The First Presidency

President Harold B. Lee

One or two thoughts have impressed themselves upon me as we have witnessed and have listened. During the year that has passed, we have pondered, we have prayed, we have searched, and now we come with a declaration to all of you that you may know with a certainty that defies all doubt that this which you have witnessed, this which you have heard has been divinely inspired.

I have occasion to recall again and again what the Lord said: “And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.

“But learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.” (D&C 59:21, 23.)

I choose not to offend God by claiming that all of this has come by the will of men. I confess with all my soul that these things are of the Lord, and they have come through righteousness, through prayer, and through great needs.

What is that great need? During the last year I have tried to reach out to the youth at several youth conferences. From one of those youth conferences I received from a member of the stake presidency a note that suggests something that the world needs greatly.

He said, “One recently reactivated young man of about 15 years said in our fast and testimony meeting, ‘President Lee must have known that there was lots of wickedness and evil in the … … … area and that the kids here were in trouble, and just to think that he loves us enough to come all this way just to help us.’”

If it means nothing more to the youth, to the children, to those who are young adults, and those who are over those ages, that all of this is to evidence a love for them that comes from the General Authorities and from your Heavenly Father, then we have yet accomplished much.

From this pulpit over 60 years ago, the president of the Church said, “It has been said that the Church is perfectly organized, and the only trouble is that these organizations are not alive to the obligations resting upon them. When they become thoroughly awakened to the requirements made of them, they will fulfill their duties more dutifully, and the work of the Lord will be stronger and more powerful and influential in the world.”

A few weeks ago we attended a conference back in New Jersey where we heard a wonderful sermon by the stake president on the importance of love. He said something to indicate how important that was in his boyhood life in his own home. He said, “Some of my greatest resources come from lessons learned in my youth from acts of love shown by my parents. I well remember when I was very young my mother was seriously ill. I had gotten up in the night to get a drink of water, and going into the kitchen, I noticed a light in my parents’ bedroom. On going to the door, I found father sitting quietly next to mother’s bed. She was asleep. He was just sitting there, appearing to be doing nothing. And so startled, I asked him what was wrong. Why wasn’t he in bed? My father’s answer was ‘Nothing is wrong, son. I am just watching over her.’

“Later I learned that he sat each night by her side during the crisis, watching over her. And thinking of this I have often thought that truly love is kind and never faileth. The memory of this act of love, the light and warmth of that occasion have always had special meaning to me. It made me feel safe and secure, to see this strong and gentle man so concerned about those of his household. It gave me a deeper appreciation of my father and set a high standard for me to try to follow.”

We have said again and again, and I repeat it now, that the most important work we will ever do will be within the walls of our own homes. Give the child love in the home, and the homes will give our auxiliaries well-adjusted children who can feel the lessons of love of God and man taught in the Church.

The experience of love in one’s early youth enables him to develop the ability to feel within the feelings the urges that create the attitudes that result in a truly religious life. It is these feelings that supply the motivation for good works.

If you can take with you now as you go back to your homes, you leaders of youth and young adults, and the church membership, a feeling of love that we have just demonstrated, you will have set the stage for great and mighty things that will make this church more wonderful and more influential than it has ever been before in all the world. You have had unraveled before your eyes an evidence of the revelations of Almighty God in your day, as he has poured out his blessings in this a great step forward in building the kingdom of God.

President N. Eldon Tanner,
First Counselor in the First Presidency

All the activities of this conference, the preparations for the conference, and all of the organizations of the Church in general are for the purpose of building testimony and character, saving souls, and to further the work of the Lord.

Thousands have participated so untiringly and effectively. Church leaders have been called to participate and correlate their efforts to make these programs really effective. The extent of the good to be accomplished cannot be measured.

Where else in all the world could you find such a well-organized group, such far-reaching activities engaged in the building of good citizens, furthering the work of the Lord, and helping to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man? …

I read the other day the story of a softball player who says that his conversion was the result of his being with good company, where he was impressed with the lives of those with whom he was playing. And then the first baseman and his wife came to this ballplayer and his wife and told them about the gospel and taught the gospel to them. And he bears witness that he was overwhelmed with the change that came into his life, and he is now a bishop in the Church.

He feels that the great challenge for our youth and all members of the Church is to be strong in the faith and to live the teachings and commandments of the Lord, and to realize that no greater joy or satisfaction can come to one than to know that he has brought a family into the Church and kingdom of God. And then he said, “How sad it is that the actions of some who fail to keep the commandments keep others from becoming interested in the Church.”

President Marion G. Romney,
Second Counselor in the First Presidency

To me [the] divine preface to the Doctrine and Covenants says, among other things, that the Lord revealed anew, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, the gospel of Jesus Christ as an antidote to the wickedness which he knew would bring “calamity upon the inhabitants of the earth” if it continued. This preface is also a promise that observance of the commandments that the Lord gave to the Prophet and commanded others to proclaim unto the world will bring happiness now and qualify us to be with the Lord when he comes to reign in our midst.

With all my soul I believe this to be true. I believe it is our responsibility to teach this concept to the youth and the adults, young and old. It is our responsibility to help them apply the commandments and the Spirit of the Lord in adjusting to their own peculiar situations, whatever they may be, regardless of age, health, marital status, social standing, or economic possessions.

I believe that an affirmative and positive course in obeying and teaching the Lord’s commandments is the best defense against wickedness.

I believe that when we are on the Lord’s errand we always have more power supporting us than we have in opposition to us.

I believe we should be optimistic and convince our associates that truth, honor, virtue, and every other type of righteousness will win. I believe with President Joseph F. Smith that:

“Leaders of the Church, … should be men [and women] not easily discouraged, not without hope, and not given to forebodings of all sorts of evils to come. Above all things the leaders of the people should never disseminate a spirit of gloom in the hearts of the people. If men standing in high places sometimes feel the weight and anxiety of momentous times, they should be all the firmer and all the more resolute in those convictions which come from a God-fearing conscience and pure lives. Men in their private lives should feel the necessity of extending encouragement to the people by their own hopeful and cheerful intercourse with them, as they do by their utterances in public places. It is a matter of the greatest importance that the people be educated to appreciate and cultivate the bright side of life rather than to permit its darkness and shadows to hover over them.” (Gospel Doctrine, p. 155.)

Personally I am convinced that those who keep the commandments God has given and those which he will yet give in these latter days are in a position to be and will be as the righteous ten who, could they have been found, would have been in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. …

You are the Good Shepherd’s sheep. You must not stray from the fold. And you must remember that—

“ ’Twas a sheep, not a lamb, that wandered away

In the parable Jesus told—

A grown-up sheep that had gone astray

From the ninety and nine in the fold.

“Out in the wilderness, out in the cold

’Twas a sheep the good shepherd sought;

And back to the flock, safe in the fold,

’Twas a sheep the good shepherd brought.

“And why for the sheep should we earnestly long

And as earnestly hope and pray?

Because there is danger, if they go wrong,

They will lead the young lambs away.

“For the lambs will follow the sheep, you know,

Wherever the sheep may stray.

If the sheep go wrong, it will not be long

Till the lambs are as wrong as they.

“And so with the sheep, we earnestly plead

For the sake of the lambs today.

If the lambs are lost, what a terrible cost

Some sheep will have to pay!”

—C. D. Meigs, “The Sheep of the Fold”