I Hope The Lord Will Bless Me...

I hope the Lord will bless me with an interest in your faith and prayers while I stand here before you. I appreciate the honor and privilege that is mine to talk to you at this time. I am grateful for the many blessings given to me and mine, and above all I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

A Blessed People The Latter-day Saints as a people are more blessed than any others on the face of the earth because we have this gospel which offers to us such great blessings, both for this life and for all eternity. ¶

Perhaps the very magnitude of the blessings makes it difficult for us to comprehend them. I wonder if that is why some of us are not taking advantage of our opportunities. We cannot appreciate what we do not understand. Perhaps our parents or our teachers neglected to instil in our minds the glorious blessings promised for keeping the commandments of God. ¶

I would not hesitate to say that many of our failures to comply with the laws and ordinances of the gospel come from a failure to understand completely the blessings gained therefrom. No one in his right mind would knowingly turn down such gain for a fleeting satisfaction. How great is our responsibility then as parents, teachers, or missionaries to try to instil these teachings in the minds and hearts of our children, neighbors, and fellow men. ¶

We might do well to look to the methods of our teachings. We are all familiar with the slogan, "If the learner hasn't learned, the teacher hasn't taught." ¶

Methods of Teaching In our schoolrooms, teaching has become an art instead of a mere presentation of fact. Material that used to be dry as dust to me as a child has now been made so attractive that children learn because it is fun, a pleasant experience. Children learn because they want to. It has been said that the only satisfactory way to make people do things is to make them want to do them. ¶

Truly, my dear brothers and sisters, this is an age of advertising. Products both good and bad are made so enticing that we think we cannot live without them. The art of salesmanship must first attract interest, and then create a desire. Is not the gospel important enough that we use this proved psychology in selling it to others? I do not mean by this that we must use billboards along the highway or glamorous ads in the magazines, etc., but can we not present the blessings promised for faithfulness in keeping the commandments of the gospel in such a way that the desire for the blessings will be far greater than the temptations to do wrong? ¶

Strength of Gentleness We have found in teaching children that each child responds differently. When we are teaching our own children, therefore, we must know their nature and appeal to them accordingly. ¶

It is said that there is nothing so strong as gentleness, and nothing so gentle as real strength. Be careful, you parents and teachers. Explain the beauties of the gospel, play up the blessings that the Lord promised as a reward for faithfulness. Sheer force rarely accomplishes anything. ¶

I cannot help thinking of the father of a large family, who ruled by force. Every meeting must be attended by every child. ¶

Tithing was enforced, departure from the truth was punished by physical violence, but there was little love and less teaching of the principles of the gospel in an attractive form to make the children want to do right. As a result, when each child grew old enough to rebel, it left home. It is hard for others to penetrate this rebellious spirit and right the wrong that has been done. If we cannot teach by love, then we cannot really teach at all. It is a human failing to resent being told we must do thus and so without being given a reason. Even some reasoning does not produce the desired results. ¶

Blessings Forfeited I am thinking now of a young man who came from a good family, who had been taught that tobacco was poisonous to the system and did great bodily harm. He had been told of the great waste of money involved in the use of tobacco. (And, by the way, may I say that eight million, four hundred seventy-two thousand, nine hundred and fifty-three dollars were spent in Utah for cigarettes for the year 1949. Compare that figure with some of the figures President Clark gave us the other day.) This young man resented the curtailing of his actions. He said it was his own business. The Church had no right to order his personal actions. Well, the result was the same as in thousands of other similar cases. He could not feel comfortable in church because he reeked of tobacco. ¶

He forfeited his chances to increase his knowledge, to associate with his brethren in sacrament and priesthood meetings, and to advance in the priesthood. Not permitted to enter the temple, he has given up eternal blessings in exchange for the fleeting satisfaction of a little tobacco. Why? I cannot think that he knew the blessings he was passing by. ¶

Treasures of Knowledge The most important part of the Word of Wisdom is that which we so often fail to emphasize — the blessings promised. Beginning with the eighteenth verse of the 89th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord said, And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, Now I believe that has reference to what is given in the 89th Section. And then he continues, . walking in obedience to the commandments. ¶

I think that means more than just the 89th Section, I think it means to keep all the commandments and all the laws and ordinances of the gospel. ¶

. . . walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures. ¶

Those treasures of knowledge, I think, are the greatest part of the promises given in the Word of Wisdom. ¶

And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. ¶

And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the Children of Israel, and not slay them. ¶

If we really understood these blessings, would we so thoughtlessly transgress the law? ¶

Improvement in Teaching I do not intend to give a talk on the Word of Wisdom. It is the method of teaching that I wish to stress, that we make the reward for the blessings for obedience stand out so high above everything else that we create a desire to do right to obtain these blessings. ¶

I think our teaching methods can stand improvement when we find such statistics as these. As I stated, nearly eight and a half million dollars were spent for cigarettes in the state of Utah in 1949. ¶

A total of $33,531,951.00 was spent for cigarettes, beer, and liquor for the same period, and I think the adjoining states surrounding us don't have any better record. That's over thirty-three and a half million dollars in the state of Utah in one year. Compare that with the figures President Clark gave us the other day on expenditures of the Church. The total expenditures were something near twenty million dollars, yet in the state of Utah we spent thirty-three and a half million dollars for liquor, beer, and cigarettes. ¶

The result is this: over thirty-five percent of the adult male members of the Church do not hold the Melchizedek Priesthood. ¶

That is the total to which President Richards referred the other day: ¶

Those male adult members who hold no priesthood and those who are adult members of the Aaronic Priesthood comprise over thirtyfive percent of the male population of the Church. ¶

Also, fifty-eight and one-half percent of the marriages of members of the Church in the stakes in 1949 were outside the temple. ¶

It sounds to me like we need to check up on our teaching methods. ¶

There is something wrong with our teaching. It is my opinion that such people have not been taught the valuable blessings and full meaning of these blessings, or no one could keep them away from the temple. ¶

I could tell you of a number of experiences where I know that the people are not being taught what temple marriage or celestial marriage means. ¶

We are all familiar with the methods and results of force with which the past generation was sometimes ruled, and which sometimes still continues. Today there is a tendency to swing to the other extreme. The child is encouraged to choose for himself. Yet if he is to choose for himself he needs to be taught proper values; he needs to understand above all else the blessings promised to those who would adhere to the gospel principles. ¶

Appreciation of Priesthood Not long ago a father from one of our prominent Latter-day Saint families proudly told me of his son who was achieving a great name for himself in the scholastic world. He had turned down the opportunity of being ordained an elder for fear duties in the priesthood might interfere with his studies. He is now married — not in the temple. Yes, he may attain great heights in this world, but at the risk of losing the blessings of eternal life. ¶

Contrast that with what I heard the other day. One of our mission presidents said that he valued more highly his ordination as a high priest than his doctor's degree from Cornell University. That's the kind of faith that the priesthood is made up from; that's the kind of faith that I thank God we have in the Church. ¶

Joyful Living I tell others, many of them, the difference between civil marriage and celestial or temple marriage is the difference between slavery and godhood for eternity. The Lord makes it sound a little nicer when he says those who reject the law of celestial marriage will be ministering angels, and worlds without end shall have no increase. Waiting on others with no further progress is an eternal existence but is not real living. Living involves progress. Many people are just existing in this life, but not really living. It is the inner consciousness of righteousness and progress that makes for happiness. It is no wonder that good Latter-day Saint people are often said to be the happiest people on earth. We have more to live for. ¶

A recent convert to the Church was telling me how much happier her life has been since she has accepted the gospel. Always before she had lived in constant fear of death, and, to her, the unknown beyond. Now the gospel plan and the knowledge of the future have taken away all fear and put in its place a happiness and joy beyond description, but well understood by true Latter-day Saints. ¶

Rewards for Obedience Brothers and sisters, let us familiarize ourselves with the blessings the Lord has promised and stimulate a desire in others to receive them, and we will find that the price set to receive them will dwindle into insignificance in comparison with the magnitude of the blessings promised. We are rewarded for obedience in attending meetings, by partaking of the sacrament, renewing our covenants that we may have his Spirit to be with us. For paying tithing the Lord has said, . . . Prove me now herewith ... If I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (Mai. 3:10.) Further, the Lord says in the Doctrine and Covenants, 84th Section, And also all they who receive this priesthood receiveth me . . . ¶

For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me; And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father; And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father's kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him. ¶

And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood. ¶

Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved. ¶

(D. & C. 84:35-40.) The gospel is full of many such glorious blessings. May the Lord bless us that we may so live to receive them and teach them to others, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶