There has been a significant cultural change within the Mormon Church, shifting from church leaders predominantly being referred to as “President,” to being esteemed as “Prophet.” This change evolved gradually over several decades. Initially, references to the church leader as “Prophet” were reserved exclusively for Joseph Smith, the church’s founder, and prophets from biblical and Book of Mormon narratives. However, during David O. McKay’s presidency from 1951 to 1970, occasional mentions of him as “Prophet” began to surface in church publications. This subtle shift in terminology reflected a growing reverence for the church president’s spiritual authority.
By the late 1960s, the terms “President” and “Prophet” became increasingly interchangeable, further blurring the distinction between the administrative and spiritual roles of the church leader. This linguistic evolution was reinforced by routine references to the president as “Prophet” in church publications and during General Conferences, the semiannual gatherings where church doctrine and leadership are discussed.
The succession of leaders in the early 1970s, with Harold B. Lee, Joseph Fielding Smith, and Spencer W. Kimball assuming the presidency in rapid succession, provided opportunities to solidify the image of the church president as a divine conduit for God’s will. General Conference talks eulogizing the prophecy of deceased presidents and heralding the divine authority of their successors further contributed to this narrative.
This transformation had profound implications, particularly in the realm of politics. By elevating the status of the church president to that of a “Prophet,” the leadership strengthened its influence over all aspects of Mormon life, including political matters. The perceived divine authority of the prophet led Mormons to regard their leaders’ statements not as mere opinions but as divine mandates to be followed. This cultural shift ultimately empowered church leaders to assert significant political authority, as evidenced by their influence in issues such as the Equal Rights Amendment and other political debates.
This transformation is shown clearly through the story of the ERA and the increased influence the church leadership holds over the political thinking of church members. While early on, membership would easily dismiss the things the church presidents said as their own opinions, but when the president was viewed more as a prophet and less as simply the president of the church, their opinions became harder to ignore. In other words they went from largely only “speaking as a man” to mainly “speaking as a prophet” in the eyes of the membership. And thus, transformed the political ideology of the membership as a whole.
Why did the Mormon Church wait nearly three years to enter the political battle over the equal rights amendment? In the initial exuberance of multistate ratification, anti-ERA forces, particularly Phyllis Schlafly s STOP ERA organization, made a delayed, but eventually successful, entry into the fray. The historian D. Michael Quinn attributes the church’s belated anti-ERA stand not to national political trends but to changes in the church’s leadership. Quinn argues that Harold B. Lee, church president when Congress passed the ERA, believed that the burgeoning women’s movement presented the greatest test to the church’s authority, but he wanted the church to remain out of the ERA debate because he feared confronting an issue he felt some Mormon women supported. A more committed conservative than some of his predecessors, Spencer W. Kimball, Lee’s successor upon his death in December 1973, shared no such fear and moved the church into its critical position among the chief players in the anti-ERA coalition. But even if President Lee had been unwilling to mount an official challenge to the ERA, critical church pronouncements about the president as “Prophet” during his administration and that of his predecessor, Joseph Fielding Smith, provided a firm foundation upon which President Kimball could launch a successful campaign against the ERA.
Mormons have not always seen their president as a prophet. Before 1955, D. Michael Quinn notes that every mention of the church’s leader in Deseret News articles referred to him as “President.” The honorific “Prophet” was reserved only for Joseph Smith, the church’s founder, and prophets from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Yet during David O. McKays popular presidency from 1951 to 1970, church publications began occasionally referring to him as “Prophet.” By the late 1960s, “President” had become interchangeable, if not synonymous, with “Prophet,” thanks to routine references to the latter in church publications and at General Conferences, the semiannual church convention held each April and October.
Emphasis on the prophet and prophecy proliferated in the early 1970s. In three years, three different men – Harold Lee, Joseph Fielding Smith, and Spencer Kimball – assumed the church’s presidency. A Deseret News editorial commented: “In many organizations such rapid turnover at the top could readily bring on confusing shifts of direction and with them a feeling of hesitancy and uncertainty. By contrast, the feeling within the church during this historic period has been one of stability and clear purpose, of constancy amidst change.” More than that, the successive deaths allowed the church to strengthen the image of church presidents as prophets through General Conference talks in which speakers praised the prophecy of the deceased president and heralded the ascending president’s divine prophetic authority. By Kimball’s presidency, it was as likely that he be referred to as “Prophet” as that he be spoken of as “President.”
The political consequences of such a transformation cannot be overstated. By strengthening the presidents role as God’s mouthpiece on earth, rather than simply the administrative head of His church, the church’s leadership strengthened its influence over all matters, including political issues, in the lives of Mormons. In earlier years, various church presidents had tried unsuccessfully to use their position to achieve political ends. Most notably, from 1932 to 1944, almost 70 percent of Mormons backed Roosevelt and the New Deal, despite President Heber J. Grant’s repeated denunciations of FDR and the frequent anti-Roosevelt Deseret News editorials. Lacking prophetic status, church presidents saw Mormons regard their political statements as ignorable opinions rather than divine proclamations that had to be obeyed.
By the 1970s, however, the transformation of the Mormon Church president into prophet was complete. During the Reagan era, Mormons fell in line with church proclamations on issues including abortion, gay rights, Sunday closing laws, and gambling. This political authority was secured first in the equal rights amendment battle as church leaders tested their ability to mobilize members toward a political objective.
“The ERA Is a Moral Issue”: The Mormon Church, LDS Women, and the Defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment,
Neil J. Young; American Quarterly; Volume 59, Number 3, September 2007; pp. 623-644.
https://canvas.dartmouth.edu/courses/22717/files/2794428/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40068443?origin=JSTOR-pdf
Before the presidency of David O. McKay, believing Mormons were much more likely to view the opinions of the President of their church as merely his opinions. In other words, less than a century ago, Mormons didn’t need to ask themselves, Is he speaking as a man or is he speaking as a prophet? The answer was obvious. He was speaking as a man 100% of the time.
Top Church Leader Referred to as President
Looking into general conference reports, we can see that the church leaders were sustained by the church membership as “Prophet, Seer and Revelator and President of the Church.” But in talks and writings, they were rarely referred to specifically as Prophet, a term usually reserved for Joseph Smith. They were collectively called “Prophets, Seers, and Revelators,”, but the leader of the church was noted with the title of President rather than called Prophet.
I know that this is the Churah of Christ. I know that we have Prophets, Seers and Revelators. I know that every blessing which the Lord Jesus Christ has promised is within the reach of this people, if they will live so that they can claim them. I can bear my testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God; that he with his natural eyes saw the face of angels; that he heard the voice of God; that he heard the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ; and that he received the Aaronic and Meldhisedec priesthood. I can bear my testimony that he sealed his testimony with his blood, and that therefore it is in force upon the whole world. His brother Hyrum died by his side, and the blood of our venerated and respected President, who presides to-day over the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was mingled with their blood, and stands also as a testimony before this nation and before this people. I know that he is led to-day by the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I can bear my testimony that when you raise your hands to sustain him as a Prophet, Seer and Revelator, that God hears and answers your prayers.
1880 Conference Report, Elder Moses Thatcher
https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1880a/page/98/mode/2up
Wilford Woodruff, as Prophet, Seer and Revelator, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in all the world.
1897 Conference Report
https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1897sa/page/42/mode/2up
Joseph F. Smith, as Prophet, Seer and Revelator and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
1907 Conference Report
https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1907a/page/n51/mode/2up
Heber J. Grant, Prophet, Seer and Revelator and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
1929 Conference Report
https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1929a/page/n87/mode/2up
Follow the Prophet
We can see that even in, Follow The Prophet, the primary song, the official lyrics reference prophets from the scriptures. Verses cover old prophets such as Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Jonah, and Daniel. The Latter-day leaders are most often referred to as Elder or President, but interchangeably today, as Prophets and Apostles. The terms are not used as a title though, but in statements and testimonies being “grateful for a living prophet.”
We can see the church equating the Prophet today and the President of the Church being the same thing in their “Now You Know” video called (gasp, major victory for Satan) Mormon Prophets published in June 2018.
We sustain the President of the Church as prophet, seer, and revelator—the only person on the earth who receives revelation to guide the entire Church… Like the prophets of old, prophets today testify of Jesus Christ and teach His gospel. They make known God’s will and true character. They speak boldly and clearly, denouncing sin and warning of its consequences. At times, they may be inspired to prophesy of future events for our benefit. We can always trust the living prophets… Our greatest safety lies in strictly following the word of the Lord given through His prophets, particularly the current President of the Church. The Lord warns that those who ignore the words of the living prophets will fall.2 He promises great blessings to those who follow the President of the Church:
Gospel Library: Topics and Questions: Prophets
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/prophets?lang=eng
Whether this subtle shift from President to Living Prophet was a conscious change or one that somehow took on its own unconscious momentum, we can’t say for certain. But there is substantial clout to gain for any current or living church leader to claim not only the same status as past prophets but to trump them. The past prophets claimed to have visions, speak face-to-face with God, or at least perform miracles. Current leaders confess that they have no more visitations from God or angels than any common man does–which is to say none. The only miracles performed by current church leaders is tax evasion and living to 99. So how do they stand in-line with other religious leaders with grand claims? They even claim that living church leaders, yes, prophets, take precedence over past prophets. They not only want all the power over church members today, but also power to trump what past leaders have said–even scriptural prophets.
The living prophet is more important to us than a dead prophet.
Beware of those who would pit the dead prophets against the living prophets, for the living prophets always take precedence.
Spencer W. Kimball, Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet, February 26, 1980
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/ezra-taft-benson/fourteen-fundamentals-following-prophet/
If all we need to do is follow the living prophet, and the living leaders disagree with each other and the past leaders so much that we must discount the dead ones – that’s no different than being children who are “tossed to and fro on every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness.”
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Ephesians 4:14
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/eph/4?lang=eng&id=p14#p14
Are the scriptures warning us about this very usurpation of power? Then again, the scriptures are just words of dead prophets, so they should be jettisoned too when any living leader states anything contrary. Thus we see that obedience to the current leaders is the only commandment that matters in the Mormon church. Follow the current leader and forget anything else that used to be the Gospel, especially when he says it isn’t anymore.
More reading:
- https://www.amazon.com/Mormon-Hierarchy-Origins-Power/dp/1560850566?tag=circubstu-20
- https://canvas.dartmouth.edu/courses/22717/files/2794428/
- https://www.jstor.org/stable/40068443?origin=JSTOR-pdf
- https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx0XkuLsgvJ/
- https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/221668
- https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/triple-index/president
- Will God Permit Church President to Lead Mormons Astray?
- Elder Ballard Claims Church Leaders Can Not Lead You Astray
- When Church Leaders Speak, Has Any Thinking Been Done
- Questioning The Infallible Thinking of Mormon Leaders
- Sustaining Leaders Takes Unshakable Faith
- Men Of Their Times