Charles A. Callis

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (October 12, 1933 – January 21, 1947)

General Conference Addresses

• October 1946 General Conference
  • Testimony from the Book of Mormon
    • “The testimony that the Book of Mormon gives us last of all—no, not last of all—from the first page to the last page, is that Jesus is the Christ. If we serve God, this nation will survive, but listen to this solemn warning: Moroni told the people of his day that this was a land of promise, and that God would not suffer any nation to dwell on this earth except they serve him, for if they departed from him they should be swept into the oblivion which lawlessness always provides.”
• April 1946 General Conference
  • Spiritual Safety
    • “Our spiritual safety is secured by staying on the main stream, that stream of living truth that flows by the throne of God. It is sad to see men spiritually wrecked by being washed ashore by immaterial crosscurrents and spend “all the voyage of their life bound in shallows and in miseries.” If we keep on the main stream, we are going to finish our mission on earth in a manner pleasing to the Lord.”
    • “The instruments of darkness approach us by the way of flattery. They will say: “You are all right; you are a pretty good man, and the gospel is true.” Then they will say: “But the First Presidency of the Church are wrong.” Against such appeals let us guard ourselves lest we be “betrayed in deepest consequence.””
• October 1945 General Conference
  • Our Glorious Destiny
    • “The inhabitants of the earth are his children, and God loves mercy more than judgment.”
    • “What a glorious destiny God sent us here to perform. Brethren and sisters, how can we be dilatory, how can we be negligent, when, shining as the sun in heaven, is the purpose and the destiny of this people? A people that has not an ideal or a noble purpose is like a painted ship on a painted ocean, but we must cherish and nourish these wonderful ideals that God has given and press on to the mark of eternal perfection.”
• April 1945 General Conference
  • Heirs of the Promises
    • “But my friends, I could not stand in this radio pulpit, if I did not believe that the good God takes these unfinished lives, with their unfinished work, and somewhere, somehow, in his house of many mansions, gives them the glory of going on. A just and loving Heavenly Father will keep faith with those who keep faith with him.”
• October 1944 General Conference
  • Guidance
    • “We are in the midst of turbulent times. Reason is invited to give way to partisanship; but we must not blind ourselves to the good of all the people of the United States.”
• April 1944 General Conference
  • After the War
    • “I am not vain nor egotistical when I say that I believe with all my heart that the Priesthood of God, this great Church, because of the great mission to be performed, is holding this old world together, and the missionary work to be accomplished after this war is going to make our hearts overflow with joy.”
    • “A nation that harbors idleness is doomed to decay and, finally destruction. One of the saddest hours of a young man’s life is when he sits down and seeks to devise ways and means for earning a living without work.”
• October 1943 General Conference
  • Nourishing the Spirit
    • “In the home a father’s voice and counsel, the mother’s law will be more effective than if they were given outside the home. I plead for a greater parental control, benevolent of course, persuasive, kind, and loving, because, “Come along, come along, is the call that will win.” If the homes are provided with this parental control, with good reading matter, with the magazines of the Church placed on the table where the boys and girls can read them, I want to say to you that parents are going to have much more ease of heart, much less concern. I plead with you all to see what food your children are feeding upon. Provide them with that nourishment which will make them faithful members of the Church, good members of society, and great citizens of this glorious republic.”
• April 1943 General Conference
  • Millennial Hope
    • “If our people will obey the injunction of the Almighty and teach their children the principles of the gospel, not only by precept but by example, you are going to see a people such as the world has never before beheld, for the children brought up in righteousness will be fit to meet the Lord when He comes in power and great glory.”
• October 1942 General Conference
  • Rededication
    • “A true prophet is never popular, because he reproves and denounces, with equal vigor and equal impartiality and justice, the iniquities of the rich and the unrighteousness of the poor.”
    • “As I regard it, the home is the fundamental, essential unit of civilized society. For the instruction of our children we are depending too much on our Sunday Schools, Primaries, and other auxiliary associations, yea, and on the day school. We are willing that our children should receive instructions, much of them unknown to us, while we sit placidly by in our homes, and feel that the teaching of our children, thrown onto other shoulders, is a relief. This will end in disaster.”
    • “A man is a ruler in his house, and he will be held accountable for the manner and the character of his rule.”
• April 1942 General Conference
  • An Humble and Contrite Heart
    • “I interpret humility as being strength. Humility expresses itself in lowly service, in volunteering for any service which will ameliorate the conditions, particularly the spiritual conditions of mankind. Humility does not mean to grovel, to be a sycophant. Humility is inward strength outwardly expressed in good works. Great souls attain to humility.”
    • “That is the spirit that should characterize the holy Priesthood. If we work in humility, become little in our own sight, more than we are now, and seek the good of others I testify to you that there will be added power to our labors, and sinners will be brought unto Him.”
• October 1941 General Conference
  • Chastity
    • “By permitting this intemperance are we not constructing a monstrous being that will prove to be our master; and this monster of adultery—for unchastity is the dominant evil of the age. These great evils will strangle our youth and kill all that we cherish most dear, and yet we are responsible.”
• April 1941 General Conference
  • Work
    • “The man who bears the yoke of Christ has no sore spots on him. In his heart and life there is real liberty and joy.”
• October 1940 General Conference
  • First Things First
    • “We should put more trust in the spiritual values of existence. The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
• April 1940 General Conference
  • The Pacific Islands
    • “As I looked upon those people and preached to them, people of different nationalities, the thought came to me, some men appeal to certain people, other men to other people, but the Lord Jesus Christ appeals to all men.”
• October 1939 General Conference
  • The Eternal Spirit
    • “We believe that there is consciousness of the spirit in the life hereafter, between death and the resurrection. Men live and move and have their being in the intermediate state. They pray, talk, hope, and work not only for themselves but also for those who are upon the earth. Death does not congeal the lips of those who go before us; they are not far from us and they help us more than we know.”
    • “He who stops learning and working is neither wise nor happy.”
• April 1939 General Conference
  • Service
    • “Service was the road his sanctified and heavenly feet trod, and in all the philosophy of the world, yea in the philosophy of religion, the only road to heaven is the road of service. This shines like a gem.”
    • “My brethren and sisters, if our children fail we too fail, in a measure at least.”
    • “The fulness and the majesty of manhood rests upon him who is willing and anxious to toil and who has the opportunity to labor. What people get for nothing they do not always appreciate.”
    • “This world will never know true and lasting peace until righteousness goes before peace, for there can be no enduring peace without righteousness. Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
• October 1938 General Conference
  • Promises and Judgments
    • “The man who takes the sword of animosity and hate with evil intent to injure his neighbor and besmirch his character shall himself fall a sacrifice to the weapons he has used.”
    • “To men and likewise to nations the promises and threatenings of God are always conditional.”
• April 1938 General Conference
  • Having the Spirit
    • “We are told to rise above all carnal desires, to walk uprightly, conquering self, which will give us the testimony that we are pleasing God. But how can men do these things without that greater power of righteousness in their souls that the Holy Ghost brings to them; that great regenerating force which enables them to cast from them lust, evil thoughts, and the thought of doing things that will hurt their fellow creatures? This great strength, the powerful operation of the Holy Ghost will make one shake at the very appearance of evil.”
    • “Any man that has the Comforter will never deny that the Constitution of the United States is inspired, but he will revere it for the Lord directed the men who wrote that glorious instrument.”
• October 1937 General Conference
  • The Richest Hill on Earth
    • “There is a small and solemn hill outside the ancient city of Jerusalem which has yielded no mineral treasures, nevertheless it is reverently regarded by true Christians as the richest hill on earth.”
• April 1937 General Conference
  • A Firm Foundation
    • “There I are certain institutions that can create and maintain a nation. They are the foundation stones of any nation that hopes to endure. Chief among these institutions are marriage, virtue, sobriety, industry, obedience to law, loyalty to country, love of fellowman and an affectionate respect and reverence for God, our Heavenly Father. But when a republic or a monarchy rejects these foundation stones, these roots of Christianity, there shall arise another Gibbon to write the decline and fall of a nation that rejects God and disobeys his commandments.”
    • “I want to say to you, my brethren and sisters, that the sinister crime, that destructive sin, which brings down the fulness of the wrath of God upon the people, the iniquity in which they ripen, is the sin of unchastity, uncleanness. Men’s hearts are filled with the things that the Savior said defiled them, and of these things they must repent; for if they do not purge themselves of these things God has forbidden, no matter how great their might, they will go down, for sin never was happiness.”
• October 1936 General Conference
  • Take Responsibility
    • “The locomotive that runs light is more likely to jump the track than the one that is pulling a load. If more of the young men and women in our country were married there would be fewer social and industrial disturbances. Long engagements, as a rule, are not good. There are too many men running light in this old world. More personal responsibility is needed.”
• April 1936 General Conference
  • Preaching Repentance and Judgment
    • “Young men rejoice in their youth but they should never forget that God will bring them into judgment for all the things they do that are contrary to his commandments. Old age does not make up for the deficiencies that are allowed to grow in the life of the youth.”
    • “More thinking of the next world produces a restraining effect upon men whose inclinations urge them to sin. We should never cease to teach of a judgment to come, persuading men to work with a daily unceasing hope and an ambition to make their lives better. What a miserable state a man is in when the latter end of his days are the worst of his life.”
    • “It should be our aim to bring not only ourselves but other people nearer to the Lord; each man has a part to play in these dark days of trouble and woe.”
• October 1935 General Conference
  • The Gospel Leaven
    • “I think the people of this land are fulfilling a wonderful mission—I mean the non-Mormons,—a God-given mission. He has given them a heaven-inspired Constitution, and if we will stick close to that bulwark of liberty the sun of freedom shall never set on the people of this favored land.”
    • “When I say the chosen people of God, I mean those who show us by their works that they are worthy of the name of Christ.”
    • “With every American I sincerely deplore the fight that is made on any race or creed. We cannot afford to join in such a crusade. It is unmanly; it is un-American.”
• April 1935 General Conference
  • War
    • “Better a little learning with God than much learning without him. To be learned is good, the Book of Mormon admonishes us, if we obey the counsels of God.”
    • “The world is an armed camp. It seems to be the time when kings desire to go forth to war. Their words, as the Bible says “are as smooth as butter” but deep down in their hearts there is war. Only the grace of God can save the world from a cataclysm that threatens to destroy civilization and bring despair to humanity. God grant that the statesmen in the nations who are pleading and working for peace shall have the power of God to be with them so that by their labors distress, agitation, disrespect for law and desire for war shall fade out of the minds of men.”
    • “Why will not the people of the world engage in national and international repentance and humiliation? God is not responsible for our calamities. He has pointed out the means of escape. If we will turn our faces towards him and repent this depression will vanish like magic. Let the spirit of the Prince of Peace be firmly fixed in the councils of the nations and observed; then all talk about war will cease, and nations shall no longer learn war for their “swords shall be beaten into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.””
    • “You fathers and mothers are not living for yourselves any longer; you are living for your children. Then express in good deeds, in the making of good laws your desire to have your children protected by every safeguard, and ere long the Millennium, whose sun is already brightening the hills of coming time, will dawn upon us and peace and joy shall be in every heart, and the Redeemer shall reign from the rivers to the ends of the earth.”
• October 1934 General Conference
  • The Scriptures
    • “In some of the current literature there is manifested a spirit to make light of, belittle and even ridicule the holy scriptures. The Bible is undervalued. Slurs are cast upon the inspiration of the word of God. But it is heartening to know that the eclipse of faith is not total. The people generally are not underestimating or undervaluing the scriptures—those true riches given to mankind. God has not left himself without witness.”
    • “God has not and never will leave himself without witness. Dust storms of criticism may arise and meteors may fall about us, but the grand constellations in God’s heavens, displaying his power, still burn there, a perpetual witness to every soul beneath the spangled heavens that Jesus is divine. In the lives of men whom we love for their uprightness, the ideals of the Savior are finding expression. More men and women, and they would be the best of Adam’s race, would die for the Son of God, who gave all for us, than for any other cause under the spacious firmament.”
• April 1934 General Conference
  • Two Great Prophets
    • “Joseph Smith was an inspirer of souls. He said he did nothing but what the ancient prophets said he would do. He was a fulfiller of Bible prophecy. Consider some of the prophecies which he uttered : The exodus of the Saints to the Rocky Mountains, where they would become a great and a mighty people; his prediction of the Civil War, twenty eight years before it occurred—and only a month before that bloody conflict, statesmen were saying, “Peace, peace, there will be no war.” But the God of heaven had spoken and desolation swept over the land. Oh, if those statesmen had only heeded the words, if they had only accepted the remedy, the solution which the great statesman-prophet, Joseph Smith, gave to them, a million lives would have been spared and eight billions of dollars in property would not have been destroyed!”
    • “President Grant has always sounded the Gospel trumpet with no uncertain sound, so that the children of men could prepare themselves for the battle.”
• October 1933 General Conference
  • A New Call
    • “The first miraculous manifestation I received when I was a youth was through President Heber J. Grant when he delivered a sermon in Coalville in the Summit Stake of Zion. The President, whom I dearly love, has always made a profound impression upon me in my life. I love all of the General Authorities of the Church. I know that they are men of God. I know, too, as sure as I stand here that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. I know by the same power that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I am in absolute harmony with all that the General Authorities of the Church have done.”

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