LeGrand Richards

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (April 6, 1952 – January 11, 1983)

Presiding Bishop (April 6, 1938 – April 6, 1952)

General Conference Addresses

  • April 1982 General Conference
    • What the Gospel Teaches
      • “I thank Him for the many beautiful truths, many of which have been proclaimed here today. This principle of eternal marriage—I just can’t imagine living on forever and forever after I pass out of this life without the companionship of my sweet wife and my children. How I thank God for them, and for the knowledge that marriage and the family unit are intended by Him, as proclaimed so plainly in the Holy Scriptures, to endure for ever.”
  • October 1981 General Conference
    • “Be Ye Prepared”
      • “Today, as I have thought of what I would like to say, I thought I would like to speak to the inactive members of this Church, those who ought to be active because many of them come from good Latter-day Saint families; and then to those of you who have inactive family members in the Church.”
  • April 1981 General Conference
    • Call of the Prophets
      • “That opens the door for the consideration of another beautiful principle, and that is the principle of the premortal existence of spirits, that we are literally the children of God, the Eternal Father, that we lived with him before we came here upon this earth.”
  • October 1980 General Conference
    • A Testimony
      • “I can’t think of anything that we as parents and as leaders in Israel can plant into the hearts of our youth that will help them to avoid the evils and pitfalls and temptations of this world and the false philosophies of men and enable them to live in the world and yet not be a part of the world like having planted in their hearts through the power of the Holy Ghost a testimony of the truth of this restored gospel.”
  • April 1980 General Conference
    • The Scriptures Speak
      • “Therefore, when the time of preparation comes, as I have read to you here today, the Lord could not prepare for his coming without a prophet. And the prophet of this dispensation was none other than the Prophet Joseph Smith. And what he has brought forth is a fulfillment of so many of the prophecies of holy scripture that cannot be found anywhere else in all this world.”
  • October 1979 General Conference
    • The Gift of the Holy Ghost
      • “To me, the gift of the Holy Ghost is as important to man as sunshine and water are to the plants. You take them away, and the plants would die. You take the Holy Ghost out of this Church, and this Church would not be any different than any other church.”
      • “Now that is the difference when you are operating in the kingdom of man and the kingdom of God. It is God’s kingdom. He is the only one that can put his Holy Spirit into the hearts of his people.”
  • October 1978 General Conference
    • The Joy of Serving a Mission
      • “After all the missionary service I have had, I wouldn’t want to raise a boy and not have him go on a mission, for his good and because I think we owe it to the world to share with them the truths of the gospel. And one way to make sure that your boys will go on missions is to start a missionary fund for them and let them keep adding to it, and they will be on their missions from the time that they are young boys.”
  • April 1978 General Conference
    • The Second Coming of Christ
      • “We are advised to study the scriptures, the older scriptures and the modern scriptures, to see what the prophets have said. Remember the words of Peter, that we have a more sure word of prophecy and that we do well to take heed. I want to bear you my testimony here that this is the work of God the Eternal Father.”
  • October 1977 General Conference
    • The Things of God and Man
      • “Now there are many other differences, as we know, and as we study, so that we understand what Paul meant when he said that the things of God are understood by the Spirit of God, and the things of man are understood by the spirit of man.”
  • April 1977 General Conference
    • God Moves in a Mysterious Way His Wonders to Perform
      • “And we have truths that no other church in this world knows anything about—we are the only church in the world that has a program to unite all that is in the kingdom of heaven with the kingdom of God here on this earth, looking to the final winding-up scenes when all the kingdoms of this world and the world to come will be under the supervision of our great King, the Savior of the world. Well, they are just some of the little things that need to be done. Now there are many other prophecies foretelling His second coming.”
  • October 1976 General Conference
    • The Simplicity in Christ
      • “I have many rich friends. I have never seen any tears of joy flow from their eyes because of anything they had purchased with their money. But I have seen plenty of tears of joy in the eyes of the humble of this earth in the mission field, in testimony meetings, and in His servants under the influence and power of the Spirit of God. So I know that it is real.”
  • April 1976 General Conference
    • Value of the Holy Scriptures
      • “The scriptures come to us through the Holy Ghost and are not to be understood by man alone; they are not of any private interpretation. Then if we can believe the scriptures as they are written, we have many truths to present to the world that no one else in the world can understand.”
  • October 1975 General Conference
    • Prophets and Prophecy
      • “There couldn’t be a restitution unless there were a living prophet upon the earth unto whom these holy prophets could come to restore the things that had been lost, whereby the churches were teaching the commandments of men, as Isaiah said. And so we have a living prophet.”
  • April 1975 General Conference
    • One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism
      • “Now I realize, as I stand here today before this great multitude and all those who are listening in on television and radio, that I will come under the condemnation that Paul spoke of if I am not preaching the same gospel that Paul preached; but I bear witness to you today that we have the only true, living church upon the face of the earth that the Lord recognizes that has divine authority to administer the saving ordinances of the gospel.”
  • October 1974 General Conference
    • What After Death?
      • “If God started to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man and did not provide an opportunity to complete the program, he would be like the builder who starts to build and then is not able to finish.”
  • April 1974 General Conference
    • Prophecy
      • “As far as my experience goes in studying the scriptures, Joseph Smith has given us more revealed truth than any prophet who has ever lived upon the face of this earth except the Savior of the world. I thank the Lord for this marvelous truth.”
  • October 1973 General Conference
    • Revealed Truths of the Gospel
      • “If it wasn’t good for man to be alone before death came into the world, it certainly won’t be good for man to be alone after we are resurrected from the dead and restored to the condition that Adam was in before the fall.”
  • April 1973 General Conference
    • He Has Sent His Messenger to Prepare the Way
      • “Now, it being true that the Lord would send a messenger in these latter days to prepare for the second coming of the Savior, just as he did at his first coming, it is important that we learn what that messenger has to say to the world. I think it is a wonderful thing that the Lord has indicated the end from the beginning. I would just like to refer to a few of the prophecies that relate to the day in which we live.”
  • October 1972 General Conference
    • Strange Creeds of Christendom
      • “We would not want any of our nonmembers to be offended at this statement, but if Jesus did visit the Prophet Joseph Smith, and we know that he did, then his statement ought to be more authoritative than the statement of any other person in all the world, and yet right along with that come similar testimonies of leaders in other churches in the nation.”
  • April 1972 General Conference
    • The True Church
      • “We live in the dispensation of the fulness of times, and the coming of Elijah has brought the keys of his mission, and that is why we build these holy temples. That is why we have this great genealogical program, the like of which can’t be found anywhere in all this world. And so the prophets have foreseen the coming of these holy prophets.”
  • October 1971 General Conference
    • Laying a Foundation for the Millennium
      • “No wonder we ought to want to lay a foundation comparable to that foundation upon which the holy temple stands, so we can be sure that we will stand with our loved ones through the millennium.”
  • April 1971 General Conference
  • October 1970 General Conference
    • God Moves in a Mysterious Way
      • “When God sends a messenger to prepare the way before him, that messenger could be none other than a prophet.”
      • “As far as I know there is no building in the history of this world that has gathered people from all nations like this temple, and many of you who are here today are no doubt descendants of some of those who have been gathered to this land.”
  • April 1970 General Conference
    • Why a Prophet?
      • “As far as the records indicate, there has never been a prophet upon the face of the earth who has given as much revealed truth as we have obtained through this prophet whom God raised up in our day. And he said he would not only bring forth his word but would also bring men to a conviction of his word that had already gone forth among them.”
  • October 1969 General Conference
    • The Sure Word of Prophecy
      • “We have that marvelous work and a wonder, and I know that as you do, and we have a great responsibility to share that with our fellowmen throughout the world.”
  • April 1969 General Conference
    • One Lord, One Faith
      • “Love is eternal, and where couples live true Christian lives together, their love for each other and their children increases with the years.”
      • “If it was not good for man to be alone before death came into the world, it will obviously not be good for man to be alone when he is resurrected from the dead.”
  • October 1968 General Conference
    • Let Your Light So Shine Before Men
      • “I realized that I might have to say a few words in this conference, and so on my bended knees I asked the Savior, whose servant I am, if I might have his inspiration that I might say to you what he would like me to say. I had the thought come to me that if he were standing here at this pulpit this morning, what would he want to say to us? “
  • April 1968 General Conference
    • Other Than by Hearsay
      • “Years ago, when our missionaries were being severely persecuted in England, the English government sent a representative to Utah to study our people. They wanted to know what it was that caused the Church to keep sending its missionaries there when they were being so persecuted. After that individual had spent some time in our midst, he returned to his native land and told them that the black secret of Mormonism was the fact that each member knew he had the truth. Now, isn’t that what we ought to have?”
  • October 1967 General Conference
  • April 1967 General Conference
    • The Book of Mormon
      • “When I was a boy, in the little town where I was raised, I was asked in a Sunday School conference to lead the Sunday School in reciting the testimony of the three witnesses to the truth of the Book of Mormon. That made such an impression upon my life that I have loved the Book of Mormon ever since. To me it is the most tangible evidence that we have, aside from the great Church itself, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.”
  • October 1966 General Conference
    • The Fulfillment of Prophecy
      • “I like to study the prophecies. I think they are a lot easier to understand after they are fulfilled than when you look forward to them. Nevertheless, they are a guide along the way, because when they are fulfilled, we know that it is by the doings of God the Eternal Father, that he rules in the heavens above and upon the earth beneath and in the lives of men. Things pertaining to his eternal purposes don’t just happen—they happen at his command.”
  • April 1966 General Conference
    • A Testimony Through the Holy Ghost
      • “If the Lord had not placed in his Church of today his Holy Spirit, we would not be the Church that we are; we could not have accomplished what we have accomplished; the Saints could not have endured all the privations, hardships, and persecutions through which they have passed; neither could we carry on the great missionary program of the Church as we are doing, because the Lord has breathed into his work the breath of life, and our people are willing to make every sacrifice at the call of the Church in order to prove their love of the Lord and their desire to build his kingdom and to share the truth with their fellowmen.”
      • “It takes truth a long time to travel.”
      • “If you will love the Lord and serve him and keep his commandments, you never can get out of the red—you will always be owing the Lord something. He has a way of paying and compensating that is worth more than all the wealth of this world.”
  • October 1965 General Conference
    • The Need of a Prophet
      • “What is the remedy? And I have come to think that there is only one remedy, and that is the voice of a living prophet. I thank God that we believe in a living prophet, that we have a living prophet to guide us in these latter days.”
  • April 1965 General Conference
    • Missionary Experiences
      • “Brothers and sisters, we have nothing to fear; we have everything to give. The heavens have been opened, and the Lord has revealed his truth.”
  • October 1963 General Conference
    • The Church, the Most Important Thing
      • “If we understand the scriptures, we would know that the truth, the everlasting gospel, the marvelous work and wonder Isaiah spoke of, would be found with a people who have been hated by all nations. Such has been the history of this people and this Church.”
  • April 1963 General Conference
    • The Most Important Message
      • “If we have a message to broadcast to the world, it should be something that the world is not already in possession of, or else there would be no reason for the Lord sending one back to this earth who had already lived upon the earth and died in order that he might bring back a message.”
      • “No man can believe the Bible without knowing there is a companion record that the Lord of heaven said he would bring forth and join it with the record of Judah, which is the Bible that has remained with us, and he would make them one in his hand.”
  • October 1962 General Conference
    • I Tell You of Heavenly Things
      • “I want to bear you my testimony, my friends, that we have many heavenly things to tell the world, if they just want to know what the Lord has revealed in this day in which we live. “
  • April 1962 General Conference
    • Our Business—To Serve the Lord
      • “When the Lord indicated that he would do a marvelous work and wonder, if it were marvelous and wonderful in his eyes, what would it be in the eyes of the world if they just understood it?”
      • “You remember the story about when one of the brethren was asked what his business was, and he said, “My business, sir, is to serve the Lord. I mend shoes for a living.” Now that is the way the Latter-day Saints feel. Our business is to serve the Lord, and then we mend shoes for a living.”
  • October 1961 General Conference
    • One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism
      • “I should not think it would be hard for any Christian to recognize the fact that the choice is between one of two churches, and then if we turn to the scriptures to determine which of the two it is, there should be no difficulty in reaching a correct decision.”
  • April 1961 General Conference
    • Prove Me Now Herewith
      • “I could just as well believe that my watch made itself as to believe that we made ourselves or that this universe made itself. There is a master intelligence back of it.”
  • October 1960 General Conference
    • Our Historic Tabernacle
      • “Such testimonies are what have made this a historic building. One could hardly say that he did not know that the power of God was in this work, and that his Spirit operates and guides and directs. Such things could not be, except the power of God is with this people.”
  • April 1960 General Conference
    • To Convince the World
      • “That is my testimony to the entire world: if you believe all that is in the Bible, you would all have to be Mormons.”
  • October 1959 General Conference
    • Missionary Work
      • “If you parents could have seen the glow in their faces when the missionaries would bring their investigators up to shake our hands, you would not figure that there was anything in this world that could compensate and take the place of the experiences that were theirs.”
  • April 1959 General Conference
    • Ours—The Greatest Message
      • “I love the Book of Mormon. I know that no honest soul searching after God can study that book without knowing that it is divine, that it was not written by Joseph Smith; and when it is evident that it is what it purports to be, a volume of scripture that the Bible promised should come forth in our day.”
  • October 1958 General Conference
    • Always Be a Missionary
      • “The missionaries find ample compensation for the great work they are doing when they see honest souls who seek after righteousness brought to a knowledge of the truth through their instrumentality. The Lord said to the early elders of the Church that if they should labor all their days and bring save one soul unto him, how great would be their joy with that soul in the kingdom of the Father.”
      • “I like to look upon the scriptures as a blueprint that shows the things that God intended to do, and I think it is a wonderful thing to know what the prophets have had to say, but I think it is more wonderful to live in the day of the fulfillment of the promises of the prophets.”
      • “I bear you witness, and make the promise to all who are not members of this Church that if they will investigate our message and ask God, the Eternal Father, that they can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the truth has been restored in its fulness to the earth to prepare the way of the coming of the Lord.”
  • April 1958 General Conference
    • Joseph Smith a Prophet
      • “You only need to look at the world today to know how we are becoming more divided year after year instead of more united because the apostles and prophets whom God put in his Church to bring unity of the faith were done away with.”
  • April 1957 General Conference
    • For This Cause
      • “Take the history of all of the apostles. Why were they put to death? Why did the world hate them? Because they were not of the world, and the world could not fellowship these apostles.”
  • October 1956 General Conference
    • The Gospel to the Jews
      • “If this book is to be a witness unto the Jew that Jesus is the Christ, manifesting himself unto all nations, it will be because we, the members of his Church, take this book unto them, and I am very happy to say to you today, those who may not know it, that the missionary committee has approval of the First Presidency to start preaching the gospel unto the Jewish people in some of the stakes of Zion where there are many of them residing, on somewhat of a trial basis to see if their hearts are inclined enough to be willing to accept the message that the Lord has for them.”
  • April 1956 General Conference
    • Why Should It Be Incredible?
      • “I believe that there is not an honest man nor an honest woman in this world who really loves the Lord who would not join this Church if he knew what it was.”
  • October 1955 General Conference
    • Building the Kingdom
      • “We ought to put first our duty and responsibility to the priesthood that we bear and to the building of the kingdom of God, and all other things ought to be secondary unto that.”
      • “The world is beginning to recognize the power and the spirit that is in this work, a power which causes every man to be willing to devote himself to the building of the kingdom which is the kind of power and influence that can overcome the world and establish his kingdom in the earth.”
  • April 1955 General Conference
    • A Marvelous Work
      • “Christianity today has largely left the religion which he preached, taught, and lived, and has substituted another kind of religion altogether.”
  • October 1954 General Conference
    • That Your Joy May Be Full
      • “We ought to be ready to go and give all we can to bring these people to a knowledge of the truth that they might share with us the joy that is ours.”
  • April 1954 General Conference
    • The Word of God Will Stand
      • “In permitting these Three Nephites to tarry upon the earth until he, Jesus, should come in his glory, he must have had in mind some great things for them to accomplish in bringing about a fulfillment of his promises. Whether it was convinced the army of the Arabs to surrender, I do not know, but this I do know: That what is going on in the Holy Land should convince one that the Lord is moving rapidly toward restoring the Jews to the land of their fathers and is giving them that land and redeeming it from its waste condition, as the prophets have foretold.”
  • October 1953 General Conference
    • Missionary Work
      • “Wherever the missionaries go, bearing his holy Priesthood, bearing witness of the truth, the Lord goes with them. He goes with them and fills their hearts to overflowing.”
      • “Every man who bears the priesthood of God should desire to contribute to the missionary work of this Church. I think every father in Israel ought to raise his boys with a desire to be missionaries.”
  • April 1953 General Conference
    • Christ Directs His Church Today
      • “I thank God that we have a recommitment to this earth in our day and time that he does have his body, that he does actually exist as the Redeemer of the world, that he did break the bands of death, that the grave might have no victory in that it delivered up his body as it will do for all of us, of which we have heard such wonderful testimonies here in this conference.”
  • October 1952 General Conference
    • Choose You This Day Whom Ye Will Serve
      • “To every individual comes the responsibility of choosing his way; the wide and broad way, that leadeth to destruction; or the strait and narrow way which leadeth unto life—and, I should like to add: to respect, achievement and happiness.”
      • “Profanity is incompatible with reverence.”
      • “People may have changed their thinking, but God has not changed. His laws are eternal. Truth is eternal. If we will save our civilization, it will be because we return to an observance of God’s laws.”
      • “Virtue may be old-fashioned, but it is the foundation on which great characters, and great families, and great nations are established; and without it decay is inevitable.”
  • April 1952 General Conference
    • Acceptance of Call to Council of the Twelve
      • “I do not know what it takes to subdue the soul of a man, but for the past two hours, I have been trying to figure out how I could measure up and not disappoint you people, and not disappoint the Lord.”
      • “There would not be a man or a woman in all Israel who would ever buy a pound of tea or coffee or a cigar or a cigarette or tobacco, in any form, if they were only converted.”
      • “If we could just get the Holy Ghost, the testimony of the spirit in the hearts of all Latter-day Saints, we would not have any of them saying that we harp too much on the Word of Wisdom.”
  • October 1951 General Conference
    • Planting a Testimony in the Hearts of Each Member
      • “The edifying of the body of Christ, and the perfecting of the Saints:—all this work that we do in the wards and the stakes of Zion, and in the branches, in order to try and teach the Gospel, so that the people, after they take upon them the name of Christ and become members of His great Church, will not be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, but that we watch over the Church and see that they are taught the Gospel.”
      • “It is our responsibility to plant in their hearts a testimony of the divinity of this work, so that no matter where they go, and no matter what arguments are brought, they know that these fundamental facts are true—that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ did appear to the Prophet Joseph and if these facts are not true then we have no right to be holding this conference because then the whole thing is a deception.”
  • April 1951 General Conference
    • Signs of the Times
      • “God can plant in the hearts of his children, for he created the feelings of the human soul, a willingness to preach the truth until it shall ultimately triumph over all the kingdoms of this world.”
  • October 1950 General Conference
    • When a Man Says, “I Am Not Religious”
      • “Now, as I love the Saints for their faithfulness, I also feel remorse and sorrow for those who fail to have that kind of faith, for those who are not willing to do their part, for those who have discontinued attending their meetings.”
      • “When people walk in darkness, they cannot love the brethren; they cannot love the Lord; they cannot love the people; they cannot love this great Latter-day cause, the greatest movement the world has ever known, aside from the great atonement of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
  • April 1950 General Conference
    • The Hand of God
      • “Isn’t it really a pity that it is so hard for truth to get its boots on and to be able to reach the honest in heart of the earth?”
      • “Now, brothers and sisters, if you can see heaven in earth, if you have eyes that see, ears that hear, hearts that understand, you know what you are a part of as members of this Church. You are a part of that great kingdom that is being established in the earth.”
  • October 1949 General Conference
    • Fulfillment of Prophecy
      • “There is not time to discuss this matter further, but I want to tell you that there is a spirit of the evil one in this world and he is trying to destroy the souls of men and gather them into his net, and he is trying to do it with our young people.”
      • “What in the world could the devil, the enemy of all righteousness, desire more than to make our young people think that chastity is outmoded?”
    • Does the Gospel Fit?
      • “I feel that the most important thing in our teaching in this Church is to try to impress upon our people the truth of the gospel, and I want to tell you from my experience that I do not think they have to be old men and old women to know the gospel is true. I have more young people at our conferences tell me they know the gospel is true, than the older ones, and I believe them.”
  • April 1949 General Conference
    • The Things That Matter
      • “Being born again, as the Prophet was, and learning the thing that mattered and was really worth while, his whole life was devoted to his testimony, until he sealed his testimony with his blood.”
      • “You know, that is when we know the things that matter and the other things, when we have been born again with the spirit of this great latter-day work.”
      • “There is not time today to relate my own experiences but I want to tell you that a testimony of the divinity of this work is the most treasured gift of my life, and I would rather have it burn in the hearts and souls of my children and my grandchildren than any other thing in all the world.”
  • October 1948 General Conference
    • A Royal Priesthood
      • “I cannot think of anyone in the Church who has a greater responsibility to let his light so shine before men that they seeing his good works may glorify our Father in Heaven than the brethren who hold the priesthood, both the Melchizedek and the Aaronic.”
    • “No Man Can Serve Two Masters”
      • “I take it he understood that in the lives of most men the time would come when they might have to make a choice as to whether or not they should choose God or mammon, and it is my conviction and my testimony that when we make the choice, if we choose to serve the Lord, it is just like forming a partnership with him. He will be on our side, he will see us through; and I wonder sometimes if we really sacrifice when we choose to serve the Lord, rather than to serve mammon, and make the necessary effort and contributions required to show our faith in him.”
      • “You will recall that before the Lord needed any financial help to promote the interests of his kingdom in the earth he gave unto Cain and Abel the law of sacrifice. The Lord did not need the fruits of the field from Cain nor the first of the flocks from Abel, but they needed to give it; they needed to put their faith to the test. They needed to be able to show to God whether they served and chose God or mammon, for you cannot serve two masters.”
      • “I would like to see every friend of mine in this Church have his name recorded in that book of remembrance, and I am sure that when he comes to claim his jewels, he will realize that no sacrifice that has ever been required at his hands could compensate for the lack of that very thing, for they will be numbered among his jewels. That is what I think being partners with him means. What a promise! What a promise that he will bless the land! I wonder as we go about our daily duties from day to day if we are able to realize how much of the joy and the happiness and the success that is ours in life is really ours by virtue of our own doings and how much of it is the result of the blessings of the Lord.”
      • “I told the elders, where it has been my privilege to preside in the mission field, if they wanted to see what the Lord did in the way of fulfilling his promises just to keep their eyes open as they went around among the Saints—those who kept the commandments, paid their tithes and their offerings—and compare them with those who failed, and they would know that the Lord is true to his promises.”
  • April 1948 General Conference
    • The Testimony of the Spirit
      • “You can travel throughout the wards and stakes of Zion and the missions of the Church or go where you will, and wherever you find Latter-day Saints who have received the gift of the Spirit by the laying on of hands, this spirit is evidenced through their activities in the Church. A power is there that cannot be found anywhere else in all the world.”
      • “You have heard President Grant tell how he was offered a salary of forty thousand dollars to affiliate himself with an insurance company in the East, when he was but a young man. But he was called of God to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he could not accept the insurance company’s offer. I want to tell you that some of our leaders today have given up positions that were worth just about ten times as much as the allowance they are getting from the Church to live on. They did not ask for the privilege to serve thus, and they did not ask what they were going to receive.”
  • October 1947 General Conference
    • Duties of Parents
      • “We have been told as we travel throughout the Church that the greatest deterrent to the success of the Aaronic Priesthood and Latter-day Saint girls program of the Church is the indifference of the parents. It seems almost incredible to believe that such a thing is true.”
      • “If the fathers and mothers in Israel understood the importance of this they would take their boys and girls with them to Church. No father would ever let a boy of his grow up dishonoring the Sabbath day, working on the Sabbath day when it is work that does not absolutely have to be done. Brigham Young’s statement to the Saints when they first entered this valley was that if they worked on the Sabbath day they would lose more during the week than they gained by so doing. And we can’t get away from the command of the Lord when he said that we should honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy and if you fathers think you can work on the Sabbath when you don’t have to, you must not be surprised if your boys are just dumb enough to do the same thing when they grow to manhood.”
      • “Now I want to admonish you to pray for your children, to work for your children, to do all within your power to help save them. God may not always send an angel from heaven, as he did in answer to Alma’s prayer, but I want to tell you there are men and women in this Church by the thousands and tens of thousands who are as angels of heaven in the hands of God in helping to show the youth of Zion the way to eternal life.”
  • April 1947 General Conference
    • Building Faith Among Youth
      • “The Saints had their enemies, and they had great persecutions to meet at their hands before they came into these valleys. The evil one is still alert. He is seeking to lead away the souls of men and women from following after God. And right in our own community, in this land that was established by our pioneer fathers who came here in search of God that they might worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences there are many things transpiring, seeking to lead away the hearts of our young people, particularly, from believing the things that were so precious and so dear to the hearts of our pioneer fathers.”
      • “I want to tell you that even though the elders of Israel are not paid for their services, there are no ministers of religion in all the world as well paid as the elders of this Church.”
  • October 1946 General Conference
    • The Book of Mormon an Aid to Testimony
      • “I would rather trust my boys and my girls in this world with a testimony of this work burning in their souls than all the information you can give them out of all the schoolbooks that have ever been written.”
      • “Now brothers and sisters, I must not take more time, but I want to tell you that when our boys and girls get to feel the truth of that book, there will be less worry about where their feet are leading them by day and by night. God bless the youth of Zion. God bless every man and every woman who bears responsibility in the home and in the organizations and in the priesthood quorums, and may our testimonies and our lives so affect theirs that they will become powers for good in this world, and may this book yet fulfill this great decree, as written in the preface, that it shall be a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ, unto all nations.”
  • April 1946 General Conference
    • The Way of Life
      • “It has been forty-one years this month since I left Salt Lake to fill my first mission in Holland, and I have been thinking while sitting here that from that time to this the gospel has meant everything in the world to me. I remember when I gave my report at the close of my first mission in the ward to which I then belonged. I made the statement that I hoped the Lord would send me on a mission often enough so that I could retain the spirit that I had enjoyed in the mission field. The gospel with all its teachings and its promises and its blessings has become a real thing in my life, and with all my heart I know it is true, and I hope to do all I can as long as I live to help to promote faith in the hearts of my fellow-men.”
      • “In our relationship to each other we are in very deed brothers and sisters, and Christ was the Firstborn, the Elder Brother, who offered himself as a ransom for sin of all the inhabitants of the earth. Then it tells us the purpose of our creation, that we are here to gain knowledge and intelligence and experience and prepare ourselves that we might go on and become as he is.”
  • October 1945 General Conference
    • Seek the Kingdom of God
      • “Is there any true Latter-day Saint who would not like to keep himself more unspotted from the world? Is there any father or mother in Israel who would not like his or her sons and daughters to keep themselves unspotted from the world?”
      • “We do not want to neglect our prayers; we do not want to neglect attendance at our sacrament meetings. We do not want a spirit of darkness to come over us. I want to bear testimony to you Latter-day Saints, as a result of my own experience and training, and that of my children, that I know of no better way that we can keep the spirit of God burning in our souls and in their souls than by attending sacrament meetings. When I walked out of our fast meeting one day with my son, who was a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood, he turned to me and said, “Daddy, if the bishop had not announced the closing song just when he did, I could not have kept my seat another minute.” And I thanked the Lord that my boy was there to feel that spirit and that power.”
  • April 1945 General Conference
    • The Value of Missionary Experience
      • “Then I think we ought to make sure that we maintain our standards. No boy ought ever to enter one of our recreation hails and mingle with our young women with the smell of liquor on his breath, or a bottle of liquor on his person. The Lord expects us to guard and protect the lives and honor of our girls, and such men are in no fit condition to associate with them.”
  • October 1944 General Conference
    • The Firing Line
      • “I think of the temptations that they are subjected to. I am sure we were all impressed yesterday with what President Grant said about President Merrill seeing President Grant’s brother wearing a halo, as it were, about him, it being the influence of his father. I pray that wherever our boys go our influence may go with them, and may be as a light to their path, to guide and direct and to give them power and strength to resist evil with which they are surrounded at the present time.”
      • “I thought that if poverty were the only price of virtue, God grant that poverty might come, for virtue must return to the earth if we would be able to stand when He makes His appearance.”
      • “Brethren, wherever your boys and girls go those influences will go with them. If there is anything you can do at home to strengthen them to meet the temptations that come before them, please do not leave undone what can be done.”
  • April 1944 General Conference
    • Tithes and Offerings
      • “To me, one of the greatest accomplishments in the Church is the marvelous faith of the Saints as evidenced in the payment of their tithes and their offerings.”
      • “We should realize, brethren, that ours is the responsibility to carry on. I think of these words so often, for Zion must increase. It must extend its borders. It must strengthen its stakes. There is no backward trek in this Church, and every man called to responsibility of leadership ought to be sure that the work under his direction is being strengthened, that as the years come and go, each year finds us farther along the way, and that we are not slipping in the great responsibility that is ours. Then I try to visualize the accomplishments of the future made possible through the continued faithfulness of the Saints in the payment of their tithes and their offerings.”
      • “I want you to know that I believe the Lord has in mind to reward adequately every Latter-day Saint for his faithfulness.”
      • “We have many inquiries at our office, constantly, about the matter of deducting taxes, income taxes, etc., before paying tithing, and we are told that in some cases the Saints are advised to do this, by their bishops. I think the bishops are being pretty liberal with the Lord’s money. Taxes are no different from what they have always been except in amount and manner of payment. We have never expected to pay our taxes out of the Lord’s tenth.”
  • October 1943 General Conference
    • The Promise unto the Children
      • “Now, when we gather them in, it is very important that we have something for them. They want to be fed, and I think besides teaching them their duties in the Priesthood, one of the greatest things we ought to have in mind is to try to plant in their hearts a testimony of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
      • “My experience in the Church has taught me that the most powerful motivating thing I know of in this world is a testimony of the Gospel. Possessing it, men and women will do anything; they will make any sacrifice.”
      • “You and I know, as we have witnessed on every side, particularly in our ministry in this Church, how marvelously people sacrifice, and how willingly they do it when their souls are touched with a testimony of the Gospel.”
      • “A statement reached us at the Presiding Bishop’s office a few days ago from one of our educators who in teaching a Sunday School class made this statement: “I don’t know whether it would be proper for us to teach our young people to read Leaves from My Journal, by Wilford Woodruff, for fear they might expect similar spiritual experiences, and be disappointed.””
      • “I wonder if there are really very many Latter-day Saints who would be afraid to promise unto the youth of Zion the spiritual gifts and blessings that God, the Eternal Father Himself, has promised.”
      • “We cannot offer our young people the Bible as the word of God, or the standard Church works, and believe only a small portion of that which is written therein.”
      • “That made an impression upon my life. I would like my children impressed with that kind of inspiration, spiritual power, spiritual gifts. Now, as I look back over my life, I want to bear testimony to you, my brethren, here this night, that the Lord has been kind to me, and I have had evidences enough all through my ministry to know that the sweetest thing in this world that I know anything about is the companionship of the Spirit of God, and the gifts and blessings that come by virtue of the same.”
  • April 1943 General Conference
    • Shepherds of the Flock
      • “I want to bear testimony to you this day, brethren, of the truth of this statement. I feel that the Lord owes me nothing for what I have done in the Church. He is the best Paymaster I know anything about.”
      • “Brethren, I am pleading for every man whom the Lord has endowed with His gifts through the power of His Spirit, that we find a way whereby they can fit in and do something for the building up of the kingdom. We have the opportunity of ward teaching, missionary work, and of stake, ward, and auxiliary officers and teachers. We can go even further, for there is so much to be done in a temporal way, in beautification, in the Welfare program, in the building of storehouses, in the acquiring of land, and in the production of the things not yet being produced which are needed for the storehouses; and some of the finest leadership in the Church is available, but as yet inactive. I scarcely ever return from a conference without thinking of some of the outstanding men I have met, successful in a particular field, almost beyond words to describe; and I wonder how we can reach into the lives of those less fortunate and lift them to the same level.”
  • October 1942 General Conference
    • The Power of Example
      • “I hope we will realize that there will be more expected of us—that our arms will be just a little longer, and our love a little deeper, and our faith a little more sincere, and that our confidence and trust in God and the ultimate triumph of His work in the earth may never falter.”
      • “I wonder if we know each one of our children well enough to know that they are making their contribution to the building up of the kingdom of God in the earth. Are our children setting an example because of our power as leaders and priests in our own homes?”
  • April 1942 General Conference
    • Leadership in the Aaronic Priesthood
      • “If we expect to continue our positions of leadership it will be because we are faithful over the few things that the Lord has entrusted into our care.”
      • “I believe it is a fine thing to be in positions of responsibility in the Church, but the Lord expects more of us than to be good men. I think that comes first, but He wants us to be active men.”
      • “I believe that men in Israel owe their first allegiance to the Church and kingdom of God, and I want to admonish you brethren to put your arms around men and put them to work, and when they are released from positions, do not feel that there is no place for them.”
  • October 1941 General Conference
    • Prepare for the Second Coming
      • “Not only were our pioneer fathers and mothers required to sacrifice in order that they might prove themselves worthy to stand among the Saints of God who are to be gathered in these latter days, but we are required to make sacrifices also. We may not be required to forsake our homes and go into new lands; we may not be required to lay our loved ones away by the side of the road; we may not be driven out by friends and ridiculed and reviled, but the Lord nevertheless expects sacrifices at our hands. And I want to say to you that I think the Lord does not let such sacrifices go unrewarded.”
  • April 1941 General Conference
    • Testimonies
      • “Some years ago I had a discussion with an associate of mine in the Church, an educator, who said he believed the day had come when we would have to appeal to the young people of the Church through reason rather than through that which we customarily call a testimony of the Gospel. I answered that if we had reached that stage, then I feared for the future of the Church, as all that we had accomplished as a people had been because of the testimonies that the Lord had given unto us.”
      • “The Savior of the world indicated that if we would be His disciples we must be willing to forsake all that we have in this world, even to fathers and mothers, lands and herds, and I want to say to you that I do not believe men and women will forsake all they have because of any reasoning power they possess. They will do it when their souls are touched by the inspiration and power of the Spirit of the living God, which is the testimony of the truth, and then it is that men can love God more than they love anything else in this world, and hence forsake all because of their love of Him.”
      • “I think He meant that His children should live such lives that wherever they stand the ground upon which they stand should be holy and sanctified because of their presence.”
  • October 1940 General Conference
    • Peace, Politics
      • “In the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants we are told that the day will come when every man who is not willing to take up his sword and fight against his neighbor should flee to Zion for safety, but if we keep close to the spirit of this great Priesthood that we bear, this brotherhood, we should be able to live at peace with one another and not have to take up the sword against our neighbors.”
      • “It seems to me that it is a disturbing influence and probably the most disturbing of all influences in the midst of the Latter-day Saints, and that is this political discord. I know I am stepping in where angels fear to tread, but since I am not a politician I think I might be privileged to say a word or two on this subject. Notwithstanding the loyalty we bear to the Church, and all the service we render, somehow our minds become darkened when we talk of political things, and those who otherwise should be the best of friends and the best of neighbors become at variance with each other. I have heard President Grant tell in years gone by of some of the brethren who went Ward Teaching together and before they separated they were fist-fighting because they got into arguments over politics. I was with a group of brethren one day, when the discussion became so hot that one brother said, “If the Savior should come back to the earth and He was a member of the other party I would oppose Him.” I could understand this statement, but I did not believe the brother meant it. He saw me walk away in disgust so he hunted me up the next day and apologized for what he had said.”
      • “This extreme attitude has always annoyed me. My family has sometimes said, “How is it that you do not take a more active part in politics?” And I have said, “Because I love my friends too much, and I have seen too many men lose their friends because of their activity in politics.” I do not see, brethren, why we cannot stand for correct principles and not have to. “haul through the mire,” so to speak, each other just because we go out after a political position. I sometimes wonder if our brethren realize how much they do to destroy the faith of the youth of the Church and cause unfavorable criticism and comment by those who are not of the Church when they assail each other as has been the practice for all the years since I have been old enough to remember. We ought to feel that we owe our allegiance to the Church and to the Priesthood and to our brethren. We should love our brethren until the love that binds us together will be stronger than the cords of death, and this ought to cause us to sustain and uphold each other under all circumstances and not permit the evil one to get an inroad into our midst because of these disturbing influences.”
      • “I was particularly impressed with what Brother Evans said, that he believed in following the Prophet of the Lord even though he did not think he was right, because he found he always was right, and he said those of us who are not willing to follow him when we do not think he is right do not believe that he is a Prophet of God. This accords with my feelings along this line.”
      • “When we raise our hands to sustain them as prophets, seers, and revelators, we ought to think twice before we criticize their judgment and their recommendations.”
      • “It seems to me that it has almost come to the point in our Church where even if they express their thoughts on some of the very fundamentals for which the Church has ever stood, for which every prophet in this great Church has stood, they are criticized by some of the brethren on the grounds that they are meddling in politics.”
      • “I believe, my brothers and sisters, that our greatest danger as a people is from within, and I would like to believe that the Latter-day Saints believe in the leaders of this great Church to the point that they are willing to accept their counsel and advice. I think sometimes we almost bind them so that when they have the inspiration of Almighty God and would like to speak to us they hesitate for fear some of us will feel that they are interfering with political affairs. If I had my way I would weclome the day, come it as soon as God may grant, when these men with whom I am associated so intimately and whose very intimate thoughts I know and their desires for the welfare of this people and the welfare of the Kingdom of God, might not only be issuing instructions to this great Church but to this great nation, which we are told is a land choice above all other lands and over which Christ our Lord, as decreed, shall reign, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, because in this land it is decreed that the new Jerusalem of the Lord our God shall be established.”
  • April 1940 General Conference
    • A Present Need
      • “I am sure if we appreciated the Word of Wisdom and its meaning to the Church as much as Satan appreciates what it means when we can be persuaded to disregard the same, we would appreciate it more than we do today. I am grateful to my parents who taught me to observe and keep the Word of Wisdom.”
      • “When we commence to do the things we should not do, and thus we quit praying, the Lord withdraws His Spirit and we are turned over to the buflfetings of Satan. It is first a cigaret; then it is a glass of beer; then it is a drinking party; and that leads to immorality ; and some of us know from our experience in the Church something of what this means.”
      • “I hope that the fathers and mothers in Israel are training their boys and girls today as my father and mother trained me when they told me that immorality was the greatest sin a man could commit next to the shedding of innocent blood, and that they would rather lay me away in the grave innocent and clean than to know I had lost my virtue or had robbed a woman of hers. I think, my brothers and sisters, that we need to do a little more of that kind of preaching today.”
  • October 1939 General Conference
    • An Increase of Faith
      • “I believe that if there is one thing that we need in the Church today more than any other, it is increased faith in the hearts of our boys and our girls in the restoration of the Gospel, in the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and in the fact that God lives, that every boy and girl will answer to him for their lives.”
      • “I believe that unless this faith is planted in the hearts of our boys and girls they will not be able to meet the temptations of the day and come out gloriously victorious, true to the faith, and true to the standards of this Church.”
      • “During my travels I learned of a few instances where our young people had been taken out of our institutions because the parents felt that their faith was being destroyed, rather than strengthened; and I think that this is a reproach.”
      • “I was privileged to be raised in the home of a patriarch. Today, my father is the acting Presiding Patriarch of the Church, and it might be more appropriate that he should speak on this subject than that I should ; but I received my first blessing at his hands’when I was eight years old, and I want to say to you that all the philosophizing in this world could not make me believe that my father knew what he pronounced upon my head of his own knowledge and his own understanding. That blessing has been a guide to me all my life, and I thank God that I received it when I was a boy eight years of age.”
      • “My faith in God and his eternal purposes is such that I never doubt but that he has made adequate provision for the fulfilment of every promise, and to complete and perfect the work which he has here commenced.”
      • “I am telling you now something you already know, of course, but I presume there are many people here and in the Church who have not looked much into the Doctrine and Covenants. I do not think any of us spends any too much time in doing so. It is a big question. This great Gospel takes some thought and a good deal of prayer to comprehend it, and authority to exercise the Priesthood.”
  • April 1939 General Conference
    • The Principle of Giving
      • “I love the missionary work of the Church and the privilege it affords of bearing testimony of the restoration of the Gospel, and of the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the accomplishments of this great organization.”
      • “As I have often said in the mission field, if one is looking for an easy religion he had better not bother with Mormonism. Most of us know that we are at the call of the Church all the time. In fact, my wife has always said the children belong to her and I belong to the Church; and I presume there are many brethren here, and sisters too, who feel the same way about it.”
      • “And I want to say to you, my brethren and sisters, that we need the tithes of the Saints in order that the kingdom might go on, for it shall be builded just as rapidly as the faith of the Saints can build it, and it is retarded when there is a lack of faith.”
      • “I feel that the bishops and the presidents of stakes and those who preside with them in the wards and stakes of Zion should realize the great responsibility that is theirs and should not regard it lightly, but should do all they can do to care for their brethren.”
  • October 1938 General Conference
    • A Marvelous Work
      • “The evidence of divinity in this work is in the accomplishments of the Church, that which is being done by the organizations the Lord has set in the Church to bring about the things which he had in mind, and when we analyze this inspired organization it would not be consistent to attribute to mortal man that which has been brought forth for the achievement of these things.”
      • “When you are in an organization that has been fashioned by God the Eternal Father, there is life, there is power in it, just like there is life in the human body.”
  • April 1938 General Conference
    • Humbled by a New Call
      • “I am very happy to be associated with the Latter-day Saints. I am grateful for every opportunity of service that has come to me in the past. I feel that the Lord owes me nothing. All I have done for the Church I have done because I love the Church and because I love the Lord, and the Lord does not owe me a thing. I was grateful that I was able to successfully drop back into my business, so that the people would not think that I was dependent upon the Church.”
      • “I want to say to you that there is no achievement that can ever come in the lives of my own children that will be so pleasing to me as to know that their lives shall be lives of service to this great Church.”

Other Talks

Articles in Church Publications

Other Publications and Resources

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *