"Anciently the Lord showed His willingness to speak to the people by raising up a long series of inspired men who served as His spokesmen, from the days of Adam to John the Baptist," Elder Mark E. Petersen said in the October 1972 general conference. "Their writings make up the Old Testament, one of the grandest collections of literature and revelation known to man.
"But what about the New Testament period? Did God follow this same method then? Did He place prophets in the Christian church, thus preserving the historic pattern revealed in the Old Testament?"This He did!
"Paul told the Ephesians that the Church of Jesus Christ was built upon a foundation of apostles and prophets, with the Savior Himself as the chief cornerstone. (See Eph. 2:20.)
"Who were the prophets of that day?
"The Twelve were included, of course. But were there others?
"The New Testament tells us that there were. Silas and Barnabas were two of them, and both were great missionaries of that time. Others were Simeon and Lucius; also a man named Judas - he was not Iscariot. Likewise mentioned are Manaen and Agabus, who predicted the arrest of Paul. (See Acts 11, 13, 21.)
"The epistle to the Ephesians explains why there were Christian prophets, saying that they were placed in the Lord's Church for the `perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ.' " (Eph. 4:12.)
Elder Petersen of the Quorum of the Twelve noted that just as God followed the same pattern of communicating with His people in New Testament times as had been customary with Him down through the ages as recorded in the Old Testament, so He has continued in modern times.
"God does not abandon His people. It is the people who abandon God," Elder Petersen said. He spoke of scriptures that refer to a restoration of the original gospel of Jesus Christ, and of prophets the Lord has called, and will call, in this dispensation, beginning with Joseph Smith.