“Having First Obtained Mine Errand from the Lord”
As there can be no “priesthood of all believers”-pretense to authority by virtue of an appeal to the Bible alone-so there can be no secret commission in the Lord’s kingdom-pretense to position or authority on the strength of private ordination or confidential conversation. In discussing this principle-that a man or woman must be called of God-as a safeguard against deceit or misrepresentation, Elder Boyd K. Packer explained: “There are those who claim authority from some secret ordinations of the past. Even now some claim special revealed authority to lead or to teach the people. Occasionally they use the names of members of the First Presidency or of the Twelve or of the Seventy and imply some special approval of what they teach.”
“Errand from the Lord”
A person’s errand is his or her assignment, his or her calling-the task to be undertaken. A member of the Church is able to proceed in the magnification of a calling much more powerfully when he or she knows that the call came from God, that the word of prophecy, the spirit of inspiration, was the directing influence in the call. The person called may then serve and act with confidence, knowing full well that with the assignment will come also the needed strength and direction for the accomplishment of the labor (see 1 Nephi 3:7). “Wherefore,” the Savior instructed the Latter-day Saints, “as ye are agents, ye are on the Lord’s errand: and whatever ye do according to the will of the Lord is the Lord’s business” (D&C 64:29).