Elder Packer made it clear when he said "leaders receive revelation for their own stewardships. Individuals can receive revelation to guide their own lives. But when one person purports to receive revelation for another person outside his or her own stewardship--such as a Church member who claims to have revelation to guide the entire Church or a person who claims to have a revelation to guide another person over whom he or she has no presiding authority according to the order of the Church--you can be sure that such revelations are not from the Lord.” (Boyd K. Packer, "Prayers and Answers," Ensign, November 1979, p. 20).

I think this conversation would also be helped by a definition of "important" revelations. Certainly the revelation that all persons may come closer to Christ through Temple study is important and may be given to an individual through personal revelation. This revelation may passed on to anyone since it comports with the teachings of all the prophets and apostles. However, if by “important” you mean a change in Church policy or a teaching concerning doctrine which is not currently in circulation, that will most definitely not be brought forward by anyone but the presiding authorities of the Church, lest we cease to be a church of order. For additional clarification, here are some talks that speak directly to the subject which I have found helpful.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks (then Utah Supreme Court Justice) "Revelation," 1981.
President Ezra Taft Benson "Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet," Ensign, June 1981.

Arguing with them can be entertaining, but certainly wastes a lot of time.

Great write-up of your email conversation with this fundamentalist. I love the story of Brigham Young preaching on the oracles vs. scriptures. Good stuff!

Perhaps I can find out where my father learned about this. I’ve heard some talks myself on this subject. I’ll find them and post some links.

If any of us believes we have received a new revelation for the Church, it is outside our priesthood authority to teach it to anyone else until those with the proper authority teach it. If there is something important for the general membership of the Church to know, God will reveal it through His prophets.

Remember D&C 28.

I believe Lehi and Samuel the Lamanite were called by God as prophets to teach the people, the same way God calls his prophets today. They may not have been the “president” of the Church as we know it, because there was no such church organization in their day. Isaiah, Jeremiah, the same way. They were called to teach the people what the Lord commanded them. Today, there are no such prophets outside of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and not outside the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. There may be individuals that are inspired of the Lord to teach good things, but the prophet of the Church is the only person on the earth with the authority to receive new revelation for mankind.

The fundamentalist I conversed with believed that there had been NO revelation in the Church for the last 100 years, nay, since the days of Joseph Smith. He believed, therefore, that the Church had apostatized some time ago, and that there were no real prophets and apostles today, etc., etc. He claimed to be an active LDS member.

I have no problem trying to live the laws of the gospel today as closely as we can, while still being in harmony with the teachings of the living prophets and apostles. I encourage it! As Elder Maxwell has said, that is true orthodoxy. See my series on the Law of Consecration.

Yes, as President Hinckley said, we should all reach a little higher.

My father had to consider this question once, and his conclusion has always been the guiding principle in my life too (I’ll have to find out where he learned it). If we receive a new revelation that we think is important for Church membership, or even if we just haven’t ever heard it taught before by the proper Authorities, we should keep it private until the day that we hear or read that it is taught by a General Authority who has the right to teach such a revelation to the general membership of the Church. Then we may teach it to others too. Teaching it to others any time prior to that point is overstepping our priesthood authority.

I am also interested in your “fundamentalist” conversation. The “fundamentalists” that I have spoken to tend more towards wishing there was more revelation in the Church. The complaint is that since the members of the Church find it so hard to follow the council given that more and more is taken from the Church.

Examples given are:
- Law of Consecration gets pared down to Law of Tithing.
- 7 year food and sundry supply becomes 1 year (and last I heard, in some places 3 months or less).
- …

The question asked is: Should the individual lower his goal because the majority are not willing to try for the higher goal?

I am sure you know what Brother Joseph had to say about the Saints in his day (corn-dodger and hemlock knots?), and listening to President Ezra Taft Benson it has not changed much even in our day.

In no way is this meant as disrespect for the 1st Presidency or Quorum of the 12, I believe that they are doing the best that they can with what they have been given: I believe that we as a Church though are suffering from the curse of 2 Nephi 28:30.

As President Hinckley said, we all need to reach a little higher.

The point I was trying to make in my original comment is that all of us are accountable to the spirit of prophecy and revelation including the living prophet. The unity of the living prophet and the apostles comes by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. This is what makes the prophet as a “collective” prophet powerful. Revelation from the spirit of prophecy and revelation may be given to anyone and it may be important revelation. However, priesthood authority and priesthood keys must be followed for revelation to become authoritative or applied church doctrine. If you received a revelation that you thought was important for the Church membership, how would you proceed? The accountability that we all have is doing what the Lord has revealed to us even if it means being taught by someone of lesser authority.