A Message To Those Who Hate Dallin H. Oaks

I miss the days of watching general conference at my chapel in Hingham, Massachusetts.

Once conference was over, it was over and you didn’t hear anything negative about it. I just got to enjoy the spiritual feast.

Now living in Utah, and having access to social media, it’s amazing how much negativity there is surrounding conference.

Talks by general authorities that inspired me caused weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth by others.

One particular social media post that has been “viraling” around the past few days was of a sister in the church who expressed her determination to stay in the church long enough to see President Oaks sustained as prophet just so she could oppose the vote and then storm out of conference and immediately renounce her membership.

I’m here to tell her that she will get that chance.

Dallin H. Oaks WILL be the next prophet and President of the Church when the time comes that President Russell M. Nelson is called to his assignment on the other side of the veil. Here’s how we know.

Two Future Presidents 

M. Russell Ballard relayed an experience he had at the filling of two vacancies in the Quorum of the 12 apostles in 1984, after the deaths of LeGrand Richards and Mark E. Petersen.

When Russell M. Nelson and Dallin H. Oaks were called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to fill those vacancies, Elder Ballard had a feeling that the membership of the church had just sustained two special individuals.

He said, “When Russell Nelson and Dallin Oaks were announced to be members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles I thought, We have just sustained future Presidents of the Church. That was a feeling I had because I knew the depth of Russell M. Nelson.”

This first portion of this video clip below shows President Ballard sharing that powerful experience he had.

If this impression President Ballard had wasn’t enough, President Nelson has said rather directly that Dallin H. Oaks will be the next prophet.

It Became Very Clear to Me

In an article in the Deseret News, The untold story of President Nelson’s selection of counselors, we get the details of how President Nelson chose the two counselors that were to serve with him in the First Presidency. A portion of that article reads:

“Through the course of those interviews,” President Nelson said, “it became very clear to me, as I prayed about it, that Dallin should be first counselor because, upon my demise, he’s the next president of the church.

“That’s the kindest thing I could do to the church and for him … to give that exposure.”

Years earlier, the church’s 12th prophet, President Spencer W. Kimball, had shared with President Nelson his own lack of exposure to the work of the First Presidency before he became church president.

President Nelson experienced the same path from the quorum directly to the presidency of the church.

“I remember when President Kimball was called to be the president of the church. I was his surgeon. He confided in me a lot. He said, ‘Brother Nelson, I don’t know anything about the work of the presidency of the church.’ He’d only been in the Quorum of the Twelve. … Members of the Quorum of the Twelve do their work well and know their work well, but it does not include any apprenticeship for the items that are only done by the First Presidency. So, I thought, for the good of the church, Dallin should be in the First Presidency.”

For These Times

Apparently I’m not the only one catching wind of the Oaks’ hatred, though to be honest, it’s nothing new. He gets it every conference. 

Sara Phelps, a powerful disciple of Christ who shares inspiring content on Instagram, had the following to say in a post-conference post.

I’ve seen varying reactions to Elder Oaks’ remarks at general conference.

Many supportive.

But some angry, and lots just dismissive.

I saw comments accusing Elder Oaks of being “obsessed with” or “fixated on” LGBTQ issues.

Or comments treating him with disdain and dismissing his words while applauding the other speakers at conference.

All of the speakers at conference were amazing. All of them spoke words we need to hear.

Just because something is hard to hear or doesn’t fit with your worldview doesn’t make it untrue.

In fact, it means you should probably listen to it even more!

Remember that President Oaks is a special witness of Christ, a true prophet, seer and revelator for THESE times.

He’s not naive or behind the times; not at all. He’s also not naive to the backlash he would inevitably face for talking about The Family Proclamation.

But he did it anyway.

I’m so grateful for his willingness to speak truth!

I actually had a prompting to warn my kids about the backlash they will inevitably see/hear when he [President Oaks] becomes prophet and to testify that he’s a prophet no matter what the world (and many members of the church) say. – Becky Squire

Don’t Leave Him Alone

I’m reminded of the story in Exodus that has implications for our day and the level of support we give to living prophets, especially President Oaks. Look for the parallels in the Exodus 17 account:

8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.

10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

12 But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

Will you “stay up” the weary hands of President Oaks and defend the words that he speaks so that God’s people will prevail?

In President Oaks’ April 2020 General Conference talk, The Great Plan, he made the following statement:

We who know God’s plan and who have covenanted to participate have a clear responsibility to teach these truths and do all that we can to further them for others and in our own circumstances in mortality.

I remember when I heard these words during that talk that the Spirit impressed upon me these words, “He needs your help!”

This was a plea from President Oaks. We are all enlisted. Let us be the strong hands that can steady the arms of the prophets as they declare the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness to the ends of the earth – in the face of intense opposition.