What Book Has Made a Significant Difference in Your Life?

 My first response this morning to Shauna’s newest question was obvious - the Book of Mormon. It is the pinnacle upon which the Church was established in this dispensation. It is the bedrock upon which my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was first founded. I won a contest in Seminary for reading it from cover to cover as the fastest to complete the task.

And then I reflected more deeply and came up with another answer, again one that should surprise no one who knows me well. For me it became my own “fifth standard work.” I speak of the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I carried it with me for a lifetime during the years I was doing my teaching in various Church callings. I wore out the binding as it began to fall apart in my hands through overuse. I marked it throughout, and cross-referenced it to the scriptures again and again.

The author/compiler was Joseph Fielding Smith when he served as the Church Historian. He was a grandson of Hyrum Smith, the Prophet’s brother and co-martyr in Carthage Jail, and later became the tenth President of the Church. He was Grandfather Harold B. Lee’s seatmate companion in the Quorum of the Twelve for many years, and he called President Lee as his first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church. I loved Joseph Fielding Smith all the days of his life, and I still revere him for his composite scholarship in compiling the Prophet Joseph’s core teachings.

When I say “scholarship” in today’s world, few will appreciate that back in the day before personal computers there was no such thing as a digital assist in researching Church history. Truth be told, we are still uncovering treasures not available back in the day to President Joseph Fielding Smith when he put together his seminal volume. It still stands the test of time when I consider the avalanche of materials that continue to surface in our day.

I undertook my studies way back in the days I occupied my meager basement office in our home at 2034 Ashton Circle. I had my books and an electric typewriter. That was it, coupled with my overarching desire to discover truth independently from all others. I loved the content of my “five” standard works, particularly the Prophet’s teachings, arranged as they were in chronological sequence by President Joseph Fielding Smith.

I will never forget my discovery of the size of the future city of Zion, as described by Joseph Smith. I painstakingly ferreted out that hidden treasure by calculating the miles on a map of the United States. Using Independence, Missouri, as the centerstake point on my map, I laid out the dimensions of a perfectly square city extending in all directions to discover a “city” that stretched from the Canadian and Mexican borders on the north and south and the Rocky Mountains and the Allegheny Mountains on the west and the east! The key was revealed in Revelation 21. All it took was a little elementary math being applied to convert furlongs into miles. I showed my finding to my father, who in turn excitedly took it to Elder Bruce R. McConkie. Elder McConkie’s response to my father was, “Oh yes, I saw that many years ago too.”

That little story illustrates how magnificent the process of revelation can be for each truth seeker who is willing to put in the time to learn. God rewards effort with knowledge. It is often difficult to escape the self-imposed boundaries of our own finite lives to grasp the scope of the work of the Godhead, who have created “worlds without end.” I became immersed in the attempt to understand their thinking and their expansive vision for us as true followers.

Today, the work of temple building continues unabated throughout the world. Those temples each represent a local Zion community where they stand as a central place for gathering and worship worldwide in the midst of all the foreseen wars and rumors of wars that were prophesied anciently. We are living witnesses of the fulfillment of all the prophecies about the establishment of Zion.

The terms Zion and New Jerusalem both appear in the Bible. In the Old Testament, Zion is typically a synonym for the city of Jerusalem with its temple mount. New Testament prophecies foretold that the Lord would one day create the heavens and the earth anew. As part of this new creation, a city of God referred to as a “new Jerusalem” would come “down from God out of heaven.” Preachers in Joseph Smith’s day disagreed about the meaning of these terms. Some used the phrase “cause of Zion” as a name for the spread of Christianity.

The Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith’s early revelations spoke of a future city of Zion that would serve as a gathering place for the scattered descendants of Israel in the last days. Joseph Smith’s inspired revision of Genesis gave an account of a “City of Holiness” called Zion built by the ancient prophet Enoch. Those who gathered to Enoch’s Zion eliminated poverty and were unified, righteous, and pure in heart. Eventually, Enoch and the inhabitants of Zion were taken up to heaven. Beginning in 1831, Latter-day Saints sought to establish a city of Zion where they could prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. One revelation called this city the “New Jerusalem.” Another referred to Zion more broadly as a people who are “pure in heart.”

In 1831, Joseph Smith received revelation that the site for the city of Zion would be near the town of Independence in Jackson County, Missouri. Today there is a physical monument marking that spot. Bishop Edward Partridge began to purchase lands in the area and help settle new members as they arrived. In the summer of 1833, Joseph Smith and his counselors in the First Presidency sought divine guidance as they drafted a plan for the city, which included a grid of roads and 24 civic and church structures all consecrated as “temples” for different purposes. That summer, however, citizens of Jackson County drove the Saints out of the county, forcing them to abandon their land and their efforts to build the city of Zion.

In a series of revelations that followed, the Lord instructed the Saints regarding spiritual characteristics they lacked but which were necessary for any people who desired to build Zion and gave them instructions on how to move forward. The Saints began to prepare for “the redemption of Zion,” a time when they would return and reclaim their land in Missouri and resume building the holy city. Some in the Church still hold to the belief that a future gathering as foretold will take place there, and only there.

The Saints’ attempts to redeem Zion, including appeals to the United States legal system, did not result in an acknowledgment of their rights or in an immediate return to Jackson County. In a January 1841 revelation regarding the failed attempt to build a temple-centered Zion in Jackson County, the Lord explained, “It behooveth me to require that work no more … but to accept of their offering.” (D&C 124). The same revelation commanded the Saints to build a temple in Nauvoo, Illinois, and establish that city as a new place of gathering.

In Nauvoo, Joseph Smith taught that Zion “consisted of all North and South America,” adding that, in one sense, “any place where the Saints gather is Zion.” He also emphasized the importance of the temple for Zion and the gathering, declaring that “where we can get a [temple] built first, there is the place.” Joseph anticipated that a temple city such as Nauvoo would serve as the center of gathering, and that stakes of Zion would be established in many places, each serving as a refuge for the faithful. (Joseph Smith Discourse, April 8. 1844).

The Latter-day Saints continued to hope for a return to Jackson County, Missouri. At the same time, Church leaders such as Brigham Young taught the importance of building Zion wherever the Saints were. Not long after they settled in the Salt Lake Valley, President Young spoke of their growing city as a New Jerusalem and the rising Salt Lake Temple as the focal point of the gathering. (Brigham Young discourse, Sept. 11, 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: LDS Booksellers Depot, 1854–86], 1:78; Franklin D. Richards discourse, Oct. 6, 1853, in Journal of Discourses, 1:321).

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Church began to establish stakes of Zion in many locations around the world. Describing this effort, Elder Spencer W. Kimball explained that “the First Presidency and the Twelve see great wisdom in the multiple Zions, many gathering places where the Saints within their own culture and nation can act as a leaven in the building of the kingdom.” (Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982], 440).

Today, this notion of “multiple Zions,” cannot possibly be misunderstood as the expansion of missionary work and temple building continues worldwide. Latter-day Saints gather to local stakes of Zion and build temples in many countries, and Church leaders emphasize the importance of becoming a people who live up to the ideals of Zion — unity, godliness, and charity. (D. Todd Christofferson, “Come to Zion,” Ensign, Nov. 2008, 37–40).

I think we all hold our breaths at General Conference time in eager anticipation of the announcement that might come of a future temple yet to be built in Jackson County, Missouri. I illustrate my early efforts at understanding Zion from the perspective of the Prophet Joseph Smith for the purpose of underscoring the allowance that must be made for continuing revelation to the LIVING prophets among us. They are the only true and viable source for guidance we must embrace as we live in anticipation of the Second Coming.

Consider these inspired words from President Russell M. Nelson:

"My dear brothers and sisters, in a coming day, Jesus Christ will return to the earth as the millennial Messiah. So today I call upon you to rededicate your lives to Jesus Christ. I call upon you to help gather scattered Israel and to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord. I call upon you to talk of Christ, testify of Christ, have faith in Christ, and rejoice in Christ!

"Come unto Christ and 'offer your whole [soul]' to Him. This is the secret to a life of joy!

"The best is yet to come, my dear brothers and sisters, because the Savior is coming again! The best is yet to come because the Lord is hastening His work. The best is yet to come as we fully turn our hearts and our lives to Jesus Christ." (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/57nelson?lang=eng).

I was first introduced to the thinking of the Prophet Joseph Smith through the book The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I devoured it from cover to cover and every page in between. I endorse it wholeheartedly to all of you…

… And at the same time I encourage and invite you to feast upon the words of the living prophets among us who will NEVER deceive us in these perilous last days.

Mothers in the Patriarchal Order of the Priesthood

Many years ago when I served on the high council, our bishop invited me to speak to our ward on the topic of The Patriarchal Order of the Priesthood. It was Fathers' Day. When I stood to speak, the clock said I had less than three minutes before the scheduled end of the meeting. I briefly bore my testimony and said I would come back and give that talk someday.

Last week at the end of the meeting block, I was approached by the executive secretary who said the bishopric had requested that I be the concluding speaker for our upcoming Mothers' Day program. I was asked, not surprisingly, to center my remarks around mothers. My mind immediately flashed back to that Fathers' Day, and I knew instantly what I would say. I'll make it easy for anyone to use all of this in whole or in part if you have a similar assignment on Mothers' Day or Fathers' Day.

My topic for Mothers' Day is the same as it would have been for Fathers' Day. My desire is to teach the doctrine so plainly and simply that no one can possibly misunderstand. The words of prophets I will cite are my own words. The doctrine has governed our lives since the day Patsy and I first discussed the possibility of marriage.

Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith taught there were three orders of the priesthood: Levitical (Aaronic), Patriarchal and Melchizedek. When a man and a woman kneel across an altar in a temple from each other, they are conditionally admitted into the patriarchal order of the priesthood known as the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. If they are true and faithful to their covenant, the time will come when they are given the unconditional promise of eternal life.

The name of this priesthood order should be obvious because patriarch means father. There are no fathers without mothers and there are no mothers without fathers. In this way couples receive their formative lessons in Godhood and take their first steps together toward returning to full fellowship with God.

In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; and in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; and if he does not, he cannot obtain it. He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase. (D&C 131:1-4).

Elder John A. Widstoe

In other words, he has no kingdom that can grow and increase by the power of the seeds worlds without end. The power of the fullness and continuation of the procreative seeds forever is at the very core of Godhood. Elder John A. Widstoe said, “The government of heaven is by families. It is patriarchal.” (Gospel Interpretations: Aids to Faith in a Modern Day [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1947], 100).

I am aware, intimately and personally, there are both men and women who for reasons not of their choosing are unable to enter into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage while in this life. Also, there are many who are unable to bear children here and now. A long succession of living prophets in this dispensation has promised faithful saints in this condition they will be denied none of the blessings I shall mention. There are no expiration dates on priesthood blessings and promises if faithful observance of covenants is in evidence.

It is written of those who do enter into the patriarchal order and faithfully keep all the laws, rites and ordinances pertaining thereto:

. . .they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever. Then shall they be gods, because they have no end. . . . This is eternal lives. . . (D&C 132:19-24).

Exaltation is nothing less than the fullness and continuation of the seeds of procreation forever and ever. The continuation of lives has no end, even eternal lives. Exaltation requires eternal parenthood, eternal parenthood requires eternal marriage.

President Joseph F. Smith

In 1913, President Joseph F. Smith said:

The house of the Lord is a house of order and not a house of confusion; and that means, that the man is not without the woman in the Lord, neither is the woman without the man in the Lord; and that no man can be saved and exalted in the kingdom of God, without the woman, and no woman can reach the perfection and exaltation in the kingdom of God, alone. That is what it means. God instituted marriage in the beginning, he made man in his own image and likeness, male and female, and in their creation it was designed that they should be united together in sacred bonds of marriage, and one is not perfect without the other.

Furthermore, it means that there is no union for time and eternity that can be consummated outside of the law of God, and the order of his house. Men may desire it, they may go through the form of it in this life, but it will be of none effect except it be done and sanctioned by divine authority, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. (CR, April 1913, 118-19, emphasis mine).

It is important to understand that those who enter the new and everlasting covenant of marriage are not covenanting to keep the commandments in general. They have already made those covenants in the waters of baptism. When entering the patriarchal order of the priesthood together in the new and everlasting covenant of marriage, the bride’s and groom’s promises are much more specific; they promise to keep laws, rites and ordinances that pertain to marriage.

President Joseph Fielding Smith

In 1972, President Joseph Fielding Smith emphasized:

There is nothing that will ever come into your family life that is as important as the sealing blessings of the temple and then keeping the covenants made in connection with this order of celestial marriage. (Ensign, July 1972, 27).

Obviously, we must take such sacred promises seriously and think deeply and honestly about their meaning and import. What are the laws, rites and ordinances of marriage?

The first marriage was performed by God when he joined Adam and Eve together. (See Genesis 2:20-24). Note that Eve is called Adam’s “wife.” This was an eternal marriage, as they were both infinite and eternal beings at the time.

The Law of Marriage

What was the great commandment or law given to Adam and Eve? (See Genesis 1:26-27). It was to “multiply and replenish.” The word “replenish” should be translated “fill.” (See Genesis 1:28, footnote “c;” note also verse 22 where the same Hebrew verb is used interchangeably).

God commanded them to multiply. This law applies to all who enter the order of marriage. This is the first and great law of marriage -- we are commanded to multiply and fill the earth, that we might have joy in our posterity. Imagine that! We are commanded to be joyful!

President Ezra Taft Benson

In 1988, President Ezra Taft Benson testified:

I can assure that the greatest responsibility and the greatest joys in life are centered in the family, honorable marriage, and rearing a righteous posterity. (Ensign, May 1988, 52).

The Rite of Marriage

What is the rite or ritual that applies to marriage? It is the rite or ritual of “sexual union,” or “the passing of the seed.” Many will say sexual relations between a man and a woman can easily be accomplished outside the bounds of marriage and it is perfectly legal under the laws of the land, because we see that fact played out on TV nearly every night. Adultery, fornication and homosexuality are rampant, perfectly acceptable and legal in society today, but sexual relations between unmarried men and women are forbidden by God regardless of whatever societal norms or the laws of the land may permit.

Furthermore, we understand God eternally accepts and ratifies only an eternal marriage when men, women and children are sealed by his authority, and only that marriage will continue to retain the priesthood power of the seeds forever if they remain faithful. (See D&C 132:15-24).

President Spencer W. Kimball

In 1975, President Spencer W. Kimball taught:

We do not raise children just to please our vanity. We bring children into the world to become kings and queens, and priests and priestesses for our Lord. (In General Conference Report, Buenos Aires Area Conference 1975, 26).

The Ordinance of Marriage

Now a word about the ordinance we covenant to observe and obey in this order of marriage. The law is to multiply by the rite of holy sexual union to form a living soul, so the ordinance associated with marriage should be obvious.

Birth is the first great ordinance of this life, or the first “living endowment” of this life. Truly, this is a most wondrous and miraculous ordinance. In this holy ordinance a spirit child of God is endowed with a physical body. This physical body must be obtained in order to have all “power over those who have not.” (See TPJS, 181). This physical body is necessary to receive a fullness of joy. (See D&C 93:33-34). This physical body is a prerequisite to becoming a God. (See D&C 130: 22). This physical body is the main object of our coming to earth. (See TPJS, 181). We will each take this physical body with us into the eternities by observing and keeping the priesthood ordinance of resurrection. (See JD 15:137; D&C 88:15-16, 27-29). It is hard to imagine a holier priesthood ordinance in this world than the first priesthood ordinance we call birth.

President Kimball glories in the possibilities of motherhood:

Mothers have a sacred role. They are partners with God, as well as with their own husbands, first in giving birth to the Lord’s spirit children, and then in rearing those children so they will serve the Lord and keep his commandments. Could there be a more sacred trust than to be a trustee for honorable, well-born, well-developed children? (TSWK, 326).

President George Albert Smith

In 1907, President George Albert Smith:

How will those feel who fail to obey that first great command when they stand in the presence of the creator, who says to them, as He said to those of olden times, “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” How can they comply with that invitation if they have no children to take to the Father? . . . I realize there are some men and women who are grieved because they are not fathers and mothers, they are not blessed of the Lord in that particular, they have no children of their own, and by no fault of their own. I believe the Lord will provide in such cases. (CR, October 1907, 38).

President Joseph Fielding Smith:

If the responsibilities of parenthood are willfully avoided here, then how can the Lord bestow upon the guilty the blessings of eternal increase? It cannot be, and they shall be denied such blessings. (The Way to Perfection, 239).

President Brigham Young

President Brigham Young:

There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting to take tabernacles, now what is our duty? -- To prepare tabernacles for them; to take a course that will not tend to drive those spirits into the families of the wicked, where they will be trained in wickedness, debauchery, and every species of crime. It is the duty of every righteous man and women to prepare tabernacles for all the spirits they can. (Discourses of Brigham Young, John A. Widstoe [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1941], 197).

The daughters of God are under covenant just as much as the sons of God to keep his commandments, and to diligently perform their assigned duties on earth. The Doctrine and Covenants says the daughters of God are given in marriage to the sons of God

. . . to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfill the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be glorified. (D&C 132:63).

God’s work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (See Moses 1:39). He cannot bring to pass the immortality of man if his mortal sons and daughters thwart the work of bringing to pass the mortality of man. This is not an idle cliché we hear frequently in the Church, nor has the doctrine been outdated by the current conditions of a godless society. The prophets have consistently laid stress on our part of the work and glory of God.

Elder Melvin J. Ballard

Elder Melvin J. Ballard said:

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 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 fulfills the first great duty and mission that devolves upon her to become the mother of the sons and daughters of God. The jewels in her crown, the stars that still glisten in her diadem, in time and in eternity, shall be the sons and the daughters to whom, through the blessing of the Lord, she has been instrumental in not only giving earth-life, but in bringing them, through care and devotion and faithfulness, into the paths that God has appointed for his children to follow. . . (Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin J. Ballard, 203-4).

The prophets have been consistently clear on this important doctrine throughout the entire dispensation. They have taught, counseled and warned the saints these truths have eternal ramifications, and that the saints will be blessed if they are faithful to their covenants. Joseph Smith prophesied “the day would come when none but the women of the Latter-day Saints would be willing to bear children,” and his words are sadly coming to pass. (See Joseph Smith The Prophet, Truman G. Madsen, 39).

I plead with you, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to stand with truth, stand with God, stand with the leaders of the Church, teach the doctrine I have outlined here boldly and without apology amid the evils and sophistries of man in this wicked world. Reach out in love and patience to those who are blinded by the craftiness of others and have gone astray, restore unto them their sight of these promises and blessings and the hope of eternal life.

No matter how unpopular or inconvenient it may become, the priest and priestess must be diligent in their respective duties, if the couple is to obtain the exaltation the Lord has promised those who keep the laws, rites and ordinances of marriage in the patriarchal order of the priesthood. These solemn promises and covenants are most sacred. Of the reality of the Author of these truths I humbly testify.

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).

Family Foreordination

Yesterday we had the blessing of witnessing the baptism of yet another grandchild. Recently, it was Molly and Spencer. These choice young spirits who have been sent to our family in the third generation continue to amaze and humble me. Present by invitation at yesterday’s baptism was Alex’s best friend, not a member of the Church. At age eight he is already a missionary. Even before that he gifted his kindergarten teacher with a Book of Mormon.

There is little doubt in my mind these spirits who are coming to earth in these last days are uniquely prepared for the days that lie ahead. Alex carries his scriptures with him in a special carrying case with the image of a basketball imprinted on it. Our grandchildren are all exceptional (you may discount these words if you choose, because it’s a grandfather talking about his grandchildren) but I fear no contradiction for those who know them well.

Alex

In a note to Alex I observed the new layer of snow on the ground (I know, April 30th, still snowing in Utah), and how the covering of white symbolized the purity of one who is baptized. Certainly, Alex will make mistakes, he will sin, but in the sacrament each week and in repentance the gospel offers purity going forward from one's baptismal day. 

Prompted by events, e-mails and questions lately, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to this matter of parentage, foreordination and family life. How soon did we know about families? Where did we learn our first lessons about families? How were we organized before we came into this mortal world? We are organized into families here, we know we will be organized into families hereafter if we remain faithful, so how does that knowledge inform us about how we were organized before? How much agency was at work in our choices about which families we would come to?

These are some of the questions that arise. I doubt there is a single influence that permeates our existence more than the families into which we are born. The age-old debate about nature versus nurture will perhaps never be fully resolved to our satisfaction, but who we are, what we become and how our character is shaped is certainly the pre-eminent result of the laboratory of home and family. Regardless of how we start, it is how we finish that is important. Improvement is the goal, and we are free to choose outcomes. Nothing is pre-determined that will not yield to faith and perseverance.

There may be no more important facet of the doctrine of foreordination than how it plays out in the families to which we come. Is that ultimate designation made by assignment, by agency and freedom of choice, or by merit or by divine randomness? Without knowledge of the plan of salvation, most would conclude our family situation is merely a matter of the randomness of the universe.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie

It would be hard for a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to conclude anything less than the family unit being central to God's designs. With Scott Strong, I have written extensively about this topic in the past. Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote, ". . .the Lord operates through families. He himself lives in the family unit; it is his eternal system of government in heaven and on earth, and he always offers as much of his own system to men as they are willing to receive." (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985], 35).

In addition to foreordination to lineage, there is evidence to indicate that there is, at least in certain cases, foreordination to favored families. President Harold B. Lee affirmed that, generally, we come to certain families as a reward or blessing for our premortal lives.

President Harold B. Lee

Said he at the last General Conference where he presided,

Now then, to make a summary of what I have just read, may I ask each of you again the question, “Who are you?” You are all the sons and daughters of God. Your spirits were created and lived as organized intelligences before the world was. You have been blessed to have a physical body because of your obedience to certain commandments in that premortal state. You are now born into a family to which you have come, into the nations through which you have come, as a reward for the kind of lives you lived before you came here and at a time in the world’s history, as the apostle Paul taught the men of Athens and as the Lord revealed to Moses, determined by the faithfulness of each of those who lived before this world was created. (“Understanding Who We Are Brings Self-Respect," Ensign, January 1974, 7).

It was his view there had been a premortal assignment to specific families based upon our faithfulness in the pre-existence.

President Brigham Young

Joseph Smith appeared in vision to Brigham Young at Council Bluffs, Iowa, on February 17, 1847. The full account is longer, but here's the partial quote that applies to this topic:

Our Father in Heaven organized the human family, but they are all disorganized and in great confusion.

Joseph then showed me the pattern, how they were in the beginning.

This I cannot describe, but I saw it, and saw where the Priesthood had been taken from the earth and how it must be joined together, so that there would be a perfect chain from Father Adam to his latest posterity.

Joseph again said, “Tell the people to be sure to keep the Spirit of the Lord and follow it, and it will lead them just right." (Journal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, February 23, 1847, LDS Church Archives).

I’ll lay out a few more statements, then draw a conclusion. There can be little doubt of the noble heritage of our prophets from Joseph Smith to Thomas S. Monson. They were certainly among the “noble and great ones” in the pre-existence. (Abraham 3:22). Brigham Young described it this way, pertaining to the foreordination of Joseph Smith:

It was decreed in the counsels of eternity, long before the foundations of the earth were laid, that [Joseph Smith] should be the man, in the last dispensation of this world, to bring forth the word of God to the people, and receive the fulness of the keys and power of the Priesthood of the Son of God. The Lord had his eye upon him, and upon his father, and upon his father's father, and upon their progenitors clear back to Abraham, and from Abraham to the flood, from the flood to Enoch, and from Enoch to Adam. He has watched that family and that blood as it has circulated from its fountain to the birth of that man. (JD, 7:289-290).

President Spencer W. Kimball

When President Spencer W. Kimball was sustained as President of the Church, Elder Bruce R. McConkie made this statement:

May I take President Spencer W. Kimball as an illustration and pattern of one who was prepared, foreordained, and called to leadership among the Lord's people. He was, it is true, born in the household of faith. . .

But more than mortal birth. . . [is] involved. He was born in the household of faith for a reason. . . The fact is, he is a spirit son of God who was called and chosen and foreordained before the foundations of the earth were laid, and he is now fulfilling the destiny designed for him from the pre-existence. ("God Foreordains His Prophets and His People," Ensign, May 1974, 72).

If this assignment of spirits based upon pre-existent spirit faithfulness can be applied to prophets who come to faithful families, it can certainly be applied to others who are not among the “pre-eminent” families who govern the Church. It is also important to point out that the details have not been fully revealed. Let’s be careful, therefore, in making broad generalizations.

President John Taylor

Elder John Taylor published an article entitled "The Origin and Destiny of Woman" in the August 29, 1857 edition of The Mormon. He hinted, "You also chose a kindred spirit whom you loved in the spirit world (and who had permission to come to this planet and take a tabernacle), to be your head, stay, husband and protector on the earth and to exalt you in eternal worlds. All these were arranged, likewise the spirits that should tabernacle through your lineage." (Cited in N. B. Lundwall, compiler, The Vision [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, n.d.], 145-148).

Was he giving a specific answer to one woman here, or did he intend a wider interpretation?

Two prophets at a much later date seemed to suggest the former. President Joseph Fielding Smith taught there is "no scriptural justification. . . for the belief that we had the privilege of choosing our parents and our life companions in the spirit world." (The Way to Perfection [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1972], 44).

In 1966, Elder Harold B. Lee stated, "we have no revealed word" on the extent to which premortal choices of family members were made. He then cautioned we should not accept or teach ideas that cannot be firmly established in the standard works or by inspired utterances of the living prophets. 

First Presidency, 1971

In 1971, while serving in The First Presidency, both men once again declared, "We have no revealed word to the effect that when we were in the preexistent state we chose our parents and our husbands and wives." (The First Presidency, 1971, cited by Steve F. Gilliland in, "I Have a Question," Ensign, June 1977, 40).

When we examine the make-up of some families, isn’t it obvious there are disparities, and that all are not alike? There's an old expression that you can choose your friends, but you don't get to choose your brother. So did we? The ranks of the disaffected former members of the Church are filled with those who were closest to the prophets. One prominent Church family may produce a deviant sex offender whose brother may be a stake president. Even some political observers I've spoken with have asked, observing Mike Lee and Harry Reid, "How can the same Church 'family' produce two such diametrically opposed points of view?" But I digress. I wonder if our Heavenly Father sends some of his most noble and great spirits to the least likely families because he knows his choice spirit sons and daughters may bring spiritual blessings to the rest of the family that might not otherwise be available. We must never judge someone's premortal character or performance based on current parentage or family conditions. Certainly, that applies to the political 'family' of the U.S. Senate, where Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch could befriend one another.

Again, God’s foreknowledge never impedes our ability to freely choose, not in the pre-existence, not here, and certainly not later in the spirit world or into the resurrection. I have come to conclude this about God, largely through my observations of a lifetime. (It's not doctrinal, only an observation). As a parent, wouldn't He want as many of His children as possible to achieve exaltation and eternal life with Him? I'm only beginning to understand that perspective as a grandfather of many in the third generation. I would want each to be with me again someday after this life. Wouldn't God? Wouldn't every father? Wouldn't any father and grandfather reach through the veil to the extent he were permitted to assist in bringing about that eventuality? To as many as will come, He will afford each child at whatever stage in their existence, ample opportunities to “get it right.” Life is a continuum, and this mortal probation is a blink in the eyeball of eternity.

President Boyd K. Packer

Noting the power of our covenants, I believe it is what led President Boyd K. Packer to conclude in an address to our stake, “When we go beyond the veil we will be surprised at how different things are. But we’ll also be surprised at how similar things are. If we don’t get things fixed here we’ll get them fixed there, but don’t give up.”

There is simply too much breakage in our mortal probation to draw hard and fast conclusions about eternal life before we get there. When one is young and idealistic, it is easy to picture oneself as one of the "few" who is chosen. It smacks of the precise number of 144,000 of Jehovah's Witnesses who will be saved.

What do I mean by "breakage?" After writing this post this morning we attended a ward fast and testimony meeting. It was a cascade of witnesses, six in all, who testified of their gratitude for second marriages, a chance to begin anew and to foster hope for their eternal inheritance despite an earlier failure for undisclosed reasons in their first marriages. Each of the sisters wept openly for the privilege of finally having a righteous priesthood holder in her home, a blessing for which many had longed for years.

So in old age, the kind of thinking tending toward unfettered idealism gives way to quiet contemplation and hope for a large dose of mercy administered to those who fall in this life. And not just for those who fall, but perhaps more importantly for those who are innocently affected by the sins of other family members. We certainly have enough information to reach for eternal life here and now, and through the power of the atonement we may yearn for it, hope for it and expect it. The "breakage" can be swept up, the broken things can be mended, and hope can triumph even when it isn't perfect the first time around.

No longer is it a question for me of what we've earned, what we're entitled to by our birthright or our relative righteousness ("I did better than you at keeping the commandments"), but rather what follows perfectionism is a quiet assurance of the majesty of the atonement in all its perfections. Do we really know everything about what constitutes a full opportunity to receive what He referred to as "the greatest of all the gifts of God" yet? (See D&C 6:13). I doubt it. Ask yourselves, would Heavenly Father prefer a small number of exalted beings ("but few are chosen"), or the vast majority of His children to be exalted? As a grandfather, I feel like I am barely coming to understand the answer.

In the meantime while we see through the glass darkly today, all the principles of the gospel still apply here and now – repent early, often and continuously – regardless of who your birth fathers and mothers might be. Live the gospel the best you know how, despite a parent who may have set a poor example and turned away in shame or guilt who hasn't returned yet. In the big eternal picture we are all sons and daughters of God, giving us all the nobility we need to inherit eternal life, if obedient in whatever stage we may find ourselves in our progression.

"If thou wilt do good, yea, and hold out faithful to the end, thou shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God; for there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation." (D&C 6:13).

Living Prophets Among Us

President Thomas S. Monson

Today, as the 181st General Conference convenes, I renew my gratitude for living prophets who live among us. They are gentle giants of love, service, testimony and example. None symbolizes the teachings, life and ministry of Jesus Christ and His example better than President Thomas S. Monson.

President Spencer W. Kimball

The paradox is their power derives from their humility. However, many in the world misunderstand or question their greatness as misplaced idol worship. I always remember President Spencer W. Kimball and other General Authorities long since dead at Conference time. I believe he, like so many, never knew how great he really was. The great ones never do.

If you want to understand what sets them apart, look to their words as they describe themselves. I was remembering an address in the 1978 General Conference this morning when I heard President Eyring mention what a pure example President Monson is of one like the Savior who “went about doing good.”

The value of a living prophet is that often they will help us remember the foundation upon which the living prophets are building today:

Various excuses have been used over the centuries to dismiss these divine messengers. There have been denials because the prophet came from an obscure place. "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46). Jesus was also met with the question, "Is not this the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55). By one means or another, the swiftest method of rejection of the holy prophets is to find a pretext, however false or absurd, to dismiss the man so that his message could also be dismissed. . .  Perhaps they judged Paul by the timbre of his voice or by his style of speech, not the truths uttered by him.

We wonder how often hearers first rejected the prophets because they despised them, and finally despised the prophets even more because they had rejected them. . . 

The trouble with rejection because of personal familiarity with the prophets is that the prophets are always somebody's son or somebody's neighbor. They are chosen from among the people, not transported from another planet, dramatic as that would be!

. . . the prophets have always been free from the evil of their times, free to be divine auditors who will still call fraud, fraud; embezzlement, embezzlement; and adultery, adultery. (Ensign, May 1978, 76-77).

President Kimball went on in that same address to note the prophets’ motives are often misunderstood. He then added his personal testimony: "Those prophets I have known are the most loving of men. It is because of their love and integrity that they cannot modify the Lord's message merely to make people feel comfortable. They are too kind to be so cruel. I am so grateful," he added, "that prophets do not crave popularity."

True prophets teach all of the gospel, but choose to emphasize the most relevant at the moment. This morning President Eyring spoke of welfare principles. He did not dwell upon the history of the Church’s welfare plan, interesting as it may be to some, but rather chose to emphasize the application of those tried and true principles in today’s extremities. Our Father in Heaven’s children are suffering in Japan, Somalia, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and elsewhere. We can all do something, President Eyring reminded us, to lift those burdens.

The assault by the world and the worldly on family values is what President Kimball was focused on in 1978 when he was the living prophet, warning long years in advance of the eroding realities prevalent today. His prophetic vision in that April 1978 conference is in evidence when he said, "The home is the seedbed of saints" (Ensign, May 1978, 5). His declaration could easily be classed as scripture on a par with Paul when he warned the saints in Corinth: ". . . my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry." (1 Corinthians 10:14).

President Kimball seemed almost obsessed with idolatry (see "The False Gods We Worship," Ensign, June 1976), during that era of Church history. Rather than seeming prophetic at the time, as he was looking ahead, he seemed mired in some dusty comparison with the past. Only now as we look back upon the fixations of the world and the saints who were idolizing and idealizing the wrong things do we see it more clearly. Is the big home as an object of false worship now seen for what it was then with the U.S. now mired in tens of millions of mortgage foreclosures nationwide? Could the LGBT agenda be classified as anything but idolatry? His prophetic vision can only be fully appreciated now as we look back. And so will it be with today's utterances many years hence.

The living prophets are the first to emphasize having the Saints follow living oracles. I have always cherished this story, when President Wilford Woodruff recalled a meeting in which the Prophet Joseph Smith turned to Brigham Young and said, "Brother Brigham, I want you to take the stand and tell us your views with regard to the written oracles and the written word of God."

In response, Brigham "took the Bible, and laid it down; he took the Book of Mormon, and laid it down; and he took the book of Doctrine and Covenants, and laid it down before him, and he said: 'There is the written word of God to us, concerning the work of God from the beginning of the world, almost, to our day. And now,' said he, 'when compared with the living oracles those books are nothing to me; those books do not convey the word of God direct to us now, as do the words of a Prophet or a man bearing the Holy Priesthood in our day and generation. I would rather have the living oracles than all the writings in the books.'"

When he had finished, the Joseph said to the congregation: "Brother Brigham has told you the word of the Lord, and he has told you the truth." (CR, October 1897, 22-23).

In my mind it is impossible (there’s that absolute word again) to separate the need for living prophets from the living word of God through the scriptures. The words of scriptures become living in the mouths of living prophets.

President Joseph Fielding Smith

President Joseph Fielding Smith, one who loved and cherished the written word, affirmed, "The First Presidency are the living oracles of God and the supreme adjudicators and interpreters of the law of the Church." (Improvement Era, 1966, 978).

Today's First Presidency

When the revelation about the priesthood was announced to the Church and to the world in the spring of 1978, it was signed by all three members of the First Presidency.

Long before he was president of the Church, President Kimball observed in a General Conference filled with speeches by his Brethren, "Did you listen, or do you also build sepulchres for the dead prophets and tombs for those who have passed away long ago and disregard the living ones?"

He went on to say, "I bear testimony also, in all solemnity, that this is the true and living Church and that it is officered by men who are called of God, and it is accepted of the Lord, and that the gospel which it promulgates, by these thousands of missionaries abroad and the other thousands here at home, is the gospel of Jesus Christ which will cure all ills and solve all problems and will exalt all mankind as well as save him." (CR, October 1949, 123-24).

In August 1960, President Kimball wrote again about our tendency to dismiss living prophets among us while embracing the words of the dead ones. Said he: "Even in the Church many are prone to garnish the sepulchres of yesterday's prophets and mentally stone the living ones."

President Kimball then taught us not to parse meanings and precise word usage as an excuse for disabling our discipleship. He observed that President Wilford W. Woodruff had noted the Prophet Joseph Smith often said " 'Thus saith the Lord' almost every day of his life in laying the foundation of this work. But those who followed him have not deemed it always necessary to say 'Thus saith the Lord'; yet they have led the people by the power of the Holy Ghost. . . . He is giving us revelation, and will give us revelation until this scene is wound up."

President Wilford W. Woodruff

President Kimball gave examples of President Woodruff’s references to revelations and the way he characterized them:

"I have had some revelations of late and very important ones to me . . ."
"Since I received that revelation . . . "
"The Lord showed me by vision and revelation . . ."
"He has told me exactly what to do . . ."
" . . . the God of heaven commanded me to do what I did do . . . "
"I went before the Lord and wrote what the Lord told me to write . . ."  (Instructor, August 1960, 257).

The point is, revelation through the living prophets governs the operations of the Church as an institution and guides and instructs the Church members.

President Harold B. Lee

This morning I remembered a story I heard President Harold B. Lee tell about an experience he had with a young serviceman in Korea. The man had borne an impressive testimony about chastity, but President Lee felt impressed to warn him: "Now, my boy, you have made a profound impression upon all of us. You have said that you would rather die than lose your virtue. But remember, the devil has heard you, as we heard you, and if I don't miss my guess, he is going to make you prove that you would give your life before you would lose your virtue. You had better be on guard." (Ensign, July 1972, 102-3).

President Lee's prophetic individual warning to the serviceman in Korea was relevant and on point, as years later they met again at the Los Angeles Temple where the man served as a temple worker. The prompting from a living prophet came at the crucial crossroads in his life. When we give heed to the prophetic counsel at General Conference the direction can be just as specific and pointed for each of us as if given individually to us.

As I have noted before, following the Brethren was a predominant theme in President Lee’s guidance of the Church throughout his life. In the same talk cited above, President Lee observed that someone once said, "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." President Lee believed this admonition was "absolutely true," adding that "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 key word in all of this is living. In the living Church, members must have living testimonies of the living prophets as well as of the living scriptures and the living God.

President Lee once gave a speech to seminary and institute faculty members on "The Place of the Living Prophet." It became an instant classic in the Mormon lexicon. He observed, much as President Kimball, how proximity and familiarity with the Brethren who are called sometimes get in the way of our willingness to follow their counsel and guidance because “I knew him when. . .”

President Lee was acutely aware of his need to be responsive to the changing circumstances: ". . .had you ever thought that what was contrary to the order of heaven in 1840 might not be contrary to the order of heaven in 1960?" (Address to Seminary and Institute Faculty, Brigham Young University, July 8, 1968).

Often, members of the Church fail to transfer their allegiance and trust to the successor “trustees in trust” when a beloved leader dies. President Lee quoted John Taylor as saying, "The principle of present revelation, then, is the very foundation of our religion." And of the books of scripture President Taylor said,

Those books are good for example, precedent, and investigation, and for developing certain laws and principles. But they do not, they cannot, touch every case required to be adjudicated and set in order. We require a living tree — a living fountain — living intelligence, proceeding from the living priesthood in heaven, through the living priesthood on earth. . . .[did you catch “living” in all that?]

Adam's revelation did not instruct Noah to build his ark; nor did Noah's revelation tell Lot to forsake Sodom; nor did either of these speak of the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt. These all had revelations for themselves, and so had Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jesus, Peter, Paul, John, and Joseph. And so must we, or we shall make a shipwreck. (John Taylor, The Gospel Kingdom, 34).

President Lee once called ours a time of "sophistication . . . when there are many clever people who are not willing to listen to the humble prophets" because this takes faith and humility. ("Sweet Are the Uses of Adversity," Instructor, June 1965, 217).

I fear that in our age of casualness about nearly everything, we may view the words of the prophets as a buffet table from which we may select only the tender morsels we want most, the ones most suited to our individual palettes. I had to learn we must partake of all the vegetables too, including the spiritual spinach, broccoli and parsnips.

In today’s modern entitlement-drenched economy we would do well to heed this bit of advice from Elder Marvin J. Ashton: "We never give anybody a lift when we give them a free ride."

President Boyd K. Packer

Wisely, in times of economic and temporal hardship, President Boyd K. Packer has suggested we must sometimes just "pick up our handcart and head west." It’s never a good idea to look longingly on the past for very long pining away for what might have been or justifying our present circumstances in the "bad breaks." Lean into the headwind of the future and keep moving forward. 

So on this Conference weekend, let’s rejoice in the here and now, when living prophets stand among us as giant redwoods in the forest of our souls.

Their words are always timely and timeless.