Seer

From The Encyclopedia of Mormonism

See this page in the original 1992 publication.

Author: Walker, Steven C.

In ancient usage, "seer" is an alternative term for prophet (1 Sam. 9:9). A seer is a person endowed by God with a special gift for seeing spiritually. In the modern Church, members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles serve as seers. These fifteen apostolic officials are designated prophets, seers, and revelators who direct the Church by means of divine revelation, with the President of the Church being the only one in whom the keys are fully active at any one time. Though all three titles describe revelatory capacity, the terms are not fully synonymous. A "prophet" is one who speaks for God; the office of "seer" extends that divine Endowment to a capacity for envisioning future and past. The Book of Mormon teaches that a "seer is greater than a prophet," because a seer is "a revelator and a prophet also"; seers are unique among prophets in that they "can know of things which are past, and also of things which are to come, and by them shall all things be revealed" (Mosiah 8:15-17).

In the Doctrine and Covenants, the Prophet Joseph Smith refers to the spiritual process of seership. He describes "being in the Spirit" along with Sidney Rigdon, and "by the power of the Spirit our eyes were opened and our understandings were enlightened, so as to see and understand the things of God" (76:11-12; cf. JS-H 1:74).

The office of seer is often associated with the use of revelatory instruments, particularly the Urim and Thummim, sometimes called seer stones. The Book of Mormon suggests that "whosoever has these things is called seer, after the manner of old times" (Mosiah 28:16).

Visionary prophets of the Bible, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, and John the Revelator, clearly functioned as seers. In the Book of Mormon, Lehi refers to Joseph of Egypt as a seer who foresaw that in modern times God would raise up from among his descendants yet another "choice seer" (2 Ne. 3:6). The ancient calling of seer remains active through modern times. A seer is "one who sees with spiritual eyes. He perceives the meaning of that which seems obscure to others…. In short, he is one who sees, who walks in the Lord's light with open eyes" (Widtsoe, p. 205).