As I Occupy This Position Of Responsibility...

As I occupy this position of responsibility this morning, I first express the feelings of my heart of gratitude to the Lord for my membership in this Church and all that it means to me and for my fellowship with the members of the Church. They are wonderful people. If we have listened to the prayers of these stake presidents who have prayed in the conference, we know something of the faith and the leadership ability of the men who preside throughout the stakes of Zion. I feel to say God bless them all, and all you fine people and those who are listening in, who are giving of their time and their talents and their means to help build the kingdom of God in the earth. ¶

One of the great events of the last year as far as the Church is concerned was the choir trip to Europe. I thought I would like to pass on to its members this morning, since they are here, comments that came in a missionary's letter from Berlin a few days ago. ¶

He said, "When we go out trading now and we announce ourselves as representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the people do not quite understand, we say, 'The Mormon Choir that was just here,' and they say, 'Oh, come in.' " ¶

The missionaries say the choir has done so much good in opening the doors of the people for them to carry on their missionary work. ¶

I thought since the announcement has been made that these services are being broadcast all over this western part of the United States by television and radio, that for the few moments assigned to me I would like to speak primarily to those who are not members of our Church who might be listening in, and I imagine that notwithstanding the thousands here in this building, and on this temple block that there are even greater audiences listening in over the radio and the television. ¶

I am sure that the building of the temple in Los Angeles has impressed the people who have seen it and the 662,000 who went through during the period that it was open for inspection, and I imagine that there were many of those people who would like to have heard more about this Church and its teachings because of that beautiful edifice. ¶

Two weeks ago last night I was in a group in Los Angeles, and a man who had traveled all around the world indicated that he thought the temple there was the eighth wonder of the world. ¶

When President Clark talked to the Primary officers and teachers who were assembled here last week, he exhorted them to teach the simple truths of the gospel, and I love the simple truths of the gospel. So I would like to preface what I say here today to those who might be listening in with this thought, that I believe that there is not an honest man nor an honest woman in this world who really loves the Lord who would not join this Church if he knew what it was. ¶

When I say really love the Lord I have in mind such as of whom the Master spoke when he said that except a man be willing to forsake father and mother and wife and children and lands and herds and all that he hath, and take his name upon him, "he cannot be my disciple." (See Luke 14:26.) ¶

And that is what he meant when he said that we should seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all other things would be added unto us. (See Matt. 6:33.) ¶

There is not a person who has that kind of love of God who would not accept this Church and join it if he really knew what it was, and our mission is to make that known to the world, and hence I appreciate the great missionary cause of this Church. ¶

We are told now that we have over 12,000 missionaries, and nearly half of them are full-time missionaries giving their entire time to tell the world and our brothers and sisters who are not of us, of the marvelous thing the Lord has accomplished in this dispensation. If these people only knew how we love them, how we pray for them, how we pray for the Lord to lead the missionaries to their doors and to give them the ability to explain the truth to them in a convincing manner so that they will really know, I am sure they would realize that there is a sincerity in this Church that might not be found anywhere else in all the world. ¶

I am wondering now if you had lived in the days of the Savior or the Apostle Paul, and you had heard their testimonies, knowing that they were evilspoken of by all people, would you have believed them? You remember when Paul was brought in chains to Rome, the high priests said, ". . . we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against." (Acts 28:22.) Those who join this Church have to pass through and penetrate the opposition and evil things that have been said against us because the war that was started in heaven between Satan and the followers of the Lord is still being fought, and one of his greatest instruments is to try and prejudice the minds of men and women—and therefore the prophets have been put to death through all dispensations. ¶

When Paul stood before Festus and King Agrippa and bore that marvelous testimony, how he had seen a light and heard a voice and how the Son of God said to him, ". . . Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks," (Acts 26:14) and then as Paul reasoned before these two great Romans he said, "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?" (Acts 26:8.) To be able to accept the message of Paul in those days that God really had raised the dead, for Christ had been raised from the dead and had appeared to him, was harder, possibly, to believe than the message of the prophet of this dispensation. ¶

You will recall that when that testimony was borne, Festus said, "Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad," to which Paul replied, "I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness," to which King Agrippa replied, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." (Acts 26:24-25, 28.) Now the Prophet Joseph Smith declared that the Father and the Son appeared to him when he was a mere lad, not quite fifteen, and the thing that he could not understand was the prejudice that that statement aroused in the minds of leaders of men and leaders of religion, for he was a boy of no great pretense, just a farmer's boy without education, and he said he could understand, but he said he felt as he imagined Paul felt. He knew that he had seen a light. He knew that he had heard the voices of these two Personages, God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. And he said he knew that God knew it, and he dared not deny it because he knew that by so doing he would come under condemnation before God. ¶

Does it seem any more incredible today to believe that the God of heaven and his Son Jesus Christ who was resurrected from the grave should appear to man here upon this earth than to believe that Christ was resurrected, a thing that had never been seen or heard of before at the time of his resurrection? ¶

We read in the scriptures how the Father announced his approval of the Son at his baptism and on the mount of the transfiguration. We read that Stephen gazed into heaven and saw Christ sitting on the right hand of his Father, so we know they do exist, and then think of all that the prophets have foretold for the latter days, and it does not seem incredible that they should usher in this the greatest gospel dispensation of all time by a personal visitation to this earth. ¶

And if they were to come, to whom would they come? The prophet Amos tells us, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7.) And when there are no prophets, there is no leadership of God in the world, for his way of leading his people is through his servants the prophets. ¶

We read of when Jeremiah was called to be a prophet. As you will remember, he was young; he could not understand it, so the Lord had to comfort him by saying, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." (Jer. 1:5.) We know through the declaration of one of the American prophets, as recorded in the Book of Mormon, that Joseph Smith was called before he was born and was in waiting three thousand years before his birth to come forth to usher in this great latter-day gospel dispensation, so that it is no miracle and not a thing incredible to believe that God would raise up a man to do the work that needed to be done in restoring his work to the earth in this dispensation. ¶

Peter saw the latter days. The Christ looked forward to his coming in the latter days. He taught his apostles to pray, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." (Matt. 6:10.) And men and women have prayed that from those days until the present, without ever realizing that those words would literally be fulfilled, that the kingdom of God would be established in earth as it is in heaven. ¶

And Peter, speaking to those who put to death the Christ, said that they should repent that their sins might be ". . . blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; ¶

"And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: ¶

"Whom the heaven must receive," ¶

Peter says, "until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." (Acts 3:19-21.) There is not a man or woman in this world who really loves the Lord who would not accept the truth if he knew what God really had restored in this "restitution of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began." That is one of the simple truths declared by the restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith. ¶

Then we have the statement when John was banished upon the Isle of Patmos, and the angel called him and said, ". . . Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter." (Rev. 4:1.) Now remember, Christ had already been crucified, and then John was shown that in the latter days, "another angel [would] fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel . . ." (Rev. 14:6) and that is the only gospel that can save men. Jesus said, "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Matt. 15:9.) And John saw that this angel would have "the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and [every] kindred, and [every] tongue, and [every] people." (See Rev. 14:6.) ¶

This truly is a declaration that no one would be in possession of the "everlasting gospel" when that angel would come. ¶

We see the Angel Moroni on the temple here and on the Los Angeles Temple with his trumpet as if he were declaring to the world that: ¶

An angel from on high ¶

The long, long silence broke, ¶

Descending from the sky ¶

These gracious words he spoke. ¶

—Parley P. Pratt ¶

And we have his message of the restoration of the gospel. ¶

When Daniel interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and you will remember the king had already forgotten the dream, he said to him, "But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. . . ." (Dan. 2:28.) And then he declared the rise and fall of the kingdoms of this world until in the latter days, and he mentions that specifically, ". . . the God of heaven [shall] set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to another people, and it shall . . . stand for ever," (Dan. 2:44) and as a little stone it should roll forth until it should become as a great mountain and fill the whole earth. (See Dan. 2:45.) ¶

There are many other prophecies concerning the marvelous work and a wonder the Lord promised to do in the latter days. How could that kingdom be set up in the world just by men studying the scriptures, differing in their interpretation of the words of the prophets? We have to have a prophet of God, for "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets," and it is our testimony to the world that that kingdom has been established in the earth through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith. ¶

Through the work of the missionaries, nearly 22,000 people have left the faith of their fathers during the last year and joined this Church because they have believed these marvelous things, and we bear witness to the world that they are true. Of course, in fifteen minutes I can not tell you much about what has gone on in this world in the restoration of the gospel, but what I have said ought to be sufficient to make you want to know more about it, and our missionaries are available. Among that 22,000 converts are ministers of the gospel, for there are many honest men among them, and this work is going forth under the inspiration of the Almighty, and our missionaries are being led to the honest in heart. ¶

We had a man down in South Carolina, when I was there, who told us that he saw two missionaries in a dream come to his home a year before they actually knocked at his door, and when they knocked at his door, he said, "Come in, you have the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ for me." ¶

Brother and Sister Romney are sitting down here on the front row. He just presided in the Central American Mission. I toured that mission with him a year ago last January, and two of the lady missionaries said they were walking along the street one day, and a man came up to them and said, "I know who you are. I have seen you in a dream. You have the truth. Will you come to our home and teach it to us?" ¶

So I bear you my solemn witness today that there is evidence sufficient to any honest man or any honest woman who really loves the Lord that we do in very deed have the kingdom of God to offer unto them, and I bear you that witness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶