What is priesthood? … I shall briefly answer that it is the government of God, whether on the earth or in the heavens, for it is by that power, agency, or principle that all things are governed on the earth and in the heavens, and by that power that all things are upheld and sustained. It governs all things—it directs all things—it sustains all things—and has to do with all things that God and truth are associated with. It is the power of God delegated to intelligences in the heavens and to men on the earth; and when we arrive in the celestial kingdom of God, we shall find the most perfect order and harmony existing, because there is the perfect pattern, the most perfect order of government carried out, and when or wherever those principles have been developed in the earth, in proportion as they have spread and been acted upon, just in that proportion have they produced blessings and salvation to the human family. And when the government of God shall be more extensively adopted, and when Jesus’ prayer, that he taught his disciples, is answered, and God’s kingdom comes on the earth, and his will is done here as in heaven [see Matthew 6:10], then, and not till then, will universal love, peace, harmony, and union prevail.
Thursday, April 30, 2026
the teacher or deacon who fulfils his duties is a great deal more honorable than a president or any of the twelve who does not.”
He encouraged all priesthood holders to attend to their duties and magnify their callings, stating that “the teacher or deacon who fulfils his duties is a great deal more honorable than a president or any of the twelve who does not.”
It is not enough for us to be connected with the Zion of God, for the Zion of God must consist of men that are pure in heart and pure in life and spotless before God, at least that is what we have got to arrive at.
There is something that goes a little further than we think about sometimes; and that is, while we profess to be followers of the Lord, while we profess to have received the Gospel and to be governed by it, a profession will amount to nothing unless we have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. It is not enough for us to be connected with the Zion of God, for the Zion of God must consist of men that are pure in heart and pure in life and spotless before God, at least that is what we have got to arrive at. We are not there yet, but we must get there before we shall be prepared to inherit glory and exaltation;
Sunday Latter-Day Saints ONLY
It is customary for men in the world from which we have gathered out, to talk on Sunday about spiritual things, when they are dressed in their Sunday coats and at meeting, and then on Monday to pack up their religion with their Sunday clothes in their trunks, to have nothing more to do with it until next Sunday. … O, the folly of man in not acknowledging God in all things, in laying aside God and his religion, and trusting in their own judgment and intelligence.
Sabbath Day Observance and Covetousness
Too many of us feel after the world. Can the world give you the light that you have received, and the gospel and the hopes of heaven you have received, and the priesthood you have received? And will you barter these things for a mess of pottage, and wallow in the filth, corruption, iniquity, and evils which abound in the world? What have we come here for? To worship God and to keep his commandments. And how is it with many of us? We forget, in many instances, our high calling’s glorious hope, and we give way to follies, foibles, weakness, and iniquity, and we are governed more or less by covetousness, drunkenness, Sabbath-breaking, and evils of various kinds. I sometimes see Elders of Israel bringing in loads of wood and loads of hay on the Sabbath day. Why, it is a burning shame in the eyes of God, holy angels, and all other intelligent beings. … What do you think about a lying Elder, a swearing High Priest, a Sabbath-breaking Seventy, and a covetous Saint? The souls of such men ought to be inspired with the light of revelation, and they ought to be living witnesses, epistles known and read of all men! Do you think you can live your religion, have the Spirit of God and obtain eternal life, and follow after these things? I tell you nay.
Do you ever quarrel with your brethren, or act in such a way as to get up feelings, and perhaps speak harsh words one about another, and in other ways do that which is wrong, and then meet together in solemn mockery before God and eat condemnation to your souls
We ought to be careful that we do not partake of these emblems [of the sacrament] to our condemnation. Do you ever quarrel with your brethren, or act in such a way as to get up feelings, and perhaps speak harsh words one about another, and in other ways do that which is wrong, and then meet together in solemn mockery before God and eat condemnation to your souls? We want to be careful about these things; and hence we should understand that when we bring our gift to the altar, and there remember that we have ought against our brother, we should first go and be reconciled to him and then come and offer our gift [see Matthew 5:23–24]. Not come in any kind of hypocrisy, but come with clean hands and pure hearts, and feel to say “O God search me and try me and prove me, and if there is any way of wickedness in me, let it depart, and let me be thy true representative upon the earth, and let me partake of the spirit that dwelleth in Christ, and live in the enjoyment of that upon the earth; that when he comes again I, with my brethren, may meet him with clean hands and pure hearts.”
I expect this just as much as I expect to eat my supper tonight.
We break bread and eat, and we drink water in the presence of each other every Sabbath day, and we do it in remembrance of the broken body and shed blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and this we will continue to do until he comes again. When he does come, the Latter-day Saints expect to be among that favored number that will eat and drink with him at his own table in our Father’s kingdom. I expect this just as much as I expect to eat my supper tonight.
Faith in this ordinance [the Sacrament] would necessarily imply that we have faith in Jesus Christ,
It would seem that the coming of the Savior to the world, his suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension to the position he occupies in the eternal world before his Heavenly Father has a great deal to do with our interests and happiness; and hence this continued memorial that we partake of every Sabbath. This sacrament is the fulfillment of the request of Jesus Christ to his disciples. “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.” (1 Corinthians 11:26.) Faith in this ordinance would necessarily imply that we have faith in Jesus Christ, that he is the Only Begotten of the Father, that he came from the heavens to the earth to accomplish a certain purpose which God had designed—even to secure the salvation and exaltation of the human family. All this has a great deal to do with our welfare and happiness here and hereafter. The death of Jesus Christ would not have taken place had it not been necessary. That this ceremony should be instituted to keep that circumstance before the minds of his people, bespeaks its importance.
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
The Pioneers Approach of Honoring the Sabbath Day
As mentioned in the previous chapter, beginning in late June 1847, Elders John Taylor and Parley P. Pratt led a group of more than 1,500 Saints from Winter Quarters to the Salt Lake Valley. Describing the beginning of this journey, Elder B. H. Roberts wrote:
“It was late in the season for starting on such an expedition. It was too late for them to put in crops that season, even if they stopped far short of the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. They barely had provisions to last them a year and a half, and if their first crop failed, starvation must follow, for they would be from ten to fifteen hundred miles from the nearest point where food could be obtained. …
“They had their all upon the altar, including their wives and children, who must share their hardships and their fate. They knew not their destination, they entrusted all on a single venture, from which there was no chance of retreat. If they should fail to find a suitable location and raise a crop the first season, there was no getting provisions to them, nor them to provisions. They must succeed, or perish in the wilderness to which they had started.”
In spite of these perilous circumstances and the need to arrive in the Salt Lake Valley before the onset of winter, travel was halted each Sunday for observance of the Sabbath day. Elder Roberts continued, “Sunday was observed as a day of rest, religious services were held in each camp, and the stillness of the great wilderness of the west was broken by Saints singing the songs of Zion.” On 5 October 1847, the Taylor and Pratt companies safely arrived in the Salt Lake Valley and began the necessary preparations for winter.
For President John Taylor, the Sabbath was a day of worship, rest, and thoughtful recollection. He encouraged the Saints to “keep the Sabbath day holy, set it aside as a day of rest, a day of meeting together to perform your sacraments and listen to the words of life, and thus be found keeping the commandments, and setting a good example before your children.”
I am here as a candidate for eternity, for heaven and for happiness.
So far as I am personally concerned, I am here as a candidate for eternity, for heaven and for happiness. I want to secure by my acts a peace in another world that will impart that happiness and bliss for which I am seeking
Conferences of the Church (Stake Conference)
What makes us so buoyant and joyful on occasions like this? … It is because there is a union of good feelings, good desires and aspirations and one spirit inspires the whole, forming a phalanx [or organized body] of power, of faith, and of the Spirit of the Lord. A single taper [or candle] will give a light, and it is pleasant to look upon, but thousands of the same kind of light make a general illumination. With us, it is a time of union, of light, of life, of intelligence, of the Spirit of the living God; our feelings are one, our faith is one, and a great multitude possessing this oneness forms an array of power that no power on this side of earth or hell is able to cope with, or overcome.
Too great care cannot be exercised that liberty shall not degenerate into license, and not to convert that which should furnish enjoyment and simple pleasure into a means of producing unhealthful excitement or corrupting morals.
Social enjoyment and amusements are not incompatible with correct conduct and true religion. Instead of forbidding the theatre and placing it under ban, it has been the aim of the Latter-day Saints to control it and keep it free from impure influences, and to preserve it as a place where all could meet for the purpose of healthful enjoyment. Our leading men have, therefore, gone to these places with the view, by their presence, of restraining all practices and influences that would be injurious to the young and rising generation. Too great care cannot be exercised that liberty shall not degenerate into license, and not to convert that which should furnish enjoyment and simple pleasure into a means of producing unhealthful excitement or corrupting morals. … Committee-men and officers in charge should see that dances of every kind are conducted in a modest and becoming manner and that no behavior be permitted that would lead to evil or that would offend the most delicate susceptibilities
We have no idea of the excellency, beauty, harmony and symphony of the music in the heavens.
We have no idea of the excellence of the music we shall have in heaven. It may be said of that, as one of the Apostles has said in relation to something else—“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive of those things which are prepared for those who love and fear God.” [See 1 Corinthians 2:9.] We have no idea of the excellency, beauty, harmony and symphony of the music in the heavens.
the greatest happiness that we can attain to is in securing the approbation of our Heavenly Father
Latter-day Saints have always believed in finding happiness in life, whether it be through enjoying the beauty and abundance of nature, gathering for wholesome social activities, or pondering the truths of the gospel. John Taylor taught, “It is ‘life and the pursuit of happiness’ that ought to occupy the attention of all intellectual beings.” While he believed that we can experience great joy in this life, he also taught that “the greatest happiness that we can attain to is in securing the approbation of our Heavenly Father, in fearing God, in being made acquainted with his laws—with the principles of eternal truth, and with those things that we consider will best promote not only our temporal, but our eternal happiness.
We want our children to grow up intelligently, and to walk abreast with the peoples of any nation. God expects us to do it
We need to pay more attention to educational matters, and do all we can to procure the services of competent teachers. Some people say, we cannot afford to pay them. You cannot afford not to employ them. We want our children to grow up intelligently, and to walk abreast with the peoples of any nation. God expects us to do it; and therefore I call attention to this matter. I have heard intelligent practical men say, it is quite as cheap to keep a good horse as a poor one, or to raise good stock as inferior animals. Is it not quite as cheap to raise good intelligent children as to rear children in ignorance?
where people are deficient themselves in education they should strive all the more to see that the deficiency be not perpetuated in their offspring.
Train your children to be intelligent and industrious. First teach them the value of healthful bodies, and how to preserve them in soundness and vigor; teach them to entertain the highest regard for virtue and chastity and likewise encourage them to develop the intellectual faculties with which they are endowed. They should also be taught regarding the earth on which they live, its properties, and the laws that govern it; and they ought to be instructed concerning God who made the earth, and His designs and purposes in its creation and the placing of man upon it. … And whatever labor they pursue they should be taught to do so intelligently; and every incentive, at the command of parents to induce children to labor intelligently and understandingly, should be held out to them. …
where people are deficient themselves in education they should strive all the more to see that the deficiency be not perpetuated in their offspring.
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
It exists in time and will exist in eternity. This church fail? No!
This Church has the seeds of immortality in its midst. It is not of man, nor by man—it is the offspring of Deity. It is organized after the pattern of heavenly things, through the principles of revelation; by the opening of the heavens; by the ministering of angels, and the revelations of Jehovah. It is not affected by the death of one or two, or fifty individuals. It possesses a priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, having the power of an endless life, “without beginning of days or end of years.” [D&C 84:17.] It is organized for the purpose of saving this generation, and generations that are past. It exists in time and will exist in eternity. This church fail? No! Times and seasons may change, revolution may succeed revolution; thrones may be cast down; and empires be dissolved; earthquakes may rend the earth from center to circumference; the mountains may be hurled out of their places, and the mighty ocean be moved from its bed, but amidst the crash of worlds and the crack of matter, truth, eternal truth, must remain unchanged, and those principles which God has revealed to his saints be unscathed amidst the warring elements, and remain as firm as the throne of Jehovah.
the new and everlasting Gospel; new to the world at present, because of their traditions, their follies and weaknesses, and their creeds, opinions and notions, but everlasting because it existed with God,
The Lord had his designs in relation to the earth and the inhabitants thereof, and in these last days he saw proper to reveal and restore, through his servant Joseph Smith, what we term the new and everlasting Gospel; new to the world at present, because of their traditions, their follies and weaknesses, and their creeds, opinions and notions, but everlasting because it existed with God, and because it existed with him before the world was, and will continue when change shall have succeeded change upon this earth, and when the earth shall have been redeemed and all things made new, and while life and thought and being last, and immortality endures.
eternal truth, is invulnerable.
But truth, eternal truth, is invulnerable. It cannot be destroyed, but like the throne of Jehovah, it will outride all the storms of men, and live for ever.
[Joseph Smith's] private and public character was unimpeachable
I was acquainted with Joseph Smith for years. I have traveled with him; I have been with him in private and in public; I have associated with him in councils of all kinds; I have listened hundreds of times to his public teachings, and his advice to his friends and associates of a more private nature. I have been at his house and seen his deportment in his family. I have seen him arraigned before the tribunals of his country, and have seen him honorably acquitted, and delivered from the pernicious breath of slander, and the machinations and falsehoods of wicked and corrupt men. I was with him living, and with him when he died, when he was murdered in Carthage jail by a ruthless mob. …
I have seen him, then, under these various circumstances, and I testify before God, angels, and men, that he was a good, honorable, virtuous man—that his doctrines were good, scriptural, and wholesome—that his precepts were such as became a man of God—that his private and public character was unimpeachable—and that he lived and died as a man of God and a gentleman. This is my testimony. If it is disputed, bring me a person authorized to receive an affidavit, and I will make one to this effect. I therefore testify of things which I know and of things which I have seen.
I knew the Bible from A to Z....but did not know the first principle of the gospel of Christ
I did not know that it was necessary to be baptised for the remission of sins until the gospel taught it to me, yet I knew the Bible from A to Z. I could read a great many things in the prophecies, and make calculations about the millennium and the gathering of Israel, but did not know the first principle of the gospel of Christ; and there is not a man here that knew them. I have traveled extensively in the world and have never met with a priest, or scientific man that knew the first principles of the gospel of Christ in any country.
If the work was true six months ago, it is true today; if Joseph Smith was then a prophet, he is now a prophet
In March 1837, John Taylor went to Kirtland, Ohio, and had the opportunity to meet the Prophet Joseph Smith for the first time and learn more about the principles of the newly restored gospel. At the time of John Taylor’s visit to Kirtland, many Church members had become critical of the Prophet Joseph. Even some members of the Quorum of the Twelve were caught up in this dissenting spirit, including Parley P. Pratt, who had initially taught John Taylor the gospel. When Elder Pratt approached him and shared some of his doubts about the Prophet, Brother Taylor replied:
“I am surprised to hear you speak so, Brother Parley. Before you left Canada you bore a strong testimony to Joseph Smith being a Prophet of God, and to the truth of the work he has inaugurated; and you said you knew these things by revelation, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. You gave to me a strict charge to the effect that though you or an angel from heaven was to declare anything else I was not to believe it. Now Brother Parley, it is not man that I am following, but the Lord. The principles you taught me led me to Him, and I now have the same testimony that you then rejoiced in. If the work was true six months ago, it is true today; if Joseph Smith was then a prophet, he is now a prophet.” To Elder Pratt’s credit, he soon repented of his feelings and continued to be a valiant servant of the Lord
I wish to benefit the human family. If Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost, let me be possessed of the same spirit
There are lots of able-bodied men who, if they could only have a little more faith in God, and could realize the calamities that are coming upon the earth, and the responsibilities of that priesthood that God has conferred upon them, they would be ready to break all barriers and say, Here I am, send me; I wish to benefit the human family. If Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost, let me be possessed of the same spirit.
I have a great deal more confidence in men who rise here feeling their weakness and inability, than I have in those who feel that they are well informed and capable of teaching anything and everything.
I have a great deal more confidence in men who rise here feeling their weakness and inability, than I have in those who feel that they are well informed and capable of teaching anything and everything. Why? Because when men trust to themselves they trust in a broken reed; and when they trust in the Lord they will never fail. … The Lord is over all, He watches over His people, and if these brethren will continue to trust in God … , His Spirit will rest upon them, enlighten their minds, enlarge their capacities and give to them wisdom and intelligence in time of need. They need not be under any apprehension with regard to the wisdom of the world; for there is no wisdom in the world equal to that which the Lord gives to His Saints; and as long as these brethren keep from evil, live their religion, and cleave to the Lord by keeping His commandments, there is no fear as to the results; and this will apply to all the Saints as well as to these brethren.
When they are called upon to take a part in the drama themselves, many of them will wish they had paid more attention
We are told in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants to search after wisdom as we would for hidden treasures, both by study and by faith; to become acquainted with the history and laws of the nation we live in, and of the nations of the earth [see D&C 88:78–80, 118]. I know that when young men are working around here, going to the canyon, working on the farm, going to the theatre, and so on, their minds are not much occupied with these things; but when they are called upon to take a part in the drama themselves, many of them will wish they had paid more attention to the instructions they have received, and had made themselves more familiar with the Bible, Book of Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.
The kind of men we want as bearers of this gospel message are men who have faith in God; men who have faith in their religion; men who honor their priesthood; men in whom the people who know them have faith and in whom God has confidence. … We want men full of the Holy Ghost and the power of God. … Men who bear the words of life among the nations, ought to be men of honor, integrity, virtue and purity; and this being the command of God to us, we shall try and carry it out.
We go forth in the name of Israel’s God
There is a very great difference between our mode of promulgating the gospel, and that pursued by the world. Many of these men … would be very unlikely instruments for preaching the gospel according to popular notions; but the grand difference between us and them is that we go forth in the name of Israel’s God, sustained by His power, wisdom and intelligence, to proclaim the principles of eternal truth communicated to us by Him; while they go forth to proclaim what they have learned in colleges.
Monday, April 27, 2026
I think we ought to wake up and be alive, and endeavor to pursue a course that will secure the smile and approbation of the Almighty. …
Are we preparing our children for this time, and spreading an influence around us wherever we go to lead people in the paths of life and lift them up to God? Or are we taking a downward course—come day, go day, just as it happens? I think we ought to wake up and be alive, and endeavor to pursue a course that will secure the smile and approbation of the Almighty. …
let our word always be as good as our bond;
We should be strictly honest, one with another, and with all men; let our word always be as good as our bond; avoid all ostentation of pride and vanity; and be meek, lowly, and humble; be full of integrity and honor; and deal justly and righteously with all men.
God expects to have a people who will be men of clean hands and pure hearts....he expects us to be Saints, not in name, not in theory, but in reality.
God expects to have a people who will be men of clean hands and pure hearts, who withhold their hands from the receiving of bribes, … who will be men of truth and integrity, of honor and virtue, and who will pursue a course that will be approved by the Gods in the eternal worlds, and by all honorable and upright men that ever did live or that now live, and having taken upon us the profession of sainthood, he expects us to be Saints, not in name, not in theory, but in reality.
Every Latter-day Saint always knew beforehand, on occasions when firmness and courage were needed, where President John Taylor would be found and what his tone would be
Every Latter-day Saint always knew beforehand, on occasions when firmness and courage were needed, where President John Taylor would be found and what his tone would be. He met every issue squarely, boldly and in a way to call forth the admiration of all who saw and heard him. Undaunted courage, unyielding firmness were among his most prominent characteristics. … He was a man whom all could trust.
Becoming a Faithful High Priest
It was necessary, when the Savior was upon the earth, that he should be tempted in all points, like unto us, and “be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” [Hebrews 4:15] to comprehend the weaknesses and strength, the perfections and imperfections of poor fallen human nature. And having accomplished the thing he came into the world to do; having had to grapple with the hypocrisy, corruption, weakness, and imbecility of man; having met with temptation and trial in all its various forms, and overcome; he has become a “faithful high priest” [Hebrews 2:17] to intercede for us in the everlasting kingdom of his Father.
Each Time One Sacrifices Once Prefigures the Price to Be Accounted for At Judgment
The Savior thus becomes master of the situation—the debt is paid, the redemption made, the covenant fulfilled, justice satisfied, the will of God done, and all power is now given into the hands of the Son of God—the power of the resurrection, the power of the redemption, the power of salvation, the power to enact laws for the carrying out and accomplishment of this design. Hence life and immortality are brought to light, the Gospel is introduced, and He becomes the author of eternal life and exaltation. He is the Redeemer, the Resurrector, the Savior of man and the world. …
The plan, the arrangement, the agreement, the covenant was made, entered into and accepted before the foundation of the world; it was prefigured by sacrifices, and was carried out and consummated on the cross.
Hence being the mediator between God and man, He becomes by right the dictator and director on earth and in heaven for the living and for the dead, for the past, the present and the future, pertaining to man as associated with this earth or the heavens, in time or eternity, the Captain of our salvation, the Apostle and High-Priest of our profession, the Lord and Giver of life.
Sunday, April 26, 2026
We are told that “without shedding of blood is no remission” of sins [Hebrews 9:22]. This is beyond our comprehension.
We are told that “without shedding of blood is no remission” of sins [Hebrews 9:22]. This is beyond our comprehension.
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Now, we have nothing particular to promise you
I remember when I had the Gospel first preached to me—before I was baptized; I heard a lecture something like this: “Now, we have nothing particular to promise you, only the favor of God if you will live righteously and keep His commandments. You may be persecuted, afflicted, imprisoned or put to death for the testimony you may have to bear, for the religion you are called upon to obey; but we can promise to you that inasmuch as this is the case you will have eternal life.”
God does take care of us, and I feel all the day long like blessing the name of the God of Israel; and if we fear God and work righteousness, … we, the people of Zion, will be the richest of all people
Our safety and happiness and our wealth depend upon our obedience to God and His laws, and our exaltation in time and eternity depends upon the same thing. If we have means placed in our hands we will ask our Father to enable us to do what is right with it, and, as I have said, we will ask Him for our daily bread, and thank Him for it; just the same as the children of Israel did. They had manna brought to them from time to time by the angels. I do not know what kind of mills they had or who were their bakers; but they brought the manna. “He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack.” [Exodus 16:18.] I think that is the case sometimes with us. The angels do not feed us exactly with manna, but God does take care of us, and I feel all the day long like blessing the name of the God of Israel; and if we fear God and work righteousness, … we, the people of Zion, will be the richest of all people.
Chapter 4: Obedience, a Sacred Duty
Where there is not a feeling of obedience, the Spirit of God will be withdrawn.
If the Lord can have a people to listen to his law, there may be a chance to establish his kingdom upon the earth. If not, the only way he can establish his kingdom is to remove them from the earth, or give up his kingdom until another time; for it is impossible to establish his kingdom without having a people obedient to him. …
… Where there is not a feeling of obedience, the Spirit of God will be withdrawn. People cannot retain it and be in rebellion against the authorities and counsels of the church and kingdom of God.
I will be damned if I don’t do as I please, etc.” Well, I will tell you another part of that story. You will be damned if you do act as you please, unless you please to do and to keep the laws of God.
The world says, No, he has no right; I am my own master; I am an independent being; I will take my own course, etc. Some of the Latter-day Saints almost say the same thing; not quite, but they would like to get near it. “I am a free man; I will be damned if I don’t do as I please, etc.” Well, I will tell you another part of that story. You will be damned if you do act as you please, unless you please to do and to keep the laws of God. We cannot violate his laws with impunity nor trample under foot these eternal principles which exist in all nature. If all nature is compelled to be governed by law or suffer loss, why not man?
We cannot run our own way and have the blessing of God. Every one who attempts it will find he is mistaken. God will withdraw his Spirit from such, and they will be left to themselves to wander in the dark, and go down to perdition. It is expected of us that we shall move on a higher plane, that we shall feel that we are the children of God, that God is our Father, and he will not be dishonored by disobedient children, or by those who fight against his laws and his priesthood. He expects us to live our religion, to obey His laws and keep His commandments.
Prepare them for an association with the Gods in the eternal worlds.
He taught that it was written in the law in olden times, that there should be “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:” but, says He, “I say unto you … Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” [See Matthew 5:38–39, 44–45.] These were principles worthy of a God; these were feelings that if cherished by the human family, would elevate them from that low, groveling position in which they are laboring, would place them on a more elevated platform, would bring them into communion with their Heavenly Father and prepare them for an association with the Gods in the eternal worlds.
Units in Righteousness and Friendship
We should operate for one another’s interest, having sympathetic feelings for each other. We are supposed to be brethren in the church and kingdom of God, knit together by the indissoluble ties of the everlasting Gospel, not for time only, but for eternity. Hence all our operations should be for that end, founded on the principles of righteousness and friendship.
That is the proper way to do things. In receiving blessings ourselves, try to distribute them,
I would a great deal rather that you would take, say a sack of flour, some beef, … sugar, some butter and cheese, and clothing, and fuel, and such comforts and conveniences of life, and thus try to make people feel happy, than all the prayers you could offer up to the Lord about it; and he would rather see it too. That is the proper way to do things. In receiving blessings ourselves, try to distribute them, and God will bless and guide us in the ways of peace.
God has committed to us the gospel and the high priesthood, which is not intended, as some suppose, to bring men into bondage or to tyrannize over the consciences of men, but to make all men free as God is free
God has committed to us the gospel and the high priesthood, which is not intended, as some suppose, to bring men into bondage or to tyrannize over the consciences of men, but to make all men free as God is free; that they may drink of the streams “whereof shall make glad the city of God;” [Psalm 46:4] that they may be elevated and not debased; that they may be purified and not corrupted; that they may learn the laws of life and walk in them, and not walk in the ways of corruption and go down to death.
Monday, April 20, 2026
the object and aim of inspired men in former days...this is what we are after
This is what we are after, and what the ancient Saints were after. This is what Adam, Noah, Enoch, Abraham and the prophets were after, that they might fulfil their destiny on the earth, and, as one of the old prophets said, “stand in their lot in the end of days,” [see Daniel 12:13] when the books should be opened, when the great white throne should appear and he who sits upon it, before whose face the heavens and the earth fled away; that we and they, and they and we might be prepared, having fulfilled the measure of our creation on the earth, to associate with the intelligences that exist in the eternal worlds; be admitted again to the presence of our Father, whence we came, and participate in those eternal realities which mankind, without revelation, know nothing about. We are here for that purpose; … we are building temples for that purpose; we are receiving endowments for that purpose; we are making covenants for that purpose; we are administering for the living and the dead for that purpose, and all our objects, and all our aims, like the object and aim of inspired men in former days, are altogether with reference to eternal realities as well as to time. …
This is what we are after, and we shall accomplish it, and no man can stop it, no organization, no power, no authority, for God is at the helm, and his kingdom is onward, onward, onward, and it will continue, and grow and increase until the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ.
They have a right to think as they please; and so have we.
We get up sometimes a very rash feeling against people who do not think as we do. They have a right to think as they please; and so have we. Therefore, if a man does not believe as I do, that is none of my business. And if I do not believe as he does, that is none of his business. Would you protect a man that did not believe as you do? Yes, to the last bat’s end. He should have equal justice with me; and then I would expect to be protected in my rights
God will be on the side of Israel, if Israel will only be on the side of right.
God will be on the side of Israel, if Israel will only be on the side of right.
That Old Windbag
John Taylor exemplified warmth, kindness, and good humor. His son Ezra Oakley Taylor recalled the following experience:
“As I was growing up, it was the custom to hold Sunday afternoon meetings in the Tabernacle. All of us were expected to be there, and at a later time be able to report as to who gave the sermon, what it was about, who gave the prayers, and what hymns were sung. This particular Sunday, some of us decided to skip just this once and to get one of our friends to give us the necessary information. Then came the [family] council and sure enough Father asked me about the sermon, and who gave it. All prepared, my friend said he couldn’t remember very well, I repeated his words, ‘Oh, it was some old windbag, and I can’t remember his name, but it was surely uninteresting.’ With a twinkle in his eye, Father said, ‘That old windbag was your father’ and continued with the council meeting.
I have a desire, when anything comes along, to learn the will of God, and then to do it.
In the fall of 1837, John Taylor received word from Joseph Smith to move to Far West, Missouri, to fill a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (he was formally ordained in December 1838). Referring to the prospect of serving as an Apostle, John Taylor stated: “The work seemed great, the duties arduous and responsible. I felt my own weakness and littleness; but I felt determined, the Lord being my helper, to endeavor to magnify it.” Humility before God and a commitment to seek His guidance would become hallmarks of Elder Taylor’s service. After he became President of the Church, he told the Saints: “I have no ideas only as God gives them to me; neither should you. Some people are very persistent in having their own way and carrying out their own peculiar theories. I have no thoughts of that kind, but I have a desire, when anything comes along, to learn the will of God, and then to do it.”
a charge like an electrical shock
Shortly after joining the Church, John Taylor was called to serve as the Church’s presiding officer in Canada, a position he held for a little over a year. His duties required a significant amount of travel, but he tirelessly preached the gospel and oversaw many spiritual and temporal matters relating to the Church there. During this time one of his greatest desires was to meet the Prophet Joseph Smith. In March 1837 he traveled to Kirtland, Ohio, where he was received at the home of the Prophet. He described feeling “a charge like an electrical shock” when he took the Prophet by the hand in greeting. At the Smith home, the Prophet taught him many more truths related to the latter-day work. The two men quickly formed a bond of friendship and trust that would never be broken.
Many a time I have gone into the fields and concealing myself behind some bush, would bow before the Lord and call upon Him to guide and direct me. And He heard my prayer. … That was the spirit that I had when a little boy
“At [an] early period of my life I learned to approach God,” he told Latter-day Saints after he became President of the Church. “Many a time I have gone into the fields and concealing myself behind some bush, would bow before the Lord and call upon Him to guide and direct me. And He heard my prayer. … That was the spirit that I had when a little boy. … My spirit was drawn out after God then; and I feel the same yet.”
Saturday, April 18, 2026
How Your Family Can Flourish
Families flourish when they learn as a group and counsel together on all matters of concern to the family and its members.
Family Camping
Parents also have a duty to teach their children practical knowledge apart from gospel principles. Families unite when they do meaningful things together. Family gardens build family relationships. Happy family experiences strengthen family ties. Camping, sports activities, and other recreation are especially valuable to bond families. Families should organize family reunions to remember ancestors, which lead to the temple.
Remedy for Selfishness
Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is our ultimate role model. We will be blessed if we model our lives after His teachings and self-sacrifice. Following Christ and giving ourselves in service to one another is the best remedy for the selfishness and individualism that now seem to be so common.
The Family Circle Is the Ideal Place to Learn Eternal Values
The family circle is the ideal place to demonstrate and learn eternal values, such as the importance of marriage and children, the purpose of life, and the true source of joy. It is also the best place to learn other essential lessons of life, such as kindness, forgiveness, self-control, and the value of education and honest work
We Are a Family Church
I know that many other families are not so happy, but every single mother can teach of the love of a Heavenly Father and the eventual blessings of a temple marriage. You too can do this! Heavenly Father’s plan assures this possibility for everyone. We are all grateful for temple marriage and for the prospective blessings of being sealed as an eternal family. Like my mother, we love to quote Lehi’s promise to his son Jacob that God “shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain” (2 Nephi 2:2). That applies to every Latter-day Saint family, complete or currently incomplete. We are a family church.
Her powerful teaching of the doctrine of the restored Church guided us.
her powerful teaching of the doctrine of the restored Church guided us.
It is vital that Latter-day Saints do not lose their understanding of the purpose of marriage and the value of childre
It is vital that Latter-day Saints do not lose their understanding of the purpose of marriage and the value of children. That is the future for which we strive. “Exaltation is a family affair,” President Nelson has taught us. “Only through the saving ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ can families be exalted.”
The Church of Jesus Christ is sometimes known as a family-centered church. It is!
The Church of Jesus Christ is sometimes known as a family-centered church. It is! Our relationship to God and the purpose of our mortal life are explained in terms of the family. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the plan of our Heavenly Father for the benefit of His spirit children. We can truly say that the gospel plan was first taught to us in the council of an eternal family, it is implemented through our mortal families, and its intended destiny is to exalt the children of God in eternal families.
The doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints centers on the family
The doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints centers on the family. Essential to our doctrine on the family is the temple. The ordinances received there enable us to return as eternal families to the presence of our Heavenly Father.
I received renewed confirmation through studying the scriptures and praying to stay true to the covenants
After I was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, some friends tried to convince me that I had made the wrong decision. But each time I faced such doubts or opposition, I received renewed confirmation through studying the scriptures and praying to stay true to the covenants I had entered into with God. Since then, the Book of Mormon has been my companion and has become an immeasurable treasure in my mortal journey.
The Secret's Called the Scriptures
Scriptures Are God’s Recipes for Happy Living.” I immediately clicked on that two-minute video and watched President Nelson teach a group of Primary kids a simple and powerful message about how to be happy. He taught: “If you’re making a cake, you follow the directions, don’t you? And you’ll get a good result every time, won’t you?”
He continued, speaking about turning 95 years old soon: “People say, ‘What do you eat? What’s your secret?’” He replied, “The secret’s called the scriptures. You might read them and try them.”
Well, there we have it. The simple secret for happy living is to just follow God’s recipe as detailed in the scriptures. I call it the “Good News Recipe.”
What do you do if something goes wrong when following the recipe? Well, embedded in the Good News Recipe is the “secret ingredient” to ensure you always get it right in the end. The answer is always Jesus Christ.
I think we all have moments when we feel our ingredients are not good enough, or we struggle to follow the directions, or perhaps we do something out of order, or something happens that is out of our control, and so on.
What’s the remedy? It’s simply to add more of what invites Jesus Christ into your life.
When and Not If We Sin and Repentance
See Doctrine and Covenants 109:21–22. The phrase “when thy people transgress, any of them” uses the word “when,” not “if.” This suggests that the Savior realizes that we will all transgress, make mistakes, and sin. But the plan is that we “speedily repent” to be “restored to the blessings” we have been promised.
Dale G. Renlund, General Conference October 2025, Footnote 24
The Greatest Sermons
Perhaps the greatest sermons are the ones we never hear but those we see in the quiet, unassuming actions and deeds observed in the lives of ordinary people who, trying to be like Jesus, go about doing good
Friday, April 17, 2026
We have not been blessed with moral agency to do whatever we want whenever we wil
A familiar hymn is titled “Choose the Right” for a reason. We have not been blessed with moral agency to do whatever we want whenever we will. Rather, according to the Father’s plan, we have received moral agency to seek after and act in accordance with eternal truth. As “agents unto [ourselves],” we should engage anxiously in good causes, “do many things of [our] own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness.”
they are evidence that He loves you enough to refine and strengthen you
Brothers and sisters, your proving and strengthening may not look like Moroni’s or Jacob’s or the Prophet Joseph’s. But it will come. It may come quietly, through the trials of family life. It may come through illness or disappointment or grief or loneliness.
I bear witness that these moments are not evidence that the Lord has abandoned you. Rather, they are evidence that He loves you enough to refine and strengthen you. He is making you strong enough to carry the weight of eternal life.
If we remain faithful in our service, the Lord will refine us. He will strengthen us. And one day we will look back and see that those very trials were evidence of His love. We will see that He was shaping us to be able to stand with Him in glory. As the Lord’s Apostle Paul stated at the end of his own life, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
I testify that God knows you. He knows the trials you face. He is with you. He will not forsake you. I testify that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is our strength, our Redeemer, our hope. If we trust Him, He will make our spiritual power equal to every trial we are called to bear. I so testify in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
I Went to Work
Long ago I sought to learn physics and mathematics in my college years. I felt overwhelmed. I began to feel that I was trying to learn something that was beyond me. The more I felt overwhelmed, the less I felt the strength to keep trying. My discouragement led me to feel that my efforts were almost fruitless. I began to think of quitting, of doing something easier.
I felt weak. As I prayed, I felt the quiet assurance of the Lord. I felt Him say to my mind, “I am proving you, but I am also with you.”
I did not know then all that those words meant. But I knew what to do—I went to work.
By pondering and working during the years that followed, I came to understand this message of encouragement in the scriptures: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
I learned that my struggle with physics was actually a gift from the Lord. He was teaching me that with His help, I could do things that seemed impossible if I had the faith that He would be there to help me. Through this gift, the Lord was working to prove and strengthen me.
Thursday, April 16, 2026
Being Cutoff From the Presence of the Lord
Remember that in the Book of Mormon promise, the opposite of prosperity was not poverty—it was being cut off from the presence of the Lord. His presence refers to the influence of His Spirit in one’s life. All are imbued with the Light of Christ as they come into the world. In addition, some act to be baptized and receive the gift and added light of the Holy Ghost. He brings inspiration and guidance, enhances and refines one’s native gifts and abilities, and helps to avoid evil influences, poor decisions, and dead ends.
The Holy Ghost brings inspiration and guidance, enhances and refines one’s native gifts and abilities, and helps to avoid evil influences, poor decisions, and dead ends
He brings inspiration and guidance, enhances and refines one’s native gifts and abilities, and helps to avoid evil influences, poor decisions, and dead ends
Living the doctrine of Christ can produce the most powerful virtuous cycle, creating spiritual momentum in our lives.
Overcoming the world is not an event that happens in a day or two. It happens over a lifetime as we repeatedly embrace the doctrine of Christ. We cultivate faith in Jesus Christ by repenting daily and keeping covenants that endow us with power. We stay on the covenant path and are blessed with spiritual strength, personal revelation, increasing faith, and the ministering of angels. Living the doctrine of Christ can produce the most powerful virtuous cycle, creating spiritual momentum in our lives.
As we strive to live the higher laws of Jesus Christ, our hearts and our very natures begin to change. The Savior lifts us above the pull of this fallen world by blessing us with greater charity, humility, generosity, kindness, self-discipline, peace, and rest.
He never allowed anger to inflame His heart, nor did aggressive, offensive, or profane words escape His lips
Jesus Christ, the greatest of all, suffered for us until He bled from every pore, yet He never allowed anger to inflame His heart, nor did aggressive, offensive, or profane words escape His lips, even amid such affliction. With perfect temperance and unmatched meekness,
Temperance
cultivating temperance is a meaningful way to protect our souls against the subtle yet constant spiritual erosion caused by worldly influences that can weaken our foundation in Jesus Christ.
Among the qualities that adorn true disciples of Christ, temperance stands out as a reflection of the Savior Himself, a precious fruit of the Spirit, available to all who open themselves to divine influence. It is the virtue that brings harmony to the heart, shaping desires and emotions with wisdom and calmness. In the scriptures, temperance is presented as an essential part of the progress in our spiritual journey, leading us toward patience, godliness, and compassion while refining our feelings, our words, and our actions.
Disciples of Christ who strive to cultivate this Christlike attribute become increasingly humble and full of love. A serene strength arises in them, and they become better capable of restraining anger, nurturing patience, and treating others with tolerance, respect, and dignity, even when the winds of adversity blow fiercely. They strive not to act impulsively but choose to act with spiritual wisdom, guided by meekness and the gentle influence of the Holy Spirit. In this way, they become less vulnerable to spiritual erosion because, as the Apostle Paul taught, they know that they can do all things through Christ, who strengthens them even in the face of trials that could shake their testimony of Him.
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
. Since those first experiences, I suppose I have had a thousand—ten thousand?
Now, brothers and sisters, I came to my whole-souled conviction that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a true restoration of the New Testament Church—and more—because I could not deny the evidence of that restoration. Since those first experiences, I suppose I have had a thousand—ten thousand?—other evidences that what I have spoken of today is true.
This reminds me of this talk by Brother Lund:
https://quotestokeep.blogspot.com/2026/04/flashes-of-light.html
Flashes of Light
It is exhilarating to be here with you in this room today. In some ways it seems like we have been together here most of my life. I came here first as a freshman young single adult (YSA). I served a mission with YSA missionaries, then served in the military with YSA-aged soldiers. Then I came back to BYU as a twenty-four-year-old sophomore after a six-year summer vacation of mission and military to serve again with young single adults. I have served in presidencies of seven elders quorums of mostly YSAs, in a YSA bishopric, as a high councilor over a YSA ward, then a bishop of that ward, and in a YSA stake presidency. And then my wife and I were off to be mission leaders with a bunch of YSA missionaries. I came home again and served in a YSA bishopric. I was then called as an Area Seventy, and, of course, my assignment was to serve all of the YSA stakes here in Utah Valley.
It seems I am suffering from a state of arrested development. It is interesting to me that through all of those years and assignments, you BYU students have never changed. I don’t know what you see when you look at me, but I look at you and see contemporaries. It has been a great life, growing up in rooms like this with astonishing people just like you.
To Walk by Faith
Let’s talk about faith. Faith and belief are complicated things. My most recent work with the Children and Youth program has made me especially attuned to youth whose gospel moorings sometimes fray. And it is not only young people but many among us who find ourselves sometimes unsure of the doctrines or of the narrative. We cannot judge each other for what we do and do not know. Belief and testimony come only through gifts of the Spirit, and the gifts of the Spirit are, after all, gifts. They are highly individualized and measuredly dispensed by a Heavenly Father who knows our hearts and needs and administers to them with divine precision.
Heavenly Father purposefully designed and ordered our world to require us to walk in faith. He pressed into place the pieces of this sophisticated jigsaw puzzle of mortality but held back a few of the pieces, which He keeps in His pocket to ensure that faith is required as we come up against the gaps in this puzzle’s spiritual landscape. He has ensured that we will not be able to game the system by thinking our way to heaven—to discover Him through provable math or science, which would obviate faith and foreclose the purposes of mortality.
I have a struggling attorney friend who recently said of the gospel, “It just doesn’t add up.” Well, his is a fair observation, isn’t it? The puzzle is incomplete, so it does not always add up. This should not surprise us. Even in mathematics there are numbers—such as pi—that are irrational but reliably constant.
I once spoke at the Law School across the street about these themes, and I am borrowing from that talk today with permission. There is a principle of law called the doctrine of chances that applies by analogy to our mortal walk of faith here in life. The doctrine of chances is an exception to a rule of evidence. Normally, evidence of a person’s prior crimes or acts cannot later be considered in deciding a person’s guilt. Just because someone committed one crime doesn’t necessarily mean he committed another. But the doctrine of chances essentially asks, “What are the chances that a highly unlikely combination of such facts is mere coincidence?”
The doctrine of chances arose in a 1915 trial when a husband, Mr. Smith, was accused of drowning his wife in a bath. Smith claimed she had fainted and drowned. Normally, under the rules of evidence, a prosecutor could not have introduced evidence of Smith’s prior acts. But the judge was asked essentially, “What are the chances that it was just an innocent coincidence that Smith’s two prior wives had also drowned in bathtubs?” Suddenly Smith’s case went down the drain. He was summarily hanged.
When multiple overlapping sets of data form a pattern that decidedly points toward a certain conclusion, and no other explanations seem to make sense, the truthfulness of the conclusion must be considered. I hope to describe today how recognizing such patterns leads to powerful conclusions of faith.
The Composition of Testimony
While serving as an Area Seventy, I was once presiding over a Saturday adult session of stake conference. During a question-and-answer session, a large man in blue coveralls stood up in the middle of the chapel and asked challengingly, “Have you seen God?”
There was an uneasy shuffle in the room. His question was inappropriate on so many levels. I thought, “Really, Korihor? In coveralls?”
My first impulse was to skirt the question and move on, but I felt the stirrings of the Spirit prompting me to consider it: What does it mean to be an “especial” witness?1 I took a breath, and a memory suddenly flooded into my mind. So I proceeded to share an experience of which I had never before spoken:
Once, on a business trip, I landed in predawn darkness at an airport in Asia and wearily found a car and driver. The trip would take a couple of hours, so I used my overcoat as a cushion and positioned myself in the left corner of the back seat, planning to sleep for a while. But my attention became riveted on the moonlit landscape of that exotic place, with its mysterious wooded hills and shadowy open expanses.
As the morning sky gradually lightened, I saw evidence of an estuary on the left and an approaching bridge. As we drove onto the bridge, I was disappointed to find that the view was blocked on both sides by tall concrete-slab walls that apparently had been erected to contain the traffic noises of the expressway. I absently stared at the wall opposite me, wondering what was beyond as I whirred by it at high speed.
As we left the bridge and the barricade ended, I glanced back at the vista that I had not been able to see and noted that it was just as I had imagined: a large body of water with a forested far edge and a few boats coming and going.
I found myself leaning forward to see farther behind us to confirm that, through the morning fog, a large sailboat was approaching the seaway under the far end of the bridge. Suddenly my jet-lag-muddled brain snapped into a moment of clarity as I wondered, “How did I know to look for that sailboat?” I could not have known it was there, but somehow I did. Somehow I had been looking for it.
In fact, I realized, none of what I saw in the fully revealed vista had surprised me. I seemed to know where to find the wooded outline of the far shore, the barges, and the building on the distant rise. But how?
It dawned on me that the slabs of the massive concrete wall on the bridge had small gaps between them of a fraction of an inch. As we had sped across the bridge, my eyes had been fixed upon the blur of gray concrete punctuated by minute flashes of bright light from the morning sun through those narrow slits—slits too small for me to detect anything but bright flickers and flashes. Yet somewhere in my mind, undetected information had been transmitted in those bursts of light that was apparently compiled and subliminally stitched together into a latent vision of what lay beyond. I knew what was there before I knew that I knew. And I would have missed the marvel of it all if I had not turned back to look.
Back at stake conference, I finished telling this story, as much to myself as to anyone, and realized that the fellow was still standing with an arm looped through his front suspenders.
“Does that help?” I asked.
He shrugged absently and sat down, probably not completely satisfied.
But I was filled with wonder. The Spirit had just answered my own long-standing prayer about my ministry and about my witness. I knew more than I knew I knew.
As we drive through life’s journey, there will be flashes of light! The Lord promised Isaiah, “I will make darkness light before them.”2 Think about this. Life often presents itself as an incessant gray wall stretching off into nowhere, but here and there, if you watch for them, flickering assurances of God’s love for us will become evident.
A poet once observed:
Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries.3
Clive Staples Lewis described a ride something like mine. At the time he was a young professor and atheist teaching at Oxford between the world wars. J. R. R. Tolkien was among his best friends and was a devout Christian. Over time, as they spoke of religion, the Spirit worked with young C. S. Lewis. One day Lewis’s brother gave him a ride in the sidecar of his motorcycle to a zoo that was opening in a town some distance away. Lewis later wrote, “I was driven to Whipsnade one sunny morning. When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did.” 4
St. Augustine, perhaps the greatest mind of his age, also spoke of sudden, unexpected inspiration. Steeped in classical philosophy, he attempted to reconcile his understanding of Christianity with the formal logic of his day. One day he had an experience connecting him with heaven that caused him to dismiss his entire life’s work of philosophy as so much hay.5 Of this experience, St. Augustine said simply:
[My mind] withdrew its thoughts from experience . . . in order to seek for that light in which it was bathed. . . . And thus with the flash of a trembling glance, it arrived at That Which Is.6
I do not know what St. Augustine saw, but it was miraculous and compelling. The heavens emitted a charged glint of light that converted abstract theology into testimony.
How long does it take for a testimony to ignite? Apparently, somewhere between “the flash of a trembling glance” and the time it takes to drive to the zoo in Whipsnade. Sometimes, longer still.
A Few Bursts of Light
These experiences of accumulating knowledge through flashes of intelligence are similes of my own spiritual life—and probably of yours. My testimony—the “reason of the hope that is in [me]”7—is a composite panorama of countless bursts of light through an otherwise impenetrable earthly veil. I speak here of such flashes in hopes that they may bring to your mind similar glimpses that have informed your testimony, so that in those questioning moments you might “remember, remember”8 them. While these anecdotes do not amount to proof beyond a reasonable doubt, they do combine to remind me of a tangible reality of “that which is” that is not always before my eyes.
Military Blessings
After my mission to the Netherlands, I was preparing to return to BYU and spent a day with my temple-worker grandparents at the Oakland California Temple, seeking guidance about my future course of study and career. While sitting in a quiet ordinance room, a thought proclaimed to my mind that I should join the military.
That impression could not have evoked a stronger allergic response in my soul. Two years earlier as a freshman at BYU, I had nervously watched the Vietnam War draft lottery play out on the dorm television and was relieved that my birthday did not pop up until the 346th draw. I would not be drafted. Had I been born a few hours later, my number would have been ten, and I would have been on my way to Vietnam. “Clearly,” I had reasoned, “the Lord doesn’t want me to be a soldier.”
But now I was sitting in the temple, trying to dismiss this impression as a random thought—but I had been a missionary, and I had come to know what inspiration felt like.
So, soon enough, after basic combat training, I found myself stationed first in Fort Stewart, Georgia, followed a year later by orders to Frankfurt, Germany. All the while I was bewildered and a little tortured. In Georgia I had lived in a large, unair-conditioned, cinder-block room in the middle of a thirty-mile swamp with thirty other soldiers. My work was unstimulating. I came to love some of my fellow soldiers, but they were living quite different lives from this newly returned missionary.
Church was my refuge. I longed for Sundays and for young single adult family home evenings. Those gatherings were the bright spots of my weeks in which I could recharge and be reminded of who I was.
One Monday in Frankfurt, I got hung up at work and arrived at the church just after the carpool of our group of young single adults had driven away to a distant apartment across town.
For me, this was a disaster. Some of you will know that the streets of Frankfurt are designed like a spider web that has been through a fire. The streets wander through each other in random disorder, crossing rivers and tram tracks and back again. Someone seemed to go out at night to reverse one-way street signs so that even when you thought you knew where you were going, you could not go that way. I remembered that a couple of months earlier I had ridden through the dark to this same apartment, crammed in the crowded back seat of a car, but I remembered nothing of the route. I knew only that it was many miles of tangled streets away.
I drove home a sad, dejected soldier. I remember folding my arms, intent on grumbling a little, and saying, “Heavenly Father . . .” But before I could continue with “I am really trying here,” something of a map flashed in my head: a well-lit sequence of streets started at the church and traveled down Eckenheimer Landstraße, through a number of intersections, around a traffic circle, left, right, left, over a bridge, more turns, and onto a broad-bending street in front of an apartment building.
I was incredulous. There was not a chance I could drive to that place. But I returned to the church to make a faithless try and followed the route that had been impressed upon my mind. After driving perhaps twenty minutes (and making about forty uncertain decisions), I turned onto a broad street alongside an apartment building that filled the entire length of the long, bending city block. I was stunned to see that I was pulling up to what might be the right building.
Now I had a new problem. There were several narrow tunnels through the building into small parking areas behind that accessed stairwells to the four floors of apartments above.
“Impossible,” I thought. “I don’t know if any of those is the right drive-through, and besides, there are hundreds of apartments.” But it seemed to be a miracle that I had gotten this far, so I slowly drove past several drive-throughs and blindly turned into one.
Standing at the base of a dark, cold, four-story building, I thought, “Even if this is the correct stairwell in the correct building, they could be anywhere on any floor.” I started climbing the stairs, with little hope of a hint. Ultimately I stopped on the third floor. This way or that? That way. Was the door on the left or right side of the hall? I walked past eight or ten doors, my feeble faith vaporizing by the moment. I thought, “I may not even be in the right building. Does my faith require me to just start knocking on random doors?” I stopped to contemplate that question and heard singing: “The Spirit of God like a fire is burning!”9
I opened the door, the most astonished twenty-three-year-old in the Church. Heavenly Father had sent a shaft of light that replaced my bewilderment with wonder. Later that night I couldn’t even find my way home without a guide.
What were the chances?
Eventually I returned to BYU, still confused about how it could have made sense for me to drop out of school for three long years. Subsequently, many reasons have become clear.
After returning to school, I started dating a girl I had met in Frankfurt, a girl from Tooele, Utah, whose father had taken a job in Germany—a girl so far beyond me in every way that I could never have gotten her attention at BYU in Utah if I had not known her first in Germany, where she was in a state of diminished capacity as a fellow stranger in a strange land. And so it came to pass that against all odds she agreed to marry me. What were those chances?
I have learned that the Lord sometimes withholds blessings from us to eventually deliver undeniably discernible miracles. I would serve one hundred army enlistments for that one stunning miracle that formed our family.
Now at BYU, I was serving in the bishopric of a singles ward and became friends with the ward finance clerk, who had just returned from a mission in France. He finished his finance degree at the same time I finished law school, and he invited me to help him build a company. Thirty-five years later, that company touches millions of people in fifty countries. I marvel that but for that burst of light in the temple years before, I would have come and gone from BYU and never met Blake Roney, who has enabled so many miracles in our lives.
The list of blessings flying from that still, small spark of inspiration goes on and on. None of these things are coincidences. They are consequences of a string of unpredictable heavenly interventions that have burst through the veil as flashes of light through what has at times felt like a drab, never-ending gray wall.
Relief for a Boy
Years later, our nine-year-old son, Tanner, came home from a touch-football game with a pain that turned out to be cancer. He bravely endured three years of aggressive treatment, two bone marrow transplants, and at one point ten weeks on a ventilator hovering between life and death in a medically induced coma. When he was twelve, after about a year of remission, the cancer recurred with a vengeance and went into his bones and head.
One night he was so sick that we moved his bed into our bedroom, where we could be with him. He awakened in the middle of the night with severe head pain. We tried to comfort him, but to no effect.
Suddenly, in the silent, darkened room, he looked up with an incredulous look on his face and said, “They say I’m supposed to go in the kitchen and sit up on the couch.”
“What do you mean? Who?”
No response. Then, a little impatiently, “I’m just supposed to go sit up.”
He spoke with such unusual certainty that we helped him make his way into the kitchen, where he sat on a couch, pulled a blanket around his shoulders, and slept peacefully the rest of the night.
The next morning we had him admitted to Primary Children’s Hospital for what would be his last time. I told an oncologist of this exchange in the night. The doctor reasoned that Tanner’s head pain had likely been caused by pressure blocking a tube that drains cerebrospinal fluid away from the brain. The only way to get the pain to stop, he said, is to take the pressure off this area by sitting the patient up so things can equalize.
This made sense, but what were the chances that twelve-year-old Tanner could figure that out? And who were they?
A Miracle Diagnosis
Kalleen and I were called as mission leaders over the Georgia Atlanta Mission. Miracles flashed through our mission with such regularity that we came to think of it as having a front-row seat to the greatest show on earth in which the powers of heaven were wielded by heavenly agents with black name tags as they gathered Israel home. Kalleen called missionary service a “miracle-a-day program.”
She had the formal assignment of overseeing health care for our missionaries. If one of them got sick, they would call her. It is hard to diagnose problems over the phone, even if you have had medical training. Kalleen’s medical knowledge was basically from on-the-job training as a mom raising a family—but also from the practiced experience of discerning flashes of heavenly light.
Just a few weeks into our mission, she got a call from a missionary who had called a couple of times before with one issue or another. On this particular morning he complained that his stomach had been hurting, so she decided to ask a senior missionary couple that lived near him to go over and take a look, just in case. She later told me, “I opened my mouth to say that and heard myself say instead words that had never passed through my mind: ‘Elder, it is appendicitis. Go to the hospital. Go now.’”
In the emergency room, the doctors found nothing wrong and concluded that he must have overeaten—which was entirely plausible; he was a missionary. They ordered him home. But our elder told the doctor, “No, Sister Lund told me I have appendicitis.”
The doctor thought that “Sister Lund” must be a nun somewhere in the hospital. He said, “Then let’s run another test.” That test was also negative, and they started to send him home again, but he kept insisting that Sister Lund had diagnosed appendicitis.
Finally the problem revealed itself, prompting an immediate appendectomy, which the surgeon told us barely saved his life. “Five minutes later and we may have lost him.”
You might think Kalleen made a lucky guess, but she will tell you that she was only an innocent bystander as the Lord kept His promise to His missionary: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, . . . and mine angels [shall be] round about you, to bear you up.”10
In the kingdom of God, such stories of faith abound. But miracles rarely announce themselves. To see them, we might have to turn back and look.
Nowhere for Her to Go
One flash of light memorialized in our family history involved my young mother driving alone in 1958 from California to her grandmother’s funeral in Arizona. As she drove through the desert passes in the black of night, she heard a physical voice: “Pull over and stop.” As she let up on the gas in confusion, she heard, this time with urgency: “Pull over and stop. Now.” She jerked the car onto the narrow shoulder, screeching to a stop just ahead of a narrow ravine bridge. In that moment, two semitrucks passing each other came around the blind bend toward her and onto the bridge, filling both lanes. There would have been nowhere for her to go.
Wisdom for a Law Student
One fast Sunday I felt the confirming power of someone’s testimony that “in a flash of light, Saul changed to Paul, and Paul changed the world.”
I know from decades of experience with you that you have experienced what I have: that some flashes of spiritual light come most often when we are on the Lord’s errand. My journal is full of notes about doctrinal insights gained only in the moment I taught them during Church assignments.
A young woman asked me in a conference setting something akin to a question many of you have this morning: How was she supposed to succeed in her first semester of law school and be a new Relief Society president too?
I started to say, “Good luck with that,” but, following an impression, I asked, “Who called you to do this impossible thing?”
“Heavenly Father.”
“Why?”
“Why did He call me? I suppose because I am just home from a mission and know how to work. Because He knew I would say yes. Because I can accomplish things, even under stress.”
I told her, “All, no doubt, true. But there is another reason”—which was a presumptuous thing for me to say since I did not yet know the reason.
But I said, “He may have called you to save you from law school. They are changing your mind down there, mostly in good ways. But while they are causing you to be able to defend every side of every argument, Relief Society will be reminding you that eternal truths are immutable.
“Law school teaches you that passion for your profession is critical to success. Relief Society service teaches you that the world is too much with us and that real joy is centered in Him.
“Law school will teach you to love ideas and to respect brilliant shapers of thought and theory. Relief Society will remind you that some ideas are better than others and that the philosophies of men pale alongside the ennobling intelligence dispensed through prophets.”
I saw that she was taking notes through misty eyes, weeping and nodding. Maybe I had simply guessed her needs and responded with words I had never before formed in my mind, but you would have to be me to understand why that explanation simply doesn’t add up. What are the chances?
In any event, those insights hold true whatever your major and whatever your calling.
The Loving God Just Beyond the Veil
Sometimes we can become diverted from the majesty of the gospel because hard things happen. University life is designed, especially here, to take you to the wall, where you will have to fight your way to growth. Church doctrines and practices—and, for that matter, our life’s challenges—don’t always come with explanatory footnotes. But if we will be faithful observers of the workings of the Spirit in our lives, we can come to even better respect the miracles that illuminate the tapestries of our testimonies and find courage to move forward in enlightened faith.
One of the times that Nephi was defending his faith and his very life in the wilderness, he essentially asked his family our same question: Given what has happened to our people, what are the chances that, without God,
- the children of Israel were led out of Egypt?
- the Red Sea was divided?
- the children of Israel were fed by manna?
- Moses was able to bring forth water from a rock he smote?
- the children of Israel were led by day and given light by night?
- they were made mighty to conquer the land?
- they were saved from poisonous serpents with a raised symbol of the Messiah?11
Nephi might then have added, “And what about that business with the angel who spoke to you with a ‘voice of thunder’?”12
Nephi used the lightning-bolt incandescent flashes of his family history and heritage to reveal to his people the loving God who is just beyond the veil.
Our experiences with the Spirit may seem best measured in micro-lumens rather than lightning bursts, but, especially in our darkest hours, the Spirit can amplify them to clearly light our way along the covenant path.
To keep us connected to the central truth of mortality, the Lord proffers us a renewal of covenant almost every week. The sacrament prayers are not poems we recite nor anthems we rehearse. They are ordinances. They are words spoken to Heavenly Father by holders of keys over the very ministering of angels, bearers of the priesthood who implore the heavens that, then and there, the power of the Atonement may cleanse and purify and sanctify lives. Every week miracles happen as young boys stand in the stead of the Savior and present us with the emblems of His Atonement, inviting us to be cleansed of our pain and sorrow and mistakes and sins.
The soft, salvific flashes of healing light that warm our souls in sacrament meetings constitute a miracle more profound than even the parting of the Red Sea, a soldier being guided to sanctuary, an angel commandeering a telephone to save a missionary, a holy whisper leading a child from pain, Saul finding the Savior on the road to Damascus, an Oxford don finding the Savior on the road to Whipsnade, or even the divine hurling of the stars and the planets into their ordered rotations. All evidence a pattern of the veil leaking light as the Savior relentlessly pierces it to bless His own.
I bear this testimony, informed as it is—and very probably like yours is—by the accumulated weight of a thousand flashes of light, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Flashes of Light Steven J. Lund Young Men General President September 20, 2022