Why doesn't God speak to us today?

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This is part one of a ten-part post. Elder Cuthbert of the First Quorum of the Seventy suggested ten questions which members of any church might ask our missionaries or any other member of the Church.

Question number one: Why doesn't God speak to us today?

Elder Cuthbert's answer:

My wife and I grew up as teenagers during the Second World War, and this question often came to our minds. We felt strongly the need for God’s guidance then, as we do today in these challenging and perilous times. Anciently, through the prophet Amos, the Lord had declared, “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7.) I never felt that revelations had ceased just because those already given had been bound into a book, the Holy Bible.

It was not until five years after the hostilities of war had ceased that I received the answer. God does speak again, through prophets, and revelation once more flows down from the heavens. These and many other wonderful truths enlightened our minds and lifted our souls as the missionaries taught us. How exciting to realize we are living in the latter days, “the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:21.) How wonderful to learn of another book of scripture, the Book of Mormon, revealed through a latter-day prophet as another testament of Jesus Christ.

My testimony:

God absolutely speaks to us today. He speaks to us individually through the Holy Ghost and collectively through His prophets. As we converse with the Lord through prayer and seek to know His will through careful study and pondering of the scriptures, He blesses us with His Spirit and gives us guidance, comfort, and answers. I love the process of receiving revelation and help from the Lord. He speaks to each of His children differently, but He does speak if we are willing to listen.

God also calls prophets and apostles in our day. Said He, "I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven and gave him commandments;” (D&C 1:17). Joseph Smith was a prophet of God! Our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ appeared to him! When Joseph was martyred, God called another prophet and continues to call prophets and apostles today. President Thomas S. Monson is the Lord’s current prophet and He leads His church through President Monson. If you have not heard the prophet speak, you have to. The Spirit will confirm in your heart that you are listening to a prophet of God, the experience and knowledge is incredible. Click on this link for the prophet’s most recent words.

The canon of scripture is open. The Lord did not cease speaking when the Bible was compiled. He has always spoken through the Spirit to His children in every age. He spoke to prophets on the American continent for hundreds of years and inspired the prophet Mormon to compile those teachings into a book that would be preserved for our day. The book is called the Book of Mormon and it is my favorite book. The Lord showed Mormon our day so that he would know what to include in the Book of Mormon that would help us specifically with our modern-day trials (see Mormon 8:35; Words of Mormon 1:1-9). Each time I read the Book of Mormon seeking help from our Father in Heaven, I find verses and stories that pertain to me and my specific situation. I love when the Lord speaks to me through the scriptures.

Yes, the God does speak to us in our day. He has revealed additional scriptures through means such as the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. He continues to call prophets in our day beginning with Joseph Smith in 1820. And He speaks to us through the Holy Ghost when we pray and study His words through His prophets.

This is one way the Lord shows His love to His children and how I know He loves and cares about me.

Jeremy

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