Saturday Morning Common Sense 3 --- The Thinking Has Been Done—May I Have Mine Back?

 

Saturday Morning Common Sense

The Thinking Has Been Done—May I Have Mine Back?

Sustaining good leaders without putting the Holy Ghost in storage

A Little Common Sense for Latter-day Saints

 

Listen the NEW Song:   May I Have My Thinking Back

We Latter-day Saints are practical people.

If somebody else has already done all the thinking, there is no sense wearing everybody out.

That leaves more time for family history, food storage, and deciding who is bringing the funeral potatoes.

In June 1945, a ward teaching message in The Improvement Era included this sentence:

“When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done.”

Well, that certainly sounds efficient.

No more studying, pondering, wrestling, or asking the Lord. Just wait for the completed thinking to arrive.

There was only one little problem:

President George Albert Smith did not agree with it.

A non-Latter-day Saint minister named J. Raymond Cope wrote to him because the statement troubled him. President Smith answered that it did “not express the true position of the Church.” He explained that even implying members should not think for themselves misrepresented the Church’s true ideal.

Good for President Smith.

He understood that sustaining leaders does not require us to shut down the very mind, agency, and spiritual gifts God gave us.

But slogans are funny things. Sometimes they can run faster than their corrections.

Over the years, the idea grew stronger that the safest member is the one who never questions, never examines, and never seeks a personal witness. In 1980, a widely circulated BYU address called “Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet” gave that way of thinking an especially strong form.

Yet the scriptures keep handing the responsibility right back to us.

The Bereans were called “more noble” because they received Paul’s preaching gladly—and then searched the scriptures to see whether it was true. (Acts 17:11)

Nephi did not ask his brothers, “Have you located somebody important enough to do your thinking?”

He asked:

“Have ye inquired of the Lord?”
(1 Nephi 15:8)

Moroni did not tell us to borrow his testimony. He told us to ask God and receive our own witness by the Holy Ghost. (Moroni 10:4–5)

Those are not instructions for rebellion.

They are instructions for discipleship.

Amos said the Lord reveals His counsel to His servants the prophets. The Hebrew word translated “secret”—sôd—can carry the sense of confidential counsel or council. (Amos 3:7)

That verse teaches us something sacred about where a true prophetic message originates: with God. It does not say that every opinion, policy, preference, or sentence spoken by a religious officeholder automatically becomes the voice of God.

Doctrine and Covenants 1:38 teaches that when the Lord truly speaks—whether directly or through a servant carrying His message—His word stands.

The question is not whether God can speak through servants. Of course He can.

The question is whether we have learned to recognize His voice.

Good leaders can teach us, warn us, organize us, and point us toward Christ. We should listen humbly and gratefully.

But no leader can pray for me, repent for me, receive the Holy Ghost for me, or know the Lord in my place.

The Nemenhah records put it plainly. They describe religious orders as “schoolmasters” and a way to do good, while the Peacemaker Himself brings people onto the Way and instructs them. The people then come to Him with their whole hearts and live “from revelation to revelation.” (The Book of Tsihohnayah Ahkehkthihm 14:84–85)

The next verse warns against treating authority as a dividing line between people. Its measure is a desire to do the Peacemaker’s will and the intent of the heart. (14:86) That gives me a good reason to value a faithful leader—and to keep seeking Christ for myself.

Perhaps our spiritual checklist needs three boxes:

Leader spoke? Check.
I listened carefully? Check.
I searched, prayed, and asked the Lord? Still working on that one.

Sustaining a prophet should never mean replacing Jesus Christ with a prophet.

The finest servant of God will always point beyond himself and say:

“Follow Him.”

So yes, let us honor faithful leaders.

Let us receive wise counsel.

And then let us do what Nephi did:

Inquire of the Lord.

Because borrowed light may help us find the door—but sooner or later, each of us must learn to hear the Voice on the other side.

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Scriptures and Historical Records Behind This Message

Bible

• Amos 3:7 — The Lord reveals His counsel to His servants the prophets.
• Jeremiah 23:18, 22 — A true messenger stands in the Lord’s counsel and turns people away from evil.
• Acts 17:11 — The Bereans received the word readily and then searched the scriptures to test it.
• John 10:27 — Christ’s sheep hear His voice and follow Him.

Book of Mormon

• 1 Nephi 15:8–11 — Nephi asks, “Have ye inquired of the Lord?”
• 2 Nephi 28:31 — A warning against trusting in the arm of flesh.
• Moroni 10:4–5 — Every sincere seeker is invited to ask God and receive truth by the Holy Ghost.

Doctrine and Covenants

• Doctrine and Covenants 1:38 — The Lord’s actual word remains His word whether spoken directly or delivered by His servants.
• Doctrine and Covenants 50:24 — Those who receive light and continue in God receive more light.
• Doctrine and Covenants 121:41–42 — Priesthood influence is maintained through persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, and love—not compulsion.

Historical Sources

• “Sustaining the General Authorities of the Church,” Ward Teaching message, The Improvement Era, June 1945, p. 354 — Included the sentence, “When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done.”
• George Albert Smith to J. Raymond Cope, December 7, 1945 — President Smith stated that the sentence did not express the Church’s true position and defended members’ agency and use of God-given intelligence.
• Ezra Taft Benson, “Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet,” BYU devotional, February 26, 1980 — An influential later expression of strong living-prophet teachings.

Nemenhah Sacred Records

The Book of Tsihohnayah Ahkehkthihm 14:84 describes religious orders as aids to service, then says:

“But they shall not esteem themselves wiser, greater, or any more elect than their neighbor because of the Tiwehkthihmptsah. And the Peacemaker shall bring them upon the Way and instruct them.”

Verse 85 tells where the people turn for their continuing witness:

“And the people shall come unto Sahnhehmpeht with all the intent of their hearts and they shall rejoice with Him upon the Way. And they shall live from revelation to revelation because they have not shunned prophecy and the Gifts of the Spirit.”

Verse 86 gives the measure of a commission:

“Wherefore, it shall be unto them as the Peacemaker designed, for that which qualifies one to receive the Tiwehkthihmptsah is the desire to do the will of the Peacemaker.”

These excerpts are from Ayahtkuhyaht Nemenhah: Complete Text, Second Edition, The Book of Tsihohnayah Ahkehkthihm 14:84–86. They point us toward service, the intent of the heart, and continuing revelation from the Peacemaker Himself.