D&C Section Twenty-one

This is a revelation given at the organization of the church. The process begins where we sustain the president of the church as a prophet, seer and revelator. A seer is someone who has the ability to see the past, present and future. This is sometimes done without anything, sometimes with a seer stone, and sometimes with the Urim and Thummin. The prophet today possesses the seer stone, but evidently does not use it that we know of. The difference in the sustaining here is that along with being sustained as a prophet, seer, and revelator, Joseph is also sustained as a translator. The members who would be baptized and confirmed would need to sustain Joseph as a translator also because the Book of Mormon is the key to the restoration of the gospel and church. If the Book of Mormon isn't true and hasn't been translated by the power of God, then the church isn't true. To me, there are three pillars upon which the church stands or falls. One is the first vision, second is the Book of Mormon, and third is the restoration of Priesthood keys and authority. The first one affirms that God does call prophets as he did in the scriptures, that he reveals himself to man so he can know his attributes. The second one affirms that God reveals truth to man so that he can know what the difference is between truth and the erroneous philosophies and theories of man, and the third gives men authority to do the Lord's work in his name. If you take away these three things, our church is no different than any other church on the earth.

In this revelation, the members are counseled by the Lord to give heed to all the words and commandments that the Lord gives to the prophet. The Lord tells them, "For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth... " This is similar to the counsel the Lord gives in the Old and New Testaments and the Book of Mormon. In Exodus, the Lord tells Moses that Aaron would be his spokesman and to the people; Aaron's mouth would be considered the same as Moses' mouth. Then the Lord says this, "and thou [Moses] shalt be to him instead of God." Meaning, Moses is a prophet who speaks for God. One of the evidences that these men are prophets is the way they boldly go forward. They are always persecuted for the words they speak, often killed. There boldness is like Peter's and John's when they were arrested and brought before the council. The Sadducees told them they could no longer speak or teach the people. Peter and John answered, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than than unto God, judge ye."