There Is An Authorized Way and Time to Express That Love

The Lord has His way, or the way, to love. Those of the world say that what really matters is that two people love each other. Our Father in Heaven teaches that this is important, but He teaches us more: that there is an authorized way and time to express that love.

 APRIL 2013 GENERAL CONFERENCE - THE LORD’S WAY - ELDER STANLEY G. ELLIS

We Should Not Give or Provide What they Can and Should Do For Themselves

Even with the universally accepted desire to help the poor and needy, the Lord concurs in our goal but warns, “But it must needs be done in mine own way” (D&C 104:16). Otherwise, in our efforts to help, we may actually hurt them. The Lord has taught us the need to promote self-reliance. Even if we are able to help, we should not give or provide what they can and should do for themselves. Everywhere it is tried, the world learns the evils of the dole. Truly God knows best.

 APRIL 2013 GENERAL CONFERENCE - THE LORD’S WAY - ELDER STANLEY G. ELLIS

Become Friends with Your Children's Friends. Be a Worthy Example to Them.

Become friends with your children’s friends. Be a worthy example to them.

 April 2013 General Conference - For Peace At Home - Elder Richard G. Scott

Satan's Fate Is Decided. He Knows He Has Lost

However, Satan is no match for the Savior. Satan’s fate is decided. He knows he has lost, but he wants to take as many with him as he can. He will try to ruin your goodness and abilities by exploiting your weaknesses. Stay on the Lord’s side, and you will win every time.

 April 2013 General Conference - For Peace At Home - Elder Richard G. Scott

The Sandpoint 7 Are Weight-Bearing Beams in the Construction of a Gospel Centered Home

I’m sure you can identify the fundamental principles that center your home on the Savior. The prophetic counsel to have daily personal and family prayer, daily personal and family scripture study, and weekly family home evening are the essential, weight-bearing beams in the construction of a Christ-centered home. Without these regular practices it will be difficult to find the desired and much-needed peace and refuge from the world.... Remember: little things lead to big things. Seemingly insignificant indiscretions or neglect can lead to big problems. More importantly, simple, consistent, good habits lead to a life full of bountiful blessings.

 April 2013 General Conference - For Peace At Home - Elder Richard G. Scott

Men and Women Have Different But Equally Valued Roles

In our Heavenly Father’s great priesthood-endowed plan, men have the unique responsibility to administer the priesthood, but they are not the priesthood. Men and women have different but equally valued roles. Just as a woman cannot conceive a child without a man, so a man cannot fully exercise the power of the priesthood to establish an eternal family without a woman. In other words, in the eternal perspective, both the procreative power and the priesthood power are shared by husband and wife.

 APRIL 2013 GENERAL CONFERENCE - “THIS IS MY WORK AND GLORY” - ELDER M. RUSSELL BALLARD

Mormon Lamented the Loss of Virtue...Are We Any Different?

In the decadent society of Mormon’s time, he lamented that the women were robbed of that which was most dear and precious above all—their virtue and chastity.⁷

 What would the world be like if virtue—a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards, including chastity⁸—were reinstated in our society as a most highly prized value? If immorality, pornography, and abuse decreased, would there be fewer broken marriages, broken lives, and broken hearts? Would media ennoble and enable rather than objectify and degrade God’s precious daughters? If all humanity really understood the importance of the statement “We are daughters of our Heavenly Father,” how would women be regarded and treated?

APRIL 2013 GENERAL CONFERENCE - WE ARE DAUGHTERS OF OUR HEAVENLY FATHER - ELAINE S. DALTON

Moral Agency Defined

Agency is defined in the scriptures as “moral agency,” which means that we can choose between good and evil. 

 APRIL 2013 GENERAL CONFERENCE - THESE THINGS I KNOW - PRESIDENT BOYD K. PACKER

Beware of the Tolerance Trap

Tolerance is a virtue, but like all virtues, when exaggerated, it transforms itself into a vice. We need to be careful of the “tolerance trap” so that we are not swallowed up in it. The permissiveness afforded by the weakening of the laws of the land to tolerate legalized acts of immorality does not reduce the serious spiritual consequence that is the result of the violation of God’s law of chastity.

 APRIL 2013 GENERAL CONFERENCE - THESE THINGS I KNOW - PRESIDENT BOYD K. PACKER

Security for Us and Our Children In Honoring Covenants

We find safety and security for ourselves and our children in honoring the covenants we have made and living up to the ordinary acts of obedience required of the followers of Christ.

 APRIL 2013 GENERAL CONFERENCE - THESE THINGS I KNOW - PRESIDENT BOYD K. PACKER

The Consummate Power of the Priesthood Has Been Given To Protect the Home and Its Inhabitants

We will not always be safe from the adversary’s influence, even within our own homes. We need to protect our nestlings....The consummate power of the priesthood has been given to protect the home and its inhabitants. The father has the authority and responsibility to teach his children and to bless and to provide for them the ordinances of the gospel and every other priesthood protection necessary. He is to demonstrate love and fidelity and honor to the mother so that their children can see that love....Teach yourself and teach your families about the gift of the Holy Ghost and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. You will do no greater eternal work than within the walls of your own home.

 APRIL 2013 GENERAL CONFERENCE - THESE THINGS I KNOW - PRESIDENT BOYD K. PACKER

To Serve Someone In Need When It Will Not Seem Convenient

As you keep the faith, you will find yourself invited by the Lord often to serve someone in need when it will not seem convenient. It may appear to be an unpleasant and perhaps even impossible task. When the call comes, it may seem you are not needed or that someone else could easily give the succor.

Remember that when the Lord lets us encounter someone in distress, we honor the good Samaritan for what he did not do as much as for what he did. He did not pass by on the other side even though the beaten traveler on the road was a stranger and perhaps an enemy. He did what he could for the beaten man and then put in place a specific plan for others to do more. He did that because he understood that helping may require more than what one person can do.

October 2012 - The Caregiver - Henry B. Eyring

It Is Often During the Difficult Times That We Learn the Most

Let us be of good cheer as we go about our lives. Although we live in increasingly perilous times, the Lord loves us and is mindful of us. He is always on our side as we do what is right. He will help us in time of need. Difficulties come into our lives, problems we do not anticipate and which we would never choose. None of us is immune. The purpose of mortality is to learn and to grow to be more like our Father, and it is often during the difficult times that we learn the most, as painful as the lessons may be.

 October 2012 General Conference - God Be With You Till We Meet Again - Thosmas S. Monson

We Should Know the Gospel Is True And Be True to the Gospel

Testimony is the beginning of and a prerequisite to continuing conversion. Testimony is a point of departure; it is not an ultimate destination. Strong testimony is the foundation upon which conversion is established.... Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony. Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion. We should know the gospel is true and be true to the gospel.
 October 2012 General Conference - Converted Unto The Lord - Elder David A. Bednar

Key Characteristics Associated with Conversion

The key characteristics associated with conversion are experiencing a mighty change in our hearts, having a disposition to do good continually, going forward in the path of duty, walking circumspectly before God, keeping the commandments, and serving with unwearied diligence. 

 October 2012 General Conference - Converted Unto The Lord - Elder David A. Bednar

There Is A Spirit Attending The Administration of the Sacrament

Elder Melvin J. Ballard said: “I am a witness that there is a spirit attending the administration of the sacrament that warms the soul from head to foot; you feel the wounds of the spirit being healed, and the load being lifted. Comfort and happiness come to the soul that is worthy and truly desirous of partaking of this spiritual food.”¹³

October 2012 General Conference - Blessings Of The Sacrament - Elder Don R. Clarke

Do You People Want A Sure Way to Eliminate the Influence of The Adversary in Your Life...I Can Think of no Greater Protection

Do you young people want a sure way to eliminate the influence of the adversary in your life? Immerse yourself in searching for your ancestors, prepare their names for the sacred vicarious ordinances available in the temple, and then go to the temple to stand as proxy for them to receive the ordinances of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. As you grow older, you will be able to participate in receiving the other ordinances as well. I can think of no greater protection from the influence of the adversary in your life.

 October 2012 General Conference - The Joy Of Redeeming The Dead - Elder Richard G. Scott

My Daily Journal Has Helped Provide Some Specifics Which I Most Likely Would Not Otherwise Be Able to Recount

My daily journal, kept over all these years, has helped provide some specifics which I most likely would not otherwise be able to recount.

October 2012 General Conference - Consider The Blessings - President Thomas S. Monson

After An Encounter With the Living Son of the Living God, Nothing Is Ever Again to Be as It Was Before!

Wasn’t it obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world....

Did you, like they, think that this work could be killed simply by killing me? Did you, like they, think the cross and the nails and the tomb were the end of it all and each could blissfully go back to being whatever you were before? Children, did not my life and my love touch your hearts more deeply than this?”....

In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back. After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before. The Crucifixion, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of it. It was this truth, this reality, that allowed a handful of Galilean fishermen-turned-again-Apostles without “a single synagogue or sword”¹⁵ to leave those nets a second time and go on to shape the history of the world in which we now live....

I include in that call to fixed faithfulness every returned missionary who ever stood in a baptismal font and with arm to the square said, “Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ.”¹⁶ That commission was to have changed your convert forever, but it was surely supposed to have changed you forever as well. To the youth of the Church rising up to missions and temples and marriage, we say: “Love God and remain clean from the blood and sins of this generation....

And having set our “hand to the plough,”¹⁷ we will never look back until this work is finished and love of God and neighbor rules the world. 

 OCTOBER 2012 GENERAL CONFERENCE - THE FIRST GREAT COMMANDMENT - ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND

3 Steps to Reactivate Men

A woman needs to be told she is beautiful. She needs to be told she is valued. She needs to be told she is worthwhile.

Brethren, I know that men are very much like women in this regard. We need to be told that we amount to something, that we are capable and worthwhile. We need to be given a chance to serve. For those members who have slipped from activity or who hold back and remain noncommittal, we can prayerfully seek for some way to reach them. Asking them to serve in some capacity may just be the incentive they need to return to full activity. But those leaders who could help in this regard are sometimes reluctant to do so. We need to bear in mind that people can change. They can put behind them bad habits. They can repent from transgressions. They can bear the priesthood worthily. And they can serve the Lord diligently.

 October 2012 General Conference - See Others As They May Become - President Thomas S. Monson

Tell Your Wife She is Beautiful. Tell Your Wife She is Loved.

A woman needs to be told she is beautiful. She needs to be told she is valued. She needs to be told she is worthwhile.

 October 2012 General Conference - See Others As They May Become - President Thomas S. Monson

Do We Want To Be Quitters, Or Do We Want to Be Valiant Servants?

President N. Eldon Tanner stated: “One young boy on the school ground can wield a mighty influence for good. One young man on the football team, or the campus, or among his fellow workers can, by living the gospel, honoring his priesthood, and taking a stand for the right, do untold good. Often you will experience much criticism and ridicule even by those who believe as you do, even though they may respect you for doing right. But remember that the Savior himself was tormented, ridiculed, spat upon, and finally crucified because he would not waver in his conviction. Have you ever stopped to think what would have happened had he weakened and said, ‘Oh, what’s the use?’ and abandoned his mission? Do we want to be quitters, or do we want to be valiant servants in spite of all the opposition and evil in the world? Let us have the courage to stand up and be counted as true, devoted followers of Christ.”⁸

 October 2012 General Conference - Be Valiant In Courage, Strength, And Activity - Bishop Gary E. Stevenson

I Am a Member of a Priesthood Quorum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“It will be a marvelous day, my brethren—it will be a day of fulfillment of the purposes of the Lord—when our priesthood quorums become an anchor of strength to every man belonging thereto, when each such man may appropriately be able to say, ‘I am a member of a priesthood quorum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I stand ready to assist my brethren in all of their needs, as I am confident they stand ready to assist me in mine. … Working together, we can stand, without embarrassment and without fear, against every wind of adversity that might blow, be it economic, social, or spiritual.’”⁶

 October 2012 General Conference - Brethren, We Have Work To Do - Elder D. Todd Christofferson

What is Best for Children In Contrast to the Selfish Interests of Adult Interests

Children are highly vulnerable. They have little or no power to protect or provide for themselves and little influence on so much that is vital to their well-being. Children need others to speak for them, and they need decision makers who put their well-being ahead of selfish adult interests....We also need politicians, policy makers, and officials to increase their attention to what is best for children in contrast to the selfish interests of voters and vocal advocates of adult interests.

 OCTOBER 2012 GENERAL CONFERENCE - PROTECT THE CHILDREN - ELDER DALLIN H. OAKS

With Faith Come Trials of Faith, Bringing Increased Faith.

With faith come trails of faith, bringing increased faith.

 October 2012 General Conference - Trial Of Your Faith - Elder Neil L. Andersen

God Will Never Desert Us. He Cannot Do It.

 President George Q. Cannon said: “No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character. He is an unchangeable being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come. We have found that God. We have made Him our friend, by obeying His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments” (“Remarks,” Deseret Evening News, Mar. 7, 1891, 4); see also Jeffrey R. Holland, “Come unto Me,” Ensign, Apr. 1998, 16–23.

 October 2012 General Conference - Trial Of Your Faith - Elder Neil L. Andersen

Though I Suffered Then...I Learned to Walk with Him Day by Day

Though I suffered then, as I look back now, I am grateful that there was not a quick solution to my problem. The fact that I was forced to turn to God for help almost daily over an extended period of years taught me truly how to pray and get answers to prayer and taught me in a very practical way to have faith in God. I came to know my Savior and my Heavenly Father in a way and to a degree that might not have happened otherwise or that might have taken me much longer to achieve. … I learned to trust in the Lord with all my heart. I learned to walk with Him day by day.”²⁵

 October 2012 General Conference - Trial Of Your Faith - Elder Neil L. Andersen

Every Man Eventually Is Backed Up to The Wall of Faith, And There He Must Make His Stand

Our main task is to declare the gospel and do it effectively. We are not obligated to answer every objection. Every man eventually is backed up to the wall of faith, and there he must make his stand. “And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye,” said Nephi, “for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things.” (2 Ne. 33:11.) Every man must judge for himself, knowing God will hold him accountable.

Ezra Taft Benson, “The Book of Mormon Is the Word of God,” May 1988, 6; Ensign, May 1975, 65.

A Few Question Their Faith When They Find A Statement Made by A Church Leader Decades Ago That Seems Incongruent with Our Doctrinces

A few question their faith when they find a statement made by a Church leader decades ago that seems incongruent with our doctrine. There is an important principle that governs the doctrine of the Church. The doctrine is taught by all 15 members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. It is not hidden in an obscure paragraph of one talk. True principles are taught frequently and by many. Our doctrine is not difficult to find.

 October 2012 General Conference - Trial Of Your Faith - Elder Neil L. Andersen

He Needs Only to Get Able Men...To See Themselves as Sophisticated Neutrals

“Satan need not get everyone to be like Cain or Judas … ,” said Elder Neal A. Maxwell. “He needs only to get able men … to see themselves as sophisticated neutrals.”²¹

 October 2012 General Conference - What Shall A Man Give In Exchange For His Soul? - Elder Robert C. Gay

Tag Words:  middle, in between, complicated

Do You Believe in This Book (The Book of Mormon)? Yes, Sergeant Instructor

I volunteered for service in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. Soon after my arrival in Quantico, Virginia, for basic training, I found myself standing at attention in front of my barrack’s bunk along with 54 other Marine Corps recruits. I met my drill instructor, a battle-hardened veteran, when he kicked open the door to the barracks and entered while screaming words laced with profanity.

After this terrifying introduction, he started at one end of the barracks and confronted each recruit with questions. Without exception, the drill instructor methodically found something about each recruit to ridicule with loud, vulgar language. Down the row he came, with each marine shouting back his answer as commanded: “Yes” or “No, Sergeant Instructor.” I could not see exactly what he was doing, because we had been ordered to stand at attention with our eyes looking straight ahead. When it was my turn, I could tell he grabbed my duffel bag and emptied the contents onto my mattress behind me. He looked through my belongings, then walked back to face me. I braced myself for his attack. In his hand was my Book of Mormon. I expected that he would yell at me; instead, he moved close to me and whispered, “Are you a Mormon?”

As commanded, I yelled, “Yes, Sergeant Instructor.”

Again I expected the worst. Instead, he paused and raised his hand that held my Book of Mormon and in a very quiet voice said, “Do you believe in this book?”

Again I shouted, “Yes, Sergeant Instructor.”

At this point I was sure he would scream disparaging words about Mormons and the Book of Mormon, but he just stood there in silence. After a moment he walked back to my bunk and carefully laid down my Book of Mormon. He then proceeded to walk by me without stopping and went on to ridicule and disparage with profane language all remaining recruits.

 October 2012 General Conference - “Come Unto Me, O Ye House Of Israel” - Elder Larry Echo Hawk

Five Things Parents Do to Create Stronger Family Cultures...and Protect Our Children from The Fiery Darts of the Adversary."

 Let me suggest five things parents can do to create stronger family cultures:

First, parents can pray in earnest, asking our Eternal Father to help them love, understand, and guide the children He has sent to them.

Second, they can hold family prayer, scripture study, and family home evenings and eat together as often as possible, making dinner a time of communication and the teaching of values.

Third, parents can fully avail themselves of the Church’s support network, communicating with their children’s Primary teachers, youth leaders, and class and quorum presidencies. By communicating with those who are called and set apart to work with their children, parents can provide essential understanding of a child’s special and specific needs.

Fourth, parents can share their testimonies often with their children, commit them to keep the commandments of God, and promise the blessings that our Heavenly Father promises His faithful children.

Fifth, we can organize our families based on clear, simple family rules and expectations, wholesome family traditions and rituals, and “family economics,” where children have household responsibilities and can earn allowances so that they can learn to budget, save, and pay tithing on the money they earn.

These suggestions for creating stronger family cultures work in tandem with the culture of the Church. Our strengthened family cultures will be a protection for our children from “the fiery darts of the adversary” (1 Nephi 15:24) embedded in their peer culture, the entertainment and celebrity cultures, the credit and entitlement cultures, and the Internet and media cultures to which they are constantly exposed. Strong family cultures will help our children live in the world and not become “of the world” (John 15:19).

 October 2012 General Conference - Becoming Goodly Parents - Elder L. Tom Perry

You and I Are Ultimately In Charge of Our Own Happiness

So often we get caught up in the illusion that there is something just beyond our reach that would bring us happiness: a better family situation, a better financial situation, or the end of a challenging trial.

The older we get, the more we look back and realize that external circumstances don’t really matter or determine our happiness.

We do matter. We determine our happiness.

You and I are ultimately in charge of our own happiness.

OCTOBER 2012 OF REGRETS AND RESOLUTIONS - PRESIDENT DIETER F. UCHTDORF

That Ladder (Career), No Matter How Lofty It May Appear on This Earth, Barely Amounts to a Single Step in the Great Eternal Journey

Another regret people expressed was that they failed to become the person they felt they could and should have been. When they looked back on their lives, they realized that they never lived up to their potential, that too many songs remained unsung.

I am not speaking here of climbing the ladder of success in our various professions. That ladder, no matter how lofty it may appear on this earth, barely amounts to a single step in the great eternal journey awaiting us.

Rather, I am speaking of becoming the person God, our Heavenly Father, intended us to be.

 OCTOBER 2012 OF REGRETS AND RESOLUTIONS - PRESIDENT DIETER F. UCHTDORF

If We Fail to Give Our Best Personal Self and Undivided Time to Those Who Are Truly Important to US, One Day We Will Regret It.

In our day it is easy to merely pretend to spend time with others. With the click of a mouse, we can “connect” with thousands of “friends” without ever having to face a single one of them. Technology can be a wonderful thing, and it is very useful when we cannot be near our loved ones. My wife and I live far away from precious family members; we know how that is. However, I believe that we are not headed in the right direction, individually and as a society, when we connect with family or friends mostly by reposting humorous pictures, forwarding trivial things, or linking our loved ones to sites on the Internet. I suppose there is a place for this kind of activity, but how much time are we willing to spend on it? If we fail to give our best personal self and undivided time to those who are truly important to us, one day we will regret it.

 OCTOBER 2012 OF REGRETS AND RESOLUTIONS - PRESIDENT DIETER F. UCHTDORF

The Daily Treadmill of Work

Men in particular sang this universal lament: they “deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the [daily] treadmill of … work.”³ Many had lost out on choice memories that come from spending time with family and friends. They missed developing a deep connection with those who meant the most to them

 OCTOBER 2012 OF REGRETS AND RESOLUTIONS - PRESIDENT DIETER F. UCHTDORF

Whether Truth Comes From A Scientific Laboratory or by Revelation from God, We Seek It!

Whether truth comes from a scientific laboratory or by revelation from God, we seek it! The glory of God indeed is intelligence.¹²

 OCTOBER 2012 ASK THE MISSIONARIES! THEY CAN HELP YOU! - ELDER RUSSELL M. NELSON

For Those Who Have Had A Loved One Die

I have learned that the bitter, almost unbearable pain can become sweet as you turn to your Father in Heaven and plead for His comfort that comes through His plan; His Son, Jesus Christ; and His Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost.

What a glorious blessing this is in our lives. Wouldn’t it be tragic if we didn’t feel great sorrow when we lose a child? How grateful I am to my Father in Heaven that He allows us to love deeply and love eternally. How grateful I am for eternal families. How grateful I am that He has revealed once again through His living prophets the glorious plan of redemption.

Remember as you attended the funeral of your loved one the feelings in your heart as you drove away from the cemetery and looked back to see that solitary casket—wondering if your heart would break.

I testify that because of Him, even our Savior, Jesus Christ, those feelings of sorrow, loneliness, and despair will one day be swallowed up in a fulness of joy. I testify that we can depend on Him and when He said:

“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

“Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.”

I testify that, as stated in Preach My Gospel, “as we rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, He can help us endure our trials, sicknesses, and pain. We can be filled with joy, peace, and consolation. All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”

I testify that on that bright, glorious morning of the First Resurrection, your loved ones and mine will come forth from the grave as promised by the Lord Himself and we will have a fulness of joy. Because He lives, they and we shall live also. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 OCTOBER 2012 “BECAUSE I LIVE, YE SHALL LIVE ALSO” - ELDER SHAYNE M. BOWEN

No Societal Warning at Large about Pornography or Immorality

I recently had an insightful conversation with a 15-year-old Aaronic Priesthood holder. He helped me understand how easy it is in this Internet age for young people to almost inadvertently be exposed to impure and even pornographic images. He pointed out that for most principles the Church teaches, there is at least some recognition in society at large that violating these principles can have devastating effects on health and well-being. He mentioned cigarette smoking, drug use, and alcohol consumption by young people. But he noted that there is no corresponding outcry or even a significant warning from society at large about pornography or immorality.

My dear brothers and sisters, this young man’s analysis is correct. What is the answer? For years, prophets and apostles have taught the importance of religious observance in the home.¹⁹

 OCTOBER 2012 CAN YE FEEL SO NOW? - ELDER QUENTIN L. COOK

Not So Much Where We Stand, As in What Direction We Are Moving

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. counseled, “I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it,—but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor” (The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table[1858], 105).

 OCTOBER 2012 CAN YE FEEL SO NOW? - ELDER QUENTIN L. COOK

Being a Successful Church Leader Is Not Enough

Our family relationships—even more than our Church callings—are the setting in which the most important part of that development can occur. The conversion we must achieve requires us to be a good husband and father or a good wife and mother. Being a successful Church leader is not enough. Exaltation is an eternal family experience, and it is our mortal family experiences that are best suited to prepare us for it.

 October 2000 "The Challenge To Become"  Dallin H. Oaks

The Challenge To Become

The Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. 
****
The conversion [Jesus] required for those who would enter the kingdom of heaven (see Matt. 18:3) was far more than just being converted to testify to the truthfulness of the gospel. To testify is to know and to declare. The gospel challenges us to be “converted,” which requires us to do and to become. If any of us relies solely upon our knowledge and testimony of the gospel, we are in the same position as the blessed but still unfinished Apostles whom Jesus challenged to be “converted.” We all know someone who has a strong testimony but does not act upon it so as to be converted. For example, returned missionaries, are you still seeking to be converted, or are you caught up in the ways of the world?

 October 2000 "The Challenge To Become"  Dallin H. Oaks

Our Ancestors Are Solicitous for Our Welfare

Us with Them and Them with Us, by Caitlin Connolly
November 3–9: “A Voice of Gladness for the Living and the Dead”

Doctrine and Covenants 125–128I believe we move and have our being in the presence of heavenly messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not separate from them. We begin to realize more and more fully, as we become acquainted with the principles of the Gospel, as they have been revealed anew in this dispensation, that we are closely related to our kindred, to our ancestors, to our friends and associates and co-laborers who have preceded us into the spirit world. We cannot forget them; we do not cease to love them; we always hold them in our hearts, in memory, and thus we are associated and united to them by ties that we can not break, that we can not dissolve or free ourselves from. If this is the case with us in our finite condition, surrounded by our mortal weaknesses, shortsightedness, lack of inspiration and wisdom from time to time, how much more certain it is and reasonable and consistent to believe that those who have been faithful, who have gone beyond and are still engaged in the work for the salvation of the souls of men, the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound and proclaiming liberty to the captives who can see us better than we can see them; that they know us better than we know them. They have advanced; we are advancing; we are growing as they have grown; we are reaching the goal that they have attained unto; and therefore, I claim that we live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than ever. For now they see the dangers that beset us; they can comprehend better than ever before, the weaknesses that are liable to mislead us into dark and forbidden paths. They see the temptations and the evils that beset us in life and the proneness of mortal beings to yield to temptation and to wrong doing; hence their solicitude for us and their love for us and their desire for our well being must be greater than that which we feel for ourselves. I thank God for the feeling that I possess and enjoy and for the realization that I have, that I stand, not only in the presence of Almighty God, my Maker and Father, but in the presence of His Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Savior of the world; and I stand in the presence of Peter and James, (and perhaps the eyes of John are also upon us and we know it not); and that I stand also in the presence of Joseph and Hyrum and Brigham and John, and those who have been valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ and faithful to their mission in the world, who have gone before. When I go I want to have the privilege of meeting them with the consciousness that I have followed their example, that I have carried out the mission in which they were engaged as they would have it carried out; that I have been as faithful in the discharge of duty committed to me and required at my hand as they were faithful in their time, and that when I meet them I shall meet them as I met them here, in love, in harmony, in unison and in perfect confidence that I have done my duty as they have done theirs.  (Conference Report, April 1916, p.3, Joseph F. Smith)

Help from the Other Side

“Brother Widtsoe reaffirmed that ‘those who give themselves with all their might and mind to this [family history] work receive help from the other side. Whoever seeks to help those in the other side receives help in return in all the affairs of life’” Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple, 252.

Men Can Stop Sinning and Can Do Right in the Future...But Who Shall Repair the Wrongs They Have Done?

Men cannot forgive their own sins; they cannot cleanse themselves from the consequences of their sins. Men can stop sinning and can do right in the future, and so far their acts are acceptable before the Lord and worthy of consideration. But who shall repair the wrongs they have done to themselves and to others, which it seems impossible for them to repair themselves? By the atonement of Jesus Christ the sins of the repentant shall be washed away; though they be crimson they shall be made white as wool [see Isaiah 1:18]. This is the promise given to you.

Chapter 11: Jesus Christ Redeems the Repentant from Spiritual Death,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith, 95

Alexander Pope’s “Essay on Man”

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien

As to be hated needs but to be seen;

Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,

We first endure, then pity, then embrace. ³

Thomas S. Monson, "Pornography, the Deadly Carrier" Ensign July 2001

I Do Not Believe the Greatest Threat to Our Future is from Bombs or Guided Missiles

An ominous warning was voiced by Laurence M. Gould, former president of Carleton College: “I do not believe the greatest threat to our future is from bombs or guided missiles. I don’t think our civilization will die that way. I think it will die when we no longer care. Arnold Toynbee has pointed out that 19 of 21 civilizations have died from within and not by conquest from without. There were no bands playing and flags waving when these civilizations decayed. It happened slowly, in the quiet and the dark when no one was aware.” ⁴

Thomas S. Monson, "Pornography, the Deadly Carrier" Ensign July 2001

No, I've Been Repenting as I Went Along

My father...talked to me during the nights as he approached death. He spoke of joyous reunions that were coming soon in the spirit world. I could almost see the bright sunlight and the smiles in that place of paradise as he talked about it with such assurance.

At one point, I asked him if he had some repenting to do. He smiled. He chuckled softly as he said, “No, Hal, I’ve been repenting as I went along.” 

 April 1999 "The Power Of Teaching Doctrine"  Henry B. Eyring