From “cannot lead you astray” to “not infallible”
Official teaching has long promised that God will not permit the Church president to lead the Saints astray. Current Church materials also state plainly that prophets may make mistakes, express personal opinions, and be superseded by later revelation. The record shows how those two claims came to be held together.
The thread
Assurance, outcome, accommodation
Read chronologically, the sources do not show a simple reversal. They show a widening explanation of fallibility around an assurance the Church continues to preserve.
- The canon
Error is possible; fulfillment is promised
“The prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled.”
Doctrine and Covenants 1:24–28, 37–38The preface to the revelations says God’s servants spoke in weakness and could err, be corrected, and receive knowledge. It also gives a categorical assurance that the prophecies and promises will be fulfilled. The tension is present at the beginning of the record.
- A dated promise
A temple “in this generation”
“Which temple shall be reared in this generation.”
Doctrine and Covenants 84:2–5The revelation locates a temple in Independence, Missouri, and ties its construction to the living generation. No temple was built there in that period. A current Church manual treats the Saints as excused after persecution and expulsion prevented the work.
- A passing horizon
Fifty-six years should “wind up the scene”
“Even fifty six years, should wind up the scene.”
Joseph Smith Papers annotation to D&C 130Minutes from 1835 preserve Joseph Smith’s expectation that the Lord’s coming was near. The horizon passed. In 1843 he recorded a related statement about reaching age eighty-five, but said he could not decide whether it referred to the Second Coming, an earlier appearance, or his own death.
- Categorical assurance
The President cannot lead the Church astray
“The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray.”
Wilford Woodruff, excerpts following Official Declaration 1Wilford Woodruff said God would remove a Church president who attempted to lead the Saints astray. The statement became a durable institutional assurance, repeated by later presidents and in Church curriculum.
- Assurance repeated
“The prophet will never lead the Church astray”
Teachings of the Living Prophets, chapter 2Ezra Taft Benson made the promise one of his “Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet.” The same address says the prophet is the only man who speaks for the Lord “in everything,” extending the assurance beyond formal canon or a narrow class of pronouncements.
- Explicit accommodation
Leaders have “simply made mistakes”
“There have been times when members or leaders in the Church have simply made mistakes.”
Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Come, Join with Us”Uchtdorf acknowledged that some things said or done by leaders were not in harmony with Church values, principles, or doctrine. He paired that admission with confidence that God would not allow the Church to drift from its appointed course.
- Policy presented as revelation
The “mind of the Lord” restricts ordinances for children
“To declare the mind of the Lord and the will of the Lord.”
Russell M. Nelson explains the 2015 handbook changeThe November 2015 handbook policy restricted naming, blessing, and baptism for children living with parents in a same-sex relationship. In January 2016, Russell M. Nelson said President Thomas S. Monson had been inspired to declare the Lord’s mind and will, and that every apostle felt a spiritual confirmation.
- Policy reversed
The restrictions are removed after further revelation
“We recently felt directed to adjust the policy.”
Russell M. Nelson, “The Love and Laws of God”Three and a half years after adoption, the Church allowed bishops to authorize baptisms and parents to request infant blessings without First Presidency approval. Same-gender marriage was no longer treated as apostasy for Church discipline. Nelson said continued supplication produced direction to make the adjustment.
- Current framework
Prophets are “not infallible” and may make mistakes
“Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not infallible.”
The Role of Prophets, current Church study guideThe current guide says prophets may make mistakes and an individual teaching can be personal opinion. It retains the no-leading-astray assurance by defining divine guidance institutionally: the Church will fulfill its mission, later revelation can supersede earlier teaching, and continuing revelation can eliminate error.
The dated record
When the ordinary reading does not arrive
These two examples are bounded by dates and preserved in Church sources. They are not an exhaustive list, and the official record supplies a qualification or explanation for each.
A promise tied to “this generation”
Doctrine and Covenants 84 says a temple would be built at the designated site in Independence, Missouri, in the living generation. That building did not occur on that timetable.
A current Church manual says the Saints’ transgressions and expulsion prevented the work. It cites a later revelation that excuses people when enemies prevent God’s commanded work and treats the Independence temple as a future promise.
A near horizon, later recorded with ambiguity
The 1835 minutes say fifty-six years should wind up the scene. That horizon passed without the Second Coming. The surviving record is not a clean one-sentence prediction, however.
In 1843 Joseph Smith recorded that he could not decide what a related age-eighty-five statement meant. Current Church sources preserve that uncertainty, making this evidence of a failed expectation more clearly than an uncontested formal prophecy.
A revealed policy with a three-and-a-half-year life
“To declare the mind of the Lord and the will of the Lord.”
The 2015 handbook change treated a member in a same-gender marriage as apostate for disciplinary purposes. It also withheld a child’s formal name and blessing and ordinary eligibility for baptism when the child lived with a parent in a same-sex relationship. Baptism before adulthood required an exception from the First Presidency.
Nelson did not present this only as a prudent administrative judgment. In January 2016, while serving as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he said the apostles had fasted, prayed, considered many scenarios, and sustained what had been revealed to President Monson.
In April 2019, the Church announced that children could be named, blessed, and baptized without First Presidency approval, subject to parental permission and ordinary local authorization. Same-gender marriage remained a serious transgression but was no longer categorized as apostasy for discipline.
The First Presidency said the changes followed “fervent, united prayer” to understand the Lord’s will. Nelson later said both the 2015 and 2019 adjustments were motivated by love and that continuing supplication brought direction to alter the earlier policy.
The doctrine was said not to have changed. The operative policy—and the consequences for children and parents—did.Biblical context
Scripture tells hearers to test
The Bible does not make prediction the only test. It asks whether a word comes to pass, whether teaching is faithful to God, and what kind of fruit a teacher produces.
Prediction
Did the word come true?
“If the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken.”
Deuteronomy 18 places this test in a covenant setting where a speaker claims to speak in God’s name. A failed prediction is not dismissed merely because the speaker holds an office.
Deuteronomy 18:20–22, ESV ↗Teaching
Does the claim confess the truth about Christ?
“Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”
First John immediately gives a doctrinal test centered on Jesus Christ coming in the flesh. Discernment is an obligation of the believing community, not an act forbidden to it.
1 John 4:1–3, ESV ↗Fruit
What does the teacher produce?
“You will recognize them by their fruits.”
In Matthew 7, Jesus warns that false prophets may look harmless. Their character and results disclose what appearance alone does not. This is a test over time, not just of a single claim.
Matthew 7:15–20, ESV ↗These passages establish biblical tests; they do not, by themselves, decide every modern claim to prophetic authority. Applying them requires attention to what was actually claimed, whether conditions were stated, and whether a later explanation fits the earlier text.
The documentary tension
The assurance remains; its working definition has narrowed
The current Church guide does not withdraw Wilford Woodruff’s promise. Instead, it distinguishes ordinary error from leading the whole Church permanently away from its divine mission. Under that framework, correction by later revelation is evidence that the system works.
That is more qualified than the natural reading of the older categorical assurances. It permits mistaken teaching, personal opinion, incomplete understanding, and supersession while reserving “lead astray” for institutional failure at a larger scale.
Sources
Read the record in context
The central comparison uses canonized scripture, official Church curriculum, general conference, and the Church Historian’s Press.
“Failed prophecy” can conceal an important distinction. This case identifies an unfulfilled ordinary reading, then records the conditions, ambiguity, or later explanation the Church applies. The biblical quotations use the English Standard Version.