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President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
My beloved brothers and sisters, I very much appreciate the opportunity to meet with you this morning. Since the welfare program was inaugurated in the mid-1940s I believe I have attended every such general conference welfare meeting we have held.
The Church welfare program has from its beginning been, in my mind, associated with the second great commandment. You will remember, of course, that when one of the Pharisees asked Jesus "Which is the great commandment in the law?" that he responded, "Thou shalt love the lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
"This is the first and great commandment.
"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets".
As a ward bishop I was involved in the welfare program when it was first announced, and I have been involved in it ever since.
This long participation has taught me that the crowning aspect of a Christlike life is found in serving one's fellowmen.
In the Church, serving and helping one's neighbor is not done only through spontaneous kindly deeds to our immediate families and next-door neighbors; it is also accomplished through the Church welfare program, which is based upon modern revelation through prophets of this dispensation. Its principles are eternal. They have been revealed and implemented, to some extent, where and whenever the Lord has established his church upon the earth. We read in the Book of Mormon, for example, that "Alma commanded that the people of the church should impart of their substance, every one according to that which he had; if he have more abundantly he should impart more abundantly; and of him that had but little, but little should be required; and to him that had not should be given.
"And thus they should impart of their substance of their own free will and good desires towards God, and to those priests that stood in need, yea, and to every needy, naked soul.
"And this he said unto them, having been commanded of God; and they did walk uprightly before God, imparting to one another both temporally and spiritually according to their needs and their wants".
In October 1936, the Presidency of the Church issued this statement, which continues today as the guiding precept of welfare services:
"Our primary purpose was to set up, in so far as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be reenthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership".
As a people and as a Church, we accept as fundamental truth the proposition that the responsibility for one's own economic maintenance rests upon himself; upon his family; and upon the Church, if he is a faithful member thereof.
Welfare work divides itself into three main divisions. First is the basic doctrine of being self-sustaining to the full extent of one's ability. By applying the principles of personal and family preparedness, sometimes referred to as temporal welfare, we are to provide our own needs. So doing puts us in position to share our surplus with others. In his April 1937 conference talk, President J. Reuben Clark outlined the course of independence which should be followed by every member of the Church. He there said:
"What may we as a people and as individuals do for ourselves to prepare to meet this oncoming disaster, which God in his wisdom may not turn aside from us?
"Let us avoid debt as we would avoid a plague; where we are now in debt let us get out of debt; if not today, then tomorrow.
"Let us straitly and strictly live within our incomes, and save a little.
"Let every head of every household see to it that he has on hand enough food and clothing, and, where possible, fuel also, for at least a year ahead".
When circumstances combine to require help, it is Church doctrine that one rely upon his family for assistance. Obviously, no one should become a charge upon the public when his relatives are able to care for him. Every consideration of kindness, of justice, of fairness, of the common good, and of humanity requires this.
President Stephen L Richards taught a principle which every family in the Church would do well to bear in mind:
"I think," said he, that "my food would choke me if knew that while I could procure bread my aged father or mother or near kin were on public relief. I believe a decent family pride is a salutary thing with any people and in any nation , a family pride in wholesome, self-reliant, and enterprising living-a family pride that promotes the utmost solicitude for each member of the family. It wouldn't hurt my feelings to hear a family boast that through all vicissitudes they had come to each other's help and had never received public assistance. I have known brothers and sisters to put each other through school by hard, self-sacrificing toil. I cannot imagine any of these permitting their father and mother to come to public relief".
Finally, aid is available from the Church. It has been so in all dispensations. Paul himself was a welfare worker, in a very modern sense of the term. We find him writing in Romans 15:
"But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints.
"For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.
"It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things".
The obligation of the Church to help its poor is here placed by Paul on a par with communicating spiritual riches to those who are in darkness. By both means we store up treasures in heaven.
"Charge them," he says, "that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
"That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
"Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life".
In our day, the Lord has given us this charge:
"If thou lovest me thou shalt serve me and keep all my commandments.
"And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support that which thou hast to impart unto them, with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken.
"And inasmuch as ye impart of your substance unto the poor, ye will do it unto me; and they shall be laid before the bishop of my church and his counselors, two of the elders, or high priests, such as he shall appoint or has appointed and set apart for that purpose".
The foregoing principles are true when properly applied by members and leaders alike. They bring about the desired end of establishing the Church and building up Zion. It is true, however, that when not properly applied, difficulties follow. Within two-and-a-half years after the original Church welfare plan was put in place by the First Presidency, President J. Reuben Clark made this significant statement in an address in Estes Park, Colorado, 20 June 1939:
The Church has found that the whole problem is essentially a question of spirituality, rather than of finance or economics. Where the spirituality has been high, the Plan has succeeded; where the spirituality is low, the Plan has lagged. The Church has proved there is no substitute for the great commandments: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy might, mind, and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself' ".
While we have made great strides in the program since that day, the principle still applies. Everything we do in welfare services must be measured by its accomplishment in spiritual terms. Givers must give out of a righteous heart and with a willing spirit. Receivers must receive with thankfulness and gladness of heart. The Spirit must confirm a bishop's evaluation regarding assistance. It must lead a home teacher and a visiting teacher to know how to respond to needs of families to whom they are assigned. With righteous intent, participating in this great work sanctifies the soul and enlarges the mind. As we spiritually mature in fulfilling our welfare responsibilities, whatever they may be, we prepare ourselves to become "partakers of the divine nature". May it be our happy lot to be filled with that measure of spirit that we may be sealed with the bond of charity, which, as Moroni said, "is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure".
It is my prayer that each and every one of us will learn and apply these fundamental principles of welfare services and gain thereby the promised reward, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Harold G. Hillam
President, Idaho Falls Idaho South Stake
I have made it a habit of running three miles every day, and I would have to admit that this walk up here leaves me a little more out of breath than the end of three miles. It is a humbling experience to occupy this pulpit, which has been occupied by such great, great men in welfare services.
Sometime after the collapse of the Teton Dam and the ensuing flooding disaster which affected several counties in eastern Idaho, while serving as the area welfare leader, I was asked to speak on behalf of the Church to a group of people who were responsible for civil defense and disaster relief. They included representatives from city, county, state, and federal organizations as well as a number of religious, volunteer, and service groups. The requested topic was how the LDS Church is prepared to respond to emergency crises.
I realized that they had already observed the response of the Church to the flood. They saw firsthand how the bishops' storehouse system was almost immediately prepared to ship in truckloads of supplies and then stood by to fill the requests of the local priesthood leaders. They saw the Deseret Industries help bring order out of chaos. Large mountains of clothing were donated from many parts of the country and placed in large, unsorted piles. There were party dresses with work shoes, small sizes with large, men's with women's, and clean with soiled. In a very short time the Deseret Industries had these much-needed articles of clothing cleaned, pressed, sized, and placed on racks from which those in need could choose for their particular needs.
They saw how the LDS Social Services was available to help the people in their social and emotional needs as emotional tolerances were pressed to the limit. Many jobs were lost due to the flood, and many new ones were created. LDS employment program was busy as employees and employers were matched together. They saw, as did people from all over the world, the many thousands of volunteers who came, at their own expense, to help in the cleanup effort.
There was a need in the early days of the flood cleanup for heavy equipment. A request was made for tractors and front-end loaders from stakes both near and far. We thought in terms of 5 or 6 outfits. Soon after the request was made, the area welfare leader from Soda Springs, approximately 165 miles away, called and said, "President, I understand that you need some tractors and front-end loaders. We are ready and prepared to bring 150." I told him that 20 would be marvelous.
There was a need for electricians to restore power to the homes that lost it because of the flood. We estimated that 150 would be a great response. The call went out. We didn't get just 150. More than 450 licensed electricians and helpers responded to that call. This same type of devotion and dedication was shown many, many times over as a variety of needs was fulfilled.
It was evident to this group to whom I would speak, as well as to others, what had happened in this major crisis, but were they aware of those who are helped every day on an individual basis-for example, the young girl who found love, understanding, and kind assistance from LDS Social Services when she was confronted with a major crisis in her life? Because of wise counsel, she did not compound an already serious problem with a graver tragedy when she found that there is an alternative to the accepted worldly philosophy of abortion.
They did not know of the many other services of LDS Social Services, the childless marriages with loving homes who are blessed with the opportunity to adopt a little infant, the Lamanite program, professional counseling, foster homes, and others.
I was sure that most of them did not totally understand the Deseret Industries; and most certainly did not understand that it is a living example of the principle of consecration, wherein each of us has the opportunity to give freely of our surpluses, and then those great people who are not willing to be spectators in the arena of life are given the opportunity to maintain their dignity by enjoying the blessing of work. Perhaps they were not even aware that Deseret Industries is open for all to make purchases which are so helpful in meeting the pressures of an inflated economy. Shopping at Deseret Industries is like shopping at an exclusive store. There are many items that are one of a kind, and with shipments arriving daily we have an opportunity to make new choices every day.
On one occasion when I had arrived early at Deseret Industries prior to our monthly meeting of the local operating committee, I made a tour of the well-organized displays and racks of commodities. My eyes were drawn to the area of overcoats. One particularly appealed to me. It was a fine, all-wool, English-tailored coat. I thought, "If it fits, I'll buy it." I looked at the price: four dollars and seventy-five cents! At that price, I knew it fit. I bought it and I paid cash for it. I took it home and, when I modeled it for my wife, I put my hands in the pockets, and there were a number of rare, one-cent postage stamps. I guess the stamps themselves were worth probably about as much as I had paid for the coat. And I suspect that I was probably the only person who made a purchase at Deseret Industries who not only made an excellent buy but also received stamps!
This group of people to whom I would speak certainly had no way of knowing about the father who found himself with his loving bishop exclaiming, "Bishop, tragedy has struck our family. I have lost my job. I need welfare." That knowledgeable bishop replied, "Brother, you don't need welfare. What you need is a job, and you have come to the right place." That wise bishop had just taught the great principle of work. The bishop's comment was not an idle remark, because he had available to him, as a part of the great storehouse system, a ward employment specialist, who has access not only to the employers within the ward and stake but also, through the employment center, to those throughout the entire area. If a job could not be found in the open market, that same employment specialist would become a resource to the bishop to help find meaningful work opportunities for the needy brother within the Lord's plan, thus allowing that father the joy of maintaining his dignity by working for the commodities received. This same employment system serves the needs of all members as they seek employment and seek to upgrade their opportunities.
This group of interested people that I would speak to wanted to know what we as the Church can do in a major disaster, but that is not all. There are heartaches, hurts, problems-yes, even disasters-which occur in every life at some time. And, in the individual's life, those personal disasters are just as real and just as deserving of our help as the disaster of those involved in the flood in eastern Idaho, or the earthquake in Guatemala, or the flooding in California.
I wanted this group to know that in the Church not only are we prepared to deal with major disasters which involve many, but the Lord's plan provides for the loving care of each of his children on an individual, one-on-one basis.
Those of us who are here today have at our disposal the principles of the welfare plan, which assist us in helping to bless those who are in need.
I give you my solemn witness that we are engaged in the Lord's work. May each one of us strive to carry out our stewardships, so the work may be done in His own way. The work and labor which we perform in welfare services will lead us steadily forward to that time when we will be blessed to live the great law of consecration in a Zion society.
May each of us be found doing our duty, I pray in the name of him whose plan it is, even Jesus Christ, amen.
Sister Shirley W. Thomas
Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency
In the early spring of 1842 the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo united the charitable efforts of women in a desire to support the priesthood in the cause of Zion. The Prophet Joseph Smith told the sisters "their offering accepted of the Lord," and the sisters gave unstintingly. Following his injunction to search out the poor and needy and minister to their wants, they called a committee that went from house to house. The members who had means were asked to give, and the needy were referred to the society for aid.
Their reports typically read: one family "poor, sick & distressed and no bedding," two families by the river "sick & nothing to eat," one widow "destitute of money". Donations included sugar, bedding and clothes, onions, flour-whatever they had to give. One sister, having no goods, offered her time, "any portion or all," she said. Another would "knit, sew or wait on the sick". When President Joseph Smith organized the Relief Society, he predicted "better days the poor and needy," and through the efforts of these devoted sisters many Saints were cared for and comforted.
Perhaps this one line, taken from the records, could best describe these efforts: "We have not said be ye warmed and clothed without trying to do it". To a divine concept they added their commitment-and to gospel principles, practice.
Today's problems of families reflect the increasing complexity of our time. The welfare services of the Church include multiple systems and long-range plans, but the constant through all its development is the application of gospel principles in loving concern for another's need.
A Relief Society president knows that, in spite of a report which shows members receiving temporary assistance constitute 4 percent of a ward, to the sister in distress it is 100 percent. Her needs are whole and real. Consider the case of a woman we shall call Sister Allen. Troubled and lonely, she had just returned from a hospital stay and major surgery. Two months before, her husband had abandoned his responsibilities to their family of five. The bishop had visited, and now the Relief Society president came. It was a family-needs visit, and as they talked Sister Allen spoke wistfully of having some cream of asparagus soup and blueberry muffins. These items were not on the bishop's order form and could have been dismissed as not available. But the president really wanted to serve Sister Allen and wondered if this rather special request might suggest a need for more than food. What was Sister Allen's real need? Was it for commodities or for consideration, for someone to demonstrate that she was worthwhile by giving her special attention now, when her problems seemed to overwhelm her?
Sensing the larger need, the Relief Society president ordered the items available through the storehouse, then assigned compassionate service responsibilities to her visiting teachers and others to provide meals that included the muffins and the soup and also to show their concern in other visible and tangible ways. Sister Allen responded. She got better, aided by the food but more so by their friendship.
Each problem is in some way unique and may require a special sensitivity to the care needed. President Romney said at last October conference that no hard-and-fast rules will ever be given in answer to the questions, Who should assist? How much assistance should be given? How long and how often should I assist?.
Caring for others, like the "quality of mercy," is "twice blest: Bless him that gives and him that ". In giving we grow in patience, humility, faith-all the elements of that pure love called charity. Every sister, whether she is single or married, living alone or in a family, needs the opportunity to develop these Christlike attributes.
Relief Society works with priesthood leaders to care for the sick and needy and at the same time teaches, through its curriculum, the welfare principles and concepts which help every sister meet her own needs and give to others the kind of care that has always distinguished truly compassionate service.
The six welfare principles stressed by President Kimball-love, work, service, stewardship, self-reliance and consecration-are the foundation stones upon which all welfare services are built. Relief Society, incorporating them into its lessons, teaches the Christlike qualities of pure love, or charity; teaches that work sustains, that service gives work its meaning, that stewardship brings accountability, and that self-reliance allows a freedom to focus on another's needs, and that consecration is to give all one has.
The stake Relief Society education counselor can foster an understanding of these principles by first identifying them in Relief Society lessons; for example, the relationship of work and self-reliance to problem solving, or the importance of love and service in building self-esteem. Then, recognizing the importance of these principles not only in helping sisters to serve but in preparing them to meet or prevent crises in their own lives, she can make certain that they are emphasized in Relief Society teaching.
An education counselor should remember the words of the Lord when he said, "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts". She should recognize her stewardship to see that these gospel principles are taught in the Relief Societies of her stake-taught so effectively that sisters "having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience".
Recently, we met a young woman who had learned to make these principles operative in her life. Bringing Sister Smith a beautiful rose, she came to express her love and her gratitude for the blessings of the gospel. She is handicapped, and so is the more grateful for blessings because she knows so well pain and difficulty. When telling of how she is able to keep a house and care for a husband, she said it does take her longer, but a friend goes to the store to get what she needs, and she has learned to do almost everything else for herself. Cutting carrot strips for a ward dinner is a challenge, but she does it and in accepting such opportunities enjoys the fulfillment of service.
The desire to support the priesthood in this great latter-day work, first seen in the Nauvoo sisters, has led Relief Society women over many years to establish health facilities, store grain, serve adoptive parents, and meet other critical needs. This same desire motivates the Relief Society today. Teaching is one means of helping the sisters and their families realize the great promise declared by President Kimball:
"As givers gain control of their desires and properly see other needs in light of their own wants, then the powers of the gospel are released in their lives. They learn that by living the great law of consecration they insure not only temporal salvation but also spiritual sanctification".
That we may each fulfill our stewardship and earn this great reward I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Bishop Victor L. Brown
Presiding Bishop
My dear brothers and sisters, it is always an inspiring experience to meet with you in the welfare session of general conference. When we consider the significance of this conference as being convened on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Church, it seems appropriate to address the subject "Welfare Services: Past, Present, and Future."
The eternal principles upon which welfare services exist today were given by the Lord at the time of Adam. They have not changed over the centuries, nor will they change in the future. The Lord instructed Adam to subdue the earth with this charge: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread". Thus, in the beginning he taught the principles of work and self-reliance. In modern scripture the Lord declared: "Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer".
To the head of the family he gave this latter-day charge: "And again, verily I say unto you, that every man who is obliged to provide for his own family, let him provide, and he shall in nowise lose his crown".
After providing for our own, the Lord explained that our next duty is to the poor and distressed among us. In section 44 of the Doctrine and Covenants we read:
"Behold, I say unto you, that ye must visit the poor and the needy and administer to their relief".
Administering to the relief of our neighbor is born of pure love or charity. In his memorable letter to the Corinthians, Paul explained, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal".
Moroni further explained: "Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him".
By following the pure impulses of charity, members contribute resources to the Church from which the bishop may draw to help those in need. The Lord's charge to Bishop Whitney was to "travel round about and among all the churches, searching after the poor to administer to their wants by humbling the rich and the proud".
From these scriptures we learn that the Lord expects several basic things of his people:
He expects each individual to work and to provide for himself.
He expects each family to work together, to be independent and self-reliant.
He expects the husband and father to provide for his own.
He expects us as individuals and families to share our abundance with the poor and distressed.
He expects the bishop to search out the poor and the sick and to see that they are cared for.
And above all, he expects his people to have charity in their hearts for their fellowmen.
Since welfare services are the gospel in action, we know that these divine principles are unchanging. They are eternal.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught these great principles 150 years ago.
While the early members practiced the principles of welfare in rudimentary application, it was in the 1930s that the welfare services program, as we know it, was formalized. It applied to the stakes of Zion, which at that time were mostly in the western part of the United States and Canada. Production projects, canneries, and storehouses were established among the people. Now, although there is still much to be done, the welfare services activities in the United States and Canada are approaching maturity.
By the end of 1982, nearly every bishop in these areas of the Church will have access to a physical storehouse. There are presently in operation 802 production projects, 51 central and regional bishops' storehouses, 20 Deseret Industries, 24 employment centers, and 35 LDS Social Services agencies. These exist as resources from which bishops can help the Saints become self-reliant as well as assist those who are unable to provide for themselves.
Now, as to the overseas areas of the Church: Over the past ten years, the international growth of stakes has been phenomenal, increasing from 41 to 269. With this growth, the welfare services program is being introduced on an orderly basis. While every new member can and should live all gospel covenants relative to welfare, we do not expect branches and new wards to implement the full program until they have the capability to do so. It has taken more than forty years for welfare services to reach their present status in the United States and Canada. We look forward to the day when the whole Church is sufficiently mature to have the entire program fully operative. It will require wise teaching of basic principles, along with careful planning, for measured and timely growth to occur. The basic principles discussed earlier must be taught and lived before the program can appropriately move forward.
There are those who would like to establish the full program immediately. Some time ago, Church leaders in one country asked: "When are you going to bring the full program to us? Our people need it desperately." What they did not understand is that we do not just bring a program to the stakes. It is a part of the complete gospel plan and will develop a step at a time. One does not begin at the top rung of the ladder.
There are many exciting and heart-warming developments in various parts of the world. Long-range welfare services master plans have been received from England, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Those stakes in areas where master plans have been approved are moving forward with implementation under the direction of area councils which are well organized and functioning successfully.
In Great Britain, the local brethren have just purchased a dairy project to complement two row-crop projects. They are also in the process of acquiring facilities for a storehouse.
In Australia they have acquired five production projects and are producing oranges and many other fruits as well as every type of local vegetable. They are planning to acquire land this year for storehouses in several major cities.
In Uruguay they are placing special emphasis on personal and family preparedness. Because of high unemployment in that country, they were authorized to establish an employment center last year. A wonderful welfare services missionary couple and local volunteers are diligently working to help members find or upgrade their employment.
Carefully, but surely, progress is being made toward Church preparedness. However, we still have great concern that as a people we are far short of truly being prepared. The heart of welfare services' success is not Church preparedness but member preparedness. The increased call by bishops on the resources of the storehouse system is an indication that many of our people do not have their reserves and consequently are unable to take care of their own basic needs. I am afraid some members are laboring under the illusion that in difficult times the Church will take care of them. This is not so. The Church is prepared to take care of a limited number of members for a relatively short period of time.
There should be no misunderstanding on this point. The fundamental principle of welfare services is that you and I provide for our own needs. If serious economic disruption were to occur, the Church would do all in its power to alleviate suffering by supplementing member efforts. But it would not be able to do for the Saints what we have been taught to do for ourselves for over forty years-that is, to have a year's supply of food, clothing, and, where possible, fuel; to have savings in reserve; and to possess basic production skills. This counsel has been given at least twice a year for all these years. Some have followed the counsel of the Brethren and are prepared, as were the five wise virgins. Some, like the foolish virgins, do not have enough oil in their lamps.
A recent Church survey of a representative number of members in the United States indicates that in emergency circumstances-such as job loss, illness, or natural disaster-the average family had the following supplies: food, twenty-six weeks; clothes, fifty-two weeks; water, two weeks; and fuel, four days. This is not even close to a year's supply. The survey also indicates that financial reserves are low. Only 17 percent could live for more than one year on their financial reserves if income were cut off; 45 percent reported they could only live for three months. The Lord says, "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear". I suppose each of us knows into which category he falls. What a wonderful thing it would be if all were prepared.
Our challenge for the future is to be prepared and to perfect ourselves through keeping the commandments more fully. We may give of our time and talents in service to family, neighbors, church, and community. Through tithing and a generous fast offering, we may share of our means to build up the Church and care for the poor and the needy. The Lord has given us this instruction in section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants:
"See that ye love one another; cease to be covetous; learn to impart one to another as the gospel requires.
"Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.
"And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace.
"Pray always, that ye may not faint, until I come. Behold, and lo, I will come quickly, and receive you unto myself".
May we be blessed to provide the leadership throughout the Church that will cause the membership to be prepared to be received by the Lord when he comes, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Ronald E. Poelman
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
The ancient Nephite prophet King Benjamin counseled those who had accepted the Savior and received a remission of their sins with these words: "For the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally.
"And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order".
Our living prophet of God, Spencer W. Kimball, has said to us who also have hope in Christ: "Welfare Services is not a program, but the essence of the gospel. It is the gospel in action.
"It is the crowning principle of a Christian life".
How then may we, in wisdom and order, most effectively use welfare services to administer to the spiritual and temporal needs of the poor?
The answer is found in priesthood councils.
One year ago the area council became the primary council in the field to correlate, coordinate, plan, and resolve problems. Now, a year later, we may consider how the area council is actually functioning, and, more specifically, its role in welfare services master planning, teaching gospel principles germane to welfare services, and coordinating the welfare services efforts of temporal and ecclesiastical officers.
Personal experience suggests that the principal, immediate benefit from a renewed emphasis on Church councils is the opportunity to coordinate the efforts of temporal and ecclesiastical officers. Through councils, Church leaders can better work together to teach the doctrines, principles, and practices of welfare services and to plan for a great upsurge in accomplishments. The enduring personal friendships which develop during this effort evoke our noblest sentiments.
The Regional Representatives and General Authority Executive Administrator for an area, addressing their welfare services responsibilities, may rely heavily on the Welfare Services area director.
In our first area council meeting, an executive planning committee was appointed, including selected Welfare Services region agents and certain specialists chosen from the area. Also, a timetable was adopted.
Coordinated by this committee, the region agents identified needs and resources and received guidance from region councils and from individual priesthood leaders.
The specialists then organized the information in a format provided by the General Welfare Services Committee and produced a proposed area-wide phase 1 master plan for consideration, modification, and, finally, approval by the area council.
Following such approval, the proposed plan will be presented to each region council in the area, and then, by a Regional Representative, to each stake welfare services committee and bishop's council for review and approval. Finally, this phase 1 plan will be submitted to the General Welfare Services Committee.
Once the approval of that committee has been obtained, we will begin phase 2, or the operational master plan.
As planning develops, a need is recognized to perform more effectively that which the Lord has already taught us; for example, to provide meaningful work for more of those receiving assistance and to improve the productivity of our present resources.
Both improving the present system and planning for additional accomplishment require that principles which pertain to welfare services be taught more effectively.
Therefore, our area council adopted a formal teaching plan which includes specific doctrines, principles, and practices to be taught; identifies by whom, to whom, and when the teaching shall occur; and involves everyone in the priesthood line and Relief Society presidents.
Concurrently, a family guide for emergency preparedness is being compiled. Suggestions on how to implement it and a schedule for delivering it through the priesthood line into every home are also being prepared. This project, not yet finally approved by our area council, is intended to be a first step toward more complete family preparedness, the foundation of welfare services.
Also, the first annual service evaluation of welfare services by ecclesiastical leaders was recently conducted to determine what is succeeding and what can be improved.
A master plan is our principal tool in purposeful preparation. Its organized data, including a detailed capital budget, enables the council to make informed decisions, to accurately measure progress, and to wisely allocate resources according to correct priorities.
The plan defines goals and procedures which have been adopted by common consent, prepares us for a higher purpose, and enables us to serve more individuals in an expanding circle. Thus, the plan becomes the vision of the heart, and we have increased awareness of inspiring concepts which, though not new, come to us with invigorating freshness.
As we carefully and prayerfully develop a plan to prepare for the times of stress that are ahead, the magnitude of the challenge may seem overwhelming. Providing even temporary assistance to 15 percent or perhaps even 30 percent of the Church members may seem beyond our capability. However, in addition, we must plan to provide meaningful work for those who become unemployed and to assist with the physical, emotional, and social problems that inevitably accompany periods of economic stress.
However, "the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them". Coordinating our effort as temporal and ecclesiastical officers in area councils, we can accept the commandment and find the way.
The wisdom of Solomon advises that "where there is no vision, the people perish".
The Lord through his prophets has warned us of stressful times to come and has provided us with the organization, principles, and direction to prepare. When we seek the Spirit of the Lord in welfare services work we will be blessed with vision and the people will not perish. If we are prepared, we need not fear.
Spiritual preparation is not complete, however, until we have done all that we can to prepare temporally. Then what is lacking will be supplied by the Lord.
Unity in temporal matters, as in spiritual matters, is essential to our success. At each step, consensus of the council members must be obtained, through prayer and discussion, to achieve that unity which is prerequisite to the Lord's help. To be effective, decisions must be reached by divine consensus, not by compromise. Participants are not competing advocates, representing special interests, but rather contributing members of a unified body.
The priesthood council is a form of management unique to the divine Church. It assembles to receive the Lord's law by the prayer of faith, to agree upon his word, and to learn how to govern the Church and have all things right before the Lord. The council's strength and effectiveness derive from coordinating individual skills and abilities united with a shared purpose.
"For all have not every gift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.
"To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby".
It is of fundamental importance to remember that there are temporal aspects to each spiritual calling and spiritual aspects to every temporal calling. In the words of Brigham Young: "If a man is called to manufacture the clothing that is necessary for the Saints, and he goes at that business with his eye single to the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth he is entitled to the Spirit of the Holy Gospel, and he will receive and enjoy it just as much as if he were preaching the Gospel. the spirit to know how to raise sheep, to procure the wool, to put machinery in operation to make the clothing for the advancement, benefit and building up of the people of God on the earth. And the Spirit of the Lord is here in these labors-farming, merchandizing and in all mechanical business just as much as it is in preaching the Gospel, if men will live for it".
The challenge and opportunity of welfare services master planning become evident when, as the plan emerges, we realize that by mortal standards the task is impossible, the need too great, the resources insufficient. It is then we know that we must step up to a higher level spiritually.
The Lord tells us in section 70 of the Doctrine and Covenants that an abundance of the manifestation of the Spirit among us depends upon our willingness to share temporal blessings.
Therefore, we must sacrifice our narrow traditions, local interests, and selfish pride to achieve the love and unity indispensable in a Zion society. The principles of love, service, work, self-reliance, consecration, and stewardship must relate to a specific plan, in a particular area, to serve individual needs with well-managed resources. Personal and family preparedness and local self-sufficiency must be related to identified communities, families, production projects, and storehouses.
The abstract becomes concrete when we identify welfare services principles with people, places, and things we know. Temporal application of spiritual laws transforms theology into religion.
Through priesthood councils we may, in wisdom and order, most effectively use welfare services to administer to the spiritual and temporal needs of the poor, thus experiencing the gospel in action and learning to live the Christian life, to which I testify in the sacred name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.
President Spencer W. Kimball
My beloved brothers and sisters, I have enjoyed this meeting very much, and I endorse all that has been presented by the various speakers.
I express deep appreciation to each of you for what you are doing in this wonderful welfare work. We are grateful for the progress that has been made. Notwithstanding there is much service yet to be given, I feel the Lord is pleased with the service that has been rendered by the Saints.
I sense a deep commitment on the part of our leaders to apply in the wards and stakes the principles of welfare service we have heard preached from this pulpit for many years. Surely there never has been a time when we needed to be more anxiously engaged in such an important cause.
I am pleased with the reports we receive regarding family gardens. I hope all of you plan to put in your garden whenever spring comes in your area, and that where possible you are canning and preserving food. I note, too, the increased emphasis on procuring welfare projects, as well as improving the ones we already have.
Nearly every family in the Church is feeling the effects of worldwide inflation in one way or another. May I remind all of us that if we will live the gospel and follow the counsel of the leaders of the Church, we will be blessed to avoid many of the problems that plague the world. The Lord knows the challenges we face. If we keep his commandments, we will be entitled to the wisdom and blessings of heaven in solving them.
Brothers and sisters, I know the gospel is true. It contains the answers to all of life's questions and to all of life's problems. May the Lord bless us all in this great welfare program, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
We are pleased and honored that the United States Postal Service would select the Arnold Friberg painting of the Salt Lake Temple as a postal card commemorating the Church Sesquicentennial.
On Wednesday, 28 July 1847, less than a week after the first Mormon pioneers had completed their weary trek into the desolate Salt Lake Valley, President Brigham Young led some associates to the north end of the valley. He identified the location that would be the site of the new temple and the Church headquarters in the center of the city. For nearly half a century, the shaping of that sacred edifice out of native materials, with handmade tools, required the faith, dedication, labor, and sacrifice of the entire Mormon community.
It may seem surprising that plans for such a monumental structure were made even before the pioneers had moved out of their wagons. The temple was as central to the lives of the Latter-day Saints as planning and building a new home in the West.
The Salt Lake Temple was not the first temple built by the Church. Before the Latter-day Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, two temples had been completed-one in Kirtland, Ohio, and the other in Nauvoo, Illinois. Both buildings were abandoned, however, as members of the Church were forced by hostile neighbors to move west. Finally, in the unsettled valleys of the Rocky Mountains, the Latter-day Saints were able to establish a permanent home where they could find refuge and erect a temple.
Beginning with the selection of the site on the fourth day in the valley, until his death in 1877, President Brigham Young, the second prophet and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, directed the planning and construction of the Salt Lake Temple. At the ceremony for the laying of the cornerstone in 1853, President Young revealed that he had seen the temple in vision five years before when he selected the site. The size and general shape of the structure, including the six spires, were prescribed by him. Think of this-Brigham Young was President of the Church, governor of the territory, Indian agent, and director of many economic endeavors, yet he gave preeminent attention to the construction of two temples, one in St. George and the other in Salt Lake City.
Why such an emphasis on temples? Temples are structures of special significance to Latter-day Saints. For our regular worship we build meetinghouses, places where both members and nonmembers may congregate. But temples are dedicated buildings preserved for the most sacred ordinances of the Church.
It is impressive to know that two generations of craftsmen labored on this temple during forty years of construction; that the huge quarried stones, each weighing between 2,500 and 5,600 pounds, were initially conveyed twenty miles to the temple block by ox-drawn carts; that masons sometimes worked on a single stone an entire month. But its principal architect, Truman Angell, made the design and construction of the temple his lifetime work. Impressive as these facts are, this temple-like all others-was not erected as an architectural monument. It was dedicated as the house of the Lord. That title is most significant.
When the Savior walked the earth, he made a startling statement: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head". Many, in reading that statement, have assumed Jesus was without a permanent home or residence. There was another explanation. The temple of Solomon, the pattern of which was given by revelation, dedicated as the house of the Lord, had been destroyed. In its place another temple had been erected, but it too had been desecrated. As he threw the money changers from the temple and its precincts, he rebuked: "My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves". Yes, the Son of Man had no place to lay his head because there was no dedicated, acceptable house of the Lord.
On 6 April 1853, when the cornerstone of the Salt Lake Temple was laid, there still was no dedicated, acceptable house of the Lord. So in his dedicatory remarks, President Brigham Young said: "What are we here for, this day? To lay the foundation of a temple to the Most High God, so that when his Son, our Elder Brother, shall again appear, he may have a place where he can lay his head".
To Latter-day Saints, the Salt Lake Temple and all other temples symbolize a place of residence for the Son of God, a house of the Lord.
On this day we pay reverence, yes, reverent homage, to the foresight and vision of our pioneer forefathers. We give thanks to God for his blessings and bestowal of privileges in connection with the sacred temple ordinances. We express appreciation to Arnold Friberg for his painting of the temple and to the national and local postal officials who have provided this commemorative issue of the Salt Lake Temple postal card. May this historic event cause us to recall our sacred heritage is my humble prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Spencer W. Kimball
My beloved brothers and sisters, I am grateful, as always, just to be with you and to be near you. These last six months I have felt your love and support and prayers, time and time again, and wish to thank you most sincerely for them.
General conference is always a glorious event. But this conference is even more special because we celebrate the Sesquicentennial of the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The history of the Church is essentially the history of its individual members. One of the best ways to celebrate righteous history is to make more of it, make more righteous history! In this connection, you will recall that a year ago you were called upon to stretch yourselves in further service. Included in the counsel given then was the suggestion that each active member or family bring an individual or a family into the Church by the time the April 1980 conference arrived. That conference is now here. Did we do it? Or are some of us still being "neighbors as usual," not yet fully sharing the gospel with our friends and neighbors?
As we speak of sharing the gospel, let me say that the First Presidency has just been advised by the Church Missionary Committee that as of last week we had 30,004 full-time missionaries. That is the largest number of missionaries ever in the history of the Church. What a glorious work they are performing and what blessings they bring into the lives of our Father's other children throughout the world who hearken to their message of joy and peace and salvation.
Brethren and sisters, there are more young men who can and should serve in the mission field. Presently they represent 79 percent of our total missionary force. We have not yet reached our potential. The young sisters serving represent 13 percent of the total. Eight percent of the total missionary force is represented by older couples. What a blessing their maturity and experience are wherever they serve. With the divine commission we have to share the gospel with the entire world, we do indeed need many more missionaries. Remember that "the field is white already to harvest".
You will recall, also, our saying last year in general conference and in seminars for the Regional Representatives that some further program adjustments were coming. We said at that time: "We see ourselves as positioning our people so that the Latter-day Saints can give greater attention to family life, can focus more on certain simple and basic things, can render more Christian service, and can have greater effectiveness in all these things-through the process of simplification, scheduling, proper priorities, and by honoring the priesthood line".
Those adjustments, as you have recently learned, now have been made. We are confident that as a result we will indeed see an upsurge in quality family life, in Christian service, and in attendance at Church meetings.
We hope, for instance, that either before or after your series of Sunday meetings, depending upon your particular consolidated meeting schedule, you will do what the Savior asked the Nephite disciples to do: After he taught them, he asked them to go to their homes and to ponder and to pray over what was said. Let us keep that pattern in mind.
We also said last year that we have paused on some plateaus long enough, and then we gave an emphasis to councils-family councils, ward and stake councils, and on through to area and Churchwide councils.
If you continue to observe carefully, you will see how all these developments are pointing us in one direction. As a people, we are being positioned to do more perfectly that which the Lord has given us to do.
May we suggest that, in our desire to enrich family life in the Church and to provide more time for Christian service, we make sure we do not overlook the tens of thousands of single Latter-day Saints who do not live in a traditional Latter-day Saint family setting. Please do not neglect these wonderful brothers and sisters.
A year ago it was also observed that "our success will largely be determined by how faithfully we focus on living the gospel in the home". That is surely true and, in like manner, we will be spiritually successful to the degree that we are good neighbors and good friends to those in the household of faith and to our nonmember friends.
With the announcement just made of the construction of seven new temples, there begins the most intensive period of temple building in the history of the Church.
The building of these temples must be accompanied by a strong emphasis on genealogical research on the part of all members of the Church.
We feel an urgency for this great work to be accomplished and encourage members to accept this responsibility. Members do so by writing their personal and family histories, participating in the name extraction program when called to do so, completing their four-generation research, and then continuing their family research in order to redeem their kindred dead.
To assist and give encouragement to this important work, the Genealogical Department, under the direction of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, has organized another World Conference on Records to be held in Salt Lake City in August of this sesquicentennial year. Experts in family history from thirty countries will present four days of seminars to an audience of participants from around the world. We encourage all who can to attend.
Brothers and sisters, we rejoice in the fifteen decades of progress of the Church. We want to keep faith with that small but noble band of souls who assembled in the Peter Whitmer home 150 years ago for the purpose of formally organizing the Church. We can keep faith, in part, by helping the Church to grow in numbers and also in spirituality. We can count our growing membership. We can count the increasing numbers of stakes. These numbers thrill us, as they indicate the progress we are making and remind us, likewise, that we must achieve in even more major ways in the years ahead.
We can also tell that we are making progress by the attention we get from the adversary. Do not falter nor be distressed when others misrepresent us, sometimes deliberately and sometimes in ignorance. This has been the lot of the Lord's people from the beginning, and it will be no different in our time.
Brothers and sisters, pray for the critics of the Church; love your enemies. Keep the faith and stay on the straight and narrow path. Use wisdom and judgment in what you say and do, so that we do not give cause to others to hold the Church or its people in disrepute. Do not be surprised or dismayed if trials and challenges come upon us. This work, which Satan seeks in vain to tear down, is that which God has placed on earth to lift mankind up!
I have lived for more than half the 150 years the restored Church has been upon the earth in this last dispensation. I have witnessed its marvelous growth until it now is established in the four corners of the earth. As the Prophet Joseph said:
"Our missionaries are going forth to different nations, and in Germany, Palestine, New Holland, Australia, the East Indies, and other places, the Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done".
Let us, then, press on confidently in the work of the Lord as we look forward to the glorious years of promise ahead. Through our faithfulness, all that God has promised will be fulfilled. This is the work of the Lord. The gospel is true. Jesus is the Christ and our Redeemer. May the Lord bless us all as we begin this great sesquicentennial conference of his church, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Thomas S. Monson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
We welcome to their new responsibilities and opportunities President Dwan J. Young and her counselors, Virginia B. Cannon and Michaelene P. Grassli. Certainly President Naomi Shumway and her counselors, Colleen B. Lemmon and Dorthea Lou C. Murdock, have established an enviable record of service on which to build.
Today I desire also to pay tribute to another Primary leader-a noble woman and personal friend. I speak of LaVern W. Parmley, former president of the Primary Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and former member of the National Advisory Council, Boy Scouts of America. Sister Parmley, as she was affectionately addressed by those who knew her, completed her mission here on earth on Sunday, 27 January 1980. Her funeral services followed a few days later, where in word and song eulogies were expressed and comfort extended to those in attendance.
LaVern Parmley and Naomi Shumway, together with their counselors, gave freely of their time and talents over a span of many years, teaching little children to walk in the light of the gospel of Christ. They taught each child to sing with personal conviction:
.
Part of their great love was teaching boys. Their inspired objective was to prepare them to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and to walk uprightly along the Scouting trail.
Under their direction, all eleven-year-old boys were asked to commit to memory the Articles of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You remember them. May I mention just two:
"We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost".
"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things".
Can you think of a more firm foundation, a more basic philosophy to guide a boy, than the Articles of Faith? What a gift these noble women imparted when they expected each boy to know and indeed live by such a standard. They personally accepted the divine injunction, "Feed my sheep; feed my lambs".
Some may inquire: What is the significance of the Aaronic Priesthood for which such preparation takes place? Is it all that important in the life of a boy? The Priesthood of Aaron "is an appendage to the Melchizedek Priesthood, and has power in administering outward ordinances". John the Baptist was a descendant of Aaron and held the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood. Perhaps we could review the life and mission of John, so that the importance of the Aaronic Priesthood might be more fully appreciated.
Long years ago and distant miles away, in the conquered country of Palestine, a marvelous miracle occurred. The setting was bleak, the time one of tumult. In these, the days of Herod, king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zacharias and his wife, Elisabeth. "They were righteous before God". However, long years of yearning had returned no reward-Zacharias and Elisabeth remained childless.
Then came that day of days ever to be remembered. There appeared to Zacharias the angel Gabriel, who proclaimed: "Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
"He shall be great in the sight of the Lord".
Elisabeth did conceive. In due time a son was born, and according to the angel's instruction he was named John.
As with the master, Jesus Christ, so with the servant, John-precious little is recorded of their years of youth. A single sentence contains all that we know of John's history for a space of thirty years-the entire period which elapsed between his birth and his walk into the wilderness to commence his public ministry: "The child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel".
His dress was that of the old prophets-a garment woven of camel's hair. His food was such as the desert afforded-locusts and wild honey. His message was brief. He preached faith, repentance, baptism by immersion, and the bestowal of the Holy Ghost by an authority greater than that possessed by himself.
"I am not the Christ", he told his band of faithful disciples. "But I am sent before him." "I indeed baptize you with water but one mightier than I cometh : he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.
Then there transpired the climactic scene of John's mission-the baptism of Christ. Jesus came down from Galilee expressly "to be baptized" by John. Humbled of heart and contrite in spirit, John pleaded, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" The Master's reply: "It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."
"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
"And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased".
John's testimony that Jesus was the redeemer of the world was declared boldly. Without fear, and with courage, John taught: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world".
Of John, the Savior later testified, "Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist".
John's public ministry moved toward its close. He had, at the beginning of it, condemned the hypocrisy and worldliness of the Pharisees and Sadducees; and he now had occasion to denounce the lust of a king. The result is well known. A king's weakness and a woman's fury combined to bring about the death of John.
The tomb in which his body was placed could not contain that body. Nor could the act of murder still that voice. To the world we declare that at Harmony, Pennsylvania, on 15 May 1829, an angel, "who announced himself as John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament", came as a resurrected personage to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. "The angelic visitant averred that he was acting under the direction of Peter, James, and John, the ancient Apostles, who held the keys of the higher Priesthood, which was called the Priesthood of Melchizedek". The Aaronic Priesthood was restored to the earth.
Thanks to that memorable event, I was given the privilege to bear the Aaronic Priesthood, as have millions of young men in these latter days. Its true significance was taught me by my former stake president, the late Paul C. Child.
When I was approaching my eighteenth birthday and preparing to enter military service in World War II, I was recommended to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. Mine was the task of telephoning President Child for an appointment and interview. He was one who loved and understood the holy scriptures. It was his intent that all others should similarly love and understand them. Knowing from others of his rather detailed and searching interviews, our telephone conversation went something like this:
"Hello, President Child. This is Brother Monson. I have been asked by the bishop to seek an interview with you."
"Fine, Brother Monson. When can you visit me?"
Knowing that his sacrament meeting time was six o'clock, and desiring minimum exposure of my scriptural knowledge to his review, I suggested, "How would five o'clock be?"
His response: "Oh, Brother Monson, that would not provide us sufficient time to peruse the scriptures. Could you please come at two o'clock, and bring with you your personally marked and referenced set of scriptures."
Sunday finally arrived, and I visited President Child's home on Indiana Avenue. I was greeted warmly, and then the interview began. He said: "Brother Monson, you hold the Aaronic Priesthood. Have you ever had angels minister to you?"
My reply was: "No, President Child."
"Do you know," said he, "that you are entitled to such?"
Again came my response: "No."
Then he instructed, "Brother Monson, repeat from memory the thirteenth section of the Doctrine and Covenants."
I began, "Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels ".
"Stop," President Child directed. Then in a calm, kindly tone he counseled: "Brother Monson, never forget that as a holder of the Aaronic Priesthood you are entitled to the ministering of angels." It was almost as though an angel were in the room that day. I have never forgotten the interview. I yet feel the spirit of that solemn occasion. I revere the priesthood of Almighty God. I have witnessed its power. I have seen its strength. I have marveled at the miracles it has wrought.
Almost thirty years ago I knew a boy, even a priest, who held the authority of the Aaronic Priesthood. As the bishop, I was his quorum president. This boy, Robert, stuttered and stammered, void of control. Self-conscious, shy, fearful of himself and all others, he had an impediment of speech which was devastating to him. Never did he fulfill an assignment; never would he look another in the eye; always would he gaze downward. Then one day, through a set of unusual circumstances, he accepted an assignment to perform the priestly responsibility to baptize another.
I sat next to him in the baptistry of this sacred tabernacle. He was dressed in immaculate white, prepared for the ordinance he was to perform. I asked Robert how he felt. He gazed at the floor and stuttered almost incoherently that he felt terrible.
We both prayed fervently that he would be made equal to his task. Then the clerk read the words: "Nancy Ann McArthur will now be baptized by Robert Williams, a priest." Robert left my side, stepped into the font, took little Nancy by the hand, and helped her into that water which cleanses human lives and provides a spiritual rebirth. He then gazed as though toward heaven and, with his right arm to the square, repeated the words "Nancy Ann McArthur, having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost". Not once did he stammer. Not once did he stutter. Not once did he falter. A modern miracle had been witnessed.
In the dressing room, as I congratulated Robert, I expected to hear this same uninterrupted flow of speech. I was wrong. He gazed downward and stammered his reply of gratitude.
To each of you this day, I testify that when Robert acted in the authority of the Aaronic Priesthood, he spoke with power, with conviction, and with heavenly help.
Such is the legacy of one called John, even John the Baptist. We hear his voice today. It teaches humility; it prompts courage; it inspires faith.
May we be motivated by his message. May we be inspired by his mission. May we be lifted by his life to a full appreciation of the Aaronic Priesthood and its divine power, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder David B. Haight
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I pray for divine direction and an interest in your faith and prayers as I express the convictions of my soul this morning.
We are all so pleased to have President Kimball here looking so well and blessing us with his inspired counsel and direction. The world loves and honors our prophet, but the Saints love him even more.
This is a glorious time of the year, the newness of springtime-an opportunity for each of us to reappraise our spiritual understanding and commitment, to rejoice in the glory of the resurrection of our Lord, and to feel of his anxious love for all mankind.
Probably nowhere did Jesus find more needed rest and happier hours than in Bethany in the quiet house of that family whom, according to John, he loved. This small village with this very special family was just outside Jerusalem on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. The family evidently consisted of Martha, Mary, and their brother, Lazarus. This quiet village, though only two miles from Jerusalem, was completely hidden from the bustle of the crowds and must have fed the soul of Jesus with love and peace. He must have felt welcome to share this family's hospitality. They not only furnished comfort but listened in deep conviction to his words.
While Jesus was about his ministry he received a solemn message that he whom he loved was sick. Lazarus was Jesus' intimate personal friend outside the circle of Apostles.
The scripture account tells us Jesus did not leave at once in response to the request because he was occupied with his important work, but he sent word that he would come.
Four days later when Jesus arrived at Bethany he stayed outside the little village, the record tells us, inasmuch as a large number of people, including distinguished Jews, had assembled to comfort and mourn with Mary and Martha. The sisters undoubtedly were disappointed in the Savior's delay.
"Lord," said Martha, "if thou hadst been here my brother had not died".
The Savior's brief reply undoubtedly brought comfort to Martha and rings out in hope to all the world: "Thy brother shall rise again".
Martha, we assume not thinking it possible for her brother to be awakened from the sleep of death, answered, "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day".
Then "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
"And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?".
Martha's deep faith supplied the answer, "Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world".
Martha, after having borne this strong witness, found Mary, who, hurrying to Jesus in agony as had Martha, said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died".
These were his friends. These must have been moments of tender compassion for Jesus and, undoubtedly, of deep emotion and wonderment for all who witnessed. Jesus said, "Where have ye laid him?" They said, "Lord, come and see".
His enemies, some of whom were there, were asking whether he who had opened the eyes of the blind could not have saved his friend from death. Jesus surely knew their thoughts and would have heard their comments as he viewed the crowd with its hired mourners.
The burial tomb, typical of the time, probably was a recess cut in the rock with a stone over the entrance. Jesus asked that the stone be removed. He stood at the entrance and called, "Lazarus, come forth.
"And he that was dead came forth".
There were many witnesses to this miracle who believed, but there were others who would carry an alarming story to the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem.
As Jesus' fame grew, so grew the opposition from the chief priests, apprehensive that he would undermine the established order. And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve Apostles aside and said unto them: "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priest and unto the scribes; and they shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him. On the third day he shall rise again".
In an upper room, Jesus and his Apostles were together for the last time. He taught them, saying, "Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me". As they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying: "Take, eat. This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me". After this manner also he took the cup, saying, "This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins," thus establishing the pattern for the sacrament as a sacred ordinance in his church.
In Gethsemane Jesus knelt in prayer and poured out his soul. "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt".
"And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as great drops of blood falling to the ground".
Following his betrayal, and when the morning was come, the chief priests and his enemies took counsel against Jesus to put him to death, and they bound him and led him to Pontius Pilate, the governor, "and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified".
He was taken to Calvary. At the third hour, they crucified Jesus, and with him they crucified two thieves. "And there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
" and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst".
After three days, very early in the morning on the first day of the week, the women came to the sepulcher with spices to anoint the body of Jesus. Instead, they were greeted by a young man in a long white garment who announced: "He is not here. He is risen". Jesus showed himself first to Mary Magdalene and afterward to the Apostles.
For forty days after his resurrection, Jesus remained with his disciples to instruct them more in the gospel. He told them, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature".
And then "he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them," and "while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven".
And "while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
"Which said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go".
We testify to all the world, as did the Apostles of old, that this same Jesus taken up into heaven as men watched, will return-will return in power and great glory, attended by the hosts of heaven. At that day "the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together". But prior to that day, as foretold by the prophets, there must be a restoration of all things in the last days, the fulness of the gospel with all its saving powers to be returned to earth.
We proclaim with knowledge and power as witnesses of heavenly events that the final great restoration has taken place, that angelic ministers have been sent from heaven, that God's voice has been heard declaring its truth, that the gift of the Holy Ghost and the priesthood powers with blessings and promises have again been given to man.
Tomorrow, the day selected to remember the resurrection of our Lord, is an occasion of additional joy and humble thanksgiving. Not only the organization of Christ's church was reinstituted on that day 150 years ago, but the Lord has protected, sheltered, and prospered it through these challenging years. God has held it in the palm of his hand.
The Prophet Joseph Smith's account of the first organization meeting is inspiring to read and contemplate-the Whitmer home, the opening prayer, approval to organize the Church as commanded, Joseph and Oliver Cowdery ordained elders, the sacrament; and then all members present were blessed with the gift of the Holy Ghost. There was prophecy and rejoicing. The events of that April 6, 150 years ago, had been directed by God. Members used their full agency in consenting to the organization, and the Holy Ghost bore witness to their souls that what was done was acceptable to the Lord.
Then followed the trying and dramatic events of Kirtland, Zion's Camp march, Haun's Mill, Liberty Jail, the expulsion from Nauvoo, the tragedy at Carthage, Winter Quarters, handcart brigades, and Johnston's army-the testing of a people, the trials of faith, but always the undergirding faith and belief in our Savior and his promise to Joseph, "If thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes".
Now today in this peaceful valley, in this historic tabernacle, we witness the fruits of God's love and promise to his people. We still sing with emotion, "All is well, all is well."
The motivating force behind the sustaining and vigorous growth of the Church is that it is true. It is God's plan. The gospel provides the only way to a mortal life of happiness and a joy forever.
Count Leo Tolstoy, Russian author and statesman, in conversation with Andrew D. White, United States foreign minister to Russia, in 1892 said, "I wish you would tell me about your American religion."
"We have no state church in America," replied Dr. White.
"I know that, but what about your American religion?"
Dr. White explained to Tolstoy that in America each person is free to belong to the particular church in which he is interested.
Tolstoy impatiently replied: "I know all of this, but I want to know about the American religion. The church to which I refer originated in America and is commonly known as the Mormon Church. What can you tell me of the teachings of the Mormons?"
Dr. White said, "I know very little concerning them."
Then Count Leo Tolstoy rebuked the ambassador. "Dr. White, I am greatly surprised and disappointed that a man of your great learning and position should be so ignorant on this important subject. Their principles teach the people not only of heaven and its attendant glories, but how to live so that their social and economic relations with each other are placed on a sound basis. If the people follow the teachings of this church, nothing can stop their progress-it will be limitless."
Tolstoy continued, "There have been great movements started in the past but they have died or been modified before they reached maturity. If Mormonism is able to endure, unmodified, until it reaches the third and fourth generation, it is destined to become the greatest power the world has ever known".
It is not only destined to become but is the greatest power in the world. I thank God for his revelations to his prophets, past and present, and for not leaving us alone. I declare to you, my friends everywhere, my witness that God does live, that he made us in his own image, that he sent his divine Son, our Savior, to show us the way. I know that my Redeemer lives and pray that his blessings and peace may come to all men everywhere, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, amen.
Elder James E. Faust
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
At the Samoa area conference in 1976, President Spencer W. Kimball said: "Often when we have press conferences, the press asks us this question: 'What is the greatest problem that your Church has today?' We answer that it is rapid growth. It is very difficult to keep up with the growth of the Church in many lands".
It has been 150 years since The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized. Why does this Church continue to flourish and grow so dramatically? In 1979 there were almost two hundred thousand convert baptisms in addition to the natural growth of the Church. What distinguishes The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from all others? We believe that we can answer this question more correctly than anyone else.
Several characteristics are peculiar to our faith. Among them is its organization with prophets and Apostles, who Paul said are the foundation of the Church; the First Quorum of the Seventy, also the great order of lay priesthood leadership, the missionary system, the welfare program, the temples, the genealogical effort, and many other distinguishing features.
There is, however, another reason for our growth, which transcends all others. Of an interview in 1839 between the Prophet Joseph Smith and Martin Van Buren, then president of the United States, the following was reported:
"In our interview with the President, he interrogated us wherein we differed in our religion from the other religions of the day. Brother Joseph said we differed in mode of baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. We considered that all other considerations were contained in the gift of the Holy Ghost".
One of the reasons the Prophet's response was so inspired is that the right to enjoy the marvelous gifts of the Holy Ghost is conferred upon every member of this Church soon after baptism. This is in fulfillment of the promise of the Savior: "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever".
This powerful gift entitles the leaders and all worthy members of the Church to enjoy the gifts and companionship of the Holy Ghost, a member of the Godhead whose function is to inspire, reveal, and teach "all things". The result of this endowment is that for 150 years the leadership and membership of this church have enjoyed, and now enjoy, continuous revelation and inspiration directing them in what is right and good.
Inspiration and revelation are so common, so widespread, so universal among the leaders and faithful members of this church that there is a strong spiritual base underlying what is done. This can be found in the gatherings, both large and small.
Why does this church grow and flourish? It does so because of divine direction to the leaders and members. This began in our day when God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith early in the spring of 1820. However, we claim that God's inspiration is not limited to the members of this church. The First Presidency has stated:
"The great religious leaders of the world such as Mohammed, Confucius, and the Reformers, as well as philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and others, received a portion of God's light. Moral truths were given to them by God to enlighten whole nations and to bring a higher level of understanding to individuals.
"We believe that God has given and will give to all peoples sufficient knowledge to help them on their way to eternal salvation".
We declare in all solemnity, however, that we know salvation in the world to come is dependent upon accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One factor in salvation is personal revelation. Joseph Smith said: "No man can receive the Holy Ghost without receiving revelations. The Holy Ghost is a revelator".
Latter-day Saints, having received the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, are entitled to personal inspiration in the small events of life as well as when they are confronted with the giant Goliaths of life.
David, the youngest son of Jesse, a mere, stouthearted shepherd boy, volunteered to fight the giant Goliath. David and all of the army of Israel were insulted by the humiliating taunts of this formidable giant, but David knew that inspiration had brought him to save Israel. King Saul was so impressed with the faith and determination of this young boy that he appointed David to fight Goliath.
Goliath made sport of David's youth and lack of armament. David responded that he came in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, and that the whole assembly would learn that the Lord saveth not by the sword and the spear, "for the battle is the Lord's". Then David threw a rock from his sling with such force and accuracy that the stone sank deep into the forehead of Goliath. Goliath fell to the earth a dying man, and the Philistines fled in fear.
What has happened to David's living God? It is the greatest insult to reason to suggest that God, who spoke so freely to the prophets of the Old Testament including Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, and the other prophets, now stands mute, uncommunicative, and silent.
We may well ask, Does God love us less than those led by the ancient prophets? Do we need his guidance and instruction less? Reason suggests that this cannot be. Does he not care? Has he lost his voice? Has he gone on a permanent vacation? Does he sleep? The unreasonableness of each of these proposals is self-evident.
As the Savior taught in the synagogue at Capernaum, he proclaimed his divinity in no uncertain terms. Following this, John states:
"From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
"Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
"Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
"And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God".
We acknowledge and testify that the same witness of Christ's divinity as received by Peter is also our sacred knowledge.
Personal revelation comes as a testimony of truth and as guidance in spiritual and temporal matters. Members of the Church know that the promptings of the Spirit may be received upon all facets of life, including daily, ongoing decisions. How could anyone think of making an important decision such as "Who is to be my companion?", "What is my work to be?", "Where will I live?", and "How will I live?" without seeking the inspiration of Almighty God.
Many faithful Latter-day Saints have been warned by the Spirit to prevent injury or death. Among these was President Wilford Woodruff, who said:
"When I got back to Winter Quarters from the pioneer journey, President Young said to me, 'Brother Woodruff, I want you to take your wife and children and go to Boston and stay there until you can gather every Saint of God in New England and Canada and send them up to Zion.'
"I did as he told me. It took me two years to gather up everybody, and I brought up the rear with a company. We arrived at Pittsburgh one day at sundown. We did not want to stay there, so I went to the first steamboat that was going to leave. I saw the captain and engaged passage for us on that steamer. I had only just done so when the spirit said to me, and that, too, very strongly, 'Don't go aboard that steamer, nor your company.' Of course, I went and spoke to the captain, and told him I had made up my mind to wait.
"Well, that ship started, and had only got five miles down the river when it took fire, and three hundred persons were burned to death or drowned. If I had not obeyed that spirit, and had gone on that steamer with the rest of the company, you can see what the result would have been.
There are some guidelines and rules necessary for one to be the recipient of revelation and inspiration; they include to try honestly and sincerely to keep God's commandments, to be spiritually attuned as a receiver of a divine message, to ask in humble, fervent prayer, and to seek with unwavering faith.
I testify that inspiration can be the spring of every person's hope, guidance, and strength. It is one of the magnificent treasures of life. It involves coming to the infinite knowledge of God.
How do revelation and inspiration operate? Each person has a built-in "receiving set" which, when fine-tuned, can be a receiver of divine communications. Said Job, "There is a spirit in man: and the Almighty giveth them understanding". It is possible, like Nephi, to be led completely by the Spirit, "not knowing beforehand" that which should be done.
How is inspiration received? Enos stated, "And while I was thus struggling in the spirit, behold, the voice of the Lord came into my mind". One does not necessarily hear an audible voice. The spirit of revelation comes by divine confirmation. "I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart," says the Lord in the Doctrine and Covenants.
How was the voice of the Lord heard by Elijah the Tishbite? It was not the "strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks," nor "after the wind an earthquake," nor "after the earthquake a fire." It was "a still small voice".
It is the inner voice of the Spirit, which has the capacity to whisper through and pierce all things. Helaman says, "It was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul".
Thus the Lord, by revelation, brings inspiration into one's mind as though a voice were speaking. Elder Harold B. Lee gave this testimony:
"I have a believing heart because of a simple testimony that came when I was a child, I think maybe I was around ten-maybe eleven-years of age. I was with my father out on a farm away from our home, trying to spend the day busying myself until father was ready to go home. Over the fence from our place were some tumbledown sheds which had attracted a curious boy, adventurous as I was. I started to climb through the fence and I heard a voice as clearly as you are hearing mine-'Don't go over there!' calling me by name. I turned to look at father to see if he were talking to me, but he was way up at the other end of the field. There was no person in sight. I realized then, as a child, that there were persons beyond my sight and I had heard a voice. And when I had heard and read these stories of the Prophet Joseph Smith, I, too, know what it means to hear a voice because I've heard from an unseen speaker".
Although every faithful member of the Church is entitled to receive personal revelation, there is only one man upon the earth who receives revelation for the whole Church.
Beginning with Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Restoration, there have been living oracles of God designated to communicate minute by minute, day by day, and hour by hour, as needed, to the leaders of the Church.
President Wilford Woodruff, fourth president of the Church, said: "The Church of God could not live twenty-four hours without revelation".
Roy W. Doxey reminds us:
"Every day men and women come, by revelation, to understand the basic truth that God has restored his gospel and church.
"Every day leaders of the Church are led by revelation to conduct the affairs of the Church, general and local, throughout the world.
"Every day Latter-day Saint missionaries are impressed by the spirit of revelation to bear witness, to know what to say, to know what to do, and to teach by the spirit of revelation.
"Every day the mind and will of the Lord as revealed in the standard works of the Church are illuminated in the minds of Latter-day Saints by the spirit of revelation.
"Every day faith is increased in the hearts of the faithful by evidences of revelation in their lives-in decisions regarding marriage, vocations, home concerns, business ventures, lesson preparations, danger signals-in fact, in all facets of life.
"Every Latter-day Saint may know by the spirit of revelation that President Joseph Fielding Smith spoke the truth when he said:
"'The Lord not only blesses the men who stand at the head and hold the keys of the kingdom, but he also blesses every faithful individual with the spirit of inspiration.' ".
On 1 June 1978 one of the greatest revelations ever received in the history of the world came to mankind. It was revealed that all worthy brethren in the Church, regardless of color or race, could receive the priesthood.
Who is the prophet of the world today? I testify that the prophet upon the face of the earth today is President Spencer W. Kimball.
We desire our friends to know that every devoted person of any faith, anywhere in the world, who is obedient and righteous and who sincerely prays may receive answers and inspiration from God.
We are certain that salvation in God's presence requires acceptance of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We bear solemn witness that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's church upon the earth.
Why has this Church grown so dramatically over these 150 years? Why does it continue to grow at an ever-increasing pace? It does so in large measure because of divine revelation and inspiration.
I pray that we may so live as to enjoy the companionship of the Holy Ghost, for the Holy Ghost, under the direction of Almighty God, has led this people and its leaders for 150 years since its restoration from its humble beginnings to the great spiritual force it is today. This is my prayer and testimony which I leave in the sacred and holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
President N. Eldon Tanner
First Counselor in the First Presidency
During my many years of service as a Church official I have been asked by brides- or grooms-to-be if I would perform their marriage ceremony. This I have always been pleased to do when possible, and so I have united in the holy bonds of matrimony many couples-some civil marriages for this life only before I became a General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and some marriages in the temple of God for time and for all eternity. I shall comment later on the difference.
I suppose one of the happiest times in a person's life is when contemplating marriage-particularly if the person feels that the choice of mate is the one and only. It is safe to assume that at the time of marriage most couples are sure they are making the right choices; but all too often the honeymoon ends, and trouble begins, and the marriage terminates in divorce.
The frequency of divorce has led some to a life-style where they feel inclined to escape from the seemingly meaningless rituals, without benefit of clergy or other legal sanctions. I often wonder how well-informed they are about the purpose of the creation of the earth on which they dwell, and how fully they have researched the scriptures to learn why God created man and woman and instituted the sacred ordinance of marriage.
Let us consider first the purpose of the creation of the earth. The scriptures make it clear that it was for no other purpose than to provide a place for the sons and daughters of God to dwell in mortality and prove themselves worthy, through keeping the commandments, to return to the presence of God from whence they came.
Following the creation of the earth, "God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it".
When God created woman and brought her to the man, he said:
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh".
Yes, marriage is ordained of God, and following that first reference to husband and wife, we find recurring scriptures as evidence that men and women became husbands and wives in marriage ceremonies followed by wedding feasts. We are not here just to "eat, drink, and be merry". We have been given an earth to subdue, and instructions to multiply and replenish it. It is interesting to note that God said "multiply" and not just "replenish" the earth.
It is important for us to understand, as we can learn from the scriptures, that God is eternal, that his creations are eternal, and that his truths are eternal. Therefore, when he gave Eve to Adam in marriage, that union would be eternal. Marriage as ordained of God and performed in his holy temples is eternal-not just until death. In Ecclesiastes we read:
"I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever".
When Christ asked Peter to tell him who he was, Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus gave Peter the assurance that he knew this by revelation from God the Father, and that it would be upon this rock of revelation that he would build his church. Then he said, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven".
When the Pharisees came to Jesus, tempting him, to ask about divorce, his answer included the following: "Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
"And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
"Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder".
These scriptures indicate that celestial marriage, ordained by God and performed by his authority in his holy temples, is eternal, and couples so united are sealed for time and all eternity, and their children are born in the covenant of the everlasting gospel. They will be an eternal family according to their faithfulness.
How does one prepare for such a marriage? All young people should consider very carefully and prayerfully the kind of mate they would like to have for eternity and for the father or mother of their children. Parents have a responsibility to teach their children the importance of keeping themselves clean and pure, with high moral standards, so they will be worthy of the kind of men and women with whom they want to associate and marry. Someone has said that a man breeding livestock is very careful about what he allows in the pasture with his prize animals, but he lets his son or daughter go with anyone without checking on their credentials.
Another example is given of a man whose daughter came to him one evening and said, "Dad, may I use the car tonight?"
He replied, "It isn't here."
"What do you mean, 'It isn't here.' Where is it?"
"I don't know. I let a man borrow it."
"Well, who is he?"
"I don't know."
"I don't understand. When will he bring it back?"
The father then explained, saying, "You seem to be quite concerned about my car, and yet you don't seem to appreciate my wanting to know about your dates-with whom and where you are going and when you will come back. I have far more interest in you and your welfare than in my automobile, and I hope you can understand now why I ask you those questions."
Children should understand and be made to feel the love and concern their parents have for them. If the proper relationship exists they will willingly confide their plans and be happy to have their friends and parents meet.
When young people come to me for advice about courtship and marriage I usually suggest that they ask themselves the following questions:
What kind of mother or father do I want my children to have?
What kind of parent am I prepared to be?
Do I want to associate with someone because of his or her popularity only, or do I look deeper for spiritual and moral qualities?
Am I analyzing our similarities and differences in background, culture, and intellect?
Am I prepared to adjust to these differences?
Do I realize that such adjustments need to be made before marriage?
These considerations will certainly help in making a proper choice for a companion with whom one is prepared to spend eternity. Then after the marriage there are many responsibilities that cannot be taken lightly; but with each contracting party assuming his or her full share of the responsibility, there is nothing in this life that will bring greater satisfaction and happiness.
As I have performed marriage ceremonies for young couples, I have talked with them about their future and the things that will go into building an increase of love for one another and into the establishment of a happy home. There are four specific things, among others, which I always include.
First, I remind them to keep the covenants which they make as they are married.
Second, addressing myself to the young man, I tell him to make her happy. If he will do all he can to make her happy, she cannot help but want to reciprocate and do everything she can for his comfort and welfare.
Third, I stress the importance of clearing up any misunderstandings they may have. I remind them that it does not matter who is right, but what is right. They should never retire at night with any differences between them. As they kneel together in prayer and ask the Lord to bless them and help them overcome their difficulties, the sweet spirit of forgiveness will come into their hearts, and they will forgive one another as they ask the Lord to forgive them.
Fourth, and very important, I remind them to continue to love one another.
I tell them too that marriage is not a fifty-fifty proposition. Each must go the extra mile so there is no contention about the halfway mark. They must keep private matters confidential, and I advise them to solve their own problems without interference from family or friends.
Sometimes young people do not have the patience to wait for material comforts and luxuries which they may not be able to afford. Wanting too much too soon can be a hardship on both husband and wife, and financial burdens brought on by careless management are often a source of contention. It is far more important to build an atmosphere of love and harmony and spirituality in the home than to concentrate on material possessions which can be accumulated in time as financial ability permits.
Into this happy home and pleasant atmosphere will eventually come the children for which the marriage was consummated, and who will add immeasurably to the joy and fulfillment which God the Father intended when he instructed Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish the earth. When parents understand the purpose of their existence, that they are literally the spiritual offspring of their Father in Heaven and that they have a responsibility to provide mortal bodies for others, then they rejoice in the miracle of birth as they realize they are copartners with God in the creation of each child who comes into that home.
In keeping with the revelations on this subject, one of our early leaders, the late Melvin J. Ballard, said this:
"There is a passage in our Scriptures which the Latter-day Saints accept as divine: 'This is the glory of God-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man'. Likewise we could say that this is the glory of men and women-to bring to pass the mortality of the sons and daughters of God, to give earth-life to the waiting children of our Father. The greatest mission of woman is to give life, earth-life, through honorable marriage, to the waiting spirits, our Father's spirit children who anxiously desire to come to dwell here in this mortal state. All the honor and glory that can come to men or women by the development of their talents, the homage and the praise they may receive from an applauding world, worshipping at their shrine of genius, is but a dim thing whose luster shall fade in comparison to the high honor, the eternal glory, the ever-enduring happiness that shall come to the woman who fulfils the first great duty and mission that devolves upon her to become the mother of the sons and daughters of God".
We reaffirm today what U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt said in 1917:
"What this nation vitally needs is not the negative preaching of birth control to a submerged tenth, and the tenth immediately adjoining, but the positive preaching of birth encouragement to the eight-tenths who make up the capable self-respecting American stock which we wish to see perpetuate itself".
There are various arguments for curtailing the birth of children or the size of families, but they are contrary to the laws of God. Our early citizens who were patriotic and God-fearing, and in many instances lacked for material possessions, believed in large families; and from that stock came some of our greatest statesmen and finest lawyers, scientists, and educators. They were self-made men reared in humble homes where spirituality abounded.
The happy home is one where the family lives together, works together, plays together, and prays together; where the parents show love and courtesy and demonstrate it to each other. Love is expressed often through actions and by the spoken word. We should not be like the Scotsman who, at the death of his wife, was receiving expressions of sympathy from his friends. One neighbor commented on what a fine person she was. Jock replied, "Aye, she was a good woman, and I came near telling her so once or twice."
In a recent publication of a small pamphlet called Family Matters, the opening sentence was, "Will your family survive the '80s intact?" It mentions economic conditions and inflation, then says:
"Inflation isn't the biggest concern for many. Moral decay will be the key threat to family life in the '80s. That's what a majority of your neighbors told Better Homes and Gardens in a survey with a huge response. They blame inattentive parents and lack of a spiritual foundation.
"Today's trends give a parent much to be concerned about." The article goes on to list shocking statistics on divorce, teenage pregnancies, use of drugs and alcohol. Then the question is asked, "What can be done to help children live happy, fulfilling lives?" Dr. Paul Glick, the Census Bureau's chief demographer, gives this answer:
"Caring, attentive parents give children their best start in life. There's no real alternative for their optimum growth".
Dr. Sydney Harris, in a recent syndicated newspaper column, reached the same conclusion. He said people asked him why he didn't write about the energy crisis, and he responded that he didn't have enough solid facts to make a judgment about that subject. He went on to say that he also felt it was not important enough, because mankind can solve its technical problems, but what concerned him was the greater problem, we have which is moral, not technical. He concluded by saying that if we fail as a species it will have nothing to do with energy or any other technological obstacle, but with the way we regard ourselves and others as threats and enemies rather than as members of the same family. He said that until we know who we are and what we are supposed to do, all our other knowledge cannot save us.
Jesus Christ came to earth to give us that very message-who we are and what we are supposed to do. He gave us the gospel plan of life and salvation and said there was no other name under heaven whereby we could be saved. We have that same gospel restored in these latter days, with the living prophet today, even Spencer W. Kimball, to speak for God, as has been God's method of communication with man through the ages. The answers to all life's problems are to be found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Continuous revelation keeps us advised on current problems.
To strengthen the weakening family structure, the Church has instituted the family home evening program, where at least one night each week the entire family meets together to solve problems, enjoy recreation, and learn to better know and love one another. Here is opportunity for the parents to lead out as examples of love, kindness, courtesy, and support as father and mother together take their places as patriarch and matriarch of the family. In such a home are taught the moral principles and other virtues which will help those family members to be the future leaders of their communities and countries.
From such homes come children who will eventually establish their own homes founded on righteousness and morality. They will enter into their marriage covenants in purity of body and mind, so they too can be examples of virtue to their own posterity.
I conclude by reading from a letter I received from a convert to the Church who, after the required waiting period, took his family to the holy temple of God for a sealing ordinance. He wrote:
"We love this church and we love the Lord and our Heavenly Father. We were on the verge of a total family failure when some of our LDS friends here began to work with us.
"Even now as I sit here and think back to Saturday, I have to be amazed at the way the Church has changed our lives, from almost total family loss to an eternal family!
"Nothing can compare to seeing my wife and child dressed in white, with a radiant glow around them, and feeling the very Spirit of God whisper in my ear, 'John, they're yours for all time and all eternity.'"
I know that through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and through keeping the commandments of God and the covenants we make with him, we can each make of our home a heaven on earth while we prepare ourselves and our children to return to our Heavenly Father. I bear testimony to the truthfulness of the things I have said this day, and I do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder LeGrand Richards
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
We have been taught by our President and our leaders that we should study and read the scriptures. We were told that in our meeting Friday with the Regional Representatives of the Twelve. Brother Hinckley told us at our last conference to read the Book of Mormon, and he has had over a thousand letters back from Saints, advising that they have read it.
The Savior of the world advised us to read the scriptures. He said: "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me". Is there anything worth seeking more than eternal life?
As I read the scriptures-and I have read the Book of Mormon during the past six months and most of the Bible-I always find something therein that I did not remember was there when I read it before. And I would like to use as a sort of a text for what I say here today a verse that I took from the book of Nahum, chapter 2, in the Bible, which reads as follows: "The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation.
"The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings".
Could anybody have described an automobile better than that before there was such a thing as an automobile? Certainly they travel like the lightning, and they look like torches-especially in the evening when the lights are on-and they jostle against each other. If you want a demonstration of that, just go to one of the body repair shops and see how many of them come in all bruised!
The thing that I liked about that particular passage of scripture is that it describes the day of the Lord's preparation. We live in that day. Five hundred years ago this prophecy could not have come true, but today there is no other answer for that prophecy than an automobile. The importance of the prophecy is that it describes the day of his preparation.
I like to think of the many passages of scripture that designate the time of his preparation. I quote you from the book of Malachi, where the Lord, speaking through Malachi, said that he would send his messenger to prepare the way for his coming. And he would come swiftly to his temple, and who could abide the day of his coming, because he would be as refiner's fire and fullers' soap. Now, obviously that had no reference to his first coming. He did not come swiftly to his temple at that time. He did not come cleansing and purifying as refiner's fire and fullers' soap. We are told that when he comes in the latter days, the wicked will cry out to the rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from his presence".
When the Lord sends a messenger to prepare the way for his coming, that messenger can be none other than a prophet. When the Savior came in the meridian of time, John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for his coming, and Jesus testified of him that there was no greater prophet in Israel. And the prophet Amos tells us: "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets".
Therefore, when the time of preparation comes, as I have read to you here today, the Lord could not prepare for his coming without a prophet. And the prophet of this dispensation was none other than the Prophet Joseph Smith. And what he has brought forth is a fulfillment of so many of the prophecies of holy scripture that cannot be found anywhere else in all this world.
I like the statement of Peter of old, following the day of Pentecost, when he talked to those who had put to death the Christ. He said the heavens were to receive the Christ until "the times of restitution of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began". Search this world over and you cannot find a church that claims a restitution of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets except The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We believe Peter was a prophet; and if the world does, then they cannot look for the Savior's second coming until there is such a restitution of all things.
There is not time to discuss that restitution today, but just think of the coming of the Father and the Son to teach the real personality of the Godhead; the coming of Moroni with the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated; the coming of John the Baptist with the Aaronic priesthood, the power to baptize by immersion for the remission of sins; the coming of Peter, James, and John who held the keys of the holy apostleship, with power to organize the church and kingdom of God in the earth for the last time, in fulfillment of the promise made by Daniel in his interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream.
The king had forgotten his dream, and he called all the soothsayers and the wise men and astrologers, and none of them could tell him his dream. He heard of the man Daniel and sent for him, and Daniel said: "There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days". Then Daniel told him about the rise and fall of the kingdoms of this world until the latter days, when the God of heaven would set up a kingdom that should never be destroyed or given to another people. But like a little stone cut out of the mountains without hands, it would roll forth until it should become as a great mountain and fill the whole earth.
The establishment of that kingdom was made possible in these latter days-and he said in the latter days-through the coming of Peter, James, and John with the holy apostleship and the power to organize the kingdom of God in the earth again.
One of our missionaries in the South, while I was the mission president there, preached about that dream and the establishment of the Lord's latter-day kingdom. I stood at the door at the close of the meeting, and a man came up and introduced himself as a minister. He said, "You don't mean to tell me you think that kingdom is the Mormon church, do you?"
And I said, "Yes, sir. Why not?"
He said, "It couldn't be."
I said, "Why couldn't it?"
He said, "You can't have a kingdom without a king, and you don't have a king, so you don't have a kingdom."
"Oh," I said, "my friend, you didn't read far enough. You just read the seventh chapter of Daniel and you will see where Daniel saw 'one like the Son of man' coming in the clouds of heaven unto the Ancient of Days. And unto him was given the kingdom, that all other kingdoms, powers, and dominions under the whole heavens should serve and obey him".
Then I said: "My friend, tell me, how can a kingdom be given to him when he comes in the clouds of heaven if a kingdom is not prepared for him?" I said: "Maybe you would like to know what is going to become of that kingdom. If you will read a little further, Daniel said something like this: The kingdom and the power and the dominion under the whole heavens shall be given unto the Saints of the Most High God, that they might possess the kingdom for ever. And as if that were not quite long enough Daniel adds, 'Even for ever and ever.'"
Now, who are the Saints of the Most High God? All you wonderful people who are listening in today, and you who are bearing the burden along with these thirty thousand missionaries scattered all over this world to help prepare this kingdom for the coming of the great King.
I like to refer to the experience of John the Revelator when he was banished upon the Isle of Patmos. A voice from heaven said: "Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter". This was thirty years after the death of the Savior. And the angel showed John the power that would be given to the evil one, the devil, to make war with the Saints and to overcome them and to reign over all kindreds, tongues, and nations. That is one of the positive declarations in the holy scriptures of a complete apostasy from the church that Jesus established. But the angel did not leave it there. He then showed John another angel flying in the midst of heaven, "having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people".
If the everlasting gospel had been upon the earth, there would have been no need for John to see a restoration brought back by an angel. This is the restitution of all things that Peter had in mind when he said that the heavens were to receive the Christ "until the restitution of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began." And then the angel showed him an angel bringing the everlasting gospel to be preached to every nation, "saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come".
We live in the day of his judgments. In the period of my lifetime there have been more judgments and destructions and wars and contentions in this world than in all the history of the world combined before that time. This is the time of the judgments that the angel saw, when that everlasting gospel should be restored. And then he adds: "Worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters".
When Joseph Smith had his marvelous vision and saw the Father and the Son, there was not a church in this world that worshipped the God that made the heavens and the earth and the sea and the fountains of water. They worshipped an essence everywhere present, a god without body, parts, or passions. And if he has no body, that means he has no eyes-he cannot see; he has no ears-he cannot hear; he has no voice-he cannot speak. What is there left to worship when you take all of those qualities away? And then think of the two glorious personages who appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith in a pillar of light brighter than anything in this world.
Now there are many more wonderful things that the holy prophets were permitted to see with respect to this preparation for his coming in the day when the chariots should jostle against each other, when their lights should be like torches, and when they should travel like the lightning, but that is as far as my time permits. I love this work. I know it is true. There is no one else-no other people in the world-that have fulfilled the words of the prophets as has the restoration of the gospel in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times.
I pray God to bless you all, and bear you my witness of the divinity of this work, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Howard W. Hunter
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
A few years ago we were standing in a large crowd of people gathered early in the morning along the waterfront of Apia Harbor in Samoa. It was the occasion of the National Holidays, when hundreds of people came to watch the Fautasi, or long-boat, races that sweep in from the ocean to the calmer waters of the harbor to cross the finish line.
The crowd was restless, and most eyes were turned toward the sea, watching for the first glimpse of the fautasis. Suddenly there was a roar from the crowd as the boats came into sight in the distance. Each of them had a crew of fifty powerful oarsmen dipping and pulling the oars with a rhythm that forced the crafts through the waves and foaming water-a beautiful sight.
The boats and men were soon in full view as they raced toward the finish. Even though these powerful men pulled with their might, the weight of a boat with fifty men moved against a powerful adverse force-the resistance of the water.
The cheering of the crowd reached a crescendo when the first long-boat crossed the finish line. We walked over to the place where the boats docked after the race had concluded. One of the oarsmen explained to us that the prow of the fautasi is so constructed that it cuts through and divides the water to help overcome the resistance that retards the speed of the boat. He further explained that the pulling of the oars against the resistance of the water creates the force that causes the boat to move forward. Resistance creates both the opposition and the forward movement.
Friction, or resistance, is an interesting phenomenon. Without this force, a person or vehicle could not move about, or if already in motion, could not be stopped except by collision. Simple things like nails, screws, and bolts would not stay in place; a cork would not stay in a bottle; a light globe would drop from its socket; a lid would not stay on a jar.
The law of friction or resistance that we think of as only applying to science seems to find application in our personal lives. This is probably what Lehi was referring to when he spoke to his son Jacob. He reminded Jacob of the afflictions and sorrows that had come to him because of the rudeness of his brethren, and told him how these afflictions would ultimately result in good. These are the words of Jacob to his son: "Thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain".
In other words, the afflictions that had come to him in the form of opposition or resistance would be for his good. Then Lehi added these words that have become classic: "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad".
We came to mortal life to encounter resistance. It was part of the plan for our eternal progress. Without temptation, sickness, pain, and sorrow, there could be no goodness, virtue, appreciation for well-being, or joy. The law of opposition makes freedom of choice possible; therefore, our Heavenly Father has commanded his children, "Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you". He has counseled us to yield to his spirit and resist temptation. Free agency, of course, permits us to oppose his directions; thus, we see many who resist the truth and yield to temptation.
Today the Church stands at the summit of a century and a half of progress. The terrain over which we have traveled is a grim reminder that struggle, persecution, and sorrow have been the lot of our forebears. Kirtland, Jackson County, Clay County, Haun's Mill, and Nauvoo seem synonymous with suffering-a part of the tribulation the Lord promised that his people would have to endure.
As we look back in retrospect, we see that it was because of the opposition encountered in our early history that our progress today has been made possible. Out of that caldron of persecution and heartache, the Lord answered the soul-cry of the Prophet Joseph Smith in these words: "Thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
"And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high".
"If thou art called to pass through tribulation, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good".
By the tribulation well endured by numerous of our progenitors, a desert blossomed as a rose, a tried and persecuted people provided a heritage of faith, and Zion put on her beautiful garments for all to see.
One hundred fifty years of Church history provide us with a lesson that when resistance and opposition are greatest, our faith, commitment, and growth have the greatest opportunity for advancement; when opposition is least, the tendency is to be complacent and lose faith. President Brigham Young said: "Let any people enjoy peace and quietness, unmolested, undisturbed,-never be persecuted for their religion, and they are very likely to neglect their duty, to become cold and indifferent, and lose their faith". This lesson, which applies to the Church collectively, also applies to individuals.
Documented in scripture are episodes from the lives of many former-day Saints who, by personal sacrifice, opposition, and adversity, achieved their exaltation. From their biographies of struggle, I offer their testaments of faithful endurance.
The classic example of faithful endurance was the Old Testament prophet Job. He lost all his possessions, he suffered great personal affliction and physical pain, some of his children met tragic death, and even his friends deserted him. Yet he proclaimed his faith: " knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. His way have I kept, and not declined".
We turn the pages to another exemplar of faith, father Abraham. He fought in time of war, went through a period of extensive famine, saw his own father turn away from the priesthood, and suffered persecution for his faith-almost to the point of his own death. After years of waiting for a son, he was ordered to sacrifice him to the Lord. He also experienced the sorrow of the loss of his beloved wife, Sarah.
To the early Saints of this dispensation, the Lord said, "I, the Lord, have suffered the affliction to come upon them. They must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham".
Abraham's grandson, Jacob, was also no stranger to adversity. As a young man he was estranged from his twin brother and didn't return home to see his father, mother, or brother for many years. He lived a life of mourning for a favorite son, whom he thought dead, but who had been sold into slavery. He buried his beloved Rachel after she gave birth to his last-born son, Benjamin. He knew the personal sorrow of sons who were not valiant, but still he blessed their days and posterity so that their descendants are honored to be called the House of Jacob, the House of Israel.
The New Testament records the life of one Paul of Tarsus. From the day of his dramatic conversion, he experienced great trial and personal affliction. He was imprisoned for his faith, beaten, stoned, and in his own words, buffeted by Satan. Yet he wrote: "Most gladly will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me". Comparing his own adversity to that of Paul, the Prophet Joseph once wrote, "I feel, like Paul, to glory in tribulation; for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me".
Last, I refer to the life of Nephi from the Book of Mormon as an example of faithful endurance. With his parents, he left prosperous circumstances in Jerusalem and then for eight years, in great affliction, journeyed in the wilderness. The family then crossed uncharted seas to a new land. During this period, Nephi was assailed, ridiculed, and persecuted by members of his household. Following the death of his father, Nephi and other family members had to separate themselves from his older brothers because they sought his life. Out of his despair, he declared, "My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep".
These are biographies of faith-men whom God has honored because they relied on him in times of their extremity. They learned the truth that God chose them "in the furnace of affliction".
Today other biographies of faith are being written-Saints who, like Job, suffer physical pain, emotional sorrow, and even disloyalty from friends-yet remain faithful; Saints who, like Jacob, see sons and daughters not so valiant as they should be, but who bless them for their potential; Saints who, like Paul, endure great ridicule and endure to the end; Saints who, like Nephi, must separate themselves from family because of their commitment to the gospel. There are those who know pain and sorrow because of loss of loved ones; who know spiritual sorrow because children go astray; who experience loss of health, financial reverses, and emotional distress, and yet, like Job, resolve, "When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold".
We recently celebrated the birthday of President Spencer W. Kimball. Most of us are familiar with the fact that great adversity has been his companion for a great portion of his eighty-five years. He spoke from experience when he wrote these words: "Being human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and mental anguish and assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but if we were to close the doors upon sorrow and distress, we might be excluding our greatest friends and benefactors. Suffering can make saints of people as they learn patience, long-suffering, and self-mastery".
We stand on the summit of 150 years of Church history; yet there are other summits to climb before the work of God is crowned with victory. There will be tribulations collectively and hardships personally-that resistance so essential to the eternal plan.
What makes us imagine that we may be immune from the same experiences that refined the lives of former-day Saints? We must remember that the same forces of resistance which prevent our progress afford us also opportunities to overcome. God will have a tried people!
I witness today this truth from a verse of one of our favorite hymns:
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May God bless us to endure well the purpose for which we were sent, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder F. Enzio Busche
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
As I stand here before you at this moment, I cannot help but think back to the day when I, as an investigator of the Church, was confronted with the missionaries' challenge to prepare for my baptism. This step seemed to be too big for me to take, but because I already had a testimony burning within me of the truthfulness of this work, I knew that withstanding baptism would take away my right to speak to my Father in Heaven again in prayer.
So I accepted the challenge for baptism, with a fearful heart, but I told the missionaries that I would do it only on two conditions: First, that I would never be called to any Church position, and second, that I would never have to give a talk. Without the loving influence and the power and security of the Holy Ghost, which I received by the laying on of hands after baptism to help me, I could not have done anything in my various Church assignments by myself.
We, as members, have the privilege to bear witness of the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ through a divinely authorized man, Joseph Smith, in these latter days. As I bore this witness to a man just recently while I was serving as mission president in Germany, I saw that he felt very uneasy about my statement, and he, like so many others, responded with a question: "Don't we all believe in the same God?" This question hurt me. It always hurts me when I see how many people are so indifferent and show such a lack of awareness in this most vital question in man's life: Can I find thee, my Father in Heaven?
Yes, one could say that regardless of when, where, and in what circumstances we are raised, we all long for our Heavenly Father and desire after him, because we knew him before we came to this earth. But do we, on this earth, all believe in the same God? No-absolutely not! Men have created, in their use of free agency, all kinds of different interpretations of our Father in Heaven and the purpose of our lives.
In our mortal existence there is no place for an uncertain, indifferent awareness of our responsibility and obligation to decide whom we should follow. Either we must attain a knowledge of our Creator and God, who loves us, who wants to bring peace, dignity, light, and happiness into our lives, or by and by we will forget our divine origin and remain in the foggy mists of the deceiver-the adversary, who cannot stand the fact that we, as living souls, did not accept his plan in our premortal lives.
He is fighting, with all of his knowledge, to lead men astray as they exercise their free agency, that he might make them his slaves. We are witnesses that the fear, hatred, despair, loneliness, and ugliness that people experience in their lives are the fruits of the influence of the adversary. It is obvious that his long-range, ungodly strategy to destroy our ability to truly love and have faith is aimed at these latter days before the second coming of the Savior, when a decision is required of every man.
If we do not decide to search out and accept the truth in the only way authorized by God, with all our might, mind, and strength, even when it means changing our lives completely, we will have built our house on sand. The half-truths of men, often mingled with scripture, are sometimes strong enough to fulfill the expectations of the people for a season or for a generation, but they can neither bring them along the path of exaltation and eternal life nor bring satisfying answers to the demanding problems of mankind in these days.
Receiving and accepting Jesus Christ and his plan of salvation in its fulness and its truth means leaving the world and its earthly desires behind and building Zion around ourselves. When Christ walked the earth to prepare the way for his disciples, standing in purity and bearing testimony of the truth, he was a light in the darkness, and the darkness knew him not. The darkness organized itself to destroy him. Christ knew that this would happen, not only to him but also to all his true disciples. He said, in speaking to his followers, in Matt. 10:22, "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake."
When we really follow Christ in his true restored church, it will be manifested in our lives. The fruit will follow. The Holy Ghost will lead us to make uncomfortable decisions, to develop true love and faith by learning to sacrifice and to discipline ourselves. Our abilities will grow and will bring satisfaction and joy and happiness. Through the instrument of an ongoing communication with our Heavenly Father-a constant prayer in our hearts for direction in the many little decisions in our lives-we feel the softness of the yoke of Christ, as he said in Matt. 11:28, 30:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
We will be led to live our lives his way and not the world's way.
The men of the world feel secure with the question "Don't we all believe in the same God?" The answer to the question is "No." The deceiver has initiated all kinds of philosophies and religions to lead people astray, to make them feel happy and safe in their man-made rationalizing and wickedness. He wants them to forget that someday we all have to stand in the judgment of Christ and report our deeds and words. The Savior said in Matt. 12:36, "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."
We are living in the glorious days of fulfillment eagerly awaited by the prophets of old-Enoch, Isaiah, Daniel, Paul, and many others. In our day the works of the deceiver of all the ages are being revealed by Christ through a living prophet. The disciples of Christ-the Saints of the latter days under the leadership of a living prophet, even Spencer W. Kimball-are taking the offensive to show the world the fruits of righteous living in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We testify with the angels that these are the days of warning for the people of the nations of the world, and that the time is near when it will be too late. We testify with the words of Amulek, a Book of Mormon prophet, recorded in Alma 34:32–33 and Alma 35:
"For behold, this life is the time for men to perform their labors.
"And now, as I have said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end;
"For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked."
The saving priesthood powers from above operate only through the principle of the righteousness of men. These powers are working through the innocent and the pure in heart as prophesied since the days of old. Thirty thousand missionaries are sent out to teach with this power, searching for those who are seeking the eternal principles of truth that they have been waiting for during their whole lifetime. Hundreds of thousands of priesthood holders and women witness daily-through their righteous lives, their example, and their testimonies-that they have been sealed by the Holy Ghost with the knowledge that these things are true, that the kingdom of God is in the process of establishment in these days to prepare for the second coming of the Savior.
With great excitement, the disciples of Christ in these last days are learning to accept the word given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in Doctrine & Covenants 58:64:
"For, verily, the sound must go forth from this place into all the world, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth-the gospel must be preached unto every creature, with signs following them that believe."
This work in these latter days is bringing to pass the prophecy of the prophet Enoch, the seventh from Adam, recorded in the Pearl of Great Price, Moses 7:62:
"And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem."
My dear brothers and sisters, I bear you my testimony that this is the day of the establishment of the kingdom of Christ on this earth-that nobody will be able to escape the decision to accept God as he really is and not as he has been made to appear according to man-made philosophies. I know that this is the work of the living God, working through a living prophet, Spencer W. Kimball. I say this in humility in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Marion D. Hanks
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
In that same chapter of the book of Moses to which Brother Busche has just referred, there is a conversation recorded that is for me one of the most instructive and tender in all literature. Enoch had "built a city that was called the City of Holiness, even Zion," which "in process of time, was taken up into heaven.
"And the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept".
Then Enoch said to the Lord: "How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains?
" How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?".
Enoch then reminded God of the limitlessness and ongoing nature of his creations, and of his holy perfections and glory and accomplishments, and said: "Naught but peace, justice, and truth is the habitation of thy throne; and mercy shall go before thy face and have no end; how is it thou canst weep?
"The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency;
"And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood.
" and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?".
God, from whom all blessings come, asked of his children only that they should love each other and choose him, their Father.
But as in our day, many neither sought the Lord nor had love for each other, and when God foresaw the suffering that would inevitably follow this self-willed, rebellious course of sin, he wept. That, he told Enoch, was what he had to cry about.
Long ago I heard an important story which has been helpful to me. I have not seen it in writing and therefore cannot give credit as I would like. The story has obviously been deliberately fashioned to teach in a provocative way principles in which I believe.
Over a period of time three men, as each of us ultimately will, passed from mortal life to ongoing immortality. Each, as he made the transition, at once found himself in the presence of a gracious person who made him feel comfortable and calmed his apprehensions.
Each man in turn found himself responding to questions which somehow formed in the mind and heart, vital above all other considerations. "What do you think of Christ? What is your relationship with him? Do you know him?"
The first man answered reluctantly, with some chagrin. He had not been, he said, one who had participated in organized religious activity. There seemed to be too much formalism, too much hypocrisy, too little real religion. Neither had he on his own sought a personal relationship with the Lord. He had been a good husband and father, an active citizen, a man of integrity, but it now came to him very clearly that he had missed the central purpose of his life, that he had been distracted from what he should have been seeking. With gratitude, he was received into a circumstance where he could begin to learn what he needed to know.
The second man had a briefer interview. Quickly perceiving the import of the questions, he quickly answered. He had, he said, been a soldier for Christ, a crusader for him in business, a spokesman for him in industry. He seemed crestfallen to be ushered after a time into a circumstance where he too could begin to learn what he needed to know.
The third traveler came into the presence of his host with an overwhelming sense of warmth and wonder. Understanding the questions, looking tearfully into the loving eyes of him who stood at the gate, he fell to his knees at his feet and worshiped him.
In the scripture it is written:
"O my beloved brethren, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name".
Salvation and exaltation, I believe, are not matters of heavenly bookkeeping, but of the qualifying of the soul that comes with knowing the Lord.
It is also written that one who does not abide laws pertaining to the various conditions of eternal opportunity cannot enjoy the blessings of those kingdoms. There are those who will not enjoy the blessings of any kingdom of glory, but must function, says the record, in a kingdom not of glory. And of them it is written:
"And they who remain shall also be quickened; nevertheless, they shall return again to their own place, to enjoy that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received.
"For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift".
Each of us will enjoy all of God's blessings that we are willing to receive.
But how do we manifest that willingness? A prophet answers: "How knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?".
We know and choose him and enjoy his blessings through serving him, through qualifying for his friendship, and by keeping him always in our hearts and minds. In our afflictions and gropings and forebodings we turn to him for comfort and support. He is always accessible to those who seek him.
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest".
"Lo, I am with you alway," he said, "even unto the end of the world".
"I will not leave you comfortless".
He understands our infirmities and pressures and problems. Better than any other, he understands how it is to feel all alone.
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?".
But loving him, reaching out to him, we have also to live his commandment to love each other. He taught us and showed us the paths we must follow. When he returned to Nazareth and entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day, he opened the book of Isaiah and read what had been written 700 years earlier about His ministry:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised".
In the magnificent story of the return of the King, he taught us unforgettably our responsibility to the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and those in prison. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me".
Millennia before, through Isaiah, there was delineated the course of helpfulness he expected his children to follow:
"To loose the bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free, deal thy bread to the hungry, bring the poor that are cast out to thy house, when thou seest the naked, cover him, satisfy the afflicted soul".
We know, you and I, that we need the Lord. And he has made it plain that he also needs us as instruments of his love to his other children.
A little girl living in a place for homeless children earned displeasure from annoyed attendants by depositing a note in a tree limb which could be reached from outside the institution. The apprehended little rulebreaker was quickly fetched to the superintendent, who opened the note which read, "To whoever finds this, I love you."
God's children need to be loved, and to have someone to love.
But it is written, "let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth".
"Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart".
In the sermon Amulek preached, to which Brother Busche has referred, encouraging prayer and faith, there was added this invitation:
"And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose that this is all; for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need-I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith".
The poet expressed it another way:
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We speak of the love of Christ that is greater than faith, greater than hope; that expresses itself in sacrifice, in service, in giving.
Now, some of those who need our love are near at hand, others are far away. A few of the latter are arriving in our communities to remind us that vast numbers of displaced people are now and will be increasingly in need of help across the earth. We have heard a little of the tragedy of the boat people. Yet the problem of the hungry, the homeless, the hopeless, the poor and cast out, is beyond anything most of us can comprehend.
There are others nearer at hand who struggle with problems with which we must also be concerned. Major organized institutional welfare and social service efforts are in process, thank the Lord, but these are to augment our individual concern for the strangers who are among us, resident or passing through, for the wayward, the elderly, and the ill.
The widowed and divorced suffer devastating displacement, also, often alone and often in need of encouragement and help. Brokenhearted parents who have really tried, but whose progeny have chosen another path, are heartsick and often find little comfort in sermons or in the success of others. The numbers of single-parent families burgeon, each one representing special needs not understood by those who have not experienced them.
We have the testimony of scripture that the Lord God weeps when we do not choose him or truly love each other. The saddest circumstance any of us can envision, indeed the only evil that ultimately can really harm us, is in not choosing him and thus to be separated from him. But the companion tragedy-one that also brings suffering that makes him weep-is to fail in our affection for each other, affection expressed in unselfish efforts to give the Christian service President Kimball referred to thrice this morning, Christian service to the hungry, the naked, the oppressed, those who are cast out, the widow, the orphan, the afflicted, the brokenhearted, the bruised, the abandoned, the elderly, the sick, and the imprisoned.
We have two great challenges, you and I, and the challenge never ends as long as breath lasts: to choose him and to love each other. Then we may be sure we will know him in this world and at last in that kingdom which is not of this world, where "God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away".
God bless us that we may meet the test, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Seven centuries before the birth of Christ, Isaiah foresaw and foretold the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in these latter days. He declared it would be a "marvelous work and a wonder" to all mankind. When Jesus appeared to the Nephites in America, He confirmed the prophecy of Isaiah in these words: "For my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvelous work" among the people of the land of America in the last days.
April 6, 1830, in the state of New York, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had its beginning in this dispensation, a beginning that went largely unnoticed by the world. A small number of men and women, including the Prophet Joseph Smith, gathered in the home of Peter Whitmer, Sr., to witness and participate in the official organization of the Church. Today there are over 4 1/2 million members in eighty-one countries. We now look in retrospect on 150 years of the history of the Church and are led to exclaim with Isaiah, "Truly the work is marvelous and wonderful!"
That the Church of Jesus Christ would have an inconspicuous beginning and then enjoy phenomenal growth was likewise predicted. Jesus used the comparison of the small mustard seed to describe the early beginning of His church. But eventually, He declared, that insignificant seed would become a great tree and many would find refuge in its branches.
The prophet Daniel described the beginning and remarkable growth of the Church as a small stone which would become a great mountain and fill the entire earth!.
As men have attempted to assess the Church at a given period of time, in many instances they have not been able to see its forward movement and potential. The growth of the Church, like the growth of grass or trees, has been almost imperceptible to the eye, but little by little, line by line, precept by precept, the Church has matured.
Simultaneous with the early development of the Church was a spirit of opposition and persecution. Wherever the tiny "mustard seed" was planted, attempts were made to frustrate its growth. But notwithstanding all the efforts to destroy the work-even the murder of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother-the Church prospered and grew. There were those who thought the Church would fail with the deaths of the martyrs Joseph and Hyrum, but they did not perceive, as Daniel foretold, that this latter-day kingdom should "never be destroyed".
Just before the Prophet's death, Brigham Young said, "The kingdom is organized; and, although as yet no bigger than a grain of mustard seed, the little plant is in a flourishing condition".
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is, as Daniel prophesied, a spiritual kingdom "cut out of the mountain without hands", meaning that it was begun through the intervention of God. It is not just another human institution. What other organizations or churches ascribe their founding to the declaration that messengers have come to human beings from the God of heaven with authority and power to restore ordinances and keys lost by apostasy?
The Church has survived exile from four states, the harassment and persecution of its members, an extermination order from a governor, the execution of its prophet, disenfranchisement by the government, and continuous persecution of its leaders and people. That is what this church endured and survived in the first sixty years of its history-and it was through such adversity, persecution, and impoverishment that the Church gained strength and matured. By the time Joseph F. Smith, the son of the Prophet Joseph's brother Hyrum, became President, he could say, "We have passed through the stages of infancy , and are indeed approaching manhood and womanhood".
Opposition to the Church did not subside with the twentieth century, but gradually people came to see us for what we stood for, rather than what our enemies said about us. Our Mormon boys fought in two world wars and were recognized for their standards and principles. During the Great Depression of the thirties, the Church came to be known for independence, self-reliance, and taking care of its own. And over the century, Latter-day Saints distinguished themselves in the fields of science, education, medicine, business, and other endeavors.
The missionary force brought a harvest of converts from all over the world. Seeds planted abroad as missions became stakes. Truly Zion had put on her beautiful garments; her borders had become enlarged. When Joseph Fielding Smith, son of President Joseph F. Smith, became President of the Church, he declared: "We are coming of age as a church and as a people. We have attained the stature and strength that are enabling us to fulfill the commission given us by the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith that we should carry the glad tidings of the restoration to every nation and to all people".
Two years later, President Smith's successor, President Harold B. Lee, said: "Today we are witnessing the demonstration of the Lord's hand even in the midst of his saints, the members of the Church. Never in this dispensation, and perhaps never before in any single period, has there been such a feeling of urgency among the members of this church as today. Her boundaries are being enlarged, her stakes are being strengthened.
"No longer might this church be thought of as the 'Utah church,' or as an 'American church,' but the membership of the Church is now distributed over the earth".
One year ago, President Kimball stood at this pulpit and said: "Since we last met in general conference , we have witnessed much growth and expansion of the Lord's kingdom.
"We have established new missions covering almost all of the free world, and we are turning our attention more diligently now to one day sharing the gospel with our Father's children behind the so-called iron and bamboo curtains. We have need to prepare for that day. The urgency of that preparation weighs heavily upon us. That day may come with more swiftness than we realize.
"Every year now we are adding approximately a hundred new stakes.
"I rejoice with you, my brothers and sisters, in these statistical evidences of the progress and growth throughout Zion".
Yes, as we indulge in retrospect after 150 years of existence, we rejoice and declare the progress has been marvelous and wonderful. We thank the Lord for His merciful blessings. We do not hesitate to ascribe the success and progress of the Church to His omnipotent direction.
But now-what of the future?
We assuredly expect additional progress, growth, and increased spirituality. We will see our missionaries cover the earth with the message of the Restoration. We will see temples in every land where the gospel has penetrated, symbolizing the truth that families, living and deceased, may be joined together in love and eternal family associations. But we must also be reminded that there will be ever-present efforts to obstruct the work.
In 1845, the Quorum of the Twelve issued an epistle to the heads of state in the world. I quote from one paragraph:
"As this work progresses in its onward course, and becomes more and more an object of political and religious interest and excitement, no king, ruler, or subject, no community or individual, will stand neutral. All will at length be influenced by one spirit or the other; and will take sides either for or against the kingdom of God".
That day is now here. Opposition has been and will be the lot of the Saints of the kingdom in any age. The finger of scorn has been pointed at us in the past, and we may expect it in the future. We also expect to see men in high places defend the Church; there will also be "pharaohs" who know neither Joseph nor his brethren. The seed planted and watered in 1830 has now matured to a fully grown tree for all to see. Some will seek the refuge of its shade in the heat of the day, but none will be neutral in their appraisal of its fruit.
The Church will continue its opposition to error, falsehood, and immorality. The mission of the Church is to herald the message of salvation and make unmistakably clear the pathway to exaltation. Our mission is to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord. As the world drifts further away from God and standards of virtue and honor, we may expect opposition to the work of the Church. We may expect to see the time, as the Book of Mormon forecasts, when "multitudes among all the nations of the Gentiles to fight against the Lamb of God". The power of God and the righteousness of the Saints will be the means by which the Church will be spared.
Never before in our 150-year history has there been greater need for faithfulness among our members. Now is the time for all who claim membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to stand firm and demonstrate their allegiance to the kingdom of God. It cannot be done as a critic or as an idle spectator on the sidelines. This is the time to answer the rally cry of our fathers:
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I call on all inactive priesthood holders-you who, for reasons best known to yourselves, are disassociated from your quorums and church. You have formed new affiliations, and now some of you have become disinterested in the Church and no longer conform to its standards. Unhappily, many of your families tread in your paths and follow your examples. Brethren, when we fail to be true to our priesthood promises, the price we and our loved ones are forced to pay might well be entitled "the high cost for low living." What a blessing you would be to your wives and children if you would harmonize your lives with your covenants. O, brethren of the priesthood, how we need your support, affiliation, and strength! Do not desert the cause of God at a time when the conflict is most imminent. Make President John Taylor's slogan your commitment: "The kingdom of God or nothing!".
We appeal to you to put aside habits that prevent you from affiliating with your brethren. Put aside your worldliness and renew your covenants. If you have differences with fellow members, go to them, or to your priesthood leaders, and talk them out. Don't allow differences to canker your soul and set you in opposition to the Church. You will find your brethren waiting to put their arms around you and welcome you into fellowship. You are our brethren in the priesthood and we love you.
Brothers and sisters, be faithful to the Church. Be strong in your callings. Keep your covenants, and God will bless you and preserve you in the trying days ahead.
On the anniversary of the one hundredth birthday of the Church, President Heber J. Grant gave this counsel to the Saints: "Refrain from evil; do that which is good. Visit the sick, comfort those who are in sorrow, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, care for the widow and the fatherless. Observe the laws of health which the Lord has revealed, and keep yourselves unspotted from the sins of the world. Pay your tithes and offerings, and the Lord will open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings until there shall not be room to contain them. Be obedient to the laws of God and the civil laws of the country in which you reside, and uphold and honor those who are chosen to administer them". We renew that counsel to you today.
This is the spiritual kingdom of God moving forward in its divine course to fill the earth, a truly marvelous work and a wonder! As we contemplate our past and future, may we remember the prophecy of Joseph Smith, words that I testify are true: "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done".
My brothers and sisters, this work is true. Humbly I bear this witness to all the world.
May God bless us all to be faithful and valiant, giving our first allegiance to God and His kingdom. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
When our prophet, Spencer W. Kimball, and I walked through the admittance door of the Utah State Prison a few days ago, the sound of sliding, electronically controlled cell doors could be heard clanging in the background. The grating sounds of the steel bars against the concrete floor and walls let me know where I was again. The total situation was familiar to me. I had been in prison many times before.
It was President Kimball's first visit. Once past the heavily guarded door, we were escorted to Warden Lawrence Morris's office, located near the front of the medium security area. Even after we were safely seated in his office, I was still filled with real anxieties. I hoped conditions would be completely under control with no disturbances possible. There must not be any interference or interruption during the visit of the prophet. I was responsible for this trip, and as we sat there together, this total situation weighed heavily upon me. Past experience had taught me that the behavior of some inmates is unpredictable. Fortunately the able warden had prepared well, and conditions in and around his office were ideally calm and quiet. To my great relief it appeared that the "grapevine" means of communication inside the prison had not learned of the President's coming.
What had attracted President Kimball to the prison? Why was he there? What was his special interest? What was on his mind? Was there a certain inmate he wanted to see? Why should he expose himself to this dangerous environment, when he had mountains of responsibilities needing his attention in his own office?
With this latest prison visit over and having had a few days to reflect on and ponder the situation, I now know that President Spencer W. Kimball went there for many reasons and people. Being at his side and seeing him share himself with these special people will always be one of the choicest experiences of my life. I learned much. I was with a prophet in an unstable environment. My senior companion, if you please, taught me well. As we traveled together to the prison, visited there, and returned in the car, the warmth and wisdom of this mighty man renewed in me a thrilling appreciation for his greatness.
Let me share with you, especially you members of the Aaronic Priesthood, some of the leadership traits I witnessed during this tour with President Kimball. As we review and think together, I hope that we can apply these same traits in our lives. We can accomplish more and become stronger individually by following his example.
After a short visit in his office, the warden invited two inmates to come in and meet President Kimball. As they hesitatingly came in, President Kimball stood up, shook their hands, and gave them a warm welcome. Here was a prophet with two prisoners. I watched with keen interest. What would President Kimball say following the greeting? "What are your special jobs out here? Where is your home? Tell me about your family. Are you working on the construction of the new chapel?" These were some of his questions-all of which were free of criticism and embarrassment. Perhaps others would have been inclined to say under these circumstances, "How long is your prison sentence? What was your crime? How long have you been here? Your family can't be very proud of you. You ought to be ashamed wasting your life in jail. Why don't you shape up?"
President Kimball set the example for me and for all of us as he conducted this personal interview, if you please, with skill and sincerity. In a very few minutes, with few, but appropriate, words, he let the two prisoners know he was with them because he cares.
When this short visit with the two prisoners was over, we were to make our way to the prison chapel. When we were outside again, it was about 10:30 A.M., with the temperature near 40 degrees Fahrenheit. "Would you like to ride or walk the two-block distance?" President Kimball was asked. He responded with, "I would like to walk." Since President Kimball was without a top coat, his personal secretary, D. Arthur Haycock, started to take his off to share with the President. President Kimball said, "No, thank you. You keep it on. If I walk, I won't need it." Just a routine appreciation gesture? Perhaps, some would say. But to me it was evidence of President Kimball's courteous way of life.
As President Kimball walked the distance to the new chapel site with the wardens, prisoners, and a few others of us, I was close enough at hand to hear his constant questions and concerns. He listened intently as answers were given and situations of interest pointed out. I was impressed again with his concern for people, their confinement and treatment.
Once within the walls of the chapel under construction, he took time to shake hands with workers, some of whom were prisoners, and with other visitors who were now aware of his presence. He seemed to take time for everyone. People never seemed to be a bother. I saw a number of workers jump down from scaffolds to shake his hand. In some cases I saw his arm go out to them before they could clean mortar and dirt from their fingers. They and leaders from other churches heard him say, "This interdenominational worship facility will help prisoners find their way back." He also added, "The Church and our people are happy to be participants in any and all community projects that are worthy." Once again I was impressed with his wholesome relationship with all people.
The highlight of the chapel inspection tour and the prison visit in general, it seemed to me, came when two inmates were invited to stand at the side of the prophet in the minimum security reception area for picture taking. As the President welcomed them forward and later put his arms around them, he said, "It is an honor for me to have my picture taken with you." The two prisoners were obviously touched by his comment. Others of us again saw the greatness and stature of the one we love so much. Respect and human dignity were witnessed. Again he taught well that all people are entitled to be treated as human beings, wherever they are found and regardless of where they have been. President Kimball, it was obvious, is a foe of sin but a friend of the sinner. The scripture found in D&C 50:26 came forcefully to my mind: "He that is ordained of God and sent forth, the same is appointed to be the greatest, notwithstanding he is the least and the servant of all."
As we were finishing our visit, one inmate rushed up to me and said, "I didn't get a chance to shake President Kimball's hand. Would you please tell him I love him?" Another prisoner responded with, "I'm not a Mormon, but he's got to be a special guy." Some day I hope that prisoner finds out what a special guy President Kimball really is.
As we walked back to the car to return to Salt Lake City, this choice experience with the prophet brought to mind the story of Parley P. Pratt when he and the Prophet Joseph Smith were together in a prison in Richmond, Missouri. The situation was much different, but the same witness of true dignity and majesty was enjoyed. I, too, saw true majesty when a prison visitor performed and spoke under God's authority and shared himself fearlessly.
Before we drove away from the prison compound, President Kimball viewed the maximum security area. When he looked at the extra fences, towers, guards, and isolated location, he commented on how unfortunate it is when men can't be given freedom, responsibilities, and the joys of work. "All men are basically good. Some just lose their way and need to be led back into proper paths and habits," he said.
President Kimball asked the warden how the Church's family home evening program was doing at the prison. When told it was most successful, he was very pleased. The warden informed him that each week dozens of families continue to go to the prison on Monday evenings to provide family experiences for those qualified to be involved. These good people serve as families for inmates who don't have them. Their relationship, which very often goes on after prisoners are released, provides an excellent anchor in rehabilitation. The strength of the family is available on a regular basis. President Kimball has long been a believer that every person is entitled to family relationships, and when told that some inmates have their first real family experiences through this program, he was delighted.
During the tour of the new chapel and the walk between the buildings, there were always a number of young and old nearby to assist and respond to President Kimball's questions. After hearing President Kimball refer to me a number of times as "Marv" as we walked together, one of the younger set was impressed to say, "Isn't it kind of neat to have President Kimball call you 'Marv'?" I responded with, "Yes, it is, and it is especially neat to know that President Spencer W. Kimball is a prophet of God." I had again seen him in action.
In the car returning to Salt Lake City, President Kimball thanked us time and again for taking him to the prison. He felt good about the response of those with whom he had associated. "I hope you will make it possible for me to go back again," he suggested. "Those people need our love and constant encouragement."
What can we as priesthood members and leaders learn from President Kimball's trip to the prison? Much, I hope. Could I just quickly mention ten major points I observed? I think they can help us all be and do better if we will but follow his example.
He demonstrated how to interview "inactives," if you please, with friendly and sincere comments. His questions were free of embarrassment, ridicule, and criticism. How do you approach those who haven't been seen for a while and you want to reactivate?
He made others feel comfortable in his presence. He never talked down to anyone. He was always "one with" and not "one apart." Do we know how to make our associates feel comfortable during our visits, or are they allowed to feel we are just trying to improve our percentages?
He listened intently to the comments of his associates. Those about him knew they had his attention and his interest. I thought of the scripture found in Luke 2:46–47: "After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
"And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers." In this case perhaps we are within our rights to paraphrase this quotation a little and say, "After a few minutes they found him in the prison, sitting in the midst of the prisoners, both hearing them and asking them questions.
"And all that heard him were astonished at his capacity to ask and listen."
He was courteous. He knows well the fifth point of the Boy Scout Law and has undoubtedly been practicing it for more than seventy-five years.
He treated every person he met like a friend. He seemed to classify all he met into one category-basically good. Do you have the skill and capacity to be friendly to others when, in your limited vision, they may not seem to deserve it?
He expressed appreciation to everyone. No favor or assistance was ever taken for granted. "And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things". Some who escape our love and quorum associations are starving for a word of encouragement and appreciation.
He exhibited a dignity and poise that was most impressive. Governor Scott M. Matheson of the State of Utah was on hand during President Kimball's tour. As I walked, talked, and visited with both men, I was greatly impressed with the fact that the governor received the same treatment from President Kimball as did the inmates. Do you have the capacity to love the nonattender as much as you do the 100-percent attender?
He despises sin, but he loves the sinner. When I saw his arms go around the shoulders of the prisoners, I was touched. Are we beneath or above this type of behavior?
He is available to all God's children. He made prisoners feel they were doing him a favor to let him have his picture taken with them. As I watched him in his personal associations, never once did I see him avoid a situation or an individual. When they wanted to shake his hand or have a picture, there was never "I'm tired" or "not now."
He took long and meaningful strides in the direction of all who were inclined to hesitate. He seems determined to bring those on the edges back. Do we have the same kind of continuing approach with those who are temporarily sidelined?
I am glad the time and conditions were right for President Kimball to visit his friends in prison and that I could be with him. One prisoner who stood by his side for the picture is serving time for theft and burglary; the other is there for manslaughter. One was a member, one a nonmember. His greetings to them, "It is an honor for me to have my picture taken with you," continues to ring in my ears. "I was in prison, and ye came unto me". Once again we have the heartwarming example of seeing how widely our President can spread his arms in love. He makes room for all of us. He will not give up on anyone.
It is my hope and prayer that we will have the courage in our lives, homes, and quorums to lift, lead, and love in the way I saw demonstrated by a prophet in prison. This I humbly ask in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Paul H. Dunn
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Like many of you, I really enjoy sports. Sports often teach great lessons. The other night while I was watching an NCAA championship basketball game, I heard one of the players call out that familiar word, "time!" The team ran to the sidelines to receive some instructions from the man who could give them some help-the coach. And he did.
Isn't it interesting that, generally speaking, a team calls time-out when they're in trouble, when they need to regroup? I recall many times in my career when we'd call "time," and the catcher or the pitching coach or the manager would come to the mound and give me some needed instructions or encouragement. Sometimes the language was a little different, but the counsel was most always appreciated, sometimes even humorous.
I recall in one of my first professional games many years ago, in the very first inning the first three hitters hit safely, all of them on the first pitch. Out of the dugout came the pitching coach. The catcher joined him, and the three of us assembled on the mound.
The pitching coach turned to my catcher and said, "What in the world has Paul got on the ball anyway?"
The catcher said, "I don't know. I haven't seen it yet."
Well, what's that got to do with you and me? Life, you know, is a little like "the big game." There are times when you and I need to call time-out. Have you ever had the experience of loading the bases while continuing to throw high and wide? Have you experienced "fourth down and one" on the goal line with ten seconds left? Have you watched your twenty-point lead dwindle to two? Or in life's game do you have a challenge controlling your temper or language? Is that personal weakness you've noticed still not under control? Are school subjects your nemesis? Are your finances ready to pull you under? Is your family solidarity sitting on shifting sand? And most important of all, are you trying to do it alone? Or have you been smart enough to call time-out to ask the coach for help?
You know, it doesn't always have to be a formal prayer, my young brethren. You can do it as you drive in the car, on a date, in the privacy of your room, or on the playing field.
I'm reminded of something I read just the other day. Let me share it with you. It seems that a small boy was trying to lift a heavy stone, but couldn't budge it. His father, watching very interestedly, said, "Are you sure you're using all of your strength?"
"Yes, I am!" the boy cried.
"No, you're not," said the father. "You haven't asked me to help you."
Well, let me just tell you that however tight the game seems at the moment, I know the coach and I know that He can help. There is a personal and loving God who knows all of the plays. He understands the game of life. He understands you and me. And he understands what you and I need now to help in our lives. Talking to him is an easy thing, really. All you have to do is call time-out. Say to yourself, "I've had it. I need help." And be prepared to listen. Say to him, "I can't take any more of this running without seeing clearly where the bases are or the direction I'm headed."
Are you aware that all through history great leaders have called time-out? Washington at Valley Forge, Lincoln seeking answers in the war, Joseph Smith in the grove. This was true of the prophets of old: Abraham sought God; Moses called upon the Lord. Nephi, a great young champion, says in his own account: "I, Nephi, being exceeding young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers".
Accounts such as these in scripture have always given me great courage to do likewise. That's why I think the prophets, even the leaders today, have counseled us to know the scriptures that we might be motivated to seek help.
Fortunately, like many of you, I came from a home where that kind of influence was available. Near my eighteenth birthday I was drafted into World War II. I found myself in an entirely new environment. I had always been taught in my home to take time out at night to pray, but I found this a little delicate, where in a typical barrack, there would be over fifty men on a floor. I used to try to get a bunk near the end of the room, where there would be a little privacy, and I would wait until the lights would go out before I would crawl out of bed to say my prayers.
I remember at Fort MacArthur everything went well for the first few nights and then finally one night, shortly after the lights went out, I crawled out of bed and knelt down to pray. About that time two half-stewed characters came in, flipped on the lights, and aroused all of us. A couple of fellows across the aisle from me saw me on my knees. Typical of that kind of environment, they started to poke fun. One of them, pointing to me, shouted so all could hear, "Hey, holy Paul, pray for me!" I felt a little chagrined and somewhat embarrassed and I thought to myself, "Now, what do you do?"
My mother had taught me a great principle. She used to say: "In delicate situations, use a sense of humor. It always helps." So while still on my knees, I squared my shoulders, looked at both of the soldiers, and said: "Would you give me your full names because I don't think the Lord knows you." Later, I'm pleased to say, they did come to know the Lord because they too took time-out.
I noticed later, when we got into combat, that in my battalion-the 305th Infantry-the word soon got around: "Get in Dunn's squad. He always comes back." Many is the time that I shared a foxhole with anxious soldiers where we took time-out to talk to our Eternal Coach, even our Heavenly Father.
I remember the time so well as we were preparing for my very first invasion, sitting out in the Pacific on a troop ship with three thousand men aboard. This large group of soldiers represented the first seven waves in the invasion force. Prior to disembarking, one of the Protestant chaplains held a final church service. He had us all look around and get acquainted with each other and then he said: "Now, gentlemen, I don't want to worry you, but do you realize by tomorrow morning at eight o'clock, many of you will be standing before your Maker? Are you ready?"
Well, how would you feel, young men, if that challenge were hurled at you? At that time I was almost nineteen. Shortly after the service I found a secluded spot on the ship and called time-out and talked to my Heavenly Father. I didn't sleep that night nor did most of the men. The next morning as the seven waves of infantry went ashore, many not making it, I dug my first foxhole and took another time-out. I remember the event well. I called upon my Heavenly Father and said, "I really need to know if thou art there." Heavenly Father spoke to my mind, and I haven't been the same since.
Will you learn, my young brethren, to take time-out? It even works in sports, because of the amazing influence it wields. I remember my first professional season, playing in a strange town; I had joined the club at midseason. The catcher, who was also the manager, was old enough to be my father. He was an old professional ballplayer from the Washington Senators and had had much experience. The team was a rough lot. I remember so well one night while visiting in a distant town, about two o'clock a knock came at my hotel door. I got up and answered it, and there standing in the framework was my manager.
He said, "Paul, may I come in?"
And I said, "Please do. What's the matter?"
He said, "Close the door, and whatever you do don't tell the others I came."
I said, "Well, I won't."
He responded: "I've been watching you for these past two months. You know the Lord, don't you?"
I said, "I think he's my friend."
He said, "Would you help me find him?"
We sat down in the room, and for over two hours talked about God, the Eternal Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Tears began to form in his eyes.
I said, "Danny, have you ever prayed?"
He said, "No."
I said, "Would it offend you to pray with me?"
"Well," he said, "not if you will pray."
I said, "I would be honored."
So together we knelt down beside my bed, and talked to Heavenly Father. We took time-out. And as we arose from our knees, he pushed back the tears, threw his arms around me, almost choked me to death, and said, "Thank you, thank you. Could we do this some more?"
I said, "As often as you would like."
We did on several other occasions. But you know what else was interesting? Before the season ended, several other knocks came at my door. One night it was the first baseman, then the shortstop, and the left fielder. And each in his own wonderful way said, "Don't tell the others."
I learned on that occasion that people are really seeking and want what you and I have. God bless you, my wonderful brethren, to have the wisdom and strength to call time-out and visit with your Heavenly Father. He really lives, as does his Son, to which I testify in the holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder A. Theodore Tuttle
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Brethren, something has happened to me. For twenty-two years I have been a General Authority. I have traveled the world over in my ministry. Over the course of these years, I have had marvelous experiences and have met many wonderful people. I have participated in sacred meetings. The choice association with my brethren has taught and inspired me. Now something has happened-I have been called to serve in a temple.
I want to bear witness-and my witness is true-that the work for the redemption of the living and the dead is divine. It is a keystone of our religion. The work performed in temples stays the judgments of God from smiting the earth with a curse. It is not unusual, therefore, that the Prophet Joseph would say, "The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead".
The Prophet Joseph taught that you and I are to become saviors on Mount Zion. We are to gather, build temples, seek after our dead, and perform all the vital ordinances. This work welds eternal links that bind us to each other and to our fathers. We are exalted as family units.
The Prophet Joseph said, "It is necessary that a welding together of dispensations should take place from the days of Adam even to the present time".
Then go, brethren. Be sealed to your wife and your sons and daughters. Be sealed to your fathers as far back as you can. Temples are built to perform these sacred ordinances. It is sad that in some of our larger centers temple work is presently lagging. Leaders, strengthen temple work! The Prophet Joseph warned, "Those Saints who neglect it in behalf of their deceased relatives, do it at the peril of their own salvation".
Yet in his anxiety the Prophet once observed, "But there has been a great difficulty in getting anything into the heads of this generation. It has been like splitting hemlock knots with a corndodger for a wedge, and a pumpkin for a beetle. Even the Saints are slow to understand".
Our performance manifests that we are giving neither sufficient time nor attention to temple work. Genealogical research needs more vigor. Submittal of the four-generation sheets must be hastened. This program was announced thirteen years ago. Since that time nearly half the present members of the Church have either been born or baptized. We ask you leaders, Where are the four-generation sheets from all these new members? As a matter of fact, where are yours? Will you see that this work is done, brethren? This is an inspired program.
Once you complete your four generations, you are not finished. Continue to search out all of your ancestral lines. The four-generation project becomes a platform for launching further research. In fact, this is one place where you move forward by reaching backward! "It is our duty," counseled Elder John A. Widtsoe, "to secure as complete genealogies as possible, to discover our fathers and mothers back to the last generation, to connect, if it may be possible, with Adam, our first father upon the earth-a duty which we cannot escape".
There are great promises to those who do this. All who diligently search realize that help comes-often from the other side of the veil. You see, they are organized and working there at least as well as we are here!
Elder Melvin J. Ballard testified that "the spirit and influence of your dead will guide those who are interested in finding those records. If there is anywhere on the earth anything concerning them, you will find it". And Elder Widtsoe said, "I have the feeling that those who give themselves with all their might and main to this work receive help from the other side, and not merely in gathering genealogies. Whoever seeks to help those on the other side receives help in return in all the affairs of life".
I testify that this is true.
This testimony is echoed by thousands of humble Latter-day Saints whose labors bear witness of this truth! Elisha's words have been vindicated: "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with ".
We have introduced the name-extraction program in many areas in order that the work might progress better. Brethren, assist this work wherever possible.
Young men and young women must not be left out of the joys of this special work. Deacons, do you have a Book of Remembrance? What about you teachers and priests? Have you started your own life story? Are you collecting pictures, certificates, and spiritual experiences to add interest? Assisting your parents in the search for your relatives often develops real pride in your heritage.
You may have heard of the young man who got involved in this work. He was sent to the department store to buy some genealogical supplies. He asked the first clerk he saw, "Do you have any family group sheets?" Perplexed, the young lady replied, "Well we have twin-size sheets, double, and queen size, but I'm not sure whether we have family group sheets!"
To all who may want to help in preserving family history, we issue an invitation now to come to the World Conference on Records this coming August. This conference is designed to assist all of us to do redemptive work for the dead in a better way.
You leaders in the stakes, wards, and quorums, assume the additional duty to see that every man in your priesthood quorum fulfills his responsibility with respect to his dead. I quote from President Marion G. Romney concerning the significance of holy covenants: "We are individually responsible and will be held accountable for the way in which we ourselves keep the covenants we enter into, and we shall also be accountable for the breaking of covenants by others for whom we are responsible insofar as such breaking is the result of our failure to teach them". Ponder that thought!
Brethren, the great priesthood leaders of past dispensations look to us to move this work. All the righteous men and women who ever lived look to us! We are their only hope for salvation. We hold the key to their prison doors. We must set them free! How can we any longer ignore their right to salvation? President Brigham Young said, "When I think upon this subject, I want the tongues of seven thunders to wake up the people".
It was this supernal work-redemption of the living and the dead-of which the Prophet Joseph spoke when he said, "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, for the prisoners shall go free".
O God, please grant that the spirit of Elijah may fall upon the vast body of priesthood in thy Church, to cause thy great work to move forward. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Carlos E. Asay
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I hold in my hand a test tube filled with salt. Salt, as you know, contains two elements-sodium and chlorine-and is known chemically as sodium chloride.
This white substance occupies an important place in our lives. It is essential to health; body cells must have salt in order to live and work. It has antiseptic, or germ-killing, properties. It is a preservative. It is an ingredient in many foods and products. And it is estimated that there are more than fourteen thousand uses for salt.
According to the historians, "Salt at one time had religious significance, and was a symbol of purity. Among many peoples, salt is still used as a sign of honor, friendship and hospitality. The Arabs say 'there is salt between us,' meaning 'we have eaten together, and are friends'".
The Organizer and Creator of this world understood perfectly the nature and importance of salt. More than thirty-five references to this substance are found in the scriptures. In the Old Testament mention is made of a "covenant of salt". In the New Testament the Savior referred to his disciples as the "salt of the earth," and charged them to retain their savor. He repeated this charge to his chosen disciples on the American continent:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the salt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor, wherewith shall the earth be salted? The salt shall be thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men".
How many times have we read, or heard others read, this scripture? Yet, do we understand fully the "salt of the earth" message? Are we conversant with the analogy? Are we responding properly to its implications?
Permit me to speak of the "savor" and "savior" roles which we have been called to fulfill as members of the priesthood and as the salt of the modern world.
In 1833 Joseph Smith received a revelation which included these instructions: "When men are called into mine everlasting gospel, and covenant with an everlasting covenant, they are accounted as the salt of the earth and the savor of men;
"They are called to be the savor of men".
The word savor denotes taste, pleasing flavor, interesting quality, and high repute.
The salt in container A, which I am holding in my right hand, has savor. That is, it is clean, pure, uncontaminated, and useful. In this state or condition, salt will preserve, flavor, heal, and perform other useful functions.
The salt in container B, however, is salt that has lost its savor. It has lost its savor because it has been mixed with things of bad taste. In fact, it has taken on some of the color and appearance of other substances.
When the Lord used the expression "savor of men," he was speaking of those who represent him. He was referring to those who have repented, who have been washed clean in the waters of baptism, and who have covenanted to take upon them his name and his cause. Moreover, he was speaking of those who would share by covenant his priesthood power. He was speaking of you and me.
A world-renowned chemist told me that salt will not lose its savor with age. Savor is lost through mixture and contamination. Similarly, priesthood power does not dissipate with age; it, too, is lost through mixture and contamination.
When a young man or older man mixes his thoughts with pornographic literature, he suffers a loss of savor.
When a priesthood bearer mixes his speech with lies or profanity, he suffers a loss of savor.
When one of us follows the crowd and becomes involved in immoral acts and the use of drugs, tobacco, alcohol, and other injurious substances, he loses savor.
Flavor and quality flee a man when he contaminates his mind with unclean thoughts, desecrates his mouth by speaking less than the truth, and misapplies his strength in performing evil acts. King Benjamin cautioned, "Watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God".
I would offer these simple guidelines, especially to the young men, as the means to preserve one's savor: If it is not clean, do not think it; if it is not true, do not speak it; if it is not good, do not do it.
Cleanliness, truth, and goodness have always been and will ever be the watchwords of men with savor. It is said that sixty-five percent or more of our communications are non verbal. If this is so, who we are and what we are is most important. A living prophet has declared: "No greater service can be given to the missionary calling of the Church than to exemplify positive Christian virtues in our lives".
We must fight daily to retain our savor, our purity. We must press forward, clinging to our standards of holiness, remembering all the while that we are called to be the savor of men.
The Prophet Joseph Smith received these instructions from the Lord:
"For they were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men;
"And inasmuch as they are not the saviors of men, they are as salt that has lost its savor".
One is impressed with the depth of meaning associated with the words "saviors of men," when they are studied in companionship with a complete definition of the priesthood: "The priesthood is the power and authority of God delegated to man on earth to act in all things pertaining to the salvation of men. It is the means whereby the Lord acts through men to save souls".
Priesthood is God's power. It is to be used in saving souls. It is not shared with young men or older men simply to sit on or to hold in name only. It is shared with the expectation that the receiver will exercise it in behalf of himself and others. The priesthood is to be honored, and callings within the priesthood are to be magnified.
One of the grandest concepts in the gospel of Jesus Christ is the concept that men can and should be more than passive observers in the cause of saving souls. One Church leader taught: "In our preexistent state we made a certain agreement with the Almighty. We agreed to be not only saviors for ourselves but measurably, saviors for the whole human family. We went into a partnership with the Lord. The working out of the plan became then not merely the Father's work, and the Savior's work, but also our work".
I know of a young priest who was asked by his bishop to fellowship an inactive quorum member. The bishop indicated that others had failed in their attempts to recover the boy. The final words of the bishop's commission were: "Please save _________." After many tries and failures, the miracle was wrought-the inactive returned to full activity in the quorum. It was thrilling for me to hear the hero in this experience bear testimony of the joy which he received as a result of his soul-saving efforts.
Less than a month ago, two missionaries visited a widowed lady who had expressed interest in the Church. She was ill and had been advised by her physician that a kidney was to be removed. The elders comforted the woman, heeded the whisperings of the Spirit, and pronounced a blessing. Another miracle happened. The operation was cancelled, and the missionaries began teaching their friend the gospel. A baptismal date has already been set. This particular woman will never forget the blessing and teachings of the elders. They will be held in cherished memory and regarded as "saviors of men."
One of our priesthood brothers tells of how he was guided by the Spirit in locating thousands of names on one of his father's ancestral lines. When the necessary research was completed, he and his wife and others completed the appropriate temple ordinances. In summarizing his experience, he said:
"It taught me that if a person will put forth the effort to search, the way will be opened up and he will obtain the spirit of Elijah.
"I firmly believe that in the preexistence we made a commitment to be a savior to these people, doing all the necessary research and having the temple work done for them".
There should be salt between us and all men. We should extend honor, friendship, and hospitality to all of our brothers and sisters. To the inactives we extend the hand of fellowship; to the nonmembers we extend the divine invitation "come and see"; with the fathers of yesteryear we establish links which weld fathers to children and children to fathers. In all of this, we advance the purposes of the Master and assist in the reconciliation of men to the God who gave them life. And, in the process, we not only preserve our savor but we save ourselves.
I count it significant that the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is located in Salt Lake City. From this center of the Church flows the message of salvation to all the world. To this city of salt, men and women gather from all corners of the earth to receive instruction and edification. Such instruction, if accepted and practiced, will enable men to retain their savor and assist them in becoming saviors of men.
I pray that all of us will appreciate more perfectly the words of the Savior: "Ye are the salt of the earth." I pray that we will carry this designation faithfully and honorably.
Please remember that men-like salt-lose their savor through contamination; remember also that men who fail to use their priesthood power in behalf of others are like salt without savor.
I testify that an abiding and exalting relationship with the Master is established as we live to be men with savor and saviors of men. This I declare, adding my witness that He lives and directs his church today, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder M. Russell Ballard
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
This is a great honor for me to address you, my brethren, and I seek the Spirit of the Lord that what I say might help each of us want to become better members of the Church and serve more diligently in the priesthood.
I had an extremely frightening experience several years ago while flying from Reno, Nevada, to San Rafael, California, with a friend in his twin-engine Aztec airplane.
When we left Reno, the weather was a little cloudy, and my friend was somewhat worried about it. Because of his concern, we landed at the Lake Tahoe airport to get a second report on the weather. It did not indicate that the weather was too bad, so we continued our flight to San Rafael.
Our destination was an airport in the northern part of San Francisco Bay. As we approached the Bay area, the clouds became increasingly low and dense. We tried to stay under the clouds so we could see the water and thus keep our bearings visually. But suddenly we flew into very dense clouds and could see nothing.
When you fly into such clouds, you become totally disoriented. You do not know whether you are flying straight, sideways, or upside down. You lose your sense of forward motion, and it takes a few minutes for the pilot to orient himself from visual flying to instrument flying. At 180 miles an hour, you move a long distance in that few minutes and can get into serious trouble very quickly. Unfortunately, my friend had not flown entirely on instruments for two years.
My friend struggled intensely and was near the point of panic as he tried to recall all that he had learned about instrument flying. I knew very little about instrument flying, so I could not help him. All I could do was put my hand on his shoulder and tell him to take a deep breath and get hold of himself. The only instrument that I could read was the altimeter. I said, "We are now at 500 feet. Don't make any quick moves; just think it out, and you can pull us through."
It seemed an eternity before he finally made radio contact with Hamilton Air Force Base. He said to them, "I am in trouble; please help me." The air traffic controllers had us on their radar screen and immediately began to help my friend regain control of the plane. They told us where we were and started to give us instructions to help guide us to safety.
When my friend heard the voice from Hamilton Tower, he regained a sense of confidence that enabled him to gain control. But he knew that the plane was completely out of control and that our chances of pulling out of this danger were marginal. We could easily go the wrong way. The foothills, buildings, towers, and bridges were not far away. At one time we dropped to only 200 feet, and must have been flying upside down at one time because the maps and other items in the visor above my head fell into my lap.
At the peak of this crisis, an instant replay of my entire life flashed through my mind. I thought of my wife, my seven children, my parents, my business partners, the 37 priests whom I was the adviser to, and many other things. I prayed fervently all through this crisis and made a commitment more deep and more sincere than ever before in my life. I began, "Heavenly Father, guide us out of this thick, dense cloud, and help my friend remember all he knows about instrument flying." And then I said, "In the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of the holy priesthood, bless my friend that he might regain control." My prayer continued. I committed to Heavenly Father that if he would help us, I would place my life in his hands. I promised him that I would be what he wanted me to be.
Finally, we saw the lights on the runway. The white line in the center of the runway was a most welcome sight.
Every priesthood bearer sitting in this priesthood meeting tonight has a great work to do. Each one of us has the power to demonstrate to our Heavenly Father that we really love him and desire to serve him with all of our hearts.
Let me show how each of us can make a sincere and meaningful commitment to Heavenly Father right now. Please find a small piece of paper and a pencil. Borrow from your neighbor if you need to. Now, brethren, write on your piece of paper the name of one inactive or nonmember man or boy who lives in your ward. Will you make a commitment tonight that you will do all in your power, with the help of the Lord, to lead that person out of darkness into the full light of the gospel? You can be to him as the voice from Hamilton Tower was to my friend and me, and you can guide him safely into full fellowship in the Church of Jesus Christ.
Just a few months after I made my full commitment to the Lord that I would give my life to his service if he so desired, I was presiding over the Canada Toronto Mission. During that mission, President Kimball called me to spend the rest of my life in the service of the Lord as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.
No work is more important than helping bring the gospel into the lives of our brothers and sisters. You and I have no better way to demonstrate our love for the Lord than to personally lead someone into the safety of full activity in the Church.
I want to help you keep the commitment that you have just made, brethren. I invite you to write to me when you feel the time has come that you need some additional help. Send me the name and address of the man or the boy whom you seek to rescue, and I will write a letter of encouragement to him. I am sure that my brethren of the General Authorities will help me if I receive more letters than I can answer, because they are fully committed to helping you and me meet our righteous commitments.
The Lord has said in the Doctrine and Covenants, "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;
"For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.
"And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all unto him, on conditions of repentance.
"And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!
"And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!".
The light of the Lord is real, my brethren. He will lead every soul out of the clouds of darkness and away from the fog of doubt and uncertainty with a perfect eternal signal that will guarantee safety, peace, and confidence. He said to all the world, "Come, follow me", and "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life".
Life's flight pattern can be changed. The instruments we use in saving souls are love and sharing our testimonies of the divine mission of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Thousands of our lost brethren, both men and boys, can be led to a safe landing if we will keep the commitments that we have made tonight. The power of the priesthood that is within each one of us is a greater power than any radar, radio, or any other communication system. Nothing is more important to the Lord than saving souls.
God bless us to keep this commitment, my brethren, to bring into full fellowship one precious son of God, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder W. Grant Bangerter
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Central to the calling to administer the gospel to all people, living and dead, is the power of the Holy Ghost. My experience tells me that many who labor in the callings of the priesthood lack insight into this great agency and are unable to be as effective as they ought to be.
I pray that I may be blessed to give some helpful instructions about this most potent and sacred influence.
Obviously, if I do not have the Holy Spirit, I may as well not speak tonight.
Most of our work is done in the form of teaching. This takes place in classes such as priesthood quorums, Sunday School, and seminary; many times in interviews; by missionaries as they present the gospel in their discussions; by home teachers to the families of the Church; and, of course, in sermons such as this one.
So I'm speaking to stake presidents, bishops, and quorum leaders, to missionaries, auxiliary leaders, home teachers, and class instructors.
How can we teach by the Spirit? Brethren, try to detect the influence of the Holy Spirit in the following experiences.
While I was serving as stake president, my counselors and I invited a certain brother for an interview where we presented to him his calling to be the president of the stake Young Men organization. This man had not been fully active. He liked to spend his weekends, including Sundays, camping and fishing, and it was reported that he and his wife did not always obey the Word of Wisdom. There was some question as to whether we should consider him for such a position, but because of the prayerful discussions we had held in the presidency and the high council we concluded that he should be called. As we advised this brother of his appointment, he responded that he was not interested and that he did not feel worthy or qualified. We then told him how we had come to choose him over all the members of the stake. We explained that we needed a strong and capable leader of youth in our stake and that both the presidency and the high council had offered earnest prayers, asking the Lord to indicate the person who should fill the position. We said: "The answer was clear. You are the man the Lord has chosen. It is for you to decide, of course, but you do have an obligation to go home and discuss the question with your wife. The only request we make of you is that thereafter you kneel down with her and ask the Lord what he wants you to do."
Three days later I received an unhappy telephone call from this same man. He reluctantly informed me that he would accept the position with all its implications. He gave powerful service in his calling, and when that assignment was finished, he became a member of the high council, and he has been happy about the gospel ever since.
We had a similar experience when we called another man to be the president of our stake mission. Through some discouraging experiences in Church service, he thought himself halfway on the road to apostasy and not at all sure of his testimony. He resisted his appointment vigorously, saying that it would deprive him of time to do some of the most enjoyable things in life. We explained to him how once again we had sought the direction from the Lord about who should preside over the mission. We told him that he was not being forced to accept the call, but that he should ask his Heavenly Father whether or not it was right for him to serve. The Lord gave him a powerful assurance that he was called to the work. The following year he, with his missionaries, baptized nearly ten percent of all the nonmembers in our stake. Later on, he was called to be a bishop.
On certain occasions I have approached young men of missionary age and informed them that they have been called to serve a mission. Sometimes they explain that they have no desire to go on a mission. I then tell them that it is immaterial to me whether they serve a mission or not. Of course, it isn't all immaterial; but I say I am only informing them of the calling the Lord has already given them. And I'll explain how I know that. I was present the day President Kimball made the announcement that all young men should go on a mission. The Holy Spirit told me that the principle was true.
Later on, I was talking with a humble, but inspired, patriarch who is here tonight. He informed me that he was not trained nor educated to give patriarchal blessings and that he could only say the things the Lord told him to say. I thought that sounded about right. He then added: "You would be interested to know how many young men who come for their blessings are told that they will go on missions." With that statement, I again felt revelation and saw light, and I knew that President Kimball had not called them on a mission. He had merely made the announcement. But the mission had been ordained by the Lord himself, and every young man who belongs to the Church has an obligation to labor to build up the kingdom.
There has been no difficulty, therefore, for me in telling young men that I know they have been called on a mission. And when they respond that they are not interested, I merely say: "Don't tell me; tell the Lord. You go and pray and ask him what he wants you to do." Almost always they return from that experience saying: "Well, I suppose I had better go on a mission." For some of them it is then time to say: "Now we both understand that you are not quite prepared, so let us begin to take the steps by which you will be qualified to go."
Here's another situation. I have watched missionaries over many years, as they teach the gospel, find that some of their best investigators tell them that they have decided not to join the Church. Most missionaries at this point are discouraged and disappointed. The missionary who understands the Holy Ghost, however, takes that moment as his great opportunity.
He even welcomes it, because he knows what to do. And he might say: "Very well, if that is your wish. However, please allow us a moment just to tell you how much the gospel means to us. Do you remember how Joseph Smith knelt one evening in his room and prayed to the Lord to know of his standing before God? As a result, an angel appeared and said: 'Joseph, I have come to you from the presence of God to tell you that the Lord has a work for you to do, by which your name will be known for good and evil among all men'. What did Joseph Smith say? Did he say: 'Oh, no thanks, Mr. Angel. I don't want to go on a mission. I only wished to know if the Lord loves me!' Of course, he couldn't have said that. We want to tell you that we know this work is true just as surely as if we had knelt there by the side of Joseph Smith, because God has revealed it to us. He will reveal it to you, too. We don't think you should decide not to join his church until you have knelt down and asked the Lord what he wants you to do."
And the investigators, as they pray, respond saying: "Of course, the Lord wants us to join the Church." The next step, naturally, is to prepare for their baptism.
What has taken place in all of these situations? It is simply that the Holy Ghost has come into the presence of those who are teaching and those who are listening and has given them a witness of the mind and will of God. They have felt something they never understood or knew before. Did you notice? You felt it, too, as I told you these experiences, and I felt it. This is explained in the Doctrine and Covenants: "Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together".
We are further told: "The Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach". Prayer is the principal means by which this Spirit is obtained and felt.
We must prepare ourselves to work with the Spirit of the Lord.
Certain principles must accompany our teaching through the influence of the Spirit: First, we are to be holy men. This does not mean like the Marlboro man or the macho man-holy men. Then we need confidence in the Holy Ghost; believe in it and expect its presence to be with us. And when it comes, we need to recognize its presence and be able to help others to feel the influence that it brings.
One of our great missionaries said: "I bear them my testimony. Then I bear them their testimony. And then I have them bear their testimony back to me."
That's the process. Alma did the same thing when he had explained to the people of the city of Gideon about the coming of Christ and the redemption that would be provided for those who would accept Him and be baptized, he said: "And now my beloved brethren, do you believe these things? Behold, I say unto you, yea, I know that ye believe them; and the way that I know ye believe them is by the manifestation of the Spirit which is in me". To this I bear testimony, after many wonderful experiences of the influence of the Holy Ghost, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder John H. Groberg
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My dear brethren, I ask that our faith be united so the Lord's spirit may touch our hearts.
I would like to begin by asking a question. How many of you, regardless of age, have your personal and family histories up to date?
As bearers of the priesthood, we have an obligation to follow the counsel of the prophet. President Kimball has made it abundantly clear that it is very important to write our personal and family histories. It is so important that this August the Church is sponsoring, in Salt Lake City, a great World Conference on Records to help all of us, and the whole world, better understand the vital importance of these histories and to learn much about how to write them.
Why is the writing of personal and family histories so important? There are many reasons. I will focus on just a few.
By writing personal and family histories and doing the research required thereby, we inevitably have our hearts turned to our fathers as well as to our children. The Lord says this must happen, "lest I come and smite the earth with a curse". Let us not be part of a curse.
Also, by writing personal and family histories, we are helped immeasurably in gaining a true, eternal perspective of life. Writing our histories with the proper blend of fact and feeling gives us a deep spiritual insight into the meaning and purpose of our lives.
I wonder if, as in so many things, we don't deny ourselves this deeper spiritual insight by simply neglecting to write our histories.
Some people say, "I don't have anything to record. Nothing spiritual happens to me." I say, "Start recording, and spiritual things will happen. They are there all the time, but we become more sensitive to them as we write."
Writing our histories will certainly help us keep our eyes on the most important of all goals-even the goal of eternal life.
As we contemplate what those before us have gone through that we might be here, as we sense their faith and courage and feel their love for us and our love for them, we realize what is really important. We begin to comprehend the eternity of the family. We gain great insight into the things of God, and we are not the same. We talk and act differently-for we have a deepened understanding of eternity. We realize that so-called problems are only what we see when we take our eye off our eternal goal.
The priesthood we hold is the power to bless others. The priesthood is eternal; thus, the blessings of the priesthood are eternal. Every use of the priesthood has eternal significance-including the writing of personal and family histories.
We have all been thrilled and humbled by the announcement of the new temples. I wonder how many personal histories written in the last few days have recorded great moving expressions of gratitude to God for earnestly prayed-for and sincerely sacrificed-for temples? I wonder how many personal histories will yet record such great feelings of gratitude as the future unfolds?
Writing histories should be a great motivation to do what is right. You young men, how many of your histories record, "I will serve a mission; I will live worthy to go to the temple; I know President Kimball is a prophet; I will follow his direction"?
I ask that every bearer of the priesthood resolve to do what is necessary to write in his personal history.
"Today I went to the temple and received my endowments"; or, "Today I went to the temple, where our family was sealed together"; or, "Today I went to the temple and did the work for my great grandfather "; or, "Today I went to the temple with my brother or friend or neighbor and witnessed their sealing."
If you resolve to do it, you will do it. Do not let anything stand in your way.
There is something eternal in the very nature of writing, as is so graphically illustrated by the scriptures themselves. In a very real sense, our properly written histories are a very important part of our family scripture and become a great source of spiritual strength to us and to our posterity.
For example, let me give you a brief incident from a family history in Hawaii. It involves sacrifice and temple blessings and true eternal perspective.
In the early 1900s, a young father and his family joined the Church in Hawaii. He was enthused about his new-found religion, and after two years of membership both he and his eldest son held the priesthood. They prospered and enjoyed the fellowship of the little branch. They anxiously looked forward to being sealed as a family for eternity in the temple soon to be completed in Laie.
Then, as so often happens, a test crossed their path. One of their daughters became ill with an unknown disease and was taken away to a strange hospital. People in Hawaii were understandably wary of unknown diseases, as such diseases had wrought so much havoc there.
The concerned family went to church the next Sunday, looking forward to the strength and understanding they would receive from their fellow members. It was a small branch. This young father and his son very often took the responsibility for blessing and passing the sacrament. This was one such Sunday. They reverently broke the bread while the congregation sang the sacrament hymn. When the hymn was finished, the young father began to kneel to offer the sacrament prayer. Suddenly the branch president, realizing who was at the sacred table, sprang to his feet. He pointed his finger and cried, "Stop. You can't touch the sacrament. Your daughter has an unknown disease. Leave immediately while someone else fixes new sacrament bread. We can't have you here. Go."
How would you react? What would you do?
The stunned father slowly stood up. He searchingly looked at the branch president, then at the congregation. Then, sensing the depth of anxiety and embarrassment from all, he motioned to his family and they quietly filed out of the chapel.
Not a word was said as, with faces to the ground, they moved along the dusty trail to their small home. The young son noticed the firmness in his father's clenched fists and the tenseness of his set jaw. When they entered their home they all sat in a circle, and the father said, "We will be silent until I am ready to speak." All sorts of thoughts went through the mind of this young boy. He envisioned his father coming up with many novel ways of getting revenge. Would they kill the branch president's pigs, or burn his house, or join another church? He could hardly wait to see what would happen.
Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes-not a sound. He glanced at his father. His eyes were closed, his mouth was set, his fingers clenched, but no sound. Twenty minutes, twenty-five minutes-still nothing. Then he noticed a slight relaxing of his father's hands, a small tremor on his father's lips, then a barely perceptible sob. He looked at his father-tears were trickling down his cheeks from closed eyes. Soon he noticed his mother was crying also, then one child, then another, and soon the whole family.
Finally, the father opened his eyes, cleared his throat, and announced, "I am now ready to speak. Listen carefully." He slowly turned to his wife and said, meaningfully, "I love you." Then turning to each child, he told them individually, "I love you. I love all of you and I want us to be together, forever, as a family. And the only way that can be is for all of us to be good members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and be sealed by his holy priesthood in the temple. This is not the branch president's church. It is the Church of Jesus Christ. We will not let any man or any amount of hurt or embarrassment or pride keep us from being together forever. Next Sunday we will go back to church. We will stay by ourselves until our daughter's sickness is known, but we will go back."
This great man had proper eternal perspective.
The daughter's health problem was resolved; the family did go to the temple when it was completed. The children did remain faithful and were likewise sealed to their own families in the temple as time went on. Today over 100 souls in this family are active members of the Church and call their father, grandfather, and great-grandfather blessed because he kept his eyes on eternity, because he used his priesthood to bless his family, and because he recorded his feelings. How the heart of this father turned to his children, and how his children's hearts turned to him.
All of you have similar incidents in your families. Search them out. Record them. Live by them, and pass them on to your posterity.
I have a strong feeling that when this life is over, our personal and family histories and the influence they wield will be of much greater importance than we now think.
Brethren, this is the work of the Lord. I testify that he lives and that he has great influence in our lives. May we have this understanding of eternity and see and feel and record his influence in our lives, I do humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
My beloved brethren, I have enjoyed this meeting very much. I have two talks here, and I have been thinking about which one I had better give. Both of them are too long, and we have already been well fed in this priesthood meeting.
It's a great thing to hold the priesthood of God, to represent him in the world. I am very grateful for his mercies unto me-the great opportunities that he has given me in my life to serve him. From the time I was a child, I have had a priesthood responsibility that I have tried to fulfill, and I want to express my appreciation to the Lord in the hearing of all of you brethren here tonight; I want him to know that I am grateful for the opportunities I have had in my life, for my ancestors on both my paternal and maternal side.
I have had association with the General Authorities now for about forty years, serving with them, and I have enjoyed my labors very much. I can bear witness to the righteousness of the men with whom I have labored. It's a great thing to labor with men like President Kimball and President Tanner. They are men without guile. They are men who do Herculean tasks, who labor far beyond their normal strength and who are held up and prospered by the power of the Lord that rests upon them. I am grateful for my opportunity of laboring with them, and I am grateful for the power that I have felt here tonight in these talks that have been given so well and with so much spirit.
I want to leave you my testimony and express my desire to remain faithful all the days of my life. I pray to the Lord for discernment that I can enjoy the promptings of the Spirit. There are many scriptures that are very dear to me, but one that has been perhaps as useful to me as any other scripture I can remember is the statement of the Lord that "the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit.
"And every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father.
"And the Father teacheth him of the covenant ".
Try to live, brethren, so that you can have the Spirit with you in all your activities. Pray for the spirit of discernment that you may hear the promptings of the Spirit and understand them and then pray for courage to do them, to follow the guidance of the Spirit. This is a great era of the world's history in which to live. We are living in the dispensation of the fulness of times.
We are moving into the time spoken of by the Savior that will try men's souls. We are God's anointed priesthood. There is no doubt about that, and he expects us to be true and faithful and show the way to the world to escape the destruction that will certainly come upon the wicked. And our responsibility is to live lives that will preach the gospel, as well as to quote the scriptures as we are taught. We must live so that men seeing us will know that we are living by the principles of eternal life.
I love you and want to serve you all I can as long as I live. I want to be worthy to stand with my brethren of the General Authorities and my brethren, laymen in the Church. I don't think all the good people in the Church are General Authorities. I think your struggles, your service, and your daily lives are a witness which the Lord will accept and bless you for. I bear you this witness and pray that the Lord will bless every man and boy who holds the priesthood, that we will magnify our callings and receive the rewards of faithful servants. And I ask this blessing upon all of you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, amen.
President Spencer W. Kimball
My dear brothers and sisters, it is a deeply moving and wonderful experience to stand here today where the Prophet Joseph Smith stood 150 years ago. We came here last night by jet airplane from Salt Lake City. We made the trip in a matter of a half-dozen hours, flying eastward over the broad expanse of this beautiful land where long ago our forebears painfully traveled westward in search of a place where they could be free of persecution and could worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience.
We are here, this lovely Easter morning, in the reconstructed farmhouse of Peter Whitmer, Sr. It has been faithfully restored for this occasion to bring to us anew the recollection of the all-important and significant event which occurred here a century and a half ago. In the years to come, it will be visited by good people from over the earth who will wish to stand where I stand today.
In this very location on April 6, 1830, there assembled a small group to formally organize The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were believers in the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith that in a grove of trees not many miles from here, on a spring day in the year 1820, he beheld in vision God the Eternal Father and his Son, the resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ. There followed in the intervening years visitations of other resurrected heavenly beings. From the soil of Cumorah's Hill, a few miles to the west of here, Joseph obtained from the angel Moroni the records of a people who anciently inhabited this land; and, through the gift and power of God, he translated that record, now known as the Book of Mormon. A substantial part of that work of translation was accomplished in this Whitmer home.
On that historic Tuesday of April 6, 1830, one and a half centuries ago, six men from those assembled in this house organized the Church as a religious society. Three of the descendants of those men are here with us today-Sister Lorena Horner Normandeau, a great-granddaughter of Joseph Smith; Eldred G. Smith, a second great-grandson of Hyrum Smith; and Melvin Thomas Smith, a great-grandson of Samuel Harrison Smith.
Standing here today we review in our minds the mighty faith and works of those who, from this humble beginning, gave so much to help move the Church to its present wondrous stature; and more importantly, we behold through the eye of faith a vision of its sure and glorious future.
Now, my brothers and sisters, with the future before us, and sensing deeply the responsibilities and divine mission of the restored Church on this sacred occasion, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles declare to the world a proclamation. We have felt it appropriate to issue this statement from here, where the Church began. Accordingly, I shall ask Elder Gordon B. Hinckley of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, to speak in my behalf and in behalf of my brethren, to read this proclamation to you and to the world.
President Spencer W. Kimball
My beloved brothers and sisters, I am grateful for this opportunity. It was a thrilling experience to speak to you a few minutes ago from the Peter Whitmer farm home where the Church was organized. It is now an inspiring experience to be in this lovely chapel in Fayette, Seneca County, New York, because it represents something of the marvelous progress made by the Church during the 150 years of its history.
My brothers and sisters, today we not only celebrate the Sesquicentennial of the organization of the Church, but also the greatest event in human history since the birth of Christ on this day 1,980 years ago. Today is Easter Sunday.
Immediately following the semiannual conference last October, Sister Kimball and I accompanied President and Sister N. Eldon Tanner and others to the Holy Land for the dedication of the Orson Hyde Memorial Gardens on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. During the few days we were there, we retraced the footsteps of Jesus.
We saw Bethlehem and Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, and the River Jordan. We visited the Mount of Transfiguration and Jacob's Well, the Garden of Gethsemane and Golgotha. We sat and meditated in the empty tomb. And then we walked out of the tomb into the sunlit garden where early in the morning the angels spoke to the two Marys and said, "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen".
That is my witness to all within the sound of my voice. He is risen! He lived. He died. He was resurrected-the Son of God, who opened the door of immortality to all men and the blessings of eternal life to those who live his commandments. Of his reality and divinity, I add my solemn testimony this beautiful Easter Sabbath.
In the proclamation just read by Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, we have reviewed briefly the events of the coming forth of the Church as a restoration of the original church established by the Savior himself when he was upon the earth. We have borne witness to the world of the miraculous and wonderful events which preceded that restoration, and also we have spoken of the remarkable progress of the work in the years that have followed. For 85 of those 150 years, I have been a living witness of this progress.
Knowing full well that before long, in the natural course of events, I must stand before the Lord and give an accounting of my words, I now add my personal and solemn testimony that God, the Eternal Father, and the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, appeared to the boy Joseph Smith. I testify that the Book of Mormon is a translation of an ancient record of nations who once lived in this western hemisphere, where they prospered and became mighty when they kept the commandments of God, but who were largely destroyed through terrible civil wars when they forgot God. This book bears testimony of the living reality of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior and Redeemer of mankind.
I testify that the holy priesthood, both Aaronic and Melchizedek, with authority to act in the name of God, was restored to the earth by John the Baptist, and Peter, James, and John; that other keys and authority were subsequently restored; and that the power and authority of those various divine bestowals are among us today. Of these things I bear solemn witness to all within the sound of my voice. I promise in the name of the Lord that all who give heed to our message, and accept and live the gospel, will grow in faith and understanding. They will have an added measure of peace in their lives and in their homes and by the power of the Holy Ghost will speak similar words of testimony and truth. I do this and leave my blessing upon you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
I now invite you to join me in a prayer of dedication:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. On this anniversary day, we are met where The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized under revelation from thee 150 years ago. Our hearts are filled with gratitude for thy marvelous blessings, so generously bestowed. As we review the past, we are subdued in contemplating the works of those who have gone before us, and particularly the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum who, with their life's blood, sealed their testimonies of the sacred things which occurred in this area.
We are grateful for all who have labored with faith in the nations of the earth to bring the Church to its present stature. Standing today at this milestone of history, we look with assurance to the future. We know that with thy direction thy work will roll on for the blessing of thy children of all generations and throughout the earth; and that where there are now hundreds there will be thousands; and that, whereas thy work is established today in many nations, it must and will roll forth over the whole earth until men everywhere shall bow the knee and give homage to thee and thy Son.
We plead with thee, our Father, that thou wilt touch the hearts of the rulers of nations that they will open their doors to thy servants until truth shall cover the earth as the waters cover the mighty deep.
Today, dear Father, in the authority of the holy priesthood, which thou hast given us, we dedicate these structures which stand on the farm of Peter Whitmer, Sr.: the restored log farmhouse, with its furnishings, as a reminder of the humble beginnings from which thy mighty work has grown; the later Whitmer home, as a place of residence for thy servants who will labor here as missionaries among the many strangers who will be attracted to this place of history; and this beautiful chapel and visitors' center, in which we meet today, that it may be a place of sacred worship, a place of instruction, a sanctuary from the world, and a place of hospitality to the scores of thousands who will come here as visitors. May thy Holy Spirit abide here. May thy protecting power be made manifest in the preservation of these important scenes of history. May knowledge of thee increase and testimony of thy divine Son strengthen in the hearts of the many who will come with interest and depart with added faith and knowledge.
Father in Heaven, on this day of dedication we pray for thy servants and thy people everywhere throughout the earth. Bless those who walk in righteousness, and let thy Holy Spirit be with them. Strengthen within the heart of each a renewed sense of dedication to thee and thy everlasting truth.
We love thee, our Father. We love thy holy Son. We give our witness to the world concerning him and thee, and ask that thou wilt accept of our thanks, our labors, and our love, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My beloved brethren and sisters, my heart is filled with gratitude for the opportunity to be here. This beautiful new Fayette chapel was made possible by the generosity of some of those present today. We thank you for your great kindness. I am particularly honored to be here with President Kimball on this historic occasion.
It is a pleasing coincidence that the birthday of the Church falls on Easter Sunday. Today the entire Christian world pauses to remember the most remarkable and significant event in history, the resurrection from the dead of the Son of God, the Savior of mankind.
To a world plagued with doubt over the actuality of that resurrection, Joseph Smith testified unequivocally of the risen, living Christ. That testimony was spoken in many ways and under many circumstances.
First, he spoke out of the experience of his incomparable vision of the Father and the Son, whom he both saw and heard. They were individual personages of form and substance, of body and voice. They spoke with him as one man speaketh with another.
Secondly, as the instrumentality through which came the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith has borne witness of the Savior to all who have read and will read that volume. Its constantly recurring message is a testimony of the promised Messiah who came to the earth and gave his life for the sins of all mankind, and who rose triumphant from the grave as "the first fruits of them that slept".
Thirdly, Joseph Smith bore witness of the living Lord through the Church organized here on these grounds. This church carries the name of Jesus Christ, and its members are expected by precept and example to bear witness of him in whose name they meet and serve.
Fourthly, Joseph Smith testified of the risen Lord, when by the power of his prophetic office he spoke these remarkable words:
"And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!
"For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father-
"That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God".
Finally, he sealed that testimony with his life's blood, dying a martyr to the truths of which he had spoken concerning the Redeemer of the world, in whose name he had carried on his ministry.
And so, brothers and sisters, on this day of Easter, when we remember Him who overcame death, we speak with gratitude of the Prophet who was a preeminent witness of the living Christ.
As we are assembled at the place of the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ, I picture in imagination that April 6 of 1830. The few who believed in Joseph's mission gathered on that day, which was designated by divine revelation as "being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh".
One wonders whether any of that group, other than Joseph Smith who saw with prophetic vision, had any idea of the greatness of the thing they were beginning. From this rural area, from the simple log farmhouse on these grounds, there was to grow by constant accretion an organization worldwide in its scope and numbering millions in its membership.
Those of us who are here today, reliving the events of history, are filled with emotion as our words and faces are caught by the wondrous technique of television, flung to a satellite high in the heavens, then fed back to an earth station and placed on a screen before those in the great Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, all of this with only the lapse in time between you and us of less than three-quarters of a second. As we think of this miracle, our minds are drawn by contrast to chapters in that epic and painful movement of the Church from these farmlands of rural New York to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, and thence to the nations of the earth.
Following the organization of the Church, persecution soon raised its ugly head. A decision was made to move to Kirtland, Ohio.
Here they built their beautiful temple, and in its prayer of dedication the young prophet invoked the powers of heaven that the Church "may come forth out of the wilderness of darkness, and shine forth fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners".
But the fulfillment of that prayer would not come quickly. The peace of Kirtland was shattered by insults, financial distress, the tarring and feathering of their leader.
In Missouri they built another center. This was to have been Zion. That dream was blasted with rifle fire, the burning of homes, the wolf cries of the night-riding mobs, the illegal expulsion order, followed by the painful march across the bottomlands of the Mississippi and the crossing of the river to a temporary asylum in Illinois.
Their prophet did not make that journey with the fleeing exiles. During the bitter winter of 1838–39 he was imprisoned in the cold, miserable basement cell of a Missouri jail, the victim of a false arrest.
Bereft, destitute, lonely, he cried out in those circumstances: "O God, where art thou?".
In the revealed response to that prayer came these remarkable words of prophecy:
"The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools shall have thee in derision, and hell shall rage against thee;
"While the pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the virtuous, shall seek counsel, and authority, and blessings constantly from under thy hand".
My brethren and sisters, we who are here today and you who are assembled in the Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City-all of us who are a part of this great kingdom established among the nations of the earth are the fulfillment of that prophecy, as is the institution of the Church of which we are members.
Joseph Smith never saw the day of which we are a part, except through the vision of a seer. He died that sultry June 27, 1844, at Carthage, Illinois.
John Taylor, who was then with him, summed up his work in these words: "Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people".
Standing at the crest of a century and a half since the organization of the Church, we are inclined to exclaim, "What hath God wrought through the instrumentality of his servant Joseph!"
I give you my testimony of him. He was the ordained servant of God, this Joseph raised up to become the mighty prophet of this dispensation-"a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ". To that witness I add another word of testimony, that President Spencer W. Kimball, with us today, is Joseph Smith's rightful successor, the prophet of our time, the President of the church which was organized here 150 years ago today. Its history has been heroic. It stands today a tower of strength, an anchor of certainty in an unsettled world. Its future is secure as the church and kingdom of God, of which I bear solemn witness in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Boyd K. Packer
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
That day, 150 years ago, came and went quietly.
Those who met in that humble farmhouse to organize The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were not-indeed they were not-the prominent men of their day.
Only a few, and they of most humble prospect, were party to it. It was as Paul had told the Corinthians:
"Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty".
This sacred event, witnessed by those few, had been preceded by marvelous spiritual manifestations.
In preparation for it the Father and the Son had appeared to one of them. He had been called as the prophet.
Angelic messengers had instructed them.
The principle of revelation, thought by most to have concluded in centuries past, was demonstrated to be ongoing.
The Book of Mormon had been published, and its pages carried a testimony of the prophet Moroni that angels have not "ceased to appear unto the children of men." Nor will they, "so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved".
These humble men from among the common folks of that day were to become Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, as surely as Peter, the fisherman, and the other common men had been made Apostles in ancient times.
And so the angels came, a continuation of them, to teach these men, to confer the priesthood upon them, to deliver keys of authority to them; for these were things that men could not assume, nor take to themselves.
Above all, the Lord Himself appeared and reappeared, "That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world".
Those days of beginning were not so far away as we sometimes think. There sits behind me on the stand Elder LeGrand Richards of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
He remembers personally some of those who helped to open this work.
He attended the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple and remembers President Wilford Woodruff very clearly. He heard him speak on several occasions.
Yesterday Elder Faust mentioned the incident where Wilford Woodruff, leading a group of immigrants, was inspired not to take an ill-fated boat. Brother Richards heard Brother Woodruff give that sermon, name a number in the audience, and say to them, "If I had not followed that prompting, you would not be here today."
President Woodruff was only two years younger than the Prophet Joseph Smith, and he had been an Apostle for five years when the Prophet was martyred.
Hands we have touched have touched the hands that shaped the beginnings of this dispensation.
Some things have not changed very much over the years. Some things have not changed at all. This work has been brought through 150 years by ordinary men and women and children across the world.
The rank and file of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, present and past, who now number in the millions, have each carried their part.
Lives are shaped through the influence of obscure, faithful members who carry the spirit of the gospel.
When once I tried to thank a great teacher and patriarch, William E. Berrett, he quickly passed the credit back to one who had taught him. An old convert from Norway was called to teach a group of mischievous Aaronic Priesthood boys. They were greatly amused by his broken English, but somehow the Spirit polished his words and soon the boys responded.
I have heard Brother Berrett testify on more than one occasion, "We could warm our hands by the fire of his faith."
President Heber J. Grant once heard Bishop Millen Atwood preach a sermon in the Thirteenth Ward, "I was studying grammar at the time," he said, "and he made some grammatical errors in his talk.
"I wrote down his first sentence, smiled to myself, and said: 'I am going to get enough material to last me for the entire winter in my night school grammar class.' We had to take four sentences a week, that were not grammatically correct, together with our corrections.
" But I did not write anything more after that first sentence-not a word; and when Millen Atwood stopped preaching, tears were rolling down my cheeks, tears of gratitude and thanksgiving that welled up into my eyes because of the marvelous testimony which that man bore of the divine mission of Joseph Smith, the Prophet of God. "
He continued: "Although it is now more than sixty-five years since I listened to that sermon, it is just as vivid today, and the sensations and feelings that I had are just as fixed with me, as they were the day I heard it.
" the one thing above all others that has impressed me has been the spirit, the inspiration of the living God that an individual had, when proclaiming the Gospel, and not the language. I have endeavored, from that day to this to judge men and women by the spirit they have; for I have learned absolutely, that it is the spirit that giveth life and understanding, and not the letter-the letter killeth".
Whenever we seek for true testimony we come, finally, to ordinary men and women and children.
Let me quote from the diary of Joseph Millett, a little-known missionary of an earlier time. Called on a mission to Canada, he went alone and on foot. In Canada, during the wintertime, he said:
"I felt my weakness. A poor, ill-clothed, ignorant boy in my teens, thousands of miles from home among strangers.
"The promise in my blessing and the encouraging words of President Young to me, with the faith I had in the gospel, kept me up.
"Many times I would turn into the woods in some desolate place with a heart full, wet eyes, to call on my master for strength or aid.
"I believed the Gospel of Christ. I had never preached it. I knew not where to find it in the scriptures."
That didn't matter so much, for, "I had to give my Bible to the boatman at Digby for passage across the sound."
Years later, Joseph Millett, with his large family, was suffering through very, very difficult times. He wrote in his journal:
"One of my children came in and said that Brother Newton Hall's folks was out of bread, had none that day.
"I divided our flour in a sack to send up to Brother Hall. Just then Brother Hall came.
"Says I, 'Brother Hall, are you out of flour?'
"'Brother Millett, we have none.'
"'Well, Brother Hall, there is some in that sack. I have divided and was going to send it to you. Your children told mine that you was out.'
"Brother Hall began to cry. He said he had tried others, but could not get any. He went to the cedars and prayed to the Lord, and the Lord told him to go to Joseph Millett.
"'Well Brother Hall, you needn't bring this back. If the Lord sent you for it you don't owe me for it.'"
That night Joseph Millett recorded a remarkable sentence in his journal:
"You can't tell me how good it made me feel to know that the Lord knew there was such a person as Joseph Millett".
The Lord knew Joseph Millett. And He knows all those men and women like him, and they are many. Theirs are the lives that are most worth recording.
This rank and file of the Church-150 years of them-have brought the truth to this generation. It is planted where it is most likely to bear an abundant harvest-in the hearts of the ordinary people.
When President Kimball first came here as a member of the Twelve, he was asked to sit for a portrait. To keep him from daydreaming, the painter one day asked an abrupt question:
"Brother Kimball, have you ever been to heaven?"
His answer seemed to be a shock, as he said without hesitation, "Why, yes certainly. I had a glimpse of heaven just before coming to your studio."
He then told of an experience in the temple where he had performed a marriage:
"As the subdued congratulations were extended, a happy father offered his hand and said, 'Brother Kimball, my wife and I are common people and have never been successful, but we are immensely proud of our family. This is the last of our eight children to come into this holy house for temple marriage. They, with their companions, are here to participate in the marriage of this, the youngest.'
"I looked at his calloused hands, his rough exterior, and thought to myself, 'Here is a real son of God fulfilling his destiny'".
President J. Reuben Clark told of pioneer members of the Church in these words:
"Day after day, they of the last wagon pressed forward, worn and tired, footsore, sometimes almost disheartened, borne up by their faith that God loved them, that the restored gospel was true, and that the Lord led and directed the Brethren out in front.
He then told of the morning:
" when from out that last wagon floated the of the newborn babe, and mother love made a shrine, and Father bowed in reverence before it. But the train must move on. So out into the dust and dirt the last wagon moved again.
"Who will dare to say that angels did not cluster round and guard her and ease her rude bed, for she had given another choice spirit its mortal body".
Who would dare to say that angels do not now attend the rank and file of the Church who-
answer the calls to the mission fields,
teach the classes,
pay their tithes and offerings,
seek for the records of their forebears,
work in the temples,
raise their children in faith,
and have brought this work through 150 years?
There comes a witness, also, from some who have stumbled and fallen but have struggled back and have found the sweet, forgiving, cleansing influence of repentance. They now stand approved of the Lord, clean before Him; His Spirit has returned to them and they are guided by it. Without reviewing the hard lessons of the past they guide others to that Spirit.
Who would dare to say that the day of miracles has ceased? Those things have not changed in 150 years, not changed at all.
For the power and inspiration of the Almighty rests upon this people today as surely as it did in those days of beginning:
"It is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief".
The prophet Moroni taught that angelic messengers would accomplish their work "by declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him.
"And by so doing, the Lord God prepareth the way that the residue of men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Ghost may have place in their hearts".
There has come, these last several years, a succession of announcements that show our day to be a day of intense revelation, equaled, perhaps, only in those days of beginning, 150 years ago.
But then, as now, the world did not believe. They say that ordinary men are not inspired; that there are no prophets, no apostles; that angels do not minister unto men-not to ordinary men.
That doubt and disbelief have not changed. But now, as then, their disbelief cannot change the truth.
We lay no claim to being Apostles of the world-but of the Lord Jesus Christ. The test is not whether men will believe, but whether the Lord has called us-and of that there is no doubt!
We do not talk of those sacred interviews that qualify the servants of the Lord to bear a special witness of Him, for we have been commanded not to do so.
But we are free, indeed, we are obliged, to bear that special witness.
But that witness, the testimony of this work, is not reserved to those few of us who lead the Church. In proper order that witness comes to men and women and children all over the world.
Across the world the ordinary members, who might be described as obscure, bear witness that they were guided to this Church by revelation and that they are guided in their service in it.
Revelation that belongs to the prophet and president of the Church, to speak on matters for the entire Church, rests as well upon all who hold office, each within the limits of his calling.
It rests upon parents who preside over families, and if we will live for it, it will rest upon each of us.
Like all of my Brethren, I too come from among the ordinary people of the Church. I am the seventy-eighth man to be accepted by ordination into the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in this dispensation.
Compared to the others who have been called, I am nowhere near their equal, save it be, perhaps, in the certainty of the witness we share.
I feel compelled, on this 150th anniversary of the Church, to certify to you that I know that the day of miracles has not ceased.
I know that angels minister unto men.
I am a witness to the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father; that He has a body of flesh and bone; that He knows those who are His servants here and that He is known of them.
I know that He directs this Church now, as He established it then, through a prophet of God. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
My beloved brothers and sisters and friends, today we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the organization of the Church. The Church of which we speak is not a man-made organization; it is exactly what its name implies.
"Thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations;
"And that the gathering together upon the land of Zion, and upon her stakes, may be for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth".
In the headnote to the twentieth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the prophet Joseph wrote: "We obtained of him the following, by the spirit of prophecy and revelation; which not only gave us much information, but also pointed out to us the precise day upon which, according to his will and commandment, we should proceed to organize his Church once more here upon the earth"; and then he added, "The Lord again attests the genuineness of the Book of Mormon."
Since the Lord, as he specified the date on which his Church was to be organized, attested again to "the genuineness of the Book of Mormon" at the same time, in the same revelation, I have concluded that as we observe the sesquicentennial anniversary of the organization of his Church, it will be proper for us to review a few Book of Mormon teachings. There are many reasons why we should do so. To begin with, the Lord has put us under obligation to teach the Book of Mormon. He said that he sent Moroni to reveal it, and that through his mercy he had given the Prophet Joseph "power to translate ", and that it contains "the truth and the word of God" and "the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and to the Jews also".
The Prophet Joseph Smith "told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book".
Nephi tells us that its contents "shall go from generation to generation as long as the earth shall stand; and the nations who shall possess them shall be judged of them according to the words which are written".
For me there could be no more impelling reason for reading the Book of Mormon than this statement that we who have the Book of Mormon shall be judged by what is written in it.
Moroni says that the very reason the book has been given to us is that we may know the "decrees of God" set forth therein and by obedience to them escape the calamities which are to follow disobedience.
To the early Saints the Lord spoke rather sharply about remembering the Book of Mormon's teachings.
"Your minds in times past," he said to them, "have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received-
"Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation.
"And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all.
"And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon".
Prior to this he had told them that "the Book of Mormon and the holy scriptures are given of me for your instruction". On another occasion he had said, "The elders, priests and teachers of this church shall teach the principles of my gospel, which are in the Book of Mormon".
It is, of course, obvious that unless we read, study, and learn the principles which are in the Book of Mormon, we cannot comply with this direction to teach them.
There is another reason why we should read the Book of Mormon: By doing so we will fill and refresh our minds with a constant flow of that "water" which Jesus said would be in us "a well of water springing up into everlasting life". We must obtain a continuing supply of this water if we are to resist evil and retain the blessings of being born again.
The great overall struggle in the world today is, as it has always been, for the souls of men. Every soul is personally engaged in the struggle, and he makes his fight with what is in his mind. In the final analysis the battleground is, for each individual, within himself. Inevitably he gravitates toward the subjects of his thoughts. Ages ago the wise man thus succinctly stated this great truth: "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he".
If we would escape the lusts of the flesh and build for ourselves and our children great and noble characters, we must keep in our minds and in their minds true and righteous principles for our thoughts and their thoughts to dwell upon.
We must not permit our minds to become surfeited with the interests, things, and practices of the world about us. To do so is tantamount to adopting and going along with them, for the experience of the race sustains the conclusion of him who said that-
.
If we would avoid adopting the evils of the world, we must pursue a course which will daily feed our minds with and call them back to the things of the Spirit. I know of no better way to do this than by daily reading the Book of Mormon.
In all dispensations, the Lord has counseled his people to keep in their minds and thoughts the truths he has revealed to them. To the early Saints of this dispensation he said: "Let the solemnities of eternity rest upon your minds". This counsel followed his statement to the elders:
"Ye are not sent forth to be taught, but to teach the children of men the things which I have put into your hands by the power of my Spirit;
"And ye are to be taught from on high".
Instructing ancient Israel not to go after "the gods of the people which round about" them, he said:
"Hear, O Israel.
" these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
"And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
"And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates".
"Search the scriptures", said Jesus to his carping critics, who, being surfeited with the things of this world, rejected him. In the scriptures they could, if they would, learn the truth about him and the things of eternal life which he taught them.
The Psalmist thus recounts the rewards which follow knowing and meditating upon the word of God:
"O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
"Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies.
"I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
"I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
"I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
"I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.
"How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every way.
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path".
I am persuaded, my brothers and sisters, that it is irrational to hope to escape the lusts of the world without substituting for them as the subjects of our thoughts the things of the Spirit, and I know that the things of the Spirit are taught with mighty power in the Book of Mormon. I believe with all my heart, for example, that if our young people could come out of our homes thoroughly acquainted with the life of Nephi, imbued with the spirit of his courage and love of truth, they would choose the right when the choice is placed before them.
How marvelous it would be if, when they must make a decision, there would flash into their minds, from long and intimate association with them, the words of Nephi:
"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them".
And when the going gets rough and temptation to abandon the course of righteousness presses upon them, they might think of his plea to his wayward brothers:
"Let us be faithful," he said, "in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands?".
If our young folks become familiar with the teachings of the Book of Mormon, they will not only be inspired by the examples of Nephi, the 2,000 sons of Helaman, and other great Book of Mormon characters to choose the right, they will also be so schooled in the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ that they will be able to know and understand what is right.
From almost every page of the book, there will come to them a moving testimony that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of the living God, our Redeemer and Savior. This witness alone will be a sustaining anchor in every storm. In the Book of Mormon they will find the plainest explanation of Christ's divine mission and his atonement to be found anywhere in sacred scriptures.
They will be familiar with the great, fundamental, basic virtues; the Book of Mormon is full of instructions concerning them. They will have learned that "to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal". They will know that the Lord God delights in chastity and virtue which are "most dear and precious above all things". They will know that a violation of these sacred principles is, in the sight of the Lord, "an abomination above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost".
They will have learned the folly of putting their trust in the learning of men or in the riches of this world. As a matter of fact, there is no fundamental virtue about which they will not be taught, for in the Book of Mormon, as has already been said, is to be found "the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ".
And so, I counsel you, my beloved brothers and sisters and friends everywhere, to make reading the Book of Mormon a few minutes each day a lifelong practice. All of us need the uninterrupted association with the Spirit of the Lord. We need to take the Holy Spirit for our constant guide that we be not deceived. I am persuaded by my own experience and that of my loved ones, as well as by the statements of the Prophet Joseph Smith, that one can get and keep closer to the Lord by reading the Book of Mormon than by reading any other book. Don't be content with what someone else tells you about what is in it. Drink deeply from the divine fountain itself.
I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity-the pure love of Christ-will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness.
That we will seek these blessings through reading the Book of Mormon, I humbly pray and leave my blessings with you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
This anniversary of the Church is of great importance to the Latter-day Saints.
One reason is that it allows us to see ourselves in perspective. It helps us to measure our growth. It shows us the direction we have come over the last 150 years and now points like a compass to the future.
With the ancient scriptures in our hands and the teachings of modern prophets constantly before us, we chart the course which the Lord expects us to follow.
By restoration from heaven we have received the everlasting gospel brought back to earth by angelic ministration as foretold by the prophets who saw our time. With it we were given the Book of Mormon, which is an amazing volume of ancient American prophetic writing. More than a million copies are published each year as we take it worldwide.
Our missionary system has increased from about a dozen men in 1830 to an army of nearly thirty thousand today. Our membership doubles every fifteen years. Our four million will soon be eight million. Our stakes and missions now exceed thirteen hundred in number in about eighty different nations. We have twelve thousand local congregations in forty-six languages.
We operate hundreds of seminaries and institutes for the daily study of the gospel. We also have some elementary schools and colleges. Our great Brigham Young University is recognized in many lands for its superior accomplishments. Knowing that the glory of both God and man is intelligence, we advocate good education.
We have a welfare program which is the envy of nations. We make an earnest effort to care for our own with no expense to taxpayers. For this purpose we have hundreds of projects which not only provide the necessities of life for the needy among us, but employment also, including jobs for the handicapped.
Our temple work moves forward magnificently. We are building additional temples in various parts of the world as we take the ordinances of salvation to more and more people. The service rendered in those holy structures exceeds anything ever known in the past.
We take humble pride in the rapid growth, the marvelous accomplishments, and the stability of our people. "By their fruits ye shall know them," the Savior taught. Our fruits bear testimony of our devotion to Almighty God, of our firm commitment to carry on his modern ministry, and of the validity of the message which we bear.
And what is our message?
First and foremost, it is that God does live, that he is our Eternal Father and our Creator. All human beings are his offspring. Knowing this, we accept the commandment of the Savior to perfect ourselves so that we may be like him.
Next we affirm that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the Christ-he who was born in Bethlehem on the first Christmas; he who answered the questions of the doctors in the temple when but twelve years old; he who was baptized of John; he who walked the plains of Palestine preaching his gospel, healing many who were sick, and raising some of the dead; he who was persecuted by the religious cults of the day, was condemned to the cross, but who conquered death and the grave in a glorious resurrection on the third day afterward.
He is the Savior of mankind! He is the Redeemer of all flesh! He did arise from the grave. He is risen, as the angel said, in physical, corporeal reality. And he lives today! Our modern prophets have seen him face to face and have talked with him. We know that he lives and by his resurrection he will also give to each of us a victory over death, for we too shall be resurrected-physically and literally. We too shall live again. That is our testimony on this Easter day.
We testify also that Christ has spoken again in our day, that he has raised up new prophets and through them has reestablished his Church on earth as it was originally when he called Peter, James, and John, Thomas, Judas, and others into the ministry.
The divine gospel was lost over the centuries, human philosophies displaced revealed doctrine, and the holy priesthood was taken away. But now it is all restored! We testify that it is restored! Revelation again comes from heaven. Prophets once more walk among us, and the truth is offered freely to all who will listen. God's modern dispensation now shines as a brilliant ensign to the nations, just as the prophets foretold.
But as it shines, opposition grows. As truth is spread abroad, deceit and dishonesty arise to oppose it. As virtue is taught by the servants of God, unchastity increases among the ungodly. Indeed, as the Prophet Lehi said, "There is an opposition in all things"; and as truth manifests itself, the adversary seeks to strike it down.
In a very real sense it is a war-a hot war-a war between right and wrong, between the powers of heaven and the forces of Lucifer.
The scriptures warn that the devil will make war with the Saints of God, but he never can and he never will overcome them. He will attack them with all the wicked devices his pornographic mind can devise, but he never will stop God's work.
This is not a war for territory or wealth; it is a contest for the eternal souls of men and women, boys and girls, the literal offspring of God, our Heavenly Father.
Our forces are strong. We have had many glorious victories and will yet have more. Our task is to save all who will listen.
God's work and glory are the same: "To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". We work together in partnership with him.
But how many of us realize how serious this conflict is? Do we measure its effect upon our own family circles? Do we understand what the devil is trying to do to us? Do we recognize his evil emissaries for what they are when they openly assail us or when they seek deceitfully to seduce us quietly?
Seduction is his greatest weapon. Do we realize that? I repeat: seduction is the greatest weapon of the devil. It is alluring; it falsely appears to be advantageous and desirable. He would have us think that bitter is sweet, that black is white, that sin is acceptable, that virtue is obsolete, archaic, and prudish.
Because he revels in filth, he would tell us that to be clean is some naive concept of our grandmother's age which does not apply in this enlightened day. He says that evil is good and that standards have been relaxed. "Go your way," he says; "fear no consequences; do your own thing; have fun; express your basest desires if you wish, and let yourselves go!" That is his philosophy.
Do we recognize it when it is flung at us by our angry foes or when it comes with a soft voice and a disarming smile? Do we truly recognize evil when we see it? Do we really know right from wrong? If we do not, then let us hasten to learn from our Church leaders. They will tell us quickly and plainly.
If we do know what is right, have we the courage to stand up for it, to defend virtue, to declare the validity of our faith, to oppose false teachings, and to fight the unpopular battle? Have we the moral stamina to confront any and all opportunities and thus preserve truth, uphold cleanliness, and defend the cause of God?
The time has come when we must take a far more firm and positive stand than ever before. We must identify illicit sex, pornography, filthy speech, and the use of liquor, tobacco, marijuana, and worse drugs as enemies of God and enemies to ourselves.
We must see in all of them the fiery darts of the devil.
We must bolster our spiritual fortifications, raise the shield which God has given us, and wield the sword of righteousness and faith as all God's servants should.
We must ask ourselves anew the potent question: Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
And we must understand that:
Have you a precious child? Would you save his soul? Would you fight to protect him from immorality, pornography, liquor, tobacco, and drugs? Do you shield him from evil companions?
How vigorously do you fight? Do you go all out for your child, or don't you love him that much? Would you try as hard to save him from sin as you would to save him from drowning or from fire? If not, why not?
Is not sin our worst enemy? It can destroy both body and spirit. Are we not fighting for eternal life as well as for a peaceful mortal existence?
Some young people are in trouble these days. Hundreds of thousands are not, of course, and are faithful and clean. But those who are casualties need help, and their greatest help should and must come from their own home circles.
Then shall we not as families bend every effort to save our young ones? Shall we not fortify our homes to defend them? Shall not every parent rise to this emergency? Every father must awaken to the responsibility which is his. Every mother must put her priorities where they belong.
Is it too much to ask that parents deliberately and objectively teach their children the gospel truths which alone can save them from the carnage of Satan? Is it too much to ask all parents to live those truths themselves?
Is it too much to set a proper example by our own righteous living?
Is it too much to teach our children that it is better to die in defense of virtue than to lose it?
It is too much to live the Word of Wisdom ourselves and teach it to our little ones? Is it too much to teach them that violation of the Word of Wisdom can lead them into much worse sin?
Is it too much to be honest ourselves and to teach our children to be honest?
Is it too much to have daily family prayers?
Is it too much to go with our children to our Church meetings and observe a sacred Sabbath?
Is it too much to hold family gatherings in our homes either before or after our chapel services on Sunday and thus further insulate our little ones against the sins of the day?
Is it too much to hold a home evening each Monday and there teach our family the value of a clean life, doing so by recreation as well as by precept?
Is it too much to believe sufficiently in the Lord so that we will accept his word and really obey him?
Is it too much to remember that God has said that if we are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus we shall lose the crown over the kingdom?
Is it too much to keep in mind-and may we never forget-that if we receive the commandments with a doubtful heart and keep them with slothfulness, we shall be condemned?
There is no reward for half-hearted obedience. We must become vigorous and enthusiastic about living our religion, for God commands that we serve him with all our heart, with all our might, with all our strength, and with the very best of our intelligence.
With him there can be no halfway measures. We must be fully for him or we may be classed with those who are against him.
Then what shall we do? Put on the whole armour of God-that is what we are to do:
"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
" Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day.
"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
"Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God".
As Paul further said, let us not be "men-pleasers," but be true servants of God, doing his will from the heart.
For this I humbly pray in the sacred name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
We stand today on a mountain peak, on a majestic, glorious peak in the midst of the mountains of Israel. To gain this height, we have climbed over peaks of peace and trudged through the valleys of despair.
Below us lie the deserts of sin and the forests of evil; below us stretch the swamps of carnality and the plains of passion; below us rage the roaring rivers of war and hate and crime, through all of which we have struggled to reach this summit.
Above us, stretching crest on crest, are yet greater and grander peaks. Each one is rimmed with rivers and forests and cliffs and crags. There are deep canyons and steep precipices.
Along the way we shall yet climb, hidden in the underbrush, is the lair of the lion and the hole of the asp. Venomous serpents are coiled on ledges beside the path and jackals lurk in dark caves by the wayside.
Our onward course will not be easy. The way ahead will be blocked by a landslide of lasciviousness; an avalanche of evil will bury the trail.
As we trudge forward, sharp rocks will cut our feet; rivers of lava will melt the soles of our sandals; and we shall be hungry and thirsty and faint. The way ahead will be hard and the path rugged.
But far in the distance-its heights hidden in the clouds, the divine Shechinah resting upon its summit-far in the distance stands Mount Zion, the grandest peak of all.
Through the morning mists we see Mount Zion, whereon is built "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem," where there is assembled "an innumerable company of angels," on whose height is congregated "the general assembly and church of the firstborn".
From where we stand, on the peak of 150 years of progress, the view is glorious indeed.
Looking back with pride, we see the spring of 1820 when the Gods of heaven, the supreme rulers of the universe, rent the heavens, appeared to Joseph Smith, and ushered in the dispensation of the fulness of times.
We see Moroni flying through the midst of heaven, sounding the trump of God, and revealing the book which whispers from the dust with a familiar spirit.
We see other angelic ministrants come, bringing keys and powers and authorities until all of the keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth.
We see the little stone cut from the mountain without hands beginning to roll forth toward that coming day when it shall smite the Babylonian image, break in pieces the kingdoms of men, and fill the whole earth.
We see the elders of the kingdom going forth to many nations, crying repentance, gathering Israel, and assembling the faithful in the tops of the mountains where stands the house of the Lord.
We see converts and stakes and temples. Gifts and signs and miracles abound. The sick are healed and the dead are raised by the power of God, and the work of the Lord goes forward.
But amid it all there is sorrow and toil and testing. The Saints are tried to the full to see if they will abide in the Lord's covenant even unto death.
Our gaze falls upon Carthage, where murderous devils in human guise shed the best blood of the nineteenth century.
We see Nauvoo in flames and the holy temple of God desecrated by depraved and cursing fiends.
We see snow and cold and death and graves, as a weary people follow a new leader to their promised land.
We see a people cursed and smitten and driven as they lay their all on the altar, and we hear them sing with their might, "All is well, all is well".
We see prophet follow prophet as the faithful seek to prepare a people for the Second Coming of him whose witnesses they are.
But our joy and rejoicing is not in what lies below, not in our past-great and glorious as that is-but in our present and in our future.
Nor are the days of our greatest sorrows and our deepest sufferings all behind us. They too lie ahead. We shall yet face greater perils, we shall yet be tested with more severe trials, and we shall yet weep more tears of sorrow than we have ever known before.
We honor our forebears and reverence our prophets. We rejoice in the goodness of God to them and thank him and them for the heritage that is ours.
As we ponder these things and count our blessings, we seem to hear a voice acclaim, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground".
But we know that our work is in the living present and our glorious destiny lies ahead.
From the top of the peak where the soles of our feet now tread, we can look forward, crest upon crest, to the Zion of God which one day will be ours if we walk in the course charted by those who have gone before. We cannot see the whole course; many things are hidden from our view. Mountain trails wind through valleys and over crests, around ledges, and through forests. We do not know the length of the journey nor the perils that await us.
But what we can see causes us to rejoice and to tremble. We tremble because of the sorrows and wars and plagues that shall cover the earth. We weep for those in the true Church who are weak and wayward and worldly and who fall by the wayside as the caravan of the kingdom rolls forward.
We rejoice because of the glory and honor that awaits those who come forth out of all this tribulation with clean hands and pure hearts.
Looking ahead, we see the gospel preached in all nations and to every people with success attending.
We see the Lord break down the barriers so that the world of Islam and the world of Communism can hear the message of the restoration; and we glory in the fact that Ishmael-as well as Isaac-and Esau-as well as Jacob-shall have an inheritance in the eternal kingdom.
We see congregations of the covenant people worshipping the Lord in Moscow and Peking and Saigon. We see Saints of the Most High raising their voices in Egypt and India and Africa.
We see stakes of Zion in all parts of the earth; and Israel, the chosen people, gathering into these cities of holiness, as it were, to await the coming of their King.
We see temples in great numbers dotting the earth, so that those of every nation and kindred and tongue and people can receive the fulness of the ordinances of the house of the Lord and can qualify to live and reign as kings and priests on earth a thousand years.
We see the seed of Cain-long denied that priestly power which makes men rulers over many kingdoms-rise up and bless Abraham as their father.
We see the Saints of God, who are scattered upon all the face of the earth, rise in power and glory and stand as lights and guides to the people of their own nations.
We see our children and our children's children stand firm in defense of truth and virtue, crowned with the power of God, carrying off the kingdom triumphantly.
We see the faithful Saints perfecting their lives and preparing for the coming of him whose children they are, preparing for the glorious mansion he has promised them in the kingdom of his Father.
But the vision of the future is not all sweetness and light and peace. All that is yet to be shall go forward in the midst of greater evils and perils and desolations than have been known on earth at any time.
As the Saints prepare to meet their God, so those who are carnal and sensual and devilish prepare to face their doom.
As the meek among men make their calling and election sure, so those who worship the God of this world sink ever lower and lower into the depths of depravity and despair.
Amid tears of sorrow-our hearts heavy with forebodings-we see evil and crime and carnality covering the earth. Liars and thieves and adulterers and homosexuals and murderers scarcely seek to hide their abominations from our view. Iniquity abounds. There is no peace on earth.
We see evil forces everywhere uniting to destroy the family, to ridicule morality and decency, to glorify all that is lewd and base. We see wars and plagues and pestilence. Nations rise and fall. Blood and carnage and death are everywhere. Gadianton robbers fill the judgment seats in many nations. An evil power seeks to overthrow the freedom of all nations and countries. Satan reigns in the hearts of men; it is the great day of his power.
But amid it all, the work of the Lord rolls on. The gospel is preached and the witness is born. The elect of God forsake the traditions of their fathers and the ways of the world. The kingdom grows and prospers, for the Lord is with his people.
Amid it all, there are revelations and visions and prophecies. There are gifts and signs and miracles. There is a rich outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God.
Amid it all believing souls are born again, their souls are sanctified by the power of the Spirit, and they prepare themselves to dwell with God and Christ and holy beings in the eternal kingdom.
Is it any wonder that we both rejoice and tremble at what lies ahead?
Truly the world is and will be in commotion, but the Zion of God will be unmoved. The wicked and ungodly shall be swept from the Church, and the little stone will continue to grow until it fills the whole earth.
The way ahead is dark and dreary and dreadful. There will yet be martyrs; the doors in Carthage shall again enclose the innocent. We have not been promised that the trials and evils of the world will entirely pass us by.
If we, as a people, keep the commandments of God; if we take the side of the Church on all issues, both religious and political; if we take the Holy Spirit for our guide; if we give heed to the words of the apostles and prophets who minister among us-then, from an eternal standpoint, all things will work together for our good.
Our view of the future shall be undimmed, and, whether in life or in death, we shall see our blessed Lord return to reign on earth. We shall see the New Jerusalem coming down from God in heaven to join with the Holy City we have built. We shall mingle with those of Enoch's city while together we worship and serve the Lord forever.
And so, as we view the endless course ahead, the glory and wonder on each succeeding peak seems to swallow up the shadows and sorrows in the valleys below.
With our souls attuned to the infinite, we seem to hear a heavenly choir whose celestial strains resound through the mountains of Israel. The music purifies our souls and the words become a psalm of worship-the Psalm of the Restoration. From peak to peak the echoing strains acclaim:
Glory and honor unto the Lord our God. Let heaven and earth acclaim his name, for he hath wrought wondrous works in all the earth.
Sing unto him, for he sendeth his holy angel and restoreth his pure word. He calleth truth from the earth and raineth righteousness from heaven.
Blessed be his great and holy name. He restoreth the kingdom to Israel; he gathereth his elect out of all nations; he inviteth the Gentiles to join with his people.
All glory to the Lord our King, for he cometh to reign gloriously among his Saints. He cometh with fire, and the wicked are as stubble. He cometh with loving kindness, and his redeemed inherit the earth. Glory and honor unto the Lord our God. Sing unto him for his wondrous works. Blessed be his great and holy name. All glory to the Lord our King.
And as these psalmic words echo and reecho in our hearts, we hear other things that it is not lawful for us to utter; and there comes into our hearts that sure witness that he who called his ancient covenant people, he who guides and preserves us at this hour, even he will be with us and ours everlastingly.
Our souls are at rest.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder L. Tom Perry
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My attention has been directed toward the great history of this Church during this, its sesquicentennial year. There is a period of Mormon history which has always been a great source of inspiration to me. Emerging out of what I would believe the darkest period of trial and hardship, there broke forth a light of beauty and accomplishment seldom witnessed in the events of mankind.
The efforts of the Church to settle in Missouri were met with severe opposition by the residents of that state. Lands were purchased, homes constructed, fields planted, and personal property acquired, only to have most of it stolen from them. In the dead of winter they were forced to leave the state under threat of their lives. All of the members of the First Presidency of the Church were imprisoned at Liberty awaiting trial. The only leadership they could give the suffering Saints was some encouragement through the mail, when it was allowed to be sent.
The Prophet Joseph Smith was forced to remain the long winter months from November to April awaiting trial at the Liberty Jail. When evidence could not be found against the prisoners, they were allowed to escape. They made their way to the Saints, who had been treated kindly by the residents of Quincy, Illinois. How the Prophet's heart must have plunged to the bottom of his soul as he came upon the suffering Saints encamped on both sides of the Mississippi River, some living in tents or dugouts and some shelterless under the open sky, without homes, comforts, or sufficient food. Disease had taken a heavy toll, and sickness reached out into every family.
Even though the Prophet was haggard, pale, and penniless after his long confinement, it did not take him long to make his leadership felt. He found a swamp where the Mississippi makes a horseshoe bend. It was practically deserted; there were only a half-dozen houses. It was a place in which nobody seemed to have a great interest. The owners of this mosquito-infested swamp were happy to sell the land to the penniless Saints for promissory notes, payable over a term of years.
"Characteristic of the Prophet, he renamed the place to meet his desires. Not what it was, but what, with the faith and work of man, the region might become-'Nauvoo, the City Beautiful'".
The faith of the Prophet rallied the people, and a special zeal seldom witnessed in all of man's history swept over this people. "That deep and abiding strength was to change a swamp into a great city; miserable shelters into splendid houses; penniless people to the most prosperous citizens of Illinois. That missionary zeal was to carry the gospel into many lands and double the membership of the Church. And all of this in the short time of five years!
"What a program. And what an accomplishment! A people stripped of all earthly possessions, money, homes, factories, lands, rebuilt in five short years, a city-state which was the envy of long-settled communities". A miracle had occurred!
Colonel Thomas L. Kane, in a speech before the Historical Society of Philadelphia, gave this graphic picture of Nauvoo:
"A few years ago, ascending the upper Mississippi in the autumn, when its waters were low, I was compelled to travel by land past the region of the rapids. My road lay through the Half Breed tract, a fine section of Iowa, which the unsettled state of its land titles had appropriated as a sanctuary for coiners, horse thieves and other outlaws. I had left my steamer at Keokuk at the foot of the lower falls, to hire a carriage and to contend for some fragments of a dirty meal with the swarming flies, the only scavengers of the locality.
"From this place to where the deep water of the river returns my eye wearied to see everywhere sordid vagabonds and idle settlers, and a country marred without being improved by their careless hands. I was descending the last hillside upon my journey, when a landscape in delightful contrast broke upon my view. Half encircled by a bend of the river, a beautiful city lay glittering in the fresh morning sun. Its bright new dwellings set in cool green gardens ranging up around a stately dome-shaped hill, which was crowned by a noble marble edifice, whose high tapering spire was radiant with white and gold. The city appeared to cover several miles, and beyond it, in the background, there rolled off a fair country chequered by the careful lines of fruitful husbandry. The unmistakable marks of industry, enterprise and educated wealth everywhere, made the scene one of singular and most striking beauty".
Each time I visit Nauvoo today, my heart swells with pride at the accomplishments of the early Saints. I marvel at its beauty, as a portion of this miracle city has been restored under the careful direction of Dr. LeRoy Kimball.
I reflect on what made this city so different from others I have studied in history. It is then that I remember these were special people; they were dedicated to live the principles of the Lord, our Savior. They followed His admonition when He said,
"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
" For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you".
Emerging out of the struggles to build Nauvoo are two fundamental principles which, when I think about them, are as necessary for our success today in 1980 as they were in 1840. First, there was a deep and abiding faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I marvel how tents and dugouts changed to beautiful brick and frame homes. The difference was the voice of a prophet rallying the Saints to put their trust in the Lord.
I hear the cries today of breakdowns in our system. There is a shortage here and a problem there, and every time I analyze the difficulty, I find it to be man-made. The Lord's supply system continues to work as it always has. The resources are still available in abundance. We worry about energy today, and some wonder if a miscalculation has been made in the heavens and the supply will not last until the Millennium. There is only one energy shortage existing today, and that is what exists between our own two ears.
How was this great faith developed in the hearts of our pioneer forefathers? They understood a basic tenet of the gospel. The Lord has required some principles to be accepted by faith by His children here on earth. Those principles which require acceptance by faith, however, are supported by that for which we have sure knowledge. There has grown through the generations a revealed truth that has been tested, analyzed, studied, and practiced. The early Saints understood that a knowledge of the law of the Lord, as contained in the scriptures, was the best foundation on which they could build their faith. They understood that the more the gap was closed between the principles which must be accepted by faith and those which could be obtained by knowledge, the stronger would be their faith.
In all of the history of mankind there has never been a time when we have had a greater opportunity to increase our knowledge of the law of the Lord. Each new season brings new lesson manuals, training aids, written words of inspiration, topical guides, cross-referencing systems, recorded tapes, etc., to increase our effectiveness in our study of the scriptures. The Church has even moved to a consolidation of the Sunday meeting schedules to allow additional hours at home on the Lord's day to study together as families. Surely there can be no excuse for us not to become the best informed generation of all time in our knowledge of the scriptures. Never before have we had opportunity such as we have today to become real gospel scholars.
The second principle taught to us by our pioneer forefathers was that of industry. They understood that something can never be generated from nothing. It was the united efforts of all that produced the greatest results. I wonder where Nauvoo would have been after five years if they had been worrying about paid vacations, coffee breaks, working too hard for what they received, unemployment benefits, etc. They only understood the principle that combined labor produces wealth. To survive, you must produce more than you consume. The wealth of this Church will always be measured by the ability of its members to work together, not by assets listed on a balance sheet.
The skill of one will be added to the skill of another as we work side by side. I often marvel at the number of special educations I have received through Church service. Calls to the welfare farm have taught me the art of gardening; work assignments on chapels have developed manual skills of carpentry, plumbing, painting, and cleaning. Church calls have given me an understanding of organization and administration. Missionary service taught the fine points of how to sell. Church service has given me a much more liberal, well-rounded education than a college degree could possibly bestow. The benefits to me have been multiplied a thousandfold over that which I would have received if I'd been paid for that service.
Then there is so much fun in Church service. I remember one hot summer evening when we were engaged in a ward building-fund project. We had contracted to supply the food service at a state fair. I was assigned to the dishwashing detail along with Bay Hutchings, another member of our ward. We were working across the counter from the customers who were enjoying our delicious food. There was a call from the cashier's cage: "Dr. Hutchings, the hospital is calling you." Suddenly all the forks were suspended in midair. The customers turned one to another and exclaimed, "A doctor washing dishes?" We had to immediately explain that this was a Church building-fund project. No one was being paid for his services. The waiters, cooks, dishwashers, and busboys were doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs-all having one great time working together for our project. We must never forget that the wealth, the strength, the security of the Church is our ability to labor together. Let us be a righteous example of this fundamental principle in our homes, our places of employment, our neighborhoods, our communities, our states, and our nations.
The history of the Lord's dealings with His children, as revealed through His prophets, has clearly outlined a formula for success for our mortal experience. First, it is to have a foundation in our mortal experience, a deep and abiding faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our value system must conform to His, must be consistent with His teachings.
Second is the process of laboring together to use the power of a child of God to build a better world. In this jubilee year let the trump sound again from the tops of the mountains. Let us rejoice and appreciate the accomplishments of the past. But more importantly, let this be a year of determined effort to teach correct principles with all of the energy we can muster. Let us learn to work together to make our homes places of love and beauty, our communities clean and wholesome, our nation fit for the blessings of the Lord, and the world a place where peace and understanding can dwell in the hearts of all mankind.
I want to add my testimony to this historic conference. God lives. Jesus is the Christ. The greatest joy we can find on this earth is conforming our lives to His principles. This I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Dean L. Larsen
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My comments today will bear upon President Kimball's challenge to us to rise above the plateaus we have been on. They will relate also to the added flexibility and freedom we are being encouraged to assume in the new pattern of Sunday worship and weekday activity. I'll speak to the principle which undergirds these new developments. Latter-day Saints understand that mortal life was purposefully designed to place us in circumstances where we can be individually tested and where, by the exercise of the agency God has given us, we can determine what our future possibilities will be. The ancient prophet Lehi understood this when he said to his son Jacob, "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death".
He further explained that men "have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law according to the commandments which God hath given".
On one occasion the Lord explained that it was his desire that "every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency given unto him, that every man may be accountable".
When we understand what is right and what is wrong, we are in a position to exercise our freedom in making choices. In so doing, we must stand accountable for our decisions, and we cannot escape the inevitable consequences of these choices. Such freedom to exercise moral agency is essential in an environment where people have the highest prospects for progress and development.
By our very endowment as children of an Eternal Father, we have had implanted within our souls the urgency to be free. It is natural for us to want to be accountable for our own fates, because there is a whispering within us confirming that this accountability is absolutely essential to the attainment of our eternal destiny.
The existence of laws, regulations, and procedures has never been sufficient to compel men to obedience. Productive obedience comes through the exercise of free will. Elder Albert E. Bowen of the Quorum of the Twelve once said:
"It is a truism that no law is any better than the people who administer it. Howsoever well framed a law may be or however worthy its purpose, it can degenerate into utter futility unless wisely administered by those sympathetic with its purposes".
We are told in the scriptures that prior to the creation of this earth, fully one-third of all the hosts who contemplated the challenges of mortal life allowed themselves to be deluded into thinking that there were acceptable alternatives to the essential risks that accompany the exercise of agency and free will. The price they paid is beyond comprehension. Today we are being encouraged to accept greater responsibility for the allocation of our time, for our spiritual development through personal and family study of the gospel, and for giving loving Christian service. We must be willing to respond to this new challenge. Our willingness to accept this added accountability will exert an influence that will reach far beyond our Sunday worship service and religious life.
Unless we retain a vibrant desire to be free, and unless we understand and practice the principles that give life to essential freedoms, we have little reason to hope they will endure. If we allow ourselves to accept dependency and regulation and to cease valuing independence and self-accountability, then we are vulnerable to the forces that destroy freedom. If righteousness is judged primarily by the degree to which one responds to programmed activity, then a condition develops within which opportunities for progress decline. The resulting tragedy affects the mortal potential of man and has a profound effect on his eternal possibilities as well.
Programmed behavior cannot produce the level of spiritual development required to qualify one for eternal life. A necessary range of freedom and self-determination is essential to one's spiritual development. With an understanding of correct principles and an intrinsic desire to apply them, one must be motivated within himself to do many good things of his own free will; for, as the revelation says, the power is in him wherein he is an agent unto himself.
In preserving our freedom for self-determination, we cannot ignore the need for carefully ordered structure and procedure within government or any other organization. A careful balance must be maintained between that which is ordered for the welfare of the group and that which is reserved for the conscience and the incentive of the individual.
This necessary balance of freedom and restraint is essential to right relationships within families and communities, and it cannot be ignored in our assignments within the Church.
I have pondered the injunctions that have come to us in recent months from leaders of the Church to simplify and reduce the number of programmed activities prescribed for the members. There seems to be a sensitivity to the need for maintaining this essential balance. We have heard increased emphasis given to the need for individual initiative and accountability within families. In his concluding remarks at the April 1979 general conference, President Kimball said:
"The basic decisions needed for us to move forward, as a people, must be made by the individual members of the Church. The major strides which must be made by the Church will follow upon the major strides to be made by us as individuals.
" Our individual spiritual growth is the key to major numerical growth in the kingdom".
I rejoice in the spirit and intent of this instruction from a living prophet. I see in it the purposeful effort to preserve our individual accountability in the context of our Church membership and religious life.
When members of the Church exercise self-determination in their application of gospel principles they need not relax in their compliance with these principles. In fact, optimum progress can only occur when conditions are ideal for it, and these conditions must include the necessary degree of freedom and self-accountability. Anything less will guarantee stunted spiritual growth.
We must understand that as freedom for unrestricted development is enhanced, the possibilities for failure are also increased. The risk factor is great. The ideal cannot be achieved otherwise. Celestial attainment can be reached in no other environment.
We have inspired leaders today who are reconfirming the fact that there is no ultimate safety in programmed security where others assume accountability for our direction and performance.
Those who insist that a Church program exist for every contingency and need are as much in error as their counterparts who demand that government intervene in every aspect of our lives. In both instances the ideal balance is destroyed with a resultant detriment to human progress.
These are essential truths which our leaders are reinforcing for us today. These are challenging truths. They demand much of us. They press us to make our lives better by our own initiative and by our own efforts. They make no unconditional promises.
At the same time, our obedience to them preserves for us the elements of life which make individual progress possible. They make life purposeful and full of promise. They lead to eternal progress. Humanity cannot fulfill its destiny when these truths are disregarded and abused. I cherish them with all my soul and am unreservedly committed to their promulgation among all the peoples of the earth. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Hugh W. Pinnock
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
What a marvelous day this has been, and what an incredible age in which we live! For over a year I have thought of this great day-the dedication of these three buildings, the many people who have made these projects possible, and the remarkable effect of the restoration of the gospel upon the world.
As we study this reinstitution and the theological basis of the Church, we will find ourselves thinking about the questions that so many others have asked. What is the explanation for the growth and the amazing influence of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? What does make Mormons different? Perplexed scholars, social critics, religionists, and cultural observers have given many answers. Their responses have ranged from describing the Church as a social abnormality that appeals to accomplishment-oriented people to such a simplistic idea as a conservative church always generates interest during troubled times.
However, the more deeply one wonders what makes us different from our nonmember friends and neighbors, the more certain is the answer: the Redeemer and other heavenly messengers personally restored the everlasting gospel to the earth. That is why we are here.
A poet so aptly said, "An honest tale speeds best being plainly told". That is my posture this day. The plain fact is that we believe the very same concepts that were revealed to the prophets ever since the world began. We utilize the same principles taught by the Master two thousand years ago.
As we study the Church today, we conclude that it is the same institution that was on the earth so many centuries ago. No other explanation is sensible. This is why scholars who attempt to relate the gospel of Jesus Christ to popular movements of the day, to a chance happening, or to other responses simply do not make sense, nor do they satisfy the longings of even the most naive seeker after truth.
An example: the Master, while speaking to his disciples in the Old World, said, "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd". We have known for 150 years that the other sheep were those sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father living here in the Americas. These are they whom the Savior visited after his resurrection. Their lives and trials are recorded in the Book of Mormon. No other logical explanation can be given for that verse in John. The restored gospel also offers explanations for so many other verses that have left biblical scholars mystified and struggling.
Yes, the Church is essentially an alien body implanted in fairly hostile territory. As the Savior advised, we are to be in the world but not part of it. We are to be loyal soldiers in this rebel world. Yes, we are different, and we must remain that way.
Why else would a group of people have the courage to respond almost unanimously to a man whom we know to be our prophet, seer, and leader, one who receives revelations continuously as needed? Similarities are found in the times of ancient Israel and again in the days of Jesus Christ. Where else is found a church that is structured with apostles and prophets, patriarchs, seventies, bishops, and teachers?
Here is a church that responds to the Savior's admonition, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of God". The great programs we have for our little ones assure them from their first consciousness that we love them and desire to teach them the truth.
Consider these additional aspects of the restored Church: a great women's program involving in meaningful ways over 400,000 of our sisters who are leading and teaching in various organizations; the Aaronic Priesthood and the Melchizedek Priesthood, which involve the men and boys in a multiplicity of powerful and helpful ways; worship services on the first day of the week; holy temples where eternal marriage and other ordinances are performed, including baptism for the dead; a worldwide missionary system wherein 30,000 men and women serve; baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; an unpaid clergy; teachings that stress the redeeming and positive in life; and an extensive welfare program to assist the poor and needy in dignity and love. The list goes on and on.
The events of this day further testify that the happenings of fifteen decades ago, which occurred here in western New York state, began a moral revolution that, as Daniel prophesied, would roll forth to eventually encompass the globe..
There are other implications, however, that need to be stated. Where can one find spiritual, emotional, and economic safety in order to survive today's terrible cultural storms? The world is messy and bent on self-centeredness. Economic chaos and political instability are also part of today's environment, leaving uneasiness, insecurity, and turmoil in all of our lives. Fortunately, the Restoration gives us the panacea that mends, directs, corrects, and heals; but if we don't conform to this great God-given system, we will be like those unwise maidens who did not trim their wicks and fill their lamps with oil. We as a people are action-oriented and work-inclined. Conformance to this eternal system of energy expenditures does provide the only complete set of answers, which the world so desperately needs. May we be wise.
A grateful and sensitive member of the Church could logically ask, "What may I do personally to express gratitude for all that I am and have because of my membership in and affiliation with the kingdom of God?" Here are some suggestions:
First, utilize in personally helpful ways the advice and counsel of our prophet. One of our unique characteristics, as a people, is the fact that we have a divinely appointed leader, a heavenly designee, whose authoritative responsibility has persisted for 150 years, beginning at this very spot with the first elder of the Church, Joseph Smith. A prophet's words are designed to provide joy for us and for those we love, to include direction that will intensify our eternal effectiveness.
Second, become more expressive to our friends, family members, and neighbors concerning this great restoration. In a revelation given on this very day one and one-half centuries ago, Jesus expressed the necessity of being effective missionaries when he said, "That as many as would believe and be baptized in his holy name, and endure in faith to the end, should be saved".
Third, serve, as called, in the kingdom. In this same April 1830 revelation, the Lord said: "All those who are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ shall be received by baptism into his church".
Fourth, walk "in holiness before the Lord". The Lord went on to say, a sesquicentennial ago, that "by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name's glory". The most significant sermons we will ever preach will be through the acts we perform.
These are four simple steps, but from them can come happiness and peace that surpass understanding. To reiterate:
First, follow the loving counsel of our prophet and other Church leaders.
Second, teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Doesn't integrity demand that we tell others about this great restoration?
Third, serve the Master. Manifest our testimonies through our words and works.
Fourth, walk in holiness and live the commandments.
May each of us, as part of this great jubilee year and sesquicentennial celebration, conform our lives in building, loving, forgiving, and healing ways to express gratitude for all we have, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Spencer W. Kimball
This has been a glorious conference, my brothers and sisters! I have felt close to those of you in the Tabernacle, even though we are separated by a whole continent.
This great sesquicentennial conference has brought us all close to the beginnings of this dispensation. We have been refreshed because of those reminders. But even as we speak of beginnings, events in the world remind us that we are moving ever closer to the ending of this dispensation. So, for me, this conference has been filled with memories and also with anticipation-feelings which have combined to make me more grateful than ever for the privilege of being a part of this great latter-day work.
Viewed in perspective, 150 years isn't really a very long time, even in human history. It is but a brief moment in eternity. You and I know that, actually, individuals and institutions are measured by deeds, not days; by service, not centuries. Just as an individual's life can often make up in quality what it lacks in length of years, so The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has compressed into 150 years many significant accomplishments. We don't have to be old to be great.
We have now had twelve Presidents of the Church. I wish to express my deep and heartfelt appreciation for each and all of the eleven Presidents who have preceded me and for all that they and their associates and the general membership of the Church were able to achieve, often in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
One cannot study the history of the Church without being impressed with how steadfast the majority of the Saints have always been in the midst of difficulty. I sense that same steadfastness in the Church today. Our members know their Lord. They know his leaders. They know their Master's voice and follow it. They do not follow strange voices nor the spurious enticements of strangers.
We have been entrusted with a special message for all the world. We must ever be conscious of that trust and ever be on the alert. There is a tide to be taken now in the affairs of the Church in all the earth which will lift us up and carry us forward as never before. Let us then not weary in well doing.
Now, my brothers and sisters, as we move into the last half of the Church's second century, let us keep our faith beautifully simple. May we, as Paul said, be "wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil". Learn to recognize evil, and shun it always. May we keep Church programs and organizations simple. If we do, we will build to a thrilling and rewarding momentum in the days and months and years ahead. The Savior urged his followers to be "wise as serpents, and harmless as doves". Let us follow that counsel today. Let us so live that if people speak critically of us they must do so falsely and without justification.
Let us hold fast to the iron rod. The Savior urged us to put our hand to the plow without looking back. In that spirit we are being asked to have humility and a deep and abiding faith in the Lord and to move forward-trusting in him, refusing to be diverted from our course, either by the ways of the world or the praise of the world. I see that quality of readiness and devotion in our people today. There is so much yet to be done! let us, then, move forward; let us continue the journey with lengthened stride. The Lord will lead us along, and he will be in our midst and not forsake us.
I know with all my soul that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he died on the cross and was resurrected from the dead. He is the risen Lord, the Great Presiding High Priest, and he stands at the head of the Church. Of this I testify this beautiful Easter Sunday, on this great anniversary of the restoration and organization of the Church on this very spot 150 years ago. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Spencer W. Kimball
My dear brothers and sisters, my message today is not a new one. Prophets of all dispensations have clearly taught the law of tithing and the principles of the gospel with regard thereto. From the beginning we have been taught that "the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof". From this fulness, the Lord requires that we dedicate one-tenth to him. Tithing is a law of God and is required of his followers. To fail to meet this obligation is to fail in a very weighty matter.
On this subject, we may read the word of the Lord in this dispensation in section 119 of the Doctrine and Covenants.
Inquiries are received at the office of the First Presidency from time to time from officers and members of the Church asking for information as to what is considered a proper tithe.
We have uniformly replied that the simplest statement we know of is the statement of the Lord himself, namely, that the members of the Church should pay "one-tenth of all their interest annually" which is understood to mean income.
At times when we are inclined to think it is vain to serve the Lord, we should stir our faith, believe in the rich promises of God, and obey-and patiently wait. The Lord will fulfill all his rich promises to us. Paul says: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him".
Even for the present life, great blessings are promised to the obedient. Take, for example, the promise to the tithe payer:
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
"And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.
"And all nations shall call you blessed."
As I have already noted, the word of the Lord establishing the law of tithing in this dispensation was revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith at Far West, Missouri, on July 8, 1838, and is recorded in section 119 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Ten days later the Lord gave the Prophet Joseph a further revelation, section 120 of the Doctrine and Covenants, making known the proper disposition of the tithes of the Church by a council composed of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the Presiding Bishopric. To this day, the Council on the Disposition of Tithes, composed of the eighteen presiding Brethren designated in the revelation, meets regularly under the inspiration of the Lord to determine and approve the disbursement of the tithes of the Lord's church. As you are well aware, the Church does not engage in deficit spending. The sacred funds of the Church are carefully budgeted so that the expenditures never exceed the income.
President Joseph F. Smith, in speaking on the law of tithing from this very pulpit at the October conference in 1897, said:
"The purpose of the law of tithing is similar to that of the law of revenue which is enacted by every state, every country, and every municipality in the world, I suppose. There is no such thing as an organization of men for any purpose of importance, without provisions for carrying out its designs. The law of tithing is the law of revenue for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Without it, it would be impossible to carry on the purposes of the Lord."
Time will not permit me to tell you in detail a beautiful story on tithing told by my uncle, President Joseph F. Smith. It concerns an experience his mother, Mary Fielding Smith, the widow of Patriarch Hyrum Smith, had after she came into the Salt Lake Valley. It is heartwarming and faith promoting. She said to a man at the tithing office, across the street where the Hotel Utah now stands, who chided her for paying tithing: "You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Would you deny me a blessing? If I did not pay my tithing, I should expect the Lord to withhold his blessings from me. I pay my tithing, not only because it is a law of God, but because I expect a blessing by doing it. By keeping this and other laws, I expect to prosper, and to be able to provide for my family."
I would recommend that all of you read the full story in the book Gospel Doctrine, a selection of President Smith's writings and sermons, pages 228, 229, and 230.
My brethren and sisters, again I say, tithing is a law of God and is required of his followers. To fail to meet this obligation in full is to omit a weighty matter. It is a transgression, not an inconsequential oversight.
Brethren and sisters, the law of tithing is a divine commandment and applies to all the children of our Heavenly Father. All who believe the Bible ought to believe that it is a law of God. But none understand it and live it like the Latter-day Saints attempt to live it, because it has been renewed to us by modern-day prophets.
There echo again and again the words of the Master: "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's".
I bear my testimony, brothers and sisters, and witness to the divinity of this important law of the Lord and pray our Heavenly Father to bless you and all the Saints with that same testimony and leave my blessings with you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Bishop Victor L. Brown
Presiding Bishop
My dear brothers and sisters, my message this morning is one of deep concern.
You will recall that ancient Israel was kept wandering in the wilderness for forty years before the people were prepared to cross over Jordan and enter the promised land. For over forty years we as a people have been taught the importance of personal and family preparedness. We have been taught that the first responsibility for our welfare rests upon our own shoulders and then upon our families. Only when these resources fail do we have call upon the Church. Yet, in recent months, it has been increasingly evident that there are many who are not prepared.
Within the last twelve months, the distribution of fast offerings and commodities by the bishops has been alarming. At the present rate of demand, the Church resources will be almost expended in a short time. As a matter of fact, some commodities have already been depleted, and this when the evidence is that the recession will be of a short duration. It would appear that in altogether too many cases the teachings about preparedness have been either misunderstood or knowingly rejected. Many of our members appear to feel that when difficulty comes, the Church will come to their aid, even when they could have prepared themselves had their priorities been appropriate.
Some time ago while visiting two stakes, I saw the evidence of the point I am trying to make. Both stakes were in predominantly Latter-day Saint communities. Both were affected seriously by the same severe but temporary disruption of employment. Generally, when I arrive in a new community for stake conference, I drive around the neighborhood or countryside to get a feel for the kind of people who live there. For example: Are their yards well taken care of? Are their homes well cared for? Are there old dilapidated barns and outbuildings, or are the properties neatly maintained and fenced? In other words, how much pride do the people have in themselves and their community?
In the first stake I refer to, I saw well-cared-for homes and yards. It seemed that this was a prosperous, so-called middle-class area. Some would have thought it an affluent area from the number of recreation vehicles in the driveways-boats, campers, and motor homes. As I met with the stake presidency, I commented on the apparent prosperity of the people. However, when reviewing the welfare needs of the people, I was shocked to see the demands made on the fast-offering funds and the bishops' storehouse.
The stake president informed me that within a week or two of the closing down of the major employer, many families came to their bishops for assistance. They had very limited reserves from which to take care of themselves. He also mentioned there were some faithful members in his stake who from their reserves had taken care of their own needs as well as assisting some of their neighbors.
In the second stake, which was some distance from the first but which was impacted heavily by the same employment problem, I saw few recreation vehicles. As a matter of fact, I saw little evidence of affluence, although the properties were neat and tidy. Here I was surprised to see practically no fast offerings or bishop's orders being used.
I asked the stake president if his bishops understood and were discharging their responsibilities for the poor and those in need. He indicated that, while some families had needed to seek assistance from their bishops, most of the members recognized their responsibility for their own welfare and were prepared to take care of themselves.
You see, the priorities of the members of these two stakes were very different. Many in the first stake were not prepared and expected the Church to take care of them, while in the second stake the situation was reversed-the majority of the people had prepared to meet their own needs.
May I also share some individual examples which are indicative of a growing problem?
A few months ago a young couple decided to cancel their health insurance. They felt they just could not afford it. The high cost of graduate school, in a time of rampant inflation, led them to disregard the counsel of the Brethren. Then came a baby-premature, with serious complications resulting in incredibly expensive care. Heartsick and frightened, they turned first to their families, who responded with substantial help. That not being nearly enough, they then turned to their bishop, who, from the fast offerings, supplied additional help. They would have been almost self-sustaining had they retained their insurance.
A young man decided that trade school was too demanding and too expensive. He dropped out of school, got married, and took a low-paying job in a grocery store. When a baby came, he found that his income was not adequate even for the family's basic needs. Too embarrassed to approach his parents, he turned to his bishop for help.
Another family chose Monday night sports on television in preference to family home evening. For weeks and months there was no family prayer, no gospel discussions, no reading of the scriptures, no other meaningful family activities. Now a teenage daughter has run away from home, and the parents have turned to the bishop for help.
In each of these examples, the central problem could probably have been avoided if the members had applied the principles of personal and family preparedness. The principles apply universally to all members of the Church all over the world, notwithstanding the fact that the full welfare services program is not in place in most countries outside the United States and Canada. We recognize there may be legal restrictions in some countries on certain phases of the program. Nevertheless, our people should follow these teachings to the extent the law allows.
I implore you stake leaders to see that the messages of this welfare services meeting get to the bishops, the quorum leaders, and the ward Relief Society presidents so that the members of the Church can be taught and converted sufficiently to live the basic principles of which we speak and thus put their houses in order.
The bishop is responsible to administer to the needs of the poor and needy. He determines who will receive assistance and in what form that assistance will be. His judgment is basic to the wise administration of this program. He determines whether it blesses the people or becomes simply a dole. He also is responsible to see that no one who should properly be helped is overlooked.
Earlier I indicated that these principles have been taught for forty years. As a matter of fact, as President Kimball said, they have been taught for a much longer period of time. President Brigham Young, in remarks given in the Mill Creek Ward on July 25, 1868, had this to say, among other things:
"I believe the Latter-day Saints are the best people on the earth of whom we have any knowledge. Still, I believe that we are, in many things, very negligent, slothful and slow to obey the words of the Lord. Many seem to act upon the faith that God will sustain us instead of our trying to sustain ourselves. We are frightened at seeing the grasshoppers coming and destroying our crops. I remember saying in the School of the Prophets, that I would rather the people would exercise a little more sense and save means to provide for themselves, instead of squandering it away and asking the Lord to feed them. In my reflections I have carried this matter a considerable length. I have paid attention to the counsel that has been given me. For years past it has been sounded in my ears, year after year, to lay up grain, so that we might have an abundance in the day of want. Perhaps the Lord would bring a partial famine on us; perhaps a famine would come upon our neighbors. I have been told that He might bring just such a time as we are now having. But suppose I had taken no heed to this counsel, and had not regarded the coming time, what would have been my condition to-day.
"View the actions of the Latter-day Saints on this matter, and their neglect of the counsel given; and suppose the Lord would allow these insects to destroy our crops this season and the next, what would be the result? I can see death, misery and want on the faces of this people. But some may say, 'I have faith the Lord will turn them away.' What ground have we to hope this? Have I any good reason to say to my Father in heaven, 'Fight my battles,' when He has given me the sword to wield, the arm and the brain that I can fight for myself? Can I ask Him to fight my battles and sit quietly down waiting for Him to do so? I cannot. I can pray the people to hearken to wisdom, to listen to counsel; but to ask God to do for me that which I can do for myself is preposterous to my mind. Look at the Latter-day Saints. We have had our fields laden with grain for years; and if we had been so disposed, our bins might have been filled to overflowing, and with seven years' provisions on hand we might have disregarded the ravages of these insects, and have gone to the canyon and got our lumber, procured the materials, and built up and beautified our places, instead of devoting our time to fighting and endeavoring to replace that which has been lost through their destructiveness. We might have made our fences, improved our buildings, beautified Zion, let our ground rest, and prepared for the time when these insects would have gone. But now the people are running distracted here and there. They are in want and in trouble, and they are perplexed. They do not know what to do. They have been told what to do, but they did not hearken to this counsel."
President Young goes on to say: "We must learn to listen to the whispering of the Holy Spirit, and the counsels of the servants of God, until we come to the unity of the faith. If we had obeyed counsel we would have had granaries today, and they would have been full of grain; and we would have had wheat and oats and barley for ourselves and for our animals, to last us for years."
Quoting further from President Young: "When Moses was on the mount they went to Aaron and inquired where Moses was, and demanded gods to go before them. And Aaron told them to bring him their ear rings and their jewelry, and they did so, and he made of them a golden calf; and the people ran around it, and said these be the gods which brought us out of the land of Egypt. How much credit was due to them? Just as much as to us, for not saving our grain when we had an abundance, and, when grasshoppers come, crying, 'Lord turn them away and save us.' It is just as consistent as for a man on board a steamboat on the wide ocean to say, I will show you what faith I have, and then to jump overboard, crying, 'Lord save me.' It may not seem so daring; but is it any more inconsistent than to throw away and waste the substance the Lord has given us, and when we come to want, crying to Him for what we have wasted and squandered? The Lord has been blessing us all the time, and He asks us why we have not been blessing ourselves."
I do not want to leave the impression that nothing has been done. There are those faithful Saints who have their year's supply and are taking care of themselves. They know of that peace which comes from being obedient and being prepared. From letters we receive, we know that many other families are planting gardens and working toward their year's supply of food, clothing, and other necessities. Some parents are striving to get the whole family involved in temporal welfare.
One recent letter reads: "I am over our food storage at home. I'm ten years old. I would like your manual called 'Home Storage and Production.' If you can send me any other information I'd like that too. Travis Leal"
Our concern and the thrust of my message, which has been repeated from this pulpit many times, is that the welfare program rests on the basic principle of personal and family preparedness, not on Church preparedness. We are concerned that because the Church program includes production projects, canneries, bishops' storehouses, Deseret Industries, and other visible activities, our people are mistakenly led to believe these things replace the need for them to provide for themselves. This simply is not so. The evidence that this illusion exists is seen in the experience of the last few months as the draw on fast offerings and storehouse commodities has spiraled.
We are very much aware that we live in difficult times, perhaps as difficult as any recent period in history. The economy in general seems to be out of control; there is high unemployment in many areas. Inflation is running rampant in most countries of the world. Personal debt is staggering. It seems almost impossible for young people to buy a home. Many who have purchased a home have monthly payments which leave no room to handle the slightest emergency.
We have been taught that we should build our reserves over a period of time, that we should not go into debt to do so, that we should buy those things we use and use them on a rotation basis, that we should use common sense in preparing ourselves to be independent and self-reliant. There has never been extremism or fanaticism associated with these teachings. I fear we today are somewhat like those referred to by President Brigham Young in this quotation:
"We have seen one grasshopper war before this. Then we had two years of it. We are having two years now. Suppose we have good crops next year, the people will think less of this visitation than they do now; and still less the next year; until in four or five years it will be almost gone from their minds. We are capable of being perfectly independent of these insects. If we had thousands on thousands of bushels of wheat, rye, and barley, and corn we might have said to them, 'you may go, we are not going to plant for you.' Then we could have plowed up the ground, put in the manure, and let the land rest, and the grasshoppers would not have destroyed the fruits of our labors which could have been directed to the beautifying of Zion and making our habitations places of loveliness."
My brothers and sisters, I feel our anxieties are justified. It is the opinion of many that more difficult times lie ahead. We are deeply concerned about the welfare of our people and recognize the potential privation and suffering that will exist if each person and family does not accept the word of the Lord when he says, "Prepare every needful thing", and "It must needs be done in mine own way".
May I again implore you priesthood and Relief Society leaders to see that all members of the Church everywhere understand the responsibility they have for their own welfare, that our people will be blessed to live provident and righteous lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Bishop J. Richard Clarke
Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric
My dear brothers and sisters, the greatest test for any generation is how it responds to the voice of the prophets. Our prophets have admonished us to-
Increase our personal righteousness.
Live within our means and get out of debt.
Produce, can, and store enough food, clothing, and, where possible, fuel for one year.
This straightforward counsel has not been followed by all of you. Some have believed and complied; others have waited until they could be sure the storm clouds were really gathering; and still others have rejected the counsel.
There was once a group of villagers who instructed their young shepherd, "When you see a wolf, cry 'Wolf! Wolf!' and we'll come with guns and pitchforks."
The next day the boy was tending his sheep when he saw a mountain lion in the distance. He cried out, "Lion! Lion!" But no one came. The lion killed several sheep. The boy was distressed: "Why didn't you come when I yelled?"
"There are no lions in this part of the country," they replied. "It is wolves that we are afraid of."
The young shepherd learned a very valuable lesson:
People respond only to what they are prepared to believe. The Brethren hesitate sometimes to talk in bold terms regarding the realities of the economy and the need for individual and family preparedness. Such talk is interpreted by the black-cloud watchers as a time of general calamity, and many stampede to the grocery stores to get ahead of the hoarders.
In April 1976 Bishop Featherstone suggested a one-year goal for members to store a year's supply of food. Some of those who had not yet begun a home storage program rushed out and plunged deeply into debt to buy hundreds of dollars of groceries. They then sat back, as did the Prophet Jonah, to see what was going to happen to Nineveh: It was as if Brother Featherstone had officially set doomsday as April 1, 1977. This was not his intention. The Lord's way has always been an orderly preparation, not one of second-guessing, confusion, and panic.
Let us be wise stewards. Let us ponder the lessons of history and profit from the experiences of those who have not heeded the prophets. Gibbons, Toynbee, Durant, and other noted historians have analyzed the reasons for the fall of the mighty civilizations. The repetition is monotonous. In summarizing cause and effect, an American educator lists six common reasons why each civilization fell:
"1. They lost their religious convictions and flouted basic morality.
"2. They became obsessed with sex.
"3. They debased their money of its intrinsic value and let inflation run rampant.
"4. Honest work ceased to be a virtue.
"5. Respect for law disintegrated and violence became an accepted method of achieving individual and group desires.
"6. Finally, citizens were no longer willing to be soldiers and fight for the defense of their nation and their heritage."
Brothers and sisters, will our modern nations be wise enough to escape similar destruction? Are we prepared to reverse the course of history? Through the exercise of our political rights and responsibilities, through community service, and through personal righteousness, we must free our nations from tyranny and from fiscal and moral bankruptcy to the extent of our ability. But we must never forget that permanent security is possible only on the condition that we follow the prophets of the Lord.
In section 101 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord reminds us that when the Saints are slow to hearken to his words, he is "slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble.
"In the day of their peace," he explains, "they esteemed lightly my counsel; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me."
Later in this same revelation a very powerful lesson is taught in the parable of the husbandmen. You will recall that husbandmen were hired to plant twelve olive trees in the vineyard, to build a hedge around it, to build a tower, and to set a watchman thereon. As they counseled together, however, they couldn't understand why the Lord would have need for a tower, "seeing this is a time of peace". While they held a committee meeting, contending, "at variance one with another they became very slothful.
"And the enemy came by night, and broke down the hedge," scattered the frightened servants, and "destroyed their works, and broke down the olive trees." It was a terrible way to learn the consequences of disobedience. How much better just to follow the simple instruction of the Master.
Each gospel dispensation produces a number of valiant, faithful Saints-the truly elect and noble of God. They may be one individual or an entire family. They are honored and remembered not by worldly standards but for their simple majestic faith. They have placed obedience to God as their sacred obligation. They love him. They trust him. They are committed to serve him. They are the bone, muscle, and sinew of the church of God in every age. They form the household of faith. Here are some classic statements from their ranks:
"I know not, save the Lord commanded me".
"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord".
"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded".
"Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word".
"I feel to say to the Lord, humbly, 'Give me this mountain', give me these challenges.
"I will 'wholly follow the Lord my God' to the fullest extent of my energy and ability."
Brothers and sisters, we do not always know why the Lord commands us to do certain things. His ways are not man's ways. But this much we do know-his paths are straight. They are not the crooked paths of men. We accept faith as the first principle of the gospel; but do we trust the Lord enough to act first and receive confirmation later? Some may call this blind obedience. An Idaho bishop used to say, "Any kind of obedience is better than any kind of disobedience." Faith is not blind. However, we will often receive no witness until after a trial of our faith. If we have been disobedient in the past, let us commit today to repent and to put our house in order.
I believe we can best accomplish this by applying the counsel of the prophets in three critical temporal problems confronting the Saints: the management of personal income and expenditures; the dwindling of work quality and productivity; and the insufficiency of reserves, in the form of both cash and commodities.
Regarding the need for financial management, let me refer you to President Tanner's classic talk, "Constancy and Change," given during October 1979 general conference and suggest that you study it carefully. Proper budgeting is essential to sound management. There is no question that we all need the discipline of a budget.
We have been counseled to get out of debt. This directive has been confusing to many of us over the years. How is it possible to be out of debt and to buy a home, finance education, or start a business? When President Clark advised us to avoid debt as we would the plague, I believe he was teaching us a vital principle of temporal harmony. Debt is always a burden, but some debt is necessary. Sound business debt, home mortgages, and other forms of "secured" debt are unavoidable for most of us. However, extravagant use of credit, which comes from yielding to our emotions rather than reason, creates burden.
For most of us, consumer debt is dangerous and difficult to contain because it is so readily available. It can appease an immediate want-as well as a bona fide need. Enticing advertisements convince us that luxuries are our right and our need. Isn't it interesting how a luxury once enjoyed soon becomes a necessity?
Our guide for credit management should be: borrow only what we must, at the lowest rate available, for the shortest time possible. This requires restraint of appetites and practice of the time-honored virtue of frugality. There is an insidious philosophy that advocates plunging into debt and letting inflation pay it off. I reject this philosophy. If we all operated on that premise, we would completely subvert our economic system. As long as we secure our debt with equity, we can manage it; but to amass debt by pledging future earnings submerges us in financial quicksand.
In order to balance our personal income and expenditures, we obviously reduce expenses or increase our earnings. Too often, however, people find it easier to adjust to a tighter budget than to find ways to generate additional income. Is it possible that our members are becoming part of a "conspiracy for mediocrity" by being content with their present knowledge and skills? Pride of workmanship has always been the heart of a competitive free-enterprise system. There are too many tradesmen who will not pay the price to become craftsmen, teachers who do not teach, repairmen who do not repair, farmers who do not farm, leaders who do not lead, and problem solvers in every field who do not solve problems.
Our labor should be honest labor and quality labor. The only honorable way for each of us to share in the world's wealth is to exchange our own goods and services for those produced by someone else. The Saints would be in demand everywhere and could command premium compensation if we would accept the challenge to set a Mormon standard of quality, unique because of its excellence. This is part of our religion.
Let me repeat what has been taught from the beginning. Adam learned, as part of his first lesson by the Lord on economics, that the earth was to be subdued and dominion gained by sweat, by brain and brawn. The divine law of work shall never be repealed-for God established it. He has cursed idleness and commanded parents in Zion to teach their children to work. There is a high price for excellence, but the compensation and soul satisfaction are truly worth it. To work below our capabilities creates a deep hunger in ourselves and enormous waste in society. Our doctrine of eternal progression certainly encompasses our occupational progress. Each of us should be on a career path which will require us to stretch to our full potential.
Finally, concerning the insufficiency of reserves, God gave a natural instinct to the animals he created to preserve their surplus against a time of need. But man has developed the tendency to squander all that he harvests and to leave to chance or to others his satisfaction of future needs. This is contrary to divine law. Frugality is a principle of righteousness. Consumption should never exceed our production. Economic freedom comes from the surpluses we create.
In addition to our reserve of food, we should build a cash reserve. We should form habits of thrift and teach our children that part of everything we earn should be ours to keep. It is true that inflation reduces the purchasing power of savings, but how much purchasing power do no savings have?
Another major reserve is home equity. Our major concern is that too many families have overextended themselves so that the debt burden overshadows the benefit of home ownership. Again, let us be sure we do not confuse wants with needs.
One final concern of reserve deficiency is the need to insure against our greatest potential loss. I think we all would agree that our ability to earn is our greatest asset. When the provider insures his life, he is insuring his future income for his family. As husbands, let us not force our wives into the marketplace to be both the provider and homemaker should our lives be cut short by premature death. We can increase their options by proper insurance planning.
We would also urge each family to carry adequate health insurance. Medical costs are soaring, and trying to self-insure from personal savings is very risky. During inflation, medical costs increase faster than our savings accumulate.
Since its inception, there have been critics of the welfare program-but some people have a problem for every solution. I am sure there were Israelites in Egypt who did not want to leave their homes until Moses could explain how they were going to get across the Red Sea. It was not until they followed Moses to the shores of the Red Sea that the Lord opened up the way to them.
Brothers and sisters, we do not know by what means or when a crisis will occur in our family. Residents of Michigan did not need a nationwide, full-scale depression to tax their economic resources and cause many to lose their jobs. If I have a crippling disability for a prolonged period, my income stops just as surely as if it were caused by a national catastrophe. We tend to view distasteful circumstances in a rather detached way; but, as one of the American presidential candidates recently said, "If my neighbor loses his job, it is a recession; but if I lose my job, that's a depression."
There are some who feel that they are secure as long as they have funds to purchase food. Money is not food. If there is no food in the stores or in the warehouses, you cannot sustain life with money. Both President Romney and President Clark have warned us that we will yet live on what we produce.
I would like to make one point very clear. The welfare services program of the Church is essentially you and I being self-sufficient within our own families. The Church storehouse system is a backup system for the small number of members who are poor or physically handicapped, or for emergencies or disasters. There is no way the Church, as an institution, intends to assume the responsibility that rightfully belongs to the individual. The welfare program was never designed to do so. Personal and family preparedness is the Lord's way. Then, by uniting together to pay generous fast offerings and by providing commodities from our projects and canneries, we can help our neighbor who cannot help himself.
Most important of all, brothers and sisters, with all our storing, let us store righteousness that we may stand approved of the Lord. In 1833 the Lord said,
"Therefore, let your hearts be comforted, for all things shall work together for good to them that walk uprightly, and to the sanctification of the church.
"For I will raise up unto myself a pure people, that will serve me in righteousness;
"And all that call upon the name of the Lord, and keep his commandments, shall be saved."
Such a people will be known as the "household of faith". That we may be found in their midst is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Sister Barbara B. Smith
Relief Society General President
My dear brothers and sisters, I have been thinking what a difference we could make in each household if we as women accept and follow the wise counsel given this morning, if we wholeheartedly respond to it-not in a spirit of sacrifice or out of a sense of duty, but because of our devotion to the Lord. Our response, then, would be out of the fulness of our hearts-with joy, with faith, and with a feeling of challenge and innovation.
I am reminded of a visit I had with President Kimball. At that time he had been reading again the account of Joseph who was sold into Egypt. President Kimball made the comment that Joseph was a great teacher of the welfare program.
Since then, as I have read the story of Joseph, I have been impressed with his great qualities of mind and spirit that made his experience one of the greatest welfare sagas of ecclesiastical history.
Recall the circumstances of Joseph's Egyptian servitude, his time in the household of Potiphar as overseer of the house. Remember the test of faith during his unjust imprisonment. Consider his interpretation of dreams that ultimately led to his elevation to the highest office in Pharaoh's government.
Note Joseph's obedience to the Lord's warning of impending famine, that "the land perish not through the famine". "Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea" during the seven plenteous years against the seven years of famine.
Observe the drama unfold which brought Joseph's brothers to him to plead for food. Joseph was the agent of their deliverance. Feel the emotion as Joseph revealed his true identity to his family.
Finally, recognize the discipline of Joseph's life that brought to fruition his absolute faith in the Lord, his endurance, his deep affection for his kindred.
We, as women in the Church, can be Joseph-like in faith and in obedience and in following the direction of the Lord given us through his chosen leaders.
In this time of international uncertainty, worldwide inflation, and financial stress, I see the need for the Relief Society to become increasingly involved in welfare matters and for its members to implement welfare principles more fully.
In the organization, the wheels have already been set in motion for a closer, more efficient response in welfare. The first of these major moves was made in April 1979, when President Ezra Taft Benson announced the establishment of priesthood councils at every level of Church government. Last October the Relief Society's role in priesthood councils was explained. We directed Relief Society leaders regarding their participation and involvement. From reports received, this instruction is now beginning to be implemented, and a better working relationship between priesthood and Relief Society leaders is resulting.
The next action taken by Relief Society to carry out its responsibilities and contribute more effectively in the welfare program came last spring. At that time a new administrative plan was adopted to fully utilize the stake and ward Relief Society boards.
Acting under the direction of the ward and stake Relief Society presidencies, each board member is assigned to a specific division of work. She is to serve as a resource to her presidency in planning, goal setting, and implementing the assigned facet of work.
In the area of welfare, the board member, working under the direction of the president, is expected to become knowledgeable about all aspects of welfare and to help the presidency by-
Interpreting welfare services material; studying, compiling, and evaluating welfare services information.
Investigating resources; becoming familiar with Church and community resources.
Increasing understanding; meeting regularly with the presidency to discuss Relief Society's role in welfare services.
Initiating goal setting; setting short- and long-term goals with the Relief Society president.
Implementing approved plans and revising plans when directed.
She correlates her work with other board members as she helps to carry out approved welfare plans. In this assignment, the board member extends the effectiveness of the president and her counselors, but she does not assume their responsibilities nor replace them on welfare services committees, nor does she handle confidential matters.
The presidency works under the direction of priesthood leadership as defined in the new Welfare Services Resource Handbook.
We feel this new assignment will strengthen and extend Relief Society's capability to respond to ward or stake welfare responsibilities.
We ask that Relief Society presidencies become thoroughly familiar with the Storehouse Resource System and that they learn how to complete a bishop's order for commodities accurately and with sensitivity. The Relief Society president must complete all orders before the bishop signs them. The two signatures assure agreement that the kinds of products and the amounts are correct and that Church resources are safeguarded.
As Relief Society leaders, we now look forward to an era of increased activity in the welfare aspect of our work. We have a specific goal to be implemented immediately which we offer as a challenge and a guide for Relief Society leaders and members alike. We ask, in this time of inflation and great financial stress on individuals and families, that our teachings of "provident living" be further expanded and fully practiced by every member.
We encourage women to economize in creative ways such as-
Exchanging skills, when practical, instead of money; exchanging excess vegetable produce from one garden for fruit from another; exchanging rather than buying books, musical instruments, Scout uniforms, etc.
Becoming more knowledgeable gardeners; developing their own garden seeds gathered from their own high quality produce.
Saving time and money by organizing their homes into efficient work and storage centers and by preparing food with their own mixes.
This means that all will make wise use of the resources available to them as they live each day and prepare for the future.
Let us become better managers of our economic resources. The first step could be to plan a workable budget. This should be one that is uniquely right for us. Our budget, in addition to allowing for the basic payments to the butcher, the baker, and the mortgage loan banker, should include a payment to ourselves-in the form of savings, even though it may be meager at first.
In an interesting book entitled The Richest Man in Babylon, the story is told of a poor scribe who bargained with the rich man for his formula for economic success. That early Babylonian gave a surprisingly simple answer: "A lean purse is easier to cure than endure.
" learn to make your treasure work for you. Make it your slave.
"Pay for what you eat and wear but pay yourself as well."
Let us practice prudence in our homes, become better meal planners, housekeepers, and home decorators. Let us acquire the sewing and tailoring skills that will help our clothing look custom-made and that will help keep it in good repair. Let us make our kitchens creative centers from which emanate some of the most delightful of all home experiences.
I know that many women already do this. One such family does not like to miss a meal at home. The children want to bring their friends home because of the mother's excellent cooking and the inviting table on which the food is served. The parents always engender gracious, stimulating conversation with their children at mealtime.
The mother is what I would call a provident homemaker, especially in her kitchen. When she cooks, she cooks in quantity, not only for the immediate meal but for other meals as well. She is creative and innovative with foods. She makes nourishing soups, such as split pea, onion, minestrone, and consommé, using marrow bones and soup meat. Then she serves the meat as a main course dish with a savory sauce or garnish. Colorful fresh vegetables are added to make a complete and satisfying meal. Occasionally she prepares chicken from which she makes delicious chicken dumplings, chicken salad, or chicken sandwiches. This homemaker uses necks, backs, and other less meaty parts that many discard to provide a base for the aromatic broth from which soups are made for the days ahead. This woman draws from a home garden of beautiful fruits, vegetables, and herbal seasonings to make the family meals to "please the eye and to gladden the heart; for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul".
I sense in this homemaker a happy, creative spirit that makes provident living an enriched way of life.
She understands-as we each should-that life is made up of small daily acts. Savings in food budgets come by pennies, not only by dollars. Clothing budgets are cut by mending-stitch by stitch, seam by seam. Houses are kept in good repair nail by nail. Provident homes come not by decree or by broad brushstroke. Provident homes come from small acts performed well day after day. When we see in our minds the great vision, then we discipline ourselves by steady, small steps that make it happen. It is important to realize this correlation between the large and the small.
Let us as women in the Church today make happy, provident living a life-style in our homes, approaching this goal in a spirit of challenge and innovation and thanksgiving. Let us see what creativity can do to heighten the standard of our living, not reduce it-to be provident without becoming penny-pinching, miserly, or ungenerous. We have many ideas displayed in the Relief Society Building, and we invite you to come and see them.
Then as we attend area and multiregion council meetings and as we serve in this vital welfare work, may we be great teachers of welfare services principles. Led by chosen priesthood leaders, may we all work together, as Joseph of old proclaimed, "to preserve a posterity in the earth, and to save lives by a great deliverance", I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Douglas W. DeHaan
President, Portland Oregon East Stake
At times, working on a Church welfare production project can seem to be largely a temporal experience. We may have just spent a long, hot day on one of our farms thinning, weeding, or lifting. Or perhaps we are returning home near midnight, knowing that we are expected to be on our own jobs at 7:00 A.M. after working a swing shift in one of our canneries. While we may have a tired but satisfying feeling inside, it may not register with us that much of it was a spiritual experience. Yet D&C 29:34 makes it clear that requirements the Lord places upon us are always spiritual. He says to us, in part, "And not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal."
Just three years ago, at this same time of year, I had this great principle demonstrated to me at the hands of the Lord in a very special way. The Portland Oregon East Stake has been developing a dairy farm over the past half dozen years or more. It is located on an island in the Columbia River and is one of the largest single-stake projects in the Church. This fact, coupled with the need to develop the project almost from scratch, has placed a heavy burden upon our people, both in time and in money.
With a new project, we had run in the red each year, but 1977 was to be our turnabout year. The final result depended upon harvesting about seventy-five acres of corn, which was to be made into silage for feed. Unseasonably, it had rained almost every day during the month of September, and by the first day of October, our scheduled harvest date, I knew the crop was in trouble. We have a very high water table on the island, and when the ground gets saturated with too much water we get so much mud our harvest equipment cannot get into the fields without sinking. Once the land is saturated, it takes about a month of dry weather to make the fields passable to vehicles. During the winter months and right up until June, the corn ground is entirely under water.
I visit the farm about once a week, so I keep a pair of rubber boots in my car. I drove to the farm that October day and decided to pull on my boots and walk down into the corn fields. I immediately found even the road turned to mud and puddles. In places the mud came near the top of my eighteen-inch-high boots, and I don't really know why I continued walking. It was a dark gray, overcast day, and drops of rain were splashing in the open puddles everywhere. The farm crew told me they had taken a corn chopper down into the fields a few days earlier but had it down to the axles in mud somewhere in the long corn rows.
As I walked I noticed that the corn itself was a fine crop, with row after row ten to fourteen feet high. Now, I rarely get depressed, but I was feeling really low that day. I knew how hard everyone had worked and what it meant to lose that fine crop. I eventually came to the spot where the chopper had gone in, and looking way down the rows I saw it sunk deep into the mud. For some reason I decided to walk to the chopper, and as I entered the rows and splashed on through the mud and water, I was startled to hear a voice. I am sure that the voice came to me only in my mind, but I could hear the voice and admonition of President Kimball. He said softly, "Is any thing too hard for the Lord?" Now, like you, I have heard him say that many times, but I did not fully focus upon it before this time. I smiled to myself as I walked and said, "Yes, President, I believe this mess may be too hard even for the Lord."
As I neared the chopper, I was impressed to climb up on it and upon doing so found my head was about two feet above seventy-five acres of that tall, splendid corn. As I looked about in discouragement, the voice seemed to come to me again, but this time in a more serious tone, "President, is there anything too hard for the Lord?" At once I felt ashamed of my attitude of depression, and soon I was no longer looking down but up into the sky. Before I realized it, I was talking, yes, pleading aloud with the Lord in faith. When I had finished, I had committed that crop and the harvesting of it into the hands of the Lord and had done so by the power of the priesthood of God. I recall that as I climbed down from the chopper, tears were still streaming from my eyes. I grew concerned as I slowly walked away considering what it was that I had just done. Yet I knew that I had done it in total faith, that there was a proper need, and that it was a righteous request of the Lord.
Because of the spiritual nature of my experience, I think I had decided not to tell anyone of it. But the very next Sunday I was sitting on the stand during one of our ward sacrament meetings. I was not scheduled to speak, but the bishop got up with about ten minutes remaining and said, "I feel President DeHaan has had a spiritual experience that he needs to share with us." I got up reluctantly, knowing what it was I had to relate. I did so and asked the congregation to join me with their faith. Now, we have Saints with great testimonies in our stake, and my experience spread rapidly throughout the wards. I learned several weeks later that members were even telling their nonmember friends to go ahead and plan picnics and outdoor activities, because even in Oregon it was not going to rain throughout October. On the day following my experience in the corn fields, the sun came out for the first time in nearly thirty days. Then the next day we had sun, and the day following that. Before long the temperature was back into the high seventies. Every day for the next three weeks the weather forecast called for rain, but each day no rain fell.
I recall that about two weeks later I flew to Seattle, about two hundred miles to the north, on business. It rained very hard there all day, and as I made the return trip to Portland it rained all the way until we reached the Columbia River, which surrounds our farm. Miraculously, the clouds parted and the rain ceased. That day I cut a little weather map from the newspaper showing the rain ending at the river and put it on our refrigerator as a reminder to keep my faith. Three weeks after my original experience in the fields, I drove to the farm once again. I put on my boots and went back into the corn. This time the ground was soft but firming. That was on a Friday, and our fine farm crew was already making plans to begin the harvest on the following Monday.
That same day an acquaintance of mine from a local television station called. He said, "I understand the Mormons are developing a fine dairy farm on Sauvies Island." I answered in the affirmative, and he inquired, "Is there a story there?" I told him there was, but I knew he could never capture the real story. That very Monday, as we began our harvest, we had a camera crew on the farm for several hours, and we did get some fine publicity for the Church.
With the loyal assistance of many of the members, we worked day and night for the next five days. By the following Saturday, all of the freshly chopped corn was safely in our silage pits, and we finished covering it over with plastic. At last we had the feed needed to get us through the winter. Within an hour after having covered the crop, the heavens just seemed to open and commenced one of the heaviest and longest downpours I can remember. The fields from which the corn had just been removed were flooded and remained under water from that day until the following June. As I stood in the rain with feelings of gratitude that I'll never be able to adequately describe, it seemed to me that the Lord had just saved it up until our spiritual understanding had been fulfilled.
Now, you could say to me that all of this is simply coincidence, and I would understand that. But I bear you my witness that I know exactly what happened and why it happened. May I recount with you some of my spiritual reflections that came from this and other experiences of my life:
The temporal requirements placed upon the Church and our members are never simply temporal. They only seem temporal because our vision is lacking. The Lord's requirements are always spiritual.
The welfare programs of the Church are considered vital by the Lord, and if we will do our part, he will do his and more. It matters not that often we cannot see the end from the beginning.
Most of the blessings of the Lord seem to come in the second mile. The first mile is doing what is expected of us. As we move beyond the first mile in faith and determination, we may draw down the powers of heaven, but this only so far as we are in spiritual condition to do so.
Finally, I bear my solemn witness that there is nothing too hard for the Lord. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Thomas S. Monson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Long years ago, the Apostle Paul wrote an epistle to his beloved associate Timothy in which he spoke of the qualifications a bishop should possess. He began:
"This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work."
Today we might add, "and a good workout!" He continues:
"A bishop then must be blameless vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
" not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient.
"Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without."
These words burned into my soul when I read them as a newly called bishop thirty years ago. I was young-just twenty-two. The ward was large, with over 1,050 members, 87 of whom were widows. The welfare load was the heaviest of any ward in the entire Church.
The street addresses in that ward did not read like some: Colonial Hills Circle, Mountain View Estates, or Skyline Drive. Rather, they were noted as Orchard Place, Gale Street, Elford Court. The ward was not east of the tracks in Salt Lake City. It was not west of the tracks. That ward spanned the railroad tracks. Many of the widows and those in financial need were hidden away in basement apartments, upstairs back rooms, or dilapidated houses situated at the rear of little-known streets. I became the shepherd. This was my flock. I was reminded of God's warning through Ezekiel: "Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that feed not my flock".
My teachers were heaven-sent. May I mention but a few: our former stake president, Harold B. Lee; President Marion G. Romney; and President J. Reuben Clark.
Brother Lee attended our stake conference the year I was appointed as a bishop. Looking over the priesthood leadership congregation on Saturday evening, he stepped from the pulpit, called for a chalkboard, came down from the stand, stood among us, and, as the master teacher, taught us our duty. He drew five circles under the heading "The Responsibilities of a Bishop." He then gave to each circle a designation such as "The Father of the Ward," "The President of the Aaronic Priesthood," "The Common Judge in Israel," and then placed emphasis on the bishop's role in welfare. He cautioned us to seek after the poor, to care for them, and to do so in a spirit of love, kindness, and confidentiality.
Brother Romney was a frequent visitor to our stake and region. One evening he taught us the principle of faith by retelling the inspiring account of Elijah and the widow at Zarephath. He liken her circumstances to those of some widows in our area. As he taught welfare precepts from the handbook and responded to questions, one brother asked him, "Brother Romney, why do you seem to know whatever's in that handbook?" to which Brother Romney, with that twinkle in his eye and smile upon his lips, responded, "I wrote it!"
President Clark too was a master teacher. It was my privilege during those years to assist him in the preparation of his manuscripts that they might find their way into printed volumes. What a unique and profitable experience to be with him frequently. Knowing that I was a new bishop presiding over a difficult ward, he emphasized the need for me to know my people, to understand their circumstances, and, in the spirit of tenderness, to minister to their needs. One day he recounted the example of the Savior as recorded in Luke, chapter seven, verses eleven through fifteen:
"And it came to pass that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him.
"When he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.
"And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
"And he came and touched the bier. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.
"And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother."
When President Clark closed the Bible, I noticed that he was weeping. In a quiet voice he said, "Tom, be kind to the widows, and look after the poor."
Our bishops today need the same instruction and counsel. Many are new. They hear from every side that this program or that requires emphasis. Theirs is a sacred trust. Frequently that which counts most is recorded least. The visit to the elderly, the blessing to the sick, the comfort to the weary, the food to the hungry may not be recorded here, but I am convinced that they are known above and that we are guided in such ministrations.
The dimensions of the bishop's welfare role are many. He is aided by his counselors, priesthood quorum leaders, and, of course, the ward Relief Society presidency. Perhaps a review would be helpful.
First, prevention. Paramount is the responsibility to coordinate personal and family preparedness efforts, including food storage. Also to be emphasized is the continuing need to insure that gainful employment is had by heads of families. Beyond this effort is the desirability to upgrade employment for those who may be underemployed. Such a duty involves the encouragement of wage earners to become skilled, that they will not be the last to be hired or the first to be fired.
Second, production. Participation on ward and stake welfare projects is a vital concern. Though times change, fields yet need to be plowed, crops to be thinned, buildings to be built, and storehouses to be filled.
I am grateful I learned to top sugar beets on our stake welfare farm. I am also grateful that we do not have to top beets in the same way today. That farm was not situated in a fertile belt of land but rather in the area of today's industrial section of Salt Lake City. I testify, however, that when put to this sacred service, the soil was sanctified, the harvest blessed, and faith rewarded.
Third, processing. Oh, the joy of harvest time! Picture the scene of ward members canning peaches, sorting eggs, or cleaning vegetables, all for the use of those who are in need. Brows are sweat-lined, clothing is soiled, bodies are tired-but human souls are refreshed and lifted towards heaven.
Fourth, storage. The Lord in the revelations spoke frequently of his storehouses. On one occasion he counseled, "The storehouse shall be kept by the consecrations of the church; and widows and orphans shall be provided for, as also the poor". I am happy that over the entrance to our storehouses are the words Bishops' Storehouse! Those who labor therein are recommended and sent by their respective bishops. Within such buildings there is found an atmosphere of love, of respect, and, indeed, of reverence. I am inspired each time I visit such a storehouse. There is no steeple or spire, no carpeted floors or stained-glass windows, but here is found the spirit of the Lord.
Fifth, distribution. This is where the bishop's judgment is most severely tested. He cannot shirk this God-given responsibility. President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., summarized the bishop's role in welfare services: He "is 'to administer all temporal things' ; in his calling he is to 'administer to the poor and needy'; he is to search 'after the poor to administer to their wants'.
"Thus to the bishop is given all the powers, and responsibilities which the Lord has specifically prescribed in the Doctrine and Covenants for the caring of the poor. No one else is charged with this duty and responsibility, no one else is endowed with the power and functions necessary for this work.
"Thus, 'by the word of the Lord the sole mandate to care for and the sole discretion in caring for, the poor of the Church is lodged in the bishop.' 'It is his duty and his only to determine to whom, when, how, and how much shall be given to any member of his ward from Church funds and as ward help.
"'This is his high and solemn obligation, imposed by the Lord Himself. The bishop cannot escape this duty; he cannot shirk it; he cannot pass it on to someone else, and so relieve himself. Whatever help he calls in, he is still responsible.'"
Every bishop needs a sacred grove to which he can retire to meditate and to pray for guidance. Mine was our old ward chapel. I could not begin to count the occasions when on a dark night at a late hour I would make my way to the stand of this building where I was blessed, confirmed, ordained, taught, and eventually called to preside. The chapel was dimly lighted by the street light in front; not a sound would be heard, no intruder to disturb. With my hand on the pulpit I would kneel and share with Him above my thoughts, my concerns, my problems.
On one occasion, a year of drought, the commodities at the storehouse had not been their usual quality, nor had they been found in abundance. Many products were missing, especially fresh fruit. My prayer that night is sacred to me. I pleaded that these widows were the finest women I knew in mortality, that their needs were simple and conservative, that they had no resources on which they might rely. The next morning I received a call from a ward member, a proprietor of a produce business. "Bishop," he said, "I would like to send a semitrailer filled with oranges, grapefruit, and bananas to the bishops' storehouse to be given to those in need. Could you make arrangements?" Could I make arrangements! The storehouse was alerted. Then each bishop was telephoned and the entire shipment distributed. Bishop Jesse M. Drury, that beloved welfare pioneer and storekeeper, said he had never witnessed a day like it before. He described the occasion with one word-"Wonderful!"
Other experiences may not be so dramatic but are nevertheless real and heartwarming. I recall an elderly couple whose frame home, situated at the end of a dirt lane, had not seen a coat of paint for too many years. These were neat and tidy people; they were concerned about the appearance of their small house. In a moment of inspiration I called, not upon the elders quorum or upon volunteers to wield paint brushes, but rather, following the welfare handbook, upon the family members who lived in other areas. Four sons-in-law and four daughters took brushes in hand and participated in the project. The paint had been provided by a dealer located in our area. The result was a transformation not only of the house but of the family. The children determined how they might best help mother and dad in their old age. They did so voluntarily and with gladness of heart. A house was painted, a family united, and respect preserved.
Fortunately, the blessings the welfare program provides are not received by the bishop alone. Rather, all who participate can share and share abundantly.
On a cold winter's night in 1951 there was a knock at my door, and a German brother from Ogden, Utah, announced himself and said, "Are you Bishop Monson?" I answered in the affirmative. He began to weep and said, "My brother and his wife and family are coming here from Germany. They are going to live in your ward. Will you come with us to see the apartment we have rented for them?" On the way to the apartment, he told me he had not seen his brother for many years. Yet all through the holocaust of World War II, his brother had been faithful to the Church, serving as a branch president before the war took him to the Russian front.
I looked at the apartment. It was cold and dreary. The paint was peeling, the wallpaper soiled, the cupboards empty. A forty-watt bulb hanging from the living room ceiling revealed a linoleum floor covering with a large hole in the center. I was heartsick. I thought, "What a dismal welcome for a family which has endured so much."
My thoughts were interrupted by the brother's statement, "It isn't much, but it's better than they have in Germany." With that, the key was left with me, along with the information that the family would arrive in Salt Lake City in three weeks-just two days before Christmas.
Sleep was slow in coming to me that night. The next morning was Sunday. In our ward welfare committee meeting, one of my counselors said, "Bishop, you look worried. Is something wrong?" I recounted to those present my experience of the night before, the details of the uninviting apartment. There were a few moments of silence. Then the group leader of the high priests said, "Bishop, did you say that apartment was inadequately lighted and that the kitchen appliances were in need of replacement?" I answered in the affirmative. He continued, "I am an electrical contractor. Would you permit the high priests of this ward to rewire that apartment? I would also like to invite my suppliers to contribute a new stove and a new refrigerator. Do I have your permission?" I answered with a glad "Certainly."
Then the seventies president responded: "Bishop, as you know I'm in the carpet business. I would like to invite my suppliers to contribute some carpet, and the seventies can easily lay it and eliminate that worn linoleum."
Then the president of the elders quorum spoke up. He was a painting contractor. He said, "I'll furnish the paint. May the elders paint and wallpaper that apartment?"
The Relief Society president was next to speak: "We in the Relief Society cannot stand the thought of empty cupboards. May we fill them?"
The next three weeks are ever to be remembered. It seemed that the entire ward joined in the project. The days passed, and at the appointed time the family arrived from Germany. Again at my door stood the brother from Ogden. With an emotion-filled voice, he introduced to me his brother, wife, and their family. Then he asked, "Could we go visit the apartment?" As we walked up the staircase to the apartment, he repeated, "It isn't much, but it's more than they have had in Germany." Little did he know what a transformation had taken place, that many who participated were inside waiting for our arrival.
The door opened to reveal a literal newness of life. We were greeted by the aroma of freshly painted woodwork and newly papered walls. Gone was the forty-watt bulb, along with the worn linoleum it had illuminated. We stepped on carpet deep and beautiful. A walk to the kitchen presented to our view a new stove and refrigerator. The cupboard doors were still open; however, they now revealed that every shelf was filled with food. The Relief Society as usual had done its work.
In the living room we began to sing Christmas hymns. We sang "Silent night! Holy night! All is calm; all is bright." We sang in English; they sang in German. At the conclusion, the father, realizing that all of this was his, took me by the hand to express his thanks. His emotion was too great. He buried his head in my shoulder and repeated the words, "Mein Bruder, mein Bruder, mein Bruder."
As we walked down the stairs and out into the night air, it was snowing. Not a word was spoken. Then a young girl asked, "Bishop, I feel better inside than I have ever felt before. Can you tell me why?"
I responded with the words of the Master: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me". Suddenly there came to mind the words from "O Little Town of Bethlehem":
The poet said, "God gave his children memory, that in life's garden there might be June roses in December". In my garden of memories no rose is more beautiful or fragrant than the rose brought to bloom by my participation in the welfare effort.
May our Heavenly Father ever bless our bishops in their sacred welfare responsibilities. Such duties are God-given. They were authored in heaven to bless in our day those who stand in need.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
My beloved brethren and sisters, we've had a great meeting this morning. I trust that I can conclude this meeting with the Spirit of the Lord guiding and sustaining us.
They have asked me to talk on the subject that the welfare program is the Savior's program, which I am glad to do. The Savior said:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Thus did Jesus promise spiritual refreshment and physical relief to all who will obey his gospel.
"And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people".
Responding to questions asked by two of John's disciples, Jesus said:
"Go and shew John those things which ye do hear and see:
"The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them".
All who are acquainted with the Lord's earthly ministry seem to conclude, as President J. Reuben Clark did, that "when the Savior came upon the earth he had two great missions; one was to work out the Messiahship, the atonement for the fall, and the other was the work which he did among his brethren and sisters in the flesh by way of relieving their sufferings. He left as a heritage to those who should come after him the carrying on of those two great things-work for the relief of the ills and the sufferings of humanity, and the teaching of the spiritual truths which should bring us back into the presence of our Heavenly Father."
I am persuaded that we should continue his work of ministering to those in need, whether in things spiritual or in things temporal. I have long since concluded that the work which you and I call welfare service is the work of the Savior. This welfare plan is his plan; its principles are his principles; its spirit is his spirit; he it is who sends us to minister one to another. His gospel requires us to love our neighbors as ourselves.
"If ye do this," King Benjamin said, "ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins;
"And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due.
"And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God.
"But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.
"And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need."
"And now," King Benjamin continued, "for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you-that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God-I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants".
Is there any question, brothers and sisters, about our obligation in this program? Is there any doubt that retaining a remission of sins depends on our caring for one another? If we believe these teachings, if we profess to follow the Savior and his prophets, if we want to be true to our covenants and have the Spirit of the Lord in our lives, then we must do the things that the Savior said and did. He it was who said:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also".
May I suggest several ways in which we as leaders and members can and should improve our work in this, his service.
First, we must be personally involved! We often receive reports that some of our people, and even some of our leaders, would rather contribute their money than take their time and talents and devote them personally. May I remind each of us that we need the spiritual uplift that comes from giving of ourselves and working shoulder to shoulder. It is healthy and sanctifying for the barber, the merchant, the lawyer, the doctor, the teacher, and the mechanic to get together; to hoe the same row-together; to pray for the same rain-together; to prune the same tree-together; and to harvest the same crop-together.
While our financial contributions are needed, we must work together with our hearts and hands if we are to come to that unity and oneness required of the Saints. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, "The greatest temporal and spiritual blessings which always come from faithfulness and concerted effort, never attended individual exertion or enterprise".
Second, in order to work wholeheartedly together, we must counsel together. We hear reports that some bishops are committed to a course of action taken by their stake president without the involvement and consent of the bishops. While we do and must support our leaders, every leader would be wise to pursue this work in the spirit of section 38. For the Lord has said, "If ye are not one ye are not mine".
Many of you will be allocating a significantly increased annual production budget throughout the last quarter of this year. I hope that all will feel good about their assignment because the principle of common consent has been followed at each level of council government, through which we operate the Church at its successive ecclesiastical levels. It has been said that the family who prays together stays together; might I add that a priesthood body that counsels together succeeds together!
Third, if we as leaders want the support of those we lead, then we will do well to share with them a report on how our assigned stewardship is doing. I hope we have not gotten away from the practice of taking an annual report of our production projects to our ward or stake Melchizedek Priesthood brethren. I also hope that bishoprics and stake presidencies are providing some appropriate report to their respective file leaders on both the progress and the problems that they are encountering in implementing welfare services. Remember, brethren, to return and report is the final act of the faithful and wise steward.
Fourth and finally, may I remind you that you cannot give yourself poor in this work; you can only give yourself rich. I have satisfied myself regarding the truthfulness of the statement made to me by Elder Melvin J. Ballard as he set me apart for my mission in 1920: "A person cannot give a crust to the Lord without receiving a loaf in return."
The Savior taught that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Through Church welfare, both the giver and the receiver are blessed in unique ways-each to the sanctification and salvation of his eternal soul.
"Remember in all things the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted," said Jesus, "for he that doeth not these things, the same is not my disciple".
When discipleship is seen in light of this understanding of the gospel, we may, perhaps, understand something which I have believed for a long time: The living of the principles upon which the welfare program is built will be the final step, the capstone, of a Christian life. Living its principles leads one to the fulness of the stature of Christ.
According to Amulek, the efficacy of our prayers depends on how we care for one another. According to the teachings of the Savior himself, the door of salvation at the final judgment turns on the hinge of loving our neighbor as ourselves. As recorded in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, when the Lord returns in his glory he will divide the people "as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats". To those on his right hand he will say:
"Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
"For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
"Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me".
It is my prayer that each of us will derive from this session of conference today a greater conviction and a deeper understanding that welfare services is the work of Jesus Christ, that the welfare plan is his plan, that its principles are his principles, that its spirit is his spirit, and that its achievements are the surest guarantee of peace in this life and immortal glory in the world to come. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Spencer W. Kimball
My dear brothers and sisters, I am happy to greet you at this opening session of our 150th semiannual world conference of the Church.
From the beginning, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has emphasized family life. We have always understood that the foundations of the family, as an eternal unit, were laid even before this earth was created! Society without basic family life is without foundation and will disintegrate into nothingness.
Therefore, whenever anything so basic as the eternal family is imperiled, we have a solemn obligation to speak out, lest there be critical damage to the family institution by those who seem to be deliberately destructive of it.
The commandments and standards of morality set by the Lord himself are under attack on every hand. There are false teachers everywhere using speech and pornographic literature, magazines, radio, TV, street talk-spreading heresies which break down moral standards.
Because of the seriousness of this matter, I have prepared an article for the November 1980 Ensign and New Era magazines in which I speak out frankly and at length on the subject of morality. This is a grave responsibility, and not an easy one. I encourage all Latter-day Saints to read this special message.
We are living in perilous times as more and more individuals dishonor the marriage vow and as juvenile delinquency mounts. Divorces in the United States are up over 65 percent since 1970. The number of unmarried couples living together has gone up over 157 percent during the past decade. Many more children are growing up without having both parents in the home. In 1979, almost one of every five families with children was being maintained by one parent.
Abortion has reached plague proportions. There have been, for instance, "more deaths from abortion in England in the decade since the English Abortion Act than there were deaths in the First World War." Of this, Malcolm Muggeridge said:
"I was brought up to believe that one of the great troubles of our Western world was that in the First World War we lost the flower of our population. Well, now we have destroyed an equivalent number of lives in the name of humane principles, before they were even born."
Furthermore, many of the social restraints which in the past have helped to reinforce and to shore up the family are dissolving and disappearing. The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us.
Whether from inadvertence, ignorance, or other causes, the efforts governments often make sometimes only hurt the family more. There are those who would define the family in such a nontraditional way that they would define it out of existence. The more governments try in vain to take the place of the family, the less effective governments will be in performing the traditional and basic roles for which governments are formed in the first place.
Whether we like it or not, so many of the difficulties which beset the family today stem from the breaking of the seventh commandment. Total chastity before marriage and total fidelity after are still the standard from which there can be no deviation without sin, misery, and unhappiness. The breaking of the seventh commandment usually means the breaking of one or more homes.
Delinquent adults still tend to produce delinquent children, and that awful reality will not change simply by our lowering standards as to what constitutes delinquency-either in adults, youth, or children.
We of all people, brothers and sisters, should not be taken in by the specious arguments that the family unit is somehow tied to a particular phase of development a mortal society is going through. We are free to resist those moves which downplay the significance of the family and which play up the significance of selfish individualism. We know the family to be eternal. We know that when things go wrong in the family, things go wrong in every other institution in society.
Those who, whether in ignorance or malice, attack the family are setting in motion an awful and needless cycle of misery and despair, for they will search in vain and pain for substitutes, and the wisdom of the worldly wise shall perish publicly for their folly concerning the family.
The decline in many of our families is occurring at a time when the nations of the world are moving into some of the most difficult times known.
Permissiveness will not pull us through such crises. Materialism will not sustain us, for moth and rust will still lay waste and corrupt all mortal treasures.
Our political institutions-parliaments, congresses, and assemblies-cannot rescue us if our basic institution, the family, is not intact. Peace treaties cannot save us when there is hostility instead of love in the home. Unemployment programs cannot rescue us when many are no longer taught how to work or do not have the opportunity to work or the inclination, in some cases, to do so. Law enforcement cannot safeguard us if too many people are unwilling to discipline themselves or be disciplined.
Rising generations who have been taught that authority and loving discipline are wrong will not keep the fifth commandment, honoring their fathers and mothers. How can the rising generations honor their parents if their parents have dishonored themselves-especially by breaking the seventh commandment?
Almost every array of statistics one sees with regard to the family becomes a sad sermon in statistics, reminding us of the need to stem and to turn the tide.
Let us be sure, in our Latter-day Saint homes, that we do our part to stem and to turn the tide.
Again, I urge you to be diligent in recording your personal and family histories. We are pleased with the success of the recent World Conference on Records, where more than eleven thousand people from over thirty nations around the globe gathered to share and learn concerning personal record keeping. In this, let us be an example to others and reap the benefits of stronger family units as we preserve our heritage.
We hope our parents are using the added time that has come from the consolidated schedule in order to be with, teach, love, and nurture their children. We hope you have not forgotten the need for family activity and recreation, for which time is also provided. Let your love of each member of your family be unconditional. Where there are challenges, you fail only if you fail to keep trying!
We genuinely welcome help, real help, from churches, schools, colleges, and universities, from thoughtful men and women of every race, creed, and culture who care about the family. But, as indicated earlier, if the supporting network of institutions does not function adequately, then we will do our part anyway. There is no lack of clarity in what the Lord has told us. We cannot shirk. He has placed the responsibility directly where it belongs, and he holds us accountable with regard to the duties of parents to teach their children correct principles and of the need to walk uprightly before the Lord-and there is no substitute for teaching our children by the eloquence of example.
Oh, brothers and sisters, families can be forever! Do not let the lures of the moment draw you away from them! Divinity, eternity, and family-they go together, hand in hand, and so must we!
I bear you my solemn witness that God lives, that Jesus Christ lives, and that he is our Savior and Redeemer. I leave you my love and my blessings, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President N. Eldon Tanner
First Counselor in the First Presidency
I feel it a privilege and a blessing to be able to be with you this morning in this session of conference. To follow president Kimball is something that I have tried to do now for about seven years. And if I can succeed, I am going to make a go of it. I am so happy to be with you this day, to partake of the spirit that is always present in the conferences, to hear the Tabernacle Choir, and to hear the sermons of the leadership of this great church.
I was not prepared to talk at all, but President Kimball asked me if I would like to say a few words. I would like to bear my testimony to my family, friends, businessmen, and the world. I have had the great privilege of being with four Presidents of this church and of seeing how the Lord works through them. One cannot doubt when he sees them that they are prophets of God, leading us in the paths of truth and righteousness and helping us to prepare ourselves and our children for eternal life.
We know we are spirit children of God, and we were present when it was decided to form an earth here where we could come and dwell and prove ourselves worthy, by keeping the commandments, to go back into the presence of our Heavenly Father. That is why the earth was created.
Jesus Christ was chosen to be the Savior of the world. He gave the plan of life and salvation to the prophets in the old days, as recorded in Genesis and elsewhere. We know who we are, where we came from, why we are here, and how we can get back to his presence.
We are very fortunate in having a testimony of the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope and pray that all of us will do our best in the duties that are given to us. May our example and influence be felt for good wherever we are. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder L. Tom Perry
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
"For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves".
I marvel each year as I witness the system which the Lord has provided to supply for the needs of His children here on the earth. Each spring I follow a piece of string tied between two stakes to make a straight line, and with my hoe in hand I proceed to drop two or three seeds into good, fertile soil. Each fall I am overwhelmed with the bounteous harvest. Those few seeds have grown into tall plants, and each seed for the most part has produced a full golden ear containing more than a hundredfold of the original seed which was dropped into the soil a few months earlier. Each season of harvest one must be overwhelmed with humble gratitude for the blessings of the Lord to His children.
The Savior must have appreciated this process, for He used the example of this growth cycle many times as He taught in parables during His earthly ministry. We find lesson after lesson in His teachings using examples from the Lord's supply system. We find parables concerning the sower, the seed growing by itself, the tares, the unfruitful fig tree, the fig tree's leaves, treasures hidden in a field, and many, many others. Is it any wonder we found His disciples teaching after His earthly ministry, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap".
One must be impressed with the great message of the Lord's law of the harvest. His system produces growth, multiplication, and abundant rewards. Surely as we watch the blessings of this growth cycle each year, we would expect His children to catch the vision of their mortal potential. He has entrusted to many of His children during their earthly ministry the opportunity of caring for His special creations-His sons and His daughters. It is surely the greatest of all responsibilities which He has delegated to mankind.
I have spent some time in the last few months listening-listening to the frustrations of parents, listening to the urgent appeals from youth, listening to the small voice of a child. My ears have been filled with concerns; these concerns were all centered upon what has happened to the basic, secure, fun-loving, traditional family, which has been the foundation of civilization beginning with father Adam and mother Eve. Suddenly we find great forces at work to relegate it to a minority position. Recorded history has made it abundantly clear what happens to mankind when the traditional family unit is cast aside. The Book of Mormon gives us account after account of the results of what occurs to civilizations who turn from the course designed for them by the Lord.
In the book of Jacob we find the scriptures recording, "And now it came to pass that the people of Nephi, under the reign of the second king, began to grow hard in their hearts, and indulge themselves somewhat in wicked practices". Jacob warned the people to mend their ways and cautioned them about what would occur if they did not return to the ways of the Lord.
First he cautioned them concerning their pride. Then he turned to a more troublesome problem, saying,
"And now I make an end of speaking unto you concerning this pride. And were it not that I must speak unto you concerning a grosser crime, my heart would rejoice exceedingly because of you."
"Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds."
Unless we would turn from the course too many are pursuing today, we too must stand the same judgments of God.
Contemplating the words of the scriptures, I was suddenly startled with the terrifying thought, "What if the clock were to be turned back on my life fifteen years, and I found myself again with a couple of teenagers and a small child living in the 1980 environment?" I found cold beads of perspiration standing out on my forehead as I considered the challenge of maintaining a traditional family during these troublesome years. It was then that I started to think of what I would do differently than I did in that first experience if I could repeat the process fifteen years later.
Four problem areas flashed through my mind which would require renewed determination and effort:
Family finances. To provide for a family would be much more difficult. Employment is not as secure. Change is occurring at an ever-increasing rate. It is much more of a problem to maintain our standard of living with inflation as it is today. Housing, utilities, food, clothing, and the gas-guzzling automobiles are all taking a larger share of the family income. The pressures on family finances would increase family tensions. How to cope with this new environment looms as a major challenge. But suddenly I was comforted by a voice that was heard to say:
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
I realized the Church had been preparing me for years for a time of stress and strain. Today a long-range family financial plan is clearly needed if children are to have the blessings of missions and education. It would need to be carefully worked out and prepared to meet these requirements. The avoidance of debt is essential; living within my income, fundamental. Much thought and understanding must be given to keep my family finances properly balanced. Expenditures must be challenged: Do I really need a giant house with the giant-size monthly mortgage payments? Is a second car required? Can my family-centered activities replace costly commercial entertainment? Can vacations be made exciting at home?
Having a one-year supply must be moved up on the family priority list. How it is obtained must be considered again. Can more of it be the result of our own labors in making our own clothes, increasing our garden yield, and preserving our own food?
How can I wisely invest my savings so that inflation will not rob me of them? Is my career income secure and able to keep pace with the needs of my family during the ever-changing decade of the eighties?
Yes, assuming the responsibilities of caring temporally for a family requires much more thought, preparation, and planning in the environment we live in today.
Family organization. I heard a young mother in a testimony meeting a few weeks ago bear witness to a new understanding of what the Lord had entrusted to her. She said how disappointed she had been with the change in the Sunday meeting program, which had taken her-a Primary worker-from the opportunity of attending Relief Society and Sunday School. She had almost determined to fall into inactivity rather than accept the change. One day while brooding over this situation, the light of inspiration touched her heart and she could see the vision of what was occurring in the Church. It was not the loss of attendance at Relief Society she was to be concerned with, but the new, glorious opportunities to have prime time on the Lord's day to be with her husband and children to fulfill the greatest responsibility the Lord has entrusted to her-the responsibility of teaching and training her own. Now after much prayer, study, and planning with her husband, Sunday has become the most special day in the week.
As I listened to her testimony, I wondered what the results have been in this new, consolidated program which was introduced six months ago. Has it been a time of frustration because schedules and activities have been altered? Has it just added more time to pollute our minds in front of TV sets? Or did we catch the vision of why the extra time was needed to be together in a family setting to allow parents sufficient time to teach, train, and demonstrate the love they feel for each of their children?
If I were cast again in the role of having a young family around me, I would be determined to give them more time. I would try to see that the special times the Church has encouraged me to spend with my family were now strictly followed and properly organized to be more productive.
With the change in the Sunday program, I believe I would alter the format of the special weekly family times we have together. Since most of the children in the world today will never have the privilege of being taught and trained in a traditional family home, I would be determined to make certain that my children were not denied this privilege. I would want them to have the best possible experience of seeing a family that really works. Eternal families don't "just happen." To enjoy this greatest of all gifts, we must earn it through our accomplishments here in mortality.
First, I would be certain that sufficient time was calendared each week for a family executive committee meeting to plan family strategy. The executive committee, composed of a husband and wife, would meet together to fully communicate, discuss, plan, and prepare for their leadership role in the family organization.
Second, I would make the family home evening times on Monday night a family council meeting where children were taught by parents how to prepare for their roles as family members and prospective parents. Family home evening would begin with a family dinner together, followed by a council meeting, where such topics as the following would be discussed and training would be given: temple preparation, missionary preparation, home management, family finances, career development, education, community involvement, cultural improvement, acquisition and care of real and personal property, family planning calendars, use of leisure time, and work assignments. The evening could then be climaxed with a special dessert and time for parents to have individual meetings with each child.
Third, Saturday would be a special activity day divided into two parts: first, a time for teaching children the blessings of work, how to care for and improve the home, the yard, the garden, the field; second, a time for family activity, to build a family heritage of things you enjoy doing together.
Fourth, Sunday would become the special day in each week. Careful preparation would precede the three-hour worship service time at the chapel. The family would arrive at church rested, relaxed, and spiritually prepared to enjoy the meetings together. The balance of the day would be spent in a climate of spiritual uplift. We would dress to fit the occasion-boys in something somewhat better than levis and T-shirts, girls in comfortable, decent dresses, not in shorts or slacks. It would be a time for our family scripture study, genealogical research, personal journals, family histories, letter writing, missionary contacts, and visits to extended family, to friends, and to shut-ins.
Filling Church positions. I would prepare, study, train, meditate, and pray for more guidance to better fulfill the Church position to which I had been called. I would want my service to measure up to the standard the Lord expected of me. I would be certain I was so well prepared for each assignment given to me that my inefficiencies would not rob from me precious family time. I would understand more fully the Lord's system of sharing responsibilities with counselors, high councilors, quorum officers, home teachers, and fathers. I would understand more fully the concept that one man can never outperform the results of an effective team.
Community involvement. I would have greater involvement in what was going on in the schools my children were attending and the community in which we lived. I would lend my support to the majority of my good neighbors to be certain that where I was living children could have the privilege of growing up in a clean, safe, wholesome, happy community. I would not allow small, misguided, self-benefiting groups to rob from us the blessings of such a family community experience.
I pray that our harvest will be blessed with the fulness the Lord has promised to us because we have lived worthy of meriting His blessings. May our families be the traditional type, where the leadership is provided by two worthy parents who welcome children into their home to be loved, taught, and trained in the ways prescribed by the Lord.
I declare unto you my witness that the Lord is strong and mighty and is the King of Glory. He lives to lead and guide and bless us with His love.
May we be blessed with the faith to follow His way, which will lead us to life eternal, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Robert L. Simpson
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
During these few moments I would like to bear witness to the fact that God's laws are anchored firmly and securely in place by eternal priesthood principle. Gospel truth stands as a pillar of peace, security, and freedom for all who would avail themselves. And I further attest that the ultimate in revealed truth, light, and eternal assurance is inseparably connected with the temple. Those sacred buildings are reverently and accurately referred to as the house of the Lord.
A temple of God in this day and age? How can this be? Most God-fearing folks think only in terms of ancient temples built when prophets lived among the people more than two thousand years ago.
Come with me inside the temple-a modern temple in our day; a temple that has been dedicated to the Lord, just as ancient temples were; a special building where sacred ordinances are performed by those who have been commissioned with appropriate, divine authority. The temple is indeed a house of quiet worship-everyone speaks softly, usually in whispers. All who participate dress in white. All who come have been found worthy and clean.
The temple is a house of prayer, for Heavenly Father is glorified by every ordinance performed therein. He who enters for the first time receives a pronouncement of special blessings that are not available outside the temple.
The temple is a house of instruction-yes, even divine instruction-about God's eternal plan for his children. In the temple one gains a superior perspective about his personal relationship with his Maker and with the Savior-yes, special knowledge about God and Jesus Christ, which is essential to the obtaining of life eternal. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent".
The temple is a house of revelation-yes, continuing revelation. Whether that revelation be to a prophet or a member who seeks after truth, all who come to the temple seeking are continually taught and edified.
The temple is a house of commitment and sacrifice, for it is truly stated that there can be no true worship without sacrifice; indeed, as the Saints sing, sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven.
The temple is a house of solemn covenant where one appropriately commits himself to live a more Christlike life. Oh, that four billion people on earth could enter into that kind of covenant!
The temple is a house where young people are married for time and for all eternity. Thus, a common bond is formed, a bond that transcends the earthly pitfalls of misunderstanding, distrust, and, too often, divorce.
The temple is a house of eternal relationships, a place where families can come for the purpose of transforming their family circle into an eternal family unit, where all of a sudden "together forever" becomes far more important than the next trivial family difference. You see, eternal families reason together in family council with dad at the head.
The temple is a house of God where all of those declared worthy are extended the privilege of performing the sacred ordinances of the temple on behalf of their forebears, that in very deed the hearts of the children might be turned to their fathers, as foretold in the holy scriptures. Like all of Heavenly Father's blessings for his children, the eventual realization is always on condition of faithfulness and conformity to priesthood principles.
The ultimate blessings of the temple are centered in the love and devotion between husband and wife. They must set the example-they are the core. The scriptures say it best of all: "Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord". Everything in this world that is counter to a tender and loyal husband-wife relationship is a tool of the adversary. Everything that promotes and perpetuates family unity-mother, father, and children properly endowed with and motivated by the light and truth of Christ-is in harmony with the Lord's plan for mortal man.
Husbands, love your wives; wives, honor your husbands. Look to the gospel for all solutions to your problems; be a proper example to your children. That is where it all starts. The poet Longfellow expressed it well in these words:
.
These poetic phrases are in harmony with temple teachings.
Just hours after a disastrous flood in Idaho a few years ago, one man who had apparently lost every earthly possession wept bitterly. His despair was not so much over the temporal loss he had suffered, but rather, and far more important, his lovely wife and four children were unaccounted for and presumed drowned. But, within the hour good news came: his family had been miraculously saved and were waiting for him at a nearby emergency facility. The reunion that soon followed was a scene of supreme joy and happiness. His comment in the midst of the jubilation was classic: "I have my family again, and although I stand without one earthly possession left to my name, I feel like a millionaire." Each family member nodded concurrence. For, you see, this family was a very special family; they had recently been sealed together for time and for all eternity in a temple of the living God.
Just yesterday it was my special privilege to be present as a lovely young couple knelt at the altar of the temple. Each was dressed in robes of sparkling white. They were surrounded by a host of family and friends as these special words were spoken as part of the marriage covenant: "For time and for all eternity." You see, such was the precise nature of their forever marriage.
Oh, that all people everywhere could be touched by this divine teaching of light and truth that makes such a union possible, not for just a select few, but for any and all of God's children who might properly prepare themselves. But it must be done in His way.
Eternal marriage is so sacred that it can only be performed within the walls of the temple, and only by those who have been endowed with proper, divine authority to bind or seal on earth that which will be bound in heaven.
"Whatsoever you seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever you bind on earth, in my name and by my word, saith the Lord, it shall be eternally bound in the heavens".
Now, let me introduce you to a group of twenty-five teenagers who have come to the temple at dawn to participate in the sacred ordinance of vicarious baptism. These young people had been found morally clean and worthy by their bishop. You see, bishops today are bound by the same guidelines as bishops of old, who were also taught: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." There has always been a standard in the house of the Lord: that standard is purity and cannot be compromised.
These teenagers come in a spirit of reverence with the desire to do something for others who have lived before. One teenage girl made this comment: "Being baptized by immersion for one of my ancestors, who lived in the 1700s, made me very proud. I felt that she was right there with me. I know she was pleased and accepted the work that I did for her."
These teenagers were performing an ordinance that was practiced during Paul's ministry, for he wrote to the Saints of Corinth: "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?"
This vicarious work for the dead, which was obviously practiced during New Testament times as attested by Paul, was obviously an important ordinance taught by the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ following his crucifixion. Proof of this is found in Paul's own words as he bears testimony to the Galatians: "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Thousands work long hours in the temples to perform not only baptisms but other vicarious ordinances as well for those who had not the opportunity while in mortality. "If it were not so," the scriptures attest, "the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming".
The Savior had the power to provide immortality for the entire human race; we have the power to do vicarious work for only one at a time, but it is for the same glorious purpose and made possible by the same authority. Again, I quote the voice of the Lord: "For if you will that I give unto you a place in the celestial world, you must prepare yourselves by doing the things which I have commanded you and required of you".
May I declare without apology that every living person should seek earnestly for the blessings of the temple as his ultimate goal. For there you will find peace; there you will come to know what security really is. There, in the house of the Lord, you can learn what you need to know to be truly free. There, tucked away from turmoil and strife, is the chance to be totally unselfish-a rarity in today's world.
I conclude with the loving counsel of the Savior, who said, "Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail".
There is no foundation more secure than the temple. The work accomplished there transcends all other human effort. May we remove all obstacles to realize temple blessings; for I testify, He waits there for each of us, His children. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Robert E. Wells
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I once heard President Hugh B. Brown relate this inspiring story: Sometime ago a great actor in the city of New York gave a wonderful performance in a large theatre, at the close of which there were rounds of applause. He was called back again and again. Finally someone called to him, "Would you do for us the Twenty-third Psalm?"
"Why, yes. I know the Twenty-third Psalm."
He recited it as an actor would, perfectly, with nothing left to be desired as far as a performance was concerned. When he was finished, again there was thunderous applause. Then the actor came to the front of the stage and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, there is an old man sitting here on the front row whom I happen to know. I am going to ask him without any notice if he will come and repeat the Twenty-third Psalm."
The elderly gentleman, of course, was frightened. Trembling, he came to the stage. Fearfully he looked out over the vast audience. Then, as though he were at home only with one, he closed his eyes against the audience, bowed his head, and talked to God, and said:
"The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want.
"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
"He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake."
Then changing to address the Savior directly and intimately:
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil: my cup runneth over.
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."
When the old man finished, there was no applause, but there was not a dry eye in that house. The actor came to the front of the stage. He, too, was wiping his eyes. And he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I know the words of the Twenty-third Psalm, but this man knows the Shepherd."
President Benson has given us a key so that we might become as one who knows the Shepherd. He has told us: "To learn of Christ necessitates the study of the scriptures and the testimonies of those who know him. We come to know him through prayer and the inspiration and revelation that God has promised to those who keep his commandments."
There is a silver-haired Argentine sister who knows the Shepherd. She has given a long life of service to the Lord, his Church, and her fellowmen.
The first time Sister Mellor attended a Mormon church service, she was brought by the missionaries. They felt that she was the most sophisticated, cultured, and best-educated investigator they had ever met. They held a few meetings in her lovely home, and when they invited her to accompany them to a Sunday Church meeting, she readily agreed. The service was being held in an old building. The members attending were of somewhat humble circumstances compared to the new investigator.
The service did not go well by the standards of the two missionaries hoping to impress their guest. The branch leaders had just been recently called, and they were still learning their duties. There was some confusion at the pulpit. There was an interruption at the sacrament table at the most sacred moment. The sermons seemed to be less interesting than those desired by the eager missionaries. The reverence was threatened from time to time by children moving or crying. There was no organ to provide deep, religious sounds. The missionaries agonizingly thought of the negative impressions their elegant investigator must be receiving. They knew she normally worshiped in a very fashionable cathedral where everything would have been highly professional and the congregation would have been of the highest stratum of local society.
On the way home, one of the missionaries began to reflect his embarrassment. He explained: "Please excuse our present building. Some day we will build a lovely new chapel here." Then he added: "Please excuse our new leaders. We have a lay priesthood, so we take turns conducting, and the new leaders are still learning how to conduct services." He was just about to give another excuse when Sister Herta Mellor turned to him and said somewhat sternly: "Elder, don't you apologize! It must have been like this at the time of Christ!"
With her spiritual eyes and her knowledge of the Shepherd acquired through studying the holy scriptures, she saw through centuries of tradition. She saw past cathedrals and organs. She saw back through the corridors of time to the Shepherd meeting with his humble fishermen-Apostles, with some sinners, and even with leper outcasts. She saw the early Saints meeting in a small, rented, upstairs room. She saw children, with the Savior smiling at them lovingly. Because she knew the Shepherd, she could say with profound and deep insight, "It must have been like this at the time of Christ."
She exemplifies to me the admonition which many have followed: "Fill your mind with thoughts of Christ, your heart with love of Christ, and your life with service to Christ." Today there stands a lovely chapel, presided over by a well-trained lay bishopric, where Sister Mellor first attended church about thirty years ago.
There is one man above all other men that I feel truly knew the Shepherd. He was the first living prophet on the earth after many centuries. He wrote an account of the first time he saw the Savior in vision: "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me, I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other-This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"
The young prophet continues describing this unprecedented and heaven-opening event: "My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the was right-and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them."
For a period of ten years Joseph, the Prophet, was taught by resurrected beings, by ancient prophets who returned, and by angels from beyond the veil. Then, 150 years ago, he was instructed by the Savior to formally organize His Church: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Subsequently, the Prophet had other mighty visions of the Master, the resurrected Redeemer. Listen to his description of one such manifestation:
"The veil was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding were opened.
"We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber.
"His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, saying:
"I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father." The Prophet who wrote that description knew the Shepherd.
The Prophet Joseph Smith met a martyr's death. He died for his testimony, sealing his witness with his blood. We pay tribute to him as the first prophet of this dispensation and the most important prophet of all dispensations of time. He "has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived". We honor Joseph Smith this 150th anniversary year of the founding of the Church as a prophet who knew the Shepherd intimately.
We should each ask, "Am I loving enough, am I studying enough, am I serving enough to know the Shepherd?" May we all come to know the Savior, through obeying his commandments, that when we meet him face to face, we each can say, "I know thee; thou art my Shepherd." This I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, our loving Shepherd, amen.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Brothers and sisters, we must be more ready than we now are to receive the hundreds of thousands of individuals "of every kind" who are gathered into the gospel net from nearly every culture and circumstance.
A few of these have said to their behavioral Babylons, "We bid thee farewell," having learned the hard way that without the Decalogue there is decadence.
Other newcomers have ceased trying to live "without God in the world," a condition "contrary to the nature of happiness". They have seen how a mortal life so lived is "no more than a night in a second-class hotel".
Some will even come out of the kingdom of the devil, which the Lord has promised to shake in order to stir some therein to repentance. These souls, bruised but believing, will have fought their way through guerrilla territory, searching for spiritual liberty even as forces in the world seek "to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries".
New arrivals are not asked to renounce their country or that which is good in their culture. All must, however, let go of the things which injure the soul, and there are some such things in every life and in every culture.
Many will come into the Church whose lives have been consistently righteous. They will have rejoicing without the wrenching. When all these individuals have come from so great a distance, surely we can go a second mile in friendshipping and fellowshipping them! If with quiet heroism they can make their way across the border into belief, surely we can cross a crowded foyer to extend the hand of fellowship. Has it been so long that we have forgotten our first anxious day at a new school or our timidity in a new neighborhood? In the city of Zion, there are constantly new kids on the block!
Since priesthood leaders have determined that the newcomers' visas are in order, let us greet them genuinely-not with frowns and skepticism. It will be our job to lift them up-not to size them up. They will have known much rejection; now let them know much acceptance.
The workers who come to the Lord's vineyard in the last hour will receive the same wages as the "old-timers," who should, by the way, speak less of the good old days and work to bring about even better days.
The story is told of the first two marines ever-in the American revolutionary war. One boarded a ship mere minutes ahead of the other. When the second man came on board, all enthused about being a marine, the earlier arrival scornfully said, "You should have been here in the old outfit!"
Paul said we should not expect the social register to enter the Church en masse. Besides, a Who's Who is not needed in a church which teaches us all our real identity and which features a democracy of dress in the holy temples.
Arrivés will come into the Church as its leaders are cruelly caricatured by some in the world. For perspective, imagine how television's six o'clock news would have portrayed Noah as he worked on his ark day by day. Besides, attention from the Adversary is merely a cruel form of commendation, if we can but stand the "praise."
Newcomers, you may even see a few leave the Church who cannot then leave the Church alone. Let these few departees take their brief bows in the secular spotlight; someday they will bow deeply before the throne of the Almighty, confessing that Jesus is the Christ and that this is his work. Meanwhile, be unsurprised if, as the little stone seen by Daniel rolls relentlessly forth, some seek to chip away at it.
Happily, mingled among the hundreds of thousands of "recruits" will be precious returnees who, like the prodigal son, have come to their senses. Filled with tender resolve, they, too, need a warm welcome. Let us emulate the father of the prodigal son, who ran to greet his son while the son was still a great distance away, rather than waiting passively and then skeptically asking the son if he had merely come home to pick up his things!
Recruits and returnees should be counseled by the wise lyrics of the hymn "Think not, when ye gather to Zion" that all "your troubles and trials are through, that all will be holy and pure, and confidence wholly secure, the Saints have nothing to do but to look to your personal welfare, and always be comforting you".
The Church is for the perfecting of the Saints, hence new arrivals are entitled to expect instant community but not instant sainthood-either in themselves or in others. It takes time and truth working patiently together to produce the latter in all of us.
Meanwhile, as we work together, we notice each other's weaknesses. Hence all are urged to "succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees".
Involve newcomers quickly in the Lord's work. They have been called to his vineyard not just to admire but to perspire-not to "ooh" and "aah" but to "hoe and saw." Let us make of them friends-not celebrities; colleagues-not competitors. Let us use their precious enthusiasm to beckon still others to come within.
Let us listen lovingly and encouragingly as all newcomers utter their first halting public prayers and give their first tender talks, feeling unready and unworthy-but so glad to belong. We can tell them, by the way, that the sense of inadequacy never seems to go away.
However, what we now are as a people is clearly not enough, for "Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness". As in the time of Alma, the bad conduct of a few members slows the work. Indeed, Zion will not be fully redeemed until after we have been first chastened. Let us, therefore, not be too long-suffering with our own shortcomings. And when we are given thorns in the flesh, let us not demand to see the rose garden!
Let us participate in the rigorous calisthenics of daily improvement, and not just in the classroom rhetoric of eternal progression!
Let all gospel instruction in the home or classroom be a genuine experience in learning-not merely doctrinal Ping-Pong. Let us all understand, too, that those very doctrines and duties which may seem the most puzzling or the least attractive may well be those we now most need.
Whether old-timers, returnees, or recruits, we must all finally make that "mighty change" in our hearts, and this requires more than a slight change in our schedules.
If there are disappointments, let us not turn away but turn to, remembering Peter's immortal interrogative of the Savior, "Lord, to whom shall we go?". There is, my brothers and sisters, no other "plan of happiness", only multiple-choice misery.
Let all of us be filled with quiet wonder, but also with quiet determination concerning the marvelous things we have been called to do in such stress-filled times, "for the Lord shall comfort Zion. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody."
As we build a holier Zion, with "the voice of melody" we will sing those lyrics-"All is well, all is well" -but sometimes as a reassuring sob as well as a song, awaiting the promised day when "sorrow and sighing shall flee away".
With Paul, we can say, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed" -perhaps adding, "We are confronted, but not surprised; we are falsely accused, but pray for our accusers; we are reviled, but respond with Christian service." Brothers and sisters, we can be walking witnesses and standing sermons to which objective onlookers can say a quiet amen.
The Savior has told us that just as when the fig tree puts forth its leaves, we may know that summer is nigh, so it will be with his second coming. The foreseen summer of circumstances is now upon us. Let us not, therefore, complain of the heat!
The Savior will be in our midst saying, "Fear not, little flock", urging us to "do good" even as we are badly done by until divine intervention mercifully halts human deterioration, for then "all flesh shall see together", and "all nations shall tremble at presence" as his coming makes "a full end of all nations" and as there are no laws but his laws.
There will be no more questions then about the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth. For the faithful "of every kind," gladly gathered into his gospel net, there never was any question-only answers!
Meanwhile, may God help us to receive more effectively all newcomers and returnees to Zion-even as God has so mercifully received us into his Church. There will be one more regal reception at the gate, where Jesus is the sole gatekeeper. He awaits us there, not only to certify us, but because his divine love brings him to welcome us. Hence he "employeth no servant there". May we be ready to be so received, as he leads us with his "kindly light," I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
On a warm summer day I visited the land of Adam-ondi-Ahman in the state of Missouri. I had looked forward to this visit with keen anticipation, for I had never been there before.
The place was beautiful: The fields were green, the hills were rolling, the entire landscape was something to remember.
But more impressive than the landscape was the significance of the place, for here Adam lived-and Eve-and their family. The stupendous importance of it all weighed heavily upon me.
Here is where the human race began. This we are told by revelation.
Adam and Eve knew God personally. They saw him and talked with him. They were taught the gospel of Jesus Christ even in that early time-which was long before the Lord's earthly ministry, for Jesus had been appointed to be the Savior during our premortal existence.
The plan of salvation, therefore, was instituted among these first human beings, Adam and Eve and their children. Angels taught them. The family believed. They were baptized and began to serve God.
The scriptures say that as Adam tilled the ground and cared for the cattle and the sheep, Eve "did labor with him".
They were highly intelligent people, not at all like either the hominids or the cavemen some claim the first humans to have been. They were well educated, having been taught by the Lord himself. What an education! What an instructor!
Think of it, and remember that "the glory of God is intelligence, or in other words, light and truth". These gifts were imparted to Adam and Eve and their family. No one else could teach them, because they were the first human beings. That task was left to the Lord and his angels.
Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters. Among them were Seth and Abel, faithful to the Lord in all their ways. And then there was Cain!
They taught their children to read and write, "having a language which was pure and undefiled," given them by God.
"And a book of remembrance was kept" among them, recorded in the language of Adam, and all who called upon God were allowed to write in this pure and undefiled tongue, by the spirit of inspiration.
"And thus the Gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost".
"And from that time forth, the sons and daughters of Adam began to divide two and two in the land, and to till the land, and to tend flocks, and they also begat sons and daughters".
It was a glorious period-until Satan came among them. That evil person defied the teachings of God and said to the children of Adam, "Believe it not," and from that time some of the family loved Satan more than God. They apostatized from the truth.
These dissenters lost the Spirit of God and as a result became carnal, sensual, and devilish. With these evil attributes always comes retrogression. We should not be surprised, therefore, to hear of cavemen living in the dawn of time.
One of these dissenters was Cain. He made a dreadful covenant with Lucifer and persuaded others to follow him. "Adam and his wife mourned before the Lord, because of Cain and his brethren".
Cain hated righteous Abel and coveted his flocks. He was encouraged by Satan, who told him he could obtain Abel's sheep if he would kill his brother and thus seize possession.
The first murder resulted. Rebuked by the Lord and cursed because of his tragic sin, Cain left Adam-ondi-Ahman and went to live in a place called Nod.
The Church of Jesus Christ was well established in the time of Adam. Men like Seth and Enos grew to become the early patriarchs of the Church, and through them a long line of priesthood leaders was established.
Adam held the keys of the First Presidency and stood directly after the Savior in authority. He received those keys in the Creation, according to the Prophet Joseph Smith, who added, "Christ is the Great High Priest; Adam next".
Who was Adam that he was privileged to begin the human race here on earth? Had he been some very special personage in the premortal world?
Indeed, Adam was very special and very important. Before coming into mortality, he was known as Michael. The Prophet Joseph Smith clearly identifies both Adam and Michael as one and the same person, an angel, the chief angel, or archangel, of heaven, the special servant of God and Christ.
When Michael came into mortality he was known as Adam, the first man, but he was still his own self. Although he was given another name, that of Adam, he did not change his identity.
After his mortal death he resumed his position as an angel in the heavens, once again serving as the chief angel, or archangel, and took again his former name of Michael.
In his capacity as archangel, Adam, or Michael, will yet perform a mighty mission in the coming years, both before and after the Millennium. This is startling, but the scriptures declare it.
One important assignment that awaits him is to be the angel to sound the trumpet heralding the resurrection of the dead. The scripture reads, "Behold, verily I say unto you, before the earth shall pass away, Michael, mine archangel, shall sound his trump, and then shall all the dead awake, for their graves shall be opened, and they shall come forth".
What a marvelous calling for Adam, or Michael. But note that even in this assignment, which is yet future, he still will be an angel-the archangel, but an angel nevertheless.
Section 107 of the Doctrine and Covenants, dated March 28, 1835, identifies him as an angel as of that date-little more than a hundred years ago-and calls him "Michael, the prince, the archangel".
During the Millennium the devil will be bound, but afterward will be freed for a short time, during which he will rally his evil forces to make one final assault upon God.
Who will lead the defending armies of the Lord? None other than Michael himself, whose position as archangel qualifies him to be the captain of the Lord's host. Is he not the chief of the angels? Then should he not lead them into battle against Lucifer?
As the archangel he continues to serve the interests of the Lord with respect to this earth. His ultimate exaltation, of course, is fully assured, but it must await the completion of his work here.
Seven angels are to sound trumpets to announce a series of events to precede the second coming of the Savior. Michael will be the seventh of those angels.
Says the scripture:
"And Michael, the seventh angel, even the archangel"-and please note here how the Lord still identifies him strictly as an angel, for that is his status-and now I repeat this scripture:
"And Michael, the seventh angel, even the archangel, shall gather together his armies, even the hosts of heaven. And then cometh the battle of the great God; and the devil and his armies shall be cast away into their own place."
Then can anyone honestly mistake the identity of Adam, or Michael? Even after the thousand years of the Millennium are over he will still retain his status as an angel-the archangel-and a resurrected man.
In the year 1842 the Prophet Joseph Smith spoke of Michael, or Adam, who visited him. Joseph identified him as an angel even then-the archangel-and said, "The voice of Michael, the archangel; and of diverse angels, from Michael or Adam down to the present time". He thus listed Michael, or Adam, with the other angels.
So, in 1842 Michael, or Adam, was still an angel and will continue to be so through the final winding up scene of this earth.
Adam was not our God, nor was he our Savior. But he was the humble servant of both in his status as an angel.
Then what is his relationship to the Savior and to God our Father?
Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God, the first born to our Heavenly Father in the spirit and the Only Begotten in the flesh.
Jesus is the Holy One of Israel, not Adam, not anyone else. Although we are all spirit children of the Father, Jesus is the Only Begotten of the Father, in mortality, even from the beginning, not Adam, not anyone else. This the Lord himself says.
In the day that the gospel was given to Adam, the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and the divine voice of Jesus Christ-the Jehovah of that time-said to him by the power of the Holy Ghost: "I am the Only Begotten of the Father from the Beginning".
Then, can anyone claim that distinction for Adam, or for anyone else? Of course not! Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten of the Father, even from the very beginning.
Shall we not in full faith accept this doctrine, which is so clearly set forth in scripture?
Christ is the Lord! He alone is our Savior!
The Apostle Paul has an interesting passage in his epistle to the Hebrews. He spoke of the Savior and declared him to be in the express image of his Father's person. Then he asked this question: "Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?". And of course the answer is immediate and obvious-none of them-none of the angels, not even Adam, or Michael, the chief of the angels.
Jesus of Nazareth was the Only Begotten of the Father.
In this passage Paul was speaking only of Jesus the Christ. In the very next verse, as he continued to speak of Jesus, Paul called the lowly Nazarene the first begotten and declared, "Let all the angels worship him," and this they did-including Adam, who adores the Only Begotten of God, the Savior Jesus Christ, and is always subservient to him.
When the Apostle John wrote one of his most familiar passages he said, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life".
And who was thus given of the Father to be crucified? Who wrought out the atonement on Calvary? Jesus of Nazareth! He was the Only Begotten of God. He alone was the Sacrificial Lamb slain from the beginning of the world. Adam was the Savior's progenitor only in the same sense in which he is the ancestor of us all.
God had only one begotten son in the flesh. But Adam had many, including Cain and Abel and Seth. He lived nearly a thousand years. He could have had hundreds of children in that time.
Then how could it be said by anyone that he had "an only begotten" son? How could all of his other children be accounted for? Were they not all begotten in the flesh?
Were Cain and Abel and Seth and their brothers and sisters all orphans? Was any child ever begotten without a father? Adam was their father, and he had many sons. In no way whatever does he qualify as a father who had only one son in the flesh.
Yet God our Eternal Father had only one son in the flesh, who was Jesus Christ.
Then was Adam our God, or did God become Adam? Ridiculous!
Adam was neither God nor the Only Begotten Son of God. He was a child of God in the spirit as we all are. Jesus was the firstborn in the spirit, and the only one born to God in the flesh.
The Almighty himself repeatedly called Jesus both his firstborn and his Only Begotten.
Then who is Adam? He is Michael the archangel, appointed by God and Christ to be the mortal progenitor of the race. At this very moment, in the year 1980, he is still in his position as the archangel whose trumpet in the final days will herald the resurrection and who will be the captain of the Lord's hosts in the final defeat of Lucifer.
He is the "Ancient of Days" spoken of by Daniel the prophet and as such will meet the faithful in that same valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, which is named after him.
At the close of this dispensation he will there deliver up his stewardship to Christ, his Master and his Savior, the Lord Jehovah, who in turn will give his accounting to the Heavenly and Eternal Father of us all.
If any of you have been confused by false teachers who come among us, if you have been assailed by advocates of erroneous doctrines, counsel with your priesthood leaders. They will not lead you astray, but will direct you into paths of truth and salvation.
I bear you my solemn testimony that this-The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-is indeed the church and kingdom of God. Jesus is the Christ. Spencer W. Kimball is his prophet. We are the legal and divinely chosen custodians of the restored truth. This I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Boyd K. Packer
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Following the April general conference a social was held for all of the General Authorities and their wives. The program centered on the opening of a jubilee box prepared by the Relief Society of the Box Elder Stake in Brigham City fifty years ago to celebrate the centennial of the Church.
The box included newspapers, mementos, and a few letters. One of those letters was written by my grandmother, Sarah Adeline Wight Packer. I quote:
"We moved to a farm in Corinne in the year 1902. There being no branch of the Church there at that time , myself and Hannah Basley visited all the sisters in Corinne and surrounding territory, to see if there was enough interest among them to organize a Relief Society.
"Through our visits we learned the sisters were willing to come to meeting, and so we proceeded to get a branch organized."
There was another jubilee box at our social. Each couple posed for a portrait, and we were given a page on which to write a message to go into it. The box will be closed at year's end, to be opened in the year 2030.
We have not handed in our message as yet. But we have very thoughtfully considered it and hope to include something of what I say here today.
I address my remarks to our children and grandchildren. You may wonder why I would speak to them from this pulpit, rather than in a family meeting. There are two reasons.
First, a careful account is kept of these proceedings, and through that record I hope to speak to those who are not yet born. And next, I have the feeling and a hope that what I say may help someone else.
The counsel I give is very difficult to teach and to learn. I fear that when I have given this counsel, some will say, "Well, I knew that already," and regard it as prosaic, unimaginative, even dull. For what I want to say is so ordinary, so commonplace, that it is very difficult to have it universally regarded as important.
Nevertheless, we want our children and grandchildren to know that, beyond the fundamental truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, there has been a restoration of His gospel through the prophets, that the fulness of the gospel is upon the earth. After that, this is the one truth we most want to teach our children.
Three weeks ago I spent a day with Sister Packer in the record office in London. We were looking for Mary Haley. Like missionaries looking for living souls, we tracted through the pages of old record books. Some of them, I am sure, had not been opened for a hundred years.
I spent most of the day reading the minutes of the overseers of the workhouse-which was really the poorhouse.
One entry told of a woman who had been dismissed from the workhouse and sent to prison. She was refused permission to leave to check on a report that her child was being badly abused at the workhouse school. In great frustration she had "willfully broken a window." And so they sent her to prison.
Another entry reported an inspection of the school. The doctor complained that piles of manure along the edge of the school yard blocked the drainage. Water and sewage had backed up into the yard until the mire was ankle deep. Because of the cold and the poor condition of the children's shoes, many children were ill.
The record of dismissals listed "dead" or "died" time after time, with an explanation: "complaint," "fever," "consumption," "dropsy."
We found Mary Haley! She married Edward Sayers, and they had eleven children. Six of them died before they were seven years of age, one from burns. To our knowledge, only one of the eleven grew to maturity.
That was Eleanor Sayers, my wife's great-grandmother. She was born at Pullham, Norfolk, in the Depwade Union Workhouse and was the first of her family to join the Church. She died of cancer in a dismal London hospital.
The lives of those souls, our forebears, were characterized from beginning to end by both poverty and obscurity.
Before Eleanor Sayers Harman died, she gave all of her funds to her daughter Edith and counseled her to go to America.
Edith had been cast out by her husband when she joined the Church. She and eight-year-old Nellie left England with the flimsy assurance that a missionary thought his family in Idaho might take them in until they could be located.
Nellie was my wife's mother; Edith, her grandmother. I knew them well. They were women of special nobility.
Our lineage runs also to the stately manor houses of England, well-connected with the courts of kings, where culture and plenty were much in evidence.
But the dignity and worth of those forebears is not more, and may well be less, than that of Eleanor Sayers.
Sarah and Eleanor, Edith and Nellie-all were women of a special nobility-the royalty of righteousness. We want our children to remember that their lineage runs to the poorhouse in Pullham, Norfolk, and to remember this: It is the misapprehension of most people that if you are good, really good, at what you do, you will eventually be both widely known and well compensated.
It is the understanding of almost everyone that success, to be complete, must include a generous portion of both fame and fortune as essential ingredients.
The world seems to work on that premise. The premise is false. It is not true. The Lord taught otherwise.
I want you, our children, to know this truth:
You need not be either rich or hold high position to be completely successful and truly happy.
In fact, if these things come to you, and they may, true success must be achieved in spite of them, not because of them.
It is remarkably difficult to teach this truth. If one who is not well known, and not well compensated, claims that he has learned for himself that neither fame nor fortune are essential to success, we tend to reject his statement as self-serving. What else could he say and not count himself a failure?
If someone who has possession of fame or fortune asserts that neither matters to success or happiness, we suspect that his expression is also self-serving, even patronizing.
Therefore, we will not accept as reliable authorities either those who have fame and fortune, or those who have not. We question that either can be an objective witness.
That leaves only one course open to us: trial and error-to learn for oneself, by experience, about prominence and wealth or their opposites.
We thereafter struggle through life, perhaps missing both fame and fortune, to finally learn one day that one can, indeed, succeed without possessing either. Or we may, one day, have both and learn that neither has made us happy; neither is basic to the recipe for true success and for complete happiness. That is a very slow way to learn.
Was it Poor Richard who said, "Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other".
We come into mortal life to receive a body and to be tested, to learn to choose.
We want our children and their children to know that the choice of life is not between fame and obscurity, nor is the choice between wealth and poverty. The choice is between good and evil, and that is a very different matter indeed.
When we finally understand this lesson, thereafter our happiness will not be determined by material things. We may be happy without them or successful in spite of them.
Wealth and prominence do not always come from having earned them. Our worth is not measured by renown or by what we own.
Someone may say that my testimony may not be valid because of the prominence of the General Authorities of the Church. That is something we do not earn. It comes, as the saying goes, "with the territory." And I want you to know that it comes as a burden on our backs, not as wings on our heels.
Our lives are made up of thousands of everyday choices. Over the years these little choices will be bundled together and show clearly what we value.
The crucial test of life, I repeat, does not center in the choice between fame and obscurity, nor between wealth and poverty. The greatest decision of life is between good and evil.
We may foolishly bring unhappiness and trouble, even suffering upon ourselves. These are not always to be regarded as penalties imposed by a displeased Creator. They are part of the lessons of life, part of the test.
Some are tested by poor health, some by a body that is deformed or homely. Others are tested by handsome and healthy bodies; some by the passion of youth; others by the erosions of age.
Some suffer disappointment in marriage, family problems; others live in poverty and obscurity. Some find ease and luxury.
All are part of the test, and there is more equality in this testing than sometimes we suspect.
It is possible to be both rich and famous and at the same time succeed spiritually. But the Lord warned of the difficulty of it when He talked of camels and needles.
This message is central to the scriptures. The Book of Mormon tells us that "men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil".
We are taught, also, "Men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose"-
One: "liberty and eternal life, through the great mediation of all men."
Or, two: "to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil."
From the Old Testament:
"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches".
From the New Testament:
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you".
Again, from the Book of Mormon:
"Before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.
"And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good-to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted."
And from the Doctrine and Covenants:
"Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich".
"Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich".
What, then, do we want you to do? Simply this:
Be good!
Study the gospel.
Live it!
Stay active in the Church.
Receive the ordinances.
Keep your covenants.
I do not know at this moment whether you are learning. I do know that what I am teaching is true.
One day each of you will know that some things are not divisible. The love of your parents is one of them. Parents do not love one child more than another-nor less. Each receives all of it.
Position and wealth are no more essential to true happiness in mortality than their absence can prevent you from achieving it.
I can envision a day, in the generations ahead, when I would regard you and your children, and theirs, struggling with the challenges of life.
I may see you go the full distance of mortality without becoming either well-known or wealthy. I can see myself falling to my knees to thank a generous God that my prayers have been answered, that you have succeeded, that you are truly happy.
We now move into an uncertain future. But we are not uncertain. Children, bear testimony, build Zion. Then you will find true success, complete happiness.
I know that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that in the gospel is true success, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder M. Russell Ballard
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Since last conference, I have come to know that many of our Heavenly Father's children need help with their problems. Hundreds of letters filled with pleas for help have come to the General Authorities. Fathers plead for their sons, mothers for their daughters, boys and girls for their parents. The contents of these letters have been heartrending.
I have learned firsthand that the wounds of those who suffer spiritually can be healed when you and I put forth the extra personal effort required to reach out to them.
Jesus Christ has the power to heal all manner of illness, whether spiritual or physical. A woman was healed by simply touching the border of his garment, as recorded in the book of Luke:
"And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
"And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.
"And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace."
Can the Master touch others' lives through you and me? Oh yes, he can, and he will if we will just do our part. A home teacher in Florida let the Savior's touch be felt in this way. I quote excerpts from a letter to me dated July 8, 1980.
"When I joined the Church in 1973, my husband did not join. He didn't want to come to meetings, and he wasn't sure there was a God anyway.
"In 1975 our home teacher became my husband's best friend. For more than three years he missed coming only once. My husband found in our home teacher someone to talk to. He unburdened his years of bitterness and unhappiness. He had never had a real friend before in his entire life.
"In August 1978, our home teacher told us he was moving. We were heartbroken. On his last visit, our home teacher, with my husband's permission, talked about how one can gain a testimony.
"In November, Elder Ballard, you came to our stake and taught the gospel at a special fireside. My husband and I attended and at the conclusion of the meeting, you put your arm around my husband and the Lord spoke through you. You told my husband that our Heavenly Father loved him and wanted him to be baptized and that the Church needed him.
"That night my husband made a decision to be baptized. We called our former home teacher, now living in Louisiana, to see when he could come to baptize my husband. He came and baptized him. One year later he was with us and our family when we were sealed for time and eternity in the Washington Temple.
"Although you may not remember us-for we know you meet many people every year-our lives were touched in an unforgettable way. We are especially grateful to our faithful home teacher."
In another instance, a Young Women teacher had a blind girl in her class whose participation was limited because she could not study in the usual way. The teacher would go to the girl's home and read out loud while the girl translated her personal progress book into braille. The work took two years. The teacher also encouraged the other girls in the class to help. Under her direction, they went to the blind girl's home and read to her from the manual until it was translated into braille.
The Master's touch through that teacher reached out and blessed not only this girl but many others who are blind, because the braille translation is available at the general offices of the Young Women organization.
Sometimes the Savior's touch can reach others through little bodies with big hearts. A lovely woman had received the missionary discussions but had not made the final commitment to be baptized. One Sunday she decided to attend sacrament meeting in a ward where she was not acquainted. She wanted a place where she could be alone with her thoughts. She sat beside a little boy. As the sacrament was passed, this little boy noticed that she did not take the sacrament bread. When it came to him, he carefully broke it in two and gave half to her. The woman was very impressed that a child would perform such a meaningful act of kindness. That day she contacted the missionaries and said, "If this is what you teach the children in your church, I want to become a member."
The Lord taught the Nephites, "Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up." A recent example of the light of the Lord touching someone who needed it desperately came when I called upon a very close friend shortly after the death of his eternal companion. I asked him, "What can I now do to help?" He answered, "Help my son to understand." You see, this son loved his mother very much. When he saw her suffer month after month, he began to feel that the prayers and the priesthood blessings went unanswered. This caused his faith in our Heavenly Father to waiver, and he lost the light of the Lord in his life.
The words rang in my ears: "Help my son to understand." I asked myself, "How? What can I do?" Finally, I invited him to come to Church headquarters to talk with me. When he arrived and we went to the lunchroom, a most unusual circumstance unfolded while we were eating. During our visit, many General Authorities came by our table and greeted us. Most importantly, he shook hands with eight of the Twelve Apostles that sit here on the stand. Never before or since have I seen that many members of the Twelve in the lunchroom at one time.
As we were leaving the Church offices, another unusual thing happened. We caught a glimpse of President Kimball, and my young friend asked, "Does President Kimball ever talk to someone like me?" Circumstances that would rarely happen again placed us with President Kimball for a few minutes. The short time with him was unforgettably impressive. His instructions were eternal, and his love for this young man was unquestionable. My friend's heart and mine were touched deeply during those few minutes.
President Kimball's final statement to this young man, after giving him a loving embrace, impressed my friend very much. He said, "My boy, when you come home from your mission, you will understand more fully the things we have been talking about." That day a prophet of God reached out as I suppose only a prophet can. Through him, the Savior touched the life of my friend and turned him toward the light of the Lord.
As we returned to the parking area, I put my arm around him and said, "I know that your mother knows you are here today. Because of her love and devotion to the Lord and her great love for you, I am sure our Heavenly Father has allowed her influence to be felt here today." Tears flowed, attitudes changed, directions became clear, and commitments were made.
What a thrill, my brothers and sisters, to report a few months later to President Kimball that this fine young man was serving faithfully and diligently as a full-time missionary!
Finally, may I share how the Lord will touch our personal lives through our own faith and prayers. A beautiful baby girl came to our son's home only to stay with them here on earth for less than five months. The love and care given to her by her parents was deeply touching. The struggle of this infant granddaughter for life was almost more than we could bear. The night before her passing, we went to the Logan hospital giving what support we could to our children.
Later that evening in my son's home, his mother and I knelt with him and prayed for guidance. When we returned to the hospital and I took my tiny little grandchild's hand and looked at her, I felt the Savior's touch. Into my mind came the words, as though spoken by her to me, "Don't worry, grandpa; I'll be all right." Peace came into my heart. The Master's touch fell upon all of us. Soon thereafter she was released to go home again to her heavenly parents.
Oh, yes, brothers and sisters; we can feel the Savior's touch, and we can help others feel that divine touch. We can bless each other by reaching out to the wayward youth, the inactive adult, the widowed, the aged, the sick, and to all of God's children everywhere, member and nonmember of the Church alike.
We somehow need to realize the vital importance of feeling the blessings of the gospel and the peace of the Lord in our lives individually. That is much more significant than how well the mechanics of a program may be working in our wards and stakes. Oh, that every parent, teacher, and Church leader would know that we can bless each other when we administer the Savior's touch to the benefit of our fellowmen.
I realize that many of you are very conscious of the needs of others. I also know that you and I can do much more. Let us make the choice never to let a day pass without striving to touch the life of someone through our service! Then we can cherish and appreciate more the Savior's beautiful admonition: "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me".
I bear testimony that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that he touched the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that through him the fulness of the gospel has been restored to the earth to bless and guide all mankind. This witness and testimony I bear in the sacred and beloved name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Derek A. Cuthbert
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My wife and I have just celebrated a remarkable thirtieth anniversary. Thirty years ago, young missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knocked on our door in Nottingham, England.
How did their message appeal to two active members of another church? We, and generations before us, had held membership in the established church of the land. Furthermore, we were very happy with our way of life. Two precious children had graced our home, and a new job in a large industrial company was giving challenge and enjoyment.
What more could we hope for? What could add to our happiness? As the missionaries taught us and prayed with us, we began to realize that there were gaps in our life, that we had unfulfilled needs. For a few minutes may I share with you ten ways in which our lives became even more purposeful and happy as these needs were fulfilled. I am sure you will be able to identify some of these needs in your life, in your home, in your family.
First, we realized that our communication with God was not often enough or strong enough. True, we had always said our individual prayers, but when, because of the missionaries, we also started to pray together regularly as husband and wife and with our children, we experienced a tremendous feeling of closeness, not only with each other but with the Almighty God.
The missionaries had taught us that he is a personal being, that he is literally our Father, and prayers began to flow from the heart and were no longer repetitious. We came to know him as a loving Father, just and kind, reliable and true. What great need there is in the world today to commune with the Infinite, to talk and walk with God, to know that he speaks to us today and that we are in reality his children.
Second, we came to know Jesus Christ, not just as a historical figure, but as the living Son of God. In high school and the years that followed I had made a special study of the New Testament. However, the Savior's life and mortal ministry had no great impact on my life until the missionaries testified, as did Job of old, that our Redeemer lives.
I came to know him as my personal Savior, who gave his life for me and for each of us. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends". Everyone needs a friend and everyone has a friend beyond compare-Jesus Christ and him crucified and resurrected for us.
Third, as a young married couple, we were seeking security in an insecure world. We had grown from youth through teenage years during World War II. I had been a member of the Home Guard at sixteen, trained to defend my country, and at seventeen had volunteered for the Royal Air Force. Now, more than five years after the war had finished, there was still rubble in the streets and rationing in the shops.
We grasped at the secure message that the missionaries gave us, that God speaks today as he did anciently, through prophets. Yes, he is mindful of us, he does love us, he has restored his church and the fulness of his gospel as he promised. Oh, how the world needs a prophet to lead us and guide us in these troubled times. I testify that we have such a prophet. He sits behind me as I speak in this tabernacle. He presides over The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Lord's church and kingdom here on earth.
Fourth, we began attending the Church at the missionaries' invitation-and what a friendly reception! We soon learned what true sociality is, and sincere brotherhood and sisterhood which bind together people of all nations and tongues. "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God". What a wonderful feeling of belonging, of being needed and appreciated, beyond anything we had previously experienced.
Soon we were singing in choirs; visiting other Church members in their homes, just as they visited us; and giving service to others in some of the many service projects the Church provides. We were able to choose from a wide range of activities-drama, dancing, sport-to supplement the spiritual progress that came rapidly by worshiping and learning with other Latter-day Saints. Everyone needs to experience the warmth of friendship and happy social activity on a continuing basis.
Fifth, my family and family life became even more meaningful and precious to me as we commenced having wonderful family home evenings together. We learned that all over the world, members of the Church spend at least one evening a week together in a balanced evening of spiritual instruction, fun, and talent sharing. We love our children, and we were glad to learn from the missionaries that although baptism is essential for the remission of sins, infant baptism is not necessary since "all children who die before accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom". We have known a number of parents who have been distressed at the death of a small child because of the un-Christian doctrine of infant baptism.
Again, we also became concerned about our wider family: our grandparents, our great-grandparents, and all of our ancestors. This is also a universal need, as Alex Haley expressed, "a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage". Everyone has some family, sometimes near, sometimes far, sometimes living in mortality, sometimes passed on and awaiting the Resurrection. The strength that comes from family in all its aspects is a vital need, one that can be fulfilled by the principles and programs learned from the missionaries.
Sixth, everyone appreciates good health, and there is a basic need to have our spirit housed in a well-functioning body if at all possible. Personally, I had suffered internal discomfort for some years, but the health code, or Word of Wisdom, taught by the missionaries helped me to overcome this. I can testify that the exclusion of the habit-forming stimulants of alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee has been a great blessing in my life and the lives of my wife and my children. I am glad the Lord gave this revelation through Joseph Smith, the Prophet, almost 150 years ago, bringing increased health and vitality to millions of people.
Seventh, as provided for our young family, I was not only concerned about physical and spiritual well-being, but indeed with personal progress generally. I soon found that in the Lord's Church all kinds of resources are provided to fulfill this need. Before long I was involved in educational activities and leadership training and cultural pursuits of various kinds. Progress within my company organization was a natural outgrowth of progression in the Church. This was not surprising, for early in our discussions with the missionaries we had learned of God's plan of eternal progression for his children. Does not everyone deep down have this yearning, this need to progress and improve, to develop and refine?
Eighth, I think along with these needs there is also a spirit of adventure in most of us in varying degrees, a need to discover, a need to explore. For many this need is met by reading adventure stories or traveling to new places. For myself, I had always been fascinated by the study of Middle Eastern archaeology, particularly of the great Egyptian civilization.
The message of my missionary friends even fulfilled this need, for they told us of an ancient record on gold plates, inscribed by people from the Middle East in the pre-Christian era. Imagine my excitement to learn that these ancient people with their prophets and culture had left the Old World and traveled to the New, to become a mighty people on what is now the American continent. Their records were hidden and preserved and a little over 150 years ago were discovered, not by archaeologists, but by a teenage youth. The faith and worthiness of this young man, Joseph Smith, enabled him not only to find the gold plates, but later to translate the hieroglyphic record by the power of God.
What a thrill it was to see some of the reformed Egyptian characters as copied by the hand of Joseph Smith. I knew by the feeling I had that they were true characters. Then, to hold this book of scripture, this Book of Mormon, in my hands and read it eagerly, sincerely, prayerfully, was a powerful spiritual experience. The need I had for the adventure of discovery was fulfilled through the Book of Mormon. This was not merely discovery of ancient peoples, but a complete discovery of the divinity of Jesus Christ. I testify that the Book of Mormon is a witness, a modern-day witness, of the Savior of the world, who visited this continent after his resurrection.
Ninth, as one who had lived less than perfectly, and yet had no serious matters to disturb my conscience, I felt the need to make some changes in my life. I was overjoyed to learn the pure teaching of Jesus Christ concerning faith, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands to receive the Holy Ghost. What joy to start afresh with a clean sheet, having turned away from unsound doctrines, vain traditions, and perverted ordinances.
Again, this would seem to be a universal need, all men having been born into this earth life innocent and pure, and having been tainted by the things of the world. The marvelous thing is that Jesus gave his life for everyone. His resurrection was for everyone, "for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive".
Tenth, and finally, since being baptized into this wonderful restored Church of Jesus Christ, I have felt an inner peace, "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding". I have heard many people say their greatest need and desire is to obtain peace of mind. How does this come? It comes by knowing the truth, for "the truth shall make you free". I testify that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Church of Jesus Christ, and teaches true principles and true ordinances.
How grateful I am that my ten most fervent needs have been fulfilled through listening to the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then, by study and prayer and obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, I have found happiness not only here but for eternities to come.
May all within the sound of my voice, and all God's children everywhere, have the same fulfillment, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Rex C. Reeve, Sr.
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I bring you greetings today from the wonderful Saints in the British Isles and Africa. They send their love to each one of you and especially to President Kimball and these great Brethren here on the stand.
It has been inspiring to feel the Spirit of the Lord brooding over these nations, to sense the new levels of dedication and commitment in the hearts of faithful members of the Church, many of whom are newly baptized members.
To you wonderful parents of the two thousand missionaries who are serving in these lands, and to the sons, daughters, and families of devoted missionary couples who are serving there-I bring you greetings. We thank you for all you have done and are doing to sustain them: the sacrifices you make that they can serve, the encouraging letters you write each week, and the faith-filled prayers you offer each night and morning in their behalf. Yes, missionary work is family work.
This is a great time to live, when the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is on the earth. It has a miraculous power to change hearts and give added purpose and new meaning to lives.
To you wonderful friends who are not yet members of this great Church: I hope you can feel our love for you. We are all children of our Father in Heaven. We are brothers and sisters. The inspired words of a primary children's song speak of this great truth:
We love each one of you. We love you enough that we know you will not be offended as we speak plainly to you, because love does not offend.
We have this message today for each one of you-that the authority of God has been restored and his church has been reestablished in the earth. I testify to you of this truth! But you do not have to take my word for it; you can know for yourselves. Those who are seeking and will humble themselves and reach up to our Father in Heaven in prayer can know of a surety whether or not it is the truth.
To assist in our search for the way, our Heavenly Father has caused a marvelous record to be brought forth in our day. It is a record of his dealings with the people who lived on the Western Hemisphere; and, like the Bible, it is a sacred record. It is called the Book of Mormon. It was translated by the gift and power of God from a record engraved on golden plates. This sacred book, unlike other books, has a promise. It says:
"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost".
Literally thousands upon thousands have tested this promise and have found it to be true. They have received a witness. It has brought new meaning, added purpose into their lives.
Yes, you can know for yourselves! But you should also know that, once you have had this witness from the Spirit, you are then under obligation, sacred obligation, to testify of it to others.
And now, to those of us who are members of this great church: These are days of great missionary service. Over thirty thousand young men and women, together with faithful, devoted couples, are carrying this message to many nations and lands. Never before in this dispensation has such a worldwide effort been made to reach every soul in the earth. It is great, and we are mindful of the time and means which you and many others have so willingly given to this purpose.
But as great as our effort has been, it is still far, far from being enough. If we are going to carry this message to every land, every nation, every people, every soul as our great missionary prophet-leader has directed us, there is still one part of this vital missionary force that has not been awakened. It is like a sleeping giant waiting to be aroused. When this sleeping giant is fully awakened, the day of the sickle will have come to an end, and the day of the combine will come in. The harvest will be in millions in place of thousands, as it is today.
The great need today in missionary work is to have all the members, every member-those who bear His name, those who have had a witness-pull aside the curtains of fear and reach out in love to our friends and relatives and neighbors and let them know that we really care about them and warm them with our love, that they may know that we really do care for them as our brothers and sisters, that they too might enjoy these great blessings.
When we were baptized, we entered into a covenant with the Lord, and I quote from Mosiah, that with this covenant we "stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death".
Now, silent witnesses are not of much value. The Lord has said: "It becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor.
"Therefore, they are left without excuse, and their sins are upon their own heads."
He has also said to us as members of his church: "But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man. Wo unto such, for mine anger is kindled against them".
"Open your mouths and they shall be filled,
"Yea, open your mouths and spare not, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your backs, for lo, I am with you.
"Yea, open your mouths and they shall be filled, saying: Repent, repent, and prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Then, speaking of members of the Church in another revelation, the Lord has said about those members of the Church who would not be in the celestial kingdom but would have to be satisfied to be in the terrestrial kingdom: "These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore, they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God".
And Mark recorded the Savior's words in his day: "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels".
I'd like to tell you that a person is never nearer the Lord than when he is reaching out, Savior-like, to bring another soul to Christ. The words of the poet Whittier say this truth:
I might ask you this question: Do you have a ledger in which to account for your stocks and bonds and holdings? Many successful men do.
On several occasions men came to the Prophet Joseph Smith and asked him to inquire of the Lord what they could do which would be of most worth for them. And each time the answer came: "That which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father".
Do we keep a missionary ledger where we might record that which will be of "most worth" to us?
You might be interested in this idea; it might help you, too. We have a family missionary ledger. It is just an ordinary ledger on which we have placed a picture of the risen Christ saying to his prophet, President Spencer W. Kimball, "Feed my sheep." We have placed President Kimball's picture there and our picture below it with his words saying, "Lengthen your stride! Do it now!" Then I have written my comment, "If it is to be, it is up to me!"-which means I have to do something about it now.
In this ledger we are listing the names of the wonderful people we meet in our regular course of life who haven't yet become members of the Church. Under each name we record the date we met them and what we did with them.
Just as an example to show you how easy it is, let me tell you about these names, William and May Brown. In January 1979, when we first arrived in England, there was an unusual amount of snow. We had no snow shovel; there were none for sale. I tried to sweep the snow, but it was too heavy. Phillip Brown, a young man, and his friend stopped and asked if they could clear our yard. They did a nice job. Sister Reeve called Phillip Brown's mother to ask him if he could come and clean the yard again and to tell her what a good job her son did for us. Mrs. Brown said, "Why don't you come over to our home and have coffee and get acquainted with the neighbors?"
Sister Reeve went, but she had orange juice; and, of course, that gave an opportunity to tell them why-that we were Mormons. Mrs. Brown said, "I met some of your missionaries, and they're surely a fine group of young men. If I were going to change churches, I'd join yours."
On February 19, our forty-second wedding anniversary, we didn't have anyone to share it with, and so we thought, "Why don't we call William and May?" So we called them and said, "Won't you come over and help keep this anniversary with us?" We've had just one pleasant experience after another. They have a Book of Mormon and an LDS hymn book. We send cards as we travel; they are fine people. We are keeping in touch with them. They are good friends.
We haven't set aside any special time for this missionary work but just look for opportunities with everyone we meet, and in this short time we have recorded twenty-nine names in our ledger. Three of these have been baptized, a fourth was to be baptized on October 3, and others are being taught by the missionaries.
When missionaries tract in England they have to knock on three thousand doors to find one person to listen. That means that over 90 percent of their time is spent in finding. Can you imagine what would happen if every family in the Church were to pull aside the curtain of fear and decide to reach out in love and friendship to their neighbors and friends? Not only would the harvest be great, but each family who participated in the process would share in the great blessings of missionary work.
The Lord promises great blessings to those who teach this gospel. In section 4 of the Doctrine and Covenants he says: "He that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul".
"And any man that shall go and preach this gospel of the kingdom, and fail not to continue faithful in all things, shall not be weary in mind, neither darkened, neither in body, limb, nor joint; and a hair of his head shall not fall to the ground unnoticed. And they shall not go hungry, neither athirst."
My, what a marvelous promise!
"And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."
To you brethren who are stake presidents and bishops: If you really want to sanctify your people-if you want to strengthen your wards and stakes-lead and involve them in missionary work. Every young man should be prepared to fill a mission. They get fifty years' worth of spiritual training on a mission. It's the greatest thing that can come to a young man. And every family should be a friendshipping family. I say to you fathers, if you really want to strengthen and bless your family, if you want to strengthen them-help your family to be a friendshipping family.
I witness to you that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer, and he speaks to us through his prophet, President Spencer W. Kimball.
I pray God to bless us that we might have the missionary spirit come into our hearts, that we might reach out and give to those who do not have the great blessings that we have. Remember now that Christ has no hands but our hands and no voice but our voice to do his work today. And I witness to you, it pays the greatest dividends, and I say this to you in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord, amen.
Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My beloved brothers and sisters, it has been my privilege through the past years as a stake president, a mission president, and a General Authority to serve as a common judge in modern Israel. These experiences have led me to take the time allotted me today to discuss two principles-repentance and forgiveness.
Not too long ago a young wife spoke at her husband's funeral and said, "We came to realize that unimportant things really are unimportant. When the spirit is sick, there can be no true healing, no matter how strong the physical body. If the spirit is well, then physical impairment is unimportant, regardless of the effects of a debilitating disease."
The Lord has provided the way whereby our spiritual sicknesses can be healed. In the first chapter of Isaiah, verse 18, we read, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
And, again in the Doctrine and Covenants, "Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven".
Also, "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more".
For one to be forgiven of sin, the Lord requires that he come unto him, mourn over his sins, forsake the sins, be teachable, forgive others, and confess.
Again, in the fifty-eighth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, we read, "By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins-behold, he will confess them and forsake them".
We must always be truly sincere. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Huck says:
"It made me shiver. And I about made up my mind to pray and see if I couldn't try to quit being the kind of boy I was and be better. So I kneeled down. But the words wouldn't come. Why wouldn't they? It weren't no use to try and hide it from Him I knowed very well why they wouldn't come. It was because my heart warn't right; it was because I weren't square: it was because I was playing double. I was letting on to give up sin, but away inside of me I was holding on to the biggest one of all. I was trying to make my mouth say I would do the right thing and the clean thing. But deep down in me, I knowed it was a lie, and He knowed it. YOU CAN'T PRAY A LIE I found that out."
Huck Finn was right. You can't pray a lie; and regardless of what may be decided by a common judge, actual forgiveness cannot take place until true repentance has preceded it. The common judge serves as the Lord's agent. A bishop may be deceived, but the Holy Ghost cannot. When confession takes place, it ought to be from the inner-most depths of the heart and soul.
What a tragedy when someone finally gets enough courage to go to the bishop and then leaves his office having only partially confessed. Oh, beloved brothers and sisters, "the shepherd should not recoil from the diseased sheep". The bishops in this kingdom have been endowed with wisdom, judgment, and mercy from on high. They can relieve the burden of the repentant sufferer.
Some years ago, a man knocked on my office door late at night and said, "President, may I speak to you? Are we all alone?" I assured him no one else was in the office. We sat across the corner of the desk, and he said, "Four times I have driven over to the stake office and have seen your light on, and four times I have driven back home without coming in. But," he continued, "last night I was reading in The Miracle of Forgiveness again, and I realized that every major transgression must be confessed. I have come to confess a transgression. I have been on two high councils and have served as a bishop twice, and I believe the Lord called me."
I agreed, "I'm sure he called you."
He said, "Forty-two years ago, before my wife and I were married, we committed fornication once, the week prior to our going to the temple. We did not lie to the bishop, who was my wife's father; he simply talked with us and signed our recommends. We then went to the stake president, and he did not interview us. He signed our recommends, and we went to the temple unworthily. While we were on our honeymoon," he continued, "we decided to make it up to the Lord. We decided we would pay more than our share of tithing and more than our share of building fund; we would accept every assignment to the welfare farm and do all else we were asked to do. We decided we were not worthy to go to the temple, and we did not go for a year. It has been forty-two years since the transgression, and we have lived as near Christlike lives as we know how. I believe we have been forgiven, but I know that confession is necessary."
Then he quoted from 2 Nephi 9:41, which states, "Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name."
Then he said, "I would rather confess to you now. I am not a young man, and I do not have a lot of years left. I want to be able to meet my Savior with nothing left undone."
I listened to his confession. I wept with him, and when he finished the confession, I told him on behalf of the Church that he was forgiven. He need not discuss it, think about it, or be concerned about it anymore. I told him never to mention it to me again, for I would not remember it and had no desire to. To this day, I cannot remember who it was, although I do remember the case.
We got up and walked to the door together. I said, "Where is your wife?"
He said, "She is in the car."
I asked, "Is she coming in?"
He replied, "No, she can't even think about it except it almost destroys her."
I said, "You tell your wife that I would like to visit with her now. Tell her I want to take this off her heart and close it. Tell her I know what it was that was done, and I will close it, and it need not be opened again. Tell her I will make it as easy as possible for her."
He said, "I'll tell her, but I don't think she will come in."
I answered, "You tell her that if I have to sit here all night, I will not go home until she comes in. I can't bear the thought of her carrying this on her heart one more day in this life; forty-two years is long enough."
He said, "Well, I'll tell her, but I don't think she'll come in."
He left and was gone fifteen minutes, thirty minutes, and forty-five minutes. I was tempted to check the parking lot to see if they had gone home. I resisted; then I heard a timid knock at the door. I went to the door, and there was this sweet woman standing there. Her eyes were wet from crying. She had probably told her husband she couldn't come in. He had insisted, telling her I would stay there all night. Finally, forty-five minutes later, she was at the door. I took her by both hands and led her across the room. I sat across the corner of the desk, and then I said, "Your husband confessed to a transgression that happened over forty-two years ago of which you were a part. I want to make it easy for you. I know what the transgression is. Every major transgression must be confessed. You tell me, and I will take it off your heart."
It was like pulling wild horses to get a confession. Finally, about fifteen minutes later, she confessed. I wept; she wept. I told her it was closed and that I wouldn't remember it and for her to forget it and close it. Then I stood up and put my arm through hers and we walked down the long hallway to the parking lot. When we got just about to the door, I said, "How do you feel?"
She stopped, looked up at me and, with tears in her eyes, and said, "President, I feel clean for the first time in forty-two years."
A little publication put out by the Church states, "When one has washed his robes in the blood of the Lamb, they are no longer soiled".
One day a woman came to my business office. She leaned across the desk and said, "President, I have carried a transgression on my heart for thirty-four years that I cannot carry one more step in this life. I know how tender-hearted you are, and I wouldn't add one particle of a burden to your soul."
I said, "My dear sister, before you go on, let me share with you a principle of the gospel. When you take a burden off your soul, it is lifted from the priesthood leader's soul also."
She said, "I know I will be cast out; I know I will be excommunicated, but does it have to be forever? Thirty-four years ago, before my first husband and I were married, I was involved in an abortion. Since that time, I have felt like a murderess. It was my husband's idea, and I did not resist. I had an abortion. Later we got married. He was unfaithful constantly during the first two years of our marriage. I finally divorced him and have since remarried a wonderful man who is a convert to the Church. He knows everything, and he still wants to be sealed to me. President, do you think that either in time or in eternity we can be sealed together? I know I will be cast out, but does it have to be forever?" The tears flowed down her cheeks.
I had known this woman and thought she was one of the most Christlike women I had ever met. She always baked bread, rolls, or cookies for the people in the neighborhood. Whenever they had a ward party and the Relief Society sisters cleaned up, she always scrubbed the floor. She said that she didn't feel worthy to stand by them and do the dishes after what she had done; she only felt worthy to scrub the floor where they walked. She told me that she had never gossiped about anyone else. "How could I," she said, "after what I had done?"
I listened to her confession, humbled to tears, and told her, "I have never had a case of abortion before. I will need to write to President Kimball, President of the Quorum of the Twelve, and get his counsel."
I wrote to President Kimball and shared the entire story. I told him she was one of the most Christlike women I had known and that she was willing to submit to any decision he would have for her. Two weeks later I received his response. I called the sister and asked her to meet me at the stake office as soon as she could. When I arrived at the stake center, she was already there. Her eyes were red, and she was pale. I know she must have been on her knees several times after my call, asking for mercy.
Again I sat across the desk from her and said, "I do not want to keep you waiting one second longer. We are not even going to stop for prayer. Let me read you President Kimball's letter.
"'Dear President Featherstone: You inquired about a woman who had been involved in an abortion thirty-four years ago. From the way you describe her it sounds like she has long since repented. You may tell her on behalf of the Church she is forgiven.
"'After a thorough and searching interview, you may issue this sweet sister a temple recommend so she can go to the temple and be sealed to her present husband.'"
If the Savior had been sitting where the woman sat, I would not have felt any closer to him. I believe that is exactly what he would have done. It was as though a two-thousand-pound burden had been lifted from the heart of this good woman. She wept great tears of relief and joy. To this day, I do not remember who the woman was.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., said, "I feel that will give that punishment which is the very least that our transgression will justify.
"I believe that when it comes to making the rewards for our good conduct, he will give us the maximum that it is possible to give." I, too, believe this with all my heart and soul.
In Exodus 32, Moses had gone up to the mountain. The children of Israel had fashioned a golden calf with a graving tool. The people offered burnt offerings, and they sat down to eat, drink, and play; and there was great wickedness when Moses came down out of the mountain. He cast the tablets out of his hands, and they were broken; he burned the golden calf and caused the idolaters to be slain.
Then, when the people had repented, Moses went back before the Lord and prayed, "Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written".
I have listened to possibly a thousand major transgressions; and each time after a truly repentant transgressor has left my office, I have either knelt behind the desk or bowed my head in prayer and said, "Lord, forgive him or her, I pray thee. If not, blot my name also out of thy book. I do not want to be where they aren't, for they are some of the most Christlike people I have ever met."
Though their sins be as scarlet, they may become white as the driven snow, and the Lord has promised he would remember their sins no more.
Beloved, the Lord has provided every soul with a Christlike ecclesiastical leader who has been endowed with powers and keys from on high to be his agent in exercising forgiveness on behalf of the Church. I plead with you: if you have a major transgression on your heart that has not been confessed, go to your bishop. He will be filled with love and charity and will bless your life and take the burden of sin from your heart as a repentant soul in modern Israel.
I know that he, our Savior, loves us and that he is our Redeemer, our Atoner, and our Savior. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
For over forty years, in a spirit of love, members of the Church have been counseled to be thrifty and self-reliant; to avoid debt; pay tithes and a generous fast offering; be industrious; and have sufficient food, clothing, and fuel on hand to last at least one year.
Today there are compelling reasons to reemphasize this counsel. We heard it done effectively in that great welfare meeting this morning. May I add just a word.
Members of the Church are feeling the economic pinch of higher taxes and inflation coupled with conditions of continuing recession. Some have come to their bishops seeking assistance to pay for house payments, car loans, and utilities.
Unfortunately, there has been fostered in the minds of some an expectation that when we experience hard times, when we have been unwise and extravagant with our resources and have lived beyond our means, we should look to either the Church or government to bail us out. Forgotten by some of our members is an underlying principle of the Church welfare plan that "no true Latter-day Saint will, while physically able, voluntarily shift from himself the burden of his own support".
One of the first principles revealed to father Adam when he was driven out of the Garden of Eden was this: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground". All we obtain in life of a material nature comes as a product of labor and the providence of God. Work alone produces life's necessities.
In saying this, I am aware of and sympathetic to the plight of many young families who are struggling to make ends meet. They are faced with the financial burden of providing for the three great necessities of life: food, clothing, and shelter. I am also sympathetic to the situation of widows and other sisters who rear families alone. By revelation, the Lord made provision for their care and support.
More than ever before, we need to learn and apply the principles of economic self-reliance. We do not know when the crisis involving sickness or unemployment may affect our own circumstances. We do know that the Lord has decreed global calamities for the future and has warned and forewarned us to be prepared. For this reason the Brethren have repeatedly stressed a "back to basics" program for temporal and spiritual welfare.
Today, I emphasize a most basic principle: home production and storage. Have you ever paused to realize what would happen to your community or nation if transportation were paralyzed or if we had a war or depression? How would you and your neighbors obtain food? How long would the corner grocery store-or supermarket-sustain the needs of the community?
Shortly after World War II, I was called by the First Presidency to go to Europe to reestablish our missions and set up a program for the distribution of food and clothing to the Saints. Vivid in my memory are the people who got on trains each morning with all kinds of bric-a-brac in their arms to go out to the countryside to trade their possessions for food. At evening time, the train station was filled with people with arms full of vegetables and fruits, and a menagerie of squealing pigs and chickens. You never heard such a commotion. These people were, of course, willing to barter practically anything for that commodity which sustains life-food.
An almost forgotten means of economic self-reliance is the home production of food. We are too accustomed to going to stores and purchasing what we need. By producing some of our food we reduce, to a great extent, the impact of inflation on our money. More importantly, we learn how to produce our own food and involve all family members in a beneficial project. No more timely counsel, I feel, has been given by President Kimball than his repeated emphasis to grow our own gardens. Here is one sample of his emphasis over the past seven years:
"We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees-plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard.".
Many of you have listened and done as President Kimball counseled, and you have been blessed for it. Others have rationalized that they had no time or space. May I suggest you do what others have done. Get together with others and seek permission to use a vacant lot for a garden, or rent a plot of ground and grow your gardens. Some elders quorums have done this as a quorum, and all who have participated have reaped the benefits of a vegetable and fruit harvest and the blessings of cooperation and family involvement. Many families have dug up lawn space for gardens.
We encourage you to be more self-reliant so that, as the Lord has declared, "notwithstanding the tribulation which shall descend upon you, the church may stand independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world". The Lord wants us to be independent and self-reliant because these will be days of tribulation. He has warned and forewarned us of the eventuality.
President Brigham Young said, "If you are without bread, how much wisdom can you boast, and of what real utility are your talents, if you cannot procure for yourselves and save against a day of scarcity those substances designed to sustain your natural lives?"
Food production is just one part of the repeated emphasis that you store a provision of food which will last for at least a year wherever it is legally permissible to do so. The Church has not told you what foods should be stored. This decision is left up to individual members. However, some excellent suggestions are available in the booklet produced by the Church entitled "Essentials of Home Production & Storage". There are also booklets available on gardening from BYU.
From the standpoint of food production, storage, handling, and the Lord's counsel, wheat should have high priority. "There is more salvation and security in wheat," said Orson Hyde years ago, "than in all the political schemes of the world". Water, of course, is essential. Other basics could include honey or sugar, legumes, milk products or substitutes, and salt or its equivalent. The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah.
Elder Harold B. Lee counseled,
"Perhaps if we think not in terms of a year's supply of what we ordinarily would use, and think more in terms of what it would take to keep us alive in case we didn't have anything else to eat, that last would be very easy to put in storage for a year just enough to keep us alive if we didn't have anything else to eat. We wouldn't get fat on it, but we would live; and if you think in terms of that kind of annual storage rather than a whole year's supply of everything that you are accustomed to eat which, in most cases, is utterly impossible for the average family, I think we will come nearer to what President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., advised us way back in 1937."
There are blessings in being close to the soil, in raising your own food even if it is only a garden in your yard and a fruit tree or two. Those families will be fortunate who, in the last days, have an adequate supply of food because of their foresight and ability to produce their own.
The counsel from Church authorities has been consistent over the years and is well summarized in these words:
"First, and above and beyond everything else, let us live righteously.
"Let us avoid debt as we would avoid a plague; where we are now in debt, let us get out of debt; if not today, then tomorrow.
"Let us straitly and strictly live within our incomes, and save a little.
"Let every head of every household see to it that he has on hand enough food and clothing, and, where possible, fuel also, for at least a year ahead. You of small means put your money in foodstuffs and wearing apparel, not in stocks and bonds; you of large means will think you know how to care for yourselves, but I may venture to suggest that you do not speculate. Let every head of every household aim to own his own home, free from mortgage. Let every man who has a garden spot, garden it; every man who owns a farm, farm it."
You do not need to go into debt, may I add, to obtain a year's supply. Plan to build up your food supply just as you would a savings account. Save a little for storage each pay-check. Can or bottle fruit and vegetables from your gardens and orchards. Learn how to preserve food through drying and possibly freezing. Make your storage a part of your budget. Store seeds and have sufficient tools on hand to do the job. If you are saving and planning for a second car or a TV set or some item which merely adds to your comfort or pleasure, you may need to change your priorities. We urge you to do this prayerfully and do it now.
I speak with a feeling of great urgency. I have seen what the days of tribulation can do to people. I have seen hunger stalk the streets of Europe. I have witnessed the appalling, emaciated shadows of human figures. I have seen women and children scavenge army garbage dumps for scraps of food. Those scenes and nameless faces cannot be erased from my memory.
I shall never forget the Saints of Hamburg who appeared on the verge of collapse from starvation, or their small children whom I invited to come to the stand as we emptied our pockets of edibles. Most had never seen these items before because of the wartime conditions. Nor can I forget the expectant and nursing mothers whose eyes watered with tears when we gave them each an orange. We saw the terrible physical and social side effects of hunger and malnutrition. One sister walked over a thousand miles with four small children, leaving her home in Poland. She lost all four to starvation and the freezing conditions. Yet she stood before us in her emaciated condition, her clothing shredded, and her feet wrapped in burlap, and bore testimony of how blessed she was.
I cannot forget the French Saints who, unable to obtain bread, used potato peelings for the emblems of the sacrament. Nor will I ever forget the faith of the Dutch Saints who accepted our suggestion to grow potatoes to alleviate their own starving conditions, and then sent a portion of their first harvest to the German people who had been their bitter enemies. The following year they sent them the entire harvest. The annals of Church history have seldom recorded a more Christlike act of love and compassion.
Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earthquake cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they somehow will be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion.
The Lord has warned and forewarned us against a day of great tribulation and given us counsel, through His servants, on how we can be prepared for these difficult times. Have we heeded His counsel?
I bear you my testimony that President Heber J. Grant was inspired of the Lord in establishing the Church Welfare program. The First Presidency was inspired when they made the first public announcement in 1936 and declared the prime purpose of Church welfare was "to help the people help themselves". I bear witness to that inspired counsel from 1936 to the present day that the Saints lay up a year's supply of food. When President Spencer W. Kimball persistently admonishes the members to plant gardens and fruit trees and produce our own food, he is likewise inspired of the Lord.
Be faithful, my brothers and sisters, to this counsel and you will be blessed-yes, the most blessed people in all the earth. You are good people. I know that. But all of us need to be better than we are. Let us be in a position so we are able to not only feed ourselves through the home production and storage, but others as well.
May God bless us to be prepared for the days which lie ahead, which may be the most severe yet. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder James E. Faust
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I am humbled by the opportunity to address the priesthood this evening. I should like to direct my remarks to the leaders of the Church, and especially to the future leaders, the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood. Many of you young men will have leadership responsibilities sooner than you realize. It does not seem long since I was a deacons quorum president. As far as the worldwide, fast-growing Church is concerned, leadership is one of our greatest challenges.
A year or so ago I sat in an elders quorum meeting. The members of the presidency were fine, capable young men; but when they got around to sharing the quorum responsibilities and getting the work done, they limited it to those who were present and who would volunteer. Not one assignment was given.
One of the first principles we must keep in mind is that the work of the Lord goes forward through assignments. Leaders receive and give assignments. This is an important part of the necessary principle of delegating. No one appreciates a willing volunteer more than I, but the total work cannot be done as the Lord wants it done merely by those doing the work who may be present at meetings. I have often wondered what the earth would look like if the Lord in the Creation had left the work to be done only by volunteers.
If we look upon fulfilling of assignments as building the kingdom of God and as being an opportunity as well as a privilege and an honor, then assignments and challenges should certainly be given to every member of the quorum. Such involvement should include, with appropriate wisdom and discretion, those who perhaps need them the most-the inactive and the partially active brethren. Assignments always should be given with the greatest love, consideration, and kindness. Those asked to respond should be treated with respect and appreciation.
General Authorities regularly receive assignments from the First Presidency and the President of the Council of the Twelve. Whether such assignments come in writing, as most do, or are personally given, they are always couched with "if you please" or "if it is convenient" or "Would you kindly attend to this or to that." Never are these assignments framed in terms of a command or a demand.
Ever since I was first in Egypt in World War II, I have been interested in ancient ruins. There is a fascination in observing why some columns still stand and others have toppled over. Very frequently those still standing do so because they bear a weight on top. There is, I believe, a parallel principle in leadership. Those who stand faithful to their priesthood are often those who bear some weight of responsibility. Those involved are those most likely to be committed. So a successful quorum leader will want all of those in his quorum to have an opportunity to serve with some kind of calling appropriate to the circumstances.
The most encompassing short course on leadership was given by the Savior himself: "And he saith unto them, Follow me". A leader cannot ask of others what he is not willing to do himself. Our safest course is to follow the example of the Savior, and our security is to listen to and follow the direction of his prophet, the President of the Church.
Some years ago I was traveling in the Rosario Argentina Mission up in the northern part of Argentina. As we were traveling along the road, we passed a large herd of cattle being moved. The herd was moving peaceably and without difficulty. The herd was quiet. There were no dogs. Out in front leading the herd were three gauchos on horseback, each about fifteen or twenty yards apart. These three horsemen were slumped forward in their saddles, completely relaxed, confident that the herd would follow them. At the rear of the herd was a single rider bringing up the rear. He, too, was slumped forward in his saddle as if he were sleeping. The whole herd moved peacefully, quietly, and was subdued. From that experience it seemed obvious to me that leadership is about three-fourths show-the-way and about one-fourth follow-up.
The leader himself, when directing, does not have to be bombastic and loud. Those who are called to lead in the ministry of the Master are not called to be chiefs or dictators. They are called to be good shepherds. They are to be constantly training others to take their place and become greater leaders than their teachers. A good leader expects much, inspires greatly, and sets on fire those he is called to lead.
Now, a leader must cause things to happen and lives to be affected. Something should move and change. He must see that those under him do not fail. But it should be done in the Lord's way. He should be the instrument in the hands of the Almighty for changing lives. He needs to know where he is now, where he is going, and how he is going to get there.
A leader must be a good listener. He must be willing to take counsel. He must show a genuine concern and love for those under his stewardship. No priesthood leader can ever be effective unless he has firmly in mind the transcending keys of leadership found in section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants:
"No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
"By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile-
"Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy".
In my experience, the Holy Ghost moves to reprove with sharpness only very rarely. Any reproving should be done gently in an effort to convince the one being reproved that it is done in his own interest.
President Joseph F. Smith reminds us:
"One of the highest qualities of all true leadership is a high standard of courage. There has never been time in the Church when its leaders were not required to be courageous men; not alone courageous in the sense that they were able to meet physical dangers, but also in the sense that they were steadfast and true to a clear and upright conviction."
With faith in the Lord and humility, a priesthood leader may confidently expect divine assistance in his problems. It may require struggling and pondering, but the reward is sure. The answer may come as it did to Enos: "The voice of the Lord came into my mind," said he. Or, it may be the feeling in the bosom in accordance with section 9 of the Doctrine and Covenants.
After receiving such divine assurance by and through the power of the Holy Ghost, the humble leader can then pursue an unswerving course with the absolute conviction in mind and heart that that which is being done is on the right course and is what the Lord himself would do in the matter.
I am impressed with the deep humility of President Kimball. Years ago he related an experience that emphasizes that the person in a Church position is not as great as the calling. Elder Spencer W. Kimball gives us this story:
"In a hotel in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania long years ago, I learned an important lesson when the president of the Rotary International said to the district governors in the assembly:
"'Gentlemen: This has been a great year for you. The people have honored you, praised you, banqueted you, applauded you, and given you lavish gifts. If you ever get the mistaken idea that they were doing this for you personally, just try going back to the clubs next year when the mantle is on other shoulders.'
"This has kept me on my knees in my holy calling. Whenever I have been inclined to think the honors were coming to me as I go about the Church, then I remember that it is not to me, but to the position I hold that honors come. I am but a symbol."
Most of us who are called to leadership in the Church feel that we are inadequate because of inexperience, lack of ability, or meager learning and education. Of the many descriptions of Moses is the following: "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth".
Years ago I recall President John Kelly, who was then presiding over the Fort Worth Texas Stake, called Brother Felix Velasquez to be the president of the Spanish branch. This good man worked, as I recall, as a car inspector on the railroad. When President Kelly called him to this service, he responded, "President, I cannot be the president of the Spanish branch. I cannot read." President Kelly then promised him that if he would accept the calling and labor diligently to magnify it, he would be sustained and blessed. With the help of the Lord, this humble man, through his diligent efforts, became able to read. He served well as branch president and for many years subsequent and now is serving in the high council of that stake. The Lord blesses his servants in many ways.
Brethren, we can learn, we can study, we can comprehend the basic things we need to know as members of God's holy priesthood. We can learn the giant truths and teach them with intelligence and understanding to those who come to learn. We can also lean upon the strengths of others whose talents are greater than our own. The priesthood quorum is designed to give opportunity for its members to contribute their talents to the building of a strong quorum.
I come now to the genius of leadership, through the priesthood, in the government of the Church. I wish to quote President Stephen L Richards, who said:
"As I conceive it, the genius of our Church government is government through councils. Hardly a day passes but that I see the wisdom, God's wisdom, in creating councils: to govern his Kingdom. In the spirit under which we labor, men can get together with seemingly divergent views and far different backgrounds, and under the operation of that spirit, by counseling together, they can arrive at an accord."
Counseling together as leaders is the key to the successful functioning of a presidency or a bishopric. But what if unity in decision making is difficult or is absent? President Joseph F. Smith gave us this advice:
"When bishops and their counselors do not see eye to eye, or when presidents and their counselors have any difference whatever in their sentiments or in their policy, it is their duty to get together, to go before the Lord together and humble themselves before him until they get revelation from the Lord and see the truth alike, that they may go before their people unitedly".
Those who would lead in this Church must set the example of personal righteousness. They should seek for the constant guidance of the Holy Spirit. They should have their lives and homes in order. They should be honest and prompt in the paying of their bills. They must be exemplary in all their conduct. They should be men of honor and integrity. As we seek for the constant guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Lord will answer.
While I was serving as Area Supervisor in South America, a most unforgettable experience happened in Montevideo, Uruguay. I wanted to change some money because I was living in Brazil at the time, so Brother Carlos Pratt took me to a money exchange house in downtown Montevideo. He introduced me to one of the officials, and the official said they would change $1,000. I did not have $1,000 in cash and had only a check drawn on a bank in Salt Lake City. The exchange house had never done business with me before. In fact, they had never seen me before and could not expect to ever see me again. They had no way to verify if I had $1,000 on deposit in the bank upon which I had drawn the check. But they accepted my check without hesitation-based solely on the fact that I was a Mormon and that they had previously done business with other Mormons. Frankly, I was both grateful and pleased because of their confidence.
The duty of a president is to preside, to sit in council, and to teach "according to the covenants". There are many covenants, but the oath and covenant of the Melchizedek Priesthood in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 84, deserves special attention. In essence, the contract between the bearer of the priesthood and the Lord is this: If you abide by the law of the priesthood, every blessing within my power to give will be granted you, even to become as I am.
When the Savior was giving Peter some leadership training he said, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren".
It is interesting that he used the word strengthen. It is very difficult to strengthen without being a good communicator. Often problems develop, not because the plan is faulty, but because the communication is inadequate.
Last year I called a new patriarch in one of the new stakes in Central America. I was greatly impressed by the great faith and righteous life of this humble man. His wife happened to be out of the country on a temple excursion. I felt as though something very special was missing in the experience of extending this great calling to this saintly man because his wife could not be present.
I have no hesitancy to urge those who are privileged to issue callings throughout the Church to appropriately involve the spouse of the one receiving the call. In addition, the head of the family should appropriately be consulted prior to calls being given to family members.
Priesthood leaders have the rare opportunity to conduct priesthood interviews. Specifically, through personal contacts and interviews the leader can accomplish the following:
Inspire and motivate.
Delegate and trust.
Hold accountable and follow up.
Teach by example and principle.
Be generous with appreciation.
Sometimes leaders hold the reins too tightly, often limiting the natural talents and gifts of those who are called to labor at their sides.
Leadership does not always produce a harmonious symphony of faith, skills, and talents of the group, producing maximum effectiveness and power. It is sometimes a loud solo. President Lee taught a fuller meaning of the scripture, "Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence". In addition to having all of us learn our duties, leaders should let, or permit, their associates to be fully effective within their own office and callings, and helpers should be fully clothed with appropriate authority.
Recently Elder Howard W. Hunter effectively taught the Regional Representatives on this subject: "The story is told of how in ancient Greece, Alexander the Great went to the brilliant Diogenes who was busy doing some research. Alexander hovered about Diogenes anxiously and asked: 'How can I help you?' Diogenes replied simply: 'Please stand out of my light!'"
I pray that, by laboring diligently under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, those who have and will be called to leadership will see our duty clearer and have farther vision to set goals and chart a more righteous course.
My testimony is that this Church grows and succeeds because we are under the guiding influence of the holy priesthood of God. I believe that our leaders can generate the great spiritual power needed to guide the work of God through personal revelation, to which in righteousness they are entitled. The counsel of the Lord to Joshua is priceless: "Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."
That it may be so I pray humbly in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Bishop H. Burke Peterson
First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric
My brethren of the priesthood, by whatever right or responsibility I have because of this assignment tonight, I would like to raise another voice of warning and a charge to prepare for the battle. The call is extended to all priesthood holders throughout the world. This message is intended for the twelve-year-old deacon as well as his elder or high priest father or grandfather.
The destructive forces of Satan are becoming increasingly more effective in their relentless pursuit of the hearts and minds of men and boys everywhere. Many quite innocently have been led into habits that are gaining a stranglehold on some of the very elite in the army of the priesthood. I fear there are some here tonight who are far less effective than they could be or would be if the weren't so afflicted.
I would like to begin by painting a word picture of a setting in east-central Arizona. Here there are some high and often snow-packed mountains. We refer to them as the White Mountains. From this fountainhead stem most of the major water-producing streams that fill the agricultural and domestic needs of central Arizona. From these mountains comes the water supply for the home in the city of Phoenix. In the wintertime the mountains are covered with snow, ofttimes many feet in depth. The streams, as they begin here, run cool and clear, filled with delicious, life-giving water. The streams run many miles in this unpolluted condition as they move down the mountains, through the valleys, eventually to empty into great reservoirs built to store the liquid during periods of drought.
There are also in eastern Arizona many high-grade ore deposits which are and have been mined for many years, copper being one of the principal metals. Some of the streams that originate in the White Mountains run through the mining towns, and their water is used by the smelters in the processing of the ore. The waste from this process, in some cases, finds its way back into the streams, causing discoloration and the addition of harmful elements that make the water unfit for human consumption. These streams also empty into the great reservoirs.
There are seasons of the year when there are cloudbursts in the mountains upstream from the dam. The heavens literally open up and discharge their contents. When water comes in such great quantities as it does on these occasions, large amounts of soil are eroded; brush, and sometimes trees, are also washed down the rivers into the reservoirs.
These reservoirs have the unusual capacity of holding all that is put in them-the cool and clean, clear, and delicious water coming from the glistening snowpack, as well as the polluted water from the industries, and the brown, silt-filled waters resulting from the summer thunderstorms. All of it accumulates behind the huge rock and concrete dams. As we've said, part of the water that is held behind these dams is used as the domestic water supply for over a million people.
The water, of course, in the condition in which it is stored behind the dams, is now undrinkable because of the impurities that have been dumped into it. And so there must be a filtering system that prepares it for use.
First, there are large grates and nets of coarse screens that filter out leaves, branches, and dead animal life. The filtering system gets finer and finer as it removes other harmful impurities. Finally, after much careful attention and cleansing, it is released into the pipelines of the cities in a now-purified condition, ready to be used by the people of the valley.
When we were born in the earth, our minds and thoughts were clean and sweet and pure-unpolluted by the harmful impurities that are around us that become a part of the experiences of this life. In our infancy our minds are free from unrighteous and unwholesome thoughts. We are innocent and untouched by most of the harmful effects and influences of Satan.
Our mind, which is like a tremendous reservoir itself, is capable of taking in whatever it may be fed-good and bad, trash and garbage, as well as righteous thoughts and experiences. As we go through life, we may be exposed to stories, pictures, books, jokes, and language that are filthy and vulgar, or to television shows and movies that are not right for us to see or hear. Our mind will take it all in. It has a capacity to store whatever we will give it. Unfortunately, what our mind takes in, it keeps-sometimes forever. It's a long, long process to cleanse a mind that has been polluted by unclean thoughts.
Sometimes our minds may be so cluttered with filth and pollution that they are unable to be a spiritual strength to us and our families, let alone mankind in general. When in this condition, we find our thinking processes are not clear or correct. Everyday problems are more difficult to solve. We say and do things we would otherwise never be a part of.
There are two things we must do. First, we must stop the flow into our minds of these unhealthy and unwholesome streams of experiences and thoughts. Evil acts are preceded by unrighteous thoughts. And unrighteous thoughts are born of vulgar stories, jokes, pictures, conversation, and a myriad of other satanic products.
Vulgarity appears in many ways. We live in a society where profanity and vulgarity are accepted means of conduct and expression-even a way of life for some. I remember being in a business meeting some years ago with a group of men who were well educated, competent in their professions, and friendly to all-but their language was a dialogue in profanity.
Brother Boyd K. Packer has said, "The reality of profanity does not argue for the toleration of it". We are the victims of a vile habit. I would suggest that some are misled who think vulgarity occurs only now and then when a person utters obviously crude or offensive words. Vulgarity is not so rare as it should be. It is sustained by constant exposure to a steady diet of vulgar and filthy experiences. We might consider vulgarity in a couple of ways: first, as an expression of personal weakness, and second, as a contribution to personal weakness.
Some demonstrate or express a personal weakness when they tell jokes or stories about the body and its functions, when they joke about or make suggestive comments concerning women or girls, when they are casual about sacred things. There is vulgarity when some speak crudely of body parts or sexual matters. Too often, common slang, even gutter terms, are used by brethren of the priesthood-ofttimes anger is used as an excuse for such utterance. This is wrong. No one need swear or be vulgar at any time.
Some contribute to this personal weakness when they read or experience filthy magazines, vulgar movies or television shows, or remain in a group where unclean discussions occur. Each of these kinds of experiences will weaken any spirit, will make it less able to withstand "the fiery darts" of the adversary.
Now, brethren of the priesthood, there should not be any X- or R-rated movies that we participate in viewing or talking about. There must be no pornographic magazines, pictures, or stories, no re-telling of filthy jokes or crude experiences. Once in a while we should stop and ask ourselves, "In whose army are we fighting? Whose battle lines are we defending?" Do you have the courage to walk out of an off-color PG-rated movie-or do you watch and listen, and suggest to yourself, "This soon will pass," or "Everyone is doing it; it must be an acceptable type of entertainment"? Have you the courage to keep out of your home some television shows that are filled with suggestive sexual conversation-and even experiences? Have you thought lately how effective these shows are in piercing even the strongest spirits? Brethren, we must not feed ourselves a diet of trash!
Now, assuming we have cut off the flow-not cut it down, but cut it off-the second thing we must do is to develop a filtering system that will cleanse the great reservoir of our mind so that the life-giving thoughts coming from it may again be pure and fit for our use. The effectiveness of our filtration system depends upon the pattern of our life. We will be no more successful in helping ourselves and others than we are pure in our minds. True, we may systematically perform many of the tasks that are assigned us such as-teach a Sunday School or priesthood lesson, prepare reports, conduct a meeting-but unless our spirit is in tune and we speak, teach, and act under the direction of the Holy Spirit, we accomplish little of an eternal value.
The secret to cleansing our spirit of whatever the impurity is not very complicated. It begins with prayer every morning and ends with prayer every night. This is the most important step I know in the cleansing process. It may simply be a prayer for strength to turn from bad habits-remembering that all prayers are not answered the next day. With this step in place, I have seen hundreds of miracles take place. Without it, there is continued frustration, unhappiness, ineffectiveness, and despair.
Secondly, an added refinement will come in the filtering process: An added measure of spiritual purity, if you please, can be found in a daily study of the scriptures-not long, perhaps, but every day. If I were an Aaronic Priesthood boy, I would start reading the scriptures tonight and never let a day pass without reading some in them. This was a commitment President Kimball made over seventy years ago when he was your age.
Third, feed refreshment to your spirit that comes when you do something good for another that he or she doesn't expect. Keep it simple, but do it-daily. It may only be a cheery hello, a short visit to a homebound, a phone call, or a note. Maybe even picking up your dirty socks will thrill an unsuspecting mother or wife. According to the scripture, a disciple of the Savior is first a servant to others.
And finally, pick up a commandment you are still struggling with and give it an honest chance to bless your life.
This, then, is the secret to a happy and productive life and to the eternal rewards of a loving Father in Heaven:
First, stop the flow of polluted thoughts. Be far more selective of the experiences we feed the great reservoir of our mind.
Second, develop an effective filtering system that will remove the impurities and cleanse the spirit.
And so, brethren, the cry goes out: Gird for the battle. Take off the apparel of the world and clothe yourselves in the armor of righteousness. Let the priesthood authority you now hold become a powerful influence for good in your homes, in your wards and quorums, in your communities, and in your countries. Power in the priesthood is a product of righteousness; it is not an unearned gift.
A short time ago in a temple meeting, President Romney closed his testimony with the prayer that he would forever be found faithful in defending his part of the battle line. In testifying tonight that the Savior is at the head of this priesthood army and of the work for which we are responsible, I, too, add my prayer that we will each be found faithful in the things with which we have been entrusted. For the Lord said, "O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day".
My brethren, as your friend and brother, I plead with you to prepare as you have never prepared before, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Robert L. Backman
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
During this past summer, it was my great privilege to stand in a circle while my son-in-law ordained one of my grandsons to the priesthood. That was a signal honor for a grandfather, and I know Robbie couldn't have been more proud of it than I was. Since that time, I have considered very much what I would like to say to Robbie concerning this honor that has come into his life and how desirous I am as his grandfather that he live worthy of what was promised him in the blessing that his father gave him under the inspiration of the Lord. So tonight I would like to address my remarks to Robbie and to all this grand army of Aaronic Priesthood who sit here in front of me and are listening throughout the world.
While serving as a mission president it was my great privilege and responsibility to interview every missionary as he began his mission. That was always a great experience, but it sometimes gave me insights into the backgrounds of my missionaries that shocked me. One elder told me of his growing up in a small farming community as the son of the town drunkard. When, as a newly called missionary, he boarded the bus to come to Salt Lake City to enter the mission home, his father was there to bid him farewell. He must have been drunk, for his last words to his son were, "Son, you will never amount to a hill of beans."
As I talked with my missionary, I could sense that he had heard that phrase over and over again throughout his young life: "You will never amount to a hill of beans." And that choice young man, called by the Lord to be his representative, believed it. I resolved to prove that father wrong by seeing that the missionary had a successful mission. I assigned him to a great first companion and watched his progress with keen interest and daily prayers. And progress he did.
As my release date approached, I made a final tour of the mission to say good-bye to my beloved fellow workers. By this time the young man was a zone leader, a very important calling in the mission field. He conducted that zone conference like a veteran bishop. I saw the deep bond of love that had developed between him and his missionaries. I thought of the scores of converts who had joined the Church through his devoted service and the power of his testimony. At an appropriate moment in the conference I stood beside him with my arm around him and said, with a lump in my throat, "You wouldn't believe this, but someone once said of this young man that he would never amount to a hill of beans." He turned and looked me in the eye and responded, "We sure showed him, didn't we, President?"
What had occurred to bring about such a dramatic change in that elder's life-to change him from a frightened little farm boy to a man of God? He had made some interesting discoveries that had prepared him to face the challenge of life and to be armed to succeed-the same discoveries every young Latter-day Saint must make as he matures if he is to achieve his potential here and hereafter. He had discovered that he really was a son of God-with the capacity to become as God is, with all of his power, his might, and his majesty. He knew the truth of Christ's oath: "All that my Father hath shall be given unto him". What a discovery for a young man to make-that he is a son of God!
Doesn't that make you feel kind of special to know how much God is counting on you? The future of his Church is in your hands. You are the ones that God has chosen to be his leaders, reserved to come to this earth when you could influence your fellowmen by the power of your lives and by sharing the principles of the gospel. How well are you doing, young men?
One of our fine young men, living in the eastern part of this country where he was one of few Latter-day Saints in his high school, received his mission call. As he prepared for his mission he asked his parents' permission to invite twenty-five of his nonmember friends to come to the home for a farewell party. During that party the young missionary showed his friends Man's Search for Happiness, explained why he was going on a mission for his church, and bore his testimony to them. They all in turn hugged him and let him know they loved him and sustained him.
My missionary had also discovered that, despite his weaknesses, his frailties, and his youth, he had a tremendous untapped capacity to serve his fellowmen and to influence them for good, even to being an instrument in the Lord's hands to change and save lives.
At a youth conference I met five young men. One of them, who had recently fallen into inactivity, had been persuaded to attend the conference by some strong-arm tactics of his friends, who would not let him fall away from the Church. Touched by the spirit of that youth conference and the love of his buddies, that inactive boy joined his four friends in pledging to one another that they would live righteous lives. Today he is serving a mission for the Lord, thankful for those companions who cared so much about him.
It is an interesting phenomenon, my young friends, how, as we serve, our capacity to serve grows and our opportunities for service expand. And we learn the great secret to a happy, rewarding life-that happiness, real happiness, doesn't come in acquiring wealth or gaining notoriety or position. True, lasting happiness comes in service.
My missionary had learned something about the magnificent power of the holy priesthood, which lifted him beyond his own natural capacity. That knowledge had come as he exercised it in the service of others, blessing them as the Lord's representative.
You Aaronic Priesthood holders have that holy power as you prepare for the great spiritual gifts that come with the oath and covenant of the Melchizedek Priesthood, for you have been given the right to the ministering of angels. The Lord has promised you: "I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up -even on the football field, in the classrooms, in your studies, in your work, at play-in all you do.
While visiting a sacrament meeting on Okinawa, I was so impressed with the manner in which the Aaronic Priesthood prepared and passed the sacrament that, when my turn came to speak, I invited two of the deacons to join me at the pulpit. Of one I asked, "What are your goals in life?" His prompt reply: "To become like my Savior!" Of the other I asked, "What does it mean to you to know that you hold the Aaronic priesthood?" He drew himself to his full height and looked out over that pulpit, and proudly said, "It is the greatest honor in my life!"
Are you honoring that sacred calling and responding in that sacred service as did my Japanese brethren? One deacon was asked what he did. He replied, "I do what I am supposed to do."
My beloved young brethren, God has singled you out from among all his sons to assist him in this great latter-day work. He trusts you and he has confidence in your meeting the mighty challenge to truly represent him. He is schooling you for your important missions and he expects you to recognize that you are different from other boys and young men-not better, but different-because you have been blessed with the gospel of Jesus Christ and the priesthood of God. Because he has given you so much, he expects you to live beyond your friends and associates who do not have the light of the gospel-he expects you to be in the world but not of the world. He promises you the strength to resist temptation and Satan's power if you will cling to the iron rod of the gospel and honor your sacred calling.
What is it that deters us from being that faithful priesthood holder God desires?
The trouble with some of us is we get caught in monkey traps. In Africa, the natives have a unique, effective way to capture monkeys. They lop the top off a coconut, remove the meat, and leave a hole in the top of the coconut large enough for the monkey to put his paw in. Then they anchor the coconut to the ground with some peanuts in it. When the natives leave, the monkeys, smelling those delicious peanuts, approach the coconuts, see the peanuts in them, put their paws in to grasp the nuts, and attempt to remove the nuts-but find that the hole is too small for their doubled-up fists. The natives return with gunny sacks and pick up the monkeys-clawing, biting, screaming-but they won't drop the peanuts to save their lives.
Do you know anyone who is caught in a monkey trap, where the things that matter the most are at the mercy of those things that matter the least?
I'd like you to ponder that, my young brethren; then make certain you are not caught in like fashion by the siren songs of our society, by the mocking, the daring of so-called friends, or those insidious evils Satan will place in your path in attractive packages which turn out to be empty and hollow. Develop the courage to stand for what you believe, to be true to the faith.
A spiritual young black joined the Church in West Virginia recently. Excited about the newfound truth that had come into his life, he sought eagerly to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with his fellow high-school students. Their response was that the gospel was too strict. How proud we can be of his reply to them: "What's strict about following the true Church of Christ?"
In my lifetime, my young friends, I have discovered that happiness comes in keeping the commandments of God. Alma learned the hard way that "wickedness never was happiness". Believe his words. Lean on the experience and the faith of men and women you trust as you chart your course in life. If you will diligently search for truth and live those beautiful principles, your life will be full, rich, rewarding-and exciting. Our Father in Heaven needs strong men to build his kingdom, and as I look at you, I know you are the best he's got.
We sing, "Hope of Israel, Zion's army, Children of the promised day". Did you realize that song was written about you? President Kimball has reminded us of that. He said, "We are rearing a royal generation who have special things to do".
Those special things you have to do include being rulers of the nations, lawmakers, business and professional men, teachers, tradesmen, tillers of the soil, and so on. But even more, the special things you have to do involve the establishment of the kingdom of Zion and the building of it. That, my young brethren, requires much more than the casual approach many of us take to preparation for life. It requires the establishment of goals-far-reaching goals that stretch into eternity, goals that require courage and determination to achieve.
How many of you have thought of what you're going to be doing five years, ten years, or twenty-five years from now? And what preparation are you making to make certain that you are in control and not victimized by life? Nothing stands in the way of a boy who knows where he is going.
If I were in your shoes I would set some important goals for myself right now.
The first would be, "I am going on a mission!"
We sit here at the feet of President Kimball who has stated that every young man should serve a mission. Do you sustain him as a prophet? If you do, your only response should be, "When? I'll be prepared." That mission experience will be one of the most important events in your entire life, just as it was for my missionary who wasn't going to amount to a hill of beans.
Second: "I am going to be married in the house of the Lord!"
If you would only realize how vitally important that is to your eternal goals, you wouldn't consider being married anyplace else; and that would affect who you date and how you date and would influence the entire fabric of your moral and spiritual life.
Third: "I am always going to be active in God's Church!"
That will provide an anchor for you like nothing else on earth, for it will give you the opportunity to discover for yourself the real meaning of happiness. It will assure you that, no matter where you go, you belong-for you have brothers and sisters who love you and sustain you. You will know something of the brotherhood of the gospel of Jesus Christ: you will become acquainted with him as your Savior; and you will keep your testimony burning brightly.
Consider what such goals will do for you. When temptations come, as they surely will, you are going to be prepared. You will have made the choice in advance: "I am going on a mission!" "I am going to be married in the temple!" "I am always going to be active in God's Church!" "Therefore, I will not partake!" When you make those basic decisions in advance, think how many other decisions are already made: living the Word of Wisdom, keeping morally clean, attending your meetings, paying tithing, studying the gospel, and so forth. You will not compromise on any important principle. You will be in control of your life, and you will enjoy the peace and serenity that come with keeping the commandments of God.
How I pray that our Father in Heaven will bless you choice young men to understand that you are sons of God with unique, important roles to play in life and heavy responsibilities to your fellowmen; that he will bless you with wisdom, courage, patience, understanding, love for your brothers and sisters, and deep faith in the Lord and his gospel; and that he will keep you clean and wholesome and strong in the face of temptations and evil.
And may you realize that this is your world, a beautiful world with unlimited opportunities to grow, to learn, and to serve. Will you make it a better world through the preparations you make now and the noble service you render throughout your life as a token of the love you have for your Father in Heaven and his Son, bearing witness of the truth of the gospel through your powerful example and the precepts you teach your fellowmen. "Hope of Israel, rise in might," and be that army that God can use to further his great purpose, I pray, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
My beloved brethren, the schedule of this conference calls for me to make some remarks at this time. I have in mind saying a few words about "the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood", since we're all priesthood bearers here in this great assemblage. As we have been celebrating this, the sesquicentennial anniversary of the organization of the Church, I have recalled that ten months prior to that organization the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery had received from Peter, James, and John the Melchizedek Priesthood.
Traditionally, God's people have always been known as a covenant people. The gospel itself is the new and everlasting covenant. The posterity of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob constitute what is known as the covenant race. We come into the Church by covenant, which we enter into when we go into the waters of baptism. The new and everlasting covenant of celestial marriage is the gate to exaltation in the celestial kingdom. Men receive the Melchizedek Priesthood by an oath and covenant.
A covenant is an agreement between two or more parties. An oath is a sworn attestation to the inviolability of the promises in the agreement. In the covenant of the priesthood the parties are the Father-that's the Lord-and the receiver of the priesthood. Each party to the covenant undertakes certain obligations. The receiver undertakes to magnify his calling in the priesthood. The Father, by oath and covenant, promises the receiver that if he does so magnify his priesthood he will be sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of his body; that he will become a member of "the church and kingdom, and the elect of God," and receive the "Father's kingdom; therefore," said the Savior, "all that my Father hath shall be given unto him".
It is of such-that is, those who receive the priesthood and magnify it-that the following was written:
"They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things-
"They are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory;
"And are priests of the Most High, after the order of the Only Begotten Son.
"Wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God."
These transcendent blessings the Father promises the receiver of the Melchizedek Priesthood by an oath and covenant which he says "he cannot break, neither can it be moved". But these blessings, as has already been indicated, do not come by ordination alone. Ordination to the priesthood is a prerequisite to receiving them, but it does not guarantee them. For a man to actually obtain them he must faithfully discharge the obligation which is placed upon him when he received the priesthood. That is, he must magnify his calling.
Now let us consider for a moment just what magnifying one's calling in the priesthood means. Speaking to the assembled bearers of the priesthood at the time the oath and covenant was revealed, the Lord said, "I have given the heavenly hosts and mine angels charge concerning you". This has always been an extremely impressive and sacred statement to me-to think that the Lord has given his angels and his heavenly hosts charge concerning those who receive the priesthood.
Then, addressing the elders, he continued:
"And I now give unto you a commandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life.
"For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God." It is compliance with this charge which entitles the bearer of the priesthood to the blessings and rewards offered by the Father in "the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood."
The status of one who receives the priesthood and then breaks the covenant is explained by the Lord in this language:
"Whoso breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come". With such a penalty prescribed for breaking it, one might be prompted to question the advisability of accepting the obligations of the covenant; that is, he might question it until he reads the verse which follows the statement of the penalty. There he learns that those who do not receive the oath and covenant are not much, if any, better off than those who receive it and break it. For in that verse the Lord says: "And wo unto all those who come not unto this priesthood which ye have received".
Such is the sober import of "the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood". You can read it in full just as the Lord gave it in section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants beginning with verse 33.
It is apparent from this revelation that the only way a man can make the maximum progress towards eternal life, for which mortality is designed, is to obtain and magnify the Melchizedek Priesthood. With "eternal life, the greatest of all the gifts of God" depending upon it, it is of utmost importance that we keep clearly in mind what the magnifying of our callings in the priesthood requires of us. I am persuaded that it requires at least the following three things:
That we obtain a knowledge of the gospel.
That we comply in our personal living with the standards of the gospel.
That we give dedicated service.
As to the importance of a knowledge of the gospel, the Prophet Joseph Smith said that "it is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance". That he had in mind ignorance of gospel truths is evident from the fact that on another occasion he said:
"A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. Hence it needs revelation to assist us, and give us knowledge of the things of God."
There is no knowledge other than knowledge of the things of God that will save us. "Ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth," said the Lord to the brethren in the infant days of the Church.
In the revelation given to President Brigham Young at Winter Quarters in January 1847, the Lord said:
"Let him that is ignorant learn wisdom by humbling himself and calling upon the Lord his God, that his eyes may be opened that he may see, and his ears opened that he may hear;
"For my Spirit is sent forth into the world to enlighten the humble and contrite, and to the condemnation of the ungodly".
Fourteen years earlier the Lord had thus counseled the brethren:
"I give unto you a commandment that ye shall continue in prayer and fasting from this time forth.
"And I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom.
"Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand."
One of the best ways to learn the gospel is to search the scriptures. Our purpose in urging all bearers of the Melchizedek Priesthood to read the Book of Mormon is that they may learn more about the gospel. One cannot sincerely study the Book of Mormon without learning gospel truths, because it contains "the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and to the Jews also". So impressed was the Prophet Joseph with it that he "told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book".
Learning the gospel from books, however, is not enough. It must be lived by one who would magnify his calling in the priesthood. As a matter of fact, getting a knowledge of the gospel and living it are interdependent. They go hand in hand. One cannot fully learn the gospel without living it. A knowledge of the gospel comes by degrees. One learns a little, obeys what he learns, learns a little more, obeys that, and repeats this cycle in an endless round. Such is the pattern by which one can move on to a full knowledge of the gospel.
John the Beloved says that this was the way Jesus himself attained a fulness. He wrote:
"I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace;
"And he continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness". Jesus prescribed the process for us in these words:
"If you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace". And in another scripture:
"And no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments.
"He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things". I can't understand how one can read these words without joy filling his heart.
Jesus further points out that the commandments we are required to keep are given in the scriptures, and adds: "If thou lovest me thou shalt serve me and keep all my commandments". And "unto him that keepeth my commandments I will give the mysteries of my kingdom, and the same shall be in him a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life".
Many of the commandments concerning our personal conduct are to be found in section 42 of the Doctrine and Covenants, which the Prophet Joseph specifies "as embracing the law of the Church". Every priesthood bearer should be familiar with this revelation and with the instructions given in section 59 and section 88, particularly verses 117 to 126. Indeed, a priesthood bearer with serious intentions of so magnifying his calling as to merit the blessing of the "covenant which belongeth to the priesthood" should be conversant with all the instructions given to guide us in our personal conduct-both those recorded in the scriptures and those being received currently by the living prophets. One can scarcely hope to be fortified "against the wiles of the devil" by putting "on the whole armour of God" unless he knows what that armor is.
But the commandments do not pertain alone to one's personal conduct. They put on every bearer of the priesthood the stimulating responsibility to render service-service in carrying the restored gospel, with all the blessings of the priesthood, to the peoples of the earth; and service in comforting, strengthening, and perfecting the lives of one another and all the Saints of God.
The nature of this service is spelled out in detail in the revelations and by the living prophets. The burden of it the Lord has laid upon his priesthood. It can be done properly only by men who are magnifying their priesthood-who know the gospel, conform their lives to its standards, and enthusiastically give dedicated service in the spirit of the divine proclamation that "men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; for the power is in them".
Such men are magnifying their callings, and they shall obtain the rewards promised by the Lord in the "oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood." That each of us may be found in this choice group, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Spencer W. Kimball
My dear brethren, it is always a great joy for me to have the privilege of meeting with you in general priesthood meeting. We are gathered here in the Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City and in more than 2,000 other places around the world. Just think of the mighty and sacred power that is represented by this assemblage of men and boys. I rejoice with you, my brethren, in the manifold blessings which are ours in holding the priesthood of God!
Brethren, there is one matter I should like to mention at the very beginning of my remarks. To those of you who are citizens of the United States: I wish to urge you and your family members of voting age to go to the polls in large numbers next month on Tuesday, November 4, and vote for the strongest, finest people who are certain to do the most to safeguard the rights and freedoms of this nation. We do not endorse any candidates, but we hope you will vote for good men and women of character, integrity, and ability. You are to be the judge. Further, we hope our Church buildings and our Church organizations will not be used to advance the candidacy or policies of any of the candidates.
As we read and study the scriptures we are made conscious of the fact that the Savior has always been concerned about the welfare of the members of his flock, both individually and collectively. It is about that principle of caring for and ministering to the needs of the Church membership in these troubled days that I desire to speak to you brethren tonight.
Bishops and branch presidents, please be ever alert to the needs of the precious individuals and families who make up the membership of your wards and branches. You are the nurturing shepherds of our people. To the greatest extent possible, let your counselors and others who serve and work under your direction be the managers of programs. If you will pursue this emphasis, you will often be able to detect very early some of those members who have serious difficulties, while their challenges and problems are still small and manageable. Be conscious of the little tensions and problems you may see in families so that you can give the required attention, counsel, and love when it is most needed. An hour with a troubled boy or girl now may save him or her, and is infinitely better than the hundreds of hours spent in their later lives in the reclamation of a boy or girl if they become inactive.
As we have said so many times, delegate those tasks which others can do so that you are free to do those things which you, and you alone, can do. Home teachers are to help watch over the flock. Even though they don't counsel as bishops and branch presidents do, home teachers can render much appropriate and preventive help under the direction of the quorum leaders and bishoprics.
Stake presidents, bishops, and branch presidents, please take a particular interest in improving the quality of teaching in the Church. The Savior has told us to feed his sheep. I fear that all too often many of our members come to church, sit through a class or meeting, and they then return home having been largely uninformed. It is especially unfortunate when this happens at a time when they may be entering a period of stress, temptation, or crisis. We all need to be touched and nurtured by the Spirit, and effective teaching is one of the most important ways this can happen. We often do vigorous enlistment work to get members to come to church but then do not adequately watch over what they receive when they do come.
Yesterday while speaking to the Regional Representatives, I called attention to the challenge facing all of us as we fellowship and teach the gospel to cultural and minority groups living among us. When special attention of some kind is not provided for these good people, we lose them. In April of 1977, as I was speaking about the Lamanites, I said that we could "no longer merely teach and preach to them, but we must establish the Church among them". This statement applies to all cultures.
During the past few years, the basic unit program has been developed to assist where there are special language or cultural needs. Its guidebooks, manuals, and reports are much less complicated than those for the full Church program. They are wonderful and are now available in most languages. We have designed smaller, less expensive buildings to meet this need also. Couples can be trained in the basic unit program and can then assist in establishing the Church among all people in all lands. Where the program is being used as outlined, we are meeting with great success.
We encourage you priesthood leaders to become familiar with this program and use it to bless people. The Lord said, "For they cannot bear meat now, but milk they must receive".
One more very important thing, my brethren-especially you stake presidents, bishops, and branch presidents. Be mindful always of the members of your flock who are sad, lonely, bereaved, or bereft. There are always some among us who need our special care and attention. We must never forget or overlook them. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction".
We are rightly known as a chapel-building people. I hope we will become even better known as a family-building people. Do not neglect your own families, brethren. The new consolidated schedule permits you, if you plan well, to hold all the meetings in the consolidated schedule along with the necessary administrative meetings and still have several hours with your family every Sunday. Please see to it that this is done, so that you priesthood brethren do not neglect your own families and so that our wonderful stake presidents, bishops, branch and quorum presidents, and others can do likewise.
I love you, my brethren, my beloved brethren, and I am grateful for your faith, your devotion, and your love for the cause of truth, the cause of the Master. Brethren, I express my affection for you and all your people in the scattered portions of the world. May the Lord bless you, brethren, and know that you are much loved here at Church headquarters. God bless you; peace be with you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
"The elders of this church" said the Lord, "shall teach the principles of my gospel, which are in the Bible and the Book of Mormon". Pursuant to this commandment, I shall make a few remarks concerning repentance, upon which much emphasis is placed in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon.
True repentance, followed by baptism and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, brings forgiveness. Such repentance is impossible without faith in the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This great truth is clearly and beautifully taught in the Book of Mormon. Alma, crying unto his people pursuant to the directions of an angel, said:
"Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is nigh at hand;
"And not many days hence the Son of God.
" cometh to redeem those who will be baptized unto repentance, through faith on his name."
Alma did not say that Jesus would redeem everybody. The promise was restricted to those who, because of their faith in Christ, would repent and be baptized.
Amulek, Alma's missionary companion, testified to the same limitation. "I know," said he, "that Christ shall come among men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it.
"And he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; the intent of sacrifice to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance."
In this way mercy satisfies "the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption".
Jesus, speaking to his Nephite disciples, said:
"No unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.
"Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me."
It is this repentance, based upon faith in Jesus and "hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal" of which I speak today. This is the repentance which would lead men to a solution of all their problems, individual and collective. This is the repentance to which Jesus Christ, our Lord, calls us.
To one of his modern disciples he said:
"I command you to repent-repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore-how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.
"For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
"But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;
"Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit-and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink-"
He continues, "Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men."
That is, Jesus endured the suffering required to satisfy the demands of justice, thereby making it possible for men, through faith and repentance, to be cleansed from their sins.
"Wherefore," he continued, "I command you again to repent, lest I humble you with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken".
Foremost among men's sins are the refusal to accept Jesus Christ for what he is and the rejection of his gospel as the true way of life.
"In nothing doth man offend God," said the Lord, "or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments".
"They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own God, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall".
As to the nature of repentance, the Lord has said, "By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins-behold, he will confess them and forsake them".
There doesn't seem to be much uncertainty about the meaning of forsake. However, the requirement to confess is not so universally understood. As a matter of fact, there is considerable confusion in the world about the confessing of sins, and a lot of false doctrine. By way of an assist in clearing up the confusion, I repeat some comments heretofore made on this subject.
We are to confess all our sins to the Lord. For transgressions which are wholly personal, affecting none but ourselves and the Lord, confession to ourselves and him would seem to be sufficient.
As a matter of fact, no good can come from confessing to anyone else. President Brigham Young once said, "Keep your follies that do not concern others to yourselves, and keep your private wickedness as still as possible; hide it from the eyes of the public gaze as far as you can".
For misconduct which affects another, confession should also be made to the offended one and his forgiveness sought.
Finally, where one's transgressions are of such a nature as would, unrepented of, put in jeopardy his right to membership or fellowship in the Church of Christ, full and effective confession requires confession by the repentant sinner to his bishop or other proper presiding Church officer-not that the Church officer could forgive him the sin, but rather that the Church, acting through its duly appointed officers, might with full knowledge of the facts take such action with respect to Church discipline as the circumstances require and merit.
One having forsaken his sins and, by proper confession, cleared his conduct with the Lord, with the people he has offended, and with the Church of Jesus Christ, where necessary, may with full confidence seek the Lord's forgiveness and go forth in newness of life, relying upon the merits of Christ.
The Lord has said, "He who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more".
As examples of how people feel who-through faith in Jesus and repentance-obtain forgiveness, I cite the following examples from the Book of Mormon.
First, from Enos, who wrote:
"I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins.
"Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart.
"And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.
"And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.
"And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.
"And I said: Lord, how is it done?
"And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole.
"Now, it came to pass that when I had heard these words," says Enos, "I began to feel a desire for the welfare of my brethren, the Nephites; wherefore, I did pour out my whole soul unto God for them."
Love and concern for the welfare of one's fellows always fills the heart of the redeemed, and peace comes into his heart, as the following incident illustrates.
At the conclusion of King Benjamin's powerful farewell address, "he cast his eyes round about on the multitude, and behold they had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them.
"And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men.
"And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them."
This joy and peace of conscience which comes to one who has received a remission of his sins is graphically portrayed in the account Alma gives to his son, Helaman, of his conversion.
Alma said: "I went about with the sons of Mosiah, seeking to destroy the church of God; but behold, God sent his holy angel to stop the way.
"And behold, he spake unto, as it were the voice of thunder, and the whole earth did tremble beneath feet; and fell to the earth, for the fear of the Lord came upon.
"But behold, the voice said unto me: Arise. And I arose and stood up, and beheld the angel.
"And he said unto me: If thou wilt of thyself be destroyed, seek no more to destroy the church of God."
And Alma says, "And it came to pass that I fell to the earth; and it was for the space of three days and three nights that I could not open my mouth, neither had I the use of my limbs.
"And the angel spake more things unto me, which were heard by my brethren, but I did not hear them; for when I heard the words-If thou wilt be destroyed of thyself, seek no more to destroy the church of God-I was struck with such great fear and amazement lest perhaps I should be destroyed, that I fell to the earth and I did hear no more.
"But I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.
"Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.
"Yea, and I had murdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.
"Oh, thought I, that I could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.
"And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.
"And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
"Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
"And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
"And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
"Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy."
To these witnesses I add my testimony that repentance brings to the soul who has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his gospel forgiveness, with the attendant blessings of "peace" and "rest."
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
That we may all, through repentance and by enduring to the end, obtain that rest, I humbly plead and pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
We are the servants of the Lord, and he has sent us to deliver a message to the world.
The Lord has a message for people today, and he has revealed it to us. We are commanded to go forth, in his name and by his power, and tell all men everywhere what lies ahead and what the Lord wants them to do about it.
Peace has been taken from the earth. This is a day of wars and rumors of wars. Plagues and pestilence and desolation shall soon sweep the earth.
We live in a day of distress and perplexity; nations are ill at ease, and all things are in commotion. Men's hearts are failing them for fear, and the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the door.
We live in a day of evil and wickedness. The generality of men are carnal, sensual, and devilish. They have forgotten God and are reveling in the lusts of the flesh. Crime, immorality, abortions, and homosexual abominations are fast becoming the norm of life among the wicked and ungodly. The world will soon be as corrupt as it was in the days of Noah.
If any of us are to escape the perils that lie ahead, if any of us are to abide the day of the Lord's return, if any of us are to gain peace in this life and be inheritors of eternal life in the world to come, we must receive the message sent from on high and conform to the counsel it contains.
That message-our message to the world-is the message of the Restoration. It is the announcement that the heavens have been opened, that the voice of God is heard again. It is the proclamation of peace through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the holy gospel. It is the glad tidings that once again there are legal administrators who hold the keys of the kingdom and have power to bind on earth and seal in heaven.
The only way for men to escape the abomination of desolation to be poured out upon the wicked in the last days is for them to repent and live the gospel. The gospel is the message of peace and salvation for all men. And we have been commanded to proclaim its saving truths to all men everywhere.
And we do now proclaim that the great God, who sits enthroned in yonder heavens, has restored in this our day the fulness of his everlasting gospel. He has given anew to men on earth every doctrine, truth, and principle; every right, power, and key; all that is needed to save and exalt his children in the highest heaven.
Once again men have received the same glad tidings which enlightened the minds and enlivened the souls of faithful men of old. The Lord Jehovah-by his own voice, and by the ministering of angels sent from his presence, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost-has given anew that plan and system which saved Adam and Enoch and Abraham and Moses and all of the ancient Saints.
Our divine commission-the commandment we have received from him whose servants we are-directs us to teach the doctrines of salvation and to testify of their eternal verity. And so now in words of soberness we teach and testify of those wondrous truths that have come to us.
True religion is found only where men worship the true and living God. False religion always results from the worship of false gods. Eternal life itself, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God, is available to those and those only who know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
It is all the rage in this modern world to worship false gods of every sort and kind. There are those who bow before idols of wood and stone, and others who lisp their petitions to icons and images. There are those who worship cows and crocodiles, and others who acclaim Adam or Allah or Buddha as their supreme being.
There are those who apply the names of Deity to some spirit essence that is immaterial, uncreated, and unknowable and that fills the immensity of space and is everywhere and nowhere in particular present.
And there are even those who champion the almost unbelievable theory that God is an eternal student enrolled in the University of the Universe, where he is busily engaged in learning new truths and amassing new and strange knowledge that he never knew before.
How belittling it is-it borders on blasphemy-to demean the Lord God Omnipotent by saying he is an idol, or an image, or an animal, or a spirit essence, or that he is ever learning but never able to come to a knowledge of all truth.
It is the first principle of revealed religion to know the nature and kind of being that God is. As for us, "we know that there is a God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God, the framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them".
This great God, the Lord Almighty, is a personage of tabernacle. He "has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's". He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He has all power, knows all things, and, by the power of his Spirit, is in and through all things.
We know and testify "that he created man, male and female, after his own image and in his own likeness, created he them".
All men are the spirit children of the Eternal Father. We are the offspring of celestial parents. We lived and dwelt in the courts of glory before the foundations of this world were laid.
Our Eternal Father ordained and established those laws-called the gospel of God-which would enable us to advance and progress and become like him.
We know and testify that when he placed men on earth, he "gave unto them commandments that they should love and serve him, the only living and true God, and that he should be the only being whom they should worship".
We know and testify that mighty Michael foremost fell that mortal man might be, and that "the Almighty God gave his Only Begotten Son" to ransom men from the temporal and spiritual death brought into the world by this fall of Adam.
We know and testify that Christ "was crucified, died, and rose again the third day"; that he "ascended into heaven, to sit down on the right hand of the Father, to reign with almighty power according to the will of the Father.
"That as many as would believe and be baptized in his holy name, and endure in faith to the end, should be saved".
We know and testify that salvation is in Christ; that it comes because of his goodness and grace; and that he is our advocate with the Father.
We bear record that he is the only mediator between man and God; that through his atoning sacrifice fallen man may be reconciled with God; and that he "hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel".
We worship the Father, in the name of the Son, by the power of the Holy Ghost, and we invite all men everywhere to come and join with us.
There is no salvation in worshiping false gods; there is no salvation in false religion; there is no salvation in error in any form.
Man alone cannot save himself. No man can call forth his own crumbling dust from the grave and cause it to live again in immortal glory. No man can create a celestial heaven whose inhabitants shall dwell in eternal splendor forever.
All the idols and icons and images combined, since the world began until the end of time, will never have power to cleanse and perfect a single human soul.
Neither Adam, nor Allah, nor Buddha, nor any person real or imaginary will ever bring salvation to fallen man.
An unknown, uncreated, immaterial spirit nothingness never has and never will endow men with the gifts of the Spirit or assure them of an eternal celestial home.
And certainly a student god, with finite powers, who is just experimenting in the eternal laboratories, is not a being in whom I, at least, would feel inclined to repose an infinite trust.
The truth about God, the truth about religion, the truth about salvation-these things can only be known by revelation.
Men in our time will never find peace, or safety, or salvation in the world. Wars and plagues and desolation shall continue to sweep the earth as with a flood.
Crime and evil will increase; iniquity will abound; the love of men toward each other shall wax cold. We need not look for a day when men of themselves shall usher in an age of righteousness.
But those who turn to Christ, who believe his gospel, and join his church, and live his laws, and who thereby worship the Father in his holy name-such shall find peace and safety and salvation. In the world men shall have tribulation; in Christ they shall find peace.
And so we say: We are the servants of the Lord. He has revealed himself to us by the power of the Holy Ghost. We know whom we worship. It is our glorious privilege to speak of him and his ways, and we speak as those having authority and not as do the scribes.
We know by the revelations of the Holy Ghost to our souls that God is our Father, that Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on earth and has been set as a light upon a hill to proclaim the truth about God to a fallen world.
When we speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, our words are scripture and come as the voice and mind and will of him who sent us.
Our testimony is that the Almighty God is our Eternal Father who lives in realms celestial; that the Lord Jesus Christ is his Son in the true and literal sense of the word; that the Holy Messiah came into the world to die upon the cross for the sins of the world; and that the Holy Ghost-a personage of spirit, a spirit man-is their minister and witness, whose revelations and gifts and endowments are available to the faithful in every nation and among all people.
And we now say, as we have been commanded to do, "Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come;
"And worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters".
We say: Come worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Come worship the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation. Come unto Christ and believe and obey his law, for no man cometh unto the Father but by him or by his word. Come and rejoice in the revelations of the Lord to Joseph Smith and the prophets of latter days, for they are the revealers of Christ and the witnesses of God in these last days.
Turn ye to the Lord our God. Repent of all your sins. Forsake false doctrines; flee from false gods; seek the truth.
Do not be deceived by the doctrines of men or of devils. Cleave unto the truth and be believing as was the case with those of old for whom the heavens were rent and who made their callings and election sure in the days of their mortal probation.
Oh, God our Father, wilt thou look upon thy children everywhere in love and mercy, grant them repentance, and lead them in thy holy way so they may gain peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder J. Thomas Fyans
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I, like you, heard of the eruptions of Mount St. Helens. We read in newspapers and magazines, heard on radio, and saw on television descriptions of this great phenomenon. All of my perception of what had gone on was secondhand.
Three weeks ago, however, I was in Longview, Washington, which figuratively speaking is at the foot of Mount St. Helens. For fifty miles the river runs from this volcano. I saw huge dredges and draglines pulling material from the river channel and depositing it, covering acres of ground, piling it higher than the average man is tall. I saw. I partially understood the power unleashed by that great manifestation of discomfort of Mount St. Helens. It has been estimated that 1 1/2 cubic miles of material spewed forth from the volcano.
I should like to paint another picture of power that transcends Mount St. Helens and Vesuvius and all the earthquakes and tornadoes and other like disruptions of our physical tranquillity.
May I pose to our nonmember friends a question or two first?
Perhaps you have wondered what your Mormon friend believes.
May we now go to the mountain of Mormonism and see and perhaps understand why your friend believes as he does. Because the power that comes from this mountain will affect your life-yes, your eternal life.
May we earnestly pray together that by your seeing and feeling hopefully there will come understanding.
There are seven events of great eternal consequence that your Mormon friend would like to share with you.
Event number one: This magnificent manifestation of power began on a beautiful spring morning in the year 1820. An earnest seeker after truth went to a grove of trees made sacred by this event and knelt in humble supplication to his Heavenly Father, the Creator of mountains and valleys and oceans and all that we see by day and the celestial lights of the stars and planets that we observe by night.
The heavens were opened and this great and noble spirit, Joseph Smith, entered into direct communication with heavenly beings. Let your eyes see and your hearts feel, and let there be at least partial understanding as we listen to the word picture of this event.
"I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
" When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other-This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!".
All uncertainty fled away. Joseph Smith had personal knowledge of the reality of these divine beings. The Father and the Son, the creators of the universe, appeared to Joseph Smith.
Event number two: Three years have passed since this first great vision. It is now 1823. Another light appeared-and an angel instructed the boy prophet. May we again listen in.
"While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor.
"He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do.
"He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants."
Event number three: Four more years pass. "At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates. On the twenty-second day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, the same heavenly messenger delivered them up to me with this charge: that I should be responsible for them."
Golden plates were now delivered containing a precious message to be whispered as though from the dust through the divine instrumentation of the powers of translation.
Let's catch the spirit of the translation process as described by Oliver Cowdery: "'These were days never to be forgotten-to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted to write from his mouth, as he translated the history or record called "The Book of Mormon"'"
Event number four: Two additional years pass. And now comes another visitation, bringing power from on high. The Aaronic Priesthood, which holds special keys, is restored to the earth. It's described in these words.
"We still continued the work of translation, when, in the ensuing month, we on a certain day went into the woods to pray and inquire of the Lord respecting baptism for the remission of sins, that we found mentioned in the translation of the plates. While we were thus employed, praying and calling upon the Lord, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, and having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, saying:
"Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins,
"The messenger who visited us on this occasion and conferred this Priesthood upon us, said that his name was John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament, and that he acted under the direction of Peter, James and John, who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which Priesthood, he said, would in due time be conferred on us."
Peter, James, and John came and ordained them to the Melchizedek Priesthood, which holds the power to act in the name of Deity.
An acquaintance of Joseph Smith made this interesting observation: "If you were to ask Joseph what sort of a looking man Adam was, he would tell you at once; he would tell you his size and appearance and all about him. You might have asked him what sort of men Peter, James and John were, and he could have told you."
You see, my non-Mormon friends, he knew them because he had a personal relationship with them.
Event number five: It's the year 1836. Now comes a personal manifestation of the Savior to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, which they describe in these beautiful words:
"The veil was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding were opened.
"We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber.
"His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying:
"I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father."
Let me share with you an eyewitness account of some of these events and I quote:
"'I shall not attempt to paint to you the feelings of this heart, nor the majestic beauty and glory which surrounded us on this occasion; but you will believe me when I say, that earth, nor men, with the eloquence of time, cannot begin to clothe language in as interesting and sublime a manner as this holy personage. No; nor has this earth power to give the joy, to bestow the peace, or comprehend the wisdom which was contained in each sentence as they were delivered by the power of the Holy Spirit! The assurance that we were in the presence of an angel, the certainty that we heard the voice of Jesus, and the truth unsullied as it flowed from a pure personage, dictated by the will of God, is to me past description.'"
Event number six: Biblical prophets over the ages have foretold the gathering of Israel. Let's examine a visitation of Moses to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and his commitment of the keys of gathering.
"The heavens were again opened unto us; and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north".
Event number seven: Now came Elijah in direct fulfillment of Malachi's prediction. Let's listen to this heaven-sent truth.
"Another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said:
"Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi-testifying that he should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come-
"To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers."
The power of Elijah is the sealing power of the priesthood by which things bound or loosed on earth are bound or loosed in heaven. Thus, the keys of this power are once again operative on the earth and are used in performing all the ordinances of the gospel for the living and the dead.
Great power has been manifest from mountains. Physical power came from Mount St. Helens, but that may soon be subdued and rest peacefully for an indeterminate number of years. The spiritual power that came from Sinai in olden times and the restorative powers of all ages that have come down from heaven in our day will not be subdued, but will affect us through all the eternities.
The Lord has said, "There is no eye that shall not see, neither ear that shall not hear", "whether it be by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same".
I raise my voice in solemn testimony that these earth-and-heaven encompassing events actually occurred, that the Savior literally lives, and that his power is vested in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. May the Lord bless you, my friends, that you will see and hear and understand. Why not begin that trek today? I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
The other day I enjoyed listening to two of my friends discuss their favorite football team. They were in agreement that possibly the greatest limiting factor in the team's achieving high national ranking was its game schedule. They felt the team, for its own good, should play against stronger competition.
In football or in life, the adversaries, the ones with whom we compete, the ones we oppose or resist-our opponents, our foes, our enemies, or our problems-are often the determining factors in our ultimate strength and achievement.
Adversity will surface in some form in every life. How we prepare for it, how we meet it, makes the difference. We can be broken by adversity, or we can become stronger. The final result is up to the individual. Henry Fielding said: "Adversity is the trial of principle. Without it, a man hardly knows whether he is honest or not."
Realizing that adversity can include suffering, destitution, affliction, calamity, or disaster, how can we best use it as an opportunity for personal growth and development? For one answer, let me share with you an incident in the life of a special friend, which he tells in his own words at my request. I find his experience a powerful sermon.
"It was the third Saturday in January a few years ago. I was excited to attend a seminar that morning. It was an agricultural seminar at the Brigham Young University, where I had been attending school. I had been home from my Honolulu Hawaii Mission six months and was going through all the adjustments of a returned missionary. The challenge of family, girls, school, and the fact that there were twenty-five thousand other students who were bright and aggressive-some with plenty of money; others, like myself, who were pinching every nickel-didn't make things easier.
"I landed a job running a hydraulic press earlier that week in a machine shop. We made seals for hydraulic equipment. Following the seminar that morning, I went to work. Kimball, my roommate and former missionary companion who had gone to work earlier that morning, instructed me in how to make a new seal. After approximately twenty minutes, one of the smallest seals stuck on the face of the plate. I struggled to get it off with my left hand. As I turned back to give it my full attention and use my right hand, the machine closed on my left hand, causing a horrible noise as it crushed my hand just below the wrist. After what seemed an eternity, the huge press finally opened. My first thought when looking at my hand was 'What a mess!' Then that inner voice which I had come to know, love, and appreciate, whispered, 'Jerry, you won't have your hand.'
"Four hours of surgery followed. The first thing I remember hearing was the surgeon's voice in the recovery room.
"'Jerry,' he said, 'Can you hear me?'
"'Yes,' I said.
"'We had to take your hand off.'
"The following four days were filled with tears, aches, friends, cards, letters, and family. Concerned people made it so much easier for me, especially Kimball. He let my parents and others close to me know and helped in every way he could. Never did I have to ask for one thing. It was already done. By his example and support, he gave me courage to face this new challenge.
"The days in the hospital were filled with painful, sleepless hours and nights. Those nights gave me an opportunity to think about the Savior and Joseph Smith as I had never done before. I reviewed the Prophet Joseph's life from everything I had learned. He faced physical, emotional, and spiritual trial upon trial. How I marveled at his well-won victories. At this difficult time I promised the Lord I would try to accept all of my challenges as the Prophet Joseph Smith had accepted his.
"Of course, during the first night there were thoughts of 'Why me? Was it something in my past? What have I done to deserve this?' Then I thought, 'No more rodeo, football, or skiing,' and I wondered what type of a woman would want a one-handed husband. I hadn't developed a good self-image or a great deal of self-esteem, so these thoughts magnified my concerns.
"Mom came to school and drove me home for the weekend. One thing she said that made me again appreciate her greatness was, 'Jerry, if I could only give you my left hand and make it work, I would.'
"Sunday was fast Sunday. As I stood favoring my bandaged, shortened arm, I thanked everyone for their thoughts, prayers, and cards. I realized as never before that good friends and faithful family members make challenges less difficult.
"After the testimony meeting, an admired friend gave me a special blessing. So many questions were answered during his blessing. He told me this accident was not punishment for anything I had done but, rather, an opportunity to help me become a better person and to amplify those particular traits which needed to be developed. He shared the thought that this challenge could make me more understanding of people, problems, and life. As I look back now, each point of his blessing and encouragement has helped in a very fulfilling way.
"One of my greatest fears was the constant thought of how people would accept me. Would they be afraid of me, question my ability, or write me off before I could prove myself? Would girls turn down dates because I was different? Would it make them feel uncomfortable to be seen with me?
"I had dated several girls since my mission but had only dated Julie a couple of times. When I awoke the day following the operation in the hospital, she was there with other friends. I asked everyone else to leave the room, and I then proceeded to give her what I thought was the perfect speech. I told her that they had to take my hand off. If she felt embarrassed or ashamed to be with me or be seen with me on future dates, she need not feel obligated to continue in any future courtship. At that moment I could see fire in her eyes. She let me know in no uncertain terms that she was not there out of pity or duty, but only because she cared for me. She indicated she would help me but never feel sorry for me. Six months later we were married in the Salt Lake Temple.
"There were many job interviews, prejudices, and rejections of employment; but with continued encouragement, the Lord blessed us in innumerable ways. When our first little girl, Bracken, arrived, it left us short of money to go to school. So after a major decision, we went into business, which proved to be another learning experience. After a couple of years-with many reverses-I was able to find a career in personnel management, which not only fulfilled my goals but also answered my prayers.
"Today as I look back, I see the challenge of adversity as something upon which to build. Of course, I cannot say the experience was pleasant; it was horrible. However, I hope I have used this adversity in a positive way. When I see others in trouble, in pain, when real adversity is knocking, I have an opportunity not only to feel something of what they feel but perhaps I can also help them because they can see that I have challenges of my own."
Following a recent discussion on the subject of adversity, a young man who was greatly concerned about the burdens being carried by his wonderful mother asked the question, "If God is omnipotent and knows all, why does He put my mother through the agony of continual sufferings when He already knows what the outcome will be?" Our response was, "Your mother's trials are not tests so the Lord can measure her. They are tests and trials so that your mother can measure herself. It is most important that she know her strengths in adversity and grow from the experiences."
When, with several companions, the Prophet Joseph Smith was a prisoner in Liberty, Missouri, for a number of months, conditions were deplorable. Their petitions and appeals directed to executive officers and the judiciary had failed to bring relief. In desperation Joseph pleaded for understanding and assistance from his Heavenly Father. The message finally came:
"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
"And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes".
It can be declared accurately and without hesitation that Joseph Smith's noble character and stature were shaped and achieved by constant victories over his afflictions. Jesus, too, developed unique balance mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially as he labored and served under all types of trying circumstances:
"Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
"And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him".
Difficulties can be a valuable tool in our pursuit for perfection. Adversity need have no necessary connection with failure. Proper self-management and self-discipline in all of our trials brings strength. If we are prepared, we can meet life's challenges victoriously. We become His disciples when we continue faithfully under all circumstances-including suffering and tragedy.
C. S. Lewis shared a meaningful observation when he said, "I have seen great beauty of spirit in some who were great sufferers. I have seen men, for the most part, grow better not worse with advancing years, and I have seen the last illness produce treasures of fortitude and meekness from most unpromising subjects."
I have another choice friend who has known very few days in his life which were not filled with pain, discomfort, or disease. He shakes his fists at the forces of darkness and trial. His taxing trials of all of the yesterdays have been properly met and have assisted in making him what he is today. Like Caleb of old, he too can be heard to say, "As yet I am strong. Now therefore give me this mountain". More mountains, even those high in adversity, can better prepare us for tomorrow if we are but willing to climb.
Jesus Christ, the Master, shares his life of trials and victories with us for our motivation and direction. God strengthened His Son. He, too, will support us, His children, if we will turn to Him for guidance.
What a blessing it is to know that we can be supported against all the fiery darts of the enemy if we are faithful. A worthy daily prayer is one asking for the power to be faithful under all circumstances.
Knowing that Satan and his hosts are relentless in their attempts to ridicule, embarrass, belittle, and cause all of us to yield and ultimately fall, what should be our attitude in today's society? There is an important step beyond avoiding contention and strife; and that is to live with dignity. There is something sacred about living with dignity. We need not quarrel or compete with those who promote and encourage controversy. We need not spend our time in retaliation. They who would deceive, destroy, or belittle reap their own rewards. Their works are neither praiseworthy nor of good report. How disarming it must be to the enemies to see the valiant moving forward with poise and dignity under all challenging circumstances. Scorn and ridicule are two of the greatest forms of adversity we are required to face in today's world. Doing the will of God on a daily basis leaves no time for contention or confrontation.
From Harry Emerson Fosdick we read, "The most extraordinary thing about the oyster is this. Irritations get into his shell. He does not like them. But when he cannot get rid of them, he uses the irritation to do the loveliest thing an oyster ever has a chance to do. If there are irritations in our lives today, there is only one prescription: make a pearl. It may have to be a pearl of patience, but, anyhow, make a pearl. And it takes faith and love to do it.".
Those who yield to adversity become weaker. To the valiant it is a stepping-stone to increased power. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and God-fearing people worldwide will not pray for freedom from trials. They will not surrender or panic. They will strive to put themselves in condition to meet and master troublesome trials.
Usually there are no easy answers to most of our problems. Each individual must think, plan, work, and pray to find the help he needs and the courage he must have to conquer his problem or carry his cross-whatever his lot may be. Winners set achievable goals day by day. Their plans consist of things that can be done, not what can't be done. They remember that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but the power of love and of a sound mind.
God seems to have sustaining love for those like Jerry who are coping courageously with adversity. In many cases it seems they have a special relationship with Him. "Behold, I have refined thee. I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction".
Individually, we should thank God for the examples of those about us who battle and conquer daily challenges that are intense, real, and continuing. There are some persons who in our human eyes seem to have more than their share of trouble, as we measure, but with God's help they are made special. They will not break. They will not yield.
Satan wants us to feel unequal to our worldly tasks. If we turn to God, He will take us by the hand and lead us through our darkest hours. To these truths I bear my testimony and leave my special witness in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, amen.
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I would like to say thank-you to the choir for that beautiful song of worship, which I hope will serve as something of a frame into which I can place my remarks. These past six months have been a wonderful season for us as a Church. Last spring we ushered in the 150th anniversary of the organization. On April 6th, when we were similarly convened in general conference, we spanned most of the continent and reached across a century and a half of history when we spoke from the humble birthplace of the Church to the vast congregation assembled in this Tabernacle. Since then, with music, with dancing, with drama we have portrayed the epic story of the building of Zion in the latter days.
We have refreshed the remembrance of our past and paid reverent tribute to those who gave so much to make possible that which we enjoy today. There has been stirred within us a spirit of thanksgiving to Almighty God for the wondrous manner in which he has woven the tapestry of his divine purpose. We have been reminded that we are an important part of the fulfillment of a great prophecy.
All of this has been done in the spirit of jubilee. But there is much yet to be done. In ancient Israel each fiftieth year was observed as a jubilee year with remembrance and celebration. But there was also a mandate urging generous forgiveness and a lifting of the hand of oppression.
Now in 1980, as we draw the curtain on 150 years of our history, it becomes us as a grateful people to reach out with a spirit of forgiveness and an attitude of love and compassion toward those whom we have felt may have wronged us.
We have need of this. The whole world has need of it. It is of the very essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He taught it. He exemplified it as none other has exemplified it. In the time of his agony on the cross of Calvary, with vile and hateful accusers before him, they who had brought him to this terrible crucifixion, he cried out, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do".
None of us is called on to forgive so generously, but each of us is under a divinely spoken obligation to reach out with pardon and mercy. The Lord has declared in words of revelation: "My disciples, in days of old, sought occasion against one another and forgave not one another in their hearts; and for this evil they were afflicted and sorely chastened.
"Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.
"I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.
"And ye ought to say in your hearts-let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds."
How much we have need of the application of this God-given principle and its companion principle, repentance, of which President Romney has so persuasively spoken. We see the need for it in the homes of the people, where tiny molehills of misunderstanding are fanned into mountains of argument. We see it among neighbors, where insignificant differences lead to undying bitterness. We see it in business associates who quarrel and refuse to compromise and forgive when, in most instances, if there were a willingness to sit down together and speak quietly one to another, the matter could be resolved to the blessing of all. Rather, they spend their days nurturing grudges and planning retribution.
In that first year of the organization of the Church, when the Prophet Joseph Smith was repeatedly arrested and tried on false charges by those who sought to injure him, the Lord said to him through revelation, "Whosoever shall go to law with thee shall be cursed by the law". I have seen that in our time among some of those who have vindictively pursued their nurtured grudges. Even among some of those who win their contests there appears to be little peace of mind, and while they may have gained dollars, they have lost something more precious.
Guy de Maupassant, the French writer, tells the story of a peasant named Hauchecome who came on market day to the village. While walking through the public square, his eye caught sight of a piece of string lying on the cobblestones. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. His actions were observed by the village harness maker with whom he had previously had a dispute.
Later in the day the loss of a purse as reported. Hauchecome was arrested on the accusation of the harness maker. He was taken before the mayor, to whom he protested his innocence, showing the piece of string that he had picked up. But he was not believed and was laughed at.
The next day the purse was found, and Hauchecome was absolved of any wrongdoing. But, resentful of the indignity he had suffered because of a false accusation, he became embittered and would not let the matter die. Unwilling to forgive and forget, he thought and talked of little else. He neglected his farm. Everywhere he went, everyone he met had to be told of the injustice. By day and by night he brooded over it. Obsessed with his grievance, he became desperately ill and died. In the delirium of his death struggles, he repeatedly murmured, "A piece of string, a piece of string."
With variations of characters and circumstances that story could be repeated many times over in our own day. How difficult it is for any of us to forgive those who have injured us. We are all prone to brood on the evil done us. That brooding becomes as a gnawing and destructive canker. Is there a virtue more in need of application in our time than the virtue of forgiving and forgetting? There are those who would look upon this as a sign of weakness. Is it? I submit that it takes neither strength nor intelligence to brood in anger over wrongs suffered, to go through life with a spirit of vindictiveness, to dissipate one's abilities in planning retribution. There is no peace in the nursing of a grudge. There is no happiness in living for the day when you can "get even."
Paul speaks of "the weak and beggarly elements" of our lives. Is there anything more weak or beggarly than the disposition to wear out one's life in an unending round of bitter thoughts and scheming gestures toward those who may have affronted us?
Joseph F. Smith presided over the Church at a time of great bitterness toward our people. He was the target of vile accusations, of a veritable drumbeat of criticism by editorial writers even in this community. He was lampooned, cartooned, and ridiculed. Listen to his response to those who made sport of demeaning him: "Let them alone. Let them go. Give them the liberty of speech they want. Let them tell their own story and write their own doom." And then with an outreaching spirit of forgiving and forgetting, he went ahead with the great and positive work of leading the Church forward to new growth and remarkable accomplishments. At the time of his death, many of those who had ridiculed him wrote tributes of praise concerning him.
Not long ago I listened at length to a couple who sat across the desk from me. There was bitterness between them. I know that at one time their love was deep and true. But each had developed a habit of speaking of the faults of the other. Unwilling to forgive the kind of mistakes we all make, and unwilling to forget them and live above them with forbearance, they had carped at one another until the love they once knew had been smothered. It had turned to ashes with the decree of a so-called no fault divorce. Now there is only loneliness and recrimination. I am satisfied that had there been even a small measure of repentance and forgiveness, they would still be together, enjoying the companionship that had so richly blessed their earlier years.
If there be any within the sound of my voice who nurture in their hearts the poisonous brew of enmity toward another, I plead with you to ask the Lord for strength to forgive. This expression of desire will be of the very substance of your repentance. It may not be easy, and it may not come quickly. But if you will seek it with sincerity and cultivate it, it will come. And even though he whom you have forgiven continues to pursue and threaten you, you will know you have done what you could to effect a reconciliation. There will come into your heart a peace otherwise unattainable. That peace will be the peace of Him who said:
"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you:
"But if you forgive not men there trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses".
I know of no more beautiful story in all literature than that found in the fifteenth chapter of Luke. It is the story of a repentant son and a forgiving father. It is the story of the son who wasted his inheritance in riotous living, rejecting his father's counsel, spurning those who loved him. When he had spent all, he was hungry and friendless, and "when he came to himself", he turned back to his father, who, on seeing him afar off, "ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him".
I ask you to read that story. Every parent ought to read it again and again. It is large enough to encompass every household, and enough larger than that to encompass all mankind, for are we not all prodigal sons and daughters who need to repent and partake of the forgiving mercy of our Heavenly Father and then follow his example?
His Beloved Son, our Redeemer, reaches out to us in forgiveness and mercy, but in so doing he commands repentance. A true and magnanimous spirit of forgiveness will become an expression of that required repentance. Said the Lord-and I quote from a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph:
"Therefore, I command you to repent-repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore-how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.
"For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
"But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I:
"Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit.
"Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me."
Such is the commandment, and such is the promise of him who in his great exemplary prayer, pleaded, "Father, forgive our debts, as we forgive our debtors".
Are not the words of Lincoln beautiful which he spoke out of the tragedy of a terrible civil war: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, let us bind up the wounds".
My brothers and sisters, as we conclude this great season of jubilee, let us bind up the wounds-oh, the many wounds that have been caused by cutting words, by stubbornly cultivated grievances, by scheming plans to "get even" with those who may have wronged us. We all have a little of this spirit of revenge in us. Fortunately we all have the power to rise above it, if we will "clothe with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace".
"To err is human, to forgive divine.". There is no peace in harboring old grudges. There is no peace in reflecting on the pain of old wounds. There is peace only in repentance and forgiveness. This is the sweet peace of the Christ, who said, "Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God". Of that I testify in the holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder LeGrand Richards
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
If you are in possession of something that is dearer to you than life itself, and you know that by giving it away you could enrich the lives of your fellowmen without making your life any poorer, you would want to do it, wouldn't you? My testimony of the divinity of this Church is that treasure dearer to me than life itself, and I have given it away to many, many people whose lives have been enriched by virtue of the same.
I have had the privilege of bearing testimony in ninety-eight general conferences of the Church from this pulpit and I have written a book that is being used almost all over the world containing my testimony, and that testimony I obtained in my youth through the Holy Ghost whom I received by the laying on of hands by those who had authority to convey it upon me. And it made such an impression upon me as a boy that it has been a guiding star to me all my life, and I could hardly wait until I was old enough to go on a mission.
When I went on my first mission back in 1905, my cousin and I traveled together to Liverpool; he was sent up into Norway and I was sent to Holland. After we had been in the mission field a few months, I received a letter from him, addressing me by name, and he said: "I met a man the other day who knows more about religion than I ever dreamed of. I told him that if he had something better than I had, I would join his church."
I wrote him back, addressing him by name, and I said: "You told him just the right thing. If he has something better than you have, you ought to join his church." Then I quoted some of the experiences that Brother Fyans related to us this morning. I said: "Does he have something better than a personal visitation of God the Father, and his Son, Jesus Christ, in a pillar of light, after centuries of spiritual darkness, to open the dispensation of the fulness of times and to reveal the true personality of the Godhead-that they are glorified personages?"
I said: "Does he have something better than the coming of Moroni with the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated? Does he have something better than the coming of John the Baptist with the Aaronic Priesthood, the power and authority to baptize by immersion for the remission of sins? Does he have something better than the coming of Peter, James, and John-Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ-with the holy Melchizedek Priesthood, the holy Apostleship, the authority to organize the church and kingdom of God for the last time to prepare the way for the coming of the Son of Man and to convey the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands?
"Does he have something better than the coming of Moses with the keys of the latter-day gathering of Israel that has brought us here into these valleys of the mountains? Does he have something better than the coming of Elijah of whose coming Malachi bore testimony that if it were not for his coming, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming? Think of the consequences. Now," I said, "if he has something better than that, you join his church."
I can't think of anything that we as parents and as leaders in Israel can plant into the hearts of our youth that will help them to avoid the evils and pitfalls and temptations of this world and the false philosophies of men and enable them to live in the world and yet not be a part of the world like having planted in their hearts through the power of the Holy Ghost a testimony of the truth of this restored gospel.
I like the words of the Apostle Peter. He said: "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day star arise in your hearts:
"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
That is what brings testimony.
And then Peter said to those who had put to death the Christ following the day of Pentecost: "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
"And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
"Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."
No man can believe that Peter was a prophet of the living God and look for the coming of the Lord except there be a restitution of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began. And a restitution is not a reformation. All the churches of the world today have attempted to correct the mistakes of history until there are hundreds of churches because they can't agree. And if they had the truth, they would all be alike; and so there had to be a restitution. That means that those holy prophets had to come back to this earth, and that is what you have been told here in this conference.
And if they came back to this earth, they had to come to somebody, and that somebody could be none other than a prophet of God. Like Amos said, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets". And that prophet was Joseph Smith.
We bear testimony of this restitution of all things-the coming of these holy prophets as has been pointed out here during this conference today.
I like the prophecies of the scriptures. Jesus walked along the way toward Emmaus with two of his disciples following his resurrection, and when he heard what they had to say regarding him and his crucifixion, he knew that they did not understand and comprehend what the prophets had said; so he said, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken", and commencing with Moses and the prophets, He showed them how that in all things the prophets had testified of him.
I love the prophecies of Isaiah. It seems to me that he almost lived more in our day than when he was actually upon the earth. He saw so much of what would transpire in our day. He saw us settled here in these valleys of the mountains. He saw this desert, where we were once a thousand miles from transportation and supplies, made to blossom as a rose. He saw the rivers flow in the desert where we have built these great irrigation canals. He saw the water flow down from the high places where we have reservoired it in these mountain fastnesses for summer's use. He saw the redeemed of the Lord come up and sing in the heights of Zion. And where do you find anything in the world to fulfill that like the singing of the Tabernacle Choir for over fifty years without a break?
He saw the mountain of the Lord's house established in the top of the mountains in the latter days when all nations would flow unto it, and they would say, "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths".
Now in the scriptures there are many, many prophecies of the regathering of the Jews back to Jerusalem, but this prophecy said, "And all nations shall flow unto it.
" and say let us go up to the mountain of the Lord."
I think this beautiful temple on this block is the house of the God of Jacob that Isaiah saw.
Jeremiah saw the day when it should no longer be said, "The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
"But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of all countries whither I had driven them".
He said that he would send for many fishers and many hunters and they would fish them and hunt them from the hills and the mountains and the holes in the rocks. They are the thirty-one thousand Mormon missionaries scattered all over the world gathering in the seed of Israel and bringing them to Zion.
He saw how they would be gathered one of a city and two of a family, and the Lord would bring them to Zion, and he would give them pastors after his own heart who should feed them with knowledge and with understanding. Could anybody sit through sessions of this conference and listen to these prophets of the living God and not realize that Jeremiah saw this day when we would come here, gathered one of a city and two of a family, and that He would give us pastors after His own heart?
I love the prophecies of Isaiah. I like the twenty-ninth chapter where he said: "Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
"Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid."
There are no wise men in this world today nor prudent men who can understand all of the prophecies like we Latter-day Saints can because of the restoration of this gospel and the receiving of some of the prophecies that I have already referred to and which have been referred to in this conference.
And then Isaiah in that very same twenty-ninth chapter starts out like this: He said, "Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. And it shall be camped about and it shall be unto me as Ariel". In other words, not only did Isaiah see the destruction of the great city of Jerusalem, but he also saw the destruction of another great center here in America eleven hundred years after he made that prophecy. We read of that destruction in 2 Nephi 26 and 27, just like when he described the destruction of Babylon a hundred and seventy years before it was destroyed when he said it should never be rebuilt.
Now he said in that chapter that the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. There are so many things that have transpired in this day that the wise men of this world cannot understand. I haven't time here today to enumerate any more to you, but my heart is full of gratitude to my Heavenly Father and full of testimony by the Holy Spirit of the divinity of this work, and I bear that testimony to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder George P. Lee
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Charles Dickens once wrote: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us".
This description of a period of time in his day reminds us of some of the conditions of our day. We live in a great age of miracles and wonders. We have a higher standard of living and more education than any generation of the past. We enjoy the greatest comforts and the finest luxuries. We have more goods and better services than any other people have ever had. Our nation is the most prosperous and powerful ever known. Indeed, this is the best of times.
But this is also the very worst of times. We are confronted by bigger problems and greater dangers than man has ever faced before. Delinquencies, crime, destructive wars, immorality, and other sins are scoring new highs. Serious disturbances are taking place in nature. We constitute the most wicked age.
The most important responsibility that the Lord has ever laid upon us is that of making the best and the most of our lives. If we make the worst of times the best of times, we will be going directly toward heaven, but if we make the best of times the worst of times, we will be going backwards. We all know and are quite aware of the Lord's miracles, teachings, and doctrines. We know of his example; yet sometimes we live far away from that example. We live in the very best of times, yet we may be far from living his teachings and doctrines.
The scriptures clearly compare our day with the days of Noah, when the people of his time brought destruction upon themselves. It must be clear to each of us that the problem then and now is our poor relationship with the Lord. From the very beginning the Lord has tried to get man to follow divine counsel aimed at peace, prosperity, and happiness for all of us. Unfortunately, man's responses to his efforts have almost always been negative, and we continue to follow our own devices and wisdom in leading each other astray.
Jeremiah wrote, "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord".
Both our past and our present prove that of ourselves we lack the ability to solve our own problems. More than anything else and more than ever before, we need direction from the Lord. Jesus diagnosed our problems when he said: "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
Again he said, "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me".
His divine instructions gave us all the answers to any problems that might confront us. But his doctrines and teachings did not go over very well with the people in his time, nor are they going over very well in our time. They fell on deaf ears. Many people in his time, like many of us who live in this the dispensation of the fulness of times, chose to follow the false doctrines of man. This program of substituting the doctrines of man for those taught by the Lord has been very harmful and extensive.
Today in America, it is against the law to talk about God in the schools of some states. In these schools, one must not read the Bible, one must not sing Christmas carols, and prayer is prohibited because someone's sensibility might be offended. Atheism may be taught in the schools, but not the word of God.
The sin and evil that the Lord came to free us from are, in many places, now running unchecked in many places throughout our nation and the rest of the world. Crime is at an all-time high. Sin is at an all-time high. Immorality, among the youth and the adults, is at an all-time high. Jesus came as our example. He lived a sinless life and furnished us with a working model of righteousness. His simple message was "Follow me". He asked us to follow him in his teachings, to follow him in his righteousness, and to follow him in his love for others. Unfortunately and sadly, many have not followed him; rather, they have followed those who could find no room for his teachings, his miracles, or his doctrines. Many have made no room for him because their lives are loaded down with sin and pleasures. Others have made room for their physical comforts; they have made room to expand their educational opportunities; but they have crowded him out. Some have made room to work more hours to accumulate material possessions; still others have made room to multiply their luxury and increase their leisure time and have made room for more sports and entertainment, but they have made no room for him. They have made room for many violations of the Sabbath day, but they have made no room for the Savior of the world-our Redeemer and Master.
Today the Lord is pleading with us through the spoken word, through the scriptures, through the Spirit, through his prophets, through the witness of faithful parents, friends, and teachers; but we still have no room for him. We have no room for his teachings and doctrines because most of us are looking for a religion of convenience-one that takes no time, costs no money, requires no effort, and fits our lives without any required changes. It is no wonder the Lord said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head".
As we watch our government hopelessly grapple with the mighty problems of the day, perhaps we should take a look at the way the Lord would handle the problems of our day. The world in general works on the effects and results of the problems, while the Lord zeroes in on the roots and the causes. The Lord advocates preventive measures, while man attacks the problems after they have arisen. Man's answer to crime is better law enforcement, bigger and better locks on doors, bigger and better prisons, bigger and better rehabilitation, and bigger and better arms and weapons. But the Lord's answer is to love your neighbor as yourself and do good to others as you would have them do to you.
Man's answer to poverty is public welfare through food stamps, loans, guaranteed income, publicly financed housing, and other things. The Lord's answer is to teach self-reliance, to help people help themselves. Man's answer to the problem of immorality is birth control pills, homes for unwed mothers, venereal disease clinics, sex education, and divorce counselors. The Lord's answer is to teach the virtues of chastity, love, and purity. The Lord's approach to problems and his approach to resolving them probably would not make headlines or the six o'clock news; but nevertheless, his approach would solve our nation's problems as well as the world's problems, and it would revolutionize our world.
Paul tried to teach the Ephesians how to be good Christians and good people. The lesson is also a good one for us. He said: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
"Put on the whole armour of God.
"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
This is not only great counsel for all of us, but it is also a great success formula. It is a great philosophy of life which all of us need if we are to become bigger than the problems to be solved in our day. Man's attempts to solve his problems by legislation, bribery, force, or education have always failed. All of his problems could easily be solved by a return to the true religion of Christ. As members of his true Church, we should lead the way in fighting for God and country, for law and order, for health and strength, for industry and courage, for truth and righteousness, and for each other.
We need to take the time to worship, to meditate, and to develop a more personal relationship with the Lord. We need to get acquainted with his teachings. We need to fill our hearts with the things of the Spirit. We need to be more practical and to begin to think today what Jesus thought. We can fill our minds with our Heavenly Father's purpose and our hearts with an understanding of his ways. We can open the door of our soul and make room for the Savior to come in. The door of our heart can still be opened from within. Our invitation to the Lord to enter our hearts must come from the inside. The inspired counsel from the prophet Job should be ringing in our ears. He said, "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace".
The Lord is still saying to us as he did in his time when he declared: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."
My prayer, my brothers and sisters, is that we will make the worst of times the very best of times by making room for the Redeemer of the world in our personal lives. I testify that he is the living bread which came down from heaven. He is the promised Messiah and Savior of the human race. He is the eternal judge of the souls of men and conqueror of death and sin. He is our deliverer. He is our all because he gave his all for us. He is our salvation from sorrow and sin. He is Jesus the Christ! He lives! In his name, amen.
Elder Gene R. Cook
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My family and I are presently living in South America among the Lamanites-the children of Lehi, the people of the Book of Mormon, a people of great promise. For a number of years we have been witnesses to spiritual miracles among that people:
We have seen thousands converted to the Lord who had his law put into their minds and written in their hearts.
We have seen them organized into numerous stakes of Zion.
We have truly seen them "blossom as the rose" as prophecy has been fulfilled through them.
We have literally seen the Lord perform miracles among them by their faith.
Why should that be so? Why are changes in that people occurring so dramatically? The title page of the record their ancestors gave to the world, entitled the Book of Mormon, indicates that the book was "written to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel." In the last chapter of the book, the prophet Moroni gives to the Lamanites farewell instructions, a portion of which contains the conditions on which individual testimonies of the truth may be obtained. The record is for all men, but from cover to cover the book is filled with prophecies concerning the Lamanites, indicating "that the promises of the Lord be fulfilled, which he made to his people".
The promises were not exclusively given to the Lamanites but to all nations who would possess these lands. The land was blessed: "And thus they did leave a blessing upon this land in their prayers, that whosoever should believe in this gospel in this land might have eternal life".
"And the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them;
"And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes."
There is even direction to us in our day from President Kimball and the scriptures: "Go unto the Lamanites and preach my gospel unto them; and inasmuch as they receive thy teachings thou shalt cause my church to be established among them". Our living prophet has also said, "It is a people who call for assistance from those who can push and lift and open doors. It is a people who pray for mercy, for forgiveness, and beg for membership in the kingdom with its opportunities to learn and do."
How the Lord has blessed his people, this remnant of the house of Jacob. His words have been fulfilled. Where there was once a barren field, today they stand strong and truly "blossom as the rose".
What a miracle to behold! Only in part of the Lamanite world, in Latin America alone, there are over 600,000 members of the Church, with 7,000 baptized nearly every month; 181 stakes at present with almost 2,400 congregations of Saints and 2,500 Latin missionaries serving; thousands and thousands of priesthood holders-Regional Representatives, mission presidents, patriarchs, bishops-faithful sisters, and faithful children of a powerful generation yet to come.
Yes, the descendants of Lehi have learned much from us, the Church in general, as we have established the Church among them. They appreciate the fulfillment of the prophecy indicating "that every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language". Thanks belong to you who serve or have served in these countries, and to the parents who worried about you but sent you anyway, trusting in the Lord, and who found that their sons and daughters received far more in their service to this people than they were capable of giving.
They appreciate the fulfillment of these words of the Lord also: "I will consecrate of the riches of those who embrace my gospel among the Gentiles unto the poor of my people who are of the house of Israel". Thanks belong to the thousands of you who have contributed generously and enabled the work to go forth. You have given much for which the Lord will bless you.
You have also received much, as many of you have a personal debt to the Lamanites' forefathers for your own testimony obtained from their diligent record-keeping in the Book of Mormon. We are all blessed to participate with them in making latter-day history and assist in the fulfillment of prophecy.
Now, what can the rest of the Church learn from this people? They would not have you think they are any better than anyone else. However, because of the prophetic nature of their role in the last days, because the Lord has pre-prepared their hearts, one is able to see the Lord's handiwork in their very lives and understand why they are so susceptible to the gospel. This very understanding ought to teach all of us much about the sacred conversion process. Their lives teach of the basics of the gospel-godly traits-traits that we could do well to emulate in our progress toward exaltation. Repayment of temporal resources to the Church may never be made by them. However, the additional spiritual insight obtained from them may well represent an overpayment.
Their lives teach of simple truths like faith, confidence, trust in God. For example, a small village of Aymara Indians is converted within a matter of a few weeks-the entire village. Missionaries learn through the gift of tongues to speak Spanish, Aymara, Quechua, and many other Indian dialects. Lamanite Saints accept in faith instructions to become self-sufficient when the vision of that concept in their world seems to be totally impossible. They believe anyway and are on their way to making that become reality.
Their lives emanate the basics of the gospel, like repentance and love unfeigned. New leaders enter the Church from many kinds of worldly conditions but come forth cleansed and, in but "moments," stand tall as the Lord's leaders. They quickly learn by the Spirit that all can lead, even though many can't even read. A man who has not spoken for many years repents, is baptized, and speaks his first words as he leaves the baptismal font.
Their lives teach the simple truths of humility, meekness, teachableness. May I share another example? A Lamanite missionary baptizes eighteen souls in a matter of three weeks, where all last year none had been baptized. There are few problems with respect to teachableness among this people. They are teachable, meek, open in their hearts, and, in this respect, much like submissive children.
When nonmembers are first taught gospel truths, with little or no difficulty they believe. They believe in the Savior of the world. They believe in prophets. It seems as though they always have. The premortal existence seems to be common knowledge. The Joseph Smith story is believable and reasonable. They are not the least bit astonished by the coming of angels. They truly do hearken unto the voice of the Good Shepherd and thus truly do come unto God.
Their lives teach the basics of prayer, fasting, priesthood blessings. A sister unable to have children has a daughter, receiving that gift indirectly through a blessing given to her husband in which the promise was extended to her. A sick sister is raised at the very moment from her sick-bed by a priesthood blessing. The devil openly opposes the work and as needed is controlled by the priesthood. Servants of the Lord partake of food and water that is poison to them and receive no harm. A sister, as a young girl thousands of miles from her present home, is promised in a patriarchal blessing that one day General Authorities will be served at her humble table. Today she is married to a Lamanite stake president with the prophetic statement fulfilled.
Their lives emanate basic truths of kindness, long-suffering, and sacrifice. A man sells his only watch to purchase gasoline for his car so that he might find a man the Brethren desire to interview. A leader who struggles for years to own a car sells it that he might take his family to the temple. Men, women, and children give rings, watches, corn, grain, animals, and even the gold from their teeth that they may show the Lord their desire to help him raise up in their lands a temple to the Lord.
Even though the Spirit has manifested itself in the lives of these people in many miraculous ways, the common way-the most effective way-continues to be by the still small voice simply going forth, converting them "in their inward parts" by the thousands.
These are the children of Lehi, the children of the prophets, great in many respects but blessed, as are all the children of God, according to their righteousness.
None of us would ever boast in our own strength nor in our own wisdom, but as Ammon said about the Lamanites:
" joy is full and will rejoice in God.
" For in his strength can do all things;
" Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, say unto you, cannot say the smallest part which feel."
My brothers and sisters, we must do all that we have been counseled to do here in this conference. Let us not forget the simple truths-those godly traits, the weightier matters of the law, that have been described. They are the very basics, the essence of the gospel, and possession of them in great abundance by Latter-day Saints will be in the end the greatest miracle of all. Yes, miracles have not ceased. Today is a day of miracles. We believe in miracles. The Latter-day Saints may expect miracles according to their faith in Jesus Christ, the only being under heaven whereby we and all mankind may be saved, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
In my assignments I have some responsibility for directing the work of the Church in the southeast area of the United States, and this extends to include Jamaica. Sister Wirthlin and I recently had occasion to visit that beautiful tropical island and met with one of our very faithful leaders, President Victor Nugent of the Jamaica Branch. Our conversation went something like this:
"President Nugent, How are you doing with your home teaching?"
"One hundred percent."
"How about visiting teaching?"
"One hundred percent."
"Attendance at sacrament meeting?"
"One hundred percent."
"Tithe payers?"
"One hundred percent."
For a group of some eighty-five members of the Church to perform so admirably and to set such a wonderful example, I think that we can assume that they know their duty and perform it faithfully. They truly understand the meaning of an impressive revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith:
"Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence.
"He that is slothful shall not be counted worthy to stand, and he that learns not his duty and shows himself not approved shall not be counted worthy to stand."
Inscribed beneath Robert E. Lee's bust in the Hall of Fame are his words: "Duty is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less."
Most of us don't mind doing what we ought to do when it doesn't interfere with what we want to do, but it takes discipline and maturity to do what we ought to do whether we want to or not. Duty is too often what one expects from others and not what one does. What people think and believe and plan are all very important, but what they do is the thing that counts most. It is a call to throw out selfishness and to think of the common good of all.
We must always remember that duty reminds us we are stewards of all that our Creator has entrusted to us. When we accept duties willingly and faithfully, we find happiness. Those who make happiness the chief objective of life are bound to fail, for happiness is a by-product rather than an end in itself. Happiness comes from doing one's duty and knowing that his life is in harmony with God and his commandments. The members of the Jamaica Branch know that they are living in harmony with our Father's commandments, and this brings them great happiness.
A group of missionaries, also in Jamaica, understood their duties to teach the gospel to everyone who would hear their message. As all missionaries are, they were very dependent on their monthly checks from home, but in Jamaica the banking rules dictated that after the checks were presented at the bank for cash, a two-month waiting period had to elapse before the cash could be provided. This was very inconvenient and frustrating to the missionaries, and they agreed that it would be impossible for them to continue to endure such an arrangement. They would have to do something about it-and do something they did! The bank manager was taught the gospel, was baptized, and as a result the check-cashing problem was magically solved. Those elders knew their duty and accomplished it with faith and diligence.
Also, it was a problem there for the missionaries to get the proper kinds and quantities of food in Jamaica. They could obtain some staples essential to good nutrition but only after prolonged and tedious trouble and waiting. Another problem, another solution: teach and baptize the grocer. This they did, and thereafter had no problem in obtaining the food they needed and wanted.
In Jamaica, as in many other parts of the world, missionaries ride bicycles to carry out the Lord's work. But bicycles often break down and parts wear out. And there are often delays in obtaining parts and having repairs made. Again, the solution was obvious-teach and baptize the bicycle repairman. At last report, he was responding to the missionaries' friendship and testimonies.
It is obvious that doing our duty is the best way to solve our problems. The proper pattern of duty has been set by those who have gone before us and is continued today by devoted teachers and leaders throughout the Church. The attitude and spirit central to a lifetime of duty is pinpointed in this poem.
Every successful man and woman in the history of the world has known his or her duty and has had a firm desire to fulfill it. The Savior had a perfect sense of duty. Even though what was required of him surpassed the limits of human capabilities, he submitted himself to his Father's will and fulfilled his divine duty by atoning for the sins of mankind.
Joseph Smith was true to his calling and fulfilled his duty even in the face of severe persecution and great personal sacrifice. He persevered, he endured, and he accomplished the restoration of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
Brigham Young also carried out his responsibilities. Over a period of many years of faithful service and duty, he brought the Saints to the valley of freedom and established a great and mighty empire. He was duty-bound and thereby achieved great things.
President Spencer W. Kimball has accepted the charge to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. He faithfully pursues his duty and is a wonderful example to us in all that he does to spread the gospel of love. The result is a worldwide Church and the fulfillment of latter-day prophecy.
These great men have all had the agency to choose. They might have chosen to follow a path easier than the one where duty led. But they did not. Certainly their duty did not always lead to personal comfort or casual convenience. Their duty frequently meant great sacrifice and personal hardship; but nevertheless, duty they chose, and duty they performed.
Life requires us to perform many duties-some routine, others more meaningful and important. An integral part of duty is to set the proper example and to take every opportunity to bolster others along this uphill road of life. This might be done with an encouraging word, a compliment, a handshake-any indication of caring. And we need to keep in mind that as we learn our duties well here, we also are preparing for the performance of eternal duties.
Every member of the Church-every man, woman, and child-is faced with an obligation to fulfill his duty. Every member of the Church is commanded to live the laws of God and keep his commandments. Each has the duty to pray daily, study the scriptures, draw close to the Savior, and serve others. Each should partake of the sacrament worthily and labor to strengthen the influence of the Holy Ghost in his life.
Each father has the duty to provide for his family and to teach them by example to obey the statutes of God. Our lovely wives have a glorious duty to bring children into this life and to create a loving, learning, and supporting home atmosphere. Together, parents have the divine duty to bring up their children in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord".
It is the duty of children to obey their parents, to learn, and to help with household chores. They carry the scriptural charge not to contend and quarrel with one another but to accept their part in fostering family unity and progress.
All have the duty to share the gospel with others and to serve formally and informally as missionaries. All have a duty to identify their deceased ancestors and to help bring to them the blessings of the temple. All should diligently strive to be temporally prepared and to care for the poor and the needy. All should seek to strengthen the less active members of the Church and to magnify their callings in their wards and stakes by giving faithful and devoted service.
These are some of our duties. They may not always be exciting or even enjoyable, but they are important. They will refine the spirit and strengthen the soul. They will aid the work of the Lord in great measure.
The absolute necessity to do our duties at home, in the Church, in our daily work, and also for our beloved country-as do our wonderful chaplains and other members of the Church in the military-is vividly and beautifully described by the Master Teacher, Jesus the Christ. He declared: "For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
"For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
"And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
"Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
"He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
"But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great."
"Be not weary in well-doing", my brothers and sisters. Being true to one's duty is a mark of true disciples of the Lord and the children of God. Be valiant in your duty. Stay in step. Do not fail in your most important task, that of keeping your second estate. Be true to your duty, for it will bring you to God.
I bear you my deep and sincere testimony that this is the only way to obtain happiness and help the kingdom grow and flourish, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Rex D. Pinegar
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Each time we sing that lovely song, my heart pounds in rhythm with that testimony, and I bear witness to you of the divinity of the call of Spencer W. Kimball, who is our living prophet of God today.
I am grateful for my assignment with the young men of the Church. Those in the Aaronic Priesthood quorums of the Church are our future missionaries, Church leaders, and leaders in the world. With so great an opportunity, I desire today to speak to this vast army of youth about their power to be whatever they decide to be.
This summer I had the unforgettable experience of camping with twenty-six hundred of these wonderful Aaronic Priesthood Young Men and their leaders. Amid a colorful array of tents and Boy Scout uniforms, the encampment took the shape of a giant twelve-spoked wheel. Each spoke housed one of Israel's twelve "tribes." The six days of camping at the Florida Deseret Ranch provided camping skills, special demonstrations, tests of physical fitness, inspirational programs, and numerous other activities. The young men and their priesthood leaders participated together, focusing upon priesthood objectives.
On the first evening at dusk, with each "tribe" in place, all of "Israel" marched to an arena for the opening campfire. The golden rays of sunset formed a magnificent backdrop for the mile-long line of young men as they marched two abreast toward the arena. With colorful banners held aloft, the modern-day sons of Israel passed beneath an archway emblazoned with the Scout Promise: "On My Honor." Sentries stood holding torch-lighted signs inscribed with the Scout Oath and Law and Aaronic Priesthood objectives. As the priesthood leaders led their young men past these sentries, it was anticipated that each young man would make a personal commitment to strive daily toward eternal life, to be a worthy priesthood bearer, worthy to serve a mission; worthy to marry in the temple.
The decisions made that night were followed up during the next four days by special "mountaintop" experiences. The leaders of ancient Israel often went to a designated mountaintop to receive special instruction from the Lord. It was planned that these "Israelite" priesthood bearers would prepare themselves to come to especially designated locations at the encampment where they might receive spiritual guidance and counsel. Here they learned that, having committed themselves to live the basic principles of the gospel, they had also committed themselves to make other important decisions regarding such things as being morally clean, being honest in word and deed, keeping the Word of Wisdom, and so forth.
These are some of the "certain things" to which President Kimball referred in a recent conference address:
"We hope we can help our young men and young women to realize, even sooner than they do now, that they need to make certain decisions only once. We can push some things away from us once and have done with them! We can make a single decision about certain things that we will incorporate in our lives and then make them ours-without having to brood and redecide a hundred times what it is we will do and what we will not do.
" My young brothers, if you have not done so yet, decide to decide!"
You can do it, my young brethren. You can become the men of righteousness and stature that your dreams and ambitions hold up before you. To accomplish this objective, you need to make some important decisions now, early in your life. This is the time to decide to decide!
First, decide to set goals. In his same conference address, President Kimball said:
"It is most appropriate for Aaronic Priesthood youth, as well as Melchizedek Priesthood men, to quietly, and with determination, set some serious personal goals in which they will seek to improve by selecting certain things that they will accomplish within a specified period of time.".
A friend of mine helped his son set goals in this manner. Don asked his son what he wanted to be, whom he would want to be like. His son named a member of the ward who lived nearby, a man he had admired for some time. Don drove his son to where the man lived.
As they sat in their automobile in front of his home, they observed the man's possessions and his way of life. They also discussed his kindness and generosity, his good name and integrity. They discussed the price their neighbor had paid to become what he was: the years of hard work, the schooling and training required, the sacrifices made, the challenges encountered. The affluence and seeming ease with which he now lived had come about as the result of diligent toil toward his righteous goals and the blessings of the Lord.
The son selected other men whom he deemed models of successful and righteous living and learned from a wise father the stories of their lives. Thereupon at an early age he set his own goal of what he wanted to become. And with his goal before him as a guide by which to make other decisions along the way, he was prepared to stay on his chosen course.
Next, decide to work. Work is necessary if you are to reach your goal. J. Paul Getty, considered to be at one time one of the world's wealthiest men, gave this formula for success: "Rise early, work late, and strike oil!" Mr. Getty has also made the thought-provoking comment that "it is possible for a man to get on a train that goes 60 miles per hour and say to himself, 'I am going 60 miles per hour.' But it is not true. Unless he is moving ahead on his own power, he is standing still."
Isaac Stern, the world-famous musician-violinist, was asked by a television talk show host at what point in his life he determined to devote his energies toward a career as a concert violinist. Mr. Stern told of having given his first concert in San Francisco at a young age. Music critics were extremely impressed and predicted a fine future for the promising young talent. With this encouragement, Isaac Stern began preparations for another concert a year later in New York City. The critics were not so kind to him there. It would require a tremendous amount of work, they judged, if Isaac Stern were to achieve success as a soloist.
Dejected and discouraged, the young Mr. Stern boarded one of New York City's double-decker buses and rode it up and down Manhattan a number of times. He was, in his words, "crying inside" as he tried to decide where he was going from there. Were his critics correct? Had he gone as far as he was capable of going? Should he now seek a profession as just another member of an orchestra?
After his fourth bus ride through the city, he returned to his apartment where his mother was waiting. He had made his decision. "I am going to work, mother-work at my music until it works for me." Today Isaac Stern is acclaimed as one of the finest violinists in the world. Work is a principle with a blessing. Work builds us physically and spiritually. It increases both our strength of body and our strength of character.
A basketball coach claimed, "If you find a man on top of a mountain, he didn't fall there." If you and I are to reach the summit of our divine potential, we must work each step of the way. The path may be rugged, difficult, unheralded; but it can be successfully climbed if we are willing to work with all our strength and commitment.
Next, decide to believe. Believe in God. Believe in yourself. Believe that God is very interested in you as an individual, that he is anxious for you to succeed. He has provided in the gospel of his Son Jesus Christ the sure pattern for ultimate success.
When our lives are consistent with his gospel, we receive confidence through his Spirit to meet the challenges of each day. We can say with Nephi: "The Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him. Wherefore, let us be faithful to him."
The Prophet Joseph Smith's belief in God, his faith in God's interest in him, gave him the courage and optimism to say:
"Never get discouraged, whatever difficulties might surround. If sunk in the lowest pit of Nova Scotia, and all the Rocky Mountains piled on top of, ought not to be discouraged, but hang on, exercise faith and keep up good courage and should come out on top of the heap."
You, our beloved young men and women, are in the most critical period of life. Youth is the time when habits are formed, when ideas are adopted. It is the time of decision. Decide today to heed these words of our prophet: "Decide to decide!"
Decide to make decisions about certain things once-those things will push from you that might otherwise destroy you-and decide about other things that you will incorporate into your life, things that will bring you eternal happiness. Decide to set goals which are consistent with your divine destiny. Decide to believe in God, who created you. Decide to believe in yourself, that you truly can reach goals-your goals. Decide to work. You can be successful in any righteous endeavor when you are willing to work under the guiding hand of the Lord.
May we all make our decisions in the favorable light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder David B. Haight
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
By divine instruction we assemble semiannually in these great conferences to worship God, our Eternal Father, and declare-through the gift and power of the Holy Ghost-the sonship of Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer, whom to know is to have life eternal.
By participating in these conferences and witnessing the spirit of prophecy, each of us builds up our faith and our desire to live in righteousness. We receive inspired counsel from those appointed to administer the affairs of His kingdom, a kingdom destined to grow in power and to expand until it shall fill the earth. It is the kingdom which the prophet Daniel declared "shall never be destroyed: it shall stand for ever".
As we near the close of this historic conference, we declare that true doctrine has been spoken by men who seek the Savior and who believe in him, thus making known his will-not only to his Church, but to individuals who humbly seek him. Our position among the Christian denominations of the world is unique. We are not affiliated, either directly or indirectly, with any other so-called Christian or non-Christian church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not have, nor has it ever had, any connection or relation with any other church or religious group.
This Church holds the keys of the power of God unto salvation unto every soul that will receive the gospel honestly and obey it. As covenant children of God, we have been promised that if we are faithful, we will prevail over the enemies of his work. By our faithfulness and righteousness, the evil influences of wicked and designing men and women will be subdued. We are those who have the responsibility to prepare the world for the coming of the Savior, who-in power and glory-will again return to earth.
Some have asked, "Is your claim of authority more valid than that of other churches?" Our answer is, "Yes. We possess the same divine priesthood power and authority that was held anciently."
At the time the Savior and his twelve Apostles were laboring along the coast of Caesarea Philippi, the Savior asked them, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?.
"And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
"He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
"And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the, gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
The Lord taught that his Church was to be built on the rock of revelation, of divine truths revealed by God himself, and that Christ is the Son of the living God; therefore, the gates of hell shall not prevail against his Church.
The keys of the kingdom were promised to Peter, and he exercised that authority as he associated with the other members of the Twelve and presided over them.
There were a number of occasions when the Savior took only Peter, James, and John with him, undoubtedly for additional spiritual experiences and instruction. When Jesus went up into the Mount of Transfiguration to prepare for his coming ordeal, he took these three Apostles with him so that, having seen his glory-the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father-their hearts would be fortified and their faith strengthened as they gazed upon this heavenly event. There they received the promised keys of the priesthood. During this heavenly event Moses and Elias also appeared, and the three Apostles heard the voice of the Father bearing witness that Jesus is his Beloved Son and the command that they were to hear and obey.
In August of 1830, a revelation from the Lord confirms the ordination of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to the Apostleship and their receiving the keys.
The revelation reads: "Peter, and James, and John I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles, and especial witnesses of my name, and bear the keys of your ministry and of the same things which I revealed unto them;
"Unto whom I have committed the keys of my kingdom, and a dispensation of the gospel for the last times; and for the fulness of times, in the which I will gather together in one all things, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth."
The keys of the kingdom were bestowed upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by these three ancient Apostles to whom Jesus had given authority following his resurrection and after he had ministered among them.
When the Lord called Frederick G. Williams, by revelation, as a counselor to Joseph Smith, He instructed, "Hearken to the calling wherewith you are called, even to be a high priest in my church, and a counselor unto my servant Joseph Smith, Jun.;
"Unto whom I have given the keys of the kingdom, which belong always unto the Presidency of the High Priesthood".
On April 3, 1836, in the Kirtland Temple, the same heavenly beings that appeared to the Savior and his three Apostles on the Mount, appeared and conferred additional priesthood authority and keys upon the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery for the building up of the Church preparatory to the coming of Christ to rule and reign on the earth forever. Moses appeared and conferred the keys of the gathering of Israel. Elias restored the covenants and authority given to Abraham. Elijah bestowed the keys and power of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and of the children to their fathers.
These same keys of the kingdom held by Peter, James, and John, who served in the First Presidency in the dispensation of the meridian of time, and conferred upon Joseph Smith and all subsequent Presidents of the Church, are now held by President Spencer W. Kimball today. He holds this supreme authority. He holds the right of revelation and decision for the priesthood and for the Church.
In President Kimball is concentrated the governing power of the priesthood. He possesses the keys pertaining to the dispensation of the fulness of times, including all the keys of former dispensations. There is never but one on the earth at a time on whom these keys and powers are conferred. President Kimball, who will speak to us in a few moments, is God's prophet.
News reporters listened intently for a possible dramatic story that might indicate new direction to the Church when Spencer W. Kimball became President of the Church and held his first press interview. But he reaffirmed the ageless advice that would come from a prophet when he said, "Keep the commandments of God. Follow the pathway of the Lord. Walk in his footsteps."
To associate closely with President Kimball, to be near him, is to feel of his love for the Lord and his love for people-people everywhere. The Lord has preserved him to preside over His church at this critical period of the history of the Church and of the world. It is for him to decide the course we follow. We are witnesses of his inspired decisions and directions, which give to us a feeling of assurance and calmness. We can follow his direction with utmost confidence and trust, for God has placed a holy man, His servant, to guide His people.
William Fowler, a British convert of 1849, was so moved by the very thought of a prophet of God living among the people that he wrote those stirring words: We thank thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us in these latter days.
As you listen to President Kimball's admonitions given with love to us all, pray about them in your homes, and I promise you that you will be inspired to stand by the tried and proven counsel of lofty principles that come from divine direction. In a revelation to Joseph Smith a few months after the Church was organized, the Lord gave careful instructions and counsel to the new leaders. He said, "Ask of God, and that which the Spirit testifies unto you do in all holiness of heart.
" Seek ye earnestly the best gifts always remembering for what they are given;
" they are given for the benefit of those who love me and keep all my commandments."
That revelation continues: "All have not every gift every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.
"To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
"To others it is given to believe on their words."
We can receive direction for ourselves and our families by personal revelation in answer to our humble prayers and by being in tune with God's prophet. The Lord has always communicated to his people through his prophet. The Lord's spokesmen are not self-appointed, but called of God. No man can take it unto himself. He must be called of God as was Aaron.
The day the Church was organized, 150 years ago, the Lord cautioned the members to carefully follow his newly called prophet: "Wherefore, thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me;
"For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith".
The Lord then follows with this promise, if we obey: "For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name's glory".
The work we have been assigned to do has been placed by the Almighty in the hands of a fearless leader. By your sustaining with uplifted hands, you have pledged to follow our prophet. He is the mouthpiece of the Lord. The Lord, speaking to the Church in this dispensation and referring to its authorized leaders, said: "They shall speak as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost.
"And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation."
President Kimball holds all the keys for the Church to accomplish its divine mission-keys to preach the gospel to every nation and people, to organize stakes of Zion throughout the world for the gathering of Israel, to build holy temples for performing sacred ordinances for the living and for the dead.
This holy work, as revealed through latter-day prophets, is to prepare for the glorious coming of the Son of God to reign over the earth. Nothing is more explicitly stated in all scripture than that the Son of God will come again in the glory of the Father to reward the righteous and to establish his kingdom in power, bringing in a reign of righteousness, and peace. "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works".
This is the Church of Jesus Christ-reestablished by the Savior and his ancient Apostles.
We are witnesses that President Kimball is God's prophet, and that he is leading us in teaching the world the true gospel of Christ.
God, our Eternal Father, lives, as does his Only Begotten Son, the Savior of us all, in whose holy name I testify, amen.
President Spencer W. Kimball
What a joy it is to be in this conference and to hear the word of the Lord as it has been given by so many of the Brethren. As always, my brothers and sisters, I am thankful, personally, as well as in behalf of the Church members, for the counsel and encouragement we have received in this general conference. Those who have provided the music have added so much to these sessions. Those of you who are in attendance have listened thoughtfully, and you have been fed the bread of life. Most of all, the Lord has blessed us with his Spirit, for which we are deeply grateful.
What has been received, however, must not be put out of our thoughts with the singing of the closing hymn. As we have listened to each sermon, we have added our own emphatic amens. With the final amen this afternoon still ringing in our ears, let us go back to our homes with a determination to do better and to put into practice those principles we have learned about in the last two days.
Brothers and sisters, our challenge is the same as it always is when we have been taught correct principles. The challenge has been put well by an ancient prophet who said, "Now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them". We must not let the inner resolves we have made during this conference be forgotten as we return to the trials and tribulations and responsibilities of a workaday world, a world of turmoil and strife.
For a few hours we have been apart from the world in general conference, and the Spirit has whispered peace to our souls. Now we must return to our places again in the world, but we are better prepared to improve the world. Let us more fully and confidently go ahead and meet the problems that beset us. Let us move forward confidently, not with halting steps, but steadily, and with persistent dedication borne of the Spirit.
It has been a great time of rejoicing during these days of conference, when friends have met friends and where the Saints have received much counsel. If all who have been to this conference will return to their homes and make up their minds that they are going to fulfill the obligations they have agreed to-that will be splendid!
We are bound to note events and trends in the world which will constitute special challenges. We cannot expect to live in times of turbulence without experiencing some of that turbulence ourselves. But we do not need to be "tossed to and fro, and carried about every wind of doctrine" without anchor. We have fellowship in a divine church. We have present-day prophets to guide us. We have Christ as our shepherd to lead us.
Even so, brethren and sisters, modern communications have a way of bringing the world into our homes, and we must not lose our perspective, even if others are confused. If we hear discouraging reports and are sobered by events in the world, let us not become fainthearted-"Do not weary by the way." The Lord's program will succeed even if some individuals in the Church fail. We will see the constant progress of the Lord's work, even in the midst of problems in the world. It will roll forth until it fills the whole earth. He has given us his assurances so many, many times. He has told us that if we will keep his commandments he is bound to keep his promises to us. He does! He will!
I suppose if I have learned anything in life, it is that we are to keep moving, keep trying-as long as we breathe! If we do, we will be surprised at how much more can still be done.
We are very much impressed by the Lamanite program, which is so very impressive to me, and we come to realize that this program is a reality. It is not a question in our minds; it is a reality, and it is spread far and wide in the world. We are very proud of the work that is being done. We are grateful for it. We are greatly conscious of the fact that among the Lamanites-as well as among all peoples of the other countries-we have a responsibility to see that the gospel reaches their hearts and minds and that they understand it.
We say again to the good people of this Church: Now let us go forth, having been edified, to bless and edify our families, our neighbors, and our friends. We are bound together by the fact that we are all literal children of our Heavenly Father and that he loves us.
We have spoken much about love today. Whenever I think of the countries of the world which I have visited in my lifetime, I have a very great love for them and their peoples-for them as individuals and as a people who have responded to us at one time or another.
Brethren and sisters, I would like to be known as one who loves his brothers and sisters. I would like that love to be extended far and near by all the visitors who leave this conference and go to other places to carry on the work of the Lord.
The Lord lives, God lives, and Jesus is the Christ. He is the Only Begotten Son, the Savior and the Redeemer of this world. It is my solemn testimony that we are the Lord's witnesses, and we are grateful indeed in our hearts for the constant surveillance of the Lord Jesus Christ, for all that he means to us, and for all that he does and gives to us.
The Lord bless you, my dear brethren and sisters. I hope that you will go forward now with a new spring in your walk and that you may be able to carry forward the things that you have planned all your life to do. I hope that you will do them well and do them better than they have ever been done before. And I hope that you will give to the numerous people who need the Lord's blessings that which they need so much: the assurance that the Gospel is here, that the Lord is God, that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer, and that we can depend on him totally in our work.
We pray that the Lord may continue to bless you, and we would be glad if you take back to your homes and to your people our sincere and deep love. God bless you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Spencer W. Kimball
My beloved brothers and sisters, while this is a grave responsibility, and not an easy one, I am eager to discuss with you some matters of importance.
I love youth. I rejoice when they grow up clean and stalwart and tall. I sorrow with them when they have misfortunes and remorse and troubles.
Numerous disasters have occurred in mid-ocean by collisions of ships, sometimes with icebergs, and numerous people have gone to watery graves. I believe you young people are wholesome and basically good and sound; but you, too, are traveling oceans which to you are at least partially uncharted, where there are shoals and rocks and icebergs and other vessels, and where great disasters can come unless warnings are heeded.
A couple of years ago as my jet plane soared in the air gaining altitude, the voice of the stewardess came clearly over the loudspeaker: "We are moving into a storm area. We shall skirt the danger, but there may be some turbulence. Be sure your seat belts are securely fastened."
And, as a leader of the Church and in a measure being responsible for youth and their well-being, I raise my voice to say to you: "You are in a hazardous area and period. Tighten your belts, hold on, and you can survive the turbulence."
I have interviewed thousands of young people and many seem to flounder. Some give excuses for their errors and indulge in unwarranted rationalizations. I hope I may be able to clarify at least in some areas the stand of the God of heaven and his church on some vital issues.
First, let us pause to remind ourselves that we are the spiritual children of God, and that we are his supreme creation. In each of us there is the potentiality to become a God-pure, holy, true, influential, powerful, independent of earthly forces. We learn from the scriptures that we each have eternal existence, that we were in the beginning with God. That understanding gives to us a unique sense of man's dignity.
But there are false teachers everywhere, using speech and pornographic literature, magazines, radio, TV, street talk-spreading damnable heresies which break down moral standards, and this to gratify the lust of the flesh.
Lucifer in his diabolical scheming deceives the unwary and uses every tool at his command. Seldom does one go to a convention, a club meeting, a party, or a social gathering without hearing vulgarity, obscenity, and suggestive stories.
Peter cautioned us: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour".
And the Savior said that the very elect would be deceived by Lucifer if it were possible. He will use his logic to confuse and his rationalizations to destroy. He will shade meanings, open doors an inch at a time, and lead from purest white through all the shades of gray to the darkest black.
So I wish today to help define meanings of words and acts for you young people, to fortify you against error, anguish, pain, and sorrow.
I will begin with a true story. The characters are real. He was well-proportioned and, like King David, "ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to".
With him at his side was a lovely girl, slight of frame and beautiful of face and form. It was obvious that they loved one another, for as they sat together across the desk from me, he reached quietly for her hand and there were meaningful glances.
The melodious voice was hesitant and a bit choked with emotion as he introduced his girl friend, and there was pleading in their eyes. "We are in difficulty, Brother Kimball," he said. "We have broken the law of chastity. We prayed and fasted and agonized and finally came to the conclusion that we must try to make adjustments.
"That junior prom date was a turning point. It started out a very special one. But as I see it now, it turned out to be a tragic one, the beginning of our troubles. When I saw her coming downstairs that night, I thought no girl was ever so beautiful and so sweet. We danced through the evening; and then when we sat in the car, long and silently afterward, my thoughts became unruly as we became more and more intimate.
"Neither of us dreamed what was happening to us," he continued, "but all the elements were there to break down resistance. We did not notice time-the hours passed. The simple kisses we had often exchanged gradually developed into petting. We stopped at that. But there were other nights-the bars were down. We loved each other so much that we convinced ourselves that it was not so wrong merely to pet since we sort of belonged to one another anyway. Where we ended one night became the starting point for the next night, and we continued on and on, until finally it happened-almost as though we could not control ourselves-we had intercourse. We had even talked about it and agreed that whatever else we did we would not go that far. And then when it was late-so late-so everlastingly late-we woke up to the meaning of what we had done."
Immorality does not begin in adultery or perversion. It begins with little indiscretions like sex thoughts, sex discussions, passionate kissing, petting and such, growing with every exercise. The small indiscretion seems powerless compared to the sturdy body, the strong mind, the sweet spirit of youth who give way to the first temptation. But soon the strong has become weak, the master the slave, spiritual growth curtailed. But if the first unrighteous act is never given root, the tree will grow to beautiful maturity and the youthful life will grow toward God, our Father.
"Can we be forgiven, Brother Kimball?" the young couple asked.
"Yes," I replied, "the Lord and his church can and will forgive, but not easily. The way of the transgressor is hard. It always has been and it always will be. The Lord said: 'I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite'".
But I went on to tell them that in his goodness he provided for us a way to forgiveness. One may do as he pleases, but he cannot evade responsibility. He may break laws, but he cannot avoid penalties. One gets by with nothing. God is just. Paul said, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap".
Serious as is the sin of fornication, there is forgiveness upon condition of total repentance. But first one must come to a realization of the seriousness of his sin. Since the beginning there has been in the world a wide range of sins. Many of them involve harm to others, but every sin is against ourselves and God, for sins limit our progress, curtail our development, and estrange us from good people, good influences, and from our Lord.
The early apostles and prophets mention numerous sins that were reprehensible to them. Many of them were sexual sins-adultery, being without natural affection, lustfulness, infidelity, incontinence, filthy communications, impurity, inordinate affection, fornication. They included all sexual relations outside marriage-petting, sex perversion, masturbation, and preoccupation with sex in one's thoughts and talking. Included are every hidden and secret sin and all unholy and impure thoughts and practices. One of the worst of these is incest. The dictionary defines incest as "sexual intercourse between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law to marry." The spirituality of one's life may be severely, and sometimes irreparably, damaged by such an ugly sin. The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve have determined that the penalty for incest shall be excommunication. Also, one excommunicated for incest shall not be baptized again into the Church without the written permission of the First Presidency.
Conscience tells the individual when he is entering forbidden worlds, and it continues to prick until silenced by the will or by sin's repetition.
Can anyone truthfully say he did not know such things were wrong? These unholy practices, whatever may be their unmentionable names with all their approaches and numerous manifestations, are condemned by the Lord and his church. Some may be more heinous than others, but all are sin, in spite of statements to the contrary of those who falsely pretend to know. The Lord's prophets declare they are not right.
The world may have its norm; the Church has a different one. It may be considered normal by the people of the world to use tobacco; the Church's standard is a higher plane where smoking is not done. The world's norm may permit men and women social drinking; the Lord's church lifts its people to a norm of total abstinence. The world may countenance premarital sex experiences, but the Lord and his church condemn in no uncertain terms any and every sex relationship outside of marriage.
Paul lashed out against these unholy evidences of the vulgar mind and of uncontrolled passion and desire:
"Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves".
Since courtship is prelude to marriage and encourages close associations, many have convinced themselves that intimacies are legitimate-a part of the courting process. Many have cast off bridle and harness and have relaxed the restraints. Instead of remaining in the field of simple expressions of affection, some have turned themselves loose to fondling, often called "necking," with its intimate contacts and its passionate kissing. Necking is the younger member of this unholy family. Its bigger sister is called "petting." When the intimacies have reached this stage, they are surely the sins condemned by the Savior:
"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
"But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
Who would say that he or she who pets has not become lustful, has not become passionate? Is it not this most abominable practice that God rebuked in his modern reiteration of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not steal; neither commit adultery, nor kill, nor do anything like unto it".
What, may I ask you, is like unto adultery if it is not petting? Did not the Lord recognize that this heinous sin is but the devil's softening process for the final acts of adultery or fornication? Can a person in the light of the Lord's scriptures pursue the path of petting with clear conscience? Can anyone convince himself that this is not deep sin?
We must repeat what we have said many times: Fornication with all its big and little brothers and sisters was evil and wholly condemned by the Lord in Adam's day, in Moses' day, in Paul's day, and in our own day. The Church has no tolerance for any kind of perversions. The Lord has indicated his lack of tolerance, stating:
"For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance".
When the scriptures are so plain, how can anyone justify immoralities and call them love? Is black white? Is evil good? Is purity filthiness?
That the Church's stand on morality may be understood, we declare firmly and unalterably, it is not an outworn garment, faded, old-fashioned, and threadbare. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and his covenants and doctrines are immutable; and when the sun grows cold and the stars no longer shine, the law of chastity will still be basic in God's world and in the Lord's church. Old values are upheld by the Church not because they are old, but rather because through the ages they have proved right. It will always be the rule.
In order to avoid difficulty and possible temptation, I suggest again the following standard. Any dating or pairing off in social contacts should be postponed until at least the age of 16 or older, and even then there should still be much judgment used in selections and in the seriousness. Young people should still limit the close contacts for several years, since the boy will be going on his mission when he is 19 years old.
Dating and especially steady dating in the early teens is most hazardous. It distorts the whole picture of life. It deprives you of worthwhile and rich experiences; it limits friendships; it reduces the acquaintances which can be so valuable in selecting a partner for time and eternity.
There is definitely a time for the dance, for travel, for associations, for the date, and even for the steady date that will culminate in the romance which will take young people to the holy temple for eternal marriage. But it is the timing that is so vital. It is wrong to do even the right things at the wrong time in the wrong place under the wrong circumstances.
I believe the youth of Zion want to hear the clear and unmistakable tones of the trumpet, and it is my hope, that I can play the tune with accuracy and precision so that no honest person will ever be confused. I hope fervently that I am making clear the position of the Lord and his church on these unmentionable practices.
Masturbation, a rather common indiscretion, is not approved of the Lord nor of his church, regardless of what may have been said by others whose "norms" are lower. Latter-day Saints are urged to avoid this practice. Anyone fettered by this weakness should abandon the habit before he goes on a mission or receives the holy priesthood or goes in the temple for his blessings.
Sometimes masturbation is the introduction to the more serious sins of exhibitionism and the gross sin of homosexuality. We would avoid mentioning these unholy terms and these reprehensible practices were it not for the fact that we have a responsibility to the youth of Zion that they be not deceived by those who would call bad good, and black white.
The unholy transgression of homosexuality is either rapidly growing or tolerance is giving it wider publicity. If one has such desires and tendencies, he overcomes them the same as if he had the urge toward petting or fornication or adultery. The Lord condemns and forbids this practice with a vigor equal to his condemnation of adultery and other such sex acts. And the Church will excommunicate as readily any unrepentant addict.
Again, contrary to the belief and statement of many people, this sin, like fornication, is overcomable and forgivable, but again, only upon a deep and abiding repentance, which means total abandonment and complete transformation of thought and act. The fact that some governments and some churches and numerous corrupted individuals have tried to reduce such behavior from criminal offense to personal privilege does not change the nature nor the seriousness of the practice. Good men, wise men, God-fearing men everywhere still denounce the practice as being unworthy of sons and daughters of God; and Christ's church denounces it and condemns it so long as men and women have bodies which Can be defiled.
James said: "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
"But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
"Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
"Do not err, my beloved brethren."
This heinous homosexual sin is of the ages. Many cities and civilizations have gone out of existence because of it. It was present in Israel's wandering days, tolerated by the Greeks, and found in the baths of corrupt Rome.
This is a most unpleasant subject to dwell upon, but I am pressed to speak of it boldly so that no youth in the Church will ever have any question in his mind as to the illicit and diabolical nature of this perverse program. Again, Lucifer deceives and prompts logic and rationalization which will destroy men and women and make them servants of Satan forever. Paul told Timothy:
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
"And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be mined unto fables."
"God made me that way," some say, as they rationalize and excuse themselves for their perversions. "I can't help it," they add. This is blasphemy. Is man not made in the image of God, and does he think God to be "that way"? Man is responsible for his own sins. It is possible that he may rationalize and excuse himself until the groove is so deep he cannot get out without great difficulty, but this he can do. Temptations come to all people. The difference between the reprobate and the worthy person is generally that one yielded and the other resisted. It is true that one's background may make the decision and accomplishment easier or more difficult, but if one is mentally alert, he can still control his future. That is the gospel message-personal responsibility.
And now, my dear brothers and sisters, I have spoken frankly and boldly against the sins of the day. Even though I dislike such a subject, I believe it necessary to warn the youth against the onslaught of the arch tempter who, with his army of emissaries and all the tools at his command, would destroy all the youth of Zion, largely through deception, misrepresentation, and lies.
"Be wise in the days of your probation," said Mormon, "strip yourselves of all uncleanness; ask not, that ye may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God".
Beloved youth, for those of you who have erred, the Lord and his church can forgive. The image of a loving, forgiving God comes through clearly to those who read and understand the scriptures. Since he is our Father, he naturally desires to raise us up, not to push us down, to help us live, not to bring, about our spiritual death.
Repentance seems to fall into five steps:
1. Sorrow for sin. To be sorry for our sin we must know something of its serious implications. When fully convicted, we condition our minds to follow such processes as will rid us of the effects of the sin. We are sorry. We are willing to make amends, pay penalties, to suffer even to excommunication if necessary.
2. Abandonment of sin. It is best when one discontinues his error because of his realization of the gravity of his sin and when he is willing to comply with the laws of God. The thief may abandon his evil in prison, but true repentance would have him forsake it before his arrest and return his booty without enforcement. The sex offender who voluntarily ceases his unholy practices is headed toward forgiveness.
Alma said, "Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble".
The discontinuance must be a permanent one. True repentance does not permit repetition. The Lord revealed this to the Prophet Joseph Smith concerning repentance: "By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins-behold, he will confess them and forsake them".
3. Confession of sin. The confession of sin is an important element in repentance. Many offenders have seemed to feel that a few prayers to the Lord were sufficient. They have thus justified themselves in hiding their sins.
"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy".
Especially grave errors such as sexual sins shall be confessed to the bishop as well as to the Lord. There are two remissions which one might wish to have. First, the forgiveness from the Lord, and second, the forgiveness of the Lord's church through its leaders. As soon as one has an inner conviction of his sins, he should go to the Lord in "mighty prayer" as did Enos and never cease his supplications until he shall, like Enos, receive the assurance that his sins have been forgiven by the Lord. It is unthinkable that God absolves serious sins upon a few requests. He is likely to wait until there has been long, sustained repentance as evidenced by a willingness to comply with all his other requirements. Next, the offender should seek the forgiveness of the Church through his bishop. No priest or elder is authorized to thus act for the Church. The Lord has a consistent, orderly plan. Every soul in stakes is given a bishop who, by the very order of his calling and his ordination, is a "judge in Israel." The bishop is our best earthly friend. He will hear the problems, judge the seriousness, then determine the degree of repentance and decide if it warrants an eventual forgiveness. He does this as the earthly representative of God-the master physician, the master psychologist, the master psychiatrist. If repentance is sufficient he may waive penalties, which is tantamount to forgiveness. The bishop claims no authority to absolve sins, but he does share the burden, waive penalties, relieve tension and strain; and he may assure a continuance of activity. He will keep the whole matter most confidential.
4. Restitution for sin. When one is humble in sorrow, has unconditionally abandoned the evil, and confessed to those assigned by the Lord, he should next restore insofar as possible that which was damaged. If he burglarized, he should return to the rightful owner that which was stolen. Perhaps one reason murder is unforgivable is that having taken a life, the murderer cannot restore it. Restitution in full is not possible. Also, having robbed one of virtue, it is impossible to give it back.
However, the truly repentant soul will usually find things which can be done to restore to some extent. The true spirit of repentance demands this. Ezekiel taught, "If the wicked give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live".
Moses taught, "If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep, he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep".
A pleading sinner must also forgive all people of all offenses committed against himself. The Lord is under no obligation to forgive us unless our hearts are fully purged of all hate, bitterness, and accusations against all others.
5. Do the will of the Father. I received many birthday cards for my 83rd birthday in March of 1978. One was bound in a book and had 4,700 autographs of youth who had signed the book. There were many others also, and other thousands of signatures. They were pledging their lives with such statements as the following:
"Dear President Spencer W. Kimball,
"As a member of our world, I pledge to you and with the Lord to lengthen my stride, to quicken my pace, to stretch my soul in the work of the Lord.
"I promise to pay my tithing faithfully and regularly all my life.
"I promise to you and the Lord to live the Word of Wisdom, even though temptations arise. No tobacco, liquor, tea, coffee, or drugs will I ever touch.
"I promise to remember my nightly and morning prayers. I shall never forget the Lord nor his rich promises, his protecting care, and his rich blessings.
"I promise above all that I will keep my life clean and unspotted from the numerous insidious temptations. There will never be any approach to immorality of any nature.
"I pledge that I shall lengthen my stride in the reading and absorbing of the scriptures and other good books.
"I pledge sincerely that I will quicken my pace in my love of my fellowmen and work together with them in achieving righteousness.
"I will stretch my soul to understand all of the commandments of the Lord and live them with great precision and care and love."
Now, brothers and sisters, you are sweet and wonderful, and we are proud of you, proud of the records you make, proud of the devotion you show, proud of the sacrifice you make. I tell you, we love you. How we pray for you every meeting we hold, every night and morning in our homes, and every night in our bedrooms; we pray for you that you will keep yourselves clean. Clean-we mean clean from beginning to end. Free from all the ugly things the world is pushing upon us-the drugs, and drinking, and smoking, the vulgarity, the pornography-all those things you don't need to participate in. You must not give yourselves to them.
Put on the full armor of God. Attend to your personal and family prayers and family devotions; keep holy the Sabbath; live strictly the Word of Wisdom; attend to all family duties; and above all, keep your life clean and free from all unholy and impure thoughts and actions. Avoid all associations which degrade and lower the high, righteous standards set up for us. Then your life will sail smoothly and peace and joy will surround you.
President Spencer W. Kimball
My beloved brothers and sisters: As I have pondered the social and economic conditions which confront us today, my thoughts have taken me back to our pioneer heritage. Our people have always been challenged by many and varied hardships which have tried our faith. It has been so from the beginning.
During the winter of 1846–47, when the Saints were at Winter Quarters preparing for their long and difficult trek across the plains, my grandfather, Heber C. Kimball, for twenty-one years a counselor to Brigham Young, was one of them. During that winter the Lord declared in a revelation to President Young, "My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom."
Few miracles in our history exceed that of establishing our settlements in a desolate land no one else wanted and then making the desert blossom as a rose. Our people not only survived but flourished because of their faith and their family solidarity. Our pioneer character was molded in the crucible of hard work, sacrifice, pulling together, and depending upon the Lord.
How well I remember my boyhood years in Arizona. Our living came from the soil. There was little money and seldom enough to go around. Going without and making do was our way of life. We learned to share: we shared the work; we shared joys and sorrows; we shared our food and our means. We had genuine concern for one another. Our daily prayers reminded us how dependent we are upon the Lord. We prayed and worked continually for our daily bread.
Out of those pioneer experiences were formed strong family ties. Now, once again, our resources are being severely strained. But once again our pioneer discipline can and will see us through.
Though we have held these welfare sessions over the years, we have never held one at a time more important than right now. As we concern ourselves with the basic economic needs of our people, we must go back to basic principles. I am grateful for the lessons of our pioneer past in which our people were rich, spiritually, even though they had to do without much of this world's goods.
Those of us in the Lord's work must recognize that work is a spiritual necessity as well as an economic necessity. Our pioneer forebears understood this.
Just as the pioneers shared what they had with the poor among them, we must do likewise by the giving of more generous fast offerings-not merely the cost of two meals.
Our pioneer ancestors did not look to government to care for their families. They knew that their families were their treasure and their own responsibility.
Brethren and sisters, plan and work in a way that will permit you to be happy even as you do without certain things that in times of affluence may have been available to you. Live within your means and not beyond them. Where you have a plot of land, however small, plant a garden. Staying close to the soil is good for the soul. Purchase your essentials wisely and carefully. Strive to save a portion of that which you earn. Do not mistake many wants for basic needs.
Teach your children these basic principles in your family councils. Our pioneer forebears used to sing those lyrics about how "sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven." It still does, my brothers and sisters! Let us not forget the uses of adversity.
Let us be serene and filled with peace and love as we live in a world that is unfortunately filled with increasing crime and violence. Let us remember and keep the Lord's great commandment to love our neighbors. Where there are differences or misunderstandings, let us resolve or diminish them through kindly, brotherly service and genuine concern and regard.
We speak not by way of alarm but by way of gentle counsel. Let us go back to the basics and follow the fundamentals. Thus we will experience a spiritual resurgence in our lives which will help us through these tempestuous times.
I am grateful for the welfare instructions we receive in this session of our conference. They are timely and worthy of both our attention and our action. May the Lord bless us to heed them and then to lead our people in the path that has been marked for us by our leaders and by the Lord, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Sister Barbara B. Smith
Relief Society General President
President Kimball, President Tanner, President Romney, my beloved Brethren, and my dear brothers and sisters: Few people are untouched today by economic stress. We're not only confronted with it in the media, but we experience it with virtually every purchase we make.
Most Saturday afternoons my husband and I make a trip to the grocery store for our weekly supplies and food storage items. Recently, after filling our shopping cart and while waiting to be checked out, we watched the cashier totaling the purchases of customers ahead of us. Nearly all were in sizable double-digit figures. We discussed the high cost of food for large families with limited incomes, elderly people with small pensions, and single parents often with uncertain means. We concluded that in most households resources must be managed very carefully in order to meet current demands.
The economic situation today is sobering. It requires us as women to be very resourceful if we are to meet this challenge successfully and at the same time find satisfaction in doing it well.
A young bride went to be with her husband at an army camp on the edge of a desert. Housing was scarce and costly. All they could afford was a small cabin near an Indian village. The 115-degree heat was unbearable in the daytime. The wind blew constantly, spreading dust and sand over everything. The days were long and lonely. When her husband was ordered into the desert for two weeks of maneuvers, she just couldn't bear the living conditions any longer, and she wrote to her mother that she was coming home. An almost immediate reply included these lines:
She read the lines over and over. All right, she would look for the stars.
She determined to make friends with her neighbors, the Indians. She admired their artful weaving and pottery work and asked them to teach her. As soon as they sensed her interest was genuine, they were most willing. She became fascinated with their culture, their history-everything about them. The desert changed from a desolate, forbidding place to a world of wondrous beauty.
What had changed? Not the desert, not her environment; her own attitude transformed a miserable experience into a highly rewarding one.
How might Relief Society enable a woman to look to the stars-stars to steer by? How might Relief Society enable a woman to create an environment of optimism and adventure, while at the same time helping her stretch her dollars and resources by implementing sound economic principles in the home?
Let me point out a few minicourses each Relief Society unit might hold to help women meet this challenge:
First, home and money management. Wise home and money management instruction should help each sister learn how to bring all expenditures within the family income. It has been thoughtfully said that we should set our scale of living one degree below our means. No longer can we ignore the imperative of this principle.
The first hard rule of fixing our scale of living below our means is to budget, planning first for basic needs and then for other desired items.
We should help all women enjoy the peace of mind that comes from making and following a plan for spending. Their lives will begin to have an aura of serenity when their expenses stay within their income.
Women must learn to budget and to help their children learn to budget also. Women and children should know that, no matter how important or how worthwhile an item might seem to be, if they cannot afford it, it is an unwise expenditure. Such expenditures lead to debt; and unwise debt leads to economic insecurity, which most often causes stress in the family. You can make it easier for your children if you do as Elder Marvin J. Ashton suggests: "'Save your money' is a hollow pronouncement from a parent to a child. 'Save your money for a mission, a bicycle, a doll house, a trousseau, or a car' makes understandable sense."
Living on a budget is not a chore. It need not even be a deprivation. Budgeting should be a great learning experience.
A recently married daughter of a friend wrote her mother, describing how she and her husband were managing to save money on their meager income. She excitedly explained: "I've discovered that often prepared foods are too costly for our budget, so I make most things from 'scratch.' The other night at Relief Society I even learned how to make milk, buttermilk, condensed milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, and creamed cheese from the powdered milk we had stored. It's fun to see how much I can save by doing things myself."
We can teach women to be realistic in money management and still maintain a spirit of resourcefulness and optimism.
Next, a resource management minicourse might be planned. It could enable the sisters to share ways to save energy. For example, car pool or walk whenever possible, wear sweaters, turn down the thermostat a degree or two, open shades when the sun shines and close them at night, turn off the heat or air conditioner when not at home, turn off the lights, and run the dishwasher only with a full load.
Resource management includes wise stewardship of possessions and an appreciation of the value that still remains in some used goods. One stake Relief Society president reported a homemaking meeting where their best seamstress was available to help each woman draft patterns for reusable fabric. This helped the sisters save many dollars and at the same time enjoy lovely additional clothing items.
Other miniclasses on resource management might focus on ways to take better care of clothes-how best to repair, clean, and alter them for longer wear. A miniclass on laundering tips could also add to a woman's understanding of how to add life to fabric. Classes could teach the art of clothing coordination, how to add variety and versatility to everyone's wardrobe so there is less need to purchase complete outfits. In these and other ways Relief Society could teach women to care better for their belongings, thus extending life and serviceability while at the same time bringing satisfaction and pleasure.
If we "make do" creatively, we don't have to do without. We can enrich the lives of our family members at very little cost.
A third minicourse might be on healthful living. Plan ways to help the sisters save money by attaining the best health of which they are capable. Relief Society should provide training to promote physical well-being as the least expensive medical treatment. It doesn't even cost you the price of aspirin. The illness you avoid costs nothing. Good health habits save money. To promote good health, women need to plan nutritious meals. Most of us could have smaller portions of food and still be healthy, but all of us should eat regular, well-balanced meals each day. Relief Society instruction should be designed to help sisters understand and practice the fundamentals of good nutrition. We should learn to prepare economical food that will be both nourishing and appealing. And in keeping with the all-Church effort to reduce cost, we would like to suggest that, although the homemaking meeting continue to be held monthly, the homemaking luncheon be served only six times per year, unless the circumstances of the sisters indicate a special need. We ask each Relief Society president to realize that this is not a time for cookies and punch, but for a social experience that will promote provident living, and that the emphasis be on an economical, nourishing food graciously served that can be easily duplicated in the homes of the sisters.
One basic concept of the welfare system of the Church is to prepare for a time of emergency by careful planning. Relief Society has the capability of helping sisters further this effort by making their homes models of provident living that can meet present need and possible emergencies.
I have thought about the emergency preparation necessary when Noah's ark was made ready. Noah must have achieved the most effective welfare planning in the history of mankind when he very carefully followed the Lord's counsel and built the ark. His wife and their sons undoubtedly worked and planned with him so that the blessings of the Lord might be theirs. Just think of preparing a year's supply for those multitudes of animals which were brought into the ark. Noah and his family must have been able to plan and provide in such a way that they could find pleasure in their efforts, adventure in their voyage, and joy as the splendor of the very first rainbow filled the sky, and the Lord's promise was fulfilled.
Could we be as diligent today? Can we as women be accountable and help meet the great challenge of economic stress by our wise stewardship over that with which the Lord has blessed us?
May we look for the stars and find satisfaction, even joy, in living according to the directions of these prophets and Apostles, whom the Lord has chosen to lead us in our day, is my humble prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder M. Russell Ballard
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My brothers and sisters, I have been asked to talk about family finances with you today.
In times of easy credit and increased inflation, many people find that they have too many expenses and too little income. One expert estimates that one-third of all American families are overextended. Last year tens of thousands of families filed for personal bankruptcy.
A recent survey conducted by the Welfare Services Department provided the following information: Fewer than one-half of the members surveyed have a year's supply of financial resources, and 89 percent feel the burden of increased taxes and inflation. Thirty-four percent of the Latter-day Saint women surveyed are employed outside the home. Fifty-seven percent of them are working to earn the money they need to meet basic family requirements. Thirty-one percent of the families are doing without many things, and 39 percent are not earning enough money to meet their basic needs.
These results demonstrate that today we as leaders need to teach our people that they must become efficient managers of their time and resources.
At the outset, as I address this subject, I emphasize that the most important principle we must live by today is the principle the prophet Alma taught his son Helaman: "But behold, my son, this is not all; for ye ought to know as I do know, that inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land; and ye ought to know also, that inasmuch as ye will not keep the commandments of God ye shall be cut off from his presence."
My experience in the business community taught me that some people can get locked into a daily routine that can stifle their initiative, courage, and vision.
From the Bible, the greatest teacher of all gave us the secret time and time again. He said, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."
Brothers and sisters, what can we do to improve our family finances? May I suggest three important keys that will help us. They are attitude, planning, and self-discipline.
The first key is to have a positive attitude toward ourselves.
Attitude is an important part of the foundation upon which we build a productive life. In appraising our present attitude, we might ask: "Am I working to become my best self? Do I set worthy and attainable goals? Do I look toward the positive in life? Am I alert to ways that I can render more and better service? Am I doing more than is required of me?"
Remember, a good attitude produces good results, a fair attitude fair results, a poor attitude poor results. We each shape our own life, and the shape of it is determined largely by our attitude. George Bernard Shaw wrote: "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them."
Too many people in our country today are developing the attitude that government is obligated to care and provide for them. In many ways, government has fostered this attitude, but the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints know better.
Some people who lived through the Great Depression and the period following, when the government bestowed gratuities upon the people, developed a feeling that the world owed them a living. In that climate, the First Presidency said in 1936: "The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership."
The love of work is an attitude that members of the Church must develop. In some ways, we have gone through a period of great prosperity which may, when history is written, prove to be as devastating as the Great Depression in its effect upon the attitudes of the people. President Harold B. Lee said, "Today we are being tested and tried by another kind of test that I might call the 'test of gold'-the test of plenty, affluence, ease-more than perhaps the youth of any generation have passed through, at least in this Church."
The love for work needs to be re-enthroned in our lives. Every family should have a plan for work that touches the lives of each family member so that this eternal principle will be ingrained in their lives.
Let me share an example from my own life that demonstrates the importance of attitude. When I returned from my first mission, I went to work for my father as a salesman. I was attending the University of Utah and working part-time. I had a bad two-week period in which I earned less than ten dollars. My father handed my paycheck to me at a sales meeting in the presence of all the salesmen.
At the time, I thought he was being very hard on me. But later, I could see that this was his way to help me take a second look at myself. I was having a good time and not paying attention to my sales work. I determined that never again would I be the lowest paid person. My income increased from that day.
Now, what happened? I was selling the same merchandise from the same store in the same season of the year. What had changed? My new attitude made the entire difference. William James said that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.
Brothers and sisters, let us discuss the second key, planning, which means to think out beforehand how we intend to reach our goals in life. Do we all have a plan to increase our value where we are employed? Have we taken the time to write down specific goals, and have we designed a plan of action to become more effective and productive?
I learned recently that 75 percent of the hotel and restaurant managers in the Marriott Corporation started with the company as room clerks, busboys, bellhops, or cashiers. By improving themselves and their skills, they were prepared when opportunities opened to become managers. To increase our income, we may need to consider additional education. We may need to find a way, through careful planning, to attend night school or trade school or to take a correspondence course. Additional education often will improve our skills and increase the value of our services.
Parents need to teach children very early that a solid financial base is a very important element in a happy home. We can do much with our young people to help them find satisfying, rewarding employment. We should encourage them to do well in their schoolwork and to learn to take advantage of opportunities that will help build a solid base for their future security.
Children need to explore many employment opportunities when they begin high school. Then when they marry and establish a home, they will be well on their way to a vocation or a trade that will return an income that will be sufficient to meet their basic needs.
We might feel that we have gone as far as we can go in our present job. If so, we should outline a plan of action, fast and pray for confirmation, and then move forward and make the change in employment.
A business of our own might increase our income. We must be wise, however, and analyze all factors and seek sound counsel from an attorney, accountant, banker, and most importantly, from a businessman who is successfully managing his own company. After developing a plan, we should pray for guidance; and when we receive an inward assurance that we should begin our own business, then we should do it. Remember the counsel of the Lord: "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?"
The third key is to practice self-discipline both at our work and as we attempt to reduce our expenses in our homes. Regarding the latter, Church leaders should set the example by seeing that stake and ward financial requests are kept to a minimum. Members should-
Avoid debt-pooling where exorbitant fees are charged. We may want to consolidate debts using a bank or credit union loan that can be repaid at a sensible interest rate over a reasonable length of time. We may need to stop using our credit cards.
Exercise self-discipline by telling ourselves "We can't afford it" and refusing to take on further credit obligations.
An argument was overheard one day. One spouse said, while scolding the other for extravagant spending, "How many times do I have to tell you that spending money before you get it is economically unsound?"
"Oh," said the other spouse, "I don't know about that. This way, if you don't get the money, at least you have something to show for it."
Please be patient and carefully control your purchases so that you will not become enslaved to your creditors.
Make a budget and stick to it.
Cut expenses by distinguishing between wants and needs. Economize by controlling the use of goods, services, and energy.
Increase homemaking skills and have family members complete home and car repairs, when feasible.
Invest wisely. Avoid speculations and get-rich-quick schemes.
Brothers and sisters, every one of us has the potential to improve and increase his earning capacity. We are far better off if we can improve and become more valuable on our full-time jobs than if we attempt to hold two jobs or to have mothers leave home to join the work force.
When we learn to expect more success than failure in life, we soon will develop an attitude of success.
"Nothing succeeds like success."
Remember-a positive attitude, a well-thought-out plan, and consistent self-discipline can help us improve our circumstances. Applying these keys in our daily work will help produce more income, and practicing them in our homes will help reduce expenses. When we combine these principles with keeping the commandments of God, we can learn to become better managers of our time and resources and become financially secure.
May the Lord bless all of us to this end, I pray humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder L. Tom Perry
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
A lesson on preparedness was taught by the Lord in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. It tells about ten virgins awaiting a marriage celebration. Five were wise and prepared. Five were foolish and not prepared. The five wise virgins were welcomed into the marriage feast upon the arrival of the bridegroom. The five foolish virgins were off to the store buying supplies, and upon their return found the door closed. The cry to the Lord to open the door was met with the response, "I know you not."
My assignment today is as basic to welfare services as priesthood is to the Church. I've been given the assignment to bring an increased awareness to the priesthood and Relief Society leadership of the need to teach and to give basic training in personal and family preparedness on a regular, continuing schedule.
Let us, for a minute, examine our leadership report card to see how well we have fulfilled our assignment to teach the principles of personal and family preparedness.
Our rate of annual increase for the period from 1970 to 1978 in total fast-offering assistance was 15 percent. Then we had a little upset in our economy, and the rate last year jumped to 32.5 percent.
We look even worse when we examine total commodity assistance. For the period 1970–78, the annual rate of increase in commodity assistance was 11.3 percent. Last year, the rate was a disastrous 53.5 percent. A little dip in the economy found the membership without oil for their lamps. Immediately it was necessary for those not adequately prepared to turn to the Church for assistance.
The results indicate that training of families in basic principles of self-reliance and independence over the past years has not been as effective as it should have been.
With such alarming results we must remind ourselves that the Church welfare system was never designed or intended to care for the healthy member who, as a result of his poor management or lack of preparation, has found himself in difficulty. It was designed to assist the membership in case of a large, physical disaster, such as an earthquake or a flood. It was designed to assist the ill, the injured, the incapacitated, and to rehabilitate them to a productive life. In far too many cases, members who should be making use of their own preparedness provisions are finding that there is nothing there and that they have to turn to the Church.
It is time to ask ourselves, What has created the problem of placing such a heavy burden on the Church to supply our welfare needs? My analysis of this problem would lead me to believe that, as leaders, we have spent far too much time in administering relief and far too little in prevention by having our families prepared to administer to their own needs. It is time to teach the basics-again. It is time to make the number one priority of our welfare efforts personal and family preparedness. We must prepare now so that in time of need more of our members will be able to draw upon their own preparedness and not have to seek assistance from the Church.
I like the story of the old man in nineteenth-century New Hampshire who treasured his independence and self-reliance above all else in his life. He accounted it true Christianity that he cared for his own and helped others, and fiercely resisted the notion that he ought to accept help from any other mortal. When his aged wife died, he buried her himself, then dug his own grave and laid in it his open, homemade coffin. "When my time is coming," he said, "I'll climb in the box and fold my arms over my chest. Won't be no bother to no one. They can just nail down the lid and push in the dirt."
President Marion G. Romney has said so often: "No self-respecting Church member will voluntarily shift the responsibility for his own maintenance to another. Furthermore, a man not only has the responsibility to care for himself; he also has the responsibility to care for his family."
The home must be the heart of the welfare program. We must focus our training of personal and family preparedness to reach the family organization. We must teach that every family should be headed by an executive committee comprised of a husband and wife who will set aside sufficient time to plan for their family needs. If it is a single-parent family or an individual living alone, there is still need to organize time and thought to establish goals for meeting needs.
It must start here. Every family has different needs. I notice the difference in my own family now that my children are married. Father and mother are now alone. Their needs have changed. A daughter with her own home and family, a son renting in a student housing project with his family, and a newlywed daughter and her husband, still students at a university-each has different needs, and these needs are changing each year.
Personal and family preparedness planning must begin with the family executive committee. Planning must be tailored to fit the circumstances of each family. Consideration must be given to their unique requirements in career development, financial and resource management, education, physical health, home production and storage, and social, emotional, and spiritual strength.
Each family organization should include a family council comprised of all members of the family unit. Here the basic responsibilities of the family organization can be taught to the children. They can learn how to make decisions and act upon those decisions. Too many are growing to marriageable age unprepared for this responsibility. Work ethics and self-preparedness can be taught in a most effective way in a family council. President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., has paraphrased an old statement. "'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,'" he would say. "But all play and no work makes Jack a useless boy."
How grateful I am for a father who had the patience to teach me the art of gardening. How frustrating it must have been in this teaching process to find a neat row of weeds still in the ground and a pile of dead carrots on the ground after I'd completed one of my assignments. Our family was taught not only the art of stacking and rotating cans and bottles on shelves, but also how to grow and replace the fruits and vegetables necessary to fill the empty cans and bottles again.
The first-line support to the families in the Church organization is priesthood home teaching and Relief Society visiting teaching. These functions provide two important services. They keep the bishop, the quorum leader, and the Relief Society president adequately informed of the physical, emotional, temporal, and spiritual condition of the membership. They also have teaching opportunities and serve as a resource to provide some of the training to the families as they prepare for self-sufficiency.
The Melchizedek Priesthood quorum leader can help the head of the household by teaching the principles of welfare-how to love, to give service, to recognize what his stewardship is, to work honestly and diligently for his family and for others, and to consecrate his time and talents to the building up of the kingdom of God. He can train the home teachers on how they can get to know the families and be sensitive to their needs. When a member has special needs, the president can work with the bishop and other quorum members to see that those needs are met in a confidential and loving manner.
The quorum meeting begins to fill its purpose when it meets the needs of the members. It is there they can be taught how to develop the skills in all areas of personal and family preparedness.
The Relief Society president gives the same kind of strength and support to the women of the ward as she trains the visiting teachers in the skills of compassionate service, as visits are made to the sisters and their needs are met confidentially with love and sensitivity.
The sisters are usually more effective in teaching gospel principles. They teach and practice skills of sewing, canning, drying, and other food storage methods. They teach nutrition and physical fitness. They emphasize reading and cultural arts skills. Overall there is a permeating spirit of love and giving, of industry, and serious attention to the skills of homemaking and gospel living.
So, priesthood and Relief Society, working together, bring the family to a realization that personal and family preparedness is living the gospel.
You may have read the story in the Ensign about the Hibbert family. The husband and father of a large family was diagnosed as having terminal cancer. After the shock and fear were faced, the husband and wife counseled together and decided that the best thing they could do for their joy and peace of mind was to prepare themselves and their family for what was to come.
They chose to create family memories through shared experiences, to complete family histories, to have a year's supply of food and other necessities to meet the financial emergencies that would come. A will was prepared and all insurance and legal papers were put in order. The children were taught to care for one another and to take responsibility in the home.
Just weeks before the death of Brother Hibbert, their home was destroyed in a fire. With it went much of the food storage, but there was still the togetherness of a family that had learned to work together, to plan and prepare, and to face a difficulty head on. With the death of Brother Hibbert, there was sorrow-but not grief. The family had developed the skills it takes to remain close and loving. They were prepared.
As you can see from the heavy responsibilities given to the quorums and the Relief Society, careful practical training must be given to those officers. This must be supplied by the ward organization, presided over by a bishop.
As chairman of the ward welfare services committee, the bishop directs all welfare services in the ward. He seeks out the needy and distressed. He coordinates the teaching of gospel principles and programs fundamental to welfare services, coordinates efforts to teach the law of the fast. He sees that members with special needs are assisted with the dignity and love so important to them. He coordinates confidential assistance to those in need. When necessary, he calls qualified resource specialists.
Supporting the bishop is a stake organization. The bishop can request assistance from the stake president in the training and qualifying of his leadership. The stake president has a high council and a stake Relief Society organization to furnish the training support required.
Look at the impact the Lord's organization can have on assisting the membership in their personal and family preparations as the work load is distributed down to a workable level of effectiveness. At the stake level the ratio is one stake president to about 1,180 families. At the ward level the ratio is one bishop to about 108 families. At the quorum level the ratio is one quorum leader to about 60 families. The home teacher's ratio is one home teacher to 3 families.
The foundation of the Church welfare program is personal and family preparedness. The organizational support is in place to train and prepare the membership in this basic responsibility. What is needed is for each priesthood and Relief Society leader to place the proper priority on this important work.
Now, it may be that the old man in New Hampshire carried personal and family preparedness too far, with digging his own grave and all. But I would love to see all of our people moved by that same spirit of self-reliance and preparedness.
God grant us to see what must be done in our own wards and stakes, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
Brothers and sisters: I have listened with interest this morning to what has been said. For forty years now I have been coming to this building twice a year to receive instruction regarding what we today refer to as Church welfare services. Originally, this program was known as the Church security plan; that is the name it was given when it was started. What was then meant by that title needs to be understood today; namely, that security, true security, comes only by living the principles of the gospel. Security is the fruit of righteous living.
The Book of Mormon contains the history of a people who over the course of a thousand years demonstrated the fruits of righteousness and of wickedness. Whenever they kept the Lord's commandments, they prospered in the land; when they were disobedient, they fell into wickedness, war, famine, and enslavement. Time and time again we read of families, tribes, and whole nations keeping the Lord's commandments and making covenants with him and being blessed by his Spirit. Because of righteousness, they prospered both spiritually and temporally. When they did not keep his commandments, they deteriorated both temporally and spiritually.
The Book of Mormon contains principles which, if we would follow them, could bring us true security in a world wracked by wickedness, fear, and a host of economic problems. I believe our people want to achieve true security, but many of us are not following the course which leads to it. Today, individuals and governments seem to think that they can achieve economic prosperity in spite of a spendthrift mentality. They spend and spend, mortgage and mortgage, pile up debts and obligations and thereby lose stability, lose security, and lose independence.
May I emphasize here that the point so easily forgotten is that the Lord is interested in everything we do in our lives: our families, our work, and our personal development. He has given eternal truths to guide us in these matters. Further, he gives us his Spirit to help us apply these principles. But only as we follow him can we have security.
Recently, I reread some of the talks given by the Brethren at the time of the original announcement of the Church's so-called security plan. I was thrilled with the power and solemnity of the thoughts expressed by the Brethren. Here is a quote from President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.'s, statement made at the October 1936 conference, the day that President Heber J. Grant read a letter by the First Presidency establishing the Church security plan. Notice how President Clark emphasizes that this security plan is simply a true expression of the basic Christian tenets contained in the gospel. He said:
"We have proclaimed to the world, and we have proclaimed what we knew, that we have the Gospel plan, and that the Gospel plan not only takes care of our spiritual needs, but our temporal needs as well. It teaches us how to live in a group under an organization and principles which enable us to live together as brothers and sisters, equal in all things insofar as we live for that equality.
"That places upon us a responsibility because this plan which has been given to us is a plan by which Christian rule can come and will come to the nations of the earth."
On April 4, 1943, at this pulpit, we stated that the Church's security, or welfare, plan consists of three basic elements:
"First, every individual should value his or her independence and labor with all his might to maintain it by being self-sustaining. This the Lord enjoined upon us when from the Garden of Eden He sent forth our first parents under the stern command, 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground..
"Second, next to himself, the responsibility for sustaining an individual rests upon his family-parents for their children, children for their parents. It is an ungrateful child who, having the ability, is unwilling to assist his parents to remain independent of relief.
"Finally, the individual having done all he can to maintain himself, and the members of his family having done what they can to assist him, then the Church, through the Welfare plan, stands ready to see that its members, who will accept the plan and work in it to the extent of their ability, shall each be cared for 'according to his family, according to his circumstances and his wants and needs'."
I'm sure that many of you old-timers have heard this doctrine repeated many times by the Brethren, but I wonder if perhaps some of our younger people, our young bishops and stake presidents, have taken the time to really grasp its meaning. More importantly, I wonder if we as a people, as a nation, and as a world community really understand the basic premise on which all of this rests-namely, self-reliance.
The principle of self-reliance grows out of a fundamental doctrine of the Church, that of agency. Elohim, in creating man and placing him on this earth, gave him his agency to act for himself.
"For," said he, "it is expedient that I, the Lord, should make every man accountable, as a steward over earthly blessings, which I have made and prepared for my creatures.
"For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves."
Just as each individual is accountable for his choices and actions in spiritual matters, so also is he accountable in temporal matters. It is through our own efforts and decisions that we earn our way in this life. While the Lord will magnify us in both subtle and dramatic ways, he can only guide our footsteps when we move our feet. Ultimately, our own actions determine our blessings or lack of them. It is a direct consequence of both agency and accountability.
The principle of self-reliance is also given expression in a larger context, that of the basic unit of the Church-the family.
In the Church the concept of providing for one's family and of relying on one's family for growth, mutual care, and help is equally fundamental to self-reliance. The family is the basic organizational unit of the Church. No agency or institution can or should replace the family. By sacred covenant and eternal priesthood government, the eternal family unit is established. The same covenant that obligates parents to care for their children obligates children to care for their parents when they need it. The commandment to "honour thy father and thy mother" extends to modern Israel and is required for all who are faithful members of the Church.
As a consequence of the principle of family reliance, we should realize that, generally, one has no claim on Church resources to resolve personal temporal problems and needs until the family has done all it can to help. This is the doctrine the Lord established when he said:
"And after that, they have claim upon the church, or in other words upon the Lord's storehouse, if their parents have not wherewith to give them."
Finally, I suppose we could think of Church reliance; that is, when all has been done at the individual and family level, then the Lord has given instructions how we should provide for one another as a Church family. The extent of this care and the basis on which it is given, however, again must be bound to fundamental principles. May I share a very insightful thought on charity given by President Joseph F. Smith in the general conference of April 1898:
"Men and women ought not to be willing to receive charity unless they are compelled to do so to keep them from suffering. Every man and woman ought to possess the spirit of independence, a self-sustaining spirit, that would prompt him or her to say, when they are in need, 'I am willing to give my labor in exchange for that which you give me.' No man ought to be satisfied to receive, and to do nothing for it."
If every able person who seeks out his bishop for help followed this rule of charity, then true blessings would accrue to both giver and receiver. Everyone would feel good about contributing to the Church welfare plan when the needy come in this spirit. Motivated in this way, people in need desire to quickly become self-sustaining again; they also desire to contribute all they can to the program when they are back on their feet.
It has been my desire today, brothers and sisters, to refocus our attention on the basic, fundamental principles of welfare services. I reiterate that welfare services is not just a program; it is the gospel in action. Its principles are the principles of the gospel. It is the Christian rule in temporal affairs. It is my desire that we learn from the scriptures and from the counsel of the living prophets and do our part to sustain ourselves, to care for our families, and with generosity and humility to contribute our share to maintaining those less fortunate than we.
May I close by quoting from King Benjamin, who at the close of his ministry had this sage advice for the members of the Church who had lived under his kind and inspired leadership for many years:
"And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins;
"And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you-that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God-I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.
"And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order."
That we may have the wisdom and the discipline and live to implement these great principles is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, amen.
President Spencer W. Kimball
Once again I rejoice, my brothers and sisters, at the opportunity to be with you in a general conference of the Church. In many ways, the October conference of six months ago seems like yesterday, yet we have been so busy, and so much has happened, it almost seems more like six years.
Since last we met in this historic Tabernacle, two new temples have been dedicated, and ground has been broken for four more temples. New converts who joined the Church in 1980 numbered 210,777-and there will be even more in 1981. A miraculous upsurge in the work of the Lord has occurred among the wonderful people of the Caribbean Islands. Surely the Lord has blessed us abundantly!
My brothers and sisters, as the Brethren of the First Presidency and the Twelve have meditated upon and prayed about the great latter-day work the Lord has given us to do, we are impressed that the mission of the Church is threefold:
To proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people;
To perfect the Saints by preparing them to receive the ordinances of the gospel and by instruction and discipline to gain exaltation;
To redeem the dead by performing vicarious ordinances of the gospel for those who have lived on the earth.
All three are part of one work-to assist our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, in Their grand and glorious mission "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
Having these sacred principles in mind-to proclaim the gospel, to perfect the Saints, and to redeem the dead-we have endeavored these past six months to carry out our responsibilities among the Saints at home and abroad. I should like, therefore, to give you a brief report on my stewardship since last we met in October 1980.
Ten days after the close of the October conference, President Marion G. Romney and I left, in company with a number of others, to conduct area conferences in the Orient. Our first meetings were held in Manila, Philippine Islands, October 18 and 19, where twenty thousand Saints attended the sessions in the Araneta Colosseum. We also looked over possible sites for the new temple which has just been announced for that land. We had a very pleasant visit with Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos, who gave up his Saturday morning with his family to meet with us at the presidential palace.
From Manila we traveled to Hong Kong, perhaps the world's most densely populated city, where there are about four hundred thousand people per square mile. There we held meetings in our own excellent stake center on October 20 and 21. The following day we flew to Taipei, Taiwan, where we met on October 22 and 23 in the beautiful Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. We had breakfast at our hotel with the two top leaders of the Republic of China, Prime Minister Sun and President Chiang, son of the late Chiang Kai-shek. We later had lunch as guests of the governor of Taiwan Province. After leaving Taiwan, we went to Seoul, South Korea, the "Land of the Morning Calm." Meetings were held for two days, October 25 and 26. We met outside in the Korea Seoul Mission compound with more than six thousand present in bitter, subfreezing temperature due to an overnight change in the weather. At our hotel we had lunch as guests of the former Deputy Prime Minister of Korea.
We arrived in Tokyo late Sunday evening, October 26. On Monday, October 27, President Romney and I laid the cornerstone for the Tokyo Temple, and then at 3:00 P.M. the first dedicatory session was held in the celestial room, with color television provided in all other rooms of the temple. During the next two days, six more dedicatory sessions were held. Following the dedication of the temple, the Tokyo area conference was held on October 30 and 31 in the famed Budokan Hall. In every place we visited we also held special meetings with the missionaries, with fifteen hundred being present in one meeting in Tokyo. It was indeed a thrilling and inspiring sight to see. On Saturday, November 1, we held morning and afternoon sessions of the Osaka, Japan, area conference. We left that evening to fly home, stopping off in Hawaii for three hours for the purpose of setting apart several sealers for the Hawaii Temple.
On November 14, we installed Dr. Jeffrey R. Holland as the ninth president of the Brigham Young University, succeeding newly appointed Utah Supreme Court justice Dallin H. Oaks.
Three days later, the First Presidency traveled to Seattle, Washington, where we dedicated the new Seattle Temple at nearby Bellevue. Monday through Friday, November 17 to 21, thirteen dedicatory sessions were well attended. Over forty-three thousand members from the great Northwest attended the various sessions.
There followed a very busy period at home during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.
On Wednesday, February 11, 1981, Sister Kimball and I journeyed to the South Pacific. In Tahiti we broke ground for a new temple in Papeete and met with the missionaries. We also visited with the Deputy to the High Commissioner of Tahiti at the official government residence.
On Saturday, February 14, enroute to New Zealand, we stopped over in Rarotonga and held a meeting with the Saints in an airplane hangar at the airport. I am told it was the first time a President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has ever visited that island.
In New Zealand we held a meeting with several hundred Saints on the grounds of the Auckland Airport. We conducted meetings at the temple and the Church College of New Zealand and with the missionaries. On Wednesday, the eighteenth, we flew to Tonga, where we broke ground for the new temple in a beautiful coconut grove at Nuku'alofa. The king and queen of Tonga and many of the nobles of that kingdom were in attendance throughout the entire day's activities. Of the 247 missionaries we met with in Tonga, 235 are natives and 12 are from America.
On Thursday, the nineteenth, we proceeded to Samoa, where we broke ground in Apia for a temple in those lovely islands. Several thousand Saints sat out in the open during a heavy tropical rainstorm during the entire service. Present for this occasion were the Chief of State of Western Samoa, the Prime Minister, and several members of Parliament.
Early the next morning we had one of the loveliest experiences of our lives, as we visited the Church School of Western Samoa. As we entered the gymnasium, the largest building on the campus, we saw seventeen hundred children sitting cross-legged on the gymnasium floor, crowded in as tightly as little sardines in a can. They ranged from small four-and five-year-old kindergarten children in the front to teenaged high-school youngsters in the back of the hall. What a beautiful, thrilling sight they were as they sang "I Am a Child of God"! They were all dressed in their school uniforms in colors of blue and gold. With their beautiful dark hair and big brown eyes, they presented a picture of youth and beauty that was breathtaking. The tears came to our eyes quickly and without shame. At the close of my remarks, I announced to the students that in honor of the occasion I was declaring a holiday for the rest of the day. Judging by the sound of the applause, I think I may have become an instant hero-at least for that day. After the brief meeting, we left the hall with the haunting strains of the Samoan farewell song, "Tofa My Faleni," ringing in our ears and warming our hearts.
We flew to Hawaii that night, arriving the morning of Saturday, February 21. During the day we visited the BYU-Hawaii campus and the Polynesian Cultural Center. Sunday morning we attended the Oahu Stake conference, and then, in company with Elders Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, and Boyd K. Packer, we held a meeting in the Hawaii Temple. We then toured the newly remodeled visitors' center and there met with the missionaries. On Monday, February 23, 1981, we returned to Church headquarters.
After four days at home and the office, Sister Kimball and I left on Saturday, February 28, for Florida for a week-long series of meetings with the Saints and some business leaders. On Saturday, March 7, we broke ground for the new temple in Atlanta, Georgia. Ten thousand were present for this occasion, including the governor of Georgia and his wife, several legislators, and U.S. senators Jake Garn and Paula Hawkins. Immediately following that service, we flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The next morning, Sunday, March 8, we held a meeting with over twenty-six hundred members of the stake and mission on that island. We next visited the Dominican Republic and held a meeting at Santo Domingo on Monday. Two years ago there were only two families of members on that island, but at our meeting we had over fifteen hundred members present. We left Santo Domingo on Tuesday, March 10, and that night dedicated a new visitors' center on the Church's Deseret Ranch near Orlando, Florida.
On Thursday, we visited the Washington, D.C., Visitors' Center and then met with the Washington Temple presidency and set apart several sealers. The next morning, Friday, March 13, in company with Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, we visited with President Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office of the White House. We presented to him his genealogy on his mother's side. We then met with Mrs. Reagan. Both were very warm and gracious and very appreciative of the genealogical record.
Sister Kimball and I then traveled directly to Arizona, where on Saturday we attended the funeral of my sister, Alice Nelson, who had passed away during our absence. On Sunday, March 15, we returned home to prepare for this general conference.
This has been a busy but enjoyable and fruitful six months, during which we have traveled some fifty thousand miles by air. We are grateful to the Lord as he has blessed us, and we have observed the vitality and progress of the Church in many parts of the world. Wherever we have gone, we have been thrilled and humbled by the love and devotion of the members of the Church.
As we begin this conference this morning, I bring you love and greetings from the Saints and missionaries in the Orient, the South Pacific, and the Caribbean. I add my own love and greetings and leave my blessings with you.
I know that God lives and that His Son, Jesus Christ, lives. He is our Savior and our Redeemer and our Mediator with the Father. May He bless us all during this great conference, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder James E. Faust
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
"We thank thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us in these latter days."
This morning I desire to say something which hopefully might give some help and perhaps another focus to the minds of young people. I have never felt more keenly the need for both the aid of the divine Spirit and the understanding of those who hear. I humbly pray that I might not be misunderstood.
I should like to begin by relating a marvelous vision Joseph Smith the Prophet had concerning the Twelve Apostles in his day, which has profound significance for me. Heber C. Kimball recorded, "The following vision was manifested to him as near as I can recollect:
"He saw the Twelve going forth, and they appeared to be in a far distant land. After some time they unexpectedly met together, apparently in great tribulation, their clothes all ragged, and their knees and feet sore. They formed into a circle, and all stood with their eyes fixed upon the ground. The Savior appeared and stood in their midst and wept over them, and wanted to show Himself to them, but they did not discover Him."
A message that can be inferred from this is that, because the Twelve had suffered so much, had endured so greatly, and had so exhausted themselves in leading the battle of righteousness, they were bowed down and did not look up. Had they only looked up they might have beheld the Lord Jesus, who wanted them to see him, weeping over them, suffering with them, and standing in their midst.
Not many months ago we were in one of the oldest cities on earth. Some of the greatest wonders of the world are there; so are crime, squalor, poverty, and filth. Our kind hosts observed as we were making our way through the teeming masses-past the overloaded donkeys, the filth, the smells-that everything was beautiful in that city if you would raise your sights and only look a foot or more above the ground.
In recent times the price of oil, gold, and other precious minerals has greatly increased. These treasures are all obtained by looking down. They are useful and necessary, but they are tangible riches. What of the treasures that are to be found by raising our vision? What of the intangible riches which come from the pursuit of holiness? Stephen looked upward: "Being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God."
My heart and understanding go out to our young people. They have to cope with a darkness and moral fog as dense as many of us can ever remember. We live in a world where success seems largely measured by possessions. How the possessions may have been acquired often seems immaterial. Honesty, decency, chastity, and holiness are frequently downgraded as being of lesser worth than possessions. Are our young people enticed to look up or down?
The desire for profitable gain and popularity in the entertainment world has unmasked in the most appealing way all of the evils of the human race. The most revolting practices and perversions have been masqueraded and even urged upon our inexperienced young people by some seeking to seductively merchandise the evil side of human behavior. Consciences seem seared with a hot iron; spiritual cells seem closed. Ideals of emptiness and uselessness of life are fostered. Nobility of thought and purpose seems not to be sufficiently taught, encouraged, or valued.
The standard of the common thief, "What can we get away with?" has become the standard for many in the world rather than what our own integrity ought to demand that we do. What has happened to self-respect and personal integrity, which would not permit even entertaining the idea of doing cheap or small things? An example might be our relationship with the financial credit by which the world's commerce is carried on. Often we forget that those who extend credit to us are also extending trust and confidence in us. Our own integrity is involved. I recall my father speaking with profound respect of a man whom father as a lawyer had taken through bankruptcy. Given time, this man paid in full all of his creditors who had trusted him and extended confidence in him, even though he was legally relieved of paying the debts. Our own integrity is a substantial part of our individual worth.
How can Christian belief and morality translate more completely into Christian action? Does our commitment fall short of being a consecration? The doubting Thomas wanted to believe; he believed part way. It is my firm persuasion that building self-esteem sufficiently to forsake all evil requires a consecration to the saving principles and ordinances of the gospel under divine priesthood authority. It must be consecration to simple, basic Christian principles, including honesty to self and others, forgetting of self, integrity of thought and action. The principles of the restored gospel are so plain, so clear, so compassionate, so endowed with beauty, so graced with love unfeigned, as to be imprinted with the indisputable impress of the Savior himself.
There also needs to be a confrontation with and mastery of life's challenges, especially those that come with temptation. Instead of squarely and honestly meeting the problems of life, many negotiate their way through difficulties, rationalizing their departure from the great truths which bring happiness and justifying the leaving of their sacred promises and holy commitments for seemingly logical but fragile and unjustifiable reasons.
I cannot help wondering if we have not fallen short of the mark. Have we been measuring by standards that are too short and unworthy of those in the pursuit of holiness? Have we taken too much comfort in feeling that we have qualified through our attendance at meetings or through minimal involvement in a conscience-easing effort? Have our guidelines been a ceiling instead of a floor?
Upon returning from living in South America I was struck by the lack of self-esteem revealed in the manner by which so many people now clothe themselves in public. To attract attention or in the name of comfort and informality, many have sunk not only to immodesty but to slovenliness. Against their own self-interest, they present themselves to others in the worst possible way.
In forsaking the great principle of modesty, society has paid a price in the violation of a greater but related principle-that of chastity. The purveyors of the concept of irresponsible sexual relations that degrade and brutalize the participants have grossly masqueraded and completely missed the purpose of these divine gifts.
Chastity before marriage and faithfulness after marriage are cardinal ingredients for the full flowering of sacred love between husband and wife. Chastity nurtures and builds feelings of self-worth and indemnifies against the destruction of self-image.
One of the root social problems of our day concerns the lack of self-esteem.
A shallow self-image is not reinforced by always letting others establish our standards and by habitually succumbing to peer pressure. Young people too often depend upon someone else's image rather than their own.
Insecurity and lack of self-esteem may be related to lack of self-respect. Can we respect ourselves when we do things that we do not admire and may even condemn in others? Repenting of transgressions and forsaking of weaknesses represent, however, a great restorative salve for the strengthening of human worth and dignity.
Since virtue and faith too often do not readily trade in the marketplace, some may feel that they can live by whatever standards their whim or fancy suggest. In a value-free society-free of morals, free of standards-many also live free of feelings of self-worth, self-respect, and dignity. Far too many young people, and older ones, too, fail to realize, as the motto of the city of Nottingham, England, affirms: Vivet post funera virtus.
In the intellectual approach to human worth, the values of faith in God and virtuous behavior cannot be quantitatively proven or measured, and so faith and virtue are often rejected by many as worthless. This is a route destined to failure because it does not take into account the powerful importance of the subjective things we can know but not measure. For instance, I love my wife and family, and I feel their love for me. You cannot measure how deep our feelings of love are for each other, but that love is very real to us. Pain is also difficult to measure, but it is real. The same is true of faith in God. We can know of his existence without being able to quantitatively measure it. Paul states, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God."
What are the limits on commitment of the heart of those who pursue holiness? Fortunately, this is a matter for each to decide. We achieve perfection, however, in the doing of many things, and can be perfect in our intent to do all things.
In my opinion, it was not contemplated by the great Creator that man and womankind are intended to wallow in selfishness and self-gratification. After all, "in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" says the Psalmist.
"For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
"Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet."
What is the standard of holiness? The answer comes from the scriptures: "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, glorious in holiness?"
Like Stephen, those who pursue holiness see the glory of God. The blessings that shall come in the pursuit of holiness were in part described by the Lord:
"Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am."
As I began, I referred to the vision of Joseph the Prophet concerning the Twelve Apostles in his time. No one need assume that the Twelve who failed to see the Savior because they stood with their eyes fixed upon the ground had in any way failed in their labors. As a body they continued strong and steadfast in their ministry. Their discouragement was only temporary. Their labors were heroic; their acts were bold and courageous. Joseph the Prophet, at the conclusion of that vision, was privileged to see the completion of the work of the Twelve. Heber C. Kimball records: "He saw until they had accomplished their work, and arrived at the gate of the celestial city; there Father Adam stood and opened the gate to them, and as they entered he embraced them one by one and kissed them. He then led them to the throne of God, and then the Savior embraced each one of them and kissed them, and crowned each one of them in the presence of God. The impression this vision left on Brother Joseph's mind was of so acute a nature, that he never could refrain from weeping while rehearsing it."
The dignity of self is greatly enhanced by looking upward in the search for holiness. Like the giant trees, we should reach up for the light. The most important source of light we can come to know is the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is the source of inner strength and peace.
I have seen human dignity and self-worth expressed eloquently in the lives of the humblest of the humble, in the lives of the poor as well as in the lives of the formally educated and the affluent. The fruits of the search for holiness in their lives have been transparent, expressed through their inner dignity, their feelings of self-respect and personal worth. Shakespeare, speaking through Polonius, reminds us:
Much of our self-respect is built by our own hard work, our thrift, and by trying to be independent as far as possible.
May we all have a feeling of personal worth and dignity born of the knowledge that each of us is a child of God, and be strengthened by looking upwards in the pursuit of holiness. As we look up may we be worthy to receive the inspiration that comes constantly from God, which inspiration is sacred, real, and often very private.
I have a conviction of these matters from sacred inner whisperings. I know that Jesus lives and is the head of this church, which testimony I leave, in the name of the Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Jacob de Jager
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My dear brothers and sisters: Thirty-one years ago today, the fourth of April, 1950, I left Holland on a three-year company assignment to Southeast Asia.
This assignment enabled me to make extended trips to various remote islands in that part of the world to assist in the planning and development of rural electrification.
It also gave me a chance to see firsthand after World War II how the people in that part of the world were going through a rapid development.
In their homes simple oil lamps with coconut oil and a wick were replaced by electric lighting. With the coming of electricity to their islands, for many, night turned into day with new possibilities for individual study and recreation after sunset. To make this possible, power stations had to be built. High-voltage power lines and electrical substations had to be installed in order to carry electricity into every home.
I remember the happy looks on the faces and the sparkle in the eyes of the youngsters, but also the tears of gratitude in the eyes of the elderly people, when the mayor of their native village switched on the electric lighting system for the first time. Well-planned festivities followed with music, singing, and dancing from sunset till sunrise the next morning.
There truly was great joy among the people!
Twenty-six years later, again on the fourth of April, the Lord called me out of the world into his permanent service; and shortly thereafter, this time as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of the Church, I once more departed for Southeast Asia, but now to spread another light-the light of the gospel. And so, for numerous people, another remarkable change came into their lives.
The light to be spread was carried by a group of dedicated young men and women who had taken upon themselves to bring the light of the gospel into every home that they were allowed to enter. Their power stations were the mission headquarters in Southeast Asia, and their power lines were the lines of priesthood authority, without which the system could never function.
These missionaries also witnessed joy and gratitude when the first glimpses of eternal light were brought into the lives of their converts and when the new members learned to sing in their own language during family home evening, "There is beauty all around, when there's love at home."
Every time a new mission is opened up, branches of the Church are established, or stakes of Zion are organized, bright lights start to shine forth, bringing to mind the words of the hymn:
Brothers and sisters, is this spreading of the light to every nation not a miracle?
Is this charge to reach out to every household in order to bring light, love, and happiness to our fellowmen not a sacred obligation? Especially when we know that the Savior said, "Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations."
Who are "you all" now, on this very day, the fourth of April, 1981?
As far as I can determine from the missionary recommendations that are daily received in the Missionary Department, the majority are still the nineteen-year-old elders and the twenty-one-year-old sisters who, by a long-established tradition, come forward to serve as full-time missionaries.
There are also faithful older sisters, who make such outstanding missionaries wherever they are called to serve.
And finally, there are a limited number of married couples of retirement age. I say a limited number because there are many, many more healthy couples between the ages of sixty and seventy who could happily serve in the mission field.
As the work continues to expand into the many nations of the earth, there will be an increasing need for couples to serve as full-time missionaries. In addition to their basic assignment of teaching the gospel, they may be assigned to perform additional functions.
For instance, in missions where qualified leadership is not yet available, missionary couples may serve as leadership trainers.
We also have among the senior members of the Church retired office workers, bookkeepers, and even certified accountants. Couples with these qualifications may serve in the mission offices as mission secretaries, recorders, or financial secretaries. Moreover, there are among the mature couples those who have acquired a great expertise in genealogy and they can use their knowledge and experience, when specifically assigned to do so, to teach genealogical skills to members in wards and branches.
Furthermore, there are also possibilities for giving faithful service to build the kingdom by teaching the gospel in a visitors' center or in opening up the work in international areas outside the boundaries of existing missions.
However, there is still the mistaken idea among many couples that their missionary work would be proselyting only. I hope by what I have just said that they now have a better insight and will reconsider the possibility of service, especially when they hear that, contrary to the established policy for other callings in the kingdom, they can come forward and express their desire to go on a six-, twelve-, or eighteen-month mission.
But many say, "Elder de Jager, it is too hard to leave our grandchildren." Apparently, leaving their own children for a while seems no problem, but to leave little Billy and darling little Susie, oh, seems really difficult to them.
I have heard of truly great experiences of couples in the mission field.
Brother and Sister Ralph Lambert served their eighteen months' mission in the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission. While serving in a small branch they had a sister and her teenage son coming to church every Sunday. Although the father in this family was a member of record, he never came along.
Before his retirement in Oklahoma, he had lived in Utah, and as a young deacon he was so shy that he did not attend church because he was afraid to be asked to pray or to carry out some other assignment.
From time to time he met young missionaries who talked to him about the Church, but they were never able to bring him back into activity. However, Brother and Sister Lambert, being of the same age and having great maturity, were able to develop a warm relationship with him.
He started coming to church with his wife and son, and he was never pressured to do anything he did not feel like doing. After a while, he started to ask how much money was expected as a contribution to the branch budget. When this was explained to him in a loving way, he made his first contribution.
About a month later, when fast Sunday was approaching, he asked what the present procedure was for paying tithing. It was explained to him that it hadn't changed in the fifty years since he had lived in Utah! He then started paying this voluntary contribution to the kingdom.
Shortly thereafter, he said that he would accept any call that would be extended to him in that small branch. He was ordained a priest, and this enabled him to ordain his youngest son a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood.
He later became a counselor in the branch presidency, and last year he was ordained an elder and his whole family was sealed together in the Salt Lake Temple.
I testify that Brother and Sister Lambert, with thousands of faithful couples who have served in the past and those who are serving now, will be greatly blessed by our Heavenly Father and that they have gained a sound understanding of the true meaning of the scripture:
"And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!"
Finally, I would like to share with you one more interesting experience, which Brother and Sister Edwin Q. Cannon, Jr., had on their mission in West Africa.
The story concerns an outstanding black Latter-day Saint family by the name of Sampson-Davis, who reside in Accra, Ghana.
In 1963 Brother Sampson-Davis graduated with a degree in electronics from Oxford University in England and was hired by the Philips Electronics Company in Eindhoven, Holland. Sister Sampson-Davis came over from Africa to join her husband in that Dutch town, and one day she met the Mormon missionaries, received a Book of Mormon, and had the first missionary discussion in the boarding house where she was living.
I feel somewhat embarrassed, however, to tell you that the Dutch landlady with whom Sister Sampson-Davis boarded told her in no uncertain terms to have no further contact with those Mormons.
The Sampson-Davis family eventually went back to Ghana, and fifteen years later, in 1978, Sister Sampson-Davis came in contact with the Church again and faithfully started to attend the Sunday meetings. The family was taught the missionary discussions, gained a strong testimony; and Brother Ted Cannon baptized the mother, two sons, and a daughter in a swimming pool in Accra.
The oldest boy, Crosby Sampson-Davis, started to prepare himself for a mission, which resulted in his mission call earlier this year. Two weeks ago Elder Sampson-Davis left the Missionary Training Center to serve in the England Manchester Mission. Interestingly enough, the father joined the Church one month before his son left for his mission. So the whole family is now united in the faith!
Brother and Sister Cannon really have seen the fruits of their labors, and they have choice memories of the time they spent with our Heavenly Father's children in Africa.
I share the experiences of these two couples with you to let you feel the importance of missionary service for senior couples and the blessings that come to all who are engaged in the work of the Master.
I testify, as a convert to the Church, that no greater joy can come to men than being involved in carrying the gospel to all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.
I humbly pray that the missionary spirit will be with us all in the time ahead and that we may be an instrument in the hand of the Lord to build his kingdom here on earth prior to his glorious return, and do so in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Boyd K. Packer
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
The prophet Jacob foretold the destruction of a people because they were blind to ordinary things, "which blindness," he said, "came by looking beyond the mark."
We often seek for things we cannot seem to find when they are within easy reach-ordinary, obvious things.
I wish to talk about an ordinary word. I have tried for months-really tried-to find some way to hold this word up in such a way that you would be very impressed with what it means.
The word is marriage.
I have wished that I could set before you a finely carved chest, placing it where the light is just right. I would carefully unlatch it and reverently uncover the word-marriage.
Perhaps then you would see that it is priceless!
I cannot show it to you that way, so I will do the best I can using other ordinary words.
It is my purpose to endorse and to favor, to encourage and defend marriage.
Many regard it nowadays as being, at best, semiprecious, and by some it is thought to be worth nothing at all.
I have seen and heard, as you have seen and heard, the signals all about us, carefully orchestrated to convince us that marriage is out of date and in the way.
There is a practice, now quite prevalent, for unmarried couples to live together, a counterfeit of marriage. They suppose that they shall have all that marriage can offer without the obligations connected with it. They are wrong!
However much they hope to find in a relationship of that kind, they will lose more. Living together without marriage destroys something inside all who participate. Virtue, self-esteem, and refinement of character wither away.
Claiming that it will not happen does not prevent the loss; and these virtues, once lost, are not easily reclaimed.
To suppose that one day they may nonchalantly change their habits and immediately claim all that might have been theirs had they not made a mockery of marriage is to suppose something that will not be.
One day, when they come to themselves, they will reap disappointment.
One cannot degrade marriage without tarnishing other words as well, such words as boy, girl, manhood, womanhood, husband, wife, father, mother, baby, children, family, home.
Such words as unselfishness and sacrifice will then be tossed aside. Then self-respect will fade and love itself will not want to stay.
If you have been tempted to enter such a relationship or if you now live with another without marriage, leave! Withdraw from it! Run away from it! Do not continue with it! Or, if you can, make a marriage out of it.
Even a rickety marriage will serve good purpose as long as two people struggle to keep it from falling down around them.
And now a word of warning. One who destroys a marriage takes upon himself a very great responsibility indeed. Marriage is sacred!
To willfully destroy a marriage, either your own or that of another couple, is to offend our God. Such a thing will not be lightly considered in the judgments of the Almighty and in the eternal scheme of things will not easily be forgiven.
Do not threaten nor break up a marriage. Do not translate some disenchantment with your own marriage partner or an attraction for someone else into justification for any conduct that would destroy a marriage.
This monumental transgression frequently places heavy burdens upon little children. They do not understand the selfish yearnings of unhappy adults who are willing to buy their own satisfaction at the expense of the innocent.
God Himself decreed that the physical expression of love, that union of male and female which has power to generate life, is authorized only in marriage.
Marriage is the shelter where families are created. That society which puts low value on marriage sows the wind and, in time, will reap the whirlwind-and thereafter, unless they repent, bring upon themselves a holocaust!
Some think that every marriage must expect to end in unhappiness and divorce, with the hopes and dreams predestined to end in a broken, sad wreck of things.
Some marriages do bend, and some will break, but we must not, because of this, lose faith in marriage nor become afraid of it.
Broken marriages are not typical.
Remember that trouble attracts attention! We travel the highway with thousands of cars moving in either direction without paying much attention to any of them. But should an accident occur, we notice immediately.
If it happens again, we get the false impression that no one can go safely down the road.
One accident may make the front page, while a hundred million cars that safely pass are not regarded as worth mentioning.
Writers think that a happy, stable marriage does not have the dramatic appeal, the conflict worth featuring in a book or a play or a film. Therefore, we constantly hear about the ruined ones and we lose our perspective.
I believe in marriage. I believe it to be the ideal pattern for human living. I know it to be ordained of God. The restraints relating to it were designed to protect our happiness.
I do not know of any better time in all of the history of the world for a young couple who are of age and prepared and who are in love to think of marriage. There is no better time because it is your time.
I know that these are very troubled times. Troubles like we have now are very hard on marriages.
Do not lose faith in marriage. Not even if you have been through the unhappiness of a divorce and are surrounded with pieces of a marriage that has fallen apart.
If you have honored your vows and your partner did not do so, remember God is watching over us. One day, after all of the tomorrows have passed, there will be recompense. Those who have been moral and faithful to their covenants will be happy and those who have not will be otherwise.
Some marriages have broken up in spite of all that one partner could do to hold the marriage together. While there may be faults on both sides, I do not condemn the innocent one who suffers in spite of all that was desired and done to save the marriage.
And to you I say, do not lose faith in marriage itself. Do not let your disappointment leave you bitter or cynical or justify any conduct that is unworthy.
If you have had no opportunity for marriage or if you have lost your companion in death, keep your faith in marriage.
Some years ago an associate of mine lost his beloved wife. She died after a lingering illness, and he watched in helpless agony as the doctors withdrew all hope.
One day near the end she told him that when she was gone she wanted him to marry again and he was not to wait too long a time. He protested! The children were nearly grown and he would go the rest of the way alone.
She turned away and wept and said, "Have I been such a failure that after all our years together you would rather go unmarried? Have I been such a failure?"
In due time there came another, and their life together has reaffirmed his faith in marriage. And I have the feeling that his first beloved wife is deeply grateful to the second one, who filled the place that she could not keep.
Marriage is yet safe, with all its sweet fulfillment, with all its joy and love. In marriage all of the worthy yearnings of the human soul, all that is physical and emotional and spiritual, can be fulfilled.
Marriage is not without trials of many kinds. These tests forge virtue and strength. The tempering that comes in marriage and family life produces men and women who will someday be exalted.
God has ordained that life should have its beginning within the protecting shelter of marriage, conceived in a consummate expression of love and nurtured and fostered with that deeper love which is accompanied always by sacrifice.
Marriage offers fulfillment all the way through life-in youth and young love, the wedding and on the honeymoon, with the coming of little children and the nurturing of them. Then come the golden years when young ones leave the nest to build one of their own. The cycle then repeats itself, as God has decreed it should.
There is another dimension to marriage that we know of in the Church. It came by revelation. This glorious, supernal truth teaches us that marriage is meant to be eternal.
There are covenants we can make if we are willing, and bounds we can seal if we are worthy, that will keep marriage safe and intact beyond the veil of death.
The Lord has declared, "For behold, this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
The ultimate end of all activity in the Church is that a man and his wife and their children can be happy at home and that the family can continue through eternity. All Christian doctrine is formulated to protect the individual, the home, and the family.
These lines express something of the place of marriage in the eternal progress of man:
Eternal love, eternal marriage, eternal increase! This ideal, which is new to many, when thoughtfully considered, can keep a marriage strong and safe. No relationship has more potential to exalt a man and a woman than the marriage covenant. No obligation in society or in the Church supersedes it in importance.
I thank God for marriage. I thank God for temples. I thank God for the glorious sealing power, that power which transcends all that we have been given, through which our marriages may become eternal. May we be worthy of this sacred gift, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
My beloved brethren and sisters, I am sure we all realize that we are living in the dispensation of the fulness of times, which will culminate in the second coming of the Savior.
Among the predicted signs of his second coming was the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ, to the fulfillment of which we are all witnesses; another is to be the establishment of Zion in America; and a third is the prediction that the children of Israel will be restored to the lands of their inheritance.
Much interest in the fulfillment of this third prediction has been aroused recently by the dedication of the Orson Hyde Memorial Gardens in Jerusalem and the diplomatic maneuvering of the involved nations over the Holy Land. Against this background, it has been interesting to me, and I believe it will be interesting and informative to all of us, to consider what is written in the Book of Mormon concerning the restoration of the children of Israel to the lands of their inheritance and the second coming of the Savior.
Soon after Lehi's colony arrived in the promised land, Nephi, having written concerning Christ's then future birth, ministry, and crucifixion, continued:
"And as for those who are at Jerusalem, saith the prophet, they shall be scourged by all people, because they crucify the God of Israel, and turn their hearts aside, rejecting signs and wonders, and the power and glory of the God of Israel.
"And because they turn their hearts aside, saith the prophet, and have despised the Holy One of Israel, they shall wander in the flesh, and perish, and become a hiss and a byword, and be hated among all nations.
"Nevertheless, when that day cometh, saith the prophet, that they no more turn aside their hearts against the Holy One of Israel, then will he remember the covenants which he made to their fathers.
"Yea, then will he remember the isles of the sea; yea, and all the people who are of the house of Israel, will I gather in, saith the Lord, according to the words of the prophet Zenos, from the four quarters of the earth."
Nephi had earlier-before they crossed the ocean-spoken unto his brothers "concerning the restoration of the Jews in the latter days.
"And I did rehearse unto them," he said, "the words of Isaiah, who spake concerning the restoration of the Jews, or of the house of Israel; and after they were restored they should no more be confounded, neither should they be scattered again."
Some twenty-five years later, Nephi's brother Jacob, speaking concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, said "that the Lord should manifest himself unto them in the flesh; and after he should manifest himself they should scourge him and crucify him, according to the words of the angel who spake it unto me.
"And after they have hardened their hearts and stiffened their necks against the Holy One of Israel, behold, the judgments of the Holy One of Israel shall come upon them. And the day cometh that they shall be smitten and afflicted.
"Wherefore, after they are driven to and fro, for thus saith the angel, many shall be afflicted in the flesh, and shall not be suffered to perish, because of the prayers of the faithful; they shall be scattered, and smitten, and hated; nevertheless, the Lord will be merciful unto them, that when they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer, they shall be gathered together again to the lands of their inheritance."
Later Jacob, the brother of Nephi, added:
"And now, my beloved brethren, I have read these things that ye might know concerning the covenants of the Lord that he has covenanted with all the house of Israel-
"That he has spoken unto the Jews, by the mouth of his holy prophets, even from the beginning down, from generation to generation, until the time comes that they shall be restored to the true church and fold of God; when they shall be gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise."
"But behold, thus saith the Lord God: When the day cometh that they shall believe in me, that I am Christ, then have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh, upon the earth, unto the lands of their inheritance.
"And it shall come to pass that they shall be gathered in from their long dispersion, from the isles of the sea, and from the four parts of the earth; and the nations of the Gentiles shall be great in the eyes of me, saith God, in carrying them forth to the lands of their inheritance."
Near the end of his life, Nephi, foretelling the future history of the Jews, said that, following the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, "the Jews shall be scattered among all nations; yea, and also Babylon shall be destroyed; wherefore, the Jews shall be scattered by other nations.
"And after they have been scattered, and the Lord God hath scourged them by other nations for the space of many generations, yea, even down from generation to generation until they shall be persuaded to believe in Christ, the Son of God, and the atonement, which is infinite for all mankind-and when that day shall come that they shall believe in Christ, and worship the Father in his name, with pure hearts and clean hands, and look not forward any more for another Messiah, then, at that time, the day will come that it must needs be expedient that they should believe these things.
"And the Lord will set his hand again the second time to restore his people from their lost and fallen state."
In the twentieth chapter of 3 Nephi, the resurrected Jesus-speaking of our day when the gospel would be restored among the Gentiles as it has now been-said: "When they shall have received the fulness of my gospel, then if they shall harden their hearts against me
"I will remember the covenant which I have made with my people; and I have covenanted with them that I would gather them together in mine own due time, that I would give unto them again the land of their fathers for their inheritance, which is the land of Jerusalem, which is the promised land unto them forever, saith the Father.
"And it shall come to pass that the time cometh, when the fulness of my gospel shall be preached unto them;
"And they shall believe in me, that I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and shall pray unto the Father in my name.
"Then shall their watchmen lift up their voice, and with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye.
"Then will the Father gather them together again, and give unto them Jerusalem for the land of their inheritance.
"Then shall they break forth into joy-Sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Father hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, all these things shall surely come, even as the Father hath commanded me. Then shall this covenant which the Father hath covenanted with his people be fulfilled; and then shall Jerusalem be inhabited again with my people, and it shall be the land of their inheritance."
"Verily I say unto you," said the Savior to the Nephites, "I give unto you a sign, that ye may know the time when these things shall be about to take place.
" at that day, even when this gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people. Verily I say unto you, at that day shall the work of the Father commence among all the dispersed of my people, yea, even the tribes which have been lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem.
"Yea, the work shall commence among all the dispersed of my people, with the Father, to prepare the way whereby they may come unto me, that they may call on the Father in my name.
"Yea, and then shall the work commence, with the Father, among all nations, in preparing the way whereby his people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance."
Mormon, finishing his abridged account of Christ's ministry among the Nephites, said:
"And now behold, I say unto you that when the Lord shall see fit, in his wisdom, that these sayings shall come unto the Gentiles according to his word, then ye may know that the covenant which the Father hath made with the children of Israel, concerning their restoration to the lands of their inheritance, is already beginning to be fulfilled.
"And ye may know that the words of the Lord, which have been spoken by the holy prophets, shall all be fulfilled; and ye need not say that the Lord delays his coming unto the children of Israel.
"And ye need not imagine in your hearts that the words which have been spoken are vain, for behold, the Lord will remember his covenant which he hath made unto his people of the house of Israel.
"Yea, and ye need not any longer hiss, nor spurn, nor make game of the Jews, nor any of the remnant of the house of Israel; for behold, the Lord remembereth his covenant unto them, and he will do unto them according to that which he hath sworn."
Concluding the record which Moroni would deposit in the Hill Cumorah, which Joseph Smith would bring forth 1,400 years later, Mormon wrote:
"Now these things are written unto the remnant of the house of Jacob; and they are to be hid up unto the Lord that they may come forth in his own due time.
"And behold, they shall go unto the unbelieving of the Jews; and for this intent shall they go-that they may be persuaded that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God; that the Father may bring about, through his most Beloved, his great and eternal purpose, in restoring the Jews, or all the house of Israel, to the land of their inheritance, which the Lord their God hath given them, unto the fulfilling of his covenant."
These predictions by the Book of Mormon prophets make it perfectly clear that the restoration of the house of Israel to the lands of their inheritance will signal their acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Redeemer, to which I testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
In behalf of all, I should like to welcome Brother Angel Abrea, a great and faithful and devoted leader of the Church for many years in Argentina, whose influence has been felt not only there but throughout South America.
I think I should like to say a few words this afternoon about the recently discovered transcript of a blessing, reported to have been given January 17, 1844, by Joseph Smith to his eleven-year-old son. This has received much attention in the media of late. The document is evidently in the handwriting of Thomas Bullock, who served as clerk to the Prophet.
Our Historical Department secured it in pursuit of their practice of obtaining artifacts of many kinds related to our early history. We determined that we would give full publicity to the discovery, even though we were confident that critics, knowing little of the factual history of the Church, would seize upon it as suggesting a flaw in our line of authority.
Furthermore, and this is of significant importance, we recognized the wording of the document as a father's blessing, having great sentimental value for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, whose presidents have been lineal descendants of Joseph Smith. The First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve determined to offer it to the Reorganized Church.
Officers of that church responded with appreciation, and indicated that they would accept the document only by giving us in return another valuable artifact. An exchange was made on March 19th last.
I do not wish to open old discussions, but for those who may feel that the document casts a cloud on the principle of transfer of authority through the Council of the Twelve Apostles, I desire to review briefly a few facts concerning the document and the history of the period to which it is related, and then conclude with some observations that arise out of the circumstances.
First, it should be said that the document is a transcript of a blessing. It is not a record of ordination to an office. As a matter of fact, the recipient of the blessing, Joseph Smith III, himself testified in 1893, in the U.S. Circuit Court in Kansas City: "I did not state that I was ordained by my father: I did not make that statement. I was not ordained by my father as his successor: according to my understanding of the word ordain, I was not. I was blessed by him and designated, well in a sense chosen. "
It should be noted further that at various times Joseph Smith had indicated a number of men or groups of men who might possibly succeed him. These included his brother Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, his son Joseph III, even his yet unborn son David; and, most importantly, on a number of occasions, the Council of the Twelve Apostles.
Nor was it unusual for fathers to give their sons blessings of this kind. Orson Pratt, an Apostle, similarly blessed his son in a spirit of hopefulness that he would rise to leadership. Brigham Young and others similarly blessed their sons.
We in the Church recognize that the fulfillment of all blessings given under authority of the priesthood is conditioned upon two things: one, the worthiness and faithfulness of the recipient, and, two, the overriding will and wisdom of God.
As all students of our history know, we have maintained and followed the position that the keys and the authority of the priesthood, that authority without which there can be no true Church of Jesus Christ, were given to the Council of the Twelve Apostles in the very early days of the Church so that in the event of the death of the president the authority would remain and be passed on legally and properly for so long as the Church should continue.
For instance, in the great revelation on priesthood which we know as section 107 of the Doctrine and Covenants, which was received and recorded on March 28, 1835, the Lord spoke of the governance of his Church and said of the Twelve after speaking of the Presidency: "They form a quorum, equal in authority and power to" the presidency.
Two years later, on July 23, 1837, this principle was again affirmed through revelation: "For unto you, the Twelve, and those, the First Presidency, who are appointed with you to be your counselors and your leaders, is the power of this priesthood given, for the last days and for the last time."
Again on January 19, 1841, the Lord said through the Prophet Joseph: "I give unto you my servant Brigham Young to be a president over the Twelve traveling council;
"Which Twelve hold the keys to open up the authority of my kingdom upon the four corners of the earth, and after that to send my word to every creature."
The record of a special conference held in Nauvoo on August 16, 1841, states: "The time had come when the Twelve should be called upon to stand in their place next to the First Presidency, and assist to bear off the kingdom victorious to the nations.
"Motion seconded and carried that the conference approve of the instructions of President Smith, in relation to the Twelve, and that they proceed accordingly, to attend to the duties of their office."
It is abundantly clear that the Lord placed the Council of the Twelve, with Brigham Young as its president, next to the Prophet Joseph Smith and gave unto them the keys and the authority to advance the Church under the direction of the Prophet while he was alive, and to govern after his death. The revelations I have just read and the minutes of the Nauvoo meeting were recorded from three to nine years before the blessing of which we are speaking.
The winter of 1843–1844 was a season of great tension in Nauvoo. Enemies were plotting the destruction of the Church. During that winter, on a number of occasions, Joseph assembled the Twelve in the upper room of his brick store on Water Street in Nauvoo. Our archives contain a number of documents attesting to these meetings and what was done in them. I have time to quote from the record of only one who was present. There were many. Wrote he of Joseph Smith:
"This great and good man was led, before his death, to call the Twelve together, from time to time, and to instruct them in all things pertaining to the kingdom, ordinances, and government of God. He often observed that he was laying the foundation, but it would remain for the Twelve to complete the building. Said he, 'I know not why; but for some reason I am constrained to hasten my preparations, and to confer upon the Twelve all the ordinances, keys, covenants, endowments, and sealing ordinances of the priesthood for, said he, the Lord is about to lay the burden on your shoulders and let me rest awhile; and if they kill me the kingdom of God will roll on, as I have now finished the work which was laid upon me, by committing to you all things for the building up of the kingdom according to the heavenly vision, and the pattern shown me from heaven.'"
As you know, Joseph Smith was killed by the Carthage mob on June 27, 1844. On the following 8th of August a congregation of thousands assembled in Nauvoo. Sidney Rigdon, who had served as a counselor to Joseph Smith, spoke for an hour and a half, proposing that he be appointed guardian of the Church. There was no affirmative response. That afternoon Brigham Young spoke on behalf of the Apostles. Many present testified that he looked and sounded like the martyred Prophet. When, following his talk, a proposal was put that the Twelve lead the Church, having been given the keys by Joseph, the vote was overwhelmingly in favor.
Surely no one who is acquainted with the subsequent history can doubt the strength of that leadership. Work went forward on the temple and other projects. Then in February of 1846 the unparalleled movement began from Nauvoo on the Mississippi to Winter Quarters on the Missouri, and subsequently to this valley of the Great Salt Lake. So great was the faith of the tens of thousands involved, so strong their testimony, that many gave their lives rather than falter. Where could one find a more powerful witness for the validity of their leadership than in the actions of those who left their homes in Nauvoo to gather here in the valleys of the mountains in response to the call of the Twelve with Brigham Young at their head and subsequently as president of the Church?
Take for instance this man, Thomas Bullock, whose hand evidently recorded the document we are discussing. If he wrote that blessing, he knew about it. It was reportedly found among papers left at his death.
Thomas Bullock had joined the Church in England in November 1841, and had emigrated to Nauvoo in 1843. He served as a clerk to Joseph Smith. He and his family were among the last group of Saints to leave Nauvoo in the fall of 1846. While desperately ill he was faced by the mob with rifles and bayonets at point-blank range and ordered to leave the city within twenty minutes or be shot. He challenged the men to shoot, suggesting that he would probably die soon anyway. The captain responded, "If you will renounce Mormonism you may stay here, and we will protect you." Brother Bullock replied that he had legal ownership of his home, that he had committed no crime. "But," said he, "I am a Mormon, and if I live, I shall follow the Twelve." He was one of the sick and dying carried from that place, whose life, along with those of others of his company, was preserved by the miraculous coming of flocks of quail into their Iowa camp.
When the Saints left Winter Quarters in the early spring of 1847, he was chosen as clerk of the first company. He kept a valuable record of that long trek. He made a second trip East and again back to the valley in 1848. He served a mission to England from 1856 to 1858.
The question naturally follows: Would he have been willing to pay so heavy a price for his membership in the Church and to have suffered so much to advance its cause as a missionary at the call of Brigham Young if he had any doubt that President Young was the proper leader of the Church and that this right belonged to another according to a blessing which he had in his possession and which he had written with his own pen?
Brethren and sisters, from the tragedy of that 27th of June, 1844, when Joseph Smith sealed his testimony with his blood, from the confirmation that came into the hearts of the thousands assembled in Nauvoo on that subsequent August 8th, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has gone steadily forward and has never taken a backward step. That same authority which Joseph held, those same keys and powers which were the very essence of his divinely given right to preside, were by him conferred upon the Twelve Apostles with Brigham Young at their head. Every president of the Church since then has come to that most high and sacred office out of the Council of the Twelve. Each of these men has been blessed with the spirit and power of revelation from on high. There has been an unbroken chain from Joseph Smith, Jr., to Spencer W. Kimball. Of that I bear solemn witness and testimony before you this day. This Church is built upon the sure word of prophecy and revelation-built, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone."
We were glad to see our brethren of the Reorganized Church get the document which contains a father's blessing given upon the head of a son he loved. It is a precious artifact, with great sentimental value for the family of Joseph Smith. It does not seriously raise any question concerning the validity of succession in the presidency through the Council of the Twelve Apostles as that body was established by the Prophet and as it has functioned under the revelations of God. Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
A few weeks ago, just before 6:00 A.M., my wife and I boarded a taxi to begin the last lap of our trip to Salt Lake City from Australia. Our driver, who had been on duty since 3:00 A.M., was anxious to talk with us, his first passengers of the day. We learned his parents were born just outside of Mexico City. They moved to Chicago, where he was born, and then moved to New Mexico. Twenty years earlier our friend had come for a short visit to San Francisco and had never left. During our trip to the airport, this man related a few incidents from which some great truths were reemphasized.
His parents, he told us, had remained in New Mexico, but liked to visit him and his brother whenever they could afford it because they loved being with their children and grandchildren. In New Mexico his mother's health was rather poor, but whenever she was in San Francisco, she seemed to feel much better. This discerning son had said to his brother, "I know just exactly what mother needs."
He said, "I found a large truck. My brother and I drove to New Mexico, loaded our parents and all their possessions into the truck, and brought them to live near those who loved them most. Mother's health improved noticeably." Then he added, "You know, love is very important if it is done right."
The second incident related by this humble but wise man was also significant. He said, "I teach all my children to work. I want them to have schooling, but they must learn to work to get it. I just finished helping my sixteen-year-old son get a part-time job at a bank. While he is going to school, he only works two hours a day, but he is learning to work. He knows I love him because I do my part, too. Due to the uncertainty of my driving hours, I can't always take him to work, but I'm always there to bring him home. He looks forward to our ride together, and so do I."
One other important point was made by this unusual taxi operator. He told us that some of his unmarried friends who are also taxi drivers are often out of money. They come to him to borrow. He indicated that he is generally able to help them over tight money spots. When his companions asked how he is able to support his family on his salary when they can't even keep themselves, he said, "I tell them I don't waste money at the races or on liquor or tobacco. My wife fixes our meals at home, and we don't have to pay for expensive restaurant food." He smiled when he added, "We do our partying with our family." This man's objectives are family-oriented, and he has learned the folly of serving the gambling, drinking, and momentary expensive habits.
A happy man, this driver; he has realized through experience important areas of love. He knows that nurturing love is healing; it is teaching. It requires sacrifice, and that which we love will be that to which we give our allegiance. He had shared some basic principles of love in action that were potent. Frankly, we were enjoying his comments so much we could have wished the airport terminal were another half an hour away.
This taxi driver knew where to place his love. We, too, must choose carefully the areas in which we serve, because where we serve, there will be our love. During our lifetime, areas of love must be put in proper perspective.
In childhood we anxiously strive to ride that bicycle, to skate, to ski, to learn the laws of balance. Then our love of wheels and speed and balance may become one of the joys of life. As we mature and serve and sacrifice for other interests, new loves develop. A farmer grows to love his land; a scholar his books; a businessman his company. We have all witnessed the love of parents for their children, the love of a bishop for members of his ward, the love of a young man for his new car, the love an engaged young lady has for a ring just received from someone very special.
Equally apparent in the world today is the love of that which is evil. We may jeopardize our future by loving and sacrificing for that which is not conducive to our health or our progress.
Many today are caught up in their love for worldly goods which they think will bring them fame, fortune, and popularity. They, too, reap the rewards of loving incorrectly. In these cases also, that which they serve they will learn to love. What we learn to love can make or break our lives.
Love of money, drugs, and alcohol can turn men into thieves, murderers, and derelicts. First they love the effects of those evil things; then they sacrifice all-life, health, and liberty-for that which they thought were treasures. Love of the sensual, drugs, and lies grows as we serve in these appealing areas offered by Satan. Love bonds become strong and intense in proportion to our continuing service. A man who learns to love a lie serves dishonesty all his life. In fact, a drug addict can usually be cured more quickly than a liar.
One of the greatest accomplishments of Satan in these last days is his success in turning men's affection towards the destructive, the fleeting, or the worldly. Rather than planning for that which is best for all, the world is becoming increasingly "me-centered." On every hand we have many group leaders saying, "We have a right." "We demand." Many young people believe that love has "rights" one can demand of a loved one. For example, a young man often says, "If you love me, you will let me " He would take what he supposes are his rights rather than serving the higher standards of morality. Such a request does not bespeak love.
Day-to-day acts of service, whether for good or evil, may not seem important, but they are building cords of love that become so strong they can seldom be broken. Ours is to place our areas of love in proper perspective. Meaningful love always works for our eternal progress and not against it.
One who loves has and feels responsibility. Paul in 1 Corinthians says love thinketh no evil, is not self-seeking, is long-suffering, and is kind. If we look at love between two who are preparing for temple marriage, we see the elements of sacrifice and of serving each other's best interests, not a shortsighted "me" interest. True love and happiness in courtship and marriage are based upon honesty, self-respect, sacrifice, consideration, courtesy, kindness, and placing "we" ahead of "me." Those who would have us forfeit virtue and chastity to prove our love in sexual participation out of wedlock are neither friends nor eternally family-oriented. To classify them as selfish and unwise is not too severe. Those who serve the flesh will never know the love and fruits of purity.
A new convert to the Church recently shared this story. "I was in and out of enforced confinement most of my teen years. It wasn't so bad being there because the food was pretty good, and we were treated all right. But it did get boring, so when anyone had any reading material, funny books, magazines, or anything, we would trade our food for a chance to borrow those items. One day I saw a fellow with a nice, thick book. I knew it would take a long time to read, so I offered him my pork chops, my potatoes, and all my main course food items for a week. He accepted my offer and loaned me the book. As I read it, I knew I was reading something very special and very true. The book for which I had sacrificed my food was titled the Book of Mormon. When I had a chance, I found the missionaries, changed my habits, and am now finding a new way of life. I love that book for which I traded my food."
Here was an unusual but worthwhile sacrifice with rewarding results. This convert indicated that the more time he spends with this book, the greater his love becomes for the truths he is finding between its covers.
Love for one's family is not the love of a martyr. Think back about the practical sermon of our taxi driver. "I teach my children to work, but I let them know I care. I do my part, too." Giving our time, the listening ear, the understanding heart, and the unconditional love, even opening doors of opportunity at times are some ways to serve those we love. But if we deprive family members of opportunities to learn to work, if we teach them to avoid or escape the responsibilities for their own actions, if we use them to further our own ambitions, then we do not serve them well or love them prudently.
Give a child an opportunity to work and contribute in the home, and his love of family will increase. As he is encouraged to give time and sacrifice to develop his talents-whether they be academic, music, drama, sports, leadership, or whatever-he will develop a love for that which brings him success. Children will love those talents or possessions to which we encourage them to give time and effort.
As adults, if our top priorities are constantly directed toward the acquisition of more and better worldly goods, it will not take long to increase our love in those directions. The purchase of a larger house or a nicer car or a more expensive boat may cause us to sacrifice our resources and develop an unwise love for these symbols of success and pleasure. We learn to love that which we serve, and we serve that which we love.
How can we decrease our love for things not for our best good? We must examine our lives, see what services we are rendering and what sacrifices are being made, and then stop the expenditure of time and effort in these directions. If this can be managed, then that love will wither and die. Our love should be channeled into sources that are eternally oriented. Our neighbors and families will respond to our love if we will but follow through with sustaining support and self-sharing. True love is as eternal as life itself. Some callings and assignments in the Church may seem insignificant and unimportant at the time, but with each willingly fulfilled assignment, love of the Lord will grow. We learn to love God as we serve and know Him.
How can we help a new convert to learn to love the gospel? By finding ways for him to serve and sacrifice. We must constantly emphasize the truth that we love that to which we give time, whether it be the gospel, God, or gold. Often we hear expressions of love for the scriptures, including Jesus' teachings. Those who study, practice, and apply the truths not only know them best, but are fortified to use them for guidance all along life's paths. The man who most appreciated the opportunity of tithe payment is he who experiences the joys and blessings that come through sacrifice, and obedience to that law. Our appreciation and love of the gospel and its teachings will always be in proportion to our service and commitment to the gospel.
The greatest example of love available to all of us is, of course, found in the scripture from John: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son." By the greatest of all acts of love and by this supreme sacrifice, God set the pattern. He demonstrated to us that His love was unconditional and sufficient to encircle every person.
While Jesus was on earth, He taught us ways to use love correctly. We recall the situation when the scribes and Pharisees brought before the Savior a woman taken in adultery. Their purpose was not to show love for either the woman or the Savior, but to embarrass and trick Jesus. They quoted the Law of Moses which said, "Such should be stoned," and asked of the Master, "What sayest thou?" The accusers walked away one by one when Jesus encouraged the one without sin to cast the first stone. We recall that Jesus asked of the woman, "Where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?" She answered "No man, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more."
Jesus did not condone adultery; there is no doubt about His attitude toward proper moral conduct. He chose to teach with love-to show the scribes and Pharisees the need of serving the individual for her best good and to show the destructive forces of trickery and embarrassment.
Jesus demonstrated to us that under all circumstances there is a proper way to show love.
Perhaps our taxi driver has learned to apply the same Christian principle in his life when he wisely said, "You know, love is very important if it is done right." The Savior's conduct would entitle all of us to conclude also that love is right when it is channeled to proper areas and given the right priorities in our lives.
We live in a complex world. There are many forces calling out, "Love me." A sure way to set our guidelines for that which we choose to serve and learn to love is to follow the admonition of Joshua: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Let us look to our own lives. We serve that which we love. If we sacrifice and give our love for that which our Father in Heaven asks of us, it will help us set our footsteps upon the path of eternal life. Again I conclude, what we serve we learn to love, and what we love takes our time, and what takes our time is what we love.
May God help us to love the right, love the truth, and love areas of service that are rewarding and eternal, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Loren C. Dunn
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I have been inspired, as I know you have, with the singing of this lovely choir, and I think especially of their song at the beginning of this meeting, "True to the Faith." It is faith that I would like to speak about this afternoon.
We have been referred to as a believing people. Certainly individual faith is the foundation stone of the gospel and the quality which is most important to us as individuals.
Joseph Smith said, "Faith is the assurance which men have of the existence of things which they have not seen, and the principle of action in all intelligent beings. is the first great governing principle."
And Jacob teaches that the Lord commands all men that they must have "perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the Kingdom of God."
As a principle of power and of action, and as the key to our salvation, our individual faith, then, becomes of absolute importance to us.
Paul admonished us to "be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."
"If ye can no more than desire to believe," said Alma, "let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words."
Moroni says, "Dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."
There are many steps a person can take to develop the gift and power of faith. In the next few minutes I would like to suggest six of these steps.
Number one: Faith is the ability to recognize the Lord as all-powerful and the giver of all blessings.
As King Benjamin put it:
"Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all things which the Lord can comprehend."
Sometimes we compartmentalize. We pray about one thing and worry about something else. We seem to limit the ability of the Lord to help us in every aspect of our lives.
John A. Widtsoe tells us the following:
"For several years, under a Federal grant with my staff of workers we had gathered thousands of data in the field of soil moisture; but I could not extract any general law running through them. I gave up at last. My wife and I went to the temple that day to forget the failure. In the third endowment room, out of the unseen, came the solution, which has long since gone into print."
Faith, then, is the realization that the Lord can help us with all things.
Number two: Faith is the ability to do what we are prompted to do, and when we are prompted to do it.
A few years ago when we were presiding over the Sydney Mission, I was earnestly seeking a blessing from the Lord. The mission had done well but was pausing on a plateau, and we needed to move ahead once again.
On one particular day I was fasting and praying that the Lord would lead us to a new level of achievement. In the midst of my prayers came the clear impression to seek out my son and give him a blessing. I followed the prompting and found my son, whom I am close to, in another part of the house, attending to his high school studies.
I said, "How are things going?"
He answered, in typical teenage fashion, "Why?"
Not knowing what else to say, I asked, "Do you want a blessing?"
He looked at me in stunned silence for a few seconds and then said, "Yes."
The inspiration that followed from that blessing proved to be of great importance to both my son and me. It was an experience that neither of us will forget.
Yet this would have been lost had I stopped to question why the Lord was turning me to my first responsibility, my family, when I was seeking a blessing for the mission.
Number three: Faith is the ability to live the laws of God that control the blessings we are in need of. While we should not keep the commandments just to receive blessings, nevertheless, the blessings are there.
Harold B. Lee tells the experience of praying very hard for a material blessing he needed badly. He states that one day while he was praying for this blessing, he remembered that he had recently received some income that he had not yet tithed. It was as if, he said, the accusing voice of the Lord was saying: You want a blessing from me but you have not been obedient to the laws upon which such blessings are based.
He said that he went and paid the tithing on that income, and then he again sought that particular blessing of the Lord.
Number four: Faith is the ability to act "as if."
In his teachings, Paul said:
"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen prepared an ark to the saving of his house."
President Kimball gives us this insight to Noah and the ark:
"As yet there was no evidence of rain and flood. His warnings were considered irrational. How foolish to build an ark on dry ground with the sun shining and life moving forward as usual! But time ran out. The floods came. The disobedient were drowned. The miracle of the ark followed the faith manifested in its building."
Many years ago during the dark days of World War II, Elvon W. Orme, the president of the Australia Mission was invited to a faithful widow's house for Sunday dinner. Rationing had taken its toll, and many of the good foods had long since disappeared from the shelves of the local stores.
When the president arrived, he was shocked to find a table filled with foods that were in short supply and had not been seen for months.
"I can't eat this," he said, almost embarrassed that he was taking it out of the mouth of a widow.
"I'm afraid you'll have to," she said. "You see, I listened to the Brethren years ago and put in my year's supply, and this is the only kind of food I have."
She showed the faith to act "as if" by storing food, and the faith produced a miracle in the time of need.
I wonder how many Saints will be able to withstand the disaster of their own personal flood by showing faith in the advice of modern prophets and building an ark of family preparedness.
Number five: Faith is the ability to be charitable and to believe in people.
The Savior of the world is the foremost example of this love. After having been rejected and despised, he asked his Father to forgive those who crucified him because "they know not what they do."
Joseph Smith is another example. After living a life filled with trials and betrayals, he said as he was going to Carthage:
"I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I have a conscience void of offense toward all men."
I knew a man once whom I respected very much and who had this quality. On one occasion, a beggar came from out of town and appeared at his door and asked for money. My friend said, "I have an old barn that needs painting. If you want to paint it, I'll pay you for it." They went out to look at the barn, and then the man was sent to England's paint store and arrangements were made for him to pick up the paint he needed.
The barn was painted, and the man was paid and left town. Shortly after, Mr. England called my friend and said that the man had picked up far more paint than was needed to paint the barn. In short, my friend had been taken.
Yet, he took the opportunity to teach his sons a lesson.
"Had I known what he did, I would have stopped him," he said. "But we have our painted barn, and the painter, whatever his problems, will always know that there was someone willing to believe in him."
Faith cannot be nourished in a heart that has been made hard by continued cynicism, skepticism, and unforgiveness.
A person who cannot see the good in people not only destroys his own faith, but also becomes a basically unhappy person.
Number six: Faith is the ability to allow ourselves to be guided by the priesthood.
Paul teaches us this important truth:
"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." And here he tells us why these priesthood leaders have been given to the Saints: "till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."
Priesthood leaders, all leaders who have been called by revelation under the hands of the priesthood, have been given to us so we can come to a unity of the faith, to the end that we might know the Savior and have his image in our countenance and become like him, "that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world."
Years ago, President Joseph Fielding Smith, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, attended a stake conference where a relatively new stake president had been called. A man repeatedly came up to President Smith and asked him for counsel concerning a personal matter. Finally, President Smith said he would see the man, provided the new stake president could be there. As the man unfolded his situation, the stake president was prompted with what the person needed to do. Yet President Smith listened to the brother and surprised everyone by saying, "I have no counsel for you." The man was surprised, and he left. After he had gone, President Smith turned to the stake president and said, "I knew how to counsel that man, but I was also prompted to know that he would go against the counsel. So rather than condemn him for going against the counsel of the priesthood, I told him nothing."
From this we learn that it is not enough to seek the direction of those whom God has called to lead us-but we must come with a willingness to follow the counsel of inspired leaders in order to develop our faith.
Latter-day Saints need to believe. They need to take every opportunity to develop faith, both in their own lives and in the lives of others.
Faith is a part of our heritage. Those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ are the blood of Israel, and characteristic of the house of Israel is the ability to believe. Some have referred to it as "believing blood."
My faith is both a beacon and a foundation stone. It is born of the Spirit and enriched by a multitude of prayers and promptings. It lifts my soul upwards. It opens my heart to peace and joy. It nourishes and reaffirms those things that I fully know. My faith is such that I know God lives. I know he lives and Jesus is the Christ and Joseph Smith was a true prophet and we sit in the midst of apostles and prophets today.
May the Lord bless us with faith as we go forward in our lives, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Angel Abrea
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
A few days ago, when I received a phone call at the mission home in Rosario, Argentina, and President Kimball extended to me this calling, Sister Abrea and I were not only touched emotionally, but also overwhelmed by the tremendous responsibility. A feeling and a word immediately filled me. The feeling, gratitude; the word, gracias-thank you.
Thank you to those two lady missionaries who, almost thirty-eight years ago, arrived at my door and brought the good news of the gospel. Thank you to my dear mother, who took me to Primary, to each meeting of the Church, with whom I read for the first time the Book of Mormon, and who even now, by means of her activity and faithful life in the Church, continues to set for me an example worth emulating.
Thank you to my father, who I know has accepted the word of the gospel and baptism beyond the veil, who, when I was a youth of eleven years, sat with me at my bed one Sunday morning and said to me, "Angel, if you are going to be a member of the Church, you will always have to comply with everything that it asks of you. You have accepted a commitment, and you should honor it."
Thank you to my beloved wife, who has helped and sustained me, always full of faith and love for the gospel, a constant inspiration in my life.
Thank you for my three daughters, who, because of their love and dedication to the Church, are a pride, joy, and happiness in my life.
Thank you to my leaders and teachers, who, many times under unfavorable circumstances, have done their part. Thank you to the hundreds of missionaries who have made possible the development of the Church in the countries of South America. And especially thank you to the parents of those missionaries who have sent their sons and daughters to unknown countries, perhaps with fear and anxiety, but with the surety that they would be doing what the Lord required at the time.
And finally, thank you, Father, for my testimony, for knowing without the slightest doubt that my Father in Heaven sent his Only Begotten Son in order to bring about the great work of redemption. Thank you, too, for the knowledge that Christ was resurrected and that he lives. Thank you for knowing that Joseph Smith received a divine mission to fulfill, that he carried it out, and that by his mission we arrived at the true knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you because I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true and is the kingdom of God upon the earth and that it is presided over and directed by a modern prophet, President Kimball, who has been a continuous influence in my life, ever since the years of my early youth.
For this testimony, which is my surety, my rock, my sustenance, which I have received by the mediation of the Holy Ghost, I give infinite thanks, and I place all my talents, time, efforts, and all that I possess to the work to which I have been called. That would be my way to express in part my thanks. Gracias. I say these things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Theodore M. Burton
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
In our church we often speak of light and truth, but just what do these words mean? In my earlier years as a scientist, I was interested in the concept of absolute zero, where, theoretically, there is a complete absence of thermal energy. Such a degree of coldness is difficult to comprehend. However, we all know how uncomfortable we feel when the temperature drops toward freezing. Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius and freezes at 0 degrees Celsius, but absolute zero is about 273 degrees Celsius below freezing. Such temperatures are approached in outer space.
When I was a young boy, I went with my father to inspect a mine in Nevada. We each had flashlights, but took no extra batteries with us, for we did not expect to be in the mine very long. But the tunnel was longer, colder, and deeper than we anticipated. Before we got to the end of the mine, where the mineral was, father told me to turn off my flashlight to save my batteries. By the time father had finished inspecting the mine, his flashlight began to dim, and he suggested we had better turn back. Before long his flashlight gave out completely, and I can still remember-until I again turned on my light-the panic I felt to be in such cold and utter blackness. Although my own batteries gave out before we reached the mine entrance, we were by then guided by the dim light coming from the mouth of the tunnel. How good it felt to see the light increase as we made our way back to the entrance and found ourselves in warm, brilliant sunlight.
I have since wondered how anyone could knowingly prefer to live where it is dark and cold. How could anybody willingly prefer darkness and misery over light and warmth? Yet darkness, cold, and misery will be the lot of those who willingly and knowingly reject the Lord. John wrote, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."
I would like to speak about God's realm of light in contrast to the dark realm of Satan. Those who follow Satan will be cast into outer darkness, "where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth." How terrible to live in such a place of darkness and cold. It is entirely different from what we usually think of as "burning in hell." That burning is the lasting regret one feels who has chosen the darkness of Satan in preference to the light of Christ.
Through modern revelation we have been taught that "the glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth." Such light and truth forsake the evil one.
We have been advised that if our eye be single to the glory of God, our whole body shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in us, for a body which is filled with God's light will be able to comprehend all things.
We further read that the light of God "shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not; nevertheless, the day shall come when you shall comprehend even God, being quickened in him and by him.
"Then shall ye know that ye have seen me, that I am, and that I am the true light that is in you, and that you are in me; otherwise ye could not abound."
There is great promise in these words for those who seek the light of truth.
We need not think that the light of God is limited only to the things of the Spirit. We are taught that "the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings;
"Which light precedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space-
"The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things."
God's light includes the physical light we see, which makes us feel so warm and comfortable. God's light is also the power to understand and comprehend all things. In other words, all kinds of light are related to intelligence and truth.
This is substantiated by modern revelation, which teaches us more about Jesus Christ, who is "he that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth;
"Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made.
"As also he is in the moon, and is the light of the moon, and the power thereof by which it was made;
"As also the light of the stars, and the power thereof by which they were made;
"And the earth also, and the power thereof, even the earth upon which you stand."
The light of Christ therefore includes not only spiritual light but also physical light, and is a key to understanding that form of energy which is represented by the light we see all around us.
Satan is that wicked one who comes and takes away light and truth from the children of men through their disobedience and because of the traditions of their fathers. But the Lord has commanded us to bring up our children in light and truth. The opposite of light is darkness, and the opposite of truth is falsehood.
The admonition of the prophet Moroni becomes important for us to understand as he tells us to take heed "that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil.
"For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.
"For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
"But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him."
The spirit within man is eternal, whereas his present body is mortal or temporal. Therefore, the spirit is more powerful than the body and is able to control the body. Sometimes we think ourselves sick. There are also times when we can think ourselves well. But there is no need to let the body and bodily appetites control our actions. The spirit within us is more powerful than the body, and we can use that spirit to commit ourselves to righteous actions. We can control the body and its bodily appetites. It is fallacious to say that we were created with propensities and appetites we cannot control. It is simply not true that people are born with such powerful appetites and passions that they are powerless to control them. God would not be a righteous God if man were created with drives he could not control.
I admit that some people have greater drives and appetites than others, but I say that a righteous God has given us minds and wills by means of which, if we desire, we can control and limit those passions and appetites. Satan has no control over us unless we give him that control.
I admit that except for the Savior no person alone can completely harness his appetites and passions. I do say, however, that with the help of God we can all learn to control those appetites and passions. As we practice righteousness and approach ever closer to God, the easier it becomes to resist temptation and to live in accordance with that light and truth which emanates from Jesus Christ.
I have been thinking more and more about a scripture which I am just beginning to understand. Let me read it: "Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created.
"Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural nor temporal, neither carnal nor sensual."
As I begin to understand this scripture, my whole concept of physical existence and these physical bodies is changing.
Take the payment of tithes and offerings as an example. Is anything apparently more temporal than money, or any other offering that we can bring from the earth? Yet since that is a law of God, there must be a spiritual basis for it or eternal reason behind this payment of tithes and offerings. When God asked us to prove him to see if he will not open the windows of heaven to us, what was he referring to? Was he referring only to the blessings of this earth and the promises of temporal rewards which come to us if we keep this law? Or was he referring to something spiritual, of an eternal nature, which I believe is the revelation of truth and wisdom, which can come to us from that opened window whereby we can communicate with God and know all things?
In giving us the Word of Wisdom, was God referring only to the temporal blessings of health and endurance which come to us through obedience to that law? God referred also to the "hidden treasures" of knowledge, which, in my opinion, constitute an eternal treasure, which if used will bring us back into the warmth and light of God. Those who sit in outer darkness, in the cold and misery of that existence, can never know such comfort.
Let me come back, then, to absolute zero, where, theoretically, there is no heat at all. It appears to me that Satan and those who follow him are on the road to losing whatever degree of light and truth they have and are approaching a similar limit of darkness and cold where all joy and happiness cease.
To summarize then, light and truth is, simply, pure intelligence.
Now, there are those who believe that this is just another church. There are even some members within the Church who regard the restored gospel as just another religious philosophy. As one of the especial witnesses, I testify to you in all earnestness that this Church was divinely founded. It is not just another church. It is the Church of Jesus Christ. The gospel doctrine it teaches is the divine word of God. It is light. It is truth. To ignore it or treat it as just another religious philosophy is one of the greatest mistakes a person can make. This doctrine I bear to you is the light and truth I have received to strengthen my own witness, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder LeGrand Richards
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I have had the privilege of filling four missions for this church and that has provided me an opportunity to compare the teachings of this church, as we have received them through the restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith, with the teachings of many other churches. My, how grateful I am to be a member of this church.
Now, just to mention one or two teachings. Just think what we learn from the visit of the Father and the Son to the Prophet Joseph-a realization that the Father and the Son are two separate individuals and that they are real personages like Jesus was when he came forth from the tomb. There wasn't a church in the world that believed in that kind of God at the time the Prophet Joseph received that wonderful vision.
Then we learn that marriage can be eternal, that this is the plan of the Lord. How grateful I am for this principle, because it gives me the assurance that someday I will be reunited with that sweet companion of mine who has already preceded me into the eternal worlds. As I have said before, I would just as soon believe that death was a complete annihilation of both body and spirit as to think that I had to live on throughout the eternities that are to come without a continuation of the love ties that bind me and my wife together with the wonderful family that the Lord has given to us.
One of the other great truths that we learn through the Restoration is the fact that infants should not be baptized. The idea that young children need baptism is a mistake of men. That isn't to be found anywhere in the Lord's teachings, for Jesus took little children in his arms and blessed them.
When I have discussed some of our beautiful philosophies with people of other churches, many of them have said, "We could accept your teachings, but we can't believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet." I have thought a lot about that. I suppose that it would be almost impossible to believe that God was naive enough to choose a fourteen-year-old boy to usher in the dispensation of the fulness of times, as Paul said, in which dispensation he would "gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth."
That opens the door for the consideration of another beautiful principle, and that is the principle of the premortal existence of spirits, that we are literally the children of God, the Eternal Father, that we lived with him before we came here upon this earth.
The Apostle Paul said that the Lord "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." And he said: "We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" I like the thought that he is my father. When Jesus prayed, he didn't pray, "My Father which art in heaven"; he prayed, "Our Father which art in heaven", and that is a wonderful thing. That is why our Primary children sing "I am a child of God."
The Lord has his own way of calling prophets. He knew them before they were ever born here in mortality. We read in the Book of Abraham that the Lord stood in the midst of the spirits, and among them there were noble and great ones-and they couldn't be noble and great if they hadn't done something to make them noble and great. The Lord said of them: "These I will make my rulers; Abraham, thou art one of them; thou was chosen before thou wast born." Isn't that a beautiful thought? The Lord stood in the midst of those spirits, and there were some there who became his prophets here in mortality.
We read about Jeremiah when he was called to be a prophet. He couldn't understand it, and the Lord said: "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." The Lord couldn't have ordained him if he didn't exist, and he wouldn't have ordained him before he was born if he hadn't done something in that spiritual life to prepare him to become one of the Lord's mouthpieces here upon this earth. The same thing is true with the Prophet Joseph. I will come back to that.
We read that there was war in heaven-that "Michael and his angels fought against the dragon," and the dragon was cast down to the earth, and the cry went out: "Wo to the inhabiters of the earth for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath", and he "walketh about, seeking whom he can devour". And that is what he has been doing. He drew a third of the host of heaven with him, and when they were cast out, that third of the host of heaven brought with them the knowledge that they had in the spirit world, while our knowledge was temporarily taken from us through our birth into mortality.
The Apostle Paul said: "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
"But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."
To me, that says there will be a complete restoration of all that we knew before we came here into mortality when we lived in the spirit world.
The best illustration we have about how we lose our knowledge is the life of the Savior. We read in the first chapter of the Gospel of John that "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
"All things were made by him: and without him was not any thing made that was made.
"In him was life; and the life was the light of men."
Then it goes on: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth."
According to this scripture, Jesus created everything; nevertheless, when he was born into mortality he had to learn to walk and talk like other children. At the age of twelve, we find him reasoning with the wise men in the temple, and later on he said: "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do."
Now, because Satan brought with him the knowledge that he had in the spirit world, he knew whom he had fought against in that war in heaven and he has tried to put to death the prophets of God. That is why Jesus, standing on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city of Jerusalem, said:
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
"Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
"Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."
Today we are coming because we have been sent in the name of the Lord. Like Paul said,
"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
"And how shall they hear without a preacher?
"And how shall they preach, except they be sent?"
We have been sent.
I would like to illustrate what I am trying to tell you. When Moses was born, the devil put it into the heart of Pharaoh to have all the male children in Israel put to death. Thousands had been born before that time, but Satan knew that he would have to reckon with Moses. And you remember how Moses' mother saved his life by making a basket of bulrushes and putting him in the river and how Pharaoh's daughter took him out and cared for him.
When Jesus was born, Satan put it into the heart of Herod to put to death all the children in Bethlehem and the surrounding territory that were under two years of age. There had been thousands born before that time, but Satan knew he would have to reckon with the Savior. He was in that war that was fought in heaven when Satan and a third of the spirits were cast out.
When Joseph Smith went into the woods to pray, a boy of only fourteen years of age, a power of darkness rested upon him until he felt like it would crush the very life out of his body; but through his prayer, finally a pillar of light descended and he was released from the power of Satan. Satan knew that he would have to reckon with that man Joseph Smith because he was one of those noble and great ones that God said he would make his rulers.
We read in the Book of Mormon that when Lehi was in the desert, he told his son Joseph that the Lord had promised Joseph who was sold into Egypt that in the latter days He would raise up a prophet from his loins like unto Moses. And we are told in holy writ that there was no prophet in Israel like unto Moses because he walked and talked with God. This is the kind of prophet that, three thousand years before Joseph Smith was born, the Lord promised Joseph of Egypt He would raise up through his loins. He said his name should be Joseph, and his father's name should be Joseph; and he said: "Unto him will I give power to bring forth my word."
The Prophet Joseph Smith brought us the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and many other writings. As far as our records show, he has given us more revealed truth than any prophet who has ever lived upon the face of the earth. And the Lord said: "And not to the bringing forth my word only, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them." What did he mean by that? That in the midst of these hundreds of churches of men-the result of men's interpretations of the scriptures because they can't agree, and these churches keep multiplying-that the Lord would give to this new prophet the ability to comprehend the scriptures that had already been sent forth among them.
Then he adds that he shall "bring my people unto salvation." Why? Because he would receive the holy priesthood, the power to administer the saving ordinances of the gospel. Then he adds, "And I will make him great in mine eyes." Whatever the world may think of the Prophet Joseph Smith, there is the statement of the Lord that he would be great in His eyes.
Now I would like to tell you of a little experience I had in the mission field that illustrates what I think the Lord meant when he indicated that not only would the Prophet bring forth His word, but he would bring men to a conviction of His word that had already gone forth among them.
When I was in Holland, I was invited to talk to a Bible class of businessmen. We met in the home of a prominent furniture dealer. There were about twenty men; each had his Bible. The only woman there was the daughter of the man of the house. They gave me an hour and a half to discuss universal salvation, which includes our work for the dead, preaching in the spirit world, and baptism of the living for the dead. I just gave them chapter and verse and let them read the passages in their own Bibles. Then when I was through, I closed my Bible and waited for comments.
The first comment came from the daughter of the man of the house. She said: "Father, I just can't understand it. I have never attended one of these Bible classes in my life that you haven't had the last word to say on everything. And tonight you haven't said a word."
The man shook his head and said: "My daughter, there isn't anything to say. This man has been teaching us things we have never heard of, and he has been teaching them to us out of our own Bibles."
I could tell you many more stories like that!
God bless you! Thank God for the restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I leave you my testimony, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
When the Lord declared that "power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children, until they begin to become accountable," He revealed that this period of childhood and unaccountability was given to children so that "great things may be required at the hand of their fathers."
"That great things may be required at the hand of their fathers"! What confidence the Lord has in fathers, and what a responsibility He has placed on fathers! Great things are required of fathers today.
When I think of fathers, I think of Adam-progenitor of us all-who faithfully taught his posterity in the ways of righteousness. I think of father Abraham, whose faith knows no peer among mortal fathers. I esteem Jacob, or Israel, with a feeling akin to reverence for his diligence and long-suffering. I honor the name of Lehi for the example he gave to his sons.
In this dispensation, I think of Joseph Smith, Sr., first to give credence to his prophet-son's testimony. I think of the noble example of Joseph F. Smith, sixth President of the Church and father of the tenth President.
I revere these noble men-not just because they were great prophets, but because they were great fathers, who realized what the Lord required of them, and they lived up to that expectation.
I wish to speak on this occasion to you fathers about three particular things that the Lord requires of us. These are things that every father with an ordinary amount of diligence may do. If we will do them, our homes will be blessed with peace, our names will be proudly borne by our descendants, and our association with our family may be eternal.
Fathers, what great things does the Lord require of us?
First, provide a home where love and the Spirit of the Lord may abide. Children are born innocent, not evil. They are not sent to earth, however, to neutral environments. They are sent to homes that, for good or evil, influence their ideas, emotions, thoughts, and standards, by which future choices will be made.
One great thing the Lord requires of each of us is to provide a home where a happy, positive influence for good exists. In future years the costliness of home furnishings or the number of bathrooms will not matter much, but what will matter significantly is whether our children felt love and acceptance in the home. It will greatly matter whether there was happiness and laughter, or bickering and contention.
I am convinced that before a child can be influenced for good by his or her parents, there must be a demonstration of respect and love.
President Joseph F. Smith said: "Fathers, if you wish your children to be taught in the principles of the gospel, if you wish them to be obedient to and united with you, love them! and prove to them that you do love them by your every word or act to them. For your own sake, for the love that should exist between you and your boys-however wayward they might be, when you speak or talk to them, do it not in anger; do it not harshly, in a condemning spirit. Speak to them kindly; get down and weep with them, if necessary, and get them to shed tears with you if possible. Soften their hearts; get them to feel tenderly towards you. Use no lash and no violence, but approach them with reason, with persuasion and love unfeigned. With this means, if you cannot gain your boys and your girls, there will be no means left in the world by which you can win them to yourselves."
Many suggestions could be enumerated as to what we can and should do to make our homes places of refuge and happiness. I believe, however, that to tell a man what is expected of him is more important than to prescribe exactly how he is to get the job done.
Once you determine that a high priority in your life is to see that your wife and your children are happy, then you will do all in your power to do so. I am not just speaking of satisfying material desires, but of filling other vital needs such as appreciation, compliments, comforting, encouraging, listening, and giving love and affection.
Your supreme opportunity in life is fatherhood! These words directed to fathers by President David O. McKay should be framed by every father:
"When one puts businesses or pleasure, or the earning of additional income, above his home, he that moment starts on the downgrade to soul weakness. When the club becomes more attractive to any man than his home, it is time for him to confess in bitter shame that he has failed to measure up to the supreme opportunity of his life, and flunked in the final test of true manhood.
"The poorest shack in which love prevails over a united family is of far greater value to God and future humanity than any other riches. In such a home God can work miracles, and will work miracles. Pure hearts in a pure home are always in whispering distance of Heaven."
Fathers, what is the spirit in your homes?
Second, teach your children to understand principles of truth. In a revelation to the Prophet Joseph, the Lord directed fathers to bring up their children in light and truth. He rebuked several because of their failure to do so. Each of us would do well to review those principles given in section 93 to Joseph Smith, Jr., Frederick G. Williams, Sidney Rigdon, and Newel K. Whitney.
In this revelation the Lord states that Satan "cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers." The "tradition of their fathers" refers, of course, to the bad examples and teachings of fathers.
We must remember this world is a telestial environment. Our children grow up in this environment. They are constantly exposed to television programs and movie entertainment which depict the most seamy and perverse side of life. They are barraged with slogans and advertising designed to induce them to practices that rob them of spirituality. Even some textbooks and teaching aids used in our public school systems present theory and, in some instances, falsehood as truth.
Some fathers leave solely to the mother or to the school the responsibility of shaping a child's ideas and standards. Too often television and movie screens shape our children's values.
We should not assume that public schools always reinforce teachings given in the home concerning ethical and moral conduct. We have seen introduced into many school systems false ideas about the theory of man's development from lower forms of life, teachings that there are no absolute moral values, repudiation of all beliefs regarded as supernatural, permissiveness about sexual freedom that gives sanction to immoral behavior and "alternative life-styles" such as lesbianism, homosexuality, and other perverse practices.
Such teachings not only tend to undermine the faith and morals of our young people, but they deny the existence of God, who gave absolute laws, and the divinity of Jesus Christ. Surely we can see the moral contradiction of some who argue for the preservation of endangered species, but sanction the abortion of unborn humans.
There is a solution, and it is that the Lord expects great things from the fathers of Israel. Fathers must take time to find out what their children are being taught and then take steps to correct false information and teaching.
I know fathers who inquire of their children each evening to determine firsthand what their children are being taught in school and what needs to be corrected. Then, if necessary, they instruct them in what the Lord has revealed. This is application of the principle that "light and truth forsake that evil one."
The new consolidated Sunday meeting schedule has been implemented to give fathers more time on the Sabbath to teach their children. This is a golden opportunity for families to study the scriptures and receive instruction from their parents. Blessed is the household that does this on a consistent basis.
What should we teach? The Lord has revealed the specific curriculum that parents should teach. Hear His words: "Teach unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence."
As further noted in this revelation, the fundamental doctrines consist of the doctrine of the Fall, the mission of Christ and His atonement, and the first principles and ordinances of the gospel, which include faith in Christ, repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost as the means to a sanctified life.
Brethren, we are to teach the fundamental doctrines of the Church in such a way that our children may understand. Some fathers teach, but their children do not understand. This places responsibility on fathers to study and learn the gospel.
With few exceptions, righteous sons and daughters who have attained eternal blessings are not just physically begotten by their fathers. They are spiritually regenerated by the examples and teachings of their fathers.
Great fathers lead their children to Christ.
Third, set in order your own household. Such was the Lord's counsel to fathers in early Church history, and such is His timely counsel to us today!
Setting your home in order is keeping the commandments of God. This brings harmony and love in the home between you and your companion and between you and your children. It is daily family prayer. It is teaching your family to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is each family member keeping the commandments of God. It is you and your companion being worthy to receive a temple recommend, all family members receiving the ordinances of exaltation, and your family being sealed together for eternity. It is being free from excessive debt, with family members paying honest tithes and offerings.
Fathers, are your homes in order?
In a revelation given to President John Taylor, the Lord directed this message to the priesthood: "I call upon the heads of families to put their houses in order according to the law of God, and to purify themselves before me, and to purge out iniquity from their households. And I will bless and be with you, saith the Lord, and ye shall gather together in your holy places wherein ye assemble to call upon me, and ye shall ask for such things as are right, and I will hear your prayers, and my Spirit and power shall be with you, and my blessing shall rest upon you, upon your families, your dwellings and your households, upon your flocks and herds and fields, your orchards and vineyards, and upon all that pertains to you; and you shall be my people and I will be your God; for my word shall go forth, and my work shall be accomplished, and my Zion shall be established."
Yes, these times require great things from fathers, and so does the Lord. Three requirements are: create a home where love and the Spirit of the Lord may abide; bring up children in light and truth; and set your homes in order.
The sacred title of "father" is shared with the Almighty. In the Church men are called and released. Did you ever hear of a mortal father being released?
As I travel throughout the Church and see faithful families, I say, "Thank God for exemplary fathers and mothers." As I see faithful young people and am proud of their accomplishments, I say, "Thank God for diligent fathers and mothers."
Fatherhood is not a matter of station or wealth; it is a matter of desire, diligence, and determination to see one's family exalted in the celestial kingdom. If that prize is lost, nothing else really matters.
I know of one family who has as its goal that each member of the family and posterity will arrive in their heavenly home-the celestial kingdom-with no vacant chairs. That is their objective. They review it at every family reunion and mention it frequently as they mingle together between reunions.
God bless all the fathers in Israel to do well the work within the walls of our own homes. With the Lord's help we shall succeed in this, our most important responsibility. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Bishop Victor L. Brown
Presiding Bishop
As I address this vast body of priesthood brethren tonight, I do so in humility and with a prayer in my heart. The two subjects I will discuss come by assignment. The introduction to my first subject is recorded in the Old Testament as spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
"Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
"Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?"
Four wonderful blessings are promised by the Lord to those who obey the law of the fast:
"Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.
"Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.
"And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
"And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."
Regarding this scripture, President Harold B. Lee had this to say:
"The tremendous blessings that come have been spelled out in every dispensation. If you analyze the 58th chapter of the book of Isaiah you will find unraveled why the Lord wants us to pay fast offerings, why he wants us to fast. It's because by qualifying thus we can call and the Lord can answer. We can cry and the Lord will say, 'Here I am.' Do we ever want to be in a condition where we can call and he won't answer? We will cry in our distress and he won't be with us? I think it is time we are thinking about these fundamentals because these are the days that lie ahead, when we are going to need more and more the blessings of the Lord, when the judgments are poured out without mixture upon the whole earth."
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., had this to say: "The fundamental principle of all Church relief work is that it must be carried on by fast offerings and other voluntary donations and contributions. This is the order established by the Lord. Tithing is not primarily designed for that purpose and must not be used except in the last extremity."
Fast offering is the Lord's financial law given for the blessing of the poor. For many years it was understood that fast offerings should represent the cost of the two meals not eaten. This understanding came into being because, in the early days, members were generally asked to give the actual food saved by fasting. Conditions were so desperate that money would have been of little use. Later, the understanding seemed to be that $1 per capita would be adequate.
However, in recent years, President Kimball has said of the fast offering: "I think we should be very generous and give, instead of the amount we saved by our two meals of fasting, perhaps much, much more-ten times more where we are in a position to do it."
It is important to recognize that the fast offering is a freewill offering, the amount of which each individual is responsible to determine. It is not the same as tithing, which is 10 percent of our interest annually. The amount is left up to each individual, and yet a living prophet has said we should be very generous. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our faithfulness would generate fast offering funds sufficient to operate the entire storehouse system?
Perhaps the following scriptures will give us some guidance as to how generous we should be:
First, from the Doctrine and Covenants, section 42, beginning with verse 30. This is a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith regarding the law of consecration:
"And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support that which thou hast to impart unto them, with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken.
"And inasmuch as ye impart of your substance unto the poor, ye will do it unto me; and they shall be laid before the bishop of my church and his counselors.
"Therefore, the residue shall be kept in my storehouse, to administer to the poor and the needy."
The Lord restates this principle many times, including section 70 of the Doctrine and Covenants, verse 7:
"Nevertheless, inasmuch as they receive more than is needful for their necessities and their wants, it shall be given into my storehouse."
Further, you will recall when a certain ruler asked Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life, the Savior responded:
"Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
"And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
"Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
"And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
"And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
"For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
Again, from the Doctrine and Covenants, we learn:
"For it is expedient that I, the Lord, should make every man accountable, as a steward over earthly blessings, which I have made and prepared for my creatures.
"I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine.
"But it must needs be done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low.
"For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves.
"Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment."
May I conclude my remarks on fast offerings with portions of a letter I received several years ago from Elder John H. Groberg, who at that time was president of the Tongan Mission.
"Enclosed find a check for $1,000 for excess fast offerings from the Tongan Mission. Normally this letter would end here, but because of an experience I recently had I would like to add a little more.
"As you may or may not be aware, Tonga is one of the poorest countries financially in the world. The average wage rate is only around 12¢ per hour if you are lucky enough to have a job.
"Recently, while visiting one of the far distant islands that is very difficult to get to, I went late in the day to the home of one of the good widow sisters there.
"When I first approached her hut the sun was still quite bright and I could not help but notice the stark poverty of her surroundings. It had been raining earlier. The mud and decay and the ever-present smell of drying fish were at first repulsive. But the warmth of meeting with a fellow Church member-especially after years of separation-together with tears of appreciation for the long-awaited visit, soon pushed the unpleasantness of the surroundings temporarily into the background.
"As we conversed in her fluid native tongue and she told of her love for and faith in the Church and of all the blessings she had received, I could not help but think about her apparently miserable circumstances. All sorts of ideas went through my mind, and I must have let my thoughts wander as I suddenly became aware that somewhere between phrases about blessings and poverty and service she had gone to her hut and was now returning with a small knotted rag.
"Suddenly my mind seemed to fill with light, and the words 'fast offerings' flooded in. I was so excited with the idea that had come so suddenly and so clearly, that you can imagine my utter amazement and unpreparedness when she took a threepence from her rag and said softly, 'Here is my fast offering to help the poor.'
"I wanted to explain that fast offering was to help her, not for her to help others. The explanation never came, for as I looked through misty eyes, first at the threepence then back at the good sister, the whole scene changed.
"The hut was a glowing mansion and the mud was gold. The world seemed to stand still for a moment. All of nature seemed to stop and listen as from the heavens the whole universe seemed filled with the reassuring words: 'Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'
"As the setting sun signaled the end of the day, so it also told of the approaching end of her beautiful life of service.
"I took the threepence, and as I write this check the whole experience once again fills my mind and I wonder, 'How many threepences to make a thousand dollars?'"
May I encourage all bishops present tonight to remember this wonderful Tongan widow as you teach the law of the fast and as you bless the poor by wisely and judiciously expending these sacred funds.
In the sweet glow of this experience, let me talk now with you about stake and ward budgets. We are very concerned about the financial stress under which many of our people are laboring. Bishops, particularly, have the responsibility not to let programs become too expensive and thereby become a financial burden to the members.
It is all too easy for leaders to assume that others have discretionary income similar to their own. May I illustrate what I am talking about by quoting portions of a letter from a concerned mother:
"In September, it was making and selling pizzas three nights a week and Saturday mornings to raise money for volleyball uniforms. There were class parties, New Beginnings, leadership workshops, and ward service projects.
"In October and November it was volleyball practice and games three nights a week, a ward dinner, a Halloween party, a stake mid-week fireside, and a barn dance.
"In January there have been basketball practices and games to start the sports program going again, a stake standards night, and a fund-raising project.
"In February, along with the basketball games, there have been roadshow rehearsals three days of the week, a skiing party, a snow party, a stake camp meeting, and a workshop to finish up the Sesquicentennial projects to take up at least twenty-two days of this month.
"I'm sure I need not go on and on with this word picture. But still there is more you should know about: Coming up is a 'slave auction,' a car wash, a doughnut sale, a singing telegram project, lawn raking every Saturday morning until summer to raise money for a super activity in Idaho. There's an Aaronic Priesthood outing for both the boys and girls in May, two Scout overnights besides Beehive camp and Scout camp."
We are sufficiently concerned, that Elder Gordon B. Hinckley addressed this subject last evening in a special joint meeting with Regional Representatives and stake presidents. May I quote just a sentence or two from his remarks: "I should like to say that sacrifice, where needed, is an important aspect of the gospel. It is of the very essence of true worship. But unnecessary sacrifice, that requested because of extravagance or poor management, is evil." You bishops should expect that your stake president will meet with you almost immediately upon returning from conference to evaluate both stake and ward budgets. The stake budget, of course, has an important impact on the ward budget.
There are some very specific areas which you should carefully evaluate.
Energy costs: Lights should be turned off when rooms are not in use. Air conditioning and heating should not be used unless absolutely necessary and particularly when the building or portions thereof are not in use.
Paid custodial services: Such services should be reviewed with an eye to using ward members on a rotation basis to take care of the grounds and the basic cleaning. Thus professional custodial hours could be reduced and their efforts concentrated on maintaining mechanical and other complex systems. On this particular item, written suggestions will be forthcoming very soon.
Welfare projects: Each project, through efficient management, should contribute to the commodity production budget to the maximum degree so as to reduce the need for cash contributions from the individual ward members to meet this commitment.
Activities: Current policy is that the yearly budget include all ward and stake activity funding and that there not be any fund raising going on in addition to the budget. Youth conferences or activities that require expensive and extensive travel should be eliminated.
These are but a few of the ways of reducing the financial burden on the people.
Clearly we are preparing for the day when the higher law, that of consecration, will again become the financial law of the Church through which we will properly take care of the poor. Until that time, it is our responsibility and blessing-as a matter of fact, our covenant-to give generously from our surplus to bless the poor.
We stress the teaching of personal and family preparedness as the first principle of the welfare services program. It is, therefore, incumbent upon each stake president and bishop to make sure that excessive financial demands are not made upon the people which will weaken their financial security and make it impossible for them to take care of their own needs.
May the Lord bless us to be wise and sound stewards in blessing the people with our teachings and our leadership, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder David B. Haight
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Scott Hall is an unusual young man. His father, Garth, is an assistant coach for the Brigham Young University football team.
Recently Scott asked his mother for a white shirt.
"But you have all of these other beautiful colored shirts. Why do you want a white shirt?" asked his mother.
"I just have to have a white shirt," he said.
"But why?" his mother asked.
Scott replied, "I can't be a missionary without a white shirt."
Scott is two years old.
The story of the expansion of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the world not only is a miracle but is "as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth."
Recently a California family, driving through St. George, Utah, on vacation, was attracted by the unusual architecture of the St. George Temple. They walked around the building, admiring its beauty.
Having a little time to spare, the parents entered the information center; their two young children crossed the street to sit under the shade of a tree near our meetinghouse.
A teacher, calling the children in to Primary and seeing the two young visitors, said, "Come on in to Primary." They went in.
The parents, now finished at the information center, started looking for the children. After searching for nearly an hour, they saw them come out of the chapel.
The father said, "We've been looking all over for you. Where have you been?"
They replied, "We've been to Primary."
"Primary! What's Primary?"
"Primary is where you learn about Jesus; and, besides, Daddy, you shouldn't be smoking!" Their father just about swallowed his cigar.
He remarked, "Let's get on our way. We're way behind schedule."
The children said, "We can't go."
"Can't go! Why not?"
"We are in a play."
"A play?" he asked.
"Yes," they replied, "and the play isn't until next week, and we have to stay all week for rehearsals."
The family stayed in St. George for a week!
The children rehearsed; the parents were taught the gospel; and the whole family was baptized.
The truth of our message-the impact of its spiritual influence upon hearts previously prepared-is the greatest influence for good in the world.
Senior Classman Kevin Scott was assigned to preside over a dining table of ten freshmen midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy. Seniors at the Naval Academy at Annapolis assist in training new midshipmen not only in tactics, but also in courtesy and discipline.
During the dinner Senior Scott requested that each midshipman give his full name, his hometown, and his state.
One of the freshmen answered, "Midshipman Ernest Ward Sax, sir, from Salt Lake City, Utah."
Senior Scott said, "Are you a Mormon?"
"Yes, sir."
"Does that mean you do not smoke or drink liquor or coffee?"
"Yes, sir."
"Do you have a copy of the Book of Mormon?"
"Yes, sir."
"Have you read it?" was the next question.
"Yes, sir."
"Will you loan it to me?" requested Scott.
"Yes, sir."
An unusual but friendly relationship developed, with an exchange of books and pamphlets between young Midshipman Sax of Salt Lake City and Senior Classman Scott of North Carolina.
Annapolis graduate Kevin Scott is now a Marine lieutenant in flight training in Florida. Newly baptized Kevin Scott is the ward mission leader, the "spark plug" of the ward missionary effort. He is now testifying to others about the restoration of the gospel and enthusiastically encouraging our members to spread the message.
Midshipman Ward Sax, now in his second year at Annapolis, is the son of a caring Mormon family, a young man who honored his priesthood responsibility.
As I look at a map of the world-its vastness, its billions of people-and ponder the responsibility our Lord has placed upon the young Aaronic Priesthood bearers, I marvel at how the Lord has placed each of you in families or special circumstances at this particular time.
America and every country in the world desperately need a young generation of champions-champions of truth, of honesty, of purity, of high moral standards, of faith in a living God.
Our Lord counseled us to "seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all things shall be added unto you." As you study the scriptures, pray to understand them, and live in harmony with their inspired teachings, then you will grow in wisdom and strength.
You hold sacred priesthood keys, rights, and responsibilities. A troubled world is waiting to hear from you. What will you say? How will you say it? Will the world know that you know for sure where you are going?
Paul taught his young friend Timothy, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
The Lord has placed in our hands the divine power and authority to act in all things, to preach the gospel and perform the ordinances of salvation by which men are sealed up into eternal life. You are different from the rest of the world.
While Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon with Oliver Cowdery as the scribe, they went into the woods to pray and inquire of the Lord regarding baptism. While calling upon the Lord, "a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light" and laid his hands upon them and ordained them, saying:
"Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins."
Joseph Smith received direction to baptize Oliver Cowdery and Oliver to baptize Joseph. Then the Aaronic Priesthood was conferred upon each.
The heavenly messenger "said that his name was John the Baptist, and that he acted under the direction of Peter, James and John, who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which would in due time be conferred on" Joseph and Oliver.
You hold this same sacred authority to declare repentance, to baptize, to administer the sacrament, to assist the bishop, and to be concerned for those needing special encouragement.
Our Lord has used young men your age in many miraculous ways.
Jesus taught and confounded the priests in the temple when only twelve.
David, the young shepherd boy, with complete faith in the Lord, met the Philistine giant, Goliath, on the battlefield. With a prayer in his heart and unafraid, David took a stone out of his bag and, whirling the sling around his head, flung the stone at Goliath, and it sank deep into his forehead. Goliath fell to the earth. A young boy's courage and faith in God had saved the Israelites.
Joseph Smith at age fourteen read in James: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and it shall be given him." Later he said:
"Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart.
"I retired to the woods.
"I kneeled down and began to offer up the desire of my heart to God."
Thus began the events that led to the restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ when God the Father and His Son appeared to the boy, Joseph.
Beloved young friends, much of our future rests with you. You are needed-not to be weak, but to be strong. You can hold high the beacon of light in a darkened world as you testify of a living God.
You have our love and encouragement. We believe in you. We are not out of touch with you and your challenges. We have "walked in the same moccasins." We dated lovely girls and know that associations with them can be uplifting, wholesome, and a beautiful experience.
Live so your memories can bless the full length of your life. Live for that glorious day when you will go to the holy temple for eternal blessings and joy. Resist the temptations and pressures of those who might urge you to stray, to use marijuana or beer or hard liquor. You understand how deadly they become to your body and then to your spirit. You must not succumb. You are different. Pornography, filthy literature and movies, vile language, and suggestive music are not part of your life. They can destroy you.
We know you are maturing in a world promoting a quest for fun, excitement, material possessions, immediate gratification, and an attitude of "do it now." Develop the strength to defer gratification-to understand there is a time and season for everything and a maturing process that is part of God's eternal plan.
We remind you of values and truths that are ageless and eternal-like "duty, truth, justice, and mercy." They "become the measure of decision. The straight and righteous path is the shortest and the surest.
Following the sensational Brigham Young University basketball victory over Notre Dame, Danny Ainge's father was asked if his son might break his professional baseball contract for a better offer in basketball. His father replied, "Danny has a contract. Honor and integrity are more important than money."
Jesus taught, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
Your character is yours alone to build. No one can injure your character but you.
Life is a competition not with others, but with ourselves. We should seek each day to live stronger, better, truer lives; each day to master some weakness of yesterday; each day to repair a mistake; each day to surpass ourselves.
Elder Howard W. Hunter's grandson attended tithing settlement with his father some time ago. The bishop indicated his pleasure in the young lad's wanting to pay a full tithing and asked him if he thought the gospel was true. This seven-year-old boy, having paid his full tithe of fourteen cents, said he guessed the gospel was true, "but it sure costs a lot of money."
We learn in our youth to pay an honest tithing. The Lord requires one-tenth of what we earn. If you work as a bagger in a grocery store, the money you are paid for every tenth bag of groceries you carry out to a car belongs to the Lord. Pay your tithing monthly or weekly as you are paid. Never be in debt to the Lord. Spiritual and temporal blessings will be yours as you carefully honor this commandment.
Football came to our country town later than most. The school board had neither the money for equipment nor a coach. Then the great day arrived. Our high school principal was able to buy twelve inexpensive football outfits, except the expensive cleated football shoes, and our coach was recruited from the faculty because he had witnessed a game.
We learned a few simple plays, how to tackle-or so we thought-and set off for our first game with Twin Falls, the previous year's Idaho state champions.
We dressed and went out on the field to warm up. Their school band started to play, and then through the gates came their team. The twelve of us-a full team of eleven plus one all-round substitute-watched in amazement as they kept coming through the gates-all thirty-nine of them in full uniform.
The game was most interesting! To say it was a learning experience is rather mild. After two plays we didn't have any desire to have the ball-so we would kick it, and soon they would score. When they got the ball, they would run a baffling play and score. Our problem was to get rid of the ball-it was less punishing.
In the final minutes of the game they became a little reckless. A wild pass fell into the arms of Clifford Lee, who was playing halfback with me. He was startled, not knowing for sure what to do-until he saw the "Dallas Cowboys" thundering after him. Then he knew what to do. He was fast. He wasn't running for points, but for his life! Clifford made a touchdown; six points went up on the board. The final score-106 to 6! We really didn't deserve the six points, but with our torn shirts and socks and our bruises, we took them anyway.
A learning experience? Of course! An individual or a team must be prepared. In all things success depends upon previous preparation.
My father was our bishop, but he died before I received the priesthood. I remember so clearly being ordained a deacon. A new world opened up for me. I was now living on a higher plane. As I would hear people say, "You hold the priesthood," it was not easy to fully comprehend. But with humble teachers, we began to understand that as deacons we had been given blessings and authority to do sacred things.
As quorum officers we accounted for all of our members and would see that they were all at church. We enjoyed being together. We chopped wood for the elderly and the widows, filled the coal bins at church, cleaned the meetinghouse every Saturday afternoon, swept the steps, raked the gravel yard, saw that the sacrament trays and lace sacrament cloths were clean and fresh, and had real pride in the appearance of our little meetinghouse.
We were part of the Church and the Church was part of us. We knew it; we felt it! We held the priesthood of God! Understanding teachers guided us and helped us broaden our vision and our ever-expanding role as young men; but more important, they helped prepare us to be called in our youth to be servants of our Savior. He needs every one of you young men who hold the priesthood. I testify that this work is true. I do it humbly, in the holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
In our priesthood meeting last October we considered "The Oath and Covenant Which Belongeth to the Priesthood." Tonight I have in mind calling attention to some specific gospel covenants which every priesthood bearer should honor.
In saying to William E. McLellin, "Blessed are you for receiving mine everlasting covenant, even the fulness of my gospel", the Lord identified the gospel as the great and all-embracing covenant. As a matter of fact, the Lord had himself presented it as such to us, his spirit children, in the great pre-earth Council in Heaven. Standing among us at that time in that premortal assembly, the Lord "said unto those who were with him: We will go down and make an earth whereon these may dwell;
"And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
"And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever."
In that council, a third of the spirits rejected the gospel covenant.
All who obtain the promised reward that "they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever" must accept and comply with gospel covenants.
With Abraham, the Lord entered into a special covenant when he said:
"I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations;
"And I will bless them through thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father;
"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal."
Abraham's posterity, through Isaac and Jacob-with whom these covenants were renewed-have ever since been known by those who have understood the gospel as "children of the covenant."
The first gospel covenant we mortals enter into with the Lord is the baptismal covenant. Alma thus set forth the nature of this covenant when he and others who believed the teachings of Abinadi fled into the wilderness to the "place Mormon."
There he "said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another's burdens,
"And are willing to mourn with those that mourn; and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, that ye may have eternal life-
"What have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?"
In this dispensation, the Lord has stated for us the terms of the baptismal covenant in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 20, verse 37, as follows:
"And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism-All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church."
Another instruction the Lord has given us is:
"That thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day."
The sacrament prayers-dictated by the Lord himself-should keep us constantly reminded of the gospel covenants we have entered into with the Lord. These prayers are much alike. The one on the bread reads:
"O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen."
Many of the Lord's commandments are in the form of covenants promising specific blessings-tithing, for example: "Behold, now it is called today until the coming of the Son of Man, and verily it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming."
"And I say unto you, if my people observe not this law, to keep it holy, and by this law sanctify the land of Zion unto me, it shall not be a land of Zion unto you."
These statements make it clear that by failing to honor the tithing covenant one forfeits great blessings. On the other hand, complying with it assures great blessings.
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
"And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts."
Another example of a covenant is the Word of Wisdom, which also promises a specific blessing.
"Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation-
"That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father.
"And, again, strong drinks are not for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies.
And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be used with judgment and skill.
"And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly.
"And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;
"And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;
"And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.
"And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them."
You will remember that it was necessary for the "destroying angel" referred to in this scripture to fatally afflict the firstborn of men and beast throughout Egypt in order to persuade Pharaoh to let Israel go.
Destroying angels are mentioned several times in modern scriptures. Two years before the Word of Wisdom promise was given, the Lord said that "the angels waiting the great command to reap down the earth, to gather the tares that they may be burned."
Observing the gospel covenants we make with the Lord qualifies us to enter the temple and there receive the ordinances and covenants essential to exaltation, including the new and everlasting covenant of celestial marriage.
That the Lord will help all of us to magnify our callings in the priesthood by proving faithful to every covenant and commandment and obligation which rests upon us, the holders of the holy priesthood, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Spencer W. Kimball
My dear brethren, I greet you as you are assembled here in the Salt Lake Tabernacle and in hundreds of other meeting places around the world. We are so pleased with the able leadership provided by the priesthood bearers of the Church-at all levels! As we magnify our priesthood callings, I hope we will always remember that the Church is a support to the family. The Church does not and must not seek to displace the family, but is organized to help create and nurture righteous families as well as righteous individuals.
In this connection, brethren, we hope you will be mindful of your own needs and preserve some of that precious time for your own wives and families. Be mindful, too, of your associates in the work of the Church, so that time is not taken unnecessarily from them and their families.
Avoid the tendency to crowd too many meetings in on the Sabbath day. When holding your regular meetings, make them as spiritual and effective as possible. Meetings need not be hurried nor rushed, for they can be planned in a manner that permits their sacred purposes to be accomplished without difficulty.
The consolidated meeting schedule was implemented largely in order to provide several more Sabbath hours for families. Therefore, take time to be together as families to converse with one another, to study the scriptures, to visit friends, relatives, and the sick and lonely. This is also an excellent time to work on your journals and genealogy.
Do not neglect those among us who do not now have the blessings of living in traditional families. These are special souls who often have special needs. Do not let them become isolated from you or the activities of your ward or your branch.
My dear brethren, especially those of you who preside over stakes, wards, or branches, I should like to reiterate a plea I made to you in the October 1980 priesthood meeting.
Please take a particular interest in strengthening and improving the quality of teaching in the Church. The Savior charged us with feeding his sheep. I fear at times that all too often many of our members come to church, sit through a class or meeting, and then return home having been largely uninformed. It is especially unfortunate if this happens at a time when they may be entering a period of stress, temptation, or personal or family crisis. We all need to be touched and nurtured by the Spirit, and effective teaching is one of the most important ways this can happen. We regularly do vigorous enlistment and reactivation work to get members to come to church, but often do not watch over what they receive when they do attend.
Brethren, as you may remember, while speaking this morning I referred to our recent visit to the Caribbean Islands and the wonderful missionary work that has been accomplished in the two short years since we opened up those islands for the preaching of the gospel.
One incident occurred in Santo Domingo that I did not have time to tell you about. I think I should like to relate it to you now.
We held an evening general meeting in Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic. Nearly 1600 souls were present.
About an hour after the close of the general meeting, a busload of one hundred members from the Puerto Plata Branch arrived at the meeting place. They had been delayed because their bus broke down. Under ordinary circumstances, they could have made the trip in about four hours, but they finally arrived after 10:00 P.M. to find the hall dark and empty. Many wept because they were so disappointed. All were converts, some for a few months and others only weeks or days.
Sister Kimball and I had gone to bed after a long and tiring day. Upon learning of the plight of these faithful souls, my secretary knocked on the door of our hotel room and woke us up. He apologized for disturbing us but thought that I would want to know about the late arrivals and perhaps dictate a personal message to them. However, I felt that wouldn't be good enough and not fair to those who had come so far under such trying circumstances-one hundred people jammed into one bus. I got out of bed and dressed and went downstairs to see the members who had made such an effort only to be disappointed because of engine trouble. The Saints were still weeping as we entered the hall, so I spent more than an hour visiting with them.
They then seemed relieved and satisfied and got back on the bus for the long ride home. They had to get back by morning to go to work and to school. Those good people seemed so appreciative of a brief visit together that I felt we just couldn't let them down. As I returned to my bed, I did so with a sense of peace and contentment in my soul.
Brethren, we all have opportunities to render service to others. That is our calling and our privilege. In serving the needs of others, we are mindful of the words of the Savior: "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
Brethren, may we counsel you on another matter close to all of us? As we seek contributions from our Saints for tithes and fast offerings, let us speak, more often than we sometimes do, in terms of blessings which will flow to us as we keep the commandments and do our duty. From time to time, we hear reports of unwarranted pressures which accompany the financial requests made of our Church members.
This is a matter of grave importance. In these days of inflation and emotional and political unrest, our people everywhere are being met with difficult and trying experiences on almost every hand. Prudence and wisdom not only suggest but dictate that we take some steps to retrench and husband our resources. We must not overburden our people. With this in mind, the First Presidency has prepared a letter which was released yesterday in which we set out the concerns of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve relating to the increasing financial burdens on members of the Church, in addition to their payment of tithing and fast offerings. With our letter, we prepared some guidelines to assist ward, stake, and mission leaders in complying with the counsel and direction given. We have instructed the Regional Representatives of the Twelve to give this matter immediate attention and implementation.
Let us as individuals, as families, and as wards and stakes learn to live within our means. There is strength and salvation in this principle. Someone has said that we are rich in proportion to that with which we can do without. As families and as a Church, we can and should provide that which is truly essential for our people, but we must be careful not to extend beyond that which is essential or for purposes which are not directly related to our families' welfare and the basic mission of the Church.
I love you, my brethren, young and old, and I am grateful for your faith and your devotion to the cause of the Master. I express my affection for you and leave my blessing with you. And I pray our Heavenly Father to bless you and your families, your homes, and your work. God bless you, peace be with you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Thomas S. Monson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Today I desire to preach no sermon nor deliver a formal message. Rather, may I simply share with you my innermost thoughts. President David O. McKay referred to such as "heart petals." I open to your view a window to my soul.
The Epistle of James has long been a favorite book of the Holy Bible. I find his brief message heart-warming and filled with life. Each of us can quote that well-known passage, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." How many of us, however, remember his definition of religion? "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."
The word widow appears to have had a most significant meaning to our Lord. He cautioned His disciples to beware the example of the scribes, who feigned righteousness by their long apparel and their lengthy prayers, but who devoured the houses of widows.
To the Nephites came the direct warning, "I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against those that oppress the widow."
To the Prophet Joseph Smith He directed, "The storehouse shall be kept by the consecrations of the church; and widows and orphans shall be provided for, as also the poor."
Such teachings were not new then. They are not new now. Consistently the Master has taught, by example, His concern for the widow. To the grieving widow at Nain, bereft of her only son, He came personally and to the dead son restored the breath of life-and to the astonished widow her son. To the widow at Zarephath, who with her son faced imminent starvation, He sent the prophet Elijah with the power to teach faith as well as provide food.
We may say to ourselves, "But that was long ago and ever so far away." I respond: "Is there a city called Zarephath near your home? Is there a town known as Nain?" We may know our cities as Columbus or Coalville, Detroit or Denver. Whatever the name, there lives within each city the widow deprived of her companion and often her child. The need is the same. The affliction is real.
The widow's home is generally not large or ornate. Frequently it is modest in size and humble in appearance. Often it is tucked away at the top of the stairs or the back of the hallway and consists of but one room. To such homes He sends you and me.
There may exist an actual need for food, clothing-even shelter. Such can be supplied. Almost always there remains the hope for that special hyacinth to feed the soul.
The ranks of those in special need grow larger day by day. Note the obituary page of your newspaper. Here the drama of life unfolds to our view. Death comes to all mankind. It comes to the aged as they walk on faltering feet. Its summons are heard by those who have scarcely reached midway in life's journey, and it often hushes the laughter of little children.
After the funeral flowers fade, the well wishes of friends become memories, the prayers offered and words spoken dim in the corridors of the mind. Those who grieve frequently join that vast throng I shall entitle "The Long Line of the Lonely." Missed is the laughter of children, the commotion of teenagers, and the tender, loving concern of a departed companion. The clock ticks more loudly, time passes more slowly, and four walls do indeed a prison make.
Hopefully, all of us may again hear the echo of words spoken by the Master: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these , ye have done it unto me."
As we resolve to minister more diligently to those in need, let us remember to include our children in these learning lessons of life.
I have many memories of my boyhood days. Anticipating Sunday dinner was one of them. Just as we children hovered at our so-called starvation level and sat anxiously at the table with the aroma of roast beef filling the room, mother would say to me, "Tommy, before we eat, take this plate I've prepared down the street to Old Bob and hurry back."
I could never understand why we couldn't first eat and later deliver his plate of food. I never questioned aloud but would run down to his house and then wait anxiously as Bob's aged feet brought him eventually to the door. Then I would hand him the plate of food. He would present to me the clean plate from the previous Sunday and offer me a dime as pay for my services. My answer was always the same: "I can't accept the money. My mother would tan my hide." He would then run his wrinkled hand through my blond hair and say, "My boy, you have a wonderful mother. Tell her thank you."
You know, I think I never did tell her. I sort of felt mother didn't need to be told. She seemed to sense his gratitude. I remember, too, that Sunday dinner always seemed to taste a bit better after I had returned from my errand.
Old Bob came into our lives in an interesting way. He was a widower in his eighties when the house in which he was living was to be demolished. I heard him tell my grandfather his plight as the three of us sat on the old front porch swing. With a plaintive voice, he said to grandfather, "Mr. Condie, I don't know what to do. I have no family. I have no place to go. I have no money." I wondered how grandfather would answer. Slowly grandfather reached into his pocket and took from it that old leather purse from which, in response to my hounding, he had produced many a penny or nickel for a special treat. This time he removed a key and handed it to Old Bob. Tenderly he said, "Bob, here is the key to that house I own next door. Take it. Move in your things. Stay as long as you like. There will be no rent to pay and nobody will ever put you out again."
Tears welled up in the eyes of Old Bob, coursed down his cheeks, then disappeared in his long, white beard. Grandfather's eyes were also moist. I spoke no word, but that day my grandfather stood ten feet tall. I was proud to bear his given name. Though I was but a boy, that lesson has influenced my life.
Each of us has his own way of remembering. At Christmas time I take delight in visiting the widows and widowers from the ward where I served as bishop. There were eighty-seven then-just nine today. On such visits, I never know what to expect; but this I do know: visits like these provide for me the Christmas spirit, which is, in reality, the Spirit of Christ.
Come with me, and we'll together make a call or two. There's the nursing home on West Temple where four widows reside. You never walk up the pathway but what you notice the parted curtain, as one inside waits hour after hour for the approaching step of a friend. What a welcome! Good times are remembered, perhaps a gift given, a blessing provided; but then it is time to leave. Never could I depart without first responding to the request of a widow almost one hundred years of age. Though she was blind, she would say, "Bishop, you're to speak at my funeral and recite from memory Tennyson's poem, 'Crossing the Bar.' Let's hear you do it right now!" I would proceed:
Tears came easily, and then, with a smile, she would say, "Tommy, that was pretty good, but see that you do it a wee bit better at the funeral!" I later honored her request.
At another nursing home on First South, we might interrupt, as I did a few years ago, a professional football game. There, before the TV, were seated two widows. They were warmly and beautifully dressed, absorbed in the game. I asked, "Who's winning?" They responded, "We don't even know who's playing, but at least it's company." I sat between those two angels and explained the game of football. I enjoyed the best contest I can remember. I may have missed a meeting, but I harvested a memory.
Let's hurry along to Redwood Road. There is a much larger home here where many widows reside. Most are seated in the well-lighted living room. But in her bedroom, alone, is one on whom I must call. She hasn't spoken a word since a devastating stroke some years ago. But then, who knows what she hears?-so I speak of good times together. There isn't a flicker of recognition, not a word spoken. In fact, an attendant asks if I am aware that this patient hasn't uttered a word for years. It made no difference. Not only had I enjoyed my one-sided conversation with her-I had communed with God.
When our beloved President Spencer W. Kimball met recently with those from a country where want is present, he asked not regarding statistics, but rather inquired: "Do our people have enough to eat? Are the widows cared for?" He was concerned.
During the administration of President George Albert Smith, there lived in our ward an impoverished widow who cared for her three mature daughters, each of whom was an invalid. They were large in size and almost totally helpless. To this dear woman fell the task to bathe, to feed, to dress, and to care for her girls. Means were limited. Outside help was nonexistent. Then came the blow that the house she rented was to be sold. What was she to do? Where would she go? The bishop came to the Church Office Building to inquire if there were some way the house could be purchased. It was so small, the price so reasonable. The request was considered, then denied.
A heartsick bishop was leaving the front door of the building when he met President George Albert Smith. After the exchange of greetings, President Smith inquired, "What brings you to the headquarters building?" He listened carefully as the bishop explained, but said nothing. He then excused himself for a few minutes. He returned wearing a smile and directed, "Go upstairs to the fourth floor. A check is waiting there for you. Buy the house!"
"But the request was denied."
Again he smiled and said, "It has just been reconsidered and approved." The home was purchased. That dear widow lived there and cared for her daughters until each of them had passed away. Then she, too, went home to God and to her heavenly reward.
The leadership of this Church is mindful of the widow, the widower, the lonely. Can we be less concerned? Emerson counseled that rings and jewels are not gifts, but substitutes for gifts. The only real gift is a portion of oneself.
We remember that during the meridian of time a bright, particular star shone in the heavens. Wise men followed it and found the Christ child. Today wise men still look heavenward and again see a bright, particular star. It will guide you and me to our opportunities. The burden of the downtrodden will be lifted, the cry of the hungry stilled, the lonely heart comforted. And souls will be saved-yours, theirs, and mine.
If we truly listen, we may hear that voice from far away say to us, as it spoke to another, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
May we see that special star, may we hear that same salutation, is my humble prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President N. Eldon Tanner
First Counselor in the First Presidency
I am so glad to be here with you today and to hear this wonderful music and these sermons that have been taught. I am so thankful to you people who have thought of me in your prayers that I would regain my health, and I am thankful that I am able to participate with you today.
I have been thinking lately of the first and third articles of faith: "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost," and "We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."
As I think of that first article of faith, do we really believe in God and in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost? And to what extent do they influence our lives? We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved. As I think about that, I want you to know how God, the Father, and his Son, Jesus Christ, have helped me through my life.
I am sure that my mother, being the kind of woman she was, thanked God when I was born for the blessing of being a co-partner with God in bringing this spirit child into the mortal world. I am sure she expressed her thanks to God through his Son, Jesus Christ.
In my home, prayers were offered on many different occasions. When I was taught to pray, I learned that I was actually talking to God, in the name of Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Ghost. When I was eight years old, I was taken by my father to be baptized. I had been told that I was a son of God, a child of God, and that he was interested in me, that he knew me and knew best what was right for me. We were taught to pray at meals; we were taught to pray in the morning; we were taught to pray at night. And we were taught that our Father in Heaven was the one to whom we were talking.
I wonder how many of us know that we are spirit children of God; and when we are praying, whether it's over a meal, beginning or closing of a meeting, or at a baptism or confirmation, or the blessing of the bread and water in the sacrament, that we are actually talking to God. He is there, he hears our prayers, and he blesses us.
But the one prayer which impressed me was when Joseph Smith went into the woods to pray. He had read, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and it shall be given." If any of you lack wisdom, ask of God and you will receive your answer. Pray with faith, not wavering. "For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."
God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph-actually appeared to him-and told him they had a work for him to do. He had talked to God; God heard his prayers; his prayers were answered. And I bear testimony to you this morning that these things which I have expressed to you are true. This is the Church of Jesus Christ, under the direction of Christ himself through a prophet of God whom I love, admire, and appreciate.
I love you people out there and humbly pray we may always realize that when we pray to God we are talking to him, and that he is interested in our welfare. The prayer that I pray at this time is that we will all realize who we are and act accordingly and be an example to people in the world. This is the Church of Jesus Christ; and he will hear all who ask, to help them understand who they are and why they are here. This is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Franklin D. Richards
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
President Kimball, I express the feelings of the people of this worldwide Church in saying that we love you, President Tanner, President Romney, and are grateful that the Lord has performed miracles in your lives so that you can continue to carry on the great work of building the kingdom of God.
We are living in a remarkable age-the dispensation of the fulness of times-but we are living in a troubled world. The powers of evil are visible in false doctrines, corrupt morals, strife, contention, and persecution. Fears abound in the hearts of many.
A universal question in the hearts and minds of men and women in all parts of the world is, "What is the purpose of life?"
The restored gospel of Jesus Christ answers this question. In modern revelation the Lord has told us, "If you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God."
Therefore, in essence the purpose of life is to prepare us for the greatest gift of God, eternal life.
The restored gospel explains that we existed as spirit entities before being born into this sphere of activity-yes, spirit children of our Father in Heaven. We came to this earth for our spirits to receive bodies of flesh and bones and to receive experiences wherein we are proved and tested to see, as the scripture states, if we "will do all things whatsoever the Lord shall command."
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches the value of eternal progression. We progressed in the premortal existence, and we have the opportunity to progress in this estate and throughout all eternity. Each of us is endowed with gifts and talents, and through study, prayer, proper work habits, and the use of our gifts and talents, we can accomplish our eternal objectives.
Study, particularly of the scriptures, is an important factor. We are counseled to "seek learning, even by study and also by faith." Eternal progress involves continual study. The Lord has told us that "the glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth."
Also, "Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.
"And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come."
President Spencer W. Kimball has counseled us in this manner: "Let us seek to read and understand and apply the principles and inspired counsel found within the. If we do so, we shall discover that our personal acts of righteousness will also bring personal revelation or inspiration when needed into our own lives."
An abundance of modern revelation is to be found in latter-day scriptures. These scriptures explain in detail how to meet today's challenges. Knowledge received from studying the scriptures assists us in making correct decisions in all areas of life's activities and helps us to know God and understand his purposes.
Now, with reference to the part that prayer plays in accomplishing our eternal objectives, the Savior instructed his disciples to "pray always", saying: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you".
The Prophet Joseph Smith observed that "it is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another."
Brigham Young, in his realistic manner, stated, "You know that it is one peculiarity of our faith and religion never to ask the Lord to do a thing without being willing to help him all that we are able; and then the Lord will do the rest."
"Please, Lord, help me to help myself." I am convinced that this prayer for increased personal power is one that God answers. We can learn to solve our problems with God's help.
A convert told me: "I used to pray, not often, but I did pray before we became members. I prayed that someday my husband and I would grow closer together. I never thought it would come to be, but the Church was my answer. We found the power of prayer. I am so thankful for the Church."
Yes, prayer does play an important part in our eternal progress.
Let us now consider the great eternal principle of work. During his earthly ministry, the Savior gave a beautiful parable dealing with the requirement that we work.
The parable of the entrusted talents told of a man who was about to leave on a long trip and he, therefore, called his servants together and gave them his goods. To one he gave five talents, to another he gave two, and to another he gave one. To each man he gave according to his ability.
While the master was away, the one who received five talents put them to use and made five more talents. The man who received two talents put them to use and made two more, but the man who received one talent hid it in the ground.
The master returned and asked for an accounting.
To the servants who had multiplied their talents, the master said: "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things."
The master called the servant who had hidden his talent and did not multiply it a slothful servant and said he would take the one talent from him and give it to the servant who had ten talents.
What a marvelous philosophy-the gospel of work!
At the time the present welfare program of the Church was established, the First Presidency explained that the primary purpose was to "set up a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership."
These are eternal principles and are as applicable to us today as they were when they were given.
Ever since its organization, the Church has encouraged its members to be thrifty and to establish and maintain their economic independence.
Whether our work is mainly mental or physical, or a combination of both, we should learn to do it well. The philosophy of work is a sound philosophy. It is a vital part of the gospel of Jesus Christ that will lead us to eternal life.
The Savior constantly emphasized the doctrine of loving your neighbor, of unselfishness and sacrifice. Let me suggest, therefore, the advisability of engaging in some work that involves service to our fellowman and some sacrifice of our time, talents, and means.
Remember the words of King Benjamin: "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."
We should also appreciate that talents are developed by use, and they will not grow and multiply unless they are used. This principle was clearly taught in the Savior's parable.
Talents may be developed in many areas, such as teaching, missionary work, the arts, compassionate service, and many other fields.
Another convert had this to say: "An aspect of the Church I love is its constant learning, developing, and growing power. I'm grateful for the opportunity to work in the Church because this constant contact is helping us to grow and develop in the gospel and in all other areas of our lives."
I encourage you to accept every opportunity presented to develop your talents and to share them with enthusiasm, not as a burden, but as a great blessing, and the Lord will make you equal to the task that you are called upon to perform.
The story of men and women who achieve is generally the story of persons overcoming handicaps. It appears that there are lessons that can only be learned through the overcoming of obstacles.
One of the darkest periods in the history of the Church was the winter of 1838–39. The Saints had been persecuted, robbed, and murdered. The Prophet Joseph Smith and his associates had been betrayed and were imprisoned in Liberty Jail.
But emerging from this dark period were the men who led the Church throughout trying experiences as well as amazing growth and development. It was during those dark days that the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, while in the Liberty Jail, a great revelation. Out of the midst of his tribulations, the Prophet Joseph Smith called upon God for comfort.
The answer came as God replied, "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
"And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high."
The Liberty Jail experience truly constituted a refiner's fire for those who participated in it, and it gives us a better understanding and appreciation of the greatness of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the early leaders of the Church.
What can we learn from the Liberty Jail experience that will be helpful to us? Certainly two impressive truths are apparent:
First, the importance of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and loyalty to our leaders and to the Church.
Second, the need for enduring to the end, regardless of how many difficulties we have to surmount.
As we endure to the end, we may need to ask the Lord for comfort, and we, like the Prophet Joseph Smith, may hear, "My son, peace be unto thy soul."
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is called the Prince of Peace, and his message is a message of peace to the individual and to the world. It is the peace that makes us appreciate mortal life and enables us to bear tribulations. One of the objectives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to establish this peace in the hearts and homes of the people.
Yes, the restored gospel clearly answers the question, "What is the purpose of life?" giving us an understanding of where we came from, why we are here, and where we go after death.
One can see the significance and the purpose of life with the perspective the restored gospel plan gives.
A convert living in Arizona had this to say: "The thing that has changed my life the most is that I have found a purpose in life and a certain peace of mind that I have never felt before."
A convert from Seattle was asked, "What has the Church done for you?" He replied, "Everything. My life now has purpose and meaning. Now what can I do for the Lord? I owe him all."
Personally, I feel the same as the Seattle convert-I owe the Lord all.
I bear you my testimony that I know that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, our Redeemer and Savior.
And I know that Joseph Smith was the instrument in the hands of the Lord in restoring the gospel in its fulness, in restoring the power to act in the name of God, and in reestablishing the Church of Jesus Christ upon the earth.
I also bear witness that President Spencer W. Kimball is a prophet of God, acting under divine guidance in administering the affairs of the kingdom of God on the earth today. May the Lord bless and sustain him.
I sincerely pray that we will understand the purpose of life, conform our life-style to eternal gospel principles, enjoy peace, happiness, and growth, and receive eternal life, the greatest gift of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder James M. Paramore
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My beloved brothers and sisters and friends, sometimes when I hear the wonderful local choirs, I tell the members that I sing with the Tabernacle Choir at conference. Oh, to be sure, I don't sit in the choir seats because I don't sing well enough, but I do sit here below and silently sing along with them because their music is so beautiful. A line from one of their numbers that we all love is, "As I have loved you, love one another." May I talk about this for a few minutes today-the love of God and loving one another.
A little story given by one of your missionary sons in Italy a few weeks ago brought this clearly into focus for me.
He recounted that one morning a poor little crippled boy in ragged clothes and badly worn shoes came to a busy street corner and went from person to person, begging for a few lira without success. A man observing the boy from a distance finally went over and picked up this little lad, held him tightly and loved him, and then went forth and cared for him with his means without any judgment.
This sight would have touched any heart and helps us see the power of love that our Father in Heaven would have us understand in our lives. Jesus, the beloved Son of God, reemphasized this new dimension to bless the world when He said, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another."
As we step back and try to understand this love of God, we are astounded by its profound impact. At its center is the reality of a literal Father in Heaven whose love for His children knows no bounds. All truths, wisdom, power, goodness, and love He desires to share with His children, whom He created and sent to earth. He would have us reach up and know Him as a Father, as one who forgives, as a helper, as friend, as lawgiver-as one anxious to grant to every man the full opportunity of His love and potential and ultimately the blessing to one day become like Him. This love from Father in Heaven and its effects upon one of His children or the whole world is miraculous and contagious. He is constantly and everlastingly watching over us to lovingly and gently nudge us along.
He reaches down, through His Son; through prayer, His spirit, His prophets; and through His commandments to express His love and concern and provide His guidance and discipline to everyone who will listen. As the Psalmist said, "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord."
He loves us so much that He gave us His most sacred eternal truths-His commandments-eternal standards to live by. To help us understand their importance, He revealed and surrounded them in sacred and holy settings. Who does not remember how the Ten Commandments were given? Men have constantly changed these commandments, but we testify to the world, they have been restored on this earth through a prophet of God because they are essential, eternal truths and if altered by man, lose their power. We testify to the world that these laws-commandments-standards-are one of the highest manifestations of the love God has for His children. Yes, they are commandments-absolutes-to plant the seeds of God's love, His ways, and His divinity in us. They are the fountainhead of all real security, and the inner man recognizes this instinctively and rejoices.
This same loving God also "so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son" to perform a myriad of blessings for all mankind, including the offering of His own life to atone for man. He lived His life to demonstrate that the love of our Father in Heaven and His plan, His commandments, could in fact bring inner peace and lift mankind here and hereafter.
My assignments these past few months have taken me to many lands, and with all my heart this morning I want to bear witness to the fact that when God's love is known and felt and His commandments followed, the results are always the same. There is a newness of life-a spiritual awakening-that comes to man, its own witness that it is true. It is never forced or brought about by fear, but rather by a bond of love that develops between our Father in Heaven and His children. It is no wonder that we are counseled to look to God and live. This love reaches deep into the inner man, removes barriers, and causes an open spirit to emerge to be receptive to truth, goodness, and change. As it develops in man, he is turned outward toward others-gradually overcoming himself. When we humbly seek our Father in Heaven by prayer, and by learning and keeping His commandments, He transfers to us His love and many of His powers. Thousands bear witness that His words "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love" are true. We then, as the Savior said, begin to attach ourselves as branches to the "true vine" and receive the same strength and power and can expect the same fruit.
Then the miracle really happens. Men thus touched and changed by this love of God begin to look upon their neighbors with profound respect and awe for who they are, what their potential really is as children of an eternal father.
I had a very special experience a few years ago on an assignment to Oregon. After a stake conference I was asked to bless a little child. A couple was ushered into a room, and I learned that day what the love of God really was. They had adopted six or seven abandoned, physically handicapped little children who would need their love and care the rest of their lives. I felt humble in their presence, and the love of God filled that room that day. They were no more strangers to God.
As man perceives this love, he begins to overlook the flaws that make up every mortal being and to "esteem his brother as himself." He lifts and desires to help him whenever and wherever he can. Man's spirit reaches out to everyone, for now there is no enmity, no envy, no restricting philosophies, pride, or vanity-even language does not separate men-there is only an openness and oneness with the Spirit and will of God. The scriptures are beautiful and clear:
"There no contention in the land," "because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts."
Does this mean that those who embrace these things will be perfect? No, for they will forever be overcoming and growing. But it does mean that they will be striving toward perfection. The great prophet Moroni counseled us with a profound insight on this point when he said, "Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been."
It is by achieving this gift, this love of God, that we are able to crowd out contention, discord, and judgments. It recognizes the power and goodness innate in man and how totally inconsistent it would be for one having these feelings-this love from God in their lives-to find himself judging others, not sustaining His leaders, for these things are absolutely foreign to the love of God. Our Father in Heaven said that "no one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love."
As in the case of the man who picked up the little crippled boy, there are no reproachments or judgments-just love and help.
How is this love of God manifest today upon the earth and in His church and among its members?
By a Father in Heaven who sent His beloved Son to help man to see His example and follow.
By a Father in Heaven who has established His kingdom, His church, His love and commandments here upon this earth wherein all His blessings may be had and His love felt.
By a loving Father in Heaven who has provided a prophet today and Apostles to receive His word and guide His children.
By families who are filled with this love and gratitude to God, reaching out everyday to teach their children love, these highest standards, and the peaceable things of God.
By fathers and mothers and children, who, touched by the love of God, unashamedly take each other in their arms often and openly express their love and never give up on those within their circle who especially need their love.
By over thirty thousand missionaries, who, at their own expense, go forth in love to the people everywhere on this earth and take these powers to all who will listen.
And by wonderful leaders and teachers who, though imperfect, reach out to our children and youth in countless ways to help them build bridges to God-His love and goodness.
A few Sundays ago as I sat in a sacrament meeting in Germany, tears of gratitude filled my eyes and my heart was full. I saw eighty-two little children sing songs of love to their Heavenly Father. I was so grateful for the Church which has been reestablished upon the earth, and that I too had one day been a Primary child, and my children also, and had learned those songs and the love they express. I've sung those songs thousands of times since my youth and am grateful for the love and the message they bring. On this very same day in that sacrament meeting was a new convert who is awaiting the arrival of her first child. She was so touched by the children, the Church, the Primary, and the love of our Heavenly Father that was there. She later excitedly said, "Oh, I can hardly wait to have my child so she can go to Primary."
My beloved friends, this is only one of the many great programs and blessings that our Father in Heaven has provided in His church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yes, there is a place of beauty-a refuge upon the earth-where the unchanging standards revealed by a loving Father in Heaven are found.
Now all of this is really what the Lord had in mind, isn't it, when he said, "As I have loved you, love one another." That will forever be the ultimate invitation of the Lord to everyone everywhere. We invite all men with all our love to come and partake of this spirit, this peace, this love of God that is in His kingdom here upon the earth today.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Jack H Goaslind, Jr.
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My sincere desire this morning is to share with you some of my feelings about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the effect it should have in our relationships with each other. As I have reread the account of the Savior's resurrection, I have been impressed that the Savior's first words as a resurrected being provide the foundation for our relationships with others.
You will recall that early in the morning of the first day of the week, Mary had gone to the sepulchre where they had placed the Lord's body. Finding the stone that sealed the tomb removed, she ran and told Peter and John that the Lord's body had been taken. Peter and John hurried to the tomb to confirm this report. When they saw the empty tomb, they returned to their homes.
But Mary Magdalene "stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre." There she saw two angels in white, who asked her, "Why weepest thou?" And she replied, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him."
Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus, but she did not recognize him. The Savior also asked why she was weeping. Mary said, thinking she was talking to the gardener, "Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away."
The Savior then called her by name, as he also could each of us, and she immediately recognized him. Because of her great love for him and her witness that he lives, she extended her arms to embrace him.
With love, concern, and assurance, he spoke these eternally significant words: "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."
"To my Father, and your Father; to my God, and your God." How important this message was then, and how vital it is for us today! The Apostle Paul clearly taught the same doctrine when he said:
"For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
"Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device."
Through prayer, study, and living the gospel, I have come to appreciate the fact that we are all our Father's children-part of one large family. We are sons and daughters of God. Our Heavenly Father is in a very real sense the actual Father of our spirits, which gives literal significance to the phrase "Our Heavenly Father." It follows that we are all brothers and sisters regardless of race, creed, or nationality. There is a spark of divinity in each of us.
How should this truth affect our relationships with others? If all of God's children truly realized and felt the impact of this great truth, there would be far more understanding, compassion, and love shown to one another. Wars, crime, and all forms of cruelty would cease.
I am convinced that true brotherly love is essential to our happiness and to world peace. We must love one another and unselfishly share our gifts, talents, and resources. It is little wonder that, when asked by the Pharisee, a lawyer by profession, "Master, which is the great commandment in the law?" the Savior answered: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
"This is the first and great commandment.
"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
And again, in the closing moments of his life he made this glorious pronouncement:
"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
William Shakespeare once said, "They do not love that do not show their love." We need to show our love, beginning in the home and then widening our circle of love to encompass our ward members, our less active and nonmember neighbors, and also those who have passed beyond the veil.
To leaders in the Church, to every member, may I ask you to reach out as never before and extend the hand of fellowship to our brothers and sisters who need the light of the gospel. I am persuaded that much of our love is confined to mere lip service and dreams of good deeds accomplished, but true love must be expressed in unselfish acts of kindness that bring others closer to our Heavenly Father.
How often I think of the great example of Peter and John as they approached the temple at the hour of prayer. A certain man, lame from his birth, was laid at the gate called Beautiful to ask alms of those who entered. When he saw Peter and John approaching, he extended his hand for their contribution. Peter said to him, "Look on us." He immediately gave heed, expecting to receive something of them. "Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk."
I believe this is as far as we have gone, in most cases, in helping our fellowmen in today's world. However, Peter did not stop with mere words. The scripture records that he then "took him by the right hand, and lifted him up," and immediately the man's feet and ankles received strength and he stood, walked, leaped, and entered the temple praising God.
It isn't silver and gold the world needs today but the extended hand and the lifting influence of the Spirit of the Lord.
A good friend shared this story about how she learned the deeper meaning of love. Their family has always been active in the Church, trying their best to live the commandments. They were shocked and disappointed, however, when their daughter became engaged to a nonmember. The next day the mother was telling a good friend about her feelings. She knew her daughter's fiancee was a fine young man, but she felt angry, hurt, betrayed, and numb and did not want to give her daughter a wedding or even see her. She said that the Lord must have guided her to talk to her friend because she received this reply:
"What kind of a mother are you that you only love her when she does what you want her to do? That is selfish, self-centered, qualified love. It's easy to love our children when they are good; but when they make mistakes, they need our love even more. We should love and care for them no matter what they do. It doesn't mean we condone or approve of the errors, but we help, not condemn; love, not hate; forgive, not judge. We build them up rather than tear them down; we lead them, not desert them. We love when they are the most unlovable, and if you can't or won't do that, you are a poor mother."
With tears streaming down her face, the mother asked her friend how she could ever thank her. The friend answered, "Do it for someone else when the need arises. Someone did it for me, and I will be eternally grateful."
This story concerns a mother's love for her daughter. But this is only the beginning. We must show such genuine love for all our Father's children. When we learn to do this, we will be truly godlike. As John wrote, "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."
Jesus Christ, our perfect exemplar, consistently demonstrated his love through acts of compassion, and he understood the most appropriate ways to express love.
At Jacob's well, he took the time to teach a woman of Samaria some glorious eternal truths. She accepted his testimony that he was the Messiah and returned to the city to testify, "Is not this the Christ?"
He gave of himself to the outcasts of society. A despised leper worshiped the Lord and said, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." The scripture records-note it well-that "Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed."
In one of his most dramatic miracles, Jesus still paid attention to individuals. As he prepared to raise Lazarus from the dead, he saw Mary weeping, and, the record states, "he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled." And then, "Jesus wept." He used this occasion to express a divine testimony of his mission: "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
In his visit to the Nephites, the Savior gave this important admonition: "Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am."
It is my witness that we can be even as he is. We can demonstrate our love in ways that have eternal benefits both for ourselves and for those we serve.
Let us accept the challenge issued by our prophet two years ago:
"It seems clear to me, indeed, this impression weighs upon me-that the Church is at a point in its growth and maturity when we are at last ready to move forward in a major way. But the basic decisions needed for us to move forward, as a people, must be made by the individual members of the Church. The major strides which must be made by the Church will follow upon the major strides to be made by us as individuals.
"We have paused on some plateaus long enough. Let us resume our journey forward and upward. Let us quietly put an end to our reluctance to reach out to others-whether in our own families, wards, or neighborhoods."
Let us decide today that we will reach out in love to our families, our less active or nonmember neighbors, our departed kindred, or anyone who has need of love. I testify that great blessings will come to us as individuals, as a Church, and as a brotherhood of mankind when we learn to live outside ourselves in love, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My wife was the daughter of a sea captain who lost a ship at sea. As the survivors drifted in lifeboats hour after hour before they were picked up, they all sang, "Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me."
Together with this choir and with my Brethren, I testify of the Lord Jesus Christ, the divine Son of Almighty God, the Savior of the world, our Redeemer. I am grateful for the testimony that we bear, and as we approach the Easter time, I testify with my Brethren that He lives. He is the living Christ.
Our great mission as Latter-day Saints is to bear testimony of Him. Through all the trials and tribulations of this world, if we will but pray as the choir has just sung-"Jesus, Savior, pilot me"-we shall go through life successfully, not free from troubles and trials, but always accompanied by the Holy Spirit, who will see us safely through.
It is no news to anyone that we are in a world crisis. But the basic problem is not what most people think it is. It is not fundamentally economic, and it is not basically due to any oil shortage.
Our basic problem is moral and spiritual. We must return to God.
Since all human beings are His children, His commandments apply to everyone. They pertain to every phase of our lives. If we expect to really enjoy peace and happiness in this world, we must have faith enough to keep those commandments. If we ignore them or violate them, we bring evil consequences down upon our own selves.
There is no escaping these two alternatives. One or the other will control our lives, so it is only sensible to be realistic and face up to these hard facts.
Inasmuch as God has given us our free agency to do as we please, He expects us to use our intelligence and ingenuity to improve our circumstances both spiritually and temporally. He wants us to be successful in life and desires to help us. Man really is that he might have joy.
Then we should plan well for our future and not live entirely for the present nor suppose that the status quo will continue on indefinitely.
We must be industrious, we must be frugal, we must seek a proper balance between our needs and our desires, and especially we must reestablish our lives upon a spiritual foundation.
Are we not the children of God? Are we not to seek first His way of doing things? If we serve Him properly, will that not place us on a spiritual foundation?
Life confronts us with many serious problems. Some are moral; others are economic. But all can cause us difficulty.
Truly we are living in a troubled world. We are surrounded by it and are subject to all its perils, plagues, inducements, persuasions, and temptations. But nevertheless, regardless of all that, we are not to be of the world. That is where spirituality comes in. Then shouldn't we sing with the choir, "Jesus, Savior, pilot me"?
What makes this a moral and a spiritual crisis is that so many people reject or ignore the standards of life that God has set up for us, and many even attempt to brush Him aside. They prefer darkness to light because their deeds are evil.
For example, there are many kinds of immorality which make a deadly assault upon purity of life. What shall we do about them? Surrender? By no means! We must fight them with all our power!
We shall be virtuous and clean ourselves and teach our children to be pure. Don't we hear the voice of Almighty God crying out to each of us: "Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord"?
We have the ever-increasing encroachment of liquor, wine, tobacco, and various narcotics. What shall we do about them?
We shall be loyal enough to the Lord to obey the Word of Wisdom. That law is more vital and pertinent now than ever before in our history. No one can survive the present onslaught of addiction without obeying the Word of Wisdom.
The world tempts us to lie and cheat and steal; to be shoplifters or worse; to tarnish another person's good name; or to steal someone else's wife or husband, which is one of the worst kinds of thievery. What shall we do about that?
We shall keep the Ten Commandments, avoiding dishonesty in all its forms and rejecting every temptation to covet anything or anybody that is our neighbor's.
We shall obey our thirteenth article of faith, which says, "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous."
Is there any other answer?
Can any liar, can any thief, can any unchaste person invade the kingdom of God? Not in their sins! They can enter only after the most sincere and complete repentance, nothing less!
But the world affects us in other areas, too, especially in economic ways. These include strong persuasions to overspend our financial resources, to buy beyond our means, to overextend our credit and thus sink deeply into debt. Oh, the inducements of sales pressures, of persuasive advertising, of easy credit, and the unwise use of credit cards!
What shall we do about all that?
First and foremost, we shall determine to live within our means, to carefully budget our affairs, and to stay within the budget.
We shall determine before God that we will be honest and pay our just obligations and not try to escape them. Most assuredly we shall avoid any further debt exceeding our ability to pay.
If temporarily we must limit our customary life-style, shall we not be willing to do so as a means toward financial survival? Shall we not be willing to sacrifice our ordinary desires when necessary and cut our cloth to fit the pattern of revised circumstances forced upon us by this recession?
There are many very good people who keep most of the Lord's commandments with respect to the virtuous side of life, but who overlook His commandments in temporal things. They do not heed His warning to prepare for a possible future emergency, apparently feeling that in the midst of all this trouble "it won't happen to us." It is not always the other fellow's problem. It is our problem also whenever there is economic trouble afloat.
To prepare for the future is part of God's eternal plan, both spiritually and temporally. To protect ourselves against reversals and hardships is only good sense.
On the street in front of my house is a row of chestnut trees. In the spring they are beautiful, all covered with gorgeous blossoms.
As the summer moves on, I see nuts begin to form in their little green pods. In the autumn the nuts drop to the ground. As they do, squirrels seem to appear from nowhere. They sit on the sidewalk, bite off the pods, and then run quickly away with each nut to store it for their winter's supply.
They are wise little animals, and they are industrious. They are quite fearless, too, for no one on our street ever disturbs them. It is intensely interesting just to watch them work for their living the way they do.
They do not allow the chestnuts to go to waste, not one of them. They know their lives must depend on them during the cold and unproductive winter months when nuts do not grow on trees.
They don't depend on anyone else to gather those nuts for them, either. They rely entirely upon themselves. The Lord gives them the harvest, but they must gather it in.
They teach us a great lesson in self-reliance. It is a lesson that is applicable to human beings as well as to the creatures of nature.
Then will God also help us in our times of stress? Of course He will! Did He not say, "Consider the lilies of the field" and "behold the fowls of the air: Are ye not much better than they?"
Of course He will help us. But there is an important if involved-if we keep His commandments.
He teaches us to be self-reliant and industrious, to plan ahead, to provide for possible hard times, to avoid obligations unless we are sure we can handle them, and then to serve him with such devotion that He will be pleased to augment all of our own earnest efforts.
But He also expects us to be wise enough to limit our financial obligations to a reasonable expectation of paying out.
In our planning, why not write a priority system for our family to cover our particular financial circumstances and make sure that first things really do come first? We can avoid financial bondage if we follow such a plan.
Let us wisely ask ourselves whether our desires-or our actual needs-determine what we buy.
The Lord has given us a welfare program. It is inspired. It applies to all Church members. A most important part of that plan is that we ourselves-each one of us-shall learn to become self-sustaining, that we accept the principle that we must look ahead, save a little, build up some reserves, live within our income, and make every effort to sustain ourselves in good times and bad.
Is not that the heart of our welfare plan?
That great program teaches us to put away one year's supply of our necessities-not the frills and the superfluities. We can get along without the frosting on the cake, can't we, or the whipped cream on the apple pie?
And if necessary we can get along just fine without either the cake or the pie, can't we, and just be glad for the staples of life?
Our welfare storehouses help many worthy people in emergencies. That is what they are for. Any one of us might suffer a tragedy which would make it necessary for us to receive such assistance. And that help is always available to worthy people and is cheerfully given.
But the most important storehouses in the entire welfare plan are those that are within the walls of our own homes. We must provide our own storehouses for our own families in our own homes as far as possible to meet any rainy days that may come our way.
The bishops' storehouses are wonderful, and they do help thousands of deserving and faithful Saints, just as they should. But they are not intended to supply the four-and-a-half million total membership of the Church. They are emergency outlets only.
But with all our efforts, let us never forget that our greatest resource is the Lord our God.
Anciently He told Israel that He would prevent droughts and provide good harvests if they would serve Him and keep His commandments. He makes the same promise to us.
He also said He would open the windows of heaven and pour out such great blessings upon us that we could hardly contain them if we would pay an honest tithing. So you see that the principle of tithe paying is introduced as part of the Lord's plan for our own welfare and self-preservation.
He said in our day that the Saints "shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever."
So again we see that tithe paying is part of the divine plan to protect us against hard times. I repeat, tithing is to protect us against hard times! Why do we not recognize it as such? Why do some say they cannot afford to pay tithing when just the reverse is true?
And when great tribulations come, what did He say? "He that is tithed shall not be burned."
And what else did He say? "If my people observe not this law, to keep it holy, and by this law sanctify the land of Zion unto me, that my statutes and my judgments may be kept thereon, verily I say unto you, it shall not be a land of Zion unto you."
Do you see then how obedience to the law of tithing is a safeguard for us?
And what else did He say? This is "a day for the tithing of my people"-now-today-for "now it is called today until the coming of the Son of Man."
Then where is our faith? Where is our obedience?
And He said further, "I will not spare any that remain in Babylon", meaning, of course, those who reject His word and continue to indulge in worldly practices.
So again He emphasizes the moral aspect of our present crisis and the spiritual side of the same crisis.
He then added, "Labor while it is called today" -obey Him, serve Him, walk in righteousness before Him, and "be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord". That's the law!
Let us remember that it is against the will of God that any one of us should be in bondage-in any way-neither to sin nor to addiction nor to debt.
"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free", He declared-free from sin, free from addiction of all kinds, and free from the slavery of debt. His truth, which is His gospel, will make us free-if we obey Him!
Shall we trust Him? His burden is so much easier than that of the world.
"Come unto me," He says " and I will give you rest."
He loves us. He will watch over us, and-even in hard times He will prosper us-if we are not of little faith. He may try us, but He will not forsake us.
Don't we in great sincerity sing:
That is His promise, and His word is true, I testify in His sacred name, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Howard W. Hunter
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Recently a young friend in the mission field wrote a letter to me regarding a question that had been asked of him concerning the concluding verses of the Bible and how they apply to the Book of Mormon. We remember that at the end of the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, the author, John, issues a warning and a curse upon any man who adds to or takes away from the book. Specifically, these are the words he wrote:
"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
"And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."
These verses of scripture have been cited repeatedly by those attempting to discredit the Book of Mormon, claiming that God's revelation to man is closed. Nothing more is to be added and nothing is to be taken away. They assert that the Book of Mormon is an attempt to add to the words of the Bible. These claims were made when the Book of Mormon was first published and have continued to be made, and are made today. Is there any validity to such assertions?
The answer to this query is really very simple. A careful reading of the words makes it clear that the warning against adding to or taking away does not refer to the whole Bible or even to the New Testament, but to use John's words, only to the words of "the book of this prophecy." That is, the prophecy contained in the book of Revelation. This is substantiated by the fact that some of the books of the New Testament had not yet been written when John wrote the book of Revelation, and even those that had been written and were in existence at that time had not yet been gathered into one compilation.
The collection of writings consisting of the sixty-six books we know as the Bible were brought together and compiled into one volume long after John wrote the prophetic book that has been placed at the end of the collection. It is clear, therefore, that the terrible judgments pronounced upon those who add to the book could not possibly apply to the whole of the Bible or even to the New Testament, but only to the book of Revelation.
Secondly, the warning uses the words "the prophecy of this book" and also "the words of the book of this prophecy." The word book in both instances is singular and could only refer to the book of prophecy written by John which is titled, in the King James Version, "The Revelation of St. John the Divine" and is often referred to as the Apocalypse-a Greek word which means revealed. Of necessity the word book would have been in the singular because when written it was not associated with any other book or books, and it was after many years and many ecclesiastical debates that it was added to the collection that became known as the new canon of scripture or the New Testament.
It is also interesting to note that John himself added to scripture after writing the book of Revelation, which is generally conceded to have been written while he was on the Isle of Patmos. It was long after John left Patmos that he wrote his first epistle. This fact standing alone would be sufficient to defeat the claim that revelation was closed and that man was enjoined from adding to scripture. This adds cumulative evidence that John had reference to the book of Revelation only.
In the Old Testament also are found similar vigorous denunciations and commands that there shall not be taken away or added to the words that were written. The first is found in Deuteronomy, written at the time Moses was exhorting Israel to live the law of the Lord. The Torah was oral law and had not been reduced to writing prior to the time of the codification of the law in Deuteronomy. Now that it had been reduced to writing by Moses prior to his death and assumed to be complete, Moses wrote:
"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you."
Later in this same book of the law, Moses repeated the admonition in similar words. He said,
"What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it."
In the minds of some, these admonitions in the Old Testament raise the same question as to the Book of Mormon being an attempted addition to scripture as does the injunction and warning at the end of the book of Revelation. In effect, these passages contain the same injunction as the one at the close of the Apocalypse; and if the same interpretation and argument was applied to them as is applied to the closing verses of the book of Revelation, there would be no scripture after the writings of Moses. Such an absurdity would result in discarding the greater part of the Old Testament and all of the books of the New Testament.
A careful reading of each of these admonitions makes it clear that man is not to make changes in the revelations of the Lord: man is not to add to or take from the words of God. There is no indication or intimation that God could not, or would not, add to or take from; nor would any reasonable person with a belief in the divine powers of God consciously believe that God would be so restricted. Without question he would have the right and power to give additional revelation for the guidance of his children in any age and to add additional scripture.
A study of the revelations of the Lord in holy writ confirms the fact that it is continuous revelation that guides prophets and the Church in any age. Were it not for continuous revelation, Noah would not have been prepared for the deluge that encompassed the earth. Abraham would not have been guided from Haran to Hebron, the Land of Promise. Continuous revelation led the children of Israel from bondage back to their promised land. Revelation through prophets guided missionary efforts, directed the rebuilding of Solomon's temple, and denounced the infiltration of pagan practices among the Israelites.
Before the ascension of Christ, he promised the remaining eleven apostles, "lo, I am with you alway, Even unto the end of the world." Following his ascension, he guided the Church by revelation until the death of the Apostles and subsequent apostasy of the Church of Jesus Christ.
A distinctive sign of the last days that will precede the eventual second coming of the Lord was seen in vision by that same Apostle who recorded the book of Revelation. He said:
"I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people."
The fact that John saw a messenger from God reveal anew a lost gospel negates the argument that further revelation could not be added to the Bible.
We testify to all the world that heavenly ministers have already appeared in our age, bringing authority from heaven and restoring truths lost through corrupted teachings and practices. God has spoken anew and continues to provide guidance for all his children through a living prophet today. We declare that he, as promised, is with his servants always and directs the affairs of his Church throughout the world. As in times past, revelation directs missionary labors, the building of temples, the calling of priesthood officers, and warns against the evils of society that may deny salvation to our Father's children.
In a revelation to a modern oracle, Joseph Smith, the Lord said:
"For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion.
"And also the Lord shall have power over his saints, and shall reign in their midst."
The Savior is reigning in the midst of the Saints today through continuous revelation. I testify that he is with his servants in this day and will be until the end of the earth.
May our vision not be so narrow that we would relegate revelation to only the ancients. God is merciful and loves his children in all ages and has revealed himself to this time in history. Of this I solemnly testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Royden G. Derrick
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
The history of the people of ancient America, recorded in the Book of Mormon, teaches that civilizations are built on moral foundations; that when people are morally strong, they do well; that when they are morally weak, they suffer. It teaches us that freedom cannot outlive morality and that freedom is not free-it must be earned.
It teaches that people change again and again, but that mandates from God never change. They remain the same because the fundamental principles of good behavior are everlasting and never change. The Lord has given us direction through the scriptures as to how we should behave to enrich our lives, to bring peace to our souls, to strengthen our families, and to uplift the dignity of men.
The Lord said, "Wherefore, hear my voice and follow me, and you shall be a free people."
During his ministry he said, "Know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
The Psalmist wrote, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord."
From Ecclesiastes, "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."
The Savior said, "For whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap."
And from latter-day scripture we learn, "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated-
"And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."
The basic unit of society is the family. Our moral values are established in our family relations. The responsibility for teaching moral principles rests with the home. But not every home offers the love and guidance necessary to responsible parenthood. In an ideal society, the home should accept the responsibility for teaching moral values.
The Lord said, "But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth."
And again, "And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord."
The teachers in church and in school should be allies of the parents in teaching children appropriate values that will guide them throughout their lives. The home should be a laboratory of learning, where these values, and more sensitive ones too, are inculcated into the lives of family members through daily experiences. Then the three work in harmony to fulfill parental responsibility.
Unfortunately, today many societies in the world do not place sufficient importance upon the home and the family. In a recent edition of U.S. News and World Report, an article was published quoting statistics that show an alarming decay among the families of America. Problems that cause such serious erosion are centered around moral issues and selfishness. Strong families result when family members serve one another. When we concentrate on our own comfort and on satisfying our own appetites, the family and the society are adversely affected.
We spend our time doing many things, some of which have influence on this life only, and others, on both here and beyond. Building a family is an eternal objective. The benefits of family unity can extend beyond our mortal existence.
Several weeks ago, while en route to Monterrey, Mexico, I sat next to an attractive Mexican of Lamanite extraction. During our conversation I learned that he had eight children. He was obviously proud to be their father. I encouraged him to talk about them. Then I asked, "How long do you plan to be with them?"
"As long as I live."
"And then what?"
"I'll lie down and turn to dust."
From the Bible, we read the words of the Savior to his Apostles just prior to his crucifixion: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
I asked him what Jesus meant by that. He pondered the question, and then he was ready to listen. I explained about the spirit world and the Resurrection and asked, "Do you really love your children?" He was emphatic.
"How would you like to be with your wife and children in the next life?"
"There is nothing I would rather have."
I explained that he could have them. We talked about the Book of Mormon-that it was a history of his progenitors, that it contained the narration of the visit of Jesus Christ to America, and that it was a key to having an eternal family. I had him write his name and address on a card and promised to have a Book of Mormon in Spanish delivered to his home.
When I arrived in Monterrey, I gave the referral to the missionaries. Last week I received a letter reporting on their visit to the family. They wrote: "The following Sunday, after the conference, we went to Roberto's home. His wife came to the fence, and supposing we were preachers of religion she told us it would not be possible to see her husband, that he was very busy. But after talking and showing the card you gave us, he quickly came out with open arms to greet us. We entered his home and knelt down with the family in prayer. He has eight beautiful children. The Spirit of the Lord was present.
"He gratefully accepted our offer to return to teach them the plan of salvation. He received the Book of Mormon and promised to read the words of the book from cover to cover."
How could any thinking person who loves his family not want such a precious gift-to be with his wife and his family in this life and the next, and then to include parents and other progenitors and grandchildren and their continuing posterity in an eternal family relationship.
The scriptures say, "All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead."
I testify that the authority from God to seal by the Holy Spirit of Promise for time and all eternity is vested in our prophet, Spencer W. Kimball. He has properly delegated that authority today so that this sacred work of sealing families for time and all eternity goes forward daily in the holy temples of God.
How I wish that my friends who are not in the Church would listen to this important message-that you can be with your families forever. All you have to do to qualify is to keep the commandments of the Lord.
The scriptures tell us, "And the spirit and the body are the soul of man." When a man dies, his body goes to the grave and his spirit goes to a place of waiting. We call that place paradise.
President Joseph F. Smith was privileged to look into the spirit world back to the time of the advent of the Savior into that great world of the spirits of the dead about the time of the Crucifixion: "And I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great," he wrote.
"And there were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality.
"All these had departed the mortal life, firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection, through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
"While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful.
"But unto the wicked he did not go, and among the ungodly and the unrepentant who had defiled themselves while in the flesh, his voice was not raised.
"But behold, from among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead.
"And the chosen messengers went forth to declare the acceptable day of the Lord and proclaim liberty to the captives who were bound, even unto all who would repent of their sins and receive the gospel.
"Thus was the gospel preached to those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets."
Today, too, there are spirits awaiting their day of deliverance and resurrection. "Faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead.
"The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God,
"And after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their works, for they are heirs of salvation."
One of the major missions of the Church is to uniquely identify these individuals who have died and perform the necessary saving ordinances in their behalf, for they cannot do it for themselves. Once these ordinances are performed, if the individual accepts the gospel in the great world of spirits, then this work will be effective.
One of the ordinances performed in the temples of the Lord is the sealing of wives to husbands and the sealing of children to parents for the living and by proxy for the dead, thus uniting families for the eternities according to their willingness to conform to gospel principles.
And so, when members of a society serve the Lord according to the commandments he has given them, and uphold proper moral values, they receive very special rewards both in this life and in the life to come. This is not man's program; it is the Lord's program of salvation, which exalts and brings freedom, in every sense of the word, to those who will hear his voice and follow him, to which I testify in the name of him who gave his life that these things might be, even the Lord, Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Teddy E. Brewerton
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
When President Tanner returned from presiding over the European missions, he was asked what, in his opinion, was the most important attribute of a successful individual or missionary. After a short pause, pondering the implication of such a question, he spoke one word: "obedience." If we do not obey, the power to obey is lessened. Our capability to recognize good is weakened.
As the Lord says in section 93: "And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience."
Aristotle said that wicked men obey because of fear and that good men obey because of love.
Henry Ward Beecher said that "laws are not masters, but servants, and he rules them who obeys them."
Why obey? Because there is a living God who loves us and desires to bless us.
Elder Mark E. Petersen stated, "Our whole religion is based upon the fact of immortality. Men have come back from the dead to accomplish the restoration of the gospel. Even God himself came.
"First came the Father, and Jesus Christ, his beloved Son. They visited Joseph Smith in the sacred grove near Palmyra, New York. They talked with him face-to-face and answered his questions.
"Moroni also came, repeatedly, visiting with and instructing the young prophet. Then came John the Baptist of New Testament times. Peter, James, and John were next. Moses came also to the Kirtland Temple. And then came Elijah.
"Each one was himself physical evidence of the fact of immortality, but each one brought more than the proof of life after death. Each one came with a great purpose-far beyond the proof of immortality. The Father and Son opened this dispensation and provided the knowledge of the true nature of God-that he is a person and that man was made in his image."
The Father introduced Christ to Joseph as his Only Begotten Son. They restored the knowledge of the true nature of God.
"Moroni revealed the location of the Book of Mormon. John the Baptist brought the Aaronic Priesthood. Peter, James, and John brought the Melchizedek Priesthood. Moses brought the keys of the gathering of the Jews to Palestine and the gathering of Ephraim and Manasseh." And Elijah what did he bring? The sealing power.
What is the sealing power for? It is to enable the family to be together after this life. Who wants the family unit to end at death? Our happiness and joy is in our families. But how do we get this major blessing? Obedience-obedience to the requirements of the restored church of Jesus Christ.
In the Brazil Săo Paulo South Mission there was an Elder Malheiros who entered into the field not being able to read or write very proficiently. He was even a little fearful of giving a prayer in public. But this young man, according to his mission president, Wilford Cardon, became one of the very greatest missionaries imaginable. The president asked him toward the end of his mission how he had turned into such a dynamic, very successful missionary. In a very humble manner Elder Malheiros answered, "Well, president, I never doubted you. You said one could baptize every week, so I knew I could baptize every week. I never doubted. It was not always easy, but I tried to obey."
Why was Brother Saraiva, the president of the Guaratingatá Branch, successful as a missionary? He heard Elder Gordon B. Hinckley at a stake conference in Brazil, in which Elder Hinckley challenged the people to bring one hundred people into the Church that year. And so Brother Saraiva said, "Why not? If a member of the Twelve says it can be done, I will obey." The last time I spoke with Brother Saraiva, he had baptized more than two hundred fifty people.
Why is Floriano Oliveira, a member of the high council in a stake in Brazil, so successful as a missionary? Because he obeyed the Lord's counsel to open his mouth and share the gospel. One day as he was driving through the congested traffic of Săo Paulo he took his eyes off the road for but a second and crashed into the car in front of him. He jumped out of the vehicle, hurried up to the car he had hit, opened the door and said, "I am so sorry I hit you. It was all my fault. I accept the full blame and will pay the total costs. I had no intention to do this, so please forgive me. Yet if I hadn't hit you, you wouldn't have received this message I have for you, the message that you have waited for all your life." He then explained the restoration of the gospel to this man, who was a medical doctor, and the man joined the Church two weeks later. Why has Brother Oliveira had so much success in baptizing more than two hundred people? Obedience-obedience to the request of the Lord.
In Alma 57 we read about the 2,060 sons of Helaman who fought valiantly in many wars, administering death to all who opposed them and the Church. Yet not one lost his life because they knew "that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them."
In Alma 57:21 we read: "Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness." They were totally obedient. Hence, they had unbelievable protection and success.
Let us for a moment look at some examples of disobedience, even men who had righteous intent but nevertheless disobeyed. One example would be Uzza in 1 Chr. 13:7–10. The people had been warned not to touch the ark, the symbol of the covenant. But when the oxen stumbled and the ark appeared to be falling, Uzza stretched forth his hand to steady it and was immediately killed by the Lord. Uzza seemed justified and today we think his punishment was very severe, but as President David O. McKay stated, this incident conveys a lesson of life: obedience-full obedience.
May I give an example of one great man, chosen of God, who showed some disobedience and lost everything of importance: King Saul.
The Lord gave Saul a particular assignment: Destroy the people of Amalek! "Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." It was a mighty army that Saul took to destroy the Amalekites-210,000 men.
"But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them."
Saul failed. Angered by this disobedience, the Lord sent Samuel again to upbraid the king.
"Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
"And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
"And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.
"Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king."
Today President Kimball is the Lord's mouthpiece on the earth, and when he says we should do certain things, even small things, what is our answer? For example, if he says clean up your yard-do it. If he says paint your fence-do it. If he says one more endowment per person per year-do it. If he says at least one more couple per ward in the mission field-do it. If he says to avoid commercial purchases whenever possible on Sunday-do it. What blessings we must impede through lack of full obedience!
Now, why obey? In Deuteronomy it states, "Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day." Now, why: "that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever."
And again in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 98: "And again I say unto you, if ye observe to do whatsoever I command you, I, the Lord, will turn away all wrath and indignation from you, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against you."
Let's just cite one more example where the Lord watched over and protected his Saints in the Church. This is found in the History of the Church: There were threats of a mob on June 19, 1834. As the Mormons were making camp, five men rode up and told them that they would "see hell before morning." They stated that an armed force from Richmond, Ray, and Clay counties was to join a Jackson County force at the Fishing River ford, bent on the utter destruction of the camp.
While these five men were in the camp, cursing and swearing vengeance, signs of an approaching storm were seen. No sooner had these men left the camp than the storm burst forth in all its fury. Hailstones struck, so large that they cut limbs from the trees, and the limbs fell all around the camp while the trees were twisted from their roots by the force of the wind. The earth trembled and quaked, and the streams became raging torrents, and the mobbers dispersed, seeking shelter that could not be found. One mobber was killed by lightning and another had his hand torn off by a fractious horse, and in fear they dispersed, saying that if that was the way God fought for the "Mormons" they would go about their business.
On the morning of June 21 Colonel Sconce, with two companions, visited the camp to learn what the intentions of the members were. He said: "I see there is an almighty power that protects this people, for I started from Richmond, Ray County, with a company of armed men, having a fixed determination to destroy you, but was kept back by the storm."
The Prophet then related to these men the sufferings of the Saints, and they left the camp offering to use their influence.
During all this storm the members of the camp were protected from its fury. Why were they protected? Because of their collective obedience to the Lord.
Let this be our decision: "Speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it."
My true feelings about the Church are that I know in a definite, decisive, indelible manner that Jesus is our Redeemer. He lives, as does the Father, and President Kimball is the living servant of the living God. Let us watch the prophet, listen to him, follow him, and we will never go astray. This is the only true church of Jesus Christ upon the face of the earth, to which I testify in the name of our Redeemer, amen.
Elder F. Burton Howard
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
For many months I have been away from the headquarters of the Church. I have learned much and have come to understand better many things I had known before. I have observed firsthand the challenges which confront Church members as they endeavor to build the kingdom. I have seen the time and financial burdens borne by adults. I have sensed the preoccupation of parents for their children.
I have come to know that in this age of anxiety, and sometimes selfishness, there are not many of us willing to forego comforts or hard-earned security in order to concern ourselves with the welfare of others outside of our immediate circle of acquaintance. But some are-and some do. Everywhere I have been, I have met some faithful Saints who love, pray for, and watch over their fellowmen, both in and out of the Church. By means of a parable, I would like to speak to that comparative handful of God's children who have learned to live for others-and more particularly to those who have not.
In a desert region one day, a number of travelers set out on a trip. It was hot and the journey was long. They had little in common except their shared desire to arrive at a distant city. Each carried provisions and water expecting to replenish their supplies along the way. Not long after leaving their homes, a great storm arose. Dust clouds darkened the sun, and the wind brought swirling sands which quickly filled the low places in the road. What at first had seemed a pleasant outing suddenly became a hazardous undertaking. The travelers soon realized that the question was not merely when they would arrive at the city, but whether they would arrive at all.
Confusion and doubt affected the company. Some sought shelter, while others attempted to turn back. A few moved onward through the storm. The end of the first day found them scattered, with inadequate provisions, wanting water, and lost in the desert. A new day brought hunger, thirst, and despair. The storm still raged. Hope was in short supply. Familiar landmarks were gone. The road, which had been narrow and hard to find, at best, was hidden by silt and debris. No one knew where to go to find it. Many claimed to know the way, but as they could not agree, each traveler wandered in his own way in search of water or the shelter of a settlement.
At the end of yet another day, two of the group, half-blinded by dust and with their strength nearly gone, came unexpectedly, with something more than good fortune, upon an inn and way station. There in the sanctuary of walls and roof, they refreshed themselves and counted their blessings. There they replenished their stores and contemplated the remaining portion of their journey. The weather remained unsettled. The wind continued to blow. The poorly marked road wound ahead through hills where the sand piled deep and where it was said that robbers sometimes preyed upon unsuspecting travelers.
One of the two was anxious to reach his destination. He had important business in the city. He gathered his supplies and water and paid his account. Early in the morning he set out in haste in an attempt to cross the hill country by nightfall. But the windblown sand had blocked the road. He was forced to dig and detour. When night came, he was far from the city, exhausted and alone. When he fell asleep, thieves found him, took his supplies, and left him without strength and without water to face almost certain death.
The second traveler was also desirous of reaching his destination. But he remembered the others in the desert behind him. They were lost and would soon perish without water and without hope. He alone knew where they were. He alone knew their condition and their need. He likewise arose early and paid his account. He glanced at the hills with their promise of the city beyond, and then turned back down the road whence he had come. The sky was a little lighter now. He recognized some of the landmarks. He knew about where he had left his traveling companions. He called out to them by name, for he knew them. After hours of patient searching, he found many of them. He shared with them life-giving water from his own containers. He told them he knew the way. He spoke as if he had authority, so they followed him, and he brought them to the way station with him. There they rested and regained their strength. They were given directions regarding how to reach the city. They renewed their provisions, filled their water containers, and went out again to face the storm.
The journey was still difficult. The wind still blew and clouds obscured the sun. The road still wound through the sometimes deep sand, and thieves were still in the hills. But this time the traveler was not alone. The group was large. When sand blocked the way, work parties were organized to remove it. When some faltered, the strong shouldered the burdens of the weak. When night came, there were watchmen to man the watch. After many days, the second man and his friends arrived safely at their destination.
When they arrived there, those who had been rescued and given water gathered around the second traveler and said, "We could not have come to this place without you. We shall ever be grateful to you for searching for us, for finding us, for sharing your water and your bread. We know that you put aside your own journey and submitted to the hardships of the desert in order to help us when we were lost. What can we do to repay you?"
And the second man replied, "Thank me not, for by no power of my own did I find the way station. The water there would have been bitter had I not shared it with you. I know that I could not have arrived at the city without you. Your strength and encouragement enabled me to continue on. Your presence prevented robbers from attacking. I have come to realize that in order to save my own life, I had to save yours as well. I know now that it is not so much the haste of one's journey but rather what he does along the way which determines whether he will arrive at his destination. Thank me not," he said. "In truth, I have not brought you to this place, we have brought one another."
And so it is. None of us could have arrived at the point where we listen to and enjoy this great conference without others. Our testimonies, our greatest blessings, our membership and activity in Christ's church-all of these we owe to the often unremembered and always unnumbered hundreds who gave of their time and their patience and their love to us when we were trying to find our way in the desert. They brought living water to us, or to our parents, or to our parents' parents. Whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, whether we are grateful or not, we are where we are because of others. We cannot say, indeed we must never say, "It was a difficult journey, but I have arrived. Let others get here as best they can. I don't have time now to take water to those who are lost. I have no obligation to those in the desert."
The Lord is the director of the work in which we are engaged. He established the conditions upon which each man and woman will be privileged to return home.
He knows that sometimes clouds block the sun and that the road is hard to find. He must know how difficult it is just to get there. Can He reasonably expect us to try to bring others who are lost with us as well?
The answer is clear. To what else did He refer when He said, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them?" Surely He had in mind our obligations to others when He spoke of lost sheep and living water. If the parable of the good Samaritan has application anywhere, it must apply to one who, having the gospel, encounters another in need without it. But lest there be any doubt, the Lord has directed plain language to the Latter-day Saints. His words in the Doctrine and Covenants are pointed: "The gospel is unto all who have not received it. But, verily I say unto all those to whom the kingdom has been given-from you it must be preached unto them."
What directions has He given to help us arrive at our destination? Once again, He has clearly spoken through a modern prophet: "And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father." For, as he spoke to the disciples of old, "As I have loved you, love one another."
My brothers and sisters, may we better understand the duties associated with our discipleship, I pray humbly in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Hartman Rector, Jr.
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I consider it a great honor and a privilege to greet you this afternoon. I am sure the Lord is much concerned about the families of the earth today.
The family is the basic unit of society, and more importantly it is the basic unit of exaltation. It seems that nothing is more important to the Lord than a family. He has designed the greatest blessings for His children to be received through families, and the temple, of course, is the means of creating these eternal, exalted families.
I believe that families are under a more serious attack today than at any time since the beginning of the world, with the possible exception of the days of Noah. It must have been bad then too. Maybe we today are not quite as bad as they were. Moses recorded in the Book of Genesis: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." I don't believe I have ever known anyone quite that bad, whose "every thought was evil continually."
The Lord further indicated that all flesh was corrupt in those days, and so he brought forth the flood and destroyed all flesh except Noah and his family. Therefore, we are all descendants of righteous Noah. But the family concept is under very serious attack today all over the world.
The Lord said from Mt. Sinai, "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."
We seem to have conditions today similar to those Noah faced; and the Lord speaks of smiting the earth with a curse, as happened at the time of the flood, and this will happen if there is not a turning of "the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers."
There are those who feel that this turning of the hearts is strictly Elijah's job, but in Doctrine and Covenants 98:16 the Lord seems to give us that assignment. He said, "Seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children."
Elijah came and delivered the keys, but the Lord looks to us to do the work. In a little plainer translation of the Malachi scripture, the Lord said:
"Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
"And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.
"If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming."
We, then, are in the very serious business of attempting to save the earth or to keep it from being "wasted" when the Lord comes. This earth was created so God the Father would have a place to send His children to receive bodies of flesh and bones and prove themselves. If we will no longer permit the Lord to send his children to this earth, then the earth is wasted, and as in the days of the flood He will surely destroy it.
So what must we do? We must follow the living prophet, for herein is our only safety. He says, among other things:
Complete four-generation family records and as far beyond as you can go.
Write a personal and family history.
Perform a reasonable number of temple ordinances by attending the temple as often as is practical.
I personally believe that the writing of personal and family histories will do more to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the fathers to children than almost anything we can do. I am sure you will never turn your own children's hearts more to you than you will by keeping a journal and writing your personal history. They will ultimately love to find out about your successes and your failures and your peculiarities. It will tell them a lot about themselves, too. They will get a great desire to raise a family of their own when they see what a great blessing they were to you.
Also, I seriously doubt that you will ever turn your own heart more to your own fathers than by writing your family history. You must know a lot about them before you can write it. This will lead you to much in-depth research. I promise you will love them when you become acquainted with them. They were noble people, and they sacrificed much to give you the heritage you have today. They deserve the best you can give them, which of course is membership in the Church and the kingdom of God and the sealing of their loved ones to them.
I am convinced that these records we are commanded to write are absolutely vital, not only to the salvation of our ancestors but also to ours, for are we not to be judged out of the books which John saw were to be opened, as recorded in Revelation 20:12?
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."
After quoting this verse from Revelation, the Prophet Joseph Smith said, as recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 128:7–8:
"You will discover in this quotation that the books were opened; and another book was opened, which was the book of life; but the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works; consequently, the books spoken of must be the books which contained the record of their works, and refer to the records which are kept on the earth.
"Now, the nature of this ordinance consists in the power of the priesthood, by the revelation of Jesus Christ, wherein it is granted that whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Or, in other words, taking a different view of the translation, whatsoever you record on earth shall be recorded in heaven, and whatsoever you do not record on earth shall not be recorded in heaven; for out of the books shall your dead be judged."
Sometimes we feel we just don't have time to write in our journals. I wonder. President Kimball stood before the World Conference on Records last August and said: "By now, in my own personal history, I have managed to fill seventy-eight large volumes, which are my personal journal. There have been times when I have been so tired at the end of a day that the effort could hardly be managed, but I am so grateful that I have not let slip away from me and my posterity those things which needed to be recorded."
"The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead. Those saints who neglect it in behalf of their deceased relatives, do it at the peril of their own salvation."
To become a savior on Mount Zion, then, goes far beyond the performance of the temple ordinance. It encompasses the personal and family history as well as the four-generation-and-beyond research-plus participation in the extraction program.
Of course, none of this would mean very much if we did not have a holy house in which to perform this work. In this sense, temple building then becomes the most important work of this dispensation. How glorious to live upon the earth at this time and have part in the grand work of rearing the Lord's house in nations around the world so the saving ordinances of the gospel and the ties that bind eternal families may be made available to all the children of the earth! Surely we are the most blessed people who have ever lived, to which I bear witness in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I have a Friend of blessed memory whose name I hold in awe and from whom I have learned more than from any other person. If I may be guided by the Spirit, I shall tell you some of the great truths he has taught me.
He delivered what is probably the greatest sermon ever to fall from mortal lips. It was on a mountain near Capernaum, his own city, many years ago.
His wondrous words, then spoken to thousands of his Jewish friends, illuminated their souls with the light of heaven and ignited their whole beings with the fires of testimony. Never man spake as he did. And even now as we read and ponder the words of his mouth, our hearts burn within us.
As the climax of his Sermon on the Mount, he gave this counsel: "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
"And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."
Every person born in this world builds a house of some sort and puts it on a foundation of his own choosing. And every house built in this mortal sphere is subject to the storms and strifes of life. Our mortal probation is one in which the divine purpose calls for rain and wind and floods.
We live in the midst of a swirling storm of sin. The rains of evil and the winds of false doctrine and the floods of carnality beat upon every house.
It is within our power to build a house of faith, a house of righteousness, a house of salvation.
We can, if we will, even build a house of God, a holy sanctuary, a temple of the living God. Indeed, every Latter-day Saint who is true and faithful has built for himself a "temple of God" in which "the Spirit of God dwelleth." And as Paul says: "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."
If our house is built upon a rock with the brick and mortar of good works, it will withstand the storms and perils of life and preserve us for an eternal inheritance hereafter. If it is built upon the sands of evil with the rusty nails and rotting timber of carnal things, it will be destroyed when the rains and the winds and the floods beat upon it.
Let us then learn from our ancient Friend where and how he would have us build the house that shall be ours in the days of our flesh.
Let us look in upon a sweet and tender scene that took place near Caesarea Philippi up north of the Sea of Galilee and near Mount Hermon. Multitudes who but recently sought to crown him king and whose clamoring for earthly bread brought forth the rebuff in the Sermon on the Bread of Life-these multitudes have turned away.
The remaining little group of true and valiant believers upon whom our gaze falls are in need of spiritual refreshment. First they have prayers. Then Jesus testifies of his own divine Sonship as he so often did during the days of his flesh.
He asks his disciples who men say that he, the Son of Man, is. The very question is itself a witness of his Godhood, for he knows and they know that his Father's name is Man of Holiness and that the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man of Holiness.
Their answers set forth the fantasies and delusions of an apostate people. Some, they say, accept the expressed views of evil Antipas who had slain the blessed Baptist whom he now thought had risen from the dead.
Others, they say, think he is Elias who should restore all things; or Elijah who should come before the great and dreadful day; or Jeremiah who, according to their foolish traditions, had hidden the ark of the covenant in a cave on Mount Nebo and would prepare the way for the Messiah by restoring it and the Urim and Thummim to the Holy of Holies.
Then comes the question to which every living soul must give proper answer if he is to gain salvation: "But whom say ye that I am?" Ye Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, ye Saints of the Most High, ye devout souls who seek salvation: What think ye? Is salvation in Christ or look we for another? Let every man speak for himself!
On this occasion, first Simon Peter, then all the rest acclaims: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Thou art the Promised Messiah; thou art the Only Begotten in the flesh; God is thy Father!
What a wondrous, awesome thing this is. As Paul said, "Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."
And now near the foot of that mountain in which he will soon be transfigured, the Son of Man, whose Father is divine, accepts and approves the solemn testimonies of his friends.
To Peter, Jesus says, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona." How carefully and aptly Jesus preserves the distinction between him and all men. He is the Son of God; Peter is the son of Jonah. The Father of Jesus is the Immortal Man of Holiness; Peter's sire is a mortal man.
But why is Peter so blessed? It is because he knows by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Lord; the Holy Spirit has spoken to the spirit housed in Simon's body, telling the chief Apostle of the divine Sonship of this Jesus of Nazareth of Galilee.
"Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona," Jesus says, "for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
Then again Jesus alludes to the difference in paternal ancestry between him and Peter and continues his words of blessing and doctrine by saying: "And upon this rock"-the rock of revelation-"I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
And how could it be otherwise? There is no other foundation upon which the Lord could build his Church and kingdom. The things of God are known only by the power of his Spirit. God stands revealed or he remains forever unknown. No man can know that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost.
Revelation: Pure, perfect, personal revelation-this is the rock!
Revelation that Jesus is the Christ: the plain, wondrous word that comes from God in heaven to man on earth, the word that affirms the divine Sonship of our Lord-this is the rock!
The divine sonship of our Lord: the sure, heaven-sent word that God is his Father and that he has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel-this is the rock!
The testimony of our Lord: the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy-this is the rock!
All this is the rock, and yet there is more. Christ is the Rock: the Rock of Ages, the Stone of Israel, the Sure Foundation-the Lord is our Rock!
Again we hear Paul's voice: "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." And also: Ye "are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone."
As we ponder all these things, and as their full meaning dawns upon us, we hear anew the exhortation of our ancient Apostolic friend which says, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves." And so we ask ourselves: Shall the gates of hell prevail against us?
If we build our house of salvation on the rock of personal revelation, if we build it on the revealed reality that Jesus is the Lord, if we build it on him who is the Eternal Rock-it will stand forever.
If we are guided by the spirit of inspiration while here in mortality, we will be able to withstand all of the floods and storms that beat upon us.
If we are founded upon a rock, we worship the Father in the name of the Son by the power of the Holy Ghost.
If we are founded upon a rock, we know that salvation comes by the grace of God to those who believe the gospel and keep the commandments.
If we are founded upon a rock, we forsake the world, flee from carnal things, and live upright and godly lives.
If we are founded upon a rock, the gates of hell shall not prevail against us. As long as we remain in our house of faith, we shall be preserved when the rains of evil fall, when the winds of false doctrine blow, and when the floods of carnality beat upon us.
Thanks be to God that we, as Latter-day Saints, are founded upon a rock. And so it is that the faithful among us hear a calm voice of quiet certainty saying: "If ye shall build up my church, upon the foundation of my gospel and my rock, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you.
"Behold, you have my gospel before you, and my rock, and my salvation."
And so we testify with Peter and with the ancients that we know, as they knew, those things which flesh and blood can never reveal to man. We know by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that he was crucified for the sins of the world.
God grant that we may be true to Him by whose name alone salvation comes. He is our Friend, our Lord, our King, our God, and our Rock.
And may I add, speaking as an Apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ, that mingled and intertwined with this testimony which we bear and which was borne by the ancients-and I speak for myself and for my Brethren of the Twelve-that we know that God has in these last days restored again the fulness of his everlasting gospel for the salvation of all men on earth who will believe and obey; and that he has called Joseph Smith, Jr., to be his latter-day prophet, to be the first and chief Apostle in the dispensation of the fulness of times, and has given him every key and priesthood and power that Peter and the Apostles and the ancient prophets held in the days of their ministry; and that these keys and this holy Apostleship have descended in this manner: Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith, Heber J. Grant, George Albert Smith, David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, and Spencer W. Kimball; and that this holy Apostleship and these keys will continue to descend from one Apostle to another until the Lord Jesus Christ comes in the clouds of heaven to reign personally upon the earth. And this I say not of myself, but in the name of the Lord, standing as his representative and saying what he would say if he personally were here. His is the only name given under heaven whereby salvation comes, and we are his ministers. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
President Spencer W. Kimball
My beloved brothers and sisters, this has been a glorious conference. We are grateful to all who have taken part in any way. My heart has been touched, and I have rejoiced and been inspired as I listened to the beautiful music and the timely messages of the Brethren.
We are happy to welcome Elder Angel Abrea as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. For the present, he will return to Rosario, Argentina, to continue his present assignment as president of that mission. He will add great strength and depth to the leadership of the Church as our newest General Authority.
As Sister Kimball and I have traveled to many places of the world these past six months, I have been heartened and gratified with the vitality and growth of the Church and the devotion and unselfish service of the members in the stakes, wards, and missions.
In this conference we have been counseled to conserve our resources and ease the financial burdens on our people. Again we urge the planting of home gardens and the maintenance of a year's supply of food and clothing against a time of need.
We urge all Latter-day Saints to be good neighbors and to be good citizens, loyal to their flag and country. "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." All Americans, and indeed people throughout the civilized world, were shocked and saddened last week when an attempt was made to assassinate the president of the United States, at which time he and three others near him were seriously wounded. I am confident all of you join with me in a fervent prayer that President Reagan and his associates will speedily return to full health and strength. We deplore such acts of violence wherever they may occur in the world.
During this conference we have focused on the basic mission of the Church. We have been counseled to manage the growth of the Church "in wisdom and order." We have been urged to qualify ourselves to receive all the ordinances and blessings of the gospel by keeping the commandments, doing our duty, and paying a true tithe and generous fast offerings.
As we have met in this historic Tabernacle and have contemplated things of eternity, it has seemed as though time has stood still even though outside world events are moving at a rapid pace.
I rejoice with you in the announcement of plans to build nine new temples in the United States, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. When these new temples are completed and dedicated in approximately two years, the total number of temples worldwide will increase to thirty-seven. We are pleased to be able to provide more convenient access to the temples for the Saints because many now have to travel long distances at great expense in time and money to get to the nearest temple.
But these temples are only the beginning. As the work progresses, there will be scores of temples throughout the world.
The other day, we were pleased to visit with a number of brethren attending conference from Korea. And as we met together, they told us of their great joy on hearing of our plans for a temple in Korea. They had previously presented to us Korean clan genealogies containing names of approximately fifteen million people.
We are all very much aware, my brothers and sisters, that the world is in turmoil. We are continually being tried and tested as individuals and as a church. There are more trials yet to come, but be not discouraged nor dismayed. Always remember that if this were not the Lord's work, the adversary would not pay any attention to us. If this Church were merely a church of men and women, teaching only the doctrines of men, we would encounter little or no criticism or resistance-but because this is the Church of Him whose name it bears, we must not be surprised when criticisms or difficulties arise. With faith and good works, the truth will prevail. This is His work. There is none other like it. Let us, therefore, press forward, lengthening our stride and rejoicing in our blessings and opportunities.
As we come to the close of this great conference, I wish to say to you, my brothers and sisters, that we love you with all our hearts. We appreciate all that you do, but of course, as always, there is even more to do. The field is white, all ready to harvest, but the time is so short and the laborers are so few as we seek to share the gospel with our Father's other children in all parts of the world.
We ask our Heavenly Father to give you power to extend your knowledge to the people in your neighborhood who need it and to take the gospel to areas in the world that need those great blessings now more than ever.
My brethren and sisters, I testify to you that this is the Lord's work and that it is true. We are on the Lord's errand. This is His church and He is its head and the chief cornerstone. God lives, and Jesus is the Christ. He is the Only Begotten Son, the Savior and Redeemer of this world. I leave you with this testimony and with my blessings and my love and affection, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Counselor in the First Presidency
My beloved sisters, I speak to you a few words by assignment of President Tanner, President Romney, and President Smith. I am grateful for this theme, the theme of the Relief Society: "Charity never faileth."
I had occasion the other evening to do a little research on the Willie and Martin handcart companies of 1856. There were more than a thousand in those companies, converts to the Church from Scandinavia and the British Isles. They were late in arriving in the States, and dangerously late in leaving Iowa City to begin the long walk to this valley. They became trapped in the snows of Wyoming. Fortunately they were passed on the way by several missionaries who were returning from England and who, when they saw the plight of the handcart Saints, pushed on to this valley and reported to President Brigham Young. That was on the Saturday of the October conference of 1856. The next morning, Sunday, he stood before the people in the old tabernacle that stood on this square, and said in the morning session:
"I will now give this people the subject and the text for the Elders who may speak to-day and during the conference," he announced. "It is this. Many of our brethren and sister are on the plains with handcarts, and probably many are now seven hundred miles from this place, and they must be brought here, we must send assistance to them. The text will be, 'to get them here.'
"That is my religion; that is the dictation of the Holy Ghost that I possess. It is to save the people."
He called for teams and wagons and drivers, and then said:
"I want the sisters to have the privilege of fetching in blankets, skirts, stockings, shoes, etc. for the men, women and children that are in those hand-cart companies hoods, winter bonnets, stockings, skirts, garments, and almost any description of clothing."
That was on Sunday. On Tuesday morning, two days later, sixteen wagonloads of food and supplies began moving out of this city drawn by sixteen strong four-mule teams, handled by twenty-seven young men.
This was the beginning, and other wagonloads followed as the men responded with their teams and wagons, and the women from their own meager stores gathered in food, clothing, blankets, and other necessities.
There is no more heroic episode in all of our history. As these poor people, many of them with badly frozen hands and feet, some of them nearer death than life, arrived in the valley, the women who were here opened their homes to them, nurtured them, dressed their wounds, fed them and encouraged and blessed them through that long, bitter winter.
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."
God bless the women of the Relief Society who, now as then, have succored the needy, have befriended the lonely, have fed the hungry, and nursed the sick. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." So said the Lord.
Now I should like to say a word concerning charity of a different kind.
I speak of charity in the sense of forgiveness, of tolerance of the failings of another, of the smothering of the feelings of jealousy and unkindness toward associates.
I think of two women, once the closest of friends. The one, through an accident of which she was innocent, became in effect a party to the death of a child of the other. It is difficult to say which of those women suffered the most over the death of that child. The one who was not the mother, but who was involved in the accident that led to the fatality, has grieved and wept these many years, not only for the child who was lost and for her part in the tragic situation, but perhaps even more over the unforgiving spirit of the mother who lost the child. It is understandable why the bereft mother, mourning over the loss of her baby, felt bitter. But long since there should have been a realization on her part that her friend was innocent, that she too has wept, and that there should have been an outpouring of love toward her rather than recrimination. An absence of charity has cankered the soul of that woman, destroyed her happiness, brought only misery to her days and sorrow to her nights.
Moroni taught that "charity is the pure love of Christ." It was the suffering Redeemer who said, as he hung on Calvary's cross and looked down upon those who had so brutally crucified him, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
If there be any within the sound of my voice who have harbored grudges, who have let hatred develop in their hearts one toward another, I ask you to make the effort to turn around. Hatred always fails and bitterness always destroys, but "charity never faileth."
There is another aspect of this matter. There is rampant among us a spirit of criticism. Perhaps it is a part of the age in which we live. We are constantly exposed to the writings of newspaper columnists and the opinions of radio and television commentators. Their major objective, it seems to me, is to find fault. They are critical, sometimes viciously so. They are critical of political figures. They are critical of church leaders. None of us is perfect; all of us occasionally make mistakes. There was only one perfect individual who ever walked the earth. Men and women who carry heavy responsibility do not need criticism, they need encouragement. One can disagree with policy without being disagreeable concerning the policymaker.
I would plead with you women, young and old, to restrain your tongues in criticism of others. It is so easy to find fault. It is so much nobler to speak constructively.
May I mention another matter to you mothers? I was distressed to read in the newspaper recently that a poll taken in one of our communities among high school students indicated a spirit of discrimination and unfriendliness toward those not of our faith. I know nothing about the reliability of the poll. If there be substance to the result, I am embarrassed. I would hope that in your family home evenings you would teach your children the importance of friendliness, of tolerance, of the need to reach out, even to those with whom we disagree, in a spirit of love and kindness and helpfulness.
Now in conclusion, I should like to say a word or two about one who stands as an example to all of us. I speak of Sister Camilla Eyring Kimball. During these past weeks I have seen her frequently as she has stood by the side of her husband day and night during the illness which he has suffered. Her loyalty to him, the evidence of her unflagging love for him, her tender care of him, have become as the threads of a beautiful tapestry. Her prayers in his behalf, her pleadings with the Lord, have been those of a woman of strength and humility, who knows that all of life is a gift from God our Eternal Father.
And there is another facet to her nature that ought to be an example to all of us, and I point it out particularly to you younger women. She came of a very large family. She was the first of the children to leave home to secure an education. She thirsted for knowledge and she secured it. Having qualified for her chosen vocation, she used part of her earnings to help her brothers and sisters begin their education. From that family have come men and women of world renown.
Sister Kimball has never lost her hunger for learning. Reading is of the very essence of her life. She feasted on it when she was young, and now in her later years it is a comfort and a strength to her. To women everywhere she is a shining example of the need to grow constantly, to stretch the mind, to enlarge understanding, to be nurtured by the thoughts of great men and women of all ages.
She is the epitome of kindness and thoughtfulness. She knew something of poverty when she was young, although she did not recognize it as such. But out of a sense of values cultivated in those early years she has reached out in love and sympathy to help those in distress.
I commend her example to you. I invoke the blessings of the Lord upon her and her beloved husband. I invoke blessings upon you young women whose lives are filled with hopes and dreams of good things, that those dreams may come true; upon you young mothers who carry so important a role in the nurturing and teaching of children; and upon you older women who have seen much of life and have come to appreciate its beauties and to acknowledge its sorrows.
"Charity never faileth." It is the "pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever."
God bless you each one, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Barbara B. Smith
Relief Society General President
Recently my husband and I returned to our home on a hill overlooking the Salt Lake valley to find that all of the electrical power was off in our neighborhood. As we approached our darkened house, a young neighbor boy observed us returning home in the darkness and ran over to offer his lantern. "We have another one at our house," he said. "You can keep this one as long as you need it."
I was impressed by the concern of that little boy. He had a light he was willing to share. He really cared about us. He was prepared to help us in our time of need.
I thought a great deal about that little boy in the days which followed. He was so helpful, so happy, and so willing to share his light.
To me, his actions represent the fundamental message of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the motto of Relief Society as well: "Charity never faileth." First, because my young friend was prepared. He and his family had a light on hand to help them pierce the darkness when their primary source of light was temporarily withdrawn.
We each should take seriously the counsel to prepare. Recall the parable of the ten virgins, in which they "took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
"And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
"They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
"But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps." When the bridegroom came, they were ready. They "went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut."
We should have the wisdom to personally prepare by understanding truth and living it with integrity so that we might be worthy disciples of Christ. Then, with him as the center of our lives, we can develop those Christlike qualities which will make us worthy of exaltation. We will gain added strength and a greater capacity for love. We will improve the skills of giving our love in such a way that we are prepared in the time of need.
My young friend also cared enough to observe a need. He ran to us in the darkness. He held out his light to illuminate our darkened way.
Jesus directs us to do that in poignant parables, saying:
"For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
"Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me."
He clearly explains that we must care enough to offer ourselves to meet the physical and spiritual needs of those around us. Doing this is charity. It is a beginning of the pure love of Christ.
Recently I listened to a young mother address a ward Relief Society meeting. She told us that she is losing her eyesight. She expressed gratitude for those who had been reading to her, driving her to appointments, and for another sister who was teaching her to play the piano. Relief Society sisters through their acts of kindness had offered her their light and helped to lessen the fear of this very difficult time of her transition into a world of darkness.
Anguishing, dislocating transitions are something we all face. They will be different for each of us. Serious illness or permanent malady is but one. Others may be the death of a loved one, a child or a husband; the realization that one may never marry in this life; divorce; returning home from a mission; a marriage without children; marriage of the last child; civilian life after living under military discipline; the change from Young Women to Relief Society; the change from high school to college; a move to a new location; and on and on.
Each of these circumstances necessitates a particular mode of adaptation and requires the development of new and different ways to adjust to an altered life-style that may be challenging or painful. It is the very nature of such turning points that makes old patterns of behavior no longer adequate or appropriate.
We should constantly prepare ourselves to meet new challenges and to helpfully, willingly, and happily reach out to others in their time of need. The Relief Society should be a light for sisters in times of transition. Officers and teachers and members should systematically concern themselves with the stresses and the distresses of transition which our sisters face.
A recently widowed woman, who has always gained satisfaction from doing for others, found it very difficult to ask for help. She wisely made herself do it because she said it may prove helpful to someone else. She also had enough faith to know that she could do for someone else when she was self-sufficient again.
A young woman, released from the highly disciplined structure of a mission, is still motivated to convert the world. But, as she said, "I must learn to face reality and set priorities in this new environment, even though I feel uncomfortable in activities such as dating or swimming or even just reading a novel."
A woman at a singles conference shared with me the terrible reality of her recent divorce after twenty years of marriage. "You cannot know the courage it is taking for me just to walk into that room filled with single people, knowing that I am one of them now. I cannot even begin to describe how hard it is," she said.
Can we really appreciate what another suffers? Probably not, but we have learned some important things about hard transitions that may help us to better understand ourselves or someone else in those difficult periods of change:
A transition may prove an opportunity for spiritual, physical, intellectual and psychological development-or it can become a time of serious deterioration. The way is new and often difficult. It takes a great deal of courage and sometimes support from others to make a transition a time of growth.
In a time of transition, it is less the traumas of childhood that shape our ability to adjust to the change. It is more often the quality of sustained relationships with other people that makes the difference. Positive, supportive, ongoing relationships are a valuable resource in times of major change in one's life.
It is not the transition itself that is of primary importance in seeking adjustment, but rather how the transition fits an individual's circumstance at the time it occurs. Each person's adjustment will be different because people are different, even though the crisis may seem to be the same.
There is often a measure of disorganization in a time of transition, but adaptation is more rapid and secure when there is reliable support from friends and associates.
Can you begin to realize how important the sisterhood of Relief Society is? Secure friendships and faith can make good transitions possible. Both were there as the widow asked for help, as the divorced woman received courage, as the returned missionary adjusted to her new life-style, as the young mother adapted to her encroaching blindness.
As we begin to understand the countless transitions that can affect our lives, we also come to know that transitions can both intensify and increase with the changes in our complex society.
What can we as Relief Society women do?
We may be required to fill the place of family for many women-to be part of that reliable circle of ongoing friendships that are so necessary to provide support when a woman's own strength is inadequate and wanting.
We can heighten our sensitivity to our neighbor's needs, increasing our capacity to serve. And perhaps we may need to draw back a bit from other preoccupations that may not be as worthy of our time.
We can develop attitudes of love and caring by remembering our basic Christian commitment to forgiveness, gentleness, and kindness. We can promote the good will among people that heralded the birth of the Savior, and we can encourage a profound personal appeal to our Heavenly Father for peace and strength to face adversity.
But even immense goodwill cannot help us reach out to all sisters, making certain that none is overlooked. We must have a program, and we do. Relief Society is designed for this very purpose. During one of the first meetings of the Nauvoo Relief Society, Lucy Mack Smith stated: "This institution is a good one. We must cherish one another, watch over one another, comfort one another, and gain instruction."
The Relief Society program can help us reach even the needs we may not know exist. I was told about one visiting teacher who, in a caring attitude, sent the sisters she visits a Christmas card. When she went to preparation meeting, the message teacher asked the visiting teachers to send a Christmas card to each of the sisters they visit and include their personal note with the card.
The visiting teacher was perplexed. She had already sent the cards, but she did not write the personal note. After debating with herself for some time she finally determined to send another card, this one with a personal note.
When she visited her assigned sisters in January, she went first to the home of an inactive member. When she entered the room, she could see that all evidences of Christmas had been put away-except for one card standing alone on a small table. It was the card with the note in it. The sister explained that she had left the card out to show her nonmember friends that members of her church go the second mile. She said that she had told them this before, but now she had some tangible evidence they could see.
When the visiting teacher went back the next month, the house was tidy, the furniture dusted, and the card still stood on the small table. The next month, the card was still there-and the next, and the next.
The visiting teacher had not realized that this inactive sister needed a positive manifestation of concern. She also learned how much even small acts of kindness do matter.
By filling a Relief Society calling, a sister can increase her understanding of others. She can learn how to care, perhaps while she is helping another make that difficult transition from inactivity to full participation. Every position in Relief Society should help a sister not only to serve, but to grow-to progress toward the goals that she has set for her life, to strengthen herself, her family, and her social relationships as she develops the attributes of godliness. Every lesson attended in Relief Society should help her understand a principle of the gospel-what it is, how it can find expression in her life, and how she is better able to serve others because of it.
A homemaking miniclass must go beyond merely teaching the techniques of a skill. It must engender attitudes of selfless giving with which the skill can be gladly employed.
A major concern of Relief Society today is to reach out to each young woman as she assumes the vital work of her life and to help her understand the limitless opportunities of a woman in the Church. As you in leadership positions serve these young Relief Society sisters, do not underestimate their capacity, their ability, their desire, and their willingness to share in the involvement of Relief Society responsibilities. Their physical maturity is often surpassed by their spiritual readiness and the vitality and freshness of their intellectual perceptions. Include them. Teach them. Learn from them.
And young Relief Society sisters, we know that Relief Society is stronger because of your contributions. Will you also let Relief Society help you learn to meet the challenges of adulthood with greater confidence and vision?
Now, let's not forget the transition of old age. Statistics point out that an ever-larger number of women will be widowed. Most women will live to an age that would have seemed extraordinary a generation ago. The aging process can be a graceful time of fulfillment, or it can be a time of frustration.
My heart ached as I was told of a ward Relief Society president who called the daughter of an aging member of her Relief Society and said, "Your mother has given long years of service in our ward. But she is old now, and if you want her to attend the meetings and the socials, you must assume the responsibility to bring her. We will not do it."
Relief Society's response to aging sisters like her must take into account the physical impairment that often accompanies old age, and must determine how to be helpful. We should be happy and willing to assist our older sisters. Their loneliness can be as debilitating as disease, and their isolation a prison from which there seems to be no escape. For many, their constant companion is a feeling of worthlessness or inconvenience. We have the responsibility to include them, and the greater opportunity to learn from them.
Relief Society has a practical communication network to ensure that no sister, young or old, is neglected or forgotten. Visiting teachers, I plead that you bring the spirit of Relief Society into each home. Care for the lonely. Be at the bedside of the ailing. Share the light of the gospel in a world of much gloom.
James Thomson observed: "Light! nature's resplendent robe; without whose vesting beauty all were wrapt in gloom."
Help dispel gloom. Bring the light of truth. Do it through your senses, through your reason, and most significantly through the Spirit. It does not matter who you are or what you are currently doing with your life. The light of truth is there waiting to be discovered, and, being discovered, waiting to illuminate the life of each child of God.
In times of transition and often great upheaval, it is easier for individuals to become paralyzed by the gloom than to have the illumination of the Spirit. That is why they need us to search for them and share the gospel light. This should become a resolve in the heart of each sister.
In the play Winterset, Mio says, "I came here seeking light in darkness, running from the dawn, and stumbled on a morning." I want each of you to prepare and to give of your light, even in the darkness of your own nights, so that you too will stumble on a beautiful morning. Remember your covenant of baptism as discussed in Mosiah, when Alma asks if we "are willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light;
"Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places."
This passage beautifully portrays the role we should assume as women in the Church and as sisters in Relief Society who help one another through periods of transition, for it speaks of commitment to compassionate giving, to sympathetic understanding, and to encompassing concern.
May we be wise enough to let our light shine out and our love reach out until we find ourselves illuminated and warmed by a charity that never faileth, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Shirley W. Thomas
Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency
Young Steven entered the seventh grade in September. He wasn't as tall as the other boys, and when his mother was turning up his new trousers he asked her to leave big hems, about five inches, "because," he said, "I'm going to grow a lot this year."
Perhaps we are not so concerned with adding inches, but have we looked to the months ahead of us and deliberately decided that we will make significant growth?
One early Church leader asserted that "In this world of change, where we are required to make advancement, we must have an increase of intelligence. There is no stopping place for a man of God." In light of this need, we are grateful to a loving Father who has provided in Relief Society a program for continual learning.
Our courses of study benefit every Latter-day Saint woman. They include Spiritual Living on the first Sunday, and then on the second, Mother Education. It may seem unusual that nearly one-fourth of our lesson time is devoted to Mother Education when not all Relief Society women have children in their homes.
Women in the Church are familiar with the terms patriarch and patriarchal order. We associate them with things eternal and the work of the priesthood in our homes and in the Church.
We do not speak much of matriarchs; we call them instead, mothers. The mother is the counterpart to the patriarch of a home. Mothering is also an eternal, fundamental work. It has to do with bringing life and love, and it is largely learned.
Some young college students learned it when, as Relief Society members, they visited weekly with sisters in a local nursing home. The first weeks found many of the women in a resigned, even lethargic state. For the most part they had given up trying to do anything with their lives; they were simply waiting them out. But the girls continued to visit, some bringing short musical programs, others reading or helping them write letters. Gradually the women began to look forward to the weekly visits, and then, some of the vitality of these young Relief Society sisters carried on through the week. The girls nurtured every spark of interest. When they found that many of the women had been quilters, they got the necessary equipment for them and set it up. The women quickly finished one exciting quilt and were ready to start a second. A few chose to do other projects the students brought. The story continues to be one of activity and vitality. These young students brought new life and love; they were "mother" to the elderly sisters.
Mother Education lessons deal not with the physical processes of giving birth but with the nurturing qualities that can help every child of God live in the light. As we focus on gospel principles and adapt lessons to the current needs of sisters, Mother Education can be not only suitable but enriching for all Relief Society members.
We are told in Moses 4:26 that Adam called his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living. We are all daughters of Eve. I think of one sister who fills a very responsible position in Relief Society. Although, being single, she has no children, she has important work in her profession. She touches the minds as well as the hearts of young people; she uses fully her excellent talents and training; she brings love and light to the lives of others. I believe that her role is directed and accepted of the Lord as is my neighbor's, a mother of eight. Mothering roles differ and may yet take on other dimensions, but we can each learn to use the principles that relate to motherhood.
The young mother who must constantly care for the needs of her children and at the same time be the example on which they might appropriately model their lives, has a responsibility that challenges the most able. She it is who must learn and practice patience, teach and persuade with love, correct but not coerce; in short, develop every maternal attribute.
But we all must find ways to learn and keep these qualities, for, Eve-like, we shall ever be the mothers.
The Social Relations, Cultural Refinement, and fifth-week service-related lessons all contain gospel principles in a priesthood supporting context that make them meaningful to our day-by-day effort to follow the way marked by the Savior. Our lessons have helped us to refine our perception of arts and people, thereby reinforcing an appreciation of our world-wide Church.
Positive reinforcement is equally effective in our supervisory relationships. For instance, a monthly meeting of each class leader with the ward Education Counselor can help a teacher learn from every lesson. This one-to-one exchange will be most useful if the Education Counselor's comments on the lessons are positive and specific.
A teacher often knows what went wrong in a lesson, and although she may choose to discuss it, she probably does not need to be reminded of it. On the other hand, she may not realize what part was most effective and would be grateful for commendation; if, however, a teacher is simply praised for a beautiful or wonderful lesson, she may not know what made it successful and how to build on her strengths. But if the Education Counselor learns to look for specific elements, such as an arresting beginning, a thoughtful handling of class comments, she will be able to help the teacher by positive reinforcement.
Finally, the ongoing Relief Society learning opportunities will be effective in the lives of sisters to the degree that learning and teaching are by the Spirit. Let me tell you of a sister who helped me appreciate teaching by the Spirit.
She was an older woman, one of many immigrants who had been able to come only as far as New York City on the way to Zion. She had not had great opportunity for learning and was having difficulty adjusting to a new culture. We were the only two in our department at stake leadership meeting one night.
The board member asked us each to describe how we prepared our lessons. I had been trained as a teacher and could say some things about lesson plans and objectives; but this lovely sister, haltingly, in a language newly learned, spoke of how she studied the material and then got on her knees and asked the Lord what in that lesson she should stress for the sisters of her ward, and she said, "He always directs me." As I heard her speak and experienced the sweetness of her spirit, I felt sure that he did, because she taught me what I needed to hear. Though it has been many years since that night in Manhattan, I have never forgotten her nor her message.
As we continue to learn, with the Spirit of the Lord as our guide, we prepare for his coming. The Lord declared that when he comes again there will be no need for each one to tell his neighbor that he is the Christ, for all shall know. That we may increase in knowledge and intelligence and be prepared for that glorious event, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
This is an inspiring and glorious sight. I am most honored and uplifted to be in your presence.
I speak to you tonight, not necessarily as members of the great Relief Society organization of the Church, but as choice women-daughters of our Heavenly Father.
Last April I was privileged to speak to the priesthood brethren on a father's responsibility. Tonight I talk to you sisters on the honored place of women in the eternal plan of our Heavenly Father.
Sound principles and eternal truths need to be frequently repeated so that we do not forget their application nor become dissuaded by other arguments.
The world is increasing in wickedness. Temptations are greater than they have ever been in the memory of any of us. In the face of these conditions-and they will get worse-President Spencer W. Kimball said in an address to Regional Representatives:
"Relief Society leaders and teachers should ask, how can we help the wife and mother understand the dignity and worth of her role in the divine process of motherhood? How can we help her make her home a place of love and learning, a place of refuge and refinement?"
We must ever keep in mind that it is the design of Satan to thwart the plan of our Eternal Father. The plan of the adversary is to destroy the youth of the Church-the "rising generation," as the Book of Mormon calls them -and to destroy the family unit.
In the beginning, God placed a woman in a companion role with the priesthood. God said, "It was not good that the man should be alone; wherefore, I will make an help meet for him."
Woman was given to man as an helpmeet. That complementary association is ideally portrayed in the eternal marriage of our first parents-Adam and Eve. They labored together; they had children together; they prayed together; and they taught their children the gospel together. This is the pattern God would have all righteous men and women imitate.
Before the world was created, in heavenly councils the pattern and role of women were prescribed. You were elected by God to be wives and mothers in Zion. Exaltation in the celestial kingdom is predicated on faithfulness to that calling.
Since the beginning, a woman's first and most important role has been ushering into mortality spirit sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven.
Since the beginning, her role has been to teach her children eternal gospel principles. She is to provide for her children a haven of security and love-regardless of how modest her circumstances might be.
In the beginning, Adam was instructed to earn the bread by the sweat of his brow-not Eve. Contrary to conventional wisdom, a mother's place is in the home!
I recognize there are voices in our midst which would attempt to convince you that these truths are not applicable to our present-day conditions. If you listen and heed, you will be lured away from your principal obligations.
Beguiling voices in the world cry out for "alternative life-styles" for women. They maintain that some women are better suited for careers than for marriage and motherhood.
These individuals spread their discontent by the propaganda that there are more exciting and self-fulfilling roles for women than homemaking. Some even have been bold to suggest that the Church move away from the "Mormon woman stereotype" of homemaking and rearing children. They also say it is wise to limit your family so you can have more time for personal goals and self-fulfillment.
I am aware that many of you often find yourselves in circumstances that are not always ideal. I know this because I have talked with many of you who, because of necessity, must work and leave your children with others-even though your heart is in your home. To you go my love and sympathy for your present, and I hope temporary, situation and my prayers that you will be blessed by our Heavenly Father to compensate for a situation that is less than you may desire.
I recognize that some sisters are widowed or divorced. My heart is drawn to you who are in these circumstances. The Brethren pray for you, and we feel a great obligation to see that your needs are met. Trust in the Lord. Be assured He loves you and we love you. Resist bitterness and cynicism.
I also recognize that not all women in the Church will have an opportunity for marriage and motherhood in mortality. But if you in this situation are worthy and endure faithfully, you can be assured of all blessings from a kind and loving Heavenly Father-and I emphasize all blessings.
Solutions for you who are in a minority are not the same as for the majority of women in the Church who can and should be fulfilling their roles as wives and mothers.
It is a misguided idea that a woman should leave the home, where there is a husband and children, to prepare educationally and financially for an unforeseen eventuality. Too often, I fear, even women in the Church use the world as their standard for success and basis for self-worth.
President Kimball once said that Latter-day Saints need "a style of our own" pertaining to clothing. We must also have "a style of our own" pertaining to success and self-image.
Some Saints are deluded into believing that more and better circumstances will improve their self-image. A positive self-image has little relationship to our material circumstances. Mary, the mother of our Savior, was of most modest circumstances, yet she knew well her responsibility and took joy in it. Remember her humble exclamation to her cousin Elisabeth: "He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." Her strength was inward, not from outward material things.
It is a fundamental truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries, not to babysitters.
We become enamored with men's theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother's influence.
Too often the pressure for popularity, on children and teens, places an economic burden on the income of the father, so mother feels she must go to work to satisfy her children's needs. That decision can be most shortsighted.
It is mother's influence during the crucial formative years that forms a child's basic character.
Home is the place where a child learns faith, feels love, and thereby learns from mother's loving example to choose righteousness.
How vital are mother's influence and teaching in the home-and how apparent when neglected!
I do not wish to wound any feelings, but all of us are aware of instances of active Latter-day Saint families who are experiencing difficulties with their children because mother is not where she ought to be-in the home.
A recent national magazine gave these alarming figures: "More than 14 million children ages 6 to 13 now have working mothers, and it is estimated that a third of them are unsupervised for lengthy periods each day."
The seeds of divorce are often sown and the problems of children begin when mother works outside the home. You mothers should carefully count the cost before you decide to share breadwinning responsibilities with your husbands. It is a truism that children need more of mother than of money.
President Joseph F. Smith said that "parents in Zion will be held responsible for the acts of their children, not only until they become eight years old but, perhaps, throughout all the lives of their children, provided they have neglected their duty to their children while they were under their care and guidance, and the parents were responsible for them."
One of the most stirring success stories in scripture is told in the Book of Mormon of Lamanite women who taught their sons the gospel in the home. These two thousand young men were taught faith in God at their mothers' knees. Later, they exhibited great faith and courage when they went to war.
Their leader, Helaman, said of them, "Yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them."
There is the key-"they had been taught by their mothers"!
Years ago, a son wrote to his mother and asked her what she did to successfully rear her children-all nineteen of them! She wrote him this reply:
"The writing anything about my way of education I am much adverse to. It cannot, I think, be of service to anyone to know how I, who have lived such a retired life for so many years, used to employ my time and care in bringing up my own children. No one can, without renouncing the world, in the most literal sense, observe my methods; and there are few, if any, that would entirely devote above twenty years of the prime of life in hopes to save souls of their children, which they think may be saved without so much ado; for that was my principal intention, however unskillfully and unsuccessfully managed."
That mother was Susannah Wesley, and the son who wrote was John Wesley, one of the great reformers. Twenty years of the prime of life in the hopes of saving the souls of her children! Such a task required skill, competence, courage, intelligence, and ingenuity far above any career.
Do you want a principle for successful motherhood? Make time to teach your children the gospel and principles of gospel living when they are young. It may be that you too will need to "renounce the world" and "devote above twenty years of the prime of life in hopes to save the souls of children."
No accomplishment transcends the building of the character of a son or a daughter of God.
In preparing for these remarks, I invited several wives and mothers to send to me their comments on solutions to problems facing our Latter-day Saint women. I want you to hear from these successful homemakers-intelligent, faithful women-who understand their callings in this life.
One wife and mother said: "I am truly happy in my role as a homemaker, wife, and mother. My own dear mother taught me to find joy in homemaking. I always felt that my mother was happy in her role as homemaker. No mention was made of our modern-day women's liberation, for to us a good wife and mother was the epitome of womanhood."
Another wrote: "I enjoy being a wife and mother more than anything else. I actually enjoy doing it." She would counsel sisters, "If homemaking doesn't come naturally, ask the Lord to help you enjoy it and he will. Have faith in the Lord. Trust not in the arm of flesh. Keep an eternal perspective, especially when you think that diapers and night feedings will never end. You're doing what the Lord wants you to do and you will be blessed."
She continues, "Be proud to be a wife and mother. Apologize to no one. Keep away from influences that degrade your role, such as TV 'soaps,' magazine articles, speeches made by so-called experts."
Another young mother wrote: "Being a wife and mother and having a family is my first priority. This is more important than a college degree, a job, developing talents, or anything else! What job in life could possibly be more important than molding the character of another human being?"
And from this mother-a solution to the problems besetting sisters: "The great strength of a good woman-a Saint, if you will-is her personal testimony of the Savior and her faith in his spokesmen, the prophet and the Apostles of Jesus Christ. If she follows them, she will have the countenance of Christ for her beauty, the peace of Christ to support her emotionally, the Savior's example as a means to solve her problems and to strengthen her, and the love of Christ as the source of love for herself, her family, and those about her. She can be sure of herself as a wife and mother and find joy and fulfillment in her role in the home."
I endorse that sound counsel to all you sisters.
Another lovely sister wrote: "Keep praising the mothers in Zion who are trying so hard; and keep loving us and praying for us, for we believe in the counsel of and cherish the words of the Brethren."
Taking courage from that request, and with helpful suggestions from Sister Benson, I share these thoughts with you.
Radiate a spirit of contentment and joy with homemaking. You teach by example your attitude toward homemaking. Your attitude will say to your children, "I am only a housewife" or it will convey, "Homemaking is the highest, most noble profession to which a woman might aspire." Provide your daughters with opportunities to develop their own skills, by allowing them to bake, cook, sew, and arrange their own rooms.
Have daily family devotion in your home. You teach your children dependence on the Lord by your morning and evening family prayers. Reading scriptures in the home should be a habit.
Under your husband's direction, have weekly family home evenings and regular scripture study, especially on the Sabbath day. Make the Sabbath a holy day by family scripture study, attendance at meetings, and other appropriate activities.
Promote only good literature and music in the home. Introduce your children to the best in art, music, literature, and entertainment.
Praise your children more than you correct them. Praise them for even their smallest achievement.
Give regular jobs to your children. Let them share in family projects, gardening, lawn care, and cleanup.
Let your home be the social and cultural center for your family. This includes picnics, home evenings, musicals, and backyard games. Make your home a place where your children want to be during their free time.
Encourage your children to come to you for counsel with their problems and questions by listening to them every day. Discuss with them such important matters as dating, sex, and other matters affecting their growth and development, and do it early enough so they will not obtain information from questionable sources.
Treat your children with respect and kindness-just as you would when guests are present. They are, after all, more meaningful to you than guests. Teach your children never to speak unkindly to others regarding members of the family. Be loyal to one another.
Implant within them a desire to serve others. Teach them to be thoughtful to the aged, the sick, and the lonely. Help them to plan early for a mission so they can bless others who do not have the gospel.
Guard against the temptations of seeking after material things; the constant craze to appear more youthful and worldly; the limiting of the size of your family when health of the mother or infant is not the concern; and personal selfishness which will deprive you of the joy of helping others. All these problems contribute to ingratitude, uncharitableness, and emotional instability.
Support, encourage, and strengthen your husband in his responsibility as patriarch in the home. You are partners with him. A woman's role in a man's life is to lift him, to help him uphold lofty standards, and to prepare through righteous living to be his queen for all eternity.
Home is love, understanding, trust, welcome, and a sense of belonging. If you, as wives, mothers, daughters, take proper care of yourselves, your families, and your homes, and keep close to each other as sisters in the Relief Society, many of the problems of the day troubling youth and parents will pass you by.
President McKay said: "The home is the first and most effective place for children to learn the lessons of life: truth, honor, virtue, self-control; the value of education, honest work, and the purpose and privilege of life. Nothing can take the place of home in rearing and teaching children, and no other success can compensate for failure in the home."
Now can you see why Satan wants to destroy the home through having the mother leave the care of her children to others? And he is succeeding in too many homes.
Protect your family from this danger just as you would instinctively protect them from physical harm.
With your companion, make it a family objective to all be together in the celestial kingdom. Strive to make your home a little bit of heaven on earth so that after this life is over, you may be able to say:
I gratefully acknowledge the devotion, optimism, faith, and loyalty of my own eternal companion, Flora. She has been a constant source of insight and inspiration to the family. Her congeniality, fine sense of humor, and interest in my work have made her a pleasing companion, and her unbounded patience and intelligent insight made her a most devoted mother. Gladly losing herself in service to her husband and children, she has shown a courageous determination to magnify what she knows is the divine and glorious calling of being a worthy wife and mother.
As I look at you tonight, I feel to say, "What choice spirits you are to be reserved as wives and mothers in Zion at this critical hour!" You are members of the only true Church of Jesus Christ on earth, and through your faithfulness with your companion, you may be heirs to eternal life in the celestial kingdom. That is your assurance!
I testify to you, dear sisters, the truthfulness and eternal nature of your honored place as women.
May God bless and crown each of you with joy and happiness in this life and throughout eternity. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Bishop J. Richard Clarke
Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric
Brothers and sisters: Rikki Pace, the fifteen-year-old daughter of Glenn Pace, our new managing director of the Welfare Department, was overheard in a conversation with a school friend. It went something like this:
"Where does your dad work?"
"At the Church Office Building."
"Where's the Church Office Building?"
"You know, that tall building by the Temple."
"What does he do?"
"He's in charge of the Welfare Department."
"What's the Welfare Department?"
Well, after several attempts to explain, it didn't appear as if any big impressions had been made. So, with one final attempt to put the subject to rest, Rikki said:
"Let me put it this way: between now and the Millennium if a member of the Church starves to death, it's all my dad's fault."
There are many perceptions of Welfare Services. I suppose most people perceive of welfare as farms, canneries, bishops' storehouses, and Deseret Industries. Welfare Services is essential to that part of the central mission of the Church, which is: to perfect the Saints. Welfare Services is the gospel in action for individual members. It is not just for group or institutional involvement. Salvation comes to us on an individual basis-each must climb the ladder independently to ascend to the level of the Master. If we are to achieve perfection, we must emulate the works of Jesus as well as his words. The Apostle Peter instructed those who would be disciples of Christ to be "partakers of the divine nature." He told them, "For even hereunto were ye called: that ye should follow his steps."
In 1897 Dr. Charles Sheldon, a young minister in Topeka, Kansas, wrote a book which he titled In His Steps. It was a novel based upon an experiment he tried. He disguised himself as an unemployed printer and tramped the streets of Topeka. He was shocked at his treatment by this "Christian" community. In his novel, a Christian minister presents his congregation with this interesting challenge:
"I want volunteers who will pledge themselves, earnestly and honestly for an entire year, not to do anything without first asking the question, 'What would Jesus do?' Our aim will be to act just as He would if He in our places, regardless of immediate results. In other words, we propose to follow Jesus' steps as closely and as literally as we believe He taught His disciples to do."
The book describes the fascinating experience of those who accepted the challenge. I have been intrigued by the experiment and wonder, if it were conducted today among the Latter-day Saints, how we would measure up. As latter-day Christians, we know that the "royal law" of love in action is to "succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees." Do we catch the significance of this thought? We demonstrate the depth of our love for the Savior when we care enough to seek out the suffering among us and attend to their needs.
The philosopher William George Jordan has identified "four great hungers of life-body-hunger, mind-hunger, heart-hunger, and soul-hunger. They are all real; all need recognition, all need feeding."
Body-hunger is our most conscious biological need. It is difficult to be spiritually strong when temporally deficient.
Mind-hunger is a craving for intellectual food, for education, and for personal development.
Heart-hunger is to be lonely, to have low self-esteem, to be misunderstood, to crave companionship, sympathy, and appreciation. However, we find that as we seek to satisfy the heart-hunger of our neighbor, we reduce our own.
Soul-hunger is the burning desire to know eternal truth. It is the yearning of the spirit to commune with God.
The restored gospel of Jesus Christ provides the solution to all the hungers of life. Jesus said: "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." We would all like to have the Savior's capacity to assuage the hungers of the world; but let us not forget that there are many simple ways by which we can walk in His steps. Let us remember that in giving of ourselves, it is less a question of giving a lot than of giving at the right moment.
A noted columnist, Erma Bombeck, described an experience which reminds us that little things can mean a lot. She recounted a frustrating morning of numerous phone calls and interrupting conversations before leaving for the airport.
And then she said, " there were thirty whole beautiful minutes before my plane took off-time for me to be alone with my own thoughts, to open a book and let my mind wander. A voice next to me belonging to an elderly woman said, 'I'll bet it's cold in Chicago.'
"Stone-faced, I answered, 'It's likely.'
"'I haven't been to Chicago in nearly three years,' she persisted. 'My son lives there.'
"'That's nice,' I said, my eyes intent on the printed page of the book.
"'My husband's body is on this plane. We've been married for fifty-three years. I don't drive, you know, and when he died a nun drove me from the hospital. We aren't even Catholic. The funeral director let me come to the airport with him.'"
Erma said, "I don't think I have ever detested myself more than I did at that moment. Another human being was screaming to be heard and in desperation had turned to a cold stranger who was more interested in a novel than in the real-life drama at her elbow.
"All she needed was a listener-no advice, wisdom, experience, money, assistance, expertise or even compassion-but just a minute or two to listen.
"She talked numbly and steadily until we boarded the plane, then found her seat in another section. As I hung up my coat, I heard her plaintive voice say to her seat companion, 'I'll bet it's cold in Chicago.'
"I prayed, 'Please, God, let her listen.'"
How many times have we observed a benevolent act performed by someone and asked ourselves, "Why didn't I think of that?" Those who do the deeds we would have liked to do seem to have mastered the art of awareness. They have formed the habit of being sensitive to the needs of others before they think of themselves. How swiftly opportunity slips away, and we are left with another unfulfilled good intention. If only our acts of kindness could equal the righteous desires of our hearts.
Striking a blow at our propensity to delay our acting as we know we should, the poet John Drinkwater penned his poem, "A Prayer," which I quote in part:
When I think of performing deeds of kindness, I immediately think of bishops and Relief Society presidents. Relatively few people know of the many hours they selflessly spend in serving members of their wards. They truly translate principles into deeds.
To illustrate, I quote this heartwarming pioneer account:
"Many years ago in a small town in the southern part of the state of Utah, my great grandmother was called to be the president of the Relief Society. During this period of our Church's history there existed a very bitter and antagonistic spirit between the Mormons and the Gentiles.
"In my great grandmother's ward one of the young sisters married a gentile boy. This of course did not please either the Mormons or the Gentiles very much. In the course of time this young couple gave birth to a child. Unfortunately the mother became so ill in the process of childbirth that she was unable to care for her baby. Upon learning of this woman's condition, great grandmother immediately went to the homes of the sisters in the ward and asked them if they would take a turn going into the home of this young couple to care for the baby. One by one these women refused and so the responsibility fell completely upon her.
"She would arise early in the morning, walk what was a considerable distance to the home of this young couple where she would bathe and feed the baby, gather all that needed to be laundered and take it with her to her home. One morning she felt too weak and sick to go. However, as she lay in bed she realized that if she didn't go the child would not be provided for. she mustered all her strength and went. collapsed into a large chair and immediately fell into a deep sleep. She said that as she slept she felt as if she were consumed by a fire that would melt the very marrow of her bones. She dreamed that she was bathing the Christ child and glorying in what a great privilege it would have been to have bathed the Son of God. Then the voice of the Lord spoke to her saying, 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me.'"
Perhaps the most heroic acts are done quietly and with no recognition except from a loving Heavenly Father who rewards us with the sweet peace that passeth understanding and by His Spirit whispers, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
I was touched by an experience that was recently related to me. A dear sister had been incapacitated for the past eight years-she could not walk or talk and was confined to bed. About six years ago, she and her husband were assigned a faithful home teacher. He asked if his wife could come over to their house every Sunday morning and stay with the invalid woman while her husband attended priesthood meeting. For six years, every Sunday this home teacher would bring his wife over to stay with the invalid sister while her husband went to his meeting. And every Sunday the home teacher's wife would bring with her some baked goods or something special that she had made for this older couple.
Finally, this sister who had been ill passed away. When her daughter tried to express her deep love and appreciation to this loving home teacher and his wife for what they had done over the years, the wife said, "Oh, don't thank us. It was our privilege to visit with your sweet mother. What am I going to do now? The hour and a half on Sunday morning will now be, for me, the loneliest hour and a half in the week."
I am impressed that in the last moments of the Savior's life, He had an abiding concern for His mother and for her welfare, thus again setting the example for us. Walking in His steps are the devoted sons and daughters who honor aging parents who are no longer able to help themselves. About two years ago I read this column in the newspaper:
"Dear Abby:
"I'm sitting here on the plane reading the letter in your column about the son who didn't want to put his father up temporarily because he felt his father's visit would be an invasion of his privacy.
"That item caught my eye because I am on my way to visit my son in Omaha for two weeks-at his insistence. I was reluctant to do so initially because I felt I might be interfering with his personal activities.
"I wonder if the son who wrote that letter ever gave a thought to the privacy his father might have forfeited during his son's time at home?
"There were times during my children's lives when, given my druthers, I'd have preferred some alternative activity, but now I don't regret one minute of the time I spent with them. I'm only sorry it couldn't have been more. Their time at home seems to have been so brief.
"I won't mail this, of course, since I realize you will receive thousands of more articulate letters on the above. This is just my way of "
"Dear Abby: My father died suddenly of a heart attack, and this unfinished letter was in his pocket. My wife and I will miss him very much. Sign this-'A son who really wanted his dad to come.' William Smzyk, Omaha, Nebr."
Brothers and sisters, what I have tried to illustrate this morning is that if we are to walk in the steps of the Savior, we cannot do it without personal sacrifice and sincere involvement. It is rarely convenient; but love extends beyond convenience for those who have conditioned themselves to look for opportunities to serve. I believe that the Savior was equipped to accomplish His mission not only through His parentage, but because of His thirty years of preparation in developing an awareness of and a sensitivity to the needs of His fellowmen.
In Alma, chapter seven, we read:
"And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
" And he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people."
After a recent stake conference meeting where I had discussed the role of the family in the Church, I was approached by a sweet woman who said: "Bishop, I'm a widow and I really appreciated everything you said today. I have a lovely family, but I have many problems and I do need help. My priesthood leaders have families of their own and they have lots of problems and I don't want to bother them and add to their problems. So what should I do?"
I asked her, "Do you have a good home teacher who really cares about you?"
She said, "Yes, I have a home teacher and he comes by every month or so; but he isn't very involved with our family."
Then I asked, "Well, do you have a visiting teacher who visits you and understands you?"
She said, "Yes, the Relief Society sometimes comes."
At this point, I was praying for a right answer, when a lovely sister, who was standing nearby and heard our conversation, said, "Excuse me, but I was a widow; and even though I have just remarried, I know how you feel and I understand your problems. Please let me drop by. I'd like to visit with you."
Dr. Tom Dooley offers some interesting insights regarding those who have known difficulties and can now share the burden of another. I quote:
"One of Dr. Schweitzer's most important concepts is that of the Fellowship of Those who Bear the Mark of Pain. Who are its members? Those who have learned by experience what physical pain and bodily anguish mean. These people, all over the world, are united by a secret bond. He who has been delivered from pain must not think he is now at liberty to continue his life and forget his sickness. He is a man whose eyes are opened. He now has a duty to help others in their battles with pain and anguish. He must help to bring to others the deliverance which he himself knows.
"Under this Fellowship come not only those who were formerly sick, but those who are related to sufferers, and whom does this not include?"
Again I refer to Dr. Sheldon's book:
"It is the personal element that Christian discipleship needs to emphasize. 'The gift without the giver is bare.' The Christianity that attempts to suffer by proxy is not the Christianity of Christ. Each individual Christian needs to follow in His steps along the path of personal sacrifice to Him. There is not a different path to-day from that of Jesus' own times. It is the same path."
This has been a difficult assignment for me. As I have pondered how practicing welfare principles brings us to Christ, I have searched my own soul and realized that I am far short of my ideal-the Savior. As a result, I have recommitted myself to achieve the "divine nature" of Christ by becoming more aware of ways in which to bless those in need.
I bear my testimony to you that there is a special Spirit of the Savior which accompanies welfare services. I know He loves this work and the thousands of Saints who are engaged in it. And as He counseled His covenant people in the Book of Mormon, so He entreats us today:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do;
"Therefore, if ye do these things blessed are ye, for ye shall be lifted up at the last day.
"Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am."
That we may walk in his steps and become even as he is I pray, in the sacred name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Sister Barbara B. Smith
Relief Society General President
My dear brothers and sisters: The basic principles of welfare-love, consecration, work, service, stewardship or accountability, and self-reliance-are not only important to us as individuals working out our own salvation, but if applied in our homes, can strengthen our marriages and our families. May I tell you how?
The scriptural passages in Proverbs 31 are well known for their listing of the admirable qualities of the virtuous woman, whose "price is far above rubies", but in verse 11 we discover a remarkable description of marriage. It reads: "The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her." This memorable line discloses, first, that the husband has entrusted his heart to his wife, and second, that she safeguards it. They seem to understand an important truth, that every man and woman who covenant to establish a family must create a safe place for their love.
The longing of the human heart is often for someone who will treat tenderly the devotion one has to give. We hear it in the words of a poem by William Butler Yeats: the man has just laid the wishes of his heart at the feet of his beloved, and then he pleads, "Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams."
Equally trusting are the lines of Anne Bradstreet, the Puritan poetess, who in a piece entitled "To My Dear and Loving Husband" confides:
Trust is to human relationships what faith is to gospel living. It is the beginning place, the foundation upon which more can be built. Where trust is, love can flourish.
Then add to love consecration, the dedication of two lives to a holy purpose. To provide a safe place for love, there must be this kind of commitment. Notice in the line from Proverbs the man has given his heart-not conditionally, not a half of it or any part-but all.
To consecrate is to give all one has. When a man and woman make marriage covenants in the holy temple, they begin a new, eternal family unit with all of the blessings promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Such a union is dedicated to the sacred purposes of the Lord-"to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
The young bride-to-be who is anxious for marriage so she can have a "home of her own" may not realize the selflessness required in a good marriage-the "seeketh-not-her-own" kind of love. The husband whose future plans are centered in his own success has a flawed vision of the responsibilities he must assume in a celestial family.
Let us look for a moment at some of the benefits of a marriage based upon love and consecration.
Both husband and wife are committed to helping the other achieve the fullest possible development. How inspiring it is, for example, to hear Elder David B. Haight tell of times he has cooked the dinner so that his wife could attend her Spanish class. Growth can come for both partners when husband and wife develop the kind of love that allows the other to turn potential into perfection and talent into testimony. A strong marriage takes strong individuals equally committed to calling forth the best in themselves as well as in their eternal partner. A husband must give his support if a wife is to adequately use the gifts God has given her. A wife must give her support if her husband is to lead the family.
A marriage made safe by both love and consecration can allow for a variety of opinions.
For a man and wife to become one there are many differences, large and small, that must be accommodated or resolved. In a marriage relationship that is secure, differences need not lead to discord. They can be openly considered until a satisfactory solution is reached because the premises are agreed upon: both the husband and wife are committed to love one another, to build the kingdom of God, and to establish an eternal family unit. All considerations are made in light of these three basic commitments-these are the "givens." When they are held inviolate, the marriage remains intact, even though the process of resolution may involve considerable discussion.
While visiting in the home of her younger sister, a woman observed one such discussion. A difference of opinion was resolved in a kindly, open exchange between the husband and wife. The woman later confided that such a discussion could not have occurred in her home "because," she said, "we cannot afford to have differences aired, for even a small problem challenges our relationship."
Some marriage relationships are little more than an amicable truce; but if such couples were to lay the foundation stones of commitment and trust, of consecration and love, they could build a safe place where individuals can be heard, and where love can grow and can encompass and integrate differing points of view.
Each child has the love and interest of both mother and father.
When children are treated fairly, there is no cause for jealousy because there is no partiality. Reading the Book of Mormon, we find that whenever the people were truly committed to the Lord and had the Holy Ghost in their midst, the conditions described were similar. We read of such an example in 4 Nephi when "every man did deal justly one with another.
"And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, but they were all partakers of the heavenly gift" of love.
Finally, love and consecration establish the basis for happiness. This, too, is described in 4 Nephi: "And it came to pass that there was no contention, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.
"And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults; and surely there could not be a happier people."
Remember that a family established in love and secured by consecration is maintained through work and service. A home is strengthened by work when workers receive respect.
Often a woman who is feeling discouraged about her lot lacks nothing more than appreciation from those she serves. It is easy for a family to grow accustomed to the pleasant circumstances of a home and fail to remember the management necessary or the energy and skills required to keep a house running smoothly.
It may be that there is need to appreciate the mother who is giving all she can to the upkeep of a home but is still not able to maintain order. Perhaps in addition to a recognition of what she does accomplish, an assessment of what might be required to achieve the desired results would bring about a realization that other members of the family must help-either with specific duties or with a change in their living habits to make the housework easier.
An orderly home is conducive to happiness. But the achievement and maintenance of order, while the primary responsibility of the mother, should be the concern of the whole family. When a mother is required to work outside the home, the cooperation of the family, of the whole household, is often critical.
It is sometimes the case that a husband or father fails to be honored for the work he does. Because he is gone from the home and the family does not see him at his work, they may not acknowledge the full significance of his contribution. A family home evening could be devoted to learning about a father's employment, giving him opportunity to explain all that he does. It may provide not only knowledge but also a clearer understanding of his efforts. The wages earned by a man are necessary, but his family's pride in his work is often more valued by him.
Young family members can also learn to have regard for work through being given significant tasks for which they must assume responsibility. The home is a safe place for children to learn how to work because mistakes can be corrected before they become serious, and they can be forgiven. It is the fortunate child whose parent teaches him the value of doing a job well.
While we may not know what vocation our children will choose when they are grown, we can begin to prepare them for success. Under the direction of loving parents, an apprenticeship can be served by them in learning responsibility for tools and equipment, following instructions, and working thoughtfully and cheerfully, and keeping at the assignment until it is successfully completed. These fulfill the prerequisites for most vocational training programs.
Work becomes service when it is given gladly, often unsolicited, and for the purpose of filling another's need. I know that service should be learned in a home. And I am very certain that it blesses the home where it is found.
One family stands out in my mind. My friend had been the recipient and observer of kindly acts of service by her neighbor. Tenderly and efficiently she saw her care for the sick, notice the shy, cheer the downhearted.
One day, while she was attending a lecture, a mother sitting near her rose hurriedly to take a child out who had become ill. As my friend went to see if she might be of assistance, there was another woman there already. Her manner of helping was quiet and quick, knowing just what to do, and it reminded my friend so much of her neighbor that she finally asked if, by chance, she knew her neighbor, only to find that they were sisters. In that family they had learned the meaning of service. By its selfless nature, service within a family increases spirituality and strengthens bonds of love.
Accountability is a necessary condition of work. Responsibility brings system to the workings of a family and order to a marriage. Defining responsibilities and planning a method of reporting back fosters freedom from family discord and is also a meaningful stage in developing personal discipline.
If accountability is to be a learning experience, it must be taken seriously; even small children can recognize when their best efforts are treated patronizingly.
Evening and morning prayers become reports when one understands accountability. Family home evening discussions of projects planned and accomplished can give each family member a feeling of belonging and being needed. There is no better way to prepare family members for service in the Church, or in the world of work, and, most importantly, in their relationships with our Father in Heaven than to be accountable in meaningful responsibilities.
The basic welfare principles fortify and secure. Through them, the home becomes a stronghold, a protection against society's offenses, a haven in time of storm. A family begins with individuals-with two people who become one, and as children are added, in the spiritual arithmetic of family unity, they will still be one. Parents can provide a protecting shelter, a safe place, and children are made strong by the bonds of their love.
Although a family unit is a part of an extended family and participates in the larger circle of the Church, as an eternal organization it must be complete. It must stand alone.
In a profound sense, however, a family is not alone. When it is consecrated to the Lord's work, his Spirit will always be with them.
Should difficulties arise that require a family to receive temporary assistance, they know that this can be a blessing from the Lord and that the power is within them to rebuild their resources. And even though a marriage partner may die, the family will still be whole and strong, for the Lord's strength will sustain them.
Self-reliance comes by complying so completely with the principles of the gospel that each individual and family are added upon by the Lord's strength, making them able to stand strong against the blows of adversity and the changing winds of time and growth.
One husband and father, who had been a dean of a college in his professional career, was then called to be a temple president and then a mission president. Upon release from his mission assignment, he suffered a severe and disabling stroke. Rather than turning to thoughts of complaint, self-pity, or rejection, his wife rose to the trial of this newest experience by drawing upon the strength of the gospel that had always been a part of their lives, as she lovingly reassured: "This is the time for which we have been preparing. We have the foundation of the gospel principles, and I am going to do all I can to make this the happiest time of our lives together."
Relief is only temporary, but welfare is eternal. Mortal life may be limited in both duration and scope, but principles are everlasting. May we fully employ the basic welfare principles of love, work, consecration, service, stewardship or accountability, and self-reliance, to strengthen our marriages and our families in the safe and holy places of heart, temple, and home, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Sister JoAnn Randall
My dear brothers and sisters: We are happy as a couple to be able to speak to you today about how welfare principles have influenced our family through service.
It was with awe that our children first heard the story about a family who gave away their entire Christmas-tree, food, and gifts. It all began when their neighbor's home burned early on the morning of Christmas Eve. When the children heard of their friends' situation, a family meeting was called and they all agreed, without exception, that they would share their Christmas.
The day's activities soon centered around switching name tags on gifts and boxing up Christmas goodies, turkey and all. And at the last minute, they even took the tree! When they gathered back home after delivering their project in secret, they had feelings of excitement and love.
Questions came from our children: "Wasn't it hard for the first family to give?" "Wasn't it difficult for the other family to receive?"
A short time later we had our own opportunity to be receivers of service. After living in a community for only one month, it became necessary for me to stay completely down for two months while expecting our eighth baby. Our first reaction was that we could handle this challenge all alone. The children were used to helping and had regular jobs around the house. However, we soon recognized that despite careful planning and added responsibilities, we needed help.
Even after years of teaching and hearing lessons on serving others and accepting service, we found that to actually let someone help us was difficult to do. But, as we allowed them to help us, we soon found our hearts full of thanks for their thoughtfulness.
A retired couple came by and picked up the youngest children for a morning outing. Our bishop organized a sacrament meeting and brought it in our home. Several busy sisters came by regularly just to chat, because they knew that I enjoyed adult company. A couple prepared and brought in a candlelight dinner to share with us for a date night. A batch of white shirts disappeared and then reappeared, freshly ironed.
The phrase "Call me if I can do anything" took on new meaning. We learned that you will rarely take someone up on such an offer. Instead, we witnessed people who came by saying, "Is it the kitchen you want cleaned, or would you rather have me vacuum?" Many were good examples to us as they not only thought of helpful things to do, but did them.
Another thought came forcefully to mind. Any time service was rendered they could probably have been doing the same thing for their own family at home. Yet a large family brought a canister of homemade ice cream to us. A lovely lady made our daughter's eighth grade graduation dress. A sweet friend brought fresh loaves of homemade bread by the armsful each week, insisting that our family was used to homemade, not store-bought, bread. One of our grandmas left her home and came to stay with us for two weeks.
A line from my journal says: "If only I can remember the same gift of kindness to others when I am well." Service had become a living principle, and we felt an overwhelming desire to be able to serve others.
Then we could truly answer our children's questions. "Is it hard to give?" Yes. It's a sacrifice on someone's part. "Is it difficult to receive?" Yes. But we love those who serve us and those we may serve.
Maybe we don't know a widow whose home needs paint or a new neighbor on our street. But promptings will come, encouraging us to do something good for someone. When we lived in Idaho, we enjoyed doing little things for "Uncle Joe," the ward's favorite pioneer. After we moved, we remembered him occasionally and thought that we really should write a letter to brighten "Uncle Joe's" day. The idea began pressing on my mind, and finally we mailed a note to him. But it was too late. Only one day later we received word that "Uncle Joe" had passed away. An opportunity for service had slipped by because we had ignored a first impulse.
Among our keepsakes is a thank-you note from a sister in our former ward. Our sons were only three and five when their dad followed a prompting to take them with him to an early morning roofing project on this sister's home. She went out of her way to recognize these little boys, to thank them. They tasted of the joy of helping someone in need.
The spirit spreads, so when our daughter came home with an enthusiastic plan about leaving some food on a needy family's doorstep, we were ready to act.
Family service projects don't have to be spectacular or even original. We have found that participating as a family in a welfare farm assignment can be as enjoyable as any recreational outing.
Here are some other projects you may want to do:
Pick up a child regularly for Primary. We did this and found that our little friend soon learned that we really would be by for him every Sunday.
Write appreciation notes to your Primary, school, or home teachers. They will be surprised to find that someone cares.
Sing willingly in the ward choir. The director will be grateful, and you'll be serving through music.
Share your garden crops.
Invite someone who is usually alone in to dinner.
Serve secretly. We think it's great fun to make some goodies together, put them on a porch, ring the bell, and run.
Encourage your daughter to babysit for free while a couple attends the temple.
Organize a neighborhood potluck dinner to build better friendships. Nonmembers can be influenced through this kind of service.
Plan ahead. Start a bank account so that mission service can come later.
Be a good example of gospel living so others will be encouraged.
There is an old Relief Society story about a child who came in as his mother was putting the finishing touches on a cake. He asked: "Who are we giving that away to?" There is still merit in this little incident, as we can see that he is from a home where they are used to giving service to others.
There are so many ways that our families can bring joy to others through service by extending ourselves. I am very thankful for the strengthened testimonies we have received through service, and I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Brother Nyle Randall
Just five years ago last month, our family got involved in a situation that was quite unexpected at the time, but that has changed our entire family. We took a foster child into our home.
I remember that day very well. It was one of those pressure situations in which they couldn't find anybody else and the child was coming the next day. After our great volunteer effort, as a couple we started having all kinds of misgivings about the commitment we had made. We even became a little upset. We felt like we had almost more children of our own than we could handle at the time. We had five children, and it seemed like all of them were at some special age where they make big messes but are not quite responsible enough to see that things get picked up. Now, here we had another child coming who wasn't even one of our own.
With all of these doubts, we sat down with our children to make some preparations. With the faith that can come only from a child, our children, in just a short period of time, were ready to accept their big sister.
Jean arrived, and we found a child much more frightened than we were. She was a seventeen-year-old high school sophomore. We were a family that had not seen a child have a ninth birthday yet, so we knew we were in for some quick learning. That was probably the only right assumption we made about the whole situation.
Right off, we found that we had a new problem. It concerned bathing. She was there just a few days when we realized that something had to be done. Finally, it was decided by the matriarch that the patriarch needed to do his duty-so a daddy-daughter talk was the order of the day. I must say that it went exceptionally well. Starting the next day, we didn't have any hot water for three months.
We look back now on the short time that we had Jean-just a few months-and we realize that we learned many things. Let me take just a minute and review some of them with you.
Both my wife and I had to struggle a little at first to let ourselves accept another child on the same level as our own children. Those first few days were a real struggle as we had to try very hard not to put our own children first. That was an invaluable lesson for us. We can accept anybody now almost immediately. We could have gone a lifetime and not learned how to do that. Our children learned that, too, and we will be eternally grateful for that.
The second thing we learned from Jean was that we can certainly learn many things from others. Jean taught our children many things. She loved to work, and she'd always take a job and do it right. And then she'd pitch in and help the other children with their jobs. She helped our children internalize many of the principles that we were trying to teach them. One of the biggest challenges we were having with them at that time was trying to get them to take a job and do it completely. They seemed to do the minimum-either that or a little less. Jean taught them differently. They would struggle with us, as most children do with their parents, but they would accept it from her.
As an example, Jean liked the satisfaction of doing dishes by hand. She wouldn't use the dishwasher. And to this day we have a daughter that enjoys doing dishes that way.
The third thing Jean helped us with was learning how to communicate with our children. As an older child, if she understood a situation, she basically felt the same way about it as we did. We found that the goal became one of understanding. At first there was a language problem between us; she nodded her head "yes" all the time, but we soon found out that she had learned to do that when sentences ended, even if she hadn't understood what was being said. We came to realize that we needed to extend the same courtesies to our other children that we were giving to Jean. In the process of raising children every day, we start expecting too much from them, and we think they should automatically understand all the things that are going on in the family. Sometimes some of us treat the neighbor children better than we treat our own. It was a great lesson that we are thankful we were able to learn.
The fourth thing was that this was the first real fast-moving missionary experience we'd had as a family. We used to call Jean our "sponge"-she wanted to learn it all. She would ask us questions about everything. She wanted to know why we had to sit down as a group to eat, why we knelt when we prayed, why a person needs to go to church every Sunday, why we have to have different foods for every meal. When it came to gospel living, she felt a special kinship and wanted to know all that she could find out.
I recall one experience that we had with Jean when we went camping. Immediately after I stopped the car, Jean got out and began sweeping the camping area. Our children just couldn't believe it, but she continued until she had swept over all the area, until all the loose dirt and pine needles were in a neat pile. But she didn't stop there: she came over and knelt down by the children and spent the next few minutes talking to them about the principle of cleanliness-that when you are camping or living outdoors cleanliness becomes a very important thing, and that by taking a few steps you can make life livable. And the amazing thing was that they listened. We were just grateful that we were in the Rockies of Colorado and not the sands of New Mexico. I always wondered how deep she would have gone to find solid ground.
Just three weeks ago, Jean returned to our home for a few days with her two children. She was quietly asking questions about ways she could be influencing her family and her children.
Now, I'm sure that as you listen to this, it sounds like the whole experience was joyful and always a good time. But I can promise you that it wasn't. It's like any service done for others; you have to sacrifice something in order to make it happen. The deep feelings of satisfaction that come from service can be gained in no other way. It changes people and prepares them for something very important.
We are eternally grateful to Jean, and not just because we consider her our eldest daughter, or because of the joy that she brings into our home. But we are grateful for the opportunity that she gave us to be of service to another. We have learned as parents that we can spend an awful lot of time teaching gospel principles and applying them in our family and working toward perfection. Sometimes it feels like a great deal of effort is being put forth with very little impact on our children. But as soon as we started living gospel principles through service to another, a great thing began to happen. Our children began to understand the principles of the gospel that we had been trying to teach them.
As we attempted as a family to be of service to another, we found that we received the most. What a marvelous thing that is! By helping someone with something that she couldn't do alone, we received blessings we weren't able to obtain by ourselves. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ in its truest sense. As the family and the individual are strengthened through service to others, they are blessed, and a Zion people is prepared.
I know that Jesus Christ lives, that this Church contains his complete gospel plan, that welfare principles are the gospel in action. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
During a recent department session of Education Week sponsored by Brigham Young University, a wise teacher and stake Relief Society president, Sister Leisel McBride, flashed a large picture on a screen. It showed a bright-eyed boy with unkempt hair and folded arms, deep in thought. The caption read, "I know I'm somebody 'cause God don't make no junk." Please let me repeat, "I know I'm somebody 'cause God don't make no junk."
With the grammar improved, that caption could well be the theme of welfare services.
Every human being in every walk of life needs help in building his self-respect and self-reliance. To be truly effective, welfare services must be concerned with the betterment of the total individual. A person's image of himself is nothing more or less than what he has learned through his experiences and his interactions with others. It is rewarding to note that someone has helped a typical boy develop his personal identity. Someone, perhaps a mother, a Primary teacher, a neighbor, or even a song like "I Am a Child of God," has made this little boy realize he is someone. He knew he wasn't junk. He knew he wasn't impossible. He knew he was a human being loved by his Heavenly Father.
In Ecclesiastes 4:9–10Eccl. 4:9–10 we read: "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
"For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up."
Proper application of welfare services principles is simply providing opportunities for one person to work with another to the mutual betterment of both.
It was recently said of a teacher of the year, "He gives no answers to life's questions, but, rather, he directs each student to find his own answers. He doesn't make you feel dumb. He gives you confidence, encourages, doesn't push."
This great arm of the Church about which we are talking today is instituted to instill in all of us a feeling of individual worth by teaching and developing skills, self-sufficiency, and personal pride in a similar way. Welfare services offers us the opportunity to serve and learn on a continuing basis. Through it we can learn the lessons of never giving up on ourselves or others, or never being defeated by our situations.
The only time we fail in welfare services activities or in the home is when we give up on each other. Patience, long-suffering, and true love can best be taught and learned as we become anxiously engaged in trying to lift all of God's children.
The other day following a Sunday School class a teacher came up and wanted me to shake hands with a special child. As I held my hand out and greeted the boy, I became aware that perhaps the only meaningful thing this child could do was carry the teacher's books to class. What did this empathetic teacher have the boy doing? Carrying the books. Thank God for leaders who know how to teach self-reliance on a level commensurate with the capabilities of those they lead.
Robert Louis Stevenson used these words to remind us of this fact: "To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life." Our Savior said it this way, "As my Father hath sent me, even so I send you." Each one has something special to live for. Some can find their special niche by themselves, but many need added help. All of us are a part of this inspired welfare activity as we assist each other in fulfilling our purposes here on earth.
Satan will do his best to deter us and let discouragement impede our progress. Through trying times we would do well to remember and repeat the famous words of Sir Winston Churchill, England's Lion of Courage, during some of his country's darkest days. With character and strength peculiar to himself, he said, "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never." This mighty statesman in his own way was echoing the words of another mighty leader, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Paul Harvey, News analyst and author, said, "Someday I hope to enjoy enough of what the world calls success so that someone will ask me, 'What's the secret of it?' I shall say simply this: 'I get up when I fall down.'"
There are those who would have us believe that the present Welfare Services principles are outdated, overemphasized, and impossible under existing world conditions. To them we would declare it is easier for some skeptics to give up than to learn. It is no doubt easier to be a critic than a servant. In the uncertain days of the present and of the future, Welfare Services will remain a beacon for the world to see. Its very foundation continues to be built on the rock of helping people to help themselves. Properly implemented, most human needs can be met through this important program of the Church.
Welfare services is God's way. We must have this belief and trust if we are to properly involve ourselves. Besides materials, commodities, money, supplies, labor, and skills, there must be faith-faith to help, lead, and obey in God's way. For guidance and strength may we refer to that great, oft-repeated scripture found in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 104, verses 14 and 16: "I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine.
"But it must needs be done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low."
Self-reliance is developed through a proper balance of agency and accountability. As we live, teach, and share, we develop self-reliance in ourselves and others.
For welfare services to be viable and successful, every member of the Church must be appropriately involved. The Lord's way always involves the individual, the family, and the Church working together. A close tie between welfare services and the home is a necessity. Human understanding, wise preparation, and guidance through prayer are essential ingredients. For order and effectiveness, all action should be taken through proper channels.
It is not enough to make elaborate plans, set up programs, and give serious thought to preparation. Most of us can do that, but many have a hard time really practicing the principles we believe. Some of us have a tendency to shun the fight.
May we remind each other that the strongest helping hand is most often the one closest to ourselves-our very own hands. Can you consider your own options for self-help as problems arise? Or do you toss your arms in the air and say, "Oh, no!" or "Why me?" Can you quietly sit down, review the facts, and list all the possible courses of action? Can you identify causes and determine remedies? Quiet contemplation can solve problems more quickly than frantic force.
President Marion G. Romney has said so often, "No self-respecting Church member will voluntarily shift the responsibility for his own maintenance to another. Furthermore, a man not only has the responsibility to care for himself; he also has the responsibility to care for his family." Paul, speaking to this point, said, "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."
The home, which is the heart of welfare services, and its members should always become involved in all we do so self-respect may be maintained. We must constantly bear in mind that if the total well-being of the individual is to be realized, all members of the family must participate.
Family members usually understand each other best. By working as a team, they may see problems from different points of view. When family councils can be held without destructive arguments, new and better solutions to challenging situations may become evident. Pooling of efforts and resources gives family members a chance to reap the rewards of confidence and security as they help each other solve problems and make progress toward self-reliance and accountability.
Of course, there are times when some of us must turn to the Church resources for help. What a comfort it is to know such resources are available when the needs cannot be met by the individual or his family. Here, too, action is to be taken through proper channels which are well defined. Emotion or panic do not determine the path to follow. All things are to be done in the Lord's own way as specified by our modern-day prophets.
One of the most rewarding projects for the individual and the family is to avoid debt whenever it is possible. Debt in itself is neither good nor bad. It is a financial tool with the potential of being either. Debt in business may be used to increase productivity or aid in expansion. However, most individuals in debt are usually average people, but they are temporarily out of financial control. They are the victims of poor monetary habits and often have no idea of the importance of proper money management. They misuse credit, especially credit cards, and don't live within budgets or wise operational guidelines. For many of us, credit is like a magic carpet on which we can fly to places we couldn't ordinarily get to. We ride free at first, but forget that a little later we will have to pay for the magic carpet. Bondage-producing interest rates added to the original amount will turn out to be staggering.
Debt can cause serious family conflict. Often couples who have trouble stretching their paychecks find their marriage stretched to the breaking point.
In today's marketplace-yes, in your own neighborhood, town, and cities-scheming, deceiving promoters are making available to gullible purchasers all kinds of enticing offers. We are sorry to report thousands within our ranks are being duped by the glib tongues of those who offer and solicit in whispers. "Once in a lifetime opportunities" and "Just for you" approaches are unusual no more. Such offerings and deals should be avoided like a plague.
I believe the Lord wants us to become alarmed and concerned when we see the wicked and unscrupulous taking unfair advantage of the weak and uninformed. No Latter-day Saint should exploit another man's situation, manipulate, lie, steal, cheat, or deceive. Our responsibility is to assist each other in avoiding involvements that can be devastating to our welfare.
The practice of thrift is not outdated. We must discipline ourselves to live within our incomes even if it means going without or making do. The wise person can distinguish between basic needs and extravagant wants. Some find budgeting extremely painful, but I promise you, it is never fatal.
Debt can be destructive, causing financial bondage and bankruptcy and the loss of self-respect. A family who can manage money wisely and budget well, including tithing and fast offerings, is helping itself and others in the Lord's own way. Just debts should be paid. I believe the Lord wants us to be successful in our honorable occupational pursuits and use wisely our means for the benefit of the individual, family, Church, and community.
Jesus said, "Feed my sheep." You can't feed them if you don't know where they are. You can't feed them if you give them reason to resist you. You can't feed them if you don't have the food. You can't feed them if you don't have charity. You can't feed them if you aren't willing to work and share.
Wherever these lost sheep may be, a necessary ingredient for helping is empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand someone else's feelings and to feel what he feels. Meaningful help can never be given without empathy for the recipient. This requires gaining the confidence of the person; listening with eyes, ears, and heart; trying to comprehend how this person feels; and then letting him know by your personal performance that you really understand. One who really understands and practices empathy doesn't solve another's problems, doesn't argue, doesn't top his story, make accusations, or take away free agency. He merely helps the person build his self-reliance and self-image so he can try to find his own solutions.
Those who need help come in all age brackets. Some of His sheep are young, lonely, and lost. Some are weary, afflicted, and worn with age. Some are in our own family, in our own neighborhood, or in the far corners of the world where we can help with fast offerings. Some are starving for food. Some are starving for love and concern.
If we give His sheep reasons to resist us, the feeding process becomes difficult, if not impossible. No one can teach or help with sarcasm or ridicule. Dictatorship or "I'm right and you are wrong" will negate all efforts to feed a wandering sheep. A wall of resistance will be built, and no one will benefit.
Never encourage a man to do something that causes him to lose his pride, or he will turn away and you will have lost the opportunity to help. May we also bear in mind that we never give one of God's children a lift when we give him a free ride. Every person in the Church should possess a self-sustaining spirit of independence that insists he work for what he receives. The best foods with which to feed His sheep are charity and the restoration of dignity.
By our actions we show our love. Expressions of affection are empty if actions don't match. All His sheep need the touch of a shepherd who cares-who leads His flock along upward paths where they can see the value of walking in obedience to God's laws and feel the dignity of reaching lofty goals.
Charity should start in our own homes. Too many of us extend charity to others when it is often most needed within the family circle.
An old Serbian proverb says, "Kindness is the only service that power cannot command and money cannot buy." The best way to show our love in caring and feeding is to take time to prove it with kindness hour by hour and day by day. True love is as eternal as life itself.
During the last few days while President Kimball has been recovering from his recent surgery, I have heard many of you express your love and gratitude for him. Many are looking for ways to show sincere gratitude to him for his service and selfless love. From a priceless, intimate association with President Kimball, I think I can give you some guidelines. Learn to love, unconditionally, all of God's children, regardless of race, creed, or color, and try to serve as he serves. This principle is the foundation of Welfare Services. Each of us could do well to remember Doctrine and Covenants 50:26D&C 50:26: "He that is ordained of God and sent forth, the same is appointed to be the greatest, notwithstanding he is the least and the servant of all."
The Lord cares enough about us to give us direction for serving and the opportunity for developing self-reliance. His principles are consistent and never changing. Practices may be altered as situations warrant, but the Lord's principles are ever stable. The success of welfare services depends on obedience to the basic gospel laws upon which it is built. There is room for innovation and use of free agency when we look for wise ways to serve as long as we stay within the framework of the gospel.
May I, in conclusion, suggest some basic goals as we participate in welfare services:
Build self-respect by building self-reliance.
Give help and service in the Lord's own way, which is a balance of agency and accountability.
Realize the proper sequence of sources of help is the individual, the family, and the Church.
Be aware that to feed His sheep, one must know who and where they are.
Proper assisting requires love, empathy, and the restoration of dignity.
Finally, welfare services requires planning, obedience to basic gospel principles, and above all the willingness to serve as our prophet serves, with unconditional love.
May God help us to give of ourselves with wisdom that they may receive with dignity. Truly, "God makes no junk." We are His children. He loves us and wants us to love ourselves, our families, and our neighbors in a meaningful way. I am pleased with this great arm of the Church. It is an inspired way of life. It is the implementation of eternal principles for the welfare and benefit of all mankind. It is welfare services. To this I leave my witness, testimony, and love in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
It is now my responsibility to say a few words about living welfare principles. For over forty years I have studied and taught the principles of the Church welfare program. I love its principles and know they constitute the capstone to a Christian life. I appreciate what has been said by those who have just spoken to us this morning. They have demonstrated the effect living welfare principles has on us individually and collectively.
In 1936 President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., said, "The real long-term objective of the welfare plan is the building of character in the members of the Church, givers and receivers, rescuing all that is finest down deep inside of them and bringing to flower and fruitage the latent richness of the spirit, which after all is the mission and purpose and reason for being of this church."
Most of us have experienced the joy of observing someone who has been in need of help receive that help and, consequently, become self-sustaining. Many of us have become witnesses to the truth that the poor can be exalted when they are administered to in the Lord's way.
Today, however, I would like to direct my comments to the effect living welfare principles has on the giver, as opposed to the receiver. Repeating president Clark's statement of 1936, "The real long-term objective of the welfare plan is the building of character in the members of the Church, givers and receivers." The Lord doesn't really need us to take care of the poor. He could take care of them without our help if it were his purpose to do so. "I, the Lord," he said, "stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine.
"And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine."
It would be a simple thing for the Lord to reveal to President Kimball where the deposits of oil and precious ores are. We could then hire someone to dig them out and we could float in wealth-and we would float in wealth right down to Hades. No, the Lord doesn't really need us to take care of the poor, but we need this experience; for it is only through our learning how to take care of each other that we develop within us the Christlike love and disposition necessary to qualify us to return to his presence.
That one cannot be a true disciple of Christ without significant giving is dramatically emphasized in the revelation received by the Prophet Joseph Smith in Kirtland, on June 7, 1831. In this revelation, the Lord directed twenty-eight of the elders to travel two by two from Kirtland to Jackson County, Missouri. They were to go by different routes, preaching the gospel as they went. You will recall that they were destitute in those days and had to travel through primitive country. Joseph Smith and his immediate companions "journeyed by wagon and stage and occasionally by canal boat to Cincinnati, Ohio," then to Louisville, Kentucky, and on to St. Louis by steamer. "From this city on the Mississippi, the Prophet of God walked across the entire state of Missouri to Independence, Jackson County, a distance of nearly three hundred miles as traveled." I call these facts to your attention that you may have in mind the background against which the Lord said to these men as they started, "Remember in all things the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted, for he that doeth not these things, the same is not my disciple." Imagine that! These elders were nearly destitute and the Lord said, "Remember the poor and the needy."
That the commandment to give is directed to all people is emphasized by King Benjamin when he said to the poor, "And again, I say unto the poor, ye who have not and yet have sufficient, that ye remain from day to day; I mean all you who deny the beggar, because ye have not; I would that ye say in your hearts that: I give not because I have not, but if I had I would give.
"And now, if ye say this in your hearts ye remain guiltless, otherwise ye are condemned; and your condemnation is just for ye covet that which ye have not received."
Once we are convinced that we have an obligation to give, we must learn that to render service in the proper spirit is of first importance. Mormon, speaking to those who give for the wrong reasons, said, "For if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.
"For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.
"For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God."
Only by voluntarily giving, out of an abundant love for his neighbor, can one develop that charity characterized by Mormon as the "pure love of Christ." In Mosiah we read: "And Alma commanded that the people of the church should impart of their substance, every one according to that which he had; if he have more abundantly he should impart more abundantly; and of him that had but little, but little should be required; and to him that had not should be given.
"And thus they should impart of their substance of their own free will and good desires towards God."
Some may ask, "How do I obtain these righteous feelings in giving? How do I overcome giving grudgingly? How do I obtain the 'pure love of Christ?' " To those I would say: Faithfully live all the commandments, give of yourselves, care for your families, serve in church callings, perform missionary work, pay tithes and offerings, study the scriptures-and the list could go on. As you lose yourself in this service, the Lord will touch and soften your heart and gradually bring you to the feelings with which he blessed the people in King Benjamin's time, which prompted them to say, "Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually."
This charity in its perfection is demonstrated by the Lord in everything that he does. The Lord revealed to Moses the numerous worlds which have been created and said, "For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man.
"And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words."
After revealing to Moses the vastness of his creations, the Lord gave Moses some insight into his reason for doing all this when he said, "For behold, this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Hence, we see the complete unselfishness of our Father in Heaven. His whole work and glory is to bring eternal life and happiness to his children. Should not our whole purpose in this life, therefore, be made up of righteous service one to another? If not, how can we ever hope to be as he is? As we individually become filled with the "pure love of Christ", we collectively evolve into a church which is "pure in heart". We can therefore become as the people of Enoch of whom was written, "The Lord blessed the land and called his people ZION, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them."
Of the Nephites who survived the cataclysm which accompanied the crucifixion of Jesus and thereafter lived the program, the record says, "And it came to pass the people were all converted unto the Lord and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another.
"And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift. And surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God."
Why were these people so happy? Because they were free of the shackles of selfishness and had learned what the Lord knows-that ultimate joy comes only through service.
Becoming a people which is collectively pure in heart is not an impossible dream or an idealistic goal. We know this because the Lord has commanded us to become such, and the Lord gives "no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."
When we reach the state of having the "pure love of Christ," our desire to serve one another will have grown to the point where we will be living fully the law of consecration. Living the law of consecration exalts the poor and humbles the rich. In the process, both are sanctified. The poor, released from the bondage and humiliating limitations of poverty, are enabled as free men to rise to their full potential, both temporally and spiritually. The rich, by consecration and the imparting of their surplus for the benefit of the poor, not by constraint, but willingly as an act of free will, evidence that charity for their fellowmen characterized by Mormon as "the pure love of Christ." This will bring both the giver and receiver to the common ground on which the Spirit of God can meet them.
It is the mission of the Church of this last dispensation to develop another people who shall live the gospel in its fulness. This people are to become "pure in heart," and they shall flourish and be blessed upon the mountains and upon the high places. They shall be the Lord's people. They shall walk with God because they shall be of one heart and one mind, and they shall dwell in righteousness, and there shall be no poor among them.
Let us have these things in mind and let us go forward with this great program. Welfare principles are eternal. The welfare program is built upon the principles of the law of consecration. I know from my own experience that this is the Lord's work. It is to prepare us to become like Christ. If you will think of the most holy, sacred place you have ever been, you will remember that the final thing we are all to do is to be able and willing to consecrate all that we have to the building up of the kingdom of God-which includes caring for our fellowmen. Doing this, we will hasten the advent of the Millennium. God grant that we do not fail, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
By President Gordon B. Hinckley
Counselor in the First Presidency
I suppose there has never been a more generous outpouring of love than that expressed in behalf of President Kimball, our prophet. Unitedly as a people with one heart and one voice we give thanks to the Lord for his blessings and pray for his continued recovery.
We pray also for Elders G. Homer Durham and Theodore M. Burton, who likewise are in the hospital and acknowledge the absence of Elder Burton Howard, who is presiding over the mission in Uruguay.
My brethren and sisters, thank you for your faithful service in behalf of our Father's children wherever you live. Thank you for the efforts you have made in coming here. I pray that when we separate on the morrow, we all will feel that we have been fed the bread of life. I express the same prayer in behalf of those who will receive the conference in their homes.
I should like to voice in your behalf a word of appreciation to those who make widely available the facilities of radio, television, and cable. It is a service greatly appreciated by hundreds of thousands.
And now we are expanding the miracle of satellite transmission in behalf of the membership of the Church throughout the United States. With completion of a new uplink facility, tucked away in the hills a few miles to the north of us, the sounds and the sights of this conference are beamed to a transponder 22,300 miles above the equator. There they are amplified and then reflected back to receiving antennas installed in stake centers in various parts of the nation. These centers are now few, but during the next eighteen months these pioneer installations will be expanded to four or five hundred, making it possible for most of the membership of the Church in the United States, either in their homes through conventional radio, television, or cable, or through gatherings in stake centers, to participate in these general conferences.
With the growth of the Church, we likely could never build a hall large enough to accommodate all who would wish to assemble in one place. Nor would accelerating travel costs make possible their coming. The gifts of science have provided a more convenient way. We are confident that as the work of the Lord expands, he will inspire men to develop the means whereby the membership of the Church, wherever they may be, can be counseled in an intimate and personal way by his chosen prophet. Communication is the sinew that binds the Church as one great family. Between those facilities which are now available and those which are on the horizon, we shall be able to converse one with another according to the needs and circumstances of the time.
Now, I hope you will pardon my speaking in a personal vein for three or four minutes. It was twenty years ago, at the October conference, that I was sustained a member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. Previously, for two and a half years, I had served as an Assistant to the Twelve. These have been eventful years, during which four great and inspired men have presided over the Church-David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, and Spencer W. Kimball. They have been years in which the Church has moved out across the world in a remarkable way. They have been years in which millions of members have been added. They have also been years in which strong voices have been raised against us. We have been criticized, but this criticism has in no way deterred the progress of the work. In fact, it has brought many to our defense and our support, and in some instances it has added to our numbers.
For me personally, these have been challenging years, filled with worrisome responsibility and satisfying experience. Mine has been the opportunity to meet with the Saints over the world. I have been in your homes in many parts of the earth, and I wish to thank you for your kindness and hospitality. I have been in your meetings and listened to your declarations of faith and your expressions of testimony. I have wept with some in your sorrow and rejoiced with many in your accomplishments. My faith has grown, my knowledge has broadened, my love for our Father's children has strengthened wherever I have gone.
In recent months I have had the opportunity of traveling in the People's Republic of China and in the nations of eastern Europe, including Russia. My heart has been touched by the warmth of good people wherever I have gone. All are children of our Father in Heaven. True, there are vast chasms of political and ideological differences. But innately people are the same. They are all sons and daughters of God. They have within their hearts basically the same longings. Husbands love their wives, and wives their husbands. Parents love their children, and children their parents. Their minds respond to the same truths if they are given opportunity to hear them. Speaking of the people generally, they desire peace and not war. They desire brotherhood and not conflict. They desire truth and not propaganda. Ours is a great and compelling responsibility, to teach the everlasting gospel to the peoples of the earth. Many gates are now closed against us. But I am convinced that the Lord in his own time will open them, provided we constantly seek and pray for such openings and are prepared to take advantage of them. I do not know specifically the time frame of the Lord's work, but I do know that we must be anxiously engaged.
During the twenty years and more that I have served as a General Authority, I have seen in a very personal and intimate way a miraculous opening and strengthening of the work in some of the great nations of Asia. We now have well over a hundred thousand members with strong wards and stakes in lands where only twenty-five years ago we scarcely dreamed of entering. The Lord, moving in his mysterious way, has unlocked those doors and touched the hearts of the people. That process is at work today in other lands. I am convinced of this, although the progress may appear almost imperceptible.
Looking back over these twenty years, I am grateful for the great development of the work of the Lord.
And now a new assignment has come. I appreciate the confidence of President Kimball, of Presidents Tanner and Romney, as well as that of my Brethren of the Twelve, the Seventy, and the Presiding Bishopric. My only desire is to serve with loyalty wherever I am called. I thank the many of you who have been gracious and generous in your expressions. This sacred calling has made me aware of my weaknesses. If I have offended at any time, I apologize and hope you will forgive me. Whether this assignment be lengthy or brief, I pledge my best effort, given with love and faith.
I plead for understanding among our people, for a spirit of tolerance toward one another, and for forgiveness. All of us have far too much to do to waste our time and energies in criticism, faultfinding, or the abuse of others. The Lord has commanded this people, saying: "Strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings." This is the commandment, stated unequivocally; and then follows this marvelous promise: "And behold, and lo, I am with you to bless you and deliver you forever."
Now, if I may be guided by the Spirit, I should like to talk about another matter. There recently spoke in this city a prominent journalist from the East. I did not hear him, but I read the newspaper reports of his remarks. He is quoted as having said, "Certitude is the enemy of religion." The words attributed to him have stirred within me much reflection. Certitude, which I define as complete and total assurance, is not the enemy of religion. It is of its very essence.
Certitude is certainty. It is conviction. It is the power of faith that approaches knowledge-yes, that even becomes knowledge. It evokes enthusiasm, and there is no asset comparable to enthusiasm in overcoming opposition, prejudice, and indifference.
Great buildings were never constructed on uncertain foundations. Great causes were never brought to success by vacillating leaders. The gospel was never expounded to the convincing of others without certainty. Faith, which is of the very essence of personal conviction, has always been, and always must be, at the root of religious practice and endeavor.
There was no uncertainty in Peter's mind when the Lord asked him, "Whom say ye that I am?
"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Nor was there any doubt on the part of Peter when the Lord taught the multitude in Capernaum, declaring himself to be the bread of life. Many of his disciples, who would not accept his teaching, "went back, and walked no more with him.
"Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
"Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
"And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."
Following the death of the Savior, would his Apostles have carried on, teaching his doctrine, even giving their lives in the most painful of circumstances, if there were any uncertainty concerning him whom they represented and whose doctrine they taught? There was no lack of certitude on the part of Paul after he had seen a light and heard a voice while en route to Damascus to persecute the Christians. For more than three decades after that, he devoted his time, his strength, his life to the spreading of the gospel of the resurrected Lord. Without regard for personal comfort or safety, he traveled over the known world of his time, declaring that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
"Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Executed in Rome, Paul sealed with his death his final testimony of his conviction of the divine sonship of Jesus Christ.
So it was with the early Christians, thousands upon thousands of them, who suffered imprisonment, torture, and death rather than recant their stated beliefs in the life and resurrection of the Son of God.
Would there ever have been a Reformation without the certitude that drove with boldness such giants as Luther, Huss, Zwingli, and others of their kind?
As it was anciently, so has it been in modern times. Without certitude on the parts of believers, a religious cause becomes soft, without muscle, without the driving force that would broaden its influence and capture the hearts and affections of men and women. Theology may be argued over, but personal testimony, coupled with performance, cannot be refuted. This gospel dispensation, of which we are the beneficiaries, opened with a glorious vision in which the Father and the Son appeared to the boy Joseph Smith. Having had that experience, the boy recounted it to one of the preachers of the community. He treated the account "with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days."
Others took up the cry against him. He became the object of severe persecution. But, he said, and note these words: "I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it."
There is no lack of certitude in that statement. For Joseph Smith that experience was as real as the warmth of the sun at noonday. He never flagged nor wavered in his conviction. Listen to his later testimony of the risen Lord:
"And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!
"For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father-
"That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God."
So certain was he of the cause he led, so sure of his divinely-given calling, that he placed them above the value of his own life. With prescient knowledge of his forthcoming death, he surrendered himself to those who would deliver him defenseless into the hands of a mob. He sealed his testimony with his life's blood.
It was so with his followers. One will find no evidence, not a scintilla of it, that certitude was the enemy of religion in their lives and actions. Time after time they left their comfortable homes, first in New York, then in Ohio and Missouri, later in Illinois; and even after reaching this valley many left again to plant colonies over a vast area of the West. Why? Because of their faith in the cause of which they were apart.
Many died in those long and difficult journeys, the victims of disease, exposure to the elements, and the brutal attacks of their enemies. Some six thousand lie buried somewhere between the Missouri River and this valley. Their love for the truth meant more to them than did life itself.
It has been thus ever since. I wrote these beautiful words as President David O. McKay spoke them to a small group some years ago. Said he:
"As absolute as the certainty that you have in your hearts that tonight will be followed by dawn tomorrow morning, so is my assurance that Jesus Christ is the Savior of mankind, the light that will dispel the darkness of the world, through the gospel restored by direct revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith."
Our beloved President Spencer W. Kimball has said: "I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that he was crucified for the sins of the world.
"He is my friend, my Savior, my Lord, my God."
It is that kind of certitude that has moved this Church forward in the face of persecution, ridicule, sacrifice of fortune, the leaving of loved ones to travel to distant lands to carry the gospel message. That conviction motivates today as it has done from the beginning of this work. Faith in the hearts of millions that this cause is true, that God is our Eternal Father, and that Jesus is the Christ, must ever be the great motivating force in our lives.
We have today some thirty thousand missionaries in the field at a cost of millions to their families. Why do they do it? Because of their conviction of the truth of this work. The membership of the Church is now approaching five million. What is the reason for this phenomenal growth? It is because certainty comes into the hearts of hundreds of thousands of converts each year, converts who are touched by the power of the Holy Ghost. We have a great functioning and effective welfare program. Those who view it marvel at it. It works only because of the faith of those who participate in it.
With the growth of the Church we must build new houses of worship, many hundreds of them. They are costly. But the people give of their means, not only for this purpose, but in the regular and faithful payment of their tithes, because of the certitude of the truth of this work.
The marvelous and wonderful thing is that any individual who desires to know the truth may receive that conviction. The Lord himself gave the formula when he said, "He that doeth the will of the Father shall know of the doctrine, whether I speak of God or whether I speak of myself."
It will take study of the word of God. It will take prayer and anxious seeking of the source of all truth. It will take living the gospel, an experiment, if you please, in following the teachings. I do not hesitate to promise, because I know from personal experience, that out of all of this will come, by the power of the Holy Ghost, a conviction, a testimony, a certain knowledge.
People of the world seem unable to believe it, so many of them. What they do not realize is that the things of God are understood only by the Spirit of God. There must be effort. There must be humility. There must be prayer. But the results are certain and the testimony is sure.
If our people, as individuals, ever lose that certitude, the Church will dwindle as so many others have. I have no fear of that. I am confident that an ever-enlarging membership will seek for and find that personal conviction which we call testimony, which comes by the power of the Holy Ghost, and which can weather the storms of adversity.
To those who vacillate, who equivocate, who qualify their assertions with uncertainty when speaking of the things of God, these words from the book of Revelation are appropriate:
"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."
My brethren and sisters, as we begin this great conference, I not only invoke the blessings of the Lord upon you but with certitude give you my witness of the truth. I know that God our Eternal Father lives. I know that. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of mankind, the author of our salvation. I know that this work of which we are a part is the work of God; that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. Great is our opportunity for service therein and strong and certain is our faith concerning it. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My brothers and sisters: I publicly express my deep gratitude to the Lord, to our remarkable and beloved President Kimball, and to his counselors for my call to the Twelve-among whom I shall be the least, long after being the last so ordained.
I express deep love and appreciation to my wife, who is splendid in every way; to my goodly and gracious parents and sisters; to my children, who are committed to the kingdom and who have been wise enough to have married committed eternal partners.
I realize that my life, of course, must constitute my real acceptance of the apostolic charge. Even so, this poor tongue now seeks to speak in praise and testimony of our Divine Redeemer.
Whether descriptively designated as Creator, Only Begotten Son, Prince of Peace, Advocate, Mediator, Son of God, Savior, Messiah, Author and Finisher of Salvation, King of Kings-I witness that Jesus Christ is the only name under heaven whereby one can be saved!
I testify that He is utterly incomparable in what He is, what He knows, what He has accomplished, and what He has experienced. Yet, movingly, He calls us His friends.
We can trust, worship, and even adore Him without any reservation! As the only Perfect Person to sojourn on this planet, there is none like Him!
In intelligence and performance, He far surpasses the individual and the composite capacities and achievements of all who have lived, live now, and will yet live!
He rejoices in our genuine goodness and achievement, but any assessment of where we stand in relation to Him tells us that we do not stand at all! We kneel!
Can we, even in the depths of disease, tell Him anything at all about suffering? In ways we cannot comprehend, our sicknesses and infirmities were borne by Him even before these were borne by us. The very weight of our combined sins caused Him to descend below all. We have never been, nor will we be, in depths such as He has known. Thus His atonement made His empathy and His capacity to succor us perfect, for which we can be everlastingly grateful as He tutors us in our trials. There was no ram in the thicket at Calvary to spare Him, this Friend of Abraham and Isaac.
Can those who yearn for hearth or home instruct Him as to what it is like to be homeless or on the move? Did He not say in a disclosing moment that "the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head"?
Can we really counsel Him about being misrepresented, misunderstood, or betrayed? Or what it is like when even friends falter or "go a fishing"?
Can we educate Him regarding injustice or compare failures of judicial systems with the Giver of the Law, who, in divine dignity, endured its substantive and procedural perversion?
And when we feel so alone, can we presume to teach Him who trod "the wine-press alone" anything at all about feeling forsaken?
Cannot the childless who crave children count on His empathy? For He loved children and said, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven"; and "one by one, blessed them," and "he wept and prayed unto the Father for them. And when he had done this he wept again."
Do we presume to instruct Him in either compassion or mercy? Even at the apogee of His agony upon the cross, He, nevertheless, consoled a thief beside Him, saying, "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
Can we excuse our compromises because of the powerful temptations of status seeking? It was He who displayed incredible integrity as the adversary made Him an offer which could not be refused-"all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them." But He refused!
Can we teach Him about enduring irony? His remaining possession, a cloak, was gambled for even as He died. Yet the very earth was His footstool! Jesus gave mankind living water so that we shall never thirst again, yet on the cross He was given vinegar!
Can we lecture Him on liberty, He who sets us free from our last enemies-sin and death?
Can those who revere human freedom yet complain about human suffering ever achieve real reconciliation except through His gospel?
Can those concerned with nourishing the poor advise Him concerning feeding the multitudes?
Can those who are concerned with medicine instruct Him about healing the sick?
Or can we inform the Atoner about feeling the sting of ingratitude when one's service goes unappreciated or unnoticed? Only one leper in ten thanked Jesus, who asked searchingly, "But where are the nine?"
Should those concerned with lengthening the lifespan offer to enlighten the Resurrector of all mankind?
Can scientists, whose discipline brings the discovery of the interweavings in the tapestry of truth, instruct the Tapestry Maker?
Should we seek to counsel Him in courage? Should we rush forth eagerly to show Him our mortal medals-our scratches and bruises-He who bears His five special wounds?
Does not His "word of power" actually bring entire new worlds into being and cause others to pass away? Yet in the midst of such galactic governance, He interviewed His Twelve unhurriedly "one by one" and later called a farm boy in rural New York.
Has He not invited us to observe His cosmic craftsmanship in the heavens that we might see "God moving in His majesty and power"? But do we not also see Him "moving in His majesty and power" as each prodigal finally completes his homeward orbit?
Though His creations are so vast as to be numberless even to computerized man, has Jesus not told us that the very hairs of our head are numbered?
Did not the resurrected Jesus stand by an imprisoned Paul, telling him to be of good cheer and calling him on his mission to Rome? Likewise, Jesus stands by the righteous in all their individual ordeals.
Did not this good and true Shepherd forego repose after the glorious but awful Atonement in order to establish His work among the lost sheep, disobedient in the days of Noah? Did He not then visit still other lost sheep in the Americas? Then still other lost sheep? What can we tell Him about conscientiousness?
Indeed, we cannot teach Him anything! But we can listen to Him. We can love Him, we can honor Him, we can worship Him! We can keep His commandments, and we can feast upon His scriptures! Yes, we who are so forgetful and even rebellious are never forgotten by Him! We are His "work" and His "glory," and He is never distracted!
Therefore, in addition to my boundless admiration of His achievements and my adoration of Jesus for what He is-knowing that my superlatives are too shallow to do more than echo his excellence-as one of His Special Witnesses in the fulness of times, I attest to the fulness of His ministry!
How dare some treat His ministry as if it were all beatitudes and no declaratives! How myopic it is to view His ministry as all crucifixion and no resurrection! How provincial to perceive it as all Calvary and no Palmyra! All rejection at a village called Capernaum and no acceptance in the City of Enoch! All relapse and regression in ancient Israel and no Bountiful with its ensuing decades of righteousness!
Jesus Christ is the Jehovah of the Red Sea and of Sinai, the Resurrected Lord, the Spokesman for the Father in the theophany at Palmyra-a Palmyra pageant with a precious audience of one!
He lives today, mercifully granting unto all nations as much light as they can bear and messengers of their own to teach them. And who better than the Light of the World can decide the degree of divine disclosure-whether it is to be flashlights or floodlights?
Soon, however, all flesh shall see Him together. All knees shall bow in His presence, and all tongues confess His name. Knees which never before have assumed that posture for that purpose will do so then-and promptly. Tongues which have never before spoken His name except in gross profanity will do so then-and worshipfully.
Soon, He who was once mockingly dressed in purple will come again, attired in red apparel, reminding us whose blood redeemed us.
All will then acknowledge the completeness of His justice and His mercy and will see how human indifference to God-not God's indifference to humanity-accounts for so much suffering.
Then we will see the true story of mankind-and not through glass darkly. The great military battles will appear as mere bonfires which blazed briefly, and the mortal accounts of the human experience will be but graffiti on the walls of time.
Before that reckoning moment, however, both your ministry and mine will unfold in the grim but also glorious circumstances of the last days.
Yes, there will be wrenching polarization on this planet, but also the remarkable reunion with our colleagues in Christ from the City of Enoch. Yes, nation after nation will become a house divided, but more and more unifying Houses of the Lord will grace this planet. Yes, Armageddon lies ahead. But so does Adam-ondi-Ahman!
Meanwhile, did not Jesus tell us what to expect by way of heat in the final summer? Did He not also say that He would prove our faith and patience by trial?
Did He not provide needed proportion when He spoke of the comparative few who will find the narrow way leading to the strait gate? Did He not also say that His Saints, scattered upon all the face of the earth, would, in the midst of wickedness, commotion, and persecution, be "armed with righteousness and with the power of God," for He is determined to have "a pure people"?
His work proceeds forward almost as if in the comparative calmness of the eye of a storm. First, He reigns in the midst of His saints; soon, in all the world!
So as the shutters of human history begin to close as if before a gathering storm, and as events scurry across the human scene like so many leaves before a wild wind-those who stand before the warm glow of the gospel fire can be permitted a shiver of the soul. Yet in our circle of certitude, we know, even in the midst of all these things, that there will be no final frustration of God's purposes. God has known "all things from the beginning; wherefore he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men."
Humbly, therefore, I promise to go whithersoever I am sent, striving to speak the words He would have me say and acknowledging in the tremblings of my soul that I cannot fully be His Special Witness unless my life is fully special. I close with pleadings from the hymn "O, Divine Redeemer!" which pleadings are my pleadings:
In the holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Richard G. Scott
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Our son has a small toy robot. It can walk and perform other simple functions. Should it fall, it can, with some difficulty, right itself. It performs its programmed functions mechanically, without feeling. Yet, it has no capacity to grow or to alter its destined course. It responds immediately to any external force that satisfies its needs, and ceases to function when its internal spring is spent. Satan would have all of the children of Father in Heaven behave like robots.
How different is the plan of the Lord. Consider the birth of an infant-an independent spirit created by God and matured in the premortal existence, tabernacled in a body of flesh and bones. A mother and father participate with God in this sacred experience. These parents love, guide, and inspire the growing child. With proper understanding of and obedience to the teachings of the Savior, the child learns "precept upon precept", and by practice of truth, is converted into a self-reliant, loving, serving son or daughter of God, whose potential for growth and accomplishment is limitless; whose destiny, if he is fully obedient, is to return to the presence of God to partake of his glory and to share in his exalted work. Such an individual can have great happiness in this life as well.
Mortal life is a proving ground. God said, "We will make an earth whereon these may dwell;
"And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them."
Our proving grounds vary. Some of us are born with physical limitations; others are lonely or do not enjoy good health. Some are challenged by economic conditions, the lack of good parental example, or a myriad of other things that test our mettle. While much of the pain and sorrow we endure is the result of our own stubborn acts of disobedience, many of the things that appear to be obstacles in our path are used by a loving Creator for our own personal growth.
Life never was intended to be easy. Rather, it is a period of proving and growth. It is interwoven with difficulties, challenges, and burdens. We are immersed in a sea of persistent, worldly pressures that could destroy our happiness. Yet these very forces, if squarely faced, provide opportunity for tremendous personal growth and development. The conquering of adversity produces strength of character, forges self-confidence, engenders self-respect, and assures success in righteous endeavor.
One who exercises free agency by faith grows from challenges, is purified by sorrow, and lives at peace. In contrast, one who frantically seeks to satisfy appetite and worldly desire is driven in a downward spiral to tragic depths. Temptation is the motivating influence in his exercise of free agency.
Some of us at one time or another let the pressures of life or the false teachings of men cloud our vision, but when we see with clarity, the difference between the plan of God and that of Satan is unmistakable. Satan would convert divinely independent spirits into creatures bound by habit, restricted by appetite, and enslaved by transgression. He has never deviated from his intent to enslave and destroy. He would persuade us to improperly use the divine gift of free agency. Through subtle, tempting influence, he encourages us to gratify desire for personal power and influence or to succumb to appetite. He progressively binds those that follow carnal desire. Unless they repent, they are effectively converted into robots who no longer exercise control over their eternal destiny.
He cleverly confuses some until they depict God as an exacting, harsh judge, or as a distant deity, devoted to meticulous scorekeeping. God is neither. He is a loving, patient, understanding Father deeply interested in our personal welfare, anxious for our happiness, and totally committed to our eternal progression.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."
Our happiness on earth, as well as our eternal salvation, requires many correct decisions, no one of which is difficult to make. Together they forge a character resistant to the eroding influences that surround us. Noble character is like a treasured porcelain made of select raw materials, formed with faith, carefully crafted by consistent righteous acts, and fired in the furnace of uplifting experience. It is an object of great beauty and priceless worth. Yet it can be broken in a moment through transgression. When protected by self-control, righteous character will endure for eternity.
We must cultivate true humility, not the ability to appear humble, but the sacred gift of true humility.
Humility is the precious, fertile soil of righteous character. It germinates the seeds of personal growth. When cultivated through the exercise of faith, pruned by repentance, and fortified by obedience and good works, such seeds produce the cherished fruit of spirituality. Divine inspiration and power then result. Inspiration is to know the will of the Lord. Power is the capability to accomplish that inspired will. Such power comes from God after we have done "all we can do."
May I share these introspective thoughts of an individual that found the path to happiness: "I am truly, deeply loved of the Lord. He will do all that I permit him to do for my happiness. The key to unlock that power is myself. While others will counsel, suggest, exhort, and urge, the Lord has given me the responsibility and the agency to make the basic decisions for my happiness and eternal progress. As I read and ponder the scriptures and with deep faith earnestly seek my Father in prayer, peace envelops my being. With sincere repentance and obedience to the commandments of God, coupled with genuine concern for and service to others, fear is purged from my heart. I am conditioned to receive and to interpret divine aid given to mark my path with clarity. No friend, bishop, stake president, or General Authority can do this for me. It is my divine right to do it for myself. I have learned to be at peace and to be happy. I know I will have a rewarding, productive, meaningful life."
This individual is not a robot enslaved by adversity, nor need we be as we wisely use our free agency to follow the teachings of the Savior.
With all the love of my heart, I extend an invitation to all to obtain a fulness of an understanding of the plan of happiness and exaltation provided by the Savior. I testify that this fulness is found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love you and ask you to seek that fulness, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Howard W. Hunter
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
From around the world this season of the year come thousands of people who gather at what has become known as the "Crossroads of the West" for a conference of the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many years have passed since settlers came in covered wagons into this valley in the tops of the Rockies. Conference was an important occasion in their day, and it continues to be a significant occasion in ours as people of faith and devotion come together to renew and strengthen that faith.
Conference time is a season of spiritual revival when knowledge and testimony are increased and solidified that God lives and blesses those who are faithful. It is a time when an understanding that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, is burned into the hearts of those who have the determination to serve him and keep his commandments. Conference is the time when our leaders give us inspired direction in the conduct of our lives-a time when souls are stirred and resolutions are made to be better husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, more obedient sons and daughters, better friends and neighbors.
As we enter into the spirit of conference, another feeling comes to us-one of deep gratitude that we have been blessed by an understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ as it has been restored to earth in this dispensation of time. We mix with others from around the world who have that same feeling, and we wish that men and women everywhere could understand and find the joy and peace that come from the knowledge that all people are children of God and therefore brothers and sisters-literally, actually, and in fact, regardless of race, color, language, or religious belief. Turning to the scriptures, we read:
"And he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God."
We are reminded as we participate in conference of the deep commitment we have to our fellowmen, our brothers and sisters throughout the world. It is a commitment to share with them a gift that has come to us and the greatest gift we could give to them-an understanding of the fulness of the gospel. We are committed to declare to all the world that Jesus of Nazareth is the Savior of mankind, that he has paid for our sins by his atoning sacrifice, that he has risen from the dead, and that he lives today. Our responsibility is to help the people of the world understand the true nature of our Father in Heaven: that he is a personal God, a loving father, and one to whom each of us may go with our problems and concerns.
We who are met here today claim a special, unique knowledge of the Savior's gospel. Most striking of all, to those who first become acquainted with us, is our declaration to the world that we are guided by a living prophet of God-one who communicates with, is inspired by, and receives revelation from the Lord.
How do we know such things are true? We know because God has spoken in our time-in our day. The heavens have opened; God has communicated his word to man; eternal truths have been given to the world from the Father of us all. God the Father and Jesus Christ, his Son, have appeared to and have talked with men in this dispensation. In fact, the Lord has appeared on numerous occasions.
We know that our Father in Heaven loves us and is concerned about our spiritual and temporal welfare. We know that his Son, Jesus Christ, our Elder Brother, has provided a way for us to return to the presence of God; that there is a divine purpose for our being here on earth; that we have a work to do which is an important part of his plan. In addition, we know many details of that plan and have received specific direction about our responsibilities.
For those who hear our message and wonder how we can claim to know of things that may appear to some to be beyond logic or proof, we answer with a statement written by Paul to the church in Corinth:
"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
"But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
"For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, except he has the Spirit of God.
"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
"Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual."
The learning and wisdom of the earth and all that is temporal comes to us through our physical senses in earthly, temporal ways. We touch, we see, we hear and taste and smell and learn. However, spiritual knowledge, as Paul has said, comes to us in a spiritual way from its spiritual source. Paul continues:
"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
We have found, and know, that the only way to gain spiritual knowledge is to approach our Father in Heaven through the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. When we do this, and if we are spiritually prepared, we see things our eyes have not previously seen, and we hear things we may not have previously heard-"the things which God hath prepared," using Paul's words. These things we receive through the Spirit.
We believe, and testify to the world, that communication with our Father in Heaven and direction from the Lord are available today. We testify that God speaks to man as he did in the days of the Savior and in Old Testament times. We would say to the world: "Listen to and weigh the words of this conference; consider the direction and counsel that come from those who speak. Then, after prayerful pondering, that sweet warm conviction that comes from the Holy Spirit will testify to you of its truthfulness."
Let me read to you the words of the Lord spoken through one of his prophets:
"God is merciful unto all who believe on his name; therefore he desireth, in the first place, that ye should believe, yea, even on his word.
"If ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.
"Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves-It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me."
To you who are seeking or questioning the great purposes of life-to you who are wondering why we are here on earth and what the Lord would have us accomplish while we are here-we would say, as a modern-day prophet has said: "Let no man treat these things lightly or doubtingly; but let every man seek earnestly to understand the truth and teach his children to become familiar with those truths of heaven that have been restored to the earth in the latter day."
It is an honor to be in the service of the Lord, to be commissioned by him to declare to the world that his kingdom is here on the earth, available to all who will listen to his message, accept his gospel, and follow his commandments. We know that this work will continue to roll forth, as the Prophet Joseph Smith has said, "till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."
Of these things I testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
In the seventeenth chapter of John, it is recorded that as Jesus prayed to the Father in behalf of his disciples, he said, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
In his prayer Jesus made it perfectly clear that the eleven disciples knew him to be the Son of God. He had taught them who he was and that he had been sent from his Father. That they had received a witness in their hearts and souls to the truth of his teachings is made clear in the following statement by John:
"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
"As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
"I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
"Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
"For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me."
By receiving the Savior's message and accepting him for what he was and is, the Apostles obtained eternal life.
This knowledge of "the only true God, and Jesus Christ" is the most important knowledge in the universe; it is the knowledge without which the Prophet Joseph Smith said no man could be saved. The lack of it is the ignorance referred to in the revelation wherein it is written: "It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance."
We should keep in mind that there is more than one source of knowledge. There is the knowledge obtainable through man's normal sensory organs. Such knowledge should be sought after. The Lord has commanded us to get all such knowledge we can in this manner.
There is also knowledge of divine things which comes through direct revelation-religious knowledge, it is sometimes called. And there are two aspects to religious knowledge. One of them concerns the great store of religious knowledge which we have in the scriptures. Ever since the beginning, from Father Adam's time until now, the Lord has given through his prophets, by revelation, religious knowledge. Such knowledge concerns the verities of life. It deals with God and his Beloved Son, the great gospel plan, and the mission of Jesus as Savior and Redeemer. The other aspect to religious knowledge is the personal witness available through inspiration, a form of revelation that comes to each individual.
The whole world has access to the revealed word of God as it is recorded in the Bible. And the whole world could have access to the revealed religious knowledge recorded in the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.
Millions of people who read and study the Bible do not understand it. Millions do not understand what Jesus said in the prayer recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John from which our theme is taken. The reason they do not understand it is that their understanding has not been enlightened by the power of the Holy Ghost. They have not received a personal witness.
To know God our Eternal Father and Jesus Christ, whom he sent, one must, as did the Apostles of old, learn of them through the process of divine revelation. One must be born again. Let me give you an illustration from the recorded teachings of the Savior as to what I mean.
In the third chapter of John, it is written that Nicodemus, a very wise man, in fact a member of the Sanhedrin, came to see Jesus by night-he did not yet have enough courage to come to see him during the daytime. But he came to Jesus by night, and said:
"Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him."
In this statement Nicodemus unwittingly but clearly revealed the fact that he did not know who Jesus was. All he could see in the Son of God was a great teacher. This was all he could be expected to see, however, because he based his knowledge of who Jesus was upon what he had seen and heard of the Master's miracles. Perceiving this, Jesus informed him that the knowledge of divine things could not be had through man's normal senses.
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," said Jesus.
Although Nicodemus was wise in the things of the world, he could not understand this simple statement of truth. As a matter of fact, his answer revealed amazement:
"How can a man be born when he is old?" he said. "Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
Jesus, still persisting in his efforts to get him to understand, continued: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Here we have the Savior saying that the kingdom of God can neither be seen nor entered except one be born again.
But Nicodemus still could not understand. Jesus then stated the great law: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." That is, that which we learn through our normal senses has to do with this earth. "And that which is born of the Spirit," he said, "is spirit." The things that we learn through the process of inspiration are of God, of the Spirit.
Everyone who would know God the Eternal Father and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent, must receive such knowledge by the Spirit. Church members have, of course, been through the process. They have been baptized and confirmed members of the Church and have had hands laid upon their heads for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Through these ordinances the door is unlocked. Submission to this is absolutely essential to rebirth. But to obtain life eternal one must so humble and purify himself that he in fact receives through the power of the Holy Ghost a personal witness that God is his Eternal Father and that Jesus Christ is God's Son and our personal Savior as well as the Redeemer of the world.
Let me give you an illustration. It is personal to my family, but it makes the point, so I hope you will pardon my use of it. My wife was reared in a home where they had prayer night and morning; where, almost daily, they discussed gospel principles around the family hearth. She loved education and wanted to go to college. Her father, however, thought college was for boys. In her struggle for an education, she developed an attitude of awe toward people who had been through college. As a member of a stake Sunday School board in Idaho Falls, she taught a class. There came to the class a nonmember of the Church, the wife of one of the brethren on the board. This woman had received a college degree from the University of Idaho. My wife, having not yet received her degree, was a little timid in the presence of this woman.
One of the lessons in the course dealt with the First Vision of the Prophet Joseph Smith. As she made her preparation for the lesson, there came into her mind the realization that this nonmember would be present in the class. This realization was followed by the question, "What will she think of me, an ignorant girl, saying that the Father and the Son actually came down from heaven and appeared before a fourteen-year-old boy?" The thought terrified her, and she concluded that she couldn't do it. She went to her mother, crying, and said, "Mother, I can't teach this lesson. I don't know that Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son. I know I have been taught it all through my life by you and Father. I have believed you, but personally I don't know it. This woman will ridicule me. I just can't stand up before the class with this woman present and teach this lesson."
Now, her mother had not been to school very much. She was not an educated person by the world's standards, but she had faith in God the Eternal Father and in Jesus Christ, his Son, and she said to her daughter, "What did Joseph Smith do to get that vision?"
"Well," she answered, "he prayed."
"Why don't you do that?" she said to her daughter.
This young girl returned to her room and there, for the first time in her life in fact, she went to the Almighty with a sincere desire to know whether he lived and whether he and the Savior actually appeared to the Prophet Joseph. Coming out of that room, she went to her Sunday School class and taught that lesson with joy, with knowledge, with conviction. She had been born of the Spirit. She knew.
Now, my beloved brethren and sisters, everyone has to have a spiritual experience to gain eternal life, to know God the Eternal Father, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. I plead with you to seek this knowledge if you don't already have that knowledge. You know the way now. It is not a mass experience. It must come to each individually. It must come to you. It must come to those whom you teach. We must teach by the Spirit, "and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach," said the Savior. "The Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith."
You who have been baptized have the right to it. Desire it. Pray for it. Work for it, and God will give it to you.
That you may each receive that knowledge of God the Eternal Father and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, to know which is eternal life, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Thomas S. Monson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Not long ago a visitor asked, "What is there to see while I am in Salt Lake City?" Instinctively I suggested a tour of Temple Square, a drive to the nearby canyons, a visit to the Bingham copper mine, and perhaps a swim in the Great Salt Lake. A fear of being misunderstood kept me from expressing the thought, "Have you considered spending an hour or two at one of our cemeteries?" I never did reveal to him that wherever I travel I try to pay a visit to the town cemetery. It is a time of contemplation, of reflection on the meaning of life and the inevitability of death.
In the small cemetery in the equally small town of Santa Clara, Utah, I remember the preponderance of Swiss names which adorn the weathered tombstones. Many of those persons left home and family in verdant Switzerland and, in response to the call, "Come to Zion," settled the communities where they now "rest in peace." They endured spring floods, summer droughts, scant harvests, and back-breaking labors. They left a legacy of sacrifice.
The largest cemeteries, and in many respects those which evoke the most tender emotions, are honored as the resting places of men who died in the caldron of conflict known as war while wearing the uniform of their country. One reflects on shattered dreams, unfulfilled hopes, grief-filled hearts, and lives cut short by the sharp scythe of war.
Acres of neat, white crosses in the cities of France and Belgium accentuate the terrible toll of World War I. Verdun, France, is-in reality-a gigantic cemetery. Each spring, as farmers till the earth, they uncover a helmet here, a gun barrel there-grim reminders of the millions of men who literally soaked the soil with the blood of their lives.
A tour of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and other battlefields of the American Civil War marks that conflict, where brother fought against brother. Some families lost farms, others possessions. One family lost all. Let me share with you that memorable letter which President Abraham Lincoln wrote to Mrs. Lydia Bixby:
"Dear Madam:
"I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
"Yours very sincerely and respectfully, Abraham Lincoln."
A walk through Punchbowl Cemetery in Honolulu or the Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Manila reminds one that not all who died in World War II are buried in quiet fields of green. Many slipped beneath the waves of the oceans on which they sailed and on which they died.
Among the thousands of servicemen killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor was a sailor by the name of William Ball, from Fredericksburg, Iowa. What distinguished him from so many others who died on that day in 1941 was not any special act of heroism, but the tragic chain of events his death set in motion at home.
When William's boyhood buddies, the five Sullivan brothers from the nearby town of Waterloo, received word of his death, they marched out together to enlist in the navy. The Sullivans, who wished to avenge their friend, insisted that they remain together, and the navy granted their wish. On November 14, 1942, the cruiser on which the brothers served, the U.S.S. Juneau, was hit and sunk in a battle off Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
Almost two months went by before Mrs. Thomas Sullivan received the news, which arrived not by the usual telegram, but by special envoy: all five of her sons were reported missing in action in the South Pacific and presumed dead. Their bodies were never recovered.
One sentence only, spoken by one person only, provides a fitting epitaph: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
Frequently the profound influence one life has on the lives of others is never spoken and, occasionally, little known. Such was the experience of a teacher of girls, even twelve-year-olds in the Beehive class of Mutual. She had no children of her own, though she and her husband dearly longed for children. Her love was expressed through the devotion to her special girls as she taught them eternal truths and lessons of life. Then came illness, followed by death. She was but twenty-seven.
Each year, on Memorial Day, her girls made a pilgrimage of prayer to the graveside of their teacher. First there were seven, then four, then two, and eventually just one, who continued the annual visit, always placing on the grave a bouquet of irises-a symbol of heartfelt gratitude. This year marked her twenty-fifth visit to the resting place of her teacher. Today she herself is a teacher of girls. Little wonder she is so successful. She mirrors the reflection of the teacher from whom came her inspiration. The life that teacher lived, the lessons that teacher taught, are not buried beneath the headstone which marks her grave, but live on in the personalities she helped to shape and the lives she so selflessly enriched. One is reminded of another master teacher, even the Lord. Once, with His finger, He wrote in the sand a message. The winds of time erased forever the words He wrote, but not the life He lived.
"All that we can know about those we have loved and lost," wrote Thornton Wilder, "is that they would wish us to remember them with a more intensified realization of their reality. The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude."
Two years ago, in beautiful Heber Valley just east of Salt Lake City, a loving mother and devoted father returned to that personal haven called home to discover that their three eldest sons lay dead. The night was bitter cold, and the fierce wind swept the falling snow, which covered the chimney, releasing deadly carbon monoxide fumes throughout the house.
The joint funeral service for the Keller boys was one of the most touching experiences of my life. The residents of the community had placed aside their daily tasks, children were excused from school, and all thronged to the chapel to express their deep feelings of condolence. So long as time and memory endure, I shall remember the scene of three shiny caskets, followed by grief-stricken parents and grandparents making their way to the front of the building.
The first speaker was the wrestling coach of the local high school. He paid tribute to Louis, the oldest boy. With an emotion-filled voice, and choking back the tears, he told how Louis was not necessarily the most gifted wrestler on the team, but added, "No one tried harder. What he lacked in athletic skill he made up with a determined heart."
Then a youth leader spoke of Travis. He told how Travis had excelled in Scouting, in Aaronic Priesthood work, and was such a sterling example to his friends.
Finally, a distinguished appearing and obviously competent elementary school teacher told of Jason, the youngest of the three. She described him as quiet, even shy. Then, without embarrassment, she told how Jason had, in the scrawled penmanship of a boy, sent to her the sweetest and most welcome letter she had ever received. Its message was brief-just three words: "I love you." She could barely complete her talk, so deep-felt were her emotions.
Through the tears and the sorrow of that special day, I observed eternal lessons that had been taught by those boys whose lives were honored and whose mortal missions concluded.
A coach expressed the determination to look beyond athletic prowess and into the heart of each boy. A youth leader made a solemn vow that every boy and girl would have the benefit which the program of the Church provided. An elementary school teacher looked at the small children, classmates of Jason. She said nothing, but her eyes revealed the determination of her soul. The message was unmistakably clear: "I will love each child. Each boy, each girl will be guided in the search for truth, in the development of talent, and be introduced to the wonderful world of service."
And the audience, including Elders Marvin J. Ashton and Thomas S. Monson, will never again be the same. All will strive toward that perfection spoken of by the Master. Our inspiration? The lives of the boys who now rest from care and sorrow, and the fortitude of parents who trust in the Lord with all their hearts, who lean not to their own understanding, and who in all their ways acknowledge Him, knowing that He will direct their paths.
Let me share with you a portion of a letter sent to me by the noble mother of these three sons. It was written soon after their passing.
"We do have days and nights that right now seem so overwhelming. The change in our home life has been so drastic. With almost half our family gone now, the cooking, washing, and even shopping are different. We miss the noise and clutter, the teasing and playing together. Such are gone. Sunday is so quiet. We miss seeing the sacrament blessed and passed by our sons. Sunday was truly our family together day. We ponder the thought: no missions, no weddings, no grandchildren. We would not ask for their return, but we could not say we would ever have willingly given them up. We have returned to our Church duties and our family responsibilities. Our desire is to so live that the Keller family will be a forever family."
To the Kellers, the Sullivans, and indeed to all who have loved and lost, let me share with you the conviction of my soul, the testimony of my heart, and the actual experiences of my life.
We know each one lived in the spirit world with Heavenly Father. We understand we have come to earth to learn, to live, to progress in our eternal journey toward perfection. Some remain on earth but for a moment, while others live long upon the land. The measure is not how long we live, but rather how well we live. Then come death and the beginning of a new chapter of life. Where does that chapter lead?
Many years ago I stood by the bedside of a young man, the father of two children, as he hovered between life and the great beyond. He took my hand in his, looked into my eyes and pleadingly asked, "Bishop, I know I am about to die. Tell me what happens to my spirit when I die."
I prayed for heavenly guidance before attempting to respond. My attention was directed to the Book of Mormon, which rested on the table beside his bed. I held the book in my hand, and, as I stand before you here today, that book opened to the fortieth chapter of Alma. I began to read aloud:
"Now my son, here is somewhat more I would say unto thee; for I perceive that thy mind is worried concerning the resurrection of the dead.
"Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection-Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body are taken home to that God who gave them life.
"And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow."
My young friend closed his eyes, expressed a sincere thank-you, and silently slipped away to that paradise about which we had spoken.
Then comes that glorious day of resurrection, when spirit and body will be reunited, never again to be separated. "I am the resurrection, and the life," said the Christ to the grieving Martha. "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
"And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die."
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, there ye may be also."
This transcendent promise became a reality when Mary and the other Mary approached the garden tomb-that cemetery which had but one occupant. Let Luke, the physician, describe their experience:
"Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre.
"And they found the stone rolled away.
" they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
" as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
"And said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?"
"He is not here: for he is risen."
This is the clarion call of Christendom. The reality of the resurrection provides to one and all the peace that surpasses understanding. It comforts those whose loved ones lie in Flanders fields, who perished in the depths of the sea or rest in tiny Santa Clara or peaceful Heber Valley. It is a universal truth.
As the least of His disciples, I declare my personal witness that death has been conquered, victory over the tomb has been won. May the words made sacred by Him who fulfilled them become actual knowledge to all. Remember them. Cherish them. Honor them. He is risen. Such is my fervent prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Robert D. Hales
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Many of the examples used in the teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ, were from everyday events which happened around him. In much the same way, modern-day prophets teach us by their daily example. The simple but powerful message is "Come, follow me."
May I share with you some of the teaching moments and lessons I have learned from a modern-day prophet.
We can learn much from the courage shown by President Kimball as he has endured his many illnesses. He is a living testimony that, by overcoming pain and adversity, we can cleanse our souls and strengthen our faith and testimony in Jesus Christ. Indeed, in terms of the trials he has had to face, he is in many ways a modern-day Job.
The story of Job in the Old Testament relates three of the great tests we all should be prepared to face at some period in our lives. First, temporal setbacks. Job lost all he owned. Second, physical illness that will test our faith and testimony. And third, depression. Job said, "Why died I not from the womb?" "My soul is weary of my life." But the great lesson of Job is that, "in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." Too often when adversity strikes, we use it as a justification to commit sin and turn away from the teachings of Jesus Christ, the prophets who lead us, and our family and friends. Job maintained his testimony and was blessed for his unwavering faith that God lived and that he would dwell in God's presence.
President Kimball, being a righteous man like Job, has endured many trials-cancer of the throat, heart surgery, boils, cranial surgery, and numerous other afflictions. President Kimball's experiences serve as an example of how we should meet similar adversity and suffering in our lives.
President Kimball has not sinned or charged God foolishly. He has kept his integrity and his testimony, and sung the praises of his Lord throughout his many physical trials. We have never heard him complain about his trials. On the contrary, his challenge has been, "Give me this mountain" to climb.
The courage and faith of President Kimball to overcome adversity are an example to all of us, to testify that we, too, can meet the challenges of life. Our aches and pains are but little hurts in comparison to his. After his throat operation, President Kimball had no voice. During a testimony meeting in the temple, President David O. McKay asked him to bear his testimony. He could not speak a word. He could only utter inaudible, breathy sounds. He wrote a note to President McKay afterwards and asked, "Why would you do that to me?" The President answered, "Spencer, you must get your voice back, for you still have a great mission to perform." President Kimball was obedient. He learned how to control air in his throat and to use the scar tissue that developed in his larynx and his remaining vocal cord. He regained his voice and carried on his great work. The accomplishment of President Kimball's prophetic mission will stand equal to any in this or any other dispensation.
President Kimball's wife, Camilla, has devotedly and lovingly followed her husband every step of the way. I remember one night in Samoa when both President and Sister Kimball had temperatures of 104 degrees. Early the next morning they were the first ones on the bus. He conducted the meetings, and they fulfilled all their busy schedule throughout the day, not just enduring, but being gracious and considerate and thinking of the needs of everyone else around them.
When President Kimball was called to the Council of the Twelve, he accepted his call with humble tears. He wondered if he was worthy of such a great calling. After he hung up the telephone, it was Camilla who assured him, "You can do it, Spencer. You can do it." Camilla is a perfect example of being one with her companion. When asked about her health, her reply was "When he is well, I'm well."
President Kimball taught me a lesson during my call to become a General Authority. He asked if I would come to Salt Lake City to serve as a General Authority for the rest of my life. I was overcome with emotion. My reply: "President Kimball, I just don't know what to say." Then he said, "I only want you to say yes." The lesson was clear; there is no need for an eloquent speech to express our commitment or our love and devotion when accepting a call from the prophet. He already knows these things.
President Kimball always reaches out with love to touch the "one."
We were preparing for an area conference briefing, and as I entered President Kimball's office, he was seated at a typewriter, his back toward the door. He finished typing and spun around in his chair to greet me. In one hand was a thirty-two-page letter from a young man who had read his bookThe Miracle of Forgiveness and, in the other, his personally typed reply to answer the special needs of a young man who wanted and needed his help to repent. The message was a clear one to me: No matter how busy you are, never forget those who need your help.
He bears his missionary testimony as a special witness without the fear of man. I have observed it. At the Copenhagen Denmark Area Conference held August 3–5, 1976, President Kimball went to see Thorvaldsen's beautiful sculpture The Christus, the resurrected Christ, which has been reproduced, as you know, for the visitors' centers in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and New Zealand. After a few spiritual moments admiring The Christus, President Kimball bore his testimony to the caretaker who stood nearby. As he turned to the statue of Peter and pointed to the large set of keys in Peter's right hand, he proclaimed: "The keys of priesthood authority which Peter held as President of the Church I now hold as President of the Church in this dispensation." Then he stated to the caretaker, "You work every day with Apostles in stone, but today you are in the presence of living Apostles." He then introduced President N. Eldon Tanner, Elder Thomas S. Monson, and Elder Boyd K. Packer. He presented the caretaker with a Book of Mormon in Danish, and bore his testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The caretaker was moved to tears in acknowledgment of the Spirit he felt in the presence of a prophet and Apostles. He acknowledged to me as we left the church, "Today I have been in the presence of servants of God."
President Kimball works with loving diligence with all of his heart, might, mind, and strength. He does not demand or expect those around him to work at his pace, but at their pace. He is a man of action, demonstrated by the simple sign on his desk that says, "Do It."
For those who work with him, his example eliminates phrases such as "I'll try" or "I'll do my best." His example and love motivate those who follow his example to achieve higher goals and lengthen their stride toward perfection. He has that rare ability to encourage each of us to do better than our best and to keep striving until we exceed our goals.
During the planning and preparation for the Mexico, Central and South America area conferences in February 1977, we were scheduled to hold meetings in La Paz, Bolivia, which is twelve thousand feet above sea level. Dr. Ernest L. Wilkinson and Dr. Russell M. Nelson advised us that President Kimball should have four to six hours' rest to acclimate his heart and blood pressure to the high altitude. President Kimball is very tightly scheduled during area conferences, and this allows little time for rest.
I talked with President Tanner and President Romney to seek their assistance in getting President Kimball to rest in La Paz before the start of the area conference. They only smiled and said, "You can try."
Detailed plans were presented to the First Presidency for area conferences in Mexico, Central and South America. I saw President Kimball make two small red check marks next to La Paz, Bolivia, where there were two meetings that he was not scheduled to attend. "What are these meetings? Why am I not attending?" he asked. There was a pause; then I replied, "That's a rest period, President Kimball." And he remarked, "Are you tired, Elder Hales?"
We arrived in La Paz, and the first meeting was a cultural event. He would not rest. My head ached; it felt as though it would explode in adjusting to the altitude, and we breathed oxygen to attempt to speed up our being acclimated to the twelve-thousand-foot altitude; but President Kimball took no oxygen. He greeted, embraced, and shook hands with two thousand Saints.
After the last meeting, he invited one thousand more of his beloved Lamanites, who had come down from the Altiplano, to come shake his hand. They came and embraced him and shook his hand vigorously. He wanted to show his love for the Lamanites.
Dr. Wilkinson was concerned with the President's vigorous activity at twelve thousand feet and approached him. He asked President Kimball if it would be possible for him to stop soon. President Kimball said, "If you knew what I knew, you wouldn't ask me that question." President Kimball is driven by the knowledge that we are preparing for the second coming of Jesus Christ. He knows that it is his responsibility, along with those who are chosen to work with him, to take the message to all nations in their own tongue and language.
President Kimball told the General Authorities, "I am not afraid of death. What I am afraid of is that I will meet the Savior and he will say, 'You could have done better.'"
Can you feel the dedication and urgency of a prophet's voice to move the kingdom forward? "Are you tired, Elder Hales?" has a way of ringing in my ears when I rest for a moment. If we knew what President Kimball knows, then we, too, would work with all our heart, might, mind, and strength.
When we tried to save his strength, he'd say, "I know you are trying to save me. But I don't want to be saved; I want to be exalted." He then would tell us that the Lord would sustain him as the prophet, and we should not slow the Church down because of him.
The Prophet Joseph Smith was counseled:
"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
"And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.
"Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands."
In testimony, I ask the Lord's blessing upon us that we might feel the urgency of this great work, to understand what drives our prophet. He is a missionary because he knows that all mankind must be taught by the Spirit and be baptized. Then, if we live worthily, we will attain eternal life, be exalted, and return to the presence of God the Father and Jesus Christ to dwell with them throughout eternity.
I bear you my testimony that a prophet leads this Church today by revelation. One time, in closing a general conference, President Kimball said, "My people say 'Lord, Lord,' and do not what I say." It is my prayer that we will say, "Lord, Lord," and do as our prophet and those who lead this Church today say, and follow their example, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Angel Abrea
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
One extremely hot afternoon I was crossing the green agricultural lands of the Pampas in Argentina. The sun was scorching the highway to the point that the heat waves became visible. Nevertheless, I was confident and comfortable because I had just purchased a brand-new car, fresh from the factory, with a big motor and plenty of power to conquer the elements and allow me to travel briskly in air-conditioned comfort.
Suddenly, I noticed that the temperature in my new car had begun to climb and the big motor began to show signs of strain. When the temperature gauge got to the danger point, I pulled the car over to the side of the road in the hope that with my very limited knowledge of mechanics I could discover what was wrong with the car. I must admit I was rather disgusted to think that something could stop my big new car. It wasn't long after I had lifted the hood that I discovered, to my amazement, that a myriad of colorful little butterflies had collected on the radiator, choked off the cooling process, and stopped the car. I was then struck with the realization of how a few hundred little butterflies, in their collective strength, could master the immense horsepower of the motor. No, it wasn't an eagle, a hawk, or anything else more or less justifiable, but just a couple hundred little butterflies.
This incident made me think about what often happens in our own lives. I thought about the tremendous potential that exists in each one of us, potential that can direct us to eternal life.
The Prophet Joseph Smith said:
"Here, then, is eternal life-to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power.
" shall be heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. What is it? To inherit the same power, the same glory and the same exaltation, until you arrive at the station of a God, and ascend the throne of eternal power, the same as those who have gone before."
How many times do we allow little "butterflies" to reduce, restrain, or restrict our immense potential from guiding us to exaltation?
Proportionately they are relatively few, those who are detained in their journey by the so-called grave or serious sins, like those we might find in the newspaper headlines. Generally, it is not the mighty eagle that defeats us, but the tiny little "butterflies."
To better illustrate this concept, I would like to mention some of those "road hazards" that become obstacles in our marvelous journey to the celestial kingdom.
Have we thought about the tremendous spiritual deterioration that results from not keeping the Sabbath day holy? This commandment involves much more than just resting from our labors. Keeping the Sabbath day holy inherently builds spiritual character and prepares us for what is to come. By observing this commandment, we will have power over evil; we will be more capable of keeping the commandments of the Lord and maintaining ourselves unspotted from the sins of the world.
More specifically, speaking about the Sabbath day, have we thought about the spiritual malnourishment that results from not attending our sacrament meetings, or attending them with a wrong attitude? The sacred covenant made by the members of the Church at baptism should be the prevailing thought and feeling in our hearts and minds as we partake of the sacrament. If we can achieve this, we will always have the Spirit of the Lord with us.
No member of the Church can ignore or simply put aside the weekly renewal of this covenant and pretend to maintain the Spirit. If we really understand the purpose of our sacrament meetings, we will attend them not just to hear someone speak, which is of course important, but to renew the sacred covenants made with our Father in Heaven in the name of his son, Jesus Christ. Those who make a habit of not attending this weekly service, and fail to repent, put in great danger their spiritual stability and welfare.
Have we ever stopped to think what it means to our salvation when we neglect prayer, or don't develop daily from our prayers repeatedly gratifying experiences? We are continually referring to the "power of prayer,". but are we always willing to pay the price so that the promise we find in 3 Ne. 18:18–20 may be fulfilled?
"Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
"Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name;
"And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you."
Another example: do we realize that every time that we sustain the leaders of the Church we are duty bound to support them? The raised hand becomes a symbol of the covenant we make to support them. Each time we criticize or condemn them, we become literally covenant breakers. President Joseph F. Smith made the following comment about this problem:
"The moment a man says he will not submit to the legally constituted authority of the Church, whether it be the teachers, the bishopric, the high council, his quorum, or the First Presidency, and in his heart confirms it and carries it out, that moment he cuts himself off from the privileges and blessings of the Priesthood and Church, and severs himself from the people of God, for he ignores the authority that the Lord has instituted in his Church."
I have had innumerable experiences listening to the reasons people have for not paying their tithing, most of which are just cases of a simple lack of faith.
I remember once in 1957, while I was acting as a new president of a branch in Argentina, I decided to interview the members with respect to the importance of paying tithing. I found myself talking with one good brother of the branch whose name was Jose, who had difficulty paying his tithing. I asked him bluntly, "Brother Jose, why don't you pay your tithing?" I'm sure Jose didn't expect me to be so direct.
After a moment of silence he responded: "As you know, President, I have two children. The wage of a laborer is very low. This month I have to buy my children shoes to go to school; and, mathematically, I just don't have enough money."
In an instant response, I said, "Jose, I promise you that if you pay your tithing faithfully, your children will have their shoes to go to school, and you will be able to pay for all the needs of your home. I don't know how he will do it, but the Lord always keeps his promises. Besides that," I added, "If you still find that you don't have enough money, I will give you back what you paid in tithing from my own pocket."
On the way home, I wondered if what I had done was the right thing. Here I was, recently married, just getting started in my career, and faced with my own economic problems. I began to worry about my own shoes, let alone those of Jose's family! Even though when I got home my dear wife wholeheartedly supported me and reassured me that everything would be all right, I must say that that night nobody prayed harder for Brother Jose's economic welfare than I did.
One month later, I once again sat down with Jose. Though the tears in his eyes almost made it impossible for him to speak, he said: "President, it is incredible. I paid my tithing; I was able to meet all of my obligations, and I even purchased the new shoes for my children, all without an increase in my wage. I know that the Lord keeps his promises!"
Jose remains to this day a faithful tithe payer.
Up until now, I have mentioned only a few of the problems arising from the little "butterflies" that we find in our eternal pathway. Of course, there are many more. We could mention, for example, the lack of self-control that leads many people to break the Word of Wisdom; the various excuses for not complying with the program of personal and family preparedness; the lack of encouragement and the apathy with regard to our genealogical responsibilities; the failure to return often to the temples of the Lord to do the necessary work for our kindred dead; in some cases the lack of interest, in other cases the fear, that precludes many from participating in missionary work. These are only examples of a list that goes on and on.
It is highly probable that we will never lose our status as members of the Church simply for not adhering to one or more of the aforementioned commandments. Nevertheless, whether individually or collectively, these little "butterflies" affect our spiritual development and, fundamentally, the real capability of each individual.
"For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward."
The Lord hasn't sent us to the world to fail. We have been invested with all of the talents and abilities necessary for the journey to arrive, to be once again in His presence. Our greatest challenge is to use faithfully and decidedly all that He has given us to reach our exaltation. If such is our accomplishment-if we "live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God" -at the end of our journey we will once again be part of a glorious experience such as we had at the start, when "all the sons of God shouted for joy."
I know that the Lord has made this possible and that he blesses us and will continue to bless us as we progress to our glorious destination. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Dean L. Larsen
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
On one occasion a group of Pharisees confronted the Savior and demanded to know when the kingdom of God would come upon the earth. Their tradition had taught them that God's kingdom would be impressive in its demonstration of power and in its earthly dominion. Their question, therefore, was a challenge to the Lord's assertion that when the kingdom of God was established on the earth, it would not be as other earthly kingdoms.
The Master's response on this occasion teaches a significant lesson regarding the real source of power and influence within his kingdom. He answered, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
"Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."
The Savior attempted to impress his questioners with the fact that the real power in the kingdom of God is not represented in outwardly observable things. Its strength is in the quality of the lives of its members. It is in the depth of their purity, their charity, their faith, their integrity, and their devotion to truth. This great lesson escaped the perception of the Pharisees. It has significance for us today.
Today our chapels and congregations dot almost every land in the free world. Our temples will soon be within easy traveling distance of almost every member. The percentage of members who attend meetings and activities is at an all-time high. These are encouraging signs. We hope that they are indicators of inward strength. We rejoice in the growth that has marked the development of the Church in this century, and particularly in the last decade or two. We take encouragement from our missionary successes, as rightly we should, but in all of this outward manifestation of increasing strength, we cannot forget the Savior's injunction to those who looked for the kingdom of God to manifest itself in ways that would be impressive by earthly standards. "Behold," he said, "the kingdom of God is within you."
Several months ago I attended a conference in a stake that had compiled an impressive statistical record. By all observable standards, this was a stake composed of devoted, faithful Latter-day Saints. As I met with the stake president in our first interview, I was not surprised that he was anxious to review with me the excellent statistical record that his people were making. The reports had been arranged on his desk to facilitate this review. Before looking at them, I asked the president, "Tell me, how do you feel about your people? Generally speaking, in their spiritual qualities, are they standing on higher ground this year than they were a year ago?" I wanted to assess the president's personal discernment regarding the spiritual strength of his members. He immediately seized this opportunity to direct my attention to the reports. Sensing that he had misunderstood the intent of my question, I explained, "I will be pleased to review the reports with you, but before we do, would you tell me how you feel about your people?"
My insistence on his making this kind of assessment apart from the information in the reports was both frustrating and perplexing to the president. I was sensitive to his frustration, and without further discussion we went through the statistical information. It indicated considerable progress in many areas that are amenable to a quantitative evaluation. I believe the reports were significant indicators of the spiritual quality of the people. However, I had failed to draw from the president the kind of discerning evaluation I had solicited. At the same time, I sensed that he was a little perplexed and somewhat pensive at the conclusion of our interview. His pensiveness continued throughout the meetings of the afternoon and evening and caused me some concern.
On the following day, as the president delivered his address in the general session of the conference, he surprised me by telling the members about his experience with me the previous day. He acknowledged his frustration over my apparent reluctance to go into an immediate review of his correlated reports, and this frustration had remained with him into the night. As he was pondering these things, there came into his mind an experience he had had during the week prior to the conference.
He had visited a member of the stake who was in a hospital recuperating from surgery. During this visit a nurse had entered the room, making her regular calls on the patients. She had gone to some charts that were hanging at the foot of the patient's bed, carefully perused the notations, and then added some of her own. She had then stepped to the side of the patient, felt her pulse, placed a hand on her forehead, asked some questions, and received some responses. The president said, "It occurred to me that the nurse was attempting to assess some of the patient's vital signs-some that were not reflected in the notations on the charts."
The president said that it was then in his reflections that the purpose of my questioning the day before had registered with him. "I realized," he said, "that Elder Larsen was asking me to assess your spiritual vital signs in ways that the reports may not have revealed."
He then continued, "Today I am going to talk with you about those spiritual vital signs-those that go beyond the information on the charts." He proceeded to give one of the finest talks I have heard a stake president give. Interestingly, he made no reference in his remarks to the statistical reports.
We have good reason to feel encouraged and optimistic today as we observe the rapid growth of the Church throughout the world. We are pleased with the level of participation of the members, even though we acknowledge it can be improved. The willingness of the people to serve and to sacrifice for the sake of the Lord's work is commendable.
But what of the kingdom that is within our own souls? There are evidences that we are not completely free from weaknesses within. Family problems multiply. Divorce becomes more common. Signs of preoccupation with worldly, material concerns are apparent on every side. Questionable compliance with principles of trust and integrity in business dealings is too frequent. Courtesy and kindness are too often replaced by abruptness and rudeness in human relations. Growing evidences of promiscuity and infidelity to marriage covenants beset us.
While acknowledging that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually," the Lord expressed a reservation about the individual members and explained, "For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance."
At another time he warned those of his church:
"Behold," he said, "vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth.
"And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord;
"First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord."
In this time of impressive Church growth, it is well for us to look within our own souls to assess our individual spiritual vital signs. Too frequently Latter-day Saints of all ages yield to the temptation to explore and sample forbidden things of the world. Often this is not done with the intent to embrace these things permanently, but with the knowing decision to indulge in them momentarily, as though they hold a value of some kind too important or too exciting to pass by. While some recover from these excursions, an increasingly large number of tragedies occur that bring a blight and a despair into many lives.
The cumulative effect of this is devastating. The reverberations will affect the lives of those who indulge, as well as the lives of those who have loved and trusted them, in unfortunate and unforeseen ways for indefinite periods of time. As a consequence of these things, humanity slips inexorably to a lower level, the real power and influence in the Church and kingdom of God are diminished, and all mankind will inevitably feel the loss. Furthermore, as a collective church, we jeopardize our capacity to merit and claim the preserving and protecting blessings from the Lord.
For those who keep the trust placed in them and who do not yield to the pattern of the times, and for those who have made or are making their way back from dark paths, I have the most profound admiration and gratitude. You are our shining hope. You are our real strength. You will make a significant difference in the final outcome of things. You are the last great counterforce against the evil that is engulfing the earth. God bless you for this!
As I view the days that lie ahead, I am hopeful because of the Lord's promise, and I know his kingdom will prevail, but I tremble as I read his declaration to us:
"For this is a day of warning, and not a day of many words. For I, the Lord, am not to be mocked in the last days."
The enduring strength of the kingdom is not to be found in the number of its members, the rate of its growth, or the beauty of its buildings. In God's kingdom, power is not equated with body count nor with outward routine compliance with prescribed performances. It is found in those quiet uncharted acts of love, obedience, and Christian service which may never come to the attention of official leadership, but which emulate the ministry of the Lord himself.
It is a time for us to assess our own spiritual vital signs in those essential areas that take us beyond the information on the charts. "For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder LeGrand Richards
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Brothers and sisters, in the many times that I have spoken from this pulpit in a general conference of the Church, being a missionary, I have usually spoken to the nonmembers of the Church to try to convince them that we have the only true church upon the face of the earth today-not built upon the wisdom of men, but committed directly from heaven by heavenly messengers.
Today, as I have thought of what I would like to say, I thought I would like to speak to the inactive members of this Church, those who ought to be active because many of them come from good Latter-day Saint families; and then to those of you who have inactive family members in the Church.
The Lord, speaking through Moses, said, "This is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." This being so, the Lord should provide a way for us, his spirit children, to know what his program is, in order that we may be able to obtain immortality and eternal life-and he has: that is the mission of this great Church.
I think that many of our people don't really know just what this Church stands for. Jesus said, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me."
And then, speaking of those who would be judged of him at the time of his return to the earth, he said: "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
When John the Revelator was banished to the Isle of Patmos, a voice from heaven said, "Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter." The angel of the Lord showed John many wonderful things. He showed him the coming of a new heaven and a new earth when there would be no more sickness and no more pain, no more sorrow and no more death; when we would no more need the sun by day nor the moon by night, for the glory of God would be upon the earth; when no man would say, "know ye the Lord," for every man would walk in the light of the Lord his God.
When John saw all of that, he wanted to kneel down and worship the angel who showed it to him. And the angel said, "See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets."
Earlier, the angel had showed him the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened and every man was judged according to the things written in the books, according to their works. Death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them. Then the angel said, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and shall reign with him a thousand years." Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing, to be worthy to come forth in the morning of the first resurrection?
But the angel didn't leave it there. He said, "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." Is there any clear thinking man who would want to gamble on being left in his grave a thousand years when the Son of Man shall come in the clouds of heaven with all the holy angels, and those who have died in him shall be brought forth from the grave, and those who are living in him shall be caught up in the air and changed in the twinkling of an eye? I like the statement of the philosopher Cicero. He said he was much more interested in the long hereafter than he was in the brief present.
Today in our natural, routine patterns of life, our children go to school as we did for twelve to twenty years, to learn how to have a richer life here in mortality, to earn a better living and enjoy the cultural and refined things of life. If it is worth spending twelve to twenty years to prepare for a life of seventy-five to a hundred years, what is it worth to prepare for a life that never ends?
The Prophet Alma in the Book of Mormon said that this life is the time to prepare to meet the Lord. And I think we ought to be more interested in the long hereafter than we are in just the brief present. I wonder if we ever stop to figure how long that long hereafter really is.
You have probably heard me tell this before, but when my wife and I had been married thirty-five years, I said, "Mommy, what do you think we will be doing in thirty-five million years from today?"
She said, "Where did you get that crazy idea? It makes me tired to think of it!"
I said, "Well, you believe in eternal life, don't you?" I said, "We are told that time is measured only to man, that with God there isn't such a thing as time. It is one eternal round." Then I said, "Now, Mother, if you believe that, you and I ought to be pretty well acquainted with each other in thirty-five million years from today."
Isn't that what Cicero meant when he said he was much more interested in the long hereafter than he was in the brief present?
During the ministry of the Savior, He gave us many parables and statements to prepare us for his second coming when he would come with power to reign upon the earth. I would like to give you a few of his statements.
I give you first his parable of the talents. You remember the parable about the man who went on a far journey and gave to his servants his talents. To one he gave five; and to another two; and to another one. And after a time he returned to hold an accounting with those servants. And the one who had been given five talents said, "Lord, thou deliverest unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more." And he gave him the ten talents. And the Master said: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things." "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
The one who had received two talents won another two talents, and he got the same plaudit for faithfulness over his two talents. But the one who had received the one talent hid it in the earth. He said, "I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
"And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine."
And what did the Master say? "Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
"For unto every one that hath shall be given but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
"And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Would anybody like to look forward to that time that never ends, that long hereafter, and be assigned where there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth?
Now I give you another of the Savior's parables about preparing for his coming, and that is the parable of the ten virgins. You remember that five of them took oil in their lamps, and five of them had no oil. When the call came, "The bridegroom cometh," the five with oil went to meet him; the others wanted to borrow, but there was not enough to share, so they went to purchase oil. The ones with oil went into the wedding feast; and the others, when they returned, found the doors were already closed. Why do you think Jesus gave us a parable like this if he didn't feel that those who were inactive need to come into activity in his Church?
The next parable I give to you is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. You remember how Lazarus ate the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and how the dogs licked his sores. Then the rich man and Lazarus both died. Lazarus went to the bosom of Abraham-that is, he was received with honor. And the rich man went to a condition of torment. The rich man looked up and saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom and he cried out, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame."
But Abraham said, "Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot."
Then the rich man's thoughts turned to earth where he had five brothers, and he said, "I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:
"For I have five brethren; lest they also come into this place of torment.
"Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
"And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."
Jesus also said, referring to the time of his coming: "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
"Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left."
How would one feel to see his associate taken, and to be left for a thousand years?
Now Jesus didn't give us all of those beautiful parables for nothing. He said: "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
" And the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
"And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
" And the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."
Who would want to build their house upon the sand, so that it would not withstand the storms of adversity?
That is my plea here today, that we prepare ourselves for his coming.
You remember the words of the prophet Jeremiah. He said the day would come when it should no longer be said, "The Lord liveth, that brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from all the lands whither he had driven them" and that he would send for many fishers and they would fish them, and for many hunters and they would hunt them from the hills and from the mountains and from the holes in the rocks. That's the thirty thousand missionaries scattered throughout the world gathering in scattered Israel.
Jeremiah said, "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you." What a covenant! Isn't it wonderful to think that if we will heed the promptings of the Holy Spirit, it will be like a relationship of being married unto Him?
Then Jeremiah adds, "And I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
"And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding."
Search your histories of the world. You can't find anywhere else where people have been gathered one of a city and two of a family like they have to these valleys of the mountains and where they have been given by God the Eternal Father pastors after his own heart such as you have listened to here in this conference today, and as you will on the morrow.
Now, that is my testimony to you, and I pray God to keep you and your families with the harness on, using your gifts and talents for the building of our Father's kingdom, and I leave you my love and blessing in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Boyd K. Packer
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I always come to the Tabernacle early for priesthood meeting in order to shake hands with the deacons, teachers, and priests. I have to sift through a lot of elders, seventies, and high priests to find them, but it's well worth it to meet the Aaronic Priesthood. We who hold the higher priesthood salute you, our brethren of the Aaronic Priesthood.
I want to tell you about the unseen power of the Aaronic Priesthood. A boy of twelve is old enough to learn about it. As you mature you should become very familiar with this guiding, protecting power.
Some think that unless a power is visible it cannot be real. I think I can convince you otherwise. Do you remember when you foolishly put your finger in that light socket? While you did not see exactly what happened, surely you felt it!
No one has ever seen electricity, not even a scientist with the finest instruments. However, like you they have felt it. And we can see the results of it. We can measure it, control it, and produce light, and heat, and power. No one questions that it is real simply because he cannot see it.
Although you cannot see the power of the priesthood, you can feel it, and you can see the results of it. The priesthood can be a guiding and protecting power in your life. Let me give you an example.
After President Wilford Woodruff joined the Church he desired to serve a mission.
"I was but a Teacher," he wrote, "and it is not a Teacher's office to go abroad and preach. I dared not tell any of the authorities of the Church that I wanted to preach, lest they might think I was seeking for an office."
He prayed to the Lord, and without disclosing his desire to any others, he was ordained a priest and sent on a mission. They went to the Arkansas Territory.
He and his companion struggled through a hundred miles of alligator-infested swamps, wet, muddy, and tired. Brother Woodruff developed a sharp pain in his knee and could go no further. His companion left him sitting on a log and went home. Brother Woodruff knelt down in the mud and prayed for help. He was healed and continued his mission alone.
Three days later he arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, weary, hungry, and very muddy. He went to the largest inn and asked for something to eat and for a place to sleep, although he had no money to pay for either.
When the innkeeper found he was a preacher, he laughed and decided to have some fun with him. He offered Brother Woodruff a meal if he would preach to his friends.
A large audience of the rich and fashionable people of Memphis gathered and were quite amused by this mud-stained missionary.
None would sing or pray, so Brother Woodruff did both. He knelt before them and begged the Lord to give him His Spirit and to show him the hearts of the people. And the Spirit came! Brother Woodruff preached with great power. He was able to reveal the secret deeds of those who came to ridicule him.
When he was finished, no one laughed at this humble holder of the Aaronic Priesthood. Thereafter he was treated with kindness.
He was under the guiding, protecting power of his Aaronic Priesthood. The same power can be with you as well.
Let me teach you some very basic things about the Aaronic Priesthood.
It "is called the Priesthood of Aaron, because it was conferred upon Aaron and his seed, throughout all their generations."
The Aaronic Priesthood goes by other names as well. Let me list them and tell you what they mean.
First, the Aaronic Priesthood is sometimes called the lesser priesthood.
"Why it is called the lesser priesthood is because it is an appendage to the greater, or the Melchizedek Priesthood, and has power in administering outward ordinances."
This means that the higher priesthood, the Melchizedek Priesthood, always presides over the Aaronic, or the lesser, Priesthood. Aaron was the high priest, or the presiding priest, of the Aaronic Priesthood. But Moses presided over Aaron because Moses held the Melchizedek Priesthood.
The fact that it is called the lesser priesthood does not diminish at all the importance of the Aaronic Priesthood. The Lord said it is necessary to the Melchizedek Priesthood. Any holder of the higher priesthood should feel greatly honored to perform the ordinances of the Aaronic Priesthood, for they have great spiritual importance.
I have, as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, passed the sacrament. I assure you I have felt honored and humbled beyond expression to do what some might consider a routine task.
The Aaronic Priesthood is also called the Levitical Priesthood. The word Levitical comes from the name Levi, one of the twelve sons of Israel. Moses and Aaron, who were brothers, were Levites.
When the Aaronic Priesthood was given to Israel, Aaron and his sons received the presiding and administrative responsibility. The male members of all other Levite families were put in charge of the ceremonies of the tabernacle, including the Mosaic law of sacrifice.
The law of sacrifice had been observed since the days of Adam. It was symbolic of the redemption that would come with the sacrifice and the atonement of the Messiah. The Mosaic law of sacrifice was fulfilled with the crucifixion of Christ.
Anciently they looked forward to the atonement of Christ through the ceremony of the sacrifice. We look back to that same event through the ordinance of the sacrament.
Both sacrifice before, and the sacrament afterward, are centered in Christ, the shedding of His blood, and the atonement He made for our sins. Both then and now the authority to perform these ordinances belongs to the Aaronic Priesthood.
This is indeed a sacred responsibility and includes you in a brotherhood with those ancient servants of the Lord. It is no wonder that we feel so humble when we participate in the ordinances assigned to the Aaronic Priesthood.
Can you see that it is correct to call it the Aaronic or the Levitical Priesthood? It is a matter of designating duties; it is all one priesthood.
Finally, the Aaronic Priesthood is referred to as the preparatory priesthood. This, too, is a proper title because the Aaronic Priesthood prepares young men to hold the higher priesthood, for missions, and for temple marriage.
I have thought it very symbolic that John the Baptist, a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood, prepared the way for the coming of the Lord in ancient times. He came also to restore the Aaronic Priesthood to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to prepare for the coming of the higher priesthood. The Lord Himself said that there "hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist."
You would do well to watch your fathers and your leaders, to study how the Melchizedek Priesthood works. You are preparing to join the elders, seventies, high priests, and patriarchs and to serve as missionaries, quorum leaders, bishoprics, stake leaders, and as fathers of families.
A few of you who now sit there as deacons, teachers, and priests will one day sit here as Apostles and prophets and will preside over the Church. You must be prepared.
It is indeed correct to call the Aaronic Priesthood the preparatory priesthood.
Let me teach you some important principles of the priesthood. When you receive the Aaronic Priesthood, you receive all of it. There are three kinds of authority relating to your priesthood. You should understand them.
First, there is the priesthood itself. The ordination you received carries with it the overall authority to perform the ordinances and to possess the power of the Aaronic Priesthood.
Next, there are offices within the priesthood. Each has different privileges. Three of them-deacon, teacher, and priest-may be conferred upon you when you are in your teenage years. The fourth office, that of bishop, may come to you when you are mature and worthy to become a high priest as well.
The deacon is to watch over the church as a standing minister. The quorum consists of twelve deacons.
The teacher is to "watch over the church always, and be with and strengthen them." The teachers quorum numbers twenty-four.
The priest is to "preach, teach, expound, exhort, and baptize, and administer the sacrament, and visit the house of each member." The priests quorum numbers forty-eight. The bishop is the president of the priests quorum.
You always hold one of these offices. When you receive the next higher office, you still retain the authority of the first. For instance, when you become a priest, you still have authority to do all that you did as a deacon and teacher. Even when you receive the higher priesthood, you keep all of the authority of, and, with proper authorization, can act in the offices of, the lesser priesthood.
Elder LeGrand Richards, who was Presiding Bishop for fourteen years, has often said, "I'm just a grown-up deacon."
There is no rigid form of wording for your ordination. It includes the conferring of the priesthood, the giving of an office, and also a special blessing.
I once attended a meeting with President Joseph Fielding Smith. Someone asked President Smith about a letter that was then being circulated by an apostate who claimed that the Church had lost the priesthood because certain words had not been used when it was conferred. President Smith said, "Before we talk about his claim, let me tell you a little about the man himself." He then described the character of the man and concluded, "And so you see, that man is a liar pure and simple-well, maybe not so pure."
The offices are a part of the priesthood, but the priesthood is greater than any of the offices within it.
The priesthood is yours forever unless you disqualify yourself through transgression.
When we are active and faithful, we begin to understand the power of the priesthood.
There is one other kind of authority that comes to you if you are set apart as a quorum president. You then are given the keys of authority for that presidency.
You receive the priesthood, and the office you hold within the priesthood, by ordination. You receive the keys of presidency by setting apart.
When you become a deacon, your father may, and generally should, ordain you; or another who holds the proper priesthood could do it.
If you are called as president of your quorum, your bishopric would set you apart. You can receive the keys of presidency only from those who have received them.
Unless your father is in the bishopric, he would not have those keys.
These keys of presidency are temporary. The priesthood, and the offices within it, are permanent.
One more thing: You can receive the priesthood only from one who has the authority and "it is known to the church that he has authority."
The priesthood cannot be conferred like a diploma. It cannot be handed to you as a certificate. It cannot be delivered to you as a message or sent to you in a letter. It comes only by proper ordination. An authorized holder of the priesthood has to be there. He must place his hands upon your head and ordain you.
That is one reason why the General Authorities travel so much-to convey the keys of priesthood authority. Every stake president everywhere in the world has received his authority under the hands of one of the presiding brethren of the Church. There has never been one exception.
Remember these things. The priesthood is very, very precious to the Lord. He is very careful about how it is conferred, and by whom. It is never done in secret.
I have told you how the authority is given to you. The power you receive will depend on what you do with this sacred, unseen gift.
Your authority comes through your ordination; your power comes through obedience and worthiness.
Let me tell you how one of our sons learned obedience. When he was about deacon-age, we went to his grandfather's ranch in Wyoming. He wanted to start breaking a horse he had been given. It had been running wild in the hills.
It took nearly all day to get the herd to the corral and to tie his horse up with a heavy halter and a rope.
I told him that his horse must stay tied there until it settled down; he could talk to it, carefully touch it, but he must not, under any circumstance, untie it.
We finally went in for our supper. He quickly ate and rushed back out to see his horse. Presently I heard him cry out. I knew what had happened. He had untied his horse. He was going to train it to lead. As the horse pulled away from him he instinctively did something I had told him never, never to do. He looped the rope around his wrist to get a better grip.
As I ran from the house, I saw the horse go by. Our boy could not release the rope; he was being pulled with great leaping steps. And then he went down! If the horse had turned to the right, he would have been dragged out the gate and into the hills and would certainly have lost his life. It turned to the left, and for a moment was hung up in a fence corner-just long enough for me to loop the rope around a post and to free my son.
Then came a father-to-son chat! "Son, if you are ever going to control that horse, you will have to use something besides your muscles. The horse is bigger than you are, it is stronger than you are, and it always will be. Someday you may ride your horse if you train it to be obedient, a lesson that you must learn yourself first." He had learned a very valuable lesson.
Two summers later we went again to the ranch to look for his horse. It had been running all winter with the wild herd. We found them in a meadow down by the river. I watched from a hillside as he and his sister moved carefully to the edge of the meadow. The horses moved nervously away. Then he whistled. His horse hesitated, then left the herd and trotted up to them.
He had learned that there is great power in things that are not seen, such unseen things as obedience.
Just as obedience to principle gave him power to train his horse, obedience to the priesthood has taught him to control himself.
Throughout your life you will belong to a quorum of the priesthood; your brethren will be a strength and a support to you.
More than that-you will have the privilege of being a support to them.
Much of what I have told you about the Aaronic Priesthood applies to the Melchizedek Priesthood as well. The names of the offices change, more authority is given, but the principles remain the same.
Power in the priesthood comes from doing your duty in ordinary things: attending meetings, accepting assignments, reading the scriptures, keeping the Word of Wisdom.
President Woodruff said: "I traveled thousands of miles and preached the Gospel as a Priest, and, as I have said to congregations before, the Lord sustained me and made manifest His power in the defense of my life as much while I held that office as He has done while I have held the office of an Apostle. The Lord sustains any man that holds a portion of the Priesthood, whether he is a Priest, an Elder, a Seventy, or an Apostle, if he magnifies his calling and does his duty."
John the Baptist restored the Aaronic Priesthood with these words:
"Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins."
You-our deacons, teachers, and priests-have been given sacred authority. May the angels minister unto you. May the power of the priesthood be upon you, our beloved young brethren, and upon your sons throughout the generations ahead. I bear witness that the gospel is true, that the priesthood holds great power, a guiding, protecting power for those who hold the Aaronic Priesthood. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Bishop H. Burke Peterson
First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric
My brethren of the priesthood, tonight is a special time for me. As some of you may know, my wife and I have five daughters. They are beautiful, talented, and faithful. They are the apple of my eye. But we have no sons. As a boy, I always went to priesthood meeting on Sundays with my father and brothers. As a father, I have always gone alone. As a priesthood leader, I have interviewed and taught hundreds of boys concerning the Aaronic Priesthood. This has been a great experience, but I have never taught one of my own sons. I've gone on countless fathers and sons' outings, but never with one of my own.
Tonight, in one of the stake centers in Arizona, my oldest grandson, who is twelve, is attending his first general priesthood meeting of the Church as a deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood. When he was born, I'd been waiting for over twenty years to buy a pair of cowboy boots for a boy. On his first Christmas, I gave him a pair.
Tonight I would like to talk to him and tell him some things he may not know about the priesthood he holds. I'd also like to visit with his friends-the members of his deacons quorum-and, in fact, with all of the young men-the deacons, teachers, and priests-throughout the Church. I'd like to visit with you about this very special Aaronic Priesthood authority you now have.
I recognize that to some of you this special authority may not mean so much right now. Others of you may really be excited about it, but you may not know why you feel as you do. And some few of you may not yet have qualified yourselves to receive it.
Now, to my grandson for a moment: Darren, I remember a few weeks ago when we visited your ward sacrament meeting in Arizona. I was seated on the stand and you were assigned to pass the sacrament to those seated there. You passed the bread and the water to me in remembrance of the Savior. In your office as an Aaronic Priesthood bearer, you actually helped me rededicate my life to keeping the commandments of God. Even though I am your grandfather and a Melchizedek Priesthood holder, you used your authority to help me renew my covenants. I was thrilled with that experience we shared together. As I saw the reserved smile on your face I sort of thought you had figured it to be pretty neat too. Did you know that I've passed the sacrament during sacred times to the Presidency of the Church, as well as to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the other General Authorities? Isn't it terrific that you and I use this same priesthood authority to help each other make these covenants with the Lord?
Sacrament time is a very special time, and you are now an important part of it. You are different now than you used to be. The Lord has said he is going to share with you some of his power and authority to help others through life. He is going to let you do some sacred things now that you couldn't do before. Let me tell you some more of them.
If you live worthy of it, as a teacher you will be able to go into the homes of some of the members of your ward with the responsibility to help them understand some of the gospel teachings. You don't need to be afraid; you'll be surprised and thrilled when you feel the inspiration to say certain things to your families. One of our home teachers is an Aaronic Priesthood bearer. He comes every month. Three weeks ago he prayed with us and left a blessing on our home. We all felt good.
You'll get a chance, because you are a priesthood holder, to help take care of the poor and the needy as you assist your bishop in receiving fast offerings from members of your ward. There is no more satisfying assignment than helping those in need. Gathering fast offerings is a blessing to you when you look at it as helping the bishop and the poor. Someday you may get to see the smile on a widow's face and the tears in her eyes when the bishop takes her some groceries or pays her rent with the fast offerings you have gathered for him.
Now, many more priesthood responsibilities will be given to you as you grow older. When you are a priest, as many in this meeting are, you will be able to administer the sacrament. You will be able to baptize others. Think of it! You, like these older boys here tonight, will have the same authority to baptize that John the Baptist had when he baptized the Savior. Did you know it was his Aaronic Priesthood that authorized him to perform that baptism?
Remember, brethren, all this-and much more-will come to you if you live worthily. Keeping yourselves worthy of the priesthood is going to be hard to do sometimes. I'm mindful that it is not easy to be a teenager in today's world. There comes a time in every boy's life when he would like to be-and needs to be-accepted by his peers, by the kids he pals around with. Sometimes this seems to be almost as important as being liked by mom and dad. When you're under this sort of pressure at school, it isn't easy to say no when no is the right thing to say-or to say yes when yes is the right thing to say. It takes real courage to be a faithful Aaronic Priesthood holder.
I've found out that power in the priesthood comes to those who keep a few simple rules. Power doesn't automatically come from the priesthood unless we live for it. Unfortunately, we have some boys who have become sort of careless in their habits. Some have made mistakes in their lives and have not repented of them. For the time being, even if they still hold the priesthood, they may have lost some of its power. Do you know what I mean?
Like the right to be inspired after you've studied for a talk at church or a test at school.
Or like the courage to say no when you are asked to do something that isn't right.
Or like the power you need when you are praying for a sick mother or dad or a sister or brother.
If I wanted to develop power in the priesthood-if I wanted to be inspired in the things I did every day-here are some of the things I would do:
I believe I would try to read the scriptures every day for ten or fifteen minutes. I would probably start with the Book of Mormon. I wouldn't worry if I didn't understand everything I read the first time-or the second time-or the third. But I'd read often.
I would kneel and say my prayers every night and morning. When I was a boy, I couldn't always remember to say my prayers at night. I wanted to, but sometimes I would forget because I'd be too sleepy. When I got older, I had a great idea.
If I were you, I would go out in the field and find a rock about the size of your fist. I'd wash it clean and put it under my pillow. Then, when I would get in bed at night and drop my head on my pillow-crack! I would remember to get out of bed and kneel down by it. I would then put the rock on the floor by my bed and go to sleep. Then, in the morning, I would jump out of bed, and as my foot would come down on the rock-"Ouch!" And I would remember to kneel down and say my morning prayers. Sometimes we need reminders to form good habits.
I would decide tonight that I am going to pray for a desire to go on a mission. I would pray every day until it happened! And I would start now with a missionary savings fund. I would go home tonight and get a can or a jar with a lid on it, clean it out, and put it in my room. Then, after I had paid my tithing I would start putting something aside for a mission.
Now, maybe we ought to say one more thing to our friends who have made some very serious mistakes and because of this have either lost or have not yet received this special power we've been talking about. The Lord has made a great promise to all of us, for he said: "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more."
Think of it! He'll forget what we did wrong, if we do the following: "By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins-behold, he will confess them and forsake them."
The first step in getting your life right when these very serious mistakes have been made is to visit with one of your parents. If not your parent, then go see your bishop-tomorrow! You will be surprised how easy it is to pray after you have talked with your bishop or your parent. I promise you that you will feel good after seeing him.
Now, every boy listening really can be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to perform all sorts of sacred priesthood responsibilities-even miracles, if necessary. I have a great love for all of you. I hope you will try harder to live as we've taught you tonight. Let me close my visit by sharing an experience:
Some years ago, when I was serving as a bishop in a ward in Arizona, we had an unusual group of teenagers. Most of them had the courage to do what was right. They stayed close to each other and helped each other when things got tough. Most of them went to a high school close by. In numbers, they were really only a handful of the total student body. They met a girl at the school who was not a member of the Church. Her circumstances were unusual, for she was deaf. She also had a defective heart. The only way she could know what you were saying was to watch your lips and read them. She sat in the front of each class so she could see the teachers speak. She was a good student, but when you can't hear and can't be active, it's hard for you to be a part of what is going on. You're sort of a spectator rather than a participant. She was a spectator watching from the sidelines.
The young people from the ward were friendly to her and invited her into their circle. She responded to their kindness. One step led to another, and with her parents' permission she was finally invited to receive the missionary lessons in one of the homes. She was taught by two nineteen-year-old elders not much older than she. She liked what she heard; she believed what she heard; she felt good inside. The day was set for her baptism. We were all invited to go. Dressed in white, she and one of the missionaries entered the water, and she was baptized as he said, calling her by name, "Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
The next step was for her to be confirmed. Some of us stood in the circle as priesthood hands were placed on her head. I was aware that she couldn't see the lips of the one confirming her. And she wouldn't be able to hear the blessing he might give. I listened carefully because I wanted to invite her into my office later, where she could see me talk, and tell her what had been said.
A nineteen-year-old elder was the voice as she was confirmed a member of the Church. He then continued with a blessing. As he spoke, he began to make her promises that I thought were unusual. In fact, I became a little uneasy at his words. He continued the blessing, and I began to feel a calm spirit of peace as he spoke. Later, I sat in front of her and said, "I want to tell you of the blessing the elder gave you. It was tremendous."
She paused, and with moistened eyes said, "Bishop, I heard the blessing."
She had been healed. She could now hear, and her heart was beating normally. She could now participate more fully in the gospel and in the blessings of life.
There are many lessons to learn from this story. The one I would like you Aaronic Priesthood bearers to remember is this: Here was a nineteen-year-old missionary, an elder holding the holy Melchizedek Priesthood. He had prepared himself for a mission. He had made himself worthy to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to perform a miracle. So, as he stood with his hands on her head, he felt an impression-a heavenly message, if you please-telling him there was a special blessing for this young woman and he had been chosen to deliver it.
He listened. He obeyed. And through the authority and power of the priesthood, a young life was made whole.
May the Lord bless all of you young men as you develop your personal relationship with the Savior. I testify that he lives! I testify that he knows your name! He knows you intimately! He loves you! May his power and blessing be with you in your Aaronic Priesthood ministry. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder L. Tom Perry
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Traveling to the four corners of the world we encounter all too often a spirit of gloom among the people. Their concerns range from wars, rumors of wars, famine, and inflation to drug addiction, climate changes, pollution, bigness of government, etc. I can understand why those who are without faith in our Lord and Savior would become prophets of gloom. Times can be difficult. However, a look at the causes of the difficulties proves that they are man-made and that solutions are within man's ability to accomplish.
The Lord has given us the comforting assurance that "if ye are prepared ye shall not fear." The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches hope and opportunity. To find the happiness we are seeking and rid ourselves of fear, we must be prepared to follow the system and order the Lord has established for His children here on earth.
The leadership of the Church since the very beginning has taught and trained us in the way we should be organized. During what I consider to be the most difficult periods in the history of the Church, when the Prophet Joseph Smith was unjustly imprisoned in the Liberty Jail, the Lord selected this time to give him the revelation on the priesthood. To the Prophet's cry for relief, the Lord replied:
"How long can rolling waters remain impure? What power shall stay the heavens? As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints.
"Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?
"Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson-
"That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness."
If man is limited in his growth and perfection by his ability to use his priesthood, then surely we must continually strive to use its power and to organize ourselves more perfectly.
As I have traveled to the stakes of the Church, I have found priesthood organizations functioning quite effectively at the stake and ward levels. Generally, the greatest weaknesses exist in the organization and operations in both the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthood quorums. Let me direct a few words of instruction to you who have the responsibility for this important link in the priesthood chain.
President Stephen L Richards at one time gave us a threefold definition of a priesthood quorum. He said a priesthood quorum is three things: "first, a class; second, a fraternity; and third, a service unit." Let us look at his definition as it relates to our priesthood quorums.
First, a class. In the Doctrine and Covenants we read,
"And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith."
The quorum meetings have been designed for the purpose of teaching us the law of the Lord. Fundamental in this teaching is instruction in our duties as bearers of the priesthood. It is not a time for speculation regarding the mysteries of the world. It is a time of basic, practical, how-to instruction, for which we can find application in our lives. The lessons should teach us how we can become better husbands, fathers, and members of quorums and should teach us our responsibilities to our fellowmen.
This summer I had the opportunity of attending a high priest group meeting in a small community in southern Wyoming. The lesson that week was on justification and sanctification. It was evident as the lesson was beginning that the teacher was well prepared to instruct his brethren. Then a question prompted a response which changed the whole course of the lesson. In response to the question, the comment of one of the brethren was, "I have listened with great interest to the lesson material. The thought has crossed my mind that the information presented will soon be lost if we do not find application to put the material presented into practice in our daily lives."
Then he went on to propose a course of action for the quorum. The night before, a citizen of the community had passed away. His wife was a member of the Church, but he had not been. This high priest had visited the widow and offered his sympathy. Leaving the home after the visit, his eyes wandered over the beautiful farm of the deceased brother. He had put so much of his life and labor into building it up. The alfalfa was ready to cut; the grain would soon be ready to harvest. How would this poor sister cope with the sudden problems now falling on her? She would need time to get herself organized for her new responsibilities.
Then he proposed to the group that they make an application of the principle that was being taught-by working with the widow to keep her farm operational until such time as a more permanent solution could be found by the widow and her family. The balance of the meeting was spent in organizing the project to assist her. The principles of the lesson found immediate application.
As we left the classroom, there was a good feeling among the brethren. I heard one of them remark as he passed through the doorway, "This project is just what we needed to get this quorum working together again." A lesson had been taught, a brotherhood had been strengthened, a service project had been organized to assist someone in need.
Brethren, let us make of our quorums a class where we will receive the best instruction possible to guide us in our responsibilities and obligations as bearers of His holy priesthood.
Second, the quorum as a fraternity. Many years ago I was called to be the adviser to a priests quorum. It was during a time when the Church had instituted a standard quorum award program. The program was designed to encourage the full quorum to have an interest in each member. An award was given for the achievement of the total quorum, not for individual accomplishment.
This was a quorum of high-spirited, devoted young men. They fulfilled their quorum responsibilities almost 100 percent, with the exception of one member. Bill had lost his father the previous year, and he was having a hard time adjusting to this great loss in his life. His mother was doing all she could to help Bill find himself again, but he started missing his meetings and developing some other bad habits.
After Bill had missed one meeting, a quorum member was assigned to contact him and encourage him to attend his quorum meeting. The quorum member was only able to reach his mother, who explained that Bill stayed out so late on Saturday night she could not get him up on Sunday morning. The second week came and still no Bill in quorum meeting. Again a contact was tried, with the same result.
As we assembled for quorum meeting the third week without Bill, I could see there was great concern on the part of the quorum for their absent member. They expressed the fact they were not a whole quorum without him, and they could not hold another meeting without Bill. I asked for suggestions. Quick was the response that we go over to his home and hold the meeting.
We drove to Bill's house. His mother was most cooperative and invited us to go back into Bill's bedroom. There was Bill, comfortably sleeping in his bed. We started the meeting with a spirited opening hymn. On the first note Bill came up out of those sheets like he had been shot out of a gun. He wondered what was happening to him.
What followed was one of the sweet experiences of my life. Each quorum member expressed his love for Bill. This was followed by a kneeling prayer around Bill's bed. Bill got to his feet after the prayer with tears rolling down his face. We shook hands and left, a whole quorum once again. Bill knew of the love his quorum members had for him, and he wanted to be a part of it.
Elder Rudger Clawson of the Council of the Twelve once said: "The Priesthood of God on earth has been organized into quorums for the mutual good of the members, and for the advancement of the Church. A quorum which meets merely to study lessons, only partially accomplishes its purposes. The spirit of brotherhood should be the directing force in all the plans and operations of the quorum. If this spirit be cultivated, wisely and persistently, no other organization will become more attractive to the man who holds the Priesthood." Let us build a bond of brotherhood for each member of our quorum.
Third, the quorum is a service unit. "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" was the counsel of the Savior to Peter. The obligation of membership in our Father in Heaven's kingdom is to be of service to His children.
President Joseph F. Smith once told of an instance he remembered from his boyhood. He said that when he was very young he was attending a party in the Mansion House given by his uncle, the Prophet Joseph Smith. A large company was present, engaging in the festivities of the occasion. Suddenly the door opened and a man entered, dressed in ragged, shabby clothes. He was dirty, and his hair and beard were long and unkempt. He looked like a tramp. The Prophet at the time was on the other side of the room, opposite the door through which the man had come. President Smith said that Joseph, athletic man that he was, fairly sprang across the room, grabbed the shabby man in his arms, and hugged him as if he were a near and dear relative. This man was a brother in the priesthood. He had undergone a harrowing experience and made a tremendous sacrifice for his brother, the Prophet of God. The history of the Church is filled with accounts of quorum brother serving quorum brother with great love and understanding.
President Stephen L Richards has said:
"The Priesthood is usually simply defined as 'the power of God delegated to man.' This definition, I think, is accurate. But for practical purposes I like to define the Priesthood in terms of service and I frequently call it 'the perfect plan of service.' I do so because it seems to me that it is only through the utilization of the divine power conferred on men that they may ever hope to realize the full import and vitality of this endowment. It is an instrument of service. Its uses and purposes are all defined in terms of service and the man who fails to use it is apt to lose it, for we are plainly told by revelation that he who neglects it 'shall not be counted worthy to stand.' "
Elder Richards continues:
"The Priesthood is not static and a man's ordination to it is not a static investiture. There may be some men, however, who so regard it, for they seem to be so smug and content with their ordinations.
"I can well imagine such a man going into the presence of the great Eternal Judge and saying in substance, 'While I was on earth I was a High Priest. I come now to claim the reward of a High Priest.' I think it is not difficult to suppose what may be his answer. He will likely be met with such questions as these, 'What did you do when you were a High Priest? How did you use this great power which you held? Whom did you bless with it?' Upon his reply to such interrogatories as these will his reward be predicated."
Brethren, let us teach our quorums how to serve.
I am of the persuasion that the greatest preparation we can make to relieve ourselves from fear of the future will not be the year's supply we accumulate in our basements, the savings accounts we build, or the stocks and bonds we store in our safety deposit boxes. As important as these are for the protection of our family, our real security, I believe, will be found in our understanding of the priesthood organization and in sound application of priesthood principles. At the very foundation of the priesthood structure is the properly organized, trained, and functioning quorum of the priesthood.
Let us return to our wards and stakes and evaluate again how well we are prepared in our priesthood quorum organizations. Are they functioning as a class to train the brothers in their priesthood responsibilities? Are they functioning as a brotherhood to bless the lives of each member? Are they functioning to render service to their families, to the Church, and to the communities in which they are organized?
May we be quickened in our hearts this night with a firm resolve that high on the priority list during the months ahead will be the strengthening of our priesthood quorums, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Counselor in the First Presidency
The Brethren have asked that I now speak to you. This has been a wonderful meeting. I hope that we long remember what we have heard.
As I consider some of the problems people cause themselves by failing to look ahead, I think of a letter I clipped a long time ago from a newspaper. It was first published in England. I hope you will pardon a bit of humor. I use it only to set the stage for what I wish to say.
It appears that an English company owned a property in the West Indies. A violent storm damaged one of the buildings, and a man was sent to make repairs. Of his experience, he wrote the manager as follows:
"Respected Sir,
"When I got to the building, I found that the hurricane had knocked some bricks off the top. So I rigged up a beam with a pulley at the top of the building and hoisted up a couple of barrels full of bricks. When I had fixed the building, there was a lot of bricks left over.
"I hoisted the barrel back up again and secured the line at the bottom, and then went up and filled the barrel with extra bricks. Then I went to the bottom and cast off the line.
"Unfortunately, the barrel of bricks was heavier than I was, and before I knew what was happening the barrel started down, jerking me off the ground. I decided to hang on, and halfway up I met the barrel coming down and received a severe blow on the shoulder.
"I then continued to the top, banging my head against the beam and getting my finger jammed in the pulley. When the barrel hit the ground, it bursted its bottom, allowing all the bricks to spill out.
"I was now heavier than the barrel and so started down again at high speed. Halfway down, I met the barrel coming up and received severe injuries to my shins. When I hit the ground, I landed on the bricks, getting several painful cuts from the sharp edges.
"At this point I must have lost my presence of mind, because I let go of the line. The barrel then came down, giving me another heavy blow on the head and putting me in the hospital.
"I respectfully request sick leave."
After hearing that, you may wonder how anyone could be so thoughtless and shortsighted. And yet every day we see people whose lives become entangled and who are bumped and bruised because they fail to plan, to think, to consult with others, to follow the teachings of the gospel. I appreciate what has been said tonight to the boys of the Aaronic Priesthood. And since they constitute a very substantial part of this vast congregation, boys whose lives are largely ahead of them, I should like to speak to them, to help save them from some of the bumps and bruises of life.
I should like to offer what I have chosen to call "Four Bs for Boys." They are: Be Smart, Be Fair, Be Clean, and Be True.
Be smart.
By this I do not mean be smart-alecky or anything of that nature. I mean be wise. Be smart about training your minds and hands for the future. Each of you is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Each of you is a son of God. You have an obligation to make the most of your life. Plan now for all the education you can get, and then work to bring to pass a fulfillment of that plan.
You live in a complex age. The world needs men and women of ability and training. Do not short-circuit your education.
I am not suggesting that all of you should become professional men. What I am suggesting is this: whatever you choose to do, train for it. Qualify yourselves. Take advantage of the experience and learning of those who have gone before you in whatever field you choose. Education is a shortcut to proficiency. It makes it possible to leapfrog over the mistakes of the past. Regardless of the vocation you choose, you can speed your journey in getting there through education.
The Lord himself has said to all of us: "Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith."
Over the years the Church has put vast sums of money into education, secular as well as religious. From the beginning of this work, our leaders have taught us the importance of training.
Be smart. Do not forfeit the schooling that will enhance your future in order to satisfy your desire for immediate, fleeting pleasure. Cultivate the long view of your life. Most of you are going to be around for a good while.
Be smart-in your appearance, in your deportment, in your manners. I am not suggesting that you go about dressed as a fashion plate. I am suggesting that you be clean and neat in your appearance, that you be gentle in your speech, that you be courteous and respectful in your manner. Each of you is a Mormon boy. Whether you think it or not, you will reflect good or ill on the Church by reason of your behavior.
Be smart. Do not be so shortsighted as to indulge in the use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. It simply is not smart to do so. It is stupid, if you will pardon that harsh word, to use cocaine, marijuana, or any of the other drugs that rob you of control of your mind. After every drug-induced "high," there is a reactionary "low." Why spend money on that which can only harm you? Why become enslaved to a habit that can only hinder and short-circuit your future?
Beer and other forms of alcohol will do you no good. Their use will be expensive, will dull your conscience, and could lead to the disease called alcoholism, which is humiliating, dangerous, and even deadly. Tobacco will shorten your life. Studies show that it will enslave you, weaken your lungs, and statistically that it will shorten your life seven minutes for each cigarette smoked.
Be smart. Take the Lord at his word. His is the wonderful promise that those Saints who follow his counsel in these matters "shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;
"And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint."
Young men, do you wish to run and not be weary and to walk and not faint and to grow in knowledge and understanding? Then be smart in shunning those things which inevitably will shackle you, adversely affect your health, cloud your minds, and shorten your lives.
Be fair.
We hear complaints that in high schools where Latter-day Saints are in the majority, those not of our faith feel discriminated against. Most of you will go on missions, we hope all of you. You will learn the importance of friendshipping and fellowshipping. Now is the time to practice these principles, to reach out with appreciation and kindness to others. Many a young man has come into this Church because of the friendship of a high school associate. I earnestly hope that no boy within the sound of my voice will ever do anything to prejudice an associate against the Church or its people.
I should like to add that I feel that there is no real basis for such charges of discrimination. But, be they true or not, I want to suggest that we develop an outreaching attitude to help those who are not of us, to encourage them, to lead them in a gracious and kindly way toward those associations which could expose them to the wonderful programs of the Church.
I think of Edwin Markham's poem:
Now, in saying this I am not suggesting that LDS boys date non-LDS girls, or vice versa. Your chances for a happy and lasting marriage will be far greater if you will date those who are active and faithful in the Church. Such dating is most likely to lead to marriage in the House of the Lord.
What I am speaking against is any attitude whatever that demeans, that downgrades, that leads to evil speaking of another.
In athletic contests there is no occasion for booing and catcalls. Of course mistakes are made by umpires and referees. Of course players do things outside the rules. But the score will not be changed by all the booing in the world.
Be fair. As you move onward in your lives, in your university studies and beyond, avoid shady and unfair practices. Clean competition is wholesome; but immoral, dishonest, or unfair practices are reprehensible, and particularly on the part of a Latter-day Saint.
Be fair. The best rule ever given concerning standards of fairness was spoken by the Lord when he said, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
Be clean.
The Lord himself said, "Be ye clean." I speak particularly of moral cleanliness. There is no substitute under the heavens for personal virtue.
We live in a time when the world considers virtue lightly. You young men of the Church cannot consider it lightly. For a Latter-day Saint, loss of virtue inevitably means loss of self-respect, loss of respect for her with whom he transgresses, loss of discipline in managing one's mind and body, and loss of integrity as a holder of the priesthood. Of course there is repentance, and of course there is forgiveness. But there will also be heartache and regret and disappointment. There may likewise be cast a cloud upon your opportunity for future service in the Church.
I am not asking you to be prudish. I am asking you to be virtuous, and I think there is a vast difference between the two.
Be clean. Watch what you read. No good and much harm can come of reading pornographic magazines and other such literature. They will only stimulate within you thoughts that will weaken your discipline of yourself. No good will come of going to movies that are designed to take from you your money and give you in exchange only weakened wills and base desires.
Finally, be true.
You are youth of the noble birthright. You may not at this time know what that means. It means that behind you are great men and women who did wonderful and brave things. They made decisions that were not easy to make, and in many cases they paid a terrible price for those decisions, some of them even giving their lives rather than forsake the truth they had embraced.
In 1897, when President Wilford Woodruff was ninety years of age, a great gathering of children and youth assembled in this Tabernacle. This elderly man, who had known so much of sorrow and trouble, as well as love for the Lord and His great work, stood before that congregation and said in measured words:
"I cannot expect to tarry a great while longer with you, but I want to give you a few words of counsel. You occupy a position in the Church and Kingdom of God and have received the power of the holy priesthood. The God of heaven has appointed you and called you forth in this day and generation. I want you to look at this. Young men, listen to the counsel of your brethren. Live near to God; pray while young; learn to pray; learn to cultivate the Holy Spirit of God; link it to you and it will become a spirit of revelation unto you, inasmuch as you nourish it."
I should like to tell you of three eighteen-year-old boys. In 1856 more than a thousand of our people, some of them perhaps your forebears, found themselves in serious trouble while crossing the plains to this valley. Because of a series of unfortunate circumstances, they were late in getting started. They ran into snow and bitter cold in the highlands of Wyoming. Their situation was desperate, with deaths occurring every day.
President Young learned of their condition as the October general conference was about to begin. He immediately called for teams, wagons, drivers, and supplies to leave to rescue the bereft Saints. When the first rescue team reached the Martin Company, there were too few wagons to carry the suffering people. The rescuers had to insist that the carts keep moving.
When they reached the Sweetwater River on November 3, chunks of ice were floating in the freezing water. After all these people had been through, and in their weakened condition, that river seemed impossible to cross. It looked like stepping into death itself to move into the freezing stream. Men who once had been strong sat on the frozen ground and wept, as did the women and children. Many simply could not face that ordeal.
And now I quote from the record: "Three eighteen-year-old boys belonging to the relief party came to the rescue, and to the astonishment of all who saw, carried nearly every member of the ill-fated handcart company across the snowbound stream. The strain was so terrible, and the exposure so great, that in later years all the boys died from the effects of it. When President Brigham Young heard of this heroic act, he wept like a child, and later declared publicly, 'that act alone will ensure C. Allen Huntington, George W. Grant, and David P. Kimball an everlasting salvation in the Celestial Kingdom of God, worlds without end.'"
Mark you, these boys were eighteen years of age at the time. And, because of the program then in effect, they likely were holders of the Aaronic Priesthood. Great was their heroism, sacred the sacrifice they made of health and eventually of life itself to save the lives of those they helped.
They are part of the heritage that lies behind you of the Aaronic Priesthood. Be true, my young brethren, be true to that great inheritance.
And so, there are my "Four Bs for Boys": Be Smart, Be Fair, Be Clean, Be True. God has given you his holy priesthood. May you walk as young men so endowed, I humbly pray, in the name Jesus Christ, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
I have titled these remarks "The Perfect Law of Liberty."
As a youth, I was stirred by Patrick Henry's famous battle cry, "Give me liberty or give me death!"
The meaning of the word liberty is difficult to circumscribe. Abraham Lincoln was of the opinion that "the world has never had a good definition of. We all declare for liberty," he said; "but in using the same word we do not mean the same thing. With some, the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself and the product of his labor; while with others may mean for some men to do as they please with other men and the product of other men's labor."
Again he said, "The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act."
The issues have changed since the time of Lincoln, but the multipurpose use of the word liberty and its synonym freedom has not changed. The sweets of liberty about which we usually speak may be classified as political independence, economic freedom, and free agency.
I would have us strive for that liberty which comprehends all three of these freedoms, and more. I would have us strive for a freedom of the soul to which they all contribute. I would have us attain that blessed state foreshadowed by the Prophet Joseph Smith when he said, "Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God." One who enjoys such liberty is, in the words of Jesus, "free indeed." He is possessed of perfect liberty.
I invite your attention to a few illustrations in support of the thesis that, while political independence, economic freedom, and free agency may contribute to liberty of the soul, they do not guarantee it.
First, as to political independence and power:
In this field, perhaps the exploits of Alexander the Great are among the most widely known. With high physical courage, impulsive energy, and fervid imagination, he, at the unripe age of thirty-two years, became to all intents and purposes master of the then-known world. But he was far from enjoying liberty, for of himself he was not master. In his thirty-third year he died, a victim of his own excesses, a total stranger to freedom of the soul.
Cardinal Wolsey learned, to his sorrow, how little political independence and even political power can contribute to true liberty. You may recall that he gave a long life in the service of two English sovereigns, enjoying all the while great freedom and political power. Finally, however, he was shorn of all his greatness by an impatient king. As he stood, disillusioned, among the ruins of his life, he lamented to his friend,
Several years ago an article appeared in a magazine concerning some of the financial wizards of this century. It recorded how some of these men had died broke and in disgrace; others had committed suicide, and some had spent time in prison. All of the men had obtained, temporarily at least, economic freedom, but to none of them did their economic abundance bring freedom of the soul.
While perhaps it is seldom, if ever, contended that either political independence or economic freedom alone brings perfect liberty, it is not, however, uncommon for free agency to be considered as synonymous with freedom of the soul. And it is true that the God-given right to choose one's course of action is an indispensable prerequisite to such freedom. Without it we can scarcely enjoy any type of liberty-political, economic, or personal. It is one of our greatest heritages. For it we are deeply indebted to our Father in Heaven, to the Founding Fathers, and to the pioneers. God gave it to man in the Garden of Eden. The Founding Fathers, under the Lord's inspiration, wrote a guarantee of it into the fundamental law of the land. And the pioneers, led by the inspiration of heaven, gave their all to perpetuate it. Surely we ought always to be alert in its defense and willing, if necessary, to give our lives for its preservation.
Free agency, however, precious as it is, is not of itself the perfect liberty we seek, nor does it necessarily lead thereto. As a matter of fact, through the exercise of their agency more people have come to political, economic, and personal bondage than to liberty.
The Nephites, for example, at one time, by the exercise of their agency, brought themselves to such a state of affairs that their only course led to political bondage. This they did while living under a government providing for the freest exercise of agency. "Their laws and their governments," says the record, "were established by the voice of the people, and they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good." Therefore, "they could not be governed by the law nor justice, save it were to their destruction." Under these circumstances, they chose as rulers wicked men, who would certainly destroy their political liberties, to replace righteous men who had in the past protected and preserved those liberties and would have continued to do so in the future.
The freewill choosing of a king by the Jaredites led directly to their captivity.
This sequence was repeated in the days of Israel. The people-rejecting government by judges, which God had established-clamored for Samuel to give them a king. Notwithstanding Samuel's warning that a king would make servants of their children, lay heavy taxes and services upon their backs, and send them to war, "the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, Nay; but we will have a king over us;
"That we also may be like all the nations."
Samuel therefore anointed Saul to be their king. In due time, just as Samuel had predicted, heavy burdens were laid upon them, their sons and daughters were made servants of the king, and war came. The nation was divided into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, both of which were, in their turn, carried away into captivity. Not only did they lose their political freedom, but their very political existence as nations was terminated.
We have a classic example of the loss of economic freedom by the misuse of free agency in the book of Genesis. The Egyptians, instead of exercising their agency to provide for themselves against a day of need, depended upon the government. As a result, when the famine came they were forced to purchase food from the government. First they used their money. When that was gone, they gave their livestock, then their lands; and finally they were compelled to sell themselves into slavery, that they might eat.
We ourselves have gone a long way down this road during the last century. My counsel is that we beware of the doctrine which encourages us to seek government-supported security rather than to put faith in our own industry. Remember Pope's peasant who, having been served the rich man's feast and finding the consequences, complained:
With respect to the loss of personal liberty through the misuse of free agency, our daily lives are filled with tragic evidence. We see the alcoholic with his craving for drink, the dope fiend in his frenzy, and worse, the pervert with his irretrievable loss of manhood. Who will say that such persons enjoy liberty?
Notwithstanding the fact that through its misuse, political, economic, and personal liberty are lost, free agency will always endure because it is an eternal principle. However, the free agency possessed by any one person is increased or diminished by the use to which he puts it. Every wrong decision one makes restricts the area in which he can thereafter exercise his agency. The further one goes in the making of wrong decisions in the exercise of free agency, the more difficult it is for him to recover the lost ground. One can, by persisting long enough, reach the point of no return. He then becomes an abject slave. By the exercise of his free agency, he has decreased the area in which he can act, almost to the vanishing point.
Samuel, the Lamanite prophet, speaking to those who so persisted, said: "In the days of your poverty ye shall cry unto the Lord; and in vain shall ye cry, for your desolation is already come upon you, and your destruction is made sure; and then shall ye weep and howl in that day and say:
"O that we had repented in the day that the word of the Lord came unto us.
"Behold, we are surrounded by demons, yea, we are encircled about by the angels of him who hath sought to destroy our souls. O Lord, canst thou not turn away thine anger from us? And this shall be your language in those days.
"But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction is made sure."
These poor souls have placed themselves in the power of Lucifer and his followers, who, as you remember, became Perdition. Their final fate is to be cast out into outer darkness, such punishment being the natural consequence of the alternatives they elected in the exercise of their agency. The fact that they were originally endowed by their Creator with free agency does not save them from the most awful bondage, the bondage of sin.
Just as following wrong alternatives restricts free agency and leads to slavery, so pursuing correct alternatives widens the scope of one's agency and leads to perfect liberty. As a matter of fact, one may, by this process, obtain freedom of the soul while at the same time being denied political, economic, and personal liberty.
For example, consider the Prophet Joseph Smith. Here was a man enjoying freedom of the soul while suffering the deprivation of almost every other liberty. The experiences of his life were in some respects comparable to those of the Apostle Paul, who in his labors suffered stripes often, imprisonment frequently, and repeatedly faced death. Reviewing some of his experiences for the Corinthians, he said:
"Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
"Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
"In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
"In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness."
Notwithstanding all this, he could write to his beloved Timothy from his prison cell in Rome shortly before his death: "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
"Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."
Surely Paul, in his soul, enjoyed perfect freedom.
The Apostle's conclusion that the reward won by him is to be available to others suggests that there must be a pattern of living by which each of us may attain it, and I believe there is.
Many years ago, while riding through Cleveland, Ohio, on a train, I saw on a building the inscription "Obedience to Law is Liberty." With the proper interpretation of the word law, we have in this inscription a statement of ultimate truth. By inserting three words, it is made to read, "Obedience to the law of Christ is liberty." This is not only a statement of the perfect law of liberty, but also a statement of the way to perfect liberty.
In the eighth chapter of John is recorded a controversy between Jesus and the rulers of the Jews. They, of course, rejected him. But some who heard believed, and to them he said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Freedom thus obtained-that is, by obedience to the law of Christ-is freedom of the soul, the highest form of liberty. And the most glorious thing about it is that it is within the reach of every one of us, regardless of what people about us, or even nations, do. All we have to do is learn the law of Christ and obey it. To learn it and obey it is the primary purpose of every soul's mortal life.
That God may attend and prosper each of us on our way to perfect liberty, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Will you join with me in considering these questions:
If you had lived in Jerusalem in the days of Jesus, would you have accepted him as the Son of God as did Peter and the Apostles? Or would you have said he had a devil and wrought miracles by the power of Beelzebub, as Annas and Caiaphas claimed?
If you had lived in Nazareth or Cana or Capernaum, would you have believed the new religion preached by a few simple fishermen? Or would you have followed the traditions of your fathers in which there was no salvation?
If you had lived in Corinth or Ephesus or Rome, would you have believed the strange new gospel preached by Paul? Or would you have put your trust in the vagaries and traditions and forms of worship that then prevailed?
If you now live in New York or London or Paris, if you live in Chicago, Los Angeles, or Salt Lake-will you accept the new yet old religion, the new yet old gospel, the new yet old way of life that God has revealed anew for our day? Or will you sustain and support churches that no longer have any real resemblance to the one set up among the primitive Saints?
If you hear a prophetic voice, if an apostolic witness is borne in your presence, if the servants of the Lord give you a message from their Master-what is your reaction? Do you believe or disbelieve?
If you are told in words of soberness that Joseph Smith was called of God, that through him the fulness of the everlasting gospel has been restored, and that the Lord has established his church once again among men-do you believe the heaven-sent word? Or, like Annas and Caiaphas, do you stay with the status quo and trust your eternal salvation to the varying forms of man-made worship that abound on every hand?
With these questions before us, may I be so bold as to make this solemn declaration: We are the servants of the Lord, and he has given us a message to deliver to all men everywhere.
We are weak and simple and unlearned. Of ourselves we can do nothing, but in the strength of the Lord we cannot fail. It is his power that sustains and guides us.
We know what the future holds and of the wars and plagues and desolations that will soon sweep the earth as a devouring fire.
This is a gloomy day of sorrow and sadness. The heavens gather blackness; men's hearts are failing them for fear; nations are perplexed and know not where to turn to find peace and security.
This is a day in which mad men in high places can, in an instant, suddenly, unleash such fearful weapons that millions can be slain between the rising and the setting of the sun.
There has never been such a dire day as this. Iniquity abounds; all the perversions and evils of Sodom have their devotees. And the revealed word assures us that conditions will get worse, not better, until the coming of the Son of Man.
It is because of the evils and ills which cover the earth, because men have strayed from the Lord's ordinances and broken his everlasting covenant, because many walk in the ways of the world and are carnal, sensual, and devilish that the Lord has given us a message to deliver to our fellowmen.
"Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth," he said, "called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments."
What then is our message for all men? It is the message of the Restoration. It is the glad tidings that a gracious God had restored the fulness of his everlasting gospel. It is the hallowed word that all men may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.
The message of the Restoration includes three great truths, truths which must be accepted by all mankind if they are to save themselves. These are, first, the divine Sonship of Christ; second, the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith; and third, the truth and divinity of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
And so it is that the Lord has commanded us to declare glad tidings, to preach his gospel, to raise the warning voice, to say what he would say if he personally were ministering among men as he once did.
Our position and status and divine commission is no different than that of the prophets and Apostles of old. We also are the agents of the Lord, his ambassadors; we are, as were they, legal administrators who have power to bind on earth and have it sealed everlastingly in the heavens.
It is fashionable in some quarters to assert that Mormons are not Christians and to question our belief in and our allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ.
If being a Christian means believing in Christ and accepting him as the Son of God in the full and complete sense; if it means having the true gospel in its everlasting fulness; if it means believing what Peter and Paul believed and finding fellowship in the same Church to which they belonged; if it means feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked, and loving our fellowmen, and keeping ourselves unspotted from the world -where else shall we find true Christians except among the Latter-day Saints?
Let me say as soberly, as plainly, and as clearly as the English tongue permits that we believe in Christ and strive with all our power to keep his commandments. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. It is his gospel we have received.
We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy in his name, and we know that his is the only name given under heaven whereby man can be saved.
We teach and testify that he is the Firstborn of the Father, that he is the one like unto God, that he himself is the Lord Omnipotent, the great Jehovah, the Creator of this earth and of all forms of life.
We know that he is the God of Israel, the promised Messiah, the Only Begotten of the Father.
We know that the Lord Jesus made flesh his tabernacle, that Mary was his mother and God was his Father, and that he inherited from his mother the power of mortality and from his Father the power of immortality.
It was this dual nature, this mortal yet divine Sonship, that enabled him to work out the infinite and eternal Atonement and to ransom men from the temporal and spiritual deaths brought into the world by the fall of Adam.
It is also fashionable in some quarters to contend that we Mormons esteem the Prophet Joseph Smith so highly that even the Lord Jesus takes a secondary position.
It is true that Joseph Smith is one of a dozen or a score of those prophets who stand preeminent above all men in greatness and spiritual stature. It is true that his place in the heavenly hierarchy makes him a prophet of prophets and a seer of seers. He ranks with Enoch and Abraham and Moses. But salvation is in Christ, not in Abraham, not in Moses, not in Joseph Smith.
All of the prophets are servants of the Lord. Their ministry is to teach his word and do his will. They preach his gospel and perform his ordinances. Their mission is to bring souls unto Christ.
And so it is with Joseph Smith. He saw God; angels ministered unto him; the visions of eternity were open to his view. He is the one through whom the gospel was restored, and to him the Lord gave the keys of the kingdom.
For this day, this age, this dispensation, Joseph Smith is the revealer of Christ and the knowledge of salvation. At the direction of the Lord, he organized the only true and living church on earth.
The Church is an organized body of true believers; it is the congregation of those who have accepted the holy gospel; and the gospel is the plan of salvation. The higher priesthood administers the gospel; the Church is the vehicle through which the Lord's affairs on earth are regulated and through which salvation is made available to all who believe and obey.
And so it is that we, as the servants of the Lord, obedient to his command, carry his message to the world. We bear witness of Christ as he has been revealed anew by Joseph Smith, and we invite all men everywhere to believe his gospel and join his Church and become heirs of that kingdom where he and his Father dwell.
As it was with the prophets of old in their ministries, so it is with us in ours. We say as they did: Repent and believe the gospel, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Forsake Babylon; flee to Zion; find refuge in one of her stakes. Stand in holy places, and prepare for the Second Coming of the Son of Man.
Salvation comes to those who accept the true gospel and live its laws. It is for those who call upon the Lord in mighty prayer until he pours out his Spirit upon them.
It was Paul who said:
"How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
"And how shall they preach, except they be sent?"
Truly "faith cometh by hearing" the word of God taught by a legal administrator who has been called of God. And as it was anciently, so it is today-it pleases "God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."
Our message is one of joy and rejoicing and glory and honor and triumph. True believers always rejoice in Christ and in his gospel.
We do not say that everyone who accepts the restored gospel will escape the wars and plagues and desolations of the last days. But we do say that all their sorrows and sufferings will be swallowed up in the joy of the gospel.
Some who are true and faithful will perish along with the wicked and ungodly in the days ahead. But what does it matter whether we live or die once we have found Christ and he has sealed us his?
If we lay down our lives in the cause of truth and righteousness or in defense of our religion, our families, and our free institutions, why should we worry?
We are not hanging on to life with greedy hands, fearful of the future. Once we have accepted the gospel and been reconciled to God through the mediation of Christ, what matters it if we are called to the realms of peace, there to await an inheritance in the resurrection of the just?
Having a hope in Christ, we know we shall rise in glorious immortality and find place with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God, to go no more out.
Now, as Isaiah expressed it, "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"
Who will believe our words, and who will hear our message? Who will honor the name of Joseph Smith and accept the gospel restored through his instrumentality?
We answer: the same people who would have believed the words of the Lord Jesus and the ancient Apostles and prophets had they lived in their day.
If you believe the words of Joseph Smith, you would have believed what Jesus and the ancients said.
If you reject Joseph Smith and his message, you would have rejected Peter and Paul and their message.
If you accept the prophets whom the Lord sends in your day, you also accept that Lord who sent them.
If you reject the restored gospel and find fault with the plan of salvation taught by those whom God hath sent in these last days, you would have rejected those same teachings as they fell from the lips of the prophets and Apostles of old.
I have spoken plainly of our obligation as the servants of the Lord to proclaim the message of the Restoration to the world. This we are now doing as far as our time and talents and means permit.
But what of those to whom the message is sent? What of our Father's other children who have not yet accepted Christ and his gospel as they have been revealed by Joseph Smith? Does not every man on earth have personal obligation to seek the truth, to believe the truth, to live the truth?
We invite all men of all sects, parties, and denominations to ponder such questions as these:
Do I hunger and thirst after righteousness as did the Saints of old?
Do I have an open mind and a willingness to prove all things and hold fast to that which is good?
Am I willing to receive new light and truth from heaven, light and truth that comes from a gracious God in whose sight a soul is just as precious now as it ever was?
Do I have the moral courage to learn whether Joseph Smith was called of God, whether he and his successors have the same keys of the kingdom of God that Peter, James, and John had anciently?
Am I willing to pay the price of investigation and gain a personal revelation that tells me what I must do to gain peace in this world and be an inheritor of eternal life in the world to come?
We testify that God has given to us his everlasting gospel, and we invite all men to come and partake of its blessings with us.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder William R. Bradford
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I solemnly testify to you that God the Eternal Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, have appeared in this dispensation. These two glorious personages actually stood before and spoke to the young man Joseph Smith.
This occurred in 1820. Since then the heavens have remained open. The fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored by revelation. Angels have been sent as holy messengers. We have been given records of God's dealings with His children. The Holy Spirit has poured out the truths of God's plan for the exaltation of His sons and daughters.
The true church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been organized under the direction of Jesus Christ Himself.
Prophets and Apostles have been called. They have been given power from on high. They are special witnesses of Jesus Christ in all the world.
They are sent out, holding the keys, to open the doors for the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. By their work the doors are being opened. The gospel is being proclaimed throughout the world.
Being inspired and directed by the Lord, these prophets, seers, and revelators have called upon the disciples of Jesus Christ and have sent them forth by commandment, which commandment is:
"And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days.
"And they shall go forth and none shall stay them, for I the Lord have commanded them.
"Wherefore, fear and tremble, O ye people, for what I the Lord have decreed in them shall be fulfilled."
Presently there are about thirty thousand missionaries serving in 188 missions. They are proclaiming the restored gospel in 82 nations, territories, and possessions in 48 different languages.
Thousands of our Father's children are hearing the gospel, are obtaining testimonies of its truthfulness, and are being baptized into His true church. There are now some five million members.
We are humbled and greatly pleased with the success that attends the labors. We acknowledge the hand of the Lord and the dedication of His disciples in what has been accomplished up to now. But there is still much left to be done.
We feel a great urgency for the work and wonder if we could cause it to be accelerated.
There is concern as to whether all of those who should and could participate in this work really understand and believe the basic principles and purposes for which God's firm decree, to declare this gospel to all the world, was given.
Although there are thirty thousand missionaries now serving, there should and could be many times that many. If they would prepare themselves and step forward to do that which is their decreed duty, the work could be done at a rate and in dimensions beyond our highest expectations.
I have pondered and prayed about this matter. I have searched for words and pleaded to the heavens for power to say them so as to motivate those who should be faithful in this work.
The words have come into my mind. They are simple words. They have oft been taught. To say them is to repeat what you have heard over and over again.
They invite us to come unto Christ and be perfected in Him. This is done by serving Him with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. If we do this, we receive a remission of our sins and become holy and without spot and may return to our Heavenly Father to dwell again with Him, to live the kind of life He lives.
The Savior stands with His hands extended, offering us glorious blessings if we will serve Him. As we study what He means by this service we come to understand that it is fundamentally the service of teaching the truths of His gospel to those who do not know it.
But even with the simplicity of the words and the divine source from which they come, and even with the sure promise of blessings, there are still those who should and could serve who choose not to serve.
It causes me to wonder if they really understand and believe the twofold nature of the purpose of missionary work: first, to sanctify the missionary himself, and second, to bring converts to a knowledge of the truths of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and to baptism into His Church-which is the sure and natural product of a missionary who is in the process of sanctification.
Satan is attempting to block this work. His influence is insidious and persistent. Many who should and could do this work are falling victim to his influence.
Some are being deceived and are slipping away from that which is true to experiment with that which is false and foolish.
May I talk to you young men who are approaching or are now the age to be called into missionary service.
Some of you say in your minds, "Oh well, you just don't understand my case. My situation is different. I plan to be a great lawyer, or doctor, or athlete, or some other great person. Surely neither you nor the Lord would expect me to leave my studies at such an important time. A mission would interfere with my future plans."
Others are thinking, "Yes, I know about missions, but if you had a girl friend like mine, you'd never leave her. What will happen to her while I'm gone?"
Yet others of you are thinking, "Missions cost so much. I just got this job. I just purchased a car and a stereo. It's just the time of life when I'm starting to get things together for myself. I can't drop all that now. I just can't afford it."
Then there are also those who are thinking, "My situation disqualifies me. I have fallen into transgression and am not participating in the Church. I had always planned on being a missionary, but I slipped and now I don't live the standards required of a missionary."
If I could listen to you separately, each case would unfold with one thing in common. All would justify yourselves in not doing your duty to God.
Many of you are attempting to justify yourselves even against the correct counsel and teachings of your parents. They love you. They would support you in every way to do what's right if you would allow it.
But unfortunately there are also parents who side with you in your justification. They have made plans for your future, and those plans do not include missionary service. They say, "My son is going to be a great lawyer or doctor or star athlete. He can't interrupt his studies to go gallivanting out in the world for two years. Let someone else's sons do that. My son is special."
If I could speak separately to each of you young men and your parents who so justify, I would say with all the power of speech I could generate, "Just who do you think you are? What right do you have to match your wisdom with that of God, who through His prophets has issued a firm decree, a solemn mandate, that the restored gospel must be declared to all the world by the voice of His disciples? This means you!"
I would remind you of the Lord's own words as He addressed those who "doeth not anything" and who have doubtful hearts.
"Who am I that made man, saith the Lord, that will hold him guiltless that obeys not my commandments?
"Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled?
"I command and men obey not; I revoke and they receive not the blessing.
"Then they say in their hearts: This is not the work of the Lord, for his promises are not fulfilled. But wo unto such, for their reward lurketh beneath, and not from above."
Do you really believe that earthly fame and title, tied to earthly positions and occupations, can compare with God's promises to the faithful? He has promised "thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers." He has promised "exaltation and glory in all things." He has promised "a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever." He has promised eternal life.
I would say to you that you are left without excuse and without justification and that you have placed your eternal salvation in grave danger.
Your education can wait. The Lord will open the doors of education and a proper vocation for you when you return from your missionary service.
And speaking of your girl friends, the Father wants to give you one of His elect daughters, one who is loved and cherished by Him, one who is pure, one who understands eternal values and is striving for exaltation.
Surely you cannot expect this to happen if you are not faithful in doing that which would make you worthy of her as an eternal companion. It is after your missionary service has helped to sanctify you that this can happen.
Lest I be misunderstood, may I say to you young women, this also applies to you. Many of you say, "What will I ever do if he leaves me?" You hold him back. You allow your association with him to go beyond where it should. You often contribute to his decision not to serve. You sometimes even contribute to his unworthiness to serve. By so doing you are also disqualifying yourself from your intended blessings.
Let him go. Don't just let him go, but encourage him! You are perhaps the strongest single influence on him at this time in his life. You can make all the difference. Help keep him clean. Help him to be prepared.
Perhaps you would also like to, and should, serve as a missionary. Many lady missionaries are now serving. The same blessings promised to young men are extended to you. Although your most important role in this life is motherhood, it may be appropriate for you to serve a mission first.
For those of you who feel you cannot serve because you have slipped into transgression, I would say, "Don't despair. There is a way back. The plan of repentance really works. You can take steps to return to full worthiness. You can make acceptable restitution and place yourself in the service of the Lord."
If I could speak separately with each bishop and stake president about those who should and could be serving as missionaries, I would say, "You have a most important obligation. It is your sacred duty to work with them and their parents until they understand, and do, their duty.
"You cannot leave them hanging as fruit on a tree, maturing, ripening, and then falling to the ground to spoil or be devoured, with no one concerned for conserving the harvest. If you do, you will assuredly be held accountable. The day will come when you will stand before the judgment bar of God to give account for them, name by name, every one."
This is a marvelous plan. It is a process of sanctification. When a missionary is placed in a mission environment of order and discipline where all that is done is in harmony with the Spirit, the missionary experiences a great transformation. The heavens open. Powers are showered out. Mysteries are revealed. Habits are improved. Sanctification begins. Through this process the missionary becomes a vessel of light that can shine forth the gospel of Jesus Christ in a world in darkness.
There is much to do. You are the royal generation that has been "hid from the world with Christ" to come forth in this day to do the work.
You must prepare. You must now make yourselves worthy and available. If you do not, the work will go on without you. It will go on at a slower pace, but it will go on. If you are not part of it, if you do not do your duty, what will happen to you? How will you be sanctified?
If you do not do your duty, those whom you could have taught but did not will eventually have their opportunity to hear the gospel from someone else, but what of you? How will you be sanctified?
Missions are for missionaries. It is a marvelous gift of time, a time given when you can experience glimpses of heavenly life here on earth. It is a time of cleansing and refreshing. It is a special time when the Holy Ghost can seal upon you the knowledge of the great plan for your exaltation. It is one of your best opportunities to become a celestial candidate.
The teaching and conversion of others is the natural product of this process. To sanctify yourself you must serve others. The highest of all service to others is to teach them truth and bring them into the kingdom of God.
Thus the decree: Send forth the elders and preach my gospel to every kindred, tongue, and people.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Charles Didier
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
" 'Il faute se battre! We must fight!' gurgled the hoarse voice of a man who had lain stiff in the devouring mud ever since our awakening; 'we've got to!' His body turned heavily over. 'We've got to give all we have, our strength and our skins and our hearts, all our life and what pleasures are left us. The life of prisoners as we are, we've got to take it in both hands. You've got to endure everything, even injustice-and that's the king that's reigning now-and the shameful and disgusting sights we see, so as to come out on top, and win. But if we've got to make such a sacrifice,' adds the shapeless man, turning over again, 'it's because we're fighting for progress, not for a country; against error, not against a country.'", trans. Fitzwater Wray, New York: E. T. Dutton and Co., 1917, p. 345.)
"I don't want to die," screamed a crying voice from a body put against a wall. There were brief orders for the firing squad, "Ready, aim, fire!" Silence followed. The soldiers returned to their quarters. They had just witnessed the execution of a deserter.
Somewhere else, yesterday, in the mission field, a dialogue between a missionary and a priesthood leader:
"Elder, you were called by a prophet of the Lord to serve Him. Do you remember when you received your call, signed personally by a prophet of the Lord? He said that you would be expected to devote all of your time and attention to serving the Lord, leaving behind all other personal affairs."
The answer came quickly: "I don't want to serve anymore. I don't like the people; I don't like the country; I don't even like the food!"
"Well, what do you like, then?"
"Oh," he replied slowly, "I like to drive my car. I want to go home."
Somewhere else in the world, many years ago, some children, a father, a mother were sitting in their living room holding a family council. A tragedy was developing. The children were pleading with their father to stay and live with them. After a pause, the father uttered these words: "I cannot stay. I need to live my own life." And he left.
Somewhere else, in San Francisco, two weeks ago, a short notice in the paper: "Three people decided to surrender to death and jumped from the Bay Bridge."
Somewhere else, some two thousand years ago, in a crowd of five thousand Jews, five thousand followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, there was another dialogue. The crowd: "Rabbi, when camest thou hither?
"Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent."
"And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."
The Jews then murmured. Even some of the disciples murmured. Following a brief silence, two decisions were made.
The first one: "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." They followed their own way.
The second one: "Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." They followed the way, the only true way.
To desert, defect, give up, resign, surrender, renounce, abdicate, yield, apostatize, withdraw, back out, abandon-each of these words has almost the same meaning. We could find one for every situation in our lives where we might vacillate when facing what is called duty-duty to country, duty to church, duty to family, duty to oneself, duty to God.
To vacillate is to hesitate in choosing a course, to try to move in two different directions at the same time, or to try simply to serve two masters. One of the greatest temptations that man has faced throughout half of history is the temptation to serve himself and to satisfy his own appetites first. This choice can lead to the spirit of desertion. Whoever we are, rich or poor, powerful or humble, faithful or not-all are subject to this temptation.
Adjusting to life's challenges is not easy, and too often we issue ultimatums to those who represent life: our Heavenly Father, ourselves, a parent, a bishop, a neighbor. Ultimatums vary: "I will stop paying tithing," or "I will leave home," or "Let me be released," or "I will take my life." They vary from silent opposition to murmuring or violence.
Since the premortal existence the Lord has warned against serving ourselves and satisfying our own appetites first.
"They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon the great, which shall fall."
The Lord has also helped us avoid this situation:
"Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments;"
"And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually."
All the teachings of the Lord and the prophets carry that persistent message, to persuade the world to know him and his father through a living prophet and his church. Once this vision is given, it will help us make the decision to endure to the end.
The permanent duty to God, to oneself, to one's family, to the Church, and to one's country represents a goal for which we should all strive and which was given by the Lord as he taught the Nephites:
"Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect."
Again, these words were not given to discourage or to tempt us to desert, but rather to motivate us to be prepared and not to be afraid. Prepared to do what? The Lord has commanded us again and again to be prepared to "live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God," to serve him with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength.
To endure in obedience and service is contrary to desertion. It is to continue without perishing; to last; to remain firm when under trial; to suffer or bear up patiently; to endure hardship; to withstand pain, sorrow, or destructive force without yielding.
The encouraging factor in recognizing adversity is that we are not alone. The Lord told Joseph Smith, "Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days."
George Q. Cannon wrote in Gospel Truths: "So it is with all of us. We have great afflictions from time to time. It seems to be necessary that we should be tried and proved to see whether we are full of integrity or not. In this way we get to know ourselves and our own weaknesses; and the Lord knows us, and our brethren and sisters know us.
"Therefore, it is a precious gift to have the gift of patience, to be good-tempered, to be cheerful, to not be depressed, to not give way to wrong feelings and become impatient and irritable. It is a blessed gift for all to possess."
Yes, there are obstacles and challenges. Men sometimes become cynical. Some despair and lose hope and faith in the future, but the message stands: do not abandon, for the Lord lives. He is our Savior and Redeemer; he is the Prince of Peace. The great assurance of life, the great reason for eternal life, is the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way.
There is only one way. The teachings of our duty to God determine our duty to ourselves, to our families, to our church, and to our country. No vacillation can be permitted, for "no man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."
President George Albert Smith's grandfather said: "There is a line of demarcation well defined between the Lord's territory and the devil's territory. If you will remain on the Lord's side of the line, the adversary cannot come there to tempt you. You are perfectly safe as long as you stay on the Lord's side of the line. But if you cross onto the devil's side of the line, you are in his territory, and you are in his power, and he will work on you to get you just as far from that line as he possibly can, knowing that he can only succeed in destroying you by keeping you away from the place where there is safety."
Persistence in seeking the influence of the Holy Ghost and living the commandments of God lead to eternal life.
When we consider that we are, as individuals, looking at two powers, the Church and the world, good and evil, truth and error, how can we avoid being torn apart when we know these powers are moving in two opposite directions? We put both feet in the Church and prepare ourselves to be engaged totally and forever.
There is an old fable about a king and a jester. One day the king decided to reward the jester, so he called him in, offered him a beautiful staff, and told him, "You may keep this beautiful staff until you find a bigger fool than you."
Time passed and one day the king became very seriously ill, called the jester, and told him that he would probably go on a long journey and never return. The jester then asked him, "And have you made any provisions for a journey that lasts forever?"
The king answered, "No."
The jester then handed the king the staff and told him, "King, if you have made no provisions for a journey that lasts forever, this staff belongs to you. You are a bigger fool than I."
Have we made our provisions? Are we preparing ourselves to face one of the greatest temptations: to desert the service of the Lord in moments of doubt or trial, which may lead to other desertions?
Shakespeare's Hamlet voiced the question, "To be, or not to be?" when he was at the verge of despair and self-destruction. May I rephrase that:
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we have the answer to that question, a divine answer that we can be, that we can live to be a true disciple, that we can live to be a follower of Christ-true to the end because of our testimony.
Our testimony to the world is that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer, that Joseph Smith is the Prophet who restored truth upon the earth, and that this church is a divine church, of which I also testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder David B. Haight
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Arturo Toscanini, the late, famous conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, received a brief, crumpled letter from a lonely sheepherder in the remote mountain area of Wyoming:
"Mr. Conductor: I have only two possessions-a radio and an old violin. The batteries in my radio are getting low and will soon die. My violin is so out of tune I can't use it. Please help me. Next Sunday when you begin your concert, sound a loud 'A' so I can tune my 'A' string; then I can tune the other strings. When my radio batteries are dead, I'll have my violin."
At the beginning of his next nationwide radio concert from Carnegie Hall, Toscanini announced: "For a dear friend and listener back in the mountains of Wyoming the orchestra will now sound an 'A.'" The musicians all joined together in a perfect "A."
The lonely sheepherder only needed one note, just a little help to get back in tune; he could go on from there. He needed someone who cared to assist him with one string; the others would be easy. Then, with all strings in tune-in harmony-the lonely sheepherder would have a source of companionship and joy and could play uplifting strains.
My expressions and encouragement this morning are to God's children whose batteries may be low or with strings in need of tuning, those whose souls were one time touched by the words and teachings of the Master and His servants but have been attracted away into other interests and activities. Some may have been neglected or not sufficiently involved in a meaningful Church responsibility or may have a feeling of injury or hurt or even unworthiness.
Some have allowed themselves to get out of tune. They may have lost the pitch and drifted from the original score. The Savior of the world gave rules to live by and taught principles of love that encompass concern and encouragement:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour," he said, "and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
He did not limit or say "all who are perfect come unto me" or just the rich, or just the poor, or just the healthy, or those without sin, or those who pray the longest, or just the sick. His invitation is to all: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," comfort, peace; "for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
His plea to all is to love God, love His children, keep His commandments, and believe that Jesus is the Christ, born of God.
Some who accepted the teachings of the Savior and were baptized into His Church are now temporarily lost from the fold, some through their own choosing, but others, many times, by our neglect of them.
Matthew tells of the disciples' last earthly visit with Jesus. They had assembled on the mountain as directed, waiting for their Lord. He was the center of their lives. They worshiped Him. They now know He will soon leave them. Where will they go? What will they do? Eleven against the world. And what will He tell them?
"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
Those final instructions were not only to find and baptize, but to teach. The future of the disciples was now clear-as with the Church and its members today-to bring new souls unto Christ and teach them. Teach them the commandments, teach them the principles of the gospel, teach them the love of God and love for one another, teach by the Spirit, teach with love. Then they can and will obey and live the commandments.
None are to be lost, but everyone is to feel the love of the Master through His servants. He knew that to carry the message of the gospel to all nations would require active participation by everyone baptized-not just some, but everyone.
There were strong social barriers among the Jews at the time of Christ, yet the Savior mingled freely among the publicans and sinners-far different from the Pharisees, who believed sinners should not be guests in their houses.
Christ rebuked their unkindliness, saying, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick."
His enemies complained that Jesus mingled and ate with sinners, but Jesus justified His ways and taught more clearly the purpose of God's love toward repentant sinners and the joy there is in heaven over one sinner that repents:
The Savior asked them, "If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
"And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
"Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."
And then He continued, "And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
"I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."
Michael Duffy related: "I didn't catch their names or pay much attention to what they were saying, except they were from the Mormon Church. Somehow they had found out I was a Mormon and asked if I wanted home teachers. I hadn't been to Church for sixteen years!
"I don't know exactly why I said yes. It seemed that many events had fallen into place to convince me that there was a missing link in my life. Previously, we had lived next door to a Mormon family. We did not go to Church, but I was reminded that our two sons had never been blessed and had never attended Church.
"My wife was not a Mormon, not even a Christian. Yet she agreed that something was missing.
"Home teachers soon contacted us and began regular visits. This started a process that would take many months, and change my family forever.
"I began attending priesthood meeting-infrequently at first, then regularly. I was finally able to overcome my Word of Wisdom problem. Our oldest son, now five, started attending Sunday School. We even began paying a little tithing. My wife supported me, but was not interested in the Church.
"Then one day two missionaries knocked at our door. After many months, having just been ordained an elder, I baptized and confirmed my wife a member of the Church. We were later sealed as a family in the Washington Temple."
He continued, "As I look back on the many circumstances that took place, I fondly remember the love, prayers, and fellowship of the bishopric, elders quorum presidency, and others.
"We were truly blessed to be living in a ward that actively worked with less active members, that the elders quorum president," he said, "placed special emphasis on reactivation, and even a member of the stake presidency took a personal interest in us."
The Prophet Ezekiel warned: "Ye feed not the flock.
"The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost."
Driving to the Los Angeles Airport with a busy radio executive, I learned that he and his wife, though born in the Church, had never participated. Their social life of parties and weekends for fun and escape dominated their lives.
After eight years of marriage and three children, they were becoming concerned about their lives but did nothing about it.
Different sets of home teachers came and went. A new home teacher-a true shepherd-came into their lives, and after a time this new home teacher committed this man to go to Church once. Brother Adamson said he would not give up smoking and drinking. He had made a firm resolve not to live the Word of Wisdom, and if he was not welcome in Church because of it, that was fine. The home teacher said, "You are welcome, and I will pick you up."
The first Sunday Brother Adamson attended Church he waited for someone to move away from him because of the strong tobacco odor, but that didn't happen. "They will ask me to pray or work in the Church," he thought. That didn't happen either.
The home teacher did not phone on Sunday mornings to give him a chance to make an excuse and back out but drove to his home and would say, "Are you ready?" This home teacher picked him up every Sunday for over a year.
The Adamsons began reading A Marvelous Work and a Wonder and found that the Church consisted of much more than just the Word of Wisdom, which he had heard so much about all his life.
This couple soon learned it is a Church of love, not a Church of fear. They learned of the mission of the Savior and of our Heavenly Father and of repentance. They became so proud of the Church they had been born into that the Word of Wisdom no longer was an important issue. He didn't go through the pangs of quitting. It just happened. There were so many other principles of the gospel that now were so important in their lives.
He said, "I found myself working on our new chapel and then one day quietly telling the bishop, 'I'm ready, now. You can call on me to pray.'"
The Savior taught Peter, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."
Souls are committed to the care of the Church-to watch over and keep them in the right way, to remember their names and nourish them.
An older couple living in a little Mormon community in Idaho had been members of the Church all their lives. The husband was eighty-six years old and his wife eighty-four. He was still a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. New home teachers who had heard about this family's lack of interest toward the Church asked if they could come to their home.
This older couple was pleased that someone cared about them. The teachers taught the principles of the gospel. The couple responded. This eighty-six-year-old man became an elder and, with his wife, earned the privilege of going to the temple and being married for time and eternity.
If thoughtful home teachers had not visited this family, they would have probably died without having received essential blessings of the gospel. Caring shepherds could have reached this couple years before when their family was growing up. The couple was grateful that home teachers finally had the courage to come.
People who drift away from the true doctrine usually know in their hearts something is missing. The kernel of truth, though small, remains-never to be replaced with fame or money or worldly pleasures.
The Savior placed a little child in the midst of the disciples and taught that they must become as little children in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. He said, "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost", and to call all sinners to repentance.
Michael Weir said:
"My marriage had failed. I was living a life contrary to the principles of the Church. Not only was I inactive but had lost confidence in my ability to go back. I became successful in business, drove the nicest car, and bought expensive clothes. I had everything that the world would want.
"One day, my company hired Ken Wheeler, whom I knew to be a Mormon by the way he acted. We became friends, and he invited me to Church. I wanted to go but didn't feel worthy. He continued to invite me, and I continued to refuse. I wanted to get back, but I didn't have the strength to do it.
"One night, alone in my apartment, I became very depressed and broke into uncontrollable sobs. I prayed to the Lord and begged for His help. The next day Ken asked me how I was doing; he could sense something was wrong. Putting his arms around me, he said, 'He still loves you, and we do, too. Why don't you come back home?' That was the answer to my prayers; that was the help I had begged for the night before.
"I came home! I felt uncomfortable at first, but the feeling that everyone cared made it easier. Today, I don't drive the nicest car or wear the fanciest clothes, but I feel richer than ever."
He continued, "Those who have fallen away want so badly to come back, but they are afraid to make the move. They don't lose their testimony; they lose confidence in themselves."
Those that stray need a friend-but they need one who knows the Shepherd. Seldom do people cease coming to Church because of doctrine; they are waiting for a show of genuine love and friendly fellowship to heal their hurts or doubts.
Nephi testified "that the Lord God worketh not in darkness.
"He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him.
" he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth.
"Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Nay; but hath given it free for all men; and hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to repentance."
We are his people. God expects us to find, teach, and recover those whose strings may need tuning. May we be directed by the pure love of Christ to sound for them the perfect note of an "A."
God lives. Jesus is the Christ. This is His work, to which I testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I would like to discuss with you this morning the calling and mission of a modern prophet to our generation.
It is generally understood that the faith of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rests on the claim that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, and also that he declared the coming forth of the Book of Mormon was the result of angelic visitations to him between the years 1823 and 1827.
Upon learning of this claim, some people contend that it seems preposterous that angels would visit the earth in this modern era.
The Bible contains testimony that God directed the affairs of His church on earth for over four thousand years by revelation and, when necessary, by heavenly ministrations.
In describing conditions of the last days incident to the second coming of Jesus Christ, John prophesied in the New Testament that before the Savior's return, the world would receive a warning that the hour of God's judgment was near. That warning would come by an angel from heaven declaring an "everlasting gospel." Hear his words:
"I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
"Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."
If one accepts the testimony of John the Revelator, new revelation and a visitation by a heavenly messenger to earth should be expected.
Our solemn testimony is that this angelic messenger appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the early nineteenth century. This announcement that an angel from God appeared to a prophet in our times is entirely consistent with the prophecies of the New Testament and should therefore command the interest of every earnest seeker after truth.
In light of the fact that Jesus said there would be both true and false prophets in the last days preceding His second coming, the central question is: "Did Joseph Smith speak for God? Was he a true prophet?"
My intent today is to offer some evidences in support of Joseph Smith's mission as a prophet to this generation.
The most singular evidence in support of Joseph Smith's claim to being a spokesman for Almighty God was the publication of a scriptural record, the Book of Mormon.
The Book of Mormon is a record of the ancient inhabitants of the American continent and records the visit and ministry of Jesus Christ to the people on this continent following His ascension at Jerusalem. The major purpose of the record is to convince a later generation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The Book of Mormon, therefore, constitutes an additional witness, along with the Bible, to the divinity of Jesus Christ.
Joseph Smith obtained this ancient record from a heavenly messenger, just as John prophesied. This angel appeared to him and revealed the location of ancient records which were inscribed on metallic plates and buried in a stone vault. In due time, the young prophet was given the plates and the means by which they were translated. The book was then published to the world as canonized scripture.
Also, in harmony with the testimony of John, the book contains "the everlasting gospel." It is now preached by our missionaries to the world.
We invite you to test the validity of our witness about the origin of the Book of Mormon. You can do this by reading it and asking our Heavenly Father if these things are true. I promise you, if you are sincere, you will receive a confirmation of the truthfulness by the Holy Ghost. Millions, with soberness and sincerity, testify they know it is from God.
A revealing characteristic of a true prophet is that he declares a message from God. He makes no apology for the message, nor does he fear for any social repercussions which may lead to derision and persecution.
As a young man, Joseph Smith was a seeker after truth. Confusion among existing churches led him to inquire of God which of them was true. In answer to that prayer, he asserted that a pillar of brilliant light appeared. These are his words:
"When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other-This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"
Joseph asked the second personage, who was Jesus Christ, which one of the Christian sects was correct. He was told that he must not join any of them, that none were correct.
Some treated his testimony with great contempt and began to incite false stories and persecution against him. The young prophet, like the Apostle Paul of old, would not recant his testimony, but defended his claim in these words:
"I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation."
The ultimate test of a true prophet is that when he speaks in the name of the Lord his words come to pass. That standard was explained by the Lord to Moses in these words:
"When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously."
Many prophecies of Joseph Smith are recorded to which this test might be applied. May I illustrate with two examples.
In 1832, he prophesied that the southern states and northern states would shortly be divided in civil war, that this war would be the beginning of world wars which would eventually involve all nations and result in the death and misery of many souls. Specifically, he said that the great Civil War would begin with a rebellion in South Carolina. This prophecy was published to the world in 1851.
As every schoolboy knows, the Civil War began with the secession of South Carolina from the Union, and other states followed. When Lincoln sent provisions to the Union forces at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, the Confederate forces opened fire on the fort. Since that fateful day in 1861, the world has seen as a result of warfare the death and misery of many souls.
The desire of the Prophet Joseph Smith was to save the Union from that bloody conflict. He recognized the iniquity of slavery and urged Congress to abolish it and to pay the slaveholders from the sale of public lands. The message went unheeded, and nearly one-half million souls died in the Civil War.
In another prophecy, one of the most remarkable pronounced on the head of one man, Joseph Smith said to a young judge named Stephen A. Douglas, in the presence of several others: "Judge, you will aspire to the presidency of the United States; and if ever you turn your hand against me or the Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight of the hand of Almighty upon you; and you will live to see and know that I have testified the truth to you; for the conversation of this day will stick to you through life."
Stephen A. Douglas did aspire to the presidency of the United States. He did have opportunity to defend the Church. But in a political speech in 1857, he viciously attacked the Church as "a loathsome, disgusting ulcer in the body politic" and recommended that Congress cut it out.
Some have asserted that no one had better prospects for the presidency than did Douglas, but when the results of the election were tallied, he received only twelve electoral votes. The election victory went to an obscure backwoodsman by the name of Abraham Lincoln.
A few months after the election, Mr. Douglas died a broken man in the prime of life.
Another test of a true prophet was established by the Savior Himself. True prophets should be distinguished from false prophets by the standard, "By their fruits ye shall know them." Consider some of the "fruits" of Joseph Smith's teachings:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints takes care of its poor and needy by tithes and offerings from Church members. Latter-day Saints take seriously the Savior's statement that "inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
The Prophet Joseph Smith said the Church was not fully organized until the women had their own organization. So he organized, in 1842, the women's Relief Society, which is today the largest women's organization in the world.
Utah was one of the first states to grant voting rights to women.
This is a missionary church, as you've heard this morning. Jesus said one of the signs of the times before His second coming was that the gospel of the kingdom would be preached to all the world as a witness unto all nations.
Missionary service is expected from all young men and many married couples. Training begins in the home and is augmented by additional training in Church responsibilities. Priesthood training for young men commences at age twelve and continues throughout life. Additionally, the Church sponsors missionary training centers, where missionaries receive instruction and training in preparation for the teaching of the gospel to nations in their own languages.
How effective is the training? It took 117 years for the Church to achieve one million members. The second million was achieved in 16 years; the third million in 9 years; the fourth million in 6 years; and the fifth million in just 3 years.
In less than two decades, three million people have come into the Church.
Today there are about thirty thousand missionaries laboring in seventy-one nations of the world. Most donate their time and service at their own or their family's expense.
Joseph Smith and his successors have stressed education for all Church members. That emphasis has produced some remarkable results. Dr. Clark Kerr, chairman of the Carnegie Council in Policy Studies in Higher Education, noted:
"Utah is the leadership state in education in the nation, and thus in the world.
"Utah stands first in the percentage of total population age 3 to 34 enrolled in school.
"Utah stands first in the percentage of the total population enrolled in school at every age level except ages 16–17.
"Utah stands first in the average years of school completed for all of its citizens age 25 and older.
"Utah, overall, has been a model for educational development, a rich source for leadership."
If any revelation given to Joseph Smith is susceptible to scientific investigation, it is the dietary health code known as the Word of Wisdom. In that revelation given in 1833, Church members were directed to abstain from coffee, tea, tobacco, and all alcoholic beverages.
Those who obey the commandment are promised "health in their navel and marrow to their bones."
A number of scientific studies have been made involving members of the LDS church. One study showed that Latter-day Saints in Utah have 65 percent fewer cases of lung cancer than the U.S. general population, and their rate of heart disease is 35 percent below the national average.
In another study in California, where Mormons are less than 2 percent of the population, Dr. James Enstrom, a radiation physicist at UCLA, who is not a member of the Church, found even more startling disclosures. Dr. Enstrom found that Mormons had a lung cancer rate 75 percent below the national average and an overall cancer rate 45 percent below the national average. As he concluded his study, Dr. Enstrom said of the Mormons: "They must be doing something right."
Joseph Smith received the Word of Wisdom in 1833. Today medical science has validated the soundness of that revelation.
Yes, "by their fruits ye shall know them"! The fruits of Joseph Smith's teachings have withstood over 150 years of investigation, criticism, and persecution. The message, the Church, and the people stand as a vindication of the truth of his testimony and works.
Just as prophets of the past were without honor in their own countries and were persecuted and killed, Joseph Smith was maligned and martyred in his generation.
Was Joseph Smith sent from God? We answer an emphatic "yes"!
"He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord's anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood."
I testify to you that God has again spoken from the heavens; that the visitation of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ constitutes the greatest event in this world since the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God lives. Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world-not just a great moral teacher, as much of the Christian world is claiming, but the Savior of mankind, the very Son of God.
I bear testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the living God, one of the greatest prophets that has ever lived on the earth. He was the instrument in God's hand in ushering in the present gospel dispensation, the greatest of all, and the last of all in preparation for the second coming of the Master.
I bear witness that we have standing at the head of the Church today a prophet of the living God, who holds all the authority necessary to carry forward our Father's program for the blessing of His children.
As God lives, I know these things are true and bear this witness to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
As Brother Featherstone mentioned in his prayer, one of the favorite hymns of the Latter-day Saints actually is a prayer for the President of the Church. It is sung by congregations throughout the world with the beautiful theme mentioned by Brother Featherstone, and I'm sure we all join together in this expression:
Who is more beloved in the Church than President Spencer W. Kimball? And for whom do more prayers ascend from all parts of the world where Latter-day Saints live?
Not only is President Kimball universally loved and revered, but he loves and reveres the Saints and prays for them and labors for them without hesitation and without limit. His kindness is Christlike. He endeavors to do to all as he himself would be done by.
The Lord has given him great and wise men as counselors: President N. Eldon Tanner, President Marion G. Romney, and President Gordon B. Hinckley, who is a new counselor in the First Presidency, a man of God every inch of him, a wise man, an energetic man, courageous in the faith, solid and substantial as Gibraltar.
These brethren are as devoted as is the President himself, constantly giving their all to the work, everlastingly supporting the President, counseling in kindness and with great intelligence in all matters that come before them.
The First Presidency is a quorum of the Church and operates as such in beautiful harmony under the influence of the Holy Spirit, thus giving inspired guidance to the Saints.
The First Presidency is the presiding council of the Church. These Brethren preside over all things. They hold all the keys, powers, gifts, and blessings of this dispensation.
The President is the presiding high priest. His counselors preside with him by delegation from him in carrying on the labors of this highest divinely organized quorum on earth. All four in the presidency are Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ; all are prophets, seers, and revelators.
The Council of the Twelve comes next in line. These brethren also hold the divine keys, but only the President of the Church may exercise all of these keys in their fulness, for this privilege is given to but one man on earth at a time. The Twelve also work by delegation from the President of the Church. They receive assignments from him, and fulfill them with complete devotion.
It was the Lord himself who installed Apostles and prophets in this modern Church. It is, therefore, no idle gesture by which we sustain the First Presidency and the Twelve as prophets, seers, and revelators, for so they are, divinely chosen, duly ordained and set apart by the laying on of hands by those authorized to do so.
They were called of God as was Aaron, according to the pattern described by the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews. They were appointed by revelation, ordained by other living prophets, and fully commissioned to act in the name of the Lord.
God speaks through our great leaders and guides his people by their words. Did not the Lord himself say: "Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same"?
The President of the Church, who indeed is the living mouthpiece of God and the presiding high priest on earth, is given sacred endowments even as was the Prophet Joseph Smith, whom he succeeds in this high office.
By ordination he holds all of the keys, gifts, and powers in the priesthood that were bestowed upon the Prophet Joseph Smith by the holy angels as the Church arose again in these last days.
The President of the Church holds them all!
The work of this final dispensation could not be carried on otherwise. What point would there have been in Joseph Smith taking all those powers with him into the grave? The work would have stopped because God operates only authoritatively.
Did not Amos of old say that the Lord will do nothing except through his servants the prophets? And did God ever send prophets to earth without divine authority, without the right to speak and act in his name?
Were not the prophets and Apostles placed in the early Christian church by the Savior himself? And were they not called and ordained "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ"?
And were they not the foundation of the true church, as Paul said, the Savior being the chief cornerstone?
And were they not to remain in the Church "till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ"?
And were they not to remain also that we "be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine"?
The need for such direction is as great today as it was in the time of Peter and Paul when indeed every wind of doctrine did assail the Saints, and when false prophets did arise, teaching with "cunning craftiness, whereby they" did indeed "lie in wait to deceive."
The Saints today need instruction from God through his prophets just as did the members of the ancient church. We of this dispensation also must depend upon inspired direction in the work of the ministry and upon constant divine guidance on our way to perfection.
In many ways conditions now are much the same as they were anciently. The attitudes of the people-then and now-are not essentially different, neither are their basic problems, such as immorality.
The Lord has given us modern prophets as part of his modern Church, and their duties are like those of the ancient ones.
We of today must heed them as did the Saints in times past. It is the same Church, the same faith; and the salvation that is offered is identical.
The people anciently were willing to accept the divine callings of their leaders, not regarding them any longer as mere fishermen or tentmakers, for those brethren were placed by the Lord into a new category as his divinely chosen servants. So we of today must look beyond the former occupations and personal activities of our modern leaders and see them as the servants of God that they are now.
They are inspired as were Peter and Paul. They have the same divine callings. They are the leaders whom God himself has given us. He raised them up specifically for the present day. Then shall we not heed them?
We are living in a difficult period of time. The devil is fighting a determined war against the Saints. He seeks to surround us with every conceivable form of temptation, hatred, bigotry, and corruption.
His methods indeed are devious, as we are told so plainly by the prophet Nephi, who said that Satan will "rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.
"And others he will pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well-and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.
"And others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none-and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance."
Have you ever known a time in your lives when there was as much temptation as there is right now? Many an adult has said that he is glad he is not growing up in this day when the world is so corrupt.
They express alarm for the rising generation with all that confronts them in drug and sex appeal, in filth on the screen and in the printed media, and in many other forms of seduction.
Where is safety, brothers and sisters? Where but in the Church and under the protective canopy of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Is not today much like Noah's day when the population of the earth was wiped out in the flood and but eight righteous souls were spared?
Some doubt that there was a flood, but by modern revelation we know that it did take place. By modern revelation we know that for more than a century, Noah pleaded with the people to repent, but in their willful stubbornness they would not listen.
Don't we need the warning voices of the prophets now as much as they did in the days of Noah? Will we respond to our own seers and revelators any more than did the people of his day? Are we so foolish that we will not learn a lesson from their mistakes?
The scriptures say that many will not listen. But they also say that true believers in the Lord will follow his servants and give ear to their warning voices. God will protect the faithful regardless of all the tribulations that will come upon the wicked.
Did he not save Noah's family from the Flood?
Did he not save Lehi's family from destruction at Jerusalem?
The Lord has given his word that if we will serve him, he in turn will protect and prosper us.
As we live in this wicked world, shall we remain blind to the exigencies of our times? Have we the common sense and the good judgment to stand in holy places?
And how do we accomplish that? By obeying the prophets!
Are we willing-at all costs-to defend the kingdom of God against the vicious attacks of the adversary? And how do we do that? By obeying the prophets! Are we ready to answer affirmatively when we are asked:
If we are on his side, we will follow his prophets.
I testify to you that they are men of God. I testify to you that our great leader, President Spencer W. Kimball personally is a seer and a revelator, a prophet in the same sense as was Moses or Isaiah or Joseph Smith, and that he holds divine powers even as they did.
For our own sake, for the sake of our families, for the sake of this restored church of Jesus Christ to which we give our allegiance, but also to earn the blessing of heaven, let us serve the Lord and keep his commandments.
I have been on the Council of the Twelve now for nearly thirty-eight years. In that time I have labored under six Presidents of the Church. I have sat in their meetings as vital decisions were made. I have listened to their discussions and seen the flow of inspiration as it came to these six Presidents-these six prophets, six revelators, six seers whom I have known and whom I have loved and in whom I have felt an hallowed presence over the years.
I testify to you, by personal experience, that I have seen the power of God work upon them. I know that we live in a day of revelation. I know these brethren are divinely appointed servants of the Lord. I know that they speak for God.
If we follow them, do we not thereby follow Him who called them?
But conversely if we raise our hands or our voices against them, or if we ignore them, do we not in that manner resist the divine being who commissioned them as his servants? Can anyone afford to do that?
Is not our attitude toward these prophets an unerring reflection of our innermost feeling toward God? I mean our real, basic allegiance when it is divested of all outward show and stripped of all pretensions.
Can we truly love the Lord and at the same time reject his servants?
If we really do love God, then indeed we must and we will love and revere his anointed ones.
What if we did know them as boys in the neighborhood and saw no halos about them? What if we did mingle with them as they lived routine and ordinary lives in the past, meeting the world as it came, day by day? We must realize that conditions have changed!
God has now lifted them out of those familiar patterns and has given them a new status in life. He has summoned them to high callings in his ministry. A sacred mantle has descended upon them, the mantle of their divine commission, the mantle of prophecy!
They speak with new voices; they are guided by a heavenly light. They are ordinary no longer! They are the anointed ones-the chosen ones-chosen by Almighty God!
We have had twelve Presidents of the Church, twelve of God's greatest high priests. Each one gave his life for the work. One was a martyr, struck down by assassins' bullets. The others lived long and labored valiantly for the faith, even to their last breath.
Of his faithful servants the Lord has said: These are they who overcome by faith. Wherefore, all things are theirs and they are Christ's, and Christ is God's. These are they whose names are written in heaven, where God and Christ are the judge of all. These are they whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all.
The Lord will honor his prophets throughout eternity, for he will make them heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. The Lord expects us, his people, to honor them also, to sustain them and to follow them. May we therefore always sing with deep sincerity this wonderful hymn, which in truth is a prayer, but also a covenant:
In the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Carlos E. Asay
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
While pondering a theme for this conference assignment, I had occasion to conduct some business over the telephone with a member of the Council of the Twelve. In that conversation I asked, "Would you help me select a suitable subject for my conference assignment?"
He said, "Yes," in a very reassuring voice. And then he said, "Carlos, pray."
I therefore share with you the results of many prayers, and I do so prayerfully and obediently and very humbly.
On November 1, 1857, Elder George A. Smith delivered a memorable discourse, which included this old Chinese fable:
"A man travelling through the country came to a large city, very rich and splendid; he looked at it and said to his guide, 'This must be a very righteous people, for I can only see but one little devil in this great city.'
"The guide replied, 'You do not understand, sir. This city is so perfectly given up to wickedness that it requires but one devil to keep them all in subjection.'
"Travelling on a little farther, he came to a rugged path and saw an old man trying to get up the hill side, surrounded by seven great, big, coarse-looking devils.
"'Why,' says the traveller, 'this must be a tremendously wicked old man! See how many devils there are around him!'
"'This,' replied the guide, 'is the only righteous man in the country; and there are seven of the biggest devils trying to turn him out of his path, and they all cannot do it.'"
After relating the fable, Elder Smith added that "the devil has the world so perfectly at his disposal that it requires few devils to keep it in subjection" and that "the whole legion of devils has nothing to do but look after the 'Mormons' and stir up the hearts of the children of men to destroy them-to put them out of existence."
The evil one has attempted on many occasions in all dispensations to put out of existence, if you will, many of God's children. Sometimes he, himself, has assumed the deluder's role. Other times he has worked through those who have stepped to his side of the line. For instance, in the Book of Mormon, we read of three anti-Christs. Each was deceived, each preached against those who believed in Christ, and each sought openly to destroy the church of God. Their patterns of deceit were similar. They taught false doctrines, spread lies, referred to prophecies as foolish traditions, accused Church leaders of perverting the right way of God, and baited the people by referring to their faith as a foolish and vain hope.
When we read about the anti-Christs of former days, we marvel at how perverted their thinking became and we marvel at how successful they were in deceiving men and women. We also wonder why some of the people were so gullible-so easily misled. And with all this marveling and wondering, we tend to niche the anti-Christs in some corner of ancient history and go about our unguarded ways. This is dangerous. It could result in loss of faith; and, in a spiritual sense, it could put us out of existence.
Since the spring of 1820, Lucifer has led a relentless attack against the Latter-day Saints and their leaders. A parade of anti-Christs, anti-Mormons, and apostate groups have appeared on the scene. Many are still among us and have released new floods of lies and false accusations. These faith-killers and testimony-thieves use personal contacts, the printed word, electronic media, and other means of communication to sow doubts and to disturb the peace of true believers.
Two months ago we received a tender letter from a bishop. He informed us that he had been involved in an excommunication of a recent convert. The new convert had fallen under the influence of a very dedicated apostate who was successful in destroying the convert's testimony. It seems that, to discredit Joseph Smith and subsequent prophets, the apostate cited changes made in Church publications over the years.
The approach used by the apostate is common among those who are more interested in shadows than in light. Their logic, if followed, would have them burning the New Testament because Luke's account of the gospel is not exactly like Matthew's or because the book of Acts reports two differing versions of Paul's vision on the road to Damascus. Belief in modern prophets and continuous revelation is absent in the lives of many apostates. They would pin their hopes for salvation upon things other than those related to living prophets and living faith.
The questions follow: How do we respond to such malicious and evil designs? Do we strike back? Allow me to suggest a course of action-one which is in harmony with the teachings of the Savior, and one which, if followed, will be in harmony with the wise counsel of prophets past and present:
Avoid those who would tear down your faith. Faith-killers are to be shunned. The seeds which they plant in the minds and hearts of men grow like cancer and eat away the Spirit. True messengers of God are builders-not destroyers. We send our missionaries into the world to teach and to assist people in receiving truth line upon line until the fulness of the gospel is received. As one new convert testified: "My previous church provided me the chapter on mortality. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints added two more chapters pertaining to the premortal and postmortal existences."
Keep the commandments. President Brigham Young promised, "All we have to do is to go onward and upward, and keep the commandments of our Father and God; and he will confound our enemies." If we obey holy laws, we will take upon ourselves "the whole armour of God" and we will be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Moreover, obedience ensures us of the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit.
Follow the living prophets, as we have just been admonished. One Church leader taught: "Always keep your eye on the President of the Church, and if he ever tells you to do anything, and it is wrong, and you do it, the Lord will bless you for it. But you don't need to worry. The Lord will never let his mouthpiece lead the people astray." We walk in uncharted mine fields and place our souls in jeopardy when we receive the teachings of anyone except he that is ordained of God.
Do not contend or debate over points of doctrine. The Master warned that "the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil." We are inconsistent if we resort to Satanic tactics in attempting to achieve righteous ends. Such inconsistency results only in frustration, loss of the Spirit, and ultimate defeat. Remember, "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege."
Search the scriptures. Few of us would go astray or lose our way if we regarded the scriptures as our personal guide or compass. The iron rod is the word of God, and if held to, we will not fall.
Do not be swayed or diverted from the mission of the Church. There are those who would draw you off course and cause you to waste time and energies. Satan used a diversion ploy when he tempted Christ in the wilderness. The Savior's decisive response, "Get thee hence, Satan", is a proper example for all of us.
Pray for your enemies. Christ said to the Nephites, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you." While on the cross, the Savior pled, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." There are many who are kept from the truth-not because they don't want it, but because they know not where to find it.
Practice "pure religion." Involve yourself in Christian service. Succor the needs of the sick and poor; visit the fatherless and widows, and be charitable to all whether in the Church or out of the Church.
Remember that there may be many questions for which we have no answers and that some things have to be accepted simply on faith. An angel of the Lord asked Adam, "Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord?" He answered, "I know not, save the Lord commanded me." There may be times when we are called upon to climb Mount Moriahs and to sacrifice our Isaacs without a full and prior explanation. Faith is the first principle of the gospel; it is a principle of progress.
I suspect that there are few who know better the reality of Satan and his henchmen than does the full-time missionary, for the missionary is exposed to the fiery darts of the adversary, which come whistling overhead as he or she labors in the front lines in our war against sin. However, I promise all missionaries-and all members-that if the nine actions just mentioned are followed consistently, victory will be yours and faith and testimony will be preserved.
At the same time-
I assure you that opposition to our cause testifies of its divinity. Would satanic powers combine against us if we were not posing a threat to such powers?
I assure you that opposition, if met and overcome, has a refining influence upon our lives. A verse in one of our hymns reads:
The Savior learned obedience by the things which he suffered. Joseph Smith's oppositions gave him experience and worked for his good.
I assure you that the waters in which we are wont to swim are but little puddles when compared with the deep rivers of opposition in which the Prophet Joseph and others swam.
I assure you that our cause is just and it will succeed, regardless of the opposition exerted against us. Earlier Saints were bolstered by these words: "As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints."
President Brigham Young said: "Every time you kick 'Mormonism' you kick it upstairs; you never kick it downstairs. The Lord Almighty so orders it."
With all my heart I implore those who are walking on the fringes of our faith to seek the safety of the center. This can be done best by counseling with your leaders and remaining within the fellowshipping circle of the Saints, and receiving nourishment from the good word of God. Do not permit faithless people to turn you out of the right way or to put you out of existence.
And I pray for those who deal in the highest form of larceny-that of stripping people of their precious testimonies. Such action, if continued, will lead only to the futility and emptiness of the dream of a night vision.
God help us all in our war against sin. Though our numbers may be few and our dominions small, may we go forward "armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory", is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I feel very humble and privileged this afternoon to be in your presence, brothers and sisters. I hope and pray that the Spirit of the Lord will be with me so that I might be able to communicate with you.
I know with all my heart and soul that our Heavenly Father lives. He truly lives. I know our Heavenly Father is there, and he is ready to answer our sincere prayers. He has spoken to his children in the past; he has spoken to us in our day, to our people in his last dispensation. Our Father introduced his Son, Jesus Christ, to the people who lived on the American continent.
The Book of Mormon testifies: "They heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.
"And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came.
"And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them;
"Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name-hear ye him."
I know that the same Father spoke to the Jewish people in the eastern hemisphere. When our Lord Jesus Christ was baptized, the Bible testifies, "And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
"And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
I know that early one morning in the spring of 1820, in the state of New York, the Father and the Son appeared to the boy Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith testified: "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
" When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other-This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"
I know Joseph Smith saw God, the Father, and his Son, Jesus Christ. And I know that Joseph was a true living prophet of God. Like Joseph Smith of our day and like the ancient disciples and Apostles of the western and eastern hemispheres, I know that our Heavenly Father's own testimony is true: Jesus of Nazareth is his Beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased. Hear ye him!
I know that Jesus of Nazareth was born in the land of Judea, that he walked by the Sea of Galilee and the fields and plains of Palestine. It is his own testimony that we should hear, the one he bore to Martha, the sister of his friend Lazarus. Yesterday Elder Monson referred to this scripture:
"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
"And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"
Brothers and sisters, I believe this with all my heart and with all my soul. I know that this same Jesus conferred upon Joseph Smith all the power and authority necessary to reestablish the kingdom of God upon this earth once again, so that every soul might have a chance to hear the Father's Beloved Son.
I know that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that he has provided us, through his Beloved Son, a way for us to follow in our mortal lives. Through the restoration of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, he has provided the way to find eternal happiness, true happiness.
Brothers and sisters, many of our Father's children in Japan and Korea also believe our Heavenly Father's testimony and listen to his Beloved Son.
Shortly before coming to this conference, I received a beautiful letter from a woman who had lost her husband thirteen years ago. I will read it to you. She said: "I was left alone to raise my two sons. As I was attending the baptismal service of my eldest son, who is attending senior high school, I could not help but feel the beautiful atmosphere that surrounded me. I was so impressed by the sweet spirit of the Saints; how exuberant and humble I felt. I observed my son, dressed in white, going down into the water. The stake president's wife, who was whispering to me, told me that his sins would be washed away. I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of this moment that I felt my tears well up and my heart cried for joy. At that moment I wanted to know about myself. What about me? What about me? Was it possible that I, too, could experience a washing away of my sins? If my sins could be washed away and made clean once more, I too wanted to be baptized."
After four days of studying and praying with the missionaries, she too came to accept the Savior and was baptized. Shortly thereafter, her youngest son also entered into the waters of baptism. Now Sister Masako Anan and her two boys are preparing to go to the Tokyo Temple to be sealed as a family with their deceased father for time and all eternity. Oh, how glorious is the power of the gospel which can change the hearts of people from sorrow and despair to happiness and joy! Oh, how glorious it is to know that the power conferred upon Joseph Smith can change the hearts of the people!
I know that the gospel has been restored and that the true church of God has been reestablished here upon this earth. I humbly extend my invitation to all my friends everywhere, and I say humbly today, "Come partake of this living water. Believe the testimony of the Father: ' my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him.'"
I know for those who wish to hear the Father's beloved Son, the Book of Mormon like the Bible has a familiar voice. It is the word of God and has the power to change men's souls.
May I give you an example of a Korean brother who heard the Savior's voice? Brother Choi had left his wife, two children, and his mother for nine months. One day our missionaries were tracting in the city of Kwang Ju, Korea. They found his family. The family began to study with the missionaries and were baptized shortly.
The missionaries started the family home evening program with this family.
One day the seven-year-old daughter purchased a Book of Mormon from a missionary and sent it with her simple, yet beautiful testimony to her daddy. Two missionaries took that book to her father and bore their strong, firm testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel and the importance of the family. Her father wondered why these people were so concerned and kind to him and his family. When evening came, he began to read, and heard a familiar voice of the Lord. He was so inspired and found it to be true. And also he found the testimony written by his daughter. I would like to share it with you, brothers and sisters. She said:
"Aboji, Aboji, Aboji, I want to have family home evening with you! Please come back! We love you! I love you! I need you! I want you to read this book! Heavenly Father loves you!"
Brother Choi was so inspired and magnified by reading the Book of Mormon and touched by it and touched by his daughter's testimony that he asked the missionaries to baptize him. Therefore this family was reunited, and Brother Choi is now the bishop of the Kwang Ju Third Ward. He sits in this hall today, a living example of one who heard the Savior's voice from the Book of Mormon.
Oh, how we need the missionaries of the Lord to carry the Father's testimony of his Beloved Son to every people, kindred, and tongue! There must be many Bishop Chois and there must be many Sister Anans in your own neighborhoods.
I know Spencer W. Kimball is a prophet of the Lord. He is a living prophet. He instructs us that we should lengthen our stride, quicken our pace with a sense of urgency; do it now! President Kimball, you are a living prophet of the Lord; you are a man scorned and covered with scars like Job of old, and yet you are ready to move forward, to climb another mountain. We love you. We need you.
Brothers and sisters, why don't we pay more humble attention to this servant of the Lord so that we can lengthen our own stride and share this beautiful gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with another Bishop Choi and another Sister Anan. I humbly pray in the sacred name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Paul H. Dunn
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
What a special delight it is, brothers and sisters, to stand in your presence once more, to feel of your great spirit. I'm just glad we're friends.
You know, conference is a great time for spiritual uplift, for association, and for wise counsel. With all the counsel I've been hearing, I couldn't help but reminisce a little bit about the young athlete who attempted most all sports but had never tried skydiving. And so he took several theoretical courses in how to jump.
When the day came for the solo flight, he became a little fearful, so he approached his instructor and said, "I'm not sure I want to go through with this."
The instructor said, "Don't worry. We'll protect you by putting two added parachutes on you."
The plane took off and arrived at the three thousand foot level. With some fear and trepidation he was pushed out.
On the way down, at about two thousand feet, he remembered that that's when you pull the rip cord. He did so, and the chute didn't open. He pulled the second, and it didn't open. He pulled the third, and it didn't open.
To his amazement, at about that time he met in the air, coming up from the ground, another man. They passed on the way. The young parachutist shouted to his new friend, "Pardon me," he said, "do you know anything about parachutes?"
"No," his friend shouted back, "what do you know about Coleman lanterns?"
I suppose it seems all of us are in need of good counsel. Quite often parents and many young people ask the question, "How do you teach the gospel so that it's meaningful and applicable?" Do you know, my brothers and sisters, that learning any concept or principle or changing any behavior pattern requires five important steps?
First, you have to expose a person. Second is the law of repetition. Third is to give understanding, the why. People of all ages want to know the whys of the gospel, not just the rules. This is the most important aspect of teaching because the fourth step, that of conviction, and the fifth, application, cannot occur until we understand.
Too often our answers to young people's inquiries are "Well, because the scriptures say so" or "That is what the leaders tell us." Young people want to know why the scriptures say so and why the leaders are so concerned.
Let me just share a little personal experience that happened some years ago at the university.
I'd been in a very special meeting with some young people. We had been talking about temple marriage. As we departed the session, I was walking with three young ladies, one of whom I knew quite well. I had become aware that she had been dating a boy out of the faith, and I just cautiously suggested to her that you tend to marry those you date. I said, "I am planning on the day when I can perform your sealing in the temple."
She looked at me and she said, "Well, I may not get married in the temple."
And I said, "Why not?"
And she looked at me as only young people can, and said, "Why should I?"
All right, mom and dad, teacher. What do you tell them?
Like most teachers, I paused to stall and think. Then, hoping for inspiration, I said, "Well, why shouldn't you?"
She looked at me and she said, "Do you really want to know?"
And I said, "Please."
She said, "How well do you know my father?"
I said, "Reasonably well."
She said, "My dad puts on a pretty good front. Oh, he's a fine man, but he's a little hypocritical." She said, "You ought to see the way he treats my mom and us at home. And you know, my mom and dad were married in the temple. And I don't want a marriage like that." She said, "How well do you know Brother and Sister So-and-so?"-another acquaintance.
I said, "I know them."
She said, "Did you know I babysit for them. They too are married in the temple, and I wouldn't care for a marriage like that." She said, "How well do you know Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so?" This is a wonderful member of our community, not of our faith. Ten children. She said, "I babysit that family too, and I'd like a marriage like theirs."
Now what do you say, mom and dad? Teacher? The scriptures say so? Well, that's what the leaders teach. Young people are after whys and wherefores.
I was still a little puzzled. Standing nearby was another young lady. I turned to her and I said, "How do you answer that?"
She was alert. She turned to her friend and she said, "Jan, you're not fair."
Jan said, "Why not?"
She said, "Because you're judging the whole church by two or three examples that don't represent, necessarily, what we believe and teach or how we should live." She said, "Let me ask you a question. When was the last time you had a little personal crisis, maybe a frustrating date, a test, a social situation that worried you a little bit, where your dad sensed it and came into your bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed and stroked your head and said, 'Wouldn't you like a blessing tonight?'"
Jan looked at her and said, "Well, my dad doesn't do that."
The little girl said, "My dad does."
And then together they talked about how her dad regularly taught the family. An experience was shared regarding family prayer. She listed some eight or nine such moments without even pausing. I could see a little change in Jan's heart. You could see in Jan's eyes the expression, "Oh! I would like a husband like that."
I had the thrill some months later of performing that marriage, in the temple. I'd like to think that night, a change occurred.
Most wrong choices before and after marriage are not made out of rebellion or intentional error but because of misinformation, miscommunication, and lack of understanding. In most cases, if couples truly understood the whats and the whys and the hows of eternal marriage, no one would have to talk them into the right choices. Indeed, no one would be able to talk them out of them!
Let me ask you young people a question: have you ever wondered why God would restrict us from some things, advise us strongly against them, warn us, even command us? Do you think his commandments are just arbitrary whims, artificial tests of some kind, generalities that are important for some people but not for others?
I don't think so! His commandments are loving counsel from a wise Father. Our understanding and concept of God as a loving and personal Heavenly Father allows us no other definition. He gives us commandments for one reason only-because he loves us and wants us to be happy. Chastity is a perfect example. God simply knows that virtue is its own reward, that the saving of oneself for one eternal partner makes that commitment more beautiful, more joyful. It is the simple question of whether you want a penny now or a diamond later. Any momentary pleasure that might result from a premarital relationship cannot be compared with the vastly greater joy of oneness in marriage. And the indulgence in the former can destroy the potential for the latter.
Chastity is like money in the bank. As you save yourself you are saving the joy of belonging to one and only one. You are saving the joy of being able to say, "I am all yours, and I have never been anyone else's."
Some will ask, "What if we already know who 'the one' is? What if the commitment is already there and we're just waiting for the ceremony?" The answer is, it's not just a ceremony, it's a covenant, both with God and with your partner, and waiting shows the deepest love and respect for both.
Some will say, "But we love each other too much to wait." The answer is that there is no such thing as too much love and that it is too much selfishness, not love, that debates divine counsel and violates virtue.
Any love that is to become eternal must include respect, faith, trust, admiration, honor, and have spiritual and mental aspects as well as physical and emotional. No relationship, either temporal or eternal, can exist without these attributes. Every soap opera is filled with accurate illustrations of misery because these qualities are absent.
If, in your case, the physical tends to dominate, all the more reason to bridle it and find the other dimensions. Bridle is the word that wise father Alma used in counseling his son Shiblon, and the promise he attached is the key to understanding: "Bridle your passions, that ye may be filled with love." Bridling increases strength, increases power, increases love. There are absolutely two ways you can control a horse. One is to kill it; one is to bridle it. Alma never said kill your passions. The implication is not that passions are evil, that we shouldn't have them. On the contrary, we bridle something we love, something whose power we respect.
A horse is stronger than a man, so the man bridles it, thus controlling its power and using that power for good. Passions are stronger than we are, so we bridle them, thus controlling their power and using that power to strengthen a marriage and forge it into eternity. One has to know how to bridle a horse or a passion.
Remember, a physical relationship is simply too beautiful to squander, too wonderful to waste. It is the sterling silver too precious to tarnish before the beauty of the banquet.
Let us remember that understanding "the why" in learning is what develops proper attitudes or changes behavior. God grant us the wisdom to teach wisely and with understanding, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Marion D. Hanks
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My theme today is mercy. The poet wrote that mercy is "twice blest; / It bless him that gives and him that takes," and added that "earthly power doth then show likest God's / When mercy seasons justice."
I am sure that everyone within sound of my voice today is in favor of mercy. But mercy merely as a principle, impersonal mercy, is no more useful or virtuous than impersonal faith or impersonal repentance or impersonal love.
As a new mission president years ago I visited, by somewhat imperious invitation, the home of a good and strongly opinionated man who wanted to discuss with me an error of judgment made by a young missionary. The harmless action involved was the result of a misunderstanding for which the young man had sincerely apologized. I was fully satisfied with the resolution. My friend was not. He insisted on some form of punishment, public punishment, that assured humiliation. The young man must pay, and I must see to it.
We reasoned together. His position was that justice demands payment and that mercy cannot rob justice. I agreed and reminded him that the words he had quoted came from a Book of Mormon incident wherein a choice servant of God, who early in his life had desperately needed mercy had received it, and was now teaching an unrepentant son who was seeking to justify his own serious sin. Alma, the father, taught Corianton the meaning and consequences of the Atonement, in the course of which, acknowledging the place of justice, he three times testified of God's "plan of mercy," brought about through Christ's holy gift.
"Mercy claimeth the penitent," he said.
"Mercy claimeth all which is her own."
There is "a repentance granted; which repentance mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature."
Corianton listened, repented, and was forgiven, and subsequently returned to missionary service to "bring souls unto repentance, that the great plan of mercy may have claim upon them."
The sin of Corianton was major; the incident involving the missionary was innocent and minor. I thought our discussion would resolve the issue. It did not.
My host leaned across the table and said to me with intensity, "I want justice!"
Quietly I replied, "I want mercy."
Three times with growing force he repeated his message: "I want justice!"
Each time I responded to his crescendo with diminuendo, saying more quietly, "I want mercy."
We parted with the agreement that it was my responsibility to handle the matter, to give justice its due, and to let mercy claim her own.
He is gone now to his eternal reward. I remember him with respect and affection. I came to know him well and love him and to be aware that he, like all the rest of us, needed the promised mercy of Christ to the penitent.
Many times I have mused on that moment: "I want justice!" "I want mercy."
Then recently, half a world away, I sat with another good man. He had brought light and warmth and good humor into the room with him, and I was listening with deep interest as he told his "before and after" story. The "before" involved his life as a nominal but nonpracticing Christian employed in a stressful occupation with rough associates and with a tendency to follow the crowd in all their bad habits. He was not attentive to his wife and children, was worried about his family, suffered from an unhappy conscience, and had developed a serious physical ailment.
Then two young men came to his door. They represented the Lord, they said, with a message of eternal truth for him and his family: the gospel of Jesus Christ is restored to the earth, the church of Jesus Christ reestablished; every individual and every family are important to God and through his plan can find purpose and meaning; families are meant to be together forever; and there is a way to know for oneself the truth of these things, they said, for the Holy Spirit will confirm the knowledge for those who sincerely seek.
He listened and believed. Immediately he put aside bad habits. His wife and children responded also. Their lives changed. They studied and prayed and worshiped, joined the Church, and lived in the light of the Spirit. His work improved, and soon new opportunities and trust and renewed reputation for dependability resulted.
At the conclusion of his story came a ringing declaration of faith, without self-consciousness, without bluster, without guile. "I am like the Lord in one thing," he said; "my specialty is mercy."
My specialty is mercy!
One cannot live long with the scriptures without recognizing that God our Father and his holy Son have specialties also.
The specialty of the Father is mercy.
To his people in Isaiah's time, he gave stern counsel and warning. They were, he said, "a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord:
"Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits."
He spoke of their perverseness, their iniquity, their rejection of him and their reliance upon temporal power. Notwithstanding all this, the holy record then announces: "And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you."
He waits to be gracious! He loves to be merciful! The prophets call him "the Father of mercies." They speak of his "abundant mercy,", and declare that "whosoever repenteth, and hardeneth not his heart, he shall have claim on mercy". They declare his "wisdom mercy, and grace." And crowning all of this is the testimony that our Father "delighteth in mercy."
The specialty of the Father is mercy.
The specialty of the Savior is mercy.
He spoke to the world those things which he had heard of his Father. "As my Father hath taught me, I speak these things."
The scriptures teach that he took upon himself the form of man and was "touched with the feeling of our infirmities." "Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest."
There is one who understands, who sympathizes. He was misunderstood, rejected, knew supreme loneliness, was poor and had not a place to lay his head, suffered anguish and conflict of mind.
He understands.
He can give pardon and bring peace.
The specialty of the Savior is mercy.
And he requires that we be specialists in mercy.
"Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful."
Through Micah we are taught man's whole duty, which is to walk humbly with God, to do justly among our fellowmen, and to "love mercy."
Our individual need for mercy and its conditions he explained in a parable of two men who went up to the temple to pray. One proudly announced his own perfections and righteousness. The other "would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." Of this honest, unpretentious man the Lord declared that he "went down to his house justified rather than the other."
The meaning of mercy he taught in a parable of a man beaten and left at the roadside and concluded the sweet story of the Samaritan by referring to two men who passed by without helping, and to one who stopped to assist him. Which of these three, the Lord asked, was neighbor to the man? And he answered: "He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus, Go, and do thou likewise."
Thus the mercy of God must be mirrored in the mercy of man, and the field is as broad as the needs of the whole human family. The Psalmist cried, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble."
All of us are in trouble. There is no just man on the earth who doeth good and sinneth not.
In the most personal of his parables, the Savior identified himself fully with the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the homeless, sick, and imprisoned. "I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was a stranger, and ye took me in." So many are burdened with earthly care, the stain of sin, poverty, pain, disability, loneliness, bereavement, rejection. The promise of Christ's mercy is sure and certain to those who find him and trust him. He who stilled the winds and waves can bring peace to the sinner and to the suffering saint. And we as his agents are not alone to declare his word, but to represent him in doing unto the least of his brethren that which he himself would do were he now here.
In a refugee camp in Asia was a young former schoolteacher who with her mother had escaped their country after having watched the brutal murder of others in their family. She had been viciously violated to the point where she had vowed never to speak again in this depraved world. It was her way of protesting against the wickedness imposed upon her and countless others. For more than five years she spoke not a word. Then one day she came into the influence of some of our Church representatives who are performing daily miracles of love in several refugee camps. They had no medical magic, these selfless young ladies representing us there, no professional competence to deal with a tortured mind and spirit. They prayed for her, took her hand, and spoke words of love to her; and she answered! For the first time in five years she spoke, and she has been speaking since. The Spirit of him who said, "Peace be still", reached out through faithful instruments, touched the storm center of a troubled soul, stilled the winds and waves of torment, and brought faith and hope again.
For me and mine, and for you, I pray to be worthy to carry the same banner as our beloved brother who found the way to mercy and who exemplifies in his life what I heard him humbly declare: "My specialty is mercy."
"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder James E. Faust
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
It was Friday morning, June 28, 1844, and already the summer sun was hot in Illinois. Since about eight o'clock that morning Dr. Willard Richards, Samuel H. Smith, and nine others had plodded along the dusty road between Carthage and Nauvoo, Illinois. Moving along the road with the solemn procession were two wagons heaped with bushes to protect their cargo from the blistering heat of the sun.
Laid out on the wagons were the lifeless bodies of Joseph Smith, age thirty-eight, over six feet tall, and Hyrum, his brother, age forty-four, and even larger in stature than Joseph. Wearily, Dr. Richards and Samuel Smith, brother to the two murdered men, pressed toward Nauvoo and talked of the events just the day before during which Joseph and Hyrum were gunned down by an armed mob with painted faces. The two victims, along with Dr. Richards and John Taylor, were lodged in Carthage Jail, supposedly for their protection, when the mob, numbering from 150 to 200 marauders, stormed the jail and shot to death their intended victims.
Word of the deaths had already reached Nauvoo, headquarters city for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As the wagons and their foot-weary guardians entered the city, several thousand citizens greeted the procession with the most solemn lamentations and mourning.
The bloodied bodies were tenderly removed from the wagons at the Nauvoo Mansion and were carefully washed from head to foot. The various wounds were filled with cotton, soaked in camphor, and death masks were impressed on each face. Fine, plain clothing was then placed on each body. When these preparations were completed, the bodies were viewed that night by the bereaved widows and children of the two men, along with many of their closest associates. Then on Saturday, more than ten thousand mourning Saints viewed the remains of their beloved Prophet Joseph and his brother, the Patriarch Hyrum. The bodies were then secretly and lovingly buried.
Some of the enemies of Joseph Smith exulted in their infamous deeds; and many proclaimed that the Church, which he had restored and for which he had given his life, would die with him.
But, to the surprise of its enemies, the Church did not die nor did the work of Joseph Smith cease with his mortal death. What has transpired in a century and a half bears eloquent testimony to the eternal nature of the work of this singularly remarkable man, Joseph Smith. The Church which he restored has had dramatic growth in many parts of the earth. It has produced an unequaled missionary system and an unmatched welfare program. Its governing system gives priesthood power and authority from God to all worthy male members, at the same time recognizing the exalted status of women as being equal to men. The Church has an inspired law of health and temporal well-being far ahead of its time. By revelation from God, the Church also possesses those keys, saving principles, and ordinances which will bring eternal exaltation to mankind, living and dead.
Because of these and other reasons, millions of people have become members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But to each true believer there must ultimately and finally come a conviction that Joseph Smith was a revealer of truth, a prophet of God. Each must be convinced that God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ did appear to Joseph Smith and did commission him to reestablish the church of Christ upon the face of the earth.
I have such a conviction, and it is my humble desire to share with you some of the things which verify my testimony of Joseph Smith and his work. My own witness is a spiritual one more than a scientific or historical one. I doubt that the gospel of Jesus Christ as restored to earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith and as taught by all the prophets who have succeeded him will ever be completely provable by the scientific method alone. It must be accepted by faith and understood by the gift and power of God. For instance, one of the truths revealed by Joseph Smith on February 27, 1833, taught of the harmful effects of tea, coffee, tobacco, and alcoholic beverages. Such teachings today can be proven scientifically, yet in my opinion, the greatest promises contained in the Word of Wisdom are spiritual. It contains a promise of wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, and of the passing by of the destroying angel as the children of Israel were passed by.
One of the most significant contributions of Joseph Smith is his work in translating and publishing the Book of Mormon, a sacred volume of scripture brought forth from ancient records. When it was first published in 1830, there was little scientific or historical evidence to substantiate the claims of Joseph Smith that the record came from metallic plates and told of ancient civilizations on the North and South American continents. Today such outward evidences have been discovered and help confirm that Joseph Smith was telling the truth about the Book of Mormon.
But we also still look to the spiritual witnesses for our confirming belief in the book. Critics have long tried to explain away the Book of Mormon but simply have not been successful. Theories concerning its origin have come and gone, and the book still lives on to testify that Jesus is the Christ.
Most objective, analytical scholars have come to recognize that it would have been impossible for an uneducated boy such as Joseph Smith, reared on the frontiers of America, to write the Book of Mormon. It contains so many exalted concepts, has such different writing styles, and is compiled in such a way that no one person could be its author. The honest inquirer can be led by faith to believe that Joseph Smith did translate the Book of Mormon from ancient plates of gold which were written with engraved characters in the reformed Egyptian language. No other explanations which have seriously challenged Joseph Smith's own account of the Book of Mormon have been able to survive as being factually correct. The evidences of a century and a half continue, and these increasingly affirm that Joseph Smith spoke the truth, completely, honestly, and humbly.
As I submit to you my testimony of Joseph Smith, I acknowledge his humanness along with his great spiritual powers. He did not claim to be divine, nor a perfect man. He claimed only to be a mortal man with human feelings and imperfections, trying honestly to fulfill the divine mission given to him. He so describes himself in recorded counsel given to some of the members of the Church who had just arrived in Nauvoo on October 29, 1842. Said the Prophet, "I told them I was but a man, and they must not expect me to be perfect; if they expected perfection from me, I should expect it from them; but if they would bear with my infirmities and the infirmities of the brethren, I would likewise bear with their infirmities."
I am impressed with his complete candor, for in addition to admitting his own humanness, he also recorded the declarations from the Lord which were given to him in the nature of loving reproof. As such reminders came to him, sometimes kindly and sometimes sternly, he dictated them as the mouthpiece of the Lord to those who transcribed the revelations. One such example is found in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 5, verse 21: "And now I command you, my servant Joseph, to repent and walk more uprightly before me, and to yield to the persuasions of men no more."
While Joseph sought perfection, he did not claim perfection. If he were intending to fabricate a great falsehood or wanted to perpetrate a fraud or practice deceit, would he have been so truthful about his own humanness? His complete candor in admitting human frailties and in declaring the loving discipline of God offers powerful proof of his honesty and probity. His statements stand on more solid footing because they were declarations against human nature and admissions against self-interest.
He knew that such candor would and did make him an object of hatred, ridicule, and social disapproval, but he spoke openly the unvarnished truth. He was prepared for such vicissitudes of life early in his ministry. He was told by the angel Moroni in 1823, only three years after his glorious vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ, that his name would be known for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples, and that both good and evil would be spoken of him. However, the intensity of the evil and persecution surprised even Joseph and caused him to ask on one occasion: "Why should the powers of darkness combine against me? Why the opposition and persecution that arose against me, almost in my infancy?". But he met the challenges and overcame the strife and was stronger because of them.
There should be no exaggerated emphasis on the fallibility or mortal failings of Joseph Smith. They were only things that are a part of any human being. He and his work enjoyed the benediction of Deity. On a special occasion, the Lord said to him, "Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Joseph Smith, I am well pleased with your offering and acknowledgments, which you have made; for unto this end have I raised you up, that I might show forth my wisdom through the weak things of the earth."
I am deeply impressed by the kinds of people who became associates of Joseph Smith. His personality was a magnet to many people, attracting those of all ages and all classes. Many whom he inspired were extremely intelligent, dedicated, and capable men and women. The courage which they evidenced in behalf of the work of Joseph Smith, along with their sacrifices, suffering, and dedication, were almost beyond belief.
At the outset I mentioned Dr. Willard Richards, whose loyalty to Joseph is so typical. Before Joseph went to the Carthage Jail, he said to Dr. Richards: "'If we go into the cell, will you go in with us?' The doctor answered, 'Brother Joseph you did not ask me to cross the river with you-you did not ask me to come to Carthage-you did not ask me to come to jail with you-and do you think I would forsake you now? But I will tell you what I will do; if you are condemned to be hung for treason, I will be hung in your stead, and you shall go free.' Joseph said, 'You cannot.' The doctor replied, 'I will.'"
Following the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, his successor as prophet was the practical, able Brigham Young. Of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young said:
"When I first heard him preach, he brought heaven and earth together; and all the priests of the day could not tell me anything correct about heaven, hell, God, angels, or devils; they were as blind as Egyptian darkness. When I saw Joseph Smith, he took heaven, figuratively speaking, and brought it down to earth; and he took the earth, brought it up, and opened up, in plainness and simplicity, the things of God; and that is the beauty of his mission."
The results of a century and a half of this church offer great authentication to the truthfulness of Joseph Smith's story. The work of this church moves forward in an astonishing way. The great body of the Latter-day Saints remain faithful to their testimonies of Joseph Smith and his work. Since Joseph's day, millions have accepted by faith and have had confirmed by the Holy Spirit that Joseph's account of seeing the Father and the Son is true and that he restored to earth the pure gospel of Jesus Christ.
As the years pass since Joseph's life and death, his history will no doubt be analyzed, picked at, criticized, challenged, and pored over. But the evidences of the truthfulness of his statements will continue to mount. The devotion and commitment of those who accept the restored gospel will continue to be severely tested. Their faith will be sorely tried, as has been the case with so many in the past. But like Joseph himself, millions will live and die faithful to the gospel he restored. As time moves on, the stature of Joseph Smith will loom ever larger. He will stand higher and higher in the esteem of mankind. Ever so many will come to a profound conviction, as I have, that there is a divine source to the message he taught and an eternal purpose to the work which he restored on earth.
There comes down through my family a legacy of testimony concerning the truthfulness of Joseph Smith's work. I learned of this bequest as a small boy at my mother's knee. My great-great-grandfather, Edward Partridge, was intimately associated with the Prophet Joseph for several years prior to his losing his life in consequence of the persecution. He was baptized by Joseph. In a revelation received by the Prophet, he was called as the first bishop of the restored Church.
Grandfather was so tortured, humiliated, and suffered so much in his calling from lawless mobs, and was still so steadfast and faithful, that he could not possibly have doubted the genuineness of the revelation that appointed him. Like others who were close to the Prophet, he knew Joseph's heart and soul. Grandfather could not have been deceived. I believe his life and death both prove that he did not lie. His devotion, suffering, and sacrifice eloquently testify that he had implicit faith in Joseph as an inspired servant of God.
In addition to this heritage, I have my own inner witness which confirms to my soul that the Prophet Joseph Smith, as the instrument of God, revealed the greatest body of truth that has come to mankind since the Savior himself walked upon the earth.
What has been taught at this pulpit for the last two days is an extension of the expanding inheritance of truth left to all of us by the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was given to save and exalt mankind as directed by the Lord Jesus Christ. I so testify with profound gratitude, in the name of the risen Christ, amen.
President N. Eldon Tanner
First Counselor in the First Presidency
I am very happy to be with you this afternoon. I have felt that this is one of the finest conferences I have ever attended. Probably we needed the Spirit of the Lord here in our President's absence, and it has certainly been here. I want to congratulate the speakers, and express my appreciation to this lovely choir.
As we have attended sessions in this conference, we have been informed, we have been advised, we have been counseled in what we should do as members of the Church. When I was with President David O. McKay and he was not able to attend conference, he said, "President Tanner, you remind those people who they are and to act accordingly." This "acting accordingly" is very important to me.
When I remind people who they are, I express some of our articles of faith. First, "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost." Now, we believe that. But I wonder how we would act if we realized every day that we are spirit children of God and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. Would we do some of the things we do? Would we do them more emphatically, or would we not do them at all? We have had that Spirit with us today. And I would like to say that the thing that appeals to me and seems more necessary than anything else in the gospel is that we live every day the teachings of the Lord. I ask you to remind people who they are and ask them to act accordingly. If we act accordingly, we will be keeping the commandments of God.
We say, "We believe in God, the Eternal Father." Do we really believe that he is the Father of our spirit, and act accordingly? We say, "We believe in His Son, Jesus Christ." Do we really believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and act accordingly? Would we live the way we do if we were conscious of that all the time?
We say, "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men." Are we honest every day? True, chaste, benevolent, and virtuous? Are we, brethren and sisters of this Church, living that in our homes, with our children, with our neighbors, in our businesses? What a tremendous thing it would be if we were doing that and being conscious of it at all times!
I would just like to give you an example of what I'm thinking of. I was invited when I was with the Alberta, Canadian government to go down to Dallas, Texas, to speak to a large group of oilmen. I was introduced by the governor of Texas. As he introduced me, he said I had been a bishop in the Mormon church and I was now president of the Edmonton, Canada Branch. He said, "I'd like to tell you men that anybody who is worthy to be a bishop in that church needs no other introduction as far as I am concerned." He wasn't complimenting me, but those whom he knew who were members of the Church and holding office there and were dependable. I thought, "What a wonderful thing it would be if each returned missionary could say, 'I am a returned missionary in good standing,' and it could be said of him, 'You need no other introduction.'"
How wonderful it would be for every holder of the priesthood if he knew that the Lord knew he could count on him because of the way he lived. I'd like to say today that it is a tremendous responsibility for members of this church to so live that others, seeing their good works, can be led to glorify the Lord's name. We must do so every day! If this church, this four million people plus-everyone who is living the gospel or the gospel principles-were honest, honorable, and upright in their dealings and could be depended on in every way, that is all the introduction we should need.
I pray as we leave this conference that each one of us who has had a feeling that he would like to do better from now on will turn that feeling into action; that each of us will be honest and be a full tithe-payer; that we will prepare ourselves to go to the temple where we can be married for time and all eternity and have our families sealed to us.
My appeal to you today, brothers and sisters, is that all of us who desire to be better will go home with that determination and do it the rest of our lives, that we might be an example of good, an influence for good, and a great strength to the Church. That is my prayer for us, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Dwan J. Young
Primary General President
The following addresses were delivered at the General Women's Meeting held Saturday evening, March 27, in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City. Latter-day Saint women twelve and older gathered to view the locally televised broadcast; the program was also viewed live in areas where satellite dishes were in operation. Videotapes of the program have been supplied to each region of the Church worldwide.
In addition to prerecorded taped segments, speakers at the meeting were, in the following order: Sister Dwan J. Young, general president of the Primary; Sister Elaine A. Cannon, general president of the Young Women; Sister Barbara Smith, general president of the Relief Society; and Elder Mark E. Petersen of the Quorum of the Twelve.
Theme for the meeting was "The Legacy-Remembered and Renewed."
Annette, your voice has filled this hall with beautiful music as you pled, "Teach me, teach me." In many parts of the world, I have looked at other children one by one who were singing this same song. I prayed then, as I pray now, that there is someone close-by who is teaching you to walk in the light.
Each of us comes into this world separately, one by one. This is not an accident. I think it's the Lord's way of reminding us of the infinite worth of each soul.
There is something very sacred about the time of birth. I remember so clearly the coming forth of each of my own children. My firstborn came after three years of desperate waiting. He was very small, only five pounds. I felt so responsible. It seemed like such a miracle and there was a great surge of gratitude. Now I had a baby of my very own. With each child came a sharper realization of life's challenges and possibilities. Rocking my babies to sleep, I sang them the lullabies which came to my lips-soft, private words, carrying my dreams for their future. I have marveled at this miracle of potential that we cradle in our arms: the ultimate of creation, a human child.
Growth is inevitable. This is the natural phenomenon of life itself. It quickly becomes apparent that the child is engaged in some dynamic process of physical growth over which one has very little control. Shortly the birth weight is doubled. Turn around, as the song says, and they're three. Turn around, and they're four. Turn around, and they're a young man or woman going out of the door.
As young children start to learn, it's like opening a floodgate. There's no stopping, no end to their capacity to grow and to learn. First they imitate, and then they move out on their own. I was always astonished when it seemed like we had to show our children only once some new skill, some new task, and then they were swept away on their own, pursuing their own star.
As we observe the process of natural growth, we become acutely aware of certain eternal principles upon which all growth is predicated. First, growth is the expected norm. It's the divine challenge given to each soul as it enters mortality. Our Heavenly Father expects us to use the great gift of life to enjoy and to celebrate this central truth. Because we have life, we can grow and develop and do some things on earth we cannot do anywhere else.
Very soon we become aware of another great truth. Only God's children have the capacity to direct their own growth. This means that we can use this time on earth to bring optimum growth and development because we have the power to make choices. It's not enough just to grow. Even the weeds and the biblical tares can do that. It is expected of us that we will shape our growth so that we will not be like Topsy who "just growed," but rather we will successfully negotiate the bumps and curves by enlarging upon our talents, by disciplining ourselves, so that our mortal experience brings us toward greater and greater mastery of those characteristics which make us worthy of association with the Divine.
Intelligent observation tells us that growth comes one step at a time. The scriptures say precept upon precept, line upon line.
Just as the baby learns to walk one faltering step at a time and learns to speak one word at a time, we learn to care, to serve, and to love one step at a time. We learn to master everything one concept at a time.
The Lord has carefully explained this great truth to us in 2 Nephi 28:30:
"I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have."
There's a kind of wonder and awe that comes to us as we observe the natural phenomenon of physical growth. You remember the song that says, "I don't remember growing older," or "When did he grow to be so tall?" We have a special place in our home where the children record their height on the wall. With the help of a book placed on top of their head, they can tell if they've grown since the last mark was made. Cheers are heard if they've made progress. That is natural growth. But what greater joy and satisfaction comes when the change that is wrought has come about by constant personal choice and effort!
I'm reminded of the little child who came to her daddy and said, "Give me something hard to do." So he thought of things she could do, but she would say, "No, daddy, that isn't hard enough. I want something hard to do." He was carrying his briefcase into the house, and he said, "Well, carry this; this will be very hard to carry." She grabbed hold. Oh, boy, it was heavy! She said, "I think I can." She struggled and staggered until she finally got it to the house. We all like to feel that we have met the challenge of something hard to do.
Be aware that growth is a process. It is never fully and finally achieved; it's just a steady picking our way upward along the mountain path. Ultimately the process requires hope and faith. We have potential for development much like the seed Alma so eloquently described which, when tended and nurtured, will burst into full flower. Once the preparation is completed, full growth is realized only when we have the faith to venture forth.
Remember the words of Victor Hugo:
Each new truth becomes ours only as we, like the bird, realize that we're not afraid to venture forth and live by truth, knowing that we too have the capacity to fly.
When a baby is very small, parents often make the choices which direct its path. But slowly, surely, as the body and spirit mature, the matter of choice becomes personal and individual. Someone has observed: "You yourself must set flame to the torches which you have brought."
As we struggle forward each day intent upon accepting the Lord's invitation to have life and have it more abundantly, let us remember the great truth that we, as God's children, have the capacity to direct our own growth.
May our Heavenly Father strengthen and guide us as we accept his invitation to grow. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Yes, we know who He is, this Christ of whom we speak. And we know that He lives!
He is the light and the life of the world. That is why we sing:
As Latter-day Saints, gathered tonight in many places, we joyfully bear record to all the world that Jesus of Nazareth is truly the Christ, our Savior, the divine Son of God.
But He is more than that. He is our Creator, for He made all things both in heaven and earth. And He is even more yet. He is also our Friend.
We worship Him, the Son of God.
We obey Him, our Savior and Redeemer.
We love Him, our gracious Friend.
But He has work for us to do. He is not satisfied with worship alone. He is not content merely with adoration. He asks us for service-day-to-day service in His church and kingdom.
He asks us to join with Him in a work of salvation-a work of saving ourselves, but others as well. Said He:
"The worth of souls is great in the sight of God; Wherefore, you"-each one of you, each of us, all of us-are called to aid Him in bringing light and eternal joy into our own lives and into the lives of others also.
It is the Lord Himself who calls. And to what purpose? To help us to become like Him.
Jesus came to earth many centuries ago as a mortal man. He preached His gospel in Palestine, gathered friends and converts about Him, and organized His church with only a handful of members.
But as He taught and performed many miracles, multitudes followed Him. There were four thousand at one time, and five thousand at another. Even the children loved Him.
Both men and women were converted to His teachings, and He welcomed them. Often the women seemed more devoted than the men, and He honored them for it. However, with all His goodness, bitter enemies arose and falsely accused Him, calling Him a blasphemer because He announced Himself as the Son of God.
Later they crucified Him; and to humiliate Him still further, they raised His cross between two thieves as if to brand Him as a criminal like unto them.
When His body was tenderly placed in the tomb by Joseph of Arimathaea, the men who carried Him there soon left, but a group of faithful women lingered nearby.
On the third day afterward, the Savior arose from the dead, restored to life, resurrected life! And who stood by for this momentous event? The angels, of course. They rolled away the stone, and folded up His burial clothes. But was anyone else there?
Yes. These same faithful women. They came early that morning. They saw the angels, who told them-the first of all people-that Jesus had risen.
And to whom did the Lord first appear after His resurrection? It was to one of these same women, a believing, faithful handmaiden.
Before anyone else saw Him, He made know His victory over death to this devoted and humble woman, whose name was Mary. She was the first one on earth to see a resurrected person, the first to greet the risen Lord as He emerged from the tomb-the first of all mankind, this lovely woman.
All the hosts of heaven had looked forward to this great event. The ancient prophets had spoken of it and yearned for it. But who was favored to see it first? A woman-a faithful, believing woman, Mary-there in the garden, near the tomb, where the angels spoke to her.
The Savior's atonement was the most important thing that has ever happened. His resurrection was the crowning achievement of it all. And it was shown first to a righteous, believing woman.
Then does Christ honor womanhood?
His mother was a wonderful woman who nurtured Him through infancy, guided Him in His childhood, found Him in the temple when she thought He was lost, and initiated His first miracle when He became a man.
Oh, how He honored His mother!
And it was to a woman-a Samaritan woman by Jacob's well-to whom He positively identified Himself as the Messiah when He said, "I that speak unto thee am he."
When Lazarus, His dear friend, passed away and the Lord visited the grieving family, it was to a woman that He made one of the most significant statements of His entire ministry:
"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
It was a woman who bathed His feet with her tears. A woman anointed His head with costly ointment, a thing so significant in His eyes that He said that her act of adoration would be made known wherever the gospel is preached.
It was a woman who received of His mercy when through her repentance she was told to go her way and sin no more.
It was to a sick and suffering woman that He said, "Thy faith hath made thee whole."
It was a woman who begged Him to heal her daughter and in her pleading even likened herself to one eating crumbs under the table. His divine approbation distilled upon her, and He said: "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt."
It was out of compassion for a grieving widow that He raised her son from death. It was another widow whom He praised when her two mites were cast into the temple treasury.
Devoted women stood with His mother at the foot of the cross on Calvary during His agony. She was His great concern in the midst of His suffering, which suffering, He said, "caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain." In the midst of all that, His concern was for His mother.
Then is righteous womanhood near to the heart of the Savior? Are girls who grow up to become good women? He needs all of you in His fold to aid Him in His ministry.
Suffer the children-suffer the girls, both the younger ones and the older ones; suffer the women, married and single; suffer the men and the boys; suffer those who have gone astray but repent and come back-suffer all to come unto Him, for righteous and repentant souls are what the kingdom of heaven is made of.
You Latter-day Saints girls, younger and older; you Latter-day Saint women, married and single-He asks each of you, all of you, to stand up and be counted for Him, to be on His side, and never cross over to the opposition.
It is true that He established His Church anciently when He lived in mortality, but uninspired men altered it and destroyed it. To preserve His gospel, He took it from this wicked earth and kept it in heaven for a time, awaiting a better day.
As the prophets foretold, in the very hour of God's judgment He would bring it back to earth. He would send an angel as His messenger, flying through the midst of heaven. He would raise up a new prophet to receive the angel, and through him restore His truth. All this the Lord has now done.
Who was this new prophet?
He, too, was nurtured by a devoted mother throughout his childhood, and through serious illness, and through persecution that came to him even as a boy.
Knowing the importance of womanhood to the gospel plan, the Almighty raised up another great woman to become the wife of that prophet; and these two women, mother and wife, singly and together, cared for him, fed him, clothed him, nursed him through attacks of violence, and together they mourned at his martyrdom.
They defied persecution and death for themselves, never flinched in hardship, and through it all bore constant testimony that Joseph Smith was God's latter-day prophet and that the gospel which he had received from the angels indeed was true. They knew it, these women. They had lived through it hour by hour, day by day for years. They verily knew!
Strong men also stood by the prophet, and they were made even stronger by faithful women who at times seemed to possess a greater insight into the purpose of things.
Later, as pioneers, they moved west. Women and girls, men and boys, with handcarts and ox-teams made the trek to the Rocky Mountains to establish new homes.
Why did they do it?
God brought them here to fulfill prophecy! It was part of the divine preparation for the second coming of Christ!
With their all on the altar, they established God's Zion here in the tops of the mountains as foretold by the prophet Isaiah.
These women knew that their men and boys had been called into a royal priesthood which was to minister for God in these last days. But they themselves were called to labor for the same cause in specially assigned responsibilities designated for women by the Lord. So men and women alike, both married and single, were called to lay the foundation of God's latter-day work. And they did it!
New generations followed-girls and boys of faith and righteousness, boys and girls of loyalty and integrity, girls and boys who would be as true to Christ as their parents were. The torch was passed to them.
"Carry on, carry on!" was the cry. And as these young people caught that torch and held it high, they sang:
And they meant every word of it. They were true!
But now they have passed the torch on to us. What shall we do with it?
Shall we do as well as they did? Yes, at least.
Shall we shrink or shun the fight? No, never.
Shall we defend both truth and right? Yes, by all means.
Shall we grasp the iron rod, and strive to be found worthy of the kingdom of our God?
Yes! We shall! We shall!
And will we always remember this Lord whom we are to serve and in whose Church we shall labor?
He is the same Christ our parents knew, this Christ who cherishes His daughters equally with His sons.
It is this Christ who now calls each of us-tonight-young and old, married and single, to join His great work, to accept our place in His Kingdom and build His Church, which is the only way to salvation for every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. He asks us to put on the whole armor of God-faith, truth, and purity, with which to "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."
He knows the path to victory. To help us find it and then to stay on it, He asks us to "seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness" just as He did.
He asks us to honor chastity, as He did.
He asks us to be kind, as He was.
He asks us to be honest, as He was.
He asks us to shun all evil, as He did.
Can we ever forget His rejection of Lucifer when the devil tempted Him with wealth and power and then appealed to his appetite? What did Jesus say?
He declared that we shall not live by bread alone, nor by base desires, nor worldly standards of popularity: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
He echoed His earlier command to have no other gods before Him, neither gods of pleasure nor of self-gratification. Rather, He said, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."
He asks us to defend virtue, as He did.
He asks us to be truthful, as He was.
He asks us to be forgiving, as He was.
He asks us to be just and fair to all, as He was.
He asks us to honor our parents, as He did.
He asks us to cherish His gospel, as He did.
He asks us to honor the Sabbath day, as He did.
He asks us to walk in His paths with the faith that if we do, He will care for us. Consider the lilies of the field and the fowls of the air. Are we not much better than they?
He resisted temptation, and so must we.
He never forgot to pray, and neither must we.
He never forgot His Father in Heaven, and neither must we.
Our great Redeemer calls us to be loyal as we take up the torch of our destiny. Let us never disappoint Him. Though evil abounds in the world and violence grows by the day, He will watch over us if we are true. He has pledged to protect the righteous even if He must send down fire from heaven to do so.
If we will stand by Him, He will stand by us!
And who is He?
He is our Savior, and our God, and our merciful and understanding Friend. And who are we?
We are His chosen people of modern times. We are the Latter-day Saints-Latter-day Saints for Christ!
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Bishop J. Richard Clarke
Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric
Few writers in our generation have produced the number and quality of best-selling books that James A. Michener has. I am amazed at the range of his interests and his commitment to excellence. His success is not accidental. It does not come solely from the endowment of a natural talent. His success comes from developing the habit of hard work.
He was raised in poverty by a widowed mother. From age eleven, James worked six days a week every summer and delivered papers during the winter. At age fourteen he apprenticed as a plumber and worked fourteen hours a day in the summer and four hours a day in the winter. In looking back he says, "Instead of turning me against work, this ingrained in me the attitude that sensible people work hard to attain sensible goals-a philosophy I still adhere to."
Work is a blessing from God. It is a fundamental principle of salvation, both spiritual and temporal. When Adam was driven from his garden home, he was told that his bread must be produced by his physical toil, by the sweat of his brow. Note carefully the words: "Cursed shall be the ground for thy sake", that is, for his good or benefit. It would not be easy to master the earth; but that was his challenge and his blessing, as it is ours.
We are cocreators with God. He gave us the capacity to do the work he left undone, to harness the energy, mine the ore, transform the treasures of the earth for our good. But most important, the Lord knew that from the crucible of work emerges the hard core of character.
Work has become a Mormon trademark. We are known throughout the world as a highly motivated, industrious people. Eric Hoffer once cautioned, "Put a Mormon in a hopper and out comes a tycoon."
This intense commitment to the work ethic is our tradition. Mormon industry has left its mark upon every piece of land we have occupied. Missouri, Nauvoo, the Salt Lake Basin, and all the valleys of the mountains where the Saints have settled are famous monuments to Mormon toil.
Of this period, President J. Reuben Clark observed: "We moved under our own power, without subsidy, without loan, wished on our way only by the maledictions of those who drove us out from our own homes and then appropriated, without paying for it, the property they forced us to leave behind.
"So we struggled on against want and misery; toil and hardship were with us daily.
"But the Church survived; the people prospered. Character endured intact. We took care of our own poor. In times of scarcity neighbors helped one another.
"Time and again, we passed through the fiery furnace; we came out of it each time, refined, with the dross burned away, re-inspirited, sanctified."
In this commitment, our prophets have led by example. It is said that President Wilford Woodruff loved work. "To him it was a blessing, a privilege. His toil in the canyons, his sweat in the harvest field, were all important parts in divine economy.
"To sweat, was a divine command as much so as to pray."
In our day, I know of no better example of obedience to the divine law of work than President Kimball. Personifying his "Do it!" philosophy, President Kimball has committed himself not only to the pursuit of happiness, but to the happiness of pursuit. On one occasion, when Dr. Wilkinson showed concern for President Kimball's health and the increasing demands he was making on his body, President Kimball responded in a kindly way, "Your job, Brother Wilkinson, is to keep me going at the pace I am going to go."
This reminds me of the farmer who was feeling a little sluggish and went to see his doctor. After examination, the doctor told him that his problem was that he was burning his candle at both ends. The farmer replied, "I knew that before I came. What I want from you is some more wax."
President Kimball's complete dedication to his work sets a high standard for all of us. We have a moral obligation to exercise our personal capabilities of mind, muscle, and spirit in a way that will return to the Lord, our families, and our society the fruits of our best efforts. To do less is to live our lives unfulfilled. It is to deny ourselves and those dependent upon us opportunity and advantage. We work to earn a living, it is true; but as we toil, let us also remember that we are building a life. Our work determines what that life will be.
Work is honorable. It is good therapy for most problems. It is the antidote for worry. It is the equalizer for deficiency of native endowment. Work makes it possible for the average to approach genius. What we may lack in aptitude, we can make up for in performance.
As recommended by Korsaren: "If you are poor, work. If you are happy, work. Idleness gives room for doubts and fears. If disappointments come, keep right on working. If sorrow overwhelms you, work. When faith falters and reason fails, just work. When dreams are shattered and hope seems dead, work. Work as if your life were in peril. It really is. No matter what ails you, work. Work faithfully. Work is the greatest remedy available for both mental and physical afflictions."
Let me suggest some other elements of the work ethic which are important:
As Latter-day Saints, if we would be true to our religion, we must perform high-quality work. It is a matter of integrity. Every piece of work we do is a portrait of the one who produced it. We are increasingly concerned with the diminishing quality of work in our society. On every hand we see shoddy workmanship for which full compensation is expected, whether the product meets acceptable standards or not. We must be motivated by a higher ideal than simply meeting the artificial standard of a society which has allowed inferior performance to be acceptable. That is not the Mormon ethic. In times of unemployment, Latter-day Saints who practice the work principles of our religion should be in great demand.
Let us give full, honest effort to our jobs as though we owned the enterprise. In a very real sense, each of us is in business for ourselves, no matter who pays us. Be honest with your employer. Make sure that "the laborer is worthy of his hire." Our employers should get the best we have in us, not just enough to get by or to meet common standards. Each of us should set a personal standard based upon our ability. Let us exemplify the old pioneer motto: A Full Day's Work for a Full Day's Pay.
Continue to invest in your personal development. Expand your occupational horizons by constant study. Use your spare time wisely. If we waste thirteen minutes each day, it is the equivalent of two weeks a year without pay. Look to your present job as a stepping-stone along your career path. Take time to think. The dimensions of most jobs are constrained only by the mind of the uncreative worker. I like what one businessman counseled: "If at first you do succeed, try something harder!"
To teach our children to work is a primary duty of parenthood. Our children have experienced unprecedented prosperity created by parents who have worked hard to provide what they themselves did not have as youngsters. If we are to save our children temporally and spiritually, we must train them to work. They must learn by example that work is not drudgery, but a blessing.
Fortunate is the young man or woman who has learned how to work. Wise is the parent who requires children to learn responsibility and to meet acceptable performance standards.
In a Mother's Day tribute, a lovely Latter-day Saint mother, Beverly Graham, expressed appreciation for her home training. She said:
"Mother's love included strict discipline, definite rules, and regulations that were firmly enforced. We used these rules as the starch for our backbone.
"Mother loved being a mother and a lady and enjoyed the arts of homemaking. She has passed this on to my sister and me. It was with great patience that she taught us to sew, cook, clean house, iron, etc. Can reironing one of Daddy's white shirts until it was perfect be a blessing? Or getting up to do the washing and ironing before school-a blessing? Or peeling beets, shelling peas by the hour, husking bushels and bushels of corn for canning, picking berries at the crack of dawn before the sun got too hot-blessings? You couldn't convince me then, but you can now. They taught me great lessons in the value of thrift, work, and responsibility."
As we teach our children these values, let us emphasize the principle of shared responsibility. Do not be confused by attempts to label some jobs as strictly male or strictly female. Generally speaking, each child should know how to do simple cooking, wash dishes, clean the house, mow the lawn, tend the baby, and wash the car. These skills will do much to make their adult lives happier and more productive.
Now, what about our leisure time? How we use our leisure is equally as important to our joy as our occupational pursuits. Proper use of leisure requires discriminating judgment. Our leisure provides opportunity for renewal of spirit, mind, and body. It is a time for worship, for family, for service, for study, for wholesome recreation. It brings harmony into our life.
Leisure is not idleness. The Lord condemns idleness. He said, "Thou shalt not idle away thy time, neither shalt thou bury thy talent" Idleness in any form produces boredom, conflict, and unhappiness. It creates a vacancy of worth, a seedbed for mischief and evil. It is the enemy of progress and salvation.
Work is an essential element in the Lord's welfare plan; but it is a special kind of work. Work of the members, sanctified by love, produces the commodities which solve the temporal needs of our worthy poor. The laborer is blessed and sanctified in his unselfish service. The needy member accepts assistance in the spirit of love and gratitude. He knows it was provided by the toil and sacrifice of the Church members. To the extent of his ability, the needy member works for what he receives, as assigned by the bishop, thereby preserving his dignity.
The individual is all-important in the Lord's plan. Any system which does not require initiative, self-reliance, and the necessity of work for what we receive, if able, will not preserve its integrity. The design of the welfare plan of the Church is to abolish the dole. The dole is a blight in any welfare system and should be feared as cancer in the human body.
Brigham Young declared, "It is never any benefit to give out to man or woman, money, food, clothing, or anything else, if they are able-bodied, and can work and earn what they need.
"To give to the idler is as wicked as anything else. Never give anything to the idler.
"Set the poor to work."
President Clark added, "Brethren, do your best to see that those who consume, shall be among those who produce. It is a principle that destroys character initiative, to get into the frame of mind where our sustenance comes as a gift."
In the broader sense, work is the means to achieve happiness, prosperity, and salvation. When work and duty and joy are comingled, then man is at his best. Tagore wrote,
Work was instituted from the beginning as the means by which the children of God were to fulfill their earthly stewardship. Work is our divine heritage. Elder Stephen L Richards taught: "Work with faith is a cardinal point of our theological doctrine and our future state-our heaven, is envisioned in terms of eternal progression through constant labor."
The voice of the Lord to this generation is:
"Behold, I say unto you that it is my will that you should go forth and not tarry, neither be idle but labor with your might.
"And thus, if ye are faithful ye shall be laden with many sheaves, and crowned with honor, and glory, and immortality, and eternal life."
To this I testify, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Sister Barbara B. Smith
Relief Society General President
In Proverbs, King Lemuel speaks of what his mother taught him. She gave him such an impressive guide that it is recorded in great detail. She made a particular point of telling him about the qualities and attitudes to look for in a wife and in the mother of his children, if his household were to be so well managed that in the end the children would rise up and call their mother blessed.
We need this kind of specific counsel in this day when so many avenues of interest are open to women, and when more and more opportunities are coming to us. We need to look very closely not only at the offerings, but also at our own family's needs if, finally, our children are to receive here in mortality the eternal blessings that a mother is so ably qualified to give.
Each mother will have to determine how she can bless her children. Because of the many options from which a woman might choose, it becomes extremely important that she select carefully.
To the woman with children at home, that choice becomes not only important but critical. She will need unerring sources for direction-the scriptures, the teachings of Church leaders, and personal affirmation to her prayers of supplication-for the "changing winds," of which we are warned in Ephesians, are perhaps nowhere more apparent than in the challenges and decisions women are facing now.
We could be easily "tossed to and fro" if it were not for the "more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place."
In that light of truth each woman can walk with confidence, knowing what is right for her. There is no one way that will fit all circumstances. Some women must come to one solution and some to another.
The ideal for a family is, and always has been, to have a mother in the home to be with the children, to care for them and to help them grow, to coordinate and correlate the family's activities, and to be a stay against intrusions of unrighteousness. There are times, however, under unusual circumstances, when, in order to help provide for even the basic needs of her family, a mother may be required to accept employment outside her home. As President Ezra Taft Benson has stated, "Many of you often find yourselves in circumstances that are not always ideal who, because of necessity, must work and leave your children with others."
It is to those mothers we address these remarks today. We urge also that Relief Society leaders make certain that they include those mothers in Relief Society callings and that lessons and programs address their needs. We hope that husbands, home teachers, and visiting teachers will give them encouragement and positive reinforcement in the demanding role that is theirs, for we know that in spite of their added working role they still must provide the emotional support that children need. In addition to the obvious physical needs of children, there are other aspects of a child's life that should not be neglected even though a mother has employment outside the home.
The challenges facing the working mother of small children are many. First, she must find someone to give good care to her child. Next, she has to decide what to do in an emergency situation when there is an accident or sickness. She must rely on the help of an understanding employer, a relative, a neighbor, a schoolteacher, or someone else to help in those times of crisis.
We find that most working mothers organize their time by advance planning, shopping, scheduling, and assigning chores to include each member of the household. They realize the importance of having meals that provide essential nutrients and the warmth of gracious family dining-even though fast-food establishments appeal to and even cater to the working-outside-the-home mother as an easier alternative.
We are well aware, however, that the real challenges for many working mothers come in their responsibility for guiding children through periods of questioning and decision making and in their times of trouble. These challenges come in being able to sense the unexpressed needs of children and those of which young people, in their immaturity, may not themselves be aware. A mother may not always be on hand when her child's needs seem most acute. But we find that many working mothers take every opportunity to be with their children-to work with them in accomplishing household duties; when it is appropriate, to shop, plan, and play together; and sometimes just to be in the same room so that they have the sense of being with someone who loves them.
It might be a temptation for a working mother to plan special outings and play times as the so-called "quality" time she has with her children. But many are aware of the danger this poses in giving them a distorted picture of life by using all their time together in recreation. It is important for children to see the balance that is necessary between work and play. They need to know that special events are more meaningful when daily routines are established and when assigned duties are completed.
One grandmother helped her grandchildren learn this truth. When they came to her house she was careful to have jobs they could do together; then afterward, they played a game. Then another task was followed by another game. The children learned, as she hoped they would, the relationship between work and play and the comfortable sense of playing after work is completed.
Schoolwork, too, and practicing to develop musical or other talents can become part of the daily routine. A mother who strives to know success can help her children learn the price of success by working with them, when necessary, to help them reach a degree of excellence. A mother can make the difference in a child's achievement. She can give support by monitoring the completion and accuracy of assignments. She can help a child reap the rewards of persistent effort.
Even though a working mother cannot be the full-time model she might be if she were home with her children, she can help them learn the personal discipline that comes with daily, routine responsibilities, and, afterward, the well-being resulting from praise for work well done.
A mother must consider the essential purposes of life. Leo Rosten, writer, scientist, professor, has made a statement that gives us purposes to ponder:
"Where was it ever promised us that life on this earth can ever be easy, free from conflict and uncertainty, devoid of anguish and wonder and pain?
"The purpose of life is to matter, to be productive, to have it make some difference that you lived at all. Happiness, in the ancient, noble sense, means self-fulfillment-and is given to those who use to the fullest whatever talents God bestowed upon them."
He continues: "Happiness, to me, lies in stretching, to the farthest boundaries of which we are capable, the resources of the mind and heart."
A woman who must work to care for the needs of her children should learn the essential purposes of life and come to know the Lord and feel his love and direction. Then she can help her children know him and grow to feel secure in our Heavenly Father's love.
One woman who came to this realization wrote:
"Right after my divorce, I determined that I was going to give my children the best of everything. I would provide well for them. I would substitute in every way for their father. I would take them on picnics, build them a tree house, and play baseball with them. I would not allow them to suffer because of our divorce.
"I baked, sewed, ran, played, wrestled. I cleaned, I ironed. I was busy being both mother and father for them.
"One evening I put the three of them in the bathtub together while I finished a chore. Then I came back, soaped the youngest, rinsed him, lifted him from the tub, and stood him on a bath mat while I wrapped a towel around him. Then I carried him off to the bedroom to put his pajamas on and tuck him into bed. I repeated the process with his brother and then his sister.
"As I bent down to kiss them goodnight, my older son said, 'Sing us a song, please.'
"'Which one?' I asked.
"'"Rudolph"!' said the youngest immediately.
"'No, "Johnny Appleseed,"' said his brother.
"Then their sister said, 'Sing, "Stay Awake."'
"'I can see if I stay to sing one song, I'll be singing for an hour, and I don't have an hour to spare. So goodnight.' I turned off the lights.
"'Please sing just one song, mommy. You can choose the song.'
"'What about our prayers?'
"Firmly, I replied, 'I said goodnight and I mean goodnight.'
"As I walked back to the bathroom to tidy up, I thought of how grateful they would be someday when they were old enough to understand how much I had done for them!
"As I entered the room I stopped short. There on the bath mat were three perfect sets of damp footprints. For one brief moment I thought I saw standing in the footprints the spirits of those precious children I had just tucked into bed. In that instant I saw the foolishness of my ways. I had been so busy providing for the physical needs of their mortal bodies that I was neglecting their spirits. I knew then that I had a sacred obligation to nourish both. If I were to clothe them in the latest fashions and give them all that money could buy and fail to tend to their spiritual needs, I could not justifiably account for my awesome responsibility as their mother.
"Humbled, I went back to their bedroom. We knelt together in prayer. We all four climbed up on the boys' big bed and sang song after song until I was the only one awake to sing."
Latter-day Saint mothers can find programs in Relief Society that will help them meet the many needs of their children-not only their health and safety, their food and clothing, their social and emotional needs, but their spiritual growth, and the establishment of good family relationships that will last beyond time.
Testimonies abound in support of those who have provided extraordinary care as single parents. We are confident that the Lord is particularly mindful of such women and that, while their role is an unusually challenging one, they can succeed. But they too must make their decisions in the light of the principles and purposes of the Lord, in that faith which is truly the substance of things hoped for.
With the help of the Lord, families will be given strength to do what they must do-working together, using every skill to organize and to be provident, in order that they might accomplish the goals they have set. Young children respond readily to real need and can work together with their parent or parents to achieve family success.
Of all the creations of God, men and women are the ones that are to become as he is. We are his children. He has given us a plan, a model, and teachings that will help us gain his attributes.
We can learn to become like him as we use his ways to teach our children: establishing regular communications with them; listening, guiding, prompting; watching over them always; protecting but not manipulating; allowing them to learn by experience; correcting them in such a way that they learn to obey-not because it is our will, but because they have learned to do what is right to do to grow in wisdom.
We can plan our lives and, to the degree that it is possible, determine the end from the beginning by building upon God-given principles to provide the security of truth.
We can strive to be a model of righteousness. Children learn what life is by observing and doing.
When a mother provides an example of joy, the children's world is one of happiness. When she makes wise choices, she helps them to learn discernment, and she brings to her home the refining quality that is such an important element in worthwhile progress. Learning from the Lord a Christlike love, she can manifest this kind of selfless care that will bless her home and at the same time show her children how to love. As we are told in the scriptures, "by laboring with all the might of body and the faculty of whole soul," we can have peace in our lives, and we can "teach children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord."
Mothers have the special opportunity of bringing children into the world; they can also play a significant role in bringing to pass their success and happiness here as they prepare them for life eternal.
The economic conditions of today present problems to women and their families that have many implications and far-reaching effects. A woman can find solutions as she recognizes the needs that only she can fill and the part that she must play in the Christlike development of her children. As she lives close to the Spirit, that way will be made clear for her. A wife may be compelled to help with the finances of her family. In this matter we have been given direction. President Kimball has stated:
"Some women, because of circumstances beyond their control, must work. We understand that. Do not, however, make the mistake of being drawn off into secondary tasks which will cause the neglect of your eternal assignments such as rearing the spirit children of our Father in Heaven. Pray carefully over all your decisions."
In "A Little Parable for Mothers" by Temple Bailey, a young mother setting out on her path of life was told that the way would not be easy but that the end would be better than the beginning. She taught her children that life was good. She gave them courage, fortitude, and strength. And finally she was able to teach them to look above the clouds that bring shadows of darkness into this life, to see the glory of God. Knowing how to find their Heavenly Father through the darkness and living by the light of his glory, her children could walk alone. The mother's journey was over, but the end was better than the beginning because of what she was able to teach her children.
In the end it is you wonderful, wonderful mothers-you who have put your families first, who have helped each child come to feel the acceptance of your love and the love of our Father in Heaven, and to know the truth of the gospel as your life bears witness of it-it is you whose children will "arise up, and call blessed." I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder J. Thomas Fyans
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
With the headlines of newspapers and cover stories of magazines full of doom and gloom about the economy, it is well for us to recall the counsel which we as a church have heard for years. That counsel has included such things as obtaining a year's supply of food, staying out of debt, and preparing for employment. Following this counsel has meant financial salvation to many who have found themselves unemployed during the past year.
The Lord has commanded us to remain self-sufficient, thus retaining our independence. He has said:
"Behold, this is the preparation wherewith I prepare you, and the foundation, and the ensample which I give unto you, whereby you may accomplish the commandments which are given you;
"That through my providence, notwithstanding the tribulation which shall descend upon you, that the church may stand independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world."
How are we to "stand independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world"? In 1946, Elder Albert E. Bowen had some thoughts on this scripture which struck a familiar chord in my heart. He said:
"The only way the Church can stand independent is for its members to stand independent, for the Church IS its members. It is not possible to conceive of an independent Church made up of dependent members-members who are under the inescapable obligation of dependency. The Lord must want and intend that His people shall be free of constraint whether enforceable or only arising out of the bindings of conscience. It is not believed that any person or people can live from gratuities-rely upon them for means of subsistence and remain wholly free in thought, motive and action. History seems to record no such instance. That is why the Church is concerned that its members, who have physical and mental capacity to do so, shall render service commensurate with their capacities for aid extended. That is why the Church is not satisfied with any system which leaves able people permanently dependent, and insists, on the contrary, that the true function and office of giving is to help people into a position where they can help themselves and thus be free.
"Hesitancy to extend basic welfare principles to this previously unthought of application arises, no doubt, out of a natural human reluctance to forego an apparent benefit which may be had for the taking and ostensibly without price, though this latter is a delusion, since no one ever gets something for nothing, the recipient always pays; if not in money, then in forfeiture of some invaluable right or freedom."
The Church can be no more independent than the collective independence of its individual members. We fear that some may misunderstand the intent of the resources of the welfare program of the Church and fall into a false sense of security that will lead to reduced efforts toward self-sufficiency. It is not financially possible, nor is it sound in principle, for the Church to amass the assets necessary to take care of the members of the Church who are physically able to work. All the efforts of the welfare program are directed to helping people become self-sufficient. The exceptions to this, of course, are those who cannot take care of themselves. The program provides a brief, temporary port in the storm for the able-bodied and is not meant to be a permanent home. The welfare program of the Church does not represent Church independence, but is a means toward the end of making individuals independent. For the Church, as an organization, to be independent, it would basically have to duplicate the economy of the individual members. This is neither practical, possible, nor prudent. We have all been taught that dependence on the government is not good. Neither is dependence on the Church-that principle runs as deep as free agency itself.
In order to become independent, members must be employed. The economy today is not conducive to obtaining employment with ease. Here are some of the problems with which we are faced:
Last year in the United States there were 1.1 million new homes or apartments started. This was the lowest number since 1946. The first few months of this year show signs of being even more challenging. Mortgage interest rates have climbed from 9 percent in 1977 to over 17 percent in recent months.
Last year, automobile sales were the lowest they have been in twenty years. Losses of United States auto makers have been astronomical. Companies that supply auto makers, such as steel companies, are beginning to feel the seriousness of the situation.
The result of these conditions is a large increase in unemployment. Currently, unemployment is very close to 9 percent, and many economists project it will go even higher before there is a substantial reduction. This 9 percent unemployment equates to 9.5 million Americans being out of work.
These unemployment problems are not limited to the United States. The unemployment rate is 8.6 percent in Canada and 9 percent in Europe. In other places, such as South America, great numbers of people are without work.
These economically turbulent times should not come as a shock to members of the Church who have been listening. Neither should they be devastating to those who have followed the counsel which they have heard. The scriptures tell us we will have this and much more, while at the same time whispering, "Peace, be still." "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear." And "All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."
Therefore, at this time of economic difficulty, let us rejoice in the fact that we have the restored gospel which gives perspective to the ups and downs in life. Let troubled times serve as a catalyst for introspection and soul searching-followed by increased spirituality. We need to be more sensitive to those around us who may be affected more than ourselves and help each other through this valley. As a people, we should rise to the challenge and grow from it. We need to proceed with optimism and not fall victim to the debilitating effects of negative, doomsday attitudes.
I would like to direct the balance of my remarks to a program which will have a great impact on helping us meet today's challenges. I speak of the Church employment system. This is not a new program, but, as is so often the case, it is not appreciated or understood until such time as it is dearly needed.
Priesthood leaders will receive a copy of the Church Employment System Guidebook, which details the workings of the system. You will also be taught in the various councils of the Church. The objectives of the Church employment system are to help individuals find gainful employment by collecting and quickly sharing job information from members and others in the community; to provide counseling and improved opportunities for those in need of better employment or rehabilitation; and to help parents, through priesthood quorums and Relief Society, to counsel family members about employment and career planning.
To help coordinate this effort, ward and stake employment specialists are called. Careful thought should be given to the persons selected as employment specialists. You bishops know the amount of time and energy you are directing to problems either directly or indirectly related to unemployment. Let this employment specialist serve as a resource in helping you solve some of these problems. We would encourage every ward and stake to have qualified employment specialists called in the near future.
At the request of local priesthood leaders and as approved by the Executive Administrator and General Welfare Services Committee, an employment center may be set up. The objectives of employment centers are to coordinate job opportunities; place applicants who are not placed at the ward level; at the invitation of priesthood leaders, train stake and ward specialists; and coordinate job solicitation in the business community.
Let us emphasize that the success of the employment program of the Church lies with the individual members. National studies have shown that 80 percent of all job opportunities are filled by word of mouth, as opposed to employment services, newspapers, or other types of advertising. If 10 percent of our members are unemployed, 90 percent of our members are employed. It is through the employed members of the Church that job opportunities are initially uncovered. We urge each of you who do have jobs to be on the lookout for openings which can be filled by members of your ward who are out of work. In a time when jobs are scarce, priesthood participation is absolutely vital.
Let's not underestimate the strength of our position. As employment center managers contact businesses, they have learned that, in general, members of the Church enjoy a good reputation as employees. Indeed, any member who is living what he has been taught represents an ideal employee. During times of heavy unemployment, employers can be very selective about the people they employ. We feel our members are prime candidates for the limited jobs available at this time.
We encourage members of quorums to work with those who are unemployed and help them with skills needed in looking for employment. Many people who are unemployed now are unemployed for the first time. They may need additional help in such things as writing an adequate resume and in being effective in job interviews. Resources of the quorum can do much to help members with proper techniques when applying for a job. Another area where quorums and employment specialists can be of much help is underemployment. Many of our employed members live in constant fear of losing their jobs; others are not being fulfilled by the job which they have. Therefore, another purpose of this program is to upgrade employment.
We counsel bishops to use ward employment specialists in coordinating temporary job opportunities for those who are out of work and who are receiving assistance. We can do much more in the area of providing an opportunity for people to work for that which they receive while they are temporarily unemployed.
This program is one which can be applied in most countries. Obviously, nothing should be done which is contrary to the laws of the land in which you live. It is our feeling that in light of today's economy and in view of our objective to remain independent, the employment program has much to offer. No one can see the deterioration which takes place in a man's spirit when he is unemployed without wanting to do something to help. It is desirable not only to relieve human distress but also to prevent and eliminate its causes. Progress can be made with the generous use of talents, time, and resources of many individuals. The Church employment system allows the 90 percent of the Church who are employed to help the 10 percent who are unemployed.
May we be committed and involved in this modern-day response to the Savior's command, "Love one another; as I have loved you", I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Boyd K. Packer
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
There is a recurring theme in the revelations having to do with learning. And, from the beginning, Church leaders have counseled us to get all of the education we can as a preparation for and as an improvement of our careers. For example:
"Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith."
Learning is to be accompanied by faith, and as the Book of Mormon teaches us, learning "is good if hearken unto the counsels of God."
There is one thought that must come at the very beginning of a discussion on occupations and careers in order to establish it as preeminent, and it is this:
Do not ever belittle anyone, including yourself, nor count them, or you, a failure, if your livelihood has been modest. Do not ever look down on those who labor in occupations of lower income. There is great dignity and worth in any honest occupation. Do not use the word menial for any labor that improves the world or the people who live in it.
There is no shame in any honorable work, and the principle of faith, which the Lord connected with learning, is precious above the technologies of man.
There will be many who struggle through life with small ownership and low income who discover, because they have been decent, the meaning of the scripture, "He that is greatest among you," let him be "the least and the servant of all."
While schooling and education generally go together, there are kinds of wisdom which are not usually taught in school classrooms.
To illustrate, I begin with the Old Testament record of Naaman who, as the commander of the armies of Syria, had "given deliverance" to his country. He became a leper and the king of Syria feared he would die.
An Israelite slave girl who served Naaman's wife spoke of prophets in Israel who had the power to heal.
The king of Syria sent a message to the king of Israel saying, "I have sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy." The king of Israel suspected a plot and complained, "He seeketh a quarrel against me. Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?"
Elisha, the prophet, heard of the king's distress. And "he sent to the king, saying, let him come now to me." Elisha would heal Naaman, and he told why: that "he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel."
When Naaman was near, Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thou shalt be clean." Naaman was angry. There were rivers aplenty in Syria, as good, he thought, as the Jordan. He had expected Elisha to perform some impressive ceremony like clapping his hands upon him. And he "turned away in a rage."
But one of his servants courageously chastised the general and said, "If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?"
Humbled by his servant, Naaman "went down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and he was clean."
Human nature hasn't changed over the years. Even today some of us expect to be bidden to do some "great things" in order to receive the blessings of the Lord. When we receive ordinary counsel on ordinary things, there is disappointment, and, like Naaman, we turn away.
Let me give you a modern-day example. President Kimball has been President of the Church for eight years. In virtually every conference sermon he has included at least a sentence telling us to clean up, paint up, and fix up our property. Many of us have paid little attention to the counsel.
Question: Why would a prophet tell us to do that? Has he no great prophecies to utter?
But, is that not a form of prophecy? For has he not said to us over and over again, "Take good care of your material possessions, for the day will come when they will be difficult, if not impossible, to replace."
Already there is a fulfillment. Families who might have afforded a home when first he spoke now despair of getting one.
For some reason, we expect to hear, particularly in welfare sessions, some ominous great predictions of calamities to come. Instead, we hear quiet counsel on ordinary things which, if followed, will protect us in times of great calamity.
It was Alma the prophet who said, "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."
Now, all of this was to prepare you for the fact that the counsel I will give may seem ordinary, even trivial to some of you. But it will be consistent with the doctrines and principles announced by the First Presidency when the welfare program was first introduced:
"Our primary purpose to set up, in so far as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self-respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership."
That emphasis, on self-reliance, suggests something about education. We cannot expect the Church to assume responsibility for the schooling of all of us.
One of the questions most often asked of General Authorities as we travel usually begins in this way: "Why doesn't the Church ?" And then there follows a description of some worthy project that would, if it should succeed, bring credit to the Church and benefit many people.
For example, why doesn't the Church establish schools to prepare members for financial security?
Some years ago I was near our front gate splitting rails for a fence. A young man came to make a delivery. He had recently returned from overseas combat duty. He had falsified his age and left school to join the Marines. When I asked about his future plans, he didn't know. Jobs were scarce; he had no skills to offer.
I counseled him to go back to high school and get his diploma. He thought he couldn't do that; he was too old now. "If you do it," I told him, "you probably will not exactly fit in. And the students will call you the 'old man' or 'grandpa.' But you faced an enemy in combat; surely you've got the courage to face that.'
The lesson is this. I only spent ten minutes with him, sitting on a log by our front gate. I did not build a school nor ask the Church to build one. I did not pay his tuition or prepare his lessons. What he needed was some direction, some counsel, some encouragement, and some vision. In this case he took the counsel and returned to school. Now he has a family and an occupation.
I only gave him vision and encouragement. It does not take additional Church budget to do that. That is the responsible role of every priesthood leader in counseling members on careers. We must help people to help themselves.
Several years ago a certain country was emerging from a long period of political and economic distress, and there was a need for skilled workers of many kinds. Some of our local leaders, sensing the need, conceived the idea of establishing vocational schools in our chapels to train the brethren in their skills. They could then upgrade themselves in their employment. It was a very appealing idea.
They pointed out that the money expended would be justified on the basis that these brethren would return in tithes more than the cost of the program. They were greatly disappointed when the Brethren did not approve their idea.
There were several things they'd not considered. The most important was that vocational training was already available to those who really looked for it. Classes to train new employees, and to upgrade the experienced ones, were offered by business and industry, and by their government.
What our brethren needed most was counsel and encouragement to take advantage of opportunities that were already available.
We ourselves are responsible to seek out and take advantage of every opportunity to improve ourselves.
Now, there are some things that the Church must do, for we are commanded to do them. We must preach the gospel. We must build temples. We must perfect the Saints. These things others cannot do. The many other good things must take second place. For we do not have the resources to do all that is worth doing, however worthy it may be.
While we cannot build schools for everyone, there is a most important contribution the Church can make to our careers, one that is central to the mission of the Church. And that is to teach moral and spiritual values.
Integrity.
Dependability.
Courtesy.
Respect for others.
Respect for property.
Let me illustrate one or two of these.
It is likely that our children, and yours, for the first part of their married life at least, will live in rented apartments.
I had a conversation with a stake president who owns a large number of apartments which he rents to middle-income families. As he showed them to me, he described the abuse of his property, not just the normal wear and tear, but outright abuse bordering on vandalism.
Such conduct is unworthy of a Latter-day Saint! We should know better than that. We should be willing to drive a nail or set a screw in a hinge, if it's needed.
Our people should regard an apartment as their home and keep it inviting and clean and in good repair. Has not the prophet told us to do it? When they leave an apartment, it should be clean and essentially ready for the next tenant.
Now, what has this got to do with a career? Surely you can see the transfer of learning from our homes to our work.
Years ago my father, as a young married man with several children, went nervously into the bank in Brigham City to ask for a loan to start in business. He was asked about collateral. He had none beyond his willingness to work and some mechanical aptitude.
The banker, in turning down his request, happened to ask father where he lived. "In the old box house on First West," was the answer. The banker passed that corner on the way to work. He'd watched the transformation in the yard. He'd wondered who lived there, and admired what they were doing.
Father got the loan to start in business on the strength of the flowers that mother had planted in the yard of a very modest adobe house they were renting.
We have raised a large family on a very modest income, and it's likely that our children are going to have the same privilege. In order to prepare them, we've trained them to do ordinary, necessary things as preparation for their careers.
For instance, we have maintained an area where there is a work bench, where projects could be left. There can be some paint or a little sawdust on the floor, without a problem. In spite of continuous cleanup, this area is perpetually untidy, but with a purpose.
We have followed another practice. Each Christmas, at least one of the presents for the boys has been a hand tool. When they were old enough, a good metal toolbox was included. When each has left home, he has had his own set of tools and some knowledge of how to use them. He can tune up a car, or drive a nail, or turn a screw, or replace a plug or a faucet washer.
The girls, in turn, have learned to cook and to sew, and each has left home with a sewing machine. This training is doubly important-first, in frugal living at home, and then in their value as an employee. They would, we hoped, be not only good, but good for something.
Now, I have an idea that some soul will be very upset with us for not providing our boys with a sewing machine and our girls a box of tools as well.
So I hasten to explain that our boys can cook enough to survive a mission and they can sew on a button. The girls in turn can change a faucet washer and drive a nail, and both of them can type and even change a tire on a car.
While many, many occupations suit a man or a woman equally well, I, for one, have grave concern over the growing trend for both men and women to choose careers which in some respects are against their very natures.
We have tried to prepare our boys for manly work and our girls for work that would suit the opportunities that womanhood will bring them. In defense of our doing that, I can only observe that in this Church we are not exempt from using common sense.
There are so few nowadays who are really willing to work. We must train our children and ourselves to give, in work, the equivalent of the pay we receive and perhaps just a little extra.
There are so few who will come a bit early to get organized for the day, or stay a minute after to tidy up the work bench or the desk for tomorrow's work.
The attitude that demands compensation and benefits in excess of the value of labor has come near destroying the economy of the world. Now, however, many workers quite willingly accept reductions in pay just to keep their jobs. That spirit of doing a little extra would have prevented the crisis had it been evident earlier.
Family responsibilities and tight budgets sometimes prevent us from obtaining all the schooling we desire.
We can, however, improve ourselves. The only tuition required is the time it takes, the work required, and the desire to build into our lives the ordinary virtues so much in demand and so short in supply.
I hope you have not been too disappointed that I have not presented some "great thing" for you to do, some elaborate formula for career planning, rather than such ordinary things so obvious, so close to us, that they are often overlooked.
There is a formula. The Lord said, "Verily I say unto you, that every man who is obliged to provide for his own family, let him provide, and he shall in nowise lose his crown; and let him labor in the church."
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the formula for success. Every principle of the gospel, when lived, has a positive influence over your choice of an occupation and on what you will achieve. The counsel to labor in the Church has great value. Living the gospel will give you a perspective and an inspiration that will see you successful however ordinary your work may be or however ordinary your life may seem to others.
God bless the members of this Church, that you can be happy with who you are and where you are, that you can improve yourselves. We pray that God will bless those who are struggling now with unemployment, with the loss of their employment, with the fear of that loss. May he bless us that we can build into our lives those principles of reliance and integrity that have been part of the gospel from the very beginning, for the gospel is true. Of this I bear witness, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
Some fifty years ago, when the Church launched its welfare program, President Heber J. Grant stated, as was quoted by the former speaker: "Our primary purpose was to set up, in so far as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self-respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership."
We've all heard that quoted many times, but do we fully understand its significance? Bishops, are any of your people idle? Are all of your members independent, industrious, thrifty, and do they all have self-respect? Are any members receiving assistance as a dole? Are we helping our members to help themselves, or are we just taking care of the people? Finally, do our members understand the significance of work? If you don't feel good about your answers, you will understand why we keep emphasizing President Grant's statement.
I remember that when my brother was called to be a stake president, he came to me and said, "Now, tell me all about this welfare program." He asked many questions. After answering them, I said, "You have been in dozens of meetings where I have addressed all of these questions, haven't you?" He answered, "Yes, I'm sure that's true, but I wasn't a stake president then."
I believe the attention many of us pay to gospel principles fluctuates as our circumstances in life change. However, the principles remain constant and are true, whether or not we live up to them. The consequences of not living these principles also remain constant.
A few years ago I read a lengthy book dealing with the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. That fall, in large measure, was due to the purchasing of votes with unearned benefits, such as entertainment, circuses, and food. The government's actions built up in the people an expectation and demand which eventually could be kept down only by the establishment of a dictatorship. Many of our members live in countries where this history has repeated itself. In the United States, our treasured American work ethic is waning and the purchasing of votes with unearned benefits is dangerously common.
I used to hear the story, when I first came under President Harold B. Lee's influence in the welfare program, about a man whom they could not get to work. He wanted to be taken care of. The Church or government, so he thought, owed him a living because he had paid his tithing and taxes. He did not have anything to eat and refused to labor to care for himself. Out of desperation and disgust they decided they might as well take him to the cemetery.
On the way, one man said, "We can't do this. I have some corn I will give to him."
So they explained this to the man, and he said, "Is it husked?"
They said, "No."
He said, "Well, then, drive on."
This would not be humorous if it were not so close to the truth. You cannot save a man who has such an attitude, and a nation made up of men and women with similar attitudes is vulnerable to the problems which led to the fall of Rome. The saddest day of a person's life is when he sits down to work out a means whereby he can live thereafter without his own effort. One of the most demeaning things a government can do is to teach people that the government owes them a living.
By contrast, ever since the Church was organized, it has encouraged its members to maintain their own economic independence and to work for what they get, to produce that which they consume. I thought it might be helpful to remember what the Church has done since its inception to give life to the principles stated so well by President Grant.
Church welfare principles have always been with us. Although President Grant's statement came in 1936, you will note he said that "independence, industry, thrift, and self-respect be once more established." Also note that he said work should be re-enthroned, not enthroned. If time permitted, we could begin when Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden and found the earth cursed for their sake. We could trace these principles through biblical and Book of Mormon times. However, in the interest of time, we will limit our comments to a few things done in this, the last dispensation.
Within a year after the organization of the Church, the Lord had revealed his economic system, and it was practiced in Missouri. The first "welfare program" of this dispensation was the United Order, under which a person consecrated all that he had to the Church and received back that which was necessary to provide for his family according to their wants and needs. The portion of the property retained by the Church was used in one of two ways: first, if a person was able-bodied, he was given the means whereby he could earn a living; second, if a person was incapable of working, his needs were met.
As individuals worked in their various jobs, the surplus generated over and above the needs of their family was turned in to the Church. This surplus was also used to give more people jobs and to take care of the needy. As the Saints arrived in Missouri, many were destitute. The program provided these people with the opportunity to work and earn their own living. They were not given a handout, but they were given a job.
The United Order was discontinued by commandment in 1834, but its basic principles were practiced in Nauvoo. For example, in an orderly immigration, some 5,000 converts came to Nauvoo from Great Britain. The more wealthy members gave of their means to assist the poor in both their transportation to America and in helping them obtain work after they arrived. The economy of Nauvoo was based primarily on agriculture and construction. The largest construction project was the Nauvoo Temple, which provided jobs for many of its members. One traveler is quoted as saying there was no pauperism in Nauvoo because those without subsistence were provided with work by the Church.
The Church also provided town lots for those people unable to buy one for themselves. Many Nauvoo residents were able to provide the largest part of their basic necessities from their own plots, which normally were one acre in size. They cultivated extensive gardens and often kept chickens, a milk cow, and several pigs, which they would get in exchange for several days' work.
The whole objective behind giving help in Nauvoo was to enable people to be self-sustaining as soon as possible, by providing an avenue for work and production.
After arriving in Salt Lake City with Brigham Young, the Church became completely responsible for its own economy, since it was isolated from any other society. There was no room here for the idler because survival literally depended on work.
Brigham Young's philosophy regarding work and employment can be seen in a statement he made in August of 1860: "The reason we have no poor who are able to work is because we plan to set every person to work at some profitable employment, and teach them to maintain themselves. If a person is not able to take care of himself, we will take care of him. "
"If a Bishop will act to the extent of his calling and office, and magnify it, there will not be an individual in his Ward that is not employed to the best advantage."
As conditions changed, so did the program. By 1880, the relatively independent economic kingdom had to be abandoned as Utah became nationalized. The Church sold many of its economic enterprises, and its leaders ceased to direct the economic affairs of Church members. Utah had become an integral part of the national economy-hence, the dawning of a new era in the manner in which the Church could help employ its members. It is interesting to note that just as the Church became dependent on the nation for its economy, the nation entered the depression of the 1890s.
During the depression, the Church established employment bureaus to aid its members in finding employment. Costly efforts were also made to bolster the economy. Assistance was given to such industries as sugar, salt, and coal.
Throughout the early 1900s, the Church's efforts regarding work and employment were directed to helping members find jobs. For example, in the 1920s, bishops were charged with the responsibility of finding employment for needy ward members. They were instructed to appoint a special person within each ward to be concerned with employment problems and discuss the problems in quorum meetings. This was very similar to the program Elder Fyans explained to us this morning.
Those who could not take care of themselves were given appropriate assistance. However, the emphasis was always on self-sufficiency. When the depression of the 1930s came, the members of the Church found themselves in a situation altogether different. There were no jobs, and many people were out of work. The government stepped in to alleviate this problem, but some of their methods promoted idleness because there was a dole involved. It was in this climate that President Grant announced the welfare program for that day. A model of production projects was announced six months earlier in a letter dated April 21, 1936 to the stake presidents and bishops, which stated in part:
"The following is a suggestive outline for a project for each ward in the Church in the beet-growing districts of Utah and Idaho, to take care of the unemployed members of the Church:
"The Bishopric of each ward requested to select and secure at once 100 or more acres of land suitable for sugar beets.
"Then the Bishopric could divide up the acreage, according to the size of the family, to do the hand work; namely, the thinning, the hoeing, irrigating, keeping the beets clean, the pulling and topping, and loading the same into the wagon at the time of harvesting.
"The laborers should receive an advance payment at the time of thinning, hoeing and irrigating, and when the work is done so that they may be able to live during the summer while the crop is growing.
"If this unemployment is to be solved, it must be done by all the people working together and helping each other to find employment, and if the start is made this season, more preparation can be made for another season and the project expanded so that it will become of material benefit and absorb a large percentage of the unemployed."
Once again, the purpose of this program was to help people to help themselves and to get them actively involved in work or production. Since that time, many programs have been followed, a few of which are the following:
Deseret Industries was set up to employ the unemployable, as well as supply clothing and household goods at a low cost. An organization was created to make small character loans to men and women who could not borrow from financial institutions. An agriculture committee was set up whose business it was to investigate what, if anything, the Church could widely undertake to do in setting up cooperatives, both for production and marketing. In each case, the objective has been to help people help themselves.
It is hoped that this illustration will help implant in our minds and hearts the fact that the welfare program has been with us from the beginning. Programs must be modified to fit circumstances prevailing at the time, but the principles and objectives are unchanging.
We have to be flexible and adapt to changing circumstances. Sometimes it is possible to get so wrapped up in a program that we forget the objective. We must be more alert and creative in accomplishing the objective of making our people independent and self-sustaining.
Today we are an international church, and problems vary in our homelands. This means that different programs may be necessary in different countries, but the primary purpose as stated by President Grant in the beginning of the welfare program is universal.
The theme of this welfare session has been work and employment. The priesthood-based employment system of the Church is one program which can benefit most, if not all countries. We invite you members of quorums who are blessed with employment to participate in the sanctifying effort of helping others who are in need of employment find work.
In those cases when it is necessary to provide temporary assistance to those who are able-bodied, we challenge bishops and other priesthood leaders anew to find appropriate services for them to perform in order that pride and self-respect may remain intact.
God bless us all with a keen understanding of the foundation upon which all these activities are built. We are anxious to make our people independent, industrious, and self-sufficient. We want to accomplish this in a way which will be sanctifying to the giver as well as the receiver. When we can understand this principle, our current welfare activities will take on more meaning, and any changes or additional programs required for today's society can be revealed.
President Spencer W. Kimball
My beloved brothers and sisters, as we begin this conference, I desire publicly to thank the Lord for preserving me once again-as He has done so many times before. I extend my love and gratitude to all of you for the many prayers that you have offered in my behalf.
I am so grateful to have such loyal, devoted, and able counselors in the First Presidency-President Tanner, President Romney, and President Hinckley. I am grateful, too, for President Benson and the members of the Council of the Twelve and the other General Authorities. These wonderful and faithful Brethren lead out so that the Lord's work goes forward. It is His work, and He is at the helm.
Even though my strength will not permit me to do all that I would like at the moment, I am blessed and I will continue to do my part to the best of my ability. I wish I had more strength, but as long as I have any strength, I will continue to bear my testimony to the truth of this great latter-day work and to pray for the Lord's blessings and His guidance to be upon us all!
I am so thankful to be here with you in this general conference. My feelings are those of gratitude to my Heavenly Father for giving me a part to play in His kingdom as it rolls onward to its divine destiny.
It was exactly one year ago that I last attended conference here in the Tabernacle. As you may know, I was in the hospital at the time of the October 1981 conference. Last April I stated that the mission of the Church is threefold:
First, to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people;
Secondly, to perfect the Saints by preparing them to receive the ordinances of the gospel and by instruction and discipline to gain exaltation;
Thirdly, to redeem the dead by performing vicarious ordinances of the gospel for those who have lived on the earth.
All three are part of one work-to assist our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, in their grand and glorious mission "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." I renew that declaration today.
Let us keep these sacred principles in mind and make them an integral part of our lives: that is, to proclaim the gospel, to perfect the Saints, and to redeem the dead.
We are grateful for the growth of the Church throughout the world, as we now have reached the five million mark in membership. As I have said before, if we will do our part there will be major growth, not only in numbers, but in the righteousness of our people.
With the announcement just made of the plans to build four more new temples-one in Boise, Idaho; another in Denver, Colorado; another in Taipei, Taiwan; and in Guayaquil, Ecuador-there continues the most intensive period of temple building in the history of the Church. These four, when completed, will bring to forty-one the number of temples operating worldwide.
The building of these temples must be accompanied by an ever stronger emphasis on genealogical research on the part of all the members of the Church. Furthermore, implicit in the building of temples is the principle of regular temple attendance by the Saints. Nothing builds spirituality and our understanding of the priesthood principles more than regular temple attendance.
Now, my brothers and sisters, as you read of troubles in so many parts of the world, remember that the Lord knew these problems would come, and that even with these problems He has foreseen the growth of this Church and its people. Be of good cheer, for the Lord is guiding His church. For nearly forty years as a General Authority, I have watched Him guide this church. I marvel at how He can work to bring to pass His purposes by using us in our weaknesses, but He does!
Love one another, brothers and sisters! Have love in your homes and in your hearts! Be peacemakers even though we must live in a world filled with wars and rumors of wars! Follow the counsel you will receive in this general conference. And I'll do my best to do likewise. Trust the Lord and His unfolding purposes even when His purposes are not always completely clear to us at the moment.
Brothers and sisters, be good member missionaries. Follow the Brethren. Study the new editions of the scriptures. Plant your gardens. Clean up, paint up, fix up your homes and your yards. Live within your means. Be good neighbors. Be good citizens in whatever land you live. Keep the Sabbath day holy. Hold your family home evenings regularly every Monday night. These are my words of counsel to you now, as they have been so many times in the past.
Brothers and sisters, pray for the critics of the Church; love your enemies. Use wisdom and judgment in what you do and say, so that we do not give cause to others to hold the Church or its people in disrepute. This work, which Satan seeks in vain to tear down, is that which God has placed on earth to lift mankind up!
When this conference is over, let us return to our homes, our stakes and wards and branches with fresh determination to do better and to be better. The Lord watches over you. He will see you through your personal trials and challenges if you will stay close to Him. I can testify to that as one who has known a few challenges himself.
The Lord has not promised us freedom from adversity and affliction. Instead, he has given us the avenue of communication known as prayer, whereby we might humble ourselves and seek His help and divine guidance. I have previously said that "they who reach down into the depths of life where, in the stillness, the voice of God is heard, have the stabilizing power which carries them poised and serene through the hurricane of difficulties."
Now, I have lived for more than half the 152 years the restored Church has been upon the earth in this dispensation. I have witnessed its marvelous growth until it now is established in the four corners of the earth. As the Prophet Joseph said:
"Our missionaries are going forth to different nations, and in Germany, Palestine, New Holland, Australia, the East Indies, and other places, the Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."
Let us, then, press on confidently in the work of the Lord as we look forward to the glorious years of promise ahead. Through our faithfulness, all that God has promised will be fulfilled.
Again, I express my love for the Lord, for my wife and family, for my Brethren, and for each of you. I feel your love, and I hope that you feel mine in return. I leave my blessings with you. God, our Heavenly Father, lives. Jesus is the Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. He lives. He is our Elder Brother, our Savior, and our Redeemer. This is my solemn testimony to you, my beloved brothers and sisters, and I share it with you in love and in gratitude and in humility, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
My dear brothers and sisters, at this Easter season, I am grateful for this opportunity to bear witness to the resurrection of Jesus and to set forth, in part at least, the basis upon which that witness rests.
"He is risen; he is not here." These words, eloquent in their simplicity, announced the most significant event of recorded history, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus-an event so extraordinary that even the Apostles, who had been most intimately associated with Jesus in his earthly ministry and who had been carefully taught of the coming event, had difficulty grasping the reality of its full significance. The first accounts which reached their ears "seemed to them as idle tales" as well they might, for millions of men had lived and died before that day. In every hill and dale men's bodies mouldered in the dust, but until that first Easter morning not one had risen from the grave.
When we speak of Jesus being resurrected, we mean that his premortal spirit, which animated his mortal body from his birth in the manger until he died on the cross, reentered that body; and the two, his spirit body and his physical body, inseparably welded together, arose from the tomb an immortal soul.
Our belief is, and we so testify, that Jesus not only conquered death for himself and brought forth his own glorious resurrected body, but that in so doing he also brought about a universal resurrection. This was the end and purpose of the mission for which he was set apart and ordained in the great council in heaven, when he was chosen to be our Savior and Redeemer.
Concerning his earthly ministry, his role as Redeemer required of him four things:
First, that his premortal spirit be clothed with a mortal body, the accomplishment of which was heaven-announced when to the lowly shepherds the angel said, "Fear not: For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."
Second, that he suffer the pains of all men, which he did, principally, in Gethsemane, the scene of his great agony. He himself described that suffering as being of such intensity that it "caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit-and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink-
"Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men."
Third, that he give his life. His death on the cross, after having been rejected and betrayed and after having suffered appalling indignities, seems not to be in dispute, even among nonbelievers. That he gave his life voluntarily, with the express purpose of taking it up again in the Resurrection, is not so universally accepted. Such, however, is the fact. He was, it is true, maliciously slain by wicked men, but all the while he held the power to stay them. "I lay down my life," he said, "that I might take it again.
"No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again."
This power was inherently his by virtue of his being born of the virgin Mary, and being the Son of God.
Having thus taken upon himself mortality, having suffered in Gethsemane for the sins of all men, and having given his life on the cross, there remained for him but to break the bonds of death-the fourth and last requirement-to complete his earthly mission as Redeemer. That the whole of his mortal life moved toward this consummation, he had repeatedly taught. It was foreshadowed in his statement about laying down his life and taking it up again. To the sorrowing Martha he had said, "I am the resurrection, and the life"; and to the Jews, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up".
Resurrection was so foreign to human experience that even his believing followers had difficulty comprehending it. The doctrine, however, had been heard even by the crucifiers. Being disturbed by it, they came to Pilate, "saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again." So with Pilate's consent they set a watch "lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead." Thus it came about that these hireling guards unwittingly became witnesses to the opening of the tomb by the angel, the final preliminary to the appearing of the risen Lord.
The evidence that Jesus was resurrected is conclusive. Five times on the Sunday following his crucifixion on Friday afternoon he revealed himself.
First to behold him was Mary Magdalene. Early in the morning Peter and John, having verified the report that the body of Jesus was not in the tomb, went away. But Mary lingered in the garden weeping. Turning back from the empty tomb, she "saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
"Jesus saith unto her, Mary." Recognizing his voice, "she turned herself" as if to touch him, saying, "Rabboni; Master."
Tenderly restraining her, he continued, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."
Later, about sunrise, Mary the mother of James, and Salome and other women went to the tomb with spices to prepare the body for final burial. They found the tomb open and the body gone. To their consternation, they were met by two men in shining garments who said, "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen." As they went to tell his disciples, Jesus himself met them, saying, "All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him."
Later the same day, as Cleopas and another journeyed to Emmaus, Jesus, unrecognized, drew near and went with them. When he inquired into the nature of their conversation, they repeated to him the reports of the women. At their seeming doubt he said, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." Then opened he their understanding of the scriptures concerning him. Tarrying at Emmaus, "he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight."
In the evening as the disciples heard the reports that Jesus had appeared to Simon and to Cleopas, "Jesus himself stood in the midst of them." To quiet their fears and give assurance that he was not a spirit, he showed them his hands, his feet, and his side, saying, "It is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
"And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
"And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish and of an honeycomb.
"And he took it, and did eat before them."
Thus, on this eventful day, did his former associates behold his glorious resurrected body. Not only did they see him, but they heard his voice and felt the wounds in his hands, feet, and side. In their presence he handled food and ate of it. They knew of a surety that he had taken up the body which they themselves had placed in the tomb. Their sorrow was turned to joy by the knowledge that he lived, an immortal soul.
For forty days he ministered among his disciples in the Holy Land. He appeared unto his disciples again at Jerusalem, when Thomas was present, and on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, where he directed them in casting for fish, invited them to dine, gave them food to eat which he himself had prepared on a fire of coals, and instructed them in the ministry. On a mountain in Galilee he commissioned the eleven to teach the gospel to all nations. And finally, after he had blessed them at Bethany, they saw him "carried up into heaven."
His mission being ended in Palestine, he paid a visit to the Nephites in America, that they too might know of his resurrection. His Father introduced him to them as "my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." When they saw him descend from heaven, they described him as "a Man clothed in a white robe." He announced himself as "Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world." They saw him, they heard him, and at his invitation they all "went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet," and knew of a surety and did testify that he was the resurrected Redeemer.
As he revealed himself after his resurrection to his followers in the Holy Land and to the Nephites in America, so he has revealed himself in our day. Indeed, this dispensation opened with a glorious vision in which the Prophet Joseph was visited by the Father and the Son. He heard their voices, for they both spoke to him. He was given a personal introduction to the resurrected Jesus by the Father himself. He beheld their glorious bodies and afterwards thus described them: "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also."
Some twelve years later the Savior revealed himself to Joseph Smith, Jr.; Sidney Rigdon was with Joseph Smith at the time. They both bore testimony "That he lives! For," said they, "we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father."
In the Kirtland Temple the Prophet, this time in company with Oliver Cowdery, saw him again. "The veil was taken from our minds," they wrote, "and the eyes of our understanding were opened.
"We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber.
"His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying:
"I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father."
Jesus alone could make the required infinite atonement because, being the only sinless person who has ever lived upon the earth, he had a sinless life to offer and because he, being the Son of God, had power over life and death. No one could have taken his life had he not been willing to give it. "No man taketh it from me," he said, "but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." It was, therefore, through acts of infinite love and mercy that he vicariously paid the debt of the broken law and satisfied the demands of justice.
We are still further indebted to Jesus, for by his atonement he not only satisfied the demands of the law of justice, but he made effective the law of mercy, by which men may be redeemed from spiritual death. For, while they are not responsible for mortal death, they are responsible for spiritual death, which shuts them out from the presence of God.
All men who dwell in the earth are subject to the influences of righteousness, and also to the influences of wickedness. They are endowed, too, with the divine gift of moral agency, in the exercise of which no person who has lived upon the earth to the age of accountability, except Jesus, has been able in all things to avoid yielding to the influence of evil. All have sinned. Each person is therefore unclean to the extent to which he has sinned, and because of that uncleanness is banished from the presence of the Lord so long as the effect of his own wrongdoing is upon him.
Since we suffer this spiritual death as a result of our own transgressions, we cannot claim deliverance therefrom as a matter of justice. Neither has any man the power within himself alone to make restitution so complete that he can be wholly cleansed from the effect of his own wrongdoing. If men are to be freed from the results of their own transgressions and brought back into the presence of God, they must be the beneficiaries of some expedient beyond themselves which will free them from the effects of their own sins. For this purpose was the atonement of Jesus Christ conceived and executed.
This was the world's supreme act of charity, performed by Jesus out of his great love for us. He not only thereby met the demands of the law of justice-which would have left us forever marred by the effects of our own transgressions-but made effective the law of mercy, through which all men may be cleansed from their own sins.
Regardless of what we believe or how we live, we shall be resurrected, for through the atonement of Christ redemption from the grave is granted to every soul unconditionally. This is not so, however, with respect to forgiveness and redemption from the effects of our own transgressions. The only persons who are thus forgiven and redeemed are those who accept and abide the terms prescribed by the Redeemer, thus bringing themselves, with respect to their own sins, within the reach of his atoning blood.
He has set forth the terms of his gospel-the gospel of Jesus Christ-which is the law of mercy, the first requirement of which is to accept Jesus for what he is, literally our Redeemer. This is "faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." Then follows the forsaking of one's sins and the making of such restitution as is within one's power. This is repentance.
Without complying with these requirements and the other principles and the ordinances of the gospel, one is left beyond the reach of the plan of mercy, to rely upon the law of justice, which will require that he suffer for his own sins, even as Jesus suffered. For "he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption."
Contemplation of the Atonement-by which I am assured of resurrection and given opportunity, through faith and repentance and faithfulness unto the end, to obtain remission of my sins-moves me to the most intense gratitude and appreciation of which my soul is capable, and I respond unstintingly to the theme: "Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me, Enough to die for me."
Such are the thoughts suggested to my mind by the Easter season, celebrated as the anniversary of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which was calmly announced by the angel when he said, "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said."
To this I bear solemn witness, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, amen.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Not often do students remember for 24 hours very many words taught by their teachers. Yet 50 years later some former students recall with lasting appreciation the words one teacher had her class repeat at the beginning of each day. Every school morning this rather unpretentious, plain, wise lady implanted the meaning of honesty into our minds by having us recite "A lie is any communication given to another with the intent to deceive."
When I compare this definition with that found in the dictionary, which states, "A lie is an untrue statement made with the intent of deceiving," I greatly appreciate her definition. A lie can be effectively communicated without words ever being spoken. Sometimes a nod of the head or silence can deceive. Recommending a questionable business investment, making a false entry in a ledger, devious use of flattery, or failure to divulge all pertinent facts are a few other ways to communicate the lie.
After having us go through this daily ritual, this wonderful lady, who never married but who had such a motherly influence over many of us, would teach with few words the importance of communicating truth under all circumstances. Often she simply said, "Don't tell lies. Don't share lies. Don't participate in lies."
How serious is lying? We have a clue when we read all through the scriptures that Satan is the father of lies. His method of teaching this evil practice is illustrated in the tenth section of the Doctrine and Covenants: "Yea, he saith unto them: Deceive and lie ; behold, this is no harm. And thus he telleth them that it is no sin to lie. And thus he causeth them to catch themselves in their own snare."
Yet we can't hide behind the father of lies and say, "Satan made me do it." All he does is tell us, "This is no harm," and then he lets us catch ourselves in our own snare.
It is a sin to lie. It is a tragedy to be the victim of lies. Being trapped in the snares of dishonesty and misrepresentation does not happen instantaneously. One little lie or dishonest act leads to another until the perpetrator is caught in the web of deceit. As Samuel Johnson wrote, "The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken." Those who become victims of this entrapment often struggle through life bearing their heavy burden because they are unwilling to acknowledge their problem and make the effort to change. Many are unwilling to pay the price to be free from the chains of lies. Some individuals may be very aware of the value of honesty and yet be unable to come up with the down payment.
Perhaps if we analyze some of the reasons people lie, we can avoid or overcome this vicious snare.
Sometimes we deceive and lie to avoid personal embarrassment. I recently heard of a young woman who had been released from her employment because of dishonesty. When she applied for another job, she told the prospective employer that her former boss had a family member he wanted to put in her place. She probably told her friends and family members the same story to avoid mortification.
Financial setbacks may be explained to others with untruths. Or have you ever heard someone say, "I was just too busy to get the job done," when, in truth, he had forgotten? Others use dishonesty to delay, to gain advantage, to impress, to flatter, or to destroy.
Consciously or unconsciously some people lie to destroy others. Jealousy or feelings of inferiority may cause us to degrade another's habits or character. Have you watched an overly ambitious person turn on false flattery for his own gain?
Lies are often excuses for lack of courage. Sometimes lies are nothing more than excuses for poor performance. Usually one lie or deception has to be covered by another. Lies cannot stand alone. Each one must continually be supported by more and more of its own kind.
There are some who would have us believe there is no right or wrong-that everything is relative. We must never allow ourselves to think proper conduct and decision making are found in a convenient path somewhere between right and wrong.
In today's world, where deceitfulness is so widely practiced in advertising, promoting, and marketing, a worthy prayer could well be, "Help me, O Lord, to be free not only of personal deceit, but grant me also the wisdom to avoid those who would damage me or mine through devious means."
How do we become victims of dishonesty? There are many ways, but let us examine a few.
A potent statement from Isaiah sheds light on one reason: "Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter." Greed can make a person both dishonest and gullible. Such are spoken of in Doctrine and Covenants 68:31–32: "Their eyes are full of greediness. These things ought not to be, and must be done away from among them." Good advice for those who would avoid deceitful propositions is found in Doctrine and Covenants 9:13: "Be faithful, and yield to no temptation."
A friend recently confided that he had lost heavily in a get-rich-quick scheme because he couldn't turn off his greed valve. Wanting more and more-living beyond one's income-makes many of us susceptible to the dishonest promoter. The plan that offers exorbitant rewards or gives you and only you a once-in-a-lifetime deal is to be avoided.
Use of important, well-recognized names or undue reference to special community or religious affiliations are often used to gain confidence and open the door to sales deceptions.
Avoid those who want immediate decisions or cash right now. All worthwhile investment opportunities can bear deliberation and scrutiny. We must get all the available facts and consider them well, and then make decisions that are in the best interest of all. When marginal cases and situations arise, personal integrity must be an important element in any decision. When right actions are not clearly evident, personal honesty will lead us to discern and reveal relevant points or facts of which others may not be aware. A person of integrity will assist others to be honest. A person of integrity will ask questions and give answers that are accurate. Integrity makes it possible for us to chart a course of righteous personal conduct long before the time for action arrives.
A wise person will not allow himself to be victimized by the unscrupulous because of false pride. Oftentimes people are swindled because false pride prevents them from asking questions and seeking additional information. For fear of embarrassment or being thought ignorant, a prospect ofttimes nods his head in the affirmative when he really doesn't understand the glib salesman's line of chatter. "What does that mean?" "What are the risks?" "What are the pitfalls?" "What is the history of the company?" "What references do you have?" are questions worthy of pursuit. When promoters carelessly use simple but elusive words such as "hedge," "shelter," "exempt," "annuity," "umbrella," "tax free," "insulated," and "deferrable," the buyer had better be aware.
If prudent decisions cannot be reached on the basis of one's own expertise, advice should be sought from knowledgeable and trusted counselors. Offers that cannot wait or stand review are not worthy.
Abraham Lincoln once said, "Stand with anybody that stands right. Stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong."
We are living in a day and time when the "gentle lie," the "soft lie," the "convenient lie," the "misleading lie," the "once-in-a-lifetime deal," the "opportunity for a few selected friends" are being vigorously advocated and promoted. Designing promoters of questionable schemes have and will continue to prey on the gullible.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, the business climate is always good for those who have a deal to promote. In times of recession or depression, unwise debt is encouraged by promoters who would give us the opportunity to supplement our inadequate means. During periods of prosperity and plenty, some try to convince us that then is the time to borrow, speculate, and move up to higher levels of living by riding the waves of a guaranteed prosperous tomorrow. How often do we hear, "I would have made it big if the economy had not slowed down"? History should have taught all of us that there is enough risk and uncertainty in normal or conservative investments to cause the cautious to rebel at the exorbitant returns offered by those who would have us "bet on the come."
More often than not, those who can least afford to go into debt to provide funds for scheming money managers are those hurt the most when the day of final accounting arrives. It is true, getting into debt is a tanglesome web.
Samuel Johnson also said, "Do not accustom yourself to consider debt only as an inconvenience; you will find it a calamity." We encourage all to avoid going into debt for speculation purposes. "The love of money is the root of all evil." A proper balance in our money management skills should be the continuing goal of all who would be free of financial bondage.
President N. Eldon Tanner wisely suggests, "The choice to serve God, worthily made, does not necessarily preclude a home or sufficient money or income, or the things of this world which bring joy and happiness, but it does require that we must not turn away from God and the teachings of Jesus Christ while in the pursuit of our temporal needs."
It should be the goal of every Latter-day Saint to become the kind of person of whom it can be said, "His word is his bond." In all of our words and deeds we should ask ourselves, "Is it right? Is it true?" not "Is it expedient, satisfactory, convenient, or profitable?" Just, "Is it right?" The wise will consider, "What is right?"; the greedy, "What will it pay?"
Sometimes investment promoters, because of the pressures of pending financial reverses and tragedy, scramble and use devious delay tactics while they struggle for survival. Honesty will be compromised by some when failure lurks. People with integrity will stand true and firm in success or disaster.
Honesty is basic. It is true that lying is an accomplice to every other form of vice. Or, as someone has said, "Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all." Deceit, insincerity, cheating are forms of lying-and, young people, cheating doesn't refer only to examination time.
Lying damages others. Lying subtly permits us to destroy ourselves as we are caught in the snare and shatter our own self-image and credibility. Freedom from deceit and lying improves self and gives all of us peace of mind.
Not long ago a troubled friend of mine who has long suffered and continues to suffer the pains of a victim entrapped in his own snare of lies said, "I have been living lies for so long and have told so many over the years that, frankly, I don't really know when I am telling the truth." When I first heard this, I was moved with compassion; but a second thought had me wondering if this, too, wasn't just another lie. Lying has filled this friend's life full of trouble. No one will ever convince this victim of deceit that "this is no harm."
He who lies is the servant of the lie. He who tells the lie must live with the results. Deacons and Beehive girls should be taught the evils of deceit. Teachers and Mia Maids should be taught the importance of truth. Priests and Laurels should be taught the pitfalls that accompany dishonesty. Missionaries, to be successful and happy, must live by correct principles. Primary children can learn that telling lies is not good. Children in the home are entitled to see honesty taught by example. Unfortunate is the individual or family who is taught that honesty is a policy rather than the proper way of life.
We live in a world of law. We may be able to avoid or skirt laws of the land, but the laws of heaven have an irrevocable effect on us today, tomorrow, and forever.
"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." No man will ever be totally free who is living a lie. Only he who bears or who has borne such a continuing burden can relate appropriately to such a declaration. We should ever bear in mind that a wrong isn't right just because many people do it. A wrong deed isn't right just because it hasn't become visible.
May our Heavenly Father help us to have the courage to acknowledge and cast aside the living of a lie or the perpetuation of lies. Honesty is more than a policy. It is a happy way of life as we deal with our fellowmen, and particularly as we live with ourselves.
Whether we are like the good school teacher mentioned in the beginning of these remarks, or a friend, neighbor, or family member, let us live and teach honesty. In the academic classroom and in the classroom of life, the virtues of honesty should be stressed by all who espouse that "the glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth." Light and truth will help us to forsake the evil one and come off victorious. "This is no harm" is the declaration of our mortal enemy. He would lead us to self-destruction.
If a lie is any communication given to another with the intent to deceive, we will all do well to seek God's constant help in understanding and finding the truth. People of integrity will neither foster, nourish, embrace, nor share the lie. People of wisdom will not let greed, fear, or the desire for quick riches lead them into the snares of the dishonest and unscrupulous who prey on the gullible in order to maneuver from them valuable possessions.
May we constantly remind ourselves to "seek not for riches but for wisdom; and, behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich."
God grant to all of us the power and strength to be people of integrity, and the insight and wisdom to avoid being led into the snares of the dishonest, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Hugh W. Pinnock
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Lately, I have watched with deep concern a number of instances that have unfolded into frustration, heartache, and seeming hopelessness. I speak today to those who suffer with pain and who are aching with grief, anger, and guilt. What I say applies also to those who will yet pass through periods of anguish and difficulty.
When we were little, many of us repeated a verse that began:
The "Land of Beginning Again" does not exist in a geographical location, but there is a specific spiritual position from which we can all start anew, shedding our pains, guilt, and sorrows. Let us travel there this morning.
The ancient prophet Jeremiah was in his house one day and heard the word of the Lord saying:
"Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
"Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
"And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
"Then the word of the Lord came again to me, saying,
"O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel."
The Lord explained to Jeremiah that when we make mistakes, as ancient Israel was making, we can take what we have marred and begin again. The potter did not give up and throw the clay away, just because he had made a mistake. And we are not to feel hopeless and reject ourselves. Yes, our task is to overcome our problems, take what we have and are, and start again.
Some of you who are listening have sinned in ways that are significant, embarrassing, and destructive. Yet, by following the simple instruction given by the Master, you can talk with your bishop, when necessary, and begin again as a renewed person.
Recently, some of you have placed your money in an investment that has proven to be unwise or unprofitable. Now is an opportunity for you to begin again. Don't let a mistake injure you twice as it does if you harbor a past wrong or injustice and let your anger destroy you.
Some of you have hurt others, bringing pain, fear, and heartache to them. Now is the time to go and express sorrow for what you have done, beg their forgiveness, and whenever possible, restore that which has been taken. When? Now! It is God's design that we pay our obligations. In the Doctrine and Covenants he said, "Behold it is my will that you shall pay all your debts."
At the peak of its power, the Greek Empire sprawled from the Mediterranean Basin on the west to what is present-day India on the east. Through military strength, the Greeks had conquered countless city-states and nations.
They honored their bravest men, but also hallowed the site at which the tide of each battle turned. They marked that single spot on the plain of conflict where a small victory had made the ultimate triumph inevitable. At that place, they pushed a piece of stone or a pile of captured weapons into an upright position. They called the marker a trophy. In the language of the ancient Greeks, the word trophy meant "a turning."
Is now a time for a trophy in your life? In the battles you are fighting, should you erect a monument to show that you have turned, that your life will be different now?
Remember, all problems do not keel over as Goliath did before David. All battles do not end as dramatically as the one fought at Cumorah. All miracles are not as immediate as when Joseph Smith blessed the sick on the banks of the Missouri River. But problems do go away, battles are won, and miracles do occur in the lives of us all. In Deuteronomy 7:22 the Lord described his battle plan for purifying Israel in this way: "And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little." Victory often does come little by little.
Let me suggest the steps necessary to turn our lives in a new direction. The business of life is to climb higher. The divine step is to repent. Repentance means to find a better way and to follow it.
First, eliminate from our thinking and our vocabulary the phrase "if only I had done something differently."
If only Samson had known the results of his association with Delilah, he never would have made the first visit.
If only Sidney Rigdon had been able to foresee his pathetic end, he might have humbled himself and stayed with the Church.
If only the rich man could have seen beyond the grave, he might have started praying sooner; but only in hell did he become a praying man.
If only you had not gone on that date, or taken that trip, or made that investment, or met that person, your life might have been different.
All of us can waste precious time by saying, "What if I had not done something or other?" Brothers and sisters, "What if" is not an appropriate question if we really want to start again. Let us face head-on where we are and where we want to be, and not dwell on the "what ifs" of yesterday.
Second, do not wait for tomorrow to begin again. "Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." Today is the day for each of us to erect those monuments on our own battlefields and mark the place where we began again. One of the reasons we have conferences is to learn how to be better.
Third, resolve to live the gospel of Jesus Christ in its entirety. "For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God." Many people live the gospel according to themselves. That is self-deception.
There is only one true gospel. We may alter it or tint it with our own notions. But if we will adhere to the pure teachings of Jesus Christ, we will eliminate many of the rationalizations that lead to problems. The menu has only one entree. To pick and choose which of God's precepts to live is satanic self-centeredness. Integrity is the foundation of our life-style.
Fourth, face reality. Sometimes we wish we could fly from our troubles. King David did. He had been a good man, but he engulfed himself in great difficulties. It seemed to be more than he could bear. One day he cried, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest." His guilt-fired emotions had gained the upper hand. He wanted to get away from everything. Some try to fly away physically, and others try to do so emotionally. That does not solve problems. The only true escape route is marked with the sign "personal responsibility."
Remember, the Savior said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He invited us to learn of him and to take his yoke upon us.
Fifth, approach our challenges positively! Take over! Lead out! A poet wrote:
We recall with clarity these words of the Master: "Seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Just a few verses later, the Savior tells us, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
Sixth, don't begin again partially. Be complete! Otherwise, you may be patching up an old article of clothing with a little piece of new material. The old fabric will not hold. As Jesus said, "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for the rent is made worse." Don't patch. Begin a whole new life. The wealthy young man was unwilling to give all, to follow the Master totally, and so "he went away sorrowful", and was never heard from again.
Seventh, be open and candid in your relationships with others. So many of life's difficulties are brought about by being double-minded. Let us learn to say it as it is. Think of Peter's extreme discomfort when the Master addressed him after Peter had been teaching a false concept: "Thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of man." From that moment, Peter was a greater disciple. The person who is open and honest will be vindicated. Time is his friend. Trust is his reward.
Last, and perhaps the hardest of all, forgive. Paul said, "To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also." Certainly part of beginning again is to "love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you." Paul reinforced this admonition when he said, "See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men." Revenge has no place in the life of a person who has found the "Land of Beginning Again."
Think how young Joseph had been wronged by jealous brothers anciently. They sold him into slavery. He had every reason to seek revenge. But when circumstances joined them together again in Egypt, Joseph said, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to save much people."
Yes, so much of heartache and grief eventually become blessings, our earthly instructions, and condition us spiritually. Even if we cannot understand the "whys" of our tribulations, we can still turn to God and rededicate our lives to his safekeeping. Yes, "he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come."
May each of us, where necessary, Begin Again. I testify that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored and that we are to live its principles and precepts, and by so doing will be exalted. And this I say humbly in the worthy name of Jesus Christ, our Master, amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Basic to our religion are the Articles of Faith given us by the Prophet Joseph Smith.
The first one is the foundation of all for which we stand. It reads, "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."
We Latter-day Saints believe in God with all our hearts and all our souls. We know that he lives. Our prophets have seen him. We know that we are his children, his literal spirit offspring. We have no other source of life. We are his children.
Without God there would be no gospel, no salvation, no resurrection, no light or intelligence, not even life itself. Without God there would be no galaxies in the heavens, no sun, no moon, no stars, no earth, and none of the things this earth can produce. In other words, if there were no God there would not be anything else either.
It is equally so with respect to the Lord Jesus Christ. In this church we accept the Savior with all our hearts and souls.
He is the divine Son of God! This is our solemn testimony to all the world. We bear it fearlessly and with all the emphasis we possess. Our testimony is true, for it is based on revelation.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of all humanity. But He is more than that. He is the Creator, for there is a divine Creator, and we know Him to be Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He came to earth as the Babe of Bethlehem, but was still that same mighty Being spoken of by Isaiah-"Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."
Jesus Christ, the Jehovah of the heavens, made the heavens and all the galaxies within them. He made our universe, with the sun and its planetary system. He made this earth and all that is in it, both animate and inanimate.
All things came by Him and through Him, for without Him was not anything made that was made.
He came to earth nearly two thousand years ago, gave us His gospel and His church, and then was crucified for all humanity.
Everlasting life comes through Him and in no other way. If we obey His gospel we shall live with Him forever. If we reject it, or neglect it, we still shall live, but not with Him. It shall be in the lesser areas, in some of which will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Christ is our all, and without Him we are nothing.
We also believe in the Holy Ghost, the third member of the Godhead. As we come into the Church we are blessed with the gift of the Holy Ghost, which will guide us all our lives if we will but follow its promptings.
I am very grateful indeed for the marvelous expression we've just received from Brother Ashton about honesty. It is so basic to our religion. I am grateful because we also have as one of our Articles of Faith a declaration that we believe in honesty, truth, kindness, and virtue. That article, you remember, reads in part, "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men."
Here we come to the point where faith and works meet each other. Here we ask ourselves: Do our works verify our faith, or do they belie our professions? Do we really do good to all men as the article of faith says?
Honesty, truth, virtue, and kindness are hallmarks of true Christianity. If we lack them, we can hardly say that we follow Christ.
Was it not James who said, "Shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works"? And did he not say, with such crystal clarity that no one need misunderstand, "Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone"?
We agree with him and add that professions of piety, without the works of piety, are sheer hypocrisy and are dead-even "as the body without the spirit is dead."
In its seductive dress, sin always seems to be attractive at first. It was so with Cain, who thought he could sin and get gain. Many today delude themselves into thinking the same thing. But the law of retribution is the same now as it was then. The wage of sin is ultimate misery and death if there is no repentance.
Who-understanding the facts-would dare become an enemy to God?
Yet if we lie and cheat, defraud, or seduce others and lead them into sin, to that extent we do become His enemies.
Since Christ stands for righteousness in all things, what is our position before Him if we renounce His teachings by our evil acts? Can we say that we are any different from those of His day who turned their backs upon Him and rejected Him?
They were so sadly deceived as they walked into tragedy completely blind to the facts-blind even amid the light of heaven which He offered them.
Think of the deception under which Korihor denied the Christ. After it was all over and he was brought down to the dust, he confessed:
"I knew that there was a God. But behold, the devil hath deceived me. And he said unto me: There is no God; and he taught me that which I should say. And I taught his words because they were pleasing unto the carnal mind."
Note that last expression-"they were pleasing unto the carnal mind." All sins are pleasing to the carnal mind, and dishonesty is certainly one of them!
What if the Good Samaritan had been a hypocrite and had only pretended to help the injured traveler? What if he had brought the injured man to the inn only to further abuse him? What if he had paid the innkeeper with counterfeit money, or had "run out" on his bill?
What if he were trying to serve two masters? What if his show of piety and mercy was but a masquerade of duplicity?
What would you have thought of him then? Would the Savior have held him up as an example? Or would he have poured out his condemnation on that Samaritan as he did on other hypocrites?
What do you think of present-day people who masquerade in the robes of hypocrisy and use deception and misrepresentation to gain advantage over others, sometimes robbing them of all they have?
What do you think of those whose word is not the word of honor, and who think nothing of cheating at the first opportunity?
Do we understand the gravity of the sin of dishonesty? It is not only unchristian, it is anti-Christian-it is anti-Mormon-it is anti-Christ!
Whether it be lying, or cheating, or robbery or deception; whether it is in the home, in business, in sports, or in the classroom; dishonesty is completely foreign to the teachings of Jesus.
If we do not recognize this, we are blind indeed.
Cain was blind when he slew Abel.
Korihor was blind when he fought Alma.
The crucifiers of Christ were blind when they called down His sacrificial blood upon their own heads and upon the heads of their poor unsuspecting and hapless children.
The traitors from within who helped to bring about the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith were very, very blind-oh, so blind!
Shall we allow selfishness and greed to similarly blind us? Shall we become our own worst enemies by resorting to dishonesty and all that it leads to?
The gospel provides many "Thou shalt nots" in its list of commandments. But it is equally positive in commanding constructive action and teaching us that we must make a sincere effort to become Christlike in all we do.
Of what value is Christianity if it does not improve us? It is no mere psychological toy to be tossed about in mental calisthenics as a conversation piece.
The gospel is a way of life.
Its purpose is to help us become like Christ.
Did He not ask, "What manner of men ought ye to be?" And did He not reply "Even as I am"?
Did He not command us to seek perfection, even as our Father which is in heaven is perfect? He means it. These are His laws. They are not mental exercises. They are commandments, and He will hold us personally accountable for our obedience or disobedience.
If we receive these commandments with a doubtful heart and obey them with slothfulness, we can expect only condemnation.
We must take a positive approach to our religion and literally make it a way of life, a plan of daily action. We must reform ourselves day by day along gospel lines, for this is the time of our probation and it is now that we must prepare to meet our God.
This was told often in the Book of Mormon, you recall, but most of us have just read that as a matter of rhetoric. But, brothers and sisters, today is the day of our probation, just as it was for them in their day; and today is the time when we must prepare to meet our God. Who knows whether we will be alive today or tomorrow or the day after? When will we face almighty God?
Do we suppose that we can enter His presence if we are offensive to Him? And what will make us offensive? It will be our own stubbornness which has kept us from following His plan. It will be our own refusal to put Him first in our lives. It will be because we love darkness better than light.
Why do we suppose that He asks us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness? Would He do this if He did not mean it? Half obedience will be rejected as readily as full violation, and maybe quicker, for half rejection and half acceptance is but a sham, an admission of lack of character, a lack of love for Him. It is actually an effort to live on both sides of the line.
We need not suppose that we can serve two masters. If we try, we may be sure of one thing-that our master will not be the Christ, for He will not accept us on those terms.
How did our Father in Heaven describe His Beloved Son? Do you remember His wonderful words?
He declared that Jesus is "full of grace and truth." Christ is a God of truth. He is a God of love, but He is also a God of grace.
What do we mean by the grace of God?
Jesus is gracious-that is, He is kind, merciful, compassionate. It is out of His grace, His compassion and His love for us, His mercy, His kindness, His desire for us to become like Him, that He provides for us His glorious gospel.
But to reject His truth is to reject His grace, His mercy, His kindness, His compassion. It is to say that we want none of it. And of one thing we may be sure: if such is our attitude, we most certainly shall have none of it.
Obedience is the thing. What did Samuel say to Saul when he tried to serve two masters? "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."
If we try to serve two masters, are we any better than Saul? If we try to deceive the brethren by professions of piety, hiding our sins from them, are we any better than Ananias and Sapphira, who were stricken at the feet of the Apostle Peter when they lied to him?
We are commanded to become like Christ. We are commanded to develop both grace and truth in our lives. If we are to be like Him, and He is a God of grace and truth, we must begin right now to build grace and truth into our own lives.
Must we not recognize now that we cannot serve two masters? If we should try, the Lord will reject us. He will never be found in tandem with Lucifer, so let us not try to put Him there. When Alma baptized his converts in the waters of Mormon, those humble Saints were filled with the grace of God, the love of God, mercy, brotherly kindness, charity. And their priests labored so righteously that they too were filled with heavenly grace.
When the Lord addressed the early elders of this Church, He taught them that they must grow in grace as well as knowledge before they went out to preach.
The Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith that all who keep the commandments will be blessed with grace from heaven-the love of Christ, charity, compassion, mercy, kindness, honesty.
These are the characteristics of the Savior. These we must seek for ourselves. The Lord has promised that if we obey Him, He will lead us from grace to grace.
Then shall we not obey? Shall we not plan for it? Shall we not seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first, last, and always? We must never allow our religion to slip into second place in our lives.
We are the covenant people of the Lord. In baptism we agreed to serve Him to the end, and we received the Holy Ghost to help us to do so. If now we turn to dishonesty and other sins, what do we do to this spirit of truth? By our sins we drive Him from us.
If we who have the gift of the Holy Ghost shall lie or cheat or in other ways resort to dishonesty, if we flout the truth and contaminate ourselves with untruth, where is our allegiance to God?
What shall we do with the covenants we have made, promising to serve Him-this God of truth-in nothing but the truth?
What shall we do with the sacrament of the Lord's Supper wherein we pledge to high heaven, by the very crucifixion of the Christ, that we will always remember Him and keep His commandments which He has given us? Shall we repudiate it by our sins-or shall we bow our heads in humility and say, "Not as I will, but as thou wilt"?
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not grace, mercy, honesty, kindness, and the charity of Christ, I am as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.
Humble obedience is the thing. It alone can save us. To this I testify, in the sacred name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Howard W. Hunter
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
There are some among us who are unhappy with their lives because they have wanted to achieve a measure of greatness in this life but now feel they have failed in some fundamental way. We have concern for those who have worked hard and who have lived righteously but think-because they haven't achieved in the world or in the Church what others have achieved-that they have failed.
Perhaps we should consider the things that make a person great.
We live in a world that seems to worship its own kind of greatness. It's true that the world's heroes don't last very long in the public mind, but, nevertheless, there is never a lack of champions and great achievers. We hear almost daily of athletes breaking records; scientists inventing marvelous new devices, machines, and processes; and doctors saving lives in new ways. We are constantly being exposed to exceptionally gifted musicians and entertainers, also to the work of unusually talented artists, architects, and builders. Magazines, billboards, and television commercials bombard us with pictures of individuals with perfect teeth and flawless features, wearing stylish clothes and doing whatever it is that successful people do.
Because we are being constantly exposed to the world's definition of success and greatness, it is understandable that we might frequently find ourselves making comparisons between what we are and what others are, or seem to be, and also between what we have and what others have. Although it is true that making comparisons can be beneficial and may motivate us to accomplish much good and improve our lives, yet we often allow unfair and improper comparisons to destroy our happiness when they cause us to feel unfulfilled or inadequate or unsuccessful. Sometimes, because of these feelings, we are led into error, and we dwell on our failures while ignoring aspects of our lives that may contain elements of true greatness.
In a short editorial written by President Joseph F. Smith in 1905, he made this most profound statement about what true greatness really is:
"Those things which we call extraordinary, remarkable, or unusual may make history, but they do not make real life.
"After all, to do well those things which God ordained to be the common lot of all mankind, is the truest greatness. To be a successful father or a successful mother is greater than to be a successful general or a successful statesman."
This statement raises a query as to what are the things God has ordained to be the common lot of all mankind. Surely they include the things that must be done in order to be a good father or a good mother, but, to generalize, they are also the thousands of little deeds and tasks of service and sacrifice that constitute the giving or losing of one's life for others and for the Lord. They include gaining a knowledge of our Father in Heaven and his gospel. They include bringing others into the faith and fellowship of his kingdom. These things do not usually receive the attention or the adulation of the world.
To extend the statement of President Smith and to be more specific, we could say: To be a successful Primary president or den mother or Spiritual Living teacher or loving neighbor or listening friend is much of what true greatness is all about. To do one's best in the face of the commonplace struggles of life, and possibly in the face of failures, and to continue to endure and persevere with the ongoing difficulties of life-when those struggles and tasks contribute to the progress and happiness of others and the eternal salvation of one's self-this is true greatness.
Surely we need not look far to see the unnoticed and forgotten heroes of daily life. I am speaking of those you know and those I know who quietly and consistently do the things they ought to do. I am talking about those who are always there and always willing. I am referring to the uncommon valor of the mother who-hour after hour, day and night-will stay with and care for a sick child, or the invalid who struggles and suffers without complaint. I'm including those who always volunteer to give blood or volunteer to work with Scouts. I am thinking of those who may not be mothers but who nevertheless "mother" the children of the world. I am speaking of those who are always there to love and nurture.
I am also talking about teachers and nurses and farmers and others who do the good work of the world, who teach and feed and clothe, but who also, in addition, do the work of the Lord-those who lift and love. I am referring to those who are honest and kind and hardworking in their daily work, but who are also servants of the Master and shepherds of his sheep.
Now, I do not mean to discount too much the great accomplishments of the world that have given us so many opportunities and which provide culture and order and excitement to our lives. I am merely suggesting that we try to focus more clearly on the things in life that will be of greatest worth. You will remember that it was the Savior who said, "He that is greatest among you shall be your servant."
Listen to the words of President Joseph F. Smith as he goes on in his remarks to help us place in proper perspective the achievements and accomplishments that lead to worldly success and recognition. Notice that he refers to worldly achievements-that is, those that may bring the fame and fortune of the world-as "secondary." He said:
"It is true that such secondary greatness may be added to that which we style common-place; but when such secondary greatness is not added to that which is fundamental, it is merely an empty honor, and fades away from the common and universal good in life, even though it may find a place in the pages of history."
With this definition of true greatness, how do we proceed to achieve it? The Lord has said, "Out of small things proceedeth that which is great." Each of us has seen individuals become wealthy or successful almost instantaneously, almost overnight. But I believe that even though this kind of success may come to some without a prolonged struggle, there is no such thing as instant greatness. This is because the achievement of true greatness is a long-term process; it may involve occasional setbacks. The end result may not always be clearly visible, but it seems that it always requires regular, consistent, small, and sometimes ordinary and mundane steps over a long period of time.
True greatness is never a result of a chance occurrence or a one-time effort or achievement. It requires the development of character. It requires a multitude of correct decisions for the everyday choices between good and evil that Elder Boyd K. Packer spoke about when he said, "Over the years these little choices will be bundled together and show clearly what we value." Those choices will also show clearly what we are.
As we evaluate our lives, it is important that we look, not only at our accomplishments, but also at the conditions under which we have labored. We are all different and unique individuals; we have each had different starting points in the race of life; we each have a unique mixture of talents and skills; we each have our own set of challenges and constraints to contend with. Therefore, our judgment of ourselves and our achievements should not merely include the size or magnitude and number of our accomplishments; it should also include the conditions that have existed and the effect that our efforts have had on others.
It is this last aspect of our self-evaluation-the effect of our lives on the lives of others-that will help us understand why some of the common, ordinary work of life should be valued so highly. Frequently it is the commonplace tasks that have the greatest positive effect on the lives of others, as compared with the things that the world so often relates to greatness.
It appears to me that the kind of greatness that our Father in Heaven would have us pursue is within the grasp of all who are within the gospel net. We have an unlimited number of opportunities to do the many simple and minor things that will ultimately make us great. To those who have devoted their lives to service and sacrifice for others and for the Lord, the best counsel is simply to do more of the same.
To those who are doing the commonplace work of the world but are wondering about the value of their accomplishments; to those who are the workhorses of this Church, who are furthering the work of the Lord in so many quiet but significant ways; to those who are the salt of the earth and the strength of the world and the backbone of each nation-to you we would simply express our admiration. If you endure to the end, and if you are valiant in the testimony of Jesus, you will achieve true greatness and will live in the presence of our Father in Heaven.
As President Joseph F. Smith has said, "Let us not be trying to substitute an artificial life for the true one." Let us remember that "out of small things proceedeth that which is great." Let us remember that doing the things that have been ordained by God to be important and needful and necessary, even though the world may view them as unimportant and insignificant, will eventually lead us to true greatness.
That we may never be discouraged in doing those daily tasks which God has ordained to the common lot of man is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Robert L. Simpson
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My thoughts today are centered in the concern we all share over a growing crisis in today's world, a sort of spreading cancer which continues to eat away at the family unit, which has been ordained of God.
Divorce, with all of its diabolic side effects, threatens the very foundations of society. President Joseph F. Smith observed: "Marriage is the preserver of the human race. Without it, the purposes of God would be frustrated; virtue would be destroyed to give place to vice and corruption, and the earth would be void and empty." Each prophet of this dispensation has said essentially the same thing in his own way.
According to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, nearly two million divorces are being granted this year in the United States. This is the highest number ever recorded and three times the number reported just twenty years ago. Most nations of the world seem to be following a similar trend. Today, more than one out of every three marriages is terminating in divorce. Families within the Church, unfortunately, are following this world pattern to an alarming degree, and it should not be so.
U.S. News & World Report recently quoted Herbert A. Glieberman, a recognized authority on divorce and domestic relations, as follows: "The biggest rise in the divorce rate has been among couples married 10 years or longer. It's not uncommon today for couples 25 and 30 years into their marriage to seek and obtain a divorce." He then identifies the main cause:
"No. 1," he states, "is the inability to talk honestly with each other, bare their souls and treat each other as their best friend. They about mostly superficial things in order to impress one another."
And then he continues, "I find that too many people talk right through each other rather than to each other." He concludes: "The lack of communication brings on drinking, infidelity or physical or mental abuse.
"For many, there is a lack of tolerance, an inability to bear discomfort or to recognize that they're not perfect and neither is their mate."
There is really only one way to ensure good family communication, and that is the Lord's way. He advocates the council method.
The Church is made up of councils. Certainly, one of the most important of all Church councils must be the family council, presided over by the husband and the wife. In this council parents should stand equally yoked together, just as they are meant to share equally in every priesthood blessing that accrues to their family circle. Through the eternities the Lord's eternal objective for a married couple is that they become one!
Next, the Lord instructs us to "reason together" -no arguing, no haranguing, no backbiting, but rather reasoning together with soft-spoken voices. What a great example for the children! How can a family go wrong if each major decision is carefully measured by gospel teachings? And then, after reasoning together, the decision can be made to move forward confidently and in harmony with divine law.
The Savior taught the extra mile, which means unselfishness. By just going the extra mile almost every couple could make their marriage relationship successful. But an extra effort on just one side of the boat means imbalance, and a capsized marriage is likely. Unselfishness must come from both sides.
Every couple, whether in the first or the twenty-first year of marriage, should discover the value of pillow-talk time at the end of the day-the perfect time to take inventory, to talk about tomorrow. And best of all, it's a time when love and appreciation for one another can be reconfirmed. The end of another day is also the perfect setting to say, "Sweetheart, I am sorry about what happened today. Please forgive me."
You see, we are all still imperfect, and these unresolved differences, allowed to accumulate day after day, add up to a possible breakdown in the marital relationship-all for the want of better communication, and too often because of foolish pride.
The Church has always taken a firm stand against dictatorships of any form. Any man who chooses to administer the office of his calling as a priesthood leader in the home by dictatorial methods is out of harmony with gospel teaching. He will not enjoy the spiritual rewards of reasoning together. His pillow talk will cease to be a two-way communication, and rebellion will usually follow.
Dictators are always quick to issue an ultimatum; and in case you have not discovered, an ultimatum to today's youth is almost guaranteed failure. It is the equivalent of waving a red flag; it is like declaring war on those you love.
The Lord warns us that "no power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned:
"By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile."
I like the advice given by President Joseph F. Smith. He said this to fathers: "It is only when men depart from the right spirit, when they digress from their duty, that they will neglect or dishonor any soul that is committed to their care. They are bound to honor their wives and children."
There is yet another major cause for divorce that should not go unattended: the mismanagement of family financial resources. To pay tithes and offerings while ignoring the balance of Heavenly Father's advice concerning sound judgment in family finances will probably cause the windows of heaven to stick a little bit. The promised blessings will not likely be forthcoming as expected.
Every prophet in this dispensation has taught in clear, unmistakable terms that the Saints should stay out of debt, that we should not participate in "something-for-nothing" schemes, which has been stressed today. He advises us to be frugal, to save, and to earn our money the old-fashioned way, by the sweat of our face. We are admonished to teach our children the ethic of work. We have been encouraged at every turn to set the proper example of industry and thrift and also to be generous and consistent in our offerings to the poor and the needy.
During these days of a strained economy it is imperative that the family live within these divine injunctions. Each husband and wife needs to reason together about the family budget on a regular basis. If downward adjustments need to be made in the family spending habits, it is far better to do what needs to be done now rather than build up to an impossible financial crisis later on-a crisis that too often leads to the divorce courts.
Few things are as destructive in a marriage as the statement, "Sweetheart, I just signed up today for a $200 course at the local health spa." A well-planned health course may be just the thing, but not as a surprise addition to an already strained budget. This could have been and should have been a prime topic for pillow talk beforehand. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell told us so well recently, "If your companion is going to participate in a crash landing, then she should also help file the flight plan."
Now, quickly, just to mention three items as foundation stones to a secure marriage:
First: faith, the first principle of the gospel. It must be the first principle of your marriage-not only faith in God and in His beloved Son, not only in the living prophet, but, may I also suggest, a sincere and ever-growing faith in each other, and also in your children.
Second: obedience, often referred to as the first law of heaven. Without obedience to God's laws there could be no blessings. Obedience to our covenants with the Lord is a prerequisite to peace and love within the family circle.
Third: loyalty. Loyalty to a companion through thick and thin will develop a basic character trait so strong that loyalty to the Church and true principles will follow just as naturally as the night follows the day.
The law of chastity is one of the Ten Commandments. This demands loyalty in marriage. Brothers and sisters, protect this sacred principle as though your life depended upon it, because gospel truth confirms that your eternal life most certainly does depend upon fidelity in your marriage.
The scriptures confirm the eternal truth that "marriage is ordained of God." And then this: "Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord."
And according to a prophet in this dispensation, "God not only commends but he commands marriage. While man was yet immortal, before sin had entered the world, our heavenly Father himself performed the first marriage. He united our first parents in the bonds of holy matrimony, and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. This command he has never changed, abrogated or annulled; but it has continued in force throughout all the generations of mankind."
Mark confirms: "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."
Now, brothers and sisters, every divorce in the Church affects the work of the kingdom adversely. There needs to be greater effort on the part of each companion threatened by divorce. There needs to be more counseling, not only one with another, but also with appropriate priesthood leaders. There needs to be a more universal understanding about the eternal nature of the marriage covenant.
Time and experience have proven that unselfishness is the key to successful marriage, for, you see, unselfishness invites reasoning together.
Unselfishness insists on an extra-mile effort.
Unselfishness paves the way for family financial security.
Unselfishness stops divorce.
And don't you agree that perhaps the most important questions that will need to be answered by a divorced person in the hereafter will be these:
"Did you do everything possible to save your marriage?"
"Were gospel truths applied to the fullest?"
"Did you seek out, listen to, and abide by priesthood counsel?"
May He bless us to regard every marriage as an act ordained of God; for, as President Joseph F. Smith said, it is the hope of the human race.
And these thoughts I leave with you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
In a revelation given to President Joseph F. Smith, which has recently been added to the Doctrine and Covenants as section 138, there is an important message for all of us.
"On the third of October," writes President Smith, "in the year nineteen hundred and eighteen, I sat in my room pondering over the scriptures;
"And reflecting upon the great atoning sacrifice that was made by the Son of God, for the redemption of the world.
"As I pondered over these things which are written, the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me."
It is about pondering and what can be gained therefrom that I should like to address my remarks today.
Pondering, which means to weigh mentally, to deliberate, to meditate, can achieve the opening of the spiritual eyes of one's understanding. Also, the Spirit of the Lord may rest upon the ponderer as described by President Smith.
And Jesus admonished the Nephites, "Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand."
We are constantly reminded through the scriptures that we should give the things of God much more than usual superficial consideration. We must ponder them and reach into the very essence of what we are and what we may become.
There is a story about a young builder who had just gone into business for himself. A wealthy friend of his father came to him and said: "To get you started right, I am going to have you build a ranch house for me. Here are the plans. Don't skimp on anything. I want the very finest materials used, and I want flawless workmanship. Forget the cost. Just send me the bills."
The young builder became obsessed with the desire to enrich himself through this generous and unrestricted offer. Instead of employing top-grade labor and buying the finest materials, he shortchanged his benefactor in every way possible. Finally, the last secondhand nail was driven into the last flimsy wall, and the builder handed over the keys and bills, totaling over a hundred thousand dollars, to his father's old friend. That gentleman wrote a check in full for the structure and then handed the keys back to the builder. "The home you have just built, my boy," he said with a pleasant smile, "is my present to you. May you live in it in great happiness!"
In this story the young builder did not ponder the consequences of his dishonest thoughts and acts. If he had pondered, perhaps he would have come to a clear understanding of what Jesus so long ago described:
"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
"And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."
Had he pondered his actions, this unwise builder might have learned that to consent verbally to do the right thing and then to live and to act without effort to achieve what is right, is ruinous.
The story of the unwise builder could have application in the lives of all of us. We must ponder the consequences of our mistakes. Our Father in Heaven has generously given to all of us life, which includes our free agency. With free agency comes the challenge to make the right decisions and choices, including the achievement of joy and happiness. This is an art in itself and must be earned. It is not possible to have a free ride on the road to joy, and there is no real joy that does not involve self-denial and self-discipline; we must ponder our actions and their results.
We all know that there is much evil abounding in the world today. Many people are addicted to drugs that cause mental, emotional, and physical problems of great magnitude and of long-lasting duration. Marriage partners are unfaithful and cause the breakup of homes and families. Satan is working harder and is having greater success than perhaps ever before in history.
All evils to which so many become addicted begin in the mind and in the way one thinks. Experience teaches that when the will and imagination are in conflict, the imagination usually wins. What we imagine may defeat our reason and make us slaves to what we taste, see, hear, smell, and feel in the mind's eye. The body is indeed the servant of the mind.
In his widely acclaimed essay As a Man Thinketh, James Allen reinforced what Jesus so beautifully proclaimed. Mr. Allen wrote:
"Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armoury of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and man is their maker and master.
"All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts."
The insidious process of transforming a person from goodness to evil is a subtle, usually undeliberate one. It is a process of pondering the wrong thoughts, of planting evil seeds in the heart. The word seeds is a graphic description of what begins the process and is so well described by Alma:
"Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves-It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me."
To soundly plant good seeds in your heart requires prolonged, intense, unremitting pondering. It is a deep, ongoing, regenerating process which refines the soul.
Nearly a hundred years ago Stanford University had a most distinguished president, David Starr Jordan. These thoughts from The Strength of Being Clean by President Jordan will, I believe, summarize my convictions on this critical subject:
"Vulgarity is an expression of arrested development in matters of good taste or good character. Vulgarity weakens the mind, and thus brings all other weakness in its train. It is vulgar to like poor music, to read weak books, to feed on sensational newspapers, to find amusement in trashy novels, to enjoy vulgar theatres, to find pleasure in cheap jokes, to tolerate coarseness and looseness in any of its myriad forms.
" the basis of intemperance is the effort to secure through drugs the feeling of happiness when happiness does not exist. Men destroy their nervous system for the tingling pleasures they feel as its structures are torn apart."
Parents should ponder over their family home evenings and their responsibility to teach the gospel to their family. All members should ponder over the instructions received in sacrament and priesthood meetings, in Relief Society, and in messages from home teachers. Priesthood bearers should ponder over their responsibility to honor their priesthood, to be examples of righteousness. Quorum leaders should ponder over their responsibilities to serve, teach, and strengthen their quorum members and to lead in love and kindness. Young people should ponder over problems that might confront them and be prepared to cope with them in a way that their parents, their leaders, and their Heavenly Father would have them cope that they might keep themselves clean and pure.
In striving to be the best by God's standards, King Benjamin, a great Book of Mormon prophet, points the way:
"But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not."
Jesus counseled, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
President Spencer W. Kimball is a model, a great example to us of a prophet, seer, and revelator who does ponder, and who prays, and who receives revelations for the kingdom.
In our quest for pure hearts, may we ponder on righteous acts and thoughts, and may we be faithful and diligent.
I bear earnest and sincere testimony to the mighty transforming power of these noble ideals in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Gene R. Cook
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Last summer on a lonely stretch of desert highway, we saw ahead what appeared to be the road covered with water. My children would have wagered their entire savings on that fact. But within a few minutes we were at the distant spot and saw not one drop of water. What an illusion!
How many things there are in this life that appear to be one way and all of a sudden are the reverse. Satan operates that way. He is the master of illusion. He creates illusions in an attempt to detour, dilute, and divert the power and the attention of the Latter-day Saints from the pure truth of God.
He is particularly effective at creating spiritual illusions that cause a counterfeiting of spirituality, a spiritual instability, a self-deception-spiritual illnesses sowed in the heart little by little to harden the hearts of men and to lead them into sin and away from God.
May I share a few of Satan's cunning illusions which undermine spirituality. Satan, with an illusion, leads a man to puff himself up with pride to say, "I am my own man. I know the Lord lives, but he expects me to handle this particular matter on my own and not bother him with any details." Not being familiar with the scriptures, the man may not know that Satan teaches the world there is no God. But to the Saints he simply says, "There is a God, but he is only generally involved in your life. He would not specifically help you today." Or he teaches the world not to pray, but to the Saints he simply says, "Don't pray now. You don't feel like praying right now." The net effect is the same.
Satan, in another illusion of vain imagination, teaches a man that the man is spiritual and humble. He begins to believe it and then acts in the eyes of the people as if he were. He begins to drift but full well believes, because of the illusions being created, that he is still on the strait and narrow. He develops a holier-than-thou attitude, but in his heart he is hardened, "past feeling", and prideful. The master of illusion teaches men to honor the Lord with their lips, while their hearts are far from the Lord.
With others he disguises truth and equates spirituality with knowledge, with little or no emphasis on application of truths in personal lives. The man goes along his own way imagining himself to be learned, leaning on his own understanding, seeking the honor and esteem of men, and feeling it is sufficient to teach and not to do. The knowledge then, in and of itself, becomes an illusion and a stumbling block to maintaining the Spirit of the Lord.
Still others the Lord blesses with great material blessings. But then Satan cunningly creates illusions and reverses the use of these blessings. He leads one to set his heart on the things of this world. The man begins not to esteem his brethren as himself, but creates divisions, inequalities, or status distinctions among the people. Yes, Satan has been a liar from the beginning; he is "the author of all sin. He doth carry on his works of darkness as he can get hold upon the hearts of the children of men."
In this world of illusions, Satan sows selfishness, unbelief, fear, doubt, greed, spiritual instability, and a general concern for self into men's hearts. He is a master builder of spiritual detours to waste time, divert attention from that which is good, and diminish spiritual receptivity. Satan especially desires to deceive the Latter-day Saints, those who know the truth about him, those who can particularly influence others in their teaching and living of the gospel in the home, in the classroom, from the pulpit, and in the world. In these days of increasing deception, and more to come, one must be aware of Satan's spiritual snares and be sure of his own discernment.
I would like to suggest eight standards against which a person can measure his own teaching of the gospel as well as the doctrines taught by others, to help him unravel illusions and discern the truth. These standards might be entitled "Spiritual Guides for Teachers of Righteousness."
Not only will the teacher teach the truth, but the Spirit of the Lord will accompany the truth and the teacher. Both should be subject to spiritual confirmation at any time. The teacher will not teach without authority nor speak independently for himself, knowing that even the very elect can be deceived.
The teacher will be in accord with the General Authorities as a group and with his local leaders, knowing they are guides to safety. He will have desires to follow and conform to their teachings and example in all their spiritual and temporal declarations, knowing the Lord gives them the gifts of discernment. He will not complain, criticize, or speak evilly of the Lord's anointed, knowing that such a practice is an early warning sign of apostasy.
The teacher of righteousness will teach from the holy scriptures and will teach that which is taught and confirmed by the Holy Ghost. He will not "teach for doctrines the commandments of men." He will not mingle the history and opinions of men with the scriptures nor spend religious instruction time teaching speculation or the philosophies of the world, thereby giving Satan's views exposure. He will not teach "doctrines" upon which the Lord's prophet has not spoken. He knows that the scriptures lead one to faith on the Lord and unto repentance, which bring a change of heart.
The teacher will teach in simplicity, according to the true needs of the people, basic gospel doctrines like faith, repentance, and prayer, which all men-all men-can apply. He will not look beyond the mark by exaggerating, by teaching in the fringe areas, by expanding on the scriptures, or by teaching exotic extremes in any principle, like excessively lengthy prayers, false doctrines about the Savior or about Adam, or extremes in diet, or politics, or investments. He will remember that Satan works in the extremes. He knows of the exactness of the Lord's doctrine, but also of "temperance in all things."
The teacher will speak in the light of day. He will not speak of secret doctrines, of special elite groups "in the know," or of secret ordinations. Whatever he does will be in the plain view of the people. He knows that doctrines and ordinations are subject to the open view and vote of the Saints.
The teacher will treat all those being taught as like unto himself, not esteeming himself above his brethren. He will seek excellence before the Lord, but not to excel over his companions in the work. He knows that "none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart."
The teacher of righteousness will be anxious to glorify the Lord. He will refuse to assume any glory unto himself. He will not practice priestcrafts-that is, preaching and holding himself up as a light to the world for gain or for the honor of men. He will be a preacher of righteousness speaking forcefully against sin, having an eye single to God, not to personal gain, honor, or popularity among men. He knows worldly aspirations leave the door open wide to apostasy.
The teacher himself will be in the process of continual personal repentance. He will be an example of meekness, charity, pure motives, dependence on the Lord. He will not just be teaching the doctrine, but also applying it. All in all, it will be evident whom he represents.
In summary, then, how does one keep himself from falling, as some have, into teaching and living semi-truths? Is it not by maintaining his own spirituality? What is true spirituality? Is it knowledge, intellect, academic learning? Perhaps more than anything else it is an ongoing, purifying condition of the heart. It is an eye single to God. It is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. It is a "full purpose of heart."
As I have had opportunity over the years to be among the Brethren, the one distinguishing characteristic that seems to be found in all of them, as well as in other spiritual leaders, is their intense desire to take upon them the name of the Lord with "full purpose of heart," a desire to serve the Lord above all else, at any cost.
It should not surprise one to see that the Lord's requirements to serve him in church callings are conditions of the heart, nor that the Lord has said, "I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts."
Brothers and sisters, no Latter-day Saint will go astray if he will follow the inspired counsel of the Lord and his servants. I testify that if a man will maintain his own spirituality-
by praying without ceasing,
by studying and pondering the scriptures continually, and
by obeying his leaders and the light and truth that he presently understands-
He will not be deceived.
May the Lord bless all of us not to be fooled by illusions created by the devil. May we maintain our spiritual fine-tuning by yielding our hearts to God, becoming firmer and firmer in the faith, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Ronald E. Poelman
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
The Galilean fisherman Simon Peter, upon recognizing for the first time the divine power of Jesus, exclaimed, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
Each one of us, at times, may feel as Peter, conscious of our failings and uncomfortable at the thought of approaching the Lord. Transgression causes us to feel estranged from our Father in Heaven, and we feel unworthy of his love and fearful of his disapproval.
Yet, having transgressed his laws or disobeyed his commandments, we need the strengthening influence of our Father to help us overcome our weakness, to repent and become reconciled with him. Unrepented sin tends to become habitual and is frequently accompanied by a deepening sense of guilt which may make repentance increasingly difficult. This feeling of estrangement from the Lord becomes, itself, an impediment to repentance and reconciliation with him.
Knowing we have offended our Father in Heaven, we are afraid to ask his help, feeling that we don't deserve it. Paradoxically, when we are most in need of the Lord's influence we deserve it least. Nevertheless, in such circumstances he says to us, as Jesus said to the trembling Peter, "Fear not."
My message today might best be illustrated through the experiences of a young couple whom I will call John and Gayle.
John was a thoughtful, kind young man, affectionate, with a frank and open manner. He sincerely tried to obey the Lord's commandments and found honest contentment in the joys of family life. Gayle, his wife, was young, attractive, high-spirited, but inclined toward more worldly interests and activities. The society in which they lived was, in general, one of affluence and materialism. People seemed preoccupied with temporal gain, social status, entertainment, and self-gratification. Religious leaders were concerned about the apparent breakdown in family life and moral standards.
In the early years of their marriage, John and Gayle were blessed with children, first a boy and then a girl; but Gayle seemed uninterested in her domestic responsibilities. She longed for glamour and excitement in her life and was frequently away from home at parties and entertainments, not always with her husband. In her vanity, Gayle encouraged and responded to the attentions of other men until eventually she was unfaithful to her marriage vows.
Throughout, John encouraged Gayle to appreciate the joys of family life and experience the rewards of observing the laws of God. He was patient and kind, but to no avail. Shortly after the birth of a third child, a son, Gayle deserted her husband and children and joined her worldly friends in a life of self-indulgence and immorality. John, thus rejected, was humiliated and brokenhearted.
Soon, however, the glamour and excitement that had attracted Gayle turned to ashes. Her so-called friends tired of her and abandoned her. Then each successive step was downward, her life becoming more and more degraded. Eventually she recognized her mistakes and realized what she had lost, but could see no way back. Certainly John could not possibly love her still. She felt completely unworthy of his love and undeserving of her home and family.
Then one day, passing through the streets, John recognized Gayle. Surely he would have been justified in turning away, but he didn't. As he observed the effect of her recent life, all too evident, a feeling of compassion came over him-a desire to reach out to her. Learning that Gayle had incurred substantial debts, John repaid them and then took her home.
Soon John realized, at first with amazement, that he still loved Gayle. Out of his love for her and her willingness to change and begin anew, there grew in John's heart a feeling of merciful forgiveness, a desire to help Gayle overcome her past and to accept her again fully as his wife.
Through his personal experience there arose in John another profound awareness, a realization of the nature of God's love for us, his children. Though we disregard his counsel, break his commandments, and reject him, when we recognize our mistakes and desire to repent, he wants us to seek him out and he will accept us.
John had been prepared, through his personal experiences, for a divine mission. Though I have taken some literary license in telling the story, it is the account, perhaps allegorical, of Hosea, prophet of the Old Testament, and his wife, Gomer.
Portraying God to ancient Israel as a loving, forgiving father, Hosea foreshadowed, more than most Old Testament prophets, the spirit and message of the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and modern revelation.
In these latter days the Lord has said:
"For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;
"Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven."
By disobeying the laws of God and breaking his commandments, we do offend him, we do estrange ourselves from him, and we don't deserve his help and inspiration and strength. But God's love for us transcends our transgressions.
When we disobey the laws of God, justice requires that compensation be made-a requirement which we are incapable of fulfilling. But out of his divine love for us, our Father has provided a plan and a Savior, Jesus Christ, whose redeeming sacrifice satisfies the demands of justice for us and makes possible repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation with our Father. For indeed, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
We may accept this great gift through faith in Jesus Christ and repentance, followed by a covenant made with him through baptism of the water and of the Spirit. Then, each week, as we receive the sacrament, we renew our covenant that we will "always remember him and keep his commandments." The promise attached to that covenant is that we "may always have his Spirit to be with."
Hosea's ancient message is repeated and elaborated throughout the scriptures. Through Isaiah, another Old Testament prophet, the Lord said to his people:
"Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
"Learn to do well.
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
The Lord, speaking to Alma, the Nephite prophet, says: "Whosoever transgresseth against me, him shall ye judge according to the sins which he has committed; and if he confess his sins before thee and me, and repenteth in the sincerity of his heart, him shall ye forgive, and I will forgive him also.
"Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me."
Too often we make repentance more difficult for each other by our failure to forgive one another. However, we are admonished in modern revelation that "ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.
"I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men."
Also from modern revelation comes one of the most comforting, hopeful pronouncements ever spoken:
"He who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more."
God is our father; he loves us; his love is infinite and unconditional. His sorrow is great when we disobey his commandments and break his laws. He cannot condone our transgressions, but he loves us and wants us to return to him.
I know of no greater inducement to repentance and reconciliation with our Father in Heaven than an awareness of his love for us personally and individually. That such awareness may increase within each of us is my prayer, to which I add my personal witness to you individually that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, the Savior of all mankind, and the Redeemer of each of us individually, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder LeGrand Richards
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I am proud to be a member of this great church-The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What an appropriate name for the true church of Christ to bear in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times. I love the Church because of what it teaches me.
Some years ago during the war, Elder John A. Widtsoe went to the land of Great Britain to preside over the European Mission. When the immigration official saw his papers and who he was, he said, "Nothing doing. We have been letting your missionaries in, but we don't want any of your leaders-go sit down." So Brother Widtsoe went and sat down.
In a few minutes, he called him back and he said, "If I let you enter my country, what will you teach my countrymen?"
And Brother Widtsoe said, "I'll teach them where they came from, and why they are here, and where they are going."
The man looked up at him and he said, "Does your church teach that?"
And Brother Widtsoe said, "It does."
"Well, mine doesn't," he said.
To me, that knowledge is worth more than all the wealth in this world. If we don't know where we came from, and we don't know why we are here, and we don't know where we are going, nor how to get there, we are just like a ship on the ocean without a rudder, or a sail, or anyone to guide it. We might keep afloat, but we would never come into port.
My church teaches me that I am a son of God the Eternal Father, and therefore I have all of the attributes in embryo to develop like my Father, just like my sons have become like me and I became like my earthly father.
The Lord stood in the midst of the spirits before this world was created. He said there were many of the noble and great ones-and they couldn't be noble and great if they hadn't done something to achieve nobility and greatness before they were born here in this world. He said to those who were with him, "We will go down, for there is space there, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;
"And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them."
Then he adds: "And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever."
I thank the Lord that my church teaches me that I kept my first estate in that spirit world or else I would have been cast down to this earth with Satan and a third of the hosts of heaven. And the cry went out: "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth for the devil is come down unto you," and he "walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." And so the fact that I kept my first estate entitled me to all the beauties and the joys of this world that have been mentioned here in this meeting today. And it gave me the right to have this body-and maybe I can't appreciate as much what that ought to mean to me as I do by reading the scriptures.
Then we read of when Jesus cast the devils out of the man who was possessed. And he asked his name, and he said: "Legion," because legions had entered into the man. And so eager were those devils to get a body that they asked permission to take possession of the bodies of the swine that were feeding in the field. And Jesus permitted it, and they ran off into the sea and were drowned, as I remember about two thousand of them. Just think how eager those spirits were to get a body, and because we kept our first estate we are now in our second estate.
I love the statement in the Bible where Enoch of old, that prophet who was translated into heaven with his people, obtained the assurance while yet here in mortality that he had pleased the Lord. I think by the keeping of His commandments-doing all things, as the Lord said, that the Lord God had commanded -that we can get an assurance that comes through the Holy Spirit that our labors are acceptable to the Lord and that we have pleased him.
I thank Him for the many beautiful truths, many of which have been proclaimed here today. This principle of eternal marriage-I just can't imagine living on forever and forever after I pass out of this life without the companionship of my sweet wife and my children. How I thank God for them, and for the knowledge that marriage and the family unit are intended by Him, as proclaimed so plainly in the Holy Scriptures, to endure for ever.
Then I think of my children one by one, and I see what they are accomplishing and the nobility of their lives, and I can hardly realize that I can be their daddy. I feel that that is nearer to becoming a god than anything else I can do here in mortality. And from the days of my youth and young manhood, I have tried to live before those children and descendants of mine so that if they walked in my footsteps they would be honoring their second estate and preparing themselves to have glory added upon their heads forever and forever.
Then there are so many other beautiful principles of the gospel. When I first became a missionary, I never met anybody who believed in a personal God. My, what a joy to realize that Christ gave his life for us, and took upon him the sins of the world-as Paul said: "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" -and to know that his Father is as real as my father, and that they have revealed themselves as two glorified personages in this dispensation, after centuries of darkness, unto the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Lord had him in waiting thousands of years ago, according to the Book of Mormon, for his day and time to come, to bring men to a knowledge of the truth and to bring forth his truth among the people of this world. These are great truths, and many more can be taught.
When I wrote the book A Marvelous Work and a Wonder as a missionary tool, I chose the statement of Isaiah when he said, "Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men." Then he goes on: "Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid." The message of this great church is that marvelous work and a wonder that Isaiah saw would come forth when men would teach for doctrine the precepts of men.
Being a missionary, as long as I have time, let me give you one or two little missionary experiences to indicate what Isaiah meant when he said that they would worship Him by the precepts of men.
As I finished my first mission over in Amsterdam, over seventy-five years ago, I was invited into the home of one of the Saints to talk to her neighbor. When my companion and I arrived, the neighbor was there but she had her minister with her. We had a little difference of opinion on priesthood, and right there he challenged me to a debate in his church the next Saturday night.
When we arrived, the church was full; all of his people were there, and all of our people. How our people found it out, I don't know; I didn't tell them!
The minister stood up and said, "Now, inasmuch as Mr. Richards is a guest in our church, we will accord him the privilege of opening this debate, and we will each talk for twenty minutes. Is that agreeable with you, Mr. Richards?"
I said, "Very much." I didn't tell him, but I would have given him the shirt off my back for the privilege of opening that debate, and he just handed it to me on a silver platter! I didn't know whether the Lord had anything to do with it or not, but I thought He did!
Then I stood up and I said, "The last time I talked with my friend, we had a difference of opinion on priesthood. Tonight I have come prepared to discuss that subject, but I don't propose to start at that point. If you are going to build a house, you don't try to put a roof on it before you get the foundation in." They agreed with that, so I said, "I propose to lay the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ," and I chose for my text the sixth chapter of Hebrews where Paul said:
"Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
"Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment."
I hurried over faith and repentance-I thought they believed in them. I spoke on baptism by immersion for the remission of sin until everybody was giving me accord.
Then it came to the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. And they didn't believe that. I never found a church that did believe it outside of our Church-they think the Holy Ghost comes just like the breezes that blow over the head. I quoted them the passage saying that when the Apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God through the preaching of Philip, they sent Peter and John. And when they came, they prayed for them, they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon the sorcerer saw that the Holy Ghost was conveyed by the laying on of the Apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying: "Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
"But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money."
And then I gave them a few more references on the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and sat down.
The minister stood up and talked for twenty minutes, and he never once mentioned a word I had said. He started on the Mountain Meadows Massacre and the "Mormon Bible," and stated that Joseph Smith had admitted he had made many mistakes; and then in a most courteous manner, he said: "Now if Mr. Richards will enlighten us on these matters, I am sure this audience will be most appreciative."
I was on my feet just like that. I said, "In the days of the Savior, his enemies tried to trick him with cunning and craftiness. I don't suppose there's anybody here tonight that would like to see us resort to those old tactics." I said, "If I understand a debate, it is the presentation of argument and the answering of those presentations. Has this man answered any of my arguments?"
Everybody said, "No."
I said, "All right, my friend, you may have your twenty minutes over again." He couldn't do it, and I knew he couldn't.
Finally his wife stood up in the audience, and she said, "What Mr. Richards is asking you is fair. You ought to answer him."
But he couldn't do it, and I said to my companion, "Stand up and give me my coat and hat." I said, "One more chance. I am willing to remain here until ten o'clock tomorrow morning, when we have to be in our own church, provided this debate can go forward on the basis that you set it up. If not, I am going to leave and ask my companion to leave and ask our members to leave, and we will leave it with you to settle with your people for what has transpired here tonight."
I met him on the street a number of times after that, but he would duck his head so he didn't need to speak to me! Now that is what Isaiah meant when he said they would teach for doctrines the precepts of men.
Now I will give you one more. Down in Quitman, Georgia, while I was a mission president, I preached a sermon on the eternal duration of the marriage covenant and the family unit. I had a chart there that listed the churches and what their beliefs were on major things, and those were official statements from the leaders of those different churches. And not one of them believed that the family unit or the marriage covenant would endure beyond the grave. I stood at the door when the meeting was over and a man came up and introduced himself as a Baptist minister, and I said, "Did I misquote you here tonight?"
He said, "No, Mr. Richards, it's just like you say. We don't all believe all the things our churches teach."
I said, "You don't believe them either. Why don't you go back and teach your people the truth? They will take it from you; they are not ready to take it from the Mormon elders yet."
He said, "I'll see you again." That's all I could get out of him that night!
Next time I went there, about four months later, he had read of my coming in the newspaper, and there he was standing outside that little church. As we shook hands I said, "I would certainly be happy to know what you thought of my last sermon here."
He said, "Mr. Richards, I have been thinking about it ever since, and I believe every word you said, only I would like to have heard the rest."
Now I will tell you one more if there is time for it. Over in Utrecht, Holland, they had a seminary where they trained ministers, and the young men who were studying for the ministry used to come and stand outside our meetings and listen. And then when the meeting was over, they would come in and argue with us.
I convinced one of those young men that baptism was to be by immersion for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost-he hadn't been taught that and he didn't believe it. He said: "Mr. Richards, do you think the Lord will hold us responsible if we teach things that we know are not in full accord with the Holy Scriptures?"
I said, "My friend, I'd rather let the Apostle Paul answer that question. He said, 'Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.' " We didn't have any more arguments then.
I think my time is up. God bless you all. I love the Lord. I love his church. I love the Saints. I love them all. God bless you, I pray, and leave you my blessing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My brethren of the priesthood: To all of you, to all holders of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods, I issue this challenge: Come, learn the doctrine of the priesthood; come, live as befits one who is a servant of the Lord.
This doctrine, this doctrine of the priesthood-unknown in the world and but little known even in the Church-cannot be learned out of the scriptures alone. It is not set forth in the sermons and teachings of the prophets and Apostles, except in small measure.
The doctrine of the priesthood is known only by personal revelation. It comes, line upon line and precept upon precept, by the power of the Holy Ghost to those who love and serve God with all their heart, might, mind, and strength.
We have the revealed promise that if our souls are "full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith" and if we "let virtue garnish thoughts unceasingly; then shall confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon as the dews from heaven."
I have wondered and pondered and prayed about how best to proclaim the doctrine of the priesthood.
I have thought, if I could but speak with the voice of seven thunders or send forth the word by ten thousand trumpets, then men would hear the message.
But I remember how Alma wished that he might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, as he cried repentance unto every people.
And I know that the Lord does not work in this way. His word goes forth by the mouths of his servants as they minister and labor in their weakness. That word is then carried into receptive hearts by the still small voice of the Spirit.
How else than by the power of the Spirit can any of us ever understand spiritual truths? How does one describe an infinite God in finite terms?
Can our voices, as weak and distant earthly echoes, recapture the glory and power of the Eternal Voice that speaks in heaven? Can man in his weakness and frailty portray God in his power and might?
Knowing our limitations, let us then reason together, and perhaps we can at least glimpse the wonders of that power by which the worlds were made. Perhaps we can see how and in what manner we as mortals may use this same power to bless our fellows and save ourselves.
What, then, is the doctrine of the priesthood? What is this doctrine, framed in the courts above, which can distil upon faithful men as the dews from heaven?
Priesthood is power like none other on earth or in heaven. It is the very power of God himself, the power by which the worlds were made, the power by which all things are regulated, upheld, and preserved.
It is the power of faith, the faith by which the Father creates and governs. God is God because he is the embodiment of all faith and all power and all priesthood. The life he lives is named eternal life.
And the extent to which we become like him is the extent to which we gain his faith, acquire his power, and exercise his priesthood. And when we have become like him in the full and true sense, then we also shall have eternal life.
Faith and priesthood go hand in hand. Faith is power and power is priesthood. After we gain faith, we receive the priesthood. Then, through the priesthood, we grow in faith until, having all power, we become like our Lord.
Our time here in mortality is set apart as a time of probation and of testing. It is our privilege while here to perfect our faith and to grow in priesthood power.
We received the priesthood first in the premortal existence and then again as mortals. Adam held the keys and used the priesthood when he participated in the creation of the earth. After his baptism he received the priesthood again, and he now stands as the presiding High Priest over all the earth.
All of us who have calls to minister in the holy priesthood were foreordained to be ministers of Christ, and to come here in our appointed days, and to labor on his errand.
The holy priesthood did more to perfect men in the days of Enoch than at any other time. Known then as the order of Enoch, it was the power by which he and his people were translated. And they were translated because they had faith and exercised the power of the priesthood.
It was with Enoch that the Lord made an eternal covenant that all who received the priesthood would have power, through faith, to govern and control all things on earth, to put at defiance the armies of nations, and to stand in glory and exaltation before the Lord.
Melchizedek was a man of like faith, "and his people wrought righteousness, and obtained heaven, and sought for the city of Enoch." Since his day the priesthood has been called after his name.
There are in the Church two priesthoods: the Aaronic or Levitical, and the Melchizedek. The Aaronic Priesthood is a preparatory priesthood, a schooling priesthood, a lesser priesthood, a divine system that prepares men to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood.
The Melchizedek Priesthood is the highest and holiest order ever given to men on earth. It is the power and authority to do all that is necessary to save and exalt the children of men. It is the very priesthood held by the Lord Jesus Christ himself and by virtue of which he was able to gain eternal life in the kingdom of his Father.
Both of these priesthoods are given by covenant. Both of them surpass any earthly power; both of them prepare men for salvation.
Those who receive the Aaronic Priesthood covenant and promise to magnify their callings, to serve in the ministry of the Master, to forsake the world, and to live as becometh Saints.
In return, the Lord covenants and promises to enlarge the standing and station of all who keep their Aaronic covenant. He promises to give them the Melchizedek Priesthood, out of which eternal life comes.
Those who receive the Melchizedek Priesthood covenant and promise, before God and angels, to magnify their callings, to "live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God", to marry for time and all eternity in the patriarchal order, and to live and serve as the Lord Jesus did in his life and ministry.
In return the Lord covenants and promises to give them all that his Father hath, meaning eternal life, which is exaltation and godhood in that eternal realm where alone the family unit continues in eternity.
In return the Lord admits them to his eternal patriarchal order, an order that prevails in the highest heaven of the celestial world, an order that assures its members of eternal increase, or in other words of spirit children in the resurrection.
These are the most glorious promises given to men. There neither is nor can be anything as wondrous and great. And so the Lord uses the most powerful and emphatic language known to the human tongue to show their importance and immutability. That is to say, the Lord swears with an oath in his own name, because he can swear by no greater, that everyone who keeps the covenant made in connection with the Melchizedek Priesthood shall inherit, receive, and possess all things in his everlasting kingdom, and shall be a joint-heir with that Lord who is his Only Begotten.
God swore with an oath that Christ would be exalted, and he swears anew, at the time each of us receives the Melchizedek Priesthood, that we will have a like exaltation if we are true and faithful in all things.
Speaking messianically of the Lord Jesus, David said, "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."
And Paul, after quoting this messianic word, this eternal oath sworn by God himself, said that Christ was "called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec."
Then of Melchizedek, to whom Abraham paid tithes, Paul said, "For this Melchizedek was ordained a priest after the order of the Son of God, which order was without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life."
Anciently the Aaronic Priesthood was limited to the Levites. It came because of father and mother; it was conferred only upon the worthy male descendants of Levi. But the Melchizedek Priesthood was to be conferred upon any male person of any lineage who was worthy to receive it.
And so Paul continued, "And all those who are ordained unto this priesthood are made like unto the Son of God, abiding a priest continually."
Christ is the prototype; he is the Son; he is the Heir of the Father. But we, as joint-heirs, inherit equally with him because we also abide as priests forever.
Thus we make the covenant with Deity; and God swears the oath to us all, to show the importance and eternal worth of the covenant.
This matter of swearing with an oath in ancient days was far more significant than many of us have realized.
For instance: Nephi and his brethren were seeking to obtain the brass plates from Laban. Their lives were in peril. Yet Nephi swore this oath: "As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us."
Thus Nephi made God his partner. If he failed to get the plates, it meant God had failed. And because God does not fail, it was incumbent upon Nephi to get the plates or lay down his life in the attempt.
One of the most solemn oaths ever given to man is found in these words of the Lord relative to Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. "He has translated the book, even that part which I have commanded him," saith the Lord, "and as your Lord and your God liveth it is true."
This is God's testimony of the Book of Mormon. In it Deity himself has laid his godhood on the line. Either the book is true or God ceases to be God. There neither is nor can be any more formal or powerful language known to men or gods.
And so it is with the Melchizedek Priesthood. As the Lord lives, it is his holy order, and all those priesthood holders of every nation and kindred and tongue and people and race and color who will keep the covenant shall abide as priests forever, ruling and reigning everlastingly with the great High Priest of our profession, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.
What, then, is the doctrine of the priesthood? And how shall we live as the servants of the Lord?
This doctrine is that God our Father is a glorified, a perfected, and an exalted being who has all might, all power, and all dominion, who knows all things and is infinite in all his attributes, and who lives in the family unit.
It is that our Eternal Father enjoys this high status of glory and perfection and power because his faith is perfect and his priesthood is unlimited.
It is that priesthood is the very name of the power of God, and that if we are to become like him, we must receive and exercise his priesthood or power as he exercises it.
It is that he has given us an endowment of heavenly power here on earth, which is after the order of his Son and which, because it is the power of God, is of necessity without beginning of days or end of years.
It is that we can enter an order of the priesthood named the new and everlasting covenant of marriage, named also the patriarchal order, because of which order we can create for ourselves eternal family units of our own, patterned after the family of God our Heavenly Father.
It is that we have power, by faith, to govern and control all things, both temporal and spiritual; to work miracles and perfect lives; to stand in the presence of God and be like him because we have gained his faith, his perfections, and his power, or in other words the fulness of his priesthood.
This, then, is the doctrine of the priesthood, than which there neither is nor can be anything greater. This is the power we can gain through faith and righteousness.
Truly, there is power in the priesthood-power to do all things!
If the world itself was created by the power of the priesthood, surely that same power can move mountains and control the elements.
If one-third of the hosts of heaven were cast down to earth by the power of the priesthood, surely that same power can put at defiance the armies of nations or stay the fall of atomic bombs.
If all men shall be raised from mortality to immortality by the power of the priesthood, surely that same power can cure the diseased and the dying and raise the dead.
Truly there is power in the priesthood-a power which we seek to acquire to use, a power which we devoutly pray may rest upon us and upon our posterity forever.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Bishop Victor L. Brown
Presiding Bishop
I approach this assignment tonight with a prayer in my heart. The subject assigned to me is one of great importance and one that does not necessarily have easy, quick answers. It is: "Steps that can be taken by the leaders and members of the Aaronic Priesthood to reactivate those members who are inactive." My remarks, therefore, will be addressed primarily to bishops and their associates.
I am well aware that all here tonight know what the Aaronic Priesthood is. Nevertheless, may I refresh our memories. The name Aaronic Priesthood comes from Aaron, a brother of Moses. Because Moses was halting in speech, Aaron became his spokesman. They were very close associates and went through many trials together. The Lord chose to give Aaron's name to the Aaronic Priesthood.
I would think the most important event in all history in exercising this priesthood was when John the Baptist baptized the Savior in the river Jordan. The next most important event took place on May 15, 1829, when the same John the Baptist, now a heavenly messenger, laid his hands on the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, saying,
"Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness."
If we just had the capacity to understand the full meaning of the holding of the keys of the ministering of angels and of the gospel of repentance and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, I believe every young man who has gone into the waters of baptism would look forward to receiving the Aaronic Priesthood with all his heart and would do everything in his power to become worthy of it. I am confident there are some who feel this way, but there are many who do not.
Each bishop should know exactly how many boys in his ward have not been ordained, how many do not hold the priesthood office they should based on activity and age, and how many do not attend any meetings. Each of these boys is just as much a child of God as are the active youth.
As leaders, what are our attitudes toward percentages as they relate to active versus inactive? You have probably heard the story of the father who had four daughters. As each of them left on a date one evening, he cautioned them to be home by midnight. The first returned at 11:45; the next, at 11:50; and a third came in at midnight, whereupon he locked the doors, turned out the lights, and went to bed. When his wife reminded him that Mary had not come in yet, he said with great satisfaction, "Seventy-five percent of them are home-isn't that a pretty good percentage?"
It is so easy to love those who are active and responsive and sometimes so difficult to do the same for those who are inactive and rebellious. To help us be successful leaders of youth, the Lord gave us a lesson we should learn well. It is the story of the prodigal son found in Luke 15:11–32.
You will remember that a father divided his wealth between his two sons, the younger of whom "took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living." When famine came, he tended hogs for a rich man, eating from what he fed the animals.
"And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
"And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
"And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
"But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet."
When the older brother, who had remained true and faithful, heard how his father rejoiced over the return of his wayward brother, he became angry and complained that no one had given him a party. His father replied: "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
"It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found."
The lesson I would like to emphasize from this scripture is the importance of love. To be successful as a teacher of youth, one must truly love each of them regardless of his activity. Without sincere love, one can hardly qualify as a leader of young men.
I in no way wish to imply that all or even most of those who are not active in their priesthood responsibility conduct themselves as did the wayward son. I have great faith in all youth. Notwithstanding this, I feel it is extremely important that those who do not honor their priesthood understand that they have taken a road which, if not changed, will eventually prevent them from receiving the greatest gift of God to man-that of eternal life and exaltation.
I should like now to suggest how we as leaders can be an influence for good in the lives of these young men in order to help them become obedient to gospel laws and thus qualify themselves for eternal blessings.
First, it is important that they know who their leaders are. The bishop is the president of the Aaronic Priesthood in his ward and also the president of the priests quorum. As president of the Aaronic Priesthood he has the ultimate responsibility for each young man between the ages of twelve and eighteen, whether ordained or not. He, of course, cannot possibly do all that is necessary by himself. He must have help. Nonetheless, he determines the spirit in which the work will be done.
A wise bishop will recognize each boy's father as his most important helper. This sometimes is a problem, particularly when the father is inactive or is not a member, or there is no father in the home. In most cases, however, the father still exerts the greatest influence on his own son. Studies indicate that a large majority of inactive boys have inactive fathers.
If the father is to have a positive influence on his son, the bishop, through the elders quorum presidency and the home teachers, will exert a positive influence on the father, leading him to activity-or at least to an attitude of encouraging his son to be active.
At the same time, there is another officer who can have a profound influence on the boy, and that is his quorum president, working with his counselors. Too often we do not recognize the importance of peer influence. Of course, if the quorum president is to have much influence he must acknowledge and understand his responsibility for every member of his quorum. If he is called in a casual way and his office is not recognized by his adult leaders, his attitude will probably be very casual and his success very limited. If the bishop delegates the responsibility of the call to anyone else, its importance will be diminished in the eyes of the boy. The call should come from the president of the Aaronic Priesthood.
The counselors in the bishopric have vitally important responsibilities, but they do not have the keys of presidency as the bishop does. They participate in the selection process, but the bishop makes the final decision. The quorum president should know how earnestly the bishopric has prayed for direction, and that he has been selected through inspiration from the Lord.
When a twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy is called to be the president of a quorum and is left alone by his adult leaders, he might well flounder and fail. It is critically important that his adviser and others teach him how to be an effective president. To do this, the adviser, who has a major role to play, will not take over his responsibility but rather will coach him in order to help him grow in the office. One deacons quorum president must have been taught well by his adviser to have had the following experience:
A stake Aaronic Priesthood committee member attended one of the quorum meetings for several weeks in a row. One Sunday morning, he noticed a boy in attendance who had not been there before. To his dismay, this inactive boy was called on to offer one of the prayers. Anyone would know that the first time an inactive boy comes to priesthood meeting he should not be embarrassed by being asked to pray.
After the meeting, this high councilor asked the adviser why the president of the quorum would do such a foolish thing. The adviser said, "Why don't you ask him?" When asked, the quorum president replied, "I just spent three days this week teaching him how to pray." Sometimes these young people have a special touch which only peers seem to have. However, they do need to be taught well how to lead.
Even though we have all made an effort to diminish the role of programs and increase the importance of the individual, we have not yet made enough progress. We sometimes develop a program and expect every boy to fit it. If he does not, then it is just too bad. I would hope that each boy is considered as an individual with personal interests, desires, problems, and talents.
If we accept this proposition, then the member of the bishopric who has responsibility for the quorum, with the quorum presidency and the adviser, will very carefully and diplomatically determine why the interests of the world have become more important to a young man than activity in and devotion to the priesthood. This will result from very carefully listening to every boy's needs. Leaders will then see that the priesthood appeals are so designed as to prick the interest of each individual boy. I have grave doubts that success can be found in the reactivation of members of the quorums by using a broad brush approach. The approach must be tailored to the boy if it is to be successful.
Every quorum activity should have a designated purpose, and that purpose should be gospel oriented. For example, may I relate a story of an Aaronic Priesthood youth in Korea who happened to come from a rather affluent family. One day one of his father's business associates called the father and inquired if he were having financial difficulties, offering help if it were needed.
The father responded that things were going well.
The man asked, "Are you sure?"
The father replied, "Things are fine. Why do you ask?"
The friend then indicated he had seen the young man on a street corner selling newspapers. The father couldn't believe it. He told his friend that his son received an adequate allowance and asked if there might have been a mistake of identity. The friend responded there was no mistake; he had personally visited with the boy.
That evening when his son came home from school, the father asked him if he had been selling newspapers on the street corner. The reply was yes. The father asked, "Why? Isn't your allowance sufficient?"
His son responded that it was adequate, but he had a friend at school who was very poor and who was going to have to drop out of school if he didn't get some financial assistance. As it turned out, this young Aaronic Priesthood holder was using his allowance money to buy newspapers. Then he and some of his classmates were selling the newspapers to raise money to help keep his friend in school.
A short time before this, he had asked his mother to pack larger lunches for him. She did so, thinking that as a growing teenager he was just extra hungry. He confessed to his father he had been sharing his lunch with this same friend, who otherwise would have gone hungry.
The father was obviously touched by his son's thoughtfulness but asked the reason for such action. The boy replied, "We studied the lesson of the Good Samaritan a few weeks ago. I wanted to know the real meaning of this lesson by being a good Samaritan, not just learning about one."
When a young man participates in this kind of spiritual experience, his life changes. The priesthood means something to him that it did not mean before, and the chances are he will always be an active priesthood bearer. Such internalizing of the teachings of the Savior in the heart of any boy can become a protection from the evils of the world.
There is no magic formula I know of which will cause an inactive boy to become active. It takes interested, caring, loving, consistent leadership on the part of adults and the quorum president, with the help of the quorum members. Whatever they do must be appealing, meaningful, and must result in a fulfilling experience. Fun and games will not save any boy. They may help him feel good about his association, but if he does not gain a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel which causes him to live the gospel, we will have missed the mark as leaders.
May we be so perceptive as to look through the window of each boy's heart and then have the wisdom to reach out, take his hand, and walk beside him on the pathway to exaltation and eternal life, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Our Shepherd, Jesus Christ, has repeatedly given us counsel, brethren, about those things which can cause some in His flock to become inactive, indifferent, offended, or to fall away. The cares and pleasures of the world, temptation, persecution, tribulation-all take their toll; so do being wronged, being ignored, and seeing hypocrisy in others.
Brethren, except for our own families, no group of men needs us more than these souls. Unlike those who have never heard the gospel, these individuals have known some light and so have some accountability-hence the urgency!
This work of reactivation often involves group study and socials, but, essentially, it is done a soul at a time, quietly and with dignity. It is done less "by the numbers" and more "by the Spirit." It is less technique than genuine caring, more extending a helping hand than writing new handbooks.
There are no slick tricks, and quickie campaigns usually fail, for "a brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city." Further, while we must stand on higher ground in order to lift another, there must be no condescension or suggestion that our concern is statistical rather than spiritual. Nor are souls to be dropped soon after they have been painstakingly lifted. How many times are we supposed to find the elect anyway?
A first step is to recognize, where known, the causes of inactivity in these men. This often suggests how to customize our expressions of concern. However, never underestimate the power of privately extending a simple, loving, but direct challenge. Though it may not be reciprocated, such love is never wasted.
Second, recognize that this work takes time; it does interrupt our regular routine. The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us that. Some wounds require more than a quick Band-Aid.
A third step to be overseen by priesthood executive committees and ward correlation councils, is the careful matching of person to person. Organized love is better than generalized concern. Yet this redemptive labor should not be so institutionalized that friends and neighbors feel released from their responsibilities. An inspired effort is needed, for in the work of reactivation the best approach may be the only approach! Fasting and praying may be necessary to know when the timing is right to make an approach to a certain brother.
Fourth, provide such individuals with a fresh opportunity to serve, because they are genuinely needed. Moses learned this principle while recruiting Hobab as a guide. Remember, while their condition cries out for unconditional love, they usually desire a modest chance to express their own love and talents. For instance, elders quorum presidencies should organize several appropriate committees, each chaired by an active elder, who is to report regularly to the quorum presidency, with two or three active brethren to help. Each committee may be given the names of the inactive brethren most likely to respond when invited to serve on that committee, such as an athletic or welfare committee. These inactive men are less likely to respond to a general invitation to start coming to church than to a request to serve on a specific committee which takes account of their interests. One inactive brother started serving as a greeter and is now a bishop.
Significantly, brethren, Church members did not become inactive while crossing the plains, when the sense of belonging and being needed was so profound.
Fifth, provide the needed teaching. Activation requires conversion. Believing requires gospel beliefs to be understood. Quorum instruction and Gospel Essentials classes must be of a high quality. Attendees must feel the Spirit as they are taught. These individuals need the bread of life, not crumbs from the table. After all, the father of the prodigal son prepared a feast for the returnee-he did not merely warm up some leftovers!
Temple preparation seminars should feature enough informality to make real learning possible. Assign fellowshipping couples to attend these same seminars along with the inactive couples. Those attending should be lovingly encouraged to set some personal goals in order to be ready to go to the temple.
Surveys indicate 30 percent of those invited to attend seminars will attend! Of the remainder, experience shows that eight out of ten, properly approached, will permit priesthood leaders to go into their homes to teach them. Brethren, in view of such realities, what are we afraid of?
These encouraging statistics suggest how important it is not to stand by and wring our hands but to do something! The reason, frankly, brethren, that so little is happening is that so little is being tried. An experienced woodcarver was asked how one begins to be a woodcarver. He said bluntly, "Start making some chips." Brethren, let's start making some chips!
A sixth step is to remember the Lord's hand is in this work. He can bring about those circumstances in which such souls are "in a preparation to hear the word." His Spirit can prod the prodigals-some of whom will come to their senses. And as that happens, however, let us run to greet them while they are "yet a great way off."
Seventh, prevention is always better than rehabilitation. Sometimes, ironically, prevention requires no more than a few extra minutes of loving conversation or an expression of empathy. Being given the priesthood and a church assignment soon after baptism not only helps to anchor new converts, but assists other Church workers who are busy and whose hands hang down and whose knees are feeble.
Likewise, as the Lord's undershepherds, let us take preventive care to set a prudent pace for Church activities and extra financial contributions. The Lord wants dedication, not prostration! Even the vital Book of Mormon was translated only as strength and means were provided.
Now, brethren, let us step back from the details of this demanding challenge and speak of overall realities and responsibilities for inactive and active men alike-in a perfect Church filled with imperfect individuals. Part of the manhood that goes with priesthood requires us to take account of such things as the following.
Let us acknowledge that the strait and narrow path, though clearly marked, is a path, not a freeway nor an escalator. Indeed, there are times when the only way the strait and narrow path can be followed is on one's knees! And we are to help each other along the path, not give offense.
Whatever the dislocating offense which takes one from that path, once it occurs, unless such a one is humble, his search commences-but for vindication, not for reconciliation and communication. Brethren, it is so difficult to carry our cross and grudges, too.
Quickly forgotten by those who are offended is the fact that the Church is "for the perfecting of the saints"; it is not a well-provisioned rest home for the already perfected.
Likewise, unremembered by some is the reality that in the kingdom we are each other's clinical material; the Lord allows us to practice on each other, even in our imperfections. And each of us knows what it is like to be worked on by a "student" rather than a senior surgeon. Each of us, however unintentionally, has also inflicted some pain.
Often unallowed for, too, are the differing styles of leadership we experience in the kingdom. Paul was thoughtfully sensitive to the need not to offend weak members by eating meat, while John the Baptist's diet of locusts and wild honey may not have proven contagious-surely not with Jerusalem's country club set.
It is our individual and constant responsibility to avoid "looking beyond the mark." My focus is my responsibility! What is most to be focused on-the fact that Peter walked briefly on the water or that he did not continue? Has any other mortal so walked, even that briefly?
Imperfect people are, in fact, called by our perfect Lord to assist in His work. The Lord declared to certain associates of Joseph Smith that He knew that they had observed Joseph's minor imperfections. Even so, the Lord then testified that the revelations given through the Prophet were true!
Unsurprisingly, therefore, we do notice each other's weaknesses. But we should not celebrate them. Let us be grateful for the small strides that we and others make, rather than rejoice in the shortfalls. And when mistakes occur, let them become instructive, not destructive.
I cherish these generous lines from that very able, but very humble, prophet-editor Moroni:
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been."
If such is our attitude, we are far less likely to be offended.
Besides, if the choice is between reforming other Church members or ourselves, is there really any question about where we should begin? The key is to have our eyes wide open to our own faults and partially closed to the faults of others-not the other way around! The imperfections of others never release us from the need to work on our own shortcomings.
People who spend their time searching for feet of clay will miss not only the heavens wherein God moves in His majesty and power, but God's majesty as He improves and shapes a soul.
So in the give-and-take in the kingdom, we jostle and are jostled. Offenses will come. Once ego is unwisely committed, no cause seems too trivial for some. In a dispute over milk, Thomas B. Marsh soon let himself become offended at the Prophet Joseph.
Lorenzo Snow, Marsh's contemporary, said that while he, too, noticed some minor imperfections in the Prophet Joseph, he was grateful that the Lord could use Joseph Smith for so very significant a work. Thus, there might be some hope for him, Lorenzo Snow. Indeed, there was hope for President Snow, who viewed others charitably, as if through the "windows of heaven."
Prophets need tutoring, as do we all. However, this is something the Lord seems quite able to manage without requiring a host of helpers. The Lord provides discreet but needed feedback, as He did to Peter by the shattering sound of a rooster crowing, or to an undelegating Moses through a caring, observing, and wise father-in-law-without Jethro's placing an ad in the Sinai Sentinel.
Happily for us all, the gospel is redemptive. It focuses not on Peter's lapse in the hall of the high priest, but on Peter's testimony of Jesus, bold and ringing, before Annas and Caiaphas and the council.
Moreover, as we view others, humility should counsel us that we do not have all the data. Though Peter and Paul had a difference over a particular, but passing, policy of the Church in the meridian of time, the record does not yet tell us about their developing relationship in the richness of their special apostolic brotherhood.
Besides, in true discipleship, no one regrets a lapse more than the sincere lapser. Who is more conscious of the imperfections in their writings than the writers of God's word?
"And whoso receiveth this record, and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things than these."
And who, more than the Lord, knows what it costs to process His eternal truths through mortals? "Behold, I am God and have spoken it; these commandments are of me, and were given unto my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, that they might come to understanding."
Above and beyond the usual sources of offense, there are those special circumstances, and we do well to note them, which can cause even strong people to falter briefly. Prior to His arraignment, Jesus told the Twelve how the Shepherd would soon be smitten and the sheep would be scattered. Peter denied that he would falter, and "likewise also said they all."
Before judging these disciples, consider their anguishing circumstances. Things looked really ominous for the flock. They were understandably fearful as the establishment closed in on them. The danger to the disciples was real; hence Jesus encouraged them to leave. Then their Savior submitted to arrest, trial, and even crucifixion! The disciples felt keenly the deprivation and the humiliation of those circumstances, which-though warned of-they still had not fully expected. Yet, very soon, just as foreordained, these faithful undershepherds rallied and went on with the Savior's glorious work.
Did not somewhat similar circumstances prevail briefly at Nauvoo?
Now, brethren, the adversary and his helpers will continue to seek to discredit today's undershepherds in order to try to scatter some of the sheep.
When both circumstances and teachings became hard to bear, Jesus questioned the Twelve, "Will ye also go away?" The question is the same today, and so is the answer: "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
"And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."
In closing, I appeal to the offended and inactive: Do not let yesterday hold tomorrow hostage! Walk away from your investment in the penny stock of pride; it never pays dividends.
Remember, too, that it is not the flock, the body of the Church and its leaders, who stray, but individuals who stray.
Likewise, I appeal to us all to consider anew this counsel from Jesus: "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." To win a point does not compare with "gaining" a brother!
Let us all take extra care to avoid both giving and taking offense.
Let us be loving, kind, and forgiving-helping these friends to become, as Peter and Paul said, grounded, rooted, established, and settled! "The time is far spent."
Savor these words quoted by a magnanimous and forgiving Prophet Joseph Smith to a repentant and returning W. W. Phelps:
Such is my counsel, brethren. Such is my prayer. It is given in the name of Him who said, "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended". Jesus' redemptiveness and his love cause Him to stand at the very gate, and we are told he waits there for us with open arms. I so certify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Counselor in the First Presidency
That's a great song and I'm sorry we did not sing the last verse-
Put your shoulder to the wheel in moving along the kingdom of God. I would like to talk about some of the aspects of that effort.
I recall as a boy coming to these general conferences, as you young men have done tonight. On more than one occasion I heard President Heber J. Grant, his voice ringing with conviction, bear his witness concerning the sacred law of tithing and the marvelous promises which the Lord has made to those who are honest in paying their tithes and offerings. I was deeply impressed by what I heard.
I knew it was the Lord, the God of heaven, who made these promises. I knew that he was in a position to keep his promises, and I have come to know that he does so.
I will always be grateful for a father and a mother who, as far back as I can remember, taught us to pay our tithing. In those days, in the ward in which we lived the bishop did not have an office in the meetinghouse. We went to his home for tithing settlement. I can still sense my feelings of trepidation as I walked into that home as a very small boy to settle my tithing with Bishop John C. Duncan. The amount may have been only twenty-five cents, since we did not have very much of an allowance in those lean times, but it was an honest 10 percent as we had figured it in our childish way, based on the little couplet that we would recite in Sunday School:
We never felt that it was a sacrifice to pay our tithing. We felt it was an obligation, that even as small children we were doing our duty as the Lord had outlined that duty, and that we were assisting his church in the great work it had to accomplish.
We did not do it with the expectation of material blessings, although we can testify that we have been so blessed. The Lord has opened the windows of heaven and poured out his blessings in marvelous measure. I am satisfied that he will bless all who walk in obedience to this commandment.
Now, do not get me wrong. I am not here to say that if you pay an honest tithing you will realize your dream of a fine house, a Rolls Royce, and a condominium in Hawaii. The Lord will open the windows of heaven according to our need, and not according to our greed. If we are paying tithing to get rich, we are doing it for the wrong reason. The basic purpose for tithing is to provide the Church with the means needed to carry on His work. The blessing to the giver is an ancillary return, and that blessing may not be always in the form of financial or material benefit. In speaking of opening the windows of heaven, Malachi continues by saying:
"And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field.
"And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts."
There are many ways in which the Lord can bless us beyond the riches of the world. There is the great boon of health. The Lord has promised that he will rebuke the devourer for our sakes. Malachi speaks of the fruits of our ground. May not that rebuke of the devourer apply to various of our personal efforts and concerns?
There is the great blessing of wisdom, of knowledge, even hidden treasures of knowledge. We are promised that ours shall be a delightsome land if we will walk in obedience to this law. I can interpret the word land as people, that those who walk in obedience shall be a delightsome people. What a marvelous condition to be a delightsome people whom others would describe as blessed!
We hear some these days who say that because of economic pressures they cannot afford to pay their tithing. I recall an experience I had as a stake president some years ago. A man whom I knew came to get his temple recommend signed. I questioned him in the usual way and asked, among other things, whether he was paying an honest tithing. He candidly replied that he was not, that he could not afford to because of his many debts. I felt impressed to tell him that he would not pay his debts until he paid his tithing.
He went along for a year or two in his normal way, and then made a decision. He talked about it some time later and he said: "What you told me has proved to be true. I felt I could not pay my tithing because of my debts. I discovered that no matter how hard I tried, somehow I could not manage to reduce my debt. Finally my wife and I sat down together and talked about it and concluded we would try the promise of the Lord. We have done so. And somehow in a way we can't quite understand, the Lord has blessed us. We have not missed that which we have given to him, and for the first time in many years we are reducing our debt. We have come to the wisdom of budgeting our expenditures and of determining where our funds have been going. Because we now have a higher objective, we are able to curtail some of our appetites and desires. And above all of this, we feel we can now go to the house of the Lord with clear consciences as those deserving of this wonderful blessing."
With all my heart, my brethren, I plead with the Latter-day Saints to live honestly with the Lord in the payment of tithes and offerings. I plead with you young men who are with us tonight to establish this habit while you are still young and to resolve to continue with it all the days of your lives. I plead with you who are Church officers to plead with the people for their benefit and blessing to increase their faithfulness in the payment of tithes and offerings.
There has been laid upon the Church a tremendous responsibility. Tithing is the source of income for the Church to carry forward its mandated activities. The need is always greater than the availability. God help us to be faithful in observing this great principle which comes from him with his marvelous promise.
While we are speaking of financial matters, I wish to touch on another thing. In the last little while I have received two letters, the import of which was to complain that eligibility to serve in responsible office in the Church is equated with financial success, that in order for one to qualify to serve as a bishop or stake president it is necessary to demonstrate a capacity to gather and husband wealth, and that men of modest means and humble vocations never seem to qualify.
If that is the perception, I am sorry, because it is a false perception. Out of the experience of nearly a quarter of a century in organizing and reorganizing scores of stakes, I can say that the financial worth of a man was the least of all considerations in selecting a stake president. One of the most loved and able presidents I know, in whose humble home I have stayed, is a carpenter by trade who earns his living with his tools. He presided over a stake in which lived many men of affluence who looked to him with love and respect as their leader.
Within the past month I have been with another stake president who is a carpenter who earns his living with his hands. He too is deeply loved and respected as the spiritual leader of his people.
The stake president of course must be the spiritual anchor. He also must be able to manage the complex affairs of the stake, and therefore he must have administrative ability or at least the capacity to learn. On occasion, he stands as a judge of the people and must be a man of wisdom and discernment. But wealth and financial success are not criteria for Church service. I think I speak for all of my brethren when I say that in selecting a man to preside over a stake of Zion there is much of prayer with much of seeking the will of the Lord, and only when that will is recognized is action taken.
It is with us as it was with Samuel when he was sent to find a successor to Saul. When the first of Jesse's sons passed by, a fine-looking man, Samuel was favorably impressed.
"But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."
I am confident that it is so, likewise, with stake presidents in nominating men to serve as bishops, and with others in the selection of various Church officers. If a chosen individual happens to be a man of substance honestly gained, so be it. He may then have more time and more resources to give to the work, and the work may be blessed by his superior management skills. But this will not be the reason for his selection. Personal worthiness is the key to fitness for office in the kingdom of God.
"We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof."
It must always be so in this, the work of the Lord.
Now may I mention another matter. The older I grow, the more thankful I feel to my parents in providing for us, in the home in which we were reared, good things to read. We had a library in that home with more than a thousand volumes. In those days, of course, we had no television, and radio was not even available during most of those earlier years. I do not wish to convey the idea that as children we read extensively in our father's books. But they provided an environment. We saw our father and mother read, and they read to us. It did something of an indefinable nature. It gave us a familiarity with good books. We felt at home and at ease with them. They were not strangers to us. They were as friends, willing to give to us if we were willing to make a little effort.
In addition to such books we had the Church magazines. Our parents read them and read to us from them.
We likewise had the Deseret News in our home. This was long before publication of the Church News. We read the newspaper and felt a certain kinship with it.
As I look back upon my high school and university days, I am amazed that we had so little exposure to what we call today pornography and obscenity. Perhaps ours was a sheltered society, but it was a wonderful environment in which to grow.
Unfortunately, we live now in a sex-saturated society. Pornography comes at us from all sides: in the theater, in books and magazines, in newspaper advertising, in television in its various forms, and in some instances from radio.
There is no way to blank it out entirely. But we can do something to offset its corrosive influence. We can expose our children to good reading. Let them grow with good books and good Church magazines around them. Have handy the weekly Church News, which will bring to them the feeling that they belong to a great, viable, vital organization that moves across the world, affecting the lives of men and women for good in many lands.
Years ago I read that Emerson was once asked which one of all the books he had read had most affected his life. His response was that he could no more remember the books he had read than he could remember the meals he had eaten, but they had made him. All of us are the products of the elements to which we are exposed. We can give direction to those elements and thereby improve the result. I pray that we shall make an effort to improve the environment in which we and our children live.
Now, I'd like to say in conclusion a few words to the young men who are here. I do not know how many of you heard Elder LeGrand Richards speak this afternoon. President Lee once referred to Elder Richards as the marvelous work and a wonder. He is now past ninety-six years of age. His feet are giving him some trouble, but there is nothing wrong with his head. Without notes or manuscripts of any kind, he stood before us. He quoted scripture. He recounted experiences. He made us laugh as he talked of his missionary days. He made us pray that each of us might become more powerful in our advocacy of the word of the Lord.
Yesterday we announced a reduction in the term of missionary service for young men from twenty-four months to eighteen months. That means that all young men who go out now will have a twenty-five percent discount in the time they give to the work. And it means that the Lord's work will have to bear the cost of that discount. There are only two ways that it can be made up. First, if each missionary will go out better prepared to be effective in his work-much more effective. And secondly, that more of you young men go on missions.
As I listened to Elder Richards this afternoon, I said to myself, "His tremendous enthusiasm, his powerful knowledge of the scripture, his capacity to reason with great persuasion are the sweet fruits of his missionary life." I want to say to you young boys and young men, prepare for that service. Save money for that purpose. Save it in a secure way so that it will be available when you need it.
Study a foreign language if you have opportunity to do so. You may never be called to a land where that language is spoken, but the study will have given you a better understanding of your own tongue or of another tongue you may be asked to acquire.
Take advantage of every opportunity to enlarge your understanding of the gospel. Make the effort to participate in seminary and institute programs.
The Lord's work needs the very best you are capable of providing. Now is the time to prepare for that service. Keep yourselves clean as those worthy to represent the Lord before the world. That means no alcohol, no tobacco, no drugs, no immorality or anything approaching that.
God bless you, my brethren of the priesthood, with faith and testimony and a love for him and his great and sacred work. You know it is true, and I know it is true, and together we so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
Brethren, I came to the conclusion after studying for some time on the matter that priesthood is power. As I speak tonight I desire to remind us of the importance of magnifying our callings in the priesthood.
By reason of our ordination to the priesthood, we are the most honored of all men. By the same token, we are charged with the greatest responsibility. We should diligently try-through prayer, study, and the faithful performance of our priesthood duties-to learn all we can about the priesthood. Even so, we will not be able, in mortal life, to fully comprehend it. We can, however, understand that priesthood is power-the power of God. By means of the priesthood he exercises, God the Father brings into existence and governs all of his creations. President Brigham Young said that "the Priesthood of the Son of God is the law by which the worlds are, were, and will continue for ever and ever. It is that system which brings worlds into existence and peoples them, gives them their revolutions-their days, weeks, months, years, their seasons and times and by which they are rolled up as a scroll, as it were, and go into a higher state of existence."
Jesus gave us demonstration after demonstration of the power of the priesthood. In his first recorded miracle, he turned water into wine.
Matthew tells us that as Jesus slept on a ship a great tempest covered the vessel with waves. So concerned were his disciples that they came to him, saying, "Lord, save us: we perish.
"Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
" the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!"
On another occasion, with "but five loaves, and two fishes" Jesus fed the multitude:
"And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.
"And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children."
By the power of the priesthood Jesus gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, strength to the lame, and healed all manner of diseases. He raised from the dead the son of the widow of Nain. He even resurrected himself by the power of the priesthood.
He and his Father exercise the power of the priesthood directly at their own pleasure and in their own right. When Jesus summoned Lazarus from the tomb, he simply "cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
"And he that was dead came forth."
We mortals, in exercising the priesthood, do not do so in our own right as Jesus did. The priesthood we hold is a delegated power. We can only exercise it within the limits the Lord has set, upon the conditions he has specified, and in his name. But we can do many of the works which he did if we fully magnify our callings.
To his Apostles, in his great and final discourse delivered following the Last Supper and just before they went to Gethsemane, he said:
"Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake."
Well, the priesthood, as I have come to understand it through studying, is power. It's the power that God used in the Creation. It is the power that he used to feed the people in the days of Moses. It is a power which we can exercise by means of our priesthood if we have the faith and learn to follow the inspiration of heaven.
It is a power that we can exercise in our callings in the Church if we will be humble and study, and live worthy of the holy priesthood and be guided by the influence of the Lord in our administrations and our other work that we are called to do.
I pray that we will all magnify our priesthood by living the gospel, so that we can use that power for furthering the work of the Church and for perfecting our lives on our way to the great hereafter, I humbly pray, and bear my testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Counselor in the First Presidency
As you have heard, earlier this week the membership of the Church reached five million. This is a significant milestone. It is an occasion for quiet gratitude, but also for sober reflection. Those who laid the foundation of this work must greatly rejoice.
And those of their generation who with bitterness predicted that it would fade and die must, if they are in any position to know, look with wonder and frustration at what God has wrought. For this is his work, and he has brought it to its present strength through his miraculous power. He it was who opened it in this dispensation of time. In that process he used as his instrument a boy whose mind was clean and unencumbered, into which could be infused the instruction of divine beings and the revelation that comes through the Holy Spirit.
It was God who planted in the hearts of men and women the faith to see a chosen prophet in the young man Joseph Smith. It was the Spirit of God that opened their eyes to the miracle of this remarkable Book of Mormon, which was brought forth as a voice speaking from the dust in testimony that Jesus is the Christ.
He it was who gave strength and courage when the very powers of hell were marshaled against the infant Church and against those few who comprised its membership. Thanks be to him, those days are behind us. Gone are the terrors of forced winter marches, of burning homes and desecrated temples, of unmarked prairie graves and sobbings in the night of those bereft and lonely.
We walk today in the sunlight of goodwill. The Church is widely respected and honored. The virtue of our people and the integrity of our efforts have come to be recognized and appreciated.
Let us be grateful. But let us not be boastful. Let us rather be thankful and humble, as becomes those who are the beneficiaries of such rich blessings from the Almighty.
This is a time to ask ourselves whether, although we have grown in numbers and strength, we are any nearer perfection in the virtue of our individual lives. The milestone of five million members has real significance only to the degree that we as a people bring the gospel into our lives and demonstrate its fruits in our actions. The Lord has reminded us in no uncertain terms that "of him unto whom much is given much is required."
As we go forward we must never be distracted from the great and compelling triad of responsibility laid upon the Church to, first, carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of the earth; second, to implement that gospel in the lives of the membership of the Church; and, third, to extend through vicarious work its blessings to those who have passed beyond the veil of death. Our mission is "as broad as eternity and as deep as the love of God." Adherence to that mission has brought us to this significant milestone, and this must be only a milestone and not a summit.
The Lord set the parameters of this work when he declared, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."
This is our great challenge and our responsibility.
I have no doubt whatever that this work will continue to grow in magnitude. I am confident that its progress will be enhanced if our people will live the gospel with faithfulness and devotion. In harmony with that observation I should like to suggest five imperatives for our observance.
The first: We must hold fast to the doctrine.
The gospel for me is not complex. It is a beautiful and simple pattern, a constant source of strength, a wellspring of faith. The keystone of that doctrine is that God is our Eternal Father and Jesus is the Christ, our living Redeemer. We are sons and daughters of God. He loves us and invites us to love him, showing that love through service to others of his children. His Beloved Son is our Savior, who gave his life on the cross of Calvary as a vicarious sacrifice for the sins of mankind. By the power of his divine Sonship he rose from the grave, becoming "the firstfruits of them that slept", assuring for all a resurrection from the dead and inviting each of us to partake of eternal life according to our obedience to his laws and commandments.
They, that is, the Father and the Son, appeared to the boy Joseph Smith in a most glorious and wonderful manifestation to open this, the dispensation of the fulness of times. All of the elements of previous bestowals of divine teaching and authority are now brought together through restoration in a final and everlasting dispensation.
God has not left us in ignorance to walk in darkness. His word, spoken both anciently and in our generation, is available to all to read, to ponder, and to accept. There are many books among us and many preachers, and I find virtue in the words of all. But the truest source of divine wisdom is the word of the Lord in these sacred volumes, the standard works of the Church. Here is found the doctrine to which we must hold fast if this work is to roll forth to its divinely charted destiny.
My second imperative: We must implement that doctrine more fully in our lives.
The most persuasive gospel tract is the exemplary life of a faithful Latter-day Saint. We live in a time when the pressures of life make it so easy and so tempting, in fulfillment of the words of Nephi, to commit "a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; turn aside the just for a thing of naught and revile against that which is good."
Said the Savior while speaking on the mount: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
If we as a people will walk with integrity, will be honest and moral in our actions, will put into our lives the simple and basic and wonderful principle of the Golden Rule, others will be led to inquire and learn. We shall become as a city set upon a hill whose light cannot be hid. We shall witness an ever-growing fulfillment of the promise of Isaiah: "And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths."
My third imperative: We must work more diligently to cultivate a spirit of love and charity in our homes.
The homes of our people have been great homes where there has been love, a spirit of sacrifice, an attitude of respect for one another. There will be need for greater emphasis of these qualities in the future. Selfishness is the canker that drives out peace and love. Selfishness is the root on which grow argument, anger, disrespect, infidelity, and divorce.
Later this month we shall dedicate a beautiful new building on the Brigham Young University campus to the memory of a woman, Caroline Hemenway Harman. You probably have never heard of her. I would like to tell you briefly her story.
At the age of twenty-two Caroline married George Harman. They had seven children, one of whom died in infancy. Then, at the age of thirty-nine, her husband passed away and she was left a widow.
Her sister, Grace, had married her husband's brother, David. In 1919, during the terrible influenza epidemic, David was seriously stricken, and then his wife, Grace, became ill. Caroline cared for them and their children as well as her own. In the midst of these afflictions, Grace gave birth to a son, and then she died within a few hours. Caroline took the tiny infant to her own home and there nurtured it and saved the child's life. Three weeks later her own daughter, Annie, passed away.
By now Caroline had lost two of her own children, her husband, and her sister. The strain was too much. She collapsed. She came out of that collapse with a serious case of diabetes. But she did not slow down. She continued to care for her sister's baby; and her brother-in-law, the child's father, came each day to see the little boy. David Harman and Caroline were later married, and there were now thirteen children in their home.
Then five years later David suffered a catastrophe that tried to the very depths those who agonized with him. On one occasion he used a strong disinfectant in preparing seed for planting. This got on his body, and the effects were disastrous. The skin and flesh sloughed off his bones. His tongue and teeth dropped out. The caustic solution literally ate him alive.
Caroline nursed him in this terrible illness, and when he died she was left with five of her own and eight of her sister's children, and a farm of 280 acres where she and the children plowed, sowed, irrigated, and harvested to bring in enough to provide for their needs. At this time she also was Relief Society president, a position she held for eighteen years.
While caring for her large family and in extending the hand of charity to others, she would bake eight loaves of bread a day and wash forty loads of clothes a week. She canned fruits and vegetables by the ton, and cared for a thousand laying hens to provide a little cash. Self-reliance was her standard. Idleness she regarded as sin. She cared for her own and reached out to others in a spirit of kindness that would permit no one of whom she was aware to go hungry, unclothed, or cold.
She later married Eugene Robison, who, not long afterward, suffered a stroke. For five years until his death she nursed him and cared for him in all his needs.
Finally, exhausted, her body racked by the effects of diabetes, she passed away at the age of sixty-seven. The habits of industry and hard work which she instilled in her children rewarded their efforts through the years. Her sister's tiny baby, whom she nurtured from the hour of his birth, together with his brothers and sisters, all acting out of a sense of love and gratitude, have given to the university a substantial bequest to make possible the beautiful building which will carry her name.
It is well to remember men and women who have made outstanding contributions in terms of science, education, business, and the arts. Their examples can motivate all of us to higher endeavor. How appropriate also that there should be remembered with a beautiful and useful structure on the campus of a great university a woman, a mother, largely unknown and unsung, who held together, nurtured, loved, and reared to useful maturity two large families, and all of this in an environment of grinding adversity.
Her case is not unique except in a few particulars. It is, as a matter of fact, somewhat characteristic of the great families of the early days of the Church who worked together, through sunshine and storm, to break the wilderness, to educate children and teach them the refining arts and useful skills.
The circumstances of our society have changed somewhat. We have become largely an urban people. But this only emphasizes the need for additional effort in cultivating, in the coming years, family spirit, family appreciation, and family love.
My fourth imperative: We must continue even with greater effectiveness to strengthen and sustain one another.
The Lord has admonished us: "Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings."
We live in a society that feeds on criticism. Faultfinding is the substance of columnists and commentators, and there is too much of this among our own people. It is so easy to find fault, and to resist doing so requires much of discipline. But if as a people we will build and sustain one another, the Lord will bless us with the strength to weather every storm and continue to move forward through every adversity. The enemy of truth would divide us and cultivate within us attitudes of criticism which, if permitted to prevail, will only deter us in the pursuit of our great divinely given goal. We cannot afford to permit it to happen. We must close ranks and march shoulder to shoulder, the strong helping the weak, those with much assisting those with little. No power on earth can stop this work if we shall so conduct ourselves.
My fifth imperative flows from the last, and it is that we move forward with faith. Said the Lord to his Saints in a more difficult day: "Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.
"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."
I urge you to see the big picture and cease worrying about the little blemishes. Abraham Lincoln was a gangling figure of a man, with a long and craggy face. There were many who looked only at the imperfections of his countenance. There were others who joked over the way he walked, and kept their eyes so low that they never saw the true greatness of the man. That enlarged view came only to those who saw the whole character-body, mind, and spirit-as he stood at the head of a divided nation in its darkest hour, lacing it together "with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God" gave him to see the right.
Of course, there are aberrations in our history. There are blemishes to be found, if searched for, in the lives of all men, including our leaders past and present. But these are only incidental to the magnitude of their service and to the greatness of their contributions.
Keep before you the big picture, for this cause is as large as all mankind and as broad as all eternity. This is the church and kingdom of God. It requires the strength, the loyalty, the faith of all if it is to roll forward to bless the lives of our Father's children over the earth.
In reaching a membership of five million, we have reached a milestone. It must not be a summit. A far, far greater future lies ahead. Let us go forward. If we will hold fast to the doctrine, if we will live with integrity, if we will cultivate love and charity in our homes, if we will build and sustain one another and move forward with faith, the Almighty, whose church this is, will bless us and his glorious work. There is so much to do. Great sacrifice was made in the past to bring us to this level of growth. Lives were forfeited, and those not a few. We are not asked to give up our lives, and actually very little of our comfort. But we are expected to give of our loyalty, our devotion, our hearts, minds, might, and strength to the on-rolling of this, the Lord's work. God help us to be faithful, as those before us have been faithful, as we walk toward the light of an even brighter and more significant day, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder James E. Faust
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I should like to emphasize today three important elements of integrity-dealing justly with oneself, dealing justly with others, and recognizing the law of the harvest. I apologize for my directness. I do not wish to offend. I wish only to be understood.
The dictionary defines integrity as a firm adherence to a code of moral values. It connotes soundness and incorruptibility. It is the mother of many virtues. It begins when we deal justly with ourselves.
Walter Spat, the first stake president in South America, for many years has owned a furniture factory in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The delicately hand-carved roses, figures, and designs in the beautiful woods make his furniture as lovely as I have ever seen. Every piece is exquisite. Every creation is a masterpiece. One day my Ruth and I were in the entrance of his factory when a beautiful, newly made piece of furniture was carried in from the factory for showing. The grain of the wood flowed beautifully, and the finish was perfection. But to President Spat the hardware did not seem up to standard. Without hesitation, he took a screwdriver and a pair of pliers and pulled off all the hardware. His only remark was, "That is not my work." President Spat seems incapable of making a piece of furniture which is not as near perfect as it can be. His work reflects his honor and integrity.
Ralph Waldo Emerson stated: "Every man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day comes when he begins to care that he do not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well. He has changed his market-cart into a chariot of the sun."
Integrity is the value we set on ourselves. It is a fulfillment of the duty we owe ourselves. An honorable man or woman will personally commit to live up to certain self-imposed expectations. They need no outside check or control. They are honorable in their inner core.
Where does the soul play its part best? Is it in outward show? Or is it within, where no mortal eyes can penetrate and where we have an inner defense against the tragedies of life?
Integrity is the light that shines from a disciplined conscience. It is the strength of duty within us. Moses gave the following counsel: "If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth."
The power of keeping an oath was manifested by Nephi, who held Zoram, the frightened servant of Laban, to keep him from fleeing. Dr. Hugh Nibley has written:
"Nephi, a powerful fellow, held the terrified Zoram in a vise-like grip long enough to swear a solemn oath in his ear, 'as the Lord liveth, and as I live', that he would not harm him if he would listen. Zoram immediately relaxed, and Nephi swore another oath to him that he would be a free man if he would join the party.
" As soon as Zoram 'made an oath unto us that he would tarry with us from that time forth our fears did cease concerning him.'."
Being true to oneself at times requires extraordinary strength and courage. For instance, in the early days of the Church it was very unpopular, even dangerous, to uphold Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. Lyman Wight was one of those imprisoned by the leaders of a mob in 1839.
General Wilson advised Brother Wight, "We do not wish to hurt you nor kill you," and then following an oath said, "but we have one thing against you, and that is, you are too friendly to Joe Smith, Wight, you know all about his character."
Brother Wight said, "I do, sir."
"Will you swear all you know concerning him?" said Wilson.
Brother Wight then told Wilson he "believed Joseph Smith to be the most philanthropic man he ever saw, and possessed of the most pure principles-a friend to mankind, a maker of peace."
Wilson then observed, "Wight, I fear your life is in danger, for there is no end to the prejudice against Joe Smith."
"Kill and be damned, sir," was Brother Wight's answer.
Returning later that night, Wilson told Lyman Wight: "I regret to tell you your die is cast; your doom is fixed; you are sentenced to be shot tomorrow morning on the public square in Far West, at eight o'clock."
Brother Wight answered, "Shoot, and be damned."
The decree of execution of the prisoners was revoked the next morning.
Dealing justly with oneself lays a foundation for dealing justly with others. During World War II, I came home on leave early one September. It was time to put peaches in bottles to preserve them for winter. My beloved mother-in-law called an old friend, George B. Andrus, of Holladay in this valley. The conversation on the telephone was brief: "George, do you have any peaches for sale?" mother asked.
Patriarch Andrus answered, "I have a few, but they are not very good."
I volunteered to drive Mother Wright to pick up the peaches. When we arrived she said, "George, where are your peaches?"
Brother Andrus opened his garage door, and I saw bushel baskets filled with large golden fruit with red kisses from sun ripening. Each basket was filled so full that when I lifted them into the trunk of the car some of the luscious peaches on top of the piled basket rolled off and bruised. Brother Andrus immediately replaced them with other perfect fruit.
On the way home I said to Mother Wright, "What did he mean when he said his fruit was not very good?"
She answered, "If you knew George Andrus, you would know that any fruit he would put on the market would be good and that he would give more than full value."
I wondered what the fruit would have been like if George had said it was good. Brother Andrus's self-imposed expectations led him to go beyond what we expected of him in his dealings with us.
Natural, inherent integrity is manifested almost every hour of every day of our lives. Those who unjustly profit at the expense of others may gain a fortune, but they forfeit something more important, which is their own integrity. Taking advantage of others is a counterfeit form of true success and honor.
Those who have children and are involved in doing something less than they should may be involved in a double evil, for in addition to the inherent wrong they commit, they also teach another generation to do wrong. There seems to be an immutable law that children may take license from what their parents do and expand upon it, confirming the old adage that the chickens not only come home to roost, but they bring their chicks with them.
Performance of duty, regardless of the sacrifice involved, is a part of dealing justly with oneself and others. Early in the history of this valley Joseph W. McMurrin was placed in charge of guarding some of the leaders of the Church. At a meeting in Social Hall in Salt Lake City, an intruder under a claim of authority tried to enter the hall; and Joseph W. McMurrin, being true to his trust to guard the servants of the Lord, restrained him from going through the door. President Heber J. Grant relates that the intruder "finally got his hand loose and took his pistol and, pressing it against Brother McMurrin's body, fired two bullets through his vitals. Those bullets lodged just under the skin in his back. He was attended by Dr. Joseph Benedict who told Joseph W. McMurrin that no man could live after two bullets had passed through his vitals, and then added: 'If you wish to make a dying statement you should do so immediately.'
"I went with John Henry Smith to Brother McMurrin's home and saw where the flesh was burned away around those terrible gaping wounds. I saw where the bullets had gone clear through him. I heard John Henry Smith say, 'By the authority of the Priesthood of the living God which we hold, and in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, we say that you shall be made absolutely whole, and that there shall be no physical weakness left upon your body because of these terrible wounds that you have received while guarding the servants of the living God.'"
On November 21, 1931, President Grant concluded, "Joseph W. McMurrin is alive and well, and has never had any physical weakness because of those terrible wounds."
It is difficult to be just with oneself and others unless we recognize the law of the harvest. We reap that which we sow. Latter-day Saints have long been taught to live by the virtues of independence, industry, thrift, and self-reliance. Working for what we receive is a cardinal, timeless principle of self-respect. The whole world admires success. But how each of us defines success and how we seek it is crucial to our happiness.
The fruits of industry and thrift may appropriately be put into sound investments. A good solid investment can equal years of toil, and there is some risk in all we do. But investments that are highly speculative and promoted with unsound, vague promises of inordinate return should be viewed very carefully. The leaders of the Church have long warned against speculation.
Brigham Young said, "If the Lord ever revealed anything to me, he has shown me that the Elders of Israel must let speculation alone and attend to the duties of their calling."
In our time President Nathan Eldon Tanner has said:
"Investment debt should be fully secured so as not to encumber a family's security. Don't invest in speculative ventures. The spirit of speculation can become intoxicating. Many fortunes have been wiped out by the uncontrolled appetite to accumulate more and more. Let us learn from the sorrows of the past and avoid enslaving our time, energy, and general health to a gluttonous appetite to acquire increased material goods."
What is success? Is it money? Is it achievement? Is it fame? Is it position? Is it dominion? The prophet Micah defined success as follows: "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"
The prophet Ezekiel also gave a formula for success:
"But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,
"And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment;
"Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God."
The Lord appeared to the great Solomon in a dream and said, "Ask what I shall give thee." Solomon replied, "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad." The Lord was pleased because Solomon had not asked for success as the world defines it.
Complete and constant integrity is a great law of human conduct. There need to be some absolutes in life. There are some things that should not ever be done, some lines that should never be crossed, vows that should never be broken, words that should never be spoken, and thoughts that should never be entertained.
Yet there is a place for mercy, for equity, and for forgiveness. Even the stalwart Peter, the chief Apostle, was forgiven for a moment of weakness. Luke records:
"Then took they, and led him, and brought him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off.
"And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them.
"But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him.
"And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.
"And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not.
"And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilaean.
"And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.
"And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
"And Peter went out, and wept bitterly."
I believe this incident strengthened Peter's commitment. He was never to be weak again. The resolve borne of that disappointment in his own temporary weakness tempered his metal into the hardest steel. He proved his devotion every day of his life thereafter, and in his death. So it can be with all of us. When we have been less than we ought to be and have fallen below our own standards, we can have newfound resolve and strength by forsaking our weakness.
God help us to be honest and true. May we always be thoroughly dependable, standing firm and upright though others may fail, and be fearless, constant, and just. May we say with the much-tested Job: "Till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me."
I leave my testimony that dealing justly with oneself and others, and observing the law of the harvest, is a part of the inner peace of the sweet gospel of the Lord Jesus, of whose divinity as the risen Christ I testify in his holy name, amen.
Elder John H. Groberg
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My dear brothers and sisters, I ask for your faith and prayers as we consider a vitally important key to our happiness and success in life. I speak this morning on the importance and power of family prayer.
Our Father in Heaven wants us to have strong, loving families. One of the great helps he has given us to achieve this is family prayer.
All of us, single or married, are eternally part of some family-someway, somewhere, somehow-and much of our joy in life comes as we correctly recognize and properly develop those family relationships. We come to this earth charged with a mission: to learn to love and serve one another. To best help us accomplish this, God has placed us in families, for he knows that is where we can best learn to overcome selfishness and pride and to sacrifice for others and to make happiness and helpfulness and humility and love the very essence of our character.
We learn that friends and neighbors come and go but family is forever, and as we learn this, we find that we are eternally our brother's keeper and we begin to realize how much help we need. How we should thank God for the opportunity of family prayer!
Listen to the admonition of the Savior in Third Nephi: "Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed."
Can you detect that if we do not pray in our families always they may not be blessed-or at least not so fully? If we truly love our families we will constantly pray for them and with them. I know of no single activity that has more potential for unifying our families and bringing more love and divine direction into our homes than consistent, fervent family prayer.
Think of the power for good as you gather your family together and thank God for all of his blessings. Think of the eternal significance of daily thanking him for each member of your family and asking him to guide and bless and protect each one. Think of the strength that will come to your family as, daily, one member or another pours out his or her soul in love to God for other family members.
Of course, our prayers must be more than words, for as President Marion G. Romney has so clearly stated, "The efficacy of our prayers depends on how we care for one another." Family prayer is fully effective, then, only as we rise from our knees and, with increased love and understanding, take better care of each other.
We all want more love and unity in our families. We all need more help with some who may be wayward or in special need. We all desire more assurance of divine guidance and direction.
I promise you that as you consistently and fervently pray as a family, and as each member takes his or her turn and sincerely prays for others, impressions will come as to what you individually should do to help others. Thus, you can, in family prayer, receive personal and family revelation as to how to love and serve one another.
Now, Satan will do everything he can to keep us from family prayer, or at least to see that our prayers are only intermittent and mechanical and without sincerity. In Daniel's day, Satan influenced evil men to pass laws against praying. In our day, Satan's efforts seem a little more subtle.
But remember, the greatest schools on earth are individual homes. Yet how many homes voluntarily give up family prayer by allowing other less important things to take priority.
If Satan can get us thinking that our children are too young or too old, or if he can get us angry with one another or preoccupied with TV programs or over-crowded schedules or caught up in some other aspect of the press of modern life so that we do not have family prayer, he has effectively won on that point-even though many of the other things we do may be good in and of themselves.
Satan doesn't care how he stops us-just so he stops us. Ask yourself: How many times did you have family prayer this last week? Who is winning in your home? What's the score? Don't let the evil one win. You can overcome him with God's help.
I appeal with all the fervor of my soul to every family in the Church, every family in the nation, every family in the world, to organize your priorities so that God is first in your lives and to show this by having regular family prayer. There may be extenuating circumstances occasionally; but as a rule, we should have family prayer every morning and every evening.
Oh, if we would do this, if we would show our families and our God on a regular basis how much we love them, how much we appreciate them, how much we need their help, and how much we rely on His protection, one of the greatest changes for good to ever take place in the Church, in the nation, and in the world would occur. Don't let anything stand in the way of consistent, fervent family prayer! Think of what you teach by having family prayer. Then think of what you teach by not having family prayer.
I testify to you that there is real power in family prayer. I testify that families can be brought together and can help and strengthen one another through family prayer.
Let me illustrate this with an incident that happened some years ago. As a young man I was called on a mission to Tonga. Through a series of unusual circumstances, such as ship strikes, and so forth, it took three months to get to Tonga from Salt Lake. As I was the only one assigned to Tonga at that time, much of the journey was made alone.
Finally, in Samoa, the mission president put me on a boat to Fiji and assured me that he would telegraph ahead, and when I arrived in Suva two elders would meet me and put me on a boat to Tonga.
Even though I had been in transit for two and a half months at that time, that several-day voyage to Suva seemed extra-filled with trepidation. How I looked forward to seeing those two missionaries!
The boat arrived in Suva early in the morning. I looked and looked, but could see no elders. An hour went by, then two, then three-still no elders. The captain kept telling me to get off the boat as they were leaving soon. I kept telling him that I would be met soon by two young men, but they didn't come.
Finally, noon arrived and the captain was ready to leave. "Get off," he said, "you only have a ticket to Suva. I'm leaving, and you're staying here."
With great fear I started down the gangplank only to be met by the immigration officials. "Let us see your visa, your onward ticket, and the money to keep you while here," they demanded.
I had no visa. I had no onward ticket. I had not sufficient money. But I assured them that two young men would be there right away with whatever was needed. How I prayed! But they didn't come.
"Back on the ship then," they insisted.
"Not on my ship," bellowed the captain.
I can remember standing in the middle of the gangplank, looking up at the folded arms and glaring eyes of the stern captain, and then looking down at the equally determined faces and set jaws of the immigration men.
I looked at the ocean under the gangplank. I should have wondered how long I could tread water, but I was too scared to think of anything right then.
In the end, the captain proved to be the toughest; and amidst cursing and yelling and banging of bags, the gangplank went up, the ship departed, and I found myself in the not-too-friendly hands of the immigration officials.
There was a long discussion among them, most of it in a foreign tongue. Finally, one of the younger men, who seemed more friendly, came over and explained that for now I should move with my things into the "customs shed." That's where things go that aren't really allowed into the country until duty or tax is paid on them. He assured me that he, too, felt that the two young men I referred to would soon be along and everything would be fine.
The afternoon wore on. I tried several times to contact the missionaries every way I knew how, but to no avail. I know missionaries are supposed to be brave, but right then I was scared and tired and hungry.
The sun was getting low, and it seemed the lower it got in the sky the lower my spirits became. I knew I wasn't really in danger or in prison, but to one used to lots of freedom it seemed like it.
The pungent odor of curry and copra and drying fish and the myriad other sights and sounds and smells of an oily tropical wharf seemed so foreign to the cool, fresh smells of my Idaho home. I knew I was homesick. I wanted to cry, but I knew that wouldn't do any good.
Finally, the whirring of winches, the groaning of blocks and cables, the banging of cargo, and the sputtering of machines ceased. The dock workers began to leave, then the immigration people, until just a few watchmen and supervisors were left. It was silent now. I don't know when I have felt more alone.
I tried to lie down on the dirty, uneven cement floor. I prayed to know what to do. There seemed to be no answer. I watched the last rays of sunlight as they broke through the clouds and blazed across the ocean and through the holes of the metal customs shed.
"How long will the light last?" I thought. Then I wondered, "What will happen when those last rays disappear and fold into the night?" "But, no, I must have hope. Things must turn out all right."
Once more, I closed my eyes in prayer, when suddenly I felt almost transported. I didn't see anything or hear anything, in a physical sense; but, in a more real way, I saw a family in far-off Idaho kneeling together in prayer; and I heard my mother, acting as mouth, say as clearly as anything can be heard, "And bless John on his mission."
As that faithful family called down the powers of heaven to bless their missionary son in a way they could not physically do, I testify that the powers of heaven did come down, and they lifted me up and, in a spiritual way, allowed me, for a brief moment, to once again join that family circle in prayer. I was one with them. I was literally swallowed up in the love and concern of a faithful family and sensed for a moment what being taken into Abraham's bosom may be like. I was given to understand also that there are other circles of love and concern unbounded by time or space to which we all belong and from which we can draw strength. God does not leave us entirely alone-ever!
Tears of joy flowed freely as I had restored to me the warmth of security, the light of love, and the strength of hope. And when I again felt the hard, uneven cement beneath me, there was no fear, no sorrow, no trepidation, only deep gratitude and certain assurance.
To conclude the incident, within a half hour I saw the young immigration man who had befriended me coming towards the shed with two young elders behind him. It seemed that on his way home he just happened to run into two young Americans with white shirts and ties and told them about one just like them down at the wharf. Apparently the telegram never arrived, but they followed him down to the shed, and soon all was straightened out, and within a few weeks I landed in Tonga and was ready to begin my mission.
Brothers and sisters, I testify that there is great power in loving, consistent, fervent family prayer. Don't deny your families this blessing. Don't allow the strength that comes from family prayer to slip away from you and your loved ones through neglect.
No matter what other inheritance you leave your family, give them the inheritance of knowing through experience that, forever, you will be praying for them and they for you.
Call your families together. Make your family prayers a top priority item. It may be awkward at first, if you aren't doing it now; and since Satan doesn't want you to do it at all, he will throw all sorts of excuses and roadblocks at you; but just proceed and be persistent, and I promise you great blessings.
Remember, all that we are commanded to do in this life is patterned after that of a better life. Do you think it a strange thought that maybe part of the power of family prayer is in the fact that we are part of a heavenly family, that they are interested in us, and that by tying in with them some way we get hold of something much bigger than ourselves?
Think of the power of the thousands of prayers of parents and grandparents and back and back even to Jacob and Isaac and Abraham and beyond, all requesting essentially the same thing: "Bless my children. Bless my children. Bless my children." Can you hear it as it rolls and echoes throughout all eternity?
Let us all be part of that great power for good.
I testify that time and space are no barriers to these righteous influences, and no matter where we are or what our situation is-even in the depths of discouragement, far from our loved ones-we too can feel and be strengthened by those soul-stirring words, "and bless John or Jane or whomever on his or her mission," for indeed life is a mission. We are all here on assignment to learn to love and serve one another; and we can't do this as well as we should unless we have consistent, fervent family prayer.
I testify that God is our Father, that he lives and loves us, that he is the giver of all good things. I testify that Jesus lives and loves us, that he is the Son of God, the Christ, the Savior of the world, the head of this, his church. I testify that as we pray to the Father, in his name, all things are possible.
May we all gather our families around us and consistently and fervently pray for one another and thus, in righteousness, feel the needs of others and then fill the needs of others, thereby fulfilling much of our mission in life, I do humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder L. Tom Perry
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
The assignment we were given for Saturday evening sessions of stake conference during the first half of 1982 was directed toward the theme "Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob." The objective of these meetings has been to inspire the members to obtain their own temple blessings, attend the temple in behalf of their deceased relatives and others, complete their four-generation records, extend research on family lines, and organize and strengthen the family organizations. The first instruction after the glorious First Vision to the Prophet Joseph Smith, in the act of restoring the gospel of Jesus Christ, was concerning the eternal family unit. History records this account in the words of the Prophet:
"A messenger sent from the presence of God to me, that his name was Moroni; and God had a work for me to do.
"After telling me these things, he commenced quoting the prophecies of the Old Testament.
"Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
" And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming."
Preparation for these conference sessions each weekend has aroused my interest in my own progenitors. I was impressed with the phrase that unless families are united together and the hearts of children are turned to their fathers, the whole earth would utterly be wasted at the Savior's return.
My interest in my family has prompted us to hold a special family home evening each month with my children. They are invited to bring their families into our home. As a part of the lesson of each of these family home evenings, I have tried to tell them about one of their progenitors. The oldest in the line I can remember is my grandfather, Henry Morgan Perry. As I prepared to give a lesson on his life, I became very excited about his accomplishments.
My father once wrote this tribute to his father:
"Father was a conservative. He never went into debt. When we didn't have it, we went without. He never mortgaged the farm. He was very reluctant to impose anything on his homestead. I've often heard him say that the only people who had their financial heads above water were the ones who hadn't mortgaged their farms. He was a public-spirited man. I remember four important positions he held. First was justice of the peace; second, school trustee; third, a member of a bishopric; and fourth, his work on the Great Feeder Canal. He was a pioneer in the development of irrigation in the fertile Snake River Valley."
Dad's account describes the tenderness with which grandfather taught his family. My father was one who desired an education and was earnestly seeking to get the best he could with the means available to him. When his father would see him struggling, he would give him fatherly lectures like, "My boy, be humble in your studies, and remember your prayers. Yes, and in your prayers, remember your studies."
Then dad tells of the time he became a little arrogant as he acquired a little knowledge. One day he challenged his father to a debate to be held after their church service. The subject was: "Resolved: That science has done more for the welfare of the human family than has religion."
The whole congregation stayed after to listen to the debate. Each speaker was allowed fifteen minutes with a rebuttal of three minutes. My father spoke first. He spoke of the progress science had made and how it had lifted up the standard of living of all. Then he stated how many failures religion had had in the past. Dad was a member of the debating society at school and was gifted in speech. He knew how to sway an audience. When he sat down, he thought he had convinced the people to throw away their Bibles and take up science.
Then grandfather got up. He had never had the privilege of having much schooling, but was an avid reader. He told how religions, many of them, had influenced the human family for good. He explained their merits, their excellence, and their worth. Then he sat down.
My father got up for rebuttal. He spent most of his time saying, "I have proven. I have proven." But each "I have proven" seemed to be a little less forceful as he thought of the sincerity of his father's message. Realizing this, he sat down.
Then grandfather arose. He didn't say much. He just added this: "I give all credit to science for what science has done. It has changed our way of life and, in a way, our thinking. It has built, encircled, and constructed. None of us want to go back to yesterday when today holds so much, and tomorrow even more. But with all of the credit to its progress, and all of the glory to its accomplishments, your scientists have not yet come up with anything that compares with the tenderness of a human heart."
Grandfather had won the debate. Even dad was convinced. He rushed over and threw his arms around him and congratulated him. Grandfather then said to dad, "My boy, remember this: There is more satisfaction in the humble teachings of the Master than all the glamour of a false ideal."
As you can see, from stories such as this I have developed a love for my grandfather.
I started looking at what has happened to his extended family since his death. Henry Morgan and Fannie Young Perry were blessed with 10 children, then 48 grandchildren, 161 great-grandchildren, 241 great-great-grandchildren, and now 22 great-great-great-grandchildren, a total of 482. Including their companions, their number reaches 639. Why, their posterity is a ward almost ready for division!
But in becoming acquainted, I've found that not all of the family have been blessed with a knowledge of the teachings of their grandfather. Not all have embraced the gospel. Suddenly I realized that I had a great work to do. Some of those 639 will not be part of his eternal family unit because they have not received the witness in their hearts of what they have to do to accomplish this.
I have discovered that certainly if there was a man qualified to inherit the celestial kingdom, it would have been my grandfather, Henry Morgan Perry. I am excited as I anticipate being with him in the eternities if I qualify myself. But then I start worrying about meeting grandfather and wondering how he will greet me. The realization comes to me again of the great work I have to accomplish. Because of this concern, I have researched the names of all the descendants of Henry Morgan Perry who have not taken advantage of the glorious privilege of becoming part of an eternal family unit. I have sent them letters inviting them to listen to me today. For the next few minutes I would like to address my remarks to these members of our family.
The Lord has declared, "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God." In the Lord's plan for the salvation of his children, he has made two points clear: first, Jesus Christ is the only name under heaven by which authority is given for man's salvation; and second, every man and woman must accept the gospel and receive its ordinances by authority, or they cannot be saved.
The prophets have instructed us concerning the eternity of the family organization. President Joseph F. Smith has said:
"Our associations are not exclusively intended for this life, for time, as we distinguish it from eternity. We form associations and relations for time and all eternity.
"A man and woman who have embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ and who have begun life together, should be able by their power, example and influence to cause their children to emulate them in lives of virtue, honor, and in integrity to the kingdom of God which will redound to their own interest and salvation. No one can advise my children with greater earnestness and solicitude for their happiness and salvation than I can myself. I cannot be satisfied without them. They are part of me. They are mine; God has given them to me, and I want them to be humble and submissive to the requirements of the gospel."
Now what are these ordinances we must partake of in order to qualify? Our faith has taught us that the principles and ordinances of the gospel are first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance; third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and fourth, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Following the acceptance of the first four principles of the gospel and a reasonable time in proving ourselves by conducting our lives in harmony with its teachings, it is then possible to enter the Lord's temple and receive the endowment.
Elder James E. Talmage has written this of the endowment:
"The ordinances of the endowment embody certain obligations on the part of the individual, such as covenant and promise to observe the law of strict virtue and chastity, to be charitable, benevolent, tolerant and pure; to devote both talent and material means to the spread of truth and the uplifting of the race; to maintain devotion to the cause of truth; and to seek in every way to contribute to the great preparation that the earth may be made ready to receive her King,-the Lord Jesus Christ. With the taking of each covenant and the assuming of each obligation a promised blessing is pronounced, contingent upon the faithful observance of the conditions."
After receiving your own endowment, you may be united with your companion and sealed in marriage for time and eternity. The Lord has said, "All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead."
Now, regarding our eternal relationship in temple marriage, President Ezra Taft Benson has told us:
"The family the most important organization in time and all eternity; the preservation of family life in time and eternity takes precedence above all other interests. Because of this confidence in the perpetuity of the home and family into the eternities, we build our most elaborate and expensive structures-temples of God so that man, woman, and their children may be bound together by covenant in an everlasting union which will transcend all the limitations of this mortal sphere."
How glorious are the Lord's teachings to his children that there can be eternal family associations with grandparents, parents, children, and grandchildren in one eternal family organization.
Now my dear family members who have not completed all that the Lord would require of you to become part of this great eternal family organization-I must confess that there are times when we focus so much on the worldwide impact of missionary programs, genealogical records extraction, on preparation to teach Sunday School classes, etc., that we fail to make ourselves available to help you understand the blessings which await you as part of an eternal family organization. I want you to know that I am now available. I have reordered my priorities. I want to do all in my power to be certain that our eternal family association is complete. Let us teach you the doctrines which are necessary for you to join with us for time and eternity.
I give you my witness that God is our eternal Father, that we are his children, that he has provided a way for us to have an eternal family organization that will endure beyond the grave. I give you my witness that this gift, the gift of life eternal, is the greatest gift of God to his children.
May God bless us that we may find the joy and satisfaction that come from learning gospel principles that will lead us to life eternal, is my humble prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Thomas S. Monson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
On February 14, 1939, Americans were celebrating Valentine's Day. Postmen delivered sealed envelopes, and small children placed at the doorsteps of special friends folded papers containing brightly colored pictures. Each contained a greeting-a message of love. After all, Valentine's Day is a day of love.
Far from America's shores, in Hamburg, Germany, a public holiday also was being celebrated. However, a more somber mood prevailed. Amid fervent speeches, cheering throngs, and the playing of the national anthem, the new battleship Bismarck rumbled down into the River Elbe. This, the most powerful vessel afloat, carried not a message of love; rather, the Bismarck bristled with weapons of war.
The mighty colossus was a breathtaking spectacle of armor and machinery. Construction required more than fifty-seven thousand blueprints for the 406-millimeter, triple turret, radar-controlled guns. The vessel featured twenty-eight thousand miles of electrical circuits, and thirty-five thousand tons of armor-plate provided maximum safety. Majestic in appearance, gigantic in size, awesome in firepower, the Bismarck was considered unsinkable.
The Bismarck's day of destiny dawned more than two years later, when on May 24, 1941, the two most powerful warships in the British navy, the Prince of Wales and the Hood, engaged in battle the Bismarck and the German cruiser Prinz Eugen. Within four minutes, the Bismarck had sent to the depths of the Atlantic the Hood and all but 3 men of a crew of 1,419. The other British battleship, the Prince of Wales, had suffered heavy damage and turned away.
Three days later, the Bismarck was engaged again, by four British warships. In all, the British concentrated the strength of eight battleships, two aircraft carriers, eleven cruisers, and twenty-one destroyers in an effort to seek and sink the mighty Bismarck.
Shell after shell inflicted but superficial damage. Was the Bismarck unsinkable after all? Then a torpedo scored a lucky hit which jammed the Bismarck's rudder. Repair efforts proved fruitless. With guns primed, the crews at ready, the Bismarck could only steer a slow and stately circle. Just beyond reach was the powerful German air force. The safety of home port was ever so close. Neither could provide the needed haven, for the Bismarck had lost the ability to steer a charted course. No rudder; no help; no port. The end drew near. British guns blazed as the German crew scuttled and sank the once proud vessel. The hungry waves of the Atlantic first lapped at the sides, then swallowed the pride of the German navy. The Bismarck was no more.
Like the Bismarck, each of us is a miracle of engineering. Our creation, however, was not limited by human genius. Man can devise the most complex machines, but he cannot give them life or bestow upon them the powers of reason and judgment. Why? Because these are divine gifts, bestowed solely at God's discretion. Our creator has provided us with a circulatory system to keep all channels constantly clean and serviceable, a digestive system to preserve strength and vigor, and a nervous system to keep all parts in constant communication and coordination. God gave man life, and with it, the power to think, to reason, to decide, and to love.
Like the vital rudder of a ship, we have been provided a way to determine the direction we travel. The lighthouse of the Lord beckons to all as we sail the seas of life. Our home port is the celestial kingdom of God. Our purpose is to steer an undeviating course in that direction. A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder-never likely to reach home port. To us comes the signal: Chart your course, set your sail, position your rudder, and proceed.
As with the ship, so it is with man. The thrust of the turbines, the power of the propellers are useless without that sense of direction, that harnessing of the energy, that directing of the power provided by the rudder, hidden from view, relatively small in size, but absolutely essential in function.
Our Father provided the sun, the moon, the stars-heavenly galaxies to guide mariners who sail the lanes of the sea. To all who walk the pathways of life, He cautions: Beware the detours, the pitfalls, the traps. Cunningly positioned are those clever pied pipers of sin beckoning here or there. Do not be deceived. Pause to pray. Listen to that still, small voice which speaks to the depths of our souls the Master's gentle invitation: "Come, follow me". We turn from destruction, from death. We find happiness and life everlasting.
Yet, there are those who do not hear, who will not obey, who listen to the beat of a different drummer. Most prominent among their number was that son of Adam born of Eve, even Cain-a well-known name among men. Powerful in potential, but weak of will, Cain permitted greed, envy, disobedience, and even murder to jam that personal rudder which would have guided him to safety and exaltation. The downward gaze replaced the upward look; Cain fell.
Less known, but more typical of our day, was that person of power, that cardinal of the cloth-even Wolsey. The prolific pen of William Shakespeare described the majestic heights, the pinnacle of power to which Cardinal Wolsey ascended. That same pen told how principle was eroded by vain ambition, by expediency, by a clamor for favor. Then came the tragic descent, the painful lament of one who had gained everything, then lost all. The words are beautiful; they border on scripture.
To Cromwell, his faithful servant, Cardinal Wolsey speaks:
That heavenly rudder which would have ever been a guide to safety was ruined by the pursuit of power and quest for position. Like others before him and many more yet to follow, Cardinal Wolsey fell.
In an earlier time and by a wicked king, a servant of God was tested. Aided by the inspiration of heaven, Daniel, son of David, interpreted to the king the writing on the wall. Concerning the proffered rewards-even a royal robe and a necklace of gold-Daniel said: "Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another."
Belshazzar's successor, King Darius, also honored Daniel, elevating him to the highest position of prominence. There followed the envy of the crowd, the jealousy of princes, and the scheming of ambitious men.
Through trickery, aided by flattery, King Darius signed a proclamation that provided that anyone who made a request of any god or man, except the king, should be thrown into the lions' den. The law was signed, the proclamation sent forth. Prayer was forbidden. In such matters, Daniel took direction not from an earthly king but from the king of heaven and earth, his God. Overtaken in his daily prayers, Daniel was brought before the king. Reluctantly, the penalty was pronounced. Daniel was to be thrown into the lions' den. The sentence was carried out.
I love the biblical account which follows:
"The king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting and his sleep went from him.
"The king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions.
"And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel. O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?
"Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.
"My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me.
"Then was the king exceeding glad. Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God."
In a time of critical need, Daniel's determination to steer a steady course yielded divine protection and provided a sanctuary of safety.
The clock of history, like the sands of the hourglass, marks the passage of time. A new cast occupies the stage of life. The problems of our day loom ominously before us. Surrounded by the sophistication of modern living, we look heavenward for that unfailing sense of direction, that we might chart and follow a wise and proper course. He whom we call our Heavenly Father will not leave our sincere petition unanswered.
This lesson I learned anew some years ago as I received a rather unique and frightening assignment. Folkman D. Brown, then the Director of Mormon Relationships for the Boy Scouts of America, came to my office, having learned that I was about to depart for a lengthy assignment to New Zealand. He told me of his widowed sister, Belva Jones, who had been stricken with terminal cancer, who knew not how to tell her only son-a missionary in that far away country. Her wish, even her plea, was that he remain in the mission field and serve faithfully. She worried about his reaction; for the missionary, Elder Ryan Jones, had lost his father just a year earlier to the same dread disease.
I accepted the responsibility. Following a missionary meeting held adjacent to the majestically beautiful New Zealand Temple, I met privately with Elder Jones and, as gently as I could, explained the situation of his mother. Naturally there were tears-not all his-but then the handclasp of assurance and the pledge: "Tell my mother I will serve, I will pray, and I will see her again."
I returned to Salt Lake City just in time to attend a conference of the Lost River Stake at Moore, Idaho. As I sat on the stand with the stake president, my attention was drawn almost instinctively to the east side of the chapel, where the morning sunlight bathed the lone occupant of a front bench. I said to the stake president, "Who is the sister upon whom the sunlight is resting? I feel I must speak to her today." He replied, "Her name is Belva Jones. She has a missionary son in New Zealand. She is very ill and has requested a blessing."
Prior to that moment, I had not known where Belva Jones lived. My assignment that weekend could have been to any one of fifty stakes. Yet the Lord, in His own way, had answered the prayer of faith of a concerned mother. We had a wonderful visit together. I reported word-for-word the reaction and the resolve of her son, Ryan. A blessing was provided, a prayer offered, a witness received. Belva Jones would live to see her son complete his mission. This privilege she enjoyed. Just one month prior to her passing, his mission completed, Ryan returned home.
As we venture forth on our individual voyages, may we sail safely the seas of life. With the never-failing rudder of faith guiding our passage, we too will find our way safely home. "Home is the sailor, home from sea." Home to family, home to friends, home to heaven, home to God.
Of this truth I testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My beloved brethren and sisters, with a heart full of gratitude I stand before you today, thankful for your faith and prayers, for life itself and all its blessings. Today, at this Easter time, I will speak a few words about what constitutes a valiant testimony of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.
A most priceless blessing available to every member of the Church is a testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ and His church. A testimony is one of the few possessions we may take with us when we leave this life.
To have a testimony of Jesus is to possess knowledge through the Holy Ghost of the divine mission of Jesus Christ.
A testimony of Jesus is to know the divine nature of our Lord's birth-that He is indeed the Only Begotten Son in the flesh.
A testimony of Jesus is to know that He was the promised Messiah and that while He sojourned among men He accomplished many mighty miracles.
A testimony of Jesus is to know that the laws which He prescribed as His doctrine are true and then to abide by these laws and ordinances.
To possess a testimony of Jesus is to know that He voluntarily took upon Himself the sins of all mankind in the Garden of Gethsemane, which caused Him to suffer in both body and spirit and to bleed from every pore. All this He did so that we would not have to suffer if we would repent.
To possess a testimony of Jesus is to know that He came forth triumphantly from the grave with a physical, resurrected body. And because He lives, so shall all mankind.
To possess a testimony of Jesus is to know that God the Father and Jesus Christ did indeed appear to the Prophet Joseph Smith to establish a new dispensation of His gospel so that salvation may be preached to all nations before He comes.
To possess a testimony of Jesus is to know that the Church which He established in the meridian of time and restored in modern times is, as the Lord has declared, "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth."
To possess a testimony of Jesus is to receive the words of His servants, the prophets, for as He has said, "whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same."
A testimony of Jesus means that you accept the divine mission of Jesus Christ, embrace His gospel, and do His works; it means you accept the prophetic mission of Joseph Smith and his successors.
Speaking of those who will eventually receive the blessings of the celestial kingdom, the Lord said to Joseph Smith: "They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given." These are they who are valiant in their testimony of Jesus, who, as the Lord has declared "overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true."
"Those who are just and true"! What an apt expression for one valiant in the testimony of Jesus. They are courageous in defending truth and righteousness. These are members of the Church who magnify their callings in the Church, pay their tithes and offerings, live morally clean lives, sustain their Church leaders by word and action, keep the Sabbath as a holy day, and obey all the commandments of God.
To these the Lord has promised that "all thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, shall be revealed and set forth upon all who have endured valiantly for the gospel of Jesus Christ."
Concerning those who will receive the terrestrial, or lesser, kingdom, the Lord said, "These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore, they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God." Not to be valiant in one's testimony is a tragedy of eternal consequence. These are members who know this latter-day work is true, but who fail to endure to the end. Some may even hold temple recommends, but do not magnify their callings in the Church. Without valor, they do not take an affirmative stand for the kingdom of God. Some seek the praise, adulation, and honors of men; others attempt to conceal their sins; and a few criticize those who preside over them.
Considering some of the challenges which the Church faces currently, and which it will continue to face in the future, three statements of former Church leaders come to mind.
President Joseph F. Smith said, "There are at least three dangers that threaten the Church within, they are flattery of prominent men in the world, false educational ideas, and sexual impurity." These three dangers are of greater concern today than when they were identified by President Smith.
A second statement was a prophecy by Heber C. Kimball, counselor to President Brigham Young. Speaking to members of the Church who had come to the Salt Lake Valley, he declared:
"To meet the difficulties that are coming, it will be necessary for you to have a knowledge of the truth of this work for yourselves. The difficulties will be of such a character that the man or woman who does not possess this personal knowledge or witness will fall. If you have not got the testimony, live right and call upon the Lord and cease not till you obtain it. If you do not you will not stand.
"The time will come when no man nor woman will be able to endure on borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within himself.
"If you don't have it you will not stand; therefore seek for the testimony of Jesus and cleave to it, that when the trying time comes you may not stumble and fall."
The third statement is from President Harold B. Lee, my boyhood companion and friend, and eleventh President of the Church:
"We have some tight places to go before the Lord is through with this church and the world in this dispensation, which is the last dispensation, which shall usher in the coming of the Lord. The gospel was restored to prepare a people ready to receive him. The power of Satan will increase; we see it in evidence on every hand. There will be inroads within the Church. We will see those who profess membership but secretly are plotting and trying to lead people not to follow the leadership that the Lord has set up to preside in this church.
"Now the only safety we have as members of this church is to do exactly what the Lord said to the Church in that day when the Church was organized. We must learn to give heed to the words and commandments that the Lord shall give through his prophet, 'as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith.' There will be some things that take patience and faith. You may not like what comes from the authority of the Church. But if you listen to these things, as if from the mouth of the Lord himself, with patience and faith, the promise is that 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name's glory.' "
Now, it seems to me that we have within those three prophetic statements the counsel we need, the counsel that is necessary to stay valiant in our testimony of Jesus and of the work of His church in these troubled times.
One who rationalizes that he or she has a testimony of Jesus Christ but cannot accept direction and counsel from the leadership of His church is in a fundamentally unsound position and is in jeopardy of losing exaltation.
There are some who want to expose the weaknesses of Church leaders in an effort to show that they, too, are subject to human frailties and error like unto themselves. Let me illustrate the danger of this questionable philosophy.
President Brigham Young revealed that on one occasion he was tempted to be critical of the Prophet Joseph Smith regarding a certain financial matter. He said that the feeling did not last for more than perhaps thirty seconds. That feeling, he said, caused him great sorrow in his heart. The lesson he gave to members of the Church in his day may well be increased in significance today because the devil continues more active:
"I clearly saw and understood, by the spirit of revelation manifested to me, that if I was to harbor a thought in my heart that Joseph could be wrong in anything, I would begin to lose confidence in him, and that feeling would grow from step to step, and from one degree to another, until at last I would have the same lack of confidence in his being the mouthpiece for the Almighty.
"I repented of my unbelief, and that too, very suddenly; I repented about as quickly as I committed the error. It was not for me to question whether Joseph was dictated by the Lord at all times and under all circumstances.
"It was not my prerogative to call him in question with regard to any act of his life. He was God's servant, and not mine. He did not belong to the people but to the Lord, and was doing the work of the Lord."
From the days of my youth, I have gratefully cherished a testimony of the truth of this glorious work in which we are engaged. I want you to know of my love for President Spencer W. Kimball-and how grateful we are that he is here with us at the closing session. I feel the same toward his counselors, and my brethren of the Twelve, the Seventy, and the Bishopric. I know them to be men appointed by our Lord, under the inspiration of heaven. I sustain their inspired words and counsel and testify to you of the unity that we all feel among the General Authorities of this Church.
I love you, the members of the Church. I love all our Father's children and desire all to realize the blessings of eternal life, and I know that is what the Lord, our Savior and Redeemer, desires for each one of us.
My appeal to all members of the Church is to be valiant-true and loyal, "True to the faith that our parents have cherished, True to the truth for which martyrs have perished, To God's command, Soul, heart, and hand, Faithful and true we ever stand."
I bear testimony that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. He presides over it and is close to His servants. God bless us all to be valiant in our testimony of Him, I pray. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder A. Theodore Tuttle
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
If we were to speak of the very center of spiritual strength in the Church, surely it must be the sacred ordinances of the temple of the Lord.
It is not generally known that almost the first words of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph-the intent of the gathering and building up of the Church-and almost the last words of the Lord to the Prophet pertained to temple work.
After the wondrous First Vision of the Prophet in the spring of 1820, three and a half years passed. The next divine manifestation he had was when the angel Moroni appeared to him. He told Joseph about the Book of Mormon.
Because of the preeminence of this message, most people do not realize that Moroni brought another momentous message! First he quoted, with some variation, the prophecy of Malachi:
"Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
"And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.
"If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming."
Moroni also quoted from Isaiah, Acts, Joel, and "many other passages of scripture."
The prophecy of Malachi concerning Elijah was treated differently from all other scriptures quoted by Moroni. It was considered of such unique importance that it now appears as section 2 in the Doctrine and Covenants.
Moroni's message signaled to the Prophet that Elijah soon would appear. The foreordained events pertaining to temple work began to unroll like a scroll. Less than a year and a half after the organization of the Church, the Prophet dedicated the site for the temple in Jackson County, Missouri. But the Saints were prevented from building it.
Then followed a score of significant events pertaining to the building of the house of the Lord.
The first temple completed was Kirtland-built under great difficulties. The dedication of this temple was accompanied by the visitation of angels and fire resting upon the temple. Some saw visions and experienced other glorious manifestations.
On the third of April, 1836, one week after the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, the monumental event occurred! The Savior appeared and accepted the temple. Moses and Elias also came. Then, Malachi's prophecy was fulfilled-for Elijah the prophet stood before them and said:
"Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi-testifying that he should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come-
"To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse-
"Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors."
That event occurred 146 years ago yesterday, on the day that the Jews were celebrating their traditional ritual. For more than two millennia the Jews have looked for the coming of Elijah. Even today, in connection with the feast of the Passover, they will reenact the scene as they have done for centuries: they will set a place at their table, reserve an empty chair, open the door, raise their cups, and rise as if to greet Elijah.
Elijah has returned! Thanks be to God! He bestowed his keys! Work could now commence in the temples to weld eternal links between husbands and wives, between parents and children, through the sealing power of God.
It is essential to obtain the sealing power of the holy priesthood so that whatsoever an authorized officiator shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever he shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. For in the sacred ordinances and through this sacred power come glory and honor and eternal life.
It is by this power that husband and wife are sealed in a never-ending bond of marriage. It is by this power that a welding link is forged between children and parents. This is the holy power that is exercised in the temple. It is the power that validates all ordinances in the Church. This is the consummate authority in the kingdom of God.
Without the authority and use of that power, in all ages of the world, none of our Heavenly Father's children can enter His presence or ever become like Him! And if this were not so, the whole purpose of existence would be useless. That is why the Lord said "the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming."
Almost the last words of the Lord to the Prophet, so far as we can tell, also pertained to temple work. The Lord commanded the Prophet to build a temple in Nauvoo. The Saints set about to do it.
Prior to its completion, the Lord revealed His sacred ordinances, "things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fulness of times." The order of performing baptism for the dead was revealed. Also the Lord required that witnesses verify the performance of ordinances, "that in all your recordings it may be recorded in heaven."
Finally, the members of the Twelve Apostles were endowed and the sealing authority conveyed to them, thereafter never to be lost. They could now carry on the fulness of the gospel. These crucial things the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph only months before his martyrdom.
From this brief account of significant events in the life of the Prophet, it becomes apparent that his first and foremost duty was to build temples and restore the sealing power to perform sacred and eternal ordinances.
All the prophets since his time have likewise shown a concern for this work. During President Kimball's presidency more temples have been constructed than in any other time. We are now truly taking temples to the people.
And now, brothers and sisters, I want to testify concerning this sacred work. I know that it is true. The principles are eternal. The ordinances are divine-they are eternal-framed before the world was. You and I are responsible to carry on this work. The Lord has no one else to do it.
Surely this is not an onerous burden! It is a privilege. A temple recommend is one of the highest accolades we may receive. To use it regularly permits us to participate in the choicest gifts within the keeping of the Church. Those who attend feel a special spirit there. Peace comes. I know that their service there assists a departed one to gain exaltation. And I know that they in turn qualify for blessings from the other side of the veil. And I know that blessings will follow you home from the temple.
God lives. Jesus is the Christ. This is the consummate work of the kingdom. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
20 July 1831
Temple at Independence, Missouri, announced.
1 Aug. 1831
Missouri and temple site directed to be dedicated.
3 Aug. 1831
The Prophet dedicates temple site in Jackson County, Missouri.
1831
Doctrines and principles of the new and everlasting covenant revealed, but not recorded until 12 July 1843.
22 Sept. 1832
New Jerusalem and temple prophesied.
27 Dec. 1832
Saints commanded to establish a "house of God".
1 June 1833
Saints in Missouri again commanded to build a temple, in which they will be endowed with power.
23 July 1833
Cornerstones of Kirtland Temple laid.
2 Aug. 1833
Further revelation on temple in Missouri, which is to be built after "the pattern."
21 Jan. 1836
Doctrine of salvation for the dead revealed.
27 Mar. 1836
Dedicatory prayer for Kirtland Temple recorded.
3 Apr. 1836
Elijah comes, sealing keys restored.
26 Apr. 1838
Saints commanded to build a temple at Far West.
8 July 1838
Tithes directed to be used for building temples.
26 Apr. 1839
Cornerstones of Far West Temple laid.
19 Jan. 1841
Saints commanded to build Nauvoo Temple.
1 Sept. 1842
Saints instructed to keep a record of ordinances.
6 Sept. 1842
Saints instructed to have witnesses at ordinances; various doctrines and principles explained.
16–17 May 1843
Doctrine of Sealing expounded.
This declaration by Moroni was placed as section 1 in the Book of Commandments. After the Preface was given to the Book of Commandments on November 1, 1831, this revelation was then made section 2. Today it is found as section 2 in the Doctrine and Covenants.
Elder G. Homer Durham
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
By the testimony of skilled physicians, you are looking at a miracle as you see me at this pulpit. And I would be most ungrateful if I did not acknowledge before my Heavenly Father his intervention, the blessings of the holy priesthood, the support and prayers of my beloved wife, my brethren, family, and many here today.
Now, with the help of the Spirit, I would like to speak of the future history of the Church, and do it by means of an example from our past history.
The quarterly conference of the Parowan Stake in December 1879 witnessed the call of forty-nine men and their families to a new mission. The call came from President John Taylor and the Twelve through Elder Erastus Snow. Later, others from nearby settlements joined the final company. What followed became the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition, an epic in Church history. Two hundred fifty of our people, with eighty wagons and hundreds of loose cattle and horses, cut their way through the rough, unknown country of southeastern Utah. The area traversed remains one of the least-known regions of the world today. Their objective was the San Juan country. In addition to desert cliffs and canyons, the forbidding Colorado River gorge stood in their way. No highway bridge crossed that gorge until 1934. No commercial airline flew from Utah to Arizona, near their route, until 1959.
Seeking the shortest route, Mormon explorers found a narrow slit in Glen Canyon. The river ran two thousand feet below the red cliffs. This "Hole in the Rock" seemed to offer the shortest route.
Only a slit in the sheer cliffs, the hole was too narrow for teams, or in some places even for a man. Sheer drops of as much as seventy-five feet made it impossible even for a mountain sheep, let alone loaded wagons. In December 1879, after having left the Parowan and Cedar valleys the previous April, the Saints began to cut a precipitous, primitive road with blasting powder and tools. Elder Platte D. Lyman, leading the party, found that if a road could be built, it would drop eight feet every sixteen and one-half, the first third of the way to the river. Thereafter came several sheer precipices. But the party was prepared. With faith, they were equipped not only for blasting cliffs and carving passages, but for building a raft-boat capable of carrying teams and wagons across the river.
A road was built and a boat made by January 25, 1880. Now came the effort to get families and the first forty wagons, camped at the rim, down the "Hole." The others, back at Fifty-Mile Spring, would follow later.
Kumen Jones has left a description of the method of descent. Twenty men and boys would hold long ropes back of each wagon. The wheels were brake-locked with chains. Otherwise, rolling wheels would pitch, unchecked, into the struggling team. On January 26, 1880, a month later, Platte D. Lyman recorded in his journal: "Today we worked all the wagons in this camp down the Hole and ferried 26 of them across the river. The boat is worked by 1 pair of oars and does very well."
The family of Joseph Stanford Smith and his wife, Arabella, was the last wagon to descend that day. A grandson, Raymond Smith Jones, has described their experience. I doubt that a modern film company, with millions of dollars and modern engineering resources, could film this epic.
Stanford Smith had helped the preceding wagons down that long day. His outfit had evidently been forgotten. Deeply disturbed, he climbed the two-thousand-foot incline. He found Arabella sitting on a quilt, holding the baby, patiently waiting. His outfit and their two other children in the wagon were hidden behind a huge, mountainous rock.
Stanford Smith moved his load to the edge. A third horse was hitched to the rear axle. Stanford and Arabella looked down the "Hole." He said, "I am afraid we can't make it."
The wife replied, "We must make it."
He said, "If we only had a few men to hold the wagon back we might make it, Belle."
Replied his wife, "I'll do the holding back."
A quilt was laid on the ground. There she placed the baby between the legs of three-year-old Roy. "Hold little brother til papa comes for you," she said. Ada, the older girl, was placed in front of them. Behind the wagon Belle Smith grasped the reins of the horse hitched to the rear. Stanford started the team down the "Hole." The wagon lurched downward. The rear horse and Belle were thrown from their feet. Recovering, she hung back, pulling on the lines with all her strength and courage. A jagged rock cut a cruel gash in her leg from heel to hip. The horse behind the wagon fell to his haunches. The half-dead animal was dragged down most of the way. The gallant woman, clothes torn, with a grievous wound, later said, "I crow-hopped right along!"
On reaching the bottom, Stanford and Arabella heard a faint call from the children. Joseph Stanford Smith climbed to the top to get them. They were safely in place. Carrying the baby, the other children clinging to him and to each other, he led them down the rocky crack. As they approached the river's edge, they saw five men carrying chains and ropes in the distance. The Smiths had been missed. The men were coming to help. Stanford called out, "Forget it, fellows. My wife here is all the help a fellow needs."
The history of the Church is filled with such thrilling episodes. This history is the heritage of the most recent convert, whether in Asia, Africa, or elsewhere in the world. As Paul wrote to the Galatians, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ."
"And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise."
We face serious challenges today. Are Latter-day Saint homes throughout the world producing men and women of courage, and obedient children? Will our children stay in place and not fall into the dangerous defiles of life? What kind of history are Latter-day Saints today producing for the future history of the Church?
The plains and oceans have been crossed. The Hole-in-the-Rock has been conquered. How are we laboring today?
Great events lie before us, leading to the second coming of Christ. What is the significance of the many new temples that are being announced? What is implied for us in the revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1831: "The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth."
There is a great Church history behind us. There is an even greater Church history ahead of us for every member, every unit of the Church. That history is being made every day, some way, in Korea, in the Philippines, in the Andes, and in every stake.
The vision of the New Jerusalem has moved generations of mankind. It has moved our people. We look to the day when "Christ will reign personally upon the earth." But, as the prophet Malachi asked, "Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?" Let us prepare to abide the day of his coming by building Zion in our hearts, in our families, as we make pages for the future history of the Church. President Kimball has told us repeatedly to beautify our lives, our homes. He has challenged us to render more Christlike service.
I testify that the gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith is the power of God unto salvation, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, that God the Father lives, and that President Spencer W. Kimball is the Lord's living prophet today. If we respond to his prophetic leadership as the Hole-in-the-Rock pioneers did to the call of President Taylor, we will help prepare the time when Christ shall reign "King of Kings, and Lord of Lords."
We must prepare now to "abide the day of his coming." The future history of the Church can then be marked by successful passage through times of trial and adversity. That we may each do our part, loving the Lord and our fellowmen in doing so, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder F. Enzio Busche
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
There has never been a time in the entire history of mankind when marriage and the institution of the family have been so endangered as in this generation. Nearly all the circumstances that have made family life in the past the most natural way for people to live together have changed-and it has all happened in the brief span of the last seventy years.
Just a little over a generation ago, members of the average family had to work a long day to provide a humble living, and the dark evenings found them huddled around a fire, enjoying one another's company in singing and sharing personal experiences. This was the natural way for education and entertainment and was nearly the perfect environment for a harmonious family life.
Today influences from literally unlimited sources through the media of radio, television, and print, together with numerous inventions of modern civilization, have drastically changed the historical cultural setting of the family. In this time of special challenge for marriage and the family, the Lord has restored, through his prophets in these latter days, the eternal dimension of that sacred covenant between husband and wife and has charged us with a new awareness of the real purpose of the family.
The integrity of this covenant became the center of revealed gospel truths in these latter days, well summarized by the late prophet David O. McKay, who said, "No other success can compensate for failure in the home." It is obvious that in marriage today we cannot rely merely on patterns of the past without developing, perfecting, and putting into action that power that the Lord has given us as the greatest commandment-the commandment to love one another.
Still, after nearly two thousand years, the people of the world are refusing to accept the words of the Savior found in Matthew, chapter 5:
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."
This love that Christ is teaching us is not the same as the world's love. It does not mean just to love the one who is nice, who behaves well and is respected, powerful, and influential. Our Heavenly Father, through his prophets in these latter days, calls us to develop the love of God as a power from above that cannot be threatened through outward circumstances. This love of God, according to the prophet Nephi of the Book of Mormon, has to be achieved and is "the most desirable above all things."
However, as King Benjamin, another great Book of Mormon leader, teaches us, this love of God will not be in us as long as we remain in our natural state. "The natural man is an enemy to God," he explains. We have to overcome this natural man-this "enemy to God"-our natural self. According to King Benjamin, we have to learn to listen to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and literally make a covenant with God, accepting the atonement of the Savior, and becoming as a child-submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, and willing to submit to all things, even as a child submits to his father.
What a powerful message, and what a challenging responsibility! We have to learn to commit ourselves every day anew, to have our lives centered around this-the key commandment from God to his children.
Moroni, another Book of Mormon prophet, tells us how we can achieve this love:
"But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God."
Our Heavenly Father wants us to fill ourselves with this love-this love which is without condition. Filled with this love, we are prepared to receive the admonition to take upon ourselves the cross of our daily lives and in humility learn to follow in his footsteps, according to the Savior's words found in Matthew, chapter 10:
"And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
"He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."
A marriage that is built on this foundation of unconditional love in the covenant and oath of the eternal dimension does not know the two self-centered individuals living together as we often observe in today's society. In the marriage that is built on the cornerstone of unconditional love, which is the love of God, the idea of divorce is unthinkable, and even short separations bring unquenchable pain. Separations and divorces are a sign of weakness and sometimes wickedness.
The Lord has given a clear teaching in behalf of the sacredness of the marriage covenant. We read in Matthew, chapter 19, the words of the Savior to the Pharisees:
"Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
"And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
"And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
"Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
"They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
"He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so."
The only way that we will not be suffering from the hardness of our hearts, as Christ explains, is to build within ourselves that power of love, literally asking our Heavenly Father for this gift of love-and becoming a Saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord and becoming as a child in humility, that we can be filled with this unconditional love, and in this love, being in the Spirit and with this Spirit, being directed in all the challenges of our lives.
We know that we, in our imperfect bodies and in our strivings for perfection, are confronted with situations where members of our own families, or even a spouse, can behave like an enemy. Then the time comes when love as a power is needed and tested, for the person who has earned love the least needs it the most.
In closing I want to share with you a personal experience. One day when circumstances made it necessary for me to be at home at an unusual time, I witnessed from another room how our eleven-year-old son, just returning from school, was directing ugly words towards his younger sister. They were words that offended me-words that I had never thought our son would use. My first natural reaction in my anger was to get up and go after him. Fortunately, I had to walk across the room and open a door before I could reach him, and I remember in those few seconds I fervently prayed to my Heavenly Father to help me to handle the situation. Peace came over me. I was no longer angry.
Our son, being shocked to see me home, was filled with fear when I approached him. To my surprise I heard myself saying, "Welcome home, son!" and I extended my hand as a greeting. And then in a formal style I invited him to sit close to me in the living room for a personal talk. I heard myself expressing my love for him. I talked with him about the battle that every one of us has to fight each day within ourselves.
As I expressed my confidence in him, he broke into tears, confessing his unworthiness and condemning himself beyond measure. Now it was my role to put his transgression in the proper perspective and to comfort him. A wonderful spirit came over us, and we ended up crying together, hugging each other in love and finally in joy. What could have been a disastrous confrontation between father and son became, through the help from the powers above, one of the most beautiful experiences of our relationship that we both have never forgotten.
Brothers and sisters, I know that God lives, that this is his church, that these are the days of preparation and warning; and I testify that when we are not fully exercising the love of God as a power as he has commanded us to do, our marriages will not be strong, our families will be weak, and our own salvation will be in jeopardy. I bear you this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder W. Grant Bangerter
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Others today here have spoken about the temple, but last November, at the dedication of the Jordan River Temple, we held three services a day for five days, and we didn't say it all. This is a good time to talk about temples, and I would like to explain what temples are for. As a people, the Latter-day Saints have accomplished a magnificent work in the temples. They serve with commendable devotion to find the names of deceased relatives, to work in extracting names from the records, and then to perform the ordinances for the redemption of the dead as well as for themselves. Over sixteen thousand temple workers give voluntary service in the temples, thus approaching in numbers the force of full-time missionaries who are proclaiming the gospel.
This is a day of prophetic fulfillment. As Isaiah said twenty-seven hundred years ago:
"It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."
The meaning, depth, and power of that expression can only be perceived by those who know about temples.
We are passing through a remarkable period in connection with the temples. Four more new temples were announced last week. The past two years have seen the number of temples, including those in operation and those in planning or under construction, increase from twenty-one to forty-one. Three of these have been dedicated and have commenced their operation in the same period. Nothing of like nature has taken place in the entire history of the Church. The stake conferences now being conducted throughout the Church are to teach the Latter-day Saints more about our mission to serve in the house of the Lord.
I think it will serve a purpose, however, to mention some generalizations and misconceptions about temples which have developed which show a less than perfect understanding. For example, it is sometimes said:
My genealogy has all been done.
Computers and the name extraction will do the work for me.
Temple work is for the dead.
Temple work is for old people.
We go to the temple to do a name.
Going to the temple is optional.
As we study the scriptures, we learn that the doctrine of the temple requires the following of the Latter-day Saints:
First, the building of temples.
Second, going to the temple for our blessings.
Third, returning to perform the ordinances for deceased relatives.
Fourth, doing the work for others as well.
Fifth, frequent attendance for personal spiritual benefit.
What are all these temples for?
First: Temples are for the living members of the Church. Going to the temple is not optional. Temples are "a place of instruction for all those who are called to the work of the ministry that they may be perfected in understanding in all things pertaining to the kingdom of God on the earth." "Therefore, verily I say unto you, that your anointings, and your washings, your solemn assemblies, and your oracles in your most holy places for the glory, honor, and endowment of municipals are ordained by the ordinance of my holy house, which my people are always commanded to build unto my holy name."
The endowment in the temple is a necessary and sacred blessing as essential for the members of the Church as baptism. Thereafter come the sealings of wives to their husbands and of children to their parents. Without these blessings there is no fulness of the gospel. Without them, said Moroni, the "earth would be utterly wasted at his coming."
Countless families in distant areas have never had this privilege. Even in areas where temples have been established for generations, half of the families have never been sealed together. Temple work is for the living members of the Church.
Second: Temple work is for the redemption of the dead. The scriptures and the doctrine, however, refer more specifically to a particular group of the dead. Malachi spoke about "binding" fathers to children and children to fathers. Joseph Smith emphasized temple blessings for our kindred dead, our dead. The emphasis is on the family. The priority is to seek out our own deceased relatives.
Your genealogy has not all been done. My own grandparents performed "all" the temple work for their deceased relatives fifty-five years ago. Since that time our family has discovered sixteen thousand others. In areas where new temples are being built, this work is just beginning. The controlled extraction process being carried on in many of the stakes of the Church with such great devotion and success does not touch those of the more recent generations and will not save those of our own close relationship. It is, however, of immeasurable value as the more distant generations are reached.
And may we always remember that we perform the temple ordinances for people and not for names. Those we call "the dead" are alive in the spirit and are present in the temple.
The purpose of the Church, then, is to have a prepared people, ready to receive the temples as they are completed. It would be unfortunate to build temples around the earth and have them stand largely idle. One way to prepare people is to give a strong sermon. Sometimes the result is that we feel guilty. Then after two weeks this feeling wears off, and we get over it. The answer to having a prepared people lies with the leadership of the priesthood.
In Chile, for example, where I served at the time the temple in Santiago was announced, it was found that among one hundred thousand members only three thousand men had been ordained to the priesthood. Thus, since they must have the priesthood to enter the temple, only a limited number would be qualified. We determined, therefore, that we would prepare at least ten thousand men to be thus ordained so that they with their faithful companions could then go to the temple.
The Saints in Chile have also undertaken the responsibility to prepare one hundred thousand names of their deceased relatives to take with them to the temple by the time it is ready. Similar preparations are being made in other areas.
Now, where temples have long been established, it is time for a renewed and continuing preparation. This is the work of home teachers, quorum presidents, bishops, and especially high priests, as well as all others involved in teaching the gospel. I remember one elders quorum president who determined that his leadership objective would be to help every member in his quorum to go to the temple. His initial report stated that all but six had qualified. He later reported that all but three had gone before he was released. After his release, however, they "got" the other three.
Having the privilege of working each day in the administration of the temples, I am constantly impressed with the richness, the holiness, and the glory of the blessings administered there. Questions come to us about the ordinances performed in the temple. We, of course, are not permitted to discuss them outside the temple, because of their sacred nature. Others press for a preparatory orientation so that those who enter the temple will not be confused. I want to emphasize that the preparation to enter the temple lies in the gospel. Nothing is said or done in the temple which does not have its foundation in the scriptures.
The gospel is faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. This implies a willingness to accept His doctrine and take upon us His name, being obedient to His commandments. The gospel is repentance and a cleansing from all iniquity. It is baptism whereby we have made the covenant and promise. It is the right to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost, which, when we have a correct frame of mind, will teach us as we go through the temple. The gospel is the scriptures. The answer to almost any appropriate question about the temple will be found in the scriptures for those who seek it. The gospel is prayer, humility, teachableness, charity. It is commitment and it is covenant and ordinances. It is also blessings.
Now may I give some counsel to teachers, bishops, and stake presidents. No one, of course, will learn all about the temple by only one experience; but if you want to prepare your people for the temple, teach them the gospel. Don't try to teach them what goes on in the temple-we go to the temple to learn about that. If these gospel principles are properly established in our lives, we will understand the temple all right. If they are not in place, nothing else can help, and those lacking that knowledge ought not yet to go.
May God bless this people to embrace the blessings and perform the sacred service provided in the temples, is my sincere prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder David B. Haight
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I'm going to ask you to pause for a moment and recall the feeling that you just had as you stood and joined in the singing of "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet", as you looked upon our living prophet.
Never have I experienced the spontaneous outpouring of love that we witnessed during our singing of that great song. We felt the love taught by the Savior.
I hope that all of you will recall this experience, will remember it, will write it down. Perhaps you might say that words really cannot describe the way you felt as you looked up here at our prophet. Maybe you felt as I did-that my heart would burst. May that become part of your history.
In the hearts of all mankind, of whatever race or station in life, there are inexpressible longings for something they do not now possess. This longing is implanted in man by a loving Creator.
It is God's design that this longing of the human heart should lead to the one who alone is able to satisfy it. That fulness is found only in Jesus the Christ, the Son of our Eternal Father in Heaven. Paul declared, "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell."
Jesus Christ was chosen and ordained to be the one and only Savior and Redeemer of the world. To the brother of Jared He said:
"Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name."
He taught His disciples:
"I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
"That every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."
Today, much of the world is celebrating Palm Sunday-commemorating our Lord's entrance into Jerusalem. The multitudes, as described by Matthew and John, "spread their garments in the way", and "took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him".
It was the time of the annual feast of the Passover. For some time the chief priests of the Sanhedrin had conspired together to find an excuse for taking Jesus and plotted to put Him to death. They felt their opportunity had arrived.
The day preceding the eating of the Passover, Jesus instructed His disciples where to find a room so they could meet together and receive His instructions. In that room Jesus met with the Twelve, and they sat down to eat. After they had finished, Jesus taught them and ministered to them. He washed their feet and said to them:
"Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
"If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet." Then He taught them:
"Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
"Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come;
"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
He continued to teach:
"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
"And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know."
But Thomas asked, "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?" The Savior replied:
"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
"If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him."
"I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father."
"Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you."
While in that upper room, Jesus, initiating the sacrament, picked up bread, brake it, prayed over it, and passed it to the disciples, saying:
"This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
" This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you."
After introducing the sacrament, the Savior said to His disciples, "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you."
The Savior prayed to the Father for the Apostles and all believers:
"Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
"As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
After Jesus had finished His prayer to His Father, He left the upper room with the disciples and entered the Garden of Gethsemane to seek solitude and to pray:
"O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."
Of His suffering in the garden, the Savior Himself has said:
"Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit-and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink-
"Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men."
"Behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent."
As the guards and Judas approached Him, the Lord said, "Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me."
Then Judas kissed Him on the cheek.
Jesus asked, "Friend, wherefore art thou come?"
"Whom seek ye?"
A guard replied, "Jesus of Nazareth."
The Savior said, "I am he."
The guards then led Jesus away to the Jewish rulers and then to Caiaphas, the high priest.
"I adjure thee by the living God," said Caiaphas, "that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God."
"I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."
Jesus was then taken before Pilate, who asked, "Art thou the King of the Jews?"
Jesus replied, "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews."
Pilate said to the crowd:
"I find in him no fault at all.
"But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?"
The crowd shouted, "No! No! Not this man, but Barabbas."
Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe.
Pilate said, "I find no fault in this man."
The crowd shouted, "Crucify him. Crucify him. Away with him. Crucify him."
And they took Him, the Master-He whom Peter denied three times-and led Him forth. He carried His own cross. He began the long journey to the hill, past the crowds that lined the way, past the weeping women, past the murderous mob that had cried for His crucifixion and through the gates of the city, out to the hill called Golgotha-the "place of a skull." And there they crucified Him.
To the penitent thief hanging beside Him, Jesus said, "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
The last mortal words of Jesus:
"Woman, behold thy son!"
And then turning to John, "Behold thy mother!"
And then, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."
"It is finished."
"Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning," women went to the sepulchre with spices they had prepared, and "found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre."
The voice of an angel asked:
"Why seek ye the living among the dead?
"He is not here, but is risen." This announcement proclaimed the most glorious event since the dawn of creation.
Mary heard a voice ask: "Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?"
She said, "Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away."
She heard someone say, "Mary."
Then she knew Him and replied, "Master."
"Touch me not," He said, "for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."
Later Jesus appeared to the Apostles in the upper room where He had spent the evening with them prior to His death. They were frightened. Then they heard the voice of the Master:
"Peace be unto you.
"Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."
Later, on the seashore at Galilee, while the Savior and the disciples were eating fish together, Jesus asked Peter, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?"
"Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee."
"Feed my lambs."
"Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?"
"Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee."
"Feed my sheep."
"Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?"
"Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee."
And the Savior replied yet again, "Feed my sheep."
Three times Peter had openly denied the Lord. Now, three times Jesus drew from him the assurance of his love and loyalty.
The time had come for Jesus to ascend to His Father's throne. Before His death He had declared to His Father, "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do."
After His resurrection He tarried on the earth for some forty days, that His disciples might more fully comprehend His risen and glorified being and be instructed in matters of the kingdom of God.
Now He was ready to leave. The Apostles knew He was the Savior. His disciples would no longer associate Him with only the tomb. They would testify of Him as glorified.
As the place for His ascension Jesus chose the Mount of Olives, which He knew well; for nearby, on the slope of the mount at Bethany, He had found rest and affection with Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Also near was the Garden of Gethsemane where He had prayed and agonized alone. He chose the Mount of Olives to ascend from, and upon its summit His feet will rest when He comes again-not as a man of sorrows, but as a glorious and triumphant king.
There on the Mount of Olives the Savior instructed the Apostles and all who believe:
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
I testify by the power of the Holy Ghost that this same Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, crucified for the sins of the world "to cleanse it from all unrighteousness;
"That through him all might be saved." "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom."
He is our Redeemer, our Lord, our King. His kingdom is again established on the earth, which is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This church, by divine direction, is preparing the world for His second coming-for He will come again-I humbly declare in His holy name, amen.
President N. Eldon Tanner
First Counselor in the First Presidency
I'm very pleased to say a few words to you before we close this meeting. I feel very blessed this afternoon as I sit here by our President, whom I miss more than I can possibly say whenever he is not with us. We've appreciated very much having him come and attend the Council of the Twelve and First Presidency meetings. When we had all of the General Authorities of the Church meet in the temple last Thursday, President Kimball came in and expressed his love and appreciation for us. We still have him directing us.
Before I go any further, I would like to say that I've had the privilege of attending some of the meetings directed by the sisters. And I want to tell them I think it is a wonderful thing the way they carry on the work. May the Lord bless them in their work.
Now, as we've sat here in this conference we have been very fortunate to hear all the General Authorities who have borne testimony, who have referred to prophecies and blessings, and who have described the progress that this Church has made. I would like to say to each and every one of you that all these good men have testimonies of the gospel. They wouldn't lie to you. They are telling you the truth-and in a spirit we can't forget. As they have talked to us, I'm sure in most of your minds you have felt it is right, and you have agreed with what they have said.
Now, determine as you review in your minds their words, which one of your weaknesses you are going to try to get rid of in order to enjoy the presence and blessings of our Heavenly Father.
I have had the great privilege of being a counselor and working very closely with four of our Presidents. These prophets had entirely different personalities, but to see how the Lord works through them is a great privilege, and one can realize why they were chosen. Follow their teachings.
I humbly pray that each and every one of us will go home with one thought-and that is to improve ourselves and be worthy of the blessings we enjoy. I asked a grandson of mine to bless the food at lunch today, and I was very pleased to hear him say, "And help us to remember what we learn at this conference, and help us to live worthy of it and apply it in our lives."
Brethren and sisters, may the Lord give us a clear understanding of where we should improve to serve him. Start right now, as I have done, to determine to put into practice some of the things that have been taught to us today.
I'm very happy to have been here this afternoon. I'm glad to see how the conference proceeded. It's a very great conference, and to have our President here at two of the sessions is a great blessing indeed. May the Lord bless us that we may do his will and keep his commandments, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Spencer W. Kimball
My beloved brothers and sisters, this is a great experience for me. I have waited for this day and hoped for it and believed for it. I have a great love for the people of this Church, and gratitude for the love expressed by them and by all the people of these valleys. So as I express that love for you and for the memory of the great experiences I've had with you, I bear my testimony: this work is divine, the Lord is at the helm, the Church is true, and all is well. God bless you, brothers and sisters, I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Bishop Victor L. Brown
Presiding Bishop
It has been suggested that I address the subject "Meeting the Challenges of Today-the Best Preparation for Tomorrow." As I have pondered this subject, I have concluded that if we meet today's problems with adequate preparation, there will be no need for panic preparation tomorrow.
The parable of the ten virgins, as recorded in Matthew, emphasizes this point:
"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
"And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
"They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
"But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
"While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
"And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
"Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
"And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
"But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
"And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
"Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
"But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
"Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."
As we contemplate the lessons of this parable, we realize that all ten virgins had oil in their lamps. Five were wise and kept the oil replenished so they would always have sufficient. The other five were foolish and shortsighted. Consequently, they were found wanting when the bridegroom came.
We also learn from the parable that preparation necessary to help them meet the immediate circumstances was a simple, everyday task. The arrival of the bridegroom did not require unusual or elaborate preparation. Our preparation should be deliberate and structured to meet today's problems. We should prepare ourselves one step at a time as the Lord so inspires us.
President David O. McKay used to tell a story about a railroad engineer. Let me share it with you as recorded by President Harold B. Lee:
"The engineer pulled his train into a station one dark night, and a timid passenger inquired of the engineer if he wasn't frightened to pull his train out in the dark with 400 or 500 passengers' lives at stake. The engineer said, pointing up to the bright headlight, 'I want to tell you one thing: when I pull out of this station I won't be running in darkness one foot of the way. You see that light a thousand yards ahead? I run my engine just to the edge of the light, and when I get there it will still be on a thousand yards ahead.' Having said that, President McKay added: 'I want to tell you something. Through all this dark night of uncertainty, I want to tell you that this Welfare Program will not be running in the dark one foot of the way. You remember it. We can only see the next October as the first circle of light. We have told you what to do six months from now. By the time we get there the light will be on ahead of us, but every step of the way that light will be there. You teach your people to follow the light and they will be safe on Zion's hill when the destructive forces come in the world.'"
If we will just do as the Brethren have counseled and live each day as it comes, providently and righteously, there will be no need for drastic adjustments in preparation to meet future challenges.
I fear that many think the welfare services program was designed primarily for doomsday. This is not true. The principles of the welfare services program are designed to help us live providently each day and to cope successfully with serious problems as they come into our lives.
Just as the virgins did not know that the bridegroom would come in the night when their lamps would be needed, we do not know when serious problems such as illness or unemployment will come into our lives.
It would seem from almost everything we read and hear in the news media today that doomsday has arrived. For instance, in one local daily newspaper, over two-thirds of the headlines and stories exposed problems of the world such as murders, wars, bankruptcies, unemployment, and so on, leaving very little room for stories with a positive impact. One might be persuaded that conditions are impossible.
It is true that we live in a troubled world. There are many unemployed. Bankruptcies of individuals, of corporations, and of nations are alarming. Wars and rumors of wars are all about us. Man's inhumanity to man is shocking. Moral values have deteriorated to the level of Sodom and Gomorrah. The list is long.
Many of these problems exist today because we did not prepare yesterday. These problems are not insurmountable to those who are prepared. Neither do they come as a surprise to those who have been listening. Here are just a few of the areas upon which we have received counsel:
In 1935, President George Albert Smith said, "This very day upon which we meet here to worship has become the play-day of this great nation-the day set apart by thousands to violate the commandment that God gave long, long ago, and I am persuaded that much of the sorrow and distress that is afflicting and will continue to afflict mankind is traceable to the fact that they have ignored his admonition to keep the Sabbath day holy."
In 1937, President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., said, "Let us avoid debt as we would avoid a plague; where we are now in debt let us get out of debt."
In 1970, President Harold B. Lee said, "For thirty years the leaders of this church have been telling us to store food and to prepare for a rainy day. We have listened, many have paid no attention, and now suddenly disaster begins to strike and some of those who have been slothful are running to the banks and taking out their savings, and buying foodstuffs."
And, finally, in 1974 President Spencer W. Kimball said, "The earth cannot justify nor continue its life without marriage and the family. Sex without marriage, for all people, young or older, is an abomination to the Lord, and it is most unfortunate that many people have blinded their eyes to these great truths.
"Husbands and wives should love and cherish their spouses. They must not break up their homes with divorce, and especially through infidelity and immorality."
How many of today's problems could have been avoided or coped with more effectively if we had followed the counsel given in just these few examples?
Let us now turn to an example of the things we might do to prepare for today's and tomorrow's problems. I would like to speak specifically to parents to stress the responsibility they have to teach their children how to obtain an adequate education.
The Lord is very clear in his instructions:
"And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.
"And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord."
Walking uprightly before the Lord includes becoming a responsible individual in all aspects of life. As children attend school, particularly high school, they should be encouraged to take basic courses which may be more demanding than others but which will better prepare them for possible further schooling or for employment.
At whatever level our children complete their formal schooling, they should have learned how important excellence is in all they do. There is always room at the top in any enterprise, and it is always crowded at the bottom. It doesn't matter what the field of endeavor-plumber, doctor, teacher, lawyer, farmer, carpenter, whatever-if our children learn early in their lives that they should do their very best, they will be eminently better prepared for the responsibilities of life.
We should teach our children the importance of schooling as a help in discovering how to think and to learn. They need to know, and we need to be reminded, that schooling is merely the formal part of education. Education should never stop, but should be a continuing activity throughout life.
The world-renowned educator Mortimer Adler once indicated in an interview that his education had begun just twenty-five years earlier. The interviewer in some surprise said, "But you are famous for the many years you were associated with the University of Chicago."
Mr. Adler's response was, "Those years I was obtaining my schooling. It was only after I had finished my formal schooling that my education began."
In the eighty-eighth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord instructs us:
"And I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom.
"Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;
"Of things both in heaven and in earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms-
"That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you.
"And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith."
If we and our children are to be responsible individuals and properly take care of our own, we must prepare ourselves to do so. Education is one of the elementary and basic tools in this preparation.
Notice that this example of education follows the same systematic course as other preparation. Second grade follows first grade, third grade follows second grade, and so on, until graduation from high school occurs and college or vocational training is finished. This takes us back to the basic premise that adequate preparation for today's problems is the best preparation for the future.
Parents should also teach their children to use financial resources wisely, to stay out of debt, to take pride in their own appearance and in the appearance of their surroundings, to be dependable, to give a full day's work for a full day's pay, and many other principles of welfare services. In none of these principles is there a hint of a "doomsday" philosophy.
As important as human physical needs are, the spiritual ones are much more so. It goes without saying that to sustain life we must have food, shelter, clothing, and the other necessities. However, we could have all of these in abundance and still be lacking in those things that will sustain eternal life. The Savior taught this in many ways, one of which is the parable of the rich man.
"And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
"And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
"And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
"And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
"But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
"So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
In April conference fourteen years ago, President David O. McKay said, "With all my soul, I plead with members of the church, and with people everywhere, to think more about the gospel; more about the development of the spirit within; to devote more time to the real things of life, and less time to those things which will perish."
Spiritual preparedness follows the same steady course we have been alluding to: we can only build tomorrow on that which we attain today. Yet we need not wait until tomorrow to enjoy the fruits of our current spiritual development. If we consistently follow the teachings of the Savior, we need not walk in darkness; rather, we will enjoy the light of life.
As parents, we must teach and practice both physical and spiritual preparedness. Let us make every effort to avoid the remorse which comes from not following the counsel of the Lord and his anointed. Let us follow the admonition and example of President Kimball when he says, "Do it."
As the Lord has said, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
Let us not look back to this day twenty or thirty years from now and ask, "How many of today's problems could have been avoided if we had only followed the counsel given in the 1980s?" Let us instead follow the Brethren and apply welfare services principles to today's problems, thereby bringing about our preparation for tomorrow. By so doing, we can move forward with happiness, cheerfulness, and confidence.
Jesus said, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
"These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
This is the peace that can give each of us an inner tranquility when all about us is confusion. It is a peace that transcends all material things. That we might meet today's challenges, thereby moving forward with confidence into tomorrow, is my humble prayer, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, 1976. Seated: Mark E. Petersen, Ezra Taft Benson, Delbert L. Stapley; standing: Boyd K. Packer, Thomas S. Monson, LeGrand Richards, Marvin J. Ashton, Howard W. Hunter, Bruce R. McConkie, Gordon B. Hinckley, L. Tom Perry, David B. Haight.
Sister Barbara B. Smith
Relief Society General President
My beloved brethren and sisters, "In the beginning was the Word" -or, in the words of the Joseph Smith translation, "In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word." And further, "In was the gospel, and the gospel was the life, and the life was the light of men."
Sadly, not all men and women enjoy the light that was intended for them. Not all who have the gospel know how to bring its radiance into their lives.
One woman felt she had little or no light in her life. Her husband spent three days of each week traveling out of town because of his work. This left her home alone to manage their house and two small children. She was just nineteen when they were married. She had almost no experience in caring for young children, and certainly felt no confidence in handling her own. She often found their demands and the pressing household duties overwhelming. In her frustration, she grew increasingly harsh with them until her abusive behavior became frightening, even to herself. Feeling alone, ashamed, and inadequate, she was often in the depths of despair. What light did the gospel offer to her?
She and her husband considered themselves good members of the Church. But what difference did that make when the children were crying, the laundry piled higher and higher, the letter from her mother remained unanswered, and the dress she was to make this week for her husband's company party lay unfinished on the sewing machine? All these frustrations spoke so loudly the discouragement of the present. They made the blessings of the gospel seem very far away.
Fortunately, there were those who helped her learn to apply the principles of the gospel in solving many of her problems. Her visiting teachers, responding to her anxiety over her children, brought a special toy for each child. They had carefully selected playthings that an adult could use with a child in a delightful but problem-solving way. They took time to show the mother how to relate to her children through activity. She was surprised to find how happy and responsive the children were. They began to look forward to a playtime association with their mother. She realized that she was providing for their needs through play, and that they were becoming more relaxed with her.
Because of the relationship they were establishing through their activities together, the children were more willing to do as their mother asked-to pick up their clothes, put their toys away, and take their naps. This, in turn, helped her have more time to organize her other responsibilities. She learned to be considerate of her children and sensitive to their concerns. She has continued giving the children this special attention each day. Love in this home is now more than a concept; it is the way they respond to each other's needs.
The word of the gospel as it is preached and learned is, for each of us, the beginning. "Knowing" alone is not always sufficient to bring the promised light. We have to live by every word. We speak often in our worldwide Church about translation. Computers are being employed to assist, and hundreds of language specialists are engaged in this important work. But the translation for which we each bear personal responsibility is converting the words of the gospel into actions, attitudes, and habits.
The gospel principle of love suggests action in the injunction to "love one another." When these words are translated into a determined effort to change a behavior that brings hurt or embarrassment or sorrow to one who loves you, it becomes a key to solving a family problem. These few lines, written by a wife to her husband, underscore the need to make a principle more than a word:
Valentine's Day 1951
Dear Bill,
I feel I love you more today than I have in all our twenty-three years together. Although you have always told me of your affection, nothing has so convinced me that you really care as your recent preparation to take our family to the temple.
In spite of the exciting things we have done together, there has always been, for me, a sadness, a kind of lingering unhappiness, because we weren't really one. I am filled now with great expectation and joy when I think of the closeness we can have in studying the gospel together, in sharing the same friends, and, above all, the eternities that are now possible for us with our children and their children and theirs.
My admiration for you has grown as I have seen you succeed in the difficult struggle to give up enslaving habits that had become so much a part of you.
Your sons, your daughters, and I are not only extremely proud, but deeply grateful too.
Love, Ellen
Not all marital unhappiness stems from obvious bad habits. Some problems develop silently, almost imperceptibly, as we are involved in taxing schedules and multiple demands. Consider the couple who had spent all their married years in devotion to Church and children. The children were now grown and had left home; church callings were less demanding; and unexpectedly, they who had spent years helping others resolve difficulties, faced problems of their own. Preoccupied with serving their children, they had forgotten to serve each other. Quick to lavish affection on those about them, they had neglected sharing simple expressions of love and concern with one another. Now, in the time when they might enjoy the richness of their experiences together, they found their relationship strained. Each felt a sense of falling short which easily led to criticism and complaint. Their years of church activity, however, had taught them a better way. They had experienced the light of the gospel and longed for it now.
They found that by taking a fresh view of gospel principles, this time as a means of solving their own problems, they could relearn how to serve one another. They realized that expressing their affection in those mellowing years together brought a sweetness and satisfaction that was especially rewarding. They selected some projects on which they worked together around their home; they found meaningful church activity, prepared family records and histories, and learned how to preserve other valuable documents. Already, in the gospel, they had the principles they needed, and found them more than adequate as they brought them to bear on their own problems.
G. K. Chesterton in an essay entitled "A Piece of Chalk" wrote of going into the countryside in the south of England to draw with his colored chalks-only to find, ruefully, that he was missing the color white. Being too far from a store to remedy the situation, he felt his expedition ruined until he suddenly realized that the rock upon which he sat was, in fact, white chalk..
There, in a Sussex meadow, he was "sitting on an immense warehouse of white chalk." For him to think he had no chalk was like a chemist in the middle of the ocean looking for salt water to perform experiments or someone in the vast Sahara searching for sand to fill an hour glass. Many times the solutions to our problems await only our discovery that we already have the key to the answer. The need is for us to learn to use it effectively.
We see this continually in people's lives. One example was the woman who had little money to spend but wanted to share a Christmas treat with her neighbors. She didn't feel that she could buy even inexpensive containers, but she was quite self-reliant. With what she had on hand, she made charming remembrances using brown lunch-size paper bags decorated with a white paper roof, a door and windows, and the words "Merry Christmas, Neighbor!" These brown-bag houses, filled with her home-dried apple slices, were welcome gifts.
This same kind of ingenuity in working out problems with what one already has can be seen in the attractive jackets a mother made for her children out of the boys' old jeans. In each case, work, service, love, and self-reliance were the keys that opened the way for solving problems and fulfilling needs.
Many problems are severe and debilitating. They cause fear and guilt and heartache. Often, the difference in people's finding their way or discovering solutions is the kindly, understanding friendship we can provide for them in our priesthood and Relief Society meetings or other Church settings. Many times it is the sympathetic arm around the shoulder and the encouraging smile that give to the distressed hope and to the downtrodden courage to try again. We can help them know that others wrestle with problems, too; but strength of family and of character, developed through living gospel principles, has enabled them to rise above life's difficulties.
One such family was left by the father when the youngest child was four months old. It was a traumatic time with a difficult divorce, but the courageous mother was full of faith and determined that she would do everything she could to succeed as a single parent.
She found, as many do, that the gospel, when translated into action, not only provides a key to solving many welfare problems but it can also prevent them. Difficulties that could lead to dependency can be resolved and bring, instead, strength and happiness.
This mother gathered her children about her and explained their situation. There were back payments due on the house, current bills of every sort, and no income. They could turn to others for help; but if they were willing to work together as a family, she thought they could keep their house and make it, once more, a happy home. They were willing. Every child who was old enough found a way to help earn some money. They cut lawns, delivered papers, tended babies, collected aluminum cans, did housework. One of the older children took the responsibility for the gas bill, another for the lights; the mother put her earnings toward the house payments. They limited other spending to bare necessities.
In time, the house payments were caught up. They were able to meet their other obligations and actually invest in some small, inexpensive properties they could fix up to generate income. This enabled the mother to be at home. With these ends achieved, the children no longer needed to contribute all their earnings to the family's physical requirements. With freedom from financial threat, the mother now suggested to her children that if they wanted to continue to work they could attend college, go on missions, and even travel and see the world together. The children did continue to earn and save their money. They learned the value of work and of family, and they have accompanied their mother to places others only dream of.
All this has been done while fulfilling their Church obligations. They are quick to testify that the greatest reward they have received from the experiences of the past few years has been their spiritual growth. Putting such principles as love, work, service, self-reliance, and consecration into practice has brought to this family the dignity of accomplishment, a unity of purpose, and a closeness to one another and to the Lord that is immediately apparent when one is in their company.
Life does present problems, and although the gospel provides a means for finding answers, the resolutions do not always come quickly. There are, however, desirable strengths we develop by striving against difficulties. It is often when struggling to the very extremity of our power that we come to know that our Father in Heaven is close.
Sariah, the wife of Lehi, had the wrenching experience of leaving their home and their possessions to travel in the wilderness. We are not told of the trials she may have experienced; but going on foot, living in tents, and cooking over an open fire could have been devastating after their comfortable life in Jerusalem. We do read of her anguished waiting when she feared her beloved sons had perished in their return to obtain the plates. But in spite of troubles, she did love and serve her family. With the return of her sons, she knew of a certainty that the Lord had commanded her husband to flee into the wilderness, and in their safe return she found the assurance that the Lord was with them. Their circumstances did not change; they still slept in tents. But she had joy and comfort in the knowledge that the Lord was guiding them. In that light she could carry on and meet further difficulties as they came.
For each of us, whatever our knowledge of the gospel, can continue to learn. But learning is just the beginning. The fulness of blessings comes as we adopt the principles and live our lives by them. When we make them our way, when we live the principles, we are promised that they will be a light unto us. As we come to know that light, it will lead us through the midst of darkness, and as we begin to bring that light into our homes, it can become a beacon to our children, and to their children, and to theirs.
May we press on, with a perfect brightness of hope, overcome our problems, and enjoy the love of God and of all men, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, 1979. Seated: LeGrand Richards, Ezra Taft Benson, Mark E. Petersen; standing: James E. Faust, Thomas S. Monson, David B. Haight, L. Tom Perry, Boyd K. Packer, Bruce R. McConkie, Gordon B. Hinckley, Marvin J. Ashton, Howard W. Hunter.
President Dean Jarman
President, Salt Lake University Second Stake
The blessings that come from family work projects are both temporal and spiritual. The commandments given to Adam were spiritual, for the Lord himself said that he never gave to Adam a temporal commandment. Work, then, as instituted in the beginning of this earth, was a spiritual principle.
There are several influences in my life that have instilled in me a desire to teach our children to work. The first are experiences I enjoyed as a child growing up in the home of wise and wonderful parents. Our first family work project began when I was around nine years old. One night dad came home with a shoe-shining kit that had an adaptable shoe tree that fastened to the wall. He encouraged my brother and me to be industrious and earn some money by charging fifteen cents for every pair of shoes we shined. Of course, my parents' shoes were always well shined, but our big opportunities came when my parents entertained. I would mingle among the guests and ask if any would like to have their shoes shined. Many a person was seen in our home sitting or visiting in his stocking feet.
A few years passed, and dad came home one night with another idea. "Why don't you boys sell Christmas wreaths?" he said. And thus we were off on another venture. We would go from door to door taking orders, and then we purchased the wreaths from a wholesaler for our customers. For the next several years mom and dad spent many hours helping us in this project.
During my college years I began to realize that there were more values to work than simply the money one earns. Three individuals made statements that have left indelible impressions upon my mind. The first statement came while I was attending the University of Utah. The director of the Institute of Religion, Lowell L. Bennion, shared with me a philosophy of raising children. He grew a large vegetable garden, and when asked what he was growing, his reply was not the usual tomatoes, corn, or carrots, but simply, "boys."
The second statement came from a student at BYU when he offered an explanation as to why he alone among his high school friends had remained active in the Church. He said it was because of a cow. He went on to explain that while his friends had nothing to do after school and began to get into trouble, he had to go home every day to milk the cow. Although he resented it at the time, he since has been very grateful to wise parents and the cow.
The third statement was made by a returned mission president who commented that many missionaries do not know how to work when they arrive in the mission field. They lack experience in organizing their time and in being self-starters.
A philosophy of work gradually emerged in my mind. When I got married, I wanted to achieve three goals: use work as a means of "growing children"; see that they did not have too much free time; and prepare our children to effectively serve the Lord.
Following my marriage to a wonderful companion, our home was blessed with the arrival of children. In the space of a few years we found ourselves the parents of ten children-all girls but eight. We knew as our children grew older they would need to assist with family finances. This became evident when our four older children expressed a desire to learn to ski. One Christmas we bought four pairs of used wooden skis and some poles, and we acquired some used boots. On Christmas morning our children were delighted to receive their skis, and they accepted the responsibility for most of their future expenses.
Since my wife and I didn't believe in the dole system in any form of finance, we kept wondering how our young family could begin to become self-sufficient. It wasn't long until we were offered an opportunity to collate and distribute advertising materials to 5,000 homes. We worked at the project after school, in the evenings, and on Saturdays. Everyone was involved in collating several pieces of advertising materials. Mom or dad assisted by driving the children to different locations and offering encouragement. The project was repeated several times. Our children were beginning to earn money, and we learned that we could have fun together while working.
After a couple of years, we graduated from advertising packets to telephone directories. During several summers, we loaded up our station wagon with books and children. The days were hot, the hours were long, some streets were hard to find, some addresses couldn't be found, the books were heavy, some driveways were long and went uphill, some dogs were mean; but we had fun. Sometimes two children would go to a home, one to play with the dog and the other to take the books.
One summer one of the boys broke his foot while on the job. Within a few days he realized that he didn't want to be left out of the summer work; besides he loved to ski. Soon he was in the back of the station wagon unwrapping the books and giving directions to the children as to how many books were to go to each house.
At the end of a day's work, there were stories to tell, experiences to laugh at, accomplishments to brag about-and no one had any trouble sleeping. Yes, we were having fun and experiencing a sense of accomplishment.
Our next project began when our oldest son started mowing lawns the year before his mission. We bought a 1962 truck that ran most of the time, and some lawn-care equipment. That first year he did most of the work himself and occasionally took a younger brother with him. The next year dad decided to get involved, since none of the younger boys had drivers' licenses. We advertised, gave bids, received referrals, and increased the number of our customers. Then came the day when dad mowed his first lawn. First the edger didn't start, so he traveled across town to find out what to do. When he returned, one mower had broken down so he went back across town again to find out what to do. After several hours on that job, the second oldest boy looked at his dad and asked, "And is this what we are going to do all summer?"
We stuck with it and are now completing our fourth year. We have learned to keep our sense of humor through broken sprinklers, a flooded basement, unexpected rain, a burned-out truck engine, broken equipment, dad pulling up someone's prized miniature tree, and the front wheel coming loose off the truck in busy traffic. And then there are those days when every piece of equipment is working, the truck is running, the sun is shining, we are on schedule, and someone forgets to fasten the tailgate of the truck. One by one our equipment slides out as we travel to the next customer.
One might ask why we do all of these things. The obvious answers are: all of our teenagers have sizeable missionary funds; all of our children over eleven know they will have a job; no Sunday work is involved; the children have learned valuable skills; they are learning to budget their resources and to distinguish between wants and needs; and as their father, I have had many wonderful teaching moments with them as we have worked side by side.
But these are not all. There are values that are often hard to describe but are real. A couple of Sundays ago the boys sat down at the direction of their mother and wrote what they felt the values were of working together as a family.
An eighteen-year-old boy writes, "Since I can remember, I have been taught the value of hard work and honoring all of your responsibilities and your family name. As I look back to my experience in family projects, I can see how they have shaped my character and personality by letting me make many important decisions. I have gained confidence by meeting new people and am better able to express myself. But the most important thing about family work projects is that your family comes closer together in love and respect."
A thirteen-year-old who has been mowing lawns for four years writes, "Family projects have really helped me to understand how to work. The harder you work, the better you feel. I am grateful for a closer relationship with my brothers and parents."
A sixteen-year-old said, "Working on family projects has taught us the importance of being honest and dependable. It has taught us to make a lot of sacrifices in order to keep our name in good standing."
And finally, our fifteen-year-old said, "The family work projects have helped me manage my money. When I buy my clothes and other things, I take care of them because I know how much they cost and how much work it takes to buy them. When my parents bought my things, I honestly thought there was an endless supply of money, so I wouldn't take care of them. Also, work gives me a feeling of satisfaction-and a great tan."
Their mother writes, "I watch other youth with too much free time and am grateful that our boys know there are people relying on them. They sometimes have to sacrifice personal wants for the sake of their work."
May I add my own feelings. Our family work has become a big factor in bringing a higher degree of love, peace, and unity into our home. Many neighbors have commented on how much our children really enjoy each other. I am amazed as I witness our children stretching in their tender years toward self-reliance. Yes, work is a spiritual and essential principle. Our own beloved prophet has taught that "life is not wholly for fun and frolic."
I bear testimony that family work, when combined with family prayer and family scripture study, will do much to secure the blessings of heaven for families on earth. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder James E. Faust
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Some years ago Bishop James T. Erekson, a wise and successful member of a high council I was involved with, made a statement which impressed me greatly. He said, "There are many in our generation who have not known the blessings of economic adversity!" I wish to speak this morning about the blessings we may receive as we meet the challenges of economic stress.
Economists seem to have a hard time deciding when we are in a depression or a recession. One person said you can tell it this way: "A recession: a period in which you tighten your belt, a depression: a time in which you have no belt to tighten."
Many countries of the world have moved into more difficult economic times. Some people are losing their employment and their hard-earned possessions. Others are faced with a lack of food and clothing. In a normal lifetime most people have had, or will face, difficult economic times. We read in Ecclesiastes that "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."
The Savior verified this when, speaking of the Father, he said, "For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
There are lessons from the dispensations of the gospel that help us understand that some calamities have ultimately been blessings. Although the following examples have far greater meaning for mankind in general, they have their lessons for us individually when we are confronted with trials in our lives.
The great suffering of the Savior in Gethsemane and his crucifixion were calamities, but man was redeemed from death and hell by his atoning sacrifice. The scattering of Israel throughout the world sprinkled the blood that believes, so that many nations may now partake of the gospel plan. The history of the Nephites is one of trial, calamities, and suffering, but through it all the experiences gained brought strength and development.
The Lord knows the values to be learned from trials and adversities.
Every year is a year for new opportunities. Charles Dickens laid the setting for his book A Tale of Two Cities in the following introduction:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us."
In Leicester, England, there is an inscription on the outside wall of an old church which bears a remarkably fine thought. The inscription reads:
"In the year 1654 when all things were, throughout this nation, either demolished or profaned, Sir Robert Shirley, Baronet, founded and built this church. He it is whose singular praise it is to have done the best things in the worst times, and to have hoped them in the most calamitous."
Aside from the economic tides which run in the affairs of nations, financial hard times can befall any of us at any time. There is no guarantee against personal hard financial times. Financial difficulty may result from several kinds of misfortunes, including all types of natural disasters such as floods, fires, and earthquakes. Accidents and illness can produce unexpected and staggering medical and hospital bills. The misfortunes of other members of our own family may require our help. Unemployment and inflation can quickly wipe away hard-earned savings.
Economic stress can involve personal challenges. Discouragement and frustration are frequent companions to misfortune. Economic problems occasionally put a strain on family relationships. They often require us to do without things we feel we want or need. What can be a calamity for one can be an opportunity for another. Shakespeare, speaking through Duke Senior, said,
The lasting effects of economic challenges are often determined by our attitude toward life. One writer said, "Out of the same substances one stomach will extract nourishment, and another poison; and so the same disappointments in life will chasten and refine one man's spirit and embitter another's."
Elder LeGrand Richards told this story to a young person who in a time of desperation asked what youth have to live for:
"'You remember the story of the two buckets that went down in the well; as the one came up, it said, "This is surely a cold and dreary world. No matter how many times I come up full, I always have to go down empty." Then the other bucket laughed and said, "With me it is different. No matter how many times I go down empty, I always come up full."'"
Brother Joseph Stucki, a faithful Church member, died Christmas Eve in 1927 after a short illness, leaving his wife with seven children, the eldest son being on a mission. Two of the children and a nephew she was rearing were later taken in death. Another son was also sent on a mission. This was accomplished by much hard work-taking in sewing and living on a few dollars per month from an insurance policy.
During this difficult time, flour was being distributed to needy members of the ward. Some of the young men had been asked to deliver it. A bag of flour was brought to Sister Stucki's home. Since she felt that there were other families in the ward that needed that flour worse than she did, she declined to keep it, telling the young man that she was trying to teach her family to be independent and self-reliant. While worthy members of the Church should feel free to accept help from the Church proffered by the bishop, Sister Stucki was trying to teach the young man who came to her door a lesson. You see, the young man delivering the flour was her own son! All the surviving children attended college and became very successful people. They lived by the motto, "Make it do, or do without."
A wise man said, "The Lord gets his best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction." Some of the blessings available in overcoming economic adversity are:
First, and perhaps most important, our faith and testimony can be strengthened. The faithful member of the Church learns that in times of economic stress the Lord helps those who have sought him early. But those members who haven't begun early in their religious life may resolve to seek the Lord more diligently. We learn to recognize the Lord's hand in helping us. In hard times we have a chance to reevaluate and reorder our priorities in life. We learn what is most important to us. The way is open to strengthen faith and testimony.
Second, we may learn the need for humility. Our dependence upon the Lord becomes a means of developing teachableness, an important aspect of humility.
Third, family members learn cooperation and love for each other by being forced to draw closer together to survive.
Fourth, personal dignity and self-respect may be achieved. Someone said, "Be glad there are big hurdles in life, and rejoice, too, that they are higher than most people care to surmount. Be happy they are numerous."
Fifth, we can become stronger and more resilient. Edmund Burke said: "Difficulty is a severe instructor, set over us by the supreme ordinance of a parental Guardian and Legislator, who knows us better than we know ourselves, and he loves us better too. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper."
Sixth, we learn patience. Sometimes economic adversity requires more time than we anticipate. He who learns to bear his adversities while working to overcome them increases in patience, and thus he is not overcome by his circumstances. In economic and social affliction certain people of the Book of Mormon were exhorted to bear them patiently that they might not be "led away by the temptations of the devil."
Seventh, we rise to heights previously unobtainable by the use of talents and skills which might not have been developed otherwise. Economic necessity opens the way for profitable learning experiences.
Eighth, we can learn to trust the Lord and thus overcome fear. "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear."
There are many ways economic hard times can be met. Sometimes we must accept less than we hope for. A speaker once stated, "I passed a small church displaying a large sign. It read: 'Annual Strawberry Festival,' and below in small letters 'On account of depression, prunes will be served.'"
Karen Nielson was born in Aalborg, Denmark, in 1844. She was the daughter of a farm family. In her early years she was taught the skills of successful dairy farming at the knee of her father.
In 1861, Karen was baptized and was never able to return to her home because of her father's opposition to her conversion. She left Denmark and immigrated to Utah with a group of Scandinavian Saints in 1862. She lived for a few years in Utah County where she married Benjamin Franklin Barney, and then they were called to settle the Sevier Valley.
Karen bore ten children and then was left a widow with several of her children still at home. She had no close family to return to, so she drew on the knowledge she had gained on the Danish farm. She improved the dairy herd using the breeding skills she'd learned from her father. Her herd was soon recognized as one of the finest in the area, and she was able to support her family and care for their needs. Until Karen was well into her eighties, she milked her cows night and morning and cared for her farm with the help of her sons and grandsons. Her legacy was one of hard work and the knowledge that our lives are only as good as we make them. She never turned away from hardships-they seemed only to strengthen her.
I have previously suggested eight blessings that may come as we strive to overcome economic adversities. I should like to now suggest six ways to help us from being overcome by economic stress:
Seek first the kingdom of God. This seeking includes the payment of our tithes and a generous fast offering and thus being blessed both spiritually and temporally by our obedience. Seeking first the kingdom of God will involve striving to keep the law the Apostle James called "the royal law," which is, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Seeking first the kingdom of God involves the keeping of the divine commandments. Spiritual strength comes from many sources, including personal prayer, the study of the scriptures, and the willingness to "submit to all things the Lord seeth fit to inflict." These measures can give us a certain, peaceful stability.
Solidify family strengths and resources. Chief among a family's resources are its spiritual strengths, which are enhanced by praying together. Budgeting money together will produce a special unity, as will the holding of family councils. We should work together toward storing a year's supply of food, clothing, and other necessities. In times of stress extra acts of kindness are particularly needed and appreciated. When there is limited money available, it is easier to teach children the wise use of money, including the need to save for the future. The family can be reminded to maintain an eternal perspective rather than concentrate on worldly possessions and wealth. Family organizations are helpful to render the individual help that may be needed. It is also important to learn how to accept family help graciously.
Exercise faith. The Savior reminds us, "All things are possible to him that believeth." And again, "All things shall work together for your good." The attitude with which we submit to "all things" is important. Maintaining a positive attitude and being cheerful are helpful. A belief that "all these things shall give thee experience, and be for thy good" is like a spiritual stabilizer.
Be adaptable in your work. Theodore Roosevelt said: "No man needs sympathy because he has to work. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." In times of economic difficulty it may be necessary to work for less pay. We should be willing to learn new, marketable skills. There are a great many men who have found new joy and satisfaction in having a second career wholly unrelated to the work for which they were originally trained. Family members need to find ways to supplement income through appropriate work opportunities. Being flexible in our approach to our work opportunities may just make it possible to keep afloat financially. Giving a full day's work for a full day's pay has saved many jobs. It will also help us avoid accepting government doles which rob us of our dignity and our self-respect.
David Grayson said, "Happiness, I have discovered, is nearly always a rebound from hard work."
Avoid Debt. President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., taught us to "avoid debt as we would a plague." This is particularly sound counsel in these times of exorbitantly high interest rates. Debt and its ever-present offspring, interest, are merciless taskmasters. A year and a half ago in this Tabernacle, President Clark's voice, on a tape, was heard to say, "Whoever borrows should understand what interest is; it is with them every minute of the day and night."
Reduce expense. When asked how some people in a small farming community in southern Utah got by on their meager cash income, George Lyman said, "They lived on the absence of expense." On another occasion, someone observed: "Generations of great thinkers have dreamed of a moneyless society somewhere in the future. As far as some of us are concerned, we're already ahead of our time." Economic wealth does not endow eternal blessings, and financial difficulty does not revoke eternal covenants.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell said: "An economic depression would be grim, but it would not change the reality of immortality. The inevitability of the second coming is not affected by the unpredictability of the stock market. A case of cancer does not cancel the promises of the temple endowment.
"All that matters is gloriously intact. The promises are in place. It is up to us to perform."
Before teaching the parable of the rich man whose ground brought forth plentifully, Jesus said, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."
The Lord has said: "Trouble me no more concerning this matter.
"But learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come."
From the refiner's fire of economic difficulty may come eternal blessings which can help save families and exalt their members by their being united and strengthened-to which I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve today. Seated: Ezra Taft Benson, Mark E. Petersen, LeGrand Richards, Howard W. Hunter; standing: Thomas S. Monson, Boyd K. Packer, Marvin J. Ashton, Bruce R. McConkie, L. Tom Perry, David B. Haight, James E. Faust, Neal A. Maxwell.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
Brothers and sisters, I have been asked to speak in so many of these welfare meetings that I'm beginning to feel that I ought to respond in a manner similar to a grandfather I once knew who was getting along in years and some people thought he didn't know when to quit talking. At a ward gathering they thought they shouldn't call on him because he would speak too long. Their final decision was, however, that they couldn't pass him by, so they called on him and asked him to stand and tell them in just a word how they could live to be as old as he was and still be of service. So he got up and said, "Keep breathing." I won't be that brief, but I will attempt to be to the point.
I love the simple truths contained in the welfare principles as taught by all the holy prophets since the world began, and I never tire of speaking about them. Today I shall speak to you about the principle of self-reliance and its impact upon our spiritual development.
Since the beginning of time man has been counseled to earn his own way, thereby becoming self-reliant. It is easy to understand the reason why the Lord places so much emphasis on this principle when we come to understand that it is tied very closely to freedom itself.
On this subject, Elder Albert E. Bowen said, "The Lord must want and intend that His people shall be free of constraint whether enforceable or only arising out of the bindings of conscience. That is why the Church is not satisfied with any system which leaves able people permanently dependent, and insists, on the contrary, that the true function and office of giving, is to help people into a position where they can help themselves and thus be free."
Many programs have been set up by well-meaning individuals to aid those who are in need. However, many of these programs are designed with the shortsighted objective of "helping people," as opposed to "helping people help themselves." Our efforts must always be directed toward making able-bodied people self-reliant.
I clipped the following article from the Reader's Digest some time ago and have told it before, but it bears repeating. It reads:
"In our friendly neighbor city of St. Augustine great flocks of sea gulls are starving amid plenty. Fishing is still good, but the gulls don't know how to fish. For generations they have depended on the shrimp fleet to toss them scraps from the nets. Now the fleet has moved.
"The shrimpers had created a Welfare State for the sea gulls. The big birds never bothered to learn how to fish for themselves and they never taught their children to fish. Instead they led their little ones to the shrimp nets.
"Now the sea gulls, the fine free birds that almost symbolize liberty itself, are starving to death because they gave in to the 'something for nothing' lure! They sacrificed their independence for a handout.
"A lot of people are like that, too. They see nothing wrong in picking delectable scraps from the tax nets of the U.S. Government's 'shrimp fleet.' But what will happen when the Government runs out of goods? What about our children of generations to come?
"Let's not be gullible gulls. We must preserve our talents of self-sufficiency, our genius for creating things for ourselves, our sense of thrift and our true love of independence."
The practice of coveting and receiving unearned benefits has now become so fixed in our society that even men of wealth, possessing the means to produce more wealth, are expecting the government to guarantee them a profit. Elections often turn on what the candidates promise to do for voters from government funds. This practice, if universally accepted and implemented in any society, will make slaves of its citizens.
We cannot afford to become wards of the government, even if we have a legal right to do so. It requires too great a sacrifice of self-respect and in political, temporal, and spiritual independence.
In some countries it is extremely difficult to separate earned from unearned benefits. However, the principle is the same in all countries: We should strive to become self-reliant and not depend on others for our existence.
Governments are not the only guilty parties. We fear many parents in the Church are making "gullible gulls" out of their children with their permissiveness and their doling out of family resources. Parents who place their children on the dole are just as guilty as a government which places its citizens on the dole. In fact, the actions of parents in this area can be more devastating than any government program.
Bishops and other priesthood leaders can be guilty of making "gullible gulls" out of their ward members. Some members become financially or emotionally dependent on their bishops. A dole is a dole whatever its source. All of our Church and family actions should be directed toward making our children and members self-reliant. We can't always control government programs, but we can control our own homes and congregations. If we will teach these principles and live them, we can do much to counter the negative effects which may exist in government programs in any country.
We know there are some who for no reason of their own cannot become self-reliant. President Henry D. Moyle had these people in mind when he said:
"This great principle does not deny to the needy nor to the poor the assistance they should have. The wholly incapacitated, the aged, the sickly are cared for with all tenderness, but every able-bodied person is enjoined to do his utmost for himself to avoid dependence, if his own efforts can make such a course possible; to look upon adversity as temporary; to combine his faith in his own ability with honest toil; to rehabilitate himself and his family to a position of independence; in every case to minimize the need for help and to supplement any help given with his own best efforts.
"We believe seldom men of rigorous faith, genuine courage, and unfaltering determination, with the love of independence burning in their hearts, and pride in their own accomplishments, cannot surmount the obstacles that lie in their paths.
"We know that through humble, prayerful, industrious, God-fearing lives, a faith can be developed within us by the strength of which we can call down the blessings of a kind and merciful Heavenly Father and literally see our handicaps vanish and our independence and freedom established and maintained."
Self-reliance is not the end, but a means to an end. It is very possible for a person to be completely independent and lack every other desirable attribute. One may become wealthy and never have to ask anyone for anything, but unless there is some spiritual goal attached to this independence, it can canker his soul.
The welfare program is spiritual. In 1936, when the program was introduced, President David O. McKay made this astute observation:
"The development of our spiritual nature should concern us most. Spirituality is the highest acquisition of the soul, the divine in man; 'the supreme, crowning gift that makes him king of all created things.' It is the consciousness of victory over self and of communion with the infinite. It is spirituality alone which really gives one the best in life.
"It is something to supply clothing to the scantily clad, to furnish ample food to those whose table is thinly spread, to give activity to those who are fighting desperately the despair that comes from enforced idleness, but after all is said and done, the greatest blessings that will accrue from the Church are spiritual. Outwardly, every act seems to be directed toward the physical: re-making of dresses and suits of clothes, canning fruits and vegetables, storing foodstuffs, choosing of fertile fields for settlement-all seem strictly temporal, but permeating all these acts, inspiring and sanctifying them, is the element of spirituality."
In the Doctrine and Covenants we read:
"Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created.
"Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual."
This scripture tells us there is no such thing as a temporal commandment. It also tells us that man is to be "an agent unto himself." Man cannot be an agent unto himself if he is not self-reliant. Herein we see that independence and self-reliance are critical keys to our spiritual growth. Whenever we get into a situation which threatens our self-reliance, we will find our freedom threatened as well. If we increase our dependence, we will find an immediate decrease in our freedom to act.
Thus far, we should have learned that self-reliance is a prerequisite to the complete freedom to act. We have also learned, however, that there is nothing spiritual in self-reliance unless we make the right choices with that freedom. What then should we do once we have become self-reliant in order to grow spiritually?
The key to making self-reliance spiritual is in using the freedom to comply with God's commandments. The scriptures are very clear in their command that it is the duty of those who have to give to those who are in need.
Jacob, speaking to the people of Nephi, said:
"Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.
"But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.
"And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good-to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted."
In our own dispensation, when the Church was only nine months old, the Lord said:
"And for your salvation I give unto you a commandment, for I have heard your prayers, and the poor have complained before me, and the rich have I made, and all flesh is mine, and I am no respecter of persons."
This revelation was given on the second day of January 1831. The next month, in another revelation, the Lord said:
"If thou lovest me thou shalt serve me and keep all my commandments.
"And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support."
The same month, the Lord referred to this subject again. Evidently the Brethren had been a little remiss. They had not moved fast enough.
"Behold, I say unto you, that ye must visit the poor and the needy and administer to their relief."
The scriptures are full of commandments regarding our obligation to care for the poor; therefore, I will not elaborate further. It has always seemed somewhat paradoxical to me that we must constantly have the Lord command us to do those things which are for our own good. The Lord has said,
"He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."
We lose our life by serving and lifting others. By so doing we experience the only true and lasting happiness. Service is not something we endure on this earth so we can earn the right to live in the celestial kingdom. Service is the very fiber of which an exalted life in the celestial kingdom is made.
Knowing that service is what gives our Father in Heaven fulfillment, and knowing that we want to be where He is and as He is, why must we be commanded to serve one another? Oh, for the glorious day when these things all come naturally because of the purity of our hearts. In that day there will be no need for a commandment because we will have experienced for ourselves that we are truly happy only when we are engaged in unselfish service. Let us use the freedom which comes from self-reliance in giving and serving.
Can we see how critical self-reliance becomes when looked upon as the prerequisite to service, when we also know service is what Godhood is all about? Without self-reliance one cannot exercise these innate desires to serve. How can we give if there is nothing there? Food for the hungry cannot come from empty shelves. Money to assist the needy cannot come from an empty purse. Support and understanding cannot come from the emotionally starved. Teaching cannot come from the unlearned. And most important of all, spiritual guidance cannot come from the spiritually weak.
There is an interdependence between those who have and those who have not. The process of giving exalts the poor and humbles the rich. In the process, both are sanctified. The poor, released from the bondage and limitations of poverty, are enabled as free men to rise to their full potential, both temporally and spiritually. The rich, by imparting of their surplus, participate in the eternal principle of giving. Once a person has been made whole or self-reliant, he reaches out to aid others, and the cycle repeats itself.
We are all self-reliant in some areas and dependent in others. Therefore, each of us should strive to help others in areas where we have strengths. At the same time, pride should not prevent us from graciously accepting the helping hand of another when we have a real need. To do so denies another person the opportunity to participate in a sanctifying experience.
Again, I say the principle of self-reliance is spiritual, as are all the principles of the welfare program. This is not a doomsday program, but a program for today. One of the three areas of emphasis recently outlined in the statement on the mission of the Church is to perfect the Saints, and this is the purpose of the welfare program. Today is the time for us to perfect our lives. May we continue to hold fast to these truths, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Spencer W. Kimball
My beloved brothers and sisters:
I am deeply grateful for the privilege of meeting with you once again in a general conference of the Lord's church. I look forward to, and draw strength from, these general conferences, and I am anxious to receive the counsel and instructions given to us under the inspiration of the Lord. I find that if I listen carefully and heed all that is said, my life is enriched and my inner soul is nourished with the bread of life.
This wonderful Tabernacle Choir has just sung to us, and they add so much to the spirit and enjoyment of our conference sessions. The Choir recently celebrated another anniversary, more than a half-century of "Music and the Spoken Word," the longest continuous radio broadcast in the free world. As I listen to the lovely melodies of the Tabernacle Choir and organ, I am comforted by the assurance that there will be beautiful music in heaven, and for that I am most grateful. Some say there will be no music in that other place-but then some sounds that pass for music probably belong in that other place!
The past six months have not been the most active of times for Sister Kimball and me. As you are aware, we have been somewhat restricted due to a condition known as growing older. I believe I now understand a bit more clearly what is meant by enduring to the end. It is difficult and frustrating not to be able to do all that I would like to do. Nevertheless, I still do many things. Almost daily I join with my Brethren for meetings at the Church office, and I meet every Thursday in the temple with the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve.
I have enjoyed some extracurricular activities as well. During the summer, Sister Kimball and I attended the Salt Lake Valley Dance Festival. We rode in the Days of '47 Pioneer Parade and attended the rodeo. Last Saturday, we joined with 65,000 others at the BYU-Air Force football game at the newly expanded BYU stadium in Provo.
I am grateful for my able and devoted Counselors, President Tanner, President Romney, and President Hinckley. As I reflect upon the great loyalty and love these men extend to me daily, I am reminded of an experience that Moses had during his advancing years. The Israelites were contending with the Amalekites, "and it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
"But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun."
Surely Moses had no greater support than that which I receive from my beloved Brethren. I am thankful, too, for President Benson and the members of the Council of the Twelve and the other General Authorities, all of whom labor so diligently in the Lord's vineyard. I am sorry, however, that my dear friend Elder LeGrand Richards is not with us this morning. He has been sitting here on this stand since 1938.
I am gratified with the growth of the Church around the world, for the nearly fifty new stakes which have been approved or created since we were in general conference last April, and for the groundbreakings that have occurred for the building of five more temples. These are all important indicators of the growth of the kingdom. I hope and pray always for the spiritual as well as the numerical growth of the Lord's church.
My brothers and sisters, there seems to be a general state of wickedness in the world in these perilous yet crucially momentous days. But in the midst of all the turmoil about us, we can have an inner peace. We are richly blessed and have so much to be thankful for. As I meditate upon these things, I remember the words of the Lord, "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required." The Lord expects of us righteousness and obedience to His commandments in return for the bounties of life He has so richly bestowed upon us. It seems that iniquity abounds on all sides, with the Adversary taking full advantage of the time remaining to him in this day of his power. The leaders of the Church continually cry out against that which is intolerable in the sight of the Lord: against pollution of mind and body and our surroundings; against vulgarity, stealing, lying, cheating, false pride, blasphemy, and drunkenness; against fornication, adultery, homosexuality, abortion; and all other abuses of the sacred power to create; against murder and all that is like unto it; against all manner of degradation and sin.
As Latter-day Saints we must ever be vigilant. The way for each person and each family to guard against the slings and arrows of the Adversary and to prepare for the great day of the Lord is to hold fast to the iron rod, to exercise greater faith, to repent of our sins and shortcomings, and to be anxiously engaged in the work of His kingdom on earth, which is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Herein lies the only true happiness for all our Father's children. We invite all men and women of good will everywhere to join in this divine and redeeming latter-day work.
Let us honor our families and enjoy our happy homes. As I speak to you of home and family, I desire to give some further counsel regarding the safety and well-being of your loved ones. There is a growing evil in our nation-the kidnapping of children. Our hearts go out in love and sympathy and compassion to all who have been thus bereft of precious little ones. I implore you mothers and fathers of Zion to keep a constant watchcare over your children. Teach them to beware of the growing danger of evil and designing men and pray ever for your children's welfare. The Devil is not dead, nor does he sleep.
The Savior loved little children. He often spoke of them, and He called them, like lambs, to His side, and He blessed them. And He said, "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
I call upon all who, for whatever reason or purpose, have torn a little child from the arms of its mother, to repent and hearken to my plea. I pray that the tears and pleadings of loved ones will soften their hearts so that they may be constrained to return these little ones to the bosom of their grieving families.
My brothers and sisters, the day for carrying the gospel to ever more places and people is here and now. We must come to think of our obligation to share the message rather than of our own convenience. Calls from the Lord are seldom convenient. The time is here when sacrifice must become an even more important element in the Church. We must increase our devotion so that we can do the work the Lord has for us to do. There is a growing need for more missionaries now that the term of service is shorter-but they must be those who have a desire to go and who have been carefully trained and prepared through the family and the various Church organizations. Young men, with the encouragement of their parents, should begin early in life to prepare with the spirit of saving, with the spirit of studying and praying about the gospel, with the spirit of attending seminary and institute classes. And of prime importance is preparation by keeping their lives clean and worthy. The parting words of the Master to His Apostles just before His Ascension were, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
We must not falter nor weary in well-doing. We must lengthen our stride. Not only is our own eternal welfare at stake, but also the eternal welfare of many of our brothers and sisters who are not now members of this, the true Church. I thrill to the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith in a letter that he sent to the Church from Nauvoo on September 6, 1842: "Shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward. Courage and on, on to the victory!"
Now, my dear brothers and sisters, there are some in the world who mistakenly say that we are a non-Christian Church-a cult; that we worship Joseph Smith rather than our Savior, Jesus Christ. How far from the truth they are! What heresy! The Lord declared, "For thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
We have a hope in Christ here and now. He died for our sins. Because of Him and His gospel, our sins are washed away in the waters of baptism; sin and iniquity are burned out of our souls as though by fire; and we become clean, we have a clear conscience, and we gain that peace which passeth understanding.
We believe, and it is our testimony, and we proclaim it to the world, "that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent."
We know, and it is our testimony, and we proclaim it to the world, that to be saved men must "believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent."
"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."
For the past century and a half since the Restoration, beginning with the Prophet Joseph Smith, the latter-day prophets of God have raised their voices in clarity and with authority and truth as they have borne their testimonies of the divinity of this great latter-day work and the redemptive power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
To the testimonies of these mighty men I add my testimony. I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that He was crucified for the sins of the world. He is my friend, my Savior, my Lord and my God. With all my heart I pray that the Saints may keep His commandments, have His Spirit to be with them, and gain an eternal inheritance with Him in celestial glory.
As we begin this conference let us wait upon the Lord for His blessing and His divine approbation. I pray the Lord to bless you; and as His servant, I bless you. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Portraits of members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, 1853. Top row: Heber C. Kimball, First Counselor; President Brigham Young; Willard Richards, Second Counselor; second row: Orson Hyde, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff; third row: John Taylor, George A. Smith, Amasa M. Lyman, Ezra T. Benson; fourth row: Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards.
Of the eighty-four brethren who have been called to the Quorum of the Twelve since 1835, this series includes sixty-nine. No previously prepared portraits of the remaining fifteen Brethren with the Quorum of the Twelve they served with were available: Thomas B. Marsh, David W. Patten, William E. M'Lellin, Luke S. Johnson, William Smith, John F. Boynton, Lyman E. Johnson, John E. Page, Lyman Wight, Abraham H. Cannon, Charles W. Penrose, Anthony W. Ivins, J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Alonzo A. Hinckley, and N. Eldon Tanner.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Counselor in the First Presidency
My brethren and sisters, I am confident that I speak for all of you when I express appreciation to President Kimball for his message just read by his able and faithful secretary, D. Arthur Haycock.
Thank you, President Kimball, for your counsel, and particularly for your testimony of God our Eternal Father and his Beloved Son, our Savior and Redeemer. We add our witness to yours that we too know that God lives and that he is the Ruler of the universe, our Father in Heaven; that Jesus Christ, his Only Begotten in the flesh, was born in Bethlehem of Judea as the promised Messiah; that he was the Man of miracles, the one perfect Man who has lived upon the earth; that he was crucified and gave his life as a sacrifice for the sins of all men; that through that great act of atonement, he became the Redeemer of all mankind; that he arose from the grave the third day, thus becoming "the firstfruits of them that slept"; that he was seen by many in and about Jerusalem, and in this hemisphere also, who testified that they saw and felt and were instructed by the risen Lord. By the power of the Holy Spirit, which has borne witness to us, we can and do testify of these great, transcendent truths. And we add our witness that this, "the dispensation of the fulness of times", spoken of in the scripture, was ushered in by a glorious visitation of the Father and the Son for the blessing of all who will seek and learn.
President Kimball, we assure you that the prayers of this people across the world ascend to our Father in Heaven in your behalf. We sing anew the beautiful hymn of Evan Stephens, written for Wilford Woodruff's ninetieth birthday:
While speaking of prayers, may I express appreciation to the members of the Church throughout the world for your prayers in behalf of all of the General Authorities. We recognize the great and sacred trust reposed in us. We are aware of our inadequacies and of the need for divine help in carrying forward the great work that must be done if this cause is to roll on to its promised destiny.
We thank you for your demonstrated faith and devotion, for the immeasurable service you give in behalf of others, for the virtue of your lives, for the goodness of your families, and for your personal integrity. Of course, there are some who do not measure up, but even with many of them, there is a desire and an effort. May the blessings of the Lord be with all of you who strive to walk according to his teachings.
Now, I should like to read portions of a letter that came to my desk. I have changed the names to preserve anonymity and have somewhat abbreviated it, paraphrasing a few words in the process. The letter reads:
"Dear President Hinckley,
"When I met you in the elevator at the hospital I had the urge to write you and tell you of some of the things that have happened to me.
"When I was sixteen or seventeen I cared nothing for the Church and would not have anything to do with it. But a bishop who was concerned about me came over to see me and asked me to help build some scenery for a road show production, and of course I told him no.
"Well, about ten days went by, and the bishop came back to ask me to build the scenery, and again I told him no. But then he went on to explain that he had asked others, and they had told him that they didn't know how. He indicated that I was needed. I finally gave in and proceeded to build the scenery.
"When I got it done, I said, 'There is your scenery,' and decided I had done my part. But the bishop insisted that they needed me on the stage to move the scenery and make sure it got put up right and that it got moved carefully as the road show moved from ward to ward. So I finally gave in again.
"That bishop kept me busy for quite a while, and pretty soon I was involved and enjoying it. He then moved from our area and we got a new bishop, and he picked up the challenge and kept after me.
"Bishop Smith had asked me to go on a mission, but I was undecided on that, and when Bishop Sorensen was put in, he asked me also, and I finally decided that I would go.
"Well, the bishop and I went to tell Mom and Dad about my decision. They told the bishop they couldn't pay for it. Dad told the bishop that if I was really sincere about going that I should work and save, and pay for the mission myself.
"My eyesight was not the greatest, as you know, and when I went places I had to be taken. When I became sixteen, I wanted to drive a car more than anything, and Dad took me to several eye doctors, all with the same result. The vision in my right eye was 20/800, and the vision in my left eye was 20/50, and I had astigmatism. So earning enough money to go on a mission was not an easy task. I worked in the sign shop at a department store for six to eight months to save some money. The bishop finally felt it was time for me to go, and we went to talk to my parents again. I had a thousand dollars saved, and the bishop told my Dad that the elders quorum would support me for the rest. Dad sat there for a while and said if anybody was going to support his son, he would. I filled out my papers and got my call in May of 1961.
"I went to Japan, where I loved the people and the missionary experiences that I had there. My companions and I baptized several people into the Church. After I came home, I went to work again in the sign shop. During the time I worked there, whenever I went to lunch, I would see a young lady walking up the street, who evidently worked in the same general area. I knew I had met her somewhere before but could not place her.
"Well, one of my missionary companions came home, and after some time we ran around together. Of course, he did all the chauffeuring because of my eyesight. One night he called and wanted to go out on a date, and so I frantically called around to find a date. Well, we went to a party, and guess who he took out. Right, he took out Sister Marilyn Jones who also had been in Japan, and whom I now remembered meeting briefly there on one occasion. She was the girl I had been passing on the street for several months and had not recognized.
"After this party, I went to California with my family for two weeks, and when I got home I found that my missionary friend had been dating the girl I had taken to the party. I thought I'd fix him, so I called Marilyn to go out on a date. You have to realize that it's not easy to do that when you don't drive, so my younger sister drove, and we had eight other youngsters accompany us to a ball game. That should have been enough to discourage any young lady from ever dating me again, but I tried again when my family went to the canyon to pick chokecherries.
"Finally came our date alone, and Dad had to drive me to pick up Marilyn, and then we drove him home, and went out on our date, and then back to our house to pick up Dad, who drove us back to her house, and then we went home. On the next date I asked her to marry me, and she told me no. Well, I went out with her some more, and asked her to marry me a couple more times, and I finally got a maybe. I thought that was a step in the right direction, and persisted. Six months after we started going together you performed our marriage in the Salt Lake Temple.
"President Hinckley, I thought that I loved this young lady at that time, but seventeen years later I find that I love her more than I could ever imagine. We now have five wonderful children.
"I have held many positions in the Church: chorister, Senior Aaronic Adviser, everything in the elders quorum, Assistant Ward Clerk, Seventies President, Executive Secretary, and now I am a counselor in the bishopric.
"I am still working in the sign shop at the department store. I bought a small house about thirteen years ago, and as my family got larger, my house got smaller. I had to do something, so I added on to my house and made it twice the size. I started this a little over three years ago and have been working on it ever since. It is coming along really well.
"Now for the most amazing piece of news ever. Two years ago in June, I went to a new eye doctor who examined my eyes and asked me what restrictions I had on my driver's license. I told him that I didn't have a license. He said that my eyesight was probably acceptable.
"I sat there in shock, and my wife said, 'Does this mean he could get a driver's license?' The doctor said, 'I don't see why not.' The next day my wife had me signed up for a driver education course, and after I finished it I went to get my license and they checked my eyes. The doctor had written a note explaining my eye problem, and that maybe I should not drive at night. The examiner put the letters up and I read them right off. He went to talk to his supervisor, and came back and approved my license with only a minor restriction.
"President Hinckley, the Lord has blessed me more than I can ever deserve. People say how lucky I am that my eyes have improved so much, but I know that it is the Lord's doing. I feel it is because I have tried to serve the Lord and do what I can to build up his kingdom here on the earth. I am sure there are times he is disappointed in me, and I'm sure he should be. But I will try to do my best and be worthy of his blessings upon me and my family."
He concludes with appreciation and testimony and signs his name. I have taken your time to read this somewhat lengthy letter because I feel it tells so simply and yet so eloquently what this work is all about.
Under the sacred and compelling trust we have as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, ours is a work of redemption, of lifting and saving those who need help. Ours is a task of raising the sights of those of our people who fail to realize the great potential that lies within them. Ours is the responsibility of building self-reliance, of encouraging and cultivating happy homes where fathers and mothers love and respect one another and children grow in an atmosphere of peace and affection and appreciation.
If you will recall what I have just read, this man, when he was a boy of sixteen or seventeen, was drifting aimlessly and dangerously as so many young men do at that age. He was walking the broad way which leads to destruction. Noting the course he was taking, his bishop, a prayerful and dedicated man, recognized his creative talent as an artist and found a way to challenge him to use that talent in the service of the Church. That bishop was wise enough to know that most young men will respond to a challenge when they know they are needed. No one else in the ward was quite capable of building the kind of scenery the bishop wanted. This inactive boy was capable of this, and the bishop complimented and challenged him with a request that his service was needed.
Here is a great key to reactivation of many of those who have fallen by the wayside. Each has a talent that can be employed. It is the task of leaders to match those talents with needs, and then to offer a challenge. The boy of this letter, whom I shall call Jack, responded, and he soon found himself moving in the direction of the Church rather than away from it.
Then came the challenge to go on a mission. Jack, who was now accustomed to saying yes rather than no, responded affirmatively. The father was not fully converted, and responded that his son would have to earn his own funds. That was not all bad. There was something of good in the requirement that he develop self-reliance. He went to work, he provided much of what he needed, he saved his money, and when he had a thousand dollars, the bishop, again under inspiration, felt the time had come when he should go. Jack's brethren in the elders quorum would assist, and that is proper. But the father, with an awakened sense of pride and of responsibility toward his own son, rose to the occasion, as men usually do when properly confronted.
I first met Jack in Japan when he was serving as a missionary there. I interviewed him on two or three occasions. That was before we had the Language Training Mission. Young men and women were then sent with no language training and simply plunged in to work at the task when they arrived there. I marveled that this young man, with serious eyesight deficiencies, was able to grasp that difficult language and speak it with power. Behind that was a great effort and a great sense of devotion, and above all, a certain humility and reliance on the Lord with anxious, prayerful pleadings for help.
I can tell you, for I witnessed it, that it was a miracle in his case as it was in the case of many others.
I also first met in Japan and interviewed on a number of occasions the young lady he was later to marry. She had a wonderful spirit, a deep faith, and a moving sense of duty. Their acquaintance in the field was nothing more than having seen one another on one occasion. They worked in widely separated areas. But out of their experiences had come a common touchstone-a new language in which each had learned to share testimony with others while laboring in the great and selfless cause of service to our Father's children.
As he indicated in his letter, they asked me to perform their marriage. It was done in the Salt Lake Temple. Each knew that only in the Lord's house under the authority of the holy priesthood could they be joined in marriage for time and for all eternity under a covenant which death could not break and time could not destroy. They wanted the very best for themselves; they would not be satisfied with anything else. Be it said to their credit that each has remained true to the sacred covenants they made in the house of the Lord.
Five beautiful and handsome children have graced that marriage. They are a family with love and appreciation and respect one for another. They have lived in a spirit of self-reliance. A small home which has been enlarged is a home in which father and mother and children gather together and counsel and learn one from another. It is a home in which there is a reading of the scripture. It is a home in which there is prayer: family prayer and individual prayer. It is a home in which service is taught and exemplified. It is a simple home; it is an unostentatious family. There is not much of wealth, but there is much of peace and goodness and love. The children who are growing up there are growing in "the nurture and admonition of the Lord." The father is faithful in his service to the Church. For these many years he has responded to every call made upon him. The mother likewise, in the organizations for women and children. They are good citizens of the community and the nation. They are at peace with their neighbors. They love the Lord. They love life. They love one another.
Now they have witnessed a miracle in the improvement of his eyesight. To a kind and gracious God goes the credit. This, too, is of the essence of the gospel, the power of healing and restoration, followed by acknowledgment and thanksgiving.
Is not this what the work is all about? Said the Savior, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Without great abundance of the things of the world, these, my friends, live abundantly. Such as they are the strength of the Church. In their hearts is a quiet and solid conviction that God lives and that we are accountable to him; that Jesus is the Christ, the Way, the Truth, the Life; that this work is their work; that it is true; and that gladness and peace and healing come in walking in obedience to the commandments of God, as set forth in the teachings of the Church.
I do not know whether the two men who served as Jack's bishops know what has become of him. If they know where he is, there must be sweet satisfaction in their hearts. There are thousands of bishops like them, who serve night and day in this great work of reactivation. And there are tens of thousands of Jacks in this Church whose hearts are touched and who are brought back into activity by a great sense of concern, a quiet expression of love, and a challenge to serve from bishops and others. But there are many, many more who need similar attention.
This work of ours is a great work of redemption. All of us must do more because the consequences can be so remarkable and everlasting. This is our Father's work, and he has laid upon us a divine injunction to seek out and strengthen those in need and those who are weak. As we do so, the homes of our people will be filled with an increased measure of love; the nation, whatever nation it be, will be strengthened by reason of the virtue of such people; and the Church and kingdom of God will roll forward in majesty and power on its divinely appointed mission. Of this I testify and for this I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Portraits of members of the Quorum of the Twelve, late 1867 or 1868. Top row: Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff; second row: John Taylor, George A. Smith, Ezra T. Benson; third row: Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow; bottom row: Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith.
Elder David B. Haight
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I pray for a heavenly blessing as I stand at this historic pulpit to give expression to direction received for this conference.
We testify of Christ. Our hope is in Christ. Our salvation is in Christ. Our efforts, hopes, and desires to build up the kingdom of God on earth are centered in and through His holy name.
We proclaim, as did John the Baptist upon seeing Jesus approaching the River Jordan, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
He taught the doctrines of His gospel, that every soul may have the opportunity to gain the blessings of eternal life.
As we strive to fulfill our divine responsibility to spread His gospel, we need the full measure of every promised blessing for His people: a belief, a testimony, patience, obedience, charity, wisdom, and faith in His word.
I believe our Father planted into the soul of man a special ingredient which, if used, will influence him toward heavenly things. Families or individuals wondering how to better share the gospel or to show deeper concern for new members, or missionaries wanting to touch the hearts of those they are teaching, have available to them this heavenly influence. That special ingredient instilled in each of us may bring to us our greatest joy. It will overcome fear, peer pressure, hatred, selfishness, evil, and even sin. This special ingredient must be nurtured as the tiny mustard seed; it is powerful beyond words and was taught by the Savior himself when asked which was the great commandment of the Law. He said:
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
"This is the first and great commandment.
"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Love is this divine ingredient. It alone describes what can be our perfect relationship to our Heavenly Father and our family and neighbors, and the means by which we accomplish His work.
The two commandments-to love God and to love man-had been taught separately by Jewish teachers, but Jesus brought them together and made the second "like" the first; and by the example of His own life, He made love of God and love of mankind the heart of the gospel. "By this," He said, "shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
Besides loving God, we are commanded to do what to many is a more difficult commandment-to love all, even enemies, and to go beyond the barriers of race or class or family relationships. It is easier, of course, to be kind to those who are kind to us-the usual standard of friendly reciprocity.
Then are we not commanded to cultivate genuine fellowship and even a kinship with every human being on earth? Whom would you bar from your circle? We might deny ourselves a nearness to our Savior because of our prejudices of neighborhood or possessions or race-attitudes that Christ would surely condemn. Love has no boundary, no limitation of good will.
To the lawyer who asked, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" and the lawyer's subsequent reciting of the commandments to "love God and thy neighbour as thyself," Jesus replied, "This do, and thou shalt live." Then the lawyer pressed further, "And who is my neighbour?" The Savior's parable that followed is the pure essence of love:
"A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
"And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
"And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
"But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
"And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
"And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
"Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
"And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."
The essential difference between the Samaritan and the other two men was that one had a compassionate heart and the others had selfish hearts. Though Samaritans were looked down upon by the Jews, the priest and the Levite-both of whom were Jews-should have come to the aid of the unfortunate man, but did not.
"The full and essential nature of love we may not understand," wrote Elder John A. Widtsoe. "But there are tests by which it may be recognized.
"Love is always founded in truth. Lies and deceit, or any other violation of the moral law, are proofs of love's absence. Love perishes in the midst of untruth. Thus, who falsifies to his loved one, or offers her any act contrary to truth, does not really love her.
"Further, love does not offend or hurt or injure the loved one. Cruelty is as absent from love as truth is from untruth.
"Love is a positive active force. It helps the loved one. If there is need, love tries to supply it. If there is weakness, love supplants it with strength. Love that does not help is a faked or transient love.
"Good as these tests are, there is a greater one. True love sacrifices for the loved one. That is the final test. Christ gave of Himself, gave His life, for us, and thereby proclaimed the reality of his love for his mortal brethren and sisters."
Knowing that we should love is not enough. But when knowledge is applied through service, love can secure for us the blessings of heaven. Jesus taught:
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
A commercial airplane plunged into the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., earlier this year, and an unidentified passenger gave his life for his "unknown friends." Bystanders watched in amazement as he caught the life preserver lowered from the helicopter to rescue those in the water. Rather than save himself, he passed the life preserver over to another person; the helicopter returned and he again passed the life preserver to another. "Why doesn't he hold on and save himself?" someone shouted. After others near him were saved, people on the shore watched in anguish as he slowly sank and disappeared into the frozen waters.
"If a single man achieves the highest kind of love," wrote Mahatma Gandhi, "it will be sufficient to neutralize the hate of millions."
God does not love us because we are lovable, have a pleasing personality or a good sense of humor, or at rare times show exceptional kindness. In spite of who we are and what we have done, God wants to pour out His love on us, for the unlovable are also precious unto Him.
At a recent university ceremony honoring Mother Teresa-who has spent her life working for the poor, the lepers, and abandoned children around the world-she said, "Love each other with a clean heart. are not hungry for bread; they are hungry for love."
"A man filled with the love of God," wrote the Prophet Joseph Smith, "is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race."
How can we earn God's love? The Savior taught:
"If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love."
Love is a gift of God, and as we obey His laws and genuinely learn to serve others, we develop God's love in our lives.
Love of God is the means of unlocking divine powers which help us to live worthily and to overcome the world.
The worldly methods of promoting great causes were discarded by the Savior. Money to buy influence-He had none. Publications-He never used. The sword was contrary to His purposes. The people of His own nation disowned Him. He planted His ideals in the hearts of only a few. They were mostly poor; but they met, listened, prayed, and believed in His words. As taught by the Master, they went among other men and by act and word passed on the new ideals, by love unfeigned and by friendship, not by force; and so the work spread.
God accomplishes His purposes heart to heart. The prophet Nephi helps us to understand this: "It is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things."
The depth and magnitude of God's love for all of His children is emphasized in the writings of John: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Brother and Sister Willes Cheney were called as missionaries to the Canada Halifax Mission and assigned to the far north, to Canbrook, Newfoundland. The instructions from their mission president were: "Go up there and strengthen the branch. Find some housing so the people will have their own place to meet in. And be ambassadors of good will."
This faithful couple touched many lives. Brother Cheney reported of their numerous successes with people and concluded with this tribute to his lovely companion:
"Aside from the many examples, the major contribution to our success was Sister Cheney. Her whole mission was a labor of love-teaching how to make a garden, can, sew, quilt, and give compassionate service. She was loved by all because of her excellent example as a wife, a mother, and as a friend."
He went on to say, "We helped the branch acquire a chapel and saw twenty-seven new members come into the Church, and many who were inactive return."
This lovely couple had shown their love for the Lord and for their newly found neighbors, though they were far away from home.
Someone has written, "Love is a verb." It requires doing-not just saying and thinking. The test is in what one does, how one acts, for love is conveyed in word and deed.
John the Beloved, who had a special closeness to our Lord, wrote:
"Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
"Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."
By his paying the debt of sin for each of us, Jesus brings us, if we desire, to his Father. We sing these expressive words, which truly convey our feelings:
May each of us adequately play our role in the final accomplishment of God's declared work and glory, "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man", by striving for perfection and by being obedient to all the laws and ordinances of the gospel-all of us strengthened by our compliance with the great commandments to love God and our neighbors, I pray as I bear witness that this is His work, that He loves us all. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Rare photograph of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, 1868 or 1869. Seated in foreground: George A. Smith, First Counselor; President Brigham Young; Daniel H. Wells, Second Counselor; back row: Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Ezra T. Benson, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young, Jr., Joseph F. Smith.
Bishop J. Richard Clarke
Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric
One of the most beautiful and inspiring passages in the Book of Mormon is often referred to as "The Psalm of Nephi." It begins with these stirring words: "My soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children.
"Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord."
These words have special meaning to me. I grew up in a small Mormon community. I was raised in a fine Latter-day Saint home. I was taught to love the Lord, to reverence His name, and to communicate with Him in prayer. I was very young when I learned that the Father and the Son had appeared to Joseph Smith. I believed as a boy and I have never doubted as a man.
However, until I enlisted in the navy, I had not experienced the shock of meeting so many people who had never seen a Mormon or who had never heard of Mormonism. I soon realized how limited was my knowledge of the gospel. I was asked some pretty tough questions about the Church that I had difficulty answering. I was the only Mormon in our outfit and so there was no one with whom I could counsel. The only scripture I had was a small military copy of the Book of Mormon. I am ashamed to confess that I left Lehi and his family somewhere in the wilderness on a number of occasions.
While I had grown up as an active member of the Church, I had felt no special need or urgency to study the scriptures and the writings of the prophets. When asked a question or when strong ridicule was directed at me and the Church, I could only state the personal beliefs I had learned from my family and teachers. I tried to compensate for my knowledge deficiency by being a good example of the principles I professed.
After leaving the navy, I received a mission call. I still had not developed a real appetite for gospel knowledge. I had not equated understanding the holy scriptures with being a good Latter-day Saint. Following some brief training in the old mission home in Salt Lake, my companions and I were exposed to a few weeks of tracting in Texas while waiting for the ship that would take us to South Africa. That exposure expanded my vision of what I was going to be doing for the next two years. I gained a lot of humility in a hurry.
An unusual quirk of fate changed my whole life as we sailed toward Cape Town. It was to be a twenty-eight-day voyage, but our ship developed boiler problems crossing the equator. Limping into the port of Recife, Brazil, we hit the rocks, gashing the ship's hull. A tugboat rescued us; but before we finally arrived in Cape Town, we had spent eighty-four days on board ship. I was fortunate enough to share quarters with a fine companion, Roy Stevens, who was a dedicated student of the gospel. His father had also been a missionary and had sent a large box of Church books with his son. It was during this confinement that a whole new world of gospel knowledge opened up to me.
It was a time to study, to ponder, to pray. I read all the standard works from cover to cover, as well as Jesus the Christ and several other Church books. On this voyage I received my witness from the Lord that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It was here that I came to know that Jesus is the Christ. It was here I developed an insatiable appetite to know the eternal truths. What a pity I had waited so long. I had wasted so much time during military service. What a priceless treasure I had ignored! I am persuaded that we will be held accountable for how we use our discretionary time.
There is so much we can learn from the example of the young Prophet Joseph Smith, whose persistent, prayerful study of the Holy Bible compelled him to seek the God of Heaven for divine guidance. This brought him to the threshold of the greatest revelation ever given to man since the mortal ministry of the Savior Himself. Throughout the Prophet's life, he continued to probe and ponder until he gained a mastery of the scriptures.
Another young man, Spencer W. Kimball, was about fourteen when Susa Gates spoke at their stake conference. He recalls: "She gave a rousing talk on the reading of the scriptures; then she stopped to ask us, 'How many of you have read the Bible through?'
" My accusing heart said to me, 'You, Spencer Kimball, you have never read that holy book. Why?' I looked around me to see if I was alone in my failure to read the sacred book. Of the thousand people, there were perhaps a half dozen who proudly raised their hands. When the meeting closed, I rushed home gritting my teeth and saying to myself, 'I will. I will.'"
He went home, got a coal-oil lamp, and climbed the stairs to his attic room. "There," he said, "I opened my Bible and began Genesis and I read well into the night with Adam and Eve and through the flood even to Abraham."
He continued to read a little each night. Although he didn't always understand what he was reading, he had made a commitment to himself. At the end of a year, he had finished. This achievement set a pattern for his life. The sermons and the writings of President Kimball convince us that he has labored long hours to gain his profound insights into the holy scriptures.
I am convinced that families, even young children, can learn to love the scriptures. A few years ago when I was in Colorado Springs for a conference, I called on Mark McConkie, son of Elder and Sister Bruce R. McConkie, to address the question: "How did you develop a love for the scriptures?"
As I recall, he said: "I first developed a love for the scriptures from my mother. I remember she would teach me while she did her ironing. I felt how she loved the scriptures by the way she would speak about the prophets. How much she loved them! As I grew older, I would listen to the recordings of the scriptures. I wanted to know the scriptures like my father. Sometimes he would enter the room while I was listening and it would take him just a moment to identify the exact scripture I was listening to. I wanted to be able to do that."
You may remember the sweet experience shared by President Romney, who had been reading the Book of Mormon with his son. He related: "I remember reading it with one of my lads when he was very young. We were each reading aloud alternate paragraphs of those last three marvelous chapters of Second Nephi. I heard his voice breaking and thought he had a cold, but we went on to the end of the three chapters. As we finished he said to me, 'Daddy, do you ever cry when you read the Book of Mormon?'
"'Yes, son,' I answered. 'Sometimes the spirit of the Lord so witnesses to my soul that the Book of Mormon is true that I do cry.'
"'Well,' he said, 'that is what happened to me tonight.'"
Some time later, I was reading a Jack London book with our youngest son Brandon, before going to bed. I recalled President Romney's story and thought, What an experience we're missing by not reading the standard works together. Before he leaves on his mission, I want him to become intimately acquainted with the great heroes of sacred literature and to pattern his life after them. We began to read just fifteen minutes or one chapter each day. What a choice experience! I commend it to you.
All of our sacred records have come to us at high cost. When we consider the fiery furnace of conquest and persecution through which the Bible has passed, the great wonder is not whether it is complete or translated correctly, but a miracle that it has survived at all! Surely the Lord has preserved it for the salvation of his children.
Laban's life was taken by divine command that the Nephite nation not "dwindle in unbelief." Think of the travail of the Nephite prophets who kept the records of their people so future generations might profit from their experiences. Think of the millions of people who have lived at a time when there was no printing or translating capability or who, because of political oppression or illiteracy, have been denied access to the scriptures. Think about the blessings of living in this dispensation, when the holy scriptures are available to us. In 1981, the United Bible Societies distributed 444,000,000 complete copies or portions of the Bible throughout the world. By the end of 1982, the Book of Mormon or selected portions will be available in fifty-seven languages.
We are the beneficiaries of great sacrifice. What excuse do we have for not taking advantage of this? Brothers and sisters, you don't have to be a natural student to read the scriptures; you just need to love the Lord.
The value of sacred records was indelibly taught by the Savior as he ministered among the Nephites. He declared: "A commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently;
"Give heed to my words; write the things which I have told you;
"Search the prophets, for many there be that testify of these things.
"And now after had expounded all the scriptures unto them which they had received, he said unto them: Behold, other scriptures I would that ye should write, that ye have not.
"How be it that ye have not written this thing, that many saints did arise and appear unto many and did minister unto them?
"And Nephi remembered that this thing had not been written.
"And Jesus commanded that it should be written;
"Now when Jesus had expounded all the scriptures in one, which they had written, he commanded them that they should teach the things which he had expounded unto them."
I concur with the strong counsel of President Romney, given to a group of seminary and institute coordinators in 1973. He told them, and I quote: "I don't know much about the gospel other than what I've learned from the standard works. When I drink from a spring I like to get the water where it comes out of the ground, not down the stream after the cattle have waded in it. I appreciate other people's interpretation, but when it comes to the gospel we ought to be acquainted with what the Lord says. You ought to read the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants; and all the scriptures with the idea of finding out what's in them and what the meaning is and not to prove some idea of your own. Just read them and plead with the Lord to let you understand what he had in mind when he wrote them."
I fear there are far too many Latter-day Saints who do not have a testimony of the gospel from their own diligent efforts. Is it possible that you are living on the reflected light of others who have prayed and pondered the revelations of God? A testimony comes from personal endeavor. The Lord has provided us the means of salvation, but our success is dependent upon individual effort.
I conclude with this admonition of the Prophet Joseph Smith, given in 1832:
"Search the scriptures-search the revelations which we publish and ask your Heavenly Father, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to manifest the truth unto you, and if you do it with an eye single to His glory nothing doubting, He will answer you by the power of His Holy Spirit. You will then know for yourselves and not for another. You will not then be dependent on man for the knowledge of God; nor will there be any room for speculation. For when men receive their instruction from Him that made them, they know how He will save them. Again we say: Search the Scriptures, search the Prophets and learn what portion of them belongs to you."
To this I add my witness. The holy scriptures are the word of God. If we are to know God, we must read His words, for therein He stands revealed to the honest in heart. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Portraits of members of the Quorum of the Twelve, ca. 1870. Top row: Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff; second row: Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards; bottom row: George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young, Jr., Joseph F. Smith, Albert Carrington.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
We are thankful for this, another opportunity to bear testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and of His divine Sonship, for truly He is the well-beloved and Only Begotten Son of our Heavenly Father.
Again we testify that He is our Savior and our Redeemer. He is our Creator, the Maker of heaven and earth.
But He also is our Friend-our dearest Friend. He died for us. Is not that the ultimate measure of friendship?
And He provided for us a resurrection from death, which is given freely to every person who has lived on the earth or ever will.
What a gift! What a Friend! What a mighty Personage He is!
But marvelous as will be our resurrection, joyfully as we will welcome our victory over death, salvation in His kingdom is quite another matter. It comes only to those who faithfully obey His commandments and accept all of His ordinances.
Have you ever thought of the process by which the gospel saves people? Faith, repentance, and baptism come first, of course. But there is more, much more.
The meaning of complete salvation is that we become like the Savior in word and thought and deed. We can measure our progress toward salvation merely by determining how Christlike we are. If we are not becoming more like Him in our everyday living, we are not advancing toward salvation as we should.
Becoming Christlike is a matter of daily spiritual growth. As a flower develops from a seed, as a mature adult develops from a tiny child, so we can grow spiritually day by day, eventually into Christlike personalities.
As one of our poets described it:
Jesus the Savior is the supreme example of how we should build our souls.
"What manner of men ought ye to be?" He asked, and then replied, "Even as I am."
Becoming like Him is not something we can achieve overnight. It is a lifelong and an eternal process, nothing less. In every hour and every day we must strive to become like Him.
Then what is the process by which this is done? It is by developing within our own selves the very traits of character which make Him what He is.
This does not come by studying the gospel alone, nor is it only by being baptized or receiving the priesthood, nor even by becoming temple workers. All of these are necessary, of course, but none alone is enough.
In it all, and above all, we need to develop Christlike hearts. We must have a change deep within us. As the prophet Alma taught:
"All mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;
"And thus," Alma said, "they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God."
Note this last sentence: "Unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God." This is a direct warning to us all.
Unless we have this change of heart, unless we follow the Savior's teachings, our sins may cancel out all the benefits we otherwise might receive through the ordinances of the Church.
The scriptures are very clear in telling us how to live a Christlike life. That is why we are to read them so constantly.
For example, we are taught to be poor in spirit, that is, humble. We are taught to be meek. It is not Christlike to be egotistical or proud or arrogant.
We are told to love Him so much that we will hunger and thirst after righteousness. Can we understand what that means? He is completely righteous. We wish to become like Him. But is our desire so deep that we actually hunger and thirst for it?
As a matter of fact, how great is our desire to walk in His paths? That alone can measure the depth of our conversion. Desire! That word desire! How deep is it within our souls-for righteousness?
To be Christlike also is to be kind. Was He ever unkind? If we lack in kindness and mercy, can we say that we resemble Him?
Another great law we must understand if we are to become like Him is the Golden Rule. We must learn to do unto others as we would be done by.
How many of us truly live that commandment? And yet, is there any salvation without it? Read the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew for an answer.
Just what does it mean to do unto others as we would be done by?
Would we like other people to be cruel to us? Of course not. Would we like them to cheat us? Would we appreciate being lied to or robbed? Then will we deceive others or steal from anyone? Dishonesty in all its forms is despicable and degrading. Is it Christlike in any sense? We hardly dare mention it in the same breath, for it really is anti-Christ!
The Lord teaches us to be peacemakers, and to avoid offenses, unpleasantness, and disputations. Should we not make a conscientious effort to get along well with other people, and more especially with members of our own families?
No man should quarrel with his wife or give her any cause to quarrel in return. The scriptures command us also to avoid provoking our children to wrath. If irritations arise in the home, they should be removed in a genuine Christian spirit.
To be like the Savior we can hardly be without true charity, either. How did the Apostle Paul express it?
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels.
"And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge.
"And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."
In fact, he says we would be as nothing, except of course that we would resemble sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.
The Savior said, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."
Will any others see Him-or come into His presence? Can anything that is impure?
What did He say about impurity?
"Touch not that which is unclean; be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord." That is what He said, and that is what He meant.
It is a divine commandment. If you believe in Christ, touch not the unclean thing!
Lust and covetousness are completely destructive. Sex sin is deadly. Intoxication is vicious. Greed is of the devil. So is selfishness, as it leads to all forms of dishonesty. They contaminate and demoralize our very souls. They are completely opposite to the Christlike life.
But what did He say about purity?
He prayed that those who follow Him will be so purified by righteous living that they will be pure as He is pure, so that, as He said, "I may be in them as thou, Father, art in me, that we may be one, that I may be glorified in them." Think of it! If we are pure, our righteousness will add glory to His name!
And He taught something else. If we have offended others, we are to seek a reconciliation with them and not allow ill feelings to persist.
Have you ever thought of these words as a commandment?
"If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
"Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."
With this in mind can we assume that our worship is acceptable to God if we have ill feelings toward others or if we have dealt unfairly with anyone?
Sometimes I have wondered if leaving our gift at the altar while seeking this reconciliation could refer to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Can we partake of those holy emblems with a clear conscience if we have done an injustice to another person?
The Lord also taught:
"If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
"But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
Can we presume that we shall enter His sacred presence if we are still stained by unremitted sins?
And then He warned against hypocrisy. Christlike people are not two-faced or double-dealing. The divine word is: "Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
Can we see how our day-by-day acts-little though they may seem to be-mold our souls?
Do His simple laws seem overly strict? Are they too difficult for us to live? But if we ignore them, do we realize what we do to ourselves?
It is inspiring to read the Lord's own description of the traits which make up His own character. He lists them this way:
"Faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God.
" virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence."
These are the traits of character of the Lord Jesus Christ. How earnestly do we try to build them into our own souls?
He commands us to become perfect, even as His Father in Heaven is perfect.
Can perfection arise out of careless living? Can we achieve perfection by imperfect means? It is plain to see why the Lord is strict and why we must serve Him with all our heart, might, mind, and strength.
It is no easy matter to live the gospel as we should. But unless we do, we cannot receive the blessings. It is no easy matter to become perfect in anything. Perfection requires devotion, long-suffering, persistence, willingness to sacrifice, and constant concentration. Imperfection can produce only further imperfection.
Could you sisters bake a good cake if you did not follow the recipe? Could you brethren build a house or a highway, or make a clock, or send a man to the moon if you ignored the formula provided for such achievements? Could you become a doctor if you did not follow the prescribed course in a medical school? Could you become an engineer if you ignored the principles of engineering?
Then can we expect to achieve perfection like that of Almighty God if we fail to follow the course He lays out for us?
The gospel will do us little good if we do not live it.
Membership in the Church will not save us unless we keep the commandments.
A half-hearted effort will not save us either. Instead, it will bring condemnation. The Lord has so declared in section 58 of the Doctrine and Covenants.
One of the great prophets of ancient times was Samuel the Lamanite. I like the way he taught. He was plain and straightforward in his manner of speech. He did not mince words, nor did he leave the people wondering what he meant.
As he spoke from the walls of Zarahemla, calling the Nephites to repentance, he told them bluntly that if they refused to live the gospel condemnation would come upon them, and he made it clear that they would have no one to blame but themselves.
"Remember, remember," he said, "that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself."
Then he said that, since we have free agency, we can choose the good or the evil, life or death; but he declared that in the end we shall most certainly receive exactly what we ourselves have chosen.
Should we not determine how well we are really living the gospel? And should we not remind ourselves that now-in our mortal lives-is the time of our probation, and that now is the time of planting for whatever kind of harvest we hope to receive?
Isn't it time for each of us to learn the lesson of Gethsemane and say with Him: "Not my will, but thine, be done"?
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Thomas S. Monson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Tuesday, June 8, 1982, dawned bright and clear in London, England. It was destined to be an historic day. A spirit of excitement permeated the very air and filled expectant hearts with keen anticipation. The President of the United States of America had arrived in Great Britain and soon would be addressing Parliament. Crowds gathered for the occasion, filled the streets and overflowed the nearby park. Uniformed policemen maintained order while famous Big Ben chimed its proud and clarion call which marked the appointed hour.
My wife, Frances, and I stood midst the milling crowd. Then, suddenly, Parliament's doors swung open, the Prime Minister and the President greeted the throng, entered their limousines, and the motorcade drove slowly away. The crowd gave a mighty cheer, then began to disperse. Frances and I walked from the sunbathed street into the semi-dark, yet welcome, refuge of Westminster Abbey.
A reverence filled this world-famous edifice, as it should. For here, kings are crowned, royalty wedded, and rulers, whose mission of mortality has ended, are honored then buried. We walked along the aisleways, thoughtfully reading the inscriptions which marked the tombs of the famous. We remembered their achievements, recalled their deeds of valor, and marked their well-earned places in the world's history. Then we paused before the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, one of many who fell in France during the Great War. From an unmarked grave, the body of this fallen youth had been brought to London to forever lie in honor. I read aloud the inscriptions: "They buried him among the kings because he had done good toward God and toward His house." "In Christ shall all be made alive."
Toward the doorway we walked. Still visible in the park beyond were the remnants of the crowd. The immortal words of Rudyard Kipling coursed through my mind and spoke to my soul:
One final marker to see, one more inscription to read. As a Scouter, I had come from America to view the plaque of honor dedicated to the memory of Scouting's founder, Lord Baden-Powell. We stood before the magnificent marble memorial and noted the words:
Robert Baden-Powell, 1857–1941 Founder of the Boy Scouts Friend of all the World
On that day during this year which commemorates the 75th anniversary of Scouting and the 125th anniversary of its founder, I pondered the thought, "How many boys have had their lives blessed-even saved-by the Scout movement begun by Baden-Powell?" Unlike others memorialized within the walls of Westminster Abbey, Baden-Powell had neither sailed the stormy seas of glory, conquered in conflict the armies of men, nor founded empires of worldly wealth. Rather, he was a builder of boys, one who taught them well how to run and win the race of life.
Boys do become men.
The reality of this thought is delightfully portrayed in the closing lines of the well-known musical Camelot. King Arthur's Round Table has been destroyed by the jealousies of men, the infidelity of a queen, and the appearance in the present of a mistake from the past, even Mordred. Deprived of his dream, King Arthur and his forces prepare to meet the armies of Lancelot. All he held dear is gone; disillusionment has darkened into despair.
Suddenly, however, there appears a stowaway-the young boy Tom of Warwick. Filled with the hope of youth, he tells the king he has come to help him fight the mighty battle. He reveals his intention to become a knight. Under the questioning of Arthur, Tom declares his knowledge of the Round Table. He repeats the familiar goals: "Might for right! Right for right! Justice for all!"
A look of renewed confidence spreads across King Arthur's face. All is not lost. To the boy he repeats the goals and glory of Camelot. Then he formally knights him "Sir Tom of Warwick." Thus commissioned to depart the battlefield, to return to England, to renew the dream of Camelot, to grow up and to grow old, Sir Tom places aside the weapons of war; and armed with the tenets of truth, he hears his monarch command, "Run, boy, run!" A boy had been spared, an idea safeguarded, a hope renewed.
Every boy blessed by Scouting learns in his youth far more than that envisioned by Sir Tom of Warwick. He adopts the motto "Be Prepared." He subscribes to the code "Do a Good Turn Daily." Scouting provides proficiency badges to encourage skills and personal endeavor. Scouting teaches boys how to live, not merely how to make a living. How pleased I am that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1913 became the first partner to sponsor Scouting in the United States.
I love the inspired words of President Spencer W. Kimball when he spoke to Church members everywhere: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affirms the continued support of Scouting and will seek to provide leadership which will help boys keep close to their families and close to the Church as they develop the qualities of citizenship and character and fitness which Scouting represents. We've remained strong and firm in our support of this great movement for boys and of the Oath and the Law which are at its center."
What is the Scout Oath of which President Kimball spoke?
"On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times and to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight."
A hero from war's battlefield, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, emphasized this same commitment when, in the twilight of his illustrious career, when the daylight of youth had departed and the shadows of age had descended, he declared in a message to young men: "In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield. But in the evening of my memory, I always come back to West Point. Always there echoes and re-echoes in my ears-Duty, Honor, Country."
The Protestant minister Harry Emerson Fosdick phrased differently the same commitment: "Men will work hard for money. They will work harder for other men. But men will work hardest of all when they are dedicated to a cause. Until willingness overflows obligation, men fight as conscripts, rather than following the flag as patriots. Duty is never worthily performed until it is performed by one who would gladly do more, if only he could."
And from the Confederate general, Robert E. Lee: "Duty is the sublimest word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less."
Let us consider the Scout Law referred to by President Kimball. When I think of the Scout Law, I reflect upon the life of one who knew the laws of God and who kept them-even the Lord, Jesus Christ. The twelve points of the Scout Law have their counterpart in the message of the Master.
A Scout is trustworthy. What did the Lord say? "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do."
A Scout is loyal. "Get thee behind me, Satan."
A Scout is helpful. "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk."
A Scout is friendly. "Ye are my friends."
A Scout is courteous. "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
A Scout is kind. "Suffer the little children to come unto me. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them."
A Scout is obedient. "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."
A Scout is cheerful. "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
A Scout is thrifty. "Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me."
A Scout is brave. "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."
A Scout is clean. "Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord."
A Scout is reverent. "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name."
Such inspired teachings, when taught by devoted leaders to precious boys of promise, influence not only the lives of the boys; they also affect eternity. "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days." Such is Scouting.
Several years ago a group of men, leaders of Scouts, assembled in the mountains near Sacramento for Wood Badge training. This experience, where men camp out and live as do the Scouts they teach, is a most interesting one. They cook and then eat-burned eggs! They hike the rugged trails which age invariably makes more steep. They sleep on rocky ground. They gaze again at heaven's galaxies.
This group provided its own reward. After days of being deprived, they feasted on a delicious meal prepared by a professional chef who joined them at the end of their endurance trail. Tired, hungry, a bit bruised after their renewal experience, one asked the chef why he was always smiling and why each year he returned at his own expense to cook the traditional meal for Scouting's leaders in that area. He placed aside the skillet, wiped his hands on the white apron which graced his rotund figure, and told the men this experience. Dimitrious began:
"I was born and grew to boyhood in a small village in Greece. My life was a happy one until World War II. Then came the invasion and occupation of my country by the Nazis. The freedom-loving men of the village resented the invaders and engaged in acts of sabotage to show their resentment.
"One night, after the men had destroyed a hydroelectric dam, the villagers celebrated the achievement and then retired to their homes."
Dimitrious continued: "Very early in the morning, as I lay upon my bed, I was awakened by the noise of many trucks entering the village. I heard the sound of soldiers' boots, the rap at the door, and the command for every boy and man to assemble at once on the village square. I had time only to slip into my trousers, buckle my belt, and join the others. There, under the glaring lights of a dozen trucks, and before the muzzles of a hundred guns, we stood. The Nazis vented their wrath, told of the destruction of the dam, and announced a drastic penalty: every fifth man or boy was to be summarily shot. A sergeant made the fateful count, and the first group was designated and executed."
Dimitrious spoke more deliberately to the Scouters as he said: "Then came the row in which I was standing. To my horror, I could see that I would be the final person designated for execution. The soldier stood before me, the angry headlights dimming my vision. He gazed intently at the buckle of my belt. It carried on it the Scout insignia. I had earned the belt buckle as a Boy Scout for knowing the Oath and the Law of Scouting. The tall soldier pointed at the belt buckle, then raised his right hand in the Scout sign. I shall never forget the words he spoke to me: 'Run, boy, run!' I ran. I lived. Today I serve Scouting, that boys may still dream dreams and live to fulfill them."
Dimitrious reached into his pocket and produced that same belt buckle. The emblem of Scouting still shone brightly. Not a word was spoken. Every man wept. A commitment to Scouting was renewed.
It has been said, "The greatest gift a man can give a boy is his willingness to share a part of his life with him." To leaders who build bridges to the hearts of boys, to parents of Scouts, and to Scouts everywhere, on this our 75th anniversary, I salute you and pray our Heavenly Father's blessings upon you. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, 1884. Top row: Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards; second row: Brigham Young, Jr., Albert Carrington, Moses Thatcher, Francis M. Lyman; bottom row: John Henry Smith, George Teasdale, Heber J. Grant, John W. Taylor.
Elder Franklin D. Richards
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My dear brothers and sisters, I rejoice with you in the spirit of this great conference and pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as I speak to you.
According to scripture, after the Savior instituted the sacrament of the Lord's Supper with the Apostles, they sang a hymn and "went out into the mount of Olives." From this scripture it is evident that the singing of hymns was a part of the religious services at that time.
Today, one of the important parts of our worship services is the congregational singing of hymns, in addition to the beautiful choir music. As each of our religious services is opened by a hymn and a prayer, the spirit of worship is established and a beautiful feeling of fellowship is felt. Today I would like to emphasize the importance and value of participating in congregational singing.
In our Latter-day Saint hymns, we sing praises to the Lord, pray unto the Lord, recite great religious truths-in effect sermons-and our minds and spirits are elevated and spiritually stimulated.
President Heber J. Grant, in discussing the matter, said: "No individual singer, or organization of singers, in the Church, should ever render a selection unless the words are in full harmony with the truths of the gospel, and can be given from the heart of the singer. In other words, our songs should be in very deed 'Prayers unto the Lord.'"
President Spencer W. Kimball, in referring to our singing of hymns, said: "Some of the greatest sermons that have ever been preached were preached by the singing of a song. There are many wonderful songs. Sing them through."
In July of 1830, just three months after the organization of the Church, a revelation from the Lord was given to Emma Smith through her husband, the Prophet Joseph Smith, in which the Lord stated: "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads."
In this revelation, Emma Smith was charged with the responsibility of compiling a hymnbook for the use of the Church. Brother W. W. Phelps, one of the great hymn writers of this dispensation, was appointed to assist and arrange for the printing. Ninety hymns were compiled, and in 1835 the first edition was published.
To illustrate the doctrine, prophecy, and great inspiration contained in our hymns, let me quote from a few.
"I Know That My Redeemer Lives" was selected as one of the ninety hymns in the first hymnbook, and the words were written by Samuel Medley. In this hymn, we sing:
J. Spencer Cornwall, commenting on this song, wrote: "To hear this loved song rendered by an assembly of devoted Latter-day Saints is a spiritual baptism." How true this is! This is one of our most popular hymns in which we express thanks for the atoning sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
"Praise to the Man,", one of W. W. Phelps' inspiring hymns, is a magnificent tribute to the Prophet Joseph Smith. This beautiful hymn not only incorporates the elements of rejoicing and prophecy, but also contains basic doctrine, as is evidenced by the statement, "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven." The law of sacrifice is an important part of the gospel of Jesus Christ and contributes to the building of faith, love, and many other virtues.
Also in the same stanza with the sacrifice doctrine, we sing, "Wake up the world for the conflict of justice. Millions shall know 'brother Joseph' again." What a prophetic utterance! At the time Brother Phelps wrote the hymn, there was figuratively a handful of Church members. Now, millions do know that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God and millions more will undoubtedly obtain this testimony. I thrill every time I sing this tremendous hymn.
"We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet". The words to this hymn were written by William Fowler and published in 1863. This hymn basically acknowledges our thanks and gratitude to our Father in Heaven for restoring the gospel in its fulness and establishing His church with prophets to guide us in these latter days. This beautiful hymn is another of the most popular hymns as LDS congregations meet and sing in every part of the world.
"Come, Come, Ye Saints" was composed by William Clayton on 15 April 1846, and in an edition of the Relief Society Magazine in 1921, the following story is told regarding the origin of this hymn:
"President Brigham Young, feeling great anxiety, because there were murmurings in the camp of Israel, called Elder William Clayton aside, and said, 'Brother Clayton, I want you to write a hymn that the people can sing at their camp-fires, in the evening; something that will give them succor and support, and help them to forget the many troubles and trials of the journey.'
"Elder Clayton withdrew from the camp, and in two hours returned with the hymn known as, 'Come, Come, Ye Saints.' His personal testimony is to the effect that it 'was written under the power and inspiration of the Lord.'"
In this hymn we sing:
Many pathetic pioneer stories are told with reference to how this compassionate plea touched their hearts and brought them great courage and comfort.
In a southern states mission, a young girl was walking home with a friend and began humming "Come, Come, Ye Saints." Her friend said, "My, that's a beautiful melody. What is it?" The girl told her about it, and made a date to take her to a Church service. After attending a few times, she arranged for the missionaries to teach her family. The family have all been baptized and are happy doing their part in building the kingdom.
This great hymn truly epitomizes the great faith and courage of our pioneer ancestry and today builds this faith and courage in the present generation as we approach the pioneering work of this age.
"O My Father", written by Eliza R. Snow in Nauvoo in 1843, is another of the greatest LDS hymns. This remarkable hymn depicts our existence in the premortal existence with the Father and Mother of our spirits. Then, in the last stanza we sing:
This hymn truly lays out all the great drama of eternal life as revealed by the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. As one sings this beautiful hymn, he appreciates more and more the literal Fatherhood of God the Eternal Father.
"The Spirit of God Like a Fire" was another composition of W. W. Phelps and was also published in the first LDS hymnbook. The emotional impact and spiritual power that this hymn generates as it is sung was demonstrated as it climaxed the dedicatory services of the Kirtland Temple on 27 March 1836. It is my understanding that this hymn has been sung at the dedicatory services of each of the LDS temples built since the Kirtland Temple dedication. It has, of course, been sung in many dedicatory services of ward and stake chapels.
This hymn heralds the restoration of the gospel, the bursting of the veil over the earth, and the angels coming to visit the earth. The chorus is an exclamation of great joy:
The great Tabernacle Choir and the Mormon Youth Chorus have, for many years, been an inspiration, not only to LDS members, but to millions of others as they have sung these and other hymns.
Ward and stake choirs also perform a most important part in our worship meetings and are participated in by thousands of members who receive great joy and spiritual growth in so doing.
Again, I would like to emphasize the value and importance of participating in congregational singing. I often wonder, when I see people in a worship service not singing, could it be that they are missing a beautiful, inspirational experience?
As I have sung the inspired messages contained in our hymns, my testimony of the Fatherhood of God and the divinity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has been strengthened.
Also, our LDS hymns bear witness that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, did appear to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that he was and is a great prophet through whom the gospel in its fulness was restored.
My gratitude for our beloved prophet Spencer W. Kimball is intensified as I sing "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet." May the Lord continue to bless and sustain him.
As we sing our hymns, let us be conscious of the beauty and import of each hymn, and as we do, our singing will deeply move our souls, bring us in closer harmony with the Holy Spirit, and strengthen our testimonies. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, 10 October 1898; Fox & Symons, photographers. Seated: Anthon H. Lund; Brigham Young, Jr.; George Q. Cannon, First Counselor; President Lorenzo Snow; Joseph F. Smith, Second Counselor; Franklin D. Richards; standing: Marriner H. Merrill, John W. Taylor, Francis M. Lyman, Rudger Clawson, Heber J. Grant, Matthias F. Cowley, George Teasdale, Abraham O. Woodruff, John Henry Smith.
Elder Rex D. Pinegar
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I would like to address my comments today to those who are searching for the strength to meet the challenges of life.
Not long ago I received a note from a daughter who was leaving home to attend college. After a sweet message of thanks and appreciation, came an expression of concern about the responsibilities she would now encounter being on her own. Up until now she felt she had lived a sheltered life and had relied on her family to give her direction and strength. She was beginning to realize life is hard!
My daughter's note made me think of the encounters I've had during the past several months with many people of the Church who seem to be asking, "How do I deal with the difficult challenges of life?"
Life is hard. It is a challenge. At every age life presents trials to bear and difficulties to overcome. Growing up is hard. There are often the heartaches of feeling wronged or rejected. Pursuing an education can press us to our financial, emotional, and intellectual limits. Serving a mission is not easy. It requires total dedication, spiritually and physically. The problems accompanying marriage, rearing a family, earning a living, or coping with illness, old age, and death are realities of life which we are required to meet, but with which we may be unprepared or unwilling to deal.
We will be able to face and solve these challenges more willingly and courageously when we understand that such obstacles are encountered as a natural part of living.
C. S. Lewis wrote: "The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own,' or 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life-the life God is sending one day by day."
An old Asian tale describes a prince who was reared in a castle and kept sheltered from the hardships of life. He never saw anyone who was ill. He never saw anyone who was aged. He never saw anyone die.
When the prince grew to be a young man, he desired to go out into the kingdom he ruled. As he was being carried along on a litter, he saw for the first time an old man, toothless, wrinkled, and bent with age.
The prince said to his bearers, "Stop! Wait! What is this?"
The chief bearer replied, "This is a man who is bent with age. Though you are young and strong, the time will come when you too must be bent with age."
This disheartened the prince. His confrontation with aging was more than he could bear. He asked to be taken back to the castle.
After a few days in familiar surroundings he felt rejuvenated. He decided to venture forth again. This time as he passed by a group of men he noticed that one of them was on the ground, overcome with fever and convulsing in pain.
"What is this?" the prince asked.
"This is a man who is ill," said the porter. "Though you are now young and strong, you too will have to suffer the problems of sickness."
The prince was again saddened and returned immediately to the palace. But again in a few days, he wanted to visit his kingdom once more.
They hadn't gone far from the castle when the prince saw a coffin being carried to its place of burial.
"What is this?" he asked.
When the meaning of death was explained to the inquiring young prince, he became depressed by the inevitable vision of the future. As he returned to the immediate comfort of his palace, he vowed he would never come out again.
The prince interpreted life to be an evil trick because no matter what a man did or what a man was, he had to suffer sickness, aging, and death.
Perhaps some of us feel about life the way the young prince in this fable did. We may feel that life is cruel and unfair to us, that we would like to retreat into our own shelter and never have to venture forth into the world. To do so, however, would be to deny ourselves the opportunities for growth which life and its experiences are designed to bring to us.
The Lord has made available to us a power which will turn these challenges into opportunities, a power which will enable us to understand the Apostle Peter's declaration that such trials of our faith are indeed more precious than gold.
When I was teaching an early-morning seminary class a number of years ago, we paused at the end of the year to review some principles we had learned from our study of the Book of Mormon. One young lady held up an illustration in her Book of Mormon, painted by Arnold Friberg. It depicted the two thousand sons of Helaman known as the "stripling soldiers." Then in all seriousness she asked, "Tell me, Brother Pinegar, why aren't our young men built like this today?"
Now, I don't know that the young men in the days of the Book of Mormon were built the way Arnold Friberg depicts them, but her question gave me the opportunity to ask, "Where did the strength of these young men come from?"
Those of you who have read the Book of Mormon are familiar with the story of the sons of Helaman. When their fathers were converted to the gospel, the fathers covenanted with the Lord that they would never again take up arms. But eventually their homes were threatened by hostile armies to the extent that the fathers would have to choose to fight or die. It was then that the two thousand young men, not bound by the same covenant, volunteered to defend their parents and their homes.
A prophet-general described these young men by saying, "They were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all-they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.
"Yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.
"And they fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength; and with such mighty power."
What gave the sons of Helaman their strength? Their faith in God was their "miraculous strength" and "mighty power."
Leo Tolstoy, the famous Russian writer, declared, "Faith is the force of life." Tolstoy had spent the major portion of his life seeking to understand life's purpose. He found fame, position, fortune. He married well and had a family. He had experienced success by nearly every measure the world uses.
He sought answers to the meaning of life from his studies of science, philosophy, and other fields of knowledge. However, all the knowledge he acquired, honors he received, and personal accomplishments he achieved brought no lasting satisfaction. Life still seemed to him meaningless. At this point of deepest despair, Tolstoy asked the question, "How am I to live?" The answer came, "By the Law of God."
Tolstoy was then compelled to admit that "besides the reasoning knowledge" there is "in every living man another kind of knowledge, an unreasoning one, but which gives a possibility of living-faith. Faith is the force of life."
Tolstoy found that one can possess about all one could desire of worldly pleasure and acclaim; but without faith in God, life will burden the heart, the mind, and even the soul.
It sometimes seems that the problems others face are not quite as hard as our own. Some of us may feel that life would not be so hard if we only had more wealth, or if we had a higher social station or better acceptance among our peers. Some may feel that if only they were married they could be truly happy. Others are seeking to be free from the responsibilities of marriage, thinking that would ease their challenges of life.
Not all challenges are related to the presence of a physical or material need. Yet the source of strength to meet all challenges remains the same: faith in God and remaining true at all times. Believing in God and seeking to live His law provides the power to successfully overcome the testing such challenges bring.
A friend of mine from South Carolina has demonstrated that even multiple problems can be overcome when one is true to his faith in God.
Laurie Polk is a dwarf. From the time of his birth, life has been a challenge. When he became old enough to go to school, he pedaled himself on a tricycle in order to move about and keep up with the other children. When his short legs kept him from playing games and participating in athletics, he busied himself in preparing for a vocation in the business world. To obtain employment, he found it necessary to persist and to prove himself. When a job opportunity finally came to him, he found joy in life through his love for his work.
Then another challenge arose. Laurie Polk, already extremely limited in his physical mobility, lost the sight in one eye. Nearly complete loss of the use of his crippled, dwarfed legs followed shortly thereafter. Then, as if that were not enough of a trial for any man, the retina of Laurie's other eye became detached and complete blindness encompassed him.
Where did Laurie Polk gain his strength to overcome such darkness and despair? Through the power of faith in God, Laurie Polk has learned the meaning of life. In his thirty-four inch frame, he possesses a strength not unlike the sons of Helaman, through which he not only overcomes the personal challenges he encounters-he actually finds joy in living. He knows he can solve any problem by putting his life in harmony with God and serving his fellowman. He says, "With the help of the Lord there are no problems, only challenges." Laurie Polk is now a high priest group leader in the Charleston South Carolina Stake.
From my own experience with life's hardships I have learned that faith in God develops a personal love for Him which is reciprocated through his blessings to us in times of need. To my daughter and to all others who are meeting new or challenging times, I say: Do not fear the challenges of life, but approach them patiently, with faith in God. He will reward your faith with power not only to endure, but also to overcome hardships, disappointments, trials, and struggles of daily living. Through diligently striving to live the law of God and with faith in Him, we will not be diverted from our eternal course either by the ways or the praise of the world.
May each of us develop faith in God sufficient to fight the battles of life victoriously "with the strength of God; yea, with miraculous strength; and mighty power." We will then find the happiness we so much desire in our lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, 1900; Fox & Symons, photographers. Top row: Brigham Young, Jr., Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, George Teasdale, Heber J. Grant, John W. Taylor; bottom row: Marriner W. Merrill, Anthon H. Lund, Matthias F. Cowley, Abraham O. Woodruff, Rudger Clawson, Reed Smoot.
Elder Rex C. Reeve
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
As fearful as the daily news headlines are and even though there are violence and ominous uncertainty continually on almost every hand, there is no problem, national or personal, which could not be solved, and solved easily, if men and nations would turn their hearts and lives to God. It would be so simple.
He is our father, the actual father of our spirits. He is the father of all men. We are His children. He knows us; He loves us. He may not like all we do, but of one thing we can be sure-He loves His children. Yes, He is a loving Heavenly Father. And He is there.
How comforting and reassuring it is each day as we behold the wonders of the universe and this beautiful world on which we live. We can see His hand in the matchless order with which the heavenly bodies move and the delicate beauty of the flowers and trees and other growing things, all of them bearing silent witness of His existence.
How stimulating and edifying to approach Him in prayer each morning and evening and feel His nearness and His love as we acknowledge His hand, and in our need, seek His help. What a blessing to be able to approach the source of life and light and be strengthened and renewed by just humbly seeking and asking.
Even in tragedy He is there. When traumatic challenges come and a life hangs in the balance or is hopelessly marred and the future is dark and hope grows dim and time seems long-He is there. His reassuring feeling comes through, seemingly saying, "I am here, do not worry; this will be for your good if you endure it well. Trust in me."
As He communed with our father Abraham He told him of the purpose of sending us to earth. He said:
"We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;
"And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them."
Yes, this life is a time of testing. It is not the reward time. That will come later. We are here being tested. The test is going on now!
He wants us to know how we feel in our heart. He has said, "For as thinketh in his heart, so is he."
"They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."
When our hearts are not right, the Lord withholds His spirit. "They sought evil in their hearts, and I, the Lord, withheld my Spirit."
He "granteth unto men" according to the desire of their heart.
"O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day."
Of offerings, the Lord has said, "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they may bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering."
There was no concern as to the gift itself, but only that he give "it willingly with his heart."
I suppose in the day of judgment the question won't be so much what did you do or where did you serve, but rather, did you serve me with all your heart? Did you put me first in your life?
Yes, real worship is of the heart.
If men and nations did reach up to God with all their hearts, war would cease. If love of God were in the heart, a man would have no desire to destroy his brother.
There would be no dishonesty if the love of God were in the heart. If God came first in his life, a man would love his neighbor as himself, and instead of taking from him, he would feel to give to him.
In the home, if the love of God were in the heart of the father and the mother, the husband and the wife, and God came first in their lives, there would be an end to selfishness; there would be no discord. Instead, there would be a feeling of how can I help you or what can I do for you instead of demanding my rights and my desires, which often destroys homes.
Home is really only the feeling between husband and wife-how they feel about one another and God. Home isn't the house, for the house can still be there when home is gone.
If men and nations did reach up to God with all their hearts, the Sabbath day would be a holy day. The desires of men's hearts would be to love and serve God and honor and worship Him.
Yes, worship is really of the heart.
"But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and all thy soul."
This question was asked of Jesus: "Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."
We need to grow in respect and reverence and love of God, the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. This can come as we desire and seek. It will not come automatically, but we as individuals, free to choose, must desire and seek and pray and ask. It must grow from the deep feelings in our hearts.
The Lord has said, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
To you wonderful young men of the Church, turn your hearts to the Lord, put Him first in your lives. The finest thing each of you can do for the Lord and for yourself and your family is to prepare yourself to serve as a missionary, to carry His gospel to the people who haven't yet heard it.
Not only would your service as a missionary bless many other lives, but it would bless your life. You would grow in love for the Lord and His children, your self-image would be enhanced, you would grow in confidence and understanding. You would grow closer to the Lord and know better how to use His holy power in your life.
When you returned from your mission you would be better prepared to serve as a priesthood leader and as a righteous father. It is the finest thing you can do to bless the lives of others as well as your own. Turn your heart to Him, put Him first in your life, prepare to serve Him as a missionary.
You lovely young women of the Church, put the Lord first in your lives, turn your hearts to Him. He has placed such trust and confidence in you as His daughters. Prepare to marry in the temple. Work and plan to this end. It will not only bless your own lives, but the lives of many others will be blessed by your desire and example. Put the Lord first in your lives and hearts.
You fathers and mothers, put Him first in your lives and in your hearts. Teach your children of the Lord; let them feel that He comes first in your hearts. Teach them of His love and the great blessings He has for each of them as they desire and live worthy and go to His house. Help them feel how wonderful a family is, so they will desire to belong to a family forever.
Children come to know God and feel love for Him and His word and His prophets before they can read words if these sacred feelings exist in the hearts of the father and mother and they find expression in look and word and deed.
The finest thing you parents can do for your children is to love one another and put God first in your hearts and lives. It will strengthen your home and safeguard your family.
You who are single and who face many challenges, put Him first in your lives. He loves you. As you reach up and pour out your hearts to Him, you will receive strength and faith to meet the tests you struggle to face. He will not remove the challenges, but He will strengthen you so you can carry the burdens and meet the tests. He is there. He loves you.
And you, our fine friends who do not yet enjoy the blessings of His restored gospel, turn your hearts to Him and listen to His voice; He will whisper to you in the quiet of your hearts, as you seek Him.
God has spoken to man again in our day. The heavens are open. He does commune with man again, as in times of old, through His prophet. He has restored His priesthood authority, authorizing man to act for Him. He has restored His church which makes the saving ordinances available again to man.
You need not take our word alone for it, but He has prepared a way that you can know for yourselves.
His timeless message will bring real purpose and new meaning to your lives and a richness and peace you can enjoy in no other way. Thousands are seeking and finding each month. We invite you to seek and find too. We will be pleased to assist you, if you wish.
Yes, the answer and solution to all the challenges and needs we have, national or personal, is to turn our hearts to God, put Him first in our lives, keep His commandments-and all things will work for our good, even those tests which seem so big and require so much. They, too, will bless our lives.
We should look to God; put Him first in our lives and especially in our hearts.
I testify that He does live! He is our Father! He loves His children! I also testify that Jesus is the Christ, and that He will be as close to us as we will let Him be by how we live and feel in our hearts.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, late 1901 or 1902; Fox & Symons, photographers. At center is President Joseph F. Smith and counselors John R. Winder, left, and Anthon H. Lund, right. The Twelve in order of seniority, clockwise from upper photo at left of President Winder: Brigham Young, Jr., Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, George Teasdale, Heber J. Grant, John W. Taylor, Marriner W. Merrill, Matthias F. Cowley, Abraham O. Woodruff, Rudger Clawson, Reed Smoot, Hyrum M. Smith.
Elder L. Tom Perry
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
This conference marks the beginning of a new era for the Church in communications. The advent of the satellite affords us the opportunity of reaching more of the membership of the Church with general conference than we have ever had the privilege of doing before.
There is a subject I have wanted to address at general conference for some time. It seems appropriate to speak on this topic at this conference because of our larger membership audience. Some years ago I was assigned to a committee responsible for reviewing all changes in bishops. We would bring forward our recommendations for consideration at a meeting in the temple attended by the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve. I became alarmed at the number of bishops recommended for release because of health reasons, family difficulties, or employment problems. Even though the number was not large as a percentage of the total, I felt any number was too high because these great men were not having the privilege of fulfilling their assignment with the joy and satisfaction that should accompany this sacred calling.
I have always had the highest admiration for the office of a bishop. I have been associated with bishops all my life. When I was six months old, my father was called to be the bishop of our ward. He served until after my eighteenth birthday. Within a few years of my marriage, I was called into a bishopric. I soon discovered the love which is generated within a bishopric as they serve together. An employment opportunity came to me after about three years of service, and it seemed appropriate that I accept it. It was with deep sorrow that I left the association of this bishopric. On our final night in the community in which we were living, they held a party. To avoid saying good-bye, we slipped away from the party before it was over and went to stay at a friend's home. The bishop and the other counselor I had been serving with came over when the party concluded and sat up all night while we rested, awaiting our early departure, so that we would not leave without the proper farewell. With a big lump in my throat, I said good-bye to these two brethren as I went on to other assignments.
Some years later I was called to serve in another bishopric. Again this love developed as we had opportunity to meet so often to direct the affairs of the ward. A little over a year later, a change was to be made in our stake presidency. The bishop and I were called in to be interviewed by the General Authority who was making the change. The first question the General Authority asked was, "How do you get along with your bishop? Is he a good leader?" Then I started to express in glowing terms my love and appreciation for this man and all he had done for the ward. Suddenly I realized the purpose of the interview. They could call him into the stake presidency, and we would lose our association. I immediately stopped my compliments on his great service, and after a pause, I said with a little smile on my face, "The only difficulty he has is that when he is under pressure, he goes home and beats his wife." The General Authority leaned back in his chair and said, "Isn't that peculiar? He was in here just a minute ago and said you have leadership capabilities but you too have a fault. You like to go out behind the barn on occasion and smoke a cigar." The strategy failed: I was called into the new stake presidency.
Even though I have never had the opportunity of serving as bishop, my two brothers have enjoyed this experience. One is presently serving in the Pacific Northwest. I also have a nephew whom I correspond with frequently, serving as a bishop in the northern plains area of the United States. So my opportunities to observe, watch, and appreciate the role of those who are called to serve as bishops in the Church have filled my heart and soul with admiration for this noble calling.
Paul, in his epistle to Titus, set forth some difficult requirements for one who is called to the office of a bishop.
"For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
"But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
"Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers."
The Lord added to this burden by revelation contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, appointing him also as a judge.
"And whoso standeth in this mission is appointed to be a judge in Israel, like as it was in ancient days, to divide the lands of the heritage of God unto his children;
"And to judge his people by the testimony of the just, and by the assistance of his counselors, according to the laws of the kingdom which are given by the prophets of God."
Prophets have counseled us on the importance of a bishop's role. President George Albert Smith told us:
"There is no position in the Church that will bring a greater blessing to any man than the office of a bishop, if he will honor that office and be a real father to the flock over whom he is called to preside. Do not forget that. But I want to say to you that there is no bishop, nor has there been a bishop in the Church, who has given the time that the Lord expected him to give in looking after the flock and teaching his people and preparing them to do the work, that has not received one hundred percent of the blessings that he labored for, and they will extend to him throughout the ages of eternity."
Now, it is not my purpose here today to spend time on the role and commission of the bishops and making them feel more burdened. Instead, let me talk to you about what we can do to support and sustain them in their great responsibility.
First, the wife of the bishop. You are carefully evaluated before your husband is approached to be called as a bishop, to determine the type of support you will give to him. We assure you that his role as bishop is secondary to his eternal callings as husband and father. In order for him to be successful, you must sustain him completely. We know this puts added burdens on you. You run a telephone answering service and a mailroom, act as a receptionist, and have to fill in at home when he is called out on emergencies. Often, just by being there, you are exposed to confidential information, which you must keep within yourself and never discuss with anyone. Nothing would destroy the credibility of a bishop more than having his companion reveal confidential information she happened to overhear or see pertaining to ward business.
You have the obligation, along with your husband, of being a role model for the young people and the young married couples of the ward. Yours should be an ideal marriage-one they are striving to emulate by following your example. Your contribution is deeply appreciated and understood. Nothing can relieve the anxiety and load of being a bishop quite like the aid of a supportive companion.
Second, the children of a bishop. I know it is sometimes like living in a fishbowl with everyone watching you to see if you will make a wrong move or say the wrong thing. I know resentment sometimes builds up in your minds when you have a vacation or a planned activity interrupted by a ward emergency.
I learned a great lesson the night before my father was released as a bishop. It was the first time I had really ever seen my father shed tears. He called the family together to announce that his term of service as a bishop was over. Then, with tears streaming down his face, he told us how he would miss the calling, even though it had been a burden at times and had occupied a great deal of time. He taught us a real-life lesson of the true joy of Church service. It was not until then that I fully appreciated the blessings we had had in our home as a family, by having the mantle of a bishop rest on the shoulders of our father.
Children, next only to your mother, your father needs your sustaining support as he fulfills his tremendous assignment.
Third, quorums of the priesthood. Quorums are placed in a most unique position. The Lord has revealed a structure in His organization which uses His priesthood holders to watch over and strengthen the Church. Quorum leaders are to visit quorum members in their homes to give commendation where deserved, to bless and encourage where needed, to teach the gospel, and to inspire all to keep the commandments and live righteous lives. They are to see that the families of the ward, through the home teaching program, are visited at least monthly.
Home teachers, then, are called to represent the quorum president and, through the quorum president, the bishop. Thus, they are priesthood representatives called to assist the quorum leaders in watching over and strengthening the quorum members, including fathers and their families.
Priesthood home teachers are to "visit the house of each member, and exhort them to pray vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties.
"To watch over the church always.
"And see that there is no iniquity in the church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting, nor evil speaking;
"And see that the church meet together often, and also see that all the members do their duty."
The father is recognized and supported as the presiding leader of his family, responsible for teaching them the basic doctrines of the kingdom, seeing that they assist in building the kingdom, and for leading his family into eternal life.
When the home teaching program is functioning as outlined, problems in families are discovered and handled before they become so large they involve the judgment and time of a bishop. This relieves the bishop of a great burden, giving him more time to spend on matters he cannot delegate to anyone else. Yes, the quorums must assume their full responsibility in taking care of the membership assigned to them.
Fourth, the general membership of the Church. I think you should understand that most bishops are not psychiatrists. Most are not social workers. Most are not trained financial advisors. But each bishop has been called under the inspiration of the Lord to serve you as members of their ward.
We need to be considerate of the time demands we make on them, so they can complete the assignments they have been given and have sufficient time to plan, to organize, to meditate, to ponder, and to be receptive to the inspiration and promptings of the Lord in their great stewardship. If we continually bring problems to their office that we could solve ourselves, it only takes their precious time which is needed in assignments they cannot delegate. Could I offer just a few rules to the membership of the Church in their dealings with their bishop?
First, never go to your bishop before you have been on your knees asking for inspiration and for solutions. Don't just come to the bishop's office to load him with problems. I know how people go to the office only wanting to talk about problems, not wanting to listen for solutions.
Second, never involve your bishop if your home teacher or your quorum can care for your needs. However, I know that problems sometimes develop in a person's life which require the personal attention and special consideration only a bishop can provide. In matters such as this, go to him, and then he will help you.
Third, never speak ill or gossip about your bishop or his family. Respect this great and important calling.
Fourth, live your life in harmony with the gospel so that when your bishop calls you to serve, you will be ready and worthy to accept that call. Then serve with all the enthusiasm, vigor, vitality, dedication, and commitment you can. Faithfully respond to the call to which you have been assigned.
Fifth, remember your bishop in your family prayers. Pray for his welfare and for his strength, that he may be blessed of the Lord in this tremendous responsibility which has come to him.
I know of the great power there is in the office of a bishop. I know the peace, security, happiness, and contentment he can bring to a ward if we will only allow him to administer in the role to which he has been called and not keep diverting him to lesser duties. Let him have the power to organize his own time and not rob him of those precious minutes he needs. Remember, he has the same obligations as other heads of households: to, first, be a good husband; second, be a good father; and third, discharge his responsibility to provide for his family. We should not interrupt his family time or prevent him from growing, accomplishing, and achieving in his professional pursuits. After these obligations to his family are met, then he has the opportunity to serve you in his great calling.
I promise you, my brothers and sisters, if we will sustain and support our bishops, learn to be concerned for their welfare, and pray for their success in all they have to do, it will bless our lives as we are placed under their leadership and have opportunity to follow their inspired direction, as they lead the wards of the Church.
May God bless us that this may be the beginning of a new and improved relationship with our bishops, is my humble prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, April 1921, next to the Salt Lake Temple. Seated: Rudger Clawson, Reed Smoot, George Albert Smith, George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, David O. McKay; standing: Joseph Fielding Smith, James E. Talmage, Stephen L Richards, Richard R. Lyman, Melvin J. Ballard, John A. Widtsoe.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
May I speak of the seven Christs, or, rather, of the one Christ whose works and words are shown forth in seven ways?
We live in a day of contention and confusion, in which Christian people cry, "Lo, here is Christ; or lo, there", meaning, "Lo, here is the way of salvation; or lo, there."
We hear voices of doom and voices of glory. The doctrines and dogmas of the contending sects are at war one with another. We are exhorted to believe in tenets of disagreement and to walk in crooked paths.
The sounds are discordant; the babble is incessant; and the messages are at variance. Surely it is clear to even the most blinded fanatic that opposing religious views cannot all be true.
In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions we raise a calm and reasoned voice, a voice that goes forth with the sound of a trumpet, a voice that is carried by the power of the Spirit into the hearts of contrite souls.
It is a voice which speaks the words of eternal life here and now and prepares men to gain immortal glory in the everlasting realms that are to be.
We are the servants of the Lord, and he has sent us to invite all men to come unto Christ and be perfected in him. We are sent to testify of the true and only Christ, of the true and only gospel, of the true and only salvation.
We invite all men to hear and heed our witness. The Christ of whom we preach, and whose witnesses we are, is known in these seven ways:
There is a God in heaven-a holy, exalted, perfected, and pure being who is the Father of us all. He is a Holy Man; he has a body of flesh and bones; and he is the Father of spirits.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Firstborn. He came forth as the heir and offspring of the Father. Along with all his spirit brethren he was endowed with agency and subject to law.
By obedience, by righteousness, through faith, over long ages and eons, this Firstborn of the Father, our Elder Brother, advanced and progressed until he became like unto God in power, in might, in dominion, and in intelligence. He became and was "the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity."
Then it was that he, under the Father, became the Creator of worlds without number.
Then it was that the Father ordained and established the plan of salvation-called the gospel of God-whereby all his spirit children, Christ included, would be able to gain mortal bodies, to live in a probationary estate, to die, to be raised in immortal glory, and, if true and faithful in all things, to gain the same glorious exaltation enjoyed by the Father himself.
And then it was that the one who was beloved and chosen of the Father was foreordained to be the Savior and Redeemer, to be the one whose atoning sacrifice would put into full operation all of the terms and conditions of the Father's great and eternal plan.
There is one God and Father of us all, one eternal plan of salvation, one way back to heaven. And Jesus Christ is the name given by the Father whereby men may be saved. His is the only name given under heaven-either now, or in ages past, or in eternities yet unborn-whereby salvation comes.
There is one everlasting gospel, one Mediator between God and men, one alone who came to reconcile fallen men to their Maker. All men in all ages are saved by the same power, the same laws, the same Savior. And that Savior is Christ.
It is written: "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." He is the Lord Jehovah; he is the Great I AM; and beside him there is no Savior.
He is the God of Adam and of Enoch and of Noah and of all the Saints who were before the flood.
He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and of all Israel. He is the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the prophets of all the ages. It was by faith in his name that they performed all their mighty works.
He was the God of the Jaredites and the Israelites and the Nephites. Moses, "esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt", chose to follow him.
He is the one who parted the Red Sea at Moses' word, who stopped the sun and the moon when Joshua spoke, who raised from death the widow's son because Elijah desired it.
All of the prophets, all of the patriarchs, all of the ancient Saints worshipped the Father in his holy name and in no other way.
All true believers, all of the faithful from Adam to this hour, all those who through faith have wrought righteousness and gained salvation-all, without exception, have taken upon themselves his name and have followed him with full purpose of heart.
He is our God and he is the God of our fathers!
For four thousand long years-from the day Adam was cast out of Eden to the day John baptized at Bethabara-all of the prophets and all of the Saints looked forward to the coming of the Messiah.
They talked and taught of Christ; they preached and prophesied of Christ; they centered their lives and all of their hopes in the promise of his coming.
They knew that as God's Son he would be born of a virgin, that he would work out the infinite and eternal atonement, that immortality and eternal life would come by him.
All of their doctrine, all of their ordinances, all of their worship linked his name with that of the Father himself.
The whole law of Moses, with all its types and shadows, testified of the one who would come to save his people. For instance, on the Day of Atonement the high priest placed the name of Jehovah upon a goat and sacrificed it for the sins of the people in similitude of the sacrifice Jehovah himself would make when he was lifted upon the cross and slain for the sins of the world.
Our Blessed Lord was born of Mary in Bethlehem of Judea. In so doing, he "made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men."
As a man he lived a perfect life, conforming to the will of the Father in all things.
He taught the gospel, organized the Church, and called others to the ministry.
He healed the sick and raised the dead and performed many mighty miracles.
He was rejected of men, condemned by the evil powers that then were, and crucified upon a cruel cross.
We speak now of the Christ who came into the world to die, to die upon the cross for the sins of men. And we speak also of the Christ who came to rise again from the dead, of the Christ who, in glorious immortality, invites us to follow him in life and in death and in life again.
In Gethsemane he bowed beneath a load none other could bear. There he sweat great gouts of blood from every pore as he bore the sins of us all on conditions of repentance.
Again, on Calvary, during the last three hours of his mortal passion, the sufferings of Gethsemane returned, and he drank to the full the cup which his Heavenly Father had given him.
In the garden and on the cross he paid the ransom and finished his atoning work. Early on the morning of the third day he burst the bands of death and came forth from the tomb to inherit all power on earth and in heaven.
There is no language to extol the wonders of his works and all that he has done for us. As our Advocate and Intercessor he now dwells eternally in the heavens.
Can we not hear his voice say to us:
We bear witness not alone of the Christ who once was, but of the Messiah who now is and who yet shall be.
We speak not alone of a dead Christ who was known to them of old, but of a living Savior who leads his people today as he did anciently.
We rejoice not alone in a people who had the gospel in ancient days and who worked miracles and gained salvation, but in a gospel that now is and in a people who glory in the same gifts of the Spirit that were poured out upon their fathers.
Thanks be to God, the day of restoration has commenced. These are the times of restitution of which all the ancient prophets spoke.
Thanks be to God that the heavens have been rent, that the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith, that revelation and visions and gifts and miracles abound among the true Saints.
Thanks be to God that in our day many have seen the face of his Son and that he has poured out the gift of his Spirit upon an even greater number.
This is the day when the knowledge of the true Christ and of his everlasting gospel is being preached among men for the last time.
This is the day in which the Great God is sending forth his word to prepare a people for the second coming of the Son of Man.
This is the day in which the Church of Jesus Christ has been organized anew and given the commission to administer that holy gospel by which salvation comes.
And now in words of soberness we announce that the Lord Jesus, the Everlasting Christ, the Savior who was and is and is to be, shall soon come again.
Just as surely as the son of Mary came to dwell among his fellowmen, so shall the Son of God come, in all the glory of his Father's kingdom, to rule among the sons of men.
In that dread day the world that now is shall end; wickedness will cease; every corruptible thing will be consumed. And the glory of the Lord will shine daily upon all men from the rising of the sun until it sinks in the western sky.
Those among us who abide the day of his coming shall find joy and peace everlasting. The faithful Saints shall live and reign with him on earth for a thousand years and shall then go on to their celestial rest.
The second coming of the Son of Man will be a day of vengeance and burning and sorrow for the wicked and ungodly.
For those who love the Lord and live his law it will be a day of peace and triumph and glory and honor-the day when the Lord comes to make up his jewels.
And so now, knowing whereof we speak, having a sure knowledge born of the Spirit, we raise our voices in praise and testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose witnesses we are.
Our faith is centered in the true and living Christ, who is our Friend, our Lord, our God, and our King and whom we serve in worshipful adoration.
We know he is God's almighty Son, that he has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, and that all who believe in him, as he is now revealed by living prophets, shall be saved with him in the kingdom of his Father.
We invite all men everywhere, all men of every nation and kindred and tongue and people, to come unto Christ and be perfected in him.
We invite all men to come and worship the Father in the name of the Son by the power of the Holy Ghost.
And as the Lord's agents, acting for and on his behalf, we promise all who pursue this course-working the works of righteousness-that they shall have peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, ca. 1932, outside the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Left to right: George F. Richards, Joseph F. Merrill, Joseph Fielding Smith, David O. McKay, James E. Talmage, Reed Smoot, Rudger Clawson, George Albert Smith, Stephen L Richards, Richard R. Lyman, Melvin J. Ballard.
C. Frederick Pingel
Bishop, Beavercreek Ward, Dayton Ohio East Stake
Brethren, I am indeed grateful for the opportunity to be with you this evening. I want to thank Heavenly Father for this opportunity and experience. My prayer is that my words and thoughts will be useful and helpful in building up and strengthening young men.
My assignment is to discuss what we are doing in our ward to activate young men of the Aaronic Priesthood.
First, every ward needs a Sister McManaway.
Let me tell you about Sister McManaway, our Young Women president. Bishops, I hope that you have someone like her. When she read that a bishop's most important responsibility was the youth of his ward-well, she believed that. When she pointed it out to me, I told her I believed it, too. She said, "You don't act like it."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you never do anything with the youth. You never interview them. You never come to opening exercises, and all during our meeting you interview adults."
One day Sister McManaway knocked on my door and said, "Look here, bishop, I have a book for you to read. You don't have to read it all, just the parts I've underlined." It was a book by Elder Vaughn Featherstone entitled A Generation of Excellence.
First I read the underlined parts, and then I read the entire book. That book had a great impact on me, and I'm grateful that Elder Featherstone took the time to write it. But equally important, I'm grateful to Sister McManaway for caring enough about the youth to say, "Bishop, you need to read this book."
I used to home teach a sweet, older sister. She had the ability to flat tell you how she felt about things. One evening I told her how much she meant to me and that I loved her. She leveled me when she replied, "Talk's cheap." Maybe in dealing with my youth I'd also been guilty of some cheap talk.
Second, use your priesthood executive committee and Relief Society.
As our bishopric has turned more of our attention to the youth, the responsibilities and the sphere of influence of our priesthood executive committee and Relief Society have increased, particularly that of our elders quorum president. Their support has been characterized by 90 percent visiting teaching for the last two years and home teaching that has steadily improved until it also is at the 90 percent level. Without such support, we would not be able to put the youth at the top of our priorities.
Third, fill your youth program with quality people.
It has been said that, as you organize a new ward, you first identify your best man and make him your Scoutmaster. Our Scoutmaster is a former bishop. Our Young Men president is a former high councilor. All of our leaders in the Young Men organization served full-time missions; all hold temple recommends. Brethren, don't sacrifice here. I don't know where to tell you to sacrifice, but don't do it here. Put truly fine people in your youth programs.
Fourth, don't overlook your Primary.
Please don't overlook your Primary. Select your Cub Scout and Blazer leaders with the same care and concern that you do for the Young Men organization.
When our young men turn twelve, they have already been introduced to the priesthood. A firm foundation in Scouting has been established through the Cub program, and eleven-year-old Scouts have already made significant progress on their way to the Eagle Award.
Fifth, encourage a tradition of Eagles.
There is nothing like a little success to breed even more success. The tradition of Eagle Scouts in our ward goes back to when our ward was first organized. It is something I have gratefully inherited.
There is something satisfying to the soul to see teachers and priests still working on their Eagle badges. One of my first assistants in the quorum earned his Eagle just before his eighteenth birthday, but he earned it. It was great. I love to put my arm around them at their Eagle courts of honor, embarrass them a little, tell them how great they are. It's the only time they really listen to me.
Sixth, strengthen your tradition of missionaries.
The lists of Eagles and missionaries almost read the same. But there are additional names, such as Elder Doug Blincoe and Sister Karen Baughman. Each has been a member of the Church less than eighteen months, and both are now serving full-time missions. The spirit of missionary service can do much to strengthen your youth programs.
Seventh, review stewardships.
It's important that the youth leaders have an opportunity to report on their stewardships. Personal priesthood interviews usually are accomplished by the bishopric member responsible for that class or quorum, but each quarter I like to sit down with the quorum and class presidents and review their stewardships with them. This provides me an opportunity to learn how they are doing and at the same time to strengthen, encourage, and train. I also extend the calls to the presidents and act as voice as they are set apart.
Eighth, conduct regular interviews.
One of the best means that a bishop has to get to know his youth is the interview. Each youth is entitled to two quality interviews each year, one by the bishop and the other by the bishopric member responsible for that age-group. Each interview is important; it can cover their goals and their progress. Needed counsel can be given.
Don't hesitate to invite those who are inactive. I've been pleasantly surprised a number of times. In fact, several annual interviews have been an important first step in the activation process.
Ninth, encourage participation in seminary.
I'm convinced that seminary is the single most effective tool that we have for bringing youth to the understanding that Jesus is the Christ.
As Brother Mike comes up in a minute to speak-and Mike, I want you to know how proud I am of you and how much I enjoy working with you-he will give you an example of the key to activation. That key is that one touches the life and heart of another who is having difficulty by exercising a spirit of love, concern, and patience-sometimes a lot of patience.
There are many elements that can go along with this great key to activation. We've discussed several this evening. But none of these things in themselves will replace the key. We've had great activities, like our bike trip from Kirtland to Dayton. As much as safety would allow, they followed the course the Saints took when some of them in 1834 moved from Kirtland to Jackson County. Each night the boys heard stories from diaries of the Saints. After pedaling for some fifty miles each day, the boys had a better appreciation of the early Saints.
Because of this experience, much growth took place. The importance of teamwork was better recognized and testimonies were strengthened, but the most significant thing about this trip was the total involvement of several young men who before had stood on the periphery of quorum activity.
We have done some unusual things, too. We had two priests who just couldn't seem to overcome the allure of bed on Sunday morning. They had great difficulty in coming to priesthood meeting. We decided that, if they wouldn't come to priesthood meeting, then we would take priesthood meeting to them. After deciding which of the two young men to visit first, we left the meetinghouse and went to the first home.
I want you to know, brethren, that I was really concerned about how the father of that home would feel about all of us being at his house at 8:00 A.M. In fact, as we were waiting at the door, I was thinking that it sure would have been wise if I had called him the night before and told him what we were going to do.
The father answered the door, and we explained our purpose. Brethren, he couldn't have been more gracious. As we climbed the stairs, we found our brother sleeping as only a young man can sleep. I will never forget how totally surprised he was when he awoke to find us all around his bed. Well, we had a great meeting, complete with business, a lesson, and some concluding thoughts on activation.
We decided we had hit upon a rather effective activation technique. We also decided to use it next week on the other young man. During the week the word about what we were going to do got out. Next Sunday, for the first time since I had been the bishop, 100 percent of our quorum members were at priesthood meeting. I can report to you that one of these young men is presently serving a full-time mission and the other will soon be serving.
Remember the sister that I used to home teach? The one who told me that talk is cheap? Brethren, don't be guilty of cheap talk concerning your young men. Get involved, activate them, establish one-to-one relationships with them. It's a great key to activation. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, 1942, on stairs at side of the Church Administration Building. From bottom of stairs: Rudger Clawson, George F. Richards, Joseph Fielding Smith, Stephen L Richards, Richard R. Lyman, John A. Widtsoe, Joseph F. Merrill, Charles A. Callis, Albert E. Bowen, Sylvester Q. Cannon, Harold B. Lee.
Brother Michael Nicholas
Beavercreek Ward, Dayton Ohio East Stake
When the bishop came to my house, speaking in general conference was the furthest thing from my mind. When the bishop said that he was going to speak for twelve minutes, I remarked that that would be scary. Then he asked if six minutes sounded better; I said that it would be much better. Then the bishop told me that was how long I was going to speak. My jaw dropped. I didn't know what to say. But I am grateful for the opportunity to speak tonight.
I am going to tell you a little bit about myself, my bishop, my quorum adviser, and some of the things we are trying to do to promote activation in our Aaronic Priesthood quorums.
First, my bishop is a pretty busy person, but I enjoy the time he is able to spend with me, especially the interviews. He also participates in our quorum activities.
I am happy that Bishop Pingel takes the time and effort to choose good advisers-for example, Brother Connell.
Brother Connell was a recent convert to the Church and was called to be the teachers quorum adviser. I was fourteen and a new member of the quorum. I was called as the president, even though I was having a great deal of trouble learning to control my temper.
The young men of the ward went on a cave exploration trip to a cave in Indiana, about two hundred miles from home. This trip was taken in the cool of October. I became very angry over a situation and said I was going to walk home. I started out on my long journey. After I had walked a short distance, all the cars in our party went past me and did not even slow down. My jaw dropped and I thought, "Oh, no, they're leaving me." Then I turned around and saw Brother Connell following me. I felt ashamed and embarrassed. I stopped and waited for him to catch up. He told me he would not let me walk home alone and would join me. We walked for about five miles. Brother Connell helped me understand my feelings and straighten them out. By prior arrangement, one of the cars returned and picked us up. This was the beginning of a great friendship between Brother Connell and me. During the time that Brother Connell was my adviser, he helped me to control my temper and use my energy in constructive ways. He had me come and help him put a new roof on his house. He has had me babysit his children. Brother Connell has helped me learn more about the gospel and how to care about other people.
In one of our presidency meetings, Brother Connell brought up the fact that we had an inactive member and asked us what we should do to activate him. We decided to invite him to our next caving trip. Mike took us up on the invitation, and we all had a great time. We also invited Mike to several other activities. He enjoyed the outdoors activities the best. Mike has since moved to California, and I hope he is now listening.
This past summer our deacons quorum brought two members into full quorum activity and introduced three nonmembers to the Church. The quorum took a 270-mile bike trip from Kirtland to Dayton, following the path of the Zion's Camp expedition. The deacons and advisers, the bishop, and many of the parents drove to Kirtland on a Saturday. They attended Church and visited Church historical sites the next day. That evening they had a fireside. Monday they started out on their bikes. It took a week for them to pedal to Dayton. They camped overnight at campgrounds, bicycled in the rain, and contended with traffic. One of the best parts of the trip was that one of the boys who was handicapped pedaled right along with the rest of the group.
In our ward we have early morning seminary. I have to get up at 5:15 every morning. That means I have to get to bed early enough to avoid going to sleep in school. We also have a "consecutive reading club," which helps me to read the scriptures and learn more about the Church and its prophets. I am one of two Mormons in the junior class of about 750 people in my high school. Daily contact with the other youth in the ward at seminary helps me to maintain my standards. Being in the seminary presidency and quorum presidency helps me to learn to conduct meetings. Seminary, quorum activities, quorum advisers, and bishops have helped me learn to control my temper and use my excess energy in constructive ways. These things will help me while I am on a mission, after I am married, and after I become a parent.
I know that the Aaronic Priesthood and Young Men program works. It has worked in my life, and I have seen it work in the lives of other young men. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, October 1943. Seated: Stephen L Richards, Joseph Fielding Smith, George F. Richards, George Albert Smith; standing: Ezra Taft Benson and Spencer W. Kimball, Harold B. lee, Albert E. Bowen, Charles A. Callis, Joseph F. Merrill, John A. Widtsoe, Richard R. Lyman.
Elder Robert L. Backman
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
President Kimball has declared, "The vitalizing of the Aaronic Priesthood Quorums and awakening of the Melchizedek Priesthood Quorums will affirmatively affect all other programs in the Church."
How can we vitalize the Aaronic Priesthood quorum?
First, consider the source of the quorum itself.
Every priesthood holder has the sacred privilege of belonging to a quorum and has the right to activity in that quorum. We have no right to deny him that honor. Yet we do just that when we do not reach out to involve him.
When we contemplate the purposes for which priesthood quorums are organized-to provide a brotherhood, a service unit, and a school for learning the principles of the gospel and the responsibilities we have as priesthood bearers-we might well ask, Is our quorum properly organized and functioning?
Is the presidency in place, schooled in their duties, and aware of their responsibility to lead all of the young men in their age group? Is the presidency meeting weekly to plan and carry out a meaningful quorum activity program?
The Aaronic Priesthood Quorum Guidebook has been published to provide training materials for the quorum presidency and their adviser. Quorum advisers should teach the ten training sessions in the guidebook as part of the quorum presidency meetings, which should be held weekly.
As the presidency learns their duties, they will include the quorum members in planning and implementing the quorum program, including the activation of those who need special attention, using the active quorum members to apply positive peer pressure, surrounding the inactives with their protective love and concern.
To help in the activation process, the quorum presidency will assign particular quorum members to fellowship each inactive young man in a specific way and to make progress reports on the assignment. A wise quorum presidency will plan activities to appeal to all those in the quorum.
The quorum presidency will personally visit the homes of all the young men of quorum age.
Mark Peterson was ordained a deacon one Sunday last March. When the family returned from church, the telephone rang. It was the deacons president who asked for an appointment for the presidency of the deacons quorum to visit with Mark and with his parents. The appointment was set. Promptly at the hour set, the doorbell rang. The members of the presidency stood on the porch, dressed in suits, white shirts, and ties, and each one carrying his scriptures.
Sitting down with Mark and his parents, they began with prayer, then handed an agenda to everyone there.
The president then opened the scriptures, having Mark and his father read those references which speak of the power of the Aaronic Priesthood, what it is, and the particular duties of a deacon.
The president then spoke about Mark's particular responsibilities and duties: how he should dress, how he should pass the sacrament, act as a messenger, collect fast offerings. And then they asked him if he had any questions.
At the end of the visit they welcomed him to the quorum and offered help whenever he needed it. As they left, Mark's eyes were as big as saucers. He said to his Dad: "They were awesome!"
Oh, that every Aaronic Priesthood quorum was a royal brotherhood where each member could say, "I have true brothers who care about me, who will protect me and sustain me, who think enough of me to correct me."
Second, what miracles the right man serving as an adviser can perform in the lives of the Aaronic Priesthood holders.
We have discovered that the nature and quality of a young man's relationship with his Aaronic Priesthood adviser is a potent predictor of many of the outcomes we desire in that young man's life. This relationship becomes increasingly important as young men advance through the priesthood. In fact, it's the best predictor of the real religious feelings and experience for priest-age young men.
How vital it is to choose an adviser who can provide the hero image for our young men as they begin to assert their independence from father and family.
Our young men will respond almost overnight to a man who really shows he cares. But he must be left in his assignment long enough to build relationships, to gain the trust and confidence of the young men, to truly make them his friends.
The advisers need training to be effective.
Once again, the Aaronic Priesthood Quorum Guidebook provides information, material, and a timetable for such training to be given by the bishopric. Please see that this is done.
Third, the Lord has called the bishop to be the president of the Aaronic Priesthood. President Kimball has reminded the bishops that this is their first and foremost responsibility. All bearers of the Aaronic Priesthood should know that the Lord has assigned the bishop to be their champion and exemplar, that it should be safe for each of them to follow the bishop's example in every activity of his life.
As the president of the Aaronic Priesthood, the bishop has the responsibility to give his personal attention to each bearer of the Aaronic Priesthood. No young man in the ward should ever feel that he walks alone, that he is not wanted or needed. He should always know that his bishop is his fellow servant, approachable, empathetic, a confidant, his champion.
It's not enough for the bishop to meet his Aaronic Priesthood only in the confines of the Church. Our bishops need to come out from behind the pulpit, take their ties off, and come to know their Aaronic Priesthood in real-life situations.
I have a dear friend who served as a very successful bishop. During his tenure, the stake president asked a boy and a girl from each ward to visit with him about their relationship with their bishop. During the conversation, the stake president asked, "If you had a serious problem in your life, would you take it to your bishop?" Most responded that they wouldn't. And when he asked why, their response surprised him. They said, "Our bishop seems too righteous." To the credit of my friend, his youth replied: "Not our bishop."
The bishop's most positive impact on youth comes in informal settings, activities, Scouting, service projects, athletics-real-life settings where they get to know him as a man.
At a recent encampment planned and directed by stake and ward priesthood leaders, I asked a young man how he felt about his leaders. He responded: "I've always been scared around stake presidents and bishops. For some reason I always feel like I'm getting interviewed. But living in camp with them has helped me make friends with them. Next time I have an interview we'll have memories to talk about."
Note that the Lord called the bishop to personally serve as president of the priests' quorum. By virtue of that presidency, the bishop holds the keys of that office, which may not be delegated to another. The Lord requires that the bishop become the friend of each priest, that he be sensitive to personal and group needs at all times, that there be a feeling of brotherhood and fellowship between him and his priests. No priest should ever go astray if the bishop, through the exercise of his keys of presidency, helped him hold on to the doctrines and practices of the Church.
In words carefully selected to impress upon a bishop the importance of his calling and appointment as president of the priests quorum, President David O. McKay said, "Bishop, what is your priests quorum but an opportunity for you as president of that quorum to get these young men around you as your bodyguard, young men who crave the social atmosphere of the ward and whom you may lead in paths of honor, trustworthiness, and faith?"
Please, bishops, interview each priest at least twice a year, and each deacon and each teacher at least once a year, for worthiness and spiritual progress. Help him set goals, help teach him to understand the oath and covenant of the Melchizedek Priesthood, and help prepare him for a mission and for temple marriage. Include the inactive boys in these interviews and challenge them to participate actively in the quorum. See that your counselors interview those deacons and teachers at least once a year.
Personalize those interviews. Make them meaningful. Show you care. Those one-to-one, heart-to-heart opportunities are priceless in guiding our young men.
We're so anxious to have your great influence on the youth, and we can promise you that your mark will be on them for eternity if you demonstrate your love for them.
Fourth, the program of the Aaronic Priesthood quorum should not only provide opportunities for learning the doctrines of the Church in the classroom, but also for translating the doctrine into real-life experiences through balanced activities having a priesthood purpose. The Aaronic Priesthood Quorum Guidebook tells us how to plan effectively to have successful experiences.
All of the young men's activities should be an outgrowth of the quorum-quorum led, quorum planned.
It's important for these activities to be held regularly. Our Church handbooks request that each quorum have a weekly activity on a day other than Sunday. At least once a month a combined activity with the Young Women should be held. When these directions are followed, good habits are formed; but when activities are held sporadically or "as needed," the continuity essential for the success of the program is missing. Plan them well in advance, at least three months in advance, but preferably a year in advance. Careful calendaring and adequate planning will allow time to do things well and will be attractive to our youth.
Considering the many interests, skills, and personalities of our young men, it is imperative that you use all the resources available to reach every a boy.
Among those resources, Scouting provides a tested, proven program for us to use in holding our young men close to the Church. It appeals to boys. Its trail to the Eagle rank helps a young man set worthwhile goals, then realize them. For some reason there is a direct correlation between young men who achieve the Eagle rank and those who serve missions.
In an area encampment held in Arizona this summer, an Eagle Scout banquet was held to honor 1,150 Eagle Scouts. During that banquet, every Eagle Scout committed himself to serving a mission.
Its camping, hiking, and high adventure provide marvelous opportunities for our young men to enjoy a man's experience with men, building wholesome relationships between youth and adult leaders, something that happens too seldom in our day. Becoming a man is more than chronological. It involves proving the young man's manhood, testing his mettle, challenging the world, demonstrating he can accomplish more than he thought he was capable of. That's what builds character and manliness.
A small Scout began a 50-mile hike in the mountains, laden down with a backpack he could hardly lift. As he struggled up the trail, he thought of giving up many times, yet carried on, successfully completing the hike. At the end of the trail, he stood in front of a framed map of the area, pointed his finger at the trail, and shouted, "I licked ya!"
How many young men have been converted to the Church through athletics, and how many more have been saved from inactivity through our sports programs? As our young men grow up, they tell us that team sports are the most popular activity in the Church. That doesn't mean unsupervised basketball on activity night. The sports program can be as broad as the interests of the young men: basketball, softball, volleyball, soccer, wrestling, boxing, cycling, swimming, tiddledywinks. Through sports we can appeal to the most inactive young men and, at the same time, build a spirit of brotherhood as quorum members learn to compete as a team.
Some young men march to the beat of a different drum. Because they may not enjoy physical activity, as most do, they are often isolated from the group. I remember one young man, not much of an athlete, who excelled on the stage. In our ward plays and roadshows, we could always count on a stellar performance from Mike.
Later in his youth he directed a theater-in-the-round production in the ward. Today he teaches drama in a great university and is a faithful member of the Church. How easily we could have lost him without that opportunity to be someone and to excel at something. Our cultural arts have been neglected in recent years, not intentionally, but when stakes and wards were given the liberty to choose their activities instead of being dictated to from Church headquarters-something made necessary by the worldwide growth of the Church-some took this as a signal that cultural arts were no longer to be promoted. The ward and stake activity committees are there to help our bishoprics, quorums, and Young Women classes carry out those cultural activities planned by the Bishopric Youth Committee: music, drama, speech, dance. These again are as broad as the interests of the youth and a valuable resource in promoting activity and brotherhood in the Aaronic Priesthood quorums.
Please give our young men the opportunity to stretch their souls in service. Too often we only entertain, leaving our young men in the role of spectators. They will grow as they are involved, and they will develop love for their fellowmen, at the same time forgetting their own weaknesses and frailties as they serve. The sooner our young men have experiences in meaningful service, the sooner they will understand their priesthood responsibilities and their own capacity to truly be their brother's keeper, and the sooner they will discover the key to lasting happiness. In service every quorum member will know that he is needed. Even the most inactive will respond to an invitation to bless someone's life.
All of these activities provide a wholesome environment where relationships can be cemented. Is this important? President David O. McKay reminded us, "The spirituality of a ward will be commensurate with the activity of the youth of that ward."
I must say something about costs. Our presiding brethren have instructed us to be very careful how we spend the Saints' money. We who deal with the youth recognize that a good portion of stake and ward budgets, and much of the out-of-pocket Church expenses of our families, are related to youth activities such as athletics, Scouting, dances, plays, and youth conferences. They do cost money.
Yet it was never intended to do away with youth activities. If we do, we will be making a sad mistake. As President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke on the subject in general conference, he said: "We do not mean to be parsimonious. We mean to be judicious." I plead with you to weigh the worth of a young man against the dollar spent: use good judgment.
It's not necessary to spend a lot of money to meet the needs of our youth. Even a high adventure does not need to be an exotic, expensive trip. High adventures can be had close to home when well planned. Youth conferences need not be held in faraway places to serve their purposes. And what's wrong in letting our young men earn their money for Scouting, athletics, and other programs? They will learn some valuable lessons about the realities of life as they do.
Just before his death, Elder S. Dilworth Young appeared before our Young Men General Board and told us about the dangers of giving boys everything. He spread out in front of us patterns for making tents, backpacks, sleeping bags, stoves, cooking utensils; and then he talked about the pride and the growth experienced by his young men as they enjoyed building them for themselves.
As we use all the resources available to us to vitalize the Aaronic Priesthood quorums we will be successful in reaching our young men. Further, we will be awakening the Melchizedek Priesthood quorums as these stalwart young men come of age, taking the oath and covenant of the Melchizedek Priesthood and transferring their faith, devotion, and loyalty to their elders quorums. And all the programs of the Church will be affirmatively affected.
As the Presidency of the Young Men of the Church, we challenge you stake presidents, bishops, advisers and adult leaders, and quorum presidencies and quorum members: select three quorum members who are presently inactive. If the quorum is small, select three nonmembers on whom you will focus your efforts. Use every resource available to activate, convert, and involve these three young men in the next year-that's only one every four months. Three young men per quorum in the next year? That's not much from where you sit, but Churchwide we would have close to 100,000 young men active and participating in the quorums who are now fumbling in darkness without the quorum.
As I was called to be the President of the Young Men of the Church, I was given the "challenge to provide a program which will prepare this generation of youth to meet the Savior when He comes." I pass that challenge on to all of you, adult leaders and young men, bearing my witness that this generation of youth is a royal generation with very special things to do. May God help all of us to give the time, attention, and tender, loving care we need to give, to prepare these noble young men for the rich adventures and the singular missions that lie ahead of them, I pray in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, about 1944, next to the Salt Lake Temple. Seated: George Albert Smith, George F. Richards, Joseph Fielding Smith, Stephen L Richards, John A. Widtsoe, Joseph F. Merrill; standing: Charles A. Callis, Albert E. Bowen, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Mark E. Petersen.
Bishop H. Burke Peterson
First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric
My brethren of the priesthood, as an introduction to my thoughts tonight, I would like to tell of a great learning experience I had a few years ago while in a taxi going from downtown Washington, D.C., to the Dulles Airport. As you may know, it is not a short ride, so I engaged in a rather lengthy conversation with the driver.
I learned an unforgettable lesson from this black man. He was a big fellow. He weighed at least 250 pounds. He said he was the father of three sons, that his oldest was fourteen. The father was a regular employee of the U.S. Postal Service, and to augment his income, he drove a taxi in the afternoon when he finished his postal shift. "But," said he, "I'm always home every evening for dinner."
I said, "Your wife must be an excellent cook."
"She is," he said. But that wasn't the main reason he came home at that hour. He could have eaten later. "The reason I come home early is to be with my boys," he said. "My fourteen-year-old is almost as tall as I am. In a few years I'll no longer be able to handle him physically. When that time comes, I know he will only be obedient if he knows of my love and respect for him and also feels love and respect for me. So every evening we play ball or do homework together, or I just listen to him tell of his day. There are times," said he, "when time with a boy is more important than money, or the things money can buy."
Recently, I've been thinking how the example we set will be reflected in the conduct and lives of our children-for good or ill. For instance, I've been concerned about what goes through a boy's mind when he hears his dad quarrel with or speak unkindly to his mother, or abuse her in any way. I've wondered where he puts his values when dad goes hunting on Sunday, or works in the yard, or goes shopping on the Sabbath. Is there a lasting impression in a boy's heart when he hears dad criticize the bishop, the home teacher, or the Sunday School teacher-or maybe even the prophet? Though it may be ever so slight, does it have an effect?
I've been thinking: what respect will a fourteen-year-old Aaronic Priesthood holder develop for the law when his dad drives forty-five miles an hour in a twenty-five-mile zone, or seventy when it should be fifty-five? Are there acts of dishonesty that are so small they can escape the gaze of a boy? Is it possible that if a boy hears his father swear or curse he will grow up to think that that is the mark of true manhood, or of a Melchizedek Priesthood holder?
I believe that through all these acts of inconsistency in living priesthood standards, generally speaking, a son will still love his dad and think he is the greatest; and because of these feelings, he may well want to be just like him. With those thoughts, I've then wondered: what respect will the boy have for the priesthood, and for authority, and for obedience? What are his chances to develop faith, and testimony, and devotion, and an unwavering belief in his priesthood leaders and what they represent, if his father sends up the wrong kind of signals?
There is a time in almost every boy's life when dad can do no wrong, when he wants to be just like him. Therein lies the tragedy. Even when dad does set a poor example, even when he is wrong-to a son he is still great, "because he's dad."
Would it surprise you to know that in most cases faithful sons come from faithful fathers, and wavering and faithless sons come from wavering and faithless fathers? We are grateful that from among the army of faithful converts there are exceptions to the general rule, but the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of the son following his father's example.
Recognizing that it is sometimes hard to imagine that the six-year-old who dumped your favorite aftershave in his dog's bath water; or the twelve-year-old who used your three new ties as a rope to practice tying his Boy Scout knots; or the sixteen-year-old who came home from his first date with a newly dented fender and said simply, "Dad, I just don't know what happened"-recognizing that it is sometimes hard to believe that sons really are blessings from heaven-I shall attempt to help you understand that they truly are blessings and that you do have a divine responsibility for them. I hope I can give some suggestions to help you handle it.
Because faith and testimony and obedience are as important as the prophets say they are, maybe we ought to rethink the pattern we're following as we help our sons come to this conviction we so earnestly desire for them. In that regard, it would be well for us to be reminded that because free agency is so basic a gospel principle, we need to understand that we cannot force the heart of another to believe. We cannot force faith and testimony and obedience. We can lead another to believe, but we cannot push another to believe.
One of my heroes, and a great Book of Mormon missionary, understood and practiced this eternal principle. Ammon was tremendously successful. Among many others, the two thousand sons of Helaman were products of his efforts. He taught that before conversion comes-before one will believe words of truth-his heart must be prepared to receive the message. Thus, to encourage the conversion process of a son, there are many things a father can do. Attitudes are changed and father-son barriers are removed by dads who will keep in mind and practice some important principles of conduct. Let's consider some ways that we, as fathers, might prepare the hearts of our children to believe in our words.
First, remember the impact of your example, brethren. As we think of those who are watching us, let us remember that power in the priesthood, the power to bless and guide and teach, the power to forgive and forget, the power to give positive direction to a family-to a son-comes through righteousness. The laying on of hands we all received is not enough. Priesthood power comes to those prepared to receive it as a result of the righteous pattern of their lives.
Let's begin tonight to weed out the little inconsistencies that we all have in the way we live. Let's renew the purification process-whatever that may mean-in each of our lives. If our words are not consistent with our actions, they will never be heard above the thunder of our deeds.
Secondly, a boy's heart is better prepared to believe if he has a listening father. If I were a boy, what would I want my dad to be like? I would probably wish he didn't preach to me so much, but rather, would listen to me more. Many dads spend too much time preaching and not enough time teaching. Sometimes great things happen inside a boy when he's listened to by his dad. He begins to think he is special-that he is not just another twelve-year-old or sixteen-year-old. His self-image improves. One of our crying needs is to have young men who have a worthy self-image. These are the effective builders of the kingdom. In a father-son visit, who talks most? One successful father said, "Dads need to give more ear and less lip to their sons."
Next, a boy's heart is prepared to hear when a father gives his son time alone. I've already told you about the Washington, D.C., cab driver. Elder Richard L. Evans had a meaningful thought. Said he:
"In all things there is a priority of importance. And one of our urgent opportunities is to respond to a child when he earnestly asks-remembering that they don't always ask, that they aren't always teachable, that they won't always listen. And often we have to take them on their terms, at their times, and not always on our terms, and at our times. But if we respond to them with sincere attention and sincere concern, they will likely continue to come to us and ask. And if they find they can trust us with their trivial questions, they may later trust us with the more weighty ones."
Another way to prepare the heart of a boy: let him find in his father one who does not criticize-whether it be the boy himself, or Church leaders, or teachers, or neighbors, or even his own wife. Yes, especially the boy's mother. There are few things a father can give his son that are worth quite as much as knowing he is in love with his mother. It doesn't take much of a man to criticize another. Faultfinding is easy. It takes a true disciple of the Master to look beyond the weaknesses we all have and find the threads of gold that are always there.
A boy needs a patient father-one who is slow to anger; one who is quick to forgive; one who can remember that he, too, was once a boy and does not expect his son to behave like a small-sized adult.
Recently, on a Saturday evening, a young family of four were eating at a restaurant. There were a father, mother, and two boys, ages about six and ten. The six-year-old made a mistake; the father was harsh with him and jerked him about as he reprimanded him. For the rest of the meal, though there was a holiday atmosphere at most of the tables, there was little conversation at theirs. As the young boy would take each bite, he glanced at his father to see if he had displeased him. On the boy's face there was a look of worry and fear, and a soberness unnatural to a child.
A boy needs a father who will correct him when necessary, but beyond that, one who will love him, and like him, and accept him regardless of his performance: a father who may treat a teenager like an adult, but not expect him to act like one. It takes quite a dad to look beyond the actions of boyhood and see the potential of manhood-and even more important, for him to get a glimpse of eternity.
From Elbert Hubbard's Scrapbook we have a classic:
"The place to take the true measure of a man is not in the darkest place or in the amen corner, nor the cornfield, but by his own fireside. There he lays aside his mask and you may learn whether he is an imp or an angel, cur or king, hero or humbug. I care not what the world says of him: whether it crowns him boss or pelts him with bad eggs. I care not a copper what his reputation or religion may be: if his babies dread his homecoming and his better half swallows her heart every time she has to ask him for a five-dollar bill, he is a fraud of the first water, even though he prays night and morning until he is black in the face. But if his children rush to the front door to meet him and love's sunshine illuminates the face of his wife every time she hears his footfall, you can take it for granted that he is pure, for his home is a heaven. I can forgive much in that fellow mortal who would rather make men swear than women weep; who would rather have the hate of the whole world than the contempt of his wife; who would rather call anger to the eyes of a king than fear to the face of a child."
Brethren, I testify to you that the priesthood is divine. We have been given it to bless the lives of others, as well as our own. May we remember the importance of preparing hearts as we teach sacred truths. May we renew the purification process in each of us so that we might be a strength and not a hindrance to those we love most, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Ten members of the Quorum of the Twelve, 4 October 1951, on the Salt Lake Temple grounds. Seated: Joseph Fielding Smith, Joseph F. Merrill, Spencer W. Kimball, Matthew Cowley; standing: Mark E. Petersen, Henry D. Moyle, Ezra Taft Benson, Harold B. Lee, Albert E. Bowen, Delbert L. Stapley.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Counselor in the First Presidency
"Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness."
All of you recognize these words as section 13 of the Doctrine and Covenants. They are the words of John the Baptist to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery as he laid his hands upon their heads and conferred upon them the Aaronic Priesthood on 15 May 1829.
When I was a little boy, twelve years of age, and was about to be ordained a deacon, my father challenged me to memorize those words. I did so, and they have remained with me throughout my life.
We have many boys with us tonight, and I should like all of the boys who hold the Aaronic Priesthood who are in the Tabernacle, and in every other hall where this meeting is heard, to stand and repeat with me these words.
"Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness."
I want to commend those who knew and repeated these words. Some of you did not repeat them, and I urge you to open the Doctrine and Covenants when you go home and to read these words and memorize them. They are the charter of the priesthood you hold. They are evidence that this priesthood is valid and genuine in every respect.
Now I would like to talk with you about some of the particular words of this statement given by John the Baptist when he restored this priesthood. I think you should be aware, if you are not already aware, of the powers you have in the priesthood you hold.
First, I should like to call your attention to the words "my fellow servants." Have you ever realized that in the holding and exercise of this priesthood you are a fellow servant with John the Baptist, the very man who, while he was alive, baptized Jesus, the Savior of the world and the Son of God, in the waters of the River Jordan? It is interesting to me that John spoke to Joseph and Oliver, when they were both young men and when they were not highly regarded by people of the world, as his fellow servants. He did not speak down to them as a king might speak to one of his subjects. He did not speak down to them as a judge might speak to an individual on trial before him. He did not speak down to them as a university president or a high school principal might speak to his students. Rather, he who was a resurrected being addressed these young men as his fellow servants. To me there is something wonderful in this. It speaks of the true spirit of the great and magnificent brotherhood of which we are all a part, the priesthood of God. We are all servants together, regardless of our position in the Church or in the world, regardless of wealth or lack of it, regardless of the color of our skin-we are all servants together, brothers one to another and sons of God as a part of this great body of sacred priesthood.
That should mean something to each of us. It does not demean us or put us down in any way. It elevates all of us as fellow servants of the Lord in the responsibility of carrying on the work of the ministry in his Church. You and I, including all of the Brethren seated on the stand in this Tabernacle, and each of you out across the Church in many places, are all fellow servants of the Lord; we hold the holy priesthood and have the right to exercise it in the work of which we are a part. I hope you will never forget this, particularly you young men.
The next phrase to which I bring your attention denotes the authority in which John spoke. Said he, "in the name of Messiah." None of us exercises this priesthood in the power or authority which we have naturally within ourselves. Always in the exercise of the priesthood we do it in the authority of Messiah. Who was Messiah? He was Jesus Christ, the Son of God. John might have said "in the name of Jesus Christ," as we usually do. I hope you will never forget that in exercising your priesthood as young men, whether in passing the sacrament, in serving as a home teacher, in administering the sacrament, or in baptizing, you are acting as a servant of the Lord in his holy name and by his divine authority.
Boys, if you will remember this, it will have a tremendous influence upon your lives. You will know that if you are to serve in the name of Jesus Christ, as one holding the priesthood, you cannot with propriety be dishonest, you cannot abuse your bodies with drugs or alcohol or tobacco, you cannot take the name of the Lord in vain, you cannot be morally unclean. You hold the priesthood which authorizes you to act in the name of Jesus Christ. I plead with you tonight to live worthy of the exercise of this priesthood at all times and under all circumstances.
Then John the Baptist, in his bestowal of this authority, spoke concerning the powers of this priesthood. He said, among other things, that it "holds the keys of the ministering of angels."
When Wilford Woodruff, a man who had lived many years and had many experiences, was the President of the Church, he said to the boys of the Aaronic Priesthood: "I desire to impress upon you the fact that it does not make any difference whether a man is a Priest or an Apostle, if he magnifies his calling. A Priest holds the keys of the ministering of angels," said he. "Never in my life, as an Apostle, as a Seventy, or as an Elder, have I ever had more of the protection of the Lord than while holding the office of a Priest."
Think of it, my dear young brethren. This priesthood which you hold carries with it the keys of the ministering of angels. That means, as I interpret it, that if you live worthy of the priesthood, you have the right to receive and enjoy the very power of heavenly beings to guide you, to protect you, to bless you. What boy, if he is thoughtful, would not welcome this remarkable blessing?
In the same talk from which I quoted a statement from President Woodruff, he also said: "After I came to these valleys and returned to Winter Quarters, I was sent to Boston by President Brigham Young. While on the road there, I drove my carriage one evening into the yard of Brother Williams. Brother Orson Hyde drove a wagon by the side of mine. I had my wife and children in the carriage. After I turned out my team and had my supper I went to bed in the carriage. I had not been there but a few minutes when the Spirit said to me, 'Get up and move that carriage.' I told my wife I had to get up and move the carriage. She said, 'What for?' I said, 'I don't know.' That is all she asked me on such occasions; when I told her I did not know, that was enough. I got up and moved my carriage four or five rods, and put the off fore wheel against the corner of the house. I then looked around me and went to bed. The same Spirit said, 'Go and move your animals from that oak tree.' They were two hundred yards from where my carriage was. I went and moved my horses, and put them in a little hickory grove. I again went to bed.
"In thirty minutes a whirlwind came up and broke that oak tree off within two feet from the ground. It swept over three or four fences and fell square in that dooryard, near Brother Orson Hyde's wagon, and right where mine had stood. What would have been the consequences if I had not listened to that Spirit? Why, myself and wife and children doubtless would have been killed. That was the still, small voice to me-no earthquake, no thunder, no lightning-but the still, small voice of the Spirit of God. It saved my life. It was the spirit of revelation to me."
Such was the testimony of a great and wise and prayerful man who became the President of the Church. He told that story while talking of the blessing that is yours as one who has received the priesthood and who is eligible to have "the ministering of angels."
Of course, you know, as I know, that none of us can expect this great blessing if our lives are not as they should be as Latter-day Saints who hold the priesthood.
The next words given by John to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery-" of the gospel of repentance."
Many of you are teachers and priests and have home teaching assignments. You have the authority in this service to be teachers of repentance-that is, to encourage those Latter-day Saints for whom you have some responsibility to live the gospel principles more faithfully. A young man who is a priest comes to my home with his father as a home teacher. He has the opportunity and the responsibility to encourage me to live more fully the principles of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
The great burden of our work in the ministry of the Lord is to teach repentance, to encourage people to resist sin and to walk uprightly before the Lord. This is the gospel of repentance, and yours is the responsibility and the authority under the priesthood which you hold to teach this gospel of repentance. You recognize, of course, that if you are to do so effectively, your own life must be an example.
And now the next statement of John the Baptist as he conferred the Aaronic Priesthood-" of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins."
As all of you who are priests know, you have the authority to baptize by immersion for the remission of sins. Have you ever thought of the wonder of that power?
If a man or woman has truly repented of his or her sins, then he or she may be eligible to be baptized by immersion with the understanding that those sins will be forgiven and that life can begin anew.
It is no small or unimportant thing to baptize an individual. You as a young priest, acting in the name of the Lord and under divine authority, wipe out, as it were, by the marvelous process of baptism, the sins of the past and bring about a birth into a new and better life. What a tremendous responsibility you have to live worthy of the exercise of this sacred power!
Now, as I speak to you young men I wish to repeat in conclusion some other words spoken by President Wilford Woodruff.
The occasion was a Sunday afternoon, on February 28, 1897. The place was this Tabernacle. It was in commemoration of President Woodruff's ninetieth birthday. This great building was filled to capacity with all seats occupied and the aisles packed in every part of the building, such as we are not permitted to do now. It is estimated there were more than ten thousand young people present-a vast congregation of young men your age and young women of the same age. President Woodruff, who was then weak in body and whose voice was not strong, stood at the pulpit where I stand and said, particularly to the young men present, these words:
"I have passed through the periods of boyhood, early manhood and old age. I cannot expect to tarry a great while longer with you, but I want to give you a few words of counsel. You occupy a position in the Church and Kingdom of God and have received the power of the holy priesthood. The God of heaven has appointed you and called you forth in this day and generation. I want you to look at this. Young men listen to the counsel of your brethren. Live near to God; pray while young; learn to pray; learn to cultivate the Holy Spirit of God; link it to you and it will become a spirit of revelation unto you, inasmuch as you nourish it. "
He went on to say: "God in heaven has willed to spare me to see this day. He has given me power to reject every testimony and reject every example that leads to evil. I say to you do not use tobacco, liquor, or any of these things that destroy the body and mind, but honor Him and you will have a mission upon your heads that the world knows not of. May God bless you. Amen."
I echo that great counsel of President Wilford Woodruff as I testify to you young men this night that God our Eternal Father lives and that Jesus Christ is his Beloved Son, that the priesthood of which we have spoken is verily here upon the earth, and that we are partakers of its blessings, powers, and responsibilities.
God bless the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood, that they may walk in the dignity of the sacred and marvelous calling and authority that has been conferred upon them through the mercy and goodness of the God of heaven.
And now, at the risk involved in speaking on an entirely different subject, I should like to say a few words to you older brethren, and particularly to those of you who serve in bishoprics. I wish to speak a few thoughts concerning sacrament meetings.
We who are responsible for these meetings deny our people a great blessing if we fail to see that they are spiritual, that they become meetings in which the gospel is taught and in which testimony is borne, particularly concerning the Savior of the world.
The sacrament meeting is not a time for entertainment; it is not a time for telling stories unrelated to the gospel. Rather, it is time in which to grow spiritually and in which to increase our understanding of the marvelous revelations of the Lord concerning his eternal plan and of himself as our Savior and our Redeemer.
It is in our sacrament meetings that we should be testifying of the Lord and teaching of his life and ways, and particularly of his redeeming sacrifice.
I think the Lord had in mind our sacrament meetings when, in a revelation given to Joseph Smith August 7, 1831, he said to us and to all of the people of his Church:
"And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;
"Remember that on this, the Lord's day, thou shall offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord."
How shall our people keep themselves unspotted from the world unless they develop within themselves the spiritual strength and capacity to resist temptation that is so rampant everywhere we go these days? And where shall they develop such discipline? I think the meaning of this revelation is clear: they shall develop such discipline of self and such desire to live above the stains of the world in their communion with the Lord as worshipers in sacrament meetings.
Every sacrament meeting ought to be a spiritual feast. It ought to be a time for meditation and introspection, a time for singing songs of praise to the Lord, a time of renewing one's covenants with him and our Eternal Father, and a time for hearing the word of the Lord with reverence and appreciation.
I plead with you who are responsible for these meetings that you strive a little more diligently to program them in such a manner that each sacrament meeting will become a time for spiritual refreshening. I plead with all of you who participate in these meetings, and I include with some emphasis you boys, to see that there is cultivated a spirit of reverence in these sacred gatherings.
It is not easy to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Each of us needs all the help he can get. The Lord has given us direction in how to achieve this. That direction is clear and unequivocal. I pray that we shall follow it, as I leave with you, my brethren of the holy priesthood, my testimony and witness of the divinity of this work, and invoke the blessings of the Lord upon you. In the name of him whom we serve, even the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, 1952, in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Seated: Joseph Fielding Smith, John A. Widtsoe, Albert E. Bowen, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson; standing: LeGrand Richards, Marion G. Romney, Delbert L. Stapley, Henry D. Moyle, Matthew Cowley, Mark E. Petersen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
I have enjoyed being here with you in this meeting and have enjoyed the talks that have been given. I feel that the Spirit of the Lord has been with us.
It's a great thing to hold the priesthood of God, and that is what this is tonight-a priesthood meeting. The priesthood of God is power. It's an endowment, which the Lord has given to us who hold the priesthood, to perform sacred ordinances that have effect in this world and in the world to come. It's the greatest power in the world-the priesthood-and I am very happy that I have had the privilege through the years to bear the priesthood and to receive offices in the priesthood from deacon up to the offices of the Melchizedek Priesthood which I have had assignments to work in. I know that it's the priesthood that will save this world. It is not a man-made organization; it is not a man-prepared organization-it embodies a power revealed from heaven and sent here to us to help us prepare our lives for eternal life in the presence of our Father in Heaven.
It's a great thing to see this building completely filled with bearers of the priesthood, both men who bear the Melchizedek Priesthood-old men like myself-and young men who bear the Aaronic Priesthood. I hope that we appreciate the authority that the Lord has given us to act in his service in the respective offices in the priesthood that we hold.
I have held the priesthood for three-quarters of a century, from the time I was a deacon until I now hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, and I have enjoyed it all through the years. It has been sacred to me, and it is sacred to me now. I hope that you have the same feeling about the priesthood. Don't ever do anything that you would be ashamed of, that you would be ashamed to talk to the Lord about, because we will meet him someday if we live the gospel well enough to have that privilege. We will be very grateful then, if we know, as he will know, that our lives have been in harmony with the teachings of the gospel and the responsibility that is placed upon us who hold the priesthood.
I have enjoyed this meeting. I am glad I came, and I am glad I have heard what I have heard here tonight. I pray the Lord will bless each boy and man, old and young, that is here tonight with the feeling and determination that he will live the teachings of the gospel and magnify the priesthood which the Lord has given him. It will be a great day for us individually, when we're called to give an account of our deeds down here on the earth, if we can be assured that the Lord will approve our actions and we can go on to the eternities beyond this life to experience the growth that comes to men and boys who hold the priesthood, faithfully do their duties, and seek the Lord.
As I said before I have enjoyed this meeting tonight and I'm happy that you've been here. I hope you'll all come tomorrow to the conference.
I leave my blessings with you and pray that you will be given an understanding that priesthood power is the power of God. Never do anything to disappoint yourselves or your loved ones or the Lord, or that would diminish your right to blessings that will come to you through obedience to the priesthood as long as you live. I leave my blessings with you and my testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
I'm sorry, brethren and sisters, I can't see you, but it looks like somebody is in front of me. Even a blind man can feel that. I have in mind talking to you a few minutes about gratitude and thanksgiving. The virtues of gratitude have been widely extolled and the sinfulness of ingratitude has been just as widely condemned.
It has been said that "an ungrateful man is like a hog under a tree eating acorns, but never looking up to see where they come from."
Jesus revealed his feeling about ingratitude when only one of ten lepers who had been healed turned back and gave thanks. Luke tells us that "it came to pass, as went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
"And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:
"And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
"And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
"And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
"And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
"And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
"There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger."
Christ set an example in giving thanks when, at the last supper, "as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
"And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it."
Both ancient and modern scriptures are replete with references to occasions of supplication, praise, and thanksgiving to the Lord.
The Psalmist sang, "Know ye that the Lord he is God: Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name."
King Benjamin admonished his people:
"O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!
"I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another-
"I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another-I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants."
"I believe," said President Joseph F. Smith many years ago, "that one of the greatest sins of which the inhabitants of the earth are guilty today is the sin of ingratitude, the want of acknowledgment, on their part, of God and his right to govern and control. We see a man raised up with extraordinary gifts, or with great intelligence, and he is instrumental in developing some great principle. He and the world ascribe this great genius and wisdom to himself. He attributes his success to his own energies, labor and mental capacity. He does not acknowledge the hand of God in anything connected with his success, but ignores him altogether and takes the honor to himself; this will apply to almost all the world. In all great modern discoveries in science, in the arts, in mechanics, and in all the material advancement of our age, the world says, 'We have done it.' The individual says, 'I have done it,' and he gives no honor and credit to God. Now, I read in the revelations through Joseph Smith, the prophet, that because of this, God is not pleased with the inhabitants of the earth but is angry with them because they will not acknowledge his hand in all things."
Well, now, I have a fine talk prepared that I can't read. I will have it printed, and you can get the message plainly from what the Lord has revealed that we must give him credit for our gifts and our accomplishments, and be grateful in all things that he confers upon us. I am grateful to him for the privilege of being in his service. I appreciate the opportunities that I have and hope that I can serve him some way and show my gratitude the rest of my life. I leave my blessings with all of you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Great men have always recognized the greatness of God and their dependence upon him, and they have with regularity rendered to him gratitude and thanksgiving.
Consider these words written by Abraham Lincoln as part of a resolution in 1863:
"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in number, wealth, and power as no other Nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us.
"It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
Note also how the Prophet Joseph Smith responded to the receipt of some letters during the time he was languishing in Liberty Jail. "We received some letters last evening we were much gratified with their contents," he wrote. "We had been a long time without information; and when we read those letters they were to our souls as the gentle air is refreshing."
You and I are, of course, moved by these quotations. They are not, however, the source of our most powerful motivation to develop greater gratitude and more fervent thanksgiving. We have been commanded by the Lord to be thankful.
In March of 1831, before the Church had been organized a year, the Lord said to the Saints in Kirtland:
"Ye are commanded in all things to ask of God, who giveth liberally; and that which the Spirit testifies unto you even so I would that ye should do in all holiness of heart, walking uprightly before me, considering the end of your salvation, doing all things with prayer and thanksgiving, that ye may not be seduced by evil spirits, or doctrines of devils, or the commandments of men; for some are of men, and others of devils.
"And ye must give thanks unto God in the Spirit for whatsoever blessing ye are blessed with."
Five months later he gave unto the Church in Zion-that is Jackson County, Missouri-this commandment. Now notice how the Lord puts the commandment to be thankful along with other strong commandments. He said:
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him.
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Thou shalt not steal; neither commit adultery, nor kill, nor do anything like unto it.
"Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things."
It is perfectly evident from this scripture that to thank the Lord in all things is not merely a courtesy, it is a commandment as binding upon us as any other commandment.
In a later revelation the Lord said:
"And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more."
"Verily I say unto you my friends"-that always moves me, to think of the Lord calling you and me his friends-"Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks."
"If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving."
This last commandment that I have just read came through the prophet Brigham Young at Winter Quarters when the Saints were on their way across the plains. At that time the Saints were suffering the greatest of hardships, but the Lord was commanding them to be full of praise and thanksgiving.
These commandments that I have read put us under a solemn obligation to develop gratitude and the spirit of thanksgiving. We should be thankful and express appreciation for all of our blessings.
To the Lord Jesus, who bought us with a great price, we owe an undying debt of gratitude. It is impossible for us, weak mortals as we are, to fully comprehend and appreciate the suffering he endured on the cross so that he might gain for us victory over death. And even less can we understand the suffering he endured in Gethsemane so that we might obtain forgiveness of our sins. "Which suffering," he said, "caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit-and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink."
But nevertheless, he endured it for our sake. None of us could have endured that suffering. No mortal man nor any number of men together could have endured it. All people who understand what Jesus did for us ought to love him and demonstrate that love by rendering to him, in a realistic manner, thanks and gratitude.
Elder Richard L. Evans once said, "Gratefully we acknowledge the infinite mind of our Maker, and gratefully ought to offer our tithes and offerings, and earnestly consistent service, in thanks for all that God has given, and keep his commandments in remembrance of the love and providence and purpose of the Creator, the God and Father of us all, the organizer and operator of heaven and earth, without whom all these things would not be so. Thank God for all this: for life and what sustains it, for loved ones that make it meaningful, for faith and purpose and continuance, always and forever. Thank God for all of this-and much, much more."
Now, brethren and sisters, I bear my testimony to you that the Lord wants us to be grateful and thankful unto him. And if we do these things which he has advised us to do, we will be the happiest people who dwell upon the earth, for this is the way to the presence and society of our Father in heaven. I so testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, April 1953. Seated: Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Mark E. Petersen; standing: Adam S. Bennion, LeGrand Richards, Marion G. Romney, Delbert L. Stapley, Henry D. Moyle, Matthew Cowley; inset: Albert E. Bowen.
Elder Boyd K. Packer
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I must tell you of a work that has moved quietly forward in the Church virtually unnoticed. It had its beginning in Old Testament times and is the fulfillment of a prophecy by Ezekiel, who wrote:
"The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand."
The sticks, of course, are records or books. In ancient Israel records were written upon tablets of wood or scrolls rolled upon sticks. The record of Judah and the record of Ephraim, according to the prophecy, were to become one in our hands. Two events connected with the fulfillment of the prophecy were centered in print shops.
The first began on the second floor of a building on Main Street in the village of Palmyra, New York. In June of 1829 Joseph Smith and Martin Harris called upon Mr. Egbert B. Grandin, the proprietor, to discuss the publication of a new book of scripture. Mr. Grandin, then twenty-three, was three months younger than Joseph Smith. Only three months earlier he had advertised his intention to print books, a very ambitious undertaking for so small a shop with only a hand-operated, cast-iron press.
Others had refused to print the book, and young Mr. Grandin, a religious man, was very skeptical himself. But as the contract was secured by a mortgage on the farm of Martin Harris, it was signed and printing commenced in August of 1829.
No sooner had the project begun than one Obadiah Dogberry, Jr., began to steal pages of the work and print them with accompanying ridicule in his weekly paper, The Reflector.
In March of 1830, the Book of Mormon came from the press and was advertised for sale. It met such a bitter and destructive response that it did not sell, and Martin Harris lost his farm.
An epoch of scriptural history had begun. The Prophet Joseph Smith and his successors to this day would proclaim the Book of Mormon to be another testament of Jesus Christ. Obadiah Dogberry and his successors, moved by another spirit, would, with the same methods, to this day revile it.
One hundred forty-eight years later, in June 1977, again in a print shop, another step in the coming together of these two sticks occurred.
James Mortimer, long experienced in publishing scriptures, and Dr. Ellis T. Rasmussen, recently dean of Religious Instruction at Brigham Young University, called at the Cambridge University Press in Cambridge, England. Bibles had been printed at this prestigious press for 293 years before Egbert Grandin opened his print shop in Palmyra.
They met with Mr. Roger Coleman, director of religious publishing, to discuss the publication of a most unusual edition of the King James Bible. The printers were quite as skeptical about this proposal as Egbert Grandin had been nearly 150 years before.
The Cambridge Press had been publishing the King James Bible since the first edition in 1611, but they had never been asked to do anything like this. The text was to remain exactly as it was, no changes, not one. But all footnoting, cross-references, chapter introductions, indexes, and so on, were to be replaced. Only the chapter and verse numbering for the sixty-six books would be retained.
And that was just the beginning. This edition of the Bible would be cross-referenced with three other books of scripture: the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. The printers had barely heard of them.
But there was more. A new, innovative system of footnoting was to be used. Instead of progressing from A to Z in each chapter, the letters would start over in every verse, for innumerable verses would have many footnotes in them.
The technical problems seemed insurmountable. Computers could help, but there was always the human factor. How could you cross-reference the Bible with any other book? To cross-reference it with the three volumes was to require tens of thousands of footnotes. Thereafter there would be hundreds of thousands of possible combinations of information. It was too big even to think about. The technical challenge alone was staggering, to say nothing of maintaining accuracy, harmony, and consistency with the biblical text itself. It could not be done!
But in that meeting also was Mr. Derek Bowen, editor, a most remarkable man. A World War II injury had left him unable to hear. Thereafter he devoted his remarkable compensating abilities to the editing, typesetting, and printing of Bibles. He was, perhaps, the one man in the world who could direct such a printing project.
All of the problems mentioned so far related only to the printing part of the project. The actual compiling and organizing of the tens of thousands of footnotes would require many hundreds of workers. This work had already been underway for several years. Without the computer it would be manifestly impossible!
That also was but a beginning. There would be a combined concordance and topical guide, listing hundreds of subjects; a Bible dictionary; maps; and a new format. New chapter headings would be written. All in harmony with the sacred message of the Old and the New Testaments.
Several years into the project we asked for a report. How were they progressing with the tedious, laborious listing of topics in alphabetical order? They responded, "We have been through Heaven and Hell, past Love and Lust, and now we're working toward Repentance."
The 750 headings for the Topical Guide were painfully rendered down from a list nearly twice that long. For there was a practical consideration: the book had to be of a size for everyday use.
There was a spirit of inspiration brooding over their work, and those working with the project talked often of how it was blessed. There were humbling spiritual experiences.
After more than seven years of quiet, intensive work, the Latter-day Saint edition of the King James Bible came off the press. Already work was well under way on the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Over the years manuscripts had come into our hands which made possible the correction of printers' errors which had crept into early editions.
The work would be seen by more than the sympathetic students and the devoted members of the Church. The cold, impartial eyes of the research scholars would study it, and the angry eyes of enemies and detractors would pore over it. It must be correct in every detail.
Finally, after two more years, the books came from the press, the most accurate we have ever had.
Three months later, Derek Bowen, master editor of Bibles, passed away in England.
You should know also that by recent decision of the Brethren the Book of Mormon will henceforth bear the title "The Book of Mormon," with the subtitle "Another Testament of Jesus Christ."
The stick or record of Judah-the Old Testament and the New Testament-and the stick or record of Ephraim-the Book of Mormon, which is another testament of Jesus Christ-are now woven together in such a way that as you pore over one you are drawn to the other; as you learn from one you are enlightened by the other. They are indeed one in our hands. Ezekiel's prophecy now stands fulfilled.
With the passing of years, these scriptures will produce successive generations of faithful Christians who know the Lord Jesus Christ and are disposed to obey His will.
The older generation has been raised without them, but there is another generation growing up. The revelations will be opened to them as to no other in the history of the world. Into their hands now are placed the sticks of Joseph and of Judah. They will develop a gospel scholarship beyond that which their forebears could achieve. They will have the testimony that Jesus is the Christ and be competent to proclaim Him and to defend Him.
Without the inspired help of hundreds of dedicated workers it would have been impossible! Among them were scholars in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Old and New Testament studies. More than this, they are worthy men and women in whose lives the gospel of Jesus Christ is the dominating influence. Their work, if they only knew it, may well be their greatest contribution in mortality.
As the generations roll on, this will be regarded, in the perspective of history, as the crowning achievement in the administration of President Spencer W. Kimball.
As a very direct outgrowth of the scripture project, two new revelations were added to the Doctrine and Covenants. That had not occurred in over a hundred years. And before the books were closed, there came the glorious revelation on the priesthood, just in time to be bound with all else that the Lord has revealed to His Saints in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times.
Even all of this is but a beginning, for we have it only in English. Already work is well under way in Spanish, with the other languages to follow in the years ahead.
Concurrent with this publication project, another great work was continuing. The entire curriculum of the Church was restructured. All courses of study for children, youth, and adults were revised to center on the scriptures, on Jesus Christ. A veritable army of volunteer workers-many of them experts in writing, curriculum, instruction, and other related fields-worked for years to complete it.
While we have been about the work of anchoring ourselves to the scriptures, others have been busily cutting themselves loose from them. They have been drifting downstream, interpreting and revising the scriptures to agree with the philosophies of men. We, on the other hand, have been struggling upstream against the same current. We are determined to reach the headwaters of divine communication and revelation, to have it, as the Doctrine and Covenants demands, "that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world."
There are Church watchers, in and out of the Church, who show great interest in what we do. They watch what they define as the power structure, the resources of the Church, the changes in organization, the political and social issues; and they draw conclusions from their watching. They write their observations and print them in publications and represent them to be accurate and objective reports of what is going on in the Church. In all of their watching and claiming, they have missed the most important of all the things that we have done in recent generations.
Some of them say that we have lost our way, that we are not Christians. Should they turn to that one thing in which they show the least interest and in which they have the least knowledge, the scriptures and the revelations, they would find in the Topical Guide fifty-eight categories of information about Jesus Christ; eighteen pages of small print, single-spaced, list literally thousands of scriptural references on the subject.
These references from the four volumes of scripture constitute the most comprehensive compilation of scriptural information on the mission and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ that has ever been assembled in the history of the world.
The work affirms an acceptance of, a reverence for, and a testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow those references and you will open the door to whose church this is, what it teaches and by whose authority-all anchored to the sacred name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Redeemer, our Lord.
I began by quoting Ezekiel, prophet of Judah. Two of those Old Testament verses show ten footnotes. One of the ten leads us to the Book of Mormon, which is another testament of Jesus Christ, where half a world away the prophet Lehi, of the lineage of Joseph, quoted this prophecy:
"Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord."
One footnote may seem a flimsy thread to tie the two together, but five of the ten footnotes lead us to headings in the Topical Guide where 611 other references broaden our knowledge of this one subject and speak as voices from the dust.
Threads are wound into cords that bind together in our hands the sticks of Judah and of Ephraim-testaments of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I say again, these references constitute the most comprehensive compilation of scripture information on the mission and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ that has ever been assembled in the history of the world.
Do not mistake our reverent hesitation to speak glibly or too frequently of Him to mean that we do not know Him.
Our brethren of Judah knew Him in ancient times, our brethren of Ephraim also. He is no stranger to His Saints, to His prophets and Apostles now.
He lives. He is our Savior, our Redeemer, our Lord. Of Him I bear an apostolic witness, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, October 1953, in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Seated: Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Mark E. Petersen, Matthew Cowley; standing: Henry D. Moyle, Delbert L. Stapley, Marion G. Romney, LeGrand Richards, Adam S. Bennion, Richard L. Evans.
Elder Derek A. Cuthbert
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
"In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee." Before King Solomon replied, he reflected on what was his greatest need. Was it power and influence? Was it wealth and riches? Was it fame and glory?
Let us ponder carefully Solomon's answer:
"And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.
"Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad."
"And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore."
Wisdom, understanding, largeness of heart are signs of maturity. When Solomon acquired these qualities, he was no longer "but a little child."
However, the process of maturing is not as simple as acquiring wisdom. Did not the Savior say: "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." To mature, then, is to retain or regain some childlike qualities we need to have and to develop other qualities which children do not have. I would like to suggest to you ten aspects of maturity, five of which are childlike and five of which are developed later.
First, innocence. Can anyone deny the innocence of a newborn babe or a very small child? The Savior taught, "Suffer little children to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." In latter-day revelation the Lord has enlightened us further by proclaiming: "Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God." Yes, the challenge to each one of us in these days of deceit and discord is to be innocent, to be guileless.
Second, humility. "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." How wonderful to hear the humble prayer or testimony of a child. I think of the young boy I heard relate the Joseph Smith story in great detail and bear his testimony in the Xhosa language in southern Africa as we met in a one-room African home in Cimizile.
We live in a world where men have largely turned away from righteousness and are self-seeking, gratifying their pride and vain ambition. We have the challenge to humble ourselves before God and become, in King Benjamin's words, "as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon, even as a child doth submit to his father."
All over the world, people of different races and cultures are overcoming traditions to accept the truth and submit themselves humbly to baptism. How inspiring to see them overcome hardship and affliction. I remember interviewing a fine young Shona man, a Church member in Zimbabwe, to be the first missionary from his nation. Although permanently on crutches because of polio, Elder Peter Chaya submitted happily to the call to serve.
Third, simplicity. A child is uncomplicated and expresses himself without becoming devious. The Apostle Paul counseled the Saints at Corinth: "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." I have always been impressed that, although Paul was a very learned man, after his conversion he declared: "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." These thoughts came to mind when, on a recent visit to Ghana, I heard Dr. Emmanuel Kissi, a prominent surgeon and now the district president, teach the simple truths of the gospel in the district conference meetings.
Yes, we need to strive for the simplicity of a child, and raise our own children to have simple, unshakable testimonies of Jesus Christ. Then they will not fall prey to those temptations which would divert them from the strait and narrow way. As Elder Matthew Cowley used to say, "Life should be beautifully simple. And then it will be simply beautiful."
Fourth, faith. It has always been a source of happiness to my wife and me when one of our children has shown faith by asking for a blessing of health or of comfort and counsel. The occasions have been numerous, but the one that comes to mind is when one of our children was suffering from a bad earache and was very upset. I remember that after I had given her a blessing she settled down and went to sleep and experienced no further pain. It is a wonderful thing that when the Lord restored the fulness of the gospel, he made it possible for fathers to bless their families in so many ways.
Oh, for the faith of a child, to "dream the impossible dream" and "reach the unreachable star," as our beloved President Kimball has challenged us to do. His mighty faith has removed many mountains; his childlike faith has brought forth many miracles.
The fifth childlike quality is love, unquestioning love, freely given. What father can resist the little upturned face saying, "I love you, daddy"? What mother does not feel an inward glow on finding a little note on her pillow: "I love you, mummy? It has been my privilege in many lands to hear the sweet voices of children echo the words of the Savior: "As I have loved you, love one another."
Jesus exemplified innocence, humility, simplicity, and faith. He showed his great love for us by taking upon himself our sins, by laying down his precious life, and by raising himself from the grave. "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." Throughout the world, our missionaries are going two by two, preaching faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance. There may be few who have retained all of the five qualities mentioned, but all can regain them through repentance and change.
Once we have made the necessary changes in our lives, we must add to these five basic qualities five more in order to achieve maturity in the Lord.
Sixth, then, we need to acquire wisdom, that which Solomon desired so that he could make righteous judgments. Many of us are not wise, for we are blinded by the material world around us. Wisdom comes from a realization of true values and priorities. It is a spiritual quality, for it is founded on discernment and an understanding heart. Great is the wisdom of the prophets, and all who heed them are blessed.
The Lord has counseled us to "seek not for riches but for wisdom." In this general conference, pearls of wisdom have come from those who have spoken under the inspiration of the Spirit. We would all do well to study and apply the truths that have been declared.
Knowledge by itself can be dangerous, and he who seeks to acquire knowledge must also be helped to obtain wisdom. Wisdom is a sign of maturity. It is usually related to age and experience, but not necessarily so. When serving as a mission president in Scotland, I saw the Lord quicken the understanding of many young missionaries so that they developed beyond their years. Now, less than five years later, six have been called as bishops and two into stake presidencies in the British Isles, and all are giving fine leadership.
The seventh quality I shall refer to is leadership, not only leadership in the Church, but of every honorable kind. A child looks to parents for leadership, both by word and deed. The Lord, speaking to parents in Israel through Moses, declared: "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
Yes, above all, parents need the maturity to lead and teach their children in righteousness. The family is the basic unit of society and the foundation of a nation. It is sobering to realize that, as parents, our children have been placed in our care as a sacred trust by the Almighty God himself. Our sons, our daughters, are his spirit children whom he expects us to love and cherish, teach and lead.
How important that both parents and children read and study the word of God regularly. How important that we live these basic principles and fulfill our Heavenly Father's expectations for us.
Thus we come to the eighth aspect of maturity-namely accountability. A small child does not have accountability until the age of eight, for thus the Lord has decreed, and most national laws agree. However, it is not being accountable that brings maturity. It is realizing that we are accountable, acting accordingly, and being prepared to give an accounting to those in authority over us and eventually to the Lord himself.
During the Savior's ministry he taught this principle, even as to the words we speak: "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." The adversary is constantly trying to distract us and deter us from living righteously and being able to render a good accounting of our actions. We need to be consistently strong, never dropping our guard or compromising the principles given by the Lord.
Ninth, we will consider dependability. As children, we laugh one minute and cry the next. We change friends quickly and change our view of the world according to circumstance and surroundings. As we mature, we become more dependable and stable. Paul the Apostle expressed the hope that "we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive."
We need to warn and teach, protect and safeguard, so that our little ones are not led away either physically or spiritually. There are so many voices, so many doctrines which are not of the Lord. However, as we "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, and endure to the end", we shall achieve the maturity of dependability, consistency, and spiritual endurance. I am very grateful for our beloved President Kimball who exemplifies these qualities. He has been a significant help to me, and I am sure to many of us, in the quest for spiritual maturity.
This has been particularly so with regard to the tenth quality, that of self-mastery. The Nephite prophet Alma counseled, "See that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love." Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became our Savior and Redeemer because he overcame the world. When Satan tempted him, he did not succumb; when he was ridiculed and reviled, he did not compromise. When death faced him, he did not waver. His maturity was full.
May we, like him, be innocent and humble, simple, and full of faith and love. May we become wise and dependable, leading others by first mastering ourselves. May we become mature enough to give an acceptable accounting before the Lord when he comes. He is the living Christ. This is his living Church. He speaks through a living prophet, of which I bear joyful testimony, in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, ca. 1954–57. Seated: Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Mark E. Petersen; standing: Henry D. Moyle, Delbert L. Stapley, Marion G. Romney, LeGrand Richards, Adam S. Bennion, Richard L. Evans, George Q. Morris.
Elder Howard W. Hunter
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Reading and studying the scriptures make us conscious of the many conditional promises made by the Lord to encourage obedience and righteous living. Israelite history is filled with examples of covenants, which constitute one of the central themes of the Old Testament-the promises of God made in exchange for the commitments of the prophets and the people.
The Lord made a covenant with Noah, and the rainbow became the token of that eternal covenant with all mankind. The covenant made with Abraham and his seed was sealed by the ceremony of circumcision as a sacrament. And the token or sign of the great covenant with all Israel made at Sinai was the Sabbath.
Several experiences in the life of Joshua are instructive to us today regarding the importance placed by the Lord on keeping commitments and on being committed to following the commandments and direction he has given.
Joshua is remembered as the one who, on the death of Moses, took command and completed the task of giving leadership to the tribes of Israel. Perhaps to comfort Joshua, who now had the responsibility for the children of Israel, who didn't yet have a homeland, and perhaps to comfort that large body of people who had just lost their leader of more than forty years, the Lord spoke to Joshua and said:
"As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
"Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them."
The Lord then continues to speak to Joshua by way of commandment:
"Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest."
Then speaking about the law only to Moses, the Lord adds:
"Observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."
Finally, we have this last reiteration by the Lord of what he had previously said, to comfort and to remind Joshua of the relationship between the blessings of heaven and obedience to divine law:
"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."
Joshua would need courage for what he had to do. He would need the Lord's help at every step. Here is a commitment of the Lord to provide that help. With faith in the Lord, Joshua could now go forward, knowing that the Lord would direct him in the way he should go. Joshua knew that his obedience would bring success, and although he did not know exactly how he would succeed, he now had confidence in the result.
The record tells us that the tribes of Israel moved to the Jordan River and encamped for three days, preparing to cross at a point near the city of Jericho. At that time Joshua gave his people this interesting counsel. He said, "Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you."
He knew the victory that would surely come would depend upon their willingness to do the will of the Lord. Then the Lord said unto Joshua, "This day will begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee."
Joshua now knew that the miracles of the Lord would continue, just as when Moses had been the leader of Israel. And so it was that when the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people touched the water of the Jordan, it dried up, "and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground."
Soon after, when Joshua was directed to destroy the city of Jericho that lay before them, the great walls of the city stood as an imposing and physically impossible barrier to Israel's success-or at least so it seemed. Not knowing the means, but assured as to the end, Joshua carried out the instructions he had been given by a messenger of the Lord. His commitment was to complete obedience. His concern was to do precisely as he was instructed, that the promise of the Lord would be fulfilled. The instructions no doubt seemed strange, but his faith in the outcome urged him on. The result, of course, was another in a long series of miracles experienced by the Israelites as they were led over many years by Moses, by Joshua, and by many other prophets who were committed to follow the commandments and the directives of the Lord.
As Joshua and his people approached Jericho, the instructions of the Lord were followed precisely, and according to the scriptural account, "the waIl fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city."
The record states that after Israel had rested from the wars with their enemies, Joshua, who was now very old, called all Israel together. In his farewell address he reminded them they had been victorious because God had fought for them, but if they now ceased to serve the Lord and keep his law they would be destroyed. He recalled how the Lord God of Israel had led Abraham throughout Canaan and had "multiplied his seed." He reminded them of how Jacob and his children had gone down into Egypt. He told of how the Lord had been with Moses and Aaron and had brought their fathers out of Egypt; how, in all of the battles and conquests, they had prevailed, adding this significant statement: "But not with thy sword, nor with thy bow." They had been led by the Lord to victory. The battles had not been won by swords and bows. He then admonished them: "Fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord."
This great military and spiritual leader then urged a commitment, and made one himself and for his family: "Choose you this day whom ye will serve; "but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Here was a great statement of full commitment of a man to God; of a prophet to the desires of the Lord; of Joshua the man to his God, who had many times previously blessed his obedience. He was telling the Israelites that regardless of how they decided, he would do what he knew was right. He was saying that his decision to serve the Lord was independent of whatever they decided; that their actions would not affect his; that his commitment to do the Lord's will would not be altered by anything they or anyone else would do. Joshua was firmly in control of his actions and had his eyes fixed on the commandments of the Lord. He was committed to obedience.
Surely the Lord loves, more than anything else, an unwavering determination to obey his counsel. Surely the experiences of the great prophets of the Old Testament have been recorded to help us understand the importance of choosing the path of strict obedience. How pleased the Lord must have been when Abraham, after receiving direction to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, did as he was instructed, without question and without wavering. The record states that God said unto Abraham:
"Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."
The next verse simply states:
"And Abraham rose up early in the morning and took Isaac his son and went unto the place of which God had told him."
Years later, when Rebekah was asked if she would go with the servant of Abraham to become Isaac's wife, and no doubt knowing that the servant's mission had the blessing of the Lord, she simply said, "I will go."
A generation after that, when Jacob was instructed to return to the land of Canaan, which meant leaving all for which he had worked many years, he called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was and explained what the Lord had said. The reply of Rachel was simple and straightforward and indicative of her commitment: "Whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do."
We have, then, examples from the scriptures of how we should consider and evaluate the commandments of the Lord. If we choose to react like Joshua, and Abraham, and Rebekah and Rachel, our response will be, simply, to go and do the thing that the Lord has commanded.
There is good reason to make our decision now to serve the Lord. On this Sunday morning, when the complications and temptations of life are somewhat removed, and when we have the time and more of an inclination to take an eternal perspective, we can more clearly evaluate what will bring us the greatest happiness in life. We should decide now, in the light of the morning, how we will act when the darkness of night and when the storms of temptation arrive.
I pray that we will have the strength to decide now to do what we ought to do. I pray that we will decide now to serve the Lord. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, April 1958. Seated: Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Mark E. Petersen, Henry D. Moyle; standing: Delbert L. Stapley, Marion G. Romney, LeGrand Richards, Richard L. Evans, George Q. Morris, Hugh B. Brown.
President Ezra Taft Benson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Marriage is the rock foundation, the cornerstone, of civilization. No nation will ever rise above its homes.
Marriage and family life are ordained of God.
In an eternal sense, salvation is a family affair. God holds parents responsible for their stewardship in rearing their family. It is a most sacred responsibility.
Today we are aware of great problems in our society. The most obvious are sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, drug abuse, alcoholism, vandalism, pornography, and violence.
These grave problems are symptoms of failure in the home-the disregarding of principles and practices established by God in the very beginning.
Because parents have departed from the principles the Lord gave for happiness and success, families throughout the world are undergoing great stress and trauma. Many parents have been enticed to abandon their responsibilities in the home to seek after an elusive "self-fulfillment." Some have abdicated parental responsibilities for pursuit of material things, unwilling to postpone personal gratification in the interest of their children's welfare.
It is time to awaken to the fact that there are deliberate efforts to restructure the family along the lines of humanistic values. Images of the family and of love as depicted in television and film often portray a philosophy contrary to the commandments of God.
If one doubts that the family as an institution is being restructured, consider these facts:
Nearly one out of every three marriages ends in divorce.
The traditional family-one which has a husband, a wife not working outside the home, and children-constitutes only 14 percent of American households.
Nearly fifty percent of the work force is now female.
About 56 percent of these female workers are mothers with preschool children, and nearly 60 percent of them have teenagers at home.
In the United States alone it is estimated that eight to ten million youngsters, six and under, are in child-care situations outside the home.
Almost one-fifth of all children in the United States live in a one-parent home.
No society will long survive without mothers who care for their young and provide that nurturing care so essential for their normal development.
Innocent sounding phrases are now used to give approval to sinful practices. Thus, the term "alternative life-style" is used to justify adultery and homosexuality, "freedom of choice" to justify abortion, "meaningful relationship" and "self-fulfillment" to justify sex outside of marriage.
If we continue with present trends, we can expect to have more emotionally disturbed young people, more divorce, more depression, and more suicide.
The family is the most effective place to instill lasting values in its members. Where family life is strong and based on principles and practices of the gospel of Jesus Christ, these problems do not as readily appear.
My message this morning is to return to the God-ordained fundamentals that will ensure love, stability, and happiness in our homes. May I offer three fundamentals to happy, enduring family relationships.
First: A husband and wife must attain righteous unity and oneness in their goals, desires, and actions.
Marriage itself must be regarded as a sacred covenant before God. A married couple have an obligation not only to each other, but to God. He has promised blessings to those who honor that covenant.
Fidelity to one's marriage vows is absolutely essential for love, trust, and peace. Adultery is unequivocally condemned by the Lord.
Husbands and wives who love each other will find that love and loyalty are reciprocated. This love will provide a nurturing atmosphere for the emotional growth of children. Family life should be a time of happiness and joy that children can look back on with fond memories and associations.
Hear these simple admonitions from the Lord which may be applied to the marriage covenant.
First: "See that ye love one another; cease to be covetous; learn to impart one to another as the gospel requires. Cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another."
Second: "Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else. Thou shalt not commit adultery."
Third: "He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention."
And there are many more scriptural admonitions.
Restraint and self-control must be ruling principles in the marriage relationship. Couples must learn to bridle their tongues as well as their passions.
Prayer in the home and prayer with each other will strengthen your union. Gradually thoughts, aspirations, and ideas will merge into a oneness until you are seeking the same purposes and goals.
Rely on the Lord, the teachings of the prophets, and the scriptures for guidance and help, particularly when there may be disagreements and problems.
Spiritual growth comes by solving problems together-not by running from them. Today's inordinate emphasis on individualism brings egotism and separation. Two individuals becoming "one flesh" is still the Lord's standard.
The secret of a happy marriage is to serve God and each other. The goal of marriage is unity and oneness, as well as self-development. Paradoxically, the more we serve one another, the greater is our spiritual and emotional growth.
The first fundamental, then, is to work toward righteous unity.
Second: Nurture your children with love and the admonitions of the Lord.
Rearing happy, peaceful children is no easy challenge in today's world, but it can be done, and it is being done.
Responsible parenthood is the key.
Above all else, children need to know and feel they are loved, wanted, and appreciated. They need to be assured of that often. Obviously, this is a role parents should fill, and most often the mother can do it best.
Children need to know who they are in the eternal sense of their identity. They need to know that they have an eternal Heavenly Father on whom they can rely, to whom they can pray, and from whom they can receive guidance. They need to know whence they came so that their lives will have meaning and purpose.
Children must be taught to pray, to rely on the Lord for guidance, and to express appreciation for the blessings that are theirs. I recall kneeling at the bedsides of our young children, helping them with their prayers.
Children must be taught right from wrong. They can and must learn the commandments of God. They must be taught that it is wrong to steal, lie, cheat, or covet what others have.
Children must be taught to work at home. They should learn there that honest labor develops dignity and self-respect. They should learn the pleasure of work, of doing a job well.
The leisure time of children must be constructively directed to wholesome, positive pursuits. Too much time viewing television can be destructive, and pornography in this medium should not be tolerated. It is estimated that growing children today watch television over twenty-five hours per week.
Communities have a responsibility to assist the family in promoting wholesome entertainment. What a community tolerates will become tomorrow's standard for today's youth.
Families must spend more time together in work and recreation. Family home evenings should be scheduled once a week as a time for recreation, work projects, skits, songs around the piano, games, special refreshments, and family prayers. Like iron links in a chain, this practice will bind a family together, in love, pride, tradition, strength, and loyalty.
Family study of the scriptures should be the practice in our homes each Sabbath day.
Daily devotionals are also a commendable practice, where scripture reading, singing of hymns, and family prayer are a part of our daily routine.
Third: Parents must prepare their children for the ordinances of the gospel.
The most important teachings in the home are spiritual. Parents are commanded to prepare their sons and daughters for the ordinances of the gospel: baptism, confirmation, priesthood ordinations, and temple marriage. They are to teach them to respect and honor the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Most importantly, parents are to instill within their children a desire for eternal life and to earnestly seek that goal above all else.
Eternal life may be obtained only by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.
When parents themselves have complied with the ordinances of salvation, when they have set the example of a temple marriage, not only is their own marriage more likely to succeed, but their children are far more likely to follow their example.
Parents who provide such a home will have, as the Lord has said, "a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of order, a house of God." Regardless of how modest or humble that home may be, it will have love, happiness, peace, and joy. Children will grow up in righteousness and truth and will desire to serve the Lord.
One past Church President gave this counsel to parents:
"The home is what needs reforming. Try today, and tomorrow, to make a change in your home by praying twice a day with your family. Ask a blessing upon every meal you eat. Spend ten minutes reading a chapter from the words of the Lord in the. Let love, peace, and the Spirit of the Lord, kindness, charity, sacrifice for others, abound in your families. Banish harsh words, and let the Spirit of God take possession of your hearts. Teach to your children these things, in spirit and power. Not one child in a hundred would go astray, if the home environment, example and training, were in harmony with the gospel of Christ."
I testify that, by following these precepts and practices, serious problems with the family can and will be avoided.
Thank God for the joys of family life. I have often said there can be no genuine happiness separate and apart from a good home. The sweetest influences and associations of life are there.
God bless us to strengthen our homes with love and unity and by following his precepts, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, October 1959. Seated: Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Mark E. Petersen, Delbert L. Stapley; standing: Marion G. Romney, LeGrand Richards, Richard L. Evans, George Q. Morris, Hugh B. Brown, Howard W. Hunter.
Elder J. Thomas Fyans
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My dear brothers and sisters, what a privilege it is to stand before you and bear my testimony that Jesus is the Christ!
There's an ancient oriental legend that tells the story of a jeweler who had a precious pearl he wanted to sell. In order to place this pearl in the proper setting, he conceived the idea of building a special box of the finest woods to contain the pearl. He sought these woods and had them brought to him, and they were polished to a high brilliance. He then reinforced the corners of this box with elegant brass hinges and added a red velvet interior. As a final step, he scented that red velvet with perfume, then placed in that setting this precious pearl.
The pearl was then placed in the store window of the jeweler, and after a short period of time, a rich man came by. He was attracted by what he saw and sat down with the jeweler to negotiate a purchase. The jeweler soon realized that the man was negotiating for the box rather than the pearl. You see, the man was so overcome by the beauty of the exterior that he failed to see the pearl of great price.
Recently we had in our home some nonmember friends from another part of the country, and they were with us for about a week. One of them is a very well educated man. He initially prepared for the ministry, and then determined he would not continue in that vein but would become a psychologist, and he received his doctorate in that field.
Upon graduating, he established a clinic, and in that clinic today there are several psychiatrists and a number of psychologists and social workers. This man is also an adviser to a state board of education and to a state university. He is involved in the accreditation tests of universities.
When we realized that this very well educated person was coming to our home, we wondered what we could show him and how we could tell him about the things that we believe.
First, we brought him here to this magnificent building. It was on a Sunday morning, and he was impressed with the artistic ability of this great choir. He went into the visitors' centers here on the grounds and was exposed to what is there.
I sought an interview for him with the commissioner of education. I wanted to impress him with the fact that we have people who have some background in the field of education as well. We took him to Brigham Young University and had him visit with persons there who are in his field, hoping that he would be impressed with that great university-and he was impressed.
Then I took him behind the scenes and introduced him to the curriculum planning functions of the Church as described by Elder Packer today. Because of his background in education he had been involved in curriculum planning for all different levels, but as he saw this plan, he was amazed. He said, "I've never seen anything like it. You should have the Nobel prize for curriculum planning."
He saw many things. Then, during his last evening at our home, I said, "What questions do you have?"
He said, "How do you console the bereaved?"
We opened up the Old Testament, and then we read from the New Testament. Then we looked in another testament, the Book of Mormon. We studied from Alma and other parts of this testament that Jesus is the Christ. We then moved on to modern-day scriptures and studied the 76th and 138th sections of the Doctrine and Covenants. We also read from the Pearl of Great Price.
And we talked about the cross-referencing of these scriptures. They are not isolated one from another. They are one integral whole and have come from one source-the Lord God, and his Son Jesus Christ, who through prophets over the ages have inspired those thoughts and had them recorded so that they would lift us to an understanding of the pearl of great price.
We have many wonderful teachings in this Church, all of which contribute to an uplifting, wonderful life. And yet as we look through all these trappings, and down to the very center core, we find that there is the message: yes, the Lord Jesus Christ came in the meridian of time. There he called others-Apostles and seventy, and others-to assist him in the task. He was placed on the cross and then in the tomb, and on the third day he arose. He lives today, and because he lives today, we will live tomorrow. That, I told my friend, is how we console the bereaved.
And I bear my witness, brothers and sisters, that I know that Jesus is the Christ, that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. There are many testaments of him-the Old Testament, the New Testament, another testament commonly known as the Book of Mormon. May we drink deeply from these testaments to bear up that testimony in our hearts. And may we share it with others so that the kingdom of God will be here upon the earth, that the kingdom of heaven may come, I pray humbly in the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
A few weeks ago as I approached these temple grounds where I was to meet a friend, a young woman-a stranger to me-stepped up and said, "Would you like to know what kind of people these Mormons really are?"
I responded with, "I think I already know a little bit about what they really are."
To this the heckler retorted, "They surely don't live the teachings of Jesus Christ as they should."
My concluding comment was, "Who does?"
As I continued my walk to the visitors' center, I began to ponder the actions of those persons who are giving time and money to discredit, embarrass, ridicule, and shame those who have religious views that differ from their own. Sometimes such actions can unify and strengthen those who are attacked. However, in some few instances they plant seeds of discord, and at times righteous people are hurt by their slander.
I doubt that such actions can be called Christlike. At no time did Jesus Christ encourage us to spend time participating in damaging, destructive criticism. His message was to encourage us to seek, learn, and share all that is praiseworthy and of value as we associate with our fellowmen. Only those who are vindictive and cantankerous participate in ferreting out and advertising the negative and unsavory.
I will be forever grateful for the wise counsel my mission president gave me as I arrived in England to serve as a missionary. He said, "Elder Ashton, these people in this land have been at it a long time. If you will keep your eyes, ears, and mind open, you can learn much while you are here. Look for the good and overlook that which is different from your ways."
The longer I stayed in England, the more I appreciated his advice. Day by day I grew to love and appreciate that great country and its people. For example, instead of freezing in the raw winter weather, I did as the English did-I put on another sweater rather than wasting time murmuring and complaining.
Robert West wrote, "Nothing is easier than fault-finding; no talent, no self-denial, no brains are required to set up in the grumbling business."
Whether accusations, innuendos, aspersions, or falsehoods are whispered or blatantly shouted, the gospel of Jesus Christ reminds us that we are not to retaliate nor contend. "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
"For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness to God."
No religion, group, or individual can prosper over an extended period of time with fault-finding as their foundation. To the world, and especially to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we declare there is no time for contention. "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain."
The poet Robert Frost once defined education as "the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence." Probably we will never be free of those who are openly anti-Mormon. Therefore, we encourage all our members to refuse to become anti-anti-Mormon. In the wise words of old, can we "live and let live"?
Certainly one of our God-given privileges is the right to choose what our attitude will be in any given set of circumstances. We can let the events that surround us determine our actions-or we can personally take charge and rule our lives, using as guidelines the principles of pure religion. Pure religion is learning the gospel of Jesus Christ and then putting it into action. Nothing will ever be of real benefit to us until it is incorporated into our own lives.
It seems to me there has never been a period in history when it has been more important for us to be engaged in pure religion as taught by the Savior. This religion is not to retaliate, or to exchange in kind, evil actions or unkind statements. Pure religion encompasses the ability to cherish, to build up, and to turn the other cheek in place of destroying and tearing down. Blessed are they who strive to serve Him without wasting time faulting Him or those who serve Him.
The discerning realize that it is not realistic to expect perfection in others when none of us is perfect.
"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
"Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull the mote out of thine eye; and behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
"Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."
Meaningful progress can be made only when all of us can cast the motes out of our own eyes, leave judgment to our Father in Heaven, and lose ourselves in righteous living.
As we reflect upon actions that do not fit the definition of pure religion, perhaps we should contemplate the nature of this term: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep unspotted from the world."
The words are simple, but a basic formula is revealed-namely, help those who are in need, build your life around the gospel of Jesus Christ, and avoid yielding to worldly temptations.
As with most simple formulas, all of us must analyze our own lives and use wisdom and free agency as we apply the basic principles. Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do." The doing is always more difficult than the knowing.
We were visiting some friends this past summer. A very young son with a new tricycle was disturbed because his parents were giving us their attention and all of us were ignoring him. He rode his trike as fast as his little legs could pedal, calling, "Look at me!" The inevitable happened as he looked at us instead of where he was going. He rode directly into a lawn chair. To try to stem the tears and take his mind off the hurt, his mother said, "That naughty chair hurt you. Let's spank the chair."
I suppose her response momentarily distracted the boy, but the mother was letting her son blame something else for the accident rather than himself.
How many times do we look for something external on which to place blame for our actions? It hurts to look inward and assume responsibility for our situations.
To keep ourselves unspotted from the world requires taking charge of and ruling our lives from within, accepting responsibility for our own actions, and choosing the role of peacemaker rather than retaliator when those around us are critical or spread false propaganda. It includes being aware that God's work on earth is done by human beings, all of whom have some weaknesses. It encompasses the ability to look for the good accomplished rather than being disillusioned when human failings surface. It includes resisting the urge to proclaim such weaknesses so adamantly that the basic good is overshadowed and testimonies waver.
Pure religion is maintaining a balance between sophisticated, intellectual information and the basic "bread and butter" principles of the gospel. Latter-day Saints are encouraged to pursue learning in all areas. However, superior knowledge and academic achievements need to be enhanced by wisdom, good judgment, and spiritual guidance in order to use all that is learned for the benefit of the individual and his fellowman.
Some think they can learn of God only by appreciating his handiwork. Mountains, streams, flowers, birds, and animals are to be enjoyed and admired; but this is not enough. In the formal Church setting, gospel truths are shared, new concepts are internalized, and new experiences are offered-all of which can result in enriched feelings about oneself and in learning better methods of helping others.
One who practices pure religion soon discovers it is more rewarding to lift a man up than to hold him down. Happiness is bound up with helpfulness. Those who fail to protect someone's good name, who take advantage of the innocent or uninformed, who build a fortune by pretending godliness to manipulate others, are missing the joy of practicing pure religion.
Many have found joy by extending mercy and tender care to those around them. What a strength it is to witness friends visiting nursing homes to comfort patients who don't even have the capacity to express appreciation. There are some who would question God's motives when he allows many to linger in pain and hopeless physical and mental deterioration. While this process is taking place, others teach us by their compassionate service and patience. One who has served in many leadership positions in the Church, even in missions and temples, now without specific assignment, meets each month with those confined in a nursing home and often says, "What satisfaction I get each month as I visit these precious souls."
Pure religion is showing concern and affection for those who, because they have lost their companions, are experiencing feelings of loneliness and neglect. Recently I visited with a bishop who has in his ward more than sixty widows. He beamed, "I love them all!" At least once a week he and his counselors visit them, in addition to the calls made by their home teachers. "They are the joys of our lives," he repeated. He might have said, "Don't you think that is more than our share?"
Another worthy practice in pure religion is a daily telephone call to each housebound person in a neighborhood. A loving, older, widowed lady said, "If I telephone each day, it gives them a lift, and if they don't answer the phone, it lets me know they probably need a personal visit from me. One of these friends could not afford a telephone, so this same sister had a phone installed and took care of the monthly bill.
Pure religion encompasses patience and long-suffering. A father recovering from the wounds of alcoholism has often said, "I am making my way back because my family would not give up on me. Everyone had written me off except my wife and children." How sweet are those words: "I am making my way back because my family would not give up on me."
Pure religion is practiced when we lift the unfortunate and unusual children. Some of God's choicest earthly spirits are those without meaningful parental care. Many are given family relationships by foster parents on a part- or full-time basis.
Pure religion is having the courage to do what is right and let the consequence follow. It is doing the right things for right reasons. To be righteous or serving or loving or obedient to God's laws just to earn praise or recognition is not pure religion. It is being able to withstand ridicule and even temporary unpopularity with some peer groups when you know who you are and for what goals you are reaching. So many of our young people, and older ones also, have developed just such inner strength. They have a great influence for good on others with whom they associate.
Loving those around us includes being sensitive to feelings of others. As is often done, a conducting officer announced that when the deacons were through passing the sacrament, they were invited to go and sit with their families. One father noticed a boy walk out and sit in the foyer. The next week he invited that deacon to sit with his family rather than go through the embarrassment and loneliness caused by not having his own family in attendance. This parent responded to the need of the boy rather than criticizing the leaders for the policy. The actions of this father can be enlarged on and put into practice by every member.
The safety and protection of each person, especially children, should be a concern for all of us. We can be instrumental in assisting in the protection of each other by being aware of potential dangers and being willing to do our part to thwart those who would injure, steal, or abuse any person, young or old.
Another example of pure religion can be practiced in today's political election processes by those who explain and debate the issues and avoid pettiness and slander. Real political winners are those who would accept defeat rather than participate in character assassination.
Examples of pure religion can be found on every hand. At a funeral about a month ago, I learned of a valiant young lady on a mission in a distant land who, after much prayer and many tears, wrote to her dying mom just before the terminal illness took its toll, and told her that even though she would like to be at her bedside, she would follow her mother's teachings and stay in the mission field to finish her assignment and search out those who wanted to hear the gospel.
From the simple scripture that defines pure religion come great guidelines. To be unspotted from the world, one must avoid all of Satan's evil plans for the inhabitants of the world. Retaliation, fault-finding, deceit, pettiness, hypocrisy, judging, and destroying one another do not belong in the definition of pure religion.
Empathy is sincere love for self and our fellowmen. Henry David Thoreau said, "Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?" If this were possible, I'm sure we could visit and help the widowed and fatherless and all who need our help with the pure love of Christ and thus be responsive to the needs of those around us.
May God help us to learn and live the principles of pure religion. The business of lifting each other is a full-time occupation. Pure religion can never be taught or lived by those who are petty, prejudiced, contentious, or unresponsive to the needs of their fellowmen. Pure religion is following the teachings of our Savior. Jesus Christ does live. This is his Church. To this I bear witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, October 1961. Seated: Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Mark E. Petersen, Delbert L. Stapley; standing: Marion G. Romney, LeGrand Richards, Richard L. Evans, George Q. Morris, Howard W. Hunter, Gordon B. Hinckley.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My brothers and sisters, we are living in a time in which we shall see things both wonderful and awful. There is no way that we can be a part of the last days and have it otherwise. Even so, we are instructed by our Lord and Exemplar, Jesus Christ, to "be of good cheer."
Jesus has given that same instruction to others before, when the stressful circumstances in which they found themselves were anything but cheerful. For instance, he told the original Twelve to be of good cheer when, on the surface, there was nothing to be cheerful about. The indescribable agonies of Gethsemane were imminent. Judas's betrayal lay immediately ahead. Likewise, Jesus' arrest and arraignment. The Twelve would be scattered like sheep. Jesus' unjust and mocking trial and His terrible scourging were but hours away. The shrill and disappointing cry of the mob-to release Barabbas instead of Jesus-would soon echo in the air. Then would come the final, awful moments on Calvary!
Therefore, how could Jesus expect the Twelve to be of good cheer? Because, the Savior said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
Because Christ had overcome the world, the Atonement was about to be accomplished! Death would be irrevocably defeated! Satan would have failed to stop the unfolding plan of salvation! All mankind would be given-through the grace of God-immortality! Additionally, for those who would earn it, there would be the richness of eternal life! These were among the resplendent realities and the fundamental facts which justified the Twelve's being of good cheer-not their grim, temporary circumstances! The precious perspectives of the gospel give to us this gospel gladness!
It was the same on another occasion when, of a night, the resurrected Jesus stood by an imprisoned Paul, instructing Paul to be of good cheer. Once again, the circumstances of the moment included Paul's having been struck publicly on the mouth by order of Ananias. Forty individuals were plotting his death. He faced a trial for sedition. Why, therefore, should he be of good cheer? Because, Jesus announced, though in bad circumstances, Paul would soon take the good news of the gospel to Rome!
Church members in another age were being held hostage until certain prophecies were fulfilled-with their lives being forfeit if those prophecies were not fulfilled precisely on time. They, too, were told by the Lord to be of good cheer. Why? Because, said Jesus, "On the morrow come I into the world." With His birth, the mortal ministry of the Messiah would, at last, be launched!
Gospel gladness was a part of the Prophet Joseph Smith's attitude. In the fall of 1842, rumors were rife of armed mobs on their way to Nauvoo. His beloved Emma was often ill, and there were concerns she would not recover. Joseph was hunted in the City of Joseph. In this same period, of Joseph's circumstance we learn that upon his return home on one occasion he found "Emma sick delivered of a son, which did not survive its birth."
Though in a period of such anguish and affliction, the persecuted Prophet wrote concerning temple work: "Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of gladness! a voice of gladness for the living and the dead; glad tidings of great joy. Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad." And "Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud."
What precious perspective we obtain from the gospel of Jesus Christ concerning things that really matter-against which we measure the disappointments of the day!
In the late 1820s, Brigham Young, as yet untouched by the restored gospel, was a somewhat discouraged young man. He found himself disapproving of much of what he saw in the world and wondering if he had a work yet to do. His loving brother, Phineas, gave Brigham prescient counsel: "Hang on, for I know the Lord is agoing to do some thing for us." What then happened is Moses-like history!
Thus we see, brothers and sisters, how we are justified in being of good cheer for ultimate reasons-reasons to be distinguished, however, from proximate circumstances. If, for instance, our attitude towards life depends upon the praise of men, the level of interest rates, the outcome of a particular election or athletic contest-we are too much at the mercy of men and circumstance. Nor should our gratitude for the gift of mortal life depend upon the manner in which we die, for surely none of us will rush eagerly forward to tell Jesus how we died!
Instead, Jesus calls upon us to have a deliberate trust in God's unfolding purposes, not only for all humankind but for us individually. And we are to be of good cheer in the unfolding process.
We must not underestimate, however, the difficulty of the last days. Joel and Zephaniah both speak of the last days as being "a day of gloominess." The coming decades will be times of despair. Why? Because, as Moroni said, despair comes of iniquity. The more iniquity, the more despair. And unless there is widespread repentance, despair will both deepen and spread-except among those who have gospel gladness.
Alas, though we are asked to be peacemakers, we do live in a time when peace has been taken from the earth. War has been the almost continuing experience of modern man. There have been 141 wars, large and small, just since the end of World War II in 1945. As the American Civil War was about to begin, the Lord declared there would be a succession of wars poured out upon all nations, resulting in the "death and misery of many souls."
Moreover, that continuum of conflict will culminate in "a full end of all nations." Meanwhile, let mortals, if they choose, put overreliance upon mortal arms. As for us, we shall "put on the whole armour of God"! And in the midst of such affliction, if we are righteous and we die, we die unto Him; and if we live, we live unto Him.
Alas, brothers and sisters, we likewise live in a time when the love of many will wax cold. Fear will therefore increase. Why? Because when men fear, it is because we are not perfect in love. The less love, the more fear-as well as the more war!
As with Paul, however, we may be perplexed, but we are not in despair. For if we are prepared spiritually, we need not fear.
Even so, the Lord has made no secret of the fact that He intends to try the faith and the patience of His Saints. We mortals are so quick to forget the Lord: "And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions they will not remember him."
However, the Lord knows our bearing capacity, both as to coping and to comprehending, and He will not give us more to bear than we can manage at the moment, though to us it may seem otherwise. Just as no temptations will come to us from which we cannot escape or which we cannot bear, we will not be given more trials than we can sustain.
Therefore, given the aforementioned grand and overarching reasons to rejoice, can we not "be of good cheer" in spite of stress and circumstance?
President Brigham Young said of a geographical destination, "This is the place." Of God's plan of salvation, with its developmental destination, it can be said, "This is the process"!
President Young, who knew something about trial and tribulation but also of man's high destiny, said that the Lord lets us pass through these experiences that we might become true friends of God. By developing our individual capacities, wisely exercising our agency, and trusting God-including when we feel forsaken and alone-then we can, said President Young, learn to be "righteous in the dark." The gospel glow we see radiating from some-amid dark difficulties-comes from illuminated individuals who are "of good cheer"!
To be cheerful when others are in despair, to keep the faith when others falter, to be true even when we feel forsaken-all of these are deeply desired outcomes during the deliberate, divine tutorials which God gives to us-because He loves us. These learning experiences must not be misread as divine indifference. Instead, such tutorials are a part of the divine unfolding.
Even as believers, however, when we are a part of encapsulating events, we can scarcely savor all that swirls about us. It is unlikely, for instance, on that night so long ago in Bethlehem, that Joseph and Mary looked at the newly born Christ child's feet with the realization that those feet would, one day, walk the length and breadth of the Holy Land. And, further, that, later on, spikes would pierce those feet.
As a loving Mary grasped those tiny hands, and, as in the months ahead those tiny hands clasped her, did she know that those hands, when grown, would ordain the original Twelve or, still later, carry the rough-hewn cross?
As she heard her Baby cry, did she hear intimations of Jesus' later weeping at the death of Lazarus or after blessing the Nephite children? Did she foresee that those baby-soft knees would later be hardened by so much prayer, including those glorious but awful hours in Gethsemane?
As she bathed that Babe so many times to cleanse His pores, could she have been expected to foresee that one day, years later, drops of blood would come from His every pore?
There is such a thing as cheerful, believing participation-even without full understanding-when you and I keep certain things in our hearts and are nourished as we ponder them!
In the midst of our afflictions, reassurances will come to us from the Lord and from His prophets-as they did to the Lord's people in another age when they feared an approaching army, and the prophet reminded and reassured them, and "therefore they hushed their fears". Like a young Eliza Snow in an ox wagon in the midst of tribulation, we can maintain our perspective about "things as they really are" and, in her words, be "thankful that we are so well off." Such reassurances and perspective will surely be needed, brothers and sisters, for the Lord has clearly indicated that His purifying and sifting judgment would begin first at the house of God and then proceed outward to the world. Just what this sifting will consist of is not now clear, what special pressures-combined with the ongoing and demanding rigors of "taking up the cross daily"-we know not. We do know that the tempter's triad of tools, identified by Jesus as temptation, persecution, and tribulation, will be relentlessly used.
And if the heat from the sun of such circumstances will scorch even a green tree, this heat will be very real.
Much sifting will occur because of lapses in righteous behavior which go unrepented of. A few will give up instead of holding out to the end. A few will be deceived by defectors. Likewise, others will be offended, for sufficient unto each dispensation are the stumbling blocks thereof! A few will stumble because, in their preoccupation with the cares of the world, they do not have oil in their lamps. And, again and again, those who refuse to eat their spiritual spinach will come off second when they wrestle with the world. Some, because of the scorn of the world, will grow ashamed and let go of the iron rod. A few who have not been Saints, but merely tourists passing through, will depart from the path. A few, failing to be of good cheer, will even charge God foolishly.
Surely, brothers and sisters, already too many Church members have broken hearts and broken homes because of broken covenants and broken promises. Society's increasing slide toward pleasure seeking brings our so-called civilization comparatively closer to Sodom than to Eden.
In our striving to be prepared, therefore, let us be careful to rely on parents, priesthood, and principles-and on scriptures, and temples, and leaders who lead-to see us through. Let us not mistake program scaffolding for substance.
If we are of good cheer, we will find no use for nostalgia for another time, even though a wistful lamentation such as this one is understandable:
"Oh, that I could have had my days in the days when my father Nephi first came out of the land of Jerusalem, then were his people easy to be entreated, firm to keep the commandments of God, and slow to be led to do iniquity.
"But behold, I am consigned that these are my days."
Brothers and sisters, these are our days. This is our time on earth! These are our tasks to be done!
And in these days, being of good cheer is part of being valiant in the testimony of Jesus.
Finally, in those moments when we feel the pain which is a necessary part of the plan of happiness, we can remember that there was an ancient time when that plan was first unveiled. Then the perceptive among us voted not secretly, but audibly-by shouting for joy! Let us not go back on those feelings now-for we saw more clearly then what we are experiencing now!
May God help us to be of good cheer, for this is the forerunner feeling which precedes that glorious condition when our joy will be full!
Meanwhile, He who knows the path perfectly has promised, "Be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the riches of eternity."
In the name of Him who waits "with open arms to receive" us-Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, April 8, 1965. Seated: Ezra Taft Benson, Joseph Fielding Smith, LeGrand Richards; others, left to right: Gordon B. Hinckley, Delbert L. Stapley, Mark E. Petersen, Thomas S. Monson, Spencer W. Kimball, Harold B. Lee, Marion G. Romney, Richard L. Evans, Howard W. Hunter.
Elder Robert E. Wells
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
This is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are Christians. We know additional details about the Savior's role in the premortal existence before we came here: we have new information about His part in the creation of the world under the direction of our Father; we can identify Him as Jehovah of the Old Testament, communicating with the prophets of Israel. We have the Book of Mormon, which is another testament of Jesus Christ, which has great illuminating doctrines and information about the Savior. Our modern prophets have given revealed explanations, doctrines, light, and knowledge on the Christ as the Redeemer to whom we look for the remission of our sins. We have a wealth of information of tremendous value to all Christian churches. We do not diminish or tear down the faith others have in Christ, but seek only to share with them our additional knowledge of the Lamb, the Shepherd, the Holy One of Israel -for their benefit and salvation.
Like Nephi of old, "we believe in Christ, we look forward with steadfastness unto Christ. We are made alive in Christ because of our faith. We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ. We look forward unto that life which is in Christ." Can anyone doubt that we are Christians in the full sense of the word?
Some time ago, I was on an airplane over the Colombian jungle of South America. I had been telling my seat companion about the Church. At one point in my enthusiastic gospel conversation, my friend commented, "You Mormons have surely built a magnificent shrine at Joseph Smith's grave site."
In surprise, I exclaimed, "What shrine-what grave site?"
He replied, "Why that tall building in Salt Lake City with the gold angel on top. Isn't that a mausoleum or a shrine of some kind where you worship your prophet?" He was referring to the great Salt Lake Temple.
In dismay, I recognized his misunderstanding. No telling where it came from. I proceeded to correct the error, to the best of my ability.
I said to my friend, "Please allow me to explain that we definitely are Christians-we do worship God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, and we do not worship any prophet or any saint-modern or of ancient times. We do not worship the Prophet Joseph Smith, although we love and honor him. But we never pray to him. In our doctrine, philosophy, and practice, he is not an intermediary of any kind, nor is any other prophet or saint. Christ alone is the advocate with the Father"-and I repeated for emphasis-"not Mary, not Joseph, not Peter, James, or John, not any of the ancient prophets like Adam, Moses, or Abraham. No modern prophet like Joseph Smith or Brigham Young is ever worshiped or prayed to."
I went on further to explain that the temple in Salt Lake City is not to honor the Prophet Joseph, nor is he even buried there. To make my point that we do not worship our prophets, I said, "Please believe me when I say that we never make a pilgrimage to where the Prophet Joseph is buried; as a matter of fact, I do not even know where he is buried!"
This explanation of my not knowing where Joseph Smith is buried seemed to be the most dramatic kind of clarification my friend could have received. He was thoroughly astonished, but he could easily see that his understanding of our Church had been completely wrong. This turnabout then led to a conversation in which truths regarding how we do worship the Savior could be discussed easily and openly. The positive fact that we are practicing Christians was established.
I believe it to be the responsibility of every member of the Church to so live and teach and preach that there will never be any doubt on the part of our friends, associates, and casual acquaintances as to our being Christians, having the desire to receive redemption through Him; to be the kind of person that is a friend of the Savior, a servant of the Savior, and a son or a daughter of the Savior. Let me discuss each one of these three roles:
First, Be a Friend of the Savior.
President Kimball qualifies as a friend of the Savior. When he was in the hospital ready to undergo open-heart surgery a few years ago, he was being wheeled down the hall and into the operating room by a young orderly. The young man accidentally smashed his finger between the metal door frame and the metal frame of the bed on which lay the already sedated prophet. When this mishap occurred, the young man, in pain, used an unfortunate expression in which he took in vain the name of the Savior. The prophet stirred, opened his eyes, and gently rebuked the orderly, saying, "Young man, don't say that; He's my best friend!"
Do you and I have a relationship with the Savior such that we would decry the misuse of His name? Does Jesus know that we feel about Him the way President Kimball feels about Him?
Another example of President Kimball's discipleship occurred one Christmas Eve several years ago. He called and asked if I were busy. I quickly responded, "Not at all. What can I do for you, President Kimball?" He told me he needed a companion to go with him to the Primary Children's Hospital to give a few blessings. It turned out that he had heard of several children from South America, as well as some American Indian children, who were in the hospital. We went from floor to floor giving blessings to all the Latins and Lamanites and many others too. I was deeply affected by the love of President Kimball and his tender friendship with each child. He was a friend to the sick-a friend to those far from home. He exemplified the tender, loving friendship that the Savior would give. It was easy to see how he could say, "The Savior is my best friend."
Second, Be a Servant of the Savior.
King Benjamin made this clear:
"For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?"
How can we possibly be a servant to the Savior if we have not served Him, if we are strangers to Him, if we keep Him far from the daily thoughts and intents of our hearts?
President Harold B. Lee was the kind of person who so knew the Savior and had been a servant for such a long period of time that he knew instinctively what the Savior would say or do in any given situation.
For example, shortly after becoming President of the Church, President Lee held his first press conference as the new prophet of the Church. The reporters posed for President Lee what could have been a difficult question: "What is your position with regard to the Vietnam war?" You recall that at that time the war was underway, and there were those who supported it and those who were against our involvement.
If President Lee said, "I am in favor of our government's position," the reporters could say, "How strange-a spiritual leader in favor of war?" If he answered, "I am against our government's involvement," the reporters could also raise doubts by saying, "How unusual-a religious leader who pretends to support his government, but does not?"
When the people of the press presented the question, President Lee responded as a servant of the Savior would, knowing how to use the very words of the Lord in an inspired manner. His answer disarmed them, impressed them. As I remember, he said, "We, together with the entire Christian world, abhor war." And he went on, "The Savior said, 'In the world ye shall have tribulations.' But He also said, 'In me ye might have peace'." Continuing, President Lee quoted from John 14: "'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.'"
And then President Lee taught a great principle. And he said to them: "The Savior was not speaking of the kind of peace which is won with armies or navies or force; nor was He speaking of the kind of peace which can be negotiated in the halls of congresses. He was speaking of the kind of peace we each can have in our hearts only when we live His commandments to such a degree that we know He is pleased with us." President Lee, speaking as a true servant of the Prince of Peace, had answered them with inspiration.
Third, Be a Son or a Daughter of the Savior.
Let there be no confusion-our Heavenly Father is the Father of our spirits. He is also the Father of the spirit of Jesus. The Holy Trinity is not a blur, but rather three separate and distinct personages. Heavenly Father gave to His Son those of His children who would take upon themselves the name of His Son, demonstrating faith in Him by repenting of their sins and entering the holy waters of baptism and then going forth steadfastly in His kingdom forever.
King Benjamin tells us:
"And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters."
I pray that the entire membership of this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will so live that if there are any who would accuse us falsely of not being Christians, their words would not be believed by any who know us. Let us so live that every person who has ever met a member of this Church would know that we all strive daily to be better friends of the Savior, more unselfish servants of the Savior, more like sons and daughters given by the Father to our Savior by virtue of our taking His name upon us in the holy waters of baptism.
To this I testify humbly and with love, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Master and Redeemer, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, April 1970. Seated: Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Mark E. Petersen, Delbert L. Stapley, Marion G. Romney; standing: LeGrand Richards, Richard L. Evans, Hugh B. Brown, Howard W. Hunter, Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, Boyd K. Packer.
Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My beloved brothers and sisters, I would like to share my personal feelings about a parable of great hope and compassion. The Savior said, "A certain man had two sons." The younger of the two sons seemed always to be in the shadow of his older, more mature brother. Compliments would come freely to the older brother. His age and size were in his favor; he could work harder. The younger son, always compared to his older brother, never quite measured up. He tired more quickly, did not get all the work done, and probably had a fairly poor self-image. He may, have determined that the "system" was against him. He was not being judged on his own merits. He decided to leave home and start in a new environment.
The parable continues: "And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me." Apparently the father had previously discussed with his sons that one day each would receive an inheritance. The inheritance would be a free-will gift from the father. It is doubtful that either son actually earned much more than his room and board. Nevertheless, the father "divided unto him his living." This, in essence, was approval for the younger man to strike out on his own with his inheritance. The father loved him. He may have had an idea what the younger son would do with his share. The younger brother "gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country."
He may have intended to do something honorable. However, he found, after arriving in the distant city in a far country, people did not just automatically gather round and make him welcome. He was in a predicament, no influence and no friends. True friends must be earned, others can be bought. The younger son found that flies are attracted by honey. He began to flash his inheritance around. The flies came. Not only did he not invest or use his money wisely, he wasted it on riotous living. There were evil and drunken men and vile and adulterous women whose lust for his companionship was gone when the money was spent.
"And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land." Conditions were bad, for not only had he used up all his inheritance, but even the average citizen waxed sore. He had been taught to work at home and apparently attempted to find work. He may have gone to many who had been his friends when he was "flush."
The prodigal began to be in want and "went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine." Now he was not only destitute, but also forced to take the most humble kind of work. In such great poverty was he that "he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him." The Savior is undoubtedly showing us the contrast and the depths of poverty and need to which he had sunk. He had indulged with all who came when he had money. Now not even one of his supposed friends so much as gave him a husk of corn so that he might feed at least as well as the swine.
There is a great purging and humbling that comes from the wells of despair. False pride is stripped away. The light of home flickers dimly through the dark miles of distance.
In the despair of this great, humbling experience, the young man "came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
"I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
"And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
"And he arose, and came to his father."
It is possible that he rehearsed the speech over and over again. The father had been faithful and had worked hard all his life, a frugal man with character and integrity. Would he turn his son away? The younger son arose and came unto his father-undoubtedly a long journey.
Now, the older son may have noticed that since the younger brother's leaving, the father seemed always preoccupied. His father had little interest in the work. He would work a bit, then leave the field to look down the road, each time returning with a faraway look in his eyes. Not only did the older brother have to do his own work and make up for the younger brother's absence, but he also had an additional work load which was previously done by the father. It also seemed that his father paid him little attention. Before the younger brother's leaving, there was always a word of praise for the way the older son worked. Now, there was little or no fun, no singing, no dancing, and precious little talk. Both the mother and father would sit at night and stare into the open fire. Days, weeks, even months passed thus.
The Master states: "But when was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
"And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
"But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet." The long journey probably had been made with little or no footwear, so the robe and shoes were necessities. But the father also had a ring brought for his son's hand. This was an unexpected gift, an expression of the gratitude of the father for the son's return.
"And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
"For this my son was dead, and is alive again was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
"Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.
"And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
"And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
" was angry, and would not go in."
The weeks and months of doing work which his brother had previously done, compensating for his father's inattention, receiving no compliments, and the father's preoccupation settled in on him. Perhaps he thought he should have taken his inheritance also. He would not have wasted it, but increased it. In spite of these thoughts, he had stayed at home and been a dutiful son. There was no music, no dancing for his righteous life; and yet when his younger brother returned, all of these things celebrated his coming.
Word came to the father that his son was outside and would not come in," therefore came his father out, and intreated him." The father must have realized the oversight; he may even have apologized. The great concern for his younger son was off his mind. He remembered he had not been as complimentary to the older son as usual. He recalled the older son's more intense work to compensate-no dancing, no music, no sumptuous feasts. Hearts were too heavy for those things.
"And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
"But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf."
The father, with full understanding, said, "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." The father had planned all along to reward the older brother by giving him everything, but this was the first time this had been mentioned.
The father said, "It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found."
A minister recently read the parable of the prodigal son over the radio. He concluded with: "The younger brother stood justified before the Lord due to his repentance, and the older brother fell under the greater condemnation." When I heard this, I wept and I thought, "Oh, you foolish man. You do not understand the Lord's teachings." The older son had been hurt and neglected and, true, had not exercised love and compassion to his wayward brother; but no thinking man could ever suppose that his transgression compared to the wasteful, extravagant, riotous living with harlots of the younger brother.
I think I have an understanding of what the Lord was trying to teach in this beautiful parable which extends hope to all. The Savior is standing with open arms to receive and forgive all who will come unto him. His atoning and redemptive suffering in Gethsemane and on Golgotha's hill are the greatest acts of love ever performed.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, in her poem entitled "Gethsemane," said:
Death, divorce, transgression, loneliness, and despair drive us to Gethsemane's garden. The Master's outstretched arms are open to receive all. The parable of the prodigal son is beautiful. It demonstrates charity. His love and compassion are eternally surrounding every soul who walks the earth. Every man, woman, or youth who returns home after a prodigal journey or an inactive period will find the Savior waiting with open arms. His atoning act will satisfy justice and extend mercy to all who will "come unto him."
All who are active have someone close who may he inactive, indifferent, or clothed in transgression's soiled robes. They need the sweet, abiding love of a compassionate parent or loving brother or sister. Jesus will bless every member of the Church who will go out and bring someone back.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., said:
"Every human being is born with the light of faith kindled in his heart as on an altar, and that light burns and the Lord sees that it burns, during the period before we are accountable. When accountability comes then each of us determines how we shall feed and care for that light. If we shall live righteously that light will glow until it suffuses the whole body, giving to it health and strength and spiritual light as well as bodily health. If we shall live unrighteously that light will dwindle and finally almost flicker out. Yet it is my hope and my belief that the Lord never permits the light of faith wholly to be extinguished in any human heart, however faint the light may glow. The Lord has provided that there shall still be there a spark which, with teaching, with the spirit of righteousness, with love, with tenderness, with example, with living the Gospel, shall brighten and glow again, however darkened the mind may have been. And if we shall fail so to reach those among us of our own whose faith has dwindled low, we shall fail in one of the main things which the Lord expects at our hands."
We are the keepers of the light. We invite all who are here to reach out and bless others who are not here. Listen to the voice of a prophet. President Spencer W. Kimball said: "We extend to every listener a cordial invitation to come to the watered garden, to the shade of pleasant trees, to unchangeable truth.
"Come with us to sureness, security, consistency. Here the cooling waters flow. The spring does not go dry.
"Come listen to a prophet's voice and hear the word of God."
And we invite all those who are not here to come home. We gaze steadily down the road, anxious for your return. We will run with open arms, and hearts filled with compassion. There are shoes for your feet, a robe, a ring for your hand, and a fatted calf. Come home and we will rejoice together, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, 1972. Seated: Ezra Taft Benson, Spencer W. Kimball, Mark E. Petersen; others, left to right: Marion G. Romney, Howard W. Hunter, Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, Boyd K. Packer, Delbert L. Stapley, Marvin J. Ashton, Hugh B. Brown, LeGrand Richards.
Elder George P. Lee
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
In our world of skepticism, confusion and wickedness, to know the truth, to have a deep, humble, and solemn conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, is a very precious thing. I have received the witness of the divinity of my Savior through the sweet influence and power of the Holy Ghost. I have received this witness in my own heart, which exceeds all other evidences. It bears record to me, to my very soul, of the existence of my Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
This silent, sweet conviction came early in my youth, while I was on my knees in deep supplication in our humble hogan, and at other times, after reading the Book of Mormon while tending the sheep out in the hot desert on the reservation. Just as I know that my life did not begin when I was born, just as I know that it will not end when I die, likewise I know for certain that the life of Christ did not begin at Bethlehem; neither did it end on Calvary. Of himself, the Lord Jesus Christ said:
"I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work thou gavest me to do.
"And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory I had with thee before the world was."
I bear testimony that Jesus Christ was the first begotten Son of God in the Spirit. Like the Father himself, he was a personage of great power and intelligence in the universe. For ages before this world was created, he lived and ruled with his Father in Heaven in the premortal existence on a spiritual basis. The Lord Jesus had much to do with our growth and training prior to our birth on earth. Under the direction of the Father, he created this earth and accepted the appointment to come here and to be its redeemer. It was he who came forth in the Grand Council in Heaven and said: "Here am I, send me."
"Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever."
Of his beloved Son, our Heavenly Father has declared, "And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten."
There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He was the only one that could unlock heaven's gate and let us in, because he was and is the only one suited, eligible, worthy, able, willing, perfect, and qualified for this great supreme sacrifice.
I bear testimony that our Redeemer's birth in Bethlehem was announced by a great concourse of angels and by an angel of great authority and power who had come from the presence of God, saying, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings."
Ancient prophets from the time of Adam down knew of his coming. He was known by name, character, and his good works long before his birth. Before his birth, he was a personage of spirit. After his birth, a body of flesh and bones was added. After he conquered death and after resurrection, he became a person with an indestructible glorified body, inseparably joined together with his immortal spirit. His whole mortal life was devoted to bringing peace and blessings to others. He lived a perfect life in the midst of evil and wickedness.
His excruciating agony in the Garden of Gethsemane was not only physical and mental anguish, but also a spiritual agony that only a god was capable of experiencing. In that hour of tremendous anguish the Savior took upon himself the burden of the sins of the world from Adam down to the end of the world. Then they hanged him on the cross and crucified him in the most inhumane and cruel method of execution. A spike was driven through his hands and feet as was the method at that time. Of his suffering he said:
"For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
"But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;
"Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit."
In his infinite love and mercy he prayed for the very people that crucified him. He prayed and asked Heavenly Father to bless and forgive those that ridiculed, mocked, and insulted him. In pain and anguish he cried, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
I bear testimony that this same crucified Christ arose on the third day from the tomb, after having met and mingled with others in the spirit world, his spirit was reunited with his body. After being among men on earth, he ascended to his Heavenly Father as a resurrected and glorified being. An angel, speaking of Jesus, said:
"He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
"And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him."
For thousands of years from the time of Adam up to Christ's crucifixion, millions of people had entered the dark grave and suffered death and the end of life. For thousands of years, no one had ever returned. When our Redeemer arose from the tomb with his resurrected and immortal body, he robbed death of its sting and the grave of its victory. Man was freed from sin's dark prison. Death was conquered; Christ won the victory. He had opened heaven's gate.
Immediately following his resurrection many others were resurrected. In Matthew we read:
"And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
"And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."
Thus, our risen Lord removed the last barrier in our march toward perfection and eternal life. Just as it is said of him "He is not here: he is risen", so it will be for each of us, because the empty tomb of the Lord Jesus is not only a symbol but also a guarantee of our own resurrection and immortality. It would be a serious mistake and a tragedy for anyone to assume that Jesus was just a great teacher and just a great humanitarian. Because of him, life continues throughout eternity. There is no other name under heaven whereby man will be saved and exalted.
I bear testimony that our resurrected Lord, clothed in glory, personally manifested himself to the Nephites and the Lamanites in ancient America as they were gathered around their temple in the land Bountiful. God our Eternal Father said unto them:
"Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name-hear ye him."
They saw the Lord Jesus Christ, clothed in a white robe, coming down out of heaven; and he descended until he stood in their midst. He said unto them:
"Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.
"And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world."
The multitude fell at his feet and worshiped him. They then arose and came to him at his invitation to see and feel the prints of the nails in his hands and feet. They also saw and felt the spear wound in his side, and they did fall at his feet, overwhelmed and overjoyed. Their own eyes and hands were witnesses. Words cannot describe their heartfelt joy and gratitude. It was a glorious manifestation and spiritual feast for all.
I bear testimony that this, the last great dispensation of the fulness of times, was ushered in by the voice of God our Eternal Father, saying: "This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"
In the spring of 1820, God our Eternal Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, revealed themselves to the boy-prophet Joseph Smith. The darkness of the long night of the apostasy was lifted. This glorious manifestation illuminated the world. Other divine visitations by heavenly messengers and personages were made to the Prophet Joseph Smith. Many revelations were given to him. The giver of these revelations was none other than our risen Lord, Jesus Christ. The gospel was restored with all of its former blessings, keys, rights, privileges, and holy priesthood with authority to minister in the name of God. The Church, bearing his name and founded upon the rock of revelation, was restored.
The gospel principles and laws that the Lord restored in our day are not that much different from those that he revealed in the times past. Latter-day Saints are expected, as were the Saints in the past, to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. The Savior's divine formula for success and perfection has always been the same: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
The Lord Jesus wants us to build the necessary character, righteousness, industry, and godliness into our lives first. Then we are to do the same for others. That is, to assist him in teaching, baptizing, and perfecting individuals and families throughout the world.
Even in our own day and age we can perfect ourselves in many areas. For example, we can become perfect in abstaining from the use of coffee, tea, tobacco, and liquor. We can become perfect in the paying of our tithing. We can become perfect in our sacrament meeting attendance. We can become perfect in honesty, in morality, in charity, in punctuality, in dependability, and in many other virtues. If we can live one gospel principle perfectly today, we can live two principles perfectly tomorrow. Perfection in one thing can act as a stepping-stone to perfection in something else.
I bear testimony that our risen Lord and Redeemer will return to earth a second time in his resurrected, immortal body of flesh and bones, and in celestial glory and power. When he came the first time he was misunderstood, condemned, and ridiculed and was a man acquainted with much grief. When he came the first time, he atoned for the sins of the world. But when he comes the second time he will come as a triumphant King of kings and a glorious Lord of lords. He will stand in judgment of sinners who have not repented. He will come as the Almighty God to cleanse the earth and to inaugurate his glorious millennial reign.. The Lord Jesus and the resurrected Saints will reign upon the earth during the thousand years of millennium. Satan will be tied and will have no power to tempt any man. Then after the end of the thousand years, Satan will be loosed again for a little season, and then will come the end of the earth. Satan and his forces will be banished forever and ever. Every person will be resurrected and stand before God to be judged. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, will be crowned with the crown of his glory to reign forever and ever. Those that have endured until the end and have achieved eternal life will abide with him and Heavenly Father forever and ever in the celestial kingdom.
I testify that he is the creator of "all things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small". He is the master over ocean, earth, and skies. He is the promised Messiah. He is the victor over death and the grave. He is the Prince of Peace. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Everlasting is his name. Eternal is his name. He is Jesus the Christ. I so testify, in his holy name, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, 1973. Seated: Spencer W. Kimball, Hugh B. Brown; others, left to right: Mark E. Petersen, Thomas S. Monson, Ezra Taft Benson, Delbert L. Stapley, Boyd K. Packer, Gordon B. Hinckley, Marvin J. Ashton, LeGrand Richards, Howard W. Hunter, Bruce R. McConkie.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Counselor in the First Presidency
We were to have heard at this time from Elder LeGrand Richards. He is not able to be with us. We talked with him on the telephone just prior to this meeting. He had hoped that he might be here to give, as it were, his valedictory testimony of this great and sacred work, which has been so much a part of his life during the ninety-six years that he has lived. As most of you know, he recently underwent very serious surgery which has had a traumatic effect upon his health. I am sure that each of you here today is disappointed and will miss his great voice in speaking out in defense of the restored gospel and in testimony of Him who was the Restorer.
The Brethren have suggested that before President Tanner speaks to us, I perhaps should say a few words of summary.
We have had a wonderful time since early yesterday morning when President Romney spoke to us on self-reliance in the welfare meeting. It was a timely message, and in the environment in which we live today, we all should be looking to greater self-sufficiency, a greater spirit of self-reliance, a greater desire to take care of ourselves and our own. His talk, along with others given at that session, should be read and reread for our blessing and benefit.
Then when we opened the conference yesterday morning, we had the marvelous and wonderful experience of hearing Brother Haycock read in behalf of President Spencer W. Kimball a stirring message. It touched our hearts. We were blessed by reason of it. And I should like to suggest that at the earliest opportunity-it will be published in the Ensign-all of us should read that talk. We have sung here this afternoon a hymn which is peculiar to this Church: "We thank thee, O God, for a prophet To guide us in these latter days." Do we mean it? If so, we should read and hearken to his words. God help us to be obedient to the counsel which comes through his prophet.
And then during the subsequent sessions, we have been taught, we have been encouraged, we have been fortified in our faith, we have been strengthened in our convictions, we have gained a greater appreciation of this work and a more certain knowledge of Him who stands at its head.
I think that among all of the many wonderful and significant things which the prophet Joseph Smith said, there are few that are of greater import than his declaration to a traveler who had asked how he governed so heterogeneous a people. "I teach them correct principles," he said, "and they govern themselves." My brethren and sisters, having been taught correct principles, let us go from this conference with a determination to govern ourselves in accordance with these principles.
There is so much of evil in the world, and so great a need for good to overcome it. Anyone who has read a newspaper or listened to a news broadcast during the past few days could not help being moved by the story of what must have been the work of a depraved individual in introducing a deadly poison in place of a beneficent medication. It is an indication of the depths to which men may sink, and of the great need in this world to overcome evil with good. We ought to do better; we ought to become as leaven; we ought to become as a light from which goodness and truth and beauty and virtue may spread across the world.
There are those among us who would succumb to evil things and to the wiles of the adversary. I would just like to say a word about pornography. It is a growing, vile, and evil thing. It is on our motion picture screens, it comes into the homes of the people on television receivers, it is on newsstands, it reaches out in other ways to entrap and beguile and destroy those who are enticed to partake of it. I am satisfied, my brethren and sisters, that no Latter-day Saint can with impunity afford to witness or read or partake of this growing evil in any way. God help us and bless us with the self-discipline to resist and abstain and flee from, if necessary, this pernicious and growing thing which would destroy us.
We have been encouraged to strengthen our homes, to fortify the Spirit of the Lord in those homes, to cultivate appreciation and respect and affection one for another. It is a terrible thing that we hear occasionally of child abuse. This is a growing evil across the world. I opened the Doctrine and Covenants the other day while thinking of this, and read these words of the Lord given through the Prophet Joseph Smith who was then in the misery and loneliness of Liberty Jail. He spoke out concerning those who should raise their hands against the Church, but in a larger sense he spoke out against those who would abuse children. He said, "Wo unto them; because they have offended my little ones they shall be severed from the ordinances of mine house.
"Their basket shall not be full, their houses and their barns shall perish, and they themselves shall be despised by those that flattered them." What a statement that is, concerning those who would offend little children!
I feel likewise that it ill becomes any man who holds the priesthood of God to abuse his wife in any way, to demean or injure or take undue advantage of the woman who is the mother of his children, the companion of his life, and his companion for eternity if he has received that greater blessing. Let us deal in kindness and with appreciation with those for whom the Lord will hold us accountable. I never get over the depth of meaning of the words President McKay often quoted, "The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother."
Now a word on politics. This is an election year, and there are many strong and strident voices incident to political campaigning. It's a wholesome and wonderful system that we have under which people are free to express themselves in electing those who shall represent them in the councils of government. I would hope that those concerned would address themselves to issues and not to personalities. The issues ought to be discussed freely, openly, candidly, and forcefully. But, I repeat, I would hope that there would be an avoidance of demeaning personalities. Said Shakespeare in Othello, the Moor of Venice:
Let us reach out with love and kindness to those who would revile against us-and there are some, as Elder Ashton has indicated. I think frequently of the words of Edwin Markham as he put them in that little verse:
In the spirit of the Christ who advised us to turn the other cheek, let us try to overcome evil with good.
We live in a great and challenging day. General Omar Bradley is quoted as having said, "We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living."
We have so much to do in this world to spread the influence of this gospel. Let us go forth on our assigned mission. We feel the compulsion of the Lord's mandate to teach the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. We hope that in so doing we shall not offend, but rather that we shall do so with graciousness and in that spirit of love which was of the very essence of him of whom we testify.
We shall continue the great work of strengthening our people wherever they may be found in the nations of the earth. We shall give encouragement to those who are weak in the faith. We shall try to teach them by example and precept. We shall work together in the spirit of charity and love one for another. We shall go on building houses of worship across the world, where our people may gather together and strengthen one another as they unitedly worship the Lord.
We shall continue the great work that goes on in our temples, an unmatched work of love reaching out even to those who have gone beyond the veil of death. Can there be a greater labor of love than this? It comes more nearly of partaking of the spirit of the Lord himself, who gave his life as a vicarious sacrifice for all of us, than any other work of which I know. It is done in the name of him whose salvation is universal.
God bless all of us to open our eyes and to unstop our ears, to look, to listen, to learn, and to come to an understanding and appreciation of the great, eternal truths of which we bear witness, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
The Quorum of the Twelve, 1974. Seated: Ezra Taft Benson, Mark E. Petersen, Delbert L. Stapley, LeGrand Richards, Hugh B. Brown, Howard W. Hunter; standing: Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, Boyd K. Packer, Marvin J. Ashton, Bruce R. McConkie, L. Tom Perry.
President N. Eldon Tanner
First Counselor in the First Presidency
My brothers and sisters, this has been a grand day for me, to sit here and listen to the conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in our famous tabernacle. The prayer offered by Brother Russell Ballard has been answered, I am sure, during this conference.
Speaking of prayer, it is so important that we know to whom we are praying and that our prayers will be answered in our best interests. As we pray to the Lord, let us remember that it was prayer that brought this church to the earth, when Joseph Smith, as a boy, read:
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
I wonder if we realize just what a blessing it is to have our prayers answered, and to be able to ask for what we need.
And then that beautiful speech of President Kimball's that Arthur read to us in the beginning session: it in itself gave us enough to think about as we strive to follow the teachings of the Lord and Savior while we sojourn here upon the earth. It has been a great joy for me to be associated with President Kimball as long as I have, to learn from him and to feel the influence of his spirit.
As we hear this beautiful choir we should realize how fortunate we are to have a choir that's known all over the world for good, and which has sung to so many congregations.
It has been great to mingle with you brethren and sisters and to be here and partake of the Spirit with you today. As we leave this session, I hope and pray that each of us will remember the things we have heard and realize that they can help us do better. As we leave this conference, let us go forward and do the things we have been counseled to do in the sermons in this great hall.
I want to thank the Lord personally for all the blessings he has bestowed upon me and my family, and on us as a church. There is no other organization in the world that can offer the sermons we have heard here today. They are the best, and as well done as any I can imagine.
I wish to thank the Lord that we can participate in this kind of service, and go away from here determined to improve our lives and to be an influence for good in the world. And I bear testimony that this is the work of the Lord. I know it is true, and if we will live according to its teachings we will have greater joy than we will find in any other way.
May the Lord bless us to this end, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
I hope you enjoyed that magnificent anthem presented by the Choir-"He, Watching Over Israel, Slumbers Not, Nor Sleeps." It is from Mendelssohn's Elijah, and the words are adapted from the Psalms.
As we unite in this great world conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I should like to use those wonderful, reassuring words as something of a theme. I pray for the direction of the Holy Spirit.
He is not in a coma, as some have said. He dresses each day. But he is weak, and his body is tired. He recently commemorated his eighty-eighth birthday and is feeling the effects of his advanced age and the cumulative effects of the surgical procedures he has undergone in the past. What a magnificent example he has been for all of us. He has given impetus to this work in a remarkable way. The whole Church has quickened its pace and lengthened its stride in response to his clarion call. He has been a prophet to us, a prophet whose vision and revelation have reached out to the people of the entire earth, regardless of nation, or color, or station in life, freely offering the matchless blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ to all who will accept. He sends his love and blessing to all of you. I was with him yesterday, and he did so. We love him and we pray for him. Our hearts incline toward him with affection, and our pleadings in his behalf ascend to our Father in Heaven.President Kimball is unable to be with us in person. However, he presides and is in his hotel apartment across the street where he joins with us as the proceedings are carried to him by closed-circuit television. He is not in the hospital, as rumor would have it, nor has he been for many months.
President Romney is likewise experiencing difficulties. He too is feeling the effects of age and the natural wearing process of scores of years of vigorous and unrelenting activity in furthering the work of the Lord. He has asked that he be excused from speaking. We shall hear a message from him which he prepared earlier and which will be read by his son, Bishop George J. Romney.
We greatly miss President N. Eldon Tanner, who served as a Counselor to four Presidents of the Church. He passed away last November 27. During months previous to this, notwithstanding illness, he continued to give from his great store of experience, wisdom, and inspiration.
We likewise shall miss in this conference the stirring testimony of Elder LeGrand Richards of the Council of the Twelve. For forty-five years he stood at the pulpit in this Tabernacle bearing witness to the truth of this "marvellous work and a wonder". Millions were touched by the eloquence and sincerity of his testimony.
We feel deeply the absence of these great leaders. Their absence has placed upon others of us an awesome responsibility. I thank the Lord for his sustaining blessings. I thank my brethren of the Council of the Twelve for their great kindness and their strength and wisdom. For twenty years I was a member of that unique and wonderful quorum of able and devoted men, each called of God and endowed with the holy apostleship. I love them as my brethren. Each holds the keys of this dispensation in latent reserve. Inherent in that divine residual is the assured ongoing leadership of the Church.
I am grateful for my brethren of the First Quorum of the Seventy and of the Presiding Bishopric. Brethren and sisters, there is unity in the leadership of the Church. I think that unity has never been stronger.
The divine genius of the organization of this work and of calls to leadership is evident. The General Authorities are all individuals, each with his own personality. Each brings to his responsibilities a wide variety of experience and background. When matters come up for discussion in the leading councils of the Church, each is free to express his views. As one observes that interesting process at work, it is fascinating to witness the power of the Holy Spirit influence these men. Initial differences never sharp but nonetheless perceptible soften and meld into an expression of unity. "My house is a house of order," said the Lord. In witnessing this process at work, I experience a constant renewal of faith.
I express sincere appreciation also to my brethren and sisters across the world, members of the Church, wherever you may be. I pray that you will be sustained and blessed, that there will be peace in your homes and in your hearts, and that "the pure love of Christ" will be felt in your lives.
Recently while wrestling in my mind with a problem I thought to be of serious consequence I went to my knees in prayer. There came into my mind a feeling of peace and the words of the Lord, "Be still and know that I am God." I turned to the scripture and read this reassuring statement spoken to the Prophet Joseph Smith 150 years ago: "Let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God."
God is weaving his tapestry according to his own grand design. All flesh is in his hands. It is not our prerogative to counsel him. It is our responsibility and our opportunity to be at peace in our minds and in our hearts, and to know that he is God, that this is his work, and that he will not permit it to fail.
We have no need to fear. We have no need to worry. We have no need to speculate. Our imperative need is to be found doing our duty individually in the callings which have come to us. And because, for the most part, the Latter-day Saints are walking in faith and working with conviction, the Church is consistently growing ever stronger.
I take occasion now to say to all that the Church is moving forward with great strength and power. I give you my assurance that the work in the office of the First Presidency is current and up-to-date. Nothing is being neglected, and action is not being postponed. We are operating under direct assignment and authorization from the President of the Church, with whom we frequently meet. It is so also with the work of the Twelve, the Seventy, the Bishopric, and the auxiliary organizations.
We thank the Lord, whose cause this is, for the marvelous growth now being experienced. The strengthening faith of the people is evident in increased sacrament meeting attendance, in temple attendance, and in the payment of tithes and offerings, which becomes an expression of their love for the Lord and of his generous blessings even in these times of economic distress.
Speaking in this Tabernacle an even hundred years ago, at the April 1883 general conference, President Joseph F. Smith said, "Now, so long as the Latter-day Saints are content to obey the commandments of God, to appreciate the privileges and blessings which they enjoy in the Church, and will use their time, their talents, their substance, in honor to the name of God, to build up Zion, and to establish truth and righteousness in the earth, so long our heavenly Father is bound by His oath and covenant to protect them from every opposing foe, and to help them to overcome every obstacle that can possibly be arrayed against them or thrown in their pathway." Those words are as pertinent today as they were when spoken a century ago.
The Almighty is blessing his church and his people. He is watching over them. He neither slumbers nor sleeps as he guides, directs, and moves in his own "mysterious way His wonders to perform."
Some express concern that the President of the Church is likely always to be a rather elderly man, to which my response is, "What a blessing!" The work in this dispensation was first put in place through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was at the time young and vigorous, one whose mind was not set in the traditions of his day. His was a youthful mind which the Lord could mold as fresh, moist clay as he initiated his work.
Joseph's successor was relatively young when he was faced with the terrible responsibility of leading an entire people across the wilderness to pioneer a new land.
But the basics of our doctrine are now well in place, and we are firmly established as a people, at least until the Lord should mandate another move. We do not need innovation. We need devotion in adherence to divinely spoken principles. We need loyalty to our leader, whom God has appointed. He is our prophet, our seer and revelator. We shall never be left without a prophet if we will live worthy of one. He does not need to be youthful. He has and will continue to have younger men to travel over the earth in the work of the ministry. He is the presiding high priest, the repository of all of the keys of the holy priesthood, and the voice of revelation from God to his people.
There is an old proverb which says, "Youth for action. Age for wisdom."
To my mind there is something tremendously reassuring in knowing that for the foreseeable future we shall have a President who has been disciplined and schooled, tried and tested, whose fidelity to the work and whose integrity in the cause have been tempered in the forge of service, whose faith has matured, and whose nearness to God has been cultivated over a period of many years.
I do not worry. I am honored in the opportunity to serve with him who now stands as the prophet to this people. And when there comes the time for change, whenever that might be according to the will of the Lord, I shall sustain without reservation him whom the Lord appoints under the process he has established for succession in his kingdom, for I know that this is God's work and that he is watching over it now as he has through the years that have gone before. He makes no mistakes.
I have had some opportunity to observe this remarkable process at work.
Today is an anniversary for me. It was at the April general conference twenty-five years ago that I was first sustained a General Authority, an Assistant to the Twelve. Great and impressive to me have been my opportunities during this past quarter of a century. My assigned ministry has taken me over the earth to many lands, to various places where I have seen with my own eyes both peace and war, both prosperity and terrible poverty, both liberty and oppression. I have witnessed the miracles that come with faith. I have seen the evidences of true goodness and greatness in men and women living under a great variety of circumstances. I have observed in a very intimate and wonderful way the workings of the power of the Almighty among his children. I have noted the factors which lead to success or otherwise in the growth of the Church and the development of its members.
When I became a General Authority twenty-five years ago, there were 251 stakes in the Church. Today there are 1,402. Then there were 2,362 wards and independent branches. We now have 13,616. The statistics read in that 1958 conference indicated a membership on December 31, 1957, of 1,488,000. The comparable figure for December 31, 1982, was 5,165,000. Marvelous has been the growth. To use the vernacular, "We must be doing something right." No, we have not done it. It is the Lord who has engineered and directed those forces which have brought about so great a harvest.
There is a continuity and consistency in this work that is remarkable to witness and experience. Its strength and power lie in the ability of every member and every earnest investigator to know for himself or herself by the power of the Holy Spirit that it is true. Critics may wear out their lives in trying to deny or demean or cast doubt, but all who ask of God in faith have the assurance that by the voice of the Spirit will come the certainty that this work is divine.
We need not fear the future if we hold fast to revealed principles. On one occasion the Prophet Joseph Smith said: "Go in all meekness, in sobriety, and preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified; not to contend with others on account of their faith, or systems of religion, but pursue a steady course."
I like those words, "pursue a steady course." I hope that we shall never forget them. The Church has grown consistently stronger because those who have gone before us have pursued a steady course. There are those who would fracture our strength by leading us in the pursuit of objectives which are not pertinent to the central mission of the Church. We are constantly invited, yes, even strongly urged, to get out and march with others for this cause or that cause. There are some causes with which we properly should be involved, which are directly related to the Church, its mission, and the well-being of its people. The determination of these must be left to those who have been called to leadership. Such causes will be few, since we must husband our strength and resources for the far greater obligation to pursue a steady course in building the kingdom of God in the earth.
Our great, basic message to the world is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God; that he gave his life as a sacrifice for all mankind; that he rose from the grave that first Easter morning, "the firstfruits of them that slept"; that "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive"; that he lives, our resurrected Lord and Master.
As has been said before from this pulpit, he has given us a three-fold mission: first, the teaching of the restored gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people; second, the building of the Saints in their faith and encouraging them in all of their activities to walk in obedience to the commandments of the Lord; and third, the great work of salvation for the dead. This vast mission contemplates all generations of mankind-those who have gone before, all who live upon the earth, and those who will yet be born. It is larger than any race or nation or generation. It encompasses all mankind. It is a cause without parallel. The fruits of its labors are everlasting in their consequences. In the pursuit of that mission we must follow a steady and uncompromising course and never be enticed therefrom.
We must enhance and enlarge our missionary endeavor. President Kimball has repeatedly called for an acceleration of this work.
I know that our young men are under a great obligation to qualify themselves through education to fill positions of responsibility in the world. Their time is precious. But I do not hesitate to promise that the time spent in faithful and devoted service as a missionary declaring the Master will only add to their qualifications for positions of responsibility in the future. Regardless of the vocation they choose to pursue, they will be better qualified in their powers of expression, in their habits of industry, in the value they place on training, in the integrity of their lives, and in their recognition of a higher source of strength and power than that which lies within their native capacity.
We must be more diligent and effective as we pursue a steady course in instructing and perfecting the lives of our own people. We must hold to first principles. We must prioritize our teachings to emphasize that which is of the greatest worth.
"Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
"Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
"This is the first and great commandment.
"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
This must be the foundation of our instruction: love of God and love for and service to others-neighbors, family, and all with whom we have association. That which we teach must be constantly gauged against these two standards established by the Lord. If we shall do so, this work will continue to roll forward. We shall become as a city set upon a hill whose light cannot be hid.
Then, in a spirit of love and consecration, we must extend ourselves in the work of redemption of the dead through service in the temples of the Lord. This service more nearly approaches the divine work of the Son of God, who gave his life for others, than does any other work of which I know.
My brothers and sisters, if we will pursue a steady course in carrying out this great triad of responsibility, then we shall be participants with our Father in Heaven in the accomplishment of his eternal purposes. You and I may fail as individuals and miss the blessing. But his work cannot fail. There will always be those he will raise up to accomplish it. He has declared: "Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand."
I bear witness to you this morning that he, watching over Israel, slumbers not nor sleeps. God help us to be faithful to the great trust he has placed in us, I humbly pray as I invoke the blessings of the Lord upon you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
For many years now-in literature, film, and music-we have witnessed increasing expressions of a profound sense of what has come to be called existential despair, a hopelessness beyond hope. Granted, the human scene also includes many individuals who go happily about life's labors untouched by these feelings. But the holocausts and the wars have taken their terrible toll of hope among twentieth-century man. Said one eminent scientist, "The most poignant problem of modern life is probably man's feeling that life has lost its significance, view no longer limited to the philosophical or literary avant garde. It is spreading to all social and economic groups and affects all manifestations of life."
One need not question either the reluctance or the sincerity with which some despairing individuals have come to such wrong conclusions. In fact, one feels compassion and desires to reach out to them in genuine entreaty!
One recent television drama, in its closing scene in a cemetery, conveyed well this confusion and purposelessness, as one character lamented poignantly:
"Are all men's lives broken, tumultuous, agonized and unromantic, punctuated by screams, imbecilities, agonies and death? Who knows? I don't know. Why can't people have what they want? The things were all there to content everybody, yet everybody got the wrong thing. I don't know. It's beyond me. It's all a darkness."
But such poignancy of view is no guarantee of the accuracy of the view. Moreover, in human affairs, erroneous and unchallenged assertions sometimes assume an undeserved aura of truth. While a response to this hopelessness may not create conviction in disbelievers, it can bolster believers against the silent erosion of their own convictions.
Besides, as an ancient prophet correctly observed, sadness and badness are mutually reinforcing, for "despair cometh because of iniquity."
Let us, therefore, place several such lamentations beside the revelations of God. The expressions of despair beside the divine annunciations of hope. The fears of extinction alongside the reassurances of the Resurrection. The provincialism beside the universalism of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then we shall see how myopic some mortals are, like absorbed children in a tree house pretending they are brave and alone!
The lamentations: Man lives in "an unsponsored universe," a universe "without a master," which "cares nothing for hopes and fears," an "empire of chance" in which man falls victim to "the trampling march of unconscious power."
The revelations: "God himself that formed the earth created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited."
"For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand."
"For behold, this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
"Men are, that they might have joy."
"But the very hairs of your head are all numbered."
Not only are the hairs of our heads numbered, but the planets also: "But only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, give I unto you. For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them."
The fears: Mankind is destined to extinction there is nothing we can do. We have no personal life beyond the grave; there is no God. "Fate knows nor wrath nor ruth."
The reassurances: "And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
"And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."
"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"
"O how great the plan of our God!"
Some despair who are, as Peter said, willingly ignorant or, as Nephi said, who will not search or understand great knowledge. For these, a pessimistic philosophy is "pleasing unto the carnal mind." Why? Because behavioral permissiveness flourishes amid a sense of hopelessness. Because if human appetites are mistakenly viewed as the only authentic reality and "now" as the only moment which matters, why should one checkrein any impulse or defer any gratification? Hence, immortality and accountability are intertwined!
Yes, there are some who live without hope who, though having reached such a wrong conclusion, nevertheless maintain right conduct. In such decent individuals, the light of Christ, though unacknowledged, burns still. If it were not so, we would despise a Gandhi and admire a Hitler, instead of feeling just the opposite!
Such spreading pessimism does not necessarily mean "back to the catacombs" for Christians, or that secular Caesars will soon reopen the Colosseum. But, already, there are would-be Caesars who will refuse to settle for citizens who render to Caesar only that which is his-and unto God all that is His.
This sense of despair is further intensified by the demonstrated emptiness of materialism. Increased goods will not suffice if men display decreased goodness. Likewise, the mere accumulation of knowledge without purpose and of information without wisdom constitutes ever learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth.
Afflicted with anguish, some wander to and fro upon the earth in search of truth without knowing where to find it. One such prominent wanderer was described by a colleague: "It is strange how he persists in wandering to-and-fro. He can neither believe, nor be comfortable in his unbelief."
Such is the scene, therefore, of which we are a part. Many reject the scriptures, the moral memory of mankind, and then declare absolutely the absence of absolutes. Others reject the light of the gospel and then grump over the growing darkness. Still others cut themselves off from God and lament the loneliness of the universe. Some pursue the paths of him who openly desires mankind's misery, and then bemoan their discontent.
The true Christian, of course, does not see life as an easy passage: "The cross comes before the crown and tomorrow is a Monday morning!" With ultimate hope, however, we can live cheerfully amid proximate insecurity. Life is a test in which man must overcome by faith, walking on the strait and narrow path-which is surely no escalator-but the path is there!
And death is not the permanent annihilation of the human personality and individuality! President Brigham Young wisely declared that the preservation of human intelligence and individuality through the Atonement and resurrection "is the greatest gift that ever was bestowed on mankind."
Just as in translating, the Prophet Joseph Smith processed truths more profound than even he then knew-we are custodians and possessors of a gospel of bright and realistic hope. It is a hope for which many hunger more deeply than we can possibly imagine. We poorly serve the cause of the Lord, at times, with programmatic superficiality and by our lack of empathy for those who drift in despair.
Truly, we live and walk on "a streetful of splendid strangers," whom we are to love and serve even if they are uninterested in us!
Therefore, seen through the eye of faith, the sweep of history is not evidence of a purposeless world. Instead, we see successive waves of humans, as the cast on this mortal stage changes, again and again.
And, however articulate some of those despairing actors are in this human drama, without the gospel light they view only a tiny portion of one scene, not even a whole act. And certainly not the whole play. Such are invited to understand the purposes and instructions of the Author of this drama. But when He finally "comes on the stage, the play is over!"
Meanwhile, we should not impute man's failures to God! "Remember, remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men."
Indeed, man's successes and failures were known from the beginning by the Lord and were taken into account by Him in the unfolding of His plan of salvation. His purposes will be fully achieved.
Justice, love, mercy, and truth will finally prevail in a universe presided over by a Lord who is a determined as well as a loving Tutor. This mortal school is one of which the Father and the Son have solemnly declared, "And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them."
The Lord knows how true individual development requires a setting of agency and opportunity. There is no other way.
No wonder Apostles and prophets have told us not to be moved away from the hope of the gospel, for hope is "an anchor of the soul" to "make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works."
The need, therefore, is for devoted disciples to do as Paul said, to "shine as lights in the world", illuminating that latter-day valley foreseen by Joel: "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision."
The very way in which these illuminated individuals "take up cross daily" is a sermon in itself. They lead lives not of quiet desperation but of quiet inspiration, constituting what Paul would call their "defence and confirmation of the gospel."
Theirs represents a tinier and quieter history within the larger and noisier human history, a joyful and reassuring drama within the more despairing drama being played out on this planet.
The first scene: A mission president is called on very short notice to replace a mission president who has died. The faithful wife, in one case, brings her husband's body home, while the other sister, just out of surgery, willingly responds to the call to join her husband far from home. Each sister handles her stern challenge trustingly, sweetly, and without murmuring. They understand that sin is the only real tragedy!
A second snapshot: A young mission president, his wife, and five children in spartan circumstances. Water must be boiled and placed in their van as they drive for hours under a scorching sun to be with scattered missionaries and Saints. Adopted children from another culture are now in a home which is developing a celestial culture, where the mother is the children's only school teacher. Uncomplainingly, this family goes effectively about their labors-quite innocent of how special they are! They know they are included in this reassuring declaration: "all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God."
Next, in Germany a serviceman solicitously rounds up his military friends in his van to go to a special Young Adult conference. One friend cannot be found in time, and this special serviceman left some of his meager and precious savings for an airplane ticket so that individual could then fly to the needed nourishment of that conference. Intrinsically, this benefactor follows the second great commandment and rejects the despairing declaration that "hell is other people."
Another portrait is of a youthful disciple, a woman gymnast paralyzed because of a tumble. She fell not into paralysis but into saintliness. She becomes a witness in a wheelchair. How tall she stands, and how much she stretches the souls of others! Her deprivation is like an excavation, the readying of a reservoir into which a generous God, one day, will pour the Malachi measure of compensatory blessings, "that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
Another montage: Widows and widowers, waiting patiently and trustingly for the time of their release, when they can rejoin their eternal companions. Meanwhile, they go about their duties. Like Alma and Paul, they have learned to be content in their allotted circumstances.
Likewise, one deeply admires those wronged who, nevertheless, go on doing that which is right, refusing to become offended or bitter. Let others charge God foolishly; these faithful souls are magnanimous and forgiving, as was a generous Joseph in Egypt to his erring brothers: "Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life." Such Saints fashion forgiveness where others would revel in resentment!
One is humbled by the spiritual submissiveness of the dying young mother of twenty-six, understandably anguished at the prospect of not rearing her two children, one of whom she so recently made ready to lay down her life for, if necessary. The baby arrived safely, but, alas, the gallant mother could not tarry. With childlike faith this young sister touchingly inquired, "If I am to die, then how can I help my husband and my parents as they watch me die?" Surely she faithfully conforms to King Benjamin's portrait of a Saint as one being "willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."
Such individuals give to us a continuing sermon in sainthood. The gospel light has "infused such joy" into their souls, that any cloud of darkness has been dispelled.
"By the patience of hope and the labor of love" these are finishing the work the Lord has given them to do.
Let the winds and the storms beat and pound upon such faithful Saints; they will overcome the world-not vice versa. Let others falter; these will not! Let others pout and doubt; these will not! Let some noisily mock the temple; these will quietly flock to the temple, to do the work of Him whose house it is!
God bless you faithful brothers and sisters for shining "as lights in the world", as beacons to dispel despair. To a world spiritually illiterate, you give great lessons in the grammar of the gospel, including this one: death is a mere comma, not an exclamation point!
In the holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder David B. Haight
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I wish everyone could grow up in a small town. I have so many happy memories of my boyhood. During those delightful summer and winter evenings we created most of our own activities and amusement. They were wonderful days.
The most important building in our town in addition to the schoolhouse was our ward meetinghouse. The chapel had an imposing, two-tiered, elevated stand. The stand was quite large, and the first raised portion had a table for the ward clerk at one end and a piano at the other end, and right in the center of this elevated area was the sacrament table. On the highest level of the stand was the pulpit with its red plush cover and beautifully carved chairs with red plush seats for the bishopric or visiting authorities. On the rear wall of the chapel were two impressive oil paintings, one of the Kirtland Temple and the other of the Salt Lake Temple. Everyone in attendance had a clear view of the stately pulpit and, of course, the sacrament table.
Sacrament meetings were very special occasions. The Lord instructed that "it is expedient that the church meet together often to partake of bread and wine in the remembrance of the Lord Jesus." We of the Aaronic Priesthood knew it was special. We were well trained. We knew exactly what we should do. We had been taught at home and in our quorum meetings of the high honor placed on us as holders of God's holy priesthood, which authorized us to perform sacred ordinances of the gospel.
As a deacon, I vividly recall how we admired the two priests seated up on the first level of the raised platform who would administer the blessing on the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Everyone in the meetinghouse could see them. I'm sure they felt the importance of the occasion. They were neatly dressed in their best clothes and well prepared.
The bishopric, seated in their special chairs, were on the stand above the priests. Everyone could see them. The priests acted and looked as dignified as the bishopric.
As deacons and teachers we sat on the first row, prepared to pass the sacrament. I recall how shiny the bread trays appeared, and the individual glass cups for the water sparkled. Everything about the sacrament table, including the linen, was immaculate and ready on time.
Everyone was expected to sing the special sacrament hymn. Everyone did sing. Children were trained not only to be reverent but to know some of the words to the most familiar sacrament songs. I can still see Sister Ella Jack, who led the music, standing in full view between the sacrament table and piano, as she would pause and look over the congregation to be sure everyone had a songbook and was ready to sing. She gave special attention to see that the Aaronic Priesthood boys had songbooks. We would all sing. We were learning in our youth that to feel of the Spirit we must experience a change in our hearts, and to be in harmony on this sacred occasion required our singing the sacrament hymns. As we personally sang the words, our souls were better prepared to understand this sacred ordinance. At the Last Supper the early Apostles joined with the Savior in singing. Matthew records, "And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives."
And as we would sing in that sacrament meeting
These words would be impressed upon our hearts because we had actually sung them. There comes to one's soul heavenly thoughts as he joins in heavenly expressions coupled with heavenly melody.
After the sacrament song had been sung, the priests knelt on a little red velvet bench as they offered the blessing on the bread and the water. We didn't have printed cards, but the twentieth section of the Doctrine and Covenants was open if needed. There were no microphones or speakers. The priests were taught to read slowly and distinctly and to enunciate clearly that everyone might hear and understand the words of this sacred prayer, every word of which was given to us by the Savior Himself.
Our quorum advisers schooled us in our priesthood meeting on the sacredness of the ordinance of the sacrament-how our thoughts should be about the Savior, of His sacrifice for us-the importance of our dress and appearance, and of this quiet opportunity to resolve in our own minds to do better in keeping all of the commandments. We carefully watched our own priests officiate in a sacred procedure somewhat similar to the very first such occasion and heard them recite a divinely directed blessing upon the bread and water in remembrance of the flesh and blood of our Savior. As the priest publicly addresses our Eternal Father in Heaven, he might, if spiritually in tune, visualize in his mind a loving Heavenly Father listening to his humble plea,
"O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them."
I wish the Aaronic Priesthood boys throughout the Church could have the same opportunity of hearing Elder Howard W. Hunter bless the sacrament as we have had in the temple. He is a special witness of Christ. As I have listened to him ask our Heavenly Father to bless the sacrament, I have felt of the deep spirituality in his soul. Every word was clear and meaningful. He was not in a hurry, not rushed. He was the spokesman for all of the Apostles in addressing our Heavenly Father. Every word in the sacrament ordinance is vital. Everyone in the sacrament meeting should clearly hear each word and reflect upon the covenant just made and on their own personal worthiness.
The ordinance of the Lord's Supper was introduced by the Savior Himself as recorded by the Gospel writers. Elder James E. Talmage comments:
"While Jesus with the Twelve still sat at table, He took a loaf or cake of bread, and having reverently given thanks and by blessing sanctified it, He gave a portion to each of the apostles, saying: 'Take, eat; this is my body.' Then, taking a cup of wine, He gave thanks and blessed it, and gave it unto them with the command: 'Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. ' In this simple but impressive manner was instituted the ordinance, since known as the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The bread and wine, duly consecrated by prayer, become emblems of the Lord's body and blood, to be eaten and drunk reverently, and in remembrance of Him."
This holy ordinance was later taught by the Savior to the Nephites on the Western Hemisphere. After teaching and healing their sick, "Jesus commanded his disciples that they should bring forth some bread and wine unto him.
"He took of the bread and brake and blessed it; and he gave unto the disciples and commanded that they should eat.
"And when they had eaten , he commanded that they should give unto the multitude."
The Savior instructed, "give it unto the people of my church, unto all those who shall believe and be baptized in my name.
"And this shall ye always observe to do, even as I have done, even as I have broken bread and blessed it and given it unto you.
"And this shall ye always do to those who repent and are baptized in my name; and ye shall do it in remembrance of my blood, which I have shed for you, that ye may witness unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you.
"And I give unto you a commandment that ye shall do these things. And if ye shall always do these things blessed are ye, for ye are built upon my rock."
The weekly opportunity of partaking of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is one of the most sacred ordinances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is further indication of His love for all of us. Associated with the partaking of the sacrament are principles that are fundamental to man's advancement and exaltation in the kingdom of God and the shaping of one's spiritual character. We should reflect in our own weekday conduct the spiritual renewal and commitments made on Sunday. We may fail to recognize the deep spiritual significance this ordinance offers to each of us personally. Is it possible that a casual attitude on our part of routine formality of this sacred occasion might deaden our opportunity for spiritual growth?
We all have regrets for words or deeds or thoughts from Sabbath to Sabbath that we would like to erase from our souls. Perhaps we have erred against someone or injured them; or, if there is ill feeling in our heart, we should repent, obtain forgiveness from those affected or transgressed against, then humbly, with a contrite spirit, prepare ourselves to be worthy to partake of the sacrament. If we have sincerely repented, we can be forgiven, and spiritual healing can come to our souls. You and I have felt it.
By revelation the Lord instructed that "the members shall manifest before the church, and also before the elders, by a godly walk and conversation, that they are worthy walking in holiness before the Lord."
The Savior also taught: "Ye shall not suffer any one knowingly to partake of my flesh and blood unworthily."
Some years ago Elder Melvin J. Ballard wrote:
"I am a witness that there is a spirit attending the administration of the sacrament that warms the soul from head to foot; you feel the wounds of the spirit being healed, and the load being lifted. Comfort and happiness come to the soul that is worthy and truly desirous of partaking of this spiritual food."
During the administration and passing of the sacrament those present have the opportunity to think of the precious gifts available through His sacrifice for each of us, for the sacrament is blessed and sanctified that each may partake of it in remembrance of the Son of God.
Usually once a week, for a little more than an hour, we have the opportunity to attend sacrament meeting and reflect on the life of our Savior; to recall with deep gratitude and reverence His life of purity, kindness, and love; to reflect upon the great atoning sacrifice; and to partake of the broken bread, symbolic of His torn flesh, and drink of the cup, symbolic of His blood that was shed on the cross.
The Savior taught the Nephites that "I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.
"And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; that I might draw all men unto me."
As we partake of the sacrament and reflect upon His sacrifice for each of us, we make a solemn commitment to keep the commandments which He has given us, that by so doing we might always have His spirit to be with us. By partaking of the sacrament each Sunday we receive the encouragement and strength to keep the commandments of God, to live uprightly, virtuously, and honestly. Did not Jesus Himself sum them all up as follows: "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself."
This is what every person who partakes of the sacrament is committed to do. Living God's commandments obligates a person to a life of goodness-goodness to society and a genuine helpfulness to humanity, and excluding from one's life hatred, enmity, immorality, selfishness, drunkenness, jealousy, and dishonesty.
May we experience the joy of regular attendance at sacrament meeting and feel the blessings of eternal progression in our personal lives through wholehearted compliance, in spirit and actions, with the sacred words of the sacrament.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: "Reading the experience of others, can never give us a comprehensive view of our condition and true relation to God. Knowledge of these things can only be obtained by experience through the ordinances of God set forth for that purpose. Could you gaze into heaven five minutes, you would know more than you would by reading all that ever was written on the subject."
The sacrament is one ordinance that allows us to experience a personal relationship to God and enlarges our knowledge and understanding of Him and His Only Begotten Son.
Our personal reward for compliance with the covenants and obligations in the ordinance of the sacrament becomes the companionship of God's Holy Spirit. This is the light that leads to eternal life. The divine virtues associated with the partaking of the Lord's Supper are to keep His divine life ever in mind; to love the Lord with all our heart, might, mind, and strength; and to labor to bring to pass His ultimate purpose-the eternal life of man.
I bear you my humble testimony and witness that this is true, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Howard W. Hunter
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
The message I bring to this conference today and to those listening to these proceedings is important to every living person. It is not a new message. If you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints you have heard it many times. If you are not a member, you may have heard the words before, but perhaps today, because of additional evidence, you may be more impressed by its truthfulness and more inclined to make it a motivating belief.
The message I speak of has been part of all the addresses you have heard previously today. It is simple and beautiful and magnificent. I may not present it in a perfect way, and there may be many who will not completely understand it. We may have difficulty responding to it in an appropriate manner, but the message itself has been referred to as the greatest, the most exciting, the most significant and important that we will ever hear. It has to do with the "good news"-the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Specifically, it is that Jesus of Nazareth, the same who was born of Mary in Bethlehem some two thousand years ago, is the Savior of all mankind. We know, and testify to the world, that he lived a truly perfect and exemplary life, that he suffered for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane, that he gave his life for us by being crucified on a cross, and that he was resurrected after three days-as he said he would be. The final part of this good news is that he will return at some future time to gather in his own.
This is also the message of the Apostle Paul, conveyed in his letter to the Saints at Corinth, that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day. These are the words he wrote:
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
"By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
"And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures."
At this Easter season our thoughts turn to the events that comprise what is perhaps the most exciting part of the good news that we bear. I'm speaking of those events which followed the crucifixion of the Savior. The Gospel writers described the hurried burial of the Lord because of the onset of the Sabbath day; the early-morning discovery of the empty tomb by Mary and other faithful women; the announcement of the angel, "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said"; the message, delivered by Mary to Peter and John, that the body had been removed from the sepulcher; the realization on the part of Peter and John that the tomb truly was empty; and finally, the two brief conversations Mary had-first, with the two personages in white in the sepulcher, and second, with the one whom she thought was the caretaker of the garden, but soon realized when he spoke to her that he was in fact the Master himself.
These are events that confirm the messiahship of Jesus. It is to these events that Christians look for support of the hope that there is life after death. In our modern world, where life is so different and so far removed from the events of that first Easter morning, many have a difficult time believing and identifying with these things. For those who are struggling, we have additional good news. There is a way to know of a surety, and there are many evidences that can help those seeking truth to know and understand. May I briefly share with you, first, some of the evidences, and then, second, a course of action that, if followed, can bring about a knowledge of the truthfulness of these things.
While in Jerusalem, Jesus gave one of his most impressive discourses when he spoke about shepherds and sheep and referred to himself as the Good Shepherd who knows his sheep and is known by those of his fold. He said:
"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
"As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
"And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."
Who were these "other sheep" which were not of the Jewish fold in Palestine, who would hear the voice of the Lord and be brought into the light of the gospel with the rest of his sheep? This reference was to a remnant of the house of Joseph who were living on the American continent, whose ancestors had left the Jerusalem area some six centuries prior to that time and traveled to the New World.
After his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, the Lord did visit them, as he had said he would; and to those other sheep here in the Americas the resurrected Christ said:
"Ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
"And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles."
Those who are familiar with the life and teachings of the Master from their knowledge of the books of the Bible will be interested to know there is also a record of his appearance to the people of the Western Hemisphere-the other sheep to whom he made reference. It is titled the Book of Mormon after the prophet who compiled and abridged the records of the peoples of the American continents. The Book of Mormon is another witness for Christ and records his teachings to the other flock in the New World. It is also a record of the historical events covering more than one thousand years of the travels and struggles of these people and the prophets who led and taught them.
We are already aware of the strength and the power of the many testimonies of the prophets who have lived in the world, as recorded in the Bible. Our good news is that the words of the prophets who lived in the New World give us not only additional insight regarding spiritual things, but also a confirming testimony that supports and is in harmony with what we already understand from our reading of the Bible.
To those who may not be familiar with the Book of Mormon but are sincerely seeking truth, reading it will have a profound effect on your life. It will expand your knowledge of the way God deals with man and will give you a greater desire to live in harmony with his gospel teachings. It will also provide for you a powerful testimony of Jesus.
In answer to the questions, "How can I know of the truthfulness of these things?" and "How can I know of a surety that the Savior lives today?" Moroni, one of the great prophets in the Book of Mormon, has provided the answer. He gives us guidance regarding how one can determine the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and this same procedure will lead us into all truth and can surely assist one who desires to know about the reality of the resurrection of Jesus. He wrote this statement:
"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
"And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."
If you have a sincere desire to know, and if you are willing to live in accordance with all of the commandments He has given, this counsel of Moroni will result in a spiritual confirmation of gospel truths.
At this Easter season, I feel strongly the importance of my commission to testify of the reality of the Savior's resurrection. My brothers and sisters, there is a God in the heavens who loves and cares about you and me. We have a Father in Heaven, who sent his Firstborn of spirit children, his Only Begotten in the flesh, to be an earthly example for us, to take upon himself the sins of the world, and subsequently to be crucified for the sins of the world and be resurrected. It was he who said:
"For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
"But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;
"Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit-and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink-
"Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men."
And again he said: "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
"And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?"
It is truly a beautiful message-there will be life after death; we can return to live with our Father in Heaven once again, because of the sacrifice the Savior has made for us, and because of our own repentance and obedience to the commandments.
In the glorious dawn of Easter morning, when the thoughts of the Christian world are turned to the resurrection of Jesus for a few fleeting moments, let us express appreciation to our Heavenly Father for the great plan of salvation that has been provided for us. We should turn toward unselfishness and careful adherence to the principles of righteousness. In doing so, let us remember that the time of preparation is growing short, that soon the Savior will return. As the Apostle Paul has said: "For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come."
That we may be found worthy at his coming is my prayer in his name, amen.
President Marion G. Romney
First Counselor in the First Presidency
One of the central themes of the gospel of Jesus Christ is unity. The scriptures teach that equality and oneness should prevail among members of the Church.
You will recall that on the night of the Last Supper, as the Savior met with his Apostles, he prayed that they might be one with him, as he was one with the Father. He prayed not for them alone, "but for them also which believe on through their word;
"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."
Always the aim has been unity, oneness, and equality among the members of the Church of Christ. As an example, I call your attention to the record of Enoch, how he and his people reached a state of unity when the rest of the world was at war.
"And there went forth a curse upon all people that fought against God;
"And from that time forth there were wars and bloodshed among them; but the Lord came and dwelt with his people, and they dwelt in righteousness.
"The fear of the Lord was upon all nations, so great was the glory of the Lord, which was upon his people. And the Lord blessed the land.
"And the Lord called his people Zion." Why? "Because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them."
During his mortal ministry Jesus taught his disciples the same doctrine. After his ascension, "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
"And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common."
After the resurrected Savior's ministry among the Nephites, they "were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another.
"And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift."
Today we are the Church of Christ, and the Lord expects us to come to this same unity. He has said to us: "Be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine."
Some members assume that one can be in full harmony with the spirit of the gospel, enjoy full fellowship in the Church, and at the same time be out of harmony with the leaders of the Church and the counsel and direction they give. Such a position is wholly inconsistent, because the guidance of this Church comes not alone from the written word but also from continuous revelation, and the Lord gives that revelation to the Church through his chosen prophet. It follows, therefore, that those who profess to accept the gospel and who at the same time criticize and refuse to follow the counsel of the prophet are assuming an indefensible position. Such a spirit leads to apostasy. It is not new. It was prevalent in the days of Jesus and in the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
It is good to remember the great lesson the Savior taught the Nephites on this subject as he began his ministry among them. Said he:
"There shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been.
"For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another."
There is but one way that we can be united, and that way is to seek the Lord and his righteousness. Unity comes by following the light from above. It does not come out of the confusions below. While men depend upon their own wisdom and walk in their own way, without the guidance of the Lord they cannot live in unity. Neither can they come to unity by following uninspired men.
The way to unity is for us to learn the will of the Lord and then to do it. Until this basic principle is understood and observed, there will be no unity and peace on the earth. The power of the Church for good in the world depends upon the extent to which we, the members thereof, observe this principle.
The major reason for the world's troubles today is that men are not seeking to know the will of the Lord and then to do it. Rather do they seek to solve their problems in their own wisdom and in their own way. The Lord, in the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants, which he revealed as the preface to the book of his commandments, pointed this out and marked it as one of the causes of the calamities which he foresaw coming upon the inhabitants of the earth. Listen to this ringing declaration:
"They have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant;
"They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way."
Brethren and sisters, do not rely upon the counsel of men nor trust in the arm of flesh, but seek the Lord to establish his righteousness.
We of this Church can come to a unity and a oneness which will give us strength beyond anything we have yet enjoyed if we will obtain a sounder understanding of the principles of the gospel and come to a unity in our interpretations of present world conditions and trends. This we can do by prayerful study of the Lord's word, including that given to us through the living prophet.
This is the way to come to a unity. If we will study the word of the Lord as it comes to us through the standard works and through the instructions of the living prophet and not harden our hearts, but humble ourselves and develop a real desire to understand its application to us in our own peculiar circumstances, and then ask the Lord in faith, believing that we shall receive, all the while being diligent in keeping the commandments of the Lord, surely the path we should follow will be made known unto us, and we will be able to face the world as a solid unit.
Surely we need this unity and this strength in this day in which we live. We have a great opportunity, the opportunity to rise heavenward, to gain the spirit of the gospel as we have never enjoyed it before. This we can do by developing among us that unity required by the laws of the celestial kingdom.
If, in the expediency of the moment, we set God aside to follow the teachings of men, we disown him.
Only a united people, keeping God's commands, can expect the protection which he alone can give when the floods come, and the rains descend, and the winds blow, and beat upon our house.
It is my conviction that, since we are engaged in the Lord's work, we can accomplish everything he requires us to do if we will but be united. That we may so be, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I shall tell you how the keys of the kingdom operate, including from whence they came, where they now vest, and what their future is.
The divine account begins in the spring of 1829. It is the ides of the memorable month of May. The Lord's prophet is now in the twenty-fourth year of his mortal probation. He is dictating holy scripture to his amanuensis. The holy word speaks of baptism, without which a man can neither see nor enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Spirit of the Lord rests upon the seer and upon his scribe. They desire baptism as starving souls cry out for food. A divine Providence guides them to a secluded place on the banks of the Susquehanna River near Harmony, Pennsylvania. There they pour out their souls to that God who commanded his own stainless Son to be baptized as a pattern for all men.
Then comes the miracle. The heavens are rent. An angel comes down from celestial heights to commune with his fellow servants in mortality.
It is the resurrected John, whom Antipas beheaded more than 1800 years before in the foul dungeons of Machaerus.
It is that John, the only child of a priestly Zacharias and a sainted Elisabeth, who had himself been ordained by an angel, when but eight days of age, to overthrow the kingdom of the Jews.
It is that John to whom the Judean hosts came at Bethabara, seeking the cleansing power of his baptism. Then it was that the Beloved Baptist, "to fulfil all righteousness", immersed the very Son of God himself in the murky waters of a miserable Palestinian river.
It is that John for whom the heavens opened and who saw the Holy Ghost descend in bodily form, in quiet serenity like a dove, and rest upon the One of whom the Divine Voice then said: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Now in resurrected glory, speaking in the name of that Messiah for whom he had died a martyr's death, he confers upon his mortal friends the Priesthood of Aaron and the keys of the ministering of angels and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.
Now, for the first time in nearly 1700 years, there are mortal men on earth who can stand in the place of the Lord Jesus in ministering for the salvation of men. The hour is at hand when the gloom of sullen darkness will be pierced and the light of heaven again shine forth on our benighted planet.
But this is only the beginning of the grand design. Messengers come again from the realms of light and glory. Peter, James, and John, who held in their day that priesthood and those keys which always appertain to the Presidency of the earthly kingdom, come to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.
These ancient Apostles, the friends and confidants of the Lord Jesus in mortality; these saintly souls who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead; these living witnesses of the One who died that all might live-then do a wondrous thing.
They confer upon the modern prophet and his associate the priesthood which is after the order of the Son of God, who abideth a priest forever. This Priesthood of Melchizedek is the highest and holiest order given to mortals now or ever. It includes now, and has always included, the power and authority of the holy apostleship.
With it the struggling mortals who will soon, by divine command, organize anew the Church and kingdom of God on earth, receive certain keys of almost infinite import.
They receive the keys of the kingdom by virtue of which they are empowered to organize, preside over, govern, and regulate the kingdom of God on earth, which is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
They also receive the keys of the dispensation of the fulness of times, that glorious age of restoration and refreshment in which God designs to gather all things in one in Christ; that age of revelation and gifts and miracles in which he will bring to pass the restitution of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began.
Being thus commissioned, and having thus the gospel of salvation, mortal men can set up anew God's kingdom on earth and can preach again the gospel in all the world and to every people. The kingdom is then established on the sixth day of April in 1830, since which time every faithful member has devoted his time, talents, and means to spread the truth to our Father's other children.
But even this is not all. Yet other keys must be forthcoming. On a wondrous day in April of 1836, Moses and Elijah and Elias each come, bringing from their dispensations the keys and powers they had exercised as mortals. It is a day akin to that wondrous day 1800 years before on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Then it was, on the snowy mountain heights, after the Father had spoken from the cloud, that Moses and Elijah, both taken to heaven without tasting death, had come in their corporeal bodies to a temple not made with hands, and given for that day and time their keys and powers to Peter, James, and John.
And so it is now with those same ancient worthies. They come again in our day. This time, in a temple built by the tithing and the sacrifice of the Saints, those same ancient prophets, now ministering in resurrected glory, restore their keys and powers.
Moses, who in the majesty of the Melchizedek Priesthood led enslaved Israel out of Egyptian bondage into their promised Palestine, brings back those very keys. These keys empower mortals to gather the lost sheep of Israel from the Egypt of the world, and bring them to their promised Zion, where the scales of enslaving darkness will drop from their eyes.
These keys empower those who hold them to lead all Israel, the ten tribes included, from all the nations of the earth, coming as the prophetic word affirms, one by one and two by two, to the mountains of the Lord's houses, there to be endowed with power from on high.
The man Elias brings back "the gospel of Abraham," the great Abrahamic covenant whereby the faithful receive promises of eternal increase, promises that through celestial marriage their eternal posterity shall be as numerous as the sands upon the seashore or as the stars in heaven for multitude. Elias gives the promise-received of old by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-that in modern men and in their seed all generations shall be blessed. And we are now offering the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to all who will receive them.
Elijah brings back the keys of the sealing power, the power that enables men now living, as it was with Peter of old, to bind on the earth below and have their acts sealed everlastingly in the heavens above.
Because Elijah came, the baptisms we perform on earth will have efficacy, virtue, and force in eternity. In literal reality they give us membership in the earthly kingdom which is the Church, and in the heavenly kingdom which is the celestial realm where God and Christ are.
And so, in process of time, there is "a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories from the days of Adam even to the present time."
In the meridian of time Jesus ordained the Twelve in the coasts of Capernaum; he gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter, James, and John on the holy mount; and later he gave these same keys to all of the Twelve.
In our dispensation the Melchizedek Priesthood came in 1829; men were ordained to the holy apostleship in February of 1835; various keys were given at divers times, chiefly on April 3, 1836; and this continued until all the rivers of the past had flown into the ocean of the present, and mortal men possessed all of the keys and powers ever vested in men in any age from Adam to the present.
By way of climax, all of the keys of the kingdom are given to the Twelve in the winter of 1844. They then receive what the revelations call the fulness of the priesthood, together with the power to confer that eternal fulness upon others.
After they are thus endowed and empowered, the Prophet says to the Twelve: "I have sealed upon your heads all the keys of the kingdom of God. I have sealed upon you every key, power, principle that the God of heaven has revealed to me. Now, no matter where I may go or what I may do, the kingdom rests upon you. But, ye apostles of the Lamb of God, my brethren, upon your shoulders this kingdom rests; now you have got to round up your shoulders and bear off the kingdom. If you do not do it you will be damned."
And thus is fulfilled the divine word in which the Lord had said aforetime to the Twelve: "For unto you, the Twelve, and those, the First Presidency, who are appointed with you to be your counselors and your leaders, is the power of this priesthood given, for the last days and for the last time, in the which is the dispensation of the fulness of times.
"Which power you hold, in connection with all those who have received a dispensation at any time from the beginning of the creation;
"For verily I say unto you, the keys of the dispensation, which ye have received, have come down from the fathers, and last of all, being sent down from heaven unto you."
And thus also is established the Lord's system for succession in the Presidency. The keys of the kingdom of God-the right and power of eternal presidency by which the earthly kingdom is governed-these keys, having first been revealed from heaven, are given by the spirit of revelation to each man who is both ordained an Apostle and set apart as a member of the Council of the Twelve.
But since keys are the right of presidency, they can only be exercised in their fulness by one man on earth at a time. He is always the senior Apostle, the presiding Apostle, the presiding high priest, the presiding elder. He alone can give direction to all others, direction from which none is exempt.
Thus, the keys, though vested in all of the Twelve, are used by any one of them to a limited degree only, unless and until one of them attains that seniority which makes him the Lord's anointed on earth.
It follows that when Joseph Smith-sent to a martyr's death by evil and murderous men-gasps his last breath, Brigham Young, being the next senior officer in the earthly kingdom, automatically becomes its presiding officer.
The next breath drawn by Brother Brigham is the breath of power filling the lungs of the Lord's previously anointed servant. There is not so long a time as the twinkling of an eye when the Church is without a presiding officer.
When President Kimball is called home to report the labors of an Oh, so grand and successful ministry, the keys will pass in an instant suddenly to another Apostle of the Lord's own choosing. And thus this system of divine succession will continue until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds of glory to reign personally upon the earth.
We need not fear for the future. This is the Lord's work; it is his kingdom; and he governs its affairs as he chooses. The keys, having been committed to man on earth, are now vested in those of his own choosing.
And as the Lord lives, and as Christ is true, and as truth will prevail, I testify that this work shall roll forward until it fills the whole earth, and until the knowledge of God covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.
Now, this testimony I bear for myself and for all the faithful elders of the kingdom, and for all the sainted sisters who stand so valiantly at their sides, and above all I do it in the sacred and holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even so, amen.
Elder Royden G. Derrick
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
William Shakespeare was insightful when he wrote: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." Let me set the stage for a drama that is not fiction, but is reality. The drama is founded upon certain facts.
It is a fact that God lives. It is a fact that Jesus Christ was and is a divine being. It is a fact that the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove. It is a fact that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. It is a fact that God revealed his will through his prophets in biblical days, and that he does so today.
The script for this drama was written before the world began. The script writer has revealed clues about future scenes to individuals who have shared them with all who would listen.
For example, twenty-six hundred years ago, one of the important characters in the drama was shown some scenes of "what shall be in the latter days." Daniel the prophet was shown the interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, from which he related, "And in the days of these kings," referring to the latter-day scenes, "shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever."
The scenes relating to these clues are now on stage, front-center.
At fourteen and one-half years of age, Joseph Smith went into the woods and prayed to our Heavenly Father, wanting to know which church of all the churches was true. There appeared before him God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. The Father said, "This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" Then Jesus Christ told that fourteen-year-old boy that the true church of God was not on the earth, and that he had been selected to be an instrument in the hands of God in restoring the church of Jesus Christ and the true principles of Jesus Christ. In the scenes following, "the God of heaven set up a kingdom" about which Daniel the prophet said, " shall never be destroyed."
Joseph Smith permitted manuscript pages of the translation of the Book of Mormon to fall into the hands of others, and they were lost. This was displeasing to the Lord, who said to him, "The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught."
"Remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men."
"Behold, thou art Joseph, and thou wast chosen to do the work of the Lord, but because of transgression, if thou art not aware thou wilt fall."
Had Joseph not measured up, the Lord would have made a change in the cast by appointing another to take his place. But he did measure up, as attested by further revelations from God which commended him for his faithfulness.
The Lord said that this kingdom, which would be established in the latter days, "shall never be destroyed." We needn't question whether this church that God has set up is going to fail. It will not! For God has so decreed!
Daniel further prophesied that "the kingdom shall not be left to other people." We cannot join any ecumenical movement, for if we do so, we will be required to compromise principles. We cannot do that, for the Lord has established the principles upon which his church is built, and we have no right to change them.
Eighteen months after the Church was organized, and following heavenly visitations during which the authority to act in the name of God was given to Joseph Smith, the Lord declared that "The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth," and that the kingdom "shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth."
Clues to other scenes in the drama have been given to other prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and John the Revelator, as well as others from biblical history; and Nephi, Alma, Helaman, Mormon, Moroni, and others from Book of Mormon history.
The star of the cast is Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind. Many events in his life were the fulfillment of scenes previously shown to former-day prophets. Tomorrow, we commemorate the most important scene of all-the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who suffered and died to atone for the sins of men and women.
The number of people in the cast is unlimited. "If ye have desires to serve God," the Lord said, "ye are called to the work." To pass the screen test, one must repent, be baptized, and keep God's commandments. Anyone is welcome to participate, for the prophet Nephi said, "He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile."
The acceptance of the gospel of Jesus Christ is affected by attitude. William James, a famous author and psychologist, wrote, "The greatest discovery of my age is that men can change their circumstances by changing the attitude of their minds."
In the book of Proverbs we read, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." Henry David Thoreau sustained that concept when he said that a man becomes what he thinks about all day long.
We have our agency. It is the decision of each of us as to the character we play in this drama-as to what kind of person we are or will become.
When President David O. McKay was a young missionary in Scotland, he was homesick, discouraged, and low in spirit. As he walked down the street with his companion, he noticed an inscription chiseled in a stone lintel of an unfinished building which read, "Whate'er Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part." From that moment, he began to act the part of a good missionary and became a great one. This was a learning experience that helped him in numerous important callings he received later in life.
If we want to be a person of integrity, we act as if we have integrity and we will be a person of integrity. If we want to be a person of charity and love, we act as if we have that characteristic and we will be that person.
The Savior alluded to this principle when he asked, "What manner of men ought ye to be?" Then he answered his own question, "Even as I am."
We should strive to become like him by acting as he would act.
God does not select the type of life we live. We make that selection by what we think. If you want to play the part, just act the part. What role are you playing now? Are you a valiant supporter? Are you a half-hearted member lacking conviction? Are you a bystander? Or are you one who fights against the Church of God.
There is a reward for valiancy in this drama of life. The Savior said, "And you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God." It is difficult to conceive of eternal life being a place of joy and happiness without those we love in this life. Based upon our valiance, our future life will include our wife or husband, our children, our parents-yes, our posterity as well as our progenitors.
What can I do for my children to help them qualify for eternal life? Several years ago, the Missionary Department made a professional survey to determine what happens to returned missionaries. The survey included those missionaries who had returned from one to ten years previous and was claimed to be accurate within 3 percent. It disclosed that their faithfulness was most exemplary and praiseworthy. It was a revealing report that was much more favorable than one could expect.
A few weeks ago, I visited a stake consisting of young families. I asked the priesthood leaders how many of them had filled a mission. I was surprised when every man raised his hand. The next week I visited a more mature stake which was one of the outstanding stakes of the Church, and asked the same question. Every man in the meeting, but two, raised his hand.
The conclusion? Not that every man has to be a returned missionary to be a priesthood leader, but that those who fulfill an honorable mission develop an understanding of the gospel and a self-discipline that results in dedication and commitment to what they know to be true.
We should organize our family plans to result in a mission for each of our sons, and temple marriage for each of our sons and daughters. Planning missions for our sons might begin at birth when we start their own missionary savings program which will assist significantly in their being financially, morally, physically, and mentally prepared when they reach mission age. However, we should, above all else, teach our children "to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord."
What can I do for my progenitors to help them qualify for eternal life? I can help my parents and grandparents to understand the gospel, to be baptized, and to receive these saving ordinances in the temple of God. I can make certain that my deceased parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and as far as I can go in my genealogical research, have received in person or vicariously the temple saving ordinances necessary for them to gain eternal life. By doing these things for our posterity and for our progenitors, a forever family can be established, resulting in a dynasty of righteous lives that will bring joy and happiness "in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory."
The final scene of this great drama is near at hand. The kingdom of God is going forth preparatory to the second coming of Christ when the curtain will fall and the Savior will say to each of the valiant, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." And thus the kingdom of God will continue forever through the eternities to come. As the prophet Daniel said, "And it shall stand for ever", with you and I having received judgment and reward according to the role to which we have been faithful in this life-to which I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Hartman Rector, Jr.
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
"Will a man rob God?" This must be one of the most pointed questions ever asked in the holy scriptures. The implications are that an affirmative answer would mean that those who rob God will be cursed by God and burned as stubble at the Lord's second coming.
This query was made of ancient Israel through the prophet Malachi, but it didn't apply only to ancient Israel. It quite obviously applied to the Nephites and Lamanites on this continent, too, for the resurrected Lord repeated it to them when he visited them in about A.D. 34. I presume modern Israel is also included under the same injunction, for surely the Lord used almost the same words when he warned of the burning that would precede his second coming, and tithing seems to be the critical judgment criterion.
On the other hand, those who do pay tithing are promised that the windows of heaven will be opened to them and their blessings will exceed their ability to receive. Further, the Lord "will rebuke the devourer for sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of ground." This is a blessing of great magnitude.
Obedience to the commandments of the Lord, including the important commandment of tithing, brings many blessings. We do not always know how the Lord will bless us. For example, possibly the following experience common to most of us may serve to illustrate.
Have you ever been following a slowpoke car that is doddering along with the driver looking at everything along the way, and you know that if he doesn't speed up you are never going to get through on that green light? But then he does speed up-just enough to get through on the yellow light-and you have to stop. This has a great tendency to test the patience. Sometimes we even start thinking rather derogatorily about him as he drives away. However, it just may be that the Lord is protecting us from an accident two miles down the road because we stopped at that light, even though we did it reluctantly. If you entertain these kinds of thoughts, it may have a tendency to make you thankful instead of irate or angry, which is much better for your digestion.
I had this principle vividly impressed upon me one day a long time ago. I was living back in Virginia at the time, and one beautiful fall day I drove out into the country to pick up some walnuts. There were sixteen Stop signs between my home and the very, very heavily wooded lane where I turned in to get those walnuts. I stopped fifteen times. The last Stop sign was way out in the country. I could see in both directions. There were no other cars in sight. I thought to myself: "Why should I stop? Stop signs are to protect people, but I am the only one around. So why stop?" So I didn't! I wasn't speeding. I just went through at the speed limit. When I reached the heavily wooded lane, I found I couldn't see around the corner. It's that way back there in Virginia. So I slowed down and turned in. Just as I did, there was another car coming out of the lane, and because we couldn't see each other, we ran together at about five miles per hour. It wasn't a hard impact and the cars weren't severely damaged. As I recall, it only cost me $168 to replace my grill and headlights.
Now, that accident had to be perfectly timed. Of course, if I had stopped at the last Stop sign, it would never have happened. I said, "Lord, I get the message. You really didn't have to go this far, but I do understand." In fact, I stopped sixteen times on the way home with the front end of my car beat up.
It does seem that the Lord requires obedience in order for us to receive his blessings, which include rebuking the devourer. "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated." When we receive a blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. This could reach even to a Stop sign, too, I suppose.
"Let no man break the laws of the land," says the Lord. "For he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land."
Malachi continues, "Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field." "And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts."
It is a fact that we even look better when we pay tithing. There is a happiness that comes into the heart of the tithe payer that even reflects in his countenance.
Then the Lord seems to lament somewhat: "Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?"
The Lord answers, "Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?
"And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered."
Did you ever look at the boat in the driveway of the nonmember next door and think: "He doesn't pay tithing, or perhaps attend church on Sunday. He gets to watch the Super Bowl and the World Series and so forth on Sunday. He doesn't seem to do any of the things I have to do, and yet he seems to be getting along as well as I am, maybe even better than I am." Did you ever have any such thoughts? Well, if so, I would imagine that is what the Lord is referring to in these passages. Then the Lord drops the bombshell:
"Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another." "And the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name."
Ah! the light breaks. There is a record kept-and surely there is one. One group is receiving its reward now; the other is laying it up in heaven; and out of the books which are written and shall be written shall the dead be judged. Then the Lord gives his word, which he cannot break, for surely "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say." And here is the Lord's promise: "And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." Surely, it is very difficult not to be partial to your own son who is working for you, if he does a good job. I presume there is nothing wrong in feeling that way about your own son. The Lord seems to think not.
The Lord continues: "Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not." This will be quite easy to tell by looking at the record.
Now comes the crux of the whole matter of tithing: "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch."
In other words, those who pay tithing will have roots and branches at the last day and those who do not will have neither roots nor branches. Now what are our roots? Alex Haley wrote a book about roots. Obviously our roots are our ancestors. And what are our branches? They are our children. Then those who walk in holiness before the Lord, which includes the payment of tithing, will have an eternal family at the last day. And those who do not pay tithing will have none.
Tithing is necessary in order to receive the blessings of the temple. If a man were to keep all of the Lord's commandments with the exception of tithing, he still could never be married for time and all eternity in the temple; thus, he would have neither roots nor branches at the last day.
Then this becomes really serious, since there is no exaltation without your family. Without tithing there is no exaltation. As we think about it, we know this is true.
Tithing, then, is one of the bedrock foundation principles of exaltation. And, as it turns out, when a man pays tithing, the Lord opens the windows of heaven and rebukes the devourer so that it doesn't cost him anything, but really puts him far more ahead than he ever could have been if he had not paid it. It is a principle of great promise and brings eternal joy and happiness.
Who, then, can afford not to give the Lord his tenth? Surely neither you nor I; which witness I bear. For surely the Lord God has spoken it. And in the words of King Benjamin, "He never doth vary from that which he hath said." In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder James M. Paramore
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My beloved and wonderful brothers and sisters, I seek an interest in your faith and prayers these few minutes that I stand before you. A few years ago, just before our departure for a mission to Belgium, our family went on a vacation. Upon arriving at a motel, our children were out of their clothes and into swimming suits before we could unload the car. As I passed the swimming pool, the sign struck me forcefully: "Do Not Leave Children Unattended." Though I had read similar signs and ignored them many times before, I felt compelled to stay and watch my young children. In minutes, one of my daughters was in deep water, and deep trouble, and struggling for help. I dove into the pool, clothes and all, and with all the energy I had, I reached her just in time. I recognized that frantic yet unspoken call for help that day, and I will never forget it.
There are basic needs of people that are not always so obvious as this experience; but they are there, and their nearly inaudible voices are there if we can and will hear-signs and silent voices everywhere that say, "I feel that there is something, somewhere, that I need, that will give me peace, that will comfort me and let me know that my life has purpose and importance, that I belong."
A few years ago a psychiatrist, Dr. Henry Link, after going through years of study and thousands of cases, found-though he had not been a Christian-that the gospel of Jesus Christ was the single greatest influence to make people happier, healthier, and more successful. So impressed was he by what he learned that he became a devout follower of Jesus Christ and wrote a book entitled The Return to Religion. As I have thought about this, I think of the statement of the Savior: "By every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing."
Brothers and sisters, it is by this knowledge from heaven contained in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and our total, implicit faith and adherence to it that we meet the basic needs of people.
Everyone has a need to belong. A new little puppy at our home barked endlessly for the first week because it missed its mother, and when any one of us would pick it up, it felt secure and wanted, that it belonged-and it stopped barking.
As a fifth-grader years ago, I felt a desperate need to belong; and just being on a baseball team with a uniform created that security, that belonging, for me. The gospel of Jesus Christ can answer this great need for every man, woman, and child upon this earth-for every family, every single person. Everyone who joins His church immediately belongs, no matter who he is or where he is. There is a brotherhood that goes beyond national and linguistic borders, and it ties all men together. The truths of the gospel, the brotherhood and the sisterhood of the gospel, and active participation in it, satisfies these longings and can overcome all barriers.
I remember a story recounted during World War II, when a German Latter-day Saint soldier was struck by an American bullet and lay perilously ill. He told his leader, "Please take a white flag and go to the other side and see if there is a Mormon elder who could administer to me." What a bizarre request in a war of two mortal enemies. But seeing his condition, and anxious to satisfy what appeared to be a last request, the leader took the white flag, went across the enemy line, and asked for a Mormon elder. One was found and he, with the German, crossed the enemy line, laid his hands upon that brother's head, and commanded in the name of the Lord that he remain alive until help could be had. There is a sense of belonging that is fulfilled by the gospel of Jesus Christ-first to our Father in Heaven; then to our family, which can be an eternal unit; and then to members everywhere upon this earth.
A few years ago, a retired couple moved West to spend their last years. They went by bus and stopped in Provo, Utah, for a while. They had no particular destination in mind, and they took a cab and rode around the Provo area. They liked what they saw and felt, and the very next day bought a home there. They came from a large city in the Midwest and, though they had lived in the same home for forty-two years, they knew nearly no one. When they moved into our ward area, it wasn't hours until food, help, and friendship were offered. They could not believe what was happening. They now belonged to other warm, compassionate beings-beings who truly loved them and brought security, warmth, and the true love of Christ into their lives. They were never the same again. They belonged to a larger family and were truly happier than they had ever been in their lives.
The Apostle Paul, himself a convert to Christ and His truths, personally learned not only of the great eternal truths which edified his whole being and changed his life, but also that he belonged to the body of Christ-the people of the kingdom of God on earth who loved and served each other with an open heart and spirit because of the love they felt. Listen to his words as he described how it was: "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God."
Members say they have never been a stranger anywhere they have gone-Italy, Oslo, Mexico City, Portland-or Orem, Utah. They belonged the minute it was known they were members of the church of Jesus Christ. Everyone who lives upon this earth needs this feeling of acceptance, and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His church bring it about. Even though a member lives alone, he is never alone. He belongs; he contributes; he is never forgotten.
Recently, in Holland, the mission president was stricken with a massive heart attack and lay near death's door for a while. Though he was an American foreigner, so to speak, he belonged to the household of God, and literally thousands of people in Holland and other lands, and the Apostles of the Lord, knelt and prayed for his life-if it was the will of God that he should live. Think of it-and it happens hundreds of times every day upon this earth. He belonged to the family of God; he felt their fasting and prayers and love. And what about his wife? She belonged as she had never known possible. I was there. I was a witness, and there were so many calls from those who belong to the household of God that she actually became weary.
As the president improved and I left, my heart was so full. Yes, for the preservation of his life, but also for the privilege of belonging to the church of Jesus Christ, here upon the earth.
In reality, in His church we are always home-home in the things we believe, the standards we hold dear, the spirit we need, and the help, security, and belonging that are there. As I speak these words, I think of the elders quorum in Geneva, Switzerland, that has undertaken the project of moving all ward members when they relocate within the ward, without any cost. Latter-day Saints everywhere open their hearts, their homes, their purses, their lives, in service and love to others. This is not done by constraint, but by the love and joy they feel from God and for each other. Indeed, this is the essence of the gospel as the Savior lived and taught it. Remember his words: "Be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine." "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, goodness." Everyone who belongs to His church wants to reach out-not because he is directed in an institutional or organizational way-to serve, love, aid, succor, and care for others with kindness and genuine concern. In humble, selfless ways each of us can be a light to others who may secretly or silently be longing or even praying to find that sense of belonging. My brothers and sisters, this type of caring, of nurturing, can never be accomplished by mandate or calendar, but comes because one has within himself that sense of belonging-feels its power, joy, goodness, and becomes concerned about all of God's children.
I remember a few years ago an inactive member of the priesthood who, in a moment of prayer, interview, and invitation to serve, felt the love and real concern of his leaders and wept openly for the opportunity to mend his ways and belong to the spirit and the brotherhood he felt. We belong to these truths, this brotherhood, and these promises-but also we belong to the organization of the church of Jesus Christ. We are really needed, and we learn in His service. We grow in compassion, in wisdom, in character, in appreciation, and in strength as we become "anxiously engaged in cause." We become more like Him. We begin-if we serve with purity of heart and selflessly-to learn the ways of the Lord. We become more responsive to the needs of others.
Leaders, let us follow the counsel of Moroni, the prophet. He said: "And after they had been received unto baptism, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God. speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls." Let us reach out to every member, that he might belong to the household of God.
And members, may we reach out with all the energy and love we have, first to help every member of our family, and then to help members-every one of them-and finally everyone everywhere, so that all might have the great privilege and honor and blessing of belonging to the kingdom of God. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Loren C. Dunn
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My brothers and sisters, I'm very grateful to be here this afternoon, and I want to begin my talk by bearing testimony to you of the truthfulness of this work. I know that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ and that this is their work. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that Spencer W. Kimball is a prophet of God today.
I would like to share an experience or two with you. When I was growing up, Heber J. Grant was the President of the Church. My father always prayed for President Grant. And he had great personal feeling for him because President Grant at one time was president of the Tooele Stake, and my father at that time was president of the Tooele Stake. President Grant became ill and passed away, and I can remember after the funeral kneeling in family prayer as a young boy and hearing my father praying with the same love and devotion and feeling for the next prophet, the next President of the Church, George Albert Smith.
As a youth, I was surprised because I had never heard anybody pray for any prophet other than Heber J. Grant. And I felt almost cheated-like my father was turning away from a good friend. But as the time went on, through that experience and other experiences, he taught me a very valuable lesson-you see, he had great love and appreciation for President Grant, and that would never change, but in his heart I realized that he had saved his greatest love and his greatest loyalty for his God, and whomever God would send he would sustain and uphold and pray for and embrace.
Not very long ago, my family and I had the opportunity to preside over the Australia Sydney Mission. I had come out of the Missionary Department, and I suppose my missionary views were very conservative. At any rate, as we began our work in the Australia Sydney Mission, we had some modest, but good, successes, and I felt comfortable about what we were doing-until President Kimball spoke to us. In his own manner and in his own way, he said, "Brother Dunn, Loren, we must all lengthen our stride." And I got the message.
The message was that although we had made progress, yet before the Lord and before the prophet, it wasn't enough. We went back, we redoubled our efforts; we found increased growth, but also we found increased strength and new stakes evolved because of those efforts. I don't think the progress was so much because of us, but because of our desire to follow the prophet.
I was talking to a priesthood leader just last weekend. We had finished our Saturday night leadership meeting, which was on missionary work, and he said to me, "You know, you are really a missionary General Authority." And I said, "No, I don't consider myself a missionary General Authority. If I can be remembered for anything, I would settle for that which my father taught me and for which I feel he was known, and that is one who is willing to give allegiance to and follow a prophet of God. And if that can be my lot, then I feel I will have accomplished the thing the Lord has sent me to do."
It's not the program, it's not the activities, but in the final analysis it is our loyalty to him whom God has called and the offering of our prayers on his behalf.
There is a scripture that goes this way: "He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward." I have come to realize the literalness of that promise. I have seen those blessings in the life of my father because of his loyalty. I would like those blessings for my family and myself, and I would like to see those blessings in the life of every Latter-day Saint.
May I end where I began. God does live. Jesus is the Christ. Joseph Smith is a true prophet, and we are led by a prophet of God today. The prophet has my loyalty and he has my love, because how can I uphold the Lord unless I uphold him? In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
A few weeks ago I was visiting in a faraway country with a discouraged missionary. When I asked, "How long has it been since you wrote a letter to your mother?" he said, "Oh, about three or four weeks, I guess." When I suggested he write her a letter straightway, he responded with, "What does straightway mean?"
Straightway is a power word. Straightway is an action word. It means immediately, without delay or hesitation. It means at once. Also, it is associated with having no curve or turn-a straight course, track, or path. Procrastination would be the very opposite of straightway. To procrastinate is to put off intentionally and habitually something that should be done. Procrastination is unproductive delay. Someone has wisely said, "Procrastination is a silly thing, it only makes me sorrow; but I can change at any time-I think I will tomorrow!"
"Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
"And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
"And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
"And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
"And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him."
My remarks today are going to be centered around this key word, straightway. "And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. How descriptive, how powerful, how rewarding when properly applied in human conduct.
We invite all to serve the Savior and walk in His paths straightway. There is an urgency for all of us who have this knowledge of His divinity to act upon it without hesitation or delay. The time is now.
Joshua reminds us of the importance of making decisions promptly: "Choose you this day whom ye will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Not tomorrow, not when we get ready, not when it is convenient-but "this day," straightway, choose whom you will serve. He who invites us to follow will always be out in front of us with His Spirit and influence setting the pace. He has charted and marked the course, opened the gates, and shown the way. He has invited us to come unto Him, and the best time to enjoy His companionship is straightway. We can best get on the course and stay on the course by doing as Jesus did-make a total commitment to do the will of His Father.
To straightway follow our Savior requires effort on our part. No longer does He personally walk the earth with us, but He has not left us alone. His guidelines and commandments are always with us if we will study the scriptures. We must learn His will before we can do His will.
A prerequisite for "doing" is goal setting. Actions are preceded by thoughts and planning. All of us must take charge of our own lives. We must evaluate the choices that are open to us, and then we must act positively on our own decision. An old proverb states, "A journey of one thousand miles begins with the first step."
The word straightway suggests the urgency to take that first step toward any worthy goal.
"If you will that I give unto you a place in the celestial world, you must prepare yourselves by doing the things which I have commanded you and required of you," said the Lord. To take that first step may require great courage, but somehow possibilities and potential strengths begin to appear once the decision to act positively is made. Unsuspected courage and strength will be given to those who start forward in the right decision.
Peter, a lowly, rough fisherman, took that first step and straightway followed Jesus. Strength upon strength was added to him. He grew from the disciple who denied his Master thrice, to the man who could be intimidated by no man. When he and John were set in the midst of "Annas the high priest, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kingdom of the high priest", Peter boldly declared that salvation comes because of Christ.
"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus."
The high priest could have brought great harm to these brethren, but he only dared to command them "not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
"But Peter and John answered and said , Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye." In the face of threats, these Apostles were given added courage: "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all."
By taking that first step straightway, Peter learned to be a fisher of men. He identified his goals, and as he moved towards them, he grew in strength, power, and conviction.
How wise and blessed we would be if we eliminated procrastination and made a decision to serve the Lord and accept His invitation to "Come, follow me." Then when we have identified our goal, may we have the courage to act upon our decision, confident that added strength and power will be given according to our needs as we follow the Good Shepherd.
As we plan to follow the Savior straightway, Satan may try to dissuade us by making the task look impossible, by making us doubt our worthiness or ability. Each is different; each has his own strengths.
Peter and Andrew were fishermen. Hence, in speaking in terms of their trade, the Savior said, "I will make you fishers of men." To the carpenter, He would say, "I will make you builders of men." To the teachers, "I will make you teachers of men." No person has all the talents.
"For all have not every gift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.
"To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby."
Wishing things were different in our lives, or waiting for a roadblock to be removed or an attitude altered, can cause us to mark time rather than to move forward straightway. William Shakespeare wrote, "Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win By fearing to attempt."
Use your specific talents. Don't procrastinate action while wishing for missing abilities. To those who are inclined to respond with "Not now" or "Not yet" to the invitation to "come, follow me," may we suggest, with all the love and sincerity we possess, He wants you. He will welcome you straightway regardless of where you have been, where you are now, who you are, or what talents you possess or lack.
Some weeks ago following a stake conference meeting, a man who has been totally inactive for many years approached me with great hesitation and said, "I guess I really don't belong here. My life is a mess." To this I responded, "What difference does that make? Of course you belong here."
Those who continually prefer to stir up waters find that they create only a whirlpool and are carried around in circles rather than progressing straightway.
Can we be servants of our Master rather than critics of those who are trying to serve Him? A servant will look for solutions to problems while procrastinators excuse their inactivity by concentrating on the futility of the problem.
Those whose goal it is to follow the Savior straightway not only look for answers to their own problems, but also help others find solutions to life's difficulties. They open their hearts and minds to those who are troubled, ignored, or weary.
Just by listening empathetically, we often can help others find their own solutions. Recently a stake president told me that one of the most sincere thank-yous he had ever received came from a young mother with two children who, under very difficult conditions, was trying diligently to succeed as a single parent. After a lengthy interview, her words of appreciation were simply, "Thank you for listening to me. I think I can face my problems much better now."
Our own progress can be enhanced if we can look for solutions instead of being critical of those around us and blaming external conditions for our lack of progress.
Can we be honest with ourselves and examine the reasons we are not following the Savior straightway? Are we being delayed by criticism of another person's actions or attitude toward us? Has our pride been hurt or our ego bruised? Have we jumped to conclusions without accurate facts?
The Savior admonished, "Have peace one with another." Peace must first come from within. It flows from the individual to the home, to the community, to the nations, and to the world. This peace can only come as we resist the damaging pastime of passing judgment. In the scriptures we are warned to judge not, that we be not judged. Somehow there seems to be something enticing and intriguing about being a self-appointed judge.
Many years ago I heard a story which I've always remembered. Perhaps I heard it when I was running around as a young barefoot boy.
A poor, old French woman was walking along the banks of the Seine River. On her stooped shoulders was draped a threadbare shawl. Suddenly she stopped, leaned down, picked up something that sparkled brightly in the sunlight, and put it under her shawl. A policeman observed her actions and hurried over to her. In a very gruff voice he said, "Let me see what you are hiding under your shawl!" The old woman drew out from the folds in the shawl a broken piece of glass, saying, "It is only a sharp piece of broken glass. I picked it up so some barefoot boy might not step on it and cut his foot."
The policeman was doing his duty, but he was more than willing to convict the woman of a misdeed before he could learn that she had acted with the nobility of a caring soul.
Yes, erroneous judgments of the actions of our fellowmen may be responsible for our delay in straightway heeding the call of our Savior.
By pursuing the teachings of Jesus Christ and living gospel principles, we can put aside the hurts and delays that may have been caused by people around us.
Finally, to move and act straightway in the right direction requires self-discipline and self-restraint.
Many live by the motto Play Now and Pay Later. Some think that if they wait long enough, their problems will go away. But they don't. They must be worked through. Before we can solve our problems and put our lives in order, we must accept full responsibility for our problems.
We often avoid taking action because we tell ourselves that our problem was caused by circumstances or people beyond our control. Therefore, we think we can abdicate our responsibility, and we find ourselves hoping that other people or a change of conditions will solve our difficulties. Rather, it is our responsibility to repent-to change, and to move forward without delay. "Do not procrastinate the day of your repentance."
How comfortable some of us become as we nestle in the web of procrastination. It is a false haven of rest for those who are content to live without purpose, commitment, or self-discipline.
We must heed the words in Alma: "Behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."
Avoid procrastination. We can say with great accuracy procrastination is an unwholesome blend of doubt and delay. Oft-used words of the Savior such as ask, seek, knock, go, thrust, are action words. He would have us use action as we teach and live His principles.
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
Do not doubt your abilities. Do not delay your worthy impressions. With God's help, you cannot fail. He will give you the courage to participate in meaningful change and purposeful living. We need to repent, straightway, and trust in His reality and capacity to assist us in knowing the abundant life. He will help us learn to be sensitive to our own needs and to those of others. Those who fear, procrastinate. Those who change for the better show progress straightway and become wiser and stronger. We need to develop the courage to straightway take the first step. We need to remember that children learn to walk only because someone encourages them to take the first step.
May we launch straightway toward setting goals that are gospel oriented, knowing that if we use the talents that are ours-that if we help others, strive for peace, avoid being overly sensitive or overly critical-strength upon strength will be added unto our own abilities and we will move straightway toward greater growth, happiness, and eternal joys. Our Master and Savior invites us to straightway embrace His truths and enjoy the warmth of His constant companionship.
A man must rise by his own efforts and walk by faith. One of our greatest resources for success and happiness is doing the right thing now. All of us as God's children must be taught that meaningful growth must come from within and not from without. By so doing, we will walk in His paths, lift the arms of the weary and oppressed, give encouragement to our associates, develop individual initiative in governing ourselves, carry our crosses with dignity and purpose, and help all to become fishers of men straightway.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Jesus Christ is our Redeemer and Savior. Happiness and eternal life are available to those who will follow Him straightway. To these truths I leave my witness and testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Dean L. Larsen
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Tonight in this meeting of the priesthood, we will be talking about the importance of families. Other matters of importance will also be discussed, but special attention will be given to families. The more we learn about the power of the influence exerted in families, the more we can appreciate the counsel given to us by our leaders from the earliest days of the Church to make certain that the circumstances in our homes are what they should be. We have said much over the years about the responsibility of parents to provide a wholesome home life for their children. We will receive additional encouragement of that kind tonight. It is vital that we do.
We have recently completed some very comprehensive studies that confirm the power of the influence that we work upon one another in our families and in our homes. The influence of the family has a greater effect upon what we think, how we feel, and what we do about our lives than all of the other sources of influence combined. The patterns we set in our homes and the values we develop there, whether they be good or bad, almost cannot be overcome.
All of us have a responsibility to contribute to the quality of our home life. Parents make a great contribution, but so do the children.
Tonight I would like to talk principally to the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood about the responsibility you have to live in such a way that you can be a good influence in your homes, whatever the conditions there may be, and so that you can qualify to do all that the Lord expects of you during your lifetime.
Young men, I do not believe that you are here upon the earth at this time by accident. I believe you qualified in the premortal life to come into mortality at a time when great things would be required of you. I believe you demonstrated before you came here that you were capable of being trusted under unusually difficult circumstances-that you could measure up to the most difficult challenges. Don't misunderstand me. I don't suggest that you are inherently better than or superior to any of the other generations that have come to the earth. You do not automatically qualify for any more blessings or advantages than anyone else who has lived since the earth was created. You can go astray, become involved in transgression, and incur the judgments of God as readily as any who have preceded you here. In fact, you live in an environment in which it is probably as easy to disqualify yourselves in this way as any generation has ever experienced. But God trusts that you will not. He relies upon you to keep yourselves eligible to accomplish the monumental tasks that he expects you to achieve.
You are growing to maturity in a period of the earth's history that all of the great prophets of all the ages have looked forward to with anticipation. It is a time of final preparation before the earth and its inhabitants undergo a remarkable transformation. It is properly referred to as the "fulness of times." It is the period during which the Lord and his servants will make the final great effort to take the message of truth to all the peoples of the earth and to reclaim the descendants of ancient Israel who have lost their true identity.
The prophet Zenos, whom Jacob quotes in the Book of Mormon, compares this effort to the work of the laborers who prune and nurture a vineyard and gather its fruit for the last time. Zenos likens the Savior to the master of the vineyard, who says to those who are his helpers, "Wherefore, let us go to and labor with our might this last time, for behold the end draweth nigh, and this is the last time that I shall prune my vineyard."
You have come to the earth when the foundation has been laid for this great work. The gospel has been restored for the last time. The Church has been established in almost every part of the world. The stage is set for the final dramatic scenes to be enacted. You will be the principal players. You are among the last laborers in the vineyard. This is the yoke that is set upon your necks. This is the service for which you are chosen.
Let me now describe the setting within which you will perform your labors. The Savior himself said that conditions toward the end of this dispensation would very much resemble those that existed just before the Flood. "As the days of Noe were," he said, "so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
Joel saw the period of time in which we live as a great battleground for the souls of men, "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare War, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
"Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong."
Joel saw that this great battle would not be regarded in a casual way. It would be no time for weakness nor weaklings.
The Apostle Paul wrote to his young missionary companion, Timothy, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come."
The challenging conditions we find in the world today should be no surprise to us. As we approach the time of the Savior's return, wickedness will increase. There will be more temptations in our daily lives, and they will become more intense. It will become more acceptable in the world to break the laws of God or to disregard them altogether. The stigma attached to immoral, dishonest behavior will disappear.
In this difficult environment we will be expected to steer our own course in an upward direction. As President Kimball has warned us, it will neither be acceptable nor safe to remain on the plateaus where our present conduct has kept us. Abrupt downward forces, represented by increasing wickedness in the world, can only be offset by forces that move correspondingly upward. Our lives must be better than they have ever been before. This simply means that we will become increasingly different from those around us whose lives follow the world's way. It is not easy to be different. There are intense pressures that work against us. But we must clearly understand that it is not safe to move in the same direction the world is moving, even though we remain slightly behind the pace they set. Such a course will eventually lead us to the same problems and heartaches. It will not permit us to perform the work the Lord has chosen us to do. It would disqualify us from his blessing and his protecting care.
The Lord has said that the time will come when there will be "an entire separation of the righteous and the wicked." Nephi, in the Book of Mormon, said, "For the time speedily cometh that the Lord God shall cause a great division among the people, and the wicked will he destroy."
As we consider these promises, we should not forget the warning given by the Lord to the Latter-day Saints. "Nevertheless, Zion shall escape if she observe to do all things whatsoever I have commanded her.
"But if she observe not to do whatsoever I have commanded her, I will visit her according to all her works, with sore affliction, with pestilence, with plague, with sword, with vengeance, with devouring fire."
We must recognize from this warning that it is not enough to be a Latter-day Saint in name only. It is not enough to simply declare that we are a chosen people of the Lord. We must keep the trust he has given us. We must qualify for his blessing by the way we remain different from the world in our obedience to his laws. Otherwise, we have no promise, and our fate will be the fate of the world.
One of the reasons I feel such a deep concern for you young men is that we see some evidences today of an inclination among our young people to follow the trends of the world. We do not always keep up with the pacesetters, but in some ways we follow not too far behind them. I know there are many who are exceptions to this pattern and who faithfully keep the commandments of God and whose lives remain pure and unspotted from the things of the world, even in the face of great temptation and challenge. You who are faithful in this way have our profound respect and our great confidence. You are living up to the trust the Lord has placed with you.
But there are too many whose lives are being contaminated by the worldly trends. This is not a light matter. The judgments of God will not be withheld from those who willfully, knowing who they are and what is expected of them, allow themselves to be drawn along the precarious paths of worldly conduct. To such as there are who are within the sound of my voice tonight, I say: Take the upward path. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
Several years ago I expressed the following thoughts in an article that was printed in an issue of the New Era magazine. They are appropriate to my subject tonight.
"Not long ago I interviewed a young man who desired to fill a mission, but he had been guilty of some very serious transgressions during his teen years. He was a member of an active Latter-day Saint family, and he himself had been an actively participating member of the Church, even during the time of his transgressions. Ultimately he had gone to his bishop and confessed his wrongdoings. Now, for more than a year, his life had been free of the earlier difficulties, and he was anxious to serve a mission.
"As we talked about his situation and the decisions he had made earlier in his life that led to his questionable standing in the Church, he said, 'Oh, I knew that what I was doing was wrong, and I was sure that one day I would put things back in order and go on a mission.'
"While I was pleased with this young man's desire to reorder his life and serve the Lord as a missionary, I was troubled by the apparent premeditated, calculated way in which he had allowed himself to move off the proper course to engage in some destructive, immoral behavior, and then, almost as if he were following a timetable set by himself, he had begun to reconstruct his resolve to be obedient.
"If my experience with this young man had been an isolated one, it would not be worthy of note here; unfortunately, however, it is not unique. There appears to be an increasing tendency and temptation for young people to sample the forbidden things of the world, not with the intent to embrace them permanently, but with the knowing decision to indulge in them momentarily as though they held a value of some kind too important or exciting to pass by. It is one of the great tests of our time.
"While many recover from these excursions into forbidden territory, an increasing number of tragedies are occurring that reach out to bring a blight and a despair to many lives and that have long-lasting consequences. There is no such thing as private sin. Although its commission can be calculated , its effects cannot be regulated by the person guilty of the misbehavior. To believe otherwise is to become gullible to one of the most insidious lies ever perpetrated by the father of lies.
" I attended a graduation ceremony at a local high school. The students who had been invited to speak for their classmates expressed themselves in terms of the grand and noble challenges that lay before them as they stepped across the threshold into adult life. The adult speakers extolled the virtues and potential of today's youth and spoke of the horizons to be conquered in future years, the new scientific frontiers to be opened by members of the graduating class, the dread diseases for which cures would be found, and the breakthroughs in diplomacy and human relations that would bring lasting peace to the earth. It was a stimulating, inspiring service.
"As I listened to the impressive addresses on this occasion, I found myself framing in my own mind the things I would have liked to say to this group of young people. I knew that most of them were Latter-day Saints. I knew they came from families where high expectations were held for them, where there was a shared pride in their accomplishments. I also knew about the experiences some of these young people had planned for themselves in the hours and days immediately following the graduation service. I found myself wanting to plead with this graduating class, not about the glorious, obscure years of the dim future when they would hopefully accomplish so much for mankind, but about the here and now. I wanted to say to them, 'I am not so much concerned about what you do next year or in the next generation; I am worried about what you are going to do tonight and tomorrow when you have handed in your cap and gown. What have you planned? Where will you go? What will you do tonight?'
"I know now, as I record these thoughts, that there were those in that graduating class, as well as some others in similar groups, who willfully, with calculated premeditation, placed themselves in circumstances following their graduation services where they dishonored themselves, their families, their Church, and their Heavenly Father. Their behavior was not intended to become a permanent fixture in their lives. It was done as a lark, a momentary thrill, a dare. But its cumulative effect is devastating. The reverberations will their lives, and the lives of those who loved and trusted them, in unfortunate and unforeseen ways for indefinite periods of time. Humanity will have slipped inexorably to a lower level. Some will never completely recover, and all mankind will inevitably feel the loss."
Young men, remember who you are. Remember the purpose for which you have come to the earth-the service you have been chosen to give. Stay true to the divine trust that our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, have placed upon you. You can contribute as much to the spiritual environment of your homes as any member of your family, and you have an obligation to do so. Study the scriptures and encourage the other members of your family to do so. Say your prayers and do all you can to influence other members of your family to pray. Pay your tithes. Obey the Word of Wisdom. Be chaste. You may have a greater influence than you have thought possible, if you will do your own part.
Remember these words of Edward W. Bok: "Once we are convinced that we are put here for a purpose: that the seed of divine energy has been given us and that it is for us to cultivate it to its fullest bloom, the way will be shown us. It is our part to make the effort and to put the fullest force and integrity into that effort. It is the young man of little faith who says, 'I am nothing.' It is the young man of true conception who says, 'I am everything,' and then goes out to prove it."
Young men, let us prove by the way we live and serve that we are everything the Lord expects us to be, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Jeffrey R. Holland
President of Brigham Young University
Brethren, it is impossible to express the overwhelming sense of responsibility I feel tonight. Like the mule who entered the Kentucky Derby, I know I probably shouldn't be here, but I surely like the company it lets me keep. Tonight I include in that special company my son Matt, whom I love with all my heart. I pray earnestly for the Spirit of the Lord to be with us in our assignment.
Brethren, a recent study conducted by the Church has forcefully confirmed statistically what we have been told again and again. That is, if loving, inspired instruction and example are not provided at home, then our related efforts for success in and around Church programs are severely limited. It is increasingly clear that we must teach the gospel to our families personally, live those teachings in our homes, or run the risk of discovering too late that a Primary teacher or priesthood adviser or seminary instructor could not do for our children what we would not do for them.
May I offer just this much encouragement regarding such a great responsibility? What I cherish in my relationship with Matt is that he is, along with his mother and sister and brother, my closest, dearest friend. I would rather be here at this priesthood meeting tonight with my son than with any other male companion in this world. I love to be with him. We talk a lot. We laugh a lot. We play one-on-one basketball; we play tennis and racquetball, though I do refuse to play golf with him. We discuss problems. I am the president of a small university, and he is the president of a large high school class. We compare notes and offer suggestions and share each other's challenges. I pray for him and have cried with him, and I'm immensely proud of him. We've talked long into the night lying on his water bed, a twentieth-century aberration which I know, as part of the punishment of the last days, will one day burst and wash the Hollands helplessly into the streets of Provo.
I feel I can talk to Matt about how he is enjoying seminary because I try to talk to him about all of his classes at school. We often imagine together what his mission will be like because he knows how much my mission meant to me. And he asks me about temple marriage because he knows I am absolutely crazy about his mother. He wants his future wife to be like her and for them to have what we have.
Now, even as I speak, I know that there are fathers and sons in this meeting tonight who feel they do not have any portion of what is here described. I know there are fathers who would give virtually their very lives to be close again to a struggling son. I know there are sons in our meeting who wish their dads were at their side, tonight or any night. I have wondered how to speak on this assigned topic without sounding self-righteous on the one hand or offending already tender hearts on the other. In answer to that, I simply say to us all, young and old, never give up. Keep trying, keep reaching, keep talking, keep praying-but never give up. Above all, never pull away from each other.
May I share a brief but painful moment from my own inadequate efforts as a father?
Early in our married life my young family and I were laboring through graduate school at a university in New England. Pat was the Relief Society president in our ward, and I was serving in our stake presidency. I was going to school full-time and teaching half-time. We had two small children then, with little money and lots of pressures. In fact, our life was about like yours.
One evening I came home from long hours at school, feeling the proverbial weight of the world on my shoulders. Everything seemed to be especially demanding and discouraging and dark. I wondered if the dawn would ever come. Then, as I walked into our small student apartment, there was an unusual silence in the room.
"What's the trouble?" I asked.
"Matthew has something he wants to tell you," Pat said.
"Matt, what do you have to tell me?" He was quietly playing with his toys in the corner of the room, trying very hard not to hear me. "Matt," I said a little louder, "do you have something to tell me?"
He stopped playing, but for a moment didn't look up. Then these two enormous, tear-filled brown eyes turned toward me, and with the pain only a five-year-old can know, he said, "I didn't mind Mommy tonight, and I spoke back to her." With that he burst into tears, and his entire little body shook with grief. A childish indiscretion had been noted, a painful confession had been offered, the growth of a five-year-old was continuing, and loving reconciliation could have been wonderfully underway.
Everything might have been just terrific-except for me. If you can imagine such an idiotic thing, I lost my temper. It wasn't that I lost it with Matt-it was with a hundred and one other things on my mind; but he didn't know that, and I wasn't disciplined enough to admit it. He got the whole load of bricks.
I told him how disappointed I was and how much more I thought I could have expected from him. I sounded like the parental pygmy I was. Then I did what I had never done before in his life-I told him that he was to go straight to bed and that I would not be in to say his prayers with him or to tell him a bedtime story. Muffling his sobs, he obediently went to his bedside, where he knelt-alone-to say his prayers. Then he stained his little pillow with tears his father should have been wiping away.
If you think the silence upon my arrival was heavy, you should have felt it now. Pat did not say a word. She didn't have to. I felt terrible!
Later, as we knelt by our own bed, my feeble prayer for blessings upon my family fell back on my ears with a horrible, hollow ring. I wanted to get up off my knees right then and go to Matt and ask his forgiveness, but he was long since peacefully asleep.
My relief was not so soon coming; but finally I fell asleep and began to dream, which I seldom do. I dreamed Matt and I were packing two cars for a move. For some reason his mother and baby sister were not present. As we finished I turned to him and said, "Okay, Matt, you drive one car and I'll drive the other."
This five-year-old very obediently crawled up on the seat and tried to grasp the massive steering wheel. I walked over to the other car and started the motor. As I began to pull away, I looked to see how my son was doing. He was trying-oh, how he was trying. He tried to reach the pedals, but he couldn't. He was also turning knobs and pushing buttons, trying to start the motor. He could scarcely be seen over the dashboard, but there staring out at me again were those same immense, tear-filled, beautiful brown eyes. As I pulled away, he cried out, "Daddy, don't leave me. I don't know how to do it. I am too little." And I drove away.
A short time later, driving down that desert road in my dream, I suddenly realized in one stark, horrifying moment what I had done. I slammed my car to a stop, threw open the door, and started to run as fast as I could. I left car, keys, belongings, and all-and I ran. The pavement was so hot it burned my feet, and tears blinded my straining effort to see this child somewhere on the horizon. I kept running, praying, pleading to be forgiven and to find my boy safe and secure.
As I rounded a curve nearly ready to drop from physical and emotional exhaustion, I saw the unfamiliar car I had left Matt to drive. It was pulled carefully off to the side of the road, and he was laughing and playing nearby. An older man was with him, playing and responding to his games. Matt saw me and cried out something like, "Hi, Dad. We're having fun." Obviously he had already forgiven and forgotten my terrible transgression against him.
But I dreaded the older man's gaze, which followed my every move. I tried to say "Thank you," but his eyes were filled with sorrow and disappointment. I muttered an awkward apology and the stranger said simply, "You should not have left him alone to do this difficult thing. It would not have been asked of you."
With that, the dream ended, and I shot upright in bed. My pillow was now stained, whether with perspiration or tears I do not know. I threw off the covers and ran to the little metal camp cot that was my son's bed. There on my knees and through my tears I cradled him in my arms and spoke to him while he slept. I told him that every dad makes mistakes but that they don't mean to. I told him it wasn't his fault I had had a bad day. I told him that when boys are five or fifteen, dads sometimes forget and think they are fifty. I told him that I wanted him to be a small boy for a long, long time, because all too soon he would grow up and be a man and wouldn't be playing on the floor with his toys when I came home. I told him that I loved him and his mother and his sister more than anything in the world and that whatever challenges we had in life we would face them together. I told him that never again would I withhold my affection or my forgiveness from him, and never, I prayed, would he withhold them from me. I told him I was honored to be his father and that I would try with all my heart to be worthy of such a great responsibility.
Well, I have not proven to be the perfect father I vowed to be that night and a thousand nights before and since. But I still want to be, and I believe this wise counsel from President Joseph F. Smith:
"Brethren, If you will keep your close to your heart, within the clasp of your arms; if you will make them feel that you love them and keep them near to you, they will not go very far from you, and they will not commit any very great sin. But it is when you turn them out of the home, turn them out of your affection that drives them from you.
"Fathers, if you wish your children to be taught in the principles of the gospel, if you wish them to love the truth and understand it, if you wish them to be obedient to and united with you, love them! and prove that you do love them by your every word and act to them."
Brethren, we all know fatherhood is not an easy assignment, but it ranks among the most imperative ever given, in time or eternity. We must not pull away from our children. We must keep trying, keep reaching, keep praying, keep listening. We must keep them "within the clasp of our arms." That is what friends are for. Of this I bear witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Matthew S. Holland
Oak Hills Fourth Ward, Provo Utah Oak Hills Stake
When I first found out that I was going to be speaking to you tonight, I was sitting on the edge of my parents' bed, visiting with them after I had arrived home late that night. My parents' bed now tilts downward at a 45-degree angle, and my mom still carries a bruise on her left leg. Well, now that I've recovered, my dad says that I'm grateful to be here.
Actually, I am very grateful to be here tonight to share a few words with you about the influence parents and the family have upon the youth of our Church. I would like to use my own family to illustrate this point. My parents and younger sister and brother show me love and give me support every day of my life. They care for my needs, both temporal and spiritual. These things are very important to me, and my family does them better than anyone else could, including the other organizations within the Church.
I love the Church's programs very much. But there seems to be an idea among many Latter-day Saints that the Church has the responsibility for spiritually raising the youth. Parents who hold this belief are robbing their children of one of the richest experiences we can have here in mortality.
The Primary, Sunday School, and seminary have taught us all lessons we will never forget. The Aaronic Priesthood and Young Men's programs have helped us honor our priesthood more fully. The Young Women's programs have taught spiritual, social, and domestic skills which are very important. The Melchizedek Priesthood and Relief Society programs keep the older, more rebellious generation in line. But these programs will not be successful unless the same lessons are being taught in the home.
A lot will be said tonight about fathers. I would also like to mention mothers. One summer morning, in that same student apartment my dad just described, I told my mom I was going out to the playground. She said okay, but told me not to come running back in with muddy feet because she was in the middle of washing and waxing the floor. She repeated the statement again for emphasis as I scampered out the door in a pair of cutoffs, barefoot and shirtless. I must have played for an hour, and at least half of that time was spent in the mud. Then, knowing my mom would probably be finished with the floor and would read to me, I ran home full of boyish excitement and vigor. That same vigor kept me and my mud-covered feet going right up the steps, through the door, and halfway onto the nearly finished wash-and-wax job my mother was still stooped over.
Not waiting for a reaction and not wanting to leave my sin half finished, I ran across the rest of the floor, into my parents' room, and slammed the door shut. Not knowing if I should jump out the second-story window or if just hiding under the bed would do, I burst into tears and hurled my small body onto the bed and prepared myself for the possibility of meeting my great-great-grandfather sooner than I had expected.
I heard the door open quietly and looked over. Oh, good, I thought. She wasn't carrying a heated poker. Before she could say anything, I cried out, "Mom, you don't love me." To which she replied, "I do love you, and I'll do anything to prove it." She then picked up my filthy, muddy feet and kissed them. Needless to say, that experience taught me a great deal about the meaning of repentance and forgiveness, which lessons the Church would later reinforce.
Of course, it doesn't have to be a great single experience to influence a child. Alma the Younger, who had his own youthful problems, said to his son, Helaman, "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." As fathers and sons, we should realize what great things we can accomplish by actions which might seem unimportant or insignificant at the time.
For example, my dad and I have gone for ice cream after every general priesthood meeting since I became a deacon. We are going again tonight. Now, ice cream isn't absolutely necessary to enjoy priesthood meeting-but it helps. I also remember my father telling me a few weeks before I was ordained a deacon that he hoped whenever I prepared, blessed, or passed the sacrament I would always wear a white shirt and a tie. I'm sure I had heard the same advice from a Sunday School teacher or had read it in some manual, but it wasn't until my father said it that I intended to do it. By responding to my father's suggestion I have shown respect for the sacred ordinance of the sacrament. And that small word of advice also helped me understand that priesthood ordinances are not just work or assignments, but they are priceless privileges that I'm grateful to take part in.
I recently learned another significant lesson from my father about his love for me. A few weeks ago the state 3-A basketball championship was being played on a Saturday night in Ogden. I was on Provo High's team, which was to play Mountain View High School for the championship. After the first quarter the team met for a huddle. As I got up off the nice soft chair I had become accustomed to, my eye caught sight of my mom and dad sitting on the front row. This might seem insignificant to you, but I was thrilled because in Provo that same night was one of the most important events of the year. It wasn't my father's inauguration or the annual commencement exercises. It was the BYU-University of Utah basketball game. But Dad left that game, as well as several General Authorities and other dignitaries he was hosting, to come to my game. That demonstration of love meant so much to me, not because my game was more important, but because I was more important. Is it any wonder I want to show that love in return? We do have a bond, not just as father to son-but friend to friend as well.
So, fathers, I plead with you not to think that the only important priesthood or spiritual lessons are taught by Church programs. Make your homes like heaven. Let them be a place where sons and daughters can learn, grow, ask, and express themselves free of criticism and to an open ear and heart.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton said, "Home should be an anchor, a port in a storm, a refuge, a happy place in which to dwell. Home should be where life's greatest lessons are taught and learned. Home can be the center of one's earthly faith where love and mutual responsibility are appropriately blended."
I want to bear my testimony of the responsibility we, the priesthood brethren of this Church, have to spiritually teach and edify our families. I would also like to publicly thank my dad for the great example he has been in my life, for the way in which he has always honored his priesthood. I love him very much. I can honestly say we are the best of friends, and it is my fervent hope and prayer that everyone can have such a father-son relationship. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder James E. Faust
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Brethren, I come humbly to this pulpit. As a young man I recall President J. Reuben Clark pleading time after time in general priesthood meetings that there be unity in the priesthood. He would quote frequently the message of the Lord, "I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine."
Unity in the priesthood should reflect unity in our homes. One wonders why so many more homes are now being weakened and why so many families are disintegrating. The reasons are complex. No doubt it has much to do with the social disorders of the day. We are all subjected to sparkling, enticing false advertising. Violence is powerfully portrayed everywhere. Our society is permeated with the suggestion that selfishness and instant gratification are acceptable or even respectable conduct. The evils of alcoholism have exploded and been magnified by other forms of drug abuse. The sexual revolution has been crippling to the spiritual, mental, and physical health of families.
Among the assaults on families are the attacks on our faith, for which parents should prepare their children. Some of it is coming from apostates who had testimonies and now seem unable to leave the Church alone. One, complaining of Church policy, was heard to say: "I am so mad: if I had been paying my tithing I would quit." Persecution is not new to the devoted followers of Christ. More recently, however, the anger and venom of our enemies seems to be increasing. Brigham Young said, "We never began to build a temple without the bells of hell beginning to ring." With twenty-two temples under construction or in the planning stage, there seems to be a lot of bells to be rung.
When I hear of a family breaking up, I question if family home evening and family prayers have been regularly held in that home and if the law of tithing has been observed. Has that family reverenced the Sabbath day? Have the parents murmured against Church teachings and leaders? I wonder what could possibly justify the forsaking of eternal promises made in the temple, or what could warrant the breaking up of a family with children of tender years.
Why is one family strong, yet another family weak? The problems are infinitely complex. Yet, there are answers. Abundant evidence shows that the presence of a firm, loving father in the home is far more likely to produce responsible, law-abiding children than if the father is not there, or if he does not function as a father at home. In either case it throws a double burden on the mother.
Malachi said the whole world would be smitten with a curse if the hearts of the fathers were not turned to the children, and if the hearts of the children were not turned to their fathers.
The presence of the father in the home, coupled with one or both of the parents being active in Church, and with discipline in the home, seems to produce stable, strong families.
Surely, the most important ingredient in producing family happiness for members of this Church is a deep religious commitment under wise, mature parental supervision. Devotion to God in the home seems to forge the spiritual moorings and stability that can help the family cope. Some may say this is an over-simplification of a very complex problem, yet I believe the answers lie within the framework of the restored gospel of Christ.
One of the reasons for weakened families is the lack of absolutes. An absolute has no restriction, exception, or qualification. It is fixed and certain. There must be some things which family members should always try to do, and some activities that family members should scrupulously avoid. Truthfulness should be an absolute in every family.
How can parents and family members introduce and build familial strength? One of my closest boyhood friends recently died of cancer. His family decided he would be happier spending his last days in his own home, so they took him out of the veterans hospital, where the cancer was diagnosed, and cared for him within the familiar walls of his own house. His eighty-one-year-old mother left her home in another state and moved in to supervise the tender, loving care. A sister and a brother left their homes far away several times to help in the emergencies. His children, some of whom also lived away, came and set up a twenty-four-hour vigil so that he would never be alone.
After a few months he passed away, wasted and emaciated, but contented and happy. He had been loved into death. The family could have left his care to the government and the veterans hospital, with no expense and little personal inconvenience being involved.
May I suggest other ways to enrich family life:
Hold family prayer night and morning. The source of our enormous individual strength and potential is no mystery. It is an endowment from God. We need not consume addicting chemicals found in drugs, including alcohol, to make us capable of meeting life's problems. We need only to draw constantly from the power source through humble prayer. It often takes a superhuman effort for parents of a busy family to get everyone out of bed and together for family prayer and scripture study. You may not always feel like praying when you finally get together, but it will pay great dividends if you persevere.
Study the scriptures. All of us need the strength that comes from daily reading of the scriptures. Parents must have a knowledge of the standard works to teach them to their children. A child who has been taught from the scriptures has a priceless legacy. Children are fortified when they become acquainted with the heroic figures and stories of the scriptures such as Daniel in the lions' den, David and Goliath, Nephi, Helaman and the stripling warriors, and all the others.
Having prayer, scripture study, and meals together gives incredibly important time to talk and listen as parents and children, brothers and sisters.
Teach children to work. Every household has routine daily chores that children can be responsible for.
Teach discipline and obedience. If parents do not discipline their children and teach them to obey, society may discipline them in a way neither the parents nor the children will like. Dr. Lee Salk, child psychologist, said: "The 'do your own thing' trend has interfered with people developing close and trusting family relationships. It tells people that they are neurotic if they feel a sense of responsibility for the feelings of other family members. People are also told to let all their feelings out, even if it is very hurtful to someone else." As Dr. Salk states, this is, of course, patently wrong. Without discipline and obedience in the home, the unity of the family collapses.
Place a high priority on loyalty to each other. The dictionary defines the word loyal as being "constant and faithful in any relation implying trust or confidence; bearing true allegiance to the constituted authority." If family members are not loyal to each other, they cannot be loyal to themselves.
Teach principles of self-worth and self-reliance. One of the main problems in families today is that we spend less and less time together. Some spend an extraordinary amount of time, when they are together, in front of the television, which robs them of personal time for reinforcing feelings of self-worth. Time together is precious time-time needed to talk, to listen, to encourage, and to show how to do things. Less time together can result in loneliness, which may produce inner feelings of being unsupported, untreasured, and inadequate. Self-worth is reinforced in many ways. When parents say to a son or daughter, leaving the home for some activity, the simple but meaningful words, "Remember who you are," they have helped that child feel important.
Develop family traditions. Some of the great strengths of families can be found in their own traditions, which may consist of many things: making special occasions of the blessing of children, baptisms, ordinations to the priesthood, birthdays, fishing trips, skits on Christmas Eve, family home evening, and so forth. The traditions of each family are unique and are provided in large measure by the mother's imprint.
Do everything in the spirit of love. Elder LeGrand Richards shared with us the tender relationship he had with his father. Said he, "I walked into my father's apartment when he was just about ninety, and as I opened the door, he stood up and walked toward me and took me in his arms and hugged me and kissed me. He always did that. Taking me in his arms and calling me by my kid name, he said, 'Grandy, my boy, I love you.'"
Some parents have difficulty expressing their love physically or vocally. I do not ever recall my own father using the words, "Son, I love you," but he showed it in a thousand ways which were more eloquent than words. He rarely missed a practice, a game, a race, or any activity in which his sons participated.
The touch and time of the mother in the home makes it warm, comfortable, and pleasant. Our wives and mothers deserve special support. President George Albert Smith, addressing husbands and fathers, said:
"Some seem to think that the woman's responsibility is to take care of the home and everything else while the man goes to meetings. I want to tell you that your chief responsibility is in your own home."
This was confirmed by President Harold B. Lee: "The greatest of the Lord's work you brethren will ever do as fathers will be within the walls of your own home."
Let there be no ill will or anger between parents and children, brothers and sisters, and kinsmen. Lingering feelings of hurt or disagreement should be settled quickly. Why wait until one party is dying or dead? May the rich humanness of warm, loving family life be restored and prevail in all our kinship.
How can our priesthood leaders, already administratively burdened, be helpful to parents in order to help their children? I believe the answer is basic. In the last days of the Savior's ministry he said to Peter: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
"But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."
There needs to be a converting and a strengthening of parents. This comes about by the teaching, the understanding, and the applying of gospel principles. It is a great challenge to the priesthood leaders to have everyone in our wards, branches, and quorums be strengthened in their understanding of the gospel. Priesthood leaders are clothed with great authority. When bishops and other priesthood leaders are needed for specific family or personal reasons, their availability is a great strength and comfort. Their genuine interest and concern for us as individuals is a vital support mechanism.
Now, brethren, in conclusion may I say something to promote better understanding in our work. Let us not perceive that just because we are holding our meetings, making our home teaching visits, and are involved in other activities that we are necessarily fully serving the membership of the Church. All of the Spirit, the goodness, and the mercy of Christ should be found in our ministering in the Church and in our families.
Religion in the distant past has often been cloaked with rigorous fanaticism, bigotry, and intolerance. With the restoration of the gospel came the holy priesthood of God, to be exercised not in the spirit of coercion and compulsion but in the spirit of free agency, resting on a foundation of "gentleness and meekness, and love unfeigned." This is the sweet spirit of the Christ himself.
Now, these exalted concepts must be implemented by wise men. As direction is given in the Church and in our homes, there should be no spirit of dictatorship and no unrighteous dominion. The keys and powers of the priesthood can be "handled only upon the principles of righteousness."
God, through his prophets, has given the priesthood in recent times the great challenge to advance worldwide the holy work in which we are engaged. All worthy men may now be given the priesthood. With the coming of these inspired changes, I wonder if there has been an enlarging of attitude based upon the exalted principles the Savior taught. Has the extended responsibility of the priesthood caused us to have a better understanding of our work? Are some of us unsuccessful in differentiating between the sin and the sinner?
Many of us have sat in ward councils, priesthood executive councils, and other meetings on the ward levels. We took the time to identify the names of those who had lost their way. But our efforts to reach them could have been more effective. At times we were too judgmental. Sometimes we lost track of the individual in our focus on the program. I do not criticize the programs and activities. I am grateful for them. They are necessary. They are inspired and great. I only ask for greater concern for the individual and the family, which after all is the purpose of God's holy work. "This is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
May we put our lives and homes in order. We must stay true to the great absolutes of the restored gospel: namely, Christ and him crucified, the divine restoration of the gospel in our time, the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith's divine calling as a prophet of God, and continuing revelation to his successors, according to the needs of the Church and its members.
If we are united and go forward under the leadership of those who have the keys to the kingdom of God on earth, our homes will be enriched, our lives purified, and the gates of hell will not prevail against us. May we follow the counsel of Alma, and "stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death." In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My beloved brethren: This is a glorious sight! How we appreciate the service you so willingly give to the Lord. We know God will bless you for it.
To all you young men-Aaronic Priesthood holders-we love and appreciate you. We are so grateful for your dedication and faithfulness. With all my soul, I encourage you to resolve now that you will be clean and worthy to serve the Lord all the days of your life. Therein is true happiness.
Tonight, I speak to all priesthood holders, you who have responsibility for our Father's children. My message is A Call to the Priesthood: "Feed My Sheep."
Most of you are familiar with the Savior's description of members of the Church and their leaders. True followers He called sheep, and priesthood leaders He called shepherds.
We remember His unforgettable example of a true shepherd's concern for his sheep:
"If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
"And if it so be that he find it, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray."
In Jesus' time, the Palestinian shepherd was noted for his protection of his sheep. Unlike modern sheepherders, the shepherd always walked ahead of his flock. He led them. The shepherd knew each of the sheep and usually had a name for each. The sheep knew his voice and trusted him and would not follow a stranger. Thus, when called, the sheep would come to him.
At night shepherds would bring their sheep to a corral called a sheepfold. High walls surrounded the sheepfold, and thorns were placed on top of these walls to prevent wild animals and thieves from climbing over.
Sometimes, however, a wild animal driven by hunger would leap over the walls into the midst of the sheep, frightening them. Such a situation separated the true shepherd-one who loved his sheep-from the hireling-one who worked only for pay and duty.
The true shepherd was willing to give his life for the sheep. He would go in amongst the sheep and fight for their welfare. The hireling, on the other hand, valued his own personal safety above the sheep and would usually flee from the danger.
Jesus used this common illustration of his day to declare that He was the Good Shepherd, the True Shepherd. Because of His love for His brothers and sisters, He would willingly and voluntarily lay down His life for them.
Eventually, the Good Shepherd did give His life for the sheep-for you and me, for all of us.
Later, after His resurrection, Jesus directed Peter to "feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep."
Three times this charge was repeated to the newly designated head shepherd.
Do you think that Peter recalled the parable of the good shepherd?
Do you think that Peter could remember what a good shepherd was to be, what he was to do?
Do you think he ever questioned his Lord's example as being too idealistic?
It must have impressed Peter deeply, for tradition has it that he also willingly gave his life for the cause.
The expressive symbolism of the Good Shepherd is not without significant parallel in the Church today. The sheep need to be led by watchful shepherds. Too many are wandering, some are being enticed away by momentary distractions, and others have become completely lost.
Ponder carefully these representative samples from several stakes which illustrate the magnitude of our problem.
A stake in the eastern part of the United States has slightly over 300 Melchizedek Priesthood holders and an equivalent number of prospective elders-lost sheep!
A stake in Salt Lake City has 1,100 Melchizedek Priesthood holders, but also 1,100 prospective elders. Where, we ask, are the shepherds?
A stake in England has 360 Melchizedek Priesthood holders, but over 800 prospective elders, a very small percentage of whom attend their meetings. We ask, how will the sheep survive without the safety of the sheepfold and watch-care of a loving shepherd?
We know great results can take place when the shepherds make a concerted effort and show concern.
In one stake in southern Utah, concerted efforts have been made to reactivate prospective elders. In a period of two years, over 100 men were ordained elders in the Melchizedek Priesthood. Their ordinations raised sacrament meeting attendance in the stake by 14 percent.
A stake in Arizona advanced 47 prospective elders to the Melchizedek Priesthood; another in the state of Washington advanced the same number. Both continue to use the temple preparation seminars.
The districts of one mission in Great Britain have reactivated more than 600 members with the help of full-time and stake missionaries.
A stake in South America, through prayerful and earnest efforts, reactivated 146 prospective elders in less than one year. Forty-five more are now ready for ordination to offices in the Melchizedek Priesthood.
We realize, as in times past, some of the sheep will rebel and are "as a wild flock which fleeth from the shepherd." But most of our problems stem from lack of loving and attentive shepherding.
With a shepherd's care, many of our new members, those newly born into the gospel, would be nurtured by gospel knowledge and new standards. Such attention would ensure that there would be no returning to old habits and old friends.
With a shepherd's loving care, many of our young people, our young lambs, would not be wandering. And if they were, the crook of the shepherd's staff, a loving arm, would retrieve them.
With a shepherd's care, many of those who are now independent of the flock can still be reclaimed. Many have married outside the Church and assumed the life-styles of their marriage partners.
The problem, I repeat, is serious and considerable in its magnitude.
We offer no new solutions to this old problem. The charge Jesus gave to Peter, which He emphasized by repeating it three times, is the proven solution: "Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep."
The answer, then, is found in shepherding the flock. In other words, priesthood watch-care. It is real concern by a true shepherd, not just the feigned concern a hireling might show.
Here are some questions every true shepherd should ask:
Shepherds-home teachers:
Are you watching over your families as you should?
Are you ministering to their needs?
Do you care enough about your families' welfare that you find out their interests, that you remember birthdays and special events, and that you continually pray for them?
Are you the first one to the home when the family needs assistance?
Does the head of the household call on you first?
Are you attentive to the needs of each member of the family?
When one of your assigned families moves, do you know where they have moved? Do you make an effort to obtain their new address? Have you checked with neighbors, friends, and relatives?
Shepherds-stake presidents, bishops, quorum leaders:
Are you welcoming into your ranks new converts?
Do they feel your love and concern?
Are new converts invited into your homes?
Do they know what family home evening is and how to use it?
Does the family feel welcome and comfortable in your midst?
Do you ordain worthy male members to offices of the priesthood following baptism?
Do you give them meaningful Church assignments?
Shepherds-stake presidents, bishops, quorum leaders:
Do you leave the ninety and nine and search after the lost one?
Do you call and appoint advisers and others who can reach impressionable youth and visit them on their "own ground"?
Have you fully implemented the youth program, and are you using this program to meet the individual needs of the youth?
Are you watchful over the young singles, the divorced, and those with special needs?
Do you carefully and spiritually prepare those who enter military service?
Are you especially attentive to young men between the transition period from Aaronic Priesthood to Melchizedek Priesthood?
Bishops, do you make sure they come under the care of their new shepherd, the quorum president?
Do you provide significant Church-service opportunities for our returned missionaries so these young men and women do not drift into inactivity because they do not have occasion to serve as they have been doing for eighteen months?
Do you use visiting teachers to augment home teaching?
Are you teaching fathers their duties?
Do you have temple preparation seminars to encourage prospective elders to prepare for the Melchizedek Priesthood and the temple?
Do you have older prospective elders assigned to the high priests and invited to join those with whom they would feel most comfortable?
Are younger prospective elders invited to participate with the elders quorums?
Some leaders say that some men are past hope, but, as the angel told Abraham, nothing is impossible with the Lord! One brother who was regarded by some as a hopeless case tearfully exclaimed to the temple worker at the sealing altar, "I don't know why I waited so long for this blessing!"
In a recent Saturday evening meeting of leaders I heard a determined brother state, "I've sure had a time with the devil since I started to become active. Prior to that time, I just went along with him."
Are we helping the one who needs help because he has started on the way back to full activity?
Shepherds-stake presidents, bishops, quorum leaders:
Are you attentive to the records of Church members under your charge-especially those who are not participating with you in meetings?
Do you obtain forwarding addresses from home teachers when members leave your midst, or are you just relieved to get them off your records and send their records to the "address unknown" file?
Shepherds-fathers in Israel:
Are you holding family prayer with your family, morning and evening?
Do you hold a regular, consistent, inspiring family home evening once a week?
Do you lead out in spiritual matters?
Is your example what it should be before those whom you lead?
Do you ask and pray for the welfare of your own?
Do you love them?
Would you give your life for them?
Shepherds-all who hold the priesthood:
We ask you solemnly to evaluate your performance in relation to these matters.
We call on you, as Paul did to the elders of Ephesus:
"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."
We repeat to you the charge Jesus gave Peter. We repeat it with the same emphasis, the same repetition: "Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep"!
We call on you to extend yourselves with renewed dedication. We want you to do something you have not been doing. We want you to watch, to feed, to tend, and to care for the flock and, in the event that some are temporarily lost, we challenge you to find them.
Why should you do this?
Because you love your brothers and sisters. You want them to have joy in our Father's kingdom.
There is no greater work in all the world than that of saving souls. Incomparable joy can be yours when you bring souls unto Him!
If you will be prayerful and earnest in your desires to tend his flock, the Lord will bless you with success.
This we promise you!
God bless you, my brethren of the priesthood, watchful shepherds all, to know your flock and to be known of them. May we carefully attend and protect them so that they may remain safe and free from harm. This is our challenge, our duty, and our joy, which joy I promise to all of you as you accept the challenge and do your duty.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
I appreciate the large number of boys who make so great an effort to come to these meetings. It is not easy for many of them. We are grateful to you. I should like to say some things particularly to you, and I do so by recounting a portion of a story with which you are already familiar. It is the story of David, the son of Jesse.
As you will recall, the army of Israel under the leadership of King Saul was engaged in a deadly war with the army of the Philistines. One army was poised on one hill, the other on an opposite hill, with a valley in between. Now, the Philistines had among their men a great giant of a man named Goliath of Gath. His height was six cubits and a span. If I have figured correctly, that would put him somewhere in the neighborhood of nine feet tall. What a basketball center he might have made!
Clad in his armor, he came down to the valley and called out to the army of Israel:
"Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
"If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.
"I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together."
When Saul and the army of Israel looked at this giant and heard his chilling challenge, they were frightened because they had no one of their own of such stature.
Now, while all of this was going on, Jesse, David's father, asked his young son to take some food to his three brothers in the army. When he arrived at the battleground, Goliath came out again, issuing the same challenge, which David heard. There was fear throughout the army of Israel. David, who was no more than a boy, said to the king,: "King, why are you so afraid of this giant? I will go and fight him."
Saul replied, "Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth."
David then persuaded Saul to let him try. He told the king of how he had fought with a lion and a bear to save his father's sheep and concluded by saying that the Lord would deliver him out of the hand of the Philistine. Saul, possibly thinking that one more life lost would not be serious among the great losses they had already sustained, said to David, "Go, and the Lord be with thee."
Saul then placed armor on David until the boy could scarcely walk. David said unto the king, "I cannot wear this," and he took the armor off.
He then "took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had and his sling was in his hand."
This stripling of a boy, with only a slingshot and five stones and without any armor other than the armor of faith, went down into the valley to face Goliath.
"And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.
"And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?"
And Goliath swore at David, saying, "Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field."
Then David spoke these great words:
"Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
"This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel."
That was brave talk for a boy who stood against a nine-foot giant.
In anger Goliath came at him. Then David, running toward the giant, "put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth."
You know the rest of that story. I would like to bring it down into your own lives. There are Goliaths all around you, hulking giants with evil intent to destroy you. These are not nine-foot-tall men, but they are men and institutions that control attractive but evil things that may challenge and weaken and destroy you. Included in these are beer and other liquors and tobacco. Those who market these products would like to enslave you into their use. There are drugs of various kinds which, I am told, are relatively easy to obtain in many high schools. For those who peddle them, this is a multimillion-dollar industry, a giant web of evil. There is pornography, seductive and interesting and inviting. It has become a giant industry, producing magazines, films, and other materials designed to take your money and lead you toward activities that would destroy you.
The giants who are behind these efforts are formidable and skillful. They have gained vast experience in the war they are carrying on. They would like to ensnare you.
It is almost impossible to entirely avoid exposure to their products. You see these materials on all sides. But you need not fear if you have the slingshot of truth in your hands. You have been counseled and taught and advised. You have the stones of virtue and honor and integrity to use against these enemies who would like to conquer you. Insofar as you are concerned, you can hit them "between the eyes," to use a figurative expression. You can triumph over them by disciplining yourselves to avoid them. You can say to the whole lot of them as David said to Goliath, "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied."
Victory will be yours. There is not a boy within the sound of my voice who needs to succumb to any of these forces. You hold the priesthood of God. You are a son of God. You have His power within you to sustain you. You have the right to ministering angels about you to protect you. Do not let Goliath frighten you. Stand your ground and hold your place, and you will be triumphant. As the years pass, you will look back with satisfaction upon the battles you have won in your individual lives.
When temptation comes your way, name that boastful, deceitful giant "Goliath!" and do with him as David did to the Philistine of Gath. God bless each of you, I humbly pray.
Now for a few minutes I would like to go to another subject, speaking particularly to you older brethren.
I have a friend who built a beautiful home and furnished it with the very best of carpets, furniture, appliances, and all that money can buy. Within its walls he kept his fine automobiles and his expensive jewelry. Then, fearful of intruders who might enter and rob him, he had installed expensive dead-bolt locks so that he had to use a key to get out as well as to get in. He put bars on the windows and doors, and was like a prisoner looking out of his own home, as one might do out of a jail. He installed costly electronic surveillance devices to turn on lights and set off sirens should any unwelcome individual enter. He landscaped largely without trees or shrubbery so there would be no place for a thief to hide. And he smugly said to himself, "Now I am secure."
But what he did not realize is that neither bars nor dead-bolts, neither lights nor sirens nor anything of the kind would have the slightest effect on intruders of another variety who could destroy the lives of his children, despoil the marriage which had been the source of his happiness over many years, bind him with cords of meanness and bitterness and hate toward those he had once loved, and lock him in a dungeon cell of despair and misery.
Brethren, I spend much time listening to the tales of unhappy people. As a percentage of the entire membership of the Church, they constitute a relatively small number. But there are too many, and every case is a tragedy. With few exceptions, it would appear that the husband and the father is the chief offender, on whom the intruders of sin and selfishness take their greatest toll.
Brethren, I know it is an old subject, and one that has been dealt with much. But I repeat it again: Guard your homes. How foolish it seems to install bars and bolts and electronic devices against thieves and molesters while more insidious intruders come in as invited guests.
I say to you what I said to the boys-avoid pornography as you would a plague. I recall an assignment some years back to restore the blessings of a man who had been excommunicated from the Church because of his sin. He came to my office with his wife. I spoke with them individually. I asked him how it all began. He held a responsible position in the Church. He was likewise a professional man with high responsibility in the community.
His trouble began, he said, when he picked up a pornographic magazine to read on a plane. It intrigued him. It appealed to him. He found himself buying more of these things. Then he sought out movies which titillated him and excited him. Knowing that his wife would be a party to none of this, he went alone. He found occasion to leave town and go to other cities where he could more easily indulge his desires. He then found excuses to stay late at his office and asked his secretary to stay with him. One thing led to another until he succumbed.
With tears rolling down his cheeks, he sat across the desk from me and cursed the day he had read that first magazine. He spoke of his love for the wife who had forgiven him and remained true to him. He spoke of his love for his children, who had been shamed and embarrassed by his actions. He told of the hell through which he had walked for some four years from the time of his excommunication. He spoke of his love for the Church and of his desire to again enjoy its full blessings.
In the presence of his wife, I placed my hands upon his head and in the authority of the holy priesthood restored his priesthood, his temple endowment, his temple sealing, and all other blessings which he had formerly held. This great, strong man sobbed like a baby under my hands while his wife, holding her hand in his, wept like a child.
At the conclusion of that blessing, they embraced one another and he asked her to forgive him. She said she had forgiven him, and that she loved him and always would.
They were happy when they left, happier than they had been in years. And I was happy, too. But I thought of the terrible price he had paid and of the price he had exacted of his family through his foolishness and transgression.
Unfortunately, there is not always that kind of happy ending. In many cases there is divorce with bitterness and rancor. What was once love has turned to hate. Children's lives are blighted. Hopes become as ashes. So often there is only misery and loneliness and regret.
Brethren, keep your affections within your homes. Regard as your most precious possession in time or eternity she with whom you joined hands over the altar in the House of the Lord and to whom you pledged your love and loyalty and affection for time and all eternity. Your companion, your children, and you yourself will then know and feel a security far greater than any that can be bought with hardware and gadgetry.
God bless you, my brethren, young and old, that the watch-care of the Lord may be over you, that you may stay close to Him and be deserving of His preserving hand, I humbly ask, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My beloved brethren and sisters, one hundred and fifty years ago the Prophet Joseph Smith organized the School of the Prophets. The purpose of this school was to prepare selected members of the priesthood to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world.
In the absence of a temple, the first School of the Prophets was held in a small room in the home of Bishop Newel K. Whitney. Brigham Young was one of the early participants in this school, and he described a scene which frequently presented itself during meetings:
"The brethren came to that place for hundreds of miles to attend school in a little room probably no larger than eleven by fourteen. When they assembled together in this room after breakfast, the first they did was to light their pipes, and, while smoking, talk about the great things of the kingdom, and as soon as the pipe was out of their mouths a large chew of tobacco would then be taken. Often when the Prophet entered the room to give the school instructions he would find himself in a cloud of tobacco smoke. This, and the complaints of his wife at having to clean floor, made the Prophet think upon the matter, and he inquired of the Lord relating to the conduct of the Elders in using tobacco."
In response to this inquiry by the Prophet, the Lord gave him a revelation in the Whitney home. This revelation is known as the Word of Wisdom.
At first the revelation was not given as a commandment. It was given as "a principle with promise, adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints." This allowed time for the Saints to adjust to the principles contained in the revelation.
While I was on my first mission in Great Britain in 1922, some of the sisters had difficulty giving up their tea. I read that passage to them, and most of them quit drinking tea because they did not want to be considered the "weakest" of those who are or can be called Saints.
In 1851, President Brigham Young proposed to the general conference of the Church that all Saints formally covenant to keep the Word of Wisdom. This proposal was unanimously upheld by the membership of the Church. Since that day, the revelation has been a binding commandment on all Church members.
The Word of Wisdom is one of the recognized and distinctive practices of members of the Church. Generally, others not of our faith acknowledge that members in good standing abstain from tobacco, coffee, tea, and all alcoholic beverages.
Scientific studies have confirmed that Latter-day Saints have less incidence of heart problems, all forms of cancer, and other diseases because of their adherence to the Word of Wisdom.
These studies have demonstrated that not only will one live a longer life, but also that the quality of one's life will be better.
The Word of Wisdom is one of the evidences of the inspiration of Joseph Smith's prophetic calling. Let me tell you why.
Several years ago an investigator gave this testimonial about Joseph Smith. He said that the Word of Wisdom was the revelation that most attracted him to investigate the Church. "There is no possible way," he said, "that Joseph Smith could have known what we now know in the medical world about the harmful effects of tobacco, alcohol, tea, and coffee. Yet this has all been substantiated by medical science."
He said that this was the beginning of his earnest investigation of the gospel, for he reasoned that if Joseph Smith could be so accurate on a matter that medical science validated over a hundred years later, the rest of the teachings of the Church deserved investigation. He did so and is now a member of the Church.
One principle of the gospel that all young people of the Church should understand is this: God, our Heavenly Father, governs His children by law. He has instituted laws for our perfection. If we obey His laws, we receive the blessings pertaining to those laws. If we do not obey, we receive the consequences.
The Word of Wisdom is a law-a principle with promise. If we obey the provisions of the law, we receive the promises. If we do not, there will be both temporal and spiritual consequences.
What are the provisions of the law known as the Word of Wisdom?
The revelation defines and admonishes abstinence from harmful substances and beverages in these words:
"Strong drinks are not for the belly."
"Tobacco is not for the body and is not good for man."
"Hot drinks are not for the body."
Those foods which are good for man are described in these words:
"All wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man-
"Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof;
"Flesh of beasts and of the fowls of the air are to be used sparingly;
"All grain is ordained for the use of man to be the staff of life.
"All grain is good for the food of man; as also the fruit of the vine."
In this revelation the Lord counsels us to use meat sparingly. I have often felt that the Lord is further counseling us in this revelation against indiscriminately killing animals, for He has said elsewhere in scripture, "Wo be unto man that sheddeth blood or that wasteth flesh and hath no need."
Wheat is particularly singled out as being good for man, as is the fruit of the vine-vegetables and all fruits. This is the wisdom of the Lord on the matter of sound nutrition and diet.
The Word of Wisdom allows us to know that the Lord is vitally concerned about the health of His Saints. He has graciously given us counsel for improving our health, endurance, and resistance to many diseases.
The temporal promise for obedience is: They "shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint."
I have always felt, however, that the greater blessing of obedience to the Word of Wisdom and all other commandments is spiritual.
Listen to the spiritual promise: "All saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures."
Some have thought this promise was contingent on just keeping the provisions of the Word of Wisdom. But you will notice we must walk in obedience to all the commandments. Then we shall receive specific spiritual promises. This means we must obey the law of tithing, keep the Sabbath day holy, keep morally clean and chaste, and obey all other commandments.
When we do all this, the promise is: They "shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures."
What father and mother would not want the inspiration of the Lord in rearing their children? I testify these blessings can be yours. Surely parents would not want, through disobedience, to prevent their children from receiving the Lord's blessings. All fathers and mothers in Israel should qualify themselves for this promise.
Living the commandments of God is a condition of worthiness for entrance into the House of the Lord. There wisdom and "great treasures of knowledge" are given that relate to our happiness in this life and joy throughout eternity.
Brothers and sisters and friends, learn this principle. The Lord will increase our knowledge, wisdom, and capacity to obey when we obey His fundamental laws. This is what the Prophet Joseph Smith meant when he said we could have "sudden strokes of ideas" which come into our minds as "pure intelligence." This is revelation. We must learn to rely on the Holy Ghost so we can use it to guide our lives and the lives of those for whom we have responsibility.
I do not believe that a member of the Church can have an active, vibrant testimony of the gospel without keeping the commandments. A testimony is to have current inspiration to know the work is true, not something we receive only once. The Holy Ghost abides with those who honor, respect, and obey God's laws. And it is that Spirit which gives inspiration to the individual. Humbly I testify to the reality of this promise.
There is another part of this revelation that constitutes a pertinent warning to this modern generation: "In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation."
The Lord foresaw the situation of today when motives for money would cause men to conspire to entice others to take noxious substances into their bodies. Advertisements which promote beer, wine, liquors, coffee, tobacco, and other harmful substances are examples of what the Lord foresaw. But the most pernicious example of an evil conspiracy in our time is those who induce young people into the use of drugs.
My young brothers and sisters, in all love, we give you warning that Satan and his emissaries will strive to entice you to use harmful substances, because they well know if you partake, your spiritual powers will be inhibited and you will be in their evil power. Stay away from those places or people which would influence you to break the commandments of God. Keep the commandments of God and you will have the wisdom to know and discern that which is evil.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Word of Wisdom in this dispensation. Marking this anniversary, the Church is restoring the Newel K. Whitney store in Kirtland, Ohio. The store is a most ordinary structure by any modern standard, but it is the place where sacred revelations of God were received. One hundred and fifty years have scientifically confirmed the Word of Wisdom as a formula for sound health. One hundred and fifty years' experience with Saints living these laws has also confirmed that God fulfills His spiritual promises to His Saints.
May we as Saints of God keep all His commandments. May we be pure and holy so we can have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Let us be distinctive as a people because of our obedience to God's laws.
A new day is dawning in Kirtland. A few years ago, I broke ground for the first meetinghouse to be built in Kirtland since the dedication of the first temple in 1836.
I recently returned and dedicated a beautiful new building. Following the dedication, we participated in a special reception attended by fifty-eight nonmembers, descendants of the early Saints in Kirtland. Some of these nonmembers have now been baptized and others are being prepared.
We anticipate that within the next year we will once again have a stake in Kirtland where the very first stake of the Church was organized.
I testify that this is the Lord's Church restored in this modern day. Jesus Christ lives. He directs the affairs of this Church and is close to his servants.
I further testify that obedience to all of God's laws brings the precious promise of peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Thomas S. Monson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Recently, I approached the reception desk of a large hospital to learn the room number of a patient I had come to visit. This hospital, like almost every other in the land, was undergoing a massive expansion. Behind the desk where the receptionist sat was a magnificent plaque which bore an inscription of thanks to donors who had made possible the expansion. The name of each donor who had contributed $100,000 appeared in a flowing script, etched on an individual brass placard suspended from the main plaque by a glittering chain.
The names of the benefactors were well known. Captains of commerce, giants of industry, professors of learning-all were there. I felt gratitude for their charitable benevolence. Then my eyes rested on a brass placard which was different-it contained no name. One word, and one word only, was inscribed: "Anonymous." I smiled and wondered who the unnamed contributor could have been. Surely he or she experienced a quiet joy unknown to any other.
My thoughts turned backward in time-back to the Holy Land; back to Him whom we especially remember this Easter Sunday; back to Him who redeemed from the grave all mankind; back to Him who on that special mountain taught His disciples the true spirit of giving when He counseled, "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them.
"But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth."
Then, as though to indelibly impress on their souls the practical application of this sacred truth, He came down from the mountain with a great multitude following Him. "And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
"And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
"And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man." The word anonymous had a precious meaning then. It still has.
The classics of literature, as well as the words from holy writ, teach us the endurability of anonymity. A favorite of mine is Charles Dickens'"A Christmas Carol." I can picture the trembling Ebenezer Scrooge seeing in vision the return of his former partner, Jacob Marley, though Jacob had been dead for seven years. The words of Marley penetrate my very soul, as he laments, "Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused! Yet such was I!"
After a fretful night-wherein Scrooge was shown by the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come the true meaning of living, loving, and giving-he awakened to discover anew the freshness of life, the power of love, and the spirit of a true gift. He remembered the plight of the Bob Cratchit family, arranged with a lad to purchase the giant turkey, and sent the gift to the Cratchits. Then, with supreme joy, the reborn Ebenezer Scrooge exclaims to himself, "He shan't know who sends it." Again the word anonymous.
The sands flow through the hourglass, the clock of history moves on; yet the divine truth prevails undiminished, undiluted, unchanged.
When the magnificent ocean liner Lusitania plunged to the bottom of the Atlantic, many lives were lost with the vessel. Unknown are many deeds of valor performed by those who perished. One man who went down with the Lusitania gave his life preserver to a woman, though he could not swim a stroke. It didn't really matter that he was Alfred Vanderbilt, the American multimillionaire. He did not give of worldly treasure; he gave his life. Said Emerson, "Rings and other jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself."
A year ago last winter, a modern jetliner faltered after takeoff and plunged into the icy Potomac River. Acts of bravery and feats of heroism were in evidence that day, the most dramatic of which was one witnessed by the pilot of a rescue helicopter. The rescue rope was lowered to a struggling survivor. Rather than grasping the lifeline to safety, the man tied the line to another, who was then lifted to safety. The rope was lowered again, and yet another was saved. Five were rescued from the icy waters. Among them was not found the anonymous hero. Unknown by name, "he left the vivid air signed with his honor."
It is not only in dying that one can show forth the true gift. Opportunities abound in our daily lives to demonstrate our adherence to the Master's lesson. Let me share in capsule form just three:
On a winter's morn, a father quietly awakened his two sons and whispered to them, "Boys, it snowed last night. Get dressed, and we'll shovel the snow from our neighbors' walks before daylight."
The party of three, dressed warmly, and under cover of darkness, cleared the snow from the approaches to several homes. Father had given but one instruction to the boys: "Make no noise, and they will not know who helped them." Again, the word anonymous.
At a nursing home in our valley, two young men prepared the sacrament. While doing so, an elderly patient in a wheelchair spoke aloud the words, "I'm cold." Without a moment's hesitation, one of the young men walked over to her, removed his own jacket, placed it about the patient's shoulders, gave her a loving pat on the arm, and then returned to the sacrament table. The sacred emblems were then blessed and passed to the assembled patients.
Following the meeting, I said to the young man, "What you did here today I shall long remember."
He replied, "I worried that without my jacket I would not be properly dressed to bless the sacrament."
I responded, "Never was one more properly dressed for such an occasion than were you."
I know not his name. He remains anonymous.
In far-off Europe, beyond a curtain of iron and a wall called "Berlin," I visited, with a handful of members, a small cemetery. It was a dark night, and a cold rain had been falling throughout the entire day.
We had come to visit the grave of a missionary who many years before had died while in the service of the Lord. A hushed silence shrouded the scene as we gathered about the grave. With a flashlight illuminating the headstone, I read the inscription:
Then the light revealed that this grave was unlike any other in the cemetery. The marble headstone had been polished, weeds such as those which covered other graves had been carefully removed, and in their place was an immaculately edged bit of lawn and some beautiful flowers that told of tender and loving care. I asked, "Who has made this grave so attractive?" My query was met by silence.
At last a twelve-year-old deacon acknowledged that he wanted to render this unheralded kindness and, without prompting from parents or leaders, had done so. He said that he just wanted to do something for a missionary who gave his life while in the service of the Lord. I thanked him; and then I asked all there to safeguard his secret, that his gift might remain anonymous.
Perhaps no one in my reading has portrayed this teaching of the Master quite so memorably or so beautifully as Henry Van Dyke in his never-to-be-forgotten "The Mansion." In this classic is featured one John Weightman, a man of means, a dispenser of political power, a successful citizen. His philosophy toward giving can be gained from his own statement: "Of course you have to be careful how you give, in order to secure the best results-no indiscriminate giving-no pennies in beggars' hats! Try to put your gifts where they can be identified and do good all around."
One evening, John Weightman sat in his comfortable chair at his library table and perused the papers before him spread. There were descriptions and pictures of the Weightman wing of the hospital and the Weightman Chair of Political Jurisprudence, as well as an account of the opening of the Weightman Grammar School. John Weightman felt satisfied.
He picked up the family Bible which lay on the table, turned to a passage and read to himself the words: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven."
The book seemed to float away from him. He leaned forward upon the table, his head resting on his folded hands. He slipped into a deep sleep.
In his dream, John Weightman was transported to the Heavenly City. A guide met him and others whom he had known in life and advised that he would conduct them to their heavenly homes.
The group paused before a beautiful mansion and heard the guide say, "This is the home for you, Dr. McLean. Go in; there is no more sickness here, no more death, nor sorrow, nor pain; for your old enemies are all conquered. But all the good that you have done for others, all the help that you have given, all the comfort that you have brought, all the strength and love that you bestowed upon the suffering, are here; for we have built them all into this mansion for you."
A devoted husband of an invalid wife was shown a lovely mansion, as were a mother, early widowed, who reared an outstanding family, and a paralyzed young woman who had lain for thirty years upon her bed-helpless but not hopeless-succeeding by a miracle of courage in her single aim: never to complain, but always to impart a bit of her joy and peace to everyone who came near her.
By this time, John Weightman was impatient to see what mansion awaited him. As he and the Keeper of the Gate walked on, the homes became smaller-then smaller. At last they stood in the middle of a dreary field and beheld a hut, hardly big enough for a shepherd's shelter. Said the guide, "This is your mansion, John Weightman."
In desperation, John Weightman argued, "Have you not heard that I have built a schoolhouse; a wing of a hospital; three churches?"
"Wait," the guide cautioned. " They were not ill done. But they were all marked and used as foundations for the name and mansion of John Weightman in the world. Verily, you have had your reward for them. Would you be paid twice?"
A sadder but wiser John Weightman spoke more lowly: "What is it that counts here?"
Came the reply, "Only that which is truly given. Only that good which is done for the love of doing it. Only those plans in which the welfare of others is the master thought. Only those labors in which the sacrifice is greater than the reward. Only those gifts in which the giver forgets himself."
John Weightman was awakened by the sound of the clock chiming the hour of seven. He had slept the night through. As it turned out, he yet had a life to live, love to share, and gifts to give. Oh, may we remember that-
May this truth guide our lives. May we look upward as we press forward in the service of our God and our fellowmen. And may we incline an ear toward Galilee, that we might hear perhaps an echo of the Savior's teachings: "Do not your alms before men, to be seen of them." "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." And of our good deeds: "See thou tell no man." Our hearts will then be lighter, our lives brighter, and our souls richer.
Loving service anonymously given may be unknown to man-but the gift and the giver are known to God. Of this truth I testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder F. Burton Howard
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Let me ask each of you to picture two crystal goblets in your mind. They differ in size and shape. They are both of good quality and have been well used. One has been carefully kept in a china cupboard. It is clean and polished. It is warm and inviting in appearance. It sparkles in the light and is filled with clear water.
The other glass is coated with grime. It has not been in the dishpan for a long time. It has been used for purposes other than those for which it was made. Most recently it has been left outside in the weather and has served as a flowerpot. Although the flower is gone, it is still filled with dirt. It is dull and unbecoming in the light.
Is not each of us like a crystal glass? We vary in size and shape. Some of us radiate a special spirit. Some are dull and uninviting. Some fill the measure of their creation. Others do not. Each is filled with the accumulated experiences or debris of a lifetime.
Some contain mostly good things-clean thoughts, faith, and Christian service. These hold wisdom and peace. Others enclose dark and secret things. Over time they have filled with unclean thoughts, selfishness, and sloth. They often hold doubt, contention, and unrest.
Many know they are not living up to their potential but for various reasons have procrastinated making changes in their lives. Some long for they know not what and spend their lives in a haphazard pursuit of happiness.
These, in a way, are like the crystal goblet which spent part of its existence filled with dirt. They sense that there is a higher purpose to things. They become dissatisfied and begin to search for meaning. First they look outside themselves. They sample the pleasures of the world. As they do they discover, much as did the snail who set out to look for its house, that after arriving at wherever they were going, they are no closer than before to the object of their search.
Ultimately, they look within. They have really known all the time that this was where to find peace. Sin, you see, is not just a state of mind. Wickedness never was and never will be happiness. They discover that if they are not righteous they can never be happy. They resolve to change. Then they are confronted, figuratively, with the problem of how to turn a weathered flowerpot into a sparkling crystal goblet. Questions are asked: Can I ever be forgiven? Is it really worth the effort? Where do I begin?
In the case of the glass it is easy to understand what to do. We begin by recognizing a better use for the crystal. A convenient place for dumping the unwanted contents is selected. The dirt is left there. The goblet is carefully washed with high quality detergent to remove the stains and residue. It is lovingly polished and placed once again in the company of other crystal glasses in the china cupboard. It is put back into use and cared for regularly.
There is a similar process whereby men and women are purified. The misuse of their lives is forgotten, and they are renewed and changed. This principle, of course, is repentance. When accompanied by authorized baptism, it provides not only an initial cleansing but an ongoing remission of sins as well. Participating in this purifying process is perhaps the most thrilling and important thing we can ever do. It has far-reaching, even eternal, consequences. Of more immediate interest, however, the rewards of repentance are peace and forgiveness in this present life.
Let me illustrate what all of this means. A few years ago I was asked to speak to a group of young men. I don't remember now exactly what was said, except that near the end I made the statement that no one, but no one, present had done anything for which he could not be forgiven.
After the meeting was over one of them came up to me and said, "I just have to talk to you." Inasmuch as I soon had another appointment, I asked if it could wait or if someone else could answer his question. He replied that he had already waited many years and that it was very important to him.
So taking advantage of the few minutes available, we found a little unused classroom, went in, and closed the door. "Did you really mean it? Did you?" he asked.
"Mean what?" I said.
"The part about how none of us had done anything that could not be forgiven," he replied.
"Of course I did," I said.
Through his tears his story came. He was of goodly parents. All of his life his mother had told him that he was going on a mission. Before he turned nineteen he was involved in serious transgression. He didn't know how to tell his parents. He knew it would break their hearts. He knew that he wasn't worthy to serve a mission. In desperation, he began to look for an excuse not to go. He decided to take up smoking. He felt that his father could understand that better and would not probe for the real reason. Smoking would hurt his parents, he rationalized, but not as deeply as the truth.
He soon found, however, that the bishop wasn't put off by his use of tobacco. The bishop told him to just stop it and go on a mission anyway. So to get away from the bishop, he entered the military service. There he fell under the influence of some good Latter-day Saints. He stopped smoking. He was able to avoid major temptations. He served his time, received an honorable discharge, and returned home.
There was only one problem. He felt guilty. He had run away from a mission. He had run from the Lord and sensed somehow that gnawing discontent which comes when men do not live up to the purpose of their creation.
"So there you have it," he said. "I have not sinned again. I have attended my meetings. I keep the Word of Wisdom. Why is it that life seems empty? Why do I feel somehow that the Lord is displeased with me? How can I know for sure I have been forgiven?"
"Tell me what you know about repentance," I said.
He had obviously done some reading on the subject. He spoke of recognition, remorse, and restitution. He had resolved never to sin again.
"Let's see just how those principles apply to you," I said. "Let's begin with recognition. What is the best indicator that someone recognizes he has done wrong?"
"He will admit it," was his reply.
"To whom?" I asked.
He was thoughtful. "To himself, I guess."
"Men sometimes view themselves in a most favorable light," I said. "Wouldn't better evidence of awareness of wrongdoing be to tell someone else?"
"Yes, of course," he answered.
"Who else?" I insisted.
"Why, the person wronged," he said, "and and maybe the bishop."
"Have you done this?" I asked.
"Not until now," he replied. "I've never told it all to anyone but you."
"Maybe that is why you have not ever felt completely forgiven," I responded.
He didn't say much.
"Let's look at the next step," I said. "What does it mean to feel remorse?"
"It means to be sorry," he answered.
"Are you sorry?" I asked.
"Oh yes," he said. "I feel as if I had wasted half my life." And his eyes filled again with tears.
"How sorry should you be?"
He looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"
I said, "Well, in order to be forgiven, a transgressor must experience godly sorrow. He must have anguish of soul and genuine regret. This sorrow must be strong enough and long enough to motivate the additional processes of repentance, or it is not deep enough. Regret must be great enough so as to bring forth a changed person. That person must demonstrate that he is different than before by doing different and better things. Have you been sorry enough?" I asked again.
He hesitated. "I've changed," he said. "I'm not the same as I was before. I keep all the commandments now. I would like somehow to make it up to my parents. I have prayed for forgiveness. I apologized to the person I wronged. I realize the seriousness of what I have done. I would give anything if it hadn't happened. Maybe I haven't been as good as I could be, but I don't know what else to do. But I didn't ever confess to anyone."
I said, "I think after this meeting we can say you have even done that."
Then he said, "But after all of that, how can I ever know the Lord has really forgiven me?"
"That is the easy part," I replied. "When you have fully repented, you feel an inner peace. You know somehow you are forgiven because the burden you have carried for so long, all of a sudden isn't there anymore. It is gone and you know it is gone."
He seemed doubtful still.
"I wouldn't be surprised," I said, "if when you leave this room, you discover that you have left much of your concern in here. If you have fully repented, the relief and the peace you feel will be so noticeable that it will be a witness to you that the Lord has forgiven you. If not today, I think it will happen soon."
I was late for my meeting. I opened the door and we went out together. I didn't know if we would ever meet again. The following Sunday evening, I received a telephone call at my home. It was from the young man.
"Brother Howard, how did you know?"
"How did I know what?" I asked.
"How did you know I would feel good about myself for the first time in five years?"
"Because the Lord promised he would remember no more," I said.
Then came the question: "Do you think the Church could use a twenty-four-year-old missionary? If they could, I would sure like to go."
Well, that young man was like one of the glasses we spoke about. He had been out in the world and was partially filled with the wrong things. He was not content. Sin had clouded his vision and interfered with his potential. Until he could find a way to repent, he could never become what he knew he should be. It took time to change. It took prayer. It took effort, and it took help.
My young friend discovered that repentance is often a lonely, silent struggle. It is not a once-in-a-lifetime thing; rather, it lasts a lifetime. As President Stephen L Richards once said, it is an "ever-recurring acknowledgement of weakness and error and seeking and living for the higher and better."
This young man came to know that repentance is not a free gift. Just as faith without works is dead -so repentance, too, demands much. It is not for the fainthearted or the lazy. It requires a complete turning away from wrongdoing and a set of new works or doings which produce a new heart and a different man. Repentance means work. It is not just stopping doing something. It is not just recognizing the wrong or knowing what should be done. It is not "a cycle of sinning and repenting and sinning again."
It is not only remorse; rather, it is an eternal principle which, when properly applied over sufficient time, always results in renewal, cleansing, and change.
The young man we have spoken about discovered that where sin is so serious as to jeopardize one's fellowship in the Church, the sinner must be willing to submit to the jurisdiction and judgment of the person who holds the custody of his Church membership and request forgiveness of him as well.
Most important of all, he learned that repentance is an indispensable counterpart to free agency. Free agency in the plan of salvation contemplates that men and women are free to choose the direction of their lives for themselves. Repentance means that as imperfect beings sometimes make imperfect decisions, they may correct their course. By following the rules of repentance, and through the atonement of Jesus Christ, mistakes don't count. The Lord agrees to "remember no more." Because of the miraculous gift of forgiveness, transgressions are forgiven-and forgotten. Men can be cleansed and return to the path of purpose and progress and peace.
By repenting, my young friend became a new person. He was born again of the Spirit. He came to understand for himself, and that is the important thing, the meaning of the Savior's words: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." I so testify, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Bishop Victor L. Brown
Presiding Bishop
The other day a letter arrived from a friend of mine, a young Italian doctor specializing in thoracic surgery. I met him in Milan approximately two years ago, a few months after he had joined the Church. He is a fine, wonderful, clean-cut young man, the kind any parent would be proud of. He was living a good life. He thought he had no needs that were not being met-until he found the gospel of Jesus Christ. I should like to share from his letter a few thoughts having to do with his feelings about himself.
"Without those two elders, my life could have been happy, full of satisfaction, but lacking all the benefits of love, faith, truth, knowledge, freedom, all the things coming only from God, our Heavenly Father, through his Son, Jesus Christ.
"As a child of God, I am glad to live at this time on the earth. Aware of the plan of salvation and of the great 'Blessings I can receive upon my head', I am trying to do my best to fulfill the assignments which our Father gave me before sending me here on the earth.
"I am filled with wonderful feelings now that my parents have joined the Church. Our lives are greatly changed and our hearts are willing to do what our Father in Heaven wants us to accomplish."
This wonderful young man has now achieved an awareness of his own identity which so many people, young and old, are hungering for. Finding one's own, intimate identity can be a great blessing in the life of every human being. Everyone can obtain it if he realizes it comes only through the light of truth or, as explained by the Savior, the light of life. In John 8:12 we read, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
As we endeavor to understand what it means to have the light of life, which is a most important aid to discovering our identity, we must of necessity know who Jesus is. From the holy scriptures, we are told who he is-the Son of God, referred to as the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. He was born of Mary. He is our Redeemer through whom repentance and forgiveness of sin are made possible. He it is who was condemned to die and even while hanging on the cross forgave his executioners. He is the same who rose from the tomb and by that act broke the bonds of death for all mankind, establishing the resurrection. This is the same Jesus who guides his church in these latter days, which church carries his name, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Through direct teachings during his mortal life and through instruction given to both ancient and modern prophets which are found recorded in the sacred scriptures, the Savior left all mankind sufficient teachings for each one to understand himself and to find his own, true identity. It comes only through knowledge of and obedience to the commandments. Once it does come, the thoughts, "I'm not worth anything-I'm just a nobody," will have no place in our lives. By "true identity" I mean the relationship between self-worth and self-subordination. The quest for this is explained in the words of George T. Boyd in a talk he gave some years ago.
"Scripture reading enables to see life, not alone from the human point of view, but in some degree from God's.
"This perspective fills two of man's important needs-a sense of individual worth and a feeling of self-subordination. Either of these are achievable alone. But how easy it is for a sense of personal worth to turn to an intolerable egoism and self-conceit-or a sense of self-subordination-to turn into a false humility or morbid self-depreciation.
"In the scriptures man finds that he belongs to a whole, of which God is a part. Belonging to such a whole gives him a sense of the value of his own soul, but seen in relation to God reveals his dependence and hence his subordination. Thus, a devout use of the scriptures nourishes the spiritual life with a calm that displaces the doubts and anxieties which paralyze mankind."
In Ps. 8:4 the question is asked: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?"
The answer, beautifully and clearly stated, follows:
"Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
"Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet." Thus we come to realize that we are to have dominion over all the other creations of God. In this capacity we have been given characteristics which are unique to the human race. Among them-
We have an awareness of our own personality and the ability to strive for self-realization.
We have the ability to extend our knowledge, to become aware of the nature of humanity and the nature of things about us.
We have the power of abstract reasoning by which we can compare facts and determine the relationship between them and their relevance in our lives.
We have the ability and the right to make choices. This is one of the greatest gifts of God to us.
We have a will to master. By this power, we can control thoughts, emotions, appetites, and passions.
We have a right to worship God and can seek power from him to fulfill our destiny.
With this unique capability and emphasis on the worth of souls in the sight of God also comes the opportunity for confusion. We live in a materialistic world. Some become confused and seek identity through riches or the accolades of men. The Savior makes it very clear in his teachings that it is not possible to realize the identity of which I speak through such means. In Luke 18:18–25 we read:
"And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
"And Jesus said unto him,
"Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
"And he said, all these have I kept from my youth up.
"Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
"And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
"And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God.
"For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
It was not that the man was rich but that he coveted his riches and would not share his wealth with the poor.
Another example is also recorded in Luke:
"And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
"And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
"And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
"And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
"But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
"So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
Contrast these with the story of a sixteen-year-old priest who answered the telephone one day to hear the voice of a popular disc jockey on a local radio station. He was asked a question and when he answered it correctly was informed he had won an expensive sports car. It seemed like a dream come true for a teenage boy. A loving bishop was concerned about what such a car might do to the boy, thinking it might draw him away from all we hold dear. He asked him about his feelings. The bishop could hardly believe his ears when the young man indicated he was not going to take the car but would accept a cash award instead. He said, "Now my mission is paid for." What an outstanding example of proper balance in an attitude toward worldly wealth or recognition and Christlike values.
I am acquainted with another young man who struggled to achieve this balance. He had received tremendous recognition as an athlete. He started swimming competitively at age thirteen and would practice upwards of thirty hours every week. He became a national champion and winner of a bronze medal at the 1968 Olympic Games. He was an All-American in college for three years. After graduation he went on to medical school and did very well.
During all this time, he had excluded himself from any spiritual association and had little warmth toward people less fortunate or less talented than he. He was struggling for a real feeling of self-worth. In his own words: "I would tell myself, 'You are an Olympian. You have a good mind, you will become a doctor and have the good life.' I would tell myself this as I was contemplating suicide. I was full of false and vain pride."
Fortunately, during his senior year at medical school, he went to live with a country doctor who understood the struggles he was having. With the encouragement of his older mentor, he began to read the scriptures. At first he did so with arrogance, confident that intellectually he could understand all he read, which he found he could not do. Again in his own words: "I was halfway through Genesis and was learning very little when I said to myself, 'There must be chapters that are written in a way that will be easier to understand.' I turned to Numbers and found that I understood even less."
Finally, he pursued his studies in the right spirit, wanting to learn and to feel. Slowly, as he prayed and studied and prayed some more, he began to realize that he was a child of a loving Father in Heaven and as such had tremendous potential as an individual. He accepted the Savior's counsel to build our lives upon a foundation of rock:
"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
"And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."
My brothers and sisters, I hope that we might always accept the Savior's challenge to us to build upon rock rather than sand and to "walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
"While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light."
I bear you my testimony that we can only find individual identity and happiness as children of light, possessing the light of life as found through following the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, for it was he who said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness." In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Springtime always brings Easter, and Easter turns our minds to Jesus Christ, our Savior.
It was He who was born in Bethlehem, the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, who holds out the promise of good will to all mankind.
It was He who gave us the true meaning of Easter through His glorious resurrection, with the assurance of everlasting life. Think of it! Everlasting life!
When He was born, He was called Jesus because He would save His people from their sins. But He also was Immanuel, meaning "God with us."
How appropriate that name, for He was God, and indeed He came into the world to be with us. "God with us"! This He was in fact. He was deity before he was born into mortality, and He was His divine self while on the earth. He did not change His identity. He forever remains the Son of God, our Redeemer and our Savior.
He died on the cross to atone for the sins of all who will obey Him, and He broke the bands of death to provide a resurrection for us all.
His atonement was the most important event that ever happened. The creation of this earth, the establishment of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and the labors of the great patriarchs and prophets-all were prelude to His achievement on Calvary.
Offerings were burned on the altars of Israel throughout Old Testament times in symbolic anticipation of the great sacrifice of Him who was called the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."
As Jehovah of the premortal life, Jesus was the central figure in making the primeval arrangements for the mortal existence of the human race.
It was He who volunteered to die for us. It was He who gave all honor to our Heavenly Father. It was He who became the author of eternal salvation "unto all them that obey him."
As the Apostle Peter said, "There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
Much advance preparation was required for His atonement, even before He was born in the flesh. For one thing, an earth was required on which we, the children of God, could live during our mortal existence.
Of necessity that earth must be physical in nature, for we who were to live on it would be physical beings, such as we now are. It had to be a physical earth also on which the Savior could live out His mortal life.
His existence in Palestine was to be physical, in a body of flesh and bones like our own. On this earth He would endure the physical suffering of crucifixion. He would die physically, and then-how glorious it was-He would bring about a physical resurrection.
Therefore, a physical earth was essential to His mission. There was nothing ethereal about His work here on earth. It was not to be accomplished in some intangible or mystical way.
His life on earth was real and physical. His death was real and physical, as was His resurrection, all taking place on this very real and physical planet. It fully demonstrated His genuine reality as a physical being.
When plans for His atonement were made in the primeval councils in heaven, a portion of that planning centered on the creation of this particular earth, for it would require an act of divine architecture, followed by a process of physical construction.
Without this earth, could Christ have been born to Mary in Bethlehem? Could He have died on the cross in Jerusalem? Could He have been resurrected from the tomb?
Without this earth, would there have been Roman soldiers to nail Him to the cross and afterward to guard His tomb?
Could He have manifested Himself physically to His disciples as proof of His resurrection?
Would "the other" Mary have been in the garden on that first Easter morning to hear the angel say: "He is not here: for he is risen"?
The special creation of this earth was a vital part of the plan of salvation. It had a particular purpose. It was no afterthought. Neither was it an accident of any proportion, nor a spontaneous development of any kind.
It was the result of deliberate, advance planning and purposeful creation. The Divine Architect devised it. The Almighty Creator made it and assigned to it a particular mission.
This earth was not designed merely as a home for mortals, however. Not at all. It has a greater destiny than that. This earth will not remain in its present condition. It is to become immortal. It will pass through a refining process by which it will become a celestial globe and be like a Urim and Thummim in the skies. That will require further acts of divine creation, and, of course, ordinary common sense tells us that no spontaneous accident could produce a change like that.
The Savior will reside here when the earth is celestialized, and His Father will visit it from time to time. It then will be the eternal home of those who achieve celestial glory in the kingdom of God.
Such is the final destiny of the earth. Such was the purpose God had in mind in creating it, for He planned it so in the beginning.
Do we appreciate what this earth really means to us? Do we see why it was made? Do we understand its purpose? Do we see that there was nothing accidental or spontaneous about its origin? Do we see that its creation was literally and truly, completely and exclusively, an act of God?
And who was the Creator?
Our Heavenly Father declares that it was His own Beloved Son who accomplished the mighty task.
"All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made," said the Apostle John.
"By him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
"And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." So said the Apostle Paul.
The Almighty also affirmed it when he told Moses: "Worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten."
Christ also taught that He Himself was the Creator. Said He to the Prophet Joseph Smith: "Behold, I am Jesus Christ who created the heavens and the earth."
One of our most touching and impressive revelations of the Savior is provided in the Book of Ether, where the appearance of the Lord to the brother of Jared is recorded. I quote briefly from it. Said the Savior to the brother of Jared:
"Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ.
"Never have I shown myself unto man whom I created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast. Seest thou that ye are created after mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in the beginning after mine own image.
"This body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh."
There we have it in His own words! The glorious, irrefutable truth! Christ is the Creator! Shall we not accept His word in preference to uninspired theories of men?
Probably the greatest challenge to belief in Christ today is the fast-spreading denial that He is the Creator, coming from men who would supplant the revealed truth with the very tenuous and fragile theory that the universe and all life came about in some mysterious, spontaneous, accidental manner.
To deny that He is the Creator is to deny also that He is the Christ.
To deny that He is the Creator is to deny that He can save us from our sins.
To deny that He is the Creator is to deny that He broke the bands of death. It is to reject the fact of the Resurrection.
To deny that He is the Creator is to deny that He wrought out an atonement on the cross at Calvary.
To deny that He is the Creator is to reject His gospel and the true Christian religion.
But He is the Creator! He is the Redeemer! He is the Savior of the world! He did accomplish His atonement on Calvary, and He did bring about the Resurrection. This we know by the revelation of God! His gospel is true and we love it, and we love Him and deem it a privilege to serve Him!
Can anyone ask for a plainer definition of creation and the purpose of life than is given in our scriptures?
We even have the word of our Eternal Heavenly Father. He bore testimony that Jesus Christ is His Beloved Son and in addition declared that He is very well pleased with Him.
He not only affirmed that Christ created the worlds, but, after each step in creation, did He not say that the work was well done?
When the waters and the firmament were put in position, "God saw that it was good." When life was placed on the earth, "God saw that it was good," and when creation was finished, "God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good."
The Father is a God of truth, and He said that the Savior is "full of grace and truth." Then dare we disbelieve Him or reject His words? The Savior did the work of creation, and the Father was well pleased with Him! Then should we not be pleased to accept Him and serve Him?
The Father repeatedly expressed His satisfaction with the ministry of His Son. Did He not so speak at the baptism of Christ? "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Did He not repeat it on the Mount of Transfiguration? "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Did He not introduce the Savior to the Nephites with the same expression? "Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
And when He appeared to the boy Joseph Smith, did He not give His Beloved Son another positive endorsement?
Isn't the testimony of our Eternal Heavenly Father sufficient to erase all doubt from the human mind? It is He who declared that Jesus is His Son and that He did all things well.
Then what is our faith?
It is that God is our Heavenly Father and that through the gospel we may become like Him and live with Him.
It is that Jesus of Nazareth is His Son and our Savior.
It is that the Savior indeed was the creator of heaven and earth, and that He is the Divine Pattern after whom we should fashion our lives.
Therefore, let us follow Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth. He holds out a warm invitation, and says, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
When He was born the angels sang.
When He died the heavens wept.
When he broke the bands of death, angels were there to greet him, and so was Mary. She knew Him and recognized Him as the Christ.
But some doubted.
Shall we be like Mary and believe and accept Him? Or shall we join the doubters and shroud ourselves in the darkness of unbelief?
Jesus is a God of light and life, not a symbol of death and doubt. He lives, and will save everyone who is willing to serve Him. He is our divine Redeemer and our eternal Creator. He is the resurrection and the life. This is our testimony to the world.
Yes, today is Easter, and to us Easter means Christ-the resurrected Christ, the Son of God, our Creator and our Redeemer. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Boyd K. Packer
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I have a message for parents about the education of your children. Several weeks ago I had in my office a four-star general and his wife; they were very impressive people. They admire the Church because of the conduct of our youth. The general's wife mentioned her children, of whom she is justly proud. But she expressed a deep concern. "Tell me," she said, "how you are able to control your youth and build such character as we have seen in your young men?"
I was interested in her use of the word 'control'. The answer, I told them, centered in the doctrines of the gospel. They were interested; so I spoke briefly of the doctrine of agency. I said we develop control by teaching freedom. Perhaps at first they thought we start at the wrong end of the subject. A four-star general is nothing if not a disciplinarian. But when one understands the gospel, it becomes very clear that the best control is self-control.
It may seem unusual at first to foster self-control by centering on freedom of choice, but it is a very sound doctrinal approach.
While either subject may be taught separately, and though they may appear at first to be opposites, they are in fact parts of the same subject.
Some who do not understand the doctrinal part do not readily see the relationship between obedience and agency. And they miss one vital connection and see obedience only as restraint. They then resist the very thing that will give them true freedom. There is no true freedom without responsibility, and there is no enduring freedom without a knowledge of the truth. The Lord said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
The general quickly understood a truth that is missed even by some in the Church. Latter-day Saints are not obedient because they are compelled to be obedient. They are obedient because they know certain spiritual truths and have decided, as an expression of their own individual agency, to obey the commandments of God.
We are the sons and daughters of God, willing followers, disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, and "under this head are made free."
Those who talk of blind obedience may appear to know many things, but they do not understand the doctrines of the gospel. There is an obedience that comes from a knowledge of the truth that transcends any external form of control. We are not obedient because we are blind, we are obedient because we can see. The best control, I repeat, is self-control.
The general knew then why we teach our children the doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ and where they get the resolute determination to protect individual freedom.
Responsibility for teaching the doctrines rests upon parents.
"The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth. Light and truth forsake evil one. I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth."
If all your children know about the gospel is what you have taught them at home, how safe will they be? Will they reject evil because they choose to reject it?
As a young man in the military service, I visited the ancient shrine at Nikko Kanko in Japan. There, carved into the facade of a building, are the three monkeys. One with its hands over its ears, another over its eyes, and the third over its mouth. Hear no evil; see no evil; speak no evil! That is easier said than done! It is not easy to foster self-control when the world is teaching indulgence.
Fortunately, there is very substantial help for parents. Unfortunately, some families overlook it.
Several years ago I attended a seminary graduation in Hawaii. A handsome young Hawaiian athlete was being honored. He had been blessed with a well-formed body, and he had excelled in several sports. As athletes often are, he was well known both in and out of the Church. His athletic coaches had trained him for the most part in the coordination of his physical powers, adding a little on such virtues as determination and courage.
He said it had not been difficult for him to achieve athletically. If he practiced and kept the training rules, the muscles of his body responded as he wished and he had coordination and control.
Then he talked of a control that did not come easy and said: "I found it is easier to control the muscles in my arms and legs than to control the muscles in my tongue. I found it easier to control my eyes on the playing field than on the street. It is not easy to control what I will hear. Most of all, it is not easy to control my thoughts." He then expressed gratitude for the seminary program and paid tribute to his seminary teachers. They were the coaches who taught him control over the most permanent part of his nature.
It is not long before the ability to throw a ball or leap a barrier or lift a weight becomes incidental in life. Physical prowess fades. But moral and spiritual strength can grow stronger as the physical part of us weakens with age.
If you want your children to grow spiritually, teach them the doctrines of the gospel.
If you want your son to play the piano, it is good to expose him to music. This may give him a feel for it and help greatly in his learning. But this is not enough. There is the practice and the memorization and the practice and the practice and the practice before he can play it well.
If you want your daughter to learn a language, expose her to those who speak it. She may get a feel for the language, even pick up many words. But this is not enough. She must memorize grammar and vocabulary. She must practice pronunciation. There is rote learning without which she will never speak or write the language fluently.
So it is with the gospel. One may have a feel for it. But some time one must learn the doctrine. Here, too, rote learning, practice, memorization, reading, listening, discussion, all become essential. There is no royal road to learning.
The Church can help parents because this kind of learning is effectively given in a classroom setting. So we have seminaries, institutes, religion classes; there are priesthood, Sunday School, and auxiliary classes. The curriculum for all of them centers in the scriptures and the history of the Church. Spiritual development is tied very closely to a knowledge of the scriptures, where the doctrines are found.
A school library may hold a world of knowledge. But unless a student knows the system of cataloging, a search for that knowledge will be discouraging; it will be an ordeal. Those systems are really not too difficult to learn. Then all of the knowledge in all of the books is opened to him. Searching becomes very simple indeed. But one must find it and read it. One must earn it.
It is so with the scriptures. They contain the fulness of the everlasting gospel, an eternity of knowledge. But one must learn to use them or the search will be discouraging. Again, there is a system. Learn about the concordance, the footnotes, the Topical Guide; memorize the books of the Bible and the Book of Mormon. And the scriptures will then yield their treasure. All of this is taught in the seminary and institute classes. The teachers are both worthy and well trained. But they cannot help if your students are not enrolled.
There is a revolution in progress. The silicone chip has changed our future. We move from the Industrial Age to the Age of Information. And schools are tooling up to meet the challenge. Graduation requirements for high schools and entrance requirements for colleges are being tightened up. Elective courses are being reduced in number, and they must be carefully selected.
Without guidance, your student may choose another elective instead of seminary, or another course instead of an institute class. That would surely be a mistake. It would be like adding one more brick to the house of knowledge when there is little mortar to hold it all together. Parents, encourage, even insist, that your students register for seminary or institute. Presidents, bishops, youth leaders, you are responsible to encourage every youngster, without exception, to enroll. Few things you do will benefit them quite as much.
Students, if your values are in place, you will not hesitate to forego an elective class that may decorate your life in favor of instruction which can hold together the very foundation of it. Then, once enrolled, attend, study, and learn. Persuade your friends to do the same. You will never regret it; this I promise you.
Parents, you are greatly indebted to teachers. Somehow you must show it by supporting them. Very few teachers are unworthy of support. If there is a problem, too frequently and all too quickly some parents side with their child against a teacher. As a rule of thumb, we have told our youngsters that disrespect for teachers, in public schools or in Church schools, brings trouble at home as well. This year two hundred thousand students are enrolled in seminary, and over one hundred and twenty thousand in institutes of religion in eighteen languages in sixty-eight countries. Whether it be released-time, the early-morning, or the home-study programs, the courses are the same. They center in the scriptures; they teach the doctrine and history of the Church.
Some classes are very humble indeed. President Kimball and I once attended a seminary class in North Dakota. We did not meet in a fine room with a blackboard and projector and special school chairs. We met in the very small bedroom in a very small house.
The teacher, Sister Two Dogs, sat on the edge of the bed. The students crowded together on the floor. It was no less a class than one held in a beautiful building. The most important ingredient, the Spirit of the Lord, was there. I attended a seminary graduation in Omaha, Nebraska. The speaker, again a young man, described this experience.
"Each morning I awoke to the sweet voice of my mother calling out, 'John, John, time to get ready for seminary!' The year rolled on and the mornings grew cold and wet and dark; still the happy voice of Mother would sing out, 'John, John, time to get up for seminary!'" Then he added, "I learned to hate that sound!"
But then, choking back the tears, he thanked his mother for what she had given him. And I think only later did he realize that she had to be up first every morning.
The temptation your children will face will not come at home nor in the seminary class. It will come later, when they are away from both teacher and parent. One day you must set them free. When that day comes, how free will they be, and how safe? It will depend on how much truth they have received. I know of a young missionary who, half a world away from his parents and teachers, faced the testing that comes to young manhood. There, beyond the control of either of them, he made a decision. Later he wrote: "I'm so glad I stayed, because during this last month I found something-I found myself."
I thank God for teachers in the Church, you who have chosen, and have been chosen for, the better part.
In those discouraging hours before immature, disinterested, and sometimes impudent students, may you hear a voice as well. That still, small voice of inspiration whispering, "Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you."
The Lord was a teacher. I bear testimony of Him, and pray that He will bless all those who follow in His footsteps to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder M. Russell Ballard
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
For the past several years, I have served as Executive Director of the Church Curriculum Department. When I became fully aware of the immense effort required to prepare a single course of study, I was overwhelmed. I now have much greater appreciation for the approved teaching materials of the Church.
Let me give you an example. The present Gospel Doctrine Teacher's Supplement, which was prepared to help teachers teach the New Testament, was written by a committee of faithful and knowledgeable Church-service writers, who were called and set apart for that service by one of the General Authorities. Their work commenced in the spring of 1980, following General Authority approval of the outline. Writing committee members spent thousands of hours researching, writing, and attending biweekly committee meetings, where the entire committee critiqued each lesson carefully and suggested improvements. The work of the writing committee then was reviewed by General Authority Managing Directors of the Priesthood and Curriculum departments, the General Presidency and the General Board of the Sunday School, Church Editing, and Church Correlation Review. This manual received careful scrutiny at many levels before it was approved for use in Sunday School this year. All teaching materials for the Church follow this same basic procedure in their preparation.
Teachers would be well advised to study carefully the scriptures and their manuals before reaching out for supplemental materials. Far too many teachers seem to stray from the approved curriculum materials without fully reviewing them. If teachers feel a need to use some good supplemental resources beyond the scriptures and manuals in presenting a lesson, they should first consider the use of the Church magazines.
Teachers can stay on safe ground when they use the standard works, the approved manuals, and the writings of the General Authorities. Elder Hyrum M. Smith of the Council of the Twelve said, "There is more to be learned in five minutes reading in the Holy Scriptures, more that is worthy of retention in the memory, more that will be helpful if we remember and obey them, than we can find in reading all of the six best sellers in every month in the year."
I believe there is no greater call in the Church than to be an effective teacher. Effective teaching by the Spirit can stir the souls of men with a desire to live the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ more completely.
In each teaching setting, whether it is a family home evening, a class, a sacrament meeting, or a general or stake conference, the teacher should strive to create a heartfelt desire in his students to live worthy of eternal life with our Heavenly Father.
Regarding the need of effective teaching in the Church, President Kimball gave this counsel: "Please take a particular interest in strengthening and improving the quality of teaching in the Church. I fear at times that all too often many of our members come to church, sit through a class or meeting, and then return home having been largely uninformed. We all need to be touched and nurtured by the Spirit, and effective teaching is one of the most important ways this can happen."
The Apostle Paul placed the priority of teachers in the Church next only to the Apostles and the prophets when he said, "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers."
President Brigham Young used the following story to illustrate the potential influence of teachers: "A traveller in the Eastern country overtook an old gentleman walking towards a town, and asked him, 'Who is the great man of that little town? Who is your leading man? Who is the governor and controlling spirit of that little place?' The old gentleman replied, 'I am the king of that little town.' 'Really,' says the traveller, 'are you the leading man?' 'Yes, sir, I am king in that place, and reign as king.' 'How do you make this to appear? Are you in affluent circumstances?' 'No, I am poor; but in that little village there are so many children. All those children go to my school; I rule the children, and they rule their parents, and that makes me king.'"
President David O. McKay said, "No greater responsibility can rest upon any man, than to be a teacher of God's children."
May we ask you priesthood leaders who call your members to become teachers to be prayerful and concerned when selecting those who will teach in your stakes, wards, or quorums. Be sure to provide ongoing in-service teacher training. Visit the classrooms on occasion, and express genuine interest in the great cause of teaching. Please do not leave this most important work unattended.
The Lord set the example when he sent Paul to the home of Ananias. The Lord did not leave him to flounder in his newly found faith, but rather, as recorded in the ninth chapter of Acts, Paul received specific training to become a mighty gospel teacher and Apostle.
Should not every teaching setting within the Church be a forum of faith, where the teacher strengthens spirituality and fosters faith in the lives of those being taught?
President J. Reuben Clark's instructions to a group of professional teachers apply to all teachers in the Church. He said, "Your essential and all but sole duty, is to teach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are to teach this Gospel using as your sources and authorities the Standard Works of the Church, and the words of those whom God has called to lead His people in these last days. You are not to intrude into your work your own peculiar philosophy, no matter what its source or how pleasing or rational it seems to you to be."
Jesus chided the Sadducees for their incorrect teachings. He said, "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." The Lord stressed the need for prayerful preparation by teachers, as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants: "And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach."
One of the great teachers in my life, President N. Eldon Tanner, said: "In my opinion no greater call can come to anyone than to be a teacher in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are all teachers in one way or another, whether we have been called and set apart as such or not."
Surely no teachers in the Church are more important than fathers and mothers. No classroom is more important than the home. Parents have been commanded to teach their children the gospel.
My brothers and sisters, I believe that every human soul is teaching something to someone nearly every minute here in mortality. May we consider with great reverence the trust that the Lord has placed in us to "teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom."
May I urge each member of the Church, when you are serving as a teacher, to remember that every human soul is precious to our Father in Heaven, for we are all his children. God's children are entitled to be taught the truths of the gospel in clear and understandable terms so that the Spirit can confirm the truths of the gospel to them.
My plea to the teachers of the Church is to study, ponder, and pray for guidance in your preparation. Use the scriptures and the approved curriculum materials, teaching with the objective to bless and inspire the lives of those assigned to you. Let us also remember that some of the most effective activation work in the Church is accomplished by those teachers who reach out to the inactive, loving and teaching them until they are once again in full fellowship with the Saints.
To the master teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose resurrection we celebrate at this Easter time, I say: I thank thee, oh Lord, for teaching us that there is no greater call than to be an effective teacher. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Theodore M. Burton
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I would like to confine my remarks today to the principle of forgiveness as it applies to a person who has been disfellowshipped or excommunicated. By applying this principle we can "succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees." The most loving action the Church can take at times is to disfellowship or excommunicate a person. This statement may seem incongruous to someone who does not understand the true nature of repentance and forgiveness. And even within the Church, members sometimes have difficulty knowing how they should relate to such a person.
Should I limit my association to protect myself in case the sin is contagious? Should I show my disgust that he or she would commit such a serious transgression, and take my business and friendship elsewhere? Should I act as if nothing had happened, or should I show forth increased interest in that person to demonstrate my love and concern? These are important questions which deserve genuine answers.
I am concerned about this matter, for whatever actions are taken have serious consequences both for the transgressor and for his well-meaning but sometimes ill-informed associates who may be members of the Church in good standing. I am even more concerned about the attitudes of the victims of transgressions-those who were hurt by the transgressor's actions.
For an appropriate example, I look to my own grandchildren. Occasionally they quarrel or speak harshly one to another. But I am amazed and pleased when I observe how quickly the victim of a harsh word or action forgives and forgets. I am delighted that the offender is soon welcomed back into the fold of love by his brothers and sisters. Mother and father teach the offending child not to give offense again. So the family grows in affection.
If we are going to teach our children the principle of forgiveness, we need to begin with our own lives. We must set our children a good example. In dealing with family or friends, we hurt them when we are selfish or thoughtless. But if we change our ways to avoid giving offense in the future, it is easier to receive forgiveness. Repentance is a change of behavior which invites forgiveness. If father and mother forgive each other quickly and afterward show increased love and consideration for each other, their children will quickly learn to act likewise. Repentance and forgiveness will become standards within that family.
If we learn to forgive one another within the family, we will be able to forgive more readily within the Church and within the community. Like many good things, forgiveness begins in the home. We must remember to teach our children that even if others fail to be kind and considerate, we ought to be slow to condemn and very quick to forgive. We need not be tolerant of sin, but we must become tolerant and forgiving of the sinner. Jesus Christ gave his life to reconcile us to God so that through his atonement we can repent and receive forgiveness of our sins. We owe our Savior a great debt. Part of that debt is the obligation we have to forgive one another.
When Jesus taught the Nephites, he told them: "For, if ye forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you;
"But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." That forgiveness which comes from our Heavenly Father is so complete that he will not even call to mind the sins we have committed. His forgiveness is so all-inclusive that the Lord will not even remember those sins. But there is a condition attached to that forgiveness:
"By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins-behold, he will confess them and forsake them."
As we plead for mercy, we need to show mercy to others. The injury people do us may appear at the moment to be very great. Yet, just as time heals the wounds of the body, so time also heals the wounds of the soul. As we apply disinfectants to aid in healing the wounds of the body, we need to apply love and understanding in disinfecting the wounds of the soul. To the extent we give forgiveness to others, we can expect to receive forgiveness for ourselves. It is all part of the process of repentance.
My special assignment as a General Authority is to assist the First Presidency in bringing people who have committed serious sins back into the Church. I receive, organize, and summarize information for the First Presidency to use in making decisions. I must read the background material to make certain that all pertinent information is available to them. As I read the heartbreak contained in letters of people pleading for forgiveness, I realize the truth of Alma's statement: "Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness." My heart goes out to those sufferers in a spirit of forgiveness. And instead of dwelling on the wickedness and grief of those who have sinned, I rejoice to read how many have abandoned their sinful practices and are now on the road back to righteousness and happiness. People can and do change.
When people are disfellowshipped or excommunicated from the Church, it is done not to punish but to help them. Church discipline requires this action, but we should remember that the word discipline has the same root as the word disciple. A disciple is a student or follower-one who is learning. Church discipline, then, must become a teaching process. When a person is disciplined, he should not be thrust out and abandoned by his associates. It is exactly at that time that we need to show increased love for such people, to teach and show them the way back to God. It is wicked to reject a child of God simply because he made an error. We need to teach him how to start anew, to change evil practices into righteous deeds, and thus to transform his life. With repentance through service to others, he can be reinstated into fellowship or washed clean in the waters of baptism and brought back into the family of God.
To teach people to overcome sin and change their lives for the better is the sum and substance of Christian service. We must do everything in our power to help sinners to change their lives for the better. Otherwise, as the scriptures warn us, we will have to shoulder their sins ourselves. Our obligation is to teach and help them, and the sinner's obligation is to listen and learn. He will have to bear the whole burden himself if he refuses. But regardless of his present attitude, we must never abandon him nor think his reformation is hopeless. There is hope for everyone, and we must never cease trying to help people understand that through the atonement of Jesus Christ not only the sins of mankind in general but also their personal sins can be forgiven.
One thing causes me great concern as I read letters from those who have been injured. I am concerned with the feeling of resentment and hatred some individuals have expressed against the spouse that betrayed or abused them and their children. Occasionally a wife, for example, in a spirit of revenge may attempt to get even with her spouse by sinning in the same manner. But all she does by that tragic action is to destroy herself. Some individuals have expressed such resentment against a former spouse that they write that nothing that spouse could ever do could right the wrong he or she committed. They insist they can never forgive a spouse for the pain and suffering that spouse has caused.
A person with that attitude can hardly be called a follower of Jesus Christ. Even of those who were so wicked they crucified their Savior, he said: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." So, when Peter asked the Lord how often he should forgive a person who sinned against him, "Till seven times?" Jesus answered, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." People can and do change, and our duty is to forgive them.
Many people bring troubles and difficulties upon themselves by an unforgiving attitude. Hence, in a modern revelation Jesus Christ revealed this great truth:
"Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin." I take that to mean that it is a greater sin to refuse to forgive a person than it is to commit the sin for which that person was disfellowshipped or excommunicated. The Lord went on to say, "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men." We must be willing to forgive others and even to forgive ourselves.
As we struggle toward that perfection which Jesus Christ holds out for us, let us give emphasis to forgiveness. Let us cultivate that aspect of our character and rejoice in the spirit of forgiveness, which is the comforting message of the Atonement. I pray that we may all cultivate that spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Ted E. Brewerton
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Which of the Lord's Ten Commandments is probably broken the most frequently? I believe it would be taking the name of God in vain.
Today I should like to treat the important subject of profanity and swearing.
According to Modern Guide to Synonyms, profanity, blasphemy, cursing, obscenity, swearing, and vulgarity all refer to crude or foul language. Profanity and blasphemy usually refer to the irreverent use of the name of Deity.
Socrates said to a young man who was introduced to him, "Talk in order that I may see you."
We reveal ourselves with our speech. Shakespeare urged in King Lear, "Mend your speech a little, lest it may mar your fortunes." If we err, then remember the words of Confucius: "A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake."
I desire to read to you many of the Lord's words given through his prophets over the years so we might understand and think as he does regarding improper words.
"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."
"But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth."
Have we ever asked ourselves what is the harm or end result of swearing? Jeremiah expresses one thought about it in this way:
"For because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up."
President McKay speaks clearly regarding profane language: "No parent can consistently teach faith in Christ who profanes the name of Deity. Profanity is never heard in the well-ordered home. Swearing is a vice that bespeaks a low standard of breeding. Blasphemous exclamations drive out all spirit of reverence."
Judith Martin of the Washington Post writes the article "Miss Manners," which is syndicated in seventy-five other newspapers. She says regarding rudeness of speech:
"How does one deal with a rude person? Politely. I don't believe in answering rudeness with rudeness under any circumstances.
"How is that accomplished? With the stare or smile. I do not recommend the snappy comeback and putdown."
Politeness achieves much more than answering rudeness with rudeness. "Be patient in afflictions, revile not against those that revile."
The Lord speaks with clarity on this subject through his prophets. President Joseph Fielding Smith states: "Profanity is filthiness. A person is known as much by his language as he is by the company he keeps. Filthiness in any form is degrading and soul-destroying and should be avoided."
If we are not most careful with our thoughts and speech, the words we use will use us. Language has its own ethics, and one who communicates truth is like a bright light in the darkness. We must nurture language like that.
How interesting it is to hear nonmembers of the Church express their feelings about bad language. I like very much the title and comments used by Bob Greene of the Field Newspaper Syndicate who speaks of swearing in these terms. The title he uses is "Hear Pollution."
"Obscenity, the open use of which used to be a mark of lower social strata, has somehow become acceptable in everyday conversation for everyday people.
"And yet, I am offended-not out of a sense of morality or of prudishness-but because foul language used casually in public comes close to the idea of a violation of privacy. I know that there are some around who feel assaulted by hearing it. I chose that word very carefully; certain language is an assault on the senses.
"Those who disagree are probably saying, 'after all, it's only words.' But words are vehicles; they convey messages. And to some people, the message of profanity is a message of ugliness and aggressiveness and a disrespect for civil behavior.
"Bathroom and sexual obscenities can now be heard in certain popular songs on the radio, and even some magazines and newspapers have begun to print language that would have been unthinkable five years ago. This practice is usually defended under the name of 'freedom.' But whose freedom is it? If the language of ugliness becomes so much a part of our society that it is impossible to escape no matter where one turns, then who is free and who isn't?"
These assaults on the senses and the messages they carry do not elevate-they pull people down.
There is no place in this Church or in any of our families for pessimism or negativism. We should be incurable optimists.
Irrespective of the condition of a person, he who is a cynic, a pessimist, or negative has the least progress, happiness, and prosperity.
On the other hand, the Lord's way is that the optimist with faith, who is positive, elevating, and edifying, is the individual in or out of the Church who is the most progressive, happy, and prosperous. The Lord said:
"Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings."
We should-
enlighten
edify
lift
motivate
elevate
build and uplift
in all of our conversations and doings.
Now listen to the prophet's words as I read them, regarding encouraging, lifting, and edifying:
"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."
"Cease to contend one with another; cease to speak evil one of another.
" Let your words tend to edifying one another."
In the magazine Success Unlimited, Dec. 1982, Dwight Chapin draws to our attention a crucial aspect of creating only positive emotions:
"Every time a business in the service industry creates a negative emotion in the mind of a customer or client, that individual will share his dissatisfaction with an average of ten people before the emotion dissipates.
"The same research shows that a person who is impressed with a service will share that positive emotion with an average of only three other people at most. Given this situation it's obvious why negative news travels faster and farther than positive news."
That gives us all the more reason to be uplifting and positive. Profane words never edify.
There is some value in this expression of an unknown author: "I shall return again, for I like myself more when I am with you."
Peter and the associates of the Savior were greater because of the Savior. He built them, lifted them, and treated them as they were to become.
The associates of Joseph Smith were greater because of Joseph Smith. He raised them and strengthened them. So it has been with all the Presidents of the Church-men are greater because of them.
Church leaders do not spend time pulling down people or other institutions. They proclaim their own truths and allow others to express themselves.
The Brethren of the First Presidency have upon their shoulders the heaviest burden and responsibilities of any mortal-yet they are never heavyhearted; one who enters their offices always leaves a better person than when he entered.
The Lord's counsel is very clear: "Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech."
Do we really listen as we read the scriptures? Do we really hear his voice, hearken, and do his will? There are many who do hear and follow him.
Here are some good examples of hearing and doing the Lord's counsel:
In 1974 there were only about eight or ten Brazilians serving missions. Then President Kimball asked for more missionaries. By mid-1979 Brazil had over five hundred full-time local missionaries serving, and Mexico had over seven hundred.
They heard his counsel, did they not?
When I was a mission president in Central America some years ago, two of the elders brought a Catholic Benedictine monk into my office.
He had noticed the elevating nature of the Church due to an in-depth study he and others had been commissioned to do of 243 different churches. This study had been ordered by the Catholic church with honorable intent; they wished to know the similarities of the 243 churches to see the possibilities of more union and brotherhood.
After researching for over five years, they came to at least these two conclusions:
There were only two churches that had high moral values; one was The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
There was only one church that followed all the prophetic utterances of old-in other words, accepted and followed all the Old and New Testament-that was the Mormons.
This monk accepted the challenge to study the Book of Mormon and prayed to have divine verification of its truthfulness. As a result, he accepted the Savior by being baptized into this, His church.
He is now an active teacher in a high priests quorum in Central America.
He saw by investigation the edifying, lifting influence of the Church and hearkened unto the voice of the Lord.
A prominent man who had not visited a certain northern Utah high school for some two years attended a sports event and was appalled and offended by the escalation of profanity and crude language he heard.
Parents, do we wonder where our families or children are hearing obscene, crude, and foul words? Certainly never in our homes, for our homes are next to the temple in sacredness. They are an uplifting refuge, in which we instruct our families as to what the Lord expects of us.
Self-control is an effective quality that lifts anyone above the crowd; a memory of a self-controlled person will always be pleasant. We should never lower our dignity by lowering our language. We don't ever repeat a profane comment made by someone else. In the text Teaching-No Greater Call we read this regarding self-mastery:
"The height of a man's success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment. There is no other limitation in either direction. And this law is the expression of eternal justice.
"He who cannot establish a dominion over himself will have no dominion over others, he who masters himself shall be king."
Shouldn't we all have mastery over our tongues and words all of the time, and only elevate and edify?
We are in the presence of and being directed by living prophets. This is an absolute truth. The Lord himself directs this, his only true and living church, and I testify to this in the name of Jesus Christ, the Master, amen.
Elder Jacob de Jager
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I am very pleased and happy and grateful for this opportunity to speak to the Saints in this historic place and to the Saints in other places where I have been assigned to conferences recently-to Hurricane, Utah, and Wendell, Idaho. I have many friends there. It's a real privilege for me to share my testimony this afternoon and give the thoughts that are in my heart.
Since the beginning of recorded history, man has marveled at the mysteries of the sky and has had a desire to escape the bonds of gravity.
Yet the first recorded balloon ascent was the unmanned flight launched by the Montgolfier brothers in Lyon, France, in the year 1783, which was followed shortly thereafter by the first known manned flight from the Bois de Boulogne in Paris.
What is the situation in 1983, two hundred years later?
Man has been to the moon and has sent spaceships to distant planets. Close to three hundred satellites have been put into an earth orbit 22,300 miles above the equator to expand television and telex communications and also to study and forecast weather conditions. Yesterday, and last night during the general priesthood meeting, we were able to reach by satellite more than half a million priesthood holders at the same time.
Let's realize that all of these innovations have their origin, however, in ballooning, which gave mankind a first new perspective on his home planet as well as a physical and spiritual uplift in silent flight.
I have personally experienced, though only once, the exhilaration of a real balloon flight. It was during the exciting time immediately following World War II when in Holland, my native country, many public festivities were held to celebrate the regained liberty after five years of war. There were big parades, neighborhood dance festivals, and in some cities manned balloon flights to attract large crowds for yet other festive events.
A friend taught me a lot about ballooning in preparation for a flight that I was promised to be able to make as a guest, when at some future date the weather conditions would be suitable.
I learned that we would go up in a class A gas balloon filled with coal gas and that it would ascend until its weight would be in equilibrium with the air around it.
I also learned that in the wicker basket under the balloon there were navigational instruments, maps, and ballast sandbags, which could be emptied overboard to make the balloon rise higher.
Furthermore, I discovered that if gas is released from a balloon through a valve, it descends. But this was not all! I also heard from my friend many delightful stories about previous balloon flights. On one occasion, as the story goes, clouds developed unexpectedly during a flight, and the two men in the wicker basket had not the faintest idea over which part of the country they were sailing.
They decided to lower the balloon, and all of a sudden they saw a Dutchman walking on a lonely country road. When they were able to draw his attention, one of the men in the basket shouted: "Where are we?" And the lonely walker looked up, cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted back, "You are in a balloon."
To make their urgent request for direction more clear, the man in the balloon cried vigorously, "Where are you?" And the man called back at the top of his voice, "I am on the ground!"
Discouraged, the balloonists unloaded some ballast and sailed again into the clouds, while one of them remarked: "The man down there must be a bureaucrat." The statements he made were perfectly true, but totally useless!
After what I have shared with you thus far, I have come to the conclusion that a strong parallel can be drawn between the steady rise of a balloon and our spiritual upward mobility.
Just as gas is necessary to fill a balloon to push it upward, so must the individual be filled with inner motivation in order to move upward. Just as the balloon can rise higher by throwing ballast overboard, so must a person be willing to rid himself of unnecessary ballast that limits his rise in spirituality.
When I made my balloon flight, strangely enough, I did not have the feeling that I was going up. I had the impression that I remained stationary, as it were, and the world floated silently away from me.
Later, when through the missionary effort I joined the Church, I gained as a new member that peaceful feeling of being safely placed in the environment of true gospel living and that Babylon had floated away from me. As it was expressed by an early European balloonist: "I felt as though I had left behind me, all the cares and passions that molest mankind."
I testify that we all can have that peace of mind if we are willing to rid ourselves of the ballast that prevents us from rising to greater spiritual heights. It will facilitate our ascent to a loving Father in Heaven, who will, in his due time, await our return after our journey through life.
Let us, therefore, get rid of our sandbag of impatience and learn to be more patient with our spouses and children, our friends and neighbors, because the Lord has counseled us to "continue in patience until ye are perfected"!
And for those of you who do not know what the word patience really means, I offer a simple definition: Patience is learning to hide your impatience.
And how many of us still go through life with a ballast bag called criticism? We should, instead, give more praise wherever and whenever possible because we have been told and retold, "Cease to find fault one with another." And let us in this respect also remember that the faults and shortcomings we see in the members of our own ward or branch are of less consequence to us than one of the smallest in ourselves.
Furthermore, do we still have a sandbag with unfriendliness in our basket, even though the Savior asks us to be friendly and loving? As he said: "Ye are they whom my Father hath given me; ye are my friends."
While on our spiritual flight, let us totally empty our ballast bag of pride and be more humble in all things, always remembering the Savior's glorious promise to all: "And inasmuch as you have humbled yourselves before me, the blessings of the kingdom are yours."
And will we really ascend in our spiritual balloon if we are not prepared to dispose of our sandbag of greed? Living prophets have counseled us to pay an honest tithing and to give a generous fast offering; and, moreover, the scriptures reveal in a very candid way: "Wo unto that not give substance to the poor." And, unfortunately, some people think they are being generous because they give so much free advice!
Finally, we must get rid of the heavy ballast of frustrations. All of us must discover in the wicker basket of our personal spiritual balloon those frustrations against which we continually have to be on guard. It was revealed unto us, and we have already heard it twice from this pulpit in this conference: "The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men."
The only way we can move upward from our present level of spirituality and performance to a higher level is by doing away with the ballast that holds us back. We have to learn to live the commandments, not only for our own good, but also for the good of other people because we reform others unconsciously when we keep the commandments of God and live the teachings of the Church. That's another way of doing missionary work and lifting the spirituality of those around us.
Therefore, let's start our flight today. If we are still at ground level, let's cut the cords; and our rise will start immediately! However, even that will not ensure our continuous spiritual mobility. Our balloon will rise only so high and then will begin to stall. At that time we have to investigate what ballast we need to get rid of in order to rise even higher. If you find it hard to cut the cords, you will find it even harder to do away with the sandbags to lighten your load.
The balloon trip of our spiritual upward mobility is a demanding and sometimes difficult adventure, and only the person with true perseverance will make it to the highest realm!
In closing, after talking about flying, sailing, and rising, I would like to give some down-to-earth guidelines.
To those who are within the sound of my voice this day and who have already entered the wicker basket of their spiritual balloon through baptism into the kingdom of God but who are just sitting there, waiting inactively for things to happen, cut the cords that hold you back from lift-off.
To those who are quietly drifting at the same elevation with little upward mobility, take a close look at the ballast that prevents you from going to a higher level of performance. Make a decision and remove the restraining weight from your spiritual flight.
I give you a solemn promise that if you do this, you will enjoy a feeling of spiritual euphoria because you will elevate yourself.
I testify-as one who twenty-three years ago was baptized into the kingdom of God in Toronto, Canada-that my flight since my baptism has been a magnificent one, with breathtaking scenes and spiritual panoramas and with the never-failing knowledge that my day-to-day flight plan is made available to me by an understanding, loving, forgiving Heavenly Father.
The same is true for all of us! How do I know this? Because I know with all my heart that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Savior of mankind, the great mediator for the salvation and exaltation of all of our Heavenly Father's children, if they are willing to follow his outlined flight plan. Of which I testify this day, gratefully and happily, and in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder L. Tom Perry
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
"Train up a child in the way he should go," writes the author of Proverbs, "and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
My mind was drawn to this admonition recently while reading an article in one of our current news publications on "Our Neglected Kids." The article pointed out that "most of them are properly clothed and fed, but something is missing in the lives of countless children." For many of them, "it is a matter of needing more attention from their parents," who are caught up in everyday pressures.
The article says:
"In a nation that professes to take pride in its young, social change is inflicting harm-physical and psychological-on millions of children. For them, growing up in America is becoming an ordeal instead of a joy.
"As their parents struggle to cope with divorce, single parenthood, dual careers, and a troublesome economy, many of the nation's more than 47.6 million children under the age of 14 pay the price in ways that range from simple neglect to outright abuse.
"Parents are caught in a crunch of conflicting values," the article points out, quoting Edward Weaver. "They value children, but they value other things as well, such as time for themselves, material goods, status and their careers. Given these conflicts, in a number of instances they neglect children or don't give them a fair shake."
As I travel outside the boundaries of this country, I seem to find these same problems growing elsewhere. These are danger signals for our children. We find more mothers with jobs, more single-parent homes, an enormous increase in children born out of wedlock. These growing social changes are causing increased difficulty for the children in our society today.
Articles such as the one I have quoted deeply trouble me, for I had such a pleasant, happy childhood. The pleasure of being a parent has always been special to me. It is impossible to express the love I have for my children and grandchildren.
I marvel at the miracle of the birth of a child. Just recently we experienced it again in our family. You receive a phone call, and there is the anxious voice of your son-in-law on the other end, stating, "I am just on my way to the hospital with Linda Gay." Then you sit anxiously all day waiting for further news. Finally it comes: It's a boy! Then you drop everything and rush to the hospital to offer your congratulations. There you see this blessed miracle-your own child, now with a baby cradled in her arms with warmth and tender love. You see a son-in-law so excited, and he starts pointing out that the baby's nose looks like his mother's. Maybe the chin and mouth resemble his. Then he looks at the hands and says, "Surely, these must be from the Perry side of the family. Look how large they are!"
A deep love wells up within you as you witness this blessed event and realize the joy and happiness these new parents will now have as the process is repeated again in their lives.
I am surely not an authority on child rearing. I have had my challenges, just as many parents have experienced. However, since reading this article, I have been directed to the words of the prophets, past and present, stressing the importance of the responsibility of a parent to train up a child.
In the Old Testament, there is an account of the Lord giving instructions to Moses just before He delivered the Ten Commandments to him. It states:
"The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
"Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation."
In the New Testament, Paul, writing to the Ephesians, counseled them:
"And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."
The Book of Mormon begins with a son giving credit to the training of goodly parents:
"I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father."
Instructions through the Prophet Joseph Smith to members of the Church in this day are explicit regarding the responsibilities of parents to children:
"And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrines of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents."
At the time I was a new parent, President David O. McKay presided over the Church. His counsel was clear and direct regarding our responsibilities to our children. He taught us the most precious gift a man and woman can receive is a child of God, and that the raising of a child is basically, fundamentally, and most exclusively a spiritual process.
He directed us to basic principles we need to teach our children. The first and most important inner quality you can instill in a child is faith in God. The first and most important action a child can learn is obedience. And the most powerful tool you have with which to teach a child is love.
Let us examine together these three basic principles. President Brigham Young instructed parents by saying:
"If each and every one of us who are parents will reflect upon the responsibilities devolving upon us, we shall come to the conclusion that we should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do. We should set them an example that we wish them to imitate."
If we are to instill faith in our children, they must see us demonstrate our faith in their young lives. They must see us on our knees daily, asking the Lord for His blessings and expressing our gratitude unto Him. They need to see us using our priesthood to administer to those in need, and to bless our children. They need to see us reverently worshiping in our sacrament meetings. They need to see us cheerfully and willingly giving of our time and talents to the building of the Lord's kingdom here on earth. They need to see us proving our faith by the payment of our tithes and offerings to Him. They need to see us diligently studying and discussing the scriptures to increase our faith and understanding.
I read recently an article in a magazine designed especially for Latter-day Saints about a study that was made of the benefits of reading to children. It stated that when a mother or a father consistently reads to a child, the child enters school at a much higher level and excels in reading during these early grades. If there is a direct correlation between the early training a child receives from parents and the rapidity with which a child learns, how important would it be, then, for us to spend time reading the gospel of Jesus Christ to our children, to imbue and instill in them, in their tender and early years, faith in the gospel of our Lord and Savior?
The second principle President McKay outlined for us is obedience. President Joseph Fielding Smith has said: "Of course there should be prayer and faith and love and obedience to God in the home. It is the duty of parents to teach their children these saving principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, so that they will know why they are to be baptized and that they may be impressed in their hearts with a desire to continue to keep the commandments of God after they are baptized, that they may come back into his presence. Do you, my good brethren and sisters, want your families, your children; do you want to be sealed to your fathers and your mothers before you? If so, then you must begin by teaching at the cradle-side. You are to teach by example as well as precept."
I remember being impressed one time with the need to teach obedience. I was on a new job working long hours, and I guess I was somewhat neglectful of my family. My son seemed to crave more time and attention. He was finding all sorts of ways to attract my attention. One day when I came home, his mother had him prepared to take me downstairs to see what mischief he had recently created. As we descended the stairs, he sheepishly opened the door to our food storage room. There I found he had been using his dart set to practice his marksmanship on our food storage. He caught my attention all right, and made me realize he was looking for the metes and bounds we expected of him in our family government. When they were outlined, and when I gave him the proper attention, then he was very obedient. How important it is that we teach obedience early in the lives of our children, especially to the commandments of the Lord!
Finally, President McKay taught us the necessity of love. I've always been impressed with the fact that when the Lord was teaching His disciples in those final hours of His earthly ministry as they met in the Last Supper, after teaching service by the washing of their feet, His next instructions concerned love. He taught,
"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."
I recently enjoyed an article in the Reader's Digest written about enduring values. It stated "that the climate of our times tends to support the idea that love is a seasonal monsoon: it comes, it blows fiercely; it goes by. That is too bad, because a child needs the kind of love that is as trustworthy as the rising of the sun. If a child is to grow up to truly join the human race, he needs to know how to keep love alive.
"A child should learn not merely to love, but to be a loving person-to make love his stance in the world. 'Love' may come and go, but a loving person, like the sun itself, never loses his or her sustaining warmth."
Sometime ago I remember reading about an experiment with chickens. I do not remember the source. Young pullets, as they grew in their life cycle, were given all of the food they needed to eat, without being required to make an effort to obtain it. Then as the pullets matured, they were turned out into the chicken coop, where they had to scratch for their food. A chicken who had never been taught how to scratch as a pullet would mature without learning this ability and would literally starve to death, even though just below the surface of the ground was all the food it needed to sustain life.
Then the article went on to compare this example with a child who was not taught the ability to love early in its life. In all probability, according to the article, the child would not be able to develop that choice characteristic as it matured to adulthood. How tragic it would be if a child were deprived of the ability to love!
Today, I would like you to pause, ponder, and think of the value of an immortal soul, especially the ones entrusted to you as parents. Where are your priorities? Have you committed yourself to give the sufficient time necessary to train your children?
Dr. Nick Stinnett of the University of Nebraska gave a most interesting talk at an annual meeting of the National Council on Family Relations. It was titled "Characteristics of Strong Families." His six points were:
A strong family spends a significant amount of time together while playing, working, eating, or in recreation. Although family members all have outside interests, they find adequate time to spend together.
Strong families have a high degree of commitment to each family member, as indicated not only by the time spent together, but also by their ability to work together in a common cause.
Strong families have good communication patterns, as indicated by the time spent listening and speaking to each other in conversation.
Strong families have a high degree of religious orientation.
Strong families have the ability to deal with crises in a positive way because they have spent time together, are committed to each other, and have good communication patterns.
Strong family members frequently give compliments to each other which are genuine and not superficial.
We who have embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ ought to have the devotion and the determination necessary to build strong family units. May God bless us that we may "organize; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house" for those we love that is worthy of an eternal family unit is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
My brethren and sisters, ordinarily President Spencer W. Kimball would be occupying this position. I am satisfied that many of you were seriously disappointed that you have not had the opportunity of seeing him or hearing from him on this occasion. As I indicated yesterday morning, he is showing the effects of his advanced age and the rigorous life which he has lived. However, he rises each day and dresses, and we consult with him frequently. If President Kimball could not be here, President Romney would be doing this. But he isn't here, either. And as President Romney remarked last October at the priesthood meeting, "It looks as if they've left it to the kids."
You will now be returning to your homes. Many of you will return to the various nations of Europe, to Africa, and to the many nations of South America. Others will return to Australia and New Zealand and the islands of the Pacific, to Mexico and Central America, and to the lands of Asia. Many will return to their homes in Canada and across the United States. The miracle of this work as it spreads over the earth never escapes me. I took occasion here to open the testimony of Joseph Smith concerning the words spoken to him when a young man seventeen years of age. He was visited by Moroni in the night, and he reports, "He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people."
We see in this congregation today a fulfillment of those remarkable words of prophecy. This has become a great, cosmopolitan church. We rejoice in the tremendous growth of the work across the world. We are thankful for your great faith and faithfulness. We all look upon one another as brothers and sisters, regardless of the land we call home. We belong to what may be regarded as the greatest society of friends on the face of the earth.
When the emperor of Japan was in the United States some few years ago, I attended a luncheon for him in San Francisco. We sat at a table with three other couples who had had extensive experience in Japan and who had resided there at one time or another while working in government, business, or educational employment. One of the gentlemen said to me, "I have never seen anything like your people. We had many Americans come to Japan while we were there, and most of them experienced a severe cultural adjustment and much loneliness and homesickness. But whenever we had a Mormon family come, they had many instant friends. Members of your church in Japan seemed to know when they were expected and were there to welcome them. They and their children were immediately integrated socially as well as into your religious community. There seemed to be no culture shock and no loneliness. My wife and I talked about it many times."
That is the way it should be. We must be friends. We must love and honor and respect and assist one another. Wherever Latter-day Saints go, they are made welcome, because Latter-day Saints are mutual believers in the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ and are engaged together in his great cause.
We speak of the fellowship of the Saints. This is and must be a very real thing. We must never permit this spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood to weaken. We must constantly cultivate it. It is an important aspect of the gospel.
Now, brethren and sisters, we have had a wonderful conference, a marvelous conference. All who have spoken have done so under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The music has been superb. We are deeply grateful to all who have participated-speakers, those who have offered prayers, and those who have lifted our souls with music.
As we return to our homes let us contemplate the things we have heard. Let us go with resolution and determination to more fully live the gospel. "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."
That article of our faith is one of the basic declarations of our theology. During this great conference we have been reminded of many of the virtues set forth in that brief statement. We ought to reflect on it again and again. I wish that every family in the Church would write out that article of faith and put it on a mirror where every member of the family would see it every day. Then, whenever we might be tempted to do anything shoddy or dishonest or immoral, there would come into our minds with some force this great, all encompassing statement of the ethics of our behavior. There would be less rationalizing over some elements of our personal conduct which we try to justify with one excuse or another.
Some would have us believe that the area between good and evil is largely gray and that it is difficult to determine what is right and what is wrong. For any who so believe, I recommend this beautiful statement of Moroni found in the Book of Mormon: "For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for everything which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God."
Let us establish in our lives the habit of reading those things which will strengthen our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. He is the pivotal figure of our theology and our faith. Every Latter-day Saint has the responsibility to know for himself or herself with a certainty beyond doubt that Jesus is the resurrected, living Son of the living God. The Brethren of the Council of the Twelve are advocating that we read a chapter a day of the Gospels-that is, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Bible; and Third Nephi in the Book of Mormon, particularly beginning with the eleventh chapter of Third Nephi where is found the account of Christ's visit among the Nephites in this hemisphere. I should like to endorse this program and commend it to you and urge you to follow it.
Brethren and sisters, we have nothing to fear if we stay on the Lord's side. If we will be prayerful, seeking wisdom from God, who is the source of all true wisdom; if we will cultivate a spirit of love and peace and harmony in our homes; if we will fulfill our assigned responsibilities in the Church with enthusiasm and faithfulness; if we will reach out to our neighbors and others in a spirit of Christian love and appreciation, helping those in distress wherever we may find them; if we will be honest with the Lord in the payment of our tithes and offerings, we shall be blessed as God has promised. Our Father has made explicit covenants with his people. He is in a position to keep those covenants. It is my testimony that he does so.
May I read to you in conclusion these great, reassuring words given by the Lord long ago to this people: "Fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap.
"Fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.
"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."
In closing I give to you the love and blessing of President Spencer W. Kimball, of his Counselor President Marion G. Romney, and of all of my Brethren of the General Authorities. To this I add my own expression to you of gratitude for your sustaining influence, for your devoted service, and for your expressions of faith. May the Lord bless you generously, as he will if you will walk in faith. For this I humbly pray as I leave with you my testimony and witness that I know that God our Eternal Father lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the living resurrected Savior of mankind, and that this Church in which we have the honor to serve is their church restored to the earth for the blessing of all of our Father's children who will give heed to its message. God bless you. May he be with you in all things, at all times, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
My beloved sisters, it is a privilege and an honor to be with you.
I suppose this is the largest gathering of women ever convened in the history of the Church. The Tabernacle is filled to capacity. Additionally, women are assembled in over six hundred stake centers, and many others are watching in homes where television is available. As I have looked over this vast congregation, I have thought, "What a profitable day for the hairdressers!"
I know that many of you out there feel lonely at times. Some of you girls find that there are only two or three Latter-day Saints in the large schools which you attend. You women who work may find yourselves the only members of the Church at your places of employment. You who are widows and some who have been divorced may feel that you are alone. The numbers who are participating in this meeting tonight should give you the assurance that you are not alone. You are part of the greatest sorority or sisterhood on earth. It probably includes some two million women.
This vast congregation includes girls and women from the age of ten and up. I am happy for the inclusion of the ten-year-olds. Ten is a great age, a beautiful age, when a child who previously appeared to be all arms and legs and appetite seems to partake of a refining influence that brings with it beauty and grace. It is like blossoms in the spring that burst with the warmth of the sun. It is a time of awakening of mental and physical powers. It is the bridge season between childhood and youth.
Do you know that the great prophet-historian Mormon received his charge concerning the sacred records when he was only ten years of age? The book which we have today, this sacred and marvelous testament of Christ, resulted from Mormon's faithfulness in meeting that assignment. Never discount the importance of a ten-year-old.
"What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice, and everything nice." So goes the old nursery rhyme. But more importantly, they are the promise of the future. Through them, eventually, must filter the qualities of all of the earlier generations, which will become the bone and the tissue, the minds and the spirits, of the generations yet to be.
To you young girls I say with all of the strength and conviction I can muster, be sweet, be good, be strong and virtuous and wonderful. Somehow I feel that the Lord included you with those of whom he spoke when he said, "Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Channing Pollock, the gifted author and playwright, once wished, through one of his characters, that we might all be born old and gradually grow younger and ever more innocent until at death we have become as little children.
I next would like to say a few words to you young women, you who have crossed the threshold from childhood and early youth into the maturity of your later teens and early twenties. For you this must be a season for strength. It is a season that demands discipline of mind and of body. This is the season for preparation, and the Lord has said, "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear."
It is a time for education. The world that lies ahead of you will be fiercely competitive. Now is the time to train yourselves for possible future responsibilities.
Education is a tradition that has come down from our early history. We believe in the training of our youth, girls as well as boys. Brigham Young once said, "We have sisters here who, if they had the privilege of studying, would make just as good mathematicians or accountants as any man."
You have available to you tremendous opportunities for training your minds and your hands. You will wish for marriage and the companionship of a good husband. But none of us can foretell the future. Prepare yourselves for any eventuality. You need not go to a university if that is not your taste. There are wonderful technical colleges across the land which will hone your skills and assist you in qualifying yourselves for future responsibilities.
Hopefully, most of you will marry. But the training you have received will not have been in vain. It will be a blessing whether you be single or married.
Keep yourselves worthy of marriage. This is an age when strength is needed to retain that worthiness. Seldom if ever in the history of the world have we been so widely exposed to those seductive influences which lead to degradation, sin, and regret. The merchants of pornography and some designers of entertainment are as clever as hell itself with their beguiling wares. They would lead you into a trap that could eventually bring only sorrow, remorse, and heartache.
Said the Lord, "Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly." He then gave this promise: "Then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God.
"The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion ; thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever."
I paraphrase a few words of a statement made by the First Presidency more than forty years ago:
How glorious is she who lives a chaste life. She walks unfearful in the full glare of the noonday sun, for she is without moral infirmity. She can be reached by no shafts of base calumny, for her armor is without flaw. Her virtue cannot be challenged by any just accuser, for she lives above reproach. He cheek is never blotched with shame, for she is without hidden sin. She is honored and respected by all mankind, for she is beyond their censure. She is loved by the Lord, for she stands without blemish. The exaltations of eternities await her coming.
Now if there be any here who have slipped, I hold out to you the assurance that there is forgiveness for the individual who truly repents. God will forgive those who acknowledge the error of their ways and who demonstrate by the goodness of their lives the sincerity of their repentance.
I should like now to say a few words to those of you who are married. I would hope that you may have been married in the house of the Lord. Our Father in Heaven, who loves his children, has provided for them a privilege beyond price, and that is the eternal sealing of the most precious of all relationships.
To you who have this priceless blessing, live worthy of it. Loyalty is of the very essence of your temple vows and covenants-loyalty to your companion, loyalty to your children, loyalty to God with whom you have made solemn covenant. He will not be mocked. Glorious and wonderful are the promises to those who keep their covenants and walk in obedience to his divine commandments. The sense of responsibility that comes therewith will sweeten marriage, will bring a sanctifying influence to the home, will make more precious the children who come of that union, and will give peace throughout the seasons of life and comfort in time of death.
I recognize that there are many in this vast congregation who have not had the opportunity of temple marriage, whose husbands may not be members of the Church or may not have qualified themselves to go to the house of the Lord. To you I wish to say, be patient, be prayerful. Stifle your tendency to criticize. Live the kind of life in your home that will cause your companion to see in you that goodness, that virtue, and that strength which come of the gospel.
I remember a family I knew fifty years ago. The wife was a devoted member of the Church. The husband was not a member. He smoked and drank. She hoped and she prayed. She lived for the day when his heart might be touched by the Spirit of the Lord. Years passed one after another into more than a decade. Her example was one of goodness and gladness and faith. After many years he began to soften. He saw what the Church did for her and for their children. He turned around. He humbled himself. He was baptized. He has since served as a quorum president and a bishop, as a missionary, and as a worker in the temple.
You have not failed until you have quit trying, and please remember that your example in your home will be a more persuasive sermon than will any other kind of preachment.
I salute most warmly and sincerely you dedicated and wonderful homemakers. I have only respect for the title "housewife."
I clipped this from the Wall Street Journal, titled "The Most Creative Job in the World":
"It involves taste, fashion, decorating, recreation, education, transportation, psychology, romance, cuisine, designing, literature, medicine, handicraft, art, horticulture, economics, government, community relations, pediatrics, geriatrics, entertainment, maintenance, purchasing, direct mail, law, accounting, religion, energy and management. Anyone who can handle all those has to be somebody special. She is. She's a homemaker."
Now, a word to you who have not married. It would be a beautiful world if every girl had the privilege of marriage to a good man whom she could look upon with pride and gladness as her companion in time and eternity, hers alone to love and cherish, to respect and help.
But it does not always work out that way. There are some who, for reasons unexplainable, do not have the opportunity of marriage. To you I should like to say, don't spend your time and wear out your lives wandering about in the wasteland of self-pity. God has given you talents of one kind or another. He has given you the capacity to serve the needs of others and bless their lives with your kindness and concern. Reach out to someone in need. There are so very many out there.
Add knowledge to knowledge. Refine your mind and skills in a chosen field of discipline. There are tremendous opportunities for you if you are prepared to take advantage of them. Nearly all of the honorable vocations of life are now open to women. Do not feel that because you are single God has forsaken you. The world needs you. The Church needs you. So very many people and causes need your strength and wisdom and talents.
Be prayerful, and do not lose hope. But do not become obsessed with ambition to find a companion. Your obsession likely will only make you less attractive, or it may cause a weakening of your standards. Live the very best life of which you are capable, and the Lord in his greater wisdom and in his eternal season will give you answer to your prayers.
To you women who find it necessary to work when you would rather be at home, may I speak briefly. I know that there are many of you who find yourselves in this situation. Some of you have been abandoned and are divorced, with children to care for. Some of you are widows with dependent families. I honor you and respect you for your integrity and spirit of self-reliance. I pray that the Lord will bless you with strength and great capacity, for you need both. You have the responsibilities of both breadwinner and homemaker. I know that it is difficult. I know that it is discouraging. I pray that the Lord will bless you with a special wisdom and the remarkable talent needed to provide your children with time and companionship and love and with that special direction which only a mother can give. I pray also that he will bless you with help, unstintingly given, from family, friends, and the Church, which will lift some of the burden from your shoulders and help you in your times of extremity.
We sense, at least in some small degree, the loneliness you must occasionally feel and the frustrations you must experience as you try to cope with problems that sometimes seem beyond your capacity to handle. Sometimes you need food for your tables, and we trust that bishops will be there to supply food and other goods and services under the great program which the Lord has provided in his Church. But we know that more often your greater need is for understanding and appreciation and companionship. We shall try a little harder to cultivate these virtues, and I urge you sisters who are in a position to do so to reach out with greater concern to those who find themselves in these less fortunate circumstances.
Now to others who work when it is not necessary and who, while doing so, leave children to the care of those who often are only poor substitutes, I offer a word of caution. Do not follow a practice which will bring you later regret. If the purpose of your daily employment is simply to get money for a boat or a fancy automobile or some other desirable but unnecessary thing, and in the process you lose the companionship of your children and the opportunity to rear them, you may find that you have lost the substance while grasping at the shadow.
In conclusion, I should like to say a word to all women of the Church. I know of no doctrine which states that we made a choice when we came to earth as to whether we wished to be male or female. That choice was made by our Father in Heaven in his infinite wisdom. I am satisfied that he loves his daughters as much as he loves his sons. President Harold B. Lee once remarked that priesthood is the power by which God works through us as men. I should like to add that motherhood is the means by which God carries forward his grand design of continuity of the race. Both priesthood and motherhood are essentials of the plan of the Lord.
Each complements the other. Each is needed by the other. God has created us male and female, each unique in his or her individual capacities and potential. The woman is the bearer and the nurturer of children. The man is the provider and protector. No legislation can alter the sexes. Legislation should provide equality of opportunity, equality of compensation, equality of political privilege. But any legislation which is designed to create neuter gender of that which God created male and female will bring more problems than benefits. Of that I am convinced.
I wish with all my heart we would spend less of our time talking about rights and more talking about responsibilities. God has given the women of this church a work to do in building his kingdom. That concerns all aspects of our great triad of responsibility-which is, first, to teach the gospel to the world; second, to strengthen the faith and build the happiness of the membership of the Church; and, third, to carry forward the great work of salvation for the dead.
This is a season for strength. I conclude with these stirring words of Moroni, written as he sealed his record to come forth in the dispensation of the fulness of times:
"Awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.
"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness."
Put on thy beautiful garments, O daughters of Zion. Live up to the great and magnificent inheritance which the Lord God, your Father in Heaven, has provided for you. Rise above the dust of the world. Know that you are daughters of God, children with a divine birthright. Walk in the sun with your heads high, knowing that you are loved and honored, that you are a part of his kingdom, and that there is for you a great work to be done which cannot be left to others.
God be thanked for the wonderful women of this Church. May he plant in your hearts a sense of pride in your capacities and a conviction of truth which shall be as a rudder to keep you safe through every storm, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Barbara B. Smith
Relief Society General President
President Hinckley, Elder Maxwell, Elder Larsen, President Young, President Cannon, beautiful Primary girls and Young Women, and my beloved Relief Society sisters: We have come together to speak of things we have in common. Although our ages, and stages in life, and circumstances create different challenges, the scriptural words of the beautiful hymn the choir has just sung should be the statement for all of us-young and older-"The Lord is the strength of my life."
I hope that through this message we will have manifested and affirmed in our hearts the reality that the principles of the gospel are timeless and timely and that eternal truths supply precise answers for our present need. Such needs are notable in their diversity and demanding in their urgency, but in groping for answers we sometimes overlook the evident. For good solutions often lie not so much in the undiscovered as in the unused.
When the Lord restored the gospel to the earth in its fulness and purity, he also organized the Church as a means to turn precepts into living principles, to help believers become Saints. And become Saints they did when, as converts, they were drawn by their compelling faith to put precept to the test; and in the strength of the Lord they saw goals achieved, hopes realized, and their own strength grow.
In a gripping account of the Martin Handcart Company, caught by early winter snows in the trek from Iowa City to the Salt Lake Valley, we read of Margaret Dalglish, "a stout Scottish girl worn down to skin and bones, but still keeping up." After wading through rivers of slush ice and suffering blizzards, hunger, and loss of loved ones, she was among those who were still "hauling their battered carts, still walking defiantly on their own legs" as they entered the valley at last.
While the demands made upon women in pioneer days may seem to be of more heroic proportions than those commonly faced by women today, in a sense we share the whole range of problems-disease, divorce, drugs, death, immorality, economic insecurity, abuse, loneliness, depression, single parenthood and on and on-problems with which women have always struggled and with which they must now contend.
We are in a time when the swift changes of our social structure are thrusting enormous challenges upon us. We must remember that the work of women is important and still must be done. The spirit children of God must have the experience of mortality, and that means babies must be wanted, nurtured, loved, and cared for. The Lord has given women a primary responsibility in the establishment of good homes and well-cared-for families. No matter what the challenges are, we must find ways to accomplish this life-giving and eternal work. "Good family life is never an accident; it is always an achievement." It was so for the women of the past, and it is so for us today. Our lives require discipline, coping without compromise, conversion of precepts into living principles that will make us saintly. We can see examples about us today.
Consider the sister, just recently baptized, who accepted a calling to teach a Relief Society lesson. When she could not arrange transportation one Sunday morning, she walked the eleven miles to the meetinghouse and gave her lesson in order to honor her commitment.
A visit by a Relief Society president to an inactive deaf sister revealed that it hurt the sister too much to go to meetings and never be able to join in the discussion. As the president left that home, she promised the sister that if she would attend her Relief Society meetings she would be included. The president and her entire board learned to sign. Gratitude, satisfaction, and personal enrichment came as the sisters employed this new skill to respond to the need of that one individual.
The husband of a Relief Society sister was killed in a disastrous automobile accident, leaving his wife and three young children without means of support or much security. Upon taking stock of her circumstances, personal resources, and talents, the courageous wife worked out a plan whereby she could complete her education and provide financial sustenance for the family during the hours the children were in school. Through the application of thrift, discipline, and reliance on the Lord, the needs of the family were met. Kind, loving care was given to the sister's aged parents as well.
Even as the Lord organized the Church, we who have the gospel need to organize our lives to do what has to be done, to become "doers of the word", and in the doing to come to know strength in the Lord. That strength comes when we prepare for his blessings, recognize them, and use his gifts to make his ways our ways.
In the beloved Latter-day Saint hymn "O My Father," Eliza R. Snow celebrates in words the continuity of family relationships beyond death and reminds us of a glorious reunion with our heavenly parents. Written as solace to a dear friend, Zina Huntington, who had lost her mother and father in tragic deaths, the well-known lines of this hymn give poetic statement to a great truth revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
By looking closely, we can find in that single incident in Church history some of the gifts God has given to strengthen Latter-day Saint women: revealed truth, priesthood leadership, individual talents, and opportunities for service. These are available to every woman and can give us the power to triumph over the most difficult circumstances and move forward in strength.
In just rendering compassionate service to a friend, Eliza R. Snow used her talents, responded to priesthood leadership, and gave memorable expression to revealed truth.
In a very real sense, when Joseph Smith knelt in the Sacred Grove and asked his question, it was for each of us. The answer he received provides a sure foundation of fundamental truths upon which we should structure our lives. He also demonstrated that through personal prayer eternal truths answer individual needs. Heavenly power can help us understand and relate the timeless to our immediate concerns.
Whatever your circumstances, this can be your season of strength, because one of the most compelling concepts in the gospel is that the Savior will come again. And he counsels, "Behold, I come quickly." We must live with constant anticipation of his coming. Being ready to receive him is the position of our greatest strength. Let this be our bulwark against temptation or slothfulness. Let it cause us to read the Savior's words, to search our hearts, and to try to live every principle of righteousness he taught. This will require us to love as he loves. Then, we are told, when he comes we shall know him, for we shall be like him.
May the Lord be our light and our salvation, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Dwan J. Young
General Primary President
Tonight I want to tell you about a girl who was a pianist of some promise. When she was quite small, her mother sat with her on the piano bench each day, taught her the notes, and encouraged her to practice while she learned those first pieces.
Soon this wise mother decided she had taught her as much as she knew and that her daughter should begin taking lessons from a professional teacher. The young woman was encouraged constantly, and while in high school she had the opportunity to play part of a piano concerto with a symphony orchestra.
As she entered the hall the night of the concert, there was excitement in her heart. She felt confident and ready because her preparation had been thorough. She took her place at the piano bench. The conductor lifted his baton, and she raised her eyes to watch for his signal.
Suddenly her eye caught the face of someone she knew. It shifted her attention so that, when the conductor gave the cue, she could not respond. Her mind went blank; her memory failed; her fingers froze; she could not think of the beginning notes. The conductor cued her once more; still no response. Finally, after an agonizing pause, someone passed her the music so she could begin.
When the number was over, she rushed from the stage, thoroughly devastated by what had happened. She wanted the earth to open up and swallow her. Anything would do, so long as she didn't have to face her parents, her friends, the orchestra members, or any of the audience. Suddenly, in one brief moment, her whole life stopped, so she thought. But of course it didn't. She had to stand up and walk out of that concert hall.
She didn't die; the world didn't stop. In fact, there is no record that it even skipped a beat on that momentous day. I know because I was there-I was that girl. I lived to play other pieces and to perform before other audiences because my teacher said I could. And my parents reminded me that I must go on. The humiliation still races through me when I think about it. But I have come to realize that my life did not end that night because, though I had been preparing for a piano performance, I had also been preparing in other ways. Perhaps more significantly, others had been teaching me and preparing me to pick myself up and try again.
My time of preparation had been carefully guided by people who loved me to include experiences with gospel principles. Those teachings were well cultivated inside me so that, when the time of hurt and embarrassment came, I knew I was not alone. I knew there was more to the valued experience of life than playing the piano.
The scriptures tell us to "train up a child in the way he should go, and he will not depart from it." One of the major assignments given to parents is to teach their children the gospel. This provides what others have called a "value system."
This plan outlined by the Lord is designed to impress us with the worth of human life and the profound importance of the individual. He has revealed that there is purpose in living. That purpose is for each of us to learn those Christlike attributes which will make us worthy of eternal life.
Mortality is the time to learn to walk by faith. It is the time to learn to be doers of the word, not hearers only. It is the time to gain knowledge and master some wisdom. It is the time to realize that it is not enough to know; we must also act on knowledge with wisdom. And finally, by the Lord's definition, it is the time to learn how to love one another.
President Kimball says the Lord sends us on his errands, for it is the best way we learn about charity-that perfect love of Christ-the love which nurtures and renews. Charity is the power which changes human life. It is the power which soothes the aching heart and restores the soul. Charity comes to us from the Lord and from those who see our needs. It comes into our lives when we give loving service to someone else in need.
To have faith and understand that each of us is truly a child of God gives assurance to our sense of worth. These are the important things which he has asked us to teach our children.
But before we can teach our children, we must understand and live the principles ourselves. It is vital that the child learn from our example that what we say and what we live are the same.
Mothers and fathers need to read the words of the Lord with their children and discuss the scriptures constantly. It is only through hearing the word and watching it manifest itself in our lives that children come to be familiar with the voice of the Good Shepherd. As we cuddle those infant children, we sing lullabies and talk of important things. In the soft and gentle arms of a mother's love, children can come to know the voice of the Lord. Then, in later years, when the stress of living comes, the soul has at its command the teachings and the tools by which to overcome.
We learn and grow ourselves; we teach and prepare our children; but an additional responsibility given to all of us is that of feeding the sheep. You will remember when Peter appealed to the Lord with his declarations of faith and loyalty, Jesus turned to him and said, "Feed my lambs." "Feed my sheep."
Beyond ourselves, beyond our family circles, we have responsibility. We must reach out to give others that same testimony which we have cultivated in our own souls and extended to our children. Wherever we are called to serve, we must remember the responsibility to feed his lambs and give them an understanding of their real worth and eternal potential.
In our day-to-day living we will associate with neighbors, shopkeepers, plumbers, and builders. The lineup of people with whom our lives cross is almost endless. How will our behavior affect them in their search for meaning and faith? I expect our example is part of the feeding his sheep that the Lord called to our attention.
The time to prepare is now. In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, the Lord reminds us that we need to be prepared when the Bridegroom cometh. We need to recommit ourselves to the daily tasks of living the gospel. We need to learn to pray by praying every day. We need to learn to hear the word of the Lord by studying the scriptures every day.
Preparing for gospel living really is very much like learning the piano after all. We cannot learn the notes from afar. Our fingers have to touch the keys time after time after time. Our teachers have to direct our learning experience. We have to give children opportunities to make decisions, to give love and service until they know how to do it on their own. We have to show them how to seek the Lord's help in bearing grief and pain and seek his direction and his sustaining power.
Now is the time for each of us to prepare-to gain the strength necessary to meet our individual challenges. I know the Lord is anxious to respond to us if we will only turn to him. I pray that we will all have the faith necessary to be receptive to his promptings, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elaine Cannon
Young Women General President
A good man had been given the assignment in his ward of arranging the Boy Scout banquet. He had worked hard, made his choices, and carried them through. The tables were set, the food was in the pot, and the hour was drawing nigh.
His wife came over early to check things out. Everything seemed in order, but it looked mighty colorless to her trained eye. She turned to him and said, "Okay, Honey, but what are you going to use for the centerpieces?"
Surprised, he looked at the stark setting and considered the matter gravely for a moment. Then, in the full agency of his manhood, he replied, "Butter-squares of butter!"
Now that is what you might call freedom of choice-agency. And that's what we're going to talk about for a few minutes, agency and accountability. I must add that should we happen to choose butter for the centerpiece, we can't expect compliments on the decor. We have our free agency, but we also have to accept the consequences of our choices. It isn't so serious in centerpieces, but in matters of life, and of life after death, it is critical.
Agency is an eternal principle and is implicit in the test of life. We must constantly choose between opposites: good and evil. Satan sought to destroy the free agency of man, and here on earth he's still working to entangle man in sin.
To use our agency wisely we need information to act upon. We need a knowledge of the laws of life, with their accompanying blessings and protective punishments. When we know the gospel, the elements of the "thou shalts" and the "thou shalt nots," we'll make better choices.
The scriptures remind us, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Our job is to search for the full truth and apply it in our lives. Though we are free to act, we are not free to decide what is right or wrong. That was determined eons ago. We can scoff at sacred things, rationalize our behavior, spout our own ideas, agree or disagree, but it doesn't change anything. We cannot alter God's laws, his truth. We can choose to use truth wisely and reach our goal, or we can refuse to learn truth, to live it, and then pay the inevitable penalty.
Accountability is the natural product of agency and is the basis of the plan of life. We are responsible for our own actions and accountable to God for what we choose to do with our lives. Life is God's gift to us, and what we do with it is our gift to him.
In Galatians we read, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Sisters, translated into simple idiom that means that if you pick up one end of a stick, you pick up the other. When you pick a path, you choose the place it leads to.
I well remember a striking scene that gave me a dramatic perspective of agency and accountability. I was in a village hotel in Taiwan, several floors up, looking out the window at great numbers of the beautiful children of Taiwan on their way to school. From my vantage point I could see the school some distance away. The children knew the school was there, though they couldn't see it yet, and, of course, they were unaware of my presence. They were charming in the official school uniform-short navy skirt or pant; clean, white starched shirt; and, on this rainy day, a canary-yellow slicker. Now, some of the children carelessly dragged their slickers behind them; a few let them fly open; others wore them tightly buttoned, like the whole armor of God.
The path they were taking through the rice paddy was well trampled, but there were big mud puddles, exciting places to hide between tall rushes, temptations behind a small shop across the way.
The children came around the corner of the hotel-wave after wave of these little people of Heavenly Father's family-and according to their agency, they dawdled along, were detoured by the slightest distraction, or else pressed toward the mark-the school way up ahead. It was up to them now; parents weren't around.
I was fascinated watching the children deal with their environment. Some deliberately plowed right through the deep mud puddles time and again and came forth filthy. Others automatically marched around the puddle, almost oblivious to it. Many absolutely couldn't resist the temptation to gingerly touch a toe in the mire. One little girl, afterwards, stooped over and tried to wipe the mud from her shoe, then from her hand; then she brushed the spot on her clothes where she had wiped her hand. Mud is tough to erase.
Interesting, isn't it? Life from a window. Agency and accountability. They made their choices, and so do we.
We are like children walking a path in the rain. We can walk in or around the mud of life as we desire, but with our choices come the consequences. And we are rapidly becoming what we are choosing to be for all eternity.
Spiritual maturity is understanding that we cannot blame anybody else for our actions. Some factors may make it harder for us to perform according to God's plan for us, but being accountable for how we use our agency means being answerable for our own behavior.
It is one of the things that I admire most about mother Eve-her absolute strength in personal accountability. When she was called on the proverbial carpet by God, she explained that Lucifer had tempted her with the fruit. But then she admitted, "And I did eat."
By strict obedience Jesus won. He did not succumb to Satan's temptings. And if we do what the Lord says, we have no need to fear the consequences. "Thy will, not mine, O Lord" can be comforting in times of testing or decision. God loves us. He loves you! His will for you when obeyed means your ultimate joy.
But I worry, Sisters. I sometimes wonder if we know God's will for us, if we know what is hurtful or sinful and why, if we have the faintest notion, on the other hand, of the glories he has in store for our reward, here as well as hereafter, if we are obedient. I wonder if mothers have really taught daughters about truth, agency, and accountability. Are daughters sharing with mothers their own learnings? Individuals and families are strengthened as we help each other grow in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The 1984 scriptural theme approved by the General Authorities for young women to recite in class each week is "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." We can do what we're supposed to do.
We are not alone. We can feel the sustaining power of the Savior. He will help us as we strive to make right choices all along the path.
Now, Sisters, let's love him enough to be obedient. This is the season for strength. This is a time for us to choose to stand as a people who have made covenants through baptism and in the temple to be valiant and to be lifters of those not as blessed as we are.
Recently I was doing some prayerful thinking about this heavy responsibility I have right now-young women need so much guidance, protection, and love. On this occasion I felt inadequate, and as I measured my weaknesses, against all the wickedly clever ones in the world, I admit that I sagged for a time. But after praying earnestly, I looked deep inside to the core of me, where the Spirit can touch us, and I knew then that I wouldn't give up. Whatever I am, whatever I need to overcome, I will be one upon whom the Lord can count. We can all use our agency this way-to be one upon whom the Lord can count.
Let's do it! In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
To Latter-day Saints throughout the world, and to men and women of goodwill everywhere: we greet you in the name of the Lord as we gather from near and far in this great world conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
We affirm before all men our belief in God the Eternal Father and in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. This is the first article of our faith and the foundation of all of our work.
We are particularly pleased to have with us-yes, pleased and honored-this remarkable man whom we sustain as a prophet of God, our prophet, seer, and revelator, our friend and leader, President Spencer W. Kimball.
We regret that the condition of his health does not permit him to speak to us. We have heard him many times in the past as he has spoken from this pulpit, and the memories of his great testimonies continue to encourage and strengthen all of us.
Who can measure the influence of this man upon others? I suppose if we were to seek for just one word to characterize him, it would be love.
I read from my notebook a statement he made on October 23, 1980, to a large assembly of Chinese brethren and sisters in Taipei, Taiwan. He said on that occasion:
"Somehow the Lord gave me from the time of my birth a spirit of love. I loved my companions in the mission field. I loved those against whom I played basketball as a boy. I loved people in all the world. I love you."
If he were to speak to us this morning, I am confident that would be the tenor of his remarks. This great reaching out with love has been the chemistry of his remarkable leadership. His life is a lesson for each of us, a lesson in the wondrous power of love.
Though his body is tired and weak, the force of that leadership is felt throughout the Church in all the world. It is an agent that binds us together as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Its unifying influence is felt in all of the higher councils of the Church.
We are grateful that President Romney is also with us as First Counselor in the First Presidency. He also is having health problems. Were he to speak, I am confident that he would testify of this great and moving power in the life and character of our President. I bear witness of it. I am confident that each of the Twelve and the Seventy and the Bishopric could do likewise.
I thank each one of the members of these councils and quorums who constitute the General Authorities of the Church. I thank them for their love and loyalty, for their faith and devotion, for their unity of purpose and action, under the leadership of our President.
The Lord said that except ye are one, ye are not mine.
This great unity is the hallmark of the true church of Christ. It is felt among our people throughout the world. As we are one, we are his.
And so, as we open this great conference, from which there will be radiated across the world a feeling of love, we pray that we shall be blessed of the Lord. We pray for our prophet dear, whom we love and honor. We pray for one another that we may go on in unity and strength. If we do so, no power beneath the heavens can stop the onward progress of this great kingdom. I pray that we shall never be wanting in our faith, in our devotion, in our love for the Lord and his work, and in our desire to serve unitedly for the advancement of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we need to place unreserved confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we accept as the Son of God. Until the world accepts Him as the Savior of mankind, lives His teachings, and looks to Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life in all phases of our lives, we shall continue in our anxiety about the future and our ability to cope with the challenges that mortality brings to each of us.
The fundamental principle of our religion is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is it expedient that we center our confidence, our hope, and our trust in one solitary figure? Why is faith in Him so necessary to peace of mind in this life and hope in the world to come?
Our answers to these questions determine whether we face the future with courage, hope, and optimism or with apprehension, anxiety, and pessimism.
My message and testimony is this: Only Jesus Christ is uniquely qualified to provide that hope, that confidence, and that strength to overcome the world and rise above our human failings. To do that, we must place our faith in Him and live by His laws and teachings.
Why faith in Jesus Christ?
Jesus Christ was and is the Lord God Omnipotent. He was chosen before He was born. He was the all-powerful Creator of the heavens and the earth. He is the source of life and light to all things.
His word is the law by which all things are governed in the universe. All things created and made by Him are subject to His infinite power.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
He came to this earth at a foreappointed time through a royal birthright that preserved His godhood. Combined in His nature were the human attributes of His mortal mother and the divine attributes and powers of His Eternal Father.
His unique heredity made Him heir to the honored title-The Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh. As the Son of God, He inherited powers and intelligence which no human ever had before or since. He was literally Immanuel, which means "God with us."
Even though He was God's Son sent to earth, the divine plan of the Father required that Jesus be subjected to all the difficulties and tribulations of mortality. Thus He became subject to "temptations, hunger, thirst, and fatigue."
To qualify as the Redeemer of all our Father's children, Jesus had to be perfectly obedient to all the laws of God. Because He subjected Himself to the will of the Father, He grew "from grace to grace, until he received a fulness" of the Father's power. Thus He had "all power, both in heaven and on earth."
Once this truth about the One we worship as the Son of God is understood, we can more readily comprehend how He had power to heal the sick, cure all manner of diseases, raise the dead, and command the elements. Even devils, whom He cast out, were subject to Him and acknowledged His divinity.
As the great Lawgiver, He gave laws and commandments for the benefit of all our Heavenly Father's children. Indeed, His law fulfilled all previous covenants with the house of Israel. Said He:
"Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life."
His law required all mankind, regardless of station in life, to repent and be baptized in His name and receive the Holy Ghost as the sanctifying power to cleanse themselves from sin. Compliance with these laws and ordinances will enable each individual to stand guiltless before Him at the day of judgment. Those who so comply are likened to one who builds his house on a firm foundation so that even "the gates of hell shall not prevail against them."
Appropriately we praise Him as the Rock of our salvation.
To have any measure of appreciation and gratitude for what He accomplished in our behalf, we must remember these vital truths:
Jesus came to earth to do our Father's will.
He came with a foreknowledge that He would bear the burden of the sins of us all.
He knew that He would be lifted up on the cross.
He was born to be the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind.
He was able to accomplish His mission because He was the Son of God and He possessed the power of God.
He was willing to accomplish His mission because He loves us.
No mortal being had the power or capability to redeem all other mortals from their lost and fallen condition, nor could any other voluntarily forfeit his life and thereby bring to pass a universal resurrection for all other mortals.
Only Jesus Christ was able and willing to accomplish such a redeeming act of love.
We may never understand nor comprehend in mortality how He accomplished what He did, but we must not fail to understand why He did what He did.
Everything He did was prompted by His unselfish, infinite love for us. Hear His own words:
"For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
"Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit-and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink."
As was so characteristic of His entire mortal experience, the Savior submitted to our Father's will and took the bitter cup and drank.
He suffered the pains of all men in Gethsemane so they would not have to suffer if they would repent.
He submitted Himself to humiliation and insults from His enemies without complaint or retaliation.
And, finally, He endured the flogging and brutal shame of the cross. Only then did He voluntarily submit to death. In His words:
"No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father"
He is the Resurrection and the Life.
This power to revive His own life was possible because Jesus Christ was God-even the Son of God. Because He had the power to overcome death, all mankind will be resurrected. "Because I live, ye shall live also."
How we reverence His name-yes, even the hallowed titles that represent His deeds!
He is our Great Exemplar.
He was perfectly obedient to our Heavenly Father and showed us how to forsake the world and keep our priorities in perspective.
Because of His love for us, He showed us how to rise above petty weaknesses and to demonstrate affection, love, and charity in our relationships with others.
He is the Bread of Life.
By fasting, prayer, and service to others, He showed that "man shall not live by bread alone" but must be nourished by the word of God.
He was "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin", and so He is able to help them that are tempted
He is the Prince of Peace-the ultimate Comforter.
As such He has power to comfort an anguished heart pierced by sorrow or sin. He provides a special kind of peace that no human agency can provide:
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
He is the Good Shepherd.
He possesses all the attributes of the divine nature of God. He is virtuous, patient, kind, long-suffering, gentle, meek, and charitable. If we are weak or deficient in any of these qualities, He stands willing to strengthen and compensate.
He is a Wonderful Counselor.
Indeed there is no human condition-be it suffering, incapacity, inadequacy, mental deficiency, or sin-which He cannot comprehend or for which His love will not reach out to the individual.
He pleads today:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
He is our Advocate, Mediator, and Judge.
Because He is God, He is perfectly equitable with justice and mercy. He can simultaneously plead our cause and judge our destiny.
Faith in Him is more than mere acknowledgment that He lives. It is more than professing belief.
Faith in Jesus Christ consists of complete reliance on Him. As God, He has infinite power, intelligence, and love. There is no human problem beyond His capacity to solve. Because He descended below all things, He knows how to help us rise above our daily difficulties.
Faith in Him means believing that even though we do not understand all things, He does. We, therefore, must look to Him "in every thought; doubt not, fear not."
Faith in Him means trusting that He has all power over all men and all nations. There is no evil which He cannot arrest. All things are in His hands. This earth is His rightful dominion. Yet He permits evil so that we can make choices between good and evil.
His gospel is the perfect prescription for all human problems and social ills.
But His gospel is only effective as it is applied in our lives. Therefore, we must "feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do."
Unless we do His teachings, we do not demonstrate faith in Him.
Think what a different world this would be if all mankind would do as He said: "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
What then is the answer to the question "What is to be done?" concerning the problems and dilemmas that individuals, communities, and nations face today? Here is His simple prescription:
"Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.
" Believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them."
As members of the Church, we are "under obligation to make the sinless Son of Man ideal-the one perfect being who ever walked the earth. "Sublimest Example of Nobility "God-like in nature "Perfect in his love "Our Redeemer "Our Savior "The immaculate Son of our Eternal Father "The Light, the Life, the Way."
With all my soul, I love Him.
I humbly testify that He is the same loving, compassionate Lord today as when He walked the dusty roads of Palestine. He is close to His servants on this earth. He cares about and loves each of us today. Of that you can be assured.
He lives today as our Lord, our Master, our Savior, our Redeemer, and our God.
God bless us all to believe Him, to accept Him, to worship Him, and to fully trust in Him, and to follow Him is my humble prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder James E. Faust
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Some time ago I held in my hand my mother's copy of her favorite book. It was a timeworn copy of the Book of Mormon. Almost every page was marked; in spite of tender handling, some of the leaves were dog-eared, and the cover was worn thin. No one had to tell her that one can get closer to God by reading the Book of Mormon than by any other book. She was already there. She had read it, studied it, prayed over it, and taught from it. As a young man I held her book in my hands and tried to see, through her eyes, the great truths of the Book of Mormon to which she so readily testified and which she so greatly loved.
As a young boy in the Cottonwood Ward, I was greatly impressed when I listened to James H. Moyle tell in sacrament meeting of his having heard both Martin Harris and David Whitmer, two of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, affirm their testimony concerning that book. They, along with Oliver Cowdery, had testified in connection with the original publication of the Book of Mormon "that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we bear record that these things are true."
When James H. Moyle visited David Whitmer, Whitmer was an old man; he was out of the Church and was living in a log cabin in Richmond, Missouri. Of this visit to David Whitmer, James H. Moyle stated in this very building on March 22, 1908:
"I went to his humble home, and I told him as a young man starting out in life I wanted to know from him what he knew about the Book of Mormon, and what about the testimony he had published to the world concerning it. He told me in all the solemnity of his advanced years, that the testimony he had given to the world, and which was published in the Book of Mormon, was true, every word of it, and that he had never deviated nor departed in any particular from that testimony, and that nothing in the world could separate him from the sacred message that was delivered to him. I still wondered if it was not possible that he could have been deceived, so I induced him to relate to me, under such cross-examination as I was able to interpose, every detail of what took place. He described minutely the spot in the woods, the large log that separated him from the angel, and that he saw the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated, that he handled them, and that he did hear the voice of God declare that the plates were correctly translated. I asked him if there was any possibility for him to have been deceived, and that it was all a mistake, but he said, 'No.'"
However, the Book of Mormon did not yield its profound message to me as an unearned legacy. I question whether one can acquire an understanding of this great book except through singleness of mind and strong purpose of heart. We must ask not only if it is true, but also do it in the name of Jesus Christ. Said Moroni, "Ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost."
Joseph Smith, who translated the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon came, had this to say: "I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book."
The dictionary says that a keystone is "the uppermost and last set stone of an arch which completes it and locks its members together." A secondary definition is "the fundamental element, as of science or doctrine."
The Book of Mormon is a keystone because it establishes and ties together eternal principles and precepts, rounding out basic doctrines of salvation. It is the crowning gem in the diadem of our holy scriptures.
It is a keystone for other reasons also. In the promise of Moroni previously referred to-namely, that God will manifest the truth of the Book of Mormon to every sincere inquirer having faith in Christ -we have a key link in a self-locking chain.
A confirming testimony of the Book of Mormon convinces that "Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God" and also spiritually verifies the divine calling of Joseph Smith and that he did see the Father and the Son. With that firmly in place, it logically follows that one can receive a verification that the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price are true companion scriptures to the Bible and the Book of Mormon.
All of this confirms the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the divine mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, led by a living prophet enjoying continuous revelation. From these basic verities can flow an understanding of other saving principles of the fulness of the gospel.
In addition, the Book of Mormon is a necessary keystone of our own individual faith. President Ezra Taft Benson affirmed, "I have noted within the Church the difference in discernment, in insight, conviction, and spirit between those who know and love the Book of Mormon and those who do not. That book is a great sifter." An understanding of the Book of Mormon can really help lock into place an individual's faith in Jesus Christ.
It is important to know what the Book of Mormon is not. It is not primarily a history, although much of what it contains is historical. The title page states that it is an account taken from the records of people living in the Americas before and after Christ. It was "written by way of commandment, and also by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation. And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations."
George Q. Cannon stated that "the Book of Mormon is not a geographical primer. It was not written to teach geographical truths. What is told us of the situation of the various lands or cities is usually simply an incidental remark connected with the doctrinal or historical portions of the work."
What, then, is the Book of Mormon? It is confirming evidence of the birth, life, and crucifixion of Jesus and of his work as the Messiah and the Redeemer. Nephi writes about the Book of Mormon: "All ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ."
Nephi and his brother Jacob join with Isaiah to constitute three powerful pre-Messianic voices proclaiming the first coming of Jesus. Isaiah is quoted extensively by Nephi because he is the principal Old Testament prophet who prophesied of the coming of the Messiah.
The Book of Mormon establishes the truthfulness of the Bible. It is evidence "to the world that the holy scriptures are true." It foretells the establishment of the fulness of the gospel of peace and salvation. It was written to give us principles and guidelines for our eternal journey.
One of the ultimate messages of the Book of Mormon, and indeed of the Old Testament and all human history, is that mankind cannot reach perfection on its own. There is another message which comes through loud and clear from its pages. It is the often unpopular and seemingly harsh injunction-"Repent or perish." When the Book of Mormon people listened to this prophetic message, they flourished. When they forgot the message, they perished.
In Galatians Paul said, "The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ." The records maintained by the Book of Mormon prophets-and portions of what is now the Bible brought from the eastern continent-served, according to Abinadi, "to keep them in remembrance of God and their duty towards him." So the Book of Mormon is a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.
The test for understanding this sacred book is preeminently spiritual. An obsession with secular knowledge rather than spiritual understanding will make its pages difficult to unlock.
To me it is inconceivable that Joseph Smith, without divine help, could have written this complex and profound book. There is no way that Joseph Smith, an unlearned young frontiersman, could have fabricated the great truths it contains, generated its great spiritual power, or falsified the testimony of Christ that it contains. The book itself testifies that it is the holy word of God.
New evidence of the divinity of the Book of Mormon has just come to light. The recently discovered letter of Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph's mother, dated January 23, 1829, to her sister-in-law, Mary Pierce, is additional confirmation of the Book of Mormon. This letter was written a year before the Book of Mormon was published. It contains an accurate statement of some of the happenings of the times and the contents of the book and other historical information.
With the aid of modern computer science, a topical guide has been placed in the King James Version of the Bible, containing doctrinal cross-references to the other scriptures. From these references we find countless confirming evidences that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon with the aid and power of God. On almost every one of its 531 pages are numerous references that tie in doctrinally to the King James Bible. In comparison, many statements that seem fragmented in the Bible are more complete in the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants.
References to teachings also taught in the Old Testament and the New Testament are so numerous and overwhelming throughout the Book of Mormon that one can come to a definitive conclusion by logic that a human intellect could not have conceived of them all. But more important than logic is the confirmation by the Holy Spirit that the story of the Book of Mormon is true.
All scriptures are one in that they testify of Jesus. Jacob, a Book of Mormon prophet, reminds us that "none of the prophets have written, nor prophesied, save they have spoken concerning this Christ." Speaking of the scriptures, the Psalmist said, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
The Book of Mormon will encourage only righteousness. Why, then, has hostility been engendered against the book? In part, no doubt, it may have come because the origin of the book was from golden plates delivered to Joseph Smith by an angel. These were seen and handled by selected witnesses, but not put on public display. Perhaps it is also because it is claimed primarily to be the work of ancient prophets here on the American continent.
The great worth of the Book of Mormon was declared by the Savior himself. He said in 3 Nephi, "This is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me."
The Redeemer further declared in the Book of Mormon, "Behold I have given unto you my gospel." As a special witness, I testify that Jesus is the Christ and that Nephi's and Isaiah's prophecies of His coming have in fact been fulfilled. Like Nephi, "We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ."
I testify that the Savior will come again, and that at his second coming some will say, "What are these wounds in thine hands and in thy feet?" He will show the wounds in His hands, wrists, and feet, and they will ask when and where he received these wounds. He will answer: "I am Jesus that was crucified. I am the Son of God."
I testify through the sure conviction that springs from the witness of the Spirit that it is possible to know things that have been revealed with greater certainty than by actually seeing them. We can have a more absolute knowledge than eyes can perceive or ears can hear. God himself has put his approval on the Book of Mormon, having said, "As your Lord and your God liveth it is true."
I can now see more clearly through the eyes of my own understanding what my mother could see in her precious old worn-out copy of the Book of Mormon. I pray that we may live in such a way as to merit and gain a testimony of and abide by the great truths of the Book of Mormon. I testify that the keystone of our religion is solidly in place, bearing the weight of truth as it moves through all the earth, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder L. Tom Perry
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
One of the special opportunities we have as General Authorities is to visit the stakes of Zion. Thirty to forty times each year we find ourselves staying in the home of a different stake president. We have the privilege of being guests in the greatest homes you will find in all the world.
Let me tell you about one of my recent experiences. I was assigned to a stake conference to release the stake president, who had served for many, many years. It was a difficult stake to administer. The stake had been losing population. It was located near one of our major city centers. Industry had moved in. With the growth of industry, many of the members had moved out to the more suburban areas. Because of his assignment, he had stayed in the area to shepherd the flock. He had not found it to be a hopeless situation. Through his energy, effort, and great enthusiasm, the stake started to grow once again.
As the weekend progressed, his children came by auto and air, returning home to pay tribute to their father for his years of faithful service. I found a special spirit in this home. They were a very close family. How they enjoyed being together!
As I stood to address the conference in its final session, there seated to my left sat his entire family, tears streaming down their faces as they honored their father on this grand occasion.
Following the conference session, I had been invited to stay for family dinner before leaving for the airport to fly home. As the family gathered around the table, the father requested that we kneel in family prayer. Kneeling in prayer, I discovered their strength. This family understood their relationship to God, their Eternal Father. They understood their relationship to their earthly father and mother, to their brothers and sisters. The brotherhood and sisterhood existing in this family unit made it easy for them to stretch beyond their borders to friends and neighbors.
Being a guest in so many different homes over the last few years has certainly convinced me that a special spirit is clearly evident when a family prays together.
Our prophets have admonished us repeatedly to make family prayer a regular part of our daily worship. President John Taylor asked the Saints:
"Do you have prayers in your family?
"And when you do, do you go through the operation like the guiding of a piece of machinery, or do you bow in meekness and with a sincere desire to seek the blessing of God upon you and your household? That is the way that we ought to do, and cultivate a spirit of devotion and trust in God, dedicating ourselves to him, and seeking his blessings."
President Heber J. Grant, in referring to this matter, said:
"I have little or no fear for the boy or the girl, the young man or the young woman, who honestly and conscientiously supplicate God twice a day for the guidance of His Spirit. I am sure that when temptation comes they will have the strength to overcome it by the inspiration that shall be given to them."
It is clearly our duty and privilege as parents to teach our children to pray, and regular family prayer sets the pattern.
Prayer is a divine fellowship with God. Such spiritual companionship brings a matchless blessing. I believe families who pray together understand the meaning and comfort the Savior was trying to give to His believers, as He offered His inspiring prayer as His earthly ministry was coming to an end.
"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
"As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."
President Heber J. Grant once counseled us:
"The minute a man stops supplicating God for his spirit and direction, just so soon he starts out to become a stranger to him and his works. When men stop praying for God's spirit, they place confidence in their own unaided reason, and they gradually lose the spirit of God, just the same as near and dear friends, by never writing to or visiting with each other, will become strangers."
Prayer endows us with the power to draw near to our Eternal Father. How important it is, then, that one of our fundamental teachings to our children is how to pray.
Could I encourage you to consider the subject of prayer in your discussions as you hold family home evenings? Could I direct your teaching of prayer to at least four main areas of emphasis?
First, the way we address our Father in Heaven in prayer. I listen to so many people offering prayers, and I wonder who they are addressing. The salutation is so complicated I find it difficult to comprehend the being to which the prayer is being directed. I am reminded of the occasion when the first Congress was trying to determine how to address the president of our country. The suggestion was given that he could be called "His Highness, President of the United States and Protector of the Liberties of the Same." Washington's request was to just call him Mr. President.
When the Lord instructed His disciples on how to pray, He said:
"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
"After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name."
In the words of other prayers given to us by the Savior, the term Father is also used. "O God, the Eternal Father" is the way the Lord instructed us to bless the sacrament. By use of the word Father, we understand our relationship to Him. He is our Eternal Father, and we are His children. Teach your children how to address the Lord in prayer.
Second, use the sacred language of prayer. We should always address Deity by using the sacred pronouns thou, thee, thy, and thine. The late President Stephen L Richards gave us this wise counsel:
"We have discovered a lack of proper teaching with reference to prayer. I know that I myself have been shocked out in the mission field as I have heard missionaries called on for prayer who seem to have had no experience or training whatever in the use of the language of prayer.
"I think, my brethren, that in the quorums and in the classes, you would do well, as in the homes also, to teach the language of prayer-'Thee and Thou,' rather than 'you.' It always seems disappointing to me to have our Father in Heaven, our Lord, addressed as 'you.' It is surprising how much we see of this. I think you might make note of it, and avail yourselves of any opportunities that may come in order to teach the sacred and reverential language of prayer."
Let us teach our children to use the language of prayer.
Third, offer prayers of gratitude. I was requested to bless a lad who was having problems in his young life a few weeks ago. After the blessing, as I prepared to leave, his mother said to him, "Son, thank him for the blessing before he leaves." Instead of turning to me, he lowered his head, folded his arms, and thanked his Father in Heaven. How perceptive children are!
As I have opportunity of kneeling each night and morning with my wife in prayer, I am full of gratitude for the blessing and privilege of having her companionship. I am full of gratitude for the blessings that come to me through my children and their lives as I am able to be with them and watch their growth and progress.
When you are on your knees in prayer, there is an overwhelming feeling of gratitude to the Lord for the many blessings that he bestows on his children.
How blessed we are for our understanding of who He is. How blessed we are as a people for the gift of the gospel. I marvel at what He has created for our use and benefit and for the privilege of enjoying this earthly experience. My heart is especially filled with gratitude at this season of the harvest when I go out to dig a hill of potatoes and there find manyfold over the small piece I planted a few months before, or pull off an ear of corn and see how those two or three kernels placed in the earth now yield a hundredfold. As I travel and see the beauty of His creations-the mountains, the fertile plains, the sparkling streams, or the mighty oceans-how grateful I am for His blessings to me. When we kneel in family prayer, let us teach our children to express gratitude unto the Lord for His many blessings to us.
Fourth, our petitions unto the Lord. The Prophet Joseph Smith at one time stated:
"We would say to the brethren, seek to know God in your closets, call upon him in the fields. Follow the direction of the Book of Mormon, and pray over and for your families, your cattle, your flocks, your herds, your corn, and all things that you possess; ask the blessing of God upon all your labors, and everything that you engage in."
President Brigham Young once counseled us:
"Again, suppose a family wish to assemble for prayer, what would be orderly and proper? For the head of the family to call together his wife and children, and when he prays aloud, all present, who are old enough to understand, should mentally repeat the words as they fall from his lips; and why so? That all may be one.
"If the people will ask in faith, they will receive, and let all mentally ask precisely as does the one who is spokesman. Let all leave the cares of their work behind them; let the kitchens take care of themselves, and let the barns, the flocks and herds take care of themselves, and if they are destroyed while you are praying, be able to freely say, 'Go, they are the Lord's; He gave them to me, and I will worship Him; I will assemble my family and call upon the name of my God.'
"By leaving business and the cares thereof where they belong, and attending strictly to worship in its season, if not at first, you soon will be united, and be able to bring every evil principle into subjection. If all are bound up in this manner, don't you see that it will make a mighty cord of faith?"
Let us teach our children to pray for courage, for opportunity, for comfort, for peace, for understanding, and not for material gifts. Let us teach them to pray, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."
President Kimball has counseled us: "There will always be time for prayer. There will always be the moments of blessed solitude, of closeness to the Heavenly Father, of freedom from worldly things and cares.
"When we kneel in family prayer, our children at our side on their knees are learning habits that will stay with them all through their lives. If we do not take time for prayers, what we are actually saying to our children is, 'Well, it isn't very important, anyway. We won't worry about it. If we can do it conveniently, we will have our prayer, but if the school bell rings and the bus is coming and employment is calling-well, prayer isn't very important and we will do it when it is convenient.' Unless planned for, it never seems to be convenient. On the other hand, what a joyous thing it is to establish such customs and habits in the home that when parents visit their children in the latter's homes after they are married they just naturally kneel with them in the usual, established manner of prayer!"
I am grateful for my children, who are teaching my grandchildren the blessings of prayer. I believe the first word I heard from Terry, Esther, Audrey, and Thomas's lips has been Amen, ofttimes repeated with great gusto and enthusiasm. This has been followed by Father in Heaven. The beginning of their parents' earthly instruction has been to teach them who they are and how they can communicate with their Eternal Father. I am certain the same practice will be followed for Benjamin, Michael, and Justin, just as they are old enough to also learn how to approach their Father in Heaven in prayer.
I can think of no greater teaching to our children than that of the power of prayer. We should do it by example, and take our children daily before the Lord and give them the peace and assurance that can come from knowing they are a child of our Father in Heaven.
May we, this day, commit ourselves to so live that we will go before the Lord with a clear conscience and ask for His divine guidance and assistance and express our gratitude unto Him for the blessings He has given to us.
May the power of prayer bless our homes, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Carlos E. Asay
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Several years ago, I approached one of my daughters and said, "My dear, it's time for an interview." Her response was less than enthusiastic, and I determined within my own mind that I was boring her terribly. So instead of subjecting her to a formal conversation, I invited her into the car and drove to the Dairy Queen where we both enjoyed a root beer float. All the way to and from the store, I asked questions, and she freely responded. She didn't even realize that she was being interviewed-or at least that is what I thought. A few weeks later, I announced once again that I wanted to interview her. This time she promptly asked, "Wet or dry?"
I wonder if our conduct of good practices-even the conducting of interviews with our children-is sometimes done in a dry and deadening manner. Is it possible that in our drive to perform or fulfill a Church expectancy we collide with purpose? Can we not become so obsessed with form that we forget family? If so, perhaps we should ask ourselves whether within we are "full of dead men's bones."
When I think of dry performances, my mind turns to the ancients who altered the lesser law. They multiplied rituals, ceremonies, and symbols to the extent that the law itself was worshiped more than the Lord. In fact, the law was so abused that it pointed people away from, not forward to, the Messiah.
The acceptable performance, I feel, is made "wet" and given zest by the living waters which issue from Christ. It is a performance founded upon inspired teachings such as:
" must have no other object in view but to glorify God, and must not be influenced by any other motive than that of building his kingdom."
"He that is greatest among you shall be your servant."
"For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
"When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth."
Living performances are void of roteness and stiffness and self-centered tendencies. They are made by Saints who speak and act according to the feelings of their hearts and the Spirit of the Lord which is in them.
Alma's interview with Helaman is a classic "wet" and refreshing performance. It is a short, three-question, forty-five-second exchange between father and son. According to the record, Alma was approaching the end of his ministry. He knew that he must select someone to assume prophetic and record-keeping responsibilities. Helaman was his choice. Therefore, Alma came to his son and asked: "Believest thou the words which I spake unto thee concerning those records which have been kept?"
Without hesitation, Helaman answered: "Yea, I believe." He might have said, "Yes, I believe in the scriptures; and yes, I believe all that you have taught me."
Alma's second question was simply: "Believest thou in Jesus Christ, who shall come?" Again, without delay, Helaman stated: "Yea, I believe all the words which thou hast spoken."
What a tribute to the father! He had talked of Christ, rejoiced in Christ, preached of Christ, and taught his son to know the source to which he might look for a remission of his sins.
Up to this point in the interview, the father's questions were sampling the son's basic beliefs. Now it was essential that those beliefs be tested and determined as being more than idle lip service. Alma's capstone inquiry was, "Will ye keep my commandments?"
I am not certain what went through Helaman's mind as he prepared to give his final response. He knew the necessity of honoring his parents and respecting priesthood authority. His previous actions had verified this fact. I like to think that Helaman's reply was promoted by a heartfelt desire to be obedient rather than by a fear of authority. Deep love of God and father were reflected in his words: "Yea, I will keep thy commandments with all my heart."
It is a marvelous thing when a father is able to make his commandments square perfectly with God's expectations. Apparently, this condition was achieved by Alma, for Helaman was ready and willing to obey with all his heart.
This short, informative, and inspiring interview must have pleased Alma greatly. Not only had he communicated heart-to-heart and soul-to-soul with his son, but the son had openly declared his faith and pledged his devotion. To culminate the exchange, Alma, under the inspiration of the Spirit, prophesied and extended this blessing: "Blessed art thou; and the Lord shall prosper thee in this land."
I wonder if our interviews with our children are as inspirational and building as the one between Alma and Helaman. I find it significant that the father came to the son; the son was not summoned to stand inspection or to give a report. I find it refreshing that the conversation was direct and without any verbal sparring; it was not labored or rehearsed. I find it exemplary that commitment was drawn without prying, wringing, or pressuring. And I find it most beautiful that the father concluded with a tender blessing.
Is this not a performance, or a pattern of communicating, that we should follow? And I refer to the principles involved, not necessarily to the form.
On one occasion when I arrived home late from an assignment, my wife expressed concern about one of our sons. She was worried that his mind was not riveted upon serving a mission, and she said as much to me. Her concerns certainly captured my attention, and I asked where the son was. She told me that he was in his room preparing to retire. Immediately I went to the room and sat on the edge of his bed. When I asked if I could speak with him a moment, he said, "Certainly."
The hour was late. He was tired, and so was I. I, therefore, could see that nothing would be gained by a long conversation. And following the direct Alma-and-Helaman approach, the conversation went something like this:
"Son, are you still planning on serving a mission?"
"Yes," he answered. "I've always planned on serving, and I haven't changed."
"Son, do you know what qualifies a young man to serve a mission? Do you know what worthiness means?"
"Yes, Dad," he said. "I understand the requirements and standards of worthiness that must be met."
I said, "Thank you. I have one last question: Are you clean and worthy to serve? Could you accept a call if one were issued you today?"
There was a moment of reflective silence; then he declared: "It isn't easy. Temptation is real and found everywhere. However, since you've asked, I am clean and I am worthy to serve."
This was a wonderful, beautiful, spontaneous, and sanctifying experience.
I thanked my son, kissed him, assured him of my love, and bid him good night. I returned to my bedroom and told my wife that all was well and that she could go to sleep.
I do see great wisdom in the practices and performances which we encourage parents to follow in the Church. There is virtue in sponsoring family home evenings; in conducting family prayers, as Elder Perry has mentioned; in giving father's blessings; and in holding parent-child interviews. All of these are important and have their place. However, the participation in such performances and the reporting of such activity must not become the end. They are means of involving, means of teaching, and means of blessing people. All should be engaged in for the purpose of saving and exalting souls.
I thank God for my wife and my children; they make life so very meaningful. I thank God for the restored Church and living prophets who have provided me inspired programs for the benefit of those around me. And I'm grateful for the gospel which comes from the fountain of living waters-even Jesus Christ. But I pray humbly that I will be blessed not to confuse means and ends or become confused with performances at the expense of the spirit underlying all commandments. May our interviews, our prayers, our communications with our children be sanctifying and free of dryness and "dead men's bones," I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Boyd K. Packer
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I want to tell you of an incident that happened many years ago. Two of our sons, then little boys, were wrestling on the rug, and they had reached that line which separates laughter from tears. So I worked my foot carefully between them and lifted the older one back to a sitting position on the rug. As I did so, I said, "Hey there, you little monkeys. You'd better settle down."
To my surprise he folded his little arms, his eyes swimming with deep hurt, and protested, "I not a monkey, Daddy, I a person!"
The years have not erased the overwhelming feeling of love I felt for my little sons. I was taught a profound lesson by my little boys. Many times over the years his words have slipped back into my mind, "I not a monkey, Daddy, I a person!" I was taught a profound lesson by my little boy.
Now the cycle of life has moved swiftly on, and both of those sons have little boys of their own, who teach their fathers lessons. They now watch their children grow as we watched them. They are coming to know something as fathers that they could not be taught as sons. Perhaps now they know how much their father loves them. Hopefully, they know as well why prayers begin "Our Father who art in heaven."
All too soon their children will be grown with little "persons" of their own, repeating the endless cycle of life.
There is on the West Coast a statue by Ernesto Gazzeri which depicts in marble that cycle of life. There are toddlers and children, teenagers, young lovers, the mature and the aged, gazing at a newborn baby. Two figures to the back, however, face away from the group. An aged couple, supporting one another, haltingly moves away from the family circle.
Persons enter life through mortal birth and, in due time, disappear through the veil of death. Most of them never sense why we are here.
Nothing is more obvious than what the statue represents, but the sculptor entitled it The Mystery of Life.
Occasionally, as at the time of birth, we pause in awe of what nature has to say. We see patterns of creation, so ordered and so beautiful as to sponsor deep feelings of reverence and humility. Then, just when we might discover the meaning of life, we are jerked back by the wild, uncontrolled things that humanity is doing to itself.
There are so many unanswered questions. Why the inequities in life?
Some are so rich.
Some so wretchedly poor.
Some so beautifully formed, and others with pitiful handicaps.
Some are gifted and others retarded.
Why the injustice, the untimely death? Why the neglect, the sorrow, the pain?
Why divorce, incest, perversion, abuse, and cruelty?
If there be order and meaning to life, they are hardly visible in what mortals do to one another and to themselves.
In counterpoint, we see love and devotion, sacrifice, faith, and humility; we see humanity in exalted expression of courage and heroism.
When at last the mystery of life is unraveled, what will be revealed?
I know a man who studied for the ministry. Then just before his ordination he dropped out because there were so many unanswered questions. He still regarded himself as a devout, if somewhat disillusioned, Christian. He found another profession, married, and was raising a family when our missionaries found him.
He made a very superficial study of the doctrines of the Church and found them tolerable enough. The fundamentals of Christianity were visible. But he was most interested in programs and activities that would benefit his family.
It was after he was baptized that he made the discovery of his life. To his surprise he found, underlying the programs of the Church, a solid foundation of doctrine. He had no idea of the depth and breadth and height of our theology. When once he moved from interest in the programs to a study of the gospel of Jesus Christ, he found answers which explained to his full satisfaction the deep questions that had left him unable to accept ordination as a clergyman.
One doctrine was completely new to him. Although he was a student of the Bible, he had not found it there until he read the other revelations. Then the Bible was clear to him and he understood.
The doctrine is so logical, so reasonable, and explains so many things, that it is a wonder that the Christian world rejected it. It is so essential a part of the equation of life that, left out, life just cannot add up, it remains a mystery.
The doctrine is simply this: life did not begin with mortal birth. We lived in spirit form before we entered mortality. We are spiritually the children of God.
This doctrine of premortal life was known to ancient Christians. For nearly five hundred years the doctrine was taught, but it was then rejected as a heresy by a clergy that had slipped into the Dark Ages of apostasy.
Once they rejected this doctrine, the doctrine of premortal life, and the doctrine of redemption for the dead, they could never unravel the mystery of life. They became like a man trying to assemble a strand of pearls on a string that was too short. There is no way they can put them all together.
Why is it so strange a thought that we lived as spirits before entering mortality? Christian doctrine proclaims the Resurrection, meaning that we will live after mortal death. If we live beyond death, why should it be strange that we lived before birth?
The Christian world in general accepts the idea that our condition in the Resurrection will be determined by our actions in this life. Why can they not believe that some circumstances in this life were determined by our actions before coming into mortality?
The scriptures teach this doctrine, the doctrine of premortal life. For His own reasons, the Lord provides answers to some questions, with pieces placed here and there throughout the scriptures. We are to find them; we are to earn them. In that way sacred things are hidden from the insincere.
Of the many verses revealing this doctrine, I will quote two short phrases from the testimony of John in the ninety-third section of the Doctrine and Covenants. The first, speaking of Christ, says plainly, "He was in the beginning, before the world was."
And the other, referring to us, says with equal clarity, "Ye were also in the beginning with the Father."
Essential facts about our premortal life have been revealed. Although they are sketchy, they unravel the mystery of life.
When we comprehend the doctrine of premortal life, we know that we are the children of God, that we lived with him in spirit form before entering mortality.
We know that this life is a test, that life did not begin with birth, nor will it end with death.
Then life begins to make sense, with meaning and purpose even in all of the chaotic mischief that mankind creates for itself.
Imagine that you are attending a football game. The teams seem evenly matched. One team has been trained to follow the rules; the other, to do just the opposite. They are committed to cheat and disobey every rule of sportsmanlike conduct.
While the game ends in a tie, it is determined that it must continue until one side wins decisively.
Soon the field is a quagmire.
Players on both sides are being ground into the mud. The cheating of the opposing team turns to brutality.
Players are carried off the field. Some have been injured critically; others, it is whispered, fatally. It ceases to be a game and becomes a battle.
You become very frustrated and upset. "Why let this go on? Neither team can win. It must be stopped."
Imagine that you confront the sponsor of the game and demand that he stop this useless, futile battle. You say it is senseless and without purpose. Has he no regard at all for the players?
He calmly replies that he will not call the game. You are mistaken. There is a great purpose in it. You have not understood.
He tells you that this is not a spectator sport-it is for the participants. It is for their sake that he permits the game to continue. Great benefit may come to them because of the challenges they face.
He points to players sitting on the bench, suited up, eager to enter the game. "When each one of them has been in, when each has met the day for which he has prepared so long and trained so hard, then, and only then, will I call the game."
Until then, it may not matter which team seems to be ahead. The present score is really not crucial. There are games within games, you know. Whatever is happening to the team, each player will have his day.
Those players on the team that keeps the rules will not be eternally disadvantaged by the appearance that their team somehow always seems to be losing.
In the field of destiny, no team or player will be eternally disadvantaged because they keep the rules. They may be cornered or misused, even defeated for a time. But individual players on that team, regardless of what appears on the scoreboard, may already be victorious.
Each player will have a test sufficient to his needs; how each responds is the test.
When the game is finally over, you and they will see purpose in it all, may even express gratitude for having been on the field during the darkest part of the contest.
I do not think the Lord is quite so hopeless about what's going on in the world as we are. He could put a stop to all of it any moment. But He will not! Not until every player has a chance to meet the test for which we were preparing before the world was, before we came into mortality.
The same testing in troubled times can have quite opposite effects on individuals. Three verses from the Book of Mormon, which is another testament of Christ, teach us that "they had wars, and bloodsheds, and famine, and affliction, for the space of many years.
"And there had been murders, and contentions, and dissensions, and all manner of iniquity among the people of Nephi; nevertheless for the righteous' sake, yea, because of the prayers of the righteous, they were spared.
"But behold, because of the exceedingly great length of the war between the Nephites and the Lamanites many had become hardened, because of the exceedingly great length of the war; and many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility."
Surely you know some whose lives have been filled with adversity who have been mellowed and strengthened and refined by it, while others have come away from the same test bitter and blistered and unhappy.
There is no way to make sense out of life without a knowledge of the doctrine of premortal life.
The idea that mortal birth is the beginning is preposterous. There is no way to explain life if you believe that.
The notion that life ends with mortal death is ridiculous. There is no way to face life if you believe that.
When we understand the doctrine of premortal life, then things fit together and make sense. We then know that little boys and little girls are not monkeys, nor are their parents, nor were theirs, to the very beginning generation.
We are the children of God, created in his image.
Our child-parent relationship to God is clear.
The purpose for the creation of this earth is clear.
The testing that comes in mortality is clear.
The need for a redeemer is clear.
When we do understand that principle of the gospel, we see a Heavenly Father and a Son; we see an atonement and a redemption.
We understand why ordinances and covenants are necessary.
We understand the necessity for baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. We understand why we renew that covenant by partaking of the sacrament.
I have but touched upon the doctrine of premortal life. We cannot, in these brief conference talks, do more than that. Oh, if we but had a day, or even an hour, to speak of it.
I assure you there is, underlying the programs and activities of this church, a depth and breadth and height of doctrine that answers the questions of life.
When one knows the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is cause to rejoice. The words joy and rejoice appear through the scriptures repetitively. Latter-day Saints are happy people. When one knows the doctrine, parenthood becomes a sacred obligation, the begetting of life a sacred privilege. Abortion would be unthinkable. No one would think of suicide. And all the frailties and problems of men would fade away.
We have cause to rejoice and we do rejoice, even celebrate.
"The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth."
God bless us that we and all who will hear His message can celebrate the Light! Of him I bear witness, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Thomas S. Monson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
The National Gallery at Trafalgar Square in London, England, is one of the truly great museums of art in all the world. The gallery proudly proclaims its Rembrandt Room and Constable Corner and urges all to take the tour of Turner's masterpieces. Visitors come from every corner of the earth. They depart uplifted and inspired.
During a recent visit to the National Gallery, I was surprised to see displayed in a most prominent location magnificent portraits and landscapes which featured the name of no artist. Then I noticed a large placard which provided this explanation:
"This exhibition is drawn from the large number of paintings that hang in a public but somewhat neglected area of the Gallery: the lower floor. The exhibition is intended to encourage visitors to look at the paintings without being too worried about who painted them. In several instances, we do not precisely know.
"The information on labels on paintings can often affect, half-unconsciously, our estimate of them; and here labeling has been deliberately subordinate in the hope that visitors will read only after they have looked and made their own assessment of each work."
Like the labels on paintings are the outward appearances of some men-often misleading. The Master declared to one group: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
"Ye outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."
Then there are those who may outwardly appear impoverished, without talent, and doomed to mediocrity. A classic label appeared beneath a picture of the boy Abraham Lincoln as he stood in front of his humble birthplace-a simple log cabin. The words read: "Ill-housed, ill-clothed, ill-fed." Unanticipated, unspoken, and unprinted was the real label of the boy: "Destined for immortal glory."
As the poet expressed:
At another time, and in a distant place, the boy Samuel must have appeared like any lad his age as he ministered unto the Lord before Eli. As Samuel lay down to sleep and heard the voice of the Lord calling him, Samuel mistakenly thought it was aged Eli calling and responded, "Here am I." However, after Eli had listened to the boy's account and told him it was of the Lord, Samuel followed Eli's counsel and subsequently responded to the Lord's call with the memorable reply, "Speak; for thy servant heareth." The record then reveals that "Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him.
"And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord."
The years rolled by, as they relentlessly do, and prophecy came to fulfillment when a lowly manger cradled a newborn child. No label could describe this event. With the birth of the babe in Bethlehem, there emerged a great endowment, a power stronger than weapons, a wealth more lasting than the coins of Caesar. This child, born in such primitive circumstances, was to be the "King of kings and Lord of lords", the promised Messiah-even Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As a boy, Jesus was found in the temple, "sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
"And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers." And when Joseph and His mother saw Him, "they were amazed." To the learned doctors in the temple, the boy's outward label may have conveyed brightness of intellect but certainly not "Son of God and future Redeemer of all mankind."
The Messianic words of the prophet Isaiah convey a special meaning: "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." Such was the foretold description of our Lord.
Matthew records the apparent necessity of that wicked multitude of sinners who would seek after the life of the Lord to conspire with the betrayer Judas, that he might point out to them who of the apostolic group was the Jesus whom they sought. These chilling verses from sacred writ torment the reader: "Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.
"And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.
"And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him."
The label of a traitor's kiss had identified the Master. Judas now wore his own label of inescapable shame and revulsion.
Sometimes cities and nations bear special labels of identity. Such was a cold and very old city in eastern Canada. The missionaries called it "Stony Kingston." There had been but one convert to the Church in six years, even though missionaries had been continuously assigned there during the entire interval. No one baptized in Kingston. Just ask any missionary who labored there. Time in Kingston was marked on the calendar like days in prison. A missionary transfer to another place-any place-would be uppermost in thoughts, even in dreams.
While I was praying about and pondering this sad dilemma, for my responsibility then as a mission president required that I pray and ponder about such things, my wife called to my attention an excerpt from the book, A Child's Story of the Prophet Brigham Young, by Deta Petersen Neeley. She read aloud that Brigham Young entered Kingston, Ontario, on a cold and snow-filled day. He labored there about thirty days and baptized forty-five souls. Here was the answer. If the missionary Brigham Young could accomplish this harvest, so could the missionaries of today.
Without providing an explanation, I withdrew the missionaries from Kingston, that the cycle of defeat might be broken. Then the carefully circulated word: "Soon a new city will be opened for missionary work, even the city where Brigham Young proselyted and baptized forty-five persons in thirty days." The missionaries speculated as to the location. Their weekly letters pleaded for the assignment to this Shangri-la. More time passed. Then four carefully selected missionaries-two of them new, two of them experienced-were chosen for this high adventure. The members of the small branch pledged their support. The missionaries pledged their lives. The Lord honored both.
In the space of three months, Kingston became the most productive city of the Canadian Mission. The grey limestone buildings still stood, the city had not altered its appearance, the population remained constant. The change was one of attitude. The label of doubt yielded to the label of faith.
The branch president of the Kingston Branch of the Church wore his own identifying label. Gustav Wacker was from the old country. He spoke English with a thick accent. He never owned or drove a car. He plied the trade of a barber. The highlight of his day would be when he had the privilege of cutting the hair of a missionary. Never would there be a charge. Indeed, he would reach deep into his pockets and give the missionaries all of his tips for the day. If it were raining, as it often does in Kingston, President Wacker would call a taxi and send the missionaries to their apartment by taxi, while he himself, at day's end, would lock the small shop and walk home-in the driving rain.
I first met Gustav Wacker when I noticed that his tithing paid was far in excess of that expected from his potential income. My efforts to explain that the Lord required no more than ten percent as tithing fell on attentive but unconvinced ears. He simply responded that he loved to pay all he could to the Lord. It amounted to about half his income. His dear wife felt exactly as he did. Their unique manner of tithing payment continued throughout their earning lives.
Gustav and Margarete Wacker established a home that was a heaven. They were not blessed with children but mothered and fathered their many Church visitors. A sophisticated and learned leader from Ottawa told me, "I like to visit President Wacker. I come away refreshed in spirit and determined to ever live close to the Lord."
Did our Heavenly Father honor such abiding faith? The branch prospered. The membership outgrew the rented Slovakian Hall and moved into a modern and lovely chapel of their own. President and Sister Wacker had their prayers answered by serving a proselyting mission to their native Germany and later a temple mission to the beautiful temple in Washington, D.C. Then, just three months ago, his mission in mortality concluded, Gustav Wacker passed away peacefully while being held in the loving arms of his eternal companion. Only one label appears fitting for such an obedient and faithful servant: "Who honors God, God honors."
A label frequently seen and grudgingly borne is one which reads: "Handicapped."
Years ago, President Spencer W. Kimball shared with President Gordon B. Hinckley, Elder Bruce R. McConkie, and me an experience he had in the appointment of a patriarch for the Shreveport Louisiana Stake of the Church. President Kimball described how he interviewed, how he searched, and how he prayed, that he might learn the Lord's will concerning the selection. For some reason, none of the suggested candidates was the man for this assignment at this particular time.
The day wore on. The evening meetings began. Suddenly President Kimball turned to the stake president and asked him to identify a particular man seated perhaps two-thirds of the way back from the front of the chapel. The stake president replied that the individual was James Womack, whereupon President Kimball said, "He is the man the Lord has selected to be your stake patriarch. Please have him meet with me in the high council room following the meeting."
Stake president Charles Cagle was startled, for James Womack did not wear the label of a typical man. He had sustained terrible injuries while in combat during World War II. He lost both hands and one arm, as well as most of his eyesight and part of his hearing. Nobody had wanted to let him in law school when he returned, yet he finished third in his class at Louisiana State University. James Womack simply refused to wear the label "Handicapped."
That evening as President Kimball met with Brother Womack and informed him that the Lord had designated him to be the patriarch, there was a protracted silence in the room. Then Brother Womack said, "Brother Kimball, it is my understanding that a patriarch is to place his hands on the head of the person he blesses. As you can see, I have no hands to place on the head of anyone."
Brother Kimball, in his kind and patient manner, invited Brother Womack to make his way to the back of the chair on which Brother Kimball was seated. He then said, "Now, Brother Womack, lean forward and see if the stumps of your arms will reach the top of my head." To Brother Womack's joy, they touched Brother Kimball, and the exclamation came forth, "I can reach you! I can reach you!"
"Of course you can reach me," responded Brother Kimball. "And if you can reach me, you can reach any whom you bless. I will be the shortest person you will ever have seated before you."
President Kimball reported to us that when the name of James Womack was presented to the stake conference, "the hands of the members shot heavenward in an enthusiastic vote of approval."
The word of the Lord to the prophet Samuel at the time David was designated to be a future king of Israel provided a fitting label for the occasion. It certainly was the thought of each faithful member: "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."
Like a golden thread woven through the tapestry of life is the message on the label of a humble heart. It was true of the boy Samuel, it was the experience of Jesus, it was the testimony of Gustav Wacker, it marked the calling of James Womack. May it ever be the label which identifies each of us: "Lord, here am I." In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Marion D. Hanks
Of the First Quorum of Seventy
I desire to speak this morning of the value of our free agency and of the love that preserved it for us and which should motivate and direct our use of it.
Many years ago I was introduced to an idea which at first seemed only an exercise in imagination, or perhaps a peg on which to hang a story. But I have thought of it occasionally since as I have traveled the earth, often separated from family and other loved ones.
Suppose that everyone in the world received simultaneously the word that the inconceivable was about to occur: civilization as we know it was about to end.
What would happen?
Well, for one thing, the streets would be a maelstrom of frantic people trying to get to a telephone to talk with someone. Every line would be jammed and every telephone booth besieged by people trying to reach someone to say "I love you." There would be other messages also. "I'm so sorry," would be one of them, or "How foolish I have been."
The condition of the world about us assures us that the unthinkable could happen; but it is not of such a cataclysm that I am thinking, but of our daily walk and our everyday relationships. They who love should manifest their love while there is a chance to do so. If we are waiting for some later time, some period when all imperfections are corrected and when all frustrations pass away, we are not wise. Resentment or pride or selfishness or impatience can lead us to miss what life is meant to be, and can be, and is for those who love and serve. To postpone loving and giving until some time of perfect freedom from distress or discomfort is a great mistake; it will not happen. It is not for this world.
But we should be earnestly seeking and striving to correct and improve our own attitude and our own behavior. God has so ordained it. He loves us and believes in us and has done and will do anything he can to help us, but he will not impose on our free agency. "We love him," says the scripture, "because he first loved us." He does not love us because we love him; he loves us unconditionally. But his love does not take the course of negating or smothering our privilege to choose, or our responsibility to account for what we choose and to experience the consequences. Indeed, it is written that he weeps for the bad judgment of some of his willful and disobedient children:
"Behold these thy brethren are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency."
"And the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept."
We had that agency with God before this world was. In the heavenly council of which the scriptures teach, there was another plan than God's presented: Lucifer was permitted to offer his program. It is vital for us in our leadership and our relationships to remember that God so loved that he would not shield us from the perils of freedom, from the right and responsibility to choose. So deep is his love and so precious that principle that he, who was conscious of the consequences, required that we choose. Lucifer had no love in his heart, no real concept of freedom or respect for it. He had no confidence in the principle or in us. He argued for forced salvation, for imposed survival, for an agencyless round trip to the earth and back again. None would be lost, he insisted. But he seemed not to understand that none would be any wiser, either, or any stronger or more compassionate or humble or grateful or more creative, under his plan.
We understood before we left that premortal state that freedom is precarious, difficult. We knew that to love would make us vulnerable to heartbreak and pain and disappointment. But we had learned that the alternatives to love and freedom of choice cannot provide the climate for growth and creative capacity that can eventually lead us to a stewardship like our Father's. The unselfish love of our Father's Firstborn in the spirit helped us understand when he, knowing the personal cost ahead for him but also the eternal significance for all of us, volunteered for his role of redemption.
We chose then, and we are, in consequence, on this earth still choosing.
Recently I listened to a lovely young lady just leaving her teens as she spoke in a stake conference, her first address ever. She had never known a true family of her own. She had experienced many temporary homes, made many mistakes, had much heartache and hopelessness. Then an older Church couple found her, and loved her, and taught her. Her prepared talk was witty and interesting, but when she laid it down and bore witness through tears, it became magic:
"No one ever helped me to understand that I was worth anything," she said, "that I was special in any way. And then the missionaries taught me about Jesus Christ and his love and the God who sent him. They taught me that Jesus died for me-for me. I am valuable! I am valuable! He died for me."
The lesson of God's great love and wisdom seems lost on many who are on this earth because of their choice but we do not understand. Our responsibility is to help them. But we must ourselves pray and strive earnestly that we do not obscure its meaning. If we do not really love and really believe in free agency, we may be inclined to impose our will on others for what we think is their best good. If we love enough, we will not do that, even at the risk of failure. Instruction and rules and training and discipline are essential, of course. From our Father's example of godly love and patience, we should be motivated to stretch to any lengths to teach, to persuade, to encourage, to help.
But in matters of conscience and faith, if we truly love we will never seek to impose our will and deprive others of their agency. That is, after all, Satan's way. He is still permitted in this world to pursue his own rebellious approach. Since his encounter with earth's first family, he has waged war unceasingly upon God's children.
A scene to give us pause is portrayed in the Book of Moses:
"Satan had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced."
But it is written also:
"And angels descend out of heaven, bearing testimony of the Father and Son; and the Holy Ghost fell on many."
The contest for the souls of men continues. We go on choosing.
The loving Father who at such great cost has preserved our agency in and out of this world has made every effort to help us use it well, but he has made it plain where the responsibility now lies:
"I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
"In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply.
"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live."
It is written that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." That holy Son died for us and gave us the wonderful example of his life, and nothing in that life touches my heart with greater impact than the manner in which he chose to live among us:
"Forasmuch," it is written, "as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same.
"For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but took on him the seed of Abraham.
"Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
"For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted."
Through that love it now is that "we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
He has the feeling of our infirmities; he understands our temptations. He came not as an angel but in flesh and blood that he might be a merciful and faithful advocate for us with the Father.
Would we improve our individual performance in relationship with others if we truly had the "feeling of their infirmities" and truly sought to be a faithful and merciful high priest, or Relief Society teacher, or friend, or wife, or husband?
The intensity and integrity of God's love and Christ's love are beyond our comprehension, but we are here to learn, and we must try.
Only Christ was sinless in this world, and this is why repentance must always company with faith as first principles. God's plan and Christ's sacred gift prepared the way for us to improve, to grow, to change, to learn wisdom and mercy and forgiveness. Out of the wise use of our free agency proceeds every other wholesome quality and every blessing.
It is my deep conviction that any act or program or rule planned or performed without love at its heart, love as the spirit of it, or which curtails the agency of our Heavenly Father's children, is not worthy of God's kingdom or of his leaders or people.
Repeatedly He has protected our eternal agency, thus helping us to qualify through opposition and in the face of alternatives for the sweet blessing of eternal creative service. But we must choose-and be held accountable.
All of this came together for me in a very personal way a year or so ago in Manila in the Philippines when a telephone call from my wife reached me in the middle of the night in a hotel room telling me that our only son had suffered a severe accident that threatened his mobility and perhaps his life. He was being flown home to be operated on.
About the time of his anticipated arrival home, I telephoned. There was a brief delay, then the sound of my wife's voice, quiet and subdued. "Your four sons-in-law are standing around your son administering to him," she said. "Paul has anointed him, and John is about to give him a blessing. He was worried because you're not here. This will be the first administration he's had from anyone but his father-but he's comforted now." I joined them in that prayer of blessing on my knees in a lonely hotel room half a world away, a room suddenly made sweet and warm.
Whether or not that day ever occurs in our lifetime when the telephone lines may be especially busy, we should be thinking of the love we have and should express, and manifest it for those nearest us and for those round about, and for all others, and for our holy Savior and his father.
Well may we sing, "I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me." In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Charles Didier
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Since the beginning of humanity, man has divided his world into two camps, friends and foes, with the purpose of gratifying his pride and ambition and exercising power, dominion, or compulsion over the other camp.
Military leaders have canonized the expression "friend or foe" and have devised different ways to quickly identify who was who. Early biblical stories tell us about this selection process. At the end of a battle, the Ephraimites were trying to escape through the passages of the Jordan. Unfortunately, these escape routes were already occupied by their enemies, the Gileadites, who had to know who was friend or foe. They asked the fugitives: "Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;
"Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right."
And that mispronunciation meant death. Forty-two thousand perished that day. Apparently the process was very successful and did not leave room for misunderstanding.
There are not many alternatives to answer the question "Friend or foe?" It is simply one or the other. You may, of course, try to pretend to be a friend because of fear of losing your life, but the end result is almost always the same. We will see that there is an analogy between this selection process used by the natural man and the selection process of finding the potentially divine man.
Since the beginning of humanity, history has recorded that one of the deviations of man has been and still is to create artificial divisions and to fight holy wars because of racial, religious, cultural, or political differences and to justify these crimes against humanity in the name of the Lord.
Today, in our very complex world, we may well be reminded of the true message that comes from Christ himself to avoid constant battles and a final holocaust when he declared: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you."
However, the essential personal question that we need to consider is whether our relationship with deity will be that of friend or foe. If well understood, because of its eternal implications, this relationship can bring eternal life; if misunderstood, misused, misapplied, misconceived, or misrepresented, it can bring mortal as well as spiritual death.
A warning is given us by James:
"From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?"
"Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
What is an enemy to God? A scripture defines it concisely:
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever."
One might wonder, after listening to this very strong statement, if man can abandon this carnal nature and this belief that earth is his final resource, providing food, shelter, comfort, pleasure, games, and even gods. Can he discover, by faith, that it is our Heavenly Father who constitutes the eternal resource when he knows how to cultivate this friendship?
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."
What then is a true friend of God?
President David O. McKay explained the process: "That man is most truly great who is most Christlike.
"What you sincerely in your heart think of Christ will determine what you are, will largely determine what your acts will be."
"By choosing as our ideal, we create within ourselves a desire to be like him, to have fellowship with him."
To become a friend of God is possible because of the Mediator, the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Let us now consider additional teachings of the prophet Benjamin:
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."
One of the real purposes of life is to become a friend of the Mediator, our Savior and Redeemer, and not only understand his mission but also support it and then qualify to be called his friend, his disciple, and to enter into the presence of his Father.
"I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness."
Prophets and Apostles testify of the importance of Christ being our friend. The testimony of President Spencer W. Kimball last year in general conference touched my heart when he concluded his address by testifying: "I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that He was crucified for the sins of the world. He is my friend, my Savior, my Lord, and my God. With all my heart I pray that the Saints may keep His commandments, have His Spirit to be with them, and gain an eternal inheritance with Him in celestial glory."
To be able to say "He is our friend" means that we need to qualify as his friends, to have the same purposes, to be advocates and strong defenders of his cause.
We can learn a great lesson from the friendship of David and Jonathan, which was based on a covenant to be faithful to the Lord. Let me share some excerpts of the qualities of that friendship.
"The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul."
"Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father."
"And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever."
As individuals, and especially teenagers, what kinds of friends do we select, adopt, confide in, and visit with? Are we strong enough to refuse to be a friend of the world and its representatives? Are we strong enough to accept friendship with Christ? Is to be a friend to be complacent and surrender to lower standards, or is it to maintain Christlike standards and defend them? Do we consider mutual friendship as a way to maintain and develop the foundation of our testimony of Christ? "Feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." The conditions are set; the model is given. Then why not become his disciple by being his witness? Why entertain the constant dilemma of your mind? Be committed to be his friend!
We find the same challenge with teaching our children to build an eternal association of friendship and love. "But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth." Do we treat our sons and daughters as children of God? Do we teach by example? Do we pray with them? Do we attend church with them? Do we have family home evening regularly? Our spiritual progress and qualifying to become friends with Christ and his Father depend on how faithfully we live the gospel in our homes and how diligently we impart the teachings to our children.
"Ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, he being an enemy to all righteousness."
Our challenge is to choose the right, to declare that we are friends of our Heavenly Father. The covenant that we made through baptism is a contract to become a friend of God.
Abraham "was called the Friend of God." Prophets and Apostles down through the dispensations have been friends of God. If you have not done so previously, now is the time to become friends of God. We have the knowledge of the scriptures, the testimonies of the prophets. I know that my Redeemer lives. I want to call him my friend; I want to be called his friend. May we all qualify to be his disciples, his friends, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Paul H. Dunn
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
It's 3:00 P.M. in Salt Lake City. Can you just imagine the scramble that's going on in many homes, with those trying to decide which channel and station to tune in on? Being somewhat interested in sports myself, I couldn't help but think as I was sitting here about some wise counsel my father once gave. I think it's appropriate here.
"Paul," he said, "remember: one day for church, six days for fun. Odds on going to heaven-six to one."
He also made this observation. He said, "Whenever I pass our little church I like to linger for a visit, so that when I'm carried in, the Lord won't say, 'Who is it?'"
One day while celebrating the birthday of one of my granddaughters, I had her sitting on my lap, as grandfathers do, and we were talking about age, wisdom, and experience, and all of a sudden she looked up at me and said, "Granddaddy, were you born before they invented water?" Now that's a sobering thought.
Well, speaking of age, someone else has said, "Do you know how to tell when you are getting a little older?" I said no. He said, "You know you're getting old-
"When, after you get it all together, you realize you'd do better if you took it apart.
"When you get a little winded while brushing your teeth.
"When you reach the age when you know all the answers but nobody asks any of the questions.
"When your crow's feet need orthopedic shoes.
"When your appendix scar hits your knee.
"When instead of Max Factor you may want to consider Kemtone.
"While sitting in a rocking chair you have difficulty in getting it started.
"When you get out of the shower, you're glad the mirror's fogged up.
"When you get up in the morning and you have one shoe on and one shoe off and you can't tell whether you are getting up or going to bed."
Well, you may have some different signs, but despite our best plans and efforts, growing older is going to happen to most of us. How those mature years are spent depends on every one of us.
To those in their golden years, age should only be hateful if it means the cessation of growth, the withering of dreams, the silencing of feelings. And these qualities, after all, have nothing to do with chronology and everything to do with heart. Douglas McArthur once observed, "Live with enthusiasm! Nobody grows old by deserting their ideals. Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt, as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear, as young as your hope, as old as your despair."
History abounds with people who, as they got older, got better. Michelangelo didn't undertake his monumental frescoed altar wall of the Sistine Chapel until he was sixty-nine years of age. When he died at ninety, he was still busy with his poetry, paintings, and sculpture.
Goethe, German genius of literature, didn't finish the classic Faust until he was eighty-one. He had begun it forty years earlier, but when he came back to it, he had enhanced insight and freshness of imagination due to the extra years of life.
Herbert Hoover took on the job of coordinating the world's food supplying of thirty-eight countries at the age of seventy-two. He was the United States representative to Belgium at the age of eighty-four.
Thomas Edison was still inventing when past ninety. Benjamin Franklin was a key political figure and a wise, insightful diplomat for America when past seventy-five.
My own mother, now past eighty-five, still paints and gardens. Her paintings are sought-after classics. Moses was over eighty when he led the Israelites. Think of the great spiritual contributions of our past prophets and those of President Kimball today.
Winston Churchill was sixty-five when he promised the British people his blood, toil, tears, and sweat during World War II. Albert Schweitzer was in his eighties when he roamed equatorial Africa tending the sick, working on his manuscripts, and playing Bach on the piano.
Now, you might have a tendency to say, "But these people were and are extraordinary, gifted in ways beyond the average." But I say to you, the most extraordinary talent each of these had was enthusiasm, a flair for taking each new day with relish and interest, and a refusal to let wastelands of the soul develop and choke out life. Ralph Waldo Emerson put it this way. He said, "We do not count a man's years until he has nothing else to count."
To those who have been privileged by the experience of having aging parents and grandparents with them, think of the countless ways the elderly bless our lives. Remember the admonitions of the Lord.
First from Proverbs:
"The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head."
Next from Job:
"With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.
"With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding."
And then there is this concern recorded in Psalms: "Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth."
Many is the time in my current position when those in their advanced years have sought counsel in getting their families to share and take an interest in them. I remember reading of such an experience, which I would like to share. This item was found in an old magazine. No author's name was mentioned, just this from a heavy-hearted observer. He said:
"Just next door lives a wonderful old man. He is still very alert and active. That special morning he awakened earlier than usual, bathed, shaved and put on his best clothes. Surely, he thought, they would come today.
"He didn't take his daily walk to the gas station to visit with the old-timers of the community, because he wanted to be right there when they came.
"He sat on the porch with a clear view of the road so he could see them coming. Surely they would come today.
"He decided to skip his noon nap because he wanted to be up when they came.
"He had six children. Two of his daughters and their married children lived within four miles. They hadn't been to see him for such a long time. But today was a special day. Surely they would come today.
"At suppertime he refused to cut the cake and asked that the ice cream be left in the freezer. He wanted to wait and have dessert with them when they came.
"About 9 o'clock he went to his room and got ready for bed. His last words before turning out the lights were: 'Promise to wake me when they come.'
"You see, it was his birthday, and he was 91."
In our modern age of sophistication and progress, I find it a little disturbing that the old expression "Age before beauty" seems to have been reversed. Never before has there been so much emphasis on youth and beauty. While youth and beauty are cherished attributes, age and experience can be tremendous assets.
And, while our computer-age technology has been unsurpassed at lengthening and enriching the lives of our older citizens, I'm not so sure it has replaced or improved upon the personal touch. From the scriptures I have just cited, three important conclusions can be drawn:
First, there are advantages to old age;
Second, we can learn from the wisdom and understanding that age and experience offer; and
Third, older folks are able, productive, and useful, and should not be put on a shelf.
To those who wonder if we have an obligation to bring these conclusions to pass, the Lord's answer to Cain's question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" is a resounding yes! He said, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
The final question, I suppose, then, ought to be: "How are we going to accomplish this?" With older friends and family, why don't you and I first-
Seek their counsel.
Visit or call on them regularly.
Include them in our activities.
Let them share their experiences.
See to it that they have the basic necessities of life.
Provide care for them when they are sick.
Treat them as dignified human beings, not as charity cases.
Let us take advantage of having grandfathers, grandmothers, great-grandparents, friends, and neighbors around us. May we in our own special way reach out to them-not with pity, but with love. Consider again, brothers and sisters, this counsel from the Lord: "Honour thy father and thy mother," that their days-and ours-might be long upon the earth.
Finally, may we do unto the aged what we would want to have done to us. Remember: our time is coming. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Adney Y. Komatsu
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
In recent months we have seen the completion and dedication of several temples in the Church-one in Atlanta, Georgia; one in Apia, Samoa; one in Nuku'alofa, Tonga; and another in Santiago, Chile. Others are now in the planning and construction stages, and of course many are in operation in various parts of the world.
I am grateful for the special calling that I have at the present time to serve as the president of the Tokyo Temple. It is a joy and a privilege to visit with the Saints who come to that holy edifice to partake of the blessings there.
Why does the Church build and maintain temples?
This question was asked by the contractor for the Tokyo Temple when he was engaged to begin that construction about five years ago. He noted that the Buddhist and Shinto religions in Japan build many shrines and temples, but this was the first time he had heard of a Christian church building a temple. Christian religions are noted for building beautiful chapels and cathedrals, but he had never heard of a Christian temple before. Of the many churches that profess Christianity, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only one that builds temples.
The contractor was told that the temple would be a sacred building, a holy house, where the glorious work of salvation for the living and the dead would be carried out, where baptisms for the dead and other ordinances would be performed to bring about the joining of wife to husband, children to parents, for the living as well as the dead, and where families would be sealed together for time and for all eternity.
The direction to the Prophet Joseph Smith was clear when he received this revelation on August 2, 1833, only three years after the Church was organized, instructing that a temple should be built:
"Verily I say unto you, that it is my will that a house should be built unto me in the land of Zion, like unto the pattern which I have given you.
"Yea, let it be built speedily, by the tithing of my people.
"Behold, this is the tithing and the sacrifice which I, the Lord, require at their hands, that there may be a house built unto me for the salvation of Zion-
"For a place of thanksgiving for all saints, and for a place of instruction for all those who are called to the work of the ministry in all their several callings and offices;
"That they may be perfected in the understanding of their ministry, in theory, in principle, and in doctrine, in all things pertaining to the kingdom of God on the earth, the keys of which kingdom have been conferred upon you.
"And inasmuch as my people build a house unto me in the name of the Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to come into it, that it be not defiled, my glory shall rest upon it;
"Yea, and my presence shall be there, for I will come into it, and all the pure in heart that shall come into it shall see God.
"But if it be defiled I will not come into it, and my glory shall not be there; for I will not come into unholy temples."
There were very few members of the Church at this time, but they all greatly sacrificed, and the Kirtland Temple was completed and dedicated. The Lord appeared in glory and accepted the temple. Moses, Elias, and Elijah also appeared, each to commit his keys and dispensations.
However, before the temple work could really begin in the Kirtland Temple, the Saints had to flee the attacks of mobs. The temple fell into the hands of wicked men, and, as was stated in the revelation, when it became defiled, it was disowned by the Lord. Efforts were made by the Saints to build a temple in Missouri, but again they were forced to flee for their lives.
Again, after nearly five years, the Prophet Joseph Smith received the following revelation:
"For there is not a place found on earth that he may come to and restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fulness of the priesthood.
"For a baptismal font there is not upon the face of the earth, that they, my saints, may be baptized for those who are dead-
"For this ordinance belongeth to my house, and cannot be acceptable to me, only in the days of your poverty, wherein ye are not able to build a house unto me.
"And verily I say unto you, let this house be built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people;
"For I deign to reveal unto my church things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fulness of times."
In this revelation, which is recorded in section 124 of the Doctrine and Covenants, reference is made to "the fulness of the priesthood." What is the meaning of that and how is it obtained? The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: "If a man gets a fullness of the priesthood of God he has to get it in the same way that Jesus Christ obtained it, and that was by keeping all the commandments and obeying all the ordinances of the house of the Lord."
President Joseph Fielding Smith further taught: "If you want salvation in the fullest, that is exaltation in the kingdom of God, so that you may become his sons and his daughters, you have got to go to the temple of the Lord and receive these holy ordinances which belong to that house, which cannot be had elsewhere. No man shall receive the fulness of eternity, of exaltation, alone; no woman shall receive that blessing alone; but man and wife, when they receive the sealing power in the temple of the Lord, shall pass on to exaltation, and shall continue and become like the Lord. And that is the destiny of men; that is what the Lord desires for his children."
It is clear, then, that unless we go to the temple of the Lord and receive all the ordinances and obey the commandments, we cannot receive a fulness of priesthood blessings and neither can we receive exaltation. These are wonderful blessings that have been made available to us through temple work.
I have been a member of the Church most of my life. I was baptized when I was seventeen and was ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood at age twenty-one. While still a young man, I served in many assignments and had many good experiences in the Church that helped me to learn many concepts that were helpful to me in building my faith and testimony. But I never felt that I had completed my full membership in the Church until I took my bride to the temple and received the new and everlasting covenant and the blessings and understanding of the work performed there.
I was the first member of my family to be baptized into the Church and thus have the responsibility to perform vicariously the temple work for my ancestors who did not have the opportunity to hear the gospel during their time on this earth. I also have had the responsibility to teach my children the gospel and to instill in their hearts and minds the importance of temple work. My wife and I have four children, the oldest of whom is married and has two children-our grandchildren, who are very special to us. Our children were born under the covenant, and our grandchildren have also been born under the covenant. The greatest gift I might give to my children or grandchildren in this life, or the most valuable legacy I might leave them, would be a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and the importance of genealogy and temple work, which binds us all together down through the generations in love and in happiness.
There are many people in the world who travel great distances at great personal sacrifice to go to the temple. I know our Heavenly Father is aware of their righteous desires and blesses them abundantly for their efforts. Recently a group came to the Tokyo Temple from Okinawa-nine hundred miles by plane-among them a young couple who had come to be married. It had required all the money they could possibly save to pay for their transportation, and there was nothing left for a wedding celebration or honeymoon. When those who accompanied the couple realized their plight, they dug deep into their own pockets and contributed what little they had so the couple could have money for a delightful one-day honeymoon in Tokyo. Not only did the young couple enjoy the blessings of the temple, but they also enjoyed and appreciated the generosity and kindness of their brothers and sisters. Surely Paul's teachings to the Ephesian Saints apply, when he said, "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God."
I have a firm and abiding testimony of the importance of this work and the blessings it can bring into our lives. I express gratitude for this testimony and for the small part I now enjoy in teaching genealogy and temple work. May we all be blessed to receive the fulness of the blessings of the House of the Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
About two weeks ago we noted one of the most important anniversaries in our Church history.
It was on September 21, 1823, when the angel Moroni first appeared to the young prophet Joseph Smith in his farm home near Palmyra, New York.
As we remember it today, we declare our solemn testimony to all mankind that, indeed, Moroni did come! It is a fact, a firm and unshakable truth. Moroni came!
As an angel of God, a messenger from heaven, this glorious personage visited Joseph Smith in physical reality. It was no dream, nor any kind of mystic occurrence.
It was a visitation. Two physical beings communed together-with Moroni, a resurrected person of flesh and bones, emerging from the eternal veil and paying repeated and never-to-be-forgotten visits to this mortal farm boy, Joseph Smith.
Many people no longer believe in the ministry of angels. But God does! He has used this means of communication from the days of Adam. Is there any reason why He should not continue the procedure in our day?
Angels ministered to many people in both Old and New Testament times, delivering messages from the Lord.
Abraham walked and talked with angels. An angel assisted Israel at the time of the Exodus. An angel fought an invading army in the days of the prophet Isaiah. When Daniel was in the lion's den, an angel closed the mouths of the lions, and Daniel's life was spared.
The angel Gabriel announced to the virgin Mary in Nazareth that she would become the mother of the Savior. The same angel told the father of John the Baptist of his prophet-son soon to be born.
When Joseph and Mary and the Divine Infant fled to Egypt, it was an angel who gave them direction, and upon the death of the wicked King Herod, the angel told them to return home.
When the Savior spoke of the sanctity of little children, he said, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven."
When Jesus neared His crucifixion, He could have called twelve legions of angels to His assistance if He had wished to avoid the bitter cup. Then, are there angels? Would Jesus have spoken like that if they were nonexistent?
At His resurrection, an angel rolled the stone away from the tomb. The women saw him there and heard him speak.
When Stephen bore his final testimony to his persecutors, his face shone like that of an angel.
An angel released Peter from prison. Paul spoke of the tongues of men and of angels.
The scripture clearly teaches that the purpose of the ministry of angels is "to call men unto repentance by declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him." And that is very pertinent with regard to Moroni.
The Lord also teaches that, over the ages, if angels have ceased to appear, it is because of unbelief and the spirit of apostasy among men. But where there is faith, the ministry of angels will last as long as the earth shall stand or "there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved."
Because the Lord desires to save mankind, even until the end, He revealed to John the Revelator that in the latter days angels would again fly through the midst of heaven as emissaries of the Almighty. John saw that one of these angels would fly from heaven to earth and would bring the everlasting gospel back to earth, it having been lost to mankind over the ages.
That angel was Moroni. He had lived in America some fifteen hundred years ago and was a prophet of God at that time. He and his father, Mormon, were historians of the people who formerly inhabited this land. They wrote the history of their nation, engraving it upon plates of gold to resist the ravages of time, for that record was to have significant importance in latter days.
To preserve it in safety, Moroni encased it in a box which he made of stone and buried it in the ground. Some critics regard this as a most peculiar thing to do, but it would have been more unusual if he had not done so. Why?
Because what he did was in full harmony with a well-established custom followed by various nations in the ancient world to preserve and protect their precious documents.
Records have been engraved on metal over a period of many centuries. A number now have been recovered. Such treasures have been found from Korea to Sri Lanka, from ancient Assyria and Persia to India, from Java to Bangkok, from Italy, from Greece, and from the Qumran caves in Palestine where the Dead Sea scrolls were obtained.
Not all of these records were made on gold. Ancient peoples also wrote upon silver plates, brass plates, copper plates, lead plates, and in some instances even on tin, which proved not to be fully permanent, since it is subject to oxidation more readily than some other metals.
One of the most publicized of these discoveries was the copper scroll found with the other Dead Sea Scrolls in Palestine. It, too, contained ancient sacred writings.
King Darius, who put Daniel in the lion's den, wrote his records on gold and silver sheets and placed them in stone boxes and buried them in the ground for safekeeping, just as Moroni did. His records now have been translated and published. To make certain someone would be able to read them, Darius wrote in three different languages.
Ancient Assyria's King Sargon II had the same idea, but he used a variety of metals to make his books-gold, silver, brass, copper, and even tin. He also engraved on alabaster. He dearly desired to preserve those records for future posterity, so what did he do? Like Darius and like Moroni, he placed them in well-made stone boxes to protect them, and buried them in the ground, in the foundation of his palace. His records, too, have been translated and published.
A book made of nineteen thin sheets of gold, found in Korea in 1965, contains part of the Buddhist scripture, engraved in Chinese. The thin pages making up this valuable record are approximately fourteen inches square, hinged together so they can open and close like a book.
The plates found in Pyrgi, Italy, in 1964 are seven and a half inches long and about half that wide, are engraved in Phoenician characters, and relate to the dedication of a shrine for the goddess Astarte. They date to about 500 B.C., about the time of Lehi.
It is interesting that some of these ancient records were hidden away in specially constructed stone boxes such as Moroni's, some completely cut out of single stones, others cemented together in sections. A few were made of obsidian and were beautifully engraved both inside and out. They were used to contain various precious things. Larger stone boxes which have been found are known to have been used for grain storage.
In Mexico and Central America scores of stone boxes have been discovered, large and small, and some of them also are beautifully engraved with designs both inside and out.
No one need be skeptical any longer about records kept by ancient peoples who preserved their writings by engraving them on metal, nor about the stone and metal boxes in which they were stored away.
Of course there are metal records in ancient times. Of course they were made of gold, silver, copper, and lead! Of course many of them date to the period in which Lehi left Jerusalem, and of course this custom was carried with him to America!
The last man in the ancient line of American prophets was Moroni. He and his father, Mormon, compiled the sacred records of their own people covering a thousand years, including the account of still an earlier people, the Jaredites, who came to this continent from the Tower of Babel. The Jaredite records were engraved on twenty-four sheets of solid gold.
Following the destruction of his nation in war, and being the only survivor of the vicious battles that were fought, Moroni also made a stone box and placed in it the record made by his father and himself and buried it in the ground for safekeeping, just as did Darius, just as did Sargon. It was to remain there until such time as the Lord would decree otherwise.
In these modern times the very mention of angels brings scoffs and scorn from some critical listeners who say that angelic ministrations are a thing of the past, if they actually ever did occur.
They assert also that there is no more revelation from heaven and that there are no more apostles and prophets in the earth, since they belonged to the time of Peter and Paul. They teach that the Bible contains all that is needed in any case and is a sufficient guide to salvation. They forget that the scripture is subject to as many interpretations as there are different denominations and creeds in this world, and they run into the hundreds.
We declare that there is revelation today! There are apostles and prophets on earth now! They are inspired, and they do speak the word of God. Marvelous and repeated angelic visitations have taken place in modern times as God once again established His divine Church on earth, following a long period of darkness.
Moroni fulfilled two biblical prophecies by coming to Joseph Smith. John the Revelator saw an angel fly in the midst of heaven, bringing the everlasting gospel back to earth.
John further said that this angel would fly in the "hour of judgment", which could only mean the latter days. This timing made it strictly a modern affair.
He came as predicted, and Moroni was that angel. His coming opened a new dispensation of the gospel of Christ, direct from God. It had no relationship to any other religious movement. It was a new and divine episode, a modern revelation from the heavens, a fresh effort on the part of the Almighty to introduce today's nations to the gospel of His Beloved Son.
There is only one gospel of Christ. That angel, flying in midheaven, possessed it, and brought it back to earth as a divine restoration of divine truths. And we repeat-that angel was Moroni.
In what form or shape or by what method did Moroni restore the everlasting gospel? Was it through some tangible means?
Amos of old, the inspired seer of the Lord, taught that God does His work through prophets. In fact, he said that God actually will do nothing without revealing His plans to His servants the prophets.
Then what would God do about the angel bringing the gospel back to earth in modern times? There were no prophets on earth to whom he could come. The world no longer even believed in them. If the Lord would do nothing-not even send His angel to earth to restore the gospel-without the services of a living prophet, how could He accomplish His divine purpose? How could the angelic visitation predicted for the latter days be consummated if there were no prophets to receive it?
God could do only one thing, and that was to raise up a new prophet for this particular purpose, and this He did in the person of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., who lived near Palmyra, New York, in 1823. It was this young man to whom the angel Moroni came.
In what way did the angel deliver the gospel to Joseph Smith, thus restoring it to public knowledge?
The prophet Isaiah explains. In the twenty-ninth chapter of his book, he tells of an ancient record that would come out of the ground in the latter days, in a time preceding the restoration of Palestine as a fruitful field. This record would be in the form of a book, he said, having to do with a people who had been destroyed suddenly.
Some words of this book, Isaiah predicted, would be taken to a learned man who would reject them. Then, he said, the book itself would be given to an unlearned man, whom we now know to be Joseph Smith, who fit Isaiah's description for he had only a very meager formal education. In his hands, Isaiah said, this book would be published to the world by the miraculous power of God and would become a marvelous work and a wonder.
This book was that self-same volume prepared anciently by Mormon and Moroni, containing the simple and beautiful truths of the gospel in their fulness, as taught by the ancient American prophets. It is called the Book of Mormon. It was this book that Moroni made available to the world through the services of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Thus, this record, containing the everlasting gospel, restored to man the saving truths required for salvation, which alone comes through Christ.
Moroni had hidden that record in the ground some four hundred years after Christ, and he knew exactly where to go to recover it. He had encased it in a stone box and buried it, just as did King Darius and Emperor Sargon in their days.
Having thus hidden it away, Moroni was now chosen of God to recover it and deliver it to the new modern prophet for publication. In that way he brought the gospel back to earth, for the record contained the gospel in its simplicity and in its fulness. The record was there, it was the word of God, and it came about by the act of God. It was a mighty miracle of God.
So Moroni fulfilled two biblical prophecies in coming to Joseph Smith: the fourteenth chapter of Revelation and the twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. He did come to earth as an angel. He did deliver to Joseph Smith the golden record which had been prepared under the direction of Almighty God. It is a new witness for the Lord Jesus Christ; it declares, as does the Bible, that Jesus of Nazareth indeed is the Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer. That book is available to all mankind. A million copies are published each year, in more than a score of languages.
So, again, we testify that the Book of Mormon is true. It is the word of Almighty God, restored in this day by angelic ministry and by the direction of God himself. We testify that Moroni came as an angel on September 21, 1823, revealing his ancient record and that he did so as a servant of Jesus Christ. Before its publication, he allowed twelve modern American citizens of good repute to examine the golden record so that they could bear witness of having seen or handled it.
We testify that Joseph Smith indeed was a modern prophet of God, raised up specially for the purpose we have described.
And most solemnly we testify that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Son of God, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Creator. We testify further that we are His ordained servants, and we speak by the power that he restored to us and has given to us in this day. And we testify, in all solemnity, that this work in which we are engaged is verily true, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Jack H Goaslind, Jr.
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
A few years ago, there was a popular series of firesides called the "Last Lecture" series. Well-known LDS scholars were asked to choose a topic which to them was so important that it could be the subject of the last discourse they were ever permitted to deliver. We received some very interesting insights from the choice of topics. It has occurred to me that our Lord, after his resurrection but before his ascension, gave such a "last lecture" to his disciples. His last lecture provides a profoundly significant insight. Of all the topics from the vaults of eternal wisdom that he could have treated, he said simply, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." And the disciples "went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following."
It is my prayer this evening that I might comment on the Lord's last lecture, teaching you priesthood holders according to the covenants and motivating you to respond as the Lord's disciples, with faith and unrelenting commitment. I especially hope that you young men of the Aaronic Priesthood will understand the importance of what I will say, because upon you will rest the major responsibility of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.
The life of God-the eternal, exalted life we all seek-is inherently concerned with the salvation of souls. It is the "work and glory" of God to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." It is by bringing about the conditions necessary for the salvation of his children that God glorifies himself, progresses, and expands his dominions.
Paul said that God "will have all men to be saved." To our Father in Heaven, "the worth of souls is great", and "the redemption of their soul is precious." Therefore, God sent his Son, the Savior and Redeemer, to loose the bands of death and atone for the sins of carnal, fallen men. The Lord suffered the pain of all men that all men might come unto him on condition of repentance.
Our call to cry repentance to all people is a direct consequence of the infinite and eternal Atonement. It is by teaching the gospel and administering the ordinances that the Atonement becomes effective in a person's life. As Paul said, "How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?"
Jesus Christ himself exemplified the manner in which we fulfill this call. He announced the purpose of his ministry by quoting Isaiah in his first public discourse, given in a Nazarene synagogue.
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
"To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
The conditions of our discipleship impose on us the identical mission, for he said, "The works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do." We are empowered, as necessary, to do all that the Savior did-except for the Atonement itself-in our labors to save our fellowmen. In fact, we are told that we must be "the saviors of men" or we will be "as salt that has lost its savor."
The Lord has not left the accomplishment of this sacred labor to chance. Through sacred covenants he imposes this responsibility on all members of his kingdom, and simultaneously empowers us to fulfill these covenants. Even young children and youth have this sacred duty and also the power to do it.
Elder John A. Widtsoe taught that in our premortal state "we agreed to be not only saviors for ourselves but measurably, saviors for the whole human family. The working out of the plan became then not merely the Father's work, and the Savior's work, but also our work." We understood, as President George Albert Smith noted, that "we cannot receive the beneficent favor of our Heavenly Father that is bestowed upon us, the knowledge of eternal life, and selfishly retain it, thinking that we may be blessed thereby. It is not what we receive that enriches our lives, it is what we give." Therefore, "those who receive the message are obligated," said Elder Widtsoe, " by the ageless agreement made before this world was organized do all in their power to bring it to the attention of others."
These solemn premortal promises are renewed and confirmed upon us in the ordinances of salvation. In baptism, for example, we covenant to "stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that may be in, even until death." The promise is that the Lord will "pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you." When partaking of the sacrament, we renew this covenant, recalling that Christ, when introducing this sacred ordinance, said, "Of me ye shall bear record unto all the world." Again, the promise for faithfulness is that we "may always have his Spirit to be with" us.
Again, we are "endowed with power from on high" in holy places to enable us to "go forth among all nations." At the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, Joseph Smith prayed that God's servants "may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them;
"And from this place they may bear exceedingly great and glorious tidings, in truth, unto the ends of the earth."
By obeying the commandments and fulfilling these covenants, we are sanctified, purified, and born of the Spirit. We become vessels worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit and the accompanying gifts of the Spirit that must attend this work if we are to succeed. The fulfilling of the commandments, as Moroni explained, "bringeth remission of sins;
"And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love."
Love, then, is evidence of our own conversion and is manifest as concern for the salvation of others. Jacob said to the Nephites: "I am desirous for the welfare of your souls. Yea, mine anxiety is great for you." The sons of Mosiah "were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish."
This love, or charity, is our greatest asset. John recognized that "perfect love casteth out fear", which fear and reluctance are the greatest obstacle to our experiencing the joy of missionary service. It is also by exercising that "faith which worketh by love" that we are able to draw upon spiritual power, because God "worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men."
As noted by Moroni, this perfect love comes as a direct result of having our sins remitted. It is imperative, therefore, "for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day" that we administer to the needs and wants of our brothers and sisters, both temporally and spiritually.
We must realize that we have received a divine commission from God and we neglect it at the peril of our salvation. President Spencer W. Kimball said, "If we do not do our duty in regard to missionary service, then I am convinced that God will hold us responsible for the people we might have saved had we done our duty." This echoes Jacob's sobering doctrine: "We did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day."
That is the warning. Our eternal welfare is at stake, as also is the eternal welfare of our nonmember brothers and sisters. Yet the promises for our diligence are glorious. We know that-
Bringing souls unto the Lord is "the thing which will be of the most worth unto you."
By proclaiming the gospel "thou wilt do the greatest good unto thy fellow beings, and wilt promote the glory of him who is your Lord."
Those who seek to bring forth Zion "shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost."
Faithful servants will be "crowned with honor, and glory, and immortality, and eternal life."
Great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"
Brethren, let me state it clearly and pointedly. Working for the salvation of others is essential for our own salvation. You cannot fully magnify your calling according to the oath and covenant of the priesthood unless you are actively engaged in this work of salvation, for the priesthood is conferred on you as an instrument of service.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie once said: "This call to missionary service does not leave us any choice or option as to the course we should pursue. It is not merely a permissive invitation which allows us to spread the gospel message on a voluntary basis, or if we find it convenient to do so. The decree is mandatory. We have no choice about it, if we are to retain the favor of God."
Young men, do you understand why President Spencer W. Kimball said that "every young man should fill a mission"? It is not an option; it is your obligation to serve. And do you mature couples understand that President Kimball has made it clear that you also have this responsibility? He said, "The time is at hand to go." This service is as much for your benefit as it is for the benefit of the Church and the nonmembers who receive your message. We are grateful for the increasing numbers of young men and couples who are serving missions. We assure you that there is no more important thing you can do than prepare for a mission by prayerfully studying the scriptures, keeping yourselves morally clean, and conducting your temporal and spiritual lives with the goal of a mission firmly in mind.
I have tried to teach you according to your covenants as members of the Church and as priesthood bearers. I urge you to prayerfully ask the Lord for a testimony of the covenant you have assumed to preach the gospel. Then, as you keep all the "covenants by which ye are bound," the Lord "will cause the heavens to shake for your good."
I know that the responsibility and opportunity of missionary service is the most worthwhile thing we can do. The blessings must be experienced to be appreciated.
I conclude with the Prophet Joseph Smith's question: "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause?" In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Brother James M. Dunn
Valley View Eleventh Ward, Holladay North Stake
My dear brethren, to repeat an expression that's popular among missionaries these days, this is an "awesome" experience. I pray that the calming influence of the Spirit will be with me, that I might express my thoughts to you.
When I left on my first mission as a young man, I had practically no understanding of missionary work. I had a feeble testimony of the gospel, but I had faith that what I was doing was right.
Upon arrival in Montevideo, Uruguay, I was assigned to Elder Wayne G. Scheiss, my first senior companion. I immediately found that he cared for me. In our brief three months together, he taught me all I was smart enough to learn of the missionary discussions. He taught me the rudiments of the Spanish language. And he taught me to put my feet on the proper path toward missionary service and to turn my heart toward godly things.
Elder Scheiss let me baptize our first convert. Mario had already been taught most of the missionary discussions by the time I arrived, but my companion thought it best that I perform the ordinance. I studied hard to memorize the baptismal prayer in Spanish. I worked on my accent in order to be understood on that sacred occasion.
I shall never forget finally finding myself standing in the baptismal font at the Deseret Branch with Mario, raising my arm to the square, and saying, "Habiendo sido comisionado por Jesucristo " "Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you. "
I had heard of people being commissioned to paint pictures. I had heard of people being commissioned to serve as military officers. But when it occurred to me that I had been commissioned by the Savior to baptize in his sacred name for the remission of sins, I felt a rush of testimony and pride and gratitude that went through my entire soul. I knew that I was in the service of the most important Master of all. I knew I was authorized to perform that ordinance, and I knew that Mario left that font pure and clean and acceptable to our Heavenly Father. I am grateful to my companion for that baptism experience. And I am grateful for my commission from the Lord.
In August of this year, the Aaronic Priesthood young men of our ward had the assignment to administer the sacrament to the residents of a local rest home. I went along with them in case they needed some assistance. Naturally, they didn't. Everything was under control. But as a result of my attendance there, I had a great experience. After the meeting, the branch president came to me and asked: "Would you happen to be related to Billy E. Dunn?"
I said, "Yes, sir. He's my father."
He then said: "Your dad was one of my favorite missionary companions. We served on the mission board together. And I'll never forget when President Murphy sent us out in the mission's old Model A Ford to tour the island. " And he went on reminiscing for some time, telling me of his missionary experiences with my father in Hawaii fifty years ago. By the way he spoke, the light in his eye, and the smile on his face, it was as though he lived those cherished experiences only yesterday.
The interpersonal relationships between missionaries are among the choicest blessings we receive as the result of missionary service. The friendships and the positive influence of one missionary upon the other can be eternal.
One of the great thrills a missionary has is to play a part in having the gospel change the life of a person, of a complete family-to see an unhappy mother, a confused father, a lost young woman or young man find his way to the path that leads to real happiness and eventually to eternal life.
No missionary that ever lived failed to influence the lives of many for the better regardless of the number of converts he may have gained.
With respect to his personal challenges, every missionary will tell you, as I tell you now, that as he presses on and exercises his faith there comes the most extraordinary spiritual sensation: a flow of confidence, courage and power to overcome, a knowledge that God is with him and that he cannot fail with God on his side-regardless of the nature of the problem or even the results.
It has been my experience that while serving full time as a missionary I have felt more energized, more enthusiastic, more optimistic, and more confident in doing what I was doing than in any other thing I've done in my life. Particularly in connection with my most recent assignment as a mission president, I knew that God had sent me to do his work, and I knew that his work would be done. I also knew that I had the greatest generation of young men and women in the world's history there to help me and to help one another to accomplish extraordinary things during the course of our mission together. I loved to see each day dawn, and I treasured the experiences of every day.
Missionaries not only teach, they also learn a great deal from others. One thing I learned as a young missionary was that spiritual fitness, as well as physical and mental fitness, comes by paying a price that includes self-denial.
After I had been made a senior companion, I met Carlos Garcia in Montevideo. Carlos was about fourteen years old. We became acquainted as he attended our presentations of the missionary discussions in the home of his neighbors, the Carabajals. Carlos wanted us to teach his family and helped us arrange to meet his parents and his younger brothers and sisters. We taught the Garcias and watched them become members of the Church. One day as we visited in the Garcia home we noticed large red letters about six inches high that had been cut out and pasted on the living room wall. They spelled "Y Yo Tercero," meaning "And I Third."
We asked Carlos what the saying meant. He said: "Well, I figure it this way. God is first. My family and others come second. And I am third." I have never forgotten this great teaching.
On my most recent mission, which I served with my wife, Penny, and our six daughters, we came especially to love and appreciate our missionaries and had a special appreciation for our Colombian missionaries.
I know that the same can be said for missionaries serving all over the world in their own homelands. They are remarkable. Our Colombian missionaries were not only handsome, charming, and intelligent, but they were also dedicated, capable, and effective. One unusual Colombian missionary with his North American junior companion, because of their special gifts and talents, baptized fifty-two people in one month. Another Colombian sister was responsible for the conversion of fourteen people before she had been a member of the Church for one year and received a formal call as a missionary. These young people returned home from their missions without fanfare. Many of them did not know where they would live. Many of them had parents who made it clear to them that they had no place in their homes on their return. But they served God first, with faith that he would provide for them and for their future. It is impossible adequately to eulogize these young people. My only regret concerning our Colombian missionaries was that we did not have three times as many.
At times, as we talk of missions and missionary work, some young men shy away because they do not feel that they are worthy. Please remember, young men, that no one points an accusing finger at you. Your priesthood leaders-your adviser and your bishop-do not set themselves as judges to criticize. They want to help. If you feel that worthiness is a problem and it's bothering you, talk to your quorum adviser or, if necessary, see your bishop and set a course with him to get yourself squared away with the Lord. What a great blessing it will be to you, to us, and to many hundreds of others.
One time a young missionary who had recently arrived at Bogotá to serve in our mission said to me in an initial interview: "Well, President, I guess you've heard all about me and about all the trouble I was before receiving my mission call and all the problems I had at the MTC."
I said to him: "No, Elder, I haven't heard a thing and, frankly, unless it concerns a serious moral transgression, I don't want to know. The only thing that matters to me, and I believe that the only thing that matters to the Lord, is what you do from now on. I know that you have been called by God to serve in this mission and that you can be a powerful and effective advocate for the Savior. You have a real opportunity right here and right now to go out and show the Lord and others who you really are and what you can do." I think the missionary was a little surprised at my response, and it effectively terminated our interview.
That young man worked with enthusiasm and energy in some of the areas of our mission that might be considered tough. He taught, he converted, he baptized. He became a district leader and a zone leader. He left our mission with my greatest respect for the work he had done and for the man he had become.
Above all the benefits and blessings of missionary service that come into the life of a missionary-and that which brings unparalleled peace and comfort to the soul-is the testimony which comes to him, perhaps not all at once, perhaps line upon line. That testimony I wish to bear to you now as a returned missionary. I know God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ, God's Son, the leader of all humanity, and the measure of mankind. He is the King, our Counselor, and our Friend. He is worthy of our most pure and profound adoration and deserving of our very best efforts. As missionaries, we long to serve him with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Benjamin Franklin said, "I think that talents for the education of the youth are the gift of God; and that he on whom they are bestowed, whenever a way is opened for use of them, is as strongly called as if he heard a voice from heaven."
And President Harold B. Lee related: "Someone asked which of her children was her favorite. Her reply revealed the depth of her true motherhood: 'My favorite child is the one who is sick until he gets well or the one who is absent until he returns.'"
This same great depth of caring ought to be the motivating force behind every bishop and every adviser.
John Sonnenberg, a great Regional Representative, related this experience as a young dentist. They had seven children, all young, and only one car. When his wife went to town she had to take the bus. One day she and the seven children were waiting for the bus. When the bus stopped, the children and Sister Sonnenberg boarded. She put her token in and then stood and put one token in the box for each of her seven children. The bus driver was amazed, and he said, "Lady, are these all your children, or is this a picnic?"
She responded, "They are all my children, and it's no picnic!"
In this generation, growing up is no picnic for a young man. It requires stability, high standards, prayer, and parents and Aaronic Priesthood advisers who care.
Henry Eyring, a leading scientist and a great teacher who recently passed away, would have contests with his students. Even in his mid-sixties he could standing broad jump to the top of his desk. He challenged university students to a thirty- or forty-yard foot race.
One day just a few short years before he died, he was in the Church Administration Building. His brother-in-law, President Spencer W. Kimball, came out of his office and saw Henry Eyring standing there with a cane. He said, "Henry, what is the cane for?"
And Henry Eyring said, "Style, President, style."
No wonder he had such an influence on the minds of young men all over the Church. He had "style."
This past summer at the Nauvoo Aaronic Priesthood Encampment, special missionary preparation workshops were held. Bishops conducted these sessions with their Aaronic Priesthood. Every young man was given his own missionary preparation book. Two thousand young men participated in this activity.
A bishop reported that one young man would not get involved. He lazed on the grass a few feet from the group. He would occasionally laugh or seem to make fun. He would not participate, as he had no intention of serving a mission. Around a campfire that night, during a testimony meeting, this young man stood up and began to talk. He said, "This morning I did not participate in the missionary preparation workshops, but I was listening, I was listening. I have been thinking, thinking a lot." Then, with great emotion he said, "I have made a decision to go on a mission."
A year ago at Flagstaff, Arizona, a special banquet for Eagle Scouts was held. There were 1,150 Eagle Scouts. John Warnick, the director of Mormon Relationships, invited all those who would commit to go on a mission to stand. All 1,150 stood.
Later, one of the young men, a Catholic boy, went to the bishop and said, "I am not a Mormon, and I committed to go on a mission. What do I need to do?"
The bishop said, "Let's talk to your parents." During the visit with the family, it was decided that the family should hear the discussions. The family, including the Eagle Scout, are all members of the Church now.
A ward mutual was having a swimming party. The bishopric attended, dressed in suits. Many of the youth had already been in swimming. Everything stopped while a great old high priest gave an opening prayer. During the prayer there was a splashing in the pool. The counselor in the bishopric said: "I think I have always been practical enough, so I opened one eye to see who it was that was so irreverent as to swim during the prayer. A twelve-year-old Spanish boy, who could not swim, had somehow gotten into the deep end of the pool and was drowning. His eyes reflected fear and terror. I took two steps, dove into the pool, suit, shoes and all, pulled the young man to the side and helped him out. He sat on the edge of the pool and I waited in the pool. The good old high priest prayed on and on."
The counselor continued, "I think the young man would have drowned if we had waited for the prayer to end to save him." Then he concluded by saying, "I think we have to keep an eye open and be ready to do whatever is necessary to save our youth. And by the way, the bishop never did open his eyes, even when I dove in."
Bishops, keep your eyes open, with a constant prayer in your heart that the Lord will let you know when your youth are in trouble.
A salesman approached a door. Inside, a young man was dutifully, dully practicing the piano. The salesman said, "Young man, is your mother home?"
The boy replied, "What do you think?"
As this mother monitored her son's practicing, we give thanks to the great men who dutifully monitor, care for, and love the youth.
Some years back, Terry, a deacon, was at Tracy Wigwam on an overnight camp. That night a full moon hung overhead. The adviser took Terry by the arm and said, "Let's go for a walk." They went several hundred feet from the cabins. The adviser said, "Terry, let's kneel here and have a prayer." They knelt together and prayed. After the prayer Terry's adviser said to him, "Terry, do you pray?" Terry answered that he did not. "Terry, will you commit to pray every day all the rest of your life?"
Terry said, "I never made a commitment unless I intended to keep it." He thought about prayer and decided it was right. It was a good thing. He said to his adviser, "Yes, I will pray all the rest of my life."
Terry, who went on to high school, then quarterbacked for the University of Utah where he was all-conference, and went on to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers, said, "I have kept that commitment, and I have prayed every morning and night since that day." And Terry is here tonight.
One of the most Christlike acts any leader can perform is to go out after the sheep. Elder Harold B. Lee said, "One's love is measured by how much he gives, not how much he gets."
A French scientist, Rene de Chardin, said, "Someday after we have mastered the winds and the waves, the tides and gravity, we will harness for God the energies of love, and then for the second time in the history of the world men will have discovered fire." Such is the love of a great man in my life, Bruford Reynolds.
When I was a boy of eleven, I used to go over to the old Richards Ward every Tuesday night. The Scouts would be having their troop meeting. I would lie on the ground and watch through the basement window. The Scouts would have patrol contests, build a fire using flint and steel, practice first aid, drill, and play games. I could hardly wait to become a deacon and a Scout.
When I was ordained a deacon I also registered in Scouting. Bruford Reynolds was the deacons quorum adviser for a period of time and also was the Scoutmaster.
Two months after I joined the troop I went to Brother Reynolds's home to pass off the Second Class requirements. When I had done this, Bruford Reynolds said to me: "Vaughn, you have a lot of leadership ability, but we cannot use you because you are rowdy in troop meeting. When you get squared away, we need you."
Having come from a large inactive family that was poor, I had little personal attention. My father had never told me that I could be anything. I gave a great deal of thought to my conduct. I decided to change. The following Tuesday I hardly moved an eyeball. I was as near perfect as I knew how to be.
Bruford Reynolds was true to his word. I became an assistant patrol leader, a patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader, then senior patrol leader. He believed in me and had a profound impact on my life.
About five years ago I called Bruford Reynolds on the phone. He was bishop at the time. I said, "May I be invited to speak at your sacrament meeting sometime in the near future?"
He said, "We are not supposed to ask General Authorities."
"You aren't," I said. "I am asking you."
He then said, "I would love to have you come on Easter." So I prepared a talk on the Savior's life.
When I began to speak, I first told the people in his ward what a wonderful man their bishop had been in my life. I told them how I used to go over and lie down on the ground and watch through the window. I shared with them examples of great lessons he taught me. I told them of the influence he had on my life and how he had told me I had leadership abilities. Then I shared with them how much I loved him. After brief comments about the bishop, I then spoke about the Savior.
At the conclusion of my talk, Bishop Reynolds stood. "We are not supposed to speak after General Authorities," he said, "but I want to share this additional part of the story that Elder Featherstone does not know.
"During part of the time I was deacons adviser and Scoutmaster, I also served another youth group. Both groups met on Tuesday, the Scouts at 7:30 and the other group at 8:00. I would get Scout meeting started and then I would leave to go over to the Lincoln Ward where the second group met. At 8:30 I would return to conclude the last half hour of Scout meeting. Elder Featherstone was my senior patrol leader, and I would leave him in charge of the troop. He isn't the only one who has lain on the ground and watched through the basement window! I used to do that when I would come back from Lincoln Ward. I wanted to see what was going on.
"One night I had a problem and could not make it back to the Scout troop until just before 9:00 P.M. I did not stop to look in the window, but just hurried down the hall to the Scout room. You can learn a lot about what is going on in a youth meeting by listening at the door. I listened at the door. Elder Featherstone had called the troop together for a Scoutmaster's Minute. I could hear what was being said.
"All of a sudden I heard footsteps behind me. I looked back, and here were four district commissioners from the Boy Scouts who had come to visit our troop. I wondered what they thought when they saw the Scoutmaster standing outside the Scout room, listening at the door. I didn't know what to say, so I put my finger to my lips in a hushing signal, and then I motioned them to listen at the door. They all leaned over and listened. In a minute one of the men said, 'That boy will be a fine leader out in the world some day.'"
And Bru Reynolds said, "No, one day he will lead in high places in this Church."
Two years ago we decided to have a reunion and honor Bruford Reynolds and other youth leaders who led us in Richards Ward between 1940 and 1950. The chapel was completely filled with men, former boys who had lived in the ward. We had raised money to buy some very nice gifts, which were presented to them, and using an opaque projector, we showed pictures of the boys and some of the activities during those years. We made a real fuss over Bruford Reynolds and the other great men.
Then we called for a response. Bruford Reynolds stood up, and with great tears dimming his eyes he said, "I think this is the greatest day of my life." As I thought about that statement, I looked out across that group of deacons/Scouts grown tall. It included three men who had been stake presidents, two men who had been mission presidents, several men in stake presidencies, thirty-three men who had been bishops or counselors, and one who is a General Authority. Then I thought, maybe this is what life is all about, to be able to look back and see the young men you had influenced grow up and become leaders in the kingdom.
A short time after that reunion, young Bruford Reynolds, a son, who was also a bishop, called and said, "Did you know my dad is in the hospital? He had a serious heart attack. He is in the LDS Hospital, and we wondered if you knew." I had not known. I told him that I would like to see him but I had to catch a plane in a little over an hour. I didn't see how I could get up to the hospital before I had to leave. He then said, "Oh, that's okay. Dad is going to be released tomorrow to return home."
I said, "Tell him I love him, and I'll drop in to see him as soon as I get back."
I hung up the phone, thought for only a moment, and decided everything else could wait. I took my briefcase, airplane tickets, and drove to the LDS Hospital to see Bruford Reynolds. As I walked through the door, our eyes met. The love between a great man and boy spanned the years. I went over to him and sat down, and we talked. Then I said, "I know you have been administered to, but would you feel all right if I knelt by your bed and offered a prayer?" I knelt down and together we prayed. When I finished, my eyes were filled with tears, as were his. Then I bent down over him and kissed him on the forehead and left.
Bruford Reynolds died an hour later. I was one of his boys, saying "farewell" to a great adviser one last time.
My testimony to all of you wonderful brethren who preside over and lead the Aaronic Priesthood is that you are more important to the Church than you would ever dare to suppose.
In Isaiah, the prophet asks, "Watchman, what of the night?" This generation of youth will be the torchbearers in the future, possibly in the darkest period of the world. So remember, brethren:
A great truth. They will be the torchbearers. May we be the watchmen. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder David B. Haight
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I rejoice with each of you priesthood holders, assembled in hundreds of meetinghouses throughout the world, in the knowledge that what is said here tonight is in harmony with and will assist in hastening the fulfillment of ancient and modern prophecy of our Lord and Savior's plan "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
We have a great work entrusted to us. My remarks tonight are centered in our efforts to find and recover men and families who have strayed from active Church participation. The dedicated heart and willing mind of every man and boy listening tonight is required to be vigorously involved in his priesthood responsibility to bring into activity and fellowship those men and boys we classify as inactive, thereby moving mankind nearer to the ultimate peace and joy of eternal life.
During this past month I received two widely differing messages. One was a formal invitation to attend the swearing-in ceremony in Washington, D.C., of the newest and youngest member of the United States Tax Court-an appointment made by the President of the United States, and a very prestigious honor.
Within hours of receiving that invitation, I had a visit from a law enforcement officer inquiring if I knew a certain young man. I replied, "Of course I know him. Why do you ask?" This young man had indicated to the officer that he knew me. A sordid story was then related to me of drugs, immorality, stealing to satisfy the high cost of drugs, buying illicit sexual favors, and cheap rooming house living. When I expressed a desire to see and help this young man, the officer suggested I not see him at this time because of his emotional condition.
The families of these two young men are well known to me. As boys they were members of the same ward. Both received the Aaronic Priesthood and had had the same Sunday School teachers. The scriptures, Church magazines, and lesson manuals had been made available in their homes.
One received the Melchizedek Priesthood, fulfilled a mission, married in the temple, and while attending law school, served in a bishopric; and now, Judge Stephen Jensen Swift has been honored by his national government by appointment to a federal judgeship.
The other young man never merited or obtained the promised blessings of the Melchizedek Priesthood. Going to top-rated private schools overshadowed interest in a mission. He never married, associated with the wrong people, has now become a ridiculer of gospel principles because they differ from his life-style, and is virtually an outcast from family, society, and from the word of God. His family's life-style failed to encourage him spiritually by its lack of interest in the scriptures, family home evenings, family and personal prayer, and hearing in their home testimonies of religious belief.
The Honorable Judge Stephen Swift is settling his family in Washington, D.C., and learning to feel comfortable in the robes of a federal judge. He has our love, admiration, and highest respect.
The other young man needs our love even more-a special love. I have faith that we can recover him. It was such as he of whom the Savior spoke: "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?"
Paul taught, for he had experienced firsthand, that "God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
Young men are sowers. Young women are sowers. Who trains and guides these sowers? Who points out to them which is the right grain to place in the sower's bag? Who teaches them how to place the sower's bag on their shoulders? Who teaches the young sower going out into the field for the first time whether the season is right, or how far to scatter the seed? Hopefully, a caring father, a loving mother, teachers and quorums, or other loved ones will guide their footsteps.
"When we do not act preventively in the earlier years," President Kimball said, "we must later on act redemptively but with fewer and more labored results." In saving our youth, we save generations.
There is an unusual concern being expressed by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles over the increasing numbers of men and boys-who have such an influence upon their wives and families-who are now listed on quorum and ward reports as inactive.
We remind all of you that-
Every inactive man has a bishop, quorum president, and home teachers.
Every inactive woman has a bishop, Relief Society president, and visiting teachers.
Every inactive young woman has a bishop and a Young Women's presidency.
Every inactive young man has a bishop and quorum president.
And every member of the Church has a stake president or a mission president.
President Harold B. Lee taught: "There is no new organization necessary to take care of the needs of this people. All that is necessary is to put the priesthood of God to work."
Your attention to this alarming trend of inactivity must now become one of our most urgent priorities. The worth of all souls is great in the sight of God, whether they be nonmembers, inactive members, or active members.
The gospel teaches us that every member of the Church has an obligation to strengthen his fellow members. The Savior himself instructed the Apostle Peter: "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."
Guidelines for Melchizedek Priesthood quorum activation efforts have already been given to stake presidents with the necessary instructions from the Regional Representatives.
To clarify and reemphasize the fundamental concepts of Melchizedek Priesthood quorum participation and to help the quorums utilize their manpower resources, I would like to read the following statement of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. It will guide stake presidents, bishops, and Melchizedek Priesthood quorum leaders in organizing local efforts to effectively reach their members:
"The Lord gave instruction in the revelations that holders of the priesthood should be organized by quorums. The presidency of the quorum is responsible for the activity of each quorum member. Home teaching, wherein quorum members 'visit the house of each member', is one of the most effective means by which the members of the quorum are cared for and strengthened.
"The bishop, as presiding high priest and chairman of the ward priesthood executive committee, which is the home teaching committee, in consultation with Melchizedek Priesthood quorum presidents and group leaders, should assign families for home teaching purposes to quorums and groups. Generally, members will receive home teachers from their own quorums. However, where there is a special need, inactive Melchizedek Priesthood bearers and prospective elders and their families may be assigned to the quorum or group that can provide the most effective fellowshipping and teaching. Home teachers will report to their own quorum presidencies or group leaders.
"Brethren who have special talents in teaching the inactive should be assigned by the bishop as home teachers to selected inactive families. When those families are brought into activity, the teachers may then be assigned to work with other inactive families.
"When an inactive elder or prospective elder who has been assigned to the high priests is brought to priesthood meeting by his home teacher, he may attend the high priests or seventies groups or the elders quorum, depending upon his needs. The bishop makes this decision in consultation with the Melchizedek Priesthood quorum and group leaders.
"When it is appropriate for a prospective elder to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, he should be ordained an elder and then become a member of the elders quorum. Age is not the determining factor for Melchizedek Priesthood ordinations of these brethren. Men are ordained to offices of the priesthood when their calling requires it and by inspiration and according to their worthiness."
This thoughtfully prepared statement of Melchizedek Priesthood quorum and quorum member participation has one purpose: to assist stake presidents, bishops, and the Melchizedek Priesthood quorum leaders in organizing their priesthood power to be the most productive in bringing back those who have strayed.
Many stakes have already enthusiastically implemented activation efforts, with heart-warming results. Most wards and stakes in the Church can recount their own successes-they are many. Stake and ward leaders know what to do: inspired home teaching, temple preparation seminars, fellowshipping with genuine love, appropriate church assignments-these are the key ingredients. We need to get organized and "do it."
There are tens of thousands of good people who have quietly drifted away and are now waiting for a knock on their door. Those who have strayed must experience a doctrinal conversion and social integration by someone who cares.
Loren Eiseley walked along a stormy beach late one afternoon "with the wind roaring at his back and the seagulls screaming" overhead. Tourists who came to the beach would collect shellfish and sea life tossed up each night, boil them in large kettles, and take the shells home as souvenirs. Eiseley walked far down the beach around a point away from the collectors and saw "a gigantic rainbow of incredible perfection." Toward its foot he "discerned a human figure gazing at something in the sand."
"In a pool of sand a starfish had thrust its arms up stiffly and was holding its body away from the stifling mud.
"'Yes,'" and with a quick gentle movement he picked up the star and spun it far out into the sea.
"It may live," he said, "if the offshore pull is strong enough. "
At first Eiseley felt only the futility of the man's efforts, "throwing one starfish at a time back into the sea when it nightly tosses out hundreds." He walked away, looking sadly "at the shell collectors the steaming kettles in which voiceless things were being boiled alive."
The next morning Eiseley again went to the beach. Again the star thrower was there. "Silently picked up a still-living star, spinning it far out into the waves. 'I understand,' said. 'Call thrower.'"
Of throwing the starfish back he wrote, "It was like a sowing-the sowing of life on an infinitely gigantic scale. " He saw the star thrower stoop and throw once more. Eiseley joined with him. They "flung and flung again while all about roared the insatiable waters."
They, "alone and small in that immensity, hurled back the living stars." They set their shoulders and "cast, slowly, deliberately, and well. The task was not to be assumed lightly." Each moment counted if they were to rescue the starfish that they sought to save.
We need star throwers-throwers with vision and who have a sense of discipleship with the Savior, who feel the need to save where there is still life and hope and value, and not to let that life die on a friendless beach, but to hurl it back to where it belongs.
In a world where materialism, cynicism, and hopelessness exists, we share the message of greatest hope-the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Be a star thrower! Then you may better understand our Lord's commandment: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
God bless us all in his divine work of the recovering of souls, that our resolve will be firm, that our timing will be now, and that our success will be sweet, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My beloved brethren, I have entitled my remarks "What Manner of Men Ought We to Be?" You will recognize this title as a variation of the question Jesus posed to the Nephites. It is a timely question for each member of the priesthood of God to consider.
This title is prompted by reports that have recently come to my attention about the shocking actions of some fathers and husbands, and their unrighteous actions involve wife and child abuse.
As I have listened to these reports, I have asked myself, "How can any member of the Church-any man who holds the priesthood of God-be guilty of cruelty to his own wife and children?"
Such actions, if practiced by a priesthood holder, are almost inconceivable. They are totally out of character with the teachings of the Church and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As priesthood holders, we are to emulate the character of the Savior.
And what is His character?
He has identified the cardinal virtues of His divine character in a revelation to all priesthood holders who serve in His ministry. You are familiar with this verse in section 4 of the Doctrine and Covenants, which was given a year before the Church was organized:
"Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence."
These are the virtues we are to emulate. This is the Christlike character.
Let us discuss a few of these traits.
A priesthood holder is virtuous. Virtuous behavior implies that he has pure thoughts and clean actions. He will not lust in his heart, for to do so is to "deny the faith" and to lose the Spirit.
He will not commit adultery "nor do anything like unto it." This means fornication, homosexual behavior, self-abuse, child molestation, or any other sexual perversions.
Virtue is akin to holiness-an attribute of godliness. A priesthood holder should actively seek for things that are virtuous and lovely and not that which is debasing or sordid. Virtue will "garnish thoughts unceasingly."
Whenever a priesthood holder departs from the path of virtue in any form or expression, he loses the Spirit and comes under Satan's power. He then receives the wages of him whom he has chosen to serve. As a result, sometimes the Church must take disciplinary action, for we cannot condone nor pardon unvirtuous and unrepented actions.
All priesthood holders must be morally clean to be worthy to bear the authority of Jesus Christ.
A priesthood holder is temperate. This means he is restrained in his emotions and verbal expressions. He does things in moderation and is not given to overindulgence. In a word, he has self-control. He is the master of his emotions, not the other way around.
A priesthood holder who would curse his wife, abuse her with words or actions, or do the same to one of his own children is guilty of grievous sin.
"Can ye be angry, and not sin?" asked the Apostle Paul.
If a man does not control his temper it is a sad admission that he is not in control of his thoughts. He then becomes a victim to his own passions and emotions, which lead him to actions that are totally unfit for civilized behavior, let alone behavior for a priesthood holder.
President David O. McKay once said, "A man who cannot control his temper is not very likely to control his passion, and no matter what his pretensions in religion, he moves in daily life very close to the animal plane."
A priesthood holder is to be patient. Patience is another form of self-control. It is the ability to postpone gratification and to bridle one's passions. A patient man does not engage in impetuous behavior in his relationships with loved ones, which he will later regret. Patience is composure under stress. A patient man is understanding of others' faults.
A priesthood bearer who is patient will be tolerant of the mistakes and failings of his loved ones. Because he loves them, he will not find fault nor criticize nor blame.
A priesthood bearer is kind. One who is kind is sympathetic and gentle with others. He is considerate of others' feelings and courteous in his behavior. He has a helpful nature. Kindness pardons others' weaknesses and faults.
Can you see how we become more Christlike as we are more virtuous, more kind, more patient, and more in control of our emotional feelings?
The Apostle Paul used some vivid expressions to illustrate that a member of the Church must be different from the world. He commended us to "put on Christ," "put off the old man," and "put on the new man."
What does that mean to us as brethren of the priesthood?
It means that we must become like Jesus Christ. We must emulate His way of life in our lives. Of necessity, we must be "born again" and put aside worldly lusts and former behavior unsuited to the Christlike character. We must seek the Holy Ghost to temper our actions.
How is this done?
As I've thought about the serious sins that some of our brethren have committed, I've wondered, "Did they seek the Lord to help them overcome their emotional outbursts? Did they rely on fasting and prayer? Did they seek a priesthood blessing? Did they ask our Heavenly Father to temper their emotions by the influence of the Holy Ghost?"
Jesus said we are to "hunger and thirst after righteousness." To do this, we must earnestly desire a righteous and virtuous life.
I cite for you an example of a man whose life was changed to a more Christlike life after he earnestly desired such a change and sought the Lord's help.
Lamoni's father was a king who had bitter enmity toward the Nephites. A great missionary by the name of Aaron-one of the sons of Mosiah-had come to the Lamanite nation to bring them the gospel. He proceeded to the king's home and subsequently engaged him in a gospel discussion about the purpose of life. Once the king became receptive to his message, Aaron taught him about Christ, the plan of salvation, and the possibility of eternal life.
This message so impressed the king that he asked Aaron, "What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy?"
Aaron instructed him to call upon God in faith to help him repent of all his sins. The king, anxious for his own soul, did as Aaron instructed:
"O God," he prayed, "Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee".
Now I want you, my brethren, to hear again this humble man's words: "I will give away all my sins to know thee."
Brethren, each of us must surrender our sins if we are to really know Christ. For we do not know Him until we become like Him. There are some, like this king, who must pray until they, too, have "a wicked spirit rooted" from them so they can find the same joy.
Attaining a righteous and virtuous life is within the capability of any one of us if we will earnestly seek for it. If we do not have these character traits, the Lord has told us that we should "ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
The Apostle Peter tells us that when we possess these traits we are not "unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
To know the Savior, then, is to be like Him.
God will bless us to be like His Son when we make an earnest effort.
To be like Christ should be the righteous aspiration of every priesthood holder. We should act as He would act in our relationships with others.
The Lord said,
"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself all ungodliness, and every worldly lust, and keep my commandments."
He expects His disciples to follow Him by their actions.
Now, may I say a word about our relationships with our wives and our families.
Your wife is your most precious and eternal helpmate-your eternal companion. She is to be cherished and loved.
There are only two commandments where the Lord tells us to love someone with all our hearts. The first you are familiar with as the Great Commandment: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."
The second commandment to love another with all our hearts is this: "Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else."
There are only two whom we are commanded to love with all our hearts-the Lord our God, and our wives!
What does it mean to love someone with all our hearts? It means with all our emotional feelings and our devotion. Surely when you love your wife with all your heart, you cannot demean her, criticize her, find fault with her, nor abuse her by words, sullen behavior, or actions.
What does it mean to "cleave unto her"? It means to stay close to her, to be loyal to her, to strengthen her, to communicate with her, and to express your love for her.
The same applies to our families. Our homes should be havens of peace and joy for our families. Surely no child should fear his own father-especially a priesthood father. A father's duty is to make his home a place of happiness and joy. He cannot do this when there is bickering, quarreling, contention, or unrighteous behavior.
As the patriarch in your home, you have a serious responsibility to assume leadership in the home. You must create a home where the Spirit of the Lord can abide.
You should always remember the statement of the Savior that "the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil." Never allow the adversary to be an influence in your home.
Now, brethren, I have spoken plainly. I do not wish to offend anyone, but there needs to be a change of attitude and behavior on the part of some who claim membership in the Lord's church but who act in an un-Christlike manner.
As holders of the priesthood of God, we must be more Christlike in our attitude and behavior than what we see in the world. We should be as charitable and considerate with our loved ones as Christ is with us. He is kind, loving, and patient with each of us. Should we not reciprocate the same love to our wives and children?
I opened with the question "What manner of men ought we to be?" You remember the Lord's answer is this: "Verily I say unto you, even as I am."
He expects us to be like Him. He expects us to demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit in our lives which are "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."
These Christlike traits should characterize each priesthood holder and should permeate every Latter-day Saint home. It can be done and must be done if we are to honorably bear His name.
Never in the history of mankind has there been a greater need for men to be united in their determination and actions to be Christlike in character.
To follow Him is to emulate His character.
Let us not leave this priesthood meeting tonight without a firm resolve to put aside any action that is foreign to the nature of Christ.
Let us resolve to apply the traits of our Lord and Savior in our own lives.
Let us as priesthood brethren have His image in our countenances.
Let us "put on Christ"!
He is our Savior, our Redeemer, and our Great Exemplar.
This is my fervent witness as I invoke the blessings of God upon each one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
My brethren, I pray for the direction of the Holy Spirit.
I should like first to say a few words to the boys who are here. I think every one of you young men wishes to be successful in life. The fact that you have made an effort to attend this meeting indicates that you are interested in worthwhile things. I recently read the results of a study of high school students in the United States: "Religion plays a prominent role in the lives of high school students who earn top grades and participate in extracurricular activities, a recent poll reports. The poll surveyed 55,000 juniors and seniors from 22,000 public, private, and parochial high schools across the nation. The survey shows that 85 percent of high achievers are reared in homes in which both natural parents live and formal religion is practiced. Nearly 45 percent live in rural communities. By an 84 percent margin, high achievers favor traditional marriages and reject the use of cigarettes and illegal drugs. Only 4 percent have used marijuana, and 89 percent have never smoked cigarettes."
You see, you who are members of the Church are not alone. Those who indulge in cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs would try to make you believe that you are "square" because you do not. But the fact is that there are tens of thousands just like you. Most of the youth of the Church refrain from these substances. And beyond these are the thousands of students who earn top grades and participate in extracurricular activities in their high schools, 85 percent of whom come from good homes where formal religion is practiced, and 89 percent of whom have never smoked cigarettes. It is a fact that you are with the majority of the achievers when you leave these things alone.
To you young men who are here tonight in such large numbers-you deacons, teachers, and priests-I congratulate you most warmly on the goodness of your lives. I congratulate you on your strength, your courage to stand by your convictions. I congratulate you on your ambitions to educate your minds and hands, to serve the Lord as missionaries, to live lives that will be a credit to yourselves, to your families, and to the Church of which you are members.
And while I congratulate you on your strength to refrain from the use of alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs, none of which will do you any good and all of which will do you harm, I warn you of another insidious and growing evil. This is the seductive lure of immorality. I am going to speak plainly. We hear much these days of teenage sexual misbehavior. There is too much of it among our own youth.
Any boy who indulges in illegitimate sexual activity, as we define that in the doctrines and standards of this Church-and I think no one misunderstands what I mean when I say that-does himself irreparable damage and robs her with whom he is involved of that which can never be restored. There is nothing clever about this kind of so-called conquest. It carries with it no laurels, no victories, no enduring satisfaction. It brings only shame, sorrow, and regret. He who so indulges cheats himself and robs her. In robbing her, he affronts her Father in Heaven, for she is a daughter of God.
I know that this is strong language, plainly spoken. But I feel the trends of our times call for strong language and plain words. Jehovah did not speak ambiguously when he said, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Nor did the Lord when He said in modern revelation, "Thou shalt not steal; neither commit adultery, nor kill, nor do anything like unto it."
Before leaving this matter I should like to add that if there be any here who have so sinned, there is repentance and there is forgiveness, provided there is "godly sorrow." All is not lost. Each of you has a bishop, who has been ordained and set apart under the authority of the holy priesthood and who, in the exercise of his office, is entitled to the inspiration of the Lord. He is a man of experience, he is a man of understanding, he is a man who carries in his heart a love for the youth of his ward. He is a servant of God who understands his obligation of confidentiality and who will help you with your problem. Do not be afraid to talk with him.
Now, while I am speaking of youth, I wish to say parenthetically just a word about education. I have great respect and appreciation for teachers. I am pleased to note that there is a public awakening to the need to prioritize our educational resources and programs. We live in a competitive world, and those who are now being trained will need the very best of schooling if they are to be qualified for the society into which they will move within a very short time.
We have in the Church a strong tradition regarding quality education. Over the years we have allocated a substantial part of the Church budget to education, both secular and religious. As a people we have supported public education. Where there is a well-demonstrated need, we should be supportive. Such can become an investment in the lives of our children, our communities, and our nation. However, let it not be supposed that all of the remedies may be found only with increased funding. There is need for a searching analysis of priorities and a careful weighing of costs. Let us be supportive; let us also be prudent concerning the resources of the people.
Now to you older brethren, may I touch upon a subject that may be pertinent to some of you, and to which President Benson has so eloquently referred. It is the responsibility to keep ourselves free from what one writer called "the world's slow stain." I speak of those influences of which I spoke to the boys, the beguiling and seductive lures that pull us in the direction of immorality and nullify our effectiveness as priesthood leaders.
Declared the Lord in 1831: "Go ye out from among the wicked. Save yourselves. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord."
There is an ever-growing plague of pornography swirling about us. The producers and purveyors of smut are assiduously working a mine that yields them many millions in profit. Some of their products are artfully beguiling. They are designed to titillate and stimulate the baser instincts. Many a man who has partaken of forbidden fruit and then discovered that he has destroyed his marriage, lost his self-respect, and broken his companion's heart, has come to realize that the booby-trapped jungle trail he has followed began with the reading or viewing of pornographic material. Some who would not think of taking a sip of liquor or of smoking a cigarette, have rationalized indulgence in pornography. Such have warped values totally unbecoming one who has been ordained to the priesthood of God.
Portrayals of sexual perversion, violence, and bestiality become increasingly available for those who succumb to their lures. As this happens, religious activities are likely to become less attractive because the two do not mix any more than oil and water mix.
A thought-provoking study was recently published in Public Opinion magazine. It has been commented upon by many writers. John Dart, religion editor for the Los Angeles Times, wrote a column last February in which he said:
"A survey of influential television writers and executives in Hollywood has shown that they are far less religious than the general public and 'diverge sharply from traditional values' on such issues as abortion, homosexual rights and extramarital sex. While nearly all of the 104 Hollywood professionals interviewed had a religious background, 45 percent now say they have no religion, and of the other 55 percent only 7 percent say they attend a religious service as much as once a month.
"'This group has had a major role in shaping the shows whose themes and stars have become staples in our popular culture.'
"Eighty percent of the respondents said they did not regard homosexual relations as wrong, and 51 percent did not deem adultery as wrong. Of the 49 percent who called extramarital affairs wrong, only 17 percent felt that way strongly, the study said. Nearly all-97 percent-favored the right of a woman to choose an abortion, 91 percent holding that view strongly.
"By contrast, other surveys have indicated that 85 percent of Americans consider adultery wrong, 71 percent regard homosexual activity wrong and nearly three-fourths of the public wants abortion limited to certain hard cases or banned altogether."
These are the people who, through the medium of entertainment, are educating us in the direction of their own standards, which in many cases are diametrically opposed to the standards of the gospel. Even beyond these, who produce for public television and cable, are the hard-core pornographers who seductively reach out to ensnare those gullible enough and those so weak in their discipline of self that they spend money to buy these lascivious products.
We are not immune to these influences. Centuries ago Nephi foresaw our day and said concerning it:
"For the kingdom of the devil must shake, and they which belong to it must needs be stirred up unto repentance, for the devil will grasp them with his everlasting chains, and they be stirred up to anger, and perish;
"For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.
"And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well-and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.
"And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none-and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance."
Those are interesting and descriptive words-"leadeth them away carefully down to hell," and "he whispereth in their ears." How descriptive of the seductive and beguiling ways of the purveyors of filth and violence and evil.
Brethren, I am not suggesting a public boycott, but I am suggesting a personal avoidance of such things. There is so much of the good and the beautiful and the uplifting in literature and art and life itself that there should be no time for any man who holds the priesthood of God to patronize, to watch, to buy that which only "carefully leads him down to hell."
Now there is another matter I wish to mention. And perhaps I could repeat a few lines that I spoke on another occasion:
We now seem to have a great host of critics. Some appear intent on trying to destroy us. They belittle that which we call divine.
In their cultivated faultfinding, they see not the majesty of the great onrolling of this cause. They have lost sight of the spark that was kindled in Palmyra which is now lighting fires of faith across the earth, in many lands and in many languages. Wearing the spectacles of humanism, they fail to realize that spiritual promptings, with recognition of the influence of the Holy Ghost, had as much to do with the actions of our forebears as did the processes of the mind. They have failed to realize that religion is as much concerned with the heart as it is with the intellect.
We have those critics who appear to wish to cull out of a vast panorama of information those items which demean and belittle some of the men and women of the past who worked so hard in laying the foundation of this great cause. They find readers of their works who seem to delight in picking up these tidbits, and in chewing them over and relishing them. In so doing they are savoring a pickle, rather than eating a delicious and satisfying dinner of several courses.
We recognize that our forebears were human. They doubtless made mistakes. But the mistakes were minor, when compared with the marvelous work which they accomplished. To highlight the mistakes and gloss over the greater good is to draw a caricature. Caricatures are amusing, but they are often ugly and dishonest. A man may have a blemish on his cheek and still have a face of beauty and strength, but if the blemish is emphasized unduly in relation to his other features, the portrait is lacking in integrity.
There was only one perfect man who ever walked the earth. The Lord has used imperfect people in the process of building his perfect society. If some of them occasionally stumbled, or if their characters may have been slightly flawed in one way or another, the wonder is the greater that they accomplished so much.
I do not fear truth. I welcome it. But I wish all of my facts in their proper context, with emphasis on those elements which explain the great growth and power of this organization.
There is promise, given under inspiration from the Almighty, set forth in these beautiful words:
"God shall give unto you knowledge by his Holy Spirit, yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost."
The humanists who criticize us, the so-called intellectuals who demean us, speak only from ignorance of this manifestation. They have not heard it because they have not sought after it and prepared themselves to be worthy of it.
Do not be trapped by the sophistry of the world which for the most part is negative and which seldom, if ever, bears good fruit. Rather, "look to God and live."
Brethren, the Church is true. Those who lead it have only one desire, and that is to do the will of the Lord. They seek his direction in all things. There is not a decision of significance affecting the Church and its people that is made without prayerful consideration, going to the fount of all wisdom for direction. Follow the leadership of the Church. God will not let his work be led astray.
Brethren, if we live worthy of his inspiration, there will never be doubt in our minds concerning the truth of this work and the great mission of this kingdom. God bless you as men and boys holding the priesthood. May your example evoke the respect and the admiration of all with whom you associate, I humbly pray as I leave you my witness and testimony of the divinity of this work, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
The Tabernacle Choir has sung "The Morning Breaks." I think I should like to use those marvelous words written by Parley P. Pratt as something of a theme:
I greet you with appreciation for your love for the Lord and for your loyalty to his great cause.
I see the fruits of your faith, and I am grateful. I thank you for the energy you put into this work. I know that at times it feels burdensome. Some of it may appear unnecessary. But out of effort and labor comes strength, and out of service comes gladness.
I thank you for your faith in the payment of your tithes and offerings. You are making possible the growth and strengthening of this work across the world. But you do not need thanks. Every man and woman who pays his or her honest tithing has a testimony of the blessings that come therefrom. He or she can bear witness that the Lord opens the windows of heaven and pours out blessings as he has promised.
I give you the assurance, my brothers and sisters, that the work is moving forward. Wherever it is established in more than eighty nations, it is growing in strength. The faith of the people is increasing, as reflected in their increased activity. The missionary work continues to flourish. Our young men and women continue to leave their homes to go into the world to bear witness of the Savior and of the restoration of his eternal gospel in this the dispensation of the fulness of times. The work of salvation for the dead, through the vast genealogical program of the Church and the selfless labor of love that goes on in the temples, is moving at a pace never previously known.
Our people are more faithful in attendance at their meetings, and since our last conference a very substantial number of them have had opportunity to demonstrate their love for neighbor as well as for God. In the floods which we have experienced in this area, there has been an unexcelled expression of neighborliness and Christian service. A woman who was not a member of the Church was interviewed on television and said, "I am not a Mormon, but I have come to know who my bishop is." She went on to speak with unrestrained appreciation for her neighbors, who, almost entirely Latter-day Saints, had been as generous in their help toward her as they had been in their help toward one another. There is a stake not far from here where the members of each ward undertook the repair or replacement of a home damaged or lost in the flood. Hundreds of thousands of sandbags were filled and put in place. There were, of course, those not of the Church doing likewise, but all concerned have spoken with high praise for the Church organization which was able to muster forces so rapidly and so effectively.
Help in very substantial quantities was sent to the people of Tonga, following a wild typhoon that ripped apart homes and farms. Both members and nonmembers were blessed by that assistance.
Latter-day Saints in Brazil came to the aid of their countrymen, both Mormon and non-Mormon, who suffered the loss of homes and crops when terrible floods ravaged the vast southern area of that nation.
Again through the Welfare Program, and the cooperation of the Kaiser Aluminum Company, who furnished transportation, we were able to send substantial supplies of food and medicine to rescue many of the starving people of Ghana in Africa. Lives, not a few, were literally saved by this assistance.
I do not mention these efforts in a spirit of boasting, but only to express gratitude to the Lord for the means and the resources and the will of our people to be helpful in times of crisis.
Funds for these works of mercy have come largely from fast offerings. Despite the increased needs to meet such disasters, as well as aggravated problems incident to the present economy, fastoffering contributions have kept pace. Thank you for this marvelous expression of faith as you have gone without meals yourselves to help those in distress.
I report also the dedication of four new temples since June of this year. For the benefit of any listening who may not be members of the Church, I should explain that a temple occupies a unique and peculiar place in our theology. It is not a house of public worship, of which we now have many thousands across the world. Temples, on the other hand, are dedicated as special houses of God, in which are performed some of the most sacred and elevating ordinances associated with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In June we dedicated a new temple in Atlanta, Georgia. This was the culmination of a dream that began a century and more ago when, in the days of the poverty of our people, missionaries were first sent to the southern states. A few accepted their testimony, but many more rose in bitterness against them. These early missionaries endured much persecution. Some were stripped and beaten; some were murdered by hateful enemies. But with faith they persevered. Eventually, thousands upon thousands joined the Church, and today the work is strong and growing in that beautiful part of the nation where we now have hundreds of faithful congregations of Latter-day Saints.
On the occasion of the Atlanta Temple dedication, the testimonies of the people-those spoken and those expressed in tears of gratitude-together with their songs of thanksgiving, all bore witness to the strength of their faith and their love for God.
In August we were in Samoa and Tonga for temple dedications. Again our hearts were lifted by the outpouring of the Christlike love we experienced and witnessed among the wonderful Saints of Polynesia. Through ancient prophets the Lord promised that in the latter days he would remember his people upon the isles of the sea. We have witnessed a marvelous fulfillment of these promises where today, among these loving and gracious people, we have scores of congregations, strong and flourishing schools to bless them with the benefits of education, and now beautiful temples of the Lord in which they may receive blessings to be found nowhere else.
Only a fortnight ago we were in Santiago, Chile, for the dedication of another beautiful temple. For me it was a miracle to be with more than 15,000 Latter-day Saints who assembled for these dedicatory services which extended over a period of three days. The nation of Chile is 2,700 miles long, and our faithful people gathered from such distant cities as Arica in the far north and Punta Arenas in the far south to rejoice over the marvelous blessing that had come to them in the erection and dedication of this sacred house of God.
Among them were Brother and Sister Ricardo Garcia, the first to be baptized when missionaries were sent to Chile in 1956. Only twenty-seven years later, there are more than 140,000 members of the Church in that nation.
For those of us favored to attend these dedicatory services, there has come a great refreshing of our faith and an increased affection for our brethren and sisters who love the Lord and walk with loyalty to him and his commandments.
I recently had the opportunity of meeting with 14,000 seminary and institute students assembled in the Long Beach Convention Center. They had gathered from various areas of Southern California, handsome young men and beautiful young women. Most are high school students who meet five days each week for a seminary class at 6:15 in the morning, which is held in a Church building near the school under the direction of a dedicated and able teacher. On my way home from Chile, I met in Detroit with another group of these students at 6:15 in the morning.
These are bright and gifted and attractive youth. One cannot look into their faces and have any doubt concerning the future of this work. They are part of a marvelous generation whose numbers are constantly growing and whose faith is infectious.
They are to be found not only in the areas I have mentioned but wherever our work is established. They are the certain promise of the future of the Church and of its growing strength and the fulfilling of its mission. Furthermore, they will bless the nations and the lands of which they are a part, for they are young men and women with ambition for education. They believe in the cultivation of the mind, of the development of their skills, of the need to master new technologies, to serve in the world of work into which they will move.
They are young men and women of virtue and sobriety who have been reared to believe that our bodies are the temples of the Spirit of God and that we cannot defile these bodies without affronting him who is our creator.
They are the young men and women of faith who have been schooled in the scriptures. They know the Old Testament and the great characters who march through its pages. They are familiar with the New Testament and have developed a love for the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Their faith in him has been reaffirmed and strengthened as they have studied that marvelous testament of the New World, the Book of Mormon. They are familiar with the word of God as it has come through modern revelation. They are students who are acquiring both secular and religious education, learning by study and also by faith. They are examples of the power of that first great principle, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The history of this Church is a history of the expression of such faith. It began with a farm boy in the year 1820 when he read that great promise set forth in the Epistle of James:
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."
It was faith, the simple faith of a fourteen-year-old boy, that took him into the woods that spring morning. It was faith that took him to his knees in pleading for understanding. The marvelous fruit of that faith was a vision glorious and beautiful, of which this great work is but the extended shadow.
It was by faith that he kept himself worthy of the remarkable manifestations which followed in bringing to the earth the keys, the authority, the power to reestablish the Church of Jesus Christ in these latter days. It was by faith that this marvelous record of ancient peoples, this testament which we call the Book of Mormon, was brought forth by the gift and power of God "to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ." It was by faith that a small band of early converts, notwithstanding the very powers of hell brought against them, strengthened and sustained one another, left home and family to spread the word, moved from New York to Ohio and from Ohio to Missouri and from Missouri to Illinois in their search for peace and freedom to worship God according to the dictates of conscience.
It was through the eyes of faith that they saw a city beautiful when first they walked across the swamps of Commerce, Illinois. With the conviction that faith without works is dead, they drained that swampland, they platted a city, they built substantial homes and houses for worship and education and, crowning all, a magnificent temple, then the finest building in all of Illinois.
Again came persecution, with profane and murderous mobs. Their prophet was killed. Their dreams were shattered. Again it was by faith that they pulled themselves together under the pattern he had previously drawn and organized themselves for another exodus.
With tears and aching hearts they left their comfortable homes and their workshops. They looked back upon their sacred temple, and then with faith turned their eyes to the West, to the unknown and to the uncharted, and while the snows of winter fell upon them, they crossed the Mississippi that February of 1846 and plowed their muddy way over the Iowa prairie.
With faith they established Winter Quarters on the Missouri. Hundreds died as plague and dysentery and black canker cut them down. But faith sustained those who survived. They buried their loved ones there on a bluff above the river, and in the spring of 1847 they started west, moving by faith up the Elkhorn and beside the Platte toward the mountains of the West.
It was by faith that Brigham Young looked over this valley, then hot and barren, and declared, "This is the place." Again by faith, four days later, he touched his cane to the ground a few hundred feet east of where I stand and said, "Here will be the temple of our God." The magnificent and sacred house of the Lord to the east of this Tabernacle is a testimony of faith, not only of the faith of those who built it but of the faith of those who now use it in a great selfless labor of love.
Wrote Paul to the Hebrews, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." All of the great accomplishments of which I have spoken were once only "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." But with vision, with labor, and with confidence in the power of God working through them, they brought their faith to reality.
Behind us is a glorious history. It is bespangled with heroism, tenacity to principle, and unflagging fidelity. It is the product of faith. Before us is a great future. It begins today. We cannot pause. We cannot slow down. We cannot slacken our pace or shorten our stride.
In a dark period of our history, when enemies were throwing accusations against the Church, the First Presidency issued a proclamation to the world in which they set forth the dimensions of this work. Said they: "Our motives are not selfish; our purposes not petty and earth-bound; we contemplate the human race-past, present, and yet to come-as immortal beings, for whose salvation it is our mission to labor; and to this work, broad as eternity and deep as the love of God, we devote ourselves, now, and forever."
With faith we must go forward toward the fulfillment of that commitment. We must ever keep before us the big picture, while not neglecting the details. That large picture is a portrayal of the whole broad mission of the Church; but it is painted one brush stroke at a time through the lives of all members, the composite of whose activities becomes the Church at work.
Each of us, therefore, is important. Each is a brush stroke, as it were, on the mural of this vast panorama of the kingdom of God. If there are blanks, if there are distortions, if there are off-color areas, then the picture is defective to all who look upon it.
Shall any of us say that with faith we cannot do better than we are now doing?
There is no obstacle too great, no challenge too difficult, that we cannot meet with faith. We live in a world where the standards of the gospel are challenged, where they are ridiculed, where sacred things are mocked. Shall we compromise? Shall we revile those who speak ungraciously of us?
In a more troubled day, the Lord said to Thomas B. Marsh:
"Be patient in afflictions, revile not against those that revile. Govern your house in meekness, and be steadfast.
"Go your way whithersoever I will, and it shall be given you by the Comforter what you shall do and whither you shall go.
"Be faithful unto the end, and lo, I am with you. These words are not of man nor of men, but of me, even Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, by the will of the Father."
Said the Savior to his disciples, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
This is the commandment which is before us. Regrettably we have not reached perfection. We have a great distance to go. We must cultivate the faith to reform our lives, commencing where we are weak and moving on from there in our work of self-correction, thus gradually and consistently growing in strength to live more nearly as we should.
With faith we can rise above those negative elements in our lives which constantly pull us down. With effort we can develop the capacity to subdue those impulses which lead to degrading and evil actions.
With faith we can school our appetites.
We can reach out to those whose faith has grown cold and warm them by our own faith.
Let us never forget, my brethren and sisters, that each of us is a part of the whole and that what we do mars or beautifies the magnificent panorama of the kingdom of God.
As our fathers labored in faith with a moving vision of the destiny of this work, even so can we. There is so much to be done, so much improvement to be made, but we can do it, walking in faith.
"If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."
So declared the Lord.
God grant us faith, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Throughout the expanse of human history, no prophet has been scrutinized in such a sustained way, on as wide a scale, or for so long a period of time as Joseph Smith, Jr. The communication capacity of this age and the global impact of his work have so ensured.
Young Joseph was told that his name would be "both good and evil spoken of" throughout the world. Except from a divine source, how audacious a statement! Yet his contemporary religious leaders, then much better known than Joseph, have faded into the footnotes of history, while the work of Joseph Smith grows constantly and globally.
We have no hesitancy, however, in stipulating that Joseph was, by the standards of the world, "not learned." Isaiah foresaw it. Joseph did not have the skilled, formal tutoring young Saul had at the feet of Gamaliel.
Emma Smith reportedly said that Joseph, at the time of the translation of the Book of Mormon, could not compose a "well-worded letter let alone dictating a book like the Book of Mormon marvelous to me, a marvel and a wonder, as much as to anyone else."
This obscure young man apparently paused while translating and dictating to Emma-probably from the fourth chapter of 1 Nephi -concerning the "wall of Jerusalem"-and said, in effect, "Emma, I didn't know there was a wall around Jerusalem."
But Joseph's keen mind was being awakened and expanded as the tutoring words of the Lord and of past prophets flowed through his quickened consciousness. In fact, he was the very seer foreseen anciently by the earlier Joseph in Egypt!
In a prophetic father's blessing given in December 1834 to Joseph Smith, Junior, Father Smith confirmed those promises given the ancient Joseph, and pronounced added blessings, including these, upon young Joseph: "Thy God has called thee by name out of the heavens to do a work in this generation which no other man would do as Thyself." The ancient Joseph "looked after his posterity in the last days And sought diligently to know who would bring the word of the Lord and his eyes beheld thee, my son: his heart rejoiced and his soul was satisfied."
Young Joseph also heard his father promise, "Thou shalt like to do the work which the Lord shall command Thee."
Earlier, during the approximately ninety days of translating, Joseph was processing-and at a remarkable rate-truths and concepts of immense significance, beyond what was then his capacity. A few gems only from that treasure trove:
Could Joseph have been expected, for instance, to appreciate fully that, through him, would be given the only significant scriptural elaboration of one of the most fundamental and demanding declarations of Jesus?
"Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."
Through Joseph Smith's translation came these stunning, defining, and sobering words about what childlike and saintly submissiveness really means:
"A saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."
Likewise, Paul wrote that since Jesus was tempted, he understood how to succor us when we are tempted. Yet it was through Joseph Smith that these confirming and clarifying words of Alma were given:
"And shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities."
Illuminated also was petitionary prayer: "Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." "Plain and precious" and needed light was added to those words through Joseph:
"And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you."
"He that asketh in the Spirit asketh according to the will of God; wherefore it is done even as he asketh."
Not only did confirming and clarifying truths flow through Joseph, but also rich language and deep concepts.
From Ammon:
"How blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the children of men; for they will not seek wisdom, neither do they desire that she should rule over them!
"Yea, they are as a wild flock which fleeth from the shepherd, and scattereth, and are driven."
From Jacob:
"Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds."
From Amulek, who finally triumphed over ambivalence:
"Nevertheless, I did harden my heart, for I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know."
Theology and beauty combine, again and again, in the pages provided through Joseph, as when the resurrected Christ appeared in the Western Hemisphere:
"And when had said these words, he himself also knelt upon the earth; and behold he prayed unto the Father, and the things which he prayed cannot be written.
"And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father."
Serious study of the blessed Book of Mormon admits one to a wonder world of complexity and beauty, even in the midst of the book's simple, but powerful, spiritual refrain. We are given that which we most need-yet we are athirst for more!
Granted, whenever the words of heaven are filtered through mortal minds and tongues there is some diminution. Yet, as with Nephi of old, so it was with Joseph Smith:
"If ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me."
Joseph later learned to express his own thoughts inspirationally, as in his forgiving letter of 1840 to a betraying but repenting W. W. Phelps.
"It is true, that we have suffered much in consequence of your behavior-the cup of gall, already full enough for mortals to drink, was indeed filled to overflowing when you turned against us. One with whom we had oft taken sweet counsel together, and enjoyed many refreshing seasons from the Lord-'had it been an enemy, we could have borne it.'
"However, the cup has been drunk, the will of our Father has been done, and we are yet alive, for which we thank the Lord.
"I shall be happy once again to rejoice over the returning prodigal.
"'Come on, dear brother, since the war is past, For friends at first, are friends again at last.'"
Was Joseph imperfect like other prophets? Of course! Surely, Joseph could identify with these words of an ancient prophet, which he translated:
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been."
Joseph, who translated the instructive words "there is an opposition in all things", came to understand, by experience, that the calisthenics of spiritual growth involve isometrics, the pitting of the emerging self against the stern resistance of the old self.
Did Joseph experience the same anxieties in carrying out his mission as did other prophets? Indeed! Joseph could understand with what feelings a weary and beset Paul wrote:
"For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears."
Was Joseph unjustly accused as were other prophets? Yes! Even unto this very day fragments of fact are flung at his memory. Paul was accused of being mad and deranged. Even Jesus himself was accused of being a winebibber, of being possessed of a devil, and of being mad.
Yet, in the midst of all these things, as promised, Joseph loved the work to which he had been called. And he loved his associates! In giving individual assignments to the Twelve, we see his love and humor tenderly intertwined:
"John Taylor, I believe you can do more good in the editorial department than preaching. You can write for thousands to read; while you can preach to but a few at a time. We have no one else we can trust the paper with, and hardly with you, for you suffer the paper to come out with so many mistakes."
Joseph was filled with mercy as evidenced in the healing of the many fevered sick on the banks of a river, and where his hands could not go, Joseph sent a healing handkerchief!
He sorrowed over his loss of a newborn child and was given permission to care for a neighbor's child during the day, then return the baby to her mother at night. An older sister of the baby, Margarette McIntire, later reported:
"One evening he did not come with at the usual time, and mother went down to the Mansion to see what was the matter, and there sat the Prophet with the baby wrapped up in a little silk quilt. He was trotting it on his knee, and singing to it to get it quiet before starting out."
Was Joseph a leader-servant? Demonstrably! A girl and her brother were struggling in the deep mud on their way to school. The Prophet Joseph "stooped down and cleaned the mud from our little heavy-laden shoes, took his handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped our tear-stained faces. He spoke kind and cheering words to us, and sent us on our way to school rejoicing."
In fleeing with Joseph from a mob, a young man reported, "sickness and fright had robbed me of my strength. Joseph had to decide whether to leave me to be captured by the mob, or endanger himself by rendering aid. Choosing the latter course, he lifted me upon his broad shoulders and bore me with occasional rest through the swamp and darkness. Several hours later we emerged upon the only road and soon reached safety. Joseph's herculean strength permitted him to my life."
A victim of intolerance, Joseph Smith was deeply offended when a Catholic convent was burned in New England, saying, "Yes, in sight of the very spot where the fire of American Independence was first kindled." Maligned, even today, Joseph once declared, "I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist, or any other denomination."
While most mortals misunderstand the significance of Joseph's ministry, the adversary surely did not!
Unsurprisingly, Joseph Smith, Jr., was still growing spiritually and intellectually, when he was murdered. Yet, Joseph lived long enough to "lay out the plan of all the work which God has given you to do" as promised in the blessing from his dying father in 1840. Now the ends of the earth inquire after his name. No wonder an admiring but dying Brigham Young's last words were "Joseph, Joseph, Joseph!"
Thus, those who revile Joseph Smith will not change Joseph's status with the Lord -merely their own! Instead-as was promised Joseph in an 1834 father's blessing:
"Thousands and tens of thousands shall come to a knowledge of the truth, through thy ministry, and thou shalt rejoice with Them in the Celestial Kingdom; thou shalt stand on Mount Zion when the tribes of Jacob come shouting from the north, and with thy brethren, the Sons of Ephraim, crown them in the name of Jesus Christ."
Some may seek to explain Joseph merely by attaching to him the generous adjective remarkable. Joseph was remarkable, but, much more importantly, he was instrumental!
Even now, one hears faintly the distant but approaching drum roll of history building towards a crescendo of mortal recognition when all shall see "things as they really are."
Meanwhile, the ancient records which a young Joseph translated will be with us "from generation to generation as long as the earth shall stand." These records defined a seer as one who can translate ancient records, is a revelator, and knows of things past and future. Such a seer, wrote Ammon, is greater than a prophet!
Therefore, brothers and sisters, I have no hesitancy-only gladness-in declaring my everlasting admiration for Joseph, the Seer! I thank the Father for providing such a seer! I thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for calling, directing, and tutoring Joseph!
Humbly, I give apostolic "praise to the man who communed with Jehovah," in the name of Jesus Christ, amen!
Elder Franklin D. Richards
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My dear brothers and sisters-yes, ye are all brothers and sisters-the counsel of my Brethren, as well as the beautiful music and the opening prayer, have made this a most inspirational meeting.
When I was called to be a General Authority twenty-three years ago, my response in this beautiful Tabernacle was: "I have love in my heart this morning, President McKay, for you and my brethren that are presiding over the affairs of the kingdom of God, and I have love in my heart for my fellowmen. I can truthfully say that I have no enmity nor hatred toward any man, and I pray that the Lord will sustain me in this position."
Yes, the Lord has truly sustained me in this position, for which I am truly grateful.
At the October 1976 general conference, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve restructured the First Quorum of the Seventy. I have served as one of the Presidency of this quorum for the past seven years. This has been a choice experience as our quorum of forty-seven members has served in many capacities both at the headquarters of the Church and throughout the world. I commend them for their dedication and effective service.
As has just been explained, I have been called to be the president of the Washington Temple, and my wife, Helen, has been called to serve as matron of the temple.
We are grateful for the confidence placed in us by our Father in Heaven, the First Presidency, and our Brethren.
We approach this assignment with humble hearts and with full commitment to devote our best efforts to the building of the kingdom of God.
We are living in a period in which there are wars and rumors of wars among nations and much hatred, conflict, and contention among people.
It seems to me the most pressing need in the world today is peace-not only among nations, but also within families and in our social and business relationships.
From the Passover Feast of nineteen centuries ago came this great message of promise and exhortation from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
Jesus Christ is called the Prince of Peace, and his message is a message of peace to the individual and to the world. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan of life that will restore peace to the world, remove inner tensions and troubles, and bring happiness to the human soul. It is the greatest philosophy of life ever given to man.
A mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to establish this peace and happiness in the hearts and homes of the people.
Certainly one of the greatest messages given to man by Jesus Christ is known as the Sermon on the Mount.
Practically all of the basic principles in man's relationship with others are contained in this great sermon.
Part of this sermon is referred to as the Beatitudes, and these begin with the word Blessed. These Beatitudes outline conditions which bring about peace and happiness. In this great sermon, the Savior admonished all to be peacemakers as he said, "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." Blessed means happy, favored, and glorified.
If ever there was a time when we needed peacemakers, it is today; today seems to be a most appropriate time to discuss what we might do to assist in establishing peace, at least within our relationships.
Have you ever wondered how you could be a peacemaker? I would like to mention a few possibilities. Really, our opportunities are unlimited.
Certainly in our homes, as well as elsewhere, we can all be peacemakers by exhibiting love and goodwill, thus offsetting the evil of contention, envy, and jealousy. Where misunderstandings exist between children and parents we can encourage adjustments on the part of both. We can pray together for the spirit of peace.
Homes can be seriously disrupted because of family strife. At times, husbands and wives in an atmosphere of contention destroy their own happiness as well as that of their children.
Divorces seem to be continually increasing. Many of these divorces undoubtedly could have been avoided if peacemakers had been involved during periods of strife.
An interesting example that I was closely associated with and which I have referred to previously was one in which several young adults became peacemakers in their homes.
A very wise bishop called several young people into his office and said to them: "I would like you to help me in an experiment. I would like to prove the impact and influence of one member on the spirit of the family. For one month, I would like each of you to be the peacemaker in your home. Don't say anything about this to your family, but be thoughtful, kind, and considerate. Be an example. Where there is quarreling or bickering among members of your family, do whatever you can to overcome these faults by creating an atmosphere of love, harmony, and helpfulness.
"When you are irritated-and irritations arise in almost every family-control yourself and help the others to control themselves. I would like to see every home in our ward be 'a bit of heaven on earth.' At the end of the month, I would like you to meet with me again and report."
It was a challenge for these young people, and they met the challenge in a wonderful way.
When they reported back to the bishop, remarks such as these were made. One young fellow said: "I had no idea I would have so much influence in my home. It's really been different this last month. I've been wondering if much of the turmoil and strife we used to have was caused by me and my attitudes."
A young lady said: "I guess we were just the normal family with our selfishness causing little daily conflicts. But as I have worked with my brothers and sisters, a lot of this has been eliminated, and there has been a much sweeter spirit in our home. I believe you really have to work at it to have the spirit of peace in your home."
Another young lady reported: "Yes, there has been a much sweeter and cooperative and unselfish spirit in our home since I began this experiment, but the biggest difference of all has been in me. I've tried hard to be a good example and a peacemaker, and I feel better about myself than I have ever felt. A wonderful feeling of peace has come over me."
Brothers and sisters, how would you like to try the bishop's experiment in your home by being a peacemaker for one month? In the words of the bishop, "Where there is quarreling or bickering among the family members, do whatever you can to overcome these faults by creating an atmosphere of love, harmony, and helpfulness. When you are irritated, control yourself and help the others to control themselves."
I can promise you as you try this experiment and become a peacemaker in your home that the rewards will be most gratifying.
Another way we can be a peacemaker both in our home and our social and business relationships is by avoiding criticism.
Did you ever stop to think that every time you criticize, you are judging?
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, said:
"Judge not, that ye be not judged.
"For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged."
We can also be a peacemaker by practicing and teaching forgiveness. Jesus was asked how many times one should forgive, and he replied that we should forgive without limit. Forgive him "seventy times seven."
In modern revelation, the Lord has said, "Inasmuch as you have forgiven one another your trespasses, even so I, the Lord, forgive you."
An important part of forgiving is forgetting. In some ways, being able to forget is almost as valuable as being able to remember.
Again, as one reviews the various areas of life's activities and appreciates the many human inadequacies, the great value of patience is seen as an important part of being a peacemaker.
Sometimes we are misunderstood, even by those who are closest to us. Under such circumstances, patience will develop within us the capacity to accept criticism if warranted or not. The ability to exercise forbearance under provocation means that we are following the Savior's teachings to do good to those that despitefully use us and to turn the other cheek.
Patience is truly a mighty virtue and can be developed as we become peacemakers and make up our mind to be patient within our own life as well as with others.
I am grateful that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ incorporates the remarkable principle of patience. I am most thankful for the patience my Father in Heaven has evidenced with me in my life.
In dedicating the Hyde Park chapel in London, among other things President McKay said: "If you want peace, yours is the responsibility to obtain it."
Brothers and sisters, it is important to appreciate that the gospel has to be lived in order to be fully realized and its power received.
I bear you my testimony that peace can be enjoyed by individuals, families, and society in general, as well as by nations as we live the principles of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
I rejoice in my knowledge that God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, live and appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power to act in the name of God has been restored and the Church reestablished on the earth and, further, that President Spencer W. Kimball is a living prophet. May the Lord's choicest blessings be with him and may we have the courage and good judgment to follow his counsel and advice.
May each of us in our daily lives assume the role of peacemaker that we may enjoy the peace that surpasseth all understanding, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Bishop H. Burke Peterson
First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric
My dear brothers and sisters, this morning I would like to express some feelings that have been going through my mind for some time. I have prayed for the spirit to understand, and to be understood.
I want to speak of a weakness that has thwarted the spiritual growth of men through the ages. It has affected young and old, rich and poor. Its onward roll is not limited by national boundaries, or race, or creed, or social standing. It affects some who appear to be strong. It affects many who are weak. It poisons the spirit of a person to the point that one is hobbled by its debilitating power. It has the power to drag people to the depths of hell; yet, when released from its hold, they may soar to celestial heights. It has kept many from rising to their full potential. It has been a roadblock to the talented and to the favored. It is one of the most effective tools of Satan. We are speaking of an unforgiving and unforgetting spirit.
There are many today who harbor in the deep recesses of their hearts a canker, a hurt, a feeling of resentment, a dislike, or in some cases even a hate because of unpleasant experiences with past and present associations. Some have been taken advantage of in a business sense. Others have had their feelings hurt by neighbors, or relatives, or friends. A few have been lied to or had a trust of long standing betrayed. Some children, young and now grown, have been offended by harsh or dictatorial parents. Husbands and wives may have deep schisms between them caused by criticism and a resulting resentment. The list of sad experiences goes on and on-yes, it is too long. To those of you who have been nursing the wounds of hurt feelings from the past, even from the little things, I would like to tell an experience which happened some time ago.
For much of our lives, we lived in central Arizona. Some years ago a group of teenagers from the local high school went on an all-day picnic into the desert on the outskirts of Phoenix. As some of you know, the desert foliage is rather sparse-mostly mesquite, cat-claw, and palo verde trees, with a few cactus scattered here and there. In the heat of the summer, where there are thickets of this desert growth, you may also find rattlesnakes as unwelcome residents. These young people were picnicking and playing, and during their frolicking, one of the girls was bitten on the ankle by a rattlesnake. As is the case with such a bite, the rattler's fangs released venom almost immediately into her bloodstream.
This very moment was a time of critical decision. They could immediately begin to extract the poison from her leg, or they could search out the snake and destroy it. Their decision made, the girl and her young friends pursued the snake. It slipped quickly into the undergrowth and avoided them for fifteen or twenty minutes. Finally, they found it, and rocks and stones soon avenged the infliction.
Then they remembered: their companion had been bitten! They became aware of her discomfort, as by now the venom had had time to move from the surface of the skin deep into the tissues of her foot and leg. Within another thirty minutes they were at the emergency room of the hospital. By then, the venom was well into its work of destruction.
A couple of days later I was informed of the incident and was asked by some young members of the Church to visit their friend in the hospital. As I entered her room, I saw a pathetic sight. Her foot and leg were elevated-swollen almost beyond recognition. The tissue in her limb had been destroyed by the poison, and a few days later it was found her leg would have to be amputated below the knee.
It was a senseless sacrifice, this price of revenge. How much better it would have been if, after the young woman had been bitten, there had been an extraction of the venom from the leg in a process known to all desert dwellers.
As I have said, there are those today who have been bitten-or offended, if you will-by others. What can be done? What will you do when hurt by another? The safe way, the sure way, the right way is to look inward and immediately start the cleansing process. The wise and the happy person removes first the impurities from within. The longer the poison of resentment and unforgiveness stays in a body, the greater and longer lasting is its destructive effect. As long as we blame others for our condition or circumstance and build a wall of self-justification around ourselves, our strength will diminish and our power and ability to rise above our situation will fade away. The poison of revenge, or of unforgiving thoughts or attitudes, unless removed, will destroy the soul in which it is harbored.
Henry Home said, "No man ever did a designed injury to another, but at the same time he did a greater to himself."
During World War II there were terrible examples of man's inhumanity to man. After the war was over and the concentration camps were opened, there was much hatred among the weak and emaciated survivors. In one camp, observers noticed a native of Poland who seemed so robust and peaceful they thought he must have only recently been imprisoned. They were surprised to learn that he had been there over six years! Then, they reasoned, he must not have suffered the terrible atrocities to his family members that most of the prisoners had. But in questioning him, they learned how soldiers had come to his city, lined up against a wall his wife, two daughters, and three small sons, then opened fire with a machine gun. Though he begged to die with them, he had been kept alive because of his knowledge and ability in language translation.
This Polish father said: "I had to decide right then whether to let myself hate the soldiers who had done this. It was an easy decision, really. I was a lawyer. In my practice I had seen what hate could do to people's minds and bodies. Hate had just killed the six people who mattered most to me in the world. I decided then that I would spend the rest of my life-whether it was a few days or many years-loving every person I came in contact with."
The Lord has said: "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
"But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
And he further added: "For he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin."
In other scriptures the Lord has said he would forgive and forget the sins of those who have truly repented. Ofttimes we choose to decide when a person has repented, and when we will forgive. We have been told mankind will be judged on the intent of the heart. No mortal can see into the depth of another. There is only One who can. His is the role of a judge-not ours. If you are prone to criticize or judge, remember, we never see the target a man aims at in life. We see only what he hits.
From Moroni we read:
"And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged."
Forgiveness of others for wrongs-imaginary or real-often does more for the forgiver than for the forgiven. That person who has not forgiven a wrong or an injury has not yet tasted of one of the sublime enjoyments of life. The human soul seldom reaches such heights of strength or nobility as when it removes all resentments and forgives error or malice. No one can be classed as a true follower of the Savior who is not in the process of removing from his heart and mind every feeling of ill will, bitterness, hatred, envy, or jealousy toward another.
The greatest example of one who willingly forgave walked the shores of Galilee two thousand years ago. If any person had been mistreated, it was he. President Spencer W. Kimball wrote of the Savior:
"All his life he had been the victim of ugliness. As a newborn infant he had been spirited away to save his life at the instruction of an angel in a dream. At the end of a hectic life he had stood in quiet, restrained divine dignity.
"They pushed him around and jostled him and buffeted him. Not an angry word escaped his lips. They slapped him in his face and on his body. Yet he stood resolute, unintimidated. Literally did he follow his own admonition when he turned his other cheek so that it too could be slapped and smitten.
"Words, too, are hard to take. Incriminations and recriminations and their blasphemy of things, persons, places and situations sacred to him must have been hard to take. Yet he stood his ground, never faltering. No cringing, no denials, no rebuttals. When false, mercenary witnesses were paid to lie about him, he seemed not to condemn them. They twisted his words and misinterpreted his meanings, yet he was calm and unflustered. Had he not been taught to pray for them 'which despitefully use you'?
"He was beaten, officially scourged. He wore a crown of thorns. He was mocked and jeered. He suffered every indignity at the hands of his own people. He was required to carry his own cross. Finally, with the soldiers and his accusers down below him, he looked upon the Roman soldiers and said these immortal words: 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.' "
Now, brothers and sisters, let us go to our homes and dismiss from our beings-and purge from our souls-the venom of any feeling of ill will or bitterness toward anyone. Let us strike from our hearts the unwillingness to forgive and forget; and, instead, approach men in the spirit of the Master, even those who "despitefully use you." Let us pray-rather, let us plead for the spirit of forgiveness. Let us look for the good in each other-not the flaws.
The Master knew men's lives would be changed more quickly and more surely by love than by criticism. In 1 Jn. 4:19 we read: "We love him, because he first loved us."
I testify to the importance of this principle of salvation, the principle of forgiving and forgetting, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Recently I had the opportunity of congratulating a special young lady upon her graduation from college. Knowing she had achieved this lofty goal under extreme difficulties, I said, "Would you mind telling me in one word how you were able to achieve this great accomplishment?" While she paused momentarily, words like courage, determination, and faith flashed through my mind as I anticipated her answer. Then without hesitation she said, "Elder Ashton, the word is commitment."
Most of us who have ever heard of the great American leader Abraham Lincoln will recall what he said of his mother: "All that I am, all that I hope to be, I owe to my Angel mother." But how many of us know what his mother's last words to him were? They were "Be something, Abe."
Not only is this wise counsel, but it also expresses the yearnings of most fathers' and mothers' hearts to have their children be something. Simple terms, but, oh, how powerful, "Be something." I am so pleased she didn't say, "Be someone." She said, "Be something, Abe." There is a significant difference. In the dictionary someone is defined as "conceived or thought of, but not definitely known," while something is identified as "a person or thing of importance."
Abraham Lincoln's mother knew her son, his potential, and the rocky roads ahead of him; hence, she wanted him to commit himself promptly to being steadfast and immovable in living and promoting deeds of courage and faith in the lives of all mankind.
A word of hope is poured out on every generation of people by those who advocate accomplishment, an exemplary life, living up to one's abilities, and keeping one's commitments.
True happiness is not made in getting something. True happiness is becoming something. This can be done by being committed to lofty goals. We cannot become something without commitment.
Commitment as a word cannot stand alone. We must always ask, "Committed to what?" As all of us blend into the programs of the Church, it behooves us to set goals for ourselves in order to reap the blessings of self-improvement and excellent performance in given assignments.
"Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
"For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
"But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned."
As we search for good causes, we must consider our own needs, but also we must live in compliance with gospel teachings.
President Spencer W. Kimball at the Regional Representatives Seminar of April 3, 1975, said, "I believe in goals, but I believe that the individual should set his own. Goals should always be made to a point that will make us reach and strain. Success should not necessarily be gauged by always reaching the goal set, but by progress and attainment."
In setting our own goals we need to examine our own needs and abilities. The direction in which we are moving is more important than where we are at the moment. Goal setting should cause us to stretch as we make our way.
Self-examination is most difficult. Surveys have shown that most people take credit for success to themselves, but blame their failures on external forces or other people. It would be well, when confronted with problems, to be able to ask the same questions the Twelve Apostles asked during the Last Supper.
"Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.
"And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
"And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?"
When our progress seems to be at a standstill, it is well for us to ask who is at fault. Is it I? Am I sufficiently committed to righteous goals? Do I have the courage, fortitude, and wisdom to apply self-examination-or will I be inclined to try and decide which of my associates will fail?
William Clement Stone, a Chicago millionaire, in an interview said, "Only if you have drive, the push, 'the want to' will you succeed in any field." He went on to say, "Regardless of your religious beliefs, read the Bible, the most inspirational book of all time. And learn to employ the power of prayer." This man had learned the value of commitment. He had the "want to." He had also learned to turn to God for direction, guidance, and help.
Many people are motivated by spiritual goals. The question is, "For what reasons?" Is it because of good feelings and promised rewards, or is it because of fear of not living the commandments? The best motivation is toward the positive. Total commitment to correct gospel principles brings joy, satisfaction, and the abundant life.
Dale Carnegie once said, "If you are not in the process of becoming the person you want to be, you are automatically engaged in becoming the person you don't want to be."
However, we must realize not all problems of life can be solved at once. A commitment to solve our daily needs and the reaching of immediate lesser goals will bring meaningful successes. Realize that God will judge you by the way you make use of all your possibilities. It is wise and proper to want to make the most of every opportunity, but don't quit or weep because of failure or disappointments. Break down big commitments into smaller ones that you can handle. Then self-esteem will grow and commitment toward goals of greater magnitude will become possible. The journey of success is long and is dotted with a series of commitments to worthy goals. A person does not become committed to worthwhile goals just by making the declaration or decision. It must be daily progression toward established purposes.
When one is wholly committed, added strengths and talents become evident. Assistance comes from unexpected sources. Who of us has not accepted some assignment with fear and trepidation, feeling totally inadequate to take on such a responsibility? But with concern and obedience we move forward-working hard and praying often. As the task is completed, to our surprise, we have been successful. We humbly realize that our own abilities have been added upon.
Goethe wrote, "What you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." We would add that commitment has genius, power, and magic in it.
The scriptures say it this way: "For I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."
A truly committed person does not falter in the face of adversity. Until one is committed, there is a chance to hesitate, to go off in another direction, or to be ineffective. Members within our ranks who are committed to living the gospel of Jesus Christ will not be affected by the rationale of hecklers.
Our enemies are becoming more hostile with each passing week. They seem intent on not only deceiving the uncommitted among us but on leading astray even the elect. They criticize our leaders. They scoff at what we consider to be sacred. They mock ordinances and covenants we know to be true and holy. They delight in discovering and sharing human flaws and frailties among our leaders past and present rather than acknowledging and benefiting from the truths they taught. They go to the tree, and instead of enjoying the fruit thereof, they point out the scars discovered on the tree trunk.
Do not be deceived. God will not be mocked. We have no intention of quarreling or demanding equal time to refute. We invite the dissenters as well as all others to open their eyes and see the beauties and thrills available to those who walk in His path looking for the good.
For example, it is a sad day in the life of any individual or group when by present training, attitude, and design, they would go to a football game and judge the participants by the dirt and grime on their uniforms rather than by how many tackles were made or yards gained.
By the same token, where is the pleasure for these same people who, attending a big league baseball game, will not cheer or clap for the home run hitter who drives in the winning runs but would rather dwell upon the fact that when the star, according to their research, was in grade school he was kept after school for misconduct? Woe unto those who feast on the dirt and the distasteful instead of the fruits.
Contrast those attitudes with that demonstrated by an elderly widow acquaintance of ours who travels to the temple every morning, spends the day attending sessions, and returns home by bus tired and worn just because "I love everyone, even those I cannot see." Her attendance record? "I go every day it is open. Sometimes when I don't feel too strong it is difficult, but I make it somehow." The word is commitment.
We all have eyes, ears, and minds to lift, lead, and love. Total commitment to God and His ways will not permit us to engage in destructive criticism, retaliation, or undue disgust. We should commit ourselves to marching shoulder to shoulder in the battle to save souls-without destroying, condemning, or belittling.
With Paul's conversion came commitment. Joseph Smith placed commitment ahead of life itself. From the time of his first vision until his martyrdom, he was a victim of bitter persecution, reviling, and ridicule, but never did he falter in spite of extreme adversity. As he recorded his story, he wrote:
"However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision. I have thought since, that I felt much like Paul, when he made his defense before King Agrippa, and related when he saw a light, and heard a voice; but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others said he was mad; But all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision, he knew he had.
"So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation."
Certainly neither the Apostle Paul nor Joseph Smith waivered, though they faced severe trials. As mentioned earlier, in our present day there are many who are sowing seeds of dissension and discord. With half truths and slander, they are endeavoring to lead members of the Church of Jesus Christ into apostasy. Sometimes I wonder just how Christian it is to call someone else un-Christian, when we are referring to his conduct. Those who are firmly committed to living the gospel of Jesus Christ will not be confused, confounded, or led astray.
If we profess to be Latter-day Saints, let us be committed to living like Latter-day Saints, using Jesus Christ as our master teacher.
It is not too late to commit ourselves to living the gospel totally while here on earth. Each day we must be committed to lofty Christian performance because commitment to the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ is essential to our eternal joy and happiness. The time to commit and recommit is now.
I'm thinking of a five-year-old boy who fell out of bed during the night and came crying to his mother's bedside. To her question, "Why did you fall out of bed?" he replied, "I fell out because I wasn't in far enough!"
It has been my experience over the years that, generally speaking, those who fall out of the Church are those who aren't in far enough.
In a simple statement, the difference between those committed and those who are not is the difference between the words want and will. For example, "I want to pay tithing, but our funds are so limited," or "I will pay my tithing." "I want to go to sacrament meeting if I have time," or "I will go to sacrament meeting." "I would like to be a good teacher, but the children are so noisy," or "I will be a good teacher."
To reap the full benefits of life, we must fill our days with commitment to worthy goals and principles. There is no other way. As these commitments lead us to action, we will find added growth and dimension which will guide us toward a productive life here on earth and open the door for eternal life with our Father in Heaven.
The word is commitment. To be something, we must be committed. God is our Father. Jesus is our Savior, and this is His Church. May we commit ourselves to living Christlike lives regardless of the environment or opposition I pray, in the worthy name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, amen.
Elder Howard W. Hunter
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
General Authorities have the privilege of meeting and getting acquainted with members of the Church all over the world who have consistently lived good lives and raised their families in the influence of the gospel. These Saints have enjoyed the great blessings and comfort that can come from looking back, as parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, over long and successful parenting efforts. Surely this is something each of us would like.
However, there are many in the Church and in the world who are living with feelings of guilt and unworthiness because some of their sons and daughters have wandered or strayed from the fold. My remarks today are directed primarily to those mothers and fathers.
At the outset we understand that conscientious parents try their best, yet nearly all have made mistakes. One does not launch into such a project as parenthood without soon realizing that there will be many errors along the way. Surely our Heavenly Father knows, when he entrusts his spirit children into the care of young and inexperienced parents, that there will be mistakes and errors in judgment.
For every set of parents there are many "first-time" experiences that help to build wisdom and understanding, but each such experience results from the plowing of new ground, with the possibility that errors might be made. With the arrival of the first child the parents must make decisions about how to teach and train, how to correct and discipline. Soon there is the first day at school and the first bicycle. Then follows the first date of the first teenager, the first problem with school grades, and possibly, the first request to stay out late or the first request to buy a car.
It is a rare father or mother indeed who travels the difficult path of parenting without making errors along the way, especially at these first-time milestones when experience and understanding are somewhat lacking. Even after the parent has gained experience, the second-time and third-time occurrences of these milestones are sometimes not much easier to handle, nor do they come with much less chance of error.
What more challenging responsibility is there than working effectively with young people? There are numerous variables that determine the character and the personality of a child. It is probably true that parents are, in many or perhaps most cases, the greatest influence in shaping the life of a child, but sometimes there are other influences that also are very significant. No one knows the degree to which heredity influences lives, but certainly brothers and sisters, friends and teachers, neighbors and Scoutmasters have significant effects.
We know, too, that the influences on a child are not restricted to heredity or to people; certainly, things in the physical surroundings will have their effect-such as the house and the playthings, the yard and the neighborhood. Playgrounds and basketballs, dresses and cars-or the lack of these-all have their influence on the child.
One must conclude that-with the multitude of influences and the innumerable decisions, each with so many alternatives to consider and evaluate-even though parents strive to choose wisely, an unwise choice will sometimes be made. It is almost impossible to always say and do the right thing at every point along the way. I think we would agree that as parents we have made mistakes which have had a negative effect on the attitude of the child or on his progress. On the other hand, parents usually do the right thing or make the right decision under the circumstances, yet boys and girls often have negative responses to right or correct decisions.
If a parent has made what could be considered an error-or, on the other hand, has never made a mistake, but still the lamb has wandered from the fold-in either case there are several thoughts I would like to share with you.
First, such a father or mother is not alone. Our first parents knew the pain and suffering of seeing some of their children reject the teachings of eternal life. Centuries later Jacob came to know of the jealousy and ill feelings of his older sons toward his beloved Joseph. The great prophet Alma, who had a son named Alma, prayed at length to the Lord regarding the rebellious attitude of his son and no doubt was overwhelmed with concern and worry about the dissension and the wickedness his son was causing among those who were within the Church. Our Father in Heaven has also lost many of his spirit children to the world; he knows the feelings of your heart.
Second, we should remember that errors of judgment are generally less serious than errors of intent.
Third, even if there was a mistake made with full knowledge and understanding, there is the principle of repentance for release and comfort. Rather than constantly dwelling on what we perceive as a mistake or a sin or a failure to the detriment of our progress in the gospel or our association with family and friends, it would be better for us to turn away from it. As with any mistake, we may repent by being sorrowful and by attempting to correct or rectify the consequences, to whatever extent possible. We should look forward with renewed faith.
Fourth, don't give up hope for a boy or a girl who has strayed. Many who have appeared to be completely lost have returned. We must be prayerful and, if possible, let our children know of our love and concern.
Fifth, remember that ours was not the only influence that contributed to the actions of our children, whether those actions were good or bad.
Sixth, know that our Heavenly Father will recognize the love and the sacrifice, the worry and the concern, even though our great effort has been unsuccessful. Parents' hearts are ofttimes broken, yet they must realize that the ultimate responsibility lies with the child after parents have taught correct principles.
Seventh, whatever the sorrow, whatever the concern, whatever the pain and anguish, look for a way to turn it to beneficial use-perhaps in helping others to avoid the same problems, or perhaps by developing a greater insight into the feelings of others who are struggling in a similar way. Surely we will have a deeper understanding of the love of our Heavenly Father when, through prayer, we finally come to know that he understands and wants us to look forward.
The eighth and final point of reminder is that everyone is different. Each of us is unique. Each child is unique. Just as each of us starts at a different point in the race of life, and just as each of us has different strengths and weaknesses and talents, so each child is blessed with his own special set of characteristics. We must not assume that the Lord will judge the success of one in precisely the same way as another. As parents we often assume that, if our child doesn't become an overachiever in every way, we have failed. We should be careful in our judgments.
Let us not misunderstand. The responsibilities of parenthood are of the greatest importance. The results of our efforts will have eternal consequences for us and the boys and girls we raise. Anyone who becomes a parent is under strict obligation to protect and love his children and assist them to return to their Heavenly Father. All parents should understand that the Lord will not hold guiltless those who neglect these responsibilities.
After the Exodus and while Israel was in the wilderness, Moses, in teaching his people, instructed them that the commandments of the Lord should be taught by parents to their children in the home. He said to them:
"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
We should never let Satan fool us into thinking that all is lost. Let us take pride in the good and right things we have done; reject and cast out of our lives those things that are wrong; look to the Lord for forgiveness, strength, and comfort; and then move onward.
A successful parent is one who has loved, one who has sacrificed, and one who has cared for, taught, and ministered to the needs of a child. If you have done all of these and your child is still wayward or troublesome or worldly, it could well be that you are, nevertheless, a successful parent. Perhaps there are children who have come into the world that would challenge any set of parents under any set of circumstances. Likewise, perhaps there are others who would bless the lives of, and be a joy to, almost any father or mother.
My concern today is that there are parents who may be pronouncing harsh judgments upon themselves and may be allowing these feelings to destroy their lives, when in fact they have done their best and should continue in faith. That all who are parents might find joy in their efforts with their children is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Robert D. Hales
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
There are many kinds of sorrow and suffering:
Self-inflicted suffering
Suffering from infirmities of our mortal bodies and sorrow from separation by death
Suffering that tries and tests us
Suffering to develop our spiritual strength
Suffering to humble us and lead us to repentance
The Savior's suffering and atoning sacrifice, the most important event in the history of the world.
But if our sorrow and suffering strengthen our faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ, " sorrow shall be turned to joy."
Thirty years ago, as a branch president, I was interviewing a man and his wife. The wife was tearing down her husband: he had not been the provider she had expected; he had not been the companion she had dreamed about before her marriage; they could not communicate together without arguing and attacking one another.
Her husband loved her, and yet she hurt him. There were tears in his eyes as he absorbed the verbal abuse. I couldn't take any more as a twenty-one-year-old branch president, and asked, "Why do you hurt this person who loves you the most? Why do you hurt a husband who would do anything to help you?"
Her answer startled me. "Oh, I guess we argue and injure those we love because we can hurt them the most."
I have never forgotten that incident. There is truth in that example. We can't hurt a stranger as much as we can a loved one. We know just what to do to hurt our companions, parents, or brothers and sisters. We know where they are vulnerable. We know how they can be hurt the most by our actions. To many it seems to be a test of faith in life to be wounded by those closest to us. Of Jesus it is said in Zechariah that when asked where he had received the wounds in his hands, he would say that he "was wounded in the house of friends." Isn't it true that God, our Father, and his Son grieve when we sin? When we fail to be obedient and accept the atoning sacrifice of our Lord, aren't we hurting Him who loves us most?
On one occasion Elder LeGrand Richards, who was being helped into a wheelchair a little against his will, turned to the younger General Authorities and said, "You, too, will grow old, if you live long enough." I observe my eighty-two-year-old mother-paralyzed the past eight years-and my eighty-four-year-old father-who is an artist, whose test of suffering is dimmed eyesight-and realize the joy they will receive when they receive perfect immortal bodies. The suffering in mortality will bring a greater appreciation of the blessings of a resurrected, perfect body. Also, our joy of service in helping our parents in time of need brings us a greater appreciation for one another.
We are told that out of suffering, sorrow, and sadness that joy will come. Sometimes we cannot understand that mortal suffering can bring eternal blessings. Jesus told his Apostles:
"A little while, and ye shall not see me.
"I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy."
Jesus likened this to a woman's travail and suffering before her hour of delivery: as soon as she gives birth, "she remembereth no more the anguish."
After the Crucifixion, the earth was rent by earthquakes and eruptions that caused death and destruction. How could those who experienced such suffering have any comprehension of the joyous scene described by President Joseph F. Smith's vision of the Savior's visit to the spirits of the dead in the spirit world while his body lay in the tomb?
"All these had departed the mortal life, firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection, through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
"I beheld that they were filled with joy and gladness, and were rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance was at hand.
"They were assembled awaiting the advent of the Son of God into the spirit world, to declare their redemption from the bands of death.
"Their sleeping dust was to be restored unto its perfect frame, bone to his bone, and the sinews and the flesh upon them, the spirit and the body to be united never again to be divided, that they might receive a fulness of joy.
"While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful.
"And there he preached to them the everlasting gospel, the doctrine of the resurrection and the redemption of mankind from the fall, and from individual sins on conditions of repentance."
Oh, there's the suffering that tries and tests us. Job, a perfect man, was tested and tried by Satan. Job's friends assumed his suffering was a result of sin, but the scriptures tell us he "sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." Nor should we charge God foolishly for our own sufferings or assume we know the cause of another's suffering.
Suffering to develop strength will not exceed our ability to endure to the end.
When Joseph Smith was in Liberty Jail, he cried to the Lord for comfort, and the Lord gave it to him. He said that "if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."
Such trials give us the development of spirituality that we probably never would get if we didn't have the experience where the very jaws of hell gape open their mouth wide after us. Not only must we survive, but we must develop the ability to have a concern for others while we are suffering. It is a key element in our spiritual growth. As we lose our lives in the service of our fellowmen, we find ourselves.
Jesus gave us the perfect example at Gethsemane when he forgave his Apostles who slept while he bled at every pore for all our sins. He only asked, "Could ye not watch with me one hour?" Jesus also expressed concern for his mother's care as he suffered on the cross. And even while he was suffering, he taught the gospel to those who were suffering next to him.
One of the greatest examples in my life happened when I was a brand-new General Authority on my first assignment. One of the General Authorities had a wife who had passed away just a few days before. I walked onto the airplane and there he was, sitting on the front row of the airplane. What a great message! I was moved by it because at the time I said to myself, "How can one who is suffering go out to help others?" He talked to me about how difficult it was for him to go on assignment, but he went to give succor and helped others when he was hurting.
Suffering is universal; how we react to suffering is individual. Suffering can take us one of two ways. It can be a strengthening and purifying experience combined with faith, or it can be a destructive force in our lives if we do not have the faith in the Lord's atoning sacrifice. The purpose of suffering, however, is to build and strengthen us. We learn obedience by the things we suffer. We should be humbled and drawn to the Lord, as in the case of the prodigal son who appreciated his home only after going into the world and experiencing sorrow when he shut out his loved ones. So suffering in his case was a vital part of his repentance.
When suffering comes as a consequence of sin, it should lead to repentance. Alma testified to his son Helaman:
"And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
"Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
"And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
"And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!"
After a number of mistakes and failures to live as we know we should, we may lose confidence in ourselves and have a poor self-image of who we are and what we are capable of becoming. We may forget that we are children of God and have the potential of dwelling with him and his Son if we accept the Atonement and keep the commandments.
The first of the commandments we must keep is to have faith. First, we must gain faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith that he lives. Faith that he hears and answers prayers. Faith that he will forgive us of our transgressions. Faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Why is the Savior's atonement so important as the central gospel principle in the Church and in our lives?
Jesus was born of heavenly parents in a premortal world-he was the firstborn of our Heavenly Father. In mortality, the Babe of Bethlehem's birth and life, concluding with the atoning sacrifice, was prophesied by ancient prophets in all dispensations. Only he could make the atoning sacrifice-having received the power over death from his Father. He overcame death, the grave's power was nullified, and he became our Savior, Mediator, and Master of the Resurrection-a means of salvation and immortality to all of us. We will all be resurrected and become immortal because of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
In the study of the Atonement, most of us have probably asked the question, "Why is it so easy for the world to see and believe that in Adam all men died and were cast out from the presence of our Heavenly Father, yet it is so hard for the world to understand how Jesus Christ can bring us back in the same manner?" The scriptures are clear on this.
"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."
"He will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, that he may know according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance."
"For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
"But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I."
It is my prayer that our sorrow and suffering will strengthen our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that our sorrow shall be turned to joy, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder William R. Bradford
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I proclaim unto you that I know there is a God in the heaven. He is our Father. We are His children, begotten in His image and likeness. We are His seed and have the potential within us to become as He is.
For this to happen, our Heavenly Father prepared a plan. An earth would be created upon which our spirits could be born into physical bodies, a place where we could have experiences that would teach and test us, a place to develop the godly potential within us. Here we, the seed of God, can mature into the product of the harvest of the Father's work, which is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
The plan provides us with the needed resources and instruction to become as He is. By obedience we may become lawful heirs to the quality of life He lives and to a fulness of that which He possesses.
Our Father taught us the plan in our pre-earthly life. He gave us free agency to choose for ourselves whether or not we would accept the plan. The fact that we are here on the earth with physical bodies is prima facie evidence that we did accept it.
However, others of God's children chose not to accept the plan. Led by Lucifer, they rebelled against our Father and sought to gain power and glory through force. They were defeated in this attempt and were cast out of the Father's presence. They are here upon the earth without physical bodies. They are still led by Lucifer, who became Satan, the devil. They are not involved in developing godly potentials; rather, they are continually struggling to influence man to misuse the resources and to disobey the instructions of our Father. Even more insidious is their relentless influence to deceive man into doing nothing with the resources and remaining ignorant of the instructions. Through this influence have come sin and transgression: sins of commission and sins of omission.
We refer to the instructions the Father has given us as commandments. It is because of sin and the transgression of these commandments that man becomes sensual, devilish, and fallen man.
"Fallen man" means that man is subject to death and separation from God. When death comes to the physical body, the spirit body lives on, separated from the presence of God. Thus, the condition of fallen man is death and separation.
What I have said, I declare in soberness to be true. I declare it to the receptive ear, to those who also know it is true. I declare it, unashamedly, to the doubting ear, to those who would mock and scorn, as we can imagine could have been the case when the declarations fell from the lips of Noah and the people surely demanded from him an answer: "How do you know? How do you know?" I declare it to the slumbering, who, in their ignorance of God's plan and their darkness of mind, can but think the question, "How do you know? How do you know?"
I hold in my hand the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. This book has cost the sacrifice, even the lives, of countless thousands to preserve and bring forth. Its coming forth is part of the marvelous restoration by God of His resources and His instruction to His children.
Now that we have the Book of Mormon, which has been inspired, protected, and delivered by divine powers into our hands-now that we can read it-to our amazement we find that one of the two major messages it contains for us is the record of a fallen people.
In this book, page after page, story after story, character by character, we are taught that there is a God in the heaven; that He framed the heaven and the earth; that we are His children and He is our Father; that we are begotten in His image and after His likeness; that there is a plan for our becoming as He is; that the plan was challenged by him who rebelled against the Father and who was cast down to the earth to become Satan, the devil, the father of lies and transgression; that our Father allowed our spirit bodies to come to this earth to take upon them physical bodies; that here on earth we may, if we will, obey the Father's commandments, which will qualify us to return to His presence and live the glorious style of life He lives. "But by the transgression of these holy laws man became sensual and devilish, and became fallen man."
Yes, it is with amazement that we discover that one of the two major messages in the Book of Mormon is the record of a fallen people; but that amazement turns to gratitude as we realize that God is explaining the truism that "you can't know the solution if you don't first understand the problem."
The problem is that man has transgressed the holy commandments of God and has become fallen man, to suffer death and everlasting separation from the presence of God.
But this Book of Mormon contains a second message. It contains the solution. It contains the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just as the doctrine of fallen man lays before us the fulness of our fallen condition, so does the gospel of Jesus Christ lay before us the fulness of the way to overcome that condition. It is the solution.
Central to the gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan of redemption. God gave His children commandments that they "should love and serve him, the only living and true God, and that he should be the only being whom they should worship." By the transgression of these holy laws came the Fall; "wherefore, the Almighty God gave his Only Begotten Son."
He came to the earth and did a work. He fulfilled the requirements of the plan of redemption. The work He did brought about the resurrection, meaning the reuniting of our spirit bodies with a renewed physical body.
The work He did was an atonement which opens again the way for us to reach our potential as the seed of God. Now, although we have become fallen man, if we repent and obey the commandments, we can return to our Father's presence:
"And since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself; but the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth; and that he breaketh the bands of death, that the grave shall have no victory, and that the sting of death should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory."
If you had a son, your very own seed, would you not want him to mature into the fulness of his potential? While he was yet young and tender, would you not give him teachings, instruction, even commandments? Would these commandments not be to protect him from harm and evil, even death?
If, by his disobedience to your teachings and commandments, he fell into a situation from which he had no power to extract himself-a situation in which he would surely die, a situation from which, without help, he could not return to be in your companionship-would you not do all in your power to bring about his salvation?
God is our Father. We are His children. In our state as fallen man, He has sent a savior. He is Jesus Christ.
Since all men have sinned, there is not one who can return to the Father except through Jesus Christ. He is the only one of the Father's children who has not transgressed the holy laws. If He had, He too would have become fallen man. If this had happened, who would be our savior? But Christ is sinless, and He has brought about our atonement on the terms of our repentance and obedience.
His own declaration comes to us by way of stern commandment:
"Wherefore, I command you to repent, and keep the commandments which you have received by the hand of my servant Joseph Smith,
"And it is by my almighty power that you have received them."
Did we not receive the Book of Mormon from the Lord by the hand of Joseph Smith, God's mighty prophet of the Restoration?
Christ, speaking to the Nephite nation as revealed to us in the Book of Mormon, gave us further instruction regarding the steps we must take to overcome our condition as fallen man. Said He:
"And I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me.
"And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God.
"And whoso believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned."
To be damned simply means to be stopped in your progress. It means to remain in the condition of fallen man.
Christ continues:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and I bear record of it from the Father; and whosoever believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him with the Holy Ghost"
I ask you to ponder the question, "How can anyone understand the role of, or the need for, a savior if he does not first understand what it is he must be saved from?"
The Book of Mormon contains the record of a fallen people. It outlines how man got into a condition which subjects him to death and separation from God.
The Book of Mormon also contains the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It outlines for us in perfect clarity what has been done for us and what we must do ourselves to overcome our fallen condition and return to the presence of God.
Now, O fallen man, with so great a witness, do you yet dare to ask, "How do you know? How do you know?"
The Book of Mormon holds out to us a fulness of what we must be saved from. It gives us a complete understanding of the role of, and the need for, a savior. It is another testament of Jesus Christ, which I proclaim and testify in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Richard G. Scott
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I have been deeply humbled by the call that has come to serve as one of the Presidents of the First Quorum of the Seventy. I have talked to the Lord about it and have promised him I would give him everything I have for that service. I have pled with him that he will help me qualify to receive his inspiration and support, so that I may do his will and that of his servants.
I have prayed earnestly that the Lord would guide me to say that which would benefit some of his children here on earth. After considerable effort on my part, there have come a series of impressions and a sacred feeling that somewhere there are those to whom I can provide much-needed help from the Lord. I pray that I may faithfully communicate those impressions, so that they will sink deeply into the consciousness of the individuals to whom they are intended and there find permanent root. May they transmit the Lord's love and his desire to show you how to get help urgently needed to bring purpose and happiness into your life.
I do not know who you are. Perhaps you are one in maturing years who, because of long physical illness or growing feelings of loneliness, has begun to express bitterness and self-pity. Perhaps you are a young man or woman struggling with serious misunderstandings within the family circle. You may be a husband estranged from your wife or a single-parent mother with the frightening task of raising children without a loving, understanding, supportive companion. Perhaps you are a choice, obedient daughter who with each passing day is concerned that lifelong dreams of eternal companionship seem to be slipping away. Whoever you are, I solemnly testify that the Savior knows you; he loves you and is aware of your specific needs.
He allows others to help him in his work. May I be such an instrument today.
I will share one principle of truth which, if applied, can open the door to all the others you need to lift your spirit. It is a principle that will give you the power to make a difference in the quality of your own life.
I speak of service-self-sacrificing service to others in need. I know it is hard to help another when you feel you have been wronged. I know it is difficult to take the first step when your own heart aches for companionship or yearns for understanding. Yet such acts of service open to us the mercy and love of Jesus Christ, the Master.
Free agency is a divine gift, and God will not override it. Because of free agency, we must take the first step. Our initial acts of kindness or service to others provide us with channels of inspiration and power. In contrast, darkness and despair close in when the light of love and service dims or goes out within us. Feelings of bitterness and dissatisfaction feed upon themselves and give place to thoughts and acts of unkindness, criticism, and eventually even hatred.
I vividly recall a couple who came for counsel. She was in the final stages of divorce, and he was bitter with resentment. Gone were the flowering petals of love that had given such meaning and purpose to their courtship. Shattered was the trust that once served as a sacred bond to draw them together. The ugly entanglement of selfishness was strangling what was left of the few remaining feelings of mutual respect. I listened privately to one and then the other. Their story was all too familiar. "I love her, but do not want to be trampled upon." "I'm grateful for what he does, but if I show the least gratitude, he thinks all our differences are resolved, and I am submerged again."
Their problems were further complicated by economic pressures. Yet, as I listened to each separately, I could see that the means they tenaciously held individually, if shared selflessly, could have solved their financial difficulties. I could see in each admirable characteristics. There was a sincere testimony of truth, a desire to do right, and an anxiety to feel at peace with the Lord for the decisions about to be taken.
He had honestly tried to show love and affection and had done much to help her, but in every case these righteous gestures were destroyed by simultaneously expressed feelings of concern for self. In his own words, "I do not want her to take advantage of me." She restrained the honest feelings of gratitude in her heart for his help with the children and home and said nothing. They had not the courage, nor the vision, to build one another.
Two individuals trapped in the cross fire of intense feelings rarely can think clearly or be properly motivated. They need help, and the best source of help is the Savior. Oh, how I pray they will use the principles we discussed to reach out, to lift, to build, to edify, and to forgive one another.
Three things are required to mend broken lines of communication and to heal hearts that once expressed deep feelings of pure love, respect, and trust.
First, an understanding of the principles which bring happiness in marriage. They have been eloquently stated by President Spencer W. Kimball in many of his messages. Two noteworthy examples are printed in his book entitled Marriage.
Second, a willingness to live worthily and to strive diligently to obey the commandments of God. Such a course allows our hearts and minds to be touched by divine guidance, and our efforts to be magnified by power from on high.
Third, a sincere, selfless desire to build the other. This requires an analysis of one's own life, to identify and change those things that must be altered so that love and trust can grow and mature and feelings of forgiveness flower.
It also requires a willingness to recognize all that is good and uplifting in one's companion and to set aside the microscopic concentration on faults and defects. Criticism is often motivated by a desire to rationalize one's own shortcomings and to justify termination of sacred marriage covenants.
If you would be loved, love another. If you would be understood, show understanding to another. If you would find peace, harmony, and happiness, lift another.
Yet, if we build another for selfish reasons, our acts cannot produce desirable fruits. Has not Jesus said:
"Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
"Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
"But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
"That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."
I am convinced that when we give unconditional love; when our interest is first in serving, building, edifying, strengthening without thought of self; when we do not expect an automatic return for each act of kindness, generosity, or sincere effort to help; when we are not concerned about what we will receive or what others will say or whether our own burdens will be diminished, but selflessly seek to build another, the miracle of the power of the gospel is released in our lives. When we permit the Lord to work through us to bless others, that sacred experience releases power in our own lives, and miracles occur. Well did the Master say, "For inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these, ye do it unto me."
Respect and love must be earned, and there is no better way to earn them than to lift another.
Begin now with your best effort. Reach out to another. You will feel the power of the Lord flow through you. Your own self-respect will return, and you can love yourself again. Your life will be enriched and given purpose, and you will be given the power to make a difference in everything around you. Of this I testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Two ministers of one of the largest and most powerful Protestant denominations came to a Latter-day Saint conference to hear me preach.
After the meeting I had a private conversation with them, in which I said they could each gain a testimony that Joseph Smith was the prophet through whom the Lord had restored the fulness of the gospel for our day and for our time.
I told them they should read the Book of Mormon, ponder its great and eternal truths, and pray to the Father in the name of Christ, in faith, and he would reveal the truth of the book to them by the power of the Holy Ghost.
As every gospel scholar knows, the Book of Mormon proves that Joseph Smith was called of God to minister in the prophetic office and to restore the truths of salvation in plainness and perfection.
The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It contains a record of God's dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas. It is another testament of Jesus Christ.
It contains the fulness of the gospel, meaning that it is a record of the Lord's dealings with a people who had the fulness of the gospel, and meaning also that in it is found a summary and a recitation of what all men must believe and do to gain an inheritance in the heavenly kingdom reserved for the Saints.
As the teachings and testimonies of Moses and Isaiah and Peter find place in the Bible, so the parallel preaching and the same Spirit-guided testimonies of Nephi and Alma and Moroni have come down to us in the Book of Mormon.
This American witness of Christ was written upon gold plates which were delivered to Joseph Smith by an angelic ministrant. This ancient record was then translated by the gift and power of God and is now published to the world as the Book of Mormon.
If this book is what it purports to be-if the original record was revealed by a holy angel; if the translation was made by the power of God and not of man; if Joseph Smith was entertaining angels, seeing visions, and receiving revelations-all of which is an established verity; if the Book of Mormon is true-then the truth and divinity of the Book of Mormon proves the truth of this great latter-day work in which we are engaged.
All of this I explained to my two Protestant friends. One of them, a congenial and decent sort of fellow, said somewhat casually that he would read the Book of Mormon. The other minister, manifesting a bitter spirit, said: "I won't read it. We have experts who have read the Book of Mormon, and I have read what our experts have to say about it."
This account dramatizes one of our problems in presenting the message of the Book of Mormon to the world. There are sincere and devout people everywhere who have heard what other people say about this volume of holy writ, and so they do not read it themselves.
Instead of drinking from that fountain from whence clear streams of living water flow, they prefer to go downstream and drink from the roily, muddy, poison-filled streams of the world.
The plain fact is that salvation itself is at stake in this matter. If the Book of Mormon is true-if it is a volume of holy scripture, if it contains the mind and will and voice of the Lord to all men, if it is a divine witness of the prophetic call of Joseph Smith-then to accept it and believe its doctrines is to be saved, and to reject it and walk contrary to its teachings is to be damned.
Let this message be sounded in every ear with an angelic trump; let it roll round the earth in resounding claps of never-ending thunder; let it be whispered in every heart by the still, small voice. Those who believe the Book of Mormon and accept Joseph Smith as a prophet thereby open the door to salvation; those who reject the book outright or who simply fail to learn its message and believe its teachings never so much as begin to travel that course along the strait and narrow path that leads to eternal life.
Shortly after my experience with these two ministers, two other ministers from the same denomination came to another of our conferences to hear me preach. And, once again, after the meeting I had a private discussion with them.
My message was the same. Taking the Book of Mormon as their guide, they must read, ponder, and pray in order to gain a witness from the Spirit as to the truth and divinity of this great latter-day work.
I told them of my prior experience with their two colleagues and how one of them had refused to read the Book of Mormon, saying that they had experts who had read the book and he had read what their experts had said.
I then said, "What is it going to take to get you gentlemen to read the Book of Mormon and find out for yourselves what is involved, rather than relying on the views of your experts?"
One of these ministers, holding my copy of the Book of Mormon in his hands, let the pages flip past his eyes in a matter of seconds. As he did so, he said, "Oh, I've read the Book of Mormon."
I had a momentary flash of spiritual insight that let me know that his reading had been about as extensive as the way he had just flipped the pages. In his reading he had done no more than scan a few of the headings and read an isolated verse or two.
A lovely young lady, a convert to the Church whose father was a minister of the same denomination as my four Protestant friends, was listening to my conversation with the second two. At this point she spoke up and said, "But Reverend, you have to pray about it."
He replied, "Oh, I prayed about it. I said, 'O God, if the Book of Mormon is true, strike me dead'; and here I am."
My unspoken impulse was to give this rejoinder: "But Reverend, you have to pray in faith!"
This account dramatizes another of our problems in teaching those who read the Book of Mormon how to read it in order to gain the promised witness by the power of the Holy Ghost.
The pattern for this was set in the experience of Oliver Cowdery. He desired not alone to act as a scribe to Joseph Smith but also to translate directly from the plates. After much importuning, the Lord permitted Brother Cowdery to try.
The divine authorization contained these provisos: "Remember that without faith you can do nothing; therefore ask in faith. Trifle not with these things; do not ask for that which you ought not. And according to your faith shall it be done unto you."
Oliver tried to translate and failed. Then came the divine word: "Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me." That is, he had not done all that in his power lay; he had expected the Lord to do it all merely because he asked.
"But, behold, I say unto you," the divine word continued, "that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right."
Now, if the Book of Mormon is true, our acceptance of it will lead to salvation in the highest heaven. On the other hand, if we say it is true when in fact it is not, we are thereby leading men astray and surely deserve to drop down to the deepest hell.
The time is long past for quibbling about words and for hurling unsavory epithets against the Latter-day Saints. These are deep and solemn and ponderous matters. We need not think we can trifle with sacred things and escape the wrath of a just God.
Either the Book of Mormon is true, or it is false; either it came from God, or it was spawned in the infernal realms. It declares plainly that all men must accept it as pure scripture or they will lose their souls. It is not and cannot be simply another treatise on religion; it either came from heaven or from hell. And it is time for all those who seek salvation to find out for themselves whether it is of the Lord or of Lucifer.
May I be so bold as to propose a test and issue a challenge. It is hoped that all who take this test will have a knowledge of the Holy Bible, because the more people know about the Bible, the greater their appreciation will be of the Book of Mormon.
This test is for saint and sinner alike; it is for Jew and Gentile, for bond and free, for black and white, for all of our Father's children. We have all been commanded to search the scriptures, to treasure up the Lord's word, to live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God. This, then, is the test:
Let every person make a list of from one hundred to two hundred doctrinal subjects, making a conscious effort to cover the whole field of gospel knowledge. The number of subjects chosen will depend on personal inclination and upon how broad the spectrum will be under each subject.
Then write each subject on a blank piece of paper. Divide the paper into two columns; at the top of one, write "Book of Mormon," and at the top of the other, "Bible."
Then start with the first verse and phrase of the Book of Mormon, and continuing verse by verse and thought by thought, put the substance of each verse under its proper heading. Find the same doctrine in the Old and New Testaments, and place it in the parallel columns.
Ponder the truths you learn, and it will not be long before you know that Lehi and Jacob excel Paul in teaching the Atonement; that Alma's sermons on faith and on being born again surpass anything in the Bible; that Nephi makes a better exposition of the scattering and gathering of Israel than do Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel combined; that Mormon's words about faith, hope, and charity have a clarity, a breadth, and a power of expression that even Paul did not attain; and so on and so on.
There is another and simpler test that all who seek to know the truth might well take. It calls for us simply to read, ponder, and pray-all in the spirit of faith and with an open mind. To keep ourselves alert to the issues at hand-as we do read, ponder, and pray-we should ask ourselves a thousand times, "Could any man have written this book?"
And it is absolutely guaranteed that sometime between the first and thousandth time this question is asked, every sincere and genuine truth seeker will come to know by the power of the Spirit that the Book of Mormon is true, that it is the mind and will and voice of the Lord to the whole world in our day.
We ask, then: What think ye of the Book of Mormon? Who can tell its wonder and worth? How many martyrs have suffered death in the flesh to bring it forth and carry its saving message to a wicked world?
We answer: It is a book, a holy book, a book of sacred, saving scripture. It is a voice from the dust, a voice that whispers low out of the earth, telling of a fallen people who sank into an endless oblivion because they forsook their God.
It is truth springing out of the earth as righteousness looks down from heaven. It is the stick of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim, which will guide all Israel, the ten tribes included, to return to Him whom their fathers worshipped. It contains the word that will gather the whole house of Israel and make them once again one nation upon the mountains of Israel, as it was in the days of their fathers.
It is an account of the ministry of the Son of God to his other sheep in the day they saw his face and heard his voice and believed his word.
It is the divine evidence, the proof, that God has spoken in our day. Its chief purpose is to convince all men, Jew and Gentile alike, that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, who manifests himself, by faith, in all ages and among all peoples.
It came forth in our day proving to the world that the Bible is true; that Jesus, by whom the Atonement came, is Lord of all; that Joseph Smith was called of God, as were the prophets of old; that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the one place on earth where salvation is found.
It is the book that will save the world and prepare the sons of men for joy and peace here and now and everlasting life in eternity.
As it happens, I am one of the many who have come to know, by the revelations of the Holy Ghost to my soul, that the Book of Mormon is true. And, knowing that I will be accountable for that witness before the bar of the great Jehovah when he judges all men, I testify that as he lives the Book of Mormon is true, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
My brethren and sisters, it has been customary for President Kimball to speak at the conclusion of the conference, but because of his age and the infirmities of his health, that is not possible. I know that you would have appreciated hearing from him. I know likewise that I am a poor substitute. It has been wonderful that he and President Romney have been able to be with us. Just to see them has lifted the hearts of many, many people.
While we were at lunch, we sat with a man who is now a grandfather who said that his little four-year-old grandson came to him the other day and said, "Grandpa, why do the hummingbirds hum?" Grandpa said, "I don't know. Why?" The little boy said, "Because they don't know the words."
It is unlikely that we will remember very many of the words that we've heard during the meetings of this conference. But I hope that we shall be able to "hum" the spirit of this conference and that we shall carry with us a great feeling of uplift because of our participation together. It has been a glorious time. The Spirit of the Lord has been with us. We have every reason to be grateful. We have been refreshed in our testimonies and strengthened in our faith.
We have heard sound counsel from the Brethren who have spoken to us. Having heard it, I hope we will read it when the proceedings of the conference are published, and again savor to our benefit that which has been said.
They have testified of our Eternal Father and of his Beloved Son, and they have done so by the power of the Holy Ghost. By that same power they have spoken of the Prophet Joseph and that which came of his faith and industry and calling as a servant of the Lord.
They have counseled us concerning our families, our lives, our affairs. All of us will be the stronger as we implement in our lives and in our homes the things to which we have listened.
Do not fear concerning the Church. We have had mentioned in this conference some of our critics. They mock that which is most holy to us. They jest over and hold up to ridicule that which has come by revelation from the Almighty. Any man who tries to find humor at the expense of that which is sacred to another is deeply flawed in character. Shame on those who stoop to such actions in the name of fun and on those who witness and laugh. Simple courtesy would dictate a decent respect for that which is sacred to neighbors and associates in one's society.
The Lord himself has said, "Remember that that which cometh from above is sacred, and must be spoken with care, and by constraint of the Spirit."
As has been indicated, there are a few who have taken it upon themselves as their mission to belittle and demean and destroy the faith of the weak, with a badly flawed argument that we are not Christians.
To all of these we have a twofold answer, quietly spoken. The first is this: Would a true follower of Christ, a follower of him who was the epitome of love and mercy and consideration, so seek to injure another?
The second: We ask only that we be judged by our fruits. Said the Master:
"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
"Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
"A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."
By that standard we are willing to be judged.
At a time when we were under far more intensive siege than we are today, President Joseph F. Smith stood at this pulpit in this Tabernacle and said:
"We thank God for His mercies and blessings; and I do not know but what we owe in some small degree gratitude to those who have bitterly opposed the work of the Lord; for in all their opposings and bitter strife against our people the Lord has developed His power and wisdom, and has brought His people more fully into the knowledge and favor of the intelligent people of the earth. Through the very means used by those who have opposed the work of God, He has brought out good for Zion. Yet, it is written, and I believe it is true, that although it must needs be that offenses come, woe unto them by whom they come; but they are in the hands of the Lord as we are. We bring no railing accusation against them. We are willing to leave them in the hands of the Almighty to deal with them as seemeth Him good. Our business is to work righteousness in the earth, to seek for the development of a knowledge of God's will and of God's ways, and of His great and glorious truths which He has revealed through the instrumentality of Joseph the Prophet, not only for the salvation of the living but for the redemption and salvation of the dead."
And so we let the matter rest there.
Now let those of us who have traveled to the conference return to our homes with resolution in our hearts, and those of us who have participated in the conference by means of satellite transmission, television, and radio resolve also that we shall try a little harder to live the standards of the gospel, of which we have heard these days; that we shall lower our voices of criticism and negativism; that we will look for good in the world; that as employees we will be honest with our employers in giving of our time and of our talents; that we shall cultivate within our hearts a love one for another, both within and without the Church; that as husbands and wives we shall be true to one another in every respect; that every husband and holder of the priesthood will treat his companion and children with love and deference; that we will cultivate in our homes family prayer, making it the habit of our daily lives; that we will deal honestly with all men and walk humbly and obediently with God our Eternal Father. For this I humbly pray.
I remember as a boy sitting in this Tabernacle and hearing President Heber J. Grant, his voice trembling with conviction, read these words:
"How long can rolling waters remain impure? What power shall stay the heavens? As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints."
I believed those words when I heard President Grant read them then. I believe them now. I believe without any question, my brethren and sisters, that this is the work of God and that he is pouring out, in a marvelous and miraculous way, his blessings upon this people.
We held in this hall a week ago last evening a great meeting of the women of the Church. And beyond this hall, there were thousands and tens of thousands assembled in more than six hundred other halls, to which the proceedings of this meeting were carried by satellite transmission. I thought of the miracle of it, the marvel of it, of this great sisterhood of more than a million wonderful women, devoted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, who walk with faith in their hearts-mothers, whose greatest desire is to rear another generation of faithful sons and daughters, who love the Lord and are willing to walk in obedience to the commandments of the Master.
And then last evening we had assembled here the men, the priesthood of the Church, hundreds of thousands-here and across the world in more than 1,153 other places, as well as the 600 stake centers to which the proceedings of the earlier meeting were carried. And I said again to myself, "What glorious things the God of heaven has wrought in behalf of his people." Let us be thankful; let us walk in gratitude; let us walk without fear.
There comes into my mind these great words from one of the letters of Paul to Timothy:
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
"Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord."
I commend those marvelous words to you: "God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
"Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord."
I wish to read as we conclude this great conference this challenge of Moroni among the last words that he wrote after wandering in loneliness for a long period. As he looked down to this day when his record should come forth, he gave this great charge to us of this generation:
"And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.
"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness."
As we all sang together in this meeting that stirring hymn, the chorus of which contains these words, my heart was lifted in a great surge of emotion concerning the faith of this people:
I leave you my testimony and invoke the blessings of heaven upon you. I know that God our Eternal Father lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior and the Redeemer of mankind. I know that this is the work of the Lord, that this Church is established upon a foundation of Apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. I know these things, and I know that you know them; and with that knowledge may we go forward with our lives, walking with integrity and gladness and faith, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Ten years ago President Spencer W. Kimball stood at this pulpit. In that conference, he was sustained by Saints throughout the world as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In the decade of his leadership that has followed, we have seen progress and growth unequaled in the history of the Church.
In his first conference address as President of the Church, President Kimball declared the program of the Church is "to reaffirm and boldly carry forward the work of God in cleanliness, uprightness, and to take that gospel of truth to that world that needs so much that godly life."
My message today is to provide counsel on how we as a church and as individuals can carry forward the work of God to all the world.
First, we need to strengthen families.
We must recognize that the family is the cornerstone of civilization and that no nation will rise above the caliber of its homes. The family is the rock foundation of the Church. We therefore call on the head of every household to strengthen the family.
We believe marriage was ordained by God for a wise, eternal purpose. The family is the basis of the righteous life. Divinely prescribed roles of father, mother, and children were given from the very beginning.
God established that fathers are to preside in the home. Fathers are to provide, love, teach, and direct.
A mother's role is also God-ordained. Mothers are to conceive, bear, nourish, love, and train. They are to be helpmates and are to counsel with their husbands.
There is no inequality between the sexes in God's plan. It is a matter of division of responsibility.
Children are likewise counseled in holy writ in their duty to parents:
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
"Honour thy father and mother;
"That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth", said the Apostle Paul.
When parents, in companionship, love, and unity, fulfill their heaven-imposed responsibility and children respond with love and obedience, great joy is the result.
Recently a letter came to me from a member of the Church describing some of the difficulties and challenges that a husband and his wife were having in rearing their children.
They were married in the temple, but subsequently drifted into inactivity. They had only recently become active again in Church responsibility. They asked for personal counsel as to what they might do to ensure that their children would remain faithful to the gospel and avoid some of the pitfalls that they had experienced and had seen come to other families.
In other words, they were asking, "How can we spiritually strengthen our family?"
I would invite each of you to ponder that significant question. As a response to this request, I would further invite you to consider the tried and tested formula that successful families have used over the years to attain love, unity, and loyalty to one another and to understand the principles of the gospel.
Successful families have love and respect for each family member. Family members know they are loved and appreciated. Children feel they are loved by their parents. Thus, they are secure and self-assured.
Strong families cultivate an attribute of effective communication. They talk out their problems, make plans together, and cooperate toward common objectives. Family home evening and family councils are practiced and used as effective tools toward this end.
Fathers and mothers in strong families stay close to their children. They talk. Some fathers formally interview each child, others do so informally, and others take occasion to regularly spend time alone with each child.
Every family has problems and challenges. But successful families try to work together toward solutions instead of resorting to criticism and contention. They pray for each other, discuss, and give encouragement. Occasionally these families fast together in support of one of the family members.
Strong families support each other.
Successful families do things together: family projects, work, vacations, recreation, and reunions.
Successful parents have found that it is not easy to rear children in an environment polluted with evil. Therefore, they take deliberate steps to provide the best of wholesome influences. Moral principles are taught. Good books are made available and read. Television watching is controlled. Good and uplifting music is provided. But most importantly, the scriptures are read and discussed as a means to help develop spiritual-mindedness.
In successful Latter-day Saint homes, parents teach their children to understand faith in God, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Family prayer is a consistent practice in these families. Prayer is the means to acknowledge appreciation for blessings and to humbly recognize dependence on Almighty God for strength, sustenance, and support.
It is a wise and true maxim that families that kneel together stand upright before the Lord!
This, then, is the tried and proven formula for rearing successful families. I commend the formula to you.
As parents and grandparents in Zion, it has been the shared hope of my wife and me that all of us will be together in the eternities-that all will be worthy, without a single empty chair.
That is my fervent hope and prayer for each family in the Church.
Now may I direct some remarks to us as members of the Church individually.
More than at any time in our history, brothers and sisters, we have need for greater spirituality. The way to develop greater spirituality is to feast on the words of Christ as revealed in the scriptures.
One of the most significant happenings in recent Church history is the publication of the new editions of the standard works with the new footnotes and other helps.
I think we can say without exaggeration that never before in any dispensation have the Saints been so abundantly blessed with the words of the Lord and His prophets.
Now our challenge is to do as the Lord commanded: "Study my word which hath gone forth among the children of men".
This year we are to read the Book of Mormon in the adult curriculum of the Church. The Prophet Joseph Smith said of this sacred record: "The Book of Mormon the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book".
We urge you to study the Book of Mormon as individuals and families and then to do as the prophet Nephi counseled: liken the scriptures to yourselves so that it will be for your profit and learning.
We have requested priesthood leaders to minimize administrative meetings on the Sabbath so that families may engage in worship and family time. Our hope is that you will use this time to attend your meetings, render Christian service, visit family members, hold family home evenings, and study the scriptures.
We counsel you to accept callings in the Church and to serve faithfully in the positions to which you are called. Serve one another. Magnify your callings. As you do so, you will be the means of blessing others and you will increase in spirituality.
We urge you, particularly priesthood brethren and Relief Society sisters, to be sensitive to the needs of the poor, the sick, and the needy. We have a Christian responsibility to see that the widows and fatherless are assisted. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."
We urge you to keep the commandments of God. By so doing, you will keep yourself free from the bondage of sin.
"Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ serve him."
Confess the hand of God in all things.
"Be patient in afflictions."
"Be of good cheer."
Sustain and support the priesthood in the home and Church.
Pay an honest tithe and a generous fast offering.
"Love thy neighbor as thyself."
Teach your children. Bring them up in light and truth.
"Cease to find fault one with another."
"Forgive one another."
Elect honest, good, and wise men to public office.
Obey and befriend "that law which is the constitutional law of the land."
Be thrifty. Stay out of debt.
Do not covet.
Be honest in your dealings with others.
Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Abstain from the use of liquor, tobacco, and strong and hot drinks.
"Cease to be unclean"; shun pornography.
Seek learning out of the best books. Avoid literature and movies which portray evil as good and good as evil.
Do not commit adultery "nor do anything like unto it." That means petting, fornication, homosexuality, and any other form of immorality.
"Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly."
"Practice virtue and holiness" continually.
"Clothe yourselves with the bond of charity."
Live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.
Be valiant in your testimony of Christ.
Honor your covenants.
"Endure to the end."
In a word, though you live in the world, be not of the world!
The mission of the Church is to save souls by proclaiming the gospel, perfecting the Saints, and redeeming the dead.
We urge you to do all within your talent and means to help build the kingdom of God on the earth. Always strive to sustain, support, and do what is best for the kingdom of God.
Finally, a word of commendation and encouragement.
Over forty years ago President Kimball and I were called to be members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. We were ordained Apostles only a few minutes apart.
When we came into the Quorum, there were 146 stakes. Today there are 1,460-over 800 of which have been organized since President Kimball became President.
The number of members in 1943 was less than a million. Today we exceed five million. Almost two million have become members in the last ten years.
The Church has never been in a better position than at present. There are more devoted members than ever before. Missionary work has caused us to rapidly expand throughout the world. Genealogical and temple work has significantly increased. Leadership has improved. Our youth are more spiritually prepared than ever before.
We are pleased with the activation of many of our brethren and sisters. We encourage priesthood and auxiliary leaders to continue this great effort.
Latter-day Saints, we commend you! We commend your faithfulness. Never have our opportunities and our blessings been so great. In the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith, "Shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage and on, on to victory!"
Some of our members have become disturbed because of derogatory things said about the Church and its leaders, or because of misrepresentations about our doctrines or our practices.
But opposition is not new to the Church. We have had opposition in the past, and we shall continue to have opposition in the future. Do not become discouraged by what others say or do. Stay on the strait and narrow path. You do this by holding fast to the iron rod-the words of God as contained in the scriptures and as given by His living servants on this earth.
I carry with me a statement of the Lord from the Book of Mormon, which my brethren of the Twelve have heard me quote. The passage reads as follows:
"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall revile against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord."
Brothers and sisters, this is the work of the Lord. This is His church on the earth. He has entrusted His church to the care of humble men, who have extraordinary responsibilities. We need your faith, your support, and your constant prayers.
I testify to you that God lives and that today He communicates to His servants His will. President Spencer W. Kimball is his chosen prophet on earth today. I testify that this is the Church of Jesus Christ-the kingdom of God on this earth.
I pray most earnestly that God's favor and blessing will be on you, your families, and good men and women the world over, for we all are children of one Father.
To this I testify and leave my blessing, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
A few weeks ago while in Idaho reorganizing a stake presidency, I not only met some outstanding priesthood leaders and set three of them apart as a new stake presidency, but I also met a very special young lady I will not soon forget. The newly called presidency, one of whom was serving as a bishop at the time, asked if I could interview a prospective bishop so if he were cleared he could be installed the following Sunday after conference. The appointment was made. I sat in a private office with a well-groomed, attractive couple.
After a few words of greeting and introductions, I looked at her and said, "Tell me about your husband." She hesitated and finally said, "Elder Ashton, I really don't know him very well." Since this was a most unusual response, I promptly said, "Please tell me about that." She responded with, "We have only been married three weeks."
This young couple, both in their early thirties, he an attorney and she a schoolteacher by profession, were still honeymooning, and their deep, newly found love for each other was most evident. When I said, "I want to talk to the two of you about your husband becoming a bishop," she said, "Some nights ago I had a dream indicating Randy would be a bishop. I just hoped it wouldn't come too soon." She continued with, "Even though we are newlyweds if you are impressed to call Randy to be a bishop, he will be a good one, and I will help him."
What a beautiful attitude. What sustaining support. Her commitment to her husband, Church, and self was made long before I asked my questions. She had resolved to choose the good part, reminding me of the meaningful statement made about Mary in Luke 10:42: "One thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
The more I become involved in the Church and in communities worldwide, the greater becomes my appreciation and respect for good women. Today I would like to pay sincere tribute and give encouragement to these special ladies. My personal definition of a good woman is any woman who is moving in the right direction. I humbly thank God constantly for their courage, strength, and commitment. Through you noble sisters, each in different circumstances in life, by your example, encouragement, conduct, and personal integrity, God's work goes forward with greater purpose and accomplishment.
Let me share with you some recent experiences, correspondence, and observations, particularly with the single women in the Church. Most of them are doing well in the situations in which they find themselves. They, however, sincerely need our love, encouragement, and respect. They, along with all of the rest of us, need not be resigned to their present status or role. Eternal progression is a basic part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Happiness, enthusiasm, and joy in daily living are mandatory if we would move forward and choose the good part.
The principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ will never change, but environment, circumstances, institutions, and cultural patterns do. Our challenge is to move forward in our present realms with commitment and enthusiasm. We must do our part to progress and enjoy life while we are in the process of meeting our situations.
The mother of a Filipino missionary recently wrote to her son's mission president: "Thank you so much for the spiritual support and counsel that you give to my son. Being a lone parent for almost eight years would have been very hard for me, were it not for the gospel's truthfulness. I know God lives and He loves me. He hears and answers my earnest and sincere prayers. I still have seven children, including our missionary, under my care. The Lord has blessed me with a talent that has helped me through the years to support my family. I earn a living by serving as a dressmaker. I am indeed grateful for my 'Church family'-members who have inspired me and helped me to accept cheerfully and confidently my single parenthood."
Here is a sister who has learned that God is well pleased with families of one or more if they include Him and adhere to His teachings.
Oh, how powerful are good women who choose the good part.
And although He will always be at our side if we will but invite Him, never will He take from His children the great gift of agency-the power to choose. Young mothers must learn to use this power wisely. There may be times when more than one course of action is placed before us. Each is right. It is then that wise and prudent decisions must be made, taking into consideration the season of life and the pertinent facts.
Some mothers seem to have the capacity and energy to make their children's clothes, bake, give piano lessons, go to Relief Society, teach Sunday School, attend parent-teacher association meetings, and so on. Other mothers look upon such women as models and feel inadequate, depressed, and think they are failures when they make comparisons.
We should not allow ourselves to be trapped into such damaging inferiority feelings. This is another tool of Satan. Many seem to put too much pressure on themselves to be a "supermom" or "superwoman."
Sisters, do not allow yourselves to be made to feel inadequate or frustrated because you cannot do everything others seem to be accomplishing. Rather, each should assess her own situation, her own energy, and her own talents, and then choose the best way to mold her family into a team, a unit that works together and supports each other. Only you and your Father in Heaven know your needs, strengths, and desires. Around this knowledge your personal course must be charted and your choices made.
Let me share another example of a courageous single mother who has chosen the good part and effectively lives within her situation. She is in her mid-thirties and has suffered much heartache in her life. Shortly after she and her husband were married in the temple, he became inactive. This man chose to spend most of his time with male companions. There was no concern for the welfare of his family nor any desire to build a meaningful relationship with his wife. Church activities became nonexistent in his life, and soon he was led down the path of transgression.
Of necessity this lovely woman is providing financially for herself and her children. Her paramount goal is to make a happy home environment in which her boys and girls can feel emotional, financial, and spiritual security. For ten years their home was deprived of these ingredients of happiness.
Even though she hopes that marriage may come again sometime in the future, for the present she is concerned with the needs of her children and is working to build a strong family unit centered around the Church and its teachings.
As a single parent she has chosen the good part.
In times of hurt and discouragement, it may be consoling for her and for all of us to recall that no one can do anything permanently to us that will last for eternity. Only we ourselves can affect our eternal progression.
There is a temptation on the part of some of our sisters who have never married to give up, to stop trying, to think of what they don't have in life instead of what they do have. It is important for them to never give up, to never cease living. As Sister Carol Clark has so beautifully stated: "The personal challenge is not to wait successfully but to live richly, fully, joyfully. The goal is not to wait for the right person but to be the right person" May I emphasize the word live. Live richly, fully, joyfully. Be excited about your chance to grow and develop your potential. Be excited about life and the opportunities and privileges that the Lord has given you.
Make a decision as to the kind of person you want to be regardless of external circumstances. The first challenge in life is to learn, accept, and internalize "Who am I?" If this question is researched carefully in the scriptures and in Church teachings, the importance of each and every soul will be verified. A good self-image is one of the most important and necessary steps in facing life. So often we believe about ourselves only the things that others have implanted. There is no woman in or out of the Church who is not a loved child of God-no one!
In Psalms 8:4–5 we read:
"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
"For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour."
But Satan is ever present, trying to destroy our glory and remove our crown. One of his most powerful tools is discouragement. Single sisters, don't let your discouragement make Satan rejoice.
Sometimes singles are inclined to become wrapped up in themselves rather than searching for a way to affect the future. Become success oriented. Know that you can succeed. Believe that you can succeed. Step into auxiliary organizations of the Church and into community organizations and make your presence felt.
Thinking and acting women today are taking part in making history in one of the greatest periods of mankind. Their personal contributions not only make the difference today, but their good works have mighty import upon the future. As circles of activity widen, so will the number of friends and acquaintances widen. And then the influence of good women will have an even greater impact on those with whom they associate.
We must constantly remember it is not our situation or problems that make us unhappy; it is our failure to properly resolve them.
Someone has said that happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it comes and sits softly on your shoulder.
In the Church our leaders have a great desire and spend much thought and prayer in trying to offer guidelines that may help with solutions. In reference to a recent letter in which the First Presidency gave guidelines for membership in singles wards, let me emphasize it is contemplated that no abrupt changes in existing programs be made without considering their impact on the lives of those who are presently involved in singles wards. Stake presidents are now authorized to make exceptions to the general policy after consultation and joint agreement with the bishop involved.
No one should be asked to leave. While there are definite advantages, with other things being equal, to an older single person being active in his or her own conventional ward, no one should be displaced or left to feel unwanted when proper marriage opportunities fail to develop. Certain age restrictions are prescribed by policy guidelines for good reasons, but no one should feel displaced or terminated, if you please, through abrupt changes.
Programs are planned and implemented with love and concern for each person in the Church. The desire is to offer opportunities for growth, development, and happiness for all members. With each passing year, the value of our sisters who are living without companions becomes more apparent. Strong leaders, good teachers, and dedicated mothers constantly emerge from this group of sisters. They live and serve with courage and ingenuity. Through perseverance they are finding success.
To be in control of your life, to be a success regardless of your situation, whether happily married, unhappily married, a single parent, a widow, or a wife of an inactive husband, I recommend that you come to know your Father in Heaven. Come to love Him, and always remember that He loves you and will give you guidance and support if you will but give Him the chance. Include Him in your decision making. Include Him when you take inventory of your personal worth. "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."
Set your goals-without goals you cannot measure your progress. But don't become frustrated because there are no obvious victories. Remind yourself that striving can be more important than arriving. If you are striving for excellence-if you are trying your best day by day with the wisest use of your time and energy to reach realistic goals-you are a success.
Commune daily with your Heavenly Father who knows you best of all. He knows your talents, your strengths, and your weaknesses. You are here on the earth at this time to develop and refine these characteristics. I promise you He will help you. He is aware of your needs. He is aware of your unanswered prayers.
God bless our valiant women members. You are choice in His and our eyes. We pray that with His help and our personal efforts happiness will be achieved. Certainly when we choose the good part, regardless of our current circumstances or situations, life will be lived to the fullest.
May God help us to so do, I pray in the worthy name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Friend, amen.
Elder David B. Haight
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I pray for the companionship of the Holy Spirit, that my remarks will be in harmony with revealed truth and will be received and understood by that same heavenly influence.
For more than twenty-five years we have witnessed an unending assault on the traditional family. Sacred values of human goodness, discipline, and love and honor for God our Eternal Father have been challenged.
A new self-centered generation has made the family a prime target of continuing belittlement. Marriage is downgraded or shunned, parenthood degraded and avoided. These, with other disturbing influences, have resulted in a torrent of evil temptations for so-called instant gratification and the demeaning of marriage and the sacred roles of wife and mother.
Unfortunately, there are many good human beings who would live differently, but they do not know of God's eternal plan for His children. We learn from the scriptures that the divine intent is that marriage is to be an eternal union with enduring family relationships throughout eternity.
Scripture reveals that, after the earth was developed, God created man in His own image and gave him dominion over the earth. By the side of man stood the woman, sharing with him the divinely bestowed honor and dignity of supremacy over all other creations. God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him."
"In the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
The Lord also instructed, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh", thereby giving sanction to the union of male and female in authorized marriage, which is heaven-planned for the creation of mortal bodies.
The earliest recorded commandment to Adam and Eve was to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth."
We regard children as gifts from God, committed to our care for loving, nurturing, and careful training.
The Lord also instructed, "And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord."
They are not to be mistreated or abused, for, with their parents, they are part of a family with the potential of eternal relationship.
President Spencer W. Kimball explained:
"The Lord organized the whole program in the beginning with a father who procreates, provides, and loves and directs, and a mother who conceives and bears and nurtures and feeds and trains. The Lord could have organized it otherwise but chose to have a unit with responsibility and purposeful associations where children train and discipline each other and come to love, honor, and appreciate each other. The family is the great plan of life as conceived and organized by our Father in Heaven."
Marriage was meant to be and can be a loving, binding, and harmonious relationship between a husband and wife.
As we contemplate our Lord's declaration to Moses, "This is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man", we reflect with sadness upon the present serious trend of families and homes being torn apart through divorce.
It would seem that a major underlying cause of divorce is in not understanding that marriage and families are God-given and God-ordained. If we understood the full meaning we would have less divorce and its attendant unhappiness. Couples would plan for a happy marriage relationship based on divine instruction. If couples understood from the beginning of their romance that their marriage relationship could be blessed with promises and conditions extending into the eternities, divorce would not even be a considered alternative when difficulties arise. The current philosophy-get a divorce if it doesn't work out-handicaps a marriage from the beginning.
The ever-increasing rise in divorce is ample evidence of how acceptable divorce has become as the popular solution to unhappy or "not-quite-up-to-expectation" marriages.
But no matter how acceptable divorce has become-how quick and easy to obtain-divorce is tragic and painful, not only at the outset, but also in the years to come.
Divorce can never really be final. How can mothers and fathers really divorce themselves from their own flesh and blood children, or from the memories of days and years of shared experiences which have become part of their very lives.
Divorce rarely occurs without immense emotional, social, and financial upheaval. Most people underestimate the alienation, bitterness, disruption, and frustration between a divorcing couple, and among their children, friends, and relatives. Some never adjust to the resulting emotional consequences.
Perhaps most tragic of all is that more than 60 percent of all divorces involve children under eighteen years of age. Children of divorce all too often have a higher delinquency rate and less self-confidence, and tend to be more promiscuous and themselves more likely to have unhappy marriages.
Considering the enormous importance of marriage, it is rather astonishing that we don't make better preparation for success. Usually, young couples date for a few months or for a year or two, enjoying romance and getting acquainted, and then get married. Once married, they soon learn that romance must blend with spiritual beliefs, in-law relationships, money issues, and serious discussions involving ethics, children, and the running of a home.
Too many people are inadequately prepared for this lofty responsibility.
"People go to college for years to prepare for a vocation or profession not as rewarding as marriage."
Serious transgressions, as well as injured lives that sometimes are revealed in bishops' offices, all too frequently make it clear that husband and wife relationships deserve a great deal more prayerful attention than many are giving it. Fewer marriages would get in trouble, and more would be happier, if couples visited a warm-hearted bishop who might suggest ways of avoiding pitfalls, and encourage husbands and wives to thoughtfully use self-discipline and needed restraint and develop the loving attribute of unselfishness.
A few years ago, President Harold B. Lee received this letter from a married woman: "When we thought that the end was here and that there was only one thing to do and that was to get a divorce, we had been told that we should counsel with our bishop. At first we hesitated, because he was just a young man. But he was our bishop so we went to see him. We poured out our souls to our young bishop. He sat and listened silently, and when we ran out of conversation he said, simply, 'Well, my wife and I, we had problems, too, and we learned how to solve them.' That is all he said. But you know there was something that happened as a result of that young bishop's statement. We walked out of there and we said, 'Well, if they can solve their problems, what is the matter with us?'"
A prominent producer recently stated:
"In movies and on television there is reluctance to deal with marriage, a comic turn or in soap operas. We prefer to stress and leave the happily-ever-after, as in children's fairy stories."
Our concern is not just that media producers and writers don't portray happy, fruitful marriage, but that many married couples don't take their marriages seriously enough-to work at them, protect them, nurture them, cultivate them day in and day out, week in and week out, yearlong, quarter-century long, half-a-century long, forever.
Middle-age divorce is particularly distressing, as it indicates that mature people, who are the backbone of our society, are not working carefully enough to preserve their marriages. Divorces granted to people over forty-five have increased at an alarming rate. When middle-aged people even consider breaking up their marriage-a couple who may have reared their children, who possibly have grandchildren-and now decide to go their separate ways, they need to realize that every divorce is the result of selfishness on the part of one or both.
In Malachi we read:
"The Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
"Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth."
Marriage is a covenant. Two of the Ten Commandments deal directly with preserving the sanctity of marriage: "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife."
Jesus magnified the law against adultery: "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
The ideal marriage is the faithfulness of a man and a woman to each other, a faithfulness that began when each had chosen the other. In Proverbs we read, "Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth." Let her affection fill you at all times with delight, and be infatuated always with her love.
It is a privilege indeed to live our life with the wife of our youth, to enjoy the golden years together-neither objecting to the wrinkles nor the gray hair-but to continue acquiring a depth of love, oneness, and wisdom which can be shared with each other now and throughout all eternity.
Marriage is sustained by faith and knowledge of its divine establishment, and is sustained daily by the energy of love. A wise man explained, "When the satisfaction or the security of another person becomes as significant to one as one's own satisfaction and security then the state of love exists."
A strong, shared conviction that there is something eternally precious about a marriage relationship builds faith to resist evil. Marriage should be beautiful and fulfilling, with joy beyond our fondest dreams, for "neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord."
Latter-day Saints need not divorce-there are solutions to marriage problems. If, as husband and wife, you are having serious misunderstandings or if you feel some strain or tension building up in your marriage, you should humbly get on your knees together and ask God our Father, with a sincere heart and real intent, to lift the darkness that is over your relationship, that you may receive the needed light, see your errors, repent of your wrongs, forgive each other, and receive each unto yourselves as you did in the beginning. I solemnly assure you that God lives and will answer your humble pleas, for he has said, "Ye shall ask whatsoever you will in the name of Jesus and it shall be done." In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder G. Homer Durham
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Recently, while I was driving on the highway, a car passed. This was not unusual. The bumper sticker was a little different, saying, "Save the Humans." One sees many bumper stickers these days. This one turned my thoughts to something fundamental, the word save. I thought of the plan of salvation. I thought of the world of scholarship, and of Professor Arnold Toynbee's analysis of the many so-called "saviours" found in history. We know that one Savior truly saves-the Lord Jesus Christ. This is His church. We have taken upon ourselves His name.
What does the average person mean when he testifies that Jesus is the Christ? Of course, it is the witness of the Spirit that counts. But what do the words Jesus and Christ mean?
A brief excursion into the meaning of these two words may be useful, especially to young people, in these times.
The Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, tells us that the word Jesus came into the English language from Middle English, adapted from the Latin Iesus, which in turn was adapted from the Greek Iesous. This in turn was adapted from the Hebrew or Aramaic word Yeshua or Yehoshua. The earlier root was Joshua. This dictionary goes on to explain that the word Joshua derived from the Jah of Jahveh, meaning that "Jehovah is salvation." Thus, the word "Jesus" has parallel meaning with Savior. Dr. David Flusser of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem puts it simply: "Jesus is the common Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua."
Webster's New 20th Century Dictionary of the English Language, unabridged, sets forth a comparable definition, noting that the Latin-Greek derivation from the Hebrew Joshua means literally, "help of Jehovah." But in addition, this source states that the word derives from the Hebrew word for Lord God, he who is available to help, to save. In this sense, then, the word Jesus means simply, "God is help." How "Save the Humans," as the bumper sticker read? The dictionaries and the gospel give the answer.
What of the word Christ? It also comes to the English-speaking world from Middle English, derived from the Latin Christus, in turn from the Greek Christos, which meant "the Anointed"-a noun made from the past participle of the Greek verb "to anoint".
Webster also states that the word Christ was originally Jesus' title. Thus, proper usage of the two words in English would be as Elder James E. Talmage titled his book, Jesus the Christ. Usage and revelation have joined the two as part of a sacred, revered name.
Elder Talmage defined the two words as follows:
"Jesus is the individual name of the Savior, and as thus spelled is of Greek derivation. In the original the name was well understood as meaning 'Help of Jehovah,' or, 'Savior.'"
Elder Talmage emphasized that the word Christ is a sacred title, not "an ordinary common name; it is of Greek derivation, and is identical with its Hebrew equivalent Messiah , signifying the Anointed One."
What was the earliest documented mention of the sacred name Jesus Christ now available to us? Dr. Joseph Armitage Robinson, one-time Norrisson Professor of Cambridge University, held that it is probably found in the opening verse of First Thessalonians. Imagine the impact of those words then, as we read them today in English, as received by the Thessalonians possibly two decades after the Crucifixion:
"Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Note that the phrase God the Father is separated by the conjunction and from the phrase the Lord Jesus Christ. This demonstrates first-century belief in the separate individuality of the Father and the Son, as restored by the Prophet Joseph Smith.
The opening verse of the Gospel according to St. Mark also comes with great force as a historical document fraught with meaning:
"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God."
The Gospel of John the Beloved is even more eloquent. He records the witness of the Savior's forerunner, John the Baptist, as follows:
"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
"Save the Humans"? Think of the Baptist's testimony: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world"!
How did the Savior of mankind acquire his name in mortality? By revelation. To Joseph of Nazareth, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream, saying:
"Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."
Here is confirmation of the dictionary meaning of the name, as recorded by Matthew: "Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."
Mary also had angelic confirmation of the name, as recorded by Luke:
"And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
"And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS."
The formal naming of the child when eight days old is recorded by Luke:
"His name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb."
The name which means "God is help," "the Anointed One," "the Promised Messiah," has thus come to us.
Some three decades ago, Professor Arnold Toynbee concluded one of the most extensive studies of history ever undertaken. He recorded mankind's quest for "saviours," for "the way out." He identified four categories: the "Creative Genius"; the "Saviour with a Sword"; the "Saviour with a Time Machine," one dreaming of a utopia or an archaic past which never existed; the saviour as a "Philosopher, Masked as a King." All these history rejects. Finally, Toynbee pointed to "the God Incarnate in a Man," the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he wrote:
"This is in truth the final result of our survey of saviours. When we set out on this quest we found ourselves moving in the midst of a mighty host, but, as we have pressed forward, the marchers, company by company, have fallen out of the race. The first to fail were the swordsmen, the next the archaists and the futurists, the next the philosophers, until only gods were left in the running. And now, as we stand and gaze with our eyes fixed upon the farther shore, a single figure rises from the flood and straightway fills the whole horizon. There is the Saviour."
We know that Savior to be the Lord Jesus Christ. From many, many experiences over my lifetime, I can truly testify to you that He truly is our Savior; and if the Father is approached in prayer, as His Son has commanded us, doors will open to help us move forward without fear in life. That all men everywhere may come to realize and know the significance of Jesus the Christ, the One chosen before the foundation of the world, is my faith and witness. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Building Your Eternal Home
Elder Thomas S. Monson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
When Jesus walked the dusty pathways of towns and villages that we now reverently call the Holy Land and taught His disciples by beautiful Galilee, He often spoke in parables, in language the people understood best. Frequently, He referred to home building in relationship to the lives of those who listened.
He declared: "Every house divided against itself shall not stand." Later He cautioned: "Behold, mine house is a house of order, and not a house of confusion."
In a revelation given through the Prophet Joseph Smith at Kirtland, Ohio, December 27, 1832, the Master counseled: "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."
Where could any of us locate a more suitable blueprint whereby we could wisely and properly build a house to personally occupy throughout eternity?
Such a house would meet the building code outlined in Matthew-even a house built "upon a rock", a house capable of withstanding the rains of adversity, the floods of opposition, and the winds of doubt everywhere present in our challenging world.
Some might question: "But that revelation was to provide guidance for the construction of a temple. Is it relevant today?"
I would respond: "Did not the Apostle Paul declare, 'Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?'"
Perhaps if we consider these architectural guidelines on an individual basis, we can more readily appreciate this divine counsel from the Master Builder, the Creator of the world, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Our inspired blueprint first cautions that our house should be a house of prayer. The Master taught:
"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray , that they may be seen of men.
"But thou, when thou prayest, pray to thy Father which is in secret.
"Use not vain repetitions.
"After this manner pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
"Give us this day our daily bread.
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever."
This element of our blueprint can be taught to children when they are yet young. When our oldest son was about three, he would kneel with his mother and me in our evening prayer. I was serving as the bishop of the ward at the time, and a lovely lady in the ward, Margaret Lister, lay perilously ill with cancer. Each night we would pray for Sister Lister. One evening our tiny son offered the prayer and confused the words of the prayer with a story from a nursery book. He began: "Heavenly Father, please bless Sister Lister, Henny Penny, Chicken Licken, Turkey Lurkey, and all the little folks." We held back the smiles that evening. Later we were humbled as Margaret Lister sustained a complete recovery. We do not demean the prayer of a child. After all, our children have more recently been with our Heavenly Father than have we.
Let our house be a house of prayer.
Our house should also be a house of fasting. This portion of the blueprint is personified in the account found in Isaiah titled the "True Fast": "Is not this the fast that I have chosen?
"To deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?"
The reward is then announced: "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.
"Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.
"And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
"And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."
Let our house be a house of fasting.
Our house is to be a house of faith. James recorded:
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."
A practical application of such abiding faith is found in the spirit of Nephi and his stirring declaration: "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded." He did not waver; he believed. Is there a counterpart application even today?
Some years ago I accompanied President Hugh B. Brown on a tour of the Samoan Mission. The members and missionaries in American Samoa had advised us that a severe drought had imperiled their water supply to the point that our chapels and our school would of necessity be closed if rain did not soon fall. They asked us to unite our faith with theirs.
Signs of the drought were everywhere as we left the airport at Pago Pago and journeyed to the school at Mapasaga. The sun was shining brightly; not a cloud appeared in the azure blue sky. The members rejoiced as the meeting began. He who offered the opening prayer thanked our Heavenly Father for our safe arrival, knowing that we would somehow bring the desired rainfall. As President Brown rose to speak, the sun was soon shaded by gathering clouds. Then we heard the clap of thunder and saw the flash of lightning. The heavens opened. The rains fell. The drought ended.
Later at the airport, as we prepared for the short flight to Western Samoa, the pilot of the small plane said to the ground crew, "This is the most unusual weather pattern I have ever seen. Not a cloud is in the sky except over the Mormon school at Mapasaga. I don't understand it!"
President Brown said to me, "Here's your opportunity. Go help him understand." I did so.
Our house surely is a house of faith.
Let our house be a house of learning. Said the Lord: "Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith." He counseled: "Come learn of me and ye shall find rest unto your souls." No other quest for learning promises such a profound reward.
Let our house be a house of learning.
Our house is to be a house of glory. For our house to be such, we need to be square with God, fair with others, and honest with ourselves. One cannot be one person and pretend to be another. Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, had Huckleberry Finn teach us this vital lesson. Huckleberry Finn is talking:
"It made me shiver. And I about made up my mind to pray, and see if I couldn't try to quit being the kind of a boy I was and be better. So I kneeled down. But the words wouldn't come. Why wouldn't they? It warn't no use to try and hide it from Him. I knowed very well why they wouldn't come. It was because I was playing double. I was letting on to give up sin, but away inside of me I was holding on to the biggest one of all. I was trying to make my mouth say I would do the right thing and the clean thing, but deep down in me I knowed it was a lie, and He knowed it. You can't pray a lie-I found that out."
Someone once philosophized, "Consistency, thou art a jewel." By being consistently good, we can ensure a house of glory.
Our house is to be a house of order. "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven", advised Ecclesiastes, the Preacher. Such is true in our lives. Let us provide time for family, time for work, time for study, time for service, time for recreation, time for self-but above all, time for Christ.
Then our house will be a house of order.
Finally, let our house be a house of God. Clean thoughts, noble purpose, a willing heart, and ready hands are all features of a house of God. He does not leave us to struggle alone but stands ever ready to help.
A few years ago, I was afforded the privilege to serve as a mission president and became intimately acquainted with more than four hundred missionaries. We had one young missionary who was very ill. After weeks of hospitalization, as the doctor prepared to undertake extremely serious and complicated surgery, he asked that we send for the missionary's mother and father. He advised there was a possibility the patient would not survive the surgery.
The parents came. Late one evening, the father and I entered a hospital room in Toronto, Canada, placed our hands upon the head of the young missionary, and gave him a blessing. What happened following that blessing was a testimony to me.
The missionary was in a six-bed ward in the hospital. The other beds were occupied by five men with a variety of illnesses. The morning of his surgery, the missionary's bed was empty. The nurse came into the room with the breakfast these men normally ate. She took a tray over to the patient in bed number one and said, "Fried eggs this morning, and I have an extra portion for you!"
The occupant of bed number one had suffered an accident with his lawnmower. Other than an injured toe, he was well physically. He said to the nurse, "I'll not be eating this morning."
"All right, we shall give your breakfast to your partner in bed number two."
As she approached that patient, he said, "I think I'll not eat this morning."
Each of the five men declined breakfast. The young lady exclaimed, "Other mornings you eat us out of house and home, and today not one of you wants to eat! What is the reason?"
Then the man who occupied bed number six answered: "You see, bed number three is empty. Our friend is in the operating room under the surgeon's hands. He needs all the help he can get. He is a missionary for his church, and while we have been patients in this ward, he has talked to us about the principles of his church-principles of prayer, of faith, of fasting wherein we call upon the Lord for blessings." He continued, "We don't know much about the Mormon church, but we have learned a great deal about our friend; and we are fasting for him today."
The operation was a success. When I attempted to pay the doctor, he countered, "Why, it would be dishonest for me to accept a fee. I have never before performed surgery when my hands seemed to be guided by a Power which was other than my own. No," he said, "I wouldn't take a fee for the surgery which Someone on high literally helped me to perform."
Such is a house of God.
This, then, is our building project. We are master builders of eternal houses, even "temples of God."
"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."
Then the Lord, even our building inspector, may say to us, as He said when He appeared to Solomon, a builder of another day: "I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually."
May we follow this divinely provided blueprint. May we be successful builders of our eternal homes, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My public and warm welcome to Elder Nelson and Elder Oaks, choice friends of many years, as they now enter into an even deeper friendship.
One of the great blessings flowing from amplifying, latter-day revelations is the crucial, doctrinal framework known as the marvelous plan of salvation, the plan of happiness, or the plan of mercy. However designated, it represents what Amulek called the "great plan of the Eternal God" without which mankind would unavoidably perish.
The plan is a most stunning example of the precious perspective of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, full faith in the Lord Jesus Christ includes and requires full faith in His Father's plan of salvation.
President Brigham Young declared: "The Spirit of revelation must be in each and every individual, to know the plan of salvation and keep in the path that leads them to the presence of God."
So vital is this framework that if one stays or strays outside it, he risks provinciality and misery. In fact, most human misery represents ignorance of or noncompliance with the plan. A cessation of such mortal suffering will not come without compliance to it. Hence, the Lord, who has freely shared this vital knowledge with us, has urged us to teach the fundamentals of this plan "freely."
At the center of the Father's plan is Jesus Christ, mankind's Redeemer. Yet, as foreseen, many judge Jesus "to be a thing of naught", or "consider him" merely "a man." Whether others deny or delimit Jesus, for us He is our Lord and Savior! Comparatively, brothers and sisters, it matters very little what people think of us, but it matters very much what we think of Him. It matters very little, too, who others say we are; what matters is who we say Jesus is.
For instance, we appreciate not only the towering divinity of Jesus Christ, but His breathtaking mobility and the scope of His shepherding. The resurrected Jesus revisited the Middle East scene of His mortal messiahship. Then some souls in the Americas. And then His other lost sheep.
In His selfless plan, the Lord doeth nothing save it be for the benefit of the children of men. He labors, lovingly and constantly, as Moses and Jeremiah declared, "for our good always." In His grand design, His "work" and "glory" are "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Thus, even when we truly learn to love God, we must humbly acknowledge that He loved us first.
Meanwhile, Shakespeare was not very wide of the mark in writing, "All the world's a stage." But not for playacting!
The very word plan confirms God's paternal purpose, a realization so desperately needed by the confused and despairing on the world's stage.
The "plan of happiness" not only ensures the immortalization of our individual identities, but can yield bettered and reborn individuals. Fittingly, one appreciative prophet declared, "O how great the plan of our God!" Enoch wept when he saw the sweep of history and the unnecessary human misery. But he also saw the triumph of God's plan. Another prophet exclaimed: "God made these things known unto us that we might not perish because he loveth our souls ; therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by his angels, that the plan of salvation might be made known unto us."
It took visits by angels in our day, too, in order to instruct us anew regarding God's plan of salvation and to reassure us that mortality is not a conclusive and massive mausoleum, and that death is not extinction.
Alma faced an awful and anguished moment when he felt that he might actually "become extinct both soul and body." Then he remembered his father's prophecies "concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world." In a moment of deep intellectual humility, his "mind caught hold upon this thought." Out came Alma's great soul cry: "O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me"!
Purpose replaced pain. Joy swallowed up despair as Alma apparently viewed God upon His throne, and he longed to join God!
Such longing for a heavenly home is real, especially in view of how this life is designed. After all, brothers and sisters, when we rejoice in beautiful scenery, great art, and great music, it is but the flexing of instincts acquired in another place and another time.
Life turns out, however, to be just what one would expect of a deliberately constructed proving and tutoring experience which features opportunities, choices, and deprivations. Furthermore, there is no way around-the only way to go is through!
And what a "through" it is!
Even so, for us mistake-prone mortals, this plan of mercy provides for recognition and redress of error and for the resumption of interrupted individual development.
Redemptive and refining provisions are made: For a brave Peter faltering and sinking on the churning waves-and yet knowing to whom to look to live, and crying out, "Lord, save me." For a meek Moses struggling with people, fatigued and with all the burdens of leadership. For a Jonah seeking to substitute Tarshish, but still reaching Nineveh and, thereby, receiving a great lesson in compassion. For erring Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, and Thomas B. Marsh to recover their spiritual poise and vote with their feet by traveling westward to rejoin, in reconciliation, and to sustain the plan and its enunciating latter-day prophets.
Hence, brothers and sisters, for the faithful, our finest hours are sometimes during or just following our darkest hours.
It is an incredible irony, therefore, that some complainingly attempt to use the very tutoring process of the Lord against Him. Or resent the reality that we are to walk by faith during this mortal experience. Yet, as practical and spiritual President Brigham Young said, "There is no saving faith merely upon acknowledging a fact."
Furthermore, since this life is such a brief experience, there must be regular exit routes. Some easy. Some hard. Some sudden. Others lingering. Therefore, we cannot presume, even by faith, to block all these exits, all the time, and for all people. Nor, if possessed of full, eternal perspective, would we desire so to do.
Since certain recollections are withheld, we do not now see the end from the beginning. But God does. Meanwhile, we are in what might be called "the murky middle." Therein, however, we can still truly know that God loves us, individually and perfectly, even though we cannot always explain the meaning of all things happening to us or around us.
Enclosed in this mortal cocoon, or classroom, we would be totally provincial in outlook except for faith in, and knowledge of, the "great plan of the Eternal God."
Hence, Christ's doctrines pertaining to the plan of salvation stand like sentinel scriptures to mark and light the way. His gospel guardrails line the strait and narrow path to steady us, nudge us, and even jar us for the sake of our spiritual safety!
So much more than a matter of abstract theology, this great plan can focus daily life. Its truths are crucial to how we see ourselves, others, life, the Lord, and even the universe. Or how we view a baby. Or death. Or the praise and honors of the world. This plan constitutes the mother lode of meaning and can cradle us, conceptually, amid any concern.
Its truths and perspectives permit us to distinguish between a great book and mere want ads, between vengeance and justice, rage and righteous indignation, and pleasure and happiness.
With an understanding of God's plan of salvation, we know that the rejoicing, the striving, the suffering, the tutoring, and the enduring experiences of life all play their part in an intelligible process of helping us, if we will, to become, as the Savior beckoningly invited, "even as I am."
This individual development sometimes requires the march of a Zion's Camp, or an arduous Hole in the Rock trek, or special classrooms like the settlements in northern Mexico, wherein special individuals were fashioned. Those episodes, however, had nothing to do with real estate but everything to do with our second estate!
Hence, in submitting knowingly and meekly to this plan, we cannot say to the Lord that we are willing to surrender but only on our terms. There are no conditions in unconditional surrender!
Even with all of its interior consistency, however, the plan cannot bring true happiness to anyone whose life is grossly inconsistent with its standards. It cannot fully enfold him who is too worried about being taken in. It has no place of honor for one too concerned with losing his place in the secular synagogue.
Though the plan reflects a caring Father and a Savior, believers in the plan are not automatically immune to the consuming cares of the world.
The plan places a striking emphasis on present human freedom to choose. Yet some of our present circumstances may reflect previous agreements, now forgotten, but once freely made.
The plan always points the way, but does not always smooth the way, since individual development requires an "opposition in all things."
The Lord will give us the needed intellectual and spiritual confirmation concerning His plan, but on His terms and in His own way.
"If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."
Truly, of all the errors mortals could make, God's plan of salvation is the wrong thing to be wrong about!
No error could be more enormous or more everlasting in its consequences!
No wonder this Church and its people go to such great lengths and expense to share the fulness of the gospel concerning this plan.
No wonder the Lord wants the plan taught plainly and repetitively.
And why not? It is God's plan-not ours! And, given the unimpressive outcomes of man's plans to solve the world's problems, aren't we glad! Furthermore, of all the things about which we might converse, as Jacob wrote, "Why not speak of the atonement of Christ?" Why not, brothers and sisters? This event arches over all of human history, as a Redeeming God and Savior Son pressed onward with the great plan of happiness. Yes, in the plan, God would have us be happy, but first we had to be free to choose.
God's gift to us of this moral agency tells us wonderful things about His beneficial and developmental purposes. Our abuse of that agency tells us awful things about ourselves!
Yet, on this mortal stage, we see great moments of mercy, stirring celebrations of compassion, striking selflessness, and quiet and constant heroism among people of all creeds and colors and cultures.
This should not surprise us. After all, whose spirit children are we?
Unsurprisingly, therefore, this mortal school produces some soaring triumphs but also a history filled with individual mistakes. But we should not blame the school, nor the curriculum! Least of all, the Schoolmaster! Furthermore, we dare not lecture Him on the plight of His students!
Meanwhile, brothers and sisters, no one ever promised us that discipleship in the last days would be a picnic in the park.
Former periods of stress can guide us. When the earlier coming of Jesus was imminent, signs abounded. Still, for some, there were "doubtings." But the faithful prevailed and were vindicated.
There were determined detractors then, mocking the faith of believers, briefly creating "a great uproar," even rejoicing over the seeming prospect that the faith of Christ's followers would be in vain. It was not. Members kept the faith, and the faith kept them!
For today's spiritually attuned, the reassurances will be there, as with Elisha's young servant. Encircled by an outnumbering enemy, the young man rightly sought reassurance from the prophet and seer, who told him, "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." But the young man could count, and, clearly, it did not look that way to him-until after the prophet's prayer in his behalf. Then, the young man's eyes were opened, and he saw the mountain filled with horses and chariots of fire.
All will be well now, as anciently, because the Lord's covenant keepers have His echoing assurance:
"And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
"And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:
"And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good."
I so testify and assure in Apostolic authority and in the holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder A. Theodore Tuttle
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I have served in past years as both a mission president and as a temple president. I have watched the young people as they have come to the missions in South America and come to the temple for their endowments and sealings.
I have seen those who were well prepared, and those who were not so well prepared for these blessings. But, most of all, I watched anxiously for those who were not prepared-those who did not come at all-and wondered why.
A few of them were from families where every effort had been made to prepare them for missionary service and for the blessings of the temple. Most of them, however, were from homes where they did not receive what was required to qualify them and to give them a desire to serve.
In order to prepare youth for missionary service and for the temple blessings, parents must have more in mind than schooling. They must have more in mind than preparing for a career. They must have more in mind, really, than just to be a missionary-as though attendance was all that was required.
There are three words which must be kept in mind: covenants, ordinances, and service.
The training for covenants, for ordinances, and for service belongs in the home. If these are paramount in the minds of the parents, the youth will be prepared. And they will not, because of this, miss any essential training for their careers.
Fathers and mothers are under divine instruction to take care of their parental responsibilities. The things we have done in past years are not now sufficient to protect our children in these critical times. It has long been taught in this Church that the day will come when no one will be able to stand without an individual testimony of the divinity of this work. That day is here. We are seeing some who lack testimonies turn away from the truth and become prey to error. While we mourn their loss, sorrow will come to those who, by failure to put true principles solidly into place, or by creating doubts in the faith of the weak, or openly teaching falsehoods, caused them to stray. Too many of our youth fail to receive their covenants and ordinances and give service. The onslaught of wickedness against our homes is at once more subtle and more brazen than it has ever been. It is taking its toll among our families. It will be difficult to escape these influences.
However, if we act more wisely, we will be safe. "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear." The solution is simple. The results are certain. No longer can we expect the Church to assume the major role in teaching our children-parents have this prime responsibility. Parents will be held fully accountable by the Lord to teach their children the principles and ordinances of the gospel and inspire them to serve. The Church, of course, will support parents through home teachers, visiting teachers, classes, counseling, and other assistance. No single parent in this Church needs to feel abandoned in carrying out the duties imposed by the Lord.
Recent studies by the Church have identified some things that parents can do to achieve our goals. Elder Dean Larsen reported the results:
"The factor that has by far the greatest effect on the private, religious life of our youth and upon their achievement of the desired outcomes is home religious observance. If a young person lives in a home situation where there is regular family prayer, regular family study of the gospel and the scriptures, and agreement on basic values, the likelihood of going on a mission and being married in the temple is greatly enhanced. This home and family influence is much more significant than that exercised by peer groups or by programmed participation. In fact, the influence of the home, whether it be positive or negative, is overwhelming."
Did you notice that the three key elements are regular family prayer, regular family study of the gospel from the scriptures, and agreement on basic values between parents and children? These are the things, more than anything else, that will lead to a proper understanding of covenants, ordinances, and service.
Parents, we must start each day by kneeling in family prayer. Children need to pray and gain knowledge for themselves from the Holy Ghost. Nephi said, "For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray."
Our opportunity to study the scriptures as a family has been strengthened by the consolidated meeting schedule. A good part of the Sabbath can very appropriately be used for both personal and family scripture study.
Few things sponsor spiritual growth more than studying from the scriptures. The Savior said, "He that hath the scriptures, let him search them, and see. " The Lord has promised that if you will search, you shall see marvelous spiritual truths that will persuade you to turn to Christ as your great exemplar. You will be strengthened in your desire to make covenants with the Lord, to receive the ordinances, and to serve. Alma taught a great principle when he said to Helaman, "My son, see that ye look to God and live."
Parents, when you desire to really teach, what do you do? Should we not do as the Savior did? He used questions. He quoted the scriptures, used parables, told stories, and he testified. He drew on everyday experiences to teach spiritual truths, using all kinds of occasions for teaching. He created an environment for learning-drawing out instead of pouring on.
I know a man who teaches his children at mealtimes. He has a habit of asking two or three gospel questions. He says he can always get the attention of his teenagers when he says, "I have a dollar question for you."
As we seek to teach by the Spirit, we set a high priority on the importance of covenants, ordinances, and service.
A covenant is a mutual exchange of enforceable promises. "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise."
Gospel covenants are made between God and man. The terms are stipulated by the Lord. Gospel covenants have been given to us by revelation. He has given us those covenants and ordinances that are essential to bring us back into his presence.
Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins is an essential covenant to make with the Lord. Faith and repentance precede this ordinance. Confirmation and the gift of the Holy Ghost follow baptism. Acceptance of these first principles and ordinances may obtain for us a remission of our sins and assure our salvation. In the ordinance of the sacrament, we regularly renew this and other covenants, and by complying with our part of the covenant, we receive the Spirit of the Lord to be with us.
The holy priesthood is likewise received by covenant. In essence, priesthood is power-to serve. Additional covenants are made with the Lord when we receive our endowment and when we are sealed in the temple. These are the covenants of exaltation. Teach your children that only by receiving these ordinances and making these covenants can they be exalted and become like our Heavenly Father. As we endure in faith to the end and serve and love our fellowmen, we can develop the virtues and qualities necessary to qualify us to live with the Lord.
Service, then, becomes one of the highest virtues. The Savior is our example of unselfish service. Service is a divinely appointed duty. King Benjamin taught that service to others is the same as service to our God.
Parents, if you will keep in mind that you are preparing your sons and daughters to make covenants, receive ordinances, and render service, you will do things differently. You will have different priorities. You will teach with clearer vision and more productive effort. Missions and temples will see youth coming, not only in greater numbers, but also better qualified for these blessings. And they will embark early on a lifetime of service.
And when your children do these things, they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall arise and call you blessed-because you led them to eternal life.
When we as parents have a genuine desire to teach the gospel to our children, the Lord will give us entrance into their hearts. Then may we know that as we enter there we stand on holy ground. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elaine A. Cannon
Recently released as Young Women General President
President Kimball, it is a great blessing to all of us to have you here. President Hinckley, President Benson, and Brethren, I want to pay a special tribute to Elder Tuttle, who just spoke, because he has been the adviser to the Young Women for this past period of time, and we love him very dearly.
It is a great thrill for me to stand at this pulpit in this Tabernacle where I have come to conference all the years of my life. I have a birthday at this season of the year, and I can remember very clearly spending my ninth birthday here in the Tabernacle listening to the great speeches, and I am thrilled to have this part today.
We are gathered here in the name of the Lord. We are engaged in the work that is true, and I am, like you, grateful for the privilege of membership in this church. Yesterday I had an interesting experience. There has been talk lately in some circles about ordaining women to the priesthood, and someone asked me how I felt about holding the priesthood. I said very stoutly, "I love holding the priesthood when he comes for dinner." I know that isn't very original, but that was my answer. Now with this release from sweet but demanding service, I have every intention of being there when my fine husband comes home and our precious family members gather.
The remarks that I want to make today stem from a heart full of deep appreciation and a heart full of concern. I will talk about appreciation first. Sister Darger and Sister Smith and I, with Sister Palmer, who has been the executive secretary in the Young Women General Presidency, have loved this service with your beautiful young women. We have loved every minute of it, and we feel a great sweetness in the work that we have enjoyed together.
We have served in peace. We have served in faith, and we have sought the help of the Lord and have felt great support. We appreciate that privilege of having been guided in these ways. We have loved serving, and greatly appreciate the remarkable and attractive and faithful members of the general board and staff in the Young Women who have been released this day.
We have appreciated working with the organizations, the other auxiliary leaders, the departments, and the great machinery that operates this institution of the Church. We appreciate all of them, and we will miss those close ties.
But we are comfortable with the new callings that have been made. We love Sister Ardeth Kapp and are proud that she is able to take the helm of this important work in this day. Over the years, as I have mentioned, we have had special guidance from great priesthood leaders whom we have come to love very, very much, and we appreciate them.
My great tenderness goes towards President Kimball, whose hands were placed upon my head nearly six years ago to set me apart, to give me a special blessing to serve in this capacity. This great, loving, beloved servant of God is indeed a prophet. This fine gentleman, who has said, "Do it," on one occasion, and I say this here in the Tabernacle with great joy, said to me as we talked about the youth of the Church, "Tell them, don't do it-especially if it is something wrong."
The other day in the dedicatory prayer for the new Church Museum, President Hinckley reminded us of all that is made possible by the tithes of faithful Saints. He asked Heavenly Father to look with favor upon the tithepayers, to open the windows of heaven and shower down upon them choice blessings.
At that moment, within me, my own heart turned over. I have come to value in a new way all that has been made possible for the young women, for example, through the tithes of all you good people-manuals and handbooks and opportunities and guides for their personal progress. How we appreciate your tithes and the offerings and the services!
Brothers and sisters, there are good and gifted people in this church. This is another powerful lesson that I have learned and that I am deeply grateful for. In each place that we have traveled in these years of service, I have repeatedly marveled at the able women leaders and the strong priesthood leaders who have been raised up in the far places where the Church is established. One gets off a plane, and there, among a sea of strangers, is one face of light. We recognize each other as disciples of Christ, as members of this church. It is wonderful. Again and again Heavenly Father has raised up good people who will guide the youth of the Church today to be accountable, responsible, and faithful people.
Now, this brings me to my concern as I leave this very fine opportunity that has been ours. We must raise up a generation that is prepared to make wise choices, to stand and to withstand. We must raise up people who will desire to make the holy covenants and keep them, and learn the word of God and share it. This has been a deep feeling within us as a presidency.
We have reestablished a wonderful, old tradition that many of us here grew up with in the old MIA. The young people are given a new scripture theme every year, and the girls memorize it and recite it each week. They speak of it, they set their goals by it, and we hope they try to live by it. This year's scripture is the theme of commitment taken from 1 Ne. 3:7: "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded." "I will go." We say it over and over again.
You parents listening to this conference have more responsibility than we do as church workers. I echo what has been said by the Brethren. This recitation of 1 Ne. 3:7 should become a reality in the lives of the coming generation, who must be prepared, as President Kimball told us several years ago, as a covenant generation to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.
Those of you who are gathered here in this historic Tabernacle or tuned into the conference listen to the messages translated into your own languages. This is so you can understand the word of God. It would warm your heart to see the numerous translators in their booths below us here in the Tabernacle. Many of them are youth. The Lord promised his children that they would be taught the gospel in their own language. This Church is making that happen. My concern is that families need to teach the gospel to each other in the language of God, our Heavenly Father. In the home, when direction is needed, when a problem or misunderstanding arises, I pray that we may open the scriptures with our youth beside us and find the law irrevocably decreed upon which blessings are predicated. Reading the will of God in the language of God builds reverence and witness and commitment, and we will all live more purely.
I love the gospel. I love the Lord. I am grateful that there is not a doubt in my mind that these men here are his special servants. I am happy to have served in whatever way I have. And I am grateful that there are people like you who will take up the concerns that we have had, who will prepare these young ones, who are so precious. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Wm. Grant Bangerter
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
President Kimball, I know that I echo the feelings of everyone here in telling you that we love you, as you have so often told us.
I believe I have a good subject, since so many have already used it today. I would like to say something about coming through the mists.
As I approach this assignment, I am brought back to some guidelines, an expression made years ago by President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., who said:
"There are, for the Church and for each and all of its members, two prime things which may not be overlooked, forgotten, shaded, or discarded:
"First: That Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
"Second : That the Father and the Son actually appeared to the Prophet Joseph in a vision ; that the Gospel and the holy Priesthood were restored to the earth from which they were lost by the apostasy of the Primitive Church."
I testify that these stipulations are true because this knowledge has been revealed to me by the unquestionable Spirit of God.
In a time described in the scriptures as being filled with wickedness and vengeance, the First Presidency has sent out the special message to the Church in our stake conferences: "Staying on the strait and narrow path by keeping our covenants."
For us who claim leadership through prophets called of God, it is a good time to pay attention. For those who ignore the commandments, you may not receive many other warnings, "for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat."
The warning is against unrighteousness. That means sin and wickedness. This is defined by Peter as if he were speaking of this present time. He speaks of "denying the Lord," of covetousness to "make merchandise of you," of the example of the iniquity of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of "the filthy conversation of the wicked, having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin."
A moment's reflection on the displays in the media and in advertising, the inducement to use drugs, alcohol, and so forth, makes it very plain that for the sake of making money there is an attempt to buy or sell our souls, making "merchandise of you."
Newspaper articles and public expressions often carry the "filthy conversation of the wicked." We call it what it is: "A wicked and adulterous generation."
We are indeed constantly bombarded by a display of wickedness as it flashes before us, sometimes in ways that we cannot avoid.
Our society maintains the fiction that the display of such things as adultery, pornography, nudity, and licentiousness should be kept from the young people. Of course it should, but to set an age limit is pure hypocrisy. Perhaps greater corruption is being administered to the older and married generation. They are those who commit the adulteries. They are those who destroy the homes and violate the sanctity of families. The married ones obtain the divorces, break the covenants, cheat their spouses, and become dishonest in their commitments.
And, of course, in doing these wicked things they suggest that it is not so bad anymore. Since so much of the world accepts these actions, if we resist them or speak out against them, we will be scoffed at. We will be called prudish, Victorian, puritan, and self-righteous, as if we had become the sinners. We will be accused of being evil-minded in our failure to appreciate the "beauty and naturalness" of the human body.
A vivid example of the position of members of the Church in relation to the world was portrayed to us one evening in our sacrament meeting, now many years ago, when a man named Brother Smith came to speak. He told us of his experience in working to rehabilitate men in the state penitentiary. A mother had asked him to reach out to her boy who was in prison.
In approaching the young man, Brother Smith was rudely rebuffed: "Leave me alone," was the tone. However, Brother Smith noticed a rather crude painting in the prison one day and on inquiry learned that this young man had drawn it. This inspired a new approach:
"Did you paint that picture?"
"Yes, I did it."
"I was impressed with it. I wonder if you would paint something for me."
"I don't know. What picture do you want?"
"I have never seen it," said Brother Smith. "I have only read about it."
"Where is it?" inquired the young man.
"It is here in this book," responded Brother Smith. "The Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi, chapter 8. Will you read it and see if you can see the picture?"
Later Brother Smith inquired if the young man had read it.
"Yes, I read it," he said.
"Did you see the picture?"
"Yes, I saw it."
"Will you paint it for me?"
"I don't know if I will or not."
Brother Smith then obtained the necessary materials for painting a picture and presented them to the young man, who for the first time responded with warmth and appreciation to be able to use good equipment, and he painted the picture. Brother Smith brought it with him to our sacrament meeting, and so I have seen it. It is, of course, the picture of Lehi's dream.
Now, will you try to see the picture in your own imagination? All you who have read 1 Nephi, chapter 8, will recall the scene. If you have not read it, I wish you would do so and get the feeling and the vision of this picture.
The description is as follows: First, Lehi wandering through a dreary waste, then coming to a spacious field; the tree with the most desirable fruit to be happy, the love of God; Lehi's desire to share the fruit with his family; the rebellion of two of his sons; the pressing forward of many people to receive the fruit; the mists of darkness, which arose to obscure the path; the river of water along the path, which could mean destruction; the rod of iron, which represented security in staying on the path; the huge building across the river filled with scoffing people; the susceptibility of those who had followed the path to succumb to the scorn and pride of those of the world; and the wandering away of those who had partaken of the fruit of the tree of life into forbidden paths of destruction.
I know of no more graphic description of the condition of those who call themselves Latter-day Saints in relation to the influences of the world than this great vision. This story is reality. It is a great prophesy. It is a vivid warning.
Let me complete the story of the young man in prison. Brother Smith pointed to an angel the young man had painted hovering over the chasm of filthy water and asked him: "Where did you get that angel? I don't remember any angel when I read about the picture."
The young man replied: "I know. I put it there. It is my angel. As I painted the picture, I began to realize that God had placed an influence in my way which could bring me to safety and redeem me from the course I have been pursuing."
This experience, of course, was the beginning of his recovery.
Yes, the voices and enticements of the world make good seem evil and evil, good. The false attractions to engage in immorality, to view that which is forbidden on your home video, to seek unbounded pleasure as if God did not exist, are, in reality, the yawning pit of hell, set there by the one who will try to bind you with his awful chains.
I learned once upon a time to fly airplanes. The instructor was flying straight and level. On the horizon was a range of mountains. Then he did something like this and I saw the mountain rise up and stand on end. It turned upside down and then continued to its normal position. He put the plane into a spin, and as we were falling and gyrating, I looked below and saw the whole earth turning as if it were a huge wheel. The vision was vivid. It looked so real. I have performed these maneuvers many times since: the snap roll and the spin. If I were to do them today, I could no longer make the mountain turn over or the earth gyrate. Why? Because experience has taught me reality, and now I cannot be deceived.
Reality for members of the Church is: "Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The Father and the Son actually appeared to the Prophet Joseph. The gospel has been restored to the earth."
We have no excuse to deviate from the paths of righteousness. If we hold fast to the iron rod, we cannot be deceived.
In one of the hymns, we sing of Nephi, a seer of olden time. Nephi, of course, also saw the vision of his father Lehi.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Barbara B. Smith
Recently released as Relief Society General President
President Kimball, President Hinckley, Brethren, and my dear brothers and sisters, this afternoon I feel somewhat like a former Chief Justice who explained his feelings on his ninety-fifth birthday anniversary. In his mind he rationalized, "It's just another birthday like all the others." But as he stood to acknowledge the occasion, his words revealed a love of life, a love of his work and of his fellowmen. He said:
"I have warmed both hands before the fire of life. The rich spoils of memory are mine. Mine, too, are the precious things of today. The best of life is always further on. Its real lure is hidden from our eyes somewhere behind the hills of time."
Like that grand old man, I love life. I love the work in which I have been engaged for the past nine and one-half years-the demanding, intense, but beautiful work of Relief Society. It has been so sweet to me that it has seemed but a fleeting moment in time.
As I stand at this point of transition, a montage of memories crowd my mind-of family, my good husband supporting and patiently waiting for me, of my children and their mates struggling to arrange their busy schedules to meet mine, and of grandchildren often being my examples; of the women with whom I have worked-a kaleidoscope of images, experiences, and impressions come to me of them.
I see my devoted, talented, loyal counselors, Marian R. Boyer, Janath R. Cannon, Shirley W. Thomas, and Ann S. Reese, and my secretary-treasurer, Mayola R. Miltenberger, all of whom I dearly love. I see the brilliant, gifted women who have served with me on the Relief Society General Board. And there is my personal secretary and the dear women of our staff, the hostesses who serve in the Relief Society Building, our public communications representative, Moana B. Bennett.
I also see the faithful stake and ward Relief Society leaders and the many, many sisters who comprise the membership of the Relief Society throughout the Church whom I have come to know and appreciate.
At this moment, I can only echo President Kimball's words: "God bless the women-the wonderful, wonderful women!"
Certainly I have warmed both my hands at the fires of their lives.
I have seen nobility emerge as I have observed them overcome personal sorrows, disappointments, and tragedies. I have witnessed their compassion and loving ministrations toward their families and toward their neighbors.
I have savored their creativity, rejoiced in their achievements, and shared their joyous moments.
I have felt the strength of our sisterhood as we have met in Sunday Relief Society meetings, in women's area conference meetings, in socials, and in significant historical events such as the memorable occasion in Nauvoo, the birthplace of our beloved organization, where we memorialized that event with a beautiful garden of monuments to women.
I have read how Relief Society observed its fiftieth year with a great gathering of sisters in this Tabernacle. President Zina D. H. Young addressed the congregation and exclaimed:
"O that my words could be heard by all people, not only by you my brethren and sisters in this Tabernacle but that they might be heard and understood by all the people of this continent, and not only this continent, but the continents of Asia, Africa, Europe and the islands of the sea."
I have come to feel that this may have been more than just a wistful expression of a great former leader. Perhaps it was instead a pleading with the Lord for a time such as this. Let me explain:
When I was a little girl I participated in a program here in the Tabernacle. At that time an impression came to me that I have never forgotten, even though I did not understand it then. I was filled with an awareness that sometime I would stand before a vast congregation of the Church in this building.
I thought this vision of my childhood was realized in the 1974 Relief Society conference when I was sustained as the general president of the Relief Society. But now I feel certain that this is the day I saw. And perhaps because of prayerful people like President Zina Young our voices are heard proclaiming the truths of the gospel to all the world, truths that can be transmitted into the very hearts and minds of people who will listen and try to understand.
In that spirit I am proud to testify today that our prophets and Apostles are men called of God. They will always lead the Church aright by divine direction and by the power of the Holy Ghost.
The women of the Church have an important work to do. That work requires great strength of character, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a pure heart that will be a light unto the world and a bulwark of righteousness against the darkness that covers the earth with contention and evil.
In all humility I declare my ever-expanding love for you. I assure you, too, that I deeply love our newly called and sustained general president of the Relief Society. I know Relief Society is in good hands. It will continue to grow and move forward in countless ways to bless the lives of all of the daughters of God.
I know this is true. I feel it with every fiber of my being, just as I know that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer.
May we all make the most of every moment of our lives, that somewhere beyond the hills of time we will be with them again, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Gene R. Cook
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Thank you, Sister Smith, from all the sisters of the Church, and certainly all the brethren as well. We appreciate your service and that of Sister Cannon.
Some years ago a fire erupted in the middle of the night and completely destroyed a family's home. A neighbor came by to console a seven-year-old, not knowing that he was about to be taught a great principle. "Johnny, it's sure too bad your home burned down." Johnny thought a moment and then said, "Oh, that's where you're mistaken, Mr. Brown. That was not our home; that was just our house. We still have our home, we just don't have any place to put it right now."
What a great principle taught by a child about home. What does that word bring to your mind-home? To some, an edifice. To others, a place to sleep, a place to eat, a place where worldly goods are stored.
Yet to others more spiritually inclined, it might mean where family is, where my heart is, a sacred place, a peaceful place, an escape from a wicked world.
The still small voice whispers yet a deeper meaning. Home is heaven. We are strangers here on earth. My real home is not here, but there. My challenge is to learn how to bring about a home here on earth similar to the celestial one I left. The Lord said that we were taught "even before were born." We "received first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men."
Thus, we were taught to labor in the vineyard, a good part of which, perhaps the most important part, was to know how to labor at home. We were taught by the Lord, by the best of all teachers. Perhaps, therefore, the relearning here on earth, with our agency, is to largely experience and rediscover the teachings in the flesh.
How might I remember and rediscover what I once knew? The Lord answers, "Pray and I will make known unto you things from the foundation of the world according to your faith and holy works." "I will bring all things back to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" "and will enlarge the memory of this people."
At times when one speaks of home and family, some who are single, widowed, a single parent, or a grandparent might be tempted to feel these teachings don't apply to them. But may I remind all that when the Lord sent us here for our individual growth, he sent us to live with and be nurtured spiritually and temporally by a family. The Lord organized the whole earth this way. There is no other way to enter mortality.
Yet some still say, "I don't have a family. I'm all alone." May I remind you that you always were and ever will be a member of the family of God. You are his son or his daughter. It doesn't matter if your parents or spouse or brothers or sisters are members, nonmembers, living, or dead, they are still your family. And if you are righteous and faithful to the end, no matter what your present status, you ultimately will be blessed as part of a family unit. Thus, it behooves all of us to learn and live, to the degree we can in our present situation, the principles governing family life in preparation for exaltation, whether we're a parent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, or a child-whether we are single or married. This is the Lord's pattern, His expanded view of the word family.
Thus, hearken all ye families of the earth, immediate and extended families, yea, every living soul, and the Lord will teach you of the sacredness of that heavenly organization called family, called home.
Brothers and sisters, for just a moment, please imagine yourselves as if you were in the premortal existence, in that council in heaven, yes, even a council of the Father's own family. Could the Father not have spoken words such as these to all of us: "My children, my children,
"Marriage on earth will be ordained of God unto man."
"By divine decree, you will be copartners with God in bringing children to earth."
"The family unit will be the principal agency for the spiritual and temporal nurturing of the individual."
The Father, perhaps continuing, might have said: "When you go to earth-
"Teach your children to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart",
"And to love and to serve one another."
"Pray in your families, both morning, mid-day, and evening, and I will quicken your memory of these teachings."
"On earth, teach them repentance, faith in Christ, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, priesthood covenants, and temple ordinances." Grandparents, uncles and aunts, you can help.
"Consecrate your family resources to the Lord. Be free with your substance."
"Provoke not your children to wrath",
"Neither suffer that they fight and quarrel one with another, thus sowing seeds of contention."
Perhaps He continued, saying:
"Fathers to be, you will learn what true spiritual leadership is mostly at home, not so much in the world.
"Mothers, yours will be a sacred call unlike any other, to raise these little children so that they will be like I am. Unless you all become as little children, you will not be able to return home to me."
"Learn your duty from living prophets and from the scriptures."
"Lastly, because of the sacred nature of parenthood, I will personally teach you, through the Holy Ghost, those things that matter most. Stay close to me; humbly ask for help."
Perhaps the Father continued, saying, "My children, there are also a number of cautions I would give you, because the influence of the world will be so strong."
"There will be heavy influence to maintain families small. However, remember, 'As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.'"
"On earth, remember to keep your family responsibilities as a priority. There will be many who will want to encroach upon your responsibility for teaching and providing activities for your family. Never forget that yours is the primary responsibility and that your ultimate success in all other endeavors will be in direct proportion to the attention given these divinely appointed relationships."
"Strive to be together. Avoid activities and those that would pull you apart. Remember, where love runs deep, so can hurt feelings and frictions, as love may become frustrated."
"As children, be sure to give heed to your father and mother, remembering that I, the Lord, have placed them over you. Honor them."
"When you go to earth, children, remember that once you are a parent you will always be a parent. Whether it be a grandparent, a great-grandparent, or a parent as I am. Your responsibilities to preside go on through the generations to assist in turning the hearts of the children to their fathers. Resist the temptation to be uninvolved, retiring from your family and doing your own thing. As grandparents, your wisdom and vision will allow you to draw together your whole family which I, the Lord, have given you."
Brothers and sisters, perhaps he concluded,
"My children, don't be too concerned about remembering these things. You will find that when these things are taught to you they will seem strangely familiar, as if you always knew them. You did, because you experienced it all here in your heavenly home."
"You will suffer affliction with your children in allowing them to grow and develop, just as I have suffered affliction with you. But don't be afraid; I have given mine angels charge concerning you. Those sent from my very presence to be round about you, to bear you up. This is your opportunity to experience what we have taught you. Follow the promptings. We love you."
Brothers and sisters, in conclusion may I say, where possible:
Parents, whatever you are doing, return home.
Children, wherever you are, no matter what your failure, problem, or sin, you will always be loved by your family. Go home.
Grandparents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, draw your families together. Return home. May the concept of home be exalted, because the Lord so organized it in the beginning.
I pay tribute to my grandparents, to my parents, especially to my wife, and to my children, in having made my home the best place in all the world. There's no place in all the earth I would rather be than at home.
And lastly, may the day come when these praises about home and family we will all sing:
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I rejoice in the call of Russell Nelson and Dallin Oaks to stand from this time forth as special witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were called by the Lord through the spirit of inspiration and will stand as pillars of righteousness in his house from this time onward forever.
I am quite overwhelmed by deep feelings of thanksgiving and rejoicing for the goodness of the Lord to me.
He has permitted me to suffer pain, feel anxiety, and taste his healing power. I am profoundly grateful for the faith and prayers of many people, for heartfelt petitions that have ascended to the throne of grace on my behalf.
It is pleasing to that God whose we are when we fast and pray and seek his blessings; when we plead with all the energy of our souls for those things we so much desire; when, as Paul says, we "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
Prayer is the way and means, given us by our Creator, whereby we can counsel and communicate with him. It is one of the chief cornerstones of pure and perfect worship.
In prayer we speak to the Lord, and he speaks to us. It is our privilege to have our voices heard in the courts above and to hear the answering voice of the Lord conveyed by the power of his Spirit.
Prayer changes our lives. Through it we draw near to the Lord, and he reaches out his finger and touches us, so we never again are the same.
Prayer is a great tower of strength, a pillar of unending righteousness, a mighty force that moves mountains and saves souls. Through it the sick are healed, the dead are raised, and the Holy Spirit is poured out without measure upon the faithful.
In prayer we bind ourselves by solemn covenants to love and serve the Lord all our days. In it we pay our devotions and offer our sacraments to the Most High.
Now, there are special prayers reserved and offered for those who drink the still waters and lie down in green pastures, prayers which are not uttered for those who yet dwell in the deserts of sin.
With these things in mind, may I tell you some of the prayers in my heart, prayers that I think will join with like feelings in your hearts, and will unite in one mighty chorus of praise and petition, of adoration and thanksgiving, as they ascend and are heard in the courts above.
We do not give memorized, ritualistic, or repetitious prayers. We seek the guidance of the Spirit and suit every prayer to the needs of the moment, with no thought of using the same words on successive occasions. But it would be appropriate for us to use words that convey such thoughts as these in our prayers:
Father, we ask thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to hear the words of our mouth, to discern with thy all-seeing eye the thoughts and intents of our heart, and to grant us our righteous desires.
We feel it is a great privilege to come into thy presence, to bow before thy throne, to address thee as Father; and we know thou wilt hear our cries. May we speak by the power of thy Holy Ghost.
Then, in thanking the Lord for the blessings of mortal life, and the hope of immortality and eternal life, we might properly say such things as:
Father, we thank thee for life itself, for this mortal probation in which we as pilgrims, far from our heavenly home, are gaining experiences that could be gained in no other way.
We thank thee that thou didst ordain and establish the great and eternal plan of salvation whereby we, as thy spirit children, are given power, if faithful and true in all things, to advance and progress and become like thee.
We thank thee for sending thy Holy Son Jesus to be the Savior and Redeemer; to put into full operation all of the terms and conditions of thy great and eternal plan of salvation; to save us from death, hell, the devil, and endless torment.
O how we glory in him and in his blessed name, rejoicing everlastingly that he has ransomed us from temporal and spiritual death; that he is the one Mediator between us and thee; that he has reconciled us unto thee, not imputing unto us our sins, but healing us with his stripes!
We thank thee, O our Father, that thou gavest thine Only Begotten Son so that we, believing in him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life; that he, amid the blood and agonies of Gethsemane, and the blood and cruelties of Calvary, bore our sins on condition of repentance.
O how we love the Lord Jesus, who is called Christ and who is the Holy Messiah; who also is our Lord, our God, and our King, whom we worship in the full majesty of his godhood; and in whose blood we shall yet wash our garments, so as to stand spotless before him and thee in that great day!
With reference to the restoration of the glorious gospel in our day, prayers might include expressions along these lines:
And now, O thou God of our Fathers, we are grateful and rejoice in what thou hast done for us in our day.
With all our hearts we thank thee for the restoration of the gospel; that the voice of God is heard again; that the heavens, long sealed, have been rent; that holy angels, bringing priesthoods and keys and light and truth, now minister among us.
We stand in reverent awe at the realization that thou and thy Beloved Son came to Joseph Smith in the spring of 1820 to usher in the dispensation of the fulness of times.
We marvel that thou didst send Moroni to reveal the Book of Mormon; Moses to empower us to gather Israel from the Egypt of the world into the Zion of God; and Elijah to confer upon us the power to bind on earth and have our acts sealed everlastingly in the heavens.
How grateful we are that Elias brought back the gospel of Abraham, so that we, as children of the covenant, might have a continuation of the family unit in eternity!
Of our reconciliation with the Father, through the atonement of his Son, it would be proper to say such things as:
Father, thou hast given us the word of reconciliation and hast poured out revelations and visions upon us. We are thy people, and we desire to be worthy of the calling and election that is ours.
Thou hast wrought miracles in our midst; given us the holy scriptures, particularly thy word manifest in our day; conferred upon us the gift of the Holy Ghost by which we are guided into all truth, and by which our souls are sanctified.
For all these things we are grateful beyond any measure of expression, and because of them we shall praise thy holy name forever.
We confess our sins before thee and seek remission thereof, lest anything stand between us and thee in receiving a free flow of thy Spirit.
With reference to building up the kingdom of God on earth, our needs might be expressed somewhat along this line:
Wilt thou bless thy Church and kingdom on earth. May we be effective instruments in thy hands to build anew the Zion of old, even the New Jerusalem that is to be.
May we gather the lost sheep of Israel into the stakes of Zion in all nations as thine ancient prophets foretold.
Give us thy power in preaching thy restored gospel to every nation and kindred and tongue and people. Open the doors of all nations.
Let us fulfill our divine commission to prepare a people for the coming of thy Son. May we discover who our ancestors are and perform the ordinances of salvation and exaltation for them in sacred sanctuaries dedicated to thy holy name.
O have mercy on us; bear with us in our weakness, for our trust is in thee. Thou art our God, and there is none other like unto thee; and it is unto thee we turn in worship and adoration and thanksgiving.
As to our own temporal needs, I would feel no hesitancy in saying such things as:
We cry unto thee over our flocks and our herds, over the fruits of our fields and the increase of our vines and trees. Wilt thou temper the elements and preserve us from disasters, that our basket and store may be full.
We need food, clothing, and shelter; we need schooling and proper employment; we need wisdom in our business and professional enterprises.
Grant us according to our needs, giving us neither poverty nor riches, but feeding us with food convenient for us.
As to the personal blessings that prepare us for salvation, our thoughts might be couched in expressions along this line:
Bless us in our families that husbands and wives may love each other and cleave unto each other; that parents may bring up their children in light and truth; that children, thus brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, may honor their fathers and their mothers by living as their righteous ancestors lived.
O Father, there are those among us, not a few in number, who desire and are worthy to have eternal companions. Wilt thou prepare the way before them that they may have the desires of their hearts in righteousness.
There are those among us who are sick and afflicted, who suffer from disease, and who are not appointed unto death. O thou Great Physician, pour out thy healing power upon thy Saints.
O Lord, increase our faith, and let the sick be healed and the dead raised even in greater numbers than at present.
But above this, O thou God of healing, wilt thou cause him who came with healing in his wings also to heal us spiritually.
We would be clean; we desire to be a pure people; we need and desire and seek, above all, the companionship of thy Holy Spirit. We pray, as did they of old, that we might receive the Holy Ghost.
O Father, we rejoice in the gifts of the Spirit and seek them in greater abundance. Let testimony and revelation and visions and miracles multiply among us.
Let us know the wonders of eternity, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have yet entered into the heart of man.
And then by way of capstone, covenant, and petition, it would be appropriate for us to choose words that express these thoughts:
And finally, Father, we would be one with thy Son, even as he is one with thee. We seek salvation; we desire eternal life; we long to return to thy presence, and there, sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets and holy men of old, go no more out forever.
Let us see the face of thy Son while we dwell here as mortals. Let us hear him say: Come ye blessed of my Father; ye shall enter into the joy of thy Lord; thy calling and election has been made sure; thou art a joint-heir with me, and shall yet receive, possess, and inherit all that my Father hath.
And now, O our God, thou Everlasting Elohim, knowing thy mind and will with reference to all these expressions of thanksgiving and all these petitions for blessings, we covenant before thee that we will keep thy commandments and love and serve thee all our days.
Let this, then, be our covenant, that from this hour we will walk in all thy ways, blameless, obedient, faithful, true to every trust, having love one for another, testifying in word and in deed that we are thy people, the sheep of thy pasture, thine elect and chosen children.
Language along these lines sets forth feelings and desires that well might be expressed to the Lord in prayer.
It is my faith that all who join in such choruses of praise and petition, of adoration and thanksgiving, and who strive to live as they pray, will gain peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come.
And such is my prayer for myself and my family and for all Israel. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Devin G. Durrant
BYU First Ward, BYU Sixth Stake
Brethren, I'm honored to stand before you tonight. First, I would like to talk about a much-discussed topic in the Church-referees.
Before each game at BYU the captains of the two teams meet at the center circle with the referees and go through a meaningless ritual where nothing of real significance is said. But on the day we played Notre Dame, a referee friend of mine said something during that meeting that really hit home with me. He said, "Men, we referees are going to work hard tonight. We're going to make some mistakes, but you work hard too."
I remembered his words, and the game began. During the last few minutes, I went up for a rebound, and a bigger Notre Dame player knocked me to the floor. As I lay there, I looked up, and the referee pointed down and indicated that the foul was on me. Surprised at his decision, I got up off the floor. I smiled at the referee and said, "You know, you were right in what you said before the game." He looked at me with a puzzled expression. I continued, "You said you were going to make some mistakes tonight, and you just made a big one." We looked at each other, and we both had a good laugh and continued to play.
I have great respect for referees because they make many tough decisions which must be made in a split second and which are open to public view. But there are decisions in life that are much more important than those made by referees-decisions made in a slow, deliberate, prayerful, private manner. One such decision is whether or not to go on a mission. While I was growing up I had a desire to serve a mission. But when it finally came time to send in the papers, I was hesitant. The decision became filled with pressures. I didn't know whether to leave after my freshman year, after my sophomore year, or after I had completed my college education. I fought with a multitude of inward thoughts and feelings. I also wondered if I had enough knowledge to go out there and give what was so precious to me to somebody else. I talked to a lot of people, and most of them willingly shared their opinions with me. Some said that I should go immediately, others said later, and some said I shouldn't go at all. I wonder, if I had asked you, should I go now or later or not at all, what would you have told me?
Perhaps you would have been like one of our great priesthood leaders. I went to him, and we talked about my situation. He listened with patience and concern. After I expressed my feelings about being able to play basketball when I returned, he said, with words that sank deep into me, "Devin, if you serve a mission and serve faithfully, when you return you will be a better basketball player than you are now."
I had great confidence in that man, and I felt that he was moved by the Spirit to say what he did. I felt he was talking to me personally and not to all athletes who serve missions, because each case is different. He could advise me, my parents could advise me, my friends could advise me, but they couldn't serve for me. I was the one who was going, and no one else could make my decision. I had to make that myself.
One reason I desired to serve a mission was that I had seen the impact that serving a mission had on my father and mother. Many times in our family home evenings Dad would mention his mission. He told us about his call. He had a desire to serve a mission, but when he expressed that desire to his father, his father discouraged him from going. My dad grew up on a chicken farm in American Fork, Utah. Because of failing health, his father didn't feel that he would be able to maintain the farm, and there would be no money to finance a mission.
Bishop Melvin Grant came to discuss the matter with my dad's family. When Dad's father told the bishop that his son couldn't go, Dad's mother stood right up from her chair and said, "I'll take care of the chickens. My son George is going on a mission."
And so he went to England. My dad told me that a few months into his mission he received a letter from his mother that said, "I think the chickens know where you are, because they've never laid as many eggs as they are laying now."
In April of 1980 I entered the Missionary Training Center and began to learn Spanish to prepare to serve in Madrid, Spain. While in the MTC, I knew that I was doing the right thing. In my heart I wanted to someday return to play basketball. Yet at the same time I decided that even if I never played another game of collegiate ball I wouldn't regret the decision that I had made.
In Spain I had the honor of wearing a little name tag that said "Elder Durrant." That title, Elder, was a greater honor than any I had ever before known. I had many experiences as a missionary. When someone accepted the gospel, I felt indescribable joy. When people rejected the message of the gospel, it brought me great sorrow.
One of my most joyous memories began during the summer of 1981. We had walked the city streets all morning talking to businessmen about the Church. By noon we were hot and tired and ready to take a break. We decided to walk through a nearby park, and as we did so, we could see off to the side a group of young people. We decided to see if they would listen to our message.
As we approached, they looked at us with some suspicion. We told them we were missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They laughed a little and made a few mocking comments. It seemed obvious that they didn't want to listen to us. But there was one young man in the group who looked at us with a sincere interest. So we focused our attention on him. He had a guitar. We asked, "Would you play something for us?" He smiled, lifted his guitar, and began to play.
When he finished, we told him more about ourselves and our message. He told us his name was Jose Manuel. We talked for a few more minutes and then ended the conversation by asking if we could talk to him another day about our church. He replied he would be glad to listen to us and that we could find him in the park most every day taking his dog for a walk or playing his guitar.
As we left, we couldn't imagine this young man ever being baptized. A few days later we were in that same area. To our pleasant surprise, there he was. We asked if he would listen to us. He consented, and we pulled two park benches together, and my companion and I sat on one and he sat on the other. We looked into Jose Manuel's eyes and told him about Jesus Christ. Near the end of our message we told him about the Book of Mormon and that Jesus Christ had visited America after his resurrection. We challenged him to read about this great event. He said he would. We left the book, yet we had our doubts if Jose Manuel would ever even open it.
A few more days went by, and we decided to see how he had done on his reading assignment. To our surprise, he told us that he had read the part in the Book of Mormon that we had assigned him. He explained that he had told his friend about what he had read. His friend also wanted to read the book, so Jose Manuel had given it to him. He asked us if he could possibly get another copy. We told him that we could probably work something out.
After that we continued to teach him the gospel. We saw him change his appearance and his heart. He wanted to be baptized.
Nearly three years have passed since we first met Jose Manuel in that park in Madrid, Spain. He is now a member of the Church. A few months ago he, like you and me, had a decision to make. He had to decide whether or not to serve a mission. Jose Manuel had every reason in the world not to go. He was just a recent convert. His knowledge of the gospel wasn't that extensive. He had lost his father a few years before, and his mother didn't want him to go. Other family members didn't want him to go either. He didn't have the finances to be able to serve for eighteen months. He also had to complete his military service before he would be able to even think about serving a mission. Everything was against his going on a mission.
Every one of us, as we think about a mission, can find a number of reasons why we shouldn't go. We must each look beyond those reasons. The key is to look for reasons to go. And Jose Manuel had some reasons to go. He knew that Jesus Christ was the son of God and the Savior of the world. He knew that Joseph Smith had seen a vision. He knew that the Church was true. He knew that it had changed his life, and he wanted to go out and share that knowledge with others.
Jose Manuel had a desire to serve. He was called to the work. With the help of the Lord, he was able to work things out. That always seems to happen. He overcame the obstacles, and he's now serving in the Spain Barcelona mission.
We're all faced with different obstacles that sometimes make serving missions seem difficult. In my dad's case, his father was ill. Jose Manuel's family didn't want him to go. I wondered about my basketball future. Many of the obstacles we face are those within our own minds. For just a minute I want to talk directly to you-just you. You who might say, "I have this girlfriend"; or, "I've got a good job and a car"; or, "I've never been good at schoolwork, and I know I could never memorize scriptures and all those discussions"; or, "I can't talk to people who I don't even know"; or, "I couldn't be obedient to all the rules missionaries follow"; or, "I don't really know the Church is true, so how could I tell others about it?"
To those who have such thought and feelings: if you don't now have a testimony, you can gain one on a mission. Your girlfriend will be all right. You can learn the scriptures and discussions well enough to be effective. You'll have the courage you need to talk to strangers. You can be obedient. You can do it.
Some of you may be fearful about your ability because to this point in your life you have struggled. Perhaps you've not been academically gifted or socially prominent. I agree that being socially graceful, well educated, experienced in leadership, and able to speak well are useful talents for doing missionary work. But there is something beyond these which can give a missionary his real power.
I was told recently of two missionary companions-one had many outward talents, the other didn't. They had received a letter from a man and his family to whom they had taught several discussions. The letter told the elders to come by and pick up the Book of Mormon because the family had decided they were not interested in continuing the discussions.
The more outwardly talented elder felt confident that by using all his social skills and all his learning he would be able to change the man's mind. During the meeting he used every persuasive skill he could think of. The other elder listened. Finally the man agreed to continue the discussions.
Later, at the family's baptism, the talented elder remembered the night with some degree of pride. After the baptism the man told him, "The night I changed my mind and continued to have you teach me was the most important night of my life. As you talked to me, my mind was so determined to not listen that there was nothing you could have said that would have caused me to continue. But then I looked at your companion. His eyes were focused on me. I saw in his face more love than I had ever known before. My heart felt a spirit that made it so I could not resist his silent message. I decided then that if this church could cause someone to love like that, then I wanted to be part of it."
Outward social and educational talent help, but more needed than these are the inward talents of love and faith and testimony. In these talents we can all be equal.
If your health will allow, make yourself worthy to serve. Push aside the obstacles and go.
I pray that the Lord will bless us in all of our decisions-decisions about missions, decisions about marriage, decisions about character, about dedication, about morality.
I'm grateful for the honor that I had of being Elder Durrant while in Spain. I know that Jesus Christ lives, that while he was on the earth he taught us the way that we ought to live. I know that he expects us as holders of the priesthood to take what he has given us and go out and share it with others. And as we do this, he not only blesses the lives of the people we come in contact with, but he also blesses us. I know that the gospel he has given us is true. That's why I wanted to share it-because it means so much in my life.
I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder J. Thomas Fyans
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Major league teams hire scouts whose job it is to continually survey the young upcoming players. Their trained eyes look for players who have consistently superior performances. It is not by chance that these young men are singled out from the rest. There is much preparation that goes into the attaining of excellence.
Such an athlete spends many years in training, trying to perfect every part of his performance. He exercises for long hours. He is careful to eat nutritional foods that build muscle tone, recognizing that what he takes into his body will have an effect upon his physical stamina. He obtains the proper amount of rest and observes other health laws. Attaining physical excellence in his life has been given top priority. Daily, weekly, and yearly goals are set and given great dedication. He listens carefully to his coach, who watches every movement he makes and knows his performance better than he does. Together they study videotapes of his plays and even analyze the minute details of his abilities through the graphics of a computer. He is careful to keep up with any new innovation or philosophy. As he retires at night, his thoughts turn once again to scrutinizing his performance with an ever-constant vision of the day when he will receive an invitation to become a member of one of those elite teams that constitute the world of professional athletics.
We sing a hymn, "Who's on the Lord's side?" What does the word side mean? The definition of the word side is one of the contesting parties in a game or sport; one of a group of players; a team.
Based on this definition, the question "Who's on the Lord's side?" could appropriately be rephrased "Who's on the Lord's team?" Some of the lyrics that might be appropriately applied to the priesthood are:
Serving on the Lord's team does not happen by chance. President Spencer W. Kimball has told us, "This is something we are heir to; we were born to it, and all we need to do is qualify for it to obtain this blessing."
In Alma 13:1 we learn that "the Lord God ordained priests, after his holy order."
In verses 3 and 4 we are told that "this is the manner after which they were ordained-being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they have chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling.
"And thus they have been called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great privilege as their brethren."
In Alma 13:9 we are told, "Thus they become high priests forever."
As you participate on a basketball team, or are part of a drama presentation, or sing in a quartet, or join a Scout troop, you are aware that membership in these groups usually lasts just a few months, or at most a few years. As there is a beginning to participation in these groups, there is also an end. And yet, as Alma taught us, we are high priests forever. The priesthood is eternal.
Now, you young men, let's carefully consider some examples from the lives of our prophets as they have spiritually prepared for the priesthood. President Joseph Fielding Smith shares with us his feelings in these words: "'When I was a small boy, too young to hold the Aaronic Priesthood, my father placed a copy of the Book of Mormon in my hands with the request that I read it. I received this Nephite record with thanksgiving and applied myself to the task which had been assigned to me. There are certain passages that have been stamped upon my mind and I have never forgotten them.' By the time he was ten years old he had read the Book of Mormon through not just once but twice. His brothers remembered of his hurrying to get through his chores as quickly as possible, and sometimes even leaving a ball game early, and secluding himself in the hayloft or in the shade of a tree to get back to his reading of the book."
President David O. McKay tells: "I remember as a deacon chopping wood for the widows on Saturday. We met as a group of nine boys, held a short meeting, took our axes, went to the widows, and chopped enough wood for each to last that week."
And President McKay continues: "As a priest, I recall administering the sacrament and my failure the first time I offered the prayer. We did not have the prayer on a printed card before us then as is frequently the case now. We were supposed to memorize it. The sacrament table was just under the pulpit, and my father, the bishop, always stood right over the one who asked the blessing upon the bread and water. I thought I knew the prayer, but I had memorized it privately, and when I knelt and saw the congregation before me, I became flustered." This challenge did not cause him to become discouraged, my young friends. He made additional preparation and lifted himself to a level of excellence.
President Kimball recites the following story about a goal he made when he was still a young boy: "When I heard a Church leader from Salt Lake City tell us at conference that we should read the scriptures, and I recognized that I had never read the Bible, that very night at the conclusion of that very sermon I walked to my home a block away and climbed up in my little attic room in the top of the house and lighted a little coal-oil lamp that was on the little table, and I read the first chapters of Genesis. A year later I closed the Bible, having read every chapter in that big and glorious book.
"I found that this Bible that I was reading had in it 66 books, and then I was nearly dissuaded when I found that it had in it 1,189 chapters, and then I also found that it had 1,519 pages. It was formidable, but I knew if others did it that I could do it.
"I found that there were certain parts that were hard for a 14-year-old boy to understand. There were some pages that were not especially interesting to me, but when I had read the 66 books and 1,189 chapters and 1,519 pages, I had a glowing satisfaction that I had made a goal and that I had achieved it.
And he continues: "I am not telling you this story to boast; I am merely using this as an example to say that if I could do it by coal-oil light, you can do it by electric light. I have always been glad I read the Bible from cover to cover."
Nearly every week I attend a stake conference somewhere in the world, so I am not able to attend the Gospel Doctrine class in my ward where the Book of Mormon is being taught this year. It really pained me to miss this privilege of catching the spirit of this very sacred other testament that Jesus is the Christ. So my wife and I set a goal to study the Book of Mormon at home. We determined to finish the 1984 course of study for the Gospel Doctrine class before this April general conference. We began in January; and on Monday, March 12, we finished the last of the forty-six lessons of the Book of Mormon course. It really felt good to accomplish this goal.
You young men from all over the world are preparing to become members of a team. You have looked forward to this day with great anticipation. Hands have been laid upon your head to bestow the priesthood of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, that you might stand in His place in administering the sacred ordinances to the children of men. Think about it for a minute.
My companions in the priesthood, I love you with all my heart; the General Authorities all love you. We would invite you to spiritually exercise each day. This you would do at the level of your choosing. For example, read the Book of Mormon a few verses a day, or a chapter a day, fifteen minutes a day, or thirty minutes a day. You will know the amount of spiritual tone that you need to gain. You can accept this challenge, can't you?
You've made the team, the Lord's team, because of your superior, dedicated performance. What a privilege is now yours as you exercise with service and love, build your endurance as you prayerfully confront life's challenges, and partake of nutritional spiritual food as you read and ponder the scriptures to build and maintain your spiritual stamina and muscle tone. Make your priesthood fitness a priority, applying the constant dedication of a professional athlete until it consumes your life, until it flows from you with nerves and mind conditioned.
And as you too retire at night, your hearts and thoughts and prayers will automatically turn, once again, with great desire to the perfecting of your performance on the Lord's great priesthood team. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My beloved brethren, as a former counselor to Brother Nelson on two occasions, I add my gratitude for the call of Elder Russell M. Nelson, and affirm the nobility of his character and the greatness of his work in the kingdom. Likewise, I attest to the noble character of Elder Oaks.
I would like to tell you a story of a young man who sought out a wise man who was recognized far and near for his good judgment. He asked for his expert advice on how to attain new heights of achievement in his field of endeavor.
"Come with me," said the wise man. Taking the youth to a nearby stream, he immersed him and held him under the water. When the young man was released, he was nearly drowned and came up fighting for breath, gasping, "Air, air, give me air!"
"There," said the wise man, "that's the first lesson. When you want to succeed as badly as you wanted air, you will attain your goal. You will succeed!"
Desire, burning desire, is basic to achieving anything beyond the ordinary.
Why do I begin with this story? Because desire in everyone involved is the first step in the subject of my talk tonight, "helping inactive Church members to become active."
What I say, however, won't do any good unless what is said fits in with what the listener wants for himself and has a profound hunger to attain. In every instance, those who are successful love what they are doing. It is a well-known fact that the attitude, the thinking of each of us, must be right before we can do what's right.
Elder Dean L. Larsen beautifully summarized this idea in these words: "When we understand what is right and what is wrong, we are in a position to exercise our freedom in making choices. In so doing, we must stand accountable for our decisions, and we cannot escape the inevitable consequences of these choices. Such freedom to exercise moral agency is essential in an environment where people have the highest prospects for progress and development."
Jesus concerned himself primarily with the teaching of fundamental principles, and these principles had to do with the spiritual and mental condition of the individual. For the Savior knew that if one's mental state is right, most everything else would be right. But if the mental state is wrong, little can be accomplished in a person's life.
It is no wonder, then, that Nephi admonished his people to "feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do."
Jesus said, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
"Enter ye in at the strait gate."
President Marion G. Romney expressed most clearly what is meant as follows: "It is not enough to do our best. Unless we do all we can, we do less than we ought. We must succeed in doing what is necessary. Unless we get the job done, it is not enough."
When I attended the university, I was involved in athletics, and since then have maintained my interest, even reading articles on the Winter Olympics. A sports editor wrote that for such a small country, East Germany, or as the world knows it, the German Democratic Republic, was doing exceedingly well. He said that they were not that much better trained than their competitors, but just a lot better prepared mentally, spending many hours in the preparation of the mind and the will. "Just good old-fashioned positive mental attitude" is all that is favoring the athletes from that country.
In seeking to strengthen the inactive, we are concerned with four general groups:
Lifetime members who have never been active and, as a result, ofttimes raise their families in inactivity.
New converts who become spiritually disaffected and fall away, usually in their first few years of membership.
Active members who slip into transgression or have other problems that cause them to fall away. Often their problems include lack of knowledge and testimony of the gospel, hurt feelings that result in attitudes of unworthiness and guilt, and sometimes fear of participation in Church assignments.
Youth who are caught up by the philosophies or behavior of the world and stray from their Church commitments. Some of these youth are persuaded by worldly attitudes of instant pleasure. Some are influenced by peer groups that take nothing seriously until the realities of life force them to.
This work of reclaiming the lost sheep, as Jesus so vividly expressed it, must receive top priority by every stake, ward, branch, and quorum leader. All inactive members should be considered candidates for activation regardless of their response to any previous approach. We must use kindness, patience, long-suffering, love, faith, and diligence. They must feel our genuine concern and untiring love.
For individuals to become fully active in the Church, they generally must experience a spiritual conversion and a social integration. We should strive to teach them the gospel and to extend warmth and genuine friendship and fellowship to them.
Recently, I attended a stake conference and heard a story of member activation that moved me deeply. The bishop of one of the wards in the stake took a keen interest in arousing inactive brethren to Church activity. He knew that the first step was one of communication, that he must have a meaningful visit with each inactive brother.
So he began by telephoning one of them. The wife answered the phone and said, "Bishop, I surely appreciate your call. My husband is outside, but I will have him come to the phone."
When the husband heard that it was the bishop that wished to speak to him, his reaction was as expected. He attempted to sidestep this phone call and responded, "Tell the bishop that I'm out sawing logs," and with a humorous touch, "Tell him I'm dead."
The brother spoke the truth more literally than he realized. It was true. He was sawing logs, and tragically, he was dead to the spiritual things of his life.
A good wife, however, is a mighty force in any man's life, and, in a kindly manner, she persuaded her husband to come to the phone.
Then the bishop, using the power of suggestion and in a friendly voice, said, "I should very much appreciate having a visit with you for a few moments this evening in my office." The brother couldn't refuse so warmhearted an invitation, and a meeting took place.
The testimony of the bishop and his deep concern kindled a fire in the heart of the inactive brother, and he agreed to join the temple preparation class that was about to begin.
Each session, taught by a tactful teacher with a great knowledge of the truth and an inspiring testimony, motivated the inactive brother. He resolved to strengthen his family and bind them together eternally through the blessings of the temple.
This good brother may still be sawing logs, but there is now much more. He has added for himself an indescribable dimension of happiness, as well as joy to the lives of each and every family member.
In another ward, the bishop assigned his two best home teachers to work with one specially selected inactive family. The husband and father had been inactive for many years, even though he held the office of elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood. The couple was approached and asked if the special teachers could come and teach them the gospel in weekly visits to their home. The family agreed, and the teachers proceeded to bring gospel lessons tailored to the needs and desires of the family.
The bishop also helped by interviewing the couple every few weeks. The husband usually went golfing on Sundays and had no desire to change his life-style at first. During one interview, the bishop said to the husband, "You've got to get going on spiritual matters so that you won't lose your fine family." This caused the inactive brother to think deeply about important issues, and within a couple of weeks he asked for another interview with the bishop and said that he had started paying tithing and that he and his wife wanted to set a goal of being sealed in the temple.
As this family became active, their whole attitude changed, and they seemed to be very happy to embrace the gospel principles and make the necessary change in life-style.
In the case of yet another inactive family, the specially assigned teachers lived in the same neighborhood. The teachers first showed genuine friendship and neighborly concern until they felt they could talk with the inactive family in a serious manner. They sat down with the family one day and asked if they could begin teaching them the gospel in weekly sessions in their home. The teachers assured the family that they would not pressure them in any way and that their visits would be designed to teach the doctrines of the Savior and answer questions the family might have. Within a few weeks, the home teachers took the family to church, and soon the family began to attend on their own. The bishop interviewed the couple and helped them to set goals for the husband to be ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood and for them to be sealed in the temple.
The bishop reports that it was touching to see this family with their five children sealed for time and eternity. The sealing room in the temple was filled with friends and members of the ward.
The family now bears strong testimony to the truth of the gospel, and many in the ward say they have never seen people change so much. The husband now serves in the presidency of the elders quorum.
The president of an elders quorum in one of our outstanding stakes in Brazil-I love that great people, our members in Brazil-reported phenomenal success in reactivating fifteen elders in his quorum last year. I asked the question, "How did you accomplish this?" He said, "We and the home teachers visited them often. These inactive elders knew that we really cared for them." Their testimonies were strengthened. They and their families are now active members of the Church.
The Lord has promised great rewards for those who reach out to strengthen their brothers and sisters.
The Lord has said in modern revelation, "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!"
I wish I could engrave on every heart what I so keenly know and feel. I bear unwavering testimony that our Heavenly Father and His Divine Son, Jesus Christ, rule and reign, and that we must all understand that the gospel is everlasting. It is forever and applicable to all, and each of us is to be held accountable.
May the Lord bless us in this important work, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Boyd K. Packer
Of the Quorum of the Twelve
I want to talk to my young friends of the Aaronic Priesthood. And I begin with a parable; and then I have a test for you.
Imagine that our bishop has appointed you and me to plan a picnic for all of the ward members. It is to be the finest social in the history of the ward, and we are to spare no expense.
We reserve a beautiful picnic ground in the country. We are to have it all to ourselves; no outsiders will interfere with us.
The arrangements go very well, and when the day comes, the weather is perfect. All is beautifully ready. The tables are in one long row. We even have tablecloths and china. You have never seen such a feast. The Relief Society and Young Women have outdone themselves. The tables are laden with every kind of delicious food: cantaloupes, watermelon, corn on the cob, fried chicken, hamburgers, cakes, pies-you get the picture?
We are seated, and the bishop calls upon the patriarch to bless the food. Every hungry youngster secretly hopes it will be a short prayer.
Then, just at that moment there is an interruption. A noisy old car jerks into the picnic grounds and sputters to a stop close to us. We are upset. Didn't they see the "reserved" signs?
A worried-looking man lifts the hood; a spout of steam comes out. One of our brethren, a mechanic, says, "That car isn't going anywhere until it is fixed."
Several children spill from the car. They are ragged and dirty and noisy. And then an anxious mother takes a box to that extra table nearby. It is mealtime. Their children are hungry. She puts a few leftovers on the table. Then she nervously moves them about, trying to make it look like a meal for her hungry brood. But there is not enough.
We wait impatiently for them to quiet down so that we can have the blessing and enjoy our feast.
Then one of their little girls spies our table. She pulls her runny-nosed little brother over to us and pushes her head between you and me. We cringe aside, because they are very dirty. Then the little girl says, "Ummm, look at that. Ummm, ummm, I wonder what that tastes like."
Everyone is waiting. Why did they arrive just at that moment? Such an inconvenient time. Why must we interrupt what we are doing to bother with outsiders? Why couldn't they have stopped somewhere else? They are not clean! They are not like us. They just don't fit in.
Since the bishop has put us in charge, he expects us to handle these intruders. What should we do? Of course, this is only a parable. But now for the test. If it really happened, my young friends, what would you do?
I will give you three choices.
First, you could insist the intruders keep their children quiet while we have the blessing. Thereafter we ignore them. After all, we reserved the place.
I doubt that you would do that. Could you choke down a feast before hungry children? Surely we are better than that! That is not the answer.
The next choice. There is that extra table. And we do have too much of some things. We could take a little of this and a little of that and lure the little children back to their own table. Then we could enjoy our feast without interruption. After all, we earned what we have. Did we not "obtain it by industry," as the Book of Mormon says?
I hope you would not do that. There is a better answer. You already know what it is.
We should go out to them and invite them to come and join us. You could slide that way, and I could slide this way, and the little girl could sit between us. They could all fit in somewhere to share our feast. Afterward, we will fix their car and provide something for their journey.
Could there be more pure enjoyment than seeing how much we could get those hungry children to eat? Could there be more satisfaction than to interrupt our festivities to help our mechanic fix their car?
Is that what you would do? Surely it is what you should do. But forgive me if I have a little doubt; let me explain.
We, as members of the Church, have the fullness of the gospel. Every conceivable manner of spiritual nourishment is ours. Every part of the spiritual menu is included. It provides an unending supply of spiritual strength. Like the widow's cruse of oil, it is replenished as we use it and shall never fail.
And yet, there are people across the world and about us-our neighbors, our friends, some in our own families-who, spiritually speaking, are undernourished. Some of them are starving to death!
If we keep all this to ourselves, it is not unlike feasting before those who are hungry.
We are to go out to them, and to invite them to join us. We are to be missionaries.
It does not matter if it interrupts your schooling or delays your career or your marriage-or basketball. Unless you have a serious health problem, every Latter-day Saint young man should answer the call to serve a mission.
Even mistakes and transgressions must not stand in the way. You should make yourself worthy to receive a call.
The early Apostles at first did not know that the gospel was for everyone, for the Gentiles. Then Peter had a vision. He saw a vessel full of all kinds of creatures and was commanded to kill and to eat. But he refused, saying they were common and unclean. Then the voice said, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." That vision, and the experience they had immediately following, convinced them of their duty; thus began the great missionary work of all Christianity.
Almost any returned missionary will have a question: "If they are starving spiritually, why do they not accept what we have? Why do they slam the door on us and turn us away?"
One of my sons was serving in Australia and was thrown off a porch by a man who rejected his message.
My son is big enough and strong enough that he had to be somewhat agreeable to what was happening or the man never could have done it.
Be patient if some will not eat when first invited. Remember, all who are spiritually hungry will not accept the gospel. Do you remember how reluctant you are to try any new food? Only after your mother urges you will you take a little, tiny portion on the tip of a spoon to taste it to see if you like it first.
Undernourished children must be carefully fed; so it is with the spiritually underfed. Some are so weakened by mischief and sin that to begin with they reject the rich food we offer. They must be fed carefully and gently.
Some are so near spiritual death that they must be spoonfed on the broth of fellowship, or nourished carefully on activities and programs. As the scriptures say, they must have milk before meat. But we must take care lest the only nourishment they receive thereafter is that broth.
But feed them we must. We are commanded to preach the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. That message, my young friends, appears more than eighty times in the scriptures.
I did not serve a regular mission until we were called to preside in New England. When I was of missionary age, when I was your age, young men could not be called to the mission field. It was World War II, and I spent four years in the military. But I did do missionary work; we did share the gospel. It was my privilege to baptize one of the first two Japanese to join the Church after the mission had been closed twenty-two years earlier. Brother Elliot Richards baptized Tatsui Sato. I baptized his wife, Chio. And the work in Japan was reopened. We baptized them in a swimming pool amid the rubble of a university that had been destroyed by bombs.
Shortly thereafter I boarded a train in Osaka for Yokohama and a ship that would take me home. Brother and Sister Sato came to the station to say good-bye. Many tears were shed as we bade one another farewell.
It was a very chilly night. The railroad station, what there was left of it, was very cold. Starving children were sleeping in the corners. That was a common sight in Japan in those days. The fortunate ones had a newspaper or a few old rags to fend off the cold.
On that train, I slept restlessly. The berths were too short anyway. In the bleak, chilly hours of the dawn, the train stopped at a station along the way. I heard a tapping on the window and raised the blind. There on the platform stood a little boy tapping on the window with a tin can. I knew he was an orphan and a beggar; the tin can was the symbol of their suffering. Sometimes they carried a spoon as well, as if to say, "I am hungry; feed me."
He might have been six or seven years old. His little body was thin with starvation. He had on a thin, ragged shirt-like kimono, nothing else. His head was shingled with scabs. His one jaw was swollen-perhaps from an abscessed tooth. Around his head he had tied a filthy rag with a knot on top of his head-a pathetic gesture of treatment.
When I saw him and he saw that I was awake, he waved his can. He was begging. In pity, I thought, "How can I help him?" Then I remembered. I had money, Japanese money. I quickly groped for my clothing and found some yen notes in my pocket. I tried to open the window. But it was stuck. I slipped on my trousers and hurried to the end of the car. He stood outside expectantly. As I pushed at the resistant door, the train pulled away from the station. Through the dirty windows I could see him, holding that rusty tin can, with the dirty rag around his swollen jaw.
There I stood, an officer from a conquering army, heading home to a family and a future. There I stood, half-dressed, clutching some money which he had seen but which I could not get to him. I wanted to help him, but couldn't. The only comfort I draw is that I did want to help him.
That was thirty-eight years ago, but I can see him as clearly as if it were yesterday.
Perhaps I was scarred by that experience. If so, it is a battle scar, a worthy one, for which I bear no shame. It reminds me of my duty!
Young brethren, I can hear the voice of the Lord saying to each of us just as He said to Peter, "Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep."
I have unbounded confidence and faith in you, our young brethren. You are the warriors of the Restoration. And in this spiritual battle, you are to relieve the spiritual hunger and feed the sheep. It is your duty!
We have the fullness of the everlasting gospel. We have the obligation to share it with those who do not have it. God grant that we will honor that commission from the Lord and prepare ourselves and answer the call, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My beloved brethren, it is a joy and an honor to greet you tonight. I have enjoyed the program very much thus far. Brother Durrant, I am grateful for men like you. I love basketball. I was never very good, but I played for the Utah Aggies. And Father, who had seven sons, challenged Franklin County for a family competition. If there were any teams that had enough men, he challenged them. I guess, fortunate for us, we never had a taker. But in any event, I love what you said.
Tonight I would like to talk a bit about the great missionary work of the Church. Today the Church needs missionaries as never before! We are required to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation of the world. The Lord commanded it in these words:
"Send forth the elders of my church unto the nations which are afar off; unto the islands of the sea; send forth unto foreign lands; call upon all nations, first upon the Gentiles, and then upon the Jews."
This commission to take the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people is one of the signs by which believers will recognize the nearness of the Savior's return to earth. Concerning this sign of His second coming, Jesus prophesied:
"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."
This task will require thousands of missionaries, many more than are presently engaged in worldwide missionary service today.
Many of you young men in the listening audience have decided to serve a mission for the Church. We commend you for your preparation and worthiness and are confident you will receive immeasurable blessings, both in the mission field and in the years to come.
Some others of you have not yet made the decision to serve a mission. I would like to talk to you as well as to some of you older brethren who, with your wife, could serve.
You are needed in the service of the Lord today as never before. "The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few."
Those who serve a faithful mission return from that experience with increased faith, devotion, and leadership. They learn by their sacrifice what only personal experience and devoted service to others can teach.
A missionary learns, for example, that God can use him as an instrument to accomplish His work. He can say, as did Ammon, a Book of Mormon missionary, "This is blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work."
A missionary learns that he must be humble and dependent on the Lord. He learns to pray with fervor and sincerity, not only for himself but for others, and to be led and directed by the Spirit.
It was while I was on my first mission that I discovered the constant need for dependence on the Lord.
I was a young missionary in northern England in 1922. Opposition to the Church became very intense. It became so strong that the mission president asked that we discontinue all street meetings, and in some places tracting was also discontinued. The opposition started largely among the ministers, and it became very, very severe. They didn't know anything about us to speak of. I remember tracting one day when a lovely lady came to the door. We were having a nice conversation and the name Mormon was mentioned by my companion. Her husband came to the door in a Navy uniform, and he said, "Oh, you can't tell me anything about those old Mormons. I've been in the British Navy for twenty years. We sailed right into Salt Lake port, and they wouldn't even let us land." That was so typical of what they knew about us in those days.
My companion and I had been invited to travel over to South Shields, on the northwest coast, and speak in the sacrament meeting.
In the letter of invitation, we were promised there would be a number of nonmembers present. They said, "Many of our friends do not believe the lies that are printed about the Church."
We fasted and prayed sincerely and went to the sacrament meeting. The hall was filled. My companion had planned to talk on the first principles, and I had studied hard in preparation for a talk on the Apostasy. There was a wonderful spirit in the meeting. My companion spoke first and gave an excellent inspirational message. I followed and talked with a freedom I had never before experienced in my life. When I sat down, I realized that I had not mentioned the Apostasy. I had talked about the Prophet Joseph Smith and had borne my witness of his divine mission and of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I couldn't hold back the tears.
After the meeting ended, many people came forward, several of whom where nonmembers, and said to us, "Tonight we received a witness that Mormonism is true. We are now ready to consider baptism."
This was an answer to our prayers, for we had prayed to say only those things which would touch the hearts of the investigators.
Yes, a missionary discovers the indescribable joy of bringing other souls into the Church. I have just recently had three grandchildren return from the mission field; two more are on their way to the field. I believe in missionary work with all my heart. It's good for any young man to have the experience of a mission.
One of the most inspiring missionary stories recorded in scripture concerns the fourteen-year mission of the four sons of Mosiah to their Lamanite brethren. They brought thousands into the Church, the record tells us, which caused one of them, Ammon, to exclaim: "My joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy."
Brethren, no joy is equal to bringing another to the light of the gospel, for the Lord promised:
"If it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
"And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"
A missionary learns that the priesthood conferred upon him is the power of God. Opportunities are presented for exercise of the priesthood through the ordinances of baptism, confirmation, and administrations to the sick. Almost without exception, our missionaries testify that God has not ceased to be a God of miracles!
A missionary learns that God, our Heavenly Father, can and does answer prayers. He learns to recognize the promptings of the Holy Spirit and to be directed by that Spirit. He prays for his own welfare-to be humble and susceptible to the influence of the Holy Ghost-as well as for the people with whom he is laboring. Through these experiences of prayer and service, he learns to love the Lord with all his heart and to more fully love his fellowmen.
The question is frequently asked, Should every young man fill a mission? The answer to this inquiry has been given by the Lord. It is yes. Every young man should fill a mission.
While every young man should serve a mission, we realize that every young man is not physically, emotionally, or morally prepared. As a consequence, some may be deprived of missionary opportunities. But all should prepare to go-to be worthy to serve the Lord. The Lord has said:
"And every man should take righteousness in his hands and faithfulness upon his loins, and lift a warning voice unto the inhabitants of the earth; and declare both by word and by flight that desolation shall come upon the wicked."
Some young men, because of transgression, say they are not interested in serving a mission. The real reason, of course, is feelings of unworthiness. If such young men would go to their bishop, confide to him their problem, and sincerely repent, they may yet fill honorable missions.
We, your Brethren, sincerely invite you to prepare. Prepare now to serve the Lord. Prepare yourself physically, morally, spiritually, and emotionally.
Visit with your bishop. Tell him your desires. Confide your problems. Seek his counsel. Then pray to your Heavenly Father about this important decision in your life.
One of the Church's great missionaries, Elder LeGrand Richards, said, "I have had many people ask me what my greatest Church experience has been, and I unhesitantly say, My first mission! That is where I began to really love the Lord and His Church and developed a desire to help build His kingdom."
I hope that each of you young men in the audience tonight has a savings account and is looking forward to a mission.
Recently, in Dallas, Texas, I had the pleasure of addressing nearly two hundred missionaries. Among them were several young sisters. As I spoke to them, I had the feeling that they are a good example of a group of young people who are living in this wicked world and yet are not partaking of the sins of the world.
I rejoice in our youth. I am proud of them and grateful for them and know that the Lord is blessing and magnifying them. It is my great joy to meet with them whenever we go to a mission headquarters. They are choice young people.
Now I want to say a few words to some of you older brethren. We have need for select missionary couples.
My father was called on a mission and left mother at home with seven young children, and the eighth was born four months after he arrived in the field. There came into our home a spirit of missionary work that never left it, for which I am deeply grateful.
Some of you who are grandparents can have more influence on your grandchildren by letters from the mission field than by any other means.
I remember so well, after the chores were done, sitting around the kitchen table as mother read letters from father. It seemed as though it was halfway around the world as she mentioned the towns where he was laboring; but it was only Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Chicago and Springfield, Illinois; and other towns in the great Midwest.
Two of my sisters, widows-one the mother of ten, and the other the mother of eight-after sending their children on missions, talked to their bishops about going on missions themselves.
I well remember the day they called me on the telephone and said, "Guess what? We've received our missionary calls."
I said, "What missionary calls?"
They replied, "Don't you know?"
I said, "No, I hadn't heard."
They responded, "Yes, we're both going to your old field of labor in England."
The mission president assigned them to work as companions-twenty months without a transfer. I think that is some kind of a record.
My father's family later grew to eleven children. All eleven of us have now had the joy of filling missions. The last one recently returned from filling a mission with her husband in San Diego.
To you young men and some of you older brethren, I again emphasize: you are needed in the Lord's service-missionary service-today.
I testify to all of you brethren within the sound of my voice that this Church-The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-is "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth." We are privileged through the covenants and ordinances of baptism and confirmation to be members of His church. Membership in this Church is the only means by which others may have the opportunity for eternal life. We have the truth, and we invite you to share that truth and the privilege of introducing His gospel to others who do not have it.
I encourage you to become familiar with the Book of Mormon, particularly. I remember an incident with my own sons. He called me one day to ask if I wouldn't come up to his bedroom. When I got there, I found he had several books on the bed. He said to me, "You know, I have a job with my uncle herding turkeys this summer. I once heard you say that the turkey is the dumbest animal on the farm, so I assume I'm going to have time on my hands." Then he asked me to pick out the books I would recommend.
I picked up a little military edition of the Book of Mormon. I said, "This will fit in your hip pocket."
He said, "You mean to tell me I'm to take only one book?"
I said, "Yes, and you'll learn to love it, and you'll learn to love missionary work"-and he did.
Yes, this is His work. I know that as I know that I live.
May God bless us all with the Spirit and the desire to bring souls unto Him. It is our duty.
God bless, my brothers, that we may respond to this great need. It is the Lord's will that we do more in the great work of missionary proselyting. This I know and bear humble witness of, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
Brethren, I think I would like first to express my appreciation for your presence, wherever you are gathered, and particularly thanks to the boys, the young men. Those who are in the Tabernacle came here very early and have been seated here now for three hours, in many cases. I know you are a little weary. It will not last much longer.
It is customary for an executive officer of an organization to make an annual report to the shareholders. I look upon you brethren as shareholders in this great work of the Lord, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I think I would like to give you a report, as shareholders.
I do so humbly and not in any spirit of boasting or arrogance, with the hope that the Lord will inspire me in that which I say. I do so further because there is an insidious effort going on to try to undermine the Church and destroy its credibility, even among its own members.
I am pleased to tell you that the Church is in good health. Many of you heard the statistical report read this afternoon by Brother Francis Gibbons, secretary to the First Presidency. I should like to mention again some of the figures given by him and make brief comment.
As of last December 31, the membership of the Church stood at 5,400,000. This represents a gain of 239,000 over the previous year. How wonderful it is to be part of a growing, advancing organization. Some of our critics and enemies challenge us to give the number of those who have left the Church during the year. I assure you that they are relatively few in number. Each time I see such a request I feel sorry for the individual. I wish with all my heart that he or she might have felt otherwise. However, we do not stand in their way. We will labor with them and encourage them to remain. But if they wish to forfeit all of the many marvelous blessings which come of membership in the Church, that is their prerogative. Some few have left, and of those who have left, some have tasted new doctrine. After a short time they have found it unpalatable, and have asked to be permitted to come back. We welcome them.
You may be interested to know that convert baptisms by missionaries dropped some during 1983. We fully expected that this would happen when we reduced the term of service for most missionaries from twenty-four months to eighteen months. This meant a 25 percent reduction in the time of young men serving in the field. I assure you that the drop in convert baptisms has been not nearly that great. All of this indicates that while our young men are serving for a shorter time, they are working more vigorously and effectively.
At the end of 1983 there were 26,565 missionaries in the field. What a remarkable army of faithful and devoted servants of the Lord, giving of their time and their means to the advancement of this great work of salvation.
But, as has been said, more are needed, many more, for the field is white and ready for harvest, and the laborers are still relatively few. Every man or woman who goes forth in this service blesses the lives of all he teaches. Furthermore, his or her own life is enriched by this selfless labor. Who has not witnessed the miracle of a missionary who has grown in a wondrous way while engaged in the work of the Master?
Priesthood leaders and fathers and mothers should begin while a boy is very young to point him in the direction of missionary service. Our sacrament meetings should be enriched with the enthusiastic testimonies of those who have returned from the field.
Further, we all need to be reminded to share the gospel with our associates. I emphasize the word share. I like it. I deprecate the use of what might be perceived as force and pressure upon those who live among us. I think it unnecessary. Neighborliness, and exemplary living of the gospel of Jesus Christ, with an awareness of opportunity to quietly and graciously lead them in the direction of the Church, will accomplish much more, and will be resisted less and appreciated more by those we seek to help.
I mention financial matters next in my report to you.
The finances of the Church are in sound condition. Because of the tremendous growth of the work across the world the demands upon the tithing funds are great. We have 896 buildings under construction at this time. This is a tremendous undertaking. Think of it-nearly 900 buildings. I know of nothing else like it. It is made possible by the consecrations of the Saints in obedience to the commandments of God. As you know, we have changed the ratio of participation for construction of buildings. A 70 to 30 percent ratio was in effect until recently in most areas, and this has now been changed to a 96 to 4 ratio. The funds for most building construction come from the tithes of the Church. We are pleased that this change is possible.
The Council on the Disposition of the Tithes, established by revelation and consisting of the First Presidency, the Council of the Twelve, and the Presiding Bishopric, has determined that the expenditures of the Church in any given year shall not exceed the income of the Church.
Six new temples were dedicated during 1983. We anticipate the dedication of an additional six in 1984, and yet another six new temples in 1985. This morning we announced the construction of five additional temples to be located in the areas of Bogotá, Colombia; Toronto, Canada; Portland, Oregon; San Diego, California; and Las Vegas, Nevada.
This is a tremendously significant thing. It has been a remarkable and wonderful experience to meet, along with my Brethren, with worthy and faithful Latter-day Saints in new temples in Atlanta, Georgia; in Tonga, Samoa, and Tahiti; in Santiago, Chile; and in Mexico City. One has to have that experience to fully appreciate it. In each instance people gathered from far and near-well-dressed, clean, radiant men, women, and children, with great faith in their hearts and a living conviction concerning the sacred nature and purposes of these holy houses.
I have looked into their faces. I have seen the tears running down their cheeks as strong men and women have wept with love and thanksgiving to God for the blessings of the house of the Lord. They know-these tens and tens of thousands-that only in temples does the authority of the Holy Priesthood become effective in sealings that reach beyond life to all eternity. They know that only through the ordinances of these sacred houses can the prison doors be opened for their forebears to enjoy all the blessings of the eternal gospel that a loving Father has in store for his children.
It is a miracle to me that the Church is able to accomplish so much. It is a miracle made possible by faith, under a plan which the Lord himself established for the financing of his kingdom.
Tithing is so simple and straightforward a thing. The principle, as it applies to us, is actually set forth in one verse of section 119 of the Doctrine and Covenants. That fourth verse consists of thirty-five words. Contrast that with the cumbersome and complex tax codes enacted and enforced by governments. In the one case it is a brief statement from the Lord, the payment left to the individual and motivated by faith. With the other it is a tangled web created by men and enforced by law.
The Church will live within its means. You may be assured of that. You may be further assured that we shall make every effort to safeguard these sacred funds to see that they are spent wisely to fill those needs which are in harmony with the great mission of the Church.
As a means of conserving Church resources, while at the same time expanding the opportunity for volunteer service, we are pursuing a program under which many retired brethren and sisters are serving on a volunteer basis in the temples and the departments and offices of the Church. You may be interested to know that the number so serving is approximately 5,000, which equates to approximately 500 full-time employees, with a consequent saving to the Church in annual dollar value of salary and benefits in excess of ten million dollars. These wonderful and dedicated people work expertly and with love in their hearts to advance the cause.
By way of personal testimony, while speaking of the financial resources of the Church, we reiterate the promise of the Lord given anciently through the prophet Malachi that he will open the windows of heaven upon those who are honest with him in the payment of their tithes and offerings, that there shall not be room enough to receive the promised blessings. Every honest tithe payer can testify that the Lord keeps his promise.
Our great program of Church education moves forward. The work of training students through the seminary and institute program is constantly being enlarged. As of the end of the year there were 389,258 students enrolled in seminaries and institutes. You who have been the recipients of this program know of its tremendous value. We urge all for whom it is available to take advantage of it. We do not hesitate to promise that your knowledge of the gospel will be increased, your faith will be strengthened, and you will develop wonderful associations and friendships with those of your own kind.
I reflect at times on the faith that went into the translation and first printing of the Book of Mormon. There were 5,000 copies in that first edition that came off the press in Palmyra in March of 1830. In recent years the Book of Mormon has been printed in editions of more than a million copies a year, and either all or substantial parts of the book are printed in sixty-seven languages.
I read these words form that sacred volume:
"O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!"
We have not reached that state, but we have taken a giant step forward in that direction. Many thousands of you brethren across this land are joined with us this night with both voice and picture through the remarkable satellite network which the Church has established. Through its facilities we can declare the word of the Lord to our people from coast to coast and beyond to Alaska and the islands of Hawaii. We constantly are at work to expand the reach of this remarkable facility.
Now another matter: It was my privilege to preside over the 150th stake of the Church which was created in 1945, 115 years after the Church was organized. Now, less than forty years later, there are 1,458 stakes, almost a tenfold increase in the number of stakes in Zion; 378 new wards and branches were organized during 1983, bringing the total at the close of the year to nearly 14,000. Small wonder that we must construct so many new buildings in which to house the Latter-day Saints for worship and instruction.
All of these matters that I have commented upon are statistical in their nature. For the most part they may be classified as temporal. But there is an even more important element with which we are concerned, and that is the spiritual quality of the lives of our people.
We know that an increasing number are attending their sacrament meetings, there to renew their covenants with the Lord and to take upon themselves anew the name of Christ. We know that an increasing number are holding their family home evenings and spending a part of each Sabbath together as families, learning of the ways of the Lord. We have reason to believe that more and more are involved in the regular practice of family prayer. We are confident that an increasing number are reading from the scriptures and drawing inspiration therefrom.
In recent months I have had the opportunity of speaking with sixty-three men and extending to them calls to serve as presidents of missions. One cannot have such an experience without coming to recognize the depth of faith found in the hearts of this people. Husbands and wives and children, at the call of the Church, are willing to leave the comforts of their homes, the association of their friends and loved ones, and their employment to go out to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Brethren, the work of the Lord is advancing as much as at any time in its history and ever more rapidly. As individuals we may fail in our part in it, but if we do so God will raise up others to take our places, for he will not permit this work to fail.
We are familiar with stories that the work would fail. When the Book of Mormon came from the press, the crude critics said it would soon be forgotten. When troubles grew in Kirtland, the enemies said the work would fail. When the Saints were driven from Missouri, those who drove them said the Church would soon expire. When the Prophet and Hyrum were killed in Carthage, their murderers said it was the end of this thing. When in February of 1846 the wagons crossed the river into the Iowa winter, the enemies of the Church said that it could not survive. When the Saints found themselves in this lonely valley, with crickets devouring their crops, there were even some of them who thought it was all over.
But the work has gone forward. The Church has never taken a backward step since it was organized in 1830-and it never will. It is the cause of the Master. It is the church of God. It is his work established in this latter day. It is the little stone which was cut out of the mountain without hands, which should roll forth to fill the whole earth. God bless it as it moves forward on its great advancing course. And may each of us be found faithful and true and doing our part in advancing it, I humbly pray as I leave you my witness and testimony of its truth and divinity in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
This is a glorious occasion. It is April, the season of spring in this hemisphere, when there is a new stirring of life in all of nature. Soon it will be Easter, the time when the Christian world commemorates the resurrection from the dead of the Son of God.
We who are assembled in this great general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints give our testimony to all the world that Jesus is the Christ, the living Son of the living God; that he came to earth in the meridian of time, the offspring of Deity; that he walked the roads of Palestine, declaring the truths of the eternal gospel, healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the blind to see, and bringing the transcendent messianic message of hope to all who would hear; that he was taken by evil men, condemned, and crucified on Calvary's Hill; that he rose the third day, the firstfruits of them that slept, the conqueror of death, the master of eternal life; that "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive"; that he and his Father, the great Elohim, appeared to the boy Joseph Smith in the spring of 1820, ushering in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times; that he stands at the head of this church which bears his name; that in fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, the government of the kingdom of God is upon his shoulder, and his name is "called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
I bear solemn witness of him and of his unique and singular place in the plan of eternal salvation of God our Eternal Father. I bear witness of these things by the power and authority of the holy Apostleship in me vested.
If the Spirit will guide me, I wish to say something this morning of this wonderful and sacred office in the holy priesthood, the office of Apostle.
Yesterday we sustained two of our Brethren in this sacred calling, thus, after they are ordained, filling the Council of the Twelve Apostles. I want to give you my testimony that they were chosen and called by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. There was much of prayer concerning this matter. There was discussion with President Kimball, the prophet of the Lord in our day, and a clear statement from him, for his is the prerogative in these matters. There was a clear and distinct impression, what I choose to call the whisperings of the Holy Spirit, concerning those who should be selected to assume this most important and sacred responsibility. These who have been called are men of experience in the world and in the Church. They are men of learning and achievement in their respective professions, who have received the accolades of praise from their peers and from many who have admired them from near and far. But this is not why they were chosen.
Their service in the Church has been noteworthy. Since the time they were boys, each has been faithful and active. Each has served in a stake presidency. Each has served as a Regional Representative. They have been involved in many capacities of Church service, and have performed with excellence in each instance. But this is not why they were called.
They were called because the Lord wanted them in this office as men who have a witness of his divinity, and whose voices have been and will be raised in testimony of his reality.
Each is a man of faith. After they are ordained to the holy apostleship and are set apart as members of the Council of the Twelve, they will be expected to devote themselves primarily to the work of the ministry. They will place first in their lives, above all other considerations, the responsibility to stand as special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world.
Some will ask, why has the Church taken such competent men out of public service in their professions when they are doing so much good where they now are? I do not know. The Church has not done it. Rather, the Lord has made clear that these are they who should serve as his witnesses. There are others, well trained and equally qualified, to carry on what they have been doing. These two have now received a peculiar and unique calling to which the Lord, in his better wisdom, has beckoned them.
As with all of us, they are men who are human. They have their strengths and their weaknesses. But henceforth, for the remainder of their lives, as long as they remain faithful, their one chief concern must be the advancement of the work of God in the earth. They must be concerned with the welfare of our Father's children, both those within the Church and those out of the Church. They must do all that they can to give comfort to those who mourn, to give strength to those who are weak, to give encouragement to those who falter, to befriend the friendless, to nurture the destitute, to bless the sick, to bear witness, not out of belief but out of a certain knowledge of the Son of God, their Friend and Master, whose servants they are.
It has always seemed a remarkable thing to me that, although the Lord chose twelve Apostles to assist him in the work of the ministry, and to extend it following his death; and that although Paul, who was an Apostle, declared that the Church should be "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone" -notwithstanding all of this, the office of Apostle, and certainly a Council of Twelve Apostles, is not found to my knowledge in other Christian churches.
Nor is the office of Seventy, to which a number of men have been called at this conference. This is likewise an office that carries with it the responsibility of bearing apostolic witness of the name of Christ.
The word apostle, in its origin, literally means "one sent forth." If that definition were stated to say "one sent forth with certain authority and responsibility," it would properly describe the calling as it was given at the time our Lord walked the earth, and as it has been given in our time.
Luke records concerning the Master "that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
"And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles."
It is significant to me that the Lord chose those who should walk next to him only after he had prayed all night concerning the matter.
Matthew records:
"And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them:
"As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
"For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you."
This same office of Apostle was restored to the earth when the Church was reestablished in this dispensation. In the revelation on Church organization received in April of 1830, Joseph Smith was spoken of as one "who was called of God, and ordained an apostle of Jesus Christ, to be the first elder of this church;
"And to Oliver Cowdery, who was also called of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to be the second elder of this church, and ordained under his hand."
Brigham Young recounts the interesting circumstances associated with the organization of the first Quorum of the Twelve in this dispensation. In 1834 a group of the leading brethren in Ohio traveled to Missouri to assist their associates there, and then returned to Ohio. It was a long and difficult journey, most of it on foot. It was a time of severe testing. Brigham Young said:
"After we returned from Missouri, my brother Joseph Young and myself had been singing after preaching in a meeting; and when the meeting was dismissed, Brother Joseph Smith said, 'Come, go down to my house with me.' We went and sang to him a long time, and talked with him. He then opened the subject of the Twelve and Seventies for the first time I ever thought of it. He said, 'Brethren, I am going to call out Twelve Apostles. I think we will get together and select Twelve Apostles, and select a Quorum of Seventies from those who have been up to Zion.' in 1835, the last of January or in February, or about that time," President Young says, "we held our meetings from day to day, and brother Joseph called out Twelve Apostles at that time. He had a revelation when we were singing to him. Those who were acquainted with him knew when the Spirit of revelation was upon him, for his countenance wore an expression peculiar to himself while under that influence. He preached by the Spirit of revelation, and taught in his council by it, and those who were acquainted with him could discover it at once, for at such times there was a peculiar clearness and transparency in his face."
The Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon-Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris-were given the responsibility of nominating the first members of the Twelve in this dispensation. When they were selected, they were convened in a meeting held in Kirtland on February 27, 1835. Oliver Cowdery served as clerk in that meeting and wrote this in the minutes:
"President Smith proposed the following question: What importance is there attached to the calling of the Twelve Apostles, different from the other callings or officers of the Church?
"After the question was discussed, President Joseph Smith, Jun. gave the following decision:
"They are the Twelve Apostles, who are called to the office of the Traveling High Council, who are to preside over the churches of the Saints, among the Gentiles, where there is no presidency established; and they are to travel and preach among the Gentiles, until the Lord shall command them to go to the Jews. They are to hold the keys of this ministry, to unlock the door of the Kingdom of heaven unto all nations, and to preach the Gospel to every creature. This is the power, authority, and virtue in their apostleship."
As set forth in the further revelations, they are to work under the direction of the First Presidency and to go forth as "special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world."
When they need assistance in this duty they are to call upon the Seventy and then upon others as circumstances dictate.
Since the opening of the work in this dispensation there have been some eighty-four men serve as members of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. Elders Nelson and Oaks become the eighty-fifth and eighty-sixth men so chosen and ordained and set apart, as will be the case when that is completed. Great and sacred is their ministry. As one who for twenty years served as a member of that unique and remarkable quorum, I give witness to their brotherhood, to their devotion, their faith, their industry, and their tremendous service in advancing the kingdom of God.
If I may speak now for a moment in a personal vein, I wish to express before you my appreciation for them. It is now almost three years since I was called by President Kimball to serve as a Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church. During a substantial part of that period I have humbly tried to carry a great and awesome responsibility. I have known something of loneliness and worry and deep concern. I have prayed earnestly for direction and strength and guidance. I have called on these my beloved Brethren of the Twelve. They have freely and generously given of support, assistance, and inspired counsel.
There is unity in the First Presidency of the Church. There is unity between the Presidency and the Twelve, perfect unity. There is unity among the members of the First Quorum of the Seventy and the Presiding Bishopric. I am somewhat familiar with the history of this Church, and I do not hesitate to say that there has never been greater unity in its leading councils and the relationships of those councils one to another, than there is today.
I love my Brethren. To a man they are loyal. They are supportive. Without hesitation they respond to every call regardless of personal convenience. They are true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now again, when these two are ordained and set apart, the quorum will be full. Two remarkable and wonderful men were lost with the passing of Elder LeGrand Richards and Elder Mark E. Petersen. Two remarkable and wonderful men have been called to take their places, called under the direction of the Lord, and sustained by the faith of the membership of the Church.
The work goes on in majesty and power. The kingdom grows, solidly and consistently. Testimony strengthens in the hearts and lives of the members of the Church across the world. Herein lies the great strength of this kingdom. It is the conviction, solid and real and personal, that is found in the hearts of millions of Latter-day Saints who live in many lands and who speak a variety of tongues. Each is a part of a great society of believers. Each faithful member knows that God our Eternal Father lives. Each knows that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer and the Savior of mankind. They know these great salient truths because of the power of the Holy Ghost which bears individual witness to them.
God be thanked for the wonder of his work and for the mysterious and certain way in which it moves forward.
I express deep, sincere appreciation, not only for the support of my Brethren of the General Authorities, but of the Latter-day Saints throughout the world. I have felt the power of your prayers. I am aware of your sustaining hands and hearts. Most sincerely I thank you for the manner in which you labor, unselfishly and with a great and moving faith, to advance the work of God and to assist in bringing to pass his eternal purposes with reference to his sons and daughters.
May God bless each of you wherever you may be. May your faith strengthen as you serve in righteousness. May your testimonies grow ever stronger as you drink of the fountain of eternal truth. May you be blessed in your basket and in your store as you walk honestly with the Lord in the support of his great kingdom. May the peace of Christ abide in your hearts and in your homes, I humbly pray in his holy name, even the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Russell M. Nelson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Saturday of April conference of 1984 has been circled on our calendar for many years, for that date was targeted as the first time in my life that our only son would be old enough to attend general priesthood meeting with me. Last night, that long awaited goal became a reality. Brothers and sisters, little did we know that on that day my name would be presented as a member of the Council of the Twelve.
Since we didn't know, our children didn't know either. Our married daughters telephoned us between sessions. One who was expecting a baby, said, "Daddy, I was so shocked by that announcement-I think I am going into labor."
That she did.
So, President Hinckley, your announcement from the First Presidency should get credit at least for "an assist." Our twenty-second grandchild arrived safely last evening!
A wide array of feelings has flashed through my heart since I heard the call that will change my life. The first feeling is that of personal inadequacy. That feeling is intensified as I think of the incomparable power of Elders LeGrand Richards and Mark E. Petersen, whose absence we keenly sense. They were, to me, dear friends as well as esteemed leaders. Then, as I look about and see the strength of those more qualified and able than I, I truly am humbled by this calling.
Fortunately, these feelings are blanketed by feelings of faith, for I know the words of Nephi are true: "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." I have implicit faith in the Lord and in His prophets. I have learned not to put question marks but to use exclamation points when calls are issued through inspired channels of priesthood government.
About twenty years ago, two members of the Quorum of the Twelve were assigned to select a new president of the Bonneville stake in which we lived. They were Elders Spencer W. Kimball and LeGrand Richards. That call they extended to me. Now, I am to be ordained an Apostle under the hand of President Spencer W. Kimball, to fill a chair vacated by the passing of Elder LeGrand Richards.
Feelings of commitment well up from the depths of my soul. My sweetheart, Dantzel, and I first made those covenants in the temple of the Lord over thirty-eight years ago, to consecrate our lives to the service of the Lord. Today, I reaffirm that promise, to give all I have to the building of the kingdom of God on the earth. In accepting this call, knowing that challenges, charges, and keys will be conferred and that buffetings will likewise come, I commit my effort, my energy, and my all.
Feelings of gratitude emerge as I acknowledge the goodness of my parents, and of all eight of my pioneer great-grandparents who were converted to the Church in the populous nations of Europe. All eight of them ultimately immigrated to the little town of Ephraim, Utah. I know they are watching the events of this day from their celestial windows.
To my dear Dantzel, I acknowledge my debt, as well as my eternal love. She is the fountain from whom flows the nourishing love in our home. Her sacrifices to bring our ten wonderful children into this world, teaching and training them, while always supporting me without a murmur through my responsibilities in the Church and in my profession, are monumental. We love our eight sons-in-law as our own, and are so grateful for an unbroken string of temple marriages that link them to us forever. For those precious grandchildren already here and for the others on the way, we express our gratitude.
While nominally I come to you from the science of surgery and its mother of medicine, in a truer sense, I have been forged from the stern discipline of law-not the laws of men, as mastered by our brethren of the legal profession, but the eternal and unchanging laws of our Divine Creator. The surgeon soon learns the incontrovertibility of divine law. He knows that hopes and wishes are sometimes simply powerless sham. Desired blessings come only by obedience to divine law, and in no other way. My lifetime thus far has been focused on learning those laws. Only as the laws are known, and then obeyed, can the blessings we desire be earned. To this extent, there will be little difference for me in the activities of the past and those of the future. The endless laws of the Lord are the doctrines taught by His Apostles.
I am grateful to my colleagues in the medical profession who have permitted me to assist them in the care of their patients and who now will continue to care for them. Their selfless service satisfies the two great commandments, to love God and neighbor. They have learned that one loves best who serves best.
I sustain the servants of the Lord, from Isaiah and Ezekiel to Joseph Smith and Spencer W. Kimball. For their confidence in me, I am deeply appreciative. To them and all mankind they serve, I express my love.
Now, I understand fully that the call to the Holy Apostleship is one of witness to the world of the divinity of the Lord Jesus the Christ. I know that salvation is centered in Him! Said the angel to King Benjamin: "Salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent."
The Prophet Joseph Smith was asked, "What are the fundamental principles of your religion?" He answered: "The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it."
The creation of the earth and all that dwell therein, the necessary fall that enabled man to be, and the atonement of the Lord are three fundamental components of God's eternal plan. Without that atoning sacrifice, there would be neither immortality nor eternal life.
His message is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ; and it is administered by the Church that bears His name. He directs the affairs of His church by the power of the priesthood and by revelation through prophets who proclaim His doctrine to all people of the world.
The testimony that I bear is but an echo of the resounding testimonies of the eighty-four who previously have received this call to the Twelve since the spring of 1820. I know that God the Father and the Son appeared to usher in this last great dispensation of eternal truth. I testify that we are of the house of Israel, specifically of the lineage of Joseph, bearing the birthright and charged with the irrevocable responsibility to prepare the world for the second coming of the Savior. Then, numberless multitudes among every nation, kindred, tongue, and people will eventually join in proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. So I solemnly testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Barbara W. Winder
Relief Society General President
This is very, very awesome. I think coming to a general conference of the Church and meeting here in the Tabernacle is such a great honor and a privilege at any time, but to have the privilege of being here in the presence of the prophet, when we know that his health has not enabled him to always be with us, is such a special thrill. And to hear the words of these great leaders has so touched and so moved me-I do acknowledge my gratitude to you. How marvelous was the address of President Hinckley today as he bore witness!
I know that it was more than an airplane trip that brought my husband, President Richard Winder, and me to this point. My husband has been serving as the mission president of the great California San Diego Mission, and we had to slip quietly away to come to this conference this weekend. I have a testimony of the revelation and inspiration that the Lord gives. In spite of the inadequacies that I feel, I know that the Lord does help and cause his work to move forward.
Yes, I am the same Sister Winder, my dear elders and sisters in San Diego, who was with you less than a week ago helping you to remember those skills your mothers have taught you-keeping your shirts ironed and white and the buttons sewn on, carrying your scriptures. Even the little white handbook is still with me. I am that same Sister Winder. I am the same Sister Winder who, just two short years before that, sat in the councils with these great sisters whom you heard yesterday, learning and being tutored by them, my great teachers, along with their boards and their counselors, many of whom have been my dear, dear friends and teachers. I am so grateful to them and to the many wonderful brethren with whom I have had the opportunity to serve and learn. How I appreciate you.
We women are under the direction of the priesthood. I feel that I have been taught by those who have followed that direction to help bring women today through troubled times, to the point of being caring wives and mothers, faithful members of the Lord's kingdom, and contributing members of the communities in which they live. These are strengths that have been given to our Latter-day Saint women.
May I also express my gratitude today to my parents and to my husband's parents for their teaching of righteous principles and for the worthy examples that they have given us. It was a hard, hard asphalt that our plane landed on, but it didn't matter because there were our four children and their mates and our wonderful little grandchildren letting me know that home was here. How grateful I am to them for their support.
I want to express gratitude also to a husband with whom I have served for over thirty years in sweet bonds of marriage, having been married in the Salt Lake Temple, sealed together by President Harold B. Lee. We, too, have made commitments, and we have served together in harmony and unity of purpose, supporting one another through these years in various Church callings and assignments. I couldn't help thinking of the words of Paul as he admonished the Church to serve in unity and purpose, and as he taught that all parts must function for the good of the whole. So it is in a marriage and in a family that we must function together. I think we were taught so beautifully yesterday.
I love the sisters of the Church, and I think I would like to relate a little from that wonderful priesthood section of the eighty-fourth section of the Doctrine and Covenants. It also says the body has need of every member, that all may be edified together and that the system may be perfect. In a way similar to the words of Paul, the members of the Lord's Church today have been asked to have the same care one for another that they have for themselves.
And so it is that I feel for the sisters of the Church this love, and sense the worth of each individual. I want so, and desire so, that we be unified, one together with the priesthood, serving and building the kingdom of God here today and spreading the joy of the gospel to those who are so in need of it. This is His kingdom. We have a great responsibility to share it. I know that God lives, that he loves us. This is my testimony to you, and I pledge my service to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Robert L. Simpson
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Yesterday morning Elder Durham introduced his theme by quoting a bumper sticker message. From a graffiti wall in Los Angeles comes this one: "You can beam me up now, Scotty. I find no evidence of intelligent life down here."
Now, brothers and sisters, there is indisputable evidence of intelligent life down here because, thank goodness, Heavenly Father has told us that "the glory of God is intelligence, or in other words, light and truth." Those who accept and live the simple light and truth of the gospel are indeed living an intelligent life. And that theme-of simple light and truth-which I would like to share with you this morning, was brought to my attention while serving as a young missionary under President Matthew Cowley, later to become an Apostle of the Lord. He taught us on frequent occasion that "the gospel of Jesus Christ is beautifully simple and simply beautiful."
The truth of that statement was reamplified earlier this year as some of our family and a few friends had the privilege of walking where Jesus walked. We marveled at the city of Old Jerusalem. Shepherds were still tending their flocks near Bethlehem. We strolled along those very same paths on the Mount of Olives. Then, after traveling north, we beheld peaceful Galilee. What had transpired here two thousand years ago suddenly took on rich, new meaning, as we paused to reread and ponder anew each appropriate scripture reference along the way.
The "living water" that Jesus talked about at Jacob's well with the woman from Samaria became current and real.
There were tears as we stood in Gethsemane and pondered again those immortal words: "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."
Also that simple but profound teaching at Calvary: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
As we stood by beautiful Galilee, we marveled at the simplicity of His unique but meaningful invitation to those being called. "Follow me," he said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
Such quotes are typical of the Master Teacher, He who taught pure and plain truth, spoken in humility and with beautiful simplicity.
This reawakening to the superb teachings of the Savior while we were in Israel was most reassuring. How simple and pure are the concepts he left us. Indeed, Paul held the same view as he wrote to the Saints of Corinth, "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace."
James said it another way: "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy."
Indeed Elder Cowley was right: the gospel of Jesus Christ is beautifully simple and simply beautiful. Even simple enough that a Primary child can have a good idea of gospel basics by the time of that eighth birthday and the privilege of baptism comes along.
The faith of children was the center of some of the Savior's most significant teachings. Remember that occasion recorded in Matthew when the disciples asked him, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
"And Jesus called a little child unto him."
Then he answered them: "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
Without doubt the Savior had in mind the implicit faith and sincerity of a little child as he answered his disciples on that occasion.
Perhaps we should all take heed as we listen to our children pray. I remember well Elder Monson's story yesterday. When our daughter, Christine, was still very young she was always invited to take her turn praying in the family circle. We as a family always prayed that we might be a healthy family. Some of her words came with difficulty. She couldn't say "healthy," and it always came out, "Bless us, Heavenly Father, to be a wealthy family." That sounded good to me-we just let her go on like that-but Heavenly Father knew what she meant, and wealth has eluded us.
That wise and noble prophet and teacher King Benjamin taught his people about putting off the natural man and becoming a Saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord. Then he added that we must become as a child, "submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things , even as a child doth submit to his father."
We have always been taught that the gospel of Jesus Christ embraces all truth, wherever that truth is found. This should also include truth found in science. The simplicity of basic truth in the fields of chemistry and physics has always intrigued me. For example, there is the simple expression that H2O is the chemical formula for water. Also fascinating is the fact that Einstein could express his mind-expanding theory of relativity by the simple equation E = mc. It almost appears that the closer we approach a basic truth, the more simply it can be expressed.
The best example of this in religious truth is perhaps the oft-repeated scriptural passage found in Moses in the Pearl of Great Price, wherein God states in a single sentence the total objective of all eternity: "For behold, this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
Imagine, just twenty words to summarize the entire plan of eternal progression and salvation. I like that, because it is true. The statement is fundamental; it makes perfect sense. It isn't superfluous; it establishes a goal by which everyone can achieve success. All of Heavenly Father's children become candidates for exaltation, and in the process Deity is glorified by our success.
Most eternal truths are so simply stated that no one should misunderstand them, except perhaps a few like those of Jacob's day who "despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand."
Please consider for a moment these simple gospel truths, which are paraphrased in the interest of time:
The contribution of tithes and offerings will open the windows of heaven.
Conformity to the Word of Wisdom ensures better health, wisdom, and well-being.
Confession to one's priesthood authority and then doing the sin no more can provide total repentance for all who are willing.
"Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church."
A celestial glory can be the reward for all who repent, are baptized, and continue in faith.
As Paul declared so firmly and simply, "One lord, one faith, one baptism." Nothing has ever been able to alter these simple truths.
And finally one of my very favorites: "And the truth shall make you free."
Everyone wants to be free-free from guilt, free from selfishness, free from the bondage of bad habit. Yes, even political freedom is possible through God's plan of simple truth.
But, of course, all of the foregoing about the importance of simplicity and plainness would be meaningless unless the end result were joy and fulfillment for Heavenly Father's children. How thrilling it is to observe newly baptized Church members who have caught the Spirit-to see them respond to the gospel plan and, through their obedience to simple teachings, reap the promised blessings. This is especially apparent in so-called developing areas of the world.
Oh, that I could take each of you to Coimbatore, India, to meet with more than one hundred members of the Church who live in the most meager of all circumstances. They possess hardly any of this world's goods. Some days there is not enough food. Most have little or no education, but their lives have been changed for the better in a very short period of time through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Their general health level is improved; more are now attending school. They are singing the songs of Zion with enthusiasm, and they are smiling much more than before. They have found hope. These are deprived people being taught simple truths about the Savior. The gospel is not complicated. They can comprehend it, and they're responding to it.
As we met with them recently in their little one-room meetinghouse, they seemed so anxious and eager to be taught. Curious neighbors could not resist the urge to linger nearby while meetings were in progress. They watched through open windows and through the open doorway. We were impressed by the contrast of those inside and those looking in. It was evident that gospel teaching had influenced not only the spirit that the members radiated, but also such things as personal hygiene, grooming, personal attitude, and a countenance that reflected a new-found something that was indeed beautifully simple and simply beautiful.
Few are aware of the pure Christian service being administered at refugee camps in Thailand and in the Philippines by our missionary sisters. Basically, these sisters are restricted to teaching the English language and Western culture, but there is a deeper teaching that takes place through their pure love and sweet attitude toward these displaced people.
The story is told of a young camp refugee from Cambodia who was relocated in California. He found his way into one of our Church meetinghouses because the name of the Church on the sign out front corresponded with the one he used to look at each day on the name tag of the wonderful missionary sister who taught him at the camp. People don't soon forget acts of simple kindness. Pure love can transcend all differences.
Yes, the Spirit giveth light in this church. I am thinking of a wonderful new convert in England. In response to my asking, he told me about his conversion. He explained how he was kneeling at his flower bed on a Saturday morning preparing the soil for spring planting. All of a sudden an unseen voice from behind asked the simple question, "Sir, do you love the Lord?"
He said that he turned around, fully, expecting to see an angel standing there; instead there were two angels, two Mormon missionaries. And his response was, "Of course I love the Lord. Please come in the house so we can talk about it." It was all so simple, so genuine. It was an approach that the Savior might have used.
Not long ago a young American woman living in Taiwan felt that her taxi driver was taking her the long way around in order to increase the fare. She was in the process of venting her feelings in unmistakable terms when the young Chinese driver, obviously hurt by the accusation, stopped the cab, turned off the ignition, then turned around and said simply, "I would not do that. I am a Mormon." Calmed down and totally disarmed by the sincerity of his statement, she then asked what a Mormon was. She obviously found out, as she joined the Church just three weeks later. It all happens so simply when the honest in heart are involved.
Nephi, in foretelling the ministry of the Apostle John, described his teachings as "plain and pure, and most precious and easy to the understanding of all men." That our understanding and interpretation of truth may always be beautifully simple and simply beautiful is my sincere prayer for each of us, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, amen.
Bishop J. Richard Clarke
Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric
In the book of John, we read the famous dialogue between Pontius Pilate and Jesus of Nazareth. The Savior was an enigma to the Roman. He asked, "Art thou a king " Jesus answered, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth."
Pilate turned away, asking the question of the ages, "What is truth?" He did not wait for an answer. I doubt he expected one. Pilate was aware that "truth" had been a favorite subject for debate by Roman and Greek philosophers for centuries, and remained the quest of philosophy.
It is not my purpose today to discuss truth in the abstract. I would speak of the practice of truth. It is both principle and application.
As William George Jordan taught:
"Truth as loyalty to the right as we see it; it is courageous living of our lives in harmony with our ideals; it is always-power.
"Truth defies full definition. Like electricity it can only be explained by noting its manifestation. It is the compass of the soul, the guardian of conscience, the final touchstone of right. Truth is the revelation of the ideal; but it is also an inspiration to realize that ideal, a constant impulse to live it."
As Latter-day Saints, we are committed to the principles of truth. We seek the truth; we believe the truth; and we know the "truth will make us free." To be genuine disciples, we must have harmony between the principles that we profess and the truths we practice.
We must be like the people of Ammon, who were "distinguished for their zeal towards God, and also towards men; for they were perfectly honest and upright in all things; and they were firm in the faith of Christ, even unto the end."
Our souls must be more than "whited sepulchres," which appear praiseworthy but inside are hollow chambers bereft of goodness. We must not only seem but also be what God would expect of His sons and daughters.
The practice of truth, the acid test of our commitment, is known by many terms-for example, honesty, integrity, uprightness, and probity. I especially like probity. It is taken from the Latin probus, meaning good, and probare-to prove, signifying tried and confirmed integrity. A person who has mastered probity by discipline, until it has become part of his very nature, is like a moral compass which automatically points "true north" under all circumstances. This individual strives for instinctive honesty, acting on impulse toward the right, without having to weigh the merits of advantage or disadvantage.
" who makes Truth his watchword," wrote Jordan, "is careful in his words, he seeks to be accurate, neither understating nor over-coloring. What he says has the ring of sincerity, the hallmark of pure gold. His promise counts for something, you accept it as being as good as his bond, you know that no matter how much it may cost him to verify and fulfil his word by his deed, he will do it."
Perhaps you remember the story told by President N. Eldon Tanner. A young fellow came to him and said, "I made an agreement with a man that requires me to make certain payments each year. I am in arrears, and I can't make those payments, for if I do, it is going to cause me to lose my home. What shall I do?"
President Tanner looked at him and said, "Keep your agreement."
"Even if it costs me my home?" the man asked.
President Tanner replied, "I am not talking about your home. I am talking about your agreement; and I think your wife would rather have a husband who would keep his word, meet his obligations, keep his pledges or his covenants, and have to rent a home, than to have a home with a husband who will not keep his covenants and his pledges."
I had an interesting experience a few years ago while attending general conference. I went to purchase some merchandise at ZCMI and to cash a check. Being from out of state, I was sent to the cashier. She asked for some identification. I reached into my wallet and took out some credit cards. Inadvertently, my temple recommend came out. The cashier said, "I'll accept that." I said, "You'll accept what?" She said, "Your temple recommend. It's current, isn't it?" I said, "Yes, it's current." She said, "That will do."
Well, I pondered that all the way home. I thought, Wouldn't it be a great idea if we had a Mormon credit card? A card-carrying Mormon could be depended on to keep his word, to be honest with his employers, and to pay his bills as agreed. Then our professionals, tradesmen, and business people would perform without compromising their ethics for profit, each putting his signature on his work with pride; all of us striving for excellence in every way. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be a "peculiar" people known for our honesty and the quality of our services? The Mormon standard of integrity should be the highest standard in all the world, for we are the covenant people of God. The Lord makes no special concessions for culture, race, or nationality; He expects all His Saints to live according to gospel standards.
I believe for every law of truth we keep, there is a compounding effect. Our character is a complex of coordinated support systems, just like a well-engineered bridge. Each truss, column, or girder contributes to the strength or weakness of the whole structure.
The individual of probity has integrated his virtues into a pattern of consonance, whereas one who practices selective honesty, to fit time and circumstance, is never quite balanced.
General David Shoup, former Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, felt very strongly about consistency in practicing moral values. Commenting upon marines who were untrue to their wives, he said:
"It is not the actual act of adultery that is of so great a concern to me; that's merely the by-product, so to speak. The vital thing is this: A man who can somehow rationalize breaking the oath he gave before God and man when he repeated the marriage vows, is also a man who could, if he so desired, or when subjected to sufficient pressure, rationalize breaking the oath he took when he became a Commissioned Officer in the United States Marine Corps. A man who can betray his wife and children for lustful purposes is a man who could betray his country for his own ends."
Brothers and sisters, we often perform below our ideals, but our aim must exceed our grasp if we would rise to a higher standard of integrity. We all have old habits to break and new ones to form. Surely it takes a long time to perfect character, and we probably won't achieve it totally in this life. But success must be measured by effort and small improvements until we eventually reach our goals. Norman Cousins described integrity as "no luxury for the pious: it is the bread of life for the truly human for the man who seeks not length of days, but quality of spirit."
The love for truth and the practice of truth are best learned in the home. The Lord has laid the responsibility with parents to "teach their children to walk uprightly before the Lord." And again, "I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth", for "light and truth forsake that evil one."
Children gain a love for truth by watching parents practice truth; they learn to emulate noble character. They need models of consistency, not just sermons alone. I believe one of the most important lessons a parent can teach a child is that integrity and honor are not practiced without price. They usually require sacrifice, almost always inconvenience, and often embarrassment.
With the permission of President Jeffrey Holland and his lovely daughter, Mary, I'd like to share their story of several years ago. It is an example of what I have tried to say today-not truth in theory, but truth in action.
Brother Holland begins:
"One night I came home quite late from work. My nine-year-old daughter Mary seemed visibly distressed. I asked if she felt all right; she nodded that she did; but I guessed otherwise. I waited as she got ready for bed. Sure enough, she walked softly into the living room and said, 'Daddy, I have to talk to you.' I held her hand and, as we walked into her bedroom, she started to cry.
"'I was at Grand Central this morning and saw a ladies' compact I knew Mother would love. I was sure it was quite expensive, but I picked it up just to admire it.' More tears and struggle to get it all said: 'It fell out of my hands onto the floor. I quickly picked it up, but Daddy, the mirror was cracked. I didn't know what to do! I didn't have enough money to pay for it, and I was all alone. I put the compact back on the shelf and left the store. Oh, Daddy, I think I've been dishonest.' And then she wept and wept.
"I held her in my arms as that little nine-year-old body shook with the pain of sin being expelled. She said, 'I can't sleep and I can't eat and I can't say my prayers. What will I do? I won't ever get it out of my mind.'
"Well, Mother joined us and we talked quite a while that night. We told her that we were very, very proud of her honesty and we would have been disappointed if she had been able to eat or sleep very well. I told her the compact probably wouldn't cost too much, and that we would go back to the store manager, tell him of the problem, and, between the two of us, cover the cost. If the compact was still there, buy it for Mom. That little cracked mirror could be a reminder for as long as she owned it that her little girl was unfailingly honest and spiritually sensitive.
"The tears gradually stopped, her little body began to relax, and Mary said, 'I think now I can say my prayers.'"
We have tried to teach our children that the practice of truth is the premier virtue. If they master that great principle, all else will fall into place.
As Jesus of Nazareth was the embodiment of truth, so should we bear witness. We may talk about our religion, we may discuss marvelous manifestations and revealed gifts and powers, we may profess high ideals and noble values; but the proof of our commitment lies in our performance in the daily transaction of our life.
Let us covenant as did Job, even in his extremity: "Till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
"My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live."
The Psalmist posed the question: "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?"
The answer: "He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart."
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Howard W. Hunter
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I would like to refer to one of the parables of the Savior found in the book of Luke, the parable commencing with this verse: "Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican."
These words begin one of the many stories told by the Master Teacher during the three years of his earthly ministry. There is nothing in all literature equal to the parables of Christ. His teachings were as impressive to his listeners then as they are today to those who read his words. They are so simple a child can understand, yet profound enough for the sage and philosopher. The similitudes he used were taken from pictures of human life and commonplace incidents that could be understood by every listener-the sower, the lost sheep, a woman baking bread, the fig tree, a good Samaritan, the prodigal son.
Each of the parables spoken by the Savior seems to teach a principle or give an admonition regarding the attributes necessary to qualify for exaltation. Some of these are faith, repentance, baptism, development of talents, forgiveness, perseverance in doing good, being a profitable steward, charity, mercy, and obedience. These parables were usually given by him to add to the knowledge of persons already spiritually enlightened, particularly the disciples, although they were sometimes directed to other persons and audiences.
The parable from which I read the first verse was directed to more than just his disciples. Even though the subject matter was a Pharisee and a publican, it was not intended for Pharisees or publicans expressly, but for the benefit of the self-righteous who lack the virtues of humility and who use self-righteousness as a claim to exaltation. In this parable the Savior spoke few words, yet the lesson taught is clear. This is the whole story he told, as recorded by Luke:
"Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
"The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
"I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
"And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
"I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every man that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
Apparently the scene is laid in Jerusalem at the temple, where two men had gone to pray during the time of day for private prayers. It is interesting that the Master selected a Pharisee and a publican as the actors in the story, representing the two religious extremes in Jewish society.
The Pharisees were the largest and most influential of the three sects of Judaism at the time of Christ. The Pharisaic movement in the Jewish state rose from the ranks of the lay lawyers of the Greek period to become the leading religious and political party. The main characteristics of the Pharisees were their legalism and their legalistic inflexibility. They were known for their strict accuracy in the interpretation of the law and their scrupulous adherence to living the law in every minute detail. This caused them to be known as the strictest of Jewish sects in observing their tradition. They shunned the non-Pharisee as being unclean, thereby keeping themselves separated from those they considered to be the common people.
Paul was a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, and he was educated by Gamaliel, a Pharisee. On three different occasions he declared himself to be a member of the sect. The first was at the time he was on trial, then in his plea before Agrippa, and later in writing to the Philippians. This training as a Pharisee made him an extremist in his devotion to the Jewish law, which answers the question as to why he was such a zealous persecutor of the Christians prior to his experience on Damascus Road.
Publicans were tax collectors and were looked down upon with contempt. Ordinary taxes, such as land taxes, were collected by the Roman officials; but toll taxes for transporting goods were usually collected by Jews under contract with the Romans. These collectors, or publicans, made a profit on the transactions. Their fellow countrymen had no higher regard for them than for thieves and robbers. The trade lent itself to graft and extortion, and the publicans had the reputation of having some of the tax money stick to their own fingers.
The Jews were smarting under Roman occupation and domination, and they considered the payment of taxes as a tribute to Caesar. Jews who made such collections for the Romans were regarded as traitors and as despicable for selling their services to a foreign conqueror. Publicans and members of their families were considered so contemptible that they were not allowed to hold public office or give testimony in a Jewish court. We remember that Matthew was a publican, a gatherer of taxes, until his calling to be a disciple, and, of course, he too was despised by the Jews, as were the others who followed that occupation.
To know the background of these two men who came from the opposite extremes of Jewish society helps us to understand this parable of the Pharisee and tax collector and why they prayed as they did in the temple.
After the two men entered the temple, the Pharisee stood by himself, apart from the tax collector, and thanked God that he was "not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers" who fail to live the commandments of the law, "or even as this publican," he said. Though he was in form thanking God, his self-centered thoughts were on his own self-righteousness. In justification he added: "I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." His prayer was not one of thankfulness, but of boastfulness. The boastful spirit and pride of this Pharisee is not unlike that of Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai, mentioned in the Talmud, who said: "If there were only thirty righteous persons in the world, I and my son should make two of them; but if there were but twenty, I and my son would be of the number; and if there but ten, I and my son would be of the number; and if there were but five, I and my son would be of the five; and if there were but two, I and my son would be those two; and if there were but one, myself should be that one."
The tax collector standing afar off, feeling the weight of his iniquities pressing down upon him, and being conscious of his sins and unworthiness to stand before God, cast his eyes to the ground and "would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven" when he prayed. In deep distress he beat upon his breast and pleaded, "God be merciful to me a sinner."
Could there be greater contrast in the prayers of two men? The Pharisee stood apart because he believed he was better than other men, whom he considered as common. The publican stood apart also, but it was because he felt himself unworthy. The Pharisee thought of no one other than himself and regarded everyone else a sinner, whereas the publican thought of everyone else as righteous as compared with himself, a sinner. The Pharisee asked nothing of God, but relied upon his own self-righteousness. The publican appealed to God for mercy and forgiveness of his sins.
Continuing the story, Jesus then said: "I tell you, this man," referring to the publican, the despised tax collector, "went down to his house justified, rather than the other." In other words, the Lord said he was absolved, forgiven, or vindicated.
This statement gives meaning to what the Savior said on another occasion: "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."
The Master then concluded the parable with these words: "For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." These are almost the same words spoken by him in the house of one of the chief Pharisees.
Humility is an attribute of godliness possessed by true Saints. It is easy to understand why a proud man fails. He is content to rely upon himself only. This is evident in those who seek social position or who push others aside to gain position in fields of business, government, education, sports, or other endeavors. Our genuine concern should be for the success of others. The proud man shuts himself off from God, and when he does he no longer lives in the light. The Apostle Peter made this comment:
"Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time."
From the beginning of time there have been those with pride and others who have followed divine admonition to be humble. History bears record that those who have exalted themselves have been abased, but the humble have been exalted. On every busy street there are Pharisees and publicans. It may be that one of them bears our name.
May the Lord bless us as we strive to understand and follow his teachings is my prayer, in his holy name, amen.
Elder Angel Abrea
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
A few years ago I found myself in a small city park which was covered with trees and adorned with monuments, a plaza typical of many found throughout Argentina. I was watching a sculptor as he used a hammer and chisel to put the finishing touches on his project. His artwork portrayed a mother holding a child in her arms.
The artist was working to perfect the hands of the mother, which were fashioned of marble, and the results appeared to me to be masterful strokes in the sculptor's own style.
As I stood there fascinated, eager to grasp knowledge of the artist's skills, a shoeshine boy passing by stopped and stood by me. After attentively watching the progress of the final touches for a few moments, the industrious young boy turned to me and in amazement asked, "Sir, tell me, why is he breaking it now?"
The youth's naive and unexpected query gave me cause to contemplate the examples which we constantly set, the impressions we give by our actions and our behavior. It made me realize how extremely important our examples can be, as is the force or weakness with which we convey our personal convictions in our everyday life.
The words of Paul came to my mind: "For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?"
According to the radius of our activity, or within our sphere of responsibility, each one of us influences a certain number of God's sons and daughters. Our attitudes, actions, and words convey messages to others which in some way affect their lives, either positively or negatively.
Our actions are the results of our ignorance or the fruits of our knowledge, the results of our disbelief or of the testimony which we possess. We cannot escape from ourselves or from that which we hold in our hearts. We become that which we pursue. The example which we set and the life we live are a reflection of all that we truly are.
In the words of counsel which Alma gave to his son, Corianton, we see an illustration of how ill feelings that are harbored in our hearts lead to actions which set bad examples, with consequent adverse effects in the lives of others.
"Suffer not yourself to be led away by any vain or foolish thing; suffer not the devil to lead away your heart for when they saw your conduct they would not believe in my words."
On the other hand, Nephi gives us a very meaningful example of the power of a testimony which produces an attitude of certainty and leaves no room for doubt when he was faced with the request from his father, Lehi. He answered, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded."
He did not say, "I will go and see what happens," or, "I will go and see what the circumstances are," which would have caused confusion and uncertainty; but, rather, his attitude was one of a person who does not doubt, and one who acts accordingly. It is interesting to note that Nephi did not only express his decision and determination to be obedient in carrying out his father's request, but he further explained the reason for acting in this manner when he said, "For I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."
On another occasion Nephi received the following assignment from the Lord: "Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters."
After receiving this commandment, Nephi's reaction was not the usual one that many people would expect, or that would be a logical response for some: "Look, Lord, I have never before built a ship. I don't know how to do it. That which you ask of me is more than I can do. Furthermore, my brothers will certainly be opposed to this, which will make the task much more difficult. Is there not some other way to accomplish this project?"
No such thoughts were alternatives used by Nephi when he made a decision. His answer was simply, "Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship?" In these words, Nephi's firm determination and his decision to do what was asked of him are reflected in carrying out the mission which the Lord had assigned to him. Then, in the course of events, when his brothers began to murmur against him and opposed building the ship, he confronted them with the mighty strength of his testimony saying: "If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done.
"And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?"
Attitudes and actions which produce teaching examples are those which are motivated by a strong testimony.
The convictions which we treasure in our hearts are more important than our very lives if those convictions and treasures are the results of a fervent testimony, one received through revelation. They give us the kind of courage which allows us to face the trials of life with the assurance that our Father in Heaven will approve our actions regardless of the circumstances which surround us, the ignorance of many, or the hardship of the trials.
In the world today there are millions of people who are ready to do what seems possible, but the prize is for those who are ready to do what seems impossible. If certain things can be done, personal efficiency and skill can carry them through. If it cannot be done, faith and testimony can do it.
As sons and daughters of God we have not received the commandments, which show us the way to return to him on a conditional basis, to fulfill only if it seems possible or if ideal circumstances permit.
To be obedient, to do that which the Lord requires of us, has been and always will be a constant principle in the lives of those whom the Lord has called to be his prophets. As an example, we might mention that at one time the Prophet Joseph Smith said, "I made this my rule, 'When the Lord commands, do it.'"
Without any doubt, Joseph Smith was a prophet with a great spirit of accomplishment and tenacity. On one occasion he said to his cousin, George A. Smith: "Never be discouraged. If I were sunk in the lowest pit of Nova Scotia, with the Rocky Mountains piled on me, I would hang on, exercise faith, and keep up good courage, and I would come out on top."
The life of the prophet of whom I bear testimony was an example of that which he proclaimed, having always given a clear message of his convictions and testimony.
This kind of determination, an exemplary way of life, is not reserved for only a small minority, as some would believe, but rather it should be the constant attitude of those who desire to follow the Lord's counsel in order to attain the promised blessings: "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
In the scriptures we find examples of how, through their actions, parents can send "messages" into the lives of their children which will lead them into paths of darkness or, on the other hand, which can teach them clearly those things which will lead them into salvation.
Jacob, speaking to the Nephites, told them, "Wherefore, ye shall remember your children, how that ye have grieved their hearts because of the example that ye have set before them; and also, remember that ye may, because of your filthiness, bring your children unto destruction, and their sins be heaped upon your heads at the last day." The dramatic power of example by parents in the lives of children is clearly demonstrated in those words.
Sometimes bad examples, or "the uncertain sound of the trumpet," which children receive in the home comes in the form of criticism of Church authorities, or in speaking kind words and thoughts outside the home but within it speaking words which are harsh and brusque. The sound is unclear if children observe the payment of tithing when and if it is convenient, or if they hear justifications for not paying it in moments when faith weakens. It is a distorted sound when they see that observance of the Sabbath depends on which sport event is scheduled for the day, or if the weather is ideal for an outing.
Those who act in this manner can be compared to the person whom President Hugh B. Brown described when he said, "He who knows the precepts and neglects to obey them is like one that lights a candle in the darkness and then closes his eyes."
Now let us consider the sure sound of the trumpet, the other side of the issue, in the example of Joshua. When it became necessary for his people to make a firm commitment and take a definite stand, he said to them in his final speech, "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Imagine the impact it would have if every parent took the same attitude and the same determination which Joshua took! What a loud and clear sound the message would have when carried into the lives of the children.
In the building of eternal families, we need more models, we need more guiding lights, and certainly we need fewer excuse-makers and fewer advocates of darkness.
It is one thing to talk about the gospel, but it is quite another to live it. It is one thing to preach about Christ, but it is another to follow in his footsteps.
When the gospel is incorporated in the life of each one of us, it molds our decisions and determines our actions. We become models and examples who can teach others the path to follow leading to life eternal only when we live the principles of the gospel.
In the great mission to which we have been called, to be saviors of men, may we follow the admonition of the Lord:
"Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations."
We cannot fail in that trust because our Savior, Jesus Christ, has shown us by example: "Behold I am the light; I have set an example for you."
We know the goal; we have the example; now let us put forth the effort and make the decision to follow in that path.
"And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved."
In the name of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
My friend, Milton, has six children. His lovely wife died in a traffic accident and left him with their beautiful children. One day his six-year-old daughter came to his bedside in tears. Milton thought she had had a fight with her brothers. "No, no, Daddy," she said, "I feel lonely. Where is Mom? I want to see Mom." Father embraced her and told her, "Your mom is with Heavenly Father now. We will meet Mom again."
The other day, his four-year-old daughter came to her grandma and said, "Will my mom ever come home?" Her grandma embraced and kissed her, saying, "She is with Heavenly Father."
The mother of an eleven-year-old boy became very seriously ill. His father brought her to Salt Lake from Arizona. A few days later, this young boy wrote:
"We all feel now we will take better care of Mama if she comes home soon."
Later he wrote: "We are very lonely without you. We are very busy around here. We received the telegram and were very glad to know that Mama was out of danger. I think I will close for it is getting bed time. Sister Allen told us in Religion Class that we should go to bed at eight o'clock so we could have enough sleep. Now it is nearly half past eight. Good bye. Your loving Son. Spencer Kimball."
The very next day after he mailed this letter his mother passed away. The next day their bishop received a telegram, and all of the Kimball children were called out of school. They all ran home, and the bishop told them, "Your Ma is dead." President Kimball later told of that incident:
"It came as a thunderbolt. I ran from the house out in the backyard to be alone in my deluge of tears. Out of sight and sound, away from everybody, I sobbed and sobbed. Each time I said the word 'Ma' fresh floods of tears gushed forth until I was drained dry. Ma-dead! But she couldn't be! Life couldn't go on for us. My eleven-year-old heart seemed to burst."
Why death? Why sickness? Why tragedies? Why must I have suffering, and disappointment? Why must I have to face the "deep waters" of life? Why must I go through "the rivers of sorrow"?
When I was five, my father passed away, and we four children became fatherless, because of World War II. Our lives drastically changed; we became so poor. One day I clearly remember: I was playing at the park, and every boy was playing with his father, but I didn't have one. I said to myself, "I wish I could have my father."
We know little of the will of the Lord, yet we judge the Lord often with our small wisdom. I speak to those who now walk the deep water of life or the rivers of sorrow. I testify to you that the Lord loves you, and Jesus Christ will never forget you! The Lord has said, "My son, all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."
Elder Spencer W. Kimball said: "Being human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and mental anguish and assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but if we were to close the doors upon sorrow and distress, we might be excluding our greatest friends and benefactors. Suffering can make saints of people as they learn patience, long-suffering, and self-mastery."
I repeat: "Suffering can make saints of people as they learn patience, long-suffering, and self-mastery," as long as we live righteously.
Let's all learn from my friend Mick. One day he was swimming at a party given by the company for which he was working that summer in Nebraska. He dove into the water and hit a shallow spot very hard. A broken neck was his diagnosis, and his whole body was immediately paralyzed. He even lost the capacity to breathe. The doctor said, "He may not make it through the night."
He had earned a B. A. degree in political science after serving a mission in Japan. At the time of this tragic accident he had just one year left in law school at BYU. He was married and had two children. This tragic accident changed his whole life, as if from day to night. He wasn't sure whether he would make it until the next day. It was inconceivable, the emotional and physical pain that he must go through as a quadriplegic.
Even though he was in this condition in the University of Utah Medical Center, he was determined to graduate from law school. It was an almost impossible task, but good friends, true Samaritans, brought him notes and taped lectures from Provo. Oh, God bless these true Christians. He turned pages by a mouthstick, and if his book flipped shut, he waited for a long time until someone came to help him.
Finally, he graduated from law school, passed the Utah bar exam, and became a licensed attorney. While he was studying, exercising, and maintaining doctor's contact to gain strength, his wife took his two sons and divorced him. This was the most "sorrowful and very heavy" period of his life. But he never complained and even blessed the leaving loved ones. In his heart he prayed, "Thy will be done, O Lord!" It was his own Garden of Gethsemane, and he took his own cup and drank it as his blessing.
In the hymn "How Firm a Foundation" we sing these words:
My friend Mick met a most beautiful lady, Cheryl. They married and now the greatest joy has come to their lives. His wife is expecting a baby. It is a miracle. The Lord said, "I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless." Last Friday, they were sealed in the temple for time and for all eternity. It was my privilege to perform the ceremony for this beautiful couple.
His stake president, President Banks, described him as "a most humble person with strong faith," and his secretary said of him, "Time has always been important to him. A span of a few brief seconds means the difference. He has no wasted time. He has accomplished more than ever."
The Lord said, "The power is in us." You and I have that power, the greatest power, the power of love. We can feel the Lord's love if we but listen. Our kindly Heavenly Father gave us-
Especially the power to love! Love is the greatest gift of God. Brothers and sisters, if you and I have this power, the power of love, we can walk with His Spirit, even through the "troubled waters."
Let us count our blessings:
Let us not judge the Lord's great wisdom with our small minds.
Are you unloved? Are you unhappy? Are you handicapped? Divorced? Are you paralyzed like my friend? Are you angry? Do you hate someone? Do you have bitterness toward someone? Are you a single mother because your husband just took off? Are you lonely because your husband passed away? The Savior said:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
I bear you my testimony that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He himself testified of his great, sacred mission when he appeared to the Nephites: "Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world."
I know that he lives; I know that he loves us; and I bear you my witness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder John K. Carmack
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
What makes it possible for me to stand here, I think, is that you are all great friends.
In the Lord's special revelation on government in the Church, he says that the First Presidency is upheld by the confidence, faith, and prayer of the Church. On behalf of these six who have just been called, I would like to express to the First Presidency our confidence, our faith, and our prayers. We love the First Presidency, and we appreciate the confidence they have in us. I would also like to thank those of you who have expressed your confidence to us. It's the only possible way we can do this work. We have felt a rich outpouring of your love, and that has been an outstanding experience.
I would like you also to know that we have felt the love of the Saints throughout the Church. And especially on behalf of myself, I feel the love of my fellow California Saints, who are here in such great number, and of those great Saints in Idaho-and if I could be allowed a point of personal privilege, of those great missionaries of the Idaho Boise Mission. I feel their strength. Of course, our families are the essential cornerstone of that sustaining love. It's tremendous to belong to this great church.
Now, as to the calling, the awesome calling which has come. The Seventy are called to preach the gospel and to be especial witnesses unto the Gentiles and all the world. As I have searched my heart, I think the only qualification I can think of-and I believe I speak on behalf of my brethren-is that we have an especially strong witness of this work.
I testify to two things. One is that there is a real Jesus the Christ. He has a personal interest in each one of us. And secondly, if we seek him, he brings to us the peace which passeth all understanding.
Last October I was on a trip across the mission. I was near a little town called Fairfield, Idaho, and I was reviewing the scriptures. I was reviewing the account of the First Vision, which I had asked all of our missionaries to memorize, found in the Pearl of Great Price. And as I reviewed that beautiful account from memory, I had a singular experience.
There came to me a very, very special witness that what was recounted by Joseph Smith in those words which he wrote in the Pearl of Great Price was exactly what happened. In a sense, I experienced, as it were, the First Vision myself. And I became a witness to it, a personal witness, through the power of the Holy Ghost. I bear you that witness that the Father and the Son did appear to Joseph Smith the Prophet. I imagine that my experience was very similar to that which many of you have had.
When President Hinckley called Thursday afternoon, he said, "Brother John, I'd like to interview you and Sister Carmack. I'd like to have you take the first flight out tomorrow morning and meet me in my office." Then he added, "Don't worry about this." That was a big, big help.
The medicine didn't work. We worried. But during the early morning hours, the Savior's Holy Spirit reached us and comforted us. We felt peace. It became possible to rest.
May I suggest to all of the Church, and particularly to you young people and you missionaries throughout the world, don't neglect those early morning prayers to our Heavenly Father. Through those prayers, you reach him, and through that, you can have peace.
"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
I think it was C. S. Lewis-I believe he was quoting George MacDonald-who said that we are like a house. When Christ comes in, it hurts abominably. We knew the roof and the gutters needed fixing, Lewis said, but all of a sudden we find that he starts putting up a new story here, and he shoots out a new wing there. We knew that the cottage needed fixing and those things needed doing, but this?
Well, Christ's love can be tough. What is he trying to do with us? In his best-seller, The Road Less Traveled, Dr. M. Scott Peck said that no matter how much we may pussyfoot around it, all who ask the question "What is God's love leading to?" come to a single terrifying conclusion: God wants us to become like himself. We are being prepared for godhood, and it hurts; it hurts abominably, but there is peace.
In those early morning hours, there came to my mind the theme from Ralph Rodgers's play III Nephi:
On behalf of these brethren who have joined me, we pledge our energy, our love, our prayers, our faith, in humble obedience to a call we did not seek, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Ardeth Greene Kapp
Young Women General President
My brothers and sisters, my heart is full of joy today, and I commend the great and noble leadership of those in the past who have done so much to put the foundation in place for the youth of today. My heart resounds to the heritage left us by those in years gone by, and now, on the threshold of today, I feel my heart saying, "O, youth of the noble birthright, Carry on, carry on, carry on!"
In times of great joy and struggle and disappointment, my great companion, Heber, and I have come to know the Lord and felt his Spirit in our home and in our lives. We have known that peace "which passeth all understanding" in times of disappointment and in times of great blessings. In our home, I think perhaps the phrase used most frequently by my husband is, "I want to know the Lord's will, and I want to carry it out." And I repeat that and add my commitment to what he has taught me by his example.
Today I reflect on my early ancestor, John P. Greene, who received the Book of Mormon from Samuel Smith, the Prophet Joseph Smith's brother. John gave it to his wife, Rhoda Young, who then passed it on to her brothers, Phineas Young and Brigham Young. I remember that John was the marshal in Nauvoo, and I rejoice in the heritage of faithful Latter-day Saints down through the years.
I am grateful to my father and my mother, who, before passing on, wrote in their last will and testament not what you would expect-of material things, for they had few-rather, they left with us in their last will and testament a statement of their testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, their most precious possession. And now I think of the lines of that poem which says:
We'll not break faith, none of us. This is a generation of hope and faith and aspirations, and as leaders of young women throughout the world, our prayer is to live so that God's divine intervention will be felt in our hearts, in our actions, in our attitudes, and in our deeds, and that our receptivity to the priesthood power and direction will be sensitive and responsive. The forces of evil are so real today, and the subtleties of deceit would strive to divert us from the promises and blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
To the young women of the Church, and to a little Beehive girl who came up today and shook my hand and said, "I'm twelve years old and I'm a Beehive," to every young woman in every corner of the Church, I say, we love you, we need you, we care about you, we believe in you, and the goal of eternal life is not beyond our reach.
It has been my privilege to know of the power and strength of the Brethren who sit in the councils of the Church, guiding this great work in these latter days. And we're part of that great work. We'll work to have every young woman throughout the Church stand in the valiant ranks of loyalty, commitment, and dedication. Mothers, stand firm; and fathers, have courage to be strong. Leaders, support those great parents. And together in unity we'll prepare a generation that will be prepared for the Lord's commendation, that he may have a house of worthy members when he returns.
To this solemn and sacred trust, I commit all of my energies and my efforts. I rejoice in the opportunity to be a part of this great work, and bear my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
The following addresses were given at the general women's meeting held Saturday evening, 29 September 1984, in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. Latter-day Saint women and girls ten and older filled the Tabernacle and Assembly Hall on Temple Square and gathered in meetinghouses throughout the Church to view the proceedings by satellite telecast. Regions not receiving satellite coverage have access to videotapes of the program. With the theme "Striving Together," the program included music by the Holladay Utah Region women's chorus and talks by President Gordon B. Hinckley, Second Counselor in the First Presidency; Elder Dean L. Larsen of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy; Sister Dwan J. Young, Primary general president; Sister Ardeth G. Kapp, Young Women general president; and Sister Barbara W. Winder, Relief Society general president.
What a wonderful thing it is that, although we are separated into perhaps some nine hundred different congregations, we are met together with one mind, with one heart, and with one desire. That desire, I am confident, is that each of us shall be lifted to a higher plane of thought and living.
We were recently honored with visits to the Church Administration Building, on two consecutive days, of Ronald Reagan, President of the United States, and Walter Mondale, who is campaigning for the presidency. It was my opportunity on these occasions to introduce each of these distinguished gentlemen to Sister Young, to Sister Kapp, and to Sister Winder. In each instance I indicated that Sister Young presides over an organization of more than 650,000 children, that Sister Kapp presides over an organization of more than a quarter of a million young women, and that Sister Winder presides over an organization of more than a million and a half mature women-the oldest continuously operating organization of women in our nation, if not in the entire world.
I also introduced these gentlemen to the members of the Council of the Twelve and to the Presiding Bishop. We all sat together, men and women, officers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, meeting in the council room of the First Presidency.
Women in the Church are associates with their brethren in carrying forward this mighty work of the Lord. It is no small thing that there are enrolled in these organizations, presided over by women, some two and a half million members.
Columnists and reporters for the media have occasionally tried to paint a picture in which women of the Church are demeaned and placed in a status of inferiority. Nothing could be further from the truth. The very presence of these three capable women in those meetings with General Authorities and candidates for the presidency of the United States was an indication that under the plan of the Lord women carry tremendous responsibilities and they are accountable for the fulfillment of those responsibilities. They head their own organizations, and those organizations are strong and viable and are significant forces for good in the world. They stand in an associate role to the priesthood, all striving together to build the kingdom of God in the earth. We honor and respect you for your capacity. We expect leadership, and strength, and impressive results from your management of the organizations for which you are responsible. We uphold and sustain you as daughters of God, working in a great partnership to assist him in bringing to pass the immortality and the eternal life of all of the sons and daughters of God.
You, my beloved associates, are where you are in the balance of the sexes because God your Eternal Father, who loves you, put you there. He loves you and honors you. We are honored to be associated with you.
I have been interested in the theme which has been selected for this meeting. It comes from the first chapter of the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians, and reads, "Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel."
Those are the last words of the twenty-seventh verse. The opening words of that same verse are equally challenging: "Let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ."
"Let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ." That is a tremendously compelling injunction given to each of us. I recommend those words as a personal motto. May I suggest that you type or write them and put them on the mirror before you so that each day you might be reminded of them. They could become a powerful motivator in restraining from anger, in thinking better thoughts, in speaking more elevating language.
As I have wondered and prayed about what I might say on this occasion, I have been led again to read the twenty-fifth section of the Doctrine and Covenants. This, as you know, is a revelation given through Joseph the Prophet to his wife Emma. It was given at Harmony, Pennsylvania, in July of 1830, only a short time after the Church was organized. Insofar as I know, this is the only revelation given specifically to a woman, and in concluding it the Lord said, "This is my voice unto all." Therefore, the counsel given by the Lord on this occasion is applicable to each of you. It includes you girls of ten and eleven years of age. I am grateful that you are with us tonight. I thank you for the effort you have made to come here. Many of you are here with your mothers, and that is a wonderful thing, for there is nothing more beautiful, no picture more lovely, than that of a mother with her daughters.
A woman wrote to me a short time ago with a great sense of frustration. She indicated that she had been defeated or had failed in most of what she had tried to do. She then asked, "What does God expect of me?"
Some of the things which God expects of her and of every other woman-in fact, of each of us-are set forth in this beautiful revelation.
Said he to Emma, and to each of us:
"A revelation I give unto you concerning my will; and if thou art faithful and walk in the paths of virtue before me, I will preserve thy life, and thou shalt receive an inheritance in Zion."
"If thou art faithful and walk in the paths of virtue before me"-those words might become the theme of a very long sermon. I shall comment only briefly.
In very large measure each of us holds the key to the blessings of the Almighty upon us. If we wish the blessing, we must pay the price. A part of that price lies in being faithful. Faithful to what? Faithful to ourselves, to the very best that is within us. No woman can afford to demean herself, to belittle herself, to downgrade her abilities or her capacities. Let each be faithful to the great, divine attributes that are within her. Be faithful to the gospel. Be faithful to the Church. We have all about us those who are seeking to undermine it, to look for weaknesses in its early leaders, to find fault with its programs, to speak critically of it. I give you my testimony that it is the work of God, and those who speak against it are speaking against him.
Be faithful to him. He is the one true source of your strength. He is your Father in Heaven. He lives. He hears and answers prayers. Be faithful to God.
The Lord continued, saying to Emma, "If thou walk in the paths of virtue."
I think every woman in these gatherings tonight understands the meaning of that. I feel those words were given to Emma Smith, and consequently to all of us, as a condition to be observed if we are to receive an inheritance in the kingdom of God. Lack of virtue is totally inconsistent with obedience to the commandments of God. There is nothing more beautiful than virtue. There is no strength that is greater than the strength of virtue. There is no other nobility equal to the nobility of virtue. There is no quality so becoming, no attire so attractive.
It is interesting that in this revelation, when the Lord gave that great conditional promise to Emma, he went on to say, "Thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou art an elect lady." I am so grateful for the gift of forgiveness extended by a merciful Father. Said the Lord through the prophet Isaiah concerning those who repent and are forgiven, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
To any within the sound of my voice who may be grieving over serious mistakes in their lives, I hold out the assurance, given anciently and in modern revelation, that where there is repentance there may be forgiveness. Do not dwell upon the tragic mistakes of the past. Rather, "look to God and live."
Emma was called "an elect lady." That is, to use another line of scripture, she was a "chosen vessel of the Lord." Each of you is an elect lady. You have come out of the world as partakers of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. You have made your election, and if you are living worthy of it, the Lord will honor you in it and magnify you.
He then went on to say to Emma, "Murmur not because of the things which thou hast not seen." He was speaking of the plates which her husband was translating, she serving at the time as his scribe. Evidently she complained because Joseph would not show them to her. The Lord is saying to her, "Murmur not. Complain not. Accept what must be in my eternal wisdom, and do not find fault." There are a few women in the Church who complain because they do not hold the priesthood. I think the Lord would say to you, "murmur not because of the things which are not given thee."
This is his work. Joseph did not set the rule about not showing the plates to others. He was instructed concerning it. Nor have we set the rule concerning those who should receive the priesthood. That was established by him whose work this is, and he alone could change it.
Emma was called, in the words of this revelation, to be "a comfort unto my servant, Joseph Smith, Jun., thy husband, in his afflictions, with consoling words, in the spirit of meekness." That is interesting language. She was his wife, his companion, his strength in his afflictions. She was to comfort with consoling words, given in a spirit of meekness.
I see in that the challenge to every woman who is a wife to set the tone of that which is spoken in the home. It was said of old that "a soft answer turneth away wrath." It is interesting to me that in this revelation the Lord spoke of consoling words in the spirit of meekness.
There is so much of argument in the homes of the people. It is so destructive. It is so corrosive. It leads only to bitterness, heartbreak, and tears. How well advised we would be, each of us, when there is tension, when there is friction, when there is affliction, to speak with consoling words in the spirit of meekness.
Emma was to be ordained under the hand of Joseph "to expound scriptures, and to exhort the church, according as it shall be given thee by my Spirit."
She was to be a teacher. She was to be a teacher of righteousness and truth. For the Lord said concerning this calling to her, "thou shalt receive the Holy Ghost, and thy time shall be given to writing, and to learning much."
She was to study the gospel. She also was to study the things of the world in which she lived. That was made clear in subsequent revelations applicable to all of us. She was to devote her time "to learning much." She was to write, giving expression to her thoughts.
To you women of today, who are old or young, may I suggest that you write, that you keep journals, that you express your thoughts on paper. Writing is a great discipline. It is a tremendous educational effort. It will assist you in various ways, and you will bless the lives of many-your families and others-now and in the years to come, as you put on paper some of your experiences and some of your musings.
In the language of the revelation, she was to "expound scriptures, and to exhort the Church, according as it shall be given thee by my Spirit."
What a remarkable charge to her and to all of the women of this Church. There must be learning, there must be preparation, there must be organization of thought, there must be an expounding of the scripture, there must be an exhortation to good works as directed by the Holy Spirit.
The Lord continued, "I say unto thee that thou shalt lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better."
I feel he was not telling Emma that she should not feel concerned about a place to live, food on her table, and clothing. He was saying to her that she should not be obsessed with these things, as so many of us are wont to be. He was telling her to get her thoughts on the higher things of life, the things of righteousness and goodness, matters of charity and love for others, the things of eternity.
Emma was instructed to make a collection of hymns for the Church, and it is interesting that this counsel came only three months after the Church was organized. In connection with that call the Lord made a remarkable declaration which is often quoted among us: "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads."
As this gifted chorus has sung to us tonight, those words have gone through my mind. The song of the righteous is a prayer unto God, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.
Continuing, the Lord said: "Wherefore, lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made."
I believe he is saying to each of us, be happy. The gospel is a thing of joy. It provides us with a reason for gladness. Of course there are times of sorrow. Of course there are hours of concern and anxiety. We all worry. But the Lord has told us to lift our hearts and rejoice. I see so many people, including many women, who seem never to see the sunshine, but who constantly walk with storms under cloudy skies. Cultivate an attitude of happiness. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine.
"Continue in the spirit of meekness, and beware of pride." Those words are from this same revelation. They are meaningful for each of us.
"Keep my commandments continually, and a crown of righteousness thou shalt receive." That was the promise of the Lord to Emma Hale Smith. It is the promise of the Lord to each of you. Happiness lies in keeping the commandments. For a Latter-day Saint woman there can be only misery in the violation of those commandments. And for each who observes them, there is the promise of a crown, a queenly crown for each daughter of God, a crown of righteousness and eternal truth.
I commend to each of you the words of this great revelation given 154 years ago. It is as timely today as it was when it was spoken. May I urge that each of you read it. Reflect on it. It is in harmony with and so beautifully amplifies the theme of this meeting.
God bless you my beloved sisters-you little girls whom we so much appreciate; you beautiful young women who dream wonderful dreams of the future; you who are not married and sometimes feel lonely, but who, I assure you, the Lord has not forgotten; those of you who carry the burdens of rearing families; those of you who are widowed or divorced; and you beautiful older women whom we so love and honor and respect. God bless you with every righteous desire, with peace in your hearts and joy in your days, as daughters of God blessed with the light of his everlasting gospel, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Dean L. Larsen
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
It's a marvelous thing to see this tabernacle filled with sisters and then to realize that tens of thousands of others are met in centers throughout the country to participate in this most notable meeting. We realize also that through the recordings of this meeting, eventually most of the sisters throughout the world will have an opportunity to share in the proceedings of this special conference for the sisters of the Church.
We greet you, we commend you for your attendance, and we honor you for being what you are.
This evening I would like to comment briefly on two matters that relate closely to the theme of this meeting, and to the fact that you are here tonight, not as members of Primary and Young Women and Relief Society, but as members of a great sisterhood who have many interests, needs, and traits in common.
I think it may be well for you to know that in the last months and weeks, the general presidencies and boards of Relief Society and Young Women and Primary have taken some historic steps to draw closer together. They have determined that they will coordinate and cooperate more closely than ever before in planning activities and in preparing programs and materials that will bless your lives. In a very short time, these three presidencies will have their offices located in the same building here in Salt Lake City. This will make it easier for them to communicate with one another and to share many of their resources. They will also be able to represent more effectively than ever before the interests of the sisters of the Church and coordinate their organizational concerns, which of course all of them have.
Now, these developments do not imply in any way that there has been a consolidation or an amalgamation of these three organizations. That is not the case. And there will be no differences in the operation of these organizations in the field. But obviously it is the wish of these general officers that the closeness, harmony, and unity which are manifest in the efforts they are making here at Church headquarters will reflect to those of you who serve and work together on the ward and stake levels.
One other matter closely related to the first has to do with the fact that at the present time, under the consolidated meeting schedule, the Sunday classwork of Relief Society and Primary and Young Women occur at the same time. This requires that many of the adult sisters who serve in callings in Primary and Young Women are not able to participate regularly in the Sunday class meetings of Relief Society. We hope that those of you sisters who are called to serve for a time in the Primary and Young Women will continue to feel a sense of the sisterhood that I hope you feel in this meeting tonight. I hope you will recognize that in giving service in those organizations, you are having not only great opportunities to bless and enrich the lives of others, but also unique opportunities to develop and grow yourselves.
I know the parallel is not a perfect one, but perhaps it would be appropriate to acknowledge that for most of my adult life I have had assignments in the wards and stakes where I have lived that have precluded my meeting with my priesthood quorums on a regular basis on Sundays. However, I have never felt that this service, which kept me away from those meetings, separated me from the fellowship of my quorums. In every way that was possible I have continued to participate in the service projects, the social activities, and the home teaching assignments.
I hope you sisters who are called to serve temporarily outside of Relief Society will recognize that you have great opportunities during this time. I have never felt that my service outside my quorum has diminished in any way my opportunity for spiritual growth or for opportunities to serve and hopefully that service has provided some blessings and help for others. So we ask you to cooperate and work closely together, in the wards and stakes, in a spirit of common sisterhood, with an eye single to the glory of God and to the development of the talents and abilities that all of you have and that qualify you for ultimate service in the kingdom of God in the eternities to come.
Now, finally, I'd like to pay a special tribute to all of you sisters for being who you are, in recognition of the unique contributions that you bring to the quality of life that we all enjoy and to which we aspire. The longer I live and the more I observe, the more convinced I become that there are some basic differences in the very natures of men and women. I'm convinced that you carry with you, by virtue of these unique differences, some qualities and some traits that allow you to make contributions that are uniquely your own. I don't know of a better way to illustrate this than to share with you quickly a recent experience.
Sister Larsen and I were assigned earlier this year to visit two stakes in Europe. The conferences were on successive weekends. Midweek one of our daughters and her husband, who were in Europe on business of their own at that time, arranged their schedules so that they could join us for a day in one of the beautiful cities of Europe. During the course of the day, we visited a lovely shopping center that featured the beautiful porcelain ware for which that city is well known. The work is exquisitely beautiful and very expensive.
As my daughter and I were standing side by side admiring some of the porcelain figurines that were placed on the shelves of this store, and older lady stepped up to our side, apparently attracted by one of the beautiful figurines on a shelf above us. Wanting to inspect it more closely, she reached up and took it in her hands to bring it down closer to her. It slipped from her fingers to the marble floor and broke into many pieces.
The sound of breaking attracted the attention of everyone in the shop. Instinctively, I stepped away. Just as instinctively, my daughter did the opposite thing. She quickly stepped to the side of this elderly lady, put her arm around her, whispered some consoling words in her ear, and then stooped to begin to pick up the pieces of the porcelain object. I felt a little chagrined for myself, but a deep sense of pride and love for my daughter. In my mind and by commitment, I knew what I should have done, but instinctively, I did not. By instinct, she did what the Savior would have done.
I can think of no better illustration to reflect the marvelous qualities that you as sisters, as daughters of God, bring to bear, not only in making our own lives better, but in contributing, in a most essential way, to the successful operation of the plan of life and salvation that God has provided for all of his children. I honor you and express my deep love and appreciation to all of you for these wonderful gifts you have. May you be blessed to enlarge them, to expand them, and to use them, striving together in effective ways to bless all of God's children and to assist in the great onward movement of his work in this vital time in which we all live, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Dwan J. Young
Primary General President
In July my husband and I went to Philmont, the Scout training center in New Mexico. Gathered there were 150 priesthood leaders and their families in that beautiful camp where the plain meets the soaring, pine-covered mountains.
Jeremy Judd was there with his family, and he celebrated his eighth birthday during that week. Because Jeremy wanted to be baptized on his eighth birthday, his father, Alma, made the arrangements. That Saturday afternoon I participated in one of the most spiritual baptismal experiences of my life.
Baptismal clothes were borrowed from a nearby ward. We drove to a stream located about fifteen minutes from camp where the water was deep enough to perform the ordinance. It was a secluded spot in the wilderness. A bank overlooked the stream as it flowed through a clearing of stately cottonwoods. We stood in the high grass and listened carefully as first the mother and then the father spoke to their son about the ordinance that was about to be performed. They reminded Jeremy of the importance of the covenant he was about to make. They indicated that the covenant he was making was a promise, or an agreement, to obey all the laws of the gospel. They told him he should consider baptism as the entrance into a new life-with the Savior as his example.
Then the father took his son by the hand and walked down the bank, over the pebbles, and into the water. There he immersed his young son in the water of the clear-flowing stream after the pattern given by the Lord. The boy's sixteen-year-old sister stood by my side, and tears streamed down her cheeks as she whispered, "I am so happy for Jeremy." I too was happy for Jeremy, and at that moment I remembered the joy I felt at my own baptism.
After Jeremy had changed his clothes, he stood in the clearing while his father and the other brethren laid their hands upon his head and confirmed him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
With the sunlight on his wet hair and a radiance on his face, Jeremy felt a reverent calm, and he confided in me with wonder and excitement, "I was baptized in a river just like Jesus!"
The spot in the River Jordan where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist must have looked something like this beautiful place where we stood. I could almost hear John protesting, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" Then the quiet, calm reply of the Savior, "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."
And Jesus was baptized to fulfill the law and to give us the pattern to follow.
When Jeremy's father said amen to the words of his son's confirmation prayer, I looked at that young boy and wondered if he was ready for the responsibility of the covenant he had just made. Would he follow the teachings of Jesus by living a new and renewed life? Did he understand his commitment to bear witness to the world of Jesus Christ?
I think a great deal about these things because children are my special concern. I tell you that they can and do honor their commitments made in the waters of baptism.
You will find examples of them around the world-like Lisa. Lisa, age eleven, lives in England. She came home from school one day feeling very excited. She had been asked to read a part in the school devotional assembly the following morning. She said to her mother, "But some of the words are wrong." Her mother discovered that one paragraph referred to God and the Holy Ghost as being one and the same person. Lisa and her mother decided to write a letter to Lisa's teacher explaining that this paragraph was contrary to Lisa's belief, and that she would feel much happier leaving it out.
The next afternoon her mother waited anxiously for Lisa to return home from school. She came home with a big, bright smile on her face. Not only had the teacher let her leave the paragraph out, but she had asked for more information about the Church. In addition, the teacher asked Lisa to present an assembly about the Church. All this came about because Lisa lived up to the covenant she had made and was willing to witness to the world her own beliefs.
Thinking about Alma Judd and his son Jeremy reminds me of another Alma who stepped into a fountain of pure water in the land of Mormon to perform the ordinance of baptism for other believers.
The Book of Mormon records that Alma was one who heard the teachings of Abinadi and believed. He urged King Noah not to put Abinadi to death, and this made the wicked king angry. Alma was driven out of the city and hid in a thicket by a spring of pure water.
From this place of refuge in the wilderness, Alma began to teach the words of Abinadi. Those who believed came out of the city to the pure waters of Mormon, and there Alma preached unto them repentance, redemption, and faith on the Lord.
Then Alma said to them: "As ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, That ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?" Then one by one Alma took them into the waters and baptized them.
Baptism is the beginning of a new life for each one of us, a life of purpose. The Lord is very clear as to what it means to keep his commandments, come into his fold, and be called his people. His people are "willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light;
"Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort."
And, like Lisa, the eleven-year-old girl from England, his people are willing "to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places." It is the Lord's will that children at the age of eight begin to be responsible for the kind of lives they lead. You girls who are ten and eleven, and all of us, must assume this same responsibility. In so doing we are becoming a Zion people, which the Doctrine and Covenants says are people who are "pure in heart." After baptism we can live a new, more thoughtful life as described by the Christ.
Into our office come countless stories of the faithfulness of children who are keeping the promises they have made at baptism.
Christina was such a girl. When her Primary teacher's husband died, Christina showed great concern. As soon as she heard the sad news, she went to her teacher and told her not to worry, that she would check in on her every day to make sure that she was all right. And she did. She would often take fresh vegetables from the garden to cheer her up. She wanted her teacher to know she cared. Christina truly comforted one who needed comfort.
From Idaho comes a story of Jonathan, who went to school in the cold weather wearing his warm hat. When he got to school, he noticed another boy's ears were frostbitten because he had had to wait so long in the cold for the school bus to pick him up. On his own, Jonathan went to the telephone, called his mother, and asked if it would be all right to give the younger boy his hat because he needed it more. As we bear on another's burdens, as Jonathan did, we are fulfilling the covenant we made at baptism.
Ellen was a young girl who really gained an understanding of repentance. While at the store, she took an item without paying for it. But when she got home, she felt miserable. She confided in her mother: "I'm so sorry I took it; will you take it back for me?"
Her mother said, "I can't repent for you, Ellen. You must repent yourself. You will have to take it back and say you are sorry."
It was hard, but she did it. "This is my first repentance," Ellen said. "I'm glad I know how to make things right."
Repentance makes it possible to return to the straight and narrow path and become as pure as we were at baptism.
We can all do what Christ asks us to do. He has a plan that will bring us happiness. As he whispers through the Spirit, he tells us how to follow his plan.
In this song the ten- and eleven-year-old girls have told us we can be happy now and forever if we follow God's plan, which begins with baptism. It is the gate to the celestial kingdom.
As followers of Christ, we should "look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another."
Each of us who has been baptized has covenanted with the Lord to serve him and keep his commandments. Like Lisa, we must stand as a witness of God. Like Christina, we must comfort those in need. Like Jonathan, we must bear one another's burdens. Like Ellen, we must repent.
I pray that we will have unity and love as we strive together to keep the covenant we have made at baptism, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Ardeth G. Kapp
Young Women General President
To young women in all parts of the world, I care about you, every one of you, wherever you are. I believe in you, and I love you.
In these early months of our presidency, we have felt your faith, your strength, and your prayers. Know that you have our faith, our commitment to serve you, and our prayers as you stand strong in doing what is right.
To you-Maria, Anne, Alofa, Kristen, Michelle, every one of you in every corner of the earth, in every family, every classroom, wherever you are-who are striving for righteousness, join with a quarter of a million other young women in becoming a mighty force for good. You can bring light where there is darkness, hope where there is despair, and faith where there is doubt. But it won't be easy. I know that. You know it too. I believe it may be as hard, maybe even harder, than the struggles of our young pioneer sisters who pushed handcarts, suffered extreme fatigue, or where deserted by family or loved ones when they joined the Church. An account from my great-grandmother's journal gives this example:
"Almost a century and a half ago, the Book of Mormon was brought into the home of Susan Kent when she was sixteen years of age. After studying the Book of Mormon, Susan gained a testimony of the truth of the book that was so strong she could not reject it, although to accept it meant a great sacrifice for her. She was at the time engaged to a young man and felt she could not endure being separated from him, but he would have nothing to do with anyone who would join the Mormons. She did not count the cost; she chose the path of peace for her conscience, but her heart was so grieved that she could partake of no nourishment for several days. Then she lapsed into a coma so profound it had the appearance of actual death. Preparations were being made for her funeral until she awoke one day asking, 'How long have I slept?' With tender care, she slowly regained her health and with her sister Abigail, and their parents, joined the Church."
I'll be eternally thankful to my great-grandmother Susan Kent for her testimony of the Book of Mormon and what it meant in her life and now what it means in mine.
Each of you will have a different and difficult kind of experience, but, nevertheless, an experience of personal sacrifice. Your challenges will require moral courage to mark a straight and narrow path for others to follow. Your challenges might be similar to Susan's. You might have to break an engagement or decline an invitation to a dance or a party because you have chosen to follow the teachings of the Book of Mormon and our modern-day prophet. This is a time when the influence of many movies, and fashions, and music, and fads would try to desensitize you so that the greatest and most dangerous hazards appear not so bad, and the loud voices of the world would be allowed to interfere with the whisperings of the Spirit within you and thus threaten your eternal life.
This very week, a young girl from Texas was telling of her struggle to be good. She spoke of the constant bombarding of evils made to appear appealing at school, on the television, in advertisements. There is hardly a corner protected from messages of immorality. "You simply can't make it alone," she said.
Tonight I'd like to talk to you about striving together. You need not travel alone. In fact, you must not if you are to avoid the dangerous hazards along the way. When we strive together in righteousness with our families and friends, there is increased safety. Now, some families are more complete than others, but every family is precious. There are times when we need help from our family and don't even know it, and may not even want it, and it won't make much sense until later. Let me explain what I mean.
I remember one evening years ago, while attending a Sunday School party, I looked at the clock, and it was past the time I was told to be home. Just then a knock came on the door. I was horrified-my dad had come after me. I felt humiliated in front of my friends. I thought I wanted to die. I was not pleasant with my dad; disobedience never makes one pleasant.
A few years later, my friends and I were driving home from a dance across an Indian reservation, ten miles from any shelter. It was 40 degrees below zero, and the windchill continued to lower the temperature. A few miles farther into the blizzard, we discovered that there was no heat in the car. Then the car froze up and would not run. We came to a slow stop. We watched the snow swirling in front of us only until the windows quickly froze over. We were quiet and sober as we contemplated our fate-our lives were in danger. The silence was broken as a friend in the backseat asked, "How long do you think it will be before your dad will get here?"
Why do you think they thought my dad would come? One time I had thought I wanted to die because he had come after me. This time we lived because my dad came through the blizzard to save my life and the lives of my friends. This time I was pleasant with my dad-pleasant and very grateful.
This life provides many causes for disunity and strife. Evil forces are working relentlessly to have us bring contention into our homes over any issue and threaten our happiness, our peace, and our love for each other.
Some time ago a young girl came into my office. There was anger in her voice and hurt in her eyes. She came to tell me all the things she didn't like about her mom. I listened and listened until she got it all out. It was a long list. There was silence. Then I asked, "Is there anything good about your mom?" I waited. I think she had refused to let her mind think in that direction until that moment. I asked, "Amy, how do you feel about your mom?"
She raised her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. "She is my mom; I love her."
She had discovered love. Now, there is no magic formula. She still had to go home and work it out day by day, but she let go of the strife in her heart and she wanted to strive together with her mom. And that's exactly what her mom had been praying for. Miracles can happen when we decide to work together. In Amy's case, something of a miracle did happen.
It's okay that your parents aren't perfect; no one's are. And it's okay that they didn't have any perfect children either; no one's are.
You see, our whole purpose is to strive together in righteousness, overcoming our weaknesses day by day. Don't ever give up on each other.
Sometimes a daughter can rescue a parent in times of storm when she cares enough to help. I know a family with a dad who has had to move from job to job. In his kind of work, everyone is getting laid off. One day his turn came. He might have come home and called his wife into the other room and said, "My dear, we don't have enough money to pay the bills, and I know how much Julie wants that expensive sweater. I told her we would try to get it for her. I don't want to disappoint her. What am I going to do?" There might be some teenage daughters who would have said, "But all of the other kids get new things. We deserve it. Besides, Dad promised."
But that wasn't the way it happened. Dad came home. He didn't have to say anything. Julie and her sister knew. Julie didn't say, "Dad what are you going to do?" Her mom told me that she put her arm around his shoulder and said, "Oh Dad, we can help." How do you think her dad felt? Do you have any idea how her mom must have felt?
Since that time Julie has been working two jobs, twelve hours a day, to pay for her tuition to college this fall. On the day her twelve-year-old brother would not be able to go to camp because he had no suitable pants to wear, Julie received her pay from both jobs. Her mom told me that she held out the money for her tithing, held back the portion she must save each week for her college tuition, and had enough left to take her brother shopping for the much needed pants. How do you think her brother felt? Do you have any idea how Julie must have felt?
Disappointment and sacrifice can provide the struggles that make you pull together, or become the enemy that will divide and destroy families. You will decide which it will be.
I'm convinced that if you will stop like Amy and think of the good things instead of the bad, you'll discover love that will bind you safely together with your family through all of the skirmishes that occur with loved ones. And, lest you get anxious, let me remind you that perfection is hard work and comes only a step at a time.
President Dwan Young spoke so beautifully of the meaning of our baptismal covenant. Each Sunday as we partake of the sacrament, we promise again to strive to keep the commandments so the Spirit of the Lord will be with us always. When you learn to listen to the whisperings of that Spirit within you and have the courage to follow those whisperings, you will become noticeably different because you won't be doing many of the things that are popular with the world. That won't be easy, but you can handle that.
Let me share with you the last lines of a poem written by my sister Shirley for her children:
There will continue to be strife in the world, but because of the covenants, we will come through the storm together to rescue each other in times of danger, even as my dad came after me. We will look forward with faith in God, having our hearts knit together in unity and in love one toward another.
We can do this. I know we can.
The evils of our day will increase, even as the wicked armies of Pharaoh threatened the children of Israel in the time of Moses. But with faith in God, striving together in righteousness, we of all people have reason to take heart and rejoice. With our eyes fixed on heaven, we'll watch the Red Sea part. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Barbara W. Winder
Relief Society General President
President Hinckley, Elder Larsen, Brethren, Sister Kapp, Sister Young, and sisters. We have been blessed tonight by the music and the spoken word and by a rich outpouring of the Spirit. I am humbled and honored by this call to serve the Lord and you, and feel greatly the responsibility.
Here we are in the Tabernacle. And I picture you in every corner of the world in your chapels and stake centers, in your branches-the greatest generations the Lord has ever sent to earth, capable, righteous, willing women, each of you contributing in your own way to the building of the kingdom.
We are a covenant people, as Sister Young has so beautifully explained and as Sister Kapp has so beautifully illustrated. We have promised to live our lives in ways that reflect the gospel principles, concerned about and supportive of those about us. President Kimball has said that "great women and men are always more anxious to serve than to have dominion."
Since my husband's release as president of the California San Diego Mission, I look at him and my eyes grow misty. At such times he must think the responsibilities of my calling are great or that I have burdens and difficult decisions to make. But my tears are for the respect and admiration I feel for him and for his deep commitment to the Lord, no matter what the call is. When the call came for me to fill this responsibility, he immediately did what was necessary to conclude our mission business and, without hesitation, actively supported me. The ability to do this, I believe, comes from an understanding of gospel principles, knowledge of the covenants we make, determination to live in accordance with that knowledge-and a great love of the Lord.
Again from President Kimball: "The real heroines are women who are more concerned with being righteous than with being selfish. have true humility, which places a higher value on integrity than on visibility."
Already I have seen examples of women who so impress me with their spirit and dedication to the Lord; their lives reveal consistent gratitude and faith. There are single women who have found their way into the hearts of entire wards through their good works; mothers of various ages and circumstances who allow nothing to obstruct their mission to rear children in righteousness; wives who nurture and sustain their husbands in sometimes difficult situations; and women who are willing to defend the home and hearth in the public arena and through community service. I have become aware of the refining process through which these women go as they forget themselves in the service of others and sacrifice as they strive to build the kingdom, fulfilling the admonition of President Kimball to "be a much needed force for love and truth and righteousness, nurturing families, friends, and neighbors."
We are striving together with one heart and one mind to become that Zion society in which our beliefs are transformed into action.
Recently at a fast and testimony meeting, a young woman stood and expressed gratitude for her Primary class and commented how well, with the encouragement of their mothers, each girl had responded to both class work and activities. Then, during that same meeting, a sister stood and thanked her Heavenly Father for the new call to be president of the Young Women. She committed herself to that service, then pleaded with the mothers to see that the girls would be there.
Primary and Young Women workers actively participate in Relief Society through their visiting teaching and compassionate service work and through talents shared during homemaking meeting. Sisters, we need to actively support each other as we teach and train. As sisters in the gospel, we are linked together by the service we render so that individuals and families will be strengthened.
In Mosiah 18:8–9 we are told that we are "to be called his people, willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light, willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort."
When the people understood the baptismal promises Alma set forth, "they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts."
What was the desire of their hearts? To have fulfilled the baptismal promises, which are-
That their sins would be washed away.
That their names would be numbered with the "children of Christ", meaning membership in his church.
That they would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
That by keeping the commandments they would have eternal life.
"Baptism by itself, of course, is not sufficient to allow us to be called 'children of Christ.' We must continue on a course of righteousness."
As we live for the constant companionship of the Spirit, we can hear and respond to the still, small voice and be led in what we do and say.
In the following words Elder John A. Widtsoe reminds us that our covenants bring more value to our daily acts:
"A piece of silver always has a certain value as it passes from hand to hand; it is weighed and we sell it in the market place; but, when that piece of silver is coined into a dollar, it receives the stamp of government service; it becomes a coin of the realm, and it moves from hand to hand to accomplish the work of the realm. So, every act of man, the moment it is fitted into the great plan, the plan of salvation, receives spiritual coinage, and passes from hand to hand, from mind to mind, to accomplish the great work of God."
My 87-year-old mother-in-law was called to serve as my visiting teacher. She has received "spiritual coinage." She has captured the essence of transforming her beliefs into action as she cheerfully and faithful finds me at odd hours and gives me a brief, uplifting message. She encourages me, fits the topic to my life, and uplifts me spiritually. Even leaders need to be encouraged.
The Lord ofttimes sends his children to answer the prayers of another.
A friend lost two sons in a motorcycle accident and for a time she felt inconsolable grief. She was unable to reach the bishop and had turned to the Lord in fervent prayer. When she looked up, her visiting teacher was at the door and stated simply, "I felt that I was needed."
In another situation, a sister's mother passed away. A friend, knowing the sister's loss, wanted to help, but was uncertain what she should do. Should she take flowers or food? Her husband suggested she ask the Lord what to take. The answer came, "Just go." Upon her arrival, the sister was immediately comforted by her friend's presence and asked her to pray with her. Then the grieved sister commented on what her friend had brought-a needed peace.
Many can visit, but because of the covenants we have made, we go in His name. We are able to say and do those things that we would not otherwise know to say and do.
Sisters, there are those in our church today who feel lonely and isolated. I have anguished over the cry of those sisters who want to contribute, who want to belong, who long for companionship and yet do not feel love and acceptance. I search, too, for the faces of the dear sisters we wish were here, who may be kept away with struggles of their own, whose presence would make us all stronger. We need you, each and every one.
President Hinckley has told us, "God has given the women of this church a work to do in building his kingdom." Beautiful things can be done when sisters of the gospel work together.
Nephi tells us, regarding our baptismal covenant, "ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost." Then he asks if all is done. "Nay; ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, ye shall have eternal life."
Sisters, I encourage you to prepare yourselves and to prepare your families to receive the blessings of the covenant. We do this by keeping the commandments, by seeking the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, and by transforming our beliefs into action.
As we strive together to give righteous, selfless service in His name, supporting one another, we become united, our light shining forth as a standard, bound together by the good we do, "no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God."
I bear witness of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My beloved brethren and sisters, for some years now I have been deeply concerned that we are not using the Book of Mormon as God intends.
As I participated in the Mexico City Temple dedication, I received the distinct impression that God is not pleased with our neglect of the Book of Mormon.
In the eighty-fourth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord decreed that the whole Church was under condemnation, even all the children of Zion, because of the way they treated the Book of Mormon. "And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent," said the Lord, "and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon.".
Zion cannot fully arise and put on her beautiful garments if she is under this condemnation.
This prompts five critical questions to which each of us must respond: Is the Book of Mormon the word of God? For whom was it meant? How important is this volume of scripture? What is its major purpose? How are we to use it?
First, is the Book of Mormon the word of God? Yes. God has so testified. So have its writers, so has its translator, so have its witnesses, and so do all those who have read it and received a personal revelation from God as to its truthfulness.
Second, for whom was the Book of Mormon meant? Moroni, the book's last writer, speaking to us said, "Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.". God inspired Mormon, its chief compiler, to put into the book what we would need in our day.
Third, how important is the Book of Mormon? Joseph Smith called it "the keystone of our religion.".
"Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations," he said, "and where is our religion? We have none.".
"This generation," said the Lord to Joseph Smith, the translator, "shall have my word through you". And so it has.
"And those who receive in faith," the Lord states, "and work righteousness, shall receive a crown of eternal life;
"But those who harden their hearts in unbelief, and reject it, it shall turn to their own condemnation.".
Fourth, what is the major purpose of the Book of Mormon? To bring men to Christ and to be reconciled to him, and then to join his church-in that order.
The title page of the Book of Mormon states the book is for "the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God."
The Lord further instructed that the Book of Mormon proves that "God does inspire men and call them to his holy work in this age and generation, as well as in generations of old.".
The Book of Mormon being true, then God did inspire his prophet Joseph Smith to translate it and did call him to do the holy work of restoring His church, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Finally, how are we to use the book?
We must first read it and gain a testimony for ourselves. Men may deceive each other, but God does not deceive men. Therefore, the Book of Mormon sets forth the best test for determining its truthfulness-namely, read it and then ask God if it is true.
Moroni, in the book's final chapter, issued that divine challenge to every reader in these words:
"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.".
This, then, is the supreme assurance for the honest in heart-to know by personal revelation from God that the Book of Mormon is true. Millions have put it to that test and know, and increasing millions will yet know.
Now the spirit, as well as the body, is in need of constant nourishment. Yesterday's meal is not enough to sustain today's needs. So also an infrequent reading of "the most correct of any book on earth," as Joseph Smith called it, is not enough.
Not all truths are of equal value, nor are all scriptures of the same worth. What better way to nourish the spirit than to frequently feast from the book which the Prophet Joseph said would get a man "nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book"?
President Marion G. Romney understood this. Years ago he started a daily procedure, which he recommended to us, of reading the Book of Mormon each morning for thirty minutes. "I know that it kept me in harmony," he said, "so far as I did keep in harmony, with the Spirit of the Lord." Then he added, "It will hold us as close to the Spirit of the Lord as anything I know."
The Book of Mormon is to be "a standard unto my people, which are of the house of Israel," said the Lord. It is a standard we should heed and follow.
In the twentieth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord devotes several verses to summarizing the vital truths which the Book of Mormon teaches. It speaks of God, the creation of man, the Fall, the Atonement, the ascension of Christ into heaven, prophets, faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, endurance, prayer, justification and sanctification through grace, and loving and serving God.
We must know these essential truths. Aaron and Ammon and their brethren in the Book of Mormon taught these same kinds of truths to the Lamanite people, who were "in the darkest abyss." After accepting these eternal truths, the Book of Mormon states, those converted Lamanites never did fall away.
If our children and grandchildren are taught and heed these same truths, will they fall away? We best instruct them in the Book of Mormon at our dinner table, by our firesides, at their bedsides, and in our letters and phone calls-in all of our goings and comings.
Some spiritually alert parents hold early-morning devotionals with their families in their homes. They have a hymn, prayer, and then read and discuss the Book of Mormon.
"The elders, priests and teachers of this church shall teach the principles of my gospel, which are in the Book of Mormon," says the Lord in the forty-second section of the Doctrine and Covenants.
The Book of Mormon is for both member and nonmember. Combined with the Spirit of the Lord, the Book of Mormon is the greatest single tool which God has given us to convert the world. If we are to have the harvest of souls that President Kimball envisions, then we must use the instrument which God has designed for that task-the Book of Mormon.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie stated, "Men can get nearer to the Lord, can have more of the spirit of conversion and conformity in their hearts, can have stronger testimonies, and can gain a better understanding of the doctrines of salvation through the Book of Mormon than they can through the Bible. There will be more people saved in the kingdom of God-ten thousand times over-because of the Book of Mormon than there will be because of the Bible.".
The Christian world has the Bible-and so do we. The Bible speaks of a people, the Jews; their land, the Holy Land; their prophets; and the birth and ministry of Jesus Christ.
But was there only one tribe of Israel? What of Joseph, the birthright son, who saved all of Israel's family from famine? What of Joseph, whose sons Israel blessed and said, "Let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac"?. What of Joseph, whom Israel blessed and promised that he would be "a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall"? Where is the record of Joseph?
We testify to the world that we have the record of Joseph-even the Book of Mormon. Like Judah, Joseph had a people-the Nephites and Lamanites. Like Judah, Joseph had a land-the Americas. Like Judah, Joseph had prophets, and his descendants also had a visitation from Jesus Christ, even the resurrected Lord.
"Know ye not," the Lord says in the Book of Mormon, "that there are more nations than one?
"Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another?
" And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another.".
We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ.
The Bible sits on the pulpit of hundreds of different religious sects. The Book of Mormon, the record of Joseph, verifies and clarifies the Bible. It removes stumbling blocks, it restores many plain and precious things. We testify that when used together, the Bible and the Book of Mormon confound false doctrines, lay down contentions, and establish peace.
We do not have to prove the Book of Mormon is true. The book is its own proof. All we need to do is read it and declare it! The Book of Mormon is not on trial-the people of the world, including the members of the Church, are on trial as to what they will do with this second witness for Christ.
I testify that the Book of Mormon is the word of God; and therefore Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith is a prophet, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, with its authorized servants to perform the ordinances of salvation today, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My brothers and sisters, the Church is at one of those hinge points in its history-the ending of one era and the beginning of another, each with its blessings and its challenges. If we are prepared, we shall neither fear nor fail in our particular time.
Among other things, the past obscurity of the Church is giving way to visibility. Obscurity denotes that which is "generally unknown" and "withdrawn from the centers of activity": hence, the obscure is often misunderstood.
The Lord described how He will bring His latter-day work "forth out of obscurity and out of darkness." Thus, as foreseen, Christ and His work are becoming a light which can no longer be hidden. This emerging reality brings with it its own set of challenges and opportunities. For instance, though the gospel light is small, the adversary knows what it signifies, hence his disproportionate efforts to dim it.
Furthermore, God has chosen to work through those whom the world regards as weak and foolish. With heightened visibility, this fact, too, then creates its own set of challenges. Nevertheless, "God hath chosen the foolish to confound the wise; the weak to confound the mighty."
Disciples need not be embarrassed by considerations of scale any more than by the infrequency of prestigious converts, since, as Paul said, "Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called."
But there is still more to be allowed for!
As if comparative obscurity, smallness as to scale, and ample human imperfection in the membership of His Church were not enough, the Lord wants a humble as well as a pure people. Thus, the lesson taught ancient Israel is still relevant: only three hundred warriors were used by Gideon to triumph over Israel's enemies, "lest Israel vaunt themselves."
The Lord chastens so that we will remember Him, trying our patience and our faith until we, too, learn that "none could deliver but the Lord God."
As to scale, what occurred in the gardens of Eden and Gethsemane is of enormous significance to all mankind, but it was inversely proportioned to the tiny plots of earth on which those eternity-shaping dramas were played out!
Truth, as Mount Sinai showed, transcends the importance of the terrain on which it is given. The Holy Land was a comparatively small strip of sand, about two hundred by seventy-five miles! Even so, therein occurred the central drama of all human history.
Yet consider: the wondrous four Gospels tell us vital, salvational truths, but not what the Persians, Chinese, and Indians were about during Jesus' mortal ministry. Yet these, and all other peoples, will be indelibly and irrevocably blessed by Jesus and His atonement. They, no less than we, are children of an Almighty God and are fully included in His redemptive plans.
However, unlike our time, ancient nations and cultures were often unaware of each other. Furthermore, secular history is usually silent concerning spiritual things.
The Chinese in the Ch'in Dynasty were busy with stones and the Great Wall of China. They could scarcely be expected to know about Daniel's stone cut out of the mountain without hands.
About when Lehi and his pioneering party landed in the Americas, Solon, the Greek reformer, was striving to end economic distress caused, partly, by an 18 percent interest rate.
As Pompey conquered Jerusalem, two thousand stripling warriors were fighting for Nephite liberty. Approximately when Jacob was tediously engraving on the plates, a physician in India reportedly performed cataract surgery.
About when Ammaron hid the sacred records witnessing of God's introducing His resurrected Son, Jesus Christ, to the Nephites-Constantine convened a council to discuss whether or not God and Christ were of the same substance. As lonely Mormon, whose only music was in his soul, moved toward culminating Cumorah, Bishop Ambrose of Milan instituted hymn singing in church.
Japan began its recorded history about when Nephite history was winding down, and likewise the Roman presence in Britain.
A few examples of the secular silence about spiritual things will suffice.
Precisely which pharaoh was in power during the time of the great and tumultuous events associated with Moses and the Exodus? There is little in the secular record to affirm those events which Christians and Jews alike regard as being of major significance.
There appears to be precious little secular history which records the drama associated with the arraignment, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus-for Pilate, just more trouble but temporary political gain:
"And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves."
Besides, important as Pilate was, locally and briefly, he was not Caesar!
And why no secular confirmation by historians such as Tacitus, concerning Paul's part in the drama of the Christians, Rome, and Nero?
Mostly, brothers and sisters, these great spiritual events went unseen by eyes spiritually untrained; therefore, they were lost in the swollen sea of worldly cares, a sea which never rests. One day, the historical record will be complete; but, meanwhile, the scriptures will be our guide concerning those transcending spiritual events in human history which are saturated with significance.
In any event, world leaders are busy with the world's business. In 1910–11 a young Home Secretary defended, in Parliament, the proselyting rights of LDS missionaries in Britain. Amid parliamentary pressures, Winston Churchill held fast for religious tolerance. Major biographies on Churchill are silent on those episodes, the outcome of which was vital to us, but not the stuff of secular history.
The same general disregard attends those whom God chooses as His leaders; moreover, their imperfections are duly noted.
Moses was described as the most meek man upon the face of the earth. Yet Moses had a brief moment when he rashly declared, "Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?" Even so, the Lord readied remarkable Moses for later service, including that atop the Mount of Transfiguration.
After Paul wrote his touching epistle on love to the Saints at Corinth, he wrote to Galatian members, using some stinging and sarcastic language. Furthermore, companion Barnabas apparently heard Paul's tongue when it was not the tongue of an angel.
Paul even noted his tendency to boast, reminding us of the wisdom of yet another prophet who wrote: "I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom;
"But I will boast of my God."
Only Jesus was perfect in all things, including love and meekness. Even the greatest of mortal prophets fall short of Christ's high and perfect standards.
Thus, as members of the Church, if we can see the life of discipleship, whether for ourselves or for the prophets, as a combination of proving, reproving, and improving, we will be much better off.
Throughout scriptural history, we see recurring efforts to demean prophets in order to dismiss them-to label them in order to diminish them. Mostly, however, they are simply ignored by their contemporaries and by secular history. After all, early Christians were merely called "the sect of the Nazarenes."
Like his predecessors, Joseph Smith reflected some of the anxieties and activities of his time and period. Yet a torrent of truth came through that good, but imperfect, conduit-more than Joseph could communicate, as he once declared:
"It is my meditation all the day and more than my meat and drink to know how I shall make the saints of God to comprehend the visions that roll like an overflowing surge, before my mind.", p. 196.)
Some followers became disaffected, but later returned-including once-statusful men like Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, and Thomas B. Marsh. Yet these men voted with their feet to rejoin and reconcile with the kingdom. The true doctrines drew them back, however, and the only status sought or conferred was membership, once again, in the Lord's church.
In all this, there is great cause for hope and even gratitude. Moroni prescribed:
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been."
And Lorenzo Snow practiced:
"I can fellowship the President of the Church," he said, "if he does not know everything I know I saw the imperfections in I thanked God that He would put upon a man who had those imperfections the power and authority He placed upon him for I knew that I myself had weakness, and I thought there was a chance for me I thanked God that I saw these imperfections."
From Elder B. H. Roberts, who loved the Prophet dearly, there were these words:
"Joseph Smith claimed for himself no special sanctity, no faultless life, no perfection of character, no inerrancy for every word spoken by him. And as he did not claim these things for himself, so can they not be claimed for him by others.
"Yet to Joseph Smith was given," said Brother Roberts, "access to the mind of Deity, through the revelations of God to him."
In fact, brothers and sisters, the Prophet Joseph, just a few days before his martyrdom, confirmingly said,
"I never told you I was perfect; but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught. Must I, then, be thrown away as a thing of naught?"
Should we be surprised that prophets and people alike experience this next reality?
"For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith."
Herewith means "in this manner" or "in this way." The same gradual unfolding will pertain to the history of God's work.
Meanwhile, Winston Churchill's imagery about history is helpful for us to remember: "History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days."
Since living in the present, however, disciples should heed those imperial scriptures which "spread themselves over all occasions," and in one of these we read of stern, divine purpose:
"Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith."
Why those two particular trials?
Also, why not give us a lengthier Book of Mormon?
"Behold, I was about to write them, all which were engraven upon the plates of Nephi, but the Lord forbade it, saying: I will try the faith of my people."
Again we must wait for our full answer.
So the process of proving, reproving, and improving unfolds; it should neither offend us nor surprise us. Meanwhile, unevenness in the spiritual development of people means untidiness in the history of people, and we should not make an individual "an offender for a word.", as if a single communication could set aside all else an individual may have communicated or stood for!
Some lie in wait in our day, as during the ministry of Jesus, seeking to "provoke him to speak of many things," seeking to "catch something out of his mouth that they might accuse him." The Pharisees actually "took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk."
The finished mosaic of the history of the Restoration will be larger and more varied as more pieces of tile emerge, adjusting a sequence here or enlarging there a sector of our understanding.
The fundamental outline is in place now, however. But history deals with imperfect people in process of time, whose imperfections produce refractions as the pure light of the gospel plays upon them. There may even be a few pieces of tile which, for the moment, do not seem to fit. We can wait, as we must, to learn later whether, for instance, Matthew's or Luke's account of Jesus' Davidic descent is correct. Meanwhile, the Father has, on several occasions, given us Jesus' crucial genealogy: "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!"
Granted, there is not full correlation among the four Gospels about the events and participants at the empty garden tomb. Yet the important thing is that the tomb was empty, because Jesus had been resurrected! Essence, not tactical detail! Moreover, the faithful, then and now, understand why the resurrected Jesus did not appear to the Sanhedrin, to Caiaphas, or Pilate-but, instead, to the bands of believers at Bethany and Bountiful.
Why, for instance, did not ancient Church leaders more carefully record the fulfillment of certain prophecies of Samuel, the Lamanite? Belatedly, at Jesus' direction, it was written fully and precisely.
So, belatedly, the fulness of the history of the dispensation of the fulness of times will be written!
The final mosaic of the Restoration will be resplendent, reflecting divine design and the same centerpiece-the Father's plan of salvation and exaltation and the atonement of His Son, Jesus Christ.
At the perfect day, we will see that we have been a part of things too wonderful for us. Part of the marvel and the wonder of God's "marvelous work and a wonder" will be how perfect Divinity mercifully used us-imperfect humanity.
Meanwhile, amid the human dissonance, those with ears to hear will follow the beckoning sounds of a certain trumpet.
Besides, whatever the present, do we not rightly sing of our God "We've proved him in days that are past"?.
This is the Lord's work! It will roll on until all His purposes are fulfilled, of which I gladly testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My dear brothers and sisters, because it was not appropriate for me to commence my Church service until I had concluded my judicial duties in state government, I did not speak at the April conference where I was sustained. Consequently, this semiannual conference is my first opportunity to speak to the general membership of the Church, to express acceptance of my calling to the Council of the Twelve.
I am thrilled with this calling. Having been "called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority", I have gladly forsaken my professional activities to spend the rest of my days in the service of the Lord. I will devote my whole heart, might, mind, and strength to the great trusts placed in me, especially to the responsibilities of a special witness of the name of Jesus Christ in all the world.
Many men and women were called to Church service last April. Eight men were called as General Authorities. Six women were called to the presidencies of the Relief Society and Young Women. Over two hundred men were called to serve as bishops, and over seventeen hundred men and women were called as full-time missionaries. In that same month, tens of thousands of others were called as officers and teachers and other workers in the many Church organizations throughout the world. Those called in April joined millions of others already serving in similar capacities in the restored Church.
As I contemplated my own calling and the callings of millions of others already in service, I was led to consider this question: Why do we serve?
Service is an imperative for those who worship Jesus Christ. To followers who were vying for prominent positions in his kingdom, the Savior taught, "Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." On a later occasion, he spoke of ministering to the needs of the hungry, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. He concluded that teaching with these words: "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
In latter-day revelation the Lord has commanded that we "succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees." In another section of the Doctrine and Covenants, he instructed us to be "anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness." Holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood receive it upon a covenant to use its powers in the service of others. Indeed, service is a covenant obligation of all members of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Whether our service is to our fellowmen or to God, it is the same. If we love him, we should keep his commandments and feed his sheep.
When we think of service, we usually think of the acts of our hands. But the scriptures teach that the Lord looks to our thoughts as well as to our acts. One of God's earliest commandments to Israel was that they should love him and "serve him with all your heart and with all your soul." When the prophet Samuel was sent to Bethlehem to choose and anoint one of the sons of Jesse as a new king for Israel, the Lord told him to reject the first son, though he was a man of fine appearance. The Lord explained, "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."
We are familiar with the proverb which states that as a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he." We also read in Proverbs: "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits."
Latter-day revelation declares that the Lord requires not only the acts of the children of men, but "the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind."
Numerous scriptures teach that our Heavenly Father knows our thoughts and the intents of our heart. The prophet Moroni taught that if our works are to be credited for good, they must be done for the right reasons. If a man "offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.
"For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness."
Similarly, the prophet Alma taught that if we have hardened our hearts against the word of God, we will "not dare to look up to our God" at the final judgment because "all our works will condemn us; and our thoughts will also condemn us."
These scriptures make clear that in order to purify our service in the Church and to our fellowmen, it is necessary to consider not only how we serve, but also why we serve.
People serve one another for different reasons, and some reasons are better than others. Perhaps none of us serves in every capacity all the time for only a single reason. Since we are imperfect beings, most of us probably serve for a combination of reasons, and the combinations may be different from time to time as we grow spiritually. But we should all strive to serve for the reasons that are highest and best.
What are some of the reasons for service? By way of illustration, and without pretending to be exhaustive, I will suggest six reasons. I will discuss these in ascending order from the lesser to the greater reasons for service.
Some may serve for hope of earthly reward. Such a man or woman might serve in Church positions or in private acts of mercy in an effort to achieve prominence or cultivate contacts that would increase income or aid in acquiring wealth. Others might serve in order to obtain worldly honors, prominence, or power.
The scriptures have a word for gospel service "for the sake of riches and honor"; it is "priestcraft." Nephi said, "Priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion.". In these latter days, we are commanded to "seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion." Unfortunately, not all who accomplish works under that heading are really intending to build up Zion or strengthen the faith of the people of God. Other motives can be at work.
Service that is ostensibly unselfish but is really for the sake of riches or honor surely comes within the Savior's condemnation of those who "outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." Such service earns no gospel reward.
"I would that ye should do alms unto the poor," the Savior declared, "but take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them; otherwise ye have no reward of your Father who is in heaven." The Savior continued:
"Therefore, when ye shall do your alms do not sound a trumpet before you, as will hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward."
In contrast, those who serve quietly, even "in secret," qualify for the Savior's promise that "thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly."
Another reason for service-probably more worthy than the first, but still in the category of service in search of earthly reward-is that motivated by a personal desire to obtain good companionship. We surely have good associations in our Church service, but is that why we serve?
I once knew a person who was active in Church service until a socially prominent friend and fellow worker moved away. When the friend moved from the ward, this person ceased to serve. In this case, a Church worker was willing to serve only when the fellow workers were acceptable.
Persons who serve only to obtain good companionship are more selective in choosing their friends than the Master was in choosing his servants or associates. Jesus called most of his servants from those in humble circumstances. And he associated with sinners. He answered critics of such association by saying, "They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
The first section of the Doctrine and Covenants, which speaks of people in the last days, gives a description that seems to include those who serve for hope of earthly reward of one sort or another: "They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol."
These first two reasons for service are selfish and self-centered and unworthy of Saints. As the Apostle Paul said, we that are strong enough to bear the infirmities of the weak should not do so "to please ourselves." Reasons aimed at earthly rewards are distinctly lesser in character and reward than the other reasons I will discuss.
Some may serve out of fear of punishment. The scriptures abound with descriptions of the miserable state of those who fail to follow the commandments of God. Thus, King Benjamin taught his people that the soul of the unrepentant transgressor would be filled with "a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever." Such descriptions surely offer sufficient incentive for keeping the commandment of service. But service out of fear of punishment is a lesser motive at best.
Other persons may serve out of a sense of duty or out of loyalty to friends or family or traditions. These are those I would call the good soldiers, who instinctively do what they are asked without question and sometimes without giving much thought to the reasons for their service. Such persons fill the ranks of voluntary organizations everywhere, and they do much good. We have all benefited by the good works of such persons. Those who serve out of a sense of duty or loyalty to various wholesome causes are the good and honorable men and women of the earth.
Service of the character I have just described is worthy of praise and will surely qualify for blessings, especially if it is done willingly and joyfully. As the Apostle Paul wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians:
"But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
"Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver."
"It is obeying God willingly that is accepted," an anonymous writer has said. "The Lord hates that which is forced-it is rather a tax than an offering."
Although those who serve out of fear of punishment or out of a sense of duty undoubtedly qualify for the blessings of heaven, there are still higher reasons for service.
One such higher reason for service is the hope of an eternal reward. This hope-the expectation of enjoying the fruits of our labors-is one of the most powerful sources of motivation. As a reason for service, it necessarily involves faith in God and in the fulfillment of his prophecies. The scriptures are rich in promises of eternal rewards. For example, in a revelation given through the Prophet Joseph Smith in June 1829, the Lord said: "If you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God."
The last motive I will discuss is, in my opinion, the highest reason of all. In its relationship to service, it is what the scriptures call "a more excellent way."
"Charity is the pure love of Christ." The Book of Mormon teaches us that this virtue is "the greatest of all." The Apostle Paul affirmed and illustrated that truth in his great teaching about the reasons for service:
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
"And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."
We know from these inspired words that even the most extreme acts of service-such as giving all of our goods to feed the poor-profit us nothing unless our service is motivated by the pure love of Christ.
If our service is to be most efficacious, it must be accomplished for the love of God and the love of his children. The Savior applied that principle in the Sermon on the Mount, in which he commanded us to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us. He explained the purpose of that commandment as follows:
"For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
"And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?"
This principle-that our service should be for the love of God and the love of fellowmen rather than for personal advantage or any other lesser motive-is admittedly a high standard. The Savior must have seen it so, since he joined his commandment for selfless and complete love directly with the ideal of perfection. The very next verse of the Sermon on the Mount contains this great commandment: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
This principle of service is reaffirmed in the fourth section of the Doctrine and Covenants:
"Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day."
We learn from this command that it is not enough to serve God with all of our might and strength. He who looks into our hearts and knows our minds demands more than this. In order to stand blameless before God at the last day, we must also serve him with all our heart and mind.
Service with all of our heart and mind is a high challenge for all of us. Such service must be free of selfish ambition. It must be motivated only by the pure love of Christ.
If we have difficulty with the command that we serve for love, a Book of Mormon teaching can help us. After describing the importance of charity, the prophet Moroni counseled:
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ."
The service of persons filled with that love will meet the high test expressed in the Twenty-fourth Psalm:
"Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
"He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart."
I know that God expects us to work to purify our hearts and our thoughts so that we may serve one another for the highest and best reason, the pure love of Christ.
Most of all, I know that God lives, and I know that his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, died for our sins and is our Savior. And I know that God has restored the fulness of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith in these latter days. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder M. Russell Ballard
Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I pray that my message might be received in the spirit of the address of Elder Oaks.
Recently, the First Presidency and the Twelve assigned me to work with the Missionary Department. Missionary work is a great challenge, especially when we realize that approximately 4.7 billion people live on the earth today. The earth's present population gain is "150 new persons per minute, 9,100 per hour, 218,100 per day and 79.6 million per year.
"If you are 50 years old, the world's population has more than doubled in your lifetime."
At the present time, more people are born in one day than are baptized into the Church in one year. The magnitude of our missionary task can appear to be overwhelming. Yet the assignment to the members of the Church is very clear. We are to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to every human soul.
Jesus taught, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
With faith we shall do as the Lord directed, for the Prophet Joseph Smith declared, "The truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."
An indication of the faith we need to meet this challenge was expressed by Elder Boyd K. Packer, who said: "Since baptism is essential there must be an urgent concern to carry the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.
"We accept the responsibility to preach the gospel to every person on earth. And if the question is asked, 'You mean you are out to convert the entire world?' the answer is, 'Yes. We will try to reach every living soul.'
"Some who measure that challenge quickly say, 'Why that's impossible! It cannot be done!'
"To that we simply say, 'Perhaps, but we shall do it anyway.'"
Part of the answer may lie in our ability to more fully understand and accelerate the use of modern communication technology to teach the gospel to all the world. We must use to their greatest potential the newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and satellites. But even with all of the technology working for us, there is no power in the Church to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ that can equal what you and I as individuals can do.
I am aware that most members of the Church understand that they should take an active part in proclaiming the gospel. Some have been quite successful, but others have not yet tried. I believe that far too many Church members do not understand the underlying doctrine that governs our Heavenly Father's work.
Joseph Smith taught, "Baptism is a sign to God, to angels, and to heaven that we do the will of God, and there is no other way beneath the heavens whereby God hath ordained for man to come to Him to be saved, and enter into the kingdom of God, except faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins ; then you have the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost." When they are baptized, men and women receive a remission of their sins and become numbered among the Saints to receive the blessings and happiness that membership in the Church can give.
A natural consequence of conversion is the continued remission of sin by living the gospel, which includes sharing the gospel with others. President Spencer W. Kimball declared, "The Lord has told us that our sins will be forgiven more readily as we bring souls unto Christ and remain steadfast in bearing testimony to the world, and surely every one of us is looking for additional help in being forgiven of our sins."
In the Doctrine and Covenants we read: "For I will forgive you of your sins with this commandment-that you remain steadfast in your minds in solemnity and the spirit of prayer, in bearing testimony to all the world of those things which are communicated unto you." And also in the Doctrine and Covenants: "Nevertheless, ye are blessed, for the testimony which ye have borne is recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon; and they rejoice over you, and your sins are forgiven you."
A former prophet of God, President George Albert Smith, said, "My understanding is that the most important mission that I have in this life is: first, to keep the commandments of God, as they have been taught to me; and next, to teach them to my Father's children who do not understand them." The doctrine seems quite clear to me; the remission of sins is an ongoing process. As each one of us strives to become clean, pure, and even sanctified, I see no better way for us to do this than to help others of our Heavenly Father's children find the truth.
When we partake of the sacrament, we covenant that we are willing to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ and that we will always remember Him and keep His commandments. Is there any better way that you and I can demonstrate to the Lord our love for Him than to share His gospel? We need not be sent to far-flung cities or set our feet on distant lands to be missionaries. Our next-door neighbors, friends, acquaintances, family members, relatives, and the stranger down the street are all part of the world with whom we should be sharing the gospel message. No member of the Church needs to wait for the ward, stake, mission, or any Church organization, to lead them in doing this work. Each one of us should be actively involved in sharing the gospel because we love the Lord with all of our hearts and because we desire to serve Him.
The scriptures teach: "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;
"For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.
"And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!
"Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.
"And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!"
Just think of it, brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ suffered the pain of all men that you and I might have the promise of eternal life. Surely He can expect us to do His work that He has entrusted to us. Our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son have not left us alone in this great work. They have promised to guide us if we will but ask them for help.
May I suggest a simple way in which each one of us can exercise our faith and start our personal missionary service. Write down a date in the near future on which you will have someone ready to be taught the gospel. Do not worry that you do not have someone already in mind. Let the Lord help you as you pray diligently for guidance. Fast and pray, seeking guidance and direction from our Heavenly Father.
Many, if not all, of you will have special spiritual experiences as the Lord inspires you. I know from my own personal and family missionary experience that the Lord will enlighten your mind. He will sharpen your vision of this work by bringing names of nonmembers to your mind that you have never before regarded as potential members of the Church. As you continue, you will be blessed to know what you should say and how you should approach each person.
Brothers and sisters, you will notice that I did not suggest that you write down a name, but rather that you write down a specific date. The key to our success will be to ask for divine guidance that we might be directed to those who will accept the gospel.
Because living the gospel is essential to the remission of sins, and because giving missionary service is essential to living the gospel, I believe each one of us must set a definite date at least once each year to have an individual or a family ready to be taught the gospel. We should expect to have wonderful success. We in the Missionary Department would like to hear of your success as you follow this counsel. No joy equals that of bringing the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ into the life of one of Heavenly Father's children. Missionary experiences can bring to every member of the Church the calm reassurance that his sins are in very deed being forgiven. Our Heavenly Father will love us for proclaiming the gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ, to all of His children on the earth.
Please do not wait for anyone but the Lord to help you. He will help you. Our individual efforts can produce a great increase in building the kingdom of God. If just 30 percent of the active adult members of the Church would follow this simple procedure at least once each year, we would add 200,000 additional converts to those we are already baptizing. Compounded, this would mean in ten years an increase of at least 5.4 million more converts than we would have had at our present level of member effort. If 100 percent of the active adults would participate, we would soon start to see that every living soul can receive the message.
May God bless all of us that we will have the courage to commit ourselves to a specific date for having someone ready to hear the gospel message. Then may we proceed to call upon the Lord to guide our efforts so that thousands of our Heavenly Father's children will receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. May we all look upon this not as a duty but rather as a great privilege. This I pray humbly in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder L. Tom Perry
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Let me first offer my sincere congratulations to Elder Hanks-we know of your great talent-and to Elders Sonnenberg, Kay, and Wilcox. How you'll enjoy this new association!
The Savior taught us in the Gospel of Luke:
"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
"And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"
From the very beginning the Lord taught His children the importance of obedience. After Adam and Eve had been driven out of the Garden of Eden, they sought the Lord in prayer.
"And Adam and Eve, his wife, called upon the name of the Lord, and they heard the voice of the Lord from the way toward the Garden of Eden, speaking unto them, and they saw him not; for they were shut out from his presence.
"And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord."
Then Adam was tested after many days by an angel, who asked him why he was offering sacrifices. Adam said he did not know, save the Lord had commanded him. And then the angel explained to him the sacrifice of the Only Begotten, and the opportunity there was for mankind to be redeemed from the dead, and, if obedient, to enjoy life eternal.
"And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God.
"And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient."
Then Adam and Eve perpetuated this teaching by making all things known unto their sons and their daughters. Our prophets through the ages have instructed us as to the blessings that come by obedience to the will of the Lord.
President Joseph F. Smith has said:
"Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of Light, who is no respecter of persons, and in whom there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning. To please him we must not only worship him with thanksgiving and praise but render willing obedience to his commandments. By so doing, he is bound to bestow his blessings; for it is upon this principle that all blessings are predicated."
The gospel is so very simple when we understand it properly. It is always right, it is always good, it is always uplifting. Obedience to gospel principles brings forth joy and happiness. Disobedience has a day of reckoning and will only bring forth heartache, misery, strife, and unhappiness.
The history of mankind bears such strong testimony regarding the blessings which are enjoyed by men and women if they subject themselves to the will of the Lord. And yet, we see in the world so much sorrow and suffering because we are unwilling to be obedient.
There is one of His basic commandments which we see so much violation of in the world today. I guess it's evident to those who violate this principle when they attempt to arise from their beds on Monday morning. I see such widespread disobedience of this law as I travel throughout the world. The Lord instructed ancient Israel:
"Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.
"Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
"But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."
The Lord has not withheld instructions from His Saints in this day. In fact, He has given us some pretty specific instructions about what we should do on His holy day. In the Doctrine and Covenants we read:
"And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;
"For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High;
"Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days and at all times;
"But remember that on this, the Lord's day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord.
"And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be full."
There appear to be three things that the Lord would require of us in keeping His day holy. The first: to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Second is to go to the house of prayer and partake of the sacrament. The third is to rest from our labors. When He instructed us to be unspotted from the world, I believe He not only expected us to stay away from worldly places on the Sabbath, but also to dress appropriately on His day. I often wonder what happened to the good old saying, "Sunday best." If our dress deteriorates to everyday attire, our actions seem to follow the type of clothing we wear.
Of course, we would not expect our children to remain dressed in their church clothes all day, but neither would we expect them to dress in clothes that would not be appropriate for the Sabbath.
Attendance at church and partaking of the sacrament are basic for our observance of the Lord's day. Before Jesus introduced the ordinance of the sacrament, He taught His disciples more about love. In order for them to understand the sacrament, they had to first understand the basic principle of love. His main concern was for His beloved friends at this critical moment.
The first sacrament can be compared to our own weekly experience as we partake of the sacred emblems of the bread and water. It is, indeed, a privilege to participate in this sacred ordinance each week and to think about the Savior's words to His Apostles, "As oft as ye do this ye will remember this hour that I was with you"
Each member of the Church covenants to always remember the Savior as he or she partakes of the sacrament. Weekly we should each seek a personal experience, a closeness to our Lord and Savior, which, when remembered each week, will help us to become more like Him. We have His example always before us.
But because of human weakness, we make mistakes even after baptism. The Lord has, therefore, provided a way for us to renew our baptismal covenants through partaking of the sacrament each week. When we partake of the sacred emblems reverently and worthily, we witness again that we will take the name of Christ upon us, that we do always remember Him, that we will keep His commandments. It is a time to remember Christ's atonement, His love, Gethsemane, Calvary, and the empty tomb.
Elder Melvin J. Ballard suggested, "We want every Latter-day Saint to come to the sacrament table because it is the place for self-investigation, for self-inspection, where we may learn to rectify our course and to make right our own lives, bringing ourselves into harmony with the teachings of the Church and with our brethren and sisters."
I've always been impressed with the renewed strength and dedication which come from weekly participating in the sacrament.
The Lord has instructed us to rest from our labors on this day. I am sure this means that a hay baler stands idle in the field on the Sabbath. The family business has a Closed sign facing a potential customer on Sunday. The cash register does not ring to record one of our purchases on His special day. It is truly a day to rest from our labors.
I met a great little family some time ago while attending a stake conference. They bore a sweet testimony to me of what the sacrament has come to mean to them. The father some years before had lost his job when a factory he had been working in had closed. Rather than move to another city to obtain new employment, he proposed that the family open a family fast- food business. The business was successful for several years; then a chain fast-food business opened up across the street and remained open seven days a week. In family council they determined that they must meet the competition. They would remain open on Sunday and take turns going to Church. After one year of seven-days-a-week operation, they discovered they were worn out, cross with each other, and complained about every little thing that would arise.
Another family council was called and the proposition presented that they close on Sunday to see if they could get back their family spirit. They soon discovered that the Lord's system works. Even though sales were fewer, profits increased.
What should we do on the Sabbath day? The story is told about a poor woman who faithfully went to church every week. Her husband, however, was not so devoted. Week after week she urged him to go, but he would not. Finally, tiring of her pestering, he said, "Give me one good reason why I should go to church."
Her reply was: "I can't explain to you why I go. All I can tell you is that I go in empty and come out full."
With the proper planning, we should be able to use the Lord's day in the way that He has intended for us.
From the scriptures, let us remember, "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." And again He has instructed us in the Doctrine and Covenants, "Trifle not with sacred things."
I give you my witness that the greatest joy you can experience here in mortality is being obedient to the will of the Lord. May we always strive to keep His commandments, and may we keep His sacred day holy is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Russell C. Taylor
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
On this momentous occasion, my first time at this pulpit, I stand humbly and prayerfully. May I share from the testimony of the heart and from the fire of application and experience the personal joy of service in God's kingdom.
I can say unashamedly, I rejoice in the service of God. My experience teaches that the highest goodness attainable is a life of unselfish service to mankind. The Master said, "He that is greatest among you shall be your servant."
It has been wisely said, "Service is the rent we pay for our own room on earth." We should know that the rent is due on a daily basis and know that the receipt is never stamped "paid in full," because the rent, service in God's kingdom, is again due today and due tomorrow.
Some mistakenly think that a commitment to service comes after a great spiritual experience. This is like the man who is cold, standing before the stove, and saying, "Give me heat, and then I will put in some wood." The joy and blessings of service follow the rendering of service. The missionary who renders eighteen months of faithful missionary service then has a lifetime to think about it, while perfecting a life of service to others. Some would want and expect the windows of heaven to open before they pay their tithing, even though the prophet Malachi so plainly teaches:
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse and prove me now saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
There comes a time in the life of all people when they must certify with their actions what they believe. Jesus said of his own life, "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister."
Elder Bruce R. McConkie has so eloquently taught us that service is essential to salvation. I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. Progress is not created by contented people. It is up to us, you and me, to be uncomfortable in complacency, to refrain from being spectators, and to be players in the game of life. The Lord has chosen His people to perform a mighty work. Our home teaching, our visiting teaching should be more than going; it should be doing with Christian love. It can be done; you can each do your portion of the work because you desire it.
Fathers and mothers, with your strength of example you will influence your sons and daughters for eternity with examples of loving, uncomplaining service far more convincingly by doing than only by saying. Show your children a life of love for them by a life of love and service to the Church and to our Father's children in spiritual need.
I recall King Benjamin's instruction to parents as they were counseled in teaching their children:
"But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another."
As wisely stated, "Until a man learns to think, he is not an educated man, no matter how many degrees he has." I would also add that a thinking man will want to serve. The greater your service, the closer your access to God. One who serves and sacrifices goes to bed at night with peace of mind.
I think of a dear sister who has crippling arthritis in her hands but faithfully each week, upon entering the genealogical name extraction center in Denver, finds the joints of her fingers limber enough to type the names with efficiency and rapidity-the blessings of unselfish service.
Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, feet that were hot, sweaty, and soiled with dust and dirt. He washed not their hands or face; he washed their feet. He who is the greatest shall be the least-he it is who learns to serve.
Within days of arriving in Europe, Sister Taylor and I, still living out of suitcases in a small hotel room in Germany, were scheduled to attend a mission presidents' seminar in Amsterdam, Holland. As we drove to and from the seminar, as arranged by the Regional Representative, we set out to meet our leaders in western Europe. We drove an hour each way into a small village to bless a leader and his family. We went to their homes. In each home we met a lovely wife and handsome children. We ate at their tables, slept as invited, and in each case knelt in prayer and blessed their homes, their families, their callings, and the area for successful missionary service. I now know our leaders there. I felt a genuine love for them, and I felt the same response from them.
You have those feelings of approaching in some small degree the indescribable joy of the celestial glory. He that loses his life shall save it. My well of spirituality has indeed been deepened.
I invite those yet to be members of the Church to come off the back rows as spectators and become participants in the Lord's restored Church through baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, that they might also lose their lives in service and thereby save it.
Through the years my heart has been changed and softened through service. As the least of the Brethren, I invite all to lengthen and strengthen their service in God's kingdom. I bear witness to the divinity of this work. I also bear witness that this Church is led by inspired leaders, whom I sustain with all of my soul, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Robert B. Harbertson
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that I stand before you as a living example of Elder Ashton's definition of endurance. Waiting to stand before these microphones, I have endured pain, anguish, and all the other characteristics he spoke of.
Obedience to God's commands and a willingness to serve have always been requisites for a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul teaches us that even the Savior, "though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." Our willingness to humble ourselves and shed the shackles of selfishness seems imperative to our progress and true happiness in this life. Isaiah penned these truths:
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
"If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land."
The great test of time reveals that he who refuses to accept these true principles becomes unhappy and dissatisfied and, as the Prophet Joseph indicated, "is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks, to persecute the saints, and to fight against God."
In the Book of Mormon a great story and teaching experience unfolds as Alma, the son of Alma, begins his ministry in establishing the Church among his people. From Zarahemla to Gideon the Church was set in order and the gospel of Jesus Christ taught. After a season Alma took his journeys into the land of Melek. There Alma had great success. The people heard and believed the word of God and were baptized throughout all the land.
With great happiness and joy Alma departed and traveled to Ammonihah, a city to the north of Melek. There he continued his teaching, but without success. Satan had gained a great stronghold among the people of the city. Despite the prayers and labors of Alma, the people of Ammonihah hardened their hearts and would not believe anything he taught them. They even reviled him, spit upon him, and cast him out of their city.
He decided to take his journey to the city of Aaron, being weighed down heavily with disappointment, sorrow, and anguish because of the wickedness of the people of Ammonihah. While Alma was in this state of woe, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him to rejoice because he had been faithful in keeping God's commandments since he had received his first divine message. This angel was the same one who had appeared to Alma and the sons of Mosiah when they were being so rebellious and causing so much harm to the Church. Now the angel told Alma he was to return to the city of Ammonihah and to preach unto the people again, telling them that except they repent the Lord God would destroy them.
I wonder what his feelings were at that moment, knowing and feeling so strongly the experience he had just endured with these people. He had been reviled and physically thrown out of the city, and I'm sure his life had been threatened. And now he was being told to return once again to these people.
Alma's reaction to this command is most interesting. The scriptures say this: "Now it came to pass that after Alma had received his message from the angel of the Lord he returned speedily to the land of Ammonihah."
Isn't that interesting, brothers and sisters? It says, "He returned speedily." Maybe his earlier experience with the angel caused him not to tarry or question, but to react immediately. But I believe he was motivated by love for the Lord and his desire to be obedient. Alma's reaction and attitude to this request has been of great strength to me as I strive to serve the Lord.
As Alma returned to the city, he met a man who provided him with food and shelter. This man, whose name was Amulek, had received a vision and recognized Alma as a prophet of God. Alma tarried many days with Amulek before he began to preach to the people. Amulek, though a Nephite, had not been as strong as he might have been in defending the truths of God and had fallen somewhat inactive. He was a man of great reputation and was an industrious man who had acquired many riches.
Alma was a blessing to Amulek and his family while he abided with them, and they loved him deeply. Finally, the word came again to Alma, saying, "Go," and also telling him to call Amulek to travel with him and be his companion in teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amulek obeyed and began his missionary labors with Alma.
Here again, brothers and sisters, I am strengthened and guided in how I should live and react to the opportunities the Lord gives me to serve. Amulek had much; he was comfortable and well-to-do, had a good wife and children, had a good position in the community, and yet he responded without hesitation to the call to serve.
I have recently been called to serve. I am deeply humbled by this calling and responsibility. I know not why I was called, but pledge to you, my brothers and sisters, to react "speedily" to whatever I am commissioned to do, and I will do so without hesitation.
I love the Lord Jesus Christ and bear solemn testimony to you that he lives. He is the resurrected Son of God. He is our Savior. This is his only true church, and it is good, of which I bear testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Devere Harris
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Dear brothers and sisters, this is very humbling, and I pray sincerely for the Spirit of the Lord to sustain me. Since being called as a General Authority last April, I have developed a greater love for the gospel of Jesus Christ and a much deeper appreciation and love for a great and wonderful wife who has stood by my side through every facet of married life. I am grateful for our five children who sustain us and live as they should, and thankful for parents who taught correct principles and set a marvelous pattern for us to follow. I have learned to love and appreciate good men and women who have influenced my life and stood by my side through many Church callings.
I am most thankful to a kind Father in Heaven for the privilege of serving in the Area Presidency of the South Pacific Islands under the leadership and direction of a great and spiritual leader, Elder Robert L. Simpson, and of being one with a counselor, companion, and friend, Elder Philip T. Sonntag. What a thrill it has been in the last month to participate in the dedication of a beautiful temple in faraway Australia, and to see thousands of wonderful Saints as they came from all corners of that great land and raised their voices in song and prayer and appreciation-true evidence that temples are being built in many countries across the face of the earth and that thousands of righteous men and women and children will visit them to be sealed together in family units for time and for all eternity.
We visited the Saints in New Zealand and felt the same sweet spirit. Our spirits were lifted and our testimonies strengthened. What a privilege to participate in the dedication of the first LDS chapel in Papua, New Guinea-where 450 wonderful native people sat with tear-filled eyes as President Robert L. Simpson dedicated their beautiful building. A handsome young New Guinean stood in that meeting with a Book of Mormon in one hand and a Bible in the other; he held them high above his head and bore a strong witness and testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ to his people. We thrilled after traveling sixty-five miles to a jungle village to witness the faith and testimony of our members there. They gave us gifts that had been handed down from generation to generation because we represented the gospel they love so much. And we gave a prayer and blessing on their village before we left. Tears filled our eyes as we saw President Kimball's picture hanging in a building in far-off New Guinea.
We felt the spirit of missionary work as we literally watched the prophecies unfold that the gospel of Jesus Christ should be taken to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. I am grateful for the spirit of the gospel, the spirit of missionary work, and the spiritual leadership of great latter-day leaders. I support and sustain them with all my heart.
I have observed from many years of activity in the Church that there are some underlying principles of leadership that cause men to become great. There is a certain spiritual ingredient necessary in all areas of activity if we are to reach the pinnacle of performance. George Washington, father of our country, was on his knees at Valley Forge, seeking the spirit and the direction of God. Abraham Lincoln, as he stood on the platform of the train as it left Springfield, Illinois, for Washington, D.C., where he was to be President of the United States, said this: "Without the assistance of that Divine Being , I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail"
These same principles of spiritual leadership caused Moses, Nephi, Abraham, and Enoch to become giants in the land. What powers of the spirit did David use as he walked out on the battlefield to meet Goliath? He said, "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
"This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand."
What source of power did Moses use as he stretched his arm toward the Red Sea and caused the waters to roll back and his people to cross on dry land?
Columbus sailed from Spain, and after several months there was mutiny on the ships Pinta and Nina. He was told that if land was not sighted within so many hours they would turn around and go back. Columbus said that he went into the cabin and prayed mightily to God, and on that dark night, 12 October 1492, a small island was sighted, and they named it San Salvador, meaning Holy Redeemer.
I bear witness that inherent in every member of the Church are powerful resources of the spirit if we righteously seek them. Man's closest communication with his Maker is through the medium of prayer. It is the means offered him to place his problems before God and receive spiritual strength and sustenance.
Each of us has a right to revelation as far as it relates to our area of responsibility. I sincerely believe if we should ever lose the power of individual revelation in the Church we would have lost most everything. We could implement programs of the Church, but without that great spiritual ingredient we would fail to redeem the Saints, convert the nations, and accomplish the mission of the Church.
We can each have access to those great spiritual blessings and that great power used by David and Moses-but there is a price to pay. Let me quote: "There are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?
"Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson-
"That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven." Now, brothers and sisters, what were the powers of Heaven? They caused the lame to walk, the blind to see, the dead to rise. And through these same powers the earth was organized. But here is the key-the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. The key, then, to the future and to the use of these spiritual blessings is personal righteousness.
As President Romney once said, "May we recognize that prayer is the instrument of miracles," and may we use the power and direction of the Holy Spirit and not rely wholly upon our own ability in the work of the Lord.
I bear my witness that God lives, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, that a prophet of God leads this Church today, that life is eternal. I believe that man was "overbuilt" for this world. Have you ever seen a man who was totally satisfied with what he has here? There seems to be a yearning, a longing, a reaching up for something not had here. I think a wise man of old described it best when he said, "Surely God has planted the seeds of eternity into the souls of men."
I bear witness he has planted those seeds, and I pledge all that I have for the building of the kingdom of God in this work in these latter days, and I confirm this witness and this pledge in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder F. Enzio Busche
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
In one of the large cities of this world there is a man standing at the window of his apartment, looking at the gray colors of a rainy day. "This is not an ordinary day," he reflects to himself as he watches the two young men, who have just paid him a visit, disappearing on their bicycles at the end of the road. He is becoming aware of how richly his life has been blessed since he began to listen to the spirit radiated by these two humble ambassadors of the Lord from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This truly is not an ordinary day, for on this day he was allowed, by invitation of the two young missionaries, to make a covenant with his Heavenly Father for the remission of his sins through baptism and to receive the Holy Ghost for himself.
"I always thought that I was not a big sinner," he reflects. "I have always provided for my family. I was a good father, and I was a good husband to my beloved late wife."
He remembers how his life was brought into a new perspective when he, for the first time in his life, learned from the two young men how to truly pray-not to say just a few nice words, but to open up his heart in sacred communication with his Heavenly Father. Oh, what great joy came into his heart as he learned from the missionaries that he is indeed literally a child of a loving Heavenly Father! With an ever-increasing light within himself, he now understands the true purpose of the pain, frustrations, and strugglings of his earlier life that became an instigating influence to make him think, to make him search, and to make him become an earnest seeker of the truth so that he was ready to listen as these two young men came knocking at his door.
Oh, how much he has learned since that first sacred experience of opening his heart and speaking to his Father! Suddenly he understands the deep, meaningful purpose of his life. He is now aware, in the depths of gratitude, of the many precious blessings of every day with its opportunities to serve and help. With an ever-increasing awareness of the need for constant repentance, he is able to fill all the hours of his life with the presence of this Spirit and, therefore, with great joy. He feels with each new day as if the sun of a beautiful spring morning is quickening and refreshing his soul after a long, dark, Arctic night.
In the light of this Spirit within him, he sees the people of this world as they are-running around in their vanity, in their vain ambitions, and in their lack of awareness of the greatness of God and His plan of salvation. He is learning to understand that the only burden, the only pain, and the only frustration of a human being is the burden of wrongdoing-the burden of sin. "Oh, what a sacred experience," he reflects, "to learn about myself and the majestic request by the Spirit to grow in the dimensions of honesty, to grow in the dimensions of exercising the pure love of Christ, to be able to forgive, to have patience, to understand, and to overcome laziness, procrastination, and other cravings of the carnal mind."
He understands that God was always there but that he himself was blinded-blinded through the traditions of his environment. He reflects on the truth of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear."
He can now see that no matter how numerous the sins of a human being can be, they all can be traced back to one single source or origin-the laziness, complacency and blindness that keeps us from looking and searching for our God and King in every phase of our lives and becoming totally His disciples. For the first time he understands the words of the Lord, Jesus Christ, when He said:
"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."
He understands that the Lord knew there could be no compromise made. When we are not fully dedicated, we cannot truly stand in His light and be His disciples.
"And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
"And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
In light of this Spirit within him, he is not afraid of what his friends and relatives might think of him now that he has taken upon himself Christ's name. Perhaps they will not understand, and maybe they will make fun of him. But he feels now how easy it will be to love them anyway, because he understands them better than ever before; and he will do everything that is in his heart to show real interest in them, that they might be filled with light to penetrate the darkness of their lives.
He understands, in the light and the power of the Holy Ghost, what a privilege it is that the Lord allows and commands us to pay a full tithe and invites us to give service, that we can show through our actions every day how much we love our Heavenly Father.
No, it is not difficult to say good-bye to the world with its craving for lust, its thirst for pleasure, and its quest for power, leaving the world groping in the mire of egoism. He understands that, as he is placing his life in the hand of Heavenly Father, he has now become a disciple of Christ, and he has experienced the sweetness of the divine light in its fullness-the light and power of the Holy Ghost. No longer can he be satisfied by the light he can find in this world. No, he will not be able to forget his Savior and Master anymore!
He appreciates so much the special privilege of being invited every Sabbath day to renew his covenant in the sacred setting of the sacrament. The power of this light gives him the knowledge that he will always listen to that Spirit that teaches a man to pray, about which Nephi, the prophet of whom he has just learned, testified: "For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray."
He now understands that by the authority of this Spirit he was led to grow in reverence, that the words of his prayers became fewer and fewer until he became quiet and was changed from someone who was speaking to someone who was listening-listening to the still, soft, sweet voice whose word is quick and powerful, and "sharper than a two-edged sword."
My dear brothers and sisters in the covenant, how blessed are we that our eyes have been opened and our hearts have been touched with the awareness of this truth!
As we now leave this newly baptized member in his marvelous experience of a new life, I invite you, in the spirit of the love of God, to reflect: How much are you allowing the power of this voice to control your own life? Consider the words of the prophet Alma:
"And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the Church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?
"Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?
"Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you."
My dear brothers and sisters, let us learn to be always enlightened with the powerful understanding of the need for a constant change of heart, that the light and power of the Holy Ghost can penetrate us always to make us better fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, more diligent workers-with a dream and a vision to touch the lives of all of our Heavenly Father's children and to bring about the final revolution to all the people of this world-a revolution under the leadership of the only leader of truth, without whom there will be no peace and no salvation, even the Lord, Jesus Christ.
I say this humbly in His name, amen.
Elder Russell M. Nelson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
One day while working around our home, trimming the hedges and vines, I had an interesting experience. I was at work with my electric clippers and long extension cord. I had done this often, each time reminding myself of the need to use these clippers with great care in order to avoid cutting things that I shouldn't.
Suddenly the blades became jammed. Caught between them was the power cord itself. Because I had not seen it in the thicket I was trimming, I had cut into the very line that was providing the power to work.
"Isn't that one of life's great lessons?" I thought. "Power, if misused, can cut into the very source of that power."
Just as the careless use of electrical power can sever the source of that power, so is it possible to misuse spiritual power to sever our spiritual power line. We would then lose that which enables us to generate success in our lives. Proper use of our spiritual power line allows us to learn, to labor, to be obedient to law, and to love. While these capabilities lead to fulfillment, at the same time they also carry risk.
Consider the power to learn. How essential it is for progress, whether one's career is professional or that of a salesman, a farmer, or a homemaker.
But learning can be misused! A sharp mind, misdirected, can cut into that line of spiritual power. Some "learned" souls delight in leading others astray, all in the so-called name of learning. Years later their victims may realize that they have climbed their ladder of learning, only to find it leaning against the wrong wall. A prophet of the Lord has counseled us on this point:
"O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.
"But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God."
What happens without spiritual learning? What happens to the pilot of a glider when he is cut loose from the power of his tow plane? There may be banks and turns, but ultimately there is only one direction he can go, and that is down!
We must gain learning, but we must apply it wisely. Otherwise, we have politics without principle, industry without morality, knowledge without wisdom, science without humanity!
Consider the power of labor. Labor well spent increases our capacity to do. President Heber J. Grant often said, "'That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased.'"
The Lord, through his prophet Lehi, said, "It must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things." So, in reality, competition forces us to improve. It deserves our praise and our gratitude. Without it we could not reach the heights that are otherwise ours to achieve.
But our labor can be misdirected. One can be anxiously engaged in a meaningless cause. Or one can do something wrong a hundred times and call it experience! Some would avoid labor while pursuing the goals of wealth without working for it, or an honored position without preparing for it. The converted Lamanites taught this lesson: "Rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands."
Next, consider the power of obedience to law. One of the great applications of spiritual power is obeying the laws of both God and man. Freedom to act and mastery of our actions both emanate from law. "When we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."
I relearned that so well from President Kimball. On one occasion when he needed an operation that I was to perform, he first asked me for a priesthood blessing. Following that, he said, "Now you may proceed to do that which must be done in order to make that blessing possible."
He knew, and I knew, that not even for God's prophet can anyone be exempted from law. Not even for God's Son could divine law be broken!
Consider the power to love. I remember a mother I met once as I made a professional house call. This woman was confined in an iron lung. The ravages of polio had effectively destroyed all the breathing muscles so that her life was completely dependent upon this large metal tank and the electrical motor that powered its noisy bellows.
While there, I watched her three children as they related to their mother. The oldest interrupted our work to ask permission to go to a friend's house for an hour. Later the second child asked her mother for help with arithmetic. Finally the youngest child, so small that she couldn't see her mother's face directly, looked up at her image in a mirror that had been placed over the mother's head and asked, "Mommy, may I have a cookie?" I've never forgotten that lesson on the power of love. This woman, virtually disabled and certainly incapable of any degree of physical enforcement of parental authority, sweetly influenced that home solely with the power to love!
The power of love between a man and a woman is special. The love shared with my beloved companion, Dantzel, has increased the power of love for both of us. That love brought us to the altar in the temple of the Lord. Her love for me motivated her to teach school during the early years of our marriage. When things were tight, she held a second job at night. Once when things were exceptionally tight, she even sold her blood in between her two jobs to keep us solvent. I thought of that many years later when she needed a transfusion urgently and her blood couldn't be matched readily with donor blood from the blood bank. What a privilege it was for me to donate mine directly to her.
Can the power to love be misused? Sadly, yes. The illegitimate union of the sexes has, in my observation, been one of the greatest causes of grief. In some instances, the improper use of this sacred physical endowment has even destroyed its use in later years.
Misused, the power of love can cut off spiritual power. The abuse of the power to love can result in no love at all. Only its cheap facsimiles of lewdness and lust remain in the wake of pleasure without conscience. Instead of feasting at the banquet table of bounteous love with his own posterity, one is left with scraps from the table-only the refuse from what might have been.
The ashes of burned "love" smolder with the smoke of sadness. Yet the embers of evil still burn. But as loud voices argue on, let us remember that those who advocate abortion have already been born! Those who freely deny God with their amoral and agnostic practices will one day find that He may just as freely deny them!
The source of our spiritual power is the Lord! The ultimate source of spiritual power is God our Father. The messenger of this power is the Holy Ghost. This power differs from electrical power. An electrical appliance consumes power. The use of His spiritual power replenishes our power. While electrical power can be used only for measured periods of time, spiritual power can be used for time and eternity!
Our spiritual power line is strengthened through prayer. As we counsel with God in all our doings, he will direct us for good. Prayer is available whenever we ask for it!
But the Lord places the initiative upon us. He expects us to reach for his power, just as we must insert the plug in the outlet for electricity. He said, "If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things-that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal." Personal worthiness and scripture study enable us to do more with this power.
Rewards result from the righteous use of the spiritual power belonging to the priesthood! And they are so great that they are almost beyond human comprehension. To those couples who bear and share that priesthood worthily and remain faithful to the law of the everlasting covenant of eternal marriage, enduring the congested years and trials of diapers and dishes, crowded kitchen and thin pocketbook, service in the Church, education and the burning of the midnight oil, the Lord makes this promise: "Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection; and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever."
The spiritual power line conveys revelation. Revelation is given to the President for the Church, and to leaders and teachers in their respective callings. Personal revelation is provided for the glorification of individual members and families in the Church. These lines are well insulated, and they are not scrambled! Our Father is a God of order! No one else receives revelation to govern the Church; that will be delivered only to the President of the Church. The father in the home next door will not receive revelation for his neighbor's family.
It is possible to disregard or even misuse spiritual power. Some have misused the power of prayer by making that sacred communication trivial. Some well-meaning Saints even do the right things for the wrong reasons, if they narrowly center on the percentages they report rather than on the precious people they serve.
Like cutting the cord with clippers, it is possible to use spiritual power so carelessly as to destroy one's very connection to that power. I know a husband who dominates his wife as though she were his possession. He seems to regard her about as he does his automobile or his suitcase, which he uses for his own purposes. And I know a wife who dominates her husband to the point that he has lost all feelings of worth.
Remember, "The rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness."
The unrighteous use of priesthood authority surely severs the connection to the Source of that authority.
Worship strengthens our power line to deity. There can be no true worship without sacrifice, and there can be no true sacrifice without a cause. The cause that earns our love and priority is the cause of Jesus Christ.
Speaking of his own atonement, the Savior proclaimed, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world." His example of worship, sacrifice, and commitment to cause becomes ours! His is the ultimate source of all our power to do good.
As we carefully and prayerfully protect the spiritual power line that links us to the Savior, we become more like him!
Of his sacred name and mission I solemnly bear special witness. Of his divine sonship I proclaim sacred testimony. That this is his church I fervently declare, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Howard W. Hunter
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
North of Jerusalem about eighty miles or so lies a beautiful body of water known earlier in biblical times as the Sea of Chinneroth and the Lake of Gennesaret, but known best to us today as the Sea of Galilee. It is a freshwater inland lake a little over twelve miles long and seven miles wide. The River Jordan flows through it, from north to south, on its journey toward the Dead Sea.
This was the lake Jesus knew as a child and as a young man, its western shores lying just twelve or fifteen miles from his boyhood home of Nazareth. It was to this lake and the neighboring Galilean hills that Jesus returned so often during those demanding years of his public ministry.
On one journey to Galilee, the Savior taught the multitudes crowded near the water's edge. With the people pressing ever closer, Jesus sought a better teaching circumstance by stepping into a boat and pushing out a few yards into the sea. There, a short distance from the eager crowd, he could be seen and heard by those straining for sight and words of the Master.
Following his discourse, the Savior invited his disciples to join him, and they set out together for the other side of the lake. The Sea of Galilee is quite low, about 680 feet below sea level, and the heat becomes quite great. The hills surrounding the water rise up very sharply and to considerable height. The cold air rushing down from the hills meets the warm air rising from the lake in such a way that sudden and temporarily violent storms can occur on the surface of that inland sea. It was just such a storm as this that Jesus and his disciples found as they crossed the lake at evening time. This is the way Mark described it:
"And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
"And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
"And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
"And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
"And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
"And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
All of us have seen some sudden storms in our lives. A few of them, though temporary like these on the Sea of Galilee, can be violent and frightening and potentially destructive. As individuals, as families, as communities, as nations, even as a church, we have had sudden squalls arise which have made us ask one way or another, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" And one way or another we always hear in the stillness after the storm, "Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?"
None of us would like to think we have no faith, but I suppose the Lord's gentle rebuke here is largely deserved. This great Jehovah, in whom we say we trust and whose name we have taken upon us, is he who said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." And he is also the one who said, "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear." Furthermore, it was he who parted the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to pass through on dry ground. Certainly it should be no surprise that he could command a few elements acting up on the Sea of Galilee. And our faith should remind us that he can calm the troubled waters of our lives.
Let me recall for you the story of Mary Ann Baker. Her beloved and only brother suffered from the same respiratory disease that had taken their parents' lives, and he left their home in Chicago to find a warmer climate in the southern part of the United States.
For a time he seemed to be improving, but then a sudden turn in his health came and he died almost immediately. Mary Ann and her sister were heartbroken. It only added to their deep grief that neither their own health nor their personal finances allowed them to claim their brother's body or to finance its return to Chicago for burial.
The Baker family had been raised as faithful Christians, but Mary's trust in a loving God broke under the strain of her brother's death and her own diminished circumstances. "God does not care for me or mine," said Mary Ann. "This particular manifestation of what they call 'divine providence' is unworthy of a God of love." Does that sound at all familiar?
"I have always tried to believe on Christ and give the Master a consecrated life," she said, "but this is more than I can bear. What have I done to deserve this? What have I left undone that God should wreak His vengeance upon me in this way?"
I suppose we have all had occasion, individually or collectively, to cry out on some stormy sea, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" And so cried Mary Ann Baker.
But as the days and the weeks went by, the God of life and love began to calm the winds and the waves of what this sweet young woman called "her unsanctified heart." Her faith not only returned but it flourished, and like Job of old, she learned new things, things "too wonderful" to have known before her despair. On the Sea of Galilee, the stirring of the disciples' faith was ultimately more important than the stilling of the sea, and so it was with her.
Later, as something of a personal testimonial and caring very much for the faith of others who would be tried by personal despair, she wrote the words of the hymn we have all sung, "Master, the Tempest Is Raging." May I share it with you?
Then this beautiful, moving refrain:
Too often, I fear, both in the living of life and in the singing of this hymn, we fail to emphasize the sweet peace of this concluding verse:
We will all have some adversity in our lives. I think we can be reasonably sure of that. Some of it will have the potential to be violent and damaging and destructive. Some of it may even strain our faith in a loving God who has the power to administer relief in our behalf.
To those anxieties I think the Father of us all would say, "Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?" And of course that has to be faith for the whole journey, the entire experience, the fulness of our life, not simply around the bits and pieces and tempestuous moments. At the end of the journey, an end none of us can see now, we will say, "Master, the terror is over. Linger, Oh, blessed Redeemer! Leave me alone no more."
Jesus said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." On the same occasion, he said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you." Throughout his life and ministry he spoke of peace, and when he came forth from the tomb and appeared unto his disciples, his first greeting was, "Peace be unto you."
But Jesus was not spared grief and pain and anguish and buffeting. No tongue can speak the unutterable burden he carried, nor have we the wisdom to understand the prophet Isaiah's description of him as "a man of sorrows." His ship was tossed most of his life, and, at least to mortal eyes, it crashed fatally on the rocky coast of Calvary. We are asked not to look on life with mortal eyes; with spiritual vision we know something quite different was happening upon the cross.
Peace was on the lips and in the heart of the Savior no matter how fiercely the tempest was raging. May it so be with us-in our own hearts, in our own homes, in our nations of the world, and even in the buffetings faced from time to time by the Church. We should not expect to get through life individually or collectively without some opposition.
One of the wisest of the ancient Romans once spoke a great gospel truth and probably never realized he had done so. Speaking of Roman naval power and the absolute imperative to control the oceans, Cicero said to a military aide, "He who commands the sea has command of everything." Of that I so testify.
"Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea or demons or men or whatever it be, no waters can swallow the ship where lies the Master of ocean and earth and skies. They all shall sweetly obey will. Peace, be still!" In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Marion D. Hanks
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
I am assigned to speak on the subject of eternal marriage and am prayerful that my preparation and spirit will not be inadequate to that very holy subject.
In a beautiful sealing room in the temple I talked one day with a little boy who was dressed in white, ready to join his parents and brothers and sisters in a sacred ceremony. I said to him, "Why is your family here in the temple?"
He said, "To be sealed."
I said, "What does being sealed mean?"
He said, "We're going to be a forever family."
"Oh," I said, "you are going to be a family forever. You must have a good family, a happy family, to want to be with them forever. Do you have a happy family?"
"Yes, sir!" he said.
This fine lad had already begun to understand two of the most important principles anyone could know: that our Heavenly Father has provided that marriage and family ties may be established permanently, to endure forever; and that a marriage that we can joyfully look forward to eternally must be a good marriage here, a marriage that is the heart of a happy home and family.
I also wish to testify that the principles and covenants of the gospel, particularly those of the temple, are the best possible basis on which to build a strong union; and that such a marriage never just happens. It is brought about not simply by ceremony or circumstance or chance, but by two mature, loving adults who are able and willing to learn the principles upon which a vital and durable marriage may be fashioned and who, day by day, year by year, work on that process.
Most of us gathered tonight are married. Many are nearing the time for that vital undertaking.
You younger men who are old enough to attend this meeting are old enough also to begin to think seriously with us of some vitally important principles in your future.
Let me speak, then, of a temple marriage, as the basis for a happy, eternal union, fashioned on the solid foundation of gospel covenants by two honest adults who are learning and growing together and with the priesthood of God as the authority through which the covenants are administered-the priesthood not as a commission of superiority or domination, but of service, of loving leadership and faithful example in the home, through the Spirit of the Lord.
Honorable marriage is approved of the Lord. Indeed, the scriptures teach that "marriage is ordained of God" for His children, and also "whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever." His way of everlasting marriage is filled with hope and promise, and is designed to lead to happiness here and to an eternal stewardship like that of God himself.
In the beginning, after the earth was prepared, God brought man and woman together in the Garden, and the first wedding occurred. They were not yet subject to mortal death, and no time limitations were placed upon their marriage. God declared, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."
When Christ lived on the earth, He quoted this commandment and added, "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." He gave His disciples power to bind in heaven that which is bound on earth. Paul declared that "neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord."
When the gospel was restored there came a renewed understanding of temples and temple worship. The power to bind and seal on earth and in heaven has again been entrusted to authorized servants of God. Eternal marriage, marriage of highest promise, is again performed for time and for all eternity by qualified officiators in the holy temples of the Lord.
But a marriage designed to last forever will be a good marriage, growing and gracious. Sometimes the distinctive elements of temple marriage are thought of as being exclusive in duration and authority. Of course, everyone who comes to the temple to be married understands that the ceremony is performed by God's authority for time and eternity. But the remarkable revealed ceremony at the altar in a temple contemplates much more than this. The quality of the relationship thus established is of highest importance. Wonderful promises are sealed upon a man and woman in temple marriage, and the realization of the promised blessings is related directly to their understanding and keeping the solemn commitments they make to each other and the Lord.
Those commitments in a temple are total and permanent-involving the whole person, as is, for the whole journey. Neither will remain as he or she is, of course; they will both grow and develop in a multitude of ways. But this marriage ceremony is without condition or reservation, save only the faithfulness of those who make it. On this solid foundation the newly formed family joyfully undertakes to learn how to live happily forever, to build a strong and loving union that will grow more wholesome and more glorious everlastingly. How do we ensure success in such a vital and great undertaking?
Many new and enduring relationships spring into being with marriage-relationships all of which are vital to the happiness of the family.
For her, the words-sacred words-are wife, mother, homemaker, heart of a home; for him, husband, father, protector, provider, leader in his home in the warm spirit of the priesthood.
Together they enter a partnership, sharing and learning and growing.
They join their lives as companions in the special sense that married people do. Whether in the same room or a world apart, they are married twenty-four hours a day. They care about the whole person, the whole future of each other. With good humor and good disposition and genuine consideration of the needs of the other, they set out to make it a happy life. They laugh a lot and cry a little. They are warm and considerate and thoughtful: the note, the telephone call, the kind word, the sensitive response, the excitement of heading home to her, of having him come home.
Married people are sweethearts, in a special creative union, blessed with that powerful chemistry that draws two together, sometimes from next door, sometimes from a world away. This divinely designed power must be sustained by other qualities-by respect and loyalty and integrity-to be what it is meant to be. To be able to give oneself fully with confidence and trust, and to fully receive the other joyfully and gratefully-this is a blessing that grows in meaning year by year and forever.
In six sad words, a brokenhearted wife years ago summed up the disintegration of a marriage and the foolishness of believing that the physical union can stand alone-is enough without kindness and consideration and other essential qualities. She said, "We have nothing left to express."
And married people should be best friends; no relationship on earth needs friendship as much as marriage.
I have in my possession a letter written by a young widowed immigrant in the early days of the Church. It was written in 1848 in Honeycreek, Missouri, to her husband's mother and sister in England. He had died on the sailing vessel en route, leaving her and the two boys to make their way west with the Saints, heartsick and alone. She wrote the letter that changed my life a little. Maybe it will yours.
She began, "Dear Mother and dear Hannah, your dearly beloved son and my best friend has gone the way of all the earth. Dearer to me in life than life itself, he's gone. Oh Mother, Mother, what am I to do?"
And then she told of her love for this, her best friend, and that she would rear these two boys in the kingdom and in his image and in the admonition of the Lord.
A tear came as I asked myself if that letter could have been written at my house.
Friendship in a marriage is so important. It blows away the chaff and takes the kernel, rejoices in the uniqueness of the other, listens patiently, gives generously, forgives freely. Friendship will motivate one to cross the room one day and say, "I'm sorry; I didn't mean that." It will not pretend perfection nor demand it. It will not insist that both respond exactly the same in every thought and feeling, but it will bring to the union honesty, integrity. There will be repentance and forgiveness in every marriage-every good marriage-and respect and trust.
And all these and other elements we are not able to mention eloquently declare that such a union doesn't just happen.
So the need becomes clear for careful, thoughtful preparation, selection, and courtship. No one should be unwise enough to count on an across-the-crowded-room romanticized live-happily- ever-after marriage made without proper thoughtfulness, preparation, and prayer. Marriage is an everyday and every-way relationship in which honesty and character and shared convictions and objectives and views about finances and family and life-style are more important than moonlight and music and an attractive profile.
The surest basis for all of this is to be worthily married in the temple. But temple marriage is not an isolated ordinance. It serves both as a culmination of other ordinances and the foundation for family and the eternal future.
Perhaps some of you young men do not know that no one can enter into a temple marriage until he or she has been to the temple previously to receive his or her own blessings. Two who desire an eternal marriage cannot establish that relationship until each has personally made sacred covenants with the Lord. These covenants center in principles that are basic in a truly Christian life and in the foundation of a good marriage and family.
You see, the covenants we make in the temple, like the other sacred ordinances in the kingdom, relate us to and center in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the temple we make commitments to follow Him in doing God's will and keeping His commandments, in valuing others and in unselfishly serving, in loving God and our fellowmen. Sexual purity and complete fidelity to moral principle are promised, with a sense of self-worth and self-control and whole-souled devotion to the cause of righteousness and truth.
All of this happens through the priesthood, the Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God. A thoughtful understanding of this should automatically eliminate any false perceptions of superiority or inferiority. Men and women are of equal value before God and must be equally valuable in the eyes of each other. A true devotion to following the example of the Son of God will never permit notions of domination or dictatorship or possession or control. It will never justify unrighteousness or abuse or filth or discourtesy. Christ's way is the way of persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, love unfeigned.
It is simple to see, isn't it, that the kind of marriage we're talking about doesn't just happen? The foundation is laid in the House of the Lord. The marriage is pronounced by authority of God. And then it is fashioned by two who are wholesome, prepared emotionally and practically, and who are honest. It requires being ready to go to a temple, being mature enough to make promises and keep them and to receive holy promises and qualify for them.
So wherever we are with respect to marriage-years from it, close to it, or deeply committed in it-we must be wise, be faithful to the commandments of God, be true. Marriage is the closest and most intimate relationship one makes in this life, and the most serious and sacred decision. If you haven't been to the Lord's house, get ready, be clean, prepare to come to establish the foundation for a special, happy, eternal marriage.
And the inspiration for all of this is the sweet assurance-deeply rooted in the heart of every decent man who is living as he should with his sweetheart wife, or who has so lived, or who is planning and preparing such a union-that heaven will be heaven for us because we know we will be there with the one we love the best. Parley P. Pratt said after he met the Prophet in Philadelphia that "it was from him that I learned that the wife of my bosom might be secured to me for time and all eternity; and that the refined sympathies and affections which endeared us to each other emanated from the foundation of divine eternal love. It was from the Prophet that I learned that we might cultivate these affections, and grow and increase in the same to all eternity."
We sat in a room the other night with our five children and their eternal partners, and with their sixteen children. Twenty-eight of us joined in a circle of affection and appreciation. That circle, established with the two of us in a holy house of the Lord only a few short years ago, has expanded miraculously. Our last child was born twenty-four years ago, but the circle continues to expand and grow. God being willing, we may live to see another generation of wonderful children entering the world. We are grateful to know that our family will relate with us eternally, even as we will with those who gave us mortal life, and all of us together will find a loving place ultimately and a continuing relationship under the holy influence of Him whose spirit children we are and of Him whose holy sacrifice brought us the blessings of eternal life. Of this I testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Bishop Victor L. Brown
Presiding Bishop
I deeply appreciate the opportunity tonight to address the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood and their leaders. I have a sincere desire to cause each one to enlarge his vision of what the Aaronic Priesthood means and what a great blessing it is to be entrusted with its power. I think it is very important to recognize that the Lord has entrusted each individual with the responsibility associated with the Aaronic Priesthood. In other words, when I speak of the Aaronic Priesthood, I speak of it as it affects each individual, not just as a large number of boys or men. When one receives the Aaronic Priesthood, he receives it as a personal, private ordination, not just as one of many. Therefore, I hope you will feel that what I have to say tonight should be taken as a personal message-to the deacon in the upper row of the balcony here in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, to the teacher watching the satellite transmission in New Jersey, and to the young priest hearing the broadcast in France or Samoa or Brazil-to each individual young man.
This summer we all witnessed one of the most wonderful and inspiring exhibitions of youthful accomplishments among athletes that can be imagined. People all over the world were lifted to new heights of faith in mankind through the performance of the men and women at the summer Olympic games in Los Angeles. Their self-confidence and commitment to excel were infectious. I, for one, have unrestrained admiration for all of them, not only those who received medals, but all of the participants; and, of course, the thousands of volunteers who made that great event possible deserve to be recognized as well.
I would like to draw some parallels between the experiences of these young people and the experiences, which are far greater and longer lasting, that most of you will have in your life's contest. I specifically speak to the deacon, teacher, and priest who have had conferred upon them the power and the authority of the Aaronic Priesthood.
Each participant in the Olympics needed to train thoroughly to even qualify to participate. It took many, many hours of practicing, of developing self-discipline, of developing further commitment to achieve the goal. It required sacrifice, and it required a feeling of self-confidence. You as an Aaronic Priesthood holder have qualified to receive that priesthood. Had you not qualified, it would not have been given to you, and you would not be authorized to participate and exercise its power and authority.
You did not have to spend the hours the athletes had to spend to condition and perfect your physical body, but you had to do something more important than that. It was necessary for you to prepare your spirit to receive the blessings of this great honor. Now that you have been accepted, if you expect to succeed, it is essential that you do those things that will bring about success. When you do succeed, which requires not just months but a lifetime of living and proving yourself, you may not receive the applause of men. You will not be performing before large audiences of enthusiastic supporters, but you will have performed many of the necessary labors in private and without expectation of recognition. And that, of course, requires greater self-discipline than just about any other human endeavor.
In striving to do their best, these young athletes often looked for inspiration and motivation to those who had performed in prior games, establishing Olympic records. They worked to perfect their talents in order to equal or better those records. You as an Aaronic Priesthood holder have available many examples of those who have honored their priesthood: John the Baptist, Joseph Smith, your own father, and your bishop. You need only strive to be and do your best to follow these examples.
Most of the participants in the Olympic games recognized that in athletics, as well as in life, the real competition is with self, not against others. I watched a television interview one day where this was made very clear. The fourteen-year-old figure skating champion of Canada was asked how she felt when she performed to her very best and won. She responded, "Wonderful."
"How do you feel when you perform your very best-and lose?"
"Wonderful."
"How do you feel when you don't perform your very best and win?"
"Terrible."
As an Aaronic Priesthood holder, your contest is with yourself as you honor your priesthood.
The priesthood you hold was restored to the earth on 15 May 1829, by a heavenly messenger, John the Baptist-the same John who with the authority of the Aaronic Priesthood baptized Jesus of Nazareth in the River Jordan and later, as a resurrected being, laid his hands on Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and said:
"Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness."
John the Baptist said he came at the direction of Peter, James, and John. The ordination was performed before the Church was organized again upon the earth.
The Aaronic Priesthood is a preparatory priesthood. It is an appendage to the Melchizedek Priesthood and has to do largely with outward ordinances and temporal responsibilities. However, in the ordination, John the Baptist said that it "holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins." These are essential for admittance into the Church of Jesus Christ and to achieve the goal of exaltation in the kingdom of God.
I feel sometimes we consider the preparation and handling of the sacrament and the collecting of fast offerings and so forth as almost the sum and substance of the Aaronic Priesthood responsibility. This is not true. These activities, of course, are very important, but there is so much more. As a preparatory priesthood it is preparing you ultimately, of course, for eternal life and exaltation. The Lord said, "This is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." And further He has told us that eternal life-exaltation-is the greatest gift of God to man.
As a holder of the priesthood you are a servant of our Heavenly Father. If you are to honor the priesthood, you must truly be a servant and serve your fellowmen. If you make this service a part of your life, you won't have to continually make decisions about what is right and what is wrong. It will become second nature to your way of living because through service you will be drawing closer to your Heavenly Father.
I am very much aware that you and some of your peers are living that way now. For instance, a fifteen-year-old Korean boy took his weekly allowance and bought newspapers with it. Then he and some friends sold these on the streets of Seoul, Korea, to raise money to help a fellow student who did not have sufficient funds to stay in school. This young man also gave part of his lunch to this boy each day so that he would not go hungry. Why did he do these things? Because he had been studying the story of the Good Samaritan and didn't just want to learn about the Good Samaritan but wanted to know what it felt like to be one by doing what a Good Samaritan would do. He related these things to his father only after careful questioning by his father about his activities. He had done them without any thought of recognition.
I doubt very much that the bishop of this young man would have to worry about how he looked when he came to participate at the sacrament table or whether his heart and hands were clean and pure. I don't think his father would have to worry about whether or not he was honest in his relationships with others, or whether or not he cheated at school.
Another father told me of an experience he had with his son who was a priest. This man needed some help around the house with cleaning and repainting and so forth. Pleasantly and cooperatively, this young man went ahead and accomplished much of the work. He is preparing himself for trust and responsibility by honoring his parents and willingly accepting chores at home. He is beginning to put on the whole armor of God, which will assure peace and happiness in this life and in the life to come. He is developing the strength and self- discipline needed to obey all of the commandments.
In another instance, some of the young men and women in one ward found themselves wavering in their testimonies and uncomfortable with Church activity. One day they decided, under the guidance of a very wise bishop, to involve themselves actively with several of the elderly members of the ward who were homebound. They divided into small groups, with each group determined to develop a family-like relationship with one of the homebound members. On a regular basis the young women and young men prepared meals that they and their elderly friends enjoyed together in the homes of the elderly members. Each Sunday the young men took the sacrament into the homes. On occasion, they arranged to hold special family home evenings together. These activities caused a remarkable change in the attitude of the young people toward themselves, toward the elderly, and toward the Church. They found a way to express the gospel of Christ through giving loving service.
I don't think any of us will ever forget the sight of hundreds of young athletes marching proudly behind the flags and banners of their respective countries, thrilled to have been chosen to represent their nation at the Olympic games. You, my brother of the Aaronic Priesthood, seated in the balcony here, at a stake center in New Jersey, or in a chapel in France, Samoa, or Brazil, you are a chosen representative of God, having received the authority to act in His name, as has every worthy young man who holds the priesthood. The banner you carry every day may not be seen by millions of people, but it is seen by Him whose banner it is and by those who know who you are, both members of the Church and nonmembers. It is the banner of the Lord, displaying what you really are deep down inside as you show your love of God by keeping His commandments and by serving your fellowmen.
It is my firm prayer that each of you bishops and quorum advisers of these young men will aid in their understanding what it means to hold the holy priesthood and to put on the whole armor of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Thomas S. Monson
Of the Quorum of The Twelve Apostles
Every missionary in the Church is acquainted with the scriptural passage from the book of Amos: "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Every member of the Church rejoices in singing the favorite hymn:
What secrets has the Lord God revealed to His prophet, our beloved leader President Spencer W. Kimball? What counsel would President Kimball provide us tonight, were he here, to guide us in these latter days? Would we listen? Would we obey? Would we be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving our own selves?
Some time ago, as the General Authorities met together on an upper floor of the temple, President Kimball stood and instructed us, saying: "Brethren, of late I have been concerned and troubled by the fact that we do not have sufficient missionaries proclaiming the message of the Restoration. I hear some parents say, 'We're letting our son make up his own mind regarding a mission,' or 'We hope our son fills a mission because it would be such a growing experience for him.'" He continued: "I have heard some young men say, 'I think I might serve a mission if I really want to go.'" President Kimball raised his voice, stood on tiptoe-as he is prone to do when anxious to communicate with power a special thought-and said: "It doesn't really matter whether Mother or Father thinks it might be nice for a son to serve a mission. It doesn't really matter whether or not John, Bill, and Bob want to go-they must go!" President Kimball then proceeded to point out the missionary obligation each of us has, to repay the sacrifice and service of those missionaries who left home and family and brought the gospel to our parents or grandparents in lands near and far.
I love to read my own grandfather's missionary journal. His first entries are classics. He wrote: "Today I married in the Salt Lake Temple the girl of my dreams." The very next night the journal entry read: "Tonight the bishop called at our house. I have been asked to return to Scandinavia for a two- year mission. Of course I will go, and my sweet wife will remain at home and sustain me." I am grateful for a missionary heritage.
We of the Council of the Twelve have heard President Ezra Taft Benson describe how his father was called to fill a mission. He left behind his wife, his seven children, the farm, and all that he had. Did he lose anything? President Benson tells how his mother would gather the family around the kitchen table and there, by the flickering light of an oil-fueled lamp, read the letters from her husband. Several times during the reading there would be a pause to wipe away the tears which flowed freely. The result? Each of the children later served a mission.
As we strive to respond to President Kimball's clarion call to missionary service, perhaps we should examine the Aaronic Priesthood pathway which provides the training, quickens the desire, and leads the lad who journeys along it not only to a missionary call but also to temple marriage and, at journey's end, even to exaltation in the celestial kingdom of God.
It is essential, even critical, that we study the Aaronic Priesthood pathway, since far too many boys falter, stumble, then fall without crossing the finish line into the quorums of the Melchizedek Priesthood. In fact, today, for the first time in the history of the Church, the prospective elders outnumber the holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood, thereby eroding the active priesthood base of the Church and curtailing the activity of loving wives and precious children.
What can we as leaders do to reverse this trend? How can we assure that every boy becomes a finisher? The place to begin is at the headwaters of the Aaronic Priesthood stream. There is an ancient Chinese proverb which purports to correctly determine the sanity of an individual. A person is shown a stream of water flowing into a stagnant pond. He is given a bucket and asked to commence to drain the pond. If he first takes steps to effectively dam the inflow to the pond, he is adjudged sane. If, on the other hand, he ignores the inflow and tries to empty the pond bucket by bucket, he is designated insane.
The best and most effective manner whereby we can solve the challenge of the growth in numbers of prospective elders is to concentrate on the Aaronic Priesthood.
The bishop, by revelation, is the president of the Aaronic Priesthood and is president of the priests in his ward. He cannot delegate these God-given responsibilities. However, he can place accountability with his counselors and name as quorum advisers men who can touch the lives of boys-indeed, men who are models to follow. Were I a bishop tonight, I would turn to my second counselor and say: "Brother Balmforth, you have the duty to look after the deacons in the ward. Yours is the task to ensure that every boy is worthy and is ordained a teacher when he reaches his fourteenth birthday." Then I would address my first counselor with the thought: "Brother Hemingway, yours is the duty to make certain that every teacher is worthy and is ordained a priest when he reaches sixteen. As the bishop, I will assume the task to so labor with the young men who are priests that they are worthy and are ordained elders as they embark on their missions."
This, then, is our assignment: to save every boy, thereby assuring a worthy husband for each of our young women, strong Melchizedek Priesthood quorums, and a missionary force trained and capable of accomplishing what the Lord expects.
A wise first step is to guide each deacon to a spiritual awareness of the sacredness of his ordained calling. In my life this was accomplished when the bishopric asked that I take the sacrament to a shut-in who lived about a mile from the chapel. That special Sunday morning, as I knocked on the door of Brother Wright and heard his feeble reply, "Come in," I entered not only his humble cottage but also a room filled with the Spirit of the Lord. I approached his bedside and carefully placed a piece of the bread to his lips. I then held the cup of water, that he might drink. As I departed, I saw him smile as he said, "God bless you, my boy." And God did bless me with an appreciation for the sacred emblems which continues even today.
Is every ordained teacher given the assignment to home teach? What an opportunity to prepare for a mission. What a privilege to learn the discipline of duty. A boy will automatically turn from concern for self when he is assigned to "watch over" others.
And what of the priests? These young men have the opportunity to bless the sacrament, to continue their home teaching duties, and to participate in the sacred ordinance of baptism.
I remember as a deacon watching the priests as they would officiate at the sacrament table. One priest had a lovely voice and would read the sacrament prayers with clear diction-as though he were competing in a speech contest. The older members of the ward would compliment him on his "golden voice." I think he became a bit proud. Another priest in the ward had a hearing impediment which caused his speech to be unnatural in its sound. We deacons would twitter at times when Jack would bless the emblems. How we dared do so is beyond me: Jack had hands like a bear and could have crushed any of us. On one occasion Barry with the beautiful voice and Jack with the awkward delivery were assigned together at the sacrament table. The hymn was sung; the two priests broke the bread. Barry knelt to pray, and we closed our eyes. But nothing happened. Soon we deacons opened our eyes to see what was causing the delay. I shall ever remember Barry frantically searching the table for the little white card on which were printed the sacrament prayers. It was nowhere to be found. What to do? Barry's face turned pink, then crimson, as the congregation began to look in his direction. Then Jack, with that bear-like hand, reached up and gently tugged Barry back to the bench. He, himself, then knelt on the little stool and began to pray: "Oh God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it. " He continued the prayer, and the bread was then passed. Jack also blessed the water, and it was passed. What respect we deacons gained that day for Jack who, though handicapped in speech, had memorized the sacred prayers. Barry, too, had a new appreciation for Jack. A lasting bond of friendship had been established.
Beyond the influence of the bishopric and the Aaronic Priesthood quorum advisers is the impact of the home. Help of parents, when enlisted wisely, can frequently make the difference between success and failure. Our recent surveys reveal that the influence of the home surpasses all other factors as a determinant of missionary service and temple marriage.
Not to be overlooked are the strength and influence of devoted Aaronic Priesthood quorum presidencies. The revelations are crystal clear in their meaning: "Verily I say unto you, the duty of a president over the office of a deacon is to preside over twelve deacons, to sit in council with them, and to teach them their duty, edifying one another, as it is given according to the covenants." A similar charge is given to the president of the teachers quorum and to the bishop as president of the quorum of priests.
The stake Aaronic Priesthood committee can also provide much needed help. Stake presidents, do you ensure that your high councilors who serve on this most important committee visit the quorums of the Aaronic Priesthood on a continuing and regular basis? Do these brethren know the names of each Aaronic Priesthood boy in the stake? Generalities simply will not do. When we deal in generalities, we will never have a success; but as we deal in specifics, we will rarely have a failure.
I am reminded of the ward presided over by our own Joseph B. Wirthlin. Bishop Wirthlin had a quorum of forty-five priests. All forty-five became elders. All filled missions. The late Elder Alvin R. Dyer presided over a quorum of forty-eight priests. Forty-six of the total served full-time missions, and forty-seven married in the House of the Lord. It can indeed be done. Each boy must be saved.
When I served as a bishop, I noted one Sunday morning that one of our priests was missing from the priesthood meeting. I left the quorum in the care of the adviser and visited Richard's home. His mother said he was working at the West Temple Garage. I drove to the garage in search of Richard and looked everywhere but could not find him. Suddenly, I had the inspiration to gaze down into the old-fashioned grease pit situated at the side of the station. From the darkness I could see two shining eyes. Then I heard Richard say: "You found me, Bishop! I'll come up." He never missed another priesthood meeting.
The family moved, and Richard moved with them. About a year later Bishop Arthur Spencer of the Wells Stake called and said that Richard was responding to a mission call to Mexico and asked if I would accept the family's invitation to speak at his farewell testimonial. At the meeting, when Richard responded, he mentioned that the turning point in his determination to fill a mission came one Sunday morning-not in the chapel, but as he gazed up from the depths of a dark grease pit and found his quorum president's outstretched hand.
John Barrie, the Scottish poet, declared: "God gave us memories, that we might have June roses in the December of our lives." From my experience, some of the most fragrant and beautiful roses anywhere to be found bloom in profusion along the Aaronic Priesthood pathway. On this pathway there are feet to steady, hands to grasp, minds to encourage, hearts to inspire, and souls to save.
I invite each of you men to walk with me, shoulder to shoulder, together with all of the Aaronic Priesthood bearers of the Church, along this priesthood pathway which leads upward and onward toward perfection. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
R. LaVell Edwards
Head Football Coach, Brigham Young University
My dear brethren, I am both honored and humbled about this assignment to speak with you tonight. I have often been asked, "How do you stand the pressure of coaching and remain so calm?" I can assure you, brethren, I feel real pressure standing before you this evening, especially with no more ability than I have as a speaker.
I would like to pose one or two points for your consideration, particularly to you young brethren. First, will going on a full-time mission have an adverse effect on a future athletic career? When I started coaching at BYU in 1962, there was a prevailing attitude that missions and football did not mix. As a result, very few players went on missions and returned to play the game, the feeling being that a young man could not go into the mission field, preach love for two years and return with the desire to play a physical contact sport such as football. Many felt there would be a loss of coordination, specific techniques, and the strength and the conditioning necessary to perform at a high level of competency required for major college athletics. This attitude prevailed until our beloved prophet, President Kimball, proclaimed that every man of missionary age should prepare himself for a mission. As a result of this proclamation, many more of our athletes started going on missions. It has been our experience that if a young man decides to go on a mission, he cannot only play well when he returns, he will often play better.
If I could draw one general conclusion, it would be that if an athlete could play well before he went on a mission, he will definitely play well when he returns; and, if an athlete could not play well before his mission, he probably won't play well when he returns. However, his chances of playing well are perhaps better if he goes because he will return with a greater understanding of himself, greater leadership capabilities, better work habits, and a better knowledge of what it takes to be successful. It really depends on the young man's desire, commitment, work habits, and how important it is to him when he returns. This year alone we have fifty-two returned missionaries on our football team.
I suspect that these traits-desire, commitment, and good work habits-are important in all facets of our lives, brethren.
Sean Covey, one of our fine young players, is now serving a mission in South Africa. He is an excellent young quarterback prospect who I'm sure you will be hearing more about in future years. I have a neighbor, Jon Collins, who is a great friend of Sean's and is serving a mission in Scotland. Jon's mother related a story regarding Sean and Jon. Sean recently had written a letter to Jon in Scotland and shared with him the importance of his mission. He told Jon in his letter, "Just think, this weekend BYU will be opening the football season in Pittsburgh before 50,000 fans. If I were home, I would be there with the team, being a part of this very thrilling experience. Instead, I will be baptizing a lady and her daughter. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world."
I am proud of my two sons, John and Jim, along with my son-in- law Ken Cannon, who is here with me this evening, for their decisions to go on missions. All three served excellent missions, and John and Jim returned to participate in college athletics-John in track and Jim in football. In their letters home, and even now that they have been back for some time, they frequently mention that the experiences in the mission field were the choicest and most gratifying of their lives. You young brethren, begin to prepare yourselves now for this marvelous experience.
On to the second point. In the field of athletics, we tend to look at successful athletes and make them almost bigger than life. It has been my experience to be a teacher and coach for over thirty years. I have seen many young men who have achieved greatness. I have also seen those who have come up a little short of their potential. I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that those who succeed have been able to do two things.
One, they recognize within themselves the potential to do something well and then work hard to prepare themselves for that eventual opportunity. Others wait for the opportunity to come and then start to work, thus coming up a little short.
Every year on the football team there are players on our team who are bigger, stronger, and faster than those who are playing in their position. Why is this? I'm not sure, but after so many years of coaching, one overriding principle stands out. Potential does not always ensure success. In other words, the greatest players have not always been the most endowed. In athletics, we often hear the phrase, "He has the will to win." I think this is wrong. We can be in a game, taking a test, giving a talk, or whatever the experience may be. We can have the greatest will to do well. But unless we have prepared, it is of little use. Really, it should be the "will to prepare." Those who succeed have this will, whether it be in athletics, whether it be in school, whether it be in their chosen vocation, whether it be on a mission, or in almost any other phase of their life.
Two, those who have succeeded have also had the ability to overcome adversity, disappointment, and even tragedy in their lives. Since our quarterback position has such a high visibility and everyone seems to know about them, let me share two short stories with you.
Steve Young is one of the most gifted young men that I have ever known. He is fast, strong, big, handsome, and rich. It is easy for us to look at Steve and say, "With all those attributes, you ought to be great." However, it is more than his physical attributes that have made him great; it is the way he thinks! When Steve was a junior and was starting his first season as our quarterback, we had one of the greatest opportunities presented to us in our football program at BYU. We were scheduled to play Herschel Walker and the University of Georgia, the defending national champions. We worked very hard and felt we had a chance to beat them if we played our very best and did not make mistakes.
Before 82,000 fans, and on a "rainy day in Georgia," Steve threw five interceptions in the first half of the game-more than he would normally throw in five games! In spite of the interceptions and two missed field goal attempts, we were still tied 7–7 at halftime.
Going into the dressing room, I thought to myself that I must talk to Steve and assure him that everything would be fine. The rain, the crowd, the tipped balls, etc.-I had all the excuses ready for throwing five interceptions in one half. I started explaining this to Steve and before I could finish, Steve stopped me, looked at me as if I was crazy, and said, "Hey coach, there's no problem. I can hardly wait to get back out there. We're going to win." I found myself thinking, "What do you mean there's no problem, you dummy. You have just thrown five interceptions!" It's the way he thinks. That's what has made him what he is and enabled him to accomplish what he has done. As you know, this was just the start of a career that would see him become one of the finest quarterbacks to play the game of college football.
The second story happened this year with our present quarterback, Robbie Bosco. We were playing the University of Pittsburgh. They were preseason ranked third in the country. We were leading 3–0 in the third quarter and had a good drive going. Robbie threw a bad pass. It was intercepted and returned for a seventy-yard touchdown. Pittsburgh led 7–3. They kicked off to us, and on our second play, Robbie threw a pass that ricocheted off the shoulder of one of our receivers. It was caught by a Pittsburgh defensive back and returned to our 15-yard line. Four plays later, Pittsburgh scored and went ahead 14-3. I thought to myself, "This will be a good chance to see what Robbie is made of." In fact, with the next possession of the ball we drove down the field and scored. And then, with three or four minutes remaining in the game, Robbie moved our team the length of the field and threw the winning touchdown pass to Adam Haysbert. Right then, I knew there was no question that Robbie was going to be a great quarterback.
Now brethren, how do we handle adversity? Adversity is going to be with us in everything that we do, almost in every facet of our lives-in our personal associations, in the mission field, in our chosen professions, in our families. When we have adversity we oftentimes tend to look around and think that we're the Lone Ranger. We tend to believe that we're the only one who has problems. And we always look around and see others who are more talented, taller, smarter, handsomer, or faster. I can assure you, brethren, everyone has problems-even football coaches. The ability we have to handle this adversity will determine the degree of success that we will have in life. To me, this is where the gospel can be the greatest of help to us. The power of the Holy Ghost is the greatest source of strength and comfort we can have in our lives. The Holy Ghost will not only help us in times of need, but will help us to gain a firm testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, thereby preparing us for life.
I have made progress over the past decades as a coach. But I feel that the progress I have made as a coach, as well as a person, is a direct result of the growth that I have made through my Church callings. I had the opportunity to serve as a bishop in a campus ward while I was still an assistant coach. When I was appointed head football coach in 1972, I decided to approach my role as a coach much the same as I did as a bishop, delegating responsibility to my assistants, putting responsibility on the players for self-improvement in all aspects of their lives, and using personal interviews with players to try to give positive reinforcement and encouragement so that they might do their very best and reach their full potential, both on and off the field.
Every position I have held has brought invaluable experiences and growth to my life. Whatever position you are called to, brethren, whether it be bishop, priesthood quorum adviser, home teacher, or athletic director, you will have no greater thrill than when one of the young men in your stewardship makes the decision to accept a mission call. I would encourage you to double your efforts in this regard; it is well worth the time and the effort.
Now brethren, in my career I have had many wonderful things happen to me, many more than I ever dreamed would ever happen. But I would like for you young brethren especially to know that all that has happened to me in my chosen profession is a mere drop in the bucket compared to the truly important things in my life. The testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ that I have, along with my wife and my family, are my most important possessions. And this testimony I bear to you in Jesus' name, amen.
President Ezra Taft Benson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My beloved brethren, with all my heart my love goes out to you on this very important occasion. I thank the Lord for this gathering here tonight.
I shall always be grateful that almost sixty-five years ago the good bishop of our ward came to me and asked me to be Scoutmaster of twenty-four boys in the Whitney Ward. We all received our handbooks at the same time. This was a great group of young men with a lot of musical talent.
In those days we had in the Mutual various cultural activities which were competitive. Among them were boys' choruses. Each ward was expected to have a chorus, and ofttimes the bishop would invite the Scoutmaster to take the responsibility for getting the boys out to practice. So it was in our ward.
As is often the case when a man is asked to do a job, I sought out the help of a good faithful woman who could play the piano and knew some musical technique. Under her direction we started our practices. The song to be sung in the competition was assigned by the general board and was the same throughout the Church-"The Morning Breaks; the Shadows Flee," by Parley P. Pratt.
For weeks before and after Scout meetings we prepared. Finally the time came when we would meet in competition with the ten other wards of the Franklin Stake. We were successful in winning in the stake, and then we were to meet the winners of the six other stakes in Cache Valley in the tabernacle in Logan.
I shall never forget approaching that great tabernacle that evening. We went inside and drew for places. We drew last place, which only prolonged our anxiety.
Finally the time came that our group was to march up to the platform. As our accompanist played "The Stars and Stripes Forever," those twenty-four boys went up the aisle single file and formed in a half moon on the stage while I crouched down between a couple of benches to try to give them some leadership. Then they sang as I'd never heard them sing, and of course you can imagine that I'd not be telling this story had we not won first place in Logan.
We went home literally walking on air. We were so happy that this little community of fifty families had won over the other stakes and wards of the valley.
In the first Scout meeting following our victory, those boys reminded me that in a moment of anxiety I had promised them that if we won in Logan, I would take them all on a hike over the mountain thirty-five miles to Bear Lake Valley.
Since a promise made is a debt unpaid, we began planning our hike. During the meeting one little twelve-year-old raised his hand and said very formally, "Mr. Scoutmaster, I would like to make a motion." That was a new thing in a Scout meeting-or at least it was for me-but I said, "All right, what is it?"
He said, "I'd like to make a motion that we all clip our hair off so we will not be bothered with combs and brushes on this trip."
I noticed three or four of the older boys start to squirm in their seats. They had reached that very critical age in life when they were beginning to take notice of the girls, and they knew a clipped head would be no asset to them with the women.
I put the question and it carried, with these three or four older boys dissenting. Then it was agreed that if they did not submit willingly, there were other ways of enforcing the rules of the troop. So they submitted.
Then, true to form-never forgetting anything if it was to their advantage-one of the older Scouts said, "How about the Scoutmasters?" It was our turn to squirm.
The following Saturday at the county seat, two Scoutmasters took their places in the barber's chair while the barber very gleefully went over each head with the clippers. As he neared the end of the job, he said, "You know, if you fellows would let me shave your heads, I would do the whole job for nothing."
So after our session with the barber, we left on that great thirty-five-mile Scout trip to which I had made commitment as an inducement to get the boys out to practice their singing-twenty-four boys with heads clipped and two Scoutmasters with heads shaven.
It was a glorious three weeks together with those wonderful boys out in the hills and in the mountains and on the lake. I wish I could follow for you the life of each one of those boys from that time until the present. I am proud of them.
I have made an effort to keep in touch with these boys. Many years later, after having been in Idaho and Washington, D.C., I happened to attend a Sunday School in the Whitney Ward. One of the boys was serving as bishop, another was a counselor, a third was ward clerk, and another was the visiting stake high councilor. Then we went to the adult class; there was another one as the teacher. One of them was serving as the Scoutmaster. We had a fine session together and could account for each one of the boys except two. No one seemed to know where they were or what they were doing.
Some weeks later I was down in southern Arizona. In those days we held general priesthood meetings in connection with stake conferences, and during the meeting I noticed way at the rear of the hall what appeared to be a familiar face. At the end of the meeting, one of the two boys we had lost track of came forward. We threw our arms around each other, and I said to him, "What are you doing way down here?"
He said, "I guess you mean 'What am I doing in the Church?'"
I said, "Well, yes, that's part of it, what are you doing in the Church?"
He replied, "I'm not doing very much, but I'm a Scoutmaster." Then he told me he had married out of the Church, but his wife had since joined the Church and was then using her influence to get him into full activity so they could go to the temple.
We started to correspond, and some months later I had the honor of officiating at the sealing of this fine couple and their children in the Salt Lake Temple.
Sometime later I was speaking at the annual meeting of the Idaho Farm Bureau at Burley, Idaho. Just before the meeting was to start, I was up on the platform with the president of the bureau and saw a man down at the door handing out literature to the farmers as they came in. I asked the president of the farm bureau who the man was. Sure enough, it was the last of the twenty-four boys to be located.
After the meeting the two of us had a good talk. He had married in the Church but out of the temple. It was not long before I also had the privilege of sealing this man and his wife and several children in the temple.
So far as we know, this was the last of the twenty-four to be married in the temple. Some of them are gone now, but we have good reason to suppose each one did a good job in life.
It is one of the choicest experiences in my life to serve in and participate in Scouting, which I have done for almost sixty-five years. Scouting is a great program for leadership training, teaching patriotism and love of country, and building strong character. It is a builder of men, men of character and spirituality. I am grateful to the bishop of this little country ward for inviting me to serve as Scoutmaster.
With all my heart, my brethren, I commend you for the good you are doing and say to you that it does not pay to go astray. It pays to live the gospel, to maintain your standards, to associate with good companions, to keep the commandments, to stand up for the truth wherever you are.
Some of you know that I was at one time in government. It was not easy, but I received a commitment from the President of the United States that I would never be asked to support a policy in which I did not believe. And he kept that promise-never asking me to support a policy in which I did not believe.
I am grateful to the Lord for the home in which I was born and for that mission of my father, who, as Elder Thomas S. Monson has indicated, was called on a mission and left Mother at home with seven young children. The eighth was born four months after he arrived in the field. There came into that home a spirit of missionary work that never left it, for which I am deeply grateful.
I am grateful for my ten brothers and sisters, all of whom have gone on missions. Two of my sisters, widows-one the mother of ten and the other the mother of eight-after sending their children on missions, talked to their bishops about going on missions themselves.
I well remember the day they called me on the telephone and said, "Guess what? We've received our missionary calls."
I said, "What missionary calls?"
They replied, "Don't you know?"
I said, "No, I hadn't heard."
They responded, "Yes, we're both going to your old field of labor in England."
I wished them well, and I wish you could have heard the reports of those two sisters as they returned from their missions.
The most important thing in this life is a testimony of the truth, and there is no place on earth where you can have the opportunity to get a testimony like the mission field. I know-I have been there time and time again.
God bless this great gathering of the priesthood, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
Now brethren, if I may say just a word. I am going to set aside my prepared talk and speak extemporaneously. This has been a great meeting. Every boy who is here should have had cultivated in his heart tonight an increased desire to go into the world as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I wish to say to you boys, you should prepare for that great responsibility. Coach Edwards talked to you about the importance of preparation. The Lord said, "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear" This is the day of preparation for you boys, whether you are twelve or fourteen or sixteen or eighteen. Watch yourselves. Never use language when you are with your friends that would be incompatible with the calling that will come to you, if you are worthy of it, to go into the world to represent this church and to serve as an ambassador of the Lord. God bless you to this end.
I hope that you have listened carefully to what Coach LaVell Edwards has said. He is a winner who believes in training and in following the rules of the game. He served as a bishop for seven years. He is a wise and able man with a wealth of experience. He made a tremendous effort to get here tonight, and we very much appreciate what he has done and what he has said. Thank you, Coach Edwards, and congratulations on another victory today.
You men who are husbands and fathers should have had kindled in your hearts tonight, as a result of the inspiring remarks given by Brother Hanks, a resolve so to conduct yourselves in your homes as to be worthy of the love, the respect, the honor, the companionship of your wives and your children. Holding the priesthood does not give any man the right to domineer over those for whom he should show the greatest of love and the greatest of consideration. Each of us should go home this night with a stronger resolve in our hearts to live worthy of the companionship of those who love us most and whom we should love and honor and respect without reservation.
Now, for a few minutes in closing, I wish to speak with appreciation and love for the priesthood of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
There are hundreds of thousands, now reaching toward the millions, of boys and men of the priesthood who love the Lord and who walk in obedience to his commandments. These husbands and fathers govern their homes in kindness and with a spirit of love and appreciation. They answer every call to serve in whatever capacity as such calls come from the Church. They are good citizens of the governments under which they live wherever they may be across the world. They are good neighbors in their communities. As employees, they are loyal. They work with diligence and with honesty and integrity. They are men who live chaste and honorable lives, men who love the Lord and are loved by him.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the goodness of your lives. I thank you for your examples before your families and before the world. You bring honor to this church. You bring happiness and peace and security into the lives of your wives and children. You indulge your generous instincts in giving to the poor, in befriending the lonely, in standing up for the very best in our society. You are the sweet fruits of this beautiful gospel of the Son of God.
No sense of guilt troubles your sleep. No violations of the commandments of God haunt your days. You are those whom I call my loyal brethren.
I thank you for that tremendous loyalty. Men of your kind have carried forward this work from the beginning. They were present in the home of Peter Whitmer when the Church was organized. They were among the few who stood by the Prophet in the troubled days of the New York period of the Church. They readily left Kirtland to serve missions wherever they were asked to go, at the call of the Prophet.
They made the long march with Zion's Camp, the eight-hundred-mile journey from Ohio to western Missouri. They stood by the Prophet in Liberty Jail. Peeled and driven, they staggered with the destitute Saints across the bottomlands of the Mississippi and into Quincy, Illinois.
They drained the swamps of Commerce to create Nauvoo the Beautiful. They erected the magnificent house of the Lord on the hill above the river. They were with Joseph at Carthage. They mourned his death and rallied to the leadership of the Twelve. With mobs at their backs they abandoned their homes and temple and faced the Iowa winter. Some of them marched the long, long road with the Mormon Battalion to San Diego and then back to the valley of the Great Salt Lake.
Others followed the Elkhorn and the Platte on to Scottsbluff, South Pass, Independence Rock, and down into this valley. Here they grubbed sagebrush; fought crickets; labored and prayed; built homes, churches, and temples to their God.
Through all of this long odyssey there were those who were not loyal, some few who were traitors, who were betrayers, but they were a small minority. Honor be to those who stood firm, and to their wives who worked beside them.
You, my brethren, are of that same kind-loyal, men of faith, men of virtue, men who love their families and love their brethren and sisters, men who build temples and then labor in them, men who respond to calls to serve and do so without stint or selfishness of any kind; men who love God and his Only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I cannot say enough of appreciation for you. Your sustaining vote in this conference means more than I can express. Sometimes when I think the load is heavy and the burdens are many, I think of you who not only raise your hands in affirmation, but also give of your hearts, time, and substance in loyal support.
God bless you. I pray for you, that there may be peace and love in your homes, that you may be prospered in your honest endeavors, and that when the time comes you may stand before the Lord and receive his welcome: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
I invoke the blessings of heaven upon each of you and upon your loved ones and do it with gratitude in my heart, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
A week ago last evening there emanated from this Tabernacle on Temple Square a great conference of the women of the Church. Many thousands participated in that conference, which was carried across the continent from coast to coast. It was an inspirational experience to look into the faces of those assembled in the Tabernacle on that occasion-women of beauty, women of strength, women of capacity, women of virtue, women of faith.
Last night, similarly, there emanated from the Tabernacle a great gathering of the priesthood, a meeting which was carried from here to 714 other locations across the world and to 900 stake centers in which were assembled men and boys of the Church who love the Lord and walk with faith and conviction. What a marvelous thing this work is, my beloved brethren and sisters.
It is a great honor to stand before you and speak to Latter-day Saints across the world. I pray for direction of the Holy Spirit. I am not here as a substitute for the President of the Church. I am speaking as his Second Counselor, a responsibility I did not seek but one which I have accepted as a sacred call, in the fulfillment of which I have tried to lift some of the heavy burdens of office from the shoulders of our beloved President and move forward the work of the Lord with diligence. President Kimball is the prophet of the Lord. None other can or will take his place for so long as he lives. When he passes, there will be another ready, a man who, through long years of experience and service, has been trained, has been tested, has been schooled and refined and prepared to fill that sacred and awesome responsibility.
I wish to report to the membership of the Church wherever you may be that the work is going well. I feel that our Father in Heaven smiles upon it with approval. I realize, of course, that each of us, regardless of our position, could do better in our responsibilities. We ought constantly to be improving. Nonetheless, there is cause for satisfaction.
The missionary work moves forward, with new fields opened since we last met in conference. The activity of Church members throughout the world improves. The vast work of genealogical research is being expanded, and an ever-increasing number of faithful Latter-day Saints carry forward the sacred work in the temples.
We are building new houses of worship on an unprecedented scale. Economies of construction have been developed to hold down the cost of these structures.
Three new temples have been dedicated since last we met-one in Boise, Idaho; one in Sydney, Australia; and, most recently, one in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. Tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints have participated in these inspiring dedicatory services. In the Boise Temple, twenty- four individual services were held, with a great outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord in each. Numerous were the expressions of appreciation. In Australia it was the same. People came to the temple from as far away as Tasmania in the south, and from Thursday Island in the far north; they came across the entire continent, from Perth on the west coast, many of them at great sacrifice, to enjoy the wonderful atmosphere of that significant occasion when fourteen dedicatory services were held.
We returned only a few days ago from Manila in the Philippines. There on an eminence where the ground falls away to the rear, affording a view of an entire valley, stands a beautiful and sacred temple. Here, as elsewhere, there is incised in the stone of one of the towers the words "Holiness to the Lord. The House of the Lord." By the thousands they came, the wonderful, faithful members of the Church in the Republic of the Philippines. With songs of thanksgiving, with words of counsel and testimony, with a prayer of dedication, they all joined in presenting to the Lord, as the gift of a thankful people, this beautiful house as his abode.
In all of these new temples, the buildings have been opened to the general public prior to dedication. Tens and tens of thousands have gone through them. They have been free to ask any questions concerning them. These visitors have been respectful and reverent as they have partaken of the spirit of these sacred structures. As they have felt of that spirit and learned something of the purposes for which the temples have been built, these who have been our guests have recognized why, following dedication, we regard these buildings as sanctified and holy, reserved for sacred purposes and closed to the public.
Participating in these dedicatory services, one senses the true strength of the Church. That strength is in the hearts of the people, who are united by a bond of recognition of God as our Eternal Father and Jesus Christ as our Savior. Their individual testimonies are firmly established on a foundation of faith concerning things divine.
In each new temple we have had a cornerstone ceremony in harmony with a tradition that goes back to ancient times. Before the general use of concrete, the foundation walls of the building were laid with large stones. A trench would be dug, and stones would be placed as footings. Starting at a point of beginning, the foundation wall would be run in one direction to a cornerstone; then the corner would be turned and the wall run to the next corner, where another stone was placed, from which the wall would be run to the next corner, and from there to the point of beginning. In many instances, including the construction of early temples in the Church, cornerstones were used at each junction point of the walls and put in place with ceremony. The final stone was spoken of as the chief cornerstone, and its placement became the reason for much celebration. With this cornerstone in position, the foundation was ready for the superstructure. Hence the analogy that Paul used in describing the true church:
"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
"And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
"In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord."
We have basic cornerstones on which this great latter-day church has been established by the Lord and built, "fitly framed together." They are absolutely fundamental to this work, the very foundation, anchors on which it stands. I should like to speak briefly of these four essential cornerstones which anchor The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I mention first the chief cornerstone, whom we recognize and honor as the Lord Jesus Christ. The second is the vision given the Prophet Joseph Smith when the Father and the Son appeared to him. The third is the Book of Mormon, which speaks as a voice from the dust with the words of ancient prophets declaring the divinity and reality of the Savior of mankind. The fourth is the priesthood with all of its powers and authority, whereby men act in the name of God in administering the affairs of his kingdom.
May I comment on each of these. Absolutely basic to our faith is our testimony of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, who under a divine plan was born in Bethlehem of Judea. He grew in Nazareth as the carpenter's son, within him the elements of both mortality and immortality received, respectively, from his earthly mother and his Heavenly Father. In the course of his brief earthly ministry, he walked the dusty roads of Palestine healing the sick, causing the blind to see, raising the dead, teaching doctrines both transcendent and beautiful. He was, as Isaiah had prophesied, "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." He reached out to those whose burdens were heavy and invited them to cast their burdens upon him, declaring, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." He "went about doing good," and was hated for it. His enemies came against him. He was seized, tried on spurious charges, convicted to satisfy the cries of the mob, and condemned to die on Calvary's cross.
The nails pierced his hands and feet, and he hung in agony and pain, giving himself a ransom for the sins of all men. He died crying, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
He was buried in a borrowed tomb and on the third day rose from the grave. He came forth triumphant, in a victory over death, the firstfruits of all that slept. With his resurrection came the promise to all men that life is everlasting, that even as in Adam all die, in Christ all are made alive. Nothing in all of human history equals the wonder, the splendor, the magnitude, or the fruits of the matchless life of the Son of God, who died for each of us. He is our Savior. He is our Redeemer. As Isaiah foretold, "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
He is the chief cornerstone of the church which bears his name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is no other name given among men whereby we can be saved. He is the author of our salvation, the giver of eternal life. There is none to equal him. There never has been. There never will be. Thanks be to God for the gift of his Beloved Son, who gave his life that we might live, and who is the chief, immovable cornerstone of our faith and his church.
The second cornerstone-the first vision of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The year was 1820, the season spring. The boy with questions walked into the grove of his father's farm. There, finding himself alone, he pleaded in prayer for that wisdom which James promised would be given liberally to those who ask of God in faith. There, in circumstances which he has described in much detail, he beheld the Father and the Son, the great God of the universe and the risen Lord, both of whom spoke to him.
This transcendent experience opened the marvelous work of restoration. It lifted the curtain on the long-promised dispensation of the fulness of times.
For more than a century and a half, enemies, critics, and some would-be scholars have worn out their lives trying to disprove the validity of that vision. Of course they cannot understand it. The things of God are understood by the Spirit of God. There had been nothing of comparable magnitude since the Son of God walked the earth in mortality. Without it as a foundation stone for our faith and organization, we have nothing. With it, we have everything.
Much has been written, much will be written, in an effort to explain it away. The finite mind cannot comprehend it. But the testimony of the Holy Spirit, experienced by countless numbers of people all through the years since it happened, bears witness that it is true, that it happened as Joseph Smith said it happened, that it was as real as the sunrise over Palmyra, that it is an essential foundation stone, a cornerstone, without which the Church could not be "fitly framed together."
The third cornerstone-the Book of Mormon. I hold it in my hand. It is real. It has weight and substance which can be physically measured. I open its pages and read, and it has language both beautiful and uplifting. The ancient record from which it was translated came out of the earth as a voice speaking from the dust. It came as the testimony of generations of men and women who lived their lives upon the earth, who struggled with adversity, who quarreled and fought, who at various times lived the divine law and prospered and at other times forsook their God and went down to destruction. It contains what has been described as the fifth Gospel, a moving testament of the new world concerning the visit of the resurrected Redeemer on the soil of this hemisphere.
The evidence for its truth, for its validity in a world that is prone to demand evidence, lies not in archaeology or anthropology, though these may be helpful to some. It lies not in word research or historical analysis, though these may be confirmatory. The evidence for its truth and validity lies within the covers of the book itself. The test of its truth lies in reading it. It is a book of God. Reasonable men may sincerely question its origin; but those who have read it prayerfully have come to know by a power beyond their natural senses that it is true, that it contains the word of God, that it outlines saving truths of the everlasting gospel, that it came forth by the gift and power of God "to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ."
It is here. It must be explained. It can be explained only as the translator himself explained its origin. Hand in hand with the Bible, whose companion volume it is, it stands as another witness to a doubting generation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. It is an unassailable cornerstone of our faith.
Cornerstone number four-the restoration to earth of priesthood power and authority. That authority was given to men anciently, the lesser authority to the sons of Aaron to administer in things temporal as well as in some sacred ecclesiastical ordinances. The higher priesthood was given by the Lord himself to his Apostles when he declared, "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
In its full restoration, it involved the coming of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, whose head was taken to satisfy the whims of a wicked woman, and of Peter, James, and John, they who faithfully walked with the Master before his death and proclaimed his resurrection and divinity following his death. It involved Moses, Elias, and Elijah, each bringing priesthood keys to complete the work of restoring all of the acts and ordinances of previous dispensations in this the great, final dispensation of the fulness of times.
The priesthood is here. It has been conferred upon us. We act in that authority. We speak as sons of God in the name of Jesus Christ and as holders of this divinely given endowment. We know, for we have seen, the power of this priesthood. We have seen the sick healed, the lame made to walk, and the coming of light and knowledge and understanding to those who have been in darkness.
Paul wrote concerning the priesthood: "No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron." We have not acquired it through purchase or bargain. The Lord has given it to men who are considered worthy to receive it, regardless of station in life, the color of their skin, or the nation in which they live. It is the power and the authority to govern in the affairs of the kingdom of God. It is given only by ordination by the laying on of hands by those in authority to do so. The qualification for eligibility is obedience to the commandments of God.
There is no power on the earth like it. Its authority extends beyond life, through the veil of death, to the eternities ahead. It is everlasting in its consequences.
These great God-given gifts are the unshakable cornerstones which anchor The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as the individual testimonies and convictions of its members: the reality and the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God; the sublime vision given the Prophet Joseph Smith of the Father and the Son, ushering in the dispensation of the fulness of times; the Book of Mormon as the word of God speaking in declaration of the divinity of the Savior; and the priesthood of God divinely conferred to be exercised in righteousness for the blessing of our Father's children.
Each of these cornerstones is related to the other, each connected by a foundation of Apostles and prophets, all tied to the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ. On this has been established his Church, "fitly framed together," for the blessing of all who will partake of its offering.
So undergirded beneath and fitly framed above, it stands as the creation of the Almighty. It is a shelter from the storms of life. It is a refuge of peace for those in distress. It is a house of succor for those in need. It is the conservator of eternal truth and the teacher of the divine will. It is the true and living Church of the Master.
Of these things I give solemn testimony, bearing witness to all within the sound of my voice that God has spoken again to open this final glorious dispensation; that his Church is here, the Church which carries the name of his Beloved Son; that there has come from the earth the record of an ancient people bearing witness to this generation of the work of the Almighty; that the everlasting priesthood is among men for their blessing and the governance of his work; that this is the true and living Church of Jesus Christ, brought forth for the blessing of all who will receive its message; that it is immovably established on a foundation of Apostles and prophets, with cornerstones of unshakable firmness put in place by him for the accomplishment of his eternal purposes, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
Of such was the faith of our fathers. Of such is our faith. "Faith of our fathers, holy faith. We will be true to thee till death!" In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder James E. Faust
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
With a prayer in my heart for understanding, and with some timidity, I speak today concerning parents and children with special problems. I do so because I am persuaded that these extraordinary challenges are, as the Savior himself said, that "the works of God should be made manifest." How these challenges are met can often be the expression of the very essence of the gospel of Christ.
It is a common sight in our congregations to have a small group of people near the front who communicate by the graceful motion of the hands as well as by the Spirit. They are people who cannot hear. Always some kind and gifted soul sits in front of the group and lovingly converts the sounds and syllables into distinguishable motions.
Recently in a large meeting, we were touched to observe the hearing-impaired members singing the hymns in parts through the motion of their hands. When the bass and tenor parts were sung, the hands of the sisters were motionless; when the soprano and alto parts were sung, the hands of the brethren were still. To me it was a very touching sight.
Those who are without hearing are some of the special ones among us, as are the people who do not have sight and those who have other physical or mental limitations.
I wish to say a word of appreciation for those among us who struggle with handicaps, and impart a message of comfort to their families, especially to the parents. Where in all of the world is the son or daughter of God who is totally without blemish? Is life not worth living if it is not perfect? Do not the people with handicaps also bring their own gifts to life-and to others who are free of those handicaps-in a manner that cannot come in any other way? There is hardly a family without one of its members who might be considered physically or mentally diminished. I have a great appreciation for those loving parents who stoically bear and overcome their anguish and heartbreak for a child who was born with or who has developed a serious mental or physical infirmity. This anguish often continues every day, without relief, during the lifetime of the parent or the child. Not infrequently, parents are required to give superhuman nurturing care that never ceases, day or night. Many a mother's arms and heart have ached years on end, giving comfort and relieving the suffering of her special child.
The anguish of parents upon first learning that their child is not developing normally can be indescribable. The tearful concern, the questions about what the child will and will not be able to do are heartrending: "Doctor, will our child be able to talk, walk, care for himself?" Often there are no certain answers but one: "You will have to be grateful for whatever development your child achieves."
The paramount concern is always how to care for the person who is handicapped. The burden of future nurturing can seem overwhelming. Looking ahead to the uncertain years or even to a lifetime of constant, backbreaking care may seem more than one can bear. There are often many tears before reality is acknowledged. Parents and family members can then begin to accept and take the burden a day at a time.
Said one great mother of a severely handicapped child: "I gradually began to take only one day at a time, and it didn't seem so hard. In fact, at the end of each day I would thank the Lord for the strength I had to get through that day and pray that tomorrow would be as good. That way I learned to love him and appreciate his place in our home."
A missionary writing to his parents said of his severely handicapped younger brother: "Mom, kiss Billy every day for me. In one of the discussions we learned that my little brother is an automatic winner of the kingdom of God. I only pray that I too may live with my Heavenly Father and see my little brother and talk and converse with him. He's a special gift, and we are truly blessed."
The challenge of having handicapped people is not new. Many have questioned why some have such limitations. It was so in the time of Jesus:
"And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
"And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
"Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."
How are the works of God manifest in these, our handicapped brothers and sisters? Surely they are manifested greatly in the loving care and attention given by parents, other family members, friends, and associates. The handicapped are not on trial. Those of us who live free of such limitations are the ones who are on trial. While those with handicaps cannot be measured in the same way as others, many of the handicapped benefit immensely from each accomplishment, no matter how small.
The handiwork of God is manifest with respect to the handicapped in many ways. It is demonstrated in the miraculous way in which many individuals with mental and physical impediments are able to adjust and compensate for their limitations. Occasionally, other senses become more functional and substitute for the impaired senses in a remarkable way. A young friend greatly retarded in speech and movement repaired a complicated clock although she had had no previous training or experience in watch or clock making.
Many of the special ones are superior in many ways. They, too, are in a life of progression, and new things unfold for them each day as with us all. They can be extraordinary in their faith and spirit. Some are able, through their prayers, to communicate with the infinite in a most remarkable way. Many have a pure faith in others and a powerful belief in God. They can give their spiritual strength to others around them.
For the handicapped, trying to cope with life is often like trying to reach the unreachable. But recall the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith: "All the minds and spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement." Certainly, in the infinite mercy of God, those with physical and mental limitations will not remain so after the Resurrection. At this time, Alma says, "the spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame." Afflictions, like mortality, are temporary.
Surely more sharing of the burden will contribute to the emotional salvation of the person who is the primary caregiver. Just an hour of help now and then would be appreciated. One mother of a child who is handicapped said, "I could never dream of going to Hawaii on a vacation; all I can hope for is to have an evening away from home."
The Savior's teaching that handicaps are not punishment for sin, either in the parents or the handicapped, can also be understood and applied in today's circumstances. How can it possibly be said that an innocent child born with a special problem is being punished? Why should parents who have kept themselves free from social disease, addicting chemicals, and other debilitating substances which might affect their offspring imagine that the birth of a disabled child is some form of divine disapproval? Usually, both the parents and the children are blameless. The Savior of the world reminds us that God "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
May I express a word of gratitude and appreciation to those many who minister with such kindness and skill to our handicapped people. Special commendation belongs to parents and family members who have cared for their own children with special needs in the loving atmosphere of their own home. The care of those who are diminished is a special service rendered to the Master himself, for "inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these , ye have done it unto me."
Parents of handicapped children are occasionally embarrassed or hurt by others who awkwardly express sympathy but cannot know or appreciate the depth of the parents' love for a handicapped child. Perhaps there is some comparison in the fact that there is no less love in families for the helpless infant who must be fed, bathed, and diapered than for the older but still dependent members. We love those we serve and who need us.
Is it not possible to look beyond the canes, the wheelchairs, the braces, and the crutches into the hearts of the people who have need of these aids? They are human beings and want only to be treated as ordinary people. They may appear different, move awkwardly, and speak haltingly, but they have the same feelings. They laugh, they cry, they know discouragement and hope. They do not want to be shunned. They want to be loved for what they are inside, without any prejudice for their impairment. Can there not be more tolerance for differences-differences in capacity, differences in body and in mind?
Those who are close to the handicapped can frequently feel the nobility of the spirits who are confined in differently shaped bodies or who have crippled minds.
May I also say a word of comfort for the anguished parents of children who have lost their way and have turned a deaf ear to parental pleading and teaching. While much of the time most children follow in their parents' footsteps-obedient to their teachings, reciprocating their love-a few turn their backs like the prodigal son and waste their lives. The great principle of free agency is essential in fostering development, growth, and progress. It also permits the freedom to choose self-indulgence, wastefulness, and degradation. Children have their agency and often express it when very young. They may or may not follow the teachings and wishes of their parents. Most parents do the best they know how, but also understand well the words of Lehi: "Hear the words of a trembling parent."
We are indebted to Elder Howard W. Hunter for these wise words: "A successful parent is one who has loved, one who has sacrificed, and one who has cared for, taught, and ministered to the needs of a child. If you have done all of these and your child is still wayward or troublesome or worldly, it could well be that you are, nevertheless, a successful parent. Perhaps there are children who have come into the world that would challenge any set of parents under any set of circumstances. Likewise, perhaps there are others who would bless the lives of, and be a joy to, almost any father or mother."
As caring parents we do the best we can. I am hopeful that in parenting God will judge at least partially by the intent of the parental hearts. Children have so much to learn. Parents need to teach their children so many things. They are commanded to teach their children specifically "the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old." But, having lived by these truths and having taught them in their home, parents cannot always ensure their children's good behavior. Said Ezekiel, "The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son."
Parents have the obligation to teach, not force, and having prayerfully and conscientiously taught, parents cannot be answerable for all their children's conduct. Obedient children do bring honor to their parents, but it is unfair to judge faithful parents by the actions of children who will not listen and follow. Parents do have the obligation to instruct, but children themselves have a responsibility to listen, to be obedient, and to perform as they have been taught. Parents are parents and usually serve their children more than the children serve their parents. To concerned parents I would paraphrase Winston Churchill: "Never give up, never give up, never, never, never."
I do not have any foolproof formula for the nurturing of children. Beyond being a good example and teaching faith, it is essential to give children unreserved love, to give measured discipline, and to try to instill self-mastery in them. A great mother who scrubbed floors to help her children through school said, "I taught my children to pray, to have good manners, and to work." The Lord reminds us that we should continually teach repentance, faith in Christ, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost.
The works of God are manifest in so many ways in the challenges of parents and children, especially to those who are handicapped and to those who have lost their way. For those who have asked, "Why did this happen to me?" or, "Why did this happen to my child?" there is assurance that the difficulty will not last forever. Life on this earth is not long. Caring for the unfortunate and laboring with the wayward is a manifestation of the pure love of Christ. For those who carry such a challenge in this life, God himself provides a response. That response is patience and the strength to endure. It lies, as Paul and Job testify, "in hope of eternal life, promised before the world began", "when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy."
I bear witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world and the Redeemer of mankind. I testify that through obedience to His commandments we may enjoy the strength to triumph over every challenge of this life. May God grant this peaceful sustaining influence to all and especially to those in greatest need. I so pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Royden G. Derrick
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Our revered leader of years past, President David O. McKay, often said, "The mission of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to make evil-minded men good and to make good men better."
The Lord said to the people of ancient America, "And whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do good is of me; for good cometh of none save it be of me. I am the same that leadeth men to all good."
To be good, one must seek after truth, for truth is the ingredient which, when inculcated into our lives, changes us for good. "Truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come." "Truth abideth and hath no end."
Intelligence is the ability to use knowledge properly. The Lord has said, "The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth." The light of which this scripture speaks is the Light of Christ, for Jesus further said, "I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world."
One of my earliest recollections happened when I was about four years of age. Several blocks from our home was a little wooden grocery store. In the front of the store windows the proprietor had built a ledge about four inches wide, where at this time of the year he placed big juicy apples to attract those passing by. As I walked by the front of the store, I saw those beautiful red apples, and my mouth began to water. Without realizing what I was doing, I took one and continued walking up the street.
When I got a short distance away, I looked at what I had in my hand and suddenly realized I had stolen an apple. I began to run but made the mistake of running the wrong way.
On the downhill side of our front porch, there was latticework between the porch level and the ground level. A small door enabled us to store gardening tools under the porch and also gave us access to a convenient place to hide.
I ran all the way home, crawled under the porch, and sat there all afternoon shivering with fear-and eating the apple. I knew that I had done wrong, and I knew that my Heavenly Father knew that I had done wrong.
I have often reflected upon how I suffered from a remorse of conscience at such an early age. The Light of Christ, which lights every man that comes into the world, was evident that day, which in later years caused me to ponder about how the Light of Christ can influence our lives.
Envision yourself standing on the banks of the River Jordan on a particular day nearly two thousand years ago and observing two men standing in the water. John the Baptist, clothed with camel's hair and with a girdle of skin about his loins, is baptizing Jesus; and Jesus, dressed in the garb of the day, is coming up out of the water. The heavens open and a marvelous thing occurs. The Holy Ghost descends in the form of a dove and alights upon him. And a voice from heaven is heard saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Envision yourself some time later in the temple in Jerusalem. The weather is hot outside; but inside, the thick stone walls give relief to a group gathered in discussion. It is Jesus talking to the scribes and the Pharisees:
"I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
"The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.
"Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.
"It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.
"I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me."
The testimony of the Father and the testimony of Jesus were not for the people of their day alone, but for men down through the ages. It was documented then-for us today-and is just as true today as it was two thousand years ago. The truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ have been restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith and are available to each of us for study.
In my limited experience in the fields of religion and education, it has been my observation that it takes as much intelligence for one to assimilate the principles of the gospel as it does for one to understand the complicated formulas of science. An understanding of the gospel is a quest and must be pursued through study, thought, and prayer.
Brigham Young taught: "All true wisdom that mankind have they have received from God, whether they know it or not. There is no ingenious mind that has ever invented anything beneficial to the human family but what he obtained it from that One Source. There is only one source from whence men obtain wisdom, and that is God, the fountain of all wisdom; and though men may claim to make their discoveries by their own wisdom, by meditation and reflection, they are indebted to our Father in Heaven for all."
To those who pursue and apply gospel principles, the Lord says, "And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things."
President Joseph F. Smith said: " knowledge of truth, combined with proper regard for it, and its faithful observance, constitutes true education. The mere stuffing of the mind with a knowledge of facts is not education. The mind must not only possess a knowledge of truth, but the soul must revere it, cherish it, love it as a priceless gem; and this human life must be guided and shaped by it in order to fulfil its destiny."
Of what value is truth unless it is assimilated into the minds and hearts of men? "Truth is the rock foundation of every great character," wrote William George Jordan. "It is loyalty to the right as we see it; it is courageous living of our lives in harmony with our ideals."
The Lord says:
"Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.
"And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come."
He further said, "It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance."
Brigham Young asked the question, "When shall we cease to learn?" And then he answered his own question with the words, "Never, never."
We should not overlook the fact that some truths have little or nothing to do with our eternal salvation, while others are essential to it.
When one is loyal to the truth, we say he is a person of integrity. When one is loyal to the truth under intense opposition, we say he is a person of great integrity. Integrity is a quality or state of being of sound moral principle. Integrity is uprightness, honesty, and sincerity-yes, all that and even more.
Following the First Vision, the Prophet Joseph Smith was persecuted unmercifully for the rest of his life and died as a martyr at thirty-eight years of age; yet he never wavered in declaring what he knew to be the truth. He knew that if he denied what he had said, the persecution would cease; yet he stood firm. He recorded:
"I a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation."
To so react requires great integrity and also builds great integrity.
We revere Abraham Lincoln because of his commitment to a principle in which he strongly believed. And though the opposition was severe, the pathway filled with stumbling blocks, and the future dark and uncertain, he tenaciously held to what he believed to be right, prevailed in the cause, and eventually won the undying gratitude of a nation that was destined to become great. We have other such patriots in other lands throughout the world who are heralded as men of great integrity.
Samuel Johnson made an interesting observation when he wrote: "Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless. Knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful." Leaders in schools of elementary, secondary, and higher education know that the true success of their system is measured by the man it forms. Such is also true of families, politics, governments, and religion.
Many live by the motto that the end justifies the means. There are those who gain their possessions by deceit, bribery, and dishonest practices, then seek legitimacy by contributing freely to a righteous cause. Integrity cannot be compromised.
Integrity is sustained by forethought and commitment. It was written of Helaman's stripling warriors, "Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness." They were fully committed to what they would do when they got into the heat of battle. Their efforts won them the crown of integrity.
Let us review our own lives to determine how each of us measures up in our own quest for integrity.
As an employee, are you committed to give at least forty hours work for forty hours pay?
Do you work enthusiastically in your job and use your best efforts to strengthen the company for which you work?
Do you, as an administrator, study your challenges thoroughly and anticipate the results before you submit your recommendations?
Do you jump to conclusions without taking the time to know the facts before you make your decision?
Do you properly sustain those working under your jurisdiction?
Do you sincerely sustain those to whom you are responsible?
Do you young men and young women stand loyal, in the face of opposition, to those moral principles you have been taught in the home?
Do you, as a wife and mother, strive earnestly to create an atmosphere of love and harmony in the home?
Do you fathers and mothers seriously strive to inculcate values of integrity, morality, charity, and good manners in your children?
Are you completely honest with yourself and others?
Are you obedient to Him who gave you life?
The Lord said to the people in his day, and to us too: "By their fruits ye shall know them."
"For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
" Every tree is known by his own fruit."
May I suggest a formula for bringing forth good fruit and helping one to gain eternal salvation? have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in yourself, study eternal truths, ponder and pray for understanding, strive to incorporate principles of truth into daily living, exercise integrity in all that you do, and strive to do everything you do to a standard of excellence.
Let us diligently strive to understand the wonderful things of God. The jewels of the gospel of Jesus Christ are within our reach. But we must seek-ask and strive for-and live the principles of truth. When we do so, we will become better men and better women and contribute to a better community, a better nation, and a better world, for which I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Ronald E. Poelman
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Both the gospel of Jesus Christ and the church of Jesus Christ are true and divine, and there is an essential relationship between them that is significant and very important. Understanding the proper relationship between the gospel and the Church will prevent confusion, misplaced priorities, and failed expectations and will lead to the realization of gospel goals through happy, fulfilling participation in the Church. Such understanding will avoid possible disaffection and will result in great personal blessings.
As I attempt to describe and comment upon the essential relationship between the gospel and the Church, it is my prayer that a perspective may be developed which will enhance the influence of both the gospel and the Church in our individual lives.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a divine and perfect plan. It is composed of eternal, unchanging principles, laws, and ordinances which are universally applicable to every individual regardless of time, place, or circumstance. Gospel principles never change.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on earth, administered by the priesthood of God. The Church has authority to teach correctly the principles and doctrines of the gospel and to administer its essential ordinances.
The gospel is the divine plan for personal, individual salvation and exaltation. The Church is divinely commissioned to provide the means and resources that implement this plan in each individual's life.
Procedures, programs, and policies are developed within the Church to help us realize gospel blessings according to our individual capacity and circumstances. Under divine direction, these policies, programs, and procedures may be changed from time to time as necessary to fulfill gospel purposes.
Underlying every aspect of Church administration and activity are the revealed eternal principles contained in the scriptures. As individually and collectively we increase our knowledge, acceptance, and application of gospel principles, we can more effectively utilize the Church to make our lives increasingly gospel centered.
The eternal principles of the gospel implemented through the divinely inspired Church apply to a wide variety of individuals in diverse cultures. Therefore, as we live the gospel and participate in the Church, the conformity we require of ourselves and of others should be according to God's standards. The orthodoxy upon which we insist must be founded in fundamental principles, eternal law, and direction given by those authorized in the Church.
A necessary perspective is gained by studying and pondering the scriptures. Reading the scriptures, we learn the gospel as it is taught by various prophets in a variety of circumstances, times, and places. We see the consequences as the gospel is accepted or rejected by individuals and as its principles are applied or not.
In the scriptures we discover that varying institutional forms, procedures, regulations, and ceremonies were utilized-all divinely designed to implement eternal principles. The practices and procedures change; the principles do not.
Through scripture study we may learn eternal principles and how to relate them to institutional resources. As we liken the scriptures unto ourselves, we can better utilize the restored Church to learn, live, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
A favorite scriptural source for me is the Old Testament book of Leviticus. It is basically a handbook for Hebrew priests and contains many rules, regulations, rituals, and ceremonies which seem strange and inapplicable to us. It also contains eternal principles of the gospel which are familiar and very much applicable to everyone.
It is interesting and enlightening to read the nineteenth chapter of Leviticus, noting both the principles and the rules and practices.
In the first two verses we read, "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel." Here is the principle of revelation. God speaks to his children through prophets. He does so today.
Continuing, the Lord said to Moses, "Say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy." Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Here is an eternal gospel principle.
There follow other eternal principles, some from the Ten Commandments. Also included are rules and programs intended to implement these principles among the ancient Hebrews in their particular circumstances.
For example, the divinely directed responsibility to care for the poor is taught. A program is presented, namely, providing food for the poor by leaving the gleanings of the crops and not reaping the corners of the fields. Current programs to care for the poor are much different. The divine law is the same. Yet another principle underlies both programs, ancient and modern: those being assisted are given opportunity to participate in helping themselves to the extent of their capacity.
In verse 13 the principle of honesty is taught, accompanied by a rule requiring employers to pay employees for their work at the end of each day. Generally, today that rule is not necessary. The eternal principle of honesty is implemented by other rules and practices.
Verse 27 contains a rule about personal grooming. It is clearly not applicable to us. However, we also have standards of dress and grooming. Neither is an eternal principle; both are intended to help us implement and share gospel principles.
The principle of forgiveness is also set forth in the same chapter of Leviticus, verse 18, concluding with the second great commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," with the added divine imprimatur, "I am the Lord."
Every Church member has the opportunity, right, and privilege to receive a personal witness regarding gospel principles and Church practices. Without such a witness, one may feel confused and perhaps even burdened by what may appear to be simply institutional requirements of the Church.
We should obey the commandments and counsel of Church leaders; but also through study, through prayer, and by the influence of the Holy Spirit, we should seek and obtain an individual, personal witness that the principle or counsel is correct and divinely inspired. Then we can give enlightened, enthusiastic obedience, utilizing the Church as a means through which to give allegiance, time, talent, and other resources without reluctance or resentment.
Happy, fulfilling participation in the Church results when we relate Church goals, programs, and policies to gospel principles and to personal eternal goals. When we see the harmony between the gospel and the Church in our daily lives, we are much more likely to do the right things for the right reasons. We will exercise self-discipline and righteous initiative guided by Church leaders and a sense of divine accountability.
The Church aids us in our effort to use our free agency creatively, not to invent our own values, principles, and interpretations, but to learn and live the eternal truths of the gospel. Gospel living is a process of continuous individual renewal and improvement until the person is prepared and qualified to enter comfortably and with confidence into the presence of God.
My brothers and sisters, by inclination, training, and experience most of my life I have sought understanding by the accumulation of facts and the application of reason. I continue to do so. However, that which I know most surely and which has most significantly and positively affected my life I do not know by facts and reason alone, but rather by the comforting, confirming witness of the Holy Spirit.
By that same Spirit I testify that God is our Father, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, and that he is the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind and each of us. Through his atoning sacrifice, redemption and exaltation are offered as a free gift to all who will accept by faith, repentance, and sacred covenants.
May each of us continue to learn and apply the eternal principles of the gospel, utilizing fully and appropriately the resources of the divine, restored Church.
In the words of the Nephite leader Pahoran "May rejoice in the great privilege of our church, and in the cause of our Redeemer and our God." In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Boyd K. Packer
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
It is the Sabbath day, and outside is such a glorious day that all nature seems to bespeak the works of God. I can't refrain from saying with the poet:
I desire to share a few thoughts about a basic doctrine of the Church.
What I say is based on these convictions:
First: instruction vital to our salvation is not hidden in an obscure verse or phrase in the scriptures. To the contrary, essential truths are repeated over and over again.
Second: every verse, whether oft-quoted or obscure, must be measured against other verses. There are complementary and tempering teachings in the scriptures which bring a balanced knowledge of truth.
Next: there is a consistency in what the Lord says and what He does, that is evident in all creation. Nature can teach valuable lessons about spiritual and doctrinal matters. The Lord drew lessons from flowers and foxes, from seeds and salt, and sparrows and sunsets.
Fourth: not all that God has said is in the Bible. Other scriptures-the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price-have equal validity, and they sustain one another.
Fifth: while much must be taken on faith alone, there is individual revelation through which we may know the truth. "There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." What may be obscure in the scriptures can be made plain through the gift of the Holy Ghost. We can have as full an understanding of spiritual things as we are willing to earn.
And I add one more conviction: there is an adversary who has his own channels of spiritual communication. He confuses the careless and prompts those who serve him to devise deceptive, counterfeit doctrine, carefully contrived to appear genuine.
I mention this because now, as always, there are self-appointed spokesmen who scoff at what we believe and misrepresent what we teach.
As a young seminary teacher, I learned a valuable lesson from our principal, Able S. Rich. He told me, "If you really want to know what a man is, and what he believes, do not go to his enemies. Go to the man himself or to his friends. He does not confide the thoughts of his heart to his enemies. His friends know him best; they know his strengths and his weaknesses. They will represent him fairly. His enemies will misrepresent him."
The doctrine I wish to discuss concerns the nature of man and of God.
There is a question in both the Old and the New Testaments: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?"
The answer is taught most simply in the song we sang together at the intermission of the meeting:
Those lyrics teach a basic doctrine of the Church. We are the children of God. That doctrine is not hidden away in an obscure verse. It is taught over and over again in scripture. These clear examples are from the Bible:
"All of you are children of the most High."
And: "We are the offspring of God."
Doctrinal truths are interrelated. There is an old saying that if you pick up one end of a stick, you pick up the other end as well.
If you concede that we are His children, you must allow that God is our Father.
That, too, is repeated over and over again in the scriptures. There are so many references that I could not even begin to read them to you.
But I make this point: Christ did not speak only of the Father, or my Father; He spoke of your Father, and our Father. He even put them together in one sentence, saying, "Your Father, and your God, and my God." God is addressed universally in the Christian world as Father. Were we not commanded to pray "Our Father which art in heaven"?
You may respond, "Every Christian knows that." Perhaps every Christian does, but so-called Christians, with the help of clergymen, belittle in most unchristian ways our teaching that we are the literal sons and daughters of God.
Other ideals flow from that great truth. Once you know that, you know that all men are brothers. That realization changes you. Thereafter you cannot willingly injure another. You could not transgress against them in any way.
That simple, profound doctrine is worth knowing for another reason as well. It brings a feeling of self-worth, dignity, self-respect. Then self-pity and depression fade away. We then can yield to the discipline of a loving Father and accept even the very hard lessons of life.
Christ taught us to be "perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect", to take on His attributes, to follow the pattern of our parentage.
A little girl taught me a profound lesson on this subject. Surely you are not above learning from little children. Much of what I know that really matters I have learned from being a father.
Some years ago I returned home to find our little children were waiting in the driveway. They had discovered some newly hatched chicks under the manger in the barn. When they reached for them, a protective hen rebuffed them. So they came for reinforcements.
I soon gathered a handful of little chicks for them to see and touch.
As our little girl held one of them, I said in a teasing way, "That will make a nice watchdog when it grows up, won't it?" She looked at me quizzically, as if I didn't know much.
So I changed my approach: "It won't be a watchdog, will it?" She shook her head, "No, Daddy." Then I added, "It will be a nice riding horse."
She wrinkled up her nose and gave me that "Oh, Dad!" look. For even a four-year-old knows that a chick will not be a dog, nor a horse, nor even a turkey. It will be a chicken. It will follow the pattern of its parentage. She knew that without having had a course in genetics, without a lesson or a lecture.
No lesson is more manifest in nature than that all living things do as the Lord commanded in the Creation. They reproduce "after their own kind." They follow the pattern of their parentage. Everyone knows that; every four-year-old knows that! A bird will not become an animal nor a fish. A mammal will not beget reptiles, nor "do men gather figs of thistles."
In the countless billions of opportunities in the reproduction of living things, one kind does not beget another. If a species ever does cross, the offspring cannot reproduce. The pattern for all life is the pattern of the parentage.
This is demonstrated in so many obvious ways, even an ordinary mind should understand it. Surely no one with reverence for God could believe that His children evolved from slime or from reptiles. The theory of evolution, and it is a theory, will have an entirely different dimension when the workings of God in creation are fully revealed.
Since every living thing follows the pattern of its parentage, are we to suppose that God had some other strange pattern in mind for His offspring? Surely we, His children, are not, in the language of science, a different species than He is?
What is in error, then, when we use the term Godhood to describe the ultimate destiny of mankind? We may now be young in our progression-juvenile, even infantile, compared with Him. Nevertheless, in the eternities to come, if we are worthy, we may be like unto Him, enter His presence, "see as are seen, and know as are known," and receive a "fulness."
This doctrine is not at variance with the scriptures. Nevertheless, it is easy to understand why some Christians reject it, because it introduces the possibility that man may achieve Godhood.
Their concern centers on certain verses of scripture, for there are many references which speak of one God. For example, Eph. 4:6: There is "one God and Father of all."
But if you hold strictly to a too rigid interpretation of those verses, you create serious theological problems for yourself.
There are many other verses of scripture, at least an equal number in the Bible, that speak in plural terms of "lords" and "gods." The first chapter of Genesis states:
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."
Such references are found from Genesis to Revelation.
The strongest one was given by Christ Himself when He quoted that very clear verse from the Eighty-second Psalm:
"Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
"If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
"Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?"
The acceptance of this truth does not mean accepting the multiple gods of mythology nor the polytheism of the pagans, which was so roundly condemned by Isaiah and the other prophets.
There is one God, the Father of all. This we accept as fundamental doctrine.
There is only one Redeemer, Mediator, Savior. This we know.
There is one Holy Ghost, a personage of spirit, who completes the Godhead.
I have emphasized the word one, in each sentence, but I have used it three times. Three is plural.
Paul used the plural many and the singular one in the same verse:
"For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth,
"But to us there is but one God, the Father."
Anyone who believes and teaches of God the Father, and accepts the divinity of Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, teaches a plurality of Gods.
When the early Apostles were gone, those who assumed the leadership of the Church forsook revelation and relied on reason. The idea of three separate Gods offended them, for it appeared to contravene those scriptures which refer to one God.
To reconcile that problem, they took verses here and there and ignored all else that bears on the subject. They tried to stir the three ones together into some mysterious kind of a composite one. They came up with creeds which cannot be squared with the scriptures. And they were left with a philosophy which opposes all we know of creation, of the laws of nature. And that, interestingly enough, defies the very reason upon which they came to depend.
The Apostle Paul understood this doctrine and wrote to the Philippians:
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God."
Lorenzo Snow, a modern Apostle, wrote a poem to his ancient counterpart Paul, from which I quote only one verse:
What could inspire one to purity and worthiness more than to possess a spiritual confirmation that we are the children of God? What could inspire a more lofty regard for oneself, or engender more love for mankind?
This thought does not fill me with arrogance. It fills me with overwhelming humility. Nor does it sponsor any inclination to worship oneself or any man.
The doctrine we teach has no provision for lying or stealing, for pornography, immoralities, for child abuse, for abortion, or murder. We are bound by the laws of His church, as sons and daughters of God, to avoid all of these and every other unholy or impure practice.
We did not invent this doctrine. Much of it was preserved in the Bible as it was revealed to prophets in ancient times. And as they foretold, further light and knowledge was revealed.
With the restoration of the fulness of the gospel came the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Other revelations were given and continue to be given, and verses which seemed to oppose one another have harmony.
The Prophet Joseph Smith said, "It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God."
And that knowledge is given us.
The Father is the one true God. This thing is certain: no one will ever ascend above Him; no one will ever replace Him. Nor will anything ever change the relationship that we, His literal offspring, have with Him. He is Eloheim, the Father. He is God. Of Him there is only one. We revere our Father and our God; we worship Him.
There is only one Christ, one Redeemer. We accept the divinity of the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh. We accept the promise that we may become joint heirs with Him. Paul wrote to the Romans:
"The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ"
There are those who mock our beliefs in the most uncharitable ways. And we will bear what they do with long-suffering, for it does not change truth. And in their own way they move our work along a little faster. We will send our missionaries abroad to teach that we are the literal sons and daughters of God.
We will strive with every exertion to teach what Christ taught, to live as He lived, to endure as He endured.
We began with this question: "What is man that thou art mindful of him?" Christ, our Redeemer, our Elder Brother, asked, "What manner of men ought ye to be?" And then He answered, "Verily I say unto you, even as I am."
I bear solemn witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh; that He is our Redeemer, our Savior; that God is our Father. This we know through the gift of the Holy Ghost. And I humbly but resolutely affirm that we will not, we cannot, stray from this doctrine. On this fundamental truth we will never yield! In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder David B. Haight
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Recently new temples were dedicated in Sydney, Australia, and in the Philippines.
One of the inspired dedicatory prayers offered by President Gordon B. Hinckley implored God our Father to "bless thy saints in their faith remain true as covenant people , that they shall grow in wisdom" he continued, "both spiritual and temporal they grow in virtue and in knowledge and in love for thee the evil designs of enemies be frustrated."
It is about the "evil designs of thine enemies" that I shall speak. I have prayed for spiritual guidance, and that I might be able to communicate to you in a thoughtful manner my frank and candid expressions of concern over the spreading of evil in our society today.
Over the past twenty years a plague of pornography has swept across most countries of the world with increasing momentum and devastating impact. What began a few years ago as a few crude picture magazines that startled sensitive people has grown to hundreds of publications, each seeking to outdo the others with increasingly shocking content.
So-called "adult" bookstores, selling materials that appeal to the prurient mind, are now open in nearly every city. Obscene materials once available only by mail and in a plain brown wrapper now are prominently displayed on the magazine racks of many local convenience stores and other business establishments where they are readily accessible to the young and the old alike.
Theaters showing X-rated films and worse have become established in most cities. It is reported that one particularly offensive movie, filmed at a cost of forty thousand dollars, has earned revenues of over six hundred million dollars.
It should come as no surprise that grand juries have found that 90 percent of all pornography is dominated by organized crime. Large profits from one project become a source of funds for still larger and more sophisticated enterprises as a growing tidal wave of smut dashes against the weakening bulwarks of morality.
New technologies that can bless our lives in so many positive ways are also being used to spread pornographic corruption. Video recorders now can bring to homes great classics of music, history, art, and drama. But they also bring into some of these same homes lurid portrayals of debauchery that contaminate those who view them and extend their corrupting influence to our communities and society.
Cable television and satellite transmissions, with their powerful capacity for good, are not only being used, but are also being abused. State and national laws necessary to govern their proper use are not yet established, and they are almost totally unregulated. Greedy men have been ready to exploit this vacuum in legal regulation without regard for the consequence to its victims.
Some may ask "What is pornography?" It was United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart who said that while he could not exactly define pornography, "I know it when I see it," he said.
Pornography is not a victimless crime. Who are its victims? First, those who either intentionally, or sometimes involuntarily, are exposed to it. Pornography is addictive. What may begin as a curious exploration can become a controlling habit. Studies show that those who allow themselves to become drawn to pornography soon begin to crave even coarser content. Continued exposure desensitizes the spirit and can erode the conscience of unwary people. A victim becomes a slave to carnal thoughts and actions. As the thought is father to the deed, exposure can lead to acting out what is nurtured in the mind.
But there are other victims. Crimes of violence have increased in the United States at up to five times the rate of population growth. A 1983 University of New Hampshire study found that states having the highest readership of pornographic magazines also have the highest number of reported rapes. Pornography degrades and exploits men, and women, and children in a most ugly and corrupt fashion.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy of all is in the lives of children who become its victims. The saddest trend of our day is the alarming, large increase in child abuse. Much of it occurs within families and involves corrupting the divine innocence that children have from birth. We sing, as we did this morning, "I am a child of God, and he has sent me here. Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way live with him some day" are part of those words The Savior reserved His harshest condemnation for those who would offend little children. He said: "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."
The Lord further commanded: "Neither commit adultery nor do anything like unto it."
"The early apostles and prophets sins that are reprehensible -adultery infidelity impurity, inordinate affection sexual relations outside of marriage sex perversion preoccupation with sex in one's thoughts. And one of the worst of these is incest sexual between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law to marry." Incest is an ugly sin, and this sin particularly may irreparably damage its innocent victims.
Yet, what impels these offenders to such terrible deeds? Police report that some 80 percent of those who molest young boys and girls admitted modeling their attacks on pornography they had viewed.
How has this evil gained such a foothold in our society? Have we ignored the warnings of our Church leaders? President Kimball declared: "So long as men are corrupt and revel in sewer filth, entertainers will sell them what they want. Laws may be passed, arrests may be made, lawyers may argue, courts may sentence men of corrupt minds, but pornography and insults to decency will never cease until men have cleansed their minds.
Continuing, President Kimball said, "When is sick and tired of being drowned in filth, he will not pay for that filth and its source will dry up.
"Hence it is obvious," he continued, "that to remain clean and worthy, one must stay positively and conclusively away from the devil's territory, avoiding the least approach toward evil. Satan leaves his fingerprints."
This growing presence of obscenity has been aided by the lowering of media standards for advertising, by relaxed movie ratings, by television soap operas and situation comedies that use their powerful voices to justify, glamorize, and encourage sexual relations outside of marriage.
Perhaps we have been intimidated by those who claim that producing, distributing, and using obscene materials is a basic right to be defended. This is not true. Even under the divinely inspired constitutional principles of this land, obscenity is not condoned nor protected. The United States Supreme Court has clearly held that criminal prosecution of those who produce and distribute obscene materials does not violate their First Amendment rights.
This spreading evil has been aided by a failure to enforce laws designed to prohibit or regulate it. Although some additional legislation may be helpful, those who have been fighting the discouraging battle against pornography in recent years are in agreement that nearly 90 percent of all obscene materials could be eliminated from our communities if existing obscenity laws were strictly enforced. A few courageous cities have performed outstanding service by ridding themselves of X-rated theaters and so-called "adult" bookstores, and by limiting access to hard-core pornographic books and magazines. The citizens of Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, formed a citizen action group and determined that they were not going to allow such degrading material in their community. They closed an adult bookshop and a large distribution warehouse, and, as a result of their determined citizens' organization and involvement, they have had enacted a city public nuisance ordinance.
Lawmaking bodies will listen to effectively organized citizens. However, too often the trend is tragically toward citizen apathy and a sense of futility.
And who is to blame? We could conveniently point the accusing finger at public prosecutors who are not vigorously enforcing the law. But we need men and women of courage and conviction in these offices of public trust if the awful tide is to be stemmed. But as one accusing finger is pointing toward those who make or enforce the law, another may point to ourselves, who may be equally to blame.
Fortunately, what is deemed legally obscene is partially determined by local community standards. We as citizens, by our own standards, are the ones who can help establish what offensive materials are-which ones are legally obscene-and cannot claim protection from the law.
Unfortunately, many people assume that even hard-core pornography is legal because it is so prevalent. But that is not true. Some public prosecutors may excuse themselves from seeking enforcement of obscenity laws by explaining that community standards determine what is obscene. They therefore conclude that because the community tolerates such material, its presence must reflect the accepted community standard. Concerned citizens-you and I-can change this misunderstanding.
What, then, is needed to reverse this ominous insult to ourselves, our families, and our communities? Only when men and women concerned for their families and communities let their voices and their influence be felt in thoughtful, rational ways will we alter the destructive course on which we are traveling. Silent indignation may be misinterpreted as approval. Irrational action may be ineffective because it is regarded as prudish rather than thoughtful.
Albert Camus wrote: "By your actions or your silence, you, too, enter the fray."
May I suggest a few things we could do to halt this deadly evil.
First, let each of us resolve this day to keep our minds, our bodies, and our spirits free from the corrupting influence of pornography, including everything that is obscene and indecent. Let it have no place in our homes, our minds, or our hearts. The psalmist David wrote, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart." If those who hear my voice have in their possession offensive materials that should be destroyed, let this be the day of decision and action. If someone listening has been tempted or has thought of, or even considered abusing or offending a child, may he, this day, confess and repent and forsake such evil thoughts or actions.
James the Apostle and the brother of our Lord wrote:
"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man."
Parents, discuss with your children of appropriate age, and in sensitive ways, the harmful effects and addictive nature of such material. Rigidly monitor the selection of television programs, movies, videocassettes, music, and other forms of entertainment for your family. Let us never, by purchasing these damaging materials, contribute to the financial success of those who deal in this material.
We would encourage you to foster in your homes a love of knowledge through uplifting literature; wholesome books; selective movies and television; classical and exemplary popular music; entertainment that uplifts and edifies the spirit and mind.
Second, let our voices be heard in our communities-members and nonmembers alike. If something offends standards of decency, our voices should be heard. We would encourage members to persevere in their efforts to work with local groups and to establish a visible relationship with other like-minded citizens, and seek to preserve our quality of life by encouraging steps against such material.
Should we not actively approach the management of some stores, movie theaters, bookstores, television and radio stations, with a request to withdraw indecent materials from public display or use or patronage? Of course, such efforts should be consistent with the constitutional process, exercising gentle persuasion.
Some nationally owned and franchised convenience stores and others have responded to the courteous request of their customers to discontinue selling certain degrading materials. We commend them for what they have done and would encourage others to follow their lead.
And third, we can make our own elected officials and law enforcement people aware that we support the fair enforcement of laws prohibiting obscenity and regulating indecency, thank them for their past service and present efforts, and encourage them to continue the difficult and sometimes thankless task of strictly enforcing the existing laws in a consistent and fair manner.
And fourth, where legislation is needed to meet new technological advances in cable and satellite transmission, let us support the enactment of reasonable laws and regulations that would help reduce the number of those whose lives will otherwise become marred by addiction, child abuse, and many of the other social ills that pornography helps foster. These laws should be carefully drawn within constitutional limitations, so that the freedoms we seek for ourselves now and in the future are not denied for others.
And fifth, let us exercise our faith and prayerfully seek help from God our Father in this vital task. There are some who believe that the pornography industry is out of control, already too powerful to curb. I would disagree with this dim view, but recognize the immensity of the task before us. We know that people of good will, united in such a worthy cause, where the moral fiber of our nations may be at stake, and aided by divine power, can overcome any obstacle and meet any challenge to help our Lord and Savior to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
"There is a line of demarcation," said President George Albert Smith, "well defined, between the Lord's territory and the devil's. If you will stay on the Lord's side of the line, you will be under his influence and will have no desire to do wrong; but if you cross to the devil's side of the line one inch, you are in the tempter's power, and if he is successful, you will not be able to think or even reason properly, because you will have lost the Spirit of the Lord." As a man soweth, so shall he reap.
May we strive to purify our personal lives, strengthen our homes-and not just talk about it, but strengthen our homes-and recognize the evil forces that are working through insidious ways to thwart our eternal progress, I humbly pray, as I declare the reality of our eternal Father in Heaven and His beloved Son Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. In His holy name, amen.
Elder Hugh W. Pinnock
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
The Holy Spirit sometimes works upon our minds fervently. We then know with a sure knowledge which subject to address. I shall speak of the inherent necessity of learning more thoroughly the will of our loving Heavenly Father.
While serving in Pennsylvania several years ago, I was pleasantly surprised to be visited by a minister of a huge Protestant congregation. We exchanged pleasantries and discussed the doctrinal subjects on which we could find benign agreement. Suddenly he interrupted our conversation by stating, "You teach one belief with which I could never agree. It is your idea that 'as God is, man may become.'" He held a well-worn white Bible in his hand. I asked him to turn to Matthew 5:48. His nimble fingers quickly turned to that reference, and he read, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
He gasped and then hesitatingly agreed to man's great potential. We read other scriptures, such as: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." He understood, and found a new respect for our teachings. He left a wiser man, and I felt a renewed gratitude for the inspiring truths that we understand and teach.
A young woman had almost left the Church. While I visited the distant city where she lived, she asked if we could talk for a few minutes, and I agreed. She had heard many of the misconceptions that our detractors have used to discredit the Church for decades. We read from the scriptures for about an hour together. With relief reflected in her eyes, she finally said, "I have been misled, haven't I?"
I said, "Yes, you have."
She was disappointed with what those erring enemies of the Church were teaching, but was excited to find herself back thinking clearly again. All we had done was read from the scriptures together. Confusion and mistakes come when we forget the importance of God's word as our unwavering guide.
A friend asked me several months ago why so many problems have been plaguing a number of the members of the Church recently. I hesitatingly answered, "Well, the last days are surely approaching when even the elect shall be deceived." He looked at me momentarily and said, "Well, perhaps that might be a little of it, but I believe the real reason that so many are wandering on strange paths is because they do not follow prophetic counsel to study the scriptures and attend the classes in Church."
I have thought of that conversation many times.
Would a person languish in self-pity and guilt if he understood the teachings of Jesus: "In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you." Also, the episode when the Master asked those without sin to cast the first stone at the woman caught in adultery and then, when they left, asked her, "Woman, where are thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more."
Or how could an individual defraud his customers, employer, or employees if he understood thoroughly Paul's words: "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." Such an individual would know that his life will progressively become more injured and that he will lose the spirit of discernment.
How could anyone claim that we are not Christian people if they had even a minimal understanding of the original Church as described in the New Testament, with baptism for the dead, the Melchizedek Priesthood, Apostles, prophets, evangelists, and teachers.
Or how could an individual commit the heinous crime of child abuse if he or she remembered the protecting words of Jesus when he taught, "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
Or would it be possible for a person to be caught in the subtle humanist philosophy that appears to be spreading everywhere if he thoroughly understood these words of Nephi: "Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost."
Or would our youth show, in some instances, almost wholesale disrespect for parents if they had carefully analyzed this verse: "Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord."
Likewise, would the parents be more sensitive toward their little ones if they understood the concept taught in the very next verse: "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged."
Or would immorality be running rampant if people comprehended those precious words found in the first letter to the Corinthians where we learn that a person who commits fornication sins against his own body, which is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and that our bodies are not our own but have been bought through the sacrifice of Jesus. He bought our bodies and our spirits, and they belong to God. We surely are to take care of His possessions.
Or would divorce be used so quickly as a solution to marital differences and frustrations if the loving words of our Heavenly Father as recorded in modern-day scriptures were understood more thoroughly? "Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else.
"And he that looketh upon a woman to lust after her shall deny the faith, and shall not have the Spirit; and if he repents not he shall be cast out."
Too often we forget our teachings and doctrine and, by so doing, err to our own injury and those we love the most. Within the teachings of God are found the answers to the dilemmas and challenges of life. The examples are endless, while the solution is fixed; it does not vary.
What can we do to keep ourselves more in tune doctrinally with our Heavenly Father? There are three simple steps:
First, attend our Church meetings. Several years ago we were given a meeting schedule that consolidated formal worship into a three-hour time frame. To each is given the identical commodity of 168 hours each week. The knave is given the same amount of time as the knight. The scriptural scholar is given the same amount of time as the doctrinal dumbo. Yes, for three hours each week we are asked to attend our formal Church meetings to become familiar with the word of God. This is less than two percent of our time. Yet too often presidencies hold meetings, members visit in the hallways, and leaders interview during this precious period. Yes, our leaders would lead better, our counselors would counsel better, and our members, by worshiping more studiously, would be able to cope more enduringly and satisfactorily.
What better lesson can a bishop, a Relief Society or Young Women president, a Melchizedek Priesthood quorum leader, or stake president teach than by being in a Gospel Doctrine class with his or her mate studying the word of God? Children certainly become more committed to doctrinal learning when they see their parents with scriptures in hand going to Church meetings and studying God's word together.
Second, study the scriptures with our family, with other members, and with friends, but also search the words of God in private contemplation. Search the scriptures as they relate to our priesthood, Relief Society, Sunday School, Young Women, and Primary lessons. Study the scriptures for additional enlightenment on how to be more happy and less frustrated in what only too often is at least temporarily a sad and dreary world. Every four years we are guided carefully through all of the scriptures in the adult curriculum of the Church. In a lifetime, each member can become a spiritual scriptorian instead of remaining a scriptural simpleton. How blessed we are to have our four books of scripture in editions that include efficient indexes, chapter headings, and other study helps such as the Topical Guide.
Last April I was deeply impressed with the words of Elder J. Thomas Fyans when he reported to the First Quorum of the Seventy the method he and his wife, Helen, use to study the scriptures. Because his stake conference assignments kept them from sitting together in the Gospel Doctrine class, learning from the Book of Mormon this year, they studied the Sunday School manual together at home, carefully marking the scriptures as they went along. They completed their study of the Book of Mormon in just four months and were looking forward to repeating the experience.
Third, brothers and sisters, we are to practice what we learn and teach. To overcome scriptural stupor, we must put what we learn into action. The scriptures lived for those who wrote them; we can make them just as real for us today if we will live by their teachings.
Often the self-control exercised by our youth under a full moon results from remembering a scripture learned in a seminary, priesthood, Sunday School, or Young Women's meeting.
Often the discipline or total integrity needed in a business interview or sales situation comes from a principle learned through personal scriptural study or from a well-prepared teacher. And how we appreciate and love you teachers in the kingdom!
So often our single members are able to overcome discomfort, distress, and discouragement by making decisions that are based on gospel teachings.
Yes, each of us is in the business of managing his own life to be happy now and forever. We can do so only by learning and doing our Heavenly Father's will.
Perhaps we would consider a man or woman foolish if he or she did not claim a rich inheritance. Yet how foolish we are if we do not lay claim on the doctrinal endowment that we have been given.
May each of us attend our meetings regularly, study and ponder the words of God and our prophets diligently, and practice constantly what we have learned. These words I leave with you in the name of our King, Redeemer, and Master Teacher, Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Spencer H. Osborn
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
Prior to this present calling, I served as a counselor to President Marion D. Hanks in the Salt Lake Temple. The spirit encouraged by him for all temple workers was taken from a hand-lettered sign on the wall of a little boys' clubhouse: "Nobody act big; nobody act little; everybody act medium." I confess that I feel a great deal less than medium as I stand here at this pulpit, this spot hallowed by prophets and other great leaders who have stood here and proclaimed eternal truths.
I, with others of my Brethren, have received a new calling from the Lord. My specific assignment is to serve with Elder A. Theodore Tuttle and Elder Jacob de Jager in the Presidency of the South America South Area of the Church, with the headquarters in Buenos Aires. This area comprises the great countries of Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
I have accepted a new yoke of service; this is something that occurs to thousands of faithful Saints every week the world over-a new yoke of service.
Several months ago, Sister Osborn and I were traveling a narrow road in central Luzon in the Philippines, where I was serving as a full-time Regional Representative. We passed a farmer on his way to market. He was trotting along, carrying an enormous load of vegetables and produce hanging from both ends of a wooden yoke carried across his shoulders. I stopped the car to take his picture. After I snapped the camera, he lowered his burden in order to visit. I asked my friend if his load wasn't really too heavy to carry a great distance. He replied, "No, it isn't, because it's balanced."
"Doesn't that yoke hurt?" I asked.
"At first it did, but I carved and sanded it with a rough stone, and now it fits and is comfortable."
I noticed, also, that he had a small cloth pad that spanned his neck-I suppose to cushion the shocks of a rough road.
It wasn't until we drove away that I thought of the Savior's invitation found in Matthew 11:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Traditionally, and properly, we consider this beautiful promise of relief in connection with those without the kingdom-those who have not accepted the saving and exalting ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Very often we use this invitation for those within the Church who carry the heavy burdens of sadness, distress, sickness, problems, or sin. May I suggest another vast group of faithful Latter-day Saints who receive great comfort from this scripture. They are the workers in the vineyard, those who carry the load of service in the Church.
There are two excerpts from this scripture which seem especially appropriate to this group of men and women. The first is "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me." Not only are we to accept responsibilities in the service of the Master, but we are to continue our personal studies-the never-ending process of learning of Jesus Christ and pondering His ministry, message, and atonement. It is sad to note that all too often when we assume a demanding Church assignment our scripture studies are placed in suspension for the duration. The second segment that applies to us is "For I am meek and lowly in heart." Meekness is the key to success in the Lord's service. To be meek and lowly doesn't mean to be timid or afraid, but to be submissive to the will of the Lord, to be willing to be led by the Spirit and to be teachable.
I have found through the years and in a series of Church responsibilities that as long as I balance the load, delegate and shift the burden if it becomes too cumbersome, making sure that family, business, and other interests counterbalance my load of duty, it becomes light. If the yoke chafes or irritates, I whittle or sand it down by learning more about the position and educating myself in the work. Then the yoke becomes comfortable and easy, as the Lord said it would. Of course, the cushion or pad that spans the neck is the knowledge we have of the divinity of this great latter-day work, our testimony of the gospel. That is what really cushions the shocks and jolts as we carry our burdens down the rocky road of life.
My present yoke chafes a bit right now, but I'll keep sanding away until I can communicate better in that beautiful Spanish language. I rejoice in this yoke. I delight in carrying this burden for as long as my duty requires.
I know that God lives and responds to our petition. I know that Jesus Christ is my Master, our Savior and Redeemer. I pledge to my Heavenly Father and to my Brethren my full devotion to this present yoke of service, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Philip T. Sonntag
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
This morning at an early hour, the telephone rang, and after answering the phone, I heard a little voice say, "I love you, Grandpa. Give a good talk." I must confess, brothers and sisters, that I have been restless over this assignment because perhaps my choice of words or my inability to express myself or to emphasize the proper things would not convey the feelings of my heart. I would like to bear my testimony to you that I know that God lives. I know that God lives; I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world, the Son of God, the Prince of Peace; that Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw, heard what he said he heard; and that because of the vision of the Father and the Son, the kingdom of God has been established upon the face of the earth. This is that kingdom, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the only church upon the face of the earth that bears his authority. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and contains a fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I bear my witness to you that we have a living prophet standing at the head of this great church. I sustain him with all my heart and soul. I sustain President Romney and President Hinckley and the Twelve and the other Brethren. I am honored to sit in council with them, to be counted among them, and to add my voice as a special witness of the divinity of this great work.
We have had the privilege of being involved in the South Pacific for the past few months. It has been a glorious privilege to labor with President Simpson and President Harris in the presidency of that area, to feel of the faith and the excitement that's taking place in that area of the world.
Let me share an experience with you of the faith and the appreciation of the Saints in the islands of the sea for the contributions you have made in strengthening and building their lives; for your prayers; for your sons and your daughters, and for the great missionary couples who have been sent to their lands to teach the message of the restoration. Tears of thanks and of faith and of love have been shed, expressions of gratitude given for your sending these missionaries to teach them of Jesus Christ and his ways.
As a result of your great contributions, a new chapel is being built far away from any civilization, the first one for the aborigine people. It is an exciting time for them, and for the area in the north territories of Australia. It is so exciting that even the Lord Mayor of Darwin is coming to attend the dedication, spending a whole day. Missionary couples have been busy preparing the people. One man who owns a sheep ranch in Australia equal to the size of Utah and who was firmly convinced that the average native could learn nothing, came recently to a special meeting and there he sat as the aborigines' young children sang, "I Am a Child of God,", tears streamed down his face, and he said as he walked out of the meeting, "If I hadn't seen it, I never would have believed it." Faith, strength, kindness from a people who made this possible. A great appreciation from a people who could not do what they did without you.
We see on the islands of Tonga some three hundred missionaries, most of them native young men and women, the young men wearing their white shirts and ties and their ta'ovalas, the young sister missionaries dressed in long dresses, hair in place, their name badges worn proudly, as they go from home to home in the most humble of circumstances to teach the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The glow in those brown faces as they bear witness of the divinity of this work stirs the very souls of men.
We left Ha'apia to go by boat to a small island where few General Authorities have ever visited. We were greeted at the dock by the Saints. They embraced us and tears flowed freely down their cheeks. We walked from the docks to a chapel. As we neared the building, which is used both for a school and a church, we heard the voices of children singing in their native tongue, "We thank thee, O God, for a prophet, to guide us in these latter days." We walked in to the chapel humbled. There, filling the chapel to capacity, were members of the Church and friends alike gathered from around the island to hear the messages that were to be given.
There was a rich outpouring of the Spirit, and at the conclusion of the meeting we were invited to the rear of the building where a special ceremony of welcome was given to us. It was a beautiful service. A representative of the government was there, and he spoke and thanked the Church and General Authorities for the tremendous contributions they had made in educating, strengthening, and building the lives of the people. He was not a member of the Church, but he was touched by the Spirit of the Lord. In their greatest tribute, they gave us a huge roasted pig. They said they would like to lavish us with gifts, but this was the best they had.
They took us to a feast, a table spread with the finest that the island could produce. After the feast they picked up the pig, carried it to the ship, and insisted that we take it with us on our journey. We started walking back to the ship. I was walking with the island official and I said, "You would make a wonderful member of the Church." He said, "I am ready. I felt the Spirit, but just must get rid of a habit." I reminded him that it was just as easy to get rid of the habit today as it would be tomorrow or next week. And he said, "I'll try; I'll try."
I wonder sometimes if we appreciate what the few dollars we give to the Church for building the kingdom does for others. When I think of the great tithing contributions and other contributions that go to bless that land, when I look at the homes that have been built because of the welfare program after their island was devastated because of a hurricane, my heart is filled with joy for a people who love the Lord, who are willing to give of their own means for the furthering of the kingdom of God.
God bless you, my dear brothers and sisters, as you go forth in this great work, that you will remember who you are and give freely and cheerfully of that which our Heavenly Father has given to you, that your testimony by your faith will bear witness to all the world that this work is true, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder John H. Groberg
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
How I pray for the Spirit of the Lord to continue to be with all of us, as it has been thus far.
The injunction from God to "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" has been in force throughout human history. There is power in keeping the Sabbath day holy. I testify that God lives, that we are his children, that he loves us, and that he gives us commandments so he can bless us as we keep them and thereby have joy. As we keep the Sabbath day holy he will bless us, and we will achieve a quiet power for good as individuals, as families, and as nations, that we cannot obtain in any other way.
Let me give two examples:
The small island kingdom of Tonga lies immediately next to the international dateline, so it is the first country in the world to greet the Sabbath day. It is a small country and, in the counting of the world, a poor country. But years ago a wise Tongan king decreed that the Sabbath would be kept holy in Tonga forever.
Modern civilization has come in many ways to Tonga. If one goes to the capital of Nuku'alofa on a weekday, he finds the usual heavy traffic of trucks and cars and the bustle of thousands of shoppers making their regular purchases from well-stocked stores and markets. One sees people line up to view the latest movies and to rent videos. One can watch modern buses whisk tourists off to catch their jet planes, or observe the speed and clarity of a satellite call to the United States. The streets are crowded and business is good. You might wonder, "What is so different about this town from hundreds of others like it throughout the world?"
But when Sunday dawns on the kingdom of Tonga, a transformation takes place. If one goes downtown, he sees deserted streets-no taxis or buses or crowds of people. All the stores, all the markets, all the movie theaters, all the offices are closed. No planes fly, no ships come in or out, no commerce takes place. No games are played. The people go to church. Tonga is remembering to keep the Sabbath day holy.
It is significant that the first country in the world to greet the holy Sabbath keeps the Sabbath holy.
Has the Lord blessed them? Maybe the world cannot see his blessings, but in the ways that really count, he has blessed them abundantly. He has blessed them with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and a larger percentage of the population there belongs to the Church than in any other country.
Simple, well-kept chapels dot the land. Clean, smiling local missionaries are found everywhere. A beautiful, exceptionally well-attended temple stands in Tonga in fulfillment of promises made years and ages ago. And, as would be expected, their attendance at meetings and faithfulness in tithing are very near the top. Recently the Saints have been blessed with some fairly intense opposition that is having the effect of further sanctifying the true seekers of eternal life.
Does the Lord love and bless those who keep the Sabbath day holy? I testify that he does in eternally meaningful ways. I further testify that when we eventually see things through the proper perspective of eternal truth, we will be amazed at how much we were blessed in important-though often unperceived-ways through keeping the Sabbath holy; and to our sorrow we may sense how many blessings we kept from ourselves by not consistently keeping the Sabbath day holy.
There is a direct correlation between the proper observance of the Sabbath and true reverence for God, which includes obedience to his other commandments.
We can't all live in Tonga, but we can all keep the Sabbath day holy and receive the blessings that come therefrom-and they come to us wherever we live, personally as well as collectively.
Let me give another example from these very valleys:
Some time ago I was assigned to a conference in northern Utah in June. As I drove through Cache Valley on Saturday, I was struck by the beauty of that peaceful green valley. I marveled at the temple in Logan-such a serene, peaceful beacon in so many ways. As I continued north on that clear summer day, I was impressed with the green fields so rich with a variety of crops. I particularly noticed the great number of alfalfa fields and the constant activity in nearly all of them. What a pleasing sensation it was to smell that freshly mown hay and to see the straight rows and the orderly cutting of those meticulously groomed fields.
I pulled the car over to the side of the road at the top of one of the hills and got out. I found myself absorbed right into that beautiful valley. As far as I could see was a whole panorama of the same activity in every direction-hay being mowed and stacked and hauled.
I finally drove on to the stake where we had a wonderful conference.
My parents live in southeast Idaho, and since I was already more than halfway there, I decided to drive up Sunday afternoon to visit them before returning home.
So, after conference I started north through the rest of Cache Valley. Within a few miles I was in Idaho, but the scenery and feeling were just the same. I again became absorbed in the beauty of the green fields and the smell of fresh hay all around. Again, I stopped at the top of one of the hills and got out and looked as far as I could in all directions. It was just as beautiful-if not more so-than the day before. "Yes, even more beautiful," I thought, "but why?" The sun and sky and the clouds and the fields were all the same. Why this deep feeling that this sight this Sunday afternoon was even more beautiful than the day before?
What was the difference? I noticed in the distance a small LDS chapel and a few cars starting to pull up to it. Then it struck me, rather peacefully but very effectively: "There is the difference. No one is mowing or hauling hay today." I looked as far as I could and saw hay fields everywhere, tractors stopped, mowing machines idle, and trucks resting in the fields, but no one working-for it was the Sabbath and this was Cache Valley and these were largely good Latter- day Saint people.
As I continued north, I saw everywhere hay to be cut and stacked and hauled and equipment and weather to do it, but no man or woman in the fields. The people of this valley were observing a higher law, and the Sabbath was being kept holy in Cache Valley.
I went by dozens, even hundreds, of farms with machines waiting in the fields-left Saturday evening by God-fearing men waiting for Monday to come and the whine of activity to resume. I wondered to myself, "Will someone break this spell, will someone be out in his fields working?"
Each time I rounded a corner or came to the top of a hill, I would look and look and then breathe a sigh of relief-no one working.
I went farther and farther north, realizing I was near the end of this beautiful valley. "Would anyone break the spell? Could it be a whole valley so dedicated to God that no one would work on the Sabbath?" The suspense became almost unbearable. Each curve I rounded or each hill I came over found me looking in almost fearful anticipation, then smiling as the same peaceful scene continued.
Finally I came to the last curve and the confluence with the main road that marked the end of Cache Valley. I looked and looked, but all was peaceful and quiet. I was so excited, I pulled the car over, got out, and in almost a Toyota-like jump I raised my hands and shouted, "You did it, Cache Valley. You did it! I have traversed your length. You didn't know I was looking, but you did it-not one field being mowed, not one tractor at work, not one truck hauling. You did it!"
I instinctively looked heavenward and said, "Did you see that? Did you see Cache Valley this Sunday afternoon?"
Even though I didn't hear anything, it was as though I sensed a response saying, "Yes, we know. We see everything."
I had such a joyful feeling-almost ecstasy-as I drove north to a wonderful meeting with my parents before returning home.
For some time after that, I couldn't get that Sunday afternoon off my mind. I kept feeling, "You have observed and witnessed something very special, something truly significant: an entire valley keeping His Sabbath holy."
It caused me deep reflection then and many times since, but like so many things it was moved further and further to the back of my mind with the press of many current problems. Winter came, and for all intents and purposes it slipped from my conscious memory.
I continued to travel each weekend to various parts of the world. Many months later, I was assigned to a conference in a city noted for its particularly flagrant violations of God's laws. The Saints there were wonderful, but oh, the decadence and debauchery that seemed to be all around them.
As I returned from the especially hectic weekend, I began reading in the scriptures. I thought about Sodom and Gomorrah. Could they have been much more wicked than this? And yet the Lord promised to spare them for fifty righteous souls-or even down to ten-but they were not found.
I let my imagination go and seemed to see a band of destroying angels loosed from heaven-thundering across the land. And even before I had time to think about the situation, I seemed to see myself standing in front of these determined destroyers, declaring, "Hold, hold, hold"; and they held. "Go back," I said: and their horses reared, their eyes flashing in impatience. The destroyers' anxiousness showed, but they held.
The leader looked me squarely in the eye and challenged, "By what right do you ask us to hold? Have you not seen the evil of the land?"
I replied, "Yes, I know of the sordidness of the world. I see the constant mocking of God's laws, the merchandising on his holy day, the constant breaking of his commandments. I see the evil that exists almost universally. Yes, yes, all these things are true, still " Then I became concerned. What right had I to ask them to hold?
My eyes began to fall from his penetrating gaze, but something inside kept searching, searching, until finally a laserlike beam locked on to a misty memory made many months ago and faithfully filed away for such a time as this. A vista of a beautiful green valley passed before me and moved to the front of my consciousness.
I raised my eyes and met his as he again said, "What right do you have to ask us to hold?"
Then with the confidence of sure knowledge and spiritual direction, I replied, "You must hold, for you see, I have been through Cache Valley on a Sunday afternoon."
There was no hesitation, no anger, no look of surprise, no disappointment, only obedience; and he turned and rejoined his group, and they left.
Oh, my dear brothers and sisters, there is power in keeping the Sabbath day holy-power to help others as well as ourselves. If we would have God's blessings and protection as individuals, as families, as communities, and as nations, we must keep His Sabbath day holy.
May we all live that someday, someway, somewhere, somehow, as we face that which is very serious, we may be able to say, "Hold, hold, hold"; and, when challenged as to why, be able-through obedience and the confidence of the Spirit-to say in our own way, "For I have been through Cache Valley on a Sunday afternoon," I do humbly pray in the name of our Savior, who lives. I know he lives, even Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I propose some simple tests that all of us may take to determine if we are true to the faith. They consist of a few basic questions, all of which must be answered correctly in order to gain the full blessings of the gospel in this life and inherit eternal life in the realms ahead.
Our well-beloved brother Paul, an Apostle of old, counsels us in these words: "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves."
And we may well ask ourselves: Do we believe all of the doctrines of salvation? Are we keeping the commandments? Are we valiant in the cause of truth and righteousness? Will we be saved in the kingdom of God?
From among many questions that all of us must one day answer, let me test you on these:
Test one: Do I worship the only true and living God?
There is no salvation in worshiping a false god-neither a cow; nor a crocodile; nor a cedar post; nor even a spirit essence, without body, parts, or passions, that fills the immensity of space.
True believers worship that Holy Being who "made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."
He is the Father of spirits with whom we dwelt before the foundations of the earth were laid. He is our Father in Heaven, who ordained and established a plan of salvation by which his spirit children might advance and progress and become like him.
He is a Holy Man, a personage of tabernacle, having a body of flesh and bones; and he created mortal man in his own image, "male and female created he them."
He is a glorified and exalted being in whom all fulness and perfection dwell, who knows all things and has all power, all might, and all dominion.
Test two: Do I believe in the fall of Adam?
There is no salvation in a system of religion that rejects the doctrine of the Fall or that assumes man is the end product of evolution and so was not subject to a fall.
True believers know that this earth and man and all forms of life were created in an Edenic, or paradisiacal, state in which there was no mortality, no procreation, no death.
In that primeval day Adam and Eve were "in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin."
But in the providences of the Lord, "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."
By his fall, Adam introduced temporal and spiritual death into the world and caused this earth life to become a probationary estate.
Test three: Do I believe in the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ?
As to this question, I give my own personal answer. It is:
I know that my Redeemer lives; with Job I testify. "What though the ravages of disease destroy my body; what though I am slain by the sword of death-yet I know that he who bought me with his blood shall soon reign on earth and that "in my flesh shall I see God."
I am a witness that he was lifted up upon the cross of Calvary; that he was crucified, died, and rose again the third day; that he ascended into heaven, where, sitting on the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, he now reigns in everlasting glory; and that he will soon come again among the sons of men.
I know that he is the one Mediator between God and man; that he brings to pass the immortality and eternal life of man; that his is a ministry of reconciliation whereby fallen man can be reconciled with his Maker.
I know that salvation is in Christ and that only by faith in his name can we hope for the riches of eternity.
He is my Brother and Friend, but he is more. He is my Lord, my God, and my King, whom I worship in the full majesty of his Godhead and who will continue to be my Savior, my Redeemer, and my God through all the eternities that lie ahead.
Test four: Do I accept the true plan of salvation?
As there is only one God and one Savior, so there is only one salvation, one strait and narrow path leading to eternal life, one way in which the grace of God can be poured out upon us mortals in full measure.
To gain salvation all men everywhere must have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They must repent of their sins and be baptized by a legal administrator who has power to seal on earth and in heaven. They must receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, be sanctified by the power of the Spirit, and keep the commandments of God all their days.
Test five: Do I believe the gospel as it has been restored in this final dispensation of grace?
Be it known to all men, let it be proclaimed by the very trump of God, let angelic choirs sing of its wonders and glory, let all the hosts of men stand in awe as the voice from heaven declares that God has in these last days restored the fulness of his everlasting gospel.
Let every eye see, every ear hear, every heart be penetrated-for the voice of God is heard again. Angels again are coming from the courts of glory to declare eternal truths to mortal men. The gift of the Holy Ghost is being poured out upon the faithful, and thousands again shout praises to the Holy One of Israel.
Hear it, all ye ends of the earth. God has spoken; the heavens have been opened; we have his gospel; keys and powers are again vested in men; and all men are invited to come, without money and without price, and feast upon the good word of God, for salvation is free.
Test six: Am I a faithful member of the true Church?
Am I keeping the commandments of God? Do I love and serve him with all my heart, might, mind, and strength?
There is no such thing as gaining salvation from a false god, or by conforming to a false plan of salvation, or through membership in a false church.
Truth-pure, diamond truth-truth unmixed with error, truth and truth alone can lead a soul to salvation.
Test seven: Do I honor Joseph Smith as the great prophet of the Restoration?
In the days of Jesus, wicked and evil men separated themselves from the true Christians by defaming the name of Jesus and cursing him as a false prophet.
In our day the same approach is made by ill-disposed persons to the name of Joseph Smith. The way men feel about him and his prophetic successors divides true believers from those who serve another master.
Unto Joseph Smith, seer of latter days, the Lord of heaven spoke these words: "The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools shall have thee in derision, and hell shall rage against thee;
"While the pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the virtuous, shall seek counsel, and authority, and blessings constantly from under thy hand."
Why will it ever be thus? Because Joseph Smith is the restorer of the knowledge of Christ and of salvation; because he translated the Book of Mormon, which contains the fulness of the gospel; because he received revelations as numerous and glorious as those given to Moses and Isaiah; because angelic ministrants gave him keys and powers and priesthoods, which enabled him and his successors to bind on earth and have their acts sealed everlastingly in the heavens-all these are but a few of the reasons why we honor the name of Joseph Smith.
I, for one, want to seek counsel, and authority, and blessings constantly from the hands of such a man!
Test eight: Am I enduring to the end, growing in grace, and gaining the attributes of godliness?
That is to say: Am I growing in faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity-as Peter exhorted?
Am I working out my salvation with fear and trembling before the Lord-as Paul counseled?
Am I walking in the light, as God is in the light, enjoying fellowship with the Saints, so that "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son" will cleanse me from all sin-as John promised?
Am I pressing forward "with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men, feasting upon the word of Christ" and enduring to the end-as Nephi taught?
Do I have a special and holy love for the Saints, thus identifying me as a true disciple-according to the word of the Lord Jesus?
Test nine: Do I put first in my life the things of God's kingdom? Is it with me and mine the kingdom of God or nothing?
President Brigham Young-of blessed memory who now reigns in heavenly courts-devised this rallying cry: "The Kingdom of God or nothing."
It was echoed by his associates and might well be revived among us.
A wise cleric of a former day leaves us this counsel: "If you have not chosen the kingdom of God first, it will in the end make no difference what you have chosen instead."
The kingdom of God on earth is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which prepares men for an inheritance in the kingdom of God in heaven, which is the celestial kingdom.
When we put first in our lives the things of God's kingdom, we are speaking of the earthly kingdom which prepares us for the heavenly kingdom.
With us, in this life and in the life to come, it is and should be the kingdom of God or nothing.
This kingdom of God, both in time and in eternity, is governed by the spirit of inspiration. It always sends forth the mind and will of the Lord, whether by his own voice or by the voice of his servants it is the same.
On every issue it behooves us to determine what the Lord would have us do and what counsel he has given through the appointed officers of his kingdom on earth.
No true Latter-day Saint will ever take a stand that is in opposition to what the Lord has revealed to those who direct the affairs of his earthly kingdom.
No Latter-day Saint who is true and faithful in all things will ever pursue a course, or espouse a cause, or publish an article or book that weakens or destroys faith.
There is, in fact, no such thing as neutrality where the gospel is concerned.
Jesus said: "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathered not with me scattereth abroad."
And it was Jacob who said: "They who are not for me are against me, saith our God."
If we do not sustain and uphold and support the kingdom of God in all things, we are thereby aiding a cause other than the Lord's.
Only the valiant are saved. Members of the Church who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus, not valiant in the cause of Christ, not valiant in defense of his prophets and in preaching his word are not heirs of the celestial kingdom.
Test ten: Am I so living that I will be saved in the kingdom of God?
This is our goal and aim and purpose in life. Everything we do should please the Lord and further our strivings for salvation.
And, the Lord be praised, there comes a time in the lives of faithful Saints when, having kept the faith and been true and faithful at all hazards, the Lord says to them: Thou shalt be exalted.
These, then, are a few of the many tests of true discipleship.
Now, I have what every true disciple has. It is called the testimony of Jesus. In our day it includes the revealed knowledge that the earthly kingdom-The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-will triumph. In this connection may I set before you this illustration:
The Church is like a great caravan-organized, prepared, following an appointed course, with its captains of tens and captains of hundreds all in place.
What does it matter if a few barking dogs snap at the heels of the weary travelers? Or that predators claim those few who fall by the way? The caravan moves on.
Is there a ravine to cross, a miry mud hole to pull through, a steep grade to climb? So be it. The oxen are strong and the teamsters wise. The caravan moves on.
Are there storms that rage along the way, floods that wash away the bridges, deserts to cross, and rivers to ford? Such is life in this fallen sphere. The caravan moves on.
Ahead is the celestial city, the eternal Zion of our God, where all who maintain their position in the caravan shall find food and drink and rest. Thank God that the caravan moves on!
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
My brothers and sisters, this has been a glorious conference. Only one thing has been lacking, and that is to have heard from the President of the Church, the prophet of the Lord. I wish that President Kimball might have been able to speak to us. We love him. We pray for him. He would have me convey his love and blessing to each of you.
We have likewise missed the counsel of President Romney. These our brethren have each reached an advanced age. Our hearts go out to them. We pray that the Lord will bless them and comfort and sustain them according to his all-wise program. His wisdom exceeds that of any man. He is working his grand design with reference to his purposes and his kingdom.
If our leaders could have spoken to us, I am confident they would have said, "Live the gospel." That is the greatest challenge we face. It is a simple declaration, but encompassed in those few words is a mandate applicable to each of us. It concerns our home and family life. It concerns our daily work. It concerns our activities and responsibilities as men and women, brothers and sisters, in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As we return to our homes, let us resolve within our hearts to more fully live the gospel.
One hundred years ago at the October 1884 conference, in this same Tabernacle, George Q. Cannon, Counselor in the First Presidency, standing where I now stand, said to those here assembled:
"If I could speak so that the whole world would hear the utterance I would like to sound it in the ears of all mortal men-that there is no power that will ever be permitted to array itself, or to combine itself against this work of our God, to retard its onward progress from this time forward until the full consummation will be achieved-that is, if the Latter-day Saints themselves are faithful to God, if they will keep the commandments of God, if they will sanctify themselves and cleanse themselves from sin, and live pure and holy lives. If they will do this, then the success and the triumph and the continued growth and advancement of this kingdom are assured unto us as a people. There is no doubt of it. I say in the name of Jesus Christ, that it will be so."
I appreciate what has been said by all who have spoken in this conference. I want to assure you, as I have assured you in the past, that there is unity in the leadership of the Church. There is not the slightest divisiveness among the General Authorities. There is a great sense of loyalty among them-loyalty to you, loyalty to one another, loyalty to this cause, loyalty to God and his Eternal Son.
I love these my Brethren. Not one of them has ever hesitated to respond to any call that was made upon him. They have been willing to travel over land and sea, in sunshine or storm, to accomplish any task asked of them. They have lived up to the solemn charge given each at the time of his call-to put the interests of the kingdom of God ahead of all other interests.
I can say the same of members of stake presidencies and bishoprics, Regional Representatives, mission presidents, and many others. It is a constantly unfolding miracle to me to witness the faithfulness of these men who have been appointed as local Church leaders.
I want to assure you that they have been called by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. They have been set apart by those who are in authority to do so. They have been blessed with judgment and understanding, with discernment and inspiration.
I urge the people of the Church, wherever you may be, when you are faced with problems, first to try to solve those problems yourselves. Think about them, study alternatives available to you, pray about them, and look to the Lord for direction. If you are unable to settle them yourselves, then talk with your bishop or branch president. He is a man of God, called under the authority of the holy priesthood as the shepherd of the flock.
So very many letters come addressed to President Kimball asking for counsel and advice on personal problems. Most of the questions raised could be settled by the individuals themselves, and most certainly in counseling with their bishops or stake presidents, who best know the members of their wards and stakes. These brethren are close to the people. It is my observation that they are willing to give of their time unselfishly to listen to the troubles of those for whom they are responsible. They are willing to fast and to pray in seeking solutions.
It is so much better that you consult with these your local brethren rather than that you write to the General Authorities of the Church, who, in many instances, will simply refer your query back to your bishop or stake president. Such referral will not come of an unwillingness to take the time to assist those in trouble. It will be prompted by an established procedure in the Church that we should look to our local leaders for counsel, those who know us best. They are entitled to inspiration from the Lord in counseling those for whom they have responsibility.
Even if President Kimball were in good health and vigorous, there is no way that he could deal with all of the personal problems of the people and still carry the tremendous administrative load which is attached to his office. If bishops and stake presidents do not know the answers to problems which come to them, then they may properly write to the Presidency of the Church. That is the order of things, my brethren and sisters, and there is great wisdom in it.
Now a final word. Enjoy your membership in the Church. Where else in all the world can you find such a society? Enjoy your activity. When I was a missionary in London fifty years ago, my companion and I would shake hands in the morning and say to one another, "Life is good." Life in the service of the Lord is good. It is beautiful. It is rewarding.
Be happy in that which you do. Cultivate a spirit of gladness in your homes. Subdue and overcome all elements of anger, impatience, and unbecoming talk one to another. Let the light of the gospel shine in your faces wherever you go and in whatever you do.
God be with you, my beloved brethren and sisters. May he smile with favor upon you as you walk in obedience to his commandments.
I add my testimony to the many that have been borne in this conference. I know that God our Eternal Father lives, the Father of the spirits of all men. Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, our Savior and our Redeemer, who gave his life as a vicarious sacrifice for each of us.
Joseph Smith was and is a prophet. We have a prophet among us at this time. This is the Church of Jesus Christ, restored in this dispensation for the blessing of our Father's children.
I leave with you my love and blessing and that of each of my Brethren in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.