he Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a well-defined set of criteria for establishing succession of top Church leaders. This criteria becomes a safeguard against would-be usurpers of authority and other pretenders.

There are several qualities that establish our top leaders as our top leaders.¹⁹⁶

The President of the Church is the only one that is authorized to receive commandments and revelations on behalf of the entire Church (Doctrine & Covenants 28:2; Doctrine & Covenants 43:1–3). Others have authority to teach and preach commandments by the power of the Holy Spirit, but we are supposed to couch our teaching as wisdom from the Spirit for individualized circumstances rather than a binding commandment to the whole Church (Doctrine & Covenants 28:3–5). 

The authority to preach and organize the church comes through ordination by someone with authority. Additionally, that ordination must be known by the church to have been done in the Church through those priesthood channels (Doctrine & Covenants 42:11). He will “come in at the gate” (Doctrine & Covenants 43:7) and receive ordination by those who have recognized priesthood authority.

The prophet has many keys. He does not have all keys of the priesthood that are possible to be possessed such as the key of resurrection or the key to command the elements to move and combine as God and Christ have. These keys include the keys of sealing (Doctrine & Covenants 132:7), of the gathering of Israel (Doctrine & Covenants 110:11), of the baptism of the Gospel of Abraham (Doctrine & Covenants 110:12), of the powers of the Holy Priesthood (Doctrine & Covenants 128:11), and the keys of the kingdom (Doctrine & Covenants 81:2).

There are three scenarios in which there would need to be a change in who the prophet is. 

The first is when the President of the Church is excommunicated. The Doctrine & Covenants lays out procedure for excommunicating the President of the Church if that is necessary (Doctrine & Covenants 107:82–84). In this case, the President of the Church would have authority to appoint his successor (Doctrine & Covenants 43:2–7). 

The second scenario is one in which the President of the Church dies. In these cases, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles assumes control. The First Presidency is comprised of “three Presiding High Priests, chosen by the body [of the Church], appointed and ordained to that office, and upheld by the confidence, faith, and prayer of the church” (Doctrine & Covenants 107:22). Since the First Presidency is comprised of three, with the death of one of the First Presidency, it logically follows that the First Presidency is unorganized. With its dissolution, the Quorum of the Twelve assumes control since they are “equal in authority and power” to the First Presidency (Doctrine & Covenants 107:24). As explained by Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “[t]he period of time between the death of a prophet and the reorganization of the First Presidency is referred to as an ‘apostolic interregnum.’ During this period, the Quorum of the Twelve, under the leadership of the quorum president, jointly holds the keys to administer the leadership of the Church.” ¹⁹⁷ The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles almost always decides to reorganize the First Presidency following the death of the President of the Church, though there are at least two instances in Church history in which the Quorum decided to wait a while before reorganizing the First Presidency. One of these happened right after the death of Brigham Young and the other after the death of John Taylor, third President of the Church.¹⁹⁸

What would happen if all of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve were to unexpectedly and tragically die at the same time? This sets up a potential third scenario. In this case, it is at least mildly uncertain as to what would happen in this kind of scenario since there is no established precedent in Church history for such an event. One thing that has been speculated is that the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve practice something similar to the procedure of Designated Survivor as enacted in the United States. It is known that, during the State of the Union address where the President of the United States addresses a joint assembly of the two chambers of Congress, there is one member of the President’s cabinet that is hidden away to ensure continuity of succession should the President, Vice President, and other cabinet members be incapacitated or killed during the speech. Another possibility that we have precedent for is angelic ordination. We know that Peter, James, and John came to restore priesthood keys that were lost after the death of Jesus’ original apostles. Perhaps a similar restoration of keys would be necessary. A third possibility comes from the Doctrine & Covenants. Doctrine & Covenants 107:26 states that the Seventy “form a quorum, equal in authority to that of the Twelve special witnesses or Apostles just named.” Perhaps the Quorum of the Twelve are reorganized by the Seventy and then the First Presidency by the Quorum of the Twelve in this kind of a situation.

The most dramatic case in which questions of succession arose was in the aftermath of the 1844 martyrdom of Joseph Smith. Several people arose claiming to be the rightful successor to Joseph Smith’s prophetic mantle. These included Brigham Young, Sidney Rigdon, Alpheus Cutler, Lyman Wight, James J. Strang, William Smith, and Joseph Smith III. There were also a few individuals who, had they not been excommunicated from the Church or died, had plausible claims to the mantle of Joseph Smith. These included Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, Joseph Smith Sr., and Hyrum Smith. Each had plausible but ultimately failing cases for why they should lead.¹⁹⁹ The crisis came to a head on August 7, 1844 when Brigham Young and Sidney Rigdon publicly presented their case to be the next successor to Joseph Smith. Rigdon argued that the death of Joseph Smith did not leave the First Presidency disorganized and that his being “equal with [Joseph Smith] in holding the keys of this last kingdom” (Doctrine & Covenants 90:6) still held true. Brigham Young argued the opposite. When Brigham Young spoke, the crowd saw Brigham Young transfigured before them such that he looked like and sounded like Joseph Smith while presenting his case. 129 people are known to have either left first-hand accounts of the experience or to have had their experiences recorded in second-hand accounts/reminiscences.²⁰⁰

The now-established precedent and procedure for prophetic succession that we experience today in the Church was the result of an intense battle fought between the early Saints with the ammunition of Joseph Smith’s revelations. While the revelations provide good guidance as to who should be president of the Church, it is understandable that the early Saints would have struggled with this issue when they had no established historical precedent for succession and had to appeal to their best memories and interpretation of Joseph Smith’s words for inspired direction–all the while having to wrangle some tough egos from hastily taking what was not known with certainty to be theirs.

The hierarchy of authority we see in the Church today struggles between two competing goods and needs: the good and need of having an established hierarchy for resolving disputes and the repeated injunctions we have in scripture to be one and to see each other as equal (Mosiah 23:7; Doctrine & Covenants 38:23–27; Moses 7:18). On the one hand, we want to be united in all things just as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are united in all things. On the other hand, as fallible mortals, we are going to need hierarchical authority structures to resolve disputes and move the Church forward. Such a tension may very well be said to exist in every earthly organization. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:20), has a unique and exclusive authority structure that is apt to handle this tension and nourish its seeds to fruition.