Bruce R. McConkie

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (October 12, 1972 – April 19, 1985)

First Council of the Seventy (October 6, 1946 – October 12, 1972)

General Conference Addresses

  • April 1985 General Conference
    • The Purifying Power of Gethsemane
      • “His atonement is the most transcendent event that ever has or ever will occur from Creation’s dawn through all the ages of a never-ending eternity.”
      • “It is the supreme act of goodness and grace that only a god could perform. Through it, all of the terms and conditions of the Father’s eternal plan of salvation became operative.”
      • “May I invite you to join with me in gaining a sound and sure knowledge of the Atonement.”
      • “We must cast aside the philosophies of men and the wisdom of the wise and hearken to that Spirit which is given to us to guide us into all truth.”
      • “We must search the scriptures, accepting them as the mind and will and voice of the Lord and the very power of God unto salvation.”
      • “I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears.”
      • “But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way.”
  • October 1984 General Conference
    • The Caravan Moves On
      • “And we may well ask ourselves: Do we believe all of the doctrines of salvation? Are we keeping the commandments? Are we valiant in the cause of truth and righteousness? Will we be saved in the kingdom of God?”
      • “There is no salvation in worshiping a false god—neither a cow; nor a crocodile; nor a cedar post; nor even a spirit essence, without body, parts, or passions, that fills the immensity of space.”
      • “There is no salvation in a system of religion that rejects the doctrine of the Fall or that assumes man is the end product of evolution and so was not subject to a fall.”
      • “True believers know that this earth and man and all forms of life were created in an Edenic, or paradisiacal, state in which there was no mortality, no procreation, no death.”
      • “He is my Brother and Friend, but he is more. He is my Lord, my God, and my King, whom I worship in the full majesty of his Godhead and who will continue to be my Savior, my Redeemer, and my God through all the eternities that lie ahead.”
      • “To gain salvation all men everywhere must have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They must repent of their sins and be baptized by a legal administrator who has power to seal on earth and in heaven. They must receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, be sanctified by the power of the Spirit, and keep the commandments of God all their days.”
      • “There is no such thing as gaining salvation from a false god, or by conforming to a false plan of salvation, or through membership in a false church.”
      • “Truth—pure, diamond truth—truth unmixed with error, truth and truth alone can lead a soul to salvation.”
      • “The kingdom of God on earth is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which prepares men for an inheritance in the kingdom of God in heaven, which is the celestial kingdom.”
      • “On every issue it behooves us to determine what the Lord would have us do and what counsel he has given through the appointed officers of his kingdom on earth.”
  • April 1984 General Conference
    • Patterns of Prayer
      • “Prayer is the way and means, given us by our Creator, whereby we can counsel and communicate with him. It is one of the chief cornerstones of pure and perfect worship.”
      • “In prayer we speak to the Lord, and he speaks to us. It is our privilege to have our voices heard in the courts above and to hear the answering voice of the Lord conveyed by the power of his Spirit.”
      • “Prayer changes our lives. Through it we draw near to the Lord, and he reaches out his finger and touches us, so we never again are the same.”
      • “Let this, then, be our covenant, that from this hour we will walk in all thy ways, blameless, obedient, faithful, true to every trust, having love one for another, testifying in word and in deed that we are thy people, the sheep of thy pasture, thine elect and chosen children.”
  • October 1983 General Conference
    • What Think Ye of the Book of Mormon?
      • “This account dramatizes one of our problems in presenting the message of the Book of Mormon to the world. There are sincere and devout people everywhere who have heard what other people say about this volume of holy writ, and so they do not read it themselves.”
  • April 1983 General Conference
    • The Keys of the Kingdom
      • “Because Elijah came, the baptisms we perform on earth will have efficacy, virtue, and force in eternity. In literal reality they give us membership in the earthly kingdom which is the Church, and in the heavenly kingdom which is the celestial realm where God and Christ are.”
      • “The next breath drawn by Brother Brigham is the breath of power filling the lungs of the Lord’s previously anointed servant. There is not so long a time as the twinkling of an eye when the Church is without a presiding officer.”
  • October 1982 General Conference
    • The Seven Christs
      • “In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions we raise a calm and reasoned voice, a voice that goes forth with the sound of a trumpet, a voice that is carried by the power of the Spirit into the hearts of contrite souls.”
      • “We are the servants of the Lord, and he has sent us to invite all men to come unto Christ and be perfected in him. We are sent to testify of the true and only Christ, of the true and only gospel, of the true and only salvation.”
  • April 1982 General Conference
    • The Doctrine of the Priesthood
      • “This doctrine, this doctrine of the priesthood—unknown in the world and but little known even in the Church—cannot be learned out of the scriptures alone. It is not set forth in the sermons and teachings of the prophets and Apostles, except in small measure.”
      • “The doctrine of the priesthood is known only by personal revelation. It comes, line upon line and precept upon precept, by the power of the Holy Ghost to those who love and serve God with all their heart, might, mind, and strength.”
      • “It is the power of faith, the faith by which the Father creates and governs. God is God because he is the embodiment of all faith and all power and all priesthood. The life he lives is named eternal life.”
      • “And the extent to which we become like him is the extent to which we gain his faith, acquire his power, and exercise his priesthood. And when we have become like him in the full and true sense, then we also shall have eternal life.”
      • “Faith and priesthood go hand in hand. Faith is power and power is priesthood. After we gain faith, we receive the priesthood. Then, through the priesthood, we grow in faith until, having all power, we become like our Lord.”
      • “We received the priesthood first in the premortal existence and then again as mortals.”
      • “It was with Enoch that the Lord made an eternal covenant that all who received the priesthood would have power, through faith, to govern and control all things on earth, to put at defiance the armies of nations, and to stand in glory and exaltation before the Lord.”
      • “That is to say, the Lord swears with an oath in his own name, because he can swear by no greater, that everyone who keeps the covenant made in connection with the Melchizedek Priesthood shall inherit, receive, and possess all things in his everlasting kingdom, and shall be a joint-heir with that Lord who is his Only Begotten.”
      • “It is that we can enter an order of the priesthood named the new and everlasting covenant of marriage, named also the patriarchal order, because of which order we can create for ourselves eternal family units of our own, patterned after the family of God our Heavenly Father.”
      • “It is that we have power, by faith, to govern and control all things, both temporal and spiritual; to work miracles and perfect lives; to stand in the presence of God and be like him because we have gained his faith, his perfections, and his power, or in other words the fulness of his priesthood.”
      • “This, then, is the doctrine of the priesthood, than which there neither is nor can be anything greater. This is the power we can gain through faith and righteousness.”
  • October 1981 General Conference
    • “Who Hath Believed Our Report?”
      • “Let me say as soberly, as plainly, and as clearly as the English tongue permits that we believe in Christ and strive with all our power to keep his commandments. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. It is his gospel we have received.”
  • April 1981 General Conference
    • “Upon This Rock”
      • “We live in the midst of a swirling storm of sin. The rains of evil and the winds of false doctrine and the floods of carnality beat upon every house. It is within our power to build a house of faith, a house of righteousness, a house of salvation.”
  • October 1980 General Conference
    • The Lord God of the Restoration
      • “We live in a day of evil and wickedness. The generality of men are carnal, sensual, and devilish. They have forgotten God and are reveling in the lusts of the flesh. Crime, immorality, abortions, and homosexual abominations are fast becoming the norm of life among the wicked and ungodly. The world will soon be as corrupt as it was in the days of Noah.”
      • “Our divine commission—the commandment we have received from him whose servants we are—directs us to teach the doctrines of salvation and to testify of their eternal verity. And so now in words of soberness we teach and testify of those wondrous truths that have come to us.”
      • “All men are the spirit children of the Eternal Father. We are the offspring of celestial parents. We lived and dwelt in the courts of glory before the foundations of this world were laid.”
      • “The truth about God, the truth about religion, the truth about salvation—these things can only be known by revelation.”
      • “We are the servants of the Lord. He has revealed himself to us by the power of the Holy Ghost. We know whom we worship. It is our glorious privilege to speak of him and his ways, and we speak as those having authority and not as do the scribes.”
  • April 1980 General Conference
    • The Coming Tests and Trials and Glory
      • “But the vision of the future is not all sweetness and light and peace. All that is yet to be shall go forward in the midst of greater evils and perils and desolations than have been known on earth at any time.”
      • “As the meek among men make their calling and election sure, so those who worship the God of this world sink ever lower and lower into the depths of depravity and despair.”
      • “Amid tears of sorrow—our hearts heavy with forebodings—we see evil and crime and carnality covering the earth. Liars and thieves and adulterers and homosexuals and murderers scarcely seek to hide their abominations from our view. Iniquity abounds. There is no peace on earth.”
  • October 1979 General Conference
    • The Mystery of Mormonism
      • “The devil is not dead, and as his voice was once raised in cries of “Crucify him, crucify him,” so it now shrieks in shrilling hysteria against Christ’s people in this day.”
  • April 1979 General Conference
    • Stand Independent above All Other Creatures
      • “For the moment we live in a day of peace and prosperity but it shall not ever be thus. Great trials lie ahead. All of the sorrows and perils of the past are but a foretaste of what is yet to be. And we must prepare ourselves temporally and spiritually.”
  • October 1978 General Conference
    • “Thou Shalt Receive Revelation”
      • “He who is eternal has provided a way. A gracious and loving Father has ordained the laws, by obedience to which we may learn his ways and know his will.”
      • “Truly, the Holy Ghost is a revelator. He speaks and his voice is the voice of the Lord. He is Christ’s minister, his agent, his representative. He says what the Lord Jesus would say if he were personally present.”
      • “It is his will that we gain testimonies, that we seek revelation, that we covet to prophesy, that we desire spiritual gifts, and that we seek the face of the Lord.”
  • April 1978 General Conference
    • “The Morning Breaks; the Shadows Flee”
      • “Within a single decade the Book of Mormon came forth; the Church and kingdom of God on earth was reestablished; revelation and prophecy became the order of the day; and the gifts of the Spirit—all those ancient signs and wonders and miracles—were poured out upon the faithful. Once more there were visions and tongues and prophecies; the sick were healed, the lame walked, the blind saw, and the dead were raised. It was with the Latter-day Saints as it had been with the former-day saints.”
  • October 1977 General Conference
    • The Ten Blessings of the Priesthood
      • “Where the Melchizedek Priesthood is, there is the Church and kingdom of God on earth; there is the gospel of salvation; and where there is no Melchizedek Priesthood, there is no true Church, and no power that will save men in the kingdom of God.”
  • April 1977 General Conference
    • Come, Know the Lord Jesus
      • “He is our Friend, our Lawgiver, our King, and our Lord. We seek his face and desire to dwell in his presence. We are his people, the sheep of his fold.”
    • Come: Let Israel Build Zion
      • “We are that people, a people who once again receive revelation, a people to whom God has given anew the fulness of his everlasting gospel, in consequence of which we praise his holy name forever.”
      • “Zion is people; Zion is the saints of God; Zion is those who have been baptized; Zion is those who have received the Holy Ghost; Zion is those who keep the commandments; Zion is the righteous.”
      • “To create a stake is like founding a City of Holiness. Every stake on earth is the gathering place for the lost sheep of Israel who live in its area.”
      • “Each one of us can build up Zion in our own lives by being pure in heart. And the promise is, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Each one of us can extend the borders of Zion by gathering our friends and neighbors into the fold of Israel.”
  • October 1976 General Conference
    • The Dead Who Die in the Lord
      • “Death can be comforting and sweet and precious or it can thrust upon us all the agonies and sulphurous burnings of an endless hell. And we—each of us individually—make the choice as to which it shall be.”
      • “Sometimes the tests and trials of those who have received the gospel far exceed any imposed upon worldly people. Abraham was called upon to sacrifice his only son. Lehi and his family left their lands and wealth to live in a wilderness. Saints in all ages have been commanded to lay all that they have upon the altar, sometimes even their very lives.”
      • “When the saints of God chart a course of righteousness, when they gain sure testimonies of the truth and divinity of the Lord’s work, when they keep the commandments, when they overcome the world, when they put first in their lives the things of God’s kingdom: when they do all these things, and then depart this life—though they have not yet become perfect—they shall nonetheless gain eternal life in our Father’s kingdom; and eventually they shall be perfect as God their Father and Christ His Son are perfect.”
      • “We do not seek death, though it is part of the merciful plan of the great Creator. Rather, we rejoice in life, and desire to live as long as we can be of service to our fellowmen. Faithful saints are a leaven of righteousness in a wicked world.”
      • “We rejoice in life. We rejoice in death. We have no desires except to do the will of Him whose we are and to dwell with Him in His kingdom at the appointed time.”
  • April 1976 General Conference
    • Joseph Smith—The Mighty Prophet of the Restoration
      • “All men may well ask themselves where they stand with reference to Joseph Smith and his divine mission. Do they inquire after his name and seek that salvation found only in the gospel of Christ as revealed to his latter-day prophet, or do they deride and despise the Lord’s living oracles and say that God no longer speaks to men in the way he did anciently? The great question which all men in our day must answer—and that at the peril of their own salvation—is: Was Joseph Smith called of God?”
  • October 1975 General Conference
    • Once or Twice in a Thousand Years
      • “When the Lord needed an Enoch to build Zion, a city of holiness, Enoch was there. When he needed a Moses to stand as the great lawgiver in Israel, Moses was there. When the time arrived for the promised Messiah to give his life a ransom for many, the Great Deliverer was there. And thanks be to God, when the hour arrived to usher in the dispensation of the fulness of times, there was Joseph Smith, the mighty prophet of latter-days.”
      • “There is an opposition in all things; every person who seeks to find the true church runs counter to the ways of the world. Joseph Smith was no exception.”
  • April 1975 General Conference
    • Obedience, Consecration, and Sacrifice
      • “When it costs us but little to give, the treasure laid up in heaven is a small one. The widow’s mite, given in sacrifice, weighs more heavily in the eternal scales than the bulging granaries of the rich man.”
  • October 1974 General Conference
    • Be Valiant in the Fight of Faith
      • “We are either for the Church or we are against it. We either take its part or we take the consequences. We cannot survive spiritually with one foot in the Church and the other in the world. We must make the choice. It is either the Church or the world. There is no middle ground. And the Lord loves a courageous man who fights openly and boldly in his army.”
      • “I think the world is going to get worse, and the faithful portion of the Church, at least, is going to get better. The day is coming, more than ever has been the case in the past, when we will be under the obligation of making a choice, of standing up for the Church, of adhering to its precepts and teachings and principles, of taking the counsel that comes from the apostles and prophets whom God has placed to teach the doctrine and bear witness to the world. The day is coming when this will be more necessary than has ever been the case in our day or at any time in our dispensation.”
  • April 1974 General Conference
    • God Foreordains His Prophets and His People
      • “By obedience, by conformity, by personal righteousness, because he elected to follow in the path of the Chosen and Beloved Son, Spencer W. Kimball was noble and great in the preexistence. Above all his other talents, he developed the talent for spirituality—the talent to believe and accept the truth, the talent to desire righteousness.”
  • October 1973 General Conference
    • “Think on These Things”
      • “Every true principle which works for the freedom and blessing of mankind has the Lord’s approval.”
      • “If we are pondering in our hearts the things of righteousness, we shall become righteous. If virtue garnishes our thoughts unceasingly, our confidence shall wax strong in the presence of God and he in turn will rain down righteousness upon us.”
      • “If we are going to work out our salvation, we must rejoice in the Lord. We must ponder his truths in our hearts. We must rivet our attention and interests upon him and his goodness to us. We must forsake the world and use all our strength, energies and abilities in furthering his work.”
  • April 1973 General Conference
    • Upon Judea’s Plains
      • “On the one hand we are obligated and required to know the doctrines of the Church. We are to treasure up the words of eternal life. We are to reason as intelligently as we are able. We are to use every faculty and capacity with which we are endowed to proclaim the message of salvation and to make it intelligent to ourselves and to our Father’s other children. But after we have done that, and also in the process of doing it, we are obligated to bear testimony—to let the world know and our associate members of the Church know—that in our hearts, by the revelation of the Holy Spirit to our souls, we know of the truth and divinity of the work and of the doctrines that we teach.”
  • October 1972 General Conference
    • “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”
      • “I know there is revelation in the Church because I have received revelation. I know God speaks in this day because he has spoken to me. I rejoice in the privilege and opportunity to serve as a witness of his name, to teach the truths of salvation which he has revealed, and then to testify that these doctrines are true.”
  • April 1972 General Conference
    • The Testimony of Jesus
      • “Now a testimony comes from the Spirit of God. There is no other source. And when a testimony is borne, it has to be borne by the power of the Spirit.”
      • “If we are to know God, we must believe as he believes, think as he thinks, and experience what he experiences.”
  • October 1971 General Conference
    • How to Worship
      • “Thus our purpose is to worship the true and living God and to do it by the power of the Spirit and in the way he has ordained. The approved worship of the true God leads to salvation; devotions rendered to false gods and which are not founded on eternal truth carry no such assurance.”
      • “If a man worships a cow or a crocodile, he can gain any reward that cows and crocodiles happen to be passing out this season. If he worships the laws of the universe or the forces of nature, no doubt the earth will continue to spin, the sun to shine, and the rains to fall on the just and on the unjust. But if he worships the true and living God, in spirit and in truth, then God Almighty will pour out his Spirit upon him, and he will have power to raise the dead, move mountains, entertain angels, and walk in celestial streets.”
      • “To worship the Lord is to walk in the Spirit, to rise above carnal things, to bridle our passions, and to overcome the world.”
      • “To worship the Lord is to stand valiantly in the cause of truth and righteousness, to let our influence for good be felt in civic, cultural, educational, and governmental fields, and to support those laws and principles which further the Lord’s interests on earth.”
  • April 1971 General Conference
    • The Lord’s People Receive Revelation
      • “How this is done we do not know. We cannot comprehend God or the laws by which he governs the universe. But that it does happen we know because here in the valley below, when we attune our souls to the Infinite, we hear and see and experience the things of God.”
      • “The only way to gain true religion is to receive it from the Lord. True religion is revealed religion; it is not a creation of man’s devising; it comes from God.”
      • “Man did not create God, nor can he redeem himself. No man can resurrect himself or assign himself to an inheritance in a heavenly kingdom. Salvation comes from God, on his terms, and the things men must do to gain it can be known only by revelation.”
      • “From an eternal perspective what each of us needs is a Ph.D. in faith and righteousness. The things that will profit us everlastingly are not the power to reason, but the ability to receive revelation; not the truths learned by study, but the knowledge gained by faith; not what we know about the things of the world, but our knowledge of God and his laws.”
      • “I know people who have written books about religion but who have about as much spirituality as a cedar post. Their interest in gospel doctrine is to defend their own speculative views rather than to find out what the Lord thinks about whatever is involved. Their conversations and their writings are in the realm of reason and the intellect; the Spirit of God has not touched their souls; they have not been born again and become new creatures of the Holy Ghost; they have not received revelation.”
  • October 1970 General Conference
    • Our Belief in Christ
      • “We are bold to say that there is a God in heaven, an infinite and holy being who is our Eternal Father and whose offspring we are in the spirit; that he ordained the plan of salvation whereby we, his spirit children, might advance and progress and become like him; that he chose his First-born in the spirit to be the Savior and Redeemer in his great plan of salvation; and that ever thereafter, to honor its chief advocate and exponent, this plan of salvation has been known as the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
      • “The fire of testimony which burns in our hearts was not lighted at ancient altars, nor is the knowledge we have of the doctrines of salvation based solely upon the partial and fragmentary accounts of what God revealed to men in ancient days.”
  • April 1970 General Conference
    • Salvation Is a Family Affair
      • “The great work of God our Father was creation. He brought us into being; we were born as members of his family; and by his power the earth and all things thereon came into existence. And God has done his work perfectly.”
      • “The great work of Christ was redemption. Through his atoning sacrifice all men are raised in immortality, while those who believe and obey the whole law of the whole gospel are raised unto eternal life. And Christ has done his work perfectly.”
      • “The great work of every man is to believe the gospel, to keep the commandments, and to create and perfect an eternal family unit. And the Latter-day Saints are seeking to do their work as near to perfection as they can.”
      • “The true gospel is family centered. Full salvation consists of the continuation of the family unit in celestial glory. Those for whom the family unit continues have eternal life; those for whom it does not continue do not have eternal life, for heaven itself is but the projection of a Latter-day Saint family into eternity.”
  • October 1969 General Conference
    • The Rock of Salvation
      • “Where there is true religion, there is revelation; and where there is no revelation, there is no true religion. God reveals himself or he remains forever unknown.”
      • “I know man can receive revelations, because I have received them. God has spoken to me, not for the guidance of the Church, not for your benefit, but for mine. The same thing has or can or should happen in the life of every member of his kingdom.”
  • April 1969 General Conference
    • Go Ye Into All the World
      • “The face-to-face and voice-to-ear testimony of the elders of Israel will always be required in teaching the gospel. One elder will always have to stand with one believing soul in the waters of baptism to perform that ordinance without which no accountable man can be saved.”
  • October 1968 General Conference
    • Our Gospel Came Not Unto You in Word Only
      • “This gospel is thus the plan and system of the Gods whereby believing men may be saved, and its chief characteristic is power: power to do all things necessary for the benefit and blessing of God’s children in this life, power to save them in eternal glory in the life to come.”
      • “The issue is not what men purport to believe; it is whether, having believed the truth, they also get the power of God into their lives. Salvation does not come by reading about religion, by learning that holy men in former days had spiritual experiences.”
      • “Salvation is born of obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel; salvation comes to those who obey the statutes and judgments of that God who created it and ordained the laws whereby it might be gained.”
      • “Salvation comes by getting Christ into our hearts today, by being born again, by becoming new creatures of the Holy Ghost, by receiving personal revelation, by exercising the gifts of the Spirit, by having the power of God manifest in our lives.”
  • April 1968 General Conference
    • The Keystone of Our Religion
      • “Salvation is not found in a book, any book, neither the Book of Mormon nor the Bible. Salvation is in Christ; it comes because of his atoning sacrifice; his is the only name given under heaven whereby man can be saved.”
  • October 1967 General Conference
    • The Times of Refreshing
      • “Thus, Christ came once and ministered among men, climaxing his ministry with his atoning sacrifice and ascension to his Father. He is to come again, a second time, in a day of refreshing and renewal, to reign personally upon the earth. But he cannot come this second time until an age in the earth’s history commences which has the name the times of restitution, or in other words he cannot come until the age or period of restoration; and in that age or period all essential things that God ever gave in any age of the earth for salvation, betterment, blessing, and edification of his children will be restored again.”
  • April 1967 General Conference
    • Come, Worship the Lord
      • “Thus our invitation is to come unto Christ and worship the Father in his name. It is to learn of God, of Christ, and of the laws and ordinances of the gospel. It is to listen to the voices of living prophets, who represent Deity, and who reveal him to the world and speak forth his mind and will.”
  • October 1966 General Conference
    • And I Saw Another Angel
      • “As is well known, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announces to the world that God has spoken again in this day; that angels have again descended from the courts of glory to minister to men; that revelations, visions, and all of the gifts of the Spirit have again been poured out upon the Saints; that the church and kingdom of God has again been set up on earth with every priesthood, key, power, grace, and prerogative possessed in former dispensations; and that the everlasting gospel—the same power of God unto salvation had by the Saints of old—has been restored in all its glory, beauty, and perfection.”
      • “We are bold to announce that the promised restoration has taken place. The promised angel has come. The promised latter-day work has begun.”
      • “Our message is one of a living God who speaks now, whose voice we have heard, whose countenance has shined upon us, and whose words we know and teach to others.”
  • April 1966 General Conference
    • Scriptural Witness of Jesus Christ
      • “Before we can become like him, we must obey those laws that will enable us to acquire the character, perfections, and attributes that he possesses.”
      • “We believe in gospel scholarship. We think that devout men everywhere, in and out of the Church, should seek spiritual truth, should come to know God, should learn his laws, and should strive to live in harmony with them. There are no truths as important as those that pertain to God and his gospel, to the pure religion that he has revealed, to the terms and conditions whereby we may gain an inheritance with him in his kingdom.”
  • April 1965 General Conference
    • The Keystone of Our Religion
      • “Remember, we proclaim to the world a message, the message of the restoration. This message is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that salvation is in him, that because of his atoning sacrifice all men are raised in immortality, and those who believe and obey his laws are raised unto eternal life. This message is that in our day, primarily through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith, there has been a restoration of the knowledge of Christ and the knowledge of salvation. And this message is, further, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as now constituted, is the Church and kingdom of God on earth, the one place where salvation is found, the place where men can come to learn the eternal verities in the fields of religion and salvation.”
      • “The Book of Mormon has been given to the world to prove the divinity of the work, and our challenge is that men of goodwill, upright and good people everywhere, will take this book and learn what is in it and then ask God whether it is true.”
  • April 1964 General Conference
    • Was Joseph Smith Called of God?
      • “Guided by the Spirit, he did ask of God. And since the time had come for the opening of this final great gospel dispensation, and because he was the one chosen from eternity to commence the work, he received a transcendent heavenly manifestation.”
      • “Now, what of all these things? Are they true or false? In the very nature of things there is no middle ground. Our position is not like that of other organizations or churches. We are a peculiar people.”
      • “When men of sobriety and sense testify, in all humility and with deep conviction, that they know by personal revelation that Joseph Smith was a Prophet, an obligation rests upon all who hear to investigate and learn for themselves whether that testimony is true.”
  • October 1962 General Conference
    • The Divine Mission of Joseph Smith
      • “I can stand in the congregations of the earth and can reason with the people out of the revelations. I can cite the scriptures of old. I can recite the proofs and the evidences, the fruits, such as the Book of Mormon, which have flown from the ministry of Joseph Smith. When I do this, if people are not spiritually inclined, they can argue and contend and attempt to explain these things away. But, having done all this, having set the stage, having laid a foundation, if I then say to the people: “In addition to all these evidences, I have received revelation that has come to me by the power of the Holy Ghost, telling me that this latter-day work is true, and I bear record to you that God has spoken in this day; now, if you will heed my warning voice and come and investigate and learn for yourselves, you also can know of the divinity of the work”—if I bear such a witness, that witness stands against them at the judgment bar of the Almighty.”
  • April 1961 General Conference
    • The Book of Mormon
      • “No one gets a testimony of the divinity of the Lord’s work unless he gains it from the Spirit—that is, unless it comes by the power of the Holy Ghost.”
      • “The keystone is the central stone in the top of the arch. If that stone is removed, then the arch crumbles, which, in effect, means that Mormonism so-called—which actually is the gospel of Christ, restored anew in this day—stands or falls with the truth or the falsity of the Book of Mormon. Thus our program and our purpose, as witnesses of the Lord in this day, ought to be to devise ways and means and to create inducements that will persuade those who are not of us to read the Book of Mormon and to read it according to the revealed pattern.”
  • October 1960 General Conference
    • How to Prepare for Missions
      • “This call to missionary service does not leave us any choice or option as to the course we should pursue. It is not merely a permissive invitation which allows us to spread the gospel message on a voluntary basis, or if we find it convenient to do so. The decree is mandatory.”
      • “The Lord has laid upon our shoulders the obligation to spread the gospel, to raise the warning voice, to gather in the lost sheep of the house of Israel. If we neglect to do so, we have violated our trust and failed to comply with a divine directive.”
      • “Since we are the ones who have this true gospel, we alone can carry it to the world. To carry out this command to preach this restored gospel in all the world, every one of us should be missionaries every day and hour of our lives, at all times and in all places and under all circumstances.”
      • “We have an obligation. This is not optional. We are not just to do it or not if it is convenient. The Lord has commanded us to carry his message to the world and to be witnesses of his name.”
      • “If I had to choose between the two, I would rather have my sons go on missions than have a college education. It will do more for them temporally and educationally to say nothing of the spiritual benefits that are involved.”
  • April 1960 General Conference
    • The Serviceman’s Program
      • “Now, my two suggestions, offered in addition to what has been so well summarized in the film, are these: First, the servicemen’s program does not begin with entrance into the armed services. Probably the most important thing connected with this program is the long course of preparation that goes on in the home and through the organizations of the Church, to get young men ready to go out into the world and to stand up against the downgrading effects of the environment which is all too frequently encountered by young people away from home.”
  • October 1959 General Conference
    • On Reading the Standard Works
      • “We believe and advocate that every member of this Church should have a testimony of the divinity of the work; that he should know for himself, independent of any other person, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that salvation is in him; that Joseph Smith is the agent and instrument through whom the knowledge of salvation has come again in our day; and that the mantle of the Prophet rests upon President David O. McKay at this time. By first gaining a testimony and then by being valiant in testimony, we can be heirs of salvation.”
      • “But no man can have a testimony of this work until he begins to get a knowledge of the gospel.”
      • “We believe that all members of this Church should be fully and completely converted, so much so that they are changed from a natural and fallen state into saints of God, changed into a state where they have in their hearts desires for righteousness. By following such a course they are born again; they are renewed of the Spirit; they are in line for eternal salvation. But no one can attain unto such a state until he knows the laws that govern the process of being converted.”
  • April 1959 General Conference
    • Salvation, A Family Affair
      • “And now, if I do what I should, I will search out and identify those who have gone before in my lineage, and will see that the ordinances of salvation and exaltation are performed for them.”
      • “Salvation is a family affair. It is I, my wife, my children, and my ancestors. It is you, your wives, your children, and your ancestors. Salvation is a family affair.”
  • October 1958 General Conference
    • God’s Kingdom on Earth
      • “But there is one great thing about this dispensation which differs from all the dispensations of the past. It is that this time, with the opening of the heavens and the revealing of the gospel in our day, there came the positive, unqualified assurance that the gospel was to remain on earth; that the kingdom was to be secure; that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was to remain among men to prepare a people for the second coming of the Son of man.”
  • April 1958 General Conference
    • Love Not the World
      • “Now, if we get the love of money or the love of the things of this world in our hearts, so that we desire those things in preference to the things of the Spirit, we are walking in carnal paths. But if, on the other hand, we pay an honest tithing; pay our fast offerings; contribute to the great missionary cause, to the Church educational system, to the building programs of the Church, and so on; if we make our means available to the Lord and to his kingdom and to his work—then we are rising above the plane of covetousness and lust that is inherent in the nature of our mortal existence.”
  • April 1957 General Conference
    • The Fulness of Salvation
      • “Let us turn the light of introspection upon ourselves. How much do we love our husbands and our wives? How much do we love our children? How fervent and realistic is our desire to have the family unit continue in eternity? May I say something relative to the relationship between the continuation of the family unit in eternity, and receiving the fulness of salvation, the fulness being eternal life or exaltation in the kingdom of God.”
      • “All men will get all that they are able to receive, all that a gracious and merciful Father can give them, but the fulness is reserved for those who abide the whole gospel law, who keep all of the terms and conditions of the new and everlasting covenant of marriage.”
  • October 1956 General Conference
    • Testimony of the Restoration
      • “To what these great men who have spoken this morning have said, I add my own personal testimony, an assurance born of the Spirit, an assurance coming when the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the Lord, which has spoken to the spirit which is within me, conveying truth with unshakable certainty. I add my witness that God Almighty has opened the heavens in our day; that all of the laws and principles which comprise the gospel of salvation are here again; that legal administrators stand at the head of the kingdom of God on earth—and that for all who will hearken and believe and conform to these principles there is peace and joy in this life and a hope of eternal reward hereafter.”
  • April 1956 General Conference
    • The Law of Justification
      • “We believe in the law of justification. By virtue of this law, if a man walks, acts, and lives in this life in such a manner that his conduct is justified by the Spirit, he eventually will attain an inheritance in the celestial world.”
      • “We cannot deceive the Lord. We cannot get from him an unearned blessing. There will be an eventual day when all men will get exactly and precisely what they have merited and earned, neither adding to nor subtracting from. You cannot with success lie to the Holy Ghost.”
  • October 1955 General Conference
    • Why the Latter-day Saints Build Temples
      • “The temple ordinances open the door to gaining all power and all wisdom and all knowledge. Temple ordinances open up the way to membership in the Church of the Firstborn. They open the door to becoming kings and priests and inheriting all things.”
  • April 1955 General Conference
    • Overcome the World
      • “We have been sent down here to walk by faith, and we have been given natural bodies, which are subject to the ills and vicissitudes, the temptations and lusts of the flesh. And now, if by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, by keeping the standards of personal righteousness that are found in the gospel, if by doing this, we can overcome the world, we will be taking the bodies which we possess and transforming them into the kind of bodies that can dwell with exalted beings.”
      • “The struggle which we face is whether we will overcome the world or whether we will be overcome by the world. All men forsake the world when they come into the Church; they then overcome the world if they continue in righteousness and in diligence in keeping the commandments of God.”
      • “No one has overcome the world, the world of carnality and corruption, until he has given his heart to Christ, until he uses all his talents, abilities, and strength in keeping the commandments of God, and in causing this great work to roll forth.”
  • October 1954 General Conference
    • Some Fundamental Truths
      • “I am grateful beyond any measure of expression that I have for the absolute certainty that there is in my heart of the divinity of this work, and I know that God Almighty will give any man this knowledge and open the door to possible, eventual salvation and exaltation to any man who will come in faith, believing, knocking at the door, and asking that he may receive the truth.”
  • April 1954 General Conference
    • Where Is a Church
      • “Now, may I say by way both of testimony and of doctrine, that you and I are living in the era of restoration. We are living in the times of restitution. The heavens are no longer sealed. The voice of God is heard again. The kingdom is established on earth, and that kingdom is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it has again every grace and right, power, privilege, and authority that the Almighty ever gave to the Saints in primitive times.”
  • October 1953 General Conference
    • Faith
      • “The place where we fall down in acquiring faith, faith unto life and salvation, is in that we do not order our lives in such a way that we have the assurance that our conduct is in harmony with the divine will.”
      • “Faith comes by righteousness, and without righteousness and obedience we cannot have the measure of faith that will save us.”
      • “If we have faith, there will be signs. If there are no signs, there is no faith.”
  • April 1953 General Conference
    • The Holy Ghost—A Revelator
      • “But the thing that we are concerned with here in mortality, is to have the Holy Ghost reveal to us the things of God, the knowledge that God is our Father, that Jesus Christ is his Son, literally born of him in the flesh, and that the kingdom of God has been set up on earth again for the last time, that we with the ancients, might be heirs of the fullness of the Father’s kingdom.”
      • “We believe that man is saved no faster than he gains knowledge, meaning knowledge of God and of his laws, as these things are revealed by the Holy Ghost.”
      • “The truths about God and salvation are not gained by the wisdom of men. They are not to be found by the research of the world. They are not found in the creeds of men, for the Lord has said that those creeds are an abomination in his sight.”
      • “The Holy Ghost is a revelator. He will reveal to any person who is honest and God-fearing and diligent in seeking truth, the fact that this is the Lord’s work, that Joseph Smith is his prophet; that he is the greatest witness of Christ that there has been in the world since the day that Christ himself proclaimed that he was the Son of God. And there is not any reason or any excuse why anyone who is upright and honest should not have this knowledge. Every Latter-day Saint should have it.”
      • “There is no greater gift that a person can earn and enjoy for himself, in mortality, than the gift of the Holy Ghost, which gift is the right to the constant companionship of that member of the Godhead, and which gift is actually enjoyed only on condition of individual righteousness.”
  • October 1952 General Conference
    • Be Ye Clean
      • “Be clean, be pure, be chaste, for no unclean thing, no impure thing, and no unchaste thing can inherit the kingdom of God.”
  • April 1952 General Conference
    • This Is Life Eternal
      • “This knowledge of God, always coming by revelation, has been had in every age of the earth’s history when the gospel has been here. The prophets have known of him and have borne witness to the people concerning his attributes and his laws.”
      • “Now the knowledge of God is the beginning of true religion. Without it there cannot be faith in God. The knowledge of God is the end of all true religion.”
  • October 1951 General Conference
    • Two Great Truths
      • “We are the people of God. We are the members of the kingdom of God on earth, which is this Church, and we have the knowledge and light and revelation which causes us to know that salvation is centered in Christ. We believe in Christ. We are the Church of Christ. We believe that through his atoning blood and the sacrifice which he worked out, all men will be raised in immortality, that is to say, the body and the spirit will be reunited, a resurrection will be brought to pass, and we believe that those who obey the laws and ordinances of the gospel will gain, in addition to immortality, the glorious gift of eternal life.”
      • “Except for Christ, there would be no salvation. Except for the prophets of God, sent in the various ages of the earth’s history, the testimony of Christ would not be borne, the message of salvation would not be taught, and there would be no legal administrators who could perform the ordinances of salvation for men, that is, perform them so they will be binding on earth and sealed eternally in the heavens.”
      • “In my judgment Christ and his prophets are one; and salvation in this day is, first, through Christ and his atoning sacrifice, and it is, second, through accepting the atoning sacrifice and the doctrines of Christ as they have been revealed by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and as they are taught by the living oracles who wear the mantle of the Prophet and stand at this moment at the head of the kingdom of God on earth.”
  • October 1950 General Conference
    • Children of the Covenant
      • “We are a covenant-making and a covenant-taking people. We have the gospel which is the new and the everlasting covenant: new in that the Lord has revealed it anew in our day; everlasting in that its principles are eternal, have existed with God from all eternity, and are the same unchangeable laws by which all men in all ages may be saved. The gospel is the covenant which God makes with his children here on earth that he will return them to his presence and give them eternal life, if they will walk in the paths of truth and righteousness while here.”
      • “Salvation never has been and never will be the fruit of sin.”
      • “The whole process of salvation, this whole probation that we are undergoing in mortality, is to permit us to cleanse and perfect and purify our souls. It is to permit us to take evil and iniquity and carnality and everything that leads away from God out of our souls, and replace those characteristics with righteousness and virtue and truth and obedience, which, if we do, degree by degree, will perfect us until eventually we are clean and spotless and pure and are able to stand the glory of the celestial world.”
  • April 1950 General Conference
    • The Atonement of Christ
      • “The atonement of Christ is the most transcendent and important event that has ever occurred, or ever will occur, in the history of this world. Everything pertaining to life and salvation, all that the aunts have or that they may obtain, center in that most glorious event. Christ came into the world chiefly for the purpose of working out the infinite and eternal atonement.”
      • “Those in the world who will repent, who will come into the Church, believe the doctrines, and receive the ordinances, will have their sins forgiven. They will be washed clean in the blood of Christ because of the atonement. Those who decline and fail to do this, who will not repent, but who stay outside the reach of mercy, will—in the justice of God—have to pay the penalty for their own sins.”
  • October 1949 General Conference
    • The Message of the Restoration
      • “This message is, first, foremost, and above all other things: that Jesus Christ is the son of the Living God; that he is the Savior of the world and the Redeemer of men; that salvation was and is and is to come, in and through his name only.”
      • “We have no interest in teaching by the wisdom or learning or according to the precepts of men. We want to teach the gospel the way the Lord would have us teach it, and to do it under the power and influence of the Holy Ghost. If we will do that, we will teach sound doctrine. It will be the truth. It will build faith and increase righteousness in the hearts of men, and they will be led along that path which leads to the celestial world.”
      • “It is a serious thing to teach false doctrine, to teach that which is not true, to teach that which does not build faith in the hearts of men.”
  • April 1949 General Conference
    • Authority in the Ministry
      • “We are the only people on earth who have that priesthood, that power to act in the Lord’s name and have our acts approved and acknowledged both on earth and in heaven.”
      • “But it is not enough to have the truth alone. The mere possession of truth will not save a man. It is not enough to read the doctrines of the kingdom and know what they are. The devils also believe and tremble. It is not enough to take the Book of Mormon and read it and believe it. We must do all these things. But thereafter we must accept the truth by covenant under the hands of a legal administrator, someone who can bind on earth and in heaven.”
      • “Thus there are only two ways in which anything in this world can be so ordained as to remain with full force and validity in the spirit world and in the resurrection. Either God himself must ordain it or an agent of God, acting under and in accordance with proper authorization from him, must do it. Then and then only will the act be recognized in eternity. There is no other way.”
  • October 1948 General Conference
    • What Think Ye of Christ?
      • “Because those Jews had lost the knowledge of God and of Christ, they were unable to answer. The world by wisdom knew not God. Like many devout people today they had inherited from their fathers lies, vanity, and things in which there was no profit. They did not know that God the Eternal Father was the Father of Christ, and that Christ was of the seed of David through Mary, his mother. People in that day needed, just as did the people in Joseph Smith’s day, a new revelation of God and of the plan of salvation.”
      • “And such, to my way of thinking, is the perfect answer, the one we should all give in all things pertaining to life and salvation and to all of our affairs during this mortal probation, and then on in eternity. It is the will of the Father that you and I want to follow, not the will of anyone else; we want to rise above our own wayward courses.”
      • “You and I are the most blessed and favored people on the face of the earth. God has actually spoken in this day and that through the men who have presided over this kingdom. We have that testimony, and the Holy Ghost bears record of its truth to us. And now our obligation is to carry that message to the world, to proclaim Christ’s divine Sonship and the salvation which comes through him. He is the Savior of the world, and I think that every one of us ought to take every opportunity that comes to us to bear that witness.”
      • “Having done that, it remains our responsibility, I think, to teach the doctrines of the kingdom, to expound the principles of salvation to the world. Our time is too important to teach ethical platitudes. We are expected to give all men to whom we have opportunity to give it, the message of salvation, the glad tidings of the restoration, the fact that God has spoken in this day, and the assurance that there is peace and joy and happiness by living the gospel here and now, and an eternal reward in the world to come.”
  • April 1948 General Conference
    • Now Is the Day of Our Salvation
      • “One of the doctrines of this kingdom, in which there is great comfort for the Saints, is that of salvation for the dead. We know that in the mercy of God our worthy ancestors may become joint heirs with us of the riches of eternity—and this because our God is no respecter of persons.”
      • “These revelations divide the heirs of salvation into two classes: first, those who have opportunity to accept and live the gospel in this life—this means all of the Latter-day Saints and all others who have a sufficient witness of Christ borne to them—all of them are under obligation to accept the truth here and now, to hearken to the counsels of the living oracles, and to live according to the best light and knowledge that God gives them. If they do this they work out their salvation.”
      • “I do not sit in judgment. Judgment is the Lord’s and he will repay. But at the same time since these doctrines have come to us in such great plainness in this day, we are bound to know them, to live in accordance with them—and failing such, we will merit the penalty which a just God has decreed for our disobedience, for our sinning against the light.”
      • “The plan of salvation is to find the truth; and the Latter-day Saints have found it. It is to accept the truth; and we have accepted it in the waters of baptism by covenant, a covenant that we will keep the commandments of God. The remaining step is to endure to the end, in righteousness and in faithfulness. Nephi said that repentance and baptism are the gate to salvation, and that having entered in by the gate, men are then in the straight and narrow path which leads to eternal life.”
      • “The gospel course is either hard or easy, depending upon whether we love the Lord. If we do not love the Lord it may seem hard and the course may seem rugged. If we love the Lord and desire to keep his commandments, then his yoke is easy, and his burden is light.”
  • October 1947 General Conference
    • Valiance to the Truth
      • “Every person in this Church is entitled to know and is expected to know by the revelations of the Holy Ghost to his soul that these things are true; and if he knows them, then, in my judgment, he should have no desire in his heart to do anything in this world except hearken to the counsel of the living oracles and put his house in order and prepare himself for the glory and honor and salvation of which President George F. Richards has just spoken.”
      • “It seems to me that if this is the kingdom of God on earth, and if it is destined to stay here and not be given to another people, then we are entitled to conclude that as a people, as a Church, we will never be led astray; and, that as individuals, we will never go out of the course of righteousness that the Lord expects us to be in as long as we hearken to the counsel of the Presidency and the Twelve who head the kingdom.”
      • “I think there is no occasion for any person in this Church to fear for the destiny of the kingdom. We do not need to steady the ark, but we do need to have in our hearts a fear that we may not make ourselves worthy, that we may not hew to the line of righteousness and keep the commandments of God with that degree of valiance which will give us our exaltation in the eternal worlds.”
  • April 1947 General Conference
    • A Testimony
      • “I believe and know also, by the revelations of the Holy Ghost to my soul, that Joseph Smith was the instrument in his hands of restoring in this day the fulness of those principles and authorities and graces whereby you and I can go back into our Father’s kingdom.”
      • “The Lord does not pour a testimony into a vacuum. Men have to know what the doctrines of the kingdom are. Men are saved no faster than they gain knowledge of Jesus Christ and the principles of salvation.”
      • “And as a fourth step, because a testimony comes by the revelations of the Holy Ghost and not from any other source, we must pray to the Lord in humility and in faith and beseech him to reveal to us whether this work is true or whether it is not.”
      • “That is the condition that the Latter-day Saints are in today. We have the revelations of heaven. God has spoken in this day. Light and knowledge have been poured out upon us, and there is no place in all this world that we can find peace or solace or comfort—unless we keep the commandments of God and desire to do the things that he wants us to do.”

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