Neil L. Andersen (Quorum of the Twelve)

Don’t be surprised if at times your personal views are not initially in harmony with the teachings of the Lord’s prophet. These are moments of learning, of humility, when we go to our knees in prayer. We walk forward in faith, trusting in God, knowing that with time we will receive more spiritual clarity from our Heavenly Father. One prophet described the incomparable gift of the Savior as “the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father.”15 The surrender of our will to God’s will is, in fact, not surrender at all but the beginning of a glorious victory.

Some will try to overly dissect the prophet’s words, struggling to determine what is his prophetic voice and what is his personal opinion. 

In 1982, two years before being called as a General Authority, Brother Russell M. Nelson said: “I never ask myself, ‘When does the prophet speak as a prophet and when does he not?’ My interest has been, ‘How can I be more like him?’” And he added, “My [philosophy is to] stop putting question marks behind the prophet’s statements and put exclamation points instead.”16 This is how a humble and spiritual man chose to order his life. Now, 36 years later, he is the Lord’s prophet. (“The Prophet of God,” April 2018 General Conference)

Dallin H. Oaks (Quorum of the Twelve)

In a 1988 interview … I explained my attitude toward attempts to supply mortal reasons for divine revelation: 

If you read the scriptures with this question in mind, “Why did the Lord command this or why did he command that,” you find that in less than one in a hundred commands was any reason given. It’s not the pattern of the Lord to give reasons. We [mortals] can put reasons to revelation. We can put reasons to commandments. When we do, we’re on our own. Some people put reasons to the [revelation] … , and they turned out to be spectacularly wrong. There is a lesson in that. … I decided a long time ago that I had faith in the command and I had no faith in the reasons that had been suggested for it. …

… The whole set of reasons seemed to me to be unnecessary risk taking. … Let’s don’t make the mistake that’s been made in the past, … trying to put reasons to revelation. The reasons turn out to be man-made to a great extent. The revelations are what we sustain as the will of the Lord and that’s where safety lies. (Life’s Lessons Learned [2011], 68–69, cited in “The Prophet of God,” April 2018 General Conference)

Henry B. Eyring (Quorum of the Twelve)

Sometimes we will receive counsel that we cannot understand or that seems not to apply to us, even after careful prayer and thought. Don’t discard the counsel, but hold it close. If someone you trusted handed you what appeared to be nothing more than sand with the promise that it contained gold, you might wisely hold it in your hand awhile, shaking it gently. Every time I have done that with counsel from a prophet, after a time the gold flakes have begun to appear and I have been grateful.  ("Finding Safety in Counsel," April 1997 General Conference)

Ronald A. Rasband (Quorum of the Twelve)

We have a prophet of God on the earth today! Never discount what that means for you. ...

We are blessed with scriptures and teachings that remind us, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.”19

So it was with Naaman, a great military leader in Syria, yet a leper, who was told that the prophet Elisha could heal him. Elisha sent his messenger to tell Naaman to wash in the River Jordan seven times and he would be clean. Naaman scoffed. Certainly there was a mightier river than the Jordan, and why send a servant when he expected Elisha, the prophet, to personally heal him? Naaman walked away but eventually was persuaded by his servants: “If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?”20 Naaman finally dipped seven times in the Jordan and was healed.

The account of Naaman reminds us of the risk of picking and choosing the parts of prophetic counsel that fit our thinking, our expectations, or today’s norms. ...

The most important words we can hear, ponder, and follow are those revealed through our living prophet.  ("The Things of My Soul," October 2021 General Conference)

Elder Corbitt (**great train of thought** - magazine draft - "Faithfulness and Prophets—Past and Present")

Condemn Not, Judge Not, Act in Faith

Seeing our day, Moroni taught how we can be shielded from becoming critical of prophets and apostles: the principle of not condemning or judging.

“Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,” Moroni said, “neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been” (Mormon 9:31; emphasis added).

In other words, we focus on and learn from prophets’ and apostles’ teachings and witness of Christ and His gospel. Beyond that, where God has manifested that a prophet’s action was wrong and has corrected His prophet, we simply learn to be more wise in those areas. Indeed, God has revealed some of these instances for our profit and to help us learn to be more wise. (footnote)

Still, we must be careful. President Eyring recently quoted this teaching of President George Q. Cannon (1827–1901), “God has chosen His servants. He claims it as His prerogative to condemn them, if they need condemnation. He has not given it to us individually to censure and condemn them. No man, however strong he may be in the faith, however high in the Priesthood, can speak evil of the Lord’s anointed and find fault with God’s authority on the earth without incurring His displeasure. The Holy Spirit will withdraw himself from such a man, and he will go into darkness. This being the case, do you not see how important it is that we should be careful?” (footnote)

You and I have the Lord’s blessing and mandate regarding prophetic teachings and actions, especially any we may find difficult to understand or accept: “Thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; for his word ye shall receive as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith” (Doctrine and Covenants 21:4–5; emphasis added). Again, we do not condemn or judge (see Matthew 7:1–2). As I have moved forward with faith in Jesus Christ and gratitude for the blessing of prophets and apostles I have been richly blessed (see Doctrine and Covenants 21:6).

...

Of course, Jesus Christ stands at the head of His Church, and He directs His prophets. What we may perceive as imperfections in their words or actions may, in fact, reflect imperfection in our perception or mortal understanding. Remembering that the Lord’s ways are higher than our ways and that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (see Isaiah 55:8–9)(footnote) allows us to avoid judging past prophets, including those of the past, and give heed to the words of living prophets “in all patience and faith” (Doctrine and Covenants 21:5). 

[1] For example, the Lord’s correction of the Prophet Joseph Smith in relation to the loss of the 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript (see Doctrine and Covenants 3, 10). The Lord’s correction of Lehi for murmuring against Him (see 1 Nephi 16:17–25). The Lord chastising the Brother of Jared for neglecting to call upon God in prayer (Ether 2:14–15).

[1] Gospel Truth: Discourses and Writings of President George Q Cannon 1:278. See also Henry B. Eyring, “The Power of Sustaining Faith,” Apr. 2019 general conference (Ensign or Liahona, May 2019, 59).

[1] Note how prophets and their perspectives are distinguished in this scripture: Doctrine and Covenants 130:4.