Brethren It Is Good To Be With...

Brethren: It is good to be with you this evening in our general priesthood meeting and to have the priesthood meeting in over 400 different places, listening to these services tonight. ¶

We are very happy to have President McKay with us. We shall hear his message later. ¶

Word of Wisdom blessing and promise I wish to say a few words about the Word of Wisdom. When I was a boy and they talked about the Word of Wisdom, all I thought of was that this was a religious requirement. In fact, we were told a good many times: ¶

A cup of coffee won't hurt you; a cup of tea won't hurt you; one cigarette won't hurt you; a drink won't hurt you; it's getting the habit that will bother you. And we kids used to think that the Church was prudish and odd for trying to get us to do things that made us look funny in the sight of the boys with whom we associated who were not members of the Church. ¶

I would like to say just a few words about the breaking of the Word of Wisdom and what it means to us, the danger of tampering with things that the Lord has told us not to tamper with, both as it affects our bodies and as it affects our ability to resist, if we get on the wrong side of the line. ¶

A safeguard against capture This has been said about Satan, as we read in the Doctrine and Covenants: ¶

"Satan stirreth them up, that he may lead their souls to destruction. ¶

"And thus he has laid a cunning plan, thinking to destroy the work of God; but I will require this at their hands, and it shall turn to their shame and condemnation in the day of judgment. ¶

"Yea, he stirreth up their hearts to anger against this work. ¶

"Yea, he saith unto them: Deceive and lie in wait to catch, that ye may destroy; behold, this is no harm. And thus he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie that they may catch a man in lie, that they may destroy him. ¶

"And thus he flattereth them, and leadeth them along until he draggeth their souls down to hell; and thus he causeth them to catch themselves in their own snare. ¶

"And thus he goeth up and down, to and fro in the earth, seeking to destroy the souls of men." (D&C 10:22-27.) There is no doubt, boys — and you are the ones I am talking to tonight — there is no doubt but that Satan is out, going up and down, here and there, trying in every way he can to destroy us. ¶

"Tobacco is not good for man" ¶

It is an interesting thing that over 130 years ago a prophet of God said ". . . tobacco ... is not good for man, . . ." (D&C 89:8), and now scientists all over the world say that tobacco is not good for man. You have heard it talked about a good deal, but I would like to appeal to these boys who are listening to me tonight — and have them appeal to other boys wherever they may be, and have their fathers appeal to them — to let them realize what a great danger is involved in partaking of tobacco and alcohol and these other things that are advised against. ¶

Dr. William H. Stewart has said the so-called "next-guy theory" — that it can happen to someone else but not to me — is the psychology that is preventing anti-cigarette campaigns from making more headway. The fallacy of this kind of reasoning is illustrated in the story of a Honolulu reporter, who said, "It just can't happen to me; I'm safe." But this Hawaiian newsman, Mark Waters, spoke from the grave to readers of the Honolulu Star Bulletin. Waters died of lung cancer at the age of 56 on February 1, the day the Star Bulletin ran his last story. ¶

It was a by-line account of a 42-year rendezvous with his killer. ¶

The story was written in the hospital five days before his death. Waters read proof on the story and made final corrections the day before he succumbed, observing that it might help someone else. ¶

Waters told how he started smoking at 14, stealing cigarettes from his father's pack, and how he continued at the rate of two packs a day, even after suffering a stroke and contracting bronchitis. Doctors discovered cancer in his left lung. A lobe was removed. ¶

Waters gained 10 pounds after the September operation and felt fine. Four months later pain returned. The doctor removed fluid from his chest cavity but had to tell him that he had little time to live. ¶

"Not a soul I've preached to has stopped smoking," he wrote from his hospital bed, "not a single, solitary soul. ¶

"It's one of those things. You always think, it'll happen to others, but never to me. When you get lung cancer, God help you." ¶

Like the rest of his story, Waters' conclusion was terse. "I'm short of breath. I can't take five steps without having to sit "The cancer has gone to my liver and I don't know where else. ¶

"I don't have a ghost of a chance. ¶

"It's too late for me. ¶

"It may not be for you." ¶

I want to tell you a little story about a boy I knew very well, my baby brother, as sweet a boy as I ever knew — kind, considerate of his mother, and loved by every member of the family. ¶

But he got into wrong company when he was just a little boy, and he started using cigarettes. He used to steal away and have his smoke, and then he got to smoking a little more and a little more, until he became a habitual smoker. He had four older brothers, and we tried to get him to quit smoking, to realize that he shouldn't be doing it. ¶

He kept saying he was going to quit smoking, but just a few years ago he died of lung cancer. And if anything makes you hate tobacco, it is to have a brother, one of the finest young fellows that you know, go to his death because he had that habit of smoking. ¶

He thought when he was a kid, "I can quit any time I want to." In fact he used to say so, and he used to try to quit but he couldn't. ¶

I want to tell you another story about a man whom I knew very well in Calgary, Alberta, one of the outstanding drillers in the oil business — one who was very well-to-do and had the biggest string of drilling rigs in the whole country. ¶

Strong drink not good for man He was doing a little social drinking. (May I add here, in case I forget it, that one out of every 15 who does a little social drinking becomes an alcoholic. When you are in a group where there are 15 men who are drinking socially, you are going to find that one will be an alcoholic. Every one of them will say, "How silly; it couldn't happen to me. I am just drinking socially. I am not going to drink much." And they continue to argue about it until they are in the gutter.) This man of whom I am speaking I knew very well, since I was Minister of Mines up there. His social drinking made him an alcoholic. That poor fellow was worked with by his partner, he was worked with by his friends, he was encouraged in every way to quit this drinking, but it was getting the better of him. He said, "You are crazy. I can quit drinking any time I want to." But finally this was his story — of course I knew it without his telling it — and I had him go to a group of our young men to tell it: "I didn't realize until I was actually in the gutter that I was an alcoholic and couldn't control myself. ¶

It cost me my business, it cost me my wife, it cost me my friends, it cost me the respect of everyone who knew me. ¶

I was literally in the gutter because I took the first drink." And he added, "I want to tell you, young men, no man can afford to take one drink of alcohol. I don't care who he is, how much he is worth, or if he is a multimillionaire— he cannot afford to take one drink of alcohol." ¶

Danger I want to say to you boys, wherever you are tonight: Realize that you can't afford to play with these things that will take your life. You can't afford to do it anyway, because the Lord has said, "Don't do it." It is being proven in every way that tobacco and alcohol are not good for us. ¶

Let us be men. Let us not be sissies. ¶

Anybody can drink, and anybody can smoke. It doesn't take brains to do that. But it does take brains and a little willpower and a little sense to refuse the first smoke and the first drink of alcohol. And leave the other things — tea and coffee — alone as well, because they are the first steps to the other transgressions. ¶

May the Lord bless you that every member in this Church holding the priesthood — in fact every member — will keep the Word of Wisdom, knowing that it is a commandment of the Lord. It is for your own good. You are not a sissy. Don't be a fool. ¶

Remember that the priesthood you hold is the power of God delegated to you to act in his name. He has promised that if you magnify your priesthood all that he has is yours. ¶

I want to bear you my testimony that God lives and that through his Son, Jesus Christ, the plan of life and salvation has been given to us to let us know how we can enjoy life here upon the earth and prepare ourselves for immortality and eternal life. ¶

May the Lord bless us to this end and give us strength to do his will, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶