The Path of Safety in a Chaotic World

This morning I was approached in private by a member of my ward about a doctrinal question. He prefaced his question by stating I had an "encyclopedic" knowledge of Church policies and procedures, doctrine and history. I can assure you who read these pages such is not the case, but then you would already know that.

Last week someone wrote me asking to validate a "story" he had found on the Internet about President Joseph Fielding Smith, who became president of the Church at age 93. While the story had elements of what "could be" truth - and isn't that always the definition of "half truths?" - it was one of those stories that was not attributed to a recognized and authentic source. I could do little more than label it for what it was in fact - a "faith-promoting rumor."

President Joseph Fielding Smith

It sent my mind back to the days surrounding the death of President David O. McKay, and the subsequent sustaining of President Joseph Fielding Smith. At age 93, President Smith was only three years younger than President McKay when he died. There was widespread speculation among members of the Church that perhaps in the wisdom of men President Smith would be side-stepped in the succession process and a younger man would be named as president.

Not only were these rumors afloat, and had been for some time about the so-called "crisis in leadership" in the Church, but the world at large was in turmoil. There were routine threats of bombs and murder plots bandied about, and some of these touched the Church as well. It was during this time that speculation about the blacks receiving the priesthood had reached an apex. Even BYU's participation in sporting events drew threats against the Church.

Harold B. Lee's principal biographer was my father, L. Brent Goates. He records: "The far-reaching and potentially disastrous climax came as feared in the Sunday afternoon conference session, when another bomb threat occurred as Elder A. Theodore Tuttle was at the pulpit preaching on the theme 'If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.' A telephoned message was delivered to President Lee on the stand of the Tabernacle stating that a bomb would go off during that session. According to Salt Lake City Public Safety Commissioner James Barker, President Lee emphatically said to the policeman delivering the note in the Tabernacle: 'There is no bomb in here; relax.' The session continued uninterrupted.

"The responsibility for that instantaneous decision and the assurance of that conviction are mind-boggling. It is one of the most significant illustrations of the seer-like qualities of President Lee. It was his gift to be guided by an intuitive inspiration, which quality his associates of the General Authorities understood and deeply admired in him.

"Following this tense but spiritually rewarding Sunday afternoon session, the First Presidency and the Twelve met in the temple for prayer and began a twenty-four-hour fasting for divine protection. On this occasion they presented the names of new General Authorities to be announced the following day at the concluding session of conference. After approval by the Twelve, Elder Boyd K. Packer, the newly called apostle, and Elders Joseph Anderson, David B. Haight and William H. Bennett, nominees to be added to the Assistants to the Twelve, were called in, interviewed and given time to spiritually prepare themselves and their families for this historic happening scheduled the next day.

"On Monday, April 6, 1970, the solemn assembly became the highlight of general conference. President Tanner conducted the session in the morning and President Lee was assigned to present the same formal voting procedures which have been followed without deviation during the last century, whenever there was a reorganization of the First Presidency. Despite continued threats of demonstrations in this session there was a tremendous evidence of unity and power of faith, as everyone in the Tabernacle, the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, and in the Salt Palace, and all the unseen audience tuned in by radio and television, were invited to stand and, when requested, witness with uplifted hands their sustaining vote of confidence and loyalty. In the three buildings mentioned not a single hand was raised in opposition.

"President Lee's address concluded this solemn assembly after President Smith and Elder Spencer W. Kimball, newly sustained as Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve, had spoken. President Lee felt a great spiritual uplift in carrying out his key role in this impressive service. There was a marvelous spirit of acceptance and joy as President Lee, at President Smith's direction, presented the charge to Elder Packer (formerly an Assistant to the Twelve) and the three new General Authorities before they were ordained and set apart at the next Thursday temple meeting." (Harold B. Lee: Prophet and Seer, L. Brent Goates, 414-415).

That was April, 1970. A year later in April 1971, the Church's growth trajectory was astounding to most observers. The 3-million-member mark was expected to be achieved by July of that year. Internationally the Church's growth presented some interesting new challenges in providing seasoned leadership to stay abreast of the membership growth.

By April 1972, President Harold B. Lee reflected about how he had selected his topic in his journal. He spoke of "many lonesome hours pondering what the Lord would have me say at the forthcoming general conference. My decision was to undertake the subject heading 'Time of Decision,' the caution in controversies, political and otherwise, and to offer five guidelines suggesting how all might be guided to wise decisions in their personal and public life. I feel content after my diligent search." (Ibid., 415; emphasis mine).

In reference to controversies that would accompany the intense political campaign in the fall of 1972, President Lee outlined five certainties by which one could detect and know the path to safety in the search for truth. These were: (1) Follow the Light of Christ within us. (2) Follow the positive teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (3) Do your business by the voice of the people. (4) Seek for statesmanlike men. (5) Judge by the light of gospel truths.

The full text of that talk can be found here. I will not recite it all, but his guidance those many years ago is about as fresh as it could possibly be for our day, even a day in which stories about his life and teachings are constantly being revised incorrectly by unwise accounts that circulate from unauthorized sources. The caution is imperative - do not accept as unchallenged truth what you find on the Internet.

This is what he said about "controversy." It's timeless: "In its loftiest sense, controversy may mean disputations because of honest differences of opinion. In its most degrading sense it may mean quarreling, strife, and name-calling. An example of that which degrades is the bitter personal abuse that so frequently is heaped upon an opposing candidate. Name-calling is continued throughout the whole season until listeners are left with doubt and mistrust that honor and integrity are to be found in any of those who may eventually be elected. The obvious hazard is that when these elected leaders have been maligned and down-graded, the seeds of disrespect to authority and law and order are sown in the minds of youth, particularly, instead of respectful obedience to counsel and to the laws enacted by those whose integrity and honesty have been thus impugned."

As we think back on the presidential campaign season of last year, could we have seen the fulfillment of the very conditions he warned about back in 1972?

President Harold B. Lee

He continues, speaking as though it were 2013: "Today we are constantly hearing from the unenlightened and misguided, who demand what they call free agency, by which they apparently mean, as evidenced by their conduct, that they have their agency to do as they please or to exercise their own self-will to determine what is law and order, what is right and wrong, or what is honor and virtue.

"These are frightening expressions when you reflect upon what I have just quoted from the revealed word of God. A moment’s reflection will help you to see that when one sets himself up to make his own rules and presumes to know no law but his own, he is but echoing the plan of Satan, who sought to ascend to God’s throne, as it were, in being the judge of all that rules mankind and the world. There has ever been, and ever will be, a conflict between the forces of truth and error; between the forces of righteousness and the forces of evil; between the dominion of Satan and the dominion under the banner of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ." 

In 2013, there may be no public policy debate more enticing to those who advocate "free agency" than the proponents of the LGBT agenda. This is not a "policy" debate like the blacks and the priesthood debate of the 60s and 70s era. This, instead, is a matter of doctrine. However, many "enlightened" sophists in the Church and outside it proclaim that equal rights under the law to the marriage laws of this country must be extended to any and all who would define marriage to suit themselves so it satisfies their free agency. Under the banner of "equality" access to rights granted by the Constitution, they would argue, must be extended in the domain of marriage definitions. It's a compelling argument in the public arena, but we cannot yield to it in eternal doctrines about the divine nature and origins of the family. The "equality" in the marriage debate is the inherent difference between men and women, and God makes them equal in that dichotomy.

Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh. … And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great mediation of all men [meaning the atonement of the Savior], or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil. . . (2 Nephi 2:27).

. . . the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.” (2 Nephi 2:16).

I say this with all the love and tolerance for others' point of view I can muster: Do not confuse the seemingly plausible philosophies of men mingled with scripture regarding "agency" and "equality" with the revealed word of God. You can be tolerant of others without compromising the truth to comport with a twisted and contorted but seemingly reasonable and logical idea.

“Expedients are for an hour,” said Henry Ward Beecher, “but principles are for the ages.”

Said President Lee in this inspired sermon: "The Constitution of the United States has been mentioned several times by speakers in this conference as the basis of wise decisions in fundamental principles as applied to all matters pertaining to law and order, because it was framed by men whom God raised up for this very purpose. But in addition to that inspired document, we must always keep in mind that the greatest weapons that can be forged against any false philosophy are the positive teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Then he offered this: "It has been well said that one does not teach honesty by telling a man how to burglarize a safe, nor do we teach chastity by telling a youth all about sexual activities." How unwise our public education curriculum has become by teaching that LGBT couples and adopted children can be defined as "families." Tolerate it in the expanse of a pluralistic society we must, but accept it as a "doctrine" in opposition to the revealed word is the course no serious disciple of Jesus Christ would pursue.

His counsel on who to look for as adequate candidates to represent us in our republic: "In a word, we must seek for statesmenlike men who will ask, 'Is it right and is it good for the country or the community?' instead of those who may merely ask, 'Is it politically expedient?'" I'll leave that interpretation to the reader.

He summarizes how we may always remain on the path of safety in this chaotic world in which we live: "And now, finally, the supreme of all certainties is God’s eternal plan as given in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here we have given us the never-failing principles that will keep our feet firmly planted on the path of safety. By these eternal principles we can readily detect truth from error. In the earliest revelations of our dispensation we were told that the gospel teachings were given that 'inasmuch as they have erred it might be made known; And inasmuch as they sought wisdom they might be instructed.'” (D&C 1:25–26).

The Author of Freedom is Jesus Christ

This morning I was engaged in an exchange on Twitter with someone who asked the question, "What is freedom?"

We began with his question, "In three words or less, what is freedom?" I responded, "Absence of debt." He liked that answer, and retweeted to his 150,000 followers. Then he asked, "A harder question: What is freedom and why does it matter?" I responded in six words: "Without freedom there is no agency." He responded, not impressed by my answer, "So?"

Since 140 characters on Twitter is insufficient, let me flesh it out here. It seems to me as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, questions of freedom and agency are nearly axiomatic. We simply don't give it a second thought because it is so deeply embedded in our DNA. However, those unfamiliar with the doctrines of the Restoration like my Twitter conversationalist, are stumbling to define exactly what freedom is, and seem at a loss to explain it.

In more recent years the leaders of the Church have made a distinction. They no longer refer to "free agency." Today it is "moral agency."

President David O. McKay

About free agency, President David O. McKay wrote:

Next to the bestowal of life itself, the right to direct that life is God's greatest gift to man. . . Freedom of choice is more treasured than any possession earth can give. It is inherent in the spirit of man. It is a divine gift to every normal being. . . Everyone has this most precious of all life's endowments - the gift of free agency - man's inherited and inalienable right. (The Improvement Era 65 [February 1962]:86).

Joseph Smith

The Prophet Joseph Smith said our minds or intelligences - that part of our being with which we think and make choices and determine actions - have always existed: The mind or the intelligence which man possesses is co-equal with God himself. . . The intelligence of spirit had no beginning, neither will it have an end. . . There never was a time when there were not spirits; for they are co-equal [that is, co-eternal] with our Father in heaven. . .
Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self-existent principle. It is a spirit from age to age, and there is no creation about it. (TPJS, 353-4).

This is such an enobling idea, isn't it? One the world has little appreciation for. We have ALWAYS had the freedom to choose as an essential component of our identity as human beings.

In our pre-mortal existence at some point our Heavenly Parents clothed intelligence with a spirit body. All who live on this earth descended from the same heavenly parentage, and were spirit children of the same Father in Heaven.

We learned in the spirit world the importance of our moral agency. We learned we MUST experience the opportunity of choice in mortality. We embraced the necessities of opposites - good and evil, virtue and vice, light and darkness, health and sickness, wealth and poverty. We were taught we would always be free to choose. We would be encouraged to receive knowledge of the law and all its consequences. These essential elements, we were told, must be part of our existence as human beings to become as our Father in Heaven is, and to rise to our eternal opportunities.

In the spirit world before this mortal probation, however, no faith was required. We walked and talked with Him. We knew He existed in a corporeal and resurrected body of flesh and bone. The only way we could progress was to leave His side, take upon our spirits a physical body, subject ourselves to opposites so we could choose, and voluntarily assume the vagaries of a world that would not treat us fairly. We were assured, however, that here on the earth we would receive laws and ordinances associated with salvation (exaltation) we would be free to choose the moral consequences associated with truth and error. We would have scriptures, prophets, angels and parents to assist.

We knew before we ever came that some things would happen to us that were simply inexplicable, having nothing to do with our violation of the laws of the gospel, nor the agency of others that impacted us adversely. When parents suffer the death of an infant, for example, and these little ones are snatched suddenly from our arms without explanation either medically or spiritually, there is nothing but faith to turn to.

However, another law operates to assuage our anguish in mortality. I speak of the law of mercy. Mercy never robs the justice required under the law because there is a vicarious payment in full for the broken law. When we do violate the laws of the gospel willfully there is still forebearance through the instrumentality of the Savior. He descended below all things - premature death of infants, sin, despair, loneliness, anger, fear, misjudgment, anxiety, you name it, He's been there and done that. When we turn to Him in our need, mercy is activated on our behalf.

Father Lehi explains:

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. . .

There is a God, and he hath created both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon.

And to bring about his eternal purposes. . . the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other. . .

And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because. . . they are redeemed from the fall they 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. . .

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 mediation of all men, or to choose captivity and death. . . (1 Nephi 2:11, 14-16, 26-27).

There are few things more maddening in life than being a parent and witnessing the willful disregard in a child for the things you have believed and sought to instill in your offspring. That is agony. However, we are admonished in the example of our Father to let it play out in agency. We are encouraged to honor and bow beneath the rod of our children's agency, just as He is constrained to do with each of us. The physical body we now inhabit is a veil of forgetfulness, mandating that we walk by faith in this life not seeing and knowing as we once did. We are admonished to RECEIVE the gift of the Holy Ghost who is enabled to bring all things to our remembrance. Our spirit responds to the gentle enticings of the Spirit. We must remember as parents that He knew our children longer and more intimately than we do.

Mortality is a test on so many levels, the perfect laboratory to work out our salvation. Our children are bombarded with every enticement to draw them away through Satanic influences.

I don't know all the details of the designs of Satan's minions, but I do have this one chilling reality, that he "sought to destroy the agency of man." (Moses 4:3). All who live on earth today were abhorred by the prospect of the loss of agency, because we all embraced the plan of happiness that ensured our agency.

We exercised faith in our Heavenly Father's plan, in our Redeemer Jesus Christ, and in ourselves. We enthusiastically sustained the idea of living in a world filled with opportunities for further development. We embraced the possiblity of failure, disappointment, heartache and sin. I know it's sometimes hard to imagine that now when life deals its cruelest blows, but it's true.

As Latter-day Saints we know there was a war in heaven over agency. As I said, it is axiomatic with us. The prophet Jacob in The Book of Mormon taught if Jesus Christ did not atone, then all mankind must unavoidably perish and we would all "become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery unto himself." (2 Nephi 9:9). Jesus Christ was born into this earth as the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh and would have power over physical death. He lived a sinless perfect life in mortality so He alone would have power over all the laws of the gospel and could infinitely satisfy all the demands of justice and overcome death and hell (physical and spiritual death).

Unkown to my Twitter friend this morning, we cannot define freedom in any other terms than these: "I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free." (D&C 98:8). Therefore, because of the atonement the extent of our enjoyment of individual moral agency today is in direct proportion to the number and kind of laws we know and keep. The more we know and keep the freer we become. Ironic? Not really, because the loss of moral agency today can be measured in direct proportion to the number and kind of laws we disobey. Perfect freedom is made possible to us through the atonement, but it can come only through perfect obedience to the law. Since we are incapable of perfect performance under the law, when we turn to Christ, His perfection satisfies all the demands of justice and He makes us free.

If Satan is determined to destroy our agency (which he is), he will do all he can to deny us the opportunity of choice. The history of this world is filled with examples of tyranny through governments, dictatorships, and anarchy. He weakens our resolve that opposition must be necessary for human progress. He will try to "level the playing field," enact tax laws that are "only fair," he will "redistribute the wealth" through social programs administered by the few for the benefit of the many. He will advocate "collective salvation" and he will say to us, "There is no sin. It mattereth not what a man does; whatsoever a man doeth is not sin. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die." (2 Nephi 28:8). And thus he attempts to destroy the divinely appointed role of opposition in our lives.

Presidents of the Church and other General Authorities have consistently seen Communism and socialism in this light and have warned repeatedly of its effects.

President Henry D. Moyle

President Henry D. Moyle talked on this subject in these words:

All we have to do is. . . examine any movement that may be brought into our midst. . . and if it. . .[attempt[s] to deprive us the slightest respect of our free agency, we should avoid it as we would avoid immorality or anything else that is vicious. . . Free agency is as necessary for our eternal salvation as is our virtue. And. . . as we guard our virtue with our lives, so should we guard our free agency. (Conference Report, October 1947, 46).

President Marion G. Romney

Note how prophetic these words were from President Marion G. Romney when he gave this advice a decade later:

One of the fundamental doctrines of revealed truth is that. . . God endowed men with free agency. (Moses 7:32). The preservation of this free agency is more important than the preservation of life itself. . . Everything which militates against man's enjoyment of this endowment persuades not to believe in Christ, for He is the author of free agency.

Now the world today is in the throes of a great social and political revolution. In almost every department of society laws and practices are being daily proposed and adopted which greatly alter the course of our lives. Indeed, some of them are literally shaking the foundations of our political and social institutions. If you would know truth from error in this bitterly contested arena, apply Mormon's test to these innovations [as recorded in Moroni 7:16-18]. Do they facilitate or restrict the exercise of man's divine endowment of free agency? Tested by this standard, most of them will fall quickly into their proper category as between good and evil.
(BYU Speeches of the Year, 30 May 1957, 10-11, emphasis mine).

So how would the scriptures address my Twitter friend who attempts to define freedom? Here's a sampling:

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. (John 8:31-32).

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. (Hebrews 5:8-9).

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (Galatians 5:1).

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. (D&C 58:27-28).

And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet. (D&C 29:39).

Whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free. He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death; and ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have which is evil restored unto you (Helaman 14:30-31).

Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7).

To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17).

The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23).

This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3).

President John Taylor

President John Taylor understood perfectly:

Besides the preaching of the Gospel, we have another mission, namely, the perpetuation of the free agency of man and the maintenance of liberty, freedom, and the rights of man. . . We have a right to liberty - that was a right that God gave to all men; and if there has been oppression, fraud or tyranny in the earth, has been the result of wickedness and corruptions of men and has always been opposed to God and the principles of truth. (JD 23:63).

Elder Richard L. Evans

Elder Richard L. Evans at a July 4th celebration noted:

May we take a moment from some of the side issues and from some of the irrelevant celebration, and clear our thoughts and humble our hearts and get down on our knees and simply, fervently, thank God for freedom - and then get on our feet with a firm resolve to preserve it against all who secretly or openly would set it aside.

Thank God for freedom - and for the Founding Fathers who reaffirmed to a new nation, an eternal, timeless truth: that the right of choice - that the free agency of man - is a God-given inalienable right, and is essential to the peace and growth and progress and salvation of the very soul.

This truth has been challenged again and again, and will yet be challenged again and again. It was challenged in the heavens before time began, by the brilliant but rebellious Lucifer. There was war in heaven - for freedom. And anyone who seeks to enslave men in any sense, in mind, in spirit, in thought - anyone who seeks to enslave the minds, the hearts, the spirit of men is essentially in league with Satan himself - for "where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2 Corinthians 3:17).

Thank God for the Constitution of our country, which was brought into being "by the hands of wise men whom [the Lord God] raised up unto this very purpose." (D&C 101:80). Thank God for the promise that in this choice land, men "shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve" God. (Ether 2:12).

Thank God for the right of choice, for the right to become whatever we can become in a free and provident land that, despite its imperfections, has proved to be more efficient for progress and human happiness than any society founded on the false philosophies that would seek to enslave the minds and souls of men.

God grant that we may repent wherever we have departed from the principles of freedom - that we may preserve the right to fail and the incentive to succeed, and live, as did the Founding Fathers, knowing that there are no acceptable substitutes for freedom. ("Thank God for Freedom," From the Crossroads, 45).

So to parents of wayward youth, to parents who have just buried little ones, to those who are anguishing in the guilt of sin, to aged parents who are struggling with health infirmities and cannot seem to find the exit door to mortality, in short to all who would attempt to define freedom in these last days - I say to all, the Author of freedom is the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom you may all turn for comfort and relief if you will, no matter what the nature of your anguish may be.

In all of it He sets us free.

Come Unto Christ

As a young man preparing to go on my mission to England, our stake patriarch laid his hands upon my head and gave me a patriarchal blessing. Among other things he reminded me that at a very young age I had a strong testimony of the reality of my Savior. He said it would strengthen others throughout my life, if I would remain true and faithful to what I knew was true even as a young man. He reminded me that I lived in a world of doubters, that many would stand before me and declare to me there was no God. "Mankind everywhere is questioning and asking, 'Is there a God?' You are blessed dear brother at this early age with a testimony of Jesus Christ. This testimony will light your entire life if you constantly make use of all your abilities."

During those first few moments of his blessing I wondered how a man I barely knew and who barely knew me, could make such bold statements. Now, looking back on my life I have learned it was God, not him, who knew me better. I have seen the words of his blessing fulfilled again and again, but not in the ways I imagined when I was younger. The doubters in my blessing, to my surprise, have in many cases turned out to be my extended family members and friends, not random anti-Christs who would challenge me in some dramatic faith duel as I had supposed.

Family Secrets

I hasten to add these family members and friends are all good people, lifelong and faithful members of the Church. But they are doubters. They seem to lack the faith to really believe what Christ said, though most believe in Him. They believe Christ is the Savior, the Son of God, and that He established His church in the meridian of time, that He was perfect in every way and that the infinite atonement was accomplished through His instrumentality.

However, it appears many believe He does not really have enough power to cleanse them, to lift their burdens and to transform their lives. They keep secrets, deep, dark family secrets they won't reveal to anyone. Instead, they suffer in misery, they cover up their pain, they live lives of quiet desperation, thinking and believing they will someday work it all out on their terms in the spirit world rather than deal with the root causes of their pain and suffering today. They defer. They continue to live in shame and guilt. They are suffering needlessly. Private and secret acts, either ones they committed or ones which others inflicted upon them, are left untouched. They have tried repeatedly to move on but they remain in tortured desperation. Perhaps they are not so unlike many of you. Are you of the opinion that if you suffer enough on your own, you will not have to trouble the Savior with your burdens?

There is no doubt in my mind today that Heavenly Father knew everything about my extended families, both the ones from which my wife and I came, and the one we would create together. He knew all things, long before our collective choices and experiences played out in mortality. Because He knows, He can succor and help. But only if we exercise enough faith to ask for help. He can heal our spirits.

Reaching Higher

I see many who are close to me struggle with worthiness issues, feeling as though they want to do better, but knowing they are not worthy enough to ask for the help that would be theirs otherwise. It's ironic. It's as though, knowing they have been diagnosed with cancer, they feel they must first heal themselves before they seek medical intervention and surgery to remove the cancer cells that threaten their existence. How silly that seems!

President David O. McKay

I am reminded this morning of President David O. McKay, who wrote: "Man is a spiritual being, a soul, and at some period of one's life everyone is possessed with an irresistible desire to know his relationship to the Infinite. . . There is something within him which urges him to rise above himself, to control his environment, to master the body and all things physical and live in a higher and more beautiful world." (David O. McKay, True to the Faith, comp. Llewelyn R. McKay [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966], 244).

Doesn't everyone feel that desire for self-improvement? It's discouraging, sometimes even overwhelmingly defeating, when we contemplate our own mortality and our obvious failures to measure up to the expectations of others and most importantly ourselves. How do you rise above the spiritual heights of a General Authority in your family tree, for instance? I can assure you of this -- you cannot do it alone, and it is not required that you do. You don't have the wisdom or the stamina or the strength to master the machinations of mortality on your own.

Come Unto Christ

Your Heavenly Father has offered this standing invitation: "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot." (Moroni 10:32-33).

Is the atonement at work in your life every day? Are you still responding to that invitation to lay your burdens at the foot of Christ's cross? Or have you given up, thinking all is lost, that you are beyond redemption? If you can find even a spark of faith to believe transformation and improvement are still available to you, then the atonement is still working in your life. After all you can do, after all your best efforts, after you have suffered enough on your own, you can find the needed assurance the atonement is working for you and on you.

We often believe the atonement is about overcoming sin, confessing sin, repenting, and being forgiven. Certainly, it is all those things. But it is more. Victims of abuse, widows and children who are left husbandless and fatherless, children and orphans of divorce, all these and more have claim upon the merits of Christ's atonement too. Sometimes their sins are sins of omission -- they fail to recognize everything and everybody can be fixed.

Repentance and Change

Thinking of that, the context is much broader for the word repentance than perhaps we have imagined. In Greek, it means "To have a new mind." To you who doubt the power and the majesty of the atonement's ability to reach "even this" in your life, I say to you, change your mind. Exercise your faith in your Redeemer. He is mighty to save. Repent of your old tired ways of thinking. Give up your flawed mental processes that have mired you in ruts of destructive thoughts. Come out from behind the cover up, unmask the demons that torment you, drag out the hellish thoughts into the naked sunlight of Christ's redeeming love. Give up your despair. Repent of it. Change your mind that you are not worth saving. Christ believes you are.

Let Christ love you. Exercise faith that He knew you and your suffering in Gethsemane's crushing weight. Listen to His words: "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." (D&C 19:15-17).

Do you realize, I mean really BELIEVE, in the overwhelming suffering of the Savior so your pain -- whatever its source -- could be swallowed up in Him? Because if you cannot, if you procrastinate further in covering up in shame whatever you did to others or whatever happened to you as an innocent victim, then you are reminded that you must suffer alone. Many of you seem content to let the suffering continue rather than to accept the grace He so fully offers to you. How silly can you be? And here's the corollary truth -- you may not want to hear it now, but it is true: No matter how much suffering on your own you can possibly bear, it will still not be enough. You will still be forever shut out from the love and warmth of your immediate family and from the extended family of your Father in Heaven.

Let this thought take root in you today, and let it swell and begin to grow. Whatever pain repentance might bring to you in this life, it will never be greater than the pain you will someday face if do not repent here and now. Change your mind about whatever false ideas are holding you bound in your misery. No matter how much you have suffered here and now, even believing that suffering is somehow in your twisted thinking mentoring your progress toward eternity, unaided by Christ's atonement in which He descended beneath the magnitude of your suffering, you will still not receive enough mercy needed for your relief. Instead, you will just go on suffering needlessly. Yes, you may be tough, even stoic, you may think yourself a magnificent towering example of heroism, but you are deceived. There was only One true martyr who suffered sufficiently and universally for all.

Receive the Holy Ghost

Here is the measure of whether or not the atonement is at work in your life. Have you RECEIVED the Holy Ghost? It is the only cleansing agent available to purify both perpetrators and victims alike.



President Marion G. Romney

President Marion G. Romney taught: "Receiving the Holy Ghost is the therapy which effects forgiveness and heals the sin-sick soul." ("The Holy Ghost," Ensign, May 1974, 92). Those sin-sick souls are either sick of sins they have committed, good deeds they have omitted, or sins others have thrust on them. When we are finally sick enough of sin and its heavy burden, the Holy Ghost has the power to heal all of it.

The Savior taught, "Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day." (3 Nephi 27:20). Mormon, writing to his son Moroni, reminds us, "Behold, I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach -- repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children." (Moroni 8:10).

Begin today to change your mind about the false teachings you have harbored. Compare, challenge your faulty thinking against the scriptures. Do the things to invite the Holy Ghost's companionship into your life. You will know for a surety when he is there, and you will learn to discern when he withdraws. When he is your companion, you know the atonement is working in your life.

We all have roles to play in each others' lives. I'm the big brother, the father and now the grandfather many times over. I can make some choices today that will bring the Holy Ghost to me as my companion in filling those roles. Again, the patriarch reminded me, "You have a responsibility, a special responsibility, being the first born. Those who are younger than you in the family will look to you and will confide in you and I bless you as the older brother that you may inspire them to be as our Savior would have them be." No matter our birth order in our nuclear family, we are all one day promised, if faithful, we will become "firstborns" in the "church of the Firstborn." (See D&C 76:50-70).

No matter what our assignments, roles and birth order, the Holy Ghost is our ally. The Savior said, "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." (John 15:26). We can comfort one another and be comforted by the spirit of the Holy Ghost abounding in each of us. It speaks peace to our hearts. It conquers fear and misjudgment, anxiety and doubt.

Think of those for whom you have responsibility. You will have impressions that come to you about them. Even something as fleeting as a thought, a glimpse into their souls through their eyes, a unresolved mystery that is cankering their soul might be revealed to you to help them. I cannot promise miracles, for such is beyond me, but I can promise you that when you feel those swelling motions stirring within you prompting you to reach out and offer help, you will be feeling the Holy Ghost who will help you deliver the water of God's salvation to the last furrow in your field. You will feel approval and joy. You will know that, for at least that fleeting moment, the power of the Holy Ghost was with you. You will hear truth spoken in your heart and mind. You will know the healing that came into your soul, and you will help clean the souls of others as you have been cleansed.

The Value of Chastening

"Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you whom I love, and whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance in all things out of temptation, and I have loved you." (D&C 95:1).

There is no doubt in my mind today that a way is being prepared even as I write for the deliverance of my loved ones in the extended family who are trapped in their misery. In that one verse the Lord was announcing a specific chastisement because His people had not built the temple. He called failing to heed His commandment "a grievous sin." But the redeeming hope follows quickly -- "I love you," He says, "and I will deliver you."

I want to make it clear, however, change hurts. Repentance hurts. But it hurts less than your current suffering without Him hurts. When Christ describes His suffering, he says, "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." (D&C 19:18). But we only have to suffer to a point. That's where our suffering needlessly, either for our sins or the sins of others, intersects with Christ's pain.

No one can afford the luxury of thinking there is no pain from sin. You can be forgiven. The atonement is real. But President Spencer W. Kimball taught, "If a person hasn't suffered, he hasn't repented." (TSWK, 99). True faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ leads us to stay as far away from sin as we can.

President George Albert Smith

The Lord's Side of the Line

Some people I know in my extended family have suffered from a delusional lie. They expect because the world is more wicked they must expect to be overcome by temptation and they have no power to resist it. President George Albert Smith taught that however dark and dreary the world becomes:

"There are two influences ever present in the world. One is constructive and elevating and comes from our Heavenly Father; the other is destructive and debasing and comes from Lucifer. We have our agency and make our own choice in life subject to these unseen powers. There is a division line well defined that separates the Lord's territory from Lucifer's. If we live on the Lord's side of the line Lucifer cannot come there to influence us, but if we cross the line into his territory we are in his power. By keeping the commandments of the Lord we are safe on His side of the line, but if we disobey His teachings we voluntarily cross into the zone of temptation and invite the destruction that is ever present there. Knowing this, how anxious we should always be to live on the Lord's side of the line." ("Our M.I.A.," Improvement Era, May 1935, 278).

Some were introduced at a very young age to wickedness by others. Think back on your own experiences. Often our best friends during our youthful years subjected us to perversions once unspeakable that now seem to be our common lot. Once innocently sexually abused as a young child, the abused grows into adolescence and adulthood as the abuser. Fear and shame cover the sins of the original abuser for many, many years, then erupt in future generations, and out of shame and guilt the sins remain hidden from view, suffering escalates, is perpetuated, and gains power over the original innocent victim. How tragic. How avoidable. How senseless. The cancer can be removed, it can be cut out, and it dies in the sunlight just as the fictional myth of the vampires dies in the morning sunlight. Wickedness never was righteousness, and has no power when we oppose it.

Born Again

President Ezra Taft Benson

If you read deeper in these pages, you will discover my love for the prophets. We have many dramatic examples of marvelous "quick" conversions in the scriptures. However, we were reminded by President Ezra Taft Benson in a memorable General Conference address, "For every Paul, for every Enos, and for every King Lamoni, there are hundreds and thousands of people who find the process of repentance much more subtle, much more imperceptible. Day by day they move closer to the Lord, little realizing they are building a godlike life. They live quiet lives of goodness, service, and commitment. They are like the Lamanites, who the Lord said 'were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not' (3 Nephi 9:20)." ("A Mighty Change of Heart," Ensign, October 1989, 5).

There is a very real doctrine, one so bold and declarative it cannot be dismissed, and one our "born again" Christian friends claim does not exist in Mormonism. It is this -- we must all be born again. (See Alma 5:14, 15, 26-31).

"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? Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?" (Alma 5:14-15).

Do you want to be one in whose countenance the image of Christ's reality can be etched? "Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth." (Alma 5:16). Aren't those blessed words worth changing whatever it is your life that is causing so much misery, fear, shame, anger or resentment? Alma explains the relief remedy:

And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?
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, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.
Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy? I say unto you that such an one is not prepared; and I would that he should prepare quickly, for the hour is close at hand, and he knoweth not when the time shall come; for such an one is not found guiltless.
And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?
Wo unto such an one, for he is not prepared, and the time is at hand that he must repent or he cannot be saved! (Alma 5:26-31, emphasis mine).

Ah, the simple words, the change -- change in what? The mighty change of heart. How is it accomplished? Google searches rely upon keywords. Long before Google, Alma used keywords too: humble, stripped of pride, stripped of envy, not making a mock of my brother, garments cleansed. So where are you on changing your mind and your heart?

My guess is you will be humble enough that you may be reluctant to believe the mighty change of heart is going on right now. I have often likened the spiritual rebirth to being as perceptible as watching your fingernails growing. It may be happening and you are discounting it. But maybe you will trust enough to confide in those who love you most. Saying the words you need to say liberates you and frees you from the chains that bind you down. When you speak truth -- the truth of your misery -- they lose power instantly. Secrets held for years melt away like frost in the morning heat of the sun. Your loved ones will know when you begin to unearth your hidden "treasures" of sin without any attached dirt clods of shame still clinging to its roots. And the Savior and our Heavenly Father already know. And that is enough.

"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." (Mosiah 3:19). Scripture mastery scriptures are divinely selected for a reason -- that one will last throughout your life.

Choose to Change

I know we can choose to change. I know it will be painful initially, but possible. I know the Holy Ghost will provide the needed comfort. I know the cleansing influence of the Holy Ghost is priceless. I know the Holy Ghost can scatter evil spirits who are whispering lies in your ears. I know the confidence that knowing can bring. I know that coming unto Christ is the way, the only way, we are sanctified and will never hunger or thirst again.

To my friends and the members of my extended family who are still suffering, remember what President McKay said that at "some period" in your lives you will feel an irresistible desire to rise to a higher, more beautiful world. That may not be today, but don't let too many more days pass before you act on that desire. If you'll let these words penetrate into your hearts, the time will come for something better than what you are currently experiencing. Come unto Christ. He knows the way. I know the way. I've tried to lay it out in today's post.

Don't believe the lie, "Oh, that's just fantasy. That's not possible. I could never change that much."

You can. The Savior promised, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28). Believe Him.

He can and He will deliver you from bondage. You don't have to wait for the spirit world. He means for you to be happy in this life. Here and now.

Your yearning for something better is a yearning to come unto Christ. This promise is not mine. It is the promise of the miracle you seek: "Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me." (D&C 19:23).

Blacks and the Priesthood

Much has been made over the years of the Church's stance of withholding priesthood blessings from the Blacks. I have been asked by many people why Harold B. Lee was so "obstinate" in his opposition about extending those blessings. That's a perception that is wholly inaccurate. What is accurate is that we are led by living prophets imbued with the spirit of revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and directs the decisions made in the Church.

I have written about this topic before, but it seems there are never enough words to fully describe the times. Many who would revise the history of the sixties if they could will not now admit that racism was an ugly and unrelenting chapter in American history, and the Church was routinely singled out and thrown into the political witches' brew as a stereotypical example of it. For me, however, it was always a matter of pending revelation rather than policy, anchored in my belief in living prophets.

President Harold B. Lee

President Harold B. Lee said it this way: "Now I want to impress this upon you. Someone has said it this way, and I believe it to be absolutely true: 'That person is not truly converted until he sees the power of God resting upon the leaders of this church, and until it goes down into his heart like fire.' Until the members of this church have that conviction that they are being led in the right way, and they have a conviction that these men of God are men who are inspired and have been properly appointed by the hand of God, they are not truly converted." ("The Strength of the Priesthood," Ensign, July 1972, 102).

A year later he would say: "And so I come to you today, with no shadow of doubting in my mind that I know the reality of the person who is presiding over this church, our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. I know that he is. I know that he is closer to us than many times we have any idea. They are not an absentee Father and Lord. They are concerned about us, helping to prepare us for the advent of the Savior, whose coming certainly isn’t too far away because of the signs that are becoming apparent." ("Stand Ye in Holy Places," Ensign 1973, 121).

Many members of the Church, and especially those outside the Church who are prone to accepting criticism directed at the Brethren, fail to understand a basic principle of how the Church is governed. The decision making among Apostles does not work as it does in business. One Apostle does not "lobby" a position and seek to gather votes among his peers on the "Board of Directors" until he has enough of the majority to work his will. The living Apostles move forward together as one body unanimously, including the Quorum of the Twelve and the First Presidency, or not at all. Of necessity and by design decision making among the Brethren is often slow, deliberative, thorough, and comes through individual revelation one by one until there is perfect harmony and unity.

We have no finer illustration of this process than in the revelation that extended the priesthood blessings to the Blacks universally and without any restrictions. We may rest assured for those reasons, as they wait upon the Lord for inspiration to move ahead, mistakes are seldom made.

Discussions among the Twelve and the First Presidency about the extension of the priesthood blessings dated back into the early days of President David O. McKay's administration, and continued in earnest among the Brethren until the inspiration finally distilled upon President Spencer W. Kimball, who was sustained by all his brethren in the revelation that eventually came.

President Spencer W. Kimball

Harold B. Lee's personal copies of his scriptures are filled with transcribed minutes of meetings among the Twelve and the First Presidency on this topic. It was a topic with which he was intimately familiar, sensitive and, it appears from the number of entries, all-consuming. Toward the end of his life, credible death threats against him became a growing concern and prompted the beefing up of Church security. He felt as President Kimball did, who said, "I told the Lord if it wasn't right, if He didn't want this change to come into the Church, that I would be true to it all the rest of my life and I'd fight the world against it. I would be loyal and true to the program if that's what He wanted." (Quoted by Edward L. Kimball in This People, Summer 1988, 22).

For President Lee and for President Kimball, it was not a matter of "if" -- only "when" -- the Lord would give His revelatory sanction to lift the ban. President Lee waited upon the Lord, believing the matter was out of his hands, as the Church's critics continued their withering attacks against him and the Church. Despite what others outside that circle of living Apostles have said about it, rest assured the principals involved got it right, precisely at the time the Church and the Blacks were prepared to receive those priesthood blessings.

President David O. McKay

President McKay had first become aware of the growing concern in South Africa, then Brazil. It was a matter over which the Brethren had pondered for many, many years. Under President Kimball's administration near 10,000 faithful native Africans had joined the Church in several separate congregations as the fulness of the gospel began to illuminate that benighted continent. Each hoped and prayed they may someday receive the priesthood. But like their leaders in Salt Lake City, they were compelled to wait patiently upon the Lord for that day to come.

I have always loved the way it was described by Elder Bruce R. McConkie and President Gordon B. Hinckley, but President Boyd K. Packer also published his version in this way:

President Boyd K. Packer

At the same time the LDS edition of the scriptures was being prepared for publication another matter was weighing heavily upon the soul of one of the Lord's great watchmen, President Spencer W. Kimball. Other latter-day prophets had wrestled with the same dilemma: that of obeying the divine command to preach the gospel to every kindred, tongue, and people, while being keenly aware that, because of race, some of those people were denied the full blessings of the gospel -- that is, denied the priesthood and the temple ordinances. Thus these prophets had pleaded mightily with the Lord for answers to the problem, and none of them more intensely than President Kimball. Yet always the Spirit had indicated that the time had not yet come.

Now this prophet, small in physical stature but a spiritual giant, wrestled again, seeking and pleading in behalf of the faithful among all priesthood-denied people. Not only did he struggle, seek, and plead, but his brethren in the highest councils of the Church did so as well.

One day, during the Thursday temple meeting with his Counselors and the Twelve, President Kimball, who was pondering that matter, discussed it with his brethren. When it was Elder Packer's turn to speak, he read a scripture: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that when I give a commandment to any of the sons of men to do a work unto my name, and those sons of men go with all their might and with all they have to perform that work, and cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them and hinder them from performing that work, behold, it behooveth me to require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offerings" (D&C 124:49).

A few days later President Kimball asked Brother Packer where he would be the next Saturday. Elder Packer told him he would be speaking Friday evening at the Dixie College baccalaureate but would return by plane early on Saturday.

"Will you come to my office?" the President asked.

"Of course," Elder Packer responded.

Upon his return about one o'clock on Saturday, Brother Packer went directly to the Church Office Building. The security officer on duty said that the President was at home and wished Elder Packer to call as soon as he came into the building.

Reaching President Kimball by phone, Elder Packer offered, "I'll come right up."

"No, I'll come down and meet you."

Arriving shortly after this, the President entered his office. Elder Packer recalls his saying that he had "this thing" on his mind and wanted to talk about it. "There was no need to explain what this thing was," Elder Packer recalled. "We both knew how it was weighing upon him.

"He handed me his scriptures and said he'd like me to read to him from the revelations. So we started with the one from D&C 124:49 that I had read in the temple. For a couple of hours we just moved back and forth through the Doctrine and Covenants, the Book of Mormon, and the Pearl of Great Price, and then talked about what we read.

"The spirit of revelation seemed to be brooding upon the prophet that day. He asked me, assuming that the revelation was to come, how it might best be announced to the Church, and asked that I put something in writing. This I did and handed it to him a day or two later. He had asked one or two of the others to do the same."

On Thursday, 8 June 1978, in the Salt Lake Temple, the revelation was reaffirmed when the First Presidency and the Twelve approved the announcement that was to go out to the world. It was further reaffirmed in the temple on 9 June 1978 by all of the General Authorities available. They too unanimously approved the announcement.

The long-sought pronouncement that "all worthy male members of the Church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color" had become official. (Doctrine and Covenants, Official Declaration-2, 293-94).

On 30 September 1978, at general conference, the assembled Saints voted unanimously to sustain the motion. (Ibid.)

Those of the Lord's watchmen who were present at those historic times will recall and have borne witness to the Spirit of revelation that attended them, and each has expressed gratitude for being part of the momentous experience. And none of the Twelve was more grateful for that day than Elder Boyd K. Packer. (Boyd K. Packer: A Watchman on the Tower, Lucille C. Tate, 225-27, emphasis mine).

Elder Bruce R. McConkie

Elder Bruce R. McConkie, who had earlier stated categorically that the Blacks would never receive the priesthood in this life, and was prepared to defend that position "until the day I die," would then say after the revelation came:

There are statements in our literature by the early brethren that we have interpreted to mean that the Negroes would not receive the priesthood in mortality. I have said the same things, and people write me letters and say, "You said such and such, and how is it now that we do such and such?" And all I can say to that is that it is time disbelieving people repented and got in line and believed in a living, modern prophet. Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or President George Q. Cannon or whosoever has said in days past, that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world.

We get our truth and our light line upon line and precept upon precept. We have now had added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness and all the views and all the thoughts of the past. They don't matter any more.

It doesn't make a particle of difference what anybody ever said about the Negro matter before the first day of June 1978. It is a new day and a new arrangement, and the Lord has now given the revelation that sheds light out into the world on this subject. (Priesthood, 131-32, emphasis mine).

Elder McConkie bore his testimony of that sacred occasion as follows:

The Spirit of the Lord rested mightily upon us all; we felt something akin to what happened on the day of Pentecost and at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. From the midst of eternity, the voice of God, conveyed by the power of the Spirit, spoke to his prophet. The message was that the time had now come to offer the fulness of the everlasting gospel, including celestial marriage, and the priesthood, and the blessings of the temple, to all men, without reference to race or color, solely on the basis of personal worthiness. And we all heard the same voice, received the same message, and became personal witnesses that the word received was the mind and will and voice of the Lord. . . .

In the days that followed the receipt of the new revelation, President Kimball and President Ezra Taft Benson — the senior and most spiritually experienced ones among us — both said, expressing the feelings of us all, that neither of them had ever experienced anything of such spiritual magnitude and power as was poured out upon the Presidency and the Twelve that day in the upper room in the house of the Lord. And of it I say: It is true; I was there; I heard the voice; and the Lord be praised that it has come to pass in our day. ("The New Revelation on Priesthood," in Priesthood, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 1981, 128).

President Gordon B. Hinckley

President Gordon B. Hinckley also was present that glorious day. In a talk given May 15, 1988, in a Churchwide fireside commemorating the restoration of the priesthood, he spoke movingly about the experience. Said he:

The Spirit of God was there. And by the power of the Holy Ghost there came to [President Kimball] an assurance that the thing for which he prayed was right, that the time had come, and that now the wondrous blessings of the priesthood should be extended to worthy men everywhere regardless of lineage. Every man in that circle, by the power of the Holy Ghost, knew the same thing. It was a quiet and sublime occasion. There was not the sound "as of a rushing mighty wind," there were not "cloven tongues like as of fire" (Acts 2:2-3) as there had been on the Day of Pentecost. But there was a Pentecostal spirit, for the Holy Ghost was present. No voice audible to our physical ears was heard. But the voice of the Spirit whispered with certainty into our minds and our very souls. (Ensign, October 1988, 70).

When one reads those accounts, it seems reasonable that we may glimpse into the culminating process of many, many years as the living Apostles wrestled mightily and waited patiently upon the Lord for the time to come. Premature attempts would have worked the will of men in opposition to the manifest will of the Father and the Son. Through the long years of waiting, the voice was heard that day. It was the voice of the Spirit, inaudible to physical ears but indelibly imprinted into the minds and souls of those present. It was with them as with the Nephite prophet Enos, who recorded: "And while I was thus struggling in the spirit, behold, the voice of the Lord came into my mind." (Enos 1:10). It is also clear that the event had a profound, lasting effect on all those involved.

Said President Hinckley: "Not one of us who was present on that occasion was ever quite the same after that."

And I would add, none of us was either.