Question: When I tried to interest my bishop in the words of Isaiah, he instead encouraged me to listen to the words of the living prophets. Another church member told me to be careful with the words of Isaiah, that they cause people to leave the church. Do the scriptures suggest what we should do in such a situation?
Answer: Besides what was covered in last week’s newsletter—about “What Is a Prophet” and “Living Prophets vs. Dead Prophets”—it should be noted that searching Isaiah’s words diligently is the Lord’s express commandment (3 Nephi 23:1). As those who truly understand Isaiah’s words do now testify, this commandment is a deliberate challenge intended to take those who love God with their minds as well as hearts beyond the basic principles of the gospel we hear from the pulpit to what Jesus calls “the true points of my doctrine” or “greater things” (3 Nephi 21:6; 26:9–11; Mormon 8:12; Ether 4:4–13; Doctrine & Covenants 10:62). We also confirm this from Jesus’ singular description of Isaiah’s words as “great” (3 Nephi 23:1)—a word link.
The idea that people leave the church because of searching the words of Isaiah or any other scriptures implies that God’s word is what causes people to become alienated from him—from he who restored his true church to the earth. It is to denigrate God on account of personal choices made by those who permit themselves to grow alienated through their own foibles, dysfunctions, ignorance, misconceptions, obsessions, pride, and preconceived ideas. Several malicious articles on LDS platforms even link studying Isaiah to a recent bizarre cult and to others who put their own spin on his words and then use them and other deceptions to promote their own agendas. These articles manifest their authors’ lack of regard for the truth and their preference of lies.
Does it make sense that Isaiah’s words, which predict the very time in which we now live prior to Jesus’ coming, are of minor importance if indeed we heed the counsel of the living prophets? Are the words of Isaiah, which teach the fulness of Jesus’ gospel and true points of his doctrine under the terms of the Davidic Covenant, to be “treated lightly”—for which actions we are as yet under condemnation as a church (Doctrine & Covenants 84:54–58)? Should we endorse with an “Amen” our weekly sacrament prayer to “keep his commandments which he hath given them”—that is, except for the commandment to search the words of Isaiah? Surely, it is Satan, not God, who puts people in a place where “you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
