My Dear Brethren And Sisters I Thank...

My dear brethren and sisters: I thank the Lord for the privilege of being with you this morning and of having fellowship with you in the Church of Jesus Christ, and I thank the Lord for the instructions, the simple, beautiful, convincing gospel instructions that we have received this morning and in all preceding sessions of this conference. ¶

I am wholly dependent upon my Father in heaven and upon your assistance in that he shall lead me to say the things that I should say upon this occasion. ¶

This Church for a century and a quarter has been declaring these truths to the world. The testimonies we have heard, the teachings of the gospel, the purposes of the Lord, have been preached to the world during all this period by men who have been called of God to do so, and the message to the world is and has been that the Church of Jesus Christ now exists in the world, and that prophets and Apostles are directing the affairs of his Church. Indeed, just as the Lord Jesus Christ in leaving the world to ascend to the Father left his Church in the hands of Apostles and prophets and the priesthood of the Church, so in this day he has placed in the hands of Apostles and prophets and the priesthood of his Church, his Church and his gospel, the only true and living Church in the world because it is his Church, and in it alone lies salvation for the human family. ¶

What a glorious message of hope and faith and joy this should be to the distraught world. And it is such to the honest in heart, those who are seeking with all their hearts to know and keep the commandments of God. ¶

When the Lord visited this continent and set up his Church among his people soon after his ascension into the heavens, they were querying after he left them one day, as to what they should name the Church, and when he came the next day to continue his instructions to them, he knew their contentions and queries and said: ¶

And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses' name then it be Moses' church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if so be that it is built upon my gospel. (3 Nephi 27:8.) What a simple and logical and beautiful explanation of the facts! And that is something to guide us in the midst of all the religious confusion that exists in the world today. The Church of Jesus Christ by his direction bears his name. In this day when it has again been restored, the same instructions came to the Prophet Joseph Smith that this Church should be called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the "Latter-day Saints" being added to distinguish it from all other dispensations. ¶

The Lord continued in his instructions to the effect that: If the Church has his name and it is built upon his gospel, then it is his Church; and if they would pray to the Father he would hear their prayers, and his works shall be manifest in the Church. ¶

Note the significant qualification added that not only must it have his name, but it must also be based upon his gospel. Then he adds that if churches are built that are based upon the works of men or the works of Satan, then these will have joy in their churches for a period, but the time will come when they will be hewn down and cast into the fire. ¶

The Lord has very clearly set before us in this simple statement a guiding principle: There is one Church of Jesus Christ, bearing his name and preaching his gospel. All other churches are the churches of men, and there can be no salvation in them, and the time will come when they will be destroyed. ¶

When the Prophet Joseph Smith was a youth, he had to come before the whole Christian world and declare to them the principle that there could be only one true church in the world. In his search for the truth he had been logical in his thinking; he wanted to serve God and keep his commandments; and as he viewed the denominations in Christendom, he concluded that all these churches could not be true, that they might all be wrong, but that they could not all be right, and then, as we have had explained to us by previous speakers, he received in the presence of the Father and the Son the latter's words that all the creeds were wrong and that they were an abomination in the sight of God. They were the creeds of men that were not true, and untruth God cannot tolerate. ¶

After a century there has been some change in thought, perhaps the leaven has been at work. There are many Christian leaders in the denominations today who are declaring there can be but one true Church, and they have a most sincere desire to unify the divergent denominations making up the Christian churches of the world. About a month ago they held in the Chicago area a World Council of Churches, desiring if possible to work toward unity. ¶

It is interesting to note that this great council of nearly six hundred delegates representing forty-eight countries and about 160 denominations met within the precincts of one of the stakes of the Church of Jesus Christ that has been restored to the earth, and in the general location in our country where Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith became martyrs for their testimony concerning the one true Church, the Church of Jesus Christ, that had been restored. ¶

It is interesting to note that in their desire for unity, many of the church leaders are speaking forthrightly to their people. One prominent speaker expressed this thought that if Jesus Christ should come to the earth today and see the denominations bearing his name, he would say, "If these are Christian churches, then I am not a Christian." ¶

I want to read, not exact quotations, but some expressions here, because I want them to be accurate in representing what others are thinking. One particular Protestant writer in great clearness and sincerity, expresses his belief that the churches should become united, and states these reasons: ¶

That Protestantism is conscious and the demonstrations agree that the true Church exists in the mind of Christ, but that he recognizes none of the denominations as his Church. ¶

That there should be one united Church, that it now exists, but it is hidden by manmade denominational churches. ¶

That the true Church can only come by a dissolution of the denominational churches as churches, which are but an apostate denominational system. ¶

That the way to a united church is for the denominations to abdicate their churchism and the church functions which they have sinfully usurped. ¶

That the desire of many leaders of Christendom is to release the believers of Christ from the Protestant apostasy into which it has been led by the evil spirit of sectarianism. ¶

That in bringing about the united church the errors must be avoided which led Protestantism into the apostasy of sectarianism. ¶

Such are the ideas now current in Protestantism. ¶

Men are not satisfied with the conditions of the denominations in the world. To understand how the apostasy thus described came about, they need to understand the truth that has been referred to here, that there have been various dispensations of the gospel, that there were long periods when it was not on the earth. It should be understood that the Dispensation of the Meridian of Time was but a restoration of the gospel previously taken from the earth and that although that dispensation was glorified by the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, himself opening it and in it offering his great atonement, yet it was to come to an end. ¶

It should also be clearly understood as was explained in this conference, that when the prophets and the Apostles, the very foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ, disappeared, then his Church of necessity disappeared. That dispensation ended. The true Church was again taken from the earth. This being so, then it is clear that men had no way of knowing the will of God, of preserving the true principles of the gospel, of continuing to know the true and living God. The revelations of God were not available to them. It must follow, therefore, that all the churches built up since the Apostles and prophets and the true Church were taken from the earth are churches made by men, and "the power of God unto salvation" could not be in them. ¶

If people could but understand this principle, if our youth could, then they would look for the restored Church of Jesus Christ of the last dispensation which bears his name, is built upon his gospel, and which has in it his authority and power — his Apostles and prophets. ¶

Just for a moment may we glance at what constitutes the setting up of the Church of Christ? Men set up their churches day by day, by private interpretations of the scriptures, but for the Church of Jesus Christ, which can come from God only, to be set up, the heavens must be opened, a dispensation of truth must come. First of all, God ordinarily, with an exception I shall note, appears to a man whom he has selected as his prophet, and reveals himself to him, for a true Church cannot he built on a false faith and a false God. So that it may be known not only what kind of being he is but who he is, he identifies himself as the true and living God. Then he gives this man his authority, the Holy Priesthood; thus he is equipped so that the Lord may direct him step by step to establish the Church in the earth. That was what the Lord did with Abraham who talked with God face to face, and he received the priesthood and the Urim and Thummim. ¶

The Lord gave him needful revelations, telling him what to do and where to go, and made covenants with him. ¶

Regarding the Dispensation of the Meridian of Time, the Lord in that instance did not come and choose a prophet, but the Father sent his Firstborn, whom by divine investiture he had elevated to the Godhead, sharing with him the glory and the honor and the power of his own Fatherhood, he sent him to be his Only Begotten Son in the flesh; so that he came with all this power and authority that was in him. He, the Spirit of light, he from whom the priesthood comes, he from whom revelations come, he himself came as directed by the Father and for thirty-three years lived in the world, revealing himself and revealing through himself God the eternal Father, being in his express image, and taught the principles of the gospel of salvation as directed by the Father, atoned for the sins of the world and instituted the resurrection from the dead. ¶

These are the simple truths as to a restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it is the simple truth, that by these means this gospel has again been restored in these last days by the Lord Jesus Christ, the sole source of salvation for the human family, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, who received the Holy Priesthood, followed his instructions, received his revelations and built up again his Church; and thus an open channel of revelation was established, which channel shall never be closed, for this is the Church of the last dispensation and it shall never again be taken from the earth. ¶

I bear humble witness that this channel of communication is now open and that through it our beloved prophet, David O. McKay, receives instructions from God, that this is the Church and kingdom of God, and that in it is the power of God unto salvation, because it is the Church of Jesus Christ. May God touch the hearts of men and women to understand these simple truths, that they may receive this message with gladness and thanksgiving and embrace it for their salvation and exaltation, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶