HW: I’d like to ask a further question about it which possibly is a more dramatic express of revelation. Am I right that you were among those whom President Spencer W. Kimball assembled on that momentous day in answer to your prayers when the revelation came about the ban on the priesthood? I’ve read numerous accounts from different apostles about that extraordinary moment and how they received the Spirit. Could you tell me about that time as you experienced it?

BKP: Well, we had the challenge and the restriction having to do with the priesthood. We thought, “Well, we can’t change that, except it be by revelation.” President Kimball was concerned about that for several years. He was praying about it, going to the temple about it, and then he called a meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the temple. We counseled together—we do a lot of counseling—and then we had a prayer circle around the altar of the temple. The answer came. We all knew what the answer was—we didn’t have to have it explained to us. No great lights went on, no voice was heard, we didn’t know when we began that this would be the result. It began years before as an inspiration, a thought. Members of the Church can always put to the test things they don’t understand or have a feeling they need inspiration about a thing. They can go pray about it. We’re given assurance that we are fairly safe when we act in that way.

HW: I guess that is an important challenge. How do you test the promptings and know whether they come from God or from yourself?

BKP: It’s a very fine line to determine whether the impression or prompting is revelation or just a personal thought. One of the tests is to ask yourself, is it good? Does it make you happy? Or is it destructive? You can test. I’ve known many people who have had promptings and found later that they were not right. When they are not right, you can see that they are not right. There’s a power called discernment. To discern is to see. And the power of discernment is one of the gifts that attends the priesthood. If all we knew is what we see and what we hear and what we read, we don’t know much comparatively. The power to discern and to see and to understand is one of the motivating influences of the gospel. And that’s how you know.