I Wish To Express My Deep Gratitude...

• I wish to express my deep gratitude for that sustaining vote in my behalf this morning. I pray I will be given the help to fully fulfill this responsibility. I wish to personally express my sustaining vote in favor of President Joseph Fielding Smith and all the other General Authorities, including the new ones added this day. The Lord has always given his people prophets and leaders to guide us and give us counsel. ¶

Prophets Cry Repentance

Speaking to Enoch, who was only the sixth generation of mortality on this earth, the Lord said, "Say unto this people: Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you." (Moses 6:33.) It has been necessary for the prophets of God to cry repentance since the very beginning, and will continue throughout the rest of mortality, even until the Savior comes to reign on the earth for a thousand years. ¶

Many of us think it would be easy to serve the Lord and keep his commandments if we were permitted to live during that great millennial reign which is to come when Christ will be here on earth and Satan will be bound. ¶

Satan To Be Bound

John wrote: "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. ¶

"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, "And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled. . . ." (Rev. ¶

20:1-3.) Many other scriptures refer to the thousand years of wonderful, glorious conditions on the earth, because Lucifer, Satan, the devil, will be bound. ¶

The scriptures say he will be "bound with a chain" and "put into a bottomless pit." To me, these are symbolical terms. I cannot quite conceive of steel chains or pits that could hold Satan. ¶

The only power I know of that will bind Satan, or render him powerless, is righteous living. ¶

The war that started in heaven has not ended yet and shall not end until everyone has proved the extent of his ability to resist Satan. Even Jesus Christ had to bind Satan when he was tempted in the wilderness. Satan had no power over him, because Jesus resisted his temptations. Then the record says, ". . . he departed from him for a season." (Luke 4:13.) ## Keeping God's Law Binds Satan ¶

When you have resisted a temptation until it no longer becomes a temptation, then to that extent, Satan has lost his power over you, and as long as you do not yield to him, to that degree he is bound. ¶

For instance, if you have learned to pay tithing until it is no burden or no real temptation anymore, then to that extent you have bound Satan. The same is true in keeping the Word of Wisdom or living the laws of chastity, or the other laws of the gospel. Satan becomes powerless to you in that field. ¶

Then step by step, you may bind Satan now; you don't have to wait for the millennial reign. ¶

This has to start first on an individual basis, each person individually; then a group, then several groups, and so on until the whole earth is full of righteousness. ¶

This is how I believe the conditions described during the millennial reign will be developed. ¶

Today is the time to prepare for the ushering in of that glorious time on the earth. This is why the gospel has been restored, with the plan, the keys, and the authority to administer therein. ¶

Then by each individual binding Satan through his righteous living, we can bring about the glorious conditions like those spoken of which will exist during the millennial reign. ¶

We have had such conditions on the earth to prove to us that it can be done. ¶

Examples Of Righteous Living

When the Lord told Enoch, "Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you," he did just that. He walked and talked with God. He preached repentance and many followed him, and in his days, the record says, ". . . ¶

he built a city that was called the City of Holiness, even ZION." (Moses 7:19.) "And all the days of Zion, in the days of Enoch, were three hundred and sixty-five years. ¶

"And Enoch and all his people walked with God, and he dwelt in the midst of Zion; and it came to pass that Zion was not, for God received it up into his own bosom; and from thence went forth the saying, ZION IS FLED." (Moses 7:68-69.) In the Book of Mormon another similar occasion is recorded. After Christ's resurrection he visited the inhabitants of this continent. He established his church and kingdom among them, and the record in the Book of Mormon tells us they lived righteously for some two hundred years. (See 4 Ne. ¶

22.) Surely Satan was bound then, by their righteous living. ¶

Down through the ages the Lord has continually told us what we must do to bind Satan and receive the blessings he has in store for us. Every speaker at this conference has told us how we can bind Satan, and I recommend to you these talks, that you read them and reread them and study them and literally make them a part of your lives. ¶

Enoch's Message

Enoch's message, then, is just as fitting and appropriate today as then, if not more so. ¶

He said: "Behold Satan hath come among the children of men, and tempteth them to worship him; and men have become carnal, sensual, and devilish, and are shut out from the presence of God. ¶

"But God hath made known unto our fathers that all men must repent. ¶

"And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying: I am God; I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. ¶

"And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you." (Moses 6:49-52.) ¶

Preparation For Coming Of Savior

This is how the way must be prepared for the coming of the Savior. His kingdom must be established on earth to prepare for his coming. ¶

He has given us the parable of the ten virgins, symbolic of his coming — the five wise virgins who were prepared and the five who were foolish; the ten virgins refer to those who have accepted him in baptism — only 50 percent of whom were really ready. ¶

If he were to come today, would you be counted among the 50 percent of the members of his kingdom who will be prepared, or among the 50 percent of his kingdom who will only be partly prepared, or will you not be counted in his kingdom at all, waiting for a time when Satan will be bound for you instead of binding him yourself? ¶

Choose ye this day to serve the Lord God who made you. ¶

I testify that his kingdom has been established upon the earth in these, the latter days, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶