation of the Bible (Ezekiel 14). ↩
  5. Elder William R. Walker, “Follow the Prophet,” Ensign, April 2014. ↩
  6. 2 Nephi 9:41. ↩
  7. 1 Nephi 8:5–8. ↩
  8. Denver Snuffer, “Imitate or Appropriate”, November 2015. ↩
  9. 2 Nephi 28:5, 21. ↩
  10. M. Russell Ballard, “Stay in the Boat and Hold On!” general conference, October 2014. ↩
  11. Moses 4:1. ↩
  12. Mormon 9:19; Alma 42:13, 22, 25. ↩
  13. 1 Kings 3:15 RE (1 Kings 13 in the King James Version). ↩
  14. JST 1 Kings 13:18, which reads the same in 1 Kings 3:15 RE. This change is not in the Church’s JST appendix; see Kent P. Jackson, Joseph Smith’s Translation of the Bible (1 Kings 13). ↩
  15. 1 Kings 22:6, 12, 19–23 (1 Kings 5:7–8 RE); also 2 Chronicles 18. ↩
  16. JST 2 Chronicles 18:20–22 (in context, 2 Chronicles 7:13 RE); see Kent P. Jackson, Joseph Smith’s Translation of the Bible (2 Chronicles 18). The King James Version (2 Chronicles 18:22) reads, “the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets.” ↩
  17. D&C 76:98–101. ↩
  18. 2 Nephi 4:34. ↩
  19. D&C 6:36. ↩
  20. John 10:27. ↩
  21. 2 Nephi 9:41. ↩

Revised September 30, 2026. Rewritten in 2026. I wrote the original in 2015 in a more frustrated season, and I would rather invite questions than provoke. The argument and the scriptures are the same.

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