Joseph Smith on Presiding

 Joseph Smith taught,

“We have heard men who hold the priesthood remark that they would do anything they were told to do by those who preside over them (even) if they knew it was wrong; but such obedience as this is worse than folly to us; it is slavery in the extreme; and the man who would thus willingly degrade himself, should not claim a rank among intelligent beings, until he turns from his folly. A man of God would despise the idea. Others, in the extreme exercise of their almighty authority have taught that such obedience was necessary, and that no matter what the saints were told to do by their presidents, they should do it without any questions. When the Elders of Israel will so far indulge in these extreme notions of obedience as to teach them to the people, it is generally because they have it in their hearts to do wrong themselves.”

Joseph Smith, Millennial Star, vol.14 #38, pp. 593-95

If Joseph Smith was correct, which I believe he was, then we must receive confirmation from the Lord when we receive commands from those who preside over us. 

Compare Joseph’s statement to Wilford Woodruff’s statement now in our present canon under the Official Declaration 1:

“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.” (Sixty-first Semiannual General Conference of the Church, Monday, October 6, 1890, Salt Lake City, Utah. Reported in Deseret Evening News, October 11, 1890, p. 2.)

If this statement is true by Wilford Woodruff then there is no reason to ever question a command given by a president of the church. 

When we esteem following th presiding authority’s opinion more than the entire revealed word of God, then we have missed the mark. The mark is Jesus Christ. Idolatry is putting anyone or anything above Jesus. True prophets point us to Jesus Christ and His doctrine and principles.

We must return to truth or our progress is stopped.

It is recorded in the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith that, “President Joseph Smith read the 14th chapter of Ezekiel—said the Lord had declared by the Prophet, that the people should each one stand for himself, and depend on no man or men in that state of corruption of the Jewish church—that  righteous persons could only deliver their own souls—applied it to the present state of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—said if the people departed from the Lord, they must fall—that they were depending on the Prophet, hence were darkened in their minds, in consequence of neglecting the duties devolving upon themselves, envious towards the innocent, while they afflict the virtuous with their shafts of envy” (TPJS p. 237-8).