Welcome to closer to Christ through general conference
where two friends who love Jesus share our own
approach to studying the most recent general
conference talks. This is Abby and Amy. Let's
jump into it. Today we're talking about Prophets
of God. This was done by Sister Andrea Munoz
-Spineas, Second Counselor Young Woman General
Presidency. We want to say welcome to our listeners.
Thank you so much for being here with us today.
Sister Spineas directs her message to the youth
in this talk. As her role and capacity in the
Young Woman's Presidency, that makes perfect
sense. I always love hearing the youth or primary
be spoken to specifically. I'm raising youth
right now. My husband's heavily involved in,
he's the young men's president in the stake and
teaches seminary. And so when I hear messages
that are specifically targeted to them, I appreciate
it. So just like all talks, even though it was
directed to the youth, I had a lot to learn from
it. I'm sure you felt the same way. She starts
by telling the story of an unnamed protagonist
in the Old Testament and she titled her the woman
of Shunem. Did she say Shunem? One day the prophet
Elisha was passing through Shunem and we read
that there was a great woman and she invited
him to eat bread. And so it was that as oft as
he passed by, he turned in to eat bread. That
was the beginning of this great talk, Amy. Yes.
This episode will air after the fact, but at
this recording, in a couple of days, we will
have the opportunity to hear our new prophet,
President Oak, speak to the church collectively.
And this will be for the first time as our prophet.
Pretty exciting. I love the parallel of having
our own prophet come into our homes. Will we
invite him in? Do we listen in anticipation of
what the Lord wants us to hear and do? I'm excited
for this opportunity. I know we get to hear our
prophet and apostles and auxiliary leaders. Speak
to us every six months and I always look forward
to that this feels special to me though I look
forward to getting to know and to learn from
President Oaks our prophet just like I have from
all the the ones that have preceded him Meaning
when when he spoke this at this conference they
went with the problem with the prophets previous
planet intentionally did not we didn't reorganize
anything until after this was So there's a different
mantle, you know? It's totally a different mantle.
Thanks for pointing that out. It'll be so great
to have the prophet's message come into each
of our homes. And when we tune in, we'll be inviting
him into our homes, just like this woman, if
she knew him, you know, had a prophet walking
by and invited him into her home. I find it interesting
that the woman said this, now I perceive it seems
she invited Elisha into her house without knowing
he was a prophet, you know? it was just a good
deed. Somebody walking by and she had something
to offer and so she invited that in and then
once he was in there, something changed within
her. She recognized something different and she
received a testimony through what I can only
imagine was the Holy Ghost by listening carefully
to what the words were being spoken by this man,
Elisha. Remember, there's no pictures at this
time. So it's hard to recognize prophets by just
a space. It's not like, oh, look, that's a guy.
Again, parallel to today, we have an opportunity
to listen to President Oaks and we, for ourselves,
can perceive to the Holy Ghost that he's our
prophet today, a mouthpiece for the Lord, and
we each get to gain our own testimony of this
truth. how the Lord works in that way. That just
because we have a testimony of prophets, it's
our opportunity each time that we're getting
a new prophet to have that reaffirmed to us.
And I think it comes a bit easier now that for
me, I'm not speaking for everybody. I grew up
with President Hinckley. He was the prophet of
my youth. And I think he was so well suited for
these, I don't know what, you know, older generations
thought about him, if they're like, you know,
however they had their feelings. But as a child
growing up, I loved him with all of my heart.
And it wasn't super hard to take President Monsignor,
but I kind of always thought of him as a little
bit of a jokester. And so what I saw when the
mantle of prophethood came to him is that fun
is paired with seriousness. And that was fine.
didn't really know anything about President Nelson.
I didn't either. I mean, I'm sure he was doing
such amazing things. Like looking at his biography,
it's like, yeah, he was well suited for the job.
He was raised up by, you know, on the shoulders
of these men. He was just totally primed and
prepared for it, but didn't really think much
of him. And I definitely got a witness from,
you know, when I joined Insulam Assembly to sustain
him as a prophet, like, without a doubt. It was
there. Absolutely. took nothing to know that
the words, President Oakes is, like, what's interesting
is what he's speaking, you know, as an assignment,
as an apostle, that is a different thing than
when he starts speaking when the mantle of prophethood
is on him, that he does understand all of a sudden
that it's like he is speaking for God as his
mouthpiece. you listen a little bit differently.
I do. It's pretty accurate. But I love how it
didn't take like... it didn't take like, oh,
can I accept him as my prophet? It was just as
I asked the question and it was just as natural
as my next breath. That's really good. And it
is still great to ask just because to have a
witness is really important. The Lord wants each
of us to have our own divine witness. We don't
just follow anything blindly. Then she says,
the story does not end there. One day the woman
said to her husband, let us make a little chamber
and let us set for him there a bed and a table
and a stool and a candlestick. I love it. Let's
make him home. This is so you. You would have
done this. And it shall be when he comes to us
that he shall turn in. The faithful woman was
willing to build a room in her house so that
the prophet passing through the city would have
a place to stay. Love it. Feels like not an analogy,
not a parable. Like she made a place for the
prophet in her home. At this point, we agree
that she knows that it's a prophet of God, right?
So rather than just, you know, come in and sup
with me, have a little piece of bread and then
you're on your way, like... be here with us always.
So, powerful lessons for our day from this experience.
The Lord testified to the woman of Shenum that
Elisha was a prophet of God, and she acted by
opening her home to receive Him, just like we
too can receive that personal testimony of God's
prophet today. Open our hearts, open our minds,
open our homes to the message that Heavenly Father
has for us in these latter days. I love that,
Abby. And then she says, Dear Youth, and of course,
Everyone who's listening to this, she says, I
invite you to ask yourself this question. Do
I have a personal testimony of God's living prophets?
And then she says, I'll start at the beginning.
What is a prophet? A prophet is a man whom God
has called to speak for him. There are prophets
on the earth today, just as there were in ancient
times. And then she says prophets and seers are
also revelators. Oh, sorry. Prophets and seers
and revelators. Yeah, that means they can see
what others cannot see and they can prophesy
of future events They can also prepare us for
calamities prophets receive commandments and
revelations from God Prophets also proclaim the
gospel of Jesus Christ their inspired teachers
and their messengers to God to everyone on the
earth It's important to know, you know, we accept
him as our prophet, but you know, just because
people don't know you know, prophets exist in
our day. He is still a prophet for the world.
Each member of the First Presidency and Quorum
of the Twelve is also considered, in their own
right, a prophet, a seer, a revelator. I like
that reminder. Serving as a council under the
Lord's direction, they have the authority to
declare and interpret doctrine and establish
policy for His church. And we know that they
carefully pray and deliberate for decisions that
the Quorums must be unanimous in their. decisions.
And in this way, the Lord assures us that His
will will be done. I love it knowing like, sometimes
they come into it with very differing opinions.
For sure. They speak their piece, and then they
let the Spirit kind of distill on the decision.
And then they get, you know, unanimity. Yeah.
And I really like how President Nelson described
that. I'm sure it's been described before at
different times, when he said, I want to know
what my counselors think. I want to know what
all the 12 apostles think. I ask for their input.
Think about all of their life experience and
the different aspects that they come to that
council with. And it's supposed to be that way,
right? Everyone having different... coming with
a different lens. I appreciate the way that Sister
Spinaeus teaches the youth here, that each of
the Twelve's apostles, like we said, is a prophet,
seer, and revelator. That's such a beautiful
truth and just a great point to remember. So
prophets testify of Christ, his existence, his
ministry, and his divinity. From the Book of
Mormon, these are some things that the prophets
have said. Lamanite also testified that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, the Father of heaven
and of earth, the creator of all things from
the beginning. And then the prophet Moroni said,
I have seen Jesus, and he hath talked with me
face to face. When Christ visited the Nephites,
one of the first things he did was call twelve
apostles. And he said to the people, Blessed
are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words of
the twelve whom I have chosen. All of them. I
was just thinking how powerful it is knowing
that they sometimes come into these councils
making decisions about things with differing
opinions, but they all have been given this gift
to be prophets, seers, and revelators. They do
see things differently, see things forward, and
that they then have to take the way that the
Lord has shown them, this thing, this matter
that they have to act on, and their life experience.
Bring that to the table and then see how everybody's
vision of what is to come Plays out in the decision
that they're gonna make moving forward, right?
I think that's pretty incredible. That is very
cool And I just was thinking back we're in the
Old Testament obviously with come follow me and
a couple weeks back Something from our readings
stood out. There's a few words for parents or
other family members who are raising children.
The Lord Himself taught Adam and Eve the truths
of the plan of salvation. And then He said to
them, I give unto you a commandment to teach
these things freely unto your children. So, you
know, Amy and I, even with our little eight year
olds, you know, what does it mean that we feel
like we can speak freely unto our children? Well,
that can be words of the prophets, testimonies
of Christ in His divinity, scripture stories
that illustrate eternal principles. We can use
conference talks that teach and inspire and point
us to Jesus. And especially when we're thinking
of ourselves and the things that we can do, the
Spirit will prick us in one way. And when we
have the prayer of one of our children or all
of our children on our heart, when we're immersed
in Come Follow Me, or listening to the words
of the prophets through these conference talks,
or looking at a scripture story with you know,
the prayer of one of our children or all of our
children on our hearts, the message that's going
to come through will be unique, different each
time. I like that, Abby. That's totally true.
So just like we talked about, teach these things
freely. What does it mean to teach freely? I
like what she gave to us. She said it's learning
the truths of the gospel for ourselves. having
a personal testimony of them, and then when it's
part of our heart and our mind, then we share
that knowledge with our children. And, you know,
our children meaning, you know, the ones in our
family, and for those who are teaching in church,
you know, this extends to primary and youth and
also to the adults. We're all children of God.
But essentially she's saying it means... To teach
freely means first get it into your heart, have
it be part of you, then you share it. It is also
promoting both formal and informal teaching moments,
and it is living according to that knowledge
and that testimony. Yeah. And it stood out to
me when we were discussing that a couple of weeks
ago, whenever that was, a couple of weeks back.
And come follow me. how important it is to involve
the Spirit in our teaching. So when you're studying
for yourself, you say, enlighten me, open me
up to the thing that I'm ready to learn. You
have that thing learned. Then it does seem like
opportunities come. Our kid will ask a question
and the Spirit will bring to remembrance this
thing that you've put in you. If you haven't
put any knowledge in you, you don't have the
knowledge to put back out. But when I read that,
I was like, yeah, when there's a truth that needs
to be taught and you hesitate for a moment, you're
like, oh, I don't want to share that thing. it's
going to hurt their feelings or whatever. I don't
want to say whatever. I want to articulate what
I'm trying to say. Sometimes when the spirit
says, you need to share this thing and then we
sit and we try to reason out of why we're not
going to share it. That is us not sharing freely.
I don't need to say exactly. I don't need to
point out exactly what that thing is that we
want to share. But if you've gone into the situation
and you've said, I want an opportunity to share.
I want an opportunity to testify. and the spirit
pricks you to share something. Every thought
that you have passed that impression to share
is you binding your own tongue to something that
he's already said. You've already involved me
in asking what you should share and when, so
now I told you to share it. I'm not gonna give
that to you as much if you don't follow through
and do the thing that I asked you to do. I love
that perspective, Abby. That's so great. Sister
Spinaeus, she extended an invitation to all of
us. I love to point those out. She said, dear
young friends, I have an invitation for you in
the coming days. Kneel, open your hearts and
pray with faith to Heavenly Father and ask Him
to confirm to you that His chosen prophet and
apostles are His voice on the earth today. Now,
remember this. President Nelson organized conference.
He assigned Sister Spinaeus to prepare a talk.
She prepared this talk and didn't modify it based
on the circumstance of the Prophet dying. But
these words, you know, fast forward, knowing
that we would lose President Nelson to the other
side of the veil and that then President Oaks
would be coming by succession or by... common
consent, and my vote, I mean, I sustain him as
the prophet. You know, I think it's really cool
that she prepared this in advance of knowing.
She prepared for months and months. And yeah,
certainly he's older and he could have gone any
time, but he's so healthy that it's not like,
oh, you know, this is going to be his last conference.
Nobody was really going into that thinking that.
So anyway, knowing that we did receive our new
prophet of God. This is our opportunity, the
perfect time to exercise this invitation. So
if you haven't already, listen to, this will
air late enough that I can say this, the prophets
speaking February 10th, 2026. Listen to the words
that the prophet speaks and whatever he invites
us to do, put it into practice for yourself,
for your own personal testimony, for your own
witness that he is indeed called of God and have
a witness born to yourself. through the Spirit,
that becomes part of your testimony, this continued
succession that prophets are on this earth, that
we have been blessed with and given a prophet
of our day. Take the opportunity to know for
yourself that Delaney Chokes is the prophet of
God on earth today. It's a great invitation.
Do you have anything else you want to add? I
know that it sets us apart. I know that people
really get uptight about us claiming that we
have a prophet of God. I mean, especially in
a come -follow -me -year like this, that we're
studying the Old Testament, and you see the power
of prophets. And like you said, their pictures
aren't all over the internet. They're walking
around. I know there were multiple prophets at
the time. I know, you know, when Lehi was a prophet,
there were prophets, they were, you know, Germanized.
Because there wasn't a way to broadcast. Yeah,
you can't share, like, electronically. So you,
like, he has to put people, he has to send that
message, and then they have to kind of help their
geographical region. So I know it is not, Why
would He love us any less in our day than He
did His children of old and times? The fact that
we had prophets in the Old Testament time screamed
to my soul that He loves us enough in these days
to have a prophet of God. And I have had the
witness bear testimony to me time and time again
that prophets are real, prophets have been called
in our day and our time. the spectrum of their
lives, you know, as they come in, as we call
them, as we sustain them, I look back and I just
say how perfectly placed these people are. Absolutely.
Absolutely. And that is a demonstration of his
love for me. I know that this is a worldwide
thing, but I have taken the opportunity to just
have absolute gratitude for. the prophets of
my day and for my time. I appreciate them for
my children. I appreciate them for the messages
that they're doing and helping me as I'm navigating
life and raising families. And I trust God that
He picks the perfect prophet. And I love that
He gives me the invitation to let me know that
for myself, not just accept it as it is. This
is the guy I pick, deal with it. I've had that
confirmation for myself. But like you said, I
actually haven't got to hear him speak, technically,
as the mantle of the prophet. He had a birthday
shortly after he was sustained, and I was just
like, it's so fun to, like, listen to his personality
come out and kind of hear him talking or whatever,
but this is going to be different. The message
on February 10th, so it'll have already aired.
Hopefully you're all picking that up, but it's
going to be different. I will use this invitation
that she gave and apply that to the February
10th. So cool, isn't it? I was so happy when
I saw this and I was like, oh my gosh, this lines
up perfectly. There are so many times in the
gospel when, like you were saying, you're studying
Come Follow Me, you're studying the conference
addresses and just the things that are happening
in life. There are all of these little fingerprints
of God's touch in our lives and I love that.
I want to share one of these last quotes that
she gave. It's so great. The woman of Shunem
taught us that we can have that testimony through
the Holy Ghost. And I promise you that once we
know that a prophet is God's anointed ones, our
lives will be easier in spite of our ongoing
challenges, because there are challenges. There
always will be. As we will obey. Their voice
is with trust, with faith and hope. To listen
to and obey the voice of the prophet is crucial
to holding on to every good thing until the second
coming of our Savior. And I'll close with some
of my favorite words. It's a battle cry for the
youth and for us, and I love it. Sister Spineo
says, youth, shall we not go on in so great a
cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage,
youth, and on onto the victory. Let your hearts
rejoice and be exceedingly glad. We'll end with
that. Have a great week.