Thus Saith the Lord

As Latter-day Saints, we sustain our prophets as prophets, seers and revelators, and as servants of Jesus Christ, their words are His words
 
At the same time, we know prophets are not perfect. They make mistakes. We have had many discussions on how a "prophet is not always a prophet, only when he is acting as such." Indeed, more have been created on the imperfection of prophets in the time it took me to put this together. For this post, I would instead like to look at how to recognize when a prophet is speaking for the Lord.

We are taught that prophets have the autority to say "Thus saith the Lord," but it seems every time this is brought up, someone always asks, "Yes, but when was the last time anyone actually said, 'Thus sayeth the Lord?'" So I decided to find out.

Initial investigation told me that no one has ever said "thus sayeth the Lord" because the word is actually spelled "saith."

Continuing on, I found that since Joseph Smith, almost every time someone said "thus saith the Lord" they were quoting scripture, but I wish to discuss the exceptions.

First off, to answer the question, the most recent time I could find was in the April 1933 General Confrence, Elder Joseph F. Merrill refrenced a Christmas Message from the First Presidency published December 19, 1931, saying:

Thus saith the Lord through his servants, the First Presidency: "If the people of the world will turn unto God, and acknowledge His Son our Redeemer; if each citizen of our country will put away selfishness, strife and bitterness, ... the clouds of adversity will roll away, the sun of prosperity will shine again, and peace and plenty will prevail from the rivers to the ends of the earth."

This appears to be the only time in General Conference it is used this way since Joseph Smith. The next most common way "thus saith the Lord" is used is referencing that authority prophets have. So why don't they use it more? The few other time "Thus saith the Lord" is referenced is to explain that a prophet doesn't have to literally use the words "thus saith the Lord" to speak for the Lord.

The scriptures show evidence for that: "Thus saith the Lord" is found 413 times in the Old Testament, mostly by Jeremiah and Ezekiel. But the phrase is nowhere in the New Testament. Even Joseph Smith didn't think those words were a requirement, but perhaps this was best explained by Marion G. Romney, who said in the April 1945 General Conference:

So I repeat again, what the presidency say as a presidency is what the Lord would say if he were here, and it is scripture. It should be studied, understood, and followed, even as the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants and other scriptures. Those who follow this course will not interpret what they say as being inspired by political bias or selfishness; neither will they say that the brethren are uninformed as to the circumstances of those affected by their counsel; or that their counsels cannot be accepted because they are not prefaced by the quotation, "Thus saith the Lord."

Those ... who will through mighty prayer and earnest study inform themselves as to what these living prophets say, and act upon it, will be visited by the spirit of the Lord and know by the spirit of revelation that they speak the mind and will of the Father.”

So to answer my own question of "How do we know when prophets are speaking the words of the Lord?" the answer is that we will know through by the spirit of revelation.

This isn't a new idea, either. President Brigham Young taught the same thing about 'thus saith the Lord' in a Sunday meeting in 1860:

People who require this, or who constantly require written revelation, have not a correct conception of revelation and its Spirit.

Later, in 1864, Brigham Young explained that he would not say, "thus saith the Lord" and that it would only be necessary were he trying with his own words to convince them against their own reason. Again, it comes down to the Spirit:

The truth always stands upon its own foundation and speaks for itself; for, at this time, every Elder and Saint should so live, that the Spirit of the Lord will witness unto them the truth of my words, and the words of the Apostles, without my being under the necessity of saying, thus saith the Lord to enforce it.

It seems to me that instead of being short on the word of the Lord, we are actually rich with it, and the Lord is trusting us to recognize it.

I found one last story I think is interesting. Alexander McRae once wrote of an experiene he had with Joseph Smith as they were leaving Liberty Jail to go to trial. They received word that a military force would protect them on the way. Although everyone else was all for it, Joseph said, "We must trust in the Lord; if we take a guard with us we shall be destroyed." Hyrum says, "If you say it in the name of the Lord, we will rely on it," and Joseph says, "In the name of the Lord, if we take a guard with us, we will be destroyed; but if we put our trust in the Lord, we shall be safe, and no harm shall befall us, and we shall be better treated than we have ever been since we have been prisoners."

McRae tells this story to show how confident they were in a "Thus saith the Lord." Yet, I can't help but notice two things: 1. It was the word of the Lord both times, specifying that it was didn't change anything but the confidence the brethren placed in the promise. 2. Joseph didn't actually use the words "thus saith the Lord" but instead, "in the name of the Lord."

Every talk in General Conference ends with "in the name of Jesus Christ" so perhaps we are desensitized to it. We've used it so often, perhaps it has lost all it's meaning. I imagine the same attitude would arise if we used, "thus saith the Lord" all the time, too. However, I would recommend looking to see how often church leaders promise blessings in the name of Jesus Christ. Perhaps it has not lost it's meaning.

tl;dr Through the Spirit, Heavenly Father will reveal the truth to our own hearts of what the prophets. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.