Harold B. Lee

HAROLD B. LEE
11th President of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (July 7, 1972 – December 26, 1973)

First Counselor in the First Presidency (January 23, 1970 – July 7, 1972)

President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (January 23, 1970 – July 7, 1972)

Member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (April 10, 1941 – January 23, 1970)

General Conference Addresses

October 1973 General Conference
- Understanding Who We Are Brings Self-Respect
  - “What a difference it would make if we really sensed our divine relationship to God, our Heavenly Father, our relationship to Jesus Christ, our Savior and our elder brother, and our relationship to each other.”
- President Harold B. Lee’s General Priesthood Address
  - “Teach those who are having problems to go to the father of the ward, their bishop, for counsel. No psychiatrist in the world, no marriage counselor, can give to those who are faithful members of the Church the counsel from one any better than the bishop of the ward.”
  - “Brethren, we plead with you to keep yourselves morally clean, and walk the path of truth and righteousness, and thereby gain the plaudits of a Heavenly Father whose sons you are.”
- Closing Remarks
  - “If you want to know what the Lord would have the Saints know and to have his guidance and direction for the next six months, get a copy of the proceedings of this conference, and you will have the latest word of the Lord as far as the Saints are concerned.”
  - “I extend my blessings to you wonderful Saints. Go back to your homes now. Take the love of the General Authorities to your people. We extend to those who are not members of the Church the hand of fellowship. May we reach out to those who have lost their sense of direction and, before it is too late, try to win them back into the fold; because they are all God’s children, and he wants us to save all of them.”
April 1973 General Conference
- Strengthen the Stakes of Zion
  - “I believe there has never been a time since the creation that the Lord has left the dominion of the devil to destroy his work without his power being manifest in the midst of the righteous to save the works of righteousness from being completely overthrown.”
- Follow the Leadership of the Church
  - “We have a rash of writings by certain persons who claim to be of good standing in the Church, going into considerable detail as they recite their past and present Church affiliations and activities in the foreword, interlude, and advertising. There are sensational predictions and observations, and to make their writings appear to have Church sanction, they use quotations and addresses from Church leaders, past and present, taken out of context in such a way as to make it appear as though these quotations were the endorsement of the book they wish to sell to Church members, who may thereby be induced to accept their writings as from unquestioned sources.”
  - “So it is a call to arms—arms to do what? To keep the commandments of God in order that we might lay claim to the blessings we need so much in this day of uncertainty, in this crazy mixed-up world, as some have spoken of it, and our youth have seemed to feel.”
- “Stand Ye in Holy Places”
  - “The heaviest burden that one has to bear in this life is the burden of sin. How do you help one to bear that great burden of sin, in order that it might be light?”
  - “The greatest miracles I see today are not necessarily the healing of sick bodies, but the greatest miracles I see are the healing of sick souls, those who are sick in soul and spirit and are downhearted and distraught, on the verge of nervous breakdowns.”
October 1972 General Conference
- “May the Kingdom of God Go Forth”
  - “Today, as never before, have I more fully realized the importance of that last requirement: that this presidency, in the Lord’s language, must be upheld by the confidence, the faith, and the prayers of the Church—which means, of course, the entire membership of the Church.”
- Teach the Gospel of Salvation
  - “We have been told where the roots of all evil are to be found. Our children have not been properly taught by parents in the home. Our communities have adopted policies which encourage idleness instead of work for those who want to work for what they need, and have failed to adopt measures to see that idleness and unemployment are reduced to the absolute minimum.”
  - “The Lord does reign in the midst of his Saints through his priesthood, which he delegates to man, rather than through other man-made organizations, the like of those to which I have made reference.”
- Admonitions for the Priesthood of God
  - “This is something that is recurring time and time again, and we call upon you holders of the priesthood to stamp out any such and to set to flight all such things as are creeping in, people rising up here and there who have had some “marvelous” kind of a manifestation, as they claim, and who try to lead the people in a course that has not been dictated from the heads of the Church.”
  - “I want to warn this great body of priesthood against that great sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, which has been labeled as a sin second only in seriousness to the sin of murder. I speak of the sin of adultery, which, as you know, was the name used by the Master as he referred to unlicensed sexual sins of fornication as well as adultery; and besides this, the equally grievous sin of homosexuality, which seems to be gaining momentum with social acceptance in the Babylon of the world, of which Church members must not be a part.”
  - “The trouble with us today, there are too many of us who put question marks instead of periods after what the Lord says.”
  - “We shouldn’t be concerned about why he said something, or whether or not it can be made so. Just trust the Lord. We don’t try to find the answers or explanations. We shouldn’t try to spend time explaining what the Lord didn’t see fit to explain.”
- A Blessing for the Saints
  - “Never is the gospel of Jesus Christ more beautiful than in times of intense need, or in times of a severe storm within us as individuals, or in times of confusion and turmoil.”
April 1972 General Conference
- The Strength of the Priesthood
  - “The one who has the chief responsibility is the father of the boy. This doesn’t mean that the father should wake up some morning and call his boy to his bedside and in fifteen minutes tell him all the facts of life. That isn’t what the boy needs. He needs a father to answer when he wants to ask questions of a delicate nature. He is hungering to know; he is curious about things.”
  - “If his father will be frank and honest, and tell him up to the limit of his intelligence as he grows up, that father will be the one to whom the son will return for counsel in the years that follow.”
  - “Until the members of this church have that conviction that they are being led in the right way, and they have a conviction that these men of God are men who are inspired and have been properly appointed by the hand of God, they are not truly converted.”
- A Time of Decision
  - “One of the ambitious sons of God’s spiritual creations in the premortal world promised salvation for all mankind without effort on their part, provided he would be given almighty power, even to the dethroning of God himself, whose divine right it is to reign over the earth. Intense bitterness ensued between that son, who became Satan, and those who followed after him, and the beloved Son of God and those who followed after him, whose plan of salvation, by contrast, would give to every soul the right of choice, and the glory be to the Father.”
  - “Today we are constantly hearing from the unenlightened and misguided, who demand what they call free agency, by which they apparently mean, as evidenced by their conduct, that they have their agency to do as they please or to exercise their own self-will to determine what is law and order, what is right and wrong, or what is honor and virtue.”
  - “These are frightening expressions when you reflect upon what I have just quoted from the revealed word of God. A moment’s reflection will help you to see that when one sets himself up to make his own rules and presumes to know no law but his own, he is but echoing the plan of Satan, who sought to ascend to God’s throne, as it were, in being the judge of all that rules mankind and the world. There has ever been, and ever will be, a conflict between the forces of truth and error; between the forces of righteousness and the forces of evil; between the dominion of Satan and the dominion under the banner of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.”
  - “So, likewise, it is inspired wisdom that our efforts must be spent in teaching truth by the power of Almighty God, and thus we can forge the most powerful of all weapons against the vicious doctrines of Satan.”
  - “If we overemphasize the philosophies of the enemies of righteousness instead of teaching forcefully the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, such overemphasis can only serve to stir up controversy and strife and thus defeat the very purpose of our missionary work in all the nations of the world.”
  - “Wherever you are, wherever you live, pray for the leaders of your country, for remember that they too hold in their hands all that you hold dear.”
October 1971 General Conference
- “Watch, That Ye May Be Ready”
  - “You leaders, put into full gear the total programs that are heaven-sent in these days to stem the tide of wickedness that is rolling over the earth as an avalanche.”
- Responsibilities of the Priesthood
  - “Please, we ask you priesthood holders, wake up these fathers now, while it is yet day and while there is time for them to receive their blessings before the darkness comes. May the Lord help us so to do now and to catch the vision and the message that President Tanner and these men who have spoken to you tonight have given you—a glimpse of what we can do if we will only exercise the priesthood, which is the power of God by which he works through men to the salvation of his children.”
April 1971 General Conference
- Today’s Young People
  - “In your own circle, in your own home, in your own lives, you must do all you can of your own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness. Our job and your job, my job, is to look after the man behind the one in front of you. That is a little difficult for some people to figure out. And when you find out that one, and put him in line, then you are prepared to go out and search for the other ones.”
- The Iron Rod
  - “There are those in the Church who speak of themselves as liberals who, as one of our former presidents has said, “read by the lamp of their own conceit.” One time I asked one of our Church educational leaders how he would define a liberal in the Church. He answered in one sentence: “A liberal in the Church is merely one who does not have a testimony.””
October 1970 General Conference
- Keep Your Lamp Lighted
  - “Brethren of the priesthood, if we will be united and let our light shine, and not hide our light under a bushel but exercise it righteously and let our priesthood callings be an eternal revolution against the norms of society or against any proposals that fall below the standards as set forth in the gospel of Jesus Christ or as laid down by the Constitution of the United States written by inspired men then we will be a force in the world that will be “the marvelous work and wonder” which the Lord said the kingdom of God was to be.”
- Time to Prepare to Meet God
  - “This dramatic event is somewhat analogous to these troublous times in which we live. The headlines in the public press only this week made another startling announcement by a presidential commission to the President of the United States. “U.S. Society Is in Peril.” Many are frightened when they see and hear of unbelievable happenings the world over—political intrigues, wars and contention everywhere, frustrations of parents, endeavoring to cope with social problems that threaten to break down the sanctity of the home, the frustrations of children and youth as they face challenges to their faith and their morals. Only if you are willing to listen and obey, as did the astronauts on the Aquarius, can you and all your households be guided to ultimate safety and security in the Lord’s own way. There are, in these troubled times, agonizing cries of distress among the peoples of the earth. There are intense feelings of a need for some way to find a solution to overwhelming problems and to ease this distress from all that affects mankind.”
- Uphold the Hands of the President of the Church
  - “We have some tight places to go before the Lord is through with this church and the world in this dispensation, which is the last dispensation, which shall usher in the coming of the Lord. The gospel was restored to prepare a people ready to receive him. The power of Satan will increase; we see it in evidence on every hand. There will be inroads within the Church. There will be, as President Tanner has said, “Hypocrites, those professing, but secretly are full of dead men’s bones.” We will see those who profess membership but secretly are plotting and trying to lead people not to follow the leadership that the Lord has set up to preside in this church.”
  - “Now the only safety we have as members of this church is to do exactly what the Lord said to the Church in that day when the Church was organized. We must learn to give heed to the words and commandments that the Lord shall give through his prophet, “as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me—as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith.” There will be some things that take patience and faith. You may not like what comes from the authority of the Church. It may contradict your political views. It may contradict your social views. It may interfere with some of your social life. But if you listen to these things, as if from the mouth of the Lord himself, with patience and faith, the promise is that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name’s glory.””
April 1970 General Conference
- To the Defenders of the Faith
  - “The term “elder,” which is applied to all holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood, means a defender of the faith. That is our prime responsibility and calling. Every holder of the Melchizedek Priesthood is to be a defender of the faith.”
  - “Brethren of the priesthood, you defenders of the faith, we would wish that you would plead with our Saints to cease promoting the works of the devil. Spend your time promoting the works of the Lord, and don’t allow these things to be found among those under your charge, for they are the works of Satan, and we are playing his game whenever we permit such things to be heralded about and repeated and passed about on every side.”
  - “Brethren, I repeat, don’t allow the works of the devil to be paraded in our midst and become the subject of discourses or lesson materials. Speak of the works of righteousness, and the power of the devil will begin to cease among you.”
- The Day in Which We Live
  - “I find myself almost trembling with a sense of my own inadequacy when I recall the great leaders of this dispensation who have preceded us in leadership positions. As I have thought of this, through long hours of meditation and prayer, I sense the reality of the fact that one, such as I, does not take the place of those who have gone on before.”
April 1969 General Conference
- To Know God
  - “In this dispensation, as has been the case in all previous dispensations of the gospel upon the earth, there was given through the modern prophet, Joseph Smith, the true knowledge of God and his Son, our Savior, when, as glorified personal beings who could talk with and he seen of men, they conversed with him, as though to demonstrate their tangible reality, as the dispensation of the fulness of times was ushered in, in preparation for the second coming of the Lord to reign as Lord of lords and King of kings at the commencement of the millennium.”
October 1968 General Conference
- Make Our Lord and Master Your Friend
  - “One of the greatest threats to the work of the Lord today comes from false educational ideas. There is a growing tendency of teachers within and without the church to make academic interpretations of gospel teachings—to read, as a prophet-leader has said, “by the lamp of their own conceit.” Unfortunately, much in the sciences, the arts, politics, and the entertainment field, as has been well said by an eminent scholar, is “all dominated by this humanistic approach which ignores God and his word as revealed through the prophets.” This kind of worldly system apparently hopes to draw men away from God by making man the “measure of all things,” as some worldly philosophers have said.”
  - “If we would be free from the pitfalls of these evil forces, we must understand the Master’s words. Satan and his hordes are ever present in the midst of us. We must make certain that when he comes, as the Master warned, he will have nothing on us and will go away and leave us alone. As long as we walk in the light of the revealed truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we need never walk in darkness but may always be sure of our course and know “whither [we] goeth.””
  - “We may well expect to find our Judases among those professing membership, but, unfortunately for them, they are laboring under some kind of evil influences or have devious motives.”
April 1968 General Conference
- Seek Learning, Even by Study, and Also by Faith
  - “Certainly learning by faith is not an easy road or a lazy means to knowledge.”
  - “God isn’t in the earthquake; he isn’t in the whirlwind; he isn’t in the fire; but he is in the still, small voice. Always we won’t have him in sight, but if we are living as we ought to live, we can always be sure he is there. Some of the most severe taskmasters that the world can know are sometimes beating us into a shape so we can pass such tests as necessary to gain that divine privilege.”
October 1967 General Conference
- Meeting the Needs of a Growing Church
  - “Evidence of improved leadership will bring more consistent study of the scriptures, greater concern of the holders of the priesthood in watching over the Church, more devotion to family duties, more of our young people married worthily in the temple, greater faith and righteous exercise of the priesthood, and so on.”
October 1966 General Conference
- Communion with Deity
  - “There you have, in simple language, a great principle: It isn’t the Lord who withholds himself from us. It is we who withhold ourselves from him because of our failure to keep his commandments.”
  - “Will you remember the great experience of Peter, the ranking member of the Twelve, whose loyalty to the Master seemed to have exceeded his courage when, in the face of physical hazard, he denied the Master thrice on the night of the betrayal? Compare this fear-torn Peter with the boldness he manifested shortly thereafter, before those same religious bigots who had so recently demanded the death of Jesus. He denounced them as murderers and called them to repentance, suffered imprisonment, and later went fearlessly to his own martyrdom.”
April 1966 General Conference
- That Ye May Be Able to Withstand in the Evil Day
  - “Yes, we are living in the last days. There are sure guides to truth if church members will use them. The Church is a continuing revolution against any and all norms of society that fall below the gospel standards. Within the gospel of Jesus Christ may be found the solution to every problem confronting us that will enable us to find happiness here and eternal life in the world to come. Yes, the devil is certainly on the loose. The Church indeed has the most effective possible defense against these ungodly and terrifying conditions.”
  - “The absolute test of the divinity of the calling of any officer in the Church is this: Is he in harmony with the brethren of that body to which he belongs? When we are out of harmony, we should look to ourselves first to find the way to unity.”
  - “One who has an abiding conviction concerning God, who has faith in his relationship to Deity and the necessity of obedience to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ who believes in and has a love for the Son of God, and who has a feeling of certainty as to the immortality of the soul can successfully combat sin and unrighteousness in any guise.”
October 1965 General Conference
- Watch! Be Ye Therefore Ready
  - “There are those among us who would set themselves up as critics of the Church, saying that the Church has gone out of the way. Some splintered apostate clans even from the beginning of this dispensation have made fictitious claims to authority. We should warn these, as well as those who are in danger of being led astray, of what the Prophet predicted. He said, “That man who rises up to condemn others, finding fault with the Church, saying they are out of the way, while he himself is righteous, then know assuredly that that man is [on the way] to apostasy; and if he does not repent, [he] will apostatize, as God lives.””
  - “God grant that you and I may learn obedience to God’s will, if necessary by the things which we suffer.”
April 1965 General Conference
- The Home
  - “Testimonies coming from young families concerning these programs as they put them into practice in their little families continue on and on, as we could tell you of the reawakening which has come to parents as they are led by the family home manual to guide their children through these important years of their lives.”
  - “Just as a floodlighted temple is more beautiful in a severe storm or in a heavy fog, so the gospel of Jesus Christ is more glorious in times of inward storm and of personal sorrow and tormenting conflict. When the density of the fog of doubt and uncertainty and dangers in the way ahead put fear into our hearts, God’s eternal light of gospel truth is more beautiful than ever before because of our greater need.”
October 1964 General Conference
- Priesthood Correlation and the Home Evening
  - “To have a leader that fails, a “fallen lighthouse” upon whom God depends in a ward or stake or in a general capacity, is the most dangerous thing in the world, because so many are depending on the functioning of that particular man. And so we propose to give out to the Church now these plans which we ask you as stake leaders to be prepared to announce in your stakes as soon as you can after this conference. We will give you materials to help train your ward people and home teachers in order that we may get off at the beginning of the year in this great project of the Lord, that for fifty years has been waged and now is to be strengthened by a set of planned lessons for the parents in the home, actually outlined for the parents to teach their children and to carry out appropriate activities to aid in the strengthening of the home.”
- Search Diligently, Pray Always, and Be Believing
  - “One of the hopes we have is that in this program every boy and girl of deacon age and older will have the four standard works in their private possession, and that on Easter, on birthdays, on Christmas, on New Year’s, you make this a part of your family giving to your children, so they may have the joy of personally owning the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, and from these precious pages begin to be instructed in the ways of the Lord.”
April 1964 General Conference
- The Strength of the Church
  - “Today, as it was then, it might well be said that the greatest miracles we see are not the healings of sick bodies, but the miraculous changes that come into the lives of those who become members of the Church, as all missionaries will testify. The greatest strength of the Church is not the number of units we have, not the amount of tithing that is paid, nor the congregations, but the greatest strength is the united and fervent testimonies that are in the hearts of church members. And by that same token, we might say that the greatest weapon against all untruth, whether it be in science, so-called, or in the philosophies of the world, or in communism, or what not, the greatest weapon is the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which preached in power will be a bulwark against these false ideas in the world today.”
October 1963 General Conference
- This Is Our Gospel
  - “The more complicated our lives and world conditions become, the more important it is for us to keep clear the purposes and principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not the function of religion to answer all the questions about God’s moral government of the universe, but to give one courage, through faith, to go on in the face of questions he never finds the answer to in his present status.”
April 1963 General Conference
- The Correlation Program
  - “I heard President Clark, shortly after he came into the First Presidency, make an interesting public statement. He said that when President Grant called him to be a Counselor in the First Presidency, he was worried. He had always thought of the President of the Church as the “mouthpiece” of the Lord, and he wondered how much counseling he ought to give the “mouthpiece” of the Lord. But he hadn’t been long in the Presidency until he discovered his place.”
  - “President Grant would say to each of his Counselors, when they were discussing a serious matter, “What do you think about it?” and “What do you think about it?” And the Counselors would respond. Sometimes their opinions were in contradiction or in conflict with what the President had thought. There was then the business of resolving the different points of view, but there would always come a time after a sufficient discussion when the President would say: “Now brethren, I feel that this is the thing we ought to do.” Then President Clark remarked, “When he said that, I quit counseling because, to me, that was the prophet of the Lord speaking, and I felt I should not try to dissuade him.””
  - “In the history of the Church there have been times or instances where Counselors in the First Presidency and others in high station have sought to overturn the decision or to persuade the President contrary to his inspired judgment, and always, if you will read carefully the history of the Church, such oppositions brought not only disastrous results to those who resisted the decision of the President, but almost always such temporary persuasions were called back for reconsideration, or a reversal of hasty action not in accordance with the feelings, the inspired feelings, of the President of the Church. And that I submit, is one of the fundamental things that we must never lose sight of in the building of the kingdom of God.”
October 1962 General Conference
- Report from the Correlation Committee
  - “This significant statement meant clearly that, first, each organization was to have its specific function, that it was not to usurp the field of the other which would be like the eye saying to the hand, “I have no need of thee;” second, that each subdivision is of equal importance in the work of salvation, just as each part of the physical body is essential to the complete human being; and third, that every member in the Church may be edified or educated together; and finally that the system may be kept perfect, or in other words, that within the framework of the Lord’s plan of organization for the salvation of his children, the Church will perform as a perfectly organized human body with every member functioning as it was intended.”
  - “We who are working closely together in the development of a more effective correlation have had the unmistakable evidence of divine direction through the channels by which the Lord told President John Taylor he would reveal himself and the development and the rolling forth of the work of the Lord.”
- Report from the Correlation Committee
  - “Repeatedly church members have asked as to how, with the rapid growth of the Church, the General Authorities could continue to keep contact with and to properly direct the work. To illustrate what some have posed as a difficult administrative hurdle: in the twenty-one years since I became a member of the General Authorities, we have increased 222 stakes and about twenty missions more than we had when I became a member of the Council of the Twelve. This means that when multiplied by four conferences in each stake each year, that we are now having just short of 900 more stake conferences to hold generally than we were holding twenty-one years ago. Hence, the question as to how the General Authorities were going to keep contact with the stakes of the Church being multiplied at that rate and likewise keep a close supervision of the missions.”
April 1962 General Conference
- Search…Pray…Believe
  - “Thousands of new members have built upon the foundation of their faith at the time of their baptism, but there are wolves in sheep’s clothing among them. Older members by bad example could “wound their weak conscience and make their weaker brethren to offend.” Dissension and confusion could result from lack of experience, and the tide of persecution from the outside could roll in upon them and engulf them in a flood of apostasy unless they heed the Lord’s warnings.”
  - “Except we do walk uprightly and remember our covenants and have an unshakable testimony of the divinity of this Church; in the language of an eminent businessman and financier, the various activities of the Church would be but a shambles.”
October 1961 General Conference
- New Plan of Coordination Explained
  - “We are in a program of defense. The Church of Jesus Christ was set upon this earth in this day “. . . for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it should be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth.” This is a move, which, as I say, has lain close to President McKay’s mind and now as the President of the Church he is instructing us to move forward, that we consolidate to make more efficient, and more effective the work of the priesthood, the auxiliaries, and the other units in order that we may conserve our time, our energy, and our efforts toward the prime purpose for which the Church itself has been organized. We must not forget what the Lord said, that he had given a parable to teach us a great lesson, and concluded the parable by saying, “I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.””
April 1961 General Conference
- That the World through Him Might be Saved
  - “Involved in this question of the universal proclamation of the gospel is another principle implied in the Master’s instruction to Peter. The Master, having declared the fundamental principle upon which his kingdom would be built, conferred upon Peter the “keys of the kingdom,” which have been conferred upon all prophet-leaders in every dispensation and held today by our own President David O. McKay in our time. He said the purpose of so establishing his kingdom with that authority was that the “gates of hell” should not prevail against it.”
  - “The saving “grace” of the Lord’s atoning power would extend to the giver as well as to those who would receive the saving ordinances of the gospel.”
  - “Surely, therefore, no one with that understanding of these fundamental principles would think he were doing our Heavenly Father’s mortal children a disservice by giving them these priceless gifts.”
October 1960 General Conference
- God Working with Men
  - “Today we are witnessing a great, marvelous demonstration of the power of conversion. Perhaps we are going to see the most rapid propagation of the gospel in the world than we have seen in any previous dispensation. We must make certain that we do not offend God by our failure to confess his hand in all things. We must not forget that it is not by the will of men, but is evidence, as in the days of the disciples of old, that God is working with men. It is the only explanation we can give.”
April 1960 General Conference
- The Work in Great Britain
  - “During the month of March alone, in the British Mission they baptized 360 new converts. In the French Mission, there were another 114 new converts baptized in that mission, which seems for the first time in our day to give evidence that the work is beginning to take root in France, after a shocking demonstration of the power of evil in that mission only two short years ago. And from the North German Mission, to use another example, which we have usually thought of as being behind the Iron Curtain in part, they baptized in the month of March alone eighty-five new converts.”
  - “So it was likewise, during the three months of last fall, when we toured the Latin American Missions of South America and in Mexico, we saw evidences of the giant of God’s eternal power, if I might speak of it that way, awakening among those wonderful people, where in some of those missions they are having 600 to 700 convert baptisms each year, as compared with only fifty to seventy-five in previous years.”
April 1959 General Conference
- The Gospel, a Solid Wall of Truth
  - “What is the gospel then? What a glorious definition we have listened to this morning in President Richards’ address. So often I hear my brethren saying something that I wish we would not say quite that way—that the gospel is a way of life. It is not a way of life—it is the way to eternal life. It is the science of salvation.”
April 1958 General Conference
- Courage to Face the Inevitable through Faith in a Divine Redeemer
  - “There you have your answer, you strong, noble statesmen in worldly councils of men involving human welfare. Better, as Paul said it, “godliness with contentment” than an empty compromise for the sake of expediency or the plaudits of men. You, too, can know that your Redeemer lives as did Job in the midst of his temptation to “curse God and die” and know also that you, too, can open the door and invite Him in “to sup with you.” See also yourselves one day as resurrected beings claiming kinship to Him who gave His life that the rewards to mortal men for earthly struggle and experience will be the fruits of eternal life even though as measured by human standards ones life’s labors seemed to have been defeated.”
April 1957 General Conference
- Marriage for Eternity
  - “Finally, our leaders say that because of the fashions of the day our young people are persuaded to marry out of the Church. They desire a so-called church wedding with much pomp and ceremony, some because they prefer a sort of semi-nudity in their social life that is not permitted in those who have obeyed the basic requirements of the temple which counsel as to modesty in dress. Careless mothers who permit even in childhood or babyhood nudity or semi-nudity in dress are but sowing the seeds of disregard for standards of modesty which if taught and adhered to in her growing up years will prepare a daughter for entrance into the holy and sacred ordinances of the Lord.”
October 1956 General Conference
- Preparing for the Millennial Reign
  - “But the final and fourth thing which was announced is the thing about which I wish to address the few remarks that I make this afternoon. That was that a people might be prepared for the millennial reign. The meaning of that term was understood, apparently, from the prophets down from Enoch’s time to the Prophet Joseph Smith’s time, when the Lord spoke of a thousand year period in the world’s history which would be called a millennial reign, which would commence with the second coming of the Savior. John saw in vision the resurrection of the just who would reign with Christ for a thousand years. He saw that during this period Satan would be bound, that there would be peace upon the whole earth. Heaven and earth would be closely associated, and all unfinished work pertaining to this world would be completed. Injustices would be righted, and at the end of that reign would come a final judgment.”
  - “Whether or not this is the correct interpretation, it is certain that in our homes, in our seminaries and institutes, in the auxiliary organizations, in the priesthood quorums, we must teach the knowledge and nature of the Godhead. We must teach the mission of the Savior of the world. We need to teach the purifying principles and ordinances of the gospel. We need to teach the need of and the restoration of the gospel through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith.”
April 1956 General Conference
- “After All We Can Do”
  - “Years of experience since that time and interviews with those who have unfortunately taken that short, broad highway, have convinced me that because of their suffering, those who have or are living lives of unrepented sinning would have given all that they possessed if someone could have warned them and could have told them of the awfulness of the sins from which they now suffer.”
  - “We see some of the signs which like the signs to the state penitentiary we know lead us downward. Some are called taverns; some are called lounges; and some are called roadhouses. They have bright, neon-lighted signs outside with catch-phrase names. They are dimly lighted inside; they have sensuous music. These are the unmistakable trademarks of the hell holes of Satan.”
October 1955 General Conference
- Be Guided by the Light Within
  - “Today we should ask ourselves the question, in answer to what the Master asked of those in his day, “What think ye of Christ?” We ought to ask as we would say it today, “What think we of Christ?” and then make it a little more personal and ask, “What think I of Christ?” Do I think of him as the Redeemer of my soul? Do I think of him with no doubt in my mind as the one who appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith? Do I believe that he established this Church upon the earth? Do I accept him as the Savior of this world? Am I true to my covenants, which in the waters of baptism, if I understood, meant that I would stand as a witness of him at all times, and in all things, and in all places, wherever I would be, even until death?”
  - “I have heard some of the testimonies of men like Brother Hugh B. Brown and Brother Adam S. Bennion, and Brother Richard L. Evans, who, when they were called to their high places have been subjected to the trials of the power of evil. There is no question in my mind but that they were near unto the Lord, and the devil knew it and was trying to confuse them and if possible destroy them.”
April 1955 General Conference
- Blessed Is He that Cometh in the Name of the Lord
  - “As we review again the matchless and unselfish devotion of these early prophets and martyrs to the gospel of Christ, may we bow in reverence and repeat with a greater appreciation and comprehension as with the multitude in Jerusalem on the occasion of the triumphal entry the words: “How blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.””
  - “The place of these heaven-endowed messengers who represent the Lord in every dispensation of the gospel upon the earth may be illustrated by an incident related by a traveler in northern Europe. Our traveler was leaving by boat from Stockholm, Sweden out into the Baltic Sea. To do so, the boat had to pass through a thousand or more islands. Standing on the forward deck, the traveler found himself becoming impatient because of what seemed to him to be a careless course. Why not a course near to this island or another and more interesting than the one the pilot had chosen? Almost in exasperation he was saying to himself, “What’s wrong with the old pilot? Has he lost his sense of direction? Suddenly he was aware of markers along the charted course which appeared as mere broom handles sticking up in the water. Someone had carefully explored these channels and had charted the safest course for ships to take. So it is in life’s course on the way to immortality and eternal life: “God’s engineers” by following a blueprint made in heaven, have charted the course for safest and happiest passage and have forewarned us of the danger areas.”
October 1954 General Conference
- Report on the Orient
  - “I have never listened to better sermons than I heard preached by our five Latter-day Saint chaplains and our group leaders over there. They are studying the gospel. The excellence of their Organization and the orderliness of their procedures under a mission committee comprising three lieutenant colonels, answerable of course to the mission president, and they in turn supervised by chaplains and by group leaders, is worthy of note. In every camp where we went, under military orders, we were accorded every privilege that could be accorded one going into those areas, and the first procedure was invariably an introduction to the commanding general of the camp, and a brief interview, during which he extended to us all the courtesies of the camp, and bade us welcome, and in a number of instances, came to our meeting.”
  - “Well, I say, President McKay, as I commenced, I have gone now under your appointment to the Far East. We have seen the miracles of God’s divine intervention. We have seen how the gospel has been preached, to the poor as an evidence of its divinity. God grant that the time shall not be far distant until the deathgrip of communism shall be unloosed, and those peoples shall be free to receive in fullness the gospel of Jesus Christ, for I am convinced that there are hundreds of thousands of souls who are begging for the truth.”
April 1954 General Conference
- Concept of the Christlike Life
  - “There, young man, is the first thing that you must think of, if you would have an exaltation in the celestial kingdom. Marriage is eternal, and there was a youth who realized the foundation on which she must build if she were to have a fullness of eternal happiness.”
  - “Young man, I would warn you, along with the others of your age, to be forewarned of the threats to your faith. I warn you against the man-made philosophies and the doctrines which would destroy that faith in God basic to exaltation in the celestial kingdom.”
October 1953 General Conference
- And This Is My Gospel
  - “I bear you my humble witness that this is the Church and kingdom of God in the earth. This is the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. Except for the fact that it is but a continuation of the same gospel, the same fundamental principles, the same authority which has existed from the beginning of time.”
April 1953 General Conference
- The Rock of Revelation
  - “We don’t believe in the gospel of the second chance. We do not believe in the gospel of the first chance but we believe in a chance or full opportunity for everyone to hear and to accept the gospel.”
October 1952 General Conference
- Faith—An Effective Weapon Against Wickedness in Men and Nations
  - “And in that same inspired declaration by revelation, the Lord gave us what we might style as a five-point program by which parents could teach faith. First, he said, their children were to be baptized when they had reached the age of accountability at eight years; second, they were to be taught to pray; third, they were to be taught to walk uprightly before the Lord; fourth, they were to be taught to keep the Sabbath day holy; and fifth, they were to be schooled not to be idle, either in the Church, or in their private lives.”
  - “A man without a purpose in life is as a ship without a rudder, a waif, a nothing, a nobody. Have a purpose in life, and having it, throw such strength of muscle and brain into your work as God has given you.”
April 1952 General Conference
- Special Witnesses
  - “As I read the events of his life, and particularly the events leading up to and of the crucifixion, and then of the resurrection, I discovered that something was happening to me. I was not just reading a story; it seemed actually as though I was living the events; and I was reading them with a reality the like of which I had never before experienced. And when, on the Sunday night following, after I had delivered my brief talk and then declared, simply, “As one of the humblest among you, I, too, know that these things are true, that Jesus died and was resurrected for the sins of the world,” I was speaking from a full heart, because I had come to know that week, with a certainty which I never before had known.”
October 1951 General Conference
- Day of Preparation
  - “The Lord gives us, each one, a lamp to carry, but whether or not we shall have oil in our lamps depends solely upon each one of us. Whether or not we keep the commandments and supply the needed oil to light our way and to guide us on our way depends upon each of us individually. We cannot borrow from our Church membership. We cannot borrow from an illustrious ancestry. Whether or not we have oil in our lamps, I repeat, depends solely upon each one of us, it is determined by our faithfulness in keeping the commandments of the Living God.”
April 1951 General Conference
- Zion Must Be Strengthened
  - “Youth that we send out from us rarely ever will be stronger than the kind of homes and environment from which they come. The challenge of this time, what with military service of young men eighteen years, young girls disturbed in their social life, is to see to Zion is increased in holiness.”
  - “Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sight of God, takes from you your thirst for spiritual things, or increases the authority of your body over your mind, then that thing to you is evil. By this test you may detect evil no matter how subtly or how plausibly temptation may be presented to you.”
October 1950 General Conference
- Fortified by an Unshakable Testimony
  - “Unless every member of this Church gains for himself an unshakable testimony of the divinity of this Church, he will be among those who will be deceived in this day when the “elect according to the covenant” are going to be tried and tested. Only those will survive who have gained for themselves that testimony.”
April 1950 General Conference
- Let Us Be as One
  - “If we were fully united as a people in our missionary work, we would rapidly hasten the day when the gospel would be preached to all people without and within the boundaries of the organized stakes of Zion. If we are not united, we will lose that which has been the lifeblood and which has fed and stimulated this Church for a generation.”
  - “If we were united in safeguarding the Church from false doctrines and error and in standing as watchmen upon the tower as teachers and leaders in watching over the Church, then we would be free from these things that cause many to stumble and fall and lose their faith. If we are not thus united, the wolves among us will be sowing the seeds of discord, disharmony, all tending to the destruction of the flock.”
October 1949 General Conference
- Powers of the Gospel
  - “Using words that are common to modern warfare, we might say that there are in the world today fifth columnists who are seeking to infiltrate the defenses of every one of us, and when we lower those defenses, we open avenues to an invasion of our souls. There are carefully charted on the maps of the opposition the weak spots in every one of us. They are known to the forces of evil, and just the moment we lower the defense of any one of those ports, that becomes the D Day of our invasion, and our souls are in danger.”
April 1949 General Conference
- The Power of Truth
  - “God grant us strength. May we rise to our responsibilities, to do our job, to entice the membership of this Church and the world to seek the things that bring eternal life and happiness here and in the world to come.”
- Helping the Inactive
  - “We ask you brethren to redouble your efforts, you stake presidents to again stimulate the carrying out of the instructions, bishops of wards, the presidencies of quorums, in order that these boys will be cared for and their lives safeguarded by that care.”
October 1948 General Conference
- The Latter-day Saint Home
  - “I see these families showing respect towards each other; father to mother, and affection for her, and mother to father; no quarrellings, no bickerings before the children at least, misunderstandings talked out sensibly—I saw one such home with nine lovely children where the children bear testimony to the fact that they have never heard their father and mother quarrel.”
  - “Your marriages shall be eternal and shall be perpetuated through eternity only so long as you keep the covenants that you have made. The Spirit of Promise is the spirit which searches the hearts of men, and only when his sealing approval is given—only then will your blessings become eternal.”
April 1948 General Conference
- The Spirit of Gathering
  - “I have been sobered by the realization that during my lifetime three presidents of this Church have spoken upon those dangers which are within the Church which are seeking to destroy us and to defeat the purpose of our gathering.”
  - “May we, as a people, see the “ghost” of our possibilities and that which we might be able to accomplish by our own strength and ability to stir us up to deeds of righteousness and to build a greater brotherhood to provide that defense against the evils which threaten to destroy our homes today.”
October 1947 General Conference
- Spiritual Re-birth and Death
  - “I want to bear you my testimony that the experience I have had has taught me that those who criticize the leaders of this Church are showing signs of a spiritual sickness which, unless curbed, will bring about eventually spiritual death. I want to bear my testimony as well that those who in public seek by their criticism, to belittle our leaders or bring them into disrepute, will bring upon themselves more hurt than upon those whom they seek thus to malign. I have watched over the years, and I have read of the history of many of those who fell away from this Church, and I want to bear testimony that no apostate who ever left this Church ever prospered as an influence in his community thereafter.”
April 1947 General Conference
- On Earning Salvation
  - “In the first place, we are our own judges of the place we shall have in the eternal world. Here and now in mortality, each one of us is having the opportunity of choosing the kind of laws we elect to obey. We are now living and obeying celestial laws that will make us candidates for celestial glory, or we are living terrestrial laws that will make us candidates for either terrestrial glory, or telestial law. The place we shall occupy in the eternal worlds will be determined by the obedience we yield to the laws of these various kingdoms during the time we have here in mortality upon the earth.”
  - “Giving, then, is an expression of one’s love, and when one truly gives himself, it is an evidence of an abiding love in that individual who thus is willing to give.”
  - “Great love is built on great sacrifice, and that home where the principle of sacrifice for the welfare of each other is daily expressed is that home where there abides a great love.”
  - “That man who is ambitious for personal gain and personal advantage is never a happy man, for before him always are the receding horizons of life that will ever mock his attempts at acquisition and conquest. That man who serves unselfishly is the man who is the happy man.”
  - “Whenever the Lord has a great blessing for one of his children, he puts that son or daughter in the way to make a great sacrifice.”
October 1946 General Conference
- The Abundant Life
  - “I think I would be safe in saying, and I believe you would agree with me, that perhaps never before in the history of the world has so much been said about the abundant life and so little effort expended in obtaining the essentials that make for an abundant life.”
  - “Only can an individual receive that joy and that abundant life whose life is patterned to the standards as laid down in the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
  - “If all our selfish motives, then and all our personal desires, and expediency, would be subordinated to a desire to know the will of the Lord, one could have the companionship of heavenly vision. If your problems be too great for human intelligence or too much for human strength, you too, if you are faithful and appeal rightly unto the source of divine power, might have standing by you in your hour of peril or great need an angel of God, whose you are and whom you serve. One who lives thus worthy of a testimony that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, and who is willing to reach out to him in constant inquiry to know if his course is approved is the one who is living life to its full abundance here, and is preparing for the celestial world, which is to live eternally with his Heavenly Father.”
April 1946 General Conference
- Living in the Bonds of Brotherhood
  - “And so, obedient to that purpose, there have been in this day, our day, men commissioned of the Lord with power and authority, and he has given them the inspiration to teach and proclaim these things to the world for the purpose the Lord has set forth, and he has done it here in this conference and will continue to do so until the end of the conference, that the important things might be counseled by the elders of the Church to this people according to the inspiration and revelation they receive from time to time.”
  - “The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership.”
  - “In the first place those who refuse to care for their own are subject to a judgment more severe than that which would be meted out to one who lost his faith and had become as an infidel; and second, that those who refuse to honor father and mother in the way the Master explained, are jeopardizing their tenure upon this land which the Lord has given us.”
October 1945 General Conference
- Our Responsibility before God and Men
  - “To true Latter-day Saint girls, far more to be desired than wealth and handsome profile is a young man who is virtuous, who is honest, who has integrity and is true to the teachings of the gospel.”
  - “Clearly it was the intent of our Heavenly Father that this, our day, was to be a day of demonstration of the power and effectiveness of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the lives of all who are to be members of his Church. This likewise according to the scriptures, has evidently been his purpose, concerning his chosen people in every dispensation.”
  - “In every dispensation, the Lord has commanded that if members of his Church, having taken upon them his name, should sin grievously and refuse to repent, they should be cut out from among his people, lest they be a stumbling block to the world. To continue all such in membership would be to reflect discredit and dishonor upon the work of our Heavenly Father.”
  - “While it becomes us to seek the good will of righteous men and women everywhere, it is well for us to remember that when the lewd, the immoral, and the corrupt begin to compliment us and to curry favor with us, that we had better begin to examine ourselves to see if we are doing our full duty.”
  - “Our failure to be a “peculiar” people in maintaining our standards, despite the jeers and the criticisms of the crowd, will be our failure to be chosen for that calling to which we are called.”
  - “Let us beware lest we set our hearts upon the things of this world and lest we aspire so much to the honors of men that we compromise our standards.”
April 1945 General Conference
- Challenge to the Priesthood
  - “Now, if you want to help these boys when they come back, may I ask that you do like my little bishop friend who sits here on the front seat who came as a convert from another Church and who is now a bishop in one of our stakes? He says to speakers who come to his meetings, “We want speakers who come to our ward to preach the gospel. We would prefer you not come than to have you come and not preach the gospel to our people.” May I urge that you take a leaf out of his book, and the books of our boys.”
October 1944 General Conference
- On Detecting Truth from Error
  - “Some of those were to be led astray who were to be members of his Church so I am not surprised in this day when with the power of these evil spirits they are finding a following from those who profess membership in the Church.”
  - “In modern revelation the Lord told us more about this when he spoke of the light which was to shine, which was to enlighten our understanding, and was to give light and intelligence to all mankind; it was to be in the light of the sun, the moon and the stars; indeed, we might say this light was to constitute the reason in man and the instinct in animal life.”
  - “These powers are given to us on condition. And the conditions as to the ways by which man might be darkened and be unable to see and perceive by these great God-given powers were well set forth yesterday by Brother Kimball in his very excellent address. We are to understand further that the wicked one would come and that he should take away light and truth from the children of men through disobedience.”
  - “We as individuals must maintain our connection with the source of divine intelligence if we, too, are to maintain and direct the growth of our spiritual lives properly.”
April 1944 General Conference
- The Gospel Plan
  - “Such a one, who believes thus, would have no faith in the teachings of the scriptures or an understanding of their import. To one such the Church of Jesus Christ would be relegated to a mere organization of man, lacking either the reason for or the authority to administer the ordinances of salvation.”
  - “To say that there would be no such a place as the state where one could have rewards or punishments for the things done in the flesh, would be to say that there would be no such a thing as a judgment; and to say that there would be no judgment would be to deny that there was atonement for the sins of mankind or that Jesus Christ was the author of salvation, the plan by which man could be sanctified for that holy state. To say that there was no such a thing as the atonement would be to define sin merely as a philosophical formula. If one were to doubt in a life after death or in a resurrection from the dead, as such a belief would imply, then man would be of all men most miserable, because he lacks faith in that which would follow after her life here upon this earth.”
  - “Without the discipline of the rewards and punishment that are spoken of in the plan of life and salvation, passions and appetites would go on unbridled; vice and crime would go on unchecked and wickedness would stalk our days. If the Church is but man-conceived, then our care of the needy would not be for the spiritual and temporal welfare of those who are to be assisted, but our care would be extended, as is the case with so many public institutions, merely with the political or the social or the economic welfare of the state or of the individuals who administer it as the chief consideration.”
  - “I have a feeling that whenever we have among our leaders those who would say that the care of the needy should be left to public institutions and not to the Church, there we have men who lack the spiritual insight into the spiritual values involved in caring for the unfortunate.”
  - “I remember their testimonies. I remember their doctrinal discourses. I remember how I as a boy, grew upon that kind of spiritual food. I am asking today, are we partaking of a modern trend that makes of our sacrament meetings little else sometimes than a place for political discussions or for concerts? This is a place and a time when we ought to do more to teach the plain simple doctrines of the Gospel than we have ever done before. Our ward teachers should be prepared to go out into the homes of those who have not been privileged to come to sacrament meetings. So in all our activities may we be faithful. May we be as the teachers of Zion.”
October 1943 General Conference
- Wells of Living Water
  - “Great reservoirs of spiritual water, called scriptures, have been provided in this day and have been safeguarded that all might partake and be spiritually fed, and that they thirst not.”
  - “Through these generations the messages from our Father have been safeguarded and carefully protected, and mark you likewise that in this day the scriptures are the purest at their source, just as the waters were purest at the mountain source; the purest word of God, and that least apt to be polluted. is that which comes from the lips of the living prophets who are set up to guide Israel in our own day and time.”
  - “The strength of the Church is not in a large membership, but the real strength of this Church lies in the power and authority of the holy Priesthood which our Heavenly Father has given to us in this day. If we exercise properly that power and magnify our callings in the Priesthood, we Will see to it that the missionary work shall go forward, that the tithing shall be paid, that the Welfare plan prospers, that our homes shall be safe, and that morality among the youth of Israel shall be safeguarded.”
April 1943 General Conference
- Hearing the Voice
  - “When the testimony of the Elders ceases to be given and the Lord says to them, “Come home; I will now preach my own sermons to the nations of the earth.” All you now know can scarcely be called a preface to the sermon that will be preached with fire and sword, tempests, earthquake, hail, rain, thunders and lightnings, and fearful destruction.”
  - “And it is a matter of record that hardly had the last missionary been called home until all hell seemed to break loose in Europe, in veritable fulfillment of the prophecy that had been given. When likewise the missionaries were called from the island missions of the sea, we heard the same clamor, criticizing these brethren because they were doing things that seemed to some members of the Church to be not necessary, and yet we see the great wisdom displayed in what already has been done.”
  - “That also is not without its shadow today and its lesson to Israel. Here sits today on this stand the man as President of this Church who holds in his hand the rod of the Lord; he is sitting upon the mount, and as long as his hands are upheld by obedience to his direction and his counsel, Israel will prevail against her enemies. But whenever we come to a time when we allow his hands to fall, and we as the Priesthood of the living God fail to uphold his hands, just in that day we may expect our enemies to come upon us and to destroy us.”
  - “I know now that the place of safety in this world is not in any given place; it doesn’t make so much difference where we live; but the all-important thing is how we live, and I have found that security can come to Israel only when they keep the commandments, when they live so that they can enjoy the companionship, the direction, the comfort, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit of the Lord, when they are willing to listen to these men whom God has set here to preside as His mouthpieces, and when we obey the counsels of the Church.”
  - “When a decision has been reached by the presiding councils of the Church and a majority in these councils has decided on a certain policy, and then there comes a minority voice contrary to that majority decision one may know with a surety that that minority voice is not speaking the will of the Lord. I tremble when I think of the truth of that statement. I am greatly concerned when I now sit in one of the presiding councils of the Church, and remember that in days gone by there have been those who have fallen by the way because they went out in contradiction of the majority decision of that body. And so that places before you a safe guide. Should there be those, even though in high places, who may come among you not speaking the policy of the Church as declared by these men whom we sustain as the prophets of the living God, the Church may know that those who thus speak are not speaking the mind of the Lord and the voice of the Lord and the power of God unto salvation.”
October 1942 General Conference
- Remaining Steadfast
  - “One who has a testimony of the purpose of life sees the obstacles and trials of life as opportunities for gaining the experience necessary for the work of eternity; he sees death as one of the greatest experiences of life. One of the saddest things I see as I travel throughout the stakes and wards of the Church is occasionally a person who because of a little worldly learning or wealth has come to think he has outgrown the Church and the faith of his fathers. To one who has high spirituality, faith in the gospel and in the doctrines of the Church supersedes scientific theories and the philosophies of men; Priesthood quorum activities supplant service clubs and lodges; and Church social and recreational responsibilities come before fraternities and sororities.”
  - “Security that comes from the brotherhood of a Priesthood quorum with a Church membership and the living of the Church standards is valued above a fancied security that is purchased with wealth or political prestige.”
  - “The spiritually-minded seeks the respect of the high-minded who obey the law, who revere womanhood and virtue and encourage purity of thought and action rather than cater to the applause of the tipsters who secretly despise the man who thinks and acts below the standards he professes.”
  - “When prospering in a material way, those with great spirituality show appreciation to God, to whom they are indebted for all that they have, by a thrifty, frugal husbanding of their substance and by extending generosity to the unfortunate according to the laws of the Church, rather than indulging in a reckless, riotous living as a prodigal in defiance of the laws of both God and man. In adversity he does not despair; When his bank fails he does not commit suicide; he lives above his world, and all that he does is with his eye ever fixed upon the goal of eternity.”
April 1942 General Conference
- Unity for the Welfare of the Church and the Nation
  - “From the beginning of time, as recorded in sacred scripture, the prophets of the Lord have sounded the warning note to the world and to the membership of the Church. There have always been those with apostate leanings who have ridiculed, and have stood on the side-lines and made light of the efforts of those who sought to follow that counsel. It was so in the days of Noah, and that history is repeating itself at the present time.”
  - “The Lord will hold us responsible for the blessings that He has given us, and if the calamities that have been foretold come upon this people, they will come because we have not done our full duty, and we have not made the most of our opportunities, nor have we discharged the responsibilities we bear before our Heavenly Father.”
  - “This is a people whom the Lord has chosen to preach the gospel of righteousness. We talk of security in this day, and yet we fail to understand that here on this Temple Block we have standing the holy temple wherein we may find the symbols by which power might be generated that will save this nation from destruction. Therein may be found the fulness of the blessings of the Priesthood. Yesterday morning, as we assembled and heard the broadcast from that place, broadcasting to the world a message, it to me was significant of the prophecy that from this place “the law shall go forth to the world, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” The spires on the eastern towers of the temple are to represent the presidency of the Melchizedek Priesthood; the spires to the west, the presidency of the Aaronic Priesthood; the gilded figure of the angel Moroni symbolizes the preaching of the gospel to the world. The gospel must be preached as a witness under the direction of the holy Priesthood: “Fear God and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.” Therein lies the responsibility of this Church in sanctifying this people and this nation, that they might be spared the judgments that otherwise might come upon them, were it not for the preaching of the humble elders of this Church.”
October 1941 General Conference
- The Lord is Concerned for Our Welfare
  - “The uncertainty of the leadership of men of the world in this day is evidenced by the fact that we have many changing programs that over night, and day by day seem to fluctuate between poles of the greatest of uncertainty. We hear much about “the abundant life,” and “social security,” and there are some I fear who are believers in the thought that these goals will come from the working out of the philosophies of men.”
  - “My purpose in the few minutes that I stand here will be to give you something of what the Lord has said pertaining to this day, and what might be the expectation of the Latter-day Saints concerning the way by which the Lord would guide us to safe shores. Not only has the Lord given us the plan to follow, but He has given us in the revelations one of the basic, if not the most basic reason for the ills that beset mankind. This is what the Lord said, and I suppose as you understand this you will recognize in it the reason for selfishness and for jealousies that develop into bitterness and hatred, and finally into war and bloodshed.”
  - “While the world today is groping for a solution, (and I repeat that some of our people, I am afraid, have the mistaken notion that they must look to some development of the philosophies of men in this nation or copied from nations abroad, to solve present problems) the Latter-day Saints should never lose sight of the fact that for over one hundred years the Lord has given us the way, and the plan by which might come the ultimate solution of all the economic problems of this day.”
  - “The United Order will not be a Socialistic or Communistic set-up ; it will be something distinctive and yet will be more capitalistic in its nature than either Socialism or Communism, in that private ownership and individual responsibility will be maintained. I am sure also that when it comes it will come from the leaders of this Church whom you sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators, and will not come from some man who does not occupy that position. It will not come as a political program, legislated by men not possessed of that authority. I am also convinced that the time is here when Zion must put on her beautiful garments preparatory for the second coming of the Savior, and I believe firmly that that preparation is in progress. I am likewise persuaded that the Church Welfare Plan is contributing mightily to that preparation.”
  - “In my mind there is grave doubt that any man can abide the day of the Second Coming who is not willing and able to follow the leadership of these men whom the Lord has set to counsel and guide us in this day.”
April 1941 General Conference
- Thoughts Stirred by New Assignment
  - “Since nine o’clock last night I have lived an entire lifetime in retrospect and in prospect. I spent a sleepless night. I never closed my eyes one moment, and neither would you if you had been in my place.”
  - “I shall come boldly unto the throne of grace, and ask for mercy and His grace to help me in my time of need. With that help I cannot fail. Without it I cannot succeed.”

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Harold B. Lee

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