tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51240058875264699442024-03-24T14:11:12.743-07:00Truth Will PrevailUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger349125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-22267974175297834882024-02-23T06:18:00.000-08:002024-02-23T06:18:14.082-08:00Prophetic Warnings Against Teaching False Doctrine<p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;">(McConkie, Petersen, Clark, Benson)</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Compiled by Dennis B.
Horne</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elder Bruce R. McConkie [self-explanatory letter to a private
individual, 1982]:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I have just read for the first time
your letter . . . in which you spend six pages presenting the general thesis
that [mentions a false doctrine]. As you might surmise I am inundated with a
flood of letters and manuscripts which set forth quaint and cranky and bizarre
and false doctrines. . . . It is my practice to discard them because I have
neither the time nor the inclination to engage in discussions or debates on
doctrinal matters of the sort contained in your letter. You have indicated a
sincere desire for a response and I think in your case I will make a few
comments.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I assume
you know already that your doctrine is false; that the entire thesis you have
presented is out of harmony with the teachings of the Church and that you are
wresting the scriptures and perverting the quotations from the Brethren. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My reason
for writing you is to say that no wise member of the Church with a sound
understanding and a stable testimony would deliberately set forth to use the
scriptures and quotations from the Brethren to prove and establish as he
supposes, any basic doctrine that is known to be in conflict with the teachings
of the Brethren and that has been announced by the Presidency and the Twelve
officially as being false. This is a very perilous course to pursue. It is
destructive of faith. When such information comes in to the hands of
spiritually immature people it can have no effect other than to sow seeds of
doubt and uncertainty in their minds.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You have
asked for my reaction to your presentation. I do not see any merit in any
presentation that is based on false premises. It is possible to make a
seemingly logical presentation “proving” the [various false doctrines
mentioned] or almost anything. That is not the real issue. We should spend our
time sustaining true principles. A man who knows better is very foolish to
present false views. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jesus said
“Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.” (John 18:37.) Among other
things this means that true believers accept, by instinct almost, the true
doctrines of salvation when they are taught to them. It means they reject,
almost by instinct, heresies and false views. Pleas add to what Jesus said the
revealed concept that whether teachings are by his own voice or the voice of
his servants it is the same. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This letter
is not written to argue the point or discuss the various passages. It is
obvious that you have enough background and experience in scriptural exegesis
and in researching the statements of the Brethren to figure out for yourself
what the doctrine is. This letter is written to give the counsel I have stated.
Anyone who has the talent you obviously have for analyzing and presenting a
viewpoint, should use your talent in the interests of the Church and not in
presenting views contrary to the accepted doctrine. I hope you will do so and
that you will take the counsel I have given. Sincerely, Bruce R. McConkie<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mark E. Petersen, October 1968 general conference:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If man understood his true purpose in life as it is revealed
in the gospel, and if he knew the secret of his origin, he could begin to free himself
from the shackles of this ignorance.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Who are we?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What is the purpose of our existence?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Can a man who thinks that life came about by chance on a
globe that was made by accident have any overlying purpose to guide him?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Can a man who thinks he evolved from the lowest forms of
life have any lofty aspirations?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Does the idea that we are descendants of ape-like ancestors
inspire us to any great heights of achievement?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The importance of having purpose in life cannot be
overstated.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The discovery of an obvious purpose in creation is what now
begins to open the eyes of our greatest scientists to the facts of our
existence. They are learning that creation could not possibly exist, nor could
it have come into being initially, without a definite purpose. These scientists
now say they are convinced that creation came by the act of a supreme
Intelligence, that he had a purpose in creation, and since he has purpose he
therefore must be a person. Furthermore, they tell us that this Creator also
had a definite purpose in creating man to be like himself.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Listen to some of them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Dr. Arthur H. Compton, Nobel Prize winner, writing in the
Los Angeles Times, said:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Where there is plan, there is intelligence, and an
orderly unfolding universe testifies to the truth of the most majestic
statement ever uttered — 'In the beginning, God. . . .' "<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In a volume entitled The Freedom of Man, published by Yale
University Press, Sir John Arthur Thomson says:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"We feel compelled — and it is a glad compulsion — to
say with the most philosophical of the disciples, 'In the beginning was Mind,
and the Mind was with God, and the Mind was God.' "<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Alfred G. Fisk, in his book The Search for Life's Meaning,
says:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Just as the ordered structure of the universe implies
a creative Intelligence, Architect or Orderer, so a belief in the objectivity
or purpose in the universe leads to a belief in a Purposer or Divine Agent who
is the source and spring of purpose in the Universe."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sir Ambrose Flemming, in his Origin of Mankind, wrote:
"The ultimate cause of things and events is a selfconscious and personal
living Being<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Life can only proceed from already living matter. It cannot
be derived spontaneously from non-living matter. We can obtain energy only from
some source or body already possessing it. It cannot arise spontaneously from
nothing. . . . Accordingly we can infer that the Cause which gave rise to our
self-consciousness and powers of thought, must have been itself selfconscious
and intelligent, or a Thinker.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hence we may infer that the thought of the Intelligent First
Cause was not identical with ours, and therefore this separateness constitutes
that First Cause a Person."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Dr. Compton, writing for This Week magazine, said:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Few scientific men today defend the atheistic
attitude. Design in the Universe presumes an intelligence. Evidence points to a
Beginner, a Creator of the Universe. A physicist's studies lead him to believe
this Creator to be an Intelligent Being. The intelligent God has an interest in
and relation to man, and it is reasonable to assume that He would be interested
in creating a being intelligent like himself."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Albert Einstein, in his book The World as I See It, says on
pages 267-68: "The harmony of natural law reveals an Intelligence of such
superiority that compared with it, all the scientific thinking and acting of
human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Origin and destiny of man<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, what is the truth about the origin of man? Paul gave it
to us: We are the children of God. We are his offspring. We are heirs of God
and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. (See Rom. 8:16-17.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And what does that mean?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It means that we have a mighty purpose in life, which
purpose is that we may become like Godl<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jesus commanded us to achieve this purpose, saying: "Be
ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
(Matt. 5:48.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then, being children of God, we can see our true destiny.
And being thus related to him, as his children, we now see ourselves in an
entirely new light — not as the descendants of ape-like creatures living an
aimless existence, but as the descendants of Almighty God, with the possibility
of becoming like himl<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now we can understand the true place and dignity of man. Now
we can see his infinite potential.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As members of the family of God, we can know that he has
placed us here on earth in a type of school that will help us to become like
him, if we are willing to follow the curriculum.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">https://archive.org/details/conferencereport1968sa/page/98/mode/2up<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Pres. J. Reuben Clark:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And finally, I will quote the passage from First Corinthians,
where Paul, speaking to the backsliding Corinthians, among whom already began
to appear what finally became the great apostasy, and complaining about them
and their thoughts, he said,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"For I determined not to know any thing among you, save
Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (I Cor. 2:2.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are all sorts of cults, all sorts of shadings of what
we have called Christianity. There is one group of scholars that work
insidiously sometimes, pretending Christianity and a belief in Christ, but
nevertheless who subtly and insidiously teach us things that do not come within
what we understand as Christianity. The position of these has been stated by
one scholar thus:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Christ . . . cannot have been both the same unclouded
thinker of the moral sayings and the apocalyptic fanatic of the eschatological
passages."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And eschatology is defined as "The doctrine of the last
or final things, death, resurrection, immortality, the end of the world, final
judgment, and the future state; the doctrine of last things."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These teachers who announce this difference as to the life
of the Savior and his teachings, some of them, find place amongst us.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These critics say one of these two, the moral teachings or
the eschatology, must be given up as historical and the one chosen to be got
rid of is the eschatological. Anything beyond the moral teachings is put in the
realm of myth, legend, popular exaggeration, symbolism, allegory, or
transference of the miraculous from other departments of tradition into the
life of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their standard of elimination is that any "event which
lies outside the range of the known laws of Nature," must be disregarded.
This destroys the divine origin of Jesus, his miracles, his resurrection, and
much of his doctrine. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And Luke says, more shortly than is recorded by the others:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go
ye not therefore after them." (Luke 21:8.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think perhaps when we first read these extracts we may
think that the Savior is talking primarily of a person, somebody to come to
impersonate the Christ and claim to be the Christ. It seems to me, however,
from the way in which these records are made and what they say, that the Savior
also had in mind anyone who would come and say to you, "This is Christ
that I teach; that is Christ that I teach; that is the Christian
doctrine." In that sense I think that these scholars about whom I have
already read, who would discard everything that they could not account for by
the known laws of nature, they are in effect false Christs, for they are
telling us that the things that we believe in Christ are myths, tradition,
symbolism, allegory; they did not exist.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, that kind of a religion, that kind of Christianity
would require that we discard all that we know about the Great Council in
heaven and what was determined there, because these things lie outside the
known laws of nature, as those scholars understand them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We would have to discard the Fall as being a myth, an
allegory, symbolism.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We would have to discard the virgin birth, the divine
conception, the very foundation of our religion; that would have to go.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We would have to discard the witness of the Father at the
time of the baptism of the Savior; that would go as myth, symbolism, allegory.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We would have to discard practically all of the miracles as
not taking place<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>many. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is
Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and
shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all
things." (Mark 13:5-6, 21-23.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And Luke says, more shortly than is recorded by the others:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go
ye not therefore after them." (Luke 21:8.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think perhaps when we first read these extracts we may
think that the Savior is talking primarily of a person, somebody to come to
impersonate the Christ and claim to be the Christ. It seems to me, however,
from the way in which these records are made and what they say, that the Savior
also had in mind anyone who would come and say to you, "This is Christ
that I teach; that is Christ that I teach; that is the Christian
doctrine." In that sense I think that these scholars about whom I have
already read, who would discard everything that they could not account for by
the known laws of nature, they are in effect false Christs, for they are
telling us that the things that we believe in Christ are myths, tradition,
symbolism, allegory; they did not exist.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, that kind of a religion, that kind of Christianity
would require that we discard all that we know about the Great Council in
heaven and what was determined there, because these things lie outside the
known laws of nature, as those scholars understand them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We would have to discard the Fall as being a myth, an
allegory, symbolism.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We would have to discard the virgin birth, the divine
conception, the very foundation of our religion; that would have to go.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We would have to discard the witness of the Father at the
time of the baptism of the Savior; that would go as myth, symbolism, allegory.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We would have to discard practically all of the miracles as
not taking place<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and those that might be accepted would be spoken of as
signs. A sign can be a miracle, but not necessarily so. A miracle is a sign,
but more than that.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We would have to discard the testimony of the Father, at the
time of the transfiguration, that Jesus was his Son.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We would have to discard that great occasion, the raising of
Lazarus and the incidents thereof, the reply of the Savior to Martha:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: ,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never
die." (John 11:2526.) That would have to go into the discard as myth,
allegory, symbolism, tradition.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Finally, we would have to discard all that we know about the
resurrection and its effect; all of that is gone.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As to all these, and almost countless other matters: be not
deceived, believe them not, follow not after the false Christs.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I would like you to appreciate that without the eschatology
of the records of the Savior's life, we should have nothing left but husks,
moral teachings, and ethics which, if lived, would make us a great people, a
humane people, a peaceful people, but would not carry us back into the presence
of our Heavenly Father.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In my view, that doctrine is not only sacrilegious, but to
me it is also blasphemy, something to be utterly cast away. We have less left
after they get through with their discards than the old paganism, for that
paganism, the old Greek mythology, did acknowledge and have a kind of worship
of divine beings which they conceived; they did believe in them and worship
them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My whole soul rebels against this emasculation of
Christianity. Jesus did live. First, there was the great plan in heaven; that
did actually occur. All that we know about it took place there. There was the
plan; the earth was formed; Adam came; the human family followed. We came here
to prove ourselves. Finally, Christ was born in the Meridian of Time. He lived.
He taught. He gave instructions. He was crucified. Then on the morning of the
third day, he was resurrected, thus bringing to each and every of us the
blessings of the resurrection. We all shall be resurrected. All of that has
gone for these people to whom I refer. It is myth, tradition, allegory. Be not
deceived by them; believe them not; follow not after them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then we would have to discard all that transpired in the
restoration of the gospel, the Vision of the Father and the Son, the coming
forth of the Book of Mormon, the giving of the great commandments which compose
our Doctrine and Covenants. We would have to discard the Pearl of Great Price
and all that it says.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, brothers and sisters, let us be aware of this false
Christ, false Christianity which is taking root among some of our
intellectuals. Be not deceived, believe it not, follow not after it, as the
Lord said in those various records.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I bear my testimony as I have already indicated to the
truthfulness of the gospel, to the restoration of its great principles, to the
restoration of the priesthood, to the conferring of all of these things upon
the Prophet Joseph, to the passing down from the Prophet Joseph through the
Presidents of the Church until the present, that our President of the Church,
President David O. McKay, has all of the rights and the prerogatives and the
powers and authorities that were conferred upon the Prophet Joseph.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I bear you this testimony in soberness. I repeat, my soul
cries out against this heresy that is taught by this group of so-called
Christians.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">President Ezra Taft Benson:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do you have members in your stakes whose lives are shattered
by sin or tragedy, who are in despair and without hope? Have you longed for
some way to reach out and heal their wounds, soothe their troubled souls? The
prophet Jacob offers just that with this remarkable promise: “They have come up
hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the
wounded soul.” (Jacob 2:8; italics added.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Today the world is full of alluring and attractive ideas
that can lead even the best of our members into error and deception. Students
at universities are sometimes so filled with the doctrines of the world they
begin to question the doctrines of the gospel. How do you as a priesthood
leader help fortify your membership against such deceptive teachings? The
Savior gave the answer in His great discourse on the Mount of Olives when He
promised, “And whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived.” (JS—M 1:37;
italics added.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The scriptures are replete with similar promises about the
value of the word. Do you have members who long for direction and guidance in
their lives? The Psalms tell us, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light
unto my path” (Ps. 119:105), and Nephi promises that feasting upon the words of
Christ “will tell you all things what ye should do.” (2 Ne. 32:3.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Are there members of your flock who are deep in sin and need
to pull themselves back? Helaman’s promise is for them: “Yea, we see that
whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful,
which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the
devil.” (Hel. 3:29.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Success in righteousness, the power to avoid deception and
resist temptation, guidance in our daily lives, healing of the soul—these are
but a few of the promises the Lord has given to those who will come to His
word. Does the Lord promise and not fulfill? Surely if He tells us that these
things will come to us if we lay hold upon His word, then the blessings can be
ours. And if we do not, then the blessings may be lost. However diligent we may
be in other areas, certain blessings are to be found only in the scriptures,
only in coming to the word of the Lord and holding fast to it as we make our
way through the mists of darkness to the tree of life.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And if we ignore what the Lord has given us, we may lose the
very power and blessings which we seek. In a solemn warning to the early
Saints, the Lord said this of the Book of Mormon: “Your minds in times past
have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly
the things you have received—<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church
under condemnation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion,
even all.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And they shall remain under this condemnation until they
repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon.” (D&C
84:54–57.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oh, my brethren, let us not treat lightly the great things
we have received from the hand of the Lord! His word is one of the most
valuable gifts He has given us. I urge you to recommit yourselves to a study of
the scriptures. Immerse yourselves in them daily so you will have the power of
the Spirit to attend you in your callings. Read them in your families and teach
your children to love and treasure them. Then prayerfully and in counsel with
others, seek every way possible to encourage the members of the Church to
follow your example. If you do so, you will find, as Alma did, that “the word
[has] a great tendency to lead people to do that which [is] just—yea, it [has]
more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything
else, which [has] happened unto them.” (Alma 31:5.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Like Alma, I say unto you, “It [is] expedient that [you]
should try the virtues of the word of God” (Alma 31:5), in the name of Jesus
Christ, amen.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-33102609349550077902024-02-16T09:58:00.000-08:002024-02-16T09:59:13.905-08:00Personal Doctrinal and Scriptural Responsibility<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDwFiYciCgY0-L0zJFwoOTBui6NqWdkZgtn5XYI2S9K0zy2QPevuh7rXOQ8lUQCi0GOZPA0zPs5-uq7BzUYjqtrYIm6kuBKpB5nc8urDkpP6gAp2rVgu1uC4OX9bkOI55AdwFjjGxTRMqwpA7bBsdj8a9UAWZofT-FrkVi0K2X1MOzaKDABbBMSpNzkswp/s580/580-46237-37037E.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="580" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDwFiYciCgY0-L0zJFwoOTBui6NqWdkZgtn5XYI2S9K0zy2QPevuh7rXOQ8lUQCi0GOZPA0zPs5-uq7BzUYjqtrYIm6kuBKpB5nc8urDkpP6gAp2rVgu1uC4OX9bkOI55AdwFjjGxTRMqwpA7bBsdj8a9UAWZofT-FrkVi0K2X1MOzaKDABbBMSpNzkswp/s320/580-46237-37037E.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> <b>Assembled by Dennis B. Horne from the writings and counsel of</b></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Elder Bruce R. McConkie</b></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I include
below some emphatic counsel that Elder McConkie gave to his son and others
regarding how to approach and search the scriptures. I underline salient points
that the Ben Spackmans and Grant Hardys and Joseph Spencers and others of
like ilk in and out of the Church could surely benefit from. These are taken
from Joseph Fielding McConkie’s biography of his father, Elder McConkie:<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While reading the biography of a man of high standing in the
Church, I was troubled about attitudes the author of the book attributed to
him. In some instances, these differences were on matters I understood to be
fundamental to our faith. I mentioned this concern to my father, who observed,
"<u>Everyone is responsible for what they believe and what they choose not
to believe</u>. No office can excuse them from that responsibility."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Dad was very much of the opinion that <u>the measure of a
person's spiritual maturity is found in his or her loyalty to the Prophet
Joseph Smit</u>h. For him, the <u>revelations of the Restoration were the key
which unlocked the meaning of the Old and the New Testaments</u>. They were the
key by which one came to know Christ and his gospel. . . . [Notice he is not
saying that knowing ancient Hebrew civilization is the key; the revelations
received thru the prophet Joseph Smith are the key.]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For him, to study the Bible without the aid of modern
revelation was the same as denying that we had living prophets, the priesthood,
or the gift of the Holy Ghost. <u>He was fully convinced that this principle
unlocked more to our understanding of the Bible than anything else we could do</u>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On another occasion, Dad suggested to me that all <u>scripture
is given with sufficient ambiguity that those desiring to misconstrue or misuse
it will be able to do so</u>. This, he held, was very deliberate on the Lord's
part, for <u>the way we interpret scripture becomes a measure not only of our
understanding but also of our spiritual integrity</u>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The following counsel could just as well be categorized under
the subject heading of evolution and the creation of man as the gathering of Israel.
One can readily see that Elder McConkie’s scriptural teachings had the backing
of the presidents of the Church:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elder McConkie gave two landmark addresses on the gathering
of Israel. The first was given in Mexico City while he was still a Seventy. This
talk was quoted by President Harold B. Lee in a subsequent general conference.
The second was given in an area conference in Lima, Peru, under the direction
of President Spencer W. Kimball. Afterwards, President Kimball stood and said:
"We have just listened to Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Council of the
Twelve. He has given to us many great truths. It was a masterpiece. I hope you
took many notes and then I hope you have recorded them in your minds and in
your hearts. And I hope that you will watch for this article when it is
published."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These addresses shattered several Mormon myths about the
gathering and, as was to be expected, Elder McConkie received a number of
letters intended to correct him. His response to one such letter was dated
October 5, 1977. It evidenced the firmness with which he taught gospel
principles and his response to those who, with considerable energy, sought to
oppose what he had taught.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"In your letter of September 18, 1977, you take
vigorous exception to what I have preached and written on various occasions
relative to the gathering of Israel and the building up of the Latter-day Zion.
You quote a great many passages of scripture relative to the gathering in the
United States and interpret them to mean that before the Lord comes, all of the
faithful saints in all of the nations of the world will be assembled to Jackson
County and its environs so that a people will be prepared for our Lord's
glorious advent.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"As a matter of policy I do not engage in theological
debates or discussion on doctrinal matters. In appropriate instances <u>I do
recite what the doctrine of the Church is and let it go at that. People are
then free to believe or disbelieve as they choose</u>. I have no intention now
to debate any issue with you or to make any further explanations of the
doctrine of gathering than have been made in the published sources to which you
refer.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Under the circumstances, however, I think it is only
fair to you to state that <u>the very reason my articles have been written and
my sermons have been delivered is to correct the false impressions which many
members of the Church have</u> relative to the gathering and which impressions
have been restated by you in your letter. I am sure you would be wise enough to
know that I have a complete awareness of all of the passages you quoted
together with a great many others that bear on the same subject. The issue is
not what they mean but those to whom they apply. <u>Both President Harold B.
Lee and President Spencer W. Kimball have taken an entirely different view of
them than you have expressed</u>. <u>My recent article in the Ensign to which
you refer was published under the direction of the First Presidency and the
Twelve, in order to correct the views </u>that you have written in your letter.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"It is not only the policy of the Church that Saints
remain in the lands in which they live to build up the Church there, but it is
also the doctrine that when the Lord comes he will find in every nation and
among every people the Saints of God who, speaking every language, will then be
qualified to live and reign on earth with him a thousand years. Whenever a
stake of Zion is created in any part of the earth, that portion of the earth's
surface becomes Zion and the gathering of Israel then consists of coming to
that area. The Brazilians gather in Brazil, the British in Great Britain, the
Japanese in Japan and so on. This is the doctrine of the Church. It is taught
in the scriptures. I will not recite the proofs here. They are in the sources
to which you have already referred.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"<u>My counsel to you is that until and unless you come
to an understanding of this doctrine, it would be wise to refrain from further
discussion of it</u>. We do not believe that the Saints will come out of all
nations and gather to Jackson County before the Second Coming. We do believe
that Zion will be built up in all nations before the Lord comes, and that after
he arrives there will be added glorious things connected with the gathering of
Israel. Many of the prophecies talk about a gathering after the Second Coming.
Eventually the whole earth will become Zion.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"<u>You stated very plainly that you thought I had
misinterpreted the scriptures. Please do not be offended now when I tell you
that my views are those of the</u> Brethren and that your problem now is one of
applying the scriptures you have quoted to the particular phase of the
gathering of Israel that is involved in each instance. This is far more complex
and extensive doctrine than many have supposed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"<u>We hope that people everywhere gradually will have
the light dawn on them and know that the views that I have expressed are those
that should and will prevail in the minds of Latter-day Saints</u>. Please do
not be offended at what I have written to you here. Believe as much of it as
you can and if there is something you do not believe, please keep an open mind,
study further, and eventually the glorious perspective that is here involved
will dawn upon you."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If only
members of the church would follow this course with evolution and LGBT issues
and so many others where the views of our corrupt modern society are at
variance with revelation. God knows so much more than we do, such that the only
way to stay in the course of truth is to believe and follow His word.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-52998852459865496822024-02-13T15:47:00.000-08:002024-02-14T11:11:14.541-08:00Ben Spackman Attacks the Prophet Lehi’s Teachings<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>By Dennis B. Horne<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In a recent blog post, Ben Spackman
wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">“I believe Lehi in 2 Ne 2 was doing
as prophets do; he “spoke in part and prophesied in part” per 1 Co 13:9. Lehi
was reading Genesis through his sixth-century Israelite “experience and
knowledge,” as is apparent from some other things in that chapter; <u>the fact
that it appears in the canonized and inspired Book of Mormon does not
automatically render it an ultimate revelation of eternal scientific fact from
the mind of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God, which overturns all
evidence to the contrary</u>.”<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://benspackman.com/2024/02/joseph-fielding-smith-death-before-the-fall-and-2-nephi-222/">https://benspackman.com/2024/02/joseph-fielding-smith-death-before-the-fall-and-2-nephi-222/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Spackman has smeared a little phraseology
frosting on this statement of <i>selective belief</i> to try and lessen its startling
impact, but there really are insurmountable problems with this thinking from a
fundamental doctrinal standpoint. Our Article of Faith 8 tells us that we
believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.
It also states that we believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, with <i>no
disclaimer for bad translating/transmission attached</i>. The Book of Mormon is
simply the word of God; the keystone scripture of the restoration. It is
revelation; it was written and abridged by inspired prophets and translated by
a prophet and is believed and sustained today by all the prophets and apostles.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">If we accept the hypothesis that
Lehi spoke his opinion and erred, instead of speaking inspiration, then we must
also accept that Mormon, the prophet-historian who compiled and abridged the
Book of Mormon, erred by including that portion of Lehi’s teachings in his amalgamation
and abridgment of all the extant plates. He kept the small plates of Nephi in
the Book of Mormon even though some of it is now declared by Spackman to be
false opinion. And we have to figure out which parts of the chapter are revelation
and which are not; after all, even though Spackman has told us he may have
gotten it wrong.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">This whole notion opens up a
pandora’s box of ideas for removal of text. Spackman doesn’t like verses 22-23
because they tend to destroy the theory of evolution which he is trying to push
and promote. So along with those verses, one might presume he wouldn’t like
verse 19 and especially 20, because they also destroy evolution. Now we have at
least four verses that have been decreed Lehi’s uninspired opinion. But wait;
we also have Moses 5:11 and 6:48, which teaches exactly the same doctrine, and
therefore Spackman will need to call that the uninspired opinion of Enoch—and
get rid of it. Now we are starting to designate portions of another standard
work—revealed scripture—uninspired. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">But wait, someone else comes along
and dislikes something else that Lehi said, or perhaps Nephi (I have heard of
this also), and says that is uninspired. Maybe it has to do with skin color, or
the murmuring of Laman and Lemuel, or something to do with feminism, or the
rankings of the seriousness of sin, or who knows what. Those passages must now
also go because they are the uninspired opinions of some Book of Mormon
prophet. And since the same subjects are found in other books of scripture,
those must go also (such as D&C 77). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Have we not just turned the Book of
Mormon into a pamphlet?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guarantee we
can find enough people in the restored Church who think current science (or so-called
social justice or some other worldly philosophy) should prevail over the text
of the scriptures; that eventually we would have all our scriptures tossed out,
and have nothing left. (Many an offshoot cult has already done such.) Or we
could just join the Community of Christ church, which is a superb example of
what occurs when you start by tossing out the Book of Mormon. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Now, the question might be asked:
who is Ben Spackman to be declaring Lehi’s views to be in error since they
conflict with modern scientific theories? The quick and simple answer is: no
one. He has no authority or position or special revelation to speak for anyone.
Not only are we under no obligation to buy what he is selling, we are under
obligation NOT to buy it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Regarding these very passages of
scripture that Ben Spackman says are Lehi’s uninspired opinion, Elder Bruce R.
McConkie has forcefully contradicted him:<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: 0.5in;">Continuing his
non-chronological commentary, the Lord says: “And out of the ground I, the Lord
God, formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air” (Moses
3:1-19). It is of this account of the paradisiacal creation of all
things—repeat, all things—that <b><u>Lehi, in words dictated by the Holy Ghost</u></b>,
shows the difference between the life of all things before and after the fall.
“And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen,” Lehi
tells us, “but he would have remained in the garden of Eden.” Death came after
the fall when the true mortality first prevailed, death for Adam, death for all
things. Only mortal beings can die; Adam was immortal before the fall. Hence,
without the fall, he would have remained in Eden forever. “And all things which
were created”—nothing is exempt—“must have remained in the same [paradisiacal]
state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained
forever, and had no end.” Plants, fowl, fish, animals, and man—all things—would
have continued to live as immortal or spiritual or paradisiacal beings if there
had been no fall.<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Elder McConkie says the prophet
Lehi’s words were “dictated by the Holy Ghost” and Ben Spackman says those
words were simply his own uninspired opinion. They cannot both be right. Spackman
is teaching false doctrine; Elder McConkie is sustaining and supporting the
inspiration of a prophet of God and the standard works as they have been
canonized. One is using a scientific theory to attack an ancient prophet’s teachings;
the other is declaring that we accept revelation from God first, before
anything mankind and science comes up with.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Ben Spackman is part of a (sorely misguided)
project at BYU (the Biology program) which seeks to harmonize science and
religion. It seems that when they cannot be harmonized, he goes with science
over scripture. Others at BYU, such as Jamie Jensen and Steven Peck, are doing
the same thing—putting the theories of science ahead of the revelations that
contradict them. Of course, there are many places where science and religion
fit together well and are harmonious, but some others where science has not
caught up with revealed truth. The theory of evolution is one of those
conflicting areas. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Of the effort to harmonize science
with religion, President Dallin H. Oaks wrote (this quotation is found in his
official biography): “Because our knowledge of the truths of the gospel is
still evolving with continuing revelation, and because the ‘truths’ of science
are also very dynamic, I am skeptical about bringing them together at present,
though I know that they will each be gloriously consistent when all truths are
known.” All truths are certainly not yet known!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">This is one reason the Church does
not have an official position on evolution: which or whose version of that
theory would it take such a position on?—and how long would a position take to become
obsolete as science changes? Would it take 25 years. or 50 or 75 to substantially
revise evolutionary science?—enough to make a Church position on it obsolete.
On the other hand, the Church has taken a position on the creation of man, with
the First Presidency issuing two formal statements (1911 and 1931). The most
modern scientists are always saying they have now discovered the truths that
their predecessors thought they had but did not. How can such theories be
trusted in the same way that the revelations can be trusted?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">From Joseph F. Smith, to James E.
Talmage to Joseph Fielding Smith and Bruce R. McConkie, among others, we have a
number of prophetic statements insisting that the standard works govern members
of the church in matters pertaining to doctrine, faith, and practice. They, in
concert with the teachings of modern prophets, constitute the iron rod of
Lehi’s and Nephi’s visions—and we will be judged out of them, not out of
scientific textbooks. In his last general conference address, Elder Adam S.
Bennion of the Quorum of the Twelve taught: “The basic belief, ‘the glory of
God is intelligence,’ puts a premium on the search for truth. Men are
encouraged to reach out for enlightenment wherever it is worthily to be found.
But they are also <u>charged with the responsibility of proofreading their
thinking against good common sense and against the revealed word of God</u>.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">We have declarations from
intellectual academics weakening or marginalizing the standard works, seeking
to make room for modern society’s views. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">For example, Grant Hardy said the
following in a widely publicized interview:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">“Sometimes we’re embarrassed by the
Book of Mormon. We’re embarrassed by the lack of evidence for its historicity,
by the racism and the absence of women, and about how it uses the King James
Bible, particularly the New Testament. There are things in the Book of Mormon
that are problematic, and I don’t think we should skip over those. Nephi had
attitudes that we would regard as racist today. Apparently even prophets do not
always live up to their ideals or to their revelations.” (see: https://religionnews.com/2024/01/04/juicing-up-your-book-of-mormon-reading-this-year-part-1-with-grant-hardy/)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Though Hardy uses the collective
“we”—as far as I am concerned he can only speak for himself; he certainly does
not speak for me or most members I know. I am not embarrassed by the Book of
Mormon nor anything in it. Again, it is the word of God (and not as far as
translated correctly or as far as it fits with some scientific theory or the
philosophies of men). It was translated correctly by the gift and power of God.
Hardy has written a 900-page book filled with annotations (explanations) of
various kinds about the Book of Mormon. If he is embarrassed by the book, how
sound and stable and correct would many of his commentaries be? How much of the
learning and theories of men/scholars would it contain instead?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Ben Spackman says that the best way
to figure out what the scriptures teach is to learn how the ancient Hebrews
would have understood them—something much less than 1% of members of the Church
would ever do. On the contrary, Elder McConkie says the best way to figure out
what they are saying is to get the same Spirit of the Lord that the prophets
had when they first wrote them. This is far more likely to happen for those
with the Gift of the Holy Ghost who apply themselves and pray about what they
are reading; no ancient Hebrew knowledge needed. After all, the Book of Mormon
was written for our day and times. I know Elder McConkie’s method works for me.
“In the full and final sense,” he said, “the only perfect and absolute way to
gain a sure knowledge of any truth in any field is to receive personal
revelation from the Holy Spirit of God. This heaven-sent boon is reserved for
those who keep the commandments and obtain the companionship of the Holy
Spirit.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Further, </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
way to achieve a high state of gospel scholarship is first to study and ponder
and pray about the Book of Mormon and then to follow the same course with
reference to the other scriptures. The Book of Mormon contains that portion of
the Lord’s word which he has given to the world to prepare the way for an
understanding of the Bible and the other revelations now had among us. We have
been commanded to search the scriptures, all of them; to treasure up the Lord’s
word, lest we be deceived; to drink deeply from the fountain of holy writ, that
our thirst for knowledge may be quenched.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Paul says the scriptures are able
to make us “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2
Tim. 3:15.) They lead us to the true Church and the legal administrators whom
God has appointed to administer his work on earth. <u>It is far better for us
to gain our answers from the scriptures than from something someone else says
about them</u>. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And then, </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">It is true that we oftentimes need
an inspired interpreter to help us understand what apostles and prophets have
written for us in the Standard Works. <u>But it is also true that many
explanations given by many people as to the meaning of scriptural passages are
somewhat less than true and edifying</u>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">We are in a far better position if
we are able to drink directly from the scriptural fountain <u>without having
the waters muddied by others whose insights are not as great</u> as were those
of the prophetic writers who first penned the passages found in the <u>accepted
canon of holy writ</u>. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">And this from Pres. Benson: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">The world worships the learning of
man. They trust in the arm of flesh. To them, men's reasoning is greater than
God's revelations. The precepts of man have gone so far in subverting our
educational system that in many cases a higher degree today, in the so-called
social sciences, can be tantamount to a major investment in error. Very few men
build firmly enough on the rock of revelation to go through this kind of an
indoctrination and come out untainted. Unfortunately, of those who succumb,
some use their higher degree to get teaching positions even in our Church
educational system, where they spread the falsehoods they have been taught. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ben
Spackman and Grant Hardy have effectively disposed of or weakened “the accepted
canon of holy writ.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Those who put science on the same
footing as revelation and take the former over the latter where they
contradict, are not hearing or understanding the things of God, but instead are
demoting the prophets to mere uninspired men. Those who write articles and
books commenting on these things, that reinterpret the statements of the First
Presidency, are surely “less than true and edifying.” Another way Elder
McConkie put this thinking is this, which he ofte said to family and also to
Church religious educators: “Streams of living water flow from the Eternal
Fountain, and they flow in scriptural channels prepared by the prophets. Here
is a bit of wisdom most of you will understand: Don’t drink below the horses,” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have not
investigated for myself, but from reviews I have seen online, I understand that
Joseph Spencer has written a book about Isaiah in the Book of Mormon that
contains material discussing the subject, viewing the Book of Mormon as an 1830
production, and not as the ancient book prepared by God that it is. In other
words, discussing Isaiah in the Book of Mormon as a volume written (not
translated) by Joseph Smith or someone else that lived in the 1830s. That rids
the person that accepts such theories of Joseph Smith’s testimony concerning
Moroni’s visit, the obtaining of the plates, and his translating the record by
the gift and power of God.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
standard works are precious; three of them combined become one of several
miraculous things that separate the restored Church of Jesus Christ from every
other organization or belief system in the world. I concur with these words
from Elder McConkie, that he has echoed from other apostolic special witnesses
before him: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">The Standard Works are scripture.
They are binding upon us. They are the mind and will and voice of the Lord. He
never has, he does not now, and he never will reveal anything which is contrary
to what is in them. <u>No person, speaking by the spirit of inspiration, will
ever teach doctrine that is out of harmony with the truths God has already
revealed</u>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">These words of President Joseph
Fielding Smith should guide all of us in our gospel study: “It makes no
difference what is written or what anyone has said, if what has been said is in
conflict with what the Lord has revealed, we can set it aside. My words, and
the teachings of any other member of the Church, high or low, if they do not
square with the revelations, we need not accept them. Let us have this matter
clear. We have accepted the four standard works as the measuring yardsticks, or
balances, by which we measure every man’s doctrine.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">“You cannot accept the books
written by the authorities of the Church as standards in doctrine, only in so
far as they accord with the revealed word in the standard works.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">“Every man who writes is
responsible, not the Church, for what he writes. If Joseph Fielding Smith
writes something which is out of harmony with the revelations, then every
member of the Church is duty bound to reject it. If he writes that which is in
perfect harmony with the revealed word of the Lord, then it should be
accepted.” (Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [1954–56],
3:203–4; also cited in Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], p.
609.) </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I am amazed
that these instructions need to be repeated and reinforced, but acedemia is oft
the enemy of revelation and the prophetic voice.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If we were
to get a little creative and try to give Ben Spackman the benefit of the doubt,
and use this bit of truth from Elder McConkie, could we do such?: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">But every word that a man who is a
prophet speaks is not a prophetic utterance. Joseph Smith taught that a prophet
is not always a prophet, only when he is acting as such. Men who wear the
prophetic mantle are still men; they have their own views; and their
understanding of gospel truths is dependent upon the study and inspiration that
is theirs. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No, we
could not—the fact is that the Book of Mormon is true and God Himself testified
that such is indeed the case (see D&C 20 for God’s own statement of
testimony that His book is true). If it contains a few minor weaknesses of men,
I would trust the prophet to point them out and not one Ben Spackman or Grant
Hardy of Joseph Spencer or any other alleged academic.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Someone
tried to point out that Lehi didn’t know anything about evolution, so how could
his words found in 2 Nephi refute it? Pres. Ezra Taft Benson has answered: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">As a watchman on the tower, I feel
to warn you that one of the chief means of misleading our youth and destroying
the family unit is our educational institutions. President Joseph F. Smith
referred to false educational ideas as one of the three threatening dangers
among our Church members. There is more than one reason why the Church is
advising our youth to attend colleges close to their homes where institutes of
religion are available. It gives the parents the opportunity to stay close to
their children; and if they have become alert and informed as President McKay
admonished us last year, these parents can help expose some of the deceptions
of men like Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, John Dewey, Karl Marx, John Keynes,
and others. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">President Benson followed up that counsel with this: “If
your children are taught untruths of evolution in the public schools or even in
our Church schools, provide them with a copy of President Joseph Fielding
Smith's excellent rebuttal in his book <i>Man, His Origin and Destiny</i>.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p> He also
stated: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Increasingly the Latter-day Saints
must choose between the reasoning of men and the revelations of God. This is a
crucial choice, for <u>we have those within the Church today who</u>, <u>with
their worldly wisdom, are leading some of our members astray</u>. President J.
Reuben Clark, Jr., warned that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“the <u>ravening
wolves are amongst us from our own membership and they, more than any others,
are clothed in sheep's clothing, because they wear the habiliments of the
Priesthood. ... We should be careful of them.</u>” (The Improvement Era, May
1949, p. 268.) </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
speaking specifically to the Book of Mormon itself, </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Now, we have not been using the
Book of Mormon as we should. Our homes are not as strong unless we are using it
to bring our children to Christ. <u>Our families may be corrupted by worldly
trends and teachings <b>unless we know how to use the book to expose and</b> <b>combat
the falsehoods in</b> socialism, <b>organic evolution</b>, rationalism,
humanism,</u> etc. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">President Benson felt the Book of
Mormon to have application in overcoming the false philosophies and science of
our day beautifully.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Book of
Mormon is true, of that I testify, including the teachings of Lehi, Nephi,
Mormon, Moroni, Alma, Abinadi, Enos, Ether, Samuel, and all the other prophets
who speak inspiration “from the dust” to us.<o:p></o:p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-79892737377351327322023-09-29T09:00:00.001-07:002023-09-29T09:00:00.136-07:00Inspirational Excerpts from the Journal of President Spencer W. Kimball<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi6nhEwAJb8y48I1JiR1cZGcUhSPkvGpteOTlwLZEjKBX-Ql3D50RL5KicWwwYkuoIUaLbnqghyphenhyphenfdlRKXA1liR4ue9rebGzrTAZzjbs-w2nTE7GsPZEU4acJ1mGBNjajTMSE6obdSNXSzAnRGCHkIoFISrsnH3yilz-odb7pQ50E4NwSOl4XwWpsOO6kxO/s1067/spencer_w_kimball.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1067" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi6nhEwAJb8y48I1JiR1cZGcUhSPkvGpteOTlwLZEjKBX-Ql3D50RL5KicWwwYkuoIUaLbnqghyphenhyphenfdlRKXA1liR4ue9rebGzrTAZzjbs-w2nTE7GsPZEU4acJ1mGBNjajTMSE6obdSNXSzAnRGCHkIoFISrsnH3yilz-odb7pQ50E4NwSOl4XwWpsOO6kxO/s320/spencer_w_kimball.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Compiled
by Dennis B. Horne</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Editorial note: the below excerpts from President Kimball’s
journal were selected because I find them to be extra uplifting and edifying,
or otherwise special in some way. I did not include a date with them because
when I encountered and chose them I was interested in precious spiritual experience
and insight, not scholarship. Some of these items can be found by using the
index and links previously posted as “Precious highlights in President Spencer
W. Kimball’s Journal.” Below is what I judge to be <i>some</i> of the cream of
the cream in his diary. These tidbits make my soul sing and reinforce within me
how grateful I am to be a member of the Restored Church of Jesus Christ. This apostle
and prophet became celestial material indeed. I include a little introduction
of a few words to each excerpt to give some context:<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Elder Kimball on Elder Harold B. Lee:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Elder Lee and I caught the Los Angeles Limited at six
o’clock for Los Angeles. We had a delightful visit on our way down and I
appreciated very much discussing the Gospel with him and getting his reaction
to problems which have come to me recently from many people. Elder Lee is very
wise, sagacious for his experience and age, and the Lord has made of him a
great character.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. Kimball doctrinally corrects a friend:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Lawrence Maloy came for me. . . . He had a problem and
we went far away from the haunts of men and fasted from Sat. morning till
Monday night and did considerable praying and studying. He had many erroneous
ideas and concepts and I hope that we have him straightened out now. He had
been very critical of the Savior and the Bible feeling that the Lord was a
tyrant. I hope we had showed him that God is Love and that Jesus was perfect
and that when we cannot so accept him there is something wrong with us. It
seemed that he did not understand the scriptures and many passages might on the
surface give license to his thoughts. I hope we have helped him.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Gives good answers to questioner:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“My first appointment was with Elder [name removed]. . .
. He had filled a splendid mission, I am sure. He asked me many questions about
procedure, doctrine and discipline. After I had answered him and he had gone, I
sought an interview with Elder Joseph Fielding Smith to check up my answers and
found that in every case I had been correct, so it helped me to know that I was
learning the work. (Dec. 22, 1943)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Meeting in Council:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“In our meeting there were points of doctrine came up for
clarification and I felt almost overwhelmed to think that I, so humble, was
among those to determine and work out policies and programs for the whole
church.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Caution:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“I received . . . also the report of Darrell Warnick of
the 2<sup>nd</sup> Ward in Pocatello Stake, returning from the Central States
Mission. He had had quite a remarkable vision or dream and I cautioned him to
keep it sacred and not tell it promiscuously. In other words, not to cast his
pearls before swine.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Elder Kimball calls a bishop:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“The High Council approved brother Horace J. Ritchey and I
interviewed him for the position. Because of financial difficulties he was
reluctant to accept the call. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“We met the High Council early, interviewed Brother Ritchey
and tho he had been reluctant he indicated later that he was willing to accept
the call tho he was in very bad financial circumstances. I felt impressed that
the Lord would strengthen him financially if he had the faith to accept this
call, and so expressed myself to him after he had accepted it.” [Years later]:
“Looking toward the reorganization of the San Jose Stake we continued with our
interviews. . . . After much prayer and contemplation we decided to call as President,
Horace J. Richie. This man I ordained a bishop in the San Francisco Stake some
years ago. We found him very pleasant with a splendid personality and a good
insight and much vigor and reasonable youth.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Calls a stake president:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“When Bro. Gunderson came up from downstairs he was
visibly affected emotionally and his voice was unsteady. He received the call
most humbly, expressing his willingness but his feeling of weakness. When he
had regained his composure he said he was not surprised. That when he returned
Wednesday night from our interview with him, and as he ascended the stairway
from his basement a voice clear and distinct said to him: ‘You will be the
President of the new Stake.’”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Calls another stake president:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Having been sent to reorganize the . . . stake, we began
our interviews. . . . When High Councilor [name removed] came in, I was deeply
impressed that he was to be the president of the stake. I did not close my mind
but we went forward and interviewed all the other brethren. . . . After
considerable deliberation and much prayer, we chose Brother [name removed] to
be the President of the stake. . . . He accepted the call graciously but
without the surprise element which we often meet. We interviewed him carefully
and found as we expected that he was worthy and that all was well. We mentioned
he would now need to give thought to Counselors and he said immediately, ‘I
suppose it is a little unusual for a man to have his counselors selected before
his call. I’d like to have [names removed].’ We were surprised but pleased. . .
. Hours later as we went home, I said, ‘Brother [name removed], we were
surprised at your quick decision. Would you like to tell me about it?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“’Six years ago,’ he began, ‘When I was in the temple one
day . . . I received the assurance that I would be the successor to President
[name removed] when he was finally released. Since that day, I have been
secretly and quietly doing my utmost to be prepared for it.’ Then I asked,
‘What would you have thought and felt had we called another man to this
position as stake president?’ He promptly replied, ‘I would have wondered how I
had failed. I would have held to my inspirational experience but would have
realized that it was I who had not measured up.’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Accordingly, we felt very happy that this confirmed the
strong feeling which I had with regard to his call.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">And another made known:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“After looking through the temple, I retired alone to one
of the sealing rooms and importuned the Lord to advise me whom He had selected
for the President of the South Idaho Falls Stake. As I came out of the temple,
I was sure in my mind and felt composure and ease.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">And another:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“We returned to and completed our interviews with the
bishops and the stake presidency and high council members. I had prepared the
two counselors for release. I was sure as I began to deliberate that Brother
[Sterling W.] Sill was eager to make the First Counselor the President of the
Stake. He discussed the matter at great length and argued logically, however, I
had some very definite feelings in the matter and having done considerable
praying about it, I felt to follow what I felt was inspiration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“As each
of the brethren had come in for interview, I had felt rather barren and
unresponsive, but when Bishop Call came in, I had a different reaction and felt
that here was an excellent possibility for a President. There were several
other good men who came in during the afternoon but I continued to feel
responsive toward Brother Call and finally, we got him back from Fairfield and
called him to the Presidency of the Stake. He was very humble about it but
accepted graciously.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">And another:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“We then continued on until about 2:30 or 3:00 with our
interviews of the leaders of the Greenbrae, San Rafael and Novato Wards of the
San Francisco Stake. These three are to be annexed to the Santa Rosa Stake in
its division. About 3:00 we decided on Brother Weston Roe as the president, and
we went to his office at the cemetery and called him to the work. We were very
pleased with him. We had been somewhat disturbed that we had felt so unsettled
in the whole matter, but when President Roe came in to be interviewed both of
us felt like light had penetrated the darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">And another:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“</span>We began very early, about 7:30, interviewing our
possible leaders. We spent some time with our new President, Richie R. Boyack.
We had learned that he had planned to retire from his employment in the U.S.
Army, in charge of the draft in this area, a colonel, a very prominent and
important man. We found that he would be retired in July of 1960 and that he
had plans to move back into the further west, possibly Utah, to spend the
balance of his days. We invited him to be the President of the Stake and he
accepted readily with the understanding that he would set aside his own
ambitions and plans for the future and would serve the Lord. His devotion and
consecration to the work, and his dedication caused me to exclaim within myself
the words of the Savior to the Nephites: ‘So great faith have I never seen
among the Jews.’” (3 Nephi 19:35).<span style="color: #242424;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">And another (extra special):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“I had some interviews and then at 8:00, we held the
regular meeting with the Presidency and the High Council and the Bishoprics. .
. . We released the High Priests Presidency and the three high councilors who
were going to be in the new stake presidency. We sustained as the Presidency of
the stake, Russell Marion Nelson, a doctor who is an eminent heart specialist;
his First Counselor, Albert Reeder Bowen, the son of Brother Albert E. Bowen of
the Council of the Twelve; and Joseph Bitner Wirthlin, the son of the former
Presiding Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin; and they were sustained also as the
Presidency of the High Priests Quorum.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Boyd told me this story. My close friend Boyd K. Packer.
Peru:”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“In a western South American nation in a Sacrament
meeting, the sacrament was in preparation. He was a little ragamuffin. His two
shirts would hardly make one, so ragged they were and torn and dirty. Unlikely
that those shirts had ever been off that little body since they were donned.
The little feet which brought him in the open door up the aisle and to the
sacrament table were calloused, bearing dark and dirty testimony of deprivation,
want, unsatisfied hungers—spiritual as well as physical. Almost unobserved, he
came to the sacrament table and with a seeming spiritual hunger, he leaned
against the table and lovingly rubbed his unwashed face against the cool,
smooth, white linen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A woman
in the front seats outraged by the seeming intrusion caught his eye and with
her motion and frown, sent the little ragamuffin scampering down the aisle and
out into his world, the street.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
little ragamuffin came stealthily, cautiously down the aisle again, wondering,
ready to run and escape if necessary.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Elder
Packer caught his eye and beckoned him and opening big, welcoming arms, they
were quickly filled as the little ragamuffin nestled comfortably, his head
against a great warm heart—a heart sympathetic to waifs, and especially to
Lamanite little ones.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Month
later, Elder Packer sat in my office and in tender terms, rehearsed this
incident as he sat forward on his chair, his eyes glistening, and he said ‘in
my mind, this was not a single little Lamanite in my arms. It was a nation, a
multitude of nations of deprived, hungering souls, wanting something they knew
not what—a humble people yearning to revive a seeming memory of ancestors
standing wide-eyed, open mouthed, expectant and excited, looking up and seeing
a holy, glorified being descend from celestial areas and hearing a voice say:
“Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth
and all things that in them are. . . . And in me, hath the Father glorified his
name. . . . I am the light and the life of the world. I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end.’”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Elder Kimball on a talk by Pres. Smith:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“We attended the sunset services of the Bonneville Stake
MIA and Elder Joseph Fielding Smith spoke strongly on the Last Days and the
living of the commandments. It was a real masterpiece. I wanted to get up and
remind those thousand or more people that they had this day heard a prophet of
God who spoke inspired words to them.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">A member gains a witness:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“In the [stake] Conference session given over to
testimonies in part, Brother Walter Canals, 1<sup>st</sup> councilor in
the Union Branch Presidency sat in the audience. I saw his eyes were wet and
glassy from where I sat. He was evidently enjoying a spiritual experience. When
he gave his testimony he said he had always believed, but only this morning did
he know positively. He testified that he knew I was a divinely called Apostle
of the Master; the divinity of the work; that Joesph Smith was a real prophet.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Elder Kimball on preparation of a General Conference
talk:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Today is my day [speaking] at the conference. I was very
greatly concerned about my talk and Tuesday morning, I decided that my talk on
faith without works or by grace are ye saved, wasn’t exactly what I wanted to
give. It was all prepared and finished and ready so I then got up real early
Tuesday morning and wrote up a talk on revelation continuous. . . . I was the
first speaker in the afternoon and was not crowded for time. I think I used
about 19 minutes. My talk seemed to be well received. I am grateful to the Lord
for it seemed to me that I had unusual help in this matter.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Elder Kimball blesses George F. Richards [Pres. of
Twelve]:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Brother Cowley and I went to the apartment of Pres.
George F. Richards and administered to him at his request. He was dressed,
lying on the lounge but feeling miserable. Had not been able to sleep all night
nor today but had been up and around. In the blessing I told him of our great
love for him and asked the Lord, consistent with His will, to relieve him of
his pain and heal him for as long as was His desire. About 11 pm Pres. Richards
died, with only a few minutes of severe distress.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">GFR’s Funeral:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“In Elder Lee’s address he told of the manifestation of
Pres. Richards when in dream or vision he saw the Lord Jesus Christ. Pres.
Richards had told us of some of his very sacred manifestations when we had been
in our Quarterly meetings of the Council of the Twelve. Truly he was a great
and good man and about as nearly perfect as a man gets on the earth.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Elder Kimball sees mantle come on Pres. McKay:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“I had an unusual experience, my first of its kind. As
President David O. McKay began his introduction statements concerning the
status of the Church and the need for reorganization of the Presidency, a
strange feeling came over me. He appeared in his majesty and power. I saw him
as the President of the Church. Of course I had known he would be, but this
moment without my having given thought to this, a very pronounced feeling came
to me of the MANTLE. For me the mantle fell upon him that moment. There was no
doubt in my mind. It was a soul satisfying feeling. It was hardly a light—it
was more like a sudden flood of warmth and into my mind came the thought: ‘THE
PROPHET’S MANTLE’. I was grateful for it for two reasons: if there could have
come any doubt that doubt was thus dispelled—and it gave me the feeling that
perhaps the Lord might be pleased to a small extent with my work, attitudes and
myself to be so kind to me. This has given me a deep sense of gratitude and
exultation. Oh! How I love the Lord, and His Church, and His work. Oh! HOW
GRATEFUL I AM FOR HIS GOODNESS TO ME. If I can only endure unto the end in
total faithfulness!!!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">More on Pres. McKay:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #242424;">“Today, is President McKay’s 90<sup>th</sup> birthday.
He has been celebrating it for about a week.. Many people and organizations
have been feting him and paying tribute to him. What a great man he is. What an
inspired man he is.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. J. Reuben Clark confides in Elder Kimball:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“I spent an hour with Pres. Clark who became very
confidential with me. He told me of his call to the First Presidency by Pres.
Grant who had not seen him more than a half dozen times and had heard him speak
only once. Pres. Clark was Ambassador to Mexico. When the letter came from Box
B, Salt Lake City, he knew what it would be (he said). He was awed but could
not tell anyone. Bro. Melvin J. Ballard was later visiting the Mexican Mission
in Mexico City and became acquainted with Bro. Clark and when he made his
report in the Council meeting in the temple he remarked that he had met a young
man in Mexico City who because of his integrity, testimony, power and ability,
could someday be used in the higher councils. This brought a smile from the
Apostles for in his absence this very man had been called to be a Counselor to
Pres. Grant.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“He confided to me some of the difficult situations which
had presented themselves when Pres. Grant died and especially when Pres. Smith
died and when President McKay chose Stephen L. Richards of the Council of the
Twelve for first Counselor and himself (JRCJr) as second and many situations
that had arisen since. He spoke to me of some of the problems facing us in the
leadership positions of the Church. He became a bit emotional when he recalled
and lived again the awesome memories of those days in Mexico when he was called
from Government work to Church work. This was a priceless hour with him.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pers. Smith to Elder Kimball:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Today President Joseph Fielding Smith came down the hall
and put his arm around me and said ‘I think a lot of you—I love you Brother
Kimball.’ These were precious words—priceless. To have the approval and appreciation
of a man of his stature and goodness!!! Brother Lee invited me to his home for
dinner and as we rode along, he said he was hungry to visit with me and as he
got older he felt to lean on his brethren more and more. I was so grateful for
his appreciative expressions. I told him he was fast approaching the place of
first seniority in the Twelve. He would surely be the President and that I
would sustain him with all my heart. There are great compensations to me for
these occasional expressions of the thanks and appreciation.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Angels:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“In all the time I have performed [marriage] ceremonies I
never felt a sweeter influence than I did today as I performed these
ceremonies. I felt that angels were near while I was sealing Mark’s wife to
him.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. Smith’s teachings to Twelve:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“We went into the quarterly meeting [of the Twelve]. . .
. The testimonies were delightful and the explanations and dissertation upon
gospel topics by President Smith were most excellent.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Elder Kimball on Elder Albert E. Bowen of Twelve:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“What a great man he was! How just! I should like Bro.
Bowen to plead my case if I were being tried, he is so fair and just. When he
finally spoke, words of wisdom and good judgment flowed out.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Special Witnesses:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Our quarterly meeting was about the most impressive yet.
President Smith spoke for a half an hour or more on the Gospel, particularly
upon our being special witnesses and the meaning thereof. Brother Lee followed
with somewhat the same trend, and each of the Brethren spoke feelingly and with
great spirit, and I came away from the meeting determined more than ever to
perfect my life and to be more worthy of the great blessings that were mine.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Elder Matthew Cowley’s death:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“There was a knock on the [hotel room] door and Sister
Cowley, who with her husband Elder Matthew Cowley, had been occupying the room
adjoining, knocked at our door and said: ‘I think Matthew is dead’ Camilla and
I both rushed in, in our night clothes and found him dead, lying peacefully on
his bed. Sister Cowley was hysterical. I tried to revive him—rubbed his arms
and then called to the operator to get a house doctor quickly. There was none,
…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Bro. Kimball on Hugh Nibley:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“At Tremonton we were so much interested in the
discussion with Brother Nibley regarding the recent finds of important
documents in the caves in Palestine that I took the wrong road and went clear
to Malad before I realized that we were diverted. I turned around and went
back…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. McKay to Twelve:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“The Christian sects are, shall I say, disintegrating.
That is a little strong, but they sense their inadequacy to represent our Lord
and Savior. In fact, they are not recognizing Him as the Savior of the world,…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Elder Kimball talks to an apostatizing returned
missionary:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“At my desk at the office I had a long interview with
[redacted], a returned missionary of some years who is attending [college] and
whose faith seemingly has been shattered and who is much disturbed over the
Negro question, over revelation and over all the other matters which affect
those who begin in their apostasy. I talked to him earnestly and did my utmost
to help him to get back to correct thinking. He worships the scientists and
would accept nothing he could not prove. I felt depressed all day, feeling that
I had done him little good and disturbed greatly for his future.” (Sept. 19,
1954)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">About a book meant as a church manual:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“I spent much of the afternoon at the home of Brother
Adam S. Bennion who has been ill, and we discussed the matter of the Obert Tanner
manuscript for the Sunday School. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“[A few days later] At 8:30 President David O. McKay
called me and asked me to come down and we had a long interview, some 2 hours,
President McKay and myself with George R. Hill, superintendent of the Sunday School
sitting with us. We went carefully over the proposed manual written by Obert C.
Tanner “Christ’s Ideals for Living,” which as chairman of the Publications
Committee, I have read through and through. I found many, many places where
there seemed to me to be errors in doctrine, encouragement to higher criticism,
the race problem pertaining to the Negro, and that the book from beginning to
end reeked of sectarianism. The President told me that he thought I was extreme
in my criticisms, and with some few corrections he felt that it should go
forward to publication.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. McKay blesses Elder Kimball:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“President McKay gave Camilla and myself blessings. He
blessed her that she would not need to worry about our loved ones. They would
be protected while we were in the work of the Lord, … In my blessing he blessed
me that I might set in order the missions of Europe—the districts and branches.
Three times he blessed me to have discernment, protection in trains, ships, and
in the air, to go and come safely. I felt much more at ease and at peace when
the blessing was given. President McKay sat on the corner of the table and
reminisced remembering my father, his visit in our home, . . . It was good to
get that close to President McKay.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Elder Kimball’s conference talk:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“I think I have never been conscious of such universal
approval. President McKay had added, when announcing my address, that I had
been called six months ago to tour the European missions. Now the meeting was
over. Many of my Brethren expressed their approval as had Brother Lee, my
seatmate during the closing of the meeting. President Clark came up and grasped
my hand: ‘I am usually careful with my words, but I want you to know that was
excellent. . . ‘ Then President Richards said as he took my hand, ‘I have been
waiting to hear your report and have expected much and have not been
disappointed. . .’ And as he spoke, I felt two great arms from the rear. They
enveloped me and closed in front, and there was a tight embrace and it seemed
to me his head was pressed against mine. I looked up to find the Prophet of the
Lord embracing me and saying, ‘that was a masterpiece.’ What ecstasy! In my
silly sensitiveness I had felt that my intense work of the past months was not
known nor appreciated—that it was more or less passed over or ignored—that it
had sunk almost into oblivion under the glare of the more spectacular choir
tour and the temple dedication. I whispered to him, ‘thank you President McKay.
I shall never forget that.’ And I later wrote to him: ‘If I could live to merit
the smiles of my Lord so that sometime in the far future He might shake my hand
or embrace me in His arms, then and then only then would I ever be lifted up to
greater ecstasy than I was on Saturday afternoon when I felt your strong arms
around me and heard your word of approval.’”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Reflections on organizing several new stakes alone:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“It has been like a whirlwind of almost tornadic
proportions as we have moved from place to place [Australia and New Zealand].
The stakes are now all organized and we are deep into the touring of missions.
It has been an unheard of experience. I think that never before in our
experience has one of the Twelve been entrusted with such responsibility and I
have been very close to my Lord. I think never before has one member been given
five stakes to organize, one after the other. Generally two of us go to
organize one stake. I have shaken with awesome responsibility through these
days and have prayed much and earnestly, and have felt the presence of my Lord
and His guidance, and have relied so completely on Him I feel that the work has
been done about as it should be.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Unprepared for a commencement address:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“We were already about 10 or 15 minutes late for the
graduation exercises of the Institute students there. The Institute building
was filled. . . . Our month has been so crowded that I have had no moment to
study—merely to meet schedules, talk to missionaries, hold the meetings, and
sleep a few hours a night. Now I am faced with the speaking at a commencement
exercise without immediate preparation. I prayed mightily to the Lord for help
since I have been doing all I could for Him and have been unable to do this.
Brother Burton gave me a cue and I proceeded on it. I do not now know what I
said. It seemed to be beyond myself. I tried to recover it and have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>been unable to do so. I know the Lord was
kind to me and made my address there satisfactory to these young people.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. Smith to Elder Kimball:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“As I left he embraced me in his arms and said ‘I want you
to know that I love you.’ I was happy to have the affection of so great a man.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. McKay to the Twelve:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“The Savior is at the head of it [the work] and I think
he has been with us as we have deliberated and presented to him the problems
that we are facing and the need of his continual guidance.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">On Pres. Moyle:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“He spoke about 20 mins to the people with great power,
and especially on the missionary program. I have never heard Brother Moyle
speak like this before. I am sure the mantle of his calling is falling on his
shoulders.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Holy Spirit:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Our quarterly meeting was held this morning. . . .
Brother Benson was with us, which is unusual. The spirit was unusually warm and
good. I think I have never felt the holy influence more than in these four
hours in the temple.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. McKay to the Twelve:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“President McKay said he felt impressed to say a word to
the Brethren in appreciation of their labors, speaking for the First
Presidency. He addressed the Brethren as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“I think that the Quorum of the Twelve is setting an
example to all the Church in efficiency and devotion and unity, spreading the
gospel as the Council of the Twelve should. Personally, I wish to express
appreciation and gratitude for your efforts, your interest, your capabilities,
controlling the Church and putting it in order, and setting in proper order the
branches, stakes, wards and missions of the Church; with all my heart I say,
‘God bless you.’ Never before, so far as I know, have we had a Quorum of Twelve
Apostles and General Authorities of the Church who were more devoted in doing
their work, and who were performing it more efficiently than the General
Authorities of the Church at the present time. I want you to know that that is
the feeling of the First Presidency towards this group especially, and your
associates.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Elder Kimball’s feelings about Pres. McKay:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“The Prophet is so wonderful, his eyes light up and when
he smiles, it fills your heart with gladness. He has such a great grasp of all
of the many problems in the Church and is so kindly and so inspired. It was
good to be with him.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Prayer in temple meeting:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“I was called on for the prayer which now is a
combination prayer of our opening prayer and the prayer at the altar. . . . I
was certain moments before I was called on that I would be called on for this
prayer. I seemed to feel it as I have many times, especially in this meeting.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Elder Kimball on his service on a committee and on Pres.
McKay:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“I have just been released by the First Presidency as the
Chairman of the Committee on Publications and the Reading Committee of which I
have served for several years. They indicated this release was because of being
over tied with numerous other responsibilities, and especially in light of the
fact that I have just recently been appointed as chairman of the Executive
Committee of the Missionary work. . . . It has been a most strenuous and
difficult assignment and though I have appreciated the privilege of serving in
it, I am grateful now to be in the missionary work and leave this to Brother
Lee who has been appointed to take [my] place. I see this as quite an inspired
change since the missionary work is my loved field and since Brother Lee is the
Chairman of the Great Correlation Committee and, therefore, through his
sub-committees he can have all of this work done by the specialists in those
special fields of adult and youth and children work.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“President
McKay has begun to come back to the first part of the Temple meeting and we are
deeply grateful that he is well enough to do this. He has lost some vigor since
the last conference and it is noticeable that this slight stroke which he had
in October has given him further limitations but he is still genial and happy
and wonderful and alert mentally and he makes a great contribution to our
meeting and gives it great stature and dignity.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">More on Pres. McKay:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“The President was in good form in spite of his
near-ninety years. His legs are shuffling a little and sometimes his words come
with a little difficulty but in general, he does remarkably well and he is
extremely alert mentally. He is a marvelous individual and has the traits and
qualities of the Master in a large degree.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">And more:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“It was so good to be with the Brethren in the temple and
to have all the Presidency present. Pres. McKay still steers the ship with firm
hands. He is 85. He is still the leader, kind, understanding, sweet, much
loved. He is getting old. It is evident. Not quite so quick, not so steady but
increasingly loveable. . . . The 9 am meeting was our semi-annual meeting. All
dressed for the prayer. We were fasting and had the Sacrament and testimonies
were had from the Patriarch, one of the Bishopric, one of the Seventies, one of
the Assistants, one of the Twelve and all of the Presidency. It was a glorious
occasion and should assist us spiritually in preparation for the Conference.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Thin veil in temple:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“When I had completed the ordinance work, I walked over
to the table at the side of the room to make a few notes so that I would not
forget them. As I finished my notes, there came an unusual feeling like someone
was near me. There was no feeling of shock nor curiosity nor fear. I did not
look around but there came over me a calm, sweet feeling of a presence. It was
sweet and warming and I had a feeling that the [deceased] man, [redacted] to
whom I had just restored incomparable blessings was not far away. I felt warm.
Sometimes I have felt a presence and have wanted to turn around quickly to
identify the incomer, but not this time. I felt that here was approval and
gratitude. It seemed to me that all the morning and in fact all the day that a
sweet spirit was with me more than usual.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Elder Lee’s impression:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Yesterday, in our meeting, Brother Lee whispered to me
again as he had done last Sunday on the stand at the Conference that he had the
rather strong feeling that some unusual change was coming immediately, rather
soon to President McKay. He did not seem to have an impression whether it was
President McKay or whether it was his wife but he felt it rather strongly.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. McKay to Elder Kimball:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“As President McKay passed me going out of the
Tabernacle, at noon, I shook hands with him and said ‘You were wonderful, Pres.
McKay’ to which he said ‘YOU were wonderful and always are.’ This of course
pleased my vanity, thrilled me beyond expression since Pres. McKay does not
often so speak and is never effusive.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Elder Lee on Elder Kimball:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“I was highly elated when Brother Lee spoke in high terms
of the work that I had been doing. He indicated that as late as Thursday, the
President of the Church had complimented me on the work that we had done for
the Indians. And, Brother Lee said that perhaps I would go down [in church
history] as the great Indian defender. He was very complimentary—I was
embarrassed but appreciated it since I did not know that he had felt that way.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">About Boyd K. Packer:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Also, approval was given for the call of Boyd K. Packer,
one of our Committee, to be the President of the New England Mission. The
President asked some questions; asked each one of us pointedly if we knew
Brother Packer as a man and our reports were all favorable. He then approved.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. McKay again:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“This morning, I had a rare privilege. I called on
President McKay . . . and he was ready and very gracious. His smile is
captivating. He makes one feel that his greatest pleasure is to meet one, and
that each one is very special. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“And when I shook hands goodbye, he drew me to him and
embraced me and said, ‘You go with my blessing.’ This was a glorious
experience—to be in his presence; to have his undivided attention; to have him
consider with me our program for the Indian.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Spiritual experience:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“As these nine Lamanites’ souls stood before me in the
dedication prayer, I seemed to see them standing there representing the
Lamanite nations, all Lamanites. . . . I seemed to feel a multitude of nations
reaching for something heretofore unobtainable, listening for a familiar voice.
I seemed to hear the chanting voice of millions, trying to bring back that
which was lost; an urgent, plaintive pleading for something lost centuries
ago.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Some
priesthood blessings:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“We
went to administer to a sister who was flat on her back for numerous years and
had to use oxygen all the time to keep herself alive. When we went in and
visited and I asked her if she wanted a blessing, and she said, ‘I want to be
healed.’ And then I explained to her that I had no power to heal but that the
priesthood which we held could heal her if her faith was sufficient and it was
the will of the Lord. She thought she had sufficient faith but I believe she
was anxious for us to exercise the faith and do the job. We gave her a
blessing. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“The Quarterly meeting was put aside and today all of the
General Authorities met in the temple for the usual testimony meeting and fast
meeting, usually held before the General conference. All of the General
Authorities were there. . . . President McKay called on several of the brethren
and surprised me by calling on me. I spoke of the administration incident
referred to last Sunday [above]. I told the story of Gwen Johnson and then of
my own experience in New York when I was operated on and my vocal cords largely
removed, and President McKay was visibly touched by my experiences. I felt that
the Lord had inspired me since I spoke of things which I had not had any
thought of doing and it seemed to be a proper thing to do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“For my posterity, I will rehearse the experience of Gwen
Kimball Johnson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">She had
filled a mission, had married Norman Johnson, had then contracted the
supposedly incurable disease which shriveled her body and made of her nearly a
skeleton. In 1943, when we came her father, Crosier, who is my first cousin,
invited all of our family, five of us, to dinner at his home in Draper, where
his large family assembled. We were all fasting in anticipation of an
administration to Gwen for her healing. Sometime after noon, when we had been
fasting since the day before, the dinner was ready and so we all got on our
knees and fervently prayed and then we administered to her and I was voice. . .
. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Apparently, Gwen, who had been told by her doctor she
could never conceive and have children, had expected an instantaneous healing.
She came into my office a few days later and said substantially this, ‘Cousin
Spencer, nothing happened and I have not been healed, and I am very much
disappointed, and I am just going to give the Lord another year to heal me.’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“This shocked me beyond expression and I said, ‘Gwen, who
are you to demand anything of the Lord? Who are you to tell the Lord that He
must heal you and when it must be done? Gwen, this is a state of apostasy and
you must repent, or you can never expect anything from the Lord and you will
lose your faith. I insist you must repent and change your attitudes.’ Her
belligerency began to subside. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Some time passed; perhaps it was months, and she came in
again and still she was shriveled and shrunken—but her spirit was changed. She
was modest and submissive and seemed full of faith and I blessed her again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“I think it was other months, probably three or four,
when she came in again and was joyful and happy and announced to me that she
was pregnant, was going to have a baby and already her face was filling out and
her body was building up and the scarecrow picture was changing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“She became well and strong and really quite good looking
and has lived a normal life and has had three or four children.” (September 29,
1965)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">And another:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“We administered to an Olsen baby whose Father I had
blessed in the hospital some years ago in isolation when I nearly had to force
my way through the cordon of nurses and doctors. I had told them I was the
boy’s minister; that he had asked for me to come; that I knew regulations
permitted such visits; and that I was going to see the boy in spite of their
protests if I had to go to their superiors. They masked and covered me and I
gave him a blessing. He is now a great stalwart man, teacher in the school and
with five little boys.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres.
McKay to Elder Kimball regarding throat cancer:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Today
. . . I had a visit with Pres. McKay who said he had prayed about my problem
and believed that the advice he was going to give was right. He felt I should
take advantage of all the skill that was obtainable, saying that the Lord
expects us to do all we can in our problems. He seemed to feel that a
laryngectomy would not be necessary, at least he so hoped, but even if it came
to that he impressed me with the thought that I could still make a life and
service with writing or other means. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“In the visit with Pres. McKay Wednesday he indicated he
had wondered why I had gone ahead with a serious operation without consulting
the brethren but my letter cleared it [up]. Thursday at the conclusion of our
visit he said, ‘We are closer today than we have ever been before.’”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres.
Smith letter to Elder Kimball regarding throat (vocal cord cancer) surgery:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“More
than anything else it is my humble prayer that the operation has been
successful and that you will be permanently healed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Jessie and I have been praying for you daily and we hope
for a complete recovery. We know that it is within the power of the Lord to
accomplish this result and I hope that the faith of your brethren and the
members of the Church will be strong enough to appeal to the Lord to bring
about this result. We know that he has the power to do this and if he is
willing it can be done. The past few days I have taken time out. . . . While up
there I read through the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and some
other parts of the scriptures. I marvel at the great power of our Lord, and
what he did for people in distress. There is no doubt in my mind in relation to
all that he performed, and I know that the same power is here, but our faith
does not always rise to such heights. We, of course, do not know the mind of
the Lord in all things, but I am sure that he has the power to answer our
prayers, and so we are praying.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres.
Smith to the Twelve regarding Elder Kimball:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“President
Jospeh Fielding Smith reported that yesterday, Wednesday Aug. 21 the Twelve met
in their quarterly meeting in the Temple. The Brethren came fasting in the
interest of the restoration of Brother Kimball’s health [throat/voice]. A very
fine time was had by those present.” . . . “That same day a telegram was
sent to Elder Kimball, assuring him of our faith and prayers for God’s
overruling power in his behalf.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres.
McKay to Elder Kimball gathered with First Presidency and Twelve:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Pres.
McKay expressed the gratitude of the brethren to have Brother Kimball with them
this morning, and to hear him, and to share his thanksgiving that the Lord has
heard our prayers, for, said Pres. McKay ‘There is no doubt in our minds that
He has blessed you, beyond even the doctors’ fondest expectations. The Lord be
praised.’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“For
the time being, President McKay said he thought Brother Kimball should follow
the doctor’s advice especially until he is entirely healed. President McKay
said: ‘It is glorious to hear your voice—just glorious! Here in this upper room
[of the temple] we express not only vocally as we did this morning, but in our
hearts, thanksgiving for the blessings of the Lord.’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">The Prophet:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“President David O. McKay came to our meeting this
morning for two and one half hours; he seemed a little weaker physically than
usual but very alert mentally. Some decisions he made this morning certainly
were inspiration and revelation. We all felt it. I have great confidence in his
spiritual vision.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Former deceased brethren:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“President McKay became somewhat emotional as he
expressed his affection for the brethren, and his appreciation for their
unanimity and faithfulness and brotherly love. . . .and he shed a few tears as
we sang and as he spoke to us of his affection for us, his brethren. He
indicated two or three times that he felt that the other brethren with whom we
had served through the years were very near and watching us in our work.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">And more from the prophet:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“We have never been nearer to our Lord than we are this
morning. I think the brotherhood of this group has never been dearer than it is
this morning. I love you. I am sure the Lord is with us and will always be with
us. This groups of men are more precious than any other group of men that has
ever occupied the Twelve.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">And more:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">The President was there and expressed his love for the brethren
and said, among other things, ‘You don’t know how noble you are and how
grateful I am to be with you.’”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Sweet spiritual meeting:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“The Quarterly meeting was from 8:00 until 12:00. It was
an unusually sweet spirited meeting—all the brethren being present but Brother
Benson who is ill, and the testimonies and the experiences and the discussions
were intensely interesting and very spiritual. . . . [Jan. 13 remembering Jan.
12]: We spent from 8:00 until 12:00 in our Quarterly meeting bearing testimony
and visiting and discussing matters as we chose. It was a glorious time. These
are wonderful brethren with whom I work.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">A memory:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“President ____ ___ was there and met me and reminded me
of the time when I had my first stake conference as a General Authority.
President George Albert Smith had taken me with him and then in the early
evening, he had become ill and gone home and left me with the responsibility. I
was almost terrified, not knowing exactly what to do and how to do it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Blessed by Twelve:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Then President Lee, having mentioned that I was having
some [health] troubles, Elder Benson prayed valiantly for me. Now I was seated
in a chair and all the Brethren circled around me. President Tanner anointed me
with oil and President Lee gave to me a sealing, and it was a marvelous
blessing. He was given me many blessings and many others have in time of need.
I have assisted all the Brethren in many administrations. I think never have I
heard a more beautiful comprehensive pleading and prayer and administration and
dedication than this. There was dedication in his payer, and though it had some
fearsome aspects, it was soothing and gave me peace.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Prayer and blessing for Elder Kimball:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“The opening prayer was offered by Brother Marion G.
Romney and was a prayer such as only he can give and it was in my special
favor. President Tanner explained that this was a special meeting for all of
the General Authorities and the prayer circle and all were in my behalf. He
explained a little concerning my problems and my concerns. Edler Harold B. Lee
was mouth [voice] at the alter. He gave a wonderful prayer as he is able to do
very feelingly. I felt a wonderful spirit; at the conclusion of the prayer
circle in which everybody participated, I sat on a chair in the middle of the
floor and President Tanner called on Elder Gordon B. Hinckley to anoint me with
oil and his prayer was considerably more than an anointing; as he placed his
hands on my head, there was a tremble through my whole body and it continued
and there was a holy refining sweet influence through the whole meeting, and
then President Tanner sealed the anointing and gave a marvelous blessing to me.
Only the Twelve placed their hands on my head and all the other brethren
followed the prayer as they [were] seated in the circle around, and at the
conclusion of the prayer, Elder Lee took me in his arms and embraced me.
Several others of the brethren came and put their arms around me and expressed
their thanks. There was a great outpouring of the spirit and for some time
during the dressing period and otherwise, the brethren expressed what a great
blessing had come to all of them by reason of their unified purpose and their
spiritual experience and indicated that it would be wonderful more frequently
for all the brethren to unite on a single purpose for the spirituality that it
developed.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. Lee prophecy regarding N. Elden Tanner [1960]:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Elder Lee then whispered to me: ‘I have had the feeling
this morning that he will one day be one of us.’ [a member of the Twelve]
Brother Lee indicated that Brother Tanner needed a little further humbling in
the matter of faith, but that he would someday be a great man.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;">The President choosing counselors and a new apostle:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;">All of the Twelve were present and it seemed good to have
all Twelve of us. It has been many months. . . . We were all excitedly waiting
for the announcement of the President. Last week, he had us all send in
confidentially two names. He indicated that he might choose one of the Twelve
for his Counselor and that our recommendations might be to fill the Council of
the Twelve and maybe the Assistant. . . . Then the President announced to us
his choice. I had whispered to Brother Lee, who is my immediate senior and with
whom I have worked now for twenty years side by side, that I hoped that he
might be called into the [First] Presidency. But, my human calculations were
apparently not quite correct and I realize that man proposes and God disposes.
President McKay then announced that he had chosen Brother Hugh B. Brown to be
his First Counselor and Brother Nathan Eldon Tanner to be his Second Counselor.
This was not wholly a surprise. I suppose my eagerness to see that Brother Lee
received the training which he will need as he becomes the President of the
Church, which is almost certain, and I felt that experience would be good for
him but apparently if he becomes the President he will receive his training
from the Lord. I feel good about it and feel certain the Lord knows what He is
doing and that the President who had spent some time in the Holy of Holies
yesterday on his knees in communion with the Lord, received the right
inspiration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;">And:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;">“The tabernacle was filled quite to capacity. There was
much eagerness and some speculation on the part of the people as to who might
be called. . . . President McKay gave the first talk which was excellent and
then President Brown presented the General Authorities and Auxiliary
Authorities for sustaining vote. He was sustained as First Counselor, Brother
Nathan Eldon Tanner as Second Counselor and Thomas Monson as the twelfth member
of the Council of the Twelve. I have been with Brother Monson, visited with him
in the mission field in Toronto and have had a high regard and affection for
him the many years. He was one of the two whom I had recommended to the
President as a member of the Council of the Twelve. I was very pleased that I
seemed to be in line with the President’s thinking and the Lord’s thinking.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Prayer for Pres. Smith; angels present at Conference:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Today was our Temple day and it was my turn to pray at
the altar. I expressed thanks to the Lord for the great Conference; for the
spirit of the people; and, for the satisfactions that seemed to have come and
the security and the assurance. I thanked Him for the mantle that had fallen on
the Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith. I thanked the Lord for the calmness in the
Conference and that it seemed ‘as though a legion of angels with drawn swords
had been hovering over us in the conference and giving protection to us.’”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Blesses Pres. Lee:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“It was my unbelievable opportunity to be mouth as the 13
Apostles laid their hands upon the head of Elder Harold B. Lee to authorize him
to use all the keys of the Kingdom and to give leadership to the Church as its
President, Seer, and Revelator and Prophet. I was very much frightened. I hope
that what I said was the right thing to be said.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Health and vigor self-assessment:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“This is my birthday. I am today 69 years of age. I feel
like I might be 49 or 50. I am well and vigorous and strong and putting in long
hours and I am grateful to my Heavenly Father that I am so well preserved. I am
beginning to find old men and old women everywhere I go who have no more years
than I. After my heart attacks of the past, and after my cancer of 1957 and the
many problems to know that I am vigorous and strong and have a good voice, at
least a strong voice, though it may not be so pleasant to hear, I am grateful
more than I can express to my Lord for his goodness to me and my preservation.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. McKay’s health decline:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“At 10:00 three of the Presidency came in—President McKay
on the arm of his Councilor with his cane and looking very weak. He greeted us
all and then sat down. . . . He excused himself and left the meeting. He left
us with a [feeling] of sorrow and apprehension. He is getting so weak, and he
is passing most of his work to his Counselors and they are really doing an
excellent job handling the numerous details and my admiration increases for
President Brown and President Tanner.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Temple testimony meeting:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“This was the first Thursday of the month and the
Brethren came fasting. . . . The sacrament was administered and the regular
program blessing and prayer at the altar. President Lee called on me first to
give my testimony. He called on various ones to follow and the spirit grew
warmer until he finally concluded the meeting with his feelings and all the
brethren seemed to feel that this was about the greatest meeting that had ever
been held here.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Meets Dallin H. Oaks:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“This morning . . . we held a meeting with the Board of
Education, Board of Trustees of BYU, and met the new President Dallin Oaks who
will succeed Brother Ernest L. Wilkinson of the Brigham Young University. He is
a very personable young man and has every promise of being a great president
for the University.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">A new secretary:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Brother James Paramore
came in to consider further the possibility of his being employed [as my
secretary] and he accepted the call, or rather, the employment. We talked about
the demands upon him and the services that he would render. He seemed very
happy to accept this work and indicated that he had had a dream or presentiment
that he would be working with me. He will be an excellent help.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Regarding Mathias F. Cowley:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“In one of our meetings recently Brother Bruce R.
McConkie indicated that Brother Mathias F. Cowley, former apostle [and father
of Elder Matthew Cowley], was the bailiff in his father’s court (Oscar W.
McConkie) when he would have been the President of the Council of the Twelve
Apostles had he remained totally in line.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. of the Twelve:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Then in July 1972 when President Smith passed away,
Brother Lee became the President of the Church, and I became the President of
the Council of the Twelve. This has been a glorious period. The brethren have
been kind to me. The members of the Twelve are quite differential and
cooperative and loyal and so today I begin my 31<sup>st</sup> year.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Experience at Carthage Jail:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white;"><span style="color: #242424;">“We went over to Carthage
where Brother and Sister Allen are caretakers and guides and found it in
excellent shape and the presentation was most impressive. As we sat in the ‘death
room’ and saw the manikins and heard the story from Brother Allen and also from
a recording, my heart was touched and I did not want to leave. I was
emotionally stirred and I felt a presence of a spirit not always with me and a
great reassurance came to me of the divinity of this great program [gospel]
restored through the Prophet Jsoeph Smith. It was a very pleasant experience.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. Lee advice to Pres. Kimball:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“I was close to Brother Lee as we moved up in the
seniority of the Council. One day I said to Bro. Lee: I wish I could speak as
Bro. Bowen speaks with such power. And at another time I expressed the wish
that I could speak with such eloquence as Brother Stephen L Richards. Pres. Lee
looked at me with a little disappointment, I thought, and said, ‘Spencer, be
yourself—use the talents the Lord has given to you.’ I have never forgotten that.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Sees deceased father:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“During the night of June 13, and it was most likely
early morning of June 14, while half asleep trying to work out my problems,
especially of the sermons I am to give in June Conference, I looked up and my
father, Andrew Kimball, came toward me. He was tall and well built, and I
recognized him and rushed to him and embraced him. That was all, but it left a
warm, good feeling with me.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Visits brother:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“We went to see Gordon and Clara again, my oldest
brother, and he is still in bed and very miserable indeed. I gave him a
blessing and encouraged him and told him of my experience in a vision or a
dream when Father came to me ostensibly to encourage me in my work.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">On
Pres. Lee’s passing:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“When I
went home . . . I felt like the world had fallen in on my shoulders. I knew
what was coming, that I was now no. 1 Apostle on the earth. I knew the program
of succession; I knew now in a small measure what the responsibilities would
be.” (Dec. 30, 1973)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Pres. Kimball on Dr. Russell M. Nelson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Dr. Russell M. Nelson who performed surgery on me two or
three times, especially the open heart surgery, called and asked if he could
come and be of help to me, worrying for fear it would be too great a shock for
me. I told him I thought I was all right but he insisted on coming anyway and
found me feeling secure. He has been a real friend as well as my surgeon. I am
making a part of this journal his handwritten letter to me of December 30,
1973, which he brought to my home.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">On
becoming President:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">I felt
extremely humble in sitting in the middle chair where all the Presidents of the
Church had sat and more particularly the ones that I knew. . . . I felt most
humble indeed. . . . <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">When we
got back to the office, . . . I moved down to the room where the Presidents
have had their office. Again I felt I was treading on sacred ground and was in
a holy place.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">On Dr. (now President) Nelson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Russell Nelson, my beloved doctor who gave me the open
heart surgery, came in to see me and to check my pulse and my blood pressure
and to check with me.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Help writing Conference talks:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“Jeff Holland and Bruce McConkie and [Neal] Maxwell asked
for [gave some] help in preparing conference talks. It is a great help to get
their thoughts and suggestions on some of the subjects I plan to talk about.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">Testimony:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">“I leave with my children and others my testimony. I
know. How more completely could I know anything! I know that it is true and
divine. And as I face the end of my days I say it again and again without fear
and in total honesty. I know that it is true, That God lives; that Christ
lives; that Christ is our Redeemer and Savior; that revelation is a reality in
our own day; that revelations have come not only to the great prophet Joseph
Smith, but to all his successors and associates. I know that I myself have
received revelations from my Lord and I have been guided many times; more in
waking hours than in sleeping ones and that my associates have also been so
blessed. I know too that this is the saving gospel and only through it and the
Atonement of our Lord can any person return to our Heavenly Father in
exaltation. This I know. And so it is.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">And:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #242424;">[To the Twelve:] ”And now may I write what I cannot
speak, that through the silent hours I have had a chance to weigh, and ponder,
and evaluate, and through all these experiences my vision has been expanded, my
love deepened, my determinations to grow more like our Savior increased and my
knowledge fortified that mortality is but one important incident in life, that
the Plan of Salvation and exaltation is a positive reality, that our Lord
speaks constantly from the heavens, that this is His work, that we are His
unprofitable servants and that the rewards are sure. That is the way it is.
That I know.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-60031557186316739252023-09-28T14:25:00.001-07:002023-09-28T14:25:28.585-07:00Counseling Experiences from President Kimball’s Journal: the Moral (homosexual, adultery) Problems of Members and His Book, The Miracle of Forgiveness<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWelnTjQQacJ9_YgV0ubTZklsgRPewqd47zpVQk42aBEFlev5S82tSU8HPM7QeYwDGjTxdw1wkKXm3D9a7BILs7V3WYtRykXLPdbONx9NmIkqIEvTCXsnScywYHywevsm9IZugFHQS-iWf0lbqBaSy5EZTC-GgyavPFEgKlodVyofkp28TdVDnw8zV8Xm1/s768/c6c89bc3936dd2d926a882d51ec9b8740dc037ad.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="768" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWelnTjQQacJ9_YgV0ubTZklsgRPewqd47zpVQk42aBEFlev5S82tSU8HPM7QeYwDGjTxdw1wkKXm3D9a7BILs7V3WYtRykXLPdbONx9NmIkqIEvTCXsnScywYHywevsm9IZugFHQS-iWf0lbqBaSy5EZTC-GgyavPFEgKlodVyofkp28TdVDnw8zV8Xm1/s320/c6c89bc3936dd2d926a882d51ec9b8740dc037ad.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> <span style="text-align: center;">Journal text selected by Dennis B. Horne</span></b><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Much of Spencer W. Kimball’s Apostolic ministry was devoted to working
with and counseling members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
that had committed “moral” sins. This mostly meant adultery (or fornication) but
especially what today would be called LGBT immorality (or homosexual sin—the
initials were not known in his time). Often this behavior resulted in marital
problems.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Not many years after his entry into the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles,
President David O. McKay assigned both Elder Kimball and Elder Mark E. Petersen
to act as a two-man committee to work with homosexuals in the Church (which
they largely did independently of each other). The over-all purpose was to lead
them to repentance. The below accounts, taken straight from the journals,
convey Elder Kimball’s massive prolonged efforts to fulfill that assignment.
The Church was much smaller then (1940s to 70s), and they could do a great deal
of work in this connection, from their offices, usually in
conjunction/cooperation with local leaders (bishops and stake presidents). Elder
Kimball even gives an estimate of how many homosexual individuals he worked
with. The below items are by no means <i>all</i> that there are recorded in the
journals, for such a collection of portions of entries would run much longer
than this one, but they are among the most informative. I have included a sampling
of non-“morals”-type problems to give a wider flavor for what Elder Kimball
dealt with (such as mental illness)—but the items below do provide a strong overview
of his labors in this field. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">It almost feels like driving down the freeway and seeing an accident on
the side of the road and slowing down to take a closer look—these are real
people with real moral and marriage problems that Elder Kimball was trying to
help them resolve. While Elder Kimball was occasionally optimistic his efforts
would pay off, much of the time he (and we) never got to know the end of the
story—whether people had truly repented or not (what he often called “making
adjustments”). How he rejoiced when the people he worked with sincerely
repented! <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Some readers might figuratively see
themselves or someone they know in the circumstances of one of these past
recounted episodes. Perhaps someone in a similar position will find their own
way to repentance and salvation. Perhaps some bishops and stake presidents will
find some wisdom or inspiration in these difficult experiences that can be of
help to them. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Some others, such as gay activists, may just get upset at it all since
in their minds there is nothing wrong with such behavior/acts. As will be seen
below, Elder Kimball dealt with many a mad member who thought they needed no
repentance or “adjustments.” Those were the hardest on him. “I have come to
realize how powerful and subtle is that evil one who makes them think that
‘black is white’ and helps them to rationalize away all their errors and call
them virtues when they are base vices,” he mused. Such is often the case today
with members involved in homosexual sin. As the March 9, 1967 entry indicates,
the entire First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve were deeply concerned with
this growing issue and what to do about it—and that is now well over a
half-century ago. I have also included as editorial notes two highly relevant items
from associates (who would themselves later become presidents of the Church)
that worked closely with Elder Kimball.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Some liberal dissidents of that day
and this take issue with Elder Kimball’s book <i>The Miracle of Forgiveness</i>,
thinking Elder Kimball to have been too hard and harsh on those who indulge in
sin and won’t repent. For this reason I have included many diary entries documenting
his writing the book and the highly influential results of its
publication—including what certain of his Apostolic associates thought of it.
Also what President Dallin H. Oaks thought of it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">One agnostic critic wrote this <a href="https://wheatandtares.org/2023/02/21/what-will-we-find-in-spencer-w-kimballs-journals/">humorless bit</a> about what he hoped might be found in the Kimball
diaries: “A confession of regret for perhaps his biggest error in judgment,
publishing <i>The Miracle of Forgiveness</i>. Supposedly, President Kimball did
have some hindsight regret for the caustic level of moralizing in that book.
But I really hope we find a truly candid admission, . . .” (It seems those in
the great and spacious building just can’t stop pointing and mocking and ridiculing.)
Anyway, far from regret, the abundant journal evidence indicates that Elder
Kimball took great pride and joy in how his book was helping so many to change
their lives and come unto Christ through faith unto repentance. But an agnostic
critic doesn’t care about sincere repentance, only about ridiculing those who
do and getting a laugh out of it. Elder Kimball also dealt with those types. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">(I am aware of a paragraph in Edward Kimball’s <i>Lengthen Your Stride</i>
biography of his father that includes the thought that “Spencer seemed to later
wish he had adopted a gentler tone.” [working draft, 8;1]. And below there are a
couple of items suggesting he knew he had “laid it on the line pretty
strongly”—but those few items are counteracted by far more expressions of being
pleased his work was helping so very many members to repent and obtain God’s forgiveness.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Below are thirty-five pages of extended
narration or summary or quick note of Elder Kimball’s experiences striving with
near-damned or dirty or troubled souls, trying with all his might to lift and help
save them. Much of it is not easy reading (especially the most heinous sins),
but some is redemptive. I have included some mentions of those who lost their
church membership, but after sincerely repenting, gained back their full
blessings (priesthood and/or temple) and rejoiced, the burden lifted, the joy
and happiness restored. This is how the atonement of Jesus Christ can take a
repentant person from potential Telestial damnation to exaltation in the
Celestial Kingdom of God.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> For those wishing to delve deeper
and read the actual diary entries, I have included the date of the journal entry.
President Kimball’s journal is simply not polished writing but is excellent as both
a first and final draft. Please forgive any typos. A church email account is
needed to access the material on the Church Archives website (the call number
is <a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/record/4c1c1ed1-f19b-45fc-b835-626343188f24/0?view=browse&lang=eng">MS 21541</a><span class="MsoHyperlink">)</span>:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 12, 1943:
It was a terrible experience that came to me today. I think I can never forget
the scene. We were called to a special meeting of the Council of the Twelve
Apostles. Earlier in the day when I asked Bro. Lee if it was a report meeting
he solemnly told me that it was not and that I should get my feet firmly on the
ground anticipating it. The next two hours were filled with wonder and fear.
Conferences had been adjusted and special appointments of the brethren
cancelled that they might all be present. Some of them were not in the city. .
. . The slow deliberate and saddened approach of some of the brethren as they
came to the Temple presaged something ominous was ahead of us. As soon as we
were all seated the meeting was called to order and announcement was made by
Pres. George Albert Smith who was almost overcome, that there was a very
serious charge against one of our brethren. He then directed that the charge be
read. Our hearts stood still as we heard that Richard R. Lyman, for 26 years a
member of the Council of the Twelve, was accused of immorality. His written
confession was read and he being present did not deny the accusation nor the
confession. He told also of the situations. He had little to say. He was as
pale as could be. He minimized his act and seemed to feel that it should be
overlooked but showed no repentance and no expressed sorrow for his sin. He
tried to link his sin with polygamy but the evidence gave no corroboration to
the story. It was a terrible ordeal. To see great strong men such as the
members of this quorum all in tears, some sobbing, all shocked, stunned by the
impact was an unforgettable sight. No tears from him but plenty from the rest
of us and what a heart-rending experience. After considerable discussion a
motion was made, seconded and we voted unanimously to excommunicate him from
the Church. When he retired he said goodbye and shook hands with each of us and
left the Temple, his Quorum, his Church. Still stunned almost beyond recovery,
the members seemed to be yet unable to believe the terrible truth. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 18, 1943:
Today was our regular weekly meeting and since no meeting was held the previous
Thursday there was much to do. I enjoyed the meetings very much though there
was still much sadness over the action of last week excommunicating Richard R.
Lyman.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">18<sup>th</sup>
supplemental. It was still a sad day for the Authorities of the Church, as this
was the first regular weekly meetings with the Richard R. Lyman seat empty.
Considerable was said regarding the unfortunate situation, during the various
meetings.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 27, 1943: My
first visitor was Elder [name removed]. . . . Among other things he told me of
spiritual manifestations of one of the members out there and asked me about
them. I assured him that the story sounded like evil ministrations.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 5, 1944: Had
many callers some of them with distressing problems of sin and family
difficulties and divorce, etc. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 27, 1948: I
had an interview with Sister Hodgson concerning the work with delinquent girls,
this being a new assignment of Elder Peterson and myself.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 30, 1948: I
had a special appointment with President McKay at 8:00 o’clock concerning our
new work with delinquent girls coming into the city.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 2, 1948:
There were many appointments through the day. It was a difficult day, with some
deep sorrows and heavenly moments. Immediately after noon I went to the
Veterans’ Hospital to see the young man, whom I had visited twice before. I was
shocked when I came to his cell. All the furniture was removed from his room
and he lay on a mattress, smoking, cursing and raving. He did not look anything
like himself. His feet appeared to be cut but the attendant said he had been
burning his feet with his cigarette. He talked incessantly without reason, more
like an intoxicated person than like one insane. I was told by the attendant he
had been given medication and that he would probably be adjudged insane today
and taken to a Colorado institution. He was disheveled, his eyes were bleary. I
was so shocked that I could not get him out of my mind for hours. Upon the
other visits he had been so handsome and clean and docile—it hardly appeared
that there was anything wrong with him and for this abrupt change—only three
days, it was almost unbelievable.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 17, 1948:
Sister Hodgson came in early to discuss the Delinquent Girls’ Program.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 12, 1948:
About 4:00 o’clock my cousin, Heber “Chase” Kimball came in, bringing a Mrs.
Eva Wininger. He has, long ago, been excommunicated for so-called plural
marriage relationships and teachings. We visited pleasantly for a while and
then he attacked me for having republished the Life of Heber C. Kimball without
having eliminated the footnote, which said “That the official cane of Heber C.
Kimball was in the hands of Lon Kimball at Kanosh” and he rather demanded that
we change this. I explained this to him that inasmuch as two cousins are
claiming to have the cane, we had no evidence as to which was right; that I had
published this part of the book as the original author had left it and without
any change. He was very insistent and rather ugly about the matter, but I told
him positively that we were not interested in making any changes or
adjustments. His only evidence was memories of other people and his own
deductions and so-called inspirations. Mrs. Wininger told me at great length
her experiences as she was committed to the mental hospital at Provo, Utah long
years ago. They both scoffed at the idea that there ever had been justification
for her incarceration, but I spent three long hours with them and came to the
conclusion that no error had been made and from their actions and their
statements I felt sure that they were both ‘off-balance.’ He finally brought up
the plural marriage angle again, as he has so many times in the past, and I
bore my testimony to him with a great deal of power and warned him that even if
he were sincere he was misled and deceived and he was getting along in years
and he should come to his senses and endeavor to straighten himself out in his
thinking; that I knew the program was correct and that the Authorities were the
“Anointed of the Lord” and that there was no question in the matter. He stood
in rage but made no reply. When they finally left I offered my hand and told
him I still loved him as a cousin, but he refused to shake hands with me;
though his companion insisted he still went out without shaking hands.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 15, 1948: It
was a very busy day with several very distressing problems. A woman is being
abandoned by her husband; apparently he is in sin; they were separated a year
ago and I was able to hold them together, hoping for a permanent
reconciliation, but it looks hopeless now. A young man had married a year ago,
under my hands [officiating], and had now admitted that he had been immoral
years before going into the Temple. Another broken home, it seemed, but after a
long visit with both parties, it looks like a permanent and total
reconciliation has been effected. It was a day of problems….<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 9, 1953:
Spent the day at the office as usual with many problems and interviews. Another
man who was befuddled, frustrated. Home life not too good, afraid of life,
unhappy in his work, unsuccessful in it, depressed. I tried to help him and I
believe he went out in better spirits. Another young man came in jittery,
frightened, frustrated, appearing to be almost unbalanced. Wild eyed he finally
told me his story. He had returned from his successful mission; had become
careless and partly inactive; had taken up smoking (he had smoked in earlier youth);
had begun to run around with girls not up to his supposed standard; had finally
committed fornication with a young girl, the mother of three little babies, the
first and third being the children of a legal husband now gone and the second
from another young man without marriage; they had both found themselves with
Gonorrhea and had nearly lost their minds when the Doctor told them it was not
curable; they had pooled their little resources and began to live together as
husband and wife and so let it be known. Then conscience had asserted itself. He
had run away trying to escape from his sin, his problems, and himself; had
offered himself, he said, to the mental asylum. He was about ready for one. I
calmed him down and gained his confidence and finally he opened his heart and
confessed the rest, that they were not married (his first statement was that
she was his wife). I assured him that he could be eventually forgiven and go
forward with a constructive life if there were total repentance. He left with a
light in his eye and a smile and with hope beaming in his countenance. I had
urged that he bring in the woman and I would get a Bishop to marry them at
once. He called back a little later to say that marriage was impossible since
she was not divorced from her husband. They came in later in the day and seemed
so grateful and ready to do whatever I suggested. He had sold his clothes for
food on one of his gypsy wanderings and looked like a tramp but this morning a
woman came up to him at a bus stop and gave him a good suit of clothes which
fit him perfectly—it was the property of her son recently dead, she said. I
gave him $10 to tide him over a day or two while he got a job. This made three
young men within a week who were ready to commit suicide. What are we coming
to! [This some story is repeated in even greater detail in the diary some 2 weeks
later.]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 26, 1953:
Perhaps someday my grandchildren and descendants may be interested to know
something of my work. Today was an interesting and full day, perhaps typical.
After spending about 3 hours at my Dictaphone and the desk at my home I took my
Dictaphone recordings and went to the office where I closed the door and knelt
down for a short prayer asking the Lord to make me equal to whatever problems
should come in the day. (We had already had our usual family prayer at home.) I
began to open my mail when the phone began to ring and the people began to come
even though I had only one formally appointed interview. First there came a
returned missionary sent by the [stake] Presidency for an interview for a
Temple Recommend. His problem was masturbation. In all other respects he was
clean but this habit had fastened itself upon him like an octopus. He earnestly
desired to do right. I talked to him long and earnestly and believe I built up
his determination and strength and gave him a blessing and sent him away happy.
He will keep in touch with me until he has gained total mastery. [At this
point, Elder Kimball retells the story, in greater detail, of the January 9,
1953 above individual; names redacted.]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 31, 1953:
Left home . . . taking Elder George Q. Morris. We . . . then reached Richmond
Utah at 10 a.m. . . . There came to me from Pocatello Brother and Sister H. She
had committed adultery with Brother N. and it was a serious case and I spent an
hour or more with them. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 18, 1953:
It was a usual day with its many interviews and problems, and in the evening we
took Camilla’s parents and went to the Dixon-Tempest wedding reception. I was
disgusted, as usual, with the number of women with strapless gowns and bare
upper bodies and with the frothy formality that is attending many of our
wedding receptions these days. I was a bit glad when the ordeal was over.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 21, 1953: This
was a hectic day with several serious problems of family difficulties. One
young man had been awakened by his 4 little children climbing over him and
asking: “Where is mommy?” His wife had left him during the night. Another man
was almost completely overcome when his wife told him, in my room [office],
that she definitely was going to get a divorce. He nearly worshipped her. Another
sister told me that her husband, to whom she had been sealed in the Temple, was
spending his vacation alone in a distant city where a girl lived to whom he had
been writing. And so the day was a miserable, hectic one.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 14, 1954:
I had an interview with an anonymous person with whom I had visited hours on
Monday. He was a handsome, tall fine looking boy, 24 years of age, and stated he
was Catholic and was interested in a Latter-day Saint girl who had been married
in the temple and divorced but not unsealed. I hope I made an impression upon
him and bore my testimony to him. He was very respectful and listened intently
for the hours. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 19, 1954:
At my desk at the office I had a long interview with [redacted], a returned
missionary of some years who is attending [college] and whose faith seemingly
has been shattered and who is much disturbed over the Negro question, over
revelation and over all the other matters which affect those who begin in their
apostasy. I talked to him earnestly and did my utmost to help him to get back
to correct thinking. He worships the scientists and would accept nothing he
could not prove. I felt depressed all day, feeling that I had done him little
good and disturbed greatly for his future.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 5, 1957: I
reconvened the meeting, excused the sisters and talked to the men about the
things they needed to hear. Many of the young men have been indiscreet in times
past in their early lives. Some of them failed to clean up their [sin] messes
before coming, hence carry a guilt complex, disturbing and limiting their
missions. They were greatly interested and in the interviews which followed,
many expressed gratitude for having cleared in their minds the seriousness of
certain practices and the way to clear them getting forgiveness and release and
peace. I am sure it did much good for them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 27, 1957:
Today I had three long and difficult cases come to the home. A girl, a young
man, and a married man, all with serious sex cases.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 2, 1957: There
were only 5 of the Twelve at the 9 am meeting. . . . A restoration case [was] brought
up—one that only I knew about. It looked like the repentant young man was going
to lose this opportunity to have his blessings restored. His case was not such
an ugly case as we have had. I tried to defend him and the case and supply
information in his favor which the brethren did not know. I struggled and could
not speak [because of recent throat surgery]. I whispered a few short items to
Brother Lee who sat by me and he kindly relayed them. Finally the matter was
approved and this young man who has suffered long and repented much, will now
be restored to his blessings or rather have them restored to him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 8, 1957: About
noon I had a call from Mrs. Ethel Thurmon in southern California asking if I
could help her husband William Eugene who was at the Milner hotel. Camilla
called him for me and made an appointment at my office at 2:30. I waited at the
office downtown for near an hour and he did not come so I went to the hotel to
find him. He came to the door to admit me to his room, bleary eyed, naked
except for a half buttoned shirt, his hair ruffled, his face red and unsteady
on his feet. He was overwhelmed to see me and much abashed. He embraced me and
wept and pointed to the dresser covered with empty and partly filled bottles of
7up. And a half empty bottle of liquor. He was ashamed. He babbled on as a
drunk would: how glad he was to see me, how he appreciated my coming, that I
was the first one who showed that much interest in him; that I was saving his
soul and on and on. He recalled (I was astounded) numerous details of my life,
especially in the mission field in St. Louis where I met him as a little boy.
He had read biographical sketches of me for he knew my life and works almost
better than I did. He wept over the death, some months ago, of his sister Marie
(Mrs. Marvin Moody) who was a sweet, faithful woman and who had proved faithful
through long years of rearing her twelve or more children and recently died of
multiple sclerosis. He was drunk, and had been off and on for some time, he
told me. I filled the bath tub full of cold water and induced him to take a cold
bath. I got him some tomato juice to sober him and he recovered somewhat and
babbled on and on. He received a telegraphed money order so I walked with him
down to Western Union to get his money $20 which his wife had borrowed on her
car. He had called her once and attempted 2 or 3 times to tell her that I was
with him and helping him. I dissuaded him twice since money was an item with
them. He wabbled down the street. I am sure many people who knew me were
surprised at my company. The W.U. girls were asked by him if they were Mormons
and he told them proudly who I was in loud drunken terms and language. The girls
were as embarrassed as I. We staggered back up the street with his arm over my
shoulder part of the time and him babbling loudly most of the way. We went to .
. . the Alcohol Anonymous group and I made arrangements for him to stay there
and receive their help. While I did this he was telling the men in the room
that I was his friend and I was an Apostle of the Mormon Church etc. We staggered
back to the hotel on West Temple and I packed his suit cases and took them to
the door, then went down to the desk to check out for him.. As I went back up
the steps and secured his bags, he came down and disappeared. How he could
stagger out of the world so quickly, I shall never know. I looked high and low
for him, up all the alleys, in the corner and was unable to find him. He had
been so cooperative up to the last minute that I could hardly believe he would
run away. (I learned later that he had just ‘gone crazy,’ I guess, for a drink,
and couldn’t help it). I drove over to A.A. . . . and left his suit cases there
and parked and began an exhaustive search for him. My sciatica rheumatism was
nearly killing me and every step was torture. I felt I must find him and get
him located. Time was precious as I had to leave on the 7:50 train for Los
Angeles. I went along 2<sup>nd</sup> South and stepped in every pool hall,
café, and tavern down the line and couldn’t find him. Went back to the hotel
and they said he had not returned. I went down the alleys again then through
two picture shows and could find no trace of him. It was near train time and I
was exhausted and in pain and defeated temporarily. I rushed home and got my
things and joined Bro. Stapley in his car and went to the train. I was so very
miserable I limped to my roomette, locked myself in and went to bed early. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 12, 1957: I had
Barbara and Judy come down and took them to lunch at the Lion House then took
them to the office and talked long and earnestly to them trying to alert and
fortify them against evil and weakness and Gentile [non-member] courtships and
out-of-church marriage. They were serious and listened intently.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 9, 1957: We
spent last night on the 10<sup>th</sup> floor of the Drake-Wilshire Hotel
overlooking some of the fabulous San Francisco [area]. . . . We met at 2 pm and
walked to the area indicated on the city map as “The Legitimate Theatres”—we
had good seats purchased even as late as 10 a.m. . . . The curtain was raised
at the time appointed and six professional actors and actresses took us on a
journey that left us red in face and filthy in mind and foul in carnal
degradation. We went innocently, having been told it was good. Our journey took
us down, down, down from the realms of clean and righteous heights to the foul
and corrupt underworld of filth and ugliness. Yesterday we drove into the
higher altitudes where the air was fresh and invigorating. Today we were in the
lowlands where the refuse of cities accumulated and was offensive to decency.
Yesterday, at high elevation, we reveled in the loftiness of Mt. Shasta as it
reached toward heaven; today we grovel on the earth, earthy with our minds
directed to the low depth of hell. Yesterday we gasped at the loveliness of the
mountain shrouded in fleecy clouds, veiling it in modesty; today we traveled
through the swamps of immodesty and degradation. Yesterday we gloried in the
rarity of the white snow and pure atmosphere of Shasta; today we waded through
the corrupt sewer of modern witticism and bathed in the defiled rotting
cesspool of approved stage artistry in this coast city. WHAT ARE WE COMING TO?
How much more corrupt was Sodom? How much more degenerate Gomorrah? Haven’t we
come a long distance. Since Cain killed Abel sin and crime have been in the
world. Practically from the beginning has there been cursing and immorality and
infidelity, but were they then approved, glorified, enthroned? Yesterday we
rather expected to hear the various names of our Deities used loosely in
cursing in lumber camps, and in the underworld. Today we pay $5.85 a seat to
hear our Creator’s name used in connection with vile thoughts and corrupt
practices. Yesterday we knew of the saloons and brothels and honorable people
by-passed them. Today we scramble for tickets in sell-out theaters to sit with
community contemporaries and listen to them laugh at vulgarity—applaud
obscenity and regard chastity as old fashioned and marital fidelity as
narrow-mindedness. The virtuous are laughed to scorn and motherhood is
debased—family life ridiculed and revelry, gambling, drinking enthroned and
elevated on thrones for acceptance and worship. We saw the play, “Tunnels of
Love.” We found to our disgust that the tunnel was a sumphole filled with deadly
vermin and the love was spelled “lust.” Most people applauded the play and the
actors. A few of us were ashamed, embarrassed. As we went out in the aisle one
said to his companion, “How did you like it?”
“Very good” she said. Evil has always been present but has it ever been
accepted, lauded and loved and applauded as today. It was mentioned that a
notorious and famous actress [probably Ingrid Bergman] was recently awarded a
medal by France for her outstanding courage. She had had courage to live her own
life they said—she had had temerity (courage?) to ignore all rules of decency
and abandon husband and child and enter into illicit relationships with a
foreigner and give birth to his illegally sired child. She received little
censure from the people. We know there have been illegitimate babies like her
through the ages and adulterous women like her by the thousands; but has there
ever been, since Adam, the general acceptance. A poll by newspapers of the rank
and file of the readers revealed that housewives, ministers, teachers,
community leaders had no contempt for such infidelity, but pity if such would
spoil a career. Millions flocked to her pictures. When, oh when shall we, the
people, have the courage to remain tight-lipped at vulgarity, stone-faced at
obscene jokes, shocked at cursing and outraged by infidelity, and able to blush
once more at suggestions of indecency. We had gone to several theaters in New
York this summer and in every one there were parts disgusting and vulgar, but it
remained for this “Tunnel of love” to take us into the filth of suggestive sex
and irreverent life from the beginning to the end. The entire trek was through
a dark tunnel from entrance to exit every foul foot of which was stinking. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 14, 1958: Down
at the office—a hectic day with severe marital and morals cases. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">1. A traveling salesman who had stepped out on his wife and they had
been separated but now were back together and he was active in the Church but
they are still having trouble. Both have been untrue to each other in the past
but seem to feel there is no connection to their present unhappiness and lack of
faith in each other. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">2. She is 38 and is 5 ½ months pregnant and has charged a man in the
same stake with the sin. He has a family and denies it vigorously and there is
no proof—his word against hers that he is the man. Some evidence that she may
be in trouble from some other source and trying to pin it on to this brother
whom she loves, admittedly. The Stake Presidency hardly know how to handle it. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">3. She is in her thirties. Came in my office with a fever suffering
from peritonitis and lost knowing not what to do. She has suffered a double
abortion losing twins the last two or three days and is still hemorrhaging and
afraid to call a Doctor. She is afraid that revealing her condition will keep
her 19 year old daughter from filling her stake mission and lose her 1 year old
child to her and bring sorrow to the man and his family. She wept all the long
time of the interview. She had been a faithful member along the years till she
fell at this temptation. He is an insurance manager with a respectable family
and well to do, she says. He gave her money for the little one-year-old who is
his son, she says. His 19 year old son contemplates a mission. He and his wife
are reasonably active in the church. He is a fine looking man and was most
attractive to this woman, his secretary who was working these several years to
escape from the deep sorrow of the loss of a child many years ago, also to
provide for her family since her husband, now divorced, was extravagant and
profligate. She loves the libertine greatly, she says, and would not reveal his
name nor her own until she saw there was no other way. She has lost her
reputation in her ward and neighborhood and family having lied to them when
they accused her, having seen on numerous occasions, night and day, the car of
the libertine parked at her home. They had checked the license. They knew who
he was. She denied everything but now with pregnancy, abortion, double, and
blood poisoning the result of his manipulations in the abortion, is panicky. I
sent her down to the woman’s room to lie down a few minutes then we walked over
to his office and found it locked. I called many times in the next hours but
could not locate him. I took her to the Doctor who was very kind to her and
found her in bad condition. He could not get a hospital bed. Finally I reached
him about 9 pm and he and his wife came to my home. She did most of the talking
and admitted she had talked to the sick girl this morning who reputedly said
all was o.k. with her, admitted that her husband had taken her home sometimes
but suggested a trap was being sprung for her husband. He sat mute saying
almost nothing. He never denied it. After a half hour they went home. He called
me at 4 am and said they had been awake all night and his wife decided, he said
he also was saying that he was not responsible. I told him we would have to
leave it till I returned two weeks later since I was then dressing to catch the
train for Texas. That was a terrible day—a hectic one. Why oh why?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 1, 1958: This
was a hectic day. From [after] the temple meeting at 2 pm till 9:30 I was
engaged in disturbing and sickening [interview] experiences. A young woman
disturbed mentally and needing much help; then a husband and wife with a long
talk of 9 years of sin and drinking and immorality, and financial troubles and
now finally a break. Some repentance and I have hopes for them now but it is a
most distressing situation. I hardly knew that such things as this existed
except in the underworld. I was so worn down I could not work at my desk but
tried to get my mind out of the filthy world they had described by looking at
TV.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 8, 1959: Today I
had a very difficult case. Quite a young woman (38) came in to clear her
conscience. Her bishop was with her. She had been the mother of a child that
she had given away, and the father was a married man who had been in high
places and was still a High Councilor in one of the stakes. It was a shattering
thing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 9, 1959: The
married man referred to in yesterday’s journal asked for an appointment and
came to see about his transgression. He has been very faithful all these years
and felt that he might have been forgiven. I called his Stake President to my
home and we three discussed the matter at some length. The conclusion was that
he should be released from his High Council position immediately and that we
would await developments before making further determinations.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 10, 1959: After
the afternoon meeting there were a number of interviews, and there the Seminary
instructor revealed to me a rather shocking situation in the morals of our
youth there.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 21, 1959: Today
I had a surprise visit from a man whom I had been working with for a year and a
half trying to get him to repent from his adultery and abortion attempt and he
had ignored Brother Petersen and myself, sent in his resignation to the Church,
sent us a letter from his attorneys indicating we would have to deal with them
and not him, and many other things which had indicated a very bad attitude. We
had been very kind and had waited and waited, and now that a year and a half
had passed we felt that we must move forward so we had called the matter to the
attention of the stake presidency, who had sent to him a summons, to answer the
charges. He now came in and we spent a very long afternoon. His head was
finally bowed and his knees bended and he revealed to me a story of
transgression which I was already aware of, but had received the information
from other sources. There were many tears and pleadings and I shall continue to
work with him to see if total adjustments can finally be made.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 22, 1959: In
returning to the office, about 3:00, I found another confession awaiting me. A doctor
with long years of adulterous practices, he had been a bishop [yet was] still
not very repentant, but wishing to adjust, if possible. He was willing to
confess his sins but it was more of an admission because his wife had revealed
the transgressions to the bishop and stake president and they were about to bring
[disciplinary] action against both of the transgressing parties.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 27, 1959: Eugene
Thurman came in in destitute circumstances. I found him a job at the University
of Utah, which I learned later he did not accept, and disappeared.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 29, 1959: I had
a very difficult case involving a Provo man and a Chicago woman was before me.
I worked very hard on it with the man and hope I made some progress. It was a
very heavy busy day.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 5, 1959: Met
there President John K. Edmunds of the Stake, with one of his lady members who
was guilty of adultery, and with whom we spent the time until my plane left. .
. .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 13, 1959: And
for the Second Counselor [in the new stake presidency] chose Lue Smith. We
discussed very frankly with Brother Smith the fact that in his several large
grocery stores he was selling beer and wine, and keeping the stores open on the
Sabbath, as did all other stores in the area. He voluntarily proffered to
discontinue sale of the beer and wine, etc. This will, undoubtedly, be a great
financial sacrifice on his part. We did not require him to do it, but we did
make it clear that we would not wish to use him in the high place if he were
engaged in this traffic.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 20, 1959: We
returned at 8:30 and the distressed man of the morning returned, and his wife
also, and spent the evening until 1:30 in the morning. I was trying to help him
to find his way to repentance so that eventually he might possibly receive his
family back.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 3, 1959: A
brother came in to see me in the morning and spent about two hours with me. His
wife had filed for divorce because of continued conflict arising out of his
immorality. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 7, 1959: I went
to the office early with some very difficult moral cases.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 30, 1959: I worked at the typewriter for many hours. .
. . More hours at the typewriter—I am preparing an extensive treatise on
Repentance.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">August 3, 1959: After our morning oblations, our breakfast
and some study and writing (I am writing a study of Peter) (and a treatise on
Repentance). . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">August 9, 1959: Had an early morning meeting with one of our
most difficult marital and morals cases. There was a good deal of weeping and
some hysteria, and it was a very difficult situation, lasting for two or three
hours, and we were unable to resolve it up to now.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Undated story: We were in the temple. I had just concluded
the temple marriage ceremony for her handsome nephew and his sweet bride. She
followed me out of the room, grasped my hand with both of hers and asked:
“Elder Kimball, do you remember me?” Her eyes were searching and her ears were
reaching to see if I could remember her.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> I was
abashed. For the life of me, I could not make the connection. I was much
embarrassed as I have been numerous times in such situations. Truthfully, I
admitted, “I’m sorry, I do not remember.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Instead of disappointment, I saw relief in her face.
“Oh, I am so grateful that you do not remember me nor that night in our home
when you called me to repentance, when you labored with me, pleaded with me,
warned me, begged me to repent of my adultery. I’m glad you do not remember
that prayer when my husband and I knelt with you at 3:00 am. in the morning
after an all-night battle. I’m glad you do not remember my transgressions
because now after nineteen years of sincere repentance that since you do not
remember me nor my sins perhaps my Lord will remember my sins no more.” I saw
her troubled face become calm and tranquil as she pressed my hand again and
said, “Thank you. Goodbye.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 16, 1959:
We had a long session with Sister [redacted] and her bishop and she exhibited
more of a rebellious nature than ever during the long months we have been
working on the case. In the afternoon we had another session with [redacted]
and his wife and their bishop and their stake president, and we tentatively
closed the case, and inactivated Brother [redacted] and told him, in the
presence of his bishop and stake president he was to have no activity in the
Church for the time being and until we released him. He seemed very grateful
that there was no excommunication proceedings. He asked for a prayer and we let
him offer a prayer and we all knelt. After they had gone they returned and Sr.
[redacted] asked for a blessing at my hands. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 8, 1959: Had
an interview with Harold Bowman at 7:30, with Chief of Police [Cleon] Skousen
relative to a special assignment with [homosexual] transgressors as given to us
by the President [McKay]. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 3, 1960: In
the evening went to the first of the series of 13 special youth programs in
which I am to participate. President McKay was the speaker on this first night;
the tabernacle was filled with youth and it was an excellent start for a
campaign to help our youth to see their responsibilities and protect their
lives and their morals.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 23, 1960:
Brother [name removed] and their three daughters came to see me, their eldest
daughter is beginning to feel the spirit of independence and throwing off all
restraints. I had a fine visit with her and believe that I may have helped her.
Brother [name redacted], a prospective missionary came for an interview and I
postponed his mission for a month, since he has had some emotional problems and
is hardly ready to go.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 28, 1960: We
then went to the Junior M.I.A. dance and the Golden Green Ball for the Juniors,
ranging from 12 to 14 [years old] or a little more. They were well behaved and
the floor show was nicely done, but I was greatly disturbed that this many
little children [young teens] should be out at night and there were about a
dozen of them with dates. I must do all I can to slow down the social life of
our children.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 1, 1960: I
spent this last hour with Vernon, trying to dissuade him from marrying a
non-member woman in February. He had been the Stake President at one time and I
have tried earnestly to get him to postpone his marriage until she will have
had time to have learned the gospel and accept it without pressures.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 27, 1960: I
had had one more interview with a middle aged couple who had some serious
morals problems and we went to the bishop’s home and I turned the problem over
to him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 27, 1960: There
were many interviews today, some of them very distressing ones—broken lives.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 15, 1960: We
had a meeting at 2:00 for the General Authorities. President Smith had read to
them the new statement on a tightening up of interviews for young missionaries;
a matter that had been before us in the Council of the Twelve and the Presidency
meeting two different weeks and in which I made a very desperate effort to try
to keep some latitude in our interviews and not let the door be shut too
tightly upon repentant young men and women.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 25, 1960: I . .
. took the girls down to the big parade, the Pioneer Day celebration. The
parade was quite an extravagantly good one, except we seem now to be taking for
granted that all the young women shall be immodestly dressed in parades. Those
in bands with their extremely short dresses, exposing practically all of their
legs, and those who ride on the floats, including the queens, with either
strapless or strap gowns. It seemed to be becoming the order of the day instead
of the exception.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">August 16, 1960: I
had a couple who had recently committed sin and were anxious now to go to the
temple and be married. I urged them to be married civilly and when they had
proven themselves to be worthy they could be sealed in the temple at a later
date. . . . I interviewed several missionaries, some of whom had been in
transgression and I had to deny to some the privilege of going on their
missions. I had several difficult situations, morals problems, and some very
pleasant interviews.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">August 17 1960: I
performed the ceremony this morning for [names removed]. . . . The parents and
several of his brothers were there. He is the eighth of nine in the family to
be married in the holy temple, with the last one a younger boy. This was a
happy family and an exemplary family, and they were very proud of their eight
to be in the temple. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> I had a long visit with the
adulterer who has taken so much time in the last year and a half. He is doing
much better but now wants a temple recommend, which I feel he is not ready for.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 24, 1960:
Again at Melbourne I had the bitterest experience of my life when I had to
press action against three young men [missionaries] and sever them from the
Church. The difficult and harrowing experience of the numerous night and day
hours as the ugly situation was uncovered, together with the organization of a
new stake from the mission, was a terrific responsibility and I was much perplexed.
Knowing what must be done, in spite of its terror, and being fortified by a
call to President Moyle in Salt Lake City [rest of paragraph is redacted;
several missionaries in New Zealand and Australia had fornicated with local
member girls; all later repented].<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 4, 1960: I
find I can stand a terrific amount of physical effort, but when morals problems
come for me to solve, it takes out of me much.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 24, 1961: Today
is Pioneer day. . . . I was working on my book on repentance.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">August 22, 1961:
Today the man, father of four children, came to confess immorality with the
woman in another family where there was a husband and children. I have been
working for months with these two families and felt sure that this was or would
be the result. I seemingly could make no impression upon the two individuals, but
today the man is repentant and on his knees and willing to do anything to clear
it up.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Sister [name redacted] came in. I
have been close to this family through their trouble. When her husband [words
redacted] and she had remained faithful to him all the years of his
imprisonment, and his former employers had been good to him and given him
employment when he came out of prison. But now he has turned sour, abandoned
his family, gone off with an adulterous woman, according to all reports, and
left his family penniless and Sister [redacted] without any good means of
earning a living for her children. I gave to her the $100 which was handed me
on April 6, 1961 as a gift to the Savior. She was overwhelmed. There were many
other interviews through the day, some pleasant, some very distasteful. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">June 11, 1963: I had an interview with Harol I. Bowman
regarding special [homosexual] cases at 9:00 and one with Miss Carter at 9:30.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">September 19, 1963: Considerable business was transacted
and Brother Stapley and I secured approval from the Presidency and the Twelve
for the restoration of three brethren who had been excommunicated. One was a
young man, excommunicated in [redacted, probably New Zealand or Australia]
while I was there and I attended his excommunication. He will be now very happy
to be baptized.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">September 24, 1963: At 2:00, [name redacted] and a woman
whose first name was [redacted] openly admitted that they were living openly
together and he said he did not agree that this was wrong. He did not accept the
Church’s policy on morality—that he was the Holy Ghost himself, and the Lord
had told him many things and he had visited with the Almighty. But, he felt
that the authority was in the Church and that she must be baptized by
authority. She was more sensible and said she realized that these things were
wrong. But she had been an alcoholic and she was trying hard to overcome. She
had felt that life was hardly worth living. She had given up her children to
her more righteous husband. She is now married to a third husband with whom she
does not live and he has a family and neither has any divorce. This calls to
mind the ever-increasing number of strange ideologies and ideas [floating
around]. . . . I had a visit with Brother [redacted], looking toward a possible
restoration of his blessings. He has had a long and sordid career of a number
of serious morals problems and seems very sincere. I will present his case
before the brethren next Thursday. Late in the evening came [name redacted] who
had been excommunicated in the mission field and I had a good long talk with
him and he has a fine attitude and I proposed to present his name to the
Thursday Temple meeting for rebaptism. Last week, I presented [redacted] and he
was approved to be baptized.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="xmsonormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">October 13, 1963: We had a special meeting with Brother
[redacted] and Brother [redacted] and their wives. These two men had been
excommunicated for insubordination and had later been reinstated but they are
still rebellions. They indicated they would sustain the leaders if the leaders
did what they thought should be done. They had many complaints of the bishop
who they said was dictatorial and demanding and did not carry forward the
program according to best practices.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 9, 1963: We
spent hours with a couple, the young man 36 years old, five years in the
Bishopric, 5 years as a High Councilor, 2 years as a seminary teacher, and now
a successful businessman with a wife and five children whom he admitted he
loved and appreciated, but about a year ago, he met a young woman, twenty-four
and a returned missionary. Apparently, an infatuation has taken them over body
and soul. The stake president has been working with them but they will not
desist seeing each other and so we talked to them long and earnestly and with
little result. I talked to the man and then I talked to the girl and then I
talked to them together and then I talked to them with their stake president
and they finally stated that they would desist in seeing each other, but that
he would have to have three or four days to make the transition and as we left
the room, he whispered to her, “I still love you.” We felt we had made little
progress. They left finally with a solemn injunction that they must not ignore
what we had told them. I bore my testimony strongly to them that they were
listening to an apostle (two apostles) of the Lord and that they would ignore
us at their peril. The young man seemed to be possessed though he was calm and
deliberate in all that he said. The girl appeared to be under domination of a
master spirt and without power to jerk herself loose. It appeared that they had
a pact that neither would break. Sunday morning, I called his two brothers, one
in the stake presidency and one a bishop, to ask them to do all they could to
dissuade this man from destroying himself, this girl and the family. This was
most distressing and I think I have never fought so hard for two or three solid
hours as I fought these hours to persuade these people of the folly of their
ways. They both told me they had not committed adultery but there have been
some intimacies.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Brother Monson and I each
interviewed a young man, each of whom had committed sin; each wanting to go on
a mission. The one I interviewed responded well. It has been some time and he
seems most repentant and I felt that probably after some months, he might be
able to go. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> I now had an interview with another
couple where the woman was still married to a husband from whom she was
estranged and a divorcee who was showing her attention. I have made little
headway here, it seems, for the woman said little but soon angrily walked out
of the office. The man explained that the woman was just hanging onto the
Church by her eyelids nearly, and that I had given her offense when I performed
the marriage ceremony for herself and her now estranged husband because of
wearing a dark suit in the marriage room and that I had said something that
gave her offense. I have no idea of what it could be as I have been very
careful in all these matters but I will check further to see if I can clear it
up for her. . . . I was very weary. I went to bed immediately. The strain of so
many morals and marital cases and problems injected in between all other
strains of the reorganization through a hard scheduled two days left me a bit
weary.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 3, 1964: I
went to the funeral of Richard R. Lyman at noon, who was about 83 years of age.
Brother Brown spoke and three of us of the Twelve were present, but I was the
only one present who was in the Quorum when we excommunicated Richard R. Lyman
for adultery back in November, 1943. I took the initiative in helping Brother
Lyman to secure permission from the brethren and from the prophet to be
rebaptized. I kept hoping through the years that he would make another serious
attempt to receive his blessings back but apparently it did not seem important
enough to him, or he didn’t have the energy or the courage or something. At any
rate, he died as a lay member of the Church without Priesthood, without
endowments, without sealings and it was sad indeed. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 4, 1964: I
think I have not for years had so many cases of immorality come to me as in the
past few days—broken homes because of infidelity of husbands and wives. I have
struggled for hours and hours for the past few days trying to get people to see
their situation and to repent. I have come to realize how powerful and subtle
is that evil one who makes them think that ‘black is white’ and helps them to rationalize
away all their errors and call them virtues when they are base vices. Most of
the morning was spent thusly.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 16, 1964:
Here I met [name redacted] and her husband who have had some problems they
wished to discuss with me, particularly the possibility of bringing her father,
[name redacted] back unto his blessings by proxy which will be a difficult
thing since he had three or four women in the so-called polygamy, and he was
excommunicated long years ago, and he died without any signs of repentance so
far as we could see. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 19, 1964:
Then at 5:30, came a meeting with several stake presidents to consider the
possibility of housing the numerous girls who come in from the outside to Salt
Lake City for employment, many of whom we lose when they get away from their
home restraints. The meeting was very satisfactory.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 26, 1964: A
young man I met in the mission field came in—most despondent and near suicide.
He had many problems—sex, smoking, drinking and I fear dope. I have put him in
the hands of Brother Bowman and hope that we can save him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 11, 1964: This
was a really hectic day with divorce problems and broken homes and immorality
and perversion among girls and perversion among men. It was really a hectic day
from early morning until 8:30 at night at my home. We sincerely hope we have
helped some of them in their problems.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 6, 1964: After
the meeting, I went back to the office and met the [redacted] and here in the
presence of his wife and his former mission president and others of his
friends, I restored all the blessings to [redacted] who was excommunicated
while in the mission field about two years ago. This was a very pleasant
experience and a delightful occasion and the spirit was manifest. The young man
was so overjoyed that he threw his arms around my neck and wept and would
hardly terminate the embrace. His wife was weeping and all the other people
were weeping and grateful and happy.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 22, 1964: One
of the police officers came from Utah County to tell me about a case of incest
where one of our members has been using his three daughters for many years.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 25, 1964:
(Additional) The age of the three daughters mentioned above was 23, 21 and 17.
The father was put into the insane asylum.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 16, 1964: I had
visitors from Arizona—a father and son and the friend of the son. The two boys
are deviates and could not be persuaded by their father or their stake
president that it was so wrong. I spent all morning with them from 8 until 12.
They left with a good feeling and a determination, so far as I could tell, to
desist and to live worthily and to overcome their problems. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 11, 1964: At
noon, I interviewed a man for a position and found he had been immoral a month
before. He brought his wife in and I found that they had been having marital
problems for a long time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 5, 1964: In
the meantime, I spent about three hours with three different young missionaries
and finally permitted number one to go on his mission upon his protestations of
repentance and my deep feeling that he was repentant and that he was safe.
Number two brought his girlfriend in from BYU and we had a long talk and I was
convinced of a very sincere repentance here and finally felt it was the wise
thing to let him go into the mission field. Number three, I could not feel that
he should go into the mission field. He and the young lady who came with him
had been immoral only a week ago. There was no sureness that there might be
pregnancy. I urged them to marry even now and before that it was definitely
ascertained. I felt very little repentance here and some belligerency and some
rebellion. This matter is still pending and will not be totally solved today.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 27, 1964: I
had three interviews—one for a young returned missionary who has had a very
difficult problem in adjusting since returning; another for a man who has twice
been excommunicated for adultery and now after seven years, is very anxious to
return to the fold; and a third, a beautiful attractive woman who has been in
adultery and who is quite strongly pressing for a temple recommend. I sustained
the stake president and told her she was lucky to be still in the Church and it
would be better if she would wait quietly.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 29, 1964:
And then, there were other interviews for the balance of the day and it was a
long, exhausting day. One of the interviews was a former bishop who was
excommunicated for incest, asking for return to the Church.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 1, 1965: During
the next two and a half hours, I was very busy with some most difficult
problems. A young woman, probably 26 or 27, came in to confess repeated
adultery over a year and a half with a young man about her own age. They had
been dating companions before their marriages and now they had continued their
sin which had begun before their marriages. Neither spouse and no one else knew
of their perfidy. She did not want to reveal his name. He did not want her to
confess but under some persuasion, she called him and asked him to come down. I
did not know who he was until he revealed it himself. He seemed very repentant
as she had been. I talked with them long and earnestly and sent them back to
tell their spouses. Later in the evening, I visited with both of their spouses.
The young man’s wife was very receptive and forgiving and responsive but the
young woman’s husband was a bit non-committal. I saw them again on Sunday
afternoon and all had a good attitude and were very repentant and I turned the
matter back to the bishop and the stake president who will carry forward in the
matter. . . . I visited with another couple who were on the verge of divorce.
The woman was adamant and she could not stand the conflicts longer. And then, I
visited with another woman whose husband has left her with another woman as the
cause and this woman also has a daughter who has left her husband.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 1, 1965: I
authorized the [stake] Presidency to see to the trial of Sharon Kinne against
whom there is incontrovertible evidence of many crimes. She is reported to have
killed her husband and then shot the woman who was the wife of her lover and
then in Mexico where she fled while on bond, she shot two other men, one of
whom died and the other was seriously injured.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 7, 1965: I had some distressing interviews with a
pervert and other people who had serious problems. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 14, 1965: It has been a difficult day. I do knot know whether
my depression is the result of the day’s problems with moral and marital
problems and disappointments or whether they have any connection. I do not know
if my depression tonight is the result of the day with its disappointments and
partial failures or if my failures to measure up, and my impatience is the
result of the chest pains. They are not severe but worrisome. I left the desk
and watched TV for a while but there seemed to be no relief. I must find a way
to get out of the tense sequences and get more relaxation. How can I?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 26, 1965: This was a hectic day with numerous problems
and difficulties—morals cases and marital problems. Two young men in Europe
needed to be excommunicated today because of immorality.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 30, 1965: I . . . then had an interview. This was with a
young man with his wife of a year and a half. She knew of his whole sexual
problem of the past. They were married in the temple about a year and a half
ago and received their recommends in spite of the fact that he had a red tag on
his record. I shall check this with his bishop and stake president. He claims
to be quite totally recovered. When I visited him first he denied vehemently
any such condition or situation. A year or so later, he came in of his own
accord and admitted it. I placed him in the hands of Dr. Charles Taylor at BYU
and he now says that he visited with the Doctor as long as he was in Provo. I
did not feel that he was totally frank with me yet. He hedged as I asked for
the name of the bishop and stake president who gave him the recommend contrary
to the instructions. I will check into the matter. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 20, 1965: At one o’clock, I performed the special
ordination of restoring the blessings to former Bishop [name redacted] who was
excommunicated several years ago for adulterous relatons but who has sorely
repented and I have had serval visits with him and was instrumental in getting
him re-baptized and now restoration was taken care of in the stake presidency
office in the high council room of the Holladay Stake. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 6, 1965: I met a couple from Arizona—a mother and a
son—he is nineteen and quite deeply entrenched in homosexual life. We worked
for three constant hours with all the vigor and power and inspiration we had,
trying to dissuade this young man from his activities.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 7, 1965: I went to the office to meet the mother and
son again and we spent nearly two hours again—straining and stretching and
praying and serving and warning and finally ending without any real assurance
that we had penetrated his immature mind and heart. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July
10, 1965: We had an interview this morning with the Stake President and his
accuser. The accuser stated before him that he had seen him in the act of
immorality with two different people at different times. The stake president
denied it and assured us that this was all a plot to discredit him and destroy
him. It was a long interview lasting all morning. We finally dismissed both the
accuser and the president and caught the plane back home, arriving late
afternoon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 13, 1965: I arose early and scattered my papers all
over one end of the living room and began to work on my book, “The Miracle of
Repentance.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 19, 1965: From early morning until late at night I was
at a table with my book and a typewriter. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 20, 1965: Today was much as other days. I was up very
early and worked on my book all through the day with several interruptions. . .
. I made considerable progress on the book today. It seems an endless task.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 28, 1965: I had my little portable typewriter which has
gone around the world with me and my “Miracle of Forgiveness” book material and
spent the day studying and working on it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">August 19, 1965:
There were morals problems that came in and it was 7:00 when I got through the
day. After supper, I took a little nap, had a long distance call again tonight
from another boy who was guilty of immorality in the homosexual line. The boy
from Las Vegas, the one we had the other night, was from Oregon. They are
coming to their senses now when they find that they cannot enroll in the
Brigham Young University until and unless they totally clean up their vile
practices.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 12, 1965:
Then we went to the show, The Sound of Music. It was most interesting and
delightful and clean.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 20, 1965:
Today was an unusual day. We had found a number of homosexual boys in the BYU
last year and the school put a tag on their registration packet so when they
came to register the last day or two and found they could not register until
they cleared up their evil situations, they came one after another all day and
into the late evening with tears and apologies and remorse and sorrow now. Some
were very mild, others were quite confirmed in their evil. I am sure I helped
them a great deal as I spent the whole day in talking repentance to them. Some
of them will be permitted to register under strict probation; others who are
more deeply involved will not be permitted to register. I think this will have
a very wholesome affect upon the people at the BYU. I am sure that it will
scatter far and wide and the young people will come to realize that their evils
will not be tolerated on this campus.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 18, 1965:
The phone and Brother Richards at the Mission Home stated that there were three
missionaries that had some problems. . . . I visited with one boy who was tall
and slender, very egotistical and cocky. He wanted to pass off as being
insignificant and unimportant his two visits across the border of Mexico to the
Red Light District, and a lot of heavy petting and other allied ills. He had
had his endowments. He had lied to his bishop and stake president when asked
about his chastity. I had him leave and pray and think, while I handled boy
number two who had been guilty of many evil things. He was much more repentant,
but I had to consider a long time and do some praying before I know whether I
could send him in the mission field. Number three was a young lady from Salt
Lake who had just slipped out and gone riding with a boyfriend, without telling
anyone where she was going. . . . The person number 4 was an Indian girl, who
admitted serious moral infractions and she was backing out on her mission. It
was quite important that I interview these people even though it was late, as
tomorrow morning the missionaries go to the Temple. I found out that the two
boys, one and two, had their endowments before coming to the Mission Home, so I
forbade them to go to the Temple.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 19, 1965:
It was a very busy day. I had interviews with three missionaries that had
serious problems. I had had interviews with them the night before over at the
Mission Home. Three of them were very serious cases. One of them was simple and
was soon taken care of. I was expremely tired as I got home. Today, I had a
visit with the Indian girl, of last night’s experience, and she was determined
to go home and give up her mission. I interviewed both the boys, because they
were extremely repentant, I felt impressed to let them go on their missinos.
They were very grateful.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 21, 1965: I
had interviews with three young men who had some preoblems in pervesion. All
were very repentant. One of them was not a member of the Church and has been
asking for baptism. I have been working with him for months. I believe now that
he is repentant enough to be baptiszed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 15, 1965:
Then a visit from a young man who is in deep sins, and is struggling for
strength to overcome.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 16, 1965: I
had two very long and difficult interviews with two different young men who
were deep in sin but are beginning now to catch the vision of eternity and the
need for early repentance.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 21, 1965:
We came home at 9:30 and a young man was here to get help. He had had morals
problems with his girlfriend and now he had given up his job and the girl’s
parents had kicked him out and he was in pretty desperate straits and now
wanted to go on a mission. I think he wanted an escape. I told him that if he
would get him a job and go back to work and earn his money for his mission, and
stabilized himself, and repented of his sins, possibly a mission might still be
available to him, when he had proved himself.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 22, 1965:
At 10:30 came a young man deep in sin who had resisted my helping him. He had
ignored two of my letters. I finally called him at the Genealogical Society
where he was employed and he was very curt and almost insulting. He said he had
nothing to talk to me about. I told him positively that he had a great deal we
had to talk about and that he had better be coming, and so this morning, I had
the interview. He began in a long explanation, stating that I was not qualified
to handle his case or to understand it or to help him, and that it was his
problem and that he did not wish to be pressed or hurried or pressured. I told
him as long as he is a returned missionary and held the priesthood and was a
member of the Church that we did have jurisdiction and that we did not intend
to let him continue on with his sin; unless he was willing to cooperate, he
would need to be immediately excommunicated from the Church. He finally began to
yield and was willing to cooperate to some degree.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 27, 1965:
We spent the day in our room. They had provided me with a very long, large
table which I spread my things out on and was working on my book, the first
time for four or five months.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 8, 1966: At
10:00, Brother [name redacted], formerly of Sugar City, with his father, [name
redacted], came to my home. [Redacted] had been excommunicated in New Zealand
while I was there in the fall of 1960. He was baptized a couple of years ago
and today it was my privilege to restore all of his blessings. The boy has been
very faithful and has been much sobered and has added some years. I am sure he
was ready for his restoration. His father sobbed as I granted to him the
blessings of his priesthood and endowments and all the privileges of the
Church.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 14, 1966 [Portland]:
I was met by former President Ray Kirkham who took me to the meetinghouse where
I met one young man who drove me around to see three others, all four of whom
were perverts, deeply entrenched in homosexuality. There are four, trained,
educated young men—three of them returned missionaries; two of them with their
masters’ degrees, teaching in the colleges, and I talked to each one about
thirty minutes doing my utmost with all the power I possessed and could garner
from my Heavenly Father to whom I was praying almost constantly to see if I
could convince them against their apparent will to change their lives and
return to sanity and to truth and righteousness. They are deeply embedded in
their new theories which they have convinced themselves are proper. They have
accepted this as a way of life. They almost shamelessly admit their sexual
associations. They claim they see no sin in the matter, but that it is merely a
new way of life. When I went to catch my plane to Seattle, I was weary. I had
worked so hard and put so much of myself into it trying to persuade them in the
very few moments they gave me. I hope and pray that some of my efforts may have
been meritorious and that some of the seeds I have tried to plant might have
found good soil.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 15, 1966: I
had an hour’s interview with a very prominent business man whose wife was
guilty of infidelity and had gone off in adultery with another member of the
Church who is subsequently disfellowshipped by the stake president in another
stake and the woman had not been handled in this stake. He was very critical of
the President of the other stake for having only disfellowshipped the man
instead of excommunicating him, and was practically demanding that the man be
excommunicated, feeling that he had (this husband) been injured and damaged. I
quoted many scriptures on how he should forgive and leave judgment to the Lord
and to his leaders, and how that no society could exist if all people were the
judges and determined what penalties should be, that both in the Church and in
the laws of the land we have elected or appointed or called judges, and in the
Church we had the bishops and stake presidents who gave judgment in the matter
of transgressions. Without this system, everything would be chaotic. I am not
sure that he was listening until I said, “Yes, maybe the male adulterer should
have been excommunicated and perhaps the female adulteress should also be
excommunicated.” He began to sit up and take notice and soon smiled and put out
his hand and said goodbye.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 18, 1966:
There were interviews throughout the noon hour and until two. One man with his
wife came and he had been guilty of incest and had been excommunicated two and
one half years ago. He is begging to get back into the Church. A young couple
came in, his wife having been six times an adulteress. They were trying to
reconcile and get back to proper living, and such the day was . . . and other
interviews, one of which was the parents of one of the boys that I had met at
Portland on Friday. They re broken hearted and eager to do anything in the
world to help hteir son to regain his sanity.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 11, 1966:
We had . . . several interviews including a very difficult one where a man and
his wife were in marital difficulties and the woman had already filed for
divorce and there was bitterness.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 4, 1966: I had
an appointment at 10:00 which lasted until about 2:00. A marital case—a very
difficult marital case.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 1966 (Note) We
were distressed at the necessity of disfellowshipping [name redacted] our Hopi
brother, who has been such a discordant element in the Salt Lake area. He has
organized his Lamanite United dances and has defied the Church organizations
and taken the Indians away. It is reported also that he has made threats of
black magic for some of the members who would not go along with him. Of this,
we have no very good proof yet but there has been a discordant element and he
was rebellious. It has hurt us to need to do this for an Indian, but they must
learn discipline as well as the whites.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 23, 1966: I
had an appointment . . . with a young man by the name of Reynolds who is
not a member of the Church but seems to be playing havoc with some of the
girls. He is attractive and personable and he is destroying the faith of some
of our students. He seems to be a disciple of the Tanners who have written a
large book of anti-Mormon propaganda. I do not know if we helped him or not; we
hope we may have helped to save the girl, who sat in on the interview. Brother
Yost, Institute Director, also sat with me in the interview. I felt what we
said to the young man should have cleared his thinking, but he seems to be
pretty well set [in his mind].<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 24, 1966: I
had interviews with two young men for missions, each had committed
[fornication] himself so had to be interviewed by a General Authority; both
were repentant and since there has been a considerable lapse of time, I felt
perhaps they might go on their missions.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 29, 1966: I
interviewed some of the leading men there and some of the couples. I was
inspired by them, their devotion, their sweet lives, their love of the Church
and each other. The transformation the Gospel and the Church makes is
wonderful. Only a few of the men say they never were immoral but with glistening
eyes and happy pride, they look us in the eye and say they have never been
indiscrete since their baptism. What a glorious program that will so change
man’s life!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 3, 1966: The
other day, I had a visit from a Lt. Colonel and his wife—very sophisticated,
fine looking people. He told me that years ago he came to me with a serious
morals problem and that from that day forward, fully repented but did not see
how he could tell his wife of his infidelity, and that he had dragged it on now
for several years, but when he heard my talk in General Conference on the
destructiveness of wedges, he went to his wife, told her of his infidelities;
she forgave him and that they had experienced great happiness since that time.
She was with him and verified the fact that she had forgiven him and that they
were very happy and all was well.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 7, 1966: With tables all over the room and my book
chapters scattered on them, I spent the day trying to bring these chapters
toward completion. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 10, 1966: Had an interview at my home with [name
redacted] and his wife. [redacted] was recently disfellowshipped because of
immorality and he was a bit haughty and belligerent for a while but is now very
humble and docile. And he was in tears and tremendously humble. He came to my
home at his own request and asked for a blessing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 16, 1966: I worked very hard through the day and made
some progress on my book.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 23, 1966: I spent much of the day at the desk, catching
up on correspondence and working on my book, and made considerable headway.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 27, 1966: Late in the evening, I restored the blessings
for [name redacted] who was excommunicated in Australia some years ago. He is a
fine boy and has made wonderful progress and has a fine attitude and is
anticipating an early marriage.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">August 1, 1966: I worked on the book. . . . Spent the day
working on the book.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">August 2, 1966: Spent the day at the table with the
typewriter, the Dictaphone and the chapters of the book.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">August 3, 1966: All the balance of the time from six in the
morning until ten at night I was at the tables and the typewriter looking after
mail and writing on the book.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">August 6, 1966: Today was much like the other days since
last Monday. I get up generally about six o’clock and go into the little office
room and work at the book until about eight or eight thirty when we would have
our breakfast. Generally we would take a walk. The last few days we have walked
down to the post office to take another chapter or two for copying and to get
the mail, then we return to the home and I work most of the day on the chapters
of the book. . . . <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> The week
has been a pleasant and profitable one. The book is coming along well. I have
now all of the twenty-five chapters written, but of course they will need to be
reduced, edited, polished and there are months ahead of us yet.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Undated missionary problems [no date]: Elder Kimball
reported for the information of the brethren some problems that had been
encountered during the past week pertaining to the missionaries. He said that
about twenty missionaries had given them great concern, that one boy was
excommunicated for immorality and sent home.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">August 13, 1966: I had a visit with Brother [name redacted]
who was excommunicated many years ago and he and his wife have a fine sweet
spirit, and I think I shall recommend that he have his restoration of his
blessings.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 8, 1966
[orange paper strip]: Elder Robarge told me of a dream he had had. He saw a
book with his name written on the page, then he saw a hand in which was an
eraser and the voice was saying “I can easily erase your name.” It scared him
and there came to him speedily the realization that it was not the Lord’s hand
but his own hand which would do the erasing. He had had the hepatitis and some
other problems and had been embittered even at the Lord for his misfortunes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 17, 1966:
I had interviews . . . with a young man who had been excommunicated for sin in
the mission field. He is very anxious now to return. His name is [redacted] and
I believe that he is about ready to receive his blessings back. He is a fine
young man.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 20, 1966:
I then had a couple from the Phoenix area whose seventeen year old son, under
their direction and pressure, was now spurning a sixteen year old girl who is
to have a baby in the next two or three weeks, he being the father. I counseled
with them to have the boy marry the girl. They insisted that he did not love
her and that he hadn’t gotten into school yet and his life would be
interrupted. I reminded them that there was a girl who not only was having her
school interrupted and who didn’t love him but who had a child without a name
and a girl with a baby and she had no name to protect. They were somewhat
enraged against their stake president who had taken a firm stand. I counseled
them strongly. The father seemed to understand. The mother went out bitter and
weeping and castigating me. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 12, 1966: In
the afternoon, I restored the priesthood and temple blessings to [name
redacted] of [redacted] Nevada who was excommunicated in Australia on his
mission. The whole family was present—the father and mother, [redacted] and his
twin brother and their wives. It was a time of rejoicing. I had several young
men from the mission home who had problems and I worked until late in the
evening with them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 13, 1966: There
were many interviews and difficult problems—two young men whom I have been
working with two days who had been unworthy to go on their missions had
developed a great repentance and I finally permitted them to go on their way.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 15, 1968: I
had an interview with one missionary who returned in August who confessed
immorality. He involved 20 other boys that he could name immediately who were
dating and flirting in the mission field—this made me ill.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 19, 1966: I
had several young men from the mission home who needed special attention who
had had serious morals problems just before coming into the mission home. I got
some of the other brethren to help me with them and I distributed them around.
It was 7:00 when I got rid of my final problems and sent the boys back to the
mission home—their problems to be considered further tomorrow.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 20, 1966: We
had about 15 missionary problem cases and I spread them around among the
members of the [Missionary] Committee. Some of them were very serious. One boy
from Driggs, Idaho, I permitted to go into the mission field after I was
satisfied that everything considered, it was best for him and all. Another boy
from Idaho I held up for about a month at least for situations to settle and to
test his repentance and to see my feelings at that time. He was happy that he
had revealed his problems and was willing to go back home and face the
situation. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 31, 1966: I
had an interview with a returning missionary from Scotland who had had many
problems before his mission and who confessed them to me when I saw him in
Scotland. HE seems to bhave made a great change in his life and I believe he is
repentant and fortified.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 8, 1967: It
was a usual Wednesday with many meetings and many interviews. One interview was
a sad one with a man who has been excommunicated about 10 years for apostasy
and he is begging now for reinstatement, but I found him to be still
unrepentant and unchanged. He still says he will accept President McKay as a
Prophet of the Lord and will accept any revelations and instruction that come
from him providing that they agree with his own thinking. His poor old father
was in tears, in the realization that his son was not yet ready for
restoration.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 4, 1967: I had
a long interview with [name redacted] and his wife. [name redacted] was
excommunicated in the Andean Mission [redacted] for transgression. He is very
anxious to come back into the Church now. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 9, 1967: Ten
of the Twelve of us were present at the 10:30 meeting. President McKay came in
in his wheel chair, as usual. President Brown and President Tanner accompanied
him. During this meeting, a long discussion was held concerning the practice of
homosexuality which seems to be increasing in our midst and in the Church and
in the world.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 18, 1967: I
had a long visit with [name redacted] with whom I had had an interview two or
three years ago regarding his marital and morals problems. He is begging for
reinstatement.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 19, 1967: In
the morning session, when we spoke about parents properly training their
children, I noted on the second row a sister who was weeping. After the
meeting, she came up to tell me that her son had just been excommunicated from
the Church in Japan and had just returned home and her heart was broken.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 9, 1967: With
Brother Stapley helping me, I restored the blessings to Sister [name redacted].
Sister [redacted] was the wife of the man who went by the name of [redacted].
He may have had some Indian blood but he was not the Indian that he had
claimed. He had perpetrated a real fraud upon the Church in being baptized and
so he had to be excommunicated and he had been grossly immoral. Sister
[redacted] had been an apostate along with him and was finally excommunicated
along with him. Her daughter [redacted] was present with her.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 14, 1967: I also
restored the blessings for [name redacted] who was excommunicated about five
years ago in the California Mission for immorality. He is now in the military,
has married civilly and brought his wife with him. They had a good spirit and I
felt good about restoring the blessings. They were deeply grateful.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 16, 1967: I had
an interview at my home with a bishop and one of his ward members who was
involved in homosexuality, but who is beginning to repent.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 17, 1967: I
talked to the missionaries this morning. . . . I had four or five of them who
came to confess serious sins. I distributed them among the brethren. I took two
of them myself. They were very distressing, sad cases. One young married couple
came to ask if they should bring charges against the young woman’s father who
had molested her from the time she was a little child until she was fourteen
when she rebelled against him and he apparently continues with his evil deeds.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 2, 1968:
Then, I had a series of very difficult interviews. A young couple with four
children had been inactive and bitter for eighteen months. I talked to them
frankly, told them some stories of people who had saved themselves from such
situations by realizing their own responsibility, and told them stories of
those who had kicked themselves completely out of the Church and into a world
of continual unhappiness. Finally, the husband said, “Let’s go, Mother, we have
our answer. We know what we must do.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 3, 1968: I
went to the office at 9:30 for a 10:00 appointment with a young woman who has a
history of homosexuality. Several years ago, President McKay appointed Brother
Petersen and myself to work with these kinds of cases and see what we could do
toward saving the people and clearing up the problems.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 10, 1968: At
9:30, [name redacted] and his wife of three years came in. They had decided to
be divorced; they said they did not love each other. However, there seems to have
been no sin, no infidelity. When they left my office, I felt that they might
forego the divorce and change their lives and make their marriage happy.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 18, 1968: I
had one very sad case today of a little girl, 18, who seems to have no
affection or interest in her little illegitimate child of seven months and she
seems very hard and cold and determined to go on her way. She has run away from
home several times and is associating with a low element. . . . I pled with her
and argued with her and worked with her for about two hours with her parents. I
thought I made a little dent.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 29, 1968: I spent the day at home working on
correspondence reports and the book, The Miracle of Forgiveness.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 23, 1969: In the [temple] meeting, as we were
discussing the evils which we have to cope with and the much immorality in our
country but especially in the European and Scandinavian countries, Brother Lee
mentioned to the brethren that I had a manuscript which Brother Stapley had
read and which he had already read about half of and that it was excellent, and
treated the whole program of immorality and transgression and warning against
the sins, and indicating how people could be relieved of their sins. He said it
was factual and heavily documented and adequate and covered the field
beautifully. He continued on and on to my embarrassment, but I was delighted to
know that after nine years of struggling with the subject, principally in my
vacation times, that perhaps my effort might prove valuable to the world and
the Church and to the people. Brother Stapley confirmed all that Brother Lee
had said for he had also read it. We hope it will be in print before the April
Conference. This was highly gratifying.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 2, 1969: This evening, I went down to Bookcraft Inc. and autographed
two hundred additional books, The Miracle of Forgiveness, having autographed
three hundred the night before at home. It was quite a satisfaction to see the
great pile of books, I believe, ten thousand piled up in the warehouse of
Bookcraft Company and realize it was my book and on which I have been working
about ten years through the vacations. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 5, 1969: Finally reached home about 3:30 in time
for an interview with a woman who 45 years ago had been untrue to her marriage
vows on one occasion and she has been most repentant and very much in distress
ever since, though she has been living the commandments quite fully. Some
months ago, she told her son and he asked for this appointment. He had been in
the book store and saw my newly published book, The Miracle of Forgiveness, and
had purchased it on the title only, thinking it might bring peace to his
mother. She had read the book, practically through, and then asked for an
appointment. She is very sincere and very repentant and she left my home
feeling a great sense of peace.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Last night,
I had a man 65 years of age who came, bringing his book that was nearly worn
out. He was nearly through it for the third time. He had committed adultery 23
years ago—about six different times and it has been weighing on his conscience.
Recently, his wife died and he has been unable to sleep or adjust with himself
since then. He went away much comforted as I explained to hm it was necessary
for him to finish his repentance and read some of the promises that the Lord
has made to those who did fully repent.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> I had an
interview with the wife of a homosexual boy and she told me of his many friends
which he seemed to prefer to his wife, some of them being in the Tabernacle
Choir. I shall need to work on them immediately.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> A few days
ago, I restored the blessings for a man who had been out of the Church for seven years because of adultery. I restored
his blessings according to an authorization from the Presidency. After the
ordinance was completed, he asked for five minutes alone. After his people had
left, he pointed to my new book, The Miracle of Forgiveness, and said, “That’s
what brought me in. You called me a culprit and a sinner and transgressor and
that brought me to my senses and I began to really repent and prepare myself
for this restoration—that book did it!”, he said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> And so, I
am very grateful if it is bringing forgiveness to many people and peace to
their souls. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> A few days
ago, I received a letter from a young man in the military who had come to see
me some many weeks ago and had come in response to having read my new book.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Today, I
received a letter from him in which he expressed great thanks and appreciation
and said he had never been so happy and at peace and free in his life since our
first visit.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 7, 1969: They [the stake presidency] asked me to
autograph some of the books, The Hidden Wedge, which they had purchased for
members of their family and last night the President had asked me to autograph
33 of my new book, The Miracle of Forgiveness, which they are giving to their
stake and ward leaders at Christmastime.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 8, 1969: I had an interview with a young man
returning from his mission who had been accused of some irregularities. But,
apparently, the accusation was false. I had an interview also with [name
redacted] about his excommunication. He is doing well, looking toward a
restoration.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 12, 1969: At 3:30, Brother Petersen and I had an
interview with Brother and Sister Rulon Hinckley, looking toward their working
with us in the homosexual problems, and at 4:00, we had a meeting with James
Paramore to represent us in this specialized work at Provo.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 16, 1969: I had many interviews, one of which was a
young boy 18 who came in with his father last Friday and admitted homosexual
experiences with other boys. He had come in like a fugitive and frightened
criminal and went out with confidence and tonight when he came, he was a different
boy—his eyes were shining and he had confidence in himself and he knew that he
could clear up the matter. When we prayed, his prayer showed that he was used
to praying and that he was a good boy and here was the dividend. I felt very
happy indeed at the apparent recovery or beginning of recovery for this boy.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 8, 1970: I had an interview with an old man who had
been grossly immoral for numerous years yet active in the Church; a young woman
also had a problem; several others had had problems. This was a very hectic
day. Most of these problem cases arise out of reading my book, The Miracle of
Forgiveness which lays it on the line pretty strongly.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Editorial note:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elder Thomas S. Monson shared this incident in his
autobiography:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
President Spencer W. Kimball has always been a prolific worker. He spent
several summers working on a book which he later entitled <i>The Miracle
of Forgiveness</i>. As one reads the book, particularly the first portion, one
wonders if anyone will make it to the Celestial Kingdom. However, in
reading the final portion, it is apparent that, with effort, all can qualify.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
One day, soon after the publication of the book, Elder Kimball came to my
office and said, “Tom, I don’t know if I should have printed that book or not.
I have people coming in to confess mistakes which they made long years ago.
Could you help me talk to some of them?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
I said, “Yes, Brother Kimball, I will.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
He said, “Fine. I’ll send several people in to see you.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
I asked “What would you like me to tell them?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
He answered, “Forgive them, Brother; forgive them.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">(Thomas S. Monson, <i>On the Lord’s Errand</i> [Salt
Lake City: privately printed, 1985], 342.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 18, 1970: I spoke to two of the student wards over
at the Institute Building and the chapel and the recreation hall were filled
with bright looking young people. The bishop reported that some anonymous
corporation in the city had given to him 180 copies of my book, The Miracle of
Forgiveness to give to all the members of his ward—that they were delighted and
were interested and it was suggested that I discuss the subject of the book. .
. . I spoke for about 30 minutes—possibly 35 on the contents of the book,
selecting special items and emphasizing especially the coed living on the
campus and the morality of the times, the matter of homosexuality—that it was
curable and forgivable. I discussed fornication and told of its evil, and
repeated quotes from the brethren that it was better to die fighting for one’s
virtue than to lose it. I quoted several scriptures along this line.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> I spoke of
the cowardice of boys who fathered a child and then left the girl to carry all
the blame and the embarrassment and the pain and the problems while he himself
went free. I talked very strongly on this matter. I emphasized the fact that
while sin was most destructive that repentance could bring forgiveness and that
the Church and the Lord would forgive.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> I had a perfect audience and there were many who came
up after the meeting to thank me for my frankness in ‘laying it on the line.’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 15, 1970: After the [stake] meetings were over, one
of the leading brethren and his wife held me up—the brother had been flirting with
a young woman who worked where he did and they had been kissing and embracing,
but he said no sex, but he was thinking a good deal of her and studying the
scriptures with her and seemed to have in his mind the terminating of his
marriage with his sweet wife and children, and had nearly lost himself. I felt
at first that he was resisting what I said but after near an hour, he began to
melt and said he would do whatever I said. He wept and threw his arms around my
neck—wept copious tears and promised that he would terminate this illicit
affair and return to his wife and children with all his heart, might, mind and
strength. He will write me in three or four days what he has done and how he
has adjusted to the demands made upon him. Had I known this before the
conference, I would have released him and am determined yet to have him
released if he does not immediately make tremendous progress in his repentance
and transformation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 24, 1970: Bishop Wilson Anderson of BYU phoned
concerning two girls who are deviates. . . . Today, Wednesday, I had many
interviews—with Brother [redacted; probably Evans] who will be helping us with
deviates; . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 5, 1970: Yesterday, Brother Petersen and I gave a
blessing and a setting apart to Brother M. O. Evans who is working with us in
the homosexual program. Brother Petersen was mouth [voice] in giving the
blessing. We feel happy about the attitude of Brother Evans in assuming this
rather unpleasant responsibility.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 30, 1970: Today I had a visit from Dr. Cook, regarding
certain homosexuals that both of us know—two or three homosexual boys came in
and I worked with them. President Denny called regarding a very serious case of
immorality—of molestation, etc.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Editorial note: When President Russell M. Nelson served as a
stake president, he had this experience with Elder Kimball, as related by
himself in his autobiography:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Frequently
during my seven years as stake president I sought his counsel whenever there
was a matter that was particularly troubling to me. I remember well one problem
that I had concerning a couple whose marriage was being brought to an end
because of the husband’s homosexuality. The husband was so deranged that he was
almost maniacal. Seeking advice from me, the wife began by saying, “You are in
danger by virtue of my being here, for if he finds out that I am revealing the
nature of his problem by coming to you for help, he will kill you.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> I really
had not had any experience with this kind of difficulty before, so I thought
that counsel from Elder Kimball might be helpful to me in handling the problem.
As I presented the matter to him, his concern was not immediately for the
problem itself, but for my own welfare. He said: “President Nelson, if you
would like me to handle this case, I’d be glad to, because I‘m an old man and
my life is largely spent and of little value. But your life is ahead of you and
is a very valuable life. We can’t take any chances with you.” [Talk about being
prophetic.]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Tears came
to my eyes, for he sincerely and genuinely wanted to take the risks that were
involved with this problem. I assured him that I was not there for that
purpose, but that I earnestly solicited his guidance as to what might be done
to save this couple’s marriage. Needless to say, the threats were not borne
out, and the husband and wife went their separate ways without the calamities that had been
predicted. I mention this example only to show the selflessness and the deep
character of this man who was willing to put my welfare ahead of his. (Russel
M. Nelson, <i>From Heart to Heart</i> [Salt Lake City; Quality Press, 1979], 161-62.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 22, 1970: I had interviews with [redacted], [redacted],
and [redacted] and [redacted] and [redacted], and [redacted] and [redacted] and
one other lady—and nearly all of them were involved in problems. . . . I also
had an interview with [redacted]. She was an unusual person—very unhappy, never
smiled in the three quarters of an hour that she talked to me. I had little
chance to say anything. She claimed that she could read people's minds and
apparently, she feels superior to her husband and to everyone else. It was a
very unsatisfactory interview.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 4, 1970: I had several interviews after the temple
meeting—several of which were very ugly indeed. One couple who had been married
nine years, three children ago, and I believe I saw more hatred, animosity,
bitterness in that hour and a half between two people who supposedly had given
themselves totally to each other and had pledged in sacred places in a sacred
way to be loyal and true to each other and cherish each other.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 7, 1970: I went to the office for an interview with a
father and two sons. One of his sons and another son had been involved for some
years back in homosexual practice. The one son and the father had been involved
in some very close approaches to it. The one son was free from sin and a
delightful, stalwart young man so far as I could tell.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 9, 1970: I restored the priesthood and temple blessings
to [name redacted], a young man who was excommunicated in the mission field for
transgression; he was almost overjoyed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 30, 1970: One couple who had read my book, “The Miracle
of Forgiveness”, had driven all the way from Los Angeles to tell me their
sordid story. Both had been married before, both had been in sin and then
sinned together, but they seemed genuinely repentant and I sent them back to
their Bishop to complete their confession. Two different homosexual boys came
in, both of them have made much progress and I feel very hopeful for them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 16, 1970: Today, I had a call from George
Bickerstaff and Marvin Wallin concerning the book, The Miracle of Forgiveness.
Four editions have been printed, one for 10,000; three for 6,000 each or a
total of 28,000 copies. They are now considering a fifth edition. We talked
about paper backed editions that would probably cost $1.75 or $2.00. They
resisted a little though they were very gracious. Marv was going to talk to the
leadership committee to see if it was their intent to use the book for a text
in some year in the future. He was also going to get prices on a ten thousand
or fifteen thousand edition, paper; they feel very optimistic about the
continued sale of the book and think it may go on for years. They said it was
one of the two best books they have published. I agreed to a fifth edition on
the present basis of the $5.00 book and then we will take another look at it
when the 6<sup>th</sup> edition comes out. [Note: the other book was
probably Bruce R. McConkie’s <i>Mormon Doctrine</i>.]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 8, 1970: Today is the funeral for Sister Emma Rae
McKay, widow of the late President David O. McKay. . . . There came to me
thought of the contrast inasmuch as in the same paper announcing the death of
Sister McKay and her sweetheart, David, with her one husband, was the picture
of Ingrid Bergman with a long public life of license and immorality and many
husbands. The contrast is quite extreme; one living the laws of the kingdom and
the other breaking them. I well remember the announcement in the papers long
years ago of the pregnancy of this girl and an illegitimate child sired by an
Italian. This came out in the papers while we were in Los Angeles and
seemingly, even at that time, the people generally had begun to be very
permissive and they did not seem to condemn the act of the woman.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 28, 1971: I then had an interview in my office with
. . . my income tax man, [name removed], concerning the 1969 income tax return.
Since I had had a special income in 1969 from my book, The Miracle of
Forgiveness, and I had taken some deductions for expenses in the creation of
the book, and it was necessary that I justify these. I think we were able to
satisfy the agent.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 16, 1971: One of my problem boys who had so completely
overcome his perversion [homosexual] problems that we sent him on a mission,
came in to see me today. He had slipped twice in the mission field and just
last week, had yielded again to perversion problems. I was heart sick. I still
believe that he will conquer. There was a young woman from out of state who had
had the problem before baptism into the Church. I believe we were able to help
her that she will be in total command of her life from now on. Two other young
women came together and they needed a great deal of help and I believe they are
on their way to recovery.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 17, 1971: I had two homosexual boys come to have
help—they were both satisfactory interviews and then I delegated one to Brother
Evans to work with, and the other to Brother Bowman to work with.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 20, 1971: There were several homosexual boys came in
for help—one at a time, and two of them came together.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 21, 1971: Two bishops came in this morning with [ward member]
homosexual problems and then I visited with [name removed] who had had some
emotional problems years ago.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 5, 1971: A number of critical and important
interviews I had. There seems to be no end of them, in fact, they seem to be
increasing whereas I used to need to dig out some of the difficult cases, now,
they come in voluntarily—almost more than I can handle.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 6, 1971: One young man came all the way from Ricks
College to confess to me his sins. I was greatly relieved when his principal
sin was masturbation and he had not yielded to that since his baptism over a
year ago. It is interesting how some people take their sins so seriously and
others so lightly. I had just read a letter from a man in the east who has been
a member of the Church for a year and he said he had done everything in the
book—he says, “you name the sin and I have done it, a great many times over a
great many years.” He was very much surprised when his bishop excommunicated
him, the one so deeply involved in sin and the other so lightly.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 1, 1971: Later in the morning I had an interview with
Marvin Wallin and Brother George his helper and discussed further printing of
the book The Miracle of Forgiveness which up to now has had about 40,000 plus
books printed and most of them sold. The demand seems to continue unabated. It
seems to be something the people have wanted and needed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 4, 1971: I had an interview also with one of the
problem boys and his Bishop who came in with him. It was a very satisfactory
interview and I believe much good will come from it. I believe we will save
this boy.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 26, 1971: For the past ten years in vacations of two
weeks a year I had produced the Miracle of Forgiveness which had turned out to
be a good seller and though I had not written it for that purpose it is now in
its 7<sup>th</sup> printing and about 40,000 copies. I wrote it to change lives
of people who needed to change. It has done that. I have given many copies away
to people in distress and in morals [problems] or family life and numerous
letters have come and statements to me that they owe their transformed lives to
this book.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 21, 1972: I remained from the office till 2 p.m., my
first appointment. First I talked to a young man who had been determined to
become a woman and his wife and two children have left him. Apparently this was
a shock and he remembered what I had told them three months ago and had nine
days ago determined that he had been in serious error and now wished to change
his thoughts and come back to real manhood. He is grieving about the loss of
his family. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">[This story continued on another
day some weeks later]: Waiting for me as I came back from the Temple was a
young man who had been married who had two children and who had been divorced
and who had developed in his own mind a feeling and an assurance that a mistake
had been made when he was created and that he was made male instead of female
and he has developed over the months and years a very great determination to be
changed into a female, even to the point of surgery. Even the first of this
week he was masquerading in his apartment as a female and had rented the
apartment as a female and his landlord knew nothing different. He had purchased
some very fancy clothes from ZCMI and wore girls clothes and make up, had his
whiskers plucked, let his hair grow long and made every pretense to be a girl.
I worked with him for a year or two with little avail for he seemed to slip
further into his fantasy. He had had two or three good jobs and lost them when
it ws found out that he was abnormal. He lost some apartments when the landlord
found that he was masquerading, had no employment and was trying to eke out an
existence on unemployment insurance. I have been talking very frankly to him
and plainly and strongly. I called him at his apartment but did not know that
he was masquerading in this fashion. He said he could not come to see me
because if he left the apartment dressed as a man, his landlord would kick him
out and if he came to the office dressed as a woman, there would be problems.
He finally asked for a blessing from President Lee, so after the Temple meeting
on Thursday, President Lee had us come in his office and he gave him a
remarkable blessing of promises and admonitions which I believe made quite an
impression on the boy. I took him to my own room and Brother Victor Brown, Jr.,
and Dr. [Russell M.] Nelson and Ned Winder and the first two accompanied us to
my room where we talked very, very strongly to the boy and told him this had to
be the end—that he had offended the Lord, and it would be an offense to Brother
Lee if he went back to any degree of his fantasy, and that we did not want him
to go back to his apartment and these other brethren would assist and take him
to a [stake president in Arizona that would board him while he repented and
changed].<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 6, 1972: I had an interview with Brother [name redacted]
from Napa Stake who had been excommunicated and since his attitudes were
excellent and his wife’s, and they seemed very repentant and it had been a long
time; I restored to him his temple privileges and total priesthood and they
went away very happy, indeed. I had an interview with Sister [name redacted]
who had been excommunicated and had been rebaptized. She was praying for her
blessings. I did not feel quite so favorable in this case as I had felt that
her repentance was not totally complete and that she was still not doing all
that she could to bring her non-member husband into the Church and herself to
give herself to the Church service. Another local couple I interviewed and felt
quite good about their repentance and so reported to the committee.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 19, 1972: I had some interviews today with people
that had many problems long ago and were so anxious to get rid of them. My
books continue to sell. The Miracle of Forgiveness. It was the greatest shock
of my life. I never had any idea when I turned over the manuscript to the
publisher that it would sell more than a few thousand copies at the most and
probably only hundreds, but to my amazement we are now in the fourth year in
October and in the twelfth edition and tens and tens of thousands have gone and
I have received royalties that amaze me and so I am giving much of the
royalties to the Missionary Committee of the Church, designed especially for
the Indian program.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 17, 1972: I went to a meeting at 8:15 at my office
and officially turned over to the Social Services Department the homosexual
program which I have been handling for many years. Brother Petersen and I were
asked by President McKay some possibly 15 years ago to relieve him of this
responsibility since he was being crowded. During this period I have spent many
hundreds of hours with at least 1200 or 1500 cases and have struggled with all
my power to recover these unfortunate men and women who had come into this
obnoxious practice. I believe honestly that I have succeeded in helping many
many people. We have lost some who did not cooperate and were belligerent and
went to the large cities to hide, but I feel there are many happy people today
because of the work that Brother Petersen and I have done through the years. We
have worked independent of each other. Today I wrote a letter to the First
Presidency advising them that I had officially turned it over to the Social
Services Department under Elder Robert L. Simpson.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 24, 1973: Today I received another of the numerous
letters of thank you for my book, and this was handed to me as I spoke to the
missionaries on Wednesday morning. “Brother Kimball – I wanted to thank you for
your book, The Miracle of Forgiveness. If I hadn’t read your book I may not
have been able to go on this mission. I would feel very ungrateful if I didn’t
thank you. Love, Elder [name removed].”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I noted in a list of translation items from the Translation
Department that the Miracle of Forgiveness is assigned and in process of being
translated into Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 30, 1973: I went to the Deseret Book Company and
autographed about 250 books, most of them “Faith Precedes the Miracle,” and a
good many “The Miracle of Forgiveness,” both of which are selling very readily,
and I am using much of the royalties to assist missionary work in the world
where missionaries are unable to furnish their monthly needs.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 25, 1973: At one o’clock a couple came to see me,
the husband of which couple was deeply involved in homosexuality years ago when
he came to see me. Today they came to express their thanks. He has been clean
and reformed and changed and has a happy family life with his wife and eight
children. It is a great satisfaction when people come and say that they were
transformed because of our influence.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 15, 1973: My book, “The Miracle of Forgiveness,” still
has wide currency. It is now in its 14<sup>th</sup> printing.. Everywhere
I go people come to have me autograph the books they have bought. I hear it
quoted on every hand; I am greatly flattered. One woman wrote last week, “I
have never enjoyed anything more than Brother Kimball’s new book.” [The rest of
this page is filled with positive comments from members’ letters about the
book.]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 19, 1973: We sat by President and Sister Dallin Oaks
and they told me that they were reading my book, “The Miracle of Forgiveness,”
in their home evenings and that each member of the family had his own copy. He
said that they had gone over several chapters and found nothing they could not
discuss with their children and that the book gave them springboard.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 20, 1973: [Name removed] wrote regarding his family
and added: “A prominent man in our ward also mentioned that your first book,
“The Miracle of Forgiveness,” had done more to mature him than anything he had
read or studied and he is in his late fifties.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One of the young men wrote, “ I read your book, ‘The Miracle
of Forgiveness,” and this accompanied by several spiritual presentations
concerning the need of repentance made me feel that I should expose and conquer
my problems.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 9, 1973: I sat by President Lee and we discussed
somewhat the many morals problems that we faced. Yesterday when I had an
interview with him where one stake president had received something over $4,000
in checks from his bishop; where one prominent man was disfellowshipped from
the Church and should have been excommunicated; where one man, a stake
president, had apparently taken some $40,000 from temple and hospital funds;
where one mission president had come to confess immorality in the homosexual
field. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> I had a
very long interview with a bishop who revealed to me many things that were
almost terrifying in their seriousness, a branch of young people in which there
were several who indiscriminately lived together, men and women, both in
adultery and homosexuality, of a girl who came to the BYU and had admitted sex
with at least sixty men, the names of which she had, only part of which she had
the full name. He mentioned 60 to 70 problems in this one small branch with six
potential suicides, seven or eight abortions, young girls, and these involved
three suicides.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 17, 1973: The [First] Presidency came in at ten. They
reviewed for us the [name redacted] interview, and we all voted to
disfellowship Brother [redacted] for incorrect doctrine teaching while a
mission president and for other things.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 18, 1973: At one o’clock I had a visit from [names
redacted] from Logan. It was a very unsatisfactory interview. I felt they were
listening only to their selfish desires rather than to have any counsel from
me.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 29, 1973: I invited [name redacted], an old friend, to
come and eat lunch with me. He has had some problems. He left his wife and
married a girl he had known many years ago. I have been rather close to him and
I had advised him against it. I believe now he is very sorry that things worked
out as they did.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 8, 1973: [Name redacted] came to see me. He had had
problems and had visited me before. Now he is in control of himself and is
doing well and I gave him some encouragement.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 10, 1973: Yesterday I had a visit from a stake
president, indicating that he had been indiscreet and flirting with a woman
other than his wife. I am greatly concerned about this matter and am watching
it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 29, 1973: I had a visit with Bishop [name redacted]
with whom I have had dealings for many years. His family had had some serious
problems. His father and mother were divorced, his father was excommunicated,
he was associated with a woman who killed two of the sons and is still in
prison. This young man is a very fine young man and an excellent bishop and has
been bishop for seven years. He came in for counsel.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 23, 1973: Had a young couple in. Early twenties. One
child. Two separations in three years. Having marital troubles. I laid down the
law to them. They wanted to know what marriage counselor they could go to. I
told them to get smart and settle their own difficulties—that it was all
selfishness and pride. That they would have to do it anyway so why didn’t they
go and settle their own difficulties. Why pay a fee to a counselor to tell
them. I told them to go home and forget self and serve the other unselfishly
and start to give instead of expecting to get. I told them to go back to their
courting and serve each other and express love for each other frequently, and
live the commandments. They reached for each others’ hand and held hands. Nice
kids, they were. They were all smiles and I could see written on their faces a
determination to go back and do their homework.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> I had a 45
year old man in from Springville who had just been divorced by his wife and was
very low. She had gotten a hundred thousand dollars in the settlement in lands
and other THINGS. He had about the same in a motel and other THINGS. He was
most unhappy and bitter and hating with all his might. He had lavished on his
18 year old son and 20 year old daughter so much that they had long ago ceased
to say thanks at all for that which they had come to think was their due. He
had lost their confidence long ago when he gave THINGS to them and not himself
to them. He admitted he had been very busy making the 20,000,000. He had been
on a mission in California under Brother Oscar McConkie and had said when he
was released, “Ok. Now I have given two years to the Lord and now I will give
these years to (myself). And he did. He paid tithing for a year or two but for
15 years no tithing. He served in positions but he needed the time for his
fortune he was accumulating. He had no time for his children, he admitted, and
perhaps he had neglected his wife, but then she was too demanding anyway. Her
people were too possessive and she had gone to them in her interests and
time—he was too busy making money for her and himself. Now what should he do?
Why he had come to my office and to me, I do not know. I was frank and bold. I
gave him a very simple answer when he asked what he should do now. He asserted
with some positiveness he would never marry again—he was sick of marriage and
women, and all that it meant in sacrifice and losses. He had lost confidence in
his wife and hence in all women. What should he do? He was young and vigorous
and physical yet. How could he satisfy his physical demands and urges? Was adultery
so wrong? Man had to have his satisfactions and fulfillment for his urges and
passions and desires. What could he do? My answer was short and simple in the
telling but not so easy in the doing. I told him: “You return to the Lord.
Remember: ‘even from the day of your fathers ye are gone away from mine
ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you,
saith the Lord of hosts. . .’ (Mal. 3:7). Malachi continued: ‘…But ye said,
Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say,
wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.’ (Mal. 3:8-9). He had
already admitted that he had been a robber when I asked him straight: “Have you
been paying your tithing?” I am guessing that he must have robbed the Lord of
some $80,000 or maybe $100,000. For that kind of a robbery in normal business
life he would serve a long penitentiary confinement, but here he was wondering
why he was suffering the loss of a wife, a daughter, a son, half his wealth,
much of his pride, and perhaps most of all his spirit—the true spirit. When I
asked him about his prayers he evaded the question somehow and looked a little
sheepish when I asked him how devout were his prayers, how often, how sincere,
how anything. Well, when he left my room he was smiling a little and talking
sense and admitting failures and, I thought, determined to go back and do his
homework. He did not seem to take any offense at my bold approach. (I enter
this in my journal as an example of numerous interviews I have from time to
time.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> He had
admitted that he would take nothing with him for which he had striven so hard
for, such long hours for, such a price in human relationships for. He admitted
that his grave would be only about 7 feet long and 3 feet wide and there would
be therein no motels, no farms, no hoarded silver, no stocks, no bonds, no
wealth of any kind for which he had given his life for some twenty years. His
hundreds of thousands would go to others; possibly his children who would
quarrel about and spend it almost without gratitude.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 23, 1973: In Seattle I had some interviews, one with
ex-bishop [name removed] and his wife. This man had been recently
excommunicated for adulterous relations. He and his wife are having a very
difficult time. He apparently is very thoughtless of his wife and has talked
pretty strongly to her, and she is not willing to remain with him unless the
marriage relationship can be improved. I feel that he was largely at fault. I
talked very straight to him about his ever getting back into the Church. He has
been notoriously evil for a long time, running back even before his marriage.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> I had an
interview with Bishop Calhoon regarding [name removed] who is divorced from her
husband and then went into evil doing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 7, 1973: Had an interview with a father and mother
and son. The son was called to the Sweden Mission but had revealed in the LTM
at Rexburg that he had been grossly sinful, even after his interview by the
bishop and stake president and after his temple endowment. I had a difficult
time to console the parents who were broken hearted, and I suggested that the
two young people get married, even though they felt she was not pregnant, and
urged him to go on to school and use his scholarship, and he could come back to
talk to me if he chose about it when school was out next year, although I made
no promises that he could go on his mission.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 11, 1973: There were many interviews through the
day, one with [name redacted] and Brother and Sister [name redacted], and
Brother and Sister [name redacted], then President [name redacted] came in with
one of his members who was deep in homosexuality, a 40 year old man who said he
had been involved throughout his life. He had now involved a young man whom I
had met in [redacted] on his mission and had defiled that young man. He gave me
a list of several others; the president of the stake came in with him. I
returned the matter to the president’s care and they will have court
[disciplinary] action.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 12, 1973: In the afternoon one of the boys who had
been involved with the homosexual man of yesterday came in. I found on careful
interrogation that he himself had been most passive and had permitted himself
to be victimized by the older man. He seemed greatly relieved when he left my
office. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 1, 1974: Russell Nelson, my beloved doctor who gave me
the open heart surgery, came in to see me and to check my pulse and my blood
pressure and to check with me.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[Name redacted] came to see me. He is a boy who came to me
about a year ago in Burley, Idaho, for an interview for a mission. At that time
I felt he was not ready to go on a mission and held him up for nearly a year. He
came in today to thank me for holding him up so that he could make the mental
and spiritual adjustments which he had made. He feels ready now to go.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">March 22, 1974: At 1:15 Brother [name redacted], former bishop of the
[redacted], came in to ask my forgiveness concerning a matter which had
resulted in his disfellowshipment. I assured him of my love for him and
extended a hand of fellowship and encouraged him to do all possible to bring
himself to the position where he can be returned to full fellowship.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-59885530164497308862023-04-17T20:53:00.002-07:002023-04-17T20:53:18.147-07:00A Prophet of God speaking for God Items regarding President David O. McKay from the Journal of President Spencer W. Kimball<p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="text-align: center;">Selected by Dennis B.
Horne</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFY-FfEF4ycZe9ieqH8KvjWtztd_2xfDfM0Z7TZfZuwj49Aaarg5zKMOaTDoGyZsO-92Jzw2_x6H0j8o0tmqagBPmQyAgiR3a9nBb9ejAUaifIrzoSl2dWt_9gGIzxoLGAmNcNgp2QZEtK1OvmRGwmh9Gt4lSSUITuIj3XewIElAv9ie31M4kBOds3LQ/s1706/spencer_w_kimball.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1706" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFY-FfEF4ycZe9ieqH8KvjWtztd_2xfDfM0Z7TZfZuwj49Aaarg5zKMOaTDoGyZsO-92Jzw2_x6H0j8o0tmqagBPmQyAgiR3a9nBb9ejAUaifIrzoSl2dWt_9gGIzxoLGAmNcNgp2QZEtK1OvmRGwmh9Gt4lSSUITuIj3XewIElAv9ie31M4kBOds3LQ/s320/spencer_w_kimball.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Editorial note: most of the below comes from either official
minutes or dairy narrations of formal Council meetings in the Temple. Follow
links to read all of the entries.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/65">Journal,
March 5, 1953</a>. Thursday, Additional. Pres. McKay had asked Marion G. Romney
and me to administer the Sacrament, it being our Testimony-Fast day. After we
completed, Pres. McKay said something like this: “I am sure the Lord is pleased
with our program. I believe that this TWELVE is approved by the Savior as much
as any he has ever had.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/107">Journal,
April 8, 1953</a>. Quarterly meeting of the council of the Twelve. Our
quarterly meeting was a delightful one, and each of us spoke at length. There
is a sweet spirit of brotherliness, and I was reminded again of what President
Smith reported to the Presidency of the Church recently that perhaps there had
never been such unity in the Council of the Twelve as at the present time.
Certainly there had never been greater unity.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/135">Journal,
March 5, 1953</a>. In the minutes of the Council Meeting of the Presidency and
the Council of the Twelve of March 5<sup>th</sup>, 1953, is this paragraph. We
had just sung, prayer and had the Circle prayer, then the Sacrament when Pres.
David O. McKay said: …<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Pres.
McKay remarked: “I feel impressed to say, Brethren, that I feel the Lord, our
Savior, is as pleased with the Twelve today as he was with the Eleven when He
instituted the Sacrament just before His death. The Lord Bless you.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/276">Journal,
October 8, 1953</a>. Then President McKay said: “While we are in the circle,
may I express to you my gratitude for the loyal support and love that these two
devoted counselors give to the President. I assure you there is unity in the
Quorum of the First Presidency. With all my soul, I ask the Lord to continue to
bless them. I would like to express too, appreciation and gratitude for the
loyalty that you give to the First Presidency, and the love that you manifest
and to express gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the rich outpouring of His
holy spirit during the conference. Each one of you was magnified and inspired,
with the result that while the Church and I may say a large portion of the
United States was blessed as a result of that great conference. With all my
heart, I say God bless you and continue to attend you.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
McKay later said that he thought that uniformly we had the best messages ever
given. The spirit that accompanied the remarks of the Brethren; the height of
instruction; the applicability of the instructions were just the best that we
have ever had.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Journal, circa. July 1, 1954. President McKay made the
following statement in our Council meeting of the Presidency and the Twelve on
July 1, 1954.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I would
like to say, Brethren, at the close of this half year’s work that you have the
utmost, whole hearted confidence of the Presidency. I am sure I am speaking for
my counselors when I say we commend you for the success you have achieved in
your official visits among the members of the Church, in conferences and in
special appointments. Besides the reports that you give here, we receive direct
reports from presidencies of stakes, and not infrequently from members of
wards; and without exception, you brethren have rendered a service to the
people which is incalculable, and with all our hearts we say God bless you. May
the vacation which is before you prove to be restful and upbuilding. We
admonish you not to accept too many private invitations [to speak] that are
coming to you daily, we know.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Never before,
I think, has our Church been in a more suitable attitude before the world to
render effectively the message of the restoration of the gospel. The Christian
sects are, shall I say, disintegrating. That is a little strong, but they sense
their inadequacy to represent our Lord and Savior. In fact, they are not
recognizing Him as the Savior of the world, and I thought this morning as we
administered the Sacrament of the great responsibility that rests upon this
group of men. Here, with our associates of the General Authorities, rests the
responsibility of declaring to the world of the divine Sonship of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. No other body in the world has the testimony, has the
responsibility that we possess. It is mighty, but the Lord is with us, and as
long as He is with us He will guide us. We hope to be able<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to discharge that responsibility acceptably
before Him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I repeat,
you have our love, our blessing and our utmost confidence. God bless you in
your work.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/80b351f3-272a-4dd9-86f7-419db637d656/0/59">Journal,
March 17, 1955</a>. Minutes of Council Meeting. Referring to the manner in
which the Lord is opening up the way for the spread of the Gospel, President
McKay said he looked forward to the day when we can convey the gospel message
by short-wave radio to the European and other countries. He said that he has
intense feelings against the Communists, and the coterie of men who are
oppressing the people; that, however, this morning it came to him that they
have in reality performed a helpful service for us in breaking down the old
Greek-Catholic power over there, which power would have to be broken down
before we could carry the Gospel to those people. He said the Lord will
overrule the evils of men for the advancement of his work. He felt sure that
the way will be opened up so that the people in those countries will hear the
Gospel message.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ac63867c-d550-4bec-b0f4-9c2710055ce2/0/166">Journal,
May 10, 1956</a>. At the meeting this morning there seemed to be an especially
sweet spirit. … President McKay spoke in the most tender and sweetest spirit of
the unusual opportunity we had in the temple, how glorious it would be if
rulers of nations and statesmen and demigods had the spirit that we have in the
temple and could gather around an altar, and with only one single thought in
mind—the building of the Kingdom of God—could pray and deliberate.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/162">Journal,
June 12, 1959</a>. Special meeting of the Presidency and the Twelve. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
McKay announced that the matter he wished to present to the Brethren was the
reorganization of the First Presidency. He said that it had been quite a task
to face the reality that the Presidency would have to be reorganized; that the
Brethren had all felt the loss of Brother Stephen L. Richards, his clear
vision, sound judgment, loyalty to the truth and the Church, and the Brethren
of the Council; but that he had been called home and this work is greater than
any man or any set of men.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
President said: “The Savior is at the head of it and I think he has been with
us as we have deliberated and presented to him the problems that we are facing
and the need of his continual guidance. We believe that now we will present to
you, with His approval, the names of the Brethren to complete the First
Presidency.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
President thereupon presented Pres. J. Reuben Clark Jr. as First Counselor and
Henry D. Moyle as the Second Counselor. Each of the two counselors spoke
feelingly and humbly of their appointments.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/317">Journal,
September 8, 1960</a>. [Temple meeting] President Clark paid glorious tribute
to Pres. McKay and then President McKay expressed his affection for his
counselors and for the Twelve and spoke in endearing and admiring terms of the
brethren with whom he worked. He shed a few tears as he expressed the hope, the
wish that all who were sour and apostate in their minds might feel the deep
spiritual atmosphere of this room when this body of men were together.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/50603bba-8abe-42a3-b80e-85fd027028b8/0/106">Journal,
October 17, 1960</a>. President McKay expressed the sentiment that as we grow
we have to meet these expanding conditions: that our duty is to organize stakes
when the people are prepared for them; and our duty is to give them the
necessary help. … He did not think we needed to hesitate to take steps to
organize a stake in Amsterdam because of these conditions. He thought it was a
serious thing to bring people into the Church and then deprive them of the
privilege of service in the various organizations of the Church.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He further
said: “The Lord is opening up the way so that it can be done. … The Lord is
prospering the Church—I think we ought to go ahead with it. When we get up
against a difficulty the Lord will remove it. He always has and always will. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/52">Journal,
March 20, 1961</a>. In the minutes of November 17, 1960, which I read after I
had returned last month, I found the following paragraph which pleased me so
much I wished to put it in this journal:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
McKay said he felt impressed to say a word to the brethren in appreciation of
their labors, speaking for the First Presidency. He addressed the brethren as
follows:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I think
that the Quorum of the Twelve is setting an example to all the Church in
efficiency and devotion and unity, spreading the gospel as the Council of the
Twelve should. Personally, I wish to express appreciation and gratitude for
your efforts, your interest, your capabilities, controlling the Church and
putting it in order, and setting in proper order the branches, stakes, wards
and missions of the Church. With all my heart I say, ‘God bless you.’ Never
before, so far as I know, have we had a Quorum of Twelve Apostles and General
Authorities of the Church who were more devoted in doing their work, and who
were performing it more efficiently than the General Authorities of the Church
at the present time. I want you to know that that is the feeling of the First
Presidency towards this group especially, and your associates.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b8e6ee05-5d54-495b-b5d2-e67f141071c5/0/246">Journal,
September 13, 1962</a>. The Prophet is so wonderful, his eyes light up and when
he smiles, it fills your heart with gladness. He has such a great grasp of all
of the many problems in the Church and is so kindly and so inspired. It was
good to be with him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/130">Journal,
April 5, 1963</a>. The President was in good form in spite of his near-ninety
years. His legs are shuffling a little and sometimes his words come with a
little difficulty but in general, he does remarkably well and he is extremely
alert mentally. He is a marvelous individual and has the traits and qualities
of the Master in a large degree. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk131086993"></a><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/299"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk131086993;">Journal, May 14, 1964</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk131086993;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>[Buenos Aires] We spent the evening in a more delightful experience in
testimonies and music and a very inspiring evening. . . . The testimonies were
warm and inspiring. Brother Finn Paulsen began. … President Paulsen said that
President McKay had said emphatically, “The Lord wants these people, the Paulsens,
in South Brazil.” Their testimonies were all delightful. I love these folks.
When they bore their testimonies, I loved them more.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/280">Journal,
December 11, 1964</a>. In our meeting last Thursday, President McKay, who is
getting more beeble physically all the time, was with us. He opened the meeting
after the Sacrament by saying, “I was just thinking now much better this world
would be if all men would take an hour, just as we have done today, and think
about the blessings of the Lord instead of thinking about interfering with
other men’s work or seeking to take advantage of other men and just be relaxed.
Just that one thing would make a difference in this old world. I appreciate the
opportunity of contemplating these things because I know, as you know, that as
a result of the contemplation, we bring ourselves into harmony and grow
spiritually.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/176">Journal,
April 27, 1965</a>. Note: About a week ago, President McKay told President
Brown, “I am going to live another five years, if necessary.” [He lives just a
few months under that prophesied five years.]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/85">Journal,
October 6, 1965</a>. This morning, I had a rare privilege. I called on
President McKay at 8:00 in the morning, and in accordance with an appointment,
and he was ready and very gracious. His smile is captivating. HE makes one feel
that his greatest pleasure is to meet one, and that each one is very special. …
I said to him, “President McKay, these Indian people have waited a long time
for the gospel and have never received it.” And he said, “yes, they surely
have.” And I said, “I think the time of the Lamanite has come for them to hear
the gospel.” And he said, “Yes, it is time and they must hear it and your are
the one of the Twelve who has the vision of it, and you are the one of the
Council of the Twelve who should look after this work. You have my blessing.” I
thanked him kindly and arose to go and when he attempted to get up, I urged
that he remain seated and he said, “Why should I not get up?” And when I shook
hands goodbye, he drew me to him and embraced me and said, “You go with my
blessing.” This was a glorious experience—to be in his presence; to have his
undivided attention; to have him consider with me our program for the indian.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/47">Journal,
January 20, 1966</a>. President David O. McKay came to our meeting this morning
for two and one half hours; he seemed a little weaker physically than usual but
very alert mentally. Some decisions he made this morning certainly were
inspiration and revelation. We all felt it. I have great confidence in his
spiritual vision.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/75">Journal,
March 3, 1966</a>. It was a very pleasant day at the temple. President McKay
came in at 10:00 with Brother Tanner. … After the sacrament, President McKay
became somewhat emotional as he expressed his affection for the brethren, and
his appreciation for their unanimity and faithfulness and brotherly love. … He
shed a few tears as we sang and as he spoke to us of his affection for us, his
brethren. He indicated two or three times that he felt that the other brethren
with whom we had served through the years were very near and watching us in our
work. He has now been an apostle for sixty years; President Smith for
fifty-five years. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/78">Journal,
March 17, 1966</a>. [Discussing whether to create “foreign stakes with
Seventies quorums.] <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I remember very well when I was appointed
and the matter was decided here, that President McKay said something which
impressed me very much. As we were deciding to make those stakes down there [in
Australia and New Zealand], he said, “Brethren, that’s right—that is what the
Lord wants.” That greatly impressed me. I may not be quoting exactly. I have
felt good about the stakes in foreign lands since the President who has all the
keys and authority has indicated that they should be established. …<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Brother
Romney said, “I was sitting by him at the table and we were having a luncheon
and he turned to me and said, “Brother Romney, I feel that the lord wants you
to organize a stake here, and I want you to stay here and organize a stake.”
That was the first of the stakes south of the Equator. …<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Elder
Romney then said, “That was what he said and I stayed there and he helped
select the stake president. He told me who was to be put in that stake as
president and left the rest of the organization to me and I organized it. … He
told me sitting right beside me and he got the inspiration. He was President of
the Church and it seems to me I have never had any doubt in my mind. I didn’t
make up the decision.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/733901de-9c68-42ba-94ad-0b7d03760a72/0/119">Journal,
December 1, 1966</a>. Minutes of the meeting of the Council of the First
Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve convened in the Salt Lake Temple on
Thursday, December 1, 1966, at 10 o’clock a.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Remarks by
President David O. McKay: This is the most auspicious time of our lives to meet
in the upper room of the Temple and partake of the Lord’s sacrament, renewing
our covenants in the presence of one another. We are now in the presence of the
most precious group of men in all the world, men who in the presence of one
another acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Savior, the most precious group of men
in the world. No other group of men in all the world can come nearer the
presence of our Lord and Sacior, and in that brotherhood we bear witness that
no other being, person, may receive the united sustenance and brotherhood that
we have recognized this morning. No other group of men in all the world are
entitled ot the brotherhood of one another and of our Elder Brother, Jesus
Christ, as is illustrated in this brotherhood today.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I wish to
express my thanks to our Heavenly Father and his Son for this manifestation
this morning. No other group in all the world can offer this manifestation in
gratitude, partaking of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, covenanting with
one another that we esteem that brotherhood by partaking of the sacrament under
these auspicious circumstances, this expression of Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, who whom we give obedience and testify of his divinity. O Lord, accept our
gratitude this morning, in the truest sense for our beloved Jesus Christ, our
Lord.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I testify
to you brethren in his name that I appreciate as never before our fellowship
with Jesus Christ our Lord. Brethren, I appreciate as never before the value of
our brotherhood through Jesus Christ. May this manifestation of divine
brotherhood be cherished and held sacred by this group and those who are absent
on assigned duty, and the value of this brotherhood be esteemed through Jesus
Christ, our Elder Brother, I pray with all my soul in his name. Amen.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
McKay said: We have never been nearer to our Lord than we are this morning. I
think the brotherhood of this group has never been dearer than it is this
morning. I love you. I am sure the Lord is with us and will always be with us.
This group of men are more precious than any other group of men that has ever
occupied the Twelve. God bless you all and your loved ones, I pray in the name
of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cc421353-f211-4ac8-b5a2-53d2cf25286a/0/47">Journal,
January 26, 1967</a>. The President was there and expressed his love for the
brethren and said, among other things, “You don’t know how noble you are and
how grateful I am to be with you.”<o:p></o:p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-87421847563922076222023-04-17T20:46:00.000-07:002023-04-17T20:46:10.391-07:00Elder Spencer W. Kimball’s Apostolic Call Experience From his own writings<p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="text-align: center;">Compiled by Dennis B.
Horne</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5fR78NHt9fRFb0mdYF9xxUTXrt9LqnkxJ66atiKs4thw_NnpvNcCAUjHU4vuOLw6LwWc0Yj0zp078VdnM8FzCr-zgjs3erKb-D8cEDYLs4jhx6xhTTnSeXTxPR0bvkX-BjlLFKDSYHaUilSIBEdvltQqePUsWJ5uABYwDmrCPS12k0aFRbIxBGx1Y7w/s573/Spencer_W._Kimball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="447" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5fR78NHt9fRFb0mdYF9xxUTXrt9LqnkxJ66atiKs4thw_NnpvNcCAUjHU4vuOLw6LwWc0Yj0zp078VdnM8FzCr-zgjs3erKb-D8cEDYLs4jhx6xhTTnSeXTxPR0bvkX-BjlLFKDSYHaUilSIBEdvltQqePUsWJ5uABYwDmrCPS12k0aFRbIxBGx1Y7w/s320/Spencer_W._Kimball.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Kimball’s Apostolic calling had several main components: the “long-distance”
telephone call from Pres. J. Reuben Clark Jr. with the call itself; the
mountain-top experience in which Elder Kimball received, after much mental
anguish, spiritual confirmation and assurance; his visit with President McKay;
and his sustaining and ordination. The journal entries below, with a few other
items, describe these. I have underlined what seem to me critical and precious
portions—especially that received on the mountain above Boulder Colorado:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Autobiographical account, “<a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c163667-b6d2-47d7-ad3a-f483ff33d95d/0/316">My
Call to the Apostleship</a>”:<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If I could
only have the assurance that my call had been inspired most of my other worries
would be dissipated. I knew if the Lord had revealed to the Brethren that I was
to be one of His leaders, that He would forgive all my weaknesses and make me
strong. I knew full well that He knew all the imperfections of my life and He
knew my heart. And I knew that I must have this acceptance before I could go
on. . . . Never had I prayed before as I now prayed. What I wanted and felt I
must have was an assurance that I was acceptable to the Lord. I told Him that I
neither wanted nor was worthy of a vision or appearance of angels or any
special manifestation. I wanted only the calm peaceful assurance that my
offering was accepted. Never before had I been tortured as I was now being
tortured. And the assurance did not come.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>. . . I
threw myself on the ground and wept and prayed and pleaded with the Lord to let
me know where I stood. I thought of my Father and Mother and my Grandfather,
Heber C. Kimball, and my other relatives that had been passed from the earth
for long years and wondered what part they had, if any, in this call, and if
they approved of me and felt that I would qualify. I wondered if they had
influenced, in any way, the decision that I should be called. I felt strangely
near them, nearer than ever in my life. ...<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Again I lay
on the cool earth. The thought came that I might take cold, but what did it
matter now . . . there was one great desire . . . to get a testimony of my
calling, to know that it was not human and inspired by ulterior motives, kindly
as they might be. How I prayed! How I suffered! How I wept! How I struggled! <u>Was
it a dream which came to me? With this new experience came a calm like the
dying wind</u>, the quieting wave after the storm is passed. I got up, walked to
the rocky point and sat on the same ledge. My tears were dry, my soul was at
peace. A calm feeling of assurance came over me . . . doubt and questionings
subdued. It was as though a great burden had been lifted. I sat in tranquil
silence surveying the beautiful valley, thanking the Lord for the satisfaction
and the reassuring answer to my prayers. Long I meditated here in peaceful
quietude, apart, and I felt nearer my Lord than ever at any time in my life. …<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I told him
[Pres. McKay] how weak I felt and how impossible it seemed that I could ever
grow to fit into a group of such holy men. I told him that while I had had many
testimonies of the power of God and some sacred and special manifestations,
none of them had been visions or appearances or manifestations of the magnitude
that I had always felt were necessary for one to receive so that he could be a
“Special Witness of the Lord Jesus Christ.” As he unfolded the scriptures to me
I felt that probably all of the Brethren had received special testimonies and
manifestations in different degrees which were sacred to them, but that it was
not absolutely necessary for an Apostle to have seen personages nor to have
heard voices. [Pres. McKay relates story of the doubting Thomas from the New
Testament.] <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">President McKay asked if I had a
testimony. I told him that every fiber of my being bore testimony to the
divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">He gave me a great deal of comfort
and eased my mind and assured me that I was called of God to the work. I told
him of my concern over my relationship to President Clark and he assured me
that it was not known until after the appointment had been made, but after the
choice had been approved by the Council, President Clark had asked of President
Grant and President McKay: “Did you know that Spencer is my kin?” To which they
had replied: “We were not aware of that fact.” So this eased my mind.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/48">Journal</a><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/48">,
July 14, 1943</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was pretty steep and jagged and difficult to climb but
with the help of an oak cane, I made it to the top where a cross had been
planted. I reached the house after five hours, coming back with the positive
assurance that there was no mistake—that the brethren were inspired—that the
Lord had a work for me to do—that I might overbalance all my weaknesses by the
weight of the good and service I could render—that I was ready to make any
sacrifice necessary—dedicating the balance of my life to the work of the Lord.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>. . . I
wrote my diary and rested till 8:30 and went to see President McKay. He was
most gracious. He confirmed the appointment that I was chosen as an Apostle to
fill the vacancy caused by the death of Sylvester Q. Cannon. There is another
[Ezra Taft Benson] to be chosen. This will make me 11 in the present quorum. He
was so kind—I told him of my experience on the mountain. Asked him about
special manifestations to apostles. He assured me that such was not necessary (quoted
John 20:25-31). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/60">Longhand
journal version</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was
pretty steep and jagged and difficult to climb but with the help of an oak cane
I made it to the top where a cross had been planted. I reached the house after
five hours coming back with the positive assurance that there was no mistake— *
that the Brethren were inspired—that the Lord had a work for me to do—that I
might over balance all my weaknesses by the weight of the good and service I
could render—that I was ready to make any sacrifice necessary in dedicating the
balance of my life to the work of the Lord. * [At this point Elder Kimball
inserted a page where he wrote, also in longhand,] “<u>So much of my spiritual
experience I have not related. Some day maybe I can tell it all</u>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The <i>Spencer W. Kimball</i> biography (by Ed and Andrew
Kimball) has this wording that was approved by President Kimball before
publication:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How I suffered! How I wept! How I struggled! Was it a
dream which came to me? I was weary and I think I went to sleep for a
little. <u>It seemed that in a dream I saw my grandfather and became
conscious of the great work he had done. I cannot say that it was a vision, but
I do know that with this new experience came a calm like the dying wind</u>,
the quieting wave after the storm is passed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oscar W. McConkie Jr. Autobiography: when Spencer W. Kimball
was president of the Safford Arizona Stake, he got a telephone call from
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. calling him to the holy apostleship in 1943. He
move to Salt Lake. He had four children. His next-to-youngest, Andrew Eyring
Kimball, was in high school. Andy and I become close friends. We were in and
out of each other’s houses.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was a
young man when Elder Kimball told me about his call. He told me about his
worries. Was he apostolic material? Vice for the call was from his cousin
[Pres. Clark]? He did not feel that he measured up to his grandfather. He told
me of his going to the top of a mountain near Safford [Boulder, CO]. He poured
out his soul in prayer. His prayer was answered. He was indeed to be an
apostle. His grandfather and others were there. (p. 95)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oscar W. McConkie Jr. interview, (by Mark L. McConkie) June
26, 2017:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">President Kimball told me about his call from President
Clark and how he didn’t feel like he was apostolic material. He wasn’t like his
grandfather Heber C. Kimball. It very much bothered him. So he determined to go
up and have special prayers. He climbed up a mountain near Safford, Arizona. He
prayed to know whether he should be an apostle. He didn’t tell me everything
that happened on the top of that mountain. But he told me this much: He said,
“When I came down from the mountain, I knew that I was an apostle. My
grandfather himself was there, with others.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A less-well-substantiated account comes from a narration
left by a Sister missionary whose grandson recorded that President Kimball
shared this following at a missionary meeting where the Holy Spirit was in
extra strong abundance: “This [apostle] revealed an additional and dramatic
detail about how that witness came. President Kimball . . . saw the Lord Jesus
and heard from the mouth of the Savior Himself the soul-cheering affirmation,
‘I have called you to be my witness to the world. Doubt not, but be of good
cheer.’” (<a href="https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/5299320">https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/5299320</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accessed 7/12/2020)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the April 1978 General Conference, President Kimball
again adopted the words of another to express his own similar special witness:
“ ‘I know that God lives. I know that Jesus Christ lives,’ said John Taylor
[George Q. Cannon], my predecessor, ‘for I have seen him.’ I bear this
testimony to you brethren in the name of Jesus Christ.” (The use of President
Taylor’s name was an error, with President Kimball actually meaning President
George Q. Cannon, as he had in the earlier address.) <span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">These
testimonies support the account of the sister missionary quoted above.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/174">Journal,
Letter to Bishop and Sister Pierce, Sept. 6, 194</a><span class="MsoHyperlink">3</span>.
You could not have possibly been so shocked as I was. Even after I heard Pres.
Clark telling me over the long distance telephone, I still just knew it
couldn’t be true—that I must still be dreaming. Each morning as I get up I seem
to think it was just an impossible dream from which I will soon awaken. When
there were so many thousands of great men, capable men, strong stalwart men in
the Church and then for them to select me, I tell you I was really puzzled.
When I realize how nearly I have worshipped all the brethren of the Quorum all
these years of my life and then to try to visualize and place myself in that
group frightens me. I have always thought of myself as one of the lowly
ones—the weakest of the weak and I know my limitations and then to think of me
being called! Well, we talk about it but I still can’t realize it. …<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Pres. Clark
called me long distance on July 8<sup>th</sup> just as I came home to lunch.
Since that day I have lost about 18 pounds. I have fasted and prayed and prayed
and prayed. I have slept poorly and after two months just beginning now to be
able to sleep as late as 6:.30 in the morning. Many a night I have hardly slept
at all. …<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At Salt
Lake I avoided everybody that I knew until I should have a chance to talk to
Pres. McKay for I had almost convinced myself by that time that I had
misunderstood Brother Clark and that there was a mistake. I was fasting my third
day by the time on the 15<sup>th</sup> that I contacted the Presidency. They
were so kind and had such a sweet influence. They assured me that I was not to
be a secretary in the P.B.O. [Presiding Bishopric’s Office] or an office boy or
even an Assistant [to the Twelve] and practically took my breath when they
confirmed that I had heard aright and that I was to be number 11 in the Quorum
of the 12. I was almost overcome with my insignificance. They built me up and
assured me that it was a call from the Lord and that all the Quorum was
unanimous and happy about it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/149">Journal.
Letter to John H., Sept 15, 1943</a>. The great opportunity which is coming is
so much greater that I do not feel it a sacrifice. Though I must confess that
this has been a trying two months for us all. Elder Harold B. Lee, who has just
been here to Conference said he had only one night to walk the floor and go
through the experiences, but I have had about seventy and I still have not had
a really good night of sleep. There are so many adjustments to make and so much
that is new to think about and plan, and the worry about my incapacities and
limitations and all. I am going to be very happy now when I shall be deep in my
new work. …<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Don’t
worry. Though I have my weak moments, I am resolute and determined to accept
this call and determined to do my utmost to meet every requirement. I feel so
weak and incapable but I will work hard and pray much for the qualities I need
to make me worthy and able to do the work.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/183">Journal,
Letter to his children, September 15, 1943</a>. I am not complaining but you must
know that this is not easy for Mother [Camilla] and me. If you could have
walked with us down the mental trails of anguish the past two months you would
know what I mean. … I have lost 18 pounds in these two sleepless months. Your
mother and I have gone and are going through an unparalleled experience of our
lives. I am writing this letter at 4:45 a.m. to you. Don’t misunderstand me, I
am not minimizing the glory of this great call. On the contrary it is so great
and glorious that I am finding it so difficult to rise to it. I feel so weak
and helpless and impotent and insignificant. It is so much above and beyond me
that I have felt a thousand times I could not reach it. It has not been easy.
We have realized that we must revolutionize our lives. ...<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Journal, September 14, 1943. Had a long talk with Brother
Lee who encouraged me and built me up.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/282">Journal
September 30, 1943</a>. I went to the Church offices and reported. They told me
I would be assigned room 211 and it would be furnished new. I had a brief visit
with Pres. McKay who told me he would in the conducting of the Conference
present us to be sustained at the Friday pm session. I visited Pres. Heber J.
Grant to pay my respects. He drew me to him and kissed me and visited with me
cordially. He was so friendly and human and yet almost divine. Now 61 years of
service for the Church. He is a great man and inspires me with his power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How grateful I am for this association of an
intimate nature with this great Prophet in his declining years.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I called on
Pres. Clark. He was not crowded so much and he talked long and intimately to
me. Mostly regarding my future association with the Church and the brethren and
what would be expected of me. There seemed to be no reserve and he seemed to
place himself on my equal. He also is a great man as also Pres. McKay. I am
electrified with the very presence of these men of power. These Prophets, Seers
and Revelators. A privilege to be on intimate terms with such strong leaders! I
visited with others of the Quorum and did a little work in my temporary office.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/284">Journal,
October 1, 1943</a>. Went to the offices of the Church early for my first
meeting with all the Quorum of the Twelve. Pictures were taken for the papers.
… At 2 pm the first session of the Conference began. I had been in my locked
room for a final prayer before this great experience. Bro. Benson and I sat on
the first row in the audience. … Immediately after the opening exercises the
General Authorities were sustained and with the Twelve Apostles were the names:
11, Spencer W. Kimball: 12, Ezra T. Benson. How weak I felt! How humble I was!
How grateful I was when Pres. McKay said the voting was unanimous. I seemed to
be swimming in a daze. It seemed so unreal and impossible that I—just poor weak
Spencer Kimball could be being sustained as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ
and tears welled in my eyes again as I heard myself sustained as an Apostle, a
Prophet, Seer, and Revelator to the Church.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We were
called to the stand and took our places with the Twelve Apostles. I was next to
Bro. Lee who squeezed my arm in welcome. Thousands of eyes were upon us
appraising, weighing, honoring us. What a sublime moment to feel that here were
the great leaders of the Church upholding accepting and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sustaining us. Thousands of them representing
the entire Church.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mingled
feelings of joy, ecstasy, fears, humility.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After some
other talks I was called on for my maiden talk. How I reached the pulpit I
hardly knew. What a moment. A sea of upturned wondering expectant faces met my
first gaze. I began: My beloved Brethren etc. … I must have taken about 15
minutes. I lost track of time and I poured out my appreciation and gratitude
and bore testimony. As I took my seat I felt I had failed and continue to tell
myself that I had failed as Bro. Benson gave his simple sweet spirited testimony.
The balance of the meeting was a blur except I remember how Bp. Ashton and
others paid tribute to the two new Authorities and their humble testimonies. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Journal, Letter to children, October 6, 1943. The greatest
moment of my life, perhaps, was the instant that 7000 hands were raised to
sustain me as an Apostle. I am looking forward to tomorrow for still a greater
moment when President Grant will place his hands on me and actually ordain me
an Apostle.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/300">Journal,
October 7, 1943</a>. The greatest day. Today I was ordained an Apostle of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The least in the Kingdom. I reached the office early, locked
the door and had my prayers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At 8 we
attended my first meeting with the Quorum of the Twelve and the Assistants. We
sat in order of seniority and attended to the business. At 10 am we went with
the members of the Quorum of the Twelve to our first meeting with the
Presidency. I went fasting. Since Pres. Grant hardly felt able to go to the
Temple the meeting was held in the office of the First Presidency in the Church
Office Building [now the Church Administration Building]. The First Presidency,
Pres. Grant (Pres. Clark was in Chicago) and Pres. McKay, all the 10 members of
the Council of the Twelve and we two and the Presiding Patriarch with Joseph
Anderson, secretary, were present. The opening prayer was a gem by Richard R.
Lyman. After a brief statement by Pres. McKay I knelt at the feet of Pres.
Heber J. Grant who sat and ordained me an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ and
set me apart as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve and conferred on me all
the gifts, keys, blessings, powers of the great calling and gave me a beautiful
blessing with promises. The hands of everyone present except Bro. Benson and
Bro. Anderson joined on my head during that blessing. What rapture, what bliss
and joy unspeakable! What a responsibility. What an opportunity. Then I helped
the others in assisting Pres. Grant as he ordained Bro. Ezra T. Benson an
Apostle. What an honor there to help ordain a younger Apostle.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Pres. Grant
sat and talked to us for perhaps an hour charging us with our responsibilities
and blessing us. He then retired and we went to the Temple. [A line and a half
redacted.] and had our meeting. The Sacrament was administered to us and after
the business we were called on for a brief expression. I poured out my
gratitude for the confidence my Brethren had in me; for the great opportunity
of the new work. My love and esteem for them all and my testimony of the
gospel.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
luncheon in the temple was splendid. The whole period of the entire service was
a sacred benediction to the prayers of ordination. The whole of the services
were quite subdued and inspirational. I told the Brethren in my talk that I had
certainly this day tasted heaven, and that little did I ever dream that such
great privileges and honors would ever come to me. Surely the Lord was pleased
with all the proceedings for His calm sweet spirit was manifested.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/45">Journal,</a>
<a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/45">Letter
to a son, July 12, 1944</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As I write
the date above I am reminded of the hectic day of 1943 which was July 12<sup>th</sup>.
It was a long interminable day spent in Albuquerque N.M. enroute to Denver and
Boulder to see you and your family. It was a never ending day of conflict in
which it seemed that all the powers of the evil empire were combined to
convince me that I was not qualified, able, worthy, nor sufficiently endowed to
undertake the great work to which I had been called three days earlier by Pres.
Clark on that never-to-be-forgotten telephone call from Salt Lake to Safford. With
a rather well established inferiority complex already, I was not hard to
convince. ... It was another sleepless night at your home that night and maybe
you remember my slipping out very early and spending the morning alone on top
of the mountain above your town where I continued in a battle of anguish, then
near noon finally peace came and an assurance came to me that I <i>had</i> been
called by proper authority by the Lord; that I was, at least in some measure,
acceptable to the Lord for the work; and that if I would remain faithful that I
might be able to make a contribution to the work of the Lord.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/288">Journal,
July 8 to 15, 1944</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>8- A year
ago today Pres. Clark called me by phone to announce to me my call to the
apostleship.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>11- A year
ago today, July 12 was an endless one spent in Albuquerque N.M. enroute to
Boulder Colo and Salt Lake City. The mental anguish and inward conflicts were
bitter and the day seemed an eternity. See also my letter of this date to
LeVan.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>12- I was
remembering all day my experiences of the July 12, 1943 enroute to Denver,
spent in Albuquerque as above.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>13- Have
been thinking all day of my experiences of July 13, 1943. . . . I was under
tremendous emotional strain. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>14- I am
ever conscious of the anniversary date. My early rising at Boulder, my
ascension to the top of the mountain, <u>my spiritual experiences there</u>,
the peace that came to me there; my flight by plane to Salt Lake and the long
endless evening and night waiting for my appointment with Pres. McKay the next
day.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/291">Journal,
July 29, 1944</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Pres.
Stayner Richards presided and called on each of us for experiences or testimony
or something and the contributions were excellent. I told among other things
part of my experience on the mountain in Colorado a year ago, after receiving
my call to the Apostleship. And though <u>I consider it a very sacred spiritual
experience which I do not wish to tell often, yet I felt impressed to tell it
here</u>. The men all commented on it and seemed to have been moved by it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/250">Journal,
June 26, 1945</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Boulder
Colo. Up at 5 am I began to re-live <u>my unusual experiences at this place</u>
July 14, 1943. As in 1943 I followed my footsteps of that early morning in July
43. Up the hill, past the Sanitarium South and West up over the little
backbone. At the top I nearly stepped on a coiled rattler. I dropped a twig on
him to get him to move to ascertain if he really was a rattler. I think he
sensed I was not an enemy and he slid slowly onto the rocks hardly raising his
tail. On up slowly, resting often up the same ridges, same coves, same rocks
all the time re-living that (now year off) morning in ’43. Finally at the top
of my sacred mountain I found my cross of July ’43 was broken. I found a cross
beam and carried it up the hill (remembering the Savior as he carried his cross
up Calvary) and fixed it the best I could. I found an altar for my prayers,
then lay down on the same slab and slept for a while. It was a beautiful day
and a marvelous view from the cliff rocks and a pleasant morning. The valley
was beautiful and green with the little lake mirrors. I came down and back to
the Hotel at 11am. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/254">Journal,
July 8 to 15, 1945</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>8- Two
years ago today came the call to the Apostleship. How well I remember the
details of that day! The call from Pres. Clark, and my movements and thoughts
throughout the day as I was so shaken emotionally and so shocked. Still I could
not believe it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>9- Today
two years ago was a hectic day following my call to the Apostleship of the day
before. How could I ever measure up to the great calling, I kept asking myself?
Sale of business, sale of home, leaving the native land, my friends, all have
some place in my thoughts but I was most completely absorbed with the weakness
of my position, my seeming inability to ever see myself in a position of that
magnitude.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>14- 2 yrs
ago today I flew to Salt Lake from Denver, and <u>had my wonderful spiritual
experience on the mountain</u> above Boulder, Colo.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>15- It was
two years ago today that my call was made known to the world, that the radio
and papers heralded it afar. It was a difficult day with joy, fear, exultation
and trembling all mixed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/359">Journal,
summary for 1945</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
mountain. I visited my mountain near Boulder, Colo. This place sacred to me. I
spent some hours on its top.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/159c5191-46ff-4085-b718-03422207f795/0/245">Journal,
July 8, 1946</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>3<sup>rd</sup>
Anniversary of MY call. It was three years ago today at noon that I received
the telephone call in Safford Arizona, from Pres. J. Reuben Clark Jr. which
called me to the Apostleship. And here I am in Hawaii spending the entire day
in the Temple of God celebrating that eventful day. How well I remember that
day with its surprise and the shock that came and the tears I shed and the
upset to our program [lives] and the incomparable honor that came to me that
day. ...<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was a
solemn occasion. Elder Cowley and I concluded with testimonies, our wives
having borne theirs with the others. I told very briefly of my call 3 years ago
today. Little did I think 3 years ago today that today I would be visiting the
missions in the Pacific as an Apostle of the Master and spending the day in the
temple of the Lord.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/113">Journal,
July 8-10, 1946</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was five
years ago today—that memorable day—that Pres. Clark for the Presidency called
me to the Apostleship. How well do I remember that fateful day—that awesome day
when a call came to me that was to wholly change my life—it meant selling my
home, giving up my commercial ventures and business, leaving my native land and
my old friends and all I had known to go into a new work for which I felt so
miserably incompetent. But I have gone forward and done my best and have had a
small measure of success, I hope, but a great measure of joy and happiness and delight.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>9- Five
years ago today. I remember so well, was a very difficult day. I tried to work
at my office with little success. I could not tell anyone of my call of the day
before. I was most distracted as I contemplated the monumental work before me and
my limitations to take upon me such a great undertaking. I could neither eat
nor sleep nor get my mind on my work. It was an interminable day.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>10- That
week, five years ago was such a transformation in my life and living that it is
indelibly impressed on my mind. I remember that 5 yrs ago I left with the
family for El Paso, there to hold meetings with the ward Sat night and Sunday;
there to perform [a marriage]. ... I remember the most solemn conversations of
Eddie, Andrew, Mother and myself during that 250 miles journey, concerning the
uprooting necessitated by a move to Salt Lake, and all the changes that would
take place. The boys did not want to go. Half belligerent, they felt like it
would be asking too much of them to leave friends and conditions to which they
were used.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/248">Journal,
July 14, 1949</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Six years
ago today was the day of my experience in the Colorado mountains when I fasted,
climbed to the top of the high mountain to ‘be apart alone to pray.’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ac63867c-d550-4bec-b0f4-9c2710055ce2/0/166">Journal,
May 8, 1956</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Caught a
bus to Boulder and through the day, relived many of my experiences of July 15,
1943 when Camilla and I had come to Boulder to visit Spence and Kay and their
one child, Barbara. I asked a young man on the street where to find a cab. He
said he would take me to one, but instead I asked him to take me up to the
institution at the foot of the hill and would pay him the taxi fare. I then climbed
over the first hill and down the little valley as I did nearly 13 years ago and
then climbed the mountain above to the highest peak where I was 13 years ago.
This took most of the morning. I was fasting since yesterday afternoon. This
was a delightful and sacred morning alone in solitude with my thoughts and
prayers. About 1 o’clock I left the top of the mountain and followed down the
easy path and walked all the way back down to the city bus. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/311">Journal,
July 8, 14, 1957</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is the
14<sup>th</sup> anniversary of my call to the Apostleship. What a great day was
that! What a change in my entire life: change in location, change in friends
and close associates, change in work. How glorious have been those 14 years. It
was noon when the telephone call came and brought to me the great privilege and
opportunity and concern; fear of my inabilities and weakness and
limitations—fear that I would never be able to measure up. It has been an
eventful and delightful 14 years packed full of experiences challenging and
satisfying. 14 years of travel from the iron curtain to the Islands in the
Pacific, Hawaii; from Eastern and Western Canada to the Panama Canal; from Main
to California and Seattle, from Pacific to Atlantic numerous times; from Narvik
to Nice and Vienna. Many thousands of missionaries I have interviewed, visited
in their missions, taught and counselled, as well as set apart. Hundreds of
Stake conferences and many mission conferences and thousands of people I have
spoken to and warned and taught; numerous couples and individuals have been in
my office with marital problems, moral troubles, mental difficulties and
aberrations of every kind. It has been a satisfying joy to see many emerge from
the clouds into the sunlight. What a glorious 14 years. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>14- It was
14 years ago today that I had the unusual experience on the mountain near
Boulder Colorado . . . and my flight over to Salt Lake City to see the
brethren. . . . Today fourteen years ago I visited with Pres. McKay and Pres.
Grant and was announced to the Church and the world as an appointee as an
Apostle. This was truly one of the great days of my life.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/299">Journal,
May 14, 1964</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[Buenos Aires] We
spent the evening in a more delightful experience in testimonies and music and
a very inspiring evening. . . . The testimonies were warm and inspiring. … In
my testimony, I assured them that we shall triumph in our work and never will
all of the Twelve be apostate. The Church must and will go on. I told them some
of our experiences in the Holy Land; my feeling with regard to my position, and
it was not me but the position that was honored. What a world this would be if
all the people were like this group of folks. Camilla’s expression of love for
me was touching. … <u>I told them about my call though not all of the details</u>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1aa57bd0-9872-446d-84f2-e275b65f0816/0/18">Journal,
July 15, 1966</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Today is the anniversary of my week
of call to the Ministry in my Apostolic calling. Twenty-three years ago last
Friday was the day the weight of the new responsibility came to me, when
President Clark called me at noon to say that I had been called to be one of
the Twelve Apostles in the Lord’s Church; it had floored me, and I had been
overwhelmed. . . . I had been unable to work or read or sleep or settle down.
It was a terrific shock and an overwhelming responsibility. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Twenty-three
years ago, on that interesting but almost terrifying Wednesday, I got out of
bed real early, slipped quietly out of the house and climbed up my mountain,
... But here on this mountain <u>I found a degree of relief and composure
through some spiritual manifestations and experiences</u>, and in the afternoon
I caught the plane and flew to Salt Lake City. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And then twenty-three
years ago today, which was on Thursday, I went to the Church Offices and met
President David O. McKay, ... President McKay assured me that all was right and
I had been called. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-4870687967235394212023-04-17T20:41:00.003-07:002023-04-17T20:41:59.511-07:00Precious Highlights in President Spencer W. Kimball’s Journal Located, described, linked, and dated by Dennis B. Horne<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmXecKCRetI3d2wBGiAxyL-zIhkb-BkubXCbtVeDpg9ZItOIaRBl05F-4XnTZeYeHbCus7E7GlXmTLELD3TVeHISVJy_Fk7K3ZK28UwUR8VcL8e5xsPPe4FG5YB3S0n4pSiRc9jccd5oSQYITgZWBLHFxwkPix8fFuXXxx4kR2JENc0IICjSRIxPp_Hw/s532/Spencer_W._Kimball3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="404" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmXecKCRetI3d2wBGiAxyL-zIhkb-BkubXCbtVeDpg9ZItOIaRBl05F-4XnTZeYeHbCus7E7GlXmTLELD3TVeHISVJy_Fk7K3ZK28UwUR8VcL8e5xsPPe4FG5YB3S0n4pSiRc9jccd5oSQYITgZWBLHFxwkPix8fFuXXxx4kR2JENc0IICjSRIxPp_Hw/s320/Spencer_W._Kimball3.jpg" width="243" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Pearls . . . gems . . . nuggets . .
. whatever you want to call them. Probably 98% of President Kimball’s diary
(thousands of pages) is tedious in the general sense of being notations about meeting
itinerary, travelogue, mission tours, ordination names, and weather reports.
But the remaining fraction is more precious than jewels to the spiritually
literate and appreciative, and to those that love the history of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Finding pearls made wading through the rest
of it worth it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">The below pages contain a date,
then a brief description of a journal item, followed by a link to the page it
is on. These often run into more than one page, sometimes many. So keep reading
or clicking the right arrow until you are sure you have exhausted the subject.
Sometimes this means clicking that right arrow to get past a letter, pictures, newspaper
clippings, or other intervening items. Sometimes words, lines, paragraphs, and
even entire pages are redacted (blacked out; this is material considered
sacred, private, and confidential). I have had some links change on me, so I
also included dates to find if the links don’t quite get you there.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">The entries can be candid. Elder
Kimball called sin just what it is, sin. A running theme in the diary is Elder
Kimball’s constant counseling of members with moral problems, especially
homosexual activity, adultery, and other marriage problems. I have noted a few
of the more detailed instances below, but the problems he faced in working with
these people were constant and an emotional and spiritual strain and drain on
him more than all else he did.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Not all
items below are of lofty spiritual significance. Some are merely of interest as
church history and administration. We get to be the fly on the wall for certain
meetings where sacred and sublime things are said or done as only prophets can.
In my judgment, a few of them reach to such heights as could offer the
possibility of canonization if the Lord so desired. To me, one cannot read such
things without being inspired and knowing the restored Church is led by
prophets and apostles and is indeed God’s restored work.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> I had not
planned on posting this highlights index until I noticed that some enemies of
the Church were slandering everything they read, doing their utmost to cast a
negative slant on a prophet’s (actually) superb record. These pickle-sucking hard-hearted
doubters have no clue what they are talking about. This Apostolic record-keeper
was a Special Witness whose belief was contagious. He lifted and blessed
everyone around him (that would be) all his life. While he counseled and worked
with doubters and unbelievers, he strove to help them rid themselves of such
and replace it with faith and repentance and cleanliness.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> President
Kimball did create something of an index himself that he put at the front of
most journal volumes, but one could argue about how useful it is according to
what one is looking for. I could wish the diaries contained less of his
movements and more of what went on and was said in temple meetings.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I estimate that only a tiny
percentage of church members and historians will ever read any significant
portion of the diaries, which makes this highlights index helpful as a way to
find what I, and perhaps others, would consider the best parts—sifted from so
many thousands of pages. And with this index being as long as it is, perhaps
only a small percentage of it will be reviewed—but for those who love the same sweet
things I do, I hope it will be of some use in delivering precious pearls, gems,
and nuggets of the highest value:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 1943. Autobiographical account, "The Story of My
Call to the Apostleship"<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c163667-b6d2-47d7-ad3a-f483ff33d95d/0/314">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c163667-b6d2-47d7-ad3a-f483ff33d95d/0/314</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 1943, Journal version of Elder Kimball's
call to Twelve; a bit more candid than other written versions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/39"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/39</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">starts over here:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/45"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/45</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Spencer's longhand version that has a few other
details but isn’t as easy to read:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/53"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/53</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 12, 1944. Letter to a son reviewing the
torment of mind after he received his apostolic call till he found peace:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/45"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/45</span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 13-15, 1944. Elder Kimball's remembering of
anniversary of his receiving comforting spiritual experiences regarding his
call to the Twelve the year before:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/289"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/289</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 29, 1944. Spencer tells "part of my
experience" on the mountain top when called to apostleship in a testimony
meeting; says doesn't talk about it often:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/291"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/291</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Elder Kimball notes the two-year anniversary of
his call to the apostleship:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/254"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/254</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">1945 summary. Mentions visiting his
"mountain" near Boulder Colorado where special experience occurred:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/359"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/359</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 8, 1946. Spencer remembers call on third
anniversary of it; spends time in Hawaiian temple:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/159c5191-46ff-4085-b718-03422207f795/0/245"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/159c5191-46ff-4085-b718-03422207f795/0/245</span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 8-10, 1948. Elder Kimball reminisces on the
five-year anniversary of his call to the Twelve:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/113"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/113</span></a><u><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Brief six year anniversary reminders of Elder
Kimball's call to the Twelve and mountain experience:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/248"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/248</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 14-15, 1948. Pres. Kimball reminisces again
about his "testimony and manifestation" on the Boulder Colo. mountain
at the time of his call to the apostleship:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/146"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/146</span></a><u><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 8, 1956. Elder Kimball revisits his sacred mountain in
Boulder Colorado, remembering his call:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ac63867c-d550-4bec-b0f4-9c2710055ce2/0/166">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ac63867c-d550-4bec-b0f4-9c2710055ce2/0/166</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 8, 1957. Spencer notes the 14<sup>th</sup> anniversary
of his call to the Twelve with a summary of his work:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/311">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/311</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">note of his “unusual experience” on the mountain near
Boulder:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/313">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/313</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 15, 1966. 23 year anniversary explanation with a little
more detail:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1aa57bd0-9872-446d-84f2-e275b65f0816/0/18">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1aa57bd0-9872-446d-84f2-e275b65f0816/0/18</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 7, 1943. Spencer's account of the meeting of the First
Presidency & Twelve in which he (and Ezra Taft Benson) is ordained an
apostle and given the charge. In readable longhand cursive.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/302">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/302</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 30, 1943. Record of a profound conversation of
Elder Kimball and Elder Lee concerning some things Pres. Grant had said when
giving Elders Kimball and Benson the Apostolic charge:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/308">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/308</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 12, 1943. Spencer's detailed account of the
excommunication of Richard R. Lyman:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/357">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/357</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elder Kimball's recounting of the above experience in a
letter to his son:<br />
<a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f4f54143-8764-4d7d-9438-596479d015cb/0/87">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f4f54143-8764-4d7d-9438-596479d015cb/0/87</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 8-9, 1943. Spencer's feelings regarding
a son's reticence with the gospel and himself; also mentions he had his first
experience serving as secretary for his Quorum:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/390"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/390</span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 13, 1943. Two funny stories Spencer
tells about visiting with people who don't know they are talking to the new
apostle:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/395"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/395</span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 22 to 27, 1943. Interviews with
returned missionaries, one (27<sup>th</sup>) tells Elder Kimball about someone
in the California mission who is telling of their spiritual manifestations;
Elder Kimball feels they are of the devil and so does Elder JFS; they decide
the matter should be investigated:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/416"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/730c51ee-2914-41de-965d-bba75fe16c9d/0/416</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 20, 1944. Elder Kimball assists FP &
12 in ordaining Mark E. Petersen an apostle; Pres. Grant was voice:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/240?lang=eng"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/240?lang=eng</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">May 1, 1944. A (serious) sinner confesses to
Elder Kimball and receives forgiveness and is overjoyed:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/247?lang=eng"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/247?lang=eng</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 11, 1944. Elder Kimball's comments
regarding his first “Quarterly” meeting with the Quorum of the Twelve:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/148"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/148</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 18, 1944. Pres. George Albert Smith
changes Elder Kimball's assignment in accordance with his unspoken desires:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/154"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/154</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">May 18, 1944. Elder Kimball mentions Pres. Grant
coming to meeting of FP & 12; also how humble he felt when they determined
some points of doctrine and policy for the church (details not mentioned):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/257"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/257</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">November 21, 1944. Top of page; longhand
writing. Elder Kimball’s comment about needing to hold meetings further away
from business and “colored” districts; could be considered racist by today's
standards:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/340">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/340</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 26, 1944. Plans made regarding
republication of Orson F. Whitney's book <i>Life of Heber C. Kimball</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/356"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3b554ae8-aa25-4c4d-9227-7f24f601b529/0/356</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/22"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/22</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and regarding the chapter on plural marriage:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/56"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/56</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and working with printers of book:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/279"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/279</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 9, 1945. Spencer receives first copies
off the press:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/295"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/295</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 15, 1945. Elder Kimball's visit to the
St. George stake in 1945 followed by his recollection of some J. Golden Kimball
stories he was told:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/24"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/24</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Elder Kimball’s address at the dedication of the
Idaho Temple:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/28">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/28</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 24, 1945. Elder Kimball finds the Payson
stake generally doing lousy, with some members being suckered into the Coyle
dream mine scam:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/92"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/92</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">May 18, 1945. Death of Pres. Grant and
reorganization of FP "such as I have never experienced before"; this
includes the famous meeting (at which Pres. GA Smith was not present) during
which Pres. Richards directed that Clark and McKay conduct the funeral
arrangement meeting; also Spencer's personal feelings regarding church
government at such a time:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/174"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/174</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">May 21, 1945. continued:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/179"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/179</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Elder Kimball's personal history: "My
Mission to the Lamanites":<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/213"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/213</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">June 15, 1945. Elder Kimball's narration of an
account by a newly selected stake president of hearing the voice of the Lord telling
him he would be called as the new stake president:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/227"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/227</span></a><u><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">June, 1965. Elder Kimball relates this same story again in
slightly more detail and with the stake president commenting:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/238"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/238</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 10, 1945. Elder Kimball notified about
giving the "church of the air" address on CBS during tab choir
broadcast at conference; responsibility greatly worries him:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/282"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/282</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and for his comments about his delivery and compliments
he received:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/294"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/294</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 24, 1945. Pres. Clark's letter of
gratitude for a copy of the book <i>Life of Heber C. Kimball</i>, also some
others like it:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/311"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/311</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Some final thoughts on work:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/358"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/358</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 23, 1945. Elder Kimball's description
of the dedication of the Idaho Falls temple and his talk therein:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/291"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/291</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 18, 1945. At a meeting of the Twelve,
Spencer learned of two brethren that were appointed to go to Europe to help
war-torn Latter-day Saints spiritually and temporally; these men were later
replaced by Elder Benson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/299"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/299</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">November 18, 1945. Elder Kimball deals with an
irate man in a difficult situation in a stake meeting:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/326"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a6f7d398-62e9-4199-8398-2f013ad3ecce/0/326</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 21, 1946. Bottom of page. Elder Kimball's
losing effort to keep a stake name; he is overruled by FP & 12 in their
meeting:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/159c5191-46ff-4085-b718-03422207f795/0/102"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/159c5191-46ff-4085-b718-03422207f795/0/102</span></a><u><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">Many years later Elder Kimball tells this same story in greater
detail:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9d0ab3-f05e-4b10-a65d-e39a83738a5a/0/202"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9d0ab3-f05e-4b10-a65d-e39a83738a5a/0/202</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 13, 1946. Lower half of page. Elder
Kimball receives a formal commission from Pres. GA Smith to "look after
the Indians in all the world":<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/75"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/75</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 19, 1946. Elder Kimball's account of being attacked
by evil spirits:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/98">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/98</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and (Nov. 1957):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/104">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/104</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink">and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/523">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/523</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 28, 1947. Funeral of Elder Charles A.
Callis:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/269"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/269</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 2, 1947. Bottom of page to next. This page
and the following talk about the new revelation to Pres. George Albert Smith
that mission presidents should have counselors; also the administrative
decision that elders quorums could be organized in missions:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/302"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/302</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">June 30, 1947. Elder Kimball's conversation with
Pres. GA Smith regarding his work with the Indians and also his participation
in a pioneer trek re-enactment; he is to maintain the dignity of his office
while participating:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/365"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/365</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 13, 1947. Spencer goes on a re-creation
pioneer trek (except he mostly rode in nice cars and stayed in hotels or slept
on an air mattress in tents). Spencer called it "crossing the plains in
1947"; lengthy account but kind of fun<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">:</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/397"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/397</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 24, 1947. Description of the dedication of
"This is the Place" Monument:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/411"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/411</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 9, 1947. Elder Kimball speaks of a powerfully
spiritual meeting of the First Presidency and Twelve where the subject of
blacks and the priesthood was considered (October 1947). This meeting is one
reason why I believe the restriction to have been inspired:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/448">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/448</a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 27, 1947. A prophecy uttered by Elder
Kimball. I wonder if Lund’s, "Work and the Glory" book series
fulfilled it? Or if greater fulfillment is yet to come:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/464"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/464</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 30, 1947. The sad story of “Mormon”
prejudice against the black Hope family and their enduring in faith; also further
info on patriarchal blessings being made available to black members in the
1940s. Both a tragic and an inspiring story (includes quotation of a racist
word):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/466"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/466</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">November 9, 1947. Elder Kimball rebukes and
calls to repentance a divided community of saints (in Antimony CO, I think):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/474"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/474</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 11, 1947. The First Presidency give the
apostles increased independent authority when reorganizing stakes, including
calling and ordaining bishops and patriarchs:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/490"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/490</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 24, 1947. Spencer relates historical-biographical
stories told by a 102+ year-old church member that knew Billy the kid, Geronimo
and Abraham Lincoln, along with earlier church presidents:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/500">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/500</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Same stories retold in the Deseret News (from
Spencer's diary):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/570"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ae4c61cf-6205-4d7e-82cf-fba6d8bd79b0/0/570</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 30, 1948. Elders Kimball and Petersen
appointed to work with "delinquent girls" that come into SLC:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/24"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/24</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 12, 1948. Spencer deals with an irate
mentally ill relative who won't listen to reason:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/45"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/45</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 17, 1948. Elder Kimball notes that the
total church budget has grown to twenty million dollars:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/49"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/49</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and later, it grows to much more:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9efcbf61-d0e5-4859-9c15-13bf24665108/0/171"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9efcbf61-d0e5-4859-9c15-13bf24665108/0/171</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">August 12, 1948. A letter from Spencer to his
sons, mostly Levan, telling him to get his act together spiritually speaking.
Levan eventually went atheist though I am told he may have returned to the
faith in some degree before he died. I suppose many fathers might write a letter
like this to erring children:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/172"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/172</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 25, 1948. Bottom of page. Pres. GA
Smith tells Elder Kimball to take care in his recovery from his heart attacks
and convalescence. Mentions his own health breakdown and gives wise counsel:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/225"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/225</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Elder Kimball receives outpouring of love from
Brethren including Pres. GA Smith on his return to church service:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/228"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/228</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Account of Elder Kimball blessing a very sick
child and it being healed:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/290"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/963a1cd6-2cbd-400b-b3b6-6612a0ecb105/0/290</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">February 25, 1949. Elder Kimball visits Pres. GA
Smith at church home in Laguna Beach CA where he was staying because of
illness:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/70"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/70</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 14, 1949. Elder Kimball receives
"bold impression" regarding Pres. George F. Richards. I have known
about this for many years but have never quite known what to do with it:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/101"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/101</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">June 11, 1949. Elder Kimball relates an inspired
dream/vision regarding some acquaintances whose names are redacted:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/193"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/193</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 3, 1949. Elder Kimball attends one of
the most spiritual testimony meetings of the Twelve he ever had (evidently
post-General Conference):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/284"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/284</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 31, 1949. An instance where something
Elder Kimball says could be considered racist by today's standards; top of this
page and bottom of previous:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/312"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/312</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 1, 1949. Spencer's opinion of Elder
Harold B. Lee:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/354"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0c58fe4b-bf0a-4889-8631-88034e77cf96/0/354</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">1950 summary, bottom of page. Pres. George F.
Richards tells the Brethren in Quarterly temple meeting of the Twelve of his spiritual
experiences and manifestations:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/16"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/16</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 2, 1950. Near bottom of page and next;
Elder Kimball gets upset ("exploded") with a University of Utah
publication filled with writings of anti-Mormons:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/42"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/42</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 1950. A few noteworthy items on this page:
further talk about UofU publication criticisms (running into next page);
account of Elder Kimball casting out evil spirit from woman; account of
missionaries being killed in former days:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/46"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/46</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 1950. Further reflection by Spencer on the
UofU publication attack against the church:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/50"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/50</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 11, 1950. This page just has the one
famous story on it, told with slightly more detail than most other accounts:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/61"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/61</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">another version told here:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/64"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/64</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 10, 1950. General Authority social where
sermons from past church leaders of same seniority/Quorum placement were read;
Pres. Lee referred to this occasion in several of his own talks:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/62"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/62</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">June 4, 1950. Elder Kimball is impressed that if
a man would accept a call as a bishop the Lord would strengthen him
financially:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/90"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/90</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">August 6, 8, 1950. Elder Kimball is thrilled
with inspired talk by Pres. Smith and gives final blessing to Pres. George F.
Richards who dies a few hours later:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/166"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/166</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">August 11, 1950. Description of addresses and
summary of what was said at Pres. George F. Richards' funeral; some sweet
nuggets:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/168"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/168</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 5, 1950. Elder Kimball present in
meeting of the FP & Twelve where new apostle Delbert L. Stapley ordained
and Pres. McKay made Pres. of Twelve and Pres. Smith acting Pres:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/199"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1447b284-8baf-4a2f-9935-c326c21711c5/0/199</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 5, 1951, goes on for several pages. Elder
Kimball describes the meeting of the Twelve for the funeral planning and
reorganization of the First Presidency at Pres. GA Smith's passing; this
includes his sweet spiritual experience of seeing and feeling the mantle come
upon the new prophet; precious indeed. The following pages describe the conducting
of the conference under the authority of the Twelve with no FP yet; also
described is situation where Pres. McKay called Stephen L Richards to be his
first counselor and J. Reuben Clark his second, which "stunned" the
other Brethren; there are several different drama's going on in these superb
pages:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/98"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/98</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and summarized in this letter to his children:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/123"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/123</span></a><u><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">For whatever reason, these journal pages are duplicated here for a
number of pages covering the entire death, funeral, and reorganization meeting:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f8fe2625-569d-48a4-94c2-74fecb918d48/0/202"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f8fe2625-569d-48a4-94c2-74fecb918d48/0/202</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 4, 1960. Pres. Clark’s relating these
matters pertaining to himself to Elder Kimball, providing further detail (Clark
“became very confidential with me”) bottom third of page:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/224"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/224</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 12, 1951. New church leaders ordained/set
apart description:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/127"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/127</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Ca. April 1951. Letter of persuasion and
doctrine by Elder Kimball to someone needing to repent and get their act
together:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/133"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/133</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">May 28, 1951. Elder Kimball makes a prophecy
concerning a rude state governor:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/152"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/152</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Late May, 1951. Bottom half of page. Two miraculous
incidents told; one about missionaries being protected and one where Pres.
McKay recognizes a translation error while speaking:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/154"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/154</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">June 1951. Account of a missionary baseball
player sharing his testimony of the Book of Mormon:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/162"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/162</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 4, 1951. Bottom of page. Elder Marion G.
Romney recommended as an apostle:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/302"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/302</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 5, 10-11, 1951. Ordination of new
apostle and assistants to Twelve; also first time Brethren given General Conference
speaking times in advance (for television):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/304"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/dee12a82-1d15-4245-ac67-d8ddbd1654a2/0/304</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 9, 1952. Powerful address given by Elder
Kimball to the Twelve in their Quarterly meeting (serving others vs
materialism, mantle, believing heart, don't need to see God to believe, etc.):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/75"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/75</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">1952 summary. Mention of Richard R. Lyman’s bad
attitude, meaning still could not be rebaptized:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/52"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/52</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">full discussion of Lyman meeting with Twelve,
bottom of this and next page:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/182"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/182</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">June 3, 1952, very bottom of page and into next.
Spencer's note of some beautiful expressions of love and appreciation among the
Brethren (himself, Lee, Smith):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/96"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/96</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 3, 1952. More detail than usual regarding
the pre-Conference temple meeting of FP & 12, including comment regarding
the health decline of Elder Widstoe; also concern expressed for voice:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/136"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/136</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 1952. Spencer is accosted by a Lebaron
apostate after Conference; the FP & 12 meet and sustain LeGrand Richards as
a new apostle; Spencer fasts for three days for a blessing from the Lord for
his voice/vocal cords:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/138"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/138</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 8 & 9, 1952. Elder Kimball performs a
temple sealing where the veil is extra thin; he also forgets a meeting of the
Twelve and feels "humiliated" at being an hour late; next page
includes description of Elder LeGrand Richards' ordination to apostleship:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/144"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/144</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 20, 1952, letter to wife. Elder Kimball's
opinion of Hugh Nibley:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/170"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/170</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">June 25, 1952. Elder Kimball described Elder
Bowen suffering a stroke during the Quarterly testimony meeting of the Twelve:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/193"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/193</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 2, 1952. Elder Kimball attends funeral
of Elder Widstoe:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/358"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/87ff2271-6855-4c5a-a9eb-d17cfc66735c/0/358</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 9, 1953. Another serious sinner’s sad
story told to Elder Kimball that he records to give an example of the effects
of sin and the kinds of problems that come before him:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/33"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/33</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">same story told in greater detail here and for a
couple pages:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/41"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/41</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 26, 1953. Elder Kimball's candid
description of Elder Albert E. Bowen in great pain and misery in the hospital
wanting to die:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/47"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/47</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and here<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/49"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/49</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a name="_Hlk130203780"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 1953. Elder
Kimball quotes Pres. McKay in meeting stating the judgment of the Lord
regarding that particular Quorum of Twelve (about halfway down page):<o:p></o:p></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/65"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/65</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a name="_Hlk130204910"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 8, 1953. Elder
Kimball notes that Pres. Smith had told the First Presidency that there had
never been greater unity in the Quorum of Twelve:<o:p></o:p></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/107"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/107</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">another similar statement of what Jesus thought
of that Quorum of Twelve (March 5, 1953):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a name="_Hlk130204468"></a><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/135"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/135</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 26, 1953. Spencer notes the passing of
Elder Albert E. Bowen after a terrible long year of severe illness; very
complimentary about him:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/239"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/239</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 18-21, 1953. Spencer’s opinion of women’s dresses
worn at weddings; he and the Brethren bless and pass the sacrament at a Logan
Temple solemn assembly; more descriptions of people’s difficult problems that
come to him:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/260">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/260</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 1-8, 1953. Ordination to the Twelve of Richard L.
Evans; Pres. McKay makes a special statement to the Twelve about unity in the
presiding quorums of the church and how powerful the general conference just
concluded was:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/272">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/272</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">through and past (superb material):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/276">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/276</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 7, 1954. Spencer mentions an extra fine Quarterly
meeting of the Twelve where Pres. Smith and Lee speak about the apostles being
special witnesses; not detailed:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/40">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/40</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 12, 1954. Spencer’s philosophizing about his heart
and health problems and how he hides them from the Brethren; also a bad dream
about worse health problems and death:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/54">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/54</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 10 to 13 and more, 1953. Bottom of page
and continuing. Elder Kimball's account of the laying of the cornerstone for
the Los Angeles temple right after which Elder Matthew Cowley dies; pretty crazy
time; several succeeding pages narrate funeral arrangements and funeral: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/295"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/295</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and (also some Richard R. Lyman comment at
bottom):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/313"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/49afccc0-42e8-41d2-9dd8-77bf1a3cb0b7/0/313</span></a><u><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 21, 1954. Meetings/discussion
regarding Richard R. Lyman:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/183">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/183</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;">and<br />
<a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/187"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/187</span></a><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/215">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/215</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 7-8, 1954. Charge and ordination of George Q. Morris
to Quorum of Twelve described:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/77">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/77</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 8-9, 1954. Hugh Nibley fascinates Elder Kimball so much
he gets distracted and drives the wrong way:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/103">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/103</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 2, 1954. Mid-page. Spencer read Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith’s
new book Man His Origin and Destiny (no opinion given):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/115">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/115</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 12, 1954. In the temple the Brethren approve the Indian
placement program that Elder Kimball had been promoting. According to this,
this was the beginning of the beginning of it. One wonders how successful it
really was (in the end) with all the lawsuits that have been filed over the
years, but I cannot judge it:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/127">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/127</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">some vacillation regarding it:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/133">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/133</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink">and some expansion of it:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/80b351f3-272a-4dd9-86f7-419db637d656/0/55">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/80b351f3-272a-4dd9-86f7-419db637d656/0/55</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 1, 1954. Pres. McKay speaks to the Twelve as a Prophet,
giving them the love of the First Presidency and making pronouncements about the
“Christianity” of the world, along with a charge to the Twelve:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/141">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/141</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 9, 1954. Elder Kimball counsels a returned
missionary sinking into apostasy because of the usual liberal issues, including
science:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/183">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/183</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 7 and 12, 1954. Elder Kimball’s opinion of am O.C.
Tanner theological book proposed as a Sunday School manual as related in a meeting
with Pres. McKay, who thinks Bro. Kimball extreme in his views of the
manuscript (I don’t think Bro. Kimball thought he was).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/209">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/209</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 4-5, 1954. Brief description of a solemn assembly
held in the St. George Temple, with this being the first time the fourth floor
assembly room had been used:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/232">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/936ca3ad-00b2-45f7-9069-a79a418675d7/0/232</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 17, 1955. Prophetic statement from Pres. McKay in the
minutes of the meeting of the Council of the Twelve indicating how the gospel
will be taken to Europe and other countries. Proved prophetic indeed:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/80b351f3-272a-4dd9-86f7-419db637d656/0/59">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/80b351f3-272a-4dd9-86f7-419db637d656/0/59</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 7, 1955. President McKay blesses Elder Kimball for his
European mission:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/80b351f3-272a-4dd9-86f7-419db637d656/0/81">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/80b351f3-272a-4dd9-86f7-419db637d656/0/81</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 1, 1955. Elder Kimball reports on his six-month
mission to Europe in general conference and is inspired in what he says;
receives higher commendation for that talk than any other he has ever given,
especially from Pres. McKay:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/fb47ca6f-7679-49fe-80b0-ef7d1517ebb8/0/4">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/fb47ca6f-7679-49fe-80b0-ef7d1517ebb8/0/4</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the audio of Elder Kimball’s conference talk that was so
appreciated by the Brethren, listen here:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c9e8ec6a-c34b-483b-8a1b-3fb671c1b0f6/0/0?lang=eng">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c9e8ec6a-c34b-483b-8a1b-3fb671c1b0f6/0/0?lang=eng</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 19, 1955. The Brethren decide to turn Wednesday
meetings into a school of the prophets; the first lecture and Q&A being by
Elder McConkie who taught about the personality of the Gods (no details of
lecture given):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/fb47ca6f-7679-49fe-80b0-ef7d1517ebb8/0/19">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/fb47ca6f-7679-49fe-80b0-ef7d1517ebb8/0/19</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 1956. Elder Kimball’s description of the dedication of
the Los Angeles Temple:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ac63867c-d550-4bec-b0f4-9c2710055ce2/0/80"><span style="color: blue;">Church History Catalog | Asset viewer | 1956 January
1-August 18 (churchofjesuschrist.org)</span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 27, 1956. Bottom of page to next; Elder Kimball
sees his father Andrew in a dream or vision, which he recorded:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ac63867c-d550-4bec-b0f4-9c2710055ce2/0/82"><span style="color: blue;">Church History Catalog | Asset viewer | 1956 January
1-August 18 (churchofjesuschrist.org)</span></a><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: blue;">And which he relates again here<u>:<o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/100">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/100</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and as related to the Twelve in their Quarterly testimony
meeting (April 10, 1957):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/104">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/104</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 10, 1956. Pres. McKay talks about how wonderful it is
for the Brethren to meet in the temple and wonders how different the world
would be if government leaders did the same thing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ac63867c-d550-4bec-b0f4-9c2710055ce2/0/166">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/ac63867c-d550-4bec-b0f4-9c2710055ce2/0/166</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 29, 1956. Elder Kimball gets “infuriated” with
Elder Hugh B. Brown for a negative report to the Twelve on the Indian mission:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/d3d24d8c-2a2c-4f58-bf1d-1a0dff98cb2a/0/87">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/d3d24d8c-2a2c-4f58-bf1d-1a0dff98cb2a/0/87</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 20, 1957. Pres. Clark given Elder Kimball a blessing
for his throat cancer; Spencer tells him of his dream of his father Andrew:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/148">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/148</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 1957. Spencer’s throat cancer surgery; miserable in
the extreme, many pages:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/158">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/158</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 7, 1957. Elder Lee’s letter to Elder Kimball
explaining the prayers of faith offered by the Brethren in temple meeting in
his behalf:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/197">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/197</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 1957. A letter written by Spencer to a son when he (Kimball)
thought he might die soon. Speaks of his dreams and of his brushes with death.
Best part is the end where he bears testimony and states that he has received
revelation:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/203">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/203</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 10, 1957. Pres. Smith embraces Elder Kimball and tells
him he loves him:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/265">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/265</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 1957. Elder Kimball writes an insightful 2-page letter
explaining the basics of the temple endowment:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/269">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/269</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 8, 1957. Sad extended story of Elder Kimball trying to
help a drunk:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/289">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/289</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 18, 1957. Elder Kimball personally obtains the counsel of
Pres. McKay regarding his voice issue and his service as an apostle; very
touching:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/315">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/315</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 1957. Elder Kimball’s story of his throat operation,
including his visit about it with Elder Lee, Pres. Clark and Pres. McKay. Very
detailed and descriptive; funny to see how Elder Kimball counted the expenses
of all the medical stuff; both humor and pathos in this lengthy account of a
number of pages:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/319">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/319</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">August, 1957. It was during this experience that Elder
Kimball had the miserable night he chronicles in the book "One Silent
Sleepless Night", the manuscript of which is found in the diary here:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/391">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/391</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">August 21, 1957. A letter of encouragement to Elder Kimball
signed by 9 members of the Quorum of the Twelve:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/429">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/429</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">August 4, 1957. Elder Kimball's summary of the
whole situation as written in a letter to Elder Delbert L. Stapley:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/432"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/432</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">August 10, 1957. Letter from Pres. Smith to
Spencer regarding faith and healing and God’s will:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/462"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/462</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">August 22, 1957. Minutes containing the content
of and expressions made during Quarterly meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve at
which Elder Kimball’s throat surgery and recovery were discussed; two pages of
sweet uplifting material:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/478"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/478</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">a little more here:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/488"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/488</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">November 9, 1957. Elder Kimball’s lengthy scathing
opinion of a San Francisco play they saw; he goes on to comment negatively about
whom I guess is Ingrid Bergman though he doesn’t use her name:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/525"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/525</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">November 25, 1957. Elder Kimball has a long
conversation with a mentally troubled woman blaming him and the church for her
problems, divorce, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/538"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/538</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 5, 1957. Elder Kimball’s letter to the
First Presidency about his voice, including wording from his apostolic
ordination:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/550"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/550</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 19, 1957 (Dec. 18 is also interesting).
Elder Kimball asks for and receives Pres. McKay’s permission to again receive
“assignments” in the stakes of the church (since his throat has healed) even
though he only has a hoarse raspy voice:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/564"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/583b9e42-7286-40eb-b95a-8a7a1b2c8934/0/564</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 14, 1958. More long sad stories of sin
told by Elder Kimball about some unnamed members he was trying to help:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3ec78754-12d3-4330-a3ea-e4b82a1d9ec4/0/22"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3ec78754-12d3-4330-a3ea-e4b82a1d9ec4/0/22</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 6, 1958. Elder Kimball’s mention of Pres.
McKay nominating several men for callings to the general authorities, including
Hugh B. Brown as an apostle and Gordon B. Hinckley to fill his place in the
Assistants:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3ec78754-12d3-4330-a3ea-e4b82a1d9ec4/0/171"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3ec78754-12d3-4330-a3ea-e4b82a1d9ec4/0/171</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Elder Kimball hears a member bear testimony that
he (Kimball) was a divinely appointed apostle:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/49"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/49</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">May 21, 1959. Elder Kimball describes Pres.
McKay’s haggard appearance at the meeting of the FP & 12 upon the death of
Pres. Stephen L. Richards and how the prophet spoke so tenderly of his beloved
counselor; also the case of a defiant adulterer beginning to repent:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/142"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/142</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">June 12, 1959. Toward bottom of page. Elder
Kimball’s description of the meeting where Pres. McKay reorganizes the First
Presidency after the death of Pres. Richards, bringing Bro. Moyle into the
Presidency:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/158"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/158</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Excerpts of official minutes of this same
meeting, including some specific powerful statements from Pres. McKay;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/162"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/162</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 2, 1959. Pres. McKay in a fine relaxed mood
in the temple with his new counselors:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/194"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/194</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and his follow up testimony that the right
counselors had been chosen (July, talking about June 18):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/196"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/196</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 30, 1959. First mention in the diaries of
the beginning of the preparation of the manuscript that would become “The
Miracle of Forgiveness”:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/206"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/206</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 4, 1959. Elder Kimball hears Pres. Moyle
speak with great power, as never before, feeling that the mantle of his new
calling as a Counselor has fallen on him:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/264"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/264</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 8, 1959. Pres. McKay announces to the
Twelve the call of Howard W. Hunter to their quorum and he is sustained in conference;
also, Pres. McKay assigns Elder Kimball and Petersen their long-running task of
working with the homosexuals:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/271"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/271</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Description of Elder Hunter’s ordination:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/283"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d21c6f0-c611-43d0-b387-bee2ba55f53a/0/283</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">June 15, 1960, bottom of page. Mention of work
on the general handbook and a missionary handbook; also mention of method of
interviewing missionaries:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/208"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/208</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">wrapping up of the handbook project, with Elder
Kimball’s feelings expressed:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/222"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/222</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">1960. Elder Kimball’s address at the dedication
of the restored Heber C. Kimball home in Nauvoo:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/226"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/226</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 8, 1960. Pres. McKay expresses love
for the Brethren on his birthday in the temple, and notes the difference
between their celestial love and apostate feelings:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/317"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/317</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 8-9, 1960. Elder Kimball describes the
general conference, especially the feebleness of, yet powerful talk, given by
Pres. Clark; also the calling of three new Assistants to the Twelve along with
their charge and ordinations, and the strong Spirit present in their meeting in
the temple:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/367"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/367</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">That journal page is also duplicated here:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/50603bba-8abe-42a3-b80e-85fd027028b8/0/56"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/50603bba-8abe-42a3-b80e-85fd027028b8/0/56</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">You can listen to Pres. Clark’s message here, at
21:56:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/158a8448-d82a-4263-8f4e-720514417182/0/0"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/158a8448-d82a-4263-8f4e-720514417182/0/0</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">(This message contains precious insights into
New Testament doctrine; keep listening after he says amen.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 11, 1960. Elder Kimball receives a
special blessing from Pres. McKay and commendation regarding his work, and
instructions which meant much to him:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/373"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4c46823f-1de5-4e03-92cf-2b701b63abcb/0/373</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">This page duplicated here:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/50603bba-8abe-42a3-b80e-85fd027028b8/0/58"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/50603bba-8abe-42a3-b80e-85fd027028b8/0/58</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 17, 1960. Report of a discussion of the
FP & 12 regarding the expansion or creation of stakes in foreign countries
and language and training problems that are attendant; Pres. McKay’s
expressions of what the Lord expected them to do; these discussions would seem
to be minutes of their meeting in the temple:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/50603bba-8abe-42a3-b80e-85fd027028b8/0/106"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/50603bba-8abe-42a3-b80e-85fd027028b8/0/106</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">creation of first stakes in Australia and New
Zealand, from minutes of meeting of FP & 12:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/50603bba-8abe-42a3-b80e-85fd027028b8/0/109"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/50603bba-8abe-42a3-b80e-85fd027028b8/0/109</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Spencer dreams about the Māori people:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/8705755b-69fd-40ad-ae4d-7a01acfd020f/0/2"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/8705755b-69fd-40ad-ae4d-7a01acfd020f/0/2</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">November 1, 1960. Letter written by Elder Harold
B. Lee to Elder Kimball informing him of the work of the Twelve in stake
organizations while he has been in Australia. Contains some very frank
discussion of the health of members of the First Presidency, the kind that is
not given to church members generally:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/8705755b-69fd-40ad-ae4d-7a01acfd020f/0/22"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/8705755b-69fd-40ad-ae4d-7a01acfd020f/0/22</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 1, 1960. During Elder Kimball’s work in
New Zealand creating a stake, he learned that some missionaries had been
immoral with some local LDS girls. This is mentioned on this page and here and
there on many other surrounding pages and was highly distressing to him. Much
of the details are redacted. The missionaries involved were disciplined:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/8705755b-69fd-40ad-ae4d-7a01acfd020f/0/223"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/8705755b-69fd-40ad-ae4d-7a01acfd020f/0/223</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 16, 1961. Elder Kimball’s observations of
health of Pres. McKay and Clark in their temple meeting:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/50"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/50</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">November 17, 1960. Pres. McKay’s glowing
expressions to the Twelve in a temple meeting, from the minutes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/52"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/52</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 28, 1961. Elder Kimball relates the story
of someone he baptized (in the middle east) to Pres. McKay, on bottom of page
and next. He talked to the prophet about it because of some concern he had done
wrong in not attaching the man to a branch; the next page also has some health
observations about McKay and Clark:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/60"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/60</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 136, 1961. Mention of Pres. Clark coming
to temple meeting in a wheelchair and saying he was not praying for a
continuation of life; he was dead six months later:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/77"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/77</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">June 22, 1961. Elder Kimball’s description of
the meeting at which Hugh B. Brown was made a counselor in the First Presidency
because of the incapacitation of Pres. Clark:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/191"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/191</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">August 9, 1961. Spencer gives a blessing to two
of Elder Orson F. Whitney’s daughters, both old and depressed by this time:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/215"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/215</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 1, 1961. Mention of Gordon B. Hinckley
being ordained a member of the Twelve:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/252"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/252</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 10, 1961. Mention of the death and
funeral of Pres. Clark:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/266"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/266</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Elder Kimball (and Bro. Hunter) have a
conversation with Pres. McKay about going to Palestine; Pres. McKay’s pleasing
reaction is recorded:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/272"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/272</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 8, 1961. A more detailed than usual
explanation of what Elder Kimball said when marrying couples in the temple:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/306"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c5a9eec9-22c6-41c7-bdaa-c31f7c995500/0/306</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 13 and 14, 1961. Spencer’s explanation
of the difficulties he encountered (on this page and others previous to it) in
finalizing the next year 1962 budget, with the main issue being that of keeping
the church from spending more than it brought in. The building program was
especially at fault; also mention that the Quarterly meetings of the Twelve
were allegedly made only semiannual, though that doesn’t seem to actually happen:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a9304300-63e5-4e93-9d44-6a7f43e5862c/0/2"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a9304300-63e5-4e93-9d44-6a7f43e5862c/0/2</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 13, 1962. Spencer’s glowing observations
of the Prophet, Pres. McKay, and some comment on their meeting:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b8e6ee05-5d54-495b-b5d2-e67f141071c5/0/246"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b8e6ee05-5d54-495b-b5d2-e67f141071c5/0/246</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 24, 1962. Spencer describes the death
and funeral of Sister Harold B. Lee, including the following page. Pres. Lee,
as would be expected, took it hard:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b8e6ee05-5d54-495b-b5d2-e67f141071c5/0/252"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b8e6ee05-5d54-495b-b5d2-e67f141071c5/0/252</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 4-6, 1962. Pres. McKay announces the
calling of N. Eldon Tanner to become a member of the Twelve:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b8e6ee05-5d54-495b-b5d2-e67f141071c5/0/256"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b8e6ee05-5d54-495b-b5d2-e67f141071c5/0/256</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and ordination:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b8e6ee05-5d54-495b-b5d2-e67f141071c5/0/260"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b8e6ee05-5d54-495b-b5d2-e67f141071c5/0/260</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 10-11, 1963. Elder Kimball knows by the
Spirit that he will pray beforehand in a meeting of the FP & 12; also some
references to the budget of the church;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/46"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/46</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 26, 1963. Last quarter page, crazy
account of the death of former Presiding Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/56"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/56</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 15, 1963. Record of a false revelation
given to Spencer by a nut-job deluded relative:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/116"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/116</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 4-6, 1963. Elder Kimball comments on the
beginning approval of the Correlation program; on Pres. McKay’s health and
personal character; and on the loss of spontaneity with rigidly timed
television broadcasts of conference:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/130"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/130</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">May 26, 1963. Elder Kimball attends a solemn
assembly in the Manti Temple assembly room:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/183"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/183</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">June 9, 1963, bottom of page. Elder Kimball
performs complex temple ordinance work for a deceased man, whose presence he
then feels very near:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/192"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/192</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Agust 10, 1963. Spencer calls Disneyland “dizzyland”
and doesn’t care for waiting in the lines:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/241"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/241</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Elder Kimball mentions the sudden unexpected
death of President Moyle and ponders his acquaintance with him; muses about
policy differences (which were probably money related; Pres. Moyle was famous
for spending and Kimball for being conservative) but also his high regard for
him; this page, previous, and next two:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/282"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/282</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 20, 1963. Mention of man who had been
investigating and reporting on apostate fundamentalist groups on his own
volition:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/283"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/283</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 26, 1963. Description of the first
meeting of the FP & 12 without Pres. Moyle, along with observations of
Pres. McKay, etc. Very sobering:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/290"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/290</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 3, 1963. Elder Kimball calls this a
“red-letter day.” A rare description of a meeting in the temple of all the
general authorities and what they talk about in taking care of church business,
and then reorganization of the First Presidency with the calling of Pres.
Tanner, along with Elder Kimball’s commentary on the proceedings. Most
impressive. The next page or two has the conference with the sustaining vote
and this is where Elder Thomas S. Monson is sustained at the new apostle—he was
one name that Elder Kimball had recommended:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/292"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/292</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">a little more here on different related
subjects:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/294"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/294</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Elder Kimball’s note to the Prophet,
recommending two names (redacted but one was Monson) as possible new
apostles/assistants:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/299"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e82f1a1a-b00f-488c-a746-33774bf1f47a/0/299</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 9, 1963. As for this page, bottom half,
I cannot guess what the “stormy” differences were that were aired by the
Brethren in their Quarterly meeting:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7051abea-3220-47cd-a504-cc202193a35e/0/8"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7051abea-3220-47cd-a504-cc202193a35e/0/8</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 10, 1963. President Tanner is ordained
and set apart as second counselor and Elder Monson is given the charge,
ordained an apostle and set apart as a member of the Twelve; also an early
mention of dividing the earth into areas (as is now the case) presided over by
the Twelve (decades later Area Presidencies were created); also, at bottom,
note of an impression or personal revelation received by Elder Lee regarding
Pres. McKay:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7051abea-3220-47cd-a504-cc202193a35e/0/9">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7051abea-3220-47cd-a504-cc202193a35e/0/9</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 11, 1963. Review of Elder Kimball’s
lengthy meeting with Pres. McKay and decisions reached:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7051abea-3220-47cd-a504-cc202193a35e/0/10">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7051abea-3220-47cd-a504-cc202193a35e/0/10</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">November 9, 1963. Spencer relates how a new
stake president had had his calling made known to him by the Spirit years
previous to receiving it:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7051abea-3220-47cd-a504-cc202193a35e/0/40"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7051abea-3220-47cd-a504-cc202193a35e/0/40</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 3-4, 1964. Elder Kimball attends and
comments on the funeral and life of Richard R. Lyman, excommunicated former
apostle; also records a visit with and tender feelings toward a black friend;
also some ruminating on how people rationalize sin to themselves (this fits
perfectly with today’s gay immorality that people minimize or disregard):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/53"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/53</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 5, 1964. A difficulty between Pres. Smith
and Pres. McKay’s son is adjusted in the temple meeting:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/104"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/104</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 28, 1964. An “unusual” experience in
miscommunication/confusion with his general authority junior companion while
trying to choose a new stake president:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/112"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/112</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">story is finished here:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/136"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/136</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 1, 1964. Typed in left page margin. Pres.
McKay gives Elder Kimball a rare fine compliment after conference that thrills
him; the comment tells us about Pres. McKay:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/144"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/144</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 22, 1964. Minutes of a meeting of the
Indian Committee with the First Presidency regarding expansion of the program:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/234"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/234</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">May 14, 1964. Elder Kimball attends an unusually
fine strong spirited testimony meeting in Buenos Aires with church leadership
there and is very effusive in his enjoyments of the testimonies and excellent
Spirit present; shares the story of his call to the apostleship “but not all
the details”:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/299"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/299</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">May 20, 1964. Elder Kimball meets a “colored”
labor (or builder) missionary working on a building who deeply impresses him.
He embraced the young man and promised him great blessings if he remains
faithful:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/322"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/10465db5-6c08-4b97-babf-9608c86a9669/0/322</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and more here:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9f80d9-6fc4-48eb-9400-36d3e2d32c9c/0/32"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9f80d9-6fc4-48eb-9400-36d3e2d32c9c/0/32</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9f80d9-6fc4-48eb-9400-36d3e2d32c9c/0/49"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9f80d9-6fc4-48eb-9400-36d3e2d32c9c/0/49</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9f80d9-6fc4-48eb-9400-36d3e2d32c9c/0/94"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9f80d9-6fc4-48eb-9400-36d3e2d32c9c/0/94</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">June 27, 1964. Mention of an alleged conspiracy
plot/threat by mentally deranged fundamentalists to murder the Brethren,
including Elder Kimball:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/63"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/63</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 1964. Elder Kimball notes a horrific case
of immorality coming to his attention, and also one of the first instances in
the diaries in which he alludes to some visitors’ involvement with homosexuality;
also he mentions the farewell of the couple replacing Elder McConkie as mission
president in Australia:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/86"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/86</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and more on the evil case:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/131"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/131</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">August 31, September 3, 1964. A special prayer
for Pres. McKay and his health are the subject of a meeting of the FP & 12;
some other matters of interest also:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/128"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/128</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/130"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/130</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 26, 1964. Elder Kimball prays in the
temple and gets an answer of who to call as a new stake president:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/139"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/139</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 28, 1964. Some insight regarding preparation
of Conference talks:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/140"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/140</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and again<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1aa57bd0-9872-446d-84f2-e275b65f0816/0/136"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1aa57bd0-9872-446d-84f2-e275b65f0816/0/136</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">A report consisting of the minutes of a meeting
of the FP & 12 in which Elder Lee, the most senior (and mentally alert) apostle
present, is asked by a counselor in the FP to share his feelings regarding the
just-concluded conference. A rare and supernal look into the feelings and
thought processes of the Brethren regarding Conference (this one without the
ill and aged Pres. McKay):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/156"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/156</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 22, 1964. Pres. McKay attends the
meeting of the FP & 12 for the first time in many months; his mind is still
alert and capable and the Brethren are pleased to see him:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/221"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/221</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 29, 1964. Situation reviewed where
politics becomes an issue with the Brethren in their meeting and in deciding
whether to attend an address by Lyndon Johnson who was running for President of
the US. Elder Kimball feels some candidates are using Pres. McKay to get the
alleged “Mormon” vote and they don’t like it. Also further comment on Pres.
McKay’s mental and physical health and attendance at meetings twice in a row:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/225"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/225</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">November 17, 1964. Goes on for a few pages. Elder
Kimball’s description of the dedication of the Oakland Temple:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/259"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/259</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Final day of temple dedication when Elder
Kimball speaks; also note of a messed up young man who likes to wear women’s
underwear:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/267"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/267</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 12, 1964. A continually physically declining
Pres. McKay attends a meeting and makes some brief remarks of wisdom:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/280"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb79dae1-057e-49a4-9ebc-b5c879b9c0e4/0/280</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 14, 1965. Pres. McKay, in failing
health, tells the Brethren that if rest during a vacation doesn’t help him, he
will probably ask the Lord to take him:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/63"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/63</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">A verbatim report of Pres. McKay’s telephone
conversation with the just-inaugurated U.S. Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/75"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/75</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">a little further explanation is given here:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/79"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/79</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 9, 1965. Elder Kimball’s unfavorable reaction
to black protesters:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/127"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/127</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 1965. Pres. McKay tells his counselor Hugh
B. Brown that he will live another 5 years if necessary (he lives just a few
months short of that exact time period); Brown has some conversations with
Elder Kimball regarding succession in the presidency; an Indian woman has a
vivid dream and sees Joseph Smith welcoming her into the church:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/176"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/176</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">May 6, 1965. A very weak and feeble Pres. McKay
approves Elder Kimball’s proposal to divide the world into Areas presided over
by apostles; these matters having been pending with occasional revision for a
long time; also an interview with a “pervert” (homosexual):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/180"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/180</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and further (August 19, 1965):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/35"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/35</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">August 1965. The mid-1960s seems to indicate a spike
for homosexual problem counseling for Elder Kimball:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/29"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/29</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and more:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/35"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/35</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and at such activity at BYU (September 1965):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/67"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/67</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and more:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/37"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/37</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 9, 1967. The First Presidency and Twelve
in their meeting have a long discussion about the increase in the problem of
homosexuality:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cc421353-f211-4ac8-b5a2-53d2cf25286a/0/71"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cc421353-f211-4ac8-b5a2-53d2cf25286a/0/71</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">also (October 10, 1967):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/078fe970-e1c9-42a4-a0d5-a16cf5b077ea/0/71"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/078fe970-e1c9-42a4-a0d5-a16cf5b077ea/0/71</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and (July 12, 1968):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9d0ab3-f05e-4b10-a65d-e39a83738a5a/0/228"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9d0ab3-f05e-4b10-a65d-e39a83738a5a/0/228</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">May 20, 1965. The FP & 12 reverse a major
financial decision regarding acceptance of government funds; Elder Kimball then
muses in his journal on his political feelings regarding government corruption
and control and its move toward socialism:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/192"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/192</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">June 8, 1965. After “pointed” questioning by
Pres. McKay of Elder Kimball and others, Elder Packer is approved as a mission
president to go to New England:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/222"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/222</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">a little more on Elder Packer here:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/241"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/241</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and a little more here, where he is set apart as
a mission president:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/243"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/243</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Ca. June 19, 1965. Elder Packer’s famous story
of the little Lamanite boy, told by him to Elder Kimball in more detail than in
Elder Packer’s own talks. Also one of Elder Kimball’s accounts told of
repentance from sin for a bride:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/232"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/232</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 10, 1965. Elders Kimball and Richards meet
with a stake president and a person accusing him of immorality, that was
denied:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/244"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/244</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 13, 1965. References to Elder Kimball
working on his book “The Miracle of Repentance/Forgiveness”:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/245"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/245</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/2"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/2</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/6"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/6</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1aa57bd0-9872-446d-84f2-e275b65f0816/0/15"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1aa57bd0-9872-446d-84f2-e275b65f0816/0/15</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">most days around this page have mention of
Spencer working on his book while on vacation:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1aa57bd0-9872-446d-84f2-e275b65f0816/0/29"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1aa57bd0-9872-446d-84f2-e275b65f0816/0/29</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">also<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cc421353-f211-4ac8-b5a2-53d2cf25286a/0/34"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cc421353-f211-4ac8-b5a2-53d2cf25286a/0/34</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 23, 1969. During a temple meeting,
Elders Lee and Stapley extoll the magnificence and quality of Spencer’s
“Miracle of Forgiveness” manuscript that they have been reading prior to
publication:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6c444c08-748b-4e4d-80b9-2b9e93ccf2b4/0/39"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6c444c08-748b-4e4d-80b9-2b9e93ccf2b4/0/39</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 1-2, 1969. The book is finally published right before conference,
during the Regional Representatives Seminar, and Spencer autographs hundreds:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6db7e381-0b32-40d6-a0fc-fba4a14c26aa/0/57"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6db7e381-0b32-40d6-a0fc-fba4a14c26aa/0/57</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Elder Kimball and the stake presidency go to the
wrong home for dinner--case of mistaken identity; also a couple of humorous
dinner stories:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/246"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c112bb61-fc77-4353-a8e6-efbac72d8303/0/246</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">A newspaper clipping found in the diary on the
issue of blacks and the priesthood:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/23"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/23</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and one regarding a “Negro” riot:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/33"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/33</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">August 29, 1965. Elder Kimball extolls the
faithfulness and loyalty to gospel truth of his brother-in-law, the great
scientist Henry Eyring, and quotes some of a talk he gave:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/44"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/44</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 10, 1965. Expressions from some of the
Brethren regarding the “day of the Lamanite”:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/57"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/57</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Late September, 1965, this page, the one
previous, and the one after. At a pre-conference meeting of the First
Presidency and Twelve, Elder Kimball shares with the Brethren the account of
blessing a relative that was in terrible health (incurable disease) and who was
told could not have children, but was healed:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/72"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/72</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 6, 1965. Elder Kimball gets another opportunity
to be alone to meet with Pres. McKay and discuss the gospel work among the
Indians of South America; mentions how thrilled he is to be with the Prophet
and what was said to him:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/85"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/85</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 1965. Elder Kimball has a spiritual
experience as he offers a dedicatory prayer for preaching the gospel in
Ecuador:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/95"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/873d4b57-36de-478e-bcf8-bab019b6b32e/0/95</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 29, 1965. Pres. McKay calls a special
meeting of the First Presidency and Twelve where he appoints two new counselors
in the FP: Pres. Smith and Elder Thorpe B. Isaacson, surprising the Twelve who
had been told to expect one, but got two:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9d287db3-7081-4a2b-8617-b43c515e4845/0/82"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9d287db3-7081-4a2b-8617-b43c515e4845/0/82</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Elder Kimball’s list of Committee assignments,
keeping him so very busy:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9d287db3-7081-4a2b-8617-b43c515e4845/0/135"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9d287db3-7081-4a2b-8617-b43c515e4845/0/135</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and later</span></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9efcbf61-d0e5-4859-9c15-13bf24665108/0/172"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9efcbf61-d0e5-4859-9c15-13bf24665108/0/172</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 20, 1966. Pres. McKay, despite
continually declining health and vigor, is able to make inspired/revealed
decisions for the Brethren (bottom of page):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/47"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/47</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 3, 1966. Elder Kimball records Pres. McKay
talking very tenderly to the Brethren of the Twelve, telling how he loves and
appreciates them and their loyalty and feels that some of the former Brethren
from past years were not far away:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/75"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/75</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 17, 1966. Narration of an extended
discussion (from the minutes) among the First Presidency and Twelve regarding
the ordaining of Seventies in “foreign” stakes. Pres. Smith did not want stakes
created outside the U.S. but it seems the rest of the Brethren present did.
Elder Kimball was strongly in favor and spoke his mind persuasively. Other
Brethren also gave their views and some strong inspired statements made by
Pres. McKay were mentioned:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/78"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/78</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/85"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/85</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Some of this material containing these minutes
is repeated here:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/87"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/87</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Mention of many problems among the missionaries
of the church, this giving the Brethren much concern:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/79"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/79</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/81"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/81</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 24, 1966. Report of discussion among the
First Presidency and the Twelve regarding problems attendant to Elder Benson’s
association with the John Birch Society:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/90"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/90</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">April 5, 1966. Description of a pre-Conference
meeting of the FP & 12 in which testimonies are shared, and which Pres.
McKay attends. Elder Kimball first notices Pres. McKay becoming confused in his
mind:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/96"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/96</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">June 16, 1966. Another health report on various
members of the First Presidency, especially Pres. McKay:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/270"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2af92980-86a7-43cf-8a9b-cfca103c0254/0/270</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">July 30, 1966. Mid-page. A comment by Spencer
that by today’s standards could be considered racist (interracial
relationship):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1aa57bd0-9872-446d-84f2-e275b65f0816/0/28"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1aa57bd0-9872-446d-84f2-e275b65f0816/0/28</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 6, 1966. Elder Kimball is disappointed
when one of the Brethren (Pres. Smith) votes in Quorum meeting against his
proposal for dividing a stake; also some commentary on Pres. McKay’s health. (Bro.
Smith later relents and the Buenos Aires stake is created):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1aa57bd0-9872-446d-84f2-e275b65f0816/0/140"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1aa57bd0-9872-446d-84f2-e275b65f0816/0/140</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Further explanation of this episode is given
here:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/733901de-9c68-42ba-94ad-0b7d03760a72/0/46"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/733901de-9c68-42ba-94ad-0b7d03760a72/0/46</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">continued here:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/733901de-9c68-42ba-94ad-0b7d03760a72/0/52"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/733901de-9c68-42ba-94ad-0b7d03760a72/0/52</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 1, 1966. Minutes of a meeting of the
First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve in which Pres. McKay speaks to and about
that Quorum the Twelve; he talks about their great brotherhood in Jesus and how
they are the best men and quorum in the world. Choice inspired prophetic
message to the Twelve; including how close they are to Jesus; must be read to
be appreciated. A little more about this event is on the next page but most is
redacted; also some info about church budgeting improvements. Pres. Tanner is
often given all the credit by historians for getting the church back in the
black but Elder Kimball obviously had major influence as well. The page after
that seems to somewhat duplicate the second page (including redaction):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/733901de-9c68-42ba-94ad-0b7d03760a72/0/119"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/733901de-9c68-42ba-94ad-0b7d03760a72/0/119</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">also<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9efcbf61-d0e5-4859-9c15-13bf24665108/0/161"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9efcbf61-d0e5-4859-9c15-13bf24665108/0/161</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 19, 1967. Lower part of page. The
Brethren of the FP & 12 pray about Camilla Kimball’s cancer surgery:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cc421353-f211-4ac8-b5a2-53d2cf25286a/0/40"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cc421353-f211-4ac8-b5a2-53d2cf25286a/0/40</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 26, 1967. A singular statement made by
Pres. McKay to the Brethren in their temple meeting (top of page):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cc421353-f211-4ac8-b5a2-53d2cf25286a/0/47"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cc421353-f211-4ac8-b5a2-53d2cf25286a/0/47</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 6, 1967. Mid-page. Spencer muses about
his father Andrew, feeling he would have been a better general authority:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9efcbf61-d0e5-4859-9c15-13bf24665108/0/190"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9efcbf61-d0e5-4859-9c15-13bf24665108/0/190</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">further musing on this page and the bottom of the one before it:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d6733a7-f526-4055-9773-401a6f676e8a/0/191"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d6733a7-f526-4055-9773-401a6f676e8a/0/191</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 21, 1967. Elder Kimball describes the
meeting of the FP & 12 at which Alvin R. Dyer is called to become an
apostle but not a member of the Twelve; he is to be a counselor in the First
Presidency; also the reactions of the Brethren to this unusual and unexpected
move. This page seems to have both some minutes from the meeting on it and also
some journal; the next two pages have some additional description of this
meeting:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/078fe970-e1c9-42a4-a0d5-a16cf5b077ea/0/0"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/078fe970-e1c9-42a4-a0d5-a16cf5b077ea/0/0</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Further notes regarding this situation, evidently
typed up by Elder Kimball, here express some confidential internal views and
thinking by senior church leadership. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/078fe970-e1c9-42a4-a0d5-a16cf5b077ea/0/12"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/078fe970-e1c9-42a4-a0d5-a16cf5b077ea/0/12</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">More discussion from the Brethren in their
temple meeting regarding the status of the additionally called counselors:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9d0ab3-f05e-4b10-a65d-e39a83738a5a/0/131"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9d0ab3-f05e-4b10-a65d-e39a83738a5a/0/131</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 27, 1967. Bottom of page: Elder
Kimball’s description of the new calling/position and seminar for “Regional
Representatives,” including comment on their position or authority, and who
trained them:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/078fe970-e1c9-42a4-a0d5-a16cf5b077ea/0/5"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/078fe970-e1c9-42a4-a0d5-a16cf5b077ea/0/5</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and also (top of page)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/078fe970-e1c9-42a4-a0d5-a16cf5b077ea/0/5"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/078fe970-e1c9-42a4-a0d5-a16cf5b077ea/0/5</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">February 1968. Bottom of page. Reminiscence of a
somewhat famous story about Elder Kimball being mimicked by some deacons while
he sat on the stand as a stake president:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9d0ab3-f05e-4b10-a65d-e39a83738a5a/0/18"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9d0ab3-f05e-4b10-a65d-e39a83738a5a/0/18</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">May 1-2, 1968. Elder Kimball’s musings on the
difficulties and future of the church regarding liquor sales and agitation by
the world regarding the Lord’s program concerning blacks and the priesthood:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9d0ab3-f05e-4b10-a65d-e39a83738a5a/0/159"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9d0ab3-f05e-4b10-a65d-e39a83738a5a/0/159</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">August 17, 1968. Anti-Mormons use a lawsuit to
seek to embarrass the church in matters related to the draft; this portrays
Elder Kimball’s involvement:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9d0ab3-f05e-4b10-a65d-e39a83738a5a/0/245"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/2f9d0ab3-f05e-4b10-a65d-e39a83738a5a/0/245</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">more facts regarding the case as stated by Elder
Hinckley:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0b67baa4-338e-4c7c-af37-977cf28311a5/0/2"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0b67baa4-338e-4c7c-af37-977cf28311a5/0/2</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 25, 1968. Elder Kimball gives an
unusually lengthy description of the special temple pre-Conference testimony
meeting of the First Presidency and the Twelve, including naming those in
attendance and those who spoke; also included is a report from the minutes of
Elder Kimball’s tour of England and his resultant report regarding the
so-called baseball baptisms (3 pages):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0b67baa4-338e-4c7c-af37-977cf28311a5/0/131"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/0b67baa4-338e-4c7c-af37-977cf28311a5/0/131</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">February 6, 1969. Elder Kimball makes
recommendations to the Brethren in the temple meeting that the church pay for
the travel costs of certain local leaders to general conference:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6c444c08-748b-4e4d-80b9-2b9e93ccf2b4/0/46"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6c444c08-748b-4e4d-80b9-2b9e93ccf2b4/0/46</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 18, 1969. Spencer gives a scathing opinion
of an entertainment group that tried to use vulgarity as humor:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6c444c08-748b-4e4d-80b9-2b9e93ccf2b4/0/200"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6c444c08-748b-4e4d-80b9-2b9e93ccf2b4/0/200</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">March 26, 1969. Bottom of page. Elder Kimball
remembers an early stake conference when an ill President George Albert Smith
left him to do the work alone:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6c444c08-748b-4e4d-80b9-2b9e93ccf2b4/0/202"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6c444c08-748b-4e4d-80b9-2b9e93ccf2b4/0/202</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">May 2, 1969. Bottom of page: Elder Kimball
expounds on the word, “Lamanite”:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9c0ac5c0-89ed-46a0-8f97-e1c9f1ef1184/0/16"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9c0ac5c0-89ed-46a0-8f97-e1c9f1ef1184/0/16</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Elder Kimball describes an inspired occurrence
during blessings and settings apart of some missionaries with bad health:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9c0ac5c0-89ed-46a0-8f97-e1c9f1ef1184/0/111"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9c0ac5c0-89ed-46a0-8f97-e1c9f1ef1184/0/111</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">August 11, 1969. Spencer is deeply concerned
when further possibilities of throat problems arise:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9c0ac5c0-89ed-46a0-8f97-e1c9f1ef1184/0/161"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9c0ac5c0-89ed-46a0-8f97-e1c9f1ef1184/0/161</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">September 25, 1969. Elder Kimball attends a
meeting of the FP & 12 in which he is advised that the Indian Placement
Program, which was his baby, had been combined with other Church Social
Services programs; he reminisces about the turn of events and some history:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9c0ac5c0-89ed-46a0-8f97-e1c9f1ef1184/0/385"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9c0ac5c0-89ed-46a0-8f97-e1c9f1ef1184/0/385</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Text of a proposed address on “Eternal
Marriage”:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f8fe2625-569d-48a4-94c2-74fecb918d48/0/226"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f8fe2625-569d-48a4-94c2-74fecb918d48/0/226</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">October 21, 1969. Elder Kimball receives a visit
from Pres. Tanner in which they discuss Pres. McKay’s poor health along with
that of Pres. Smith and Brown, especially as it relates to succession in the
presidency:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6db7e381-0b32-40d6-a0fc-fba4a14c26aa/0/64"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6db7e381-0b32-40d6-a0fc-fba4a14c26aa/0/64</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">November 5, 1969. Elder Kimball meets with the
Church Board of Education regarding the “Negro question” especially as it
related to athletics and negative (“ugly”) press:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6db7e381-0b32-40d6-a0fc-fba4a14c26aa/0/75"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6db7e381-0b32-40d6-a0fc-fba4a14c26aa/0/75</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">November 13, 1969. Elder Kimball mentions a matter
of the utmost importance being discussed in the meeting of the First Presidency
and the Twelve that were discussed very frankly; then most of the page is
redacted. I assume this material relates to the health of the senior apostles
and succession in the presidency (most of three pages redacted):<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6db7e381-0b32-40d6-a0fc-fba4a14c26aa/0/83"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6db7e381-0b32-40d6-a0fc-fba4a14c26aa/0/83</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">This guess is strengthened by some sentences
from this page:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6db7e381-0b32-40d6-a0fc-fba4a14c26aa/0/99"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6db7e381-0b32-40d6-a0fc-fba4a14c26aa/0/99</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">(Elder Kimball is dealing with throat surgery at
this same time.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">December 5, 1969. Mention of the publication of
“Miracle of Forgiveness” and the good the book is beginning to do:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6db7e381-0b32-40d6-a0fc-fba4a14c26aa/0/100"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6db7e381-0b32-40d6-a0fc-fba4a14c26aa/0/100</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Spencer mentions that his book “Miracle of
Forgiveness” lays it on the line pretty strongly:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f4f54143-8764-4d7d-9438-596479d015cb/0/70"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f4f54143-8764-4d7d-9438-596479d015cb/0/70</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">more comment on book and printing more copies:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d6733a7-f526-4055-9773-401a6f676e8a/0/55"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d6733a7-f526-4055-9773-401a6f676e8a/0/55</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and more info on the book, printings, helping
people, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d6733a7-f526-4055-9773-401a6f676e8a/0/96"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d6733a7-f526-4055-9773-401a6f676e8a/0/96</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">and more on superb sales, printings of many
thousands, and where the royalties go:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/145"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/145</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 19, 1970. The deliberations and decisions
surrounding the death and funeral of Pres. McKay and the reorganization of the Joseph
Fielding Smith First Presodemcu; supernal record of historic proceedings; also
some other morality matters mentioned:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f4f54143-8764-4d7d-9438-596479d015cb/0/92">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f4f54143-8764-4d7d-9438-596479d015cb/0/92</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 16, 1970, letter, p. 3. Pres. Kimball's letter to a
son in which he indicates that he believed that the blacks and the priesthood
question (pre-1978) was one of the great tests that some Latter-day Saints had
to pass. (I would add my opinion that LGBT matters fit Elder Kimball's thinking
just as well today.) Elder Kimball also felt weak-member apostasy would
increase.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f4f54143-8764-4d7d-9438-596479d015cb/0/89">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f4f54143-8764-4d7d-9438-596479d015cb/0/89</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 23, 1970. Bro. Kimball's marvelous, detailed account
of the reorganization of the First Presidency where Joseph Fielding Smith
became the President:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5b186ff9-5a66-44d4-837b-50fb6f7f5765/0/48">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5b186ff9-5a66-44d4-837b-50fb6f7f5765/0/48</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">continued:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5b186ff9-5a66-44d4-837b-50fb6f7f5765/0/58">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5b186ff9-5a66-44d4-837b-50fb6f7f5765/0/58</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 23, 1970. From Council minutes: The text of Elder
Kimball's setting apart blessing as Acting President of the Twelve:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f4f54143-8764-4d7d-9438-596479d015cb/0/97">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f4f54143-8764-4d7d-9438-596479d015cb/0/97</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 1970. President Kimball's ponderings on his address on
"Succession" at the Solemn Assembly where Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith
was sustained as Church President; how the Lord took care of questions of JFS's
age: also how Pres. Tanner was inspired to change the order of speakers:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5b186ff9-5a66-44d4-837b-50fb6f7f5765/0/0">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5b186ff9-5a66-44d4-837b-50fb6f7f5765/0/0</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Brother Kimball’s Conference address on “Succession” given
at 1:13:48 in this audio file:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/def8fed0-d196-4b4c-bb77-0958b8345076/0/0">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/def8fed0-d196-4b4c-bb77-0958b8345076/0/0</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 8, 1970. Minutes of General Priesthood Board meeting;
review comments made by Elder Hinckley, at Pres. Kimball's request, reviewing
the conference/solemn assembly at which Pres. JF Smith was sustained:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/d7c7e7dd-1609-42fd-bef1-b581083841ed/0/80">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/d7c7e7dd-1609-42fd-bef1-b581083841ed/0/80</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 9, 1970. Pres. Kimball's temple prayer with Brethren
giving thanks for God's protection over the general conference; uses the
phrase "angels with drawn swords filling the tabernacle" in his
inspired fervent prayer:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/d7c7e7dd-1609-42fd-bef1-b581083841ed/0/88">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/d7c7e7dd-1609-42fd-bef1-b581083841ed/0/88</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">November 4, 1971. Pres. Kimball mentioning how
Elder McConkie helped write Pres. Smith's talks as President:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcatalog.churchofjesuschrist.org%2Fassets%2F016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0%2F0%2F141&data=05%7C01%7C%7Cdcc9b7bfe8044207482b08db1612e057%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638128042546809025%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=9eCbYLgFloRnlsUjwkqq9%2Foj09pxjTJ5nlefmjwdjNE%3D&reserved=0" target="_blank"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: blue; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/141</span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 20, 1970. Pres. Kimball's detailed musings on his
labors with the ever-increasing "homosexuals" that he has worked with
for many years:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb9fabf2-cc04-456d-9ddc-986ac2b9c0e1/0/183">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/cb9fabf2-cc04-456d-9ddc-986ac2b9c0e1/0/183</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 31, 1971. Pres. Kimball's account of the rain holding
off until the end of the dedication service for the Independence visitors
center:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32e27fcb-bc74-4164-85d3-47d728ec7c5d/0/180">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32e27fcb-bc74-4164-85d3-47d728ec7c5d/0/180</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 26, 1971 Bottom half of page) Elder Kimball's
comments on a BYU speech he gave when feeling miserable from heart problems;
felt he hadn't had the time to polish the talk:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/43">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/43</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Here is the audio of the talk itself:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/spencer-w-kimball/church-cure-problems/?M=A">https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/spencer-w-kimball/church-cure-problems/?M=A</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and further comment on the same talk given under great
strain here:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/53">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/53</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 30, 1971. Pres. Kimball's sweet description of a
marvelous blessing given him by Pres. Lee and the Twelve relating to his heart
problems and coming surgery.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/57">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/57</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Pres. Kimball's note of appreciation to Pres. Lee for the
blessing; must be read to be fully appreciated:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/59">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/59</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 15, 1969/70 (both dates given, probably 1970). Elder
Kimball's description of a special meeting of the Brethren at which they prayed
especially for him and his throat problems; includes Elder Kimball's musings
about the special prayers; very powerful yet humbling:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f4f54143-8764-4d7d-9438-596479d015cb/0/74">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f4f54143-8764-4d7d-9438-596479d015cb/0/74</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 15, 1971 (seem to be two Oct. 15s) Pres. Kimball's
little historical description of the special home the church bought in
California for the use of Presidents of the Church who were ill and needed to
get away; this has more info on it than I have ever seen anywhere else. Pres.
Kimball sold the home sometime after he became President:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/91">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/91</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">More here (Oct. 1971):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/93">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/93</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and here (Dec. 1971):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/189">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/189</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 15, 1971. This supplement contains a long thorough
review of all of Pres. Kimball's health problems, mostly throat and heart, as
written by himself while convalescing, as well as some comment he received from
some of the Brethren:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/96">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/96</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 5, 1971. Mention of the call of Elder Marvin J.
Ashton to the Twelve; Pres. Smith is by this point having Pres. Lee do most of
the formal work, basically functioning as Acting President of the Church (years
later Pres. Hinckley would do the same things for Pres. Kimball):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/149">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/149</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A fun little history of Pres. Kimball's special
"Apostle" chair that was reupholstered and given him by the First
Presidency that he now slept in most nights and enjoyed telling visitors about:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/195">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/195</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 21, 1972. While there is constant mention in the
journal of Pres. Kimball's work with homosexuals (men and women), this is the
first instance I have noticed of him working with a man who wanted to be a
woman. A longer account of this same individual that Elder Kimball worked with was
redacted. Elder Kimball believed that people believing themselves to be the
opposite sex of what they were born as equated to pure "fantasy":<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/29">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/29</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 12-13, 1972. Pres. Kimball telling of the now-famous
meeting with Dr. Russell M. Nelson (also Dr. Wilkinson) and Pres. Lee regarding
his decision to have the open heart surgery and prolong his life:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/85">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/85</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A doctrinal letter of explanation (dated August 6, 1970) about
adultery and forgiveness written by Elder McConkie as found in Pres. Kimball's
diary. It explains that the Prophet Joseph taught that for those who have their
calling and election made sure, if they commit adultery they cannot enter the
Celestial Kingdom even if they repent. I have never seen this letter before:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/97">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/97</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 9, 1972. The story of Pres. Kimball's heart surgery as
told by his wife Camilla, including the wording of the blessing given Bro.
Kimball by Pres. Lee in the temple. Sweet, precious, and powerful. Some pages
are redacted (blacked out). A long miserable ordeal of recovery; some of the
medical details are gut-wrenching:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/119">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/119</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">this is the entry where Dr (now President) Nelson talks to
Pres. Kimball about how perfectly the operation went and how he was guided as
he worked (April 21, 1972):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/159">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/159</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wording of Pres. Lee’s blessing from temple minutes:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/131">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/131</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 2, 1972. Pres. Kimball's description of the content of
the meetings following the passing of Pres. JF Smith:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/77">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/77</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">continued, including the wording of the ordination and
setting apart blessing of Pres. Lee by Pres. Kimball:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/103">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/103</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">continued:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/111">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/111</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 7, 1972. Report meeting of the FP and Twelve
regarding the Mexico City Area Conference recently held. Bro. Romney, Pres.
Lee, and Elder McConkie gave reports that are not detailed. It was at this
meeting that Elder McConkie learned from the voice of the Spirit that he would
be called into the Twelve (though that detail is not mentioned here):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/141">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/141</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 6, 1972. Bottom of page and for the next few. Pres.
Kimball's summary of the general conference at which Elder McConkie was
sustained as an apostle and he was sustained as President of the Twelve; along
with other matters:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/153">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/153</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As directed by President Lee, President Kimball lets the
General Authorities know they are General Authorities first and all else second;
also how to prioritize their service and prepare themselves:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">--need to re-find this link--<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 6, 1971. Elder Kimball ruminates on how some
members view sin seriously and others lightly:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f4963e80-ad51-4df2-ad25-97486aa255f9/0/121">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f4963e80-ad51-4df2-ad25-97486aa255f9/0/121</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 9, 1971. Bottom of page. Elder Kimball attends a BYU
Board of Education meeting at which Pres. Wilkinson resigned and it was decided
to create the Clark law school:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1fdf5a9c-072e-4a43-b0b3-a6eb5e0f802f/0/75">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/1fdf5a9c-072e-4a43-b0b3-a6eb5e0f802f/0/75</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 17, 1972. Pres. Kimball turns over the taxing and time-consuming
work of counseling homosexuals to the Church Social Services Department,
explaining how he and Elder Petersen began the work at Pres. McKay's direction
and an estimate of how many people he had worked with:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/199">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/199</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 7, 1972. Mention of a highly spiritual testimony
meeting of the First Presidency and Twelve:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/209<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 29, 1971. Elder Kimball notes the health decline of Elder
Hugh B. Brown and that he rarely can fulfill any assignments:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32e27fcb-bc74-4164-85d3-47d728ec7c5d/0/101">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32e27fcb-bc74-4164-85d3-47d728ec7c5d/0/101</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and (May 27, 1971):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32e27fcb-bc74-4164-85d3-47d728ec7c5d/0/162">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32e27fcb-bc74-4164-85d3-47d728ec7c5d/0/162</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 4, 1971. Elder Kimball meets and gives his opinion of
Dallin Oaks, the new President of BYU:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32e27fcb-bc74-4164-85d3-47d728ec7c5d/0/102">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32e27fcb-bc74-4164-85d3-47d728ec7c5d/0/102</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 21, 1971. Description of a discussion with Eldred G.
Smith, Patriarch to the Church, regarding his responsibilities; discussion
extends to the top of the following page:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32e27fcb-bc74-4164-85d3-47d728ec7c5d/0/155">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32e27fcb-bc74-4164-85d3-47d728ec7c5d/0/155</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 31, 1971. Account of the dedication of the Independence
Missouri visitor center, with the rain postponing till after the service:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32e27fcb-bc74-4164-85d3-47d728ec7c5d/0/180">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32e27fcb-bc74-4164-85d3-47d728ec7c5d/0/180</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">August 26, 1971. Account of a meeting of the FP & 12 in
Manchester England, before an Area Conference, where a majority of the Twelve
and the FP were present; unusual, goes for several pages:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d6733a7-f526-4055-9773-401a6f676e8a/0/142">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/5d6733a7-f526-4055-9773-401a6f676e8a/0/142</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 15, 1971. Elder Kimball’s account of his heart
problems and surgery; many pages. There seems to be two different journal
versions of the meeting of the FP & 12 where Spencer was blessed; one ends
abruptly but another begins some pages later with another recounting of the
same meeting:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/25">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/25</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/56">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/56</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/71">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/71</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Spencer’s note to Pres. Lee about the blessing he gave him.
Exquisite:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/59">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/59</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 2, 1971. Sublime testimony given by President
Kimball to his Brethren in their Quarterly temple meeting:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/61">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/61</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 3, 1971. President Kimball’s description of the
death and funeral of Elder Richard L. Evans, including his feelings and what
took place as he struggled through it all in bad heart health:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/116">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/116</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and more (Nov. 4):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/141">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/016f76fe-df01-4e6a-8117-9ea6797997b0/0/141</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 18, 1972. President Kimball’s detailed description
of the dedication of the Ogden Temple, mixed with notes about his poor
health/heart and voice problems:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/24">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/24</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 9, 1972. President Kimball’s description of the
dedication of the Provo Temple:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/62">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/b93678cd-64e9-49f4-9b20-75efb5c4a4a5/0/62</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A strange note in Pres. Kimball's diary written by Pres.
Benson giving his opinion of the Vietnam war; almost a conspiracy theory:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7847c8d0-16d6-4da4-b5c4-d0574f7130fc/0/51">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7847c8d0-16d6-4da4-b5c4-d0574f7130fc/0/51</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some items at top and bottom of page that seem to deal with
strange doctrines being taught in England in the early 70s:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/41">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/41</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 3, 1973. Bottom of this page and top of next. A
prophecy by Pres. Lee to Elder Kimball, uttered at the incorrectly identified “April
1946” [actually Oct. 1960] general conference, that N. Eldon Tanner would
eventually become one of the apostles:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/106">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/106</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bro. Tanner's conference talk is found here at 41:56:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/16868cd3-0aaf-42f3-b2c5-81d94ec2094b/0/0?lang=eng">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/16868cd3-0aaf-42f3-b2c5-81d94ec2094b/0/0?lang=eng</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Another formal write-up by Pres. Kimball regarding this
prophecy is found here:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/159c5191-46ff-4085-b718-03422207f795/0/4">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/159c5191-46ff-4085-b718-03422207f795/0/4</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 23, 1973. The sad story recounted of a man whose life
had come apart because of seeking wealth:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/110">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/110</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 7, 1973. Pres. Kimball reminisces about his
apostolic ordination and rise in seniority among the Brethren:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/219">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/219</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 2, 1972. Mention of the death of Pres. Joseph Fielding
Smith<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/77">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/77</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Text of blessing of Pres. Kimball ordaining Pres. Lee the
President of the Church, probably taken from the minutes of the meeting:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/103">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/103</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Description of the reorganization meeting of the First
Presidency (Spencer is set apart as President of the Council of the Twelve at
this time):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/111">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/111</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 27, 1972. Elder Kimball mentions trying to write a
biography of President Marion G. Romney:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/114">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/114</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">(I have no idea whatever may have happened to that; Elder F.
Burton Howard eventually published a biography of Brother Romney. Or this
simply may have meant a biographical article for a church magazine.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 17, 1972. Quick mention of a Quarterly meeting of
the Twelve where spiritual experiences are shared:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/231">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f09a8279-34c5-4707-8db4-b85527a9b232/0/231</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 12, 1973. Pres. Kimball and Pres. Benson mediate an
inter-stake-leadership dispute relating to payment of income tax; on the same
page Bro. Kimball talks about computing his own:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7847c8d0-16d6-4da4-b5c4-d0574f7130fc/0/64">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7847c8d0-16d6-4da4-b5c4-d0574f7130fc/0/64</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 9, 1973. Lower part of page. Rendition of examples of
the kinds of serious morality problems/sins found in the church and among local
and mid-level leadership, that become known to the President of the Church,
that the church works to resolve:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/38">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/38</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 10, 1973. Mention of rumor that Elder Benson will be
dropped from the Quorum of Twelve unless he distances himself from the John Birch
Society:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/39">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/39</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This page seems to note some heresies that had crept into
the missions in England, though the information given is far from complete or
explanatory (some at the top of the page and some at the bottom that may be the
same case):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/41">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/41</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 22, 1973. Pres. Kimball comments on the proposed church
budget growth, how faithful people pay their tithing, and how that enables the
Kingdom to grow:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/88">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/88</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 24, 1973. Spencer’s ruminations regarding his
preliminary work on a possible autobiography:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/111">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/111</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 11-12, 1973. Another rough case of homosexuality
to be sorted out:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/206">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/206</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/208">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/208</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 24, 1973. President Kimball’s description of the
last public meeting and talk attended and given by Pres. Lee:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/350">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/350</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 26, 1973. Passing of Pres. Lee and all involved,
with Quorum of the Twelve President Kimball becoming President of the Church.
This is superb choice material, especially regarding reorganization, with the
text of what was said in the temple meeting included and many other precious
things:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/351">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/351</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Dr. Russell M. Nelson's letter to Pres. Kimball relating how
the heart operation went perfectly and how it was made known to him that Bro.
Kimball would one day become the President of the Church; handwritten:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/6">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/6</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk130558075">This and some succeeding and
previous pages discuss the calling and doctrine of the apostleship. Many of the
preceding pages are blacked out/redacted, which causes me to speculate that
they may have been related to a similar subject. This talk by Pres. Joseph
Fielding Smith is all about the apostleship. After many more pages relating to
the apostleship, many more entire pages are blacked out:<o:p></o:p></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6e8f9a20-e1dd-49d7-997c-f7e5a099b893/0/38">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6e8f9a20-e1dd-49d7-997c-f7e5a099b893/0/38</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 17, 1969. This
seems to be material from the minutes of a temple meeting of the FP & 12
where similar subjects were taught and discussed in some detail.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6e8f9a20-e1dd-49d7-997c-f7e5a099b893/0/42">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6e8f9a20-e1dd-49d7-997c-f7e5a099b893/0/42</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 29, 1974. Text
of a formal memo prepared by the secretary to the First Presidency setting
forth certain facts of the ordination and setting apart of several general
authorities, including Elder Bruce R. McConkie, Elder Boyd K. Packer, and a
number of other Brethren:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6e8f9a20-e1dd-49d7-997c-f7e5a099b893/0/106">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/6e8f9a20-e1dd-49d7-997c-f7e5a099b893/0/106</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Two pages of summaries of the doctrine of the apostleship
(1965)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f8fe2625-569d-48a4-94c2-74fecb918d48/0/188">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f8fe2625-569d-48a4-94c2-74fecb918d48/0/188</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">January 1, 1974. Some of President Kimball's first days at
work as President; from here on the journal is of presidential level:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/24">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/24</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">February 22, 1974. Lower part of page. Pres. Kimball
corrects Pres. Benson for some unwise political statements made in a press
interview:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/61">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/61</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 20, 1974. A discussion between Pres. Kimball and the
author of a biographical book about three Smiths (George A., John Henry, and
George Albert) reviewing sensitive and controversial content:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/70">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/70</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For a movie review and info on a different book, see also:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/72">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/72</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 4, 1974. President Kimball is sustained in calling
Elder Neal A. Maxwell to the Twelve, and also two new Assistants, Elder L. Tom Perry
being one of them:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/81">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/81</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 13, 1974. Pres. Kimball sees and embraces his deceased
father; bottom of page:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/95">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/95</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 4-5, 1974. Pres. Kimball again has to
correct/rebuke Pres. Benson regarding his political statements to the press and
issue a correction to the press refuting them:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/72">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/72</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and mentioned again here:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/68">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/7b883382-0b61-44ea-b7c0-d2b7ad9a6b28/0/68</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 18, 1974. Description of the various sessions of
the dedication of the Washington DC Temple for a few pages:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/86">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/86</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">this page notes that Elder Hinckley got sick with fever at
the dedication but was healed after being administered to:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/91">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/91</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This part of the diary contains the text of a talk Pres.
Kimball gave to church employees (Christmas 1974), asking for their best
efforts:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/107">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/107</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 18, 1975. President Kimball and others (Packer, Anderson)
set apart George P. Lee as a mission president. Pres. Kimball writes about how
he has such hopes for this fine young man. So very sad George came apart later,
morally and spiritually, and was excommunicated in the early 1990s:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/180">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/180</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">More here:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/205">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/205</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and more here:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/105">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/105</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ca. January 7-8?, 1976. This material concerns the calling
of Elder David B. Haight to the apostleship. The page before is blacked out and
this page begins in the middle of what seems to be an apostolic charge,
followed by Elder Haight’s acceptance speech before the Brethren, followed by
the verbatim ordination blessing:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/185">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/185</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 21, 1976. Pres. Kimball has meeting with apostles
who are advisors to Historical Dept. regarding book “Story of the Latter-day
Saints”:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/205">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/205</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Late September, 1976. Entries touching on the reconstitution
of the Assistants, First Council and Quorum of the Seventy that would be
announced in the coming conference:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/205">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/205</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/206">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/206</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/208">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/208</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/210">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/210</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">President Benson is again embroiled in a small public
political matter in which Pres. Kimball says poor judgment was used:
[looks like this has been redacted]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/192">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/192</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">November 13, 1976. President Kimball has a dream or vision
of the deceased President Lee:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/227">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/32f8a99f-6414-4376-8fdc-af60c8c33e8e/0/227</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Pres. Kimball meets the new President of Mexico in such a
manner as to influence another important Mexican official to think more highly
of the “Mormons”:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/68">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/68</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">May 27, 1977. Purchase of property for a possible Temple in
Sandy:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/157">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/157</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/164">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/164</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/171">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/171</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 1, 1977. The First Presidency discusses some
objectionable matters relating to books written by church history department
people:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/156">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/156</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 2, 1977. President Kimball tells all the general
authorities that they may all restore lost blessings (lost by excommunication)
subject to direction from the President of the Twelve (Pres. Benson):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/159">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/159</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 7, 1977. The First Presidency decide to have Elder
Delbert L. Stapley review Elder McConkie's book "on the coming of
Christ" which probably meant his book "The Millennial Messiah".
Also a “homosexual” group’s plans to hold a convention in the Hotel Utah are
cancelled:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/163">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/163</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/164">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/164</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 12, 1977. Comment on threats from apostates that
necessitate church security personnel watching things closely:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/167">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/95493962-3d90-489c-bdb7-acbb94bae872/0/167</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Early 1978. Pres. Kimball meets several times with various
apostles about troubles within the Church Historical Department:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/0">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/0</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The entries for June 1978 regarding the priesthood
revelation. The revelation actually came on June 1 and was reconfirmed in power
to all General Authorities on June 8, at which time announcement was made to
the world:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/6">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/6</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">June 2, 1978. The day after the revelation on the priesthood
was received, both Elder Packer and Elder McConkie met, evidently separately,
with Pres. Kimball for a while. I assume these meetings were to help prepare
the letter of announcement of the revelation which is now D&C OD2: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/109">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/031d72e2-f83d-46b7-a88b-66e2b2e47180/0/109</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 20, 1978. . Pres. Kimball asked three of the
Brethren, including Elder McConkie, to help him prepare his (Kimball’s) conference
addresses for the October 1978 conference, remarking how nice it was to receive
help and suggestions from them:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/12">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/12</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Early 1979. Entries on various discussions with authors
regarding whether or not Pres. Kimball would write a forward to their books. He
did for some and didn't for others. He did for Russell Nelson; see the
following page as well that critics made a big deal about; Edward Kimball (a son)
wrote the "fulsome" line in brackets:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/20">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/20</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">October 2, 1979. Church Patriarch put on emeritus status<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/68" target="_blank">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/68</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Late November, 1978. Recurrence of subdural hematoma; these
surgeries seem to really slow down Pres. Kimball, who was also getting into his
mid-80s:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/70">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/70</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 6, 13, 1979. Discussion with Elder
McConkie of a possible pamphlet reviewing the doctrine of the creation;
this may have eventually culminated in Elder McConkie's <i>Ensign</i> article
on "Christ and the Creation" which was published in a 1982 Ensign;
also Pres. Kimball's famous statement about the need to reduce and simplify
church printed material output:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/26">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/26</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">September 1979. Eye problems and brain surgery:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/66">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/66</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">April 22, 1980. Further discussion of the FP regarding troubling
Historical Dept. issues:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/80" target="_blank">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/80</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 23, 1981. Mention of calling of Elder Hinckley into
First Presidency and Elder Neal Maxwell into the Twelve:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/144">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c317380e-ea0f-4b20-8853-914ff36f9498/0/144</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">There are no diary entries after 1981 from Pres. Kimball. He was too old
and ill by then.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-82125076764251695722023-01-21T21:47:00.002-08:002023-01-21T21:47:52.375-08:00President Joseph F. Smith Clarifies Doctrine<p style="text-align: center;"> (Submitted by Dennis B. Horne)</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIq5C7QpxkSJKX1D5CU7hiSrXWwnbi4tBAzQnqwsN2nk4HH-Dx_U_9IpMBqn1iiv9OHRs3ZlH6O-lUx_TQ8J2BZixwZU67j-5DSg7l0mceVo9VyFVFiTxaEM1B5beb6uui3ReT5FBz_fNymMEnisrRyuLRFKcoIiymFsZGkPZzrcAIMK0tDUzcOjdwkA/s643/joseph_f_smith.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="643" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIq5C7QpxkSJKX1D5CU7hiSrXWwnbi4tBAzQnqwsN2nk4HH-Dx_U_9IpMBqn1iiv9OHRs3ZlH6O-lUx_TQ8J2BZixwZU67j-5DSg7l0mceVo9VyFVFiTxaEM1B5beb6uui3ReT5FBz_fNymMEnisrRyuLRFKcoIiymFsZGkPZzrcAIMK0tDUzcOjdwkA/s320/joseph_f_smith.jpeg" width="249" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Editorial
note: The below quotations are excerpts from letters written by President
Joseph F. Smith answering doctrinal inquiries received by him. His answers
largely speak for themselves:<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">…I have this to say: it is
certainly unwise for the Elders or any other member of the Church to advocate
doctrines that are not clearly set forth in the revealed word of God, and
concerning which, in consequence, difference of opinion exist. No good can come
from it, but on the contrary, much evil may result. Had the Lord desired or
designed that such doctrines should be promulgated, he would have clearly and
fully defined them, as he has those beautiful and simple laws and ordinances
known as “the first principles of the Gospel.” While it is far from my purpose
to stifle thought and free speech among the brethren, or to brand as “false
doctrine” any and every mystery of the kingdom, it is nevertheless my wish and my
advice, in which Presidents Winder and Lund, my counselors, heartily join, that
the Elders should not make a practice of preaching upon these abstruse themes,
these partly revealed principles, respecting which there are such wide
differences of belief.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What is
called the Adam-God doctrine may properly be classed among the mysteries. The
full truth concerning it has not been revealed to us; and until it is revealed
all wild speculations, sweeping assertions and dogmatic declarations relative
thereto, are out of place and improper. We disapprove of them and especially
the public expression of such views. In the absence of Elder K-----, and
without any oral or written statement by him as to his belief regarding this
doctrine, we do not feel called upon, nor would it be right to pass judgment in
his case; but we will simply say that the accepted doctrine concerning our
father Adam, the great sire of the human race, is as follows:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He is
Michael, the Ancient of Days, the future God of this earth, when it shall
become celestialized and shine like unto a sea of glass mingled with fire, the
glorified home of celestial beings forever. Hence Adam stands at the head of
the human family, presides over them spiritually and temporally, and will come
in due time as the Ancient of Days to call his children together, according to
the scriptures, both ancient and modern. He will preside over them forever, and
be their God eternally; this, of course, after the Millennial reign of Christ.
Christ is not Adam, nor is Adam Christ, but both are eternal Gods, and it may
even be said Fathers, since they are the parents of eternal or spiritual
children. (Correspondence, Joseph F. Smith to Bishop Edward Bunker, February
27, 1902, 2)<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">***<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">In all such matters as this there
is one thing that should be kept constantly in mind, and that is, that the
theories, speculations and opinions of man, however intelligent, ingenious and
plausible, are not necessarily doctrines of the Church or principles that God
has commanded his servants to preach. No doctrine is a doctrine of this Church
until it has been accepted as such by the Church, and not even a revelation
from God should be taught to his people until it has first been approved by the
presiding authority—the one through whom the Lord makes known His will for the
guidance of the saints as a religious body. The spirit of revelation may rest
upon any one, and teach him or her many things for personal comfort and
instruction. But these are not doctrines of the Church, and, however true, they
must not be inculcated until proper permission is given.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognizes, outside the direct and
heaven-inspired utterances of the prophet, seer and revelator, four standards
of doctrine, namely, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants
and the Pearl of Great Price, containing the revelations of God given in times
past and present for the guidance, salvation and exaltation of his people.
These books have been accepted by the Church, in general conference assembled,
as its doctrinal standards, and nothing outside of them, whether true or false,
has any practical bearing or significance, so far as the conduct of the Church
is concerned. If our elders would always remember these things, and preach and
practice accordingly, the differences you speak of would speedily disappear. We
should avoid disputations, whatever our differences of opinion may be, and
following the advice of Paul, all learn to speak the same things. Now to answer
your questions:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First – “Which
is the God we worship throughout eternity, Father, Son or Adam?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We are to
worship the Father in the name of the Son.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Second –
“Did Adam live [as] a mortal being twice?”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is
nothing in the records named that so states, and it is not a true doctrine. . .
.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fourth –
“We lived our first estate before the world was; then, in Genesis 1:27, we find
that ‘male and female created he them;’ next we have the fact, in Genesis 2:7,
that man became a living soul, to live, suffer and die, and yet through these
become as God is. Please explain fully the two seeming spiritual creations.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They are
not both spiritual creations; the first was spiritual, the second was temporal.
This is evident from Genesis 2:4, 5, where, in reference to the first or spirit
creation, it speaks of the making of “the earth and the heavens,” “every plant
of the earth before it was in the earth,” and “every herb of the field before
it grew,” and of man before there was “a man to till the ground.” It is
probably the use of the word “soul,” in Genesis 2:7 that confuses you. With us
the souls is not the spirit, as with the world; the soul is the spirit and the
body combined (D&C 88:15). It was not until the spirit or “breath of life”
passed into the body that the Lord God formed “of the dust of the ground,” that
“man became a living soul.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Correspondence, Joseph F. Smith to Sister Lillie Golsan [Autaugaville,
Alabama], July 16, 1902)<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">***<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">You seem to be somewhat charged
with the spirit of inquiry which, however, appears to be in the air. Some of
the most foolish queries imaginable are coming in from all quarters. You say
the rumor is that when you were asked by a man of this town, if Joseph and
Hyrum Smith had been resurrected that your reply was that, ‘their bones were
gone’. Then you ask: “was Joseph and Hyrum ever brought to Salt Lake and
buried?” To the latter question I answer No. Their remains were left in their
silent resting place in Nauvoo where, in all probability, their ashes still
remain. The man in your town, whoever he may be, reporting as above, does so
out of whole cloth and with no foundation in fact that I have any knowledge of.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Again you
state that it is reported that I “stated in Rexburg, Idaho, in public, that I
saw the Savior face to face and shook hands with him and saw the nail prints in
his hands.” In answer to this I have only to say that to the best of my
recollection I never made any such statement as the above either in Rexburg or
any other place. It is very strange indeed how such stories get in circulation.
Some people seem to be drawing largely upon their imagination but they should
respect the truth sufficiently not to attribute these fancies to anyone else,
not responsible for them.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
(Correspondence, Joseph F. Smith to Joseph J. Porter, [Escalante, Utah],
February 11, 1902)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">***<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You ask:
“Is the Spirit of the Lord and the Holy Ghost one and the same?” When they are
used synonymously – yes – and they are frequently used in the same sense. But
literally – they are not one and the same. Sec. 84, pg. 45-46 D&C has no
reference to the <i>Holy Ghost</i>, who is a personage of spirit (D&C
130:22) but to the spirit of God which giveth light to <i>every man</i> that
cometh <i>into</i> the world. The Holy Ghost is only given to those baptized,
etc.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Question 2:
‘Was the Apostle Paul one of the Twelve Apostles?” To my mind, without doubt he
was. How could he have met with the Twelve, and why should Peter have chided
him for saying some things hard to be understood, etc. and how could he have
been recognized and regarded as having authority—in the Church—if he had not
been one of the Twelve? Could the House of God be a House of Order with Paul
preaching the gospel as an apostle independently of the Twelve? It does not
matter to me if the Bible is silent on the matter. Common sense and a knowledge
of the order of the Priesthood proves to me beyond doubt that neither Paul nor
Barnabas would have been recognized as Apostles if they had not been of the
Twelve. (Correspondence, Joseph F. Smith to Brother Clark, February 10, 1902<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">***<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Your letter
. . . came duly to hand asking the following question: Is the stand taken
correct that the church is built upon the Rock of Revelation, and is the
subject referred to by Christ in speaking to Peter? I answer Yes. This has been
the opinion and conclusion, as also the strong argument, of all the prominent
writers in the Church from P.P. and Orson Pratt down to this day. The Catholics
claim that Christ meant that <i>Peter</i> was the Rock. The Protestants that <i>Christ</i>
was the Rock. <i>Both</i> must be wrong snice not one, then nor since, could
possibly tell whether Peter was an Apostle or Jesus was the Christ without <i>Revelation</i>
from God!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It seems
supremely ridiculous, to suppose that Jesus meant to build His Church upon
Peter! And yet it is quite as consistent to believe that as to believe the Lord
meant himself in this declaration: for not even the disciples could know or
tell that Jesus was the Christ but by revelation from God. “Flesh and blood”
could not reveal this truth unto them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
question was: “Whom do men say that I, the son of man, am?” . . . “Some say
John the Baptist; some say Elias and others Jeremias; or one of the
prophets”—“But whom say ye that I am?” And Peter said, “Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered, “Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona.” (Why blessed?) “For flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee
but my Father who is in heaven. . . . and upon this rock (revelation from the
Father in heaven) I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not
prevail against it.” The words “And I say also unto thee that thou are Peter”
were spoken but I emphasize the great principle of Revelation from God by which
Peter knew that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Church
of Christ was and is built upon the Rock of Revelation and the Apostles and
prophets are the foundation stone, Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
(Correspondence, Joseph F. Smith to George E. Browning, Ogden UT, July 17,
1902)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">***<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If I
understand you aright, you wish to know if you are doing wrong, as a Latter-day
Saint, in studying the principles of socialism, and in joining a socialistic
club for that purpose.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In answer
to your question I will say that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints disapproves of its members joining societies and organizations of all
kinds whose influence and teachings would have a tendency to divert their
interests in other directions than the one great purpose for which this church
was instituted, namely, the building up of the kingdom of God. It makes no war
on any sect or system, but it defends itself against all inroads attempted to
be made upon faith and allegiance of its members. It encourages them to seek
learning out of the “best books,” but it depreciates among all other evils the waste
of time and demoralization involved in the study of vain philosophy and the
foolish vagaries of men.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I would not
be understood as singling out Socialism and stigmatizing it. I am now speaking
generally. I believe that the system in question contains many beautiful
theories, and that many of its aims are, but I am not prepared to recognize its
avowed ultimate [goal?] as one of these. . . . I cannot see in it any
resemblance to the “order of Enoch,” which you mention; for when that order is
established and in full operation it will be found that the government of God
still exists, and, in fact, that that is God’s government, for the salvation
and exaltation of his children.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Moreover,
it is a plain inference from the teachings of the inspired prophets of ancient
and of modern times, that during the great millennium, when Christ will reign
and the United Order of Zion will flourish as never before upon this planet,
other governments will coexist with it, other churches and nations will enjoy
their rights and liberties under its benevolent and protecting care. This being
the case, and this the character of the world in which we are taking part, is
it not sufficient to belong to such a church, without connecting one’s self
with any other sect or system which must of necessity be less consequential? In
other words, if the Church of Christ, out of which the Kingdom of God shall
grow, contains all that is necessary for the accomplishment of so grand and
noble an object as the brotherhood of man, based upon true and righteous
principles, what is the use of Socialism or any other ism to a Latter-day
Saint, except in so far as it is interesting to note the gradual working of the
leaven of the Gospel and the general progress of mankind toward the fulness of
the truth?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While I see
no harm in the wise and intelligent study of socialistic principles, such of
them at least as are true and as the teachings of the Gospel and the spirit of
the Lord will approve, nor in belonging to a club or society having that as its
only purpose, I would advise you, dear sister, to be prudent and careful, and
not allow yourself to be drawn into any obligations, political or otherwise,
that might possibly result from connecting one’s self with such an
organization. I need not inform you that it is a part of the creed of a
Latter-day Saint to “prove all things and hold fast to that which is good,” and
that if “there is something virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or
praiseworthy, we seek after those things,” recognizing them as part of our religion,
which embraces all that is good and pure in the teachings of all men; but
neither do I need to argue the necessity that exists for one who would be a
savior to others, to keep his or her own feet firmly planted upon the Rock of
Salvation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Correspondence, Joseph F.
Smith to Miss Leila Marier, Lewisville Idaho, March 3, 1902)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
See also James R. Clark, <i>Messages of the First Presidency</i> 5:23-34.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
See also Clark, <i>Messages</i> 4:269-71, and “<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/04/the-father-and-the-son?lang=eng">The
Father and the Son,” here</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
This question is probably the result of foolishly trying to harmonize evolution
with the teachings of the scriptures. The reasoning is supposedly that Adam,
the first man, was the mortal offspring of an ape or some kind of neanderthal,
that God then somehow made him immortal so he could fall; he fell and became
mortal again and was cast out of the Garden of Eden with Eve. Pres. Smith is
here rejecting this false theory. See also "<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/02/the-origin-of-man?lang=eng">The
Origin of Man</a>" <i>Messages</i> 4:199-06; "Pre-Existent
States" <i>Messages</i> 4:261-65; "Letter to President Samuel O.
Bennion" <i>Messages</i> 4:266-67, and <i>Messages</i> 5:289-90.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
See also “<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/02/the-origin-of-man?lang=eng">The
Origin of Man</a>,” <i>Messages </i>4:199-206.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
The inquirer may have mistaken Pres. Joseph F. Smith for Elder Melvin J.
Ballard. This type of mistaken identity with the general authorities was and is
very common.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Compare Clark, <i>Messages </i>4:32-34 and 5:3-4<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-43366540236114614032022-11-20T08:47:00.001-08:002022-11-22T13:27:00.490-08:00President Joseph F. Smith Explains What “Mormonism” Really Is<p style="text-align: center;"><b>(submitted by Dennis B. Horne)</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkefY3T3OHKez6vyYGKELZYhEqfvlXRIbj6D86bbwGXiWT6_mCJHGwafapJ3YHZ23WPkgUF5HUrYKzin7dlFZS8HqW6fwkBH_8LbyTHMnYBzAoryo4Cz5VbJX-BMqJcynWFMwC73CP9lUatPldF3ydZOefeS74gofnjKQzTTw1G9fa9kUrPVtiiToftw/s643/president_joseph_f_smith_photo.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="643" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkefY3T3OHKez6vyYGKELZYhEqfvlXRIbj6D86bbwGXiWT6_mCJHGwafapJ3YHZ23WPkgUF5HUrYKzin7dlFZS8HqW6fwkBH_8LbyTHMnYBzAoryo4Cz5VbJX-BMqJcynWFMwC73CP9lUatPldF3ydZOefeS74gofnjKQzTTw1G9fa9kUrPVtiiToftw/s320/president_joseph_f_smith_photo.jpeg" width="249" /></a></div><br /><b><br /></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><i>Editorial Note: In the below
article, President Smith defines the label “Mormonism” very much as President
Russell M. Nelson has. These prophets are one in their views on this matter.
President Smith also expounds in some detail on many facets of church practice
and doctrine, including the future. Most of the material is as true and
relevant today as it was a hundred and twenty years ago—there is great
consistency in church teachings and practice. One effect of his message is to
make one proud to be a faithful member of the Restored Church of Jesus Christ.
The original article is titled, <a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a8b335cc-080c-4c90-b72a-21d3add7f4ad/0/371">The
“Mormonism” of Today</a>:</i><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>[Two and a
half pages of explanatory material regarding plural marriage omitted.] Marriage
is regarded by the Latter-day Saints as a sacrament. Under its higher
ecclesiastical law it involves an everlasting covenant. That does not end with
death. The marriage does not take place in the resurrection, but in time and in
this world. It is of the nature of that marriage in the Garden of Eden between
a man and a woman in whom then there was no death. It was a wedding of
immortals. That which was lost through sin in the fall, was restored through
obedience and the atonement of Christ in the regeneration, and the resurrection
brings the parted pair together again as one, “no more twain but one flesh,”
spiritual but tangible and eternal. That which is sealed on earth today by
divinely revealed authority is sealed in heaven and remains in spite of death,
immutable, and abides forever.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The family
thus formed is the basis of an ever-increasing kingdom and dominion continuing
in worlds without end.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Marriages are permitted for time only, as all persons are not fitted for the
higher conditions and the pure and sacred obligations they impose. The secular
law in all cases whether for time or eternity, is honored, and that requires a
license and a ceremony to be recorded under the State statutes, which provide heavy
penalties for their violation. Monogamic wedlock is thus established by law in
Utah, and is really more rigidly observed than in any other part of the Union.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Mormonism”
inculcates chastity of life, self-restraint, temperance, abstinence from
stimulants, order, peace, charity and fraternity. It teaches submission to law
and promotes true patriotism. It recognizes the institutions of this country as
established under Divine direction. It does not unite church and state. It
supports each in its own sphere, but regards them as separate and distinct, and
holds that neither should encroach upon the domain of the other. The “Mormon”
Church does not dictate the politics of its members or direct citizens how they
shall vote. The only restraint it claims to exercise as to political office is,
that before any man who holds an ecclesiastical position which demands his
entire services for the Church, becomes a candidate for a secular office which
would take him from his Church duties, he shall obtain permission to do so from
its presiding authorities. This is absolutely necessary to proper Church
discipline, and is only reasonable and just. When that consent has been
obtained, no man occupying a political office in this land is freer than he to
perform his duty to his country, nor enjoys greater liberty as an American
citizen. Notwithstanding all that is said and imagined as to the interference
of the Church in political affairs, no citizen can truthfully assert that he
has been deprived by the Church of his freedom, or that the Church has
attempted to coerce or control conventions, elections, or legislatures.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Mormonism”
is a term coined by its adversaries. It cannot mean anything but that which was
taught by Mormon. He was a prophet of God on this hemisphere about sixteen
centuries ago. His doctrines can be learned from the book that bears his name.
It was translated by Joseph Smith from metallic plates covered with ancient
hieroglyphics and deposited by Mormon when his nation was about to perish,
under the warlike race from which our present Indian tribes descended. Those
doctrines are, simply, the gospel of Jesus Christ as he delivered it in person
on this land, after His resurrection and ascension from Palestine. They are
unmixed with the precepts of men. They are the principles of Salvation. They
teach faith, hope and charity. They show the necessity of belief in God and
obedience to His commands. They require repentance from sin, baptism by
immersion in water by one having divine authority, for the remission of sins
through Christ’s atonement, and they promise the gift of the Holy Ghost through
the laying on of hands and all the gifts of that Spirt enjoyed of old. They
explain the true order of the Church organization and make plain the religion
of the Redeemer.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Book of
Mormon gives the history of this continent back to a remote period. It
describes the customs and doings of the early inhabitants of the land and
traces their origin. It gives the places of cities, temples, fortifications and
buildings, the ruins of many of which have been discovered since the book was
published. It treats of the wars, troubles, divisions of tribes, their
religion, rebellion, travels, triumphs and tribulations, and forms a study for
the archaeologist and the antiquarian.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Mormonism,”
then, is the pure gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ revealed anew in these latter
times. Its advocates are not “Mormons” any more than they are Isaiahs or
Ezekiels, Peters or Pauls, for they believe in the Old and the New Testaments
as well as in the Book of Mormon. Their proper name is Latter-day Saints, in
distinction from that of the former-day saints. They claim to have a mission to
proclaim the “everlasting gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue and people,”
and brought to earth by the angel predicted by John the Divine in the
Apocalypse. They gather in places appointed of God and his elect, called from
all quarters of the earth. They “seek first the kingdom of God;” that is, His
spiritual kingdom set up on the earth for the last days and for the last time,
in the “dispensation of the fulness of times,” in which all things in Christ
are to be gathered in one. The elders of the Church go into the world for this
purpose, without pay or support other than that which is voluntarily bestowed
by their hearers. They travel “without purse or scrip.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
They are often despised and rejected. They are men of pure lives devoted to the
welfare of humanity. They are constantly libeled and maligned. They bear their
cross with patience.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Their reward comes from
above. They invade no man’s family. They have no inducements to offer to
converts except the blessings that come from obedience to the truth, and a
witness from God to each soul that accepts the message of salvation. To these
may be added the assurance of persecution and obloquy and in many instances
mobocracy and violence.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
“Mormons” or Latter-day Saints are baptized by one spirit into one body. They
are striving to live together in love, and to observe the golden rule. They are
organized into a compact ecclesiastical body, and are guided by apostles and
prophets, pastors and teachers, and all the ministerial authorities had in the
primitive Christian Church. These are inspired by divine revelation for the
work of the ministry and the perfecting of the saints, and to give counsel and
advice to them in all things pertaining to their welfare. But everything in the
Church has to be done by common consent. The people prosper under the system.
They are advised to own the land on which they live and the homes that shelter
them. The home is held sacred by the saints as the beginning of their heaven.
They rear their families in the fear of God. The song of praise and the voice
of prayer are heard in their habitations. They are becoming a power in the
earth because of the virtues and the strength of the religion that is intensely
spiritual and also eminently practical.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Mormonism”
is for the body as well as for the spirit. It is a religion for today. By right
living now, its votaries are prepared for the future. By laying a firm
foundation in their world, they expect to be able to build upon it in the world
to come. No one need fear the spread of “Mormonism,” for that means the spread
of righteousness and order and peace. It is light in the midst of the darkness
of this world. It contains the solution of every religious problem that has
vexed and divided Christendom for centuries. It holds for future development
the settlement of the conflict between capital and labor. It bears divine
authority sent down from heaven in the nineteenth century, and it will not be
taken from earth again. It will prepare the way for the coming of the King of
kings, whose right it is to reign, and until then its people and their leaders
are required to remain “in subjection to the powers that be,” and to live
honoring kings, presidents, magistrates and municipalities and to upholding
wholesome law wherever they reside.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Mormonism”
will be opposed and fought against, but it will not be overcome. It is of God
and not of man. It is vital in every part. It puts down sin and vice and
regards lust with abhorrence. It brings its devotees not only to the “unity of
the faith,” but to concert of purpose and of action. It leads them to
individual communion with Deity, and at the same time to perform their duties
to one another on the earth. It promotes industry, thrift, education, progress,
the fine arts as well as the common labors of life, and seeks for the
acquirement of everything that is useful and beautiful in this world, and the
securing of all the highest glories and exaltations in the world to come.
“Mormonism” is God’s truth manifested to man, and it will endure and conquer
and abide forever.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a8b335cc-080c-4c90-b72a-21d3add7f4ad/0/371">https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a8b335cc-080c-4c90-b72a-21d3add7f4ad/0/371</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
For further information about this concept, see: http://www.truthwillprevail.xyz/2022/04/getting-or-creating-planets.html<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
This is no longer current practice, the Church having gradually moved away from
that method of missionary service during the early part of the last century.
Yet most missionaries still bear the expenses of their own missions today.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
For further explanation of this phrase, see Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s October
2022 General Conference address here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/41holland?lang=eng<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Regarding the persecution most members experience, see Pres. Nelson’s article
here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2020/04/the-future-of-the-church-preparing-the-world-for-the-saviors-second-coming?lang=eng<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-33262753158464687902022-10-31T12:10:00.001-07:002022-10-31T12:10:32.126-07:00President Joseph F. Smith Speaks of His Revelations and of Testimony vs. Doubt<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>(submitted by
Dennis B. Horne)</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1s_mGEiHsAp9jaXODRO9K7RGAfeyxFjYsSasCQdE8FUkfAxwvj38q7veH-evDhsqZzGM2vjuPVM5neqNIYwl9glitLerGsE3bVGgxinTl7WqHJTVgFkxUi1quoNk1T4sR65YRBVRAWd0BIBbJ8mio6ySAx9LbEDovEDb5C9bl_jOFLZpopL3-O3MINQ/s846/JFS_First_Presidency_1905_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="625" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1s_mGEiHsAp9jaXODRO9K7RGAfeyxFjYsSasCQdE8FUkfAxwvj38q7veH-evDhsqZzGM2vjuPVM5neqNIYwl9glitLerGsE3bVGgxinTl7WqHJTVgFkxUi1quoNk1T4sR65YRBVRAWd0BIBbJ8mio6ySAx9LbEDovEDb5C9bl_jOFLZpopL3-O3MINQ/s320/JFS_First_Presidency_1905_large.jpg" width="236" /></a></div><br /><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk116386810;">Joseph F. Smith </span><a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/d2849da8-0edf-46fa-a3bd-6e5753c94ebb/0/0"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk116386810;">letter to Edith E. Smith</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk116386810;">, undated</span> (but written later than
1901):<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal">My darling daughter Edith,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">You asked me if I had ever received
a Revelation since I have been the President of the Church. For me to answer
you specifically and in detail would require much time and the history of many
things. Besides it might appear to be in praise of myself or even egotistical.
I would rather that those who possess the Spirit of revelation and discernment
who know me and my course of life should speak for me than to speak for myself.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">But to answer your question, I can
and will say that the Lord has revealed to me many precious things both before
and since my Presidency of the Church.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">In fact—my whole life has been
favored by a continuous inspiration from God which has led me in the
performance of my duty each and every day thereof, inasmuch that I have been preserved
from my enemies, from the power of the destroyer, from error in doctrine, in
precept or example.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><a name="_Hlk116386714">Under the
influence of the Spirit of Inspiration and Revelation from God, I have been
able to direct the affairs of the Church without one misstep or mistake.</a>
The Church has prospered under my administration, and has made steady growth and
development in the face of the most determined opposition and wicked
misrepresentation, ever wrought against it. And it has gained more friends and credit
for efficiency and good works than in double that length of time before.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">The history of my presidency will
establish so far whether I have been inspired of God or of man.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">The Lord has mercifully revealed to
me my duty at every turn. He has shown me many of the wicked intentions of our
enemies, and has preserved me from their cunning devices. He has given me
strength and courage to reprove evildoers, and to speak the truth regardless of
consequences. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Under my administration, peace,
harmony and good will have prevailed in the general councils of the Priesthood
to a remarkable degree, and the friends of the church have been devoted to the
utmost extent toward the upbuilding of Zion.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><a name="_Hlk116388929">For all of
which I take no honor to myself, but give the credit unto God. The tree is
known by its fruits; we do not gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles. I
have no desire to extol myself or praise my efforts for the Church.</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">It has not seemed necessary for the
Lord to require me to write any specific Revelation.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
The many we already have written are far too little read and understood. My
plain duty has been to preach and teach observance and obedience to those we
have, and it is revealed to me beyond a doubt that when we understand and obey
them as we should, more will be given as the church and the world may need, and
the Lord in his wisdom may see fit to give. Affectionately your father, Joseph
F. Smith.</p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">* * *<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal">Dear Sister [Virginia Prescott]. . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Your testimony is, no doubt, very
sweet to you, as such a testimony is to all who love the truth as it is in
Christ, our Savior. It makes so great a difference to one who seeks to follow
the Lord whether he knows he is approved of Heaven or only believes, or perhaps
only hopes it. The assurance of the Spirit of God is like an anchor within the
veil, we <i>know</i> in whom we trust, all doubt, uncertainty and dubiety is
removed, and we have a divine strength given us that all others lack. This
testimony brings great thankfulness to our Heavenly Father for His mercy and
loving kindness, and a peace of mind which passeth all understanding fills our
souls, which peace is to us, a “pearl beyond all price.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
reception of so great a blessing brings humility for we realize how infinite is
God and how weak are the children of humanity; and in the fight for salvation
humility is “half the battle.” God gives us weaknesses that we may in humility
trust in Him, and also that we may be merciful to our fellows, who, like us,
have their peculiarities of disposition and character, ‘weakness of the flesh’
which by God’s grace it is our privilege to overcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Correspondence, <a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/a8b335cc-080c-4c90-b72a-21d3add7f4ad/0/446">Joseph
F. Smith to Virginia E. Prescott</a>, Kissimmee, Florida, July 17, 1903)</p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
D&C 138, which is a written exception to this statement, came at the end of
Pres. Smith’s life.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-71871582472527867752022-10-23T18:23:00.004-07:002022-10-23T18:23:57.061-07:00President Harold B. Lee Testifies about Revelation in Book of Mormon Translation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQIB_G9YdX11KAI3EOR6TnjGsYp1yW764vpEvXP6g1vmWfBvkiqe3t0DkbjfWyXMUJjodzlJ7BmD1-EEl_vShE_CTLti3RC35lMPjk2fLi2G6JNfBdDtMVlpUwFfYaMoqUD647gHvEu4G2JCywbtT8orlz_kN8HUClYM9BgTyRAECitAfP43ES-DGRQ/s1240/harold_b_lee_photo%20(1).jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="697" data-original-width="1240" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQIB_G9YdX11KAI3EOR6TnjGsYp1yW764vpEvXP6g1vmWfBvkiqe3t0DkbjfWyXMUJjodzlJ7BmD1-EEl_vShE_CTLti3RC35lMPjk2fLi2G6JNfBdDtMVlpUwFfYaMoqUD647gHvEu4G2JCywbtT8orlz_kN8HUClYM9BgTyRAECitAfP43ES-DGRQ/s320/harold_b_lee_photo%20(1).jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">by Dennis B. Horne</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p> In late
1973, only two months before he passed away, President Harold B. Lee visited
Rick’s College (now BYU-Idaho), where he attended a luncheon and then gave the
college devotional address. As President of Rick’s at that time, Henry B.
Eyring was present with President Lee and described the events in his journal.
These journal notations ended up in his biography, where they portray an unusually
intense spiritual outpouring among those present.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At the
luncheon, held in President Lee’s honor, President Eyring recorded that
“President Lee began to speak. . . . He spoke with power, emotion, and
informality that I cannot recreate on this page. He spoke of his own calling,
saying, ‘If you think Satan doesn’t try to tempt the prophet, you’re wrong. I’m
his prime target on earth.’”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
This event foreshadowed the spiritual intensity of the coming devotional, held
immediately afterward. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Later that
evening President Eyring recorded a few memories of what President Lee said
during his address, wherein <i>the</i> Prophet of God spoke as <i>the</i>
Prophet of God. He remembered President Lee prophesying that the United States
of America would never fall, and also that he recognized that there was an
unusually strong feeling of the Spirit present during his remarks. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Although
President Eyring did not note the fact in his journal, President Lee took
occasion in this devotional address to speak of the power of the Holy Spirit
that can be present in “translation” in the Restored Church of Jesus Christ. He
discussed this miracle in some detail, in <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>regards to both of his recent general
conference talks and to translation of the Book of Mormon (and by association,
the Book of Abraham). President Lee’s statements leave no room for equivocation
or doubt. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is no
printed version of President Lee’s address available, so the below constitutes
a partial transcript; or, one can simply <a href="https://byui-media.ldscdn.org/byui_ft/devo_audio/1973_10_26_ADV_LeeH.mp3">listen
to the audio version</a>, with comment about Book of Mormon translation starting
at about 44:40. President Lee said:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">Let me tell you something in a way of a testimony now.
We've wondered how the prophet Joseph Smith was able to translate. Here he was
an unschooled boy, and to translate from unknown hieroglyphics or an unknown
language into English, language. Scientists scoff at it—how ridiculous can you
be to claim such a thing? But we had something happen at the last conference
that I want to tell you about to indicate something. That will give you a key
to how the Lord can open the mind of a man and give him spiritual understanding
beyond what his natural self could. We had eleven translators or interpreters
that were down in the basement of the tabernacle, translating in eleven
different languages. One of these brethren was translating for the Swedish
brethren. And here, for most of the talks they had the script so that they
could study it. And they would as the speakers spoke in English, they would
repeat it for the benefit of those that were listening. But when this man who
was translating from Swedish, from my English into his Swedish, at the
priesthood meeting where he had no script. I was talking from an extemporaneous
standpoint in my closing address. He said something happened, and I want you to
hear, he said:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">The whole conference was a spiritual experience, but at the
general priesthood meeting, I had an experience which I've never had before. I
knew that there were some Swedish brethren attending the conference who had
never been here before and perhaps would never come again. Therefore, I had a
great desire that they receive everything that the prophet had to deliver. Not
having a script, I commended myself into the hands of the Lord. And as you
began to speak, I was startled by the fact that I knew one or two words and
even three ahead of the time before you would say them. At first I was so
startled that I did not dare to pronounce them as they were given. Usually, I
closed my eyes and listen, and then interpret as I heard the speakers
delivered. But this time I was prompted to look at your face on the television
screen. </span><span style="color: #201f1e;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">In this very unusual situation, I looked at you and began to
translate the words as they came. But to my amazement, I did not receive just
the words in my mind, but with my inner eyes, I saw them emanating from the
vicinity of the temple of your head and coming toward me. I did not see them
actually as written on something. And yet I saw them and how they were spelled
and experienced the power of the spirit as I received them. One of the things
that made it even more dramatic was that when a complex sentence was about to
be delivered, I received more words so that I could reconstruct the grammar
into good Swedish and delivered it at the very moment you pronounced the words.
Never have I experienced a great force with which the interpreted message was
flowing as I did at that time. The same experience happened during your closing
remarks on Sunday afternoon, except that I did not see the words coming to me.</span><span style="color: #201f1e;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">I have talked with the Swedish members in attendance, who have
expressed an awesome amazement of what they experienced. They said they heard
the interpretation and understood the interpreted message was delivered at the
same moment as you delivered the words in English, but the interpretation was
all that they heard. That the message came directly from you to them, they have
all expressed that their attendance at the conference was a fantastic
experience, never to be forgotten.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">Latter-day Saints don't you think for a moment that the
Lord doesn't have means of communicating with us and sending us messages that
are beyond our understanding, even to translate an unknown language into our
understandable language. He did it with the prophet Joseph. He did it with King
Mosiah. He's done it with others. He'll do it today as we have need. I have no
doubt.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">These descriptions of translation by the power of God
give us further insight into how God can operate with His servants; His
instruments. Whatever God could do with a general conference translator, he can
do more with His prophets, seers, and revelators like Brother Joseph and King
Mosiah. We need not concern ourselves with the various man-made theories that
float around. As </span><a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1993/10/my-testimony?lang=eng">President
Gordon B. Hinckley put it</a><span style="color: #201f1e;">, “I am happy that my
faith has not been shaken by the writings of critics who never seem to
recognize that knowledge of things divine comes by the power of the Spirit and
not of the wisdom of men.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">President Lee then went on to speak of revelation for
himself and for the Church, also bearing witness and testimony of the powerful
Spirit then present during the devotional, and sharing what “an unseen speaker”
said to a man about to apostatize:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">My whole soul pleads that I may so live that if the Lord
has any communication that He would wish me to receive for my beloved people
[the Church], that I could be a pure vessel through which that message could
come. I don’t ask for anything; I don’t want anything more than the Lord is
willing to send. I trust that I may live worthily so that I won’t be a lame
vessel. Or a broken reed that the Lord can’t use at the times when He wants to
communicate with His people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">I know that this is the Church and Kingdom of God, you
Latter-day Saints. I know it with every fiber of my being. I have been
polished, yes, . . . I thank the Lord and I understand more of what the apostle
Paul meant when he said of the Master, “Though he were a son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered. And thus being made perfect he
became the author of salvation for all who would believe on him” (see Hebrews
5:8-9). Whatever may be necessary, that I might be more refined; to purge out
all that may be in me or that I have done that didn’t please the Lord. I would
hope that I would stand ready to receive; to please God that I wouldn’t fail or
flinch in a time of trial or testing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">I bear witness that these things are true. You hold fast
to the iron rod, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of
salvation. “Stick with the old ship,” as a father who was just about to
apostatize was told by an unseen speaker. Stick with the old ship, it will see
you safely through. You may think it is out of date. It <i>is</i> out of date,
thank goodness, as compared with some of these modernistic things of
permissiveness. But before you depart from those plain simple doctrines of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, you had better make sure that you know the direction
you are going, and listen to those who preside in authority over you. So I bear
you that witness and leave you my testimony. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">There is a wonderful Spirit here today. There is
something unusual about this [Spirit] today. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it
is one of those occasions when we could feel and hear and see remarkable things
happen. You brought with you a tremendous spirit and I can feel it.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #201f1e; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Lee closed his address with a prayer for those in attendance. It was a
spiritual feast that they would not soon forget, President Eyring among them. Along
these lines, we might benefit from another experience shared by President
Eyring, this time as a young boy attending a District Conference. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He wrote:
“But then I remember hearing something—a man's voice from the pulpit. I turned around
and looked. I still remember that the speaker was at a rostrum set on wooden
risers. There was a tall window behind him. He was the priesthood visitor. I
don't know who he was, but he was tall and bald, and he seemed very old to me.
He must have been talking about the Savior or the Prophet Joseph, or both,
because that was all I remember hearing much about in those days. But as he
spoke, I knew that what he said came from God and that it was true, and it
burned in my heart. That was before scholars told me how hard it was to know. I
just knew with certainty—I knew it was true.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Devotional given 26 October 1973; as quoted and with background info in <a name="_Hlk98578020">Robert I. </a><a name="_Hlk98581017"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk98578020;">Eaton and Henry J. Eyring, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I Will Lead You Along: The Life of Henry B.
Eyring</i> (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013), 257 </span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk98578020;">(256-58).</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
President Harold B. Lee untitled Rick’s College Devotional Address; Excerpts
transcribed from the second half; 26 October 1973; no official printed version
available.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://byui-media.ldscdn.org/byui_ft/devo_audio/1973_10_26_ADV_LeeH.mp3">https://byui-media.ldscdn.org/byui_ft/devo_audio/1973_10_26_ADV_LeeH.mp3</a>;
accessed 3/2022.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Eaton and Eyring, <i>I Will Lead You Along: The Life of Henry B. Eyring</i>, 35;
also quoted in Henry B. Eyring, <i>To Draw Closer to God: A Collection of
Discourses</i> (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997), 5.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-82911677218561230382022-07-04T11:53:00.002-07:002022-07-04T11:54:47.724-07:00President Nelson’s Revelations to the Restored Church of Jesus Christ<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-veyITsbHFOHNQrC3655AEHThUP2fh6Jsx-RAsy-xMdo2VkErTjtf10Tq6zyf4rpC3VSXY4vpSfrFC8Bxi2uEtTtATIskGg_z5e-sa--WjPgYJftJoShxeUhlqsT4uYBTfEUSX-5VKTKNVH40UxN9xEzg2xXZrbvY9TKyna1TvVZhjRisbnd-k0zssA/s300/Russell_M._Nelson.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-veyITsbHFOHNQrC3655AEHThUP2fh6Jsx-RAsy-xMdo2VkErTjtf10Tq6zyf4rpC3VSXY4vpSfrFC8Bxi2uEtTtATIskGg_z5e-sa--WjPgYJftJoShxeUhlqsT4uYBTfEUSX-5VKTKNVH40UxN9xEzg2xXZrbvY9TKyna1TvVZhjRisbnd-k0zssA/s1600/Russell_M._Nelson.png" width="200" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="text-align: center;">by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=Dennis+Horne&search-alias=books&field-author=Dennis+Horne&sort=relevancerank">Dennis B. Horne</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">According to Elder Quentin L.
Cook, “President Russell M. Nelson has been a commissioned agent of the Lord <i>especially</i>
with respect to revelations to” accomplish the following. Elder Cook categorized
them thusly:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">“help families build sanctuaries of faith in
their homes,”</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">“gather scattered Israel on both sides of the
veil,</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">“bless endowed members in sacred temple
ordinance matters.”</span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.25in;">Further comments from Elder Cook about
these and other prophetic revelations follow, as given in conference: <span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">When important changes to bless our
homes were announced at the October 2018 general conference, I testified “that
in the deliberations of the Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the
Twelve Apostles in the temple, … after our beloved prophet petitioned the Lord
for revelation … , a powerful confirmation was received by all.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">At that time, other revelations
relating to sacred temple ordinances had been received but not announced or
implemented.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">This guidance commenced with
individual prophetic revelation to President Russell M. Nelson and tender and
powerful confirmation to those participating in the process. President Nelson
specifically involved the sisters who preside over the Relief Society, Young
Women, and Primary organizations. The final guidance, in the temple, to the
First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was profoundly spiritual and
powerful. We each knew we had received the mind, will, and voice of the Lord.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">[Note:] This process and the
meetings held occurred in the Salt Lake Temple in January, February, March, and
April 2018. The final revelation to the First Presidency and the Quorum of the
Twelve was on April 26, 2018.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I declare with all solemnity that
continuous revelation has been received and is being received through channels
the Lord has established. (Quentin L. Cook, “<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2020/04/52cook?lang=eng">The
Blessing of Continuing Revelation to Prophets and Personal Revelation to Guide
Our Lives</a>”)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">As leaders have sought revelation,
the guidance received over the past few years is to strengthen the sacrament
meeting, honor the Sabbath day, and encourage and assist parents and individuals
to make their homes a source of spiritual strength and increased faith—a place
of joy and happiness.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/deep-and-lasting-conversion-to-heavenly-father-and-the-lord-jesus-christ?lang=eng">https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/deep-and-lasting-conversion-to-heavenly-father-and-the-lord-jesus-christ?lang=eng</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">President Russell M. Nelson’s statements about the Lord’s
revelations through him:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>“Our plans were to announce six new temples at conference
time,” said President Nelson. “The Lord told me on the eve of conference:
‘Announce a temple in India.’ … That was the Lord's doing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(from Church News story)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Lord has impressed upon my mind
the importance of the name He has revealed for His Church, even The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We have work before us to bring ourselves in
harmony with His will. In recent weeks, various Church leaders and departments
have initiated the necessary steps to do so. Additional information about this
important matter will be made available in the coming months. (official
newsroom statement)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Nearly every night, some
messages come. And I write them down on a piece of paper in the dark so I don’t
wake Wendy. The challenge is trying to read them in the morning! But I write
enough to trigger a memory of the instruction that I had received. (talk given
at a stake in California, was reported in <i>Deseret News</i>)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When I pray about you and ask
the Lord how He feels about you, I feel something far different from what the
researchers say. Spiritual impressions I’ve received about you lead me to
believe that the term Millennial may actually be perfect for you. But for a
much different reason than the experts may ever understand. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We sustain 15 men who are
ordained as prophets, seers, and revelators. When a thorny problem arises—and
they only seem to get thornier each day—these 15 men wrestle with the issue,
trying to see all the ramifications of various courses of action, and they
diligently seek to hear the voice of the Lord. After fasting, praying,
studying, pondering, and counseling with my Brethren about weighty matters, it
is not unusual for me to be awakened during the night with further impressions
about issues with which we are concerned. And my Brethren have the same
experience.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The First
Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles counsel together and share all the
Lord has directed us to understand and to feel individually and collectively.
And then we watch the Lord move upon the President of the Church to proclaim
the Lord’s will.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
prophetic process was followed in 2012 with the change in minimum age for
missionaries and again with the recent additions to the Church’s handbook,
consequent to the legalization of same-sex marriage in some countries. Filled
with compassion for all, and especially for the children, we wrestled at length
to understand the Lord’s will in this matter. Ever mindful of God’s plan of
salvation and of His hope for eternal life for each of His children, we
considered countless permutations and combinations of possible scenarios that
could arise. We met repeatedly in the temple in fasting and prayer and sought
further direction and inspiration. And then, when the Lord inspired His
prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, to declare the mind of the Lord and the
will of the Lord, each of us during that sacred moment felt a spiritual
confirmation. It was our privilege as Apostles to sustain what had been
revealed to President Monson. (From talk, </span><a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/broadcasts/article/worldwide-devotionals/2016/01/becoming-true-millennials?lang=eng"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Becoming
True Millennials</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elder Cook’s comments on the revelation on the priesthood:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">We are incredibly grateful for the
revelation to President Spencer W. Kimball extending priesthood and temple
blessings to all worthy male members of the Church in June 1978.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">[Note 10]: See Official Declaration
2; see also 2 Nephi 26:33. The revelation implemented doctrine set forth in the
Book of Mormon that “all are alike unto God,” including “black and white, bond
and free, male and female” (2 Nephi 26:33). This remarkable revelation was
received and confirmed in the sacred upper room of the Salt Lake Temple by the
Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I have served with many of the
Twelve who were present and participated when that precious revelation was
received. Each of them, in personal conversations, confirmed the powerful and uniting
spiritual guidance President Kimball and they had experienced. Many said it was
the most powerful revelation they had received before or after that time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[Note 11]: Many of the Apostles indicated that the
revelation was so powerful and so sacred that any words used to describe it
would be insufficient and, in some ways, would diminish the deep and powerful
nature of the revelation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-25745784201470842932022-04-30T04:00:00.004-07:002022-05-19T08:14:40.634-07:00Bruce R. McConkie and his father Oscar: Legacies of Men of Great Faith and Works— Kurt Manwaring’s “10 Questions Interview” with Dennis B. Horne<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBgk-F8Ipxy3u2RsckpYv1pFXGcfmXxfY2MNHSo8ciPEgu00dGrtodOY58CrVNUSYkr4juoMUC3bm3bqmjhowH40jvd_EHy4ePiCUsUYmSZGJ3nepYetdcHpO-qPR6TldIJnp8j0pkKZ0gCWUUwGlkNiKGwZC4L6wUzV4vyuBSCS_lQRxt4Lpkx1MapA/s371/Bruce_R._McConkie3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="290" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBgk-F8Ipxy3u2RsckpYv1pFXGcfmXxfY2MNHSo8ciPEgu00dGrtodOY58CrVNUSYkr4juoMUC3bm3bqmjhowH40jvd_EHy4ePiCUsUYmSZGJ3nepYetdcHpO-qPR6TldIJnp8j0pkKZ0gCWUUwGlkNiKGwZC4L6wUzV4vyuBSCS_lQRxt4Lpkx1MapA/s320/Bruce_R._McConkie3.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"> The below
questions (in bold) were submitted to me for answer by Kurt Manwaring of the
<a href="https://www.fromthedesk.org/bruce-r-mcconkie-mormon-doctrine/">“From the Desk”</a> website. This version of the interview, as given below, is considerably
expanded from <a href="https://www.fromthedesk.org/bruce-r-mcconkie-mormon-doctrine/">the version posted on his website</a>, which eliminated much of the
more sacred content he felt less-appropriate for his reading audience. Also,
his final question with answer is found here, but not in the version there.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke at Elder David B. Haight’s funeral, before
relating a sacred spiritual experience he had shared with Elder Haight,
President Hinckley said that he hoped he was not going beyond the bounds of
propriety in sharing that precious experience. I have the same hope in sharing
the material below—that I have not gone beyond the bounds of propriety in doing
so. I take comfort in the counsel given by President Boyd K. Packer that more
may be shared about deceased members and leaders than living ones. I do not
wish to cast pearls before swine, nor give that which is holy unto the dogs,
who turn again and rend. On the other hand, I do desire to build the faith of
others, and keep certain precious matters from being largely lost to history.
If no one knows about them they don’t do anybody any good. When studying the
lives of faithful people, miracles and spiritual experiences naturally appear;
“signs follow those who believe” as the scripture says.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While the
below information is admittedly a little long, those who read till the end will
be amply rewarded with minds and hearts edified and lifted concerning the
things of the Spirit; they will feel to rejoice as I have and hopefully finish
with stronger faith in Christ.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> <span></span></o:p></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Who was Bruce R. McConkie’s father? How did he pave the
way for a legacy of faith?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oscar W.
McConkie (Sr) is (sadly) virtually unknown in the Restored Church of Jesus
Christ today, but in his generation he was a man of faith like unto Enoch and
Elijah. In his profession he became a lawyer and a judge among other things.
His church callings included serving as a bishop, in two stake presidencies, on
high councils, as a stake mission president, and as a mission president. Yet
this service does not tell the full story. I have come to know that as mighty
as Elder Bruce R. McConkie was, serving faithfully in his calling as an Apostle—having
many choice spiritual experiences and working miracles—his father Oscar was even
greater in some ways than he. As Elder McConkie stated: “[He] was a very
spiritual man. He had many visions and revelations. The Lord entrusted him with
much knowledge. . . . [He] would have been qualified to fill any position in
the Church but he did not for instance, happen to be called to be one of the
General Authorities.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When Oscar
was ten years old, he remembered, “One day when I was ill, I asked mother for
something to read, and she handed me the Book of Mormon. She told me that a
glorious feeling, one she never could forget, came over her, and the Holy Ghost
seemed to burn in her as by fire, and warmed every part of her being, and
soothed and sweetened her, and she knew that she was blessed of the Lord, and
that she had acted wisely in placing the Book of Mormon in the hands of her
child. We had not been in Moab long until I had read the book through.” Oscar
noted at one point that he had read the book thirty-six times.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Among his
friends and associates Oscar counted James E. Talmage, J. Reuben Clark, Mathias
Cowley, Joseph Fielding Smith, David O. McKay, Harold B. Lee, and many other
general authorities and prominent Utahns. He occasionally dreamed of things
that would happen to friends or acquaintances, often that included their
deaths.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On March
28, 1946, he recorded: “Pres. McKay called me on the telephone. I went to his
office and he told me I was the unanimous choice of the First Presidency and
the Council of the Twelve for President of the California Mission. When I left,
he put one arm around my shoulders, took my hand with his other hand, and
pulled me to him. We walked that way out of his office and out into the hall. I
was to leave on May 1, 1946.” Oscar McConkie served as one of the finest
mission presidents in the Church. When Elder Harold B. Lee toured President
McConkie’s mission, he said that “more great spiritual experiences were taking
place there than anywhere else in the Church.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
McConkie’s mind was filled with the things of the Spirit and the gospel, which
he often pondered: “One day in the California Mission, as I pondered the
mysteries of godliness, and the great price that all must pay in order to
understand them, and the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost, my spirit cried
out within me, and I asked if I had hope of salvation. Now, I knew of the
promises of the Lord concerning me, but I knew of my imperfections; wherefore,
I cried out from my soul and from the depths of it. And the voice of the Spirit
came to me again, and said, my tithing and the payments of it, are in aid of my
salvation. Wherefore, I rejoiced that I had obeyed the law of tithing, that it
might be an assistant to save my soul, if God wills that it may be saved. I
thus know that the payment of tithing balances the scales of the faithful in
aid of salvation.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On his
release, President McConkie was invited to speak in general conference, in
effect giving him the opportunity for a homecoming talk. Because that
conference was recorded and is available to listen to, <a href="https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=023a9bf0-f621-4c80-8a9b-571bf5b7aa0b&crate=0&index=0">so
is Oscar’s message</a>, which starts at 1:42:34 minutes in. Being a gifted orator,
he begins slowly but builds to an impassioned and powerful crescendo that
leaves hearers strengthened in faith and testimony. At 1:50:26 Oscar McConkie
relates a precious spiritual experience he had while praying for greater faith to
fulfill his calling. He speaks of hearing the voice of the Lord in his mind while
praying and relates what was said to him. While scriptural only to him, the
truth given relates to all. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As far as a
potential call to the Apostleship was concerned, it was made known to Oscar, by
vision, that in order for this to occur, one of the present Quorum members
would have to die before their time, and Oscar was unwilling to accede to that.
Yet, as stated, he enjoyed the same kinds of supernal spiritual experiences
that they did. In a personal memoir, Oscar McConkie wrote: “The week previous
to May 21, 1935 . . . I saw a glorious vision in which I saw the Savior of the
World.” And that was not the only time such happened to him. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Among many other
miracles found in the life of this man of faith in Christ, was the raising of
his son from the dead for a brief time. To a group of his former missionaries,
he related the following account:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My son
James was near death in Minneapolis. I flew there to be with him and spent many
days in fasting and prayer in his behalf. His wife and many people did
likewise. Apostle Henry D. Moyle said that his spirit was in the spirit world
for three hours, and President McKay, President J. Reuben Clark, and President
Joseph Fielding Smith said they concurred.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was at
the hospital, and God verified to me that my son was dead. I was waiting to see
what God would have me do. James’ spirit was in consultation with spirit world
authorities to determine whether James should stay there or return to
mortality. He was told by them that he had the choice since men on earth had
promised him that he might live.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As I walked
in the hall, backward and forward, the voice of the Lord came to me, asking
that I go quickly and bless my son. The nurse told me that she had not been
able to find his pulse for three hours.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I obeyed.
As I was preparing to enter his room, the Lord spoke again, saying, “He never
disobeyed you in life, and he will not do it now.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thus, you
see the relationship between a father and his son after one has gone through
the spirit world and the other remains in mortality. I spoke as the Lord
commanded on earth, and my son in the spirit world heard my voice and obeyed.
He came back from the dead. As man might say, “pursuant to the direction of
God.” It was for a special purpose.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After a day
or two, he returned to the spirit world, the purpose of the restoration of his
life having been accomplished. His spirit literally gave life to his flesh
after the flesh was dead because both father and son had right reason and
because each had a right spirit. My son had searched for the fountain from
which truth springs, and he had found it. Oh how great are the mysteries of
Godliness.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At James’
funeral, Elder Henry D. Moyle, Presidents J. Reuben Clark Jr., and David O.
McKay spoke, and Elder LeGrand Richards dedicated the grave. In his talk,
President McKay made this extraordinary statement, “I think he [James] can hear
us. I have never attended a service in which the nearness of the other side
seemed so real. . . .” Oscar later noted that “some of the things that Pres.
McKay said” were not in the transcript of his address, and that President McKay
had “scratched out some of the things he said at the service.” Oscar remembered:
“For instance, he said there were many spirits present at that service, and as
he said it I thought he looked as though he was seeing them. I do not say more,
except that he said many were present.” President Joseph Fielding Smith, who
was in attendance on the stand, told Oscar “that he had not seen such an
outpouring of the Spirit in a funeral service for thirty-five years, which is
the length of time since his father, Pres. Joseph F. Smith was buried.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oscar also
indicated that “The greater number of the General Authorities of the Church
were at the service.” Further, “Henry Moyle said that he had no difficulty in knowing
what to say, that his only difficulty was in the control of his emotions. Every
speaker was under an emotional strain. Pres. Clark’s heart was touched deeply.
Pres. McKay broke down several times.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What a sweet experience for all present; obviously the veil was thin
that hour. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oscar loved
and was always loyal to the Brethren. Elder Harold B. Lee noted in his journal
that Oscar showed him a marked deference of humility. He knew the prophets were
indeed prophets.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oscar
recorded a conversation he had with President J. Reuben Clark, around the time
that President Clark was mulling some political aspirations. “I said to Pres.
Clark: ‘I see by the papers that you are toying with the idea of running for
the senate.’ He said: ‘I don’t know what I am going to do.’ I said: ‘I do.’ He
laughed and said, ‘If you know you are the only one who knows.’ I said: ‘Well,
I know and I’ll tell you. When the Lord called you into the First Presidency He
was very much in earnest about it.’ Later, the latter part of June, 1934, he
wired the State Republican Committee of his refusal to run.” Oscar had some
political aspirations himself and ran for Governor of Utah as a Democrat, but
lost.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While reminiscing
about Elder James E. Talmage, Oscar penned the following: “I dreamed that I
heard Dr. Talmage speaking over the radio. He was at the very time delivering a
series of talks on the radio for the Church. In my dream, he stopped speaking,
tried to clear his throat, and was silent, never to speak again. The Spirit
told me that it was the end; that he would now be interrupted even before the
series of talks were over. He died in a day or two.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“During
this illness [of Elder Talmage’s], July 26, 1933, sister Talmage telephoned me
to come and help Pres. J. Reuben Clark administer to [Elder Talmage]. Dr. L. A.
Stevenson was there. Pres. Clark asked me to consecrate the oil, and said: ‘and
I want you to rub some oil on his stomach and around his heart.’ I intended to
obey, but said to [Elder Talmage] ‘would you like me to anoint your body around
the afflicted parts as well?’ ‘No, that is no part of the ordinance. I may have
that done at times, but it is no part of the ordinance, and I desire the ordinance
only.’ Pres. Clark sealed the anointing. My impression was not favorable. When
we were outside, I said: ‘Pres. Clark, I hope I was not disobedient.’ He said:
‘No, that was exactly right. I heard you ask him.’ I said: ‘I was afraid to do
as you requested without first mentioning it to him. You know Dr. Talmage.’ He
said: ‘say, I know Dr. Talmage better than all the rest of you combined. I was
his secretary for seven years.’ It was the next night that I dreamed as in the
paragraph above stated. I told [my wife] the morning after the dream, that Dr.
Talmage’s voice was stilled forever in this life. Dick Carlyle was at our house
that day, and said his grandfather’s heart stopped during the night, at 3 am. When
I was there the evening before I thought I could hear his heart scraping on
something. I called Pres. Clark on the telephone and he said sister Talmage had
given him an unfavorable report. I was seized upon with great sorrow, and on
bended knees wept as I prayed for his life. I went to the Talmage home and [a].
. . son-in-law said: ‘He has just gone.’ . . . I sought seclusion and wept, uncontrolled.”
These spiritual giants in the Church had great love and esteem for each other.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oscar
authored two published books, one of which was on the subject of the Holy
Ghost. He described how that work came about: “I spoke for 45 minutes by
appointment, in an upper room of the Temple, on the subject, ‘The Holy Ghost.’
The Stake Presidency and the High Council, [of the] Ensign Stake, plus the
presidency of the High Priests quorum were the audience. . . . I spent 100
hours in preparation. I wrote in my diary that I had never before experienced
such an outpouring of the Spirit as upon that occasion, with it sustained for
so long a time. Some of the brethren expressed regret that they could not have
my remarks in writing. That was the beginning of the actual writing of the
book, ‘The Holy Ghost.’” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When the
manuscript was finished, Oscar took it to a couple of the Brethren to have it
read and informally approved: “Joseph Fielding Smith and Dr. John A. Widtsoe
approved the book, <i>the Holy Ghost</i>. Dr. Widstoe had [initially] disapproved
it as contrary to Church doctrine, and pointed out a dozen or so places where
the book (manuscript) was contrary to the doctrines of the Church. The
manuscript was . . . opposite to some of the doctrines that Bro. Widtsoe had
written upon the subject of the Holy Ghost. I talked with Joseph Fielding Smith
and he said the doctrine was correct, and he approved my suggestion that I see
Dr. Widtsoe. I took the manuscript, the pages were written on one side only,
and I copied from the revelations exact quotations on the back of the opposite
sheet, what the Lord had said about the particular question. Thus, I had the
word of the Lord on each item. I went to Dr. Widtsoe and proved my point, point
by point. He said that he always understood the manuscript to be correct but
had wondered whether others would understand it. He thought it would raise a
lot of questions. He offered to write, with Bro. Smith, a Foreword, but I said
I should not ask that since they were on the Reading Committee for the Church
it might be interpreted as Church approval of the book, and I understood the
Church actually approved the Standard Works only.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oscar gave
his son Bruce a father’s patriarchal blessing. Of this occasion he wrote: “I
gave him a blessing, at which time I saw that his spirit was one of those noble
and great ones, chosen to perform a mighty work. I told him that his calling
was a special one, to which he was chosen before he was born. He was a leader
in the [pre-existent] spirit world, and was ordained before he was born to be a
leader there. I said, ‘All men who know you will look to you for counsel and
for witness of the truth.’ When I typed the blessing I questioned whether that
statement was too strong and whether I should modify it, but the Spirit forbade
me, and commanded to leave it as it was, for it was spoken by the Spirit. I saw
that he would have great wisdom, surpassing almost all men, and many
revelations, and that the Lord would manifest himself unto him, and the
elements would obey him; that he would be very helpful to many, even beyond the
seas, and that in the Lord’s due time he would have salvation with his house; that
great numbers would be able to understand the truth because of his words; that
his wisdom would be very great; that his understanding would reach to heaven;
that he was ordained to be one of the elect of God, and that he would receive a
fulness of his promises.” All of these promises came to plentiful fruition in
Elder McConkie’s life. And such a man also was Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s father
Oscar. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is
what is recorded of some of what Jesus said in His prayers to the Father, offered
before the Nephite multitude: “The things which he prayed cannot be written. .
. . And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither
can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and
heard Jesus speak” (3 Nephi 17:15-17). Then, “on the morrow,” the multitude “both
saw and heard these children; yea, even babes did open their mouths and utter
marvelous things; and the things which they did utter were forbidden that there
should not any man write them” (3 Nephi 26:16).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After a lengthy
supernal <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1989/10/the-sacrament-and-the-sacrifice?lang=eng">spiritual
experience of unspeakable magnitude</a>, Elder David B. Haight said that, “There
are things that happened to me that I am not able to reveal. I would not have
words to express them.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After
having it revealed to him in great power and clarity that the Book of Mormon
was true, and probably also seeing Jesus at the same time, Elder Boyd K. Packer
recorded: “I could not describe to you what happened if I were determined to do
so. . . . It was, as Brother McConkie often said, ‘beyond my power of
expression.’” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In his
patriarchal blessing, Oscar W. McConkie was told that “Many things shall be
revealed unto thee that shall not be lawful to be told the human family.” In
fulfillment of that inspired promise, he noted that many things had indeed been
made known to him that were not lawful for him to share—so he didn’t.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>What were Bruce R. McConkie’s scripture study habits?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
McConkie famously said that he didn’t really have any. Dr. Truman Madsen once
asked him what his secret was in studying the scriptures, and Elder McConkie
replied that he simply read them. That was the key: reading them, studying
them, drinking deeply from them—and <i>not</i> <i>drinking below the horses</i>,
metaphorically speaking. This latter expression meant that a gospel student was
far better off reading the word of God itself than reading what someone else
said that word meant. The clear sweet spring water tasted so much better at the
source, than after the horses have trampled around in it downstream—and done
other things. We have some so-called academics and scholars in and out of the
Church today that seek to tell us what the revealed word means and often their views
fit Elder McConkie’s metaphor well.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But Elder
McConkie did encourage gospel students to pray about what they read in the
revelations. His oft-stated formula was to study the scriptures, ponder them,
and then ask the Lord in faith for greater understanding (this is for those who
already know they are true). He explained this process in some detail:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I wonder
how many people actually pray for knowledge. If somebody wants knowledge,
ordinarily they get a textbook. They start reading about it and seeing what
somebody else said on the subject. Or they start evaluating the scriptures. It
is essential to do that. As a matter of fact that’s tremendously important in
that it lays a foundation to prepare for something more. What we are supposed
to be doing is praying for knowledge. Suppose you want to know something about
baptism. How would you get knowledge about what is involved in baptism? You
would study everything that you can about baptism. You study all the
revelations that God has given on the point. You would study the comments and
explanations that have been made by people who were wise and inspired and had
sense and judgment in their analysis. And so you would have before you the
whole picture. Number one—you would study. Then number two—you would ponder in
your heart, and you would evaluate, and you would wonder and meditate and
contemplate and weigh this passage against that passage [of scripture] and
wonder what </span>the full meaning was.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There are
those among us who go this far. But there aren’t very many among us who take
the next step. The next step is that you go talk it over with the Lord. You ask
Him what is meant by this, that, or the other thing, in baptism. You have done everything
that you can do to get an understanding of whatever the subject is. You have
studied the revelations; you have pondered them in your heart; you have sought
the best wisdom that men have; then you have to get some knowledge from the Spirit.
The doctrine we are reading about is—“If any man lack wisdom let him ask of
God” [see James 1:5]. So you go to the Lord, and you have a specific problem
before you, and you talk to him about the subject of baptism, and in faith you
plead with Him to give you some knowledge on the subject. All of a sudden the
little conflicts begin to vanish away, and things that weren’t in perspective
fall into perspective. You get a vision and a view and a concept of baptism
that you never before conceived of even though you’ve read everything that was
written and you had evaluated all these things. The reason is that now you are
getting your knowledge direct from the fountain. Before you were drinking
downstream. You were drinking downstream after it had gone a great distance
from the fountain and been diverted here and there. You had this and that
perspective, but finally you got back to the fountain. This is something we
don’t practice, but which we ought to practice. We ought to get knowledge, revelation,
wisdom, from God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On another
occasion he reiterated this concept:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Lord
says: “And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another
words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek
learning even by study and </span>also by faith.” (D&C 88:118.) Now I wonder why the Lord
chose that particular phraseology, why he said, “even by study and also by
faith”? Is he saying that the great way to get knowledge is by faith and the
incidental way is to get it by study? Is he evaluating the relative importance
of faith and study? . . . I wonder if the counsel to seek learning “even by
study and also by faith” means that the Lord wants us to take learning and
education and knowledge and let these be the foundation and the springboard from
which we rise to the heights of greater faith. On this basis, the more knowledge we have, the more information we acquire,
the more learning we obtain, the more wisdom we possess, then the greater is
our potential for having faith. . . . There is no question that the ultimate
way to get knowledge in the spiritual realm or in any realm is by faith. “If
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God” (James 1:5). That is the principle.
That is the great emphasis. The prophet says you can know more by gazing into
the heavens for five minutes than you can by reading all the books on the
subject. But the thing about it is, nobody seeks God, and nobody gazes into
heaven for five minutes, and nobody does the spiritual things that enable him independently
to get faith and knowledge by revelation, until he first has the knowledge of
how to go about doing that sort of thing. Unfortunately we sometimes don’t get
the needed knowledge, and when we do get the knowledge sometimes we don’t use
it to make it a living thing in our lives. . . . There is no power in knowledge
as an abstract thing. The power that is in knowledge comes when it is used. So,
we get knowledge about religion, and we use it, and faith blossoms and grows
and becomes a real power in our hearts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Such is
Elder McConkie’s inspired counsel. Yet he also repeatedly warned about reading
certain </span><a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teaching-seminary-preservice-readings-religion-370-471-and-475/the-bible-a-sealed-book?lang=eng"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">worthless
theological books and commentaries</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">. He knew the value a good quality
commentary had and wrote many of them himself, but he also knew the harm a scripture
commentary based on worldly scholarship could inflict, as they caused unsuspecting
readers to drink far below the horses instead of at or near the fountainhead. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Over and
over he counseled gospel students not to drink from the muddy and contaminated water
found in the writings of liberal unorthodox intellectuals, that infuse the
philosophies of the world or the academy or false portions of science into
their writings. This fearless and bold approach; these warnings to avoid the
views of the world (especially when taught by member academics) tended to earn
him the wrath of many such individuals (who still criticize him today)—but he
cared not. Pure saving truth was all important and that was found in the standard
works. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Packer had much to say about Elder McConkie, the Spirit of the Lord, and those in
and out of the Church who criticized him:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Would his
sermons leave any uncomfortable? Would his bold declarations irritate some in
the Church? Would they inspire the critics to rush to their anvils and hammer
out more “Fiery darts” as the scriptures call them? Would his manner of
delivery offend? Would his forthright declarations in content or in manner of
presentation, drive some learned investigators away? Would he be described as
insensitive or overbearing? Would his warnings and condemnations of evil undo
the carful work of others whose main intent was to have the world “think well
of the Church?” . . . We have talked of this and when he was tempted to change,
the Spirit would withdraw a distance and there would come that deep loneliness
known only to those who have enjoyed close association with the Spirit, only to
find on occasion that it moves away. He could stand what the critics might say
and what the enemies might do, but he could not stand that. He would be driven
to his knees to beg forgiveness and plead for the renewal of that companionship
of the Spirit which the scriptures promise can be constant. Then he would
learn, once again, that what was true of the Holy Men of God who spoke in
ancient times applied to him as well. He was to speak as he was moved upon by
the Holy Spirit. What matter if it sounded like Bruce R. McConkie so long as
the Lord approved. I knew him well enough to know all of that. (Source: Elder
Packer’s address at Elder McConkie’s funeral.) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">Elder McConkie
was especially disappointed with some of those at BYU (and elsewhere) who
filled their (supposedly) gospel-themed writings with the philosophies of men;
a problem that continues today. Speaking of the sublime doctrines of the
creation and the fall, and how these are found in the scriptures and in the
temple presentation, yet are not correctly understood as they should be, Elder
McConkie stated: “At this late date—knowing what we know and having what we
have—we ought to envision more and believe more than most of us do. It is
recognized that many among us are contaminated by the theories of men. These
speculative views are everywhere trumpeted before us, often as though they were
the ultimate <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ipse dixit </i>of the
universe.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">“Even faithful
saints—short on gospel knowledge and lacking real spiritual depth—are swept
along by the tide of the world and suppose in their minds that the theories of
men and the revealed word are somehow capable of being harmonized. Without
knowing all that is involved, for instance, they assume, <span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">falsely, </span>that the so-called evolutionary
processes were and are used by Deity as the means of creating the various forms
of life.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">In truth, he
taught, the only way to learn how God created the earth and man and all things,
was by revelation. He declared:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.95pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are many truths that can be known only by revelation. God stands
revealed or he remains forever unknown. Scientists may discover some of the
laws of the universe and conclude that there must be a divine guiding power
governing all things. But no man can know, except by revelation, that God is a
Holy Man with a body of flesh and bones, that he lives in the family unit, and
that he is the personal father of the spirits of all men.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 30.95pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Scientists may discover some of the laws pertaining to creation. They
may come to know that creation is reorganization, that the primal elements are
arranged in an appointed way to form an earth, and that the laws of physics and
chemistry and gravity and what have you always apply. All this may be in the
realm of research and reason. But truth-seekers can never know that this earth
was first created spiritually; that when it first came into being physically it
was paradisiacal in nature; that it then fell to its present mortal state; that
there will be a new and changed heaven and a new and changed earth in the
Millennial day; and that ultimately it will be a celestial sphere—none of this
can be known except by revelation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">Nor can
scientists envision the fall, or the atonement, or the cleansing power of the
Holy Ghost, or the resurrection, or the procreation by resurrected beings of
spirit<span style="letter-spacing: -1.4pt;"> </span>offspring—all this must be
learned by revelation. The theories of the evolutionists—devised by scientists,
in academic halls, by the power of reason and the intellect—do not take into
account that there was no death until Adam fell; they do not take into account
that animals and all forms of life lived as spirit entities before their mortal
births; they do not take into account that all forms of life will be
resurrected and live forever in <span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">immortality.
</span>They do not take into account these or ten thousand other gospel
verities that can be known only by<span style="letter-spacing: -0.05pt;"> </span>revelation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Revelation,
both that found in the standard works and personal revelation, meant everything
to Elder McConkie in the pursuit of knowledge.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Speaking of
Elder McConkie upon his passing, Elder Packer queried and answered: “Where is
Bruce McConkie now? He’s with his Lord.” And then he matter-of-factly stated:
“When the refining process [the Celestial resurrection] is complete, I know
something of how he will appear. He will be glorious.” Elder McConkie, as a
resurrected being, will look just as Jesus appeared to Elder Packer—glorious!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And as a
side note, Elder Packer issued something of a prophecy that has now long been
true. He asked, “What will we do without him?” And then answered: “Others, of
course, will receive the fiery darts fashioned on the anvils of the adversary,
and in his own words, ‘The wagon train will move on.’ . . . If you heard the
sermons of Elder Nelson and Elder Oaks at the last conference, you will know
the Lord is preparing others as he prepared Bruce R. McConkie for the holy
apostleship. . . .” (I think we can definitely say that Elders Nelsen and Oaks
became noble and great Prophets of God.)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Did Elder McConkie have a sense of humor?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, though
it took him years to develop and it was rarely apparent at the pulpit which is
where members came to know him. I will again let Elder Packer speak about him:
“I have delighted in his sparkling sense of humor that few men could equal.” (Those
interested in a healthy dose of McConkie humor might <a href="https://byui-media.ldscdn.org/byui_ft/devo_audio/1984_11_06_ADV_McConkie.mp3">listen
to one of his last major addresses</a>, given at Rick’s College.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>What led Elder McConkie to write <i>Mormon Doctrine</i>
and when did he begin writing the book?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I cannot
say for sure what caused Elder McConkie to begin the mentally and spiritually
strenuous work preparing his famous, best-selling, and superbly insightful book
(that intellectuals constantly trash but that many of the faithful love). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As a young
man he had written an informal commentary-like collection of notes on the Book
of Mormon solely for his own benefit, but he threw away those extensive notes
since they had served their purpose. Later, when a young member of the First
Council of Seventy, he worked on passages from the <i>Journal of Discourses</i>,
hoping to publish a ten-volume digest that removed false doctrines found
therein. This project was halted by President J. Reuben Clark, who thought it
presumptuous for a General Authority Seventy to be censoring (even deceased) apostles
and prophets. I don’t think Elder McConkie fully agreed with Pres. Clark on the
matter but without hesitation did as counseled. (Today we know that the sermons
published in the <i>Journal of Discourses</i> were often altered by short-hand stenographers
in the long-hand transcription phase and again in the preparation-for-printing
stage, and therefore is not fully reliable as a record of verbatim discourses.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On
graduation from law school, Bruce worked in various legal capacities for a few
years, but soon found he wanted to get away from the underbelly of society that
lawyers often must deal with. He also desired to write professionally, something
for which he had considerable talent. So he went to work for the <i>Deseret
News</i>, where he wrote editorials and reported news.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the
1950s Elder McConkie gathered and edited a collection of the teachings of his
father-in-law, President Joseph Fielding Smith. Published in three volumes, <i>Doctrines
of Salvation </i>was topically organized and covered a wide range of gospel
subjects. I speculate that these early projects gave Elder McConkie the idea
for <i>Mormon Doctrine</i>, but I cannot say for sure.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Did Bruce R. McConkie go against the wishes of President
David O. McKay when he published a second edition of <i>Mormon Doctrine</i>?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Absolutely
not. This is one of those falsehoods that sadly goes around, often promoted by
those who don’t like Elder McConkie and despise his book. In his biography of
his father, Joseph Fielding McConkie wrote: “On July 5, 1966, President McKay
invited Elder McConkie into his office and gave approval for the book to be
reprinted if appropriate changes were made and approved. Elder Spencer W.
Kimball was assigned to be Elder McConkie's mentor in making those changes.” Joseph
also queried: “Haven't you heard people say that Bruce McConkie had the book
reprinted contrary to the direction of the First Presidency?” To which he
answered: “Yes, but if they would think about it, that assertion does not make
much sense. The publisher was Bookcraft, not Bruce McConkie, and Bookcraft was
always very careful to follow the direction of the Brethren. It could also be
noted that <i>Mormon Doctrine</i> was reissued in 1966, and its author was
called to the Quorum of the Twelve in 1972. It takes a pretty good imagination
to suppose that a man who flagrantly ignored the direction of the president of
the Church and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles would be called to fill a
vacancy in that body.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Whatever
faults one might want to attribute to Bruce McConkie, no one who knew him could
question his integrity or his discipline, particularly where matters of
priesthood direction were concerned. Never in my life have I known a man who
was more disciplined or obedient to priesthood direction. Bruce McConkie would
have died a thousand deaths before he would have disregarded the prophet's
counsel or that of the Quorum of the Twelve. . . . He followed counsel and
minded his business. I have never met, nor do I expect to meet, a man more
disciplined to the order of the priesthood. To suppose that he would reject the
counsel of the president of the Church or the Quorum of the Twelve is to
completely misrepresent the man and the truth.” Further, he wrote: “How do we
know President McKay directed your father to reprint <i>Mormon Doctrine</i>?
Response: My father told me that President McKay had so directed him. In
addition to that, I am in possession of handwritten papers by my father
affirming that direction.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> As another witness to the statements found above, the following is transcribed from an audio interview of Oscar W. McConkie Jr. (held on June 26, 2017), who worked for decades as a lawyer for the Church's legal firm:</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote>When I determined to retire from Kirton and McConkie, I was in my 85th year. I went to the First Presidency meeting to advise the First Presidency. As always, President Monson was kind to me and praised my lawyering. This was at a time when a book had been published about President David O. McKay in which it was falsely stated that Bruce had republished his book <i>Mormon Doctrine</i> without President McKay’s consent. President Monson went out of his way to say, so that it would be in the recorded minutes of the First Presidency, "Bruce and I got President McKay’s permission to republish Bruce’s <i>Mormon Doctrine</i>."</blockquote><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Along with
this evidence, I note that the biography of President McKay by Prince and
Wright was strongly biased against <i>Mormon Doctrine</i>. It cherry-picked its
sources and wrests them. It is apparent to me, and also puzzling, that while
these authors had access to both my biography of Elder McConkie and also Joseph
Fielding McConkie’s, they completely ignored both. Instead they put a liberal
spin, including their own unjustified commentary, on the selected sources they
did use, carefully not using those that disagreed with their anti-McConkie thesis.
This is not scholarship, but smearing.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I quote
below what I wrote elsewhere, in the “Bruce R. McConkie” chapter of my 2017 book
<i>I Know He Lives</i>:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In 1958
Elder McConkie’s seminal encyclopedic work, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mormon
Doctrine,</i> was published. Because it explained gospel doctrines clearly and
forcefully, it quickly became a very popular book with latter-day saints.
However, the breadth of subjects covered (some outside the range of LDS
doctrine), the authoritative tone in which they were explained, and the
controversial nature of some of the content, caused the First Presidency to
take a close look at it. Both Elders Marion G. Romney and Mark E. Petersen were
assigned by the First Presidency to submit written reports on their findings
after reviewing the book. These reports eventually led to a meeting between the
First Presidency (then consisting of David O. McKay, J. Reuben Clark, and Henry
D. Moyle), Elder Mark E. Petersen, and Elder McConkie, to discuss his
best-selling book.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">When they called Bruce in, they
asked him to take a seat, but he said he would prefer to stand. Elder Mark E.
Petersen of the Quorum of the Twelve, present and accounted for during this
meeting, did most of the talking. President Henry D. Moyle (the second
counselor) indicated that on this occasion the First Presidency gave Bruce a
“horsewhipping.” They were really hard on him and “raked him over the coals”
for a period of time. He further indicated that it was the worst criticism that
that First Presidency had ever given a General Authority; that he went home
feeling badly that they had been so hard on Bruce—it was basically Mark E.
Petersen doing the talking and the First Presidency going along with and
backing him up in his criticisms of Bruce’s book; that Elder Petersen was the
real force behind the (temporary) discontinuance of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mormon Doctrine</i>; he was the reason the First Presidency gave it so
much attention and why Bruce got in so much trouble over it. President Moyle
indicated that Bruce simply listened to what they had to say, didn’t offer any
arguments or protestations, said he had no questions at the end of the meeting
when he was asked if he did, and he left. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Marion G. Romney really didn’t think that much was wrong with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mormon Doctrine</i>, and President Joseph
Fielding Smith didn’t think anything was wrong with it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have
thought long and hard about why Elder Petersen didn’t like <i>Mormon Doctrine</i>
and said he found more than a thousand errors in it. As I have read the
doctrinal writings of each man, it has become apparent to me that they really
thought very much alike, with very similar doctrinal views. They both denounced
error and liberal intellectualism when they saw it, and the same errors in
worldly philosophies. Many of their talks are similar in doctrinal content. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Joseph
Fielding McConkie believed that Elder Petersen’s distrust of the JST (or the <i>Inspired
Version</i>) of the Bible may have caused him to designate every use of that
work in <i>Mormon Doctrine</i> as an “error.” This is not known for sure, but
if that was the case, then such references would not be considered errors today
when the <a href="https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/bruce-r-mcconkie/joseph-smith-translation-doctrinal-restoration/">JST
is fully accepted and trusted</a> and found in our Bibles.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Regarding the
many unorthodox liberal members who have denigrated this volume, Joseph
McConkie also wrote: “Even today, my experience suggests that his unequivocal
stand on organic evolution is the primary reason the book has been criticized.
Critics frequently attempt to give credence to their objection by finding fault
with the author or the book on any count they can.” Joseph McConkie also
wondered, in writing, how anyone could justify ignoring or discounting all that
Elder McConkie ever said or wrote throughout his ministry, by stating that he
(may have) got something wrong in <i>Mormon Doctrine</i>. To say that
everything taught must be distrusted because someone is wrong about a few
things, would surely make everything all of us say untrustworthy, for whom
among us is perfect in all we say, write, or teach?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As with
most all books, <i>Mormon Doctrine</i> eventually stopped selling and therefore
went out of print some years ago. Critics crowed with glee when they learned it
was no longer being stocked on bookstore shelves, and tried to advance the
false narrative that it was because the Church was repudiating it. Quotations
from it filled approved church manuals and General Authority talks for decades,
but Elder McConkie will soon have been in the spirit world for 40 years and few
church members under fifty-five remember him or know who he was (sadly). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Personally,
I believe that with Elders Petersen and McConkie, while not close in mortality,
that all is forgiven and forgotten in the spirit world where they both
valiantly continue to serve the same kingdom and cause they did here. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Interestingly,
President J. Reuben Clark may have prepared Elder McConkie for his trying experience
meeting with the First Presidency after writing <i>Mormon Doctrine</i>. At the
time of his call to the First Council of Seventy, President Clark said to him,
“that I would get sat on [rebuked], but to take it in good stead, and wherein I
was wrong to correct the errors, but that wherein I was right, not to worry
about the rebuffs.” He seemed to follow that counsel well.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Who was the “young bishop” Matthew Cowley referred to in
his “</b><a href="https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/matthew-cowley/miracles/"><b>Miracles</b></a><b>”
talk, and how does he figure into Bruce R. McConkie’s life?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While now
less known, Elder Matthew Cowley gave a very famous BYU devotional address in
1953. In this inspired oration, Elder Cowley spoke of participating in many
miracles, including those of healing the sick and raising the dead by virtue of
faith and the holy priesthood. Therein, Elder Cowley mentioned that he often
took a young bishop with him when he visited hospitals to bless the sick. He
did not name this bishop in the talk, but many years after first hearing a
recording of this talk, I learned that the young bishop was Glen L. Rudd (later
a general authority).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Glen Rudd
served as a missionary under President Matthew Cowley in New Zealand, where
they became close. Not many years after his release as a missionary, Glen
became Bishop Rudd. Only a few months after President Cowley’s release as a
mission president, he became Elder Cowley of the Quorum of the Twelve. Elder
Cowley disliked church business meetings and often “played hooky” and took
Bishop Rudd with him to bless the sick. While Elder Cowley enjoyed many gifts
of the Spirit, his greatest gift was that of faith and he used it to bless the
sick to marvelous effect. Many, some on death’s door, were healed under his
priesthood administrations. His patriarchal blessing told him he would have the
faith of the brother of Jared and that proved to be true. Bishop Rudd
participated in or witnessed many marvelous manifestations of this mighty faith
as they blessed the sick and afflicted together.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One day
when Elder Rudd happened to walk by my office in the Church Office Building, he
noticed my recently published biography of Elder McConkie on my desk and
immediately wanted to talk about him. I then learned that he had been neighbors
with Elder McConkie for years; their children had grown up together and they
had gone on vacations together. We became friends and over the years I learned
that Elder Rudd had been friends and close associates with most of the apostles
and general authorities of the Church for the last half-century plus. It was
Elder Rudd who told me what President Moyle had told him about the First
Presidency’s dealings with Elder McConkie regarding <i>Mormon Doctrine</i>, as related
above. Elder Harold B. Lee was like a second father to Glen Rudd. President
Monson was one of his dear friends, as was Elder McConkie. When I visited with
him and listened to him tell stories, or read his extensive personal writings
and records, I felt almost like I was being informally invited into an inner
circle of beloved faithful and valiant associates I would never personally know
myself in this life.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Glen Rudd
worked in the Welfare Department of the Church for decades and also served as a
mission president and member of both the First and Second Quorums of Seventy,
before being granted emeritus status and then living and living into his upper
nineties. I attended his funeral some five years ago, where President Monson
spoke tenderly about his beloved friend (and soon followed him to the other
side).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>What was Bruce R. McConkie’s role in the publication of
the 1978 edition of the scriptures? <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Chapters in
both my and Joseph Fielding McConkie’s biographies of Elder McConkie cover this
subject and his contributions in some detail. In short, he wrote the chapter
and section headings for all the standard works, and did a great deal of work
on the introductory material and the Bible dictionary. He, Elder Packer, and
Elder Monson made up the Scriptures Publications Committee of the Church. There
were sub-members of the committee working under them and the full Council of
the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve gave them oversight and final
approval for major decisions. In my opinion, one way to know that the First
Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve agreed with and appreciated Elder
McConkie’s doctrinal views was that they approved of them as found in the doctrinal
entries of the Bible dictionary. Elder McConkie’s recommendation that two new
sections be added to the Doctrine and Covenants (sections 137 and 138) were
also approved and sustained. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Other
suggestions he made, such as that the <i>Lectures on Faith</i> be added to the
Pearl of Great Price, were not approved. Elder McConkie loved and often quoted
from the <i>lectures</i>, but research was starting to come out that questioned
the extent of the Prophet Joseph Smith’s involvement with them. Joseph Fielding
McConkie shared Elder McConkie’s personal list of items, outside the standard
works, that he considered inspired and therefore uncanonized scripture: “The
body of manuscripts that Bruce McConkie regarded as scripture included
measurably more than the standard works and the Joseph Smith Translation. His
own list of scripture included the Wentworth letter, in which Joseph Smith
briefly told the story of the First Vision and the coming of Moroni and to
which he appended the Articles of Faith; the <i>Lectures on Faith</i>, which
were published with the Doctrine and Covenants until 1921; the official
Exposition of the First Presidency on the Origin of Man, issued in 1912; the
Doctrinal Exposition of the First Presidency on the Father and the Son, issued
in 1916; the King Follett Discourse given by Joseph Smith at a conference of
the Church on April 7, 1844, and the similar discourse given in the Grove at
Nauvoo in June of the same year. To him these documents could very properly
have been added to our present canon.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As hinted, Elder
McConkie did in fact recommend to the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve
that these named items be canonized. A mock-up of a proposed new expanded edition
of the Pearl of Great Price was created, and even copyrighted by President Spencer
W. Kimball, that contained these extra items (that Elder McConkie divided into
verses), but ultimately went unapproved. (These doctrinal gems remain highly
valued by orthodox gospel scholars today.) <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Packer declared that Elder McConkie had been raised up by the Lord to do this scriptural
work and had a greater impact on the finished product than either he or Elder
Monson (who was a printing specialist). One evidence that Elder McConkie’s
contribution was so valuable lies in the fact that not many substantial changes
were made in the revised 2013 editions of the scriptures. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Describe the last few weeks before Bruce R. McConkie’s
death</b>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Those last
few weeks are fairly well described in the two mentioned biographies (mine and
Joseph’s) written about him. They include his final conference address and a
number of blessings given him by his apostolic associates, his brother Brit
(who until his passing was one of my mentors for twenty years), and his sons,
along with members of the First Presidency.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What is not
well known is that Elder McConkie believed he would be healed and resisted all
contrary suggestions until almost the very end. He simply knew that in and of
himself—not including other family and Quorum associates and friends—he had
enough faith to be healed. And the fact is that he did. He stated it this way:
“I have enough faith myself that the Lord can heal me. My family has enough
faith that He could heal me, and my Brethren have enough faith that I could be
healed. So it is not a matter of having faith anymore. It is simply a matter of
where the Lord wants me the most.” As Amelia said, “He felt that he would be
healed.” But in his case, after a temporary reprieve, it was to be otherwise. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At his
funeral, President Gordon B. Hinckley explained the situation: “Without denying
the faith of his loved ones, the Lord in His greater wisdom moved in another
direction. The Lord put Elder McConkie where he was. The Lord has now taken
him. The Lord placed him as an Apostle for a purpose. He has taken him for a
reason.” At a previous funeral years before (that of his brother James),
President Clark had shared this thought: “As I said to brother [Oscar] McConkie
yesterday, I am persuaded that the Lord never gives us sufficient faith to
thwart His purposes.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
McConkie lived for well over a year after being told by his doctor that he could
only live for a few weeks, which is ample evidence that all the faith and
prayers in his behalf worked until all the Lord wanted him to do was
accomplished. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was originally diagnosed with colon (bowel)
cancer. Both he and Amelia were caught off guard by this diagnosis. He
recorded: “Unbeknownst to her, I overheard Amelia telling someone that, when
the doctor opened me up, he found that the bowel cancer had spread beyond the
liver and was in other parts of my body. In my then existing state of stupor
and understanding, I gained the impression they had no alternative but to sew
me up, as the expression has it.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Further,
and this is an example all faithful people should follow, he wrote, “Obviously
I counseled with the Lord in repeated secret prayers, giving thanks for my many
blessings and pleading fervently for those additional blessings Iso much
desired. It came into my mind repeatedly to thank the Lord for his goodness and
grace unto me and mine in days past and in the present hour. I thanked him for
life itself; for giving me this mortal probation in which I might seek
salvation and gain immortality and eternal life; for letting me be born in the
dispensation of the Fulness of Times, when the fulness of the everlasting
gospel was on earth; for my birth under the covenant as a natural heir to all
of the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I thanked
him for my wife Amelia and for the choice spirits sent to us as our sons and
daughters; for the fact they were all true to the faith; that they in turn
loved the Lord and kept the commandments and were bringing up their children in
light and truth; and for the love and peace and unity that prevailed in our
family circle.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I told the
Lord that though I did not know all his purposes, and was not able to judge
whether there was more need for me here in mortality or in the spirit world, .
. . Accordingly, I pled that if it agreed with his will it seemed proper to me that
I be left to serve in this sphere.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I also
told the Lord that I was in his hands; did not desire to run counter to his
will; and would submit to any eventuality that he in his wisdom deemed proper.
. . . <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Having so
stated I asked, in faith, that I might have life and health and vigor and all
my faculties that I might go forward in my ministry as long as it seemed good
to the Lord for me to serve here. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Mindful of
the prayers of my brethren of the Twelve, there came unto my heart the feeling
that they were the best men on earth and that I had a great love for them
individually and collectively. I resolved that I will never say a derogatory
thing about any one of them, and that in all our deliberations I will speak
discreetly, with restraint, and temperately, using the best wisdom and
inspiration I can obtain.” (This musing puts me in mind of a statement in a
talk by Elder Bednar some years ago, in which he also stated that he believed
the First Presidency and Twelve are the best men on earth; I agree with them
wholeheartedly.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Continuing,
Elder McConkie wrote: “Mindful of the faith and prayers of my family, I felt a
renewed appreciation for each one of them and reaffirmed my determination to
stand as a light and a guide to them, . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I thought
also of President Clark’s statement, made at the funeral of Elder Matthew
Cowley, that no righteous man is ever taken before his time. I hoped I might qualify
as one of those so acclaimed and that my time had not come.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Out of it
all I seemed to feel that all would be well; that I would live and minister
among men; and that this was not to be the end of my mortal probation.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And it was
indeed not yet the end. When Elder Packer found out what Elder McConkie’s first
cancer diagnosis was and how little time the doctor had given him to live, he
called Amelia and told her, “I came to the conclusion that we cannot lose him,
there is no one else in the Church at this time that can do what he does and
what Bruce does is needed too much to let him go.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And what
were those things Bruce did? Elder Packer gave him a blessing in which he pled
with the Lord to allow him to remain in mortality so he could preach, teach,
and write, to the lofty levels and heights of insight, inspiration, knowledge,
and understanding that this doctrinal giant could yet provide the Church. Both
Elder Packer’s and Elder McConkie’s brother Brit’s blessings stated that there
were those on the other side of the veil joining in faith and prayer that Elder
McConkie could stay in mortality longer. Elder McConkie was administered to by
Elders Maxwell, Faust, Packer, and President Hinckley, along with his own sons,
among others. The Lord heard and granted his Apostle some extra time. But the
cancer eventually came back with a vengeance. Elder McConkie lost his appetite
and had other complications usual with cancer patients. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was on
February 18, 1985, that he wrote the bulk of his final conference talk, titled
“The Purifying Power of Gethsemane.” He read it first to his Amelia, who
stopped cooking an apple pie for him to listen. She remembered: “He began to
read. . . . He was bearing testimony of Christ and his Atoning sacrifice, and
it was probably the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard him do. He was so
touched himself the tears just streamed down his face. As he talked of a coming
day in which he would be able to see and feel the wounds in the Savior’s feet
and hands, and that his tears would wash his feet, I asked him if he had come
to a conclusion that he was not to be healed, and he said no. Neither of us
knew what the Lord’s will would be. Bruce’s words had brought a stillness to
the table, a silence of sacred proportion which neither of us wished to break.”
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
McConkie managed to get to the Tabernacle, and Elder Packer protected him from distractions
that would drain his meager remaining strength as they found their seats. He
spoke second, after President Ezra Taft Benson, and left after that first session
concluded. As he left the Tabernacle, barely able to walk, President Hinckley
took his arm and said, “You have done all that you can do. It is enough. The
Lord asks no more. Go home and rest.” He did. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yet he still
believed he would be healed. As Amelia phrased it, “Many, including Bruce,
still felt that the Lord’s healing hand could and would reverse the course.” At
a family gathering he stated: “The work is true. I don’t care if I live or die
as long as I do his will . . . but if I die, the burden will be upon your
mother.” . . . “The Lord has blessed you and will continue to bless you.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Packer visited and told Amelia that “We witnessed a miracle in the extra year
and four months we had Bruce after his first ‘sentence of death’ was
pronounced. . . . But, the crowning moment came as Bruce spoke in conference. I
felt this was the last thing he had to do to complete the work he had been
called to do.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Before he
left, he gave Elder McConkie one last priesthood blessing. Amelia summarized
what was said thusly: “Elder Packer recounted the purposes of mortality,
reminding Bruce that we knew we would face trials and tests on earth and we had
agreed to do so. He said that even now the Lord could heal him, that he could
rebuke this disease, but if it was the Lord’s will to take him there was
purpose in it. He counseled him to be meek and willing and not to fight against
the Lord’s purposes. He talked of his great love for Bruce, telling him that he
was closer to him than any of the other brethren, not that he loved them less,
but because Bruce had taught him so much. He had learned about courage as he
watched Bruce speak out even when he had to stand alone. Because of this, he
too had more courage. He told him that he had been valiant and had done all
that the Lord required of him. That he had been allowed to stay to deliver his
testimony and that there was more power in that conference than any other in a
long time. That he had lived a full, rich life. He told him that he would go
over to the other side with the authority of the priesthood that he held. That
his keys and position of Apostle would go with him.” More was said about Elder
McConkie preaching the gospel in the spirit world, as is stated in D&C 138:57.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As Elder
Packer left, Elder McConkie said to him, “Boyd . . . I love you. I didn’t want
to die.” Elder McConkie then cried and told his wife that Elder Packer, in the
blessing, had “sealed me up to die.” He also said, “I do not want to die, but
if that’s what the Lord wants, so be it. We must do nothing more. It is in the
Lord’s hands.” From then on, family were instructed to pray that he die, not
that he live. And such soon became the case. (For those who don’t know, in
earlier decades in the Church, it became a common practice, though it was never
a formal ordinance, to seal someone up to death when blessing a critically ill
person of faith. This practice is now discouraged and is seldom done, but when
prompted, the inspiration of the Lord should be followed as Brother Packer did.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
McConkie’s mother Vivian soon visited him and specifically requested that when
he got to the other side of the veil, he would tell his father Oscar to come
and get her, her bags were packed. Bruce died on April 19, 1985, and did as
asked—and Oscar came and got her three weeks later.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>What was the subject of Bruce R. McConkie's last talk in
General Conference?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
McConkie’s <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1985/04/the-purifying-power-of-gethsemane?lang=eng">final
general conference talk</a> (and final talk period) on the atonement of Jesus
Christ, given in April 1985, is today considered one of the greatest and most
famous ever given in the Tabernacle or in a general conference. This is not
simply because of the unusually fine expressiveness of the language used, but
really because of the power of the Holy Spirit that accompanied its delivery
and the truths presented. It was an occasion where the Holy Spirit carried the
message into the hearts of listeners almost as though an angel were speaking. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
McConkie had experienced something like unto this previously in his ministry. Of
<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1972/10/i-know-that-my-redeemer-lives?lang=eng">his
April 1972 general conference talk</a>, he said, “he [the Lord] poured out upon
me and the whole congregation his Spirit in a manner far exceeding anything
else that had ever happened to me in connection with any talk or sermon I have
ever delivered. What I said on that occasion came from him so that the
attending spirit carried the message into the hearts of people with convincing
power.” His wife Amelia confirmed this statement with her own experience and
impressions: “Bruce later shared with me that he felt the Spirit rest upon him
as it never had before in his life’s experience. About halfway through his talk
I became aware that there was an absolute stillness in the whole Tabernacle.
The cameras that incessantly clicked during every other talk were quiet; there
was not a cough or a movement; and every ear seemed tuned to each word he
spoke. President Lee told him he had lifted up [the spiritual level of] the
whole conference.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After
serving for some thirteen years (after that talk) as a special witness in the
Apostleship, one can only imagine the even greater presence of the Spirit that
accompanied his final testimony. Over the years, I have encountered statements and
reminiscences from many people in attendance confirming how special and
powerful that message was to them. There is no question the Lord used that
occasion to strengthen many members’ testimonies of the living Jesus and His infinite
atoning sacrifice. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For some
reason unknown to and undiscoverable by me, the First Presidency (of that day)
directed that no audio or video copies of this address be made from Church
originals in their archives. There were a few video copies floating around that
various members had made, but one could not obtain copies from the Church
itself. The Church archivists I spoke with insisted they were not told why. I
have speculated that the reason may have had something to do with the
sacredness of the event and the emotion evident in Elder McConkie’s voice. He
was gone only a little while later. Still speculating—perhaps they didn’t want
critics easily mocking his beautiful and sacred testimony. This copying block
was in place for many many years until general conferences were posted on the Church
website, at which time it was lifted. Now <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1985/04/the-purifying-power-of-gethsemane?lang=eng">anyone
can watch</a> and thereby be edified and rejoice. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>What are your favorite Bruce R. McConkie quotes?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Among too
many to include are these that make my soul sing because of the blessed truths
in them:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The first
of these gifts listed in our modern revelation on spiritual gifts is the gift
of testimony, the gift of revelation, the gift of knowing of the truth and
divinity of the work. This gift is elsewhere described as the testimony of
Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy. This is my gift. I know this work is
true. I have a perfect knowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God
and that he was crucified for the sins of the world. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I know
there is revelation in the Church because I have received revelation. I know
God speaks in this day because <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1972/10/i-know-that-my-redeemer-lives?lang=eng">he
has spoken to me</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">***<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I asked the
Lord what he would have me say on this occasion and received the distinct and
affirmative impression that I should bear testimony that Jesus Christ is the
Son of the living God and that he was crucified for the sins of the world.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have what
is known as “the testimony of Jesus,” which means that I know by personal
revelation from the Holy Spirit to my soul that <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1972/04/the-testimony-of-jesus?lang=eng">Jesus
is the Lord</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">***<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Over the
years I have felt the spirit of Inspiration many times and have had great
truths revealed to me. There have been a few times when I have prevailed upon
the Lord to speak to me and give counsel and direction in direct words.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">***<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Those who
study, ponder, and pray about the scriptures, seeking to understand their deep
and hidden meanings, receive from time to time great outpourings of light and
knowledge from the Holy Spirit.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">***<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is the
practice of the Lord to give added knowledge to those upon whose hearts the
true meanings and intents of the scriptures have been impressed. Many great
doctrinal revelations come to those who preach from the scriptures. When they
are in tune with the Infinite, the Lord lets them know, first, the full and
complete meaning of the scriptures they are expounding, and then he ofttimes
expands their views so that new truths flood in upon them, and they learn added
things that those who do not follow such a course can never know.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">***<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I would
hope that . . . [others] have had the same experience that has been mine on
many occasions. In the spirit of prayer, while reading and pondering the holy word,
new views, added concepts, truths theretofore unknown, have suddenly dawned
upon me. Doctrines that were dim and hidden and little known, have, in an
instant, been shown forth with a marvelous clarity and in wondrous beauty.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">***<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have
spent many hours poring over and pondering the scriptures. In seeking to learn
the doctrines of salvation, I have studied, weighed, and compared what the
various prophets have said about the same subjects. Time and again, after much
praying and pondering about a given point, new and added concepts have burst
upon me, showing deep and hidden truths that I had never before known.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">***<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>[One of the
above quotations includes Elder McConkie’s statement that the Lord had spoken
to him. It so happens that Elder McConkie wrote down what Jesus said to him: “Thou
art one of those whom I have chosen out of the world to stand as a witness of
my name in all the earth and before kings and rulers.” Another was, “Thou art
called to testify of my name unto the ends of the earth.” Of course all this
was or came true.]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Bonus quotes
from President Russell M. Nelson: “Elder Bruce R. McConkie was a great friend.
His door was always open to me, and I frequently imposed upon his graciousness,
asking him questions that possibly only he could answer.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And: “Occasionally,
I would have an idea I wanted to discuss or had a question. I would knock on
his door, and he was always gracious, always warmly welcoming. When I could see
this was an opportunity to learn from him, I would ask him to put his remarks
on pause for a minute while I called Elder Oaks and asked him to come up so we
could converse with Elder McConkie together. That was a rare privilege.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Second
bonus quotes from President Dallin H. Oaks (Pres. Oaks had asked Elder McConkie
to review a temple dedication talk): “Then he enthusiastically and fervently
clapped me on the shoulders with his huge hands . . . grinned his big grin and
said, ‘But the best thing about this talk is that it shows the direction you
are taking. It is a genuinely doctrinal talk. It is apostolic!” . . . “I was so
pleased at this comment about my talk as I do wish to understand and expound
doctrine, and there is no living Apostle whom I respect more in that sphere
than Bruce R. McConkie. I told him I wanted to be one who preaches doctrine.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And from a
note to Amelia after Elder McConkie’s passing: “I read choice books a few pages
at a time, so I can savor them and think about their implications. Proceeding
in that manner, I have just finished reading <i>A New Witness for the Articles
of Faith</i>. This is undoubtedly the most profound and inspirational doctrinal
book I have ever read. It has and will have a great influence on my thinking
and my ministry.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>What would you include in a theoretical third edition of
Bruce R. McConkie: Highlights from His Life and Teachings?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is a
hard question that I can only begin to answer broadly. When dealing with the
lives and experiences of prophets and apostles, one must balance the purpose of
telling a life story with the issue of trying not to cross a line of
sacredness. How does one deal with this complicated issue? Even the senior
Brethren are not completely united on this question. One hopes and prays to be guided
by the constraints and promptings of the Holy Spirit, and I have benefited from
these on occasion in my writing, but sometimes the Lord leaves one to their own
best judgment (which happens to me often). I have even had the Spirit direct me
to sources that at another much earlier time would have been inappropriate to
use (relating to a different project).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I provide
this quotation from Elder McConkie, as he reviewed this very subject: “The
sealed portion of the Book of Mormon contains a full account of the creation,
which also is deliberately withheld from the world at this time, but which will
be known again during the Millennium. There is no question that if it were
revealed to the world, or even to the generality of church members, at this time,
it would do more harm than good. Obviously it contains so much that is
diametrically opposed to the accepted theories of the day, so much that those
who are weak in the faith would not accept, so much meat for people who drink
only milk, that it would drive the evolutionists in the Church even farther
from the standard of truth than is now the case: The Lord in his infinite
wisdom grants unto the children of men only that portion of truth which they
are prepared to receive.” (See also <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teaching-seminary-preservice-readings-religion-370-471-and-475/the-bible-a-sealed-book?lang=eng">another
similar statement</a> also well worth pondering.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We might
ask this question: why did the Lord instruct King Mosiah not to share his
inspired translation of the Jaredite records—part of which contained what we
know today as the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon—until the resurrected
Jesus’ appearance in the Americas? And we answer: because it wasn’t until the
aptly-nicknamed “golden age” of the Nephites when the wicked had been destroyed
and those remaining were or began living in such a lofty faithful and valiant
condition as to accept the knowledge that record contained—and not rebel
against it, which would have happened if it had come forth earlier. Some
relatively few would have been accepting (and thrilled) but so many more would
not have. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
resurrected Jesus went so far as to tell His disciples that the Father
precluded him from telling the Jews much about the Nephites because of their
lack of faith and their iniquity. The reason He could tell the Nephites about
the Jews was because they had sufficient faith and righteousness to be given
that knowledge (see 3 Nephi 15). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Again, “The
Lord in his infinite wisdom grants unto the children of men only that portion
of truth which they are prepared to receive.” And further: “But if they do not
seek the Spirit, if they do not accept the revelations God has given, if they
cannot distinguish between the revealed word and the theories of men, they have
no promise of gaining a fullness of truth by the power of the Holy Ghost.” So
stated Elder McConkie and so it is.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We do not
know today what manner of false doctrines, philosophies, and teachings were
prevalent in Nephite and Lamanite societies (I doubt they had evolution), but
Mormon tells us that such things were floating around all over the place at
various times, misleading many. In other words, occasionally their society was
often as unbelieving, unfaithful, corrupt, misguided, and contentious as ours.
Their true Church had its “dissenters” (apostates) the same as ours. So they
were all kept from reading the brother of Jared’s vision-record until they were
worthy and spiritually prepared for it (after Christ’s visit), and in like
manner we won’t get it until the Millennium (after Christ’s second advent and
the destruction of the wicked then).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With all
the contention and rejection of gospel truths and the commandments we see
around us today (especially regarding LGBT matters), one wonders what portion
of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would accept as
precious scripture the translated content of the sealed portion if it were
given us now—and what portion of the Church would reject it and rebel, thinking
they knew more than God. (And what portion simply wouldn’t care.) We already
have some academics and scholars doing this in and out of the Church today; how
might the volume (both in decibels and quantity) of contrary voices multiply if
these divine mysteries of the heavens were made known now? What did Jesus say
to the Nephites?: “because of stiffneckedness and unbelief they [the Jews]
understood not my word; therefore I was commanded to say no more of the Father
concerning this thing unto them. But, verily, I say unto you that the Father
hath commanded me, and I tell it unto you, that ye were separated from among
them because of their iniquity; therefore it is because of their iniquity that
they know not of you.” What indeed has our general collective iniquity and lack
of faith kept our current prophets and apostles from revealing to us?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We even have
those (very few) among us who cannot keep the temple ceremony and ordinances sacred;
what would they do with greater heavenly truths and knowledge? Mock and
ridicule them of course (see 1 Nephi 8:27-28). These are reasons Elder McConkie
is so very correct in what he says. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today we
have BYU biologists trying to <a href="https://lifesciences.byu.edu/biology-department-hosts-reconcile-evolution-conference">teach
other religious schools’ professors</a> how to weave so-called “theistic evolution”
into their curriculum; contaminating them even more than is already the case.
Such is a sad state of affairs (and in our tithe-supported schools at that). As
Elder McConkie observed, “We’re trying to be kind to all the evolutionists at
the BYU, hoping that if given time and opportunity, they will repent and
believe the gospel.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I am
confident that Presidents Nelson, Oaks, Eyring, and Ballard, in their
biographies (and their conference talks), <i>could have</i> included much more
in the way of doctrinal knowledge and sacred personal spiritual experience than
they did, perhaps a hundred-fold or more—but most is wisely withheld. They
found the best content balance they could and that is what we get and deserve;
same goes with Elder McConkie. Speaking to this subject, he wrote: “I am
sufficiently sensitive to the feelings and minds of many of the Brethren to
know that they have seen and heard many things which they do not disclose.”
Why?—for the very reasons we have reviewed. (<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1971/04/the-spirit-beareth-record?lang=eng">This
conference address from Elder Packer</a> also touches on this issue.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hypothetically,
if one of the many written revelations President Nelson has received from God
dealt with LGBT members who break the law of chastity, how would such a
revelation, if published or canonized, be received by many in the Restored
Church who <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/gs/homosexual-behavior?lang=eng">promote
acceptance of such behavior</a>? More loud disbelief and rebellion and gnashing
of teeth of course. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so it
goes with one issue after another, where the philosophies of the world (Babylon)
have made troubling inroads into the Church and even the elect are deceived.
(On this general subject, see also <a href="https://rsc.byu.edu/book-mormon-jacob-through-words-mormon-learn-joy/law-light">here</a>
and <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1982/06/christ-and-the-creation?lang=eng">here</a>
and <a href="https://rsc.byu.edu/voice-my-servants/foolishness-teaching">here</a>.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I personally
believe that many (perhaps most?) of the Council of the First Presidency and
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as presently constituted (as well as in past
decades), see visions, dream dreams, entertain angels, hear the voice of the
Lord, see His face, feel of His presence, receive marvelous personal and church
revelations, and participate in miracles as they serve the Lord in their
ministries. And they all <i>know</i> that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ,
and that Joseph Smith was Their Prophet.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So I repeat:
I hope I have not gone beyond the bounds of propriety in making these things
public, but on the other hand, unless made known (after their deaths), they
can’t do anyone any good; they can’t strengthen anyone’s faith. A complex issue
indeed.<o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-54238109654998181362022-04-25T22:12:00.001-07:002022-04-25T22:12:22.794-07:00“Getting” or “Creating” Planets<p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="text-align: center;">by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=Dennis+Horne&search-alias=books&field-author=Dennis+Horne&sort=relevancerank">Dennis B. Horne</a></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I think
highly of and appreciate The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ <a href="https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics-and-background/">newsroom
website</a>, and also the Church’s <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/essays?lang=eng">Gospel
Topic essays</a>. These are fine and sound sources for accurate information
about the Church, portions of its doctrine, and some little of its more
controversial or oft-misunderstood history. However, despite the strong writing,
vetting, and approvals they receive before posting, sometimes some rare error
creeps in. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I suggest
that one reason a few things are stated poorly (or wrongly) is because the authors
explaining these varied topics are striving to diplomatically inform two very
different audiences. On one hand, church members need accurate and faithful
sources of information about the Church’s history and doctrine. On the other
hand, <i>non</i>-Latter-day Saints, with little or no background or
understanding of church history and doctrine, also need accurate and
understandable sources of the same information. Satisfying both spectrums in one
essay or a few topic paragraphs is so difficult that it is virtually impossible.
Spiritually mature and faithful church members that study and love the
scriptures can better understand the more advanced and difficult areas of
church history and doctrine than can others (such as curious or critical sectarian
Christians or atheist readers). This point is explained in President Boyd K.
Packer’s superb book, <i>The Holy Temple </i>(25-26). Therein he wrote: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> <span></span></o:p></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
careful reading of the scriptures reveals that the Lord did not tell all things
to all people. There were some qualifications set that were prerequisite to
receiving sacred information. Such things were to come “line upon line, precept
upon precept,” as people were able to receive them. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Most
educational programs require the completion of basic or prerequisite courses before
one can register for advanced courses. At a university you cannot register for
a graduate course in chemistry, or even an advanced course, until completing
the basic or elementary courses. This principle of prerequisites is well
understood in everyday life. It should not surprise anyone when it is applied
to the ordinances of the gospel. That is common sense. Without the fundamental
principles of chemistry, an advanced course may well be a mistake.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Non-Latter-day
Saints who read the essays and topics without prerequisite knowledge will get
what they get, as also will far more informed church members.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The authors
also knew these items would be scrutinized by critics that would seek to ridicule
or dispute them—after all, a critic’s self-appointed goal is to keep up as much
mists of darkness as possible to confuse and mislead others into forbidden
paths (see <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/8?lang=eng">1
Nephi 8:19-28</a>). I suppose the writers sought a middle ground. One area in
which critics (anti-Mormons) have been especially active relates to the Restored
Church of Jesus Christ’s doctrine that those who receive exaltation will be
gods, just like our Heavenly Father and Mother are. This doctrine is way beyond
apostate Christianity, and also atheists and agnostics, but is found throughout
the Standard Works and church publications (i.e. Conference Reports, church manuals
and magazines, etc.). As gods, the exalted will do what gods do—produce spirit
children and create worlds for them to undergo the eternal plan of salvation
and a probationary journey. This is God’s work and glory and will be that of
His faithful spirit children who overcome the world. But this eternal truth is
all gibberish to spiritually dead people (as are temple ordinances, personal
and institutional revelation, priesthood, preexistence, kingdoms of glory, etc.).
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I speculate
that the ill-phrased wording below was caused by someone seeking to appease an
unsympathetic audience instead of doctrinally-informed church members, each of whom
would view the explanations differently. Certainly they could have and should
have been worded much better. The following paragraph comes from a <a href="https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/frequently-asked-questions">Newsroom
Q&A</a>:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">12. Do Latter-day Saints believe
that they will “get their own planet”?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">No. This idea is not taught in
Latter-day Saint scripture, nor is it a doctrine of the Church. This
misunderstanding stems from speculative comments unreflective of scriptural
doctrine. Latter-day Saints believe that we are all sons and daughters of God
and that all of us have the potential to grow during and after this life to
become like our Heavenly Father (see Romans 8:16-17). The Church does not and
has never purported to fully understand the specifics of Christ’s statement
that “in my Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I think a
key to better understanding this material is in how the question was phrased,
which is how a critic would ask, but probably not how a church member would
phrase it. And Latter-day Saints, as a generalized collective, do not determine
doctrine—scripture and prophets and apostles do, in that order—so I wish that wording
was phrased better. (John 14:2 may not be fully understood in all its
specifics, but surely D&C 76 and 88 and 138 and other modern revelations
contain much information not had elsewhere; see McConkie, <i>Doctrinal New
Testament Commentary</i> 1:728; “mansions” means “kingdoms” of glory.) <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
wording from the (woefully underwhelming) Gospel Topic essay, “<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/becoming-like-god?lang=eng">Becoming
Like God</a>” could also use revision and clarification:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Latter-day
Saints’ doctrine of exaltation is often similarly reduced in media to a
cartoonish image of people receiving their own planets. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Likewise,
while few Latter-day Saints would identify with caricatures of having their own
planet, most would agree that the awe inspired by creation hints at our
creative potential in the eternities.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps we ought not be writing to counter
critics’ caricatures, but to enlighten members instead. Church doctrine has
more than “hints” in it, whether some Latter-day Saints know it or not. The
fact is that we do have both scriptural and prophetic doctrine (which is really
the same thing) that teaches that those who become exalted gods in eternity may
not “get”—but will <i>create</i> “their own planets,” just as the Father and
the Son (assisted by others) created this earth. Of course, one verse or
quotation can’t include all the doctrine, but added up they teach so very much.
We begin with <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/jst/jst-rev/2?lang=eng">JST,
Revelation 2:26–27</a>, including the interpretive (italic) chapter heading:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><i>Those who overcome the world by
obedience to Christ’s commandments will rule kingdoms [worlds/earths] in the
world [resurrection/eternity] to come with faith, equity, and justice [just as
the Father and Son have this earth].<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">26 And to him who overcometh, and
keepeth my commandments unto the end [receive exaltation or godhood], will I
give power over many kingdoms [creation of worlds/earths; the word “give” is
here used];<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">27 And he [the exalted gods of this
earth] shall rule them [govern as the Father and Jehovah have/are] with the
word of God; and they shall be in his hands as the vessels of clay in the hands
of a potter; and he shall govern them by faith, with equity and justice, even
as I received of my Father [very expressive language, like Moses 1:39].<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And then we
have the passages found in <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/132?lang=eng">Doctrine
& Covenants 132</a>:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">20 Then shall they be gods, because
they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting,
because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things [including
the elements/matter] are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because
they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">23 But if ye receive me in the
world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive your exaltation; that where I
am ye shall be also.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">24 This is eternal lives—to know
the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. I am he.
Receive ye, therefore, my law.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">53 For I am the Lord thy God, and
ye shall obey my voice; and I give unto my servant Joseph that he shall be made
ruler over many things [worlds/earths];<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">63 …for they [plural wives] are
given unto him [Joseph/the exalted] to multiply and replenish the earth,
according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my
Father before the foundation of the world, and for their [faithful sealed
people] exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they [plural wives] may bear [give
birth to] the souls [spirits] of men [and women]; for herein [continuation of
the seeds] is the work of my Father continued, that he may be glorified
[eternal progression of the exalted with posterity].<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These
scriptures do not talk about the exalted “getting” their own planet/earth from
somewhere or someone else, but of creating their own to populate and govern,
which is not how we define getting or being given something. So technically I
suppose the poor wording quoted above is correct, but the impression given is mistaken
as the scriptures teach. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And then
there are the promises made by the Father to those who receive and keep the
oath and covenant of the priesthood, “And he that receiveth my Father receiveth
my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him”
(D&C 84:38). I don’t think that to receive of Heavenly Father’s kingdom is
to receive, or be given, those kingdom’s He has already created (worlds without
number). I think that “all that my Father hath shall be given unto him” means
the knowledge and power to create new kingdoms/worlds/planets, and people them
with spirit children from a new pre-existence (do we see the pattern here?).
That is the perfected, glorified and exalted power the Father possesses in its eternal
fulness—“all that he hath.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Another
revelation says that “he that endureth in faith and doeth my will, the same
shall overcome, and shall receive an inheritance upon the earth when the day of
transfiguration shall come” (D&C 63:20). The exalted will receive place on
this earth when it is Celestialized and becomes “a sea of glass and fire,” like
the planet upon which God resides (see D&C 77:1; 130:6-9). I think all
issues of “getting” and planetary ownership will be moot and meaningless at
this point among the gods, while the critics spend their eternity in a
Telestial Kingdom. Knowing what God’s work and glory is will surely tell us
what the work and glory of the exalted will likewise be. “To him that overcometh
will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set
down with my Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21); “He that overcometh shall
inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (Revelation
21:7). What does it mean for the exalted that overcome the world to “inherit
all things”? Is this not long and well-settled scriptural doctrine?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since there
is always someone who wants to interpret the scriptures as saying something
other than what they do, or willfully misinterpreting them, we also include
formal prophetic pronouncements from the current and some past presidents of
the Church. President Russell M. Nelson, from the <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/broadcasts/article/christmas-devotional/2018/12/four-gifts-that-jesus-christ-offers-to-you?lang=eng">2018
First Presidency Christmas devotional</a>:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">Everyone will live forever after
death, regardless of the kingdom or glory for which they may qualify. Everyone
will be resurrected and experience immortality. But eternal life is so much
more than a designation of time. Eternal life is the kind and quality of life
that Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son live. When the Father offers us
everlasting life, He is saying in essence, “If you choose to follow my Son—if
your desire is really to become more like Him—<u>then in time you may live as
we live and preside over worlds and kingdoms as we do</u>.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where did
God the father “get” planet earth?—He and others (“the gods”) created it as the
revealed creation accounts tell us. In a general conference address, <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1977/04/our-great-potential?lang=eng">President
Kimball</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">quoted
President Brigham Young on this subject, leaving no doubt as to doctrinal
meaning</span></span>:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
remember when the Lord Jesus was in the hinder part of the ship and was
sleeping on a pillow, and his disciples awakened him and said unto him,
“Master, carest thou not that we perish?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And
he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the
wind ceased, and there was a great calm. …<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And
they … said [to themselves], What manner of man is this, that even the wind and
the sea obey him?” (<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/mark/4.38-39,41?lang=eng#p38"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Mark 4:38–39,
41</span></a>.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Perhaps
there is something else that we will learn as we perfect our bodies and our
spirits in the times to come. You and I<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>what helpless creatures
are we! Such limited power we have, and how little can we control the wind and
the waves and the storms! We remember the numerous scriptures which,
concentrated in a single line, were said by a former prophet, Lorenzo Snow: “As
man is, God once was; and as God is, man may become.” This is a power available
to us as we reach perfection and receive the experience and power to create, to
organize, to control native elements. How limited we are now! We have no power
to force the grass to grow, the plants to emerge, the seeds to develop.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We
have no such ordinance here,” said Brigham Young. “We organize according to men
in the flesh. By combining the elements and planting the seed, we cause
vegetables, trees, grains, etc. to come forth.” But we do not give them life.
“We are organizing a kingdom here according to the pattern that the Lord has
given for people in the flesh, but not for those who have received the
resurrection, although it is a similitude.” (<i>JD,</i> 15:137.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a name="_Hlk58143453">Millions of us have contributed toward the creation and the
development of a spirit [brought a spirit from pre-existence to inhabit a
physical body that is birthed and grows], but “the germ of this, God has placed
within us. And when our spirits receive our bodies [are resurrected], and
through our faithfulness we are worthy to be crowned [exalted], we [heavenly
parents] will then receive authority to produce [give birth to] <u>both spirit
and body</u>. But these keys we cannot receive in the flesh.” (<i>JD,</i> 15:137.)</a>.
. .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let
me mention one more thing. While we are in the mortal body we cannot “fashion
kingdoms [or] organize matter, for [that is] beyond our capacity and calling,
beyond this world. In the resurrection, men who have been faithful and diligent
in all things in the flesh, [who] have kept their first and second estate, and
[are] worthy to be crowned Gods, even the sons of God, will be ordained to
organize matter. . . .” (<i>JD,</i> 15:137).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We have the
teachings of the scriptures and the prophets before us. The faithful and worthy
also have the revealed temple presentation. It is my hope that someday the
poorly phrased and mistaken wording quoted above can be corrected to more accurately
reflect the doctrine of the Church. I, for one, vastly prefer the quoted
revelations and prophetic statements to the inexplicable newsroom and essay
wording. “Get”?, no; “Create/organize”?, yes—though how is presently beyond our
comprehension. Moses 1:38 states: “And as one earth shall pass away, and the
heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works,
neither to my words.” Same with all exalted gods. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The truth
is that many righteous and faithful mortals who live now, will live, or have
lived upon this earth also helped to create it, meaning some among that elect
group have already had some experience and labor in helping to create or
organize an earth—this earth/world. So it shouldn’t be too hard to believe that
such will again take place repeatedly for those who attain exaltation (with
their pre-mortal existence memories fully restored). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder Bruce
R. McConkie wrote: “By and under the direction of Michael, who acted in concert
with Jehovah, and both of whom served under Elohim, this earth . . . came into
being. Michael and the noble and great ones went down on the successive days of
creation and brought the earth and all that on it is into being. Next to Christ
the Creator, none was greater than he; and he, as chief among the noble and
great ones, directed the creative labors of all the others who were privileged
to engage in so great a labor.” (<i>Unpublished manuscript</i>.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
further, speaking of the coming endless eternities: “When the elect are
exalted, when the family unit continues in the highest heaven of the celestial
kingdom, when the Saints have spirit children in the resurrection, then the
cycle begins again. It is, as it were, the age of the Sabbath, an eternal
Sabbath in which there is rest from the toil and sorrow that went before.
Exalted parents are to their children as our Eternal Parents are to us. Eternal
increase, a continuation of the seeds forever and ever, eternal lives—these
comprise the eternal family of those who gain eternal life. For them new earths
are created, and thus the on-rolling purposes of the Gods of Heaven go forward
from eternity to eternity” (<i>Millennial Messiah</i>, 23).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And still
further: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“They
are they into whose hands the Father has given all things—they are they who are
priests and kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory.” They
are the same kings and priests who lived and reigned with Christ on earth
during the thousand years. And now they have received the fulness of the glory
of the Father; they have all power in heaven and on earth; there is nothing
they do not know and no power they do not possess. They “are priests of the
Most High, after the order of Melchizedek, which was after the order of Enoch,
which was after the order of the Only Begotten Son.” They hold the power and
authority of God, the very power by which the worlds were made; indeed, now
they are creators in their own right; and in due course worlds will come
rolling into existence at their word. (<i>Ibid</i>, 708-09).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I wish the
newsroom Q&A and the Gospel Topic essay could have contained this sublime
clarity instead of worrying about responding to critical ridicule. The true doctrine
is what the true doctrine is. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For those
desiring further comment on this doctrine from prophetic and apostolic sources,
see the below teachings:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1994/10/don-t-drop-the-ball?lang=eng">President
Gordon B. Hinckley</a>:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The whole
design of the gospel is to lead us onward and upward to greater achievement,
even, eventually, to godhood. This great possibility was enunciated by the
Prophet Joseph Smith in the King Follet sermon (see <i>Teachings of the
Prophet Joseph Smith,</i> pp. 342–62; and emphasized by President Lorenzo
Snow. It is this grand and incomparable concept: <i>As God now is, man may
become!</i> (See <i>The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow,</i> comp.
Clyde J. Williams, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1984, p. 1.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our enemies
have criticized us for believing in this. Our reply is that this lofty concept
in no way diminishes God the Eternal Father. He is the Almighty. He is the
Creator and Governor of the universe. He is the greatest of all and will always
be so. But just as any earthly father wishes for his sons and daughters every
success in life, so I believe our Father in Heaven wishes for his children that
they might approach him in stature and stand beside him resplendent in godly
strength and wisdom.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1982/04/the-doctrine-of-the-priesthood?lang=eng">Elder
Bruce R. McConkie</a>:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Those who
receive the Melchizedek Priesthood covenant and promise, before God and angels,
to magnify their callings, to “live by every word that proceedeth forth from
the mouth of God” (<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/84.44?lang=eng#p44">D&C
84:44</a>), to marry for time and all eternity in the patriarchal order, and to
live and serve as the Lord Jesus did in his life and ministry.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In return
the Lord covenants and promises to give them all that his Father hath, meaning
eternal life, which is exaltation and godhood in that eternal realm where alone
the family unit continues in eternity.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In return
the Lord admits them to his eternal patriarchal order, an order that prevails
in the highest heaven of the celestial world, an order that assures its members
of eternal increase, or in other words of spirit children in the resurrection.
(See <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/131.1-4?lang=eng#p1">D&C
131:1–4</a>.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These are
the most glorious promises given to men. There neither is nor can be anything
as wondrous and great.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1997/10/receive-truth?lang=eng">President
Kimball</a>:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Peter and
John had little secular learning, being termed ignorant. But they knew the
vital things of life, that God lives and that the crucified, resurrected Lord
is the Son of God. They knew the path to eternal life. This they learned in a
few decades of their mortal life. Their righteous lives opened the door to
godhood for them and creation of worlds with eternal increase. . . .”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1995/10/perfection-pending?lang=eng">President
Nelson</a>:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Eternal
perfection is reserved for those who overcome all things and inherit the
fulness of the Father in his heavenly mansions. Perfection consists in gaining
eternal life—the kind of life that God lives.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elder McConkie:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No one but
a god can understand all things, but as men go toward that state of eternal
exaltation which he now possesses, they gain clearer insights into the
mysteries of the universe. Gradually, degree by degree and step by step, they
do and will come to know what the eternal verities are relative to life and
creation. When they attain exalted glory and become like Him whose they are, then
comprehending all things and having all power, they will themselves become
creators. They will do what all gods have done before, and the eternal purposes
of the Eternal God of all Gods will roll on everlastingly.<o:p></o:p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-81651905629216865152022-03-30T21:00:00.006-07:002022-03-30T21:00:50.265-07:00President Harold B. Lee Testifies about Revelation in Book of Mormon Translation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg2lzEuEBCPt9lPxYIW1dySmnGNUa9uPO_lAJ_RddgwLdSTY1kU2EOXJOEl9IjyfstOBYlOkiqAfDw-Ke2Cq6w0N4S0ksNqY_SUmWcqfsatEWFA7eCDu0sYG_RxlxgsXk2FE3cTA5xdcO_Cldg4vH89Q38X4EMi3LO5djCihivXne9ejWadPR_AfEugw/s1200/harold_b_lee_photo.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg2lzEuEBCPt9lPxYIW1dySmnGNUa9uPO_lAJ_RddgwLdSTY1kU2EOXJOEl9IjyfstOBYlOkiqAfDw-Ke2Cq6w0N4S0ksNqY_SUmWcqfsatEWFA7eCDu0sYG_RxlxgsXk2FE3cTA5xdcO_Cldg4vH89Q38X4EMi3LO5djCihivXne9ejWadPR_AfEugw/w400-h225/harold_b_lee_photo.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=Dennis+Horne&search-alias=books&field-author=Dennis+Horne&sort=relevancerank">Dennis B. Horne</a></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p> In late
1973, only two months before he passed away, President Harold B. Lee visited
Rick’s College (now BYU-Idaho), where he attended a luncheon and then gave the
college devotional address. As President of Rick’s, Henry B. Eyring was present
with President Lee and described the events in his journal. These journal
notations ended up in his biography, where they portray an unusually intense
spiritual feasting among those present.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At the
luncheon, held in President Lee’s honor, President Eyring recorded that
“President Lee began to speak. . . . He spoke with power, emotion, and
informality that I cannot recreate on this page. He spoke of his own calling,
saying, ‘If you think Satan doesn’t try to tempt the prophet, you’re wrong. I’m
his prime target on earth.’”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
This event foreshadowed the spiritual intensity of the coming devotional, held
immediately afterward.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Later that
evening President Eyring was able to record a few memories of what President
Lee said during his address, wherein <i>the</i> Prophet of God spoke as <i>the</i>
Prophet of God. He remembered President Lee prophesying that the United States
of America would never fall, and also that he recognized that there was an
unusually strong feeling of the Spirit present during his remarks. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Although
President Eyring did not note the fact in his journal, President Lee took
occasion in this devotional address to speak of the power of the Holy Spirit
that can be present in “translation” in the Restored Church of Jesus Christ. He
discussed this miracle in some detail, in <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>regards to both of his recent general
conference talks and to translation of the Book of Mormon (and by association,
the Book of Abraham). President Lee’s statements leave no room for equivocation
or doubt. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In modern
times we have had various academics and scholars invent theories they have put
forth regarding how Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. Some now even
postulate that Joseph did not translate the book, but someone else in heaven
did, and then that previous translation was revealed to Joseph. Theories about
loose or tight control of language are expounded, as are what kind of English. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yet, to
hear a prophet speak about translation as a prophet, is to me to clear away the
theories of men and women and receive the truth from one who knew better than
all else: the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, as he explained and endorsed the experience
of another relating how God can do His own work of translation through His
servants.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is no
printed version of President Lee’s address available, so the below constitutes
a transcript; or, one can simply <a href="https://byui-media.ldscdn.org/byui_ft/devo_audio/1973_10_26_ADV_LeeH.mp3">listen
to the audio version</a>, with comment about Book of Mormon translation starting
at about 44:40. President Lee said: </p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">Let me tell you something in a way of a testimony now.
We've wondered how the prophet Joseph Smith was able to translate. Here he was
an unschooled boy, and to translate from unknown hieroglyphics or an unknown
language into English, language. Scientists scoff at it—how ridiculous can you
be to claim such a thing? But we had something happen at the last conference
that I want to tell you about to indicate something. That will give you a key
to how the Lord can open the mind of a man and give him spiritual understanding
beyond what his natural self could. We had eleven translators or interpreters
that were down in the basement of the tabernacle, translating in eleven
different languages. One of these brethren was translating for the Swedish
brethren. And here, for most of the talks they had the script so that they
could study it. And they would as the speakers spoke in English, they would
repeat it for the benefit of those that were listening. But when this man who
was translating from Swedish, from my English into his Swedish, at the
priesthood meeting where he had no script. I was talking from an extemporaneous
standpoint in my closing address. He said something happened, and I want you to
hear, he said:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">The whole conference was a spiritual experience, but at the
general priesthood meeting, I had an experience which I've never had before. I
knew that there were some Swedish brethren attending the conference who had
never been here before and perhaps would never come again. Therefore, I had a
great desire that they receive everything that the prophet had to deliver. Not
having a script, I commended myself into the hands of the Lord. And as you
began to speak, I was startled by the fact that I knew one or two words and
even three ahead of the time before you would say them. At first I was so
startled that I did not dare to pronounce them as they were given. Usually, I
closed my eyes and listen, and then interpret as I heard the speakers delivered.
But this time I was prompted to look at your face on the television
screen. </span><span style="color: #201f1e;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">In this very unusual situation, I looked at you and began to
translate the words as they came. But to my amazement, I did not receive just
the words in my mind, but with my inner eyes, I saw them emanating from the
vicinity of the temple of your head and coming toward me. I did not see them
actually as written on something. And yet I saw them and how they were spelled
and experienced the power of the spirit as I received them. One of the things
that made it even more dramatic was that when a complex sentence was about to
be delivered, I received more words so that I could reconstruct the grammar
into good Swedish and delivered it at the very moment you pronounced the words.
Never have I experienced a great force with which the interpreted message was
flowing as I did at that time. The same experience happened during your closing
remarks on Sunday afternoon, except that I did not see the words coming to me.</span><span style="color: #201f1e;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">I have talked with the Swedish members in attendance, who have
expressed an awesome amazement of what they experienced. They said they heard
the interpretation and understood the interpreted message was delivered at the
same moment as you delivered the words in English, but the interpretation was
all that they heard. That the message came directly from you to them, they have
all expressed that their attendance at the conference was a fantastic
experience, never to be forgotten.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">Latter-day Saints don't you think for a moment that the
Lord doesn't have means of communicating with us and sending us messages that
are beyond our understanding, even to translate an unknown language into our
understandable language. He did it with the prophet Joseph. He did it with King
Mosiah. He's done it with others. He'll do it today as we have need. I have no
doubt.</span></p></blockquote><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">These descriptions of translation by the power of God
give us further insight into how God can operate with His servants; His
instruments. And as noted, whatever God could do with a general conference
translator, he can do more with His prophets, seers, and revelators like Brother
Joseph and King Mosiah. Might it be time to revise some theories to encompass
all that God can do?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">President Lee then went on to speak of revelation for
himself and for the Church, also bearing witness and testimony of the powerful
Spirit then present during the devotional, and sharing what “an unseen speaker”
said to a man about to apostatize:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">My whole soul pleads that I may so live that if the Lord
has any communication that He would wish me to receive for my beloved people
[the Church], that I could be a pure vessel through which that message could
come. I don’t ask for anything; I don’t want anything more than the Lord is
willing to send. I trust that I may live worthily so that I won’t be a lame
vessel. Or a broken reed that the Lord can’t use at the times when He wants to
communicate with His people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">I know that this is the Church and Kingdom of God, you
Latter-day Saints. I know it with every fiber of my being. I have been
polished, yes, . . . I thank the Lord and I understand more of what the apostle
Paul meant when he said of the Master, “Though he were a son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered. And thus being made perfect he
became the author of salvation for all who would believe on him” (see Hebrews
5:8-9). Whatever may be necessary, that I might be more refined; to purge out
all that may be in me or that I have done that didn’t please the Lord. I would
hope that I would stand ready to receive; to please God that I wouldn’t fail or
flinch in a time of trial or testing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">I bear witness that these things are true. You hold fast
to the iron rod, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of
salvation. “Stick with the old ship,” as a father who was just about to
apostatize was told by an unseen speaker. Stick with the old ship, it will see
you safely through. You may think it is out of date. It <i>is</i> out of date,
thank goodness, as compared with some of these modernistic things of
permissiveness. But before you depart from those plain simple doctrines of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, you had better make sure that you know the direction
you are going, and listen to those who preside in authority over you. So I bear
you that witness and leave you my testimony. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #201f1e;">There is a wonderful Spirit here today. There is
something unusual about this [Spirit] today. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it
is one of those occasions when we could feel and hear and see remarkable things
happen. You brought with you a tremendous spirit and I can feel it.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #201f1e; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Lee closed his address with a prayer for those in attendance. It was a
spiritual experience and feast for those in attendance that they would not soon
forget, President Eyring among them. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One could
hope that these teachings from this Prophet of God could enter and sway in the
right direction the discussion and certain writings about Book of Mormon
translation that show up occasionally. Along these lines, we might benefit from
another experience shared by President Eyring, this time as a young boy
attending a District Conference. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He wrote:
“But then I remember hearing something—a man's voice from the pulpit. I turned
around and looked. I still remember that the speaker was at a rostrum set on
wooden risers. There was a tall window behind him. He was the priesthood
visitor. I don't know who he was, but he was tall and bald, and he seemed very
old to me. He must have been talking about the Savior or the Prophet Joseph, or
both, because that was all I remember hearing much about in those days. But as
he spoke, I knew that what he said came from God and that it was true, and it
burned in my heart.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And then
President Eyring made this comment, which is worth pondering amidst these
things of the Spirit: “That was before scholars told me how hard it was to
know. I just knew with certainty—I knew it was true.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So if some
scholar or academic (from anywhere) is telling you how hard it is to know, or
to doubt instead, or their theory of how something genuinely miraculous took
place, like the translation of the Book of Mormon, that differs from that explained
and endorsed by President Harold B. Lee, acting in his role as the Prophet of
God, just remember that none of that matters. You can know with the same
certainty as Presidents Lee and Eyring (and myself). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Devotional given 26 October 1973; as quoted and with background info in <a name="_Hlk98578020">Robert I. </a><a name="_Hlk98581017"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk98578020;">Eaton and Henry J. Eyring, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I Will Lead You Along: The Life of Henry B.
Eyring</i> (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013), 257 </span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk98578020;">(256-58).</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
President Harold B. Lee untitled Rick’s College Devotional Address; Excerpts
transcribed from the second half; 26 October 1973; no official printed version
available.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://byui-media.ldscdn.org/byui_ft/devo_audio/1973_10_26_ADV_LeeH.mp3">https://byui-media.ldscdn.org/byui_ft/devo_audio/1973_10_26_ADV_LeeH.mp3</a>;
accessed 3/2022.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Eaton and Eyring, <i>I Will Lead You Along: The Life of Henry B. Eyring</i>, 35;
also quoted in Henry B. Eyring, <i>To Draw Closer to God: A Collection of
Discourses</i> (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997), 5.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-20992384739100947722022-02-21T08:13:00.003-08:002022-02-21T08:14:51.270-08:00Apostles, Prophets, and God’s Former Priesthood Restriction<p style="text-align: center;"> <span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: center;">By </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=Dennis+Horne&search-alias=books&field-author=Dennis+Horne&sort=relevancerank" style="background-color: white; color: #2288bb; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;">Dennis B. Horne</a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>[Originally posted here on <a href="http://www.truthwillprevail.xyz/2021/02/apostles-prophets-and-gods-former.html">Saturday, February 13, 2021</a>]</i></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">“We do not expect the people of the world to understand such things, for they will always be quick to assign their own reasons or to discount the divine process of revelation.”</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">(President Spencer W. Kimball<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #0563c1; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>)</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The purpose of this piece is to substantiate the inspired genesis and continued correctness of the priesthood restriction on black male members (meaning of African descent) until June of 1978. With the many confused or contrary voices of critics, activists, liberal academics and scholars, doubters, and dissenters now proclaiming the restriction was instituted by a prejudiced and political President Brigham Young, presentation of the abundant contrary evidence is both helpful and needful. Many lacking understanding have labelled the former restriction in the Restored Church of Jesus Christ as wrong and racist, and even call for the Church to issue a public apology (something that won’t happen). They suppose if they shout loud and long enough, or write enough articles and blogs, what they say will displace truth and become the main narrative.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s Church and Kingdom of God on earth, the truth is that the restriction was implemented by Him, and thereafter continuously maintained and sustained by Him, through His prophets, until He removed it by revelation in 1978. The following items reinforce and support this reality: <span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">1. The observation is correctly made that no <i>written</i> revelation from Joseph Smith (or Brigham Young) has been found that specifically implements the priesthood restriction. Therefore, the argument goes, it was not initiated with Joseph by God, but instead by Brigham Young, acting by his own volition under the prejudiced world-view and environment of his day (possibly as he sought to distinguish the “Mormons” from Native Americans).<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> In support of this reasoning, it is pointed out that a few (3-4) black men were ordained to the priesthood in Joseph Smith’s day, but that Brother Brigham eventually halted any more such ordinations.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> (No prophets or apostles have made this specious argument; it comes only from those without authority to speak for the Church.)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There are problems with such reasoning:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a) Prophets do not need to write all of their revelations; in fact, most aren’t written except as practically implemented.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> While a miniscule possibility exists that the Prophet Joseph Smith did receive a (now lost) written revelation beginning the restriction, more likely it came as an impression from the Spirit of the Lord at some unknown time—this is how the prophets today teach that most revelation for the Church is received.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Some is indeed written, but most comes as whisperings or unmistakable impressions, or as flashes of pure intelligence flowing into the mind and heart. Revealed truth is also received line upon line, here a little and there a little. This is the probable origin of the priesthood restriction. Hence, it is highly likely that no written revelation will ever be discovered. However, in this connection, we do not know if the minutes and other private papers of the First Presidency of Joseph Smith’s or Brigham Young’s day have been thoroughly searched for notation of such a revelation. Of President Brigham Young, then-Elder Joseph F. Smith said: “We also bear testimony that Brigham Young is a prophet of the living God, and that he has the revelations of Jesus Christ; that he has guided this people by the power of revelation from the time he became their leader until the present, and he has never failed in his duty or mission. He has been faithful before God, and faithful to this people.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b) While a written revelation is absent, other credible evidence does tie Joseph Smith to the priesthood restriction. In his journal, President George Q. Cannon recorded the following:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>March 1, 1900: “I had a conversation very early in life with President John Taylor, who told me what the Prophet Joseph had said upon this subject. I related it today to the Council [of the Twelve]. He [Joseph] told him [John] that the seed of Cain could not hold the priesthood, . . .”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>August 18, 1900: “President Taylor had repeated to me a conversation he had had with the Prophet Joseph on this question, and one of the points of the conversation was that the negro could not hold the priesthood”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>August 22, 1895: “I related what I had heard in my boyhood as coming direct from the Prophet Joseph. It was related to me by President Taylor, . . . for this reason, as I had always understood, the negro race have been debarred from the Priesthood.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In support of President Cannon’s thrice-repeated reminiscences alluding to the position of the Prophet, in his October 1967 General Conference talk, President Ezra Taft Benson quoted the Prophet Joseph Smith thusly: “The arm of flesh may not approve nor understand why God has not bestowed the priesthood on . . . the seed of Cain, but God's ways are not man's ways. God does not have to justify all his ways for the puny mind of man. If a man gets in tune with the Lord, he will know that God’s course of action is right, even though he may not know all the reasons why. The Prophet Joseph Smith understood this principle when he said, ‘. . . <i>the curse is not yet taken off from the sons of Canaan, neither will be until it is affected by as great a power as caused it to come</i>; and the people who interfere the least with the purposes of God in this matter, will come under the least condemnation before Him; and those who are determined to pursue a course, which shows an opposition, and a feverish restlessness against the decrees of the Lord, will learn, when perhaps it is too late for their own good, that God can do His own work, without the aid of those who are not dictated by His counsel.’” (<i>Documentary History of the Church</i>, 2:438.)<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>c) Joseph Smith either erred in ordaining (or authorizing ordination of) these black men to the priesthood, or made an exception that he, as the Lord’s Prophet and head of the dispensation, had authority to make.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> I can think of few areas of the gospel where exceptions have not been made; rather, exceptions are found most everywhere, especially in church history. I think of President Wilford Woodruff making an exception and allowing a visiting non-Latter-day Saint dignitary to tour the recently dedicated Salt Lake Temple. But rare exceptions are certainly not the rule, especially if they were made in error. Further, in early days there was much less regulation present in the church.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On a side note, regarding the notion of “the seed of Cain” and the “Canaanites” being the progenitors of the African race: whether rightly or wrongly this identification has been challenged—but that doesn’t matter since the Church Authorities using those terms believed Africans to be the posterity or seed of Cain or Canaanites, and that is what they <i>then</i> meant when using those terms, irrespective of all counter-arguments.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For example, when President Spencer W. Kimball reviewed and corrected a document prepared by Elder Bruce R. McConkie that narrated the events of the receipt of the revelation on the priesthood in 1978, President Kimball did not correct Elder McConkie quoting him: “He [President Kimball] said that in recent weeks he had spent many hours alone there in the upper room in the temple pleading with the Lord for counsel and direction. He said he hoped the Lord would give a revelation one way or another and resolve the matter. He indicated that if it was the mind and will of the Lord that we continue in the present course, denying the priesthood to <i>the descendants of Cain</i>, that he was willing to sustain and support that decision and defend it with all its implications to the death” (emphasis added). </p><p class="MsoNormal">2. At a meeting of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on June 4, 1879, the fact that Elijah Abel, a worthy and faithful black man, was ordained a Seventy in the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that he had received a patriarchal blessing from Father Joseph Smith Sr. was discussed at length and a copy of the patriarchal blessing was read. In commenting on this ordination, “President John Taylor said it seemed that in his case it was probably like many other things done in the early days of the Church, such as baptism for the dead; at first, persons were baptized without records being taken and as the Lord gave further light and revelation things were done with greater order; but what had been done through lack of knowledge, that was not altogether correct in detail, was allowed to remain. He thought that probably it was so in Brother Abel’s case; that he, having been ordained before the word of the Lord was fully understood, it was allowed to remain.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>From the Journal History of the Church, October 9, 1947, is recorded the following: “Elder Joseph Fielding Smith called attention to the report of the Council of the Twelve under the date of April 23, 1940, reporting on an assignment given by this Council regarding permitting a person to receive the Priesthood who has any degree of negro blood, at which time it was the recommendation of the Twelve that the ruling of the past being that a person with the slightest degree of negro blood cannot receive the Priesthood.” Conclusion: in 1940 the Lord wanted the restriction to remain.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Further, from the (1947) Journal History: “In connection with this discussion Brother Joseph Anderson, at the request of the First Presidency, read to the Council excerpts from minutes of the Council meeting held May 28, 1879 and June 4, 1879, in which this matter of ordaining to the priesthood brethren with colored blood in their veins was discussed at considerable length and which minutes give among other things a copy of a blessing under the hands of Joseph Smith Sr. upon Elijah Abel, a negro.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The two referenced meetings held in May and June of 1879 were opportune occasions for the Lord to inspire the prophet and apostles to remove the restriction if He wanted it removed. Conclusion: the Lord wanted the restriction to remain.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In this connection, a First Presidency letter dated July 17, 1947, stated: “From the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith even until now, it has been the doctrine of the Church, never questioned by any of the Church Leaders, that the Negroes are not entitled to the full blessings of the Gospel.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span></span> </p><p class="MsoNormal">3. On October 13, 1882, President John Taylor received a substantive (written but non-canonized) revelation pertaining to priesthood and the calling of two new apostles (Elders George Teasdale and Heber J. Grant). Most of the approximately 800-word revelation waxes eloquent and prescriptive about priesthood organization and priesthood holders, giving guidance and understanding (and expecting worthiness of all the Lord’s people). It specifically gives direction for taking the gospel to the Lamanites (Native Americans) but it does not direct removal of the priesthood restriction.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Conclusion: In this revelation through President Taylor to the Twelve, providing a superb opportunity to remove the restriction, the Lord did not do so. Nor did He in any of His other revelations to President Taylor. </p><p class="MsoNormal">4. A meeting of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 9, 1947, observations as recorded by Elder Spencer W. Kimball: “In the 10 o’clock meeting with the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve the matter of the negro was brought up for discussion again. I think I felt in this meeting the spirit of revelation more pronounced than in any meeting I have attended. The spirit of unity was manifest. All the Brethren seemed to see alike through the sweet spirit throughout the meeting, and I was almost overcome with the delightful experience. The Brethren seemed unified in feeling that we could not withhold the regular gospel blessings from the colored people, and that though we were unable yet to give them the Priesthood, perhaps we should not withhold from them the other blessings of the gospel which are available to them.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This meeting, which Elder Kimball viewed as highly spiritual and unified, with “the spirit of revelation” in pronounced abundance, would have been (another) exceptionally opportune occasion for the Lord to withdraw the priesthood restriction if He wanted to. Instead, a definite but limited measure of improvement and added blessing for Africans was decided upon under the influence of the Spirit—but not the withdrawal of the priesthood and temple blessings restriction. Conclusion: the Lord wanted the restriction to remain in place. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">5. According to research presented by one historian, President David O. McKay sought the Lord in faith to remove the restriction, but received no permission. A relevant quotation <a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/spencer-w-kimball-and-revelation-priesthood">from the article</a> states: “He [Pres. McKay] maintained the position that the long-established policy was inspired and that change would require divine intervention. President McKay desired and sought such revelation, but he did not receive it. He told Elder Marion D. Hanks that ‘he had pleaded and pleaded with the Lord but had not had the answer he sought.’ Leonard Arrington reported a statement by Elder Adam S. Bennion in 1954 that President McKay had prayed for change ‘without result and finally concluded the time was not yet ripe.’” Conclusion: “the time was not yet.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span></span> </p><p class="MsoNormal">6. In a January 29, 1979 interview with his grandson Andrew, President Spencer W. Kimball said: “Quite a few people in the total have rejected it [the former priesthood ban], have not thought the Church proper in its restrictions on Negroes. Brother [Sterling] McMurrin [in a public statement] said that he was ashamed of the Church.” Conclusion: President Kimball and the other apostles knew that many lukewarm non-valiant members could not tolerate the divergence between the thinking of the world and the doctrine/policy of the Church (previous to 1978), and were shamed by the pointing fingers of scorn and mockery. Nonetheless, the prophets remained firm despite public opposition from such members. </p><p class="MsoNormal">7. Elder Glen L. Rudd, a (now-deceased) member of the Seventy and Florida Mission President (1966-69), recorded this experience in his personal history:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At one of the [district] conferences, I was introduced to a black man by the name of Hesteras. This man was investigating the gospel and was being taught by two missionaries who were laboring in San Juan. He lived in the Virgin Islands but would go to Puerto Rico about once a month to visit his mother. He was about fifty years old and a Catholic. He asked about his chances of fully participating in the Church, and he was told that he would not be able to hold the priesthood. [The district president] went out of his way to explain the situation. We didn’t want Hesteras to be baptized and then fall away because he couldn’t hold positions of leadership in the Church. He assured all of us that it didn’t make any difference, so he was baptized.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>About six months later on another visit, [the district president] said to me, “Would you please interview Brother Hesteras as he is becoming a little bit discouraged since we can’t use him very much in the Church because of his Negro blood and not being able to hold the priesthood.” I told [the district president] there wasn’t any more I could tell him than had already been said, but I agreed that maybe I could make him feel a little better.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So between sessions of [quarterly district] conference, he and I had a good talk. I asked him to tell me of his boyhood and about his mother and father. During the course of the conversation, I stopped him and said, “Brother Hesteras, you do not have any Negro blood in you.” He said, “Oh yes I do, look at me.” His hair looked a little bit curly and he was dark, but there were a lot of dark people who were not Negro. He then told me about his father who was jet black and about his old Negro grandmother who used to hold him on her knees and sing to him when he was a child. He had shown pictures of him and his family one night to most everyone in the branch. It was pretty well believed by all the Saints that he was a black man. For some reason or other, I was impressed to tell him he had no Negro blood. He asked for an explanation and I told him I didn’t have the faintest idea. I told him to go talk to his mother. He said she was bitter about him joining the Church and refused to discuss the Church. So I said, “The next time you come to Puerto Rico, fast for a whole day and then go see your mother, and she will tell you a lot of interesting things about your life.” He reluctantly agreed to do that.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I returned to Puerto Rico three months later, he was waiting patiently to talk to me. He came running up when he saw me and said, “President, you were right. I don’t have an ounce of Negro blood in me. I fasted, prayed, and went to see my mother, and she was very kind and considerate. I said to her, ‘Mother, the president of our Church here in the islands told me that I didn’t have any Negro blood in me. I can’t understand that because father was a Negro and grandmother was Negro, and I’ve always been a Negro.’” At that his mother broke down and cried and said she had never confessed to his father or anyone else about a transgression she had many years before. His father had worked on ships and while he was away for a period of time, she met a Danish sailor that came to the Virgin Islands. She had an affair with him, and became pregnant with a baby boy. They named the baby Hesteras. She had led her husband to believe that this little boy was his. Hesteras was registered on his birth certificate as being of black parentage. In reality his father was Danish and his mother had no Negro background, even though she was quite dark.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I conferred with the district presidency and in the afternoon session of conference I personally presented his name for ordination. I made a brief explanation that we had investigated Hesteras’ background and found that he did not have any Negro blood. That afternoon we ordained him to the holy priesthood.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Conclusion: the Spirit of the Lord knew that this man was not an African and therefore could be ordained to the priesthood, and prompted Elder Rudd to have him investigate further. </p><p class="MsoNormal">8. Before his call as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, President Russell M. Nelson was visited, in a sacred dream, by President Harold B. Lee, who had died and came from the spirit world: “In the dream [of September 16, 1978 after the receipt of the June 1 priesthood revelation] there were two vivid messages: . . . His second message was that the revelations received and the actions subsequently taken by President Kimball were the very same as would have been received and performed by President Lee had he remained as the prophet. President Lee exclaimed that the Lord gives His will to His living prophet regardless of who the prophet is at the time, for the Lord indeed is directing his Church.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Conclusion: if President Lee had not died in 1973, but had continued living as the prophet of God, he would have received the 1978 revelation on the priesthood instead of President Kimball; the Lord didn’t want His restriction removed until 1978, at which time it was removed by the prophet by revelation—“For the Lord indeed is directing his Church.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The fact is that we have many reliable accounts in church literature of deceased prophets returning from the spirit world to communicate with their successors and others, imparting knowledge and guidance, and no one suggested or even mentioned lifting the restriction. The resurrected Lord Jesus Christ appeared to President Lorenzo Snow in the Salt Lake Temple in September of 1898. The Savior told Lorenzo that he was to succeed President Woodruff as His earthly prophet and instructed him to choose George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith as his counselors in the reorganized First Presidency, but He did not instruct President Snow to lift the priesthood restriction.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Shortly before his death, President Joseph F. Smith received some remarkable spiritual manifestations and revelations from the Lord, including the vision of the redemption of the dead (D&C 138). Yet in none of these supernal manifestations was President Smith directed to remove the restriction. Conclusion: the Lord wanted His restriction to remain in place. </p><p class="MsoNormal">9. In an address to CES personnel on August 18, 1978, Elder Bruce R. McConkie spoke of the timing of the June 1 revelation: “This means that the same revelation had to be given to the Brethren in the Church in the spirit world, so that they can conform their preaching of the gospel to our new system on earth.” And: “The other underlying principle is that in the eternal providences of the Lord, the time had come for extending the gospel to a race and a culture to whom it had previously been denied, at least as far as all of its blessings are concerned. So it was a matter of . . . the divine timetable. . . . The time had arrived when the gospel, with all its blessings and obligations, would go to the Negro.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Further, in a written statement describing the events of the new revelation, Elder McConkie wrote: “The Lord reaffirmed and recertified to all present that he had given the initial revelation and that it was his mind, his will, and his purpose that the Church <i>go forward now into the new era</i> in which the priesthood would go to all on the basis of worthiness.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He also wrote: “There has been rejoicing and a spirit of gladness that <i>the day at last has come</i> when the priesthood and temple blessings can go to all worthy males. It appears to many that <i>this is one of the signs of the times</i>. Heretofore when we have read the revelations saying that the gospel is to go to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, before the second coming of the Son of Man, we have done it reading out the Negro race. Now these revelations can be fulfilled in the literal and complete sense of the word” (emphasis added).<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Elder McConkie also taught: “This kingdom of God, both in time [mortality] and in eternity [the spirit world], is governed by the spirit of inspiration. It always sends forth the mind and will of the Lord, whether by his own voice or by the voice of his servants it is the same. (See D&C 1:38).”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder Richard G. Scott supported Elder McConkie’s teachings in this regard: “Last Friday President Kimball, his counselors, and the Quorum of the Twelve announced to the world a new revelation [lifting the restriction]. I know positively that that revelation came from God. . . . I know positively that the Lord gave that revelation to the President. <i>Now</i> countless spirits who otherwise would not have had the blessings of the priesthood—<i>those who are beyond [the veil]</i>, <i>those who are here [in mortality]</i>, those who are yet to come—will enjoy the blessings that only can be obtained in the temple. . . .”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Speaking of the timing of the new revelation, President Kimball declared: “We had the glorious experience of having the Lord indicate clearly that <i>the time had come</i> when all worthy men and women everywhere can be fellow-heirs and partakers of the full blessings of the gospel. I want you to know, as a special witness of the Savior, how close I have felt to him and to our Heavenly Father as I have made numerous visits to the upper rooms in the temple, going on some days several times by myself. The Lord made it very clear to me what was to be done” (emphasis added).<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[26]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Conclusion: until the time to remove the restriction came, the Lord continuously upheld and sustained it as His will and purpose. When the appointed time arrived, the Lord removed the restriction by revelation in both mortality and also in the spirit world—“those who are beyond”—it was a new era, a new day, and “a sign of the times.” </p><p class="MsoNormal">10. From President Brigham Young to President Harold B. Lee, while receiving many, many, major and minor revelations, some written but most not, for the establishment and guidance and regulation of the Church, no prophet was ever directed by revelation to remove the restriction—even if they asked God to permit them to do so. They all felt that no matter how the Lord had implemented it, He would have to remove it by revelation.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Some critics have argued that the priesthood restriction was solely the act of a prejudiced Brigham Young, and that because it was such a major development, that it must be concluded that the Church was led astray and fell into apostasy or was never true. Of course, the simple rebuttal to this false reasoning is that all the evidence proves the Church has not been led astray. It still has priesthood keys and authority, the gift of the Holy Ghost, prophets and apostles, miracles, saving ordinances, and many millions of believing loyal members; it is “true and living.” Since the Church and gospel is now and has been true since it was restored, the restriction was also revealed, implemented, and part of the Lord’s plan.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Others have argued differently, giving their opinion that the priesthood restriction was implemented by Brother Brigham acting on his own, and then it was <i>allowed</i> by God to be continually enforced (because of prejudices common to mankind) but was not imposed or initiated or revealed by Him.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Contrast this purely human philosophical theorizing with what President Wilford Woodruff declared. In teachings included after Official Declaration 1 in the Doctrine and Covenants, President Woodruff is thusly quoted: “The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the program. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so He will any other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hundreds and hundreds of powerful testimonies by prophets and apostles are on record insisting that they were/are in communication with the Lord; that He is the head of His Church; that He inspires them to lead the Church the way He wants it led, including who is entitled to hold the priesthood. Elder McConkie taught: “Let us begin with the sure and certain conviction in our souls that this is the Lord’s work. This is the Lord’s church and he is running it. There isn’t any question at all about that.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[27]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Likewise, Elder LeGrand Richards taught: “The prophet Amos said, ‘Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.’ (Amos 3:7.) Now if we understand that, no one can look for a work here upon this earth that isn’t headed by a prophet. The Lord has never done a work that he has recognized without a prophet at its head. Thank God for our prophets, from the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith down to our present prophet, President Spencer W. Kimball.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[28]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Brother LeGrand’s father, Elder George F. Richards, a mighty apostle who saw the Lord Jesus in vision, bore testimony of this in general conference, in such a prophetic way that it is as though he knew some in future generations might come up with such false excuses. He stated: “I know that President Heber J. Grant is the mouthpiece of God unto this people at this time, and I know that he has the inspiration of his calling. . . . I have no fear of future embarrassment, of being found in a mistaken condition. I know, and thank God for this testimony, that this is his work, that he is at the helm, and that it will triumph.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[29]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Conclusion: God implemented the restriction but did not send a revelation ending it until June 1, 1978, and Joseph Smith (or his successors) did not lead the Church astray. </p><p class="MsoNormal">11. The explanatory introduction to Official Declaration 2 allows for, and does not contradict, the above items: “<i>During Joseph Smith’s lifetime, a few black male members of the Church were ordained to the priesthood. Early in its history, Church leaders stopped conferring the priesthood on black males of African descent. Church records offer no clear insights into the origins of this practice. Church leaders believed that a revelation from God was needed to alter this practice and prayerfully sought guidance.</i>” </p><p class="MsoNormal">12. The express wording of Official Declaration 2 itself, as approved and canonized by the Church, states the situation clearly: “Aware of the promises made by the prophets and presidents of the Church who have preceded us that <i>at some time, in God’s eternal plan</i>, all of our brethren who are worthy may receive the priesthood, and witnessing the faithfulness of <i>those from whom the priesthood has been withheld</i>, we have pleaded long and earnestly in behalf of these, our faithful brethren, spending many hours in the Upper Room of the Temple supplicating the Lord for divine guidance.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that <i>the long-promised day has come</i> when every faithful, worthy man in the Church may receive the holy priesthood, with power to exercise its divine authority, and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that flows therefrom, including the blessings of the temple” (emphasis added). Conclusion: the prophets collectively understood that “at some time”—not sooner than June 1978—“the long-promised day has come.” Before then, there were “those from whom the priesthood has been withheld” by God that were “faithful brethren.” </p><p class="MsoNormal">13. The Church’s gospel topic essay, “Race and the Priesthood” allows for the above items if some slight wiggle room is permitted for historical interpretation. The crucial paragraphs at issue read:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“During the first two decades of the Church’s existence, a few black men were ordained to the priesthood. One of these men, Elijah Abel, also participated in temple ceremonies in Kirtland, Ohio, and was later baptized as proxy for deceased relatives in Nauvoo, Illinois. There is no reliable evidence that any black men were denied the priesthood during Joseph Smith’s lifetime. In a private Church council three years after Joseph Smith’s death, Brigham Young praised Q. Walker Lewis, a black man who had been ordained to the priesthood, saying, ‘We have one of the best Elders, an African.’<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“In 1852, President Brigham Young publicly announced that men of black African descent could no longer be ordained to the priesthood, though thereafter blacks continued to join the Church through baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Following the death of Brigham Young, subsequent Church presidents restricted blacks from receiving the temple endowment or being married in the temple. Over time, Church leaders and members advanced many theories to explain the priesthood and temple restrictions. None of these explanations is accepted today as the official doctrine of the Church.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It should be remembered that the phrasing of these paragraphs is not revealed and rely on certain historian’s explanations of the incomplete historical record. Such conclusions are imperfect and are subject to revision as new discoveries are made or better interpretations found. The quotations (given above) from President George Q. Cannon’s diary were among the historical records consulted in preparation of the essay but seem to have been given less weight than they deserved. It seems there may be an incongruence at play between the Cannon-Taylor statements of Joseph Smith’s general views, and actual ordination of a few black men to the priesthood. The essay received the approval of the Correlation Committee of the Church, which is made up of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. However, no one involved has ever suggested the essay to be revelation, which it is not, and it is certainly subject to change. Many (especially misguided activists and critics) have falsely concluded that the essay declares Brigham Young to be solely responsible for the priesthood restriction, with no inspiration involved. Such an interpretation is not warranted or correct. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To summarize: </p><p class="MsoNormal">-The Lord inspired the Prophet Joseph Smith to begin a general priesthood restriction for black men, though exactly how and when is not known. President John Taylor believed the few ordinations that did take place to be erroneous exceptions. </p><p class="MsoNormal">-The Lord thereafter consistently upheld and sustained the restriction He Himself imposed, in concert with all of His prophets, until He wanted it removed in 1978. The evidence indicates that the Lord had abundant opportunities over many decades to end the restriction by revelation but did not until His due time had come—“the long-promised day.” (It wasn’t the “short- or soon-promised day.”) The Lord, being perfect and knowing all things, made no mistake with His earthly Kingdom in this regard. The prophets all agree on this; only misled and mistaken activists and some (alleged) scholars dispute it. </p><p class="MsoNormal">-The foregoing items say nothing about <i>why</i> the Lord implemented the priesthood restriction. Two main explanations have been advanced by past Church leaders but are viewed now as speculative and are not accepted as the doctrine of the Church.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[30]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> As noted by the Church essay: “Over time, Church leaders and members advanced many theories to explain the priesthood and temple restrictions. None of these explanations is accepted today as the official doctrine of the Church.” God knows all things and doeth all things well; of that we can have perfect assurance and trust. We can also be confident, based on long experience, that if the Lord did reveal through His prophet His reasoning and purposes for the restriction, many would reject it, thinking they knew better of themselves; such is indeed the puny mind of men and women. One day, whether in this life or the next, all will be revealed to the complete satisfaction and understanding of all true and faithful and valiant Latter-day Saints. </p><p class="MsoNormal">-When the restriction was removed and black men could hold the priesthood and African men and women could receive and enjoy all temple blessings, there was great rejoicing on earth and in heaven among faithful believers. Since June of 1978 the work and program of God has gone forward in the earth in its majesty and today His work is hastened as never before. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Some uninformed or rebellious (often misled activist) church members, imbued with the thinking and views of modern society—the world—have openly called the Church racist because of the former restriction; some have even taken it upon themselves to apologize for God. It seems they are ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught and lived until the due time of the Lord when the restriction was lifted by revelation. Their impossible problem is they cannot reconcile the gospel with the philosophies of men that they have accepted (and some loudly promote). To those who foolishly think this way, President Dallin H. Oaks said: </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As believers relying on scriptural history, we can be troubled and misled by Bible-recorded scriptural directions or traditions that may be viewed as racist or discriminatory by modern definition. For example, within the tribes of Israel, only members of the tribe of Levi were acceptable for service in the temple. The Israelites were forbidden to marry the Canaanites and some others of surrounding lands. And the direction for Jews not to associate with Samaritans was because of their partial descent from non-Israelite peoples.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Most important, the gospel was not to be taught to Gentiles—non-Israelites. Jesus Himself affirmed that restriction in strong language—“not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs”—but then made an exception for a faith-filled mother. During His mortal ministry, Jesus reversed the prohibition against associating with the Samaritans, and by revelation after His mortal life He revoked the prohibition against taking the gospel to the Gentiles. But these and other restrictions remain in scriptural history.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Using current definitions, some might call such divine actions and prophet-taught principles racist, but <i>God, who is the loving Father of all nations, tribes, and ethnicities, cannot be branded as racist</i> for His dealings with His children. Often the reasons for His plan are not known or understandable to mortals. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,” He said through the prophet Isaiah. “Neither are your ways my ways.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Some have rejected some element of God’s plan as unreasonable according to cultural norms they could understand or accept. Others who have accepted God’s plan have mistakenly relied on cultural norms to provide reasons God has not revealed. Thus both nonbelievers and believers can reject or attempt to amend divine plans by relying on cultural norms instead of the directions of God. The safest course is not to reject or supplement the divine plan by human reasoning. Those who cannot accept the prophetic decisions and practices of the past should consider Winston Churchill’s wise counsel quoted earlier: “If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[31]</span></span></span> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Such indeed is inspired counsel from a prophet of God.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><!--[endif]--><div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-spencer-w-kimball/chapter-22?lang=eng<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Addressing this question, Elder Quentin L. Cook stated, “Brigham Young also said things about race that fall short of our standards today. Some of his beliefs and words reflected the culture of his time. During this period, Brigham also taught, with respect to race, ‘Of one blood has God made all flesh.’ He then added, ‘We don’t care about the color’” (“Be Not Weary in Well-Doing,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, August 24, 2020). Whether this statement can be interpreted as an admission by Elder Cook of “racism” in the former prophet is subject to interpretation. Further, some people define racism differently than others, especially when comparing the past with the present. See also <i>Saints</i> 2:182.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> I am aware that some believe there is evidence to suggest that other a few other black men were ordained to the priesthood into the 1900s. While this is possible, it only indicates that the local leaders that ordained these men were not aware of the restriction and acted improperly; no general authorities participated in these ordinations. In the 1960s and 1970s some rebellious member activists, without authorization, ordained some black men to the priesthood, but these ordinations were declared null and void and the activists were excommunicated.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> President George Q. Cannon taught: “You may not have been called by written revelation; but there have been thousands of revelations given which have never been written, thousands and thousands of them; and as I have said this Church has never been a moment without revelation. The mind and will of God has been communicated respecting every movement and every appointment, and everything that has been done connected with this work. Not a settlement has been settled without the mind and will of God having been sought for; not a step has been taken at any time in the history of our people without the mind and will of the Lord having been sought for to know whether it was the right thing to do. . . . There never has been a moment since this church was organized up to the present time that we have not had the mind and will of God made accessible to us; we had only to ask and receive. There never has been a moment—that is so far as my knowledge extends—since the organization of this church, when if a man needed counsel from the Lord upon any point he could receive it, and in this respect our position is different from that of any other people upon the face of the earth, and it ought to be a cause of constant thanksgiving to us that this is the case.” (George Q. Cannon diary, October 14, 1882).<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> For example, of the Prophet Joseph Smith, President Wilford Woodruff explained: “His mind was opened by the visions of the Almighty, and the Lord taught him many things by vision and revelation that were never taught publicly in his days. . .” (<i>Journal of Discourses</i> 5:84).<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>Journal of Discourses</i> 11:330-31.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> The Journals of George Q. Cannon, March 1, 1900. Church Historian’s Press, as located on the Church Website.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Ibid, August 8, 1900.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Ibid, August 22, 1895.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Conference Report, October 1967, 35.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Exceptions are real and entirely possible. President Dallin H. Oaks spoke of Jesus making an exception to His own directions: “Most important, the gospel was not to be taught to Gentiles—non-Israelites. Jesus Himself affirmed that restriction in strong language—“not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs”—but then made an exception for a faith-filled mother” (“Racism and Other Challenges,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, October 27, 2020).<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> As to the <i>current</i> doctrine of the Church as it relates to the teachings of the Book of Mormon concerning skin color denoting a curse, Elder Quentin L. Cook shared the following experience with BYU faculty:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As I served in the British Mission, in 1962, our mission president, Marion D. Hanks, had us read and study the Book of Mormon. . . . President Hanks had been a General Authority for nine years before serving as our mission president. He would teach us the doctrine after we had marked the Book of Mormon. In reading 2 Nephi 5:21, describing a skin of blackness associated with being cut off from the Lord’s presence approximately 600 years before Christ’s birth, President Hanks was adamant that this phrase related solely to that people and during that period of time. Those people who were Lamanites were literal blood brothers and sisters to Nephi and his siblings. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President Hanks had us immediately turn to 2 Nephi 26:33, which reads, in part: <i>And he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That was our doctrine then and that is our doctrine now. President Hanks made it clear that if anyone had feelings of racial superiority, they needed to repent. (““Be Not Weary in Well-Doing,” University Conference, <i>BYU Speeches</i>, August 24, 2020.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The doctrine of the Church does not come from general authority mission presidents, even if their name is Marion D. Hanks (who was a great preacher of righteousness in his day), but when it is repeated and endorsed in this manner by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, we can be assured and confident that it is true and represents the views of the senior Brethren for the Church. I predict that this doctrine, that a skin of blackness or darkness <i>is not</i> a sign of a curse or disfavor with God, will filter throughout the Church and become well-settled. See also the messages about racism given by Presidents Nelson and Oaks (and others) at the October 2020 general conference of the Church.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Record of the meeting of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, June 4, 1879. President Wilford Woodruff agreed in principle with his predecessor: “How was it in that day in reference to many things that were taught and practiced? All was not revealed at once, but the Lord showed the Prophet a principle, and the people acted upon it according to the light which they had” (<i>Journal of Discourses</i> 5:84). In this address, President Woodruff also used the subject of baptism for the dead to make his point, as had President Taylor.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Journal History of the Church, October 9, 1947.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Correspondence, the First Presidency (George Albert Smith, J. Reuben Clark, David O. McKay) to Dr. Lowry Nelson, July 17, 1947, 2.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> See James R. Clark, <i>Messages of the First Presidency</i> 2:347. See also George Q. Cannon diary, October 14, 1882.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn17" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Spencer W. Kimball diary, October 9, 1947.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn18" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Edward L. Kimball, “Spencer W. Kimball and the Revelation on Priesthood,” <i>BYU Studies</i> 47:2, 22.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn19" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Glen L. Rudd, <i>Treasured Experiences of Glen L. Rudd</i> (Salt Lake City: Privately printed, 1995), 181-84.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn20" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Russell M. Nelson, <i>From Heart to Heart: An Autobiography</i> (Salt Lake City: Quality Press, 1979), 159-60.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn21" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Dennis B. Horne, <i>Latter Leaves in the Life of Lorenzo Snow</i> (Springville, UT: Cedar Fort, 2012), 261-66. I am aware that one unbelieving researcher is disputing this account told by LeRoi C. Snow of Jesus appearing to his father Lorenzo, calling it a myth. I think the researcher wrong and weak in his research and conclusions.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn22" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> “All Are Alike unto God,” Church Educational System Devotional, <i>BYU Speeches</i>, August 18, 1978.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn23" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Ibid.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn24" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> “The Caravan Moves On,” <i>Ensign</i>, November 1984.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn25" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> “Truth,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, June 13, 1978.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn26" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[26]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">, chapter 22.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn27" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[27]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> “Succession in the Presidency,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, January 8, 1974.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn28" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[28]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> “Prophets and Prophecy,” <i>Ensign</i>, November 1975.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn29" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[29]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Conference Report, April 1926, 150.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn30" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[30]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> I thought it worth noting, that while in the middle of an address in which he reasoned on one of the two main early theories that has been advanced, that an apostle interrupted himself and said, “We have no definite knowledge concerning this.” In other words, he knew he was reasoning or speculating according to his own mind and not teaching settled doctrine from the revelations. (See George F. Richards, Conference Report, April 1939.)<o:p></o:p></p></div><div id="edn31" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[31]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> “Racism and Other Challenges,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, October 27, 2020; emphasis added.</p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-44083431633095054302021-10-06T12:14:00.007-07:002021-10-06T12:14:36.807-07:00Apostles and Doubt<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">[Readers desiring to obtain their own </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-hardback" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">hardback copies of <b>volume one</b></a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> of </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ</span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> can find copies on sale </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-hardback" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">Softbound copies </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-paperback-23292" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">can be purchased here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Know-He-Lives-Special-Witnesses-ebook/dp/B075NJN959/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&qid=1625166117&refinements=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=digital-text&sr=1-5&text=Dennis+Horne" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">on Amazon here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">(by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=relevancerank&text=Dennis+Horne&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1">Dennis B. Horne</a>)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>Brothers and
sisters, let me give you a caution: <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>you won’t be of
much help to others <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>if your own faith
is not securely in place.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">(Elder Neil L. Andersen<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Regarding
this subject, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught: “Now, the Doubter. I don’t want
this to immediately have to get theological, but who do you suppose is the
father of doubt? If you had to have an antonym to doubt, wouldn’t it be
perilously close to faith? . . . This is a battle for the souls eternally of men
and women. This is part of the plan of eternity. And it was not meant for us to
come here and to be doubtful, or discouraged, or depressed, or blunted, or
muted. We are here to grow and blossom and develop eternally. So, while there
are some practical things we can talk about, keep the doctrine in mind and
remember who you are.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> A strong and beautiful
statement of truth.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“My plea to
every Latter-day Saint is: If you do not know it, get a knowledge and testimony
in your heart that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, and that Joseph
Smith is a prophet of the true and the living God. There is ample evidence to
satisfy any honest investigator; no one needs to say it cannot be demonstrated
nor discovered. And then I plead with you to have patience with your problems
whatever they are, economic or otherwise; be patient and be faithful, don't be
swept off your feet by every wind of doctrine that would lead you hither and
thither.” So stated Elder Melvin J. Ballard (grandfather of President Russell
M. Ballard), a special witness that had seen and embraced the resurrected
Christ and knew whereof he spoke: “I know as I know that I live that God is
still with this work; that it is the truth; that the light is in the ship; that
the pilot is not asleep. The dogs have barked, but the caravan, the Church of
the living God, has gone forward in the past as it shall go in the future
grandly on to its destiny. God help us to stay on the ship; God help us to do
our part and to keep from everything that would lead us from the main path,
which if we continue to travel in shall bring us to glory and exaltation.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
chapter is included in this work for two reasons: one is that, sadly, some few academics
associated with Brigham Young University have declared that doubt is “good” and
should be “celebrated,” and have even labelled doubt a “spiritual gift” that
they possess in abundance. Such deceptive doctrines are in stark opposition to
the declarations and teachings of the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
use all their influence to teach the opposite. A second reason is that there
are undoubtedly some who do doubt, that could benefit from learning true and
undiluted doctrine from these special witnesses who <i>know</i>. They do not
doubt, and one purpose of their call to the apostleship is to teach and testify
in such as manner as to build faith and eliminate doubt in their hearers and
readers. In this they follow the example of the Old Testament prophet Daniel,
whose (true) spiritual gift was to dispel doubt: “Forasmuch as an excellent
spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, . . . and shewing of hard sentences,
and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel. . . . And I have heard
of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts.” (Daniel
5:12, 16). This prophet’s spiritual gift was to dissolve and dispel doubts for
others, not to encourage or celebrate them. Such is also the case with modern
prophets and apostles. None of them have ever thought doubt good, nor have they
taught as one sorely misled academic at BYU did when he wrote, “Be grateful for
your doubts.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On the
Church website, under the gospel topic of “<a href="https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/answering-gospel-questions?lang=eng">Answering
Gospel Questions</a>,” we find this approved instruction concerning faith and
doubt: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Because
our perspective and knowledge are limited, we find spiritual truths only if
faith is part of our efforts. Faith requires mental and spiritual exertion and
is rooted in positive hope, not negative doubt. . . . <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Remember,
however, that the term <i>question</i> is not synonymous with the term <i>doubt</i>.
Faith and doubt are not different sides of a coin. The Lord and His prophets do
not encourage doubt—quite the opposite. Doubt is not spoken of in a positive
light in the scriptures. President Thomas S. Monson taught, “Doubt never
inspires faith.” That is why the Lord is so adamant that we “doubt not.” He
knows that doubting can affect our faith in Him. The Savior taught, “And
whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, unto him will I confirm
all my words.” Speaking to those who did not believe in Christ, Moroni
admonished, “Doubt not, but be believing.”. . . Doubt does not lead to faith,
but seeking learning by study and by faith increases both our knowledge and our
faith. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
is no such thing as doubt-generated faith. By faith, the Apostle Peter walked
on water until fear and doubt caused his steps to falter, and he began to
sink. Leaders and members in the early days of the Restoration were
taught, “Where doubt and uncertainty are there faith is not, nor can it be.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Jeffrey R. Holland also advocated: “In moments of fear or doubt or
troubling times, hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is
limited. . . . <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When those moments come
and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately
forthcoming, <i>hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until
additional knowledge comes. . . .</i> The size of your faith or the degree of
your knowledge is not the issue—it is the integrity you demonstrate toward the
faith you do have and the truth you already know.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Of those
who (allegedly) teach and write about the gospel at BYU or anywhere else,
President Kimball cautioned them, declaring: “If one cannot accept and teach
the program [doctrine] of the Church in an orthodox way without reservations,
he should not teach. It would be the part of honor to resign his position. Not
only would he be dishonest and deceitful, but he is also actually under
condemnation, for the Savior said that it were better that a millstone were
hanged about his neck and he be cast into the sea than that he should lead
astray doctrinally or betray the cause or give offense, destroying the faith of
one of “these little ones” who believe in him. And remember that this means not
only the small children, it includes even adults who believe and trust in God.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This same
academic wrote: “There is profit to be found, and advantage to be gained,
even—perhaps especially—in the absence of certainty.” In direct refutation of
this false and evil teaching, President Gordon B. Hinckley taught:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
recently spoke in this city a prominent journalist from the East. I did not
hear him, but I read the newspaper reports of his remarks. He is quoted as
having said, “Certitude is the enemy of religion.” The words attributed to him
have stirred within me much reflection. Certitude, which I define as complete
and total assurance, is not the enemy of religion. It is of its very essence.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Certitude
is certainty. It is conviction. It is the power of faith that approaches
knowledge—yes, that even becomes knowledge. It evokes enthusiasm, and there is
no asset comparable to enthusiasm in overcoming opposition, prejudice, and
indifference.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Great
buildings were never constructed on uncertain foundations. Great causes were
never brought to success by vacillating leaders. The gospel was never expounded
to the convincing of others without certainty. Faith, which is of the very
essence of personal conviction, has always been, and always must be, at the
root of religious practice and endeavor.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
was no uncertainty in Peter’s mind when the Lord asked him, “Whom say ye that I
am?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And
Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
(Matt. 16:15–16.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nor
was there any doubt on the part of Peter when the Lord taught the multitude in
Capernaum, declaring himself to be the bread of life. Many of his disciples,
who would not accept his teaching, “went back, and walked no more with him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Then
said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Then
Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of
eternal life.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And
we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.”
(John 6:66–69.)<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Apostles
never speak of doubt in a positive way. It is always negative and in keeping
with the Lord’s commandment given through Joseph Smith: “Look unto me in every
thought; doubt not, fear not” (D&C 6:36).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Kimball taught:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Lord has defined truth as being a “knowledge of things as they are, and as they
were, and as they are to come.” (<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/93.24?lang=eng#p24"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">D&C 93:24</span></a>.)
God’s existence is a reality. Immortality is a reality. These realities will
not go away simply because we have different opinions about them. These
realities will not be dissolved just because some have doubts about them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Opinion?
Of course, there is a difference of opinion; but again, opinion cannot change
laws or absolute truths. Opinions will never make the earth to be flat, the sun
to dim its light, God to die, or the Savior to cease being the Son of God. . .
.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
has given the key. You may <i>know. </i>You need not be in doubt.
Follow the prescribed procedures, and you may have an absolute knowledge that
these things are absolute truths. The necessary procedure is: study, think,
pray, and do. Revelation is the key. God will make it known to you once you
have capitulated and have become humble and receptive.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And what
was President Kimball’s counsel to those who doubt?—“You have to <i>fight </i>for
a testimony. You have to <i>keep </i>fighting!”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> For some the fight or
struggle before the Lord with be short and for others it will be long, perhaps
very long, even many years before a testimony comes. But the spiritual law says
it will if that law, or spiritual condition, is kept. They are keeping the
commandments, repenting, and exercising faith, and most people who lack one of
these don’t receive the testimony. President Joseph Fielding Smith explained
his view:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now I am going to say something that
maybe I could not prove, but I believe is true, that we have a great many
members of this Church who have never received a manifestation through the Holy
Ghost. Why? Because they have not made their lives conform to the truth. And
the Holy Ghost will not dwell in unclean tabernacles or disobedient tabernacles.
The Holy Ghost will not dwell with that person who is unwilling to obey and
keep the commandments of God or who violates those commandments willfully. In
such a soul the spirit of the Holy Ghost cannot enter. That great gift comes to
us only through humility and faith and obedience. Therefore, a great many
members of the Church do not have that guidance, Then some cunning, crafty
individual will come along teaching that which is not true, and without the
guidance which is promised to us through our faithfulness, people are unable to
discern and are led astray. It depends on our faithfulness and our obedience to
the commandments of the Lord if we have the teachings, the enlightening
instruction, that comes from the Holy Ghost.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When we are disobedient, when our
minds are set upon the things of this world rather than on the things of the
kingdom of God, we cannot have the manifestations of the Holy Ghost.</span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder Bruce
R. McConkie agreed with President Smith:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
about people who say they have prayed for a testimony, but haven’t received
one?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
don’t know why, except in principle, that somewhere along the line [a person]
hasn’t fully complied with the law. I had a man come to me, and he was the
president of his Seventies quorum…and he said “I have been active in the Church
all my life; I have read the Book of Mormon; I have prayed about it and asked
the Lord whether it is true—and I don’t know whether it is true or not.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, “I don’t get any feeling about
this,” and he asked “why?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
don’t know why in the sense of being able to pinpoint any specific thing, but I
do know the general principle which is that it is just absolutely, immutably
decreed, that if someone really abides the law, they do get the witness.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
have a letter on my desk now that if I was sufficiently diligent I ought to
answer it. It came to President [Joseph Fielding] Smith and he sent it up to me
to answer. It’s a very well written letter and this fellow is not in the Church
(but he once was) and he explains intelligently that the promise is that if you
join the Church you get the gift of the Holy Ghost and you’ll have power to do
this and this; and why is it that we don’t have the power to do it? Why is it
we don’t exercise this power?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
reason we don’t exercise the power to the extent we ought to is because we just
don’t live the law; that’s all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
people do live the law fully, they will have the power and they will get the
witness.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
the thing we have to remember in these situations is that everybody isn’t at
the same level of spirituality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
people have a small degree of spirituality, and some people have a large degree
of spirituality. The talent of spirituality that people have is what they’ve
inherited from preexistence. You have the degree of spirituality that you
earned in preexistence. . . . It’s just a pure matter of preexistence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But anybody . . . has sufficient spiritual
information, so that if they will, they can know that the work is true. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
maybe if someone doesn’t seem to get the witness like they ought to get, they
are lacking in some spiritual talent; I don’t know. But regardless of that,
it’s possible—it’s expected, as a matter of fact—that they so live that they
can get the witness. . . .<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And President
Kimball agreed with Brothers Smith and McConkie, likewise teaching:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Lord is at the helm, brothers and sisters, and he will continue to be there,
and his work will go forward. The important question is whether we, as
individuals, will be going in that same direction. It's up to us. This is a
gospel of individual work. I wish our Latter-day Saints could become more
valiant. As I read the seventy-sixth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the
great vision given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, I remember that the Lord says
to that terrestrial degree of glory may go those who are not valiant in the
testimony, which means that many of us who have received baptism by proper
authority, many who have received other ordinances, even temple blessings, will
not reach the celestial kingdom of glory unless we live the commandments and
are valiant. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
remember a great people of long ago who belonged to the Church of our Lord, who
became so righteous as a group that they were translated into heaven. And I
wonder why other groups have not been taken. The only conclusion that I can
reach is that whole groups have not been sufficiently righteous. We buried a
righteous man yesterday. If all of the people in this Church were as righteous
as he was, perhaps there might be further translations. But we are not living
the commandments of the Lord as well as we know. Many of us are not valiant.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Brother
Kimball also gave an example of what he meant by the difference between valiant
people with vibrant living testimonies, and those who have arrived at their belief
some other way:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
a high council testimony meeting some time ago I heard one of their number say:
‘I am happy in the work and have made research and this Church and its
doctrines satisfy me better than anything I have found.’ Then another arose and
with deep feeling declared: ‘This is the work of God, I <i>know</i> it. It is
the Lord's eternal plan of exaltation. I know that Jesus lives and is the
Redeemer.’ I was uplifted by his sureness. And I went to the revelations of the
Lord to see how it is that some are so sure while others are passive or have
doubts. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
often came home distressed by the expressions of critical people who took issue
with those who had borne their testimonies with such fervor and sureness. “Why
does Sister Blank say she knows that Jesus is the Christ? How can she know? Why
does Brother Doe declare with such definiteness that Joseph Smith was a Prophet
of God and that this is the Church and kingdom of God? I doubt if they know any
more about it than I do.” Then I refer these who would rationalize to
Colossians 2:8: ‘Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain
deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ.’”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We can rest
assured that testimony and valiance as disciples of Christ are intertwined. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Unresolved Doubt can lead to Apostasy<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Latter-day
Saints don’t usually remain in one spiritual position for long. It may look
like they do, but they are usually moving in one direction or another. Those
who are not valiant; not willing to fight and struggle and strive for, obtain,
and keep inner conviction of gospel truths, usually end up leaving the church
one way or another. Some leave it quietly and simply begin living after the
manner of the world. Others leave loudly and want to cause as much ruckus and
get as much publicity as they can, and take as many other people out of the
Church with them as they can. Some make it their purpose in life to cause
others to doubt and follow their path. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Of this
latter group, which is as loud and wicked today as ever, President Kimball
said: “In our own Society, the murderer who kills the body is hunted,
imprisoned, and executed, but the character who kills the soul by implanting
doubt and shattering faith is permitted not only to go free but also is often
retained in high places. . . . And so we admonish the leaders in stakes, wards,
and missions to be ever vigilant to see that no incorrect doctrines are
promulgated in their classes or congregations. Wolves will come in sheep's
clothing and will deceive the very elect, if that were possible. And we warn
again those who write or preach or otherwise teach subversive doctrines, that
their punishment is sure for their ‘worm dieth not.’”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Further
explanation comes from Elder Petersen:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Often
I have asked myself why it is that some people apostatize from the truth. I
have never believed that a person falls away suddenly, all at once, any more
than a person who has been righteous and honest all his life would go out and
suddenly rob a bank. There is some preparatory work done in advance. There is
some “softening-up” process which leads to the apostate condition. Big sins
generally are preceded by little ones, and I believe that this is true with
respect to people who fall away from the truth.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Seeds
are sown, seeds of doubt, disbelief, distrust, disrespect. These seeds are
watered; they are nurtured, and finally they become fully developed until they
produce their evil fruit. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
are the seeds that are sown by some of our teachers and preachers within our
own organization who like to advance some new doctrine, or some new
interpretation, or some speculative theory, or advance something that is
sensational, because to advance the sensational seems to feed their ego
inasmuch as they become the center of a discussion.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Most
of our teachers and preachers are wonderful. They teach the truth; they bring
about conversions in the minds and hearts of those who listen to them. But
there are these few teachers who sow seeds of doubt by speculative and unsound
doctrines, and as they do so they “soften up,” to use the army expression, some
of their hearers who might later be taken over by the apostate teachers who
come among them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
do believe most positively that if we bring false teachings into our classes or
sermons we do our people a great disservice, for we confuse their minds, we
make them doubt the truth when it is given to them, and we “soften them up” for
the attacks of apostate teachers who come among them.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Richard G. Scott, a man of great love and compassion, sought to help those
mired in doubt: “I wish I could replace your doubt with my certainty, but I
can’t give it to you. I can provide an invitation: Please, decide now to repent
and change your life. I promise you, in the name of the Lord, that He will help
you. He will be there in every time of need. He gave His life so that you can
change your life. I promise you, that you’ll feel His love, strength, and
support. Trust Him completely. He is not going to make any mistakes. He knows
what He is doing. Please, decide now to change your life. Be obedient to His
teachings, and He will bless you.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Apostolic Solutions for Doubt<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Doubt must
be replaced by faith and testimony. A testimony is gained by exercising faith
until the law is fulfilled and the blessing granted. Doubt is usually not
dissolved by scholarship or academia, but by hearing the world of God from
someone preaching by the power of the Holy Ghost. One should never allow a
scholar to come between them and God, or between them and God’s prophet. No
scholar, whether a believer or unbeliever, knows enough. As President Hinckley
said of himself. “I am happy that my faith has not been shaken by the writings
of critics who never seem to recognize that knowledge of things divine comes by
the power of the Spirit and not of the wisdom of men.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Science and scholarship
are sorely limited when it comes to the things of the Spirit of God. Said Elder
Petersen:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then
I remembered that we do not receive a testimony from scientific research, nor
from argument. I remembered that the only way we get a testimony of the
truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is in the way President Grant received it,
in a way that I received it, and as a million other Latter-day Saints have
received it—the way explained by Mormon when he said:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God,
the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if
ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he
will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. (Moroni
10:4.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With
all the fervor of my soul I thank the Almighty that he has given to me a
testimony of that book. And what is the testimony? That the Book of Mormon is
true, that it is the word of God, a new volume of scripture for this modern
world. And I testify to you and all others who listen that if they will but
read the Book of Mormon prayerfully with a sincere heart and ask God for a
testimony of it, they will receive it, as so many of the others of us have, and
this is my testimony, . . .<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Benson supported and sustained this thinking as it related to the Book of
Mormon: “We are not required to prove that the Book of Mormon is true or is an
authentic record through external evidences<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>though there are many.
It never has been the case, nor is it so now, that the studies of the learned
will prove the Book of Mormon true or false. The origin, preparation,
translation, and verification of the truth of the Book of Mormon have all been
retained in the hands of the Lord, and the Lord makes no mistakes.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Of course,
the devil will be there, trying to interfere. President Romney knew this well:
“I know that God lives. Through my own experiences I have come to know of his
Spirit and his power. I know also that Satan lives. I have detected his spirit
and felt of his power<span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>not to the extent as did
the Prophet Joseph, but in like experience.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> “Many may fall away,”
noted Elder Melvin J. Ballard, “and lose the faith, but those who stand true
and faithful shall be victorious, and they shall be the recipients of all these
great things.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We conclude
with three prophetic declarations of solution for all doubters anywhere. Elder
Richards testified, “I don’t know why we should hesitate to raise our voices in
testimony. To me it is the marvelous work and a wonder spoken of, it is the
greatest movement in all this world. When everything else passes away like the
dream of a night’s vision, this church, this kingdom, will go on to its decreed
destiny, and that is my witness and testimony to you.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
President Gordon B. Hinckley, a great dissolver of doubt of a recent former
generation, bore this witness: “To all within the sound of my voice who may
have doubts, I repeat the words given Thomas as he felt the wounded hands of
the Lord: “Be not faithless, but believing.” Believe in Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, the greatest figure of time and eternity. Believe that his matchless
life reached back before the world was formed. Believe that he was the Creator
of the earth on which we live. Believe that he was Jehovah of the Old
Testament, that he was the Messiah of the New Testament, that he died and was
resurrected, that he visited these western continents and taught the people
here, that he ushered in this final gospel dispensation, and that he lives, the
living Son of the living God, our Savior and our Redeemer.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
finally, we feel and rejoice in the truth of the powerful message of President
Russell M. Nelson, given to the Church in the April 2021 general conference: “Choose
to believe in Jesus Christ. If you have doubts about God the Father and His
Beloved Son or the validity of the Restoration or the veracity of Joseph
Smith’s divine calling as a prophet, choose to believe and stay faithful. Take
your questions to the Lord and to other faithful sources. Study with the desire
to believe rather than with the hope that you can find a flaw in the fabric of
a prophet’s life or a discrepancy in the scriptures. Stop increasing your
doubts by rehearsing them with other doubters. Allow the Lord to lead you on
your journey of spiritual discovery.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Amen!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Joseph Smith,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 2014.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Special Broadcast with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and the Executive Committee of
the Church Board of Education, November 1, 2018.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1936, 53.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
As of this writing, October 2020, a few of those working at (and leading) the
Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU are the greatest
offenders, promoting doubt, publishing works that cast suspicion on whether the
gold plates were real and also publishing the views of critics, and creating
and posting videos where weak and watered down and false “doctrine” is taught.
One hopes that one day these people will be removed and replaced by men and
women of strong faith and testimony, with unquestioned loyalty to God, His
gospel, and His leaders. To have Elder Maxwell’s name attached to such an
institution is tragic and fixable. Elder Renlund cautioned the BYU faculty:
“Christlike attributes come to us as we serve God and our fellowman. The gospel
purpose is to produce people of perfect character whose actions are motivated
by the pure love of Christ. To help Him, you cannot lead students off target by
sowing seeds of doubt or behaving in ways that are self-serving. Your
collective consistency in creating and conveying Christlike attributes is
essential to positively influence Brigham Young University students and
propagate that influence into the future” (“Creating and Conveying a Christlike
Culture: More Than a Job,” University Conference, August 26, 2019).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1948, 108-09.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> “Faith, the Essence of True Religion,” <i>Ensign</i>,
October 1981.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> “Absolute Truth,” <i>Ensign</i>, September 1978. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“President Kimball Speaks Out on Testimony,” <i>New Era</i>, August 1981.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“We Are Here to Be Tried, Tested, Proved,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, October 25,
1961.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Bruce R. McConkie, “Teach by the Spirit,” University of Utah Institute Lecture
transcript, unpublished, May 20, 1968, n.p.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1951, 105.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, October 1944, 42.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1948, 111.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1953, 84.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> “Finding the Way Back,” <i>Ensign</i>, April 1990.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“My Testimony,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1993.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn17" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1957, 111.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn18" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants,” <i>Ensign</i>, April 1987.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn19" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Satan: the Great Deceiver,” <i>Ensign</i>, April 1971.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn20" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, October 1924, 32.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn21" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Prophecy,” <i>Ensign</i>, April 1974. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn22" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Be Not Faithless,” <i>Ensign</i>, April 1978.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn23" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains,” General Conference, April
2021: https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2021/04/49nelson?lang=eng<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-46329544325532248492021-10-02T08:03:00.006-07:002021-10-02T08:11:45.388-07:00Apostles are the Voice of Warning to All<p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><i style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">[Readers desiring to obtain their own </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-hardback" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">hardback copies of <b>volume one</b></a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> of </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ</span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> can find copies on sale </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-hardback" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">Softbound copies </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-paperback-23292" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">can be purchased here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Know-He-Lives-Special-Witnesses-ebook/dp/B075NJN959/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&qid=1625166117&refinements=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=digital-text&sr=1-5&text=Dennis+Horne" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">on Amazon here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]</span></i></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"></i></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvDkSJogQTOb2O5SyAyNloj_3th_FpeD6tmvg61KdXCmtGb0RphtjWMmMfZ8wo75yKM1hLHxWHoGUoFmuvdI2PMi0DxcjI2ibpOA-NIYU6WgiBSRh0HKe1e0PvZvHiTmEVVzYcEvMp3OLL/s620/620-every-member-of-the-first-presidency-and-the-quorum-of.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="620" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvDkSJogQTOb2O5SyAyNloj_3th_FpeD6tmvg61KdXCmtGb0RphtjWMmMfZ8wo75yKM1hLHxWHoGUoFmuvdI2PMi0DxcjI2ibpOA-NIYU6WgiBSRh0HKe1e0PvZvHiTmEVVzYcEvMp3OLL/w400-h266/620-every-member-of-the-first-presidency-and-the-quorum-of.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">(by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=relevancerank&text=Dennis+Horne&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1">Dennis B. Horne</a>)</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>Set watchmen round
about them, and build a tower, <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>that one may
overlook the land round about, <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>to be a watchman
upon the tower, <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>that mine olive
trees [Church] may not be broken down <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>when the enemy
shall come. . . .<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">(D&C 101:45)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">An uncompromising duty of those ordained to
the Apostleship—of a special witness—is to warn and guard the Church and its
members against the devices of the enemy, the Adversary. President Ezra Taft
Benson explained: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> <span></span></o:p></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As watchmen on the
tower of Zion, it is our obligation and right as leaders to speak out against
current evils</span><span face=""Tahoma","sans-serif"" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">evils that strike at the very foundation of
all we hold dear as the true church of Christ and as members of Christian
nations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As one of these
watchmen, with a love for humanity, I accept humbly this obligation and
challenge and gratefully strive to do my duty without fear. In times as serious
as these, we must not permit fear of criticism to keep us from doing our duty,
. . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Church is founded
on eternal truth. We do not compromise principle. We do not surrender our
standards regardless of current trends or pressures. Our allegiance to truth as
a church is unwavering. Speaking out against immoral or unjust actions has been
the burden of prophets and disciples of God from time immemorial. It was for this
very reason that many of them were persecuted. Nevertheless, it was their
God-given task, as watchmen on the tower, to warn the people.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Such is their duty: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Today I shall speak doctrine, by way of
warning and of testimony, and shall do so as one holding the holy apostleship,
whose responsibility it is to proclaim the Lord’s message in all the world and
to all people. Each of my brethren of the Council of the Twelve has the same
responsibility I have to declare these things to the world and to bear record
of them before all men.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> President Gordon B.
Hinckley also echoed this message (as quoted by Elder Ballard): “In a General
Authority training meeting, President Gordon B. Hinckley taught on the subject ‘keeping
the doctrine pure and the Church on the right course.’ He said, ‘We<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">cannot be too
careful. We must watch that we do not get off [course]. In our efforts to be<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">original and fresh
and different, we may teach things which may not be entirely in<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">harmony with the
basic doctrines of this the restored Church of Jesus Christ. . . . We had<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">better be more
alert. . . . We must be watchmen on the tower.’”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With this obligation upon special witnesses
in mind, the below quotations, as categorized under specific subheadings,
demonstrate how the Apostles have warned the Church and the world against the
devices of the Adversary. These devices are found both in and out of the Church,
with the devil commonly using the internet as his megaphone.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Before getting into
specifics however, we should understand how the prophets, seers, and revelators
view the state of society at large for the current generation. Not a general
conference passes without many pointed references to the world’s decent into
evil, and also that of many in the Church. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Marion G.
Romney:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The world has never been so bad, so
wicked, so full of iniquity, as now—but it never will be this good again.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Gordon B.
Hinckley:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The traditional family is under
heavy attack. I do not know that things were worse in the times of Sodom and
Gomorrah. . . . We see similar conditions today. They prevail all across the
world. I think our Father must weep as He looks down upon His wayward sons and
daughters.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elder Richard G.
Scott:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The world is being engulfed in a
rising river of degenerate filth, with the abandonment of virtue,
righteousness, traditional marriage, family life and personal integrity.
President Hinckley has warned publicly that conditions are comparable to those
of Sodom and Gomorrah, the epitome of unholy life in the Old Testament.
However, while isolated then that condition is now pervasive over the world.
Satan skillfully manipulates for his purposes the power of all types of media
and the broad avenues of communication. His success has greatly increased
worldwide the extent and availability of such degrading and destructive
influences.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Boyd K.
Packer:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The world is spiraling downward at
an ever-quickening pace. I am sorry to tell you that it will not get better. .
. .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I know of nothing in the history of
the Church or in the history of the world to compare with our present
circumstances. Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds in
wickedness and depravity that which surrounds us now.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Words of profanity, vulgarity, and
blasphemy are heard everywhere. Unspeakable wickedness and perversion [homosexuality]
were once hidden in dark places; now they are in the open, even accorded legal
protection. At Sodom and Gomorrah these things were localized. Now they are
spread across the world, and they are among us. I need not—I will not—identify
each evil that threatens our youth. It is difficult for man to get away from
it.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Russell M.
Nelson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The work of Almighty God and His
great plan of happiness are opposed by the adversary and his minions. Satan
wants us to be miserable like his is. First he attacked the prophets. When that
didn’t work, he attacked the scriptures. When that didn’t work, he now attacks
at the very heart of the Church, which is the family. You are all painfully
aware of this war for the hearts and souls of our fellow human beings, even
some members of our own families.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Garamond; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">False
Philosophies of Men<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Marion G.
Romney:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, while I feel that the many
people of the earth today are so infected with the works of the flesh that they
do not recognize them as such, and, therefore, many people are not possessed of
the moral courage to pay the price of peace, still we should not, Jonah-like,
sulk under a vine if some of them should turn to apply the principles of the
Prince of Peace and find its joyful rewards. On the contrary, we should
rejoice, for to proclaim peace is the sole purpose of our life’s mission. We
should find no pleasure in the fact that men’s strivings for peace have proved
ineffectual. I wage no war against their efforts. Many of them are doing the
best they can in the light they have. Nevertheless, I can see no justification
for us, who have the clear light of the revealed gospel of Christ, to spend our
lives stumbling around through the mists following the uncertain glimmer of a
flickering candle lighted by the wisdom of men. Rather, we should devote our
energies to spreading the true light, and leave the mists to those who do not
see that light.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Ezra Taft Benson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The contrast between the Church and
the world will be increasingly marked in the future, which contrast, we hope,
will cause the Church to be more attractive to those in the world who desire to
live according to God’s plan for us, His children.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Church will always stand for
that which is honest, virtuous, true and praiseworthy. Such a pronounced
stand <i>for</i> righteousness constitutes a repudiation <i>against</i> every
evil and all false philosophies. The First Presidency and the Twelve are not
oblivious to false philosophies and evils and will continue to warn the world
and the Saints as the Lord directs.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Ezra Taft Benson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I testify that wickedness is rapidly
expanding in every segment of our society. (See D&C 1:14–16; D&C 84:49–53.)
It is more highly organized, more cleverly disguised, and more powerfully
promoted than ever before. Secret combinations lusting for power, gain, and
glory are flourishing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I testify that as the forces of evil
increase under Lucifer’s leadership and as the forces of good increase under
the leadership of Jesus Christ, there will be growing battles between the two
until the final confrontation. As the issues become clearer and more obvious,
all mankind will eventually be required to align themselves either for the
kingdom of God or for the kingdom of the devil.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Ezra Taft Benson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today the world is full of alluring
and attractive ideas that can lead even the best of our members into error and
deception. Students at universities are sometimes so filled with the doctrines
of the world they begin to question the doctrines of the gospel. How do you as
a priesthood leader help fortify your membership against such deceptive
teachings? The Savior gave the answer in His great discourse on the Mount of
Olives when He promised, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i>And whoso
treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived.”</i> (JS</span><span face=""Tahoma","sans-serif"" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">-</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">M 1:37.)<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Ezra Taft
Benson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Increasingly the Latter-day Saints
must choose between the reasoning of men and the revelations of God. This is a
crucial choice, for we have those within the Church today who, with their
worldly wisdom, are leading some of our members astray. President J. Reuben
Clark, Jr., warned that <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“the ravening
wolves are amongst us from our own membership and they, more than any others,
are clothed in sheep's clothing, because they wear the habiliments of the
Priesthood. ... We should be careful of them.” (<i>The Improvement Era</i>, May
1949, p. 268.)<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Russell M.
Nelson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The time is coming when those who do
not obey the Lord will be separated from those who do (see Doctrine and
Covenants 86:1–7).<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elder LeGrand Richards:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I can’t
think of anything that we as parents and as leaders in Israel can plant into
the hearts of our youth that will help them to avoid the evils and pitfalls and
temptations of this world and the false philosophies of men and enable them to
live in the world and yet not be a part of the world like having planted in
their hearts through the power of the Holy Ghost a testimony of the truth of
this restored gospel.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elder Quentin L.
Cook:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The prophet Enoch foresaw the days
in which we live. The Lord acknowledged to Enoch the great wickedness that
would prevail and prophesied of the “great tribulations” that would occur.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Evolution and the
Creation of Man<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elder Neal A. Maxwell:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We believe
Adam and Eve were this planet’s first humans and first Christians.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">President Boyd K.
Packer:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is my conviction that to the
degree the theory of evolution asserts that man is the product of an
evolutionary process, the offspring of animals—it is false! What application
the evolutionary theory has to animals gives me no concern. That is another
question entirely, one to be pursued by science. But remember, the scriptures
speak of the spirit in animals and other living things, and of each multiplying
after its own kind. (D&C 77:2; 2 Nephi 2:22; Moses 3:9; Abraham 4:11-12,
24).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And I am sorry to say, the so-called
theistic evolution, the theory that God used an evolutionary process to prepare
a physical body for the spirit of man, is equally false. I say I am sorry
because I know it is a view commonly held by good and thoughtful people who
search for an acceptable resolution to an apparent conflict between the theory
of evolution and the doctrines of the gospel. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The creation of man and his
introduction into mortality by the Fall as revealed in the scriptures conform
to eternal laws governing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">both </i>body
and spirit. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How long a time has man been upon
the earth? I do not know! But I do know that man did not evolve from animals. .
. .<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elder Mark E.
Petersen:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, what is the truth about the
origin of man? Paul gave it to us: We are the children of God. We are his
offspring. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. (See Rom.
8:16-17.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And what does that mean?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It means that we have a mighty
purpose in life, which purpose is that we may become like God!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jesus commanded us to achieve this
purpose, saying: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Be ye therefore
perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then, being children of God, we can
see our true destiny. And being thus related to him, as his children, we now
see ourselves in an entirely new light—not as the descendants of ape-like
creatures living an aimless existence, but as the descendants of Almighty God,
with the possibility of becoming like him!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now we can understand the true place
and dignity of man. Now we can see his infinite potential.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As members of the family of God, we
can know that he has placed us here on earth in a type of school that will help
us to become like him, if we are willing to follow the curriculum.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Russell M.
Nelson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Your body, whatever its natural
gifts, is a magnificent creation of God. It is a tabernacle of flesh</span><span face=""Tahoma","sans-serif"" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">a temple for your spirit. A study of your body
attests to its divine design.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Russell M.
Nelson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The plan required the Creation, and
that in turn required both the Fall and the Atonement. These are the three
fundamental components of the plan. The creation of a paradisiacal planet came
from God. Mortality and death came into the world through the Fall of Adam. . .
.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In period five, fish, fowl, and
“every living creature” were added. They were made fruitful and able to
multiply</span><span face=""Tahoma","sans-serif"" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in the sea and on the earth</span><span face=""Tahoma","sans-serif"" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">each after its own kind.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the sixth period, creation of
life continued. The beasts of the earth were made after their kind, cattle
after their kind, and everything which “creepeth upon the earth”</span><span face=""Tahoma","sans-serif"" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">again, after its own kind. Then the Gods
counseled together and said: </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Let us go down and form man in our image, after our likeness. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">…</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, “the earth will be
renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.” At the Second Coming of the Lord,
the earth will be changed once again. It will be returned to its paradisiacal
state and be made new.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Russell M.
Nelson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Creation culminated with Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were created in the image of God, with
bodies of flesh and bone. Created in the image of God and not yet mortal, they
could not grow old and die. [Footnote: They were created as amortal
beings—“without mortality”—not at that time subject to death.] “And they would
have had no children” nor experienced the trials of life. (Please forgive me
for mentioning children and the trials of life in the same breath.) The
creation of Adam and Eve was a paradisiacal creation, one that required a
significant change before they could fulfill the commandment to have children
and thus provide earthly bodies for premortal spirit sons and daughters of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That brings us to the Fall.
Scripture teaches that “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they
might have joy.” The Fall of Adam (and Eve) constituted the mortal creation and
brought about the required changes in their bodies, including the circulation
of blood and other modifications as well. They were now able to have children.
They and their posterity also became subject to injury, disease, and death.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Russell M.
Nelson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We believe that God is our creator
and that he has created other forms of life. It’s interesting to me, drawing on
my 40 years experience as a medical doctor, how similar those species are. . .
. But to think that man evolved from one species to another is, to me,
incomprehensible. . . . Man has always been man. Dogs have always been dogs.
Monkeys have always been monkeys. It’s just the way genetics works.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elder D. Todd Christofferson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We know that fatherhood is much more
than a social construct or the product of evolution. The role of father is of
divine origin, beginning with a Father in Heaven and, in this mortal sphere,
with Father Adam.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elder Mark E. Petersen<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Something different was now being
introduced—because there was a different species—here was the race of God. The
animals and the birds and the bees were His creations, yes. They had life in
themselves; He gave them the right and the power of reproduction after their
own kind. But now with man, who was of the race of God, something else had to
be introduced before He could give them the commandment. That something else
was marriage. So God brought the woman whom He had made to the man whom He had
made. They twain became one flesh; she, his helpmeet. Having given her, in the
bonds of holy matrimony, to the man, the Father in heaven stood before those
two and gave them a commandment: to bring forth after their own kind. To
multiply and fill up the earth with more of the race of God. . . . It [sex] is
holy. It is part of the function of Almighty God.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[26]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President M. Russell
Ballard:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In particular, the God of Heaven has
revealed to His servants, the prophets, who He is and who His Beloved Son is
and our true relationships with Them. We are not created objects like a
smartphone. We are literal children of God, and He knows us.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[27]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The First
Presidency:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was shown to the brother of Jared
that all men were created in the beginning after the image of God; whether we
take this to mean the spirit or the body, or both, it commits us to the same
conclusion: Man began life as a human being, in the likeness of our Heavenly
Father.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[28]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Homosexuality/LGBT
Sin<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President
M. Russell Ballard:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When evil wants to strike out and
disrupt the essence of God’s work, it attacks the family. It does so by
attempting to disregard the law of chastity, to confuse gender, to desensitize
violence, to make crude and blasphemous language the norm, and to make immoral
and deviant behavior seem like the rule rather than the exception. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We need to raise our voices with
other concerned citizens throughout the world in opposition to current trends.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[29]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President N. Eldon Tanner:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We love virtue and chastity and
decry the immorality and moral decay which is so prevalent in the world today.
We align ourselves with all God-fearing people who are striving to save the
world from the sins of pornography, abortion, homosexuality, and other deviant
sexual behavior.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[30]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Gordon B. Hinckley:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Prophets of God have repeatedly
taught through the ages that practices of homosexual relations, fornication,
and adultery are grievous sins. Sexual relations outside the bonds of marriage
are forbidden by the Lord. We reaffirm those teachings.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[31]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Gordon B.
Hinckley:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">[1999] </span>Such is currently the case in California, where
Latter-day Saints are working as part of a coalition to safeguard traditional
marriage from forces in our society which are attempting to redefine that
sacred institution. God-sanctioned marriage between a man and a woman has been
the basis of civilization for thousands of years. There is no justification to
redefine what marriage is. Such is not our right, and those who try will find
themselves answerable to God. Some portray legalization of so-called same-sex
marriage as a civil right. This is not a matter of civil rights; it is a matter
of morality. Others question our constitutional right as a church to raise our
voice on an issue that is of critical importance to the future of the family.
We believe that defending this sacred institution by working to preserve
traditional marriage lies clearly within our religious and constitutional
prerogatives. Indeed, we are compelled by our doctrine to speak out.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Nevertheless, and I emphasize this,
I wish to say that our opposition to attempts to legalize same-sex marriage
should never be interpreted as justification for hatred, intolerance, or abuse
of those who profess homosexual tendencies, either individually or as a group.
As I said from this pulpit one year ago, our hearts reach out to those who
refer to themselves as gays and lesbians. We love and honor them as sons and
daughters of God. They are welcome in the Church. It is expected, however, that
they follow the same God-given rules of conduct that apply to everyone else,
whether single or married.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I commend those of our membership
who have voluntarily joined with other like-minded people to defend the
sanctity of traditional marriage. As part of a coalition that embraces those of
other faiths, you are giving substantially of your means. The money being
raised in California has been donated to the coalition by individual members of
the Church. You are contributing your time and talents in a cause that in some
quarters may not be politically correct but which nevertheless lies at the
heart of the Lord’s eternal plan for His children, just as those of many other
churches are doing. This is a united effort.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[32]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elder Bruce R. McConkie:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We live in a day of evil and
wickedness. The generality of men are carnal, sensual, and devilish. They have
forgotten God and are reveling in the lusts of the flesh. Crime, immorality,
abortions, and homosexual abominations are fast becoming the norm of life among
the wicked and ungodly. The world will soon be as corrupt as it was in the days
of Noah.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[33]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elder Richard G.
Scott:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Adultery, fornication, committing
homosexual acts, and other deviations approaching these in gravity are not
acceptable alternate lifestyles. They are serious sins.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[34]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Ezra Taft Benson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A priesthood holder is virtuous.
Virtuous behavior implies that he has pure thoughts and clean actions. He will
not lust in his heart, for to do so is to “deny the faith” and to lose the
Spirit. (See D&C 42:23.)<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He will not commit adultery “nor
do anything like unto it.” (D&C 59:6.) This means fornication, homosexual
behavior, self-abuse, child molestation, or any other sexual perversions.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[35]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elder Quentin L.
Cook:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One of the unique and troubling
aspects of our day is that many people engage in sinful conduct but refuse to
consider it sinful. They have no remorse or willingness to acknowledge their
conduct as being morally wrong. Even some who profess a belief in the Father
and the Son wrongfully take the position that a loving Father in Heaven should
exact no consequences for conduct that is contrary to His commandments.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[36]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sophistry<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elder Melvin J. Ballard:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I know of nothing today that the
Latter-day Saints need more than the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the
solution of the problems of life. I know also that that same unerring wisdom of
the Holy Spirit can detect the deceptions of the adversary. I have been led
recently to feelings of pity for groups of people who have been deceived by
lying tongues, by deceptive spirits.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[37]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President M. Russell
Ballard<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Therefore, let us beware of false
prophets and false teachers, both men and women, who are self-appointed
declarers of the doctrines of the Church and who seek to spread their false
gospel and attract followers by sponsoring symposia, books, and journals whose
contents challenge fundamental doctrines of the Church. Beware of those who
speak and publish in opposition to God’s true prophets and who actively
proselyte others with reckless disregard for the eternal well-being of those
whom they seduce. Like Nehor and Korihor in the Book of Mormon, they rely on
sophistry to deceive and entice others to their views. They “set themselves up
for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but
they seek not the welfare of Zion” (2 Nephi 26:29).<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[38]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Ezra Taft Benson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There are some in our midst who
sponsor the sophistry that this appearance of God the Father and his Son, Jesus
Christ, was not literal, that it was probably a product of the Prophet’s
imaginings. That is an absolute falsehood. It is not only an attempt to
discredit the testimony of Joseph Smith; it would discredit the testimony of
Jesus himself who literally appeared to the Prophet as a witness of His own
resurrection.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[39]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Spencer W.
Kimball:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Not all scribes and Pharisees lived
anciently. There are today wreckers as well as builders among men and in
nature. . . . <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Apparently there were in the early
church those who taught for doctrines the sophistries of men. There are those
today who seem to take pride in disagreeing with the orthodox teachings of the
Church and who present their own opinions which are at variance with the
revealed truth. Some may be partially innocent in the matter; others are
feeding their own egotism; and some seem to be deliberate. Men may think as
they please, but they have no right to impose upon others their unorthodox
views. Such persons should realize that their own souls are in jeopardy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If one cannot accept and teach the
program of the Church in an orthodox way without reservations, he should not
teach. It would be the part of honor to resign his position. Not only would he
be dishonest and deceitful, but he is also actually under condemnation, for the
Savior said that it were better that a millstone were hanged about his neck and
he be cast into the sea than that he should lead astray doctrinally or betray
the cause or give offense, destroying the faith of one of “these little ones “
who believe in him. And remember that this means not only the small children,
it includes even adults who believe and trust in God.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[40]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Russell M.
Nelson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Those same threats are among us
today. The somber reality is that there are “servants of Satan” embedded
throughout society. So be very careful about whose counsel you follow.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[41]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Error in some Scholarship/Academia<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Spencer W.
Kimball:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It should be kept in mind that God
cannot be found through research alone, nor his gospel understood and
appreciated by study only, for no one may know the Father or the Son but “he to
whom the Son will reveal him.” (Luke 10:22.) The skeptic will some day either
in time or eternity learn to his sorrow that his egotism has robbed him of much
joy and growth, and that as has been decreed by the Lord: The things of God
cannot be understood by the spirit of man; that man cannot by himself find out
God or his program; that no amount of research nor rationalizing will bring a
testimony, but it must come through the heart when compliance with the program
has made the person eligible to receive that reward. The Savior could have
taken highly trained minds from the temple porches for the chief builders of
his kingdom, but he went to the seashore to get humble fishermen. He wanted men
who would not depend upon their own intellects only to ferret out the truths,
but unbiased men to whom he might reveal his new program, men who were trusting
and sincere and willing to serve.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[42]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Ezra Taft Benson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Book of Mormon is the keystone
in our witness of Jesus Christ, who is Himself the cornerstone of everything we
do. It bears witness of His reality with power and clarity. Unlike the Bible,
which passed through generations of copyists, translators, and corrupt
religionists who tampered with the text, the Book of Mormon came from writer to
reader in just one inspired step of translation.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[43]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>[One reason this statement of
testimony and doctrine is important is that it eliminates a theory, cooked up
by misled academics studying the original Book of Mormon manuscripts, that
someone besides Joseph Smith—some unknown anonymous person in heaven—translated
the Book of Mormon plates, and then that previously created translation was
given to Joseph Smith by revelation that he dictated to his scribes. But this
theory says that Joseph himself actually did no translating. Since “the Book of
Mormon came from writer to reader in just one inspired step of translation” a
second previous step of translation performed by a made-up anonymous heavenly
person is eliminated and Joseph remains the translator—as he and all of the prophets
have said he was.]<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Harold B.
Lee:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wouldn’t it be a great thing if all
who are well schooled in secular learning could hold fast to the “iron rod,” or
the word of God, which could lead them, through faith, to an understanding,
rather than to have them stray away into strange paths of man-made theories and
be plunged into the murky waters of disbelief and apostasy?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I heard one of our own eminent
scientists say something to the effect that he believed more professors have
taken themselves out of the Church by their trying to philosophize or
intellectualize the fall of Adam and the subsequent atonement of the Savior.
This was because they would rather accept the philosophies of men than what the
Lord has revealed until they, and we, are able to understand the “mysteries of
godliness” as explained to the prophets of the Lord and more fully revealed in
sacred places.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[44]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elder D. Todd
Christofferson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Some even claim, with no sense of
history, that religious people and institutions violate the constitutional
separation of church and state if they bring their beliefs into the public
square. A few scholars have gone so far as to argue that religion does not
deserve to be tolerated, much less receive special protection.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[45]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Religious Freedom<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Dallin H.
Oaks:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I love Elder D. Todd
Christofferson’s definition of religious freedom:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The right to choose, change,
declare and act upon your faith. It includes the freedom to worship, but it is
much more than that. It is the right to ‘exercise’ or practice your religion
without interference from government, subject to government’s responsibility to
protect the health and safety of all its citizens in a pluralistic society.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The theme of our effort is “fairness
for all, including people of faith.” Some have misunderstood that theme to
imply that fairness for all will lead to compromising our beliefs or our
doctrine. The media furthered that misunderstanding by labeling a recent
fairness effort in the Utah legislature as “the Utah Compromise.” We deny any
intent to compromise our doctrine or religious belief or to invite any others
to compromise theirs. We are here to talk about how to preserve religious
freedom while living with the differences that exist in our society, among
friends and neighbors, and even within our families.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[46]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elder D. Todd
Christofferson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That freedom is now under fire.
Although religious freedom lies at the core of what America is and what it
stands for, critics now openly ask whether religion belongs in American public
life at all. Some say that faithful Americans have no business speaking of
their beliefs when addressing issues of public concern, even when those issues
involve unmistakably moral judgments. Others condemn churches and religious
organizations for expressing moral and religious perspectives on matters of
public policy—especially when those perspectives conflict with secular
viewpoints. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recently it has become popular to
argue that the freedom of religion is really only the right to worship rather
than the right to freely exercise your faith in daily life—as if religion
should be kept in the closet or some other private place. Some advocates demean
as “discrimination” the long-standing right of religious organizations and
schools to have faith-based standards in employment and admissions. Others
resort to politically correct name-calling rather than talking about difficult
topics in a spirit of mutual respect. Hurtful labels such as “bigot” or “hater”
are all too common. There are concerted efforts to shame and intimidate
believers who have traditional moral values and to suppress religious
viewpoints and practices regarding marriage, family, gender, and sexuality.
Worst of all, government sometimes joins in these efforts.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[47]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elder Quentin L.
Cook:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I am equally concerned that the
foundations which have historically supported faith, accountability to God, and
the religious impulse are increasingly being marginalized in a secular world
and derided and even banished from the public square.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[48]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Apostolic
Solutions to Satan’s Reality and Influence<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Ezra Taft Benson:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One of the trials of life is that we
do not usually receive immediately the full blessing for righteousness or the
full cursing for wickedness. That it will come is certain, but ofttimes there
is a waiting period that occurs, as was the case with Job and Joseph.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the meantime the wicked think
they are getting away with something. The Book of Mormon teaches that the
wicked “have joy in their works for a season, [but] by and by the end cometh,
and they are hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence there is no return”
(3 Ne. 27:11).<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[49]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"> </span></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President J. Reuben Clark
Jr.:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There are abroad among us, men, and
women also, who are preaching doctrines that are destructive of the very fiber
of our civilization. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It seems sometimes as if the
darkness that surrounds us is all but impenetrable. I can see on all sides the
signs of one great evil mastermind working for the overturning of our
civilization, the destruction of religion, the reduction of men to the status
of animals. This mind is working here and there and everywhere. May we hope and
may we pray that this is the darkness before the dawn, and that soon the light
will come in the east, that the darkness will fade out, that a sun of
righteousness will rise and touch the peaks and flow down and fill the valleys,
fill our hearts and fill our lives, until we shall be the people which God
wishes us to be.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[50]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">President
James E. Faust:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I strongly counsel all who have
membership in this church to follow the teachings and counsel of those who now
have the keys as prophets, seers, and revelators. They are the ones who will
inspire us to deal with the vicissitudes of our time. I plead with all not to
try to selectively invoke gospel principles or scripture to wrongly justify
spiritual disobedience, or to separate themselves from the responsibilities of
covenants and ordinances contrary to the counsel of those who have the
prophetic voice in the Church.</span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[51]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">President
Marion G. Romney<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We Latter-day Saints need not be,
and we must not be, deceived by the sophistries of men concerning the reality
of Satan. There is a personal devil, and we had better believe it. He and a
countless host of followers, seen and unseen, are exercising a controlling
influence upon men and their affairs in our world today. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We know that the Spirit of Christ
and the power of his priesthood are ample shields to the power of Satan. We
know that there is available to each of us the gift of the Holy Ghost</span><span face=""Tahoma","sans-serif"" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the power of revelation which embraces the
gift of discernment by which we may unerringly detect the devil and the
counterfeits he is so successfully foisting upon this gullible generation. Our
course is clear and certain. It is to strictly obey the commandments of the
Lord, as they are recorded in the scriptures and as they are being given by the
living prophets.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[52]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Boyd K. Packer:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fear is the antithesis of faith. In
this Church we do not fear. I have been sitting in the councils of the Brethren
now for some thirty-four years. I have seen disappointment, shock, and concern.
Never once, for one second, have I ever seen any fear.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[53]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Boyd K.
Packer:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He [Alan Packer, a son] also said he
believed President Packer would be remembered <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“as one who knew the doctrine and was a
teacher and tried to teach in such a way that people understood and didn't
misunderstand.”. . . <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Dad was always optimistic and
positive and not afraid of anything. He said over and over again—we've heard
him say—'The Twelve are not afraid of what's going on in the world.' That
brings great peace to the church and the family.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[54]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">President Gordon B.
Hinckley:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the Church we are working very
hard to stem the tide of . . . evil. But it is an uphill battle, . . . we are
succeeding in a substantial way. . . .We must not give up. We must not become
discouraged. We must never surrender to the forces of evil. We can and must
maintain the standards for which this church has stood since it was organized.
There is a better way than the way of the world.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[55]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Watchman Warn the Wicked,” <i>Ensign</i>, May 1973.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“A Message to the World,” <i>Ensign</i>, November 1975.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
M. Russell Ballard, “The Opportunities and Responsibilities of CES Teachers in
the 21st Century,” An Evening with Elder M. Russell Ballard; Address to CES
Religious Educators, February 26, 2016, 1; quoting Gordon B. Hinckley, “General
Authority training meeting, Sept. 29, 1992.” Brackets in original.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
As Elder Ballard taught about the internet: “This is especially applicable
today because not all of your students have the faith necessary to face the
challenges ahead and because many of them are already exposed through the
Internet to corrosive forces of an increasingly secular world that is hostile
to faith, family, and gospel standards. The Internet is expanding its reach
across the world into almost every home and into the very hands and minds of
your students” (Ibid, 2).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Quotation taken from an address given at Pocatello, Idaho, Spring 1966, as privately
recorded by Glen L. Rudd.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting; January 10, 2004.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a name="_Hlk47852756">“To Live Well Amid Worldly Decay,” Richard G. Scott,
Brigham Young University–Idaho Devotional, February 24, 2004</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The One Pure Defense,” Address to CES Religious Educators, February 6, 2004,
6.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Begin with the End in Mind,” New Mission President’s Seminar, June 22, 2014,
3.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
First Presidency Message, “The Price of Peace,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1983.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“May the Kingdom of God Go Forth,” <i>Ensign</i>, May 1978. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“I Testify,” <i>Ensign</i>, November 1988. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Power of the Word,” <i>Ensign</i>, May 1986. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1969, 11.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Future of the Church: Preparing the World for the Savior’s Second Coming,”
<i>Liahona</i>, April 2020; I predict this message will go down in church
history as one of the most prophetic ever shared by a prophet of God.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“A Testimony,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1980.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn17" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Quentin L. Cook, “The Blessing of Continuing Revelation to Prophets and
Personal Revelation to Guide Our Lives,” <i>Ensign</i>, May 2020.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn18" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“From the Beginning,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1993.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn19" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Law and the Light,” in, <i>The Book of Mormon: Jacob through Words of Mormon,
To Learn with Joy</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText">Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr., eds. (Provo,
Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1990); this entire talk should be read
online at the BYU RSC website.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn20" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, October 1968, 100-01.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn21" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“We Are Children of God,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1998. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn22" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Creation,” <i>Ensign</i>, April 2000.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn23" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Atonement,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1996.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn24" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“In Focus: Mormonism in Modern America,” Pew Research Center, interview
transcript, May 16, 2007.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn25" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Fathers,” <i>Ensign</i>, April 2016.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn26" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[26]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Chastity,” (also titled, “The Sacredness of Procreation,”) <i>BYU Speeches</i>,
February 3, 1953; (4 mins to 15 mins).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn27" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[27]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Children of Heavenly Father,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, March 3, 2020.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn28" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[28]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Origin of Man, By the First Presidency of the Church,” <i>Improvement Era</i>,
November 1909, 75–81.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn29" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[29]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Let Our Voices Be Heard,”<i> Ensign</i> or <i>Liahona,</i> November
2003, 18.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn30" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[30]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“A Practical Religion,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1978.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn31" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[31]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Reverence and Morality,” <i>Ensign</i>, April 1987.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn32" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[32]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Why We Do Some of the Things We Do.” <i>Ensign</i>, November 1999.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn33" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[33]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Lord God of the Restoration,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1980.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn34" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[34]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Finding Forgiveness,” <i>Ensign</i>, April 1975.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn35" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[35]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“What Manner of Men Ought We to Be,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1983.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn36" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[36]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Valiant in the Testimony of Jesus,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 2016.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn37" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[37]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1931, 37-38.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn38" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[38]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Beware of False Prophets and False Teachers,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1999.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn39" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[39]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Because I Live, Ye Shall Live Also,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, March 26, 1978.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn40" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[40]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1948, 108-09.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn41" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[41]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Becoming True Millennials,” Brigham Young University–Hawaii; Worldwide Devotional
for Young Adults, January 10, 2016.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn42" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[42]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, October 1944, 44-45.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn43" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[43]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Book of Mormon<span face=""Tahoma","sans-serif""></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>Keystone of Our
Religion,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1986.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn44" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[44]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1971, 93.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn45" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[45]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Religious Freedom—A Cherished Heritage to Defend,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, June
26, 2016.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn46" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[46]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Elder Dallin H. Oaks Speaks on Religious Freedom in Texas,” (Section 1)
Concerns and Counsel, U.S. Religious Freedom Conference Dallas/Fort Worth
(Colleyville Stake Center), September 10, 2016; Newsroom additional resource,
accessed 10/2/2020.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn47" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[47]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Religious Freedom—A Cherished Heritage to Defend,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, June
26, 2016.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn48" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[48]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Church News, “Elder Cook addresses benefits of religious liberty at University
of Oxford,” October 23, 2019. Accessed 10/2/2020.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn49" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[49]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Great Commandment<span face=""Tahoma","sans-serif""></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>Love the Lord,” <i>Ensign</i>,
April 1988.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn50" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[50]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, October 1935, 93.<u> <o:p></o:p></u></p>
</div>
<div id="edn51" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[51]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Keys That Never Rust,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1984.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn52" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[52]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Satan, the Great Deceiver,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1971.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn53" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[53]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Play and the Plan,” CES Fireside for Young Adults, May 7, 1995, 7.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn54" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[54]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“President Packer was working on upcoming conference talk when he died,” Tad
Walch, <i>Deseret News</i>, July 7, 2015.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn55" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[55]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting,” January 10, 2004.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-52992231611962612532021-09-26T10:28:00.004-07:002021-10-02T08:12:10.202-07:00The Apostolic Ministry<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><i style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"></i></div><p></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><i style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">[Readers desiring to obtain their own </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-hardback" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">hardback copies of <b>volume one</b></a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> of </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ</span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> can find copies on sale </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-hardback" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">Softbound copies </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-paperback-23292" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">can be purchased here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Know-He-Lives-Special-Witnesses-ebook/dp/B075NJN959/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&qid=1625166117&refinements=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=digital-text&sr=1-5&text=Dennis+Horne" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">on Amazon here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]</span></i></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><i style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></i></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">(by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=relevancerank&text=Dennis+Horne&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1">Dennis B. Horne</a>)</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>This is the work
of the Lord. This is His church on the earth.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>He has entrusted
His church to the care of humble men,<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>who have
extraordinary responsibilities.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">(President Ezra Taft
Benson<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The great
responsibility of an apostle is to be a special witness of Jesus Christ. I want
you to know that the Savior lives. I want you to know that he is divine. I want
you to know that he did atone for our sins. . . . I want you to know that the
Savior guides the Church today. I’m so grateful for the blessings I have had in
my life, of both feeling the Holy Ghost, and also knowing the voice of the
Savior.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
So declared Elder Quinten L. Cook as part of his ministry as a special witness
of Jesus the Christ. And so also do they all declare.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Only those
who actually serve as apostles and special witnesses can fully understand what
it means to be one. However, on occasion they share slivers of information that
give us a glimpse into their burdens and blessings. Some of those glimmers are
found throughout the chapters in this book (and the first volume); others are
found below. Elder Melvin J. Ballard (who has a chapter in the first volume)
was one of the greatest apostles of our dispensation. He declared: “I know, as
I know that I live. that this is the work of our Father. I know that Jesus
Christ lives, that he is the Redeemer and Savior of the world. I know it as
well as I know that I look upon your faces today. When the day shall come that,
like Thomas of old, I may thrust my hand into his side or feel the prints of
the nails in his hands and feet; or like Mary, I may bathe his feet with my
tears, I shall not know it any better than I know it today; for I know that he
lives, that he is the redeemer of the world and that he did speak to the
Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that this is the Lord's work: that he is in it,
and it will rise triumphant and go forward.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Of his feelings at the time of his call to the Twelve, he reminisced: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> <span></span></o:p></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
felt very humble in my soul when President Grant informed me . . . that the
Lord had made it known to him that I should continue my labors in the ministry
[as an apostle], and that I should be one of the special witnesses of the Lord
Jesus, and I said: “President Grant, if I thought I could be worthy to be one
of the special witnesses of the Lord, Jesus, it would be the happiest moment of
my life; for I esteem that the highest honor that could come to man.” But my
ideal of the kind of men they ought to be was so great, and I found myself not
measuring up to that standard, which I have in my own mind. Yet, with the help
of the Lord and the patience of my brethren, I will do as I have said. I will try
to be what you want me to be—a servant of the people; and with all the power
and strength of my mind and soul I shall try to be faithful to this trust and
to be a worthy representative of the Lord Jesus in the earth. I feel small; I
feel little; I feel insignificant; but knowing, as I have known through the
thirteen years that I have spent in the mission field, that the Lord will help
the weak and make them strong, I depend upon him and your love, your fellowship
and your support. I know this work will go forward. . . . The dogs may bark,
but the grand, majestic Caravan, the Church of the living God, will move on
triumphantly.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The formal
events that pertain to becoming a member of the Quorum of the Twelve are the
inspired name selection, call, and acceptance; the sustaining; the ordination to
the office of apostle in which all priesthood keys on earth are conferred; the giving
of the apostolic charge in their temple meeting; and the setting apart as a
member of the Quorum of the Twelve. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Gordon B. Hinckley described much of this process:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
wish to say something this morning of this wonderful and sacred office in the
holy priesthood, the office of Apostle.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yesterday
we sustained two of our Brethren in this sacred calling, thus, after they are
ordained, filling the Council of the Twelve Apostles. I want to give you my
testimony that they were chosen and called by the spirit of prophecy and
revelation. There was much of prayer concerning this matter. There was
discussion with President Kimball, the prophet of the Lord in our day, and a
clear statement from him, for his is the prerogative in these matters. There
was a clear and distinct impression, what I choose to call the whisperings of
the Holy Spirit, concerning those who should be selected to assume this most
important and sacred responsibility. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
were called because the Lord wanted them in this office as men who have a
witness of his divinity, and whose voices have been and will be raised in
testimony of his reality.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Each
is a man of faith. After they are ordained to the holy apostleship and are set
apart as members of the Council of the Twelve, they will be expected to devote
themselves primarily to the work of the ministry. They will place first in
their lives, above all other considerations, the responsibility to stand as
special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Also, as
Elder Quentin L. Cook stated, “I have a firm testimony that this restored
Church is led by our Savior, Jesus Christ. He knows whom to call as His
Apostles and in what order to call them. He also knows how to prepare His
senior Apostle to be the prophet and President of the Church.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Their ministry begins and they magnify their calling in mortality until death.
Since the ordination and sustaining does not make a man a true “special witness”
by itself, they must acquire sufficient spiritual experience and knowledge to act
as independent witnesses that Jesus Christ lives today as a resurrected being.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
For example, Elder Melvin J. Ballard declared, “I know with my brethren that
God lives, as surely as I know that I live. My testimony is not based upon
books. It has come to me by the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ to my
spirit, through the manifestations of the Holy Ghost upon my soul. In the
thirteen years I have already spent in the missionary field there have come to
me innumerable witnesses and testimonies of the truthfulness of this great
work. I know that Christ lives as well as I shall know it when the veil of his
tabernacle shall be parted, and he shall be revealed, when I may have the
privilege of hearing his voice and looking upon his face, or be invited as he
did invite the Nephites to come up and touch him, to see and handle his hands,
to feel the prints of the nails. If that shall someday be my privilege, as I
hope it shall, I shall not know any better then than I know today, that he
lives. . . .”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If an
apostle’s testimony previous to his call was sufficient to qualify him, then
ordination completes the requirement. If not, the newly called apostle must
wrestle with God in mighty faith and prayer to obtain the requisite witness.
When that testimony is declared to his Brethren, they know when it is enough or
more. Then they are thereafter obligated “to bear witness, not out of belief
but out of a certain knowledge of the Son of God, their Friend and Master,
whose servants they are.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Often,
Jesus manifests Himself to them, his friends, either by vision or personal
appearance, although He may not show Himself to some of them—but always the
unspeakable power of the Holy Ghost is involved in great magnitude in a
manifestation so that sure and absolute knowledge is granted. As Elder Cook further
taught:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>None
of us set out to be Apostles, that are members of the Quorum of the Twelve.
That wasn’t our goal. Most of us felt quite incapable; everybody that I have
read about felt that way when they got the call from the prophet. I know when
President Hinckley called me I even started to argue with him; I was trying to
think about it and come up with arguments and he put up his hand and he said “I
don’t want to hear any of that” and he went ahead with the call. But an
enormous peace came over me when I realized that my responsibility is to be a
special witness of the name of Jesus Christ all over the world. And as one of
His apostles here with you tonight, . . . I want you to know that Jesus Christ
lives. I want you to know that He is Divine. I want you to know that this is
His work. . . . I want you to know that because of great blessings from the
Holy Ghost but beyond that spiritual experiences too sacred to share I know the
Savior’s voice. I know who He is. I testify to you that He lives and that He
guides the Church today.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Mathew Cowley agreed with Elder Cook about the Brethren not seeking or aspiring
to become apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he phrased his views more
bluntly:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
disturbs me no end when people talk to me about these positions [apostles] and
say how wonderful they are. Well they are wonderful. It’s God’s work. But I
tell you every one [of them] is giving his life for this work. Look at Brother
[Albert E.] Bowen. He’s been lying on his back now for one year [in the
hospital], partially paralyzed. One of the greatest lawyers this state ever
had. A man of great income. One morning President Grant came by his home up on
B street and said “Bert, jump in and ride down to conference with me.” On the
way to conference he said, “You’re through practicing law.” And he gave up his
profession. His producing capacity was wiped out from the standpoint of
material wealth. He placed on the alter everything that he possessed; his
health and vitality included. Look at President J. Reuben Clark; greatest
international lawyer in the United States. A man who aspired to great heights
in the diplomatic field of international law. He became ambassador of the
United States to Mexico. Prior to that he was the personal counsel to Dwight
Morrow. I don’t know whether it is true or not but I have heard that Mr. Morrow
paid him five thousand dollars a month, . . . When President Clark was right at
the peak of his career, what happened? . . . A call, a summons. And he withdrew
himself from everything that he had been doing, which he enjoyed doing, and
which he aspired to do. To do what? To be your humble servant and mine [in the
First Presidency]. . . .<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Spiritual Blessings from the Ministry<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As the
apostles go forth in their ministry to set the Church in order, preach the
gospel, and bear their witness, they receive the consequent blessings that come
with such continuous activity. “In my lifetime,” said Elder David B. Haight, “I
have been permitted to witness events, to see and feel divine influences of the
Lord in his providence, revealing his gospel by the power of the Holy Ghost.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">
Further, “</span></span>I have been blessed, as the years have passed, with
unusual experiences with people, places, and personal events of an intimate,
spiritual nature, and, through the power of the Holy Ghost, I have received an
ever-deepening witness and knowledge of this heaven-directed restoration of the
Lord’s plan of salvation.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President M.
Russell Ballard referred to gaining his special witness as a process: “I want
to witness to you that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Son of God. I know so
much more now than I knew when I was 19. What I am able to bear witness of has
been a process, not an event. It’s been a process and a lifetime of service;
having spiritual experiences; hearing the voice of the Lord; knowing His will
and striving to perform it”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
President Packer taught that the apostolic witness is continually reconfirmed: “I
claim, with my Brethren the Apostles, to be a special witness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That witness is reaffirmed each time I feel within myself or in others
the cleansing effect of His sacred sacrifice. My witness, and that of my
Brethren, is true. We know the Lord. He is no stranger to His prophets, seers,
and revelators.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder Neil
L. Anderson echoes these pronouncements of truth with his own: “I tell you with
absolute sureness that I know Jesus is the Christ. I know that. He is
resurrected. He is a God but He is a being. I am now a member of the Twelve.
Many experiences have come to me. But I assure you that I knew long before, by
the power of His Spirit, that He is the Lord Jesus Christ. . . . I confirm to
you that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; He lives. We will all kneel at
his feet. . . . He is resurrected. He guides this holy work. He appeared to the
Prophet Joseph Smith. . . . I sit in the senior councils of the Church and I
assure you that He is not far from His prophets and apostles; that He leads us
and guides us and that this is His holy work. . . . I know He lives. I witness
He lives. I am His witness and I so declare.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Once an
apostle has had the Holy Spirit come upon him to such a degree that perfect
knowledge and assurance is imparted that Jesus lives and is the Christ, then
the apostle becomes a special witness. The necessary witness may come before or
after ordination (often before), and is continually reaffirmed in their souls
as they press forward in righteousness and with unwearyingness in their
ministries. Although it is not a requirement, it is evident that some apostles
have beheld Jesus more than once, have handled His resurrected body, and have
seen the Father also. The apostles are exactly what they say they are—His
witnesses.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Love and Unity among Brethren in Quorum<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After their
ordination and setting apart these men serve as members of the Quorum of the
Twelve Apostles and sit together (by seniority) to deliberate in formal Council
and counsel, where a sweet spirit of unity and love is normally present. There
have been some occasions in the history of the Church when unity and love were
not present as should have been, but those periods were the exception, not the
rule. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Henry D. Moyle explained his views and experiences in Council:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
have often said, and I shall repeat it again today, that it is not an uncommon
experience in our lives—I am speaking now of the Quorum of the Twelve; we are a
group of men who have been called from various walks of life; our backgrounds
for the most part have been diverse. In total we cover a great expanse of
territory. I don’t know where you would get twelve men who are more
individualistic than the Twelve. There sometimes doesn’t seem to be any two of
us that think or talk or act alike. And still, we can come in our Council
meetings, in our work as it pertains to the Church, and be an absolute unit.
And sometimes when some of us may be born of a more rebellious spirit than
others, and who are not as humble as we might be, feel that the other Brethren
have gone astray; there seems to come a time in our deliberations when that
unity which is essential to the success of the Church is given to us, born of
the Spirit. And when twelve men see alike and are united in their decisions,
when they present those decisions to the Quorum of the First Presidency, and
those three men who, in turn, are highly individualistic—they think and they
reason differently—all three of them have had materially different backgrounds,
but it is astonishing to see how after a matter has been fully discussed in our
Councils, the unity that exists.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Boyd K. Packer likewise explained: “Each week we meet together in the temple.
We open the meeting by kneeling in prayer, and we close with prayer. Every
prayer is offered in the spirit of submission and obedience to Him who called
us and whose servants and witnesses we are. The Lord requires that ‘every
decision made by either of these quorums must be by the unanimous voice of the
same’ and that ‘the decisions of these quorums … are to be made in all
righteousness, in holiness, and lowliness of heart, meekness and long
suffering, and in faith, and virtue, and knowledge, temperance, patience,
godliness, brotherly kindness and charity.’ This we earnestly strive to do.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Obtaining
unity of mind and purpose among a group of such strong-willed and opinionated
men is no easy feat, but under the inspiration of the Lord is necessary and
common. Elder Ullysees S. Soares noted, “I came here [to the Twelve] from the
Presidency of the Seventy, and I think that was the highlight of all my service
in the Church. I watched the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency working
in council, helping each other, supporting each other, learning from each
other. And you know, the Twelve Apostles, it is a composition of strong
personalities—very successful people in every way. But they also have their
weaknesses. They are human beings. It’s so beautiful to see how they handle that
among them.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No major decision
is announced to the Church until it becomes unanimous and the First Presidency
and Quorum of the Twelve feel they have obtained the will of the Lord. President
Ezra Taft Benson is one who desired and sought for unity among his fellow
Quorum members, and felt such to be the standard state of Quorum affairs: “I
want you to know of my love for President Spencer W. Kimball<span face=""Tahoma","sans-serif""></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>and how grateful we are that he is here with us at
the closing session. I feel the same toward his counselors, and my brethren of
the Twelve, the Seventy, and the Bishopric. I know them to be men appointed by
our Lord, under the inspiration of heaven. I sustain their inspired words and
counsel and testify to you of the unity that we all feel among the General
Authorities of this Church.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
He further noted, “I have had the glorious privilege of a close and intimate
association with the leadership of the Church, the General Authorities. I have
always loved them, but I have never loved them as much as I do today. Any one
of them would give his all, including life itself, if necessary, for the
establishment of this great work and the upbuilding of the kingdom. With all my
heart, I sustain them and love them and commend to you, my brethren and
sisters, their example and counsel.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And again,
when welcoming a new member of the Twelve, he said, “I am happy, my brethren
and sisters, in the appointment of Brother Stapley to our Council, and I'd like
to say to him, and I'm sure I echo the feeling of all of my associates, that he
will see and feel and witness a love that is not excelled among men anywhere in
the world as he sits in the Council of the First Presidency and the Quorum of
the Twelve. I am grateful for these rich blessings.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We are not
so naïve as to think that feelings are never hurt, nor strong opposing views
shared emphatically, but when all is said and done, the peace and power of the
Holy Spirit prevails and love and unity are present—as has been declared.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
So averred President Hinckley: “There is unity in the First Presidency of the
Church. There is unity between the Presidency and the Twelve, perfect unity.
There is unity among the members of the First Quorum of the Seventy and the
Presiding Bishopric. I am somewhat familiar with the history of this Church,
and I do not hesitate to say that there has never been greater unity in its
leading councils and the relationships of those councils one to another, than
there is today. I love my Brethren. To a man they are loyal. They are
supportive. Without hesitation they respond to every call regardless of
personal convenience. They are true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This matter
of Quorum love and unity is considered of such importance among the apostles
and other general authorities of the Church that President Packer, then Acting
President of the Quorum of the Twelve, prepared an internal proclamation of
unity to be given to the First Presidency. Little is known of this item, but of
it President James E. Faust announced:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
am pleased to testify to the world of a very significant matter. As a special
witness of the Lord Jesus Christ, I verify that among those who hold the keys
of the kingdom of God on earth, there is complete unity and love and respect
for each other. We totally sustain and uphold President Howard W. Hunter,
President Gordon B. Hinckley, and President Thomas S. Monson as the First
Presidency. This feeling of complete unity and support for the First Presidency
was expressed last Thursday in the Salt Lake Temple in a proclamation by President
Boyd K. Packer on behalf of the Twelve. This was joined in by President Rex D.
Pinegar, representing the Seventies, and Bishop Merrill J. Bateman for the
Presiding Bishopric. All of the General Authorities then voted to fully sustain
the expressions of President Packer of full support for the First Presidency
and for each other. In this unity, the gates of hell will not prevail against
us.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The Apostleship will continue until the Second Coming<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">The purpose of the Church today, and continuing into the
future, is to prepare a righteous covenant-making and keeping people for the
Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. This truth is often repeated in the
messages given by the apostles. Elder Andersen declared, “This gospel was
established to prepare for His coming, that across the world there might be a righteous
people, ready to receive Him at His coming. When will that be? We do not know.
But we can see it coming. As is written in the scriptures, we will never be a
large political group, we will never be a majority across the world, but this
kingdom will be in every nation, every culture,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">every race. The day will come that
Jesus, the Son of God, will return. I testify of His reality. He lives. He is a
Being. He is the Son of God. I witness that He lives. I am His witness.”</span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[26]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Unfolding
the doctrine further, President Packer taught: “Paul taught that the apostles
and prophets were called ‘for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,’ and he declared that these
offices would endure ‘till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God.’”</span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[27]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> Elder Bruce R. McConkie expanded on these teachings: “There
will be a day when there will no longer be apostles and prophets. Paul tells us
that prophecy will cease; also that apostles are to remain only until there is
a unity of the faith, that is until all men are converted to the truth and the
millennial era has commenced.” Further: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The fact is, there is going to be a
day when the same [church] organization we now have will no longer exist. The
only promise that we have about apostles and prophets for instance, is that
they are going to continue until there is a unity of the faith, meaning that
some time during the millennial era, perhaps virtually at its beginning, there
will no longer be apostles and prophets. This will be because every man is
converted and there will no longer be a need for especial witnesses to bring
them to the truth. This will also be because everyone will know all of the
doctrines including all of the future and there will be no occasion for
prophets to foretell it. . . . What the organization will be during the
millennium we do not know, except that Christ will reign personally upon the
earth and obviously some extensive and elaborate organizational arrangements
will be needed to govern the billions of people who will then live.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Therefore,
the line of apostolic succession with prophet-presidents will continue until the
Millennium arrives. The church has already surpassed one hundred members of the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, some few of whom have fallen from their high
positions, but the vast majority of which have remained true and faithful. Who
knows how many others will be called to serve Him before that unknown time of
the second coming arrives. President Benson said: “</span></span>I testify that
there has been, and there is now, and there will be legal successors to the
Prophet Joseph Smith who hold the keys of the kingdom of God on earth, even the
President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (See D&C
21:1–7; D&C 107:91–92; D&C 112:15.) He receives revelation from God to
direct His kingdom. Associated with him are others who are prophets, seers, and
revelators, even those who make up the presiding quorums of the Church, namely
the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. (See D&C
112:30.)”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[28]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder LeGrand
Richards phrased it this way: “With all my heart and soul, I bear you my
witness of the divinity of this work, that God the Eternal Father has decreed
its destiny. It is built on the foundation of apostles and prophets, with
Christ our Lord as the chief cornerstone. And he is guiding his church today,
and will continue to do so until he comes in the clouds of heaven as the holy
prophets have declared.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[29]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Some that are Able and Worthy are not Called<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God showed
the ancient patriarch Abraham that in the pre-mortal existence, “there were
many of the noble and great ones,” meaning those intelligent, good, and
obedient spirits that He would “make [His] rulers; for he stood among those
that were spirits, and he saw that they were good” (Abraham 3:22-23). This
means that in this dispensation there are multitudes of worthy men that are
noble and great and valiant that could serve God in any position needed,
including that of apostle. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The problem
is, there are (usually) only fifteen apostles that serve at a time, as a
Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve (their official
designation). Elder Glen L. Rudd noted this limitation after some pondering
about a stalwart friend: “He [President Gordon B. Hinckley] had a great love
for his father [Bryant S. Hinckley]. I had the privilege of knowing his father
and being aware of the greatness of this man and could never figure out why he
was not one of the Twelve Apostles until I realized that there was only room
for 12 men. He and a few other good men were never in the Twelve even though
they were well qualified for any position in the Church.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[30]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With this
situation in mind, President David O. McKay told Elder Gordon B. Hinckley: “I
have felt to nominate you to fill the vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles and we would like to sustain you today in conference. . . . Your grandfather
was worthy of this, as was your father. And so are you.” In response to such
glowing recognition, President Hinckley said: “Tears began to fill my eyes as
President McKay looked at me with those piercing eyes of his and spoke to me of
my forebears. My father was a better man than I have ever been, but he didn’t
have the opportunities I have had. The Lord has blessed me with tremendous
opportunities.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[31]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
mathematical circumstances simply dictate that many tremendous, capable, spiritual,
disciples of Christ cannot be called to the Holy Apostleship. Elder Bruce R.
McConkie wrote this of his own father, Oscar W. McConkie: “[He] was a very
spiritual man. He had many visions and revelations. The Lord entrusted him with
much knowledge. . . . [He] would have been qualified to fill any position in
the Church but he did not for instance, happen to be called to be one of the
General Authorities.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[32]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
He explained further: “Now the fact is, that there are usually many men who
could fill any position, who could take any vacancy that arises and do it
honorably and well, building up the kingdom and furthering the work. But some
individual has to be called to do it. It is certain that whoever is called,
thereby becomes the Lord’s anointed, and even if the Lord would have preferred
someone else yet the one called is entitled to inspiration and if he seeks to
magnify his calling to the full, he will come off triumphant in the work
assigned. . . . I know a number of brethren who are or have been in a similar
category. One of them is old President [Edward J.] Wood who was the president
for many years of the Alberta Temple in Canada. He was a mission president and
a stake president and had many visions and revelations and worked many miracles
but was never called to be one of the General Authorities. There are many
others, some of whom I know and many of whom obviously I do not know.” Elder
McConkie recognized the faithfulness and spirituality in many fine men across
the Church; men who could be called to the apostleship if vacancies existed and
if God so willed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>All Apostles are Not of Equal Stature<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When our
generation discerns the high spiritual caliber of the apostles and prophets of
today, it is sometimes hard to imagine that some others in Church history were
not as we see today. President Ezra Taft Benson shared a story about his
grandfather, and its powerful lesson:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Years
ago my great-grandfather, while an investigator, attended a Mormon meeting
during which a member had a quarrel over the Sacrament table with the branch
president. When the service was over, Mrs. Benson turned to Ezra T. and asked
him what he thought of the Mormons now. I'll always be grateful for his answer.
He said he thought the actions of its members in no way altered the truth of
Mormonism. That conviction saved him from many a tragedy. Before joining the
Church, Grandfather was moved by a marvelous prayer of Apostle John E. Page.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
later the young convert was greatly shocked by the same man [John E. Page] whose
actions reflected his gradual apostasy.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ironically,
when Elder Page eventually was excommunicated, Brigham Young selected the young
convert to fill Elder Page's place in the Quorum of the Twelve.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Six
of the original Twelve Apostles selected by Joseph Smith were excommunicated.
The Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon left the Church. Three of Joseph
Smith's Counselors fell—one even helped plot his death.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
natural question that might arise would be, that if the Lord knew in advance
that these men would fall, as he undoubtedly did, why did he have his Prophet
call them to such high office? The answer is; to fulfill the Lord's purposes.
For even the Master followed the will of the Father by selecting Judas.
President George Q. Cannon suggests an explanation, too, when he states:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Perhaps
it is His own design that faults and weaknesses should appear in high places in
order that His Saints may learn to trust in Him and not in any man or men.” (<i>Millennial
Star</i> 53:658-659. February 15, 1891.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
this would parallel Lehi's warning; put not your “. . . trust in the arm of
flesh. . . .” (2 Nephi 4:34.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
Church,” says President McKay, “is little, if at all, injured by persecution
and calumnies from ignorant, misinformed, or malicious enemies.” (<i>The
Instructor</i>, February 1956, p. 33.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
is from within the Church that the greatest hindrance comes. And so, it seems,
it has been.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[33]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since the
early days of the Church, continuing into the 1900s in Utah, some of the
apostles have fallen for various reasons. Albert Carrington, John W. Young (an
apostle but not one of the Twelve), John W. Taylor, Matthias Cowley, Moses
Thatcher, and Amasa M. Lyman all lost their standing for various reasons:
teaching false doctrine, plural marriage problems, aspiring to the wealth and
ways of the world, and desire for power. As noted (in Elder Mark E. Petersen’s
chapter), Elder Richard R. Lyman committed adultery many times over years
before he was caught and excommunicated. A few other members of the Twelve
seemed to spend their time more in business pursuits to the neglect of their
callings, although in those days that was a much more complicated issue than it
is today, when apostles receive a “living allowance” and don’t have to work at
a regular job and serve as apostles at the same time. Yet, it seems as though
as the decades have passed, and the Church itself has grown and strengthened,
so have its leaders—until we get the spiritual giants we know and love today
that God has so marvelously magnified. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Special Witnesses Know<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The apostles and prophets know they are
apostles and prophets, and, while humble, do not back down from their
obligation to firmly bear witness. Elder Robert D. Hales shared this
experience: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Early in my Church
service, Elder Harold B. Lee taught this lesson when he came to organize a new
stake in the district where we were living. Elder Lee asked me, as a newly
sustained bishop, if I would join him at a press conference. There, an intense
young reporter challenged Elder Lee. He said to him, “You call yourself a
prophet. When was the last time you had revelation, and what was it about?”
Elder Lee paused, looked directly at him, and responded in a sweet way, “It was
yesterday afternoon about three o’clock. We were praying about who should be
called as the president of the new stake, and it was made known to us who that
individual should be.” The reporter’s heart changed. I will never forget the
Spirit that came into that room as Elder Lee bore his powerful witness of
revelation that can be received by those faithfully seeking to do the Lord’s
will.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[34]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Howard W. Hunter bore his special witness of the resurrection of the Savior and
in doing so invoked the special witness of his associate, President Romney: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
eternal truth is that Jesus Christ arose from the grave and was the firstfruits
of the Resurrection. (See 1 Cor. 15:23.) The witnesses of this wonderful
occurrence cannot be impeached. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
humbly testify of my privilege to bear the holy apostleship and to work daily
with a modern Quorum of Twelve Apostles who are disciples of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We are to go forth as “special witnesses of the name of Christ in all
the world.” (D&C 107:23.) And so have the Apostles always testified.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
our own day, Apostles and prophets are carrying on the work of bearing witness
to the world of Jesus Christ. If I may have the privilege, I wish to repeat
what President Marion G. Romney, the President of our present apostolic quorum,
said concerning the resurrection of Jesus. Not long ago he made this statement
to a general conference of the Church:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“At
this Easter season, I am grateful for this opportunity to bear witness to the
resurrection of Jesus and to set forth, in part at least, the basis upon which
that witness rests.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“‘He
is risen; he is not here.’ (Mark 16:6.) These words, eloquent in their
simplicity, announced the most significant event of recorded history, the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus<span face=""Tahoma","sans-serif""></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>an event so
extraordinary that even the Apostles, who had been most intimately associated
with Jesus in his earthly ministry and who had been carefully taught of the
coming event, had difficulty grasping the reality of its full significance. The
first accounts which reached their ears ‘seemed to them as idle tales’ (Luke
24:11) as well they might, for millions of men had lived and died before that
day. In every hill and dale men’s bodies mouldered in the dust, but until that
first Easter morning not one had risen from the grave. …<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That
the whole of his mortal life moved toward this consummation, he had repeatedly
taught. It was foreshadowed in his statement about laying down his life and
taking it up again. To the sorrowing Martha he had said, ‘I am the
resurrection, and the life’ (John 11:25); and to the Jews, ‘Destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ (John 2:19.) …<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
evidence that Jesus was resurrected is conclusive.” (in Conference Report, Apr.
1982, pp. 5–7; or <i>Ensign</i>, May 1982, p. 6.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To
the testimony of President Romney and the witnesses of my Brethren, I add my
own apostolic witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God; that
he was born into mortality and fulfilled his ministry as related in the
scriptures, which record his birth, his life, his teachings, and his
commandments.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
teaching his Apostles, Christ made known to them “that the Son of Man must
suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests,
and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31.) So
it was. He was crucified and placed in the tomb. On the third day, he did arise
to live again<span face=""Tahoma","sans-serif""></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>the Savior of all
mankind and the firstfruits of the Resurrection. Through this atoning
sacrifice, all men shall be saved from the grave and shall live again. This
always has been the testimony of the Apostles, to which I add my witness, . . .<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[35]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Indeed, the
call to the holy apostleship is one of bearing witness to the world of the
divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ and that He lives today because He was resurrected.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These
special witnesses know whereof they speak and declare with boldness and love
their knowledge of heavenly truths. President Packer declared, “God lives.
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father. Of him I
bear witness. He has a body of flesh and bone as tangible as the bodies that we
have. This I know.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[36]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
And again from Elder Anderson: “I give you my firm and solemn witness that I
know He lives, that He is the Son of God; the God of heaven and earth. That one
day we will all kneel at His feet and all the things we are professing today we
will see are true and complete in every way. He lives. I witness that He lives.
I am His witness.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[37]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
All of this is critically important to the membership of the Church. President James
E. Faust quoted the Prophet Joseph Smith as teaching: “I will give you a key
that will never rust, if you will stay with the majority of the Twelve
Apostles, and the records of the Church, you will never be led astray.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[38]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Let us indeed follow the prophets and apostles and never be led astray.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[39]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Ezra Taft Benson, “Counsel to the Saints,” <i>Ensign</i>, April 1984.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Quinten L. Cook, Provo, Utah, MTC talk excerpt, June 10, 2014.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Melvin J. Ballard, Conference Report, June 1919, 91.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Ibid.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a name="_Hlk51490786">“Special Witnesses for Christ,” <i>Ensign</i>, April
1984.</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Blessing of Continuing Revelation to Prophets and Personal Revelation to
Guide Our Lives,” <i>Ensign</i>, May 2020.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Don’t get me wrong; the ordination does bring these men great blessings. As one
of them put it, “the ordination brings a special power and gift, and that we
cannot ignore. . . .” (Neil L. Andersen, “Align with the Brethren,” Leadership
Enrichment Series, August 15, 2012, 5). While the ordination to the apostleship
<i>itself</i> does not bestow a sufficient special witness of Jesus, it
definitely assists with that attainment by granting that right and privilege.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Melvin J. Ballard, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Conference Report, October
1925, 130-31.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Gordon B. Hinckley, “Special Witnesses for Christ,” <i>Ensign</i>, April 1984.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Quentin L. Cook, excerpt from talk given at the Provo, MTC, March 3, 2015.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Learning to Live Through Better Use of Vocational Opportunities,” <i>BYU
Speeches</i>, June 19, 1953.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Streams of Your Life,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, November 24, 1987.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Joseph Smith: The Prophet,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, March 2, 1986.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
M. Russell Ballard, Excerpt of talk given at the Provo, Utah, MTC, November 23,
2014.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Truths Most Worth Knowing,” CES Devotional for Young Adults, November 6, 2011,
8.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Neil L. Anderson, excerpt from talk given at the Provo, Utah, MTC, April 8,
2014.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn17" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Unity Under the Gospel,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, March 22, 1955. (13:15 mins in)<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn18" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Twelve Apostles,” <i>Ensign,</i> September 2005.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn19" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Ulisses Soares, Leadership Enrichment Series, “A Conversation on ‘Act under the
Direction of the Spirit,’” September 14, 2018.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn20" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Valiant in the Testimony of Jesus,” <i>Ensign</i>, April 1982.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn21" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, Sept./Oct. 1949, 23. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn22" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, Sept./Oct. 1950, 144.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn23" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Elder Neil L. Andersen discussed how counsel is usually given to members of the
Twelve privately: “You can see it would be a lot different for President Packer
to give me some good counsel when I’m just sitting across from him as opposed
to if I’m sitting in with the Quorum of the Twelve and he says, “Listen, Neil,
you asked me the other day to give you some counsel about your ministry and I
have just thought about it now, and I thought I’d give it to you here.” (Laughter)
We all have our own personal feelings” (Neil L. Andersen, Leadership Enrichment
Series, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Align with the Brethren,” 9).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn24" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Special Witnesses for Christ,” <i>Ensign</i>, April 1984.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn25" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Keys That Never Rust,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1994.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn26" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[26]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Neil L. Andersen, “Align with the Brethren,” 18.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn27" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[27]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Twelve Apostles,” <i>Ensign</i>, September 2005.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn28" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[28]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“I Testify,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1988. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn29" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[29]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Mountain of the Lord’s House,” <i>Ensign</i>, April 1971.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn30" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[30]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Glen L. Rudd, <i>Kia Ngawari: Life of Glen L. Rudd</i> (Salt Lake City:
privately printed, 2002), 197-98.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn31" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[31]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/presidents-of-the-church-student-manual/chapter-15?lang=eng">https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/presidents-of-the-church-student-manual/chapter-15?lang=eng</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn32" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[32]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amelia Smith McConkie: Remembrances for
Her Family</i>, comp. Mary McConkie Donoho (Privately published, 2007),<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>491<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn33" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[33]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Conference Report, October 1963, 16. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn34" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[34]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Personal Revelation: The Teachings and Examples of the Prophets,” <i>Ensign</i>,
October 2007.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn35" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[35]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Howard W. Hunter, “An Apostle’s Witness of the Resurrection,” <i>Ensign</i>,
May 1986.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn36" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[36]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Teach the Scriptures,” October 14, 1977, 9. This address is posted on the
church website but is missing the last two pages, from which this quotation is
taken.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn37" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[37]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Neil L. Anderson, transcribed excerpt of talk given at Provo, Utah, MTC,
October 27, 2015.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn38" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[38]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“The Keys That Never Rust,” <i>Ensign</i>, October 1994. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn39" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[39]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
For further information about special witnesses and their testimony of Jesus,
see the bulk of the March 2008 <i>Ensign</i>.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-20690916776149228872021-09-24T12:33:00.001-07:002021-09-24T12:33:52.816-07:00The Sorry and Sad Decline of BYU Studies<p style="text-align: center;">By <span style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=relevancerank&text=Dennis+Horne&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1">Dennis B. Horne</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since Jack
Welch left his post as editor and Steven Harper took over, we have seen a
steady decline in the quality and soundness and strength of <i>BYU Studies
Quarterly</i>. <i>BYU Studies</i> has long had a deserved reputation for strong
academic rigor beautifully blended with belief and faith and loyalty. While
there were occasional exceptions, this has long been mostly true. I think Jack
Welch is largely creditable for that former success. Sure he made some mistakes
and poor decisions at times, but by and large he did a great job for three
decades plus selecting strong pieces for publication therein.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then Welch
retired and someone made the decision to replace him with an unorthodox
liberal, Steven Harper. (I wonder if it was the same person who made the
decision to destroy NAMI by hiring a liberal unorthodox director for that
formerly fine organization.) Since then, clue after hint after shout have now arisen
that <i>BYU Studies</i> has gone into a sharp decline in quality and doctrinal
soundness. This has been a result of BYU’s highly public troubles with their
poor administration hiring liberal activist (even some dissident) faculty and
staff. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder Jeffrey
R. Holland has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpUN29orJmM">twice gone
to BYU</a> in the last five years to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg36L1989Ss">rebuke and correct erring
administration, faculty, and staff</a>. They seem deaf to his message and
continue pouring out publications that do not reflect the teachings of their
sponsoring institution well, sometimes outright contradicting gospel truths and
foundational events. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But in this
case we are specifically looking at <i>BYU Studies</i>, that Steven Harper is subtly
sabotaging with unorthodox liberal paper selections and publishing (and guest
editor selection—unorthodox liberals like Terryl Givens and Ben Spackman). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So what are
the hints and shouts found in recent issues that unmistakably portray this
decline?<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">- A book review in issue <a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/watchman-on-the-tower-ezra-taft-benson-and-the-making-of-the-mormon-right-by-matthew-l-harris-and-thunder-from-the-right-ezra-taft-benson-in-mormonism-and-politics-edited-by-matthew-l-harris/?post_type=article&p=40348">60:2</a>
that lauds and applauds a couple of books written by a dangerous dissident
historian that denigrate President Ezra Taft Benson’s life and teachings. These
books label him an “ultra” conservative that spouted political rhetoric instead
of teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Church and acting as an inspired watchman
on the tower. I am a student of Pres. Benson’s life and teachings, and while it
is true that he became somewhat obsessed with Communism and was told by the
First Presidency to back off it in speeches or be dropped from the Quorum, by
and large his teachings, from the beginning of his apostleship to his death,
were inspired, truthful, prophetic, and best of all, what the Lord wanted said
to the Saints. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Many of Elder
Benson’s 1960s and 1970s general conference addresses are almost more
applicable today than the day they were given, containing warnings for that day
that also fit our later day like a glove. He came in his true identity as an Apostle
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and warned the Church of the evils of the world as the
true and authorized prophet of God. If one digs, one can find a few extremist
discourses relating to some political matters, but those are the exception, not
the rule, and are not what most church members are familiar with or have access
to. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Liberals
today (like Matt Harris) try to paint Pres. Benson as a racist and (again) as a
runaway ultraconservative extremist that tried to lead the Church into his own (somehow
evil) political views. This is absurd nonsense. This great Apostle received
revelation, lead a clean, upright and moral life, was highly thought of by
most, including some political enemies, and did a great work for both his
church and government. (<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1992/10/sin-will-not-prevail?lang=eng">See
what Pres. Hinckley had to say about Pres. Benson here</a>.) Shame on those who
say otherwise and on <i>BYU Studies</i> for publicizing and commending their
slander. What they are attempting to do is this: by making Elder Benson’s
politics look scary, to thereby marginalize and weaken his gospel teachings. I
hope it won’t work.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">- Issue <a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/journal/60-1/">60:1</a>
has a few really poor articles. <a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/event-or-process-how-the-chamber-of-old-father-whitmer-helps-us-understand-priesthood-restoration/?post_type=article&p=37195">“Event
or Process?: How “the Chamber of Old Father Whitmer” Helps Us Understand
Priesthood Restoration</a>” is a false title in the first place. It is not an
“or” proposition. The restoration is a combination of events that taken
together became a process (or sequence of restoration events). It is an “and”
proposition. The author of this piece uses the false conclusions of another
mistaken author, Jonathan Stapley, to reach further erroneous conclusions about
the priesthood. The priesthood is what the scriptures and the prophets and
apostles say it was and is, not what some alleged historian’s book says it is.
Anyone that piggybacks off Stapley’s interpretive blundering will reach their
own false conclusions. No!, there is no such thing as a “Cosmological”
priesthood, and Stapley doesn’t get to define priesthood (wrongly) for the
Church. There have been many apostles and prophets that have already defined the
priesthood (correctly) and I encourage all to stay with their definitions and
teachings on the subject, instead of looking to imperfect and incomplete
historical research and problematic and erroneous conclusions found in <i>BYU
Studies</i> or elsewhere (like Stapley’s book).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>All</i>
priesthood was restored by Peter, James, and John to Joseph and Oliver. After
that, further <i>keys</i> or <i>rights</i> of directing (presidency) and
specific work or usages were restored on subsequent specific occasions. President
<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/35744_eng.pdf?lang=eng">Joseph
F. Smith was so strong</a> on that point. So first the complete priesthood
itself, and then rights and authorization regarding how and when and where it
could be used were given. People can mess with the semantics, and how language
was used then and today, but that is how it worked. Let us not buy the theories
being peddled by authors making suspect interpretations. It is the Spirit that
guides our understanding and use of priesthood in this church (from the top
down), not some historian’s interpretations of various historical documents or
occurrences.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In this
same issue, another terribly troublesome piece is “<a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/remnant-or-replacement-outlining-a-possible-apostasy-narrative/?post_type=article&p=37212">Remnant
or Replacement?<o:p></o:p></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/remnant-or-replacement-outlining-a-possible-apostasy-narrative/?post_type=article&p=37212">Outlining
a Possible Apostasy Narrative</a></span>.” This is a clever title for
saying—"we are going to tell you that the great apostasy never really
happened and that the church has been wrong to teach it as it has.” Well then
why did the Church need to be restored? Anything with Joseph Spencer’s name
attached to it immediately raises and then confirms suspicions. He is a
philosophy teacher masquerading as a religion teacher (same thing Terryl Givens
does). Here is a reason why the BYU Religion Department has recently had to
adjust their hiring standards and processes. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, there
really was a complete apostasy (among the Meridian Saints in the old world, among
Book of Mormon peoples, and among the lost tribes of Israel); and yes, the true
Church of Jesus Christ really did need to be completely restored. Spencer and
others can wrest Nephi’s words (in 1 Nephi) all they want to concoct an
interpretation that there was no great and abominable church, and no great
apostasy, but they do so at their spiritual peril and in opposition to the
long-settled teachings of the Church. Always compare any liberal unorthodox
writer’s interpretations of the scriptures with that of approved church
publications and general conference reports to see the wide and alarming
disparity involved—then believe the church produced and approved materials. Believe
the doctrine taught in the <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/the-restoration-of-the-fulness-of-the-gospel-of-jesus-christ/a-bicentennial-proclamation-to-the-world?lang=eng">Restoration
of the Gospel Proclamation</a> by the First Presidency and Quorum of the
Twelve. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, <i>BYU
Studies</i> really is publishing articles saying there wasn’t an apostacy: “To
be sure, we fully recognize that the picture of the apostasy we have drawn up
here is different from traditional ways of imagining what occurred.” The “traditional”
way (not ways) are not “imagining” but settled doctrine and history. And yes, they
are teaching “different” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>imaginings (to
use their word) or falsehoods, in <i>BYU Studies</i>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Regarding
the “<a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/gospel-ethics/?post_type=article&p=37220">Gospel
Ethics</a>” piece in this same issue, I have only this quotation to share, <a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/32709_eng.pdf?lang=eng">from
Pres. J. Reuben Clark</a>: “These students fully sense the hollowness of
teachings that would make the gospel plan a mere system of ethics. They know
that Christ’s teachings are in the highest degree ethical, but they also know
they are more than this. They will see that ethics relate primarily to the doings
of this life, and that to make of the gospel a mere system of ethics is to
confess a lack of faith, if not a disbelief, in the hereafter. They know that
the gospel teachings not only touch this life, but the life that is to come,
with its salvation and exaltation<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">as the final goal.” Amen and amen!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">- Steven Harper, in issue <a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/journal/59-3/">59:3</a>, writes a glowing <a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/in-memoriam-armand-l-mauss-1928-2020/?post_type=article&p=32400">eulogy
for Armand Mauss</a>, a dissident that died in 2020. Harper extolls this dissenter
as having been a great mentor to him. All one has to do is glance over some of
Mauss’s writings and one quickly finds his pieces anything but faith-building.
I first read something by Mauss in <i>Sunstone</i>, a dissident/apostate
publication, in 1988, and found Mauss giving counsel to fellow <i>Sunstone</i>
dissidents <a href="https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/076-07-10.pdf">on
how to write articles critical of the church while also avoiding
excommunication</a>. And Harper loved the guy and extolled him as his mentor?
And let’s be clear, a person can be a nice guy and shoot some pool and go
bowling and tell some great jokes and buy you dinner and dessert afterward, but
still be a subtle wolf in sheep’s clothing. So many alleged “theologians” today
are marvelous and clever teachers of the philosophies of men mingled with a
little scripture; they are philosophers masquerading as Religion teachers; spiritually
dangerous to be sure. I wish there were none employed by BYU, but some have
infiltrated the school (even the Religious Education Department).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">- Issue <a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/journal/60-3/?utm_source=BYU+Studies&utm_campaign=ef1573edf2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_10_04_03_05_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e4342d96b2-ef1573edf2-62697857">60:3</a>
is where the deviousness and falseness really shouts out loud. Harper has here
turned over the editorship to guests, a couple of liberal dissidents trying
desperately to appear innocent and sheepish (pun intended). Almost every paper
they selected for inclusion, including their own, is by an unorthodox liberal/progressive
that has a modern liberal agenda to push. Name after name with bad reputations
for incorrect teachings is found herein. And most of them have connections to
BYU. A who’s-who of people one would expect to see in <i>Sunstone</i>, <i>Dialogue</i>,
and/or Signature Books, but not in <i>BYU Studies</i>. All of the subjects are
about doctrines the editors and authors think are speculative and for which
nothing has been revealed—which is rot. These unorthodox liberals and
semi-believers may not know the answers, but capable studious orthodox gospel
scholars that have studied the scriptures and how they are interpreted by
apostles and prophets know otherwise. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Remember,
just because Eliason and Givens say something is NOT YET REVEALED doesn’t mean
they are right or have a clue what they are talking about. I hope I am wrong,
but I suspect they are trying to open these old questions up again so they can
come to the rescue later with their own (wrong) answers and solutions, taken
from the philosophies of men instead of the revelations of the Lord. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sound, stable,
orthodox, well-read gospel scholars who are steeped and soaked in the teachings
of apostles and prophets know things these poor academics don’t and won’t. A
quick survey of selected bits of church history on these issues, that these
papers supposedly provide, along with some bias and spin, is insufficient and
not very helpful. But Harper has allowed and approved and published it. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">- In some coming months or year, whenever it is, <i>BYU
Studies</i> will unfortunately be publishing an issue on evolution, basically
proclaiming it as true. Harper has already said he believes evolution instead
of the teachings of prophets and apostles, on the subject of the origin of man.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I suggest
one of two solutions, the later being preferential to the former. 1) rename <i>BYU
Studies Quarterly</i> to <i>BYU Sunstone</i>. That way the title will reflect
the journal content accurately. Also, allow no tithing to be used for anything
connected with it and move it all off campus). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>2) Put in an
editor that can select papers to publish that really are informed by the restored
gospel of Jesus Christ instead of by the theories and philosophies of men and
poor theologians. Select papers that don’t try to revise settled doctrine and
church history using the liberal ideologies of these professors and academics
so steeped in the notions of modern society. Their attempts to make the Church
look respectable to the world and match its doctrines to that of modern society
are pathetic and foolish and dangerous. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I therefore
recommend that instead of wasting time on <i>BYU Studies</i>, that readers
consume materials that have been approved by Church Correlation; by reading old
and new general conference talks; by studying church manuals, both for Sunday classes
and for use by CES. Go to materials that have the stamp of approval of the
prophets and apostles or that are privately published by them. Such is where
the undiluted gospel can be found, instead of the imaginings of theologians
looking to change the church into their own beliefs and thinking. All of the
universities of the world already look like that, we don’t need or want BYU to
reflect the world/Babylon. Elder Holland said BYU should not have a “Mormon
Studies” program like other universities. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I recommend
following Elder Holland’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg36L1989Ss">counsel
given in August 2021</a>, as he sought to rebuke and correct erring BYU
administration, faculty and staff, including those in NAMI and <i>BYU Studies</i>,
who have been shooting musket fire at the church instead of defending it. Study
and follow the counsel given in <a href="https://universityconference.byu.edu/university-conference-archive">other
recent apostles’ talks to the same BYU people</a>, who keep ignoring it. That
is where spiritual and doctrinal safety lies, not in the notions of academics
publishing in <i>BYU Studies</i> since 2019.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Holland said that if BYU doesn’t get its act together, BYU might end. In that
case, <i>BYU Studies</i> will end also (and NAMI), and its false teachings will
be gone. So one way or another, I hope we can hope for major solutions soon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I for one
would prefer a return to the days previous to 2019 when we could (normally)
count on a decent journal that contained some interesting articles that were
doctrinally and historically sound; that brought out fresh discoveries or
knowledge or insights while also remaining orthodox and loyal to the scriptures
and the prophets. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This new <i>BYU
Sunstone Quarterly</i> is headed down the path of disaster and demise, whether
it be sooner or later. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-15735351337067756522021-09-20T21:50:00.007-07:002021-09-20T21:50:40.115-07:00Elder Mark E. Petersen’s Special Witness of Jesus Christ<p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><i style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">[Readers desiring to obtain their own </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-hardback" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">hardback copies of <b>volume one</b></a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> of </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ</span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> can find copies on sale </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-hardback" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">Softbound copies </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-paperback-23292" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">can be purchased here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Know-He-Lives-Special-Witnesses-ebook/dp/B075NJN959/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&qid=1625166117&refinements=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=digital-text&sr=1-5&text=Dennis+Horne" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">on Amazon here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]</span></i></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYQYgfJZIwy21FRQDA2ODdMN6fvmZff5cS5B6Fl52iRiGq_BYBGh0_NEoy-Z2SkcNdOEA6099g0zJVe1ObQR3ycbWSsmEcKdFQS_wxs_4a7Mt4JpqyDh98puITQUgv67YSlGaBqIeSUtib/s192/ensignlp.nfo_o_2a4a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="192" data-original-width="146" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYQYgfJZIwy21FRQDA2ODdMN6fvmZff5cS5B6Fl52iRiGq_BYBGh0_NEoy-Z2SkcNdOEA6099g0zJVe1ObQR3ycbWSsmEcKdFQS_wxs_4a7Mt4JpqyDh98puITQUgv67YSlGaBqIeSUtib/s0/ensignlp.nfo_o_2a4a.jpg" width="146" /></a></div></i></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">(by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=relevancerank&text=Dennis+Horne&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1">Dennis B. Horne</a>)</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>I know that God
lives.</i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>I know that Jesus
is the Christ and the Son of God. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>I know it as well
as if I had seen him.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p> “It was
President Grant who gave to me my first real introduction to the Book of
Mormon” remembered Elder Mark E. Petersen. “When I was about ten years of age,
he came to the ward in which I lived and spoke in one of our Sacrament
meetings. As he has done on other occasions, that day he told of his own first
reading of the Book of Mormon and of the great impression made upon him by the
life of Nephi. In his address he made Nephi such a reality to me that I had a
desire to read about him for myself.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I took my
father's Book of Mormon, and I read the story of Nephi, having in mind what
President Grant had said. As I read, not only did I learn to appreciate that
great prophet of old, but I had come into my soul also a deep love for the Book
of Mormon, even as a boy.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> <span></span></o:p></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Early Years<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mark
Petersen was born November 7, 1900, in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he grew up.
He served a mission to Canada (Nova Scotia) from 1920 to 1922. A year after
returning he married Emma Marr McDonald in the Salt Lake Temple. He attended
the University of Utah for his education. Mark worked for the <i>Deseret News</i>,
the church-owned newspaper in Salt Lake City, Utah, for most of his career. He eventually
moved from the lowest rung to the highest, when he was called into the Quorum
of the Twelve.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> (One of his employees for
a year or so was a young man named Bruce R. McConkie, who would later join Brother
Petersen in the ranks of the general authorities; see Elder McConkie’s chapter in
the first volume).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Brother
Petersen served in two stake presidencies and was in demand as a guest speaker
in many wards and stakes (back when that kind of thing was common).<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
His voice was strong and projected well and he used it to his advantage, becoming
a fine orator and expounder of the gospel.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mark’s work
at the newspaper was generally exciting, enjoyable, and challenging. He planned
to spend the balance of his life there. He was responsible for many
innovations, such as working out a joint operating agreement with the rival
(usually anti-Mormon) <i>Salt Lake Tribune</i>, so they could both save on
printing costs. He wrote most of the <i>Church News</i> editorials over more
than four decades. During one difficult period, when his two bosses at the <i>Deseret
News</i> were having a political infight, he was fired and rehired repeatedly,
giving him ulcers as he strove to get the work done. He outlasted both bosses,
including the one who disliked him. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>During
these years President J. Reuben Clark noticed Mark’s talents and began
mentoring him, and President Heber J. Grant alternately criticized and praised
him over articles he read in the <i>Deseret News</i>.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Thus, at age 43, Mark Petersen felt he was on a course that would captivate and
stimulate the balance of his working life.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Call to the Quorum of the Twelve<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elder Petersen’s call to the apostleship actually
had its roots in one of the more sorrowful tragedies in church leadership
history. The story begins with President Joseph F. Smith’s declining health in
1917, worsening into 1918. When his son, Elder Hyrum M. Smith of the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles, died in January, the grief was overwhelming for him. Combined
with gradually failing health, he struggled under the burden.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Yet the vacancy needed to be filled in the Quorum of the Twelve. The two men
that President Smith considered most closely were Richard R. Lyman and Melvin
J. Ballard (see the chapter on Elder Ballard in the first volume). At this time
of emotional and physical strain in his life, he selected Richard R. Lyman to
fill the vacancy. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Joseph Fielding Smith, who served as a close confidante and unofficial
secretary for his father, told President Heber J. Grant of his father’s
struggle: “Joseph Fielding said to me: ‘Brother Grant, at the time that Richard
R. Lyman was nominated to be an Apostle by father, he said to me: “My son, I
cannot make up my mind which of two young men, both worthy to be members of the
Council of the Twelve, to name—Richard R. Lyman or Melvin J. Ballard.”’ Now you
have named the other one.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Thus Elder Lyman began serving in the Quorum.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sometime in
the 1930s, Elder Lyman began committing adultery with a woman he had been
assigned to counsel and assist to full activity in the Church. This situation
came to light in 1943, whereupon the Quorum of the Twelve held a disciplinary
council. Elder Spencer W. Kimball described the scene: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">It was a terrible experience that
came to me today. I think I can never forget the scene. We were called to a
special meeting of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. . . . The slow,
deliberate and saddened approach of some of the brethren as they came to the
Temple presaged something ominous was ahead of us. As soon as we were all
seated the meeting was called to order and announcement was made by President
George Albert Smith, who was almost overcome, that there was a very serious
charge against one of our brethren. He then directed that the charge be read.
Our hearts stood still as we heard that Richard R. Lyman, for 26 years a member
of the Council of the Twelve, was accused of immorality. His written confession
was read and he being present did not deny the accusation nor the confession.
He told also of the situations. He had little to say. He was as pale as could
be. He minimized his act and seemed to feel that it should be overlooked but
showed no repentance and no expressed sorrow for his sin. . . . It was a
terrible ordeal. To see great men such as the members of this quorum all in
tears, some sobbing, all shocked, stunned by the impact was an unforgettable
sight! No tears from him but plenty from the rest of us and what a
heart-rending experience. After considerable discussion a motion was made,
seconded and we voted unanimously to excommunicate him from the Church.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Only a few weeks
before this episode, Mark, then working as the Managing Editor for the <i>Deseret
News</i>, was given a strong premonition of what would shortly take place.
According to his biographer:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One
night he fell into a deep sleep and had a dream. The very existence of the
dream made him uncomfortable because he rarely dreamed. The subject of the
dream was appalling. He could see the lead headline of the front page of the <i>Deseret
News</i> with a terrible mistake in it. The headline read “Lyman R. Richard Dies.”
How could the copy desk make such an error and reversed the order of Elder
Richard R. Lyman’s name? He was absolutely certain that . . . he would lose his
job because of it. . . . He woke with a jolt. “I was responsible for the
newspaper, and to think of Elder Lyman’s name on the front page all scrambled
up made me almost sick, even in the dream,” he recalled. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mark
could not shake the feeling that some terrible accident or swift moving illness
was about to strike down Elder Lyman, and that he himself would replace him in
the Twelve. . . . But he knew President Grant would call him to the Twelve.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Then
on a very fateful day, Joseph Anderson came over to the office at the <i>Deseret
News</i> and told me that President Grant wanted the little notice that was in
the envelope which he handed me placed on the front page of the newspaper. . .
. It was a plain announcement, but no news story was to accompany it. When I
read it, to my horror I saw that Brother Lyman had been excommunicated from the
Church. . . .”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mark
began to feel nervous about the second part of his dream in which he took Elder
Lyman’s place. A few days before April conference he received a telephone call
from Joseph Anderson asking him to come to see President Grant. . . . As Mark
related, . . . “I knew exactly what he was coming for. When he came in, he
shook hands with me. He had been a great friend to me over the years . . . He
sat down and told me that the Brethren had appointed me the new member of the
Council of the Twelve. I said, ‘President Grant, I have known for some weeks
that this was coming.’ I told him about my dream. He shook my hand warmly and
told me that the Lord had given me the right impression. I was sustained the
following Sunday, April 7, 1944, in general conference. I felt so weak and
young and so inadequate, as, of course, I was all of those things.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In his
first talk to the membership of the Church as a special witness, he said:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
was greatly shaken by the call which came to me yesterday. I feel that I am the
least among you all. I have never felt so humble in all my days, as I do at
this present moment. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
know that God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. I know
it as well as if I had seen him, and I shall take great pleasure in declaring
His word for the remainder of my life.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
am thankful for my testimony of the divinity of the mission of the Prophet
Joseph Smith. I love him. I have read all I could find about him. I know that
God spoke to him and appeared to him, and I know that his testimony, for which
he died, is true.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
willingly and gladly, although most humbly, accept this great call which has
come to me. It certainly has humbled me. . . .<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thus he
began a powerful and uncompromising ministry as an apostle of the Lord. He felt
great love and loyalty to the Brethren he began serving with, and was eager to
say so, and to also bear witness of Jesus: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Five
years ago, I stood at this pulpit trembling from head to foot, when I accepted
a call to the Council of the Twelve. I have lived now these five years, in
close association with the men you sustained today as the leaders of this
Church. I have come to know them well. I knew most of them well before I came to
this position, but not nearly so well as I now know them. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
want to bear you my testimony, and I do it with God as my witness, that these
men who lead your Church are honest, true, great men of God; that they do
receive the revelation and the inspiration of the Almighty; that they are
guided by the Holy Ghost: that this is God's Church; and that if you desire to
have guidance from heaven, then you follow the guidance of these men whom you
sustain as the prophets of God. They are prophets. They are prophets just as
Jeremiah and Moses were prophets. They are Apostles in the same sense in which
Peter, James, and John were Apostles, because those three gave the powers of
the apostleship to modern men, and those powers have been handed down to the
men who stand and sit before you today. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
am grateful for the experience of the past five years. I have learned a better
appreciation of this, the great restored Church, of its principles, of the men
who lead it. I humbly submit to you my solemn testimony that Mormonism is true,
that the restored Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is
God's own Church, and that through it we find salvation.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>West European Mission<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>From early
1962 through 1964 Elder Petersen served as president of the West European
Mission where he supervised the work of eleven mission presidents. London,
England, served as the mission headquarters. While on a brief return to Salt
Lake City for some medical care, he was able to report his labors to President
McKay. This visit, “Allowed him to hear President McKay explain a little more
about the reason for his overseas assignment. President McKay told him that he
had been ill and thought he was dying. Then he dreamed that he had gone to the
other side and that all his family there were preparing a happy reunion for
him. But just as he reached his arms toward his waiting relatives, a voice said
to him that his time had not come, for he had work still to do. President McKay
felt a deep conviction that it was Mark Petersen who must go abroad [to serve
in Europe].”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Later, near
the end of his mission service, when President Hugh B. Brown visited the mission
headquarters and spoke to the eleven mission presidents serving under Elder
Petersen’s charge (and while President Petersen was <i>not</i> present to hear
him), he told them: “You have been very fortunate to have spent three years of
your lives with Elder Mark E. Petersen. None of you know the role Elder
Petersen will play in the hereafter, but I tell you that it is a very important
part.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>A Watchman on the Tower<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the
1940s and 50s, a time when the Church was much smaller, one of Elder Petersen’s
assignments was to work with (and try to correct) doctrinally errant or
apostate members and groups. Consequently, some of his general conference
addresses reflected this effort and awareness of the many doctrinal divergences
scattered throughout the Church. In one of his first messages, in what has to
be one of the longest single sentences ever spoken in general conference
history, he said:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Latter-day
Saints, beware of false teachers. When men come among you and begin to preach
doctrines unto you which tend to destroy your confidence in the holy
scriptures, when men come among you, as they are now coming, declaring to you
that the appointment of George Albert Smith as President of this Church is not
valid, because they say this Church should only have seven presidents and no
more, when people come among you declaring that Christ is not divine, or when
they come among you advocating the so-called practice of plural marriage,
contrary to the teachings of this Church and contrary to the law of the land,
when they come among you declaring that you can enter into domestic relations
with another man or another woman without committing adultery, when you do not
have a marriage bond which is recognized as legal by the law of this land, or
when people come among you declaring that the Church is out of order, because
we are at the present time not practicing the United Order, or when a man comes
among you declaring that the Church is off the track and that he is one mighty
and strong sent to set the Church in order, or when anyone comes and tells you
that temple marriage is just a fad and that it has no relationship to your
exaltation in the kingdom of God, or when someone comes to you, as one group is
now doing, preaching that reincarnation is a Christian doctrine, or when men
come to you declaring that predestination is one of the doctrines of the
gospel, declaring that one group of the Saints is predestined to go to one
degree of glory and another group of the Saints is predestined to go to another
degree of glory, or when they come among you declaring that they have had
dreams and visions about some get-rich-quick scheme by which they are going to
save the Church financially in some period of distress, or when they come to
you and declare that the method of administering the sacrament of the Lord's
supper is to be changed, contrary to all the teachings of the scriptures, or
when they come to you and say you can serve two masters, that you can serve the
Church and also one of these wild-cat cults that are starting up, when you hear
teachings of this kind you remember that such doctrines cause dissention among
the people, that they cause disputes which lead to apostasy and that the Lord
condemned disputes of that kind. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Salvation
comes not by being tossed about by every wind of doctrine but by learning the
truth as it is taught by the inspired, authorized leaders of the Church, and
then having learned that truth, by living up to it and enduring in faithfulness
unto the very end.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Petersen taught by the power of the Holy Spirit and continued to bear his
special witness, also with great power—and concerning critically important
matters related to the foundation of the Restoration. At the 1955 general
conference he declared: “I testify to you, and I testify to all men, that God
has made known to me that he lives, and I know it as well as I know that I
live. He has given me testimony that Jesus of Nazareth was his literal Son in
the flesh, and that he is our Savior, and our Redeemer. And he has given to me
testimony that Joseph Smith truly knelt in prayer and in answer received the
glorious visitation in which he talked face to face with the Father and the
Son. And he has given me personal testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. I
know it as well as the three witnesses or the eight witnesses who held the
plates in their hands. I know it. God as made it known to me, and I give you my
testimony.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He testified
likewise in 1963: “I bear you testimony that I know he lives, and I am raising
my voice as loudly and as strongly as I know how to declare it to everyone who
is willing to listen. Jesus lives. He is the Christ. He is the Son of God. He
is the Divine Redeemer. He is the Creator of the worlds, and if we will but
follow him, great will be our joy—salvation in this life and eternal life in
the world to come.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
His special witness mingled with that of his Brethren: “I have come to realize
more and more that there is only one voice in all the world that can bear
testimony to these groping nations that Jesus is the Christ. I mean only one
voice of authority, and that is the voice of the Latter-day Saints. We are the
only authoritative voice declaring to the world that Jesus is the Christ. We
know that God lives because our prophets have seen him and talked with him. We
know that Jesus is the Christ because our prophets have communed with him, and
we know that he lives because of the testimony of the Holy Ghost that burns
within us.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Petersen wrote prodigiously, publishing some 43 books on gospel subjects (which
is probably a record for a general authority), along with a number of pamphlets
and editorials. Most of his writings were a response meant to correct error he
saw in others’ works.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The Creation of Man and Scientific Theories<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In several
of his messages to larger church congregations, such as general conference and
the Brigham Young University studentbody, and as part of his effort to correct
error in the Church, Elder Petersen taught the true (but often misunderstood) doctrine
of the creation of man, and the fall, and also spoke strongly against the false
scientific theory of evolution. During the first portion of his first address
to BYU students (in 1953), who may not have fully understood his message and
specific wording usage, he taught:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
am so glad that you believe in God. I am so glad that you accept Him as the
great Creator of all. He is the great Creator. He made all things. He made this
earth on which we live. He made the light. The scripture makes it clear that
the Gods decided to create this world. In the process of their work they did
separate the light from the darkness. They put lights in the firmament of
heaven. As they looked upon their work they said it was “good.” And then they
separated the waters from the earth; and they said it was “good.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then
they began to make life upon the earth. All sorts of vegetation. And each bit
of vegetation was given a commandment—to reproduce after its own kind; after
its own image and likeness. As God surveyed His work, He announced that it was
“Good.” Then He created the birds in the air and the fish in the sea, and they
were given a similar commission—that they were to bring forth after their own
kind; after their own likeness and image. As the Lord surveyed that bit of His
work, again He was pleased and announced that it was “good.” And then He
created the animals, and each one of them was commanded that it should bring
forth after its own kind; reproduce in their own likeness and image: the cow,
the bear, the horse, the sheep—all the animals. As He surveyed all of that, he
pronounced it “good.” Then came the time for the creation of man; the time for
the crowning act of creation. Why was it the crowning act? Why was it so
important? God was placing His own race upon the earth; His own children. God
knew that He was to perpetuate His own race; that we were His offspring; that
we were to come to the earth and that we were to have experience in mortality. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
He placed us here and the record says that man was made in the exact image and
likeness of God. Why?—because we are of the race of God. We are His children.
Is it at all unusual that a child should resemble its parent? He was our
Father; we, His children. The first of our race to enter mortality was placed
on the earth. They [Adam and Eve] were in the exact image and likeness of
God—just as the cows that were placed upon the earth and reproduced after their
kind had more cows that were in the exact likeness and image of the parent
cows. Just as was the case with the horse, and with the sheep, and with the
trees and the birds and the bees and the flowers. Each one bringing forth after
its own kind. Then God brought His own race upon the earth and commanded that
they should reproduce after their own kind; in their own likeness and image.
And they in turn were in the likeness and image of God. Therefore, as they
reproduced, they reproduced the race of God; each one being in the exact
likeness and image of God. Wasn’t it a marvelous creation? He, our Father; we,
His children; we, of the race of God. After He had made man, male and female,
in His own likeness and image, He surveyed His work. This time He did not say
it was only “good.” This time He said, “It is very good.” It was a great act. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Having
made man and woman after His own likeness, He introduced something that had not
been introduced in creation before. Not with the animals, not with the birds
nor the bees nor the fish nor the vegetation. Something different was now being
introduced—because there was a different species—here was the race of God. The
animals and the birds and the bees were His creations, yes. They had life in
themselves; He gave them the right and the power of reproduction after their
own kind. But now with man, who was of the race of God, something else had to
be introduced before He could give them the commandment. That something else
was marriage. So God brought the woman whom He had made to the man whom He had
made. They twain became one flesh; she, his helpmeet. Having given her, in the
bonds of holy matrimony, to the man, the Father in heaven stood before those
two and gave them a commandment: to bring forth after their own kind. To
multiply and fill up the earth with more of the race of God. . . . It [sex] is
holy. It is part of the function of Almighty God.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Twenty
years later, Elder Petersen taught the same creation doctrine at the same
church school and while doing so used unusually (even for him) blunt language
to describe those teachers seeking to supplant or taint pure church doctrine
with evolution. To students at BYU that were being subjected to this theory
being taught as fact, he both taught and warned with emphasis: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How
are we the offspring of God? We are dual beings. Actually every one of us is a
spirit, and our spirit occupies a body of flesh and bone. The body is not the
person at all. The spirit is the real person. I am a spirit; you are a
spirit—every one of you. Our spirit resembles our body, or rather our body was
tailored to fit our spirit. The spirit bears the image and likeness of God, and
the body, if it’s normal, is in the image and likeness of the spirit. And the
spirit is the offspring of Almighty God. You remember that Paul said also, “We
have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence:
shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and
live?” (Hebrews 12:9).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
we, as spirits, were begotten of Almighty God. We are his children. We are not
products of creation in the usually understood sense. We obtained our being by
birth and not by manufacture, if I may use that word without being
misunderstood. We were born of Almighty God in the spirit, in the same sense in
which our bodies were born of our parents here on the earth. As we have the
blood of our earthly parents flowing through our veins, so we have divinity
within us, because our eternal spirits have a divine parentage. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
has developed in recent years what almost amounts to a cult in certain fields.
This is a cult which also points the finger of scorn at believers and would
seek to make us ashamed of our faith. It is one which would have us reject the
doctrine of a special creation and accept the unproven but time-worn theory
that all life evolved from lower forms, that worms and microbes were our
ancestors, and not God. It teaches that God is not our father, but that our
first progenitors were microscopic forms which came into existence
spontaneously, without cause, without reason, and without purpose. According to
this theory of primordial life, man at one time developed from an ancestor
which, as one writer described him, was “a hairy, four-legged beast which had a
tail and pointed ears and lived in trees.” I ask you, which requires more
faith, to believe that God is our father, or that some monkey-like ape gave us
birth? And which would you rather have as your father, a creeping ape or
Almighty God?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our
religion tells us that God is our Father. Some so-called intellectuals who
point the finger at religion have become so domineering in their attitude
toward those who do not believe their ghastly theories that they assume an
attitude almost approaching tyranny. In some circles it has become
persecution. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes,
our religion tells us that God is our Father, and that we lived with him before
we were born on this earth. It tells us further that every creature,
microscopic and otherwise, was made by him before it lived here on the earth,
and also that each one was made as a spirit before it was made in the flesh
here in mortality. There were two creations, one in which God made all things
in the spirit. That is, he made the real life, the real being, as a spirit, in
the first creation. And then, in the second creation, he provided these mortal
tabernacles in which he placed these spirits that he had created in the
preexistence.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
hope you read the scriptures on this. Moses, in the book of Moses, was very
specific on this subject, and I’d like to read to you what Moses had to say.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><i><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></i>“And
now, behold, I say unto you, that these are the generations of the heaven and
of the earth, when they were created, in the day that I, the Lord God, made the
heaven and the earth;<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And
every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the
field before it grew. For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have
spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. . .
. in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither
in the water, neither in the air.” [Moses 3:4–5]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They’re
significant words, aren’t they? He made all life in heaven, making them
spirits, which were the real persons, or the real creatures, or whatever they
were. He made them all as individual persons—or creatures, as the case may
be—and they were in the spiritual creation. Then he created the mortal part of
life, this earth and all mortality. But at the time he made the spirits there
was no flesh, Moses says, “upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the
air” (Moses 3:5). He hadn’t even sent them here.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
then another very interesting thing in the second chapter of Moses: he says
that when he did place them here on the earth, he placed within each one the
seed, of reproduction with the power to reproduce after its own kind. Well, he
gave human beings the power to reproduce, didn’t he? We have within ourselves
the seed to reproduce, but what do we reproduce? We reproduce after our own
kind, don’t we? The only reproduction among human beings is more human beings,
isn’t that right? Whoever heard of a human being bringing forth a horse or a
cow or—well, excuse me for being ridiculous, but it’s to the point, isn’t it?
Human beings can reproduce only human beings. And he put this seed in animals,
likewise, so that animals can reproduce only after their own kind. So dogs will
only reproduce dogs, and never cats or polliwogs. They will only reproduce
after themselves. The same is true in vegetable life. An apple will only bring
forth an apple, and it will not bring forth a cucumber. Now, I’m being a little
extreme, but I think you get the point. God placed in every one of his
creations, as it says here in Moses 2, the seed within itself to reproduce
after its own kind. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s
a very interesting thing to read in section 77 of the Doctrine and Covenants
some further information on this same subject. . . . The Prophet asked the Lord
for some explanations, and in this section 77, certain explanations are made
that have to do with this very subject. We learn from this section that in
heaven beasts and fowls and creeping things exist as spirits. Then the
scripture goes on: “That which is spiritual being in the likeness of that which
is temporal; and that which is temporal in the likeness of that which is
spiritual” (D&C 77:2). So you see, the body matches the spirit, and the
spirit was made in the preexistence, so that the body that’s made here fits the
spirit that was made in the preexistence. Then notice this next part of this
little section: “The spirit of man in the likeness of his person, as also the
spirit of the beast and every other creature which God has created” (D&C
77:2). Isn’t that a marvelous and an interesting scripture? Lots of people
don’t read that, but this is one of the most significant things in the Doctrine
and Covenants, in my humble opinion. So in heaven God created the spirits of
all forms of life as they appear in mortality, the mortal form being in the
likeness of the spirit, with mankind being God’s own offspring, his literal
children, having the full capability of becoming like him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>.
. . Man, then, was always man, because he was made that way in the preexistence.
Cows were always cows and horses were always horses, because they were made
that way in the preexistence, when first they were made as spirits before they
were tabernacled in flesh, since all things were made spiritually before they
were temporally in the earth. Then trees were always trees, corn was always
corn, cats were always cats, because they were made that way in the
preexistence. Now I ask you, if God were not our father, literally, why would
the Savior teach us to pray as he did in the Lord’s prayer, “Our Father which
art in heaven?” Would he deceive us? And why, after the resurrection, would he
say to Mary, “I ascend unto my Father, and to your Father; and to my God, and
your God” (John 20:17)? If it were not so, why would he have said a thing like
that? Our whole religion, you see, is based upon the concept that God is our
Father. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>According
to our doctrine, the fall of Adam and the process of death are inseparable.
Death and Adam are inseparable; death and the resurrection are inseparable; the
fall of Adam and the atonement of Christ are inseparable; Adam and Christ are
inseparable. If there was no Adam, there was no fall. If there was no fall of
Adam there was no atonement by Christ. If there was no atonement by Christ our
religion is in vain, for if there was no Adam, there was no Christ either. If
there is no Christ, where are we? Are you ready to reject your inspired
religion, your faith in God and Christ, to accept the questionable philosophy
that may be thrust upon you by some unbelieving, even atheistic, professor of
an unproved hypothesis? This is certainly a case in point where we must do as
Joshua of old said, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve” (Joshua 24:15).<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To conclude
his clear and direct teachings of Christ as the Creator and that mankind are
the children of God, Elder Petersen bore testimony that he had taught them the
truth: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Paul
was one of the great witnesses of Christ anciently. We have many witnesses for
Christ today. I am one of them, and I humbly stand before you as one of his
witnesses. Today I join with the apostle Paul and give you my testimony in
Paul’s words, so that Paul and I bear you the same testimony as it is recorded
in 1 Corinthians 15:50, 53–55, 57–58. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let
us realize this great fact, that God reproduced himself and gave us birth to
give us the opportunity of sometime becoming like him, and he provides the
means, which is the gospel of Christ, to help us to become like him. It was not
an idle statement, quoted by President Lorenzo Snow, that “as man is, God once
was, and as God is, man may become.” That is why Jesus commanded us to become
perfect as our Father which is in heaven is perfect. For this reason we must
follow his way of life, his plan of development, the only plan which will permit
us to reach this goal. . . . That is why we must not be like the world, even
though we live in the world. That is why the apostle Peter declared that we are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood an holy nation, a peculiar people, that
we might indeed become like God our Father. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
bear you solemn testimony tonight, my brothers and sisters, that the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ is true. By all that I hold sacred, I testify to you that
God indeed is our Father, that we are the offspring of God, that he’s the
father of our spirits, and that we can become like him. By all that I hold
sacred I testify to you that Jesus Christ lives, that he is the Savior of the
world, and that he will save every one of us if we will but allow him to.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Petersen’s teaching is most germane: “We believe in God. Regardless of what all
the rest of the people of the world may say or do, we Latter-day Saints have a
testimony that God lives, and therefore we believe in him. We have various
reasons for believing in him. One of the reasons is, of course, that our
prophets have actually seen him. Our prophets have seen Almighty God, and they
bear testimony that he lives.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Around 1959-60
Elder Petersen was assigned, along with Elder Marion G. Romney, to read and
report on the first edition of Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s famous book <i>Mormon
Doctrine</i>. Elder Petersen had noticed that this best-selling work was
becoming highly influential in the Church. He read it and took his (unspecified)
concerns to the First Presidency. For some reason, that the available
historical records do not make entirely clear, Elder Petersen did not like the
book and made an issue of it with the First Presidency, who, with him present,
called Elder McConkie in and gave him a “horsewhipping” over it (for further
information on this incident, see the chapter on Elder McConkie in volume one).
Publication of a fifth printing was halted, but President McKay permitted Elder
McConkie to revise and republish a second edition of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Mormon Doctrine</i> under the supervision
of Elder Spencer W. Kimball, in 1965-66.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For many
years, these two dedicated doctrinal giants of the Church (Elders Petersen and
McConkie) did not get along well and were not close, but as the years passed
and they sat in collegial council with their brethren of the Twelve, their
relationship improved and it is likely that by the time they died (within a
year of each other) they had patched up their differences. Certainly all is
well between them now, on the other side of the veil. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In comparing
some of their individual doctrinal teachings on the same subjects I find that
they were highly harmonious (such as with the creation, the fall, and the
atonement). I therefore conclude that Elder Petersen’s objections to certain
content in <i>Mormon Doctrine</i> were probably mostly related to smaller more
incidental matters. And it also ought to be acknowledged that neither man was much
of a diplomat at the pulpit or in writing.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Petersen’s beloved wife, Emma Marr, an accomplished and prodigious author in
her own right, died in 1975, leaving Elder Petersen grief stricken. He applied
to the First Presidency to be relieved of the normal requirement to remarry and
thereafter lived the rest of his life single.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Bearing His Special Witness<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As Elder
Petersen entered the fullness of his apostolic years, he continued to raise his
voice in testimony, such as before another assemblage of students at BYU:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
bear you solemn testimony my young friends that what I say to you today is
true. I bear you solemn testimony that there is a God in heaven. I know it as
well as I know that <i>you</i> live. I know it as well as I know that <i>I</i>
live. God does live and He is a person and He is our father. He is as real as
you are real. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
bear you solemn testimony that Jesus the Christ lives as you live. That He is
just as real as you are real. I bear you solemn testimony that He not only died
on the cross but that He came forth in a literal physical resurrection. It was
a fact that He could say, “Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and
bones as you see me have.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
was a fact that 2,500 Book of Mormon people came up one by one in a line and
felt the marks of the crucifixion in His hands and feet and side. It was a fact
that they knew by their physical experience that He lives. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
is a fact that He appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith; and that the Father
likewise appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith. I bear you testimony that that
visitation was not a dream. It was not something that came out of the Prophet’s
mind. It was not even a vision in the sense of which we normally speak of
visions. The Father and the Son came to the Prophet Joseph Smith physically and
literally, even as you have come to this campus. The Father and the Son
literally and physically were there in that sacred grove and faced that boy and
talked with him as one man speaketh to another. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
bear you solemn testimony that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery saw Jesus the
Christ there in the Kirtland Temple. And that they saw His face and figure; His
beautiful white hair, whiter than the driven snow. And that they heard His
voice as He spoke to them and announced that in truth He was the Christ. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These
things I know by reason of the experiences God has given to me. I bear you this
testimony and ask you to believe it and to know that you are really and truly
the children of a real God who is really and truly your Father.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Of Elder
Petersen’s special witness of Jesus, his daughter wrote: “Mark had born strong
testimony of the Savior even as a missionary. But as he grew in the gospel and
served so many years as a special witness, those close to him noticed that his
sermons on the Christ had a slightly different quality. No longer were there
any “I believes.” He began to speak as if he had received some personal
manifestation. As he referred to Jesus with such solemn knowledge, his family
wondered if he had seen the Christ, but being well brought up, . . . they knew
better than to ask. Mark always taught those close to him that certain things
were too sacred to be discussed.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Final Years<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With the
advent of the 1980’s, Elder Petersen began to suffer from a number of ailments
that he had largely avoided during his ministry, but that now slowed him down.
He realized that such were the accompaniments of old age, for he was passing
eighty. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He had a
close doctor friend that had helped him with some of these ailments, but had
been killed in a car crash by a reckless teenage driver. “Mark spoke at the
funeral services. Recalling his association with Dr. Webster, he told of the
physician’s influence on his grandchildren and of the time Jim had literally
saved Mark’s own life after back surgery. Then, in matter-of-fact tones, he
told of an interview that Jim had just experienced with the Savior in which he
was asked how he had treated his fellowmen.” One of those in attendance, Dr.
Russell M. Nelson (who later became the President of the Church), wrote a note
to Elder Petersen: “Having just returned from the funeral service for our dear
friend and colleague, Dr. James W. Webster, I want you to know how moved and
inspired we all were to have heard your address at his funeral service. I
happened to be sitting by many not of our faith, including Jews, Catholics,
Protestants, and the like. I testify to you that there wasn’t one of them who
wasn’t moved to the point of conviction that they had heard a true apostle of
the Lord speak to them.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>An illness
that Elder Petersen couldn’t beat was cancer, which caused him great suffering
and pain as he endured surgery and other common energy-draining treatments. His
last couple of years were spent fighting illness while trying to magnify his
apostleship. He was sometimes able to attend his meetings with the First
Presidency and the Twelve. He noted one of these occasions that was somehow
exceptional and critical, but exactly how is not given: For December 16, 1983,
he wrote in his diary: “Today I was able to attend a special meeting of the
Twelve. Some of the brethren picked me up at home and drove me downtown for
this special meeting. I was delighted to be able to go.” To his family, he
said: “I needed to be in that meeting. It was one of the most important of my
life. Afterward almost everyone came to tell me how glad he was that I had
expressed my opinion. This is a difficult time for Gordon Hinckley, who carries
so much of the burden of the Church. He is doing a magnificent job, just as I
would expect.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A year
later, on January 11, 1984, Elder Petersen succumbed to the cancer and died. In
an article in a church magazine eulogizing his beloved associate in the Quorum
of the Twelve, Elder Thomas S. Monson wrote: “Told at his funeral were several
accounts of his being voice in prayer on occasion for the Brethren at our
regular Thursday meeting, particularly one time when President Spencer W.
Kimball was not well and not present. Elder Petersen’s crystal clear faith and
pleading soul sought in our behalf a blessing upon the President, and it was as
if a ‘conduit opened to the heavens.’ We knew that our prayer and our faith had
been recognized. How completely natural that our spokesman on that occasion
would be Elder Mark E. Petersen, such a giant of unshakable faith.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
For this biographical information and other info throughout this chapter, see
Thomas S. Monson, “Mark E. Petersen: A Giant Among Men,” <i>Ensign</i>, March 1984.
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Ibid.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
This information and some of that in preceding paragraphs is taken in
summarized form from Peggy Petersen Barton, <i>Mark E. Petersen: A Biography</i>
(Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
See Joseph Fielding Smith, <i>Life of Joseph F. Smith</i> (Salt Lake City:
Deseret Book, 1938), 473-75.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Heber J. Grant diary, April 7, 1937.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Spencer W. Kimball diary, November 12, 1943:<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Barton, <i>Mark E. Petersen: A Biography</i>, 85-87.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1944, 92. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1949, 145. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Barton, <i>Mark E. Petersen: A Biography</i>, 129.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Ibid, 130-31.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, October 1945, 91. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, October 1955, 63. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, October 1963, 123.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Ibid.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Mark E. Petersen, “Chastity,” (also titled, “The Sacredness of Procreation,” <i>BYU
Speeches</i>, February 3, 1953; (4 mins to 15 mins); audio file transcript
excerpt created by author.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn17" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Mark E. Petersen, “<a href="file:///O:/Users/Me/Box%20Sync/Default%20Sync%20Folder/dennis/LDS%20Living/We%20Believe%20in%20God,%20the%20Eternal%20Father"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">We Believe in
God, the Eternal Father</span></a>,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, September 2, 1973.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn18" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Ibid. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn19" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Ibid. I don’t think Elder Petersen meant <i>all</i> of the prophets, but some
of them have indeed, along with many many apostles.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn20" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a name="_Hlk73098986">For some comments Elder Petersen made about Elder
McConkie’s teachings about the Savior at a meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve,
see </a><a href="https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/mark-e-petersen/covenant-people-god/"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk73098986;">this BYU Speech</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk73098986;">.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn21" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Be Ye An Exponent of Christ,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, September 28, 1965.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn22" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Barton, <i>Mark E. Petersen: A Biography</i>, 166.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn23" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a name="_Hlk49696464">Barton, <i>Mark E. Petersen: A Biography</i></a><i>,</i>
207.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn24" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Barton, <i>Mark E. Petersen: A Biography,</i> 212.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn25" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Monson, “Mark E. Petersen: A Giant Among Men,” <i>Ensign</i>, March 1984.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-46300140714441271932021-09-13T12:42:00.009-07:002021-09-13T12:42:55.322-07:00President Hugh B. Brown’s Special Witness of Jesus Christ<p style="text-align: left;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">[Readers desiring to obtain their own </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-hardback" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">hardback copies of <b>volume one</b></a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> of </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ</span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> can find copies on sale </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-hardback" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">Softbound copies </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-paperback-23292" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">can be purchased here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Know-He-Lives-Special-Witnesses-ebook/dp/B075NJN959/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&qid=1625166117&refinements=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=digital-text&sr=1-5&text=Dennis+Horne" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">on Amazon here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]</span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivbxhNoHYVqvgFs_k3omWJlAFfHOXwi8IYA4WahCOmM9YtHWlxKSZCpo1BP1Ls27IBHHB1tUmGlnPepiC8o1WERyztz897We9wgccFu-eWDvCENHwYObCWkuFJZQZFNPtouXPA8UfDfIT0/s400/hugh+b+brown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="314" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivbxhNoHYVqvgFs_k3omWJlAFfHOXwi8IYA4WahCOmM9YtHWlxKSZCpo1BP1Ls27IBHHB1tUmGlnPepiC8o1WERyztz897We9wgccFu-eWDvCENHwYObCWkuFJZQZFNPtouXPA8UfDfIT0/s320/hugh+b+brown.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;">(by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=relevancerank&text=Dennis+Horne&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1">Dennis B. Horne</a>) <span style="text-align: center;"> </span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>I bear my
testimony to you, . . .<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>that from the
center of my heart to the ends of my fingers and toes <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>I know that Jesus
is the Christ.</i><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I humbly
bear my testimony to you that I do know that God is my Father, that Jesus of
Nazareth is my Redeemer and my friend. I thank him for the blessed privilege of
engaging in the ministry, and I praise his holy name that through his servants
he has shown his willingness to use the weakest of us to do some little good in
that ministry.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> So stated Elder Hugh B.
Brown to the assembled members at general conference.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> <span></span></o:p></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Early Years<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hugh Brown
was born in 1883, growing up in Granger (now West Valley City), Utah, and later
near Cardston, Alberta, Canada. As a teenager he worked the family orchard,
farm, and cattle. He was obliged to leave school at sixteen to keep up the
farm, so his early education was limited.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In 1900 he
met Zina Card, the girl he would marry five years later, after completing his
mission. Hugh was able to go to school at the Brigham Young College (this later
became Utah State University) in Logan, Utah, for a short time, but was soon
called on a mission.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>A Terrifying but Sublime Missionary Experience<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As a brand-new
missionary, serving in England (Norwich), Elder Brown began tracting (door
contacting and passing out pamphlets). He received only rejection during his
first few days. Then a man came to his apartment with news that his and
seventeen other families had left the Church of England. Feeling that Elder
Brown’s presence and pamphlet was the answer to their prayers, he asked him to
become their “Pastor.” Elder Brown said he would meet with them the next
evening. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Having been
a missionary for only three days, he was terrified and could only think to fast
and pray. “I knelt at my bedside, and for the first time in my life I really
talked with God. I had been taught to pray, and I had always said my prayers,
but as I knelt by my bed that night, I really talked with the Lord. I told him
of my situation; I told him that these people were leaving the Church of
England to search for the truth, that they were calling for it, and that I
wasn’t prepared to give it to them. I asked him to please take the
responsibility off my hands. He didn’t seem to answer.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This humble
struggle in prayer went on all night and all the next day, until Elder Brown
forced his feet to take him to the home where the families were met. He first
sang, and then he prayed with them. “They knelt, and I prayed. And for the
second time in my life, I talked with God. I talked with him as one man talks
with another on serious matters. I told him again of the situation. I told him
that these people had assembled to hear the truth, and I remember saying, ‘Oh
God, wilt thou teach them the truth tonight; if I can be an instrument, all is
well. But, oh God, take over.’ As soon as I started to pray, all fear and
concern left me, and I did not again worry about what was going to happen.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then Elder
Brown gave a talk. “I spoke for 45 minutes. God spoke through me such a sermon
as I had never heard, and those people had never heard anything like it. When
the meeting closed, they flocked around me and held my hands and kissed them. I
told you that I had to drag myself down to that place to attend that meeting. I
can tell you now that I think I only touched the ground once on my way home. I
was so elated that God had heard my prayer. Within three months every man,
woman, and child in that room became members of the Church.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>From Marriage to Seventy<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Returning
from his mission, Hugh was able to break up Zina’s engagement to another fellow
and marry her himself. President Joseph F. Smith performed the ceremony in the
Salt Lake Temple in 1908. Over the following decades, Hugh would live in
Canada, study law, and serve a mission in the military. In 1927 he moved back
to Salt Lake City, where in 1930 he was called as stake president. He became
afflicted with “tic douloureux” a painful condition that affected the nerves in
his head. He campaigned for United States Senator from Utah in 1932 but lost. He
served a turbulent term on the Utah State Liquor Commission, trying to limit
alcohol distribution and consumption in Utah. In 1937 he was called as the
president of the British Mission, when World War II interrupted his service.
After some years he returned (in 1945) as both mission president and as the Latter-day
Saint Serviceman’s Coordinator in Europe. President Brown’s son was killed
during the war.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>From 1946
to 1950 Hugh taught religion at Brigham Young University. Following that, he
returned to Canada seeking an improved living, but troubled and uncertain as to
what the future held.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Call as an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hugh Brown
was working in Canada, this time for an oil company, when he received a call to
full-time church service as a general authority.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
October 1953, I was up in the Canadian Rockies, supervising the drilling of an
oil well. Although my family were in good health and good spirits and I was
making good money, I was deeply depressed and worried. Early one morning I went
up into the mountains and talked with the Lord in prayer. I told Him that
although it looked like I was going to become wealthy as a result of my oil
ventures, if in His wisdom it would not be good for me or my family I hoped He
would put an end to it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
night I drove from the camp up at Rocky Mountain House down to Edmonton still
spiritually disturbed and depressed. Without having dinner that night, I went
into the bedroom by myself, told my wife that she should stay in the other room
as I felt I would have a restless night and did not wish to disturb her. All
night I wrestled with the evil spirit. I was possessed with the spirit of
wishing that I could be rubbed out of existence. I had no thought of suicide,
but wished the Lord would provide a way for me to cease to be. The room was
full of darkness and an evil spirit prevailed, so real that I was almost
consumed by it. About three o’clock in the morning my wife [Zina] came in,
having heard me moving about the room and asked what was the matter. Upon
closing the door, she said, “Oh Hugh, what is in this room?” and I replied, “It
is Satan.” We spent the balance of the night together, much of it on our knees.
The next morning upon going to the office (there was no one there, it being
Saturday), I knelt in prayer again and asked for deliverance from this evil
spirit. I felt a peaceful spirit come over me and phoned my wife to that
effect.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
night, while I was taking a bath about ten o’clock, the telephone rang and she
called me and said, “Salt Lake City is calling.” Upon going to the phone, I
heard a voice which said, “This is David O. McKay calling. The Lord wants you
to spend the balance of your life in the service of the Church. The Council of
the Twelve have just voted that you should take the place made vacant by the
recent death of Stayner Richards, and you are to become an assistant to the
Twelve.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Although
mother and I had spent a wakeful night the night before, and a terrible night
it was, that night we stayed awake as well, rejoicing in the thought that the
Lord would reach out so far to touch us in time of need.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When Hugh
was finally able to get to church headquarters, he told President McKay of his experience
with the devil the night before his call as a general authority: “I told the
president when I came down thirty days later about this experience, and he
said, ‘As far as I know, every man who is called into the General Authorities
has to wrestle with the devil.’”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Call to the Quorum of the Twelve<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sunday,
April 6, 1958, proved to be a memorable though overwhelming day for Elder
Brown. He began it as an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve but ended it as a
member of the Quorum itself. In the morning session of general conference, he bore
his witness during his address: “<a name="_Hlk48908637">I bear my testimony to
you, my friends, and brothers and sisters, that from the center of my heart to
the ends of my fingers and toes I know that Jesus is the Christ</a>, the Son of
the Living God. I know that he came forth from the tomb with his body, which he
displayed to his disciples, and invited them to feel of the wounds. I know that
he has spoken again. I know that the gospel has been restored to the earth.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then,
between conference sessions, the prophet of the Lord sought an interview with
him. His biographers narrated the story:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">President McKay asked to see him in
the Tabernacle office of the General Authorities immediately after the Sunday
morning session of the April 1958 general conference. There the Church leader
said: “The Lord wants you to be a member of the Council of the Twelve. How do
you feel about it?” President Brown remembers saying, “Well, if I was ever
justified in criticizing what the Lord wants, I am in that position now because
I feel that I am unprepared.” President McKay answered: “We don’t agree with
you. We have submitted it to the Twelve and they have approved, and now we want
you to tell us whether you will accept.” The reply was predictable. “Of course
I will accept any call that comes from the Lord, and I will do the best that I
can. . . .”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After
assuring President McKay that he would accept the call, he was asked to speak
again, and give something of an acceptance:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
dear brethren and sisters, I respond to this call in deep humility, with a keen
sense of my own inadequacy, but with confidence in my Brethren who have thought
me worthy of it. I shall spend the balance of my life trying to make their
judgment good. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
thank President McKay for his confidence. I love him with all my heart. It has
been my privilege to do some little work with and for him to help to take a
little of the burden from his heart. I thank God for that association. I love
and honor his Counselors and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve, each one
of whom I know, in each one of whom I have absolute confidence. I restate my
faith. I rededicate my life. I thank you for your confidence. I pray for
forgiveness of my weaknesses and sins, and ask for your charity and tolerance
and for God's blessings.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In his
diary, he wrote: “This calling was very humbling indeed, but in fulfillment of
a life-long ambition of my beloved mother, who predicted it when I was but a
boy. I was ordained an apostle in the Salt Lake Temple in the meeting of the
Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, by President David O.
McKay, on April 10, 1958.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
In his address as the newest apostle, at the following October conference, he
said: “I wish to bear my testimony with those that have already been borne that
the Church today, the kingdom of God, is being led by revelation. God is not
the author of confusion. He does not work in dark places. He makes it known to
the world when he appoints a prophet, and I testify that I know as I know I
live, that this Church today is guided by prophecy and by revelation, and that
these men whom we honor are prophets of God.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At the time
of his ordination, he was counseled to act his part: “One of the things that
President McKay says to all the men who are called to the Council of the Twelve
is this: ‘You are to become a witness of Jesus the Christ, a special witness.
Wherever you go you are to bear that witness and bless the people.’ My young
friends, with all the solemnity of my soul, speaking from the very center of my
heart, I say to you, knowing that I am on the very brink of eternity, that
Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world. . . . He is the
Son of the living God.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> And:
“We believe this is the message for which the world has been waiting. We
declare it is the very truth of God, and for my own self I bear witness to that
effect and say to you in humility, but without any equivocation, by the same
power and authority with which Peter spoke, I say, with him, ‘Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God.’ (Matt. 16:16.) I know this to be true, and
I plead with men everywhere to hearken; for it is a message from the heavens,”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Serving in the First Presidency<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In 1961
President McKay called Elder Brown to serve in the First Presidency, in what
began something a little unusual in Church leadership. At a meeting of the
First Presidency and the Twelve, “President McKay also submitted the name of
Hugh B. Brown as a counselor in the Presidency to help the Presidency now that
President Clark is almost incapacitated. President Clark remains as first counselor
and President Moyle as second counselor and Hugh B. Brown as a counselor in the
Presidency.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This arrangement
lasted until President J. Reuben Clark Jr. died in 1961, when he became the second
counselor, serving with President Henry D. Moyle. When President Moyle died two
years later in 1963, President Brown became the first counselor and N. Elden
Tanner the second. With the years passing and President McKay becoming
increasingly old and ill, President Brown carried great responsibility for the
Church. In the years before his death, President McKay also called Joseph
Fielding Smith, Thorpe B. Isaacson, and Alvin R. Dyer as additional counselors
to the First Presidency. (These men returned to their former positions when
President McKay died.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While serving
as second counselor in the First Presidency, President Brown was assigned to
tour the missions established in South America. One of these was in Brazil,
where William Grant Bangerter was serving as the mission president. He later
became a general authority. He recorded his observations and experiences with
President Brown in 1963:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
can remember the impressiveness of his instruction, especially to the
missionaries. In Sao Paulo during the conference with the members his speech
was interpreted by Remo Roselli, a Brazilian who had formerly filled a mission
in Brazil and who was not a particularly active member of the Church. However,
he had an unusually fine ability to translate or to interpret. President Brown
there told his special parable of the currant bush. Brother Roselli was able to
interpret for him in such a way that the interpretation seemed to enhance the
presentation and the testimony that was attached to it. It was a very spiritual
occasion. President Brown’s method of speaking lent itself to an easy
interpretation, and the spirit and the understanding of his message came
through in a very powerful way, impressive to everyone. The spiritual level at
that meeting was something almost unequaled in our experience. The same was
true in the meeting he held with the missionaries, where he projected a
spiritual influence to them that was unequaled in my experience with other
General Authorities. We felt very much the closeness of the Holy Ghost in the
meeting. He was able to uplift and inspire the missionaries. He made a comment
that I understand he may have made on other occasions. He said near the close
of his remarks that there were those in the group who would someday be in
bishoprics and stake presidencies, and he said, “There will also be some of
this group who will be among the General Authorities of the Church.” I don’t
know whether it was out of a brief moment of ambitious thinking or whether it
was a true touch of the Holy Spirit that said to me, “You might be included in
that group.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That same
year, at the October general conference, Elder Brown testified: “From the very
center of my heart I bear witness to the divinity of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. [He has been so good to me as to give me a special knowledge of His
existence.] I do not claim to have had visions or [spectacular] revelations,
but I do claim that he has stamped upon my soul a knowledge of the divinity of
this work which did not come through my natural senses but through the Holy
Ghost.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Some four
years later, in another supernal conference address, President Brown employed
what seems to be specially and carefully selected wording to convey his special
witness—words that may or may not mean more than one might think—for “the
Spirit beareth witness.” They may refer to a special interview with the Christ
(something entirely possible with apostles), where Brother Brown was allowed to
“touch” His resurrected body. Or they may not; perhaps referring instead to
some other mighty manifestation from the Holy Spirit:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
those eleven downhearted men suddenly become aware that Jesus was in their
midst—the Jesus who only hours before had been scourged and stabbed on the
hill—they, as Luke said, “believed not for joy.” (See Luke 24:41.) It was too good
to be true, and then came his marvelous challenge and demonstration as he said:
“. . . handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me
have.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And
when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet.” (Luke
24:39-40.) They saw; they touched, and were touched by his glorious resurrected
body. That was the great revelation—Christ was real and touchable.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
I say here now reflects not only Bible study and prayerful meditation, but also
actual experience that defies a thousand and one traditions and assumptions. I
would not be standing here if it had not come to life within me when I was on
the edge of my own abyss.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
hands, feet, and side of Christ had bled in the awful turning of his solitary
winepress [in Gethsemane] before they were pierced at Golgotha. His whole body
bled in the midst of his vicarious pain. This was an actual experience; it was
not a myth.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
the eleven apostles were celebrating an extended Easter at Jerusalem, they were
overwhelmed by the implications of his final instructions and seemed moved by
an endowment of the Spirit, for they witnessed not only his own unforeseen
immortality but also their own immortality. It was the reality of reunion of
their lives with his life; it was knowing him again, in their midst, being with
them. It was his ministering, dining, sharing with them. It was being
close—closer than ever before. They became aware of his great power—indeed, all
power both in heaven and in earth had been given unto him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
bear witness to these New Testament insights, the newest of which is his
present touch. To be in touch with Christ means today what it meant to John and
Peter and Paul: to see, to receive, and to prize the actual ministrations.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
witness that his voice, his person, has been manifested today in our time and
culture. And more: that he will now, as then, manifest himself to those who
will come as John came not counting the cost. He can be and is touched by the
power of his divine Sonship.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
bear witness that Christ was the revelation of God, the Father, and I dare
proclaim what some creeds have forbidden us to say: that when the disciples
knelt at Jesus' feet, embraced his knees, looked into his face, they were
beholding and touching a personality who had become absolutely like the Eternal
Father.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
bear witness that the touch of Christ, as he is presently glorified, is the
touch of the highest nature of God. When he entered the presence of God, the
Father, he was transformed into the express image of his person. He became not
only the revelation of the Father but also the revelation of redeemed man. . .
.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With
Job of old and with the apostles I humbly bear witness that I know that my
Redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the last day upon the earth.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Also in
1967, President Brown spoke to a gathering of newly called “Regional
Representatives of the Twelve” (an obsolete calling since replaced by Area
Presidencies). Elder Rex C. Reeve, one of those present to receive the counsel
and direction given by various members of the First Presidency and the Twelve,
made excellent notes of what President Brown taught. What he said to those
gathered then echoed similar teachings he had given on other occasions—that
they could call on God the Father through earnest prayer and would receive some
kind of answer:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today
was the first day of the intensive Seminar for the Regional Representatives of
the Twelve and the General Authorities of the Church.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
was a never-to-be-forgotten day; the spirit was so powerful and the fellowship
of these choice brethren so good. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">Pres. Hugh B. Brown [taught]:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“O
God, if thy presence go not with me, carry me not up hence, O Lord”; we need to
keep in mind the indispensability of the constant association and direction of
the Holy Spirit. . . . All who are here this morning have been assigned to
responsibilities, sacred responsibilities, heavy enough to cause any of us to
quake, and yet if His presence [Spirit] is with us we shall not need to fear.
But we may not suppose that His presence [Spirit] will be constantly with us
unless we constantly seek it. Speak His name. Call for His help.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If
you will call out, “Father, are you there”; if you will make that call, I
promise you that He will reply. You may not hear the voice, but you will have
the assurance of His presence and you will know that He is there, standing by
to help you. And whatever may happen—you will be disappointed; you will be
heartbroken at times; you will not get the things that you think you ought to
have at times—in any circumstances know and believe you are there, if you are
conscious of His presence you will not be permitted to do any great evil. “Father,
are you there?” I bear witness that He will respond.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Experiences
have come [to me] that are heartbreaking; others have come that are
exhilarating and uplifting and glorifying. Always I have felt if I could keep
close to Him that there was nothing that He and I could not handle. With that
presence we have been able to control our own natures, refrain from criticism
of our brethren, been able to refrain from sin to which we are often subjected.
. . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If
we could surround ourselves with the Spirit that envelopes us this morning; if
in all the activities of life we could be in touch with Him and know that He is
in touch with us, and know that we can rely upon Him; then we will constantly
be aware and reminded again and again for the need of His help and our
dependence upon Him, that we would be strengthened and fortified and made equal
to any task by the simple knowledge that we are in His service, that He is
sustaining us and if we keep ourselves clean, we will be equal to anything
asked of us. That we may rededicate ourselves and all we have to His Kingdom,
ready to go when and where called with His Spirit to accompany us then our
missions will be successful. God bless you and peace be with you, and may we be
as one as we undertake the stupendous task of preparing for the Savior of the
World.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
is coming again. He will appear and those who are worthy will see Him and be
caught up to meet Him. And remember always the Adversary is not dead; neither
does he sleep and he will be ready to attack us any time and we must not let
down our guard or yield to the temptations to which you are subjected in this
life.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>[Elder
Reeve:] This was a great spiritual experience to meet in the upper room of the
Lord’s House and be enveloped by His Holy Spirit, beyond anything I had known
before.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Such
counsel indicates that President Brown’s special witness had gradually
strengthened as the years of his ministry passed. He testified with absolute
sureness; his special witness was unimpeachable: “God has been so good to me as
to make known to me, in ways [so sacred] that I cannot explain, that Jesus of Nazareth
is the Son of God. I know that he is the Redeemer of this world. I have been
close enough to him to get from him a convincing testimony of that fact, which
has been sealed upon my soul. I leave you this testimony, and I say, as Peter
of old said in answer to the question, ‘Whom say ye that I am?’ [I say with
Peter,] ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ (See Matt. 16:15-16.)
I know it. I know it better than I know anything else, and for that knowledge I
am grateful to him.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Return to the Quorum of the Twelve<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Brown had mixed feelings about no longer being in the First Presidency when
Joseph Fielding Smith did not select him as a counselor. On one hand he wrote
in his diary that he felt thankful to be relieved of some of the “onerous”
responsibilities that he had shouldered for so many years, plus his health was
in decline and kept him from functioning adequately under the intense burdens
of high office. However, he also loved being in the center of things and
associating with his Quorum. As the months passed, and his health worsened, he
found himself with little to do and little contact with the general
authorities. While much less stressful, his last few years also proved to be somewhat
depressing and miserable for him. Yet there were sublime and glorious
compensations, for the Lord did not forsake His special witness.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There are
two known narratives of President Hugh B. Brown being visited by Jesus. They
are probably largely accurate, though they may or may not refer to the same
visitation. One includes some odd wording that may be in error. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One account
was written by Elder Brown’s nephew, President N. Elden Tanner, in his diary,
but no date is given other than it occurred after President Brown had been back
in the Quorum of the Twelve for some time. President Tanner recorded: “He said
it was not a vision, but the Lord appeared to him, very informal, the same as I
was sitting talking to him. The Lord said, ‘You have had some difficult times
in your life.’ Uncle Hugh responded, ‘Yes, and your life was more difficult
than any of us have had.’ In the conversation Uncle Hugh asked when he would be
finished here, and the Lord said, ‘I don’t know and I wouldn’t tell you if I
did.’ Then He said, ‘Remain faithful to the end, and everything will be all
right.’”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Obviously Elder Brown was worthy of such a visitation. But for the resurrected Lord
Jesus Christ to say, “I don’t know” is contrary to all the revelations which
teach that God “knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it”
(2 Nephi 9:20; see also Alma 26:35; Moroni 7:22; D&C 38:2; 88:6, 41). So we
cannot be sure this visitation account has been accurately preserved.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The second
(shorter) account, also undated, found in President Brown’s memoirs, relates
that, “One night he dreamed he was in the Savior’s presence. No words were
exchanged. He said none were necessary. ‘His love enriched me, and I felt his
understanding acceptance of me despite all my imperfect ways.’”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Since there was conversation in one narrative but not in the other, it is probable
that they relate two separate appearances to this humble, faithful apostle. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These same
memoirs inform us that on occasion, Brother Brown experienced sacred dreams in
which he was visited (from the Spirit World) by the spirits of old friends from
his past: Stayner Richards, Marvin O. Ashton, and Harold B. Lee. While we are
aware of no further record of the first two names, we do have more about
Brother Lee. Dr. Russell M. Nelson, before he became an apostle and then President
of the Church, related his witness of what Elder Brown said to him in his
autobiography: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
President Kimball extended an invitation to President Brown to attend the
dedication, he indicated that due to his advanced age and feeble condition, he
felt he could go only if a doctor went along. Fortunately, I got that
assignment, . . . My responsibility was to be available for whatever President
Brown might need. I checked him each night and morning. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On
the morning of the temple dedication, President Brown greeted me with the news
that he had been visited during the night by President Harold B. Lee (President
Lee had died the year before). He described it as a glorious visit, one that
meant much to him, . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Later
that morning, as we took President Brown to breakfast, Sister Harold B. (Freda
Joan) Lee approached us. As we exchanged greetings, President Brown said to
her, “I had a glorious visit with Harold last night. He is just fine. It was so
good to visit with him.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
was such a moving experience for us all. We felt the presence of President
Lee’s spirit in the temple through the witness of President Brown.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Washington D.C. Temple dedication occurred in November 1974 and Elder Brown viewed
it as the culmination of his mortal ministry. In his remarks on that occasion,
he again avowed his special witness: “My brethren and sisters, with all the
earnestness and solemnity of my soul I say to you that Jesus of Nazareth is the
Son of the Living God, our Redeemer, who won and made the atonement for us. . .
. I am glad to make this declaration to you this day because in the ordinary
course of events it will not be my privilege very long to declare these things
on this earth. . . . When Peter replied, ‘Thou are the Christ . . . ,’ the Savior
said: ‘Blessed art thou, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven.’ From the same source and with the same
authority that he spoke, I declare unto you that I know that He is the Christ.
. . . I am very grateful that in the course of human events I have been led
into circumstances and conditions where I have had to defend the truth even
without wanting to save my own life. And now, rather than deny it, I would ask
Him to take my life. . . .’”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
(Elder Brown lived little more than a year after uttering those words.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Though his
opportunities to declare his special witness diminished as he grew older and
more incapacitated, he still found occasion to bear testimony and did: “I want
to tell you, my brethren and sisters, as is my calling as a witness of Christ,
that I too know, and I know it from the same source that Peter knew it, for
flesh and blood have not revealed that knowledge unto me, but our Father which
is in heaven. And from the bottom of my heart I say to him and to you, . . . , ‘Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God,’ and I know it as I know that I
live.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder Hugh
B. Brown died on December 2, 1975, at age ninety-two after an extended illness.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1955, 83.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Will You Be Our Pastor?” <i>Ensign</i>, April 1974. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
The preceding summarized biographical information is taken from, “Elder Hugh B.
Brown, 1883–1975,” <i>Ensign</i>, January 1976. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a name="_Hlk48906727">“In Memoriam: Elder Hugh B. Brown, 1883–1975,” <i>Ensign</i>,
January 1976;</a> this account is also included in Eugene E. Campbell &
Richard D. Poll, <i>Hugh B. Brown: His Life and Thought</i> (Salt Lake City:
Bookcraft, 1975), 218-19 and also, “Father, Are You There?” <i>BYU Speeches</i>,
October 8, 1967.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a name="_Hlk48823806">“Father, Are You There?” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, October 8,
1967</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1958, 111. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Campbell & Poll, <i>Hugh B. Brown</i>, 233-34.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1958, 130.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Campbell & Poll, <i>Hugh B. Brown</i>, 232.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, October 1958, 64. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Hugh B. Brown, “Father, Are You There?” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, October 8, 1967. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, October 1961, 98. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Marion G. Romney diary, June 22, 1961.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
William Grant Bangerter, <i>These Things I Know: The Autobiography of William
Grant Bangerter</i>, comp. Cory Wm. Bangerter (Printed by BYU Print Services:
Voices and Images, 2013), 212-13.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, October 1963, 88. The first bracketed sentence is in the
audio version of the talk, but for some unaccountable reason was removed from
the printed conference report. Further, I inserted the single bracketed word in
order to clarify Pres. Brown’s meaning; of course he had had personal
revelations; many of them. That is how he obtained his testimony—that of a
special witness—by receiving much revelation from the Holy Ghost. In this
instance he means dramatic revelations of an unusual kind, or for the guidance
of the Church, or perhaps written revelations. Over and over he declared he had
received revelation from God on the fundamentals of the Church and gospel and
to strengthen and amplify his special witness.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1967, 53. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn17" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Rex C. Reeve diary, September 27, 1967.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn18" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1969, 114.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn19" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
G. Homer Durham, <i>N. Eldon Tanner: His Life and Service</i> (Salt Lake City:
Deseret Book, 1982), 255-56.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn20" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<a name="_Hlk48834434">Edwin B. Firmage, <i>An Abundant Life: The Memoirs of
Hugh B. Brown</i> (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1988), </a>145.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn21" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Russell M. Nelson, <i>From Heart to Heart </i>(Salt Lake City: Privately
Printed by Quality Press, 1979), 188.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn22" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Campbell & Poll, <i>Hugh B. Brown</i>, 320.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn23" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“This Same Jesus,” <i>Ensign</i>, December 1971.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-40510570676804796232021-09-07T13:25:00.001-07:002021-09-07T13:25:22.162-07:00President Henry D. Moyle’s Special Witness of Jesus Christ<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">[Readers desiring to obtain their own </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-hardback" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">hardback copies of <b>volume one</b></a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> of </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ</span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> can find copies on sale </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-hardback" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">Softbound copies </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-paperback-23292" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">can be purchased here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Know-He-Lives-Special-Witnesses-ebook/dp/B075NJN959/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&qid=1625166117&refinements=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=digital-text&sr=1-5&text=Dennis+Horne" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">on Amazon here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyZRsmH9__uAjzVtFpnCkJnjrowynZoPgWVRT1pJtoYHMOFjhKbC89wxZPW0-ZsSHF9HOrucpPk8-GLiT0ZgFZ4iz8oZU96Rk3Ty49h97J6ikwzLAmvlr1lCpw6uGw7UqtKDwXZeYpFDeL/s388/image001_130.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="299" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyZRsmH9__uAjzVtFpnCkJnjrowynZoPgWVRT1pJtoYHMOFjhKbC89wxZPW0-ZsSHF9HOrucpPk8-GLiT0ZgFZ4iz8oZU96Rk3Ty49h97J6ikwzLAmvlr1lCpw6uGw7UqtKDwXZeYpFDeL/s320/image001_130.gif" width="247" /></a></i></div><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><br /><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></i><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">(by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=relevancerank&text=Dennis+Horne&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1">Dennis B. Horne</a>)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>I know that as
this call came to me,<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there came a witness of the Holy Ghost that I
had never possessed before, <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>a change that
sometimes I feel was physical as well as spiritual.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>James H. Moyle’s Testimony<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Henry D.
Moyle loved his father, an energetic man of great strength of mind, character, influence,
and spirituality. While standing before religious educators at BYU, Brother
Moyle spoke of his father’s valiant service as a missionary and of his becoming
one of the first and most prominent lawyers in Utah:<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
father, James H. Moyle, had been on a mission to the southern states. He had
seen fellow missionaries murdered in the mission field. He was right close by
when Elder Joseph Standing was shot. He was one of the first elders to arrive
on the scene after his death. He was there with Elder Matthew Cowley. After he
had completed his mission, in which he had many miraculous experiences—given
power to control the mobs and to stay them in their course, and by the exercise
of that power to have men of influence and power in the community converted and
brought into the Church—after he had finished that mission he went to the
University of Michigan. President John Taylor had given him a blessing that he
might go there to study the law and promised him that he would have the
privilege of coming home and using that talent to defend the Brethren. I am
sure that that was one of the great highlights in Father’s life, to come back
at the time when the Brethren needed a man holding the priesthood to be their
friend in court.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At the
conclusion of his law studies, James H. Moyle (Jim) learned from his father that
David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon, was still
alive (about eighty then). Jim therefore decided to visit David Whitmer at his
residence in Richmond, Missouri. He had a special purpose in mind—to interview (really
interrogate) him about his testimony of the Book of Mormon. Elder James E.
Faust told the story in a general conference address:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
a young Aaronic Priesthood boy, I received a firsthand confirmation of the
remarkable testimony of the Three Witnesses concerning the truthfulness of the
Book of Mormon. My stake president was President Henry D. Moyle, and his father
was James H. Moyle. In the summertime Brother James H. Moyle would visit his
family, and he would worship with us in our little ward in the southeast of the
Salt Lake Valley.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One
Sunday, Brother James H. Moyle shared with us a singular experience. As a young
man he went to the University of Michigan to study law. As he was finishing his
studies, his father told him that David Whitmer, one of the witnesses of the
Book of Mormon, was still alive. The father suggested to his son that he stop
on his way back to Salt Lake City to visit with David Whitmer face-to-face.
Brother Moyle’s purpose was to ask him about his testimony concerning the
golden plates and the Book of Mormon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>During
that visit, Brother Moyle said to David Whitmer: “Sir, you are an old man, and
I’m a young man. I have been studying about witnesses and testimonies. Please
tell me the truth concerning your testimony as one of the witnesses of the Book
of Mormon.” David Whitmer then told this young man: “Yes, I held the golden
plates in my hands, and they were shown to us by an angel. My testimony
concerning the Book of Mormon is true.” David Whitmer was out of the Church,
but he never denied his testimony of the angel’s visitation, of handling the
golden plates, or of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Hearing with my
own ears this remarkable experience directly from Brother Moyle’s lips had a
powerful, confirming effect upon my growing testimony. Having heard it, I felt
it was binding upon me.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Over the
decades Jim Moyle was often hired by the Church to defend it and its leaders in
court against various prosecution (mostly relating to plural marriage) and nuisance
suits brought by anti-Mormons. He led a life of productivity and usefulness in
the church and dabbled in politics. He eventually became the Assistant
Secretary of the Treasury of the United States and then Commissioner of the
United States Customs Service, serving as Eastern States Mission President
in-between. Jim Moyle died in 1946, the year before his son Henry was called as
an apostle.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>An Optimistic and Prosperous Beginning<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Henry Moyle
was born in Salt Lake City in 1889. He served in the military, attended the
University of Utah, and served a mission to Switzerland and Germany. On his
return he studied law at the University of Chicago and Harvard law schools.
Then, armed with his education and law degree, he waded into Utah business and
politics, becoming highly successful and wealthy. From 1927 to 1937 he served
as a stake president. In 1937 he was asked to chair the Church Welfare Committee,
in company with Harold B. Lee and (later) Marion G. Romney. During these years
of welfare responsibility he also kept up a law practice and many other
investments and interests (oil, ranching, politics). Then in early April 1947,
his life was drastically altered with his call to become a special witness of
Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Brother
Moyle had been in Salt Lake City before conference, but was given permission by
President George Albert Smith to travel to New York City since there were no
major issues needing his attention. But as general conference was about to
start (then a three-day affair), Henry received a “long-distance” telephone
call from President Smith, in which he was called as an apostle and told to
return immediately to Salt Lake so he could be sustained and ordained.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Near the
conclusion of conference, Elder Moyle was given opportunity to speak. His words
were an expression of humility: “It goes without saying that we do in this
Church what we are told. I have never understood that it was my privilege as a
member of this Church, holding the priesthood, to say no. I have never had a
desire in my heart to do anything other than that which the brethren direct.
While I may feel as if some of the things that they have most recently asked me
to do are beyond my power, nevertheless so far as my Heavenly Father will give
me the power to act I shall do so, and all that I have and am belongs to my
Heavenly Father.” After noting his complete willingness to be obedient, he bore
testimony: “I know that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. . . . There has
never been a question of a doubt in my mind that our Heavenly Father and his
Son Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove. I have stood on
that spot. I have heard the testimonies of the leaders of this Church borne
there. I have felt with all the feeling there was within my being, that that
was the Sacred Grove, and that that was where the gospel of Jesus Christ was
again restored to mankind in this day and age.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In a
meeting of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, Henry D. Moyle was ordained
an apostle by President George Albert Smith and then given the apostolic
charge. It has been noted that Brother Moyle was a man of wealth, probably a
millionaire. It is thought that Elder Matthew Cowley was referring to Elder
Moyle when he said the following about Elder Moyle’s humble spirit of
consecration, in a (1953) talk to BYU students: “I’ll never forget the day I
heard one [new apostle] after he had received the [apostolic] charge, when he
was ordained to the Council—one of the wealthiest ones there. He stood up and
he said, ‘Everything I own, everything I possess, all my securities, all my
wealth is on the alter. Take it.’”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Elder Moyle felt that his
ability to give up the practice of law and the pursuit of wealth, in
conjunction with his call to the apostleship, was a special gift to him from
God. He explained:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
will never cease to be grateful to the Lord for the first and lasting
impression he gave me in reference to my call into the circle of the General
Authorities. It seemed that spontaneously, instantaneously, without any
voluntary act upon my part (I really cannot claim any credit for it) I had no
interest in anything that pertained to my former profession. I was in New York
on one of the largest legal matters that I had ever handled, and I had just
barely laid the foundation for the negotiations on a Friday afternoon, with
appointments made for the next week, when President Smith called me and told me
to catch a night plane home. From that moment to this I have never been back
into my old office. When I came home President George F. Richards said, “I
would like to see you in the morning.” He made his request at the afternoon
session of the conference, and I was due back in New York—I had been promised
by President [George Albert] Smith that I could be back in New York Monday
morning. But, to make a long story short, I never went at all. I telephoned New
York and told my client to pack up my bags, which I had not had time to bring
with me that Friday night, and to bring them home. I informed him that he would
have to start over again with somebody else. He was, of course, agreeable.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
am so grateful for that. It was not even a temptation. I had gone to President
Smith just the Tuesday before. (I was then the chairman of the General Welfare
Committee and had been for many years, and I was accustomed to going to
conference.) I said, “Would you like to excuse me from this General Conference,
or should I give up this work in New York?” and he said, “Go ahead, my boy. We
have no use for you here.” And so I left. So I know that between Tuesday and
Friday afternoon something happened. President Smith told me what happened, and
I have never had any occasion to doubt it. He said that the Lord had spoken.
What was there on earth that could interest me? You know, my faith was just
simple enough to believe him. I know with all my heart and soul what he told me
was true. And so there was not anything else in life that had any interest for
me. . . . But I am grateful to the Lord that he made that divorcement so
complete, so definite, and so quick because I am sure that therein lies the
basis and the foundation for anything I have been able to do, since, in helping
with his work. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
love to bear my testimony of the divinity of this work. I love to be engaged in
it. And I want to say to you in all humility that I know that the Lord
magnifies us in our callings. I know that I can call on the Lord for his help
today and know that I am going to get it. I have that assurance, and when the
day is over I know that I have had that help and can kneel down and thank God
for it. I think I would be the most miserable of all men on the earth if that
were not the case. I would hate to have to stand alone. I am sure I could not
stand alone and accomplish the work that I should accomplish in my calling.
That is true of every one of us, brethren.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now,
I hope and pray the Lord will bless us with his Spirit and let it wipe out of
our minds any doubts, any uncertainties, any unwillingness on our part to go
the whole way. I am willing to stand before anybody in the world and call them
to repentance and to bear my unequivocal testimony to them. And the moment that
I let propriety, or friendship, or reason, or anything else, hold me back from
doing what I know my duty to be, I am sure that I would lose the spirit that I
now enjoy. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
still, out of all the means and methods by which he could have established the
truth in the heart of that boy prophet, Joseph Smith, he chose this one. And
after one hundred thirty years, all the wisdom of mankind has never made it
possible for us to devise a better means than to deliver, right from the
shoulder, the eternal truth that God revealed to Joseph Smith—and let the chips
fall where they may. I have no apology for any man upon the face of the earth
for what the Lord said to Joseph Smith. And I have no apology to offer any man,
if he will stand still long enough to listen to me tell him what the Lord said.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Bearing his Special Witness of Jesus Christ<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In 1954,
Elder Harold B. Lee invited Elder Moyle to speak to a group of Church
Educational System instructors. The First Presidency had assigned Elder Lee to
teach these men because some of them were (alarmingly) drifting into unorthodox
doctrinal territory. They spent two hours a day, five days a week, for five
weeks, being taught by Elder Lee and a few other church leaders that he
sometimes invited to substitute for him. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder Moyle
was asked to describe his testimony as a special witness of Christ, including
the question of whether it was necessary to see Jesus to qualify. Elder Moyle
quoted extensively from President Joseph Fielding Smith on the subject (that it
was <i>not</i> necessary for an apostle to see Jesus to gain his special
witness), and then spoke of his own testimony or witness, of the reality of
Jesus the Christ, and how he knew:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
want to bear witness of my own knowledge . . . that there is this greater
witness that comes into our hearts, a witness that we can no more deny than we
can deny that which is absolutely fresh in our mind. It is a witness that
continues with us every day of our ministry, regardless of where we are or to
whom we bear witness to the truth. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
testimony comes to us through the Holy Ghost. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
when that gift comes to us, my brethren and sisters, we do not need any further
witness. We have received the highest possible witness that can be given to man
from God. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You
don’t need any logic or syllogism to know when the Holy Ghost has told you.
That is final. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
have a testimony; we who are witnesses have no need of witnesses. Thus should
we be qualified for our work in the Church, and I tell you, brothers and
sisters, there are others who have not seen the Savior but know that He lives
and that He is the Redeemer of mankind.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now
I want to say to you that as I have gone along here today, I have endeavored to
bear my testimony to you. I rejoice in the call which has come to me. I have
always felt, and I hope that I shall always feel, humble in it. It has been my
purpose since this call came to me to serve. I have not wanted to ask anything
of anybody. I have just wanted to give. I have felt that there was no service
to which man could be called higher than to preach the gospel. There is no work
that pertains to the office of a member of the Quorum of the Twelve that is
higher than to bear witness to the world that God lives and that the gospel of
Jesus Christ has been restored. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Some
of us wander over the earth, and sometimes we begin to wonder what need we have
of a home or a place to lay our heads, because wherever we go there seems to be
some provision made for us. The Lord provides for us, gives us all that we
need, and I am sure that we magnify our callings in no higher respect or regard
than we do as we go out and fill these assignments throughout the Church and
throughout the world and give all that we have and are to the service of the
Lord. <a name="_Hlk48048578">I know that as this call came to me, there came a
witness of the Holy Ghost that I had never possessed before, a change that
sometimes I feel was physical as well as spiritual</a>. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well,
it was of supreme satisfaction to me that I [can] . . . bear witness to it—that
something far greater than any earthly profession had come into my life, and my
only concern now was that I might continue to so live that this witness, which
has been borne in upon me by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, might never
leave me. I have been given to know that God lives and that Jesus is the
Christ, to the point where no vision, no revelation, no divine manifestation
could in anywise, as I feel today, add to the assurance that I have in my being
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He and the Father appeared to
Joseph Smith, and through divine manifestations of the servants of God, he received
the keys of the dispensation of the fulness of times.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In early
April, 1951, when President George Albert Smith died right before general
conference began, Elder Moyle, in his remarks, remembered him with deep
affection: “I sorrow with you in the passing of President George Albert Smith.
It was he who advised me four years ago of my call to the Twelve, and no man
could have shown more love or affection or consideration for a new member of
the Quorum than did President Smith.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> (This was a rare conference
occurrence, being conducted by the Quorum of the Twelve, with David O. McKay as
its President, in the absence of a First Presidency. It also turned into
something of a commemoration or funeral service for President Smith.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In 1950,
Elder Moyle, because of his previous business experience with cattle ranching
properties, worked with the Presiding Bishopric and the First Presidency to buy
a huge cattle- and citrus-producing ranch in central Florida, near Orlando,
that cost over a million dollars; this purchase taking place as part of the
welfare program of the Church. (With additional property acquired, it
eventually became the largest cattle ranch in the world, with well over 300,000
acres.) Elder Moyle had developed a great love for the people and state of
Florida, and this interest would in time be felt by a young welfare associate,
Glen L. Rudd (as noted below).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Called into the First Presidency<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder Moyle
continued his service as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles until
June of 1959, when he was called by President McKay to be his second counselor
(at the passing of Stephen L Richards). In speaking of the inspiration behind
this call, Elder Boyd K. Packer remembered:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">I was talking to one of the
Brethren the other day, and he was searching threw his drawer for a piece of
paper, and he came upon an envelope. He picked it up and looked at it, and
looked at it again; studied it carefully and said, “What do you know.” He said,
“Let me read this to you.” He said, “This is a quotation that I wrote down
three years ago. I was in the office of President McKay and as soon as I
stepped outside the door I searched for the first piece of paper I could find
because I wanted to record exactly the statement that he had made.” The
statement he had written on this envelope was this, President David O. McKay
speaking: “I received inspiration from the appropriate source that Bro. Henry
Moyle was to take Stephen L’s place as a member of the First Presidency.” And
when you look at what has happened; you look at what is going on, it is a
miracle.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While
accepting the appointment to the First Presidency, President Moyle remarked, “I
do hope and pray that the Lord will bless me that my labors may in some small
measure reflect the deep sense of gratitude I have in my heart for this call
and make me capable, qualified, worthy, to continue to associate and to counsel
with you, my beloved brethren. I love the brethren of this Church. I am so
grateful that I have had these years of opportunity to associate with President
Joseph Fielding Smith and the members of the Twelve. It was brought rather
sternly to my realization that I was not a member of the Twelve any more when
my beloved friend, Howard W. Hunter, was called to take my place in the Twelve.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In 1961,
with the passing of President J. Reuben Clark Jr., President McKay asked
President Moyle to serve as his first counselor. President Moyle’s service in
the First Presidency was marked by enthusiasm and consecrated service to the
Lord, but also by what some historians have termed mistakes in judgment.
President McKay had delegated to him a great deal of financial responsibility
for the Church’s building program, but Brother Moyle had become perhaps overzealous—and
overspent, putting the Church in debt running into tens of millions of dollars.
President McKay had thereupon relieved President Moyle of those
responsibilities and returned him to more spiritual service during his final
years in the First Presidency.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Last Years and Death<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Although he
was only in his early 70s, President Moyle knew he would not live much longer.
Over the years of his service in the Twelve, he had several heart attacks and
other health problems—yet somehow he understood his time to depart for the
spirit world was near, and he wished to pass on his knowledge and experience to
the younger members of the Quorum. One of these was Elder Boyd K. Packer, who spoke
of his own concluding experience with this wonderful mentor:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Moyle was planning to go to Alaska. I was working very closely with him, and
something had been said about my wife and me accompanying him on this tour. I
didn’t want to go. There were several reasons, one of them being that I knew
Sister Moyle was going to go, and because of some financial pressures Donna
wouldn’t be able to go. (There were some other reasons, but I bring that in to
kind of comfort you.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
went to President Moyle’s office one day, and he mentioned it again. I said,
“Oh, President, why don’t you just leave me here. I don’t want to go. It just
complicates things, so why don’t you just leave me here and let me tend shop.
I’ll feel good about it!”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At
this he became very serious, almost stern. “No,” he said, “I want you to go.
I’ve already talked to President McKay, and he wants you to come with me.” Then
he prophetically made a statement that had its fulfillment in scarcely a month.
He said: “Boyd, I’m not going to be here very much longer. I know that. If what
I know is worth anything, it ought to be preserved and kept. I don’t know anywhere
to keep it except in those of you who are younger. I want you to come along,
and I want you to listen to me and stay close to me.” Then I could see that he
was a keeper of the faith and that the place he wanted to keep it was in those
who were younger.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Moyle used part of one of his last general conference talks to declare his
special witness: “I bear my solemn witness to the world that Jesus lives, that
his mission upon the earth was divine, that he is the Only Begotten Son of the
Father, . . .”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Moyle died at age 74 of heart disease in September 1963, on the Church cattle
ranch in Florida. “The last meeting I had with him,” remembered President Hugh
B. Brown, “was just inside my office door. He came in to tell me goodbye as he
was leaving for Florida. With tears in his eyes, he said, ‘Goodbye Hugh, we
don’t know for how long.’ He seemed to have a presentiment that he would be
leaving us.”<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Three years
later, one of his protégés, Elder Glen L. Rudd, served as the President of the
Florida Mission, where the ranch was located. Brother Rudd recorded his precious
but unusual experience visiting the ranch:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One
day in 1963 I was with President Henry D. Moyle when he told me that he felt I
would be called to preside over of the missions in New Zealand. He said to me,
“Get the expansion work done at Welfare Square and get your personal finances
in order so that when we have the next opening we can call you to go to your
old mission field in New Zealand to preside.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
Brother Moyle and I traveled together he often talked to me about Florida. He
said, “I want you to go with me to Florida. I want to take you to the Church
ranch and have you meet my friends in Florida. In fact, if you get a welfare
speaking assignment for Florida, see if you can get out of it so that I can be
the one to take you there.” We both laughed over that, but I knew what he meant.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Shortly
after the 1963 visit, President Moyle died on the Church ranch in Florida. I
lost one of my finest friends. In 1966 I received a call to preside over the
Florida Mission. We were delighted and gladly accepted the new calling. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
mission home was in Orlando, Florida, and nearby was the large Church ranch.
The first time I went out on the ranch I had a very unusual experience.
Everywhere I went I seemed to feel the presence of Brother Moyle who had always
wanted to be with me in Florida.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
I went to Tallahassee there was a beautiful large building under construction.
I found out that President Moyle had authorized a larger building than a
district was authorized because he loved Tallahassee and had promised the
Saints there that they would have a stake soon. So he gave permission to build
a stake center and it was under construction when we arrived. I had the
opportunity of overseeing its completion and shortly thereafter Brother Lee
dedicated the building.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Everywhere
I went in the mission, especially in Tallahassee and Blountstown and other
places in northern Florida, I met people who knew Brother Moyle. I had the
feeling that he was close by. I have never had an experience quite like that
one since. I seemed to be in the company of my departed friend.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Henry D. Moyle, “Value of a Personal Testimony,” Lecture Given to Seminary and
Institute Teachers, Brigham Young University, July 16, 1954.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
James E. Faust, “A Growing Testimony,” <i>Ensign</i>, November 2000.<span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> For other (first person) narrations by James H. Moyle of
his visit with David Whitmer, see Gordon B. Hinckley, <i>James H. Moyle: the
Story of a Distinguished American and an Honored Churchman</i> (Salt Lake City;
Deseret Book, 1951), 148-150, 366-68.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
These events are related in more detail in Richard D. Poll, <i>Working the
Divine Miracle: The Life of Apostle Henry D. Moyle</i>, ed., Stan Larson (Salt
Lake City: Signature Books, 1999), 143-46.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
“Strength of the Gospel,” Conference Report, April 1947, 159.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Matthew Cowley, “Learning to Live Through Better Use of Vocational
Opportunities,” <i>BYU Speeches</i>, June 19, 1953; I believe this comment had
reference to Elder Moyle because Elder Cowley had, earlier in his talk,
mentioned President Moyle’s name but had cut himself off; then later he spoke
anonymously about “one” of their number. Further, Elder Moyle was definitely
one of the wealthiest men in the Quorum of the Twelve.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Henry D. Moyle, “Address to Seminary and Institute Faculty, Brigham Young
University, June 27, 1962, 6-8.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Henry D. Moyle, “Value of a Personal Testimony,” Lecture Given to Seminary and
Institute Teachers, Brigham Young University, July 16, 1954.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, April 1951, 127. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Boyd K. Packer, “The Ideal Teacher,” June 28, 1962, transcribed from audio file
at about 3 mins in; quoted text not found in the text of the published version.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, October 1959, 83. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
In his last general conference talk, in April 1963, President Moyle spoke of
the expenditure of church funds in the building program, perhaps trying to
defend or explain to the church how those matters worked and who had ultimate
responsibility for church finances; see Conference Report, April 1963, 93. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Boyd K. Packer, Address to CES Religious Educators, 17 July 1968, 1-2.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Conference Report, October 1962, 93.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Edwin B. Firmage, <i>An Abundant Life: The Memoirs of Hugh B. Brown</i> (Salt
Lake City: Signature Books, 1988), 132.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Glen L. Rudd, <i>Treasured Experiences of Glen L. Rudd</i>, 164-65.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5124005887526469944.post-42117225427453656892021-08-31T08:03:00.002-07:002021-08-31T08:03:41.964-07:00Elder Orson F. Whitney’s Special Witness of Jesus Christ<p> <i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">[Readers desiring to obtain their own </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-hardback" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">hardback copies of <b>volume one</b></a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> of </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ</span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> can find copies on sale </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-hardback" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"> </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">Softbound copies </span><a href="https://www.cedarfort.com/products/i-know-he-lives-paperback-23292" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">can be purchased here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Know-He-Lives-Special-Witnesses-ebook/dp/B075NJN959/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&qid=1625166117&refinements=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=digital-text&sr=1-5&text=Dennis+Horne" style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">on Amazon here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;">, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]</span></i></p><p><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7lbslM2eXvEFf7KdqDq7mKoDZ_RPpxL60Vj5lu_wzoJROQXBIOEvutrTY9xJqlUXIYOgm8dovfwomt1ZGhaDfkq2ZQxlU-egJlt3wQTJb69uYl3HDVxAoRZ7KVPItlyQ_IJW0OHWt9lC/s500/orson-whitney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="493" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7lbslM2eXvEFf7KdqDq7mKoDZ_RPpxL60Vj5lu_wzoJROQXBIOEvutrTY9xJqlUXIYOgm8dovfwomt1ZGhaDfkq2ZQxlU-egJlt3wQTJb69uYl3HDVxAoRZ7KVPItlyQ_IJW0OHWt9lC/s320/orson-whitney.jpg" width="316" /></a></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><br /></i></div><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13.2px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></i><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">(by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ADennis+Horne&s=relevancerank&text=Dennis+Horne&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1">Dennis B. Horne</a>)</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“I thought I was in the garden of Gethsemane. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I saw the Savior and his Apostles, Peter, James and John.”</i><o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> One of the
most talented and able men to become an Apostle in the early decades of the 20<sup>th</sup>
Century was Orson F. Whitney, a remarkable man seldom remembered today.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> The life-path he walked
before becoming a member of the Council of the Twelve may also be one of the
most unique of this dispensation: filled with private unorthodox loyalties,
ideas, and actions to the point of obstinate heresy, while also simultaneously
serving commendably as the most prominent and visible bishop in the Church, and
then reforming and developing into a mighty apostle and special witness of
Jesus Christ.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><div> </div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Struggling to find his
place in life<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As a youth Orson
found enjoyment in music, recitation, debate, and especially drama, finding
some minor success in Salt Lake theaters as an actor. Yet for a time he
struggled to understand his place in life and in his religion. When young Orson
(called “Ort” by friends and family) decided to follow acting as a profession
and travel east to seek his fortune, he found his way hedged up so that he
could not obtain the needed financial resources to go. Though reluctant, his
mother tried to help him: “She finally said that, if she could sell a piece of
land she had, she would give me enough money to take me away. But this she was
unable to do. Everything seemed to be in the way of her disposing of that land.
I began to feel discouraged. It was now the fall of 1876, and at the October
Conference I was called on a mission to the [Eastern] States. I had no sooner
signified my intention of going and fulfilling it, than plunk! came $150 into
my hands, from the sale of my mother’s property. This was to me another
evidence of God’s overruling providence. I had faith enough, even then, to
recognize in it His all but visible hand.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Receives a
dream-vision of the Savior<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Orson left
that November and spent most of his time in Pennsylvania and Ohio, enjoying
many faith-promoting experiences that strengthened his conviction that God was
helping him in his work. Having recognized such, however, his mission had a slow
start as he initially found himself distracted from his main duty of preaching
the gospel. The consequence of the unenthusiastic beginning to his mission
became the experience that qualified him to be a special witness of Jesus
Christ for the rest of his life. He explained:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">I now wrote my
first newspaper letter, descriptive of sights and scenes in and about
Washington, and sent it to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Salt Lake
Herald</i>, over the nom de plume of “Iago,” my old soubriquet in the Wasatch
Literary Association. I previously dispatched a note to Byron Groo, editor of
that paper, asking if he would publish my correspondence, so little confidence
had I that it was worth printing. I was proud to receive an affirmative reply,
thanking me for the proposition, which to me was not only complimentary but
encouraging. My first “Iago” letter was written March 14, 1877, and I kept up
my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Herald</i> correspondence at intervals
until I returned home. The letters were popular, and my success surprised no
one more than myself. I began to cherish dreams of literary life. In fact I was
becoming more interested in this than in my missionary labors. One night, or
rather early in the morning I dreamed as follows.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
thought I was in the garden of Gethsemane. I saw the Savior and his Apostles,
Peter, James and John, enter from the direction to my right, and, leaving them
there in a group, praying, He passed to the other side and also knelt down. He
seemed to be in great mental distress and his face, which was turned towards
me, was streaming with tears. He prayed to the Father: “Let this cup pass from
me; nevertheless, Thy will, and not mine, be done.” Finishing He arose and
crossing to where his Apostles were, shook them—for they had fallen asleep—and
rousing them up, reproved them for neglecting to watch and pray. He then
returned to his former place and kneeling down prayed again. Unseen of them I
watched their movements from behind a tree. My heart was so full of sympathy
for Jesus and his sorrow that I wept in unison with him and my whole soul as if
melted, went out to him. Pretty soon He arose and beckoning his companions to
him, seemed about to take his departure. The whole circumstance of the dream
then changed, though the scene remained the same. The only difference was in
time; instead of before the crucifixion, it was after, and the Son of God,
having made the sacrifice required, was about to go to the Father, taking the
three disciples with Him. I could stand it no longer, and rushing out from my
concealment fell down at his feet, clasped him about the knees, and begged Him
to take me with him also. He gazed upon me with inexpressible tenderness, then
stooped and lifted me up into his arms and embraced me with all the affection
of a father or an elder brother. I could feel the beating of his heart and the
warmth of his bosom against mine. With a voice full of sweetness and compassion
and slowly swaying his head in denial, he said: “No, my son; your work is not
finished yet. These have done their work and they can go with me, but you must
stay and finish yours.” These words uttered in all kindness only made me more
anxious to go, though I did not repeat my request, but clinging to him besought
him further: “Well, promise me that I will come to you hereafter.” Again he
shook his head and sadly and sweetly said: “That will depend entirely on
yourself.” I awoke with a sob, and it was morning.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
was profoundly impressed and related the dream to Brother Musser. He told me it
was from the Lord. Of this I had no doubt, for the lesson it taught was full of
wisdom and warning, and it was stamped upon my mind eternally. I could not
forget it, and hope I shall always profit by its instruction.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Young Elder
Whitney described this sublime “dream-vision” experience in his diary; then again
(as quoted above) in an unpublished autobiography, and yet again in his
published autobiography near the end of his life. He also related the account in
an occasional church meeting and one or two of those found its way into print. Pondering
on the message of the dream he wrote: “I saw the moral clearly. I had never
thought of being an Apostle, nor of holding any other office in the Church, and
it did not occur to me even then. Yet I knew that those sleeping Apostles meant
me. I was asleep at my post—as any man is who, having been divinely appointed
to do one thing, does another.” Orson had grasped the meaning of the dream-vision
as it related to the distractions of his first mission, but not as it related
to major events that would influence him powerfully at other times in his life.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Called as a Bishop<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On his return,
Whitney was called to the church position in which he would serve for most of
the next three decades:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">On the fourteenth
of July, 1878, the Bishopric of the 18th Ward was reorganized, owing to the
resignation of Bishop Young, and I was chosen to succeed him in that office. I
was ordained a High Priest and set apart by President Daniel H. Wells. Apostles
George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young, Pres. Angus M. Cannon and other Elders were
present. It was in President Young’s school house, then used as a meeting house
by the 18th Ward. I was thunderstruck when I heard my name called. I had
jokingly said to an acquaintance while on my way to meeting, in reply to an
invitation to step into his room: ‘I must go to meeting; they are going to put
me in Bishop tonight.” But I did not dream that I was predicting a fact. I was
so young, having just turned 23, and being unmarried, I had not the remotest
idea of the choice falling upon me.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That same
year Bishop Whitney went to work for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deseret
News</i>, the Church-owned newspaper, an employer he would work for on and off
for a number of years. In 1879 he courted and married Zina Smoot. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adventures on Mission
to London and Liverpool<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In 1881,
while still retaining his standing and position as a ward bishop, Ort was again
sent on a mission, this time to Liverpool, England, to become “subeditor” of
the European paper for church members, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Latter-day
Saints’ Millennial Star</i>. It was on his arrival in Liverpool at the mission
headquarters that life changed profoundly for Orson, in relation to his
spiritual stability, when he met one Charles W. Stayner. Stayner, the outgoing subeditor
of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Millennial Star</i>, privately fancied
himself a prophet and he possessed a number of personally written revelations
to bolster his claims. Perhaps his main doctrinal deviation from gospel truths
was his belief in reincarnation, a (false) doctrine that Stayner quietly and
privately promoted among his fellow missionaries in England, until he had gathered
a small group of believers from among the elders. Orson himself was hesitant at
first but was soon persuaded. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder
Whitney spent some months doing regular proselyting missionary work in London,
England, before taking on his literary duties. While in London he became deeply
infatuated with a young English girl named Bertha or “Dolly” Atkinson. His hopes
of securing her as a plural wife were dashed when her mother, who loved Elder
Whitney dearly, refused to let them associate together alone. Orson made one or
two other attempts at obtaining a plural wife while on his mission, but with no
success. Eventually he began his duties as subeditor of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Millennial Star</i> under mission president
and apostle Albert Carrington. Stayner had left for Utah, but his influence
remained in the mission as a number of the elders became enamored of his
reincarnation doctrines. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Other problems in the mission were
less evident: Elder Albert Carrington was committing adultery with female
office staff members and rumors of compromising situations began to spread.
Between the failed attempts at obtaining a plural wife, the gloomy atmosphere
of the mission office where President Carrington was being immoral, the
spreading of Stayner’s reincarnation doctrines, and word from home of the death
of Orson’s new baby—although he had many marvelous and faith-promoting
experiences and baptisms—overall his mission experience proved to be a great
trial for him. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">When a new European mission
president, Elder John Henry Smith, arrived to take over for Carrington, things
improved somewhat, but the death of his child depressed Elder Whitney enough
that he soon decided to return home. Elder Smith brought word that Charles W.
Stayner had been brought before a formal disciplinary council in the Salt Lake
Stake for promoting and circulating his doctrines and revelations, and had been
told to denounce and recall it all or be excommunicated. Stayner agreed, but
then went underground and became secretive. Elder Whitney also publicly
disavowed believing in Stayner, but privately continued. Whitney’s mission also
had the effect of magnifying his talents as an orator and writer, skills at
which he eventually became almost the most accomplished in the Church. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Charles W. Stayner, reincarnation,
and the prayer group<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On arriving
home in Salt Lake, the first thing Bishop Whitney did, along with renewing his
responsibilities as a ward bishop, was to renew his friendship with Stayner and
his brother Arthur. They created a secret prayer group, presided over by
Charles, and made up of mostly former missionaries from London, along with some
new recruits. This “theosophy” group met often for nearly twenty years. At
these meetings they would discuss reincarnation, pray for revelations, and
strategize plans for how Stayner could one day become president of the Church.
They used code-names for each other that were based on who they believed they
had been in past dispensations. Many of them felt they had once been prominent
Old Testament or Book of Mormon prophets and they referred to each other by
these names. Evidence suggests Bishop Whitney came to believe he had once been
the brother of Jared, a great Book of Mormon prophet. Eventually their secret prayer
group, including husbands and wives, grew to some twenty to thirty members. Ort
also took (an approved) plural wife before the 1890 Manifesto: Mary (or May)
Wells, a daughter of Daniel H. Wells that Orson had socialized with in his
youth.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With the
growth in membership in their secret group, rumors began to circulate and word
reached the ears of the First Presidency that Bishop Whitney was fraternizing
with the Stayner brothers and being indoctrinated by them. Thereafter, members
of the First Presidency began occasionally preaching against reincarnation or
multiple probationary experiences in stake conferences in an effort to curtail
the spread of false doctrines. They hoped Bishop Whitney would take their
counsel. Instead, Orson became obsessed with reincarnation and stubbornly
refused to repent of his belief in it, becoming almost defiant. His diary
contains a few emphatic expressions wherein he chaffed at the public
denunciations (although Whitney’s name was not mentioned). For example, on one
occasion he wrote: “This evening I heard that Pres. Woodruff, in a meeting at
Manti, a few days ago, publicly declared that the doctrine of reincarnation,
that is, one spirit having several bodies, to be false; that he was Wilford
Woodruff and no one else, etc. All right, Bro. Woodruff, if you really said it,
it is something you must account for between you and the Lord. I believe it to
be a true doctrine, and have for the last seven years.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Whitney’s
unyielding attitude on this doctrine, his loyalty to Charles Stayner, and his
membership in the secret prayer (or theosophy) group brought consequences.
Being such a prominent bishop, author, and speaker had caused Whitney’s fame to
spread throughout the Church, but his private activities posed unavoidable hindrances.
The fact is that Elder Whitney’s name was under consideration by the First
Presidency and the Twelve for possible selection for the apostleship, but their
questions about his doctrinal stability were manifest. Elder Heber J. Grant described
the deliberations of the Twelve about Bishop Whitney in his diary:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">This afternoon
attended a meeting of the apostles. . . . After . . . Prayer . . . there was a
long chat as to the parties that the brethren would like to fill the three
places in the Quorum of the Apostles. President Wilford Woodruff said that he
would like all of the brethren to hand him a list of the names that they would
like for the vacancies. The matter had been talked of at the last meeting and
some of the brethren had handed him a list. I was away and had had no knowledge
on the matter and had therefore not handed the list of those that I would like
to the President. I said that the first man of all those that I knew that I
would like to see a member of the Quorum was Orson F. Whitney if it was thought
that he was sound in his doctrine and if there were no fears as to his keeping
the Word of Wisdom, but on account of my having doubts in these regards I did
not care to name him; at the same time if the word of the Lord came through the
President that he was the man I should be very glad to accept him. I handed in
the names of Anthon H. Lund, Abraham H. Cannon, and Richard W. Young. These
three I could endorse without the least reserve. . . . There were remarks made
by a number of the brethren as to their knowledge of some of the ideas of Bro.
Whitney. I am sure that he would have been the first choice of every man in the
Apostles if there were not doubts as to how he kept the Words of Wisdom and as
to the position that he took on a number of different doctrines. John W. Taylor
said that he had been to his band of horses to get a team and he picked out the
two horses that he liked the best but he found that one of them had something
the matter with its gamble joint and he therefore was under the necessity of
taking another horse that did not please him so well. He said that in as much
as there were men that we could select for Apostles that there was no questions
in our minds as to their fitness that he did not think that we should think of
taking a person that we were in the least doubt about. He said that his first
choice was brother Whitney but he felt that he would prefer to take some one
that he did not need to ask any questions about. He had turned his defective
horse out for a year and hoped that he would be all right in that time, and in
that case he could have the team he wanted. He felt that we had better wait
awhile before selecting brother Whitney.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thus, three
other apostles were chosen in 1889 and in other succeeding years as Whitney’s
doctrinal defiance disallowed his selection.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Friendship with Elder
Lorenzo Snow<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Bishop Whitney had been cultivating
a warm and close friendship with Elder Lorenzo Snow for some years, having met
him while at the Utah State Penitentiary where Elder Snow was serving a
sentence for plural marriage-related offenses. They began having private
doctrinal conversations, with Elder Snow manifesting a willingness to discuss
many ideas with his young protégé that were not settled church doctrine but
were possibilities or interesting but speculative. Elder Snow hired Whitney to
write a sequel or addendum about his life to his sister Eliza R. Snow’s book
about him, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Biography and Family Record of
Lorenzo Snow</i>, which Orson did. They titled it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Later Leaves in the Life of Lorenzo Snow</i> and Orson found that
working on it gave him opportunity to privately visit further with President
Snow.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Orson summarized one of their
conversations, which suggested that Orson was under siege with some of the
leading Brethren for his private doctrinal beliefs:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">At Brigham City on
my last visit, Apostle Snow told me that Pres. Woodruff thought as much of me today
as he ever did, and that all prejudice occasioned by Bro. [Francis M.] Lyman’s
talk had passed away. I asked him if I had done anything to cause him to lose
confidence in me. “No, indeed, my dear brother,” said Lorenzo. “I regard it as
a great blessing that the Lord has thrown us together. I have defended you to
the Brethren repeatedly when these things have come up, and told them that I
knew your views and your spirit, and that no man could lay his finger on a line
of false doctrine that you had ever written or spoken, and that there was no
cause to condemn you whatever. But you must be wise and not express your
opinion, even in private, etc. I asked him if he remembered the blessing he
gave me a year ago. “Yes,” said he, “I remember it, and I may yet have it in my
power to help fulfill my prediction.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Snow’s blessing given the year before had hinted at an eventual call to the
Apostleship for Whitney, as did this hint that if he became Church President
himself he may yet have the power to fulfill his own prediction. Orson had
always been very careful to remain doctrinally sound and orthodox in his public
speaking and writing, keeping his reincarnation ideas to himself and the prayer
group. This course often saved him from much worse consequences stemming from
his private notions. Exactly how much President Snow knew of how enmeshed Orson
had become with reincarnation and the Stayners is hard to gauge. It is highly
unlikely that President Snow yet knew that he himself had become part of the
prayer group’s plans to have Stayner called to the Apostleship. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Meanwhile,
the secret prayer group, which practiced a “Mormonized” form of “Theosophy”
(meaning they attempted to learn the mysteries of the gospel and the universe
by getting revelations through drastically extended fasting and prayer)
continued unabated. Orson went so far as to begin giving half of his hard-earned
income to Charles Stayner, even selling his home and giving half of the profits
to Stayner, whom he referred to as “Elias” or “E” in his diary. Ort had left
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deseret News</i> and worked in other
capacities, such as writing books, as a professor at Utah State University in
Logan, and then as an Assistant Church Historian.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">False doctrine
discarded<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The years
passed; Orson fought with rumors about his involvement in the theosophy group,
and the group’s plans ripened. They waited for a chance for Orson, who was
designated as Stayner’s “forerunner” to be able to open the way for Stayner to
be called as an apostle, from which position he hoped to eventually become the
President of the Church. In April of 1898 Bishop Whitney made his first move:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>From
5:45 pm to 6:45 pm this evening I had a very interesting interview with
President Joseph F. Smith, in much of which Apostle Heber J. Grant and A. O.
Woodruff took part. I was asked about my connection with Bro. C[harles]. W.
Stayner and if I sympathized with his views; those formerly held by him at
Liverpool, and which he was strongly suspected of having revived.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
gave me an opportunity of refuting the falsehoods put in circulation by W. J.
Beatie and others (who told the Sears family, my relatives) that Bro. Stayner,
myself and others were founding a new Church, had an oath-bound organization, a
regalia, etc. I told the brethren that these were outrageous falsehoods, that
Bro. Stayner was one of the most loyal men I knew, that we were Latter-day
Saints firm in the faith, and that the Church of God was the only Church we
wanted anything to do with. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
did admit, however, to having had faith in Reincarnation, or Rehabitment of
Spirits, though I had never sought to spread it, but had said, in private, that
I could believe it if the Church Authorities sanctioned it (Connie Thatcher
incident) because there were evidences enough in the Church books to justify
such a belief. “It is thought,” remarked Bro. Grant, “that you and the brethren
associated with you, claim to have received advanced truth and we are behind
the times.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
never heard such a remark,” I replied. “If I or anyone else taught any
doctrine, true or false without authority, it would be premature, we would be
ahead of the times, not you behind them.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Smith finally said, “Well, if there is anything in our books that justifies a
belief in Reincarnation I would like to know it; for to me it seems opposed to
the fundamental principles of Mormonism.” I answered that I would take great
pleasure in citing him to those passages in the books that contain the
doctrine, and he invited me to do so. This was a great point gained, as [line
missing] to listen to a statement of that kind.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
brethren were all very kind, manifesting the deepest interest in my welfare,
anxious that I should not “get off” etc.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Smith told me that Heber Grant thought as much of me as one man could of
another, and assured me of his own warm personal friendship and brotherly love.
He said it was President George Q. Cannon and Apostle F. M. Lyman, who most
frequently brought this matter up about myself and Bro. Stayner, which did not
surprise me. . . .<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Smith said that personally he hadn’t the shadow of a doubt as to my integrity
and devotion to the Gospel.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ort had not
been as forthcoming during this visit as he might have been; instead, he used
the occasion to set the stage for an opportunity to persuade President Joseph
F. Smith to accept reincarnation as doctrine. He had minimized the extent of
his involvement in the rumored matters and said nothing of the plans of the
group for Charles Stayner to become the prophet of the Church. But now the long-awaited
opportunity seemed to have arrived and he took as much advantage of it as he
could, writing a letter and doctrinal statement about reincarnation to
President Joseph F. Smith.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Having done
that, he next approached President Lorenzo Snow, whom he believed to be the Old
Testament prophet Ezekiel reincarnated:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">Conversed with
President Lorenzo Snow, at the Salt Lake Temple, on the subject of the letter
and statement to President Smith, a copy of which I left with him (L[orenzo].
S[now].) for perusal a few days ago. He said he had read it, but wanted to read
it again. The first part was perfectly clear to him; He fully believed that
Christ had two bodies; but what was the need of Elijah having more than one? We
talked the matter over. I told him about himself and Ezekiel the Prophet, and
bore testimony to the worth and wisdom of [Charles Stayner]. He said my letter
breathed a good spirit and he did not believe that I could be led astray by
man, or that I would believe a doctrine without good reasons. He thought “Bro.
Joseph” [Joseph F. Smith] would have something to study over in the Statement,
for there were things in it that could not be contradicted. He talked also of
obedience to counsel, in which I acquiesced, and said I had no thought, neither
had Bro. Stayner, other than to honor the Priesthood. I had not sought to
spread this doctrine, and had made the Statement only at President Smith’s
request. He said he wanted to study the Statement, so that if the subject came
before the council of the Twelve and the Presidency he would be prepared to
speak a word for me, etc.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Snow, who had in former years discussed many deep and speculative doctrines
with Bishop Whitney, was open-minded almost to a fault with his young protégé.
Also, the very fact that President Snow had to defend Orson to the other
Brethren was not a good sign.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Not long
afterward, Elder Heber J. Grant, still feeling concern for his friend, tried to
counsel him to be more cautious. Ort was not very receptive: “Had a
conversation with H. J. Grant on the subject of the Stayners, McCune, the
Statement, etc. He told me he loved me, but did not like some of my associates,
and urged me not to injure my reputation by associating with certain persons. I
answered that I could not go back on a friend because others were down on him,
but thanked him for the good feeling he had for me.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One senses
that the general authorities were vexed with what to do about Bishop Whitney.
In him they had an asset of tremendous worth to the Church; one who wielded
influence almost equal to their own; one who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">publicly</i> taught sound doctrine and righteous living in a powerful
and persuasive manner—but at the same time was beset by rumors that bordered on
scandal—because of private and secret activities that he stubbornly refused to
cease. Instead, Ort was pushing them boldly before the Brethren; putting his
plans into operation to try to get Stayner called as an Apostle while a vacancy
in the Quorum existed and his friend President Snow, who had just become the
President of the Church, had the final say in who would be called.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">As September passed into early
October, Bishop Orson F. Whitney arranged three private meetings with President
Lorenzo Snow in order to advance Charles W. Stayner’s name as an apostle. But,
as Orson wrote, President Snow would have none of it—“He was kind as usual, but
has no faith in [Stayner].” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A probationary period
of reformation and repentance<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Stymied in
his efforts, Orson was deflated, and as the months passed, he would become
devastated, depressed, and miserable. The grandiose plan had not worked;
President Snow had not accepted Whitney’s “testimony” that Stayner was a
prophet; Ort had been the forerunner of nothing for the plans of the secret prayer
group. Two days later, Orson noted, “Elder Rudger Clawson was chosen to fill
the vacancy in the Twelve.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During
President Snow’s later years, his two closest and most loved younger friends
and protégés were Orson Whitney and Rudger Clawson. Among other reasons, it may
be that because of Whitney’s imprudent strategy to push Stayner’s name as the
new Apostle at this critical time, he himself was also passed over. President
Snow looked to Rudger Clawson instead. Orson heard nothing more of the letter
and statement, at least that is known, at that time, but brought up the subject
himself later.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Late 1899
and 1900 included heart-rending episodes that changed Orson Whitney’s life, and
consequently altered his thinking. His friends Arthur and Charles Stayner died
unexpectedly within four months of each other, and his wife Zina passed away
some five months later. With their deaths, Orson was forced to reconsider his
heretical doctrinal beliefs. The secret prayer group meetings disbanded and his
familial arrangements were permanently altered. He found himself humbled as he
had never been, facing the possibilities of a future different than he had
anticipated. Such changes, however, repositioned and reoriented him so that he
could fulfill patriarchal predictions of a great work and mortal destiny. In
his diary, he recorded:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
also wrote this day the following letter:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">Salt Lake City, Sunday July 1st,
1900<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">President Joseph F. Smith:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Dear
Brother Joseph:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
is my birthday (I am forty-five years old); and I wish to signify it by turning
over a new leaf in the book of my life. I have pondered and prayed much over
the matter of the written statement that I made to you in May 1898, the subject
of which need not now be mentioned. That statement I wish to withdraw. I have
banished the subject [of reincarnation] from my mind. I no longer believe as I
did, and I wish that nothing shall remain to perpetuate the matter either in my
own memory or others. While I do not admit that my faith in the Gospel and my
loyalty to the Priesthood have ever wavered—for I know that they have not—I do
acknowledge that I have been mistaken, honestly mistaken in certain things, and
I desire to rectify that mistake. Will you help me?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Believing
you to be my friend, and one of my best friends I have on earth, I feel that
you will do for me all that one dear brother would and should do for another.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yours
Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>O.
F. Whitney <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sending the
letter to President Smith turned out to be one of the most important and
life-altering steps Whitney would ever take—not because the letter itself had
any great effect on President Smith, but because it signified Whitney’s
personal reformation. A few weeks later, he sought out President Smith to get feedback
regarding his letter of contrition: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today
I met Pres. Joseph F. Smith as he was driving away from the President’s Office.
He leaves for Mexico tonight. He apologized for not having answered my letter
of July 1st regarding the written statement of May 1898. He said he felt well
about it and glad to have me take that ground, and said he had read the
statement [promoting reincarnation] as well as the letter [withdrawing the
statement] to Pres. Cannon. When I asked him what Pres. Cannon thought he replied
“I wish you would have a talk with him about it.” I asked if my sincerity was
doubted by Pres. Cannon. “No; only he seems to think it will be difficult for
you to overcome your impressions in relation to these things.” I answered: “I
think it will be difficult for Bro. Cannon to overcome his feelings about me.”
He half smiled and I added “This is my position. I have come to the conclusion
that it was impossible for me to be right and all the Brethren (the
Authorities) wrong upon any point, and this is the ground I surrender upon. If
this doesn’t satisfy Bro. Cannon I cannot help it; that’s the best I can do.”
He gave me “Goodbye and God bless you,” and we parted. He said he had not seen
Pres. Snow as he was sick. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So ended
Orson F. Whitney’s nineteen-year obsession with reincarnation, theosophy, and
the Stayners. So also began a six year period of reformation, repentance, and
building trust with others, especially the brethren. Since he worked in the
Historian’s Office as an Assistant, he began ghost-writing correspondence for
the Church Historian and for the First Presidency. In that position, he was nearby
to be watched and his exceptional literary talents could be used in behalf of
the Church. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Called to the Quorum
of the Twelve Apostles<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Developments began (in 1906) as the
first session of conference concluded: “First day of the 76th Annual Conference
of the Church. I attended and sat in the auditorium of the Tabernacle.
President Joseph F. Smith was the first speaker, and made some very interesting
and significant remarks. . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went
home to lunch and was taking a bath when a phone message from the President’s
Office summoned me to meet with Bro. Francis M. Lyman, the President of the
Twelve Apostles. I went down to the President’s Office, on my way to the
Tabernacle, and had a private interview with President Lyman and Apostle John
Henry Smith in the rear office. I was asked about my health, my faith and
feelings, and answered the questions satisfactorily, I suppose, and was then
told that I might be wanted tomorrow.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is
significant that President Lyman and Elder Smith interviewed Bishop Whitney
prior to his new calling. These two apostles likely had more knowledge of his
past history with reincarnation than others of the senior Brethren. April 7
proved to be the most dramatic and eventful day of Whitney’s life:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Attended
the morning Conference Meeting; after which, met by appointment at the
Historian’s Office, with President F. M. Lyman and Apostles John Henry Smith
and George A. Smith (his son). Elders George F. Richards, of Tooele, and David
O. McKay, of Ogden, were also there (in President Lund’s room). We were told by
President Lyman that we three—Elders Richards, McKay and myself—had been chosen
to fill three vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve; the vacancy caused by
Brother M. W. Merrill’s death, and two others, caused by the resignations of
Apostles John W. Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley, who had not been associated
with the Council of the Twelve since last October. Judge of my astonishment! He
went on to tell us what would be required of us; asked for and received from
each of us our views and feelings; and then enjoined us to strict secrecy
regarding the whole matter, until it should be made public in a proper way. I
attended the afternoon meeting of Conference, also the Religion Class meeting
just after. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then came
his sustaining: “I attended Conference all day, sitting in the Bishop’s Stand.
Just before the close of the afternoon meeting, I was called and sustained as a
member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. . . . In the evening a party of
friends called in to congratulate me, and spent the evening. My phone was kept
busy with calls of congratulation. My ward people are both glad and sad; and so
am I for obvious reasons.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whitney was
emotional and euphoric, yet also overcome with the feelings of inadequacy
common to all called to high Church position:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
day of days to me. I attended the Special Priesthood Meeting at 10 am in the
Assembly Hall, and at 2 pm a meeting in the Salt Lake Temple (First
Presidency’s Room) where, at about 2:25, I was ordained to the Apostleship and
placed in the Quorum of the Twelve, under the hands of President Joseph F.
Smith (who was mouth [voice]) and the following named brethren: Presidents John
R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund, Francis M. Lyman, Apostles John Henry Smith, Rudger
Clawson, Hyrum M. Smith, George A[lbert]. Smith, Charles W. Penrose, Patriarch
John Smith, Elders Seymore B. Young, Brigham H. Roberts, George Reynolds, J.
Golden Kimball, Rullon S. Wells, and Joseph W. McMurrin, of the First Council
of the Seventies.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
copy of my ordination blessing, reported by Secretary George F. Gibbs, will be
found elsewhere in this journal. The same brethren laid hands upon Elder George
F. Richards, and he was ordained, (before me) an Apostle, in like manner by
President Joseph F. Smith. After me, Elder David O. McKay was ordained an
Apostle by President Smith, and Elder Charles H. Hart, as one of the First
Council of Seventies; also by President Smith. In this last ordination Bros.
Richards, McKay and myself took part, by President Smith’s invitation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
the Priesthood Meeting at the Assembly Hall we three—the new Apostles—were in
order introduced to the meeting, and each spoke briefly, accepting the call to
the Apostleship. Bro. Richards succeeds the late Apostle M. W. Merrill, I am
put in the place of John W. Taylor, resigned; and Bro. McKay in place of
Matthias F. Cowley, resigned.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At
4 pm the First Presidency, the Apostles and their wives were entertained at
dinner by President and Sister John R. Winder at their home. . . . After dinner
a most enjoyable time was spent until 11 pm. The Presidents and all the
Apostles (present) spoke. Among the good things said of me were from President
Joseph F. Smith, who assured me and all present that the Lord accepted of me;
that past clouds were all dispelled, and I was wanted in the position to which
I had been called. (He had told the Priesthood Meeting that I was one of the
staunchest and most faithful men in the Church, and had rendered the cause
valiant service as poet, orator and historian, as well as Bishop.) He said at
President Winder’s, that he had for years wanted me in the Quorum of the
Twelve, that in my veins ran the blood of Apostle Heber C. Kimball, etc., and
at the Temple he referred to my relations with the Prophet Joseph, through my
mother’s sealing to him in wedlock and said that I represented the Prophet by
virtue of that relation, as an Apostle.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Winder said it was as clear to him that we three had been chosen by the Spirit
as light was distinct from darkness. Bro. John Henry Smith said it had been a
dream of his life that I would be called to the Apostleship. Many other kind
things were said. Bro. Penrose said the Saints would rejoice over the call of
us brethren to these positions.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nineteen
years ago this summer Apostle John W. Taylor predicted that I would be an
Apostle. We were traveling together south and were on the train about opposite
Murray. I little dreamed, nor did he, that I would succeed him in the Quorum.
He was always very good to me. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>President
Anthon H. Lund, of the First Presidency, who participated in the ordination,
recorded his own impressions: “I had felt very sad about the resignation of
Bros. Matthias Cowley and John W. Taylor, but while Pres. Smith ordained the
brethren I felt it was the Lord’s will and this feeling was so sanctifying that
I was melted to tears.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As time
passed and Elder Whitney became familiar with the duties of the apostleship, he
summed them up:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">During most of the
time since my ordination, my duties have consisted of weekly visits to the
Stakes, with occasional tours of missions, and such other service as the
presiding authorities have required of me. Once a week, at a regular council
meeting, the Apostles report their labors to the First Presidency and to one
another, and join in prayer and the transaction of important Church business.
There we receive our appointments from the President of the Twelve, sanctioned
by the First Presidency, with general directions to govern us in the discharge
of our sacred duties. On certain days we set apart and instruct missionaries,
and on any and every day do whatever needs doing for the good of the Cause.
Every three months the Twelve, or as many of them as can assemble, come
together in a quarterly meeting, and every six months they convene in joint
session with the First Council of the Seventy and such of the mission
presidents as are able to attend; the latter reporting conditions and prospects
in their fields of labor and receiving such advice and instruction as the
Apostles see fit to impart.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Struggles with ending plural
marriage and platonic girlfriends<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Elder Whitney’s
life now became that of the busy apostle, but that did not stop him from
entering into some new intrigues. One of them was his friendship with various women.
One was named Georgiana (last name unknown; a very brief but unsuccessful courtship)
and another was Mary Laura Hickman, the single sister of his good friend Josiah
E. Hickman. This (emotional but not physical—Laura was not interested in
marriage) romance started some four years after his call to the Quorum of the
Twelve and lasted for around eleven years. He often visited Laura’s home in
Utah County and they read poetry together. It is not known if his wife May knew
about Laura. Elder Whitney had long believed deeply in plural marriage and
although he had sustained the first manifesto of 1890 and the second of 1904,
his heart was not in full accord with them. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">As a member of the Twelve he was
tasked with investigating new unauthorized post-second manifesto plural
marriages. He sat on disciplinary councils, made up of the Quorum of the Twelve,
held for those who disobeyed and married plural wives. Such duties were
unpleasant to him. He found himself living in something of a hypocritical
situation, sometimes leaving council meetings where a “new” polygamist was
being tried for his membership, and then going directly to Laura Hickman’s home
to visit with her and read poetry together. Although they were able to keep
their platonic relationship fairly secret, he did occasionally have to deal
with rumors arising from their association. It is not known how much or whether
the other apostles knew anything about Laura. Speaking of these matters, his
friend Josiah Hickman wrote in his diary:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">Apostle Whitney
came Sunday and stayed with me until Wednesday evening. We had an excellent
time together. He read most of his [epic poem] <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elias: An Epic of the Ages</i>, to me. He is reviewing it and improving
it for republication. It is truly a masterpiece of art. I feel it stands with
Milton‘s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Paradise Lost</i>. He read to me
part of three days. The rest of the time we discussed various subjects. He is a
very intellectual man. He is truly a poet, orator, and prophet. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
told me of his visit to Mother‘s home [in Benjamin, Utah]. He was there four
days. He has written a very humorous poem of his visit there. He thinks the
world of Laura. I find he has much the same opinion of our [Church’s] situation
[that abandoning plural marriage was wrong] as I have. . . . Though he
acquiesces in the policies of the Twelve, yet he is not heart and soul with
them. He feels that we are cowardly and are on the run; that when the scare
[threats of persecutorial legislation] of Washington [D.C.] begins, we begin to
buckle rather than do our duty and fear God only. He does not believe those who
have gone into that principle of late [since 1904] are committing adultery. He
says that they [the Twelve] are not cutting brethren off [excommunicating] for
entering it [instead disfellowshipping them], but in one or two cases they did
[excommunicate] because (as in Higgins’ case) they would not answer their questions.
He has some very advanced ideas on religious subjects. They are really embodied
in his [poem] <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elias</i>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Orson
chafed under such circumstances, but was wise enough to never marry a new
post-Manifesto plural wife himself, even though he had opportunities to do so.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">His last years serving
as a Special Witness<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Years
passed with Orson serving as an apostle and special witness. From 1921 to 1922
he served as the European Mission President, but had to return home early
because of severe health problems that resulted in an even more severe nervous
breakdown. It took him a few years after his arrival home in Salt Lake City to
recover completely, but eventually he returned to his old masterful self. He
then finished out his apostolic ministry without further distraction and in
great power and authority. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
reflecting on Whitney’s beloved dream-vision of the Savior in the garden of
Gethsemane, and how he believed Jesus’ message to him was that the sleeping
apostles meant him (Orson), as he had been distracted during his early
missionary work writing correspondence for newspapers; it seems apparent that
there could be a much broader interpretation attached. That those sleeping
apostles also referred to Orson later in his life when he was obsessively distracted
by the Stayner brothers, theosophy, and reincarnation, instead of putting his
full energies into his family and his bishopric. If he had done so, it seems possible
that he would have been called into the Council of the Twelve in 1889 instead
of 1906, some seventeen years sooner. As it was, even with all the trials and
problems scattered throughout his life, Elder Orson F. Whitney was still able
to use his voice and pen in marvelously influential ways to defend the truth of
the gospel and bear his special witness that Jesus was the Christ.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Quotations and most all other information contained in this chapter are taken
from Dennis B. Horne, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Life of Orson
F. Whitney: Poet, Historian, Apostle</i> (Springville, Utah: Cedar Fort Inc.,
2014). Those interested in further information about Elder Whitney may consult
that volume.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Heber J. Grant diary, September 26, 1889.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
The author used portions of Elder Whitney’s manuscript, with hundreds of pages
of additional material, and produced Dennis B. Horne, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Latter Leaves in the Life of Lorenzo Snow</i> (Springville, Utah: Cedar
Fort Inc., 2012). This is the definitive biography of President Lorenzo Snow; see
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">BYU Studies Quarterly</i> 53:2 (2014),
180-83.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Yet President Snow also saw the exceptional talent within his fine friend, to
the point that he even brought it up in a meeting of the First Presidency and
the Twelve: “He referred to the abilities that Orson F. Whitney had been
blessed with. Said that he thought his talents were worth more than the wealth
of the world” (Heber J. Grant diary, April 9, 1890).<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2