Prophetic Counsel and Warnings

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday morning session of the April 2006 conference.

Some real jewels shone in the talks of this session. I'll share what I think are the highlights.

President James E. Faust: "We believe that the fulness of the gospel of Christ has been restored, but this is no reason for anyone to feel superior in any way toward others of God's children. Rather, it requires a greater obligation to invoke the essence of the gospel of Christ in our lives--to love, serve, and bless others."

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland: "Are you confused with gender identity or searching for self-esteem? . . . I testify that the Savior's Atonement lifts from us not only the burden of sins but also the burden of our disappointments. . . . Considering the incomprehensible cost of the Crucifixion and Atonement, I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now. . . . He knows the way because He is the way."

Elder Earl C. Tingey: "Christ's suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane epitomizes the most magnificent of all the attributes of Christ, His perfect love. Here we see that He truly loved all of us. . . . The word atonement, or 'at-one-ment', means to restore or to come back. In terms of family, it means to be reunited with one another and with God and His Son, Jesus Christ. It means sadness through separation will become happiness through reuniting."

Sister Anne C. Pingree: Speaking of a pair of senior sister missionaries, "They demonstrated true spiritual maturity. . . . Daily prayer and scripture study, adherence to commandments and to covenants made at baptism and in the temple are at the core of growing up unto the Lord. . . . determined service to others, even in difficult circumstances, is required of those who truly desire 'to grow up unto the Lord.'"

Elder Dallin H. Oaks: "But what about 'bond and free?' Bond--the opposite of free--means more than slavery. It means being bound (in bondage) to anything from which it is difficult to escape. Bond includes those whose freedom is restricted by physical or emotional afflictions. Bond includes those who are addicted to some substance or practice. Bond surely refers to those who are imprisoned by sin--'encircled about' by what another teaching of the Book of Mormon calls 'the chains of hell' (Alma 5:7). Bond includes those who are held down by traditions or customs contrary to the commandments of God (see Matthew 15:3-6; Mark 7:7-9; D&C 74:4-7; 93:39). Finally, bond also includes those who are confined within the boundaries of other erroneous ideas. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that we preach to 'liberate the captives.' Our Savior 'inviteth . . . all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; . . . he denieth none that come unto him . . . ; and all are alike unto God.'"

And this little gem of humor from President Gordon B. Hinckley: "I trust that you will not regard what I have said as an obituary. I look forward to the opportunity of speaking to you again in October."

I so love that the messages of General Conference are both timely and timeless. The messengers are not called prophets for no reason. They truly are God's spokesmen on earth. We would be wise to heed their counsel and warnings.

Warning!

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Priesthood session of the April 2006 conference.

From President James E. Faust:

I counsel all of you brethren to avoid every kind of addiction. At this time Satan and his followers are enslaving some of our choicest young people through addiction to alcohol, all kinds of drugs, pornography, tobacco, gambling, and other compulsive disorders. Some people seem to be born with a weakness for these substances so that only a single experimentation will result in uncontrollable addiction. Some addictions are actually mind-altering and create a craving that overpowers reason and judgment. These addictions destroy the lives not only of those who do not resist them but also their parents, spouses, and children. As the prophet Jeremiah lamented, "The inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates." The Lord in His wisdom has warned us that substances that are not good for us should be totally avoided.

Oh how I wish our son had listened and obeyed, rather than ending as a causality in the war of good versus evil. 

James' last birthday, 17 September 2022, age 26

God Decides

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday afternoon session of the April 2006 conference.

In an age when people want to do their own thing it is good to be reminded that God sets the standards, entrance requirements, and rewards. Elder Bednar's talk on always having His Spirit to be with us resonated with me.

You and I do not decide the nature or elements of a covenant. Rather, exercising our moral agency, we accept the terms and requirements of a covenant as our Eternal Father has established them.

I find that comforting and encouraging. I can rely on Him because He is not capricious and fallible. Rather He is steadfast, reliable, eternal and unchanging. 

Spiritual Gifts

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday morning session of the April 2006 conference.

Sister Julie B. Beck's talk "An Outpouring of Blessings" touched my heart. I looked up my notes from this conference and saw that I had only written down her major theme, nothing specific. But hearing her words and reading along opened my eyes this time around.

She was addressing concerns that were just coming over the horizon in the culture. That is, women seeking equality in holding and exercising the priesthood. Sister Beck taught eternal truths that we all are equal in God's sight and He pours out His blessings equally upon His sons and daughters. 

What interested me most was her description of Spiritual Gifts. I have struggled to know what my gifts are because they are not mentioned directly as such in my patriarchal blessing. One, in her talk, stood out to me.

I know people who are given the spiritual gift of a believing spirit. When they hear the gospel, it rings true in their hearts.

My patriarchal blessing says that ". . . as soon as [I] heard the gospel, it rang true to [me] and [I] accepted it readily." I always thought that line odd because I was born into a covenant family and raised by faithful, covenant keeping parents. I have always known that the church is the true church of Jesus Christ, and that Joseph Smith was who he said he was, and did what he says he did. So I guess that answers the question of whether or not I would have accepted the gospel if I hadn't been so blessed.

I'm so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and Happiness; for the Restoration of the Fullness of Christ's Gospel; and for modern prophets and apostles to lead and guide us as we prepare for the Second Coming of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Instruments in the Hands of God

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the General Relief Society session of the October 2005 conference.

Sister Kathleen H. Hughes is married to one of my favorite LDS authors, Dean Hughes. One of his books, Before the Dawn, was inspired, in part, by the unity of sisterhood he felt among the women when his wife served in the General Relief Society presidency. I enjoyed her talk so much in this session because she addressed some of my most glaring faults.

All of us long to possess Christ's pure love, called charity, but our humanness--the "natural woman" in us--gets in the way. We get angry, we become frustrated, we berate ourselves and others--and when we do, we cannot be the conduit of love we need to be if we are to become an instrument in Heavenly Father's hands. Being willing to forgive ourselves and others becomes an integral part of our ability to have the love of the Lord in our lives and to do His work.

I often think of the quote from C.S. Lewis about entering a cellar turning on the light and discovering rats. The light didn't create the rats, it revealed them. I have rats in my cellar! Big, ugly ones that are revealed when I'm frustrated by things I can't control. I often pray to be able to kill the rats and rid myself of them, to clean up my cellar.

Sister Hughes shared something she learned from a woman she had recently met.

Alicia told me something I will never forget. She said, "I only do one thing for myself when I go to church: I take the sacrament for me. The rest of the time I watch for others who need me and I try to help them and nurture them."

That is an insight I needed to be reminded of. And I tried it this past Sunday. At the potluck after the meetings I sat with sisters I don't normally sit with. We had a delightful time. I felt better for having done so. Not that I was better than them, rather that they gave me hope, strength, and sisterhood.

We can only be instruments in the hands of God if and when we are willing to forget our own troubles and inadequacies and reach out to serve others. He will sustain us, and though we may not know the outcome of our service each time, it is surely recorded in heaven. I look forward to seeing the effects of my efforts someday when I return Home.