BYU SPEECHES OF THE YEAR, 1985-86

                               Contents



An Eye Single

	Patricia T. Holland



Nailing Our Colors to the Mast

	Jeffrey R. Holland



The Widow's Mite

	Gordon B. Hinckley



"The Last Drop in the Chalice"

	Vaughn J. Featherstone



The Gospel

	Hartman Rector, Jr.



"The Desires of Our Hearts"

	Dallin H. Oaks



"Choose You This Day Whom Ye Will Serve"

	L. Tom Perry



Roland and Dora Mae

	Boyd K Packer



A Righteous Standard

	Barbara W. Winder



Thanks-Living

	Dee F. Andersen



Choose to Serve

	M. Russell. Ballard



Becoming "Meek and Lowly in Heart"

	Patricia T. Holland



Oh, Lord, Keep My Rudder True

	Jeffrey R. Holland



Keep His Commandments

	Adney Y Komatsu



"Where There Is No Vision, the People Perish"

	Charles Didier



The Nature of Needs

	Derek A. Cuthbert



The Lord's Strange Act

	Rex C. Reeve, Sr.



Joseph Smith: The Prophet

	David B. Haight



Follow the King

	Marion D. Hanks



The Elusive Balance

	Glenn L. Pace



"A Choice Seer"

	Neal A. Maxwell



Child of Promise

	Henry B. Eyring



A Return to Full Belief in God

	George P. Lee



The Christ-focused Beatitudes

	Robert E Wells



The Prince of Peace: "Peace I Give unto You"

	Robert D. Hales



Love and Marriage

	Theodore M. Burton



We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet

	Robert L. Simpson



Crown Jewels and Royal Purple

	Chauncey C. Riddle



The Stick of Joseph and the Stick of Judah

	Bruce L. Brown



Our Talents--A Choice Gift of God

	Franklin D. Richards





                             An Eye Single



                          Patricia T. Holland



	Both Patricia Terry Holland and her husband, President Jeffrey R.

Holland, were born in St George, Utah, and went to Dixie College.  They

were married while attending BYU, and their first child was born while

Jeff was working on his master's degree.  Moving from Provo to New

Haven, Connecticut, for Jeff to attend Yale University, the Hollands

returned to Provo, only to move to Salt Lake City when Jeff became the

Church commissioner of education.



	In the midst of all this activity and moving around, Patricia

Holland became the mother of three children, Matthew, Mary Alice, and

David, supervised the packing and unpacking, and made their various

residences seem like home finding time to practice her music and to

work in the Church.  She served four times as Relief Society President

and also in the Young Women and Primary organizations. And then, in May

1984, Patricia was called to be first counselor to Ardeth G. Kapp,

President of the Young Women organization of the Church.



	Both Sister Holland and President Holland spoke in the Welcome

Back Assembly, a devotional assembly, in the Marriott Center on 10

September 1985.



Every year now for six years I have worried and worked, studied and

stewed, pondered and prayed--for a darn good way to get out of speaking

to you.  But Jeff has no sympathy for my anguish.  He thinks he has

such success making a silk purse out of a sow's ear that he insists on

using me as his visual aid.



	This morning I would like to share with you a personal experience

that comes from anguish over an earlier speaking assignment, an

experience that revealed to me a principle I believe to be among the

most important in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is the one principle

I prayed my son Matt would understand when he enrolled as a freshman at

BYU last year.  I believe it will be especially helpful to you if you

ever feel inadequate or insecure or less confident than your neighbors. 

The principle is for me a key--perhaps the greatest key to truly

confident living.  To explain that, I need to share with you how

unconfidently, I began what is now a rather regular life of public

speaking.



Total Disaster



	I am proud of my heritage--which happens to be that of a genuine

farm girl from Enterprise, Utah.  Now, if you haven't heard of

Enterprise, it's a suburb of Beryl, Modena, Panaca, and Pioche.  Bryant

Gumble would have as much fun with that as some of the city slickers

from the big metropolis of St. George did.  We weren't a very confident

bunch, and those smart-aleck kids (who included my own husband) had

plenty to make fun of.



	I grew up helping my five brothers milk the family cows.  I drove

a pickup truck while my father fed cattle, and I missed two weeks of

school every October to gather potatoes into dusty gunnysacks and to

ship them off to market.



	Because of those humble beginnings I was always rather shy and

absolutely terrified to speak before the public.  While growing up I

somehow managed to struggle through a few speaking assignments (and

dodged all the rest) until I was married and living on this campus. 

During the first year here our stake president asked Jeff and me if we

would speak in stake conference, and, as usual, Jeff accepted.  I was

mortified! When we returned home I cried, I stamped my feet, I threw a

royal tantrum, but Jeff insisted.  Finally I consented to do it if he

would write my talk.  He said, "Absolutely not!" I said, "Write the

talk or get a new roommate." As you can see he wrote the talk.  I gave

it--and it was a total disaster.  He received a lot of compliments for

his, and I received gratuitous smiles for mine.



	When we returned home I was more discouraged than ever.  Through

tears I asked, "What went wrong? The talk you wrote for me was better

than the one you wrote for yourself, but from what I saw, your talk was

the one that touched people's hearts.  Mine hit them like a fast-acting

sedative." But my wise and gentle tutor put his arms around me and

said, "Pat, heart speaks to heart.  If you want to touch someone's

heart you have to speak from your own."



To Glorify Only God



	The next time I was asked to speak I trembled and I worried, but I

sat at my desk and prayed that I could do my own work.  I labored over

that talk for hours, but with little success.  In total frustration I

opened my scriptures and read this in D&C 88:67: "If your eye be single

to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there

shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light

comprehendeth all things."



	The words of that scripture sank deep into my soul, echoing as

though they were spoken from the hilltops.  It was the first time I

ever remember reading that particular verse, but it has become-over

these twenty years of time--one of the most important in my life.  It

is for me the key I mentioned to you earlier.  You see, my eye had been

single all right, but it was focused on the glories from men.  I was

terrified of public speaking primarily because I was too concerned

about what other people would think of me. it was a matter of vanity

and pride and ego.  But in that scripture for a brief moment I could

see that inhibitions and fears and self-consciousness could be

conquered if I stopped performing for the admiration of mortals and

sought honestly and faithfully to glorify only God.



	As the Spirit of the Lord spoke to my spirit through that

scripture, I decided to give it a try.  That talk didn't come

instantly, as most blessings don't.  I labored over every word,

stopping frequently to remind the Lord and myself that I wanted this to

really glorify him, to be his message as nearly as I could make it so.



	I finished the talk and gave it.  It wasn't the best talk ever

given, and it wasn't the best talk I've ever given, but I felt

fantastic about myself. I learned that day that appreciation for our

own worth has nothing to do with the applause of one's neighbor and

everything to do with having integrity before the Lord.



	We all need a higher image of ourselves, but Satan would have us

believe it comes totally from the praise of others--when in fact it

comes from our relationship with God.



	A Church leader whom I highly regard told me recently that in his

earlier days he was preoccupied with trying to please the people of

this Church until in utter fatigue and confusion he decided instead to

focus on pleasing God, letting God then worry about pleasing the

people.  This decision freed him to be who he really was and to find

powers he didn't know he had.  He said, "For the first time in life I

saw clearly my own divine potential."



	It strikes me that as we start a new school year some of you may,

from time to time, struggle right along with all those who have just

arrived from the dusty farms of Enterprise, Utah.  As I was getting out

of my car yesterday, a freshman coed stopped to say hi. In our

conversation she expressed her fears about her classes, roommates,

dating, and academic success.  The anxiety on her face has only

quickened my desire to reach out to all of you with the promise of this

principle today.  When Jeff was called to serve you in this position,

President Kimball was kind enough to give me a blessing as well. In

that blessing he said, "Sister Holland, I charge you to reach out to

our young people on that campus as far as your time and energies will

allow." I am trying to "reach out" the best way I know how.  This

morning begins my sixth year of cheering with you, singing the school

song with you, worrying about you, praying over you, and loving you.



	You are our family.  But you also have heavenly parents far better

than we, who know and believe in you perfectly.  I promise you that if

this year your eye is fixed, centered, riveted, and so cemented that it

cannot be distracted by the allure of the crowds or the vanities of

this world--then you will hear your calling from God.  Your destiny

rests in that call.  Keep your eye single to God's glory, and in doing

so fill your bodies with such brightness of light that you will fulfill

your destiny as one created in his image.  Have a bright new year, I

pray, in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                    Nailing Our Colors to the Mast



                          Jeffrey R. Holland



President Jeffrey R. Holland and his wife, Patricia Terry Holland, are

natives of Utah's Dixie.  After serving a mission to England, Jeff

returned to his hometown of St George, where both be and Patricia

graduated from Dixie College and then came to BYU.  They were married

before Jeff received his baccalaureate degree with highest honers in

1965, and their first child was born in Provo while he was working on

his master's degree. He was a seminary teacher in Hayward, California,

and Seattle, Washington, before being able to take up graduate studies

at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he received his

Ph.D. in American Studies in 1973.



	From New Haven, the Hollands returned to Provo, where Jeff was

dean of Religious Instruction at BYU before he became the Church

commissioner of education.  In 1980 he was called to be president of

Brigham Young University.



	Both Sister Holland and President Holland spoke in the Welcome

Back Assembly, a devotional assembly, in the Marriott Center on 10

September 1985.



Man-made Magic



	We live in a most remarkable age.  The scope and magnificence of

the daily events that swirl around us are now so commonplace that we

scarcely note their presence or their passing.



	Consider for example two events of this past week.  One week ago

this morning, on Tuesday, September 3, the space shuttle Discovery came

riding out of a desert sky barely tinted with the light of sunrise and

landed smoothly, silently on the sands of Edwards Air Force Base,

concluding a week-long experience that now seems almost routine in

space travel.



	Does it impress anyone (besides me) that this ninety-nine-ton

spaceship has orbited the earth before, that it repeatedly comes back

to land safely, picks up yet another payload, and will again be

launched beyond the earth's gravity in the days that lie just ahead? Ho

hum.



	Does it matter to anyone that this piece of man-made magic-after

traveling three million miles in space-can touch down on a postage

stamp sketched in the dry lake bed of a California desert, a landing

strip totally invisible from the Santa Monica freeway and the Carson

City, Nevada, frozen yogurt station? May I remind you that there are

197,000,000 square miles of surface on the face of this planet onto

which you can mistakenly land--or sink, as the case may be.  What kind

of a world is it--or should I say what kind of worlds are we about to

find--in which that kind of technology, that kind of human genius, that

kind of masterful, modern miracle can send up such a piece of

equipment, fly it around, and bring it home with more accuracy than you

and I find our automobile with after a BYU football game?



	Is anyone impressed that on this particular flight James Van

Hofton and William Fisher spent a casual weekend dangling in space and

repairing with their screwdrivers, pliers, baling wire, and rubber

bands an $85 million Syncom 3 satellite that had moved lifelessly in

orbit since its abortive launch four months ago? "Never mind that there

is an errant satellite up there, Chief.  E.T. and I will just Buck

Rogers it up into orbit, find that twenty-foot canister somewhere in

all the grand immensity of space, sidle up alongside with the old jet

pack, and have her beeping and flashing again in no time." Easier than

a trip to the corner gas station.  Columbus I know and Balboa I know,

but who are James Van Hofton and William Fisher?



	Perhaps the amazement in all of this is greater for me than it is

for you--and maybe is for most--because I am so mystified and unhandy

at technical things.  The only project I ever fully, completed in my

high school shop class was a one-quart tin cup, which, by the time I

was through making it, unfortunately had a large slash running down the

full length of it.  It's very awkward to hold a quart of anything in a

tin cup if it is running out onto your pant leg more rapidly than you

are able to pour the new contents in.  I did not get a good grade on

that cup, and I did not get a good grade in the class. very early on I

left all technically related matters to other folks.



	So I invite your sense of awe and wonder and appreciation for such

a time in which we live, and, as we start a new school year at Brigham

Young University, I also invite you to give thanks for the God-given

blessings and benefits we enjoy routinely, day after day, week after

week, in a way that has never been known by anyone, anywhere, in any

other era of the history of all mankind.



Who Would Have Dreamed?



	It is in that spirit and with that sense of privilege and

advantage that I comment on the rather remarkable circumstances we

presently enjoy right here in good old Provo, Utah--Happy Valley,

U.S.A. Who would have dreamed in a thousand years of dreaming--that

takes us back squarely into the shadow of the Dark Ages--that Brigham

Young University would ever have a national championship football team

and an overall athletic program ranked every year among the top ten in

the nation? Where else does a university routinely enter its

undergraduate coeds--year after year--in the Miss America contest and,

this past year, claim the reigning queen? Where else--and the answer

is, of course, nowhere else--has the Egyptian government chosen to work

with an American university to exhibit the legendary Ramses II

materials? What will it mean for you to be the students to see what

your parents never saw and your grandparents never dreamed of

seeing--artifacts from one of the richest and most regal political and

cultural dynasties in all of ancient history, a dynasty linked with the

wrenching exodus of the children of Israel from the grasp of just such

a pharaoh as this? What does it mean for you to have the world's

attention focused on your university as we strive to build world peace

and enhance international understanding in Jerusalem--perhaps the most

war-torn and brutalized piece of geography per square inch on the face

of the globe? And, of course, all of this says nothing of the less

publicized but often far more important progress being made by the

university in every aspect and area of our academic life here.



	Who would have dreamed this? Not I as a student even twenty years

ago, to say nothing of our academic forefathers who struggled just to

keep the university alive one hundred years ago.



	But some dreamed the dreams, and a few saw the visions.



"I Have Seen It All"



	On Founders Day, five weeks from now, we will have a commemorative

reopening of the Karl G. Maeser Building on this campus. If you have

not had a chance to walk to that lovely corner of our hilltop acreage

and see the spectacular job our own physical plant and the construction

companies have done with this grand old building, please do so.  It was

the first building built on what an earlier generation called Temple

Hill, built when the dreams of a real university and all that it might

become were only dreams and indeed seemed to some only fantasies those

many, many years ago.  Where once only that building alone stood on

this hill, now think of nearly 500 buildings and the absolute splendor

of every one of them.  Think of the beauty and capacity and

availability and cleanliness of any one of the buildings in which we

meet, including this one, and then remember this from our struggling

first president.



	With nothing but makeshift facilities and depleted supplies,

President Maeser wrote,



I am worn out and sick in spirit,. . . and with all my love for this

Academy, I feel that I owe it to my very life, which is needlessly

wearing itself out here in an apparently hopeless task, to accept any

change that will promise me opportunities for permanent usefulness.



	[With that] he told his wife and daughter that because there

seemed to be no real support for a school here and because he couldn't

earn enough ... to provide food and raiment for them and pay his debts

be was going to accept a position at the University of Deseret, where

he could get a regular salary, and adequately provide for his family. 

Accordingly his wife and daughter got things packed--and then sat on

their trunks for [several] days, until his daughter finally mustered

enough courage to ask her father when they were moving.  His response

... was, "I have changed my mind. [We are not moving.] I have had a

dream--I have seen Temple Hill filled with buildings--great temples of

learning, and I have decided to remain and do my part. [Ernest L.

Wilkinson and W. Cleon Skousen, Brigham Young University: A School of

Destiny (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1976), pp. 84-85]

|P5 



	Through the generosity of friends like Abraham O. Smoot, work

eventually began for a building on University Avenue and Fifth North. 

Of this period Karl G. Maeser's son wrote:



While the foundation of the new building bad been in course of

construction, it had been a custom of [my father], when at home on a

Sabbath morning, to walk up to the grounds and stand and gaze upon the

work so far done.



	Once when he took [my sister] Eva with him they stood upon the

unfinished foundation, and the child noticing some portions of the wall

crumbling, remarked, "Papa, do you think they will ever finish this

building?"



	"My child," answered the father, "not only the building but others

will stand upon this ground, and not only here but also upon that hill

yonder, pointing to Temple Hill "Yes, my child, I have seen it all.  "

[Wilkinson and Skousen, p. 118]



	The new academy building was dedicated on the day on which Karl G.

Maeser was to sever his connection with the school to become the

commissioner of education in Salt Lake City.  There was probably never

a more impressive sight in the history of the school than the triumphal

march of the students up to the new building from the temporary

quarters of the old ZCMI warehouse downtown.  Before leaving that

warehouse, Professor Maeser had called the students around him, prayed

with them, and told them that if they would carry the spirit of their

alma mater not only into their new school but into all their walks of

life as well, the Lord would greatly multiply their joys.



	Following the dedicatory prayer that day, Brother Maeser gave a

short farewell address which included this simple statement of the

educational philosophy at Brigham Young Academy.



	When to the students, at the beginning on the experimental term,

April 24, 1876, the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith, that he taught

his people correct principles and they governed themselves accordingly,

were given as the leading principles of discipline; and the words of

President Brigham young, that neither the alphabet nor the

multiplication tables were to be taught without the Spirit of God,

[were given] as the main-spring of all teaching-- the orientation for

the course of the educational system inaugurated by the foundation of

the academy was made, and any deviation from it would have led to

disastrous results, and therefore, the Brigham Young Academy has nailed

her colors to the mast.  [Alma P. Burton, Karl G. Maeser.- Mormon

Educator (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1953), pp. 54-55, emphasis

added]



	In a month when we pay tribute to Karl G. Maeser, and in a year

when we take on even greater visibility as a university, I say again

that "we have nailed our colors to the mast." We have stated our

principles of education based on the gospel of Jesus Christ, "and any

deviation from it would [lead] to disastrous results." As we take our

increasingly significant and important place in the world, it is

absolutely imperative that we not be of it. we have begun a space-age

conversation with a national and international audience that earlier

generations of students and faculty would not have believed possible.

In telling that story we must not and will not forget those principles

and traditions and truths that have made Brigham Young University what

it is and that have brought us to this moment.



Be Your Very Best



	In my occasional locker-room contact with Coach Edwards I have

heard him say something time and time again to his players.  He said it

last Saturday, and he will say it this Saturday. What he says in effect

is this: "Do not forget what got you here.  Don't abandon the

fundamentals we've practiced for so long.  Don't let success or

adversity overwhelm you.  Remain. steady, play it our way.  That's how

we got where we are." In that same spirit we have to be Brigham Young

University and not any other.  "Any deviation from that would lead to

disastrous results." Our majesty and our mission is in our unique and

special heritage.  Please stand with me, as I stand with you, in again

nailing those colors to the mast--for another magnificent year.



	Work hard.  With the background of our religious convictions there

is no encouragement I could give you at the start of a school year that

would matter more than for you to take your academic work seriously,

and to study hard.  It is a more competitive time at BYU than it was

twenty years ago and certainly more than it was a century ago.  There

is so much to learn and so much to be done.  There are worlds out there

waiting to be explored.  You must not come here to play.  Too much

tithing is spent, too much sacrifice has been given, and too many

people are watching.  "Eat the bread and wear the garments of the

laborer" (see D&C 42:42)



	Please learn to write well and to speak the language with some

precision.  If it is not too startling to you may I announce, for

example, that at BYU the verb "go" is not synonymous with the verb

"say" as in the conversation "I go, 'Watcha doin'?" and she goes,

'Nothin,' and I go, 'Let's do somethin,' and she goes, 'Sure.'"  That's

too much goin' and not enough saying.  And the writing from some of us

is too often worse than the speaking.  If I have one overwhelming

disappointment in my professional life as an educator it is the general

inability I find in college-educated people to write well.  Edward R.

Murrow once said that Winston Churchill won the Second World War by

"mobiliz[ing] the English language and send[ing] it into battle"

(Edward R. Murrow, I Can Hear It Now [1933-1945], Columbia Records). 

Perhaps it will help you win your battles, or get a job, or change a

nation.  The prophets of God have known that the impact of the

inspired, compelling word, spoken or written, is among the most

powerful forces on earth.  You should discover that too. It has moved

their mountains.  It will move some of yours.  It will illuminate your

path.  "In the beginning was the word," and "God said, Let there be

light: and there was light" (see John 1:1 and Genesis 1:3).



	Be well groomed and dress appropriately.  Our dress and grooming

standards are legendary at BYU.  In the six years I have been giving

this speech, I have tried not to harp on that or to make it seem this

was the only thing that mattered here. It is, after all, only a small

part of our very important Code of Honor that you have all signed.  But

your appearance is for us as some explain baptism--"it is an outward

sign of an inward grace." I always notice carefully the comings and

goings on campus during these first few days of each year, and I think

almost all of you look absolutely beautiful.  But a very few need an

early reminder.  Now all of you know that shorts, or skimpy skirts, or

grubby jeans, or extreme hairstyles, or sweat suits, or tank tops, or

whatever, are simply not acceptable apparel on this campus.  Be modest,

be dignified, and be your very best.  More and more, what it means to

be at BYU is to be your very best.



	And now may I say that far more important than looking clean is

being clean.  Perhaps no challenge is greater for your generation.  As

someone recently wrote, "It is as if America is down on all fours

sniffing, and what she smells is a glandular stench." There is too much

sexual transgression in our society.  There are too many exploitive

movies seen and prurient videos watched and smutty magazines read. 

There is too much obscene language used, by men and women. it should

not surprise you that a university that sweeps its walks and scrubs its

floors and paints its buildings and shines its glass expects its

students to be clean--inside as well as out.  I want to think we are

better in these matters than any other university in the world, but

sometimes we are not; we frequently fall too short.  Any compromise

tears a piece of our flag from that mast.  Any blemish on one student's

behavior is a stain on us all.  For your sake and for Karl G. Maeser's

and for BYU's, I ask you to be clean.



The World's Safest Ship



	Now as I began I spoke of two events during the past week, and I

mentioned one--the Discovery's successful flight.  May I close with the

second reference, to another journey not so successful.  A week ago

last Sunday, on September 1, 1985, Robert Ballard, chief scientist for

a joint U.S./French venture, became the first person in seventy-three

years to view the grave site of more than 1,500 people whose final

resting place lay on the cavernous floor two and a half miles below the

surface of the Atlantic Ocean.  The Titanic was the biggest, most

luxurious, and supposedly the safest ocean liner of all

time--unsinkable, they advertised, because of its double steel hull and

waterproof compartments.



	The first-class register on that maiden voyage read like a Who's

Who of American and European society.  The net worth of those

passengers was estimated (in 1912) to be $250 million.  And on the

night of April 14, 1912, nearly three-fourths of the trip from

Southampton was completed.  New York was, figuratively speaking, just a

hop, skip, and a jump away.  It had been a great party on the high

seas.



	Now an iceberg is relatively small and occupies so little space in

comparison with the broad ocean on which it floats. The chances of

another small object like a ship colliding with it and being sunk are

minute.  Chances are, as a matter of fact, one in a million.  That's

not just a figure of speech.  That was the actual risk for total loss

by collision with an iceberg as accepted by insurance companies in

1912.  That one-in-a-million accident was what sunk the Titanic.  On

the night of the collision she was undoubtedly the safest ship afloat

on any of the world's oceans.  But her captain and her crew were

careless, perhaps simply too confident.  And so were her designers and

her owners.  The result was that when the unbelievable had to be

believed, only 700 were saved.  One thousand five hundred thirteen of

the others rode the world's safest ship two and a half miles straight

down--and then waited seventy-three years to have Robert Ballard

finally identify their burial site for posterity.



	Institutionally--and I suppose individually--we have at our

disposal the superb skills that in its day fashioned the Titanic and in

our own day has fashioned the space shuttle Discovery.  We have before

us a year in which each of us gets to captain not only our own

individual craft but we also get to help steer the Good Ship BYU.  I

don't know about you, but in light of these two reminders from the

week's news, I vote clearly for the option of navigating all the

dimensions of our dreams and all the outer reaches of our capability

with the care and caution and loyalty to basic principles that will,

when our exploration is complete, land us dead center, right on time,

exactly where we ought to be.  I prefer that greatly to the equal

magnificence, splendor, and technical ability of that other vessel now

resting 13,000 feet below the surface of the sea 500 miles south of

Newfoundland, filled with people who were led to believe it couldn't

happen to them.



	This year and every year we intend to have the best of all

possible worlds at BYU.  We intend to exercise every privilege and

pursue every opportunity, but we will do it with discipline and with

care, with attention to detail, with everyone helping, with no one

compromising.  We will "nail our colors to the mast" and make

gospel-centered education work because it has to work; any deviation

from our prophetic heritage "would lead to disastrous results." We

will, in this and every year ahead, reach out and reach up, explore all

we can of the truth, and still safely land filled with greater learning

and faith on this narrow strip of BYU soil under Y Mountain in Provo,

Utah.  We will do our work successfully--and some of it we will have to

do with the whole world watching.  Know that I love you with all of my

heart, and God bless you to have a superb school year, in the name of

Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                           The Widow's Mite



                          Gordon B. Hinckley



	Ordained to the Council of the Twelve Apostles in 1961 and set

apart as a counselor in the First Presidency in 1981, Gordon B.

Hinckley was called as second counselor in the First Presidency on

December 2, 1982.



	President Hinckley, has filled numerous special assignments for

the Church, many of which concerned dedications of temples.  He is a

member of the Church Board of Education, chairman of the Church

Education Executive Committee, member of the Board of Trustees of

Brigham Young University, and member of the General Welfare Services

Committee. In 1981 he was chairman of the Church's Sesquicentennial

Executive Committee.



	After graduating from the University of Utah, he served a mission

to Great Britain.  Less than two years after his return he became a

member of the Sunday School General Board and was appointed to the

Radio, Publicity, and Mission Literature Committee, forerunner of the

Church Public Communications Department. He then was made director of

the Missionary Department of the Church.



	President Hinckley has brought many talents to his dedicated

Church service. He has written five books, numerous Church manuals,

pamphlets, and radio and film scripts. In 1971 the University of Utah

bestowed upon him its Distinguished Alumni Award, and in 1979 he

received an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from BYU.



	He is active in community and business affairs and has served as a

director with many companies, presently including Zions First National

Bank, Bonneville International Corporation, Deseret Management

Corporation, and KIRO television and radio in Seattle, Washington.



	President Hinckley is married to Marjorie Pay. They are the

parents of five children.



	This devotional address was delivered on 17 September 1985 in the

Marriott Center.



	It is a great opportunity and a great privilege to be with you

this beautiful morning.  I appreciate the effort you have made to

gather here. It has been the custom, reaching back many years, for a

member of the First Presidency to speak to you at the beginning of a

new school year.  I would very much like to say something that will be

helpful to all, and to this end I have prayed for the direction of the

Holy Spirit.



	I bring you the love and greetings of President Kimball and

President Romney.  President Kimball serves not only as President of

the Church but also as chairman of the board of trustees of this

university, and President Romney serves as a vice-chairman.  I am

confident they would have enjoyed being with you this morning, had

circumstances permitted.  As you are aware, President Kimball is now in

his ninetieth year and, because of the infirmities of age, he is unable

to get out and speak as he once did with such vigor.  President Romney,

is similarly handicapped.



	I wish to share with you some of my concerns in the responsibility

that has been thrust upon me.  I want you to bear some of that

responsibility.  If you are a member of the Church, you too have a

challenge to be concerned with its strength and growth.



	I remember many years ago when a man, both prominent and

well-to-do, came to see Stephen L. Richards, who was then a member of

the First Presidency.  The man had a son who was denied a missionary

call because of his moral misbehavior.  The man was very forceful,

almost demanding, in his request that the son be permitted to go.  At

the time I had responsibility for the missionary, program of the Church

and was in the room when the conversation took place.  After the man

had finished his lengthy and demanding argument, President Richards

said, "Brother, I have some responsibility, for the affairs of this

Church.  You do also. If you were seated where I sit, knowing the

circumstances that I know, you would feel exactly as I do.  Now, in

your position as a member of this Church, as one who holds the

priesthood, you too have responsibility for its growth and program, and

for its discipline.  My heart goes out to you for I know that what you

say comes of love for your son.  However, I am asking you, as a man

with a responsibility for the progress of the Church, to look at the

larger affairs of the kingdom.  Then you make the decision in that

light." After a thoughtful silence, it was the father who made the

decision that his son should not go.



The Lord's Law of Finance



	It has now been more than four years since I was called into the

Presidency.  For two and a half of those four years, not of my own

wish, I have had thrust upon me the burden of the day-to-day work of

the office of the Presidency.  Please do not misunderstand me.  I am

not complaining.  I have been blessed by the Lord in a marvelous and

wonderful way.  I have been blessed with the confidence of his chosen

servants, Presidents Kimball and Romney.  I have been blessed with the

loyalty, the unflagging devotion, and the help of the Council of the

Twelve, of each member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, of the

Presiding Bishopric, and of the membership of the Church across the

world.  I have been remembered in many prayers, and I and I am grateful

beyond power of expression.



	Incident to the responsibility that I have, I have chaired the

meetings of the board of trustees of this university.  For many years I

have served as chairman of the executive committee of the board.



	I also chair the meetings of the Budget and Appropriations

Committee of the Church.  This is a very serious responsibility.



	As you are aware, on July 8, 1838, the Lord revealed to the

Prophet Joseph Smith the law of tithing as it applies to the members of

the Church in this dispensation.



	On that same day, he gave a revelation in which he said that the

tithing funds of the Church should be "disposed of by a council,

composed of the First Presidency of my Church, and of the bishop and

his council, and by my high council" (D&C 120).



	Based on that revelation, we have in the Church what we call the

Council on the Disposition of the Tithes.  This council is composed of

the First Presidency, the Council of the Twelve, and the Presiding

Bishopric.  Theirs is the ultimate responsibility for all Church

expenditures.



	Serving, in effect, as an executive committee of that council, we

have what we designate the Budget and Appropriations Committee.  This

committee meets weekly to consider for approval all items of Church

expenditure.  These might include a score or more of new chapels in

various places throughout the world, or a building or renovation

projects on the BYU campus, a new temple somewhere, or any number of

things.  I need not tell you that with hundreds of buildings under

construction (more than 900 at this time), the number of dollars

involved is enormous.  Again, it is my responsibility to chair these

meetings and to sign the approvals for the expenditures.  It is a

worrisome responsibility.



	Where does the money come from? There are many who look upon the

Church as an organization of great wealth.  We have been classified as

being equal to many institutions of the Fortune 500.  Our assets are

spoken of glibly by those who either do not know the facts, or with

gross distortion for purposes of sensationalism.



	The fact, of course, is that we do have tremendous assets when the

value of all Church buildings and facilities is included.  But these

assets are not income producing.  They are consumers.  They consist of

thousands of meetinghouses across the world, many temples, seminaries

and institutes, and, of course, Brigham Young University. They have

cost millions in investments, and they produce scarcely anything in the

way of a direct dollar return on those investments.  There is only one

reason for their existence, and that is to serve the needs of people as

sons and daughters of God who have a peculiar and important

relationship with him.



	I repeat that the Church is frequently spoken of as an institution

of great wealth.  When all is said and done, the Church is wealthy only

in the faith of its people.  One of the expressions of that faith is

the payment of tithing. The Church is spoken of as an institution with

great business interests.  The income from those business properties

would keep the Church going for only a very short time.  The fact is

that tithing is the Lord's law of finance.  It came of revelation from

him.  It is a divine law with a great and beautiful promise.  It is

applicable to every, member of the Church who has income.  It is

applicable to the widow in her poverty, as well as to the wealthy  man

in his riches. It is simple of understanding.  One need only, compare

it with the income tax to recognize the simplicity that comes of the

wisdom of God in contrast with the complexity that comes of the wisdom

of men.

|P10 



The Widows Mite



	I hold in my hand a widow's mite.  It was given me in Jerusalem

many years ago and I was told that it is genuine.  I have it framed and

I keep it in my office as a constant reminder of the fearsome

responsibility of spending that which comes of the consecrations of the

members of the Church.  Most of the wonderful, faithful Latter-day

Saints who pay their tithing are men and women of modest means.  They

not only pay their tithing, but they also make many other contributions

for the strengthening of this work.



	Some time back a small, bent, elderly woman came to my office. 

For the purpose of this talk I shall call her Mary Olsen, although that

is not her name and she would not wish her identity disclosed.  She

said she had just come over from the temple.  She took from her purse

her checkbook.  She said that she had been a widow for many years, that

life had not been easy for her.  She had a great love for the Lord and

his Church.  She had faithfully paid her tithing all her life.  She

felt she would not live much longer.  Now, she said, she felt she ought

to be doing more to help than she had done.  In a hand shaky with age,

she wrote a check for $5,000.  She handed it to me.  I noted the

address where she lived.  It was in a poor neighborhood.  I confess

that as I looked at that check tears came into my eyes. I have held

many larger checks than that in my hands.  But as I held the check of

this widow woman, I was almost overcome by her faith and the

seriousness of the trust that was mine in the expenditure of her

consecrated contribution.



	My dear young friends we--you and I--are trustees of that which

has been given to the Lord by Mary Olsen and thousands like her whose

devotion is as great and whose sacrifice is as certain.  This beautiful

campus, with its many programs, is a consumer of a very substantial

portion of the widow's contribution.  She gives her offering to the

Lord, and she is then released from responsibility.  The responsibility

then becomes mine and yours!



	What might she expect of you? I am going to talk quickly of four

or five things that I think she might appropriately expect.



	First, I think she might expect on your part a deep sense of

gratitude and appreciation.  I recognize that the fees you spend to

attend BYU are high and sometimes difficult to pay.  But you should

know that several times the amount you pay comes from the sacred funds

of the Church to cover the actual cost of your presence on this campus. 

That applies to every one of you who is here.  You are truly

privileged.  There are approximately 26,000 of you.  There are

literally legions of other worthy young men and women who are members

of the Church who would do almost anything to be here.  Why should you

be so treated when a beautiful and brilliant girl in the British Isles,

or that qualified young man in Argentina, or that able and faithful

girl in Japan, are just as worthy and just as eligible as you?



	Gratitude is among the greatest of virtues.  I hope there is not a

day that passes that you do not get on your knees and thank the Lord

for the marvelous privileges you have in attending this university. 

Where in the world is there a more beautiful campus than this? Where

are there better facilities? Where is there a better-qualified faculty

of men and women not only of learning, but also of faith? Where will

you find better associations than here? (I might add, parenthetically,

where will you find a football team more worthy of cheering about?)



	I know the academic grind is hard.  I know you sometimes get

discouraged as you face it.  I know that for many of you there is acute

loneliness even with so many around you.  I may say, however, that you

would have these problems and more at any other university.  Be

thankful.  Be appreciative of the marvelous opportunity you have to

study at this magnificent university.



	Second, the widow who brought to me her offering, which has become

a portion of the funding of this university, would expect you to save,

protect, and do all you can to preserve these remarkable facilities

that have cost so much.  We constantly receive requests from people

across the world to establish another university in one place or

another. It would be a wonderful thing if we could do so.  However, we

must face the fact that it would be too expensive, more than we could

afford, to build and maintain such a plant and faculty.  It is your

home while you are here.  Take good care of it.  I am appalled when I

see property defaced, or vandalized, or damaged through carelessness,

or resources wasted.  There must never be such on this campus.  It was

built to its present state in large measure by money from the tithes of

the Church.  It is maintained in large measure by such funds.  Take

care of it.  A sacred trust is placed in you to do so.



	Third, the widow of whom I speak expects that while you are here

you will experience an increase in faith and a strengthened knowledge

of the things of God, and, more particularly, of the restored gospel of

Jesus Christ.



	Each of you is expected to take courses in religion.  Some may

resent that.  I hope not.  These courses, taught by qualified

instructors, represent one of the major differences between this and

other universities.  You have opportunities here that you would not

have in any other school in quite the same measure.  Do not resent

these studies.  Dig in and drink up that which is offered for your

enlightenment and the strengthening of your testimony.  Most of you

will never again have such an opportunity as you will have here to

learn the gospel in an environment of scholarship.  Drink deeply of

eternal truths.



	Fourth, another great expectation is that many of you will find

your companions here.  Generally speaking there is no better place to

find one of your own kind, with the same standards, the same ambitions,

the same desire and willingness to serve the Lord as you go forward

with your lives.  It is expected that a marriage arising out of

associations on this campus will be a marriage based on love,

appreciation, and mutual respect, with an understanding of the heavy

responsibilities as well as the potential for happiness in time and

throughout eternity, through the exercise of the priesthood in the

house of the Lord.



	In anticipation of that, you can never be immoral.  You cannot be

dishonest in courting or in marriage without violating the great trust

that is placed in you as a student of Brigham Young University.



	Fifth, the final great expectation in terms of your presence here

is that you will better qualify yourselves to fill positions of

responsibility in the world of which you will become a part.  All of us

are tremendously proud of BYU's great football accomplishments.  They

redound to the honor of the school.  They reflect good to the Church. 

We are proud of the team and wish for them continued success.



	However, the primary purpose of BYU is not football.  The primary

purpose of BYU is to provide a first-class education in the disciplines

and skills that will qualify you for productive lives while at the same

time inculcating within you a solid foundation of spiritual values.



	You will violate a sacred trust with the widow woman I mentioned,

and with all of us, if you fail to take advantage of the great

opportunity that is yours here to learn in order that you might go

forth to serve.



	That service must be given with integrity.  There can be no

cheating in the halls of learning without consequent impact on one's

fitness to serve in the world of work.  If we turn out lawyers with

smart techniques and shallow honesty, then we have broken a trust.  If

we turn out teachers whose only objective is to get a job rather than

to serve the needs of boys and girls, then again we have failed.  If we

turn out business graduates whose only objective is to grow rich

regardless of principle, again the sacrifices of our people to maintain

this school have been in vain.



Great Expectations



	Yours must be a higher vision and a higher mission.  Yours is the

responsibility to study and learn, to qualify yourselves in an

exceptional way for positions of responsibility in the professions, in

the business world, and for life in general.  And over and beyond this,

yours is a most sacred and binding responsibility to do so while

observing every element of moral behavior and while employing the

principle of the Golden Rule as taught by the Son of God.



	We have great expectations for you.  We are entitled to those

expectations.  The widow of whom I spoke, and the hundreds of thousands

like her who bring their tithes to the storehouse of the Lord, count on

you to do something in a very exceptional and worthy, way.



	Let the beginning of this new school year be marked with the

resolution to stand a little taller, to work a little harder, to keep

your lives square with the principles of morality, and integrity, that

are of the very essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Be humble.  Be

prayerful.  Be studious.  Have a wonderful time.  Enjoy life.  But know

also that it is serious and that there will flow from our time and

efforts marvelous results both temporal and eternal if you will live

the gospel of Jesus Christ while here, and prepare to live it when you

leave here.



	If you do this, we who have a sacred trusteeship will know that

that which is provided here will not have been in vain, but that the

funds to build and maintain this institution will bear marvelous and

rewarding dividends for the present as well as for generations yet to

come.  We pray for you.  We hope that you will pray for yourselves.  We

ask the Lord to bless you and sustain you, to give you strength and the

capacity to understand and assimilate that which you are taught so

that, when you have completed your work here, you may go forward into

the world as men and women of faith, of great learning, and of

tremendous integrity.



  God bless you so to do, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. 

Amen.





                    "The Last Drop in the Chalice"



                        Vaughn J. Featherstone



	Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone has been a member of the First Quorum

of the Seventy since 1 October 1976, during which time he has served as

president of the Texas San Antonio Mission and as first counselor in

the general presidency of the Young Men.  Before 1976 he had served in

the Presiding Bishopric for four and a half years.  He has also been on

the General Priesthood Committee and the YMMIA General Board and has

been a stake mission president, counselor in a bishopric, stake high

councilor, and the president of the Boise North Stake. He was Executive

Administrator for the U.S. South Central Area and is presently the Area

President of the North America Southeast Area.



	Elder Featherstone was born in Stockton, Utah, and raised in Salt

Lake City.  Because his father, the only member of the Church in his

family, was inactive, Elder Featherstone found the Church on his own,

with the help of friends. His mother and brothers and sisters later

joined the Church.  He was active in student government, football and

track during his years at South High School. There he met his wife,

Merlene Miner, whom he married in the Salt Lake Temple in 1949.  They

have six sons and one daughter.  Elder Featherstone has worked as

corporate training manager for Albertson's and chaired the Supermarket

Institute's National Produce Executive Committee.



	As a youth, Elder Featherstone achieved the Eagle rank in Boy

Scouts and later was a Scoutmaster. He is a member of the National

Advisory Council of the Boy Scouts of America and was presented the

Silver Antelope Award in 1976.



	This devotional address was delivered on 24 September 1985 in the

Marriott Center.



	The concluding chapter in the book Les Miserables is entitled "The

Last Drop in the Chalice." it refers to the final purging in the life

of Jean Valjean.  He is a white-haired saint whose life has been dealt

harshly with by law and justice but who was inspired by a "bishop" to

be better.  This saintly soul realizes there is one thing left undone

to make him a totally honest man.  He goes through an immense personal

struggle and emerges victorious.  All of this he does, sacrificing on

the altar of love and religion the adoring felicity that Cosette feels

toward him who has been "all" in this life to her. Jean Valjean is

convinced that he should unveil before this person, who represents the

totality of his reason to live, the dark shadows that cling to his

past.  With one final resolve he makes all known, fully aware of the

expected consequence of alienating the most precious and only soul he

has ever loved.  The full impact of what I am trying to say can only

come as one labors through the 1221-page volume, which I have done five

times and again just recently.



This Saintly Man



	I have thought a great deal about President Kimball as I have

considered this phrase, "the Last drop in the chalice." President

Spencer W. Kimball has given more energy, greater service, and has had

the most profound impact, I think, of anyone in the restored Church

save the Prophet Joseph only.  This is partially due to the numerical

size of the Church.  It is also due to the shrinking of the size of the

Church through modern convenience of travel, communication, and

worldwide acceptance to a greater or lesser degree.



	President Kimball has suffered with problems of boils, throat

cancer, heart disease and surgery, Bell's palsy, and three subdural

hematoma operations.  For all that is publicly known about him, there

are books of deeds about which only, a few know.  This saintly man has

come as near to walking in the footsteps of Jesus as any living soul.



	Only a few know of the times when he has been in the hospital

recovering but has taken that time to visit others and has given

blessings when possibly he had the greater need.  I have known and seen

brave, faithful men weep as they have talked about President Kimball's

visit to their loved ones when all hope seemed lost.



	Many unthinking people have gone to his home or to his office or

have cornered him at conference--as if theirs was the only problem in

the world that mattered.  And this beloved apostle has responded in

that very way, as if theirs was the only problem in the world.  So many

of us who are lesser than he would have resented the imposition.



	Even today, in his present condition, I suppose he receives more

letters from members of the Church than any other General Authority.  I

receive only those that are written to him from members residing in the

North America Southeast Area, one of thirteen such areas in the world. 

The letters flow in regularly and we respond for him.



	His office is like a minimuseum of gifts from people who have sent

their treasured possessions to share with him.  I think only a small

selection of these gifts are displayed in his office.



	There are many special trinkets and gifts from those of Lamanite

descent.  Also, one artist has portrayed the feelings the minorities

especially feel toward President Kimball.  There is a beautifully

framed rendering of Lamanites and also one of a black family with tears

on the cheeks of the father and mother as they gaze toward the Salt

Lake Temple.  I took a black man and his wife through President

Kimball's office, and this was the one gift that impressed them--also

to tears.



"A Real Man"



	Consider the giant forward thrust the Church has made during the

ministry of President Kimball as prophet.  Even now, after five years

of limited involvement, President Kimball's great vision reaches out

before us.  He has set a work in motion that no enemy or foe will

frustrate.  Compare the majesty of this magnificent soul to the

spiritual pygmies who hurl their own faithless frustrations upon the

Church or try to drag others down to their level of empty faith.



	Elder Packer said, "They leave the Church but they can't leave it

alone" (Utah State University baccalaureate address).  They publish

theological pornography, that is damaging to the spirit.  None of it is

worth casting an eye upon.  Do not read the anti-Mormon materials. 

That is not the way you resolve questions about the truthfulness of the

restored gospel.  Simply go back and read and ponder and pray about the

Book of Mormon and you will know it is true.  Those who try to dissuade

us from the truth want to tear down what we have, but they do not have

anything to replace it when it's gone.  A person who has sexual

hang-ups should not read pornographic material as a means of dealing

with his or her problem.  Likewise, a person who is weak in the faith

should not read pornographic theological material. it only destroys and

takes away; it never replaces that which was lost.



	A poet said it in these words:



I watched them tearing a building down,

A gang of men in a busy town.

With a ho-heave-ho and a lusty yell,

They swung the beams and the side walls fell



I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled, 

The kind you'd hire were you to build?" 

He laughed and said, "Why, no indeed! 

Just common laborers are all I need. 

They can easily wreck in a day or two 

What builders have taken years to do.



And I thought to myself as I went my way:

"What part in the game of life do I play? 

Am I a builder who works with care, 

measuring life by the rule and square?



Am I shaping my deeds to a well-made plan,

patiently doing the best I can?

Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,

Content with the labor of tearing down?"

[Author unknown]



	The names of those who have profited from the sale of anti-Mormon

materials will fade and die.  Their cause is nonsense.  Their hope is

desolate, and the eternal consequence of attempting to destroy the

faith of the Saints will ring everlastingly down through the

generations to their own destruction and that of their offspring.  The

Lord said,



	Wherefore, let them bring forth their strong reasons against the

Lord.



	Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you--there is no weapon that is

formed against you shall prosper;



	And if any man lift his voice against you he shall be confounded

in mine own due time. [D&C 71:8-10]

|P15 



	Can we not judge by the Spirit the senselessness of those who

splinter the doctrines, rearrange the principles, and ignite the fire

of apostasy? We ought to have the wisdom and the vision to see where

such nonsensical conduct and teachings lead.



	Imagine comparing those shallow, empty minds against the

contributions of President Kimball.  I preside over the southeast area

of the United States and the Caribbean, and I tell you--those Saints

come near worshipping President Spencer W. Kimball, the Prophet.  I

think there is hardly a congregation in the South that has not sung "We

Ever Pray for Thee." The words in the third verse are:



We ever pray for thee with fervent love; 

And as the children's prayer is heard above, 

Thou shalt be ever blest, and God will give 

All that is meet and best [ President Kimball] while thou shalt live.

[Hymns, no. 23]



	We do pray for thee, President Kimball, our noble, beloved Prophet

of God.  It has been my intention here to share with you some of these

thoughts and have you contemplate that this final era in the life of

President Spencer W. Kimball may be the extracting of the "last drops

of the chalice." We wonder if any man reaches perfection in this life

and realize that they do not.  Nonetheless, President Kimball's life

comes near the mark.  Edgar A. Guest wrote a poem entitled "A Real

Man." I have quoted it a few times to a few men.  Never was it more

accurate than when describing President Spencer W. Kimball.



A Real Man

Men are of two kinds, and he

Was of the kind I'd like to be

Some preach their virtues, and a few

Express their lives by what they do.

That sort was he.  No flowery phrase

Or glibly spoken words of praise

Won friends for him. He wasn't cheap

Or shallow, but his course ran deep, 

And it was pure.  You know the kind.

Not many in a life you find

Whose deeds outrun their words so far

That more than what they seem they are.



There are two kinds of lies as well:

The kind you live, the ones you tell.

Back through his years from age to youth

He never acted one untruth.

Out in the open light he fought 

And didn't care what others thought

Nor what they said about his fight

If he believed that he was right.

The only deeds he ever hid

Were acts of kindness that he did.



What speech he had was plain and blunt.

His was an unattractive front.

Yet children loved him; babe and boy

Played with the strength he could employ,

Without one fear, and they are fleet 

To dense injustice and deceit.

No back door gossip linked his name

With any shady tale of shame.

He did not have to compromise 

With evil-doers, shrewd and wise,

And let them ply their vicious trade 

Because of some past escapade.



Men are of two kinds, and he

Was of the kind I'd like to be.

No door at which he ever knocked 

Against his manly from was locked.

If ever man on earth was free

And independent, it was he.

No broken pledge lost him respect,

He met all men with head erect,

And when he passe[s] I think there [will be sent]

A soul to yonder firmament 

So white, so splendid and so fine

It [comes] almost to God's design.

[Edgar A. Guest, A Heap o' Livin']



Loving Counsel



	The purpose of giving you this background is a result of deep

pondering.  I have tried desperately to consider what President Kimball

would teach and admonish if he were here.  I have read much of what he

has written.  I have studied and pondered his talks, and I think I have

a limited understanding of his style.



	I wonder if he wouldn't counsel you in this way: "I have a great

spiritual disturbance in my soul.  I feel constantly at unrest.  It

seems that many of our most valiant youth and young adults are falling

prey to the deadly tactical warfare of the adversary.  Never has there

been so much confusion and disruption in our strong LDS homes and total

abandonment of the principles of truth in others. Hardly a family has

not been penetrated to a greater or lesser degree."



Models for living



	I visited a stake in a distant city.  I make it a custom to

memorize their statistics, which at least gives me some slight

understanding of activity levels.  In this stake almost every statistic

was down dramatically, including sacrament meeting, priesthood meeting,

Relief Society, Primary, Sunday School, youth activity, tithing, and

temple activity.  I think I had a sense of righteous indignation, maybe

even anger, that we had let Satan take over so much real estate.



	I questioned the stake leaders, and together we prayed and

pondered for an answer.  It came.  This stronghold community of the

Church had not especially been aware of the subtleties of Satan's

strategy.  Many in this farming community had purchased satellite

receivers, video shops had opened, and naive parents were letting R-

and X-rated movies into their homes through satellite channels, and the

youth and even some parents were renting them.  Imagine violating the

second most sacred place on the earth, the homes of righteous

Latter-day Saints.



	I think President Kimball would speak boldly against this

insidious evil.  I think he would counsel parents to monitor what is

brought in and out of the home to see that it reflects an LDS standard.



	I believe that President Kimball's heart would be troubled that

Satan is making a mockery of sacred things and our young people are

unsuspectingly being influenced in a more terrible way that we ever

would have supposed.  We are a peculiar people and that is the strength

of this church.  We can have our families extended into eternity and

become like him.  I think it is the most glorious concept ever to be

given to man by our God, and I love him for it.



	We teach a Word of Wisdom that the modern scientists are

discovering is an inspired health law.  We have family home evening and

family prayer.  We pay tithes and offerings, and our people prosper. 

We go to the temple and perform vicarious work for the dead, and we

send out our true ambassadors as missionaries to the world.  We believe

in Christ and we live his commandments, and we do so everlastingly many

more things as we serve our Lord.



	Why then can we not recognize the tactics of the evil one? We

should walk in the sun as at noonday.



	What Satan has done is perpetrated a great lie upon us.  To our

youth he has lied: "You can keep your standards but you do not have to

be different.  You do not need to violate the Word of Wisdom, but you

do not have to make an issue out of the things that do not really

matter." Our very dress and grooming reflect our inward values.



	If you will watch and pattern your dress and conduct after the

people of real substance, you will not go wrong.  Men and women of

substance have the inner stability and well-being to follow the

conservative, inoffensive dress standards.  Remember, there is a time

and a season for everything under the heavens.



	I had an old red sweatshirt that I used to wear when I would float

the western rivers, Then my wife threw it away.  There is a different

standard of dress for various activities.  However, when we are in

public, it makes good sense to not groom or dress in a way that will

attract undue attention or detract from the surrounding scenery.



Be a Servant-Leader



	I think President Kimball might instruct us in the benefits of

serving.  Robert K. Greenleaf wrote a book entitled Servant Leadership. 

He states:



	The idea of the Servant as Leader came out of reading Hermann

Hesse's journey to the East.  In this story, we see a band of men on a

mythical journey, probably also Hesse's own journey.  The central

figure of the story is Leo who accompanies the party as the servant who

does their menial chores, but who also sustains them with his spirit

and his song.  He is a person of extraordinary presence.  All goes well

until Leo disappears.  Then the group falls into disarray and the

journey is abandoned.  They cannot make it without the servant Leo. 

The narrator, one of the party, after some years of wandering finds Leo

and is taken into the Order that had sponsored the journey.  There he

discovers that Leo, whom he had known first as servant, was in fact the

titular head of the Order, its guiding spirit, a great and noble

leader.

	One can muse on what Hesse was trying to say when he wrote this

story.  We know that most of his fiction was autobiographical, that he

led a tortured life, and that Journey to the East suggests a turn

toward the serenity he achieved in his old age.  There has been much

speculation by critics on Hesse's life and work, some of it centering

on this story which they find the most puzzling.  But to me, this story

clearly says that the great leader is seen as servant first, and that

simple fact is the key to his greatness.  Leo was actually the leader

all of the time, but he was servant first because that was what he was,

deep down inside. [Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership: A Journey

into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness (New York: Paulist

Press, 1977), p. 7]



	Brother Hugh Nibley, a great soul, seems to concur with this in a

marvelous discourse called "Management Versus Leadership." Greenleaf

also stated:



Those who choose to follow this principle will not casually accept the

authority of existing institutions.  Rather, they will freely respond

only to individuals who are chosen as leaders because they are proven

and trusted servants....



	My thesis, that more servants should emerge as leaders, or should

follow only servant-leaders, is not a popular one. [Greenleaf, Servant

Leadership, p.10]



And again:



	The servant-leader is servant first--as Leo was portrayed.  It

begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve

first.  Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.  That

person is sharply different from one who is leader first.  [Greenleaf,

Servant Leadership, p.13]



And finally:



	Not much happens without a dream.  And for something great to

happen, there must be a great dream.  Behind every great achievement is

a dreamer of great dreams.  Much more than a dreamer is required to

bring it to reality; but the dream must be there first.  [Greenleaf,

Servant Leadership, p. 16]



	President Kimball's life could be summarized in the words

servant-leader with a dream.  President Kimball said: "Make no small

plans.  They have no magic to stir men's souls" (Regional

Representatives' seminar). His life has been one of service, and

through his service he has served in the most important office on the

face of the earth, Prophet of the Living God.



	Behold, I say unto you that because I said unto you that I had

spent my days in your service, I do not desire to boast, for I have

only been in the service of God.



	And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that

ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye

are only in the service of your God. [Mosiah 2:16-17]



Cultivate a Sense of Humor



	I believe President Kimball would encourage a sense of humor.  I

think you will need it in the days ahead.  You may need it in some of

your classes, or on some of your dates, or at work.



	I understand that Robbie Bosco is a fighter, that he likes to win. 

They said one day, a few weeks back that he was carrying a list of all

the men he could whip.  Leon White came up to him and said, "I

understand you have a list of all the fellows you can whip," Robbie

said, "That's right." Leon White said, "Is my name on that list?"

Robbie responded that it was.  Leon White said, "You can't whip me and

I'll prove it." Robbie said: "That's OK.  I'll just take your name off

the list."



	Two weeks ago, President Holland referred to the miraculous

accomplishments in space that seem almost commonplace now. It reminded

me of a cartoon of two fleas on a dog.  They were leaning back-to-back

against a hair and having a deep discussion.  Off in the distance they

saw another dog.  One of them turned to his companion and said, "Do you

think there is life on other dogs?"



	Gene Perrett, comedy writer and humorist, said, "Humor is serious

business." He is a writer for many of the top comedians.  He shared an

experience Bob Hope had:



Bob Hope was to present an award to a gentleman by the name of Charlie

Boswell ....Charlie Boswell was this country's outstanding blind

golfer.  That's what the award was for.  These gentlemen play a great

game of gold.  They have an assistant line the club up, but they swing

themselves, and they hit the ball a ton.  They really play a great

game.



	When he got to the podium, Bob Hope couldn't resist kidding him a

little bit.  He said, "Outstanding blind golfer, huh. I'd like to play

you sometime."  Charlie Boswell said, "Mr. Hope, I would love to play

you a round of golf." Hope said, "I don't think you understand.  I only

play for money." Charlie Boswell said, "I like to have a little side

bet going, too.  It makes things more interesting." And Hope said, "But

what kind of a handicap would I have to give you?" Charlie said, "I'll

tell you what, Mr. Hope, I'll play you even up." Hope was delighted. He

said, "What time?" Charlie Boswell said, "Midnight."...



	Abraham Lincoln was once in a debate for public office.  His

opponent spoke first and Lincoln sat on the platform and listened.  His

opponent kept pointing to Lincoln and referring to him as a liar, and a

cheat, and a two-faced politician.  Lincoln never got angry and never

showed any emotion.  He sat there calmly and listened.  When it was his

turn to speak, he stepped to the front of the podium and said, "Ladies

and gentlemen, if I were two faced, would I be wearing this one?" [Gene

Perrett, "Humor Is Serious Business: Resist That Urge to Strike Back,"

Vital Speeches of the Day, 15 August 1985, pp. 651-52]



	Then Gene Perrett told about an experience to which some of you

may relate:



When my daughter was a sophomore in high school, she'd been wanting to

date this one boy.  Finally the school sponsored a trip where they rode

the train down towards San Diego, had dinner, and took the train back. 

This gentleman asked her to be his date.  I waited up till she got

home, and when she came in I asked her, "Honey, how did things go?" She

said, "Dad, it's the worst time I ever had in my life." I said, "Why? I

thought you were crazy about this guy." She said, "All he did was talk

about himself.  All the way down how he plays football, what school

he's going to, what he's going to major in. He's the most egotistical

person I ever met in my life...." I said, "Didn't he see what he was

doing? Didn't he realize that all he was doing was talking about

himself?" She said, "Just for one brief moment ... around dessert time. 

He said to me, 'All I'm doing is talking about myself.  How about you. 

What do you think of me?'" [Perrett, "Humor Is Serious Business," p.

652]

Making Use of Good Music



	I think President Kimball would then tell you of the value of

learning to love good and great music.  This one great blessing will

reward you a thousandfold.



	As a bishop, a stake president, or as a General Authority, you sit

on the stand and observe the Saints.  Music is absolutely an essential

element in increasing spirituality.  Every Sunday at church when sacred

hymns are sung, many in the congregation will quietly weep as they

sing--some from heavy hearts, some whose lives have turned back to God

and who feel his refreshing forgiveness, others whose hearts are simply

filled with the love of God and music has stirred those sensitivities. 

You will find in life that there is need for a sense of timing and a

special awareness that leads one to listen to appropriate music for

specific purposes and occasions.



	I recently, without any warning or preparation, had a women's

chorus sing "We Ever Pray for Thee." The congregation's thoughts were

turned to our beloved prophet, and tears flowed freely.  The choir felt

what they sang, and deep emotion filled their bosoms.  President

Kimball would want you to make use of good music in your life.



Be a Straight-Arrow



	How often President Kimball has reminded us to be pure.  "Purity

of heart" is a marvelous quest.  "Unto the pure [in heart] all things

[indeed] are pure" (Titus 1: 15).  The controversy of AIDS, homosexual

conduct, and other perversions of life are so constant and common that

we almost become sympathetic and understanding to the point of

condoning.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is for every soul that walks the

earth.  Its doors of love, purity, charity, and forgiveness are opened

wide to all who would enter.  But even the Great God of Heaven cannot

save a man in his sins.  We sometimes wonder if there are any in the

Church who have not been singed by the flames of transgression.  Let me

say to you: There are hundreds of thousands of our young people who are

purer and cleaner than any generation that ever walked the earth.  To

you who are clean, please know you are not alone.  God bless you. 

Continue in that.



	President Archie Brugger of the San Antonio East Stake in Texas

shared an experience worthy of your interest.  While he served in the

military (in Germany, I believe), a young officer came to him one day

and said, "Colonel Brugger, do you know there are only eight straight

arrows in our entire company?" A straight-arrow is a soldier who does

not have an illicit affair with a woman.  He said, "I know you are a

straight-arrow and so am I." A few weeks later this young officer

returned again and said, "Colonel Brugger, now there are only four." It

was only a matter of a few more weeks and he returned a third time and

said, "Colonel Brugger, there are only two, you and me." President

Brugger said to this young man: "I intend to remain clean.  I am a

Mormon and I have a wife back in the United States who is keeping

herself clean also while I am away.  I trust her and she trusts me, and

we both honor the teachings of the Church." The young man said: "You

are leaving in six weeks to go back to the United States and I will

remain here.  I don't know how much longer I can hold out." President

Brugger said, "My young friend, if I can do it you can do it.  The Lord

will help you."



	In the military there may not be too many straight-arrows, but I

testify to you, in this church there are.  I pray you may be one of

them.  If not, then become one.



	I also believe President Kimball would want you to love integrity

and to honor those who have it.  He would want you to use men and women

of integrity as models for living.  President Nathan Eldon Tanner has

been known among the Brethren and in the community as Mr. Integrity. 

But let me say to you that every member of the First Presidency and the

Twelve Apostles are the greatest men of integrity I know.



	My early family life and business life brought me into association

with men who lacked integrity.  Sadly, we also see it in the Church and

it breaks our hearts.  We see some of our returned missionaries making

compromises.  Stories come to us about some who have pornographic

materials in their apartments, who seemingly went through a two-year

mission but the two-year mission did not go through them.  Elder Monson

was informed of a transgressing missionary in the field.  We related

the consequences of his conduct--a Church court, being sent home,

family embarrassment, loss of membership, etc.  Elder Monson listened

very tenderly, and then he said, "The Brethren and the Prophet himself

grieve when they learn of these incidents.  "I know they do.  We all

do.



	Integrity is honesty to the very center of our souls.  It is

living what we profess and what we testify.  I pray that sometime in

the life of every person in this room it may be said, "He/she is a

person of integrity."



Practice the Pure Love of Christ



	How often President Kimball in his speaking and writing, equally

as eloquent to me as Isaiah, has reminded us to practice charity--the

pure love of Christ.  Charity never faileth.  It is the noblest of all

virtues.  It covereth a multitude of sins.  One who has true charity

will live every commandment and will love unconditionally.  Before

charity, all things wash away--pride, impatience, vanity, unkindness,

disloyalty, envy, jealousy, uncouthness, unholiness.



	Remember, "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but

the greatest of these is charity" (I Corinthians 13:13).



Become a Man of Christ



	Finally, I think President Kimball would say to you, "Become a man

of Christ, a disciple of the Master"--"man of Christ" referring to

mankind, men and women.  Thus we read in Helaman, chapter 3, verses 29

and 30:



	Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God,

which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning

and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ

in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery

which is prepared to engulf the wicked--



	And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand

of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac,

and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out.



"Thy Will Be Done"



	The gospel changes lives.  Now, of course, in a few minutes we

cannot say all that, in my humble opinion, President Kimball would like

to say.  But each one could ask himself, as I have done, What would

President Kimball's King Benjamin discourse be to us if he were here to

deliver it?" President Kimball has been so pure, so sweet, so

Christ-like that to suppose there might be one final test, one final

drop of the chalice, might seem inappropriate.  I think not.  Abraham,

Moses, and Jesus all, went through it, as did Joseph and Brigham.  With

President Kimball it may he that he is unable to serve in this high and

holy calling the way he would like, to accept the Father's will and

submit one final time to the key of his ministry, "Thy will be done."



	I know that President Spencer W. Kimball is a prophet of God.  My

soul is humbled to the dust for the privilege of living in his day. 

Whatever he is, his wife also is.  She is not a whit behind him. 

President and Sister Kimball, if you happen to be listening, I love

you.  I hope I have not misrepresented anything to these students on

the greatest campus in the world.



	I bear my testimony to you today that I know that God lives and

that this church is the only authorized agency to function in his

behalf. There is no other.  I know the Book of Mormon is true, and I

would rather lay down my life this instant than deny that Nephi, King

Benjamin, Alma, Ammon, Moroni, Mormon, and the Brother of Jared were

prophets of God.  I know they were.  As I stated to the missionaries,

the enemies of the Church could line up four abreast from San Francisco

to Salt Lake City and come to me to try to convince me that the Church

was not true, and when the last one had passed by I would still know

that this church is the only true church on the face of the earth.



	I bear that sacred testimony in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                              The Gospel



                          Hartman Rector, Jr.



Elder Hartman Rector, Jr., was born and raised on a farm near Moberly,

Missouri.  During and after World War II he served as a naval aviator

and now holds the rank of captain in the United States Natal Reserve.

He received a degree from Murray State Teachers College and did

additional course work at the University of Georgia and the University

of Southern California.  For ten years he was with the U.S. Department

of Agriculture, where he was a program and budget analyst in the Budget

and Finance Office.



	Elder Rector was baptized a member of the Church in Tokyo in 1952. 

He served as seminary teacher, stake missionary, stake mission

counselor, and stake mission president before being called as a member

of the First Council of the Seventy in 1968. In 1975 he was called to

be a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.  Having served as

mission president of the Florida mission and of the California San

Diego Mission, Elder Rector is presently serving as a member of the

North America Southwest Area presidency.



	Elder Rector has recently written two books: Already to Harvest

and To a Chosen Generation.  He has also co-authored with his wife,

Constance Kirk Daniel, a series of books entitled No More Strangers, in

which they relate unusual conversion stories from throughout the

Church.  Elder and Sister Rector are the parents of nine children.



	This fireside address was given in the Marriott Center on 29

September 1985.



	Good evening, my young brothers and sisters--and some not so

young.  I consider it a privilege and an honor to greet you here this

night in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I could not have thought

of a more fitting song to be sung than "I Heard Him Come." If he had

not come, there would be no light from the sun or the moon or the

stars.  I presume there would have been no creation.  There would be no

life.  We would not exist.  It is because of him that we are here.  I

presume that everything we do in this life that is really worthwhile

comes from the Lord Jesus Christ.



	We are Christian and would like the whole world to know that. 

Sometimes we are accused of not being Christian.  Elder Marion D. Hanks

once said in General Conference, "If you were accused of being

Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" Accused of

being a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, could you with good

conscience feel you were guilty of that high commendation?



The Gospel Embraces All Truth



	Christ came to serve.  He asked a question one time, "Who is

greatest? He that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth he that sitteth

at meat?" (see Luke 22:27).  In the world, we know who is the greatest. 

It is the one who pays the bill, right? But not so in the kingdom.  He

followed that with, "I am among you as he that serveth." He came not to

be administered unto, but to minister and give his life as a ransom for

many.  We know that he did come to give his life as a ransom for all. 

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1

Corinthians 15:22).



	And so we who follow the Lord, who follow the Master, should be

walking examples of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I've heard the gospel

variously, described as containing all truth.  All truth whatsoever is

contained in the gospel.  Do you think that is true? Surely, it

embraces all truth, but does it really contain all truth?



	Well, let us see.  There is a law, which I presume was

irrevocably, decreed in heaven before the foundation of this world,

that if you drop an object, it falls down.  It never falls up; it falls

down.  You have never stubbed your toe and fallen up.  You always fall

down.  That law says that any falling body is being pulled toward the

center of the earth at the rate of thirty-two feet per second per

second.  And it is true.  You can prove it in a vacuum.  A feather and

a steel ball fall at exactly the same speed.



	Now, if that be true, how do we get into orbit?  Well, if you are

going to get into orbit, you have to get high enough above the earth so

that you don't hit any mountains.  So the recommended height is at

least 31,000 feet, but if you really want to get up into orbit, you

ought to get up where the satellites are.  The satellites, I

understand, are about 22,300 miles up.  That is high.  After you get up

there, you have to accelerate to about 15,000 miles per hour.  You are

still propelled back to the center of the earth, but you are going so

fast that you fall over the side of the earth.  And so you fall around

the earth.  Thus, you orbit.  When you are in orbit, you freely fall. 

There is no force of gravity; you don't feel anything.



	You know how our Japanese friends are--they are so polite.  When

you meet them they always bow a little bit.  One of the astronauts who

was orbiting some time ago wanted to greet us.  Instead of bowing, he

raised up his feet.  He sat right there in the air.  He didn't move. 

Then he put his feet back down.  That is different, isn't it?



	How do you get from orbiting the earth to the moon? Well, you have

to speed up again to about 25,000 miles per hour.  Then you fall over

the side of the earth, but you fall way over the side of the earth. in

fact, you fall so far over the side of the earth that you fall out to

the moon.  Then you slow down to where you are falling over the side of

the moon.  Then you are orbiting the moon.



	Now, what do you suppose that has to do with the gospel of Jesus

Christ? Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  I presume if you were a creator

and you were going to organize a world, you had better use the law of

gravity, or you may have chaos.  So the gospel embraces all truth, but

it doesn't contain all truth. if we wanted to know what the gospel of

Jesus Christ really contains, we probably could not do better than to

have the Master tell us himself.  So I would call your attention to 3

Nephi 27:13.  This is the Master himself speaking, so I presume we can

believe him.



	Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel

which I have given unto you--that I came into the world to do the will

of my Father, because my Father set me. [3 Nephi 27:13]



He did not come to do his own thing.  Many of us are here and we want

to do our own thing.  He came to do the will of the Father, and you and

I are here to do precisely the same thing.  We are here to do the will

of the Father.  Now, it is not exactly the same acts the Master came to

do, but it is just as vital and just as important that we do the will

of the Father also.



He continues:



	And my father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross;

and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw

all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should

men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of

their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. [3 Nephi

27:14]



Learn a Great Lesson



	Christ said he came to be lifted up upon the cross.  Do you

suppose he wanted to be lifted up upon the cross? I cannot believe that

he did, or if he did, he was acting very strangely in the Garden of

Gethsemane the night before ii happened.  "If it be possible," he said,

"let this cup pass from me." That is equivalent to saying, "I don't

want to do this." "Nevertheless [said he], not as I will, but as thou

wilt" (Matthew 26:39).  He did want to do the will of the Father,

although I don't think he was looking forward to this particular act. 

From that we learn a great lesson.  I guess it doesn't make any

difference whether you want to or not, as long as you do it.



	I learned this lesson from my father.  My father was smarter than

I was when I was seven years old.  Of course, I was smarter than he was

when I was seventeen.  And then he was smarter than I was when I was

twenty-one.  We went back and forth for years, my dad and I.



	One time my father said to me, "You are not big enough to milk the

cows." And I knew that I was.  I was seven years old; of course I was

big enough to milk.  So I proved to my dad that I could milk.  If you

are going to milk, you have to get up early in the morning, like four

o'clock.  Now, that is early, You have to get your bucket, go out and

clean and feed the cows, then you have to sit under them, and you have

to pull and tug and squeeze.  I did that until I could get the milk.  I

can make the foam stand up three inches in the bucket.  I still have a

milkin' muscle.  Can you see that? There are no city boys with one of

those.



	My dad said, "You know, I believe you can milk.  You've got the

job." For the next ten years I milked from eight to twelve cows morning

and night.  You may rest assured that I got to the place where I did

not want to milk.  I said, "Dad, I don't want to milk." He said,

"That's okay, you don't have to want to--as long as you do it."



	I guess that is what the Lord says to us at times.  I don't

suppose that Abraham wanted to offer his son as a burnt offering.  I

know for sure that Jonah did not want to go on a mission, but he did. 

I was talking to a reluctant missionary one day and I said, "You know,

if I had a friendly whale I could put you in for about three days,

you'd probably change your mind about this."



	The Lord has better methods than we do.  It is vitally important

that you and I learn this great lesson.  If it is the will of the Lord,

we do it, irrespective of whether we want to or not. It will bring

tremendous blessings to us, and the Lord expects it of us.  Great

blessings will come, but you have to make the sacrifice before you get

the blessing.  I think that is plainly stated by Moroni in the book of

Ether when he said, "Dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no

witness until after the trial of your faith" (Ether 12:6).  You have to

do it first.  Nothing compares with the doing.



He Had to Pay the Price



	And so the Master said he came that he could be lifted up upon the

cross-"And after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might

draw all men unto me" (3 Nephi 27:14).  Now, how would being lifted

upon the cross draw all men unto him? We have to have some

understanding of who he was and why he was here.



	He came to pay the price for sin, the transgression in the Garden

of Eden that brought death into the world as well as individual sins. 

Everyone is subject to that death.  You are all going to die.  No one

gets out of this life alive.  Some people act like they are going to,

but they don't.  He had to pay the price for that transgression.  But

he also paid the price for our individual sins because you and I are

sinners.  It is true, isn't it? I didn't make that up on my own.  John

said it.



	If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his

word is not in us. [1 John 1:10]



I would never say anything like that about you, but John did, and I

believe him.



	We are sinners.  We need a savior.  We need desperately to have a

remission of our sins.  He came to pay the price for individual sins

too, and he did pay that price.  Because he did, he did away with the

effects of spiritual death.  That is how we get back into the presence

of our Father in Heaven.  We have to go back without our sins.  He took

our sins upon him.  We couldn't do that ourselves.  He alone can do

that.  We have a song that says, "There was no other good enough to pay

the price of sin" ("There Is a Green Hill Far Away," Hymns, 1985, no.

194).  He was without sin himself As Paul said, though he "was in all

points tempted like as we are, yet [he was] without sin" (Hebrews

4:15).  He did not sin, and so he could pay that price.



	When we come to understand that he did for us what we could not do

for ourselves--and he did it because he loved us--you cannot keep from

loving someone like that.  His example, hanging on that cross, was the

most vivid example of love you could ever see.  "Greater love hath no

man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John

15:13) And so he will draw all men unto him.



That as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by

the Father. [3 Nephi 27:14]



Looking for Happiness



	The resurrection comes by the power of the Father.  Everyone is

going to be lifted up.  Everyone will be resurrected.  You don't have

to do anything to be resurrected, except be born.  Congratulations. 

You're going to be resurrected.  But resurrection in and of itself is

not exaltation.  No, you have to get rid of sin.  You can be

resurrected in a filthy condition.  That will not make you happy, and

you are here to be happy.  That is the object and design of our

creation said the Prophet Joseph Smith.  Lehi said, "Man is that he

might have joy" (see 2 Nephi 2:25).



	You are all looking for happiness, aren't you? If you are not

careful, you will look in the wrong place for happiness.  "Wickedness

never was happiness," said Alma (Alma 41:10).  The devil isn't happy. 

As a matter of fact, he is miserable.  He has so much misery he would

love to share it with you.  But you won't enjoy it.  No one enjoys

hell.  Not even the devil enjoys hell.  He runs the place, but he

doesn't enjoy it.  He wants "all men [to] be miserable like unto

himself (2 Nephi 2:27).



	If you are not careful, you could be taken in by "Old Scratch." He

lies to you all the time.  He says things like "One time won't hurt

anything," "Try it, you'll like it." Have you ever heard anything like

that before? It's a lie.  One time could cost you your eternal

exaltation.  That is how dangerous one time is. All alcoholics start by

taking one drink.  All drug addicts start by taking one fix. Just kill

somebody one time and there is no forgiveness in this world or in the

world to come.  You see, one time can be devastating.  It doesn't stop

with one lie either.  They come in bunches like grapes.



	Satan follows up with further lies like, "Besides, everybody is

doing it." I want you to know that everybody isn't doing it.  Only

those who are going to hell are doing it.  And they will not enjoy

hell, remember? Then Satan winds up with another dandy lie, "Besides,

no one will ever know. it is a secret.  We'll do it in the dark."



	Did you know that the devil works in darkness? He really does. 

More sins are committed in the darkness than in the light.  We're

trying to hide, I presume, from the Lord.  Do you know what the Lord

says about that? "And their iniquities shall be spoken upon the

housetops" (D&C 1:3).  Does that sound like no one will ever know? It

will probably be on television.  When the Lord says "It shall be spoken

from the housetops," it means that it will be common knowledge.



Listen to the Lord



	So, you can't be taken in by Old Scratch, although he lies to you

all the time.  You must not listen to him.  Listen to the Lord.  He'll

never lead you astray-never, ever.  How do you listen to the Lord?

Maybe you should study the scriptures.  Paul said, "All scripture is

given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine." The basic

beliefs of the Church will be found in the scriptures.  You need to

know the doctrine of the kingdom.  It is also profitable "for reproof,

for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God

may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Timothy

3:16-17).  Study the scriptures.  It is vitally important that you do.



	You must live by every word that proceedeth forth out of the mouth

of God, but you must also follow the living prophet of God on earth. 

If the Lord is going to make any changes, he will do it through his

living prophet.  He does make changes from time to time, even though we

say he is the same yesterday, today, and forever without shadow of

changing.  Yes, he was changeable yesterday, he is changeable today,

and he will be changeable forever.  That make's him the same, doesn't

it?



	He changed the Sabbath day from the last day of the week to the

first day of the week.  He did away with the eternal covenant he made

with Abraham, the law of circumcision.  He made a little change back in

June of 1978.  You better listen to the living prophet.



	You also have to follow those that serve under him.  That would be

your stake president and your bishop.  Listen to them.  As a matter of

fact, if you are going to live by every word that proceedeth out of the

mouth of God, you may have to obey your parents.  That will test your

faith, won't it? You see, they are not your parents by accident.  I'm

sure you were chosen before you were born.  The Lord wants you to obey

your parents, for it is well pleasing unto the Lord.  It is even the

fifth commandment.  "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days

may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee" (Exodus

20:12).



	It is smart to obey the Lord and follow those he has selected to

give you direction.  If you don't do that, then you will have to repent

somewhere down the line.  You see, the Lord died so we could get rid of

our sins.  He said, "If you will come unto me and confess your sins,

forsake them, and follow me, you will go free." Then, in the

resurrection, you will come up with a glorious body.  Those that are

righteous will be righteous still.  You will look so beautiful, no one

will be able to describe you.  Isn't that what they say about angels,

"whose brightness and glory defy all description" JS--H 1:17)? Nobody

has been able to describe one yet.  Think about that.



	And so everyone is going to be resurrected.  There are going to be

a lot of people resurrected that will not want to be, but they are

going to get it anyway.  So you are going to get it and you better get

ready for it.  Why are all resurrected? "To stand before me to be

judged whether they be good or whether they be evil" (3 Nephi 27:14). 

Then we are resurrected so we can be judged, and you are going to be

Judged on the basis of the deeds done in the flesh--so said Alma.  That

means we all came in the door marked "birth" and we are all going out

the door marked "death." But we are going to be judged on the basis of

what we do while we are here--not by what we did before we were born

and not by what we do after we die.



	You are not going to be here very long.  You will only be here

approximately eighty years.  Compared to the eternity on either side of

mortality, that is a snap of the fingers.  You can do it! You can stand

to have your foot in a vise for a while if you know it is going to be

released.  It is when you don't think you are ever going to get rid of

it that it becomes unbearable.

|P25 



	Old Scratch will try to make you think that mortality is forever. 

It isn't.  Remember, it is just a snap of the fingers.  Whatever

sacrifice the Lord asks you to make, you can do it.  "And then, if thou

endure it well," he said to the Prophet, "God shall



exalt thee on high" (D&C 121:8).



	Yes, you will be judged on the basis of what you do while you are

here.  Now, don't get the idea that you are going to change when you

die and it will be easier then.  After all, this body causes me lots of

problems--it wants to eat all the time, among other things.  No, you

probably won't change.  Amulek didn't think so when he said:



	As ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that

ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for

after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity,

behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh

the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.



	Ye cannot say when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I

will repent, that I will return to my God.  Nay, ye cannot say this;

for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye

go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your

body in that eternal world. [Alma 34:33]



	If you are addicted to drugs, bad habits, and evil desires while

you're here on this earth, you will probably still be addicted after

you die.  I'm not really sure what is going on in the spirit world; I

haven't been there, and I'm not going to rush it. (There might not be

any racquetball courts over there.) But I have it on very good

authority that there are no cigarettes there.  If you go there wanting

a cigarette, do you suppose you would be in paradise or prison? The

answer is obvious, isn't it? Now is the day of our salvation.  Now is

the time for men to prepare to meet God.



	You can do it--right now while you have a body to help you.  This

body is given to you to help you overcome everything.  With it, you can

do it.  Without it, it is difficult.  Do it while you can, while you

are here, right now.



Faith unto Repentance



	"For this cause have I been lifted up," said the Master,

"therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men

unto me, that they may be judged according to their works." There, he

said it again.  The Lord is prone to repeat things that he really wants

you to understand.  "And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth

and is baptized in my name shall be filled" (3 Nephi 27:15-16).  Filled

with what? The Holy Ghost, of course, by the laying on of hands by a

Mormon elder.  You can't get it any other way.



	"And if he endureth to the end"--and here I would add, "in

repenting and forgiving," because you are going to have to continue

with repentance and forgiveness throughout your probation here in

mortality--"behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that

day when I shall stand to judge the world" (3 Nephi 27:16). The Lord

will judge the world.  The Holy One of Israel employs no servants

there.  You get there through the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the

righteous judge.  Now he might have some others preparing materials for

him.  I see the President of the Church doing that at times.  But

Christ is the judge, and so is the prophet of God on earth.



	And he that endureth not unto the end, the same is he that is also

hewn down and cast unto the fire, from whence they can no more return,

because of the justice of the Father. [3 Nephi 27:17]



That brings up an interesting word--justice.  We all talk about the

mercy of God.  It seems that justice is always relegated to the back

burner.  That is because most of us are trying to avoid justice. 

You've heard people say, "I want to get what I deserve." That is the

last thing in the world we really want, isn't it? You don't want

justice, you want mercy.  That surely is what I want.



	Now, justice will have her dues.  Mercy cannot rob justice, but

mercy can satisfy, the demands of justice in one instance and one only. 

You will find that in Alma 34.



	And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit

pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last

sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal.



	And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe

on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring

about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth

about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance. 

|P26 



	And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles

them in the arm of safety, while he that has no faith unto repentance

is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only

unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great

eternal plan of redemption. [Alma 34:14-16]



	And so, while mercy cannot rob justice, mercy can satisfy the

demands of justice in one instance and one only.  That is when we

exercise faith unto repentance.  That is where the saving power really

is. It is faith unto repentance.  You are going to have to repent,

again and again.  That is what the Lord requires of us.  And so then,

because of the justice of God, he can't deny his words.  You have to

follow him.



	And this is the word which be hath given unto the children of men. 

And for this cause he fulfilleth the words which be hath given, and he

lieth not, but fulfilleth all his words.



	And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing

entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments

in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their

sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.



	Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and

come unto me 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.



	Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel. [3 Nephi

27:18-21]



The Truth Is Simple



	So, what is the gospel? It is the "good news." It is the "glad

tidings" about the Lord Jesus Christ, that he lives, that he did come

and pay the price for all our sins, that he made the resurrection

absolute reality.  He was the first fruits of them that slept.  No one

was resurrected before him.  But because of him everyone will be

resurrected.



	You get rid of sin by coming unto him and making eternal covenants

with him.  You do that through the waters of baptism. It is for the

remission of sins, and it is a witness before God that you will be

obedient unto him in keeping his commandments hereafter.  Then, "though

your sins be as scarlet, they shall be, as white as snow" (Isaiah 1:

18).  That is the glad tidings.  That is the beauty of it, and it is so

true.  It is simple; it is not complicated.



	The gospel does not contain all truth, but it embraces it all. 

The central truth is simple and is outlined for you and me.  It is an

individual thing.  The Lord looks upon the heart of every man and woman

and child that reaches the age of accountability.



	I promise you that if you experience this, you will never be the

same again. it will change your life.  We need to experience this

mighty change in our hearts.  That is the reason we send missionaries

out to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people where we are permitted

to go.  We will continue to do that because it is the only way.  It is

truth; it is life eternal. it is the pathway to happiness.



Conclusion



	I bear witness to you that Jesus is the Christ--that he lives.  I

know he lives and that he has paid the price for our sins.  I bear

witness that he came because his Father sent him to do precisely that. 

I bear witness that you have a Heavenly Father who will hear and answer

your prayers. we have the kingdom of God on earth. It was established

by the Lord Jesus Christ through that great prophet, Joseph Smith.



	We have a living prophet of God on earth today.  He is there to

give us the word of God.  You know that he is old and infirm.  He can't

do the things that he once did.  I wonder sometimes why the Lord leaves

him here when I'm sure he is frustrated with his infirmities.  He has

the greatest zeal of any man I know, and now he can't perform all he

would like to.



	But I think I know why it is.  As long as Spencer Kimball is alive

on this earth, his stamp of approval is on everything he has said.  You

want to know what you are supposed to do today? Go back and see what

the living prophet has said that you should do. You do that, and you

will be fine.  I promise that you will.  As long as he is here, let us

follow him.



	I promise you that eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it

entered into hearts, the joy the Lord has in store for those who love

him and keep his commandments.  You are here to be happy.  Happiness is

simple.  It is obedience.  That is what it is all about.  Joseph Smith

said that "Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and

will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it"

(Teachings, p. 255).  That path is holiness, virtue, uprightness, and

faithfulness in keeping all the commandments of God.  That is the only

way to be happy.  I leave you my love and blessing and my fond

affection, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                      "The Desires of Our Hearts"



                            Dallin H. Oaks



	Elder Dallin H. Oaks was called to be a member of the Council of

the Twelve of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April

1984.



	Elder Oaks was born in Provo and received his bachelor's degree in

accounting from Brigham Young University.  He earned his doctor of law

degree, cum laude, from The University of Chicago.  He began his career

with a year as law clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United

States Supreme Court and then practiced law in Chicago for three years. 

From 1961 to 1971 he was a member of the law faculty at the University

of Chicago, where he also served for a time as associate and acting

dean of the law school.  He has been executive director of the American

Bar Foundation (1970-71) and has authored or edited six books and over

one hundred other publications on legal and other topics.  On 1 January

1981 he was sworn in as a justice of the Utah Supreme Court and filled

that position until his call to the Council of the Twelve.



	Elder Oaks served as president of BYU for nine years, from 1971 to

1980. For three years he was president of the American Association of

Presidents of Independent Colleges and Universities.  In addition, his

work in the Public Broadcasting Service led to his election in 1980 as

chairman of its board of directors, a position he occupied for five

years.  He has also filled numerous callings in the Church, including

stake mission president, counselor in two stake presidencies, and

Regional Representative.

	Elder Oaks and his wife, June Dixon, were married while both were

attending BYU. They are the parents of six children.



	This devotional address was delivered on 8 October 1985 in the

Marriott Center.



	Each of us desires the ultimate blessing of exaltation in the

celestial kingdom.  Even when we fall short, we desire what is right. 

That is my subject-"The Desires of Our Hearts."



	I am interested in this subject because it highlights a critical

contrast between the laws of God, as revealed in the scriptures, and

what I will call the laws of man, as set out in the national and state

laws with which I was concerned in my thirty years in the legal

profession.



Laws-Man's and God's



	The laws of man are never concerned about a person's desires or

thoughts in isolation.  When the law inquires into a person's state of

mind or intent, it only seeks to determine what consequence should be

assigned to particular actions that person has taken.



	In contrast, the laws of God are concerned with spiritual things. 

Spiritual consequences are affected by actions, but they are also

affected by desires or thoughts, independent of actions.  Gospel

consequences flow from the desires of our hearts.



	A simple example will illustrate that contrast.  Suppose your

neighbor has a beautiful sports car parked in his driveway.  You take

no action.  You just look on that car longingly, and covet it.  You

have sinned.  You have broken one of the Ten Commandments (see Exodus

20:17).  Eternal consequences follow.



	Up to this point you have not broken any of the laws of man. 

However, if you take a particular action, such as jumping the ignition

wires and driving away in the car, you will have committed a wrong that

could be punished or redressed under the laws of man.



	To determine what consequence should be assigned to your action,

the law would attempt to determine your intent in taking the car. If

you simply intended to borrow the car in the mistaken belief that your

neighbor would consent, you might not be guilty of a crime. However,

you would surely be liable for damages for the wrongful use of the car. 

If you intended to use the car contrary to the wishes of the owner and

yet return it in a short time, you would have committed a minor crime. 

If you intended to take the car permanently, you would have committed a

major crime.  To choose among these various alternatives, a judge or

jury would attempt to determine your state of mind.



	This simple example makes the point that the laws of man will

sometimes inquire into a person's state of mind in order to determine

the consequences of particular actions, but the law will never punish

or give effect to intent or desires standing alone. it was so in Book

of Mormon times.  As we read in Alma, the people of Nephi could be

punished for their criminal actions, but "there was no law against a

man's belief" (Alma 30:11).



	It is good that this is so.  The law is an imperfect instrument. 

It has no reliable way to look into a person's heart.



	In contrast, God's law can assign consequences solely on the basis

of our innermost thoughts and desires, There is no uncertainty in the

administration of this law.  As Ammon taught King Lamoni, God "looketh

down upon all the children of men; and he knows all the thoughts and

intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the

beginning" (Alma 18:32).



	Similarly, Paul warned the Hebrews that God "is a discerner of the

thoughts and intents of the heart," and "all things are naked and

opened unto the eyes of him" (Hebrews 4:12-13).



	In other words, God judges us not only for our acts, but also for

the desires of our hearts.  He has said so again and again.  This is a

challenging reality, but it is not surprising.  Agency and

accountability are eternal principles.  We exercise our free agency not

only by what we do, but also by what we decide, or will, or desire. 

Restrictions on freedom can deprive us of the power to do, but no one

can deprive us of the power to will or desire.   Accountability must

therefore reach and attach consequences to the desires of our hearts.



	This principle applies both in a negative way--making us guilty of

sin for evil thoughts and desires--and in a positive way--promising us

blessings for righteous desires.



Sins of Desire



	The best-known scriptural designation of sin on the basis of the

desires of our hearts concerns sexual sin.  The Savior declared:



	Behold, it is written by them of old time, that thou shalt not

commit adultery;



	But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust

after her, hath committed adultery already in his heart. [3 Nephi

12:27-28; see also Matthew 5:27-28]



	The New Testament also condemns anger and unrighteous

feelings--another example of sins committed solely on the basis of

thoughts (see Matthew 5:22).



	The Book of Mormon illustrates this same principle in its

definition of priestcraft, the sin committed by those who preach the

gospel to gain personal advantage rather than to further the work of

the Lord:



Priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto

the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they

seek not the welfare of zion. [2 Nephi 26:29; see also Alma 1:16]



	Priestcraft is not a sin that is committed solely on the basis of

our desires because it involves acts. Those acts becomes sinful only

when they are done with the wrong desire, to get gain or praise.  The

sin is in the desire, not in the act.



	The same is true of those who draw near to the Lord with their

lips but have removed their hearts far from him. (See Isaiah 29:13;

Matthew 15:8; 2 Nephi 27:25;JS-H 1:19.) Likewise, the Psalmist

condemned the people of ancient Israel because their heart was not

right with [God]" (Psalms 76:37).



	When is our heart right with God? Our heart is right with God when

we truly desire what is righteous--when we desire what God desires.



Educating Our Desires



	Our divinely granted willpower gives us control over our desires,

but it may take many years for us to be sure that we have willed and

educated them to the point that all are entirely righteous.



	President Joseph F. Smith taught that the education ... of our

desires is one of far-reaching importance to our happiness in life"

(Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co.,

1939], p. 297).



	How do we educate our desires? We begin, I suppose, with our

feelings.  The desires of our hearts are deep-seated and fundamental,

But our feelings are closer to the surface and easier for us to

identify and influence.



	Have you ever found yourself doing something you thought was

right, but doing it because you "had" to? Did you ever keep a

commandment of with an attitude of resentment or self-righteousness, or

even because you expected immediate personal benefit? I suppose most

have had this experience.  Do you remember your feelings on such

occasions? Do you think such feelings will be ignored by a Father in

Heaven who gave us the willpower we call agency? Don't such feelings

tell us something about the desires of our hearts?



	In order to have righteous desires, we have to control our

thoughts and achieve appropriate feelings.  My widowed mother

understood that principle.  "Pray about your feelings," she used to

say. She taught her three children that we should to have the right

kind of feelings about our experiences--positive or negative--and about

the people we knew.  If our feelings were right, we would be more

likely to take right actions and to act for the right reasons.



Mormon teaches that if our heart is not right, a good action is not

counted for righteousness.



	For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is

good, for if he offereth a gift ... except he shall do it with real

intent it profiteth him nothing.



	For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.



	For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it

grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had

retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God. [Moroni

7:6-8]



In other words, we must not only act, we must act for the right

reasons.  There are no blessings for actions taken without real intent.



	Mormon even applied this principle to our prayers.



And likewise also is it counted evil unto a man, if he shall pray and

not with real intent of heart; and it profiteth him nothing, for God

receiveth none such. [Moroni 7:9]



When Joseph Smith first went to Cumorah, the angel refused to give him

the plates, saying it was not yet time.  During the years he had to

wait before receiving the plates, the young prophet struggled with his

desires.  In 1832 he wrote:



I had been tempted of the advisary and saught the Plates to obtain

riches and kept not the commandment that I should have an eye single to

the glory of God therefore I was chastened and saught diligently to

obtain the plates and obtained them not until I was twenty one years of

age. [The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, comp.  Dean C. Jessee

(Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1984), p. 7]



The Lord saw into the heart of the young prophet, chastened him for his

improper desires, gave him time to repent and mature, and eventually

forgave him and allowed him to continue his mission.



	Many scriptures reveal how the thoughts of our hearts will be

relevant on the day of judgment.  Alma taught that when we are brought

before the bar of God to be judged, our works, our words, and our

thoughts will all condemn us (see Alma 12:12, 14).



	Two of my favorite verses of scripture are in the Twenty-fourth

Psalm:



	Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in

his holy place?



	He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart. [Psalms 24:3-4; see

also Alma 5:19]



	If we refrain from evil acts, we have clean hands.  If we refrain

from forbidden thoughts, we have pure hearts.  Those who would ascend

and stand in the ultimate holy place must have both.



	In the second chapter of Romans, the Apostle Paul teaches to the

same effect.  He explains that God will "judge the secrets of men"

(Romans 2:16) "according to truth" (Romans 2:2).  He contrasts the

position of the Gentiles who do hot have the Mosaic law, but by their

actions "shew the work of the law written in their hearts" (Romans

2:15) with those Jews who preach the law and then do not practice it. 

The Apostle Paul then concludes with these profound truths:

|P30 



	For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that

circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:



	But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that

of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not

of men, but of God. [Romans 2:28-29]



	What do these teachings about feelings and desires mean for each

of us?



	Are we sure to be guiltless under the law of God if we merely

refrain from evil acts? What if we entertain evil thoughts and desires?



	Will hateful feelings go unnoticed in the day of judgment? Will

envy? Will covetousness?



	Are we guiltless if we engage in business practices that are

intended to deceive, even though they involve no act that is punishable

by law?



	Are we guiltless under the law of God just because the law of man

provides no legal remedy for our victim?



	Are we eligible for blessings if we seem to seek the things of

God, such as by preaching or publishing the message of the gospel, but

do so to obtain riches or honor rather than with an eye single to his

glory?



	Our answers to such questions illustrate what we might call the

bad news, that we can sin without overt acts, merely by our feelings

and the desires of our hearts.



	There is also good news.  Under the law of God, we can be rewarded

for righteousness even where we are unable to perform the acts that are

usually associated with such blessings.



Blessings for Righteous Desires



	When someone genuinely wanted to do something for my father-in-law

but was prevented by circumstances, he would say: "Thank you.  I will

take the good will for the deed." Similarly, I believe that our Father

in Heaven will receive the true desires of our hearts as a substitute

for actions that are genuinely impossible.



	Here we see another contrast between the laws of God and the laws

of men.  It is entirely impractical to grant a legal advantage on the

basis of an intent not translated into action.  "I intended to sign

that contract" or "We intended to get married" cannot stand as the

equivalent of the act required by law. If the law were to give effect

to intentions in lieu of specific acts, it would open the door for too

much abuse, since the laws of man have no reliable means of determining

our innermost thoughts.



	In contrast, the law of god can reward a righteous desire because

an omniscient God can discern it.  As revealed through the prophet of

this dispensation, God "is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of

the heart" (D&C 33:1). If a person refrains from a particular act

because he is genuinely unable to perform it, but truly would if he

could, our Heavenly Father will know this and can reward that person

accordingly.



	Perhaps the best scriptural illustration of this is King

Benjamin's teaching about giving:



	And again, I say unto the poor... all you who deny the beggar,

because ye have not; I would that ye say in your hearts that: I give

not because I have not, but if I had I would give.



	And now, if ye say this in your hearts ye remain guiltless.

[Mosiah 4:24-25]



	Paul described the same principle in his second letter to the

Corinthians: "If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted

according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not" (2

Corinthians 8:12).



	President Harold B. Lee relied on these scriptures in another

example:



	[Women] who have been denied the blessings of wifehood or

motherhood in this life--who say in their heart, if I could have done,

I would have done, or I would give if had, but I cannot for I have

not--the Lord will bless you as though you had done, and the world to

come will compensate for those who desire in their hearts the righteous

blessings that they were not able to have because of no fault of their

own. (Harold B. Lee, Ye Are the Light of the World (Salt Lake City:

Deseret Book Co., 1974), p.292]



	The desires of our hearts will be an important consideration in

the final judgment.  Alma taught that God "granteth unto men according

to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; ... according

to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction. 

Yea, ...he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to

his desires" (Alma 29:4-5).



	That is a sobering teaching, but it is also a gratifying one.  It

means that when we have done all that we can, our desires will carry us

the rest of the way. It also means that if our desires are right, we

can be forgiven for the mistakes we will inevitably make as we try to

carry those desires into effect.  What a comfort for our feelings of

inadequacy! As Alma said:



	It is requisite with the justice of God that ... if their works

were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that

they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good.



	If he hath repented of his sins, and desired righteousness until

the end of his days, even so he shall be rewarded unto righteousness.

[Alma 41:3, 6]



	Similarly, in this dispensation the Lord has revealed that he

"will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire

of their hearts" (D&C 137:9).



	I caution against two possible misunderstandings: First, we must

remember that desire is a substitute only when action is truly

impossible. If we attempt to use impossibility of action as a cover for

our lack of true desire and therefore do not do all that we can to

perform the acts that have been commanded, we may deceive ourselves,

but we will not deceive the Righteous judge.



	In order to serve as a substitute for action, desire cannot be

superficial, impulsive, or temporary.  It must be heartfelt, through

and through.  To be efficacious for blessings, the desires of our

hearts must be so genuine that they can be called godly.



	Second, we should not assume that the desires of our hearts can

serve as a substitute for an ordinance of the gospel.  Consider the

words of the Lord in commanding two gospel ordinances: "Verily, verily,

I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he

cannot enter into the kingdom of God" John 3:5).  And in respect to the

three degrees in the celestial glory, modern revelation states, "In

order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the

priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]" (D&C

131:2).  No exception is implied in these commands or authorized

elsewhere in the scriptures.



	In the justice and mercy of God, these rigid commands pertaining

to essential ordinances are tempered by divine authorization to perform

those ordinances by proxy for those who did not have them performed in

this life.  Thus, a person in the spirit world who so desires is

credited with participating in the ordinance just as if he or she had

done so personally.  In this manner, through the loving service of

living proxies, departed spirits are also rewarded for the desires of

their hearts. in summary, under the law of God we are accountable for

our feelings and desires as well as our acts.  Evil thoughts and

desires will be punished.  Acts that seem to be good bring blessings

only when they are done with real and righteous intent.  On the

positive side, we will be blessed for the righteous desires of our

hearts even though some outside circumstance has made it impossible for

us to carry those desires into action.



	To paraphrase Paul's teaching in Romans 2:29, he is a true

Latter-day Saint who is one inwardly, whose conversion is that of the

spirit, in the heart, whose praise is not of men for outward acts, but

of God, for the inward desires of the heart.



	May God bless us to understand this great principle and to act

upon it.  It challenges us.  It comforts us.  It is true.



	God lives.  Jesus Christ is his Son.  He suffered and died for our

sins, that through repentance, through good works, through the

righteous desires of our hearts, and through compliance with all the

laws and ordinances of the gospel, we may attain to the highest degree

of glory in the celestial kingdom.  That is the destiny of the children

of God.  Of that I bear testimony as I ask the blessings of our

Heavenly Father upon each of us in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.





               "Choose You This Day Whom Ye Will Serve"



                             L. Tom Perry



	Elder L. Tom Perry was sustained as a member of the Council of the

Twelve of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April

1974.  From October 1972 until that time he was an Assistant to the

Council of the Twelve.  His previous Church positions include terms as

stake president, member of stake high councils and of bishoprics, and

missionary in the Northern States Mission.



	Having completed his undergraduate and graduate work in finance at

Utah State University, he entered the retail industry in the field of

finance in department store operations, working in Idaho, California,

and New York.  At the time of his call in 1972 he was employed as

vice-president of finance and treasurer for two large retail firms in

the Boston area.



	Elder Perry and his late wife, Virginia Lee, are the parents of

three children.  In 1976 be married his second wife, Barbara Dayton.



	This fireside address was given on 27 October 1985 in the Marriott

Center.



	And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this

day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that

were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in

whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the

Lord.  [Joshua 24:15]



	We've gathered tonight in a fireside.  A fireside to me is a

gathering around the hearth in an informal setting.  Of course, that's

difficult to stage with the numbers here in the Marriott Center.  But

still, I think a fireside should be less formal, not so preachy, and

have, perhaps, more of an interchange between the one selected to speak

and those in attendance.



	I would like to try to make this more informal tonight, and see if

I can respond to your needs.  Therefore, I requested that the president

of the BYU Seventh Stake, the host stake for tonight, select several

students to participate with me. They held two panel discussions, one

with the brethren and one with the sisters, to elicit issues that some

of you may also be wrestling with.  They prepared a long list of

possible subjects for discussion tonight.  The list was sent to me.  I

selected five for discussion in this setting.  The persons who

submitted the questions selected have been requested to participate

here with me tonight.  They will come forward and ask me their

question, and I will attempt to answer it.



	The purpose of this approach is to draw closer to you and your

needs.  However, I freely admit that I have had the questions

beforehand, and have prepared a response.  With such a distinguished

and talented group as attends Brigham Young University, I would not

want to be embarrassed by questions that I could not answer.



What Is Most Important?



	Let's have question number one.  What is your name, young lady?



	"Terry, Warren."



	Would you like to ask me the question?



	"What is most important for me now--school, work, dating, church

callings, parents, or roommates? How can I effectively deal with the

pressures of these various responsibilities?"



	Well, Terry, let's look in the scriptures.  Could you turn to

Ecclesiastes and read the first part of chapter 3 for me?



	To every, thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose

under the heaven:



	A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time

to pluck up that which is planted. [Ecclesiastes 3:1-2]



	From the scriptures it seems that in setting our priorities there

must he a time to rejoice, to have the proper, positive attitude about

the things we are required to do, and not get ourselves burdened down

with the pressures of life.



	Second, there must be a time to do good, to be of service, to not

think of only ourselves, or be selfish in that which we seek to

accomplish. we should be willing to share our time and our talents with

others.



	Now, Terry, I don't want to shock you, but this is not the most

difficult time of your life for making decisions on how to use your

time, although it may seem so.  In fact, I predict that from here on

through your schooling and throughout your life, you will always be

facing the problem of how to use your time to the best advantage, while

feeling pushed sometimes to the limit.



	There will always be those pressures about spending more time at

home and doing the things that are required there to keep it in order

and a haven of peace and rest, a place of training, of understanding,

and of growing.



	There will always be the pressures of your profession with never

enough time to do everything you would like to do.  There will be

church callings, community service, compassionate service, and all the

rest of the responsibilities that will add burdens and great

opportunities to your life.



	Could I counsel you in just two areas? First, in time management. 

I know of no successful managers of time who do not have a specific

plan of how they should use the period of life the Lord has given to

them.  It is essential that you periodically list the major categories

involved in your good use of time--your classes, your studies, your

church assignments, recreation, meditation, etc.  Then carefully

calendar a portion of each day or week to your needs.  Attempt to keep

your life in balance.



	Then, after the actual performance is over, evaluate and see how

successful you were in utilizing your time.  Actual performance will

form base for the next planning period.  You ought to learn how to use

your time while you are in school. It could be one of the major

contributions you can make to your life.  The second is managing the

financial resources our Father in Heaven has blessed you with. 

Schooling is becoming more expensive each year.  I know many of you are

laboring under great pressures in order to complete your education. 

There is always the temptation to borrow to relieve that burden.

Sometimes that may be necessary.



	I learned a great lesson early in my business career.  I was

called into my boss's office one day. He wanted to impress upon me, his

financial manager, a good lesson in the use of money.  He asked me to

give him a definition of interest.  Of course, I pulled one out of a

textbook I had used in business training.  He said, "Oh, no, no, no. 

This is the one I want you to remember.  'Them's that understands it,

receives it; them's that don't, pays it.' "



	This was one of the great lessons of my life.  I have tried to

stay out of debt as much as humanly possible.  It is a lot more fun to

earn interest than to pay it.  Develop a positive attitude toward life. 

Do not let things get you down or become overburdened with meaningless

responsibility.  Learn how to manage your time and your resources to

keep yourself out of trouble.  Good planning is the key.



"Nor Do Anything Like Unto It"



	All right, question number two. Who has that one?



	"Edene Edwards."



	It's great to have you here.  Will you recite your question for

me?



	"Many young men and women want to become physically involved while

dating, but then want to marry someone who has not been.  What do you

think of this?"



	Well, that's a very interesting question.  I'm glad you added that

last part-"they want to marry someone who has not been." Isn't that the

key? I'm always surprised that this question keeps coming up. Oh, how I

wish a real conversion would take place in the hearts of you great

young people, sufficient to know that it is impossible to beat the

Lord's system.  Trying to live our lives outside the system never has

worked, and it never will work.  Certainly nothing makes a priesthood

leader feel more sorrow than hearing confessions regarding moral

matters.  At the same time he is elated that he can now counsel and

help that person who has come to the point of confession.



	The prophets of all ages have warned us against becoming too

physically involved outside of marriage.  Perhaps we could just read a

couple of those warnings.  Why don't we turn to Alma 39:5.



	Know ye not, my son, that these things are an abomination in the

sight of the Lord; yea, most abominable above all sins save it be the

shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost?



	The Lord puts these transgressions pretty high on his list of

terrible sins to commit.  Now let's read one from the Doctrine and

Covenants.

|P34 



	Wherefore, I give unto them a commandment, saying thus:  Thou

shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might,

mind and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve

him.



	Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.  Thou shalt not steal;

neither commit adultery, nor kill, nor do anything like unto it. [D&C

59: 5-6]



	I like that last statement, "nor do anything like unto it."

Sometimes I think we demonstrate our mortal immaturity by attempting to

test God to see how close we can come to the line where "like unto it"

begins.  The only safe answer is to stay out of the gray area.  Leave a

wide, safe margin between a little good-night peck on the cheek and the

violation of the Lord's law.  A moment of self-gratification can lead

to a lifetime of suffering with your conscience.  I have always been

grateful my daughters selected young men who had been taught by parents

not to spend time alone with a girl in a parked car, or alone in an

apartment.  And I have appreciated having daughters and a son who have

always exhibited high moral standards.



	I was staying in the home of a stake president once when I was

reorganizing a stake.  His wife seemed to be distraught and upset.  I

could tell she had something to talk to me about, and finally I

arranged to stay at the breakfast table a little longer than her

husband, who left the room to prepare to leave for meetings.  With

tears streaming down her face, she told of an act of indiscretion that

occurred before she was married that she had lived with all her married

life.



	She married a good husband, worthy to be a stake president, and

she told how this sin had tormented her during all those years.  How

relieved she was to finally have the courage to confess.  The more you

get involved in the gospel, the more these sins of the past will

torment your soul, until you absolve them with a priesthood leader.



	The Savior declared:



That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.



	For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts,

adulteries, fornication, murders, 



	Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil

eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.



	All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. [Mark

7:20-23]



	The best protection is to keep that which is within you clean and

pure.  Stay away from movies, TV programs, music, books, and magazines

that will only defile the minds of men and women.  If you've had a

problem, get it cleared up now with your priesthood leader.  The faster

this is accomplished, the greater will be your joy in this life, and in

the life to come.



Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy



	Question number three.  How are you, young man?



	"Fine, thank you."



	What is your name?



	"Milan Detweiler."



	What is your question?



	"My question is: How do I keep the Sabbath day holy? Is it all

right to study? What else can I do?"



	Well, the Lord has not left us in the dark concerning the Sabbath

day.  In fact, the scriptures are filled with instructions on

Sabbath-day observance.  Let's read just a few tonight to see what the

Lord has revealed through his prophets, in all ages of time, concerning

this most important day in the week.



	Let's first look at Genesis 2:2-3.



	And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and

he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.



	And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that

in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.



	Six days of labor are to be followed by a day of rest. It seems to

me that the judge should be how we come out of bed on Monday morning. 

If you just crawl out, feeling tired and weary from a heavy weekend,

probably the Sabbath-day observance has not been appropriate.  You see,

I believe you should come up out of those covers on Monday morning more

refreshed, more alive, and more enthused than on any other day of the

week.  If this is not the case, we had better examine what we are doing

on the Sabbath day.  Test yourself tomorrow morning and see how you

come out of bed.

|P35 



	Now let's try another one, Exodus 20:8.



	Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.



	It appears that the Lord expects us to do more than just rest on

this day.  He expects us to keep it holy.  "Holy," according to

Webster, is "to set apart to the service of God, to be spiritually

pure." This definition indicates that on this special day we are to

keep our lives in harmony with the Lord--a day set apart for service,

adoration, and reverence to him.



	He has some specific things we should do on the Sabbath.  We

should attend our meetings and offer up the Lord's sacraments on his

holy day.  This puts us in the proper frame of mind for our activities

on the Sabbath.



	I think one of the best ways to control Sabbath-day activities is

to dress the part.  We always seem to act according to the way we are

dressed. If we go around in jeans and dungarees, I think the level of

our Sabbath-day observance will depreciate to the level of the way we

dress.  But if we dress properly--and that doesn't mean having to wear

a tie or your Sunday suit all day, but be presentable it seems to

control our activities and causes us to stay in the right frame of

mind.



	Now let's turn to the sixth chapter of Luke.  Here we have an

example of the Savior teaching in the synagogues.  The scribes and the

Pharisees were attempting to catch him, to see if he would heal on the

Sabbath day.  Jesus, after healing a man, and knowing their thoughts,

stood forth and said this:



I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good,

or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it? [Luke 6:9]



	The Savior seems to think it is all right for us to do a good turn

on the Sabbath day-to lift a heart, to help a spirit, to make life more

interesting and pleasant for someone in need.  You know, I really

believe there are those here at Brigham Young University who could

stand a little encouragement, a little support, and a little attention,

to make their Sabbath day and the rest of their week more pleasant. I

think it would be all right for us on the Sabbath day to visit and

encourage and lift spirits that need special attention.



	The Sabbath day is to be different from the other six days.  If we

have had a week loaded with studies, we would want a change on the

Sabbath.  But if it has been a week with the proper mixture of activity

and study, then it could be very beneficial to spend some of this

special day in study and preparation on a suitable subject--in keeping

with the Sabbath day.



	Let's try another one, Mark 2:27.



	And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man

for the sabbath.



	Thank goodness the Lord recognizes the differences in each of us,

and has not prescribed every jot and tittle that we are to follow in

keeping his day holy.  As individuals differ, so our Sabbath-day

observance will differ.  We should do those things that will be of

benefit to us, for our rest, for our relaxation, and for our

rejuvenation, after we accomplish what the Lord has prescribed for us

in attending our meetings and being faithful in our Sabbath-day

observance.



The Role of Women in the Church



	Question number four.  How are you, young lady?



	"Just fine, thanks."



	What is your name?



	"Lisa Long."



	Well, it's good to have you with us.  What is your question?



	"Schooling prepares one for a career. Is that an appropriate

course for an LDS mother?"



	You're concerned, of course, with the role of women in the Church. 

President Kimball has admonished us:



Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days

will come because many of the good women of the world (in whom there is

often such an inner sense of spirituality) will be drawn to the Church

in large numbers.  This will happen to the degree that the women of the

Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to

the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and

different--in happy ways--from the women of the world. [TSWK, pp.

322-23]

|P36 



	It is interesting to me that the prophet counseled us to be

righteous and articulate.  I don't know how you can be articulate

without being educated and prepared for the world in which you live.



	Of course the role of women is a special role--a creative

role--the power to bring forth new life and to have more influence on

that new life than anyone else upon the earth.  A child receives most

of its security, its ability to love, and much of its personality from

the mother, more than from anyone else.  During those short, precious,

first years of a child's life, I don't think any of us would want to

entrust the development of our child, if we could possibly prevent it,

to anyone other than its mother.  This is a task that requires

education.  I think we are reaping a whirlwind of problems with

children being left unattended because mothers are away from home. 

During that period of your life, I would think you would want to be

centered and directed toward the rearing of your children, enjoying

every precious moment of their growth and development.  Oh, how fast

they grow up!



	During the other periods of your life you may be much more free to

use the education and development you have received from your years of

training in school.  I see no conflict--in fact, it is encouraged that

a woman prepare for a career.  My wife is a professional in her field. 

Even though she does not use it to earn a living at the present time,

she uses her education in many different ways for compassionate

service.  She used her career to support herself earlier in her life,

and I think she has always felt more secure because of the training she

received from years of study and preparation at the college level.



	I think it is a very appropriate course and a needed course for a

woman to prepare herself for the world in which she lives today.  Many

women find themselves providing for their families because of a

husband's death, or find themselves the sole provider because of

divorce.  How much better to try to enter the work force educated and

prepared than to have to accept whatever is available at a much lower

salary with much less fulfillment all around.



	I admire the contribution that women are making in the world. 

Their sensitivity is most unique, and most needed.  If you are educated

and prepared, so much greater will be your contribution in a troubled

world in the years ahead.  May the Lord bless you good sisters, that

you may go forward and seek this education--and do all that you desire

to do with it.



Never Compromise Your Principles



	All right, the fifth question.  How are you, young man?



	"Never better."



	Good.  I'm glad you feel that way.  It seems a little hot up here

to me.  What is your name?



	"Guy Anthony Hesketh."



	All right, what's your question?



	"My question is: How do I adjust to the world after my mission? Do

I lower my standards to be accepted?



	Well, I know from personal experience that one of the most

difficult adjustments you have to make in life is to return from a

position in the mission field, where you live so close to the Lord, to

a position back in the world.  My own experience was extreme.  I had a

month between my release as a missionary and my enlistment as a member

of the U.S. Marine Corps.  The contrast was overwhelming.  But I joined

the Marine Corps at a most interesting time. Just a few months before

they had recruited a Mormon Battalion of Marines.  I followed them into

boot camp.  The reputation they had made during their period of basic

training was most unique.  To be a Mormon following that great group

was a mark of distinction.



	As the years of service progressed, I noticed how apparent those

who lived their religion were among their buddies in the service. Those

who stooped to the level of the world could not stop the spiral down,

and I think they returned home with a heavy heart and a very concerned

conscience.  But those who were able to overcome, to live as they

should, were unique in the service, and were noticed and used.  They

returned home with greater joy, satisfaction, and peace of mind.



	I have found the same thing true as I have ventured out into the

world.  As a young businessman, it was only proper in making good

contacts to attend social hours before dinners.  I was required by my

employment to do so.  I decided that when attending these affairs, I

would not have a glass in my hand that could be interpreted as being

anything other than non-alcoholic.  The first few times I refused to

have anything.  I just stood, trying to find a place to put my hands

conveniently.  Peanuts and pretzels seemed to help.



	Then a most remarkable thing occurred.  After a few of the social

hours, I noticed a quart of milk being brought in and put among the

other bottles of spirits.  Of course no one could draw the wrong

inference from a glass of milk.  Then, as the months progressed, I

noticed they had to bring out two quarts as more and more of the men

around held a glass of milk in their hands.  This uniqueness became an

asset.  I am a living witness to you that living your religion, and

staying as close to the Lord you possibly can through all the times of

your life, even though you are kidded and laughed at once in a while,

is the greatest asset you can have. There is an inner sense of respect

that develops for you that will help you in anything you attempt to

accomplish.



	What success I had in business can be attributed more to the

uniqueness that the gospel has given to me than to any of the training

provided in schools, or experience in business.  There seems to develop

trust in one who is willing to stand up for what he believes in that

will stand him in good stead in his accomplishments in life.



	Young man, never compromise your principles.  Hold to your core of

values--but that doesn't mean you should wear your religion around on

your coat and hit everyone in the eye with it the minute you see them. 

You set the example by the way you live, and that light will open

opportunities to you that could come in no other way.



	I want to thank you, you great, young people who have assisted me

tonight.  We hope the questions and general answers have been of some

assistance to each of you.  I think each of us has found that this life

is full of questions.  I believe we also found that there are no

complete answers to all of them.  This adds to my gratitude for the

gift of the gospel of our Lord and Savior.



	From the very beginning the Lord has revealed to us the purpose

for which we have been sent to earth.  As Alma explained:



Now we see that Adam did fall by the partaking of the forbidden fruit,

according to the word of God; and thus we see, that by his fall, all

mankind became a lost and fallen people.



	And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has

been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; nevertheless

there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore

this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a

time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us,

which is after the resurrection of the dead. [Alma 12:22,24]



	We are not supposed to know all things in this life.  The Lord has

left questions to be answered and, oh, what an abundance of truth he's

given to us to lead, guide, and direct us here on this earth.  Let's

learn that truth.  Stay close to it.  Be obedient to the will of the

Lord.



	"Choose you this day whom ye will serve...."  I've made that

decision, to serve the Lord with all of my might, power, and zeal. 

Why? Because it is the only direction that will give us true happiness,

true understanding, true joy in this life, and the greatest hope in the

life to come.  May the Lord bless each of us that in our individual

pursuits to find answers to the challenging questions of life we will

receive satisfaction and direction from the word of the Lord as it has

been revealed to us through his holy prophets.



	This is his work in which we are engaged.  It is true, it is

right, it is proven.  It has stood the test of time.  The greatest joy

that comes is through the observance and following of the way of the

Lord.  God lives.  Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world.  He

has revealed his will through his prophets.  His church is established

here today.  Let's keep our lives in harmony with its teachings and

enjoy the fruits of the gospel in this life and in the world to come. 

This is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                          Roland and Dora Mae



                             Boyd K Packer



	Elder Boyd K. Packer was sustained a member of the Council of the

Twelve of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April

1970, having served as an assistant to the Twelve since 1961.



	An educator by profession, he served as supervisor of seminaries

and institutes religion for the Church and as a member of the

administrative council at BYU- He is presently a member of the board of

education of the Church and the board of trustees of BYU and is a

member of the executive committee of each of the boards.  He works

closely with the Missionary Committee and the Church Historical

Department. He was also mission president of the New England Mission.



	Born in Brigham City, Elder Packer first studied at Weber College

and then attended Utah State University, where he received his bachelor

of science and master of science degrees.  He earned his doctorate in

educational administration at BYU. In recognition of his lifelong

commitment to education and BYU, he was awarded an honorary doctorate

in humanities during the 1985 spring commencement exercises.



	Elder Packer served as a bomber pilot during World War II in the

Pacific Theater. He has been active in community and civic affairs, has

served as a city councilman, and has been cited by a number of civic

and educational organizations and institutions.  He has written several

books, including The Holy Temple and Teach Ye Diligently.



	Elder Packer is married to Donna Smith.  They are the parents of

ten children.



	This devotional address, given in the Marriott Center on 29

October 1985, dedicated the Crabtree Technology Building.



	I am grateful, brothers and sisters, to represent the board of

trustees at this devotional service and dedication, and I think it is

fitting that it be a devotional service in which this building is

dedicated.  I have three sons and a son-in-law who have graduated in

the College of Engineering and Technology, so we're very well

represented.  And, we have a future here, too, as I will mention in a

moment or two.



	I love Roland A. Crabtree.  I say that and at once tell you that I

never met him.  If I did, I do not remember it.  That in itself will

support a point I wish to make later.



	No building on this campus is more honored by the name it bears

than the Crabtree Technology Building.  I say that knowing full well

for whom other buildings are named--among them presidents and prophets

and apostles.



	I have the conviction that were they here to speak for themselves,

they would join me in that expression and count him a man in whose

presence they would feel trusting and comfortable.  Surely one of them

would describe him as the salt of the earth.



	Now if you suppose that his gift of several millions of dollars is

the source of my admiration, you are in error.  That gift, while

greatly appreciated, in one way is really a trivial incident in all of

this and almost gets in the way of what I hope to teach you.



	I shall try to explain my feeling for Brother Crabtree by

presenting three very brief insights.  If you cannot understand my

feelings thereafter, I doubt if a long personal interview would help.



Insight Number One



	When he was thirty years old, Roland Crabtree was sprawled under

an army truck in his little garage.  A Cadillac pulled in, and the

driver asked if the boss was around.  "I hollered out that I'd be

through in a minute," said Brother Crabtree.  The customer responded

politely, "Take your time, I just want to talk to you about a job."



	The car had trouble with the left rear wheel.  Several other

garages had refused help.  Brother Crabtree fixed the wheel.  It took

three and a half hours and nine dollars worth of parts.  He charged him

eighteen dollars.  The man gave Brother Crabtree a thousand dollars and

told him to keep the change.  He refused; he said there wasn't that to

it.



Insight Number Two



	In 1982 Brother Crabtree had a heart attack. Open-heart surgery

followed--five bypasses! A week after he was out of the hospital he

insisted his wife drive him out to the project.  When she wasn't

looking, he climbed aboard a D-8 Caterpillar tractor and took off

through the trees.  He was gone for forty-five frantic minutes.  He

returned smiling and said everything seemed to be in place.



Insight Number Three



	At the time of his death, Brother Crabtree was president of a

special M.I.A. program for mentally handicapped people.



	In order to put that third insight into proper perspective, I

should tell you of a priesthood meeting that was held a hundred years

ago.  The meeting was held in connection with the reorganization of a

ward.  One Danish brother stood up in the meeting and said, "Vat vee

need for bishop is a man who doesn't vant to be bishop, and I's here to

tell you that I don't vant to be bishop."



The Salt of the Earth



	I said I had never met Brother Crabtree.  Perhaps I spoke at a

conference in his stake, but he was not the stake president who met me. 

No doubt he was sitting with Sister Crabtree two-thirds of the way back

in the middle, each with an arm around one of their handicapped

children.



	I love Brother Crabtree's name.  It fits as perfectly as if a

novelist had created a character and then afterward selected a name for

him.



	I love Brother Crabtree because he renews our faith in the rank

and file of the Church.  He generously funded a building, and that is

deeply appreciated.  But more than that, he is a symbol.  He is the

image of all of the other ordinary Latter-day Saints who love the Lord,

accept his calls, pay their tithes, and live the gospel.  Their tithes

and offerings, too, are in the new building.  Each of them is quite as

worthy to have a building named after them as Brother Crabtree would be

embarrassed by having one named after him.  



	Brother Crabtree reminds us that while there are problems in the

world, and one or two may cause great distress, there is that great

body of stalwarts ever with us.



	In ancient Israel, Elijah the prophet, in great discouragement,

cried out to the Lord,



The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine

altars, and slain thy prophet; ...and I, even I only, am left. [1 Kings

19:10]



	Elijah was commanded to "Go forth, and stand upon the mount.... A

great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the

rocks" (1 Kings 19:11).  After the wind came an earthquake and then a

fire.  But the Lord was not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in

the fire-but "after the fire a still small voice" (I Kings 19:12).  And

Elijah was comforted.  The Lord said, "Yet I have left me seven

thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal" (I

Kings 19:18).



	There are ten thousand, yea, hundreds of thousands of Roland and

Dora Mae Crabtrees who love the Lord.



	Since I didn't really know Brother Crabtree, someone may caution

that I might get carried away in my praise for him only to discover

later that he had some personal imperfections.  Oh, I am very positive

that he did.  I don't know what they were, nor do I care. we have had

enough and to spare of looking for imperfections.



	And then, in this day--today, this moment in Church history--I

love Brother Crabtree because he stands as a counterpoint to some of

the things that recently have come on stage.



	In the past few days, the curtain has gone up to reveal a terrible

tragedy.  In this drama, someone, for some reason, has taken two lives. 

The victims, and perhaps the villain, are members of the Church.



	The effect of all of this is a landslide of unfavorable publicity,

in the news across the world, and the name of the Church appears with

innuendos and false assertions which challenge the very foundation of

the Church.



	These tragic events are cast in such a light by the media that the

faith of some is being challenged, and of a few, beyond the breaking

point.  That is a tragedy in itself.

|P40 



	A few are cast in starring roles in this heartbreaking tragedy. 

We may not know until the final scene is worked out who will be

unveiled as the villain.  Until then, as always, we support the forces

of law and order, and due process.  We lend our encouragement to them.



	There is a great lesson to be drawn from this.  How fitting it is,

how refreshing it is in the midst of all of this, to pay honor to

Roland and Dora Mae Crabtree.  For in them we have our hero and our

heroine.  They walk on the stage to remind us of all that is right with

the Church.  Rather, I think this hero of ours rumbles into view at the

controls of a piece of heavy construction equipment.



	I remember the incident when Elisha's servant rose early and found



an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots.  And [he]

said unto [Elijah], Alas, my master! how shall we do?



	And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than

they that be with them.



	... And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw:

and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire. [2

Kings 6:15-17]



	Well, in this case, if we can't see chariots, which are not used

today, maybe front-end loaders will do where we have the "salt of the

earth" represented at a time of great stress and difficulty.



These Stalwart Heroes



	Now I want to say one or two things about training and technology

and its place at the university and in the Church.  You will see the

building.  It is regarded already as one of, if not the finest of, its

type anywhere in this country, perhaps in the world.



	In order to show you the importance the board of trustees places

on technical skills, I will tell you this.  Several years ago the

administration of the university brought to the board of education a

reorganization of the colleges.  Some colleges were to be renamed.



	One proposed name given was the College of Engineering Science. It

was rejected by the board.  The board insisted that the words "and

Technology" be added to the name.  The college therefore bears the name

the College of Engineering Science and Technology. That was done to

emphasize to the administration of the university that we are not to

neglect the practical work-a-day subjects, nor are we to ignore those

who earn their bread by the sweat of their brow and by skilled hands

and trained minds.



	That firm endorsement of technical education at Brigham Young

University applies in full measure to young men and women attending the

Utah Technical College here on the Orem campus, or in Salt Lake City,

and all of the other such schools across the world.



	I mentioned that we have a son-in-law and three sons who graduated

from this college.  And there is another coming along.  Last winter,

our sixteen-year-old found in the neighborhood, under a pile of snow, a

1948 Ford tractor--sort of.  He asked if he could buy it. It had stood,

I think, for fifteen years without being used. It was rusted almost

away.  But he saw something there, and I saw something in his seeing

something there.



	So, with another old tractor, we dragged it through the snowdrifts

home to the shop and later to the high school shop.  There, a shop

teacher and our son worked evening after evening to restore this

tractor.  Every few days it came again! "Dad, I found out that we've

got to buy this or that." Strangely enough, he could find it.  He got

his driver's license midway, and so off to Heber City he was for this

part or somewhere else for that part. I, too, went with him to more

than one city looking through junkyards for old tractor parts.



	Then, as the bills mounted, someone made the observation that that

tractor was a very expensive investment--perhaps a mistake.  But I

thought he made the mistake.  He thought we were putting together a

tractor.  I thought we were putting together a boy.  Somewhere in the

middle of this, it wouldn't work, and the shop teacher couldn't find

the problem.  So we made a call to Max Peterson, eighty-four, long

since retired, who spent his life with tractors.  He showed up one

evening, pointed out this and that to help my son, and then we were off

again.



	There is something significant and powerful and safe for this

Church in the hundreds of thousands of Roland and Dora Mae Crabtrees

who make their living by the skill that is in their hands and by what

they have in their minds.  I say again that no building on this campus

is more honored by the name it bears than the Roland Crabtree

Technology Building.



	And I count it an honor to join with you, if you will join with

me, and I will offer the dedicatory prayer.



Dedicatory Prayer



	Our Holy Father in Heaven, we have assembled here on this glorious

October morning for the dedication of a building on the campus of

Brigham Young University, the Crabtree Technology Building.  It is a

beautiful building and a new building. It has been constructed using

all of the engineering knowledge and technology of the past.  Into it

has been built, insofar as it can be built, the prophetic pattern that

will accommodate it to the use of things that are yet unknown and are

as yet undiscovered.



	We have walked through the halls of that building and have seen

the young men and women sitting at the consoles of computers, standing

before lathes, standing before other equipment, much of it remarkably

expensive.  Virtually all of it has come as gifts from generous

individuals and generous corporations who themselves are making an

investment, not in technology, not in the advancement of civilization

in the sense that we can build better things, but an investment in

young men and women, in boys and girls--this, that there might march

through this college, as through the other colleges here, young men and

women who themselves will be the salt of the earth.  And then when the

onslaught comes upon thy Church, as it has in recent years, there will

be those stalwarts.  We will know that "they that be with us are more

than they that be with them." And our eyes will be opened, and we will

see upon the mountain the chariots of fire.



	Now we dedicate this building unto thee, our Holy Father, for that

sacred purpose.  We count it fitting and in our theology and doctrine

not at all unusual to dedicate a building for technology in a

devotional service, within the bounds of prayer.  For the Lord hath

told us that there is no real difference between that which is temporal

and that which is spiritual if our eyes can be opened.



	We ask thee, our Holy Father, to protect that building.  Protect

all of the elements of it so that it will not be brought into disgrace

by any teaching that might be false.  Let no act of nature disturb or

destroy it, that thousands and tens of thousands of young people may

enter there to be taught and look into the great patterns of computer

technology, and see in a sense, infinity.  May they look through

mathematics and through the other research patterns to realms where

there are no bounds, where there are no measurements, and yet know that

when the limits there are reached, beyond that are the infinite

doctrines and ordinances of the gospel.



	We call for thy blessings upon the Crabtree family, and bless them

for being them, and for being as ordinary as they are and as

extraordinary as they are.  Bless Sister Crabtree and the family and

the memory of Roland A. Crabtree.



	And now, by the authority of the Holy Priesthood in us vested, and

in the name of Jesus Christ, we invoke that authority, that consummate

authority, to the dedication and blessing of this building to be a

signal and integral part of this campus so that young people may be

taught, that they might live the gospel, and ultimately live in such a

way that they might return unto thee, our Holy Father.  Amen.





                         A Righteous Standard



                           Barbara W. Winder



	Sister Barbara Woodhead Winder was named as general president of

the Relief Society in April 1984.  Prior to her call she served with

her husband, Richard W. Winder, who was president of the Church's

California San Diego Mission.



	Born in Midvale, Utah, Sister Winder grew up in the East Millcreek

area of Salt Lake City and attended the University of Utah for several

years before her marriage.  Along with being the mother of four

children, she has worked as chorister, den mother, teacher, Primary

president, and Young Women president on a ward level.  She has served

on the Melchizedek Priesthood MIA General Board as well as the Relief

Society General Board.  For nine years she was international president

of Lambda Delta Sigma, the Church sorority for college girls.  Active

in the community as well as in the Church, she has worked in PTA,

politics, cancer crusades, and other projects.



	This devotional talk was delivered in the Marriott Center on 12

November 1985.



	It is such an honor for me to be with you today--you who have come

to this campus seeking a better life, a life of self-improvement.  I'm

sure there are many of you who have come with much sacrifice, which, in

and of itself, is part of that better life.



Life's Most Important Decisions



	At this time in your life, you enjoy a wide variety of

activities--sometimes too many all at once, In addition to class

attendance and study time, many of you have jobs.  There are important

social activities and service groups, athletic and physical fitness

activities--the list goes on.  At the same time you have church

callings and family obligations.  That weekly letter-writing time comes

all too often, and there is no one to help you with the washing or

ironing when you're in a bind.  There are scripture study and journal

writing.  Most of you get very little sleep and are relatively new at

juggling such varied and demanding schedules.



	Yet it is interesting to me that some of life's most important

decisions--Whom will I marry? What will be my life's work? What and

where shall I study? and Where will I live?--are all made between the

ages of seventeen and twenty-four.



	That we have choices at all is a wonderful gift to us and a

fundamental part of our Heavenly Father's plan enabling us to prove

ourselves.



	Abraham 3:25 states: "We will prove them herewith, to see if they

will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them."



	And in Helaman 14, verses 30 and 31, we read: "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."



	Today I would like to share a story with you.  Kieth Merrill, a

filmmaker and Academy Award winner, tells this story about his youth.



	When I was a young man I lived in a small community close to the

mountains.  I was a lifeguard and did lots of swimming ... We went

swimming at a place called East Canyon, a beautiful man-made reservoir.

The dam is in a narrow neck of the canyon between sheer rock walls.



	None of us had boats, so we couldn't water ski, but we would do

what we called cliff diving.  We'd climb up those rocks and dive into

the reservoir. We'd always wear tennis shoes because the rocks were so

sharp....



	After we'd been there several times and pretty well knew the

rocks, cliffs, and the water depth, two or three of us hard-core East

Canyon divers got into the inevitable teenage contest of raw courage. 

One guy climbed up to where we always dove from and yelled down, "Hey!

I'll bet I dare dive higher than anybody here!"



	'Ah, go on!"



	So he climbed up to the top of the dam. The dam was about 50 feet

off the water.  Diving into the air he arched into the water, and like

a bunch of sheep we crawled up the rocks, out onto the dam, and all of

us dove off...



	Well, that didn't satisfy my friend and so he said, "All right,

I'll do one better!" He climbed 60 feet up the side of the cliff And

not wanting to be outdone, I climbed up by him. After all, everyone was

looking at me.  I had a great suntan, and I was sure everyone expected

me to do what he was doing.  He swallowed hard, buried his fear, and

from trembling knees arched his back, and floated through 60 feet of

air into the water.



	I was grateful nobody was watching me as I prepared for my dive. 

When he'd cleared and seemed to be all right, I took courage, and made

my dive. By now the other members of our diving contest had backed

down, figuring it was a little high. But not my friend.  He climbed on

up to about 70 feet and once more prepared to dive. From below I could

barely see him.  Seventy feet is a very long way up on the rocks.  I

said to myself, "I hope he doesn't do it because if he does it, then

obviously I've got to do it, and I really don't want to." About then I

saw a pink body float through the air and splash into the water not far

from me.  He came up laughing, rubbing his shoulders and his eyes, and

said, "Well Merrill, are you going to do it?"



	"Of course, I'm going to do it!" Everybody on the shore said,

"Yeah, of course he's going to do it!"



	And so I swam back to the shore and climbed up the rocks.  I knew

I only bad the courage for one more jump....



	I scrambled up 80 feet to the very top of the cliff. As I turned

around and looked down, I saw that the cliffs were back away from the

water at that height.  I had two challenges: to fall 80 feet and to get

enough clearance to avoid hitting the rocks at the bottom.  Everybody

was egging me on in a negative way.  "You're chicken, you're chicken!"



	I stood there all alone, everybody waiting down below. The water

was so far away it looked like crinkled tinfoil in the sun.  I was just

terrified. I was committed, but I had not even based my decision on

what I wanted to do or what I felt was right. I had based it on about a

half dozen guys whose names I don't even remember who were yelling,

"Hey, chicken, are you going to do it?"



	I realized that in order to make the jump I would have to run a

distance to get enough momentum to carry me over the rocks below. So I

backed up and ran as hard as I could toward the edge. I found the mark

I had carefully laid at the edge of the rock and sprang out into space. 

I don't know how long it takes to fall 80 feet, but for me it took

about a week. On the way down I remembered distinctly how my parents

and teachers had taught me to be careful when making decisions because

I could kill myself with a wrong one. I said to myself, "You have done

it, you have killed yourself, because when you hit the water you'll be

going so fast that it might as well be concrete."  And when I hit the

water, I was sure it was concrete.  I don't know how far down you go

when you jump from 80 feet, but I'll tell you, I was a grateful lad

when my head finally popped above water. I took a quick inventory to

make sure that the throbbing pain in my right thigh didn't designate

the loss of anything important.



	Well, why did I jump?  Did I prove myself to the guys? You think

they cared?  You think they're sitting at home tonight saying,

"Remember old Merrill, brave old Merrill, jumping off the...." They

don't even remember!  They don't care! But for me that moment was as

important as my life.  I made what could have easily been a fatal

decision.  Through the grace of a very patient Heavenly Father I wasn't

killed.  I didn't land on the rocks; I missed by only a few feet. I

didn't drown, and I didn't have a concussion or a number of other

things that could easily have happened because of such a stupid

decision.



	I was subjected to pressure that was hard to withstand, the

pressure of friends expecting things of me that I didn't want to do

because I knew better.  But I yielded to the pressure.  I was living in

the world, and at that moment I was of the world because I was not in

control of myself.  I was not making decisions about my own life.

[Kieth Merrill, "Deciding About Decisions," New Era, June 1976, pp.

12-13]



	I heard Kieth Merrill's story and immediately thought of the

Savior's strength and courage in decision making when he was tempted

after his forty-day fast in the wilderness.  It seems as if the three

types of temptations thrust upon the  Savior occurred in the Kieth

Merrill story, as well as in Luke 4:3-4: "If thou be the Son of God,

command this stone that it be made bread.... Man shall not live by

bread alone, but by every word of God." Appetite--physical prowess:

"Everyone's looking at me." "I had a great suntan." "If thou be the Son

of God." From Luke 4:4-8:



	And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto

him all the kingdoms of the world....

|P44 



	And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee  ....



	If thou... wilt worship me  ....



	And Jesus answered... Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is

written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou

serve.



	Pride --adulation of peers: "Of course he's going to do it." From

Luke 4:9-12:



	And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the

temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down

from hence..



	For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to

keep thee.....



	And Jesus answering said,... Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy

God.



	Power--you can do anything better than your friends: "1 scrambled

up eighty feet to the very top of the cliff."



	Appetite, pride, power--common temptations for each of us.



	We have to ask, "Why did Kieth Merrill do it?" He was terrified,

and "had not even based [his] decision on what [he] wanted to do or

felt was right."



	Elder Dean Larsen said, "When we understand what is right and what

is wrong, we are in a position to exercise our freedom in making

choices. In so doing, we must stand accountable for our decisions, and

we cannot escape the inevitable consequences of these choices"

("Self-Accountability and Human Progress," Ensign, May 1980, p. 76).



Our Values in Life



	The world today presents a different set of values from that

taught by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Eternal values never change while

those of the world are transitory and are usually, or often,

inconsistent with gospel standards.



	The right and wrong of our decisions and actions should be

consistently determined in light of the plan of salvation. There should

be a standard of righteousness--this standard will enlighten and aid

our decision process.



	To understand that plan, take every opportunity to learn, to

study, and to ponder the plan of salvation. Gain knowledge through

personal and family scripture study, general conference talks, Sunday

gospel worship and study, and religion classes.



	Our values in life influence everything we do with our time,

energy, resources, and the ways in which we interact with others. In

short, they give direction to our life.



	When Jesus suggested to the rich young ruler "Sell all that thou

hast, and distribute unto the poor" (Luke 18:22), it placed upon him an

important decision of following either the Savior or the ways of the

world. Because he was wealthy and valued money more than the treasures

of heaven, he turned away "sorrowful." The young ruler had all the

attributes necessary for eternal life, but one misplaced value turned

his decision in a wrong direction.



	James Russell Lowell wrote a beautiful, heartwarming poem that has

become a classic of the ages. It is entitled The Vision of Sir Launfal.

In it he tells the story of a man's search for the Holy Grail. The Holy

Grail is supposedly the cup from which Christ drank at the last Supper.

Down through the span of time it has become lost, and Sir Launfal, in

his lust and desire for recognition, seeks to retrieve it.



	He sets out from his homeland in search of it. Ks he leaves the

gates of the city, he passes a young man begging for alms, but the

beggar is unnoticed by Sir Launfal in his zeal for his adventure.



	Launfal spends a lifetime in his quest, only to return home,

broken in spirit, penniless, and unsuccessful. As he enters the gates

of the city, he again passes the beggar, who also has grown old with

the passing of time.



	But Launfal's experience has mellowed and humbled him, and where

before he had not noticed the beggar, he now stops to help the old man

lift his quivering hands to his mouth for a drink of water. He then

notices within his grasp the Holy Grail, the cup for which he has

searched a lifetime, and recognizes it has been within his reach all

along.



A Fork in the Road



	President Kimball states, "A dozen times a day we come to a fork

in the road and must decide which way we will go  ....  It is important

to get our ultimate objectives clearly in mind so that we do not become

distracted at each fork in the road by the irrelevant questions: Which

is the easier or more pleasant way? or, Which way are others going?"

(TSWK, p. 164).



	Wasn't Kieth Merrill dependent on what others were doing and

saying? Was that part of the temptation of pride?



	Right decisions are easiest to make when we make them well in

advance, having in mind our standard of righteousness. This saves a lot

of anguish at the fork in the road, when we're tired and sorely

tempted,



    	President Kimball said:



	When I was young, I made up my mind unalterably that I would never

taste tea, coffee, tobacco, or liquor. I found that this rigid

determination saved me many times throughout my varied experiences.

There were many occasions when I could have sipped or touched or

sampled, but the unalterable determination firmly established gave me

good reason and good strength to resist.



He went on:



	The time to decide on a mission is long before it becomes a matter

of choosing between a mission and an athletic scholarship. The time to

decide on temple marriage is before one has become attached to a

boyfriend or girl friend who does not share that objective. The time to

decide on a policy of strict honesty is before the store clerk gives

you too much change. The time to decide against using drugs is before a

friend you like teases you for being afraid or pious. The time to

decide that we will settle for nothing less than an opportunity to live

eternally with our Father is now, so that every choice we make will be

affected by our determination to let nothing interfere with attaining

that ultimate goal..



	Some people feel that decisions are really out of our hands, that

we merely respond to circumstances without choice, like a rudderless

ship that drifts at the mercy of the wind and waves. And I agree that

there can come a time when we no longer have control over our

destinies, but I believe that this is only after the cumulation of our

own past decisions has left us helpless. [TSWK, pp. 164-165]



	Good advice! This brings us to ask: What do I value when I make

decisions, especially the important ones, such as Whom should I marry?

and Where shall I work?



	The world asks, Should I marry at all? If so, do I really want to

have children? Is my selection of an occupation one in which I want to

succeed financially because of the love of money and all it represents

or because of my desire to help others? There are a multitude of ways

the world works on us to keep us from achieving our eternal purposes on

earth.



	Elder Royden G. Derrick contrasted our viewpoint with that of the

world:



When everyone makes his own determination of what is right and what is

wrong, we have so many different value systems that we could not

possibly be one, as Jesus Christ commissioned us to be.



	If you were playing in a basketball game, you would have to play

by the rules or you would be taken out of the game  ....  How many

people do we have throughout the world who attempt to make up their own

rules, set their own value systems, and determine what is right and

what is wrong regarding the true philosophy and gospel of the Lord

Jesus Christ?...



	[Christ] sets the standards and makes the rules by which we live.

He established the true value system; and if we will conform thereto

and assist in building his kingdom in his way, we will receive rewards

far beyond our fondest hopes and dreams. ["The True Value System,"

Speeches of the Year, 1979 (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press,

1979), pp. 111,114]



	Every day we are confronted with circumstances and choices that

test our personal values and require decisions that will either

strengthen or weaken these values. We must evaluate influences:. on our

values and goals. An aid to help us is found in Moroni 7:16-17:



	For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he

may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge;

for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe

in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye

may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

|P46 



	But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in

Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a

perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the

devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither

do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.



	The crucial test of life is not between fame and obscurity or

between wealth and poverty. The greatest decisions of life are between

good and evil.



"The Crown of Character"



	As we think about eternal values and wise choices, let me share an

experience of some who exemplified a righteous standard,



	Our son-in-law, who is a bishop in a student ward and also a

teacher of English on this campus, was assigned a six-week seminar last

summer. After talking it over, he and our daughter, Susan, decided she

would stay at home with their five children and see that they all had

their summer lessons and also care for their yard in his absence.



	One hot summer afternoon she brought the children to Salt Lake

City to see us. While visiting with us she mentioned that everything

that could go wrong had gone wrong. Then, having shared her problems

and having touched base with home, she felt she could go on. About an

hour after she left, the phone rang. Susan was calling from her home in

Provo. We could barely hear her teary, squeaky voice on the other end,

and we thought perhaps there had been an accident. But she simply

wanted us to know that the students in their ward, in spite of their

busy schedules, had come over while she was in Salt Lake City and

weeded their entire yard.



	Commitment to righteousness is not just saying--it is doing!



	From an unknown writer we read that



	The greatest battle of life is fought within the silent chambers

of the soul. A victory on the inside of a man's heart is worth a

hundred conquests on the battlefields of life. To be master of yourself

is the best guarantee that you will be in charge of the situation. Know

thyself. The crown of character is self-control.



	As we know and live the commandments, we will feel the whisperings

of the Spirit helping us with the important decisions that must be

made. From the Doctrine and Covenants we read:



	Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.



	Blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast inquired

of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received

instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have

come to the place where thou art at this time. [D&C 6:36, 14]



And remember:



	I did enlighten thy mind;...



	... If you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night

that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning

the truth of these things.



	Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What

greater witness can you have than from God? [D&C 6:15, 22-23]



	All of us will swim in our own personal "East Canyon Lake" or

perch precariously on the steep cliffs of our lives. We can know that

we are on sure footing, however difficult the circumstances are, if we

have a value system based on a foundation of gospel principles.



	My challenge to each of us is to seek Christ, listen to him, and

obey his commandments. Our values and standard of righteousness will

become clear, and our ability to make decisions in harmony with that

standard will be made possible. I bear witness to you, my brothers and

sisters, that these things are true. I know that he lives and that he

will be there to speak peace to our hearts. I say this in the name of

Jesus Christ. Amen.





                             Thanks-Living



                            Dee F. Andersen



	Born in Brigham City, Utah, Dee F. Andersen attended Box Elder

High School and then graduated from Utah State University with a degree

in accounting. He is a certified public accountant and has served as

controller and vice-president of administrative services at the

University of Utah.



	Other professional assignments have included planning coordinator

and assistant to the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints, executive administrator to the LDS Presiding

Bishopric, managing director of the Church s computer and

communications equipment operations, budget officer with

responsibilities for establishing the budget office for the LDS Church,

and member of the LDS Young Men general board. He also served as

associate commissioner in the Church Educational System under former

Commissioner Neal A. Maxwell.



	Brother Andersen is on the boards of directors for Automatic

Language Processing System, Inc. and Deseret Mutual Benefit

Association. He is a former director of Deseret Management Corp.,

Deseret Trust Co., and Rick Warner Ford, and has served as board

chairman of the Utah Division of the American Cancer Society and as

delegate to the national ACS board.



	Dee F Andersen was named administrative vice-president at Brigham

Young University in the fall of 1984. His areas of responsibility

include finance, personnel, information systems, physical facilities,

and liaison with the purchasing department of the LDS Church.



	He and his wife, Frances Nicholas of Willard, Utah, have seven

children.



	This devotional address was given at the Thanksgiving Assembly in

the Marriott Center on 26 November 1985.



Witness to Our Thankfulness



	In an essay called "The Art of Living," Wilferd Peterson has

written:



	The art of thanksgiving is thanks-living. It is gratitude in

action  ....



	It is thanking God for the gift of life by living it

triumphantly....



	It is thanking God for opportunities by accepting them as a

challenge to achievement....



	It is thanking God for inspiration by trying to be an inspiration

to others  ....



	It is adding to your prayers of thanksgiving, acts of

thanks-living. [The Art of Living (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961),

pp. 44-45]



	President David O. McKay counseled Church members:



Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. 

Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. 

Thankfulness may consist merely of words.

Gratitude is shown in acts. [Pathways to Happiness (Salt Lake City:

Bookcraft, Inc., 1957), p. 317]



	Some of the beautiful words of Psalm 100 stress: "Know ye that the

Lord he is God:... be thankful unto him, and bless his name."



	And again, the Lord, through his great prophet King Benjamin, has

taught us there is more than just thoughts and prayers to proper

thanksgiving. I quote:



	I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the

thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that

God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused

that ye should rejoice  ....



	... if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would

be unprofitable servants.



	... all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments,....

if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

[Mosiah 2:20-22]

|P48 



	If we are truly thankful, our acts will be witness to our

thankfulness.



Showing Our Thankfulness



	Thanksgiving Day has always been designed to be a religious

experience, a day to know the Lord and bless his name.



	Three hundred sixty-four years ago, Governor William Bradford

declared a three-day fast, and a small group of pilgrims gathered to

"worship and give thanks to God." Two years later, in 1623, on July 30,

the first official Thanksgiving Day was set up for "the special purpose

of prayer." During the revolutionary war there were some eight special

days of thanks, which were observed for "special blessings that had

been received," on November 26, 1789, more than 100 years after the

first special day of prayer, President George Washington issued a

special proclamation for a day of "giving thanks." And about 100 years

later in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln designated the last Thursday in

November as "a day of thanksgiving and praise to our benevolent

Father." Now, after more than three and a half centuries, we still

celebrate a "Thanksgiving Day."



	But in our hearts, is there sufficient thankfulness to really give

praise to our benevolent Father? Does this thankfulness result in

showing any true gratitude? Do we do any more than say a thanksgiving

prayer over the traditional Thanksgiving feast? Or are some of our

prayers and our lives like those described by the poet Robert Burns-

"Three mile prayers and one-half mile graces"? Have we learned to say

thank you and toshow thank you?



	I like these words--they seem to suggest action:



	If you hear a kind word spoken 

	Of some worthy soul you know, 

	It may fill his heart with sunshine 

	If you'd only tell him so.



	If a deed, however humble, helps you

	On your way to go,

	Seek the one whose hand has helped you.

	Seek him out and tell him so.



	If your heart is touched and tender 

	Towards sinner log and low, 

	It might help him to do better 

	If you could only tell him so. 

		[Anonymous]



	President Gordon B. Hinckley has taught us:



Absence of gratitude is the mark of the narrow, uneducated mind.  It

bespeaks a lack of knowledge and the ignorance of self-sufficiency.

[CR, Oct. 1964, p. 117]



Thankfulness may indeed be measured by the number of words we use. 

Gratitude, however, must be measured by the nature of our actions.



	And Richard L. Evans said:  "Gratitude has not even been born

until it has actually been converted into word and deed."



	Each of us should look for ways of saying thank you to each other,

and we should show our thankfulness to the Lord by keeping his

commandments.



Saying Thank You



	In the past I have not always been able to say or show my thanks

as I have really wanted to.  Some years ago, almost every morning I

found myself arriving in the parking lot of a certain institution at

the same time as another individual. It was early in the morning,

usually very dark and very quiet.  Most of the time we were alone as we

walked from our vehicle into the building.  This individual was one of

the finest persons I have ever known.  I looked up to him.  I admired

him, I loved him.  Yet I had never told him so.  Each time we entered

the building and climbed onto the elevator together, I found myself

tongue-tied.  I could hardly stammer "Good morning," much less, "Oh,

how I admire you" or "Thank you for all you have done and are doing for

me." After one of these mornings, I arrived in my office, disgusted

with my inability to express my appreciation. In desperation, with a

great desire to just say thank you, I took a pen in hand, and in

longhand wrote a short note that expressed my feelings.  Hurriedly I

addressed an envelope and quickly mailed the note before my courage

failed me.  A very few days later I received a very sweet, short,

three-sentence note.  I could tell he had personally typed it out on

the old typewriter he kept by his desk.  It read:

|P49 



Dear Dee,



	That was one of the sweetest notes I have ever received, and I

appreciate hearing from you.  I am indeed grateful to be so close to

you, and I hope that we may see each other once in a while. May the

Lord bless you and assist you in all your efforts. With kindest wishes.



Faithfully yours,



	While I had known this individual and worked closely with him for

a long time, this was really the beginning of a choice and wonderful

friendship with this special person--President Spencer W. Kimball.  Oh,

how President Kimball blessed my life because I took the time and had

the courage to say thank you.



	Think how the Lord then desires to bless each of us as we show our

thankfulness by keeping the commandments.  For he tells us that as we

"abide the law," we will receive the blessing (D&C 132:5). 



	How long has it been since any of us has really expressed a

sincere and specific thank you to someone near or dear to us? To our

parents? To a faculty member? To a student? To a roommate? Or to the

Lord?



"Thanks for the Memories"



	My grandson taught me a lesson about saying thanks. Jared, who is

now eight years old, lives in Hong Kong.  As he has grown up, he has

heard his father and me talk about our fishing trips.  He has even

accompanied us a time or two on short trips.  But, because of his age,

he had never caught a fish.  Two years ago as his parents prepared for

home leave. They noticed that Jared prayed each evening that he could

go fishing, and he continued so to pray.  When the family arrived in

the United States, we arranged a fishing experience.  We visited

Jackson Hole and found a place on the Snake River where Jared could

indeed catch some fish.  And he did.  He caught several.  I'll admit

that he wasn't very interested in baiting his hook or taking the fish

off the hook when they were caught.  Nevertheless, he seemed to enjoy

the experience.  I was interested in the report Jared would make to his

Father in Heaven that night.  It was very short.  It expressed true

thankfulness. It was only four words long.  He said, "Thanks for the

memories."



	Each of us has been given very special experiences and memories. 

Wouldn't it be nice if we could all say "Thanks, for the memories?"



The Way We Live



Alice Cary, in her poem "Nobility," states:



True worth is in being, not seeming,--

	In doing, each day that goes by,

Some little good--not in dreaming

	Of great things to do by and by.

For whatever men say in their blindness,

	And spite of the fancies of youth,

There's nothing so kingly as kindness,

	And nothing so royal as truth.



We get back our mete as we measure--

	We cannot do wrong and feel right,

Nor can we give pain and gain pleasure,

	For justice avenges each slight.



We cannot make bargains for blisses,

	Nor catch them like fishes in nets,

And sometimes the thing our life misses

	Helps more than the thing which it gets

For good lieth not in pursuing,

	Nor gaining of great nor of small,

But just in the doing and doing

	As we would be done by, is all.



	In our "doing and doing," each of us can say thank you to those

around us by simply living that golden rule.



	I would like to conclude these remarks by stressing three

sentences from the mission statement of this great university:



All students at BYU should be taught the truths of the gospel of Jesus

Christ. Any education is inadequate which does not emphasize that His

is the only name given under heaven whereby mankind can be saved.

Certainly, all relationships within the BYU community should reflect

devout love of God and a loving, genuine concern for the welfare of our

neighbor.



	If we do have this loving, genuine concern for others, Brigham

Young University will be like no other place on earth, and so it should

be.



	Remember, as important as saying thank you is, it is more

important to show our thankfulness in the way we live. We need to give

others some reason to say thank you to us. May we show our thanksgiving

this year by our thanks-living. For the Lord God has said:

|P50 



	And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made

glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an

hundredfold, yea, more. [D&C 78:19]



	May we be so blessed, I pray, in the name of the Lord Jesus

Christ. Amen.





                            Choose to Serve



                          M. Russell. Ballard



	Elder M. Russell Ballard was sustained a member of the Quorum of

the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

on 7 October 1985. He was previously a member of the Presidency of the

First Quorum of the Seventy and served as Executive Director of the

Church curriculum, correlation, and missionary departments.



	Elder Ballard was born in Salt Lake City, graduated from East High

School, and attended the University of Utah before serving a mission

from 1948 to 1950 in England, where he served as counselor to two

mission presidents. Twice he has been a bishop and considers experience

in a bishopric to be "one of the greatest schooling grounds of the

Church. "He has also served in the high councils of two stakes, and at

the time of his call as a General Authority, he was president of the

Canada Toronto Mission.



	Elder Ballard has been successful in various business enterprises,

including the automotive, real estate, and investment businesses.



	Elder Ballard and his wife, Barbara Bowen, are the parents of two

sons and five daughters. 



	This fireside address was given in the Marriott Center on 5

January 1986.



	I thought that you might be interested in some of the things that

have happened in my life in the last few months. On Thursday morning,

October 10, 1985, in the fourth-floor council room of the Salt Lake

Temple, I was invited to sit on a small stool placed at the feet of

President Spencer W. Kimball, who sat in a chair. With President

Kimball's hands on my head, and surrounded in a circle by President

Hinckley and all the members of the Council of the Twelve, I was

ordained an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and set apart as a member

of the Council of the Twelve. President Hinckley was voice. I was given

a blessing that is a great source of comfort and strength to me. To say

the least, my brothers and sisters, I was then and still am now

overwhelmed with this calling to serve as a special witness of the Lord

and to serve you, the members of the Church.



	In 1974 President Kimball called me to preside over the Canada

Toronto Mission. He also called me to serve as a member of the First

Quorum of the Seventy in 1976. It is very special to me to know that

the last priesthood ordinance he participated in before his passing was

my ordination to the holy apostleship. I have a deep love and respect

for our beloved President Kimball. He will always hold a very special

place in the hearts of my wife, Barbara, our children, and myself, as I

know he does in all of your hearts.



	As I have relived this most meaningful experience in my life over

and over again, I have asked myself the question that I believe almost

everyone asks when called to serve in the Church, "Why me, Lord?" The

privilege of serving as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy for

the past nine and one half years has taken me to many parts of the

earth on errands for the Lord. I believe I know as well as anyone in

the Church that there are thousands of faithful and devoted men and

women who serve the Lord with their whole soul and they serve him with

great distinction. Knowing as I do that there are many men worthy and

capable of such a sacred calling as mine, the question "Why me?" has

had a sobering impact upon my own soul.



	I have, during the past three months, come to the comforting

knowledge that the Lord and my Brethren see in me something I can do to

help the work of the Lord continue to move forward. In my specific case

I am also aware that the dedicated service of many of my forefathers

could well have influenced my call to the Council of the Twelve. Since

the very beginnings of the restoration of the Church they gave all that

they had, even their lives, for this great work. Family members of the

Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum have served in the Council

of the Twelve since the organization of the Council of the Twelve in

1835.



	I count it a blessing to be a representative now of the family of

Joseph and Hyrum, and acknowledge publicly that to follow my

great-grandfather, Joseph F. Smith, and both of my grandfathers, Hyrum

Mack Smith and Melvin J. Ballard, into the Council of the Twelve

Apostles is a great honor and responsibility. I will do my very best to

be the kind of a servant that is worthy of such a birthright.



	On several occasions I have been assured by my Brethren that they

felt my forefathers must have sustained my call in the councils on the

other side as well as the First Presidency, and the Council of the

Twelve on this side of the veil. But how is it that a call to serve in

the Church comes into the lives of sons and daughters of God? Let me

explore this with you for a few minutes.



By Their Own Choice and Agency



	To begin with, I am sure that our behavior in the premortal world

had a great deal to do with our birthright here upon the earth. I do

not pretend to understand the whole process, but I have come to a

comfortable assurance in my own heart that to be born in a land that is

free, where men and women can worship God through the dictates of their

own feelings and consciences, is a great blessing. As you know, in many

countries of this world today a meeting such as this one could never be

held. The blessings of the abundance of physical conveniences of life

that every one of us enjoys is overwhelming when we compare our

abundant life to the struggle for survival that is ever present in many

parts of the earth.



	Nineteen eighty-five took me twice to the vast continent of

Africa, where I walked among the people and observed firsthand their

terrible suffering. For example, the value of a tent placed on bare

earth to shield the children of God from the cold night winds of the

desert and the scorching heat of the day has a new and impactful

meaning to me that is very difficult to express in words. You and I

have beds with mattresses and bedding to sleep on. We have hot and cold

running water at our command. We have sanitation facilities to help

control disease and sickness of all kinds. Our homes are heated, and

some are air conditioned. Many of us have comfortable air-conditioned

automobiles in which to travel.



	The question could well be asked, How in the plan of our Heavenly

Father do some of his children have so much while others have so

little? One answer for us who are sitting here tonight is found in this

mandate from the Lord, "For of him unto whom much is given much is

required" (D&C 82:3).



	God the Father and Jesus Christ his Son have every right to expect

much from you and me. In the great plan of salvation all of the mortal

children of our Father in Heaven, while in the premortal world, elected

by their own choice and agency to follow the Lord rather than Lucifer.

By this choice we earned the right to receive a physical body of flesh

and bones. The blessing of our mortal body perhaps will not be fully

understood until we pass from this life into the next one. We know,

however, that to receive this physical body is absolutely essential to

"dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever" (D&C

76:62).



	By our mortal life we can experience the testing process of

exercising our free agency. The right to make our own choices is

essential to our preparation for celestial living in the presence of

God. We learn by this process to either love and embrace the teachings

and commandments of the gospel of Jesus Christ or to follow the

temptings and enticements of the devil. Every human soul makes hundreds

of choices daily, and when these are compounded and totaled they will

determine our eternal destiny. Never forget that one of life's most

important choices is to repent and turn away from evil to embrace

gospel standards. This process is part of the great plan of life. In

our case, as members of the true Church of Jesus Christ, we have the

perfect standard or guideline for knowing how to choose the right way

to live in mortality. The gospel of Jesus Christ with its teachings and

commandments leading to eternal life is what we must choose to follow.

We are blessed while living in mortality to have both physical body and

spirit joined together. In this state of our existence we are on the

road to becoming as our Father in Heaven. For he said after the fall of

Adam, "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil"

(Genesis 3:22).



	The prophet Alma explains the great experience of mortality as a

probationary state or existence.



	And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has

been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; nevertheless

there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore

this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a

time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us,

which is after the resurrection of the dead. [Alma 12:24]



	And so we are here in mortality with a physical body and the

spirit united to help us work out our own salvation. The spirit within

each one of us must learn to bring our body under subjection. By the

power of our spirit, we must bring ourselves under the control of the

commandments and teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We should

always remember that to die without embracing the gospel and living its

commandments will only complicate our eternal progress, because it is

far easier to repent and change while living in this probationary

state. Do not suppose that your desires and appetites will change

because you die. We will surely rise from the grave with the same

desires and habits that were present upon our interment to the grave.

Therefore, as Alma pied,



	And now, my brethren, I wish from the inmost part of my heart,

yea, with great anxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my

words, and cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the day of your

repentance. [Alma 13:27]



The Struggle Between Good and Evil



	The challenges to live in the world are great. In many ways these

challenges are more difficult for you young people today than they were

when I was your age. In a recent issue of a national magazine the whole

issue of morality was examined. Let me quote from that article:



	The Pentagon launches an investigation of 45 of the nations top

100 defense contractors for bribery, kickbacks, false claims, bid

rigging and overcharges  ....



	[A] stockbrokerage [ firm ] pleads guilty to defrauding banks of

tens of millions of dollars and is fined 2 million dollars.



	Major student cheating scandals are disclosed at Stanford

University, the University of California at Berkeley and the University

of Southern California.



	Professional baseball players admit to using cocaine, a major

point-shaving scandal hits the Tulane University basketball squad, and

several other schools are cited for recruiting violations.



	Kickbacks to Salvation Army officials are admitted by two

Philadelphia exporters who said they sought favored treatment in

purchasing used clothes from the charitable organization.



	A New York socialite whose ancestors go back to Mayflower Pilgrims

is set free with a token fine after confessing that she ran a

million-dollar-a-year prostitution ring  ....



I'm just highlighting from this article, and I want to continue.



	... Gambling used to be widely condemned. Now, many more churches

run bingo games, and 22 states and the District of Columbia operate

lotteries. Drinking used to be widely condemned. Now, nearly two thirds

of Americans drink at least occasionally.



	Premarital sex used to be widely condemned. Today, it is

commonplace, although many still consider it a moral lapse. Federal

statistics show that about half of the women who married during the

early 1960s said they had sex before their weddings. Now, more than

four fifths report they had sexual experience. On average, U.S. girls

have their first sexual intercourse at age 16, boys at 15 1/2.

Premarital sex is seen as part of discovery."....



	Notes a woman college student at Northwestern University: 'There

has to be concern about birth control and getting an education before

people engage in premarital sex, but it's not wrong. It's perfectly

natural. "...



	... A recent Yale University study for Psychology Today of 7,500

readers showed that 45 percent of women as well as 45 percent of men

said they had cheated on their spouses....



	For some, honesty depends on the circumstances. As sociologist

Seymour Martin Lipset of Stanford observes: "Everybody lies. But the

question is, to what extent do you consciously deceive others? Do you

exaggerate to impress a girl or a guy? Do you fudge on your curriculum

vitae to impress an employer? Do you twist the truth to succeed in your

job?



	No one knows whether the truth is more twisted today than in the

past. But some scholars think it is ....



	... [Lying] allows many people to excuse dishonesty on grounds

"that it does not matter whether or not we lie when we have a good

reason for doing so."

|P54 

	A major legal and ethical dilemma for Americans is abortion.

Before 1973, it was illegal in most states and practiced sub rosa.

Today, it is legal in most cases, widely practiced and under furious

attack  ....



	Teen pregnancy has become so acute that groups across the nation

are trying to combat it....



	Cheating, stealing and lying at work have 'really popped to the

surface since the recessions of the early 1980s, "... "honesty tests"

for job applicants [show that] 3 of every 10 prospective retail workers

admit stealing from a previous employer"....



	"Teaching values has always been a cooperative effort by the

family and the social institutions" ... "Now, you have TV instead, but

it is hard to see what moral values, if any, are taught by TV. The

institutions where moral values are usually reinforced have fallen

apart."



	Frank Newman, president of the Education Commission of the States,

states that "by the time the typical student graduates from high

school, he or she has spent more hours with TV (15, 000) than with

teachers (12, 000)."



	The U.S. News poll showed that 20 percent of young adults have

tried cocaine and half of those under 30 have smoked marijuana. Atty.

Gen. Edwin Meese, citing the nation's 24 million cocaine users, warns,

"A national disaster is in the making." ["The State of American

Values," U.S. News & World Report, 9 December 1985, pp. 54-58 passim]



	What is the impact of television shows that present violence,

killings, sex, the image of wealth, the power of money? Who do you

suppose is influencing the writers and producers of such programs?

Surely Satan has his hand in this programming. As our Heavenly Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ observe how you and I live our lives in this

present environment, as they see how we deal with the struggle between

good and evil, they come to know us, to trust us with the work of

leading their Church. We demonstrate every day that we are learning to

choose the right and to depart from evil. Through this process we are

preparing to meet and live with God.



The Power of Revelation



	The power of revelation from God to man is the way the Lord

reveals his will to his servants. The process of extending calls to

members to serve in the Church is a process of revelation. If you are

true and faithful to the teachings of the commandments of the gospel,

if you repent and turn away from sin, revelation will come to your

Church leaders at the ward, stake, and general levels to call you to

serve in the callings you have prepared yourself to receive as a result

of your exercising your free agency in choosing to keep the

commandments of the Lord.



	As an example of this process, let me share with you an experience

I had when I was on assignment in South America. I was asked by the

Brethren to divide a stake and choose new leadership for the new stake.



	I realize that to some of you this may not sound like a very

difficult assignment, but let me assure you that it is a very important

responsibility. The reality was that I knew the Lord had already

chosen, by the process we have been discussing, the man he wanted for

stake president. You should know that the General Authorities seek to

know the mind and will of the Lord in order to extend on his behalf the

call from him to his sons and daughters to serve.



	In this instance, when I arrived at the stake to begin the

interviewing of the potential leaders, the current stake president

advised me there were only three men who could possibly be considered

to serve as the stake president. Since I do not speak nor understand

Spanish, everything that was said to me had to be translated and

everything I said also needed translating. I explained to the stake

president that the procedure of the Church was that I would interview

all of the priesthood leaders living within the new stake.



	Since there were over thirty priesthood leaders to be interviewed

through the interpreter, that process took considerably longer than

normal. Late Saturday night I had not found the person the Lord wanted

to preside over this new stake. I reviewed once more with the current

stake president all of the potential leaders. We discovered that there

was one man who lived in a small district that was being incorporated

into the new stake. I inquired after this man and learned that the

reason he had not come in for an interview was that he was at home

caring for his wife and three children who were ill. Telephone

communication, as you know, is very limited in many parts of South

America; so it required sending someone out to this brother's home,

which was some distance away from where we were, to invite him to meet

with me early Sunday morning.



	When this fine man arrived I interviewed him, and I knew this was

the man to be the new stake president. You see, he had been preparing

through thirty-four years of living for this call by repenting of his

sins and striving to keep the commandments of the gospel of Jesus

Christ, by serving a full-time mission, by accepting responsibilities

and leadership and teaching positions in the Church. The Prophet Joseph

Smith taught that "Every man who has a calling to minister to the

inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand

Council of heaven before this world was" (Teachings, p. 365). I believe

this. It behooves everyone of us to live as close to the teachings of

the gospel as we can so we will not forfeit our foreordained

opportunities to serve the Lord.



	I called this faithful brother to serve at 7:20 a.m. Sunday

morning, knowing that the general session of the conference would begin

at 10:00 a.m. It seemed almost impossible to me how he would ever

select his counselors, organize his high council, and make other calls

to leadership in such a short period of time.



	Expressing my concern that we were under such a terrible time

constraint, this wonderful man smiled, reached into his shirt pocket,

pulled out a piece of paper, and then said to me, "Brother Ballard, I

am prepared. You see, I was told by the Spirit last night that I would

be called to be the stake president. Here are my counselors, here are

the men I would like to be my high council, here are the others to

serve as leaders of the stake."



	The new stake was organized and the leaders sustained during the

10:00 a.m. session. Immediately following the general session I set

apart the leadership of the new stake. All was done through the use of

interpreters and was possible because the principle of revelation

directed the callings of Heavenly Father's children.



	There is no doubt in my mind that the principle of revelation

directs the Church today. I also know that our lives are carefully

observed by Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We prepare to

serve by the daily decisions we make, and these righteous decisions

prepare us to fulfill the will of the Lord in helping to build the

Church and the kingdom of God.



	Now as we embark on the new year of 1986, I pray that the Lord

will bless each one of us that we might make the necessary commitments

in our own lives to live worthy of our membership in the only true

church of Jesus Christ. May we prepare ourselves to serve the Lord in

whatever capacity he may desire to call us. May the Lord bless each of

us to repent where repentance is necessary,, to choose to do the right

things in life for the right reasons.



A Sure Witness



	In closing, I feel impressed, my brothers and sisters, to share

with you another very special experience that occurred on Sunday,

November 10, in that same fourth-floor council room. I am the newest

special witness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I testify to you that our

Heavenly Father's will was manifest through the spirit of revelation

when the Council of the Twelve unanimously sustained the ordination and

setting apart of President Ezra Taft Benson as the President of The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Let no one question or

wonder whether or not the power of revelation is manifest in the

leading councils of the Church, for I witness to you tonight that as I

stood in the circle as the junior apostle and laid my hand--along with

the hands of the other apostles--upon the head of President Benson, the

confirming witness came to me that the will of the Lord was being

fulfilled on that sacred occasion. This experience was another sure

witness to me that God our Father does live, that Jesus Christ is his

son, that by the power of revelation the will of the Lord is made

manifest in the callings of his sons and daughters to serve them in the

Church.



	May God bless every one of us here tonight that we will so live to

have the Spirit of the Lord with us to help us make wise choices in the

daily decisions of our lives. May you students especially be blessed to

live in this world without ever succumbing to the evil practices that

are so prevalent all about you.



Anchor Your Faith



	I would pray a blessing to be upon each one of you, by the

apostolic power that is mine under the ordination I have discussed with

you tonight, that you might anchor your faith in the divine mission of

this Church, in the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and in the

words of the scriptures that he brought forth to us in this last day,

even the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of

Great Price.



	You need anchors, my dear young brothers and sisters. Anchor your

faith. If you are wavering for any reason, go to your knees, pick up

your scriptures, study, ponder and pray, call down the blessings of

heaven, and by the same power that we talked about this evening, the

power of revelation, God will reveal to your soul the truthfulness of

this great work.



	There have been many attacks in many parts of the earth against

the Church. We have been through some difficult times in these last few

months. But I suggest that times could well get much worse than they

are now, and the anchor to your faith and the anchor to mine must be on

our own personal witness and revelation that the gospel of Jesus Christ

has in fact been restored to the earth in its fullness through the

Prophet Joseph Smith.



	I have been rereading the history of the Church. We just don't

know what trouble is compared to the problems of the early leaders of

this Church. I submit to you that those who remained true and faithful

and went forward to establish this great work on the face of the earth

were those men and women who had an unwavering testimony, a witness in

their own hearts by the power of revelation earned by their own study,

pondering, and prayers.



	We love you. You are the future of the Church. I pray God will

bless every one of you individually in your lives. If you are troubled

with something, go to him in your prayers. If you need help, go to your

bishops. Trust in the power of revelation and in the power of faith,

which is the great power that moves this work forward.



	May you be prepared to do all that you know how to in living your

lives in such a way that you will be prepared to be chosen by the Lord

to serve this great Church. This is my humble prayer that I offer in

your behalf and mine in the sacred and beloved name of the Lord Jesus

Christ. Amen.





                  Becoming "Meek and Lowly in Heart"



                          Patricia T. Holland



	Both Patricia Terry Holland and her husband, President Jeffrey R.

Holland, were born in St. George, Utah, and went to Dixie College. They

were married while attending BYU, and their first child was born while

Jeff was working on his master's degree. Moving from Provo to New

Haven, Connecticut, for Jeff to attend Yale University, the Hollands

returned to Provo, only to move to Salt Lake City when Jeff became the

Church commissioner of education.



	In the midst of all this activity and moving around, Patricia

Holland became the mother of three children, Matthew, Mary Alice, and

David, supervised the packing and unpacking, and made their various

residences seem like home, finding time to practice her music and to

work in the Church. She served four times as Relief Society president

and also in the Young Women and Primary organizations. And then, in May

1984, Patricia was called to be first counselor to Ardeth G. Kapp,

President of the Young Women organization of the Church.



	Both Sister Holland and President Holland spoke in the devotional

assembly held in the Marriott Center on 21 January 1986.



	I will never forget the first time Jeff tried to kiss me. We were

standing in the entryway of my home when my mother unexpectedly walked

into the room and caught him in the act. Jeff, being the fast thinker

he is, said, "Hi, Sister Terry. Pat and I were just trading gum."



	Later my mother, in retelling the incident to my father, said,

"Jeff's confidence in a difficult situation amazes me. The fact that he

can think that fast on his feet will certainly ensure his success."



	My father smiled at me and said, "Confidence is a great blessing

to anyone who has it. But Jeff is also smart enough to know what to

have confidence in. Both of you need to remember that your greatest

strength and surest success will come through humility and dependence

upon the Lord."



	I have thought a lot about my father's wisdom, especially now when

it seems our society appears to value success and the whole self-image

package at almost any price.



	Meekness and lowliness in heart are certainly not characteristics

any contemporary young urban professional--an honest-to-goodness

"Yuppy"--would want to claim. Instead, it seems that these young men

and women want to be regarded as totally confident in manner, dependent

upon no one, assertive, and excessively protective of their image of

self--in short, one who is always on the move up.



	Yet so much that the scriptures teach us suggests that we ought to

be on our way down, down into the depths of humility, stripped of our

pride and our vanity, and, yes, stripped of a lot of our Yuppy-like

materialism. Listen to this from the Savior:



But he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he

that is chief, as he that doth serve.



	For [who] is greater, he that sitteth at [the table], or he that

serveth? is [it] not he that sitteth at [the table]? but I am among you

as he that serveth. [Luke 22:26-27]



	It doesn't sound as if the Lord has called us to astonish the

world by marvelous enterprise, but he has said, "[Come] learn of me;

for I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29).



	Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Council of the Twelve has told us

being meek and lowly of heart does not mean being used or abused--or

being a "doormat" for others. "Meekness," he says, "is more than

self-restraint; it is the presentation of self in a posture of kindness

and gentleness, reflecting certitude, strength, serenity, and a healthy

self-esteem and self-control"( "Meekness--A Dimension of True

Discipleship," Ensign, March 1983, p. 71; emphasis added).



	In a recent episode of "Family Ties," Michael J. Fox's character,

Alex Keaton, who is hardly your classic example of meekness and

lowliness of heart, was explaining to his younger sister Jennifer why

he had agreed to help her with a homework assignment. They were, he

said in effect, true Yuppies at heart--solid competitors on their way

up.



	"When you were four years old," he told Jennifer, "I watched you

making sand castles with your friend Brucie. Brucie made a beautiful

castle and your mound looked like the servants' quarters. You were mad

that he had made a better castle, and so you told him that the ice

cream man was coming. Once Brucie looked away, you crushed his castle."



	"See, Jennifer," Alex said, "you are like me. You will do anything

to get ahead, even if it means crushing your best friend's castle. I am

proud of you."



	Of course, Alex on that show is something of a spoof, a caricature

of materialistic upward mobility. But let's take him at face value for

a moment. Why is it so necessary always to be on top of the ladder and

to be regarded by others as successful? Why is it so terrible to admit

that we do have weaknesses or to admit that we do make mistakes and are

not always as competent as we would like to be?



	President Ezra Taft Benson warns us that one of Satan's greatest

tools is pride, which can "cause a man or a woman to center so much

attention on self that he or she becomes insensitive to their Creator

or fellow beings" ("This Is a Day of Sacrifice," Ensign, May 1979, p.

34).



	Satan uses that very delicate line between self-confidence and

pride to blind us. He can keep us so frenzied in our efforts to protect

our self-esteem that we are blinded to the one quality that would

assure it--true dependence upon the Lord.



	The Lord reveals his secrets to the meek, for they are "easy to be

entreated" (Alma 7:23). Indeed, I have come to realize that my own

personal promptings from the Lord most often occur when I have been

brought down into the depths of humility and suddenly feel a lot less

confident in my own ability and much more dependent upon the Lord. He

certainly uses my pain as his megaphone for an otherwise dull ear. I am

beginning to see that the very experiences I would have chosen to run

away from at the time have really been the major motivational turning

points in my life. Perhaps this is the reason President Spencer W.

Kimball, who achieved so much success through humility, said he worked

on that challenge every single day of his life. He knew that if we were

to achieve success in this life and eternal life in the world to come,

we would need to become totally dependent upon the Lord.



	When asked how to remain humble, President Kimball offered this

formula:



First, you evaluate yourself. What am I? I am the circle. I am the hole

in the doughnut. I would be nothing without the Lord. My breath, my

brains, my hearing, my sight, my locomotion, my everything depends upon

the Lord. That is the first step and then we pray, and pray often, and

we will not get up from our knees until we have communicated. The line

may be down; we may have let it fall to pieces, but I will not get up

from my knees until I have established communication--if it is twenty

minutes, if it is all night like Enos  ....  If it takes all day long,

you start on your knees until your unhumbleness has dissipated, until

you feel the humble spirit and realize, "I could die this minute it

were not for the Lord's good grace. I am dependent upon him--totally

dependent upon him." [TSWK, pp. 233-34]



	That kind of counsel may not sound like something Alex Keaton can

handle, but perhaps the rest of us could give it a try.



	It seems very clear to me that if we can have much more confidence

in the presence of God, then we will not be nearly so dependent upon

nor need the approval, the acceptance, and the admiration of men. And

we remind young Alex what the Lord has promised in return, "I will pour

out my Spirit upon you, and great shall be your blessing--yea, even

more than if you should obtain treasures of earth" (D&C 19:38).



	May I share with you the greatest testimony I have of this truth.

I have silently watched over the years as the confidence in the young

man who once tried to kiss me has turned from youthful courage to

perfect faith and total dependence upon the Lord. He has always gone to

the Lord for help, but never more than now--and never more than for

you. And even though he is getting a bit lumpy, graying at the temples,

and retaining more of his laugh wrinkles, his lowliness of heart makes

him beautiful to me.



	It is my prayer that we might have eyes that really see how pride

can destroy our peace. And that our ears might really hear when he

calls, "Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall

find rest unto your souls" (Matthew 11:29; emphasis added). Of that I

bear testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.





                     Oh, Lord, Keep My Rudder True



                          Jeffrey R. Holland



	President Jeffrey R. Holland and his wife, Patricia Terry Holland,

are natives of Utah's Dixie. After serving a mission to England, Jeff

returned to his hometown of St. George where both he and Patricia

graduated from Dixie College and then came to BYU. They were married

before Jeff received his baccalaureate degree with highest honors in

1965, and their first child was born in Provo while he was working on

his master's degree. He was a seminary teacher in Hayward, California,

and Seattle, Washington, before being able to take up graduate studies

at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he received his

Ph.D. in American Studies in 1973.



	From New Haven, the Hollands returned to Provo, where Jeff was

dean of Religious Instruction at BYU before he became the Church

commissioner of education. In 1980 he was called to be president of

Brigham Young University.



	Both Sister Holland and President Holland spoke in the devotional

held in the Marriott Center on 21 January 1986.



Matters of Loyalty



	A recent event on our campus helps set the stage for my remarks

today. It was covered thoroughly by the press, including an excellent

editorial published in the Daily Universe.



	The date was November 16, 1985--just over two months ago. We made

history. Television covered it, the print media published it, and in

the best Clint Eastwood fashion, we made Beano Cook's day. BYU booed

its own quarterback.



	One of America's truly distinguished philosophers, Josiah Royce,

wrote:



Loyalty is for the loyal man not only a good, but for him the chief

amongst all the moral goods of his life, because it furnishes... him a

personal solution [to ] the hardest of [all] human... problems, the

problem: "For what do I live?" [The Philosophy of Loyalty (New York:

Macmillan Co., 1908), p. 57]



It is loyalty--loyalty to true principles and true people and honorable

institutions and worthy ideals--that unifies our purpose in life and

defines our morality. Where we have no such loyalties or convictions,

no standards against which to measure our acts and their consequences,

we are unanchored and adrift, "driven with the wind and tossed," says

the scripture (James 1:6) until some other storm or problem or appetite

takes us another direction for an equally short and unstable period of

time. The older I get--which isn't old enough yet--the more I believe

Professor Royce must have been right. "For what do I live?" is, in a

sense, the inquiry every LDS missionary invites his or her investigator

to make. If there is honest consideration of that question, then

eternal truth has a fighting chance to bless the children of God. And

such matters of loyalty and honor are important at BYU, for "to make

[young people] capable of honesty," according to John Ruskin,"is the

beginning of education." Samuel Johnson said it even better, "Integrity

without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity

is dangerous and dreadful" (Emerson Roy West, Vital Quotations [Salt

Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968], p. 177).



	Let me go back to Robbie Bosco. There are a lot of reasons why

that booing incident bothers me. First of all it bothers me that any

BYU fan would boo anybody for any reason. If someone can explain to me

the Christianity of that, I invite you to do so quickly. Obviously it

bothers me that such an experience would be seared by Mr. Cook into the

entire national memory as the most regrettable moment of the entire

collegiate football season.



	It bothers me that we would do this to a fellow student, a

neighbor, a friend, a convert to the Church in this case. Not to

mention, of course, that he also led us to two of our greatest years in

BYU football history, including two conference championships, two

post-season bowl games, a victory in the famed Kick-Off Classic, one

undefeated season, and a national championship.



	It bothers me that a very small handful of individuals could cast

a cloud over a very fine game (which, by the way, we went on to win

against a team that would end up fifth in the nation), and also cast

something of a cloud over the whole season and, at least for me, cast a

bit of a cloud over BYU football itself. At the same time I'm confident

that this small handful of rabid fans on virtually every other day of

the week are probably pretty decent folks who wouldn't think of

speaking so shamefully to anyone's face but who somehow get caught

up-or get caught down, as the case may be--in the fever of a game and

watch their boorish behavior increase in direct proportion to the

anonymity of the crowd and their own safe distance from a blitzing

linebacker. Someone once said that no individual snowflake ever felt

any responsibility for an avalanche. Maybe that is true in some

activities on our campus as well.



	What I wish to ask of you today is to be the kind of person who

stands loyally by the principles and people and institutions to which

you have declared allegiance, and that probably have given you most of

the blessings you enjoy. In that sense what I say here has very little

to do with fans or football or Beano Cook, whoever he is. The booing of

a fellow human being is probably soon forgotten (except, perhaps, by

the booee), so we apologize to Robbie and all others who have received

unchristian treatment at our hands and move on to ask the larger

question: "If every BYU student had exactly the same sense of loyalty I

have, what kind of school, or church, or nation, or world would ours

be?"



	How much pressure is too much pressure to remain true? How much

disappointment is too much disappointment to stand firm? How far is too

far to walk with a discouraged friend, or a struggling spouse, or a

troubled child? When the opposition heats up and the going gets tough,

how much of what we thought was important to us will we defend and how

much, in that inevitable tug and pull of life, will we find it

convenient to give away?



	As with so many abstractions that need to be made concrete, our

homes and families are very good settings for an initial application.

Would we, for example, stand by a younger brother or an older sister in

times of despair or pain? Would we defend to the death our parents if

they really needed our help? Even if our prayers are embarrassingly

skimpy, don't we at least pray for the members of our family? I assume

that those questions are easy to answer, because we say something like:

"Well, I love them," or "I owe it to them," or "They would do the same

thing for me."



	Yet what we so often fail to remember is that we should feel that

way about everyone, that "family" is the true Christian appellation for

the entire human race. Have we made the Sunday greeting of "Brother

Jones and Sister Brown" too common to remember why we say it? Has our

hasty reference to "Father in Heaven" grown stale and insignificant?

Will we ever widen our circle of influence beyond that already claimed

by the Pharisees, who even in their benighted state did not boo other

Pharisees? "What reward have ye?... And if ye salute your brethren

only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?"

(Matthew 5:46-47). In matters of loyalty we all have a long way yet to

go.



Your Brother's Brother



	The late Alvin R. Dyer faced something of this challenge when he

was a bishop many years ago. He had a member of his ward who said that

smoking was the greatest single enjoyment he got out of life. He said,

"At night I set my alarm every hour on the hour and wake up to smoke a

cigarette. Bishop, I love smoking just too much to give it up."



	A few evenings later the man's doorbell rang at 10:00 p.m. There

on the doorstep was Bishop Dyer.



	"Well, Bishop, what on earth are you doing here at this hour? I'm

ready to go to bed."



	"I know," said Bishop Dyer. "I want to see you set that alarm and

watch you wake up and smoke."



	"Good heavens, I can't do that in front of you," the man said.



	"Oh, sure you can. Don't worry about me. I'll just sit in the

corner somewhere and be very quiet."



	The man invited him in and they talked about everything Bishop

Dyer could conjure up to hold the man's interest. "I pursued every idea

and conversation I could think of to keep him speaking. I thought he

was going to throw me out a number of times, but shortly after three

o'clock in the morning I said, 'Well, heavenly days! You've missed five

alarms already. Please forgive me! I have ruined your evening's

enjoyment. The night is such a disappointment now that you might as

well just go to bed and forget the rest of the alarms this once!'"



	Then note this language:



	At that moment [I] felt [in him] a sense of honor and a dignify 

....  He looked at me with a peculiar smile... and he said, 'All right,

I will." [And] he never touched another cigaret [for the rest of his

life]. [See Alvin R. Dyer, Conference Report, April 5, 1965, p. 85.]



	How would you describe Brother Dyer's loyalty? Was it loyalty to

that inactive man, or loyalty to the members of his ward generally, or

loyalty to his office as bishop, or loyalty to the Word of Wisdom, or

loyalty to the principle of revelation, or loyalty to the Church, or

loyalty to God, or--well, you get my point.



	His Father in Heaven asks Cain, "Where is Abel thy brother?" and

Cain fires back, "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9;

emphasis added). Maybe the answer to that question is--as Professor

Chauncey Riddle once said to me--"No, Cain, you are not expected to be

your brother's keeper. But you are expected to be your brother's

brother."



	Consider for a moment the kind of treachery Cain introduced into

the world--the betrayal of family, friends, and fellow citizens. His

legacy is a chilling one and his colleagues are legion.



	Dante reserve[d] the innermost circle of hell [for this crowd,]

for those who [turn against their own]. There he has placed Judas,

Brutus, and Cassias--the most notorios of traitors--in the three mouths

of Satan himself Revealingly, the poet does not rely on the image of

fire for his description of their plight. The souls of traitors are

held fast in a lake of ice. Clearly, the worst of sins against [one's]

brother [or sister] are those of the frozen heart. Those who are

disloyal to others have chosen a life isolated and immobile, a life, in

effect, hostile to life, for which the only adequate image is a sunless

waste of ice. [William F. May, A Catalogue of Sins (New York: Holt,

Rinehart and Winston, 1967), pp. 111 - 12]



	Well, if we are not called upon to defend a member of the family

quite so openly as Cain was, perhaps we will have opportunities to

defend the Church.



"True Blue, Through and Through"



	After four years of missionary service in the Hawaiian Islands

(begun at age fifteen, by the way), young Joseph F. Smith returned to

the mainland and began making his way back to the Salt Lake Valley. But

these were difficult times. Feelings toward the Latter-day Saints were

running very high. The terrible experience at Mountain Meadows was

fresh in the minds of many people. Polygamy had become a national

political issue, and at that very hour Albert Sidney Johnston's army

was on its way to the Utah territory under orders from the president of

the United States. Less disciplined than the U.S. Army were many

frontiersmen scattered abroad who vowed openly they would murder every

Mormon anywhere they could be found.



	It was back into that world that nineteen-year-old Joseph F. Smith

drove his team and wagon. One evening the little company with which he

traveled had barely made camp before a company of drunken men rode in

on horseback, cursing and swearing and threatening to kill. Some of the

older men, when they heard the riders coming, had gone down into the

brush by the creek, waiting out of sight for the band to pass. But

young Joseph F. had been out a distance from the camp gathering wood

for the fire and so was not aware of the potential problem. With the

openness of youth he walked back toward the camp, only to realize too

late the difficult circumstance he now faced almost totally alone.



	His first thought was to drop the wood and run toward the creek,

seeking shelter in the trees in his flight. Then the thought came to

him, "Why should I run from [my faith]?" With that compelling sense of

loyalty firmly in his mind, he continued to carry his armful of wood to

the edge of the fire. As he was about to deposit his load, one of the

ruffians, pistol cocked and pointed squarely at the young man's head,

cursed as only a drunken rascal can and demanded in a loud, angry

voice, "I'm a killer of Mormons, boy. Are you a Mormon?"



	Without a moment of hesitation and looking the heathen directly in

the eye, Joseph F., scarcely old enough to be entering the MTC, boldly

answered, "Yes, siree; died in the wool; true blue, through and

through."



	The answer was given so boldly and without any sign of fear that

it completely disarmed this belligerent man. In his bewilderment he put

down his pistol, grasped the young missionary by the hand, and said,

"Well, you are the ---- ---- bravest man I ever met! Shake, young

fellow, I'm glad to see a lad that stands up for his convictions."



	Years later, while serving as the president of the Church, Joseph

F. Smith said that he truly expected take at point-blank range the full

charge from the barrel of that man's pistol. But he also said that

after his initial inclination to run, it never again entered his mind

to do anything but stand up for his beliefs and face the death that

appeared to be the inevitable result of such conviction. (Taken from

Joseph Fielding Smith, Life of Joseph F. Smith [Salt Lake City: Deseret

News Press, 1938], p. 188-89.)



	Montaigne's ancient cry of the storm-tossed sailor comes to mind:

"Oh, Lord, thou shalt save me if thou please; if not, thou shalt lose

me; yet Lord will I keep my rudder true" (see Michel Eyquem de

Montaigne, Essays, book II, chapter 16).



How much pressure is too much pressure to remain true?



	But of course it is not enough to be loyal to just any cause. What

carried nineteen-year-old Joseph F. Smith so courageously was his

answer to the question: "For what do I live?" It was for gospel truth

that he stood up to be counted and for which he was willing to die.



They Did Not Falter



	Brigham Young certainly had repeated opportunities to hold a

steady course, particularly in those early and difficult years at the

side of the Prophet Joseph Smith. While the First Presidency was away

from Kirtland attempting to stabilize the difficult financial

circumstances they faced in the winter of 1836-37, a council was called

by those who were opposed to Joseph Smith's continuing in his office as

prophet and president of the Church.



On this occasion [Brigham Young] "rose up... in a plain and forcible

manner" and told them "that Joseph was a Prophet, and I knew it, and

that they might rail and slander him as much as they pleased; they

could not destroy the appointment of the Prophet of God, they could

only destroy their own authority, cut the thread that bound them to the

Prophet and to God, and sink themselves to hell."



	Some of those present reacted violently [toward Brigham. One]

Jacob Bump... fancied himself pugilist. While several held him back, he

twisted and turned, shouting, "How can I keep my hands off that man?"

"Lay them on," responded Brigham, if will give you any relief!"



	But the man didn't lay them on. A few nights later Brigham heard a

man running through the Kirtland streets at midnight shouting loudly

and denouncing the Prophet Joseph. Even at that late hour Brigham

jumped out of bed, went into the street and



jerked [the man] round, and assured him that if he did not stop his

noise, and let the people enjoy their sleep... I would cowhide him on

the spot, for we had the Lord's Prophet right here, and we did not want

the devil's prophet yelling [up and down] the streets.



	These were days of genuine "crisis," he reported, "when earth and

hell seemed leagued to overthrow the Prophet and the Church of God. The

knees of many of the strongest men in the Church faltered." But Brigham

Young did not falter, yet before that year was over his own life was in

jeopardy for such loyalty. On December 22 he said:



I had to leave to save my life  ....



	... I left Kirtland in consequence of the fury of the mob, and the

spirit that prevailed in the apostates, who had threatened to destroy

me because I would proclaim, publicly and privately, that I knew by the

power of the Holy Ghost, that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the Most

High God. [Leonard Arrington, Brigham Young: American Moses (New York:

Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), pp. 56-61 passim]



	And what of Joseph Smith himself? Even as he was being dragged

away from his wife and children one more time, he said,



I am exposed to far greater danger from traitors among ourselves than

from enemies without, ... All the enemies upon the face of the earth

may roar and exert all their power to bring about my death, but they

can accomplish nothing, unless some who are among us and enjoy our

society... bring their united vengeance upon our heads. [HC 6, p. 152]



	And bring their united vengeance they did. Does a prophet of God

deserve that from his "friends?" What does one have a right to expect

from those who "enjoy our society?" (Remember that Macbeth's crime

against his king is all the more treacherous because Duncan was a guest

in Macbeth's house.) Is it possible that each of us who claims the

privileges and benefits of the kingdom of God will have our own fiery

furnace to pass through in which our loyalty is purified as

dramatically as it was for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego? Is there

some kind of battleground out there ahead of us, some kind of moral

Kirtland or metaphysical Carthage that will yet give us our chance to

stand up and be counted, like the 2,000 stripling warriors of whom it

was said, "They were ... true at all times in whatsoever thing they

were entrusted" (Alma 53:20)?



Your Word of Honor



	With so much that so many have loyally given to provide us with

what we have, perhaps you can imagine my disappointment when from time

to time a few who accept the university's opportunity and the Church's

significant financial contribution then violate those standards of

behavior and propriety and integrity to which each has voluntarily

agreed. And lest anyone be mistaken, please be assured that I am not

speaking just now of crowd behavior at a ball game. I speak of a few

clubs and club members and others who brag of drinking beer and

partying like would-be prostitutes and then seem absolutely amazed that

they and their groups are in terminal jeopardy at the university. I

speak of returned missionaries who violate temple covenants, of a

faculty member who violates the tender testimony of a youth, of thieves

on a campus that now must post warning signs in "high theft: areas"

that are a disgrace to everything BYU stands for. I speak of off-campus

housing violations that see flagrant abuse of our moral standards where

neither those guilty participants nor their roommates display enough

integrity to make a wrong circumstance right. Though these may not be

committed on the field of battle nor result in the death of a famous

figure, they seem to me nevertheless villainy and treachery

indeed--dishonesty of a terribly destructive kind.



	Karl G. Maeser, the first president of this university, once

wrote:



[My young friends,] I have been asked what I mean by word of honor. I

will tell you. Place me behind prison walls--walls of stone ever so

high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into the ground--there is a

possibility that in some way or another I may be able to escape; but

stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give

my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of that circle? No,

never! I'd die first! [West, Vital Quotations, p. 167]



	At the start of a new calendar year and the beginning of another

important academic semester, may I invite you to examine your very.

soul, to look deeply within your habits and inclinations and measure

your loyalties against the divine standard of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

How prepared are you for the difficult things you may yet face in

acquiring an education or serving a mission or raising a family or

defending your beliefs? As preparation for the assault that will yet be

made upon your character and convictions, is it hoping too much to see

you cherish clear language and clean entertainment and hard work and

disciplined behavior? If we were, this very hour, in a fictional

foxhole somewhere against an enemy who put our eternal lives at risk,

would I be safe in your hands? Would you be safe in mine?



Sergeant Stewart



	More than thirty years ago about fifteen LDS soldiers crowded into

a frontline bunker in Korea to hold a Sunday service. They used their

canteen cups and C-ration crackers to bless and partake of the

sacrament. Then they held a testimony meeting. One young man introduced

himself simply as Sergeant Stewart from Idaho. He was a short, small

man about 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing about 150 pounds. His great

ambition had been to become a good athlete, but coaches considered him

too small for most team sports. So he had concentrated on individual

competition and had gained some success as a wrestler and a distance

runner. Sergeant Stewart related to his fourteen battle-weary brethren

an experience he had just had with his company commander, a giant of a

man named Lieutenant Jackson who was 6 feet 7 inches tall and weighed

245 pounds, an outstanding college athlete. The sergeant spoke of him

in glowing terms as a tremendous officer and a Christian gentleman,

inspiring those who were fortunate enough to serve under his command.



	Shortly before the Church service in which they now found

themselves, Sergeant Stewart had been assigned to a patrol under the

direction of Lieutenant Jackson. As they moved down near the base of a

hill they held, they were ambushed by enemy fire. The lieutenant out in

front was



riddled... by automatic small-arms fire. As he fell he managed to drag

himself to the shelter of a nearby rock... while the rest of the patrol

scrambled up the hill to regroup.



	Since he was next in command, the responsibility now fell upon

Sergeant Stewart. He [sent the] largest and seemingly strongest man...

down the hill to rescue the lieutenant. The others would provide him

with cover.



	The man was gone for approximately half an hour, only to return

and report that he could not budge the wounded officer--he was too

heavy .... The men started grumbling about getting out of there before

somebody else got hit. [Then] someone was heard to say, lets forget

about the lieutenant; after all, he's just a nigger!" At this point

Sergeant Stewart turned to his men, and pulling himself up to his full

65-inch stature, he spoke in very matter-of-fact tones: "I don't care

if he's black or green or any other color. Were not leaving without

him. He wouldn't leave any of us in similar circumstances. Besides,

he's our commanding officer and I love him like my own brother."



Then he headed down the hill alone.



	... When he finally reached [the lieutenant, the officer] was weak

from loss of blood, and he assured the sergeant that it was a hopeless

cause--there would be no way to get him back to the aid station in

time. It was then that Sergeant Stewart's great faith tn his Heavenly

Father came to his assistance. He took off his helmet, knelt beside his

fallen leader and said, "Pray with me, Lieutenant."...



	"Dear Lord," he pleaded, "I need strength--far beyond the capacity

of my physical body. This great man, thy son, who lies critically

wounded here beside me, must have medical attention soon. I need the

power to carry him up this hill to an aid station where he can receive

the treatment he needs to preserve his life. I know Father, that thou

hast promised the strength of ten to him whose heart and hands are

clean and pure. I feel that I can qualify. Please, Dear Lord, grant me

this blessing."



	Then he thanked his Father in Heaven for the power of prayer and

the privilege of holding the priesthood. He then put on his helmet,

reached down and picked up his fallen friend, cradled him over his

shoulders and carried him back up the hill to safety (from Ben F.

Mortensen, "Sergeant Stewart," The Instructor, March 1969, pp. 82-83).



Remaining True



	Someone else ascended a difficult hill once--with us cradled

carefully on his shoulders. But as Christ moved closer and closer to

Calvary, his defenders became fewer and fewer in number. As the

pressure mounted and the troubles increased, he said:



	... There are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from

the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray

him  ....



	From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more

with him. [John 6:64]



	Later, the Roman soldiers and the chief priests came to capture

him, "a great multitude with swords and staves," Matthew says. "Then

all the disciples forsook him, and fled" (Matthew 26: 47, 56).



	Enter Judas with the calculated kiss of betrayal. 



	We cannot know exactly what Judas was thinking nor why he chose

the path he did. Perhaps he did not think it would end that way. As

William F. Max, said:



[One who is disloyal] may not [have intended malice]  ....  He may even

be convinced that he accomplishes a certain good by his actions. In

these cases, it is well to be reminded that [some kinds of] betrayal

ha[ve] a war of producing results [far] beyond [our]... control. [A

sequence] more savage than [we] intended. [I take a certain stand or

make a certain speech toward another], only wanting to see him cut down

to size, but I may live to see him get cut to ribbons  ....



	"When Judas, his betrayer, saw that he was condemned, he repented

and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and

the elders, saying, 'I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.' They

said, 'What is that to us? See to it yourself'" (Matthew 27:3-4).

Precisely because everything has been placed beyond the traitor's

reach..., the sense of the irreversibility of it all overwhelming.

There is nothing left to be done. Judas hangs himself, [perhaps] as an

act of atonement, ... but [also perhaps] because no [act] of

atonement--from Judas--is [any longer] possible. [May, A Catalogue of

Sins, pp. 118-19]



	Yet it is also here in this hour, in absolute and utter

loneliness, that loyalty to principle and love for one's brothers and

sisters reaches its most exalted and eternal manifestation. Sweating

great drops of blood from every pore and pleading that the cup might

pass, yet Jesus remains true, submitting his will to that of his father

and determined to do the work of the kingdom. Moments later, with

taunts and spit and scorn and jeers, and spikes rending his perfect

flesh, principle triumphs over both passion and pain as the saving

sibling of us all prays for his brothers and sisters, "Father, forgive

them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).



	At this crucial time in your life I urge you to give your deepest

loyalties to the highest causes in eternity--those contained in the

life and mission and message of the Only Begotten Son of God. If we can

remain true there, with an eye single to that standard, all other

loyalties will fail naturally into place. Inasmuch as we do not sing at

the close of these devotionals, perhaps you will forgive me if I quote

two verses from two hymns before our benediction.



	To all who wish to know heaven's determination to stand by them in

difficult times, we sing:



The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose

I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I'll never, no never, no never forsake!

["How Firm a Foundation," Hymns, 1985, no. 85]



	And for the personal strength to stand true, even in such times of

personal pain, we sing more privately to ourselves:



He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;

He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat.

Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer him; be jubilant my feet!

Our God is marching on.

["Battle Hymn of the Republic," Hymns, 1985, no. 60]



	I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.





                         Keep His Commandments



                            Adney Y Komatsu



	Elder Adney Yoshio Komatsu was ordained a member of the First

Quorum of the Seventy in October 1976. Formerly president of the Tokyo

Temple, Elder Komatsu currently serves as a counselor in the Sunday

School Presidency and in the Utah South Area presidency. Born in

Hawaii, he served in the U.S. Army's 441st Counterintelligence Corps in

Japan during World War II. In 1954 he joined Honolulu Savings and Loan,

where he became senior vice-president and manager of the mortgage

division.



	The first General Authority of Japanese descent, Elder Komatsu

joined the Church in 1941 at the age of seventeen. He has served in

many leadership positions, including branch president, stake clerk,

high councilor, bishop, and president of the Northern Far East Mission.

He was appointed as Regional Representative in 1970 and sustained as an

Assistant to the Twelve in 1975.



	Elder Komatsu is married to Judy Nobue Fujitani, whom he baptized

in 1948. They are the parents of four children.



	This fireside address was given on 2 February 1986 in the Marriott

Center.



	Though my name is Japanese, and my roots are from Japan, I was

born and reared in Hawaii. We have Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi from Japan

among the General Authorities. He is the real Japanese General

Authority, and I am the imitation one.



	I recently celebrated my forty-fifth anniversary as a member of

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When I was baptized as

a young man of seventeen, I did not have a knowledge of the gospel, but

I knew for a surety that the Prophet Joseph Smith had seen the Father

and the Son in a grove of trees in upstate New York. The missionaries

taught me that story, and I gained a testimony of its truthfulness.



There Is a Law



	May I share with you tonight my testimony of how the multitude of

blessings from our Father in Heaven through his Son Jesus Christ are

available to us all as we obey and keep his commandments.



	In latter-day revelations we find,



	Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it

will rise with us in the resurrection.



	And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life

through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much

the advantage in the world to come. [D&C 130:18-19]



	To illustrate this point, I am reminded of an experience in Hawaii

while I was serving in a bishopric there. I was assigned to the MIA,

and at one time we needed a new president for the YWMIA and a new

superintendent for the YMMIA. As we met together to consider who should

fill the positions, the bishop asked that we kneel in prayer. He

petitioned the Lord, seeking inspiration and revelation for this

couple.



	After the amen was said, the bishop asked the first counselor if

he had any promptings, and he named a serviceman and his wife. The

husband was a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood and was not as active as

he should be because he had a smoking habit. The bishop asked for my

recommendation, and similarly the name of this couple had come very

strongly to my mind. The bishop had received the same impression.



	We immediately called the couple to the bishop's office and he

stated to the couple that the Lord had called them to be the

superintendent and president of the ward MIA. The brother immediately

put up his hands and said, "Bishop, thank you for your consideration,

but I cannot accept the calling because I have a smoking habit."



	The bishop reminded the brother that the calling was without the

cigarette. Then the brother started to tell of his long battle with

this habit. For the previous six years he had been trying to overcome

this smoking habit. (This was during the Korean War in 1954.) He would

abstain from smoking for six months and then would go out on duty

aboard ship. In the quiet and lonely hours on deck, he'd be standing in

the fantail of the ship, and from the opposite side would come a sailor

who would light up a cigarette. That smoke would drift toward his nose,

and the temptation was all too great for him to not ask for a puff.

After the puff he would feel guilty for breaking his long abstinence.



	This wise bishop, inspired by the Lord, asked this brother if he

loved his wife who sat next to him, and the brother was quick to answer

yes. "Even to the point of defending her honor with your life if

necessary?" he was asked. Without hesitation he quickly said yes again.

Then the bishop said to him, "Do you feel the same about your two

beautiful teen-age daughters?" And again he answered yes. The bishop

then shocked us all by calling this man a big liar. The brother

immediately stood up, flexed his big arms and fists, and said, "Nobody

calls me a liar in front of my wife. If you weren't my bishop you'd be

lying on the floor right now."



	The bishop asked the brother, "Are you really good and mad?" And

he replied, "Sure I am." Then this wise bishop said, "Please, listen

carefully to what I will tell you." Then he told this serviceman that

in one breath he was saying he loved his wife and his daughters so much

that he would even defend their honor with his life; yet in another

breath he said he could not accept a call from the Lord because a

cigarette habit was hampering his progress in this life to receive the

Melchizedek Priesthood and be ordained an elder so he could be sealed

to his wife and daughters for time and all eternity in the temple. The

bishop said to him, "What if you went to sea duty and your ship was

sunk and you died without being sealed to your wife and daughters? And

then your dear wife remarried a good man who took her and your

daughters to the temple to be sealed to him. What would become of you

in the next world? You should go home today, gather your family

together, pray about this, and ask the Lord for direction and help."



	The couple left the bishop's office and returned to their Sunday

School class. Before the class period was over, this brother came to me

and said that he and his wife would like to see the bishop again. As we

sat in the office he told the bishop, "I have no desire to smoke again

and will accept the calling." He further asked for a blessing to help

him to have faith, overcome his habit, and accomplish his goal. We gave

him a blessing.



	They served valiantly as a husband and wife team in leading the

ward MIA and did a fine job. He was later recommended to receive the

Melchizedek Priesthood and was ordained an elder. The bishopric and

many members of the ward were at the Hawaii Temple to witness the

sealing of the husband and wife and their two beautiful daughters.

There were many happy tears shed that day.



	The Lord says, "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven

before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are

predicated--And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by

obedience to that law upon which it is predicated" (D&C 130:20-21).



	This serviceman and his family moved from our ward to the naval

housing area in the Pearl Harbor Stake. He was called as the second

counselor in that stake's YMMIA presidency; still later he was

transferred to the Bremerton, Washington, shipyard. One day as I looked

at the Church News where they used to publish the pictures of new

bishoprics, I saw this brother sitting with a smile on his face and his

counselors seated next to him. He had been called as a new bishop! This

was about three years after that Sunday when the bishop had talked to

him. Surely the Lord is no respecter of persons and will bless all who

will order their lives in conformity with gospel principles.



	The Lord also said, "And again, I say unto you, I give unto you a

new commandment, that you may understand my will concerning you. Or, in

other words, I give unto you directions how you may act before me, that

it may turn to you for your salvation" (D&C 82:8-9).



	Then he said, "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but

when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise" (D&C 82:10).



	Brothers and sisters, let us follow the example of our Savior and

Redeemer, who always was obedient to the will of his Father in Heaven.



The Straight and Narrow Path



	In his book The Promised Messiah, Elder Bruce R. McConkie said

that



	Christ came to reveal his Father to mankind. There is no better

way to envision who and what the Father is than to come to know his

Son. The Son is in all respects as the Father. They look alike; each is

in the express image of the person of the other. Their thoughts are the

same; they speak forth the same eternal truths; and every deed done by

one is the same thing the other would do under the same circumstances.

[The Promised Messiah.. The First Coming of Christ (Salt Lake City.:

Deseret Book Company, 1978), pp. 17-18]



	Jesus said, "He that believeth in me, believeth not on me, but on

him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me" (John

12:44-45).



	Also, "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known

me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know

him, and have seen him. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father"

(John 14:6-7, 9).



	The Savior, though he was without sin, set the pattern that we

might follow, as he was baptized to take away the sins of the world.



	Nephi, the great Book of Mormon prophet, tells us:



	And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be

baptized with water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more

need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!



	And now, I would ask of you, my, beloved brethren, wherein the

Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water?



	Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy,

he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he

humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that

he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments. [2 Nephi

31:5-7]



	The Savior showed mankind the way, the straight and narrow path,

by which we should enter the gate, and we are promised if we endure to

the end and keep the commandments after baptism, we can gain eternal

life.



	The Lord knew that earthly experience does not come easily, but by

hard work and long-suffering. He himself became the author of the plan

of salvation through obedience. The sufferings of our Savior were part

of his education. The Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews,

said, "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).



	President Spencer W. Kimball, who suffered many tribulations

during the course of his life, said, "Suffering can make saints of

people as they learn patience, long-suffering, and self-mastery;' (TSWK

p. 168). President Kimball quotes Elder James E. Talmage, who states,

"No pang that is suffered by man or woman upon the earth will be

without its compensating effect... if it be met with patience" (Tragedy

or Destiny [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book co., 1961], p. 6).



	President Kimball further says, "On the other hand, these things

can crush us with their mighty impact if we yield to weakness,

complaining and criticism." He quotes Orson F. Whitney, who said:



	No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It

ministers to... the development of such qualities as patience, faith,

fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure,

especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters,

purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and

charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God... and it is

through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the

education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like

our Father and Mother in heaven. [Tragedy or Destiny, p. 6]



	The Prophet Joseph Smith had gone through many trials and

tribulations in his life and pleaded with the Lord for the suffering

Saints in his day. The Lord said to him,



My son, peace be unto thy soul,. thine adversities, and thine

afflictions shall be but a small moment;



	And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high;

thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.



	Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with

warm hearts and friendly hands. [D&C 121:7-9]



	We find in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 42, verses 45, 46,

and 47:



	Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep

for the loss of them that die, and more especially for those that have

not hope of a glorious resurrection.



	And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not

taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them; 

|P70 



	And they that die not in me, wo unto them, for their death is

bitter.



"Forgive One Another"



	The Lord gave us many challenges by way of commandments, as he so

instructed us through his apostles of old.



	If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I

have kept my father's commandments, and abide in his love.



	These things have I Spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in

you, and that your joy might be full.



	This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved

you.



	Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not

what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that

I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. [John 15:10-12,

15]



	Again in latter-day revelation, the Lord spoke through the Prophet

Joseph in yet another commandment regarding our responsibilities to

share the gospel with others.



That every man, both elder, priest, teacher, and also member, go to

with his might, with the labor of his hands, to prepare and accomplish

the things which I have commanded.



	And let your preaching be the warning voice, every man to his

neighbor, in mildness and in meekness. [D&C 38:40-41]



	The Lord is saying that when we see someone fall into sin, we must

be kind and fellowship that person back into activity with the pure

love of Christ, in meekness and using mild tones.



	Paul, in speaking to the Galatians, teaches us, "Brethren, if a

man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an

one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be

tempted" (Galatians 6:1 ).



	The Savior, again regarding sin and forgiveness, gave us this

revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith.



	Nevertheless, he has sinned; but verily I say unto you, I, the

Lord, forgive sins unto those who confess their sins before me and ask

forgiveness, who have not sinned unto death.



	My disciples, in days of old, sought occasion against one another

and forgave not one another in their hearts; and for this evil they

were afflicted and sorely chastened. [D&C 64:7-8]



	When someone crosses our path it's easy, brothers and sisters, for

us to say to him, "Forget it, you're forgiven." But when we are

reminded of that incident, we sometimes do not remember what we have

said and continue to talk about the problem. The Lord reminds us of our

responsibility and why we should forgive and forget.



Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he

that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before

the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. [D&C 64:9]



	Brothers and sisters, I once went into a business partnership with

a man who was very astute. I thought because he was a member of the

Church he was going to take care of me and teach me as his junior

partner. I was so grateful that he was willing to share with me that

opportunity of being in business with him. But after three months of

work, I found that I was doing most of the work (his participation was

very small), and the business was not as he said it was going to be. It

was a very sad experience for me, and I became very sour. After a few

more months I hardly had any income, so I finally had to dissolve the

partnership.



	For about a year after that, I had a bitter feeling within myself.

It was not easy for me whenever anyone asked me about this man. I was

not complimentary concerning him. After a year of cankering my soul

with bitterness, the good Lord blessed me with understanding, and I

realized that I must change. Every time someone would ask me about him

I'd say, "He's such an astute business man you have to be careful. He's

great. He's tremendously akamai, as we say in Hawaii--that is, smart. I

would say nothing but the best I could think about him. Soon, brothers

and sisters, this good word got back to him. In the past he avoided me;

now he would call my name from afar and say "Adney, how's everything?"

We became friends. He started sending me Christmas cards of his family

in color. I remembered that verse, "Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye

ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his

trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in

him the greater sin" (D&C 64:9).



	The Lord gave us the tenth verse of that scripture, the law of

forgiveness, when he said, "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will

forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men" (D&C 64:10). I

think you and I must do this, brothers and sisters. It's not easy, I'm

sure. We have recently seen the great disaster of the seven astronauts,

and now, through an extensive investigation, they are trying to find

out what happened. It's hard when we face a disaster like this, but we

must not place blame because the Lord has said, "I, the Lord, will

forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all

men" (D&C 64:10).



Hate the Sin But Love the Sinner



	There is a great parable in the story of the prodigal son that the

Lord gave us for several reasons. I think there's a great story behind

it, and I'd like to go over that parable with you tonight and try to

glean out some of the points that I think are very important.



And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said

to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.

And he divided unto them his living.



	And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and

took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance

with riotous living.



	And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that

land; and he began to be in want.



	And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and

he sent him into his fields to feed swine.



	And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the

swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.



	And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of

my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!



	I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I

have sinned against heaven, and before thee,



	And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy

hired servants.



	And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great

way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on

his neck, and kissed him.



	And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven,

and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.



	But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe,

and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:



	And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and

be merry:



	For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is

found. And they began to be merry.



	Now his elder son was in the field.. and as he came and drew nigh

to the house, he heard musick and dancing.



	And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things

meant.



	And he said unto him, Thy, brother is come; and thy father hath

killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.



	The brother was very angry and would not go in the house.

Therefore, the father came out and talked to him. And the older brother

said:



Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any

time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might

make merry with my friends:



	But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy

living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf



	And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I

have is thine.



	It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy

brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found. [Luke

15:11-27, 29-32]



	This parable teaches us several important lessons. First, brothers

and sisters, it counsels us to forgive one another, that we should not

look on the weak points of the person who has fallen.



	You who are here and have left parents behind to come to this

great institution to study and learn and to get an education must

remember that you have parents who love you very much. The joy of the

father is obvious as he welcomes his son home. I'm sure your parents

feel the same, no matter what you do in this life.



	I hope that we will always remember the love of our mothers and

fathers. They would do anything and everything for us. We who are now

members of this Church and kingdom of God, under the restored

principles that have been given to us by the Prophet Joseph, have

certain things we must do. We must obey and keep the commandments. It's

not easy to walk the straight and narrow path. It's a challenge with

the world filled with pornography and all the wiles of the devil. But

we should always remember that we have loving parents who are our best

friends. Let's confide in them. Let's take our innermost feelings to

them, share our thoughts with them, and be unafraid. Sister Komatsu and

I have four children, and we know that whatever they do in this life,

they are still our children. As the Lord said, I must forgive; I must

love.



	When you're far away from home, and I met some of you tonight who

are very far from home--from South Africa, and many states in the

United States--you are assigned to a ward with a bishop and a stake

president. When you're in a dire situation and your parents are not

available and you need an answer, you have a bishop. We never set our

parents aside for the bishop, but when they're not available, we should

go to our bishop. I was a bishop once, and you know a bishop cannot

tell a lie--for if he did, the Lord would know it, and he would not be

a bishop for long.



	After the bishop has talked to you, perhaps you're still not quite

satisfied with what he has told you; then see the stake president. I

hope that you will always remember that you must keep the law; you must

obey the commandments. We are told that if we endure to the end, the

Lord will bless us with eternal life.



	President Harold B. Lee had lost his wife and then, while he was

at a stake conference in Hawaii, received a call from the doctor

attending his daughter, saying, "President, if you don't come home

right away, I don't think your daughter will be alive when you arrive.

Please make every effort to come quickly."



	President Lee begged the doctor to try to keep her alive until he

could complete his assignment and return home. He had only two

daughters, and she was very dear to him. He prayed all night long,

petitioning to the Lord, "Please, please, Lord, keep her alive until I

can come home." But in the wee hours of the morning he received a call

from the doctor who said, "I'm very sorry, President, but your loving

daughter has passed away."



	President Lee felt very lonely and sad, yet there was a special

witness from the Lord. Searching for solace, he turned to section 58 of

the Doctrine and Covenants:



	For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my

commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in

tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of

heaven.



	Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the

design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter,

and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.



	For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day

cometh that ye shah be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet,

but is nigh at hand.



	Remember this, which I tell you before, that you may lay it to

heart, and receive that which is to follow.



	Behold, verily I say unto you, for this cause I have sent

you--that you might be obedient, and that your hearts might be prepared

to bear testimony of the things which are to come;



	And also that you might be honored in laying the foundation, and

in hearing record of the land upon which the Zion of God shall stand.

[D&C 58:2-7]



	President Spencer W. Kimball often said that we should hate the

sin but love the sinner. We should fellowship him who has gone astray

and love him back into the fold.



	Recently I interviewed a young lady who needed clearance from a

General Authority before she could go on a mission. As she came in, I

could see that she was very concerned about the interview. I assured

her that she could go on this mission that she had been working toward

for the past few years. Then she burst into tears, and they flowed

freely down both cheeks. I asked her to tell me about her concerns. She

started by saying that during her young teenage years she left home and

started a life with her peers, thinking this was what she wanted. After

about two and a half years she became involved with drugs and all kinds

of worldly ways and was living a life of sex and loose morals. One day,

as she groveled in self-pity, like the story of the prodigal son, she

decided to return home because she realized that nothing good could

come from her life-style.



	Humbly, she returned home to her parents. To her surprise, they

took her in and blessed her with medical help and the love that she

never appreciated before. After four years of rehabilitation, she had a

desire to serve the Lord as a missionary and worked closely with her

bishop and stake president to qualify for this calling.



	I told her that when she received her call as a missionary, she

would bring into the hearts of her parents unspeakable joy, for their

daughter who was lost had come alive again. I told her that all of the

years of heartaches she had caused her parents, especially when they

knew she was living close by and was steeped in drugs and doing all the

things they had taught her were wrong--all of those heartaches would

melt and swiftly disappear because now she had straightened herself out

and desired to serve her Father in Heaven. When she received her call,

there would be no higher honor paid to her parents, especially her

mother who brought her into the world and nursed her and nurtured her.

I told this young lady that missionary work is not easy, but the joy

that she will receive from her labors as a missionary will be an

eternal blessing that she will cherish forever and ever.



	Missionaries must not lie. They must not cheat. They must not

deceive anyone. They must be honest, clean, and pure. Henry David

Thoreau said that "when our thoughts are pure, our spirit automatically

flows unto God." And I know that if missionaries will be pure and

clean, their spirits will flow unto God.



Partake of the Blessings



	Brothers and sisters, many of you are returned missionaries and

have gone into the house of the Lord and have made very important

covenants with the Lord. Eternal salvation rests upon how you keep

those covenants. Those of you who have not had the opportunity should

make yourselves available through your bishops and stake presidents for

those great, great blessings that come, because we who are members of

this, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are the only

people on this earth who have such great blessings given to us through

living prophets and angels and the servants of God. We need those

blessings to gain the presence of our Father in Heaven.



	Temple work today is now being carried on like no other time in

the history of this Church. The thirty-ninth temple was just dedicated,

and there are others announced and in progress. In the isles of the sea

there are now five temples. I know the people in Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti,

and other isles of the sea are so poor that they could not go to New

Zealand or Hawaii to the temple. Now the Lord has made it so easy that

no one has an excuse to stay away from the house of the Lord.



	The last days are here, brothers and sisters. I hope and pray that

we will make ourselves available to partake of the blessings in the

Lord's house.



	In the parable of the prodigal son, the older brother asked the

father why he was doing so much for the younger brother when he hadn't

done it for the older one. And the father replied, "All that I have is

thine." All that I have is yours. If we will endure to the end and

search the scriptures and live honorably according to the principles

and precepts that we know are true, we have the promise: "For this

cause, that men might be made partakers of the glories which were to be

revealed, the Lord sent forth the fulness of his gospel, his

everlasting covenant, reasoning in plainness and simplicity" (D&C

133:57).



	I bear you my humble testimony, that if we live the gospel and do

everything we can to be honorable, the Lord will bless us and help us

on our journey toward eternity.



	You are all here for an education and I read this statement from

Thomas Huxley:



	Perhaps the most valuable result of all education the ability to

make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done,

whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be

learned ... and however early a man's training begins, it is probably

the last lesson that he learns thoroughly. [Technical Education, 1877]



	I bear you my humble testimony that I know that the gospel is

true. It has been revealed in these last days in its fulness by living

prophets. And we must keep sacred the covenants we make in the house of

the Lord, for in these covenants a promise is given to us that we can

become gods.



	I bear humble witness that today President Ezra Taft Benson is a

living prophet. I think about President Benson working under President

Spencer W. Kimball these many years and then, in his eighty-seventh

year, being called to be the prophet. Some of us who are in our sixties

and seventies feel we're so tired and worn out that we need to retire.

We need to go to Hawaii and bask in the sun. But President Benson was

called by the Lord in his advanced years to become the prophet.



	I bear you my humble testimony that if we live the gospel and do

all we can to be honest with ourselves and with the Lord, these things

will bring us the blessings that he has promised to those who are

faithful to the end. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.





             "Where There Is No Vision, the People Perish"



                            Charles Didier



	Elder Charles A. Didier has been a General Authority of The Church

of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since October 1975, when he was

called to be a member of the first Quorum of the Seventy.



	Born in Ixelles, Belgium, Elder Didier joined the Church in 1957.

He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Liege

in Belgium and has served as an officer in the Belgian Air Force

Reserve. He was employed by the Church as European manager for

distribution and translation in Frankfurt, Germany, before being called

as a General Authority.



	Elder Didier is currently serving as president of the North

America Southwest Area, as a managing director of the Missionary

Department, and as a counselor in the International Mission presidency.

His previous assignments included executive administrator for Canada

and the Argentina/ Paraguay/ Uruguay areas, president of the South

America North Area, president of the France/ Switzerland Mission, and

managing director for the Curriculum and Correlation departments. He

speaks five languages.

	Elder Didier and his wife, Lucie, are parents of two sons.



	This devotional address was given on 11 February 1986 in the

Marriott Center.



	I have chosen to title my remarks "Where there is no vision, the

people perish" (Proverbs 29:18). How can a simple verse in the

scriptures influence our present, future, and eternal lives and

counterbalance the philosophies of the world? What is our vision of the

world today and our vision of religion, and how does it influence and

determine our responsibilities as individuals and families?



How Do We Gain a Vision?



	As we envision the world and religion, we discover rapidly the

daily challenges of life: the problems of suffering physically,

mentally, spiritually; sorrow and hard work accompanied by questions

and doubts; and, finally, death. We also find religions represented by

a variety of credos, churches, priesthoods, and a multiplicity of gods

to supposedly help us to face, endure, survive, or overcome the

difficulties of the world.



	How do we usually gain a vision of things? When we were young we

became aware of our surroundings in the world and our religion, and we

began to see things as our parents saw them-because they taught us

according to their perceptions and understanding. We watched, we

listened, we learned, and thus we may say that our first vision of the

world, and religion, was predetermined by parents and later by other

people, cultures, and locations. We first learned through the vision of

someone else.



	We then gained some maturity and wanted to know, to discover, and

to experiment--with or without this exterior help--to gain our own

vision. We wanted to test the world and religion and what they offer as

part of our growth and experience. Using this process, however,

some--because of laziness or irresponsibility and being afraid of the

possible consequences of that free agency--become prisoners of their

environment. Others neglect warnings along the way and, like

butterflies ignoring the danger of the flame, burn their wings and

forfeit the ability to know for themselves. Many follow the stream of

the ways of the world and end up wandering the rest of their lives

according to various opinions.



	Only a few finally press their way forward, holding fast to

something true that they have discovered for themselves. Does that

story sound familiar? Do you identify with it? If not, I refer you to

the dream of Lehi (1 Nephi 8), the vision he received of the world, its

multitudes and religions, and its influence on his family.



	What was the difference between the sons of Lehi: Laman, Lemuel,

and Nephi? On one side, referring to Laman and Lemuel, "They did murmur

because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them" (1

Nephi 2:12; emphasis added). On the other side, "Blessed art thou,

Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently" (1

Nephi 2:19). What was the difference? A personal knowledge or testimony

through faith.



	Alan W. Jones, a theologian, said:



One of our problems is that very few of us have developed any

distinctive personal life. Everything about us seems secondhand, even

our emotions. In many cases, we have to rely on secondhand information

in order to function. I accept the word of a physician, a scientist, a

farmer, on trust. I do not like to do this. I have to because they

possess vital knowledge of living of which I am ignorant. Secondhand

information concerning the state of my kidneys, the effects of

cholesterol, and the raising of chickens, I can live with. But when it

comes to questions of meaning, purpose, and death, secondhand

information will not do. I cannot survive on a secondhand faith in a

secondhand God. There has to be a personal word, a unique

confrontation, if I am to come alive. [Journey into Christ (New York:

Seabury Press, 1977), pp. 91-92]



	So our purpose today is to search diligently and awaken our human

and divine faculties, our hearts, and our minds to a true vision of

this world, its multitudes, and religions--that we may understand our

role by recognizing and accepting true knowledge and not perish.



The Process of Learning from God



	Belief or faith exercised in the vision that is given us of a true

knowledge of God will bring us salvation; if not exercised, it will

bring us damnation. Joseph Smith taught in Lectures on Faith that

"three things are necessary in order that any rational and intelligent

being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation."



1.  The idea that he actually exists.



2.  A correct idea of his character, perfections, and attributes.



3.  An actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing is

according to his will.



	For without an acquaintance with these three important facts, the

faith of every rational being must be imperfect and unproductive; but

with this understanding it can become perfect and fruitful, abounding

in righteousness, unto the praise and glory of God the Father, and the

Lord Jesus Christ. [Lectures On Faith 3:33]



	Now is the time to learn for ourselves about true knowledge and

true religion, which is a vision of principles, teachings, and

ordinances to gain salvation in this world and in the world to come.

Watch Moses who went through this process of learning from the source

of true knowledge.



	And it came to pass that Moses spake unto the Lord, saving:...

tell me concerning this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, and also

the heavens, and then thy servant will be content. [Moses 1:36]



	And the Lord answered and declared: "For behold, this is my work

and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man"

(Moses 1:39).



	The Lord continued, saying, "I reveal unto you concerning this

heaven, and this earth" (Moses 2:1 ) and then gave Moses the history of

the creation of heaven, earth, man, and woman. The earth was planted

with vegetation and life, the stage was set with actors, and life had

been established with order, laws, and commandments. The vision was

given, and now the drama unfolds. Satan is tempting Eve by offering her

the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil by using these

words: "Ye shall not surely die;... and ye shall be as gods, knowing

good and evil" (Moses 4:10-11).



	As we consider the results of the transgression as it occurred, we

also learn about the changes on the stage. From now on



1. there would be pain, suffering, sorrow, and hard work;



2. there would be physical and spiritual death and thus separation from

God;



3. there would be a posterity for Adam and Eve; 



4. there would be a knowledge of good and evil with all its

consequences.



	The creation of the heavens, the earth, and the man and woman had

taken place. The fall of man and earth had taken place. A third vital

element was missing to make the purpose of creation plausible, and that

was to provide a way and means whereby man might be saved. The third

vital element was the Atonement to ransom man and earth. Man was

created to be saved, and salvation comes by having the true vision of

the purpose of life in this life, of our Heavenly Father, his son Jesus

Christ, and the mission of the Holy Ghost (Articles of Faith 1, 2, 3).



	If we see this and believe it and know it to be true, then we

serve and we obey. If we turn to a different vision, the belief

changes, the Fall does not make sense, and neither does the Creation

nor the Savior. As a result, there is neither motivation nor faith,

neither repentance nor covenant.



	Today we live with the results of these three events: the

Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement. Whether or not you have a

correct vision, whether or not you understand the consequences, whether

or not you accept them will make a big difference in the kind of lives

you live.



Will D. Lae was grossly overweight but was fascinated by the idea of

becoming a mountain climber. Determined to master the skill, he was

able through hard work and continuous practice to develop his arm

muscles so that they would support his obese body. He practiced on

local slopes and then decided to try his skill on a mountain worthy of

his ambitions. He picked the granite face of El Capitan. Halfway up the

sheer rock he looked up and was startled to discover that his rope was

fraying and in a second or two would break. He looked down and saw that

there was no ledge or bush to break his fall. He made a quick

decision--he decided to use a heavier rope. [Laurence J. Peter, The

Peter Prescription (New York: Wm. F. Morrow & Co., Bantam Books, 1973),

pp. 164-65]



	William's decision was right, but his timing was wrong. He had

practiced and provided for the climb but had overlooked his most

important need.



	This devotional is just one more way to open some eyes, hearts,

and minds--an opportunity to change and adjust our vision and not to

overlook the most important need. If you don't care for the word

change, you may use the word repent, for it is the same, and to repent

is to learn from God.



Commitment Through Decisions



	In essence, having the correct vision of our needs, we must

decide. After the vision of Moses, let's turn to Adam and Eve and

receive a vision of their commitment to true knowledge through

decisions.



	1. They were free to make decisions. "Thou mayest choose for

thyself, for it is given unto thee" (Moses 3: 17). "Wherefore they are

agents unto themselves" (Moses 6:56).



	2. They rejoiced about the prospects of their decision. Adam said:

"Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes

are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I

shall see God" (Moses 5:10).



	Eve said: "Were it not for our transgression we never should have

had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our

redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the

obedient" (Moses 5:11 ).



	3.  They decided to accept the challenges of: 



	a. an unpredictable world to be managed; 



	b. an unsafe world to be survived;



	c. an unknown world to be discovered;



	d. an insecure world to be endured. 



	All these adjectives can be applied to you in this college

setting: there are unpredictable teachers in exams, it's unsafe to

break the BYU Code of Honor, the prospects after graduation are

unknown, and BYU games are never secure!



	4. They made a decision to learn and to be obedient. They "called

upon the name of the Lord" (Moses 5:4). "Adam was obedient unto the

commandments of the Lord" (Moses 5:5).



	5. They decided to turn to the Lord for their education. "Their

children were taught to read and write, having a language which was

pure and undefiled" (Moses 6:6).



	6. They decided to teach their children. "They made all things

known unto their sons and their daughters" (Moses 5:12).



	7. They decided to covenant with the Lord. "And Adam hearkened

unto the voice of God, and called upon his sons to repent" (Moses 6:1).



	8. They decided to teach the world true knowledge. "And they were

preachers of righteousness, and spake and prophesied, and called upon

all men, everywhere, to repent; and faith was taught unto the children

of men" (Moses 6:23).



	9. They decided to receive the ordinances necessary for their

salvation.



	a. Baptism--Adam was baptized (see Moses 6:64). 



	b. Receiving the Holy Ghost--Adam was born of the Spirit (see

Moses 6:65).



	c. Receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood--"Thou art after the order

of him [Jesus Christ]" (Moses 6:67). 



	What was the result of all these decisions based upon a true

vision and knowledge of God's purpose for man? Were they better

prepared to face the challenges of mortal life? It is interesting to

see that they literally transformed the unpredictable into the

predictable.



Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will

rise with us in the resurrection.



	And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life

through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much

the advantage in the world to come. [D&C 130:18-19]



They transformed the unsafe into the safe.



	There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the

foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated--



	And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to

that law upon which it is predicated. [D&C 130:20-21]



	They transformed the unknown into a sure knowledge of a correct

idea of the character, personality, and qualities of a loving God and

how to reach him.



	The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's: the

Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is

a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell

in us. [D&C 130:22]



	They transformed the insecure into security because of the

Atonement of Jesus Christ.



	For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting

life. [John 3:16]



	Adam and Eve acted this way because they had the correct vision of

their future. The plan was predictable, safe, known, secure. They knew

that they would never be alone and never be abandoned. "They heard the

voice of the Lord... speaking unto them" (Moses 5:4). "An angel of the

Lord appeared unto Adam" (Moses 5:6). "The Holy Ghost fell upon Adam"

(Moses 5:9), The true knowledge of God and his plan was known by

personal experience and by revelation.



	And it was the same process--exactly the same--that was used by

their followers and by Lehi and by Joseph Smith and by everyone who

accepts the Lord's vision and the challenge to search for himself.

Today, in a world of false religions or rampant atheism, where evil is

good and good is evil, too many of us become complacent. Too many of us

reject or ignore the idea of discipline of mind or any thought attached

to that vision of true knowledge because it may take out of life the

fantasy or charm or excitement or passion, and life with obedience is

dull and gray. Is it taking charm away to scrutinize TV programs or

movies or literature? Is it taking excitement out of a football or

basketball game to act or appear decently? Is it taking passion out of

life to love within the rules rather than choosing what is called "free

love?" The examples can be multiplied. Adam shouted with Eve, "In this

life I shall have joy" (Moses 5:10). What joy? They knew what they were

talking about--the joy of the faithful, having true knowledge and thus

knowing why they should be obedient, why they should be disciples of

Jesus Christ.



Having a True Knowledge



	President Marion G. Romney also spoke about the importance of this

true knowledge of God.



	This world would be, comparatively, a heaven if men could be

brought to understand and know the living and true God. They who are

able to receive and who do receive the restored truth concerning God

are literally, transformed by their knowledge of, and faith in, him.

They are drawn upward from the carnal state of fallen man, as it were,

and brought back, to a degree at least, into the presence of God. They

develop unshakable faith in him....  And he never fails them. In him

are their hope and their strength. Envy, greed, hate, lust, and

unrighteous ambition flee from them. They grow in virtue, patience,

brotherly kindness, charity, and love, and their eyes are single to the

glory of God. The principal objective in their lives becomes to keep

the commandments of God, thus ridding themselves of sin, for they

realize that no unclean thing can enter into his presence; and to

return into that presence becomes the supreme faith and hope of their

existence.



	Into their hearts comes a great concern for the welfare of their

fellow men. They set about not to conquer them, not to take advantage

of them, not to gain temporal and worldly power at their expense, but

to take to them the glorious knowledge of the living and true God which

they themselves possess. This they do that their fellows may experience

and enjoy the transformation which has come into their lives.



	There is nothing other than a knowledge of the living and true God

which will give men incentives strong enough to induce them to root out

of their lives the wickedness which has brought us to the brink of the

cataclysm on which we totter. [CR, October 1964, p. 51]



	We have inherited a glorious vision of our responsibilities to

enjoy a glorious life and eternal life. The vision is clear. There are

no interferences, and the Lord concluded as I conclude: "This is the

plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine Only

Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time" (Moses 6:62).



	Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere,

must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.... for,

in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of

his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous

Judge, who shah come in the meridian of time. [Moses 6:57]



	The process of spiritual growth and eternal life is conducted by

our own free will, based upon true knowledge and service, and works

against the natural inclination to take the easy way or to keep things

as they are presented. There is something worse than ignorance--it is

to think that you know. As someone has said, when you are not part of

the solution, you are part of the problem. How many see today and will

continue to see tomorrow? How many are blind and are unwilling to see?

May the testimony of Adam and Eve, the testimonies of prophets and

apostles, and my testimony help you to search diligently for yourselves

and to know for yourselves as I know that God lives, that Jesus is the

Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, that true religion, The Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, exists upon this earth, and that

President Ezra Taft Benson is a modern-day prophet to give us correct

vision that we may not perish.



	Now is the time to ponder what kind of vision can be ours. What

kind of decisions will we make today and tomorrow? May the Lord help us

to ponder upon the true history of Adam and Eve and its message. May we

receive this vision and not perish. This is my prayer, in the name of

Jesus Christ. Amen.





                          The Nature of Needs



                           Derek A. Cuthbert



	Elder Derek A. Cuthbert was named to the First Quorum of the

Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April

1978. A convert to the Church in England in 1951, he served as stake

president of the Leicester England and Birmingham England stakes, was a

Regional Representative for five years, and was presiding over the

Scotland Edinburgh Mission at the time of his call as a General

Authority. He has been managing director in the Correlation, Temple,

and Priesthood departments, executive administrator of the Idaho,

British Isles, Midwest/Canada Central, and Africa areas; and first

counselor in the Europe Area presidency. He presently serves on the

Boundary, and Leadership Change Committee of the Church and is first

counselor in the North America Northeast Area presidency.



	Graduated with honors from the University of Nottingham with a

degree in economics and law, Elder Cuthbert also served in the Royal

Air Force during World War II, including two years in India, Burma, and

Hong Kong. Before his call to full-time service for the Church in 1975,

he was commercial manager (Chemicals and Plastics Group) for British

Celanese Limited, with special responsibility for overseas projects.



	Elder Cuthbert is married to Muriel Olive Mason, and they have ten

children--six daughters and four sons.



	This devotional address was given on 18 February 1986 in the

Marriott Center.



	Anciently, the Apostle Paul gave firm assurance that "my God shall

supply all your need[s]" (Philippians 4:19).



	Likewise, in latter-day revelation, the Lord himself has declared:

"Every man who has need may be amply supplied" (D&C 42:33). As we study

man in his many roles and challenges in life, we find that there is not

a single one of God's children who does not have many needs. What are

your basic needs? All of these can be fulfilled by a loving and

beneficent Heavenly Father. Indeed, he wants to fulfill our needs. I

would like to share with you today some thoughts on the nature of

needs. In so doing it is my earnest desire and prayer that we all

become more aware not only of our own needs, but especially of the

needs of others.



	As we contemplate this important topic, we find that there are

three basic kinds of needs. A need can be a"necessary duty or

obligation." It may also be a "lack of something requisite, desirable,

or useful." Sometimes it can be a "condition requiring supply or

relief,"which in the extreme case means the "lack of the means of

subsistence."



	Let us consider, then, the nature of needs. This will help us to

identify them, and then to fulfill them.



By Duty or Obligation



	First, there is our need to do certain things, whether by duty or

obligation. Of paramount importance here is the need to pray. Even the

most primitive of peoples on the earth acknowledge a Supreme Being, a

Creator, and try to portray him sometimes in wood and stone. How

wonderful that he has identified himself to us, through his beloved

son,Jesus Christ. He has revealed himself as our Father in Heaven, who

wants us, his children, to keep in touch with him while we are away

from home, our heavenly home. Jesus taught us not only the need to pray

but how to pray--showing reverence and gratitude, making petition and

commitment, praying daily, and in his name. However, the adversary

places many obstacles in our paths--such as the spirit of rebellion,

feelings of selfishness, and a false sense of spiritual

self-sufficiency. These could keep us from humbling ourselves on bended

knee. Promptings such as "I won't pray!" "Why should I pray?" "I have

no need to pray" can all be overcome. What great blessings come from

prayer, which not only brings rich rewards, but is its own reward.

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it

shall be opened unto you" (Luke 11:9).



	I think of the faithful Saints in far-off West Africa who prayed

and petitioned five, ten, fifteen years, for the fulness of the

restored gospel to be taken to their land. Answers to prayer are not in

man's time, but in God's time. Patience, faith, and humble submission

are finally rewarded. How wonderful to see the revelatory results of

these prayers, blended with the powerful petitions of a prophet of the

Lord, Spencer W. Kimball, as the gospel rolls forward among God's

children in Africa.



	There are many other duty-needs, of course, as important as

prayer. For example, the need to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is surely a duty and an obligation, for we owe him a great debt of

gratitude. He provided the ransom for each of us. We hear much in these

perilous times of hijacking and kidnapping. Millions of people watch

the screens and the headlines to see whether the victims will be

released through payment of ransom money or some other way.



	In order for us to be freed from the bondage of sin and from the

shackles of transgression, we need faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He

gave himself, he laid down his life as a ransom. We show our gratitude

by our faith, and we show our faith by our thoughts, words, and

especially our deeds. Any thinking person would like to make a fresh

start, begin a clean sheet, correct past mistakes, and go forward,

untrammelled by the past. It all becomes possible by first having faith

in Jesus Christ as our personal savior and redeemer, and second, by

making the necessary changes to conform with his teachings through the

process of repentance. We all have a need to repent and make changes,

every day, every month, every year. After repentance a person is ready

to be baptized. Baptism is also a fundamental and universal need, for

it is the gateway into the Lord's church, the church of Jesus Christ.

My thoughts again turn to Africa, which I have been privileged to visit

a number of times. Never have I seen so many different Christian

churches, all professing Christ but not being in conformity and unity

with his teachings  whether of doctrines, ordinances, or ecclesiastical

organization. There is always a mass of confusion when men's ideas

predominate and the Savior takes second place. There is a need for the

cleansing ordinance and unifying bond of baptism.



	I am happy to declare that the light has dawned. I received the

assignment to dedicate four small meetinghouses in Cross River State,

Nigeria, at Ikot Ebo, Ikot Ekong, Ikot Anang, and Ikot Esen Oku. I had

seen them under construction--simple, functional, but

beautiful--gleaming white against the brilliant greens of the tropical

rain forest. The local Saints had helped when they could, and the

sisters deserve special mention for carrying water on their heads for

two or three miles to the building sites.



	In each new chapel as we took our places on the stand, we paused

to shake hands with the local chiefs who had been invited to attend and

to occupy the front seats. They were dignified in their robes, each

carrying a chiefs cane. The head chief at each chapel graciously

accepted the invitation to address the congregation. Of course they

used different words, but they expressed the same powerful sentiments.

"You are the light of this community. You have brought us the true

gospel. We know you love and care for us, for you serve without pay.

Thank you for coming." Did not the Savior exhort us, "Let your light so

shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your

Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). Oh, that we might all be a

light to our respective communities.



	In West Africa the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ, travels

fast, for it is shared with members of the extended families who

frequently live in close proximity. The people are spiritually ready

for baptism; they love the Lord, they help their neighbors, and they

sing and pray with all their hearts and voices in praise and gratitude.



	I have been impressed especially with the bright-eyed children as

they sing "I Am a Child of God." They are already alert and teachable,

but following baptism, when they have received the Holy Ghost by the

laying on of hands, their understanding and desire to serve the Lord is

quickened. I think of how eager the children were in a little African

school in Zimbabwe as we were privileged to go into three classes and

give them a spiritual message, testimony, and blessing. These were the

same children who had recently seen the Church film Man's Search for

Happiness and had written: "This was a wonderful film. This Church

should make more films and everyone should see them." Another had said,

"Everyone should search for happiness. Happiness comes through

overcoming temptation and sin." It is truly a marvelous work and a

wonder that such truth-seeking young people in many parts of the world

are now hearing and accepting the gospel and are joining the Lord's

church through baptism and the laying on of hands.

|P82 



	There is a great need for every person in the world to have the

guidance of the Holy Ghost in their lives. The Holy Ghost helps us in

our work and in our studies, protects and warns us, and brings things

to our remembrance. This great gift is bestowed upon us following

baptism into the Lord's church. It is indeed a duty to seek to have

this gift, for we can bring blessings to others and live purposeful

lives ourselves when we have the Holy Ghost. Thus it was in the

pristine church of Jesus Christ, and so it is in his restored church

today.



"Things Ye Have Need Of'



	Now that we have considered the first kind of need--namely, duties

and obligations--I would like to discuss with you the second kind.

These are the needs that represent "a lack of something." Sometimes we

do not recognize these, but it is good to have the assurance that our

"Father knoweth what things [w]e have need of" (Matthew 6:8).



A Need for Knowledge



	I will select a few of the many needs, beginning with knowledge,

especially knowledge of the Almighty God, and of his beloved son, Jesus

Christ. As Paul wrote to the Hebrews: "Ye have need that one teach you"

(Hebrews 5:12). The Old Testament prophet Hosea declared, "People are

destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). Yes, we all need

knowledge, and we all need a teacher. The missionaries of The Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are such teachers, who will not only

impart facts and share knowledge, but who will also help us to develop

wisdom.



	How grateful I am that missionaries from the western United States

traveled across the world to teach me and my family in England

thirty-five years ago. It was not long after our baptism that a fine

local brother who was serving as counselor to the mission president

said to me, "Find yourself a teacher." When I inquired of him the

significance of this counsel, he expanded it by saying, "Find yourself

a teacher who can lift you and inspire and motivate you. But remember,

he must be standing on higher ground."



	As the years have rolled by in an unending sequence of experience

and service, I have had many such teachers, both in business and church

activities. I will mention five only, who will represent those not

named. In September 1958 1 was introduced to a man with whom I served

closely for two years. This was T. Bowring Woodbury, the new president

of the British Mission. As he was set apart by President David O. McKay

for this important calling, the prophet referred to the opening of a

"new era" in Britain with the dedication of the London Temple that very

month. "By" Woodbury, as he was affectionately known to his many

friends, was a man of vision and valor--these two qualities being

essential elements of faith. He imparted of his knowledge and

experience to me, and helped me to feel the urgency of the work, and to

develop leadership skills. I had many spiritual experiences with him

during these two years of close association as we helped to make the

promised "new era" become a reality. I became a wiser person.



	At about the same time I began to work closely with a bright young

chemical engineer, Dick Morris, in the large company where I was

employed as a cost-control accountant. He expanded my vision in another

way, regarding the industrial scene, the interrelationship of

industrial processes, and of personnel. I gained knowledge, but also

wisdom--not only in creating statistical reports, but in interpreting

them as a basis for decision making. We came up through the

organization together, and he eventually was appointed managing

director and then chairman of the board. My role expanded too, into

management accounting and business management. He was a great teacher.



	In the early 1960s, I was very privileged to have President N.

Eldon Tanner as a teacher when he served as West European mission

president, based in England. The lessons he taught me spanned both

church and business, for I learned from him as a newly called stake

president, as he shared his similar experiences and suggested ways to

improve and develop. I learned from his business acumen and integrity

when he served as chairman of the board of Deseret Enterprises Limited,

the first Church commercial enterprise in Europe. As director and

general manager, I was with him often, and am so grateful that he

helped me fulfill this need to be taught and lifted.



	Then, during the 1970s and 1980s, I was privileged, along with so

many others, to be taught by a prophet of the Lord, Spencer W. Kimball.

During my service as a Regional Representative from 1970 to 1975,

mission president from 1975 to 1978, and since then as a General

Authority, my soul has been lifted as I have been taught from on high

through him. This has not only been in meetings and conferences, but in

many personal settings. One such time was when I was visiting from

England for general conference and I inquired of President Kimball's

secretary if I could see him. I knocked on the door and his familiar

voice said "Come in." I started to open the door, but before it was

fully open, he was already at the door. I felt a sense of urgency, and

real caring. He took me by the arm, showed me round his office, then

sat me down across the desk. "How is the work going in England?" he

inquired. I gave a brief report, but he knew already; he was teaching

me the principle of stewardship and accountability. Then he reached up

to his bookshelves, took down a book, and handed it to me. "Have you

read this book?" he asked. As I looked at the title I indicated that I

had read some of the book but not all. He smiled, took up a pen, opened

the book and wrote a message, and then gave it to me again. I shall

always treasure that copy of The Life Story of Heber C. Kimball, the

first missionary to England. There are many more great

teachers--exemplars of whom I could tell--but I just have one more, my

dear wife. How much I have learned from her--in charity, in patience,

in endurance, in joyfulness. She has lifted me now for over forty

years, and has shown me wisdom as we have counseled together, prayed

together, laughed together, and cried together. I am grateful for those

pearls of wisdom.



	A classic example of one who lacked wisdom was the boy Joseph

Smith, who wanted to join a church but was confused as to which one to

join. Fortunately, he was a student of the Bible, and found the

necessary guidance in the Epistle of James. "If any of you lack wisdom,

let him ask of God" (James 1:5). By his humble and sincere application

of the need for prayer and seeking for God to fill his lack of wisdom,

the heavens were opened to him, and a pillar of light descended upon

him. In the light he saw two glorious personages, and one, referring to

the other, said, "This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him" (JS--H 1:17).

Joseph was told to join none of the churches, but providing he remained

faithful and true he would be the means of restoring to the earth the

fulness of the gospel and the church of Jesus Christ.



	Sometimes we do not realize what knowledge or wisdom we need, but

God knows and we should "ask the Father... for what things soever [w]e

shall stand in need" (Mormon 9:27). You will remember the young man who

came face-to-face with Jesus and asked him what he needed to do to have

eternal life. Jesus told him to "keep the commandments" (Matthew 19:

17), and then he interviewed him as to whether he was keeping them.

Apparently he was. The young man then asked a question we all need to

ask, "What lack I yet?" In other words, "What other needs do you, our

Father in Heaven, see that I have?" The Savior's reply was not one that

the young man wanted to hear. Nevertheless, it was important for him to

have asked the question. He was told to sell all that he had and follow

Jesus. This he felt was too much to ask, for he was a rich young man

and had great possessions. Thus, he went away sorrowful. How sad that

his meeting with the Son of God should end in this way. What of us?

Some of us tend to say, "I keep the commandments, I attend my church

meetings, I pay my tithes and offerings, and I live the Word of

Wisdom." Then the Lord gives us a real test. Leave the things of the

world and give yourself in service. Will we do it? Will you do it when

the call comes?



	Why should we respond to such a demand, such a sacrifice? Why did

the Savior respond to the great demands upon him as he endured

persecution, ridicule, and betrayal? Why did he, the Son of God,

respond by sacrificing his very life? He did it because he loved us,

and loves us, unconditionally. Why should we respond? "As I have loved

you ... love one another," he has challenged (John 13:34). The degree

to which we follow him and keep his commandments indicates the depth of

our gratitude to him and the sincerity of our love for him. Each of us

has different needs, but the gospel fulfills them all. I can truly

testify to you today that since becoming a member of The Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have had all my needs

fulfilled--spiritually, physically, mentally, and socially.



A Need for Others



	Some of the other needs we may have are the need for friends and

family, the need to love and be loved, the need for peace of mind and

happiness and purpose in life. Then there is the need for good health,

and the need to have spiritual guidance to help us make decisions. The

secret of fulfilling almost all of these needs is the realization that

we all need each other, and we all need God. The same message that the

Lord gave through the Apostle Paul he has given anew through the

Prophet Joseph Smith. "The body hath need of every member" (D & C

84:110). President Harold B. Lee expanded this by saying, "The Church

hath need of every member ... and every member has a deep need to

participate fully in the Church" (Regional Representatives' seminar,

October 1971 ).



	Before I became involved in full-time Church service, I was

engaged in the industrial world, and particularly in petrochemical

operations. As we set out to manufacture certain products, we would

produce many by-products along the way. So it is with life. As we set

out to help others in their needs--such help and service being the main

product of a Christian life--lo and behold, we find that our needs have

been met by the by-products of service.



	Everyone of us has heard the adage "The only way to have a friend

is to be a friend" (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series.

Friendship), but sometimes we feel deprived of friendship, not

realizing the solution lies in our own hands. We need to reach out and

indeed be outgoing, rather than inward looking, bound up in our own

little world. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a social gospel; Jesus was

constantly among the people. His first miracle was performed at a

wedding feast; the people were always thronging around him and he spoke

to multitudes. He was accused of being a "friend of publicans and

sinners" (Matthew 11:19) because he reached out to all. How wonderful

that each of us can be counted one of his friends, for he declared, "Ye

are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you" (John 15:14).



	As I travel to the stakes and missions of the Church, sometimes to

far corners of the earth, 1 am always making new friends. What a

marvelous feeling it is, having arrived in a distant country, to be

overwhelmed by the sentiment expressed by the Apostle Paul, "Now

therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens

with the saints, and of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19). We make

instant friends through the common bond of the gospel, but that does

not mean all of our friends must be Latter-day Saints. Our children

have consistently made friends outside of the Church, as well as within

the Church. In England, where we lived most of our lives, they were in

a minority of one sometimes, in class, school, or even community. Even

now that we live in Salt Lake City, an LDS community, they have

nonmember friends. Over the years, however, when we had just moved into

a new town or a new country, we saw how difficult it was until

friendships were established. What a great opportunity you have in this

great institution of learning to make friendships that will not only

span the years ahead, but will span the oceans and continents. How

great is the need to make the most of ourselves, go to places, meet

people, socialize, and make friends. How important it is to develop the

qualities we desire in others.



A Paramount Need



	The need for peace of mind is a universal need, for without it

there can be no lasting happiness. The gospel of Jesus Christ brings

peace and harmony when fully absorbed into our lives. Through the

Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord has again admonished us to have our

"feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace" (D&C 27:16).

What a great thing it is to be a peacemaker; what a terrible thing to

be a troublemaker. Peace of mind is a great blessing to which we are

all entitled. "Where there is peace and meditation, there is neither

anxiety nor doubt," said St. Francis of Assisi (The Counsels of the

Holy Father St. Francis. Admonition 27).



	I remember the day my father died; my mind was somewhat in anxiety

and turmoil. I returned home, sat in my favorite chair, and picked up

the scriptures to meditate and find peace. I read a little, then closed

my eyes, and in my mind's eye I saw my father as a young man, and he

was dressed in white. Although he had never become a member of the

Church, I knew I would see him in the resurrection, and furthermore, I

had seen him he would appear. My mind was at peace again. When we rely

on the Lord, we can have fulfillment of his promise, "Peace I leave

with you, my peace I give unto you:... Let not your heart be troubled,

neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27). He is "The Prince of Peace"

(Isaiah 9:6).



	The need for happiness is a paramount need-lasting happiness, not

fleeting happiness. True happiness comes from knowing one's purpose in

life and in fulfilling it. Without purpose there is no direction; there

is, instead, doubt and darkness, wandering and wavering. A story is

told of a man who was digging a ditch. Someone asked him, "Why are you

digging the ditch?" "I am digging the ditch," he replied, "to earn the

money to buy the bread to get the strength to go to work to dig the

ditch!" Without purpose, one goes in circles, instead of making

progress, day by day, year by year, toward that goal established by the

Almighty God for us, his children:"immortality and eternal life" (Moses

1:39).



	When I served as a mission president in Scotland, two of our fine

missionary sisters taught and baptized a man in his eighties. In a

testimony meeting soon afterward, he stood and gave thanks that he now

had purpose in life. "I was waiting to die when the sisters knocked on

my door," he said tearfully. Before long he was called as counselor in

the ward Sunday School presidency, and later as Sunday School

president. He had great joy and happiness in his church service and

made many new friends. A year or so passed and he came over to Salt

Lake City for a visit, made more friends and gained more experiences,

and especially, was able to go to the temple for the first time. When

he did step from this life a few months after his return to Scotland,

what a full and purposeful life he had--and all within two years!



This Blessing of Guidance



	Finally, on this second kind of need, I would mention the need to

have spiritual guidance to help us make decisions. Is there any one in

this whole wide world who has no decisions or choices to make? No, not

one. It is a major part of life to use that special gift of God--free

agency. Personally, I have decisions and choices to make every day.

Some are easy to make; others take time. For these major ones I

sometimes use a clean sheet of paper, dividing it down the middle. I

then head the two sections "for" and "against," and prayerfully list

all the reasons I can think of under each heading. Having apparently

exhausted my ideas, I then ponder, reading and re-reading. The decision

I need to make formulates in my mind and I decide what to do. Then

comes the most important step. I kneel in prayer to gain confirmation

that my decision is in harmony with my omniscient Father in Heaven. He

knows what is right and good for me, and through the Holy Ghost tells

me whether I have made a wise choice.



Behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then

you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that

your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is

right.



	But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you

shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing

which is wrong. [D&C 9:8-9]



What a need we all have for the blessing of such spiritual guidance.



"Open Thy Hand Wide"



	This leads us then to the third category of need, the kind of need

which causes us to look outward and prompts Christ-like feelings of

compassion and the desire to help others. I speak of the need that is

often qualified by the adjective "dire" or "urgent." It is a condition

requiring relief and, in many cases, constitutes a lack of the very

means of subsistence. I do not see any here in this situation, but out

there, over half the world's population--over half the children of

God--live in countries where per capita income is less than $300 a

year!



	How wonderful that your fasting and prayers and donations both

last Thanksgiving and then last January have brought much relief. The

scriptures are replete with references to this great need and how it

should be fulfilled. "Open thine hand wide... to thy needy," the Lord

proclaimed through Moses (Deuteronomy 15:11 ). "Ye do love money,...

more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted,"

he chided through the Nephite prophet Moroni (Mormon 8:37).



	I have at home a tape-recorded message from the Saints in Ghana,

West Africa, that is very special to me. Branch President Ato Dodson

says, "The Mormon Church is one big family and came to our aid in these

critical times. When my members came around for me to distribute the

goods, a lot of them shed tears. They couldn't believe it. Neither

could I myself. I discovered that, in the Lord's true Church, all

things are possible. The words of Malachi came true that if we are

faithful to the Lord, paying our tithes, blessings would be showered

upon us. We are very, very grateful and don't have enough words to

express our gratitude. We shall never forget such a gesture by our

brothers and sisters in the United States. One day we will be

self-sufficient through the programs you have given us."



	His Relief Society president, Elizabeth Kwaw, added her feelings:

"I just don't know how to express my gratitude for the food aid we have

just received. On behalf of all the sisters, I say 'thank you.' For

some time we have been very short of food in Ghana and even in our

Relief Society homemaking meetings we hadn't the food to prepare. Last

week, at our homemaking meeting, we were able to prepare rice pudding

with all the ingredients from the food we received from the United

States."



	Finally, the elders quorum president, Stephen Kwaw, gave his

thanks: "I would like to express my personal appreciation and that of

my quorum members for the love that has been demonstrated to us by the

food aid. It has been abundantly clear to us, for we have seen the

pictures of the love and care that went into the packaging of this food

aid to us. The lesson we have learned is to continue to be faithful to

the teachings of this Church and endeavor to also have enough in store

for future generations to come in other parts of Ghana and Africa."



	I like the account given by Luke in the fourth chapter of the Acts

of the Apostles:



	And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of

one soul.....



	Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were

possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the

things that were sold.



	And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was

made unto every man according as he had need. [Acts 4:32, 34, 35]



	You, the rising generation, have the great responsibility upon

your shoulders to reach out to those in need as never before. Although

there are millions of God's children in the depths of poverty, lacking

even the means of subsistence, the Lord has declared,



	For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare;...



	Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have

made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel,

unto the poor and needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in

hell, being in torment. [D&C 104:17-18]



	The excellent education you are receiving in these critical years

of your life is to help you to determine and discern and discover

needs, your own needs and those of others. You are also learning how to

fulfill those needs, whether they be physical, spiritual, mental, or

social needs. Learn well, and live accordingly, and you will enjoy a

fullness of life and fulfill the measure of your creation. Above all,

have a grateful heart, which will always prompt and motivate you to

reach out to others, for "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the

least of these my brethren," Jesus said, "ye have done it unto me"

(Matthew 25:40).



	In these latter-days, the last days before the Second Coming of

the Lord, the fulness of his gospel has been restored, with all the

laws and ordinances, as prophesied anciently. The very church of Jesus

Christ has been re-established on the earth, and the power of God is

among us. This is the living church of the living Christ, and he speaks

through a living prophet, even President Ezra Taft Benson--a champion

of truth and justice, righteousness and love. I say this in the name of

Jesus Christ. Amen.





                        The Lord's Strange Act



                           Rex C. Reeve, Sr.



	Elder Rex Cropper Reeve was called as a member of the First Quorum

of the Seventy in April 1978. Currently serving on the Church

Correlation Committee and as Area President of the North America

Northeast Area, his previous church assignments include executive

administrator for the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada and

for the British Isles and South Africa, Regional Representative,

president of the California Anaheim Mission, stake president and

patriarch, counselor in four stake presidencies, bishop, and youth

leader.



	A graduate of Snow College and of the LDS Business College, Elder

Reeve was an executive with Meadow Gold Dairies and on the board of

directors of several businesses and organizations. A member of the Salt

Lake Executives Association and on the board of trustees of LDS

Hospital, he also served on the executive committee of the Great Salt

Lake Boy Scout Council. For his service to youth he was presented the

Silver Beaver Award by the Boy Scouts in 1967.



	Elder Reeve and his wife, Phyllis Mae Nielsen, are the parents of

three sons and four daughters. This devotional address was delivered on

25 February 1986 in the Marriott Center.



	I am honored and grateful to have this special privilege to speak

to you choice young men and wonderful young women at this great

university today.



	I am humbled as I stand here and subdued as I feel the spirit that

radiates from you. To you fine teachers and leaders, I appreciate each

one of you. My close association with some of your group who have

presided over missions and in other capacities has heightened my love

and respect for those who make up this incomparable body of teachers

and leaders.



His Divine Purposes



	If I may, I would like to speak to you today on a subject I have

chosen to call the Lord's strange act--"that I may bring to pass my

strange act, that I may pour out my Spirit upon all flesh" (D&C 95:4).



	I hope to be able to help identify it for you, and also assist you

to see more clearly the vital part each one of us is playing in it, and

tell you how I feel we can strengthen and enhance our contribution in

this great challenge destiny has brought to us.



	Emerson said, "The creation of a thousand forests is in one

acorn." Yes, this is a great school. But it is more than a school; it

is an ensign to all the world. It is one of the show cases; it is one

of the windows through which the world can view the product of the

great plan of the Eternal Father. It is one of the display racks of the

fruits of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The cream of the crop from the

homes of faithful Latter-day Saints in this nation and many nations

fills these classrooms and halls. Representatives from institutions and

corporations in this land, and in many lands, come from afar to seek

its products, who are spread like leaven among the nations. Yes, it is

more than another school. The tithes of the faithful across the world,

including those of the widows and orphans, help provide a sacred

feeling that sets this school apart from other schools.



	It has been a source of pride to me as I have traveled in many

cities to find graduates of this great university serving in important

places--not just as laborers, but as teachers, leaders, managers,

professional people--rendering great service to others, not just in

areas of their specialties, but radiating a feeling: a warmth of spirit

and goodness of life that blesses all who are fortunate enough to come

under their influence.



	We--this Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

this school--are not just the product of those living now. We are a

summation, the total of the lives and efforts of many who have played

their special part in their day and in their time in the Lord's strange

act to bring about his purposes. As it were, we can stand on their

shoulders.



	Spread over many centuries, running like a golden thread in the

happenings of the peoples and governments of this earth, the Lord has

been bringing to pass his strange act to accomplish his divine purposes

in the earth, both here and hereafter.



	Daniel, prophetically looking down through the centuries, spoke

briefly of the Lord's strange act and his work in this day:



	And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a

kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be

left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all

these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. [Daniel 2:44]



	In Nephi's great vision the Lord allowed Nephi to view some of the

events of his work--his strange act--down through the centuries.



	And I looked and beheld the Redeemer of the world, of whom mr

father had spoken; and I also beheld the prophet who should prepare the

war before him. And the Lamb of God went forth and was baptized of him;

and after he was baptized, I beheld the heavens open, and the Holy

Ghost come down out of heaven and abide upon him in the form of a dove.



	And I beheld that he went forth ministering unto the people, in

power and great glory; and the multitudes were gathered together to

hear him; and I beheld that they cast him out from among them....



	And I, Nephi, saw that he was lifted up upon the cross and slam

for the sins of the world.



	And after he was slam I saw the multitudes of the earth, that they

were gathered together to fight against the apostles of the Lamb; for

thus were the twelve called by the angel of the Lord. [ 1 Nephi

11:27-28, 33-34]



	Because the priesthood with its keys of authority was lost to the

earth with the death of Jesus and his apostles, the world went into a

period it has called the Dark Ages--when the light of education and

learning grew so dim, when the practice of medicine was tied with

ritual and superstition, when travel was limited, and when the word of

God was not really available to the common man.



	This was a dark time. It continued for over a thousand years, but

the predetermined plan of the Lord--his strange act--continued to take

place as the chosen individuals came to earth in their time and place

to play their part in his divine plan.



"By the Power of God"



	In about 1455 a man named Johannes Gutenberg invented printing

from movable type. At the Huntington Library in Pasadena, California, I

saw one of the first Bibles printed using Gutenberg's movable

type--beautiful work. Some of the word of God was beginning to be

available for those who could read.



	Nephi again spoke of what he saw in the vision of the future:



	And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was

separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld

the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he

went forth upon the many, waters, even unto the seed of my brethren,

who were in the promised land. [1 Nephi 13:12]



	Christopher Columbus gave credit to the Lord for his

accomplishments. In a letter to the Spanish hierarchy, Columbus wrote:



Our Lord with provident hand unlocked my mind, sent me upon the sea,

and gave me fire for the deed. Those who heard of my empire called it

foolish, mocked me, and laughed. But who can doubt but that the Holy

Ghost inspired me? [Jacob Wassermann, Columbus, Don Quixote of the

Seas, trans. Eric Sutton (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1930), pp.

19-20]



	During the voyage, after weeks of sailing with no signs of land,

mutiny raised its head. Finally, Columbus promised the captains of the

Pinta and the Nina (both of whom wanted to turn back) that if no land

was sighted in forty-eight hours, they would turn back. Then he went to

his cabin and in his words, "prayed mightily to the Lord." On October

12, the very next day, land was sighted.



	The Lord had held this land of America from being overrun until it

was time for it to take its part in his strange act. This is a promised

land. The Lord through ancient prophets has said this:



And that after the waters had receded from off the face of this land it

became a choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord,.

wherefore the Lord would have that all men should serve him who dwell

upon the face thereof [Ether 13:2]

|P89 



	Nephi continued to speak of the next part of the Lord's strange

act.



And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought

upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the

many waters. [1 Nephi 13:13]



	The Lord, through his Spirit, moved on men and women--they desired

to have his word, they desired to be free to worship according to the

dictates of their conscience. The Lord moved on wise men to bring his

word to England in the 1500s. William Tyndale, a scholar and a

Cambridge and Oxford-trained man said:



If God spared my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth

the plow shall know more of the scripture than thou dost. [James

Frederic Mozley, William Tyndale (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood

Press, 1937), p. 34]



	William Tyndale went to the European continent and, of necessity,

in secret, began his translation of the Bible into English. When he had

completed two-thirds of it, he was betrayed by a supposedly trusted

friend, and before he could complete the translation he was burned at

the stake. As his last words, uttered just before he expired, he

prayed, "Lord, open the king of England's eyes" (William Tyndale, p.

341).



	In the old city of London at Newgate Street and Smithfield Square,

there is a plaque on the wall that reads: "A few feet from here John

Rogers was burned at the stake, February 4, 1555."



	Three hundred others were also burned at the stake for their part

in bringing the Bible into England. John Rogers is a direct line

ancestor of mine. The scriptures have greater value and more meaning to

me because of the price he and others paid to make them available.



	He was a Cambridge and Oxford man, and was trained in several

languages. He was a friend of William Tyndale, and when Tyndale was

burned at the stake, he finished the translation of the Bible and

published it in 1537 under the name of Thomas Matthews. He brought

5,000 copies of the Thomas Matthews Bible back to England. He preached

at St. Paul's Church. Because of the opposition and the fact he was

immovable in his defense of the Holy Bible, he was taken to Smithfield

Square as a public example and on February 4, 1555, was burned at the

stake. His wife and his eleven children, the youngest a babe in arms,

journeyed there on the day of the burning, but so hard were the hearts

of those doing this sad deed, they were not allowed to speak to him or

bid him a last farewell.



	In 1611, King James of England--in answer to William Tyndale's

prayer, "Lord, open the king of England's eyes"--appointed seventy

scholars from Cambridge and Oxford to prepare what we now know as the

King James version of the Bible.



	Nephi spoke of these ancestors. We see the results of the holy

word and the Spirit of the Lord upon them.



	And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who

had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord;

and the power of the Lord was with them....



	And I Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of

captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all

other nations. [1 Nephi 13:16, 19; emphasis added]



	Only through the power of God could this have happened. These few

colonies were arrayed against a nation whose commonwealth was so

extensive, it is said the sun never set upon it. Also, it had the

largest and strongest fleet in the world. I repeat Nephi's words: They

"were delivered by the power of God."



The Price They Paid



	I have also stood at Little Boston in England, from where the

Pilgrims put out in the Mayflower, a small sailing vessel. I have seen

the cells where they were incarcerated, and as I stood there my heart

was touched as I thought of the price they paid and the part they

played in the Lord's strange act.



	Is it any wonder then why areas like Valley Forge, where General

George Washington and his ragged, often hungry and ill-clad men paid

such a price that we could live in a free land, have such a sacred

feeling, almost as Moses must have felt when he turned aside to see the

burning bush and heard these words: "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy

shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy

ground" (Exodus 3:5).

|P90 



	Other such places are in Philadelphia where stands the Liberty

Bell and also Constitution Hall, where men, raised up by the Lord

himself, brought forth an instrument that places the power of the

government in the hands of the people.



	Brigham Young said this regarding the Founding Fathers:



We consider that the men in the Revolution were inspired by the

Almighty, to throw off the shackles of the mother government, with her

established religion .... In thus establishing a new government upon a

principle of greater freedom, a basis of self-government allowing the

free exercise of religious worship. [DBY, pp. 359-60]



	With the land available and a government established with a

constitution allowing freedom of worship and religion, it was then time

for the next part of the Lord's strange act to begin.



	He did not go to the learned and famous men of the day to set up

his kingdom. As he had done on other occasions, he sent a baby

boy--this time to the home of Joseph Smith, Sr., and Lucy Mack. The

baby boy grew up almost entirely unschooled by man, but heavenly beings

and the Lord himself taught him and guided him through the thirty-eight

short years of his life.



	He translated a volume of scripture inscribed on golden plates--a

record of the Lord's dealings with the former inhabitants of this

American continent--that will ultimately revolutionize religious

worship throughout the earth. Through Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery

the Lord restored the holy priesthood with its keys of authority to act

in his name. He directed Joseph and Oliver to organize his Church with

its saving and exalting ordinances and the priesthood power, which

gives the authority to confer the Holy Ghost upon men. This gospel, if

received and the power used, will transform hearts and lift men to a

higher way of life--both here and hereafter.



	From the moment Joseph Smith went to the Sacred Grove to pray,

until he died as a martyr, the power of Lucifer in many forms raged

after him to destroy this work the Lord had established as a vital part

of his strange act. Joseph was driven and abused, he was tarred and

feathered, he was hounded and beaten, and he was arrested forty-eight

times on false charges in fourteen short years. He and his people were

driven from state to state and, finally, after he had completed his

part in the Lord's strange act, he went to Carthage in answer to a

summons on a false charge.



	The governor of the state of Illinois, Thomas B. Ford, promised

Joseph protection if he would place himself in the hands of the law at

Carthage. The governor failed in his promise of protection, and at the

hands of a mob Joseph and Hyrum died as martyrs. Following Joseph's

death, Governor Ford said, "Thus fell Joe Smith, the most successful

imposter in modern times" (HC 7:35).



	Governor Ford evidently did not understand whose work this was,

nor did he know about the Lord's strange act, for through his prophet

the Lord had stated:



No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecution may

rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but

the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it

has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every

country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shah be

accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shah say the work is done. [HC

4:540]



	Following Joseph's death, the Saints were driven from their homes

to become exiles--almost refugees--stripped of almost all they had. But

under the leadership of the Lord, and with the testimonies of the

Spirit burning deep in their hearts, they crossed the almost trackless

plains to a desert place no one else would have--there to do their part

in the Lord's strange act, to set up a kingdom where the principles of

his gospel could have place in the lives of men and women until his

Church could become strong enough to do its part in his strange act.



	In about 1980 the prophet of the Lord stated, "We are now strong

enough to move forth in the world in a major way." It took 100 years to

get the first 100 stakes in the Church. In 1930 there were 104 stakes.

In the year 1974, when Spencer W. Kimball became the prophet, there

were 630 stakes. Eleven short years later, as his time of leadership

closed, there were 1,570 stakes of Zion, or an increase of 940 stakes

in just eleven short years.



A Mighty Change in the Earth



	The strange act of the Lord is continuing to move forth. It has

been interesting to me to note that from 1805, the year Joseph Smith

was born, and the next few years, as the priesthood power again came to

man and the light of the gospel broke forth on the people of the earth,

many of the great inventions came forth: the reaper, the cotton gin,

the sewing machine, the steam engine. And even until today the

multitude of new inventions have brought a mighty change in the earth:

the telephone; radio; television; the computer; the marvel of space

travel that is just in its infancy, together with the marvelous power

released with man's efforts in the world of the atom; the exciting

future of the laser light world, as well as the great advances in the

fields of medicine with the vaccines and miracle drugs that have wiped

out many of the dread diseases of the past, which, as plagues, swept

many from the earth; the transplanting of hearts and kidneys, even

artificial organs; and surely the end is not yet. The greatest books

have yet to be written; the greatest inventions have yet to be made.



	In the explosion of knowledge and learning that has come to the

earth, we live in a day of scientific and intellectual giants, but we

also live in a day of spiritual pygmies. God has largely been forgotten

except in name only. The Sabbath, his holy day, has become a

pleasure-seeking holiday. As much as man has learned and as wonderful

as his accomplishments are, yet spiritually most of our Father's

children live in the darkest darkness. The sacred power to initiate new

life, which God alone controls and of which he is very jealous, has

been prostituted on almost every hand; even life itself is destroyed to

hide sins. We live in a world void of peace--men cry peace, yet there

is no peace. We live in a time of terror and evil and violence where

life is of little value. The souls of men hunger and are not satisfied,

and they run to and fro but still cannot find God.



Doing Our Part in the Lord's Strange Act



	How privileged we are to come forth at this time, to do our part

in the Lord's strange act. What a privilege that he should place such

trust in us to be an ensign, a spiritual light to all men and women-to

play our part in the Lord's strange act so that people, the Lord's

children in this entire earth, might see the fruits that come from

obedience to his gospel plan.



	Now is our time. We are to be a light to the world--an ensign. We

might say we are to be a living, breathing visual aid, a product of the

gospel of Jesus Christ for all men to see.



	For, behold, I say unto you that Zion shall flourish, and the

glory of the Lord shall be upon her;



	And she shall be an ensign unto the people, and there shall come

unto her out of every nation under heaven. [D&C 64:41-42]



	The Lord has commanded us through his prophets, "Verily I say unto

you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for

the nations" (D&C 115:5).



	Each one of us has a light. We cannot endure on borrowed light. A

person must have the light within himself. The Lord has said in our

day:



	And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be

filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body

which is filled with light comprehendeth all things. [D&C 88:67]



	This great opportunity to play a leading role in the Lord's

strange act is open to each one of us. The brightness of our light

depends on our thoughts, on our words, on our deeds, and on the amount

of the Spirit we have. Shakespeare gave us this insight: "To thine own

self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not

then be false to any man" (Hamlet, act 1, sc. 3, lines 78-80).



    	Our new prophet has said:



Therefore, the only measure of true greatness is how close a man can

become like Jesus. That man is greatest who is most like Christ, and

those who love him most will be most like him. [Ezra Taft Benson,

"Listen to a Prophet's Voice," Ensign, January 1973, p. 57]



	In my humble opinion, this generation of young people--the youth

of this day--are, as a whole, the finest group yet sent to earth. I am

aware you are much stronger, taller, better looking, and keener than

the generation I came in. Your part in the Lord's strange act is to be

a visual aid, a living, breathing visual aid--available for the world

to see how fine the products of his gospel are--literally beginning to

fulfill Isaiah's ancient prophecy.



	And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the

mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will

teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. [Isaiah 2:3]

|P92 



The Lord's Strange Act Will Not Fail



	We live in a day when nothing can be hid--a day about which the

scriptures mention speaking from the housetops. Luke knew and

prophesied of this day:



	For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed,. neither

hid, that shall not be known.



	... and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be

proclaimed upon the housetops. [Luke 12:2-3]



	We have experienced some of this already. BYU has had a prominent

part in it. Sharlene Wells, BYU student, Miss America: the word, the

picture, the story of this choice young woman were surely spoken from

the housetops. And there is BYU's football team; millions not only

heard, but saw. There was extensive coverage in the area I serve

in--North America Northeast with its 140 million people--including full

pages of newspaper coverage, articles in magazines with large

circulation, and radio and TV broadcasting to millions. Today the BYU

Center in Jerusalem has received extensive coverage--written, spoken,

visual--almost worldwide on a daily and continuing basis.



	On the other hand, the negative and part-truth messages have

access to the same sophisticated media. They too are spoken from the

housetops. The film The GodMakers makes light of sacred things. The

ancient letters and the bombings in Salt Lake City have created doubt

and heartache in many lives.



	What trust and what confidence the Lord has had in us to allow us

to come at this crucial time in his strange act to play our part of

being a light to the world. I am proud of you and thousands of other

wonderful young men and women across the earth whom I call the "First

Team." The Lord's strange act will not fail. The prophet Daniel gave

this assurance:



	And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a

kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be

left to other people, ... and it shall stand for ever. [Daniel 2:44]



	The strange act will not fail, but some individuals may fall short

and be darkened and have their light extinguished by the world. Today I

challenge you to commit, or recommit, yourself to excellence, both

temporal and spiritual. Live so your light will be one of great

brilliance, that you may light the way of multitudes who will find God

through your example.



	The fuel for this light is the Holy Spirit--the Holy Ghost, the

thing that makes this Church different from any other church. The thing

that makes us, as members, different from other children of the Lord is

that we have, or can have, this great power of the Holy Ghost in our

lives. The people who do have the Holy Ghost operating in their lives

are different. The spirit that radiates from their persons is

different. There is even a glow in their faces--the flesh in their

countenances seems lighted--the gray, dull look is not there. The Holy

Ghost will not dwell in an unclean, disobedient tabernacle. The Holy

Ghost comes as a gift from God when we comply with the conditions

established for his companionship.



	Thus cleansed and committed, this heavenly power can have place in

us. It fuels the light we are asked to hold up. The Savior said, "Let

your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and

glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).



	Intention to hold up our light is good, but it is not enough; we

must really hold it up. We must actually obey and meet all requirements

if our light is to be seen--if we do our part in the Lord's strange

act. Some might think they can fool their leaders. Some might think

they can fool their bishop or their stake president. Some might even

fool themselves, but you cannot fool the Spirit. The Spirit is the oil

that fuels the light we are to hold up.



	I witness to you that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the son

of the living God, our Savior and our Redeemer. We live in a day when

nothing can be hid. The word, the account of our every act, will be

spoken from the housetops sooner or later.



	In the great plan--the Lord's strange act--the Lord Jesus Christ

did not fail. Gutenberg did not fail in his part. Columbus and the

Pilgrims did not fail in their parts. The Founding Fathers did not

fail. Joseph Smith and the pioneers did not fail. This generation will

not fail. There will be some who are too weak and so careless their

lights will go out. But may we be true to our sacred commitments made

to the Lord--some before this life here--to faithfully do our part in

his strange act that we might be an ensign to all, that our light might

be one of great brilliance. I dare you to rise up to new levels of

obedience, to rise up to new levels of spirituality. Remember the

Lord's promise:



Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and

ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shah be

opened unto you. [D&C 88:63]



I the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I

say, ye have no promise. [D&C 82:10]



Give me some men who are Stouthearted Men who will fight for the right

they adore. Start me with ten, who are Stouthearted Men and

I'll soon give you ten thousand more. [Words by Oscar Hammerstein II,

"Stouthearted Men," from The New Moon]



Remember, the creation of a thousand forests can come from one acorn.



	To each one of you I say thanks for being great. We are proud of

you. We are counting on you. I say this in the holy name of Jesus

Christ the Lord. Amen.





                       Joseph Smith: The Prophet



                            David B. Haight



	Elder David B. Haight was named to the Council of the Twelve

Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in January

1976. Elder Haight had served as an Assistant to the Council of the

Twelve since April 1970.



	A noted civic and business leader in California before assuming

full-time church responsibilities, Elder Haight was mayor of Palo Alto

for two terms, Red Cross campaign chairman and Blood Bank director,

Stanford Area Boy Scout Council director, president of the Palo Alto

Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Merchants Association, member of the

Rotary Club, director of Stanford-Palo Alto Hospital and Channing House

Retirement Center, and a governor of the San Francisco Bar Area Council

of Mayors.



	His business activities have included executive positions with

ZCMI in Salt Lake City, district manager in California for Montgomery

Ward and Company, and later the regional manager in Chicago, directing

165 stores and more than 5, 000 employees. He was also president of a

retail organization in Palo Alto, California.



	Elder Haight, in addition to his regular assignment as a member of

the Council of the Twelve and chairman of the Priesthood Executive

Council, is a member of the executive committee and board of directors

of Bonneville International Corporation, as well as Deseret Management

Corporation, a member of the board of directors of First Security

Corporation and Huntsman Chemical Corporation, and of the board of

advisors of the University of Utah College of Business, and a director

of Valtek Corporation.



	He has served his church as Regional Representative, president of

the Scottish Mission, a member of the Priesthood Missionary Committee,

president of the Palo Alto Stake for twelve years, high councilor, and

bishop's counselor.



	After returning from Scotland he served three years as assistant

to the president of Brigham Young University.



	Born in Oakley, Idaho, Elder Haight attended Oakley High School

and Albion State Normal School in Idaho. He then finished his schooling

at Utah State University in Logan, Utah.



	During World War II he served as a commander in the United States

Navy. He received a special citation from Admiral Nimitz of the Pacific

Fleet.



	In 1978 Elder Haight received the "Distinguished Alumnus Award"

from Utah State University for his service to the university and to the

community, and serves as a member of that university's National

Advisory Board.



	He and his wife, Ruby Olson, are the parents of two sons and a

daughter and have eighteen grandchildren.



	This fireside address was given in the Marriott Center on 2 March

1986.



	As I look out into the faces of you precious young sons and

daughters of our Heavenly Father and sense your unlimited potential to

"do good unto all men" (Galatians 6:10), I pray tonight that each of

you--and that I--will be blessed with the Spirit of the Lord, that what

I testify, of will strengthen your faith and desire to personally live

and be faithful to all the true principles of God's eternal plan of

salvation--those keys and powers that have been conferred upon all men

during these latter days, a fulfillment of the declaration of Paul to

the Ephesians "that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he

might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in

heaven, and which are on earth; even in him" (Ephesians 1:10).



The Restoration



	The principles, doctrines, and ordinances of the gospel of our

Lord Jesus Christ have been revealed anew, including a knowledge of the

true nature of God--a personal, loving, Eternal Father--and of Jesus

Christ, the literal Son of God, of whose divinity there has come

another witness in the Book of Mormon. The words of Ezekiel that the

stick of Judah (the Bible) shall be joined with the stick of Joseph

(the Book of Mormon ) as a testimony of two nations have found their

fulfillment (see Ezekiel 37:15-22). This I solemnly declare to all of

you.



	The authority to act in the name of God, the holy priesthood, has

been conferred upon men in our time by those same individuals who held

it anciently--Peter, James, and John--apostles of our Lord who were

ordained by the Savior himself when he was upon the earth.



	The Church of Jesus Christ has been reestablished. The priesthood

of God is again among men. God has revealed himself anew for the

blessing of his children.



	As I declare to you, my dear young friends, these divine

events--with all the characteristics of the Church of the early

apostles, including the personal direction of Jesus Christ, divinely

revealed doctrine, divinely chosen leaders, continuous revelation, and

the witness of the Holy Ghost to all who obey--I testify that the

instrument through whom this divine revelation came was one

foreordained--the youthful Joseph Smith--whose faith and desire brought

about "one of the most significant religious events in the history of

mankind" (Milton V. Backman, Jr., "Joseph Smith's Recitals of the First

Vision," Ensign, Jan. 1985, p. 8).



	Since my early youth I have believed and carried in my mind a

vivid picture of the teen-age Joseph finding a secluded spot, kneeling

in the quiet grove, and in childlike faith asking the desire of his

heart. He must have felt assured the Lord would hear and somehow answer

him. There appeared to him two glorious personages, a description of

whom, he said, was beyond his ability to express.



	I have been blessed, as the years have passed, with unusual

experiences with people, places, and personal events of an intimate,

spiritual nature, and, through the power of the Holy Ghost, I have

received an ever-deepening witness and knowledge of this

heaven-directed restoration of the Lord's plan of salvation. The events

related by Joseph Smith of the Restoration are true.



The Vision



	Each of you can develop in your bosom an uplifting, sanctifying,

and glorifying feeling of its truth. The Holy Ghost will reveal and

seal upon each of your hearts this knowledge, if you truly desire. Our

understanding, belief, and faith in "the vision" (as we refer to it) of

God the Father and his Only Begotten Son appearing to Joseph, thereby

ushering in this final dispensation with its great and precious truths,

is essential to our eternal salvation. Salvation comes only through

Christ. Joseph Smith is the instrument or revealer of that knowledge,

divinely called to teach of the terms and conditions of the Father's

plan and given the keys of salvation for all mankind.



	The knowledge is mine that God did reveal himself unto Joseph--his

witness of this final dispensation. We now know something of the form,

features, and even character of that mighty intelligence whose wisdom,

creation, and power control the affairs of the universe. God made it

known that Jesus Christ is the express image of the Father.



	In Joseph's own words, the brightness was above anything he had

ever known. He looked up. Before him stood two glorious personages. One

of them, pointing to the other, said, "This is My Beloved Son. Hear

Him!" CIS--H 1:17).



	It might have seemed inconceivable to young Joseph that he was

looking upon God our Heavenly Father and his Son--that the Lord had

come to visit and instruct him.



	The Son, bidden by the Father, spoke to the kneeling boy. Joseph

was told that all the churches were wrong. They had corrupted the

doctrine; they had broken the ordinances and had lost the authority of

the priesthood of God. He was told that the leaders of the man-made

churches were displeasing to the Lord, that they were collecting money

which should be given freely, and that the time for the restoration of

all truth and authority had come, including the organization of the

Church. Then, to his infinite astonishment, he was told that he, Joseph

Smith--young, unlearned, but humble--was to be the instrument through

whom the Almighty would reestablish his work in these, the latter

days--the gospel never to be taken away again. Such was the glorious

beginning of the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ.



	Some three years later, as he was beginning to mature, Joseph

Smith had another heavenly visitation. This time an angel sent from the

presence of God informed Joseph that he was Moroni and revealed to the

young man the resting place of a set of gold plates upon which certain

ancient inhabitants of America had recorded the history of their

peoples. In the course of time, these records were translated by the

gift and power of God and published early in 1830.



A Definite Purpose



	The Book of Mormon is the most remarkable book in the world from a

doctrinal, historical, or philosophical point of view. Its integrity

has been assailed with senseless fury, for over a century and a half,

yet its position and influence today is more impregnable than ever.



	The Book of Mormon did not come forth as a curiosity. It was

written with a definite purpose--a purpose to be felt by every reader.

From the title page we read that it was written "to the convincing of

the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God,

manifesting himself unto all nations." The message it contains is a

witness for Christ and teaches the love of God for all mankind. Its

purpose is to bring people to accept Jesus as the Christ. The book

tells of the actual visit of Christ to ancient America and records the

teachings and instructions he gave in clarity and great power to the

people. The Book of Mormon substantiates the Bible in its teachings of

the Savior, speaks of Christ more than any other subject, and teaches

that our Savior is the Redeemer and Atoner of mankind, constantly

emphasizing that he is the central figure in God's plan of salvation.

This divine record makes converts to its message and to his Church,

which teaches it.



	I have marveled at God's wisdom in bringing forth this ancient

record in the manner in which it was accomplished, for it has also

become the powerful witness of the divine mission of Joseph Smith.

Sunday, November 28, 1841, the Prophet wrote:



	I spent the day in the council with the Twelve Apostles at the

house of President Young, conversing with them upon a variety of

subjects. Brother Joseph Fielding was present, having been absent four

years on a mission to England. I told the brethren that the Book of

Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of

our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its

precepts, than by any other book. [HC 4:461]



	Joseph Smith was foreordained to be the duly appointed leader of

this, the greatest and final of all dispensations. After the angel

Moroni's visit, other heavenly messengers conferred upon Joseph holy

priesthood authority, divine keys, power, and revelations from God.



	Not only was the Church organized under inspiration and divine

direction, but the necessary body of doctrine for guidance of the

Church was revealed. Faith and light were again available to distill

the darkness that was upon the earth. Joseph Smith, after seeking and

being taught by the Author of Truth, learned that



	1. God is in form like man. 



	2. He has a voice; he speaks. 



	3. He is considerate and kind. 



	4. He answers prayers.



	5. His son is obedient to the Father and is the mediator between

God and man.



	6. "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's;

the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but

is a personage of Spirit" (D&C 130:22).



	Though Hebrew scriptures make references to temples and baptism

for the deceased, Joseph Smith was the first to have revealed the

purpose of temples and salvation for all--including those who have

passed on without having received a knowledge of the gospel--along with

the eternal marriage covenant and sealing of man and woman as the

foundation for exaltation.



	Joseph Smith, speaking at the first conference of the Church in

June 1830, spoke of great happiness "to find ourselves engaged in the

very same order of things as observed by the holy Apostles of old" (HC

1:85).



A Prophet of the Lord



	Under the inspiration of Almighty God, the Church began to

flourish. The Lord's promise that a "marvelous work is about to come

forth" was being fulfilled in a miraculous way (see D&C 4:1 ). The

gospel message spread rapidly. The missionary spirit was touching

hearts. The Book of Mormon was being read. Tens, then hundreds, then

thousands joined the Church. The Lord, speaking through Joseph,

proclaimed:



	For verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men, and there is

none to escape; and there is no eye that shall not see, neither ear

that shall not hear, neither heart that shall not be penetrated  ....



	The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the

mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man,

neither trust in the arm of flesh--



	But that every man might speak tn the name of God the Lord, even

the Savior of the world:...



	That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed... unto the ends

of the world, and before kings and rulers. [D&C 1:2, 19-20, 23]



	Politicians began worrying over this new phenomenon. Enemies were

organizing, and the Prophet's life was becoming endangered. After

months of imprisonment in the dark, damp dungeon known as Liberty Jail,

a discouraged Joseph cried out to the Lord:



	O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy

hiding place?



	How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye,... behold from

the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants,...



	Yea, O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful

oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them. [D&C

121:1-3]



	Then a loving, answering Savior promised Joseph:



	The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools

shall have thee in derision, and hell shall rage against thee;



	While the pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the

virtuous, shall seek counsel, and authority, and blessings constantly

from under thy hand.



	And thy people shall never be turned against thee by the testimony

of traitors.



	... Thou shalt be had in honor;... and thy voice shall be more

terrible in the midst of thine enemies than the fierce lion, because of

thy righteousness; and thy God shall stand by thee forever and ever.

[D&C 122:1-4]



	In his last public address to a large congregation in Nauvoo,

Joseph said:



	I do not regard my own life. I am ready to be offered a sacrifice

for this people; for what can our enemies do? Only kill the body, and

their power is then at an end. Stand firm, my friends; never flinch. Do

not seek to save your lives, for he that is afraid to die for the truth

will lose eternal life  ....



	God has tried you. You are a good people; therefore I love you

with all my heart. Greater love hath no man than that he should lay

down his life for his friends. You have stood by me in the hour of

trouble, and I am willing to sacrifice my life for your preservation.

[George Q. cannon, Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet (Salt Lake City:

Deseret Book Co., 1907), p. 498]



	This statement is all the more remarkable as the Prophet was still

in the morning of life--only thirty-eight years old--and great as he

had already become, the zenith of his mental and spiritual powers had

not yet been reached. Life was precious to him with all its

possibilities of future achievements. Yet he was willing to give it up,

willing to forego all the honors that might be his, the greatness that

would come to him if he lived.



	"A Prophet," wrote Truman Madsen, "is one who, in fulfillment of

his mission, undergoes great suffering, yet through it all, is radiant.

A Prophet, in short, is a saint."



    	Someone has written:



	Nowhere in the long lists of martyrs, save only in the case of

Joseph Smith, do we find one who voluntarily went out of his way to die

for his faith and people. In that fateful hour when the choice of life

or death was to be made, Joseph Smith did not hedge, or sidestep, or

seek to save his life, but bravely chose to die, in the hope that his

people might henceforth be free to worship God in their own way, and

that the testimony which he had borne of a restored gospel might be

sanctified [if necessary] by the shedding of his blood.



	"Had he been spared a martyr's fate till mature manhood," said

Parley P. Pratt, "he was certainly endowed with power and ability to

have [influenced] the world in many respects?"



	One may pick up the thread of Joseph Smith's life on any day of

any year and find incalculable suffering, both his own and the

disciples' around him.



"Be Patient in Afflictions"



	Mormonism was appearing to become, as the scripture says, as a

stone cut out of a mountain, without hands and rolling forth to fill

the whole earth (see D&C 65:2). Political officials worried about it

moving outward and abroad from the immediate locale, illegal charges

were leveled, court documents and summons were issued, and vigilantes

were formed at Carthage, the county seat. Joseph and Hyrum were to

appear to answer charges against them.



	As Joseph Smith left Nauvoo for Carthage that twenty-fourth day of

June, he would have looked for the last time on the city and the

magnificent temple that he loved. He knew he would never look upon it

again.



	"Be patient in afflictions," he was told, "for thou shalt have

many." Later, he said adversity had become second nature, but had only

"wafted me that much closer to Deity." Brigham Young said of him that

he lived one thousand years in thirty-eight. 



	To his companions who were accompanying him to Carthage, he gave

these prophetic words:



	I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a

summer's morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and

towards all men....  And it shall yet be said of me--he was murdered in

cold blood. [D&C 135:4]



	Why did he not turn back? There was time to escape. He was not yet

in the hands of his enemies. Friends were at his side who would die for

him if necessary. Some suggested he flee across the Mississippi where

he would be safe. But he continued to Carthage.



	Joseph must have recalled some of the dangers through which he had

passed--like the winter night when a mob broke into his home and with

curses and profanity tore him from the bedside of his wife and sick

children and dragged him over the frozen ground, kicking and beating

him until he was unconscious. When consciousness returned, they

stripped him of his clothing and covered his naked body from head to

foot with a coat of tar and feathers, forcing open his mouth to fill it

with the same substance, then left him on the frozen ground to die of

cold and exposure.



	Riding to Carthage he might have recalled the time in Missouri

when he and some of his brethren had been betrayed into the hands of

their enemies. The leader of the mob convened a court; Joseph and his

associates were placed on trial for their lives. They were convicted

and all sentenced to be shot the next morning at eight o'clock in the

public square in Far West. At the appointed hour they were duly led

forth to be murdered, but a dispute among the mob saved them.



	Without even being permitted to bid farewell to their families,

they were taken from place to place and exhibited to jeering crowds

while the Saints were told they would never see their leaders again.

But Joseph cheered his fellow prisoners by announcing that none of them

would suffer death.



	"Be of good cheer, brethren," he said, "the word of the Lord came

to me last night that our lives should be given us,... not one of our

lives shall be taken" (HC 3:200).



	As Joseph contemplated those dreary months of imprisonment in

Missouri, he must have recalled the night, when confined in a dungeon,

he rebuked the guards. He and his brethren were trying to get a little

sleep, but were kept awake by the awful blasphemies and obscene jests

of their jailers, who were recounting the dreadful deeds of robbery and

murder they had committed among the Mormons. These were no idle boasts,

for these awful atrocities had actually been committed. Suddenly,

Joseph rose to his feet and, in a voice that seemed to shake the very

building, cried out:



	Silence, ye fiends of the infernal pit! In the name of Jesus

Christ I rebuke you, and command you to be still; I will not live

another minute and hear such language. Cease such talk, or you or I die

this instant. [HC 3:208]



	The effect must have been electric in its suddenness. Some begged

his pardon while others slunk into the dark corners of Liberty Jail to

hide their shame.



	The power of Jesus Christ, whose name he had invoked in his

rebuke, was upon him. His hands and feet were in chains, but these the

guards did not see. They saw only the righteous anger in his shining

face, and felt the divine power in his voice as he rebuked them.



	But if Joseph's voice was terrible as the roaring lion in his

rebuke of the wicked, it was soothing as a mother's voice in comfort to

the righteous. In that same name and by the same authority with which

he silenced the blasphemes of the guards, he had blessed little

children, baptized repentant sinners, conferred the Holy Ghost, healed

the sick, and spoken words of comfort and consolation to thousands.



"Are You Afraid to Die?



	It was midnight when the wagon journey from Nauvoo ended. Joseph

and his brethren entered Carthage, and his fate was sealed. His enemies

had awaited their coming with great anxiety. The governor, who was

present, persuaded the mob to disperse that night by promising them

that they should have full satisfaction.



	The next day, after a hearing, Joseph was released on bail, but

re-arrested on a trumped-up charge of treason. Bail was refused and

Joseph and Hyrum were placed in Carthage Jail.



	The last night of Joseph's life on earth he bore a powerful

testimony, to the guards and others who assembled at the door of the

jail, of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, also declaring that the

gospel had been restored and the kingdom of God established on the

earth. It was for this reason that he was incarcerated in prison, not

for violating any law of God or man.



	It was late at night when they tried to get some rest. At first

Joseph and Hyrum occupied the only bed in the jail room, but a gunshot

during the night and a disturbance led Joseph's friends to insist that

he take a place between two of them on the floor. They would protect

him with their own bodies. Joseph asked Elder Markham to use his arm

for a pillow while they conversed, then he turned to Elder Dan Jones,

on the other side, and whispered, "Are you afraid to die?" And this

staunch friend answered, "Has that time come, think you? Engaged in

such a cause, I do not think death would have many terrors."



	Joseph replied, "You will yet see Wales, and fulfill the mission

appointed you before you die" (HC 6:601 ).



	The next morning, the fateful twenty-seventh of June, 1844, three

of the brethren left the prison and only four remained--Joseph and

Hyrum and two of the apostles, both of whom during the day offered to

die for him. The day was spent in writing letters to their wives,

conversing on principles of the gospel, and singing. Between three and

four o'clock in the afternoon the Prophet requested Elder John Taylor

to sing the words of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief."



	This comforting song breathes in every line the very spirit and

message of Christ. Only a person who loved his Savior and his fellowmen

would have requested to hear these words at such a time.



	When Elder Taylor had finished the song, the Prophet's eyes were

wet with tears, and he said, "Sing that song again, will you, John?"

(Claire Noall, Intimate Disciple; a Portrait of Willard Richards,

Apostle to Joseph Smith--Cousin of Brigham Young [Salt Lake City:

University of Utah Press, 1957], p. 440).



	John "replied that he did not feel like singing. He was oppressed

with a sense of coming disaster" (Life of Joseph Smith, p. 524).



	"You'll feel better once you begin, and so will I," replied Joseph

(Intimate Disciple, p. 440).



	Hyrum also pleaded with him to repeat the song. And Elder Taylor

did.



	This time his voice was even sadder and more tender than at first,

and when he concluded, all were hushed, but four hearts beat faster for

they had carefully listened to the fateful words:



My friendship's utmost zeal to try,

He asked if I for him would die.

The flesh was weak; my blood ran chill,

But my free spirit cried, "I will!"

[Hymns, 1985, no. 29]



	The other three heard Joseph murmur as an echo to the song, "I

will!"



	The love of Christ was in the song; the love of man was there in

that room in the Carthage Jail.



	While this spirit of love and service for men expressed in song

and prayer filled the hearts of all within the jail, the mob was

gathering. The final details you know.



Only Love Begets Love



	When the news of the awful crime reached Nauvoo, the citizens were

overcome with grief and horror. Probably such universal sorrow had not

been known in an American city before. The warm summer sun left them

cold and chill. Their prophet and their patriarch were dead. What else

mattered?



	When the wagon carrying the bodies was still a long way off, the

entire population of Nauvoo went out to meet it. No greater tribute was

ever paid to mortal man than was paid that day to Joseph and Hyrum

Smith. Such universal love from those who knew them best could never

have been won by selfish and designing men. Only love begets love. Once

when Joseph had been asked how he had acquired so many followers and

retained them, he replied, "It is because I possess the principle of

love. All that I offer the world is a good heart and good hand."



	Sariah Workman, an early immigrant, wrote: "I felt a divine

influence whenever I was in his presence."



	John Taylor, who was wounded at Carthage and later became prophet,

said of him:



	Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more,

save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other

man that ever lived in it. In the short space of twenty years, he has

brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and

power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two

continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it

contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the

revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and

Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the

benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the

Latter-day Saints, rounded a great city, and left a fame and name that

cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God

and his people; and like most of the Lord's anointed in ancient times,

has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood. [D&C 135:3]



	I leave each of you my love and testament that God, our Father,

lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, crucified

for the sins of the world "to cleanse it from all unrighteousness; that

through him all might be saved" (D&C 76:41-42).



	He is our Redeemer, our Lord, our King. His kingdom is again

established on the earth. In the year 1820 God, our Eternal Father, and

his son Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith, who was foreordained to

be the instrument of the Restoration, which is The Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter-day Saints. This Church, by divine direction, is

preparing the world for his second coming--for he will come again. This

I humbly declare in his holy name. Amen. 





                            Follow the King



                            Marion D. Hanks



	Elder Marion D. Hanks has spent many years in church and community

service. As a young man he filled a mission in the northern United

States. After service in World War II he was a member of the presidency

of the Temple Square Mission for a number of years, and he served as

president of the British Mission. He was sustained a member of the

First Council of the Seventy in 1953, as an Assistant to the Twelve in

1968, and to the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy in 1976.

Released from the presidency in 1980, he then served as Executive

Administrator of the Southeast Asia--Philippines Area, headquartered in

Hong Kong. Recently released as president of the Salt Lake Temple, he

is now serving as a President of the First Quorum of the Seventy.



	By profession Elder Hanks was a lawyer and an educator, holding a

Juris Doctor degree from the University of Utah. Through several

national administrations he served as a member of the President's

Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and has been Salt Lake City

president and district governor of Rotary International.  Before going

to the Far East, he was a member of the Executive Board of the Boy

Scouts of America and chairman of the National Camping and Outdoors

Committee.



	In Asia Elder Hanks was responsible for revolving the Church tn

significant service in refugee camps in Thailand, Hong Kong, and the

Philippines, where many missionaries for the Church have helped

refugees in preparing them for life in America.



	Elder Hanks and his wife, Maxine Christensen, are the parents of

four daughters and one son. 



	This devotional address was delivered on 11 March 1986 in the

Marriott Center.



	I am happy to be with you. I couldn't refrain from drafting an

elegant speech for you this morning, but I think I shall be able to

resist reading it--or most of it--though I will try to extract from it

some references to good literature, and to the best literature, as a

base for what I wish to share.



	What I would like to say is what I would wish my children to hear

or have heard, or my grandchildren to hear when they are ready. It

matters what we say and how we say it. One cannot be cavalier about

thirty minutes, or twenty, or fifteen, of anybody's time.



	I have thought this morning of a story about an old sea captain

who was feared because of his tyrannical approach. He disapproved of

almost everything, including his first mate. When the first mate came

back from shore leave one night slightly inebriated, the captain

entered into the daily ship's log: "This day the first mate returned to

the ship drunk."



	The first mate resented that but there was nothing he could do

about it. However his day came. He was officer of the watch and the

captain was ashore. When the captain returned to the ship that night,

the first mate entered into the log: "This day the captain returned to

the ship sober." It matters what we say and how we say it! Speaking of

grandchildren, I was approached this weekend by a sweet lady who told

me she was ninety years old. That relieved me a little because I was

expecting her to say, as I regularly hear older people say now, "I have

been listening to you since I was a little girl." That thought

captivates me, and in some cases may be true. As long as BYU keeps

replaying old tapes, galloping senescence may be withheld in a measure

from current observation. In my case eternal youth has been perpetuated

by the replaying of a speech or two given here so many years ago that I

haven't the slightest idea what I said.



	Another person approached me at a conference and said, "We used to

love to hear you speak about your children. Why don't you start

speaking about your grandchildren?" I will indulge her and myself, and

share with you one simple report about two grandchildren.



	Our oldest daughter and her husband and five children came to live

with us for a few months because they suffered the misfortune of having

their house damaged by a fire. So, while it was being repaired, we had

the marvelous blessing of getting to know the family a whole lot

better. So much better that what may be one of the few triumphs of my

life occurred at four o'clock one morning when a little boy came to

me--not to his mother or father or grandmother, but to me-awakened me

and said, "Gwandpa, I frowed up." Somehow that had become apparent to

me already!



	I went with him to the bedroom where he and his brother had been

sleeping and saw with marvel and amazement that this lad has the most

significant propulsive capacity I have ever observed. After I had

completely evacuated the room of most of its contents, reclothed and

relocated two little boys who were staggering around sleepily after

they had had a shower, and gone back to my own room marveling--after

all that occurred, I lay in my bed chuckling. That was a great

experience, full of good cheer and some laughter and appreciation.



	Several days passed. Then, at the breakfast table one morning, the

older boy, who had previously given his thanks and hugs, was sitting by

his younger brother, who was still struggling with the rudiments of

language. It was the latter who spoke. Between mouthfuls of cereal he

said, "Gwandpa, I think you are the greatest man in the whole world." I

said, "Well, maybe not the greatest, Mark-certainly one of the best

looking, but maybe not the greatest." But he didn't laugh. He said,

"And the goodest."



	Do you know, somehow that little fellow came to feel and respond

to something very important--that in serving and being served you

really do learn to love each other, both she or he who serves and they

who are served.



	I commend that to you--the good cheer and the sense of delight in

being able to help someone who really needs help, as they needed help

that night. There are a lot of people who would prosper from learning

what little Mark, the masterful philosopher, got out of that

experience. He related it a bit overgenerously to one who was involved,

but the principle is real and good.



What Do You Wish For?



	Let me share with you something I read recently. It was a note

written by the mother of Steve Howe, reprinted in Sunday's newspaper.

You may know that he was a major league baseball pitcher of

considerable skill and affluence and future who is now struggling to

get back into baseball after having lost his place because of reputed

drug use. His mother said:



	Its easy to place blame where there is no blame. We have five

children and we have one cocaine addict. I would die for my kids. But I

will not take the blame for his addiction, any more than his father

should. You know what I think Steve's problem is? Everything he ever

said he wanted to do, he's done. He's any ordinary kid who got

everything he ever wished for. All his dreams came true. And it wasn't

enough. ["Quotes," Deseret News Magazine, 2 March 1986, p. 3]



	I admire Mrs. Howe's understanding of the principle of agency and

her scripture like attribution of accountability where accountability

is due. I know nothing personally of these individuals and make only

this comment: I cannot help wondering what Steve wished for and dreamed

of in his quiet hours. I doubt he ever dreamed or wished to be in the

position he is in. Does anyone ever really aim for failure or for

self-destruction or the vitiation of potential?



	Again, I certainly do not judge or write off Steve Howe. I hope he

comes back in lots of wonderful ways. But I simply emphasize what a

wise man once said: "He who picks up one end of a stick picks up the

other. He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place it

leads to." And I will add another wise line, that "Not failure, but low

aim, is crime."



	I cannot fail to wonder whether anybody ever opened to Steve a

sense of what can be because of who he is and to whom he belongs and

what is in him of potential and power and capacity. I wonder if he ever

dreamed--really dreamed--of giving the kind of service I have watched

many his age or younger (perhaps some sitting among you today) give in

the barrios or the refugee camps of Asia. Such a dream would be worthy

of his manhood and his capacity. It is a good thing to be capable of

being a major leaguer, but there are some major objectives that are

more important than baseball or basketball or any other sport.



	Dreams and wishes and desires matter but they do not themselves

take us to achievement. What we really want to accomplish, to do, to

have, to be, will be achieved on the basis of our day-by-day effort.

And the dream coming true will be the consequence of our putting to

work the capacities we have to take advantage of the opportunities

around us while they are yet there.



	Today let me take a theme from great literature, the theme of a

young hero who had ambitions, a dream, a desire, and whose example may

be stimulating to some of you. I hope so.



Gareth's Quest



	In Tennyson's Idylls of the King is the story of Gareth and

Lynette. Gareth was "The last tall son of Lot and Bellicent," says the

poem, a prince much loved by his mother who desired to protect him from

the fate she feared, which was that he become like his father who was

ill and had no will to live, and like his brothers who were at the

Round Table but who had not the qualities nor character of Gareth. He

too desired to be a knight, but he had nobler dreams also. His mother

wanted him to stay at home and enjoy the estates and the opportunities

of the influential and wealthy. She wanted him, she said, to "follow

the deer." He answered:



	O mother, 

How can you keep me tether'd to you?--Shame. 

Man am I grown, a mans work must I do. 

Follow the deer? follow the Christ, the King, 

Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the 

King--

Else, wherefore born?

[Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King, "Gareth and Lynette," lines

113-18]



	Gareth, through trials and tests, demonstrated his faithfulness

and his competence and courage in pursuit of those worthy dreams. He

defined in effect not only whom he wanted to follow but his

understanding of the path and where it led and what it required: "Live

pure, speak true, right wrong."



	I am not interested in the phrases as slogans but in the fact that

they are descriptive of the life of the Lord, laid out by him through

his teaching and example. He said that we must:



Hold up [our] light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the

light which ye shall hold up--that which ye have seen me do. [3 Nephi

18:24]



Behold I am the light,. I have set an example for you. [3 Nephi 18:16]



Live Pure



	So we speak of the pure life. What is it? Is it attainable,

achievable, realistic? Is it only an idealistic slogan or is it in fact

a manner of living and thinking invoked not only by a visionary poet

but by many prophets inspired of God and exemplified by the Savior?



	Think about it a moment. Obviously this is what God and Christ

desire for us.



	So one seeking to live a pure life will ask herself or himself,

"What does God mean in my life? Is my purpose, my honest purpose,

really to know and to' do his will? How do my convictions and

commitments affect my thinking, speaking, and behavior?"



	Jesus came, it is written, that he might have a feeling of our

infirmities. He was tempted in all things like unto us but was sinless.

Being reviled, he



reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed

himself to him that judgeth righteously [that is, to God]. [1 Peter

2:23]



	The pure life is ultimately the only life worth living and is

ultimately realistic and attainable. In these marvelous scriptural

records the Lord declares that he will raise up to himself "pure

people, that will serve me in righteousness" (D&C 100:16). A little

earlier, recorded in that magnificent vision we now have in section 76

of the Doctrine and Covenants, word is received of great and marvelous

works, the mysteries of the kingdom, which the prophet and his

companion were told not to write nor to utter.



	Neither is man capable to make them known, for they are only to be

seen and understood [these great and marvelous works and the so-called

mysteries] by the power of the Holy Spirit, which God bestow on those

who love him, and purify themselves before him. [D&C 76:116]



	Wonderful promises follow. Read from the book of Helaman how a

group of people under intense pressures grew in living a pure life, and

became something special in the midst of worldliness, pride, and

persecution. How did they do that?



They did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their

humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the

filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the

purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification

cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God. [Helaman 3:35]



	Somehow through their own effort and God's blessing they managed

to become mature enough--mature in the pattern of the Savior and the

Almighty--to yield their hearts. I don't think they became fanatical or

cheerless or hard to live with. They became cheerful and gracious and

filled with the Spirit. They became purer than they had been. They

spoke the truth. And they righted the wrongs done to them or that they

themselves were guilty of.



	Dante wrote what Matthew Arnold called the greatest line in

literature: "In His will is our peace" (The Divine Comedy, "Paradiso,"

canto 3, line 85).



	Purity has its highest expression in doing God's will, in

unselfishness, self-forgetfulness--attributes of God and Christ. The

Almighty has taught us that we have nothing to glory in in worldly

wisdom, or might, or riches.



	But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and

knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment,

and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith

the Lord. [Jeremiah 9:24]



	Purity in this world is not an established accomplishment but a

continuing pursuit, a determined commitment. As we blunder or

temporarily succumb, we regroup and do better. Self-mastery,

self-control, self-command, and strength of will are expressions of

desire and commitment to follow the Christ, to do the will of God. None

is the product of wishing or of intellect, but of desire, of yielding

our hearts to God-preparing us for the fuller entertainment in our

lives of that Spirit which



giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit

enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice

of the Spirit. [D&C 84:46]



	It must be known that in this quest for purity there is no

denigration of the human body, of physical human needs, and of

wholesome motivations. One of the glories of the gospel is the

revelation that the body is a non-evil component of the eternal soul.

"The spirit and the body are the soul of man" (D&C 88:15). Only when

the body is in eternal indissoluble combination with the spirit can a

fullness of joy be experienced. For us there is no hostility between

the spirit and the body. The earthly part needs the guiding blessing of

the spiritual. The gratification of physical needs can be an act of

sanctification. All things to the Lord are spiritual. He made heaven

and earth. There is no capacity in man more godlike than the capacity

to create.



	To help us appreciate and seek the pure life there are masterful

and marvelous instructions. One that I have loved best for years comes

from Psalm 24, which in part reads:



	Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in

his holy place?



	He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up

his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 



	He shall receive [she shall receive] the blessing from the Lord,

and righteousness from the God of his salvation. [Psalm 24:3 - 5]



	What a beautiful and sweet thing--what a lovely blessing to have

available and before us and in our minds as a guide to help us achieve

our desires. In this vision is implicit a rejection of that which is

proud and unbecoming and mean-spirited in us, and a maturing into that

which can be light and wholesomeness and decency and grace and

goodness.



	Live pure? Let me give you one example. I interviewed a young man

in a mission once who was somebody special. He was a strong and

successful missionary. He hadn't always done very well; in fact, he had

done very poorly in early high school years. He had picked up a lot of

very bad habits and muddied up his conscience and had departed far from

the pure life. Then one night he and some of his friends in like

condition attended a ward dance because they had heard that a new

family had moved into the ward and that there were some pretty girls in

the family. Our young man was nominated by his giggling friends to go

make the approach when they spotted the new girls. He did. He asked one

of them to dance. She agreed and they began. Then he did something he

reported to me long years later with a sense of shame. He said that he

had made an immoral gesture toward her. She stopped on the dance floor,

stepped back from him with hurt and anger and said, "Why did you do

that?" He said, muttering, "To impress you, I guess." She said, "You

did!" and left the floor.



	His friends were highly amused, and they all left the dance--he

seemingly unperturbed. He went home, and his friends went their ways.

Secluded in his room he sat for a time pondering and trying to talk

with someone he had neglected for a long time. The next day he knocked

on the girl's door and apologized in sincerity. She said, "Do you hold

the priesthood?" He said, "Yes." She said, "Do you know what that

means? Does it mean anything to you? Why don't you honor it?" He said,

"I will."



	And from that hour--that moment of her facing him with a purity of

conscience and courage and with righteous indignation--from that moment

of speaking the truth, he understood. He said, "It took me a long time

to get ready to come here. Even when I asked about a mission, I wasn't

really ready though I had spent a long time in preparation. But when I

was ready I told the bishop. I haven't had any time to waste as a

missionary, Brother Hanks," he said, "or any money or any energy. I am

here on the Lord's errand, and if I have done any good, that is why."



    	Live pure. Speak true.



Speak True



	Let me share some convictions about speaking true. There are

diverse ways to speak true--sometimes in behavior, sometimes the look

on our face, sometimes the radiation of our spirit, sometimes in spoken

word. I know a young lady and her companions who served helping

refugees in Asia, never able to teach a single formal religious

discussion because they were honest in keeping camp rules, even though

others sometimes did not. After a time a man who had been very

unsympathetic to any Mormon helping in the refugee camps, because he

thought we were not really interested in anything but aggressive

proselyting, wrote a letter, a letter of apology and commendation. I

will read a sentence or two:



	There is still a great deal of fear among other voluntary agencies

that the Mormons are here to proselyte. Even if you don't talk about

your religion, your values come across like a ton of bricks and that

frightens people. You live what you believe. Therein may lie your

problem--especially when it brings such inner strength, peace, and

confidence as you girls radiate.



	They were speaking true in the way they lived and served and

blessed the lives of others. They truly followed Christ in doing good,

unselfishly helping those who had desperate needs.



	Emerson said, "I cannot find language of sufficient energy to

convey my sense of the sacredness of private integrity."



	To Joseph Smith and his associates the Lord said, "Take upon you

the name of Christ, and speak the truth in soberness (D&C 18:21).



	The same dangers that have beset men in every age--in Isaiah's day

and Ezekiel's and Micah's, and in the day of the Lord on the earth--are

challenging us in this day. The prophets inveighed against lip-serving

and eye-pleasing formalism and empty ritual at the expense of real love

and real worship and real faith.



	Jesus spoke strongly against much loud praying done for the sake

of being heard by men, against fasting to be seen of men, against

payments of tithes and offerings for the plaudits of men. In each case

they have their reward--the being seen and heard, the plaudits of men.



	But this is not real worship or real service or real

contribution--only self-centered and empty exhibitionism.



	Real development, real growth, real understanding--the gaining of

our lives--come only as we lose our lives in honest love for God, for

his work, for his children, expressed in obedience to him and in

unselfish interest in them and service to them.



	Years ago I listened to a member of a stake presidency speak in

stake conference about his teenage son who had cost his team a

volleyball championship by volunteering to the referee that the ball

had touched him before it went out of bounds. No one else knew, only

he. Yet under that kind of pressure he had spoken the truth. His team

lost, the medals and trophies went to the other team. Said the man at

the pulpit: "I am not shedding a tear because our kids won or lost a

volleyball match. I weep for joy that I have the honor to be the father

of a teenage son who under that kind of pressure had the courage to

say, 'The ball touched me.'"



    	Speak true.



Right Wrong



	What do we do about the wrongs of which we have been guilty? How

do we respond to the wrongs done to us by others, by fate, disasters,

war, injustice?



	Jesus gave us the pattern to follow:



Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye

should follow his steps:



	Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:



	Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he

threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:



	Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that

we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose

stripes ye were healed. [1 Peter 2:21-24]



Paul added this counsel:



	Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas

they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works,

which thy shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. [ 1 Peter

2:12]



	In last weekend's newspaper was the story of an unidentified

teacher who sent two hundred dollars to the school district in his area

to pay for some paper, paper clips, and elastics appropriated to his

own use over the years. Some of us wouldn't really give much thought to

that, would we?



	Why did he do what he did last week? Because he thought about it

carefully enough and long enough. The minor monetary value of the paper

clips and rubber bands doesn't seem important to him now. To be clean,

to feel good, to merit his own self-respect, to be honest--these are

the things that matter most to him now. It was vital to him that he

correct the wrong. Likely no one else knew. He knew, and he has done

what he could to regain and merit his own self-respect.



	When Jesus had written on the ground at his confrontation with

those who intended to stone to death the woman taken in adultery and

who asked his views on the matter,



he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among

you, let him first cast a stone at her.



	And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.



	And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience,

went out one by one. [John 8:7-9]



	With her accusers gone, Jesus declared that neither would he

condemn her, and bade her "go, and sin no more" (John 8:11). How

significant that those who had zealously sought to inflict punishment

on her were "convicted by their own conscience" in the compassionate

presence of he who had been sent not to condemn the world, "but that

the world through him might be saved" (John 3:17)!



	These seem to me to be the central principles that the Lord would

like us to learn through his instruction and example. I pray that we do

not fail to recognize them in the scriptural account, or to subordinate

them to any other lesson or conclusion we may wish to add.



	I have to share with you, as I finish, a letter received from a

special human being you may know or perhaps will know because her

story, I am told, is being published. I performed a wedding many years

ago. A happy marriage followed, children came, and then one day came

the announcement that he didn't want to be at home anymore; he had a

male friend he would rather live with. On occasional holidays he was

invited back home by this very unusual woman who taught her children

that he was part of them, that there were many virtuous and lovely

things about him, and that he had given them much. She could not

justify the thing he had done or understand his problem. But she could

help the children feel a sense of individual worth and value because

there was much in them that came from the good in him. He came home to

die of AIDS, attended compassionately in their own home among his own

family. She wrote this:



Dear Brother Hanks:



I am writing now because I want to let you know that last Thursday [he]

passed away here at my home, a victim of AIDS. He had not been well for

a year, but in March he was diagnosed with the disease. He made every

effort to maintain his strength, but it was not possible. No one

recovers.  He wanted to be here with us, and I wanted him to be here. I

read Walt Whitman to him and played Beethoven for him and told him how

much we all loved him and did what I could to make him as comfortable

as possible. Last night the children and I and a few close friends held

a private memorial service for him here at my home. It was a wonderful

event and we are all able to release him with love. The children will

miss [him] a great deal I will too. He gave a lot to all of us.



Somewhere there is a sense to this. I have been granted a great deal of

strength to help me through it, and for that I am grateful.



	Then she compliments her choice bishop and stake president and

friends and others who have supported and sustained her.



	I wake up some mornings remembering her words: "I read Walt

Whitman to him and played Beethoven for him." And sometimes I say,

"Lord, if today I can approach that kind of Christian quality I will be

grateful."



	Follow the Christ. Live pure. Speak true. Right wrong. These are

expressions of dreams and ambitions that are attainable and desirable

and inevitable if one day we want to live the kind of creative, mature

life our Father in Heaven and his son live. I bear testimony they do,

and that I desire that quality of life, far as I am from it, for me.

And, oh, how much I desire it for you and your children and my children

and their children, for therein lies happiness--ultimate joy--here and

hereafter. This I say in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.





                          The Elusive Balance



                             Glenn L. Pace



	Bishop Glenn L. Pace was called to be second counselor of the

Presiding Bishopric in April 1985. He worked many years in the Welfare

Services Department, where he served five years in the financial

section and became a zone director of financial and management services

and then director of field administration. In July 1981 he became

managing director of Welfare Services.



	A certified public accountant, he is a graduate of Brigham Young

University with a master of accounting degree. He worked for a national

accounting firm and acted as chief financial officer for a land

development company.



	Elder Pace was born in Provo, and when he returned from serving a

mission to the New England states he married Jolene Clayson, also of

Provo. They are now the parents of six children--four sons and two

daughters. Before being called to full-time service for the Church, he

served as a youth leader, elders quorum president, counselor in a ward

bishopric, and stake clerk.



	This devotional address was delivered in the Marriott Center on 25

March 1986.



	Imagine for a moment what it would be like if you were standing at

this pulpit in a devotional assembly. I can remember sitting in the

audience at the George Albert Smith Fieldhouse on such occasions, as a

student twenty-five years ago, and wondering the same thing. As a

student I had the opportunity of listening to prophets and apostles

such as David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, J. Reuben Clark, Harold

B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Mark E. Petersen, Marion

G. Romney, and LeGrand Richards.



	The overwhelming question that comes to mind is, "What subject can

I possibly cover that has not already been addressed so well?" To

illustrate my feelings, I can't resist sharing an experience I had in

grade school.



	In 1950 I attended Maeser Elementary School here in Provo. Under

the banner of "progressive" education, an experiment was conducted

where the fifth and sixth grades were combined. I was a fifth grader.

In front of me sat a sixth grader. In addition to the fact that she was

a year older than I, she had a superior intellect. I can remember how

she always finished tests before I did and with more accuracy.



	On one particular Friday morning it was "show and tell" time and

the assignment fell on myself and my nemesis sitting in front of me. I

worked feverishly on my project and came to school all excited,

carrying my treasure in a brown paper sack. As I arrived, there was a

pickup truck backed up to the entrance of the school, and there was the

sixth grader and her mother carrying in item after item of collections

from the Far East or some exotic place they had visited the previous

summer. At the conclusion of her excellent presentation our teacher,

Mr. Bowen, said, "We will now be honored to hear from Glenn."



	Apprehensively I reached under my desk, picked up my sack, walked

to the head of the class, and pulled out a bottle of frog eggs. I was

crazy about those frog eggs that day and feel positive about what I

have prepared for you today--but then, everything is relative.



Agency and Inspiration



	Being a glutton for punishment, I have chosen a subject that, most

likely, has been addressed scores of times in devotional assemblies. I

will speak on the elusive balance of academic, or intellectual,

pursuits and learning to rely on the promptings of the Spirit. How can

we avoid relying too much on the intellectual while ignoring the

Spirit, or expecting spiritual solutions while ignoring our own power

to reason things out for ourselves?



	First we'll review a doctrinal base from the scriptures and

modern-day prophets, and then look at some examples on the subject. You

are all aware of the great insight the Lord gave us on this subject

when he told Oliver Cowdery why he failed in his attempt to translate

the Book of Mormon. 

|P109 



	Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would

give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.



	But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your

mind: then you must ask me if it be right, and if it be right I will

cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel

that it is right.



	But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you

shall have a stupor of thought. [D&C 9:7-9]



	Of this scripture Elder Bruce R. McConkie has commented,



Implicit in asking in faith is the precedent requirement that we do

everything in our power to accomplish the goal that we seek. We use the

agency with which we have been endowed. We use every faculty and

capacity and ability, that we possess to bring about the eventuality

that may be involved  ....



	There's a fine balance between agency and inspiration. ["Agency or

Inspiration--Which?" Speeches of the Year, 1972-1973 (Provo: Brigham

Young University Press, 1973), pp. 110, 113]



President Marion G. Romney put it this way:



When confronted with a problem I prayerfully weigh in my mind

alternative solutions and come to a conclusion as to which of them is

best. Then in prayer I submit to the Lord my problem, tell him I desire

to make the right choice, what is, in my judgment, the right course.

Then I ask him if I have made the right decision to give me the burning

in my bosom that He promised Oliver Cowdery....



	When we learn to distinguish between the inspiration that comes

from the Spirit of the Lord and that which comes from our own

uninspired hopes and desires, we need make no mistakes. ["Q and A," New

Era, Oct. 1975, p. 35]



	This doctrine is so simple and straightforward one might feel

guilty admitting he has had difficulty in its application. How do we

determine when enough homework has been done and, consequently, we have

a right to a spiritual confirmation? How can we become a master at

knowing when we have received a spiritual witness? I will try to define

the elusive balance of the intellectual approach versus the spiritual

approach by giving examples of two extremes.



Intellectual Versus Spiritual



	On one side of the spectrum is the person within or without the

Church who sees very little need to call upon the Lord because this

person is a scholar. He wants to be independent and free in his

thinking and not tied to absolute truths that the gospel tells us do

exist. He may spend his life chasing down every intellectual loose end.

All counsel from general or local authorities is taken with a grain of

salt because, after all, their knowledge is so minimal compared to that

which the scholar has amassed.



	The other end of the spectrum is just as dangerous and is probably

a greater threat to the majority of this audience. A person on this end

of the spectrum thinks like this: "I know the Church is true and I have

received the gift of the Holy Ghost. I am a worthy member of the Church

and, therefore, have access to the Spirit." When faced with a problem

he will pray for an answer, and the first thought that comes to mind is

canonized. I would propose that an idea or solution that comes without

appropriate reasoning is nothing better than a hunch. There are times

of instant inspiration, but they are rare and usually involve an

emergency.



	There is a sentence used in Church circles that sends a chill up

my spine. It's a perfectly good sentence that packs a spiritual wallop

when used by someone who has been acted upon by the Spirit, but

unfortunately is too often used by those who have wandered off-center

in the spectrum. I've heard it said in my ward, at Church headquarters,

and I have said it myself. The sentence that turns me cold is this: "I

feel real good about it." Every time I hear it, I see a red flag go up.

It's a perfectly good way of expressing a feeling of the Spirit, but

far too often the literal translation is "I haven't done my homework."

Some very bad decisions have been made by people who "feel really good"

about something they have failed to reason out in their minds.



	With those two extremes in mind, I would now like to give some

examples that might help us inch our way into the center of the

spectrum or toward that elusive balance.

|P110 



"Now, Go Get



	Approximately five years ago I learned a great lesson while

laboring as the new managing director of the Welfare Services

Department of the Church. We were at a critical stage in the history of

welfare. It was time to go through an agonizing reappraisal of the

program in light of current world conditions. The specifics are

irrelevant to this discussion except to say I was beside myself with

worry and concern.



	After praying for a solution, I had a terrific thought: "Glenn,

you have access to the Quorum of the Twelve and to a member of the

First Presidency." What a resource! I called for appointments and met

one-on-one with these great men. I poured out my concerns and added my

feelings that we were at a stage where further revelation on the

subject was necessary. Then I sat back with my yellow notepad and Cross

pen and waited for pearls of wisdom.



	I received a total of one pearl from all of those interviews:

"Brother Pace, I commend you for your concern and conscientiousness in

finding solutions to these weighty matters. I, too, have some deep

concerns and anxieties, and you are absolutely right, we do need

revelation. Now, go get it!"



	Who, me? I was an employee of the Church, not a General Authority,

but I had the responsibility to bring forth well thought-out

recommendations to the Brethren that could be confirmed, modified, or

rejected in the appropriate forums. It was my obligation and right to

receive inspiration, but it came with intense, agonizing study,

research, and meditation.



"Ye Were Past Feeling"



	Next let's see what we can learn about balance from the recent

fuss about historical documents. The lessons on straying off-center are

vivid. Let me ask you a soul-searching question. Would the discovery of

any document, no matter how contradictory to what you believe to be

true, shake your testimony? It may raise some intellectual questions,

but if it shakes your testimony, I would submit you don't really have

one. The intellectuals of our day may point at those who cannot and

will not be shaken and accuse them of "blind faith." This type of

accusation only serves as an indictment to those intellectual giants

and proves them to be spiritual pygmies. They have not yet learned

there is an avenue to truth greater than intellect and more certain

than the five senses. They have left unexplored the most glorious of

all avenues to truth--direct revelation from heaven.



	Does all this mean we should have no interest in history? I love

Church history. I'm thankful we know the locations of the Sacred Grove,

Hill Cumorah, the Jackson County temple site, Nauvoo, Adam-ondi-Ahman,

Liberty Jail, and the other Church sites. My joy when visiting these

sites is intensified by knowing the history behind them. However, the

most lasting impressions obtained by these visits is what is felt

there, rather than what is remembered.



	Two years ago my wife and I visited some of these sites. Two

experiences come to mind that have relevance to this search for

balance. In Jackson County we sat on the lawn within the boundaries of

the future Jackson County' temple. It was sunset. We were alone. We

talked of history. We talked of prophecies of the future. But we

remember most the sweet, peaceful, spiritual witness that Jesus Christ

stands at the head of this Church and that Joseph Smith is what he

claimed to be, a prophet of God. No amount of historical research alone

can bring to pass that spiritual witness. It comes only when we become

attuned and learn to recognize spiritual things. However, the spiritual

witness was intensified by our knowledge of what has happened and what

will happen there. That evening we found the elusive balance.



	The next day we strayed off center. We went to Adam-ondi-Ahman,

part of a sacred past and destined to be included in a sacred future.

Knowing this history helped us understand the significance of the land.

We had a history book that told of an altar of Adam and of the

Nephites--this book told the exact location. We didn't know at the time

that subsequent research had given rise to some questions on the exact

location. We arrived one hour before sunset, and in search of the

precise location of the altar we drove to and fro, becoming more

frustrated by the minute.



	We climbed over fences, walked through fields, stampeded cattle,

and soon found ourselves in a very vile mood. Fortunately, we came to

our senses and drove to a knoll just in time to watch the sunset and

enjoy the spirit of the place. Again, the Lord blessed us with a

spiritual experience that can be recalled vividly upon reflection.



	How often do we get so involved in the search for historical and

archaeological details that we fail to take advantage of spiritual

experiences right before our eyes? The same historical knowledge that

can intensify spiritual experiences can destroy spirituality when we

stray too far off-center.



	A complete testimony was never intended to be gained through

history, except through that kept by prophets and coming forth as

scripture. A saving testimony will never come from a spectacular

historical or archaeological find. If the Lord meant for our

testimonies to be based on physical, historical evidence other than

scripture, he would send Moroni with the golden plates. We would then

send them to the FBI, and experts on golden plates would give them

scientific tests. What would be the verdict? Opinions would vary.



	While I was on my mission, the question I dreaded most was "Where

are the golden plates today?" I didn't enjoy the looks we got when we

answered, "The angel took them back." I didn't comprehend then what I

know now. If my companion and I had been able to take Moroni and the

plates from door to door, our converts would not have increased. If

Moroni had stood between us suspended in the air, without a

confirmation of the Spirit the whole experience would be explained away

as a trick of mirrors or some other deception.



	Do you remember what the Lord told Joseph regarding Martin Harris'

desire to see the plates? "Behold, if they will not believe my words,

they would not believe you, my servant Joseph, if it were possible that

you should show them all these things which I have committed unto you"

(D&C 5:7).



	There is no other way to gain a testimony but through the promise

of Moroni. You can rely on nothing else. Spiritual manifestations are

generally reserved for the spiritually mature, not so much as a trial

of faith as to assure they are not mocked. One must become adept at

recognizing the Spirit before a spiritual manifestation can be a

sanctifying experience. We have numerous scriptural examples of how

pointless a physical manifestation can be without the accompanying

receipt of the witness of the Holy Ghost. Conversion comes not by

physical manifestations from heaven.



	Laman and Lemuel observed many miraculous manifestations such as

that recorded in 1 Nephi 3:30-31:



	And after the angel had spoken unto us, he departed.



	And after the angel had departed, Laman and Lemuel again began to

murmur, saying: How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban

into our hands? Behold, he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty,

yea, even he can slay fifty; then why not us?



	Nephi couldn't believe this and said, "Ye know that this is true;

and ye also know that an angel hath spoken unto you; wherefore can ye

doubt?" (1 Nephi 4:3). Here we have an example of knowledge being of no

eternal value because the Spirit is absent.



	Nephi put his finger on Laman and Lemuel's problem in 1 Nephi

17:45.



	Ye are swift to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord your

God. Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard

his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still

small voice, but ye were past feeling.



	Even in heavenly manifestations we must acquire the ability to

recognize the Spirit and feel the experience as well as see and hear

it. Were it not so, Satan could thoroughly confuse us with his own

demonstrations. Despite all the spectacular manifestations received by

the Nephites and Lamanites at the birth of the Savior, within a short

period of time doubts crept into the minds of those who were not

converted.



The people began to forget those signs and wonders which they had

heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or a wonder

from heaven, insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts, and

blind in their minds, and began to disbelieve all which they had heard

and seen--



	Imagining up some vain thing in their hearts, that it was wrought

by men and by the power of the devil, to lead away and deceive the

hearts of the people. [3 Nephi 2:1-2]



	If a witness of the Spirit is necessary to discern the validity of

a visit by an angel, how much more vital that witness is in more subtle

situations.



Recognizing a Witness of the Spirit



	I will spend the balance of my time on how we can acquire the

ability to recognize a witness of the Spirit. Even as I speak, I know

it's impossible to convey an understanding of this phenomenon. We must

make the discovery privately and individually.

|P112 



	First, remove from yourself the guilt feelings you have

experienced when you have fallen on your spiritual behinds. Have any of

you ever been certain you have received a spiritual witness only to

have subsequent events prove you were in error? Have any of you had a

spiritual witness you dismissed as indigestion, only to find out you

blew it? Have any of you ever heard a General Authority admit he's had

problems too?



	We have more patience with our failures in learning to ski than we

do in learning how to recognize the Spirit. When we fall going down the

slope, we get up, laugh at ourselves, and try again. When we have a

failure in recognizing the Spirit we feel great guilt and are reluctant

to go forward. It's natural to have spiritual setbacks. It's OK. It's

all right. Stay with it.



	We all know it takes years of practice to become a professional

athlete and a price must be paid. However, we expect to be overnight

successes in spiritual things.



	Joseph Smith said,



A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of

revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into

you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it,

you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things

that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to

pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you

may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in

Christ Jesus. [Teachings, p. 151]



	Please note he said, "You may grow into the principle of

revelation." To become proficient in basketball one practices shooting

countless shots. By repeating successful approaches and changing

failures, the player gets the uncanny ability of knowing as soon as the

ball leaves his hands whether the shot will be good or not.



	In spiritual things we need to learn exactly when we have had a

witness of the Spirit and be able to recognize a counterfeit thrown at

us by Satan or self-imposed by our own ambition and desire. How many of

you young men have told your girlfriends, "I have received a spiritual

witness that you are to be my wife?" In some cases I would suggest that

the witness is more a desire than a manifestation. If you receive that

witness, put it to the test. Ask her to marry you. If she says yes, you

were right. If she says no, you were wrong. But keep your witness to

yourself. She is perfectly capable of receiving her own

revelation--even if she hasn't been on a mission and you have.



	What does a spiritual confirmation feel like? It's the feeling you

have when you read the Book of Mormon. It's the feeling you have when

you talk of heavenly things with your parents or a valued friend. Learn

to recognize it. Learn to follow it.



Only the Truth



	If it were possible, I would lay down a formula for instant and

certain success. One of the reasons it is so hard to enjoy consistent

success is that the variables change each day. We are in tune more on

one day than on another. We are more emotionally vulnerable on one day

than on another. Satan works harder on us on one day than on another.

However, with all the variables there is one constant. The Spirit

witnesses only the truth.



	If your success ratio for recognizing the Spirit is low, ask

yourself these questions:



	1. How well am I living the commandments?



	2. Am I studying the scriptures in order that I might be more

attuned to spiritual things? 



	3. Am I praying with real intent?



	4. Have I done my homework and gone to the Lord with a well

thought-out solution?



	5. Have I learned to recognize a stupor of thought?



	6. Can I honestly say "thy will be done," and am I willing to take

"no" for an answer?



	Students, don't fail to invest adequate time learning things of

the Spirit while at this university. I'm not speaking of required

religion classes, although I heartily endorse them. I'm speaking of

learning how to recognize and obtain revelation. It's a lifetime

course, but you don't have to wait until graduation to receive

benefits. The rewards are immediate. Close in on the elusive balance

between intellectual pursuits and that of learning to recognize the

promptings of the Spirit. There is a balance, and it is incumbent upon

each of us to find it. I pray that you will be successful in your

attempt to find the elusive balance and that you will be successful in

learning to recognize the Spirit when you feel it. I say this in the

name of Jesus Christ. Amen.





                            "A Choice Seer"



                            Neal A. Maxwell



	Elder Neal A. Maxwell has been a member of the Council of the

Twelve since July 1981 and a General Authority since April 1974. His

service as Church commissioner of education from 1970 to 1976

overlapped his work as a General Authority. Before 1970 he was a

Regional Representative, member of the YMMIA General Board, bishop, and

missionary to Canada.



	A native of Salt Lake City, he earned bachelor's and master s

degrees from the University of Utah, where he also held a number of

administrative and teaching positions, including that of executive

vice-president. He has been the recipient of four honorary doctoral

degrees: from his alma mater, from Brigham Young University, from

Westminster College, and from Utah State University.



	His civic service has included a stint in the infantry in the

Pacific during World War II, a term as legislative assistant to U.S.

Senator Wallace E. Bennett, and a session as chairman of the

Constitutional Revision Commission for the state of Utah. He is the

author of many books and articles and is a popular lecturer known for

his extraordinary facility with the language and the heartfelt messages

he is able to convey with it.



	Elder Maxwell and his wife, Colleen Hinckley, are the parents of

four children. 



	This fireside address was given on 30 March 1986 in the Marriott

Center.



	I am aware that my wise and gentle friend Elder David B. Haight

spoke about the Prophet Joseph a month ago. Please bear with me,

therefore, as I seek to place the spotlight on the Seer in yet a

different way on this Easter Sunday, during which our rejoicing is made

more resplendent by the revelations and translations concerning Jesus

that came to us through Joseph.



	My appreciation is expressed to President Jeffrey Holland, Dean

Robert Matthews, Professors Hugh Nibley, Jack Welch, Truman Madsen,

Richard Anderson, Dean Jessee, and others for sharing knowledge with me

that has been so helpful. These men do their part to slow the process

of my becoming intellectually arthritic.



The Prophet Joseph Smith



	Whenever we talk about the Prophet Joseph Smith, it is important

to remember what he said of himself: "I never told you I was perfect;

but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught"

(Teachings, p. 368). He was a good man, but he was called by a perfect

Lord, Jesus of Nazareth! Joseph received his first counsel from God the

Father, "This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" (JS--H 1:17). Joseph Smith

listened carefully to Jesus then and ever after.



	Ages ago in the Great Council, Jesus was the prepared but meek

volunteer. As the Father described the plan of salvation and the need

for a Savior, it was Jesus who stepped forward and said humbly but

courageously, "Here am I, send me" (Abraham 3:27; see also Moses 4:2).

Never has anyone offered to do so much for so many with so few words!



	It is through the Prophet Joseph Smith, whom the resurrected Jesus

called, that we learn these things, and so much more, about Jesus--long

before Bethlehem and well beyond Calvary. Whenever we speak of the

Prophet Joseph Smith, therefore, it should be in reverent appreciation

of the Lord who called him and whom Joseph served so well.



	From Joseph Smith, one unlearned and untrained in theology, more

printed pages of scripture have come down to us than from any other

mortal--in fact, as President Holland has pointed out, more than the

combined pages, as available at present, from Moses, Paul, Luke, and

Mormon.



	But it is not only a matter of impressive quantity, it is also a

qualitative matter, since dazzling doctrines came through the Prophet,

including key doctrines previously lost from the face of the earth, a

loss that caused people to "stumble exceedingly" (1 Nephi 13:34).

"Plain and precious" things, because of faulty transmission, were "kept

back" or "taken away" (see 1 Nephi 13:34, 39-40), and thus do not

appear in our treasured Holy Bible.



	What came through Joseph Smith was beyond Joseph Smith, and it

stretched him! In fact, the doctrines that came through that "choice

seer" (2 Nephi 3:6-7) by translation or revelation, are often so

light-intensive that, like radioactive materials, they must be handled

with great care!



	By the way, it appears that in the process of translating the Book

of Mormon in the spring of 1829, Joseph was moving along at the rate of

seven to ten current printed pages a day. This is but one illustration

of how blessed that "choice seer" was. Although Joseph could translate

the words of the Book of Mormon, "The learned shall not read them, for

they have rejected them" refers to a mind-set that is with us to this

day, belonging to more than Professor Anthon (see 2 Nephi 27:20 and

JS--H 1:64-65). In contrast, among an increasing number of mortals,

Joseph is, as foreseen, "esteemed highly" (2 Nephi 3:7).



	In 1833 Joseph was told not only that Jesus was with God

premortally, but that:



	Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light

of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. [D&C 93:29]



	What a stunning parting of the curtains so that man could have a

correct view of himself! The silence of centuries was officially

broken. As the morning of the Restoration began to break, the shadows

of false doctrines began to flee. Man's view of himself could become

clearer, unimpeded by the overhanging of "original sin." We are

accountable to a just God for our actual and individual sins--not for

Adam's original transgression.



And the Lord said unto Adam: Behold I have forgiven thee thy

transgression in the Garden of Eden.



	Hence came the saying abroad among the people, that the Son of God

hath atoned for original guilt, wherein the sins of the parents cannot

be answered upon the heads of the children, for they are whole from the

foundation of the world. [Moses 6:53-54; see also D&C 93:38 and

Articles of Faith 1:2]



	A stretching view of the universe was also made possible. Note

what accompanied a wondrous witnessing of the resurrected Jesus:



	For we saw him, even on the right hand of God,. and we heard the

voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father--



	That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were

created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters

unto God. [D&C 76:23-24]



	In June 1830 came "this precious morsel," which expands our

perspective about this planet, described by Maimonides as "a speck

among the worlds" (see Hugh Nibley, Old Testament and Related Studies

[Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1986], p. 139).



	And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them

for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only

Begotten  ....



	For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the

immortality and eternal life of man. [Moses 1:33, 39]



	Even as our view of the universe was greatly enlarged, our view of

human history was made much more intimate and familial:



	Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called... the

residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of

Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing.



	And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed

Adam, and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel



	And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam, and said unto him: I

have set thee to be at the head; a multitude of nations shall come of

thee, and thou art a prince over them forever.



	And Adam stood up in the midst of the congregation; and,

notwithstanding he was bowed down with age, being full of the Holy

Ghost, predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity, unto the

latest generation.



	These things were all written in the book of Enoch, and are to be

testified of in due time. [D&C 107:53-57]



	This startling and informing revelation came, by the way, in the

midst of verses otherwise concerned with chronologies, genealogies, and

duties.



	Let others, if they choose, make jokes about our first parents,

Adam and Eve, or regard them as mere myths. As a result of the Prophet

Joseph Smith's revelations, we are blessed to know much more about

"things as they really were, are, and will be" (see Jacob 4:13 and D&C

93:24)!



	Latter-day Saints expectantly await the book of Enoch as being

among the "many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of

God" that God "will yet reveal" (Articles of Faith 1:9). As Professor

Robert Matthews has observed, through Joseph Smith we received eighteen

times as much as is in the Bible concerning Enoch. Without the

Restoration, we would not even know there was a City of Enoch!



	While others wonder if their mortal existence is absurd and

pointless, we know otherwise about God's purposes, which he described

before declaring, "This is the plan of salvation unto all men" (Moses

6:57-63). The process is a stern test:



	And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things

whatsoever the Lord their God shah command them. [Abraham 3:25]



	Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he

trieth their patience and their faith. [Mosiah 23:21]



	How marvelous it is that these and so many other precious truths,

just as prophesied, are "had again" among the children of men (Moses

1:41 ). No wonder there can and should be times for openly enjoying the

faith as well as defending the faith.



	These restored truths came fully formed. Joseph Smith did not

receive such truths through Solomon Spaulding, Ethan Smith, Sidney

Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery, or any others to be advanced by those desperate

for any explanation other than the correct one. In 1850 Joseph's

devoted helper, Phineas Young, wrote to Brigham Young in praise of

Oliver Cowdery. Phineas wrote that the rebaptized Oliver Cowdery was

now dead, but no one should forget his last testimony in which he said

of Church headquarters in the West, "There was no salvation but in the

valley and through the priesthood there." Oliver knew the source of the

truths and priesthood which were restored through Joseph and the later

locus of the presiding priesthood power. (See Phineas Young to Brigham

Young, April 25, 1850, Brigham Young Collection, Historical Department,

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)



	There is a legal doctrine meaning "the thing speaks for itself."

The Everest of ecclesiastical truth built from the translations and

revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith speaks for itself as it towers

above the foothills of philosophy. Even so, most will ignore it. Still

others will reject the Restoration, supplying their own alternative

explanations, just as some did who once heard thunder instead of the

voice of God (see John 12:27-30). However, in a happy day ahead, "They

that murmured shall learn doctrine" (Isaiah 29:24; 2 Nephi 27:35). This

suggests that doctrinal illiteracy is a significant cause of murmuring

among Church members.



	The Restoration responds resoundingly and reassuringly to the key

human questions and provides the firm framework of our faith. Do we

actually live in an unexplained and unexplainable universe? Is there

really purpose and meaning to human existence? Why such unevenness in

the human condition? Why so much human suffering?



	The marvelous truths of the Restoration respond to these questions

and are highly global, highly personal, and even galactic in their

dimensions! Identity exists amid immensity. We are enclosed in divine

purposes! There is no need for despair! No wonder the restored gospel

is such "good news."



	These and other revelations came to us through an inspired

prophet, Joseph Smith. His spelling left something to be desired, but

how he provided us with the essential grammar of the gospel!



The Restoration



	Our present appreciation of the restored gospel lags

embarrassingly far behind the stretching significance of its doctrines

and theology. So far as our exploring the terrain of truth opened up to

us by the Prophet Joseph is concerned, we have barely reached the

Platte River, and it is time for us as a people to move on!



	The Prophet is that "choice seer" of whom ancient Joseph spoke (2

Nephi 3:6-11 ), a major spiritual benefactor of the world. His

salvational impact ultimately will be enormous, as the demographics of

this dispensation alone assure (see D&C 135:3).



	Like another prophet, Joseph served "notwithstanding [his]

weakness" ( 2 Nephi 33:11 ). "Out of [Joseph's] weakness he [was] made

strong" (2 Nephi 3:13). At one point, when he was translating the

fourth chapter of 1 Nephi, Emma was acting as his scribe. Joseph

reportedly encountered the words about the wall around Jerusalem (see 1

Nephi 4:5). He apparently paused and asked Emma if, in fact, there was

a wall around Jerusalem. She replied in the affirmative. Joseph hadn't

known. (See The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter Day Saints, 1896, reprint [Independence, Missouri: Board of

Publication, 1967], 4:447.) According to Emma, when she and Joseph were

interrupted during his translating, Joseph would later resume on the

very sentence from which he had left off. (See Saints Herald, 1 October

1879, pp. 289-90; see also Parley P. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P.

Pratt [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1938], p. 62.)



	We naturally would like to know about that process of translation.

In October 1831, Joseph Smith was asked by his brother Hyrum, at a

conference held in Orange, Ohio, to give a firsthand account concerning

the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. The Prophet replied "that it

was not intended to tell the world all the particulars of the coming

forth of the Book of Mormon; and... it was not expedient for him to

relate these things" (HC 1:220). Since Joseph, who knew the

"particulars," chose not to describe them in detail then, we cannot

presently be definitive about methodology. But we can and should savor

the supernal substance of the revelations and translations, which

combine to prove to the world "that the holy scriptures are true" (D&C

20:11; see also 1 Nephi 13:39-40).



	Joseph Smith's time and place was one of religious fervor: "Lo,

here!" and "Lo, there!" is Christ (JS--H 1:5). Ours is an age when,

instead, the historicity of Christ is increasingly questioned. This

condition only increases the relevance of the Restoration with its

affirmation of Jesus' reality and his resurrection.



	While Jesus declared that the scriptures "testify" of him (John

5:39), he neither expected nor received much coverage in secular

history. Therefore, it is no surprise for studious Christians to learn

that the secular history of that meridian period is nearly silent about

the ministry of Jesus. Three secular writers, each writing after Jesus'

crucifixion, touched slightly upon Christ. Tacitus (about A.D. 55-117),

thought by many to be the greatest Roman historian, wrote only this:

"Christus... had undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius,

by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilatus" (Annals of Tacitus

15:44).



	Suetonius (about A.D. 70-140), a Roman who wrote about the lives

of various Caesars, called Jesus "Chrestus" and provided a sentence

linking Chrestus to civil disturbance. Yet even this brief mention may

contain a possible chronological error. (See The Lives of the Caesars,

trans. J.C. Rolfe [Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,

1914], 5:51-52.)



	Josephus (about A.D. 37-95), in his Antiquities, wrote a few lines

about the founder of Christianity, but later interpolations may cloud

his meager lines (see, for example, 18:3). How important it is, given

these conditions, that the New Testament not stand alone as evidence

for Christ!



	Joseph Smith was also an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ.

Yet, as with all true disciples, Joseph went through a process of

proving, reproving, and improving, while simultaneously serving as the

human conduit through whom God chose to give his word to this

generation (D&C 5:10).



	The period of adversity commencing in Richmond Jail and continuing

in Liberty Jail from 1 December 1838 until the first week in April 1839

provides a special window through which we can see the process of

revelation and personal consolidation under way. Elder B.H. Roberts

called the jail the "prison temple" (B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive

History of the Church [Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ

of Latter-day Saints, 1930], 1:526). Ironically, this period of

enforced idleness, grim though the conditions were, was perhaps the

only time in the Prophet's often hectic adult life when there was much

time for reflection.



	The dungeon at Liberty Jail had inner and outer walls which,

combined, were four feet thick. Loose rocks were placed between the

walls to thwart any attempt at burrowing through. Unjustly arrested and

unjustly confined, Joseph and his companions tried twice to escape but

failed. As thick as those walls and that door were, and as securely as

they kept the Prophet and his fellow prisoners in, the walls were not

thick enough to keep revelation out!



	During his stay in Liberty Jail, the Prophet Joseph Smith received

some of the most sublime revelations ever received by any prophet in

any dispensation, known now as sections 121 and 122 of the Doctrine and

Covenants. Therein are divine tutorials by which the Lord schooled his

latter-day prophet--probably the most tender tutorials in all of holy

writ now available. 

|P117 



A Special Relationship



	Joseph Smith was probably first made intellectually aware of the

special relationship he had with ancient Joseph, whom we commonly refer

to as Joseph in Egypt, when the Prophet Joseph translated the third

chapter of 2 Nephi. It was not until Liberty Jail, however, that the

record indicates any public affirmation of this unusual relationship.

In one of his last letters from Liberty Jail, Joseph wrote, "I feel

like Joseph in Egypt" (The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, comp.

Dean C. Jessee [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1984], p. 409). It was

not an idle comparison, for it reflected an important verse in the

third chapter of 2 Nephi. Ancient Joseph spoke of the latter-day seer,

saying, "And he shall be like unto me" (2 Nephi 3:15).



	When Joseph Smith, Jr., was given a blessing by Father Smith in

December 1834, an extensive portion of that blessing informed modern

Joseph of his special relationship to ancient Joseph. (See Joseph

Smith, Sr., blessing, 9 Dec. 1934, Church Historical Department,

1:3-4.)



	The comparisons between the two Josephs, of course, reflect

varying degrees of exactitude, but they are, nevertheless, quite

striking. Some similarities are situational, others are dispositional.

Some are strategic, such as ancient Joseph's making stored grain

available in time of famine (see Genesis 41:56), while modern Joseph

opened the granary of the gospel after years of famine.



	First, both Josephs had inauspicious beginnings. Initially, they

were unlikely candidates to have had the impact they did on Egyptian

history and American history, respectively.



	Both had visions at a young and tender age (see Genesis 37:2-5 and

JS--H 1). The visions brought to both men hate from their fellowmen

(see Genesis 37:5-8 and JS--H 1:21-26). Both knew sibling jealousy.

Modern Joseph had to contend with a mercurial brother, William, whom

Joseph forgave many times (see HC 2:353-54).



	Both Josephs were generous to those who betrayed them. Ancient

Joseph was generous to his once-betraying brothers whom he later saved

from starvation (see Genesis 45:1 - 15).



	Both prophesied remarkably of the future of their nations and the

challenges their governments would face (see Genesis 41:29-31 and D&C

87).



	They both knew what it was to be falsely accused, and they both

were jailed.



	Both, in their extremities, helped others who shared their

imprisonment, but who later forgot their benefactors. In the case of

ancient Joseph, it was the chief butler (see Genesis 40:20-23 ). Joseph

Smith worried over an ill cell mate, Sidney Rigdon, who was freed in

January 1839. The Prophet rejoiced. Three months later, the Prophet

inquired "after Elder Rigdon if he has not forgotten us" (Writings, p.

399 ).



	Both Josephs were torn from their families, although ancient

Joseph suffered through this for a much, much longer time.



	Very significantly, both were "like unto" each other in being

amazingly resilient in the midst of adversity. This, in each man, is a

truly striking quality.



	Both were understandably anxious about their loved ones and

friends. Ancient Joseph, when his true identity became known, inquired

tenderly of his brothers, "Doth my father yet live?" (Genesis 45:3).

From Liberty Jail, the Prophet Joseph Smith, with comparative

awareness, wrote, "Doth my friends yet live if they live do they

remember me?" (Writings, p. 409 ).



	Indeed, these two uncommon men had much in common, being truly

"like unto" each other!



In the Prison Temple



	The "prison temple" involved a time of obscurity, adversity,

irony, and testimony. W.W. Phelps had briefly faltered, being part of

the betrayals that had placed Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail. Joseph was,

at the time, indignant over Brother Phelps' failures. Yet later on,

Joseph was generous. The next year, 1840, when W.W. Phelps pled for

readmission into the Church, Joseph Smith, who pledged from jail to act

later "in the spirit of generosity," wrote a powerful and redemptive

letter, the closing lines of which were, "Come on, dear brother, since

the war is past, For friends at first, are friends again at last" (HC

4:164; see also pp. 162-63).



	No wonder a grateful Brother Phelps, soon after Joseph's June 1844

martyrdom, wrote the text "Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah"

(Hymns, 1985, no. 27).



	The ironies in Liberty Jail are many. Though deprived of his

constitutional rights, Joseph Smith therein praised the glorious U.S.

Constitution. Then, after the misery of Missouri, Joseph declared with

inspired anticipation:



I am will to be sacrificed... maintaining the laws & Constitution of

the United States if need be for the general good of mankind. [Andrew

F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, comps. and eds., The Words of Joseph Smith

(Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University,

1980), p. 320]



	While being grossly abused by some biased political, judicial, and

military leaders who wrongly used their powers, Joseph received a

glorious revelation. A sizable portion of that revelation, D&C 121,

contrastingly sets forth the style and substance the Lord wants from

his leaders that diverges so sharply from the ways of the world (see

D&C 121:34-46).



	Though Joseph was jailed nearly five months, more than four of

these in Liberty Jail, he was told by the tutoring Lord that these

things shall be "but for a small moment" (D&C 122:4; see also D&C

121:7). Though Joseph was suffering, the Lord reminded him that he was

not suffering as much as Job had (see D&C 121:7-11 ). Only the Lord can

compare crosses, and on that particular occasion he did (D&C 122:8).



	The conditions in Liberty Jail were grim. The food was scanty and

often consisted of leftovers from the jailer's table brought to them in

a basket where chickens slept at night and which was often not cleaned.

When the prisoners were permitted to cook, they had to endure smoke. It

was also a particularly cold winter. The constant darkness bothered the

prisoners' eyes. Joseph wrote about how his hand actually trembled as

he penned his next-to-last letter to Emma (see Writings, p. 409).



	In the midst of this stark obscurity and incessant difficulty, and

with twelve thousand of Joseph's followers driven from the state of

Missouri, the enemies of the Church probably felt that they had

destroyed Joseph's work. Yet in the midst of all this deprivation,

affliction, and obscurity, Joseph received the Lord's stunning

assurance that "the ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name"

(D&C 122:1).



	How inspired and audacious a prophecy for any religious leader,

let alone one on the obscure nineteenth-century American frontier.

Meanwhile, Joseph's contemporary frontier and religious leaders have

since become mere footnotes to history. But not Joseph!



	Joseph, earlier in his imprisonment, had special assurances of

which he later wrote,



Death stared me in the face, and... my destruction was determined upon,

as far as man was concerned; yet, from my first entrance into the

camp,... that still small voice, which has so often whispered

consolation to my soul, in the depth of sorrow and distress, bade me be

of good cheer, and promised deliverance, which gave me great comfort.

[Writings (November 1839), p. 443]



	However, Joseph was not unmindful or unaware of how grim things

looked. With unusual empathy he observed from his prison temple: "Those

who have persecuted us and smitten us and borne false witness against

us ... do seem to have a great triumph over us for the present"; then,

"[But] Zion shall yet live though she seemeth to be dead" (Writings,

pp. 375,382).



	It was from liberty Jail that Joseph, more than once, testified

that through God "we received the Book of Mormon" (Writings, p. 399),

"that the Book of Mormon is true," and "that the ministering angels

sent forth from God are true" (Writings, p. 407).



	It was soon after his release from Liberty Jail that the Prophet

Joseph Smith spoke about how the Book of Mormon was "the keystone of

our religion" (HC 4:461 ).



	After the Liberty Jail experience, the Prophet gave fervent public

testimony about the Book of Mormon to a congregation of about three

thousand in Philadelphia. When Sidney Rigdon, in his remarks on that

same occasion, seemed to neglect the Book of Mormon in favor of citing

the Bible, Joseph took the pulpit and declared, "If nobody else had the

courage to testify of so glorious a message from Heaven, and of the

finding of so glorious a record, he felt to do it" (Words, p. 45). The

atmosphere, according to one present, was electric.



	This is not to say that Joseph had not earlier been clear and

declarative regarding the Book of Mormon. For instance, in an 1834

sermon, Joseph observed, "Take away the Book of Mormon and the

revelations, and where is our religion?" (Teachings, p. 71).



	Sharing the jail with Joseph was his brother Hyrum, ever faithful

at Joseph's side. We have yet to pay Hyrum his due. Alas, we have

little from his pen, but his actions spoke for him. However, on 16

March 1839, he wrote from Liberty Jail to a Sister Grinnal who was

nursing Hyrum's wife, Marx, Fielding, to his daughter, Lovina, and to a

girl, Clarrinda. To Clarrinda he wrote:



	Let mother give you one of the Books of Mormon & write your name

in it. I want you to seek every opportunity to read it through.

Remember me both night and morning in your prayers.



To Lovina he wrote:



	You may have my small Book of Mormon. You must try to read it

through. Pray for your father that the Lord mar help him to come home.

[Letter used with permission of Elder Eldred G. Smith, in whose

possession it is.]



In the extremity of jail, Hyrum, so much at the center of things,

joined Joseph in stressing the Book of Mormon.



	Significantly, Joseph was released from the bondage of Liberty

Jail 6 April 1839, and a few days later was allowed to escape from his

captors. As you know, April 6 is the date of Jesus' birth. It is also

the date of birth of his latter-day church (D&C 20:1). Additionally,

the time of Joseph's release from the bondage of jail is often part of

the season of Passover when our Jewish friends celebrate ancient

Israel's deliverance and subsequent release from bondage in Egypt.



	By the way, after Jesus' ascension when Herod "stretched forth his

hands to vex certain of the church," he killed James, the brother of

John, with a sword. When Herod saw the people's approval, he had Peter

imprisoned, thinking to bring him to the people after Easter. But Peter

was helped by the Lord to escape from prison during this same spring

season (see Acts 12:1-5). Eastertime is filled with rich remembrances.



	The day the Prophet Joseph ended his bondage in Liberty Jail, 6

April 1839, involved yet another significant event. Heber C. Kimball

recorded in his journal that on that day



the following words came to my mind, and the Spirit said unto me,

"write," which I did by taking a piece of paper and writing on my knee

as follows:... 'Verily I say unto my servant Heber, thou art my son, in

whom I am well pleased; for thou art careful to hearken to my words,

and not transgress my law, nor rebel against my servant Joseph Smith,

for thou has a respect to the words of mine anointed, even from the

least to the greatest of them; therefore thy name is written in heaven,

no more to be blotted out forever, because of these things." [ Words,

p. 18]



	Note how much importance the Lord attached to our being loyal to

his servants! It is no different now.



	With regard to the ministry of Joseph Smith, there are significant

expressions of divine determination. In each of these examples, the

Lord issued his declarations using the word "shall." The books of

scripture that were to come through the "choice seer" "shall grow

together" (2 Nephi 3:11-12; emphasis added). The books of scripture

that came through Joseph Smith are joined with the Holy Bible,

especially now with the new recent publication of the four standard

works.



	Another promise was given in the same chapter: those who would try

to destroy the work of the latter-day seer "shall be confounded" (2

Nephi 3:14; emphasis added). This promise continues to be kept.



	Joseph also received another shall promise, which likewise has

never been revoked: "Thy people shall never be turned against thee by

the testimony of traitors" (D&C 12 2:3; emphasis added). This continues

to be true today.



	Furthermore, the central tutorial theme in Liberty Jail was also a

promise: "All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for

thy good" (D&C 122:7; emphasis added).



	Joseph Smith, Jr., was that "choice seer!" All the "shall"

promises about him shall be fulfilled, as the "ends of the earth shall

inquire after [his] name" (D&C 122:1).



A Choice Seer



	Brigham Young, who was not easily impressed by anyone, observed

that before he met Joseph Smith, he was searching for just such a seer:



The secret feeling of my heart was that I would be willing to crawl

around the earth on my hands and knees, to see such a man as was Peter,

Jeremiah, Moses, or any man that could tell me anything about God and

heaven  ....



	... When I saw Joseph Smith, he took heaven, figuratively

speaking, and brought it down to earth; and he took the earth, brought

it up, and opened up, in plainness and simplicity, the things of God:

and that is the beauty of his mission. [JD 8:228, 5:332]



	On another occasion, Brigham said, "I feel like shouting

hallelujah, all the time, when I think that I ever knew Joseph Smith"

(JD 3:51 ). Significantly, Brigham's last mortal words were, "Joseph!

Joseph! Joseph!" (Leonard J. Arrington, Brigham Young: American Moses

[New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985], p. 399).



	We have obligations to the Lord's prophets, past and present,

which include being fair, posthumously or presently, concerning their

words. The "choice seer, "Joseph, reminded the Church in an epistle

(December 1838) from jail that, "our light speeches from time to time

... have nothing to do with the fixed principle of our hearts"

(Writings, p. 376). Should we not distinguish between the utterances of

the moment and considered opinions? Do not all of us wish for that same

understanding on the part of our friends, hoping they, "with the breath

of kindness," will "blow the chaff away"?



	We are wise to follow, therefore, the example of Lorenzo Snow

rather than that of Thomas B. Marsh. Marsh let himself become so

preoccupied with the imperfections in the Prophet Joseph Smith that he

found himself disaffected and out of the Church for a season. Lorenzo

Snow said he had observed some imperfections in the Prophet Joseph

Smith, but his reaction was that it was marvelous to see how the Lord

could still use Joseph. Seeing this, Lorenzo Snow--later President

Snow--concluded that there might even be some hope for him!



	One of the great messages that flows from the Lord's use of Joseph

Smith as a "choice seer" in the latter days is that there is indeed

hope for each of us! The Lord can call us in our weaknesses and yet

magnify us for his purposes.



	In the 1834 blessing, Father Smith promised Joseph, "Thou shaft

fill up the measure of thy days" (Joseph Smith, St., blessing, pp.

3-4). The Lord likewise reassured the Prophet in Liberty Jail, "Thy

days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less" (D&C 122:9).

It proved to be so. However, the Prophet was conscious of the pressures

of time upon him. President Brigham Young, who visited Joseph in the

prison temple, noted that Joseph told him, more than once, that

he,Joseph, would not live to see his fortieth year (Wilford Woodruff's

Journal, July 28, 1844 [Salt Lake City: Kraut's Pioneer Press, 1982]).



	In the 1834 blessing, Joseph was promised that during his

ministry, "Thy heart shall be enlarged" (Joseph Smith, Sr., blessing,

pp. 3-4). An enlarged Joseph wrote from Liberty Jail,



It seems to me my heart will always be more tender after this than ever

it was before... for my part I think I never could have felt as I now

do if I had not suffered the wrongs that I have suffered. [Writings,

pp. 386, 387]



	In the 1834 blessing, the Prophet Joseph was promised, "Thou shalt

like to do the work the Lord thy God shall command thee" (Joseph Smith,

St., blessing, pp. 3-4). How often that intrinsic satisfaction

sustained the Seer, when extrinsic conditions were so unsatisfactory!



	On 4 April 1839,Joseph wrote his last letter to Emma from Liberty

Jail "just as the sun [was] going down" while peeking through the

"grates of this lonesome prison ... with emotions known only to God"

(Writings, p. 425). Such was Joseph's view of a temporal sunset that

evening. But what a view of eternity he had and gave to us!



	Joseph, as B.H. Roberts wrote, lived "in crescendo!" Looking back

upon his busy, task-filled years, the Prophet said near the end, "No

man knows my history. I cannot tell it: I shall never undertake it. I

don't blame any one for not believing my history. If I had not

experienced what I have, I would not have believed it myself' (HC

6:317). Thus, even in his adversity, Joseph had unusual empathy for

those who lacked his special perspective.



	This empathy extended beyond Joseph's own time and circumstances.

He actually saw his prison sufferings as helping and expanding him "to

understand the minds of the Ancients" (Writings, p. 387). A linkage was

felt with their "afflictions," so that, said Joseph, "in the day of

judgment... we may hold an even weight in the balances with them"

(Writings, p. 395). How else could Joseph take his rightful place,

"crowned in the midst of the prophets of old" (Hymns, 1985, no. 27)?



	I gladly and gratefully testify that Joseph was and is a "choice

seer," a prophet of God!



The Lord and His Servants



	Now may I close my message by bringing to the fore again, Jesus of

Nazareth, who as the resurrected Lord and Savior called Joseph Smith.

Let us focus on a particular part of the Atonement that makes the

celebration of Easter possible.



	A short while before Gethsemane and Calvary, Jesus prayed, "Now is

my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this

hour." Then, as if in soliloquy, he said, "But for this cause came I

unto this hour" (John 12:27). The awful weight of the Atonement had

begun to descend upon him.



	We next find him in Gethsemane.



	And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith

to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.



	And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be

sore amazed, and to be very heavy. [Mark 14:32-33]



	The Greek for "very heavy" is "depressed, dejected, in anguish."

Just as the Psalmist had foreseen, the Savior was "full of heaviness"

(Psalms 69:20). The heavy weight of the sins of all mankind were

falling upon him.



	He had been intellectually and otherwise prepared from ages past

for this task. He is the creator of this and other worlds. He knew the

plan of salvation. He knew this is what it would come to. But when it

happened, it was so much worse than even he had imagined!



	Now, brothers and sisters, this was not theater; it was the real

thing. "And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and

prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him" (Mark

14:35). Only in the Gospel of Mark do we get this next special

pleading, "And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto

thee; take away this cup from me" (Mark 14:36). When Jesus used the

word "Abba," it was a most personal and intimate familiar

reference--the cry of a child in deepest distress for his father to

help him in the midst of this agony.



	Did Jesus hope there might be, as with Abraham, a ram in the

thicket? We do not know, but the agony and the extremity were great.

The sins and the grossness of all mankind were falling upon someone who

was perfectly sinless, perfectly sensitive. This pleading to the Father

included the doctrine he had taught in his ministry as Jehovah to

Abraham and Sarah. "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis

18:14). He had taught it in his mortal messiahship: "All things are

possible to him that believeth"(Mark 9:23). Hence, this resounding

plea. And then came that marvelous spiritual submissiveness:

"Nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt" (Mark 14:36).



	Luke wrote that at a particular point, an angel appeared to

strengthen him. I do not know who that angel was, but what a great

privilege to be at the side of the Son of God as he worked out the

Atonement for the whole human family!



	Jesus bled at every pore, and the bleeding started in Gethsemane.

He was stretched to the limits. Later, when Jesus was on the cross, the

Father, for reasons that are not completely apparent, withdrew his

immediate presence from his son. The full weight fell upon him one last

time, and there came the great soul cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou

forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34).



	Through that marvelous Prophet Joseph, in the book of Alma, we

learned that Jesus not only suffered for our sins, but, in order to

perfect his capacity of mercy and empathy, he also bore our sicknesses

and infirmities that he might know "according to the flesh" (see Alma

7:11-12) what we pass through and thus become the perfect shepherd,

which he is.



	This is Jesus' church, and Joseph was his prophet, and all the

prophecies pertaining to his second coming will be fulfilled just as

surely as all pertaining to his birth and early ministry were

fulfilled.



	He is our Lord, he is our God, and the day will come, brothers and

sisters, when the veil will be stripped away, and you and I will see

the incredible, spiritual intimacy that prevails between the Lord and

his servants. Moses in the Sinai before the Exodus was on an

exceedingly high mountain with Jesus--Jehovah. Not many centuries

later, on the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses was again with his Lord

and Savior, Jesus Christ. Someday we will see the interlacings of the

lives of the Lord, his prophets, and our own. It is all part of Father

in Heaven's glorious and wondrous plan of salvation--about which we

know so much that matters through that remarkable Prophet Joseph Smith.



	Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah! Praise to Jehovah for

loving us and leading us and atoning for us. Praise to God the Father.

Whenever we learn finally to love him, we must remember that he loved

us first. Out of his love he has given to us this remarkable plan of

salvation.



	May God send us on our way with hearts brimming with joy for what

we know. May we search the scriptures, follow their commandments, and

rejoice in them. This is my prayer for myself and for you on this

Easter evening, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.





                           Child of Promise



                            Henry B. Eyring



	Henry B. Eyring, noted educator and businessman, was called as

First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric in April 1985. Born in

Princeton, New Jersey, Bishop Eyring received his bachelor's degree in

physics from the University of Utah and MBA and DBA degrees from

Harvard. He taught at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford

University, at which time he also served as bishop, and was a visiting

faculty fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. President of

Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, from 1971 to 1977, he then served as

deputy commissioner for three years before his appointment as Church

Commissioner of Education in September 1980.



	Bishop Eyring has served as director of a number of corporations

in California and has coauthored a book entitled The Organizational

World. He is married to Kathleen Johnson, and they are the parents of

four sons and two daughters.



	This fireside address was given in the Marriott Center on 4 May

1986.



	I am grateful for the music, the prayer, and the opportunity to be

here with you tonight. Before this meeting I had the chance, along with

my family, to visit with your stake presidencies, their wives, and a

number of your leaders. I was struck with how much they care about you

and the high hopes they have that I might be able to help you tonight.

I can't do that, of course, unless I am given utterance by the power of

the Holy Ghost. I hope you will add your faith to mine that I may be

given that blessing.



	You need to know I am deeply grateful that you are here and that

you are giving me your attention. I know how rare attention is. You may

have had the experience I have had of noticing that not very many

people during a conversation listen carefully to the other person.

Generally they are focusing on what they said last or what they will

say next. Just think how remarkable it is, then, that you are sitting

here, listening to me, with no hope that you can say anything, at least

for the next thirty-five or forty minutes.



	That offer of trust is all the more remarkable to me because I

know something of the hurry and pressure you've felt today. Even though

it is early in the term, you probably made a list, either on a scrap of

paper or in your mind, with the title "Things to Do Today." Even with

only a week into the term, you probably had more things on that list

than you could hope to complete. You may have even subdivided the list,

the way I do sometimes, into categories like "Things Nice to Do," and

"Things I Must Do," or even "Emergency: Must Be Done Today." Somehow

your being here made it through the list, and I am grateful.



	Since I know something of the anxiety the pressure of time creates

in your life, I would like to share with you what little I have learned

in my life about how to handle that feeling of hurry. It could help you

in your life.



A Problem of the Heart



	It's important to be sure we agree on the nature of the problem.

Time passes at a fixed rate and we can't store it. You can just decide

what to do with it--or not to do with it. Now, if you will look

honestly at your own performance over the last few days, you will

notice a paradox. At the very time you were making those lists, feeling

hurried, wondering how you could get everything done, you were wasting

time. That happens because your self-disgust at wasting time and the

increasing fear of deadlines spur your list making. It may even inspire

you to go out and buy another daily planner, thinking maybe that's the

cure. But suppose your new and better planner listed some of the things

you spend your time with, as if you wrote down what your actions were

instead of your intentions. It might read like this: "Talk about cars

with the guy I meet at the laundromat," or "Sleep through my alarm and

miss my first class," or "Stay at a friend's house even though he turns

on a degrading television show."



	Even a moment's reflection will help you see that the problem of

using your time well is not a problem of the mind but of the heart. It

will only yield to a change in the very way we feel about time. The

value of time must change for us. And then the way we think about it

will change, naturally and wisely.



	That change in feeling and in thinking is combined in the words of

a prophet of God in this dispensation. It was Brigham Young, and the

year was 1877, and he was speaking at April general conference. He

wasn't talking about time or schedules or frustrations with too many

demands upon us. Rather, he was trying to teach the members of the

Church how to unite themselves in ~what was called the united order.

The Saints were grappling with the question of how property should be

distributed if they were to live the celestial law. In his usual direct

style, he taught the people that they were having trouble finding

solutions because they misunderstood the problem. Particularly, he told

them they didn't understand either property or the distribution of

wealth. Here is what he said:



	With regard to our property, as I have told you many times, the

property which we inherit from our Heavenly Father is our time, and the

power to choose in the disposition of the same. This is the real

capital that is bequeathed unto us by our Heavenly Father; all the rest

is what he may be pleased to add unto us. To direct, to counsel and to

advise in the disposition o four time, pertains to our calling as God's

servants, according to the wisdom which he has given and will continue

to give unto us as we seek it. [JD 18:354]



	Time is the property we inherit from God, along with the power to

choose what we will do with it. President Young calls the gift of life,

which is time and the power to dispose of it, so great an inheritance

that we should feel it is our capital. The early Yankee families in

America taught their children and grandchildren some rules about an

inheritance. They were always to invest the capital they inherited and

live only on part of the earnings. One rule was "Never spend your

capital." And those families had confidence the rule would be followed

because of an attitude of responsibility toward those who would follow

in later generations. It didn't always work, but the hope was that

inherited wealth would be felt a trust so important that no descendent

would put pleasure ahead of obligation to those who would follow.



	Now, I can see and hear Brigham Young, who was as flinty a New

Englander as the Adams or the Cabots ever hoped to be, as if he were

leaning over this pulpit tonight. He would say something like. this,

with a directness and power I wish I could approach: "Your inheritance

is time. It is capital far more precious than any lands or stocks or

houses you will ever get. Spend it foolishly, and you will bankrupt

yourself and cheapen the inheritance of those that follow you. Invest

it wisely, and you will bless generations to come."



	There is more than one way to spend time foolishly, as you know.

You may sleep it away or play it away. But the real bankruptcy, the

bankruptcy that will cheat all those who come after you, comes after

the idleness and the thoughtless seeking for thrills. When you choose

to see or hear filth portrayed, for instance, you may at first feel you

have just spent some time. But if you persist, you will find that

beyond time wasted you have allowed Satan to draw you toward sin and

then into it. And then you will have incurred debts far beyond the time

spent, debts that will burden and diminish every minute of existence

that follows, unless and until you find the healing balm of the

atonement of Jesus Christ through repentance, which takes pain, and

time--sometimes a great deal of time and sometimes a great deal of

pain.



Your Royal Inheritance



	Oh, what Brigham Young would want for you, and what I pray you may

have, is a heart that wants to invest your inheritance--time. There is

a spiritual reality that, if you can see and know it is real, will not

only lift your heart to invest your time wisely, but will lead you to

do it well.



	It's worth doing, not only because you have life ahead, but

because you have eternity ahead as well. You might say, "Wait a minute,

now. Surely the problem of investing time is just a problem for this

life. Surely one reward for investing my time well here will be to be

freed of that concern there." Well, here is one report suggesting your

reward for investing your inheritance well here will be to get to do it

forever. President Wilford Woodruff gave this report in general

conference in 1896.



	Joseph Smith continued visiting myself and others up to a certain

time, and then it stopped. The last time I saw him was in heaven. In

the night vision I saw him at the door of the temple in heaven. He came

to me and spoke to me. He said he could not stop to talk with me

because he was in a hurry. The next man I met was Father Smith; he

could not talk with me because he was in a hurry. I met half a dozen

brethren who had held high positions on earth, and none of them could

stop to talk with me because they were in a hurry. I was much

astonished. By and by I saw the Prophet again and I got the privilege

of asking him a question.



	'Now, "said I, "I want to know why you are in a hurry? I have been

in a hurry all my life; but I expected my hurry would be over when I

got into the kingdom of heaven, if I ever did."



	Joseph said.. "I will tell you, Brother Woodruff. Every

dispensation that has had the priesthood on the earth and has gone into

the celestial kingdom has had a certain amount of work to do to prepare

to go to the earth with the Savior when he goes to reign on the earth.

Each dispensation has had ample time to do this work. We have not. We

are the last dispensation, and so much work has to be done, and we need

to be in a hurry in order to accomplish it."



	Of course, that was satisfactory, but it was new doctrine to me.

[Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, sel. G, Homer Durham (Salt Lake City:

Bookcraft, 1946), pp, 288-89]



	Where did that feeling of hurry come from? It came from a

confidence built from investing time as if it were precious to us, to

God, and to God's children. If you will listen carefully, you will feel

that as you remember the words of a living prophet.



	President Ezra Taft Benson described who you are in the priesthood

session of conference less than a month ago. For a moment he addressed

himself to the Aaronic Priesthood boys, but he was talking to all of

you, and to me. Did you listen and feel it, or did you pay little

attention because he used almost the same words prophets have used

since the Prophet Joseph? That's a hazard, by the way. Because prophets

speak for God, and because God is consistent, they say the same things,

over and over.



	If you look for novelty, you will gain one of the great benefits

of following a living prophet. For instance, prophets before Noah

hadn't built arks, and it was important to heed the new message to get

in it. But the people who didn't get in it were drowned because they

laughed at the old message ever'), prophet had repeated over and over

since the days of Adam. It was simple and it was familiar. Here it is:



Hearken, and give heed unto my words;



	Believe and repent of your sins and be baptized in the name of

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, even as our fathers, and ye shall receive

the Holy Ghost, that ye may have all things made manifest,. and if ye

do not this, the floods will come in upon you. [Moses 8:23-24]



Those who survived recognized truth in a message as old as time.

Without that, the novel message would have been of no worth. Can you

see and feel the truth in these familiar words of President Benson

about what your inheritance of time is worth? Listen to what he said,

almost it seems in passing, as he began to speak. The words are close

to those you've heard before.



	Young men of the Aaronic Priesthood, you have been born at this

time for a sacred and glorious purpose. It is not by chance that you

have been reserved to come to earth in this last dispensation of the

fulness of times. Your birth at this particular time was foreordained

in the eternities.



	You are to be the royal army of the Lord in the last days. You are

"youth of the noble birthright." ["To the 'Youth of the Noble

Birthright'," Ensign, May 1986, p. 43]



	When I heard those words I thought of a boy with a noble

birthright, but lacking what many of you have. He was born on November

22. Thirteen days later his father was buried. He was named and blessed

by the bishop of his ward, Edwin Wooley. The name he was given by the

bishop was Heber Jeddy Ivins Grant. Bishop Wooley said of the occasion,

"I was only the instrument in the hands of his dead father ... in

blessing him." The bishop later remarked, "Heber Grant is entitled to

be one of the Apostles, and I know it" (The Presidents of the Church,

ed. Leonard J. Arrington [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1986], p. 212).



	People then and since have called Heber J. Grant a "child of

promise." He was. But his departed father didn't make the promises to

the child. His Heavenly Father did. Your Heavenly Father did--the same

Father who chose you to come into this time and place to hold, honor,

and nurture those who hold his power.



	Bishop Wooley felt Heber had a right to be an apostle, as his

father had been. You have a right. You are a royal child of God, a

child of promise, chosen from among many to be here and to have your

royal inheritance, time in the fulness of times.

|P125 



Investing Our Time



	One young man changed forever my feelings about the value of this

gift, and what it means to be a child of promise. Bob Allen was an

undergraduate at Stanford University when I was his bishop. He left his

schooling to serve a mission in Japan. He came back to school, took up

his studies, and lived as many of you do, in a world of too many

demands and too little time.



	One day I was sitting at my desk in the graduate school of

business at Stanford, head down, struggling with the blue books and

papers that bear down on your professors as much as they do on you. The

door was open into a hallway. It must have been late because the hall

was dark, and I expected no one. Suddenly I sensed someone was standing

motionless in the doorway. I looked up and saw two people. They were

standing side-by-side, looking at me and smiling. I remember to this

hour that their faces seemed to shine. Suddenly, Bob Allen stepped

between them and, smiling as broadly as they were smiling, said, "These

are two new bishops from Japan." They could speak little English, but I

could tell they loved Bob Allen and, because of something he must have

told them, they loved me.



	After a few awkward minutes of trying to talk with them through

Bob, they left. I thought then, as I have many times since, how

remarkable it was that he had found time to spend days with those young

men from Japan.



	Within a few years I left Stanford for Idaho. I'd heard little of

Bob, except that he had graduated from Stanford and had been accepted

at the University of Utah medical school. Then I got a phone call from

a Stanford friend. He told me Bob had been killed. He told me that

Bob's parents would grant me the chance to say a few words at his

funeral. Just before the service I met with friends, Bob's and mine. I

asked to know more about how the accident had occurred.



	Bob had been killed mountain climbing, climbing through clouds and

storms to find a way of escape for his companions on the mountainside.

I felt impressed to ask one who had been there, "What was he doing in

camp on the climb?" He said Bob had taken his missionary lessons, in

Japanese. He'd studied them again the night before his death. Now, of

all the things you might decide to study at night, on a

mountain-climbing trip, in the summer before medical school, why would

you choose that? Well, I think I know why Bob did. I think he would

have heard the words of President Benson and known they were true, the

words he lived by: "You have been born at this time for a sacred and

glorious purpose."



	I spoke in a sacrament meeting in Tokyo ten years later. The

person who introduced me mentioned I had been at Stanford. Two young

people, a couple, rushed to me after the meeting and said, "Did you

know Bob Allen? We love him." Just a few months ago I was in Tokyo

again. Of all the excellent presentations made to me, one seemed most

remarkable. I asked to see the man who made it. He was introduced, and

then he said, "We have met before, at Stanford University." He was the

young man, now older, who had stood with his fellow bishop in my office

door. He told me about his life, and the life of the other man, now a

great leader in Japan. In that moment I learned again, in my heart as

well as in my head, what it means to have a royal inheritance of time,

and how a child of promise who believes the promises can invest

it--even just a little of it--to produce returns for eternity.



	Because of that moment I've come to understand something that

happened to me long ago. I must have been in my early teens. It was

morning, because I can remember the light coming through the small

basement window. And I was in a hurry, another sign of morning. I don't

know whether I had been praying, but I felt, not heard, a voice. It was

an impression, which I knew then was from God. It was this thought, and

close to these words: "Someday, when you know who you really are, you

will be sorry you didn't use your time better." I thought then that the

impression was odd, since I thought I was using my time pretty well,

and I thought I knew who I was. Now, years later, I am beginning to

know who I am, and who you are, and why we will be so sorry if we do

not invest our time well.



One of the Covenant People



	Nephi saw us. He knew who we really are. Do you remember what he

saw, recorded now in the fourteenth chapter of 1 Nephi? "And it came to

pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were

few" (verse 12). Nephi knew that not many would have what we have, the

gospel of Jesus Christ. But look at what else he saw, what else he knew

about you and me:



	And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of

God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and

upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the

face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the

power of God in great glory. [1 Nephi 14:14]



	That's who you are. You are a child of promise, one of the

covenant people in the last days. You've been given time, how much you

don't know, in the period that Nephi saw. You not only have the

promises, you know what they are, and you know when God offers a

promise, and when you accept it on his terms, he always keeps his

promises. You remember from another place in the Book of Mormon: "For

the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises

shall be fulfilled" (Mormon 8:22).



	One of the things that makes you a child of promise is that you

know God's promises, and you know their purpose is to bring to pass the

immortality and eternal life of man. You will invest your time wisely

if you value the promises. And you will value the promises when they

work in your life and in the lives of people you love. And they will

work when you invest your time in accepting them and offering them to

others. And real investment of time happens only with sustained effort

motivated by faith.



	You will gain confidence in your ability to invest your precious

time well by gaining three other confidences. First, you must gain

confidence that God keeps his promises. Second, you must gain God's

confidence that you will always keep the promises, not that you choose

to make but that he asks you to make. And third, you must help others

gain confidence that God keeps his promises.



	You can gain confidence that God keeps his promises by trying

them. That's why I so appreciate those commandments to which God has

attached an explicit promise. I see those commandments as

schoolmasters. And I try to put them high on my list of things to do,

because I know their value for changing my heart and building my power

to invest my time. You probably did it today, perhaps unconsciously.



	One of those commandments with promise came to the top of my list

a week ago. I was in California, in a situation often the case when I

am on assignments, when it appeared I would not have the opportunity to

partake of the sacrament. I thought of the promises. And because I was

not on a conference assignment and because I knew some ward schedules

in the area, we got to the Palo Alto First Ward sacrament meeting.



	I chose not to spend my time, but to invest it. When that young

priest blessed the sacrament, I thought of John the Baptist and Joseph

Smith. I thought of what it means to live in a time where the promise

that young man made for me was authorized by God. He said if I

remembered the Savior and kept his commandments, I would always have

his Spirit to be with me. Because I made that promise in faith, and

kept it, I've had a remarkable week. God kept his promise, made by his

servant. I hope those two young men in the Palo Alto Ward know that God

honored the promise they spoke. God knows who they really are, and so

do I. I hope they do.



Seeking the Kingdom First



	If President Benson has been successful in helping us sense who we

are, there are a whole series of things you will be adding to the top

of your lists of things to do, if they weren't already there. Reading

the Book of Mormon thirty minutes a day, paying tithing, paying a fast

offering, and keeping the Sabbath will all be there. And when you carry

out those commitments with faith, you will quickly come to know that

God keeps his promises.



	Now, you might say, "But Brother Eyring, you've just made my

problem worse. Now, I've added new tasks to my list and I've put them

at the top. If my worry before was that I might fail in my work, now

I'm even more worried. You know that at least some of the people I'll

compete with when I get out of here will put work first and spiritual

things last, or never. Will I always be second-rate in my work if I'm a

child of promise?"



	You can take comfort. Whenever I've had unusual success in a

financial investment I've started with great partners. Although you are

very much the junior partner, you have been invited to invest your time

not alone but with God. Here is the promise he has made:



	But before ye seek for riches, seek ye the kingdom of God



	And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain

riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do

good---to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungary, and to liberate

the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.

[Jacob 2:18-19]



	That seems to me a remarkable promise and a reassurance. The

requirement is that you seek God first. This evening there may be

little time left when you're done with the studies some of you may have

left to complete before the first class tomorrow. Suppose the first

class is mathematics and you have a long problem set due. You may be

tempted to try the straight spiritual approach--take no thought and

hope you will be given a completed problem set in the hour you need it.

I recommend against it--not that I doubt the ravens could deliver you

the finished work, but there is a better way, as I read in the book of

Jacob.



	I'd go back to your room and start with the Book of Mormon. I'd

read it long enough that I began to feel hope in Christ. For me, that

always happens. Now, even though that is only a start toward obtaining

the full hope in Christ spoken of in Jacob, some of the promise begins

to work in me. My motives change. I start to want different things. I

may even write a letter to someone I've thought of suddenly, or make a

phone call. But I'm changed two ways. First, I've been moved to action,

to read the Book of Mormon with real intent and then to try to serve

God, and serve him well. And second, I'm determined to solve those math

problems for the power learning can confer. It may not confer riches,

but it will give me the power to liberate the captive. My sons who are

here wish I'd sought a little harder, worked a few more problem sets,

and been qualified now to administer relief to them as they are

afflicted with their own math problem sets.



	My experience has been that the promise in Jacob is true. When I

have sought the kingdom first, I have been directed to seek other

things later. And whatever intensity and singleness of heart I brought

to my service to God has been extended into whatever else I have been

led to seek. Seek seems to be the key word. That is a far cry from "put

in your time." If you invest your time with faith and great energy, the

promise by the Lord in Jacob is sure.



	The fact that God promises our motives will be changed and shaped

to better ends as a reward should also direct the way you invest your

time. You know your lists of things to do may not even include tasks of

the greatest importance to God. You may have had the experience, as I

have had, to pray over alternative courses of action and be told the

alternatives you are considering don't even address what really

matters.



	Now, you need to add tasks to your lists that will give God

confidence you will keep the promises he asks of you, not that you

choose for yourself. That could test you some, since you may have

always favored the scripture that suggests you should do some things

without being commanded. But even there, it's crucial to feel a desire

that what you choose is what God would want, particularly when you are

so important and rare a servant to him. You want his confidence in you

as much as you need your confidence in him.



Coming to Know His Will



	One of the great promises attached to prayer with real intent,

scripture study, teaching the gospel, visiting the sick, and in all

ways seeking God is that you come to know what he wants. If you invest

long enough, you can qualify for perfect confidence from God. The

scriptures describe that happening. Nephi, the son of Helaman, earned

that promise and its fulfillment.



	You remember that he and his brother, Lehi, left their positions

to take up the ministry. And Nephi struggled and met rebuff, as some of

you have. But he persevered. The Lord spoke to him when he was

discouraged but still diligent:



	And now, because thou has done this with such unwearyingness,

behold, I will bless thee forever: and I will make thee mighty in word

and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be

done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which

is contrary to my will. [Helaman 10:5]



	The promise to you and me in the last days is not that the power

of God will be poured out on us to do whatever we think is best, but to

do what is God's will. And the promise is that after seeking him and

serving his children with unwearyingness, we will come to know his

will. The promise is not just that I will have the power to do what's

on my list of tasks, but that I will know what to put there. On those

occasions when I have known should be there, I've found myself glancing

at it as a source of joy, not of anxiety.



The Greatest of All Returns



	Finally, our capacity for investing time well will hinge on our

desire to offer others the chance to gain confidence in the promises of

God. We've talked about investing time, guided by the promises of God

and by our wanting what he wants. What he wants is to bring to pass the

immortality and eternal life of man, so much of your time will be

invested with the return to come to others. You can take that as a

source of great optimism.



	First, and perhaps less important, the returns finally do come

back to you, particularly when you focus on giving instead of getting.

You remember the promise in Luke:



	Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down,

and shaken together, and running over, shah men give into your bosom.

For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to

you again. [Luke 6:38]



	But even better you have the promise of Abraham. That guarantees

what in financial investments you'd call compounding. An investment

compounds when every return goes to work, without your doing anything

further to produce more returns. Offering the gospel has the same

effect, because of the promise made to Abraham, and to you. Abraham was

promised both that his seed would hear the gospel and that they would

take it to others. Missionaries, mothers, and home teachers invest time

that will compound forever.



	Now you may object this way: "I go out and make my visits and call

on people, but I don't see any results." Another latter-day prophet

helped me with that. President David O. McKay said this:



	Man is a spiritual being, a soul, and at some period of his 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. [True to the Faith, comp. Llewelyn R. McKay (Salt Lake

City: Bookcraft, 1966), p. 244]



	Even people who seem careless and uninterested in spiritual things

will at some time reach out to know who they are and who God is and

whether they are a child of God and whether there really are promises.

You won't know when, but it will come.



	Some of you have invested months and years trying to offer people

you love the gospel of Jesus Christ--to people who have not yet

accepted it. Take heart. Alma the Younger, when he came to the point of

extremity, remembered the words of his father and it saved his eternal

life. God may yet bless you with that greatest of all returns for the

investment of your time, that the words of truth you spoke will be

remembered in that moment of spiritual yearning by the person you loved

enough to offer the most precious thing you ever received.



	Well, we have talked about investing your inheritance, the time

that God has given you, and the power you have to dispose of it wisely.

Tonight and tomorrow and the next day you and I will ask God what to do

with our time. I promise you that he will answer those prayers, because

he is in need of servants to reach out to his children. Don't be

surprised if he asks you to reach out to them with kindness and with

the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can be confident that the promises he

has made will be fulfilled. He will, through you, touch the hearts of

others, if not always on the timetable you would choose. And they will

then, in turn, be touched and reach out to others, multiplying the

effects of your investment of time and effort and faith.



	Now, I haven't solved the problem of your busy schedules. You will

still feel you are in a hurry and you will still find yourself not

reaching the end of every list. In fact, you may find your list

changing and even growing larger. But you can have peace and confidence

in your choices.



	I pray you will feel that peace and that you will feel gratitude

for having been blessed with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, with

living prophets, and with the sure promise of the atonement of the Lord

Jesus Christ. And I pray you will have confidence in God's promises,

gain his confidence, and offer to others the promises you have as a

child of promise.



	I bear you my testimony that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ,

that Joseph Smith by the power of God restored all the ordinances and

covenants that give direction and certitude to your lives. I bear you

my testimony that Ezra Taft Benson is a living prophet of God, I am

blessed to meet with him frequently, and I have felt the power of his

prophetic calling. I pray we may have his sense of urgency to invest

all of the time God may grant us in carrying out whatever task God may

give us as his child of promise. I say this in the name of Jesus

Christ. Amen.





                    A Return to Full Belief in God



                             George P. Lee



	Elder George P. Lee was called to be a member of the First Quorum

of the Seventy on 3 October 1975. A Navajo, he is the first Indian to

serve as a General Authority of the Church. Elder Lee serves in the

Area Presidency of the North America Northwest Area. His other

assignments include managing director in the Curriculum Department,

member of the Indian Services Committee at Brigham Young University and

member of the KSL Board of Directors.



	Elder Lee received a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young

University, a master's degree from Utah State University, and a

doctorate in educational administration from BYU. Professionally he has

been a basketball coach, guidance counselor, teacher, educational

consultant, federal programs consultant for HEW in Washington, D.C.,

and president of the College of Ganado on the Navajo Indian Reservation

in northeastern Arizona. He also served for three years as president of

the Arizona Holbrook Mission for the Church.



	Elder Lee's honors and awards include: Outstanding Young Man in

America, Spencer W. Kimball Lamanite Leadership Award, United States

Office of Education Fellowship, Ford Foundation Scholarship, and the

Navajo Leadership and Educator Award.



	Elder Lee and his wife, Katherine Hettich, a Comanche Indian from

Oklahoma, are the parents of seven children.



	This devotional talk was given on 13 May 1986 in the deJong

Concert Hall.



The True Way



	Christianity, as it is known to the world, is widely diversified

with its varied and conflicting teachings, doctrines, and practices and

is filled with numerous plans of salvation--many of them contradicting

one another. There are even conflicting conceptions of the being and

nature of God the Father and his son Jesus Christ. But there must be

one true church and gospel of Jesus Christ. All cannot be right. All

cannot lead to heaven.



	Why must there be one true gospel and church of Jesus Christ?

Jesus Christ told us, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father

which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).



	This cannot be achieved through devious means. Because we are

destined and taught to become like our Heavenly Father, he does not

give us optional courses to follow in achieving it. It is important

that we personally belong to the right church. If we do not follow one

path, we may find ourselves among those whom the Savior spoke of when

he declared,



	Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not

prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in

thy name done many wonderful works?



	And then will I profess unto them I never knew you: depart from

me, ye that work iniquity. [Matthew 7:22-23]



	Since this confronts all of us, each of us must know for himself

which church is right. Each of us must know for himself and learn that

there is only one God, our Heavenly Father, one Jesus Christ, the Son

of God, one true religion, one way to be baptized, and one way to be

saved, and that is through the strait and narrow way.



	The only way for each of us to be saved is by (1) faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ, (2) repentance, (3) baptism, (4) the gift of the

Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by authority, (5) keeping all the

commandments, and (6) enduring to the end.



	Each of us must choose the true way of salvation, or otherwise we

may find ourselves on the broad way that leads to destruction. When a

person is only a half believer, then he will find himself on the broad

way that leads to destruction.



The Greatest Power



	Jesus Christ was never once a half believer. In his mind there was

no doubt to cause him to be of weak heart. His heart contained the

power of righteousness. This power he never abused in any moment of

weakness. The fullness of all belief and knowledge rested upon his

soul. His admonition to become perfect, even as his Father in Heaven is

perfect (see Matthew 5:48), requires a full belief because perfection

requires full belief. Full belief is that perfect prayer that leaves

two witnesses, of mind and heart, to ascend unto God and give him the

glory and honor. And in this manner Heavenly Father returns blessings

upon our entire soul. This constitutes a fullness of belief.



	In a prophetic way, Jesus knew today would be filled with major

disturbances in nature and among the society of mankind. Well did he

say of our day, "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming

of the Son of man be" (Matthew 24:37). There is a relationship between

man and nature that halfhearted belief in God can damage. Half belief

in God causes disharmony between man and his environment. The Apostle

Paul saw our day, too. He said:



	In the last days perilous times shall come. 



	For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,

proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,



	Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,

incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,



	Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers

of God;



	Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from

such turn away. [2 Timothy 3:1-5]



	We are living in perilous times, probably the most wicked age of

all time. It is a negative time, but there are also many positives.

There has been an explosion of knowledge. We are the beneficiaries of

the most fantastic inventions of all time. We enjoy the best the world

has to offer, and it is an important time concerning religion as well.

Paul looked forward to our time and called it "the dispensation of the

fulness of times [when God would] gather together in one all things in

Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him"

(Ephesians 1:10).



	The gospel has been restored in its fullness in our time. People

of our time have split the atom. Man has taken great power unto

himself. Yesterday there was a wooden stick to turn the ground. Today,

machines have taken over the puny muscle power of man. Today, mountains

are moved by machines. Every inch of earth is packed with potential

power.



	For our benefit, Heavenly Father buried billions of tons of coal,

oil, and uranium. Power from water gives us electricity. Solar energy

comes from the sun and is just beginning to be tapped. The air holds

power. Do we not breathe it to give us energy? And what of its

necessity in combustion engines and airplanes? Topsoil produces power

for food production.



	All of these elements of the earth were provided for the benefit

of man. When he develops a fullness of belief, as did Jesus Christ,

these natural elements will become his friends, and not his enemies.



	We live in a day of miracles. We live in a space age; we live in a

nuclear age. All these elements of the earth are not the greatest

power. Heavenly Father gave man the greatest power. He put his greatest

power into his children, who made the machinery and who made it

possible to receive power from the elements from the earth and to split

the atom. But above all this, by far the greatest power in the universe

and in the earth is the power of God. By his power, he created and

controls the universe. God the Father said, "And worlds without number

have I created;... and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only

Begotten" (Moses 1:33).



	The Lord Jesus Christ himself said, "All power is given unto me in

heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18). Through the power of the Son of

God, worlds come into existence and others pass away. As one earth

passes away, another takes its place. At his decree, nations rise or

fall (see Moses 1:33-38). The time is very close when he will come to

the earth again with great power and glory.



	The Lord Jesus has power over life and death and every detail of

our existence, and one of the primary purposes of his life was to give

us power. That is, he sacrificed his life so that you and I can have

the power to become like him and to make it back into the presence of

God. If we are to become like him, we must have full belief in God and

full belief in the things of God. Jesus had a full and complete belief

in his Heavenly Father and all things associated with him.



We Must Believe



	One of the first steps toward any success is to fully believe in

God, as the Lord has taught us and shown us. Did not the Lord have full

faith and belief in charity, in excellence, in prayer, in scriptures,

and in enduring to the end? Did not the Lord have a full belief and

faith that he had the power to become like his Heavenly Father? Did he

not have a full belief and faith in his character, a full belief in the

power to overcome temptations? Did he not have full belief and faith to

destroy the weakness and sins in himself?.



	If we are to become more like him, we must believe and have full

faith, as he did. We must become a full believer. We have the power of

faith. We have the power of repentance. We have the power to keep his

commandments. We have the power to believe in ourselves. We have the

power of excellence. We have the power to endure to the end. We have

the power to build character. We have the power to overcome temptation.

We have the power to destroy the weaknesses and sins in ourselves. We

have the power to become more like the Lord Jesus Christ and to become

like our Heavenly Father, and to live with them again.



	Paul the Apostle said, "For God hath not given us the spirit of

fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7).

We have the physical, mental, spiritual, and moral abilities to act.

Because of the increased evils and wickedness in our day and time, we

need a much greater power to overcome our more difficult problems. We

need more thinking power. We need more character power, and we need

more doing power. We should know and understand that all powers are

based upon obedience to the laws of righteousness. It is a natural law

of weakness that when one becomes drunk, disobedient, or dishonest, he

is enslaved by his evil habits and therefore loses his power.



	Unfortunately, some of us do not put our hearts completely into

something that is good, something we believe in. When we have a strong

faith and belief in something that is good, this usually increases our

strength and happiness. But unfortunately, everyone does not always

earn the right to believe, even in very important things. We are

sometimes afflicted with too many doubts and fears. We are caught

halfway. Sometimes we are afraid to make solid, intelligent, proper

decisions, and consequently, we go into life with many uncertainties.



	Some of us are holding back in our faith and our beliefs. We have

become only half believers. We only half believe in ourselves. We only

half believe in God, we only half believe in the Church, we only half

believe in the Book of Mormon, half believe in prayer, half believe in

our leaders and scripture study, and half believe in our country. We

become those who just believe part of the time, or we just believe in

some of the things. When we put ourselves in this position of only half

believing, then we have committed a sin of fractional devotion and

marginal morals. This sin of fractional devotion and marginal morals is

sometimes very evident in our classwork, in our worship of God, and in

our lives.



	I think it is impossible to live at one's best or to give one's

best when one is only a half believer. There are too many people who

are impartial about right and wrong. Some of us have committed the sin

of fractional devotion and marginal morals, which only produces a

minimal spiritual performance, which in turn usually results in

marginal or minimal spiritual success.



	John the Revelator said to a group of people who were half

believers:



	I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou

wert cold or hot.



	So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I

will spue thee out of my mouth. [Revelation 3:15-16]



	Many people are miserable and unhappy because they simply cannot

make up their minds between right and wrong, good and bad, obedience

and disobedience, success and failure.



	I am afraid many of life's problems are caused because our beliefs

are controlled by our moods, instead of by facts and right decisions.

Sometimes we react to things, not according to whether they are right

or wrong, but according to how we feel at the moment. Too many of us

have become only half believers in God, and most important of all, we

only half believe in ourselves. When we only half believe in ourselves,

we don't trust ourselves and we develop what has been called an

"inferiority complex," which can become the most damaging disease in

all the world. We can make ourselves great or small according to the

way we believe.



A Fool's Paradise



	Some of us do not want to attract attention. We merely want to be

average. We want to be average in our beliefs. We want to be average in

all that we do. It is sometimes so comfortable just to be average,

where nothing great is expected of us. It is so comfortable sometimes

just to be a half believer, where nothing extraordinary is expected of

us. However, we must remember that average, or half believing, is

halfway between heaven and hell. Half believing is halfway between

right and wrong. Half believing is halfway between good and evil. Half

believing is halfway between God and Satan. Why should we be a half

believer, or just average?



	How would you like to go to a basketball game to see players who

are only half believers in themselves, to see players who are average?

It would certainly be a boring game. How would you like to go see a BYU

football game, to see average BYU players, players who are only half

believers in themselves and in the game?



	I believe that BYU has a very successful football program because

the players are full believers in themselves. They are full believers

in winning the game, and they are full believers in their coach. They

fully believe and have faith in themselves and in their coaches.



	How would you like to have a brain operation by a doctor who was

only a half believer in himself? Or by a doctor who is just average?

How would you like to be led by a university president who only half

believes in himself and who is just an average leader? How would you

like to be taught by a professor who is only a half believer in himself

and in his teachings and who is just average? How would you like to

have your teeth worked on by a dentist who only half believes in

himself and in his work? By a dentist who is just average?



	How would you like to be counseled by a bishop who is only a half

believer in himself and in his counsel? By a bishop who is just

average? How would you like to have open-heart surgery by a heart

surgeon who only half believes in himself, and half believes in the

success of his operations? By a heart surgeon who is just average?



	How would you like to be led by a religious leader who only half

believes in God and who only half believes in keeping his commandments?

Throughout the ages, evil people have transgressed the laws of God,

changed the ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenant that the

Lord himself established.



	Even in our own day of enlightenment, in this, the last

dispensation of the fulness of times, in this day of power and

miracles, there are too many half-believing people who have developed

counterfeit character traits, counterfeit religions, and counterfeit

moral standards. Many people in this age of power and enlightenment are

like nickels trying to pass themselves off as silver dollars.



	There are too many people in our day and age who live in a kind of

a fool's paradise. They indulge in fool's reasoning and enjoy a fool's

happiness. But when the Lord comes, these imitators will be tested and

examined in the light of God's truths, and they will be found condemned

for those they have deceived.



	Our prisons are full of people who are half believers, or with no

belief in God at all. These are people who are counterfeiters and

imitators. Our reform schools and mental hospitals are full of people

who are only half believers in many things, including God. These are

people who are imitators and counterfeiters of things that are good. It

used to be that these were the only places where we could find

counterfeiters, or half believers, but today there are half believers

and counterfeiters everywhere, including those who deny the existence

of God. Men and women who have developed counterfeit character traits

are everywhere. Men and women who have developed moral standards made

out of fool's gold are everywhere. Even in the Church there might be a

few men and women who have developed moral standards made of fool's

gold. Counterfeit love, counterfeit friendship, counterfeit virtues

abound in our midst. Counterfeit ideas, ideals, and ambitions are all

around us.



Moral Counterfeiters



	In his own image, God created male and female and gave them a

miraculous power called procreation. This was part of a divine program

wherein all of God's spirit children may receive a mortal body under

the most favorable conditions. But this great, sacred, and divine power

was soon being abused, ridiculed, and mocked by a vast group of moral

counterfeiters teaching premarital and extramarital sex relationships.



	These same moral counterfeiters are doing everything within their

power and means to glamorize the beauty and appeal of the human body in

their attempts to sell tobacco, beer, alcohol, and other things that

have a soul-destroying effect. All of the beautiful virtues, beautiful

attributes, and beautiful qualities and character traits that we have

been given by our Heavenly Father are the targets of these

counterfeiters.



	I think it would be a very stressful and unpleasant experience for

any of us to live on counterfeit money, but how much worse would it be

to live a counterfeit life and carry a burden of guilt? How much worse

would it be for someone to live a counterfeit life and know that even

his own ideas, ambitions, and ideals are phony?



	How much worse would it be for any of us to live a counterfeit

spiritual life and know that our love, our friendship, and virtues had

no real substance and that we were not genuine people? There are many

among us who think they get their greatest kicks and pleasures from

drug addiction, addiction to alcohol and paint sniffing, addiction to

sex, and addiction to cheating and stealing.



	These things are nothing more than counterfeits of honor, virtue,

and industry. These things can easily set in motion evil and negative

influences that can lead us to become only half believers and lead us

to discouragement, depression, and a feeling of worthlessness.



	The glittering fool's gold called necking, petting, and sex always

leaves one far worse than he was before. The glittering fool's gold

called drugs and alcohol always leaves one worse off than he was

before. The glittering fool's gold called lying, stealing, and cheating

always leaves one far worse off than he was before. The glittering

fool's gold called profanity always leaves one far worse off than he

was before. The glittering fool's gold called gossiping and criticizing

always leaves one far worse off than he was before.



	Satan is miserable because he is evil. Satan's mission and goal

for mankind is misery. The best way for Satan to accomplish his goal of

making everyone miserable is to make each of us self-centered, or

selfish. When a person becomes selfish, he will usually seek temporary

happiness and pleasures. Selfishness usually leads to many sins.

Selfishness usually leads to depression and discouragement. Selfishness

usually leads to counterfeit activities and behavior. Selfishness

usually leads to half believing or no belief in God at all.



	Anyone who seeks happiness in wickedness is foolish. Satan's

mission and plan is to spread bloodshed, famine, ignorance, and misery

over the whole earth. This tactic or strategy is a counterfeit of God's

plan for eternal salvation. It is up to each of us to be able to tell

the difference.



	It is very unfortunate that, without knowing it, many of us lose

large fractions of our lives because we were fooled by counterfeiters,

we were fooled by the fool's gold, and we became quitters. We have quit

believing in ourselves. We have quit believing in God. We have quit

believing in our country. We have quit believing in prayer. We have

quit believing in the scriptures and the things that are good.



The Most Effective Process



	The time has come for each of us to free ourselves from being

fooled by counterfeiters, to free ourselves from the fool's gold, and

to become full believers in God. In my opinion, the most important

thing about a person is his religion. His religion is what he believes

in. This is what he thinks about. This is what he works at. This is

what he fights for, and this is what he lives by.



	Full belief in God can be the most effective process by which we

can reach any success or real happiness, as well as make our lives

worthwhile. There is a tremendous need to return to full belief in God

and religion. I personally believe that almost all of our problems

arise because we sometimes close the Bible, close the scriptures, and

turn our backs on God and religion. We only half believe in God and in

religion. When we are confronted with wrong in our lives, we sometimes

say that how we live is our own business, and anyway, since God is kind

and forgiving, we can always repent. In the end, we will be saved

anyway.



	A policy of each man for himself can sometimes wreck our

civilization and bring misery and failure upon each individual in it. A

policy of only half believing in God can wreck our civilization and

bring misery and failure. A policy of no belief in God can seriously

damage our society.



	Do we not study medicine to be well physically? Do we not study

psychology and psychiatry to be well mentally? Do we not study

agriculture to feed ourselves and others? Do we not study sociology to

relate well with one another? Do we not study law to keep our lives

orderly? Then why not study the great science of religion to keep

ourselves well spiritually? I think it would be wise and well if more

of us would get serious about studying the science of God, or science

of religion, so that we can keep ourselves well spiritually. Of all the

great disciplines of study, the study of God is the greatest.



	I believe that it is our weakness and sin in this area that brings

about our most serious problems and our worst failures. I believe that

because we don't fully believe in God, most of our serious problems

come about. I think many of us are very weak when it comes to God and

religion, and as a result we develop failures and problems for

ourselves.



	It seems that we are constantly seeking new inventions that will

give us more of life's pleasures, comforts, and idle time. Somehow we

ignore those basic practices of religion that have been known since the

world began. Many people the world over seem to take great delight and

pleasure in placing a ban on religion, in placing a ban on God, as if

it were an evil plague. They take great delight in placing a ban on

prayers and scriptures.



	If more of us would become full believers in God, this would give

us tremendous amounts of prosperity and power and a great amount of

mental and social health. What we need more than anything else in this

life is a full belief in God to lift us above our own selfish

interests. We need God to believe in. We need something to fight for

that is bigger and more important than ourselves.



To Know God



	It is a natural principle that misery loves company, and a claim

that everyone is doing something makes it right. Some who claim not to

believe in God seem to get great satisfaction in criticizing those who

do. Even some of us in the Church criticize members of our own faith

who have become full believers in God. We feel uncomfortable to be

around them. They are too spiritual. They are straight-arrows. They are

religious fanatics. We view them as too straightlaced, and we fool

ourselves in believing we will be saved in the end for only half

believing. Some people take great delight and pleasure in downgrading

those who fully believe in God and religion. We fool ourselves in

believing we will be saved in the end for counterfeiting our religion.



	People like this spiritualize God out of existence and convert him

into some mere figure of speech. Some have converted him into stone or

wood. They treat the great Christian doctrines as unworthy of their

devotion. Because of immaturity, rebellion, and godlessness, some

people believe we don't need God anymore, that we now can take care of

ourselves. They believe God is dead. Others believe they are more

popular than God.



	Inasmuch as they think God has lost the power to exalt or condemn,

these same people seem to deprive God of his body and make him an "it."

These same people believe that God is without body, parts, or passions.

These same people view God as a shapeless mass, as someone who is

incomprehensible and permanently invisible.



	Because our judgment is no better than our information, we

sometimes make great mistakes with our relationships with God merely

because we fail to understand him. God is our Eternal Father in whose

image we were created. He has a body and a set of feelings, faculties,

and senses. We need to return to God through daily prayer, scripture

study, fasting, and doing good to all men. We need to return to God

through reading the Book of Mormon.



	God our Eternal Father is the father of our spirits, and we are

his offspring. We believe in a God who has eyes to see, ears to hear,

and we believe every member and sense of his body is well-developed

into a perfect man. God our Eternal Father has a body of flesh and

bones as tangible as ours. His son, Jesus Christ, also has a body of

flesh and bones--but their bodies are more perfected and glorified than

ours.



	God the Father is the literal earthly father of Jesus Christ. Each

of us is a child of God, created in his image, endowed with his

attributes, and entitled to his inspiration. One of our greatest

privileges in this earth life is to seek him and become more like him.



	If we don't take this view, what view shall we take of him? Shall

we view him as a god who is incomprehensible, shapeless, and an

invisible influence without body, parts, or passions? Shall we view him

as something unorganized, floating in the immensity of space without

mind, without plan or purpose? Shall we view him as a shapeless mass

that is everywhere, yet so small he can dwell in our hearts?



	Can you imagine Jesus Christ praying to a God who is a shapeless

mass? Can you imagine Jesus Christ praying to himself, who is at the

same time God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost all rolled into one?



	But how can we really come to know God our Heavenly Father? Our

Savior gave us the key in the inspired prayer he gave before his

crucifixion. As he prayed to his Heavenly Father, he said, "And this is

life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus

Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3).



	I bear testimony that to know God the Father we must go to the

source of the knowledge of God and there learn about him. That source

is revelation. That is where God makes himself known to man. One of the

great reservoirs of revelation is the Holy Bible. The Bible teaches us

that God did make himself known to mankind anciently, that he was near

enough to mortal beings to permit them knowledge to be saved in his

presence.



	I bear testimony that the knowledge of God is essential to our

salvation. If knowledge of our Heavenly Father is essential to our

salvation, what has God our Heavenly Father already revealed to us

about himself He has made it known that he is our Father, that he is

the father of our spirits, that we are of his family, and that we can

become like him in perfection. He has made it known to us that we not

only may become like him, but we already look like him in form and

shape. We are in his physical image. The Bible teaches that God the

Father is a person and that Jesus is in the exact image of his father's

person.



	In the first chapter of Hebrews, beginning with the first verse,

we read:



	God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past

unto the fathers by the prophets,



	Hath in these last days spoken unto as by his Son, whom he hath

appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;



	Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of

his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he

had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the

Majesty on high. [Hebrews 1:1-3]



I bear testimony that this tells us that God the Father is a person,

and Jesus is in his express image.  Jesus looked like other men. Jesus

looked like his. father's person. Therefore, other men resemble God's

person, just as Jesus did.



	We learn in Genesis that God made man in his own image and

likeness: "So God created man in his own image, and in the image of God

created he him; male and female created he them" (Genesis 1:27).



	This tells us that man is in the image of God, and Jesus was in

the image of God. Jesus was in the image and likeness of his fellow

workers, Peter, James, and John, and the other apostles and the

multitude that he taught.



	The Bible tells us that God made the plants, the trees, and the

animals. Everything was commanded to reproduce after its own kind. It

was natural for trees to bring forth other trees and animals to bring

forth other animals after their kind. This was true of the herbs of the

field and birds of the air and cattle and creeping things. All were

commanded by our Heavenly Father to multiply and replenish the earth by

bringing forth after their own kind. When God the Father made man, he

commanded him likewise to reproduce after his kind, and he did.



	In the book of Genesis, we read: "And Adam lived an hundred and

thirty years and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and

called his name Seth" (Genesis 5:3). Seth was in the form of Adam, Adam

was in the form of God. Everything that was created was commanded to

bring forth after its kind, and not even God would violate his own law.



	Just as Seth was the son of Adam and looked like his father

physically, so Adam was a child of God and was in his image. So God the

Father is both father and deity to Jesus and all mankind. We are his

offspring; we are his children.



	Brothers and sisters, the time has come for all of us to become

full believers in God our Eternal Father and in his son Jesus Christ. I

testify of these truths in the sacred name of Jesus Christ. Amen.





                     The Christ-focused Beatitudes



                            Robert E Wells



	Elder Robert E. Wells was called to be a member of the First

Quorum of the Seventy on 1 October 1976. After having served as

Executive Administrator for the Church in the Salt Lake City and Ogden

areas, he is now in the presidency of the South America North Area,

which includes Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.



	Born in Las Vegas, Nevada, Elder Wells graduated from Brigham

Young University and then spent almost twenty years involved in

international banking in South America for First National City Bank of

New York. In 1974 he was called as head of Central Purchasing for the

Church's worldwide operations.



	Service to the Church in South America has been a great part of

his life. As a young man he served a mission there. Over the past 32

years his service in Latin America has included callings as branch

president, district president, mission president, Regional

Representative, and Executive Administrator. Elder Wells and his wife,

Helen Walser, are the parents of seven children.



	This devotional address was delivered in the deJong Concert Hall

on 20 May 1986.



	According to my dictionary the word "blessed" is a very positive

adjective meaning "enjoying happiness,"' 'enjoying the bliss of

heaven," and "bringing pleasure or contentment." If these expressions

are true, there is an apparent strong contradiction between the

blessings we seek in today's success-oriented world and the blessings

the Savior refers to in the eight beatitudes that open the great Sermon

on the Mount. Blessed are the poor? Blessed are those who mourn?

Blessed are the meek? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst? Blessed

are those who are persecuted? These are startling and

attention-grabbing contradictions. Who needs problems if these are

blessings? These declarations are not quiet philosophical stars in a

summer night. Rather, the Beatitudes of Christ are lightning bolts and

thunder claps of spiritual surprise! Please review them with me as a

list of Christ-like attributes we should each seek to develop.



	The first beatitude in the Bible says, "Blessed are the poor in

spirit," and the Book of Mormon version adds, "who come unto me." We

can all agree that being poor economically is not usually a desired

blessing, but the Savior is talking about something entirely different.

He is talking about humility and subjecting oneself to the Lord in all

things. The most powerful scripture we have on this attitude is from

Mosiah 3:19, where King Benjamin gives us a definition of the ideal

latter-day saint as one who



	... 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.



	In comparison to the Father, from whom all blessings flow, we are

indeed poor in spirit--we are spiritual paupers, beggars even--and we

must humble ourselves before God in every situation of life.



	I would like to use a short version, as I remember it, of the

famous Hugh B. Brown parable to illustrate submission. When he was

young, President Brown had a nice yard in front of his home with a

lawn, flowers, shrubs, fruit trees, and shade trees. There was a

currant bush he had carefully trimmed to be in an attractive shape and

to produce the best fruit. Noticing that it had started to branch out

again, he went for the pruning shears. As he approached the currant

bush, he seemed to hear it say, "Oh please, Mr. Gardener, don't cut me

back, I'm just getting started and I want to be big like the shade

trees."



	President Brown responded, "No, my little bush. I am the gardener

here and I have planted thee to be a source of fruit and an adornment

in this part of my garden, and I am going to prune thee back to size."



	Many years later President Brown was a full colonel in the

Canadian forces in France in World War I. He could see the possibility

of an illustrious military career. He wanted to become the first LDS

general since Book of Mormon times. He was competent and well prepared.

The next vacancy as a general should have been his, but when the

vacancy occurred, he was called in by his superiors and told, "We are

promoting someone else over you." In effect they were saying, "There

has never been a Mormon general in his Majesty's Royal Forces and there

probably never will be."



	He retired to his quarters, crushed with disappointment, and knelt

in prayer asking fervently, "Heavenly Father, why couldn't my prayers

have been answered? Haven't I lived up to my covenants? Haven't I done

everything I was supposed to do? Why? Why?"



	And then he heard a voice, an echo from the past, saying, "I am

the gardener here. You were not intended for what you sought to be."

Humbled, President Brown then prayed for humility and patience to

endure the pruning and to grow as the Lord would have him grow.



	I translated that story for him on a tour of South America. He

told me afterwards, "Bob, I know if I had continued in that direction I

would never have developed the way the Lord wanted me to so I could

eventually serve him as an apostle and in the First Presidency."



	Yes, it is a desired virtue to be able to humble ourselves, to

seek out God and come unto him in all humility, and to accept and

overcome whatever tribulations and trials and testings that come into

our lives. Yes, it is a blessing to become "poor in spirit before the

Lord."



Blessed Are They That Mourn: For They Shall Be Comforted



	I imagine that of all the Beatitudes, this would appear at first

glance to be the most unusual and contradictory. At the least it is a

very strong paradox. How can it be a blessing to be in mourning? To

mourn is to show grief or pain at the death of a loved one. To mourn is

much more profound than to just be sad. It is a deep, agonizing,

penetrating, intense pain that cannot be hid from the world, nor from

God, nor can it be eased, nor pacified, except with comfort and

consolation from God through the Holy Ghost. Why would the Savior then

say it is a blessing to mourn?



	It may be that pain and suffering from the death of loved ones is

really an essential and important part of our mortal experience, just

like our own death is inevitable some day. There seem to come a

maturity and a deeper dimension and a more profound understanding when

we are left behind. The reality of death obliges us to face the

question of the reality of the spirit world and the hope of the

resurrection. It is through suffering that one discovers the difference

between those things that are important and that which is unimportant

in the eternal perspective.



	It might be that it is a blessing to become more fully aware,

through the death of a loved one, that God's ways are not our ways and

that we must trust him in that fact. One of my favorite stories with

roots in Islamic traditions illustrates that especially in death we

need to look for the hidden purposes of the Lord, which, when

understood, turn to comfort and blessings.



	It seems that Moses, being in heaven, wondered about the work of a

certain angel who was departing for earth. He asked the angel if he

might accompany him on his errand. The angel responded, "Nay, thou

wouldst not be able to stand that which thou wouldst see." Moses

insisted, so the angel placed a condition. "No matter what thou wouldst

see, thou must remain silent." Moses agreed and the two came to earth.



	They left the borders of dry land and went far out over the sea,

even beyond sight of land, where they found some humble fishermen in

their boat fishing. The angel, unseen, broke the boards of the keel,

the boat sank, and the fishermen drowned. Moses started to protest but

the angel declared, "Thou must remain silent."



	Next they came upon an Arab boy walking through the sands of the

desert. Unseen, the angel breathed in the boy's face; his blood froze,

and he fell to the earth, dead. Moses started to protest but the angel

silenced him, "I told thee that thou wouldst not stand what thou

wouldst see. Thou must remain silent."



	Then the two came upon a poor home where lived a widow and her two

sons. Their only means of survival was the produce from their small

garden, protected against the wind and sands of the desert by a tall

adobe wail. To Moses' surprise the angel pushed the wall over, crushing

the vines, melons, and cucumbers, which the family sorely needed. Moses

could not stand it any longer. He erupted. The angel silenced him and

said, "Thou canst go with me no longer. Thou must return. But first,

lest thou misjudge Allah who has sent me, I will explain. The fishermen

would soon have been captured by a pirate boat approaching over the

horizon, and been enslaved, tortured, and killed. This way they die in

the profession they loved. The Arab boy would soon have fought with

another mother's son, killing the latter. This way the second boy lives

and this one dies blood guiltless. The widow's husband, before he died,

hid a fortune in the base of the adobe wail. Now the boys, rebuilding

the wail, will find the fortune, invest it wisely, and prosper. But

thou didst doubt. Thou canst go with me no longer."



	When we can see the Lord's purposes fulfilled in that which gives

us sorrow, the Holy Ghost can give us full consolation, and the

atonement and resurrection truly become to us the cornerstone of our

faith. In the midst of mourning one discovers deeper dimensions of

love, friendship, and brotherhood. In the midst of mourning, one

determines if his faith is a social decoration or if it is an essential

ingredient upon which his whole life is based. It is in the midst of

mourning that one discovers the personal closeness of his Heavenly

Father and his Savior Jesus Christ and the comfort of the Holy Ghost.

As President McKay used to say, "Man's extremity is God's opportunity"

(John Flavel [c. 1680], see Burton Stevenson, comp., The Home Book of

Quotations [New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1956], p. 1430). We will be

blessed in mourning and be comforted as we reflect on eternal marriage,

eternal families, eternal values.



Blessed Are the Meek!



	In the greatest sermon ever preached the Savior declared, "Blessed

are the meek for they shall inherit the earth," to which a modern

skeptic has quipped, "That would be the only way the meek would get

anything!"



	I use that little bit of humor to illustrate that in today's

fast-paced, success-oriented world, the quality of meekness is not

universally admired. We don't usually think of successful executives as

being meek, nor can we mentally accept the idea of a successful

quarterback on a winning football team being meek. In fact, success in

anything seems to involve quite the opposite of meekness.



	Webster's dictionary gives two commonly accepted definitions of

the word "meek": (1) deficient in spirit and courage, and (2) not...

strong.



	No way do I want to be looked upon as, nor can I imagine myself as

being "deficient in spirit and courage." Those are negative attributes

that I want no part of-likewise, "not ... strong." All my life I have

tried to "be strong." One of my favorite slogans for success is, "Plan,

Simplify., and Be Strong."



	In the minds of many, the term "meek" means to be submissive,

passive, mild, retiring, bashful, soft, lowly, placid, etc. The mental

image of a "meek" person is that of a compliant doormat, Casper

Milquetoast, who is so timid and unassertive that he accomplishes

nothing, does nothing, seeks nothing, and contributes nothing to the

world he lives in. Is this weak interpretation of meekness really what

the Savior had in mind? I do not think so. I believe there is another

better interpretation of the word "meek" in Spanish. Please allow me to

share it with you.



	I was visiting a huge estancia (ranch) in Argentina with over

100,000 acres of lush pampa. They had 20,000 head of cattle on the

ranch and over a thousand head of beautiful horses--some for the

gauchos to ride, but most were thoroughbred polo ponies that they

trained and sold all over the world.



	In the course of the afternoon's conversation I asked the

distinguished estanciero (owner) if we would see a rodeo where the

gauchos would be breaking wild horses like our western cowboys. The

owner was aghast. "Not on this ranch you won't," was his emphatic

answer. "We would never break a horse. We don't want to break his

spirit. We love them and work patiently with them and train them until

they are meek or 'manso.' "He said, "Our meek (or 'manso') horses are

still full of fire and spirit, but they are obedient and well trained.

They lose nothing of their speed or maneuverability. A polo pony has to

be the finest horseflesh on the face of the earth. They are lightning

fast and superbly maneuverable to follow the run-and-gun type of game

that world-class polo is. The horse cannot be timid or afraid of

anything, but must be obedient and superbly well trained."



	I can see a great spiritual application now to the meaning "manso"

or "meek." I don't feel the Savior wanted us to be doormats to be

walked on. I prefer to think he meant that we should be obedient and

well trained. You can be strong, enthusiastic, talented, spirited,

zealous, and still be "meek" by being obedient and well trained. I can

seek to be that kind of a meek person and be proud to have that as my

goal--obedient and well trained--and. still coexist in the

success-oriented world in which we live.



Blessed Are They Which Do Hunger and Thirst After Righteousness: For

They Shah Be Filled with the Holy Ghost



	All who hunger and thirst for righteousness are striving to reach

higher spiritual planes. President McKay said, "Man is a spiritual

being  ....  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" (CR,

Oct. 1928, p. 37).



	How many of us are striving for the higher spiritual levels as

though we were hungering and thirsting for it? To hunger and thirst for

something is to really strive and struggle, work and sacrifice for it.

My father-in-law crossed a strip of desert on horseback as a young

man--sixty miles with no water. He planned to meet a wagon train midway

to replenish his water, but they were delayed two days in starting and

he met no one else. His tongue swelled up, his throat was parched, his

dog died, and the horse keeled over. He thought he was going to die. He

finally made it, but, in listening to the story, I can feel the

intense, agonizing, thirsting desperation for moisture, just like a man

held under water gasps for air.



	The highest blessings of the gospel are not for the fainthearted,

lukewarm, coolly rational, theoretical philosopher, nor for the

intellectually curious. The highest blessings are for those

stouthearted souls who are on a noble quest, a crusade for greater

personal righteousness. They hunger and thirst for righteousness.



	One of the best facets of this beatitude is that one need not have

reached spiritual perfection nor sainthood to receive the blessings

that are promised. The blessings seem to come from being involved in

the search for the higher way. When we want to be better, to be more

pure, to be more virtuous, then we are blessed. No one should think for

a moment that just wishful thinking without effort is going to produce

any blessings, but if we develop that hunger and that thirst that is

sincere, the door to higher stairs will be opened and we can then climb

them.



	The blessings are immeasurable. Remember the woman of Samaria at

the well. The Savior told her, and it applies to all of us,



	But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall

never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a

well of water springing up into everlasting life. [John 4:14]



	Jesus also said, "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me

shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst"

(John 6:35).



	Hungering and thirsting for a higher spiritual life lifts one

above the dark storms of this mortal existence that plague many of us.

Working and striving to become temple-recommend worthy, with the goal

of entering those hallowed halls, is a soul-satisfying quest with

blessings all along the way. Hungering and thirsting to be ready,

worthy, and prepared to serve a full-time mission and to let your voice

sound out as with the trumpet of an angel lifts one to spiritual

heights seldom achieved before in the life of a young person.



	The pathway to perfection is long and narrow, but each step brings

rewards, beautiful experiences, and enhanced hope of even greater

things to come. The early goals of serving a mission and marriage in

the temple soon are replaced with the longer-term goals of raising a

family in righteousness and serving valiantly until the end. Yet at all

stages of life the real goal is righteousness, and everything else

takes its place within that all-encompassing arc. When we hunger and

thirst for righteousness, we become increasingly strict with ourselves.

We impose on ourselves higher goals and loftier standards than even our

leaders place for us. The Savior talked of higher and stricter laws by

saying, "Ye have heard ... thou shalt not kill;... But I say, thou

shalt not even be angry." And "Thou hast heard, thou shaft not commit

adultery: But I say unto you, thou shalt not even look upon a person of

the opposite sex to lust after them lest thou hast already committed

adultery in thine heart" (see Matthew 5:21-28).



	I was much impressed lately with Rabbi Silver's approach to

fasting. I had asked him about the traditional Jewish fasts from sunset

to sunset. He said, "In order to make sure, we fast twenty-five hours

by the clock. It is difficult to know exactly when the sun sets, so we

solve that by adding an entire hour." I am afraid that many Mormons

shave a few hours off the twenty-four hour period rather than adding

some just to make sure. The difference is in the attitude--a more

generous fast offering, a more generous tithe, more generous home

teaching rather than the minimum of one visit per month. To hunger and

thirst for righteousness is to go beyond the mark, not to just barely

reach a minimum.



Blessed Are the Merciful: For They Shah Obtain Mercy



	Usually when we think of mercy we think of the relationship

between justice and mercy. We all want the Lord not to judge us with

justice, but rather with mercy. None of us wants to be punished

according to our sins. We all want the Lord to be merciful, to overlook

our imperfections, to take into account the efforts we have made and

how far we have progressed lately. The Old Testament is full of

references about the mercy we hope God will show toward us, now and at

the day of judgment.



	But the Savior in the Beatitudes introduces another element. He

seems to be talking about us showing mercy in order to obtain mercy

from God. The principle here is that we will be judged with the same

measure that we apply to others. If we are generous to others, the Lord

will be generous with us.



	If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also

forgive you:



	But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your

Father forgive your trespasses. [Matthew 6:14-15]



	The master forgave the head servant that owed him ten thousand

talents, but that same servant would not forgive his fellow servant

that owed him only 100 pence. The master, upon finding this out,

declared, "O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because

thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy

fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?" (Matthew 18:32).



	The quality of mercy is to temper the strict, severe sentence with

generous interpretations and understanding of extenuating

circumstances, or, like the infinite mercy of God, simply cancelling

any and all punishment because the person asks for forgiveness and

promises to follow Christ. God's mercy seems to come from his unlimited

and unconditional love for us. Our mercy to others should likewise come

from our unlimited and unconditional love for others. Love of this sort

does not come solely because they deserve our love. This kind of love

comes from our serving and sacrificing for them. For example, our

Heavenly Father loves us, not because we deserve it but because he has

given and sacrificed for us. Our Savior Jesus Christ loves us, not

because we deserve it but because he has given so much and sacrificed

for us. Our parents love us, not because we deserve it but because they

have given so much and sacrificed for us. In order for us to love

others, we must give and sacrifice for them. The more we give and the

more we sacrifice, the more we will love them and forgive them their

weaknesses, and the greater will be our tendency toward mercy.

Unfortunately, some young people do not understand this. When they

don't love their parents or brothers and sisters or roommates, they

tend to think it is because parents or others have not earned their

love or do not deserve it. It is the other way around! If you do not

love someone as much as you should, it is because you have not yet

given enough nor sacrificed enough for your parents or for that brother

or sister or roommate. This is why those homes "blessed" with a parent

suffering from an incurable disease or "blessed" with a handicapped

sibling are so full of love--i.e., everyone is serving, giving,

sacrificing, and that generates greater love.



	Just as mercy is a fundamental ingredient in the relationship

between God and man, our Savior obviously expects that mercy will be a

fundamental ingredient in the relationship between us and our

neighbors.



	God so loved the world that he gave us his Only Begotten Son.

Jesus so loved the world that he gave his life, and he suffered for our

sins. Oh, what love! Oh, what mercy! Can we not find the way to be

merciful to all those about us?



Blessed Are the Pure in Heart: For They Shah See God



	There are two parts to this beatitude. The first part is to really

understand what is meant by "pure in heart," and the second part is to

really understand what is meant by "seeing" God.



	In Spanish, the term "pure in heart" is translated "clean of

heart" (limpios). That is closer to the original Greek text. It means

no stains, no dirt, no marks. In other words, it is the opposite of

dirty. It is a physical interpretation, as if talking of clean clothing

just laundered. It could also refer to clean water, with no

contamination. It is used with regard to ceremonial cleanliness after

baptism or after leaving the temple. Other interpretations refer to

being clean of guilt, clean of bad habits, clean of pollutants, etc.



	Our English version of "pure" has a definitely moral and spiritual

tone to it. It might be more a matter of integrity, or innocence, or

righteousness.



	But in either case, pure or clean, we can see that the Christian

ideal for us is to be both cleansed by ritual, repentance, and

obedience and to be pure of heart in our actions, our words, our

thoughts.



	From studying the scriptures one of the strongest interpretations

of being pure or clean of heart has to do with sexual purity. "Let

virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly" (D&C 121:45 ). Alma tells us

we will be judged for our actions, our words, and our thoughts. Sexual

impurity is rampant in the world we live in, and it attacks first in

thought, then in word, and then in action. The defense against Satan is

to control our thoughts, control our words, and control our actions.

For this reason the Lord and his servants warn so often and so

strenuously against pornographic material of any media. No one can be

clean and pure and involved in such staining, tarnishing, corrosive,

degenerating influences.



	It is probable that this beatitude requiring we be clean and pure

of heart requires the greatest degree of self-examination of all the

Beatitudes. It really means, "Blessed are those whose thoughts are pure

and clean and untainted by ulterior motives or conflicts of interest or

anything spiritually degrading." This person's heart must be absolutely

genuine and sincere. The selfexamination must be honest and humbling.

All pride and self-gratification must be eliminated.



	The second and most startling part of this beatitude is the

statement "For they shall see God." We are all aware of similar

promises in the scriptures, and we believe that each can have his own

dreams, visions, and manifestations. My favorite is Doctrine and

Covenants 88:68:



	Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to

God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil

his face unto you, and [but] it shall be in his own time, and in his

own way, and according to his own will.



There is also the possibility that the "to see" means "to perceive." In

fact, I checked in my desk dictionary, and here is what I found. To

see: to perceive by the eye; to have experience of such as "to see army

service"; to discover or to come to know; to form a mental picture; to

visualize in one's mind; to perceive the meaning or importance of

something; to be aware of, to imagine the possibility of; to call on,

to keep company with, etc.



	Only one definition out of ten meant to see by the eye.



	Therefore, in the ordinances thereof the power of godliness is

manifest.



	And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the

priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the

flesh;



	For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father,

and live. [D&C 84:20-24]



	I firmly believe it makes little difference whether the "seeing"

is physical or spiritual. The important part is to commit oneself to a

course of purification that will lead to God through having a purer,

cleaner heart, remembering always that after we have done all we can

do, Christ is really the one who, through his atoning sacrifice, makes

us clean before our Heavenly Father.



Blessed Are the Peacemakers: For They Shall Be Called the Children of

God



	In Spanish this beatitude is a little different. It says, "Blessed

are they who seek peace"--peace makers versus peace seekers. The

English Book of Mormon version has more action in the verb. The person

is making peace, producing peace wherever he or she is--the home, the

office, the classroom, the neighborhood, church, or governmental

positions--making peace all around. The Spanish interpretation could

imply that the person seeks peaceful settings or environments. In this

case, although both are admirable, I really like the English version

the best.



	I have had two daughters in Israel studying with BYU Semester

Abroad. In every letter home they used the word "Shalom" several times.

I understand from them that "Shalom," or peace, has two principal

meanings. The first is a greeting in which you wish or pray that the

person you are addressing may enjoy well-being, happiness, tranquility,

a kind of peace. The second is a term describing good personal

relations, friendship, and constant goodwill between two people.



	Paul and Peter and others writing the letters included in the New

Testament begin and end most of their epistles with the saying, "Grace

be unto you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ."

The term "peace" is used almost one hundred times in the New Testament

and seems to always be closely identified with Christ as the Prince of

Peace. The Savior had no material wealth to give to others, but he

frequently gave them blessings of peace--a kind of legacy. In this

beatitude, those who are blessed are not particularly those who love

peace but rather those who seek peace and who produce peace. The

blessed ones are those who are the doers of the word, not just passive

listeners.



	Sometimes we look upon this war-torn world with its open strife,

terrorism, and tension between nations, and long for peace. We honor

statesmen and diplomats who are peacemakers. It seems, however, that

the Savior was not talking about that kind of peace. He said, "In the

world ye shall have tribulation:" prefacing that statement with, "In me

ye might have peace" (John 16:33). He said: "Peace I leave with you, my

peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let

not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27). The

Savior was not talking about peace between nations achieved after a

military, victory or even with bilateral agreements worked out by the

leaders of the two nations (not peace like the world gives), but rather

he referred to the peace that comes to a person's heart when he or she

lives the commandments, comes unto Christ with a broken heart and a

contrite spirit, and repenting and with faith, enters into the waters

of baptism, receiving the peaceful, comforting spirit of the Holy

Ghost. We achieve inner peace when we feel our lives are in order in

the sight of God.



	Many homes are torn with strife, tension, and virtual individual

war between husband and wife, between parents and rebellious children,

between siblings motivated by jealousy or pride. Blessed is that person

who comes to find, through prayer and counseling and reading from the

best books, and through personal changes and sacrifices, the ways that

they can contribute to peace in the home. No home can be a dwelling

place for the Spirit of the Lord if it is torn by lack of peace. No

home can be a celestial home unless peace is felt from the moment every

person enters the door, be it a member of the family, a guest, or a

casual visitor. Order, cleanliness, beauty, etc., are all a part of

creating an environment of peace, but even more important is the daily

practice of prayer, scripture reading, love, kind words, and the gospel

in action in every way.



Blessed Are They Which Are Persecuted for My Name's Sake: For Theirs Is

the Kingdom of Heaven



	This beatitude is often referred to as the blessing of the

martyrs. In the days of the New Testament, the meaning of "witness" and

"martyr" was virtually synonymous. Bearing testimony always has brought

persecution. We need to remember Paul said he had seen a light and

heard a voice, and in response to that testimony, the people heaped up

ashes on their heads, tore the seams of their garments, and said, "Kill

him!" And they would have had it not been that he was a Roman citizen.

Stephen could have continued preaching like many pagans as a kind of

entertainment in the central squares, but when he looked up into heaven

and bore his testimony:



	... I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the

right hand of God,"



	Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and

ran upon him with one accord,



	And cast him out of the city, and stoned him. [Acts 7:56-58]



	Joseph Smith was not murdered for political or economic reasons.

He bore his testimony that he had seen the Father and the Son, and a

mob with painted faces attacked and killed him and his brother, Hyrum.

The Savior was not crucified for the Sermon on the Mount, nor for

walking on water, nor for healing the sick. The one thing the populace

could not take was his testimony that he was the Son of God.



	... Again the high priest asked him, ... Art thou the Christ, the

Son of the Blessed?



	And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on

the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.



	Then the highpriest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any

further witnesses?



	Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned

him to be guilty of death. [Because he testified!] [Mark 14:61-64]



Bearing witness is courageous, and the faithful have always done it--in

the Old and New Testament, in the Book of Mormon, and in the early days

of the Church.



	There were a number of reasons why the early Christians were

persecuted: Christians were different, they tended to separate

themselves physically by living in communities or neighborhoods

together. They had different morals. The pagans looked upon the

Christians as a despised Jewish cult; the Jews looked upon the

Christians as apostates and rebels. The secret meetings of the

Christians to preserve the sacredness of some ordinances as well as to

avoid attracting attention brought suspicion that the Christians might

be doing something strange or immoral in their meetings. The worship of

Caesar was a test of political loyalty and good citizenship, and

becoming a Christian made the person appear a traitor and apostate

heretic.



	It is inevitable that the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints find themselves looked upon by many just about the

way the Christians were looked upon by different aspects of society at

the meridian of time.



	Where will persecution come from in the future? I do not know, nor

does it concern me. It may come because of not giving the priesthood to

women; keeping temples sacred and not open to the public; not aborting

babies or limiting family size to control the population; political,

economic, or professional jealousies; appearing to criticize the

life-style of the gays and the unmarried living together; or because

the Word of Wisdom places us in opposition to the tobacco, brewery, and

distillery lobby, coffee and tea lobbies, or other self-interest

groups.



	The prophets have said that in the last days persecution will come

again. But this time we have the absolute assurance that persecution

will not destroy the Church nor its doctrines. This time no unhallowed

hand can stop the work. From Joseph Smith we are told that



	... the Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can

stop the work from progressing: persecution may rage, mobs may combine,

armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go

forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every

continent, visited every, clime, swept every country, and sounded in

every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the

Great Jehovah shall sat the work is done. [HC 4:540]



	The Beatitudes are a formula for a Christ-like life. They are a

beautiful formula to lift ourselves to a higher level of living. I pray

that each one of us might truly understand the Beatitudes and the

in-depth interpretations of them and make them a part of our lives. I

pray for the Lord's choicest blessings upon each and every one of you

in your homes, in your studies, and in your church callings and

positions. May the Lord bless you as servants of Christ. May the Lord

bless you, each and every one, as saints. I pray for these blessings to

be upon you and testify that our Heavenly Father is in his heaven--he

lives, he loves us. I testify that Jesus Christ lives, resurrected,

glorified, exalted; he stands physically at the head of this Church

that bears his name. His spokesman here on the earth today is the

living prophet Ezra Taft Benson. And everything we teach and

preach--the doctrines, the covenants--are all true. I testify of this

humbly, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.



             The Prince of Peace: "Peace I Give unto You"



                            Robert D. Hales



	Robert D. Hales was called as Presiding Bishop of the Church in

April 1985. Since he was called as an Assistant to the Council of the

Twelve in 1975, Bishop Hales has been a member of the First Quorum of

the Seventy, serving as president of the North America Southwest Area,

as Executive Administrator to the Europe Area, and as first counselor

in the Sunday School Presidency.

	Born and raised in New York, Bishop Hales graduated from the

University of Utah and received his MBA from Harvard. He served as a

jet fighter pilot in the Air Force from 1955 to 1958. At the time of

his call as General Authority, he was group vice-president of

Chesebrough-Ponds's Inc. Prior to that he was vice-president of

International Max Factor Co., president of Hughes Broadcasting,

president of the Papermate Company and general manager of Gillette

Safety Razor Division in Spain, and the company marketing director in

England and Germany. He has served in the Church as branch president,

bishop, high councilor, stake president, Regional Representative, and

president of the England London Mission. 



	Bishop Hales and his wife, Mary Elene Crandall, are the parents of

two sons. 



	This fireside address was given in the Marriott Center on 1 June

1986.



	It is a privilege to be with you at a fireside this evening. I

have pondered what message would be helpful and meaningful for you in

your life at this special time of learning and preparation for the

future. May the Spirit be with us as we discuss some gospel teachings

is my prayer.



To Strengthen Our Faith



	President Spencer W. Kimball, in a 1966 talk entitled "Tragedy or

Destiny," said:



	I am positive in my mind that the Lord has planned our destiny. We

can shorten our lives, but I think we cannot lengthen them very much.

Sometime we'll understand fully, and when we see back from the vantage

point of the future, we shall be satisfied with many of the happenings

of this life which seemed so difficult for us to comprehend.



	We knew before we were born that we were coming to the earth for

bodies and experience and that we would have joys and sorrows, pain and

comforts, ease and hardships, health and sickness, successes and

disappointments; and we knew also that we would die. We accepted all

these eventualities with a glad heart eager to accept both the

favorable and unfavorable. We were undoubtedly willing to have a mortal

body even if it were deformed. We eagerly accepted the chance to come

eartlyward even though it might be for a day, a year, or a century.

Perhaps we were not so much concerned whether we should die of disease,

of accident, or of senility. We were willing to come and take life as

it came and as we might organize and control it, and this without

murmur, complaint, or unreasonable demands. We sometimes think we would

like to know what is ahead, but sober thought brings as back to

accepting life a day at a time, and magnifying and glorifying that day.

[Spencer W. Kimball, "Tragedy or Destiny," Improvement Era, March 1966,

pp. 216-17]



	Ten years ago I was left alone to ponder this very idea in the

stark white, sterile environment of a hospital room. My dear wife,

Mary, had just been wheeled away to have an operation. My first

response was to pray for her to be returned to me alive and well. My

first prayer was almost one of a demand for her return because of the

good life she had lived, her husband and children needed her loving

care, and because in some way, because of our lives of service, her

return to health was a debt owed us. Upon concluding the first prayer a

heavy feeling lay upon me. There was not the feeling of peace, comfort,

or reassurance I had anticipated. What was wrong? Why hadn't I been

comforted? Why did I still have so much fear?



	After a few minutes of apprehension and deliberation, I knelt to

pray again for a second time. This time, however, my prayer was one of

acknowledging the Lord's hand in our lives, giving thanks for the many

blessings we had received together as companions in over twenty years

of marriage, and expressing that I would accept the outcome of the

operation to be in God's hands and that his will would be done. After

concluding the prayer, I was ready to accept the will of God as it

affected Mary's life and mine.



	At the conclusion of the prayer a sweet, comforting spirit of

peace rested upon me--not because I was assured of Mary's safe return

to health, but because of the assurance that I would accept my Heavenly

Father's will and trust in him and in his son Jesus Christ to be given

the strength to meet the trials of this mortal probation.



	After a few more minutes of reflection, I felt the need of more

spiritual strength. I reached for my Bible that was on the bed stand

and casually thumbed through it, stopping at the book of Job, and began

to read, preoccupied at first and then studying more and more intently

because my searching questions were being answered.



	The book of Job is a profound poem, yet hard to understand,

outlining the challenges of life. Job was a good man, almost perfect.

One day Satan appeared before God to tell him of the sinful ways of his

children on earth. God said to Satan, "Did you notice my servant Job?

There is no one on earth like him--a perfect and an upright man who

never sins" (see Job 1:8).



	Then Job was tested in similar ways that we must be prepared to be

tested in this mortal probation: (1 ) physical possessions (house,

cattle, children); (2) physical health (boils from head to toe); (3)

mental health (depression): "Why died I not from the womb? why did I

not give up the ghost when I [was born]? I should have slept: then had

I been at rest" (Job 3:11, 13), "So that my soul chooseth strangling,

and death rather than my life" (Job 7:15); and (4) false accusations

from friends who told Job he must deserve his pain and tribulations as

God's punishment for his sins. Job's wife urged him to curse God, even

if it meant he would be struck dead. But Job did not let these events

destroy his testimony.



	"In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly" (Job

1:22). As I studied Job in the hospital room, I found the key to

enduring the trials and tribulations of this life is not to place blame

on God the Father or his son Jesus Christ. Our trials and tribulations

must be used to strengthen our faith. Job testified, "And though after

my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:  Whom

I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold" (Job 19:26-27).



	Elder Orson F. Whitney wrote:



	No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It

ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as

patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all

that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our

characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more

tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God...

and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we

gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us

more like our Father and Mother in heaven. [Quoted by Spencer W.

Kimball, "Tragedy or Destiny," p. 211]



	Being human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and

mental anguish and assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but

if we were to close the doors upon sorrow and distress, we might be

excluding our greatest friends and benefactors. Suffering can make

saints of people as they learn patience, long-suffering, and

self-mastery. [Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle (Salt

Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1972), p. 98]



	After a few hours my sweetheart was returned to the hospital

recovery room--our crisis now a learning experience. I have often

pondered what I would have done if she had departed this frail

existence to leave me alone in this cold and dreary world without her

love.



Trust in the Lord



	What are you going to do when faced with a tragedy? Can you

prepare yourself and learn from Job, too? What is the real meaning of

"If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear" (D&C 38:30)? What preparations

must you make in order to be comforted in times of trial and

tribulation?



	You must learn to "trust in the Lord with all thine heart"

(Proverbs 3:5), for "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:

not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be

troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27). The Savior is the

Prince of Peace. What beautiful words of hope, peace, and comfort.



	The hymn "How Firm a Foundation" teaches us:

|P147 



In every condition--in sickness, in health,

In poverty's vale or abounding in wealth,

At home or abroad, on the land or the sea--

As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.



Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.

I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, 

Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.



When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o'erflow,

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.



The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose

I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I'll never, no never, no never forsake!

[Hymns, 1985, no. 85; emphasis added]



	I am touched this evening to have in attendance a father of seven

children whose sweetheart passed through the vale after a sudden

illness just a few weeks ago--sweet Linda, thirty-two years of age, a

devoted daughter, wife, and mother, taken home to our Father in Heaven

for some inexplicable reason. The funeral was beautiful as Linda's

husband, daughter, and parents spoke of her love and talents. No one

charged God foolishly. The testimonies and examples were powerful and

strengthened our faith.



	Individually, we should thank God for the examples of those about

us who battle and conquer daily challenges that are intense, real, and

continuing. There are some persons who in our human eyes seem to have

more than their share of trouble, as we measure, but with Gods help

they are made special. They will not break. They will not yield.

[Marvin J. Ashton, "Adversity and You," Ensign, November 1980, p. 60]



	Now, we find many people critical when a righteous person is

killed, a young father or mother is taken from a family, or when

violent deaths' occur. Some become bitter when oft-repeated prayers

seem unanswered. Some lose faith and turn sour when solemn

administrations by holy men seem to be ignored and no restoration seems

to come from repeated prayer circles. But if all the sick were healed,

if all the righteous were protected and the wicked destroyed, the whole

program of the Father would be annulled and the basic principle of the

gospel, free agency, would be ended. ["Tragedy or Destiny," pp.

180-210]



Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. [Job 1:22]



He that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater

in the kingdom of heaven.



	Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the

design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter,

and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.



	For after much tribulation come the blessings. [D&C 58:2-4;

emphasis added; see also 103:12]



	If we say that early death is a calamity, disaster, or tragedy,

would it not be saying that mortality is preferable to earlier entrance

into the spirit world and to eventual salvation and exaltation? If

mortality be the perfect state, then death would be a frustration, but

the gospel teaches us there is no tragedy in death, [if we die in

faith] ["Tragedy or Destiny," p. 179]



	"He that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto

death, shall be healed" (D&C 42:48). Apparently the Lord did not

consider death always a curse or tragedy, for he said: "Blessed are the

dead that die in the Lord" (D&C 63:49).



	Life goes on and free agency continues, and death, which seems

such a calamity, [is part of an eternal] blessing.



	... I am grateful that even through the priesthood I cannot heal

all the sick. I might heal people who should die. I might relieve

people of suffering who should suffer. I fear I would frustrate the

purposes of God.



	... Suffering can make saints of people as they learn patience,

long-suffering, and self-mastery. The sufferings of our Savior were

part of his education. ["Tragedy or Destiny," pp. 179, 211,210]



	Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which

he suffered;

|P148 



	And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation

unto all them that obey him. [Hebrews 5:8-9]



	Again the Savior has promised that to worthy members the Holy

Ghost would be a comforter in times of sickness and death.



	Many have borne witness of the comforting spirit that has attended

them in times of sorrow, helping them to find peace and understanding.



	A few weeks ago it was my privilege to meet two wonderful women,

close friends, who had lost their husbands in a tragic airplane

accident. Did I find them in despair and deep mourning? No, indeed. I

have never witnessed greater courage and strength. They both bore

witness to the fact that thy had truly felt the comfort of the Spirit,

that they knew there was a purpose in the call that had been given to

their husbands, and that they had an assurance that all would be well

with them and their families as they lived close to the Church and kept

the commandments of the Lord. [Franklin D. Richards, Conference Report,

April 1973, p. 171]



	... Could the Lord have prevented these tragedies? The answer is

yes. The Lord is omnipotent, with all power to control our lives, save

us from pain, prevent all accidents, drive all planes and cars, feed

us, protect us, save us from labor, effort, sickness, even from death.

But is that what you want? Would you shield your children from effort,

from disappointments, temptations, sorrows, suffering ?



	The basic gospel law is free agency. To force us to be careful or

righteous would be to nullify that fundamental law, and growth would be

impossible. ["Tragedy or Destiny," p. 178]



	"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted"

(Matthew 5:4; see also 3 Nephi 12:4; D&C 101:14). "I will not leave you

comfortless: I will come to you" (John 14:18).



	The Holy Ghost is the Comforter. (John 14:26-27; Teachings, pp.

149-150.) This name-title is given to the third member of the Godhead

to signify his mission of bringing solace, love, peace, quiet

enjoyment, and comfort to the saints. Scriptures setting forth the

consolation and encouragement which spring up in the hearts of the

righteous by the power of the Holy Ghost frequently speak of him as the

Comforter. Moroni, writing of "the visitation of the Holy Ghost," says

that this "Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love. (Moroni

8.26.)[MD, p. 148]



	And in 1 John we learn that "There is no fear in love; but perfect

love casteth out fear"( 1 John 4:18).



	Many of you in attendance tonight may face a similar test of faith

in the future. Will you be prepared? How will you respond? There are so

many ways we may be tested: the death of a loved one, the birth defect

of a child, an accident paralyzing a loved one, our own illness,

failure to reach a goal in life, being single and lonely, being married

and experiencing divorce, having friends betray a trust.



Understanding the Vision



	Leo Tolstoi's story of Martin Avdeitch teaches a beautiful lesson

on how to deal with sorrow in our life. Martin had experienced a great

deal of tragedy in his life. His two oldest children passed away.

Later, his wife became ill and died, leaving Martin alone with his

little son Kapitoshka, the only bright spot remaining in his life. Then

Kapitoshka suddenly became ill with a high fever and died within a few

days.



	Martin was devastated and had a hard time dealing with the sorrow

and tragedies he had encountered. One day an old man came into Martin's

shop and convinced him he must pull himself out of his depression and

sorrow. He told him that he must first get a copy of the New Testament

and study it. Then he must turn his thoughts away from himself and

attend to the needs of others.



	Martin took the old man's advice and immediately went out and

bought a copy of the New Testament. He found it fascinating--so much so

that he often read until the oil burned from his lamp at night.



	One evening he pondered over the message found in Luke 7,

beginning with verse 44:



	And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this

woman? I entered thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet.. but

she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of

her head.



	Thou gavest me no kiss: but the woman since the time I came in

hath not ceased to kiss my feet.



	My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath

anointed my feet with ointment. [Luke 7:44-46]



	As he thought about how he had treated others, he fell asleep. He

was awakened by a voice telling him that the Savior was coming to visit

him the next day.



	When morning came, Martin arose early and started his work. He

watched out the window of his shop as people passed. While he was

working--and watching--he noticed an old soldier who had been hired to

clean the snow away. The old soldier looked tired and cold. Martin

tapped on the window and motioned him to come in. The old man was

nearly frozen. Martin offered him hot food and shelter to warm himself.

He also shared with him his feelings about the happiness reading the

holy scriptures had brought into his life.



	After the old soldier left, Martin once again set about his work

in his shoemaking shop. He continued to look out the window for his

guest. He soon noticed a young woman who stopped outside his shop to

try to bundle her tiny baby to protect him from the cold. She was

poorly dressed for the extreme cold outside and had very little

protection for the child. Martin invited her in and cared for the baby

while the young woman ate some warm soup. As she left, he provided her

with an old coat and enough money to buy a new one. Both mother and

baby were warm and protected from the cold when they left for their

journey home.



	Martin cleaned the dishes and went back to work near the window.

It wasn't long before he saw an old woman who had been selling apples.

As she set her basket of apples down to adjust a large, awkward sack

she was packing, a young boy came by and grabbed an apple. The old

woman, having been on her guard from years of experience, grabbed the

boy by the scruff of the neck. As the two were struggling, Martin

dashed out to help. Through his efforts not only did the old woman and

the boy stop their fighting, but by the time they left the boy offered

to carry the large sack to the old lady's home, and she rewarded him

with a big red apple. They walked together down the street-talking and

laughing as they went.



	Martin went inside. It was getting late so he cleaned his shop and

put his tools away. He thought he saw shadows in the dark corner of the

room but decided the dim lamplight was playing tricks on him. He opened

the New Testament and began reading and pondering why his guest had not

arrived.



	Suddenly he heard a voice call out his name, saying, "Martin,

Martin, dost thou not know me?" "Who art thou?" said Avdeitch.



	"Even I," whispered the voice again, and out from the dark corner

stepped the old soldier. He smiled at Martin--then he was gone.



	"It is I," whispered a second voice, and the young woman and her

child stepped out from the dark corner of the room. She and the baby

smiled at him--then they suddenly disappeared.



	"And it is I," whispered a third voice as the old lady and the boy

with the apple stepped out, smiled, and were gone.



	Martin rubbed his eyes, looked down at where his New Testament had

fallen open, and read: "For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I

was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me

in." And further down the page he read: "Inasmuch as ye have done it

unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me"

(Matthew 25:35, 40).



	Then Martin Avdeitch understood that the vision had come true, and

his Savior had in very truth visited him that day, and that he had

received him. This story outlines an important way to prepare ourselves

to meet a tragedy: by reading the scriptures to strengthen ourselves

and by turning our thoughts away from ourselves and attending to the

needs of others.



Learning to Love



	Another beautiful example is found in the life of Thomas Moore.

Why do many of us "go it alone" and deny those who love us most the joy

and blessings that come from sharing? The principle of helping one in

need is well expressed in the touching love story of Thomas Moore, a

famous nineteenth-century Irish poet, who, when he returned from a

business trip, found his wife had locked herself in her upstairs

bedroom and had asked to see no one. Moore learned the terrible truth

that his beautiful wife had contracted smallpox, and her milky

complexion was now pocked and scarred. She had looked at herself in the

mirror and demanded that the shutters be drawn, and that she never see

her husband again. Thomas Moore did not listen. He went upstairs to the

darkened room and started to light the lamp. His wife pleaded with him

to let her remain in darkness alone. She felt it best not to subject

her husband to seeing his loved one with her beauty marred. She asked

him to go.



	Moore did go. He went downstairs and spent the rest of the night

in prayerful writing. He had never written a song before, but that

night he not only wrote words but also composed music. As daylight

broke, Moore returned to his wife's darkened room. "Are you awake?" he

asked.



	"Yes," she said, "but you must not see me. Please don't press me,

Thomas."



	"I'll sing to you then," he said. Thomas Moore sang to his wife

the song that still lives today.



Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,

Which I gaze on so fondly to-day:

Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms,

Like fairy-gifts fading away,



	Moore heard a movement in the corner of the darkened room where

his wife lay in loneliness. He continued:



Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,

Let thy loveliness fade as it will,

And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart

Would entwine itself verdantly still.



	The song ended. As his voice faded, Moore heard his bride arise.

She crossed the room to the window, reached up and slowly withdrew the

shutters, opened the curtain, and let in the morning light (from Galen

Drake, Guideposts, Sept. 1957).



	I would like at this time to thank my wife for opening up the

shutters and letting in her light and her life and sharing it with me.

I would not be here today without her love and companionship.



	When we are marred spiritually or physically, our first reaction

is to withdraw into the dark shadows of depression, to blot out hope

and joy--the light of life that comes from knowing we are living the

commandments of our Father in Heaven. This withdrawal will ultimately

lead us to rebellion against those who would like to be our friends,

those who can help us most, even our family. But worst of all, we

finally reject ourselves.



	Those who are alone and lonely should not retreat to the sanctuary

of their private thoughts and chambers. Such retreat will ultimately

lead them into the darkening influence of the adversary, which leads to

despondency, loneliness, frustration, and to thinking of oneself as

worthless. After one thinks of himself as worthless, he then ofttimes

turns to associates who corrode those delicate spiritual contacts,

rendering their spiritual receiving antennas and transmitters useless.

What good is it to associate with and ask advice of someone who is

disoriented himself and only tells us what we want to hear? Isn't it

better to turn to loving parents and friends, who can help us reach for

and attain celestial goals?



	Having almost lost my dear companion a decade ago, I determined

not to have any regrets in the remaining years we had together.

Whittier wrote of Maud Muller: "For of all sad words of tongue or pen,

the saddest are these: 'It might have been!'" (Maud Muller [1856],

stanza 53).



	One of the great tragedies in our lives is to look back and say,

"But for my actions, this might have been."



My Regrets

Are not for things I've done

But for the things I meant to do.

The violets I picked and failed to send:

Words of love I did not give a friend.

The call I should have made at sorrow's door,

Comforts that I could have sent the poor.

The Letter that somehow I did not pen.

Chances lost will never come again.

These are my regrets...

[Mildred T. Pettit]



I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I

can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me

do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this

way again. [attributed to Stephen Grellet, see Burton Stevenson, sel.

and arr., The Home Book Of Quotations (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company,

1934), p. 1493]



	It has been said that each of us has enough strength to endure

another's tragedies, tribulations, and sorrows. We all know that in

this mortal probation we must prepare for tragedies that may directly

affect our lives in a number of ways:



	1. By having a deep, abiding faith in God our Father and in our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, trusting in their mercy in all our doings

without charging God foolishly.



	2. By being spiritually strong, by being obedient, and by having

the Holy Ghost to guide us, comfort us, and bring peace to our souls.

This would include regular prayer and study of the scriptures as

individuals, companions, and family.



	3. By acquiring personal accountability for our actions, not

blaming others for our mistakes, failures, opposition, or unexplained

trials. Hopefully, walking the gospel road less traveled means we can

look back without regrets for our actions. Living gospel principles may

bring loneliness in terms of our todays and tomorrows, but it can

reward us with blessings of eternity.



	4. We need to reach out to those who have experienced a tragedy in

their lives. In this way we learn from their example of faith and

strength. Also, in the same way the Savior thought of his mother's care

in the closing moments on Calgary, we learn we must reach out and help

when we are hurting.



	5. The last point on meeting adversity in our lives comes from

Victor E. Frankl, author of Man's Search for Meaning. He relates his

experience in surviving two concentration camp experiences where all

vestiges of human rights were taken from the inmates. Frankl is fond of

quoting Nietzsche: "He who has a why to live can bear with almost any

how." In the concentration camp every circumstance conspires to make

the prisoners lose hold of the purpose of life. All reasons for living

are taken away through beatings, fear, poor nutrition, captors, and

mental mind games. What alone remains is "the last of human

freedoms"--the ability to "choose one's attitude in a given set of

circumstances." The prisoners were all average men, but some, at least,

by choosing to be "worthy of their suffering" proved, by serving

against unsurmountable odds, man's capacity to rise above outward

fates, whether they be deserved or undeserved, explained or

unexplained, just or unjust, or from sources unknown--good or evil.



	Harold S. Kushner, at the end of his book, When Bad Things Happen

to Good People, said,



	In the final analysis, the question of why bad things happen to

good people translates itself into some very different questions, no

longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond,

what we intend to do now that it [the tragic event] has happened. [When

Bad Things Happen to Good People (New York: Schocken books, 1981), p.

147; emphasis added]



	Are you capable of forgiving and accepting in love a world that

has disappointed you by not being perfect, a world in which there is so

much unfairness and cruelty, disease, poverty, crime, earthquake,

flood, and accident? Can you forgive the world's imperfections and love

life because it is capable of containing great beauty and goodness, and

because it is the only world we have? Are you capable of forgiving and

loving the people around you, even if they have hurt you and let you

down by not being perfect? Can you forgive them and love them because

there aren't many perfect people around, and because the penalty for

not being able to love imperfect people is condemning oneself to

loneliness? Are you capable of forgiving and loving God even when you

have found that his world is not perfect and free from pain and

travail? He may have let you down and permitted bad luck, wickedness,

and cruelty in his world--permitting some of those things to happen to

you. Can you learn to love and forgive him, as Job did, despite the

tests of our faith he asks us to endure?



	The capability, through repentance, to forgive and the ability to

love are God-given gifts to enable us to live our lives fully and to

help others live bravely and meaningfully in this less than perfect

world.



	If we can apply these preparations to meet life's challenges and

tragedies, our yesterdays will seem less painful; and you will not be

afraid of your tomorrows.



I know that my Redeemer lives.

What comfort this sweet sentence gives! 

He lives, he lives, who once was dead. 

He lives, my ever living Head.

He lives to bless me with his love.

He lives to plead for me above.

He lives mr hungry soul to feed.

He lives to bless in time of need.



He lives to grant me much supply.

He lives to guide me with his eye.

He lives to comfort me when faint.

He lives to hear my soul's complaint.

He lives to silence all my fears.

He lives to wipe away my tears.

He lives to calm my troubled heart.

He lives all blessings to impart.

|P152 



He lives, my kind, wise heav'nly Friend

He lives and loves me to the end

He lives, and while he lives, I'll sing.

He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King.

He lives and grants me daily breath.

He lives, and I shall conquer death.

He lives my mansion to prepare.

He lives to bring me safety there.



He lives! All glory to his name!

He lives, my Savior, still the same.

Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:

"I know that my Redeemer lives."

He lives! All glory to his name!

He lives, my Savior, still the same.

Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:

"I know that my Redeemer lives!"

[Hymns, 1985, no. 136]



	In closing, may I give my testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ--the Prince of Peace. I testify that if we will put our trust in

the Lord and live obediently so that we might have the comforting

spirit of the Holy Ghost, we shall find joy and peace in this mortal

probation. That we might live our lives in such a way that we may

endure to the end and return back into the presence of God the Father

and his Son Jesus Christ is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.





                           Love and Marriage



                          Theodore M. Burton



	Elder Theodore Moyle Burton has been a member of the first Quorum

of the Seventy since October 1976, and for sixteen years before that he

was an Assistant to the Council of the Twelve. He is now at Church

headquarters, after being Executive Administrator for the Germanic

countries, Scandinavia, and Finland from 1978 to 1980.



	Born in Salt Lake City on 27 March 1907, Elder Burton became the

first Eagle Scout in the Pioneer Stake. His mission was to the

Swiss-German people, and afterward he returned to Europe tn 1934 as a

technical assistant to the U.S. treasury attache in Vienna. In 1937-38

he held the same post in Berlin. He earned B.A. and M.A degrees at the

University of Utah and in 1951 received his doctorate in chemistry at

Purdue University.



	From 1932 to 1935 he served as Salt Lake City's assistant city

bacteriologist. He taught chemistry, physics, and mathematics at

College of Eastern Utah at Price, and in 1943 he began teaching at Utah

State University. He was professor of organic chemistry there when he

was called to full-time Church service, returning to Europe to serve as

president of the European Mission.



	In 1964 he was appointed vice-president and general manager of the

Genealogical Society of Utah and served as president of that society

and as managing director of the Genealogical Department of the Church

until April 1978.



	Elder Burton has to his credit membership in many scientific and

scholarly fraternities, and he has served as chairman of the Utah

Section of the American Chemical Society. He was once president of the

old Juniper Chapter of the Sons of the Utah Pioneers. The present Utah

State University alma mater hymn was composed by Elder Burton in 1951.



	He is married to Minnie Susan Preece, and their only son, Dr.

Robert Preece Burton, is a professor of computer science at Brigham

Young University.



	This devotional address was given in the de Jong Concert Hall on 3

June 1986.



The Great Love Story



	From my point of view, one of the greatest love stories of all

time has never been recognized as such even though it is filled with

romance. In fact, when you first read the story, you would probably not

recognize it as a love story at all. The reason we pass over this story

so easily is that in order for us to recognize love, we must first have

a great understanding in our own hearts of what love really is. Love is

a peculiar attribute. It very seldom appears suddenly like a mushroom.

Usually it grows slowly like a bud that unfolds and develops into a

beautiful flower.



	In order to love something you have to get to know and understand

it. For instance, the way we learn to love a sunset is to study sunsets

carefully. We then learn to observe how one color blends into another

so beautifully and harmoniously. Then we recognize how clouds add

character to the scene and how the rays of the sun shining behind those

clouds highlight them and give variety. and beauty to the view. The

more you watch sunsets, the more you appreciate and learn to love them.



	This is the way you young mothers learn to love a child. Being

with that child so much and serving and watching over the child so

carefully causes you to love it. You overlook its faults and appreciate

its virtues. Service to another person or to a cause is an excellent

way to develop love for that person or cause. But love doesn't always

have to grow so slowly. Love can blossom very suddenly. The particular

love story I am talking about began suddenly and has been blossoming

brightly for thousands of years. This love story is found in the Bible

in the book of Genesis and is the story of Adam and Eve.



	When Adam was placed on the earth he was a perfect physical and

mental specimen made in the likeness and image of God. But Adam had a

basic weakness. He had no memory of where he came from or of what he

had known before he was placed on the earth. Here on the earth he was

required to learn everything from scratch. After Adam was created, the

Lord God said: "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will

make an help meet for him" (Genesis 2:18). God did not say "helpmate"

or "helpmeet," but used that good, solid, Anglo-Saxon word "meet" that

means of the same worthiness, the same intelligence, the same quality

or nobility, worthy to stand beside the man as a fit companion and

helper.



	So Eve was created and became Adam's companion and was married and

sealed to him as his wife. Remember they were created as perfect beings

without blemish or sin and were immortal. At that time death had not

yet entered into the world. Therefore they were bound together in a

marriage union that was to endure for all eternity. Now comes the great

love story.



	When Adam saw Eve, that glorious being who had been sealed to him

as his wife, he was filled with love for her, for she had been taken

symbolically from his rib next to his heart. She was not taken from his

head to stand over him, nor from his breast to go before him, nor from

his back to walk three paces behind him, nor from his foot to be

trodden upon. She was taken symbolically from his side--close to his

heart to stand by him as a noble companion.



	As his heart filled with love for her, he said: "This is now bone

of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because

she was taken out of Man" (Genesis 2:23 ). What Adam meant by these

words can be paraphrased thusly: "I love her with all my heart. She is

as important to me as life itself. She is as vital to me as my own

flesh and bone. I treasure her as I do my own body--as much as my own

life. Without her life would be meaningless. I love her!"



	And the Father then answered and said to Adam: "Therefore shall a

man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife:

and they shall be one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). What God meant by these

words was as if to say: "Adam, you are absolutely right. You two shall

remain together forever to begin your own family on earth and to become

one indeed in everything you do in an eternal companionship, never to

be broken."As Jesus later explained this eternal type of marriage, he

said:



	For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall

cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh.



	Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore

God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. [Matthew 19:5-6]



	Considered in that light, when one speaks of the Father, meaning

God the Father, one also speaks of the Father's wife (our Heavenly

Mother), for they are one flesh. We use this same expression on earth.

When, for instance, we speak of the Bensons, the Hollands, or the

Burtons, we speak of a pair. If these married partners were as perfect

as our Heavenly Parents are, these couples would act and do things as a

team, working together in perfect harmony and oneness--literally as one

flesh. I personally believe that the word "Elohim" (a plural word) is a

title and includes this connotation of oneness, even though when I

write or speak of God the Father, I speak of a living, single being,

but realize in my heart that they make up a heavenly pair.



A Holy and Eternal Order



	One of the things that concerns us as General Authorities about

marriage, and particularly about temple marriage and sealing, is the

light-mindedness with which some of our Church members enter into this

holy and eternal order. It appears that too many people now enter into

temple marriage with the idea that it is pretty much like any other

type of marriage. People today tend to regard all marriage

lightheartedly without remembering that a civil marriage is an

arrangement invented by man, which therefore includes man's

imperfections. A temple marriage, on the other hand, is performed under

special priesthood authorization and with authority from God. It is

therefore a holy ordinance that should be taken very seriously. It is

an eternal marriage meant to last forever.



	Many Church members fail to understand the sacredness of this

temple marriage covenant. It is as if they say: "If this marriage

doesn't work out, we can make a change. If I tire of my partner, I can

get a cancellation of this sealing and try it again with another

companion!" If we enter into a celestial marriage with that attitude,

whatever love formed the basis for that relationship in the first place

will sooner or later change to dislike or perhaps even hatred. Then

unhappiness and sorrow will rob the marriage partners of the great joy

and comfort that Adam and Eve found in each other when they were sealed

unto this holy order and took that calling and ordinance with

appropriate seriousness.



	The question becomes: "How does this dislike and hatred originate

in a marriage?" To understand how this change can come about, we must

observe the great difference between the attitudes and actions of

Jehovah and Satan. This difference represents the difference between

love and hatred. Jesus did not think only of himself, but caught the

greater view of true love that the Father held. Jesus thought not only

of his own interests, but also of others and what his actions might and

could do for them. He didn't seek just his own advantage. He was

unselfish and accepted the Father's plan of salvation not only for

himself, but also for the whole family of God's children.



	Jesus knew the Father's plan was vital for the growth and

development of mankind. He even offered to give his own future mortal

life as a Savior for us; thereby we might all return to the presence of

our Heavenly Father and Mother. Back in their presence we could regain

our places in God's eternal family, but would be added upon through

this earthly experience. We could return to God with perfected,

resurrected bodies, having gained greater light and knowledge through

experiences received during mortality. This advantage would enable us,

during the eternities, to grow to become more like our Father and

Mother in Heaven, possessing greater light, greater knowledge, greater

experience, and greater skills. In other words,Jehovah believed

implicitly in the Father's plan and advised us as intelligent spirits

to do likewise.



	Hatred begins with selfishness; hence, Lucifer thought only of

himself. He thought he knew more about life than God the Father did. He

felt he had a better and safer plan than the Father had proposed. Not

willing to offer himself as a Savior under the Father's plan, Lucifer

wanted to be God himself. In his arrogance and vanity he wanted to

force us to be righteous, whether or not we wanted to be. He felt that

since he had developed what he thought was a better, safer plan, why of

course no Savior was needed. And since he, as a Son of the Morning, was

the author of this new plan, he wanted full credit for it. As for the

Father's plan, his advice to the spirit children of God was: "Believe

it not."



	That refusal to believe and accept the Father's plan is the course

Lucifer followed and was what he persuaded those spirits to do who

listened to him. Lucifer's plan was refused by the Father because it

took our agency and freedom away from us. This freedom of action was

our most precious possession and one for which we were willing to fight

to retain. This plan of negativism is the satanic gospel that Lucifer

is preaching today and that so many are deceived into accepting. People

who do so fail to see its traps and pitfalls. It is a gospel of

opposition, of tearing down, destroying, denigrating, and of making

things ugly. It is contention, dissension, and wickedness that tear

apart marriages and families.



	Satan's plan is just opposite from the Father's plan of salvation.

Since the Savior sustained and adopted the Father's plan, it is the

only wise and correct plan for us to consider. It is a positive,

effective plan that all of us should follow. Jesus says simply:

"Believe!" It is the difference between positive and negative

things--between the beautiful and the ugly, between love and hatred,

between joy and sorrow, between success for all eternity or eternal

unhappiness. It is something for us to consider seriously in courtship

and marriage.



	If we are to understand the importance of a temple marriage, we

must first understand and believe with all our hearts that we are

spirit children of God. It is imperative to realize that we are all of

divine origin, that God is real and that he lives. If we can have that

absolute faith and assurance in God the Father, we can then know with

certainty that God will do everything he can to bless us. If we will

only keep our covenants with him, he will provide for our eventual

return into his presence.



	Our heavenly parents want us back with them. That is their goal,

their work, and their glory. We must have hope and faith in that divine

plan in order to live righteously, keeping the covenants that make that

return possible. Failures may come, disappointments may arise, some

opportunities may be lost, but if only we maintain faith in God's love

and try as best we can to recognize and repent of whatever mistakes we

make, we can return to the presence of God. That is the promise God

gives us.



	The second thing to remember is that Jesus Christ is our Anointed

Savior or Redeemer. He loves each of us so much that he gave his life

to atone for our sins if we repent and sanctify ourselves. This means

that whenever we make a mistake we must admit it and renew our

covenants by recommitting ourselves (with the help of Jesus Christ, of

course) to keep those covenants in the future; to make restitution for

those sins through service to others in order to pay back for the

damages caused by breaking the law; and finally, to forsake whatever

evil was done, and with the help of God never return to these or

similar acts of disobedience. If Jesus is a god of love--and he truly

is--then such a course of action must be the foundation for both

courtship and marriage. The true love of Christ involves service to

others in which a person is willing to give a part of himself to serve

and help others. Such service is the complete opposite of selfishness

and manifests the true spirit of Jesus Christ.



	Our Heavenly Father expects each of us to be wise. If you choose a

partner for a decision as important as eternal marriage, you should not

rush into such an important covenant without knowing your partner as

thoroughly as you reasonably can. Many people think only of exciting

romantic concepts they get from books and movies without realizing that

such a romance is often selfish. All too frequently it is the opposite

of true love. To marry a person you have known only a short time is

most unwise. That person's faith, as well as your own faith, first

needs to be tested. Is that person honest and reliable in keeping his

or her commitments? In other words, can he or she be trusted? This is

an important question in marriage, for to be trusted is greater than to

be loved.



Mature Preparation



	My special assignment for the past six years has been to assist

the First Presidency in recovering people who have transgressed. In

doing so I have come to comprehend causes that lead to transgression.

What are they? Generally they are various personal indulgences based on

selfishness. One of the greatest of these is the use of pornography.

The use of pornography is a basic sin that leads to self-abuse,

homosexuality, fornication, adultery, child and spouse abuse, incest,

rape, and cruelty. No love ever develops out of pornography, only

self-gratification.



	To protect yourself against such evils you have to stay clean

yourself and have a clean partner. You should get to know something

about the history of your partner and his or her family. You have to

observe what habits and ideals that person has, and what experiences

that person has had. You should know something about the environment in

which that person was raised. It is well to know as much as you

reasonably can about your future partner, for you will be playing for

keeps. Although repentance is possible, it must be sincere and requires

a considerable period of time to make that change permanent.



	There is a rather strange circumstance that I observe all too

often in marriage situations. Namely, if a woman divorces a man for

physical abuse, it seems that each following marriage is with partners

who have that same failing. If she divorces an alcoholic husband, all

too often her next partner has the same problem. We might say that such

a person is a "born loser." It is not so much that particular trait as

much as it is that a person all too often does not change his or her

way of thinking. Nor does a person often change concepts and habits.

Repentance begins in a person's mind by changing his manner of

thinking. Firm commitments must be made and a complete determination to

change must take place in a person's mind before any change can be made

in his actions.



	If you marry a person who has difficulty with honesty, or with the

Word of Wisdom, thinking to bring about a reformation in that person's

life through marriage, it is seldom successful. If repentance is to

occur, that change must begin before the marriage takes place, not

after. What change takes place must be so complete there is little

likelihood that former traits or habits will reoccur in marriage.

Marriage is probably the most important decision we make in life, and

one should give it prayerful thought and careful consideration before

taking such a step.



	Another cause for unhappiness in marriage is the immaturity of

those who enter into the marriage covenant. When people marry too

young, they are not prepared physically, mentally, or financially for

the strains that come as children are added to the family. The duties

and responsibilities of parenthood bear down on the marriage partners.

No marriage can succeed if the husband is unable because of lack of

education or job experience to take care of his family financially. No

marriage can succeed if the wife has had no experience or training in

how to care for a home and children or how to solve homemaking problems

and lacks the maturity to learn. Marital happiness comes from maturity

and experience. No amount of professed love, physical attraction, or

romantic inclination can bring happiness to a home where the husband

cannot provide a living, or where the wife cannot prepare a good,

nourishing meal, or where the husband (and/or the wife) does not know

how to face emergencies that come because of illness, loss of a job,

accidents, or financial strain.



	You must realize it is better to solve serious problems before

marriage than to try to resolve such problems after marriage. If you

start out right with mature preparation for the marriage venture, it

can be a glorious, wonderful experience. If you start out wrong because

of lack of proper preparation and mature experience, marriage can be a

disaster. One thing I have noticed in handling numerous cases is that

divorce seldom solves marriage problems.



Searching for Solutions



	The heartbreak that comes from the breakup of a family is one of

the greatest tragedies in our modern world. The traumatic effect that

divorce has on children is almost impossible to assess. Children of

divorced parents often become so resentful that their own lives are

filled with unhappiness when they become adults. When it comes time for

them to marry, their chances for a successful marriage are frequently

handicapped by their remembrance of the difficulties, quarrels,

resentments, and patterns they saw in their parents.



	When children who have been physically abused marry, they

frequently abuse their own children physically. The same is true for

mental abuse. Children suffering from incestuous relationships all too

often themselves turn to incestuous activities when they marry. A boy

who sees his mother physically abused will all too often physically

abuse his own wife in turn. Parents seldom realize the impact and the

very often serious consequences such reprehensible behavior has on the

actions of their children. It does materially and emotionally affect

their lives.



	Divorced wives find it difficult to provide for their children.

Financial settlements are often inadequate to care for a family. When a

mother has to find work to support her children, resentment and sorrow

come to her and to the children too. Wives and husbands who are too

quick to divorce an errant spouse through an unforgiving attitude all

too often bring only added grief to themselves and to their families.



	Husbands who are indifferent and careless and thereby cause

divorces, or husbands who desert families and divorce their wives, find

that the second and subsequent families only add to their financial and

emotional burdens. If it is difficult for a man to finance his first

family, his financial well-being is not aided by incurring additional

financial obligations as a result of subsequent marriages. Court costs

and lawyer fees sap the financial resources of even rich men and are

disastrous for the ordinary family. Divorce is often a no-win option

and can seldom be relied on as a solution to marital problems.



	My personal burden in marriage counseling is to try to find a

solution to the problem of hatred. Unforgivingness is a horrible sin.

People are so intent on vengeance for past or imagined wrongs that they

do horrible things to each other. Indifferent silences and/or unkind

words can often cut deeper than swords. If we look for faults in

someone, we can always find them. But the added problem is that these

faults seem to grow and multiply the more we think about them.

Resentment leads to tearful frustration and to the most hurtful kind of

words and actions. Oh, if people could only learn to forgive!



	I refer often to these following verses in Doctrine and Covenants

64:8 - 10:



	My disciples, in days of old, sought occasion against one another

and forgave not one another in their hearts; and for this evil they

were afflicted and sorely chastened.



	Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another;

for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned

before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.



I believe this means that it is a greater sin not to forgive one

another than it is to commit some of those sins for which people are

disfellowshipped or excommunicated from the Church.



	The Lord continues his teaching: "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I

will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men" (D&C

64:10). I thus have an answer for those who refuse to forgive

themselves and who make themselves miserable by continually talking

about their own sins. They say: "I just can't forgive myself for the

things I have done." I reply to them: "O you wicked person! Do you

think you are more holy than the Lord himself? If he is willing to

forgive and forget if you will only repent, shouldn't you be willing to

forgive yourself now that you have repented for your sin?"



	We must remember the love of Jesus as he tried to teach us how to

be kind one to another. He said:



	For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will

also forgive you:



	But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your

Father forgive your trespasses. [Matthew 6:14-15]



When, oh when, will we learn that love can overcome hatred and that

kindness and humility really can restore love?



Have Faith!



	Now one piece of advice to those of you who have never had a

companion through no fault of your own, or to those of you who have

lost companions in death or through divorce or desertion: Do not

despair or think that all is lost! Remember that you are children of

God. Have faith in your Heavenly Father. Don't worry about what will

happen to you after death. Don't worry about who will have inheritance

of your children who are born in the covenant. People make themselves

miserable over such questions that cannot be answered at present

because earth life is not yet over, Death does not end our

possibilities for solutions to often very difficult present problems.



	When people tell you that all such problems must be solved during

earth life, just ask them this question: "Why then are we to have a

thousand years of peace before the final judgment is made?" I think it

will be during this period of time that under the direction of a living

Father in Heaven and a devoted, loving, understanding Savior--who will

be our advocate with the Father--that all these problems will be worked

out to our best advantage. Those great men and women who will be

officiating on earth in the power of the holy priesthood will be in

constant communication with the heavens. Directions can then be given

to those on earth to make necessary adjustments in the temples through

which all these marital and other problems can and will be solved.



	The present solution is a simple one. Have faith! As Jesus said so

positively: "Believe!" Remember that God loves you enough to have given

his Only Begotten Son to atone for your sins if you will just try, try,

try to repent!Jesus in his great mercy was willing to give his life for

you because he loved you enough to make that atonement for you if you

will only repent. No matter how desperate your personal situation or

your marital problems may appear to be to you, there are solutions

possible if you will just keep the faith!



	I testify of the divine nature of these teachings, in the name of

Jesus Christ. Amen.





                  We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet



                           Robert L. Simpson



	A member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Robert L.

Simpson is also a managing director of the Church Temple Department and

a member of the area presidency of the North America Northeast Area.

His previous Church positions include Assistant to the Council of the

Twelve, first counselor tn the Presiding Bishopric, managing director

of the Church Social Services Department, area supervisor of the

Australia-New Zealand area, associate managing director of the Mutual

Improvement Association, mission president in New Zealand and England,

Los Angeles Temple president, LDS servicemen's coordinator in North

Africa and the Middle East, stake high councilor, stake mission

president, stake Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association president,

and missionary to New Zealand.



	Born in Salt Lake City, but raised in Southern California and

educated at Santa Monica City College and Yale University, Elder

Simpson was commissioned a member of the Technical Training Command,

serving as a captain tn the Air Force during World War II. Upon his

return to Southern California, he went to work for the Bell Telephone

System, serving for nearly twenty years in various supervisory posts.



	Always active in Scouting, he has been recognized with both the

Silver Beaver and the Silver Antelope awards. He loves people of all

ages, wherever he finds them, but has a special affection for young

people, with whom he has worked for many years of his life.



	Elder Simpson is married to Jelaire Kathryn Chandler, and they are

the parents of four children, three of whom are living.



	This devotional address was delivered on 24 June 1986 in the

deJong Concert Hall.



A Newfound Hope



	One of the thrilling experiences of traveling the length and

breadth of this Church is to hear new members in the uttermost bounds

sing with enthusiasm, "We thank thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us

in these latter days." During the past couple of years it has been our

privilege to be in such places as the outback of Australia where

aborigines are being led out of a primitive existence into a new way of

life; in faraway New Guinea where curiosity about a new faith, just

five years ago, has rapidly developed into several successful branches

accommodating more than a thousand new members; in a refugee camp in

Southeast Asia where thousands are clustered in quest of political

freedom. We don't do proselyting work in those camps, but there were a

few observing our sister missionaries who were working as social

workers in the camp who recognized their difference, kindness, and

gentleness. Thousands of these refugees have accepted the restored

truth that promises not only political freedom, but a total freedom,

for the truth shall make them free.



	There is a poverty-stricken village near Coimbatore, India, where

everything looks bright for the first time because there is newfound

hope in a church led by a living prophet.



	Then there's that coconut atoll in the middle of the South Pacific

where the people's tradition of happiness and faith has been added upon

and been given even deeper meaning and a new purpose for living.



	Finally, we have been to a remote mountaintop of South America

where some of the sons and daughters of Father Lehi are being tenderly

led back to the Church of their forebears.



	Yes, hundreds of new voices are being added each month to the

worldwide chorus of the Lord's faithful, singing with great sincerity,

"We thank thee, O God, for a prophet."



	How thrilling it was to sustain a new prophet in general

conference. Thousands of us raised our right hands in unison as a

special Book of Mormon scripture was reenacted, "A choice seer will I

raise up" (2 Nephi 3:7).



In True Prophet Fashion



	How remarkable is the Lord's process of preparing and calling his

key leaders. No two prophets have been exactly alike. Each has his

unique gifts and talents, each has his special mission to perform, each

has been able to conform to the Lord's will based on his own particular

preparation.



	This point was made so well by Elder Boyd K. Packer, who related

this touching parable during the transition that took place at the

death of President Harold B. Lee and the sustaining of President

Spencer W. Kimball.



	A brand-new locomotive is all ready for its initial run. It's

perfect in every detail--bright, shiny, well lubricated, and with a

full head of steam. This locomotive bears the name "Church

Correlation." President Harold B. Lee, who had dedicated the final

fifteen years of his ministry to the perfecting of Church correlation,

was poised with his foot on the first step all ready to pull himself

into the driver's seat when all of a sudden a kindly hand fell upon his

shoulder and a voice said, "No, Harold, you have done a superb job

getting things ready, now I want Spencer to drive it." And Spencer W.

Kimball put Church correlation into motion.



	Dr. David L. Clark, one of our prominent Church educators in

Wisconsin, has made the following observation about calling prophets:



In the dark stillness of the almost empty temple, a voice called

"Samuel," and Samuel replied, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears," and

a prophet was called. In the solitude of a New York woods, a young boy

asked for help, and in reply the Lord answered, 'This is my beloved

Son, hear Him, "and the first prophet of the last dispensation was

called. Different times and different prophets, but the history of Gods

dealings with His people is marked by the calling of prophets for

essentially the same purposes whether 2,600 years ago, in 1820, or in

1986.



	The fact that prophets perform prophetically and that people's

need for such promptings is continuous does not mean that all prophets

have been formed in the same mold. A prophet's position in the society

that needs him may range from that of outcast to King, from principal

priest to a voice in the wilderness. Even the manner of call to the

position may differ from one generation to the next. Joseph Smith's

call as a prophet came in answer to a request; Samuel's call came as a

surprise. Jeremiah, one of the giants of Judah, was eighteen years old

when the Lord put forth His hand and touched Jeremiah's mouth and said,

"Behold, I have put my words in your mouth and have set you this day

over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to

destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant. [David L. Clark, first

counselor in Madison Wisconsin Stake. Excerpts from stake conference

address delivered 24 May 1986.]



	Prophets have been most anxious to share the will of God with all

the people. They have also felt an obligation to attack the evils of

society. After hearing President Ezra Taft Benson in our recent general

conference, there can certainly be no doubt where we stand as a people

relative to the many character-corroding influences that are so rampant

in the world today. President Benson has raised his voice both

frequently and fearlessly against every evil practice. Some of these

evils are so blatant that the victims are subdued with one lethal blow.

But perhaps we should regard with equal concern those evil influences

so subtle, so gradual, that we are gently led away hardly realizing

what is happening. The subtle influence of evil must surely be among

Satan's most powerful tools.



	Too often prophets have been turned away, shunned, and even harmed

by those offended by their teachings. It is recorded that Jeremiah

spent some twenty-three years in what seemed to be a futile effort--a

voice in the wilderness--but how great will be his eternal reward for

the valiant effort he made against such overwhelming odds. In true

prophet fashion he refused to give up. No one really knows whether he

even knew at the time about the sympathetic ear of one we call Father

Lehi, one who was listening during those years of struggle. Certainly

Jeremiah knows now about Father Lehi, and you can be sure he is

receiving his reward in full measure for all that followed that led a

chosen people to a promised land and left the world its greatest

legacy, the Book of Mormon.



Prophets of All Times



To complicate the lives of true prophets, there have been false

prophets along the way helping the adversary to fill his role as

spoiler and enemy of truth--often using half truths as the most

effective weapon. Jeremiah had his Hananiah. In our day, Brigham Young

had James Strang, also several others, attempting to cloud the issues

of truth and right. The great common denominator of false prophets

seems to be their obsession to tear down and destroy, with practically

no effort to give hope or enlightenment. This has been so evident

during the past couple of years.



	Without dwelling on the negative too much, perhaps we should

mention Samson in particular as one who may have been foreordained but

who, apparently, through his free agency made some unfortunate

decisions and failed to mature as the Lord expected him to. According

to Brother Clark once more, I quote:



Samson could not be characterized as prophet, priest or king, yet, if

our record is accurate, his birth was preceded by the appearance of an

angel who declared that Samson would be dedicated to God's service,

possibly as prophet, at least as judge and perhaps as priest. Service

was not in Samson's mind. He ignored most of his heritage, trampled

tradition, and instead of dedicating himself to deity desecrated that

which was most sacred, his calling. He pursued his own selfish

interests, caused trouble and death wherever he went and finally died

while destroying a handful of Israel's enemies, and in doing so gained

his own reputation, that of a roaring Rambo of sorts, a folk hero. In

reality, his life was wasted in self-indulgence, a life that missed the

mark of self-mastery and failed in a sacred call to serve. [David L.

Clark, 24 May 1986 Stake Conference Address]



	Prophets have been traditionally unpopular except among their own

flock. A few like King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon enjoyed unusual

popularity and brought peace to the land for many years. The fate of

prophets has been grim at best. Several have been stoned to death.

Jeremiah was left to die in a dungeon before he was rescued. Today we

reflect with sadness on the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

David L. Clark describes the Prophet Joseph as:



One foreordained as a "Choice Seer" to be raised up, but unlike Samson

who failed in his calling, our first latter-day prophet did not fail in

his call. He magnified his role as religious leader and prophet. He

challenged the ecclesiastical authority of his day and questioned the

political motivation of the secular authority, just as Jeremiah and

Samuel the Lamanite. His message was uncomfortable to society at large

and often was difficult for his own flock. His message was criticized,

as have been the messages of most prophets, and when his message was

too uncomfortable, he was abused and finally killed. And what did he

accomplish? His ecclesiastical success is measured by 6 million members

156 years after the Church was organized, and his prophetic success is

measured by how you and I live our lives, how we treat our neighbor,

our brother, our God, and ourselves. Our successor prophets have been

effective in different manners, each filling the need of the hour

differently but in characteristic prophetic ways. [24 May 1986 Stake

Conference Address]



	Modern prophets down to President Benson have been criticized by

ecclesiastical and secular authority because their messages were

uncomfortable. Uncomfortable messages, perhaps so, but always the

epitome of truth and never, I repeat never, subject to compromise. This

Church is his church and is not subject to the capricious wishes of

society or to meet a convenience of the day.



The Prophet Joseph's martyrdom was publicized the front page of New

York's leading newspaper. The account of what happened at Carthage Jail

that day was fairly accurate. However, the final sentence read as

follows: "Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, is dead--Thus ends

Mormonism." If this Church had been the product of Joseph Smith's

imagination, that would have indeed been the end. There is no doubt.

But being the Church of Jesus Christ makes it another matter. Oh, that

the editor of that newspaper could see into our day to witness a

thriving church of 6 million members, 30,000 missionaries, 1600 stakes,

and 39 dedicated temples. Oh, that he could know about a church that

changes lives--a church that leads out in literacy, in educational

pursuits, in Sabbath-day worship, in caring for its needy, and in so

many ways demonstrating to the world the value of following those true

Christ-like principles advocated by living prophets.



Modern, Living Prophets



	Before closing, please allow me to share a personal story or two

that might help to illustrate the effect that modern prophets have had

on my life.



	In what was then called the Hollywood Stake in Southern

California, I was performing my duties as a young deacon assisting with

the sacrament service each weekend. Our new chapel had just been

dedicated. It was beautiful. We were so proud. We even had a separate

sacrament alcove behind the bishopric seats on the stand. Bit by bit we

tried to enhance our sacrament service. Red velour drapes were

installed to be drawn apart at the precise psychological moment.

Smaller drapes revealing a picture of the Last Supper were drawn just

before the sacrament prayers were given. All of the deacons wore white

shirts and black bow ties. And last but not least, we had worked out a

system of musical chimes to signal the opening of the drapes and the

sacrament prayers. It was the most beautiful and dramatic sacrament

presentation ever devised in any dispensation. Even the stake president

was impressed--so much so that he invited President Heber J. Grant to

come and see the Church's new "Hollywood" version of the sacrament.

President Grant accepted the invitation and witnessed what turned out

to be our final presentation. We were taught in unmistakable, but

kindly, terms what the sacrament service should be. I'll never forget

that lesson. It was valuable not only to me, but to everyone else in

that ward and in that stake.



	While attending the Missionary Training Center in Salt Lake City,

my companion and I went to the Church cafeteria (the Lion House) for

lunch on our first day. We noticed several General Authorities eating

lunch together, and we made our way quietly to the rear corner so we

could see but not be seen. The next person through the cafeteria line

happened to be the prophet, President Heber J. Grant. After paying for

his food, he started toward the other General Authorities and then

noticed out of the corner of his eye two greener-than-green

missionaries sitting back in the corner. He changed his direction and

shared his lunch period with us just to set us at ease, just to commend

us on our new calling, and to share some stories about his own mission.

How thoughtful! How kind! The scripture came immediately to mind, "But

he that is greatest among you shall be your servant" (Matthew 23:11 ).



	President George Albert Smith toured our mission in New Zealand

when I was serving there as a young man. Soon after his return home, a

personal letter came addressed to me from President George Albert

Smith. He was asking my forgiveness as he had failed to extend a

special greeting to me from my cousin who worked in the Church Office

Building. His letter was so kind, so thoughtful, so gracious, and so

typical of the seven modern-day prophets that I have had the privilege

of meeting and being with. Each has demonstrated that great common

denominator of Christ-like love, courtesy, and consideration for all.



	While I was serving as mission president in New Zealand, President

Spencer W. Kimball came to tour the mission. We were immediately

impressed by his efficiency and by his overwhelming anxiety to "Do It!"

As we previewed the tour schedule, he noticed that provision had been

made for an occasional brief detour to visit a historic site or to stop

and view one of the scenic attractions for which New Zealand is so

famous. He took out his pen, and one by one he crossed out the

diversions with a comment like "We will be too busy for that" or

"Perhaps we could see this some other time." Then, all of a sudden,

Sister Kimball spoke up and said, "Spencer, my brother Henry Eyring

traveled halfway around the world to see the famous Waitomo Caves that

you have just crossed out." Without hesitation, President Kimball said,

"I think we will write that one back in, and this might be nice, too."

You see, even prophets need a loving companion to help them keep a

proper perspective.



	Without vision the people perish. Consider this partial list of

significant happenings of the past ten years or so.



	The priesthood power and authority was made available to all

worthy male members of the Church at the appropriate time.



	Regional Representatives were called to assist in the details of

Church administration in a rapidly expanding worldwide Church.



	Consider how the establishment of General Authority Area

Presidencies worldwide is an outgrowth of what used to be Area

Supervisors and then, later, Executive Administrators.



	Think about the important decision to strengthen the priesthood

line for carrying out the work of the Church rather than to depend so

heavily on the traditionally large auxiliary boards of yesteryear?

|P163 



	Then, too, there is the decision involving the auxiliaries that

was a part of the more significant and far-reaching Church correlation

program. Herein all teachings and activities were organized and

harmonized into a unified master plan designed to bless the members of

the Church more abundantly.



	Soon after the correlation program was introduced came the

consolidated meeting plan. Many millions of dollars are being saved as

Saints worldwide have been willing to share building and classroom

space.



	For more than a century members heard prophecies about temples one

day dotting the land, and now all of a sudden in our day we jumped from

seventeen temples to the currently announced total of forty-seven

temples, thirty-nine of which have been dedicated.



	May our voices ever blend with thousands of new members in the

tops of the Andes, in New Guinea, in Africa, and in the islands of the

sea as we all join in the spirit of one of our very favorite hymns, "We

thank thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us in these latter days." I

testify to the truth of this work and of living prophets in the name of

Jesus Christ. Amen.





                     Crown Jewels and Royal Purple



                          Chauncey C. Riddle



	Chauncey C. Riddle, professor of philosophy, was born in Salt Lake

City and raised in California and Nevada. First coming to BYU as a

student, he received his bachelors degree in mathematics in 1947, and

then went on to get both his master's degree and doctorate in

philosophy at Columbia University. Brother Riddle began teaching at BYU

in 1952 and has served as department chairman of Graduate Studies in

Religion, as dean of the Graduate School, and as assistant academic

vice-president. He was Professor of the Year in 1962, given the Karl G.

Maeser Teaching Award for Teaching Excellence in 1967, and recognized

as BYU Honors Professor the same year.



	Brother Riddle has also served on the editorial board for BYU

Studies, on the board of directors for the Universal Campus Federal

Credit Union, as chairman of a special task force to study higher

education in the Church Education System, and as a member of the BYU

Graduate Council. Dedicated to Church service, Brother Riddle has

served as Scoutmaster, high councilor, elders quorum president,

counselor in the presidency of the BYU Ninth Stake, and as bishop

several times, and he is presently the high priests group leader in the

Oak Hills Stake. He has published a number of articles dealing with

philosophy and religion. 



	Brother Riddle is married to Bertha Allred. They are the parents

of thirteen children. 



	This devotional address was delivered on 8 July, 1986 in the

deJong Concert Hall.



True Crown Jewels



	Royal weddings and state occasions are top news items in our

world. The reason for that is that people in general, of nearly every

nation and culture, enjoy the show, pomp and ceremony that these

occasions feature. A conspicuous aspect of many of these occasions is

the use of crowns and crown jewels, of royal purple, and other finery.



	The use of crowns themselves is an ancient custom that seems to

have four somewhat interrelated origins. Some crowns were first

helmets, part of personal military gear. As the rank of the person

increased, the helmet tended to become more elaborate, sometimes losing

all pretense of being a protective device and serving solely to signify

to all the high rank of the wearer. We see an example of this in the

"scrambled eggs" on the visor of a naval officer's cap.



	A second antecedent of the crown is found in the laurel wreaths

that were anciently bestowed as honors on the heads of successful

athletes. These were later bestowed on persons receiving honor and

status of many kinds. The garlands became stylized, and we are probably

seeing a version of the garland in the festive headbands some modern

people wear.



	A third antecedent of the crown is the religious headdress worn in

many different cultures to suggest the possession of authority. These

are represented in the modern world by the rather massive crown used in

the coronation ceremony of the Pope.



	A fourth related item is the bridal garland that is part of the

traditional marriage regalia in many cultures.



	All of these cultural streams converge in the regal headdress so

familiar as part of the courtly trappings of European aristocracy,

including crowns, coronets, and tiaras, each often festooned with

precious gems according to the wealth and rank of the possessor. The

investment of a fortune in such items has been deemed desirable to set

the wearer apart from those of lesser status. Sometimes the common

people of a nation are insulted if their leaders are not appropriately

bedecked; they seem to take a vicarious pride in such ostentation. All

of this provides the show and pageantry of which some people are so

fond and that attract worldwide attention. Ordinary people tend to

mimic royalty by wearing jewelry and expensive clothing even though

they cannot indulge in crown jewels and royal purple. The highlight of

some commoners' lives is to live and look like the nobles and the

wealthy for a moment, perhaps to be "queen for a day."



	Though the world is awed and carried away by the royal show of

jeweled crowns and royal purple, it is important to remember that in

the restored gospel frame of reference, those worldly indulgences are

counterfeits of something good and spiritual. Crowns are counterfeits

of true priesthood authority. Purple robes and other rich and royal

vestments are counterfeits of the robe of righteousness that every

person may wear and bear through faith in Jesus Christ. The jewels that

are so costly and outwardly beautiful are counterfeits of the true

concepts and principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ that make a life

of righteousness possible. These precious jewel concepts, when properly

cut and polished, become instruments through which the light of Christ

is translated into understanding and good deeds in the life of a Saint.



	Let us now turn to an examination of some of the precious jewels

one may find in connection with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Like

natural jewels, these concepts that pertain to godliness are first

found rough and irregular, mixed with things of lesser value. The

deposit to which we turn to seek out these treasures is the scriptures.

The witness of the scriptures is itself a treasure, but within the

scriptures are some ideas that stand out as precious guiding lights

when properly uncovered, shaped and polished, and installed in our

system of thinking.



The Concept of Fear



	An example of a real and eternal jewel is the concept of fear as

found in the scriptures. As we turn to instances where the word "fear"

is used, we see that fear is commended and commanded. In Deuteronomy

6:13 we read, "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and

shalt swear by his name." Samuel tells the children of Israel in 1

Samuel 12:14-15,



	If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice, and

not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and

also the king that reigneth over you continue following the Lord your

God..



	But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against

the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against

you, as it was against your fathers.



We see plainly from these scriptures and many others like them that the

servants of God are to fear him.



	But turning to other scriptures, we read passages such as the

following in the same chapter in 1 Samuel just quoted:



	And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this

wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the

Lord with all your heart:



	And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things,

which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.



	For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's

sake: because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people.



	Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord

in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right

way:



	Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart:

for consider how great things he hath done for you. [1 Samuel 12:20-24]



How is it that a prophet of God would tell the people both to fear and

not to fear in almost the same breath?



	We see the same problem in Isaiah. Isaiah counsels Israel in

Isaiah 35:4: "Say to them that are of a fearful fear, Be strong, fear

not: behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a

recompence; he will come and save you." But Isaiah also says, "Sanctify

the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be

your dread" (Isaiah 8:13). It sounds again as if we are both to fear

and not to fear. Without further multiplying examples we can readily

conclude that the concept of fear is important but needs to be

clarified. But who shall we believe as to the correct concept of fear?



	The one whom we should believe is, of course, the Lord himself.

The written scriptures as we have them are our treasure mine. But the

treasures do not jump out at us in ready-made splendor. We must search,

hypothesize, test, correct, perfect, and live by what we find. The holy

scriptures are our raw material; the revelations of the Lord that

result from our diligent searching of the scriptures become our jewels,

our keys to understanding and to faithful obedience.

|P166 



	Let us suppose we have made a diligent search of the scriptures,

old and new, concerning fear. Having done that we are then in a

position to make hypotheses in the attempt to lay out clearly and

distinctly the concepts of the scriptures. If we have done our work

well, every scripture should be clear and understandable with no

contradictions. Great light should be shed on the topic, and it should

tie beautifully with other correct concepts.



	May I now share with you the results of my own personal search

into the scriptures concerning the concept of fear. Without going

through all the detailed steps of the search, I will give only my

present conclusions, because every day as I think about the gospel and

the scriptures, new light seems to come. A new insight in one area of

ideas sheds light and new perspective on every truth hitherto

discovered. Thus, one must constantly readjust his thinking to new and

grander perspectives as the panorama of the Father's marvelous love for

his children slowly takes shape and detail. This is exciting to

experience. Of all the experiences a person can have, I suppose that

learning the ways of God is perhaps next to the greatest of all

experiences. I believe that the greatest experience is to have the

privilege of putting those newly learned truths into action, to do the

work of righteousness that correct concepts and true understanding make

possible.



	May I then share with you my hypotheses concerning fear. Please do

not be tempted to believe what I say because I say it. I am not an

authority to you. But I am your brother in Christ, and gladly share

what I believe in the hope you may hear something that will cause you

to make your own diligent search into these matters. For if you search

in faith, I believe you will find and be greatly edified. Should you

already have made your search, you will be able to compare notes and

see where I have both scored and failed. Perhaps then, some occasion of

testimony will bring your insights to me that I may then test your

hypotheses. Thus may we all grow together in the knowledge of the Lord.



	But on to my hypotheses as illustration of the true crown jewels.



Fear One



	I see fear as an emotional state, a matter of the heart of man,

having much to do with the choices he makes. But it seems from the

examples we have already presented that there must be two different

concepts represented by the English word "fear," which would explain

why we are commanded both to fear and not to fear. I shall begin with

the more ordinary variety and will call it Fear One.



	Fear One is closely related to prudence; it is prudence with a

powerful emotional charge. When one is prudent, he carefully calculates

the results of his actions before doing anything, taking care to avoid

results that are not desirable. When that prudence becomes an

emotional, compelling force, it turns to Fear One. Examples of Fear One

are fear of heights, fear of the dark, fear of spiders and snakes, and

most important, the fear of death. I personally have known this fear

strongly in the fear of not surviving graduate school and in the fear

of not being able to support my family adequately. In many ways this

kind of fear is a good thing. Fear of traffic may help a child to be

wary of a busy thoroughfare. Fear of failing may temper some desires to

climb. But this fear can also become a paralyzing phobia as when a

person freezes high on a building and cannot rationally be induced to

save himself. I suppose that every human being is well acquainted with

Fear One, and that life for many of us is a precarious balance between

the strength of desire for results that impel us to action and Fear

One, which prevents us from doing many things. When Fear One prevents

us from doing things we should not do, that is one thing. But often it

also prevents us from doing what we well know we should do. So it is a

mixed opportunity.



	I see Fear One well represented in the scriptures. In Deuteronomy

28:58-67, the curse upon wayward Israel is couched in terms of this

fear:



	If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are

written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful

name, THE LORD THY GOD;



	Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of

thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continence, and sore

sicknesses, and of long continuance.



	Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which

thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.



	Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the

book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be

destroyed.



	And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars

of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of

the Lord thy God.



	And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to

do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to

destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from

off the land whither thou goest to possess it.



	And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end

of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other

gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and

stone.



	And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the

sole of the foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a

trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:



	And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear

day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:



	In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even

thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart

wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou

shalt see.



	Fear One has a complement concept in boldness. The more bold one

is, the less Fear One one has, and vice versa. The fullness of Fear One

is petrification, or the inability to act.



Fear Two



	We turn now to build the concept of Fear Two by contrast. Fear Two

is also an emotional state, a matter of the heart. But where Fear One

is a negative emotion, Fear Two is largely a positive one. Fear Two is

awe and respect and admiration for God and for his goodness. Fear Two

begets reverence and faithful obedience to the commandments of God.

Perhaps the clearest contrast between the two concepts of fear is seen

in the relationship each has to sin. Fear One causes one to be afraid

to sin for fear of the resulting punishment when justice comes. Fear

Two, on the other hand, is a fear to sin lest one disrupt the plans and

purposes of God in bringing to pass the salvation of all mankind. Fear

Two trembles at the very thought of sin, as we see in the words of

Nephi:



	Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart

pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.



	Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in

showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O

wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my

soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.



	I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins

which do so easily beset me.



	And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my

sins; nevertheless I know in whom I have trusted.



	O Lord, wilt thou redeem my soul? Wilt thou deliver me out of the

hands of mine enemies? Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the

appearance of sin?



	May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, because that

my heart is broken and my spirit is contrite! O Lord, wilt thou not

shut the gates of thy righteousness before me, that I may walk in the

path of the low valley, that I may be strict in the plain road! [2

Nephi 4:16-19, 31-32]



	We see that Fear One is fear of the consequences of sin, fear for

one's own skin, fear of the punishment that is surely to follow. It is

a selfish fear, a concern only for oneself. Fear Two, by contrast, is

fear of sinning, fear of harming others, fear of destroying the

beautiful plan of blessing that God has ordained for all of his

children here and now. It is not a fear for self, but a sorrow that one

is weak and may harm others. It is a fear of thwarting God, of harming

other persons; it even extends to plants and animals, which are also

God's creatures. Fear Two is a reverence for all of nature, which is

God's handiwork. Fear Two is the anguish of soul that causes a person

to repent of all sin. Fear Two does not shrink from the penalties due

for past sins. It gladly and willingly would suffer tenfold if that

would do any good; but it learns that the freedom from sinning is

inextricably coupled with the forgiveness for the debt of past sins.

Fear Two cannot rest until repentance is complete and sin is done away

with in the heart, mind, strength, and might of the person forever.

Fear Two is also a concern for the welfare of others, an anxiousness

when they will not repent.



	A person driven by Fear One is obsessed with forgiveness of sins,

if indeed he does believe in God and in an accounting. Fear One has a

natural tendency to hope there is no God, and that there will be no day

of accounting.



	The salvation that Fear Two desires is to be free from sinning so

that one will no longer inflict wounds on others. It so hungers and

thirsts after righteousness that it is willing to forego eating and

drinking, sleep and rest, riches and honors, even life itself in the

quest for freedom from transgressing against the God it knows and

reveres. Fear Two is not a motive open to atheists and agnostics. It is

available only to those who have perceived the existence of God through

the Holy Spirit and who worship to partake of more of the same.



	Indeed, this Fear Two is a gift of the Holy Spirit, as we see in

the account of the reaction of the people to the great sermon of King

Benjamin:



	And now, it came to pass that when king Benjamin had made an end

of speaking the words which had been delivered unto him by the angel of

the Lord, that he cast his eyes round about on the multitude, and

behold they had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come

upon them.



	And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even

less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one

voice, saving.. O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ

that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be

purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. who created

heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the

children of men.



	And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the

Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy,

having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of

conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus

Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had

spoken unto them. [Mosiah 4:1-3]



The Fear of God



	Now it is possible to call Fear One worldly fear and Fear Two

godly fear on the model of the distinction between worldly sorrow and

godly sorrow. But if we do that we must be careful to maintain a

distinction between Fear One of God and Fear Two of God. As an instance

of Fear One of God, Isaiah describes the situation of the wicked of the

house of Israel in the last days, when they realize that the prophets

were right, that there is a God, and that he is actually visibly

arriving on earth to recompense every man for his deeds:



	Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob,

because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the

Philistines, and they please themselves in the children strangers.



	Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any

end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is

there any end of their chariots:



	Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their

own hands, that which their own fingers have made:



	And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself:

therefore forgive them not.



	Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the

Lord, and for the glory of his majesty.



	The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of

men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that

day.



	For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is

proud and lofty and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be

brought low:



	And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness

of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that

day. 



	And the idols he shall utterly abolish.



	And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves

of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty,

when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.



	In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of

gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and

to the bats;



	To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the

ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty,

when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. [Isaiah 2:6-12, 17-21]



	For an example of Fear Two toward God, we turn to Psalms 22:23-31:



	Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob,

glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.



	For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the

afflicted: neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried

unto him, he heard.



	My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay

my vows before them that fear him.



	The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord

that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.



	All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord..

and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.



	For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the

nations  ....



	A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a

generation.



	They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people

that shah be born, that he bath done this.



Thus we see that Fear One sees God as terrible and threatening, whereas

Fear Two sees God as marvelous and wonderful, the object of adoration.



	This difference between Fear One and Fear Two of God is reflected

in an interesting passage in Isaiah that is also represented in the

Book of Mormon. In Isaiah 29:13-14, the Lord himself laments that men

have only Fear One for him, and therefore he will restore the true

gospel to them that they might again worship in spirit and truth:



	Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me

with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed

their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the

precept of men:



	Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among

this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of

their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men

shall be hid.



	When men teach the fear of God to other men, they usually do it by

preaching hellfire and damnation, or purgatory and limbo. Or they may

portray God as a terrible and unloving being, sometimes as completely

impersonal. Such may generate wariness and prudence but can never

become the heartfelt adoration of Fear Two, which comes only as a gift

of the Holy Spirit. To know God is first to know his Spirit.



	If we know his Spirit, the thing that Holy Spirit teaches us is

the nature and attributes of God in the pattern revealed in D&C

93:19-20:



	I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how

to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the

Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness.



	For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness,

and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto

you, you shall receive grace for grace.



	That grace begins with fear of and for God. It seems to me that it

does not really matter whether one begins with Fear One or Fear Two,

What does seem to matter is the reaction. Either Fear One or Fear Two

can come as a gift of the Holy Spirit. When received as this kind of

gift, the receiver is turned toward repentance. In repentance and

faith, Fear One always turns to and becomes Fear Two. The basic issue

seems to be, when one fears, does one turn to God through the Holy

Spirit or does one turn away and harden his heart? We read in Proverbs

1:7: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools

despise wisdom and instruction." With either Fear One or Fear Two as a

beginning, the humble servant of God progresses from grace to grace

until Fear One grows into Fear Two, and Fear Two grows into a perfect

love for God and for all of God's creatures. We read in 1 John 4:15-18:



	Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth

in him, and he in God.



	And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God

is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.



	Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the

day of judgment: because as he so are we in this world.



	There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear:

because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.



	This passage from John presents us with a problem. If perfect love

casts out fear, is it Fear One or Fear Two that is cast out? Or is it

both? I will venture an interpretation. My belief is that John was

referring only to Fear One when he says perfect love casts out fear.

One clue that this is his meaning is the phrase "fear hath torment."

Fear One indeed has and is torment. But Fear Two has no torment, unless

you wish to call the agony of hating one's own sins a torment. I deem

John to be saying that when one accepts God's love and the redemption

from sin and sinning that eventually attends the faithful, he ceases

entirely to have any Fear One, for anything. I believe that same idea

is reflected in D&C 63:17, where the Lord speaks concerning the fate of

those who covenant with him and then deliberately go on and die in

their sins:



	Wherefore, I, the Lord, have said that the fearful, and the

unbelieving, and all liars, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, and

the whoremonger, and the sorcerer, shall have their part in that lake

which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.



	Now we know that only the sons of perdition suffer the second

death and that only those who take the covenants in this life can

become sons of perdition. Therefore, it seems urgent that anyone who

has taken the covenants needs to press on in the gifts of the Spirit

until their trust in the Lord is great, until they can acknowledge his

hand in all things, until they know there are no accidents of nature,

until they know that not a sparrow falls without the Lord being aware

of it, until they know that all things work together for their good for

they who love the Lord. Then there is nothing to fear in the sense of

Fear One.



The Perfecting of the Soul



	If, then, we walk in the Spirit of the Lord, the Lord will lead us

in the paths of righteousness, and in that path nothing can harm us in

any eternal way--that is to say, in any important way. Wicked men may

prey upon us, disease may fell us, war may ravage us, but through all

of this we will know that the Lord is working out his eternal purposes.

Though these may indeed hurt our body, if we love God they can in no

way hurt our eternal spirit. Therefore we endure them without Fear One,

knowing that the Lord is master of all, that he is fully mindful of our

predicament, and that he is but using our faith and suffering to work

out his eternal purposes for all of his other children as well as for

us. Thus we will have no Fear One, no gripping concern for the future

welfare of ourselves or of our loved ones, for we rest content to do

our part in the Lord's great drama. Thus does love of God with all of

our heart, might, mind, and strength, serving him in all things in the

name of Jesus Christ, cast out all Fear One.



	My hypothesis is that a righteous being maintains Fear Two always.

Fear Two forms a tension with the pure love of God. We see on the one

hand the enormity of sin and the inability of God to look upon sin with

the least degree of allowance because of his justice. That is in

appropriate tension with the love and mercy of God on the other hand.

Fear of sinning stretches against love of God. I see this tension as

the power by which a righteous being keeps himself eternally on the

straight and narrow path of righteousness.



	The righteous, those who are impassioned and motivated by Fear

Two, see sin as a devastating destruction of the happiness of mankind.

They recognize that God has prepared a celestial heritage for every

human being, one that can be claimed in all important aspects even here

in mortality. They come to realize that the potential of every human

life is to do great good through our Savior in establishing and

maintaining that celestial society to which all men are invited. They

see that sin, which is selfishness, is the great destroyer of the

blessings of mankind, and it even causes God himself to suffer. The

terrible thing about sin is not that one has to pay for sin, as the

believer in Fear One would have it, but that I cause everyone else to

suffer here and now when I sin. He who understands Fear Two knows that

he is hating God and each of his fellowmen when he transgresses the

commandments of God. Such a one would far rather suffer himself than

cause the least of these, his brethren, to suffer because of his own

weaknesses. Thus he strives for perfection by making every sacrifice

necessary to love the Lord God with all of his heart, yearning to

receive it.



	My conclusions about fear, then, are that Fear One is human fear

of being hurt, and it fears God and sin because of the possibility of

being brought to justice and thus having to suffer. Fear One is

selfish, an attempt to protect one's own skin. Fear Two is godly fear,

a gift of the spirit, a sense of awe and gratitude at the goodness of

God and the life opportunity he has given. This awe and reverence makes

one tremble at the very thought of sinning, of hurting someone else.

The fullness and perfection of Fear Two is the perfecting of the soul

through the sacrifice of repentance unto a perfect man, even to the

measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ. A person who has Fear

Two is the God-fearing man of the scriptures, one who reverences God

through faithful obedience, striving to love purely, even as God does.



The Riches of Eternity



	Those are my conclusions about fear. These ideas are very precious

to me; they are some of my jewels. But do not mistake them for the main

point of my discourse with you today. The conclusions about fear are my

conclusions, and are intended to be illustrative only. My main point

concerns crown jewels and purple robes, if we may return to where we

began. My belief is that the concepts and principles of the restored

gospel have virtually infinite worth compared with the paltry dust of

gold, silver, jewels, and expensive clothing. He who knows the ways of

God has the riches of eternity, for having that knowledge, he can live

the gospel of Jesus Christ and thus fulfill the work of righteousness.

Those who lack that knowledge seem to know their lack and adorn

themselves with that which has no life and cannot save. One beauty of

the truths of the restored gospel is that they are not a limited

resource. One does not need to deprive someone else to gain them. In

fact, as they are shared, all grow richer.



	We may all seek and obtain these riches by a simple process. The

Father has ordained that we should have written scriptures. If we

hunger and thirst after righteousness, these scriptures will be

delicious to us. But the main thing we learn from them is that there is

more. The fullness of the gifts of the Spirit, including all of the

mysteries of godliness, are ours if only we will relinquish selfishness

and begin to live by every word that proceeds forth out of the mouth of

God. Through personal revelation we may share a fullness of all that

the Father has, even unto eternal lives, but we must begin with a

knowledge of him and his ways.



	We may go to the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, in mighty

prayer, fasting, scripture study-searching the words of the dead

prophets but especially the words of the living prophets-pondering,

piecing, hypothesizing, experimenting, feeling, thinking, and trying

with all the power we have to search out the ways of God. I bear you my

testimony that this is a very rewarding process.



	The true jewels are of immense benefit to us. Even as light shines

on earthly jewels and reflects visible light of pleasing color and

brilliance, even so do the true concepts and precepts enable us to

reflect the light of Christ into noble thoughts, clear ideas, and

goodly deeds. Through correct gospel concepts and principles we receive

and assimilate the riches of eternity. Through them we minister to our

stewardship. Using them and the power of the priesthood, we have the

ability to work mighty miracles unto the salvation of souls. In place

of the purple robes of earthly royalty, we may enjoy the garment of the

wedding feast when Christ comes as the bridegroom. Our wedding garment

is the invisible sacrifices we make to keep our covenants and to

minister to the poor and the needy out of the abundance that the Lord

has given to each one of us. The true robes are the robes of

righteousness, and they are spotless white, not royal purple.



	We are saved no faster than we gain knowledge of the ways and

goodness of our God. It is my prayer that we shall all be diligent in

obtaining the true riches, that there will be no regrets when our eyes

are opened in death and we realize that our whole life we lived in the

hand of God. I believe that we shall then see that he was trying to

bless us and help us all the while so we would not need to try to

comfort ourselves with crown jewels and royal purple. I say this in the

name of Jesus Christ. Amen.





              The Stick of Joseph and the Stick of Judah



                            Bruce L. Brown



	Bruce L. Brown, a professor of psychology has been a member of the

BYU faculty for the past eighteen years. A native of American Fork, he

completed both his bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology at

BYU. Having earlier served a mission to western Canada, he returned to

that country, and received his doctorate in pycholinguistics from

McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Well known in his field for his

research and numerous publications, Brother Brown is a member of many

professional and honorary organizations and serves as reviewer for a

number of journals and publishers.



	In addition to his teaching, international lecturing, and

publishing, Professor Brown is a devoted husband, father, and Church

leader. He has served as high councilor, bishop, high priests group

leader, Young Men president, and as a district Explorer chairman. He

and his wife, Susan Brinton, are the parents of nine daughters and one

son.



	This devotional address was given on 22 July 1986 in the deJong

Concert Hall.



	We live in a glorious time in the history of the world when much

of God's word has been restored, when living prophets are upon the

earth again, and when many ancient treasures are available to all who

will read them. Joseph the Patriarch, the son of Jacob, prophesied of

one in the last days who would be an instrument in the hands of the

Lord in bringing forth much scripture to bless his people. "And his

name shall be called after me," said this ancient Joseph,



	... and it shall be after the name of his father. And he shall be

like unto me; for the thing, which the Lord shall bring forth by his

hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation. [2

Nephi 3:15]



	I give you my testimony of this Joseph, the Prophet of the

Restoration. I know that he was a prophet of God. Of course this record

that he was to bring forth to bring the Lord's people unto salvation is

the Book of Mormon. Ezekiel, the exile prophet, foresaw the coming

forth in the latter days of this book of scripture that had slept in

the dust. He referred to it as the stick of Joseph. He foretold that

the Saints of the latter days would combine it with the ancient stick

of Judah, the Bible, and that the two would become one in their hand.



	I will take these words of Ezekiel as my theme today and share

with you some of my experiences of the past eighteen years as a student

and teacher of these two great books of scripture.



The Words of the Prophets



	In the middle 1970s I experienced something that awakened my

interest in the Hebrew Scripture, or as we often refer to it, the Old

Testament. I heard Elder Packer deliver a wonderful sermon in the

Marriott Center in which he discussed the gifts of the Spirit. As he

spoke I began to have an experience not unlike what he was discussing.

In particular, I learned that I should begin to study Hebrew in order

to be prepared for opportunities that may come.



	I have dropped into a number of Hebrew classes in the past twelve

years. I haven't given the language the time it needs and I am

certainly not fluent, but I have learned enough to have received a

great deal of enjoyment and edification from Hebrew Scripture and to

gain a great love for the language, culture, and people of Judah.

Through it I have discovered a marvelous source of insight into the Old

Testament--the Soncino Bible. This is a Jewish publication with the

Hebrew text on the right, corresponding English text on the left, and

rabbinical commentary from the Talmud and other sources at the bottom.

I seldom read it but what I find some great treasure. One very good way

to learn about the ancient prophets of the stick of Judah is from the

rabbinical commentators and through considering some of the Hebrew

words. One really doesn't need much skill in Hebrew to gain at least

some benefit from this. Even a few words are a good start. And even

without any knowledge of Hebrew one can learn a great deal from the

commentary. The rabbis have considered, contemplated, debated, and

pondered the words of the prophets for many years, and they give us

contact with the ancient traditions.



	Consider, for example, this footnote to Zechariah 1, verse 20,

where in our King James version it speaks of four carpenters who come

in the day when the Lord will comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem. These

four come to "fray" the four horns or powers or nations that have

scattered Judah. The Soncino English translation calls them "four

craftsmen," and in the footnote "four smiths." I quote from the

footnote:



These represent the agencies by which the enemies of Judah will be

overthrown ... the four craftsmen represent builders and artisans who

will take a leading part in the rebuilding of the Temple  ....  In the

Talmud (Sukkah 52b), the four craftsmen are identified with the Messiah

the son of David, the Messiah the son of Joseph, the prophet Elijah,

and the Righteous Priest (Melchizedek). [A. Cohen, ed., The Twelve

Prophets: Hebrew Text, English Translation and Commentary (Bournemouth,

Hants: the Soncino Press, 1948), p. 276]



	The Jews know who Elijah and Melchizedek are, and Christians know

that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, son of David. But only one who knows

about Joseph Smith, the prophet of the Restoration, will have an idea

of who this fourth craftsman is, the messiah or anointed one who is the

son of Joseph. I had often heard there was an ancient Jewish tradition

about Messiah ben Joseph, the Lord's anointed in the latter days who

would die at the hands of an angry mob, but before this I had never

seen a reference to that tradition.



	Or consider this that I recently read in Holtz's book, Back to the

Sources. The Hebrew word tzedakah, which is usually translated as

charity, comes from the root meaning justice and righteousness. It is

related to the word tzedek found, for example, in the name Melchizedek,

or Melchi-tzedek, meaning King of Righteousness. That gives one new

ways to consider Mormon's great discourse found in Moroni 7 about how

faith in Christ will bring one to have hope, and finally charity, and

also Paul's discourse on charity in 1 Corinthians.



	The Hebrew text of the Bible is filled with wordplays that do not

come through in translation. Many of them add substantially to the

meaning and joy of the scriptures. For example, Psalm 119 is much more

interesting in Hebrew. It is an acrostic consisting of twenty-two

sections of eight verses each, with all eight verses in the first

section beginning with aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet,

all eight in the second section beginning with beth, the second Hebrew

letter, and so on.



"Mine Ancient Covenant People"



	Two and a half years ago I had an experience that I consider by

itself to be repayment many times over for my meager offering in

beginning to study this language of the ancient scriptures. I have,

through my academic work, become close friends with a well-respected

scholar who is also a rabbi. He has been very kind to me and has given

me a number of professional opportunities. I learned from one of our

mutual acquaintances that he is also an accomplished Hebrew scholar and

student of the scriptures.



	When I was in Baltimore in January 1984, I met with him about a

joint writing project, and he invited me over to his home to spend the

Sabbath. It was a profound experience, almost like a dream. I found

that my friend is a collector and scholar of Judaica, with a very large

home library of Hebrew texts centuries old (some on scrolls), ancient

menorahs, seder plates, mezuzahs, etc. I think he was almost as

surprised and elated as I was to find that a Christian could have such

a consuming interest in these things that he loves so much. But as he

told me about Kaballa, Yom Kippur, the ancient tabernacle and temple,

the Shekinah (that is, the divine presence in the Holy of Holies), and

the feasts and the holy days, I could see in it all the light of the

doctrines of the Restoration. I kept thinking of Brother Nibley's

description in one of his classes of Abraham and Sarah's hospitality

for the weary traveler. My friend Aron and his wife, Sarah, prepared

the dinner as their son Jonathan and I visited, and then we all

rejoiced together in four hours of eating, dialogue, and singing. We

discussed the Hebrew Scripture, the ideas that engage us, and the

concerns of our lives. Occasionally we would sing; Aron would break

forth with a hymn in Hebrew, would pass me the hymnbook pointing to the

words, and we would all join in. The evening ended much too soon, but I

will always remember it as one of the great experiences of my life, the

culmination of many years of trying to comprehend "the law and the

prophets," learn a few words of Hebrew, and understand the Lord's

ancient covenant people.  I came away from the experience not only with

a deep love for Aron and Sarah and their son and an appreciation for

the depth of their faith, but with an increased feeling of gratitude

for the restored gospel and an additional testimony of its

truthfulness.



	This past November I was again near Baltimore for a convention,

and again I was invited for Sabbath. This experience was every bit as

great as the first. I joined with Aron as we faced the east and he

recited, and I tried to read, Hebrew prayers and other scriptures, many

of which I recognized from my study of the Law and the Prophets. And

then, as we were ready to begin the Sabbath meal, he placed his hands

upon his son's head and gave him a father's blessing. A number of times

that evening I could feel the Spirit of the Lord present. I was amazed

at the spiritual power of the law of performances, the schoolmaster to

bring the Jewish people to the Messiah. I believe that it will indeed

bring them to the Messiah.



	This time we had many things to discuss, with it being just a few

months since the difficulties connected with the BYU Jerusalem Center.

Among other things I tried to explain to him how our beliefs differ

from the rest of Christianity, especially our beliefs about the Jews

and the scattered remnants of the house of Israel. For many of the

Jews, the name "Christian" is associated with centuries of suffering

and persecution at the hands of a Christianity gone awry. I told him

about some of the prophecies found in the Book of Mormon concerning

Judah and the house of Israel, and about something else important that

I had recently read. Nephi had a vision of those dark medieval days of

persecution and he said:



	And also for the praise of the world do thy destroy the saints of

God, and bring them down into captivity. [1 Nephi 13:9]



	George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl give this commentary on the

word "saints" in that verse:



	This refers, probably, to the Jews. The Jews, as a people, chosen

by God and consecrated to his service, are called "saints." [Commentary

on the Book of Mormon, vol. 1 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company,

1962), p. 114]



	The persecutors foreseen by Nephi were to be enemies of all the

saints of God, beginning with the children of Israel.



	Last year I bought a book entitled Back to the Sources, edited by

Barry Holtz. It is a collection of contemporary Jewish writings about

the great books of Jewish tradition, such as Torah, the Prophets,

Talmud, Midrash, Kabbalistic texts, the teachings of the Hasidic

masters, etc. I read a number of things in that book that I wanted to

discuss with Aron, but especially one particular thing almost seemed to

jump off the page at me. On page 23 Holtz says,



There has been a kind of ongoing prejudice against the Jewish texts

that is almost theologically inherent in Christianity itself.... The

Hebrew Bible was called the "Old" Testament (a term never used in

traditional Jewish sources) to contrast it with the fully realized

"New" Testament. The effect of such an approach is to undercut the

validity in its own terms of the Jewish Bible, but more than that there

is the implication that Jewish creativity must have ended with the

"Old" Testament....



	Thus any Jewish writing after the Bible is seen as necessarily

insignificant. Judaism can have no contribution because, according to

this view, it has been surpassed by the new religion and its teachings.

Hence the persistence of Jewish literature--and Judaism itself--becomes

a kind of ongoing embarrassment for Christianity).  Perhaps that is why

the Church burned the Talmud in the Middle Ages--as an attempt to deny

the very existence of a living Jewish tradition. [Back to the Sources:

Reading the Classic Jewish Texts (New York: Summit Books, 1984)]



	Aron believed me when I told him that we are worlds away from the

rest of Christianity on this issue. We don't have this adversarial

relation to Judaism. The traditions and the texts are not an

embarrassment for us, but rather a source of edification, a connection

to our roots. We believe that the religion Jesus taught was a

restoration of something very ancient and pure, and that it ceased to

exist upon the earth after the death of the apostles.



	I quoted to Aron from 2 Nephi, chapter 29, where Nephi prophesies

of the Gentiles of America in the latter days. Nephi foretells that

they will reject the Book of Mormon when it shall come to them, and

then he answers the Gentiles by telling of the great debt owed to the

Jews for their pains in bringing the ancient scriptures to us:



	And because my words shall hiss forth----many of the Gentiles

shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be

any more Bible.



	But thus saith the Lord God.. O fools, they shall have a Bible;

and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people.

And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from

them? Yea, what do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the travails,

and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me,

in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles?



	O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant

people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not

sought to recover them. But behold, I will return all these things upon

your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people. [2 Nephi

29:3-5]



	As we discussed these things, Aron became very thoughtful and

spoke slowly and deliberately. He said that this was a very important

thing for his people to know.



	In the spirit of Nephi's admonition, I am thankful to the Jews for

all they have brought forth for our edification, I am also thankful for

the inspiring example of the spiritual life of so many of the faithful

among them. The Sabbath for Aron and his family is a great joy. It is a

delight, as Isaiah said it should be. We have been told by the Lord in

Doctrine and Covenants 59 to celebrate the Sabbath in this same spirit.

They look forward to it for the whole week as a celebration of the

things of the Spirit. And learning to the faithful of Judah is a

mitzvah, a divine commandment. Study for traditional Jews was not a

mere intellectual endeavor; it was an act of devotion. They saw

themselves as performing a holy act ordained by God, Learning has

always been seen as a lifelong process in the world of traditional

Judaism. The theme of this book, Back to the Sources, is that for a

time in America many of the Jews were abandoning their traditions and

not studying the traditional books, but in recent years there has been

a great surge of renewed interest in these sources, a return to their

roots.



By the Mouths of the Prophets



	In Mormon Doctrine, Elder Bruce R. McConkie spoke of two gospels,

both of them true:



Two true gospels are spoken of in the revelations and have been

revealed to men as occasions have warranted; one is the fullness of the

everlasting gospel, the other is the preparatory gospel. [MD, p. 333]



	We have been speaking about the preparatory gospel and about some

of the records that have come to us from Judah. Now I would like to

speak for a few minutes about our own tradition as Latter-day Saints

and the stick of Joseph or the Book of Mormon, which contains the

fulness of the everlasting gospel.



	In this past April conference President Benson called upon us as a

Church to return to our roots, to regularly and diligently study the

Book of Mormon:



	Now we not only need to say more about the Book of Mormon, but we

need to do more with it. Why? The Lord answers: "That they may bring

forth fruit meet for their Father's kingdom; otherwise there remaineth

a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion."

[Ezra Taft Benson, "Cleansing the Inner Vessel," Ensign, May 1986, p.

5]



	If we have the words of life from the Book of Mormon within our

hearts and minds, they will grow within us and give guidance to our

lives that we may do those things that will strengthen and build up the

kingdom of God on the earth. If we don't have this we will not bring

forth fruit.



	On a Saturday afternoon shortly after this April conference, I was

in my office at BYU trying to catch up on some of my academic work when

I remembered President Benson's words. I started once more at the

beginning of 1 Nephi. Within minutes I was immersed in one of the great

scripture reading experiences of my life, I had never before noticed

how much spiritual power is found in even the first chapter of the

first book of Nephi. Chapter one by itself is a powerful scriptural

document.



	In this first chapter one can see a foreshadowing of the great

teachings of the Book of Mormon concerning the scattering and the final

redemption of the house of Israel. The record begins in the first year

of the reign of Zedekiah, King of Judah:



	... And in that same year there came many prophets, prophesying

unto the people that they must repent, or the great city Jerusalem must

be destroyed.



	Wherefore it came to pass that my father, Lehi, as he went forth

prayed unto the Lord, yea, even with all his heart, in behalf of his

people. [1 Nephi 1:4-5]



	In what then follows, we read of Lehi being called to prophesy to

the Jews, comparable to the call of Isaiah in Isaiah, chapter 6. We

read of his vision of the Father and of the hosts of heaven:



	And it came to pass that he returned to his own house at

Jerusalem; and he cast himself upon his bed, being overcome with the

Spirit and the things which he had seen.



	And being thus overcome with the spirit, he was carried away in a

vision, even that he saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God

sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of

angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God. [verses 7-8]



	Can you imagine that? Numberless concourses of righteous,

redeemed, celestial men and women with their voices raised in hymns of

praise unto the Father. He also saw in vision Jesus and his twelve

apostles:



	And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of

heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at

noon-day.



	And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness

did exceed that of the stars in the firmament. [9-10]



	He then saw them go forth upon the earth, and Jesus came and stood

before him and gave him a book to read in which Lehi received his

prophetic burden to deliver to the Jews concerning the impending

destruction of Jerusalem:



	And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit

of the Lord.



	And he read saying: Wo, wo, unto Jerusalem, for I have seen thine

abominations! Yea, and many things did my father read concerning

Jerusalem--that it should be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof;

many should perish by the sword, and many should be carried away

captive into Babylon. [12-13]



	But he saw much more than this vision of immediate impending doom,

and what he saw caused him to rejoice:



	And it came to pass that when my father had read and seen many

great and marvelous things, he did exclaim many things unto the Lord;

such as: Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy

throne is high in the heavens, and thy power, and goodness, and mercy

are over all the inhabitants of the earth; and, because thou art

merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall

perish.



	And after this manner was the language of my father in the

praising of his God; for his soul did rejoice, and his whole heart was

filled, because the things which he had seen, yea, which the Lord had

shown unto him. [ 14-15]



	He must have seen the whole picture of the great saga of Israel

and their eventual triumph in the last days. He must have seen the

indomitable spirit of the faithful of Judah in their diaspora, how God

would be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they

should come, how their faith, their scriptures, their great and joyful

traditions, and their holy days would be a comfort to them in their

many years of tribulation. He must have seen their "labors and pains

and diligence in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles" and seen

Judah's eventual joyful triumph at the great Second Coming of the

Messiah.



	In 2 Nephi, Lehi's son Nephi tells his people about these

marvelous latter-day events. He first reads to them from Isaiah.



	Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful

garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall no

more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.



	Shake thyself from the dust; arise .... [2 Nephi 8:24-25]



And then he comments:



	And now, my beloved brethren, I have read these things that ye

might know concerning the covenants of the Lord that he has covenanted

with all the house of Israel----



	That he has spoken unto the Jews, by the mouth of his holy

prophets, even from the beginning down, from generation to generation,

until the time comes that they shall be restored to the true church and

fold of God; when thy shall be gathered home to the lands of their

inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise.



	Behold, my beloved brethren, I speak unto you these things that ye

may rejoice, and lift up your heads forever, because of the blessings

which the Lord God shall bestow upon your children. [2 Nephi 9:1-3]



	The day will come when the Jews will be restored to the fold of

God, and until that time God speaks to them by the mouths of the

prophets. The faithful among Judah today love the words of the prophets

and study them diligently. God still speaks to them through these holy

men of old.



The Promise of Eternal Life



	The promises of the Lord are not only given to nations, but also

to individuals. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that



the ancients, though persecuted and afflicted by men, obtained from God

promises of such weight and glory, that our hearts are often filled

with gratitude that we are even permitted to look upon them.

[Teachings, p. 65]



	This doctrine of promises has a great deal to do with how one

obtains eternal life. The Book of Mormon teaches clearly, both by

precept and also by examples from the lives of the Nephite Saints, how

one can obtain promises from God.



	Joseph Smith said:



I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any

book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get

nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book. [HC,

4:461]



	That is true. There is no other book upon the earth that is

clearer in teaching the principles of how one gains eternal life than

this restored stick of Joseph. Nephi's soul delighted in plainness, and

the whole Book of Mormon is characterized by that kind of clarity in

explaining the fundamental doctrines of the gospel.



	In the third chapter of the Gospel of John, verse 5, we read these

words of Jesus to Nicodemus:



Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into

the kingdom of God.



	Few scriptures have been misunderstood more than this one. The

doctrine of spiritual rebirth and how one obtains eternal life through

the Atonement is one of the "plain and precious truths" spoken of by

Nephi that has been lost from the Bible, and there is a great deal of

confusion and misunderstanding in the Christian world about it. But it

is clearly taught in the Book of Mormon, and once one understands it,

the relevant passages in the Bible take on new life and become clear.



	President Marion G. Romney, in an October 1963 conference address,

drew upon a number of scriptures from the Book of Mormon that explain

this doctrine, and then gave this summary:



While conversion may be accomplished in stages, one is not really

converted in the full sense of the term unless and until he is at heart

a new person. "Born again" is the scriptural term. [CR, Oct. 1963, p.

23]



	He explains that one is not necessarily converted just because he

or she holds membership in the Church, and furthermore, that



being converted, as we are here using the term, and having a testimony

are not necessarily the same thing either. A testimony comes when the

Holy Ghost gives the earnest seeker a witness of the truth  ....

Conversion, on the other hand, is the fruit of, or the reward for,

repentance and obedience  ....



	Conversion is effected by divine forgiveness, which remits sins.

The sequence is something like this: An honest seeker hears the

message. He asks the Lord in prayer if it is true. The Holy Spirit

gives him a witness. This is a testimony. If one testimony is strong

enough, he repents and obeys the commandments. By such obedience he

receives divine forgiveness which remits sin. Thus he is converted to a

newness of life. His spirit is healed. [CR, Oct. 1963, p. 24]



	We have a number of examples of this process in the Book of

Mormon. One example is the record of Enos. As Enos begins the story, he

already had a testimony of the gospel. His father Jacob had taught him

in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. His conversion experience

begins with his contemplation of the words of his father:



	Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which

I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy

of the saints, sunk deep into my heart.



	And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I

cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and

all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did

still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.



	And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are

forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.



	And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was

swept away. And I said.. Lord, how is it done?



	And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou

hast never before heard nor seen  ....  Wherefore, go to, thy faith

hath made thee whole. [Enos 3-8]



	This has a great deal to do with the statement of Joseph Smith

quoted earlier about the promises that were given to the ancient

Saints. Enos first received the promise that he himself would be

blessed, and then, as he continued to pray, he obtained more promises

from the Lord--first for his brethren, the Nephites, and then for the

Lamanites. This conversion experience came relatively early in his

life, but then years later, after a lifetime of following the voice of

the Spirit and fulfilling the commandments of God, he tells us of

another kind of promise that he received of the Lord:



	And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer;

for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my

mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall

I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye

blessed. there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my

Father. [Enos 27]



	Explanation of these principles by which one obtains eternal life

are found in the teachings of the Resurrected Christ to the Nephites in

3 Nephi, chapter 11, and also in chapter 27. There he refers to them as

"my doctrine" and "my gospel." But they were also given to Nephi, the

son of Lehi, many years earlier, as found in 2 Nephi, chapters 31 and

32. Nephi refers to them as "the doctrine of Christ" and "the only and

true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (2

Nephi 31:21).



	The fundamental principles in these discourses are what we all

know as the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. I quote now

from Nephi:



	Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that

your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have thy

been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should

enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism

by water: and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the

Holy Ghost. [2 Nephi 31:17]



	This is the gate by which one enters the earthly kingdom of God.

But this is only the beginning:



	And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this

strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto

you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of

Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of

him who is mighty to save.



	Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ,

having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.

Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ,

and endure to the end, behold. thus saith the Father: Ye shall have

eternal life. [2 Nephi 31:20-21]



	This message to press forward with steadfastness and feast upon

the word of Christ is the same as the counsel of our prophet to

lengthen our stride, cleanse the inner vessel, and diligently study the

Book of Mormon. If we are to receive the words of the Father giving us

the promise, "Ye shall have eternal life," as Nephi describes, we must

do these things and endure to the end.



	As Nephi had taught these things to his people, they seemed to

have difficulty understanding what they were to do after they had

entered in at the gate in order to obtain the promise of eternal life.

So he told them again in chapter 32, verse 3, that they should continue

to



feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will

tell you all things what ye should do.



And he further said,



	For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the

way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what

should do. [verse 5]



	These are the fundamental principles of the higher law for which

the Law of Moses was a precursor. They are taught in a number of

doctrinal discourses and with many examples from the lives of the

people of the Book of Mormon. We have sampled but a few. In Doctrine

and Covenants 20:9, the Lord said of the Book of Mormon that it

contains "the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and

to the Jews also."



	We are blessed beyond measure to live in a time when all of these

things have been restored, when the priesthood of God and the

ordinances of his holy temple are upon the earth again. I know that the

gospel is true. I am grateful for the heritage we have in these valleys

of the Rocky Mountains, for the Prophet Joseph Smith and his

successors, for the restoration of the keys of the priesthood and the

fulness of the gospel, and for the scriptures that bless our lives, the

stick of Joseph and the stick of Judah. I say this in the name of Jesus

Christ. Amen.





                   Our Talents--A Choice Gift of God



                         Franklin D. Richards



	Elder Franklin D. Richards has been a member of the Presidency of

the First Quorum of the Seventy since 1976, and before that he served

as an Assistant to the Council of the Twelve. At the time of his call

as a General Authority, he was presiding over the Northwestern States

Mission, headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Since then he served as

president of the temple in Washington, D.C. Released from that position

in January, he is now a counselor in the Utah North Area presidency and

serves on the committee for the Cancellation of Sealings and

Restoration of Blessings.



	Born in Ogden, Utah, Elder Richards graduated from Weber Academy

and the University of Utah, where he received his LL.B. degree in 1923.

He practiced law in Utah until 1934, when he was named first Utah

director of the Federal Housing Administration. Later, when he was

appointed National Commissioner of FHA, he relocated in Washington,

D.C. In 1953, after eighteen years of public service, he resigned as

FHA commissioner and entered the mortgage banking business in

Washington, D.C., and Salt Lake City.



 	He and his wife, Helen Kearnes, are the parents of two sons and

two daughters. 



	This devotional talk was given on 5 August 1986 in the deJong

Concert Hall.



	My dear fellow students, I am honored to speak to you this summer

morning and approach this assignment with a humble heart and pray for

the Spirit of the Lord to guide me in the things I say to you. 



	You have made a very wise choice in determining to further your

education; I commend you all for attending this great university. For

many of you I am sure it must have been a difficult choice because of

attractive alternatives in life or possibly because of the lack of

funds. But you chose wisely, and I counsel you to have the courage to

continue to pursue your goal, regardless of obstacles that may be

placed in your path.



The Greatest Teacher



	You have many outstanding teachers in this important university,

but today I would like to refer to the greatest teacher of them all,

our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus did much of his teaching by the

use of parables. In teaching in this manner he used familiar

illustrations, such as farmers, seeds, sowing weeds and thorns,

harvests, shepherds, sheep and wolves, and many other illustrations

familiar to those he was teaching.



	A beautiful example is the parable of the sower:



Behold, a sower went forth to sow;



	And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls

came and devoured them up:



	Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and

forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:



	And when the sun was up, they were scorched.. and because they had

no root, they withered away.



	And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked

them:



	But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an

hundredfold, some sixty, some thirtyfold. [Matthew 13:3-8]



	This parable given by the Savior provides one of the great lessons

of life. We are also told that "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he

also reap" (Galatians 6:7).



	In the parable given, the sower had a choice to make--whether to

prepare the soil for the seed or take a chance and sow the seed without

preparing the ground, hoping that the seed would fall on good ground.

He was, however, careless and chose to take a chance, sowing without

preparing the soil. Some seeds fell by the wayside and were eaten by

the birds. Some fell among thorns and were choked out. He learned that

sowing where birds ate and where thorns choked was not profitable. Had

he prepared the soil before sowing, he could possible have reaped one

hundredfold. This sower truly witnessed the truth of the statement that

"whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." The choice he made

before sowing commenced determined to a large extent the harvest he was

to reap.



	Of course, we all have our free agency, and as the poet so ably

expressed:



Know this, that every soul is free

To choose his life and what he'll be;

For this eternal truth is giv'n:

That God will force no man to heav'n.

[Hymns, 1985, no. 240]



	Each of us has the opportunity and responsibility of deciding what

we will do and what we will be.



	Through modern revelation, God's relationship to man has again

been clarified. I ask you to seriously consider the fact that the life

of your earthly body is your spirit and that God the Eternal Father is

the father of your spirit.



	What a tremendous effect this has in the lives of those who accept

this doctrine. Our Father in Heaven loves each and every one of us and

is interested in our welfare and growth and development. In fact, it is

his work and glory "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life

of man" (Moses 1:39).



	Again, let me say that we know not only that we have a spark of

divinity within us, but that we are actually spirit children of our

Heavenly Father and that every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God

(see D&C 46:11).



	With this relationship, we are thus blessed with many talents and

possess great possibilities. The Savior set our greatest goal for us

when he said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in

Heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). To become perfect requires growth

and development, and as we contemplate perfection, we recognize that

growth is the greatest phenomenon of this existence.



	This Church teaches the value and necessity of eternal

progression. We progressed in the premortal existence, and it is our

responsibility and opportunity to progress in this estate and

throughout all eternity. During his earthly ministry the Savior gave

two parables dealing with the requirement that we must develop the

talents with which we are endowed. These parables are the parable of

the entrusted talents and the parable of the pounds.



	The talent was an ancient weight and money unit.



	The dictionary defines talent as "the abilities, powers, and gifts

bestowed upon a man; natural endowments; thought of as a divine trust.

A natural capacity or gift."



	The parable of the entrusted talents was given to the Savior's

apostles, and in it the Savior told of a man who was about to leave on

a long trip and who, therefore, called his servants together and gave

them his goods. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to

another one. To each man he gave according to his ability.



	While the master was away, the one that received five talents put

them to use and made five more talents. The one that received two

talents put them to use and made two more. But the one that received

the one talent hid it in the ground.



	After a period of time, the master returned and asked for an

accounting. Unto the servants that had doubled their talents the master

said, "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful

over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou

into the joy of thy lord" (Matthew 25:23).



	The master called the servant that hid his talent and did not

multiply it a slothful servant, and said he would take the one talent

from him and give it to the servant that had ten talents.



	Whereas the parable of the entrusted talents was given to his

apostles, the parable of the pounds was given to a mixed multitude on

the Savior's last journey from Jericho to Jerusalem (see Luke 19), and

although there are some differences in the two parables, in essence

they teach the same truths and principles.



	From the man endowed with many talents more was expected than from

the men with lesser talents, yet all were expected to multiply such

talents as they were given. In each parable, although relatively little

was expected of the men given one talent or one pound, each failed to

use his talent. Good use of the talent on the part of the man given one

talent was just as important and necessary as on the part of the men

given two and five talents.



	In this dispensation the Lord has been equally direct in his

charge to his children. He has told us that he has given us many

things, "For the benefit of the church of the living God, that every

man may improve upon his talents, that every man may gain other

talents, yea, even an hundred fold" (D&C 82:18).



	He has admonished us that "Of him unto whom much is given much is

required" (D&C 82:3). He also says,



	But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their

mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because

of the fear of men. Wo unto such, for mine anger is kindled against

them.



	And it shall come to pass, if they are not more faithful unto me,

it shall be taken away, even that which they have. [D&C 60:2-3]



	And then we are charged, "Thou shalt not idle away thy time,

neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known" (D&C

60:13). The Savior evidenced little regard for the slothful servant. He

expects us to work and to use our initiative. These scriptures clearly

emphasize our obligations to use and develop the gifts and talents we

have been blessed with--or shall we say to develop the spark of

divinity within us? Human experience confirms the soundness of this

doctrine.



How To



	All of us should be concerned about how to best develop our gifts

and talents. First, we should recognize our talents and make up our

minds to pay the price necessary to develop them. The price to be paid

in developing talents includes among other things faith, study, and

persistence.



	In developing faith we must never overlook the fact that we are

spirit children of God the Eternal Father and that our Father in Heaven

will assist us in developing our talents as we do our part. One way in

which he will assist us is to open up opportunities for us to use our

talents.



	Some recognize their talents, but we are told they do not use them

because of the fear of men.



	Fear destroys faith and deprives us of many blessings. This is

clearly brought out in a revelation when the Lord said,



	Ye endeavored to believe that ye should receive the blessing which

was offered unto you; but behold, verily I say unto you there were

fears in your hearts, and verily this is the reason that ye did not

receive. [D&C 67:3]



	We must therefore overcome fear. The Lord has told us that if we

are prepared, we shall not fear (see D&C 38:30).



	Preparation involves study, and we are also counseled to "seek

learning, even by study and also by faith" (D&C.88:118). President

Benson has specifically suggested that we study the Book of Mormon.



	Eternal progress involves continual study. Increased learning

gives us confidence, and confidence engenders faith, and faith banishes

fear. I therefore encourage you to never cease to study--this being an

important part of developing your talents. We should appreciate that

talents are developed by use, and they will not grow and multiply

unless they are used.



	This principle was clearly taught in the Savior's parables. As we

develop our talents, we should develop the spirit of sharing or giving,

not only with those who are closest to us but with all of God's

children. Remember the words of King Benjamin: "When ye are in the

service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God"

(Mosiah 2:17). The Lord wants us to enjoy our talents, but he also

expects us to use them for the enjoyment and benefit of others and to

build the kingdom of God.



	Today we hear much about the need of challenges for the youth as

well as for our senior citizens. Despite the fact that we are living in

a troublesome period, we are living in the dispensation of the fulness

of times, a most wonderful period in the history of the world--yes, in

a new era of growth and development. Opportunities today, for young and

old, exceed those of any other age.



	We should be grateful to live at this particular time when the

Spirit of the Lord is being poured out upon the people of the earth so

abundantly. One of the important and distinguishing features of The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that its affairs are

administered by the lay members of the Church rather than by paid

clergy.



	I have been told by some of my nonmember friends that the thing

about the Church that has impressed them the most is that it gives

every person a chance to serve regardless of his age. How true this is.



	The Church in reality is a vehicle for the growth and development

of God's children. The priesthood quorums, Primary, Young Women, Sunday

School, Relief Society, and other Church organizations in their various

activities and programs, all contribute to the development of their

members' talents and provide opportunities for them to be shared with

others.



	Thus, as stated, exciting and challenging leadership opportunities

are afforded men, women, and children of all ages to become involved in

interesting and worthwhile projects. This is not only a great

opportunity, but likewise a responsibility for Church members because

the future growth of the Church is dependent upon the development of

leaders--leaders for the general Church administration as well as for

missions, stakes, wards, priesthood quorums, auxiliaries, and other

Church organizations and activities.



	Talents may be developed in many areas of teaching, speaking,

missionary work, music, drama, dancing, athletics of many kinds, Scout

work, genealogical work, temple work, welfare programs, compassionate

service, and many other fields that might be mentioned--all

contributing to the development of talents and leadership.



Do You Feel Inadequate?



	Frequently, when a person is asked to accept a position in the

Church he is prone to say, "Oh, I can't do that. I haven't as much

experience or education as someone else who may have been serving." But

with our faith, study, work, and prayer, the Lord will make it possible

for us to accomplish things that seem impossible.



	Our measuring stick should not be someone else's accomplishments

but our own capabilities. Are we truly doing our best? Are we anxious

to develop our talents to the greatest degree and use them in building

the kingdom of God? When a person does this he develops his talents, is

happy, and grows in knowledge and spirit. The Lord will make you equal

to every task you are called upon to perform as you do your part.



	President Heber J. Grant used to frequently quote from Emerson:

"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that

the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is

increased" (Heber J. Grant, Gospel Standards, comp. G. Homer Durham

[Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1941 ], p. 355). President Grant

exemplified this principle throughout his entire life, and his

persistence no doubt played a great part in many of his

accomplishments.



	As a young man I was thrilled and inspired by the stories of this

great Church leader--how, even though seemingly lacking in some

talents, through determination and persistence he developed outstanding

skill. As a boy he was a very poor penman, and his teacher criticized

his writing, saying it was almost impossible to read. This was a

challenge to President Grant, and he practiced writing hours upon hours

until he finally became an expert penman.



Magnify Each Talent



	Recently I listened to a new convert tell in a meeting how he had

three Church assignments. First, he put the flag up each day in front

of the chapel. He then briefly explained the meaning of the flag to

him. Second, he kept the hymnbooks in repair. Here he mentioned how

these hymns were so inspiring and contained much doctrine and prophesy.

He briefly referred to the hymn "O, My Father" and its reference to a

Mother in Heaven. Third, he was a home teacher and explained what this

service can mean to both the teacher as well as to the person being

visited and taught.



	This man enjoyed and appreciated these three opportunities to

serve and was blessing the lives of others as well as magnifying his

talents.



	Sometimes we hear of someone thinking his or her assignment is not

very important. This reminds me of a young man who gave his intended

wife a diamond engagement ring. In doing so, he remarked, "It isn't

very big." Whereupon she replied, "It's as big as we make it." There

are no unimportant callings in the Church.



	This is a time of preparation for some other assignment and

responsibility. We will be given increased opportunities and

responsibilities as we serve with an eye single to the glory of God. We

will be magnified and our talents will be increased--yes, even a

hundredfold (see D&C 82:18). As we develop our talents and share them

in serving our fellowmen, we will find great peace, happiness, joy, and

contentment, as well as growth and development.



	As previously stated, we are living in a troublesome period, but

we are living in the dispensation of the fulness of times, when, in my

opinion, the Spirit of the Lord is being poured out on the face of the

earth more today than ever before.



	I am grateful that my spirit was reserved to come to this earth at

this time--in the dispensation of the fulness of times. This

dispensation was opened by one of the greatest manifestations of the

Godhead ever made to man when God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ

appeared to the boy Joseph Smith. Through the instrumentality of the

Prophet Joseph Smith, the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness was

restored, the power to act in the name of God was restored, and God's

church was reestablished upon the earth with apostles and prophets

guiding and directing the affairs of the kingdom of God on the earth

today.



	I bear you my witness that our beloved prophet, Ezra Taft Benson,

is guiding this Church under the direction of our Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ. Most of you have this same testimony. What a tremendous effect

this knowledge has in the lives of those who accept his doctrine. We

know that our Father in Heaven loves us and is interested in our

welfare, growth, and development. Yes, he has said, "This is my work

and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man"

(Moses 1:39).



	May we live the gospel principles and follow the counsel of our

leaders, and may the choice blessings of our Father in Heaven be with

you, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.