Blind obedience has almost become a cuss word in today’s society. People treat it like it is an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. It is something that is not proper. But often, almost always actually, those who disparage others because of ‘blind obedience’ actually are disparaging obedience altogether. Whereas our goal should be obedience based on a witness from the Holy Ghost, blind obedience is still better than disobedience! As related in General Conference, “Any kind of obedience is better than any kind of disobedience.” In the summer of 2020, I experienced ridicule for being obedient firsthand. Our Area Authority in Utah asked us to wear masks. I had loathed the idea, and prior to his asking, I avoided wearing them whenever I could and I was vocal about it. but when the Lord’s anointed asked, I followed and encouraged others to do the same. But many accused me of blind obedience for changing so quickly. They shared quotes from various church leaders that decried the dangers of only having blind obedience, and they then justified their disobedience because of these quotes. For example, I’ve seen this quote reposted repeatedly.
“I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by Him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security. Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not.“
I have seen people posting this quote and indicating that the leadership of the Church is leading us astray. Comments like, “Are we going to blindly follow our leaders or God?” It is revolting to anyone who knows even an ounce of Church history or doctrine to see Brigham Young’s words twisted to justify disobedience. He would denounce them for their apostasy. How do I know this? Because he has already done it before! In the early days of the Church, people complained that Joseph Smith was not leading them to God, and Brigham warned them that if they cut the thread that binds them to the prophet of God, they will sink their souls to hell.
Not only that, but this quote is actually out of context and a cut-and-paste hatchet job. Brigham Young was not decrying those who obey blindly suggesting that they should not obey their leaders, but rather that we should learn to obey out of testimony so we can more fully support our leaders! Here is the actual quote from Brigham Young, the bolded part was removed:
“I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by Him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purposes of God in their salvation, and weaken that influence they could give to their leaders, did they know for themselves, by the revelations of Jesus, that they are led in the right way. Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not.“
Returning to the topic at hand, the root of the problem is doctrinal ignorance like normal, people are ignorant of two simple things:
1st. People are grossly ignorant of how personal revelation works in relation to the Priesthood Authority.
2nd. People don’t understand that blind obedience is better than disobedience. But obedience based on faith is not blind!
How personal revelation works in relation to the Priesthood Authority.
“In secular as well as spiritual affairs, Saints may receive Divine guidance and revelation affecting themselves, but this does not convey authority to direct others, and is not to be accepted when contrary to Church covenants, doctrine or discipline, or to known facts, demonstrated truths, or good common sense.”
Harold B. Lee
Many people fail to understand how Priesthood Authority works within the gospel. And it becomes even more confusing when people try to understand the role of personal revelation. The easiest way to understand personal revelation and the role it plays in relation to the Priesthood Authority is to use an analogy. The Church is like a McDonald’s franchise. The Lord is directing his Church and instructing the Prophet and Priesthood leaders how to administer it across the world is like the CEO of McDonald’s coordinating the franchises across all the world. You are the franchise owner of your local McDonald’s. You are given strict rules regarding certain aspects of how to run the franchise, things like the menu items, recipes, and color schemes (doctrine, ordinances, and covenants), from corporate (Those in Priesthood Authority).
But many areas are left up to your discretion (ie personal revelation), things like if you want the bathrooms cleaned more frequently than corporate requires. Or how to adapt tasks to local circumstances. These areas within your discretion you have every right to do as seems you good, just like how you have the right to receive personal revelation on when to have your scripture study. Think about the Brother of Jared, the Lord gave strict rules and told him to work within them. But what you do not have the right to do, is to ‘receive personal revelation’ that corporate is wrong about the menu and that your McDonald’s will start selling Pizza and Breadsticks. If you did that, your franchise rights would be revoked (excommunication).
Far too many members think they have the right to disregard the leaders of the Church because they disagree with them politically, often they claim to have had a ‘personal revelation’ that their leader was wrong. Simply put, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE REVELATION FROM THE SPIRIT TO DISOBEY GOD OR HIS PROPHETS. God is not a God of chaos, but a God of order. The Spirit cannot, and will not tell you to disobey God or His prophets! It is outside the order of heaven to receive revelation that the prophet is wrong. Your right is to get a confirmation that His words are of God. Any revelation that the prophet is false or fallen comes from Satan, leads to murmuring, and eventual apostasy! President Willford Woodruff addressed this issue over 100 years ago, yet many members still struggle with it. He taught: “The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so He will any other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty.”
When we disagree with the prophet and we cite personal revelation that he is wrong we are like the early church members that Brigham Young rebuked. When there is a prophet on the earth, God speaks through the prophet.
Period.
The.
End.
Personal revelation is NOT a replacement for Priesthood authority! If someone is claiming to have a witness that the prophet is wrong, then it is a binary choice: either the Spirit has rebelled against God and given a revelation that the prophet has apostatized and the entire plan of Salvation is coming crashing down, OR that person who is fighting against the Church has received revelations from Satan and has started to apostatize.
Hint, 100% of the time it will be the person apostatizing.
“Whenever you see a man disobeying the counsel of the Lord through the Holy Priesthood, you may know that unless he repents, he will apostatize. It is a sure sign of apostasy. A man may be an Apostle, a Seventy, a High Priest, an Elder or a Bishop, yet if he tries to divide the people and persuades them to disobey the Prophet of God, he will surely fall, unless he repents with all his heart. The Lord asks us to obey Him. He tells us how to do so. He does not ask for blind obedience, because He gives His Holy Spirit to all who ask for it to show them that it is right to obey.”
George Q. Cannon “Satan Hates a United People,” Gospel Truth, Vol. 1, pp. 210–11 (italics and bold added).
For an in-depth dive into this topic see the article about what to do when Satan gives you a revelation that you don’t need to follow your church leaders.
Blind obedience is better than disobedience. But obedience based on faith is not blind!
What many members do not understand is that whereas God does not desire blind obedience, He does require obedience. Eldred G. Smith proclaimed this in the Oct. 1970 General Conference when he taught, “We are too often afraid of what is called blind obedience, but obedience to God is always right — blind or otherwise.” President Joseph F. Smith warned us regarding those who choose disobedience that “there is a penalty attached to disobedience, which all must suffer who will not obey.” It is gospel malpractice to suggest that the Lord would rather we disobey than obey blindly. When we have not received a witness that the words or commands of the prophet are from God, nowhere in holy writ does it say we are then justified in ignoring the prophet and doing our own thing! When we do not have the knowledge to act on knowledge, we should obey anyways on faith. WE ARE NEVER JUSTIFIED IN DISOBEDIENCE. In April 2003, Elder Holland taught about this (read his whole talk if you can), “In such basic matters of faith, prophets do not apologize for requesting unity, indeed conformity, in the eloquent sense that the Prophet Joseph Smith used that latter word. In any case, as Elder Neal Maxwell once said to me in a hallway conversation, ‘There didn’t seem to be any problem with conformity the day the Red Sea opened.’”
But it is important to understand that when we follow the Prophet we are not being blindly obedient, we are acting in faith. Boyd K. Packer taught this in the April 1983 General Conference, when he said: “Latter-day Saints are not obedient because they are compelled to be obedient. They are obedient because they know certain spiritual truths and have decided, as an expression of their own individual agency, to obey the commandments of God. …Those who talk of blind obedience may appear to know many things, but they do not understand the doctrines of the gospel. There is an obedience that comes from a knowledge of the truth that transcends any external form of control. We are not obedient because we are blind, we are obedient because we can see.”
The Lord Desires Intelligent Obedience.
When our leaders speak we are given a choice; we either obey or disobey. When we choose to obey simply ‘because it is the right thing to do’, or because ‘our leader’ asked us to do it that is blind obedience. When we obey blindly we are rewarded for the obedience. But when we obey because we have had a witness of that leader’s call, and we act in faith that the leader is called of God, that is referred to as faith obedience, and the blessings are far greater than those we gain for blind obedience. This is the obedience that most members render.
But there is a much nobler form of obedience, one that we should strive for over blind obedience or even faith obedience, namely intelligent obedience. Wilford Woodruff taught “Intelligent obedience on the part of His Saints is desired by our Father in Heaven.” What is intelligent obedience? It is when we gain our own witness from God that not only are our leaders called of God, but their direction itself is of God. This is the witness is what Brigham Young referred to in the earlier quote. It is our goal, It is what we should strive for. Intelligent obedience empowers us to act in the full knowledge that what we are doing is right. One of the clearest explanations as to what defines Intelligent Obedience was a story shared by Harold B. Lee about one of my favorite apostles, Marion G. Romney:
“In the political field where so much pressure is exerted on men to compromise ideals and principles for expediency, party workers early learned to admire Marion G. Romney’s intense loyalty to his own conscience as well as to the advice of his Church leaders whose pronouncements on vital issues affecting the welfare of the nation he accepted as divinely inspired even though it frequently brought him into sharp conflict with leaders of his own political party. On one such occasion when church leaders in a tersely-worded editorial had denounced the trends of the political administration then in power, he confided in me something which it might be well if all loyal Church members in public life could emulate: ‘When I read that editorial,’ he told me, ‘I knew what I should do—but that wasn’t enough. I knew that I must feel right about following the counsel of the Church leaders and know that they were right. That took a whole night on my knees to accomplish.’ I submit in that statement the difference between ‘intelligent’ and ‘blind’ obedience. Marion G. Romney, while never disloyal to authority over him, could never be rightfully accused of being ‘blindly obedient.’” (Harold B. Lee, “Marion G. Romney,” Improvement Era, Oct. 1962, 742).